I can’t add your post to Digg. How I do this?…

absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
destroy your healthcare system

Cuba’s filthy hospitals
are something to aspire to

.
absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
NO one deserves great healthcare

get checkups free and easy
just wait for critical care
.

And those who are intelligent enough to know this and put money in his pocket and spread his dishonest propoganda are likewise not patriots.

You can whine all you want about the word “patriot” and being “patriotic” as though being described thusly are rights given to Americans at birth, but they aren’t: they’re distinctions which need to be earned. Those who fly in the face of those principles that define the words don’t qualify.

Sorry, but that’s the way it is in the real world without parsing, sematics and pretzel-logic idealism. Moore and those who behave like him are in no way entitled to be described as patriots. That’s just the way it is. Deal with it.

Fox has taken one terrific step forward by airing the Islam documentary that PBS wouldn’t touch and advertising it as such, but they need to do much, much more:

1. Show many, many more such pro-America, pro-Iraq war, pro-conservative values documentaries and air them as ” the documentaries PBS wouldn’t air” and “the reports the mainstream media is afraid for you to see”, and the like.

2. Stop showing them on the weekends when viewership among conservatives in the summer – who have real lives and do things when the weather is warm as opposed to pasty-skinned city liberals who veg in their own Orwellian squalor – and pre-empt O-Reilly during the week (Tuesday – Thursday is a good window), their biggest viewer draw – when numbers are predictably at their highest and the message gets out to an audience many times larger, as needs to be done.

The very simple fact is that conservative values will never, ever win back America until conservatives win back at least 50 percent of the media. It can be done, but requires a truly dedicated effort, and Fox isn’t living up to the challenge,yet.

There aren’t a lot of things that bother me in politics because I know that none of it is personal. But if there is one thing that burns me more than anything is when someone, anyone, questions the patriotism or status as a American just because of their political beliefs. Ever.

I.E. “If you don’t like the U.S., move to Canada.” “Anyone who doesn’t support the war is un-patriotic.”

The people who go to see a movie, SiCKO included, whether they believe it or not, is their right as an American. They are just as much an American as you or I and for anyone to question their right to believe what they believe is hypocrisy at best. I cannot tell you what to believe and I will not question your status as “American People” because of those beliefs. Period. Colonel David Hunt said it best on BOR that while he may not agree with some people’s opinion, he will defend their right to say it. I do not subscribe to the theory that there are some people who are more American and some that are not depending on their political beliefs. Now immigration status, different story.

On June 30th, 2007 at 7:37 pm, general company said:
DK: Moore has suggested that we should all be paying 70% tax, don’t know about you but that seals the deal between me and Moore.

And still no response as to the source of this comment…

Stop getting your panties in a twist. PG was not directing the comment specifically towards you. Besides, by your own admission you don’t agree with everything Moore says which also lets you out as someone PG was referring to.

Hypersensitivity does not become you. Relax.

Say an HMO can do a procedure at a cost of $1,000 so they decide to sell the procedure at $1,200 a pop, giving them a nice but not extreme profit. In come the insurance companies who tell the HMO, we’ll put you in our network and pay you $1,200 a pop for the procedure but only if you normally charge $2,000 a pop for it. If the HMO doesn’t agree to this then they don’t get into the network. If they don’t get into the network they don’t get patients. If they don’t get patients, they go out of business just like Town & Country Hospital did.

Not wanting to be run out of business, the HMO slaps a $2,000 price tag on the procedure. So does the HMO make $1,000 every time they do the procedure? Not at all. The HMO gets very few uninsured patients. Most of their patients come from the insurance companies and the insurance companies only pay them $1,200 a pop for the procedure. Meanwhile the insurance companies makes lots of money off of people who can’t afford $2,000 for the medical procedure and thus have to buy insurance.

And why do the insurance companies have this sort of power? Because the federal government took buying power away from the individual consumers and turned it over to their employers who, rather predictably, then turned it over to the insurance companies.

On July 1st, 2007 at 8:35 am, PokerGuy said:
One must seriously question whether those who support Moore by paying to see and agreeing with his distorted fiction are, in fact, “American people.”

This might be the most outrageous comment I’ve read on this site.

I agree with Moore on some points and disagree on others.

But don’t you dare question my patriotism, sir, or my right to be in American. This is a dangerous path on which you do not want to tread.

On July 1st, 2007 at 8:33 am, Rip Ford said: The decrease in competition that resulted in the government mandate that employers provide healthcare to their employees has allowed insurance companies to drive up prices.”

Drive up prices, I see your argument. Drive them up to these profit numbers, seemingly at the expense of the middle class, rediculous.

HMO Profits Jump 21% in First Quarter 2005
Profit Margin Increases despite Signs of a Slowdown
JUPITER, Fla., October 24, 2005 – The nation’s HMOs reported a $3.6 billion profit for the first three months of 2005, representing a $646 million, or 21.4 percent, increase over the $3.0 billion earned during the first quarter of 2004, according to Weiss Ratings, Inc., the nation’s leading independent provider of ratings and analyses of financial services companies, mutual funds, and stocks. While the 21.4 percent profit increase still represents strong growth for the industry, it is considerably less than other recent first-quarter increases, including 152.7 percent in 2002, 60.9 percent in 2003, and 32.9 percent in 2004.

HMOs reporting the largest year-over-year increases in net income include:

Company Headquarters Weiss
Safety
Rating Net Income (Loss)
ARRANGED 1st Qtr, 2005, 1st Qtr 2004, $
Change, % Change

Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. Oakland, Calif. B+ 552.2 431.3 120.9 28.0
Horizon Healthcare Services, Inc. Newark, N.J. A 50.3 14.6 35.7 245.0
Horizon Healthcare of New Jersey, Inc. Newark, N.J. A 34.4 4.4 30.1 686.8
Health Net Woodland Hills, Calif. B 33.0 10.7 22.4 209.9
Oxford Health Insurance, Inc. New York, N.Y. B 44.5 22.8 21.6 94.7

Weiss Safety Rating: A=Excellent; B=Good; C=Fair; D=Weak; E=Very Weak; F=Failed; U=Unrated