In The Belly Of The Beast

Out here in LA, there's a film festival about every week. On October 1-3 there's going to be a conservative film festival. Personally, I'm against sorting films by their politics. I don't recall any liberal film festival. (I know, I know, EVERY film festival is a liberal festival.) But ya gotta have a gimmick, and this one works well enough, I suppose, especially with this year's onslaught of documentaries from the left.

One of the hot tickets is Michael Moore Hates America. I won't prejudge the film, but Roger Ebert has. Someone asked him if he'd give it a fair shot. Roger said he'd watch it but

The title is not a good omen. It seems to me that dissent is a patriotic duty, a sign of love for one's country, not hate.

I'm not sure if Roger gets the First Amendment. The right to freely express our political views without hindrance or reprisal from the government is certainly one of the glories of our nation. (Or at least it was before campaign finance reform.) But according to Ebert's reasoning, any damn thing you say against America, no matter how foolish, hateful or dishonest, is patriotic.