Fine. I�ll tell you. But be warned: YOU dragged it out of ME.

I have an intense and growing hate on for Michael Moore.

Some things I hate about him (please realize that since I don't actually know the man, I am merely hating on all his various and sundry published media): I hate the manipulative bullshit he spews, I hate his righteous indignation (which I find to be so so so fucking disingenuous), I hate his uncritical lovers AND haters (which includes pretty much most folks it seems--it's like you're either for him or you listen to Bill O�Reilly and Rush Limbaugh).

What the hell? I don�t want to listen or watch or learn from anybody who does not at least attempt to be a little bit objective. I know, I know, THERE�S NO SUCH THING AS OBJECTIVITY ISN�T IT GREAT HE�S AT LEAST TAKING A STAND HE�S NOT PRETENDING TO BE OBJECTIVE blah blah. I heard that one already. It drives me crazy that this is how people want to imbibe information. It's preaching to the choir, it's making everybody madder than hell about shit that they were already mad about and nobody learns anything, it weakens the argument against the current regime in power, it makes me (me! radical babe me!) want to argue against the lefties and the liberals who wholeheartedly and uncritically embrace the shoddy and almost unbearably biased half-truths Mr. Moore presents. In short? It does NOTHING. It changes NOTHING. It makes me FURIOUS.

I learned nothing, not one thing, from this movie. Except that Michael Moore irritates the hell out of me with his pointless stunts (the ice cream truck? Didn't he already do that one?) and his stinky shoddy methods (the shiny happy people collage of Iraq before we killed all the babies and couples in love, the excoriation with the right hand and the warm fuzzies with the left for the US troups, the implications presented as facts) and his unfunny sarcasm, sometimes funny collages (and this is the part where I a little bit like him--I do think his collages are funny--Jeff thinks this is where his art is and maybe I agree a little bit but because I am getting my hate on I'll ignore that part) and his cheap patronizing shots of, well, everyone (except the �conservative democrat� whose son died in Iraq--er, scratch that. Probably the most patronizing bit in the whole movie was his sentimental and exploitive portrayal of her patriotic anger and grief. Shame on YOU, Mr. Moore) and his being a bitch to anyone who doesn't support him (WHICH IS JUST LIKE BILL O'REILLY)--like Pete Townshend who wouldn't let him use a Who song in the movie! Good for him! And what a bitchy bitchy thing for Mister Michael Moore to say at the end there. He's a bully. Plain and simple. He's the kind of person where if you don't just love him, he will make you very very sorry. God. Shut UP.

The more I think about the movie the madder I get. After the credits role, the screen commands us: DO SOMETHING: michaelmoore.com. Jeff wanted to do something but the only he found to do over there was to buy Michael moore bumper stickers.

I find this article interesting.

And I really really love this one (even if Christopher Hitchens drives me batty in the same way sometimes�I still think he exercises more intellectual rigor using the backspace key than Micheal Moore does in any medium).

So yeah. I didn�t really appreciate Fahrenheit 9-11. Or, I did when I first left the theater because I�m a sucker for the final, though still ill-considered & supported, argument made in the movie (the class argument�which, it seems, the men and women in the military find quite patronizing) so I thought, briefly, that the movie had been smart and interesting and good. This is NOT TRUE. Ugh. I wish I had seen Baadasssss! instead. Mario Van Peebles makes me swoon.

Also, today, I feel like shite. Sad and spiraling. Let�s not talk about it.

The really good news: Jeff is now an uncle! To a little boy named Gabe who was born on Monday night!

The really sad news: Jeff�s parent�s excellent dog Chancey died Sunday night (just before Jeff�s sister went into labor, actually). The week before the vet diagnosed her with a severe heart problem, so they knew this was coming. She was still a young thing�only five. Sweet sweet dog.