multitudes

Michael Moore can be obnoxious, but he shines a light on some important issues - for example, voting fraud in Ohio. Learn more here about irregularities in the Ohio vote and vote count.

(Confession: I fell asleep during Fahrenheit 911. We went on a weeknight, right after it came out, and someone had pulled the fire alarm inside the theater, so we had to wait outside for what felt like forever, until they finally let us in...and me in a dark room after 9pm on a weeknight = sleep. I ended up seeing about half the film, and I remember feeling like he completely exploited the mother of the solider in Iraq; I wished that Jon Stewart and Frontline had been the producers, so it would have had the same powerful message, and levity, but also credibility....but I suppose Michael Moore's theatricality helped generate a lot of attention.)

Also important: preventing the appointment of Alberto Gonzalez as Attorney General. The Web site for the People For the American Way describes the problems with Gonzalez succinctly:

"At the time the President announced this nomination, People For the American Way raised serious concerns about Alberto Gonzales’ fitness for the post of Attorney General of the United States, but reserved judgment pending a complete review of his record. Unfortunately, as more of that record becomes clear, what PFAW’s review reveals is a lawyer who too often allows his legal judgment to be driven by his close relationship with the President rather than adherence to the law or the Constitution. The risk that such lack of independence poses for his ability as Attorney General to be the lawyer for all of the people of this country is simply too great to warrant his confirmation. Therefore, People For the American Way must oppose the confirmation of Alberto Gonzales to be the 80th Attorney General of the United States.

Specifically, as White House Counsel, Gonzales has been a central architect of some of the most controversial elements of the Administration’s war on terror; he participated in a dramatic weakening of U.S. commitments to the Geneva Conventions and against torture; he has led the Administration’s effort to pack the federal appellate courts with right-wing judges and to crusade for unprecedented Executive Branch secrecy; and he has failed to recuse himself from decisions and investigations pertaining to former clients and his former firm. Additionally, as Counsel to then-Texas Governor George W. Bush, and advisor to the Governor on death penalty clemency decisions, he showed a callous disregard for due process and fairness. The Attorney General is not the lawyer for any particular President or Administration, but is the lawyer for all the people of the United States. Throughout his work for President Bush on all these matters, Gonzales’s single-minded efforts to advance the goals of his superiors, to the exclusion of legal and constitutional authority to the contrary, demonstrate his inability to serve as the nation’s chief lawyer and enforcer of all Americans’ rights."

Read more of the People For the American Way's analysis of Gonzalez. If you agree with me that his appointment would be severely deterimental to American democracy, then contribute to the MoveOn.org campaign to air a television ad about Gonzalez.