On the basis that we've listened to the Buena Vista Social Club CD once and we'd like to see what an authentic non-pikey mojito tastes like, we want to visit Cuba – and if we do, chances are we won't get in as much trouble as Michael Moore.
Michael Moore is making a new documentary about medicine and stuff entitled Sicko, and part of the film apparently sees Moore and a bunch of 9/11 victims go to Cuba to party down, Havana-style. Or something. Anyway, now the American government has launched an investigation into what Michael Moore was doing in Cuba in the first place, since it looks like his trip was unauthorised. All this means that Michael Moore could face a punishment of up to ten years in jail, which would surely be a blow for everyone who mostly agrees with the points Michael Moore films make in principle even though they sort of wish the obese pretend blue-collar millionaire would stop blathering on so self-righteously all the pissing time.
When Michael Moore makes a documentary, the world listens. Michael Moore made Bowling For Columbine and there was never another shooting in a school ever again. Michael Moore made Fahrenheit 9/11 and the War On Terror stopped immediately. And now Michael Moore is making Sicko, a film which will single handedly make Michael Moore a lot of money make all medicine free for everyone forever.
In honesty, Michael Moore's documentaries do raise a lot of awareness. Fahrenheit 9/11 took $222 million at the box office, helped bolster the anti-war movement and almost managed to make George Bush lose an election because of a video of him playing golf in a funny way. Sure, an angry vet sued Michael Moore for putting him in the film deliberately out of context, but never mind that.
And Sicko, Michael Moore's new film about the pharmaceutical industry, comes out next month. It's just a shame that he went to Cuba to film part of it without asking the American government for permission first, because now he's being investigated. Reuters reports:
The U.S. government has launched a probe into whether maverick director Michael Moore… broke laws when he went to Cuba for a new movie about U.S. health care. U.S. citizens face "civil and/or criminal penalties" for unauthorised travel to the communist country, the U.S. Treasury Department warned in a letter to the Oscar-winning director that was posted on Moore's Web site on Thursday.
The government is seeking Michael Moore's travel dates, details of the travellers and reason why he went to Cuba in the first place. Americans have been banned from visiting Cuba without government permission since 1962 and face up to ten years in jail or a $250,000 fine if they are caught doing so.
But don't feel bad for Michael Moore – this sort of controversy provides exactly the sort of publicity that Sicko needs, plus it's a win-win for everyone involved. The American government gets to endlessly carp on about what a dangerous anti-American lunatic Michael Moore is some more, while Moore himself gets to endlessly carp on about how much the government hates him because of how cool and anti-establishment he is. And the rest of us can watch each side destroy each other so we can live the rest of our lives in peace for a bloody change.
While the exact details of Michael Moore's trip to Cuba haven't been revealed – the 9/11 victim theory has already been discredited – we're sure that it'll be revealed when Sicko is released, along with other pieces of searing social commentary like clips of Michael Moore shouting at a confused receptionist, Michael Moore getting some ill people to stand outside a building and Michael Moore violently shaking his fist at a packet of Aspirin for 15 minutes solid.
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mooreforpresident says
“Gets Told Off”….how so? Nothing in your “story” mentions him being told off. All your “story” raves about is how bad he is..yada, yada, yada…
moorethangoodtiming says
Nice timing.. considering the movie comes out in what, a week? Gee, I wonder if Moore knew about the rules regarding travel to Cuba and might just have seen this debacle coming. If he actually supported a government, this guy would pout Goebbels to shame.
Oh, and now Cuba’s state-controlled press is saying Moore is a victim of censorship… that’s right, CUBA! Try making an expose on any aspect of government over THERE and see how well things work out for you. Give me a break.
Grandpappybear says
Michael No Moore finally made a film biography of his self. Sicko
White Rose says
Nice Hatchet job on a guy who wants to make the country a better place. What have you done but throw stones at the people who try? Did he make mistakes? Yup. Does he seem preachy at times? Yup. Nevertheless, where’s your film? Remember, no-one makes statues of critics.
David says
“Nice timing.. considering the movie comes out in what, a week? Gee, I wonder if Moore knew about the rules regarding travel to Cuba and might just have seen this debacle coming.”
The movie comes out (in the USA) June 29. How long has the government known he went there? Why are they pouncing on him just as the movie is ready to be released?
“The men American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.”
—H. L. Mencken
Doug says
Imagine the NERVE of someone investigating the drug companies! Our health care system is terrific! So what if people can’t afford health care, OH Well!
That’s their tough luck! Wouldn’t it be great to work for Quality Control over government affairs! Hell you could go to work every day and not do a blessed thing!
desertdude says
I agree with White Rose. What Michael Moore does takes guts and creativity. What you do changes nothing, and requires nothing.
kafter says
Some of the cmments are funny.
MM is an idiot.
Why would anyone even waste ink on this guy?
Interesting comment; “… where’s your film? Remember, no-one makes statues of critics..”
Ahem…. critics don’t make films. None of them do.
Statues? Plenty of them if you look around, ya know?
David says
Goddamn, does no one ever read the title of this website before commenting?
Robo says
all this anti american crap from these poeple get me sick.and all the millions they make why dont they put into the drug plan or pay an elders medicine.please all you that can defame america ,please leave to your supposed much better life elsewhere.sure i dont agree with everything that is going on but i live in the usa and i am proud of it.and why is this !!!!!!!! its called ( FREEDOM)
mario says
Michael Moore acts on what the all US idea is supposed to be: A “free country”, where everyone is supposed to say what they think. What we see in reality is completely different, where when someone criticises or is against the whole government mechanism is chased, ridiculed, threatened… Free country?? hmm gives a lot to desire
Hans says
Michael Moore should be exiled to Cuba
Nunya says
Cuba trains physicians for free. They have a program for African Americans who wish to become doctors, where they take 200/year, and train them. In this country, it costs around $150,000 minimun for medical school. Yeah, Michaewl Moore’s a real prick, but he hasn’t killed a lot of people, to my knowledge. Bush the Serial Killler has been responsible for thousands of deaths. I admire anyone who can bring Bush down, even in a film. Bush is the worst thing that’s ever happened to the world.
JohnQPublic says
“Michael Moore should be exiled to Cuba”
I second that. If Michael Moore hates America so much. Let him try these hack documentaries in Cuba. I’m sure the Cubans would execute or jail him for life.
Toolbox says
I find it ironic that the most patriotic commentors who cherish their freedom have no idea what freedom is.
Comments like:
“If Michael Moore hates America so much. Let him try these hack documentaries in Cuba.”
— Should freedom of speech have terms? Or is it freedom of speech so long as it doesn’t offend someone?
or
“sure i dont agree with everything that is going on but i live in the usa and i am proud of it.and why is this !!!!!!!! its called ( FREEDOM)”
— You don’t agree with what is happening here? What are you doing about it? And yeah, you live in the USA which requires the same attention as your home. When something is broken you do what you can to fix it.
and my favorite
“Michael Moore should be exiled to Cuba”
— Why? If this is a free country, why would you exile a guy who made a movie that you didn’t like? I thoroughly hated Star Wars Episode 1 but all I didn’t think George Lucas should be forced to leave his home. I would gladly accept a refund though.
arabian knight says
He broke the law plain and simple, there are no excuses in the USA to do this, just go vote. Do poeple in the USA really want to be ruled by the mob? Think, freedom has obligations, if you don’t like the obligation to fololow the law of the land then please go somewhere else, todays suggestion is go to Pakistan and help the mob realize freedom
whomitmayconcern says
If I want to see an unshaven, wheezing, grotesquely obese hooligan rant, I’ll check out the nearest homeless shelter.
What cracks me up is how many people in this country and the UK have fallen over themselves to lick his crusty ass because he pretends to represent the ‘blue collar’ working force.
He’s nothing but a dilettante addicted to seeing himself covered in the press while turning a buck. Which puts him in the same bracket as Paris Hilton.
BTW, Loose Change did the same thing for exposing 9/11 as did Moore’s Fahrenheit, without deliberately misquoting and/or using quotes out of context.
David says
So many lazy, gutless tools will call Moore every name in the book, but you will NEVER see them get off their asses to try to improve America in any way. These cretins benefit every day from people who came before them who DID see wrongs and try to right them (often at great personal expense). If you don’t want questions asked, you’re NOT a patriotic American.
John McAuliff says
“Freedom of movement is the very essence of our free society. Once the right to travel is curtailed, all other rights suffer. ”
–Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, 1964
The issue isn’t Michael Moore, whether you love or hate him. The issue is that for the most opportunistic of political reasons the US denies to its citizens one of our most fundamental freedoms and makes itself a laughingstock to virtually all the world..
Two-thirds of Americans support restoring our right to travel which includes 55% of Cuban Americans, despite the hard line position of their political leaders.
A bill introduced in the House in January (HR 654) to end restrictions on travel has gathered 103 cosponsors. Similar legislation submitted in the Senate in March (S 721) has twenty cosponsors. More information is available at http://cubacampaign.blogspot.com/
Dave C says
Are you serious there was never another school shooting after the polemic Bowling for Columbine? Mayhap you had already forgotten about the Virginia Tech shooting that happened, oh, a couple weeks before you wrote this. Or perhaps it didn’t make the news where you live.
The Dread Pirate Sausage! says
Dave C – *D&D* I spank you with my +2 paddle of sarcasm recognition.
Michael Moore is Michael Moore (and apparently he eats f*cking well!) But most of the time he has a point. The image of Bush playing golf during the Iraq war at a time when marines were falling over every day and coming home in hockey helmets is burned into my mind. If a picture is worth 1000 words, that segment was a discertation on American Republican hypocrisy.
Buboo says
Try “Doesn’t anyone ever read ……” or “Does anyone ever read ……..?”
Buboo says
It appears to me that the hammer just hit the nail right on the head and sunk it on one swing. I too get so tired of hearing, “If you don’t like it here, go somewhere else”. No, if I don’t like it here, I will do everything in my power, within the limits of the law, to change it to something I do like. Or, in this case, prevent the change to somerthing I do not like; that being socialism.
It is very apparent that liberals have not read a single history book in their miserable lives. They are so stupid they do not even understand what it is they are asking for. Although Moore is a liberal piece of garbage, as an American, how can I want him in jail for traveling to a place he wanted to go. That is what freedom is. Our current government is not a good example of a good government supporting a free people. They are socialist, soon to be communistm, leaders. The stupid liberals are cheering them on.