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Check out this trailer from my new film Four Days in Chicago.  Coming soon.

We’ll accept comments.

We complied with Paramount’s demand to delete a word from a sign in a documentary I shot. The bad word is FUCK. Under this offensive word is the corporate name Monsanto.

A law referred to as the “Monsanto Protection Act” was recently passed by Congress and signed by Obama. The law prevents federal courts from being able to obstruct the sales of genetically modified seeds, no matter what the health consequences. It gives the manufacturer of Agent Orange unfettered control of who can grow our food. In the balance, which word is more offensive, fuck or Monsanto?

Did you hear General Petraeus apologize to us, saying “I regret — and apologize for — the circumstances that led to my resignation from the CIA and caused such pain for my family, friends and supporters”?

But wait a second! General Petraeus/BetrayUs was humbled by having an illicit affair with a journalist. It seems like questions of the penis and the vagina require obsequious apology, when war and killing are still celebrated as patriotic.

A message from Haskell.

Shooting on the res, 40^th Anniversary of the Occupation and Siege of Wounded Knee.

A QUESTION OF IDENTITY

A GUILD was a medieval association of workers in a similar trade or craft. They associated to make standards of excellence and limited the people who could join. Being a guild member became a guarantee of quality to the Feudal Lords. With mass production the quality of the individual was not a factor. Working at a machine, his “guild artisan status” disappeared and Feudal Lords became corporate.

Unions were formed to protect and advance the status of workers. The struggle for union recognition, for the 8-hour day, was full of sacrifice and courage in the face of repression and violence.

I do not know why we changed the name of our Union to a Guild. Our magazine, our literature, speaks little about organizing solidarity, little about wages, safety, job security – nothing about oppressive corporations or the true meaning of the words, “it’s not in our budget.” We do have seminars to concentrate on all those things which may make us better technicians, more desirable craftsmen for the international corporations who are now the Feudal Masters.

Our Guild offers up members at varying prices and conditions depending on what the corporations (large and small) say they can pay or are willing to pay.

Our Guild serves as a convenience for employers, giving them access to a cohesive labor pool. High budget pictures will buy into the Guild to avoid possible disruption. Some buy the contract as nuisance protection. Today worker insecurity plus Guild “cooperation” guarantees there will be no serious problems.

Competent workers are available all over the world and pour out of film schools at 100,000 per year. On graduating they work non-union, make their friends and work contacts in the non-union world.

Unfortunately, a high level of professional competence is not producers’ primary concern.

A Union, a “Trade Union,” is an alliance, an organized association to further common interests. Traditionally our common interest is for better working conditions, better wages, better safety, job security and an opportunity to have work that enables us to enjoy family, friends and quality of life.

Why we changed from Union to Guild may well reveal in the clearest way many complicated questions about who we are. Guild or Union — not just words, but a critical concept.

Haskell Wexler

President Obama announced today that he is selecting Senator John Kerry to be the Secretary of State.

October 9, 2002, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry stood on the floor and spoke in favor of the invasion of Iraq. The next day he voted to authorize Bush to go to war. He has supported the long-standing Afghanistan invasion, and various levels of conflict in Somalia, Syria, and Iran.

Is there a connection between then, thirty years earlier, when Kerry became a leading voice against the war in Vietnam, and now, when Obama need not worry about Kerry opposing drones in Pakistan or our new army special warfare policy? Can we assume the subject of separating guilt and responsibility for what has happened will not be open for discussion? What about Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, the presidents and the leaders who remain unnamed and unpunished for the lies of war?

On April 22, 1971, Kerry was 27 years old and dressed in his green fatigues and Silver Star and Purple Heart ribbons as he appeared before Congress and delivered the most famous speech of his life. It was to become the speech that defined him and made possible his political career.

Kerry, testifying to war crimes, stated, “These were not isolated incidents, but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis, with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command.”

Speaking about his comrades, talked about the results of the feelings these men carry with them after coming back from war.

“The country doesn’t know it yet, but it has created a monster, a monster in the form of millions of men who have been taught to deal and to trade in violence, and who are given the chance to die for the biggest nothing in history; men who have returned with a sense of anger and a sense of betrayal which no one has yet grasped.”

The new Secretary of State, as his first action in office, should invite Iraq Veterans Against the War. I’ve heard Hilary’s office is small. For starters, please invite Graham Clumpner, 2nd Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Infantry, Airborne, Team Leader, and Sergeant.  He has proudly served our country in Afghanistan.

Early December, I had the opportunity to shoot a record for a great cause: the children’s camp The Painted Turtle.  It was centered around a Celebration of Carole King and Her Music.  Among the generous artists who contributed to a spectacular Dolby Theatre event were: Herb Alpert, Danny DeVito, Quincy Jones, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Jack Nicholson, and Katy Perry.

I hope that snippets of what I shot can be used to spread the word about the work of The Painted Turtle.

Isn’t it shocking that on the important subject of education in America, a high school senior can say such a profound truth which is not addressed at all by our president or any of our elected representatives?

October 9, 2012 NY Times

To the Editor:

When President George W. Bush signed No Child Left Behind into law, few would have predicted that the next decade of education policy would unfold into a disaster of epic proportions. The law was based on a flawed concept of a “good education” — high scores on standardized tests.

As a result, the curriculum was narrowed, shaving instruction time in the arts, music, science and history. Schools were transformed into test-preparation factories with a stress on drill, kill, bubble-fill methods. And ruthless accountability measures were enacted, with bribes and threats at their core. It’s safe to say that the law has failed miserably.

Yet when President Obama came into office, he enacted Race to the Top, a $4.35 billion competition that dished out money to states that adopted the president’s policies. In effect, it was No Child Left Behind on steroids. The pressure to garner high test scores has gone haywire, the number of cheating scandals has mushroomed and the teaching profession has been dehumanized. Enough is enough.

In this election cycle, both Mitt Romney and President Obama have largely ducked the issue. Instead of proposing a bold, game-changing plan to transform schools for the 21st century, they remain stubbornly fixed on the status quo. We cannot afford to lose yet another decade of precious time and resources. Reforms are not enough; only a revolution will suffice.

As a student, I want to be taught how to think and create and explore. I’m not a number in a spreadsheet; I’m a creative and motivated human being. I want my teachers to be paid well, given autonomy and treated like professionals. I want my school to be adequately funded. Is that too much to ask?

If either candidate called for the repeal of No Child Left Behind and the abolition of Race to the Top, and pushed schools to allow students to become the captains of their learning, he would find millions of teachers, parents and young people at his side.

NIKHIL GOYAL
Syosset, N.Y., Oct. 8, 2012

The writer is a high school senior and the author of the book “One Size Does Not Fit All: A Student’s Assessment of School.”

Petraeus Betrayus is worthy of more military ribbons as he has successfully combined numbers five and six of the Ten Commandments:

5. You shall not kill

6.  You shall not commit adultery

Is it okay to kill depending on who does it, who’s being killed, and for what good cause?  Some would question whether it is a sin to make love (heterosexually, “of course”) depending on who it is, and if you both like it.  So much for the contradictions of the modern world.