Pop!

First things first:

Download Sicko [722 MB]

(Watch it with the great, free, open source video player VLC or with Google Video Player.)

As you probably heard, the new Michael Moore movie Sicko leaked onto the internet last week. It was even available for download on Google Video until late Monday.

Moore has gone on the record before saying he didn't have a problem with people distributing his film through non-traditional channels, as long as they weren't profiting from it. He repeated this sentiment the other day in several interviews. To wit:

Separately, Moore said he would not prosecute those already circulating bootleg copies of the still-unreleased documentary on the Internet. "I'm happy for people to see my movie. I'm not a big fan of the copyright laws in this country," he said.

Because Sicko is good, and raises points that should not go unanswered, I am making the film available to be downloaded. Please host the movie on your site, too, if you are able. I have only limited resources, and I don't want to piss off my amazing host, Dreamhost. (Also, if the Weinsteins ask me to take it down, I will, but I hope they understand that everyone is better served by letting the movie generate word of mouth ahead of its release.)

If you link to this, please link to this post and not directly to the downloadable file.

ps. I've watched the film, and although I think it runs a little long, I can say that every American should watch this movie and ask themselves, and their elected officials, where we went wrong.

Posted by ADM at 2:03 AM | Permalink

A news report on the Iranian/British Navy flap:

Vice Adm. Charles Style told reporters that the Iranians had provided a position on Sunday — a location that he said was in Iraqi waters. By Tuesday, Iranian officials had given a revised position two miles east, placing the British inside Iranian waters — a claim he said was not verified by global positioning system coordinates.

"It is hard to understand a legitimate reason for this change of coordinates," Style said.

Style gave the satellite coordinates of the British crew as 29 degrees 50.36 minutes north latitude and 048 degrees 43.08 minutes east longitude, and said it had been confirmed by an Indian-flagged merchant ship boarded by the sailors and marines.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki denied this, saying, "That's not true. It happened in Iranian territorial waters." [source]

A plot synopsis of Tomorrow Never Dies, a James Bond film from a few years ago:

The film begins at a terrorist arms bazaar "somewhere on the Russian border". MI6 has sent Bond (Pierce Brosnan) into the field to survey trades and purchases by the terrorists. They identify Henry Gupta (Ricky Jay), who has purchased an American GPS encoder. A missile strike is ordered on the position, but they then realise there are two Soviet nuclear torpedos mounted on a plane, potentially causing radioactive contamination...

The encoder is used by media mogul Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce), as a tool to start a war between the People's Republic of China and the United Kingdom; this is to gain an exclusive marketing device to launch his new worldwide television network. He uses the encoder to send a British frigate, HMS Devonshire, off-course in the South China Sea, where Carver's own stealth ship is located. Carver's henchman, Mr. Stamper (Götz Otto), sinks the frigate and shoots down a Chinese fighter plane sent out to investigate. The British thought they had been attacked by the Chinese, and Admiral Roebuck gives M (Judi Dench) 48 hours to investigate before they retaliate. [source]

Posted by ADM at 2:34 PM | Permalink

This is just great.

Democratic leaders revamp anti-war plan

By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer

House Democratic leaders are developing an anti-war proposal that wouldn't cut off money for U.S. troops in Iraq but would require President Bush to acknowledge problems with an overburdened military.

The plan could draw bipartisan support but is expected to be a tough sell to members who say they don't think it goes far enough to assuage voters angered by the four-year conflict. [NO KIDDING??? REALLY?????]

Bush "hasn't to date done anything we've asked him to do, so why we would think he would do anything in the future is beyond me," said Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., one of a group of liberal Democrats pushing for an immediate end to the war.

Democratic protests to the war grew louder in January after they took control of Congress and Bush announced he planned to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq. Earlier this month, House Democrats pushed through a nonbinding resolution opposing the buildup.

Since then, Democrats have been trying to decide what to do next. Some worried that a plan by Rep. John Murtha to restrict funding for the war would go too far. Murtha, D-Pa., is extending his support to the revised proposal.

The tactic is more likely to embarrass Bush politically than force his hand on the war. [YEAH JUST LIKE THAT LAST NONBINDING RESOLUTION WAS SO EMBARRASSING TO BUSH. YEAH RIGHT. HE WAS REALLY EMBARRASSED BY THAT!] He would have to sign repeated waivers for units and report to Congress those units with equipment shortfalls and other problems.

CAN WE HAVE A RECALL OF THE NOVEMBER ELECTIONS NOW PLEASE?? LET'S JUST GET IT OVER WITH.

Posted by ADM at 1:33 AM | Permalink

This is just the sort of quote you want coming from a Dem during war time, right?

"They won't be able to continue ... They won't have the equipment, they don't have the training and they won't be able to do the work." [source]

That's Murtha on his efforts to stop the war/troop buildup by cutting its funding.

If the Dems continue with this strategy, they will play right into the GOP's hands. The administration, and everyone else, will be able to say, "Hey, we had a strategy, and the Democrats wouldn't fund it, and that's why we are not winning." That stain will be on the Democrats for a generation, and no Republican will be held accountable for anything that has gone wrong.

So what should be done? Joe Biden floated an idea the other day that is novel, but didn't get much attention: Revoke Bush's authority to prosecute the war. Biden says the original resolution authorized Bush to neutralize the WMDs and deal with Saddam. That's been done, so the resolution has expired. Time for a new one.

Posted by ADM at 3:11 PM | Permalink

I can't believe they've had all this time to come up with a response to this question, and this is the best they can come up with:

"I gave him the authority to send inspectors back in to determine the truth. I said this is not a vote to authorize pre-emptive war," she said in answer to a question from one of about 250 voters crammed into Berlin's city hall in New Hampshire's frozen north. [source]

Are you kidding me? So while the other 99 senators knew they were voting to authorize a war in Iraq, Hillary thought she was voting on a resolution to send in "inspectors"? Yeah, right. Something tells me this answer will not be used much longer. If it is, we know the Dukakis/Gore/Kerry advisers have gotten to her.

Posted by ADM at 2:04 PM | Permalink