T U E S D A Y , M A Y 1 7 , 2 0 0 5Cannes Film Festival: Americablog Is Thereby Michael in New York on 5/17/2005 02:35:00 PMI'm attending the Cannes Film Festival as part of my other lifeas a freelance entertainment journalist.</p><p> Here's some of thepolitical news from the fest:*Kevin Bacon was in one European magazine in what waseither a feature or an ad (it was hard to tell).</p><p> It featured apicture of the beautiful Cannes beach and below it was apostcard addressed "From Kevin Bacon to George W.</p><p> Bush.'The weather is here...wish you were beautiful! Love, KB."Unquestionably, this endeared him to Europeans.*Director Lars Von Trier held forth on US politics during thepress conference for his American slave allegory "Manderlay"(the second part of a US trilogy that began with the excellent"Dogville").</p><p> Von Trier said that 60% of his brain is taken upwith the US and he hates it but there's nothing he can do -- wedominate the world.</p><p> He said, "Bush is an asshole" and insistedthis wasn't controversial but a simple fact since the US is"shitting on the world." His movie, unfortunately, was far lessentertaining than his interview.*"The Power of Nightmares" is a three-part BBC doumentarythat proved the most entertaining and provocative.</p><p> It aired inthe UK in 2004 and created quite a stir.</p><p> Now it's been updatedand merged into one film that's 137 minutes long.</p><p> The basicpremise: the neocons in the US and the fundamentalist radicalsdeveloped side by side and use similar tactics -- they create aboogieman enemy far more dangerous than the facts suggestto enthrall people, instill fear in them and win their allegiance.Strongest when it sticks to facts and weakest when it dealswith broad sweeping issues (like the fall of the USSR), thisdocumentary doesn't break new ground but does a terrific jobof stringing together the public record and reminding people ofrecent history.</p><p> There's damning but funny footage of Rumsfeldin the 70s making hysterical claims about the tottering SovietUnion and even better footage of him on "Meet The Press"talking about a James Bond-like underground bunker that BinLaden supposedly had in the mountains ofPakistan/Afghanistan (seen away from the fear of those days,the claim looks absurd and of course no real evidence for thebunker exists).</p><p> It details the numerous legal "success stories"in the war on terror in the US and UK and reminds everyonethat most of the cases completely fell apart and even the oneswith a little substance were blown radically out of proportion.Dirty bombs? Our own government has done tests showingthey simply don't work under the best of circumstances andthat the total deaths from a dirty bomb would be...zero.</p><p> And onand on it goes, very wittily jumping from the 70s to the 80s(when the CIA was ordered by head William Casey to develop areport claiming lies it spread about the USSR in an attempt tosmear the Soviet Union in the media were actually true) andright up to today.</p><p> It's a shame they didn't include Tom Ridgeadmitting that those endless terror alerts were based on flimsyevidence most of the time, but perhaps they'll still fiddle withit.</p><p> US distributors are afraid to pick it up (and think theMoveon.org crowd has moved on since the election) and if PBStried to air it, the right would simply torch the place and moveon.</p><p> But keep your eyes open for it: it's very fun and catnip for EschatonOvernight - Folk On.</p><p> Newish.4 minutes ago HuffPost PoliticsMichael Likosky: Ed Rendell: Hardest Working Manin Infrastructure - At this year's National GovernorsAssociation (NGA) meeting, Governor Ed Rendell'stenure as Chair fittingly came to a close with aplenary session on infras...6 minutes ago Daily KosOpen Thread and Diary Rescue - *Today, srkp23(pulling a double shift), ybruti, taylormattd,ItsJessMe and vcmvo2 combed through hundredsof diaries to find this powerful list.</p><p> Today's...22 minutes ago Crooks and LiarsOpen Thread - Open Thread below...33 minutes ago FiredoglakePecora in Perspective: Investment Banking,Commercial Banking, and Glass-Steagall - ThePecora Commission report devotes a substantialamount of pages to discussion of the evils ofallowing the commingling of commercial bankingservices, i...1 hour agoJ O H N ' S P H OT O S Show AllA M E R I C A B L O G T V Next 6AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: Cannes...http://www.americablog.com/2005/05/cannes-ļ¬lm-festival-amer... 1 of 57/23/09 12:06 AMVisit our AMERICAblog TV site.see all 322 videos >I collect with vodpod For the GOPers, healthcare is politics.</p><p> They just Traditional media has todebunk the birthers One small step...</p><p> The right-wing media, thevoices of the GOP, in REM - Orange CrushAMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: Cannes...http://www.americablog.com/2005/05/cannes-ļ¬lm-festival-amer... 2 of 57/23/09 12:06 AMEzra KleinTab Dump4 hours agoWonk RoomSen.</p><p> Byron Dorgan:The āTradeā InCap-And-Trade āMakesNo Sense To Meā5 hours agoHealth BeatTruth Squad: WallStreet Journal HealthCare Editorial Wrong onthe Facts . . .6 hours agoThe TreatmentHatch Is Out8 hours agoDaily DoseProviders Endorse 'Payfor Value' Proposals14 hours agoG AY P O L I T I C S Visit our new gay politicssection, AMERICAblog Gay.F E E D S Blog RSS AMERICAblog TV RSS Twitter RSSTwitter Feed Get the blog by email: Subscribe me! 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