The Hoboken Cafe 

I was waiting for a good torture story. Something to warm the heart and remind me of how much the world loves us. Now, when I go condo hunting, I'm gonna tell the realtor of my new bomb shelter requirement.

By the way, Disney is attempting to block Miramax's release of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 911," the investigation of 9/11 and Bush's link to Bin-Laden.

What right do Disney have to block the release of that movie? So much for freedom of speech. I smell hypocrisy.

What's hypocritical about it? It was a business decision. It's their right to say, "This movie is crap and we aren't going to be a part of it.

My guess is that since Mike Moore is an established dissembler who's more interested in partisan mud throwing than "truth" and "facts" his new movie is likely to be more propaganda than gotcha journalism.

I'm guessing that Disney decided that they would not like to be associated with that sort of thing during an election year. Besides, Eisner told CNBC that Moore can release the film through any one of 11 other distributors, just not Disney.

In fact, there's growing evidence that Moore knew this all along and wanted the controversy just before Cannes.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story...

Could it be that MM is just an opportunist? Gee, I wonder.

If Disney funded the movie, then they have the right to do with it as they see fit. If they just bought the right to distribute it, then they are breach of contract. If the fund the movie and refuse to sell it to another distributor even if they make 10 times the amount for what they paid for it, (just a hypothecial (sp?) situation), then they are just stupid. They should just sell it to someone to make their money back. Unless no one else wishes to distribute the film. Then that's another story.

Michael Moore is an opportunist, no doubt about it. But that still doesn't change the situation. Disney can't have it both ways....they signed Michael Moore knowing full well his politics. And they certainly know it will make money regardless of quality. Check the numbers for "Columbine."

Is it possible that this whole thing is a ruse set up by Disney, Miramax, and Moore? You betcha. In the old days, some producers staged protests and posed as concerned citizens who would approach local censors, clergy, etc about banning whatever film was about to enter their community. Sometimes it worked. Once, one producer actually succeeded in getting his own film banned!

Sadly, U.S. soldiers behaved this way in Vietnam.
It doesn't surprise me that these stories are surfacing but it's so so sad because the premise of the war in Iraq is already lacking credibility because no weaps of mass destruction were found. What's also very sad is that the people doing the actual torture were following orders of higher ups who are now denying everything. Like I'm so *sure* Dub-yah did not know this was happening! Brother, puh-leaze.
Part of the problem is war itself. Part of the problem is the way soldiers are acculturated into the army through discipline and back breaking training to find out where their breaking points are.

The good news is that it will bring a lot of films about demented war vets. No Vietnam would've meant no "Taxi Driver!"

It works both ways considering that Moore knew what he was getting into when he established a relationship with a distribution powerhouse like Disney. Of course, if you attempt to work it the other way, Moore dealt with Miramax which loves his ideas but when it was finished, Disney got wind of it, and decided to nixed it.

If people will want to see it so badly, then petition for its release instead whinning about it and posting it here. Start a petition and post it here to generate interest. Be a Leader like Michael Moore.

One thing I have to comment is the following.

I believe (my belief) from what I have read, heard and seen by process media is that the soliders were ordered to do it by Army investigators so that the prisoner are more willing to talk to investigators. If that is the case, those solider who are trained to follow orders should not be faulted (esp. if they raised any objections) and that those investigators should be court martial.

However, on the other side of the coin, I can see how soliders can get real frustrated with the occurances of the war. 700+ solider are dead (many possibly their buddies) and they just feel real depress and they need to do something inspiring. So if an investigator comes down and tells them to rough the POWs of Iraq up, it will make them feel productive in a war

Of course, this completely contridicts any hope of this "just" war. Windy is correct about the WoMD (making the Bush look foolish but it does not seem to take much these days). And now, we look no better than Saddam on the human rights front.

josh said on 5/5/2004 10:56 AM

>By the way, Disney is attempting to block Miramax's release of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 911," the investigation of 9/11 and Bush's link to Bin-Laden.
>

Please remember, it is business.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=794&e=1&u=/e...

For the link challenged
Mouse Sells Out Moore

Thu May 13, 2:00 AM ET

By Sarah Hall

Michael Moore will not be silenced.

The Walt Disney Company has accepted an offer from Miramax heavyweights Bob and Harvey Weinstein to buy back Moore's controversial documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11, after it banned Miramax from releasing the film.

The movie links Osama Bin Laden and the Bush family and harshly criticizes Bush's actions in the wake of September 11.

Disney's rejection of the film was reportedly based on the family-friendly company's opinion that the politically charged project was inappropriate for it to distribute in an election year.

Mouse House CEO Michael Eisner said he felt that theme park and entertainment consumers "do not look for us to take sides."

The Weinsteins will have to recoup Disney's $6 million dollar investment in the film, and will likely ensure that the company is cut out of any future profits. They will still not be able to distribute the film through Miramax, but will have to find a third-party company.

"We're very happy that Disney has agreed to sell Fahrenheit 9/11 to Bob and Harvey," Miramax said in a statement. "Bob and Harvey look forward to promptly completing this transaction."

Miramax has played this game with Disney before. In 1999, the Mouse House forced the studio to abandon distribution of Kevin Smith (news)'s Dogma, which poked irreverent fun at angels, prophets and apostles uniting to stop the end of the world.

Lions Gate Films eventually picked up Dogma, and is considered a potential front-runner to distribute Fahrenheit 9/11, along with Newmarket and Focus Features.

Meanwhile, the documentary made its world premiere Wednesday at the Cannes Film Festival (news - web sites), where it's among 18 films in competition.

Since news of the initial ban, Moore has remained uncharacteristically quiet on the topic of his film, saying he prefers to let the work speak for itself.

If Fahrenheit draws the kind of attention 2002's Bowling for Columbine did, it stands to do well at the box office.

After debuting at Cannes and winning a special award, Columbine won an Oscar for Best Documentary on its way to $22 million in receipts, making it the top-grossing documentary of all time, besting Moore's previous record holder Roger and Me.

well...our puppet leader really didn't need Saddam, Iraq or WoMD excuses to make him look STUPID because HE WAS JUST BORN STUPID! "Like Father - Like Son"