I too saw the film on Friday night. Bowling for Columbine was Great, and Farenheit 9/11 isn't too far behind. Though you may not agree with everything that Michael Moore preaches, at least he's got the guts to preach it to the public! Though I'm sure there are plenty of documentaries out there that highlight the inadequacies of American politics, Michael Moore has been able to skillfully turn the tables around and put the media spin-spotlight on the "higher ups."
Farenheit 9/11 offers an eye-opening look into the the Bush/Bin Laden family "bond"-- sickening!

This presidential election seems to come down to "For Bush or Not For Bush" It seemingly does not matter who his opponent is.(Sad, but true-- and I don't mean to take anything away from Kerry; heck I'm from Massachusetts!)

Not for nothing, but...... go watch Farenheit 9/11, and I'll guarantee you'll feel one of the two ways about the Bush administration.

Wasn't it Kweli who rapped "the president's a Bush, and the vice President's a ****, there's gonna be a whole lotta fukking goin on!"
I do not envy you guys at all for the political can of worms you're entering this election. Thankfully we have more than 2 parties (well there are two majors, but there's 2-3 more with some level of influence too) so that you do not just have to vote for the lesser of two evils. It's almost like having hitler on one side and Satan on the other, how do you morally chose to elect Hitler to get Satan out of power? You're not voting for something anymore, you're voting againsr something. It's a real moral dillema because strategic voting undermines the very concept of democracy: instead of chosing what represents your ideals, you're chosing the one most likely to oust the person that you don't want in power.
I agree with ya peculiarfish that it's a tough world when not being politically involved makes you ignorant, because wasn't the whole idea of politics that it was to be for the people, and to represent them? When did politics become a secretive world of backbench puppeteers, secret councils, skewed secretive foreign policies, failed election promises and baseless mudslinging? I just witnessed a party nearly win an election up here running on the platform that "we are not them". Had the canadian Conservatives been elected, it wouldn't have been on the basis of their ideals, it would've been on the basis that they were not the liberal party and having slung countless acusations towards the governing liberals. I guess the point is that in all of the good intentions of democratic politics, the very essence of it, the people, are lost by the wayside.

right on mowgli (i hope my comments wasn't taken badly) and you didn't come across as an arrogant canadian (isn't that an oximoron? ;)

i'm just frustrated (in general) about the concept that if you are not politically involved, then you are ignorant. When did politics start to consume us? it reminds me of the bill burroughs rant "did i ever tell you about the man who taught his a** hole to talk?" it talks of government and how it is there to support the people and soon it completely consumes the people, until the people are almost dead, but the a** hole cannot completely kill off the people, cause it needs the people, for their eyes, cause the a** hole cannot see, you dig ;)

After seeing the movie in a packed theatre in Jersey, I too wondered how many people in other cities in this country would see this film and if it would make a serious impact. Any progressive person already knows that we've been duped (as they said many time in the film). Its the conservatives I worry about. Why turn a blind eye toward one of the most corrupt and incompetent administrations the US has had possibly, EVER? All to support a party that doesn't even represent what you believe?

Lets just hope Kerry makes Edwards his VP. He's the first guy I've believed since it became legal for me to vote.

And Thank God for Michael Moore, Lion's Gate and IFC Films. I hope they make bank over the truth for once. I'm so sick of corporations ranking in billions of dollars at the expense of human lives. When the **** will it stop?

obviously not a totally balanced portrayal. documentaries usually do have a point to make (or an ax to grind). more engaging than most summer hollywood fluff. any of us could write most of the ideas out there or use The Movie Plot Generator book / tool that's out now -- www.movieplotgenerator.com

Now just so I do not come across as an arrogant Canadian arse, let em clarify that I have spent extensive time in the US (my parents are both american and all my relatives live down there, I used to spend at least a month a year in upstate NY). Secondly, the average Canadian is only mildly better because we get slightly less biased (the key word being SLIGHTLY) news coverage and our government has been more highly skeptical of bush and it tapers down the news sources.
But the bottom line is that the average citizen of either country that has no interest in politics, or what is happening in the world will have very little knowledge of what has happened prior to seeing this movie. That is the biggest area which this movie will benefit the country is by raising awareness and a level of accountability to the government.
In Canada, because the government system works a little differently here, the opposition parties ted to hodl the governing party to a higher level of accountability (for example, wasting of taxpayers money almost cost the Liberal party the leadership in last night's election) to both the government and the people. Our media is not as controlled by the government and is allowed to be much mroe highly critical of the government's decisions and practises. I would not say that everyone up here knows what is going on, but a higher percentage of people per capita have a better idea of what is going on in the government.
To bring this back around to my previous comment, if the average american knew what Bush has doen with the country and what "evils" he was responsible for, he'd have been run out of office by a lynch mob. Moore is by no means any less manipulative than Bush (his intentions are noble, but he presents an equally biased view of things - although substantiated by facts and evidence), but he does champion awareness which is always a good thing in my opinion. I think that it is important that people in this day and age do not accept solely the news that is force-fed tot hem in the mainstream media. All of us on here obviously have access to the internet, look around and take the news on important issues from multiple resources (eg. during the Iraq war campaign, I was constantly reading reports on CBC -canada-, BBC -great britain-, indymedia -canada/us independant- and CNN as well as info sources like Moveon.org and so on). Every news source has soem form of bias, it's human nature and completely inescapable, but if you ttake it from several places, you deminish the impact of such bias and take a more skeptical view of some of the more biased information.
All of that to say: If you haven't seen Fahrenheit 9/11 and are nto aware of what Bush has done, GO SEE IT, but take what he has to say (and all other news sources) with a grain of sad and do your own research on the issues that affect you.
Peace

in response to Mowgli comment "the average american has no clue" i agree with you to an extend. I am an average american and i live among average americans (most people from new york don't actually come from new york). philosophy and political discourse are luxury when you are trying to raise a family and run your life with limited health care, small paychecks, etc. ... the few moments you have free, you would rather spend watching a game, listening to music or just plain chillin. the sad part is that we are lead to believe that this is life and we live the american dream. because we can all afford starbucks, and we can rent a pair of nike and feel like a star, its all ok.

A full stomach does not rebel. Our countries politicians know this, therefore we are feed and feed well. God ****, we are the fattest country in the world. So, until people are hungry, until they cannot get medical to take care of their children, until their privacy, their home, their lifes and lifestyle is threatened, there will be no rebellion. There will be no fight.

However this movie, these times, i feel mark a new time. Americans know they are fat, medical care is a mess in this country, we are loosing our privacy and terrorism is threatening our lifestyles and all bush can do is knock his head into a wall. I feel a nationwide diet coming on and mr. bush is not on the f**cking menu.

I saw the movie on Friday and thought it was great! I just wonder how much of an impact the movie will have on the rest of the country though? NYC is very liberal compared and I think sometimes living here, we get a skewed view. It was really cool that everyone in the theater was supportive of the film with applause and cheers but what will the reaction be from the rest of the audiences around the nation who see the film?

moveon.org is an excellent resource. I have yet to see the movie (I've been too busy paying attention to our own election that went down last night), but I do want to get the chance to see it. I personally have been on top of a lot of the monumental ****-ups that Bush has been responsible for and am more interested in seeing it to see how Moore portrays them, but I think it is excellent that somebody has the balls to bring this information to the public eye since the average american has no clue (which I find sad and scary).
If Fahrenheit 9/11 can teach us one thing, it is that we should not take all of our information from a silver spoon, be it Bush's or Moore's for that matter.

thanks for the weblinks. i'll check them out. peace.