Moving On Health Care Reform
7/3/09 8:47 PM GMT
11:47 PM Mecca Time
7/4/09 3:47 AM Beijing Time

So, How's Dianne Feinstein Doing?

MoveOn put up a quick spot on health
care reform yesterday on CNN.

Let's try to find vids
of the protest last week.

Here's a video of protesters being escorted out
of a Senate Committee Hearing.
It took place about a month ago.
A number of items were mentioned by protesters
as they were removed from the chamber.
I want to look into what they were alluding to,
but am short on time today, and want to get
more vids linked.

I have to admit, I'm late to the party on this issue
too...

I wonder...Is Dr. Bernard Lown still involved in
these issues? I'll try to find a vid of him.
Hmmm...I didn't know he was a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

"Medicine is the art of engagement with the human condition rather than
with the disease."

-Bernard Lown, MD
(copied from his website)
Rather profound, Dr. Lown.

Here's the first part of the video on his site.
Here's the second part.

I'm sure he's somewhere in this drama.

Let's do some more YouTube spelunking.

This is Elizabeth Kucinich, discussing HR676.

Here's a series of videos on HR676.
Part 1.
Part 2.
Part 3.
Part 4.
That was a good little rap there! :)

I need to get up to speed on the current legislation.
I have a general idea of its content, but need some documentation.

By the way, have people begun to make those politician-
lobbyist collages?

Let's see if anyone has made one for Tom Daschle...

Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks has an
interesting commentary on Daschle's role.

Very cool logo, by the way, Cenk.

Here's his Wikipedia entry.

LOL Daschle isn't a senator anymore.

So, precisely what is his role in all this?

First, let's check the roll calls:

The Senate.
The House.

Here's a list of things we can do to help
fix the American health care system.

Here's the Twitter page for the single-payer movement.
Perhaps I'll be able to find some videos of large-scale
protests looking there...

Recommended actions for July 4th.

Here are instructions on how to join the movement.

Here's an activist demanding that Nancy Pelosi
put single-payer health care back on the table.

Here's another confrontation.

Are the democrats screwing us again?
Is it time to vote Green?

I need an update from the democratic party figures
so I can get a status update.

Is single-payer still off the table?
Hmmm...I need to do some research, but first,
lunch.

Here are some videos of Mike Farrell. on single-payer health care.

Hey!
Here's a volatile update on the situation.

Here's a video advertising the June 25 rally.

7/4/09 1:37 AM GMT
(Happy 4th of July, United Kingdom!!)
Hehehehe...maybe we'llset things straight in the
next couple of years...:)
4:37 AM Mecca Time
8:37 AM Beijing Time

Well, I gotta watch Art of the Western World: In Our Own Time
again...brb!

4:33 AM GMT
7:33 AM Mecca Time
11:33 AM Beijing Time

...back...

Now.
Where was I?
I was looking for videos of the health care reform protests.

A webcast of Democracy Now! which addresses
the current debate in health care.
Here's the second part. I couldn't find the third.

Who's Senator Baucus? Nobody in the progressive camp seems to
like him very much.

This is Mike Farrell speaking at a rally the day after the hearing.
Dr. Margaret Flowers at the same rally.

Here's an extremely powerful story. It's from a
woman who needed a surgery for cervical cancer. Her insurer denied
payment because she was 22, and the company only pays for that
surgery if a patient is 26 or older.

That is intellectual and moral bankruptcy. Any politician who
supports that kind of decision-making is also intellectually
and morally bankrupt.

Medicine is not cut and dry. According to Wikipedia, the highest-risk
group is between ages 25 and 49.
Let's see if I can get WebMD to confirm that.

Web MD says that the age range is usually between 35
and 55.

A cancer is a cancer, regardless of the age of the
patient. Simply because the patient giving the
testimony was only 22, well below the range where
the cancer occurs the most is NO REASON TO DENY
PAYMENT FOR LEGITIMATE TREATMENT.

How disgusting.
Who could support such a diabolical way of deciding
who gets medical care, and who doesn't?

I remember when I went to Faneuil Hall, during my
first year of medical school (1997-8), to a rally
in which MDs and reformed medical insurance professionals
relayed numerous horror stories about managed care.

I remember one professional who had been in the business
of denying care was at some meeting where the photographs
of patients who were being denied care were being projected
on to a screen, and their cases summarized for the attendees.

The cheers for denials of care were so disturbing to this
one individual, that she had second thoughts about her
position, and ended up joining the movement for health
care reform.

What is the status of the single-payer plan on Capitol Hill?
Probably not too good.

Personally, I think that the United States of America is
at a flashpoint with regards to democrats who sell out the
progressive ideals and activists who do massive amounts of
free dirty work to put them there, election, after election,
after election.

Is it time for ultimatums for these people?
Should MoveOn and the progressive wing of the democratic
party threaten to vote out ANY democrat who refuses
to support HR 676?

We have substantial majorities in both houses, and
the presidency.

Like Bill Maher said the other night, "If not now, when?"

I need to get more up to date information on the status
of the legislation.

Is it time, at last to give democrats who sell us out
(or otherwise find some excuse to turn their backs on their
activist roots),
election, after election, after election, the finger,
start a Green movement, and NOT LOOK BACK?

Hmmm...

It doesn't make sense for health care insurers to turn a profit
and refuse to perform their specified function.

$400,000,000,000 in profits was made by health insurers
last year, by one claim I heard in a video.

That's called, "Highway Robbery."

7/6/09 7:04 PM GMT
10:04 PM Mecca Time
7/7/09 2:14 AM Beijing Time

A Lost Weekend

Well, my loyal readers...
I had to finish painting some patio chairs,
then went to church on Sunday, then saw a
couple of movies.

The Taking of Pelham 123 was entertaining,
and included enough mental twists to rise above
the status of a simple action movie.

What else did I see yesterday?
I'll give you a hint.

I want to see it again, and just might go for it
today.

Haven't figured it out yet?

Here's another hint...

Fascinating.

Still don't know?
Last clue:
"I should have gone on opening night."

That was a rather insightful premonition.

One of the YouTube videos queries as part of its title,
"The Best Star Trek Ever?"

My reply: It is certainly the most awesome of the
Star Trek films. But, I want to ponder things
some more before I declare whether or not it is indeed,
the best film of the franchise ever produced.

It broke the rules.
It was a nit-pickers nightmare.
It reminded us of episodes long past, and served
as a beacon to the future.

It may qualify as a work of fine art.
A Rembrandt of space science fiction, one might say,
and quite possibly, of cinema itself.

It paid homage to great works of the genre as it re-assured
us that the writers weren't going to be paralyzed by the
massive body of work that constitutes Star Trek lore.

Star Trek has gone baroque.
Possibly, high baroque.
(I gotta give the creative team something to shoot for, now.)

The quantity of creativity in this work is both vast
and incalculable.

Some elements didn't fit together too well, but,
there weren't enough to taint the experience of the film.

As the reviewer said in the video linked above, Star Trek
can produce sequels, a new series, or both.

I always thought that Star Trek was at its best
when it was challenging the limits of the possible.
Over the decades, it has done this with regards to the
casting, storytelling, and the media within which it
has been presented.

Star Trek (2009) did this in so many ways, that
I have only begun to identify them, much less enumerate them.

I smiled.
I giggled.
I gasped.
I gawked.
I didn't want to leave.
I stayed for the credits. All of them.
I wanted to run off to space, like I hadn't for a
long, long time.
I wanted to be on board the Enterprise.
I wanted to go to Starfleet Academy.

What they did right...

The most important thing the new film had to do was
make the masses excited about Star Trek again.

When's the next convention?
I gotta get to Vegas...
I need to check out a chat room, or email some old
friends, and tell them about the film.

I read somewhere that it might get a nomination for
Best Picture by the MPAA. Appropriate, to
say the least.

They showed us many things we had not seen. This was
essential. On top of that, we saw many of the (too?)
familiar aspects of Trek in ways we had not
seen them before.

I didn't care about what the latest incarnation of the
Enterprise looked like. The cinematography made
that a moot issue. Every time I got a glimpse of the
exterior, the style in which it was presented to the
audience made me feel like I was on a roller coaster.

The bridge was gorgeous.
Engineering looked like a 20th or 21st century physical plant.
The field of view and the sets were constantly disrupting
the perception of the audience.

"It's not supposed to look like that."
"He's not supposed to do that."
"That contradicts what happened in the series."
"HEY! THEY DESTROYED VULCAN!!"

WELL...SO WHAT!!

The creators of contemporary Star Trek effectively
told off every Trekker ever born, and did so with such
panache that few people even noticed.

I loved it.
I'm giggling right now.
I have to see that again, ON THE BIG SCREEN.

NOW!!!

Spock making out with Uhura in a turbo lift,
and in the transporter room.

What?

A few episode references (original series), just off the top of my
head.

Whom Gods Destroy
Where No Man Has Gone Before
The Menagerie
The Naked Time
Amok Time

...just for starters...

I honestly haven't gotten my arms around that movie yet.
I forgot completely about Captain Pike until they were
about to free him from the Romulan ship.

They can do anything now.
Literally, anything.
Go anywhere.
Start at any point.
Rewrite the entire series.
Violate any tenet they choose.
Bring in old cast members
Express time travel paradoxes.

Yes they can.
Yes they can.

The entire franchise has been blown wide open.

A seasoned nit-picker can select anything in the
film that was inconsistent with the series, and
bitch about it until Kingdom Come. I'm sure they're
doing that at this very moment.

It won't make a difference.
It will only rile them up, force them to think about
what they loved so much about Trek
and make them want to see it again...
and again...
and again...

Why?
So they can find MORE things to HATE about the movie.
They'll (indeed, they probably already have) call up
all their die-hard Trekker friends and tell them how
angry the movie made them.

It's brilliant!
Simply brilliant!!

I can't believe it.
I still can't believe it.

What a spectacle!
There must have been riots over this film.

I'm amazed, awed, energized, and inspired by the creative
genius that brought my beloved Star Trek into the
Third Millennium.

What can't they do?
What won't they try?

There are no limits.

Does it qualify as fine art?
I'll have to contemplate that possibility.

In any case, the sleeping giant has awakened, and is dashing across
the galaxy at maximum warp.

I see why Shatner wanted to be in on this film.
I'm sure other cast did too.

Imagine...
Imagine...

I have to think about what the films have represented
to me over the decades...The films with the original crew
constituted a step up in special effects and production values.
Just having a Star Trek movie available was regarded
as a triumph.

The sophistication of Star Trek: The Next Generation
was so high, that to me, the films generally fell short.
None of them had me bouncing off the walls as I was for the
series itself. Taking an already well-done show to film
didn't (for me) step up its quality. We got to see new
models of the Enterprise and new uniforms, but
I had no sense that I was being taken, "to the next level."

After lying dormant for (how many?) years, it's
clear that the cult series turned blockbuster, turned icon,
is on the verge of launching another science-fiction
renaissance with a massive injection of creativity applied
to the rich legacy contained within and expressed by,
its cosmological cultural memory.

STAR TREK LIVES!!!

Postscript:
After being roused by the opus I was treated to yesterday evening,
I truly believe that Star Trek's best years are ahead.

(That ought to be enough blasphemy for one day.)

***


8:38 PM GMT
11:38 PM Mecca Time
7/7/09 3:38 PM Beijing Time

Back to more serious things.

It sounds like there's been a major development
in the Iranian incident. I need to finish with
health care (and lunch, of course.)

Ed Schultz' take on the Senate Committee Hearings.
Interesting...according to Schultz, Senator Baucus has taken
$183,000 from insurance companies, and $229,000 from drug companies.

No wonder he's against single-payer health insurance.

I've been meaning to check out the earth2obama.org site
for some time.
Let's do that now.
Interesting.

A comment the president made on single-payer
health care during the campaign.

Here's a confrontation with democrat Ron Klein (Florida)
over his stance against single-payer health care.
One comment below the video expresses the zeitgeist of
this movement.

Keep track of the stands of our employees...

Here are some more confrontations.

Rep. Gus Bilirakis - Florida.
The Single Payer Action site.

At last! A vid on the June 25 rally in DC for single-payer
health care.
Here's Rep. Dennis Kucinich's description of his plan.

The President on his proposed health care plan.

Don't miss the last link.
I think it's highly important.

Here's a presidential plan for universal health care.

A Nightline feature on health care from within the White House.
It was held on June 25, 2009.

What does he think about single-payer or universal
health care now, I wonder?

That's a good place to end for the moment.
I'll get to Iran later.
I need to gather information first, and take a break.

Beaming,
Ed Ussery("ArchMind")

P.S. "I'm a doctor, not a physicist!"