DOWNLOADS: (238)

PLAYS: (1684)

Embed

Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) on Wednesday explained that Al Gore and the United Nations get most of the blame for what he called a global warming "hoax," but filmmaker Michael Moore and billionaire George Soros deserved some credit too.

At a Environment and Public Works Committe on President Barack Obama's nomination of Gina McCarthy to be the next head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said that he wanted the agency to listen to scientists instead of climate change deniers like Inhofe and Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY).

"What Sen. Inhofe has written and talked about is his belief that global warming is one of the major hoaxes ever perpetrated on the American people, that it's a hoax pushed by people like Al Gore, the United Nations and the Hollywood elite," Sanders told the committee.

"I think that is a fair quote from Sen. Inhofe. Is that roughly right, Sen. Inhofe?" Sanders asked the Oklahoma Republican.

"Yes," Inhofe agreed. "I'd add to that list MoveOn.org, George Soros, Michael Moore and a few others."

"That's exactly the issue," Sanders said, turning back to the committee. "Do we agree with Sen. Inhofe that global warming is a hoax and that we do not want the federal government, the EPA, the Department of Energy to address that issue? Because it is a -- quote -- unquote -- hoax, according to Sen. Inhofe and others? Or do we believe and agree with the overwhelming majority of scientists who tell us that global warming is the most serious planetary crisis that we face, and that we must act boldly and aggressively to protect the future of this planet? That is what the issue is."

(h/t: The Hill)

(Daniel Ellsberg debates Bill Kristol on C-SPAN, Mar 28, 2003)

Now that all of the neocons are worked up over the possibility that former Sen. Chuck Hagel might be nominated to be our next Sec. of Defense, it seems there's a little dust up going on between documentary film maker Michael Moore and Iraq war cheerleader, Bloody Bill Kristol.

I Want to Give $1000 to Bill Kristol's Favorite Charity – If He'll Just Tell the Truth About Iraq, Oil and Chuck Hagel:

I just sent this to Bill Kristol, the editor of the Weekly Standard magazine and one of the most influential advocates of our invasion of Iraq. He posted something this morning about my post where I found an old quote from Chuck Hagel about how the Iraq War is all about the oil. I'll let you know when Bill gets back to me. (If you don't know much about Bill, you can find a good introduction here about his pre-war debate with Daniel Ellsberg.)

Dear Bill,

Thanks for your post mentioning me! I didn't realize you visited my website so early on Saturday mornings. Man, I wish we had cleaned up after the party last night.

Anyway, I see you're mad that back in 2007 former Sen. Chuck Hagel said that we were obviously "fighting for oil" in Iraq. You explain this was "vulgar and disgusting" and "could be the straw that breaks the back of Hagel's chances" to be Obama's next Defense Secretary.

Since you feel so strongly about this, I wanted to make sure you heard about four other prominent people who've said the same thing. (I should have mentioned them yesterday with the Chuck Hagel stuff, I apologize.)

• "I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil." – Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, in his 2007 memoir. (Read about it here. Greenspan then lamely tried to walk this back, when he found out just how politically inconvenient it was…while admitting a Bush White House official told him "unfortunately, we can’t talk about oil.")

• "Of course we should go to war for oil. It's like saying, you're going to war just for oxygen, just for food. We need oil. That's a good reason to go to war." – Ann Coulter, author, April 11, 2011. (Watch her say that here at 37:30.)

• "Of course it’s about oil, it's very much about oil, and we can’t really deny that. From the standpoint of a solider who's now fought in the middle east for six years – my son-in-law's fought there for four years, my daughter's been over there, my son has served the nation – my family has been fighting for a long time." – Gen. John Abizaid, former commander of CENTCOM, October 13, 2007. (Watch Abizaid say this here.)

• "We're not in the middle east to bring sweetness and light to the whole world. That's nonsense. We're in the middle east because we and our European friends and our European non-friends depend on something that comes from the middle east, namely oil." – Midge Decter, author, May 21, 2004. (Listen here, at 35:55.)

I like to think the best about people. I know all you're looking for is an open, honest debate about Chuck Hagel's qualifications – with absolutely no smears or bullying. And because you feel that way, I'm sure you'll want to update what you wrote about Hagel with these quotes, and explain that Alan Greenspan and Ann Coulter and John Abizaid and Midge Decter are vulgar and disgusting and far-left too. Read on...

Digby has more on Moore's post and Midge Decter here: All the neocon Hippies:

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (195)

PLAYS: (1325)

Embed

Michael Moore continued making the rounds this Thursday on The Ed Schultz Show to discuss what's going on in Michigan with the passage of their union busting "right to work for less" law. Moore reiterated his disgust for what's happened to his home state, where the middle class was born. Apparently Moore would like to help do something about that though.

MOORE: A number of things are going to happen. First of all, the unions and the Democratic party there are going to use every legal means possible to obstruct this thing that they've done, which is against the will of the people. That's number one.

Number two, the Democratic Party of Michigan has got to run candidates who are going to win. And in the last two days I've spent a lot of time talking to friends and colleagues in Michigan, and we're going to put together our own search committee. We are going to recruit candidates who are going to win. We don't need to win all the seats. We just need to identify just a few. We're only behind by a few, a few seats, and remove those Republicans in 2014 and get someone to run for governor who's going to win.

You know, you had Verge on last night, he's great guy, Lansing mayor, but, you know, it's like the Republicans, they run somebody that wins. This is why they have both of these governorships. I think we need to run -- if I were the Michigan Democratic Party, I would be approaching beloved Democrats in the state of Michigan who the people would love -- a number of ex- Red Wings, for instance.

SCHULTZ: Sure.

MOORE: Denise Ilitch, from the Ilitch family that owns the Tigers and the Red Wings and Little Caesars. They're Democrats.

SCHULTZ: People that people like.

MOORE: They like them, and that family's a beloved business and the sports teams. I mean, why not run people, that the people like? That's what the Republicans have done -- they ran Schwarzenegger in California. they run -- they always run these people -- Reagan...

SCHULTZ: So you're hands-on to get good candidates.

MOORE: Absolutely and we've got to start that now, not next month or next year. That has to start right now. and we're starting it right now.

All I can say is I wish him and the state of Michigan luck with recruiting some winning candidates. Republicans have done so much damage already, it's hard to see a lot of it ever being turned back.

DOWNLOADS: (227)

PLAYS: (1352)

Embed

From this Saturday's joke of a media "watchdog" show over at Faux News, the panel members of Fox News Watch spent one of their segments again perpetuating the myth of the so-called "liberal media" and complaining that those "elitists" haven't shown hatchet-man Dinesh D'Souza enough respect. And we got treated to the false equivalency of them comparing D'Souza to the way Michael Moore has been treated by the media and the awards he's won, as opposed to them generally ignoring D'Souza.

Nonny already went through D'Souza's god-awful movie for us here, so just go read the post if you haven't already -- Doing the Right Wing Limbo – How Low Can They Go?. And judging from his terrible interview with Piers Morgan, which was featured in Nonny's post, and with Bill Maher and Cenk Uygur who both just took him apart, I think the best thing D'Souza could do for himself is to avoid doing any more interviews -- unless of course they're at Fox where he's just going to get softballs lobbed at him.

I hate to break it to the hacks at Fox, but D'Souza is being treated with disdain by the media because he deserves to be, not because of some supposed bias against conservatives. Once again rather than having an iota of concern for the truth, the talking heads at Fox are playing the poor, aggrieved victim-card for D'Souza, who supposedly just can't get a break from those liberal snobs who just want to keep him down. Break out the waaammmbulance. There are a whole lot more talented and truthful people out there all over the country who would love to have the money behind them that D'Souza's had to fund his hit pieces on President Obama. Sadly most of them will never be receiving the national attention or the money that D'Souza has been for cranking out his garbage to poison our public and political discourse.

DOWNLOADS: (187)

PLAYS: (631)

Embed

Rachel Maddow spoke to author, filmmaker and resident Michigander Michael Moore about the upcoming Republican primary election in Michigan this Tuesday and the fact that both of their leading candidates, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, wanted to allow the auto industry to go bankrupt.

As Moore told Maddow "I have come to the conclusion that they are in a race with each other to see who can get the least number of votes from the Michigan citizenry."

Moore also weighed in on Santorum's recent comments attacking President Obama for encouraging Americans to pursue higher education and "Operation Hilarity" where Democrats are encouraging their voters to cross over and vote for Rick Santorum in the Michigan primary.

DOWNLOADS: (113)

PLAYS: (368)

Embed

From this Jan. 12, 2012 "Remaking America: From Poverty to Prosperity", which was held at George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium.

CNN had a corporate modified debate on what's wrong with America's economy and capitalism during their show, Your Money this weekend. Here's a more honest one most Americans will unfortunately never watch and I thought I'd share just the end of it here and if it interests you, go watch the entire two and a half hours plus on C-SPAN's site here -- Poverty to Prosperity With Tavis Smiley.

The panelists included Majora Carter, Roger Clay, Barbara Ehrenreich, Vicki Escarra, Michael Moore, Suze Orman, Tavis Smiley and Cornel West.

Part one above with Roger Clay and Vicki Escarra is the first segment above.

Here's part two with Suze Orman.

DOWNLOADS: (121)

PLAYS: (235)

Embed

And the most fiery finish by the guests on the panel is below the fold with Majora Carter, Barbara Ehrenreich, Cornel West and Michael Moore wrapping things up.

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (337)

PLAYS: (3384)

Embed

After the violence we saw break out late night at the Occupy Oakland protests and the likelihood that those disturbances were either caused by anarchists, or someone from within the establishment that wanted to make the peaceful protesters who came out in mass earlier in the day look bad and cause disruptions, Michael Moore had a suggestion for any of those protesters out there who don't want those violent acts pinned on them from this week.

Sadly Moore is exactly right when it comes to everything from those protesting the World Trade Organization to the Civil Rights movement and the fact that those who want to peacefully assemble have always had to put up with those who don't want to see their movements move forward, whether they be fringe groups, the police and what's considered the establishment themselves or just rabble rousers who want to take advantage of a situation to stir up trouble.

As he noted, those promoting the Occupy movement don't need violence for it to succeed. Those who want to make sure it fails do. I would hope that's something the general assembly and any of those who put themselves out there as potential spokespersons for the protests in Oakland keep in mind if they don't want to be marginalized after what we saw happen there with the violence this week.

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (289)

PLAYS: (3749)

Embed

Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore pleaded with an anchor from business channel CNBC Monday to "please do your job" and report on problems facing 99 percent of Americans, instead of the wealthy one percent.

"Moore is not one to hold back when it comes to capitalism, corporate American and now the movement to Occupy Wall Street," the CNBC anchor began the segment by announcing. "He joins us this morning from outside the [New York Stock Exchange]."

"Well, we're not actually outside the New York Stock Exchange," Moore revealed. "You have moved me down here to Broadway, so that -- apparently, you've been told or you're not allowed to have me there in front of the [stock exchange]. You know, when I've interviewed with you in the past, you've tried to actually bring me into your studio at the stock exchange and the stock exchange will not allow me inside of the building... so the last two interviews we've done in the past few years have been done out on the street, we've done them outside in front of the stock exchange."

"Why do you think that is?" the anchor wondered. "Because I asked around this morning and could not get a straight answer as to why we couldn't have you here sitting next to me."

"I think they probably don't want me to come inside the New York Stock Exchange and be critical of this unjust and unfair economic system that we have, that benefits the wealthiest few in expense of the many," Moore explained. "It's too bad that they are that afraid of a guy in a ball cap with a high school education, coming in there to say that... I'm not who you need to worry about. You need to worry about the millions who have lost their jobs. You need to worry about the people who have lost their health care. You need to worry about the 99 percent who are quite angry."

Moore added that as a business network, CNBC really had a duty to shine a light on problems like income inequality.

"This is a rigged casino. I don't know why anybody would put their hard-earned money into this especially after what happened in this last decade. The guys on this street played with people's futures, people's pension funds, credit default swaps, no regulation from D.C. and it's still going on! And if I could just very respectfully ask you and CNBC, you know, you are in this, you are journalists, it's is your job not just to report that the DOW is up 95 points already today, but go in there and find out what's really happening. Who's making this money? Who's dividing this pie up so that the one percent get the majority of it? That's really the story. That's the story you're fellow Americans want you to do," he pleaded.

"They want to know where their jobs went. You know, where their future is going to be. That's the job of CNBC. So, please do your job! Please!"

"We look out for the 45 percent of Americans who have 401Ks," the anchor admitted.

DOWNLOADS: (212)

PLAYS: (2795)

Embed

During some of their post debate coverage following the circular firing squad that was the second CNN Republican debate in Las Vegas, "tea partier" and resident right-wing flame thrower Dana Loesch decided to play the Nazi card to try to smear the protesters out there in the Occupy Wall Street movement.

After apparently being very upset that the #OWS protesters were compared to the AstroTurf "tea party" movement that both CNN and Fox have done their best to promote, Loesch said this:

COOPER: Dana, I heard you scoffing when it was compared to the Tea Party.

LOESCH: There's a couple of things. There's a couple of things that I have to say. I disagree with the notion that this is anti- greed. Any movement that protests for a living wage, regardless of whether or not you're employed -- employed, is the epitome of greed, No. 1.

No. 2, there's no -- there's no responsibility given to Washington at all whatsoever. This current administration is propped up by Wall Street. This is the Wall Street president. This president has received more from Goldman Sachs and the very entities that these protesters are out there protesting than any other president.

Three, I think the grassroots element in this has been hijacked already. One of the things that the Tea Party -- the Tea Party had to deal with two fronts. The Tea Party fought against Republican establishment. I was very involved in New York 23. Newt Gingrich and I went round and round over Dede Scozzafava. I was -- the establishment was not of me; still is not a fan of me.

And we also had to fight against progressives and progressive agenda, where you have the Occupy Wall Street and they have the endorsement of the President. They have the blessing of Nancy Pelosi. They're also endorsed by the Nazi Party of the United States. They're also endorsed by Communists. These are things that we did not see with the tea party movement.

[Scarce Edit: OWS protesters "are the epitome of greed"? WTF CNN? Why give this idiot a platform? ]

It appears that this is one of the prevailing themes over at Fox, where Loesch belongs, although she's been doing her best to make sure CNN is trying to compete with their audience. And while I can't find much to disagree with when it comes to my frustration with the Obama administration and their relationship to Wall Street that she was railing about in the beginning of the clip, I do take great issue with her portrayal of the protesters which is right in line with Fox as Media Matters has documented -- The Latest Desperate Smear Of Occupy Wall Street Protests: The Nazis Like Them

What Loesch is doing here is nothing more than divide and conquer politics and doing her best to keep anyone who may not agree on a whole lot of issues from coming together and marginalizing those out there protesting as some fringe group.

As Media Matters noted in their post: Reminder: If a Nazi says something nice about you, that doesn't make you a Nazi.

Michael Moore and Al Sharpton managed to give us some perspective from opposite-land on Loesch's views where she was determined to pull the working class apart, and a sharp contrast with Michael Moore talking about how wedge issues that normally divide us have been thrown aside from his experience spending some time with the OWS protesters in New York.

Video and transcript of Moore's interview below the fold.

Solidarity Pizza Fund:

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (251)

PLAYS: (2303)

Embed

From C-SPAN's in Depth on Book TV, author and documentary maker Michael Moore recalls his account of speaking out against the invasion of Iraq during the 2003 Academy Awards and the subsequent death threats he received, egged on by right wing radio and the likes of Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck for the year or two following the speech.

You can watch the entire three hour interview at C-SPAN's web site here.