E-Mail This Article to a Friend PAY PER NO VIEW Buy back Moore BY DEIRDRE FULTON

When Michael Moore’s controversial documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 is released on DVD on October 5, it’s unlikely that many conservatives will be waiting in line to add the title to their personal libraries. But in case the film somehow ends up in the hands of Bush-loving, Moore-hating consumers, World Ahead Publishing wants to make sure they have somewhere to turn. Rather than allow what conservative editor Aman Verjee calls "a pretty ill-informed piece of propaganda" to poison the minds of American home-entertainment enthusiasts, World Ahead Publishing is sponsoring a "DVD buy-back." In the spirit of city-organized gun-buy-back programs, which pay people money for guns in an effort to get firearms off the street, citizens can send in their copies of Fahrenheit 9/11 and receive in return the book Thank You, President Bush: Reflections on the War on Terror, Defense of the Family, and Revival of the Economy.

The program, according to World Ahead Publishing, "is designed to protect America from harm, especially young children who might accidentally slip this dangerous propaganda into the living-room DVD player."

Verjee co-edited Thank You, President Bush, a collection of writings on the Bush administration. He saw Fahrenheit in the theaters and says it is dangerous in its manipulation of the facts. "The film is misleading," he says. "[Moore] makes a lot of errors about both facts and context."

"Michael Moore is appealing to the most negative aspects of human nature and dealing in ignorance," Verjee tells the Phoenix. "I think that’s a real negative turn in American politics. We’ve tried to do something very different with our book."

Indeed they have. In place of Moore’s conspiracy theories about Vice-President Dick Cheney and the oil industry, Thank You, President Bush readers will find a Cheney-written chapter on foreign policy. They’ll also hear from former secretary of state George Shultz, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, and presidential brother/Florida governor Jeb Bush. Verjee especially recommends the section on the economy.

"I really do think the Bush team has gotten a bad rap on the economy," he says, citing economic growth achieved despite the stock-market crash, 9/11, and corporate scandals.

All told, buy-back participants will end up poorer than when they started. Amazon.com lists Fahrenheit 9/11 at $18.82; purchasing Thank You, President Bush off the same Web site would put you back $16.99. That’s a difference of about $2. Tack on the $5 shipping charge that World Ahead is asking people to tuck into their rejected copies of Fahrenheit, plus whatever it costs to mail the DVD itself, and the price adds up to more than $7.

Verjee isn’t sure where the rejected copies will end up after they arrive at World Ahead. "I don’t know [that] we’ve decided yet," he explains. "The primary motivation was to get them off the street."