"The truth is, most Americans don't want much. Folks don't want the whole pie, most Americans feel blessed to thrive a little bit. But that's out of reach for them. In order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone else is going to give up their piece of their pie so that someone else can have more."
- - - Michelle Obama
April 8, 2008
Campaigning in North Carolina
Now you're probably wondering why then do I have a picture of Michael Moore attached next to Mrs. Obama's statement. I'll tie them together at the end. On Monday, June 1, 2009, Mr. Moore had an article on his website on his "joy" on the demise of General Motors.
Mr. Moore states that he is filled with anxiety over what happened to what he says is his "hometown" Flint Michigan, that 40% of the homes and businesses are abandoned and how would we feel if we lived in a city where almost every house were empty? You know, I was born in Detroit in 1955, and in that year there were 3 million people living in Detroit, during the 60's and 70's there was a mass migration out and now the city has a population well below a million. My running joke is that "yeah, I'm from Detroit, FAR FROM Detroit. So this is nothing new to the state of Michigan. I can explain why Detroit is still empty and why Mr. Moore is only half correct on the demise of GM.
Mr. Moore believes that it was the policy of only the management of GM to allow an inferior product be made so that the public would be forced to purchase a new automobile every few years. I have a personal account that proved to me that this is not true and that the UAW workers had some hand in this debacle because my father worked in the auto plants and was a UAW member. He told me personally that the workers would deliberately install parts that they knew were of bad quality and would soon breakdown after the purchase of the automobile. When I asked him why they allowed this, his answer was: "Because mechanics at the auto dealers are union too".
Mr. Moore also makes the charge that GM and their management are responsible for bringing "misery, divorce, alcoholism, homelessness, physical and mental debilitation, and drug addiction to the people I grew up with". Does Mr. Moore actually believe that GM and the auto industry have a monopoly on miserable employees? Mr. Moore should pay a visit to employees who work on the sales floors for corporate retail stores in this country. (Oh damn, I just may have given him an idea for yet another one of his so called "documentaries").
Mr. Moore states that we the American taxpayers, under President Obama, will spend $50 billion dollars to try and save GM. Meanwhile the good news is that WE all now own GM. I will have to agree with Mr. Moore that "the only way to save GM is to kill GM", however I would rather it die under the natural laws of economics by going through bankruptcy than with the help of the government. (Capitalism without bankruptcy is like religion without sin). Because under bankruptcy, the courts will not only decide who will get paid what, but also who is responsible for the demise of the company and have them removed; and this not only means the management, but bad employees as well. With what I witnessed with my father and his co-workers, there are just as many bad employees in any company as well as management. Mr. Moore only wants to hold GM management responsible for this extreme downturn in the business of GM as well as the auto industry in general.
Mr. Moore then goes on with his own nine point, shall I dare say it, socialist program to not only save GM but the entire American auto industry. You begin to see Mr. Moore's absurdity right off in point number one. He is asking President Obama to do as President Franklin Roosevelt had done after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941; to inform the nation that "we are at war", and that this nation must now immediately convert our auto factories from building cars to other more important and vital machines.
(Now I'm surprised at two things here, first that Mr. Moore even acknowledged that WE WERE attacked at Pearl Harbor, and second, that he actually did not go off on a rant that it was somehow the fault of the United States that the Japanese attacked us in the first place).
Now the absurdity is that our enemy is not like that of Imperial Japan, rather the enemies are in actuality the CEO's of of the auto industry and also the other favorite liberal target, the CEO's of the oil industry. Mr. Moore goes on to state that the CEO's of the "Big Three" automakers have been making a product, (cars), that "are some of the greatest weapons of mass destruction responsible for global warming and the melting of our polar icecaps". That the CEO's of the oil industry "are committed to fleecing us whenever they can". He also added the lumber "tycoons" to this group. Yes, Mr. Moore is saying that our greatest enemy IS NOT an extreme organization that has bastardize a religion and has convinced themselves that everyone in the world who does not believe in that religion, or for that matter believe in that religion the way they do - - - must die, and GOD himself has given them permission to do so.
(NOTE: Al Gore said that the polar ice cap will be completely melted by September - - - 2008. Plus, can anybody ever show me any time in its history that any UAW worker, or any union oil worker or even any member of a lumberjack union had ever stopped what they were doing, quit their job, left their union to stand up to the company's that they were employed by and saying that they could no longer be a part of the manufacture of these "weapons of mass destruction" and to keep on participating in this ongoing assault on Mother Nature and the environment? I'll say confidently "no". So I state that the unions and their workers are just as responsible).
In points 2 thru 5 asks President Obama to NOT put another $30 billion dollar into the coffers of GM, but to now use that money, since we ALL now own GM, to keep the current workforce and to use these factories now to produce new models of transportation such as bullet trains that can cross the country in 17 hours, or from Chicago to Detroit in two. (Need I remind Mr. Moore that the government now runs AMTRAK, and it has been in the red for decades). He also wants these factories to build the vehicles needed for "light" rail systems for all cities; and for those who live in more rural areas the factories can build energy efficient clean buses.
Point six deals with of course how these factories must produce hybrid and all electric cars.
Point seven states that some of the factories are to be converted to produce windmills and solar panels and other alternate forms of energy. I notice that AGAIN, the option of nuclear power for electricity is not mentioned. (It acceptable by Mr. Moore and most liberals for Europe to have nuclear power plants, but not the United States; 83% of the electricity produced in France alone is from nuclear power).
Points 8 and 9 deal with what liberals love the most, taxes. However, these points contradict each other. Point eight states that we must then give tax incentives for anyone who travels by hybrid car, bus, or train and for anyone who converts their homes to use alternative energy. So, you'd think these people would be saving a buck or two. But then in point nine, Mr. Moore takes these savings from these people by having the government then impose a $2 tax on EVERY GALLON of gasoline. (Thus causing the prices of taking the bus and train to rise, as well as any product that requires to be shipped by using gasoline).
Now, let me tie this all together with what Mrs. Obama stated. Mr. Moore also stated in his column that the best way that we must transport ourselves is with the use of light rail, bullet trains and cleaner buses. Well Mr. Moore I say this to you, lead by example. I will, when you will. When I see you, dressed in a tuxedo, take the light rail to then catch the clean bus so that you can attend the next of those many awards shows that the entertainment industry has on television every seven to ten days, then I'll do it. When I see you in the same tuxedo take the METRA in Paris, and then a bus to Cannes, I'll do it. When I see you driving a SMART car everywhere, then I will do it.
Now, for the big challenge for you Mr. Moore. Do as the original Messiah said when he was asked by the rich man what he must do to follow him. Jesus told him to give up all that he had to the poor, then he could follow. I'm not asking you to go to the extreme that Jesus asked the rich man, no, but I will ask you to do what the wife of our present day messiah says. In fact, do what Joe Biden said Mr. Moore, yes, it's "time for you to get patriotic".
I know that your "documentary" Fahrenheit 9/11 has made millions of dollars for you, that your career has given you quite a good personal portfolio. Mr. Moore, it's time to give up your share of the pie. If you really care for the people of your "hometown" of Flint, and you know how hard their lives are at this time, then it's time for YOU to give THEM a huge share of YOUR pie. Take all the money that you have in you savings, your 401K, your stocks and bonds, all the money in you portfolio and cash it all in. Then have these monies changed in either VISA or American Express prepaid gift cards, all with an equal amount of your share of the pie, and distribute them to all the poor souls of Flint. However, I will amend this from what the original Messiah had asked, you can keep 4 million dollars of you pie for yourself. Because like Mrs. Obama has said, most "Americans don't want much. Folks don't want the whole pie." Come on Mr. Moore, do as our President, Vice-President and First Lady ask, prove to us that they are right, give up YOUR piece of the pie.
Come on Mr. Moore - - - LEAD BY EXAMPLE!
While you're at it, get all of your other friends to do the same. Barbra Streisand, Joy Behar, Rosie O'Donnell, Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Danny Glover, Harry Belefonte, Nick Nolte, Sheryl Crow, Oliver Stone and Bruce Springsteen. Get them all to give up THEIR SHARE of the pie also.
Give it up Mr. Moore, or shut up. And by the way, take off that stupid Michigan State Spartans hat, you know that you are a closet Ohio State fan.