I like how in television re-runs are no longer called re-runs, but rather, encore presentations. "A special encore presentation of a program we ran a week ago!" Keeping in that tradition I'm presenting another "encore" column from the archives. This is a piece I wrote a couple of years ago about Michael Moore and the efforts of a man to have Moore charged with treason for the film Fahrenheit 9/11. Moore has yet to be charged with treason, which isn't much of a surprise.

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Michael Moore: Treacherous Traitor

By

Scott C. Smith



Much to the chagrin of right-wingers, Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 has been a huge box office success. So far it’s taken in over $80 million, earning back over 13 times what it cost to produce.

Conservative groups have tried to stop the movie from being screened. Move America Forward was one of the first organizations to try and stop Moore. In the weeks prior to film’s release, they engaged in a letter-writing campaign to get movie theater chains not to screen the film. Their efforts failed; the movie is now playing in over 2000 theaters.

Next up was Citizens United. Their angle was that advertising for Fahrenheit 9/11 violated the Federal Election Campaign Act. It remains to be seen if their efforts will bear fruit. My guess is it will not.

Now we have Jon Alvarez. Alvarez has formed a group called Patriotic Americans Boycotting Anti-American Hollywood and he wants Michael Moore charged with treason. Notice a trend here? Right-wingers hate dissent. They’ve expended so much energy trying to silence Michael Moore, all which have failed so far.

Alvarez’s petition, posted to web site, (Note: the site is currently down) makes the following charge:

"More of our soldiers are dying as a result of Moore and his movie, and America is increasingly being threatened because of Moore's turncoat treachery. By falsely portraying our government in a negative light, as liars and manipulators, as well as our troops as baby killers and torturers, he incites blood-thirsty terrorists to strike at our homeland, our citizens and military personnel in an effort to weaken America's resolve to fight on to victory."

Now that’s serious! Michael Moore’s movie has caused the death of our troops! Why hasn’t the media taken this story and ran with it?

I attempted to reach Jon Alvarez about his petition and the charge that Moore’s film was causing the death of soldiers. His response to me was short, and predictable:

"…However, from a brief scan of your website, I'll have to take a pass on the interview, we really have nothing to discuss. You're a partisan on the wrong side of history. God Bless America! Your side will lose…"

I wonder what we’re going to lose? I didn’t know it was a contest. Since Alvarez wouldn’t answer my question, I decided I’d post the question to the forum at Alvarez’s web site. Maybe there he’d respond to his charge about Moore’s film causing the deaths of American soldiers. But no, his response was just bluster:

"Yes, Moore and the Hollywood left, over the past year and more, have emboldened the opposition of our enemies around the world as well as the anti-war opposition across the globe. The actions of these people, by word and deed, have forced the USA to pick up the slack that the international community should have shared... That translates into more American troops not only carrying the lion's share of the burden, but also being exposed to higher casualty rates than we would have seen had, let's say, France and Germany participated, or the UN."

So, the statement is a lie, and Marine Corps Captain Bruce Frame, a spokesman with the United States Central Command, confirmed to me that no soldiers had died due to Moore’s film. In an ironic twist, European/Pacific Stars and Stripes, the military newspaper, reported on July 1 that the Army-Air Force Exchange Service was in discussions with Lion’s Gate, Fahrenheit 9/11’s distributor, to screen the movie at military theaters. Applying Alvarez’s logic, the leadership of the Army-Air Force Exchange Service would also have to be charged with treason.

In the months to come we’ll see more efforts to counter Michael Moore. Rookie filmmaker Michael Wilson is putting the finishing touches on his film Michael Moore Hates America. Wilson makes the claim at his web site that, “Contrary to its title, Michael Moore Hates America isn’t a hatchet job on the filmmaker. It’s a journey across the nation where we meet celebrities, scholars and average folks alike, and we find out whether the American Dream is still alive! In the process, we’ll look at Michael Moore’s claims about the country, its people, and our way of life.” I guess you have to have an inflammatory title to sell tickets.

With each campaign launched to stop Michael Moore, the publicity results in increased ticket sales. What are conservatives so afraid of? Do they think George W. Bush is so vulnerable that one movie is enough to cause him to lose the presidential election? I suspect we’ll next see a movement to have Moore charged with the Sedition Act of 1798. Nevertheless, Fahrenheit 9/11 will continue to sell tickets, and even military audiences will eventually get to see the film. Michael Moore doesn’t hate America. His opposition does.

To any new readers, welcome to What's In Scott's Head. I thought I'd re-run one of my first columns so you'll have an idea about who I am and what I write about. Enjoy.

We're back! Sorry for the delay. I'm tinkering with the blog template in an attempt to get proper titles in my posts, so the formatting may look funny until I get it figured out.

Crazed right-wing nutter Michael Savage was in full force on his radio program July 14, with some choice words about liberals, taken from the Ann Coulter playbook. During a discussion about Israeli casualties with Hezbollah, Savage said:

"Now, I realize that the American left is cheering today. They'll probably break open the jug wine and cheer that Jews are dying, and that they're living and cowering in bomb shelters. One day, the "Deutschland Ãber alles" may be played in Jerusalem, and the American left can tear off their masks once and for all and show themselves to be what they really are -- which is the Nazis of our time."

Savage may have a point there. I'm Jewish, and even I broke out the "jug wine" and did a little happy dance over the deaths of my fellow Jews. All the while singing in German, of course. Because we liberals love our terrorists. And Nazis, apparently.

Of Hazbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, Savage said:

"This is the leader of the terrorist group Hezbollah -- a good friend of the liberal left wing, the Michael Moore wing, the Barbara Boxer wing, the Ted Kennedy wing, the anti-American wing of the Democrat Party would be in great accord with Hassan Nasrallah of the Hezbollah, who is saying things fundamentally that the left says in America, only in a naked way."

Now, I should state for the record that I do not know Hassan Nasrallah, although I've met him at "hate America" rallies. Because we liberals attend them every other week or so. Not really.

Does anyone take Savage seriously? When he says things like "liberalism is, in essence, the HIV virus," it's hard to believe he'd have much of a following. He also thinks Jimmy Carter is Hitler, which I have to admit is an apt description, since both Jimmy Carter and Hitler taught Sunday School at theirchurchess and spent their free time building houses for the homeless.

Maybe Savage and Ann Coulter can get together and attack 9-11 widows. They'd make a great team. Well, not great.

Speaking of Coulter, she was at it again on June 14th, blasting some of the 9-11 widows who dared to (gasp) endorse John Kerry for President and demand a 9-11 commission to investigate the attacks. Damn those widows! The nerve of them to have demanded a commission to investigate the attacks on 9-11. You can read the transcript here.