Rating: 
Summary: fat b@stard
Review: Why? Someone has described it as "political comfort food", where you get served up your own opinions and prejudices in a way that makes you feel better about yourself. It's fine to hate Bush, to loathe Tony Blair and to feel yourself to be - uncomplicatedly - vindicated. Moore routinely uses the word "lie" to cover real lies, genuine mistakes, wrong predictions and - worst of all - straightforward disagreements. No need for thought.When Moore does present anything like a thesis, it is confused and contradictory. In Bowling for Columbine, for which our under-fire hero won an Oscar, he seemed to be arguing that the essence of the gun problem was availability. But Moore also contrasted the US with Canada, which, per capita, has as many guns and many fewer slayings. It was the aggressive, paranoid culture itself - Moore suggested - that was the problem. But in that case the reviled National Rifle Association was innocent and irrelevant; no more culpable than their Canadian counterparts. Moore didn't even nod at the contradiction. Arguably worse, Moore has been accused of serious inaccuracies of fact, which you can find detailed on a liberal website called Spinsanity. I won't go into them here but I was interested in Moore's response when he was tackled on CNN not so long ago about these errors. The presenter Lou Dobbs asked him about the accusations. Part of the transcript goes like this: Moore: I think they found some guy named Dan was named Dave, and there was another thing. But you know, look, this is a book of political humour. So, I mean, I don't respond to that sort of stuff, you know. Dobbs: Glaring inaccuracies? Moore: No, I don't. Why should I? How can there be inaccuracy in comedy? You know. Dobbs: That does give one licence. I think you may have given all of us a loophole. Moore: When Jonathan Swift said that what the Irish do is eat their young - in other words, that's what the British were proposing during the famine - I think that, you know, you have to understand satire. You certainly do.
Rating: 
Summary: P J O'Rourke does it better...
Review: As a classical liberal (freedom before equality) I read this book for a laugh and can recommend it for that (he's much funnier than Chomsky but not as funny as O'Rourke). For those of a modern liberal bent (equality before freedom) looking for a cause (clue) you'll not find it here - it's the same old idiotarianism that makes the job of those who run the world much easier...
Rating:
Summary: The very definition of demagoguery
Review: As long as the reading public demands truculent political rags, so must we accommodate the vitriol of the O'Reillys' and Moores' of the world. Given that the Democratic party is gearing up for 2004 to be the year of the 'angry, white liberal,' Moore's 'Where's my country, Dude' is emblematic. What is especially disturbing about this book, in fact in much of Moore's recent 'contributions,' is the combination of wholesale abandonment of intellectual standards, and a frightening shrillness in vitriol. The former trait is simply unacceptable. Moore gets facts wrong habitually, fails to source others, cites websites of questionable authority, and invents still others. This kind of disregard for intellectual standards would land a failing grade in a classroom. If his arguments (are there any?) were that powerful, he should have had no trouble producing support. Similarly, the phlogistonic rhetoric will appeal exclusively to the pitchfork and torch crowd. It is yet another log to toss into the fire of what David Brooks terms 'the presidency wars.' Ultimately, what is most unfortunate about Moore's sleigh ride with the Bush-bashers is the quotidian, overwrought nature of the entire discourse. While conservatives currently enjoy the intelligent prose of George Will and a smattering of award winning neo-con authors (ie. Max Boot, Daniel Pipes), liberals seem stranded with the low-brow Moore, who makes Rush Limbaugh appear erudite. Tragically, Moore is fueling a discourse that has recently driven off truly qualified minds of the Left (Mr. Christopher Hitchens defection from the Nation a case in point), leaving nothing but demagoguery in its wake. Liberal America needs to seriously consider the consequences of projecting their image through the likes of Mr. Moore.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, if a Bit Polarizing
Review: I will tell you right up front, this book is not for everyone. There are certain elements in the US who will most likely throw this book across the room in anger after perhaps, oh, 50 pages or so because Michael Moore did not write Dude, Where's My Country to reach out to all readers. He wrote the book, I think, to reach out to, and mobilize, those who feel that Bush and his cronies are doing this nation untold harm and need to be stopped. He wrote this book to make those on the liberal end of the spectrum to feel empowered, to realize that most of the country agrees with them, they just don't realize it yet. That being said, he certainly doesn't say anything nice about conservatives and much of what he says will certainly infuriate many of those on the right. So what do you think of that? If you are thinking, "You go, Mike", well, rush right out and buy this book, you will love it, it will be empowering. If, on the other hand, his approach makes your blood boil, don't read it, log on to townhall.com and read some of their tirades until you feel better. This book is just not for you. Whereas I would recommend Al Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell them to virtually all American voters, this one is just for the liberal leaning. Moore starts the book with 7 questions for George Bush such as what's the story with the business relationship with his family and the bin Ladens. He doesn't stop there, but goes on, dissecting various lies from Bush and his buds, tells us what he's going to do with the money he's gotten from the tax cut (very funny, I won't give it away), as well as suggests a number of candidates for president. This is at times amusing and at all times entertaining and informative. It's got some information in there that will break your heart if you care about this country, as he clearly does and I challenge anyone who says that he doesn't. Patriotism isn't about blindly following policies you believe in your heart are misguided. Patriotism is about daring to try to make your country a better, and that's what Dude, Where's My Country is all about. But, as I have said above, it will infuriate all non-liberals, so if you fall into that camp, proceed at your own risk.
Rating:
Summary: Dumb and Dumber
Review: This is a very sloppy book, riddled with unproven innuendo and factual errors. To take just one small example, Mr. Moore devotes an entire chapter to a completely misguided dissertation about the expression "God bless America," which he, for no reason whatsoever, interprets as "God, bless America," a command rather than a wish or a prayer. This is supposed to illustrate how uniquely arrogant Americans are in assuming that God is at our beck and call, serving our national interests. According to Mr. Moore no other language has anything like this. (Does anyone think he made even a casual inquiry into the subject?) Anyone who knows anything about languages at all knows that it is a wish, expressed in other languages in the subjunctive mood, as in "Gott segne Deutschland," which means "May God bless Germany." In English however few verbs have a specific subjunctive form, and so this type of wish is fully expressed using the helping verbs "let" or "may." The fact that in everyday, colloquial English the words "may" or "let" are usually omitted is commonplace and inconsequential: "God bless America" is still a wish, not a command. I don't think that Tiny Tim is expressing a uniquely British arrogance toward God when he says, "God bless us every one" in Dickens's "A Christmas Carol," or that we are all bossing God around when we say "God bless you" when somebody sneezes. What nonsense! There is no humor here because Mr. Moore's entire interpretation rests upon a gross factual error. Let this stand as just one example of the general sloppiness of Mr. Moore's book.
Rating:
Summary: Read it now!
Review: "Dude where's my country" is without doubt a highly recommendable book. It is great fun but also totally serious since the subject is highly relevant not just for citizens of the US, but also for all people, who want to stay informed on what's going on in the world's most powerful country. Within the first chapters, Michael Moore looks more closely at what happened before and after September 11 and reveals interesting connections between the binLaden's and the Bush family. Terrorist threats, personal freedom, tax cuts, oil issues and how to talk to your conservative brother in law are other topics in this book.
The last chapter gives advice on how the Amaricans can get rid of George W. Bush at the next election. All the given information is carefully researched and the sources are listed in the annex. In general, "Dude where's my country" will wake you up. Therefore, it should not be read when one wants to close one's eyes on these issues. Furthermore, I can recommend Moore's website: www.michaelmoore.com for further information.
Rating:
Summary: This is the *real* State of the Union !!
Review: Thank you Mr Moore for telling the World what many of us don't want to accept (and/or admit) and raising up questions that the folks in the White House fail (and/or simply avoid) to answer. My 5 cent advice to the US folks : Get rid of GWB-the-Messiah in 2004 !! Marc Morgovsky : When you write "... Just don't assume this is serious political commentaries based on real facts or investigative reporting ...", I guess you've missed the last bit of this excellent book that says 'Notes & Sources'. GET A LIFE !
Rating: 
Summary: Good, not great
Review: Moore gives some good opinions in this book. I don't agree with the liver problems of Bin Laden though. This is pretty wheack in my opinion. There are interesting connections to Bush and other people. Moore also does not stick to one party, he criticzes the democrats as well. Like in Stupid White Men , Moore does not cuddle up to one political party, but points the bad parts of both parites. If only more people could be less ideological in their political books.
Rating:
Summary: A MUST-READ for the coming election year
Review: This book is GREAT! Michael Moore does a wonderfully entertaining job of informing and reminding us about the true nature of the greedy, corporate-ass-kissing, self-rightous, fear-provoking politicians running our country today. He somehow manages to be even-handed, not hateful, and all his reported facts are well footnoted & endnoted. He has inspired me!! I encourage every member of the Common Sense Majority to read this book and buy a copy for a friend. I did!
Rating:
Summary: Judging a book by its cover
Review: Fascinating that after so many reviews this book received an average of four stars. I might be inclined to read it had I not recently seen Mr. Moore's interview on C-SPAN. I particularly enjoyed his rant about the fact that the American Dream is a lie perpetuated by Republicans/conservatives and that we commoners should give up on believing in the Lie. Unless this author was born with a silver spoon in his mouth then I'd say that, based on his indie film success, he's quite the hypocrite for suggesting that we dare not dream of professional success ourselves. Please forgive me if I judge this book by its cover...or author.
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