Michael Moore Says Doc umentary Already Has HMOs Spooked

Michael Moore also strongly suggested that no legislator had children serving in Iraq,nor would they send them.

That is an out and out lie..

I know of one congressman that has a son there,and that son has returned again to Iraq.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan_Hunter

"Hunter's son, Duncan Duane Hunter, a First Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, was deployed to Iraq in 2003."

Nope, in the film he cites that one congressman has a son in Iraq. You're getting sillier and sillier as one who has not seen the movie and has absolutely no idea what is in it.

Topic change:

Has Moore said yet how he is going to attack these HMO's or is he planning on making it a surprise for us??

He'll do what he always does: Appeal to your emotions. Cancer patients, kids in wheelchairs, old ladys, etc; all of them lamenting the greedy HMO's and appealing for government assistance

I can only recall a few scenes where Moore appeals to the emotions in his films and often those are the scenes where I think he sometimes overplays his cards. I can see where this subject can lead in that direction but there has to be an intelligent analysis of why the system is breaking down which is also what Moore has done in his other films. Whether you agree with his conclusions is strictly personal to each individuals. There are reliances on sets of statistics and depending on who is compiling those statistics, it can alightly alter the direction of the commentary. If one hasn't seen the films and is making pronouncements based on what they read in blogs, et al, they aren't to be seriously considered.

BTW, it's laughable that a conclusion that legislators in Washington are sending their kids to fight in Iraq because one Congressman has is so ludicrous, it's consider the source time.

One out of how many people in Washington? Some families have more than that over there.

No, out of Congress and the Senate.

That's still a lot of people. And like I said earlier, some families have multiple children or family members over there, which is so sad and in many ways, unfair. However, I wonder how many children of senators and congressmen have even signed up for the military. As they haven't instated a draft, it is understandable that these generally upper class families don't have a many children in the military, hence not have anyone in Iraq. Actually, I think I just argued against myself there...oh well.

He made his point in the film but apparantly those who haven't seen the film have passed judgement on it from reading right-wing blogs and forum posts. The film has received overwhelmingly great reviews and it's recent Showtime cable shot is a roaring success, not to mention it still holds the crown for the best box office of any documentary in history. The name calling, of course, will continue as apparantly it comforts those who are likely questioning their own loyalty to Dubya.

The further mess Dubya has contrived with health care in the country, including the complicated drugs for seniors program which is spending most of its money on, again, administration costs, should convince most of us that he's one of the worst Presidents since Nixon.

Ooops, maybe since Hoover.

Wizard


How about worst president (and vice president) ever, period?

Dick Cheney does have an appropriate moniker, now doesn't he?

"Sicko" Is Completed and We're Off to Cannes!
"Sicko" Is Completed and We're Off to Cannes!
May 17, 2007

Friends,

It's a wrap! My new film, "Sicko," is all done and will have its world premiere this Saturday night at the Cannes Film Festival. As with "Bowling for Columbine" and "Fahrenheit 9/11," we are honored to have been chosen by this prestigious festival to screen our work there.

My intention was to keep "Sicko" under wraps and show it to virtually no one before its premiere in Cannes. That is what I have done and, as you may have noticed if you are a recipient of my infrequent Internet letters, I have been very silent about what I've been up to. In part, that's because I was working very hard to complete the film. But my silence was also because I knew that the health care industry -- an industry which makes up more than 15 percent of our GDP -- was not going to like much of what they were going to see in this movie and I thought it best not to upset them any sooner than need be.

Well, going quietly to Cannes, I guess, was not to be. For some strange reason, on May 2nd the Bush administration initiated an action against me over how I obtained some of the content they believe is in my film. As none of them have actually seen the film (or so I hope!), they decided, unlike with "Fahrenheit 9/11," not to wait until the film was out of the gate and too far down the road to begin their attack.

Bush's Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, launched an investigation of a trip I took to Cuba to film scenes for the movie. These scenes involve a group of 9/11 rescue workers who are suffering from illnesses obtained from working down at Ground Zero. They have received little or no help with their health care from the government. I do not want to give away what actually happens in the movie because I don't want to spoil it for you (although I'm sure you'll hear much about it after it unspools Saturday). Plus, our lawyers have advised me to say little at this point, as the film goes somewhere far scarier than "Cuba." Rest assured of one thing: no laws were broken. All I've done is violate the modern-day rule of journalism that says, "ask no questions of those in power or your luncheon privileges will be revoked."

This preemptive action taken by the Bush administration on the eve of the "Sicko" premiere in Cannes led our attorneys to fear for the safety of our film, noting that Secretary Paulson may try to claim that the content of the movie was obtained through a violation of the trade embargo that our country has against Cuba and the travel laws that prohibit average citizens of our free country from traveling to Cuba. (The law does not prohibit anyone from exercising their first amendment right of a free press and documentaries are protected works of journalism.)

I was floored when our lawyers told me this. "Are you saying they might actually confiscate our movie?" "Yes," was the answer. "These days, anything is possible. Even if there is just a 20 percent chance the government would seize our movie before Cannes, does anyone want to take that risk?"

Certainly not. So there we were last week, spiriting a duplicate master negative out of the country just so no one from the government would take it from us. (Seriously, I can't believe I just typed those words! Did I mention that I'm an American, and this is America and NO ONE should ever have to say they had to do such a thing?)

I mean, folks, I have just about had it. Investigating ME because I'm trying to help some 9/11 rescue workers our government has abandoned? Once again, up is down and black is white. There are only two people in need of an investigation and a trial, and the desire for this across America is so widespread you don't even need to see the one's smirk or hear the other's sneer to know who I am talking about.

But no, I'm the one who now has to hire lawyers and sneak my documentary out of the country just so people can see a friggin' movie. I mean, it's just a movie! What on earth could I have placed on celluloid that would require such a nonsensical action against me?

Ok. Scratch that.

Well, I'm on my way to Cannes right now, a copy of the movie in my bag. Don't feel too bad for me, I'll be in the south of France for a week! But then it's back to the U.S. for a number of premieres and benefits and then, finally, a chance for all of you to see this film that I have made. Circle June 29th on your calendar because that's when it opens in theaters everywhere across the country and Canada (for the rest of the world, it opens in the fall).

I can't wait for you to see it.

Yours,
Michael Moore

P.S. I will write more about what happens from Cannes. Stay tuned on my website, MichaelMoore.com.

This is going to be interesting.

The first reviews seem to be positive BBC News

I looked at a few of them last night. Definitely worth keeping an eye out for it. The American medical system, and how it got where it is, intrigues me.

I'm sure you'll get an unbiased, factual report from Micheal!!!!

I know the HMO I belonged to back in 2005 was so scared they bought up all the Meridia and Xenical they could find!!!