Monday, August 17, 2009

Mad As Hell Doctors/Chris Giovacchini Ramirez/Cartoon


(P1) Political

Single-Payer System is the only solution to the nation's health care woes! Democrats in the administration say that it cannot pass. Yet they have the necessary votes to do what they want. Republicans vigorously opposed our two most popular programs, Social Security and Medicare, but two very courageous presidents, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson, respectively, used all of their powers, including persuasion, to get the measures passed. This is a time for courage in the face of disgusting scare tactics and lies similar to those used by the same special interests who have opposed all social programs over the years.

The Democratic administration and congress not only are choosing to bypass a single payer provision, but we're also hearing noises that they may give up on the lesser public option and also not negotiate with drug companies for lowered prices. Both of these measures are necessary for even a modicum of success. In the event of their absence from the bill, President Obama must veto such a gutted mess that, in a year or so, Republicans would use as proof that healthcare reform had failed.

The devil is not in the details. The devil is in the health insurance and drug companies who will spend any amount of their vast wealth to stay alive and to thrive.

Let's not let insurance company profits dictate the quality of our health care. Those who stand and shout against reform are the very ones who suffer the most when insurance companies maximize profits by denying services.

Take a look at Dr. Adam Klugman's (yes, Jack's son) major efforts through Mad As Hell Doctors.Com.

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(P2) Poetical

Machine of a Man
by Chris Giovacchini-Ramirez
(see photo)

Suddenly, the elephant garlic is too big.
It hasn't been planted customarily

During t
he full moon in November.
T
he jeep battery goes dead.
Tippy nudges and drools at his elbow
For handouts once taboo.
She remembers that he doesn't.

The shovel is missing.
The raised vegetable beds are untended.
A homemade bird house is hung upside down.
In the shed, wine is turning to vinegar.

An aviary of wooden birds, whose pinwheel wings
Represent a progression of prototypes,
Hangs crippled in the garden breeze.
He can't get a dial tone on the television remote control.
The workbench and tools that created reindeer for Christmas,
Cats and dogs when it rained, lies silent in chaotic repose.

In spite of the latest medications, swallows weave the air,
Building mud nests in the corners of his mind.

A kiss on the cheek from
An old acquaintance, he rants, is a secret affair.
Television is mysterious array of images.
"Is that guy talking to me?," he asks.

Wrist watch worn upside down reflects a change in time.

It's a stigmata, on the family heart, that bleeds through stoic
Bandages and concealing clothes.

We cope.
We hold hands, I scratch his back, we sit together,
I ply and stretch his clenched hands.
When our eyes meet I tell him I love him,
"I love you too," he replies.

"I don't know where I am," he says. "This is a nursing home," I answer.
"Where do I go from here?", he asks. "Go toward the light," I tell him.

A tireless machine of a man.
An old piece of farm equipment,
Retired to a far corner of the field, oxidizing.

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(P3) Philosophical

Friday, August 07, 2009

Arby/News?/3d World Health Care/Rove&Plato

(P1) Poetical

Final Words
(for Arby Kenny 1943-2009)

You did not call 911. Instead
you summoned your friends who
streaming out from The Witch's Brew
found you sitting breathless
on the tavern steps.

The publican who had been an EMT
asked you if you knew who you were.
Goddamn it! you retorted,
You know who I am!

Those words helped your friends
feel better. They sounded like you,
you who were being packed
into a Salem ambulance
never to be seen live again.

Your final words vital to your friends

Goddamn it! You know who I am!


(ed coletti August 5, 2009)


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2700 citizens lined up at 5:30 AM for The 2009 Remote Area Medical (RAM) Expedition which recently came to the Virginia Appalachian mountains. Are we a "third-world country"?

(P2) Political


Whatever Happened To the News?


These days do you ever wonder why you see TV ads
from corporations like Lockheed-Martin and wonder who's going to buy a fighter jet because of a TV commercial? It's not like Lockheed wants to sell you a fighter bomber. It's more about these ads and similar ones intentionally being placed to maintain control over the networks. If Lockheed, for example, doesn't like a particular show and demands that the station pull it, what recourse does TV "news" have but to comply rather than lose the bribe (I mean advertising)? None.

Some time ago (probably around the time Ronald Reagan succeeded in getting rid of the Fairness Doctrine, and Rush Limbaugh went on the air four weeks later), TV News Divisions were subsumed under the Entertainment Divisions of TV stations and networks. While TV news had been non-commercial and provided as a public service, the Entertainment Divisions did all the earning and supported the news. Now, however, the News Division is expected to earn its own way, and we see more and more "news" shows of the type portrayed above (The Today Show cast on NBC).

Where are we now to go for the news? As much grief as it gets, the New York Times still provides a reasonable product. You might also consider the Huffington Post and Politico.com among a few others.

Peter Zenger is turning over in his grave.

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(P3) Philosophical


http://www.funnytimes.com/archives/files/art/20051208.jpg

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