And we know who tells the Treasury what to do, don't we?

http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/news/ap/20070510/117880002000.html


Michael Moore Faces U.S. Treasury Probe

Thursday May 10 5:27 AM ET

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 followup 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 preapproved.

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.

By the way, if anyone finds a trailer for "Sicko" please post it here. Thanks.

Is a director of documentaries, someone who publishes an online newsletter and such, a full-time journalist? Members of Congress have referred to him as a journalist, and it's not like this is a part-time affair for him by any means. It'd be a real interesting question.

http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/programs/cuba/cuba_tr_app.pdf

is a fairly straightforward read. I think that, instead of of calling himself a "journalist", he should've called himself a "researcher", and then would've fallen in under the category of:


Example 2: A professional writer or film maker wishes to travel to
Cuba in order to engage in research necessary to produce a
documentary book or film that will be published or otherwise
distributed. Note: The making of a film absent the conduct of
specific research would not qualify for a license. The making of a
documentary film is a legitimate basis for issuing a license only if
it is a vehicle for the presentation of the research conducted.

The REALLY interesting part is that, if they were clever, they could've claimed that by bringing patients to Cuba for treatment, they're in fact training Cuban doctors, which would generally be prohibited. Of course, if they try to bring up that point -now-, they'll just look like they're on a witchhunt.

Not the full trailer, just a scene.

EV4-Wtu-vvI&eurl=

A "review" from someone that has seen the film (from IMDB)


More of Moore, thank God

21 May 2007

Author: Ivo Martijn from Hilversum, The Netherlands

I was fortuned enough to watch Michael Moore's documentary 'Sicko' at it's second screening at the 60th Cannes film festival. It just might be his most important film yet, because this is really the first time he makes the essential point about America: in the US the dominant ideology is 'me' whereas the other nations on the planet think in terms of 'we' (I noticed this too when I studied in the States). Bowling for Columbine demonstrates the fear in American society induced by the media (if it bleeds, it leads) and where it leads to. Fahrenheit 9/11 exposes the Republican party, especially the Bush crowd, as a club that solely benefits the financial interests of the wealthiest people in the country, causing millions to suffer. This time, Moore shows that, even in the health care system, the nation is run by one single thing: the bottom line; the logic of money. The US seem to have forgotten that money is just an intermediate. If it becomes a goal in itself, people die.

Unnecessarily.

We humans see everything as a story, whether we are aware of it or not: people's lives, brands, world events, nations. There are basically two story lines: the hero's journey (the individual who matures and fulfills his full capability, and the Greek tragedy (the hero violates the rules of the group and is sacrificed). We are at the same time individuals and members of a group. For every human being it's always a struggle to find, in all circumstances, the right balance between being an individual and being a group member. Nations choose between these two stories as well. In every country on earth the group is the most important entity (more or less). Except in the US. There, it's the individual. So instead of "one for all, and all for one", America's motto is "each for himself, and God for us all".

In 'Sicko' Michel Moore demonstrates the atrocities this kind of thinking leads to. A man without health insurance (companies simply refuse people), whose middle- and ring finger are sown of, had to choose between paying 60.000 dollars for having his middle finger restored and 12.000 dollars for having his ring finger fixed. Being the "romantic" that he is, he chose his ring finger. A woman, formerly with a good job, bankrupted by her medical bills and forced to live in the study of her daughter, has to pay 240 dollars a month for her cancer medication but gets the same pills on Cuba for... 10 cents. 45 Million uninsured Americans live in fear that they might, some day, need medical care. The rest of the world doesn't know these fears, because for them, medical help is free: paid for by tax money. The United States have become ruthless to it's own people. It contradicts the image Americans have of themselves and their country, but it's the awful truth.

As a film, 'Sicko' is slightly below 'Bowling for Columbine' and somewhat above 'Fahrenheit 9/11' (Moore's qualities as a filmmaker are admirably consistent). As an eye opener, it's the most important thing Michael Moore has done yet. The true 'sicko' is America. Hopefully this film will let the healing begin.

The last line of the article: "Hopefullythis film will let the healing begin"
Not in my, his, ours, or our children's lifetime!!!
We Americans are not necessarily the "victim" of the health care system.
We sit on our asses, munching pizza and McDonalds all our lives, burn out with the stress of our addiction to STUFF, and generally do not take care of ourselves with diet, exercise, and sensible choices.
So now, with ALL of us knowing that this society is a dollar driven society only and pretty much always has been, it's THEIR fault?

I was pretty understanding of the review until


The true 'sicko' is America.

And then I was like "you know what? Get f**ked." No matter how angry I am at the insurance industry, how stupid our economics system is, how lame our government happens to be, I'm rather proud to be American. Europeans are plenty nice, but if I had to spend more than a month alone in Europe, I'd probably fling myself weeping into the arms of the first person who spoke with an American accent. And then that American would punch me in the arm and call me a pussy, and all would be right with the world.

Why don't some people know when to quit?