Michael Moore Says "Capitalism Is Evil," But Lives On A $1.2 Million Estate Where He Was Caught Filling In Wetlands To Expand His Beach
Michael Moore in the news again. Michigan's resident hypocrite, in so many ways that it baffles logic, has wrapped on a new non-documentary documentary “Capitalism: A Love Story,” where he says at the end "capitalism is evil." Except when it benefits him. From Reuters via memeorandum:
Capitalism is evil. That is the conclusion U.S. documentary maker Michael Moore comes to in his latest movie "Capitalism: A Love Story," which premieres at the Venice film festival Sunday.
Blending his trademark humor with tragic individual stories, archive footage and publicity stunts, the 55-year-old launches an all out attack on the capitalist system, arguing that it benefits the rich and condemns millions to poverty.
"Capitalism is an evil, and you cannot regulate evil," the two-hour movie concludes.
Uh - isn't Moore one of those evil beneficiaries? Turns out, Moore lives on a $1.2 million waterfront estate (UPDATE: now assessed at about $650,000 and taxed on half that assessed value. See below) You wonder if he used the tanking housing values to get his lawyers to get the property assessed downward that much to avoid property taxes as much as possible. It would be par for the course for someone who is an eco-hypocrite as well, partially filling in wetlands on that very estate some years ago to expand his beachfront! From Tim Blair some time back:
To celebrate today’s Oscar Madison awards in Hollywood, here’s a piece on comical, hysterical, spherical Michael Moore:
Perhaps nothing irritates Moore more than criticism of his lifestyle.
He's been known to refer to his house on 10 acres of Torch Lake frontage as a cabin, as if it were a place with four walls, a roof, an outhouse and a stack of cordwood to beat back the chill in winter.
Technically, it is a log cabin. Two stories.
According to Antrim County records, the home is worth $1.2 million.
Former Moore pal Ben Hamper -- "I'm just another person he's outgrown" -- has an interesting theory about Moore’s capacity for denial:
At an appearance at Michigan State University in late January, Moore took questions after his two-hour talk. A student asked if rumors about him building on a wetland Up North were true.
Silence. Then: "Don't know what you're talking about."
According to state records, Moore partially filled in a wetland to improve his beach. He quickly fixed the problem and wasn't fined.
Why deny it?
"A pathological need to be right," Hamper said.
That need is so rarely satisfied.
Environmental regulation for thee, but not for me!!! Bald. Faced. Hypocrisy. Especially considering that Moore now hopes that automaker GM will outright fail as a company, since cars are "WMDs for global warming." I kid you not! He said that very thing after making a name for himself with the documentary Roger and Me about how corporate greed was destroying GM! (Michigan's Michael Moore on GM: Filled with "Joy" Over Demise, cars "WMDs responsible for global warming")
So Moore is happy that GM is bankrupt, right after Chrysler. Michigan moms and dads lost jobs. Lots of them. And Moore is happy sitting in his big house using up all the natural resources to his heart's desire. Moore - just stick with the propaganda already...
UPDATE: Gateway Pundit has more detail on Moore's residence:
Just some data for if you run a piece on Michael Moore's new movie.
Capitalism sure has been evil for Mike. For reference, Torch Lake is among the two or three most desirable places to live in Northern Michigan. Normally Moore says that Traverse City is his adopted hometown, or lies and says that he lives in Bellaire, like he has some kind of log cabin in the woods.
Nope, his home is an expensive house on 150 ft of lake frontage.
Owner Name(s):MOORE MICHAEL & GLYNN KATHLEEN
Property Address:
*** * **** ***** **** **
CENTRAL LAKE, MI 49622
Property Information
Current Taxable Value:$390,976
School District:Bellaire
Current Assessment:$647,200
Current Homestead:100%
Current Property Class:40 - Residential
Last Year's Assessment:$647,200
Last Year's Homestead:100%
Last Year's Property Class:40 - Residential
Lake Frontage:Torch Lake
Waterfront Footage:150.48 ft. "17
The assessed value is almost half of what it was back in 2004. Question: did Moore send lawyers down to the township to argue down the assessed value of his property to pay less in property taxes?
UPDATE #2: From Wired.com blog back in 2002, a very early Glenn Reynolds/Instapundit sighting displaying more Moore hypocrisy:
Satirist Michael Moore, who comically exposed corporate evasiveness in the film Roger & Me and the TV series The Awful Truth, seems to have turned the joke on himself online.
"Years From Now They'll Call it 'Payback Tuesday'," Moore wrote in a hyperbolic letter urging his fans to vote in the U.S. elections Nov. 5. The full letter, posted to michaelmoore.com two days before the vote, predicted, "We will deny Bush control of the Congress next week ... Expect a wake-up call from me at your bedside 6 a.m. Tuesday!"
After Republicans handily won majorities in both the House and Senate, the essay disappeared from Moore's site.
The irony of Moore –- who ambushes executives and politicians on film with their own statements -- apparently trying to erase his own words was too rich even for some of his fans.
Taking a lesson from Moore himself, bloggers dug up cached copies of the page and posted both text and screenshots to their journals. Others pasted it into Moore's own message board.
Conservative political writers, often at loggerheads with Moore's progressive screeds, had a field day linking to what they called proof of Moore's hypocrisy.
"Well, it is vaguely reminiscent of the shredding at Enron, isn't it?" Instapundit editor Glenn Reynolds wrote in an e-mail. "Removing evidence of bad predictions about future success."
Goes way back, no?
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