It was too nice over the long weekend to spend time at the movies. How convenient that the rain returned today so I could take in this pic. This being the Left Coast, I had my choice of 13 screenings at 3 theaters withing a 4-block radius. I kid you not. I went to the 7:00 PM showing at the Neptune, the largest hall of the 3 and it was about 2/3 full.

Anybody who says thiis movie is completely biased and one-sided is completely right. And I have to acknowledge some criticisms such as those from Christopher Hitchens in this article on Slate. I would give those criticisms more credit except for the fact that Hitchens seems to have lost his bloody mind -- he thinks the Iraq war is a good idea. So in the end it seems like a "forest and trees' thing. Hitchens can complain about a lot of things in Moore's arguments and movie but it doesn't undermine the fundamantal premise.

Yes the movie is manipulative and full of incomplete insinuation -- and Moore may be an unpredictable, inconsistent politico -- but here's a case where he's got it right and produced a fantastically entertaining bit of agitprop.

A few things came repeatedly to mind during the movie. I kept asking vis-a-vis Shrub's on-screen appearances "Who *are* the people who are going to vote for this guy in November?" Kind of rhetorical. Some are on this BBS. I work with others. I wanted the movie to ask and answer that question, but I guess that would have diluted the one-sided thrust of the propaganda.

One other thought I kept having was "Whoa, I have never seen that before!" Maybe I just wasn't paying attention, but Moore did a fantastic job of finding and including footage of a variety of events -- whether Bush in the early minutes of 9/11, heartbreaking protests by African-American members of Congress in the wake of the 2000 election, or footage of troops under attack in Iraq -- that really kept my interest.

Most Democrats don't come off well. The complicity in this misbegotten crusade is pretty sickening. I have to say, when I vote for Kerry-Edwards in November it will be a bitter pill. My vote will be strictly punitive in nature. I wish it would count for more than that.

There were some cheap broad stokes -- Moore insulting via stereotype some small nations in the bogus coalition -- that he should have rethought. Overall, though, I managed not to actively dislike Moore in the course of the movie. His tone was generally quiet and he managed to keep himself in the background. Has he learned something about the negative reactions he can provoke even from people who agree with him?

Anyhow, I'm glad I saw it. Since unlicensed downloads are not likely to be prosecuted, anybody who wants to watch this movie so that they can tear it to shreds can watch it without enriching Moore. I highly recommend this.

The basic question I am waiting for the answer to from Hitchens or for anyone here is: "And this war was a good idea... Why?"