"We are not going to tolerate anyone trying to smear this film or the things that we're trying to say," the US filmmaker told ABC's "This Week."

[. . .]

Moore senses a conservative backlash and threatened to haul into court anyone who libels him.

"Listen, the right wing -- you got to give them credit -- they are incredible at organizing and attacking.

"And our side of the political fence, for way too many years, has just kind of rolled over and played dead. I'm someone on the liberal, left side of the fence who doesn't do that, and I'm not going to do that," he said. He plans to set up a "war room" of politicos on the ready to answer any attack. [AFP]

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Dear President Bush:

It is necessary to point out, if only for the record, that your inaction to retaliate for the beheading of Nick Berg last month, has only emboldened terrorists to expand their range of operations from Iraq to Saudi Arabia, and to proceed to behead Americans and Westerners there, as well, combining those actions with murderous rampages. Yesterday, it was Paul M. Johnson, Jr.’s videotaped murder that was thrown back in our faces. Next week or next month it will be another American’s.

Briefly, the terrorists have taken your measure, and have concluded that your actions do not match your words. You call them “killers.” They already know they are, and do not mind being called killers. They are obeying the Koran, and killing for God, expecting to be rewarded in an afterlife. You profess that Islam is a “peaceful” religion. The terrorists know it is not. To the killers who wish to conquer the West, including America, you are a gullible infidel, a paper Crusader, worthy of contempt, all stance and no substance. Your willingness, for instance, to order our military to negotiate a “ceasefire” in Fallujah with armed gangs of killers, proves it. And encourages them.

Is it any wonder they think they can get away with murder?

May I ask what happened to the “axis of evil”? The WMD that the 9/11 commission is claiming did not exist, were secreted to underground bunkers in Syria. Pakistan, an alleged ally, is selling nuclear weapons technology to Iran, which is developing those weapons. China is also selling weapons technology to Iran, as well as to Zimbabwe, and building up its military to oppose the U.S. over Taiwan and the Pacific Rim. Yet, you do not even contradict the commission, which is accusing you of arbitrarily making war on Iraq for specious reasons, when Saddam’s intelligence and military organization was hosting Al-Qaida operatives connected to the 9/11 attacks.

Finally, you insist on keeping on schedule to hand over the reins of government on June 30th to a motley and “diversified” crew of religious firebrands and conformists, and expect it to stay in power, when their own police cannot protect themselves from attack. It beggars one’s imagination to think of what you consider to be “realistic.” Whatever it is, cannot, by your actions, be tied to the reality of the Islamafascist campaign against us.

One must also conclude that we have lost the war being waged against the West, because you will not fight it as it ought to be fought, as ruthlessly and uncompromisingly as we imposed governments on defeated Germany and Japan, and ordered our military to root out and exterminate the terrorists remnants of their fallen regimes.

If the situation in the Mideast seems an insoluble, no-win “quagmire,” you have only yourself to blame. Your “good intentions” are paving the way to more hell in America. The killers will be back; your policies have practically invited them to strike again.

You are not acting as a commander-in-chief should, but rather as a compromiser-in-chief. Your policies are guaranteeing our defeat.

Edward Cline

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WATERBURY, Conn. - A food fight that started with fruit cup turned into a mealtime melee, serving up a full plate of arrests and injuries.

Seven seventh-graders were arrested after a spat in a middle school cafeteria left two teachers and a detective with injuries Wednesday.

The incident began at West Side Middle School after a girl dumped a fruit cup over a boy's head, police said. The two started fighting, then other students joined in, some jumping on tables and throwing food, police said.

"What was described as a riot situation developed in the cafeteria," Sgt. Christopher Corbett said.

A detective and two teachers suffered minor injuries breaking up the melee. [AP]

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"It is significant in instances like Enron, WorldCom and HealthSouth that many of the leaders of those Bible Belt companies were well-respected professing Christians," Johnson said. "The professed Sunday ethic of love and responsible living was not carried over into the workplace."

"Thousands of investors were hurt significantly, while a few profited tremendously. That creates a huge crisis of confidence and lack of trust in leadership everywhere."

Moore blames the ethical morass on the philosophies of best-selling author Ayn Rand and economist Milton Friedman, whose theories have come to dominate much of corporate America since the 1980s.[Ocala Star-Banner]

Gary Hull, Duke University's director of values and ethics in the marketplace and a passionate Rand follower, believes that the main reason Western civilization has prospered since the Age of Enlightenment is that it separated faith from reason.

"Once you reject reason for faith, you can justify anything," Hull said. "All that matters is God's will, which is completely open to interpretation."

[. . .]

Hull adds that Moore's criticism of Rand is a gross misinterpretation of the author's ideas.

"Rand does not condone sacrificing the interests of others to your own interest, or treating others as a means to your end," Hull said.

"You can't attain any goal, be it wealth or success, by cheating someone else, or taking credit for someone else's achievement or invention."

That's what the people at Enron did, he said.

"The path to happiness is through hard work, not by achieving riches in the quickest possible way or by faking it," Hull said.

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One of Russia's most outspoken television broadcasters has been fired after he aired a program against the wishes of the government and then objected angrily when the broadcast was abruptly halted.

The firing of the broadcaster, Leonid Parfyonov, announced Tuesday night, appears to be the latest step by President Vladimir V. Putin in tightening control over the news media as well as other areas of public life.[NYT]

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In the message, dated early Tuesday afternoon, Luke Bernstein, coalitions coordinator for the Bush campaign in Pennsylvania, wrote: "The Bush-Cheney '04 national headquarters in Virginia has asked us to identify 1,600 `Friendly Congregations' in Pennsylvania where voters friendly to President Bush might gather on a regular basis."

In each targeted "place of worship," Mr. Bernstein continued, without mentioning a specific religion or denomination, "we'd like to identify a volunteer who can help distribute general information to other supporters." He explained: "We plan to undertake activities such as distributing general information/updates or voter registration materials in a place accessible to the congregation."

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