The Randi Rhodes Show: Lila Lipscomb

The Randi Rhodes Show on Newsradio 1290 WJNO: "There's something incredibly admirable about Lila Lipscomb. As she sits confidently, eager to answer my questions, she's joined by her husband who stays at her side, ready to offer his support. Her emotional appearance in Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 seems to have done little to weaken her resolve. In a moving series of interviews, Lila tells the story of her son, Sgt Michael Pedersen, a crew chief on a Black Hawk helicopter who was tragically killed in a crash in Iraq in April 2003. Today, she's a different woman. The pain of her loss is still very much evident, but there is a new hope that her contribution to the film will move average Americans to vote. "For far too long we Americans have not taken that right to vote seriously, and I think thats it's time that America does come to the polls."

Lila is from Flint in Michigan, Michael Moore's home town. "I knew all about Roger and Me," she says, "I tend to believe differently from many people that saw it, Michael is a visionary. He was trying to warn us about the breakdown of the industry base as we knew it in America." Interestingly though, it was the only Moore film she was familiar with before he asked her to contribute to Fahrenheit, "When Michael had contacted me to be a part of this film, I decided it might be a good thing if I watched Bowling for Columbine. I'd not watched it up to that point because of all the violence. I was still struggling with the fact that kids could kill so many kids.""