The Hollywood crowd thinks they can speak  for America.

They don't speak for Hoods Woods or even a large minority of Americans But  they persist. This Essay helps to clear up some questions....

The Hollywood group is at it again. Holding anti-war rallies,  screaming about the Bush Administration, running ads in major newspapers,  defaming the President and his Cabinet every chance they get, to anyone and  everyone who will listen. They publicly defile them and call them names like  "stupid" , "morons", and "idiots". Jessica Lange went so far as to tell a crowd  in Spain that she hates President Bush and is embarrassed to be an American.

So, just how ignorant are these people who are running the country? Let's look  at the biographies of these "stupid", "ignorant" , "moronic" leaders, and then  at the celebrities who are castigating them:

President George W. Bush: Received a Bachelors Degree from Yale  University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He served as an F-102 pilot  for the Texas Air National Guard. He began his career in the oil and gas  business in Midland in 1975 and worked in the energy industry until 1986. He was  elected Governor on November 8, 1994, with 53.5 percent of the vote. In a  historic re-election victory, he became the first Texas Governor to be elected  to consecutive four-year terms on November 3, 1998 winning 68.6 percent of the  vote. In 1998 Governor Bush won 49 percent of the Hispanic vote, 27 percent of  the African-American vote, 27 percent of Democrats and 65 percent of women. He  won more Texas counties, 240 of 254, than any modern Republican other than  Richard Nixon in 1972 and is the first Republican gubernatorial candidate to win  the heavily Hispanic and Democratic border counties of El Paso, Cameron and  Hidalgo. (Someone began circulating a false story about his I.Q. being lower  than any other President. If you believed it, you might want to go tohttp://www.snopes.com/ search for President  Bush or IQ  and see the truth.)

Vice President Dick Cheney: Earned a B.A. in 1965 and a M.A. in 1966,  both in political science. Two years later, he won an American Political Science  Association congressional fellowship. One of Vice President Cheney's primary  duties is to share with individuals, members of Congress and foreign leaders,  President Bush's vision to strengthen our economy, secure our homeland and win  the War on Terrorism. In his official role as President of the Senate, Vice  President Cheney regularly goes to Capital Hill to meet with Senators and  members of the House of Representatives to work on the Administration's  legislative goals. In his travels as Vice President, he has seen first hand the  great demands the war on terrorism is placing on the men and women of our  military, and he is proud of the tremendous job they are doing for the United  States of America.

Secretary of State Colin Powell: Educated in the New York City public  schools, graduating from the City College of New York (CCNY), where he earned a  Bachelor's Degree in geology. He also participated in ROTC at CCNY and received  a commission as an Army second lieutenant upon graduation in June 1958. His  further academic achievements include a Master of Business Administration Degree  from George Washington University. Secretary Powell is the recipient of numerous  U.S. and foreign military awards and decorations. Secretary Powell's civilian  awards include two Presidential Medals of Freedom, the President's Citizens  Medal, the Congressional Gold Medal, the Secretary of State Distinguished  Service Medal, and the Secretary of Energy Distinguished Service Medal. Several  schools and other institutions have been named in his honor and he holds  honorary degrees from universities and colleges across the country. (Note: He  retired as Four Star General in the United States Army)

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld: Attended Princeton University on  Scholarship (AB, 1954) and served in the U.S. Navy (1954-57) as a Naval aviator;  Congressional Assistant to Rep. Robert Griffin (R-MI), 1957-59; U.S.  Representative, Illinois, 1962-69; Assistant to the President, Director of the  Office of Economic Opportunity, Director of the Cost of Living Council, 1969-74;  U.S. Ambassador to NATO, 1973-74; head of Presidential Transition Team, 1974;  Assistant to the President, Director of White House Office of Operations, White  House Chief of Staff, 1974-77; Secretary of Defense, 1975-77.

Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge: Raised in a working class  family in veterans' public housing in Erie. He earned a scholarship to Harvard,  graduating with honors in 1967. After his first year at The Dickinson School of  Law, he was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he served as an infantry staff  sergeant in Vietnam, earning the Bronze Star for Valor. After returning to  Pennsylvania, he earned his Law Degree and was in private practice before  becoming Assistant District Attorney in Erie County. He was elected to Congress  in 1982. He was the first enlisted Vietnam combat veteran elected to the U.S.  House, and was overwhelmingly re-elected six times.

National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice: Earned her Bachelor's Degree  in Political Science, Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of  Denver in 1974; her Master's from the University of Notre Dame in 1975; and her  Ph.D. from the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of  Denver in 1981. (Note: Rice enrolled at the University of Denver at the age of  15, graduating at 19 with a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science (Cum Laude).  She earned a Master's Degree at the University of Notre Dame and a Doctorate  from the University of Denver's Graduate School of International Studies. Both  of her advanced degrees are also in Political Science.) She is a Fellow of the  American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has been awarded Honorary Doctorates  from Morehouse College in 1991, the University of Alabama in 1994, and the  University of Notre Dame in 1995. At Stanford, she has been a member of the  Center for International Security and Arms Control, a Senior Fellow of the  Institute for International Studies, and a Fellow (by courtesy) of the Hoover  Institution. Her books include Germany Unified and Europe Transformed (1995)  with Philip Zelikow, The Gorbachev Era (1986) with Alexander Dallin, and  Uncertain Allegiance: The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army (1984). She  also has written numerous articles on Soviet and East European foreign and  defense policy, and has addressed audiences in settings ranging from the U.S.  Ambassador's Residence in Moscow to the Commonwealth Club to the 1992 and 2000  Republican National Conventions. From 1989 through March 1991, the period of  German reunification and the final days of the Soviet Union, she served in the  Bush Administration as Director, and then Senior Director, of Soviet and East  European Affairs in the National Security Council, and a Special Assistant to  the President for National Security Affairs. In 1986, while an international  affairs fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations, she served as Special  Assistant to the Director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In 1997, she served on  the Federal Advisory Committee on Gender -- Integrated Training in the Military.  She was a member of the boards of directors for the Chevron Corporation, the  Charles Schwab Corporation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the  University of Notre Dame, the International Advisory Council of J.P. Morgan and  the San Francisco Symphony Board of Governors. She was a Founding Board member  of the Center for a New Generation, an educational support fund for schools in  East Palo Alto and East Menlo Park, California and was Vice President of the  Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula. In addition, her  past board service  has encompassed such organizations as Transamerica Corporation, Hewlett Packard,  the Carnegie Corporation, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, The Rand  Corporation, the National Council for Soviet and East European Studies, the  Mid-Peninsula Urban Coalition and KQED, public broadcasting for San Francisco.  Born November 14, 1954 in Birmingham, Alabama, she resides in Washington, D.C.

So who are these celebrities? What is their education? What is their experience  in affairs of State or in National Security?

While I will defend to the death their right to express their opinions, I think  that if they are going to call into question the intelligence of our leaders, we  should also have all the facts on their educations and background:

Barbra Streisand : Completed high school Career: Singing and acting

Cher: Dropped out of school in 9th grade. Career: Singing and acting

Martin Sheen: Flunked exam to enter University of Dayton. Career: Acting

Jessica Lange: Dropped out college mid-freshman year. Career: Acting

Alec Baldwin: Dropped out of George Washington U. after scandal. Career: Acting

Julia Roberts: Completed high school. Career: Acting

Sean Penn: Completed High school. Career: Acting

Susan Sarandon: Degree in Drama from Catholic University of America in  Washington, D.C. Career: Acting

Ed Asner; Completed High school. Career: Acting

George Clooney: Dropped out of University of Kentucky. Career: Acting

Michael Moore: Dropped out first year University of Michigan. Career: Movie  Director

Sarah Jessica Parker: Completed High School. Career: Acting

Jennifer Anniston: Completed High School. Career: Acting

Mike Farrell: Completed High school. Career: Acting

Janeane Garofelo: Dropped out of College. Career: Stand up comedienne

Larry Hagman: Attended Bard College for one year. Career: Acting

While comparing the education and experience of these two groups, we should also  remember that President Bush and his cabinet are briefed daily, even hourly, on  the War on Terror and threats to our security. They are privy to information  gathered around the world concerning the Middle East, the threats to America,  the intentions of terrorists and terrorist-supporting governments. They are in  constant communication with the CIA, the FBI, Interpol, NATO, The United  Nations, our own military, and that of our allies around the world. We cannot  simply believe that we have full knowledge of the threats because we watch CNN!!  We cannot believe that we are in any way as informed as our leaders.

These celebrities have no intelligence-gathering agents, no fact-finding groups,  no insight into the minds of those who would destroy our country. They only have  a deep seated hatred for all things Republican. By nature, and no one knows  quite why, the Hollywood elitists detest Conservative views and anything that  supports or uplifts the United States of America.
The silence was deafening from the Left when Bill Clinton bombed a  pharmaceutical factory outside of Khartoum, or when he attacked the Bosnian  Serbs in 1995 and 1999. He bombed Serbia itself to get Slobodan Milosevic out of  Kosovo, and not a single peace rally was held. When our Rangers were ambushed in  Somalia and 18 young American lives were lost, not a peep was heard from  Hollywood. Yet now, after our nation has been attacked on its own soil, after  3,000 Americans were killed, by freedom-hating terrorists, while going about  their routine lives, they want to hold rallies against the war. Why the change?  Because an honest, God-fearing Republican sits in the White House.

Another irony is that in 1987, when Ronald Reagan was in office, the Hollywood  group aligned themselves with disarmament groups like SANE, FREEZE and PEACE  ACTION, urging our own government to disarm and freeze the manufacturing of any  further nuclear weapons, in order to promote world peace. It is curious that  now, even after we have heard all the evidence that Saddam Hussein has chemical,  biological and is very close to obtaining nuclear weapons, their is no cry from  this group for HIM to disarm. They believe we should leave him alone in his  quest for these weapons of mass destruction, even though it is certain that  these deadly weapons will eventually be used against us in our own cities.

So why the hype out of Hollywood? Could these celebrities believe that since  they draw such astronomical salaries, they are entitled to also determine the  course of our Nation? That they can make viable decisions concerning war and  peace? Did Michael Moore have the backing of the Nation when he recently thanked  France, on our behalf, for being a "good enough friend to tell us we were  wrong"? I know for certain he was not speaking for me. Does Sean Penn fancy  himself a Diplomat, in going to Iraq when we are just weeks away from war? Does  he believe that his High School Diploma gives him the knowledge (and the right)  to go to a country that is controlled by a maniacal dictator, and speak on  behalf of the American people? Or is it the fact that he pulls in more money per  year than the average American worker will see in a lifetime? Does his bank  account give him clout?

The ultimate irony is that many of these celebrities have made a shambles of  their own lives, with drug abuse, alcoholism, numerous marriages and divorces,  scrapes with the law, publicized temper tantrums, etc. How dare they pretend to  know what is best for an entire nation! What is even more bizarre is how many  people in this country will listen and accept their views, simply because they  liked them in a certain movie, or have fond memories of an old television  sitcom!

It is time for us, as citizens of the United States, to educate ourselves about  the world around us. If future generations are going to enjoy the freedoms that  our forefathers bequeathed us, if they are ever to know peace in their own  country and their world, to live without fear of terrorism striking in their own  cities, we must assure that this nation remains strong.
We must make certain that those who would destroy us are made aware of the  severe consequences that will befall them.

Yes, it is a wonderful dream to sit down with dictators and terrorists and join  hands, singing Cumbaya and talking of world peace. But it is not real. We did  not stop Adolf Hitler from taking over the entire continent of Europe by simply  talking to him. We sent our best and brightest, with the strength and  determination that this Country is known for, and defeated the Nazi regime.  President John F. Kennedy did not stop the Soviet ships from unloading their  nuclear missiles in Cuba in 1962 with mere words. He stopped them with action,  and threat of immediate war if the ships did not turn around. We did not end the  Cold War with conferences. It ended with the strong belief of President Ronald  Reagan... PEACE through STRENGTH.