terça-feira, 14 de dezembro de 2010

Michael Moore



Michael Moore Posts Bail For WikiLeaks Founder

Award-winning director Michael Moore is coming out in support of WikiLeaks, posting $20,000 in bail money for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
WikiLeaks has come under increasing pressure in the wake of releasing thousands of documents - most recently the confidential cables sent from embassies of the United States. Many of those documents contained embarrassing revelations. WikiLeaks was also denounced by the U.S. government after it made hundreds of thousands of documents outlining U.S. strategy and operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Assange was arrested in Britain after a warrant was issued in Sweden for sexual assault charges. His supporters maintain that the criminal case is an attempt to discredit him. 

WikiLeaks has had much of its funding cut off after PayPal and MasterCard both stopped processing transactions for the site, and its servers had to be moved to a site in Switzerland. The U.S. Justice Department is also considering charging Assange with violating the 1917 Espionage Act.  
In his witness statement to the Westminster Magistrates Court in London, Moore says that Assange has performed a valuable, patriotic service.

"What do we do with someone who informs the authorities -- and in this case it is the free people in a democracy who are the "authorities" -- that a crime has been committed? Do we arrest HIM? Do we try to shut his mouth? Do we hound him, threaten him, track him down and hunt him as if HE is the criminal? He bravely informed the citizenry of what was being done in their name and with their tax monies. That is no crime. That is an act of patriotism," he wrote.

Moore also said he is willing to offer servers to WikiLeaks. "I am publicly offering the assistance of my website, my servers, my domain names and anything else I can do to keep WikiLeaks alive and thriving as it continues its work to expose the crimes that were concocted in secret and carried out in our name and with our tax dollars," he said in his Huffington Post essay.



Michael Moore se oferece para pagar fiança de Assange

O cineasta norte-americano Michael Moore anunciou à justiça britânica que se ofereceu para pagar a fiança exigida para que o fundador do WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, responda em liberdade à acusação de estupro contra duas cidadãs suecas.

“Ontem na corte de magistrados de Westminster, em Londres, os advogados do co-fundador do WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, apresentaram ao juiz um documento em que anunciou que pagarei US$ 20 mil, de meus próprios recursos, para pagar a fiança do senhor Assange”, anunciou o cineasta nesta terça-feira, em mensagem pela internet.

Ele também anunciou publicamente que irá fornecer todo o apoio necessário ao funcionamento da página criada por Assange. “Eu ofereço publicamente a assistência do meu site, servidores, domínio e o que mais eu puder para manter o WikiLeaks vivo e continuando seu trabalho de expor os crimes que são cometidos em nosso nome e com nossos impostos”, completa o cineasta.
Moore diz acreditar que, se o WikiLeaks já existisse em 2002, talvez não houvesse a invasão do Iraque. Na época, o então presidente George W. Bush afirmava que havia armas de destruição de massa no país, mas nada foi encontrado. “Nós entramos em uma guerra pela mentira. E centenas de milhares estão mortos agora”.

Julgamento
Assange se dirigiu nesta terça-feira à corte de Westminster, em Londres, para depor sobre a acusação de que teria estuprado duas mulheres. Segundo o site do jornal britânico “The Guardian”, a audiência pode definir a extradição para a Suécia, país de onde surgiu o processo contra Assange, que nega as acusações.
Do lado de fora da corte, foi destacado um grande contingente policial para conter as dezenas de manifestantes que protestam contra a prisão de Assange. Simpatizantes alegam que a prisão não passa de uma represália contra o site, que vem divulgando documentos secretos das Forças Armadas e do corpo diplomático dos Estados Unidos.

Críticas
Antes de chegar a Westminster, Assange criticou duramente as operadoras de cartões de crédito Visa e Mastercard e a empresa de pagamentos na internet PayPal, que bloquearam as doações ao portal desde que ele foi detido em Londres.

"Agora sabemos que Visa, Mastercard e PayPal são instrumentos da política externa dos Estados Unidos. É algo que ignorávamos", afirmou Assange por meio de um comunicado.


Michael Francis Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American filmmaker, author and liberal political commentator. He is the director and producer of Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11, Sicko, and Capitalism: A Love Story, four of the top nine highest-grossing documentaries of all time. In September 2008, he released his first free movie on the Internet, Slacker Uprising, documenting his personal crusade to encourage more Americans to vote in presidential elections. He has also written and starred in the TV shows TV Nation and The Awful Truth.


Moore criticizes globalization, large corporations, assault weapon ownership, the Iraq War, U.S. President George W. Bush and the American health care system in his written and cinematic works.

Early life
Moore was born in Flint, Michigan and raised in Davison, a suburb of Flint, by parents Veronica (née Wall), a secretary, and Frank Moore, an automotive assembly-line worker. At that time, the city of Flint was home to many General Motors factories, where his parents and grandfather worked. His uncle LaVerne was one of the founders of the United Automobile Workers labor union and participated in the Flint Sit-Down Strike. Moore has described his parents as "Irish Catholic Democrats, basic liberal good people."

Moore was brought up Roman Catholic, attended parochial St. John's Elementary School for primary school and originally intended to join the seminary. He then attended Davison High School, where he was active in both drama and debate, graduating in 1972. As a member of the Boy Scouts of America, he achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. At the age of 18, he was elected to the Davison school board.

Career
After dropping out of the University of Michigan-Flint following his freshman year (where he wrote for the student newspaper The Michigan Times), Moore worked at the local Buick plant.[17] At 22 he founded the alternative weekly magazine The Flint Voice, which soon changed its name to The Michigan Voice as it expanded to cover the entire state. In 1986, when Moore became the editor of Mother Jones, a liberal political magazine, he moved to California and The Michigan Voice was shut down.

After four months at Mother Jones, Moore was fired. Matt Labash of The Weekly Standard reported this was for refusing to print an article by Paul Berman that was critical of the Sandinista human rights record in Nicaragua. Moore refused to run the article, believing it to be inaccurate. "The article was flatly wrong and the worst kind of patronizing bullshit. You would scarcely know from it that the United States had been at war with Nicaragua for the last five years." Berman described Moore as a "very ideological guy and not a very well-educated guy" when asked about the incident. Moore believes that Mother Jones fired him because of the publisher's refusal to allow him to cover a story on the GM plant closings in his hometown of Flint, Michigan. He responded by putting laid-off GM worker Ben Hamper (who was also writing for the same magazine at the time) on the magazine's cover, leading to his termination. Moore sued for wrongful dismissal, and settled out of court for $58,000, providing him with seed money for his first film, Roger & Me.

Political views
Though Moore rejects the label "political activist", he has been active in promoting his political views. According to John Flesher of the Associated Press, Moore is known for his "fiery left-wing populism," and some have hailed him as the "new Tom Paine."

Moore was a high-profile guest at both the 2004 Democratic National Convention and the 2004 Republican National Convention, chronicling his impressions in USA Today. He was criticized in a speech by Republican Senator John McCain as "a disingenuous film-maker." Moore laughed and waved as Republican attendees jeered, later chanting "four more years." Moore gestured his thumb and finger at the crowd, which translates into "loser."

During September and October 2004, Moore spoke at universities and colleges in swing states during his "Slacker Uprising Tour". The tour gave away ramen and underwear to young people who promised to vote. This provoked public denunciations from the Michigan Republican Party and attempts to convince the government that Moore should be arrested for buying votes, but since Moore did not tell the "slackers" involved for whom to vote, just to vote, district attorneys refused to get involved. Quite possibly the most controversial stop during the tour was Utah Valley State College in Orem, Utah. A fight for his right to speak ensued and resulted in massive public debates and a media blitz. Death threats, bribes and lawsuits followed. The event was chronicled in the documentary film This Divided State.

Despite having supported Ralph Nader in 2000, Moore urged Nader not to run in the 2004 election so as not to split the left vote. On Real Time with Bill Maher, Moore and Maher knelt before Nader to plead with him to stay out of the race. In June 2004, Moore stated that he is not a member of the Democratic party. Although Moore endorsed General Wesley Clark for the Democratic nomination on January 14, Clark withdrew from the primary race on February 11.

Moore drew attention when charging publicly that Bush was AWOL during his service in the National Guard, describing Bush as "The Deserter" (see George W. Bush military service controversy).

On April 21, 2008, Moore endorsed Barack Obama for President, stating that Hillary Clinton's recent actions had been "disgusting."

Personal life
Since 1990, Moore has been married to producer Kathleen Glynn, with whom he has a stepdaughter named Natalie. They live in Traverse City, Michigan.

Moore is a Catholic, but has said he disagrees with church teaching on subjects such as abortion and same-sex marriage.

In 2005 Time magazine named him one of the world's 100 most influential people. Also in 2005, Moore started the annual Traverse City Film Festival in Traverse City, Michigan.



                


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