The Rick Santorum presidential campaign is so focused on nasty wedge issues of sex and religion that the candidate and his campaign workers can’t avoid Freudian slips when talking about other things. The latest example came on Monday afternoon when Alice Stewart, Santorum’s press secretary, was speaking to Andrea Mitchell ...
Articles from 'February 2012'
Held Hostage by Bank of America
President Obama has promised that, “Never again will the American taxpayer be held hostage by a bank that is too big to fail.” He continues to use similarly vivid imagery to describe the leverage “too big to fail” banks have over the financial system and the threats they pose to ...
Scoring the Global War on Terror
Crossposted from TomDispatchWith the United States now well into the second decade of what the Pentagon has styled an “era of persistent conflict,” the war formerly known as the global war on terrorism (unofficial acronym WFKATGWOT) appears increasingly fragmented and diffuse. Without achieving victory, yet unwilling to acknowledge failure, the ...
The .0000063% Election: How the Politics of the Super Rich Became American Politics
Crossposted from TomDispatchAt a time when it’s become a cliché to say that Occupy Wall Street has changed the nation’s political conversation -- drawing long overdue attention to the struggles of the 99% -- electoral politics and the 2012 presidential election have become almost exclusively defined by the 1%. Or, ...
Why Students Are Hunger Striking in Virginia
Twelve students at the University of Virginia on Saturday began a hunger strike for a living wage policy for university employees. They've taken this step after having exhausted just about every other possible approach over a period of 14 years. I was part of the campaign way back when it ...
The Imperial Way: American Decline in Perspective, Part 2
Crossposted from TomDispatch In the years of conscious, self-inflicted decline at home, “losses” continued to mount elsewhere. In the past decade, for the first time in 500 years, South America has taken successful steps to free itself from western domination, another serious loss. The region has moved towards integration, and ...
Hungry for Freedom, Starving for Justice: a story of hunger striker Adnan Khader
Sometimes when I ponder about being a Palestinian, my mind travels towards the direction of responsibility, a heavy load of existence, survival, humanity and freedom. A life where everything seems to be somehow a beautiful disaster. When people ask me how I view myself, I answer that I'm a Palestinian ...
What Politico’s ‘Wisconsin 1848’ Union Screw-Up Reveals
Crossposted from the In These Times Working blog The scene of the journalistic mishap, in Masterlock's Milwaukee plant. Yesterday was a red letter day for labor journalism, as Politico inadvertently revealed a fundamental truth in one of the most embarrassing screw-ups in recent news. Covering President Obama’s visit to ...
How Does the 1% Exploit America? Find Out in 1 Minute (VIDEO)
Even in an Occupy world, most Americans don't know exactly how the 1% does what it does. The mainstream media hasn't explained it, and the 1% likes things that way. That's why we've created a new video series unmasking those in the 1% who are exploiting the 99%--name by name, ...
“The Super Bowl of Disasters”: Profiting from crisis in post-earthquake Haiti
By Deepa Panchang, Beverly Bell, and Tory FieldAs Americans were gearing up for last week’s Super Bowl championship, Haiti’s president Michel Martelly was on a plane to the World Economic Forum to recruit players interested in what one businessman dubbed “the Super Bowl of Disasters” – Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake.[1] ...
Dear Mom: I haven’t written much from Okinawa. I’m sorry about that. I guess maybe you were expecting lots of exciting war stories from your son the Marine. But honestly, the most exciting thing we’ve done is put in a sea wall over by the Torii Beach shoreline and then ...
“Losing” the World: American Decline in Perspective, Part 1
Crossposted from TomDispatchSignificant anniversaries are solemnly commemorated -- Japan’s attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, for example. Others are ignored, and we can often learn valuable lessons from them about what is likely to lie ahead. Right now, in fact. At the moment, we are failing to ...
From Occupied Palestine to Occupy DC
I am 26 years old and I’m a refugee from Palestine. I grew up in Ramallah until I was 22. Then, I traveled to Ireland and worked on peace and reconciliation issues. Then, I ended up in the States. Growing up in Palestine is a struggle for survival. My father was ...
Labor Reporting in the Face of Danger
Crossposted from In These TimesThe use of scab workers is a sore on the labor movement. And, as I recently discovered, scabs can also pose a danger to labor reporters. That doesn't stop me or In These Times from getting the real story. But in order to continue to reveal ...
I’ve been occupying at Freedom Plaza in Washington D.C. since the beginning of October. A couple months ago, as storms blew down tents, the homeless population living in our community grew and rats found safe harbor under the pallets raising some tents in an effort to stay warmer and a ...
Policy Follies in the Housing Market: The First-Time Homebuyers Tax Credit
The right is very good at making progressives pay for their mistakes. They still trot out failed programs from the '60s as a warning of the risks of wrongheaded liberalism. Unfortunately, the left cannot hold a grudge the same way; otherwise the folks who started the war in Iraq and ...
Q&A on New Rules for Best Documentary Academy Award Voting and Eligibility
Thank you for your feedback on our new rules for Academy Award voting and eligibility. We are pleased so many of you have welcomed these changes.Some of you, though, still have some questions. Due to some stories in the media that did not explain the new rules correctly or fully, ...
This Just In, insurers Required to Speak Plain English
HHS stiffens spine and requires health insurance companies to clearly explain their policies. All the attention paid to the debacle about coverage for contraceptives over the past several days obscured a broader, undisputed win for all consumers, including those who are pregnant or about to be pregnant. While the media ...
The GOP's Little Father Coughlins
Last week, after his sweep of three minor Republican nominating contests, right-wing radical Rick Santorum spoke the next day in a church. Behind him, were an altar and stained-glass windows. He looked live Reverend Lovejoy on the Simpsons. On Friday, after President Obama offered a face-saving "tweak" on birth-control coverage ...
An Anniversary – Heart-Sick and SiCKO
Just a few years ago, my dad died on February 13. It was just one day short of he and my mother’s 49th wedding anniversary. Just three weeks prior, Dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Though he was 75 years old, he was still working, and he was a force ...
Pillow Talk with Mitt and Anne ...a sketch by Joan Wile
SCENE: Hotel bedroom, on the campaign trail. MITT and his wife, ANNE, are talking. MITT: How in hell am I going to stop this infernal yapping about our dog riding on top of the car? ANNE: Mitt, you mustn't swear -- you know the Church forbids it. MITT: What the hell do I ...
450 Bases and It’s Not Over Yet
In late December, the lot was just a big blank: a few burgundy metal shipping containers sitting in an expanse of crushed eggshell-colored gravel inside a razor-wire-topped fence. The American military in Afghanistan doesn’t want to talk about it, but one day soon, it will be a new hub for ...
NYT on Future of Government Safety Net, Misses Growth and Health Care Stories
The NYT had a thoughtful piece on the public's greater reliance on Social Security, Medicare and other benefits. While the piece provides many useful insights into the increasing importance of these programs in people's lives and their attitudes toward them, it does miss a few key points. First, it implies ...
A 75th Anniversary for the American Dream, a 25-Year Anniversary for Me
On this day 25 years ago, in 1987, I became a filmmaker. It was around ten in the morning and the first-ever roll of Kodak 16mm film for my first-ever movie was loaded into my friend's camera to shoot the very first scene of 'Roger & Me.' I had no ...
VIDEO: Lobbyist Poses as Mechanic in Anti-Union Super Bowl Ad
America just got rickrolled. There we were last week, innocently partaking in the annual testosterone-fest that is the Super Bowl, when we were treated to an ad featuring a group of supposed auto mechanics lamenting that they never voted for the union they’re in. But look closely. One of these ...
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Mike's Blog
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June 5th, 2013
Here's How We Built a Movie Theater for the People – and Why the MPAA Says It's #1 in the World
This past week, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the main federation of Hollywood's six major studios, posted on their web site a list of what they believe ...
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March 23rd, 2013
This evening is going be a big moment in turning our country around on the issue of gun violence. That's why I desperately want you ...
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March 21st, 2013
I am hosting a nationwide series of house parties this Saturday night where tens of thousands of people will gather together in living rooms to ...
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March 15th, 2013
The response to my Newtown letter this week has been overwhelming. It is so very clear to everyone that the majority of Americans have had ...
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March 13th, 2013
America, You Must Not Look Away (How to Finish Off the NRA)
The year was 1955. Emmett Till was a young African American boy from Chicago visiting relatives in Mississippi. One day Emmett was seen "flirting" with ...
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February 26th, 2013
My Final Word on Buzzfeed and Emad Burnat's Detention at LAX
Thanks to everyone for bearing with me as I spend so much time on what happened to Emad Burnat. It's important to me because he's ...
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February 26th, 2013
Michael Moore Responds to Buzzfeed Story on '5 Broken Cameras' Co-Director Emad Burnat
On Tuesday, February 19th, Emad Burnat, the Palestianian co-director of the Oscar-nominated documentary '5 Broken Cameras,' was detained with his wife and son at Los ...
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September 11th, 2010
If the 'Mosque' Isn't Built, This Is No Longer America
OpenMike 9/11/10 Michael Moore's daily blog I am opposed to the building of the "mosque" two blocks from Ground Zero. I want it built on ...
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December 14th, 2010
Why I'm Posting Bail Money for Julian Assange
Yesterday, in the Westminster Magistrates Court in London, the lawyers for WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange presented to the judge a document from me stating that ...
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May 12th, 2011
Some Final Thoughts on the Death of Osama bin Laden
"The Nazis killed tens of MILLIONS. They got a trial. Why? Because we're not like them. We're Americans. We roll different." – Michael Moore in ...
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November 22nd, 2011
Where Does Occupy Wall Street Go From Here?
This past weekend I participated in a four-hour meeting of Occupy Wall Street activists whose job it is to come up with the vision and ...
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September 22nd, 2011
A STATEMENT FROM MICHAEL MOORE ON THE EXECUTION OF TROY DAVIS
I encourage everyone I know to never travel to Georgia, never buy anything made in Georgia, to never do business in Georgia. I will ask ...
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December 16th, 2010
Dear Swedish Government: Hi there -- or as you all say, Hallå! You know, all of us here in the U.S. love your country. Your ...
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November 2nd, 2010
This letter contains (almost) no criticisms of how the Democrats have brought this day of reckoning upon themselves. That -- and where to go from ...
