The Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Week

5. Disney's Happy Ending

News erupted this week that Disney (DIS Quote) won't let its Miramax subsidiary distribute the Michael Moore documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 -- a movie that, we are told, explores the relationship between the family of President George Bush and the family of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

"Censorship! Outrage!" some people are screaming. "A publicity stunt, a carefully planned tempest cooked up by Michael Moore!" scream others.

We suppose we here at the lab -- whiny card-carrying liberals that we are -- should be upset about the politics of all this. But we don't care.

Instead, all we can think of is the business angle.

See, under the leadership of CEO Michael Eisner, Disney has been releasing a lot of turkeys of late: Hidalgo, Tom Hanks' The Ladykillers, the animated bovine epic Home on the Range, Ben Affleck's Jersey Girl, and The Alamo. Box-office underachievers all.

So what does Disney do with a movie that somebody might actually want to go see? It refuses to distribute it.

Yet another surprise ending from Eisner, we guess.