A Michael Moore FAN page

Might be slightly off topic

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 06:04:06 GMT

But I thought people in this group might be interested. The producer of the political documentary American Blackout which won at Sundance a couple years ago has produced a narrative webseries with very overt liberal politics.

you can see the first three minute episode here at www.feedseries.tv

and here is the trailer

If you have myspace...

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 20:25:18 GMT

This user posts blogs with videos and link about current political and social issues...it's pretty interesting and a good place to catch up on current events/awesome blogs/find other like minded people on myspace.

http://www.myspace.com/the_feed

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 20:38:43 GMT

Did any of yous do the "broom" thing outside your polling plce? I totally forgot! I suck!

Hello

Sat, 23 Sep 2006 13:42:48 GMT

I just joined this community five minutes ago. I finally found a LJ community that shares the same love for Michael Moore that I do! I have a connection to him too. Remember in Roger & Me, when the woman at the Scrabble tournament says that "partier" is not really a word? She is - seriously - my great grandmother. I am not lying. She is. Anyway, did angone watch BFC last night on Bravo? I did, even though I own the movie. See you on the boards!

Quick poll...

Thu, 07 Sep 2006 17:16:31 GMT

Do you believe America has made significant progress in the War on Terror since Sept. 11, 2001? Go vote at JacksonSun.Com. Poll's right there on the front.

G.O.P.S.

Tue, 11 Oct 2005 01:45:19 GMT

G.O.P.S. - This is Mark Fiore's take on COPS. It's really funny. It got me thinking about CORPORATE COPS. Remember that?

Activism on LiveJournal

Wed, 28 Sep 2005 11:33:41 GMT

Originally posted in cargoweasel's LJ as a response to an excellent post he made. I strongly suggest you read the original article, first, before understanding my response to Cargo.

LiveJournal doesn't go against anything the essay you posted to says, nor do any of your posts.

What the author writes is what I've been saying in local circles for years: I can't be an activist for everything for two reasons, 1. I don't have the time and by spreading myself too thin on everything I care about, I do a disservice to all of them by dilluting the effort, and 2. you need to concentrate and mainstream the message for others to appreciate and identify with it.

How is what you do on LiveJournal in violation of this?

I don't, for a minute, think that my essays are real activism; I write them, here, to get a few words out into the echo chamber and -maybe- refine my thoughts a bit by seeing them in print. I suspect you do the same.

The Internet -the Web- is atrocious at making money; it takes years to attract customers to any site; it took until -I believe- the year 2000 before Amazon.com finally made a profit! All the sites I've designed for various companies over the years have almost never made a profit, and that includes Target, 3M, and Upsher-Smith Pharmeceuticals. Speech ...activism... is no different: you're selling something on the Web and -frankly- it's too big for most methods to really work. At best, your speech on the Web is best used by those rare sites that can link to it and make their points more clearly with the aide of your writing.

In that regard, my essays have had an effect: not on my own, but by getting a few other groups with focussed messages selectively re-printing them or linking to them.

Even the essay about activism focus that you linked to, on Embracing Political Irrelevance is the same thing.

Look at our local activism group, OutFront MN. They focus as well; clarify and keep their central message relevant and on-target. It's one of the reasons I've chosen them as one of the very few causes I directly support. When they host Lobby Day at the Capitol every year, they have dialogue coaches help talk to activists and community citizens as to how to talk to the politicians. They simplify and don't go overboard. It's an approach that we even try with local Pagan Pride Twin Cities (this weekend, in case you're interested).

In short, the work we do -even using LiveJournal- is not an end in and of itself; it's contributing to a whole. A few -a very few- like Rex Wockner and the folks over at You Are Dumb.net, will get a disproportionate audience for one reason or another; their words will have greater impact. But that's not going to be everyone. Many of us just work in the trenches and provide individual essays, observations, or ideas that will get bandied around.

queenofstripes will always have more readers than I (I assume) and that's how it is. So will 2_gryphon. They may be activists, and they may not be. But we're still in the same business of putting ideas on the Web; they've gotten -through skill, luck, popularity, or a combination of the three- to be a small storefront in the marketplace of ideas.

You and I are more the apple-sellers on the street corner.

The guys in the massive chain behind all of us, meeting customers every day? Daily Kos.

Don't fret too much about watering down your message at this level. The guys inside the big department store come out onto the street and selectively buy their produce before taking it back inside to share with their co-workers. It doesn't make us any less effective to write, here, but we should recognize that we probably aren't going to be achieving all we want, either.

...As long as "all we want" is more than we can realistically achieve.

Still, I guess I try. I still post my essays on a variety of topics.

But LJ is also for me talking about movies. I still wax rhapsodic about porn, fandom, cooking, and role-playing games. It's about a great many things for me; my activism isn't just online but it's supported by my online activities.

You seem to be the same.

So does xydexx, rigelkitty, bluerain, petsnakereggie, greenkira, firecatmn, gealach, and so many other intelligent people who post their essays and thoughts to the Web.

Nothing in that excellent essay you linked to violates what we believe or the work we do; it just matters that if we stop at our writing -if we limit ourselves to only being online- we'd better either grow to become the Amazon.com of Web activism or become used to not being relevant.

The brick-and-mortar activism is still the biggest way to reach people; the Web, for the most part, is just here to facillitate things.

Not Buying Exxon/Mobile Gas or Oil Products

Mon, 19 Sep 2005 15:12:11 GMT

A few days ago, I got the following email from a former co-worker at LivingOUT. It strikes me as a good idea, but I've been taken in by "activism that sounds good but on examination really sucks" schemes, before. Can anyone else find much wrong with this?

Oh, and I'm not talking about arguing the fundamental point as to whether or not oil prices are being artificially raised or not. I'm talking about an assessment of the tactic of choosing one of the big companies and not buying gas there until they lower prices.

This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certain day" campaign that was going around last April or May!

The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to "hurt" ourselves by refusing to buy gas. It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them. BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work.

Please read it and join with us!

By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is super cheap. Me too! It is currently $2.75 for regular unleaded in my town.

Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50-$1.75, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace.... not sellers.

With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their gas!

And we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves.

How? Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop buying gas. But we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all act together to force a price war.

Here's the idea:

For the rest of this year, DON"T purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL. If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit.

But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxon and Mobil gas buyers. It's really simple to do!! Now, don't whimp (sic) out on me at this point... keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!!

I am sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) ... and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers!

If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it..... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!! Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people and DON"T purchase ANY gasoline from EXXON and MOBIL. That's all.

How long would all that take? If each of us sends this email out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8 days!!! I'll bet you didn't think you and I had that much potential, did you! Acting together we can make a difference.

If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on.

PLEASE HOLD OUT UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $1.30 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK!

I'll admit that I'm mostly skeptical for a pretty lame reason: the massive, overuse of CAPS and Exclamation Points!!!!!!!!

Anytime I see a lot of those (or underlines) I immediately start questioning the veracity of what I'm reading.

I'm also aware that, overseas, prices have been this high for years. Part of me is wondering about whether or not this is all the oil companyies' fault and whether or not we've finally hit the point where we're being charged "fairly" (or, rather, as "fairly" as others have been charged up until now).

In my mind, it's probably mostly the oil companies' doing the prices are so high.

So, what do you think? Let's discuss the merits and flaws of this plan, here...

Yours,
Sylvan (Dave)

Oh, and for the record,
I'm in favor of seeing
just how low we can force
them. $1.30? Nah! Let's
aim for $.90! I remember
that price from only a few
years ago!

We've Raised a Half-Million Dollars and Sent Over 50 Tons of Food and Water

Wed, 14 Sep 2005 07:12:38 GMT

Friends,

Last week I closed my New York production office and sent my staff down to New Orleans to set up our own relief effort. I asked all of you to help me by sending food, materials and cash to the emergency relief center we helped set up on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain with the Veterans for Peace. We did this when the government was doing nothing and the Red Cross was still trying to get it together. Every day, every minute was critical. People were dying, poor people, black people, left like so much trash in the street. I wanted to find a way to get aid in there immediately.

I hooked up with the Vietnam veterans and Iraqi war vets (Veterans for Peace) who were organizing a guerilla, grass-roots relief effort. They were the same group that had set up Cindy Sheehan's camp in Crawford and now they had moved Camp Casey to Louisiana.

I have good news and horrible news to report. First, your response to my appeal letter was overwhelming. Within a few days, a half-million dollars was sent in through my website to fund our relief effort. This money was immediately used to buy generators, food, water, a mobile medical van, tents, satellite phones, etc.

Others of you began shipping supplies to our encampment. People in communities all over the country started organizing truck caravans to us in Louisiana. Twenty-two trucks from southern California alone have already arrived. A semi-truck from Chicago delivered ten tons of food. A group of friends in New Jersey got two 24 foot trucks, got their community to load them up with goods, and arrived in Covington tonight. Fifteen iMacs are inbound from California. One man gave us his pick-up truck and another donated truck is en route from Houston.

Your response to my appeal has been nothing short of miraculous. And it has saved many, many lives.

A number of you decided to just get in your cars and drive to our camp to volunteer to help. We now have had 150 volunteers here doing the work that needs to be done. Last night they unloaded twenty tons of food from a tractor trailer in under two hours. Each day more volunteers arrive. Everyone is sleeping on the ground or in tents. It is a remarkable sight. Thank you, all of you, for responding. I will never forget this outpouring of generosity to those forgotten by our own government.

My staff and the vets spend their 18-hour days delivering food and water throughout the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. What they have seen is appalling. I have asked them to post their daily diaries on my website (www.michaelmoore.com) along with accompanying photos and video so you can learn what is really going on. What the media is showing you is NOT the whole story. It is much, much worse and there is still little being done to bring help to those who need it.

Our group has visited many outlying towns and villages in Mississippi and Louisiana, places the Red Cross and FEMA haven't visited in over a week. Often our volunteers are the first relief any of these people have seen. They have no food, water or electricity. People die every day. There are no TV cameras recording this. They have started to report the spin and PR put out by the White House, the happy news that often isn't true ("Everyone gets 2,000 dollars!").

The truth is that there are dead bodies everywhere and no one is picking them up. My crew reports that in most areas there is no FEMA presence, and very little Red Cross. It's been over two weeks since the hurricane and there is simply not much being done. At this point, would you call this situation incompetence or a purposeful refusal to get real help down there?

That's why we decided not to wait. And we are so grateful to all of you who have joined us. The Veterans for Peace and my staff aren't leaving (and that's why we are hoping those of you who can't get to Covington will make it to the Veterans for Peace co-sponsored anti-war demonstration in DC on September 24: www.unitedforpeace.org.)

If you want to help, here's what we need in Covington right now:

Cleaning Supplies (glass cleaner, bleach, disinfectant, etc.)
Aspirin and other basic over the counter drugs.
Bottled Water
Canned Goods
Hygiene Supplies
Baby Supplies - Baby Food Formula, diapers #4, #5, Wipes, Pedialyte
Sterile Gloves
Batteries - All kinds, from AA to watch and hearing aid batteries.
Volunteers with trucks and cars
Self contained kitchens with generators, utensils, workers

Consider sending supplies in reusable containers. List the contents on the outside of the package so the folks in the warehouse can easily sort the items.

Clothes are not needed. If you go, keep in mind that you MUST be self-sufficient. Bring a tent and a sleeping bag. People are driving to Covington from across the country and often have extra room in their cars for you or for an extra box of supplies. For more information, go to the Veterans for Peace message board: www.vfproadtrips.org/katrina/.

Send supplies via UPS to:
Veterans for Peace
Omni Storage
74145 Hwy. 25
Covington LA

Thanks again for funding and supporting our relief efforts. It has been a bright spot in this otherwise shameful month.

Yours,
Michael Moore
mike@michaelmoore.com
www.michaelmoore.com

"To All My Fellow Americans Who Voted for George W. Bush"

Sun, 11 Sep 2005 07:58:46 GMT

To All My Fellow Americans Who Voted for George W. Bush:

On this, the fourth anniversary of 9/11, I'm just curious, how does it feel?

How does it feel to know that the man you elected to lead us after we were attacked went ahead and put a guy in charge of FEMA whose main qualification was that he ran horse shows?

That's right. Horse shows.

I really want to know -- and I ask you this in all sincerity and with all due respect -- how do you feel about the utter contempt Mr. Bush has shown for your safety? C'mon, give me just a moment of honesty. Don't start ranting on about how this disaster in New Orleans was the fault of one of the poorest cities in America. Put aside your hatred of Democrats and liberals and anyone with the last name of Clinton. Just look me in the eye and tell me our President did the right thing after 9/11 by naming a horse show runner as the top man to protect us in case of an emergency or catastrophe.

I want you to put aside your self-affixed label of Republican/conservative/born-again/capitalist/ditto-head/right-winger and just talk to me as an American, on the common ground we both call America.

Are we safer now than before 9/11? When you learn that behind the horse show runner, the #2 and #3 men in charge of emergency preparedness have zero experience in emergency preparedness, do you think we are safer?

When you look at Michael Chertoff, the head of Homeland Security, a man with little experience in national security, do you feel secure?

When men who never served in the military and have never seen young men die in battle send our young people off to war, do you think they know how to conduct a war? Do they know what it means to have your legs blown off for a threat that was never there?

Do you really believe that turning over important government services to private corporations has resulted in better services for the people?

Why do you hate our federal government so much? You have voted for politicians for the past 25 years whose main goal has been to de-fund the federal government. Do you think that cutting federal programs like FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers has been good or bad for America? GOOD OR BAD?

With the nation's debt at an all-time high, do you think tax cuts for the rich are still a good idea? Will you give yours back so hundreds of thousands of homeless in New Orleans can have a home?

Do you believe in Jesus? Really? Didn't he say that we would be judged by how we treat the least among us? Hurricane Katrina came in and blew off the facade that we were a nation with liberty and justice for all. The wind howled and the water rose and what was revealed was that the poor in America shall be left to suffer and die while the President of the United States fiddles and tells them to eat cake.

That's not a joke. The day the hurricane hit and the levees broke, Mr. Bush, John McCain and their rich pals were stuffing themselves with cake. A full day after the levees broke (the same levees whose repair funding he had cut), Mr. Bush was playing a guitar some country singer gave him. All this while New Orleans sank under water.

It would take ANOTHER day before the President would do a flyover in his jumbo jet, peeking out the widow at the misery 2500 feet below him as he flew back to his second home in DC. It would then be TWO MORE DAYS before a trickle of federal aid and troops would arrive. This was no seven minutes in a sitting trance while children read "My Pet Goat" to him. This was FOUR DAYS of doing nothing other than saying "Brownie (FEMA director Michael Brown), you're doing a heck of a job!"

My Republican friends, does it bother you that we are the laughing stock of the world?

And on this sacred day of remembrance, do you think we honor or shame those who died on 9/11/01? If we learned nothing and find ourselves today every bit as vulnerable and unprepared as we were on that bright sunny morning, then did the 3,000 die in vain?

Our vulnerability is not just about dealing with terrorists or natural disasters. We are vulnerable and unsafe because we allow one in eight Americans to live in horrible poverty. We accept an education system where one in six children never graduate and most of those who do can't string a coherent sentence together. The middle class can't pay the mortgage or the hospital bills and 45 million have no health coverage whatsoever.

Are we safe? Do you really feel safe? You can only move so far out and build so many gated communities before the fruit of what you've sown will be crashing through your walls and demanding retribution. Do you really want to wait until that happens? Or is it your hope that if they are left alone long enough to soil themselves and shoot themselves and drown in the filth that fills the street that maybe the problem will somehow go away?

I know you know better. You gave the country and the world a man who wasn't up for the job and all he does is hire people who aren't up for the job. You did this to us, to the world, to the people of New Orleans. Please fix it. Bush is yours. And you know, for our peace and safety and security, this has to be fixed. What do you propose?

I have an idea, and it isn't a horse show.

Yours,
Michael Moore
www.michaelmoore.com
mmflint@aol.com

Register your opinion on California Assembly Bill 849 - the Gender Neutral Marriage Bill

Fri, 09 Sep 2005 21:19:42 GMT

California's legislature is fielding a bill which would allow gay people to be legally married in that state. This is some landmark legislation. You can call the Governator of California and register your opinion of this legislation. I hope that many of you will consider supporting this legislation, whether you live in California or not.

This is automated, so you don't have to talk to anyone! Not a person!

Call Schwarzenegger's office now and register your opinion on AB 849:
Call (916) 445-2841.
Press "2" (to comment on legislation)
Press "1" (to comment on AB 849)
Listen to the prompt to register your opinion (or just press "1" to support it!)

Thanks to lexinatrix for the info.

Ok, I don't have much hope; not really. Schwarzenegger has never struck me as the sort who will back down or change his mind; in that regard, he's like George W. Bush ... if nothing else, doggedly tenatious to a fault. But, as Lex said to me, we've got to try...

Please help.

As I said in my earlier post, those who vote must realize that they are not voting for just the issues that concern them. They are voting for the whole package. Therefore, your responsibility to keep your elected representatives in line does not stop at the ballot box. For those of my friends and family who support equal treatment of gays and lesbians under the law who, nonetheless, voted for a politician who opposes it, please help out and call Governor Schwarzenegger to plead with him and let him know that all people deserve equal access to our country's institutions.

Yours,
Sylvan (Dave)

Thu, 08 Sep 2005 08:31:14 GMT

Are you a pro-democracy journalist working under an oppressive regime? If so, for God's sake don't use Yahoo because they'll dob you in to the secret police.

The internet company Yahoo! has come under attack from an international press watchdog for supplying information to the Chinese Government that directly led to a journalist being jailed for ten years.

Shi Tao, a journalist from Hunan province, was jailed in April for "illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities". He was accused of having e-mailed a pro-democracy activist in New York details of a government order barring Chinese media from marking the 15th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders has published a translation of the court's verdict which showed that Yahoo!'s Hong Kong subsidiary had provided Chinese investigators with the detailed technical information that allowed them to prove that only Shi could have sent the e-mail in question.

"We already knew that Yahoo! collaborates enthusiastically with the Chinese regime in questions of censorship, and now we know it is a Chinese police informant as well," the organisation said.

Spread the word.

Another Letter From Michael Moore

Thu, 08 Sep 2005 04:24:19 GMT

Wednesday, September 7th, 2005
Here's How You Can Make an Immediate Difference in Louisiana ...a message from Michael Moore

Friends,

There is much to be said and done about the manmade annihilation of New Orleans, caused NOT by a hurricane but by the very specific decisions made by the Bush administration in the past four and a half years. Do not listen to anyone who says we can discuss all this later. No, we can't. Our country is in an immediate state of vulnerability. More hurricanes and other disasters are on the way, and a lazy bunch of self-satisfied lunatics are still running the show.

So, in the next few days, I will write to you about what must be done about Bush and Co.

But today I want you to join with me in bypassing the colossally inept and incompetent Bush administration and get help DIRECTLY to the people of the New Orleans area -- right now.

A lot of you have written me to ask what you can do. Many don't know who to trust. Many want to do more than write a check. You are right to think that writing checks to relief agencies will not get water and aid to people in the next 48 hours. Checks will be needed later and can be written later.

I have a way, though, for each and every one of us to do something today that can affect people's lives TODAY.

For the past few days I've been working with a group that, I guarantee you, will get direct aid to the people who need it most.

Cindy Sheehan, the brave woman who dared to challenge Mr. Bush at his summer home, has now sent her Camp Casey from in front of Bush's ranch to the outskirts of New Orleans. The Veterans for Peace have taken all the equipment and staff of volunteers and set up camp in Covington, Louisiana, on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. They are accepting materials and personally distributing them to those in need and have been going into New Orleans on a daily basis.

This is where we come in. We need to ship supplies to them immediately. Today they need the following:

Bottled Water (and lots of it!), baby diapers, baby wipes, baby formula, Pedialyte, baby items in general, powder, lotion, handy wipes, sterile gloves, electrolytes, LARGE cans of veggies, school supplies, paper plates, paper towels, toilet paper, and anything else to lift people's spirits.

You can ship these items by following the instructions on VFPRoadTrips.org. Or you can deliver them there in person. The roads to Covington are open. Their address is:

Volunteer Kitchen, Food Bank and Distribution Center
Pine View Middle School
1115 West 28th Avenue Covington, LA.
70434

Here's how to get there. You can drop them off or you can stay and participate (if you stay, you'll be camping so bring your own tent and gear and mosquito spray).

If you can't ship these items or go there in person, then go to VFPRoadTrips.org and make an immediate donation through PayPal. Camp Casey-Covington will have immediate access to this cash and can buy the items themselves from stores that are open in Louisiana (all donations to Veterans for Peace, are tax deductible).

Each day I will post up-to-the minute information as to what is needed and the progress Camp Casey is making. Please visit MichaelMoore.com often and do what you can to help.

Many other groups are also doing good work. MoveOn.org has set up a system for people to offer rooms in their homes to the survivors.

There is no time to waste. People are suffering and dying. Each of us can do something. There is no other alternative.

Thank you in advance for your help. Tomorrow, we will take care of the other work we need to do about the ideologically hamstrung incompetents in charge.

Yours,
Michael Moore
Mike@MichaelMoore.com
www.MichaelMoore.com

Katrina Timeline

Thu, 08 Sep 2005 04:09:56 GMT

Don't let yourself get thrown by right-wing talking points. Here's the complete Katrina timeline:
http://www.thinkprogress.org/katrina-timeline

Independent Confirmation That Geraldo Was Right

Wed, 07 Sep 2005 04:15:10 GMT

I've taken a lot of crap for posting about how Geraldo Rivera reported that armed troops were blocking people from New Orleans from walking across the Mississippi River bridge to Gretna, where there was electric power and running water. Geraldo's a liar, Geraldo's nuts, Geraldo has no credibility, etc.

If anything, he understated the situation. Here's independent confirmation:

As we approached the bridge, armed Gretna sheriffs formed a line across the foot of the bridge. Before we were close enough to speak, they began firing their weapons over our heads. This sent the crowd fleeing in various directions. As the crowd scattered and dissipated, a few of us inched forward and managed to engage some of the sheriffs in conversation. We told them of our conversation with the police commander and of the commander's assurances [that buses would be awaiting them on the Gretna side of the bridge]. The sheriffs informed us there were no buses waiting. The commander had lied to us to get us to move.

We questioned why we couldn't cross the bridge anyway, especially as there was little traffic on the 6-lane highway. They responded that the West Bank was not going to become New Orleans and there would be no Superdomes in their City. These were code words for if you are poor and black, you are not crossing the Mississippi River and you were not getting out of New Orleans.

Our small group retreated back down Highway 90 to seek shelter from the rain under an overpass. We debated our options and in the end decided to build an encampment in the middle of the Ponchartrain Expressway on the center divide, between the O'Keefe and Tchoupitoulas exits. We reasoned we would be visible to everyone, we would have some security being on an elevated freeway and we could wait and watch for the arrival of the yet to be seen buses.

All day long, we saw other families, individuals and groups make the same trip up the incline in an attempt to cross the bridge, only to be turned away. Some chased away with gunfire, others simply told no, others to be verbally berated and humiliated. Thousands of New Orleaners were prevented and prohibited from self-evacuating the City on foot.

[ ... ]

From a woman with a battery powered radio we learned that the media was talking about us. Up in full view on the freeway, every relief and news organizations saw us on their way into the City. Officials were being asked what they were going to do about all those families living up on the freeway? The officials responded they were going to take care of us. Some of us got a sinking feeling. "Taking care of us" had an ominous tone to it.

Unfortunately, our sinking feeling (along with the sinking City) was correct. Just as dusk set in, a Gretna Sheriff showed up, jumped out of his patrol vehicle, aimed his gun at our faces, screaming, "Get off the fucking freeway". A helicopter arrived and used the wind from its blades to blow away our flimsy structures. As we retreated, the sheriff loaded up his truck with our food and water.

(Emphasis added on that last sentence.)

Those With Access, Your Help is Needed NOW.

Sat, 03 Sep 2005 07:45:46 GMT

Geraldo Rivera is crying tears as he reports on Fox from the New Orleans Convention Center that there is a bridge above water between the Superdome / Convention Center area and Gretna, where there is running water and electricity, but that armed troops have been stationed on the bridge forcibly preventing people from walking to safety.

(From his desk in his air conditioned studio in New York, well-fed and recently bathed Sean Hannity, who I can only conclude must be either be insane or culpably evil, is telling Geraldo that he needs to gain perspective, that the situation isn't that bad.)

I wonder how long it will be before Geraldo simply has people start following him en masse to challenge the troops and get to safety -- they can't shoot everybody.

What is especially galling is that it's now a holiday weekend, with nobody in Congressional offices to complain to and demand that these troops be removed, until Tuesday morning.

Any of you who are politically active enough to have access to governmental officials despite it being a weekend, please use that access to demand those troops be removed so people can get out of downtown, can get to safety.

EDIT: As we know now, evacuations began in earnest some nine or ten hours after Geraldo made this report -- but there was no indication this was going to happen at the time of the report or the time I posted this -- given that there had been almost a week of neglect in getting these people to safety, there was no reason to assume it was in fact going to happen soon. I am enormously relieved that it occurred sooner than I expected.

FURTHER EDIT: Independent confirmation: Geraldo was right.

The Big Man Speaks: An Open Letter to President Bush

Fri, 02 Sep 2005 18:54:25 GMT

Friday, September 2nd, 2005

Dear Mr. Bush:

Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.

Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?

Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!

I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?

And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!

On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.

There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.

No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!

You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.

Yours,

Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
www.MichaelMoore.com

P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at your ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi War dead are now driving across the country, stopping in many cities along the way. Maybe you can catch up with them before they get to DC on September 21st.

Fri, 29 Jul 2005 04:51:34 GMT

An Army of Sham

Mon, 18 Jul 2005 20:58:05 GMT

Ok, this is creepy...

On Monster.com, I was applying for a job. I selected which resume I wanted to submit (from the several I have prepared) and hit "enter". I elected not to send it with a cover letter (those I had available were pretty crappy and didn't directly address the job in question, while my resume did) but soon found myself facing a U.S. Army recruiting screen with most of my personal information already filled in!

Now, it's common for Monster.com to present you with an advertisement after you hit "Enter" and require you to hit "No Thanks" at the bottom of that page to complete your application process. However, in this case, the Army Recruitment screen lacked a "No Thanks" button, instead having only one button: "Submit".

On top of that, there was a pair of radio buttons, one of which was pre-selected saying "Have a Recruiter contact me". The only way past the screen was to select the "Do not have a Recruiter contact me" button and then hit "Submit."

When I did that, I ended up on a screen that said:

"There was an unexpected problem processing your request."

Ok, I know that the Army isn't getting new recruits very easily right now, but this was just disturbing. This page used virtually every dirty Web trick in the book to capture visitors, get your personal information sent to them, and cajole you into having a recruiter give you a high-pressure sales call. Heck, for all I know, they may have actually gotten my info; I no longer know what rights I have in regards to the Oh-so-Patriotic United States Army!

Y'know, now that I think about it, I should have made an appointment for the recruiter to call me. I think it could have been fun to let them go through their whole spiel only to find out I'm a near-40, mostly-gay pacifist.

Yours,
Sylvan (Dave)

Brand Loyalty

Thu, 23 Jun 2005 15:47:59 GMT

Holes in the armor.

It has come to my attention that the extreme, far-right has some holes in their defenses. Now, far be it from me to kick someone in a very sensitive, vulnerable spot, but -hey- these guys want me criminalized and locked away for "Conversion Therapy" so I figure it's fair game.

The thing is, Neo-Conservatives -those Conservatives currently advocating Bush's position on social issues, big business, the War in Iraq, the United Nations, and the "Our Way or the Highway" philosophy of international diplomacy- are all about the brand name. They're Conservatives with a Capital "C" and Republicans with a Capital "R". Many people take their talking points directly from broadcasts and reports drawn from those viewpoints and never really shift their brains out of "Neutral" to really consider them.

In this world of terrorism, it's comforting to be able to slip into familiar, "safe" surroundings of the past, wrapping yourself in religion, faux-50s social fabric, and the flag so you don't have to face the fears that exist in this anti-human, bottom line world. Republicans have seized on this approach in the same way that they demonized the term "Liberal".

It's funny, really, because by doing this, they've opened up one heck of an opportunity for everyone else.

Once a person becomes disenchanted with a brand name, no amount of hand-waving, re-packaging, or cover-ups can salvage it in the eyes of the consumer who's been burned.

Think of this as a tangent to my thoughts on Neo-Jesus; Madison Avenue drives so much in this world that relying upon it is somewhat like riding a cobra ... eventually, it'll twist around and bite you.

The Neo-Conservatives have built so much of their brand name loyalty on the terms "Conservative" and "Republican" (with associated, sister brands "Christianity," "Morals," and "Family Values") that they've totally glossed over the underlying principles upon which traditional Republicans have built their lives.

When I covered the suburban protesters of the new Wal-Mart going in on the site of the old Apache Plaza, there were people of every political stripe, there: Greens, Independents, Democrats, Libertarians, and -yes- Republicans. They all had one thing in common: the desire to protect their community, their local jobs and economic landscape, from the locust-like mentality of the box-store giant.

This tells me something important: the key to getting around the brand name loyalty of the Neo-Conservative movement is to appeal to what it is that they really want: smaller government, accountability of leadership, focusing on internal (as opposed to international) affairs, lower taxes, and greater transparency in where money is being spent. These are all things that the current Neo-Con movement is betraying ... and these are fundamental properties of what it means to be a Republican!

Bringing this to their attention, though, would be tantamount to telling an iPod consumer that there are alternatives out there that do just as much, with equal compatibility, for less money: they won't believe you on principle ... they want to embrace their brand because it has become insinuated into part of their identity.

We can save the discussion of inserting brand loyalty into personal views of "self" some other time ... until then, just ask yourself "Are you a Coke Person or a Pepsi Person?"

Personally, I own an iPod and I prefer the ease of using it with iTunes on my mac; but that's about it. I can recognize the draw to embrace a product or brand name as part of you especially if that product has appeared to give you some measure of happiness and comfort. But any brand loyalty can be broken down by laying out the facts in a non-confrontational way.

The psychology of a person who embraces a certain brand will often result in that person doing, saying, and supporting some pretty crazy things to defend their way of life. But if you can, without directly accosting their brand-loyalty, point out some alternative that offers the underlying principles that they thought they were already getting, well, the seed of consumer brand-change gets planted.

Democrats, Liberals, Greens, and Progressives are not antithetical to the principles I mentioned, above. Smaller government, accountability of leadership, focusing on internal (as opposed to international) affairs, lower taxes, and greater transparency in where money is being spent are not strictly owned by any one party. Candidates from any group, especially the new Progressives, can embrace these viewpoints ... the difference will be in how they get embraced.

True, there is more to being a Republican in the Neo-Conservative mind-set than just those five points of contention. However, from personal experience most of the Republicans I know focus on these things as reasons that they do not like the current movement within the Republican party ... these are the elements that they feel would be most likely to draw them away from a particular candidate.

I suggest a marketing blitz in the form of an old-fashioned "Look at these great options! Buy now and get Smaller Government, Lower Taxes, and Other Great Prizes!" Don't associate that with any particular movement or party, but with individual candidates who have Progressive outlooks. Combine these with other inducements and build a loyalty not based on a mere Brand Name but -rather- on performance.

Think of Progressive candidates who do this as being like the Saturn of automobiles ... or, rather, the Saturn of 10 years ago. The loyalty, there, was based upon some really good reviews in Consumer Reports and actual, bonafide performance issues.

Help sink the brand "Neo-Con" by pointing out the really good features that traditional Republicans are finding lacking in their current leadership but without referring to the counter Brand Name.

Promote the features and mingle them with some new ideas that the Neo-Conservatives aren't even selling (ie: Civil Rights, Privacy Legislation, Corporate Responsibility, etc...) and you'll see a change very quickly.

The buying public, after all, is very fickle.

Yours,
Sylvan (Dave)

IWT News

Tue, 14 Jun 2005 15:11:57 GMT

Independent World Television News is out of the starting gate!

I'm going to suppress my cynicism about this, first, because it would be counter-productive, and, second, because I've read their 19-page prospectus. This endeavor is to create a publicly-funded, non-corporate-or-politically-influenced international news network. From their home page:

"Independent World Television is building the world's first global independent news network. Online and on TV, IWTnews will deliver independent news and real debate -- without funding from governments, corporations or commercial advertising. Internet fundraising makes it possible."

They already have a large contingent of supporters in an effort to raise $7 Million this year to pay for their full fund-raising and development efforts. In the end, they need to raise an additional $25 Million to start broadcasting by 2007.

They have an email list (which I joined) and a complete, downloadable prospectus of their plan. I suggest people who are interested in seeing news without a corporate or direct political influence, take a look at it.

The Prospectus (PDF format, 19 pages, 340 Kb)

Now, this looks like the kind of enterprise I would like to become involved with.

Already they have representatives from FAIR, Democracy Now, and CBC News on board.

I think this could be a strong effort in pushing forward a publicly-owned, social-issues, and in-depth news network that would not be beholden to outside pressures.

Yours,
Sylvan (Dave)

NCLS

Sun, 29 May 2005 19:16:20 GMT

Hi

Under Section 9528 of the No Child Left Behind Act, schools are forced to turn over student information to the military, or risk losing valuable Title 1 funding which varies based on the amount of low income families in attendance. This is, in a sense, legal blackmail.

That is why I have created a website

WWW.NOCHILDLEFTSTANDING.ORG

The website is meant to inform others of this section, to distribute opt-out forms which allow a student to request their info is not released, and to petition the act in hopes that it will one day be amended. There is also a place on the site where you can print out flyers, and put them up around your school or town.

Please go to the site, and at least sign the petition.
Re-post the link anywhere and everywhere you see fit.
Thank you!

BACK FROM THE PHELPS PROTEST...

Sat, 07 May 2005 15:31:26 GMT

Tonight we witnessed something that saddened us more than you'll ever know. The "God Hates Everyone" bandwagon came to town to protest a high school production of "The Laramie Project" and we went to counter the protest.

Click here PROTEST to see photos/our story about the event.

Stop the HATE. find some peace.

xoxo the gals at heroine films
www.heroinefilms.net

Mike's "Freedom of Speech" Scholarship

Tue, 26 Apr 2005 18:23:25 GMT

Michael Moore Creates Free Speech Scholarship

Reuters

Apr. 20, 2005 - Maverick film-maker Michael Moore on Wednesday announced a "freedom of speech" scholarship for students at a Southern California university who defy the administration and stand up for student rights.

Moore, whose popular documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" helped polarize America in the run-up to the 2004 U.S. presidential elections, established the $2,500 award for students attending California State University San Marcos.

Moore was barred from an October 2004 speaking engagement at the university, about 35 miles north of San Diego, because there was not enough time to arrange for a speaker from the opposite side of the political spectrum.

Students responded by organizing their own protest and holding a 10,000-strong rally and concert at an off-campus venue where folk singer Joan Baez performed and Moore gave a speech.

The scholarship will be awarded to two students, for a minimum of four years, who have done the most to fight for issues of student rights by standing up to the Cal State San Marcos administration, Moore said.

"I hope this scholarship will encourage students to show courage and stand up for what they believe in," Moore said in a statement. "The university should not be a place for fear, but a place for bravery, free thought, and a little bit of rebellion."

Cal State San Marcos said it had no comment on the scholarships.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=688427