Re: What\'s your opinion on Michael Moore?
 

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Also, look at the system in Sweden where I believe there is national healthcare and university is free . Do you regard them as 'commies' too?



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It's not free!....Not to mention 70 ish % tax rates in that counrty if I'm not mistaken.

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Universities in Scandinavia are completely free (well, there IS the gigantic fee of like $50 each semester). Health care comes with a very minor fee.

70%? lol. Taxes are higher, true, but more like 25-35% on average.

Re: What\'s your opinion on Michael Moore?
 

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Im not a republican, and am probably about 100 times more leftwing than any dem when it comes to personal privacy, and my rights as a citizen. Welfare is commie imo.

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I didn't know all of Europe was commie. Huh, how bout that.

Re: What\'s your opinion on Michael Moore?
 

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The mian thing that bothers me is when people buy into his lies. I have no problem if you agree with his political views, butusing exaggeration and lies to convince someone to agre with him is a problem. Similir to the way Gore claims water level could rise 100ft in the next 100 yrs (or something ridiculous) if we don't stop global warming. Even the most aggressive projections from the US Geologic Survey and th US Oceanographic Institute estimate no more than a 4-5 ft rise in sea levels in this time period. Yes, a 4-5 feet rise could still be a proble, but throwing out ridiculous numbers for impact makes these films very misleading.

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The 20 feet number is based on what would happen if ice sheets on Greenland and the West Antarctica disintegrating. I haven't seen Gore's film so I don't know how it's portrayed, but on the film's web site (http://www.climatecrisis.net/thescience/) they say the following: "Global sea levels could rise by more than 20 feet with the loss of shelf ice in Greenland and Antarctica, devastating coastal areas worldwide.".

Which is true, but an almost worst-case scenario. Frankly, I personally think it's ok to portray what _could_ happen, not just averages (which, if you read the latest report of the IPCC, is being adjusted in a negative direction continuously).

Re: What\'s your opinion on Michael Moore?
 

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He's the left's version of Ann Coulter. Both have diarrhea of the mouth. He might have good intentions, but most of the crap that comes out of his mouth is just ridiculous.

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This comparision gets made a lot, and even though I'm not a fan of Moore in the least, it's not fair to him at all.

I think Moore's got a good heart and just tends to be misguided kinda dumb about it at times.

Coulter is just a hatefull troll (in the message board analogy sense, I'm reasonably sure she doesn't live under a bridge). She's not trying to educate anybody, she's just there to take potshots at people.

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I don't think looking at Moore as a misguided humanitarian versus Coulter as a hateful troll is really fair. Both are way over the top in their attempts to push their own agendas. I would imagine Coulter believes she's doing the right thing by doing "God's work" just as Moore feels likes he's helping people by pushing his liberal propaganda.

Maybe the bigger question is how much either really believes in their own cause. Do they really think they are fighting the good fight, or are they out to just feed their own pockets by being so controversial and outspoken.

Re: What\'s your opinion on Michael Moore?
 

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Private companies shouldn't have an obligation to keep people employeed. It's government's job to sustain them once a company, in holding to the obligation it has towards it's owners/shareholds has to lay them off to save/make more money.



Thats pretty commie.

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The definition of lefty is pretty different in the US than here in Europe, but believing in a basic welfare system, in this instance the government paying a minimal unemployment benefit (?) is commie?

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Anything that doesn't agree with the republicans is commie.

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You're definitely showing a small brain on this one. Maybe you don't know that communism is a form of socialism, not just some empty insult, as you appear to think it is. I don't think there's anything more socialist than a major national welfare system. It most definitely is not the government's job to make sure everyone has a job. WTF? Get off your ass and have some responsibility for your own damned self. Sweden does pretty well for itself, but they're the exception. Look at every other socialist or communist country in the world, even respectable major countries like France. They're all easily outperformed by the United States.

Also, to the right-winger who wishes the right had their own Moore: I think the right would be much, much, MUCH better off with an equivalent to Jon Stewart. Moore does more harm than good - to all sides and to America as a whole.

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I may have a small brain, but I'd rather have small brain and a sense of humour than a big brain with no sense of humour.

NP: Kreator - Storming With Menace

Re: What\'s your opinion on Michael Moore?
 

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You're definitely showing a small brain on this one. Maybe you don't know that communism is a form of socialism, not just some empty insult, as you appear to think it is. I don't think there's anything more socialist than a major national welfare system. It most definitely is not the government's job to make sure everyone has a job. WTF? Get off your ass and have some responsibility for your own damned self. Sweden does pretty well for itself, but they're the exception. Look at every other socialist or communist country in the world, even respectable major countries like France. They're all easily outperformed by the United States.

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1) Sweden is not socialist, but incorporates some small facets of it (and to a lesser degree with passing years)
2) I can't speak in detail for every European country, but there is some form of national welfare system in ~all of them (at least the western ones). Do you consider Germany socialist?
3) I find it very funny that Norway, Sweden and Iceland all outperform the US by GNP (link here), all countries which could be deemed the most socialist in Europe. This goes double when you consider the absurd amount of worker rights, vacation time and average work weeks compared to the US.

Re: What\'s your opinion on Michael Moore?
 

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You're definitely showing a small brain on this one. Maybe you don't know that communism is a form of socialism, not just some empty insult, as you appear to think it is. I don't think there's anything more socialist than a major national welfare system. It most definitely is not the government's job to make sure everyone has a job. WTF? Get off your ass and have some responsibility for your own damned self. Sweden does pretty well for itself, but they're the exception. Look at every other socialist or communist country in the world, even respectable major countries like France. They're all easily outperformed by the United States.

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1) Sweden is not socialist, but incorporates some small facets of it (and to a lesser degree with passing years)
2) I can't speak in detail for every European country, but there is some form of national welfare system in ~all of them (at least the western ones). Do you consider Germany socialist?
3) I find it very funny that Norway, Sweden and Iceland all outperform the US by GNP (link here), all countries which could be deemed the most socialist in Europe. This goes double when you consider the absurd amount of worker rights, vacation time and average work weeks compared to the US.

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I often feel the left and right wings mean different things on the other side of the Atlantic.

Tony Blair's Labour government for example is more closely alligned with views of Ralph Nader than the democrats for example. I would say most leftist Euro governments are quite far to the left compared with an American view of the left. Even the right wing religious governments in Europe have things like a national health service enshrined in their beliefs.

Re: What\'s your opinion on Michael Moore?
 

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I often feel the left and right wings mean different things on the other side of the Atlantic.

Tony Blair's Labour government for example is more closely alligned with views of Ralph Nader than the democrats for example. I would say most leftist Euro governments are quite far to the left compared with an American view of the left. Even the right wing religious governments in Europe have things like a national health service enshrined in their beliefs.

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I think you're spot on about this. Even the most right-wing party here in Norway wouldn't dream of altering people's right to a free health care system - in fact, they're one if it's biggest supporters and argue for it to be STRONGER.

Re: What\'s your opinion on Michael Moore?
 

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Could someone post a link to a reputable source that outlines all the outright lies he has told?

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Re: What\'s your opinion on Michael Moore?
 

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Al,

"I think he has a responsibility to be smarter when forming his arguments."

I agree w/ much of what you wrote about Moore and his films. However, I don't really agree with this part.

Is it really his responsibility to deal with the fact that some people don't view his work with any sort of critical eye?

I guess to me it just seems so obvious that what he's doing is not journalism, so I don't see why so many people seem to hold him up to journalistic standards when it comes to spin, bias, etc.

He's making movies. They happen to be of the documentary genre. People don't think The Real World is "reality" anymore, so why should they think Michael Moore's films are?

Put another way, if he made his same films with actors, and then claimed the movie was "Based on true events" would anyone have a problem with them?

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I read that part too and did not agree with it, and I understand your analogy of having actors "portray true events." I'd like to add though, that while it is obvious to you that what he does is not journalism, he knows that as well. He is just praying on a universal fact that Americans are stupid and the majority won't know what you know. I think it is his responsibility to know that and therefore if he really wanted to make change instead of money he would do it differently.