May 10, 2007

Michael Moore Being Probed

Yes I know, the visual brought up by this post's title is a disturbing one, but I assure you it's not what you think. Moore may be facing a probe by the Treasury Department for violating trade and travel violations with Cuba.

For those of you who have been doing your best to ignore Moore-related news, he brought some ill 9/11 rescue workers to Cuba for medical treatment in order to, er, prove how much better the Cuban healthcare system is than the one here at home, all a part of his movie.

Jim K. had this to say about Sicko over at Moorewatch:

Here’s the problem(s) with this typical Moore trick: One, we have no way of knowing who has access to the hospital he chose. Can the average poor person in Cuba walk in like he did? Two, he’s co-opting 9/11 again to make another dump truck full of cash, just like he did the last time. Three, one can walk in to any hospital in America and be treated. They cannot refuse to treat you. Four, it’s quite possible that Moore lied just to get these people involved...

Perhaps Moore took them to this facility.

Remember there was one guy who saw through Moore's ploy. Joe Picurro of Tom's River, NJ said, "I would rather die in America than go to Cuba."

As with Moore's other films, what ends up on the cutting room floor may prove to be more educational than what we see on the big screen.

And one might wonder if Moore has seen this study coming out of Sweden, regarding how British cancer patients are less likely to survive a bout of cancer due to less access to life-saving medications (h/t Blue Crab Boulevard) than other European countries. Britain, as you know, has the lovely NHS that provides you with "free" healthcare.

Here's the best part:

The proportion of colorectal cancer patients with access to the drug Avastin was 10 times higher in the US than it was in Europe, with the UK having a lower uptake than the European average.

Still want to go to Cuba with Michael Moore? Here's hoping the government sticks it to him, and good. (And I hope they remember to use rubber gloves.)

h/t: Michelle Malkin

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February 07, 2007

HillaryCare: Serious Public Policy Proposal or Power Grab?

Read James Lewis's take on it at American Thinker and see what you think.

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January 08, 2007

Should Be Required Viewing...

for anyone who believes that abortion should be used for convenient birth control in non-emergency situations:

In the Womb: Multiples

Non-viable tissue mass?

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September 05, 2006

Obesity Pandemic?

Now obesity is being termed as pandemic (adjective 1. (of a disease) prevalent throughout an entire country, continent, or the whole world; epidemic over a large area.):

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - An obesity pandemic threatens to overwhelm health systems around the globe with illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease, experts at an international conference warned Sunday.

"This insidious, creeping pandemic of obesity is now engulfing the entire world," Paul Zimmet, chairman of the meeting of more than 2,500 experts and health officials, said in a speech opening the weeklong International Congress on Obesity. "It's as big a threat as global warming and bird flu."

Call me a cynic, but if global warming and bird flu are the yardsticks against which the obesity pandemic is being measured, I'm not too worried.

Experts at the conference said governments should impose bans on junk food advertising aimed directly at children, although they acknowledged such restrictions were unlikely to come about soon because the food industry would lobby hard against them.

When experts begin advocating bans on anything, I automatically take what they have to say with a grain of salt.

When I see little fat kids running around it really bothers me, because I know those kids are unhealthy. The real culprits here, however, are their parents. Banning advertisements for junk food during peak kiddie viewing hours is not going to stop mom or dad from buying the crap when they go to the store. I know someone, for example, who realizes that cereals like Cap'n Crunch and Froot Loops are garbage, but she tells me she likes her kids to have them. What do the experts have to say about that? Will they then suggest that shoppers have "minders" when they go to the supermarket to make sure they buy the correct foods?

Provide parents with nutritional education (through the schools is a possibility),then let them make their own decisions about what they buy. Banning ads on legal products is a fascist tactic that is not going to work. What the experts seem to forget is that we as individuals should be accountable for our own decisions.

Besides, if the experts managed to solve all of the problems they keep squawking about, they'd put themselves right ouf of employment...

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July 12, 2006

Recruiting Terrorists in Prison

The Smoking Gun today highlights a CIA report, written in 2002, regarding terrorist recruiting that goes on in Guantanamo Bay.

A secret Central Intelligence Agency report details the recruiting and organizing tactics of imprisoned al-Qaeda detainees and the difficulties faced by jailers in combating these efforts by disciples of Osama bin Laden. The report, prepared in August 2002 by the CIA Counterterrorist Center's Office of Terrorism Analysis, concluded that while detainees at Guantanamo Bay facilities were organizing and communicating in accordance with al-Qaeda training methods, U.S. officials were hamstrung to counter these moves without the aid of "inside sources."

More:

Guantanamo detainees enforced a code of conduct and sought to shield the identity of leaders through the use of surrogates. Additionally, inmates reportedly sought to "put their training into practice by establishing cellblock leaders and dividing responsibility among deputies for greeting new arrivals, assessing interrogations, monitoring the guard force, and providing moral support to fellow detainees, among other tasks." The report notes that seized al-Qaeda training manuals offered guidance on how members could organize and recruit while imprisoned, with one manual even including a diagram titled "Organization of Barracks Net."

Yes, those poor Guantanamo prisoners, deprived of Geneva Convention rights that they aren't even entitled to, continue to recruit al Qaeda members right under the noses of their jailers.

What utter rubbish. While those on the left continue to fight for these men's human rights, they continue to sign up those who would gladly trade their own lives if it means lives of Americans and other Westerners are lost, and wish to impose Islam and its Shar'ia law upon nations worldwide. What about the rights of those these men seek to kill?

I wonder what the New York Times thinks?

Hat tip: Jeanette

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June 20, 2006

Why Socialized Medicine Is a Bad Idea

For those of you who wish Hillary had been successful in implementing a national healthcare plan, read this story:

A 36 year-old Scots mother elected to have her breasts removed and a hysterectomy after being told she would have to wait at least two years for the results of genetic tests to discover if she had an increased risk of cancer.

Oonagh Wilson, who has been waiting now for almost four years to find out if her family faces a greater risk of breast cancer, yesterday spoke of her anger and frustration at the delays.

A backlog of women waiting for results has been blamed on lack of funding and trained staff, changes to the way services are delivered and delays in getting licences to carry out the tests, which have to be obtained from genetics watchdogs.

Politicians yesterday described the situation as "inhuman" and "shocking". Mrs Wilson said she has been left in limbo, not knowing whether her two children and other family members were carrying a cancer "timebomb."

But it was free, right? (shudder)

Hat tip: Marathon Pundit

Sorry, your tests won't be back for several years.
Have a cup of coffee while you wait!

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