America’s Heart & Soul
Posted on Thursday, July 8th, 2004 at 23:24.
Need a detox from stupid white men like Michael Moore? Disney presents America’s Heart & Soul, an amazing documentary on America’s finest citizens embracing their freedoms by living life. Captivating cinematography accompanies an equally vibrant soundtrack. Politics are absent, real people are present. It’s 90-minutes of joy, perseverance, and coping with life’s challenges.
awaiting your objective critique of Fahrenheit 9/11. Michael Moore supports the stealing of the movie, if you don’t feel compelled to spend money on it….
*prepares to have comment censored…. again.* ::duh::
I already “stole” his movie and watched it over the July 4th weekend, hence the reason I needed to detox. Moore did present facts, however, he falsely contextualized the most significant facts to his argument that President Bush went into Iraq for financial gains. And Moore conveniently avoided any criticism of Democrats, save their unwillingness to appeal the Supreme Court’s election decision and to send their own children to Iraq. Oh, and the fact that President Clinton rejected Sudan’s offer to hand over Osama Bin Laden. Need more? TIME Magazine exposes the full truth to three of Moore’s most significant arguments. Moore does exactly what he complains the Bush administration is doing.
I welcome debate and dissent, but I do not tolerate factless ignorance. This is not a public forum and I do reserve the right to censor comments. I don’t like having to be mean, so please do not force me into that position.
I agree Michael Moore makes connections that are stupid, but it was the content individually that made me mad.
As a business owner seeing those people carve up Iraq business incentives made me vomit in my popcorn.
Seeing those troops talk about touching the dead Iraqi’s dick & listening to heavy metal while bombing Iraq just proves they are mostly 18 year old frat kids and not heros of might the conservative media likes to rally the programmed around. I recalled living in a frat house at 17 at OSU during that scene with uneasyness.. Andy Roony got the right mad at CBS by saying on 60 minutes that not all troops should be called heros… back in his day that was reserved for people who got wounded or dragged a person to safety.. both things John Kerry did btw. I agree.. they, like our country, can do wrong.
The grieving woman made me mad.. until media reports told me she was not exploited but willing and that M.M. gave her an advance screening and said he’d remove anything she didn’t like.. period. Pretty stand up guy.
And the woman that barged in saying it was all staged made me mournful.. it reminded me of the Jeremiahs and Rushes and Hannity’s who are quick to do that. It has made us so mean as a country.. to tell a woman who lost her son it was staged and to debate her about it.. because that’s what the conservative media makes you do.. hate anything not in in-line.. to dis-trust. She was a little Bill O’Reily.. exposing the liberal left! Pitiful.
When her knees buckled in front of the White House when she cried I did too.. I don’t understand how we got this far right.. militant, mean, split down the middle… egotistical, unilateral… cruel. We’re cruel people at the moment. We’re lost. We cannot remake the world in our neocon image..
The connections were dumb.. and I think the 7 minutes he spent reading My Pet Goat was astute.. he didn’t want to panic the kids and was just being collected. I remember being impressed by that then and still am.
Regardless.. the war in Iraq was a horrible decision, the administtration lied about WMD.. he was wong about stem cell research, as he is with his Defense of Marriage act, and he must be dismissed.
I would gladly pay more in business taxes for universal health care for my citizens like Canada and every other civil society (including Iraq now) and I know how bad taxes are.. I pay tax for each of my employees and corporate taxes.
But I’m not part of Bush’s base.. I do not wish to be immune from helping my fellow citizens, be it the teenage couple I saw at the store today with a toddler using the foodstamp card or giving my granndmother Medicare.. the right never talk about where our taxes go, just how evil it is to take our money! How dare they!
* sigh *
How did they ever win by appealing to our basest instincts. I’m disappointed in this country.
I’m sorry, but your intolerance to those with different opinions is not acceptable. Just because someone who agrees with the military action in Iraq makes a fool of herself in M.M. ‘s political cartoon does not mean that all those who agree with the military action in Iraq lack compassion. If anything, the liberal media teaches that everything but conservative ideas should be tolerated.
Moore’s depiction of American troops was disgusting, one sided, and aloof from the harsh psychological realities of war.
American businesses should get the rebuilding contacts in Iraq. It’s American tax dollars that are funding Iraq’s liberation and Iraq does not have the infrastructure to rebuild itself. So pass the popcorn.
President Bush did lie about WMD. I won’t argue that. However, I still believe that removing Saddam and liberating Iraq is a good thing.
I agree with President Bush on his stem-cell stance. There is significant evidence that non-embryonic stem-cell research will provide equally promising results.
I highly disagree with President Clinton’s Defense of Marriage act and President Bush’s support for amending the Constitution to define marriage between a man and a woman. I support something more radical than gay marriage. I believe in equal treatment of all *individuals* with no exclusive benefits for any domestic relationship that are not available to single people.
I do not support universal health care provided through the government. I would support partial health care supplements for lower income individuals who cannot otherwise afford such. I most definitely support greater regulation of private health care corporations to make this affordable to all. Congress must force the cost of prescription drugs down. And I say this as someone who has no health insurance outside of the limited coverage that I buy myself with a highly limited income through Emerson College.
I am proud of this country, despite the small imperfections.
While I tend to limit my political discourses I would like to comment on the universal health care comment by Bruce.
In all the international and domestic reports and articles I’ve read regarding the current universal health care systems (for example, in England, Canada, and several other more-so-developed European countries) I have discovered no promising results.
Competition among doctors is driven into the ground by such systems, thereby reducing quality. Since the government regulates the pay of these health care institutions, doctors and such have no incentive to provide better, cheaper, and more effective treatments to draw in customers. This is a basic concept of competition, and when one side is given a glass ceiling, the other side inevitably suffers.
Perhaps my inexperience at debating such topics is noticable, but I am competent to notice the inherrent flaws in such socialistic practices.
Ryan.
We are of the same mind, you more abily said what I said in an article that took three pages in the Associated Press, but still here is a snippet (I wrote it about Gore’s universal healthcare rant a few years back) Full reprint from 2002 is here.
Snippet from my essay (won some kind of small regional AP award):
What makes this situation difficult is that the problem is very much real, unlike invented problems both parties devise to sell a policy to the American people like the conservative’s statement that the stock market is weak because the Capital Gains tax is too high. Healthcare in this country is an administrative nightmare, a pricey proposition, and at worst managed not by the common good or Hippocratic oath but by money… insurance money. This country has a problem with admitting the most concrete of facts because it prevents you from the possibility of “spinning” the same facts later, but the horrific concrete fact of America’s healthcare system is simple: it’s the best in the world because only some can get it. Our waiting lines at the doctor’s office are small because the poor and out of work can’t make appointments, and our pharmacies can fill prescriptions in an hour because the same people can’t afford to buy their pills to lower the stock. As with any system that depends and uses the private allocation of resources for its management, it’s those who can’t participate in the system to the level that the private system demands who get left behind.
Many liberals feel themselves pushed into the socialist camp dictating that all but the most luxurious items should be centrally allocated to others to ensure that everyone gets the same resources and opportunity to build something from those resources. Despite the failure of Communism and the reformation of socialist welfare states in the seventies and eighties into free market economies of today, they don’t have any other answer than those things that had been written about a hundred years before by Smith and Marx when the winner of the private vs. public debate had not yet been decided.
Both sides are wonderful to debate in coffee houses and universities but become devilishly in-effective when faced with an eight year old African American boy who constantly rubs his ear because he has an ear infection that no one can afford to cure, as I did when I was volunteering to read to inner city youth a few years back in Cincinnati….
Canada and Britain, who have socialized healthcare, have many problems as well. This is demonstrated by an article that appeared in the National Review in response to Al Gore’s proposition that America change to the Canadian system of managed healthcare. The statistics stated by Canada�s leading free-market think-tank, the Fraser Institute, are startling (italics added):
“Median waiting time for radiation treatment for breast cancer in province of Ontario: 8 weeks
Median waiting time for angioplasty in the province of British Columbia: 12 weeks
Median waiting time for radiation treatment for prostate cancer in province of Quebec: 12 weeks
Median waiting time for cataract removal in the province of Ontario: 20 weeks.
Median waiting time for cataract removal in the province of Saskatchewan: 52 weeks.
Median waiting time for a tonsillectomy in the province of Saskatchewan: 80 weeks.” – The National Review, NOV. 15, 2002: AL’S BRAINWAVE
Even more astonishing is this fact, also from The National Review (italics and boldface added):
“For the patient waiting for cancer treatment, waits mean the difference between life and death. Canada�s Cancer Advocacy Coalition reports that in Canada�s Atlantic provinces, two cancer patients die of colon cancer for every one patient in Utah, Idaho, or Colorado, three states with ethnic makeups similar to those of eastern Canada. Again comparing like with like, while only 6.8 of every 100,000 men in the U.S. wheat belt die of prostate cancer, 9.8 of every 100,000 men die of that disease in Canadian Saskatchewan. ” – The National Review, NOV. 15, 2002: AL’S BRAINWAVE
How do Republicans counter the socialism of the Democratic Party with something that will keep the benefits we all enjoy from a private competitive health system while solving the health management war affecting American citizens? As with all Republican solutions, we should smile broadly and increase competition further! What do I mean?
Here is the roadmap:
1) Actually acknowledge the “Healthcare Umbrella Groups” as a industry group and give them tax incentives to modernize their industry, reduce paper and become more efficient.
By reducing the cost of doing business, the industry can more easily reduce expenses passed on to the patient. This will also have the effect of allowing for quicker and better communication between the insurance companies and the healthcare industries.
2) Divorce health insurance from companies completely.. they don’t pay for car insurance don’t make them pay for health insurance. This will give the economy a shot in the arm that no tax cut could dream. Small businesses would flourish and businesses could get back to.. well.. doing business.
This is common sense, but requires legislation because companies couldn’t make this move themselves. It would make them less competitive to other employers who would continue offering health care to employees. Companies fell into this horrible proposition of managing their employee’s healthcare when HMOs came to them in the first place touting how managed care can benefit their employees with fewer sick days and preservation of their employee’s income. It opened up a can of worms that has to be shut again.
3) Force HMOs and other insurers to market to individuals.
This is going to be painful. Consolidation is necessary after this move. However the benefits are remarkable because insurers would have to create more customized products as automobile insurance companies do. This means that people could elect to only have hospital visits covered, major illnesses, or other variants of coverage depending on what a patient is willing to pay. Also, competition would increase incredibly because individuals can switch healthcare much faster than a company can insuring that prices would remain low to remain competitive. Just like someone can elect not to have an automobile insurance company pay off their lease or have higher deductibles in exchange for lower premiums, so would a healthy 20 year old elect not to have cancer coverage or elect to pay higher premiums at the doctor’s office since they rarely get sick. The benefits of this are obvious. Also, CORBA could be scrapped because people’s coverage would follow them from job to job, and they could calculate paying for healthcare as part of the risk of starting a new business or moving to another company, instead of this risk being a mysterious unknown to consumers.
4) Cut back coverage for individuals and make them pay for some expenses out of pocket
This goes with point 3) above, and will also cause pain initially to patients. If no healthcare insurance company covers office visits because they have become so expensive, it would force consumers to flip the bill. They would see that doctor’s visits are $60.00 now instead of the $5.00 they normally pay for an office visit. They would of course, being American consumers, shop around now for a better deal. By not making the cost of healthcare “invisible” to consumers, they would understand how much healthcare cost, and would act in a more responsible measure in visiting doctors and getting services. This would force doctor’s offices to actually join the private system they act like they are participating in now, and they would also become competitive vs. other doctor’s offices. This would level the playing field and make consumers the same benefactors of competition as they are with shoes and computers in the open market. On other words… instead of raising prices on insurance companies and winking at us with a smile, they would raise prices on us directly, and we would not smile back.
5) Make Medicare and Child Healthcare Services state run and funded, and advertised
Believe it or not, the solution to un-insured Americans is already there. Many states have free health services to children and adults in low income brackets. Kentucky has recently started a project to increase enrollment for their children’s healthcare services and have found that many people who are eligible simply do not sign their children up. As far as low to moderate income people are concerned, they could respond the way they respond when their income changes to automobile companies… they just change their services to lower their premiums. Although this will leave them without full coverage, the consumer can weigh the risks of having this coverage and seek ways of improving their earning power and receive more services as their income increases. This is much better than the “all or none” health insurance system we have now.
The private insurance industry now is small and expensive for individuals. Getting insurance away from companies involves many health tests, exams, and paper work hassles. By implementing this new idea and making the healthcare industry more competitive, we can finally back out of the current mess and use the tried and true private model for healthcare, as well as ensure that cost are low for those whom the state must provide care for. Simple, elegant, and not the same resistant ideas we get from both the Republican and Democratic sides.
Why don’t you throw away your life and vote for Bush then?
I would add that the proper way to “throw away your life” is not voting for Bush, but rather proving to the world that eating McDonald’s consummately for 30 days destroys your health. But then again, the guy made millions…or is making millions.
mmmmhmmm….making millions…
And right now I’d rather see Super Size Me over Fahrenheit 9/11 anyways.
Anyways…
Bryan,
I was referring to former President Clinton signing the bill into law. Certainly, a president cannot solely propose legislation, but President Clinton did not object. President Clinton *could* have gone on the record to veto the bill, but reality is that he willingly signed the Defense of Marriage Act. A majority of Democrats in the House and Senate voted with Republicans for the bill. Even in Massachusetts, about half of the Democrats in state legislature oppose gay marriage. John Kerry has admitted to not supporting gay marriage at the federal level and, because a federal marriage amendment would never pass, the Democrats are not providing any more acceptance of gay couples than Republicans.
Time Magazine’s clarifications are not misleading. There are large holes in Moore’s presentation. I highly recommend reading and watching this story for more misrepresentations and responses from those portrayed in Moore’s political cartoon.
Being Gay myself, I feel compelled to address the suggestion that the Democrats are providing no more acceptance for us Queers than the the Republicans. That’s simply absurd. Just try this…visit the following sites and search for anything “GAY”… http://www.georgebush.com & http://www.johnkerry.com … that says enough for any self-respecting Homo. Of course, not everyone is Gay or Gay-friendly. I don’t expect you all to vote against Bush all of the sudden … but let’s be honest here…. there is definite difference in the party mentalities where Queer America is concerned. Neither are perfect, but one is undeniably more accepting and supportive. One more link to back up more story…. http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=39343 . Thanks for listening.
Bryan,
I appreciate your opinion, but I must disagree.
This is absolutely something worth fighting and I do hold former President Clinton responsible for not standing up to Republicans and his fellow 33 Democrats in the Senate who passed this bill.
Tactical or not, former President Clinton was certainly not aiding the fight against hetero hegemony.
I sort of agree. I was unhappy that he signed it, but it did take away one campaign weapon from the Republicans. Anyway, think DOMA is blatantly unconstitutional, violates the full faith clause.