Mikey Nicks the Mouse

The battle royale between Walt Disney Enterprises and filmmaker Michael Moore is the kind of headline-grabber that could only take place in America -- and for that I’m grateful. But the amazing thing is that none of what’s behind the headlines is either new or news. In case you were living in a mouse hole earlier this month, The New York Times broke the story that Disney is refusing to distribute Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 911, a documentary that highlights the many links between the Bush administration and powerful Saudi families, including that of Osama bin Laden. And unless you’ve been camping in a cave, it shouldn’t come as news that the Bush petro-dynasty has been greasing the skids for the oil-soaked Saudis for decades. The fact that our government allowed influential Saudis to fly freely around our nation in the hours just after the 9/11 attacks, while every American civilian was grounded, is hardly a revelation.

What's astonishing is that the great mass of Middle America, screwed by soaring gas prices and jacked about by rising taxes, doesn't see the connection between their situation and the Bush administration's special treatment of its Saudi cronies. The fact is the 9/11 terrorists did not come from Afghanistan, much less Iraq. The killers came from Saudi Arabia, a state that still harbors and finances terrorists. If evil is any reason to invade, then Saudi Arabia should have topped administration's hit list -- were it not that these jeweled hoodlums have friends in high places.

The Times story about the Mickey-Michael battle is datelined Washington, D.C., an interesting choice since the news came out of Hollywood and Florida. But a Washington dateline was chosen, I suspect, because that's where the pricey PR firms who whore for the Saudis hawk their wares. So what are these headlines really about? The story ultimately is not about Disney CEO Michael Eisner pretending to defend the "family values" of the Magic Kingdom to pacify Roy Disney's lynch mob or the tax breaks that Eisner apparently feared losing in Florida if he pissed off Governor Jeb's big brother. It isn't even about the censorship that Moore and his minions are decrying. Realistically, regardless of whatever Disney does -- this movie will surely be distributed widely. What's really central here is what's at the heart of Moore's movie itself: the fact that the Saudis have bought off the Bushites and have, in effect, made puppets of us all.

Much of America suspects this, but it still hasn't penetrated the nation's consciousness. Instead, we choose to stay as stupid as Goofy and as quiet as mice. But it's time that the American public learns that it is a small world after all. And if it takes this dogfight in the headlines to shake our lethargy -- well, I say bring it on.

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