Moore said, "They don't have the courage of their convictions. They won't stand and fight."

It took him years to determine this? I knew this decades ago. If Moore is supposed to be a brilliant social critic, but it took him so long to discover this important fact, then he is failing in his mission. Come on, Mike! Wake the fuck up! We working people are dying out here while you go from MSNBC to Raw Story in your comfy limo. What are the chances Moore is just another plant, another distraction to entertain us while corporate America picks our pockets? Hell, he may be on the Wal*Mart payroll.

God Bless You Mr. Moore.

Politics in the USA now resembles professional wrestling. A fake put on by well paid actors whose objective is to fleece their audience. The players are not selected for their ability to solve problems. They're selected for their willingness to play along.

We are exposing the traitors trying to write laws and policies that are against freedom, liberty and US constitution - and they should be in jail.

The progressives and Statists may suggest I need to be locked up for exercising 1st amendment rights, which are both enumerated and god given. It is always interesting and telling since the original liberal, Voltaire, was prone to saying things like: "Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too.''

Progressive Statism is not able to be implemented in compliance with root law/US constitution. Sorry about that. Why dont you move your progressive Statist butts to Venezuela or whatever failed state du jour that is crumbling under left-wing Statist bullcrap. India and China wont take idiots like you, and they are our main economic/geopolitical rivals right now. Idiots like progressives, Statists and authoritarians weaken America by betraying our constitution and make the denigration and disintegration of this superpower all the more trivial by the other autocratic authoritarian governments who want our power.

You and your progressive friends have woken the silent majority, and criminal acts of treason will be evaluated if we can restore freedom, liberty and the US Constitution.

Yeah, sure. Jobless recovery, right? With old-method unemployment calculations in the 20% range, and the State lie being @ 10%. Seems dire in an economy whose GDP is 70% spending. (Note the media often compares old-method numbers (which are higher) to new method, this in and of itself is propaganda).

Treasuries - 80% were bought by the Federal Reserve in 2009. Interest rates unsustainably low, and if the rates pop to attract new investors, debt service load will go form 6-8% of budget to multiples of that.

1 in 6 FHA loans in the trailing 12 months is delinquent.

Deficit spending is at an all time high and burgeoning when there is potential to need to raise rates to attract treasury investors. Very, very dangerous to be there. China this week unloaded 32 billion in treasuries. Japan is now #1 holder of debt. US borrows Chinese money to arm Taiwan, and wonders why China is upset.

These "Teaparty" issues have percolated up with Ross Perot several times before. One might take a look at perotcharts.com before spouting off about progressivism being a good thing (The top 1% earners pay 40% of all taxes. The top 10% pay 60% of all taxes, yet there is "more" wanted by the supposed proles, but more like its incited class warfare to create division despite the evil rich paying a lot of the freight.) . Yet, as Perot and folks like Ron Paul were laughed at in the past, now not so much. You see, they (Perot, Paul, others) basically predicted the future with shocking accuracy. The deficits, the spending beyond income even during prosperity, the perpetual wars and the unfunded social entitlement programs that have no hope of working even during good economic times is eclipsing American power.

Some are trying to erect a quasi-socialist state like that of say, Sweden. Yet, Sweden is a homogeneous culture, small population ~9 million, good natural borders and before rampant taxation moved a number of prolific businesses away, this country of 9 million made cars, cell phones, jet aircraft, heavy industry equipment, gave rise to Ikea, etc.

The problem is simple. The US is 300+ million with a leaky border. Entitlements will break this union faster than can be imagined. One might argue this is the point and a Cloward-Piven strategy, but its probably just ignorance.

The US competes with India and China. Brazil and Russia are also players, but the two main players are India and China. These countries are not dumb, are being lead in a much smarter way, and are not shooting themselves in the foot. These "socialist/communist" countries are nothing of the sort, the entitlements are bare to non existent, they foster business, ruthlessly defend local business against foreign business and are more capitalist than the United States. They have more people in their top 10% of every category than the US has people.

Also, there are many fiscal bombs in the waiting. A list ensues.

Mandatory spending: $1.89 trillion (+6.2%) (FY2009)
*
o $644 billion - Social Security
o $408 billion - Medicare
o $224 billion - Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)
o $360 billion - Unemployment/Welfare/Other mandatory spending
o $260 billion - Interest on National Debt

Please note the ADMINISTRATION costs of all this psychotic spending is in the DISCRETIONARY budget and is not listed here. (e.g., Social Security is ~ 9billion/year)

REPEAT:

64%++ of our federal budget is: Social Security, Welfare, Workfare, Interest on Debt, Medicare, Medicaid. This has proven over time to be the biggest financial mistake ever made, and China and India don't have to repeat what is dooming the USA to be a second-world country.

Federal Budget Deficit Bomb: It started with Bush: The wars, TARP, spending. Obama is only accelerating spending. His budget for 2010 is $14.3 trillion. It was $7.8 trillion in 2005. The CBO predicts future deficits around 4 percent through 2020. America's debt at 84 percent of GDP will soon pass that toxic 90 percent trigger point

U.S. Foreign Trade Bomb: $400 billion in trade deficits are added each year and foreigners now own $2.5 trillion of America, with China holding over $1.3 trillion in Treasury debt.
Weakening U.S. Dollar as Foreign Reserve Currency Bomb: If the dollar is replaced as main foreign reserves - and it's falling - the main index measuring dollar strength has gone from 120 at the Clinton-to-Bush handoff to below 80 today. ( http://quotes.ino.com/chart/?s=NYBOT_DX&v=dmax )

Cheap Money Bomb - Credit Ratings Down, Rates Up: As debt climbs and the bank ratings fall, interest rates will skyrocket.

Global Real Estate Bomb: Dubai is falling apart because of over-speculation. People stopped buying real estate. They've got massive empty towers. Even the tallest building sits empty. Commercial real estate bubble is now $1.7 trillion. People are still behind on mortgages at all-time highs; did we really hit bottom on real estate yet?

Social Security Bomb: They've been telling us for a while that by 2035 it will go haywire. But for the first time in history Social Security is in the red. Check your calendar: Is it 2035 yet? Let's see, will politicians cut benefits? Nope. They need to hand out more Bread and Circus.

Medicare Nuclear Bomb: It's going broke faster than Social Security. The Republican progressive prescription drug benefit added an unfunded $8.1 trillion. In five years, estimates rose from about $35 trillion to over $60 trillion now. And they are talking about expanding it in the new health care bill? Along with covering 30 million new people?

State and Local Government Budget Bombs: Deficits of $110 billion in 2010; $178 billion in 2011, on top of more that $450 billion in under-funded state and municipal employee pension funds. California alone is 20 billion in the hole on a 100 billion dollar general fund.

Under-funded Corporate Pensions Bomb: Guess who picks up the tab for the $409 billion deficit in under-funded pensions that default? Taxpayers.

Consumer Debt Bomb: Americans are still living beyond their means. Even with a downturn, consumer debt rose from about $2.3 to $2.5 trillion. Hmm, spending more, earning less....

Personal Savings Bomb: Before the 2008 meltdown savings rate dropped from about 10 percent in the early 1980s to below zero. Now it's creeping up: 70 percent of our economy is based on spending.

War and Military Defense Deficits: Costs of Iraq and Afghanistan wars - $200+ billion annually, $3 trillion minimum... long-term costs for veteran medical care, equipment renewal, recruitment.
Fed/Treasury Bailout Bombs: Government shifts burden of failing businesses from those businesses to the American taxpayer.

Insatiable Washington Lobbyists Bombs: You've seen what no lobbyists in an administration looks like. It ends up being 30-plus. Andy Stern, the unions, Goldman - voters and even Congress is becoming irrelevant.

Shadow Banking Derivatives Bomb: Wall Street wants no regulation of this $670 trillion, high-risk, out-of-control casino that's highly leveraged versus the $50 trillion total GDP of all nations. We forget that derivatives almost destroyed global economies in 2008-09, finally will by 2012.

Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, Social Security, Welfare, Workfare: Bankrupt.
Post Office: Bankrupt.
Fannie Mae, Sallie Mae; Freddie Mac : Bankrupt.
Interest on Debt: 10% of statutory budget at historic interest rate lows.
Amtrak: Bankrupt.
FDIC: Bankrupt.

What you don't seem to get is they are bribing you with your own money while skimming off the top and operate an illegal Fedzilla cartel that vastly exceeds constitutional limits of power.

The federal government does not work anymore and will never work again in its present form. What will the result of this be? I do not know; but what I do know is that we all are going to find out fairly quickly. Looking at the dire situation this way; suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But wait I'm being redundant. In actuality It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress." That's not meant to be a joke. It's obvious; those worn out old men steal our country into bankruptcy, ruing the lives of millions of hard working Americans resulting in stress deaths in the tens of thousands, then smile at us through their store bought teeth knowing very well that not one of those murdering thieves will ever see the inside of a jail cell. To paraphrase John Foggerty, "There's a bad moon rising".

I don't think we need a public option... I like the way Blue Cross Blue Shield does it. Every child receives "up to" a certain amount, and you are responsible for the rest. We have a three dollar copay at the doctors office, the dentist is paid, and having your tonsils removed is covered. This has worked very well for us. Just extend the income amount to qualify.

I am so sick of democrat this republican that....

I heard Michael Moore wants to pass the baton. He should give it to Director Sandra Mohr (Moore...Mohr...That works!). Her movie "Stock Shock" pulled the rug out from under Wall Street manipulators. Educating the average investor in a new and personal way. The DVD is pretty much everywhere. Amazon has a movie trailer.

“This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a preparation”

Albert Einstein - So much time to get it right. They were not listening then; they are not listen now.

Although I don't agree with Democrats most of the time...........scew you Michael Moore. At least the Democrats are not Marxist like you are. They are Americans with their own rights to free speech and liberty, something you do not want us to have ! You are a communist. Go live with your buddy Fidel.

I couldn't agree more, Michael. We had high hopes when we elected President Obama and gave him a major majority in the house and senate. We heard his campagn promises and expected nearly instant changes instead we've lost our advantage because of bickering of his own party. We knew the extreme right of the republican party would use every lie and deceitful method at their disposal but we had high hopes that the democrats could hang together and pass some laws that were promised during the campagn. Crooked big business has again bought our government. "Power Corrupts and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely ". Hal Millett

Well, Mr. Moore is finally fed up with the democrats.....welcome to my world. I wonder what took him so long to see the light. Do you think we'll see him at any TownHall meetings this summer?

Decades ago my poly sci professor said that when the power elite wants something accomplished they will use the party most trusted in that arena If a Democrat had tried a detente with China like Nixon did, the right would have screamed but because Republicans were (supposedly) more critical of communism than Democrats, they trusted Nixon to handle it. If a Republican had tried welfare reform like Clinton enacted, the left would have screamed. Nothing has really changed. Health insurance reform is classic bait and switch. The Democrats talked about single payer, switched to public option and then compromised that away to gain nothing, but so long as the GOP is screaming against it, the Democrat sheeple will beg for it.

I hope you aren't bluffing about being done with the "Democratic" Party, Michael. I hear this kind of pledge every day from people who.....end up caving in to "Lesser Evil-ism". All it takes is for the DNC to gin up their usual narrative about how a Republican victory would spell the end of the world.

They drive home their cynical 'talking points' about not "wasting your vote" on a 3rd party candidate, not "helping to elect a Greater Evil", not "spoiling" the election, etc. We've all heard the mantra about how THIS election [ 2000...2002....2004....2006....2008...2010... ] is "THE most important election of our time" and how "the Democrats are the only ones who 'have a chance' of beating the Republicans."

No doubt all elections--and all candidates--are important....important enough to be taken seriously....important enough to be considered honestly...and voted upon conscientiously--with Hope rather than Fear. Personally, my hopes lie with an alternative to the "Democrats" who (even when they win!) feel that they have to govern like Republicans in order to keep their seats in the next go-'round. I see no point in being loyal to a political party that shows so much contempt for what Rahm Emanuel recently called "the looney left who are f**king retarded".

Hey....shouldn't we take a hint from the party geniuses who have convinced themselves that progressive voters can be taken for granted because "they have nowhere else to go." They have convinced themselves of that proposition because WE have convinced ourselves--AND them--of it.

We gotta stop disempowering ourselves and succumbing to the Fears that both political parties have learned to engender--and to take advantage of--among the electorate. Sooner or later, we on the left have to bite the bullet and challenge the presumptions of the wiseguy strategists at Democratic Party headquarters. We need to take our votes as seriously as votes deserve to be taken in a 'representative democracy'. We need to start supporting candidates whose principles for governing reflect our own values and perspectives.....EVEN when we are told by the DNC strategists that those candidates "CAN'T WIN" and will only "hand the election to" the candidates of the Greater Evil Republicans.

We need to vote for authentic progressive candidates, not in expectation of victory, but in anticipation of the NEXT election. We should have started doing this in previous election cycles, instead of begging each other to "do the 'practical'--and the 'smart'--thing" by supporting the Lesser Evil Democrat "just this once when the stakes are so high".

Organizing a viable 3rd party will be VERY hard, and it will take more than one--or two--election cycles. The two major parties control the electoral machinery; and they guard it jealously (look at how the "Democratic" Party lawyers tied up Ralph Nader's campaign in endless--and costly!--litigation to keep his name off the ballot in as many states as they could). One of the most important and most effective things we need to work on is the un-glamorous work of changing the anti-democratic regulations that hinder--and often even prevent entirely--ballot access for any candidate not anointed by one of the two sacrosanct 'major parties'.

There's a lot of work to do before we can get this nation out from under the thumbs of the institutionalized two-party grip on "our" politics. The sooner we start that work, the better.

These elections are driven by the MSM and the interests of the MSM are not in the interests of the people. Until we reform who controls the MSM, the public at large are as good mere bots awaiting the next command.

Michael, did you see Up in the Air? Love story aside, it was a great statement on corporate disdain for employees

A lot of conservatives cannot stand Michael Moore. I however, don't have a problem with him. I believe he trusts in what he is fighting for. I believe him when he feels the government option is going to help a lot of ppl more unfortunate then himself. Nonetheless, I just don't understand, how it is that I being an individual of no fame, no wealth, just a small voice that often gets trampled upon because of my views, can observe time to read as much of this health bill/bills as I can and understand fragments enough to know what this bill entails. What freedoms it will take from the ppl that these Valiant Liberals like Mr. Moore are battling for? Most the content in there mimic some of the things I read in the stimulus. Seems like a lot of the same direction. I ,more than a lot of people would love to see a National Health Care solution. However, if it is between the freedoms Dems and Reps plan on stealing from the American public along with saddling us with a debt that we cannot pay with money, nor does China want our money...then I have a problem. I have a problem with THIS BILL. not A bill. THIS ONE! Liberals were very angry with Conservatives in their blindness over George Bush. I beg Liberals not to be blind over policy's that have not changed from one administration to the other. Executive Orders are being implemented by this president just as much as the last. Listen, we all witnessed this beautiful history being made. However, that history was made because of the blood, sweat and tears of "WE THE PEOPLE"! Not all We the People, but a lot! PPL wanna call Mid-Westerners, and Southerners racist, Well, I ask this...How did Obama get so many votes, then? I also, need to ask, don't people think that We here in the red states are of mixed ethnacies too? Perhaps not as much, however we have not escaped the blending of relationships out here either. Everyone is mixed in the Red states too. So it is people who switch one racism for another. Shift hate for hate. Come together as a Nation, rather then argue over red and blue like we were voting for Prom King and Queen!

I'm fed up with both Parties....both Parties suck up to Corporations and lobbyists who's voice counts more than the people who elected them. In 2010 and 2012 I'm voting for any third Party that is Progressive, liberal and WII give a tinkers damn to what Americans need. I urge all voters to join me and vote for third Party officials, send a message of real anger.

Mr. Moore, come have some coffee...my treat.

Mike, "Up In The Air" was a dramedy starring George Clooney and Vera Farmiglia. I think you are referring to "Up" as the animation film you liked. What did you think of "Crazy Heart"?

P.S. If you started a third party in this country I'd sign up. You're right. Dems are a bunch of wusses. The Republicans play hard ball with us and we toss back Nerf balls....

All I can say is that it took you long enough to come around.
Time to put some of that talent to work towards the Green Party!

There's an old Ted Rall comic that reads:
"Republicans - We don't care"
"Democrats - We pretend to care"

UP is the animated film... and DISTRICT 9 and INGLORIOUS BASTERDS are up for Oscars... unless Michael Moore knows something we don't!

Agree with everything - almost. I do think the war in Afghanistan is a necessary evil, and the terrorist organizations that find safe haven there need to be rooted out. As a Canadian and a pacifist, even I uphold the belief that the Taliban and the organizations it supports (al Qaeda, most obviously) are a global threat, and I have fully support offensives against them, as much as it breaks my heart to see our fallen soldiers carried home in flag-drapped boxes.

I couldn't agree with MIchael more about the condition of our government right now. I feel foolish for voting the way I did.

Couldn't agree with you more about the state of our government right now.

". . . controversial thesis is that capitalism and democracy are fundamentally incompatible . . ."

Just what exactly "controversial" about this thesis? Democracy: one person=one vote. Capitalism: one dollar=one vote. Enough said.

Ayn Rand is laughing hysterically at Michael Moore's conclusions.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Democrats are as bad as Republicans for different reasons. Bush's administration threatened domestic apocalypse after 9/11 and the democrats rammed through Patriot Act, Iraq War Resolution and other horrible laws and then he did it AGAIN in 2008 threatening economic apocalypse and democrats AGAIN passed egregious laws (TARP, TALF, etc.). They are the tool of the Republicans; I don't get it, aren't liberals supposed to be smarter. Maybe book smart, but definitely not street smart.

Moore makes the same mistake that everybody else seems to make about Shamwow: that if we clap REALLY HARD, he'll abandon his utter fealty to the CorpoRats and recover his commitment to the "people."
Why would anyone believe that?
He's always been a striver, desperate for approval. The Owners supplied that, lifting him the a pinnacle never before enjoyed by ANYONE of his 'class.'
To imagine that he'd ever turn around and do anything but GRATEFULLY slobber kisses on the hands that curried, and cosseted and carried him to that pinnacle is fucking CRAZY!

No justice no peace
Are both parties corrupt to the core?
Does the media deceive the people?

An independent 9/11 investigation with teeth
Suffer not the paralysis of your neighbor
Complete with power of subpoena
Suffer not but extend your hand
Only the guilty fear inquiry ~
absalom absalom absalom

Cruising under your radar
Watching from the satellites
Take a page from the red book
Keep them in your sights
Red alert red alert

You guys incorrectly transcribed Moore's response on the Oscars. He didn't refer to 'Up in the Air' as an animated movie. He said he liked 'Up,' and then continued with 'Up in the Air said some important things.

FOLLOW THE MONEY! From Black Swan on Mish's blog:

If you look at the TARP payouts from AIG, they match up almost perfectly with those big banks that donated $300 million each to keep LTCM afloat in 1998. In fact, right before the actual bailout, AIG, Goldman Sachs and Buffet offered to buy out the LTCM fund's partners for $250 million, and offered to dump in an additional whopping $3.75 billion so that Goldman's traders could operate the LTCM hedge fund. Who would have guessed at the time, that AIG would some day be on the other end of the bailouts? Ultimately, Bankers Trust, Barclays, Chase, Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, J.P.Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Salomon Smith Barney and UBS kicked in $300 million each, and Société Générale kicked in an additional $1.25 million.

To figure out why some banks recieved more than others from AIG, it helps to look at the consolidations. Bankers Trust (talk about an oxymoron) was swallowed up by Deutsche Bank. Chase was engulfed by JP Morgan which had already been sucked up by Chemical Bank (which took the JP Morgan name), Merrill Lynch was "purchased" by Bank of America and Salomon Smith Barney became the step child of Citigroup. Barkley's, of course, dined on what was left of Lehman Brothers, which had donated $100 million to the LTCM bailout cause in 1998. This AIG reward money theory is my own. I've never read it anywhere, but I have read that Bear Stearns was allowed to fail because the IB refused to kick in a dime to save LTCM. I believe that if anybody really researched it, my AIG reward theory would hold up. It got me believing in the international banking conspiracy. If you don't believe in the international banking conspiracy, it's hard to explain why all those European banks were gifted with billions of US taxpayers dollars through the AIG bailout scam.

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010...

I wish someone would explain to me why it is Helen Thomas, Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart and Michael Moore carrying on the good fight. I remember when Jimmy Carter, Mario Cuomo, Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Barbara Jordan made me proud to be a Democrat. Now, every time Barack Obama says anything, it is a disappointment. I'm angry that he justifies torture and gave the drug companies exactly what they wanted(no competition). Whose fighting for us(me)? Thanks, Mike, without you, Helen, Jon and Stephen I would have already given up all hope. I still think one of the bravest moments of my life is when Stephen stood up to power and told the truth. The same thing you have dedicated your life to. And that doesn't make you a Democrat, it only makes you an honest man. And that is the minimum to be one of my heroes.

Aw, Mikey, Mikey, Mikey....
You just don't get it, do you?
The Democrats are no different than the Republicans.
Like Republicans, they only hear and see what they want to and ignore the rest.
They only hear you when you're bashing Bush and the Republicans.
But when the Obamacrats and the Clintonistas act just like Bush and the Republicans they're not interested in a damn thing you or anyone else has to say about it.
And like their Republican cousins, it doesn't really matter to the people who support the Democrats what their politicians do once they're elected.
All that matters is that they call themselves Democrats and if you voted for them then YOU WON!!!
And when you get right down to it, regardless of political affilliation, isn't that really what matters most to Americans?

MIchale Morre is Da Bomb! If he says its so, then its surely so!

Jess
www.anonymous-web.es.tc

It is. But at least there are a handful of good dems (Kucinich, Weiner, Grayson, etc.). Not a one good republicon though.

I love what Michael Moore does. And I love his films. But I wish he would clarify his position a bit. I don't think by saying that capitalism is the problem he means that socialism is the answer. At least I hope he doesn't.

Pure socialism is just as fucked-up as pure capitalism. Both systems suck. History shows that the best system is a mixture. 20% of the critical key economic components are public, and 80% are free enterprise. This keeps the plutocrats regulated with the bureaucrats, and people still have hope of personal aspiration without corporate oppression.

"Unless we stop this escalation of the Afghanistan war, we are going to have to quit calling it Bush's war and call it Obama's war."

Only after he gets reelected of course.

It's the Military/Bankster Cabal's War. They are threatening Obama, and he is forced to go along. He is not in charge.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/578302/thread/12...

I am finished with the Democrats. I used to vote for them since the Republican Party is nothing more than a criminal organization. I can't do that any more. I can't vote for a bunch of hypocrites and wimps just because the Republicans are such monsters. I won't do it again. I am opting out of the system. If the system is so bad that these are the best choices it can offer, I want no part of it. Let it fail.

You and me both, bud.

Less DEM renegers. More Moore!

Did Mr Moore stop taking his medicines, or has he been kidnapped and a look-a-like is now taking his place????

"They don't have the courage of their convictions. They won't stand and fight."
That is exactly right.

Oh good, another round of vapid air movement by America's best known wealthy leftist con artist! If I heard Moore offer a solution to the "problems" he has with Democrats' (which seem to be mostly electoral), perhaps I'd be inclined to listen. But a broad-based accusation that they're all "wusses" doesn't really do much for anyone. Matter of fact, its probably more detrimental and distracting than anything else.

So, Michael, what do we do? I've personally been listening to you gripe and moan for something like 15 years... but WHAT DO WE DO? Sink to the level of debate that's been successful for the Republicans? Isn't that called "lowest common denominator" politics? Isn't that also something you've been preaching against for the past several decades?

That "liberals" still lap up this unadulterated horse shit is as disheartening to me as is Sarah Palin on the right.

I totally agree with Mr. Moore view of democrats, they are weak Panzies who have no moral or convictions. No Spine, they have allowed the republicans to completely rewrite the healthcare bill and are still crying to get them to jump on their sinking ship. My campaign is for every registered democrat to send their democratic registration cards to the White House with a message. You created change Mr. President you caused me to change to the Independent Party. I will not support a party of wusses.

He's very wrong about admiring the Republicans. I don't have to admire someone who is standing up for what they are paid to believe in. If you paid me enough I would tell people I believe in the Easter Bunny, healthy cigarettes and creationism.

Everyone has a price.

He did an exclusive interview with Raw (and not someone else, republished by Raw)? Awesome. I just came across this too-- The Young Turks interviewed him today or yesterday http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/michae...

You take the RED pill...
You see big business, big government and corporately-influenced political corruption.

You take the BLUE pill...
You see big business, big government and corporately-influenced political corruption.

These pills aren't working, they suck and I don't like how they taste like an opiate for the masses.

I wonder if Moore would be willing to work for a National Month of De-Registration, a campaign to get people to change their voter registration from D to Independent --- or what works for them.

I wonder if even a huge number dropping registration would wake up our Corporatist Dems. Ah, the soporific scent of...money!

those that considered themselves part of the historic election of Obama just over a year ago, should not throw him overboard now - we need to keep strengthening the grassroots/netroots base he NEEDS to push him to take the next steps toward a more progressive America. The right wing power base we are fighting does not give up this easily - are you kidding! Progressives, liberals, labor, minorities - ALL must continue to stand united - the right-wing onslaught has only just begun!

Michael Moore must be living in a dream world if he thinks we should have gotten further by now, simply by electing some change agents in 2008. Our power is in standing united. C'mon, ya gotta hang in there, Michael! Don't give up, don't give in!

Yeah! How could our good and holy Democratic Party Members really accomplish anything with only 60 senate seats and a house majority and the presidency? Why, it'll take at least 120 senate seats and a democrat elected GOD before our super progressive people powered progressive progress will be realized in the glorious hope and change pony and rainbow world of frou-frou elves and and and and ANYBODY BUT BUSH! ANYBODY BUT BUSH! BOMB AFGHANISTAN! HOPE FOR CHAAAAAAAAAANGE!!!11!!eleventy!!!

Okay, Mike...get on board the Bolivarean Revolution Bus and shore up your cojones...to champion an idea where "change you can believe in" is really making a difference. venezuelanalysis.com Yeh, it's as radical as an ice shelf shearing off Antarctica. And democrats will never back true change in time to effect our dilemma.

Crapitalizm should be snuffed and buried with all the old propagandist strategies to subjugate the poor and defile the earth. We haven't much time left to even demonstrate some well meaning resistance for the sake of our conscience and humanity, our survival physically may already be unsustainable however we proceed.

Sorry but Obama ran on 3 things, hope, change and his half-blackness. 'Hope & Change' are empty distinctions so at the end of the day he didn't run for shit. His race was used as another example of change, not for him but for us as a country moving forward from our dirty past. The problem is he couldn't be more different than the real Black American leaders of the past. He makes Jesse Jackson & Al Sharpton seem like Malcolm X & Martin Luther King.

He has not and cannot change a single thing, even if he is being honest. He wouldn't know what to do, he (like every other politician) needs to have told what is what, what to say and what not to say. He was simply chosen as a figurehead by the real powers that be, i.e. Goldman Sachs (his biggest campaign contributor). Obama, like EVERY OTHER POLITICIAN in this country, is nothing more than an actor executing a script. To argue this as anything other that what it is is simply naive.

Not a single republican or democrat has ever enacted a bill for the betterment of the people. Ever. The moment we wake up and start to realize this will be the moment 'change' will occur.

Fred, excellent points; i agree wholeheartedly... just a quick note on the race element. It seems to me that many people (left and right) already make little or no distinction between Revs. Jackson and Sharpton, Malcolm X and Dr. King. So, in that context, perhaps there is an opportunity for Obama to bridge some sort of racial divide.

I'd certainly not say that he's made a point to address race since his election (if anything, he has sought to avoid it), but I do think there is opportunity there... Racial dialogue seems to be more or less politically untenable in this country at the moment. One wonders if Obama is saving the issue for his post-presidential years.

"Not a single republican or democrat has ever enacted a bill for the betterment of the people. Ever. The moment we wake up and start to realize this will be the moment 'change' will occur."

Tad dramatic aren't we? That Lincoln guy did one or two good things.

What did 'that Lincoln Guy' do exactly? The Civil War was going on for 2 and a half years before he started saying 'let's abolish slaves'. If I remember right, that Emancipation Proclamation speech was after the win in Gettysburg which was 3 years into the war. The only real thing 'that Lincoln Guy' did was keep the Union together instead of splintering it into 5-10 pieces of land like Europe.

Sorry but if 'that Lincoln guy' had really done a good thing or 2 we would've had at least 2-3 Black presidents (and 100% black not half black and raised by a white family), a Latin one, hell even a Muslim president we would've had right now. Not that that would've mattered anyway given the way the political system as a whole has always been corrupt but the only REAL change that has ever occurred in the US has been by force and constant struggle. It has never come by a vote or by a leader of the establishment.

Lincoln won his first term based on his Cooper Union speech, of which the following quotes may shed some light on these points:

But you will not abide the election of a Republican president! In that supposed event, you say, you will destroy the Union; and then, you say, the great crime of having destroyed it will be upon us! That is cool. A highwayman holds a pistol to my ear, and mutters through his teeth, "Stand and deliver, or I shall kill you, and then you will be a murderer!"

Indeed, South Carolina, slave capital of the South, and home to Sen. John C. Calhoun, its most ardent defender during his life, declared its Ordinance of Secession directly upon Lincoln's election (12-20-1860). His position on slavery and that of his party (the Republicans, not to be confused with the party of the same name today, home of Nixon's "Southern Strategy") were the immediate cause of the war. It is true, they did not call for sudden emancipation, because they wanted the nation to grow out of its problem. Just as it is frequently the prudent medical decision to postpone major surgery until the patient is stabilized and stronger, due to bitter experience wherein "the operation was a success but the patient died", Absolutists such as yourself would demand that the baby be cut in two, as we remember from Solomon's Judgment, rather than give an inch to bring a better outcome. Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien.

Further,

Perhaps you will say the Supreme Court has decided the disputed Constitutional question in your favor.[Dred Scott] Not quite so. But waiving the lawyer's distinction between dictum and decision, the Court have decided the question for you in a sort of way. The Court have substantially said, it is your Constitutional right to take slaves into the federal territories, and to hold them there as property. When I say the decision was made in a sort of way, I mean it was made in a divided Court, by a bare majority of the Judges, and they not quite agreeing with one another in the reasons for making it; that it is so made as that its avowed supporters disagree with one another about its meaning, and that it was mainly based upon a mistaken statement of fact - the statement in the opinion that "the right of property in a slave is distinctly and expressly affirmed in the Constitution."

An inspection of the Constitution will show that the right of property in a slave is not "distinctly and expressly affirmed" in it. Bear in mind, the Judges do not pledge their judicial opinion that such right is impliedly affirmed in the Constitution; but they pledge their veracity that it is "distinctly and expressly" affirmed there - "distinctly," that is, not mingled with anything else - "expressly," that is, in words meaning just that, without the aid of any inference, and susceptible of no other meaning.

If they had only pledged their judicial opinion that such right is affirmed in the instrument by implication, it would be open to others to show that neither the word "slave" nor "slavery" is to be found in the Constitution, nor the word "property" even, in any connection with language alluding to the things slave, or slavery; and that wherever in that instrument the slave is alluded to, he is called a "person;" - and wherever his master's legal right in relation to him is alluded to, it is spoken of as "service or labor which may be due," - as a debt payable in service or labor. Also, it would be open to show, by contemporaneous history, that this mode of alluding to slaves and slavery, instead of speaking of them, was employed on purpose to exclude from the Constitution the idea that there could be property in man.

To show all this, is easy and certain.

When this obvious mistake of the Judges shall be brought to their notice, is it not reasonable to expect that they will withdraw the mistaken statement, and reconsider the conclusion based upon it?


Who can call this an equivocal statement, and who can say that, short of outright warmongering, he could have said more?

It is necessary to look at the whole of the Ship of State, and the effect that sudden drastic changes may have long-term, however convenient they may be in the near.

Sorry, folks. Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson did a HELL of a lot for the American people. Imagine if Lyndon Johnson hadn't established Medicare! Millions of seniors, including my elderly parents, have a relatively comfortable lifestyle in retirement due to Lyndon Johnson and Lyndon Johnson alone!

Imagine if American seniors were still prey for the "insurance" industry like everyone below 65. Just because the Democratic party has moved to the far right and become the siamese twin of the fascist/republican party, don't fool yourself into thinking foolish things. But that said, this lifetime Democrat will vote third party until another Lyndon Johnson comes along.

Lincoln was a long time supporter of freeing slaves and recognizing their rights under the Constitution. Even if it was 2 years into the war, he did do what no one else was willing to do before him by emancipating them. It was progress in the right direction even if it wasn't the total fulfillment (regretably).

If he didn't do it then, how many years longer until slavery itself would've be abolished, let alone the start for the struggle struggle for civil rights that still goes on to varying degrees to this day?

I think you're kidding yourself if you think this country will ever accept a Muslim president, except by ancestry. And that'll be long after we all stop trying to please an invisible man in the sky.

Mitt's Puppy,
Just in case you didn't read your history book all the way through (not that it would have told you the whole story), The Emancipation Proclamation was just another shrewd political move by a shrewd politician. Although it was meant to halt the westward expansion of slavery, it only abolished slavery in those states already in rebellion. Those slaveholding states that remained in the Union were permitted to keep them. We have a lot of after-the-fact dissections of Lincoln's own views on slavery, and we know that he believed that slavery was wrong, but this document stands out for what it is: a political weapon.

"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause."

Abraham Lincoln

While it's true that actions speak louder than words, it would seem that, in this case, both are at precisely the same volume.

Ok first off Slavery did not end because of a guy from Illinois named Lincoln that had a passion for freeing all slaves so he set out to join the establishment to 'change it from within'. The slaves themselves were revolting in such high numbers, over so many different states they forced the abolition themselves.

It wasn't one guy, it's never one guy that initiates change on such a mass level. It's always an oppressed group that organizes in mass to force the change. Lincoln just happened to be at the right place and the right time. Nothing more. He, like every other president, is a mere figurehead put into power and made to follow a script.

And I never said I thought this country would accept a Muslim president, much less vote for one. This country was founded on a Christian doctrine. My point was that if this were truly a democratic country where our votes mattered we would've had black, brown, Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish presidents long before this half-Black person we have in the pulpit now.

What? The majority (which rules a "truly democratic country") is disappointed because we haven't had an atheist president? What are you smokin'? The majority is always a century behind the enlightened.

Sahil Kapur reminds me of my friend Suresh Prabhupada.

memo to raw story and moore

OBAMA RAN ON REFOCUSING EFFORTS IN AFGHANISTAN

if you didnt want that as a policy, you shouldnt have supported him

Memo to Obama trolls.

He ran primarily on opposing all Bush policy and crimes, and that is why he won.
His messaging was about peace diplomacy and not relying on war to solve our problems. The only time he ever talked about "refocusing" on Afghanistan was in the context of immediately ending the Iraq occupation, a broken promise.

He never talked about more mercenaries, drone attacks on civilians, and a huge surge in troops. You revisionist trolls are really the same people who worked online for Republicans, selling their wars and helping to permit American troops to continue their war crimes. You are so gutless, so dishonest.

I would like it if Michael Moore ran for public office himself. He would definitely be a target for the right-wingers, but he'd have huge support from liberals. What do you say Mr. Moore?

Your daily KarmaLamp

Their isn't a damn bit of difference between the repubs or dems! They both are the best political parties money can buy. The big money boys make sure they are taken care of no matter what political party is in power. Geitner, Emmanuel, Sommers, Rubin, Paulson, Bernanke etc. etc. etc.

I don't get the ire directed at Moore. Just because he campaigned for the Dems and Obama in '08, doesn't mean he surrendered his values.

I think a lot of us, including myself were finally hoping that Obama and the Dems would simply go to work in '09 and begin repairing the clusterfuck that Bush and Co. spent 8 years on.

Given that Bush and the Repubs were able to achieve so much without so anything close to a 'Super-Majority' in the Senate, it should've been a slamdunk for progressive reform.

But instead the Dems went completely pussy in the worst way imaginable and lost confidence in the very ideas that people voted them in on. That, and I'm sure money had something to do with it too.

Still, I really don't see the point in faulting Moore in what might've been our last, desperate chance at saving our nation from the likes of the back-ass ideologues of Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Tea-Bag fuckbrains, sociopathic-corporations, and the inconceivably worse that may rise to power in 2010 and 2012.

Which is more pathetic:

1 - you and Mike Moore are such hopeless jellyfish you refuse to stand up for the values you claim to believe in

or

2 - the sole reason you support your corporate-owned bloodyhanded sociopathic democratic party is your claim that it's .000001% less worse than the other corporate-owned bloodyhanded sociopathic party.

Ease up there crimson avenger...

"1 - you and Mike Moore are such hopeless jellyfish you refuse to stand up for the values you claim to believe in"

Obama talked much of the talk back '08, Healthcare, closing Gitmo, etc. He sounded like a guy ready to lead, and considering the mudslide Dubya left behind, you gotta start somewhere, and if he at least won us Universal Healthcare, it'd be a big step in the right direction.

Unless you're alluding to starting some sort of bloody revolution, they type that simply won't work like they did hundreds of years ago. With another 10-15 years of this bullshit, we might be much closer to that though, and it'll be ugly.

"2 - the sole reason you support your corporate-owned bloodyhanded sociopathic democratic party is your claim that it's .000001% less worse than the other corporate-owned bloodyhanded sociopathic party."

Sadly I'd say even toothless grandmas like Harry Reid are at least 2% better than the batshit insanity of the Palins of the world, or the senile McCains who don't vet the Palins and would probably take us much closer to WWIII on a 'gut feeling.' Not that I would've voted for Harry Reid if he was in my state.

The sad reality is, the majority of the people in the US voted for the correct things and still lost in the most pathetic manor imaginable.

You're right. I was wrong. The most pathetic thing is that you and your spineless friend Mike Moore believe everything your political masters say and then use whiny pathetic excuses to rationalize your cowardice.

Moore should listen to what he himself said 8 years ago:

"You can't have 285 million people, and say that two political parties represent the thinking of 285 million people. Just think about that!!! Step back and look at that!!! And you know the thing is, anthropologists -- they're going to dig this up hundreds of years from now, and they are not going to understand us. No, seriously!!! And we've made a huge mistake inventing film and videotape, because we're leaving behind a record of ourselves!!!

"The top 1% that controls 90% of the wealth, had TWO major political parties doing their bidding for them. And the other 99% had NO political party on the ballot representing them. And NO representation in Congress representing them. And yet that 99% run around waving little flags, going 'We're free!!! We're free!! We live in a democracy!!!' Woo Hoo!!! Oh, we're going to look like assholes!!! No seriously, folks -- we've got to leave a note behind and explain our actions!!!"

Oh give it a rest, Moore. Nobody is fooled by your faux-liberal everyman pose anymore. Your democrat masters and betters know exactly what they're doing. YOU are the gutless bag of gas, not them.

Mr. Moore, I am in complete agreement and have been for some time.
The question is where to turn. The Green Party has had almost no traction and there is just no other place to go.

To answer your question, the only way to turn is away from this system as a whole. Plain & simple, no democrat, republican, green party, libertarian, whatever. To get to that level of power all politicians are bought off, it's not the politician nor the political party it's the political system and the very nature of politics itself. Have you heard of the Venus Project?

Has anyone here heard of what a Resource Based Economy is based on the work of Jacque Fresco? Someone needs to spoonfeed Mr. Fresco's ideas to hacks like Michael Moore. But knowing how conditioned to thinking the system works as Moore is, he'll denounce it.

http://thevenusproject.com/

Either Mr. Moore was confused, or the reporter was. "Up" is an animated movie (from Pixar, and genuinely excellent). "Up in the Air" is a live action movie (starring George Clooney, and also very good).

Both parties are just trying to pretend they're not owned by corporations. As with health care, (and everything else) WHATEVER it is, if the PEOPLE want it, they won't get it unless its a big payday/power grab for the corporations too, or it will be so diluted down that it serves no real purpose.

From the point of view of one seeing only your post just on its own merits, it is hard to miss how convenient that argument would be for someone who just lost the biggest landslide in a generation. Coincidence? Add in as context the 100% lockstep blockade by the GOP against any and all legislation, even the most bland, AND your essentially anonymous (and derogatory AND stemming from borscht-circuit language) username, it's no big leap to think you have a vested interest in protecting the GOP from their well-earned minority status.