"Who is mystery blonde girl found in Greece gypsy camp?" Roma/Gypsies need a Hollywood PR Counselor, stat! Channel 4 News video is devastating reproach to many well-intentioned but naive people who just thought Roma were victims who had bad PR.; #childtrafficking

Channel Four News video: 19 OCTOBER 2013 -Greek plea over mystery girl found in Roma gypsy camp
http://www.channel4.com/news/roma-missing-girl-gypsy-madeleine-mccann-abduction

"Who is mystery blonde girl found in Greece gypsy camp?" Roma/Gypsies need a Hollywood PR Counselor, stat! Channel 4 News video is devastating reproach to many well-intentioned but naive people who just thought Roma were victims who had bad PR. No, in Sweden as in England, genuine facts and reality re Roma must trump holier-than-thou platitudes and good intentions/guilt; #MadeleineMcCann, #childtrafficking

I received this disturbing news on Saturday via my daily Snowmail from Channel Four News at 12:06 p.m.

With this news on Saturday, it appears to me that the year of all the naive pro-Roma stories written in Europe are about to come to a thud, esp. in the U.K. and in Sweden.

As I've previously mentioned to some of you via an email or two, this past summer, a week after Nationalsdagen, a sort of Swedish July 4th but without the military angle but with picnics, a nationally-televised TV show fusing Swedish traditions, music and the Royal family,



a college in the Stockholm area, for security reasons, ordered all of its students out of their dorms near a campus parking lot after Roma took it over with their vehicles and set about transforming it into a  place to live, and soon engaging in some unruly criminal behavior, to boot, which got the attention of everyone in the area.

TheLocal (Sweden)

Students forced out over traveller safety fears 
14 Jun 2013 18:26 CET
By Oliver Gee

http://www.thelocal.se/48504/20130614/

The reason that the college felt obliged to require the students to get out toute-de-suite was that the Police did NOT want to intervene right away and remove the new arrivals because, as we'd later learn months later, there were some complication.

Complications and secret efforts that very few people in Sweden knew, which is to say that about 99.99% of the country did not know anything until later this summer:

http://www.thelocal.se/50378/20130923/

http://www.aftonbladet.se/ledare/ledarkronika/karinpettersson/article17530426.ab

http://www.thelocal.se/50400/20130924/

http://www.thelocal.se/50532/20131001/

Plus,

a.) Sweden has what is, alternately, a charming/quaint/preposterous law that is treasured by many and lamented by some that allows people to use/camp/hike on unoccupied private land if it's not specifically prohibited, but with that comes certain responsibilities.

In this instance, and not for the first time you suspect, the Gypsies involved intentionally conflated and stretched the limits of what is permissible under Allemansrätten and the Police knew that if they tried anything, they'd cite their rights under Swedish law.

Clearly, a university parking lot is not one of those places envisioned by the law, which was/is geared towards allowing the public free access to nature, near private property on lakes, forests, etc.

(NOT asphalt and concrete and proximity to a 7/11, which are on every third or fourth corner in Stockholm for reasons I'll get into in a future blog post.)

Owing to the fact that it was summer break for most college students, so the parking lot  was obviously more empty than usual- and,

b.) Police were very concerned that in light of the riots in immigrant-intensive Husby this spring in the town NW of Stockholm, professional Leftist community activists-types and 

the area's legitimate political players would immediately criticize the Police for trying to remove them, as we'd expect to see happen here  in a similar case of trespassing.

So in essence, the Police wanted a green light first from these political players that they could proceed rather than simply walk into what they perhaps rightly perceived a no-win trap, and

subsequently find everyone criticizing them for just doing their job.

That's the part of Sweden and Swedish life that you never read about in the U.S. news media, and which consistently drives many people there -like my friends, par exemple- quite crazy, since some things in a society DON'T need a consensus, they simply need people prepared to do their job correctly and as professionally as possible, however difficult sometimes.

My friends and their neighbors want the same thing that people here in Broward County want in their interactions with and expectations of local and regional government, and especially the Police Department. 
They want PREDICTABILITY.
The same thing the individual police officer wants.

But politics and good intentions often gets in the way of that, just as it does in England as well.

The Telegraph YouTube Channel video: Truth about the Romanian beggars of Park Lane. Uploaded July 28, 2013. http://youtu.be/SNhhJh81GxE

By the way, here's one of the possible reasons why the Police in Skåne had a registry of Roma children in the first place: http://www.thelocal.se/50464/20130926/

So that when, oh, hypothetically, blonde-haired, green-eyed girls were found that are clearly not related to anyone they are traveling with, Police know to immediately put out an alert.

Or to quote the piece, "Channel 4 News has been told the story reflects

a common trend in Eastern Europe." 

Right, because sometimes, a list is composed NOT to keep track of who belongs in a group, but rather for who doesn't, no?

Exactly.

Yes, as always, context matters.

More in the The Daily Mail:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2468431/Police-probe-claims-Ben-Needham-spotted-gypsy-camp-Maria.html

Despicable! Growing national backlash against sickening British police scandal that's only getting worse over time - Prime Minister David Cameron and entire U.K. literally staggered by the depths of despicable revelations re organized undercover police efforts to withhold evidence and smear the family of an innocent teenage boy murdered in 1993. Stephen Lawrence was murdered, and since then, it seems that Police and govt. bureaucrats have intentionally taken aim at his family to keep them quiet via orchestrated smears!; Damning news videos by BBC and Channel 4 News

Channel4News YouTube Channel video: Home Affairs correspondent Simon Israel reports on revelations that Stephen Lawrence's family was targeted and smeared by police. The parents of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence were treated as a threat to be smeared, according to a former undercover officer with the Metropolitan Police Service. Uploaded June 24, 2013. http://youtu.be/iXjGX35InhQ

BBC-TV video: The MP for Eltham & Plumstead, Clive Efford, who was involved in the call for the original 1997 inquiry into the case, describes the very grave nature of the revelations that some members of the Metropolitan Police -as well as people connected to the Home Office in the '90's- have not only been withholding damaging evidence about the truth surrounding the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993, but been involved in even further corruption via an organized effort to smear the Lawrence family. MP Efford, a Labour Party member and the Shadow Secretary for Sport, further stated that he believed that the only way the truth will all come out is via a new inquiry that does NOT involve the "police investigating police" agreeing that it was "not going to be good enough" for the British people. And he's 100% correct.
Video at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23030577

Despicable! Growing national backlash against sickening British police scandal that's only getting worse over time - Prime Minister David Cameron and entire U.K. literally staggered by the depths of despicable revelations re organized undercover police efforts to withhold evidence and smear the family of an innocent teenage boy murdered in 1993. Stephen Lawrence was murdered, and since then, it seems that Police and govt. bureaucrats have intentionally taken aim at his family to keep them quiet via orchestrated smears!; Damning news videos by BBC and Channel 4 News 

Doreen Lawrence: 'police resources were used to monitor our campaign' http://t.co/iq1jvf2kpJ via @guardian
— Clive Efford (@CliveEfford) June 23, 2013

The Stephen Lawrence inquiry must be recalled to investigate what information the police kept from them and who decided to withold it
— Clive Efford (@CliveEfford) June 23, 2013

@TelePolitics The public will have no confidence in the police investigating themselves on this matter it has to be completely independent
— Clive Efford (@CliveEfford) June 24, 2013

Much of Britain has woken-up lately feeling like a thunderous punch has been delivered to their collective stomachs, out-of-the-blue, while they were minding their own business this wet summer.

Except that was then quickly followed-up with a swift billy club to the back of the neck and a taser to their groin.

Groggy and barely able to stand, they hold on as best they can and wonder what sordid fact is  coming down the pike next in a police scandal that gets every one's emotions boiling in a flash.

And with that comes the larger possibility of yet another flash point.

Me being me, being interested in the very wide variety of things that I am, which, fairly often, confounds and frustrates both family and friends, and listening, reading and consuming by the ton the digital media that I do every week with a very heavy U.K. flavor, especially radio and TV, I've been following the Stephen Lawrence case for years.

BBC's timeline on the case:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16283806

Before these most recent revelations that have taken away every one's breath by their sheer level of cruelty and evil, the “hunt for disinformation” to discredit the Lawrences," l had planned on posting something about it over the Fourth of July weekend, when I'd finally post a lot of non-South Florida posts that I've already written and have been keeping in cold storage until the right time came.

But Monday morning while looking for something else, I found this powerful BBC News video

that falls hard on the heels of all the dozens of news articles, columns, blog posts and radio program discussions so very upsetting and despicable in the tale it told, that I found myself unable to wait any longer.
And when I received my daily Snowmail from London after Noon on Monday from Channel 4 News that gives me the rundown on the news stories they'll be doing later,
https://mailing.channel4.com/public/read_message.jsp;jsessionid=0;apw63?sigreq=1937640847
I was absolutely sure of it. http://www.channel4.com/news/

The Guardian
Police 'smear' campaign targeted Stephen Lawrence's friends and family
Exclusive: former undercover officer Peter Francis says superiors wanted him to find 'dirt' shortly after 1993 murder
Rob Evans and Paul Lewis, The Guardian
23 June 2013
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jun/23/stephen-lawrence-undercover-police-smears

The Guardian

Stephen Lawrence: Cameron deeply concerned by smear campaign claim

PM calls for investigation into claims undercover police officer was part of operation to smear family of murdered teenager
Alexandra Topping, Paul Lewis, Rob Evans and Patrick Wintour, guardian.co.uk, 
24 June 2013 04.24 EDT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jun/24/stephen-lawrence-cameron-police-smear-claim

The Telegraph

Who’s keeping tabs on the undercover cops?

Stephen Lawrence's family are not the only ones concerned about their activities

By Philip Johnston

8:43PM BST 24 Jun 2013

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10139126/Whos-keeping-tabs-on-the-undercover-cops.html

I had to get it out of my system before I literally blew a gasket, and so have deleted many prior links to stories about the case that have been attached to the Draft for many months, given that they no longer seem nearly as important to the overall picture, given what we've learned of late.

Most of you reading this now know as well as I do that there are some things that are more than merely dramatic literary license and fictional threats delivered in film or criminal procedural drams on TV, but actually common knowledge.
One of those things that we know to be true is that former policemen in prison have a very difficult time surviving.

But knowing what I know about this case and the way that some undercover police and govt.
bureaucrats seem to have attempted to orchestrate a PR lynch mob against the family of a teenage boy killed for no logical reason other than sheer hate, I only hope it's even worse in prison for the people involved in this case, since they have been drawing a public paycheck for years as guardians of civility, without people they encounter having any idea of the true depths of their immorality.

Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe responds to allegations in the media about undercover officers conduct in the Stephen Lawrence murder investigation:
http://content.met.police.uk/News/Commissioner-statement-following-allegations-about-undercover-officers/1400018214005/1257246745756

-----
Speaking of incompetent and/or unethical police, I will soon be posting some information here on the blog about what I and many other concerned and well-informed Hallandale Beach residents believe is the completely unsatisfactory performance over the recent past of the Hallandale Beach Police Dept.

I will be mentioning and raising questions about several specific situations and episodes that I am all-too-familiar with, as well as daily policing practices that STILL defy logic and reason despite how obvious it is that they bear no semblance of common sense.

But continue they do, ridiculous or not...

They continue because the HBPD was, is and will likely continue to be led by people who really are NOT that interested in improving the performance and reputation of the police force and making hard choices, so that it at least measures up to what HB residents, taxpayers and small business owners have a reasonable right to expect, considering the giant over-sized slice of the city budget the HBPD currently consumes.

The ratio of HB taxpayer money spent on policing to the actual HB taxpayer's level of satisfaction is completely out-of-whack.

Things really need to change dramatically there soon.

In part, before the HBPD pension problems become so much worse that even the sleepwalking local news media finds themselves unable to ignore the problem any more, and HAVE TO start showing up at HB City Hall in person -which they hate, and not without reason.

Oh the ignominy of them showing-up at 400 S. Federal Highway, knowing perfectly well before they finally find a place to park in the too-small public parking lot that they will be met with a stonewall just like so many HB residents are when they want to know what's really going on at HB City Hall.

Imagine that, reporters actually (finally!) asking hard questions about how large those pension obligations are, and actually reporting what the percentage of the city's future budget they'll be consuming, though the truth is that we all know most of the local print reporters would rather just be leaving messages from their officefor the city's spokesman, messages that will never be returned.

You know, "unavailable for comment."

Try looking up "unavailable for comment" in the Miami Herald and South Florida Sun-Sentinel's archives  PLUS the words "Hallandale Beach" and see how many times that comes up.

If yours truly only had a five-dollar bill for every time a newspaper article said that about someone at HB City Hall since i moved here, we'd already have that next trip to Sweden in the Fall already paid for -airfare, lodging and some really good food this time!

MSNBC's coverage of RNC is a marriage-made-in-heaven of Political Correctness & Ethnic Politics. If Mainstream Media's PC Police there deem it racist to say "Chicago," what does it mean NOW if you say "Chicago deep-dish"? Or, how many times can MSNBC jump-the-shark?

Speakmymind02 video:  Paranoid political correctness runs the roost when head rooster Chris Matthews is around, clucking his wild theories that for years have become increasingly creepy and offensive.
Chris Matthews: “They keep saying Chicago, by the way, you noticed?”
John Heilemann: “Well, there’s a lot of black people in Chicago”
These sort of cringe-inspiring PC moments are painful even when you didn't see them LIVE, but then that's MSNBC's problem in a nutshell: hardly anyone's watching their RNC  coverage, as they are being whipped by not only Fox News, but even pitiful CNN, with FNC beating them by a factor of more than 4.1:1. Only the party faithful turn there -the shut-ins getting their Liberal religion via cathode ray. Uploaded August 29, 2012. http://youtu.be/BW7nPFR0Oq8

MSNBC's coverage of RNC is a marriage-made-in-heaven of Political Correctness & Ethnic Politics. If Mainstream Media's PC Police deem it racist to say "Chicago," what does it mean NOW if you say "Chicago deep-dish"? Or, how many times can MSNBC jump-the-shark?

Having lived in Chicago during the mid-1980's, as well as Evanston and Wilmette, I can confirm that little bit of Breaking News knowledge imparted by jump-the-shark journo John Heilemann of New York Magazine -Chicago does indeed have many Blacks.
And many Poles, Eastern European/Russian Jews and tons of Mexicans, too.
Imagine that?

But then it IS the country's third-largest city.
It should hardly be surprising to anyone who knows America's history and especially its immigration patterns of the past 150 years.
That very mixture of cultures is another reason that I would have liked to have seen them get the Olympics in 2009 for 2016 instead of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

In case you recognized the name, yes, John Heilemann was the sub-subject of my August 22nd post, titled, Paul Ryan: Why he matters and needs to be unleashed on Obama and the Dems' treasure trove of bad ideas -he connects with smart, reasonable voters who see that under Obama, we're not just going the wrong direction on too many important issues, our margin of error is getting smaller everyday; DWS on thin ice with Obama HQ in Chicago but Sun-Sentinel is ignoring the story
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/paul-ryan-why-he-matters-and-needs-to.html

I lived in the Chicago area while Harold Washington, Jr. was mayor.
Yes, a Black man as mayor almost thirty years ago.
(Not that he would have gotten any votes from any members of Chris Matthews own family if they had lived there then.)
So how come they didn't mention that when they said, if you pardon the expression, "Chicago"?

Probably because mentioning something so fundamental to the city and to its recent history would've proved inconvenient, and not part of the MSNBC paranoid Talking Points narrative, since even now, when you say Chicago, people all over the world think first of Al Capone and corruption and the bears and the Cubs and pizza, not racial politics.
But, apparently, based on what he himself says and does, that's the first thing that Chris Matthews thinks of. 

Everyone who lived there at the time knows that without the White reform element in Chicago, Washington wouldn't have been elected.
Just like Tom Bradley in Los Angeles and David Dinkins in New York.
You know, many, many years after a Black man was elected mayor of a big city that was NOT  on either media-centric coast, Carl Stokes in Cleveland.
Not that it makes the fact any less important.

But who cares about that sort of common knowledge and common sense when you can get paid to sit around and make up crazy nonsense on LIVE TV and posit that saying "Chicago" is racist, and have nobody slap you in the back of the head.
So does this mean that when I say "Chicago deep-dish" I've stepped beyond the pale?

Chris Matthews and MSNBC Now Claim the Word 'Chicago' Is Racist
By Rusty Weiss 
August 30, 2012 at 12:12 a.m.

Chris Matthews was on Hardball tonight covering the Republican National Convention with guests Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post and John Heilemann of New York Magazine.  In what is seemingly the natural progression of things these days with Matthews, the subject of the 'otherization' of the President was being discussed.  Because, if you weren't aware already, Barack Obama is black, and any time a Republican chooses to discuss the failure that is his administration, the media will be there to quickly remind you that they only feel that way because of his skin color.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/08/30/chris_matthews_saying_chicago_is_racist.html

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/rusty-weiss/2012/08/30/chris-matthews-and-msnbc-now-claim-word-chicago-racist#ixzz252qumTv7



The Daily Caller
The DC Trawler with Jim Treacher blog
Another thread snaps in Chris Matthews’ frayed tether to reality
http://dailycaller.com/2012/08/30/another-thread-snaps-in-chris-matthews-frayed-tether-to-reality 

#Euro2012 -Video of BBC's controversial edition of Panorama titled, "Euro 2012 Stadiums of Hate" on the rampant violence, racism & anti-Semitism at football matches in Poland and Ukraine that has inflamed millions; Sol Campbell urges fans to "stay away"; BBC's response to criticism of program

BBC's Panorama "Stadiums of Hate" May 28, 2012.
http://youtu.be/E0f259wCerY


I actually meant to post this controversial video of the May 28th broadcast of the BBC's investigative program Panorma in my last post early this morning about the racist outbursts from the crowd -a minority of the 25,000 there to be sure- at the Dutch training session in Poland on Thursday, but perhaps it's for the best that it now has its own post.



Yesterday, the BBC posted this clip on their website from former England captain Sol Campbell's criticism of Poland and Ukraine being selected as co-hosts for Euro 2012 before they showed they're capable of running something like this BEFORE they've got a firm handle on the overt racism and anti-Semitism present at football matches in their countries, has really riled millions in the two countries, as well as Poles and Ukrainians living in Great Britain.
But many have agreed with his analysis that they weren't worthy in the first place, given  how self-evident the problems STILL are.




http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00tl1z1

BBC video: Sol Campbell: 'Stay away from Euro 2012'  
Article and more video at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18192375


Today on the BBC's website, the show's editor, Tom Giles, has posted his response to criticisms of the program on their "The Editors" blog, which I happen to subscribe to:

'Stadiums of Hate': Legitimate and fair

By Tom Giles 

18:28 UK time, Friday, 8 June 2012

When an investigative current affairs programme like Panorama broadcasts a programme called Euro 2012: Stadiums of Hate 11 days before a major football tournament and which reveals shocking images of racist abuse and violence in the host countries - controversy is to be expected.

Read the rest of the post at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2012/06/stadiums_of_hate_legitimate_an.html

------

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/

Oranjekoorts (Orange fever) at home, but in Poland, Dutch National Team is target of racial abuse in Krakow during team training session for Euro 2012. Info on incident, rumors of cause, and what UEFA is doing as tourney opens Friday; UEFA to players: Just DON'T step off the field!; #Euro2012

CNN video: Dutch National Team is target of racial abuse in Krakow, Poland during team practice for Euro 2012. Pedro Pinto reports from Warsaw on incident, rumors of cause and what UEFA is doing. Tourney starts today as Poland hosts Greece in Warsaw. June 7, 2012.

http://cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2012/06/08/pinto-football-racism-reported.cnn.html

SNTV video: Refs can 'stop games over racism', says UEFA President Platini

http://youtu.be/K7dzeia7ix0

Today's games on ESPN:  

11:30 a.m. Eastern - Greece vs. Poland 

2 p.m. Eastern - Russia vs. Czech Republic

The Netherlands plays Denmark on Saturday, an ESPN match airing at 11:45 a.m. and then plays Germany on Wednesday.

Some of you more regular readers of the blog might recall that my pre-2010 World Cup prediction was that the Orange would win in South Africa, but instead, they lost in a very ugly and depressing way in the title match to Spain, a style that really upset a lot of Dutch football fans at home and around the world.

TRAINING DUTCH TEAM ORANJE FOR EURO 2012 !! NEDERLAND HD

http://youtu.be/6TmXRyThcQw

DUTCH TEAM ORANJE GETTING READY FOR EURO 2012 !!!!

http://youtu.be/zu7wE9GVPL0

One Nation Thinking Only of Orange! (LOL!)

Oranje vlaggetjes zijn levensgevaarlijk voor verkeer

http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/1012/Nederland/article/detail/3267314/2012/06/07/Oranje-vlaggetjes-zijn-levensgevaarlijk-voor-verkeer.dhtml

and 

http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/5624/sportwereld/photoalbum/detail/3261250/352272/0/Oranjekoorts-stijgt-in-Goirle.dhtml total of 8 photos

Algemeen Dagblad's Euro 2012 homepage: 

http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/2942/EK-voetbal/index.dhtml

England's first match under new manager Roy Hodgson is against France on Monday; more on that match over the weekend.

All hail 'Roy the Redeemer'!

http://youtu.be/-ovbGWkRY_A 

Hollywood PR gambit or simply returning a favor? Brent Lang in TheWrap: Robert Downey Jr. Urges Hollywood: 'Forgive Mel Gibson'; But some NEVER will

Hollywood PR gambit or simply returning a favor? Brent Lang in TheWrap: Robert Downey Jr. Urges Hollywood: 'Forgive Mel Gibson'; But some NEVER will

Given the Hollywood-based news media's fascination for constantly recreating the same old narratives over and over again with different faces -it's not just Hollywood studios that like remakes- esp. their version of re-birth or redemption -regardless of whether it's factually either- it'll be interesting to see next week how talent-friendly, lowest common denominator TV shows like Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood and the like treat this story from Friday night, since there are a LOT of hard feelings in the Los Angeles entertainment industry about Mel Gibson, and an awful lot of people who have no intention of letting Gibson feel he's socially acceptable again in either polite society or the film industry.

Even people who usually try their best to stay "above it all" and not take sides if it's bad for business or ratings.

But the Mel Gibson issue is different.

Not that you'd know it from what your read in most U.S. newspapers or magazines -much less ones in South Florida- but there are a lot of smart and savvy TV program/network producers in LA who usually try their best to act agnostic editorially about some entertainment/celebrity stories they run that are clearly banal or self-serving but let them fly anyway, because they are, at heart, well, harmless.

But on this subject, they might just put their feet down and say, essentially, "Nope, I won't accommodate you, Mel Gibson. I won't allow you and your reps to finesse us in to giving you a one-sided forum to plead your case for public redemption.

Nope, first you must actually say that you're sorry publicly, specifically say what you're sorry about and then show some genuine remorse over an extended period of time.

Don't call us, we'll call you."

The conundrum of course, is how do you really ever know if a once hugely-popular actor like Gibson who has said and done what many people believe are some truly reprehensible things -consistently- is showing true remorse?

Or, frankly, is even worth trying to salvage?

Sometimes, despite your past history with talented-but-troublesome people, you have to let people with a documented history of 'burning bridges behind them' stay on the outside looking in, if for no other reason than self-preservation, so that you yourself aren't burned in the future. (Completion bonds exist for a reason, no?)

There are a lot of successful industry people who no longer are interested in being in the "Mel Gibson business,' no matter how artistically creative or financially reasonable the project he pitches sounds.

He's dead to them.

Period.

Someone else in LA will have to give him a rope or ladder to crawl out from the entertainment 'Phantom Zone' he's exiled in, but it won't be them.

They're throwing him an anchor, not an olive branch.

Over the weeks and months to come, we are all going to come to know just who those people are in Hollywood who put principles over profit.

TheWrap

Robert Downey Jr. Urges Hollywood: 'Forgive Mel Gibson'

Published: October 14, 2011 @ 11:50 pm

By Brent Lang

It was supposed to be Robert Downey Jr.’s night, but somehow Friday’s American Cinematheque Award ceremony became all about Mel Gibson.

When the evening’s honoree took to the stage at the Beverly Hills Hilton to accept his doorstop, he had a clear message for Hollywood.

Read the rest of the article at:

http://thewrap.com/movies/article/robert-downey-jr-tells-hollywood-forgive-mel-gibson-31881

Also writing with some insight on this story was reporter Julie Makinen of the L.A. Times at their 24 Frames film blog.

24 Frames blog

Los Angeles Times

Mel Gibson gets a boost from Robert Downey Jr.

October 15, 2011 | 12:34 am

The slow but methodical rehabilitation of Mel Gibson in Hollywood took another step forward Friday night, courtesy of Robert Downey Jr.

Dozens of famous faces who've performed onscreen with Downey or directed him -- among them Gibson, Jodie Foster, Gary Shandling, Michael Douglas and Jon Favreau -- gathered to pay tribute to (and roast) the "Iron Man" star at the Beverly Hilton as he received the 2011 American Cinematheque Award.

Read the rest of her take at:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2011/10/the-slow-but-methodical-rehabilitation-of-mel-gibson-in-hollywood-took-another-step-forward-friday-night-courtesy-of-rober-2.html

And in case you forgot, as you watch the videos below, of his Good Morning America interviews with ABC News Diane Sawyer from October 12th and 13th 2006, recall that this was BEFORE the most recent scandal involving former Gibson love interest Oksana Grigorieva, whom he took up with even before officially divorcing his wife, Robyn.

Mel Gibson Accounts for his Drunken Anti-Semitic Tirade (Part 1 of 2)

http://youtu.be/SeQMMp4tXfk

Mel Gibson Accounts for his Drunken Anti-Semitic Tirade (Part 2 of 2)

http://youtu.be/jGRS_TQhEhU