SiCKO - See it today - Bring tissues and your passport?

[Maphusio]

What a beautiful Sunday afternoon to see a movie. I went to the Grand Cinema in downtown Tacoma, Wa USA with my parents to see Michael Moore's SiCKO. There is not much I can say to adequately express my feelings toward this film. I was not prepared for what I saw, a film so touching I found myself crying through a good portion of it...

I recognized we had a bit of a health care issue in the USA but never really researched it and grasped the severity of the issue. I assumed (as many have) that we are living in America, we HAVE to be on the top. Boy was I so horribly wrong.

Fortunately for myself I have not had a medical emergency that required me to front more than a $25.00 co-pay or $60-100 pharmaceutical charge. There was one time however, in 98' when I was a People to People Student Ambassador in Australia where I had injured myself and was examined and sent on my way without paying a dime. I had fallen on a cattle bridge in the outskirts of the outback. As a result I hyper extended my wrist and was admitted to a local clinic where I was promptly treated, given a prescription of pain killers, some anti-inflammatory ointment, bandaged and sent on my way.

Wow I thought, why did another country that I'm NOT a citizen of not ask for some compensation for their time and money lost? Was it, that I was the "damn Yank" that all the girls loved? Was it the great relations we had with Australia as well as other countries throughout the world? Now I may know the answer to that question. More importantly, now I know what I want established in this country given what we have to work with now.

During the course of the movie when Michael Moore's message became readily operant; I started thinking about something I heard Bobby Kennedy say...

"Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation ... It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is thus shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance." -Robert F. Kennedy

It was at that very moment of recollection that I realized and fully comprehended what he was describing to us. It was such an euphoric state to imagine the ripples this very screening was causing in the grand scheme of so many lives including my own. That those ripples will become bigger ripples and those ripples will merge into a wave and so on.

Is universal health care the right or wrong way to go? I don't know for sure... But, given where we are today, given the obvious abuse of our health care system. The countless atrocities that are committed against our sick and elderly... Shouldn't we at least try? Shouldn't this ripple of hope give even those with the most bleak outlook on life the dream, the idea of a better way of life for all of us; not just your or me but for all of us, "we the people."?

Michael touched on a few other interesting topics such as our education system. How in many other countries one can seek a higher education and not be so far into debt to the extent that persons hopes of achieving their goals becomes unrealistic, and they give up. While chatting with some American's living in France was overwhelmed and stupefied with the quality of life they claim to lead in comparison to my own... It left me really considering, life in Europe.

Now there will be those that say this is yet another one of Mr. Moore's "I hate the conservative party" (subsequently that means the whole US OF A). I've read and watched their reports... Forget all of the Wolfe Blitzers and Bill O'Riley's out there... Who is lining their pocket? Now ask yourself, who is taking out of yours?

Give this film a chance, don't be afraid to agree with someone just because in the past you have strongly disagreed... Thats ignorance at its best, thats the last thing anyone wants to represent.

See SiCKO, decide for yourself... Most of all, help make a difference.

Note: Yes I am a Seattle, latte sipping, sandal wearing, philosophizing, bleeding heart environmentalist liberal.

 

[Brother None]

Sorry, I gave up on Michael Moore after the slugfest of selective editing, outright lying and open manipulation that was Bowling for Columbine. I'm sure he'll be remembered as the best propaganda-maker since Leni Reifenstahl (ooh, Godwin's Law!), but on a personal level, I'm not impressed.

Screw him, and screw his lies. If he wants to bring his message out there, he might be right that the easiest way to get it to the masses is by manipulating their opinions, but it's low and dishonest, and as much as people lick it up, I spit it out.

Pa-chooeh!

 

[xdarkyrex]

Hah, when I was living in my car for a while due to some problems I was having back then, I was suffering from malnutrition and dehydration, and it gave me a kidney stone.

to make a long story short, I went to the emergency room for this horrible pain in my lower back, and it cost me $8000 for an X-ray and a diagnosis and to pee in a cup.

Luckily for me, the stone passed the next day, but who in their right mind can charge a homeless person $8000 for a diagnosis of a kidney stone...

Also, i hear that the people who don't have insurance in America is something like 33% of the population.

Honestly, health care in this country is sickening. It needs to be fixed.

 

[[PCE]el_Prez]

Sorry, I gave up on Michael Moore after the slugfest of selective editing, outright lying and open manipulation that was Bowling for Columbine.

Agreed. Maybe that fatass can attack America's 'obesity epidemic' next. And just maybe he'll have a heart attack while filming it.

 

[generalissimofurioso]

el_Prez]
Agreed. Maybe that fatass can attack America's 'obesity epidemic' next. And just maybe he'll have a heart attack while filming it.

I get it! We can't believe anything he says because he's fat!

HAHAHAHAH, Let's all ignore the issues he raises simply because he looks like a sack of pork butts was given life by a drunken diety!

 

[Brother None]

I get it! We can't believe anything he says because he's fat!

HAHAHAHAH, Let's all ignore the issues he raises simply because he looks like a sack of pork butts was given life by a drunken diety!

Yeah. Let's pretend the only problem with his movies is his weight, and not the fact that his so-called documentaries are pieced-together bits of selective footage to prove whatever point he wants to. Just because it's real doesn't make it accurate. That's not a method of documentary-making, it's a method of propaganda-making.

 

[generalissimofurioso]

[
Yeah. Let's pretend the only problem with his movies is his weight, and not the fact that his so-called documentaries are pieced-together bits of selective footage to prove whatever point he wants to. Just because it's real doesn't make it accurate. That's not a method of documentary-making, it's a method of propaganda-making.

I just find it funny that whenever people are criticizing Michael Moore, the issue of his weight trumps the fact that his movies are meant to do two things and two things only...

1) Give people who agree with him a public source to funnel crappy statistics out of.

AND

2) Piss off people who don't agree with him.

It's essentially a movie version of Fox News, only with much less Bill O'Reilly and much more of that good ol' "LIBERAL BIAS"

 

[metalboss44]

Hah, when I was living in my car for a while due to some problems I was having back then, I was suffering from malnutrition and dehydration, and it gave me a kidney stone.

to make a long story short, I went to the emergency room for this horrible pain in my lower back, and it cost me $8000 for an X-ray and a diagnosis and to pee in a cup.

Luckily for me, the stone passed the next day, but who in their right mind can charge a homeless person $8000 for a diagnosis of a kidney stone...

Also, i hear that the people who don't have insurance in America is something like 33% of the population.

Honestly, health care in this country is sickening. It needs to be fixed.

I had a family member who was in the same situation, he was diagnosed with gall stones and he was sent around to diff hospitals who made him sit around and wait for HOURS ON END for any kind of medical evaluation. The first few doctors diagnosed him with 'gas', 'irritable bowel syndrome' and the like, but it became apparent the severe pain was not going away and he had to be rushed out to a hospital in california for immediate surgery when the pain became unbearable.

He was misdiagnosed more than 3 times and had to pay a bucket load each time for some half-ass evaluations that were just guesses, and for their mistakes he had to live in pain for years. The doctors in this country don't give a shit about anything except for their next mercedes down payment. The medical community is now wrestling with a staggering amount of malpractice lawsuits and in my eyes, it's no small wonder.

 

[[PCE]el_Prez]

Hah, when I was living in my car for a while due to some problems I was having back then, I was suffering from malnutrition and dehydration, and it gave me a kidney stone.

to make a long story short, I went to the emergency room for this horrible pain in my lower back, and it cost me $8000 for an X-ray and a diagnosis and to pee in a cup.

Luckily for me, the stone passed the next day, but who in their right mind can charge a homeless person $8000 for a diagnosis of a kidney stone...

Also, i hear that the people who don't have insurance in America is something like 33% of the population.

Honestly, health care in this country is sickening. It needs to be fixed.

Sure. Why don't you just garnish MY wages so I can pay for a liver transplant for some homeless alcoholic transient because he can't pay for insurance for himself. Especially when i know that after he gets patched up he's just gonna hit the bottle again.

I just find it funny that whenever people are criticizing Michael Moore, the issue of his weight trumps the fact that his movies are meant to do two things and two things only...

Yeah, my bad for going after his weight. Can I take back my statement about his disgusting appearence and replace it with this: Michael Moore is the complete waste of a human being.

 

[Brother None]

el_Prez]Sure. Why don't you just garnish MY wages so I can pay for a liver transplant for some homeless alcoholic transient because he can't pay for insurance for himself. Especially when i know that after he gets patched up he's just gonna hit the bottle again.

Heh. Americans are so funny, it's like doom scenario upon doom scenario with you people.

 

[xdarkyrex]

el_Prez]
Sure. Why don't you just garnish MY wages so I can pay for a liver transplant for some homeless alcoholic transient because he can't pay for insurance for himself. Especially when i know that after he gets patched up he's just gonna hit the bottle again.

umm, you do realize that 33% of the american population CANT get medical help?

and you know where that money to do their surgeries comes from?
you guessed it, government funding! woooo!

It'd be cheaper than paying into health insurance anyways, so what's your complaint, honestly?

 

[Lord 342]

Well that IS a doom scenario, but you have to consider doom scenarios to learn how to prevent them. I'll admit we harp on them a lot in this country, and Michael Moore is guilty of it more than most. He makes millions from his propaganda that is based on doom scenarios. What he does it not considering a worst-case to learn from it, it's planting seeds in the mind of the public to panic them and get them to give you their money. Disreputable, slimy, and despicable. Michael Moore is just that.

 

[xdarkyrex]

Sensationalism at it's most pure, Michael Moore, a machine that makes money on your misery.

I bet you he's the center of an Enclave experiment >

 

[[PCE]el_Prez]

It'd be cheaper than paying into health insurance anyways, so what's your complaint, honestly?

I have no complaints with my healthcare situation. I had so many medical bills last year - medical insurance saved my life.

 

[Lord 342]

Exactly. A buddy of mine had a brain tumor removed a couple years ago (shit... it's been that long, hasn't it...) and he told me that he did the figures and that he could pay for insurance privately for the rest of his life and he'd still make money off that one thing, if he needed no more treatment.

 

[xdarkyrex]

well thats not THAT different then socialized health care

you pay into an organization, and then it gives you health care.

 

[PhredBean]

umm, you do realize that 33% of the american population CANT get medical help?

This hasn't always been the issue, not 50 years ago, when only the father worked, not even 10 years ago when both parents worked and still managed to make a comfortable living. Do you realize that our inflation has been increasing exponentially for years now? That between the idiocy of an elastic money supply and continually tacking on government program after government program the US cannot fund its own programs without relying on borrowing money from the Federal Reserve? Over 60% of our taxes go to pay interest (not pay it off, we aren't even touching it right now) on the national debt. You also realize that even if we weren't making those interest payments, our government spends more on social programs like medicare and welfare than it brings in in taxes? It can only afford to do that by borrowing money, issuing notes of debt, and devaluing the dollar through creating more money. We don't need more programs, more "security" (I continue to laugh at anyone who claims the Dept of Homeland Security or this brutally expensive war makes us safer), or more debt. We need to downsize government bureaucratic spending that's leeching our dollar though inflation.

and you know where that money to do their surgeries comes from? you guessed it, government funding! woooo!

And where does that government (non-producers) get the money to pay the surgeon and the bureaucrats that oversee the already cumbersome amounts of medical programs we have? You guessed it, the american taxpayers (producers) and through whose hands the dollar passes while it loses about 7% (which is one of the more optimistic quotes I see) of its value a year from inflation.

It'd be cheaper than paying into health insurance anyways, so what's your complaint, honestly?

Only until you realize that if it was institutionalized further you'd be paying more than the already utter bullshit nearly 35% of your check into more taxes and you'd be seeing the value of the dollar continue to drop until you start seeing 200$ price tags on Jeans that cost 50$ now and cost a quarter 50 years ago.

 

[xdarkyrex]

This hasn't always been the issue, not 50 years ago, when only the father worked, not even 10 years ago when both parents worked and still managed to make a comfortable living. Do you realize that our inflation has been increasing exponentially for years now? That between the idiocy of an elastic money supply and continually tacking on government program after government program the US cannot fund its own programs without relying on borrowing money from the Federal Reserve? Over 60% of our taxes go to pay interest (not pay it off, we aren't even touching it right now) on the national debt. You also realize that even if we weren't making those interest payments, our government spends more on social programs like medicare and welfare than it brings in in taxes? It can only afford to do that by borrowing money, issuing notes of debt, and devaluing the dollar through creating more money. We don't need more programs, more "security" (I continue to laugh at anyone who claims the Dept of Homeland Security or this brutally expensive war makes us safer), or more debt. We need to downsize government bureaucratic spending that's leeching our dollar though inflation.




And where does that government (non-producers) get the money to pay the surgeon and the bureaucrats that oversee the already cumbersome amounts of medical programs we have? You guessed it, the american taxpayers (producers) and through whose hands the dollar passes while it loses about 7% (which is one of the more optimistic quotes I see) of its value a year from inflation.

lol, Don't need totell me, aside from socialized healthcare, I'm pretty much for minimal central government, almost to a libertarian sense.

The whole system is pretty much screwed, and theres no way out.
I just think of all the stuff my taxes pay for, medical coverage should be one of them.

 

[Sander]

Only until you realize that if it was institutionalized further you'd be paying more than the already utter bullshit nearly 35% of your check into more taxes and you'd be seeing the value of the dollar continue to drop until you start seeing 200$ price tags on Jeans that cost 50$ now and cost a quarter 50 years ago.

What a typical American bullshit view on 'socialism'.
Please try to explain to me why the European Union has much, much more centralised health care, yet has none of the problems you mention?
The inflation of the dollar has nothing to do with programs like that, but with the handling of the dollar by the US government.

Also, I agree with Brother None.

 

[alec]

Also, I agree with Brother None.

Isn't that pretty much what you always do?

Michael Moore is okay in my book. I know he tends to twist and turn and contort some facts to suit his train of thought and the flow of his flicks, but all documentary makers do this.
It's like releasing a young antilope right in front of a cheetah just to get hold of the massacre. Or something like that.
It's what the people want to see.