The Health Insurance Racket Is Manufacturing Entertainment Value from Pulling the Plug on Grandma

Joe I'm not even American but I have been following the A.I.L (American Idiot League)for years.
I get a hell of a lot of enjoyment out of it.Who are you to deny me it?
What else can I use to reconcile my fear of the U.S's nuclear arsenal and "game theory"view of the worlds people?

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Joe can do what he likes, and I guess he likes taking it up the anus quietly ... But I'm going to squeal like a stuck pig so loud he'll be able to hear me in Palookaville or wherever he farts in his spacesuit ...

This is the same old lame excuse BS we tell ourselves every time it gets tough ... I say scream the truth, if only for the therapy. Joe can lay down in the road but they'll have to run over me standing up. Maybe he'll find some hope while he masturbates to the lingerie section of the 50 year old Sears catalog in his outhouse ...

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What nonsense. The decisions are being made based on monetary transactions, therefore ideolgy has triumphed? Dude, you're supposed to read it over before you post. You were going along great, accurately describing the "debate" as a distraction, and then you went and got totally distracted by it. Obviously, this is not the triumph of ideology, but the triumph of corruption. And I doubt seriously that more than a small fraction of the corruption expressed in monetary terms is coming in the form of campaign contributions.

Tell me, if Obama were not a crook, couldn't he simply stand up for what is right and then accept honorable defeat? It's not that he is faced with insurmountable obstacles; he is willingly a part of those obstacles. He's just another crooked gear in a crooked machine.

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A unique combination on here. I was laughing through the whole article. There is something to be said for sourthern or hillbilly or redneck logic. Its so simple and straight to the heart of the matter.

I will comment on the commentary at another time. I am still shaking my head and I do want to read this again.

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Joe Bageant is not fit to lick Bill Clinton's boots.

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Pharma and Medical insurance companies will make trillions in profits. We've been fighting this battle for decades and now ten's of millions of lives are at stake. USE YOUR BRAIN - DEMAND MEDICARE FOR ALL. THEY DON'T CARE IF YOU DIE. THIS IS A BROKEN SYSTEM. This is economic terrorism at its worst and we are the victims!

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Most of all though, it is testimony that we live under an induced mass hallucination where spectacle replaces fact, information and common sense.

This is a very well put truth that many of us fail to see or admit. I find it ironic and absurd that we have remained fairly quiet, all while our government has squandered our futures and our nest eggs on speculative programs of little use to our majority, ridiculous bank bailouts, huge wars for profit and a plethora of other wasteful "causes" that only seem to benefit lobbyists and those in need of campaign fund boosts, but the first real effort that is made to use our tax payer monies for something that actually would benefit most of us directly, causes revolutionary reactions and such a fury, that I question what is really happening within our collective psyche. Are we now programmed to cut off our own nose, to spite our face?

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when a rapist, arsonist and murderer (a criminal in his time just like Bush and Cheney) cut a deal with an association of powerful men within the old Roman walls of the City of London. Ta da! The birth of the corporation! Privileged then to force people to pay them, to enter their houses and destroy their goods. Today evictions and seizures are done with the aid of paperwork but it's the same result.

At the time he was known as William the Bastard, not William the Conquerer. He was a very nasty piece of work. In one area he was intent on controlling he salted the earth and made it barren for a hundred years. Salt was the Agent Orange of its time.

You can see him as the founder of the arms trade in which the UK and its outpost the US excel. He brought the stirrup to Britain and probably credited the technology with his victory in the Battle of Hastings, despite the fact that he probably won because the English troops were exhausted having traveled from the North where they had been fighting the Danes.

(He would fix upon the explanation that gave him the greatest glory.)

He also had 500 castles built. Previously, city walls had protected all of a city's population. Castles--narrow and high--allowed the king's men to spy upon the people. The portcullis (the very symbol of the UK Parliament to this day) was a cunning device which could trap any would-be invaders between two lowered gates (one dropped down behind them and one in front). Then the king's men could slaughter them from the parapet with arrows or vats of boiling oil. This turkey shoot brings to mind recent military adventures. And the castle with portcullis is a precursor of Congress with two classes of persons: the protected and the outsiders.

Killing grandma? Nothing new under the sun they say...

Oh, and the present royals are direct descendants of William I and the British people I've polled don't even know that.

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Maybe I'm a pessimist but I think Joe is right. The only way this we're going to get real change is after the entire rotten system collapses. And damn, I was hoping to get through the rest of my life not having to live in some kind of post apocalyptic America being chased by crazed, slathering conservative zombies and being low on ammunition.

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it's not whether a thing is true that matters, but how it sounds and looks and what you call it. Call end-of-life counseling a "death panel," and you've just turned mercy and choice into one more Great Satan.''

The GOP sent grandma and grandpa out to town halls to tell the pols ''don't let the government interfere with my medicare''.

Since that's a real load of crap being dished, I say we ask grandma and grandpa for all the social security and medicare benefits that they have received since they were 65 and return those dollars to the SOCIALIST STATE OF AMERICA.

We don't even have to ask for interest on the money, just make them all pay it back.

If they don't want socialism, then they don't want their social security checks or their medicare benefits.

If they don't like that idea, then they should alll go live in a red state.

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....unfortunately for us.

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Like many of you guys, I had a bit of "hope" that maybe Barack could "change" at least a couple of things...but I took my hope with quite a few grains of salt....

Now that I see that we can't even get some kind of stupid "public option" passed, instead it looks like we'll end up with a bill that requires all to buy insurance from private insurance companies, and if someone can't afford it, the gov will end up paying the private insurance bill for them...yeah - what a big "change"...let's just keep on keeping on filling insurance companies bank accounts up...

And I've come to the conclusion that most Americans are just PLAIN STUPID!! Most of us don't ever think on our own -- instead, we allow ourselves to be easily manipulated into doing whatever the talking heads say on TV -- we are nothing but a bunch of CHUMPS being chumped -- all the way to the bank, and even past the bank...

I don't see any sign that the status quo will change here anytime soon, probably not in my lifetime (I am 34)....

Seriously, I have started looking at the process of emigration to Canada or some of the European countries, and the Middle East...I can't believe that so many people want to come to the U.S so badly...shit, I want to get out of here bad as hell...there is no hope left...because people are afraid (or just don't care about anything except their own money) to stand up for their true beliefs...people are afraid of the government -- when it should be the other way around, like it is in France...

The only possibility I see is if we (liberals & democratic socialists) band all our money together (at least a billion dollars) and start hiring lobbyists and lawyers to start making campaign "contributions" and taking congressmen & senators out to dinner, vacations, etc. -- just like the drug & insurance companies do -- we have to "outbribe" the others -- we have to make the lawmakers dependent on our money for their campaigns -- and make them DEATHLY AFRAID to vote against our interests -- just like they are now to vote against Corporate America!!

Sometimes, to rid the world of "evil", you have to become "evil" yourself for a while...to get the job done -- sometimes being a nice guy doesn't work...

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Consider the Connection to:
The Economic Pyramid
There are 2 sides to the Economic Pyramid,
NEGATIVE & POSITIVE
NEGATIVE side
At the top of the Pyramid, Health Care Industry X_____(Health Care Profiteers, Lobbyists,& Invested Interests), collect money from the consumer (U & I), and dispense Trick'le.down Health Care, their primary care is the bottom line.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Corporation X______(Natural Resource Profiteers,Lobbyists, & Invested Interests), their concern is the bookkeeping & accounting
of every thing "INTERNAL"(raw materials,
extraction,transporting,production,& sales)
and nothing "EX-TERNAL" (air & water pollution,coastal errosion,acid rain,rain forest destruction, etc.)
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
POSITIVE side
Conservation (The wise-use of the Earths natural resources).
Environmental Communication (Consumer information)
Search 4 the facts then act:
Medicare
Medicaid
Veterans Administration
Health Care for Americans NOW!
www.aft.org/fight4america
www.consumersunion.org
www.WeWantThePublicOption.com
www.ourfuture.org/action

Where is the Economic Pyramid
Search 4 me:
CTC123GREEN

Great article, Joe Bageant

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Please search Ancestry.com 2000 - 2003!

Look for HANAFIN!

Look for IRISH MOM!

Look for my web site Ireland-L & Ireland-D Mail List Web Site. It is lovely but slow to load on my old old puter!

Hopie hopes you enjoy!

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Did you see that picture Alternet editors used to get readers to read this story???!!!

They want you to think it is O.K. for doctors to hammer gran'ma!!!!!*

*Note to all who can not differenctiate sarcsm from irony from satire from black humor from straight commentary. The above statement is in reference to a comment on an Alternet essay a few weeks back. Guess it isn't all the funny now.....

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Discriminating against the sick, disabled, low income, unemployed, and uninsured!



It is that frigging simple!

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Capitalism has long been the religion of the United States and the God that it worships is Mammon. Henry Kissinger, who should know better, has characterized the poor as unnessary people. As a refugee from the most murderous politcal system the world has ever known, one might think that he could be a bit more appreciative of the efforts of average Americans to rid themselves of a health care system that is based on profit. In the Germany from which he escaped the Nazis started their killing of certain segments of the unnecessary population by declaring them as "life unworthy of living". They instituted a program of systematic murder which was the forerunner of their extensive efforts to rid the world of millions of innocent people. We have not yet employed their practices in the land of the free and the home of the brave. However, our system of corporate based, for profit, health care in which tens of millions of people are uninsured comes very close to producing the same outcome which the Nazis persued with such vigor. Health care for profit demonstrates just how low our moral values have fallen. Every effort of the health insurance industry and their congressional conspirators to mantain the current system of health care is an expression of contempt for the America people. We are in the clutches of people who have almost everything but will not be satisfied until they have everything else. This class warfare has a long history and is becoming worse. Unless their is some resistance to the current gvernment/coperation violence we are going to become a nation which only the CIA would love. AMERICANS AWAKE!

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Just catching the McLaughlin Group on PBS last nite!

Wow! Wow! Wow!

OMG! Find this and see what they are up to now!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.........

Shit! They are blaming him because he is popular in the rest of the world!

They are running so scared this is blowing my mind! so so desperate now! OMG!

HOLY SHIT!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO............

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and "by electing the right candidate, you can change our beloved nation."

Oops I did it again, voted for the lesser of two evils. Joe's article made me smile, even though Progressives should be crying and planning for real change. Hahahahahahahaha Tell me it's not so in "cupcake land"!!!

Voting for me is like overeating on Pizza I vow never to do it again but next time around I can't resist. Progressives have been thrown overboard, health care reform is a laugh just like when "HE" laughed at all those crazy Internet jokers that want drug reform.

It's all over BUT the crying, or is it? Let's talk about some viable Third Party candidates. Let us start the media blitz early rather than later. I'm willing to give it ONE more try.

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Hey, gimmicks work! If it sells the people, then someone did ther job!

RT
Online Privacy when it Counts

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My positive way of stating it-

"EVERY US CITIZEN DESERVES AS DIGNIFIED AND AS PAIN FREE A DEATH AS IS HUMANLY POSSIBLE"

Dr. Rick Lippin
Southampton,Pa

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Hogwash. If there's one thing I get tired of, it's straw men. If there's a second thing I'm heartily sick of, it's myself and those like me being made into straw men. Too many of you invent this thought pattern and implant it into too many of us. How about ASKING for once if that's where we are? I can tell you why. No one left to blame. Nothing left to do but get off your own butts and work hard for what you want. This way is easier.

By the way, about that saving you from McCain/Palin thing, you're welcome. I know, I know, it would be exactly the same, said the straw man. However, the Republicans who were here yesterday and are certainly either here now or are about to be seem to virulently disagree. I have to assume that were Obama as identical to McCain as is constantly claimed that this article with this title couldn't have been written. It IS Republicans furious at Obama, terrified that any compromise will happen, and tossing around the idea Obama's death panels will do Grandma and Grandpa in.

In my opinion, "ideological cupcake land" describes many people, many ideologies, Democrats least of all. The worst cupcake land is that which claims that despite reality, we should be getting instant change to the purest forms of society and politics we want. I have never seen or heard of anything like that happening, ever. I've seen and heard of great struggles that took fairly long periods of time and often seemed futile and hopeless, but instant, huge change? Brought about by people (not the writer of this article) seeming to think their course is sitting on the margins dictating the actions of political groups they have active contempt for? When has this ever happened?

Anyone who sees what needs done, please get going on your goals and your hopes. Why the Dems are an ideological whipping post is beyond me. Because that's way too often the criticism: the ideology of the Democrats is wrong. Well, welcome to real life! Other parties do not have to conform to your ideals. If you want to, bring your ideas to life. Fight for them, take action, put your life on hold and work for what you want. It's bizarre that no one much seems to do this; it seems to be enough to constantly holler that the Democrats aren't. Anyone thinking that the Democratic party is a huge failure is not supposed to then use that judgement to sit idle and continue blaming. This is probably the strangest political situation imaginable, much idleness, lots of big talk, a convenient huge group to blame everything on. That seems to be the American way, and the conservatives taught us this very well. No matter what, find a big group (Unions! Teachers! Communists! Liberals!) that you do not belong to and claim not only that only THAT group can and should fix anything and everything, but also that only YOUR group really has the savvy to know what's going on, what should be done, not to mention that nothing is either your fault or your responsibility. It's a recipe for status quo, but apparently if it's a smug, self-satisfied status quo, it's worth the continuation.

One last thing: this may be the strangest situation, but it's also surely the most common throughout history. Textbooks don't record it, but it seems certain that mostly people have sat and talked about what everyone else is doing wrong. Sometimes, rarely, a small group, the suffragettes, the early environmentalists, whoever, actually start something, and usually it doesn't look worth continuing. It was about 70 years before the goals of the suffragettes were realized. They themselves didn't live to see it. They kept going, and new generations took over. Probably there were many who hollered and bitched and moaned that they didn't pull it off in 6 months. And that they COULD have if they just weren't corrupt or really cared or whatever. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

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the Obama cultists who are resorting to violent verbal and physical attacks against anyone who questions Obama's mishandling of the health care crisis and other critical issues in general. Notice how some people on this forum such as Beck, foreverhope, and Guitarbill are trying to distract attention. This kind of disruptive cultist behavior is going on in other progressive websites too and yet their behavior goes unpunished just like here. Until the Obama cultists are held accountable, Obama and his party will feel that they owe the taxpayers nothing and will continue to happily yield to the corporate interests. I don't blame you for feeling too fed up to discuss the issue and you're right. There is no debate, just another fake "debate" comedy show even when the crisis is severe.

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The over 65 population represents the largest voting body in any election. Your grandmother, spinster aunt, former school teacher are not ALLOWED to die, even if they want to. The people who are condemned are relatively young, married for a long time and are slowly allowed to sink into a life of illness, without the benefit of insurance. They lose their jobs, their businesses, and are left with nothing but each other and a pile of bills and people hounding them for money, which they don't have. No other civilized country in the world has a class of people who were made helpless and hopeless by their own government while the insurance companies flourished. As the author pointed out, Sadam Hussein provided health care for his people. It's time we did the same. The money is there. It's a question of who gets it. ANNA

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Most of the private insurance companies are "pre-Enron" and were bailed out (AIG) with taxpayer money (fedopoly bucks).

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This One-Size-Fits-All Plan doesn't seem to be going anywhere except down the tubes. Again.
The Red States can enact their plans, and the Blue States can enact their plans. No plan will be perfect, but at least we won't have put our collective a$$ets in one pile. We might even come up with a plan that actually works. Or, we could take the best of all the plans and come up with a national plan.
Oh, wait. That's exactly why they want one plan - so they can skim off the top again. Silly me - it's the old pyramid game being set up for us.
We just happen to belong to that "mob" of people who are disorganized, unfunded, and the majority. We happen to belong to the "mob" that they want to take the money from. Again.
The roulette wheel is spinning! Place your bets!
Welcome to the Health insurance Casino!
Brought to you by your very own Kongress-person, paid in full.

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To some 73 alternet.org bloggers:
realize numerals can be numbers,
Two-way links(N)= N(N-1)/2=2,556,
Time typing, robots or not, 1/2 chance,
Gold and silver coined drives message.

Poetry may rescue, if lines kept fairly short,
next set the tone, slowly build another part,
for emotions can set the theme to cast net,
fish caught may nibble on advertising bait,
Does each blogger become a throwaway?

Calculate your prophet, include yourself,
time to get off the shelf and on to the table,
conversation with others part of the eating,
never stop competing till confusion triggers,
then starts the desert to sweetly stop hunger.

Best, rm

PS at N=90, L(90)~8100/2=4050 bloggers a gone.
Some came back. Best again

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We could do what 20% of the voters did in 1992 and that is to vote 3rd party. The two-party duopoly hasn't served us well at all. The Internet hasn't been helpful much either. Just look at the hate talk on both the rightwing blogs and the leftwing blogs. The Health Insurance giants are counting on the perpetual left vs right divide to keep us sold out. Single payer health care would have brought both sides together but this country doesn't believe in peace but perpetual wars. The Health Insurance giants will remain free to fool us as a result.

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Joe Bageant, thanks for an illuminating article. There is much insight and food for thought about your comment on ideology penetrating the very core of our being. It seems ideology is pretty much like the AIDS virus, it can change with new circumstances. Except that ideology specifically focusses on destroying our ability to see and hear and feel...

I'm also sorry that the Alternet comments/discussions on your article are so off topic... (ideological?)

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Is an inability to communicate"
So said Strother Martin who portrayed a sadistic and corrupt prison warden upon the capture and return to the chain gang of Cool Hand Luke (Paul Newman).
Like the warden, the insurance and drug racketeers have distorted the disgraceful facts of their inhumanity and pathological greed by constructing a bizarre "reality" of their own making, and successfully selling it to hysterical twits and racial bigots.
It appears the ONLY solution to any real healthcare reform is going ahead with a more humane program, fools and greedy bastards notwithstanding. If this means slam-dunking it into the faces of neocons and their stooges in congress and the senate, so be it.

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1. Look for the evil. $

2. Find it. $$

3. Chase it. $$$

4. Catch it. $$$$

5. Love it. $$$$$

6. Worship it. $$$$$$

7. Become SATAN and lose it and die.

Because they cannot take it with them where they are going and when the next satan wannabees find the evil works they have done worthy their image is stamped and printed on what they worship. Be careful what you worship and wish for.

MATTHEW ch22-v21
ch23-v2....v38

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I sympathize with Beck while thoroughly enjoying Joe. Don't give up the made in USA baby but throw out the bathwater with the rotten two party system. Third parties are not the answer either because they have no solid ideological base. Check out a genuine FIRST PARTY - the Red Brown and Blue Party by googling Red Brown and Blue Party Blogstream. Also google Love Government Blogstream. We're just getting started but it ain't gonna take no 60 years either to speak Joe's language. As the Poet said: your heart must have the courage for the changing of the guards.

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I agree with some of what the author's saying. BO's plan (and yes, even though he's using proxies to push secret deals, it's very much his plan) relies on cutting half a trillion from Medicare and elderly services, supposedly without them noticing. There is cause for concern ond demanding accountability for the vague explainations, if you care about the aging.

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Every day I get letters asking me to weigh in on the health care fracas. As if a redneck writer armed with a keyboard, a pack of smokes and all the misinformation and vitriol available on the Internet could contribute anything to the crap storm already in progress.

------------

LOL! Hey Joe, I read your book "Deerhunting with Jesus". Good read. Americans are fucking crazy... not all, but MOST Americans are!

Bring it on!

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First time post on Alternet. I read it regularly though because I have relatives in the US (my mom is married to an American) and I like to keep up with what's happening to them.

Especially health care is a topic that gets under my skin because my relatives lost the usual work provided health care, after my stepfather lost his regular job as a journalist and moved into freelancing.

I don't like to preach because American affairs are really none of my business as a German. Still I feel that I need to share the outrage I feel when I see the sort of lies and propaganda that is spread about European health care systems in the media in the US.

Since European models show that public health care works very well and provides a level of freedom to people, that most of the Americans I talked to here in Germany can't even believe, the most reasonable thing to do in this whole debate is to point the finger at our systems and make it known, that they are great.

And compared to other European states Germany doesn't even have an especially good one (public/private mix instead of public only). But still... everyone is insured and is getting treated. No people dumped on the curb here, by hospitals because they don't have insurance.

Recently I watched the Daily Show, where Jon interviewed some politican about health care and said : "I don't get it... there are 50 million uninsured. Let's insure them. How big a bill do you need to do that ?"

That speaks from my heart. Health is a human right, not something to gain from. Anyway... I really hope it's going to happen and I'm glad I could share my thoughts with the Alternet crowd.

Greetings from Germany,
Jan

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The entire process of (not) passing health care reform is a piece of performance art. It's a poorly written, haphazardly conceived piece of theatre.

The play is a tragedy or a farce, take your pick. The object is to distract the public with the appearance of an epic battle. But, the outcome is predetermined. The fighter (if I'm allowed to mix metaphors) is supposed to throw the fight in the tenth. The pretense of working with the Republicans, who are playing their walk-on role as the evil villain to perfection (mostly because there isn't any acting involved on their part). The Democrats are well-cast in their weak, ineffectual role as victim.

Just before the curtain falls, Congress will produce the "BILL" the Frankenstein's Monster they've been trying so hard to bring forth. It will have no public option, no single-payer, no assurance of affordability. It will have a mandate that all Americans must buy insurance, and it will ask the insurance industry to "play nice, please." Obama will sign the bill -- his way of draping a sign over it that says, "Reform." Out will come the "Applause" sign. And Congress, the President and the Insurance companies will go to the after-play party, congratulating themselves on their masterful performance.

The American people will be left with the ticket stubs, and the distinct feeling that we've just been had.

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THE WORLD

I Am Not Talking Shit Here

I Am Talking Scaffolders

They Build The Infrastructure

Whilst You Cunts Think You Had an EMPIRE

Tony

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And We are Going To ReBuild Iraq FIRST

What Do You Mean - We Can't Do That?

We Can Also Grill WAR CRIMINALS Who went along with the easy option to take the money and tell lies - we know who you are - You are Criminals AGAINST HUMANITY

Well We LOVE OUR FRIENDS

Tony

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since even before they never travelled except behind the barrel of a gun

But all I have taken with me is my Beautiful Girlfriend

No Guns, No Bombs

Just Love

Tony

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But we thought GeddY Kee and Neil Pearts amd what eas the guckimh drummer vs;;ef in Rush

i thought they were neaerly as good as led zeppeolinm
and they keep coming back

now i can't think of a single murican musician in the same league

Neil Young Is a Canadian

And Well...

Ted Nugent is Deaf

The Next President Of America Should Be Lemmy

Tony

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Joe Bageant's piece is OK as far as it goes.

Unfortunately, he remains somewhat stuck in the icing atop his description of "Cupcake Land," overly emphasizing "ideology" as ultimately autonomous. He also - presumably in the interest of hyperbole - overstates the case: I am pretty sure, for instance, that insurance company profits do not account for over 30% of health care expenses in the USA (although if you add in redundant insurance company administrative costs and the profits of other private health industries - e.g., pharmaceutical companies - he may not be far off the mark). There are other possible exaggerations. I am (almost) sure that the average American's private insurance company premiums are not more than $13,000 per annum (quite). And so on. Such incidentals detract somewhat from his argument and give his opponents the opportunity to focus on small points while distracting others from the larger ones.

The crucial issues of the false debates, the silliness of the "death panels" (insurance companies dropping people with catastrophic illnesses or denying people with "pre-existing conditions" are surely more mendacious than encouraging psychological counselling for terminal patients and the filing of "living wills"), and all the foaming-at-the-mouth about socialism are among those larger matters.

Constructing a comprehensive critique of the political economy of late capitalism and dissecting the fundamental conspiracy, collusion, connivance, collaboration and community of consciousness (call it what you will) among the RNC, the DNC, President Obama, the corporate media and those who own and control the mode, means and relations of the production and distribution of goods and services provides a pretty good fix on how "the fix is in" (and has been from the outset on health care - to say nothing of education, labour relations, civil rights and criminal justice, environmental sustainability and the rest of the domestic and foreign policy inventory).

All of this would be amusing in a ghoulish sort of way, if it were not for the harm it does to the American people, now propagandized into a kind of Zombie-stupor, and for people like me who live outside the United States and who reasonably fear that this kind of political toxicity could easily spread into an ideological pandemic. It is bad enough that we have to worry about the always ticking population bomb, irrational religious fanatics and so on, but to have the "leader of the free world" (not Mr. Obama himself, but the United States of America) self-immobilized and self-destructive is a damned shame.

What's worse, anyone who has the temerity to take a decent history, to perform an accurate diagnosis and to recommend an appropriate therapy for this imperial sick puppy of technological modernity is rendered immediately eligible for predismissal by American liberals and conservatives alike (and they are fundamentally alike) on the grounds of paranoid delusion.

Now, that is the real Catch-22.

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Simple, Obama uses slick and smooth talking skills to deceive the public which Big Pharma/Insurance desperately needs to keep its Enronomics on steroids well oiled and cranking. I strongly applaud Joe Bageant for recognizing that we don't really have a health care debate or a real mob against health care reforms but instead another Globe and Trotters "fixed" show to keep the public distracted. All the concessions to Big Pharma/Insurance were planned and done right under our noses. This is far worse than what went on in during the presidencies of Truman, Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, and somewhat Clinton. Here we have a criminal out-Dubya-ing Dubya and telling the public to shut up and accept corporate trashcare which Obama plans to accept and sign with glee, hence Obamacare. The Obamabots not only live in cupcake land but they are desperately going after progressive/liberal dissenters even more than rightwing dissenters. Notice a pattern between Obama and his followers? Bageant is a rare gem of a working class liberal who understands the plight of the rurals in the best sense. His book "Deer Hunting with Jesus" is a must read. I learned a lot more from that book and have interestingly won a lot of liberal sympathy even from some rural conservatives such as on single payer, bringing our troops home from Iraq, legalizing cannabis for industrial purposes, curbing "free" trade, and reining in Wall $treet bailouts.

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Or else ...

The final hope stated in this excellent article is probably the only one that stands a snowcone's chance in hell of affecting any real change – although when it gets to that point, what change we get will be a roll of the dice. But I'll take what I can get ....

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As usual, Joe Bageant is spot-on with another marvelous article. Americans are brainwashed by the government via the media/schools to not seek the truth,not ask questions,only think short-term,only be selfish and kindness is a weakness,just be obedient servants to authority. The mainstream media dominants all parts of our life,projecting its lies 24/7/365, that it actually borders on brainwashing. I know that when I was younger, I used to believe in all that American Dream bullshit, that the government cared about us, that people that are poor deserve to be poor,that certain people(people of color,poor people,non-christians and GLBTA people)were not "real" Americans,but when I started going to college and started to become self aware of how people actually live for myself,not what the media told me, I decided to disconnect myself from the mainstream, I decided I would dedicate my life to challenging the status quo. In my short 20 years on this planet, I haven't eliminated all the brainwashing from my mind, however, I think I'm getting there. Most Americans are still stuck in the machine, the propoganda, and will actively suck up the bullshit our government feeds us.

This reminds me of the movie The Matrix. In that movie,humans invent artificially intelligent robots in the lat 21st century, and these robots are treated as slaves. The robots rebel and world war results in which humans loose. The robots decide to hook up humanity to a massive supercomputer called the Matrix, where humans live in a artificial reality were they are happy,oblivious to they fact that they are in prison,basically. A few humans manage to break out from the matrix, and form a resistance that can jack in and out of the matrix at will,and fights the robots inside and outside the matrix. Besides being a badass sci-fi action movie(it was the Matrix that invented bullet time and helped make Japanese anime popular) it was very deep and actually held up a mirror to how the government/media dominants US society.

I suggest everyone who wants to understand how our healthcare debate is screwed up, and what is wrong with America in general and the media in particular, read a book called Idiot America by Charles P Pierce . In it he points out how facts,logic,and truth are no longer important,but emotions(which he calls the GUT)popularity and profit are important. How skill and expertise are seen as weird and dishonest. He examines such things as intelligent design vs. evolution,talk radio,the Terry Schiavo incident and much much more to show us what is wrong with this country. Its a great book for not just understanding our culture,government, and media,but also our American brothers and sisters who live in Idiot America.

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This article is so stupid it deserves no comment.

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Click Here For Full Text Gun Propaganda and the Health Care Reform Illusion

August 20, 2009
I'm getting very upset by what I've been seeing since this health care issue has come to the fore. I'm becoming really angry by how much my intelligence has been insulted. I'm beginning to feel like the man who has to explain to his friends that Criss Angel is not really defying the laws of physics. He's in the business of creating illusions. He does not really float above buildings, pull ladies in half, climb through closed, solid windows without breaking the glass, walk on water, or do any of the things one might see him do. These are illusions. They are parlor tricks. They are elaborate, complicated, well designed, well executed, likely expensive illusions, but they are nothing but illusions nonetheless.

The power elite are also in the business of creating illusions. They use their politicians and the mass media to try to create a perception of reality they would like us to see. The illusions they create are elaborate, complicated, well designed, well executed and likely expensive, but they are illusions nonetheless. The difference between the illusions the power elite create and those of Criss Angel is that Mr. Angel creates his illusions strictly for entertainment purposes, the power elite are creating theirs so that they can control mass consciousness and hence make it easier to control the population in general. The problem for them is that many people are beginning to realize exactly what's been happening.

One of the ways to create a good illusion is to get the audience to look over there while something is happening over here. Another is to keep things hidden and produce them when you want them seen. Still another way is to make the audience believe something isn't what it appears to be, or that something is what it doesn't appear to be. Or any combination of these things can help produce a good illusion. Of course, if the audience looks where the action is and detects the slight of hand, or if they see the hidden element before it is produced, or if they are not convinced that something is or is not something else, then the illusion is ruined.

There was a man in New Hampshire recently who came to a protest against the proposed health care legislation open carrying a gun. His name was Mr. William Kostric. He was also carrying a sign that read "It is time to water the tree of liberty." This protest was near where Mr. Barack Obama was having a town hall meeting. What's wrong with that? We have a God given right of self defense, don't we? The second amendment of our nation's constitution still applies, right? Holding a sign at a protest is legal, so no big deal, right? Open carrying in New Hampshire is legal, so no big deal, right? Wrong. The media jumped all over it. They made it a big deal.

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The insurance industry is the Mafia unfettered by moral scruples. They will starve you, your wife and your children to death for a buck. They will let you die a slow agonizing death by delaying treatment of covered conditions until it is too late.
Death panels? Every insurance company has these, they are called actuaries and underwriters.
At least the Mafia has a code that discourages the killing of innocents.

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We hear a lot about "Tort Reform" as something that would go a long way toward reducing current health costs. This is due to 2 major reasons:

Problems:
1. Doctors have to pay high premiums for malpractice insurance and of course this is ultimately paid for by the patients.
2. Doctors often have to practice "defensive medicine" to protect themselves from possible frivolous law suits. The means doing unnecessary testing on patients so as to establish a baseline health profile, thus increasing costs.

Some Solutions:
Insurance companies should band together to share the cost of covering individuals with pre-existing conditions
More people will be able to afford health insurance if premiums are tax deductible.
Insurance companies charge employers 15 percent to 25 percent in overhead expenses for every prepaid health care dollar. The patient's $20 co-pay for a $100 service requires $115 to $125 in premiums even though the doctor receives only $100. So why not pay the $100 directly using pretax dollars? Flexible spending accounts, health reimbursement arrangements and health savings accounts are growing in popularity since they allow pretax payment of personal medical bills.

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A very good article , but watered down by his use of the words hope at the end.We need rational cool calculating progressives at the forefront. Not wishful thinking writers who appeal to emotion. Just the facts please. We have no more time for swishy washery paradigms.

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I'm wondering what everyone is so upset about with this whole health care issue. Universal health care doesn't seem that bad to me. It seems like people are pointing their fingers at the insurance companies, but what do you think the government will do when they are in charge. Their information just won't be as available. Private health insurance providers also dole out the permissions for certain surgeries so it is understandable that it would be the same with the government. Why can't we have universal health care and then the option to add onto it?
Mike- Life Insurance

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Thanks for allowing yourself to be visited by anger. It seems anger is the only logical emotion left to feel in the present context.

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One of the most painless ways to get rid of the obesity problem in the United States would be to give individuals miracle berry so that disgusting healthy food will taste amazing. Since obesity is such a big problem, this could save money when it comes to health care. Ok I'm just kidding!

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and people have to acknowledge things do cost as much as they cost. End of life costs are the biggest costs in hospitals where families who never visited grandpa in the nursing home all of a sudden don't want to let him go even if it means 3 months of codes, being bought back x8, cracking open his chest, infections, tubes draining out of said chest and a general sense of torture for those last few months. And yes incredible expense.

There has to be some common sense rationing. But who wants anyone to decide that for them?

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Finally,an article that exposes the bullshit in plain terms that even the soma crowd can understand.Obama,is back pedalling so fast no-one knows where he stands or even if he stands at all.If anyone ever believed in the Obama mystique or that he really cared enough to stand up for what he and the American people said they believed,it's time to put faith back in the box where it belonged from jump street.Until someone has the intestinal fortitude to stand up to wall street and the health insurance lobby,the issue is as dead as it was when Clinton dumped it back on Hilary.Single payer is reform.All the talk that is going on now is just a waste of taxpayer dollars.Just like the current health care that leaves 57 million people to fend for themselves.Greed has won the day for another 4 years,8 if people are dumb enough to give Obama another 4 years to lie to the American people like he has since 1/2 way through his run for the presidency.

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