BRAVE NEW FILMS – In The Media

The Kaji Family Speak Out on Donald Trump's COVID-19 Policy on CNN

WellPoint Subsidiary Fights Maine Over Big Rate Hike

Oct 05

By Arthur Delaney at Huffington Post

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Maine, a subsidiary of WellPoint, the nation’s largest insurer, wanted the state to approve an average rate hike of 18.5 percent on its policyholders. Maine rejected the increase and now the insurer is fighting for the hike in court.

Robert Greenwald’s Brave New Films is taking aim at Anthem’s rate reach in the latest installment of his “Sick for Profit” series. The video, posted below, is a slick pitch for pitchfork-style outrage. It notes how much WellPoint pays its CEO ($9.8 million) and how much of its policyholders’ premiums it spends on lobbying ($9,529,747). WellPoint’s subsidiary in Maine says it needs the rate increase to guarantee a 3 percent profit margin.

“The only justification for this lawsuit is just pure greed,” says Ali Vander-Zanden of the Maine People’s Alliance in the video.

And the Maine attorney general’s office seems to buttress that argument — in a Sept. 23 filing, in response to the insurer’s claim that raising premiums is necessary for the financial health of the company, the AG says Anthem is perfectly profitable.

New York Times Whines: Rethink Afghanistan Film is Not “Balanced”

Oct 05

By Jeremy Scahill at AlterNet

Perhaps more than any other major corporate news outlet, The New York Times played a central role in promoting the Bush administration’s fraudulent case for the invasion and occupation of Iraq. The “reporting” of Judith Miller and Michael Gordon basically served as a front-page fiction laundering factory for Dick Cheney’s fantasy of a “mushroom cloud” threat from Saddam Hussein looming on the immediate horizon, topped off with a celebratory slice of yellowcake. More recently, the paper’s propagandists, William Broad and David Sanger, have aimed their sights on reporting dubious claims about Iran’s nuclear program.

Readers of the Times, therefore, should take with a huge grain of weaponized salt the paper’s “review” of Robert Greenwald’s new documentary, Rethink Afghanistan. With no sense of the painful irony of writing such jibberish in the Times, reviewer Andy Webster declares that the film could “use balance, something in short supply here:”

At an almost breathless pace that leaves little room for reflection, Mr. Greenwald presents a flurry of sights, voices and figures, many of them compelling but all reflecting his point of view. A historical summary is fleeting. What appears, again and again, are terrifying images of children: dead, hideously maimed or, in one instance, almost put up for sale by a frantic civilian in a refugee camp. Military engagements, it seems, are messy and claim innocent lives.

If it takes Greenwald’s “point of view” to see the human costs of the U.S. war in Afghanistan in the form of deformed, maimed and dead civilians, then his film should be required viewing for anyone purporting to support the war.

Rethink Afghanistan: Filmmaker Robert Greenwald Launches Film Opposing Escalation of War

Oct 02

By Democracy Now!

As the eighth anniversary of the US-led bombing of Afghanistan draws closer, the Obama administration continues to debate the best way to fight this ongoing war. Senate Democrats voted Thursday to delay a congressional briefing by General Stanley McChrystal, the top US commander in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, a NATO air strike on a compound in southern Afghanistan has reportedly killed a family of six. As the civilian death toll in Afghanistan continues to rise, we turn now to an excerpt from a new documentary by filmmaker Robert Greenwald of Brave New Films. It’s called Rethink Afghanistan and premieres today in New York.

MoveOn Joins With Brave New Films to Oppose Afghanistan War

Sep 29

By Spencer Ackerman at Washington Independent

MoveOn.org, the progressive grassroots action group with five million members, today emailed their supporters to urge them to host a screening of Brave New Foundation’s “Rethink Afghanistan” film. BNF calls the film “a great way to start a dialogue that will help build the movement to end the war.” From the email, which I can’t seem to find on MoveOn’s site:

In the face of a coming request for thousands more troops for Afghanistan, President Obama and his advisers are reassessing their strategy in Washington. And in living rooms across the country, Americans of all stripes are beginning to raise serious questions of their own. We’re all grappling with how to end the war as quickly and responsibly as possible.

That’s why we’re partnering with Brave New Foundation on their new film, Rethink Afghanistan. It’s an incisive and powerful documentary that provides an important perspective for the ongoing debate.

The email goes on to ask supporters if they’d be interested in hosting screenings of the film between Oct. 7 and 14 to coincide with the eighth anniversary of the war.

Greg Sargent reported on Friday that MoveOn was emailing supporters to tell the Obama administration to seek “clear exit strategy” as his strategy review progresses. This marks quite the shift for MoveOn: the group took flak from the left earlier this year when it didn’t oppose Obama’s first round of troop increases for Afghanistan. It’s tread a delicate balance since Obama’s election, as it gained a ton of new members by hugging the Obama campaign so tightly, which puts it in a delicate position of wanting to press Obama from the left while retaining its pro-Obama base of support.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates argued on Sunday that setting a date for withdrawal in Afghanistan would be a “strategic mistake.” MoveOn isn’t calling for that, to be clear, but might move in that direction as it “grappl[es] with how to end the war as quickly and responsibly as possible.”

Humanitarian ‘Call Congress Day’ 9-30 to say ‘No $128 billion for Iraq and Afa wars’

Sep 25

By Deborah Dupre’ at Examiner

Voters for Peace (VFP) and a host of national organizations announced today that they are mobilizing Americans across the nation to call Congress on September 30 to say, “No Exit strategy! No Timeline! Stop war funding!” according to Kevin Zeese, VFP director.

This week the New York Times said the “Antiwar Movement Plans an Autumn Campaign Against Policies on Afghanistan.”The call-in is part of the national October peace campaign.

War on terror expensive myth

Congress is steps away from passing the $625.8 billion 2010 Defense Budget containing approximately $128.2 billion to war against Afghanistan and Iraq through September 2010.
Evidence exists that the longer the U.S. wars against Iraq and Afghanistan, the greater is the risk that Americans will be attacked on U.S. soil according to former CIA field operative, Robert Baer and other officials in humanitarian movie director, Robert Greenwall’s documentation in Rethink Afghanistan Part 6. (See video below)

Americans have been signing Tom Hayden’s petition for Congress to not fund sending more troops to Afganistan. The September 30 National Call-in signals stronger dissent against the wars that are putting Americans in harms way and wasting troop’s lives while basic human needs remain unmet on the homefront.

Quagmire fact

The original meaning of “a quagmire” is when every step taken to escalate a war makes it harder than ever to leave.

General McChrystal has called for tens of thousands of additional American troops and a long-term commitment likely to tie the United States down in Afghanistan for years to come.

The White House has offered no timetable and no “exit strategy” for Afghanistan.

“At this critical moment, members of Congress need to get a powerful message from their constituents that we need a different policy in Afghanistan – one that emphasizes diplomacy and humanitarian assistance. Without any plan to bring the war to an end, Congress should not give another “blank-check” to the White House for continued fighting,” states Zeese.

United for Peace and Justice, CODEPINK, Peace Action, Progressive Democrats for America, Just Foreign Policy, AfterDowningStreet and Voters for Peace coalition believes public outcry is important now, when the Pentagon is leaning on the President and Congress to escalate the costly, destructive and ultimately un-winnable wars

The coalition urges all citizens to particpate in the September 30 National Call-in Day to tell Senators and Congressional Representatives to vote against the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill.

“When making this call, urge them to co-sponsor Congressman James McGovern’s H.R. 2404 that would require President Obama to provide an ‘exit plan’ from Afghanistan no later than December 2009,” urged Zeese.

For a list of co-sponsors of the McGovern bill, see:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:h.r.02404

“Growing numbers of Senators and Congressional Representatives have expressed concerns over US policy in Afghanistan. It is hypocritical to raise so many questions and then turn around and provide “blank check” funding for another year of war,” says Zeese.

Rethink Afghanistan (Part 6): Security

A Chicano in Afghanistan

Sep 24

By Latino USA at NPR

Villagers in Afghanistan describe the loss of family members to visiting journalists and ex-soldiers returning to the region.

With waning public support, a recent presidential election marred in controversy, and a confidential military assessment leaked to the press in recent weeks, President Obama says he is “weighing option” in terms of the conflict in Afghanistan. Add to this reports that the Taliban is gaining ground in the region, and it’s clear that U.S. interests in the region are at risk.

Former Marine Rick Reyes.

When the war began early this decade, the decision to go after those responsible for the World Trade Center and Pentagon bombings took little convincing. And for Rick Reyes, a former Marine who grew up in East Los Angeles, there was little question about the decision to invade. After serving a tour in Afghanistan, Reyes went on to serve a tour in Iraq.

Reyes war experience, obviously, left him a changed person. This was not a traditional war against an easily recognizable enemy that you engage and destroy. In many cases, it was impossible to distinguish an enemy combatant from a local resident. And for many, all local residents became the enemy. But Reyes rejected that type of thinking.

Recently, Reyes returned to Afghanistan for the first time since serving as a soldier in 2001. Independent Producer Reese Erlich accompanied him, as Reyes went on a listening tour as part of a group of veterans against the war.

See Rick Reyes’ testimony on April 23, 2009 before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

No Good War, No Good Drone

Sep 22

By David Swanson at OpEdNews

Eight years of slaughter, and not so much as a hint at what a “victory” would look like. It’s gotten to the point where even polls by Fox News show a majority of Americans against escalating the war in Afghanistan, and polls by more honest organizations show a majority wanting to bring home the troops that are there now.

But our so-called representatives in Congress are reluctant to “interfere” with their own primary Constitutional responsibilities, and the so-called executive whom they’ve given free reign is undecided about whether to listen to us or the military. There’s no time like the present to “go out there and make him do it.”

On Monday, October 5, citizens from across the country will join together at the White House in nonviolent resistance to and demonstration against the ongoing wars. You can safely demonstrate or you can choose to risk arrest as many of us will be doing. Sign up now at http://nogoodwar.org The more people who come, the more reluctant the police will be to arrest anyone, and the more reluctant our government will be to defy the will of the majority we represent. If you cannot come to DC, you can call your congress member on Monday, October 5th at (202) 224-3121 and tell them to vote no on any more money for wars. Here’s where your congress member stands: http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/43479 And here are two lists of events happening all over the country marking 8 years in the Graveyard of Empires: http://natassembly.org and http://unitedforpeace.org

A Shifting Debate on Afghanistan

Sep 18

By Katrina vanden Heuvel at The Nation

Eight years after the war in Afghanistan began, the issue of how to end it is finally getting some traction in Congress.

No longer is Congressman Jim McGovern’s bill with over 100 cosponsors demanding an exit strategy from the only game in town. Nor are Senators Russ Feingold and Bernie Sanders alone among their colleagues in calling for a flexible timetable for withdrawal or a national conversation on Afghanistan strategy.

In these past few weeks–after a rigged election that will likely leave the corrupt Karzai government in power, and polls showing Americans suffering war fatigue during these economic hard times of jobless recovery–more centrist Democrats have started questioning a strategy of escalation in Afghanistan. Among them, Senator Carl Levin, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, came out against an increase in troop levels. Also, Senator Diane Feinstein, Chairman of the Intelligence Committee, has called on the administration to provide a specific date for withdrawal.

Even Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin–perhaps the President’s closest friend and ally in Congress–said, “I think, at this point, sending additional troops would not be the right thing to do.”

It’s clear that we are seeing the beginning signs of a significant shift in the debate.

KPFK Fund Drive – Rethink Afghanistan

Sep 18

Listen to the entire program

Rethink Afghanistan

General Stanley McChrystal, the top US commander in Afghanistan, has requested 3000 urgently needed extra troops to Afghanistan, in addition to the 21,000 troops scheduled to be sent this year under the President’s orders. Under Obama’s orders the total number of troops in Afghanistan could reach up to 68,000. July and August were the bloodiest months for US troops in Afghanistan and this month looks to keep that death rate constant. More than 750 troops have been killed in Afghanistan since the start of the war nearly 8 years ago, and untold numbers of Afghan civilians have also been killed, either directly by the US or by the increasingly bold Taliban force, that derive their strength from the US occupation. Meanwhile, the US there is facing an added test of credibility with the recent Presidential elections. Former US President Jimmy Carter called the elections “despicable” and said flat out that the US-backed incumbent “Hamid Karzai has stolen the election.” After a dispute within the United Nations over the validity of the elections, American deputy Peter Galbraith returned to his home in Vermont. Galbraith had recommended annulling election results from 1000 of the 6,500 polling places, and recounting votes from another 5000. The European Union has declared that 25% of ballots in the election were fraudulent or tampered in some way.

Today we’ll spend the hour focusing on what many are calling Obama’s Iraq: that is the on-going occupation of Afghanistan, which began 1 1/2 years before the Iraq war. Leading up to the 8th anniversary of the start of Operation Enduring Freedom this October 7th, a recent CNN poll found that 58% of Americans oppose the Afghanistan war.

GUEST: Norman Solomon, author of “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death,” and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. He just returned from Afghanistan.

We are featuring this hour the newly completed film by Brave New Films and Robert Greenwald, called Rethink Afghanistan, the definitive and newest film questioning the very basis for the US occupation. The film will open in New York in early October but KPFK listeners get to put in early orders for the DVD right now through our fund drive.

Robert on The Ed Show for Sick For Profit

Sep 15