[Fwd: Fw: It's Time to Stop Being Hit... a letter from Michael Moore]

[Guest guest]

Here is an interesting forward from a friend who seems to be on Michael

Moore's email list.

 

Bert

 

-------

Fw: It's Time to Stop Being Hit... a letter from Michael Moore

Tue, 14 Dec 2004 18:44:35 -0800

 

Bert Fannin <bwfannin

 

 

 

-

** Michael Moore <maillist

*To:*

*Sent:* Monday, December 13, 2004 1:48 AM

*Subject:* It's Time to Stop Being Hit... a letter from Michael Moore

 

12/13/04

 

Dear Friends,

 

It is no surprise that the Republicans are sore winners. They have spent

the better part of the past month beating their chests, threatening to

send to Siberia any Republican who doesn’t toe the line (poor Arlen

Specter), and promising everything short of martial law if the Democrats

don’t do what they are told.

 

What’s worse is to watch the pathetic sight of the DLC (the

conservative, pro-corporate group of Democrats) apologizing for being

Democrats and promising to “purge†the party of the likes of, well, all

of US! Their comments are so hilarious and really not even worth

recognizing but the media is paying so much attention to them, I thought

it might be worth doing a little reality check.

 

The most people the DLC is able to get out to an event of theirs is

about 200 at their annual dinner (where you have to pay thousands of

dollars to get in).

 

Contrast this with the following:

 

* Total Members of Move On: More than 2,000,000

* Total Attendance at Vote for Change Concerts: An estimated 280,000

* Total Union Members in U.S.: Around 16,000,000

* Total Number of People Who Have Seen “Fahrenheit 9/11â€: Over 50 million

* Total Number of You Reading This: Perhaps 10 million or more

 

The days of trying to move the Democratic Party to the right are over.

We lost a very close election (a one-state difference) by running the #1

liberal in the Senate. Not bad. The country is shifting in our

direction, not to the right. But the country was attacked and people

were scared. They were manipulated with fear. And America has never

thrown a sitting president out during wartime. That’s the facts. Oh, and

our candidate could have run a better campaign (but we’ll have that

discussion another day).

 

In the meantime, while we reflect on what went wrong, I would like to

pass on to you an essay that a friend who works with abuse victims sent

to me. It was written by a woman who has spent years working as an

advocate for victims of domestic abuse and she sees many parallels

between her work and the reaction of many Democrats to last month’s

election. Her name is Mel Giles and here is what she had to say…

 

Watch Dan Rather apologize for not getting his facts straight,

humiliated before the eyes of America, voluntarily undermining his

credibility and career of over thirty years. Observe Donna Brazille

squirm as she is ridiculed by Bay Buchanan, and pronounced

irrelevant and nearly non-existent. Listen as Donna and Nancy Pelosi

and Senator Charles Schumer take to the airwaves saying that they

have to go back to the drawing board and learn from their mistakes

and try to be better, more likable, more appealing, have a stronger

message, speak to morality. Watch them awkwardly quote the bible,

trying to speak the ‘new’ language of America. Surf the blogs, and

read the comments of dismayed, discombobulated, confused individuals

trying to figure out what they did wrong. Hear the cacophony of

voices, crying out, " Why did they beat me? "

 

And then ask anyone who has ever worked in a domestic violence

shelter if they have heard this before.

 

They will tell you: Every single day.

 

The answer is quite simple. They beat us because they are abusers.

We can call it hate. We can call it fear. We can say it is unfair.

But we are looped into the cycle of violence, and we need to start

calling the dominating side what they are: abusive. And we need to

recognize that we are the victims of verbal, mental, and even, in

the case of Iraq, physical violence.

 

As victims we can't stop asking ourselves what we did wrong. We

can't seem to grasp that they will keep hitting us and beating us as

long as we keep sticking around and asking ourselves what we are

doing to deserve the beating.

 

Listen to George Bush say that the will of God excuses his behavior.

Listen, as he refuses to take responsibility, or express remorse, or

even once, admit a mistake. Watch him strut, and tell us that he

will only work with those who agree with him, and that each of us is

only allowed one question (soon, it will be none at all; abusers hit

hard when questioned; the press corps can tell you that). See him

surround himself with only those who pledge oaths of allegiance.

Hear him tell us that if we will only listen and do as he says and

agree with his every utterance, all will go well for us (it won't;

we will never be worthy).

 

And watch the Democratic Party leadership walk on eggshells, try to

meet him, please him, wash the windows better, get out that spot,

distance themselves from gays and civil rights. See the Democrats

cry for the attention and affection and approval of the President

and his followers. Watch us squirm. Watch us descend into a world of

crazy-making, where logic does not work and the other side tells us

we are nuts when we rely on facts. A world where, worst of all, we

begin to believe we are crazy.

 

How to break free? Again, the answer is quite simple.

 

First, you must admit you are a victim. Then, you must declare the

state of affairs unacceptable. Next, you must promise to protect

yourself and everyone around you that is being victimized. You don't

do this by responding to their demands, or becoming more like them,

or engaging in logical conversation, or trying to persuade them that

you are right. You also don't do this by going catatonic and

resigned, by closing up your ears and eyes and covering your head

and submitting to the blows, figuring its over faster and hurts less

if you don't resist and fight back.

 

Instead, you walk away. You find other folks like yourself, 57

million of them, who are hurting, broken, and beating themselves up.

You tell them what you've learned, and that you aren't going to take

it anymore. You stand tall, with 57 million people at your side and

behind you, and you look right into the eyes of the abuser and you

tell him to go to hell. Then you walk out the door, taking the kids

and gays and minorities with you, and you start a new life. The new

life is hard. But it's better than the abuse.

 

We have a mandate to be as radical and liberal and steadfast as we

need to be. The progressive beliefs and social justice we stand for,

our core, must not be altered. We are 57 million strong. We are

building from the bottom up. We are meeting, on the net, in church

basements, at work, in small groups, and right now, we are crying,

because we are trying to break free and we don't know how.

 

Any battered woman in America, any oppressed person around the globe

who has defied her oppressor will tell you this: There is nothing

wrong with you. You are in good company. You are safe. You are not

alone. You are strong. You must change only one thing: Stop

responding to the abuser.

 

Don't let him dictate the terms or frame the debate (he'll win, not

because he's right, but because force works). Sure, we can build a

better grassroots campaign, cultivate and raise up better leaders,

reform the election system to make it fail-proof, stick to our

message, learn from the strategy of the other side. But we

absolutely must dispense with the notion that we are weak, godless,

cowardly, disorganized, crazy, too liberal, naive, amoral, " loose,â€

irrelevant, outmoded, stupid and soon to be extinct. We have the

mandate of the world to back us, and the legacy of oppressed people

throughout history.

 

Even if you do everything right, they'll hit you anyway. Look at the

poor souls who voted for this nonsense. They are working for six

dollars an hour if they are working at all, their children are dying

overseas and suffering from lack of health care and a depleted

environment and a shoddy education.

 

And they don't even know they are being hit.

 

How true. And that is our challenge over the next couple of years; to

hold out our hand to those being hit the hardest and help them leave

behind a party that only seeks to keep beating them, their children, and

the kid next door who’s on his way to Iraq.

 

Yours,

 

Michael Moore

www.michaelmoore.com <http://www.michaelmoore.com/>

MMFlint <MMFlint

 

P.S. There are only a few hours left if you want to vote for “Fahrenheit

9/11†in the People’s Choice Awards (online voting is cut off at 3pm

Eastern Time today). Go to http://www.pcavote.com/voting/film/f01.shtml

to vote.

 

 

 

You have received this email because you are d to Michael

Moore's email list at www.michaelmoore.com.

 

To prevent mailbox filters from deleting mailings from Michael Moore,

add maillist to your address book.

 

To remove yourself from this mailing, please click here

<http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M66435046274415310428065>

[Guest guest]

Hey Bert,

 

You're a gifted astrologer, so from now on please spare us all the political

claptrap of Michael Moore

 

Your Michael Moore posting seems to be just perfect for the political_astrology

group at . A which appears to have little patience for actual

astrology these days

 

If I appear unfair, please tell us how this excerpted rumination from that

political ruminant, Michael Moore, relates to astrology ??????

 

 

P.S. & Mea Culpa

 

In a recent message I contributed a Non-astrology piece on the Ohio & Florida

election abuse reports and the obvious cover-up by the major media.

 

I was evidently presumptuous enough to assume that many Group members would see

this as another way to connect back to horoscopic interpretation of the

Presidency itself. What was botched in the delivery was the intention to present

a current event whose impact is in line with my re-iterated rationale that the

REAL ELECTION DAY for the President is the Electoral College's on December 13TH.

Notwithstanding that most astrologers appear to have gone to sleep after Nov

2nd, Ignorance of the constitution is to be lamented, not excused.

 

The astrology of the Presidency and 13th of December ought to tell us alot more

about what's really going on with the election of the President as well as the

next four years than we can ever hope to learn from that fake revolutionary,

Michael Moore.

 

Give me real revolution, Bert....Do what you clearly do best .....ASTROLOGY

!!!!!!!

 

Regards,

 

John

 

 

 

 

 

Bert Fannin <bwfannin wrote:

Here is an interesting forward from a friend who seems to be on Michael

Moore's email list.

 

Bert

 

-------

Fw: It's Time to Stop Being Hit... a letter from Michael Moore

Tue, 14 Dec 2004 18:44:35 -0800

 

Bert Fannin <bwfannin

 

 

 

-

** Michael Moore <maillist

*To:*

*Sent:* Monday, December 13, 2004 1:48 AM

*Subject:* It's Time to Stop Being Hit... a letter from Michael Moore

 

12/13/04

 

Dear Friends,

 

It is no surprise that the Republicans are sore winners. They have spent

the better part of the past month beating their chests, threatening to

send to Siberia any Republican who doesn’t toe the line (poor Arlen

Specter), and promising everything short of martial law if the Democrats

don’t do what they are told.

 

What’s worse is to watch the pathetic sight of the DLC (the

conservative, pro-corporate group of Democrats) apologizing for being

Democrats and promising to “purge†the party of the likes of, well, all

of US! Their comments are so hilarious and really not even worth

recognizing but the media is paying so much attention to them, I thought

it might be worth doing a little reality check.

 

The most people the DLC is able to get out to an event of theirs is

about 200 at their annual dinner (where you have to pay thousands of

dollars to get in).

 

Contrast this with the following:

 

* Total Members of Move On: More than 2,000,000

* Total Attendance at Vote for Change Concerts: An estimated 280,000

* Total Union Members in U.S.: Around 16,000,000

* Total Number of People Who Have Seen “Fahrenheit 9/11â€: Over 50 million

* Total Number of You Reading This: Perhaps 10 million or more

 

The days of trying to move the Democratic Party to the right are over.

We lost a very close election (a one-state difference) by running the #1

liberal in the Senate. Not bad. The country is shifting in our

direction, not to the right. But the country was attacked and people

were scared. They were manipulated with fear. And America has never

thrown a sitting president out during wartime. That’s the facts. Oh, and

our candidate could have run a better campaign (but we’ll have that

discussion another day).

 

In the meantime, while we reflect on what went wrong, I would like to

pass on to you an essay that a friend who works with abuse victims sent

to me. It was written by a woman who has spent years working as an

advocate for victims of domestic abuse and she sees many parallels

between her work and the reaction of many Democrats to last month’s

election. Her name is Mel Giles and here is what she had to say…

 

Watch Dan Rather apologize for not getting his facts straight,

humiliated before the eyes of America, voluntarily undermining his

credibility and career of over thirty years. Observe Donna Brazille

squirm as she is ridiculed by Bay Buchanan, and pronounced

irrelevant and nearly non-existent. Listen as Donna and Nancy Pelosi

and Senator Charles Schumer take to the airwaves saying that they

have to go back to the drawing board and learn from their mistakes

and try to be better, more likable, more appealing, have a stronger

message, speak to morality. Watch them awkwardly quote the bible,

trying to speak the ‘new’ language of America. Surf the blogs, and

read the comments of dismayed, discombobulated, confused individuals

trying to figure out what they did wrong. Hear the cacophony of

voices, crying out, " Why did they beat me? "

 

And then ask anyone who has ever worked in a domestic violence

shelter if they have heard this before.

 

They will tell you: Every single day.

 

The answer is quite simple. They beat us because they are abusers.

We can call it hate. We can call it fear. We can say it is unfair.

But we are looped into the cycle of violence, and we need to start

calling the dominating side what they are: abusive. And we need to

recognize that we are the victims of verbal, mental, and even, in

the case of Iraq, physical violence.

 

As victims we can't stop asking ourselves what we did wrong. We

can't seem to grasp that they will keep hitting us and beating us as

long as we keep sticking around and asking ourselves what we are

doing to deserve the beating.

 

Listen to George Bush say that the will of God excuses his behavior.

Listen, as he refuses to take responsibility, or express remorse, or

even once, admit a mistake. Watch him strut, and tell us that he

will only work with those who agree with him, and that each of us is

only allowed one question (soon, it will be none at all; abusers hit

hard when questioned; the press corps can tell you that). See him

surround himself with only those who pledge oaths of allegiance.

Hear him tell us that if we will only listen and do as he says and

agree with his every utterance, all will go well for us (it won't;

we will never be worthy).

 

And watch the Democratic Party leadership walk on eggshells, try to

meet him, please him, wash the windows better, get out that spot,

distance themselves from gays and civil rights. See the Democrats

cry for the attention and affection and approval of the President

and his followers. Watch us squirm. Watch us descend into a world of

crazy-making, where logic does not work and the other side tells us

we are nuts when we rely on facts. A world where, worst of all, we

begin to believe we are crazy.

 

How to break free? Again, the answer is quite simple.

 

First, you must admit you are a victim. Then, you must declare the

state of affairs unacceptable. Next, you must promise to protect

yourself and everyone around you that is being victimized. You don't

do this by responding to their demands, or becoming more like them,

or engaging in logical conversation, or trying to persuade them that

you are right. You also don't do this by going catatonic and

resigned, by closing up your ears and eyes and covering your head

and submitting to the blows, figuring its over faster and hurts less

if you don't resist and fight back.

 

Instead, you walk away. You find other folks like yourself, 57

million of them, who are hurting, broken, and beating themselves up.

You tell them what you've learned, and that you aren't going to take

it anymore. You stand tall, with 57 million people at your side and

behind you, and you look right into the eyes of the abuser and you

tell him to go to hell. Then you walk out the door, taking the kids

and gays and minorities with you, and you start a new life. The new

life is hard. But it's better than the abuse.

 

We have a mandate to be as radical and liberal and steadfast as we

need to be. The progressive beliefs and social justice we stand for,

our core, must not be altered. We are 57 million strong. We are

building from the bottom up. We are meeting, on the net, in church

basements, at work, in small groups, and right now, we are crying,

because we are trying to break free and we don't know how.

 

Any battered woman in America, any oppressed person around the globe

who has defied her oppressor will tell you this: There is nothing

wrong with you. You are in good company. You are safe. You are not

alone. You are strong. You must change only one thing: Stop

responding to the abuser.

 

Don't let him dictate the terms or frame the debate (he'll win, not

because he's right, but because force works). Sure, we can build a

better grassroots campaign, cultivate and raise up better leaders,

reform the election system to make it fail-proof, stick to our

message, learn from the strategy of the other side. But we

absolutely must dispense with the notion that we are weak, godless,

cowardly, disorganized, crazy, too liberal, naive, amoral, " loose,â€

irrelevant, outmoded, stupid and soon to be extinct. We have the

mandate of the world to back us, and the legacy of oppressed people

throughout history.

 

Even if you do everything right, they'll hit you anyway. Look at the

poor souls who voted for this nonsense. They are working for six

dollars an hour if they are working at all, their children are dying

overseas and suffering from lack of health care and a depleted

environment and a shoddy education.

 

And they don't even know they are being hit.

 

How true. And that is our challenge over the next couple of years; to

hold out our hand to those being hit the hardest and help them leave

behind a party that only seeks to keep beating them, their children, and

the kid next door who’s on his way to Iraq.

 

Yours,

 

Michael Moore

www.michaelmoore.com <http://www.michaelmoore.com/>

MMFlint <MMFlint

 

P.S. There are only a few hours left if you want to vote for “Fahrenheit

9/11†in the People’s Choice Awards (online voting is cut off at 3pm

Eastern Time today). Go to http://www.pcavote.com/voting/film/f01.shtml

to vote.

 

 

 

You have received this email because you are d to Michael

Moore's email list at www.michaelmoore.com.

 

To prevent mailbox filters from deleting mailings from Michael Moore,

add maillist to your address book.

 

To remove yourself from this mailing, please click here

<http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?ID=M66435046274415310428065>

 

 

" How can Pluto be in Sagittarius when it's so close to Antares? " -----

 

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[Guest guest]

John TWB wrote:

 

>Hey Bert,

>

>You're a gifted astrologer, so from now on please spare us all the political

claptrap of Michael Moore

>

>Your Michael Moore posting seems to be just perfect for the political_astrology

group at . A which appears to have little patience for actual

astrology these days

>

>If I appear unfair, please tell us how this excerpted rumination from that

political ruminant, Michael Moore, relates to astrology ??????

>

>

>P.S. & Mea Culpa

>

>In a recent message I contributed a Non-astrology piece on the Ohio & Florida

election abuse reports and the obvious cover-up by the major media.

>

>I was evidently presumptuous enough to assume that many Group members would see

this as another way to connect back to horoscopic interpretation of the

Presidency itself. What was botched in the delivery was the intention to present

a current event whose impact is in line with my re-iterated rationale that the

REAL ELECTION DAY for the President is the Electoral College's on December 13TH.

Notwithstanding that most astrologers appear to have gone to sleep after Nov

2nd, Ignorance of the constitution is to be lamented, not excused.

>

>The astrology of the Presidency and 13th of December ought to tell us alot more

about what's really going on with the election of the President as well as the

next four years than we can ever hope to learn from that fake revolutionary,

Michael Moore.

>

>Give me real revolution, Bert....Do what you clearly do best .....ASTROLOGY

!!!!!!!

>

>Regards,

>

>John

>

>

>

--\

------

 

Ok, I'll stop posting.

 

 

Bert Fannin

[Guest guest]

John TWB wrote:

 

>Hey Bert,

>

>You're a gifted astrologer, so from now on please spare us all the political

claptrap of Michael Moore

>

>Your Michael Moore posting seems to be just perfect for the political_astrology

group at . A which appears to have little patience for actual

astrology these days

>

>If I appear unfair, please tell us how this excerpted rumination from that

political ruminant, Michael Moore, relates to astrology ??????

>

>

>P.S. & Mea Culpa

>

>In a recent message I contributed a Non-astrology piece on the Ohio & Florida

election abuse reports and the obvious cover-up by the major media.

>

>I was evidently presumptuous enough to assume that many Group members would see

this as another way to connect back to horoscopic interpretation of the

Presidency itself. What was botched in the delivery was the intention to present

a current event whose impact is in line with my re-iterated rationale that the

REAL ELECTION DAY for the President is the Electoral College's on December 13TH.

Notwithstanding that most astrologers appear to have gone to sleep after Nov

2nd, Ignorance of the constitution is to be lamented, not excused.

>

>The astrology of the Presidency and 13th of December ought to tell us alot more

about what's really going on with the election of the President as well as the

next four years than we can ever hope to learn from that fake revolutionary,

Michael Moore.

>

>Give me real revolution, Bert....Do what you clearly do best .....ASTROLOGY

!!!!!!!

>

>Regards,

>

>John

>

>

>

>

--\

-----------------------

 

Ok, I'll stop posting.

 

Bert Fannin