Michael Moore owns Halliburton!

[Trey Brister]

Michael Moore owns Halliburton!
New book debunks claims of celebrity activists
Posted: November 1, 2005
10:23 p.m. Eastern


Michael Moore

"I don't own a single share of stock!" filmmaker Michael Moore proudly proclaimed.

He's right. He doesn't own a single share. He owns tens of thousands of shares – including nearly 2,000 shares of Boeing, nearly 1,000 of Sonoco, more than 4,000 of Best Foods, more than 3,000 of Eli Lilly, more than 8,000 of Bank One and more than 2,000 of Halliburton, the company most vilified by Moore in "Fahrenheit 9/11."


If you want to see Moore's own signed Schedule D declaring his capital gains and losses where his stock ownership is listed, it's emblazoned on the cover of Peter Schweizer's new book, "Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy."

And it's just one of the startling revelations by Schweizer, famous for his previous works, "Reagan's War" and "The Bushes."

Other examples:

* House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who proclaims her support for unions, yet the luxury resort, the vineyard and the restaurants she partly owns are strictly non-union. While she advocates tough new laws enforcing environmental regulations on the private sector, the exclusive country club she partly owns failed to comply with existing environmental regulations for the past eight years – including a failure to protect endangered species.

* Noam Chomsky has made a reputation for calling America a police state and branding the Pentagon "the most hideous institution on earth," yet his entire academic career, writes Schweizer, has been subsidized by the U.S. military.

* Barbra Streisand is another proponent of environmentalism, yet she drives an SUV, lives in a mansion and has a $22,000 annual water bill. In the past, she has driven to appointments in Beverly Hills in a motor home because of her aversion to using public bathrooms.

* Ralph Nader plays the role of the citizen avenger – the populist uninterested in wealth and materialism, pretending to live in a modest apartment. In fact, he lives in fancy homes registered in the names of his siblings.

This is not just a book of "gotcha" journalism, explains Schweizer. He says the dozens and dozens of examples of "liberal hypocrisy" he cites in his book "are of central importance in evaluating the validity and usefulness of liberal ideas."

"Using IRS records, court depositions, news reports, financial disclosures and their own statements, I sought to answer a particular question: Do these liberal leaders and activists practice what they preach?" he writes. "What I found was a stunning record of open and shameless hypocrisy. Those who champion the cause of organized labor had developed various methods to avoid paying union wages or shunned unions altogether.

"Those who believe that the rich need to pay more in taxes proved especially adept at avoiding taxes themselves. Critics of capitalism and corporate enterprise frequently invested in the very companies they denounced. Those who espouse strict environmental regulations worked vigorously to sidestep them when it came to their own businesses and properties. Those who advocate steep inheritance taxes to promote fairer income distribution hid their investments in trusts or exotic overseas locales to reduce their own tax liability. Those who are strong proponents of affirmative action rarely practiced it themselves, and some had abysmal records when it came to hiring minorities. Those who proclaim themselves champions of civil liberties when it comes to criminal or terrorist cases went to extraordinary lengths to curtail the civil liberties of others when they felt threatened or just inconvenienced. Advocates of gun control had no problem making sure that an arsenal of weapons was available to protect them from dangerous criminals."

[edcrunk]

i posted this on myspace and kevin michael was like "give me a break...actually read this before posting" and i was like "i did read it...that's why i posted it"!

[edcrunk]

this is some more and a little bit of a repeat of the above post. excerpts from DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO

Filmmaker Michael Moore insists that corporations are evil and claims he doesn't invest in the stock market due to moral principle. But Moore's IRS forms, viewed by Schweizer, show that over the past five years he has owned shares in such corporate giants as Halliburton, Merck, Pfizer, Sunoco, Tenet Healthcare, Ford, General Electric and McDonald's.

Staunch union supporter Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) has received the Cesar Chavez Award from the United Farmworkers Union. But the $25 million Northern California vineyard she and her husband own is a non-union shop.
The hypocrisy doesn't end there. Pelosi has received more money from the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union than any other member of Congress in recent election cycles.

But the Pelosis own a large stake in an exclusive hotel in Rutherford, Calif. It has more than 250 employees. But none of them are in a union, according to Schweizer, author of "The Bushes: Portrait of a Dynasty" and a regular contributor to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other periodicals.

The Pelosis are also partners in a restaurant chain called Piatti, which has 900 employees. The chain is - that's right, a non-union shop.

Ralph Nader is another liberal who claims that unions are essential to protect worker rights. But when an editor of one of his publications tried to form a union to ameliorate miserable working conditions, the editor was fired and the locks changed on the office door.

Self-described socialist Noam Chomsky has described the Pentagon as "the most vile institution on the face of the earth" and lashed out against tax havens and trusts that benefit only the rich.
But Chomsky has been paid millions of dollars by the Pentagon over the last 40 years, and he used a venerable law firm to set up his irrevocable trust to shield his assets from the IRS.

Air America radio host Al Franken says conservatives are racist because they lack diversity and oppose affirmative action. But fewer than 1 percent of the people he has hired over the past 15 years have been African-American.

Ted Kennedy has fought for the estate tax and spoken out against tax shelters. But he has repeatedly benefited from an intricate web of trusts and private foundations that have shielded most of his family's fortune from the IRS.
One Kennedy family trust wasn't even set up in the U.S., but in Fiji.

Another family member, environmentalist Robert Kennedy Jr., has said that it is not moral to profit from natural resources. But he receives an annual check from the family's large holdings in the oil industry.

Barbra Streisand has talked about the necessity of unions to protect a "living wage." But she prefers to do her filming and postproduction work in Canada, where she can pay less than American union wages.

Bill and Hillary Clinton have spoken in favor of the estate tax, and in 2000 Bill vetoed a bill seeking to end it. But the Clintons have set up a contract trust that allows them to substantially reduce the amount of inheritance tax their estate will pay when they die.
Hillary, for her part, has written and spoken extensively about the right of children to make major decisions regarding their own lives. But she barred 13-year-old daughter Chelsea from getting her ears pierced and forbid the teen from watching MTV or HBO.

Billionaire Bush-basher George Soros says the wealthy should pay higher, more progressive tax rates. But he holds the bulk of his money in tax-free overseas accounts in Curacao, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.

[matt]

Omg People Own Stock!

[Deff Gordon]

not to really defend michael moore... but owning the stock gets him a voice and an "in" on meetings and what not. they also have to report certain things to stockholders and my hypothesis would be that he bought all that to keep an eye out and for research.

quite an easy and plausible explanation.

owning 2000 shares of this and 3000 shares of that isn't really a true investment or somebody "playing" the market.

oh- and if any of you wanna learn more about asset protection and wealth preservation you can check out my beta site: www.firmonline.com

[matt]

but, 2000 shares of haliburton will bring him HUGE quarterly dividends for someone who pulls in millions on their movies...im sure its to profeteer.

plus its a pretty sound investment with this administration in office. anyone would be dumb not to buy haliburton if they had the cash. check out their rolling 12 month on the stock exchange:
http://www.investorguide.com/stock.cgi?stock=HAL&code=g

[Ryan]

The Right has to come up with smear books like this to paint all liberals as hypocrites, while Right's hypocrisy is so apparent it needs no elaboration. The mainstream conservative movement in America is owned by people who claim to represent "Christian values" as they spread war and misery throughut the world and utter phrases like "nuke 'em all." Their philosophical leaders make constant claims of moral superiority over moderates and liberals and their followers believe it, yet in reality they're usually nothing more than drug addicts, womanizers, cheaters, and thieves. They claim to represent "justice and righteousness," yet their policital leadership is in court more than they are in Congress. And their entire platform is based upon "smaller government" and "promoting freedom" yet they have been responsible for the largest increase in government power in history.

The Left does not need a book, the Right speaks for itself.

[Deff Gordon]

Originally Posted by matt

but, 2000 shares of haliburton will bring him HUGE quarterly dividends for someone who pulls in millions on their movies...im sure its to profeteer.

plus its a pretty sound investment with this administration in office. anyone would be dumb not to buy haliburton if they had the cash. check out their rolling 12 month on the stock exchange:
http://www.investorguide.com/stock.cgi?stock=HAL&code=g

oh of course... we could be fed Taj Mahal on gold plates! but it's safe to assume that moore bought in for research and to be an inside watchdog.

a real investment to somebody like moore would be in the 40,000 share range. (or index funds)

[matt]

yepper...

[Porkchop Avenger]

Since when are waiters at restaurants or any restaurant workers in unions? Not being sarcastic here, honest question.

[St. Stalin the Apathetic]

Originally Posted by nitetripp

not to really defend michael moore... but owning the stock gets him a voice and an "in" on meetings and what not. they also have to report certain things to stockholders and my hypothesis would be that he bought all that to keep an eye out and for research.

quite an easy and plausible explanation.

owning 2000 shares of this and 3000 shares of that isn't really a true investment or somebody "playing" the market.

oh- and if any of you wanna learn more about asset protection and wealth preservation you can check out my beta site: www.firmonline.com

not sure that 2000 shares get him more than a 1 second "peep" and it would depend on what class of stock he owns (if its common it doesn't even buy him the peep)

[St. Stalin the Apathetic]

Originally Posted by Ryan

The Right has to come up with smear books like this to paint all liberals as hypocrites, while Right's hypocrisy is so apparent it needs no elaboration. The mainstream conservative movement in America is owned by people who claim to represent "Christian values" as they spread war and misery throughut the world and utter phrases like "nuke 'em all." Their philosophical leaders make constant claims of moral superiority over moderates and liberals and their followers believe it, yet in reality they're usually nothing more than drug addicts, womanizers, cheaters, and thieves. They claim to represent "justice and righteousness," yet their policital leadership is in court more than they are in Congress. And their entire platform is based upon "smaller government" and "promoting freedom" yet they have been responsible for the largest increase in government power in history.

The Left does not need a book, the Right speaks for itself.

see Ryan - that's what I'm talking about - polemic - amusing - made me laugh but hardly debate

[molecule]

Originally Posted by Ryan

The Right has to come up with smear books like this to paint all liberals as hypocrites, while Right's hypocrisy is so apparent it needs no elaboration. The mainstream conservative movement in America is owned by people who claim to represent "Christian values" as they spread war and misery throughut the world and utter phrases like "nuke 'em all." Their philosophical leaders make constant claims of moral superiority over moderates and liberals and their followers believe it, yet in reality they're usually nothing more than drug addicts, womanizers, cheaters, and thieves. They claim to represent "justice and righteousness," yet their policital leadership is in court more than they are in Congress. And their entire platform is based upon "smaller government" and "promoting freedom" yet they have been responsible for the largest increase in government power in history.

The Left does not need a book, the Right speaks for itself.

got hate?

[molecule]

If Micheal Moore owns Haliburton stock, is he not contributing to the war? Is he not a war profiteer????
no book needed to expose his hypocricy.

[patpx]

Originally Posted by molecule

If Micheal Moore owns Haliburton stock, is he not contributing to the war? Is he not a war profiteer????
no book needed to expose his hypocricy.

Exactly......that is hypocricy at its finest. There are tons of other stocks that make profit in the market. But if you are preaching about anti-war and you buy a stock for a company you are truly against, it makes your view on the subject null and void.