Mr. Moore Goes to Utah

http://www.fahrenhype911.com/

You wrote: “Has anyone profited more off of the war in Iraq? (no oil company or Haliburton conspiracies, please)”.

Hmmm… I guess I’m confused. Haliburton et al is clearly the party that has most profited from the war. The profits reaped by defense contractors leave Moore’s in the dust. This is not a conspiracy theory, it is a fact.

You know this, right?

No I don’t know that.

But I do know Haliburton has become an epithet to tarnish VP Cheney. Haliburton has had many defense contracts with administrations from both parties. Just now, it is politically expedient to demonize a defense contractor that supports our troops. Haliburton provides services that few other companies can. If Sen. Kerry wins I will be very surprised if all of sudden Haliburton is dropped.

In addition, I don’t have a problem with a company profiting from providing rare services under extremely dangerous circumstances. My problem with Mr. Moore is he has made a huge amount of money (as he has a right to do) by peddling cheap lies and angry hysterics that the authorities in Iran are proud to show as anti-American propaganda.

And now UVSC is paying him directly $40,000. I supoose the other $10,000 is for logisitics.

Laurence,

Mind being a bit more “specific” on these cheap lies you speak of and please try to base your answers on facts, not some knee jerk personal opinion. Forget the messenger FOR ONCE and listen very closely (and I might add objectively) to the message…

e3,

You must be talking to me instead of Laurence.

I’ll give you one example I know of outright where he severly twisted the truth. Mr. Moore showed a newspaper headline that said the VP Gore won a FL recount. That headline was from a letter to the editor to a small paper in Illinois. It was never on the front page and was not a news story. Yet Moore was suggesting that Gore should have won the recount. The Democrats and many news oprganizations spent a lot of time and money trying to do recounts but could not say VP Gore would won any recount. And what by the way is Moore’s “message”? Taking pot shots at a sitting war-time president claiming he was AWOL 30 years ago, or that for seven minutes after hearing of the WTC attacks he did nothing while waiting for his staff to get things ready to go? Are these serious issues that need to be addressed today?Or is it that the President’s family and friends know people who know people who work with people who know people who are from Saudi Arabia, and therefore the President must have some nefarious scheme to get oil contracts for his cronies.Speculation , innuendo, and pot shots are not what I consider a message.Look, my original post was WAS about the messenger. We obviously disagree strongly on the issues and I’m sure we’re not going to convince each other that the other is right. My point was a state school is paying Mr. Moore $40,000 for his “message.” He certainly has a right to say whatever and make as much money as he can. I am just disgusted by how he does it.

OK, I’ll try again.

First of all, I have no problem with Haliburton. I dislike Cheney, but not because he was CEO of Haliburton. I have no idea if they do better work or worse work than any other government contractor.

Next, I do not lionize Michael Moore. I saw F9/11 and I found it thought-provoking, excessively conspiratorial, occasionally misleading, and generally entertaining.

My point is very simple: The billions of dollars that Halliburton has indisputably made in Iraq is far more than the millions of dollars that Moore has made with his movie. These are numbers, not ideas. Frankly, I’m surprised this is even up for debate - to me its a simple fact, which is why I described the original statement as “silly”.

Laurence,

I knew I should have been more specific in my wording when I originally posted because I opened myself to this point. I should have asked “Has any one person profited more off of the war in Iraq?”

Obviously, Halliburton has been paid more in terms of dollars in terms of gross revenue. But profit is another matter. There have been claims that Halliburton may have lost money as well as that it may have overcharged. I don’t know. I don’t think Fahrenheit 9/11 cost that much to make and the return has been incredible. Again, I don’t know what kind of distribution deal he had with Miramax, but I imagine as it was a hot commodity – “dropped” by Disney as he so publicly maintained – he had a very nice arrangement.

My original inarticulate point was that Mr. Moore as an individual has made a lot of money criticizing the war. And he continues to do so as is his right. What I find particularly galling is that a state school is willing to give him $40,000 plus expenses so he can have a platform to continue campaigning against the President as well as promote his soon-to-be released DVD. Who needs campaign finance reform when you can be paid to campaign (and advertise your propaganda)?

Obviously, I need to work on my rhetorical skills. It is just idle speculation but I seriously doubt any one individual has made more money than Moore has off of the war. We’ll disagree but that was my point and I can’t think of what else I can add.