Posts by Robert Greenwald

Robert Greenwald is a producer, director and political activist. His new media company, Brave New Films, is currently focused on making short videos like the FOX Attacks (FoxAttacks.com) and The REAL McCain (TheRealMcCain.com), which educate and empower viewers to take action and have been seen by millions.

The Dow and the Down and Out
Posted by Robert Greenwald, Brave New Films on October 16, 2009 at 8:23 AM.

While markets surged past 10,000, the official unemployment rate stood near 10 percent. The United States is in a unique historical position. People on top are doing extraordinarily well, but in the real world the middle class is collapsing. The top 1 percent owns more wealth then the bottom 90 percent. CEOs of large corporations earn 400 times what their workers make. That is not what America is supposed to be about. With all the issues we are dealing with -- from health care to global warming to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq – please do not forgot what is happening to tens of millions of our brothers and our sisters out there who are struggling hard to keep their heads above water.

Senator Sanders Unfiltered is a weekly web program produced by Brave New Films. Submit your own video question for next week's show here.

Sick for Profit: Greenwald Tears Into Insurance Company CEOs
Posted by Robert Greenwald, Brave New Films on August 14, 2009 at 6:41 AM.

UnitedHealthcare CEO Stephen Hemsley owns $744,232,068 in unexercised stock options. CIGNA’s Edward Hanway spends his holidays in a $13 million beach house in New Jersey. Meanwhile, regular Americans are routinely denied coverage for the care they need when they need it most.

Welcome to the American health insurance industry. Instead of helping policyholders attain the health security they need for their families, big insurance companies get rich by denying coverage to patients. Now they’re sending lobbyists to Washington, DC to twist the arms of lawmakers to oppose reform of the status quo. Why? Because the status quo pays.

Learn more about the glamorous lives of billionaire health insurance executives and tell us your story of being victimized by their greed. Then contribute to Brave New Films so we can continue to get the word out about the health insurance racket.

Sick for Profit: Robert Greenwald on MSNBC
Posted by Robert Greenwald, Brave New Films on August 13, 2009 at 10:51 AM.

The big insurance companies are lying to the public and turning out right-wing zealots to town halls to yell and scream and incite violence. It's time to take back the terms of this debate. It's time to show America what these insurance CEOs really are: billionaire rip-off artists who are amassing fortunes at the expense of the health and security of working Americans.

Already, our new campaign Sick For Profit is making an impact on the national debate:

Watch Robert on the Ed Schultz show.

Senator Sanders Unfiltered: My New Online Show from Brave New Films
Posted by Robert Greenwald, Brave New Films on August 10, 2009 at 3:54 PM.

I hope you’ll join me for my new show, Senator Sanders Unfiltered produced by Brave New Films. Follow my show on Twitter at SandersShow.

When I first entered Congress almost 20 years ago, there was no such thing as e-mail, and if you wanted to get a message out to the public, you had one of four major TV networks to choose from.

Today, e-mail is on the brink of becoming passé, and your choices for communicating with the public range from four TV networks and six cable news channels to a thousand blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and whatever social media outlet is six weeks away from becoming the next new thing.

While this has made life infinitely more complicated for my communications director, it has also made the world a more democratic place. Nowadays you don’t need to be a senator or a CEO or a celebrity to have a voice in the media, and if you happen to be a senator, a CEO or a celebrity, you have a thousand people each with their own respective audiences to hold you accountable. And as we all have come to learn only too well, there are plenty of senators and CEOs (maybe not celebrities) that need badly to be held to account.

It is in this new media ecosystem that we wage our national debates over critical issues like health care reform, global warming, the war in Afghanistan and the collapse of the American middle-class. In this complex and exciting landscape, democratic debate isn’t just a two-way street, it’s five intersecting eight lane highways.

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Fight back against health insurance lies
Posted by Robert Greenwald on August 6, 2009 at 2:00 PM.

What does UnitedHealth Group CEO Stephen Hemsley have to lose if Congress passes real healthcare reform this year?

Well, for starters, Hemsley’s nearly three quarters of a billion dollars in unexercised stock options might lose a few pennies on the dollar if insurance providers like UnitedHealth Group are forced to actually pay for the treatment that patients need.

What does Isabella, a four year-old girl in Winsconsin who is physically incapable of eating and has had to be tube fed her entire life, have to gain from healthcare reform?  The treatment she needs to live a normal life.

The chance for Isabella to become a normal, healthy child depends on Congress passing healthcare reform this year.  But Stephen Hemsley opposes reform, and after making the equivalent of $4,096,815 each and every week of this year, it doesn’t take an expert to figure out why.

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

450,000 Can’t Be Wrong About Health Care Reform
Posted by Robert Greenwald, Brave New Films on July 30, 2009 at 12:14 PM.

The U.S. has a catastrophically fragmented system that provides incentives for sick care instead of prevention. The system is in dire need of reform – reform to save lives, to save families and to save money for both patients and the American health care system.

“I spend 40 percent of my time away from my patients doing paperwork and getting prior authorizations. We need to start taking the barriers that are between me and my patients away.” Jim King, MD, Family Physician in Selmer, Tenn.

It’s time to put our health back where it belongs, out of greedy insurance companies’ grasp and back into your and your doctor’s hands. It’s time to stand with more than 450,000 doctors who support health care reform.

When our friends at The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and Herndon Alliance (a nonpartisan coalition of more than 200 health-care provider organizations including the AARP, Mayo Clinic and Families USA) asked for our help, we produced this video featuring the doctors your family relies on for care. They are urging Americans to ‘Heal Health Care Now’.

Now, it’s your time to stand with more than 450,000 doctors who support health care reform. Make your voice heard and call Congress to reform health care: (202) 224-3121.

With your help, we will change the health care system for the better. Brave New Films is gearing up with its own video, Sick For Profit, to expose abusive health insurance companies. If you or anyone you know has been neglected treatment or abandoned by a health insurance company, we need your story. Email csprinkle@bravenewfilms.org and let us know. And, join us on Facebook and Twitter for special alerts.

Can Obama Avoid Another Abu Ghraib?
Posted by Robert Greenwald, Brave New Films on July 16, 2009 at 1:00 PM.

When I directed Iraq for Sale, it became appallingly evident that private contractors like CACI and Titan played a critical role in the torture and abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. Much like Blackwater, KBR, and others, these war profiteers were never held accountable for their unconscionable crimes. Instead, they were rewarded with hundreds of millions in new contracts. The Obama administration has already taken some laudable steps to prevent another Abu Ghraib: ordering the CIA to end enhanced interrogation techniques and follow a more lawful code of conduct; and ordering the Justice Department to investigate the use of torture. However, the President’s recent objection to a provision in the 2010 defense funding bill that would make interrogation an “inherently governmental function” is a huge step backwards.

This provision, backed by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.), states “the interrogation of enemy prisoners of war, civilian internees, retained persons, other detainees, terrorists, and criminals when captured, transferred, confined, or detained during or in the aftermath of hostilities is an inherently governmental function and cannot be transferred to contractor personnel.” In other words, our government would no longer be able to hand off interrogation duties (and the lavish contracts that come with them) to mercenary firms out to profit from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. What’s more, if interrogators are caught violating the law and abusing detainees, our government would have the power to hold those interrogators accountable.

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Bombs Will Kill Women in Afghanistan
Posted by Robert Greenwald, Brave New Foundation on July 8, 2009 at 9:11 AM.

Self immolation is a method of suicide by lighting oneself on fire. According to the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, self immolation has never been such an epidemic in Afghanistan as it is today. This is one fact that leads people to the sobering reality that our efforts in Afghanistan have done nothing for the vast majority of women there.

Despite this, politicians, military leaders, and sadly even some misguided American feminist groups continue to use the plight of women in Afghanistan to justify more spending, more troops and more war. People who care for the people of Afghanistan have got to see this for what it is. Women never benefit from bombs and bullets.

When the U.S and its allies chose to put the Karzai regime in place, they conveniently overlooked the fact that it is overrun with the same patriarchal attitudes toward women as the Taliban. During my recent trip to Afghanistan, I saw the crushing poverty that Afghans must endure. A few brave women from RAWA and the Afghan Women's Mission pointed out in a recent article that, "The military establishment claims that it must win the military victory first and then the U.S. will take care of humanitarian needs. But they have it backward. Improve living conditions and security will improve. Focus on security at the expense of humanitarian goals, and coalition forces will accomplish neither. The first step toward improving people's lives is a negotiated settlement to end the war."
 
Share this video and help your friends and family to see what is really happening to women in Afghanistan. Refuse to accept the line that we must stay in Afghanistan to protect the women of Afghanistan. Help us get people to Rethink Afghanistan.

A Movement to Make Obama Bring an End to War
Posted by Robert Greenwald, Jane Hamsher, Brave New Foundation on June 16, 2009 at 7:58 AM.

Co-authored by Jane Hamsher.

In 2007, 82 Democratic members of Congress signed a pledge. They would never again vote to fund the war in Iraq without plans for troop withdrawal.

Republican critics accused them of demagoguing the war. Of using our soldiers as a political pawns, of not meaning what they said.

Those who signed that pledge need to cast their vote against the Supplemental Appropriations Act on Tuesday and prove them wrong.

We may agree or disagree about what needs to be done in Iraq, but a promise is a promise. Anti-war activists have supported these members of Congress because of that 2007 pledge. They knocked on doors and distributed leaflets and donated to their campaigns. They and marched side by side with them as they sought to bring an end to the war that still lingers in Iraq and escalates in Afghanistan, as the new film Rethink Afghanistan documents.

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Experts from Afghanistan Urge Members of Congress to Rethink the War
Posted by Robert Greenwald, Brave New Foundation on June 1, 2009 at 7:58 AM.

I'm in DC this week for the America's Future Now! conference, where I'm helping bring together a panel of experts from Afghanistan to discuss the war with conference attendees and members of Congress.  As this war escalates, as the death toll soars and the financial and moral costs spiral out of control, we at Brave New Foundation are working with Campaign for America's Future to bring in experts who can provide a more complete picture of the dire situation in Afghanistan.

This Tuesday, June 2, from 5:30-6:30 PM in Room 2101 of the Rayburn House Office Building, there will be a briefing for congressional members and staff entitled: "Rethink Afghanistan: A View from the Ground." The following experts will discuss their perspective on issues facing Afghanistan with a focus on women's rights and empowerment:

Dr. Roshanak Wardak is an MP in the Afghan parliament. She is one of the few MPs who represent nearly 1 million people in their province. She is also a gynecologist and spent many years working with Afghan women in refugee camps in Pakistan.

Ann Jones is the author of eight books of nonfiction, most recently Kabul in Winter: Life Without Peace in Afghanistan. She spent the last eight years doing humanitarian work in conflict zones—four of them in Afghanistan—and is now working on a book about the impact of war on women worldwide.

Anand Gopal is a journalist covering the “Global War on Terror” from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia to the United States.  He is a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor, a contributor to the Huffington Post, and a blogger at www.anandgopal.com.

All three of these experts either currently live or have recently resided in Afghanistan, and they offer a profound understanding of the complex issues involved in this war.  We have interviewed them for the Rethink Afghanistan documentary campaign, and now we are bringing them to DC, where they will engage elected officials, policymakers, think tank experts, and others.

If you are an elected official or a staffer, please attend this briefing tomorrow.  Please call the offices of your members of Congress in the House or Senate and ask them to meet us as we Rethink Afghanistan.

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What Do Starbucks and Wal-Mart Have in Common?
Posted by Robert Greenwald, Brave New Films on May 19, 2009 at 8:31 AM.

Both corporate giants have long track records of harassing their workers when it comes to joining unions. Harassment and intimidation are illegal under Federal law, and we won't stand for it. Tell Howard Schultz, Starbucks' billionaire owner, to respect the people who work for Starbucks. "The regional manager literally told us that we weren't allowed to invite people to union meetings...that's the same kind of violation that you see at Wal-Mart," said Erik Forman, a former Starbucks employee fired for union organizing. Starbucks, like retail giant Wal-Mart, has a well-established history of breaking labor laws. The company has spent millions settling five labor complaints in the past few years alone, and it has fought hard against the Employee Free Choice Act in an attempt to continue intimidating workers hoping to unionize. In 2005, we took on Wal-Mart for their assault on workers with Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. Now we are exposing Starbucks' atrocious labor practices in our newest campaign, Stop Starbucks. Watch the video to see Starbucks' blatant disregard for workers' rights.

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

Fire Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis
Posted by Robert Greenwald, Brave New Films on April 27, 2009 at 4:58 PM.

The economic crisis is out of control, as Bank of America and the corrupt corporate elite continue to wage class warfare. It’s time we hit back hard. It’s time we fire CEO Ken Lewis.

Our good friends at SEIU have been courageously leading this fight. We need to follow their lead and encourage everyone to demand the resignation of Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis. After all, Lewis works for us now. Tens of billions of our taxpayer dollars went toward bailing out Bank of America, but what have we received in return? More predatory lending, billions wasted on exorbitant salaries and executive bonuses, and corporate lobbying against Employee Free Choice.

Watch the video narrated by former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, and see for yourself why we must fire Ken Lewis.

Send this video to your friends and family, spread the word and Digg it. Tell them to join us Tuesday, April 28, in demonstrations across the country to fire Ken Lewis. And when you protest, make sure to yell loud and clear. Otherwise, Bank of America and other Wall Street firms will continue their economic rampage, obliterating our country’s working class.

As blogger Marcy Wheeler suggests, we need to fire Ken Lewis for over $3 billion in bonuses Merrill Lynch execs received after Bank of America took them over. We need to fire him for Bank of America’s continued predatory lending, soaring credit card fees, abhorrent mistreatment of workers, and for standing in the way of Employee Free Choice. We need to fire him for being the poster boy of corporate greed.

Discussing Veterans' Issues with Tavis Smiley
Posted by Robert Greenwald, Brave New Foundation on April 16, 2009 at 11:44 AM.

I appeared on Tavis Smiley last night to talk about In Their Boots and the issues facing veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now in its second season, In Their Boots is a Brave New Foundation series highlighting the reality that when the war ends for these brave men and women, the problems for them and their families continue. As I explained to Tavis, who always probes and asks questions of real substance, these problems require immense resources, particularly since it seems our country wasn't prepared for the scope and magnitude of so many veterans returning home from two drawn-out wars. Executive Producer Rick Perez and his In Their Boots team have been telling the powerful stories of these vets in a truthful and gripping fashion. There are over 33,000 troops who were injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, and countless more in need of psychological help who have yet to come forward. Fortunately, we're seeing President Obama make good on his campaign promises to assist veterans. Just last week, Obama announced an overhaul of military and VA recordkeeping, as well as a substantial increase in advance funding for VA healthcare. As IAVA's Paul Rieckhoff wrote, "Advance funding VA healthcare and an overhaul of military and VA recordkeeping will eliminate two of the most significant bureaucratic hurdles that keep veterans from the healthcare and benefits they have earned. Veterans nationwide applaud the Administration for making veterans and their families a priority." Now, we need to build on this momentum with a strong commitment to provide more services and resources for our vets. And we need to distance ourselves from a military culture and its psychological hurdles that preclude vets from seeking much needed help.

Will the War in Afghanistan Help Me Get a Job?
Posted by Robert Greenwald, Brave New Foundation on April 15, 2009 at 12:21 PM.

We bring you Cost of War, part three of our Rethink Afghanistan documentary, which delves into the financial costs of this broadening war.

As we pay our tax bills, it seems an appropriate time to urge everyone to Rethink Afghanistan, a war that currently costs over $2 billion a month but hasn't made us any safer. Everyone has a friend or relative who just lost a job. Do we really want to spend over $1 trillion on another war? Everyone knows someone who has lost their home. Do we really want spend our tax dollars on a war that could last a decade or more? The Obama administration has taken some smart steps to counter this economic crisis with its budget request. Do we really want to see that effort wasted by expanding military demands?

Watch Pulitzer Prize-winning authors and journalists, military and foreign policy experts, leading economists, and many more explain just how much the war in Afghanistan will cost us over how many years. View both the trailer and full segment of Cost of War, part three of the Rethink Afghanistan documentary.

Last week, we delivered a petition to Sen. John Kerry and Rep. Howard Berman, demanding oversight hearings. These hearings could raise the critical questions about costs and many other issues. Now, we want to know what questions you would ask in such hearings. Would you want to know how exactly the war is weakening the U.S. economy? What about whether more troops can solve Afghanistan's problems or the escalating instability in Pakistan, subjects explored in parts one and two of this documentary?

1. Record your questions on your webcam and send them to us! Simple instructions for doing this can be found here. It's easy!
2. Post your video to our Facebook page! Go to our Facebook page, click in the "Write something" box, and then click the video link.
3. Vote on the written questions you think are the most critical for oversight hearings and submit your own.

We must urge Congress to raise key questions about this war at once. As FireDogLake blogger Siun recently wrote, "Once again we are planning a surge with no exit plan and a continued lack of concern for the most basic protection of the civilians in the land we claim to liberate."

My Final Day In Afghanistan
Posted by Robert Greenwald, Brave New Films on March 31, 2009 at 6:00 AM.

One day back from my trip to Afghanistan, and I first want to thank so many of you who sent wonderful messages, encouragement, and suggestions.  Being in a dark room in Kabul while being able to post on Facebook and Twitter truly speaks to the connected universe.

The final day in Kabul: We were on our way to the peace and reconciliation committee when our “fixer” (that is the official name of the person who translates and helps arrange interviews, accommodations, and security) let me know that there would be 20 or so members of the Taliban turning in their weapons that day! I almost jumped out of my seat, which is relatively simple because virtually none of the roads are paved and so the bumps are big and continuous.

When we arrived, sitting in the courtyard were 20 or more men, their weapons lined up against the wall. I conducted an abbreviated interview with the head of the committee, then raced with cameramen to begin talking and interviewing the Taliban. Within a few minutes I was engaged in interviewing, talking, and asking the various Taliban how long they had been fighting (from 2-30 years), why they fought, what they wanted to say to the United States, and what they wanted in general (jobs and to take care of their families).

As we raced to the airport after the interviews, I emailed our Producer Jason Zaro to find a translator who could work this weekend so we could get the interviews translated and begin editing Monday.

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