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Sicko

Kavita Chhibber - July 13, 2007

Stirring Quite a Pot!

So one thing is for sure-you either love to love Michael Moore or you love to hate the guy and anything he does on and off camera sends blood pressures and ratings sky rocketing. But it also makes you think.

Perhaps this is the most non intrusive of Moore’s films, in that he refuses to be in your face or that of the politicians, HMOs and Pharma heads, but just lets the facts, the heart rending stories, and the faces behind the healthcare tragedies talk to you. And that impacts you even more deeply.

I don’t know if there is anyone of us who hasn’t heard at least one story of some one dying either of hospital neglect or suffering because an HMO played dirty.
Sicko creates a moving, poignant montage of lives devastated by exorbitant medical bills and of blatant denial for critical care by the health care industry. It captures a state of helplessness and hopelessness I hope none of us ever has to face, but over 47 million people do- every day.

The story start unfolding almost immediately with Moore’s favorite punching bag (and maybe rightly so) President George W Bush saying, ““Too many good docs are getting out of business. Too many O-B-G-Y-N’s aren’t able to practice their, their love with women all across this country.” You laugh at yet another nonsensical phrase out of the mouth of a man who has made America a laughing stock and one of the most despised nations globally. But laughing at Bush is one thing-the American health care system that he along with his forerunners helped wreck with the aid of Pharmaceutical companies and HMOs is obviously no laughing matter.

And soon the laughter turns into stunned, silent grief as you watch story after story of tragic heart break unfold on the screen. An old woman, later identified as Carol Reyes suffering from dementia, is dropped off by a cab on the street, wandering lost and confused, on a cold, rainy winter day in just a nightgown, before being found by workers of the Los Angeles' Union Rescue Mission. Who was behind the furtive dumping? Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Bellflower.

Carol Reyes who was also featured in Moore’s documentary, was one of 50 people dumped on skid row, eight months ago.

Look at this video report from ABC http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=1763440/

Andy Bales of the Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles testified before lawmakers in a hearing about how hospitals continue to dump patients on Skid Row and some of the most dangerous streets in that area. “Unfortunately, there have been over 35 hospital drop-offs since Carroll Reyes made the news. One man, a paraplegic, dropped off without a wheelchair without a walker, dropped himself out of the van onto the curb with his clothes in his mouth and colostomy bag ruptured. Fortunately, one good thing that came out of this was that twelve homeless witnesses stepped forward and said enough is enough. No more of this kind of treatment for human beings.”

There is the story of Dawnelle Keys, whose 18-month-old daughter Michelle died in Los Angeles in 1993, because she was denied medical aid at the Martin Luther King/Drew Medical Center hospital in Los Angeles. Why? Because Dawnelle was on a health plan by Kaiser, and MLK hospital is not a Kaiser facility. Michelle died thanks to the run around from one facility to another. She would have been a teenager in High school, had she been treated on time.
There is story of a couple who were doing well, but lost their money and their house thanks to medical expenses they had to bear for life threatening ailments. You see them going from their beautiful home to a small overcrowded room in their daughter’s basement while their 27 year old son whines and complains about the inconvenience of it all. Paying for medical bills has become the number 1 cause of bankruptcy in the country today, says Moore.

Then there is the heart breaking story of a wife whose husband died because he was denied a bone marrow transplant by his health insurance company, even though his wife worked at the hospital that provided the coverage. She says she ran from pillar to post and got nowhere, and what stayed with her were the sobs of hopeless despair from a bathroom where her husband had locked himself up. He had a marrow match, but he was no match for the mighty HMOs, who chose to fill their coffers with blood money sucked out of the marrow of many such hapless victims, and many of these were ironically, insured.

Then there is the story of those volunteers and fire fighters from New Jersey who had rushed to help in the aftermath of 9/11 and had ended up with chronic respiratory illnesses, but were pushed to the side as well because they were mere volunteers trying to save lives. Who told them to be there? So why should anyone be responsible for their acts of bravery and courage and compassion? One of the volunteers, Regie Cervantes is on a 1000 dollars a month disability and needs $250 a month for her inhaler medication. Many such stories made their way in to the documentary but from the over 25,000 responses Moore received when he asked for stories these were a drop in the ocean.

But wait, the biggest Moore moment is yet to come. It’s the last straw when Moore decides to take a bunch of sick people including those hapless 9/11 volunteers to Guantanamo Bay to the jail where Al Qaida detainees and the worst criminals are housed and get universal health care, including nutrition counseling. He wants them to get the same medical treatment being accorded to the criminals, but no one shows up to give them entry or aid. Then, in spite of the danger Moore takes a detour and ends up in Havana, where everyone is treated with kindness, at no cost and that 250$ inhaler costs a mere 5 cents. Regie Cervantes has an emotional breakdown when she hears that.

Moore then decides to take a look at the health care system of other countries. So he takes off to Canada, the UK, France and Britain and you watch in utter disbelief, as each country takes seemingly amazing care of their patients-for free. In Britain they even gave you a refund for transportation you used to come to the hospital. In France they provided new mothers with nannies who did household chores and even cooked on command, plus a lot of time off. A sick man was given extra time off because he didn’t feel up to coming back for a few months. In France the docs did house calls. Jay Leno himself mentioned to Michael Moore on the Tonight Show that his mother in law had a stroke in London and was there for 3 months with Leno requesting the hospital to give all the extras that she may need-after three months the bill sent to him was a paltry 4500 dollars.

You see a young American mother who has been diagnosed with cervical cancer in her early twenties, and denied treatment because she is too young to get cervical cancer crossing over to Canada and pretending to be a friend’s partner to receive treatment that she couldn’t get in the States. Moore’s uncle and aunt buy insurance just to visit him for a couple of days across the border in Detroit because they don’t want to be slapped with thousands of dollars of medical bills if God forbid they had an accident or fell ill.

And then of course there are the perpetrators-the politicians, the pharmaceuticals and the HMOS. And there is the “record everything” desperado Richard Nixon. Moore called him “the gift that keeps on giving” as reams of tapes with something or the other to incriminate Nixon seem to show up in public. This time it’s a discussion he is having with his sidekick Ehrlichman who tells him about this "health maintenance organizations like Edward Kaiser's Permanente thing." He adds "Edgar Kaiser is running his Permanente deal for profit. ... All the incentives are toward less medical care," the less care they give them, the more money they make." Nixon makes it clear in his response that he likes the idea. "Ooh, not bad!” and promptly declares a new national health care initiative and thus begins the sickening slide for the common man. “Four health care lobbyists for every member of Congress. Here's what is what it costs to buy these men,” says Moore, as he pinpoints the blood money for politicians in the know. Bush is the highest recipient.

The latest break up on Moore’s website on which political candidate received what amount shows Hillary Clinton leading the pack with $848,872, Mitt Romney with $830, 285, Barack Obama with $566,638 and John McCain with $409,751 as the top four. With every candidate harping on healthcare, you wonder what phony deal they will actually come up with after filling their coffers with blood money from the pharma and health care industries.

Moore also says in an interview that of the 25 pharma companies working on cures and vaccines thirty years ago, only 5 remain. Why? because its just not lucrative to find a cure.

It is also terrible to see the middlemen who deny patients treatments or health insurance finding loopholes. It saves companies a lot of money. As one investigator who has since resigned said, “Someone made that crack and swept you towards it.”

Equally damaging was the testimony from Dr Linda Peeno, who worked for an HMO as medical director, and spoke before lawmakers about the bonuses her colleagues and she received for denying healthcare and the horrific results of those denials was death to many patients. “I am here primarily today to make a public confession. In the spring of 1987 as a physician, I denied a man a necessary operation that would have saved his life and thus caused his death. No person and no group has held me accountable for this. Because, in fact, what I did was I saved a company a half a million dollars with this.”

Days have passed since I saw the documentary and I see the response to the film, mostly overwhelmingly positive though the Moore bashers will continue to indulge in their diatribe too. Amongst it comments that he was off in the stats he provided(not much as subsequent clarifications showed) and whines that the health care system in UK, Cuba, Canada and France had been glorified and that all that glitters is not that much gold-may be but, it certainly doesn’t leave its demented or abused weak and helpless wandering on the streets on a cold night, in a nightgown). And many of the chronically ill people in Canada, UK even if they supposedly wait in long lines according to some who have criticized the system, would not stand a chance at life, if they were here in the US.

Maybe the most disappointing performance came from Dr Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s medical correspondent and a neurosurgeon to boot, whose integrity both as a physician and as a correspondent had never come into question until now when he tackled Moore on Larry King live. It was sad to see Dr. Gupta fumbling his way through his objections, while agreeing with Moore on the importance of this documentary and all the key issues. The amount of backlash Gupta received on his own blog on CNN, by viewers made me realize that people aren’t stupid. They know the truth when they see it, but then why, why have Americans allowed this to happen to fellow Americans-the bravest volunteers scarred by 9/11 being left to burn in the hellholes of disease and the poor and helpless, the elderly and the weak, being treated as filth, and dumped to die?

It was a telling comment that the doctor in the UK, in direct contrast to Peeno tells Moore that he and his colleagues apart from their fairly cushy salaries get an additional bonus if at the end of the year their patients are in better health, and you wonder, this could be a great way to start in America as well. Preventive care could become one of the key solutions to saving a lot of the dollars spent on treating diseases like obesity related ones for instance.

But perhaps in my mind the most important message came from the same medical director Linda Peeno in the aftermath of the release of the documentary, “I think that we have created a culture that devalues life and devalues the care of other people and our care for one another. …That is a dangerous condition that we are going to pay dearly for, and are paying dearly for and maybe with some of our own lives… We are an individualistic society that doesn't feel any responsibility for one another. And you know, I have spent the past twenty years seeing how health care system is a microcosm for the other systems. I hope this movie helps us to ..ask how we value one another in our lives, in our deaths. What values do we want to have? And why do individual human stories fail to move us? The perplexing question to me still is why did it not move people in 1996 when I, as a doctor, testified about how easy it was to cause the death of somebody? And then as I proceeded to spend ten years trying to get people to understand what was happening. So I think this is our moment in time. I don't think we will ever have another moment. I would like to end with a quote from Abraham Joshua [unknown] a theologian that says, “Few are guilty but all are responsible.”

I hope we all remember that as we answer Moore’s very relevant question, “"Who are we? Is this what we've become?" And I hope we really think hard before we vote next year, because our political leaders did not arrive from another planet. We choose them every time And more power to people like Moore, who at least has the courage to step up and tackle issues that others pretend don’t exist or don’t want to talk about.

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Posted by Kavita Chhibber at July 13, 2007 05:47 PM

Comments

Dear Kavita,

After a prolonged hiatus, it's great to see you on the blog with such a timely cameo on Mr. Moore's poignant documentary on the state of medical care in the USA!

Regards,

1. Posted by Ron Saywack on July 13, 2007 08:54 PM

"We are an individualistic society that doesn't feel any responsibility for one another".

And how has this become a fact? Because nowadays no-one learns to be responsible for him/herself anymore.

Improve the world starts with oneself.

For the first time in my life i received money back from my health insurance company because i did not have to go to the doctor or hospital for a whole year, but i try to be responsible for my own health. That does not mean that i cannot become ill, but there is a middle way which one can walk where doctors and patients both carry responsibility. If the doctor is prepared to learn, so is the patient, or the other way around.

I do not pretend to have found the solution here, but when doctors get a bonus, the patient should get one too for responsible behaviour!

2. Posted by , on July 14, 2007 01:32 AM

Hello Kavita and Everyone,

The American consumer is a very lazy consumer and that is why the health care industry and the airline industry are allowed to get so out of hand. You pay through the nose and then they inform you that the kleenex you need to stop the bleed will cost you extra...Oh, you spent your last penny on the ticket or the monthly premium and you do not have the "extra,".. your shirt will do just fine, but please do not dirty up our carpet, it is brand new, and our very expensive CEO will have a fit if it get on his very expensive shoes!

There was a piece in the news the other night about all the problems with air travel that consumers have and you noticed that the lines of people waiting to fly were out the door...the demand continues and increases while the service decreases and the tickets get more costly and still the American people keep booking their vacations...

The thing is, it would probably only take a month or two of people driving, not going, not booking, that ticket for things to start to change..the same with the health care industry...truth be told, if we cared enough to change it...it would take so little...and that goes for any kind of change that was wanted and needed..

The American people are a free people we just don't behave as a free people, we behave more like prisoners of corporate industry and the interesting thing is, we are so well behaved because our training has been so subtle and complete. Yes, those long long lines in the emergency rooms of American hospitals, and airports, are lines full of the most well behaved prisioners in the world. Hey, we are easy pickins when it comes to the takers, we pretty much reward them for it, by our demand for their lousy service.

have a great day everyone, ruth

3. Posted by ruth on July 14, 2007 05:58 AM

Kavita:

Fantastic commentary on Sicko!! I wish to see it ASAP!

Cheers,
Desh
Drishtikone.com

4. Posted by Desh kapoor on July 14, 2007 10:26 AM

Hello Kavita!

Good to see you again!

CNN brought back Michael Moore to talk about his movie last Thursday night.
This man is not afraid to speak his mind.
I could imagine the network executives fairly cringing
with every fact he presented in his passionate indignation.

I'd never heard of Dr. Gupta until he had Deepak on his morning show.
Carolyn was nice enough to inform the IntentBloggers
before the broadcast, so I watched it with a keen interest.

Gupta seemed like such a nice fellow.

These latest comments he made...it makes it seem as if he was pressured into making a
certain particular response, not of his own choosing.
I can hardly blame him for wanting to keep his lucrative position
with this very successful news broadcasting network.

I would hate to have been one of Michael Moore's previous employers,
especially if the business entailed ship building.
It's hard to hit the nail on the head when someone is always rockin' the boat.

Have you heard from Dave Hall lately?

Peace, Keith~

5. Posted by Keith on July 14, 2007 06:03 PM

Well-written, Kavita!! Absolutely impacting!!

Haven't seen the movie yet; but, I sure look forward to the awakening.

And Moore is right; all that glitters in Canada is not gold; not in comparison to what we had, ten years ago, that is a for sure!! WE are wittnessing our own decline here.. it's scary, and just not right!

Kudos, to your well-written piece! Wow!

6. Posted by North on July 14, 2007 08:31 PM

Hi North,

How are you, my dear? It's alway good to hear from you!

Regards,

Ron.

7. Posted by Ron Saywack on July 14, 2007 09:00 PM

Hi Kavita,

Thanks for bringing this movie to our attention. This subject has always been a pet peeve of mine. Hospitals and some Doctors are just as likely to kill you, as cure these days. They are fixated on treating the symptoms of the disease instead of the cause. To them you are just another customer and they often treat you like a piece of meat. Drugs to numb you up, or to put you to sleep so they don't have to deal with you as a person. They are also pimping for the drug companies; covertly in the USA, but quite openly here in the Philippines. The only good news here is the doctors don't charge you an arm or a leg. A visit to a specialist is still only around five dollars, and you can get in the same day.
You still have to really check out the medicines they prescribe since 30% of the time those medicines are inappropriate for your condition, or already under some lawsuit for claiming to do things they don't do.

I hope this movie raises the general awareness of this problem, and things will begin to change.

Kind Regards
Stan

8. Posted by stan on July 15, 2007 04:25 AM

So this doctor Gupta was not responsible for himself either, only for the economics.

Somehow it looks to me that this is exactly what Dr. Avtar Singh tries to tell us about consciousness....

9. Posted by , on July 15, 2007 07:19 AM

an industry murderous in it's ignorance and greed commits high crimes against humanity the world will find them out.

10. Posted by Richard Thomas on July 15, 2007 09:49 AM

Everyone pleas STOP watching CNN.

They have become FOX jr, and all they are is CheneyCo porpaganda outlet.

Of course Dr Gupta was pressured into taking sides opposite of Moore.

CNN is one the primary networks that is propagandizing the "Don't listen to Michael Moore because he's fat" meme.

They also have begun running opinion segments in favor of invading Iran.

Then there's their main man, the uber-prejudiced Glenn Beck, who has been shown to have connections with White Supremacy groups.

Kudos to the people who stood up to Dr Gupta on his blog.

We should all give CNN a piece of our minds too.

11. Posted by yogi-one on July 15, 2007 11:33 AM

The more I read, the more I think I'll vote for Kucinich in the primaries...that is if Clinton and Edwards allow him to participate...

12. Posted by danashields on July 15, 2007 12:43 PM

Hello Ron.. nice to see you again too : ) Enjoying my son home from college this summer, he goes back mid-August.. sigggh

Just to sconce the problem of chemical addictions, which doctors take "part in" the initial play of the ritual is this:

my town has had it's 4th overdose of synthetic drugs in less than a month!!

I am convinced, should marijuanna be legalized, this fashion of dependancy would end... mind you, the reason it's NOT being legalized, is doctors do NOT make money, via prescription written out by them....

Sicko! Great title Michael Moore chose.

As in all things corrupt; the media/hollywood seem to idolize evil ppl and things. To make a Paris, Richie or a Lohann more famous, through their downfalls, is plain Sicko too...

What irks me right now, is Nicole Richie!! Silver-spooned from birth, and just another social misfit; with lots of money; which hollywood "supports."

Makes ya "wonder" who the dealers in their circles "really are!"

13. Posted by North on July 15, 2007 01:55 PM

We all realize the media gets a cut of the disease profits, and you only have to look at the interlocking boards of directors to see the complicity in the propagation of ignorance.

They both shall go together first the medical industry will fall and then the corporate media that feeds from them, and has become dependant on them. A new independent media will rise, and a new health industry, one that eliminates disease with the knowledge and understanding we now have.

I favor China's method the quick and speedy execution of corrupt government officials after a proper hearing before citizen’s tribunal, since they would fit the classification of enemy combatants and should have the same rights, unless they voted against the death penalty. Then a life in contemplation would be in order.

This should be adopted as a global standard and should include publicly owned companies. The crimes against humanity committed by the corporate body dwarf that of the terrorists or the common murderer and their consequences are less?

There is no divine prohibition against the execution of an ego outpost.

Of course I would never pull the trigger or lever; I would leave that to the universe.

I would rather they took it upon themselves to admit their wrongs, and make amends.

Everyone should watch who speaks out loudest against the execution, for these men no doubt know they are guilty of the same and fear the consequences. What these men should really do is promote the idea of forgiveness as global standard.

BEIJING -- In executing the former head of its food and drug agency Tuesday, China made its most dramatic gesture yet to show it is serious about ensuring the safety of its exports.

The execution of former State Food and Drug Administration director Zheng Xiaoyu, sentenced in May for taking bribes to speed drug approvals, was a symbolically powerful act, with different implications for audiences abroad and at home.

To foreign consumers unnerved by weeks of recalls and import bans on tainted Chinese products, the execution appeared intended as grim reassurance that change is afoot. But to Chinese officials and factory bosses, the message was far clearer: Top leaders are unwilling to let corruption endanger the export engine on which the nation's growth and Communist Party's power depends

14. Posted by Richard Thomas on July 15, 2007 03:17 PM

I feel it is appaling that the Olympics will be held in a Communist country!! A country whom tortures and imprisons people, for practicing the meditation, Falun Dafa(or, Falun Gong.) Thier arrogant KING, believes their power through collective meditation, can harm his rule of thumb(the rule of thumb, is to keep everyone UNDER his thumb!)

If the worlds best Olympians were truly Olympians, they would "challenge" this Olympics In Bejing.. with no-shows; because of their lack, for human rights there!!?

What yas think? I think our world Olympians have an opportunity like NO OTHER OPPORTUNITY before them, to show the world, that human rights are more important than a gold medal, an sports achievement, or a dream for themselves or their country!

But, it prob won't happen--after all, they been "training" all these years... I guess they are only sports olympians, not champions of/for the people?? Which to me, is contrary to their titles.

15. Posted by North on July 15, 2007 04:40 PM

You know if I was a member of the guilty parties, I would be on the phone tomorrow, with a change of heart and have the death penalty eliminated, globally before it gets applied to you. My next request would be to Dr. Deepak Chopra to redesign the prison system, mandatory contemplation centers you know, a place for healing. Better be quick to implement before you get there. Of course there is the option of admit your wrongs and make amends, I not one for harsh punishment against myself are you? Just a little healthy correction is a good thing.

I figured out how to get rid of the lawyers -make them so rich they don’t need to practice. So the next task was to find the money, luckily we found a source the medical industry and those that insure them, including all the doctors, who will have to sell their nice cars for being party to the crime.

But you know when we were working with Federal prosecutors we found there wasn’t actually a medical authority, because it was all conveniently based on opinion, which the skeptics tell us is not good science. Yep the medical industry eager to patent some chemical manipulation or cook up some fancy looking procedure, seemed to miss factors related, to demineralized soil, exposure to toxins produced by industry, processing of food and simply bad advice and of course “correcting imbalance”.

I have also figured out how to bring world peace, work out a deal directly with people of each country and bypass the governments; we can do that now you know.

So how do we know your listening? We expect to see a recommendation of 1 grams of vitamin C 3x day based on the research of Linus Pauling and observing nature, you know scientific method, perhaps from Harvard it should come in 30 days. If the bots don’t read the headlines on Google they distribute the nice informative package to all the law firms, especially the small ones, hungry for money, not the big ones, many who are fellow club members. This triggers a global collapse of the ego empire.

But hey that is what happens in Infinite Play the Movie, but they do say it blends with reality.

For those that wonder if there is a God, well through my multitude of crucifixions’ by the ego, he was standing there by my side. From what I gather he is taking over the planet, seems the management has gone awry in their responsibility to mankind.

16. Posted by Richard Thomas on July 15, 2007 05:36 PM

When we get rid of the lawyers, the conflict feeders, there will be no one to fertilize the seeds of conflict. When the medical industry goes down and the media with it, we will have health, and an end to the fear and fiction propagators.

When religion goes down with it's ego born dogma and fiction, we will eliminate fear and conflict and there will be lots of love to go around.

Clever plan I think.

Then again everyone might just have a change of heart and everything will simply improve on it's own.

God bless the exceptions in all the industries, professions, and government to the status quo.

You have our full support.

17. Posted by Richard Thomas on July 15, 2007 05:49 PM

Brilliant, Richard!

18. Posted by North on July 15, 2007 08:39 PM

a weird guy thinks he's madly in love with one sexy tammy! oh darn!

and am not talking about that american sex symbol from blue-grass country, either!

whoahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!

19. Posted by Diablo on July 15, 2007 11:01 PM

hey amber...

are u still alive? damn! been awhile! dude!

20. Posted by Diablo on July 16, 2007 07:37 PM

Thank you very much for your comments. I think the amount of debate we are now having on this after Sicko was released, gives me hope. Meanwhile CNN has been made to look even more foolish as they retracted pretty much most of what they threw at Moore, but what stood out was Moore's statement yesterday that 300 more people have died because they are uninsured in the 8 days of the cnn-gupta moore drama.

Moore can probably go on to make several sequels to sicko and still not run out of stories of loss in a system run for profit. If you look at some of the bonuses the heads of these HMOS get its sickening, as are the salaries of some of the physicians.
I have some physicians who are good friends, and a couple of them keep waiving co-payments, give some of the uninsured patients samples that they receive so they dont have to buy medicines out of their pocket, but when it comes to surgery, they are very helpless, because even if they waive their own fees the other bills are exhorbitant. But such docs seem to be few.
I have however heard some very good things about the MD Anderson hospital in Texas-how they write off millions in unpaid bills for the uninsured, do many fundraisers to offset the costs. The praise came from a gentleman who is a retired engineer and has been working with an NGO that is focused on eradicating illiteracy in India.
So I guess there are pockets in America where the heart is in the right place, and I hope that the American people will not let a small group get away with a terrible travesty. Every little step will help.

21. Posted by kavita chhibber on July 17, 2007 07:06 AM

Those who have missed the Gupta - Moore debate

You can watch these videos here:

(Moore & Gupta - Heated Discussion on Health Care)

princedante.blogspot.com/2007/07/moore-gupta-heated-discussion-on-health.html

*****

Check this blog entry by DR. Myers at Sciencblogs. The comments make a interesting read.

Moore v. Gupta: Truth v. False Doubt

"Further, the media, including Sanjay Gupta, are mounting a spin campaign to cast doubt on the real problem and give cover to those who want to bury efforts to change the system.

Michael Moore sees that, although I don't think he expressed it as well as he should. That's where the outrage at CNN is coming from: this is a media outlet that sees their role as one of commissioning hatchet jobs on anyone who challenges the status quo, doing their best to hide an uncomfortable core of truth in a blizzard of irrelevant details. They will gladly paint Michael Moore as a truth-challenged liar on the basis of their selective reading of the facts, but give the Bush administration a complete pass on years of bloodshed and waste. They couldn't even muster a single Gupta-style querulous whine against the lies behind the Iraq war."

scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/07/moore_v_gupta_truth_v_false_do.php

(OR CLICK my name)

****
Here's "An Open Letter to CNN from Michael Moore":

www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=216

22. Posted by Trv on July 17, 2007 07:57 AM

I'm somewhere between speechless and the War and Peace novel on comments.

(I don't think this is a spoiler --- but warning ---)

At the point where he took the 9-11 rescue workers who are suffering resultant disease to Cuba for treatment and an inhaler costs $120 in the US but less than a dollar there ... I just started crying profusely. We have been so lied to. To see the hope those people had as they started feeling better, being interviewed by doctors, and receiving needed tests ... it was so overwhelming.

I don't mind crying at a movie home alone. I control myself in the theater. This was the most I ever cried at any movie I saw in the theater.

Michael Moore is a hero. The movie is so well done, mixing truthful absurdity that makes you laugh with the horrible news we must wake up to.

23. Posted by Tapestry on July 17, 2007 08:06 AM

I always thought in the United States we would take heroic measures to save a single life. So we see the truth through the fictions, a bunch of pretenders that lie first to themselves.

The truth is coming and into the pit your will go with your fictions.

Medical practice is based in large part, with some exceptions on pseudo science and designed for to profit from disease. I don't see them doing much to eliminate their revenue source, which is disease.

Would you give up your nice house, club membership, and cars so that thousands might live or would you continue to support the fictions? Why not simply design and industry where revenue is generated from health? You might get to keep your stuff!

What was it? the oath of hypocrisy.

God bless all the doctors, nurses and researchers though that are an exception to the status quo, you will be given the reigns of the industry.

24. Posted by Richard Thomas on July 17, 2007 10:15 AM

the so-called free press in america ain't really free! its a joke!

25. Posted by Diablo on July 17, 2007 10:22 AM

I was working for a client once, luxury hotel management, improving Micorsoft’s products (not fast enough) giving them missing functionality fitting them to the clients businesses model. One of the main people I dealt with had worked in finance for an HMO. He told me he had to leave because he could not handle the decisions that were made. They literally chose profit resulting in the death people.

I meet everyone for a reason.

26. Posted by Richard Thomas on July 17, 2007 05:53 PM

Thanks North you are always in my mind. Be patient your redemption comes.

27. Posted by Richard Thomas on July 17, 2007 05:56 PM

Yes, the guinea pig.

In our story one of the things, showing criminal intent or perhaps accidental ignorance in the great class action. Is that mice produce their own vitamin C. Guinea Pigs do not, they like humans / apes / fruit bats must get it from their diet. Those that know this can take advantage of it for contrived results that will differ in the real world.

But the most impactful realization is that research using mice is flawed, at least to a degree resulting from this one great dissimilarity between mice and men.

Why is it that the vitamin C requirements recommendations for laboratory monkeys are so much higher than what is recommended for humans all things being the same?

Well they are expensive to replace, and the side effects of drugs are lessened. Humans that don't take vitamin c are more profitable.

Of course if they told everyone to supplement with vitamin C, it might eliminate 40 Billion in revenues and they might not need the drugs anymore.

All that said.

Drugs have a place and purpose in the world for now, but only for critical situations with a few exceptions, not long term. They are not the End All or the solution.

If you are investor or fund manager and you are modeling future profitability on the assumption that X people will be taking ______ drug for their chronic disease for X years. Your model is flawed and you will not get the return on your investment, in fact you will probably lose it.

The solution is Universal Health and it is a broad spectrum integrated approach involving that goes as far as to stipulate changes in how we fertilize our crops and process our foods. Revenue is derived from health not disease which can be quite lucrative to those that get in on this ground floor opportunity. It also eliminates the need for universal health care and it's associated costs. No more dying in nursing homes, we should die in the garden with hose in hand, not a disease incubating facility with a hose in our nose.

The problem is few doctors comprehend it and the required study for practitioners does not include it.

This is why the people will demand a new set of knowledge requirements, for medical professionals and they will define them, with some help from those who know, not the industry itself.

A smart company would realize they can increase worker productivity 15 - 40% by implementing Universal Health. Not only do they not get sick, but their mental and physical capabilities are enhanced.

This may very well be the economic driver for great change, which includes negotiating lower health insurance premiums with underwriters.

AND THE FIRST NATION to implement Universal Health (no disease, implementing the full spectrum solution) will rise above them all.

28. Posted by Richard Thomas on July 17, 2007 07:03 PM

As you all know the plan was conceived years ago, and much effort was put into planting seeds and helping them grow. One such tree now bearing fruit is
THE HEALTH RANGER

If you wonder what simple act you can do change the world, a small effort, no money involved. Simply read this site become enlightened and send this link to everyone on your mailing list and ask them to do the same. Prosperity and Abundance are forthcoming.

Turn your minds from the media establishment corrupted by it’s profits from disease. Turn to your attention to the Internet and the independents and support them.

Click my name and visit the Health Ranger, he has been well instructed.

29. Posted by Richard Thomas on July 17, 2007 07:38 PM

Here is the main site, required daily reading like intent blog to be in the know.

www.newstarget.com

30. Posted by Richard Thomas on July 17, 2007 07:40 PM

Thanks Richard; I await the self-liberation thereof; with anticipation, that society realize; the wound of peace cannot be healed, until we unite as one unit; which entails, that we all care for the aging weak, ill, dying, unemployables and dysfunctionals--they are made from the ignorance-mirror of humankind; and merely reflect the other side of success, glory, achievement; as being the weaker-link, for this is the price and cost--for the stronger to survive.

31. Posted by North on July 18, 2007 04:37 PM

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