Common Assignment & Research Questions

Analyzes and discuses so called "frivolous law suits" and the impact of tort reform on the United States judicial system. Discusses several cases and relates each to tort reform in the U.S.: Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants (public relations campaign to instigate tort reform); Colin Gourley's malpractice lawsuit and caps on damages; the prosecution of Mississippi Justice Oliver Diaz and judicial elections; Jamie Leigh Jones v. Halliburton Co. and mandatory arbitration. Exposes how corporations spent millions on a propaganda campaign to distort Americans' view of lawsuits, forever changing the civil justice system. From the infamous case of the woman who sued McDonalds over spilled coffee to the saga of the Mississippi Supreme Court Justice deemed 'not corporate enough' by business interests, this program tears apart the conventional wisdom about 'frivolous lawsuits.'

Through actual footage, interviews, and declassified documents, Michael Moore illustrates the connections President Bush has to the royal house of Saud of Saudia Arabia and the bin Laden's, how the president got elected on fraudulent circumstances and then proceeded to blunder through his duties while ignoring warnings of the looming betrayal by his foreign partners. When the treachery hits with the 9/11 attacks, Moore explains how Bush failed to take immediate action to defend the nation.

Addresses accusations of the Christian right's distorting influence on America's place in the world. President George W. Bush has actively promoted the idea of faith-based initiatives--government's assistance in combating welfare and social deprivation--prompting charges of First Amendment violations from Democrats and liberals. But President Bush has had to force these initiatives through a highly resistant Congress. So is talk of the heavy power of the Christian right on American government based on liberal paranoia, as many conservatives attest? Archival congressional footage, with considerable attention paid to 9/11, chronicles the long-standing debate.

Presents an examination of the events of September 11, 2001, tracing a time line that led up to the terrorist attacks and the subsequent government response.

Explores a half-century of U.S. foreign policy from World War II to the Iraq War, revealing how, as Dwight Eisenhower had warned in his 1961 Farewell Address, political and corporate interests have become alarmingly entangled in the business of war. On a deeper level, what emerges is a portrait of a nation in transition--drifting dangerously far from her founding principles toward a more imperial and uncertain future.

Tells the story of ordinary people in four quintessentially American towns - Waterbury, Connecticut; Mobile, Alabama; Sacramento, California; and Luverne, Minnesota - and examines the ways in which the Second World War touched the lives of every family on every street in every town in America.

Pictorial record, taken completely from news reels and captured enemy films, of the war and the trend toward war, 1931-1941. Shows the events in Asia and Europe that led to the attack on Pearl Harbor and American involvement.

This fascinating three-part series examines the historical relationship between militarism and strictly interpreted religion. With penetrating scholarly analysis and an energetic visual style, The Holy Wars provides a wide-ranging perspective on orthodoxy, empire, cultural domination, and the resistance they can incite.

Archival footage, much of it formerly classified Soviet film, recounts the non-aggression pact concluded between Hitler and Stalin, the devastating Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II (Operation Barbarossa) for which Stalin was unprepared, the ultimate defeat of the German army at the Battle of Stalingrad, and the Russian counterattack which finally led Soviet forces into Berlin.

Archival footage, much of it formerly classified Soviet film, recounts the non-aggression pact concluded between Hitler and Stalin, the devastating Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II (Operation Barbarossa) for which Stalin was unprepared, the ultimate defeat of the German army at the Battle of Stalingrad, and the Russian counterattack which finally led Soviet forces into Berlin.

Reconstructs the events at Pearl Harbor on the day of the Japanese attack, December 7, 1941.

The story of an experiment -- "to see if Blacks had the intellectual and physical ability to fly an aircraft in combat." These pilots, trained in the "deep South," became the Tuskegee Airmen, flying combat aircraft during World War II for their country. They had to battle on 2 fronts: the Axis powers in Europe and North Africa, and the racism at home.