Michael Moore Faces U.S. Treasury Probe

Discussion in 'Politics' started by ZZZzzzzzzz, May 10, 2007.

  1. Moore Blasts Bush Over Film-Trip Probe
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    May 11, 1:56 PM (ET)

    By DAVID GERMAIN


    LOS ANGELES (AP) - Filmmaker Michael Moore has asked the Bush administration to call off an investigation of his trip to Cuba to get treatment for ailing Sept. 11 rescue workers for a segment in his upcoming health-care expose, "Sicko."

    Moore, who made the hit documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" assailing President Bush's handling of Sept. 11, said in a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Friday that the White House may have opened the investigation for political reasons.

    "For five and a half years, the Bush administration has ignored and neglected the heroes of the 9/11 community," Moore said in the letter, which he posted on the liberal Web site Daily Kos. "These heroic first responders have been left to fend for themselves, without coverage and without care.

    "I understand why the Bush administration is coming after me - I have tried to help the very people they refuse to help, but until George W. Bush outlaws helping your fellow man, I have broken no laws and I have nothing to hide."

    The health-care industry Moore skewers in "Sicko" was a major contributor to Bush's 2004 re-election campaign and to Republican candidates over the last four years, Moore wrote.

    "I can understand why that industry's main recipient of its contributions - President Bush - would want to harass, intimidate and potentially prevent this film from having its widest possible audience," Moore wrote.

    Treasury officials did not immediately respond on Friday to a request for comment on Moore's letter to Paulson.

    The department's Office of Foreign Assets Control notified Moore in a letter dated May 2 that it was conducting a civil investigation for possible violations of the U.S. trade embargo restricting travel to Cuba.

    Moore questioned the timing of the investigation, noting that "Sicko" premieres May 19 at the Cannes Film Festival and debuts in U.S. theaters June 19. The Bush administration knew of his plans to travel to Cuba since last October, said Moore, who went there in March with about 10 ailing workers involved in the rescue effort at the World Trade Center ruins.

    OFAC's letter to Moore noted that he had applied in October 2006 for permission as a full-time journalist to travel to Cuba, but that the agency had not made any determination on his request.

    The agency gave Moore 20 business days to provide details on his Cuba trip and the names of those who accompanied him.

    Moore won an Academy Award for best documentary with his 2002 gun-control film "Bowling for Columbine" and scolded Bush in his Oscar acceptance speech as the war in Iraq was just getting under way.

    The investigation has given master promoter Moore another jolt of publicity just before the release of one of his films. "Fahrenheit 9/11" premiered at Cannes in 2004 amid a public quarrel between Moore and the Walt Disney Co., which refused to let subsidiary Miramax release the film because of its political content.

    Miramax bosses Harvey and Bob Weinstein ended up releasing the film on their own and later left to form the Weinstein Co., which is releasing "Sicko."

    "Fahrenheit 9/11" won the top prize at Cannes and went on to become the top-grossing documentary ever with $119 million.
     
    #21     May 11, 2007
  2. When did America fall into fascism? Fascist compared to Cuba, right?

    If Michael Moore was a Cuban and made a movie about Castro like Fahrenheit 911 about Bush, he'd shy away from returning to Cuba because he'd be executed.

    It never occurs to you that the real fascism comes from the left.

    In your view whats more "fascist", wiretapping international telephone conversations or being like the Dem's and sticking people in Federal prison if they don't serf for the G to the tune of 50% on income.

    Taxation, taking away gun rights, eminent domain, those are the tools of fascism dude and they are the instruments of the left.

    Mike Moore "showing America their folly". LMFAO. Yea, Mike Moore who makes 30-50 million a flick with docu-drama bullshit has absolutely found America's folly. It's the leisure dollar.
     
    #22     May 11, 2007
  3. I saw Mikey on the news today. Looked like a pig dressed up in a suit.
     
    #23     May 11, 2007
  4. You mean like this tub of goo, with chimp smirking in the background?

    <img src=http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/9080/jabbathehutandthechimpiu5.jpg>

     
    #24     May 11, 2007
  5. I bet you have a pic of these two hanging on your wall...:p
     
    #25     May 11, 2007
  6. Well, of course you do. This is a pic of George after realizing that
    he has Michael Moore by the balls this time.

    Mikey is so stupid isn't he?
     
    #26     May 11, 2007