Say what you want about Michael Moore, but he’s made one hell of a career for himself. The man who spends nearly all day trashing capitalism has become quite the capitalist.

Now, Moore’s back with “Dude, Where’s My Country?” It’s the third book of his career and a follow-up to the extremely popular “Stupid White Men” and “Downsize This!”

Both previous books were praised by readers for being fast reads. Unlike other political pundits, Moore avoids the pretentious language that ends up in this type of book. Like his physical demeanor (baseball cap, scruffy beard), Moore writes like the average Joe. This gives him a wide appeal, and hey, it sells more books.

“Dude, Where’s My Country?” shows a bit less of Moore’s classic wit than his previous works. At times, “Dude” feels bitter, and no doubt Moore might feel the same these days. He’d tell you this country is in big trouble with people like George W. Bush at the helm.

In the chapter “Oil’s Well That Ends Well,” Moore writes about a dream he had:

It’s the year 2054, and Moore (100 years old at the time) receives a visit from his great-granddaughter Anne Coulter Moore. Those familiar with Anne Coulter will find this extremely funny.

Moore paints an extremely grim future of the world. The sky is destroyed from pollution, all the oil has been milked from the earth, children are forced to dig through waste composts to find sources of plastic, and so forth. Whether Moore believes in this vision of our future or not, he would argue people like Bush are leading us there.

While “Dude” doesn’t offer much more than Moore’s previous two books, there is one astounding attribute that puts the others to shame: NOTES! The entire opening chapter uses extensive footnotes to show where Moore found the information to make statements such as, “[The Bush administration] belligerently ignored the warnings of the outgoing Clinton officials about Osama bin Laden simply because they hated Clinton.” (Time Magazine).

Now the real question: Does Moore find his country at the end of the book? After all, the two dudes in the film “Dude, Where’s My Car?” found their car by the end of the picture. I don’t think Moore will be able to tell you the answer — at least not until election day, 2004.