Michael Moore's High School

A hate-monger with five chins an embarrassment?

We already knew that

My grandmother grew up down the road from Woody Gutherie in Okemah, Oklahoma though she was quick to point out that Woody was considerably older than she was.

For years Woody was considered an embarrasment, a disgrace and nobody dared to speak his name in the Okemah city limits.

Now they have Woody Gutherie weekend and his portrait hangs in the state capitol.

Just another example of how silly and petty people can be when they think their "values" are threatened.

Induct him or not, hang his picture or not, it doesn't change the fact that he went to school there and he most certainly isn't losing any sleep on whether they hall-of-fame him in the school halls or not.

good point Boomer, Mr Moore will be longer remembered than Mr Hammond, whose 15 minutes is up, NOW.

Does Moore have a star on the "Walk of Fame yet?"

Should Mr Bush wish to establish his library in Maine, I wont protest, even though books and Bush is an instant answer for "which of these things is not like the otther".

parttisan jealousy about a movie that was mostly all photos of actual events. Like Moore staged that vapid look on Bush's face on 9/11.

In anottheer 20 years theyll be crawling all over themselves to build statues of Michael Moore.

Heck, in another 30 years they'll reverently but unthinkingly rename it "Moore High" and thereby set up all the stoners to make a fortune selling tee-shirts.

..But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house."

--Matthew 13:57

I am from the Flint area, and familiar with Davison, which is a small town on the eastern side of the county. Moore has been unpopular with a lot of people in the Flint area, ever since his first film, "Roger and Me", which many there took as an attack on their fair city, though, in reality, GM's supposed corporate obligations to the city was the actual target. I disagreed with the premise and still found the movie entertaining, although I was not in the position of having to deal with the negative publicity Flint endured owing to Moore's "exposure" of colorful Flint folks like the lady selling rabbits for pets or meat.

Although I have never met Moore myself, I know people who have, and many of them don't like him much; I also would not rely overmuch on a Moore film for factual detail, or even astute analysis of an issue. But the man has an eye for the telling image, and the ability to present stories that resonate with his audience even when the proof of his contentions is absent or open to other interpretations.

I think what bothers the right the most about him is he plays their game as well as they do.

Marijuana: myths, and issues with Jamaica
By Paul Andrew Bourne


In the Sunday Gleaner of March 9, 2003, Professor Norman Girvan identified cannabis (ganja) as the most popular illegal drug worldwide with an estimated 147 million users. The number of user with respect to the globe's human population is approximately 6.0 percent. The PIOJ Report (2000) prepared by Ken-Garfield Douglas substantiated the popularity of cannabis smoking, identifying overall that 26.2 percent of the students reported having smoked the substance in their lifetime. The Report revealed that 39.6 percent of the students had use illicit drug in their lifetime with some 38.9 percent of the Grade 9, 41.3 percent of the Grade 11 and 32.1 percent of the Grade 13 students indicating that they had used illicit drug in their lifetime.

Furthermore, Norman Girvan's article stated that "an OAS report on Maritime Drug Trafficking Routes and Methods in the Americas (CICAD/Doc. 984/98) identified two major routing areas: the Amazon corridor and the Caribbean corridor." With the Caribbean being a transshipment point for illegal drug trafficking, further literature on illegal drugs and shipment make for more understanding of the technicalities of the market.

Professor Girvan who is the Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) identified that cocaine is the second most popular drug to marijuana with 13 million people consuming that substance while there are 9 million heroin users. Continuing, he noted that ganja is grown in all regions of the world, the United States itself being the major producer of the substance.

Girvan's article "Narcotics and Security" showed clearly that cannabis drug trafficking exceeds cocaine trafficking by 3.4 percent in absolute quantity. He said that, "the big difference between cannabis and other illegal drugs is in unit prices and profits. In the United States the average price of cannabis herb is roughly one-eighth that of cocaine on wholesale and retail markets." In that, "the price differential reflects the considerably greater narcotic effects of cocaine (demand factor) and the concentration of control efforts on this drug (supply factor)."
On the other hand, Boekhout van Solinge (1996) noted that Jamaica is a country that appeals to one's imagination. The tropical island in the Caribbean Sea, once mainly famous for its rum, is nowadays more associated with reggae, Rastas, and ganja, i.e. marijuana. No other country supposedly has a higher consumption that Jamaica. As such, this explains the high prevalence of cannabis consumption by the Rastas, as it is apart of their religiosity.

Not only Rastas were smokers of cannabis but also marijuana is a widely consumed stimulant in Jamaican Society especially among the lower classes (Boekhout van Solinge, 1996). He stated, "estimates given in this states that about 60 to 70 percent of the population occasionally use (or used) ganja." Continuing, he wrote, "In reality there is little reliable information to support those estimates. However, it is certain that Jamaica is one of the countries where the use of cannabis has existed for many generations and occurs very frequently. This was the very reason why a team of American researchers traveled to Jamaica in the 1970s to carry out a prolonged and extensive study on the effects of chronic (long-term) cannabis use."

Nevertheless, Boekhout van solinge state, "the fact that today's ganja is stronger than 20 years ago has probably led to the fact that people smoke fewer joints per day. The daily amount of joints (spliffs) that was consumed by ganja smokers according to Rubin and Comitas, namely even on average, (low use was defined as less than four joints per day, high use as more than eight), no longer appears to apply to present day Jamaica."

A small percent of the entire population are marijuana smokers, however. It was identified that many people were advocates against the smoking of cannabis while they were ardent drinkers of the drug by way of tea. This consumption was as high as daily. The difference is that marijuana for drinking and for smoking is mainly from young green plant or ripened dried plants respectively. Because ganja consumption is of a high prevalence in Jamaican society, it follows, therefore, that its production must be equally high. Ganja became a big business in the 1970s, as it was exported on a large-scale basis to the United States. It was no secret that many upper class peoples and other high-ranking peoples were involved in its exportation. Since George Bush, after the Reagan regime ended, started the ?'War on Drugs Campaign' in the 1980s, the nature of the production as well as the nature of the exportation changed dramatically from previous (Boekhout van Solinge).
The word ?'marijuana' was originated in Mexico. This Mexican slang term became popular in the late 1930s in America, during a series of media and government programme that we now refer to as the ?'Reefer Madness Movement'. It refers specifically to the medicine part of cannabis which Mexican soldiers used to smoke for stimulation, relaxation and for depression attacks.

Marijuana has thousands of possible uses in medicine. Ganja (actually cannabis extract) was available as a medicine legally in America until 1937, and was sold as a nerve tonic but mankind has been using cannabis medicine much longer than that.

Scientific scholars have identified that cannabis is a cure for such diseases as: multiple sclerosis, cancer treatment, AIDS treatment, glaucoma, depression, epilepsy, migraine headaches, asthma, pruritis, sclerodoma, severe pain, and dystonia. Pharmacologists and Chemists have identified that the part of cannabis (ganja) that gets one high is known as ?'Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinal'. They have claimed the THC that is the abbreviation for ?'Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinal' gets stored in the fat cells and later leaks out like one of those ?'time release capsules' advertised on television. As such, studies have shown that marijuana only keeps an individual high for the most a few hours, and it is not right to think that a person who fails a drug test is always high on drugs, either.
There is one school of thought that marijuana can impair memory perception and judgement by destroying brain cells, while another school has shown that, this is absurd and scientifically fallacious. The former being Rhesus and the latter is Reefer Madness II and P.R.I.D.E with Dr. Gabriel Nahas as the distinguished chemist - (Iversen, 2000).

Ganja, though, contains a chemical that substitutes for a natural brain chemical, with a few differences. The chemical composition touches special ?'buttons' on the brain cells called ?'receptors'. It must be noted that cannabis ?'tickles' brain cells, but it will damage and kill them by producing toxins (poisons) and sometimes mini-seizures. The smoking of marijuana dramatically effects the memory of young people easily. Many inexperienced marijuana users find that they have very strange, sudden and unexpected memory lapses. These usually take the form of completely forgetting what you were talking about when you were right in the middle of saying something important. However, the symptoms only occur while the person is ?'high'. They do not carry over or become permanent, and examination of extremely heavy user has not shown any memory or thinking problems.

More experienced marijuana users seem to be able to remember about as well as they do when they are not ?'high'. Furthermore, this illegal drug does slow reaction time slightly, and this effect has sometimes been misconstrued as a memory problem.

Since children have a natural tendency to do things that they are not suppose to do, the issue of curiosity of the smoking of marijuana is one of the reasons why many of them initiate the process in the first place. Adults, in particular the police, making such a big fuss over ganja, make it interesting (some call it the ?'forbidden fruit' factor). In many ways, the hysteria about drugs causes the most harm. When ganja users do any of the horrible things they are supposed to, children may think that other more harmful drugs are okay, too. Your children will not respect you unless you are calm and can provide them with good reason for your purporting none smoking or the taking of any foreign substance for that matter.

According to Iverson (2000), "the sudden popularity of marijuana use among young people in the 1960s America prompted an upsurge of scientific research on the drug's effect." It should be note that the drug was legal up until 1937 in the same United States. Nevertheless, the earlier position does not stipulate error or the latter for than matter but a shift in social policy. He continued, "A large and often confusing literature emerged, partly because the topic was politically charged from the outset and bias undoubtedly coloured some of the investigations."
Iverson (2000) identified the effects of THC the major component of cannabis on the ability of animal subjects. It was noted, however, that many of the subjects were ?'clumsy' after high doses of marijuana. Similarly, marijuana affects human subjects, impairing their performance in tests of balance, and reducing their performance in tests that require fine psychomotor control or manual dexterity - (John W. Commissiong, 1978).

Alcohol and marijuana are both drugs usually taken in social context for recreational purposes. As such, alcohol may be described as the intoxicant for the older generation, while marijuana for the younger people, although both drugs are quite often consumed simultaneously. In many respects, they are quite similar in terms of effect. A number of studies performed find it difficult to distinguish between the immediate subjective effects of acute intoxication with the two drugs - (Iverson).
Furthermore, like marijuana, alcohol causes psychomotor impairments, a loss of balance, and a feeling of dizziness or light-headedness. In terms of cognitive performance, both drugs cause impairments in short-term memory while leaving the recall of long-term memories intact - (Braude PhD., 1976 et al).


Despite the fact that marijuana use and possession is illegal in the Caribbean and in, particular Jamaica, many Jamaicans - (Iversen 2000, pp. 2), use cannabis regularly. This report was confirmed by PIOJ's Report (2000) that indicated approximately 40 percent of each social class within Jamaica had tried marijuana. This alarming revelation did not begin in 2000 but in 1987 Drug Abuse Centre indicated that in excess of 10 percent of post-primary school students smoked marijuana in their lifetime with over 4 percent of them smoked the substance over the last 30-day when the survey was carried out.

Many researchers have unanimously accepted the claim that marijuana smoking is usually carried out in social settings and as such many men usually smoke the substance within the company of peers.

In men, cannabis causes relaxation of psychic tension, euphoria and talkativness - (Iversen, 2000 and Zimmer 1997). An unpublished thesis carried out by a Master of Philosophy student in Medical Sciences Department in 1982 revealed that increased doses induce perceptional abnormalities, distribution of the senses of time and space disturbances of thought process, changes in emotionality and in high doses, hallucination - (Dreher 1982, pp.25). With those finding as indicated by Dreher, 1982, it follows that while men marijuana smokers have lost time of reality their jobs suffer in the process as they are temporarily unable to function equally and effective as before its use.

Since the sensation of meditation normally follows the smoking of marijuana, many consumers of the substance, thereof, are withdrawn from society during that period. In that process social interaction is hampered among themselves and the rest of the society and often times destroy relationship between themselves and their immediate family and later by society as a whole. With this withdrawal syndrome, children feel rejected and the process this triggers the need for comfort that usually begins the quest for external support. This psychological behavioural problem affects children and later see them seeking comfort from friends who may be users and abusers of illegal or licit substance to satisfy that inner loneliness caused initial by parent(s).

Furthermore, while smoking is designated as an adult male activity in Jamaica, women and children commonly share in the consumption by way of tea and tonic to begin with - (Dreher, 1982). Because some parents do frequently introduced marijuana to their children at an early stage through teas or tonics and-or drink, the practice of marijuana consumption is widely used in different forms throughout the island irrespective of the gender, demographic locale - (Dreher, 1982 and Zimmer, 1997). It is through this construct that many religious peoples use the substance with a different conviction based on it preparation and early adoption.

Users and non-users alike discriminate between the effects of ganja tea and those of ganja smoking. It is because of this social ambiguity why many adolescents youth are drawn to experimenting with the substance. Dreher, 1982, indicated that marijuana smoking was limited mainly to the lower class, labourers and Ras Tafarians in its inception but that this has changed significantly since - (Dreher pp. 84). She agreed with other research that ganja smoking is a social act which normally is carried out in different social settings. This explained why the substance becomes so highly attractive to young adolescence and in particular boys with this period the search for self.

Because of the high rise of Reggae artistes since the 1970s and more so in the 1990s advocating the purities of marijuana smoking and the open practice thereof, many youth have been motivate to partake in smoking the substance as their idols continue to partake thereof.

According to Zimmer et al. (1997), "the cognitive side effects of marijuana smoking are as such temporary memory lapses, impairments, slower psychomotor skills, withdrawal, talkativeness this explains the dooming generation of young people to academic failure." They went on further that, "heavy ganja smokers were also more likely than occasionally users or non-user to drop out of school before graduation" - (Zimmer, 1997, pp.64). The researcher supports this without any doubt as he has been teaching for over ten (10) years.

Some researchers have indicated that there is convincing scientific evidence that marijuana causes psychological damage or mental illness in teenagers and young adults - (Zimmer, 1997, pp. 70). They argued that, "marijuana smokers from the ingestion usually experience psychological distress which include panic feelings, anxiety, and paranoia."

Marijuana (Delta-nine?-THC) does have an ?'immunosuppressive effect'. It acts on certain cells in the liver, called macrophages, in much the same way that its acts on brain cells. Instead of stimulating those cells, though, it shuts them off. This effect is temporary (just like the ?'high') and goes away quickly; people who suffer from multiple sclerosis may actually find this effect useful in fighting the disease.

Recent research has also found that marijuana metabolites are left over in the lungs for up to seven months after the smoking has stopped. While they are there, the immune system of the lungs may be affected (but the macrophages do not get "turned off" like in the liver.) The effects of smoking itself are probably worse than the effects of the THC, and last just as long.

Today, doctors are treating AIDS patients with the use of marijuana. Some studies suggest that marijuana may actually stimulate certain forms of immunity. Researchers have tried to show major effects on the healthy human's immune system, but if marijuana does have any substantial effects, good or bad, they are either too subtle or too small to notice. This is exactly why this proposed research would undoubtedly seek to unearth truths, clarify issues, dispel myths, and add a new dimension on the issue of marijuana smoking by youth below 22 who are attending post-primary schools in various geographic locales in Jamaica.

Paul, as fascinating as that essay is, do you think you could perhaps explain how it relates to the discussion at hand.

To say that Michael Moore is going into the history books on the same page as Judas Iscariat and Pontius Pilate would be an unjustified insult to Iscariat and Pilate. Moore is going into the books on the page which Iscariat and Pilate would have gone onto had they totally failed and been exposed to the world as total idiots and a$$#oles while Jesus lived to the age of 90 and then ascended to heaven directly.

Jesus lived to 90.

Fascinating interpretation.

Was he also blonde and blue-eyed?

Oh I suspect that people like our current administration and their venomous (no pun intended :wink: ) worshippers will have purged the libraries and rewritten history by then and no one will know that a Michael Moore ever even existed......unless they turn him into a villain that some glorious leader...bush himslef or one of the members of the bush monarchy....slayed in hand to hand combat......

Wow.

Michael Moore must be more influential than I ever dreamed to inspire such rabid hate.

Right on!

You must think Bush is very influential then.

As the president of the USA I would say that Bush is one of the most influential men in the world.

No, he died around 30. As I understand the English language, I used the subjunctive voice properly in the sentence in question so that any misunderstanding is basically on your part and not mine.

Hey, in the first foto. Hes holding a Mcgentrix doll.

That animal skin photo has to be a fake. Too skinny...

Code word we=idiots