Once again music gets the blame

[Paul Mather]

On Wed, Jan 08, 2003 at 03:17:29PM +0000, M Holmes wrote:

=> The trouble with Mike Moore is that he has an axe to grind and he can
=> just make it up as he goes along. Some of the stats in the movie have
=> been hilariously debunked and he's been forced to admit that you can't
=> walk in to a bank, open an account, and walk out with a gun as shown in
=> the movie. The bank passed on a credit for a gun which had to be
=> obtained in the normal way after background checks.

AFAIR, the bank in the film was also a licensed gun dealer (as stated
by a clerk in the film).  The gun wasn't for opening a regular
checking account, but for buying a CD (certificate of deposit) from
them.  Basically, you got the gun not as a "freebie," but in lieu of
all the interest the CD would earn over its maturation period.  (They
were giving you all of the interest "up front" in the form of a gun.)
It was also clear in the film (at least to me) that they performed a
background check (again, something stated by the clerk).

FWIW, this is from the FAQ currently on Michael Moore's WWW site:

>>>>>
Q. Is that bank that hands out guns for real?

A. Yes. North Country Bank (with branches throughout Northern
Michigan) offers you a wide choice of guns when you open up a
certificate of deposit account. In effect, they are giving you all of
the interest the account will earn in advance in the form of a gun.
The bank is also an authorized federal arms dealer so they can do the
quick background check right there at the bank. I put $1,000 in a
long-term account, they did the background check, and, within an hour,
walked out with my new Weatherby-just as you see it in the film. (I
did have a choice of getting a pair of golf clubs or a grandfather
clock, but they didn't have either of those hanging on the wall like
they did those three rifles). I learned about the bank's gun offer
from an ad in the local paper that showed a gun across the top with
the heading, "More Bang for Your Buck" from North Country Bank. I
still have the account and the gun to this day (though I plan to
legally "auction" off the gun for charity, and creatively have it
destroyed (more on that later!).
<<<<<

Sure, Mike Moore probably has an axe to grind.  But who doesn't?  Can
you say honestly that Rush Limbaugh or that O'Reilly bloke that's
wildly popular give balanced coverage to the topics they cover?  Not a
chance!  They're just blowhards that like the sound of their own voice
and the cult of personality that goes with it.  Just about the only
place I find any chance of a level, rhetoric-free discussion of the
news is on PBS, where they devote more than just soundbite coverage to
news stories.  (I like "60 Minutes," too.)

=> I find Mark Thomas amusing whereas Mike Moore seems merely irritating.

I wasn't familiar with Moore's work prior to this film (though did
know he was dubbed as a left-winger), and found the film interesting,
enjoyable and thought-provoking (and, at times, bust-a-gut funny).  I
don't think it's getting very wide release (I saw it at our local "Art
House" cinema; I've not seen it listed as showing at any of the Mall
cineplexes), so you might have a hard time catching it yourself
(saving on the irritation factor for you, no doubt:).

Cheers,

Paul.

e-mail: paul at gromit.dlib.vt.edu

"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production
 deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid."
        --- Frank Vincent Zappa