Yesterday I saw the new Michael Moore film Fahrenheit 9/11. For the most part, I liked it. It topped his previous hit film, Bowling for Columbine, and it covered many issues that haven't been talked about much in the media.

Moore touched on the Patriot Act, but I felt he could have gone more in-depth. He showed some effects of it, such as people spying on each other and willingly giving up their rights for the illusion of safety, but he didn't go into what the Patriot Act actually said. I felt that it would have been more convincing to the audience if he had done so. However, the audience did get quite a reaction when one of the politicians responsible for passing the bill told Moore that most of them don't read every bill that they pass.

When watching this movie, you can't take everything you're presented with as the whole truth. Michael Moore has a political agenda, and you have to keep this in mind. He pointed out how, for the first several minutes after President Bush received word that the nation was under attack, he remained in the elementary school he was visiting and just read a children's book. I don't feel that this was necessarily a character flaw in Bush. I might have done the same thing in his shoes. I mean, you don't just walk out of a classroom like that when the students had been so looking forward to your visit for some time.

Also, I take Bush as someone who would prefer a simple and predictable life. I think in part he may have been in denial for those few minutes, and given the magnitude of the situation, I really don't blame him for that. I believe that this is also one factor in his unwavering position on the war in Iraq. He wants to be in control of everything, and he won't accept it when someone tells him that he can't do what he wants, or that he is wrong in doing so.

Like I said, I don't blame him for hesitating for seven minutes, but I do blame him for the doomed-to-fail war in Iraq. Even if we manage to place a democratic system in the area, I can't imagine it lasting very long. I bet the president will either become a dictator himself or will be assassinated. The area is simply a tough area, and it takes a tough leader to keep it from breaking into complete anarchy, which is why dictatorships are so common there. Something that I think the United States government needs to realize is that democracy isn't always the best system. It doesn't always work. Sometimes, a dictatorship is the most peaceful and free environment that you can secure, and the American mentality that everyone should live forever without pain or fear won't accept that fact.

Anyway, back to the movie, I felt that, dispite the obvious bias in the directing, it presented many important facts that the American media overlooks, and it presented them in a way that's easy to understand for the common person. I really recommend that everyone sees it, keeping an open mind, but remembering not the pushed around by the directing. Make your own decisions on it.

I watched "Bowling for Columbine" for the first time the other day and it really got me excited about this film. Although I dislike Bush as a President, I still believe he doesn't deserve as much negative attention as Moore gives him. As for the seven minutes in the classroom, I would've done exactly the same thing. In his defense, Bush was not fully aware of the magnitude of the impending threat, and even when he suspected such things he remained calm and organized for the public's sake.