An Unexpected "Three-fer," Michael Moore, Gloria Steinem and Anti-Flag!
Michael Moore came to the Sundome at the University of South Florida this past Sunday, one of his first stops for his "Slacker Uprising Tour," his speaking engagements happening in cities nationwide. He is working specifically on getting out the importance of the vote and to spread awareness that this time and this election, "the stakes are high!" and that everyone that CAN vote, SHOULD vote. Michael asked for the slackers of the world, the ones who sleep until noon, drink beer and do not care--to come up to the stage, register to vote and receive a free package of Ramen Noodles, the high energy food for slackers everywhere! All this was timed with the release today of "Farenheit 911," the DVD and Michael Moore's new book which is a compilation of emails written to Michael Moore from the soldiers in Iraq. It is titled "Will They Ever Trust Us Again? Letters from the Warzone to Michael Moore."In addition, Michael Moore had some strong words to those who are attempting to debunk the rumours of a Military Draft coming up. He mentioned that more troops noted by Kerry, who had appeared at the same venue the day before, does not necessarily mean an escalation of war. But about the Military Draft, he said, "Do the math! There is no way that this war can be fought without more troops." He cautioned all young people that are between the ages of 18 and 26 or those that had children between those ages--with four more years of Bush in the White House, there WOULD be a Draft, and that in all reality, a draft exists even now, even though it is not called a Draft. With the "Back-door Draft" that requires mandatory duty at the front lines by reservists, even when enlisted time agreed on is served and completed, and the poverty and education drafts that Gloria Steinem mentioned later when she took the stage, the reality of the Military Draft is even more frightning. According to Moore, the Draft Boards in metro areas are already in place. Right now, the military is made up of those that are poor, want a college education and cannot afford it and those single and young married people that cannot find employment on the economy. Tuition has gone up 30% and the US per capita income has gone down 15%. The numbers make any steady job look really attractive and inviting to those that do not have much.
Michael covered all kinds of topics from the US government putting the Saudi Arabians' needs before US citizens when making decisions, the Chickenhawks' plan for a New American Century, the Kerry/Bush debate, Nader's decision to run for the Presidency, the REAL issues that affect all Americans and how those who will be voting for Kerry are in the majority. He reassured the audience that most Americans do not want assault weapons on the street, most need and want good Healthcare, want stronger Environmental policies, and the women want to be paid the same amount of money as men. He noted that our job for the next month is to make sure that we take people to the polls to vote and that it was the right thing to do. To the 50% that normally do not vote, they need to vote in this election. He noted that 65% of the people in America are either single mothers or people of color, the most disenfranchised groups of people and their votes count.
He also reported on a few gaffs made by the mainstream media, to include no information or story about the plane used to fly the bin Ladin family out of the country. It's tail number was researched by a Washington Post reporter and it was identified as the White House's press junket plane. Also, his vision of the future includes a female president for 2008 and he made a point of stating that she will not be a Republican. Michael reaffirmed that it was his duty to be a whistleblower when it came to the corporate media and their lack of coverage on certain issues and stories. He is going to make sure that they do their jobs. He said the easiest way to make him go away would be for the media to do their research properly and report the truth.
It was an "unexpected three-fer" as 70 year old, Gloria Steinem, the Mother of Feminism in America, a surprise guest and the punk rock group Anti-Flag, both working with http://www.PunkVoter.com joined Michael onstage. Gloria had some words to say about the status of Women's Rights, taking our country back, the importance of getting out the vote (in Florida, 3 million women did not vote in the last election), the war and other issues. She told a story about where she was the morning after Election Day 2000, at a speaking engagement in Palm Beach County Community College in Florida addressing a crowd of about 700 women. Some of the women at that event stood up and told her their stories of difficulties while attempting to vote the day before. Before they were done, Gloria had counted about 110 women out of the room of 700 whose votes were either not counted, were scared away from the polls, they had received wrong information about where and how to vote, or they had not been able to vote on the candidate of their choice. "That is how corrupt the system was," Gloria remembered. She also stated when asked about reproductive freedom, "Well, who supports reproductive freedom? Your rights have to do with who is making the decision, the government or you? Also, who has the POWER to make that decision?" She also stated that our government and its leaders being as right wing as they are has made her think that, "the fundamentalists in our government have become our Taliban and our Mujahadeen." Gloria also praised the work Anti-Flag was doing, thanked Michael Moore and said she agreed with everything he said and that does not happen often, when one agrees with another so completely. "Music is the way we can go to the public without passing through the media," she stated. Anti-Flag stirred everyone up with a rousing rendition of Woody Guthrie's song, "This Land is Your Land." Anti-Flag also did a show at Masquerade in Tampa on Sunday night with other bands that are also involved with http://www.punkvoter.com.
See a pic of the Sundome here:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/blog/2004/10/clock-to-november-2nd-keeps-on-tickin.php
Be sure to check Michael Moore's website for his latest appearances (there might be a few near you!) and take a few peeks at his Blog from the Road!
http://www.michaelmoore.com
http://www.punkvoter.com/
http://www.nwhp.org/tlp/biographies/steinem/steinem_bio.html
posted by Zalala @ 10/05/2004 07:30:00 PM
0 comments
