Who's paying to kill Health Care Reform in the US?

(h/t to Campaign for America's Future)

 

via http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/09/lobbyblog_n_228657.html ...

 

 

 

On this day 40 years ago ...

... the Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr) gathered in Abbey Road studios to listen to the final running order of the album named after the studio.

 

Released	26 September 1969
Recorded	22 February 1969 – 20 August 1969, at Abbey Road Studios, Olympic Studios, and Trident Studios

 

It was the last known time all four of them were in a studio together.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbey_Road_(album)

 

 

Whole Foods Market ... say good-bye to my business.

Well after giving it enough thought - I've decided.

 

Whole Foods Market can fuck off. They can thank their CEO.

For one thing, the guy is a hypocrite - we found products at Whole Foods with HFCS in them. He even admits as much -
 
"Basically, we used to think it was enough just to sell healthy food, but we know it is not enough. We sell all kinds of candy. We sell a bunch of junk."

 

Here's a better summary of why I'm not giving them my business anymore- http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/13/765839/-To-John-Mackey-at-Whole-Foods

Poor journalism vs. purposeful propaganda: The battle over health care reform in the US.

http://mediamatters.org/columns/200908180002

 

I posted this because the first commenter really sums my feelings exactly (emphasis mine)-

 

"The truly sad part is that the Democrats in Congress and Obama are relinquishing their majority partly because of this media coverage. MMFA makes the argument that this is poor journalism. In fact, it is purposeful propaganda. These media outlets aren't interested in journalism, they work for conservative owners who want everything the Democrats attempt to fail. They have health coverage and don't care about us. They simply want low taxes and government regulation that allows them to make bigger profits. The media is their water boy. It is populated by traitors who take their pay to misinform and mislead listeners with full knowledge of their misdeeds.

Democrats have the majority but some members are beholden to lobbyists to such a degree that Obama's agenda will fail. This is not a great country anymore; it's a cesspool of selfishness and ignorance. We spend $7 trillion a year for a military to abate our fears of foriegners while we allow our country to rot from within.

How stupid must we be to still fear socialism when we have successful social programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Fannie Mae, public education, food stamps, HUD, subsidized college student loans, FDA, etc. People just don't get that our government protects us from all kinds a vagaries, both intentional and circumstantial, through tax collection and spending. Universal healthcare is the natural extension of the programs we already rely upon. "

 

To be fair, on some level, I think a large group of these individuals represent a block of people who -

1. 
   
   are upset that the Republicans lost the 2008 US Elections


2. 
   
   are upset that they lost the 2008 US Presidential Election to a moderate/progressive


3. 
   
   cannot get over the fact that the man who won the 2008 US Presidential Election is half black and half white.

But that's not just what's happening here. I think these large insurance companies and their demand for profit is on some level driving this hysteria.

 

It would be funny seeing all these individuals who attend the public 'town-hall' meetings with their swastikas, and denunciations of of Obama, the Democratic Party, Socialism, Liberals, etc.

 

That is, it would be funny if it weren't so sad. Have they ever experienced a situation where health care wasn't just driven by private insurance companies?

 

To me, health care is a right, not a privilege. This table sums it up -

 

Country	Life expectancy	Infant mortality rate	Physicians per 1000 people	Nurses per 1000 people	Per capita expenditure on health (USD)	Healthcare costs as a percent of GDP	% of government revenue spent on health	% of health costs paid by government
Australia	81.1	4.7	2.8	9.7	2,999	8.8	17.7	67.0
Canada	80.4	5.4	2.1	8.8	3,678	10.1	16.7	70.0
France	80.9	4.0	3.4	7.6	3,449	11.1	14.2	79.7
Germany	79.8	3.8	3.5	9.8	3,371	10.6	17.6	77.0
Japan	82.4	2.8	2.1	9.3	2,474	8.2	16.8	82.7
Sweden	80.8	2.8	3.5	10.7	3,202	9.2	13.6	81.7
UK	79.1	5.0	2.5	11.9	2,760	8.4	15.8	87.0
US	77.8	6.9	2.4	10.5	7,290	16.0	18.5	46.0

 

As Paul Krugman summerizes -

 

" ... all that stands in the way of universal health care in America are the greed of the medical-industrial complex, the lies of the right-wing propaganda machine, and the gullibility of voters who believe those lies."

 

When will enough people in the US stop believing in those lies?

 

UPDATE: It appears there may be some hope -

 

Health Reform Supporters Start To Outnumber Critics At Town Halls

 

Rep. Baird holding town hall in Clark County

 

 

Wanna continue to be a blob and a drain to society?

How come?

http://blog.soloflex.com/archive/danger-high-fructose-corn-syrup/ (emphasis mine)

Four companies control 85% of the $2.6 billion business - Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, Staley Mfg and CPC International.  16 plants in our corn belt manufacture the stuff, huge vats of murky fermenting liquid, fungus and chemical tweaking.

The number one source of calories in America is from HFCS in soda pop.

CPC International apparently redirects one in Wikipedia to Unilever.

It really pains me to see people coming into the office and downing that first can of soda. It's even more painful to watch those same people chug can after can of this stuff day in and day out. And in the business I'm in (software and IT) I find it disturbing to see so many software developers downing cans of HFCS. I sometimes wonder if that affects the code they write. Indeed, I wonder if there is a correlation between someone cranking out code while downing cola.

Hey - they can call it 'coca-code'!

Eric Alterman hits the 'media' on the head.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/08/ta080609.html (by way of HuffPo)

I've said it before, and I'll say it here.

The top 5-6 'news' outlets are owned by large entertainment/media corporations. And by 'media' I mean television, music, movies, not 'journalism'.

They use their 'news broadcasts' to sell information for profit. And that information is really whatever viewpoints makes the most money. Their 'media' are really placeholders to sell their sponsors' products and services through ads. They are not in the practice of journalism.

The only thing these corporations understand is their bottom lines - net profit and stock price.

The only way to fight that is to not use them.

I cut out network television at our house. And we don't carry cable (I refuse to pay for 'cable news' channels). I get my news about various things from online sources not connected to these (that's where I realized that I don't need CBS/MTV/Nickel-and-Dimodean, NBC, ABC, Faux, or CNN in my house).

If enough people came to this realization and acted, these corporations would either have to change to survive, or they would go out of business.

Sotomayor confirmed as next US Supreme Court Justice - to be sworn in Saturday.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/07/sotomayors-swearing-in-to_n_253693.html

 

For all the bluster of the American Right, their actions confirmed the state of their movement - Impotent and ineffective.