NL-NOW is Pissed!
Women’s group blasts Letterman over sexual affairs with staff
WASHINGTON (CNN) — The National Organization for Women has sharply criticized comedian David Letterman, accusing him of promoting a hostile, uncomfortable work environment.
David Letterman’s behavior with employees has created "a toxic environment" in the workplace, NOW says.
"The latest Letterman controversy sheds new light on the widespread objectification of women in the workplace," NOW said in a statement Tuesday. "Most women can attest to the fact that many workplaces are plagued with inappropriate behavior by men in power."
The "Late Show With David Letterman" host admitted last week on his CBS program that he had sex with unnamed employees and had testified about those liaisons before a New York grand jury as part of an alleged extortion attempt.
A CBS producer, Robert "Joe" Halderman, is accused of threatening to go public with embarrassing information about Letterman’s private life unless the 62-year-old funnyman ponied up $2 million.
Letterman made a public apology Monday to his wife, Regina Lasko, who, he said, had been "horribly hurt by my behavior." He said he is trying to repair that relationship.
"Either you’re going to make some progress and get it fixed, or you’re going to fall short and perhaps not get it fixed, so let me tell you folks, I got my work cut out for me," Letterman told the audience Monday night.
Letterman married Lasko in March, and they have a 5-year-old son together. All the affairs took place before the marriage, Letterman’s production company has said.
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NOW said Letterman’s behavior was inappropriate in the workplace, saying all employees should be respected for their talent and skills.
"Recent developments in the David Letterman extortion controversy have raised serious issues about the abuse of power leading to an inappropriate, if not hostile, workplace environment for women and employees," NOW said in Tuesday’s statement.
Men such as Letterman make decisions on hiring and firing, who gets raises, who advances and who does entry-level tasks, NOW said.
"As ‘the boss,’ he is responsible for setting the tone for his entire workplace — and he did that with sex. In any work environment, this places all employees — including employees who happen to be women — in an awkward, confusing and demoralizing situation," the group said.
"The National Organization for Women calls on CBS to recognize that Letterman’s behavior creates a toxic environment and to take action immediately to rectify this situation. With just two women on CBS’ board of directors, we’re not holding our breath."
Those board members are Shari Redstone, vice chairwoman of the board and president of National Amusements Inc., which operates motion picture screens, and Linda Griego, president and chief executive of Griego Enterprises Inc., a business management company.
CBS airs "Late Show With David Letterman," which Letterman’s company, Worldwide Pants Inc., produces.
Is that why his ratings are up?
Yeah, NOW is relevant..if we’re back in the early 70’s! What’s really inappropriate is our twisted/sister modern society. All Dave had to do is call up a 24 year old intern and ask her out for a movie. And what the fuck happens? She falls MADLY in LOVE with Dave!!! Do you know why? In our fucked up society women just pee their pants if they get a chance to hook up with a multi-millionaire-tenfold if he’s famous.
A 60 year old with a 24 year old? God, that crazy intern would have loved to show off Dave to her parents and say “Mom? Dad? I want you to meet my “buckets full of money when he dies” fiancée! Then everyone would have celebrated the cute couple
NOW is sadly now like a lot of reactionary political groups — they have to make hay in order to keep the donations coming in. Why isn’t NOW protesting thousands of women in Yankee Stadium trying out for the upcoming Victoria Secrets TV show? Why isn’t NOW out there complaining about Carrie Prejean’s as she hijacks the Feminist Movement with her BS nonsense? Why isn’t NOW demonstrating how sexist Fox News is (as just about every single woman on the network is dressed like, well as Dave once quipped “a slutty stewardess”).
No, instead they jump on the usual right-wingnuts bandwagon to get rid of a latenight talkshow host for…living his fucking life. It’s not my business it took David Letterman twenty years to marry a woman he’s dating. It’s not my business he waited five years after having a child with this woman, to marry her. It’s not my business which way his dick swings in his boxers.
He didn’t kill anyone, he didn’t steal anyone’s lunch money, he didn’t leave the toilet seat up (well, maybe he did that last one a few times).
Now if it comes out that he raped an intern, or pulled an O’Reilly and harassed them until they couldn’t take it anymore…fine, have it at NOW and whoever else you get for your moral crusade. Otherwise, leave him alone and if you don’t like him for screwing around like a guy in his position might do, then change the channel at 11:35PM!
Sammy,
NOW is NOT a right wingnut organization. They are as far to the LEFT end of the political spectrum as one could possibly get.
What makes you think they are a “right wing” organization?(lol)
Sobordinates is ethically wrong, but if people couldn’t fuck people they worked with there would be a lot less fuckin goin.
“Sammy,
NOW is NOT a right wingnut organization. They are as far to the LEFT end of the political spectrum as one could possibly get.
What makes you think they are a “right wing” organization?(lol)”
Yeah Sammy, do you think the left has a monopoly on political sanity. The extremes on both the right and the left are filled with intolerant nutjobs.
NOW is a very left wing organization.
Surprised people are actually taking notes around this corner of cyberspace…
Yes, for the record, NOW is on the LEFT end of the political spectrum.
Yet in this instance, rhetorically speaking, they are acting a lot like the mob of Wingnuts upset Dave joked about their personal top five spank bank member…basketball player turned ‘maverick’ Sarah Palin.
Sammy,
you seem to forget that the ‘left’ is responsilbe for things like theatre ratings, the PMRC(remember them), and the political correctness that demonizes anyone who disagrees with them.
They are not acting like the mob ‘wingnuts’ they are acting like everyone else on the fringe left…they know whats best for you and I.
Funny how most on the left end seem to rail against FOX news, but forget that ABC,NBC,CBS,CNN, MSNBC,TBS, etc. are all as far to the left as FOX is to the right. Its just that FOX gets better ratings than most of these outlets combined that bothers them most.
The ‘left’ end of the polictcal spectrum is just as guilty of denying free speech as the right. My nephew is a junior at a universtiy in California…His entire life he has recieved straight “A”s on every single report card. He prepared a paper for a political science class about Ronald Regan, for which he recieved a “D”. In the notes the teacher wrote, “Say goodbye to your straigh “A” record.” PPolitical correctness at its best, thank you left wing commies.
Funny how many point fingers at the right wing “NUTJOBS” but when asked to describe their own political preference, they call themselves centrists.
Right wing nutfobs make no apologies for being right wingeres, left wing nutjobs will try to convince you that they arent on the fringe, but represent the ‘center’ That is the biggest lie the ‘left’ and most media perpetuate.
Dave’s a freak, he should get his tail somewhere other than the job.
TBS shows old movies and those shitty Tyler Perry sitcoms…so how they would end up being lumped into your argument is beyond me.
Did you stop to consider that your nephew might have either gotten a pass on his classwork up until now, or that his paper on Reagan wasn’t very good?
Sure, both sides of the political divide have their ‘moral causes’ (Lieberman wanted to ban the silly MTV Jackass and yes, Tipper Gore had a bug up her butt about racy music lyrics). At the end of the day, MTV ignored Lieberman and the Record Industry made a slight concession (the advisory warning label and selling a sanitized version for some albums) and media itself went on doing what they want to do.
Personally, I gather that there are many Americans who see themselves as in the center — as they probably only really care about jobs, their kids education and their 401K (so the wedge social issues both parties care about, the Right much more than the Left, don’t interest them).
Yet I’ve never seen Lefties who are closer to the extremes (Bill Maher, Michael Moore, even Keith Olberman or Phil Donahue) would try to suggest they are the ‘mainstream’. All would proudly say that they are Liberals…just as Rush, Hannity, Coulter proudly say they are Conservative.
In point of fact, I would say that it is usually the Right who are more ‘uptight’ about having to defend their position — as they’re usually the first go to the place of “I’m being muzzled, waaaaaaaahhhhhhh” before they try to argue their point like rational Republicans/Conservatives such as Kirk, Irving Kristol, and the late great William F. Buckley and William Safire would do.
You’d NEVER see those guys on TV, on the radio, bitching and moaning and using the ‘fear of censorship’ card to sell their conservative ideas. Yet I can’t even count how many times I’ve heard Rush and Hannity try to assert that ANY DAY NOW the BIG BAD GOVERNMENT is going to shut them down and throw them on Devil’s Island…
Perhaps you didn’t see Rush on Leno a few weeks ago, say with not a trace of irony that he’d would get along with anyone…just as long as THEY prescribe to HIS way of thinking.
As for ratings, sure Fox beats their rivals. Yet last I checked, O’Reilly or even Glenn Beck isn’t pulling the numbers that the three nightly newscast do combined (20 million easy). Likewise, CNN gets more unique viewers than Fox. Which is to say, they have more different eyeballs watching, than Fox which has the same three to three and a half million audience tuning in day after day after day.
Just keep telling yourself that those Liberals are out to get Conservatives as you consume the ‘news’ in the Right Wing Echo Chamber built by Matt Drudge (as it’s no secret, a large part of what he links to during the day, will end up being pushed by AM Talk Radio and the cable news networks…most of all Fox).
There is the old adage you don’t discuss, religion, how much money you make and the big one, politics. However, lets not get it twisted: right wing folk do nothing for the average joe and jane. Do the donkeys?
Traditionally over the years they have done more. Is it tenfold? not exactly but unless you’re in the country club folk then you don’t have an alley w/ the elephants.
Just saying your better off w/ the donkeys then w/ the party of no. Yes, the elephants don’t make apologies bout not giving a shit about the little guy, but that doesn’t forgive them anyless. Believe me I live in Oklahoma and you guys on the west coast don’t know how narrow-minded these folks actually are.
In fact, just recently the people in charge want to put in the books that if a women has an abortion they want it to be public record. http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/08/oklahoma-abortion-online/
seeing is believing. Being a man I couldn’t imagine something like this and for the women out there this is just laughable if it weren’t true sadly.
I”m not saying the donkeys are the end all be all in fact they could fuck up a cup of coffee, however, I”ll put my trust in them over the party of no and the country club folk. And of course the party that wants to go back to the “leave it to beaver” times. Or Father knows best and that aint happening.
Sammy,
Your straight from the MSNBC talking points handbook does have some merit to it. Og course the behavior you describe above is exactly what NOW is engaging in. Its pretty obvious from your first post here that you dont know your ‘right’ from your ‘left’.
The leftist forms of goverment, communism, socialism, facism(?), will take your rights away much faster than anyone. Just look right now at what total percentage of your money is taken in taxes….including sales tax, gasoline taxes, added taxes on axchohol and cigarettes, property tax etc…. For most americans its about 50% of what they earn. And taxes continue to go up!!!!! I for one do not want to continue down this path to the l
“left’
And you just keep telling yourself that the leftists we elected into office are not going to try to speeze every single penny they can out of every single one of yours and my paychecks.
Just out of curiosity Sammy, what is on the left’s agenda after socializing the health care systmem? Lets see if you can tell us what comes next, or hasnt MSNBC done any stories on that yet, so you wouldnt know.(lol)
Theres enough baggage on both ends of the political spectrum.
The country club line always used by the left is amusing. Since most elections these days are pretty close, usually a few percentage points either way, I guess youre saying that about 40 to 50% fo the nation are ‘country clubbers’. Only 5% of the U.S. makes more than 150,000 dollars. And that aint counrty club rich, not even close. So there must be alot more people than just the country clubbers voting for the right.
And yes, the donkeys can fuck your cup of coffee, and then they will tax you on it.
One question GQ, since the governmet already takes about 50% fo all the money ‘earned’ by the citizens, How much more will they have to take before you say enough is enough.55%, 60%,65%,70% more?. Be honest GQ, where do you think it will stop? (This is the one question that no liberal will give you a real number answer for) They’ll go on another MSNBC handbook rant, but wont give you a solid number on what percentage of your money they want to take, or should be ‘fair’ to take.
Sammy,
regarding my newphew. No he has not been “getting a pass” for the last 19 YEARS. He has a full ride acedemic scholarship,playes water polo, and recently sold one of his paintings for $12,000.oo. He has had straight A’s since first grade.
“The ‘left’ end of the polictcal spectrum is just as guilty of denying free speech as the right. My nephew is a junior at a universtiy in California…His entire life he has recieved straight “A”s on every single report card. He prepared a paper for a political science class about Ronald Regan, for which he recieved a “D”. In the notes the teacher wrote, “Say goodbye to your straigh “A” record.” PPolitical correctness at its best, thank you left wing commies.”
Sadly is true, I was watching the pensum in English Sturdies Majors and is filled with left wing indoctrination, from Marxism to Post Estructuralism (who in the US is left wing but in Europe has moven to the right).
Is not a secrets that most social “sciences” are just left wing indoctrination, and not just in the US but worldwide.
Good story Harvey, your nephew got fucked on that one.
It was the General nephew, not mine.
Ah yes, the ‘evils’ of reading so-called Left-wing writing. Oh, the horrors of being exposed to other ways of thinking and seeing the world!
Damn those loony Leftist, thanks to them and their BS ideas there’s all of this fucking pornographic material to talk endlessly about in cyberspace…
The problem is that often they are NOT exposed to not leftist thinking.
And the left is a real enemy of economic progress and human freedom on the long term.
The Left may not be perfect but it is the lesser of two evils.
I.E. I’d rather be a Commie(Leftist) than a Nazi (Rightist).
Like I said, the fringe elements of both sides of the spectrum are full of baloney.
But the constant name calling by the left, and the repeated, I call it, straight from the MSNBC handbook talking points responses add little to the debate.
How do you turn a democrat into a republican? Get him off welfare and give him a job with taxes deducted from his paycheck,
You get that *cough cough* joke from Rush, Hannity or Malkin?
Sammy, actually that is from the “Democrat Republican Jokebook’ that was first published in 1975, probably before you were born.
For the record, I rarely listen to rush or hannity. Seems you listen alot more than I do.
Hey Sammy, what percentage of all the money YOU earn do you think you should pay in taxes? 50,60,70, more? Remember to include all your sales tax,(my propery tax is 7,200.oo per year). (no lefty will give a real number answer to this question) I say it should be no more that 35%, and that is for the wealthiest wage earners.
Sorry but the Nazi are social democrats in economics.
The term Nazi actually mean national socialist.
And Communist killed far more people than Nazis in the XX Century.
The poor folk get tricked into thinking that the elephants have the morality on their side. They’ve been so successful in duping poor and religious people. I’ll never understand how a person driving a 2K car w/ a “W” sticker” on the back is on the side w/ the elephants.
There is a great book out there that breaks it down on how the middle class has been duped by the right wing zealots: What’s the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America by Thomas Frank. In gist his theory goes like this:
“The largely blue collar citizens of Kansas can be counted upon to be a “red” state in any election, voting solidly Republican and possessing a deep animosity toward the left. This, according to author Thomas Frank, is a pretty self-defeating phenomenon, given that the policies of the Republican Party benefit the wealthy and powerful at the great expense of the average worker. According to Frank, the conservative establishment has tricked Kansans, playing up the emotional touchstones of conservatism and perpetuating a sense of a vast liberal empire out to crush traditional values while barely ever discussing the Republicans’ actual economic policies and what they mean to the working class. Thus the pro-life Kansas factory worker who listens to Rush Limbaugh will repeatedly vote for the party that is less likely to protect his safety, less likely to protect his job, and less likely to benefit him economically. To much of America, Kansas is an abstract, “where Dorothy wants to return. Where Superman grew up.”
Well, that is also the Democrats fault.
1. Im not sure that the “Republican polioies benefit only the rich” mantra is really true. Most are based in Marxist economics were wealth is a zero sum game.
Were somehow the job of the goverment is to Tax the rich (or to steal from them if you are calling a spade a spade) and give them to the poor.
2. The Democrats dropped the ball on cultural issues. They forced the socially conservative blue collar folks into the Republicans.
Take a example of Church going Catholics, they once were a solid Democratic constituency in the US. But once Democrats were known as the party of abortion and gay rights, Church going Catholics became divided swing votes. They became Reagans democrats.
If Obama fails, I predict more of the same. With a vengeance.
Harvey,
Dont you find it amusing that some of the posters here dont even know their ‘left’ from their ‘right’
As all of us in the States are finding out, the ‘leftists’ will take away your rights alot faster thatn the right(and then the left will tax you for the privelage of losing those rights.)
Reminds me of when the Sandinistas were wovetd out in Nicaragua….on their last day in power they revoked all of the laws they passed regarding suppression of speech, private land ownershiip, etc….They were immune form those laws while in ppower, but once they were out of power they revoked those laws.
And GQ, I see you NEVER answered the question what percentage of your money should be taken in taxes?(50,60,70?(exactly as I predicted)
I also find it quite funny that if a white conservative is a church going person he is considered a ‘right wingnut’ but if a black liberal goes to church, well thats just fine. REV. Jesse Jackson, REV. Al Sharptone, the First AME church etc. Why is it ok for black liberals to build their lives around the church, but not conservatives?
Well, one fun data, except in the areas where they oppose imposing religious values on the life of the citizens, often regading “pelvic issues” the left is much more likely to push for intrusive legislation on things like Taxes, regulations, gun control, safety, education, health that in the end mean a lot of intrusion from the State into the private lives of citizens.
Ah the Sandininistas, fucking pedophiles!
The General & Harvey Dent AKA Rics,
Joseph Paul Goebbels & Roger Ailes from Fox News would be proud of you two.
Firs GQ tells us that the right are a bunch of country club rich people….Then he tells us all those poor people are voting for the right.
Like most leftists, he wants to have his cake and eat it too, and he wants YOU to pay for it.
These, straight from the MSNBC handbook, leftists responses are as hypocritical as anything the right says.
You guys didn’t see what I said about the donkeys: “I”m not saying the donkeys are the end all be all in fact they could fuck up a cup of coffee, however, I”ll put my trust in them over the party of no and the country club folk.”
Look it, I’m no f’ing expert on tax brackets or economics. I’m be the first to idmit that. I”m more of a social liberal.
You know, the ones for women’s rights, I don’t’ like guns, not into nascar, don’t give a shit about gays getting married, hunting, fishing, I’m not into any kind of religon. I come from more of a working-class family. Not a passifist, but certainly not a war monger simply for the sake of it. Getting into something that has killed more young men and women than all of 9’11 and counting. I’m talking about Iraq not Afghanistan.
Don’t like talking heads telling me how to feel, i.e. O’Reilly, Culture, Rushie, Hanity et. al.
My grandfather won a Purple Heart in WW2 and he and my grandmother are more right than Rush Limbaugh. My father worked at GM. My mom worked as a counselor. But that’s neither here nor there.
These are my thoughts and opinions. And I agree w/ when you said that it was Tripper Gore that started the Parental sticker stuff. And some donkeys are just as likely to give people grief.
I just see it as that Obama wants to attempt to improve our Country and the elephants simply won’t do it b/c of paritison politics. And of course Big Bussiness in their pockets. And sadly the goverment works more for the corporations than they do the people. And last I checked it was the people they were supposed to be working for. But that changed before I was born being 35.
It puzzles me that the people that work in an industry that a certain party would like nothing more than to crush it. I’m assuming most of you guys live on either coasts will like I said I live right in the bible belt and I can assure you that these people are racists except for the school I went to Uof OKlahoma. They love the football players or don’t have a problem w/ them. But when I’m surrounded by Pat Robersons it’s scary.
I went on Facebook a couple weeks ago around when Obama was going to address the school kids. And some of the response were freighting to say the least. They’re were actually friends of mine who called their school and was going to hold them out if they played what he had to say.
thing he would attempt to indoctrinate them into socialism, Marxism etc. Ironic thing is these people more than likely don’t even know what those terms actually mean.
Look at how low the elehpants have gotten to? And if it werent’ for how bad of a job Cheney and Bush did Obama wound’t have won the election.
What improvments are Beck and co trying to do? Nothing! All they want to do is separate and keep our people at odds w/ another. You guys realize this is exactly what the people who attacked us wanted.
We’re playing right into their hands by the constant bickering, being close-minded and regressing. They’ve already beaten down one superpower in Russia and they want to bring us down to and they’re all to a great start of course w/ our help.
Beck and Fox News, who bytheway who own News Corp, aka. Rupert Murdock isn’t’ even American. Beck didn’t want to help bringing people together. First off, naming your protest – “Teabaggers” and not even knowing the double entendre is completely and utterly predictable.
And what did we see during this so-called rally? White people going ape-shit about the health care debate they don’t understand b/c they listen to people who don’t want to improve this country. You know, Christians like Rushie, Beck and co.
Of course I’m not attempting to get you guys to change your opinion but I’ll just say you should think for yourself and what’s best for our country. Wanting to improve our way of life isn’t a dirty thing to do. B/c after-all it’s benefits you and I and the rest of us.
Rip away but I can’t even comprehend how arguing on porn site about being a Democrat and how that’s a deterrent is just zany!
I love how those socialists say that being rich is bad.
And present envy as a some sort of virtue.
Too bad, greed is good.
As my hero Maggie T said, “the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of someone else money to spend”
I wonder if Americans “liberals” has some clue card that you has to blame a critical view on the “neo con agenda”, “brainwashed by Fox News” or other.
Maybe the DNC has given then some sort of clue cards.
I has nothing to do with the right wing populist at FOX. Im for free inmigration, legal drugs, including cocaine and heroin, legal prostitution and porn. I do not think the US has any business in the Middle East after the Cold War ended and that the US earned his problems with Islam. I have my jury out on Global Warming but I thing getting out of oil is just common sense as long as you do it in a non intrusive way.
I just do not believe in a powerfull “public option” in anything, or that goverment should has the power to do “wealth redistribution”, that is just a code name for goverment madated robbery.
I wonder how US socialists came to be known as liberals, well after all, US football is played mainly with the hands.
No body wants the country to turn into socialist. Only the right wing talking heads are saying that. Hey, you wanna buy some Amway too Mr. Dent?
No one? I bet half of Michael Moore fans wants it. And about 90% of academy!
Academy? You mean the actors in Hollywood? No such truth to that. They enjoy all the perks that come w/ being a working actor. Capitalism is what made them more money than they ever imagined they would make, along w/ the Hollywood studio system.
Michael Moore latest deal is saying that capitalism isn’t working any more. But that’s simply his theory. Nobody wants that and in all reality that will never happen in a zillion years in this country.
You’re free to believe that water isn’t wet. But don’t muddy the issue of attempting to make our country a better place. I don’t care who is doing it, as long as we evolve for the better. Not regressing b/c inflation has gone up over the last 25 yrs or so and the middle class pocket books have maintained the same.
IN short, regular folk can’t keep up w/ current lifestyle. What’s the point of making cars and other manufacturing industries of the john doe and Jain Joe can’t afford them?
It doesn’t do anybody any good. You or I or anybody else. Fuck it, sadly this is like talking to a toddler.
How is it a bad thing to help our fellow man and women when it’s possible. Is it only for the rich that can live a good life? In this country? I guess if it’s the other guy or girl then it doesn’t matter if you’re doing ok in things.
Just don’t get sick and stay in the house and you’ll be fine.
It’s so weird that I’m more progressive coming from the southwest than you dudes that are on the coasts. Maybe you folk deep, deep, deep, down don’t really like women all that much and want to treat them like caveman days. Or even go back to the ’50’s.
I’m sad to say but that aint happening. Those days are long gone and aint coming back.
GQ,
The reason capitalism is’failing’ is because we are bieng taxed at a socialist rate. Capitalism, and the exspanding markets it birings, cannot function when they are taxed at such exhorbitalnlty high rates.
I agree w/ you 100% General!