# Michael Moore, have you at last no decency? (short) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 8, 2004, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-have-you-at-last-no-decency-short/239041 "2004-04-08T22:14:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2004, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-have-you-at-last-no-decency-short/239041/141 "2004-04-12T14:58:14Z")
Granted, evil **is** everyone’s problem, but the blind allegiance that brooks no questions touches us here in the US far more than it does non-Americans. **TwistofFate** can rail about Bush and he needn’t fear a sudden tax audit. ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2004, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-have-you-at-last-no-decency-short/239041/142 "2004-04-12T15:46:21Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > No offemse, **Twisty** , but you’re a foreigner–you don’t participate in our political process, so you can tell the truth about Bush all you please with impunity. > > It’s those of us who live here who have to fear the **Clothahumps** of this country who would sell our liberty for a little temporary security. In fairness, your political process impacts a good deal on the rest of the world. regardless of what I say about Bush (and any potential ramifications), I resent the implication that what I say is “aiding terrorists”. ---
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2004, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-have-you-at-last-no-decency-short/239041/143 "2004-04-12T16:03:23Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > Granted, evil **is** everyone’s problem, but the blind allegiance that brooks no questions touches us here in the US far more than it does non-Americans. **TwistofFate** can rail about Bush and he needn’t fear a sudden tax audit. Now I thought that **Clothahump’s** assertion was stupid beyond words, but this is pretty close. Do you know _anyone_ that this has happened to? In a country of 250,000,000+ can you name **one** person that’s been audited for criticizing Bush? From everything I’ve seen, dissent is alive and healthy in the U.S. Criticizing the president isn’t an abberation that’ll get you arrested or audited; it’s the norm. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2004, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-have-you-at-last-no-decency-short/239041/144 "2004-04-12T16:24:30Z")
> [@](#): > > Now I thought that Clothahump’s assertion was stupid beyond words, but this is pretty close. Do you know anyone that this has happened to? In a country of 250,000,000+ can you name one person that’s been audited for criticizing Bush? It happened to my mother in the early 70s. She sent a scathing telegram to Nixon criticising his conduct of the Vietnam War, and she got audited twice, and later found through FOIA that a file had been opened on her by the FBI. Given that the Bush regime has shown itself to be even less tolerant of dissent than Nixon, I’d not be at all surprised if Ashcroft or Mueller pulled the same thing. > [@](#): > > In fairness, your political process impacts a good deal on the rest of the world. True, but it’s felt a little more keenly here. > [@](#): > > regardless of what I say about Bush (and any potential ramifications), I resent the implication that what I say is “aiding terrorists”. As well you should. Dissent is the duty of a citizen to keep his government honest. ---
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2004, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-have-you-at-last-no-decency-short/239041/145 "2004-04-12T17:07:14Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > It happened to my mother in the early 70s. She sent a scathing telegram to Nixon criticising his conduct of the Vietnam War, and she got audited twice, and later found through FOIA that a file had been opened on her by the FBI. Given that the Bush regime has shown itself to be even less tolerant of dissent than Nixon, I’d not be at all surprised if Ashcroft or Mueller pulled the same thing. Just because you wouln’t be surprised doesn’t make it any more factual. Isn’t there enough to lambaste Bush for without having to make stuff up? [sub]the number of audits during Bush’s presidency has drastically decreased from the number under Clinton. I’m not saying this is a good or bad thing, just that this doesn’t support your assertion.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![beajerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@beajerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beajerry)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2004, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-have-you-at-last-no-decency-short/239041/146 "2004-04-12T17:37:21Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > As well you should. Dissent is the duty of a citizen to keep his government honest. Very true. It IS one’s duty. It is a NECESSITY in a free democracy. Many a great man has said the same. That is why I don’t get the ire that people like Moore raise in others. Do they all want to just file forth in a straight line like sheep and anyone who questions where they are all going is pushed off the path and ridiculed? Does war make the sheeps’ path a forbidden topic? That’s just scary. What fails, I think, is the assertion that anyone speaking out is automatically against “the troops”. I know of NO ONE who has ever said “Screw the troops.” I know of many who have said “Screw the war.” Of course everyone wants our troops to do their duty and do it well, and we all cry when they are killed. So you have these people who put flags in their car windows and homes saying “Support Our Troops!”. Like, who the fuck isn’t supporting the troops? And if you speak out against the war, then you are hurting the troops’ feelings or some shit? Puh…lease! Every soldier I know is smarter than I am about politics. They are NOT ignorant sheep doing their master’s bidding. They know the score. They know that the american people love them and want them to succeed at their job without injury. They ALSO know that the war was started on shady facts and that many americans are questioning that. So this blind patriotic, don’t-question act that many are using to terrorize free-speech is utter bullshit. How’s that for ‘ire’? ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2004, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-have-you-at-last-no-decency-short/239041/147 "2004-04-12T17:40:26Z")
Auditing people is so old hat. Easier these days to just declare someone an “enemy combatant,” then drag them off to solitary confinement without the need to tell anyone why he’s dragged off, where you’ve taken them, or even if you plan to release them any time in this century. It’s this same commitment to efficiency that’s allowed President Bush to create millions of new jobs in India and Singapore, don’cha know. 😉 Besides, we don’t want the IRS to be efficient anyway. More auditors makes it harder for Bush’s billionare croneys to cheat on their taxes… ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2004, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-have-you-at-last-no-decency-short/239041/148 "2004-04-12T18:09:43Z")
> [@Mojo](#): > > Just because you wouln’t be surprised doesn’t make it any more factual. Isn’t there enough to lambaste Bush for without having to make stuff up? > [sub]the number of audits during Bush’s presidency has drastically decreased from the number under Clinton. I’m not saying this is a good or bad thing, just that this doesn’t support your assertion.[/sub] Did I say Bush **had** done it? No. I said he might based on _factual_ prescedent during another GOP administration. ---
**Author:** ![RTA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@RTA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTA)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-have-you-at-last-no-decency-short/239041/149 "2005-01-27T13:50:32Z")
I was reminded of that photomosaic once the death toll in Iraq sailed cavalierly past 1,400 yesterday. So there you go, Bush-proud war-masturbators: finally that picture of your leader is accurate, at least conceptually-numerically. My but that is a hell of a lot of our nation’s young men and women shoveled into the furnace, is it not? (Not that you give a shit.) ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-have-you-at-last-no-decency-short/239041/150 "2005-01-27T13:53:27Z")
Just how stupid do you have to be to revive this 9 month old thread to post that crap? ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-have-you-at-last-no-decency-short/239041/151 "2005-01-27T13:58:00Z")
Was there some issue that the number of people wasn’t enough so he had to double them in the picture? I suppose I could read the thread but … [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-have-you-at-last-no-decency-short/239041.md?page=7)