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Bruce

While it is true that it appears that the court case has essentially been settled, the investment by The Carlyle Group tells me otherwise.

The Carlyle Group is very well connected and has an absurd amount of money.

Maybe you remember from Fahrenheit 9/11 that the Carlyle Group is connected to President Bush and the Saudi Royal family.

This isn't some stupid individual throwing away $100 million, this is a successful front company that injects cash into businesses it supports for reasons that might not be financial.

It you watch ["Bowling For Columbine"], weather you agree with it or not, it's final premis is that the culture of fear and violence perpetrated by our foreign policy and the mass-media that supports it, that seems to cause the staggering amount of gun deaths in the US...not guns.

Agreed. Also, of note, the number one documentary of all time is not Michael Moore's "Bowling For Columbine". The number one documentary of all time is Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11". Soon the Penguins will be number two. One only has to wait for Sicko and the sequel, Fahrenheit 9/11 1/2, to see who emerges as the true number two.

Which approach is better?

I can remember first reading about this fusion concept in the "the two faces of tomorrow" from Dark Horse comics. At the time I thought this was just some ancient sci-fi writer's relic idea on how to achieve fusion, we had tokamak (donut) magnetic fusion reactors now. However, after I read about the real life version of it, I first thought WOW and after that I realized that it might be much simpler to ignite a fusion reaction and then back off to let it run wild than to try to contain a fusion reaction in a magnetic bubble. The concept sounds simpler. They're having trouble with manufacturing the hydrogen pellet however, so the tokamak reactor might have a steadier flow of energy coming out of it if they get the concept to work smoothly.

old-energy corporations

Oil, gas and coal companies might not want this to work. I remember the piece in Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 911" about the corporate spy who told his own story. I think he came clean out of guilt over what he'd done in the past. Point I'm trying to make is, there might be a lot of opposition to this project and I hope that they have a lot of security on site. They probably have because this is mostly a military project.

The need for fusion

I do think earth will eventually need fusion reactors, at least the USA needs it. Earth can source it's current level of energy consumption from wind, wave and solar plants if we clad most of the planet with these kind of renewables but it would not be as efficient as a lot of fusion plants. The giant solar tower in Australia and the Sterling motor solar plants look promising but fusion reactors would need less room. A lot of countries just don't have the living space to fill with low producing plants like solar and wind farms. That's what I understand from reading a lot of articles. Fusion would also work on a windless cloudy day and a world filled with fusion reactors would give us a lot more energy to play with than a world filled with other kinds of plants. With oil supplies running out, there will be more wars. To think that politicians ares still fighting over where the ITER tokamak fusion reactor prototype is going to be built (Japan or France) is unbelievable. Every hour they waste could mean a human life they could have saved by preventing an energy war. The bastards responsible should be jailed.

Ridicule of sci-fi

The "The Two Faces of Tomorrow" comic made me realize that we need more science-fiction in our lives. It's weird that sci-fi isn't more popular because it can help us think up solutions to problems that absolutely need to be solved. Humankind would be dead meat if science stopped completely this second. Most people would die without even an animal skin or a house to protect themselves from weather. Fusion is just the continuation of the process that gave us bear skins.

I think it can be explained psychologically. If you don't have knowledge of something like science, it's a good tactic for you personally to ridicule it. That way you can still keep some of your social status because the thing you don't know about is "not important anyway". I hear there are a lot of attacks on science in the USA, are these attackers also renouncing clothes? Ofcourse this phenomenon is everywhere but why is it so big in the US? Not as smart? More fundamentalist? Both? I want every smart person on earth to realize that they are more in the right than fundamentalists who oppose science or stupid people with more determination to make themselves heard. Don't cower, ridicule THEM instead.

Well... it will continue to grow quite as is for a few more years... Until all pda's and cell phones are internet ready (without wifi hotspots)...

Then we are going to see in our more globally minded futures as information becomes centralized into a few trusted? areas.

While it will still be used for entertainment.

But I do believe that a globalization and releasing of files online will continue to grow with my bandwidth ;-)

Remember slashdot kids, if it's on TV on in your local movie theater, it's got to be true, right? Honestly, I think most people here just tow the slashdot-party line, if you take my meaning. It's just popular to bash Fox News, because, heaven forbid, they might have intelligently voiced conservative viewpoints along with the intelligently voiced liberal viewpoints IN THE SAME SHOW!

This was very evident with Fahrenheit 9/11. There were few middle-of-the road reactions to it... Never heard anything about the acting, the cinematography, etc, etc, it was always about the message.
* While, yes, opinions were very much 'love' or 'hate', I certainly read and heard a lot of opinion on it as a film, how it was very entertaining, funny, much better than I thought it would be etc. etc. There wasn't anything about the acting, well, because there wasn't any! There was plenty about the editing... in fact almost too much in reviews about how Moore is a skilled editor.

Well this tells me that people aren't actually commenting on the movie itself, but the politics behind it. Those who's politics agree with the movie, love it because it agrees with them and people like being told they are right. Those who's politics disagree, hate it because they see it as being a wrong and a lie.
* There was a lot of that I'm sure, but if you believe testiments and articles posted on Moore's site (which of course you have to take with a grain of salt, but hey, I like the guy and he does back it up with articles from the media), then there were also many, many who were turned. (Some positive press that he's collected is here)

I imagine this is similar. The grandparent is lying, or deciving himself that he set aside his politics. The move has some message, either stated or implied, real or fictitious, that he just hates and doesn't agree with. That ruins it for him.
* Which is a little odd, as from the trailer I don't get any really strong political message either way, it just seems to be open slather.

Of course people don't usually want to admit to that, so it's gets caged in stuff like this. It's just like how most of the extreme liberals and conservatives I know declare themselves to be moderates. People don't like admitting their views are extreme.
* Oh I do agree, and the lack of outcry over make gay marriages illegal both in the States and here in Aus recently shows that too many people are.

You right-wing assholes should be in prison for your vile distortions

Yeah, because there sure isn't anyone who would distort truth by taking things out of context for the left-leaning people of the United States, is there?

(Don't flame me as a republican OR a democrat. I'm standing square in the most sought after crowd - the undecided moderates.)

PBS should respond to this inter-fear-ence by the neo-conservative moral minority by broadcasting Fahrenheit 9/11 before the election.

Do you think writing, producing, or directing a film gives someone the copyright? They do if you paid for the movie yourself, or others gave you money for the film with no strings attached, but generally that is not the case. The only major filmmaker who owns his own work's copyright is Lucas. Even he doesn't own it directly, IIRC. For liability reasons, even small independent filmmakers work through a production company, and they own the copyrights. The grandparent poster is incorrect in saying the Weinsteins own the film - Miramax does.

From Moore's own site: © WESTSIDE PRODUCTIONS, LLC 2004 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

The trailers don't say the copyright, but they do say "A DOG EAT DOG FILMS PRODUCTION".

To the other poster who said that Lions Gate Films says it's ok to download, keep in mind that while LGF is the worldwide distributor, other companies have distribution in certain countries, and they might be pissed that Moore is saying "go download it".

Well I guess its time for us canadians to start building bomb shelters. It'll be soon after the next fixed election that we'll be getting attacked. I hope that it doesn't happen but after watching f911 I can't help but imagine what the US is capable of. Its really really scarey. *shudder*

And let's not forget the more important movie: Fahrenheit 9/11 opens tomorrow, skewering all the Bush lies with a +10 Vorpal sword!