Defending the Truth

Michael Moore Denies He Owned Halliburton
Thursday, Dec. 1, 2005 9:05 a.m. EST

Bush-bashing filmmaker Michael Moore is denying he ever owned stock in Halliburton Energy Services Company, the oil equipment giant once run by Vice President Dick Cheney that has become anathma to left-wingers.

Speaking last week at the first annual Paul Wellstone Memorial Dinner in Washington, D.C., Moore claimed that the Halliburton allegation in Peter Schweizer's blockbuster new book "Do As I Say, [Not As I Do]," is "crazy."

"Michael Moore own Halliburton stock?" the anti-corporate lefty asked the crowd. "See, that's like a great comedy line. I know it's not true - I mean, I've never owned a share of stock in my life."

Moore protested: "Anybody who knows me knows that, you know - who's gonna believe that? Just crazy people are going to believe it - crazy people who tune-in to the Fox News Channel."

And maybe crazy people who can read with their own eyes the tax return for Mr. Moore's very own foundation - as reprinted in Schweizer's book.

"Publicly, Moore claims that he doesn't invest in the stock market out of moral principle. Privately, he tells the IRS something completely different."

Schweizer explains how the widely acclaimed anti-corporatist set up a private foundation after his first major film, "Roger & Me," started making serious money.

In 1999, "the year Moore claimed in 'Stupid White Men' that he didn't own any stock, he reported to the IRS that his foundation had more than $280,000 in corporate stock and close to $100,000 in corporate bonds."

"And in perhaps the ultimate irony," notes Schweizer, "he also has owned shares in Halliburton. According to IRS filings, Moore sold Halliburton for a 15 percent profit and bought shares in Noble, Ford, General Electric" and other allegedly evil corporations.

Moore is currently working on a documentary attacking big pharmaceuticals.

But Schweizer discovered that Moore's foundation holdings have "included such evil pharmaceutical and medical companies as Pfizer, Merck, Genzyme, Elan PLC, Eli Lilly, Becton Dickinson and Boston Scientific."

Schweizer continues:

"Moore's supposedly nonexistent portfolio also includes big bad energy giants like Sunoco, Noble Energy, Schlumberger, Williams Companies, Transocean Sedco Forex and Anadarko, all firms that 'deplete irreplaceable fossil fuels in the name of profit' as he put it in ‘Dude, Where's My Country?'

"Also on Moore's investment menu: defense contractors Honeywell, Boeing and Loral."

Does Moore share the stock proceeds of his "foundation" with charitable causes, you might ask?

Schweizer found that "for a man who by 2002 had a net worth in eight figures, he gave away a modest $36,000 through the foundation, much of it to his friends in the film business or tony cultural organizations that later provided him with venues to promote his books and film."

Moore's hypocrisy doesn't end with his financial holdings.

He has criticized the journalism industry and Hollywood for their lack of African-Americans in prominent positions, and in 1998 he said he personally wanted to hire minorities "who come from the working class."

In "Stupid White Men," he proclaimed his plans to "hire only black people."

But when Schweizer checked the senior credits for Moore's latest film "Fahrenheit 911," he found that of the movie's 14 producers, three editors, production manager and production coordinator, all 19 were white. So were all three cameramen and the two people who did the original music.

On "Bowling for Columbine," 13 of the 14 producers were white, as were the two executives in charge of production, the cameramen, the film editor and the music composer.

His show "TV Nation" had 13 producers, four film editors and 10 writers – but not a single African-American among them.

And as for Moore's insistence on portraying himself as "working class" and an "average Joe," Schweizer recounts this anecdote:

"When Moore flew to London to visit people at the BBC or promote a film, he took the Concorde and stayed at the Ritz. But he also allegedly booked a room at a cheap hotel down the street where he could meet with journalists and pose as a ‘man of humble circumstances.'"

Michael Moore, that's not "crazy" -- that's hypocrisy with a capital H!

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2.../1/90607.shtml

I don't see the point. I think the point would be alot more valid if he currently owned stock in Halliburton. I have owned stock in several companies which I don't support. When I learned more about the company, I ditched the stock. Plain and simple. Hell I hate Microsoft, but I own MSFT Stock now. Why? It makes me money. Sure I wish they'd change some of their business practices, but I am not going to abandon the stock. Furthermore, at the time he owned the stock, who knew anything about haliburton? Were they even as evil then? This story is full of shit.

Moore's films are all about how much he hates big business and corporations; while he has investments in those big businesses and corporations

IRS documents? They are private, are they not?
Until he shows the proof the story is a bunch of hot air.

True.

In F 9/11 he painted a picture that the war in Iraq was started SOLELY for making Hilliburton money. Then we find out that Moore owns stock in this evil disgusting company.

The war in Iraq IS solely to make Haliburton profit. He never said that he did not want a peice of that profit. He's a fat worthless peice of shit... Would you expect anything better from this horrid example of humanity. He's as low of a bastard as Bush is.

He has done and is doing more to get you home from the false war than most.

What is a shame is you may be right, even given that he has made no sincere attempt to do anything.

I will guarentee you that if a Democrat was in office, he would support EVERYTHING that Democrat would stand for. Even if that Democrat went to war that was very unsuccessful, he would do everything in his power to make it seem like it's a good thing.