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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (39425)	7/10/2007 9:56:48 PM
From: TimF	Respond to of 541559

More lies from Moore BY SALLY PIPES Friday, July 6th 2007, 4:00 AM * Print * Email * Suggest a Story Be Our Guest In "Sicko," Michael Moore uses a clip of my appearance earlier this year on "The O'Reilly Factor" to introduce a segment on the glories of Canadian health care. Moore adores the Canadian system. I do not. I am a new American, but I grew up and worked for many years in Canada. And I know the health care system of my native country much more intimately than does Moore. There's a good reason why my former countrymen with the money to do so either use the services of a booming industry of illegal private clinics, or come to America to take advantage of the health care that Moore denounces. Government-run health care in Canada inevitably resolves into a dehumanizing system of triage, where the weak and the elderly are hastened to their fates by actuarial calculation. Having fought the Canadian health care bureaucracy on behalf of my ailing mother just two years ago - she was too old, and too sick, to merit the highest quality care in the government's eyes - I can honestly say that Moore's preferred health care system is something I wouldn't wish on him. In 1999, my uncle was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. If he'd lived in America, the miracle drug Rituxan might have saved him. But Rituxan wasn't approved for use in Canada, and he lost his battle with cancer. But don't take my word for it: Even the Toronto Star agrees that Moore's endorsement of Canadian health care is overwrought and factually challenged. And the Star is considered a left-wing newspaper, even by Canadian standards. Just last month, the Star's Peter Howell reported from the Cannes Film Festival that Mr. Moore became irate when Canadian reporters challenged his portrayal of their national health care system. "You Canadians! You used to be so funny!" exclaimed an exasperated Moore, "You gave us all our best comedians. When did you turn so dark?" Moore further claimed that the infamously long waiting lists in Canada are merely a reflection of the fact that Canadians have a longer life expectancy than Americans, and that the sterling system is swamped by too many Canadians who live too long. Canada's media know better. In 2006, the average wait time from seeing a primary care doctor to getting treatment by a specialist was more than four months. Out of a population of 32 million, there are about 3.2 million Canadians trying to get a primary care doctor. Today, according to the OECD, Canada ranks 24th out of 28 major industrialized countries in doctors per thousand people. Unfortunately, Moore is more concerned with promoting an anti-free-market agenda than getting his facts straight. "The problem," said Moore recently, "isn't just [the insurance companies], or the Hospital Corporation and the Frist family - it's the system! They can't make a profit unless they deny care! Unless they deny claims! Our laws state very clearly that they have a legal fiduciary responsibility to maximize profits for the shareholders ... the only way they can turn the big profit is to not pay out the money, to not provide the care!" Profit, according to the filmmaker-activist, has no place in health care - period. Moore ignores the fact that 85% of hospital beds in the U.S. are in nonprofit hospitals, and almost half of us with private plans get our insurance from nonprofit providers. Moreover, Kaiser Permanente, which Moore demonizes, is also a nonprofit. What's really amazing is that even the intended beneficiaries of Moore's propagandizing don't support his claims. The Supreme Court of Canada declared in June 2005 that the government health care monopoly in Quebec is a violation of basic human rights. Moore put me, fleetingly, into "Sicko" as an example of an American who doesn't understand the Canadian health care system. He couldn't be more wrong. I've personally endured the creeping disaster of Canadian health care. Most unlike him, I'm willing to tell the truth about it. Pipes is the president and CEO of the Pacific Research Institute and author of "Miracle Cure: How to Solve America's Health Care Crisis and Why Canada Isn't the Answer." nydailynews.com

To: TimF who wrote (39425)	7/10/2007 10:13:25 PM
From: JohnM	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 541559

Moore's film addresses the negative stereotypes that Americans have of the healthcare systems in Canada, Britain, France, and Cuba. It uses both anecdotal conversations and data--the standard data that's mentioned for developed countries. But much of the power of the film derives from its resonance with the audiences' experiences in the American healthcare system. He says, early on, that the subject of the film is not the uninsured but the insured and the failure of the system for them. Then let's folk tell their stories. We went to an early Sunday afternoon showing. The movie was filled. Perhaps there were a few empty seats at the back. I couldn't see. There was much applauding. But just as significant, there was much whispering, at least around us, when those American stories were told. I tried to listen to some of it. And the portions I heard were recounting similar experiences. Tone of voice also conveyed that. So, one can quibble with this or that small point--I could certainly find a couple--and I can imagine doing certain parts of the film differently--the Gitmo portion was unnecessary, but the overall impression is powerful. Also, the bit about Cuba in that quote you offered, is nothing but prejudice. No evidence; just prejudice.

To: TimF who wrote (39425)	7/10/2007 10:46:06 PM
From: Sam	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541559

Reporters without Borders calls Cuba the world’s second biggest prison for journalists after China. Reporters Without Borders From SourceWatch Reporters Without Borders, or RWB (French: Reporters sans frontières, or RSF) is "an international non-governmental organization devoted to freedom of the press". RWB/RSF is a member of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange, a virtual network of non-governmental organisations that monitors free expression violations worldwide and campaigns to defend journalists, writers and others who are persecuted for exercising their right to freedom of expression. Contents [hide] 1 Funding Sources 2 Principal focus of RSF activities 3 Otto Reich connection 4 Principals 5 Contact details 6 Other SourceWatch resources 7 External links [edit]Funding Sources Robert Menard, the Secretary General of RSF, was forced to confess that RSF's budget was primarily provided by "US organizations strictly linked with US foreign policy" (Thibodeau, La Presse). NED (US$39,900 paid 14 Jan 2005) Center for a Free Cuba (USAID and NED funded) $50,000 per year NED grant. Contract was signed by Otto Reich European Union (1.2m Euro) -- currently contested in EU parliament Rights & Democracy in 2004 supported Reporters Without Borders-Canada [1] "Grants from private foundations (Open Society Foundation, Center for a Free Cuba, Fondation de France, National Endowment for Democracy) were slightly up, due to the Africa project funded by the NED and payment by Center for a Free Cuba for a reprint of the banned magazine De Cuba." [2] [edit]Principal focus of RSF activities Cuba Venezuela Haiti more at: sourcewatch.org