| What have they ever done for us... |
| Martin | As this is topical right now on the forum, I thought I would start a debate on... people who run the world.
I've been reading Stupid White Men by Michael Moore, a very interesting book.
How did Bush win that election?
Here's a snippet of the book,
quote:
Dear George
...Your list of accomplishments in just your first few months in office is brutally impressive.
you have:
- Cut funding for research into renewable energy sources by 50%
- Cut funding for research into cleaner, more efficient cars and trucks by 28%
- Broken your campaign promise to invest $100 million per year in rain forest conservation
- Pulled out of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol agreement on global warming, ultimately signed by 178 other countries
- Rejected an international accord to enforce the 1972 treaty banning germ warfare
- Abandoned your campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, a major contributor to global warming
- Cut $15.7 million from programs dealing with child abuse and neglect
- Pushed for development of "mini nukes" designed to attack deeply buried targets. A violation of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
- Proposed the selling of oil and gas tracts in the Alaska Wildlife Preserve
And the list goes on...
The Florida election is even more mind boggling. |
| LDunlop76 | quote:
Originally posted by Martin
I've been reading Stupid White Men by Michael Moore, a very interesting book.
Son read that while we were on holiday. Reckon I will have to put it into the "waiting to be read" queue beside the bed!
I find the Bush regime rather scarey in the way it rides rough-shod over moves to keep the planet healthy. A question for those forum members who are US based: will Bush get a second term? |
| rocketmanjohn | With absolutely no opposition he's sure to get a second term, like it or not. Americans have short political memories and only remember the scandals, I hear very little anti-Bush rumblings, there is'nt any smut to exploit.
John
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| Lady Griffin | Is Michael Moore -Mike Moore ?
Ex NZ Labour Politician -was briefly Prime Minister and President of the World Trade Association for a term?
If so a very astute politician and political writer.Didn't know of the book but will seek it out.
LG |
| Martin | I don't think so. He is a tv presenter and film maker. |
| Lady Griffin | I would have been surprised had it been the NZ politician-he never wanted to be known as Michael-only Mike- one of the old school.
Sounds an interesting read though.
LG |
| Alan Marsden | Michael Moore's outpourings are worth reading, they are part of the necessary check against overzellous government, but one has to be mindful, Moores offerings even Oscar antics provide publicity enhancing his book sales, should his voice become mainstream we could be in trouble. Michael's ability to overstate, to turn every gesture into conspiracy is legendary,his vulgarity seemingly virtuous on the talk shows, however we do indeed need critics but we also need to realise that in our commercial society the driving force is to sell the product and Michael can do that !
Christopher Hitchens is a worthwhile critic, more realistic , profound and articulate.
Fairminded , peaceful, level headed people, of which thankfully to date our society has been based, has it's modern origins in social justice, values based upon a historic code for living together offered by the scriptures and humanists alike , social responsibility tempered with the knowledge of the potential negatives of power and religion.
Some element of a cooperative socialist ideal could be desirable in an orderly world, yet we see all manner of perverse historical examples,the Russian experience providing possibly the most negative service to humanity to date, not only have they screwed up their own society, they have virtually slammed the door for anything hinting of socialism. How many people were taken in with the propaganda over the years, most working people certainly, and what remaines of their strife other than a decaying society unable to care for its people, contaminating the air, the seas and the ground.
Malcolm Muggeridge ( Muggeridge Ancient and Modern),quickly saw what that society had to offer, was reprimanded and recalled for his truthfullness by his employer the Manchester Guardian .
No matter how liberal we become, caring for people as we should, one has to realise that there are many evil people and societies in this world, we are at the point where the very values of our trusting careing society are becoming undermined and exploited by the evil forces of this world. It's all very well to say 'Peace not War', no one you and I know would want war, but look around at the acts perpetrated by the evildoers. First 10/11, at this moment the forces sent to liberate Afghanistan and Iraqi are underfire for doing just that, at the same time they destroy their own infrastructure , the perpetrators have the audacity to demand the restoration of power and liberties. These people have not experienced any semblance of liberty, yet we attempt to entice them to a type of society we would want for ourselves! Is this realistic? Is it logical to dismiss ethnic screening, certainly had the perpetrators of 10/11 been Blonde Swedes, we would not have been adverse to checking all Blonde Swedes !
Is the logic and fairness of our law now being used against us ?
Are we fair in asking these questions ?
The argument regarding the mineral wealth I will leave to another forum debate, suffice to say that their governments received market prices for their commodoties, the fact that trickle down did not occurr is hardly our fault!
Finally for now, lets be thankful that we live in the most open societies of the world,
Respectfully,
Alan Marsden
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| LDunlop76 | quote:
Originally posted by Alan Marsden
Finally for now, lets be thankful that we live in the most open societies of the world,
Yes - we'd have been "disappeared" for voicing the kind of sentiments we've typed on here in a great many countries of the globe! |
| LDunlop76 | quote:
Originally posted by rocketmanjohn
With absolutely no opposition he's sure to get a second term, like it or not. Americans have short political memories and only remember the scandals, I hear very little anti-Bush rumblings, there is'nt any smut to exploit.
Hmmm, thought as much! |
| Bill Rigby | Alan, permit me to disagree on the comparison of Michale Moore with Christopher Hitchens. Michel Moore has a populist touch, hence his 'vulgarity. as you call it. His first documentary "Roger and me" was his investigation why his home town of Flint, Michigan once the auto building center of the US had now become almost a ghost town. He traced the reason to the then Chairman of General Motors, Roger Smith, and the documentary is partly the saga of his attempts to interview Smith. It was a very successful movie, since documentraies are not popular with the general movie going public.
His next film was "Bowling for Columbine" and won a special prize in Cannes. When I saw it the theater was full and many of the audience I was pleased to see where young. At certain points in the documentary, spontaneous clapping broke out among the spectators. The documentray is about the gun culture in the US and ends with an interview of Charlton Heston, the Nutsy Rifle Association PA whore. The only reproach one could make of Moore in this movie is that Heston is evidently senile and bewildered by Moore's questions.
As for his TV programs, I agree they were over the edge sometimes and disappointing. But I am sure you find it significant he had to approach the BBC to get his ideas on the box; he was refused in the US! I happened to see them on a cable channel called Bravo.
As for Christopher Hitchens, he is a brilliant and erudite book critic who writes exceedingly well. He used to write for 'The Nation' on political issues,('The Nation' is the oldest publication in the US that comments on political issues from a 'progressive' perspective). He broke with 'The Nation' and the progressive elements in this country over the invasion of Iraq. Since, he seems to have gone over, one may say, to the Bush faction and has seen his writings published in the popular media, something that rarely if ever happened before!
He has written a book on George Orwell that bends backwards to show, unconvincingly, that Orwell was not a police informer in the mid 1940s.
Hitchens is the brother of Peter Hitchens, noted for his very conservative positions, and who writes for Murdoch's "The Times". The background of Christopher is coming to the fore and clashing with his former leftist sympathies; in my book, he is a renegade and turncoat. I still enjoy his book reviews in "The Atlantic"!
"Stupid White Men" is a relatively old publication, which means that the list cited of Bush actions and inactions that began this thread are outdated. They are still true, but his Administration has now gone well beyond the initial turning back the clock. We shall soon be at the social level of the 19th C. with 19th C. values that the religious right so ardently desire.
All power to Michael Moore whose effectiveness may be judged by the attempts to discredit him and his work.
'rand is |