***Another Email from Michael Moore***
Sunday, October 11th, 2009
Pilots on Food Stamps
By Michael Moore
We're on the descent from 20,000 feet in the air when the flight attendant leans over the elderly woman next to me and taps me on the shoulder.
"I'm listening to Lady Gaga," I say as I remove just one of the ear buds. I know not this Lady Gaga, but her performance last week on SNL was fascinating.
"The pilots would like to see you in the cockpit when we land," she says with a southern drawl.
"Did I do something wrong?"
"No. They have something to show you." (The last time an employee of an airline wanted to show me something it was her written reprimand for eating an in-flight meal without paying for it. "Yes," she said, "we have to pay for our own meals on board now.")
The plane landed and I stepped into the cockpit. "Read this," the first officer said. He handed me a letter from the airline to him. It was headlined "LETTER OF CONCERN." It seems this poor fellow had taken three sick days in the past year. The letter was a warning not to take another one -- or else.
"Great," I said. "Just what I want -- you coming to work sick, flying me up in the air and asking to borrow the barf bag from my seatback pocket."
He then showed me his pay stub. He took home $405 this week. My life was completely and totally in his hands for the past hour and he's paid less than the kid who delivers my pizza.
I told the guys that I have a whole section in my new movie about how pilots are treated (using pilots as only one example of how people's wages have been slashed and the middle class decimated). In the movie I interview a pilot for a major airline who made $17,000 last year. For four months he was eligible -- and received -- food stamps. Another pilot in the film has a second job as a dog walker.
"I have a second job!," the two pilots said in unison. One is a substitute teacher. The other works in a coffee shop. You know, maybe it's just me, but the two occupations whose workers shouldn't be humpin' a second job are brain surgeons and airline pilots. Call me crazy.
I told them about how Capt. "Sully" Sullenberger (the pilot who safely landed the jet in the Hudson River) had testified in Congress that no pilot he knows wants any of their children to become a pilot. Pilots, he said, are completely demoralized. He spoke of how his pay has been cut 40% and his own pension eliminated. Most of the TV news didn't cover his remarks and the congressmen quickly forgot them. They just wanted him to play the role of "HERO," but he was on a more important mission. He's in my movie.
"I hadn't heard anywhere that this stuff about the airlines is in this new movie," the pilot said.
"No, you wouldn't," I replied. "The press likes to talk about me, not the movie."
And it's true. I've been surprised (and slightly annoyed) that, with all that's been written and talked about "Capitalism: A Love Story," very little attention has been paid the mind-blowing stuff in the film: pilots on food stamps, companies secretly taking out life insurance policies on employees and hoping they die young so the company can collect, judges getting kickbacks from the private prison industry for sending innocent people (kids) to be locked up. The profit motive -- it's a killer.
Especially when your pilot started his day at 6am working at the local Starbucks.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
Mini Meltdown Over the Stove
One of my favorite things to do is cook and I do it very well. My signature dish is Eggplant Parmesan. Everyone loves when I make this and I thoroughly enjoy the whole process.
I always check the eggplants at Meijer's and when I find one I really like I get it for the opportunity to make a big Italian Meal. I saw tonights Eggplant last week on my regular grocery trip and found today to be the best day to make it. Sundays usually are because of the slower pace.
So I got out my Eggplant, Noodles, Sauce, Spices, Tomatoes, Mushrooms, Spinach, Bread Crumbs, and Olive Oil.
I turned the heat up to 6 on the saute pan to get it hot for the oil and put a pot of water on another burner.
At this point I will let you know that we have a dreadfully God forsaken Electric stove! I hate the damn thing, it is never consistant. I have the hardest time using an electric stove and whoever it was in the 50's that thought electric stoves were going to be the best thing ever was wrong! That was probably GE, didn't they make the electric lawn mower? I digress. So, whenever I cook or bake, something always goes wrong. I can't tell how hot the burner is and 6 is too cool and 8 way too hot. I try to turn it down, but it takes a good 30 seconds to regulate (even if it does that). I am always boiling over pots, or my pan is not hot enough. As far as the oven part...there is a heating element at the top and the bottom of the oven, so there is no good place to put a cake, or cookies, or anything in there. I put the timer on for a cake and the top is burned and the whole thing over cooked in half the time it should have taken to cook it perfectly in a gas oven. So we started to turn the temp down and it works ok.
Ok so back to today, I was frying the breaded eggplant and it was taking forever on 6 and the too quick on 7. Ah, whatever! The noodles boiled fine and the sauce I made was great.
When I set the temp in the oven I was thinking Gas and put it at 450. That temp is perfect for melting the cheese and making it golden in 20 minutes. Oh no not in a damn electric oven. After 7 minetes, the cheese was burnt to a black crisp.
I was so pissed off. My favorite dish! I never screw up cooking and baking! It's Ruined! I hate this damn oven!
In my dissapointed and pissed off, unmedicated moment someone eating my meal made a very ungrateful and rude comment that sent me over the edge and he kept proding me. I flipped out and started to sob.
Nothing makes me more upset in my current life than that damn electric stove! Electric stove lovers, how do you do it? And can someone get my landlord to get my a gas stove, STAT! Or it'll be the death of me or some unsuspecting passerby!
I always check the eggplants at Meijer's and when I find one I really like I get it for the opportunity to make a big Italian Meal. I saw tonights Eggplant last week on my regular grocery trip and found today to be the best day to make it. Sundays usually are because of the slower pace.
So I got out my Eggplant, Noodles, Sauce, Spices, Tomatoes, Mushrooms, Spinach, Bread Crumbs, and Olive Oil.
I turned the heat up to 6 on the saute pan to get it hot for the oil and put a pot of water on another burner.
At this point I will let you know that we have a dreadfully God forsaken Electric stove! I hate the damn thing, it is never consistant. I have the hardest time using an electric stove and whoever it was in the 50's that thought electric stoves were going to be the best thing ever was wrong! That was probably GE, didn't they make the electric lawn mower? I digress. So, whenever I cook or bake, something always goes wrong. I can't tell how hot the burner is and 6 is too cool and 8 way too hot. I try to turn it down, but it takes a good 30 seconds to regulate (even if it does that). I am always boiling over pots, or my pan is not hot enough. As far as the oven part...there is a heating element at the top and the bottom of the oven, so there is no good place to put a cake, or cookies, or anything in there. I put the timer on for a cake and the top is burned and the whole thing over cooked in half the time it should have taken to cook it perfectly in a gas oven. So we started to turn the temp down and it works ok.
Ok so back to today, I was frying the breaded eggplant and it was taking forever on 6 and the too quick on 7. Ah, whatever! The noodles boiled fine and the sauce I made was great.
When I set the temp in the oven I was thinking Gas and put it at 450. That temp is perfect for melting the cheese and making it golden in 20 minutes. Oh no not in a damn electric oven. After 7 minetes, the cheese was burnt to a black crisp.
I was so pissed off. My favorite dish! I never screw up cooking and baking! It's Ruined! I hate this damn oven!
In my dissapointed and pissed off, unmedicated moment someone eating my meal made a very ungrateful and rude comment that sent me over the edge and he kept proding me. I flipped out and started to sob.
Nothing makes me more upset in my current life than that damn electric stove! Electric stove lovers, how do you do it? And can someone get my landlord to get my a gas stove, STAT! Or it'll be the death of me or some unsuspecting passerby!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
An Email from Michael Moore
***Re-posting from an Email sent by Mr. Michael Moore***
For Those of You on Your Way to Church This Morning ...a note from Michael Moore
Sunday, October 4th, 2009
Friends,
I'd like to have a word with those of you who call yourselves Christians (Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Bill Maherists, etc. can read along, too, as much of what I have to say, I'm sure, can be applied to your own spiritual/ethical values).
In my new film I speak for the first time in one of my movies about my own spiritual beliefs. I have always believed that one's religious leanings are deeply personal and should be kept private. After all, we've heard enough yammerin' in the past three decades about how one should "behave," and I have to say I'm pretty burned out on pieties and platitudes considering we are a violent nation who invades other countries and punishes our own for having the audacity to fall on hard times.
I'm also against any proselytizing; I certainly don't want you to join anything I belong to. Also, as a Catholic, I have much to say about the Church as an institution, but I'll leave that for another day (or movie).
Amidst all the Wall Street bad guys and corrupt members of Congress exposed in "Capitalism: A Love Story," I pose a simple question in the movie: "Is capitalism a sin?" I go on to ask, "Would Jesus be a capitalist?" Would he belong to a hedge fund? Would he sell short? Would he approve of a system that has allowed the richest 1% to have more financial wealth than the 95% under them combined?
I have come to believe that there is no getting around the fact that capitalism is opposite everything that Jesus (and Moses and Mohammed and Buddha) taught. All the great religions are clear about one thing: It is evil to take the majority of the pie and leave what's left for everyone to fight over. Jesus said that the rich man would have a very hard time getting into heaven. He told us that we had to be our brother's and sister's keepers and that the riches that did exist were to be divided fairly. He said that if you failed to house the homeless and feed the hungry, you'd have a hard time finding the pin code to the pearly gates.
I guess that's bad news for us Americans. Here's how we define "Blessed Are the Poor": We now have the highest unemployment rate since 1983. There's a foreclosure filing once every 7.5 seconds. 14,000 people every day lose their health insurance.
At the same time, Wall Street bankers ("Blessed Are the Wealthy"?) are amassing more and more loot -- and they do their best to pay little or no income tax (last year Goldman Sachs' tax rate was a mere 1%!). Would Jesus approve of this? If not, why do we let such an evil system continue? It doesn't seem you can call yourself a Capitalist AND a Christian -- because you cannot love your money AND love your neighbor when you are denying your neighbor the ability to see a doctor just so you can have a better bottom line. That's called "immoral" -- and you are committing a sin when you benefit at the expense of others.
When you are in church this morning, please think about this. I am asking you to allow your "better angels" to come forward. And if you are among the millions of Americans who are struggling to make it from week to week, please know that I promise to do what I can to stop this evil -- and I hope you'll join me in not giving up until everyone has a seat at the table.
Thanks for listening. I'm off to Mass in a few hours. I'll be sure to ask the priest if he thinks J.C. deals in derivatives or credit default swaps. I mean, after all, he must've been good at math. How else did he divide up two loaves of bread and five pieces of fish equally amongst 5,000 people? Either he was the first socialist or his disciples were really bad at packing lunch. Or both.
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com
For Those of You on Your Way to Church This Morning ...a note from Michael Moore
Sunday, October 4th, 2009
Friends,
I'd like to have a word with those of you who call yourselves Christians (Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Bill Maherists, etc. can read along, too, as much of what I have to say, I'm sure, can be applied to your own spiritual/ethical values).
In my new film I speak for the first time in one of my movies about my own spiritual beliefs. I have always believed that one's religious leanings are deeply personal and should be kept private. After all, we've heard enough yammerin' in the past three decades about how one should "behave," and I have to say I'm pretty burned out on pieties and platitudes considering we are a violent nation who invades other countries and punishes our own for having the audacity to fall on hard times.
I'm also against any proselytizing; I certainly don't want you to join anything I belong to. Also, as a Catholic, I have much to say about the Church as an institution, but I'll leave that for another day (or movie).
Amidst all the Wall Street bad guys and corrupt members of Congress exposed in "Capitalism: A Love Story," I pose a simple question in the movie: "Is capitalism a sin?" I go on to ask, "Would Jesus be a capitalist?" Would he belong to a hedge fund? Would he sell short? Would he approve of a system that has allowed the richest 1% to have more financial wealth than the 95% under them combined?
I have come to believe that there is no getting around the fact that capitalism is opposite everything that Jesus (and Moses and Mohammed and Buddha) taught. All the great religions are clear about one thing: It is evil to take the majority of the pie and leave what's left for everyone to fight over. Jesus said that the rich man would have a very hard time getting into heaven. He told us that we had to be our brother's and sister's keepers and that the riches that did exist were to be divided fairly. He said that if you failed to house the homeless and feed the hungry, you'd have a hard time finding the pin code to the pearly gates.
I guess that's bad news for us Americans. Here's how we define "Blessed Are the Poor": We now have the highest unemployment rate since 1983. There's a foreclosure filing once every 7.5 seconds. 14,000 people every day lose their health insurance.
At the same time, Wall Street bankers ("Blessed Are the Wealthy"?) are amassing more and more loot -- and they do their best to pay little or no income tax (last year Goldman Sachs' tax rate was a mere 1%!). Would Jesus approve of this? If not, why do we let such an evil system continue? It doesn't seem you can call yourself a Capitalist AND a Christian -- because you cannot love your money AND love your neighbor when you are denying your neighbor the ability to see a doctor just so you can have a better bottom line. That's called "immoral" -- and you are committing a sin when you benefit at the expense of others.
When you are in church this morning, please think about this. I am asking you to allow your "better angels" to come forward. And if you are among the millions of Americans who are struggling to make it from week to week, please know that I promise to do what I can to stop this evil -- and I hope you'll join me in not giving up until everyone has a seat at the table.
Thanks for listening. I'm off to Mass in a few hours. I'll be sure to ask the priest if he thinks J.C. deals in derivatives or credit default swaps. I mean, after all, he must've been good at math. How else did he divide up two loaves of bread and five pieces of fish equally amongst 5,000 people? Either he was the first socialist or his disciples were really bad at packing lunch. Or both.
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com
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