Political Hippo Circle Jerk - America, farg YEAH!

[SD_Eagle5]

jesus christ bill maher is a god. his rant on how everything had become profitized was farging brilliant.

He's been giving bits and pieces of that rant away the last few weeks, lastnight he went full fledged. Can't find the video but here's the transcript:

How about this for a New Rule: Not everything in America has to make a profit. It used to be that there were some services and institutions so vital to our nation that they were exempt from market pressures. Some things we just didn't do for money. The United States always defined capitalism, but it didn't used to define us. But now it's becoming all that we are.

Did you know, for example, that there was a time when being called a "war profiteer" was a bad thing? But now our war zones are dominated by private contractors and mercenaries who work for corporations. There are more private contractors in Iraq than American troops, and we pay them generous salaries to do jobs the troops used to do for themselves ­-- like laundry. War is not supposed to turn a profit, but our wars have become boondoggles for weapons manufacturers and connected civilian contractors.

Prisons used to be a non-profit business, too. And for good reason --­ who the hell wants to own a prison? By definition you're going to have trouble with the tenants. But now prisons are big business. A company called the Corrections Corporation of America is on the New York Stock Exchange, which is convenient since that's where all the real crime is happening anyway. The CCA and similar corporations actually lobby Congress for stiffer sentencing laws so they can lock more people up and make more money. That's why America has the world;s largest prison population ­-- because actually rehabilitating people would have a negative impact on the bottom line.

Television news is another area that used to be roped off from the profit motive. When Walter Cronkite died last week, it was odd to see news anchor after news anchor talking about how much better the news coverage was back in Cronkite's day. I thought, "Gee, if only you were in a position to do something about it."

But maybe they aren't. Because unlike in Cronkite's day, today's news has to make a profit like all the other divisions in a media conglomerate. That's why it wasn't surprising to see the CBS Evening News broadcast live from the Staples Center for two nights this month, just in case Michael Jackson came back to life and sold Iran nuclear weapons. In Uncle Walter's time, the news division was a loss leader. Making money was the job of The Beverly Hillbillies. And now that we have reporters moving to Alaska to hang out with the Palin family, the news is The Beverly Hillbillies.

And finally, there's health care. It wasn't that long ago that when a kid broke his leg playing stickball, his parents took him to the local Catholic hospital, the nun put a thermometer in his mouth, the doctor slapped some plaster on his ankle and you were done. The bill was $1.50, plus you got to keep the thermometer.

But like everything else that's good and noble in life, some Wall Street wizard decided that hospitals could be big business, so now they're run by some bean counters in a corporate plaza in Charlotte. In the U.S. today, three giant for-profit conglomerates own close to 600 hospitals and other health care facilities. They're not hospitals anymore; they're Jiffy Lubes with bedpans. America's largest hospital chain, HCA, was founded by the family of Bill Frist, who perfectly represents the Republican attitude toward health care: it's not a right, it's a racket. The more people who get sick and need medicine, the higher their profit margins. Which is why they're always pushing the Jell-O.

Because medicine is now for-profit we have things like "recision," where insurance companies hire people to figure out ways to deny you coverage when you get sick, even though you've been paying into your plan for years.

When did the profit motive become the only reason to do anything? When did that become the new patriotism? Ask not what you could do for your country, ask what's in it for Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

If conservatives get to call universal health care "socialized medicine," I get to call private health care "soulless vampires making money off human pain." The problem with President Obama's health care plan isn't socialism, it's capitalism.

And if medicine is for profit, and war, and the news, and the penal system, my question is: what's wrong with firemen? Why don't they charge? They must be commies. Oh my God! That explains the red trucks!

[Sgt PSN]

awesome.  just farging awesome.

[Rome]

Maher's been right about so many things in the past it's shocking that some right-wing douchebag hasn't wasted his ass yet.

And here's the video:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCnelbzEMi4

[ATV]

Would it be more funny if it weren't all true?

[ATV]

More from Maher, talking about the Gipper and the fear of socialism....SOCIALISM!

http://crooksandliars.com/media/play/wmv/9156/29937

[Butchers Bill]

More from Maher, talking about the Gipper and the fear of socialism....SOCIALISM!

http://crooksandliars.com/media/play/wmv/9156/29937

Pssst...don't tell anyone, but what Reagan was describing in that clip is reality in many European countries.

[Rome]

Paper: Bush considered sending troops into Buffalo

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration in 2002 considered sending U.S. troops into a Buffalo, N.Y., suburb to arrest a group of terror suspects in what would have been a nearly unprecedented use of military power, The New York Times reported.

Vice President Dick Cheney and several other Bush advisers at the time strongly urged that the military be used to apprehend men who were suspected of plotting with al Qaida, who later became known as the Lackawanna Six, the Times reported on its Web site Friday night. It cited former administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The proposal advanced to at least one-high level administration meeting, before President George W. Bush decided against it.

Dispatching troops into the streets is virtually unheard of. The Constitution and various laws restrict the military from being used to conduct domestic raids and seize property.

According to the Times, Cheney and other Bush aides said an Oct. 23, 2001, Justice Department memo gave broad presidential authority that allowed Bush to use the domestic use of the military against al-Qaida if it was justified on the grounds of national security, rather than law enforcement.

Among those arguing for the military use besides Cheney were his legal adviser David S. Addington and some senior Defense Department officials, the Times reported.

Opposing the idea were Condoleezza Rice, then the national security adviser; John B. Bellinger III, the top lawyer at the National Security Council; FBI Director Robert Mueller; and Michael Chertoff, then the head of the Justice Department's criminal division.

Bush ultimately nixed the proposal and ordered the FBI to make the arrests in Lackawanna. The men were subsequently arrested and pleaded guilty to terrorism-related charges.

Scott L. Silliman, a Duke University law professor specializing in national security law, told the Times that a U.S. president had not deployed the active-duty military on domestic soil in a law enforcement capacity, without specific statutory authority, since the Civil War.

Thank God that idiot actually listened to reason.   How Dick Cheney ever got within a mile of the presidency is beyond me.  Jesus - what a total piece of shtein lunatic that farger was and remains.

[ATV]

Pssst...don't tell anyone, but what Reagan was describing in that clip is reality in many European countries

Shhh, ok, I won't remind anyone that these countries have successful health care systems and they didn't magically become socialists.

[MDS]

also im pretty sure those countries dont stock their cabinets with religious zealots who ignore aids on the basis that it afflicts homosexuals and also dont enact policies that ignore everything below the white middle class

reagan was a racist, homophobic icehole and im glad hes dead

[Butchers Bill]

Pssst...don't tell anyone, but what Reagan was describing in that clip is reality in many European countries

Shhh, ok, I won't remind anyone that these countries have successful health care systems and they didn't magically become socialists.

That all depends on what you mean by successful.  If you mean better than the care in the US, no matter how many times you tell that lie it's still not true.  If you mean that everyone has access to the same mediocre care except for the super-wealthy than I agree with you 100%.

[ATV]

The World Health Organization's ranking of the world's health systems.

1         France
2         Italy
3         San Marino
4         Andorra
5         Malta
6         Singapore
7         Spain
8         Oman
9         Austria
10        Japan
11        Norway
12        Portugal
13        Monaco
14        Greece
15        Iceland
16        Luxembourg
17        Netherlands
18        United  Kingdom
19        Ireland
20        Switzerland
21        Belgium
22        Colombia
23        Sweden
24        Cyprus
25        Germany
26        Saudi Arabia
27        United  Arab  Emirates
28        Israel
29        Morocco
30        Canada
31        Finland
32        Australia
33        Chile
34        Denmark
35        Dominica
36        Costa Rica
37        United States of America

[shorebird]

If the new health care reform system proposed by Obama is so friggen' great, then why is congress exempt? It's good enough for us but not for them or our president.

Also, people who don't pay for the health care system that will be forced upon them will be fined up too and over $1,000.00. Thats not socialism?

farg Obama.

[SD_Eagle5]

If the new health care reform system proposed by Obama is so friggen' great, then why is congress exempt? It's good enough for us but not for them or our president.

Do you really think the POTUS is going to walk into his local hospital to get care when he's sick? Like he said in his speech, he has a doctor following him around 24/7, he's the POTUS. Give me a break with this crap.

[MDS]

god forbid people who make less than 25k a year should have healthcare if their sick. what an awful idea.

[Butchers Bill]

The World Health Organization's ranking of the world's health systems.

37        United States of America

Yeah, yeah...I've seen and heard this leftist talking point for the past couple weeks.  You probably don't even know the criteria that it's based on, so I'll help you out:

Responsiveness: The nations with the most responsive health systems are the United States,...

Fairness of financial contribution: Colombia achieved top rank because someone with a low income might pay the equivalent of one dollar per year for health care, while a high- income individual pays 7.6 dollars.

Overall Level of Health:WHO has chosen to use the measure of disability- adjusted life expectancy (DALE).

Distribution of Health in the Populations: t is not sufficient to protect or improve the average health of the population, if - at the same time - inequality worsens or remains high because the gain accrues disproportionately to those already enjoying better health.

Responsiveness:Responsiveness includes two major components. These are (a) respect for persons (including dignity, confidentiality and autonomy of individuals and families to decide about their own health); and (b) client orientation (including prompt attention, access to social support networks during care, quality of basic amenities and choice of provider).

Distribution of Financing:There are good and bad ways to raise the resources for a health system, but they are more or less good primarily as they affect how fairly the financial burden is shared.

As you can see, much of this is subjective and viewed through the eyes of an organization that clearly believes in Socialized care. 

Here is an article for those of you who support Government run care:

If "free" care is such a great thing for the poor, why do poor Canadians still have higher mortality rates for heart disease and cancer?