Comments on: Why They’re Afraid of Michael Moore

By: Rev. José M. Tirado

Rev. José M. Tirado — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 19:08:54 +0000

You´re welcome.
And your example is brilliant.
j

By: Rev. José M. Tirado

Rev. José M. Tirado — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 19:08:34 +0000

Your welcome.
And your example is brilliant.
j

By: Hue Longer

Hue Longer — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 10:40:31 +0000

thanks for that post, Jose

Remember the crow from animal farm who would tell all the animals that they needn’t go looking for they lived in the best place? I actually read that book in the 8th grade in California…the teacher dissected it for us and instructed us to think how brainwashed Russians were for believing the crow…oh, the irony

By: Rev. José M. Tirado

Rev. José M. Tirado — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 09:27:00 +0000

Hi David and AJ,
Iceland is (so far so good) warmed by the Gulf Stream so the weather is quite moderate.There are no homeless people here because the social contract among Icelanders is to take care of the elderly, children, and those who are mentally ill. Certainly, one can see a few old timer drunks in downtown Reykjavik hanging out in bus stations but there are shelters here. No, when people demand a just society, they get it. (remeber that.)

Most of Europe after WW2 understood the disastrous effects of selfish nationalism and by and large adopted across the board a set of systems that enshrined diplomacy over saber rattling and strong labor unions to assuage business rampages. (I know people who remember clearly the poverty and devastation of the post war period and they are proud of the mixed economiy, social protections taht are enshrined i ntheir body politic.) It isn´t perfect, but I´ll tell you this, I would take pretty much any country here in Europe over pretty much anywhere in the US for safety and a good safety net. It´s shameful.

AJ, you say, “from what I´ve seen..:” Well, what have you seen? I live in Iceland and travel regularly. In every country I have been in I have seen better care than the US (Italy, Greece, Iceland, England,) And I have friends in many other countries, including many American ex-pats like myself who say the same.

Moving here is probably a whole lot easier than moving to the States. And in addition, even though I am a non-citizen they are civilized enough here to grant me the right to vote in all local elections since I pay taxes like every one else.
José

By: Rev. José M. Tirado

Rev. José M. Tirado — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 09:26:32 +0000

AJ, you say, “from what I´ve seen..:” Well, what have you seen? I live in Iceland and travel regularly. In every country I have been in I have seen better care than the US (Italy, Greece, Iceland, England,) And I have friends i nmany other countries, including many American ex-pats like myself who say the same.

By: AJ Nasreddin

AJ Nasreddin — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 14:14:30 +0000

I have yet to see a perfect system. On one hand, the question is how much you can spend on yourself - the other, how much the state is willing to spend on you. The US system is of course good if you have money - and a lot of money you need. I wonder if socialized health systems would provide the same care? From what I’ve seen, no.

Didn’t Bush Sr. want charities to step in where government stepped out? If the governement isn’t helping you, where are the churches and whatnot?

Can we all move to Iceland?

By: Mulga Mumblebrain

Mulga Mumblebrain — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 10:47:34 +0000

The healthcare system of the United States, where health is commodified, like everything else, and one’s life expectancy and enjoyment of life are determined by one’s ability to pay, may revolt the humane, but to others it is an ideal to be emulated. In Australia the Market Fundamentalist regime of the Iraq War criminal John Howard, who slavishly worships all aspects of the US corporate state, has been slowly , but inexorably, moving to a US style health system for years. Public hospitals are slowly being squeezed of funds, private insurance is directly subsidised by the state and the world acclaimed pharmaceutical approval system has been gutted to ingratiate the regime with the all powerful, insatiably rapacious Big Pharma corporations. Howard is a master of dissembling, of slow attrition and unscrupulous machinations. He, naturally, denies the Americanisation of healthcare is his aim, but the facts speak otherwise. He is abetted by the corporate media, who know where their class loyalties lie. Murdoch’s local flagship ‘The Fundament’, a bastion of extreme Rightist propaganda, backs Howard, as in the Iraqi War, Climate Change Denialism and in Market Absolutist propaganda generally, to the hilt. The pathopsychology of the international business parasite class is pretty well unmasked these days. They care not a whit whether the plebs live or die, just so long as they go on consuming until the end. The cruelty and indifference to the suffering of others Moore so eloquently exposed, are true hallmarks of the psychopath. Our masters are unspeakably mad, bad and dangerous to be around, and they are driving us all down the road to perdition.

By: brian

brian — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 04:30:16 +0000

‘Outside intervention is needed’

NOW heres a chance for the US to get a taste of its own humanitarian intervention medicine….some country or countries should intervene humanitarianly in the US…and if a few people die, well, thats the price of freedom and democracy!!!!

By: David Short

David Short — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 04:22:50 +0000

Not to contradict your fundamental point, José, but isn’t the main reason for there being no homeless people in Iceland the simple fact that anyone having to sleep rough would rapidly freeze to death, especially in the winter months?

By: C. L. Cook

C. L. Cook — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 22:31:02 +0000

Yes, Mr. Pilger; right on again - especially in forgiving Moore his “romanticism” regarding Britain’s health care system - as he has done the same with both Canadian healthcare, and our idealistically stated domestic pacifism.

By: Hue Longer

Hue Longer — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 21:42:38 +0000

and how sad is it that grown men who may have a problem being occupied by a violent, illegal thieving force are always criminal?

By: Brian

Brian — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 20:46:01 +0000

Not to mention that many of the 49 criminals killed in Iraq included a signifcant number of women and children who were asleep in their houses when a helicopter gunship opened fire. Bet you will not see pictures of that….on CNN.

By: rosemarie jackowski

rosemarie jackowski — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 13:53:07 +0000

brian…I agree completely. If voting would change anything, they wouldn’t let us do it. Outside intervention is needed. Sadly, it will be up to the rest of the world to change things. Hopefully, that will happen before the USA destroys the whole planet. Right now the news is reporting that the USA just slaughtered 49? more in Iraq. The Press referred to the dead as “criminals” - no trial - found guilty by the Press.

By: brian

brian — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 03:33:18 +0000

privitation and the devil take the hindmost are as american as apple pie. Thats because americans have been brainwashed by the doctrine of individualism…which in the end says, each looks after himself. Until americans manage to infuse their power elite with a sense of social responsibility, the situation is unlikely to change….no amount of wringing hands will have any effect.
And dont asume you can change things by voting…you saw what effect that had with the democrats in the midterms!

By: brian

brian — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 03:27:59 +0000

‘ I believe that what the US did in Diego Garcia is a Crime Against Humanity’

US has a longer history of crimes against humanity than any country even Israel…and all the while it preaches freedom and democray out of its lying mouths. And it will go on doing so so long as the educated and those in positions of power prove themselves loyal servants of the Empire.

By: rosemarie jackowski

rosemarie jackowski — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 13:03:03 +0000

Thanks, Hue.

Rev. Tirado… Your comment is perfect. The problem in the US is exactly as you say - here the people fear the government. But it is even worse than that. The people in the US have been propagandized into believing that if anyone is in need, it is their own fault. The poor, homeless, and those without access to health care are thought of as being stupid, lazy, and morally deficient. Many of the problems here could be solved if the people supported each other. They don’t. There is an underlying, subtle spirit of hate that permeates the USA. The message that should go out to every other country on the plant is, DON’T BECOME LIKE THE USA !

By: Rev. José M. Tirado

Rev. José M. Tirado — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 10:24:39 +0000

Michael Moosre´s SiCKO only came to Iceland (where I live) recently. It continually sold out,; the showings were packed and the discussions pained. Icelanders benefit from the kind of “socialized medicine” only dreamed about in Moore´s movie and there is a trend here to go towards the American style of privatised insurance led by the so called “Independence Party.” But after this movie, it appears the breaks are on.

Icelanders´comments after the movie were enough to shame me. I couldn´t explain to them what they regarded as the immorality of allowing people–one´s own neighbors, fellow citizens–to live and die on the streets (I have been here 6 years and have yet to see a “homeless” person). That the US would allow about 50 million people to not have health coverage they considered beyond the pale. I have been asked many times since arriving here, “What has happened to America?” Indeed.

Now the “choices” are clear: continue the present course with insurance companies dominating politics and the choices that you as Americans have. Or to demand a true, single payer system that guarantees universal health care for everyone. That the Dems have cynically co-opted this “universal coverage” language is indication enough that they are afraid of YOU. But as I noticed and as the Icelanders here repeated nodded i nagreement over, in SiCKO, one American ex-pat in France sums up the nature of the problem beautifully, “In France, the government fears the people, in the US, the people fear the government.”

Do something. It´s long past time.

By: Rev. José M. Tirado

Rev. José M. Tirado — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 10:24:17 +0000

Do something. It´s long past time.

By: Hue Longer

Hue Longer — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 09:11:59 +0000

If I may say, I like your work, rosemarie—thanks for addressing me

By: rosemarie jackowski

rosemarie jackowski — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 23:32:55 +0000

Hue…You are right most in the US don’t know and don’t care about those who are oppressed by the US. I believe that what the US did in Diego Garcia is a Crime Against Humanity. I have advocated that reparations be paid. The US should leave the area immediately and pay for the toxic clean up.
About SICKO - in the US 18,000 die every year from lack of health care. That is like having a 9/11 every 60 days.