Can you handle the truth? Michael Moore comes to Portland... on Halloween.
By Adam Klugman of Portland, Oregon. Adam is an activist, playwright, campaign strategist, and the host of KPOJ's Mad as Hell in America
When Michael Moore was booed off the stage during the 2003 Academy Awards for speaking the truth about the Iraq War, it was a bad day for honesty in America. Even after granting him Best Documentary for his brilliant film ‘Bowling For Columbine” it seemed that Hollywood, continually assailed for its unapologetic liberal bias, just couldn’t handle the truth.
As it turned out, Michael was right – the war was a lie, one that has resulted in the deaths of nearly 5000 American soldiers, over 33,000 wounded and quite possibly in the deaths over 1 million Iraqi’s. And yet, to date, not one Bush Administration official, nor any of those who voted to support that war, has been even investigated for war crimes, crimes against this country, or crimes against humanity. This is all because America has grown weary of hearing the truth and would rather look at Kim Kardashian in a bikini than look at itself.
If there is a lesson to be gained from the horror of this completely unnecessary tragedy now that is finally coming to a close, it is that we need many more truth-tellers like Michael Moore to keep us honest with ourselves. That’s why Michael is taking time while in Portland to be the guest of honor at a fundraiser for new, Portland-based organization called RevolutionTruth.org. which is working to establish international standards for transparency. They are staunch defenders of WikiLeaks, the rights of whistleblowers, and are launching a citizen-driven media campaign to free the flow of information from the influence of governments and corporations. And just this past Wednesday, RevolutionTruth.org live streamed a panel discussion facilitated by its Executive Director, Tangerine Bolen entitled, "WikiLeaks, Whistleblowers and the Global Revolution." The list of participants was extremely impressive and included Daniel Domscheit-Berg, Birgitta Jonsdottir, Arturo Filasto, Trevor Timm, and Alexa O’Brien.
I have agreed to MC the fundraiser pro bono and will be with Michael Moore at the Goldsmith Building, 32 NW 5th Ave this Halloween night from 8-11pm to support RevolutionTruth.org. We are lucky to have RevTruth here in Portland because in spite of all the apparent changes in our government since Bush left office in 2008, we need the truth now more than ever. If you have any doubts about my claim...just ask Bradley Manning.
I hope to see you there! If you want to learn more about the event, log on here.
Adam Klugman
Host, Mad as Hell in America
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connect with blueoregon
9:06 p.m.
Oct 28, '11
Ah, the Naderites will all be there. Maybe you can get Ralph to run again on the Green Party Ticket. Once again I'm sure the Oregon GOP will be happy to fund the initiative to get Ralph on the ballot.
9:27 a.m.
Oct 29, '11
Guess I won't be seeing you there, Bill!
10:03 a.m.
Oct 29, '11
@Bill Ryan: having worked for Nader in 2000, I remember him talking at every stop about the huge mistakes of the repeal of Glass-Steagall and the failure to regulate derivatives.
So, who was right?
10:39 a.m.
Oct 29, '11
Adam Klugman and Michael Moore are doing the right thing by informing people of facts. William Black the author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One (good guest for KPOJ) has suggestions for a legislative fix. Two simple bills will suffice.
The first: This is to repeal the Commodities Modernization Act of 2000.
The second: This is to repeal the Gramm Leach Blyley Act.
Now, while snide red herring tossers dredge up the irrelevant Nader (how dumb are people who don't know that Gore won and Nader had nothing to do with the outcome) The Bank of America is foisting off seventy-five trillion dollars of worthless derivatives on the FDIC.
This means you, Mr. Ryan, are going to bail out the criminals. Keep smirking.
10:52 a.m.
Oct 29, '11
@Marvin: I agree with your entire post except for the amount currently being foisted onto the FDIC: it's a lot, but it's not $75 trillion.
But, then again, no one really knows the aggregate of these derivative financial instruments, due to Larry Summers having blocked all regulation of them.
1:12 p.m.
Oct 30, '11
If I understand this correctly, $75 trillion [sic] is the total notional value of derivatives held by BofA’s holding company, covering all of its affiliates. They’re tying to move $21.7 trillion of that total from Merrill Lynch (not under FDIC protection) into its bank that falls under FDIC (i.e., public) protection.
More here and here.
12:09 p.m.
Oct 31, '11
Thanks for the article links, Dan.
The numbers are mind-boggling. I believe the entire US annual GDP is "only" $18 trillion, or so? And these derivative aggregates exceed that. Of course, some derivatives will cancel out others, as there are two sides in a credit-default swap bet, but still!
Ron Suskind (think that's his name) was on C-SPAN last night. In his new book, he says that Obama, upon taking office, wanted to get commercial banks out of the derivative-speculation business (as Sweden has done, much to Sweden's benefit). But Obama was beaten back by his own team- Obama let Geithner and Summers have their way, against his better judgment! Where is the leadership?
12:47 a.m.
Nov 1, '11
CAUGHT ON TAPE: Michael Moore spotted at Occupy Portland, calls on the "richest 400 people" to give $1,000,000 each but, when questioned as to how much of his $50,000,000 net worth he will give Occupy Portland, he refuses to answer.
Don't click here or here
10:50 a.m.
Nov 1, '11
@Geoff Ludt: you have no idea what Moore's fortune is. $50 mil. is a nice round number- a guess. But I'm certain Moore would support more progressive taxation; so there you go- he would pay more.