The Fire Next Time

Set in Flathead Valley, Montana, The Fire Next Time is an extremely powerful documentary, which chronicles conflict in a small town. Things escalate when an ex-mortgage broker from Washington state, purchases and starts hosting a 3-hour daily, talk-radio program. The host goes after environmentalists (taunting them on the air as "Green Nazis"), and their names and addresses start getting repeated on the program.

It is a classic lumber town, whose economy is rapidly changing: mill and lumber jobs are giving way to service/retail and construction jobs. The wake-up call arrives in the form of the arrest of a local militia leader, and the discovery of a huge cache of weapons.

The environmentalists come across as quite reasonable in the film. Some of the locals on the other side, exhibited rage and anger, and some in the film, seemed utterly unable to participate in dialogue. It is a scary look at what happens when one side is incapable is engaging in any form of interaction. Sadly, the talk-radio program becomes a forum where inaccurate information and outright lies get repeated, and distrust escalates.

Actually this documentary reinforced my agreement with Nancy Pelosi's proclamation that if the Democrats regain control of the House, "impeachment is off the table". The Democrats need to show the country what programs they support, and what anti-corruption reforms they will put in place. Impeachment will be a major distraction and a media circus will ensue. Fox News and AM talk-radio will go after them. I'm convinced that their priority should be to show the country they can behave like adults, and hopefully solidify their majority in 2008.