PART 6 OF 6
As an American, I gotta say this all seemed kind of strange ...
until I looked up at the TV in the bar ...
and noticed what they watch for their evening news.
[Official] They're friends of ours. We'll certainly listen to them courteously and carefully.
But you don't just make war just because someone says so.
[Michael Moore] Night after night, the Canadians weren't being pumped full of fear.
And their politicians seemed to talk kind of funny.
***
[Mayor Mike Bradley, Sarnia, Ontario Canada] And the way to do that is making sure they have proper daycare, that they have assistance for their parents when they are elderly ...
and need to be in an old-age home. That they have proper health care ...
that insures that they won't lose their business or their house ...
because they can't afford their medical bills. That's how you build a good society.
No one wins unless everyone wins.
And you don't win by beating up on people who can't defend themselves.
And that's been the approach, unfortunately, that's been spreading with some of the right-wing governments across North America.
They pick on the people that can't defend themselves ...
and at the same time they are turning around and giving financial support ...
and tax breaks and tax benefits to people that don't need them.
***
[Michael Moore] Where are the indigents in this city? Where do they live?
[Man] Uh... indigent? Uh...
[Michael Moore] You act like you've never heard the word before.
[Man] We don't have that problem here, really. It's...
[Michael Moore] So I asked him, well, "Could you at least take me to a Canadian slum?"
And well... this is what a ghetto looks like in Canada.
[Michael Moore] Is this the same mentality that says, with Canadians ...
you think if somebody gets sick, they should actually be able to have health care?
[Girl] Yes.
[Boy 2] Oh, definitely.
[Girl] Yeah.
[Boy 1] Yeah. Yeah.
[Michael Moore] Why?
[Girl] Because!
[Boy 1] Human rights. Everyone's got the right to live.
***
[Michael Moore] Did you just come out of the emergency room?
[Man] Yes, I did.
[Michael Moore] And how much did you have to pay for your treatment?
[Man] Uh, I wouldn't know what the bill is. It's covered by our hospital plan.
[Michael Moore] So you're telling me you didn't have to pay anything?
[Man] No, I don't.
***
[Woman] I have family that lives in the States.
They used to live in Canada and moved over there. And it's so different.
[Michael Moore] They get afraid more easily.
[Woman] Oh, yeah.
Yeah, very much so.
Because everybody reacts over there, [snaps her fingers] just like that ...
They don't stop and think.
First reaction is pull the gun out. "You're on my property."
You know, like...
I don't know. It's just different over here.
***
[Windsor, Canada]
[Michael Moore] Where do you live?
[Black Man] Detroit.
[Michael Moore] Detroit? Come over to Canada here for the night?
[Black Man] Right.
[Michael Moore] Uh huh.
***
[Middle Eastern Man] People are a little bit more open-minded over here, a little more welcoming.
[Michael Moore] Yeah.
***
[Michael Moore] Feel any difference when you cross over to this country? Be honest, now. Come on.
[Black Man] It's a lot lighter.
***
[Middle Eastern Man] The segregation over there is definitely much more intensified ...
[Michael Moore] In the States?
[Middle Eastern Man] Intensified in the States. Yeah.
So you can feel it.
***
[Black Man] Almost like they just let you be.
[Michael Moore] That's Canada for you.
***
[Boy 1] Every time I turn on the TV in the States, it's always about a murder here ...
a gunfight, hostile position...
[Girl] I just think the States, their view of things is fighting.
That's how they resolve everything.
If there's something going on in another country ...
they send people over to fight it.
[Boy 2] But they're the most powerful country in the world, though.
[Girl] And Canada's more just like "Let's negotiate ...
let's work something out," where the States is "Well we'll just kill you and that'll be the end of that."
***
[Man] Um, if guns were...
If more guns made people safer ...
then America would be one of the safest countries in the world.
It isn't. It's the opposite.
***
[Genesee County 911] Genesee County 911.
[Teacher] I have a student at Buell School that has been downed.
I need an ambulance immediately.
[911 Operator] Where is the child that's been shot?
[Teacher] Right here on the floor of my class. Oh God, please! She's getting white.
[911 Operator] She's getting white? Is she breathing?
[Teacher] Yes, the little girl is getting white.
[911 Operator] Is she breathing?
[Teacher] No, she's not!
[911 Operator] Where is the child that shot her, Ma'am. Do you have any idea?
[Teacher] He's in the office.
[911 Operator] He's in the office?
[Teacher] Yes.
[911 Operator] Where was she shot?
[Teacher] I can't tell. I'm too scared to turn her body.
Please, Lord! Please, Lord! Please, Lord!
***
[Michael Moore] I heard that 911 call, you know, on TV someplace. It was horrible. It was just...
[Jimmie Hughes, Principal, Buell Elementary School] She kept asking, "Where's the shooter?" She said, "He's gone. I need some help."
[Michael Moore] And the little girl was in there, too?
[Jimmie Hughes, Principal, Buell Elementary School] She was on the floor. Yes.
[Michael Moore] She was on the floor.
And the police and the medics came?
[Jimmie Hughes, Principal, Buell Elementary School] By that time, the medics were here. The medics had just come in ...
and I remember him stepping in and taking over the room.
He says, "You have to leave."
And then when the medics come in, when the police come in ...
you're no longer in control.
[Michael Moore] Was she still alive then?
[Jimmie Hughes, Principal, Buell Elementary School] Her lips had become totally blue.
***
[THEO J. BUELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL]
[Michael Moore] Back in my hometown of Flint, Michigan ...
a 6-year-old, 1st-grade boy, at Buell Elementary ...
had found a gun at his uncle's house ...
where he was staying because his mother was being evicted.
He brought the gun to school and shot another 1st grader ...
6-year-old Kayla Rolland.
With one bullet that passed through her body ...
she fell to the floor and lay there dying ...
while her teacher called 911 for help.
No one knew why the little boy wanted to shoot the little girl.
As if the city had not been through enough horror and tragedy ...
in the past two decades, it was now home to a new record.
The youngest school shooting ever in the United States.
On the morning of the shooting ...
it only took the news helicopters and satellite trucks ...
a half-hour to show up on the scene.
[Newsman] ... leave your mike on.
They're checking the truck.
You know, we're doing one in 30 minutes again.
[Newswoman] This evening, about 7:00, will be a public memorial service.
We are expecting hundreds of people. They will mourn the loss of little Kayla ...
a tiny little girl who loved pizza, teddy bears ...
and who was taken away from us much too soon.
[Jeff Rossen] Good morning, Christine.
The funeral home now passing out thousands, tens of thousands of these pink ribbons ...
to support the young girl's family.
Today will be an emotional day. It has been already, remembering little Kayla.
Jeff Rossen, Fox 2 News.
[Photographer] Nice job.
[Jeff Rossen] [Angrily] Yeah, Michelle, we're having technical problems, okay?
Well, don't talk to me about it, call our sat truck.
I need a haircut, man. I'm a pig. A rug.
Here we go.
Some too choked up even to speak about it ...
there's a memorial service scheduled here for 7:00 tonight.
We're live in Flint, Michigan, this afternoon.
Jeff Rossen, Q-13 Reports.
Thank you.
[Woman] Thank you.
[Photographer] Want some hairspray?
[Jeff Rossen] I kind of need it, don't I?
[Woman] Yeah, you do.
[Photographer] I got some...
[Jeff Rossen] I have some. I just didn't put it in.
I didn't have a chance.
[Photographer] I have hurricane-proof hairspray.
[Jeff Rossen] This man prayed for Kayla, then let the balloon go.
[Technician] I asked you.
[Jeff Rossen] I say we have the colour picture, not the black-and-white one.
There's plenty of media here that covered Columbine.
You know, there are some networks, especially ...
that go from, unfortunately, tragedy to tragedy.
And, uh, I feel bad for them, because that's all they see.
The tragedies.
We're just trying to crunch right now for the 5:00 and the 6:00.
Today, we're feeding CNN and Fox.
***
[Michael Moore] The national media had never visited Buell Elementary ...
or the Beecher School District in which it sat ...
or this part of Flint, ever before.
And few, if any, of these reporters bothered to visit it ...
even when they were here now.
If they had ventured just a block away from the school or the funeral home ...
they might have seen a different kind of tragedy ...
that perhaps would contain some answers as to why this little girl was dead.
For over 20 years, this impoverished area ...
in the hometown of the world's largest corporation ...
had been ignored as completely as it had been destroyed.
With 87 percent of the students living below the official poverty line ...
Buell and Beecher, and Flint ...
did not fit into the accepted and widely circulated story line ...
put forth by the nation's media.
That being the one about America ...
and its invincible economy.
Hegemony’s Achilles heel is the US economy. The fairy tale of American economic recovery supports America’s image as the safe haven, an image that keeps the dollar’s value up, the stock market up, and interest rates down. However, there is no economic information that supports this fairy tale.
Real median household income has not grown for years and is below the levels of the early 1970s. There has been no growth in real retail sales for six years. The labor force is shrinking. The labor force participation rate has declined since 2007 as has the civilian employment to population ratio. The 5.7 percent reported unemployment rate is achieved by not counting discouraged workers as part of the work force. (A discouraged worker is a person who is unable to find a job and has given up looking.)
A second official unemployment rate, which counts short-term (less than one year) discouraged workers and is seldom reported, stands at 11.2 percent. The US government stopped including long-term discouraged workers (discouraged for more than one year) in 1994. If the long-term discouraged are counted, the current unemployment rate in the US stands at 23.2 percent.
The offshoring of American manufacturing and professional service jobs such as software engineering and Information Technology has decimated the middle class. The middle class has not found jobs with incomes comparable to those moved abroad. The labor cost savings from offshoring the jobs to Asia has boosted corporate profits, the performance bonuses of executives and capital gains of shareholders. Thus all income and wealth gains are concentrated in a few hands at the top of the income distribution. The number of billionaires grows as destitution reaches from the lower economic class into the middle class. American university graduates unable to find jobs return to their childhood rooms in their parents’ homes and work as waitresses and bartenders in part-time jobs that will not support an independent existence.
With a large percentage of the young economically unable to form households, residential construction, home furnishings, and home appliances suffer economic weakness. Cars can still be sold only because the purchaser can obtain 100 percent financing in a six-year loan. The lenders sell the loans, which are securitized and sold to gullible investors, just as were the mortgage-backed financial instruments that precipitated the 2007 US financial crash.
None of the problems that created the 2008 recession, and that were created by the 2008 recession, have been addressed. Instead, policymakers have used an expansion of debt and money to paper over the problems. Money and debt have grown much more than US GDP, which raises questions about the value of the US dollar and the credit worthiness of the US government. On July 8, 2014, my colleagues and I pointed out that when correctly measured, US national debt stands at 185 percent of GDP.
-- The Neoconservative Threat to International Order, by Paul Craig Roberts
The number one cause of death among young people ...
in this part of Flint was homicide.
The football field at Flint-Beecher, was sponsored by a funeral home.
The kids at Beecher have won 13 state-track championships.
But they've never had a home track meet ...
Because around the football field, all they have is this dirt ring.
Years ago, someone here named the streets in this part of town ...
after all the Ivy League schools ...
as if they had dreamed of better days ...
and something greater for themselves.
***
[Jimmie Hughes, Principal, Buell Elementary School] The children are doing well.
Faculty and staff are doing well. But we don't forget.
We don't forget.
We just don't want this happening to anybody else, you know? It's...
[Michael Moore] I know.
I know. I don't want it to happen to anybody else either.
[Jimmie Hughes, Principal, Buell Elementary School] I thought it would ... [Choking up]
[Michael Moore] It's okay. It's okay.
It's okay. It's okay.
I'm sorry.
[Jimmie Hughes, Principal, Buell Elementary School] That's all right.
***
[Charlton Heston] "From my cold, dead hands!"
[Michael Moore] Just as he did after the Columbine shooting ...
Charlton Heston showed up in Flint to have a big, pro-gun rally.
[The experts agree ... Gun control works! (Hitler, Castro, Qaddafi, Stalin]
[Charlton Heston] Freedom has never seen greater peril ...
nor needed you more urgently ...
to come to her defence than now.
[THE HOYA: Heston on Political Life, Gun Violence. The Hoya's Tim Sullivan sat down with acclaimed actor and NRA head Charlton Heston on Wednesday.
Students, Community, Politicians Gather to Rally for Gun Control
The Hoya: Six-year-old Kayla Rolland was shot to death by a fellow first grader last month with a gun his guardian had left errantly loaded. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 12 fellow students with guns they weren't licensed to carry. Over the last couple of years they're have been countless headlines about violence in schools, gun violence. How does the NRA respond to these kinds of crimes committed with guns?
Heston: Well, after the Columbine shooting, I wanted to talk to one of the parents, and I was able to reach a man who's daughter had been killed. And we talked. And he said Mr. Heston I don't use guns. I'm not a hunter." But he said ...]
[Michael Moore] Before he came to Flint ...
Heston was interviewed by the Georgetown Hoya about Kayla's death ...
and even his own NRA website talked about it.
[The Gloves Come Off, The Fight Is On!
A Chronicle of Fraud: Clinton-Gore vs. the NRA
(June 2000)
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 29 On this cold Michigan morning, a six-year-old boy crawls out of his makeshift bed in the shabby crack house where he lives with his 21-year-old uncle, another man and a passing parade of strangers. The boy finds a stolen .32 caliber pistol hidden beneath a pile of blankets, stuffs the loaded gun in his trousers and walks to blocks to Buell Elementary School. He finds the first-grade schoolmate he argued with the day before, points the gun at her and yanks the trigger.
DAY ONE
48 hours after Kayla Rolland is pronounced dead Clinton is on The Today show telling a sympathetic Katie Couric, "May this tragic death will help."
"We need the public aroused on this," Clinton says. "If we had passed the child trigger lock provision, those guns would not be used by six-year-olds ... Of course, I think ultimately what we ought to do is license handgun owners. That is the critical next step."]
[Woman] We wanted to let the NRA know that we haven't forgotten about Kayla Rolland.
[MILLION MOM MARCH]
How could they come here? To me, it's like they're rubbing our nose in it.
I was shocked and appalled that they were coming.
[Michael Moore] Heston was asked by a local reporter why he came to Flint ...
after the tragedy of Buell ...
and what did the NRA have to say ...
about 6-year-olds using guns?
[Charlton Heston] We spend $21 million every year.
And we teach it to 5- and 6-year-olds.
We say, if you see a gun, don't touch it.
Leave the room. Call an adult.
***
[Arthur Busch, County Prosecutor, Flint, Michigan] And then Moses himself showed up.
[Michael Moore] Right here in the city of Flint?
[Arthur Busch, County Prosecutor, Flint, Michigan] Right here in Flint.
[Michael Moore] Were there people that wanted you to try this child or even to try him as an adult?
[Arthur Busch, County Prosecutor, Flint, Michigan] Oh... Oh, yeah.
There were people from all over America that wrote ...
and called and sent mail. What was amazing to me ...
um, groups that were affiliated with the NRA ...
groups, you know, people that I call "gun nuts" ...
writing me and telling me what a horrible thing it was ...
that I had admonished homeowners in our country ...
to be careful about bringing weapons into their home.
They wanted this little boy hung from the highest tree.
I mean, there was such an undercurrent ...
of racism and hate and anger.
It was ugly.
***
[Michael Caldwell, Police Detective] That's a picture that the little boy that was involved in the Buell-school shooting...
once he was brought back here to our office ...
about 15 minutes after the shooting took place, I gave him some crayons and stuff ...
to kind of occupy him a little bit ...
And he came over and drew that picture for me ...
because at the time, I had pictures right behind my desk ...
that my children had drew for me, and he wanted to draw me one to hang behind my desk.
[Michael Moore] This is what he drew for you. What did he say this was?
[Michael Caldwell, Police Detective] That's him at his house.
[Michael Moore] That's him at his house, right here.
And why did you decide to hang onto it?
[Michael Caldwell, Police Detective] Because of the gravity of the situation ...
and what had occurred. And he asked me to hang that behind my desk ...
so I put it in a frame, and that's where it will stay.
***
Michael Moore] Tamarla Owens was the mother of the 6-year-old boy.
In order to get food stamps and health care for her children ...
Tamarla was forced to work as part of the state of Michigan's Welfare-to-Work Program.
This program was so successful in tossing poor people off welfare ...
that it's founder, Gerald Miller ...
was soon hired by the number-one firm in the country ...
that states turn to to privatize their welfare systems.
That firm was Lockheed Martin.
With the cold war over and no enemy left to frighten the public ...
[Lockheed chosen to run welfare-to-work]
[Aerospace giant to run region's welfare: A division of Lockheed Martin won the 9-month, $1.5 million welfare-management contract]
Lockheed had found the perfect way to diversify ...
and the perfect way to profit from people's fears ...
with an enemy much closer to home ...
poor Black mothers like Tamarla Owens.
[Sheriff Robert Pickell, Flint, Michigan] So you've got a one-parent family ...
and the mother's travelling 60 miles, an hour, an hour and a half away to go to work ...
an hour, an hour and a half to come home. How does that help a community?
But that's part of the state, you know, making parents responsible ...
making them work for --
[Michael Moore] Welfare-to-Work.
[Sheriff Robert Pickell, Flint, Michigan] Welfare-to-Work.
That's a program that ought to be stopped ...
because it really has no merit.
I think it adds more to the problem than it does to solve it.
[Michael Moore] Really?
[Sheriff Robert Pickell, Flint, Michigan] I do.
[Michael Moore] You're the sheriff, and you feel this way?
[Sheriff Robert Pickell, Flint, Michigan] I do. I do.
I wish I could put two parents in every home ...
and make every parent equally responsible, but I can't do that.
But we're not doing anything by taking the one parent and putting them on a bus ...
and sending them out of town to make $5.50 an hour.
[Michael Moore] This is the bus that she was forced to ride every day ...
in order to work off the welfare money the state had given her.
She and many others from Flint who were poor ...
would make the 80-mile roundtrip journey every day ...
from Flint to Auburn Hills in Oakland County ...
one of the wealthiest areas in the country.
Tamarla would leave early in the morning and return late at night ...
rarely seeing her young children.
[Sheriff Robert Pickell, Flint, Michigan] What's the point in doing that?
Where does the state benefit?
Where does Flint and Genesee County benefit from that?
We have a child dead. I think that may be, in part, part of the problem.
We drove the one parent out.
Now, you or anybody else that can tell me ...
that that best serves a community ...
I shake my head and wonder why.
[Michael Moore] How long have you been riding the bus?
[Man] I've been working here just about three years now.
[Michael Moore] About three years?
[Man] Yeah.
My brother, I got my brother working here.
Half of my neighbourhood works out here.
Just about everybody I know personally works out here in the mall.
In Flint, doing the same thing I'm doing now ...
they only pay minimum wage. I come 40 miles ...
to make $3 or $4 more an hour.
[Michael Moore] How much do you make an hour here?
[Man] I make $8.50 an hour.
[Michael Moore] $8.50?
Is that enough to pay the bills?
[Man] No.
[Michael Moore] So did you know Tamarla Owens, the woman whose son shot the little girl?
I think she rode this bus.
[Man] I knew her a little bit.
Not real good.
[Michael Moore] Nice lady?
[Man] Yeah, she was okay.
She came to work every day. She did her job.
She worked two jobs.
[Michael Moore] Two jobs?
[Man] She was trying to make ends meet.
***
[Music] We're going hopping
We're going hopping today
Where things are popping...
On the Bandstand
Bandstand
[Michael Moore] This is Dick Clark's American Bandstand Grill ...
where Tamarla worked one of her two jobs.
[Manager] She worked in this room here, as a bartender ...
a fountain-person making drinks, making shakes, desserts.
[Michael Moore] Was she a good employee?
[Manager] Yeah, she was.
She also worked at the Fudgery in the mall here.
[Michael Moore] Right. Where the state had placed her.
***
[Michael Moore] Dick Clark is an American icon.
The man who brought rock 'n' roll into our homes ...
every week on American Bandstand.
[Manager] Every part of your life you can link up to a part of music, usually.
So, as Dick says, "It's the soundtrack of our lives."
Music is the soundtrack of our lives.
[Michael Moore] His restaurant and the Fudgery here in Auburn Hills ...
applied for special tax breaks, because they were using welfare people as employees.
Even though Tamarla worked up to 70 hours a week at these two jobs in the mall ...
she did not earn enough to pay her rent.
And one week before the shooting ...
was told by her landlord that he was evicting her.
With nowhere to go, and not wanting to take her two children out of school ...
Tamarla asked her brother if they could stay with him for a few weeks.
It was there that Tamarla's son found a small, .32 calibre gun ...
and took it to school.
Tamarla did not see him take the gun to school ...
because she was on a state bus to go serve drinks and make fudge ...
for rich people.
[Music] Bandstand!
[Michael Moore] I decided to fly out to California ...
to ask Dick Clark what he thought about a system ...
that forces poor, single mothers ...
to work two low-wage jobs to survive.
[Michael Moore] I'm doing a documentary ...
on these school shootings and, you know, guns and all that.
And in my hometown of Flint, Michigan, which you know ...
this little 6-year-old shot a 6-year-old.
[Dick Clark] Get in the car, Dave! Watch your arm! Watch your arm!
[Michael Moore] Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry.
[Dick Clark] I'm sorry. We're really late.
[Michael Moore] Anyways, but the mother of the kid who did the shooting ...
works at Dick Clark's All-American Grill...
[Dick Clark] Forget it!
[Michael Moore] in Oakland County.
[Dick Clark] Close the door.
[Michael Moore] It's a Welfare-to-Work program ...
[Dick Clark] Close the door. Close the door.
[Michael Moore] These people are forced to ...
[Dick Clark] Goodbye! [Waves goodbye]
[Michael Moore] No, no, no, no.
[Dick Clark] Come on!
[Michael Moore] I want you to help me convince the governor of Michigan...
It's a Welfare-to-work ... These women are forced to work!
They've got kids at home! Dick!
Ah, Jeez!
***
[President George W. Bush] [Blows a raspberry at the crowd]
[Michael Moore] In George Bush's America, the poor were not a priority.
And after September 11, 2001 ...
correcting America's social problems ...
took a back seat to fear ...
panic, and a new set of priorities.
[President George W. Bush] One way to express our unity ...
is for Congress to set the military budget ...
the defense of the United States, as the number-one priority ...
and fully fund my request.
***
[Clerk] We've been selling a lot of chemical suits with the gloves and the hoods.
And we've been selling a lot of gas masks.
[Woman] I'm trying to get one for myself and my puppy.
[Newswoman] Dennis Marks and his wife have been stocking up supplies.
[Dennis Marks] Weapons. Ammunition.
[Newsman] Wal-Mart says after September 11, gun sales surged 70 percent ...
ammunition up 140 percent.
In Dallas, they're already taking potshots at Osama bin Laden.
[Michael Moore] In the months following the 9-11 attacks ...
we Americans were gripped in a state of fear.
None of us knew if we, too, would die at the hands of the evildoers ...
or who might be sitting next to some crazy guy trying to light his shoes on fire.
The threat seemed very real.
[Man] It's probably a little paranoia, but I'm not going to take the chance. That's all.
Just trying to protect myself and my family.
[Michael Moore] Our growing fears were turned into a handsome profit for many.
[Newsman] Mike Blake has seen a 30 percent increase in sales at ADT over the last month.
Most of the people he talks to are still a little uneasy over the September 11 terrorist attacks.
[Prof. Barry Glassner, Author of "The Culture of Fear"] How are we afraid of all these things? It's because a lot of people ...
are making a lot of money off of it ...
and a lot of careers off of it.
And so, there's vested interests ...
a lot of activity to keep us afraid.
[Lockheed Wins $200 Billion Deal to Build Fighter Jet
The New York Times NATIONAL Saturday, October 27, 2001]
[Michael Moore] And what better way to fight box-cutter-wielding terrorists ...
than to order a record number of fighter jets from Lockheed?
Yes, everyone felt safer.
Especially with the Army doing garbage detail on Park Avenue.
And the greatest benefit of all of a terrorized public ...
is that the corporate and political leaders can get away with just about anything.
[Senator Fritz Hollings (D-SC), ENRON IN CONGRESS] I've never seen a better example of cash-and-carry government ...
than this Bush administration ...
and Enron.
[Michael Moore] There were a lot of things that I didn't know after the World Trade Center attack ...
but one thing was clear.
Whether it was before or after September 11 ...
a public that's this out of control with fear ...
should not have a lot of guns or ammo laying around.
***
[Richard Costaldo] Well, I was shot with a Tec-9.
[Michael Moore] 9 mm?
[Richard Costaldo] Yeah. Yeah, it was a ...
I guess it was supposed to be semi-automatic, but it kind of seemed like fully automatic to me ...
from what I remember.
[Michael Moore] This is Richard Costaldo.
And this is Mark Taylor.
Both of these boys were shot the day of the Columbine massacre.
Richard is paralyzed for life and in a wheelchair.
And Mark is barely standing after numerous operations.
[Mark Taylor] The kids at Columbine had to pay a penalty.
We paid a penalty that day for this nation, the way we look at it.
[Michael Moore] Mark and Richard were disabled ...
and suffering from the 17-cent Kmart bullets still embedded in their bodies.
As they showed me the various entry points for the bullets ...
I thought of one way we could reduce the number of guns and bullets laying around.
I asked the boys if they'd like to go to Kmart ...
to return the merchandise.
***
[K-Mart Headquarters, Troy, Michigan]
[Richard Costaldo] Ready?
[Michael Moore] You go.
[Richard Costaldo] Me?
[Mark Taylor] Cool.
[The Dickies] [singing] pt barnum said it so long ago
there's one born every minute don't you know
some make us laugh, some make us cry
these klowns honey gonna make you die
everybody's running when the circus comes into their towns
everybody's gunning for the likes of the killer klowns
from outer space
Killer Klowns from outer space
Jocko!
Ringmaster shouts let the show begin
Send in the klowns, let them do you in
See a rubber nose on a painted face
Bringing genocide to the human race
It's time to take a ride on the nightmare merry-go-round
You'll be dead on arrival from the likes of the killer klowns
from outer space
killer klowns from outer space
There's cotton candy in their hands
Says a polka-dotted man with a stalk of jacaranda
They're all diabolical bozos
Oh look around what do you see
tell me what's become of humanity?
From California shores to New York Times Square
Barnum and Bailey everywhere
If you've ever wondered why the population's going down
blame it on the plunder from the likes of the killer klowns
from outer space
Killer klowns from outer space
Killer klowns killer klowns killer klowns killer klowns killer klowns
from outer space
Killer klowns from outer space
Killer klowns killer klowns
-- Killer Klowns, by the Dickies
-- Killer Klowns From Outer Space, directed by Stephen Chiodo
[Michael Moore] Hi.
[Security] Can you turn the camera off, please?
[Michael Moore] Oh, no, we're here to see Mr. Conaway.
[Security] Okay. Turn the camera off in the building until I get clearance for you, sir.
[Michael Moore] Oh, okay. All right. All right.
Just turn it off. Yeah.
[One Hour Later]
[Mary Lorencz, Director of Media Relations for Kmart] Hey, Michael.
[Michael Moore] Hi. How are you?
[Mary Lorencz, Director of Media Relations for Kmart] I'm Mary Lorenz. I'm director of Media Relations for Kmart.
[Michael Moore] Oh, good. All right. Good.
[Mary Lorencz, Director of Media Relations for Kmart] How can I help you today?
[Michael Moore] Well, I'm here today. This is Richard Costaldo.
[Mary Lorencz, Director of Media Relations for Kmart] Richard, nice to meet you.
[Michael Moore] And this is Mark Taylor.
[Mary Lorencz, Director of Media Relations for Kmart] Mark.
[Michael Moore] And they're students from Columbine High School.
They were shot at Columbine in the massacre ...
with bullets from Kmart.
[Mary Lorencz, Director of Media Relations for Kmart] You came a long way, all the way from Colorado!
[Richard Costaldo] Yeah, I was just thinking that...
since you stopped selling the handguns and all ...
it would kind of make sense to stop selling bullets too.
[Mark Taylor] Our request is that you get rid of the 9 mm bullets ...
and that you don't sell them in the store completely.
BRAVE: having or showing courage; making a fine show: colorful; excellent, splendid
HERO: a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability; an illustrious warrior; a man admired for his achievements and noble qualities; one who shows great courage; the principal male character in a literary or dramatic work; the central figure in an event, period, or movement; an object of extreme admiration and devotion: idol
-- by Merriam Webster Dictionary
[Mary Lorencz, Director of Media Relations for Kmart] We do carry... You probably are aware of Kmart.
Hopefully, you're shoppers at our stores ...
that we do only carry, you know, sporting firearms ...
and the accessories that go with the hunting sport.
And we'll certainly take your message to our Chairman and CEO, Chuck Conaway.
He's not here today.
[Michael Moore] He's not here today?
[Mary Lorencz, Director of Media Relations for Kmart] No. He's not here, actually, this whole week.
[Michael Moore] Because I -- not at all during the week?
Do you have a limit on the number of bullets, ammunition, that people can purchase?
[Mary Lorencz, Director of Media Relations for Kmart] You know, I can't answer these questions for you.
I'm not the merchandiser who places those products in our stores.
[Michael Moore] Can we speak to that person?
[Mary Lorencz, Director of Media Relations for Kmart] But I can get answers to those questions for you ...
if you would like to leave your card. And I can get those answers for you.
[Michael Moore] Well, we don't want to leave a card.
Just let me be blunt. The reason why we can't take a card and come back ...
is because Mark here, he's got a Kmart bullet just an inch away...
right?
[Mark Taylor] Yep.
[Michael Moore] from your aorta.
[Mark Taylor] In between my aorta and spine.
[Michael Moore] Inbetween your aorta and spine.
[Mary Lorencz, Director of Media Relations for Kmart] I'm glad to see that you're still able to stand.
DISGUSTING: so unpleasant to see, smell, taste, consider, etc., that you feel slightly sick; so bad, unfair, inappropriate, etc., that you feel annoyed and angry.
-- by Merriam Webster Dictionary
[Michael Moore] And I told him that somebody here would listen ...
somebody here ...
would, would, would take the request seriously.
Not just a PR person, but somebody who has some authority ...
and can answer some of the questions that they want answered.
[Mary Lorencz, Director of Media Relations for Kmart] Kmart does care about this, but I can't go any further right now.
So until I make a call ...
[To her homies] um, I'm gonna go back to the office ...
and see if there's anyone in merchandising.
[Michael Moore] Mary went back upstairs, and two hours later ...
she brought down this guy whose job it is to buy the bullets for Kmart.
[Bullet-buying Man] Stay out of trouble.
[Michael Moore] We're not the ones in trouble, guys.
[Bullet-Buying Man] [Laughing]
[Michael Moore] Mark thought he'd show him his bullet wounds.
Those are his bullet holes from your bullets.
That's where the Kmart bullets went in.
[Bullet-Buying Man] Well, take care.
[Shakes Michael's hand and leaves]
[Michael Moore] Is anybody else going to come down?
Is anybody else going to come down? Is that it?
[Bullet-Buying Man] Let me check.
[Michael Moore] Okay. Thank you.
We waited around a couple more hours, but no one else came down.
As we left the building, Mark came up with an idea.
He suggested that we go to the nearest Kmart ...
and buy out all their bullets.
Peaceful Warrior Comes for Peace
[Mark Taylor] Just take as many of those as you can.
[Craig, Clerk] Yeah, you can come around here to look.
[Mark Taylor] What else do we have over here?
You got 357s? Sure, I'll take them all, take everything you got.
[Craig, Clerk] So you're 17 and you're what?
[Mark Taylor] 16.
[Craig, Clerk] [Drops bullets] Oh, shit!
[Clerk] Oh, my God, Craig.
[Michael Moore] Mark pretty much cleaned them out of their ammunition.
And the next day, we decided to go back to Kmart headquarters with all the bullets.
This time we brought the press.
[Newswoman] Our local first coverage of Southeastern Michigan continues now with all new stories.
[Newsman] Coming up here on our 6:00 report, a warning to everyone this summer to watch out for snakes.
You'll hear from a mom who was bitten by a rattlesnake.
And also new, students who survived the Columbine massacre ...
are in town.
They are very angry with Kmart.
ANGRY: filled with anger; having a strong feeling of being upset or annoyed; showing anger; seeming to show anger; threatening or menacing.
-- by Merriam Webster Dictionary
[Michael Moore] We're here to see Chuck Conaway, the chairman of Kmart.
[Security Man] How are you doing, sir?
[Michael Moore] How you doing?
[Security Man] It's always a pleasure to see you.
Okay, uh... They would like to speak to Mr. Conaway.
[Michael Moore] Here's the 9 mms.
These are the bullets that are in both Richard ...
and in Mark's body right now.
[Mark Taylor] Want to put those back? I don't want to touch those.
[Woman] [Never looking at him once] I will do that for you, sir.
[Security Man 2] Move your group outside. I'll have somebody here in 5 minutes.
Do me a favour. Don't block the door. Just off to the side, if you would.
[Michael Moore] We'll go outside and somebody will come out.
[Lori McTavish] My name's Laurie McTavish. I'm the Vice President of Communications for Kmart.
I'm happy to deliver a statement on behalf of the company.
What happened in Columbine, Colorado, was truly tragic ...
and touched every American. And we're sorry ....
for the disadvantage to this young man.
Kmart is phasing out the sale of handgun ammunition.
The business plan calls for this to be complete ...
in the continental U.S. within the next 90 days.
[Michael Moore] Wow! Wow!
[Lori McTavish] Kmart representatives met with Mr. Moore ...
and the students from Columbine, Colorado, yesterday ...
and listened to their concerns ...
about the product carried in Kmart stores.
The company committed, at the end of that meeting ...
that Kmart would have an answer for them within a week's time.
[Michael Moore] Well, the first thing we want to do is thank you ...
for committing to no longer selling handgun ammunition ...
in your stores. And within 90 days.
[Lori McTavish] The process will be phased out within 90 days.
BILLY THE KID. $500 Reward. I will pay $500 reward to any person or persons who will capture MICHAEL MOORE alias BILLY THE KID. Deliver him to any sheriff of New Mexico. Satisfactory proofs of identity will be required for reward. LEW. WALLACE, Governor of New Mexico.
[Michael Moore] And after 90 days, there will be no more selling of ammunition ...
that can go into handguns or assault weapons.
[Lori McTavish] Firearm ammunition, we will not sell it after 90 days in our stores.
[Michael Moore] Well, we greatly appreciate that.
[Lori McTavish] Thank you.
[Michael Moore] Thank you very much. Thank you. That's really great.
[Everyone clapping]
[Michael Moore] Thank you. Wow! That blows my mind.
That's more than what we asked for.
[Mark Taylor] It's remarkable.
[Michael Moore] Yeah. Well, like I told you ... Did you think?
[Mark Taylor] No!
[Michael Moore] We're just getting ready to go to the airport.
[Mark Taylor] We were ready to go home!
"Warriors are not what you think of as warriors. The warrior is not someone who fights, because no one has the right to take another life. The warrior, for us, is one who sacrifices himself for the good of others. His task is to take care of the elderly, the defenseless, those who can not provide for themselves, and above all, the children, the future of humanity."
-- Sitting Bull
ANGRY: filled with anger; having a strong feeling of being upset or annoyed; showing anger; seeming to show anger; threatening or menacing.
-- by Merriam Webster Dictionary
[Michael Moore] The kids from Columbine had scored an overwhelming victory against Kmart ...
and it inspired me to do something that I knew I had to do.
All I needed was a star map.
***
[Michael Moore] [Ringing the bell at Charlton Heston's Mansion]
[Charlton Heston] Hello?
[Michael Moore] Mr. Heston?
[Charlton Heston] Yeah.
[Michael Moore] This is Michael Moore.
[Charlton Heston] Yes.
[Michael Moore] The filmmaker?
[Charlton Heston] Yes, of course.
[Michael Moore] Yes. How you doing?
[Charlton Heston] Fine, thank you.
[Michael Moore] Uh, listen, I was wondering if maybe I could talk to you. We're making a documentary ...
about the whole gun issue. And I'm a member of the NRA.
I thought maybe we could talk a little bit about --
[Charlton Heston] I'll tell you what, let me look at my calendar. I may be able to give you some time tomorrow.
I have some people here now.
[Michael Moore] Okay, how can I --
[Charlton Heston] Hold the phone.
[Michael Moore] Okay, thank you.
[Charlton Heston] Okay.
I can give you a little time tomorrow morning. I think that's Thursday.
[Michael Moore] Yes.
[Charlton Heston] Let's say 8:30.
[Michael Moore] 8:30 in the morning?
[Charlton Heston] Yeah. Okay?
[Michael Moore] And just come here?
[Charlton Heston] Here.
[Michael Moore] Yes.
[Charlton Heston] Yep.
[Michael Moore] Okay, good.
***
[The Next Morning]
[Michael Moore] [Ringing the bell again]
[Man] Hello?
[Michael Moore] Hi. It's Michael Moore here to see Charlton Heston.
[Man] Okay.
[Music] It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood
[Michael Moore] Hi. Good morning.
How are you?
[Charlton Heston] Fine.
[Michael Moore] Thank you very much for agreeing to see me.
***
Ten years ago this past week, Clint Eastwood stood in front of the National Board of Review awards dinner and announced to me and to the crowd that he would "kill" me if I ever came to his house with my camera for an interview.
"I'll kill you," he declared.
The crowd laughed nervously. As for me, having just experienced a half-dozen assaults in the previous year from crazies upset at 'Fahrenheit 9/11' and my anti-war Oscar speech ...
Thank you very much. On behalf of our producers Kathleen Glynn and Michael Donovan from Canada, I’d like to thank the Academy for this. I’ve invited my fellow documentary nominees on the stage with us, and we would like to — they are here — they are here in solidarity with me because we like non-fiction.
We like nonfiction and we live in fictitious times.
We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that elects a fictitious President.
We — We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons.
Whether it’s the fiction of duct tape or the fiction of orange alerts, we are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you, Mr. Bush, shame on you.
And any time you’ve got the Pope and the Dixie Chicks against you, your time is up.
Thank you very much.
... plus the attempt by a right wing extremist to blow up my house (he was caught in time and went to prison), I was a bit stunned to hear Eastwood, out of the blue, make such a violent statement. But I instantly decided he was just trying to be funny, so I laughed the same nervous laugh everyone else did. Clint, though, didn't seem to like all that laughter.
"I mean it," he barked, and the audience grew more quiet. "I'll shoot you."
-- The Day Clint Eastwood Said He Would "Kill" Me, 10 Years Ago This Week, by Michael Moore
[Michael Moore] He took me out to his pool and tennis house so we could have a chat.
I told him that I was a lifetime member of the NRA ...
and showed him my membership card.
[Charlton Heston] Good for you. Well done.
[Michael Moore] I assume you have guns in the house here?
[Charlton Heston] Indeed, I do.
[Michael Moore] Uh huh.
[Charlton Heston] Bad guys, take notice. [Laughing]
[Michael Moore] So you have them for protection?
[Charlton Heston] Yeah. Sure.
[Michael Moore] Have you ever been a victim of crime?
[Charlton Heston] No. No. [Knocks on wood]
[Michael Moore] Never been assaulted?
[Charlton Heston] No.
[Michael Moore] No violence toward you, but you have guns in the house.
[Charlton Heston] Loaded.
[Michael Moore] They're loaded?
[Charlton Heston] Well, if you really need a weapon for self-defence ...
you need it loaded.
[Michael Moore] Okay, but why do you need it for self-defence?
[Charlton Heston] I don't.
[Michael Moore] Yeah, you've never been a victim of crime. You haven't been assaulted.
[Charlton Heston] No, that's true.
[Michael Moore] So why don't you unload the gun?
[Charlton Heston] Because the Second Amendment gives me the right to have it loaded.
[Michael Moore] Oh, I agree.
I totally agree with that.
I'm just saying, the Second Amendment gives me ...
[Charlton Heston] Let's say it's a comfort factor, you know?
[Michael Moore] It gives you comfort to know that there's a loaded gun?
[Charlton Heston] Yeah.
[Michael Moore] Well, comfort meaning that it allows you to relax and feel safe?
[Charlton Heston] Not worry about it.
[Michael Moore] Not worry. Not be afraid.
[Charlton Heston] And I'm not really, but, uh...
I'm exercising one of the rights ...
passed on down to me ...
from those wise, old, dead White guys that invented this country.
If it was good enough for them, it's good enough for me.
[Michael Moore] But you could still exercise the right just by having the gun unloaded and locked away somewhere.
[Charlton Heston] I know that. I choose to have it.
[Michael Moore] What sort of strikes me as interesting ...
is that in other countries, where they don't have the murder rate, the gun-murder rate that we have ...
that many people say, "Well, that's because they don't have guns around.
It's hard to get a gun in Britain or Germany, or whatever."
But we went to Canada ...
and there's 7 million guns in 10 million homes.
[Charlton Heston] There won't be, very long.
[Michael Moore] But hear me out, though.
[Charlton Heston] Okay.
[Michael Moore] Canada is a nation of hunters ...
millions of guns ...
and yet they had just a few murders last year.
That's it. A country of 30 million people. Then why -- here's my question --
Why is it that they've got all these guns laying around ...
yet they don't kill each other at the level that we kill each other?
[Charlton Heston] I think American history ...
has a lot of blood on its hands.
[Michael Moore] Oh, and Germany history doesn't?
[Charlton Heston] No.
[Michael Moore] And British history?
[Charlton Heston] I don't think as much.
[Michael Moore] Oh, Germans don't have as much blood on their hands?
[Charlton Heston] Uh, they do, yes.
[Michael Moore] The Brits? They ruled the world for 300 years at the barrel of a gun.
They're all violent people. They have bad guys, they have crime.
They have lots of guns in the past.
[Charlton Heston] Well, that's an interesting point which can be explored, and you're good to explore it ...
at great length, but I think that's about all I have to say on it.
[Michael Moore] You don't have any opinion as to why that is that we are the unique country ...
the only country, that does this? That kills each other on this level with guns?
[Charlton Heston] Well, we have probably, a more mixed ethnicity ...
than other countries, some other countries.
[Michael Moore] You think it's an ethnic thing?
[Charlton Heston] No, I don't. It's... I wouldn't go so far as to say that.
We had enough problems with civil rights in the beginning.
And it's... But, uh, I have no answer for that.
[Michael Moore] Well, what do you mean, you think it's a mixed ethnicity? I don't understand.
[Charlton Heston] You said how is it that...
[Michael Moore] That we're unique.
[Charlton Heston] so many Americans ...
kill each other? I don't know that that's true, but even ...
[Michael Moore] Well, no, you know that.
We know we have the highest murder rate with guns.
It's way higher than any other country.
[Charlton Heston] The only answer I can give you is the one I already gave you.
[Michael Moore] Which is?
[Charlton Heston] Which is that we have a history ...
[Michael Moore] Historically?
[Charlton Heston] of violence, perhaps more than most countries.
Not more than Russia, not more than Japan or China.
[Michael Moore] Not more than Germany.
[Charlton Heston] Not more than Germany, but certainly more than Canada.
[Michael Moore] I come from Flint, Michigan, and last year a little 6-year-old boy ...
took a gun into a classroom and shot and killed a 6-year-old girl.
[Charlton Heston] [Raises his eyebrows]
[Michael Moore] And it was really a tragic thing.
[Charlton Heston] This was kids, though.
[Michael Moore] A 6-year-old, yeah. Did you hear about this?
[Charlton Heston] Yeah.
[Michael Moore] A 6-year-old shooting a 6-year-old?
[Charlton Heston] Yeah.
[Michael Moore] Well, here's my question.
After that happened, you came to Flint and held a big rally.
[Charlton Heston] Mm-hmm.
[Michael Moore] And, you know, I just--
[Charlton Heston] So did the Vice President. [Laughs]
[Michael Moore] Yeah, but did you feel it was being at all insensitive ...
to the fact that this community had just gone through ...
[Charlton Heston] Actually, I wasn't aware of that at the time we came.
We came and did an early morning rally ...
and went on to wherever we were going.
[Michael Moore] You didn't know at the time when you were there that this killing had happened?
[Charlton Heston] No.
[Michael Moore] Had you known, would you have not come?
[Charlton Heston] Would I have cancelled the, uh...
[Michael Moore] Yeah.
[Charlton Heston] I don't... It's hard to say.
[Michael Moore] It wasn't like it was already planned.
I mean, the choice to come there was made after this horrible killing took place.
[Charlton Heston] Yeah. Mm-hmm.
[Michael Moore] You know, had you known that, would you have come?
[Charlton Heston] I don't know. I have no idea.
[Michael Moore] Maybe not.
[Charlton Heston] Yeah.
[Michael Moore] Maybe not.
[Charlton Heston] Okay. Thank you.
[Michael Moore] Do you think you'd like to just maybe apologize to the people in Flint for coming and doing that at that time?
[Charlton Heston] [Unbelievingly] You want me to apologize -- ME to apologize to the people in Flint?
[Michael Moore] Or the people in Columbine for coming after their horrible tragedy.
And why do you go to the places after they have these horrible tragedies?
You know, I'm a member of your group here and I'm ...
[Charlton Heston] Well, I'm afraid we don't agree on that.
[Michael Moore] You think it's okay to just come and show up at these events.
[Charlton Heston] [Pats Michael on the shoulder and leaves] Yeah.
[Following Charlton Heston down the walkway]
Mr. Heston, just one more thing.
This is who she is, or was. This is her.
[Charlton Heston] [Looks, then turns around and leaves.]
[Michael Moore] Mr. Heston, please don't leave.
Mr. Heston, please. Take a look at her.
This is the girl.
[Charlton Heston] [Keeps walking away, goes in his front door and shuts it]
ARROGANT: exaggerating or disposed to exaggerate one's own worth or importance often by an overbearing manner; showing an offensive attitude of superiority; proceeding from or characterized by arrogance.
-- by Merriam Webster Dictionary
[Michael Moore] Hmm.
[Puts the picture down near the front door]
[Music]
[Michael Moore] I left the Heston estate atop Beverly Hills, and walked back into the real world,
an America living and breathing in fear.
***
[Michael Moore] [Talking to man with a "Fuck Everybody" hat on] In your mind, you imagine somebody
who might break into your house ...
to harm you or your family. What does that person look like?
[Fuck Everybody Man] You. Her. Him. The camera guy. Anybody.
There could be a gun in the camera. I don't know.
[Michael Moore] Gun sales were now at an all-time high.
[Gun Salesman] You can shoot as fast as with a semi-automatic.
[Michael Moore] And where, in the end ...
it all comes back to bowling for Columbine.
[TRIPLE HOMICIDE]
[Newswoman] Three bowling alley employees shot to death ...
Sunday night at the AMF Broadway Lanes.
[Employee] There's nothing I really know. I mean, I really don't know anything.
[Michael Moore] Just that three people died ...
[Employee] Right.
[Michael Moore] in Littleton, in a bowling alley.
I'm sorry.
[Employee] Have a nice day.
[Michael Moore] Yes, it was a glorious time to be an American.
[Throws the bowling ball and knocks ALL the pins down]
***
[Music] What a Wonderful World, by Joey Ramone
I see trees of green
Red roses too
I see them bloom
For me and you
And I say to myself
What a wonderful world
I see skies of blue
and clouds of white
Bright sunny days
Dark sacred nights
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
The colors of the rainbow
Are so pretty in the sky
And also on the faces
of people walking by
I see friends shaking hands
Saying how do you do?
They're really saying
I love you
A Film by Michael Moore
Produced by Kathleen Glynn
Jim Czarnecki
Producers: Charles Bishop
Michael Donovan
Co-Producer/Editor: Kurt Engfehr
Supervising Producer: Tia Lessin
Line Producer: Siobhan Oldham
Coordinating Producer: Rehya Young
Executive Producer: Wolfram Tichy
Executives in Charge of Production: Jenipher Ritchie, Salter Street Films
Dirk Wilutzki, VIF 2
Field Producers: Jeff Gibbs
Meghan O'Hara
Gillian Aldrich
Chris Aldred
Charlie Siskel
Camera: Brian Danitz
Michael McDonough
Sound: Francisco Latorre
James Demer
Associate Editor: T. Woody Richman
Original Music: Jeff Gibbs
Additional Camera: Chris Bell
Mike Casey
Michasel Desjarlais
Craig Hymson
Edward C. Kukla
Additional Sound: Brian Foley
Assistant Camera: Mikey Jackson
Chief Archivist: Carl Deal
Archival Researchers: Amy McCampbell
Aneetha Rajan
Archival Staff: Lana Garland
Donna Lee
Katy Mostoller
Gina Kim
Nancy Swartz
Research: Elizabeth Marcus
Nicky Lazar
David Schankula
Catherine Johnston
Special thanks to: Prof. Barry Glassner, USC
Post Production Supervisor: David Coole
Technical Finishing Supervisor: Jason E. Stoff
Assistant Editors: Luis Ortiz Guillen
David S. Tung
Shannon Guirl
Kristine Smith
Laura Weinberg
Supervising Sound Editor: Joe Caterini
Dialogue and Effects Editing: Patrick Donahue
Rob Daly
Matt Haasch
Re-recording Mixers: Reilly Steele
Peter Waggoner
Mixed at: Caterini Studios and Sound One
Music Recording and Editing: David Wilson
Additional Sound Editing: Elizabeth Marcus
Online Editor: Bob Gleason
Engineer: Charles Suydam
Additional Online Editor: Jon Budine
Assistant Online Editors: Frederick O'Neill
Karl George
Lou Acosta
Animation by: Harold Moss
FlickerLab
Character Design: Ryan Sias
Animators: Aneurin Wright
Matthew Bookbinder
David Concepcion
Gaia Cornwall
Miguel Hernandez
Kareem Thompson
Animation Sound: Tom Lino
Business and Legal Affairs, Salter Street Films
Kelly Bray
Floyd Kane
Legal Services provided by
Andrew Hurwitz
Sue Bodine
Legal Affairs VIF 2
Alexandra Bauermeister
Music Clearances: Christine Bergren
Production Office Manager: Maureen McCarron
Assistant to Mr. Moore: Jonathan Irvin
Production Accountants: Sandy Green
Beth Schniebolk
Reneira Wolff
Dave MacDougall
Debra Beck
Heike Guenther
Production Assistants: Josh Fifarek
Gregory A. Fortner
Karen Herron
Craig Hymson
John Kazlauskas
Jayne Laube-Nelson
Monika Lohrbeer
Lizzy McCarron
Donald McCloskey
Kenna McHugh
Shawn Miles
Huttenberg Nassar
Hamid Razik
Rich Rinker
Natalie Rose
Anne Sullivan
Alex Van Nortwick
David Michael Waszak
Interns: Rebecca Cohen
Phaea Crede
Christina DiCerbo
Jessica Hunkele
Bryn Neuenschwander
Alexandra Posada
Daniel Rivera
Haim Samuels
Mara Sanchez
Daniella Spinat
Caitlin Taylor
Chris Yaffes
Video Supervisor: Joe Monge
Technical Supervisor: Lloyd Forcellini
Digital Supervisor: Markus Janner
Arri Laser Transfer: George Rubacky
Color Timer: David Pultz
Colorists: Mike Maguire
Jane Tolmachy
Walter Lefler
8 mm Film Transfer: Brodsky & Treadway
Negative Matching: JG Films
Frame for Frame Accurate
Archival Footage
"Chris Rock: Bigger and Blacker", Courtesy of Home Box Office
"South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut", Courtesy of Paramount Pictures and Courtesy Warner Bros.
Stills Courtesy of:
"Take the Skinheads Bowling," Written by Victor Krummenacher, David Lowery, Christopher Molla, Jonathan Segel, Performed by Teenage Fanclub
"I Want to Go Back to Michigan", Written by Irving Berlin, Performed by Billy Murray
"Happiness is a Warm Gun," Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Performed by The Beatles, Courtesy of EMI-Capitol Music Group under license from EMI Film & Television Music
"What a Wonderful World," Written by Robert Thiele and George Weiss, Performed by Louis Armstrong, Courtesy of MCA Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
"The Nobodies," Written by John Lowery and Brian Warner, Performed by Kurt Engfehr
"Mountain Town," Written by Trey Parker and Marc Shaiman, Performed by Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Mary Kay Bergman, Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
"Fight Song," Written by John Lowry and Brian Warner, Performed by Marilyn Manson, Courtesy of Interscope Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
"Corporation Man," Written by Donald McCloskey, Bob Golden & Lance Doss, Performed by Bob Golden & Lance Doss, Sung by Daryl Pediford, Courtesy of Saavy Kat Music
"How the West Was Won And Where It Got Us," Written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe, Performed by R.E.M., Courtesy of Warner Brothers Records by arrangement with Warner Special Products
"Bandstand Boogie," Written by Charles Albertine, Larry Elgart, Les Elgart, Bob Horn, Barry Manilow, Bruce Sussman, Performed by Barry Manilow, Courtesy of Arista Records under license from BMG Special Products
"Americana," Written by Bryan Keith Holland, Performed by The Offspring, Courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment by arrangement with Sony Music Licensing
"Won't You Be My Neighbour," Written by Fred Rogers, Performed by David Reid & Adam Morrison, Courtesy of Family Communications and Record Company
"What a Wonderful World," Written by Robert Thiele and George Weiss, Performed by Joey Ramone, Courtesy of Sanctuary Records
Special Thanks to:
Special thanks to our parents Frank & Veronica Moore and James & Donna Glynn
In memory of John Alberts, Herb Cleaves, Jr. and Laura Wilcox
Contact the filmmakers at
http://www.michaelmoore.com© 2002 Iconolatry Productions Inc., an Alliance Atlantis Company and FIB Babelsberger Filmproduktion GmbH & Co. Zweite KG are the author and creator of this motion picture for the purpose of copyright and other laws in all countries throughout the world.
BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE