Michael Moore Being Probed (eeewww!) By Treasury Dept.
Follow up to “Sicko” article regarding Moore taking ailing 9/11 workers to Cuba
Well it looks like Mikey is in some hot water again. According to this article, he never actually received permission to go to Cuba:
MSN Report: Moore investigated by Tresaury Dept.
(AP) Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore is under investigation by the U.S. Treasury Department for taking ailing Sept. 11 rescue workers to Cuba for a segment in his upcoming health-care documentary “Sicko,” The Associated Press has learned.
The investigation provides another contentious lead-in for a provocative film by Moore, a fierce critic of President Bush. In the past, Moore’s adversaries have fanned publicity that helped the filmmaker create a new brand of opinionated blockbuster documentary.
“Sicko” promises to take the health-care industry to task the way Moore confronted America’s passion for guns in “Bowling for Columbine” and skewered Bush over his handling of Sept. 11 in “Fahrenheit 9/11.”
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control notified Moore in a letter dated May 2 that it was conducting a civil investigation for possible violations of the U.S. trade embargo restricting travel to Cuba. A copy of the letter was obtained Tuesday by the AP.
“This office has no record that a specific license was issued authorizing you to engage in travel-related transactions involving Cuba,” Dale Thompson, OFAC chief of general investigations and field operations, wrote in the letter to Moore.
In February, Moore took about 10 ailing workers from the Ground Zero rescue effort in Manhattan for treatment in Cuba, said a person working with the filmmaker on the release of “Sicko.” The person requested anonymity because Moore’s attorneys had not yet determined how to respond.
Moore, who scolded Bush over the Iraq war during the 2003 Oscar telecast, received the letter Monday, the person said. “Sicko” premieres May 19 at the Cannes Film Festival and debuts in U.S. theaters June 29.
Moore declined to comment, said spokeswoman Lisa Cohen.
After receiving the letter, Moore arranged to place a copy of the film in a “safe house” outside the country to protect it from government interference, said the person working on the release of the film.
Treasury officials declined to answer questions about the letter. “We don’t comment on enforcement actions,” said department spokeswoman Molly Millerwise.
The letter noted that Moore applied Oct. 12, 2006, for permission to go to Cuba “but no determination had been made by OFAC.” Moore sought permission to travel there under a provision for full-time journalists, the letter said.
According to the letter, Moore was given 20 business days to provide OFAC with such information as the date of travel and point of departure; the reason for the Cuba trip and his itinerary there; and the names and addresses of those who accompanied him, along with their reasons for going.
Potential penalties for violating the embargo were not indicated. In 2003, the New York Yankees paid the government $75,000 to settle a dispute that it conducted business in Cuba in violation of the embargo. No specifics were released about that case.
“Sicko” is Moore’s follow-up to 2004’s “Fahrenheit 9/11,” a $100 million hit criticizing the Bush administration over Sept. 11. Moore’s “Bowling for Columbine” won the 2002 Oscar for best documentary.
A dissection of the U.S. health-care system, “Sicko” was inspired by a segment on Moore’s TV show “The Awful Truth,” in which he staged a mock funeral outside a health-maintenance organization that had declined a pancreas transplant for a diabetic man. The HMO later relented.
At last September’s Toronto International Film Festival, Moore previewed footage shot for “Sicko,” presenting stories of personal health-care nightmares. One scene showed a woman who was denied payment for an ambulance ride after a head-on collision because it was not pre-approved.
Moore’s opponents have accused him of distorting the facts, and his Cuba trip provoked criticism from conservatives including former Republican Sen. Fred Thompson, who assailed the filmmaker in a blog at National Review Online.
“I have no expectation that Moore is going to tell the truth about Cuba or health care,” wrote Thompson, the subject of speculation about a possible presidential run. “I defend his right to do what he does, but Moore’s talent for clever falsehoods has been too well documented.”
The timing of the investigation is reminiscent of the firestorm that preceded the Cannes debut of “Fahrenheit 9/11,” which won the festival’s top prize in 2004. The Walt Disney Co. refused to let subsidiary Miramax release the film because of its political content, prompting Miramax bosses Harvey and Bob Weinstein to release “Fahrenheit 9/11” on their own.
The Weinsteins later left Miramax to form the Weinstein Co., which is releasing “Sicko.” They declined to comment on the Treasury investigation, said company spokeswoman Sarah Levinson Rothman.
Kind of makes you wonder...did Moore purposely break the law to raise interest in his pathetic little propaganda by starting his own controversy? Did he even really go to Cuba or just fake the footage like he has with his past films?
We all know how he is going to spin this of course. He’s gonna say that the “evil Bush regime” is trying to block the release of his film by using their Treasury Department gestapo to try and bring him down.
In fact, the Producer of “Sicko” has already posted a statement on Moore’s website:
Producer’s Response to Investigation
I love this line from her statement:
The efforts of the Bush Administration to conduct a politically motivated investigation of Michael Moore and ‘SiCKO’ will not stop us from making sure the American people see this film.
That’s right, it’s politically motivated, not LEGALLY motivated!
Unfrickinbelievable! These lefties just love to play the crusading victims, don’t they?
On Moore’s site, the above mentioned article is entitled “BUSH ADMINISTRATION GOES AFTER ‘SICKO’”
For a view of the letter The Treasury Department sent to Moore, check out the Smoking Gun website:
The Smoking Gun
*Added by JimK - Hasn’t Mikey done this before? Trumped up a big persecution complex thing when he was the one at fault? Remember the Disney distribution of F911 that was never actually a scandal but Mikey played it for all it was worth? That statement from his producer reminds me of that whole Disney distribution BS.
Comments
Whatever the case, this is the best publicity that moore won’t even have to buy. For him and the distributors, they couldn’t have asked for a better scenario. At least Fred Thompson gets it right:
Now, I have no expectation that Moore is going to tell the truth about Cuba or health care. I defend his right to do what he does, but Moore’s talent for clever falsehoods has been too well documented. Simply calling his movies documentaries rather than works of fiction, I think, may be the biggest fiction of all.
While this PR stunt has obviously been successful—here I am talking about it—Moore’s a piker compared to Fidel Castro and his regime. Moore just parrots the story they created—one of the most successful public relations coups in history. This is the story of free, high quality Cuban health care.
http://abcradio.com/article.asp?id=400388&SPID;=15663
I’m surprised the AP journalist was able to write such a comprehensive article while simultaneously giving Moore his best blowjob. Must be why certain parts of it just seem to repeat their earlier praise and adoration for Sir Chubs of Liealot.
This is the line I like:
After receiving the letter, Moore arranged to place a copy of the film in a “safe house” outside the country to protect it from government interference, said the person working on the release of the film.
Funny, I do not remember any interferrence from the government and F9/11. Why would they interfer with the release of Sicko?
In 2003, the New York Yankees paid the government $75,000 to settle a dispute that it conducted business in Cuba in violation of the embargo.
I guess Bush isn’t a Yankees fan either.
After receiving the letter, Moore arranged to place a copy of the film in a “safe house” outside the country to protect it from government interference, said the person working on the release of the film.
I bet he milks this safe house thing to build up hype of his movie. And of course all his Moore-ons will run with this.
What I dont understand, is that if Moore is so paranoid that the government will interfere with his film, then why not keep a copy under surveillance in the States? If the government really did want to tamper with his project, then he would have the proof that he could exploit to his little heart’s content. Of course, im pretty sure the government couldn’t care less abou this film, but I’m sure Moore doesnt want to give that impression to his followers.
I bet he milks this safe house thing to build up hype of his movie.
That’s my favorite bit of the whole pre-release schtick. We live in the digital age where everything is a copy, but this “safe house” is going to protect this precious master print of the film from the barbarians in Washington. In all of Moore’s films there has never been a beautiful, fine-grained image that a cinematographer would be proud of--I think he would throw it out if he had one for fear of being called “arty.” But suddenly his film is like “Greed,” about to be butchered and in need of protection. Or maybe he is like Charlie Chaplin, not allowed to return to the U.S. from Cannes by the feds. He doesn’t need to spend a dime on promotion, it’s all being done through this celebrity-obsessed journalism. I’m beginning to think “Sicko” will top “Fahrenheit 9/11” at the box office. Moore is a genius at self-promotion and the media is lapping it up.
One more thing, he filed for the permit in October, travels in February, but the Treasury department doesn’t get around to calling him on it until two weeks before Cannes and six weeks before it opens at the end of June? How perfect for publicity is that? Over at Daily Kos they are joking about this being a conspiracy.
Over at Daily Kos they are joking about this being a conspiracy.
Also over “there”, they’re saying essentially that the Bush administration is going after Moore just because he took some sick people to the hospital. And how dare the Bush administration investigate someone for going to Cuba - he’s trying to take away our freedom!
Never mind the facts that: 1) Bush isn’t doing anything to Moore 2) Yes, Kossacks, you’re right as usual, Bush has now made it illegal to go to the hospital. Perhaps the real problem was Moore violating a law that has been enforced for 40+ years that no president since then, including Clinton, has managed to repeal. 3) Moore is no hero. The 9/11 rescuers were just his props, and he only got them help because he happened to be making a movie. Exactly how many people did he take to the doctor before Sicko? And of course, he had to take them where it would cause the most controversy.
If I know Moore, Sicko will pin US healthcare problems squarely on Bush, and use Moore’s F911-esque style of misleading people while narrowly avoiding downright lying.
Here’s my question: Why Cuba? Why not take them to Canada since Moore is always preaching about what a socialist utopia it is up there?
The answer: It wouldn’t be illegal to go to Canada. Moore knew excatly what he was doing. He purposely set it up so that he could break the law and portray himself as a modern day Robin Hood type of bandit who broke the law to save people. And what kind of follow up do you think he is providing for those people he took there? Do you think he is making sure that their care continue?
No, that’s not part of the movie. How ‘bout taking the next group of 10 9/11 rescuers down to Cu-topia? Perhaps for Sicko II…Do you think he is making sure that their care continue?
Perhaps the real problem was Moore violating a law that has been enforced for 40+ years that no president since then, including Clinton, has managed to repeal.
It’s been enforced (more or less) during the past 10 . . . count ‘em . . . administrations . . . beginning with a Democrat.
He purposely set it up so that he could break the law and portray himself as a modern day Robin Hood type of bandit who broke the law to save people.
He might spin it that way, but I wonder . . . is it taking people to Cuba for medical treatment that’s the problem or making a commercial film about it, especially without prior authorization?
Both, I’d imagine, since Moore no doubt PAID for the medical treatment, and it’s a trade embargo as much as anything, if I understand.
Of course, we’re all assuming Moore actually paid for their treatment. Considering his love of staging what he needs done to simply create the fiction, all he might have done was taken them down there and had the doctors give them an examination. At which point, when the prognoses started to come in featuring gigantic price tags, Moore may as well have gone “Well, gang, I heroically got you here despite Bush’s attempts to foil me all the way, it’s up to you now! You can get yourselves back to the US, right?”
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From the letter sent to Moore by OFAC;
From Josh Grosberg’s E-Online article;
Heh… now this is going to be fun.
For years, I’ve heard people call Moore a journalist… including Moore, himself.
And, of course, for years, I’ve laughed in their faces and explained that Moore is a journalist much in the same way as I am a Chinese jet pilot.
Most have just shrugged it off, claiming it didn’t matter, that his work was important and that whether or not he was considered a journalist was not.
...well, I guess it just became important… at least for Moore.
See, this is a key issue.
Moore, by visiting Cuba under the assumption that he would qualify as a legitimate journalist, has put himself in the position of now having to prove himself as a serious reporter; as something more than a propagandist.
This is the final credibility battle for Moore, really.
He will either be able to prove that he should be taken seriously as an ethical, serious journalist, and thereby beat the charges…
OR
He will be officially labeled as what he is; a hypocritical propaganda machine driven by political hatred… and as such, be vulnerable to the full measure of the law, which includes not only large fines, but also criminal charges.
Now, of course, Moore is already playing this off as a politically motivated attack backed by the white house.
And no doubt he will do so in any formal hearing on the matter, as well.
But if… when… Moore is found to have acted illegally, we (and he) should remember one thing;
It is not because he is a propagandist that he’s facing charges.
It is, instead, because he thought he could fool others into believing he was anything else.