i'd like to introduce you to
a real life pal of mine (not that ya'all aren't real to me - 'cause you are - you know what i mean), a very talented filmmaker and ranter of the caliber you all would dig. go on over and check out his latest about u.s. health care. make sure you have a barf bag handy. here's a snip:A doctor I know has said that the reason you can get quality care in some other countries for a fraction of the price it is here is because your money goes to pay for health care. Here, your money goes to pay for huge executive salaries and bonuses and palatial buildings and company cars, and golf courses and thousand dollar dinners for the bigwigs in the big insurance companies. In the case of Medicare, in this area anyway, your tax dollars go to the government, which is supposed to then pay for medical treatment for needy people. But that's not the way it works. The system has been "privatized," and your tax dollars go to the government all right, but then they go to private companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield, which like all the others, takes huge salaries and benefits and profits off the top. Then with whatever is left over, they decide how much they will pay for the care, and they will never pay for it all. Great system, huh. You pay what they say, they make the profit, and they decide if they will use any of the money intended for medical care for actual medial care. They can cut you off any time they want. Just ask about 20 HIV/AIDS patients in Kansas City about that.
while you're there, you wanna check out his post about the academy awards as well.
oh! and before i forget - i have a project for you all, an action to participate in, if you will...
on cnn (i don't know why i bother) last night, they were discussing how the troops are STILL horribly unequipped for "battle" - while troops that aren't fully trained are being deployed as we speak. (WAY TO SUPPORT THE TROOPS!!!!) so the representative being interviewed is talking about how they're waiting from some more humvees to be built (?!) (bring them HOME!) and i said to will - "why don't we just start commandeering the hummers that are here?" i mean, wouldn't the target market for the hummervolution be MORE than happy to do their part for george bush's america?
and lastly - on the same cnn feed, there was a HUGE story about how HELEN THOMAS is HAVING to switch seats and *gasp* MOVE BACK A ROW in the white house press room (apparently they have to make room for cnn and fox to be there - which sucks, don't get me wrong, but is it really worthy of an entire segment?) anyhoo -they were interviewing a bunch of different people, flashing up picture after picture, blah blah blah. just as i was saying out loud, "and this is news because...?" they get a close up of helen and ask her what she thinks of all of this.
without missing a beat, she says:
"why am i the story? there's a war going on. i can yell from the second row just as well."
yes! you can take helen out of the front row, but you can't take the front row out of helen.
take that, white house.
Labels: american health care, helen thomas, humvee, introduction, support the troops
posted by supergirlest @ Wednesday, February 28, 2007
