I was in Appleton yesterday and managed to include the 4:10 PM showing of 'Fahrenheit 9/11' in my agenda... there was a long line to get in. The film was everything I expected from Michael Moore, without the stilted, conclusion-building techniques that I found irritating in some of his earlier films. This is a documentary film - no matter what point of view it supports. The challenge faced by Moore in presenting a whole lot of history is keeping you and me awake. I did not drift... despite the weighty information. The mix of emotions runs full-spectrum and plays well, as evidenced by the audience, standing and applauding for over a minute at the close.

"With a single stroke, Michael Moore has undone three years of poor, slanted, biased, factually bereft, compromised television journalism," says William Rivers Pitt. "This, in the end, is the final greatness of 'Fahrenheit 9/11.' Not only will Americans get a sense of the depth of the deception they have endured, but 'journalists' all across the country will be forced to endure the humiliation they so richly deserve." Read his entire review: Thank You, Michael Moore.

As I left the Marcus Theater there was another long line of people waiting to get into the next show. Black and white posters with a picture of George W. Bush had been affixed to each of the several glass entry doors with a simple line of block text that stated, "And you thought he was Pro-Life."

Call the live phone at Sturgeon Bay's Cinema 6 box office at: 920.746.8371 or e-mail sbcin@doorpi.net and thank them for working hard to secure a copy of the film to start showing it locally on July 2 or July 9.

Hope to see you Monday evening!

On Monday, June 28 at 7 PM, you are invited to the Compass Coffee House in Fish Creek to get together with neighbors to hear Michael Moore live on-line, as part of "Turn Up the Heat: A National Town Meeting on Fahrenheit 9/11." Michael Moore's new movie which opens today is an incredibly controversial film that speaks to the ever-mounting majority of Americans who are convinced that starting a war in Iraq was a mistake. The Movie, "is full of footage that few people in this country have ever seen - footage that has the power to sway the 2004 election," says organizers at MoveOn.org.

Tens of thousands of MoveOn.org members are being encouraged to gather nationwide on Monday... so the Compass Coffee House will provide free Web access here in Fish Creek to join in live, on-line for an interactive audio conference with Michael Moore. We'll discuss the movie, and of course continue planning local GRID actions to help win back the White House. And, of course, there'll be snacks.

I hope you find a way to go see the movie this weekend in Appleton or Green Bay and, if you can, join us here in the national town meeting! You can click to sign up and join me at the Compass Coffee House gathering below, to find one near you, or to host your own "Turn Up the Heat Party."

Here are the details on Micheal Moore's 9/11 Turn Up the Heat Party at:
The Door County Compass Coffee House and Internet Cafe
9341 Spring road, Unit 18-B
Top of the Hill Shops
Fish Creek, WI 54212
Monday, June 28, 7:00 PM

I hope you'll come!

Congratulations and thanks go out to everyone who has called or e-mailed Wisconsin theaters to endorse the screening of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" (see Friday, June 18 posting below). On a statewide basis there are now 14 theaters including all of the Marcus-owned theaters statewide, and in Green Bay and Appleton, that plan to show the film on opening day June 25:

Appleton, WI Marcus Hollywood Cinema
Ashwaubenon, WI Marcus Bay Park Cinemas
Brookfield, WI Marcus West Point Cinemas 8
Eau Claire, WI Carmike Oakwood Mall 12
La Crosse, WI Marcus La Crosse Quad Cinemas
Madison, WI Marcus Eastgate Cinema 16
Madison, WI Marcus Westgate 3 Cinemas
Menomonee Falls, WI Marcus Cinemas Menomonee Falls
Milwaukee, WI Landmark Oriental 3
New Berlin, WI Marcus Ridge Cinema
Oak Creek, WI Marcus South Shore Cinemas
Racine, WI Marcus Westgate Twin Cinemas
Wauwatosa, WI AMC Mayfair Mall
West Bend, WI Paradise Theatre

Tomorrow night (June 24) at 7 PM you are invited to attend the next Door County Kerry Meetup in Fish Creek at the Compass Coffee House. All interested individuals are welcome to stop in and chat. We are working to create a GRID network of Greens, Republicans, Independents and Democrats who wish to make an effort to restore democracy to the American political climate by defeating George W. Bush.

You can also help to encourage Bruce Springsteen to headline a major concert in New York City on September 1, the same day and in the same city as Republicans who will hold their convention to nominate George Bush for President. Promoters intend to broadcast the Springsteen concert live on all the major television networks as an opportunity to make it clear to Americans that they can choose an alternative to George Bush. Sign on at DraftBruce.com.

Rueters says, "The New Jersey rocker has typically stayed out of politics, but in May posted the text of an anti-war speech by former Vice President Al Gore on his official Web site, calling it 'one of the most important speeches I've heard in a long time.'"

Big Brother is watching... and testing your mental health.
The British medical journal, BMJ posted an article on June 19 that does indeed seem to be inspired by the darkest fantasies of George Orwell: Bush plans to screen whole US population for mental illness...

In a classic doublespeak plan entitled the New Freedom Initiative the Bush administration intends to link your mental health test results to a prescribed medication.

The big winner according to the BMJ report will be, "Eli Lilly, manufacturer of olanzapine, (with) multiple ties to the Bush administration. George Bush Sr was a member of Lilly's board of directors and Bush Jr appointed Lilly's chief executive officer, Sidney Taurel, to a seat on the Homeland Security Council. Lilly made $1.6m in political contributions in 2000—82% of which went to Bush and the Republican Party."

The New Freedom Initiative will be modeled after a plan then governor GW Bush put into effect in Texas beginning in 1995 as an alliance of individuals from the pharmaceutical industry, the University of Texas, and the mental health and corrections systems of Texas.

Michael Moore's new movie "Fahrenheit 9/11" won't be shown in Sturgeon Bay on opening day June 25. The fake grassroots pro-war front group Move America Forward, which successfully bounced the mildly critical biopic "The Reagans" off CBS and onto cable, has launched a campaign to discourage theaters from showing the film.

Sal Russo, a longtime veteran of Republican Party politics whose Sacramento, CA-based political consulting firm, Russo Marsh & Rogers, helped create Move America Forward, tells Reuters, "Moore's credibility as a documentarian has been shattered. Even supporters of the film say it is distorted."

Noted film critic Roger Ebert disagrees, "He (Moore) can say whatever he likes about Bush, as long as his facts are straight. Having seen the film twice, I saw nothing that raised a flag for me, and I haven't heard of any major inaccuracies."

But controversy is not the reason why it won't open here in Door County says Sturgeon Bay's Cinema 6 management... "Lions Gate only made 750 prints for distribution. We usually can't get hold of any film that opens with less than 2,000 copies. Cinema 6 may show the film beginning on July 2 or July 9."

It can't hurt to encourage Dave at Cinema 6. Call to let him know you'd like to buy advanced tickets for a July 2 screening and thank him for his efforts to uphold our individual rights to free speech and freedom of expression. Cinema 6 Box Office live phone: 920.746.8371 e-mail sbcin@doorpi.net

Censoring the arts is not patriotic.

LINKS:
Dude, Where's My Movie Playing?
'Fahrenheit 9/11' on the Hot Seat

A report released today reveals that in the last two years one third of the US population under the age of 65 had no health insurance. That's 82 million people with no health insurance... Texas leads the nation in this race to the bottom with 43% of non-seniors uninsured - Wisconsin tallies 26% uninsured. Senior citizens are not included in the study because after 65 they qualify for Medicare coverage.

"This problem is huge, and it's growing," says Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA. "It is truly an enormous epidemic."

The analysis was conducted by the Lewin Group, a private health consulting firm. The report runs in sharp contrast to the figures from the Census Bureau that show 43.6 million Americans uninsured in 2002. The Census Bureau's latest figures reflect the number of people without insurance for the entire year. While the Lewin group study tracks everyone who loses coverage for all or any portion of the years 2002 and 2003. Approximately 41 million were uninsured for at least nine months, and over 54 million uninsured for at least six months. 27 million of the uninsured were children younger than 18 — more than one-third of all children in the USA.

More comforting statistics...
USA Today-CNN-Gallup poll released Monday show that 66 percent of Americans object to the use of torture during times of war.

"We can be proud that the majority of citizens stand against our military personnel's use of torture," says Harvard statistician William Stover. "And it's somewhat comforting that, of the 34 percent of Americans who advocate torture, 72 percent said it should be used only when other methods of discipline have failed."

Reassuringly, 97 percent of Americans were against the torture of U.S. soldiers or citizens by non-Americans.

Just learned about Madison's Prole' coming to the Bayside Tavern in Fish Creek on Saturday night June 26... They are HOT , HOT, HOT - do not miss... Prole!

They may have originally been labelled as "Latin music" but they are are unapologetically experimental and unafraid to bend genre lines in their mission to make the audience move. Sometimes described as “Latin funk", they include elements of hip hop, rock and much more mixed into the band’s unique sound.

Mixing traditional Latin rhythms and sounds with a diverse array of influences from hip hop to ska to reggae to funk to rock and roll, Prole' is able to create a sonic tapestry that is truly unique and creative as well as tremendously entertaining. As danceable a band as one is likely to find in Madison, or Door County, Prole’s engaging, high energy stage show showcases the band adeptly playing everything from fiery salsas to smooth and tender ballads to fist-pumping rock songs to whatever will make the audience move.

A ray of hope for the new Justice Center...
A recent Department of Justice report shows that for the first half of 2003, the number of people imprisoned in the United States skyrocketed. According to a Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics as of June 30, 2003, there were 2,087,570 people jailed in the US, a 57,000-person increase from the year before.

While Attorney General John Ashcroft responded to the report saying it shows law enforcement is successfully taking "hard core criminals" off the street, many prison reform groups attribute the rise in prison population to mandatory minimum sentencing laws. These measures, say prison activists, are leading to the prolonged incarceration of hundreds of thousands of low-level offenders, people who have committed relatively minor crimes, such as drug possession. The only declining prison population for the year between June 30, 2002 and June 30, 2003 was inmates under 18 years of age.

Sevastopol Kids Rule... the world
Congrats to the Sevastopol World Champs and their coach Jeannie Fritschka - that's twice now that her teams have taken the world on and won. Perhaps her son Trevin - who was entrusted with building a tiny structure of super-light balsa wood that had to support a maximum load of 1,205 pounds - practiced his design theory at the sodaplay Web site. Go there to play with the sodaconstructor... UW Madison students are using it to learn physics, biomechanics and biology by designing virtual creatures in sodaconstructor, a free Internet construction game.

On Feb. 12, 2000 Jane Finley wrote the following, "I moved all remaining stuff into the hall, then to my truck to take to storage. Good friend Charles McDade helped me many times. I can't believe it is finally over. It has taken me two years to sell my co-op (apartment) and almost everything I own. Looking back I don't know how I ever did it. I AM EXHAUSTED! And ready to travel!"

From that day on she moved into a tiny camper truck and travels the US preaching for peace... a move she made after hearing a Unitarian Minister explain that "We have less than 1,000 months to live."

Jane documents her travels at her Web site: WANDERINGS: Living the Ordinary Extraordinarily (Stories from the Road)

Gertrude Bell died in 1926... Born in 1868, she was a homeschooler who went on to study in London and then to Oxford to read history. At the age of twenty and after only two years study, she left with a first-class degree. But from the turn of the century onwards, her life was governed by a love of the Arab peoples, inspired, it seems, by a visit to friends in Jerusalem in 1899-1900. Eventually her studies and knowledge of the Arabian culture led the British government to recruit her as an aid in the first World War. Following the war when Britain and France divided the remnants of the Ottoman Empire she became a Political Officer, and then Oriental Secretary to the High Commissioner in Baghdad. She helped to create and shape the new nation of Iraq...

William Beeman is director of Middle East studies at Brown University and has studied the extensive writings of Gertrude Bell from the 1920s in which she details the British struggles in Iraq. He has written a paper that describes our current affairs as a replay of the same mistakes made by the British over seventy years ago.

"It should be obvious that the Iraqis are now revolting against the United States in a manner similar to the way that they revolted against Great Britain in 1920 and again in 1958, when the British were removed once and for all."

The U.S.-Shi'ite Relationship in a New Iraq: Better than the British? by William Beeman in Strategic Insights, Volume III, Issue 5 (May 2004).

The Wisconsin Trust for Historic Preservation was established in 1986. It was the first organization to initiate action to bring the Main Street Program to Wisconsin, and has actively supported the development of Wisconsin's Heritage Tourism program. Each year they select the Ten Most Endangered Historic Properties in Wisconsin. On May 7, 2004 they announced the 2004 selections which include the Sturgeon Bay Memorial Bridge.

At 6 PM Friday I just crossed the single-lane bridge with absolutely no wait...

With traffic on the newer Bayview Bridge restricted to one lane all weekend, northbound drivers on Highway 57 have been warned in the media to expect massive backups. Anyone who is worried can always take County C north out of Brusells, driving all the way into Sturgeon Bay by the back way, and then use the old downtown bridge - properly known as the Veterans Memorial Bridge - to arrive without a struggle. Meanwhile bridge safety crew has reset the traffuc lights to allow for more northbound traffic, and there doesn't seem to be a problem.

This reminds me of the weatherman talking about windchill factor, scaring people into staying safely at home.

To experience a 2 degrees below zero wind chill... you must stand outdoors, naked, in a 20 mph breeze when the temp is 15 degrees above zero. Meanwhile out on Highway 42/57 drivers who may have just spent 3-4 hours getting here may have to wait an extra ten minutes to get over the bridge, unless they followed those media warnings like "Traffic Snarled at Sturgeon Bay Bridge" from WBAY TV and stayed safely at home.

In Shopping for Subsidies: How Wal-Mart Uses Taxpayer Money to Finance Its Never-Ending Growth, an extensively researched study, Good Jobs First writers show that Wal-Mart, the giant retailer has received more than $1 billion in economic development subsidies from state and local governments across the country. Taxpayers have helped finance not only Wal-Mart stores, but also the company’s huge network of distribution centers, more than 90% of which have gotten subsidies. The report also includes policy proposals, including a prohibition on subsidies to big-box retailers except in distressed areas that are underserved by retail outlets (and in those cases the recipient of the subsidy should be required to pay a living wage.)

"Vermont was designated an 'endangered place' Monday by preservationists who say Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, threatens the picturesque state with huge new stores that smash rural life. In its annual list of most endangered historic places, the National Trust for Historic Preservation included the state of Vermont because of an "onslaught of big-box" stores by Wal-Mart , the Arkansas-based retailer."
Read the entire story... Group sees Wal-Mart threat to Vermont
Historic trust group says new stores would smash state's rural life.

TwinCities.com, the Web site of the St. Paul Pioneer Press says, "The coming of warm weather to the Midwest inspires strange behavior in different places. In Iowa, they like to plant during the day, then sit around listening to the corn grow at night. In parts of Michigan, the natives leave their homes to stare at tulips for hours at a time. In Illinois, sadly, almost all the people spend almost all their time wishing they were in Wisconsin."

In honor they have posted...
HOW VERY, VERY FESTIVE: THE WISCONSIN QUIZ but they will make you register with them, for free, to see it.

In the latest issue of Windy City Sports Magazine, writer Jeff Lee devotes an entire feature article to Door County recreation. He tells Chicagoans all about the quiet sports in Wisconsin Red Pages.

Whoops... Ephraim, gets high marks while the Egg gets spanked.

Journal Sentinel travel columnist, Dennis McCann answers questions about Wisconsin places, history and folklore in his monthly chat. Following is an excerpt from the May transcript posted on-line today:
Q: Jason of Brookfield - Dennis: What's your favorite place to stay when in Door County?

A: Dennis McCann - That's a hard question, because there are lots of nice places. A few weeks ago I stayed at the hotel near the entrance to Peninsula Park (the Homestead, I think) and found it to be very nice. I've had nice stays at Hotel du Nord, the White Gull Inn (a very nice place, btw) and a number of other places. But my favorite community to spend time in is Ephraim, because it hasn't spoiled its natural beauty the way some other villages (are you listening, Egg Harbor?) have. There are a number of nice places there, but the Lodgings at Pioneer Lane has worked well for me on several different occasions. Thanks for all the questions. Happy travels.

THE GRAY ZONE
by SEYMOUR M. HERSH
How a secret Pentagon program came to Abu Ghraib.
Issue of 2004-05-24
Posted 2004-05-15

I can't help but compare...
the micro/macro similarities between local and national leadership when I see the 16 golden shovelers depicted on the front page of the latest Advocate.

Instead of golden shovels Charlie and Company might like to wield a copy of MetaliCal, a free software program that calculates metal weight and cost. It includes 58 metals (including steel) and 50 profiles and shapes produced by the industry. Using MetaliCal will help them keep up with the rapid changes unfolding in the steel industry which are driving prices up in some unprecedented ways. By summer the industry is predicting that steel will be on allocation for the first time in US history with price increases expected to exceed 65%.

The Justice Center Diggers have much in common with theme park developers who complain, "This means that the price of a coaster or ride concept that was developed last autumn could as much as double by this summer. Further, it puts estimators in the difficult position of having to predict the cost of steel (not to mention the availability) one or even two years out."

One thousand board feet of lumber, the industry standard, sold for $446 last week, compared to $285 at the same time last year... and then there's the cost of fuel to consider. Each Bored County Member should pawn their golden shovel and buy a calculator, because your budgets are going haywire.

All I can think of when I hear Charlie Most say, "It’s very gratifying to stick this shovel in here and finally get this project going and out of our hair..." is GW Bush aboard the USS Lincoln last May Day saying, "Mission Accomplished."

Wisconsin legislators (aside from Garey Bies) are also sounding a wake up call to our local Diggers... "Limiting prison costs is a key to solving the state's fiscal problems," says state Rep. Dan Schooff, D-Beloit, a member of the Joint Finance Committee.

"If you can rein in corrections and stop the flow of dollars there, then you can free up dollars for elsewhere, whether it's teachers' salaries or the UW System," he says.

"To contain costs, the State corrections Department is turning its focus on job training, drug treatment and other forms of counseling to keep prisoners from committing new crimes after they are released. Cutting the number who return to prison will reduce the inmate population and prison costs," Frank says.

"We know that if you just lock people up and you don't deal with the underlying issues, you're going to continue to have those people committing crimes," he says, noting that 42 percent of the state's inmates have prior records.

Governor Doyle says he hopes the new focus programs and an emphasis on steering troubled young people away from crime will cut the state prison population of 22,000 by one-third over the next eight years.

"It's a long-term project, and what you really have to be doing is getting focused on the 12- and 13-year-olds today who eight years from now are going to be 20 and 21," Doyle says. "The things you do today for those 12-year-olds (are) going to make a big difference in what the prison population is going to be."

Meanwhile, in Door County, Diggers break ground with golden shovels to build the Taj Mahal of Drunk Tanks... Mission accomplished!

Door County recently made Coastal Living and MONEY Magazine editors' list of top spots to live. Listed in a special section entitled, "So You Want to Live on the Coast," in the June issue of MONEY and featured in the April issue of Coastal Living, the editors acclaim Door County, "as it offers a quiet pace, water everywhere, farm-fresh produce, the camaraderie of traditional fish boils, and more lighthouses (10) than any other U.S. county.

And low water levels are no problem...
Especially according to Gov. Jim Doyle who surprised a number of people with his remarks on Earth Day 2004. It wasn't Doyle's tough stand against diverting Great Lakes water to places like Arizona and Nevada - no one in Wisconsin supports exporting Great Lakes water to the arid West.

Doyle's surprise was the fact that he might support a diversion from Lake Michigan to Waukesha County. Seems harmless until you realize that this breaks all of the rules... by sending water out of the watershed and across the subcontinental divide.

Doyle has on his desk an August 2003 report from the city of Waukesha and the Waukesha Water Utility that asks for Doyle's help to convince other Great Lakes officials to approve the construction of a pipeline to carry 20 million gallons of water a day from Lake Michigan, to the city of Waukesha.

Any new diversion of water from the Great Lakes is made nearly impossible under the Great Lakes Charter and other agreements that cover eight Great Lakes states, including Wisconsin, and two Canadian provinces. But Waukesha is making its pitch at the right time, because the Great Lakes Charter is undergoing its first major review since its 1985 creation... and this summer Gov. Doyle will assume the chairmanship of the Council of Great Lakes Governors - a group with great influence in the charter review. So Doyle is in a pivotal position to carry Waukesha's water, so to speak, even if another Great Lakes governor blocks it.

Read the entire article, much of which I borrowed from in the above paraphrasing:
Milwaukee Insight: Lake Michigan Water Could Flow to Thirsty Suburbs as Doyle Gets Key Great Lakes Post
5/7/2004
By Jim Rowen