"Barbara O’Brien’s wide-ranging account of Zen history is conveyed with a master storyteller’s ability to keep the forest from getting lost in a myriad of trees. Wearing her scholarship lightly, she blends just the right amount of skepticism about her hagiographic sources with a deep appreciation for the Dharma." — Barry Magid, author of
Nothing Is Hidden and
Ending the Pursuit of Happiness Order here!
I saw this earlier today and really hope it gets some airtime. Many thanks to big-hearted comedians. 🙂
Actually, once capitalism is accepted as the ideal economy, its bases cannot be unacceptable. A capitalist economy is driven by the profit motive and the accumulation of capital, ideally without limit. The health insurance consortia are merely abiding by the written-in-stone bases of a system we seem to champion.
By the way, I’ve decided that, given its drive for pure profit, health insurance providers will soon put out a flyer informing us that being a human being is a pre-existing condition and thus no human being will be covered for any malady being human subjects us to. (Of course by law, premiums must continue to be paid.)
This is like shooting Superman with a bullet. He’s impervious to lead.
Just like right-wingers are impervious to the following:
Facts
Logic
Irony
Humor
Empathy
Peace
Sharing
Love – anyone other than themselves, or those who might be financially involved with them…
(the last three are related to the ones above them).
In other words, most of the things that seperate men from the monkey’s they don’t believe we evolved from. At least they’re consistent in that regard…
I just listened to a NY sportscaster on a sports talk show argue against health care for 3 minutes. This sports blowhard, whom I like when he talks about sports, making millions a year, is wondering how we pay for it without HUGE tax increases. His ‘brilliant’ analysis was that we have 300 million people, many times more than any other nation that has health care. And that based on the numbers, how do we pay for it? Other countries can because they have less people. I must admit, this was the stupidist thing I’d heard in a while. It actually sounds logical for a second until you think about it. Even with the Recession/Depression, I didn’t read where we approached Haiti economically. Or any one of the dozens of countries whose health care is far better than ours – all without their weathiest citizens begging in the streets for food and handouts from the poorest. I can’t believe that. Again, maybe I’m missing something – like my brain…
I agree with CUNDGULAG,
Irony and humor are definately two things conservatives don’t understand. They will just see the ad as the hollywood liberal elite doing the bidding of the afro-socialist facist despot!
Actually there was a guy on c-span this morning who basically parrotted the ad without sarcasm and without supporting the insurance companies. His view was do away with insurance companies all together. If you have the misfortune to get sick you pay the doctor or hospital out of your pocket. If you do not have the money you do not get treatment and maybe you die and maybe you don’t. That was better than this self described “hardworking American” giving even one thin dime for somebody else’s health care.
terry,
I hate to say this, but I’d like to see what that stupid MFer would do if he were diagnosed with something that cost more to cure than what he had in his bank account; more than his family had in total assets.
Wanna bet his tune would change? How long would it take for it to go from “Whatever it is, I’m Against it,” to “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction?” I bet it would be faster than he could shout, “YOU LIE!”
The amount of selfishness in this country astounds me. It we had this kind of attitude in the Great Depression, it would have made The Permian-Triassic extinction event about 250 million years ago look like a Convalescent Home on a slow week.
That same attitude in WWII would mean they’d be hoarding cars, metal, sugar, rubber, etc., and we’d finally be bi-lingual – in Japanese and German.
Assholes. I’m glad I’m not related to any of them. Maybe I am, and they know enough to keep their stupid pie-holes shut around me!
I’ve been seeing this popping up all over, but had no idea it was a parody. Is there a transcript anywhere for those of us who can’t hear it?
I believe if we had national healthcare, companies could be more competative with the rest of the world in pricing goods since they wouldn’t have to factor in employee healthcare costs into the price of the goods…. well.. employee healthcare costs and the millions in bonuses…
I think the basic problem is one felicity touched on. What is the best possible end of our health care program? Is it to create a capitalist market where companies can profit (and to what extent should they be allowed to profit?)? In other nations its just a matter of making people healthy and well. Therefore, our problem is just one of being a nation that lacks basic compassion for our fellow Americans! Like the nice comedians said: we care more about profits than we do people.
Here is a version that includes a transcript.
The comment by “s” is very good. I’ve been paying attention to local capital improvement projects taking place by the city government here in Missoula and between 30-40% of the price goes to employee health care. How can anyone poo poo such a significant burden on our localities?
“This sports blowhard, whom I like when he talks about sports, making millions a year, is wondering how we pay for it without HUGE tax increases.”
Well, first of all, why don’t Americans have a problem with over 50% of the federal budget allocated to what we euphemistically refer to as “defense”? The US spends the most on the military than the next 18 countries in the world combined.
Secondly, there is no true progressive income tax in the US because once you reach a certain mark, taxes DECREASE rather than increase, and several corporations have paid (and continue to pay) ZERO taxes. If the middle class is burdened by taxes, its not because of all the evil socialistic programs, its because all the rich fuckers don’t pay their own share.
The people mooching off the middle class are not so-called “welfare queens” but the aristocrat leeches. The Palinites, the tea-baggers, these myopic morons are tools, every single one of them.