# Michael Moore served with subpoena re Cuba trip **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 27, 2007, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-served-with-subpoena-re-cuba-trip/413415 "2007-07-27T19:50:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-served-with-subpoena-re-cuba-trip/413415/21 "2007-07-28T02:42:20Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] I was thinking that at first, too, but it’s something that would be so easily proved wrong if it weren’t true. I’m inclined to believe him. [/QUOTE] Furthermore, three others who went with him have already been placed under investigation by the Treasury Department. (There was a link to a news story, in the thread linked in the OP, but it seems to be broken now.) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-served-with-subpoena-re-cuba-trip/413415/22 "2007-07-28T03:31:10Z")
> [@](#): > > Because Moore is a public figure who openly flouted the travel restrictions and trade embargo against Cuba. Is that true? My understanding is that Americans are allowed to travel to Cuba for certain reasons, including journalism. Putting aside personal feelings for the man, he’s certainly a legitimate documentary filmmaker and he was in Cuba to make a documentary comparing American to Cuban health care. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-served-with-subpoena-re-cuba-trip/413415/23 "2007-07-28T03:52:46Z")
I don’t watch Leno. Most of the stories I’ve found say Moore told Leno’s audience that he"was informed of a subpoena" backstage. The [Reuters story](http://www.reuters.com/article/peopleNews/idUSN2725763420070727) on the matter has this to say: > [@](#): > > Federal officials may be planning to subpoena filmmaker Michael Moore seeking information about a trip he took to Cuba for his documentary, “Sicko,” a source close to the situation said on Friday. > > In a late Thursday appearance on NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” Moore said he was notified at the TV studio in Burbank, California, that a subpoena had already been issued. > > But the source, who declined to be identified, said Moore had not actually been served with the request. Rather, the office of his attorney, David Boies, was contacted by a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce seeking the name of a person who would accept a subpoena on Moore’s behalf. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-served-with-subpoena-re-cuba-trip/413415/24 "2007-07-28T04:19:30Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] Is that true? My understanding is that Americans are allowed to travel to Cuba for certain reasons, including journalism. Putting aside personal feelings for the man, he’s certainly a legitimate documentary filmmaker and he was in Cuba to make a documentary comparing American to Cuban health care. [/QUOTE] You have to get permission, though, and perhaps Moore went without it. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-served-with-subpoena-re-cuba-trip/413415/25 "2007-07-28T04:59:34Z")
I would suspect that Michael Moore didn’t get permission intentionally. Sounds like another movie brewing. I’m all for it! We can go to Vietnam and China but not Cuba? And why is that? I heard a rumor that Freddy D. Thompson smokes the best cigars in town. Just sayin’. Even Jack Kennedy sent Pierre Salinger out to buy a good supply of Cuban cigars before declaring the embargo in 1962. **Mr. Bush, tear down this sandcastle!** ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-served-with-subpoena-re-cuba-trip/413415/26 "2007-07-28T11:01:41Z")
[QUOTE=Sarahfeena] Even many who hate Castro would like to see the embargo lifted…many of them have family members who are still back there, and lifting the embargo would make it easier for people here to send aid such as extra cash and medicine. [/QUOTE] Not to mention, even the rabidly anti-Castro Cubans have to be aware that (a) Castro is apparently dying, (b) his 76 year old kid brother Raul, who’s currently running the show, is noticeably less anti-U.S. than Fidel, (c) things in Cuba may start changing more rapidly once Fidel kicks off, and (d) those who’ve been making nice to Cuba before Fidel dies might be in a better position to influence what happens there afterwards than those that don’t. I mean, I don’t expect them to care about the fact that the embargo has made exactly zero sense ever since the Soviet Union broke up, since Cuba by itself represents no threat whatsoever to America, but I’d think they’d _have_ to see there’s a particular window of opportunity right now. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-served-with-subpoena-re-cuba-trip/413415/27 "2007-07-28T14:59:37Z")
[William Worthy '42](http://abacus.bates.edu/pubs/mag/95-Fall/worthy.html) There is precedent. Reporter went to Cuba and had to fight in court. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-served-with-subpoena-re-cuba-trip/413415/28 "2007-07-28T15:09:36Z")
> [@](#): > > I assume you will agitate to see Moore answer HIS subpoena with the same zeal that you have exhibited with respect to Harriet Miers answering hers. > > Right? If Moore is willing to tolerate some legal trouble, it’s a great opportunity. “Oh, I had to show up? I thought Congressional subpoenas were optional now.” (He’d be punished, and rightfully so, just as Miers should have been.) ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-served-with-subpoena-re-cuba-trip/413415/29 "2007-07-28T15:21:20Z")
[QUOTE=DoctorJ] If Moore is willing to tolerate some legal trouble, it’s a great opportunity. “Oh, I had to show up? I thought Congressional subpoenas were optional now.” (He’d be punished, and rightfully so, just as Miers should have been.) [/QUOTE] I agree. I’ve already stated many times I believe Miers should be punished. The tone of the OP, however, suggested to me that he felt Moore’s subpoena was less… worthy of being complied with. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-served-with-subpoena-re-cuba-trip/413415/30 "2007-07-28T15:26:47Z")
Wrong again. The OP suggested that Moore’s subpoena was less worthy of being _issued_, that the reasons for doing it while ignoriing so many other violations just might have been, you know, selective. Nowhere was there any hint that he might ignore it - that’s your own creation. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-served-with-subpoena-re-cuba-trip/413415/31 "2007-07-28T18:20:55Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] Is that true? My understanding is that Americans are allowed to travel to Cuba for certain reasons, including journalism. [/QUOTE] But it looks like you have to get a license to do so first. [Link.](http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1097.html) The original news story indicated that the Treasury Dept notified Moore that they had no record of him obtaining a license. I’d like to see us remove the embargo (both for trade and travel), but if someone as prominent as Moore goes there under current law and flaunts that fact on the news media, it should come as no surprise that the feds will want to have a little chat with him. It’s win-win, though: The feds get to “send a message” to other scofflaws and Moore gets added publicity. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-served-with-subpoena-re-cuba-trip/413415/32 "2007-07-31T16:30:22Z")
[QUOTE=Sarahfeena] lifting the embargo would make it easier for people here to send aid such as extra cash and medicine. [/QUOTE] You mean buy a 120 inhaler here and send it, when they can get it for .05 ? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![lalenin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@lalenin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lalenin)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-served-with-subpoena-re-cuba-trip/413415/33 "2007-07-31T19:05:17Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] You mean buy a 120 inhaler here and send it, when they can get it for .05 ? 😉 [/QUOTE] Where can they (I supposed you mean Cubans), get these $.05 inhalers? I have friends and relatives in the island that would love to get this deal. I’m assuming you know real details of this bargain. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-served-with-subpoena-re-cuba-trip/413415/34 "2007-07-31T19:09:18Z")
[QUOTE=lalenin] Where can they (I supposed you mean Cubans), get these $.05 inhalers? I have friends and relatives in the island that would love to get this deal. I’m assuming you know real details of this bargain. [/QUOTE] I think Gigi is kidding. Correct me if I’m wrong Gigi, but I am taking her post to question WHY we would want to send them $150 inhalers, when they get them for 5 cents…the implication being that you can SAY an inhaler only costs 5 cents there, but if you can’t get your hands on one, what difference does the price make? ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-served-with-subpoena-re-cuba-trip/413415/35 "2007-07-31T19:24:20Z")
[QUOTE=Sarahfeena] I think Gigi is kidding. Correct me if I’m wrong Gigi, but I am taking her post to question WHY we would want to send them $150 inhalers, when they get them for 5 cents…the implication being that you can SAY an inhaler only costs 5 cents there, but if you can’t get your hands on one, what difference does the price make? [/QUOTE] You’re wrong about what **Gigi** meant. It would all make sense if you saw the movie though. T’was a big point of the Cuban thing. Whether it’s true or not is another thing. I doubt Moore himself would have been in on the fake (if that is what it is) as he would be almost certainly be found out on something so easy to either prove wrong or get someone to talk. There are a lot of people/organizations willing to happily pay for someone with real dirt on Moore. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-served-with-subpoena-re-cuba-trip/413415/36 "2007-07-31T19:39:06Z")
By the by. RE: Cuban health care and what the Cubans think about it. > [@](#): > > In Cuba, access to health care is universal. > > ``` > * "Cuban dissatisfaction with their personal lives does not mean they are negative about the revolutionary government's achievements in health care and education. A near unanimous 96 percent of respondents say that health care in Cuba is accessible to everyone. Gallup polls in other Latin American cities have found that on average only 42 percent believe health care is accessible." Gallup/ Consultoría Interdisciplinaria en Desarrollo, "Cubans Show Little Satisfaction with Opportunities and Individual Freedom Rare Independent Survey Finds Large Majorities Are Still Proud of Island's Health Care and Education," January 10, 2007. > http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/brlatinamericara/ > 300.php?nid=&id=&pnt=300&lb=brla > > ``` [http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/checkup/](http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/checkup/) Yes they have the jackboot of opression on their necks but they do say that they show “Show Little Satisfaction with Opportunities and Individual Freedom” so maybe there is something in the poll. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-served-with-subpoena-re-cuba-trip/413415/37 "2007-07-31T20:36:20Z")
[QUOTE=yojimbo] You’re wrong about what **Gigi** meant. It would all make sense if you saw the movie though. T’was a big point of the Cuban thing. Whether it’s true or not is another thing. I doubt Moore himself would have been in on the fake (if that is what it is) as he would be almost certainly be found out on something so easy to either prove wrong or get someone to talk. There are a lot of people/organizations willing to happily pay for someone with real dirt on Moore. [/QUOTE] So what WAS Gigi’s point? I figured it was something that came up in the movie, but what was Gigi’s point in bringing it up, do you think? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-served-with-subpoena-re-cuba-trip/413415/38 "2007-07-31T20:53:49Z")
[QUOTE=Sarahfeena] So what WAS Gigi’s point? I figured it was something that came up in the movie, but what was Gigi’s point in bringing it up, do you think? [/QUOTE] One of the 911 rescue workers had a burned airway from the conditions there and uses a $120 inhaler she pays for in the States. When they went to Cuba she could buy one for 3 pesos (?), or the equivalent of five cents. The pharmacist gave her the name of a doc who would write her a scrip for two inhalers. There didn’t seem to be a reason why a Cuban resident who had a regular prescription couldn’t get them for five cents, so I was wondering why anyone in the US would have to send them. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-served-with-subpoena-re-cuba-trip/413415/39 "2007-07-31T20:56:30Z")
[QUOTE=lalenin] Where can they (I supposed you mean Cubans), get these $.05 inhalers? I have friends and relatives in the island that would love to get this deal. I’m assuming you know real details of this bargain. [/QUOTE] You would know better than I, but yeah, there would have to be a conspiracy going on in front of the cameras for this to not be available as they stated. She showed them her inhaler and said, did they have that and how much was it. They showed her the same inhaler and said, five cents. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-served-with-subpoena-re-cuba-trip/413415/40 "2007-07-31T21:03:10Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] One of the 911 rescue workers had a burned airway from the conditions there and uses a $120 inhaler she pays for in the States. When they went to Cuba she could buy one for 3 pesos (?), or the equivalent of five cents. The pharmacist gave her the name of a doc who would write her a scrip for two inhalers. There didn’t seem to be a reason why a Cuban resident who had a regular prescription couldn’t get them for five cents, so I was wondering why anyone in the US would have to send them. [/QUOTE] Got it…I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to misrepresent what you meant at all…I just took it the wrong way. I don’t know about inhalers, but my father-in-law’s relatives in Cuba have always been very interested in getting medicine from here that wasn’t available to them there at any price. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-served-with-subpoena-re-cuba-trip/413415.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-served-with-subpoena-re-cuba-trip/413415.md?page=3)