Quote:

"Similarly, look what happened to the one media figure who did question the pre-war "intelligence". Phil Donahue still doesn't have a job."

Yeh, but he has his soul*, his integrity and can look himself in the eye in a mirror.

He's worth 50 of the whores that call themselves journalists.

This is why america is sinking ..... a simple lack of ethics and the worship of money.

Until people start to put the truth ahead of their own economic interests we will sink deeper and deeper into the shit pit that we now find ourselves in.

As far as the CEO's and their running dog lackeys ...... hang their asses on the street poles of wall street ...

* What profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul ?

Quote:

"Just compare our system to those of the other G7 countries - better outcomes for less money, AND there still capitalist nations to boot."

Right ....... I spent 10 minutes in and MRI machine the other day for a shoulder injury ....... cost ???? $1800.00.

Needless to say, that machine, even if it costs a million dollars will be paid for in a hurry.

Diagnostic test costs are out of control ....

In Japan, the govt negotiate fees each year .......... an MRI there cost $99.00 ....... and still the system there generates enough income so that Japan has more MRI machines per capita than the USA.

As I look around the world, I see madness everywhere ..... in fundamentalist sects of major religions ....... in the greed an amorality of prominent businessmen ........ in the "sell-outs" of corrupt politicians, institutional leaders and judicial officiaries ...... in the self-destructive behavior of the abused and misinformed ........ in the apathy of the willfully ignorant ........... in materialism and naked capitalism ...... in any form of social organization that causes the many to suffer for the actions of the few, etc, etc, etc

Anyone who is a student of history knows its just one long saga of selfishness, greed, power seeking and war-mongering ....

There is something inherently flawed in the species ......

Madness is its inherent state .....

There is a higher consciousness ......... there is a "kingdom of god" within as Jesus said but one most work to find it and overcome a lifetime of conditioning ....

You're right and a single payer provides a structure to provide outcomes as well as public patient feedback.

Besides the efficiency of a (unlike the present system where drug companies give kickbacks to prescription processors where you have to purchase a more expensive drug because your insurance processor is being paid by a drug company to do so ....... but I guess that is simply "freedom of speech" like corporations giving money to politicians to do what they want them to do) single national drug formulary.

Single process and forms for providers to process ...... etc, etc, and etc.

Fools ...... the party is over ....

You don't need to tell anybody anything as Mother Nature will be making the rules.

Private insurance companies with shareholder dividends and stock price increases and huge executive pay salaries cannot compete with a single payer non-profit insurance group be it privately or govt run ....

Administration costs for Medicare are around 5% ..... private insurance for profit at around 30% to 35% ......

They can't compete with an organization that is not operated for large profits and large executive pays.

That simple ......

PS : The single-payer health insurance bill introduced by Rep. John Conyers, H.R. 676, now has 64 co-sponsors!

Please call your House Representative and ask him to support this bill.

The California Nurses Association is a strong force advocating a single payer plan.

http://www.calnurses.org/

As is Physicians For A National Health Program ....

http://www.pnhp.org/

Just have sex with the condom and then throw it away ....

Used about as often as dental dams in analingus I guess ...

Quote:

The best answer, though, is to educate the population. Many people now realise that people like Jim Cramer are just entertainers and not reporters, and that talking heads on TV are primarily about enriching themselves and sustaining the establishment.

I agree ....... but wonder if even someone had the funds to establish a "CNN of Truth" whether anyone would watch it ....

People are so addicted to entertainment they expect their news to be so also (entertaining) ....

If the conversation requires the effort of thinking, the media involved will likely be a minority participant ....

This is becoming epidemic ..... the FTC is looking into requiring tv shows to place disclaimer on screen when commercially sponsored products are seen being exibited within the shows themselves.

Producers are horrified by the prospect .....

Face it, our economy is based on people consumer worthless and sometimes harmful products they don't need.

Part of the constructed world we live in ........ another reason to avoid tv.

Earmarks are shady, unethical and the politicians know the public is incapable of keeping up with them.

One good thing that has come out of the banking crises is seeing what kind of lying, totally selfish lowlifes run the banks and the financial system ...... I don't personally know anybody who would want to associate with them ....... I suspect even hardened criminals would be repulsed by them.

Earmarks have the same slimy feel to them.

Here in NC, it was "The Record Bar", which started with a single small store in Chapel Hill and then evolved into a regional chain (I still can see the small original store in my mind).

I think it went out of business sometime in the 90's.

From the early 70's until 1980, I was an electronic tech who worked on "high-end" stereo equipment in Boston ..... everything from the old tube equipment of the 50's up to the newest of the FET devices from Yamaha and others.

When digital hit, I quit. Digital circuits are boring.

Yes, I still prefer analog (vinyl) and still think a high-end tube amp sounds better than solid state.