Photography by Erika BlumenfeldPhoto by Erika Blumenfeld © 2010For the first time in 87 days, little or no oil could be escaping into the Gulf of Mexico from BP’s Macondo well. The new Capping Stack was deployed on July 11 from onboard the Transocean Discoverer Inspiration.Photo by Erika Blumenfeld © ...
Mike & Friends Blog from 'July 2010'
Movement to Rethink the Afghanistan War Gains Traction
This week's Newsweek cover leads with the title, "Rethinking Afghanistan" and features an essay from Richard Haass at the Council on Foreign Relations, warning that the war isn't worth the cost and the current policy isn't working. It's gratifying to see the message that Brave New Foundation's Rethink Afghanistan campaign ...
Gray Panthers Oppose Rep. Boehner's Proposal to Raise Age of Social Security Recipients
On June 29, House Republican Leader John Boehner made news with his statement that the age for persons eligible for Social Security benefits should be raised from 65 to 70. "If you have substantial non-Social Security income while you're retired, why are we paying you at a time when we're ...
"For a Better Life for the Peasants": Food Sovereignty and Land Reform in Haiti (Part II)
Tèt Kole Ti Peyizan Ayisyen (Heads Together Small Producers of Haiti) is one of Haiti’s two national peasant farmer movements. The oldest peasant group in Haiti, it was born in 1970 under the Duvalier dictatorship. Tèt Kole’s history is notable also because of the violence it has faced at the ...
Toxic Dispersants Near Gulf Harm Humans and Wildlife
Photography by Erika BlumenfeldMy eyes are burning as I type this. We've just returned from spending the day down in Barataria, located about an hour's drive south of New Orleans. The community of fishermen is swimming in oil. Within minutes of arriving, our eyes begin to burn and we begin ...
Government Persecutors Read my Blog
On July 12th, after one postponement, the POTA (Peace of the Action) 3, plus 3, went to trial in DC Superior Court for our arrests after the ANSWER rally and march on March 20th (the 7th anniversary of the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq).On March 20th, after the rally ...
Unjustified, Indefensible, Wrong
My sister Allison Krause was one of four students killed in the 1970 Kent State shootings. You may have heard about that day in American history - May 4, 1970 - when the Ohio National Guard opened fire on unarmed students protesting the invasion of Cambodia. Some of those killed ...
The Attack of the Real Black Helicopter Gang: The IMF Is Coming for Your Social Security
A few years back, there was a fear in some parts about black UN helicopters that were supposedly taking part in the planning of an invasion of the United States. While there was no foundation for this fear, there is basis for concern about the attack of another international organization, ...
"We've Lost the Battle But We Haven't Lost the War": Haiti Six Months After the Earthquake.
Haiti during the World Cup is much like my hometown of New Orleans was during the Superbowl. Don’t try to make plans with anyone to do anything during a game. (In the more cash-rich New Orleans, the ban on non-game-related activity stretched back a day or two before a game, ...
Hell Has Come to South Louisiana
Photography by Erika BlumenfeldPhoto by Erika Blumenfeld © 2010Clint Guidry is a shrimper from Lafitte, Louisiana. As we sit together, he shows me a picture of his house with 18 inches of water in it as a result of Hurricane Ike in 2008.In his deep voice, he looks me in ...
Requiem for the Antiwar Movement
“When you vote for war, don't be surprised when you get it.”– Cindy Sheehan “I will send at least two additional combat brigades to Afghanistan.”– Presidential Candidate Barack Obama “This war (Iraq) prevents us from tackling every serious threat that we face, from a resurgent al-Qaeda in Afghanistan to a ...
Photography by Erika BlumenfeldFrom the air, the area north of Grand Isle, Louisiana, much of it around Barataria Bay, looks like scorched earth. This area has been and is heavily afflicted by BP's oil. The so-called cleanup efforts, including laying out booms to supposedly prevent oil from destroying more marsh ...
SEC & MMS: A Tale of Two Failures
Written with Eliot SpitzerHow many disasters will it take to overhaul the regulatory agencies? The SEC and the Minerals Management Service’s (MMS) share a number of characteristics we can’t help but notice in the wake of the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history, which followed the second-worst financial disaster in ...
A Second Slave Rebellion in Haiti (Or: What's the Worth of a Haitian Child? Part III)
One of the many effects of poverty in Haiti is that desperate parents regularly give away their children in the hope that the new family will feed and educate the children better than they themselves can. Instead, the children usually end up as child slaves, or restavèk. In a country ...
General Atomics Afraid of Peace of the Action
Last week I was getting ready to head out to DC for Peace of the Action’s Sizzlin’ Summer Protest when I got a call with a 202 (DC) area code. This is how the conversation went: Me: Hello, this is Cindy. Caller: Hello, my name is (I forget) from PM ...
What We Make Our Sisters Do for Healthcare
Sisters, we are allowing great pain and suffering. Sisters, we are doing more than allowing great pain and suffering, we are participating in it. All around us, our moms, our daughters, our cousins, our neighbors, our co-workers, our friends and, yes, our sisters are fighting in quiet desperation against a ...
Republicans: The Party of Unemployment
From now until Nov. 2, the Republican Party will be the party of unemployment. The logic is straightforward: The more people who are unemployed on Election Day, the better the prospects for Republicans in the fall election. They expect, with good cause, that voters will hold the Democrats responsible for ...
Photography by Erika BlumenfeldWe drive south on Louisiana Highway 55 towards Pointe-au-Chien. The two-lane road hugs a bayou, like most of the roads leading south into the marsh areas. Incredibly green, lush forest gives way to increasing areas of water the further south we venture, until the very road feels ...
One of the great things about being a novelist is that the form enables me to dramatize the way the government and establishment media collude to manipulate public opinion. The phenomenon of the mainstream media laundering government talking points into news in exchange for access to even more such talking ...
A butterfly is hopping from flower to flower. Oh, good. I think. The butterfly is busybodying as usual. We are like butterflies. We busybody ourselves every day for our survival as we think we know how. But the difference with us, is that we know we are not as innocent ...
We Pledge Resistance to the Empire
“Ms. Sheehan, are you aware that you have a stay-away order from here?” The big, burly cop said to me as he crossed Pennsylvania Avenue to confront our small protest of intrepid peaceniks in Lafayette Park. “Yes, and I am also aware that I am not violating it right now,” ...
Yoko Ono talks about LENNON remasters coming this October
Dear FriendsIn this very special year, which would have seen my husband and lifetime partner John Lennon reach the age of 70, I was surprised that so many musicians from all over the world sent me their ideas of how they were making a tribute to John this year. But ...
Fix America? Fix the Politicians
Today we end Fix It week on my show, although we hope to keep this recurring theme. But the largest hindrance to solutions for all of the problems we've discussed - be it the Deficit, Energy, Education or the Wars -- goes back to one place: the current Political Process ...
Slavery in Haiti, Again (Or: What's the Worth of a Haitian Child? Part II)
“I’m struggling to end slavery because I know how I suffered,” said Helia Lajeunesse, a former restavèk, child slave, who is now a children’s rights advocate. Today there are an estimated 27 million slaves in the world, according to the research of Kevin Bales of Free the Slaves.[1] This is ...
Come to NYC's Most Unusual 4th of July Celebration -- In Strawberry Fields
There will always be Independence Day parades, picnics, and fireworks, but there is only one Reading of the Constitution, to be held in Strawberry Fields, Central Park, this coming July 4, starting at noon. For the fourth year in a row, famed civil liberties attorney, Norman Siegel, and his friends will ...
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Mike's Blog
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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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February 20th, 2013
Last night was the Motion Picture Academy-sponsored dinner in Beverly Hills honoring the directors and producers of this year's five nominated films for Best Documentary. ...
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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 ...
