Unlike the bulk of the panicked knee-jerk Rightwing critics, I actually saw it.

And...wow...It's a remarkable film. Fox News was right! (in general).

And that from a guy who thought I knew everything that I would see. I was wrong.

As are the yutz' nattering on (and on) and blowing wind about the Saudi Flights and the Afghanistan Pipelines and anything else they are trying to come up with to try and discredit what they are so - justifiably - terrified of. For good reason. They are entirely missing the point. They might find that out if they bothered to see the film first.

More details tomorrow (later today, I guess)...

Disclaimer: I haven't seen Fahrenheit 9/11 yet, but we did find a theater about 45 minutes from here with tickets available tonight. It wasn't easy. So we're going shortly. Thus, I have no idea if there are any "lies" in Michael Moore's film yet, unlike the many who haven't seen it and have announced it full of lies. Without actually giving us any.

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, however, apparently has seen the film. And tonight, he's heading into the second half-hour on his show featuring a topic he calls "Moore Lies?".

Perhaps he's holding the lead for the end of the show, because in the thirty minutes I've watched so far, he's not given a single "lie" from Moore's film.

His "Moore Lies?" topic began with a 7 minute package from Lisa Myers which promised to outline all those "lies". And 7 minutes later, I was still waiting for a single one. She gave us precisely 0 lies. She did, however, show an interview with a "Republican Strategist" who disagreed with Moore's analysis of several undisputed facts that are, apparently, shown in the film.

After the package ended, Scarborough picked up with his own lies by talking about the "countless lies" in the movie. Pointing over and over again to the Myers report as if it exposed any.

Scarborough, obviously, is not the only one apparently so disturbed and frightened by this movie that he's happy to call it "full of lies" without actually detailing any.

You'll find such as-yet-wholly-unqualified claims anywhere that a Fake Conservative is opining and blustering. For instance, this shameful internet blog, (which calls itself "The Blog of Truth" without apparently not much more than a whiff of intended irony) has been calling the film "Debunked Before Release" for the past two weeks. Never mind that the Blogmaster there hasn't seen the film, and never mind that he's not given a single piece of evidence to "debunk" it. Yet, like so many Bush Dead-Enders, he'll say and do anything to discredit it. Evidence be damned.

The most puzzling of the non-debunking, non-lies that the Rightwingnutz keep going back to is the matter of the flights containing members of the Bin Laden family and other Saudi Royals (140 in all) that, Moore reportedly claims, were arranged for, and allowed by the Bush Administration in the days following 9/11.

Apparently, Richard Clarke, the former Bush Terrorism Czar turned Bush Administration critic has recently taken credit for having authorized these flights and stands behind the decision to do so. Okay. Fair enough.

Whether he was talking about the same flights Moore was talking about is yet to be determined. Whether they are the same ones recently acknowledged to have occurred by the Tampa Bay International Airport is also unclear.

But what's so puzzling is that somehow, in the seemingly deluded and addled brains of these Bush Apologists, the alleged fact that Clarke was the one who signed off on these flights somehow either pardons George W. Bush for it, or succeeds in showing Moore to be a "liar".

Am I missing something here?

Didn't Richard Clarke work for the Bush Administration? Does it matter if he is the one that approved these flights for the Bush Administration? Doesn't the buck stop with the "President"? Does it somehow make it less true that these flights, which the Administration has denied for months, actually occurred? Is this all these guys have got on Michael Moore?

Surely they can do better. Or maybe not. Only time will tell. But so far the only proven liars seem to be the Bush Administration and those who would shamelessly defend them by calling Moore a liar without actually giving a shred of proof to back that up.

As Joe Scarborough well knows, and as one of his "Democratic Strategists" said before her mic was turned off by Scarborough, "Editing is the highest form of commentary". I have no doubt that Moore, as he even acknowledged last night on The Daily Show, has presented the facts in a way that best proves the case he is trying to make. He admits to "not being fair". Scarborough knows that, as does Rush and Sean, and the NY Times, everyone working at MSNBC and yes - even the Bush Whitehouse from Karl Rove on down to the President of the United States.

Well, Joe...here's the Real Deal: When you ask a guest how they "can say this film is not full of lies" and tell them that "Lisa Myers says there's all these lies in the movie" you must realize that some of us watching don't fall for the old Limbaugh Trick which you guys have so well mastered. The real question is how can you keep suggesting Moore is a liar without actually giving a single lie? It sounds to me like you're pissed that Michael Moore is using that trick --- though unlike Limbaugh, he actually uses facts and reporting --- and it's now turning against you.

That sucks, doesn't it? No wonder when your other guest, "Republican Strategist" Jack Berkman started calling for a boycott on your show, you couldn't shut him up quickly enough.

You've learned the power of the media, even if it wasn't until you were hoisted on your own petard. And now you may even finally be understanding how your attempts to shut folks like Moore up, do nothing but give him a louder voice. Perhaps Fox News has already learned that. They, shocking the world, gave the film a glowing review! Go figure.

I'll let you know what I think of the film...after I actually see it.

A little something I missed last week on Fahrenheit 9/11 from Fox News'(!) Roger Friedman (no relation):

Nope. I haven't seen it yet. Today's effort to do so was cut short as every showing at every theater within driving distance is completely SOLD OUT.

A majority of Americans (54%, up from 41% just two weeks ago) now believe the Iraq War was a mistake. 55% of them also now understand what Howard Dean was telling them months ago, that this War made the U.S. "less safe", according to a new Gallup poll released today.

Meanwhile, along with the majority of Americans, Bush's old friends continue to desert him in droves.

Lee Iacocca, who appeared in campaign commercials with Bush four years ago, is now endorsing John Kerry instead, due to Bush's failed record on jobs for Americans during his term.

And over in the jolly old U.K., Bush's only real partner in the mirage-like "Coalition of the Willing" also has a thing or two to say about the Bush Administration's "unacceptable" plans for military trials for detainees in Gitmo.

Sounds "fair" to me.

How's old Dubya standing up under the mounting pressure? He's currently in Ireland, heading towards a NATO summit as he continues to move closer and closer to the same positions on Iraq that Kerry has been advocating for months.

According to this AFP article, he "snapped" today at one of the Irish reporters: "I wouldn't have made the decisions I did if I didn't think the world would be better."

And, though it'll likely surprise the Fake Conservative shadow boxing dead enders out there who believe that folks like me "hate George W. Bush" and think he's the devil --- an argument that they likely project on us based on their own true emotional disdain for the previous Whitehouse occupant, and it's the only argument left for them to try --- I actually believe Bush when he makes such statements as the above.

I believe he did think this action in Iraq would "make the world better". The real problem, however, is that he was so horribly wrong. He listened to nobody who was trying to tell him otherwise thousands of dead bodies ago, and to this day he can't seem to admit the undisputable fact: He and the NeoCons that brought us here, (along with the support of plenty of Democrats and the supposedly "liberal" Media who rolled over for him during a completely Republican controlled Congress) simply and plainly...blew it.

And now it's finally time that the piper is being paid. End of story.

Speaking of how out of touch with reality this Administration is, it looks like Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz is still in a world of his own.

In April of this year, while testifying to congress, Wolfowitz estimated the casuality count at the time to be "approximately 500". At that time, of course, the second highest ranking Pentagon official, was only off by "approximately" 200 US dead bodies.

On Tuesday, he was at it again, telling Congress that one of the reasons things seem so bad in Iraq is, of course, the fault of the media.

"Part of our problem is a lot of the press are afraid to travel very much, so they sit in Baghdad and they publish rumors. And rumors are plentiful."

He said that on Tuesday. And rumor has it that the next day, some 100 were killed in Iraq, and more than 400 wounded in 5 seperate coordinated bombings throughout the country. Damn that lazy media!

Rumor also has it that, as of Wolfowitz' testimony to congress on Tuesday, a total of 34 TV and print journalists from all over the world have been killed in Iraq since the war began. Add news employees to that (drivers, interpreters etc.) and there have been 46 killed, along with several kidnappings tossed in for good measure. Perhaps if they weren't so "afraid to travel very much" everything would be better.

Can someone please explain to me why this guy, second only at the Pentagon to the great strategist Donald Rumsfeld, still has a job???

And while you're at it, please let me know what Rummy is still doing there as well!

Both appointed, and currently retained by George W. Bush. It's the judgement, Stupid.

Just before the war began, the Bush Administration hoped to ease the concerns of Americans by openly sharing their assessments of the costs of occupying and reconstructing Iraq after our "victory".

The Vice President, Dick "Fucking" Cheney said in March 2003, "I really do believe we will be greeted as liberators."

Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld predicted in February 2003 that the war "could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months."

And Deputy Defense Secretary testified to congress that Iraq "can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon."

What's to worry about?

On April 23, 2003, on the eve of war, Andrew Natsios, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development re-assured Americans on Nightline. This reminder comes courtesy of our friends at The O'Franken Factor:

Well, I think we all now believe the part about "no plans". Other than that, it's the judgement, Stupid.

And somehow, there are still Bush Dead-Enders out there who believe that the judgement of this Administration has merited a second term. I'll have a bit of whatever they're smoking please.

If you happen to be one of those Dead-Enders, who think the judgement --- or the extraordinary display of lack thereof --- of this Administration has gotten any better with experience, that they've learned their lesson, and are now offering America a more honest assessement of real world events, think again.

A great catch by frequent BRAD BLOGGER Jaime! Seems that Moviefone (323-777-FILM out here in L.A.) claims that Fahrenheit 9/11 is rated NC-17! As of 5:13pm PDT, I can confirm that indeed that's the case!

That's a far cry, of course, from the R rating that Moore and company were trying to have changed recently (and unsuccessfully) to PG-13!

Moviefone is a partnership out here with ABC-7 TV, and online (where Moviefone.com has the film correctly listed with an R rating) they are partners with AOL/Time-Warner.

Does Moore take shots at ABC and/or AOL/Time-Warner in the film? Or is it just an outrageously unfortunate oversight for Moviefone?

UPDATE - 5:46pm PDT: A few minutes after sending this info to both Drudge and Michael Moore, the rating has now been changed at 777-FILM to the correct R rating in Los Angeles! Our scoopster Jaime tells the BRAD BLOG that the NC-17 had been in place, to the best of his recollection, all week long.

UPDATE - 6/25/04 5:18pm PDT: Duh. Not sure what I was thinking above when asked about Moore taking shots at ABC! ABC-7, which co-sponsors Moviefone, is of course owned by Disney! You may recall all the nice things that Moore had to say about Disney when they refused to meet their contractual obligation to distribute F9/11. And, as I pointed out, the website version of Moviefone (a partnership with AOL) had the correct rating for F9/11 --- it was only the phone version, co-sponsored by ABC, that had been giving the NC-17 rating to F9/11 all week. We report, you decide.

I guess it's not just the "Liberals" who enjoy using profanity, as some Rightwing Dead Ender BRAD BLOG commenters delude themselves by posting here.

Looks like the Vice-President, he of the "Major League Asshole...'Big time!'" sound-bite caught on tape during the 2000 Campaign is starting to fall apart just like his "Boss".

Though the Senate was not technically "in session" when Dick Cheney reportedly said "Fuck you" or "Fuck off" or "Go fuck yourself" (according to various accounts) to Sen. Patrick Leahy during a "class photo" taken earlier today, I'm certain that the Veep would never skirt the "rule of law" by using such profanity during an actual session!

Here's the early reports on the incident: One from Reuters and another from AP.

(Thanks to JohnHP for the earlier heads-up!)

...Just buried with a few things. Hope to be back on the usual Blog Job shortly...Until then: OPEN THREAD! What's on your mind? Hit the COMMENTS button and discuss, beat the crap outta each other, speculate on who will be the next Vice President, recommend a movie, tell us what's on your mind, or any other such mischief that you like!

Several years from now, when you look back and wonder how it ever happened, you'll be able to look back at this, and recognize that you did nothing to stop it. In fact, you allowed 99 Senators from both political parties to suggest that "this is something the public wants."

Or, you can Call or Email your Senator or Congressmen, and tell them to knock it off and stop censoring your public airwaves through the slow, chilling oppression of free speech.

Special Added Bonus Link from Bizarro World!:
Video of US Attorney General John Ashcroft singing his song "Let the Eagle Soar" during a speech!