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Greg Palast wrote:
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<h2><font face="Arial">AMERICAN BLACKOUT </font></h2>
<font face="Arial" size="3"><strong><em>Featuring Cynthia
McKinney, Greg Palast, Bernie Sanders, Bob Fitrakis and many
others...</em></strong></font>
<p><font face="Arial"><br>
</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">September 28, 2006<br>
By Zach
Roberts</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">I'm going to start this with a sales
pitch: you need to buy this film. No, really. Not because Greg Palast
receives second billing but because you <em>must see</em> this
film.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">American Blackout is the kind of
documentary that only comes along every few years. It's the sort of
film that changes things -- changes how you think. If there was any
justice in this world this film would receive the same buzz and box
office that anything that Michael Moore releases gets. Greg Palast
told me the film "blew him away" -- this from a man who is
almost always underwhelmed by documentaries, especially ones about his
field of expertise.</font></p>
<div align="center"><font face="Arial"><a
href="http://www.gregpalast.com/mailing/link.php?URL=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5hbWVyaWNhbmJsYWNrb3V0LmNvbS8%3D&Name=&EncryptedMemberID=Mzg5MjY%3D&CampaignID=35&CampaignStatisticsID=12&Demo=0&Email=margd@ev1.net">Watch
the Trailer</a></font></div>
<p><font face="Arial">When delving into the voter issue, the
media distracts you with all the things it loves to talk about. But
you need to forget the hanging chads and forget the malfunctioning
machines. They're just a sideshow to the real story. The real story is
a lot less sexy, dealing with road blocks, purged voters, 'misplaced'
voting machines, uncounted ballots and long lines. This is the Civil
Rights Movement all over again but this time there are no great
monsters like Bull Connor. The lynchings today are electronic and
political... and the freedom riders nowhere to be found.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">American Blackout, directed by <a
href="http://www.gregpalast.com/mailing/link.php?URL=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5ndWVycmlsbGFuZXdzLmNvbS8%3D&Name=&EncryptedMemberID=Mzg5MjY%3D&CampaignID=35&CampaignStatisticsID=12&Demo=0&Email=margd@ev1.net">Guerrilla
News Network</a>'s Ian Inaba uses a stunning mix of never before seen
archive and firsthand interviews. Inaba knows how to make otherwise
dull C-Span clips look like something completely new and interesting.
He does this by split-screen and zooming so you know who you're
supposed to be looking at -- Katherine Harris, Jeb Bush, ChoicePoint
representatives. You see them lying to a Civil Rights panel, you see
them sweat when questioned by Congresswoman McKinney. <img
moz-do-not-send="true" class="mce_plugin_wordpress_more"
title="More..." alt="More..."
src="../../../../../../wp-includes/js/tinymce/themes/advanced/images/spacer.gif"
height="10" width="100%">All I can say is that I am stunned that I've
never seen this
technique used before -- it keeps you interested, on your toes and
wanting for more. Yes, you will be wanting to see more of this
documentary, these 90 minutes fly past quickly. So do take notes --
there will be a test afterwards -- the 2006 election.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial"><br>
Among the great footage in this
documentary is a pan shot of lines of people waiting to vote -- I saw
this once before, when I was 13 and apartheid came to an end. South
Africa held its first free election and Black voters could be seen in
lines that went on for miles. But this is America, we are <em>not</em>
a developing democracy and <em>should</em> long have emerged from the
dark ages of electoral segregation.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">The story of Cynthia McKinney that sews
the running thread through the film, is uglier than even I knew. Many
only familiar with the Congresswoman's press coverage will be aghast
at just how distorted a picture the media has fed us.<br>
It
literally defies belief.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Here we see her cross-examining
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld with such surgical precision and
grasp of her brief that Rumsfeld is left stammering and ashen-faced.
It makes us wonder what kind of country we might have right now if
more had put this administration under such factual scrutiny. American
Blackout lays out exactly why she has been so relentlessly hounded.
Every one of her speeches brings to mind the hoarse pleas of Jimmy
Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, a force to be reckoned with.
(In the DVD extras you can watch "Capitol Policeman Speaks
Out" and see why she "lost it" back in March
2006.)</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Inaba's film is intense yet easy to
grasp for even the most non-political among us.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">And for those who can't sit in one place
for too long, the DVD comes with a shortened version which still gets
the point across in under 20 minutes.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Since I started with a sales pitch it
only seems right to end with one: Remember when in the days after 9/11
our president told us to go out and shop? Do the patriotic thing and
buy this DVD. In fact I would buy several: you <em>are</em> going to
want to pass this one around your friends and chances are you're not
going to get it back.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Buy it directly at the <a
href="http://www.gregpalast.com/mailing/link.php?URL=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5hbWVyaWNhbmJsYWNrb3V0LmNvbS8%3D&Name=&EncryptedMemberID=Mzg5MjY%3D&CampaignID=35&CampaignStatisticsID=12&Demo=0&Email=margd@ev1.net">American
Blackout website</a>. We get nothing from these sales except the
knowledge that we are supporting one kick-ass filmmaker with a
gotta-see-it call to arms against the racial poisoning of our
democracy.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Or <a
href="http://www.gregpalast.com/mailing/link.php?URL=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5ncmVncGFsYXN0LmNvbS9wcmVtaXVtcy5odG0%3D&Name=&EncryptedMemberID=Mzg5MjY%3D&CampaignID=35&CampaignStatisticsID=12&Demo=0&Email=margd@ev1.net">donate</a>
a tax-deductible $50 or more to our educational foundation and Palast
will send you a <a
href="http://www.gregpalast.com/mailing/link.php?URL=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5ncmVncGFsYXN0LmNvbS9wcmVtaXVtcy5odG0%3D&Name=&EncryptedMemberID=Mzg5MjY%3D&CampaignID=35&CampaignStatisticsID=12&Demo=0&Email=margd@ev1.net">signed
copy of American Blackout</a>. All proceeds support the investigative
work of the Palast team.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">"A muckraking indictment" (LA
TIMES) and "engrossing, fast-paced, stylish... a powerful
examination of voting rights in America." (HOLLYWOOD
REPORTER)</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">*****</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Leni von Eckardt contributed to this
article.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">*****</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Greg Palast is a reporter for BBC
Television and the author of the just-released New York Times
Bestseller, <a
href="http://www.gregpalast.com/mailing/link.php?URL=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5ncmVncGFsYXN0LmNvbS9tYWRob3VzZS9pbmRleC5waHAvb3JkZXItdGhlLWJvb2sv&Name=&EncryptedMemberID=Mzg5MjY%3D&CampaignID=35&CampaignStatisticsID=12&Demo=0&Email=margd@ev1.net">Armed
Madhouse</a>: Who's Afraid of Osama Wolf?, China Floats Bush Sinks,
the Scheme to Steal '08, No Child's Behind Left and other Dispatches
from the Front Lines of the Class War.<br>
Read his articles and
watch his reports at: <a
href="http://www.gregpalast.com/mailing/link.php?URL=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5ncmVncGFsYXN0LmNvbS8%3D&Name=&EncryptedMemberID=Mzg5MjY%3D&CampaignID=35&CampaignStatisticsID=12&Demo=0&Email=margd@ev1.net">GregPalast.com</a></font>
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