I saw the Michael Moore movie yesterday. I was very encouraged to see a packed house (in fact the place where I saw it reserved two theatres for the film).

First off, I want to say how amusing (and telling) it is that so many of the knee-jerk, reactionary neo-cons blasted this movie and accused Moore of lying...without having even watched the movie! And as to the "lies," I've yet to see/hear any of these ditto heads give evidence to prove the contrary.

Their most consistent objection was that Moore has an agenda. Freaking DUH!

Anyway...for me there wasn't a whole lot of "new" information in the film. Of course, Team Bush has given us so much material to work with over the last three-and-a-half years, that Moore could have made several films and still had material left over.

However, I wish he had cut out, or cut back much of the whole 2000 election/Florida business. There were probably 10-15 minutes spent on this, when it could have been summed up in five minutes. I think the "extra" minutes cut from this would have been better spent on this regime's assault on our constitutional rights, specifically with regard to the hundreds, if not thousands, of people who are sitting in prisons right now who have not been charged with any crime and have no access to their families or attorneys, thanks to the "Patriot" Act.

Or, he could have taken that time to really hammer home the fact that this regime said--repeatedly--in the months before 9/11 that Saddam Hussein was contained, that he had no weapons of mass destruction, that he had no way of acquiring them, etc. That is one huge chunk of hypocrisy that needs to be kept out in the light for all to see.

OK, like I said, Michael Moore could have made two or three films detailing the cynicism, arrogance, hypocrisy and incompetence of this regime.

Aside from the above complaint, this film was incredible. Because it really did expose the unmitigated arrogance, cynicism and hypocrisy of this regime. And it showed how this regime literally laughs at the working-class American. I would say they laugh at the average, working-class Iraqi as well, but the film really demonstrated how Team Bush just doesn't give the Iraqi people a thought at all.

The film showed the glaring incompetence of this regime on (and before) September 11th. The reaction by Bush (and his aides) upon first getting the news that a plane flew into one of the towers of the World Trade Center was just mind-blowing! Ari Fleischer and a couple of other aides (don't recall their names) are just standing around, clearly not knowing what to do. And Bush? Well, go see the film...it's something you would have to see to really believe.

The other telling thing is just how easily the American public takes to fascism. After 9/11 they were more than willing to hand over civil liberties (okay, not their civil liberties, of course, but Someone Else's) in the interest of "security". And there was one particular scene in the film that showed just how undereducated the reactionaries are and how, when confronted with the truth, they essentially put their fingers in their ears and do the "lalalalala...I can't hear you! lalalalala!" bit.

While the crowd in the theatre cheered and jeered in appropriate places, it was interesting to observe how we all were so silently riveted to the story of the mother who is the very portrait of a Patriotic American and her son who was sent to Baghdad. I wasn't the only one wiping tears away watching her story unfold.

Bottom line? Go see this film. Even if you don't like Michael Moore, go see the film and then go check out his claims and conclusions for yourself (BTW, Moore says he had fact checkers work on his film and in one or two cases found that he had underreported, not exaggerated, some of his facts and assertions). This film is very important, and given the upcoming elections, there is simply too much at stake to not go out and gather all the information you can so you can make an informed decision come November (you are registered to vote, aren't you?).