Posted on 06/28/2004 9:29:02 AM PDT by GUIDO
Filmmaker Moore has the right to question conflict in Iraq
Web Posted: 06/28/2004 12:00 AM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
Whom are you voting for, Michael Moore or George W. Bush?
It was predicted that the media storm over last week's release of former President Bill Clinton's memoir would drown out the campaign of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.
But not even the human lightning rod that is Clinton has generated as much electricity as filmmaker Moore.
Nor will the contents of Clinton's book, "My Life," be as fiercely debated as Moore's movie, "Fahrenheit 9-11," which opened this weekend to record box-office numbers.
Clinton's 957-page literary dumbbell — if you buy two copies you can get in an excellent arm-curl workout — will be well bought if not well read.
But each ticket purchased for Moore's movie means his product will be well seen.
And what a polarizing product it is. One conservative group, Move America Forward, tried to dissuade movie theaters from showing it.
I understand why.
While I was standing in line Saturday afternoon at the theater, a middle-aged woman, looking at the mass of people in front of her, told a friend, "I hope this is reflective of how people vote in November."
Because I don't want to mischaracterize her politics, she may have said, "I hope this isn't reflective of how people will vote in November."
Either way, the potential for converting box-office dollars into Election Day votes was obvious.
I'm not the biggest Michael Moore fan. Moore's a talented filmmaker and, like him, my politics are left of center. But his shrillness, grandstanding and playing loose with facts sometimes detracts from his causes and makes him someone I don't want as my advocate.
Ideologues of the left, like Moore, or of the right, like Rush Limbaugh, don't see nuance in issues and will trim the sails of facts to steer them in their political direction.
At times, "Fahrenheit 9-11" is overly simplistic, disingenuous and sometimes more interested in the cheap hit instead of deeper examination of a point.
But stripped of everything else, the essence of the film is: Why are we at war in Iraq?
Yes, Saddam was a tyrant and Iraqis are better off without him. But that wasn't the stated reason for us going to war. The weapons of mass destruction that were have yet to be found.
To question the war, its direction and our leaders doesn't make anyone less of a good American or less worried about terrorism than those satisfied with the answers.
Moore's film is at its most powerful and moving when it focuses on the men and women fighting the war.
There are some who instead of criticizing Moore and his film on its substance and flaws are using both as springboards to attack "liberals" and their purported hatred of America, as if no liberals are among those who have given their lives in this war.
When the coffins of American servicemen and women killed in Iraq are returned home, they aren't draped with red flags for the states that voted Republican in the last election or with blue flags for the states that voted Democratic.
They're draped in red, white and blue.
No political party or individual is entitled to those colors more than any other.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave a message for Cary Clack, call (210) 250-3546 or e-mail cclack@express-news.net. His column appears on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
ALSO IN THE SAME SECTION OF THE NEWSPAPER
LEARNING LIFES HARD LESSONS
Web Posted: 06/28/2004 12:00 AM CDT
Ron Wilson Express-News Staff Writer
He was in 30 foster homes before he turned 17.
He slept in trash containers and a Salvation Army shelter as he tried to finish high school.
He worked odd jobs to buy food because there was no one to sign the forms for him to enter the school's free lunch program.
But somewhere along the way, Daniel Caluya learned the value of hard work.
On Sunday, he walked across the stage at Laurie Auditorium as an honor graduate of Wayland Baptist University, earning two degrees and being named the recipient of the Hector Garcia Memorial Award for the outstanding undergraduate in human services.
"There are people here smarter than me," he said. "But nobody is going to outwork me."
During commencement, Wayland President Paul Armes told the story of Wilma Rudolf, who was lame in one leg but had a dream of being a runner.
Through a lot of hard work, she learned to walk without her brace, Armes said. Then she managed to run.
She kept working, and eventually she won three Olympic gold medals for running.
Though not physically lame, Caluya, too, learned early that no success comes without hard work.
Caluya said that when he was 2, his father abandoned the family, and the state of California placed each of the seven boys in the family in a different foster home.
The system, Caluya said, "destroyed my brothers. It sucked their souls out. They were all incarcerated. I'm the only one who wasn't."
His foster parents made him work in the fields, and the payoff was three meals a day: "Oatmeal. Cornmeal. And no meal."
He ran away from the system at 16 because he didn't want to accept anyone's help any more.
Before graduating, he attended five high schools. What kept him going were his football coaches. "They were people I wanted to see every day."
He said he was lucky, because where most kids had teachers, he had "educators."
"They helped me. They made me feel special. They told me, 'There's something different about you. I don't know what it is, but you are going to do great things.'"
Married and with a child on the way, Caluya left junior college and joined the Air Force.
One of his jobs was walking guard duty around C-5 cargo planes eight hours a day.
Some fellow guards complained, saying the job sucked. "I told them, 'You have no concept of what "sucks" means.'
"I had three meals a day, two babies at home and the Air Force was providing us housing," he said. "What was there to complain about? Every day above ground was a great day."
One duty he particularly liked was providing security for Air Force One. Sometimes President Reagan would amble to the back of the plane to chat with the guards.
"He'd ask us, 'Would you like a sandwich? You know, I have some pull around here.' He was a nice man."
Hard work paid off in 1999, when Caluya was named the Air Force's top health professions recruiter.
Though his life seems incredibly unique, Caluya brushes it off.
"The military is full of people like me.
"There are military men and women in the desert in Iraq today who go without food, go without water, go without showers. They say, 'This is nothing new. This is nothing I'm not already used to.'"
Freshly retired from 23 years of active duty and the first in his family to get a college degree, Caluya has already begun a new line of work as an adult probation officer on the midnight shift in Poteet.
For Caluya, a job helping others was a no-brainer.
"When you ride the elevator up," he explained simply, "you send it down for somebody else."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- rvwilson@express-news.net
(Excerpt) Read more at mysanantonio.com ...
Don't post often at all so be easy on me
Sure, he has a right to question. But he has a responsibility to tell the truth. People who abdicate their responsibilities have no right to expect that they should be treated politely.
Don't be surprised. The Houston kitty litter liner pulled the same stunt. Put a Moore praise review on the front page.
Christopher Hitchens refutes Moore. It's his right to point out Moore's lies.
What a contrast between a bitch and moaner, and a patriot, a true American. Post looks good to me.
Brave Colonialists gave their lives for my right to Call M. Moore a lying fat sack of S***!
Skillfully done.
Saddam was a bad guy -- but that's not why we went to war. (TRUE)
WMD have not been found (Non Sequitor and FALSE)
We are expected to make the leap that we went to war over WMD. We did not. Saddam supported Terrorists and he defied the UN and he regularly fired at US Military aircraft. WMD were not why we acted.
And anyway, we found 'em.
Everyone has the right to criticize anyone however when the criticism is totally based on lies then I draw the line. No one has the right to fabricate lies to justify their hatred of an issue or a person.
Cripplecreek reserves the right to tell Michael Moore to F##k himself.
He has the right to be an A-Hole too, and at that, he does a superb job.
I guess everyone has the God given right to be a traitor, as long as they're willing to suffer the consequences.
And we have the right to point out its factual errors. And its anti-American agenda. And to boycott the film and encourage others to do the same as to not support the slimy fat sack-o-chits. That's just as important a right as Moore's.
Michael Moore? The film director? Didn't he have a film out earlier this year? I kinda forget - it got submerged in all the excitement of the new Iraqi government and all... ;-)
I keep noticing the "record setting box office" rhetoric. True, is has set a record for a "Documentary." Technically speaking a documentary is supposed to be a factual, non-editorializing account of a past event or events. As such, any individuals mis-represented by this factual documentary would have a slander case wouldn't they?
Just curious. I haven't and will not see it, so it matters not to me.
My thoughts exactly that is what I wanted to contrast. What a true American DANIEL is and the undying love for his country despite his hard life is never ending.
Moore is an F'in Traitor. Hezbolla has even offered to help with the distribution of his movie throughout the Middle East.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.