The Restroom Urinal at the Train Station

Bill Maher is right. The "public option" does indeed sound like the urinal at the train station. Who would want the public option? It just sounds gross. You can almost smell how disgusting it is.

The Congressional Budget Office, however, seems to think that the public option is no big deal. In fact, in a letter sent to the House, the CBO estimates that the public option portion of the bill will only attract about 6 million enrollees. They estimate that most Americans will stay with their private plans. They also estimate that the bill will reduce the deficit by 104 billion dollars over 10 years.

The CBO goes on to say that the public option would likely charge higher premiums than private insurers. This is due to their estimate that the people who would seek the public option would be higher risk patients and the fact that the public option would “engage in less management of utilization." So, the contention that the public option would drive private insurance out of business is not accurate.

Here is the CBO's breakdown of both the House bill and the Senate Bill.

CBO Score Of House Bill	CBO Score Of Baucus Bill
Costs	Reduce deficits: $104B/10yrs Cost: $894B/10yrs Spends on subsidies: $605B/10yrs On Medicaid/CHIP: $425B/10yrs On Small Employer Credit: $25B/10yrs	Reduce deficits: $81B/10yrs Cost: $829B/10yrs Spends on subsidies: $461B/10yrs On Medicaid/CHIP: $345B/10yrs On Small Employer Credit: $23B/10yrs
Insured	Uninsured reduced by: 36M Uninsured in 2019: 18M In Exchanges: 30M | Public Plan: 6M In Medicaid: 15M	Uninsured reduced by: 29M Uninsured in 2019: 25M In Exchanges: 23M In Medicaid: 14M
Revenue	Mandate penalty: $33B/10yrs Pay-Play penalty: $135B/10yrs New taxes: $572B/10yrs	Mandate penalty: $4B/10yrs Free rider penalty: $23B/10yrs New taxes: $196B/10yrs
Medicare and Medicaid	Total savings: 426B/10yrs Medicare Advantage: $170B/10yrs	Total savings: 404B/10yrs Medicare Advantage: $117B/10yrs

Now, the CBO has been touted by those who are against this bill as being sound financially. One would think this would be good news for them. In addition, if only six million people are going to use the program, that isn't exactly a "Soviet style takeover."

So, the bill...

Late Saturday night, the United States House of Representatives passed landmark health care legislation by a vote of 220-215. Over the next few days, we'll be taking a look at what's in the bill and what it means for you. Rather than tackle everything at once, I thought I would focus on one part per day (and perhaps the strands that trail out from that) and discuss it.

Many of you have asked me why I support a bill like this even though there are items in it that I would not find agreeable. For the first couple of days, I'm going to talk why I supported this bill singling out those specific points which I think have merit. The first one is the ejection from the capsule of pre-existing conditions. Thank God.

Under this new bill, a person can't be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. Not only do I support this from the point of view of a human being but it also makes sound financial sense. If someone is denied coverage but ends up in the ER or in ICU, the rest of us will still end up paying for it through higher premiums. Without this regulation in place, less and less people will be able to afford health care because insurance companies will simply raise their rates. Has anyone ever seen them go down?

Of course, the argument could be made that we could just let these people die but I think we are a better country than that. Somehow, their care is going to have to be paid for and whether it's through the government or private insurance, we will be the ones to pay. The insurance industry has shown that it has done a poor job regulating itself. Even with their higher premiums, they still needed to be bailed out by Uncle Sam (AIG etc) and then used that money for lavish vacation retreats (see: US plutonomy).

The government certainly isn't the perfect mechanism for this but what is the alternative?

220-215

The House passed its version of the health care bill last night in a vote of 220 to 215. Interestingly, one Republican, Joseph Cao from Louisiana, voted for the bill. "I have always said that I would put aside partisan wrangling to do the business of the people. My vote tonight was based on my priority of doing what is best for my constituents," Cao said. Maybe there is some hope for the Republican Party after all.

I was also interested at the bipartisan press conference after the signing in which both sides claimed victory and said they were happy (??) with the bill. For the Republicans, this was largely due to the Stupak amendment that bans federal money for abortions.

So my initial thoughts are fairly positive. In listening to Michelle Bachmann, it sounded like we were all going to be thrown into a boiling pit of sewage. I also thought the partisanship would turn even more acrimonious. Tomorrow, I'll start putting up some of the finer points of the bill and we can talk about them.

Reaching Out

We've been talking about "reaching out" to the right in comments lately so I thought I would share a recent Facebook status update of a friend of mine whom I call John Smith.

JOHN SMITH is going to grill meat and use lots of coals to emit as much carbon as possible and piss of the global warming nut jobs.

So, my question is this...how do I reach out to John, hmm?

Without Comment

Yep, pretty much.

Recovering conservative, Frank Schaeffer has had quite a bit to say these days about his former party. Schaeffer, whose father was close to President Reagan, President Bush (41), President Ford and Jack Kemp, has a new book out entitled Patience with God: Faith for People Who Don't Like Religion (or Atheism) and has been ripping out some zingers on his tour hawking it. Here are a few choice ones with which I happen to agree.

Combined with the fact that we began to lose parts of the culture war, when it came to other Americans beginning to recognize gay rights, expanding women's rights, abortion rights and such, the Religious Right and the Republican Party infected gun-toting America with a chip on its shoulder about a mile wide. This led to the myth that "they" (fill in the blank, gays, Jews, blacks, liberals --- whatever) are "taking away our country from 'us'"...

This would be the fear of the "other" that I have been talking about lately.

Conservative" means that you believe it's right to legalize torture, but reject health care for all.

Wow. I've never heard it put so succinctly before but yes, that is what it means to be conservative.

These days to be a conservative means that you hate the United States government elected by the people and believe that if millions of citizens are out of work that it's their own fault and that the rest of the community should not help them by spending tax dollars.

Yep.

To be a conservative means you believe that healthcare reform will lead to "death panels"; that the president of the United States is not a "real American"; that a university education is a dangerous thing; that Americans who live in big cities are less American than those who live in small towns; that brown people, blacks, progressive whites, gays, public school teachers, Hispanics, immigrants, are somehow conspiring to subvert the "real America" with a "gay agenda" or a "Muslim agenda" or at least the browning of "our" white America.

Oh no he di-int! The right is not racist!!! THE RIGHT IS NOT RACIST!!! THE RIGHT IS NOT RACIST!!! THE RIGHT IS NOT RACIST!!! THE RIGHT IS NOT RACIST!!! THE RIGHT IS NOT RACIST!!! THE RIGHT IS NOT RACIST!!!

(keep chanting this and maybe someday it will be true)

And now, the coup de grace.

In other words to be a conservative today is to be an anti-American, nihilistic libertarian know-nothing who believes in unregulated consumerism and the theology of dominion. It is in fact what conservatives of the 60s said the hippies were: selfish brats with no sense of responsibility to anyone. It's also a party of armed revolution not so subtly egging on its lunatic fringe to commit violence. It applauds white rubes who show up at public meetings carrying loaded assault weapons "to make a point" and signs reminiscent of Timothy McVeigh and his famous T-shirt; "the tree of Liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants" and the like are held up by Murdoch/Beck/Fox and company --- those profiteers off the unregulated market --- as paragons of good sense and free enterprise and gun rights.

My question for conservatives who post here...how is he wrong? Virtually everything I have seen over the years on this blog and in discussions with the right adheres to the paragraph above. And it's getting worse every day.

Of course, it's not enough just to rip the psychotics who run the GOP now. What should they actually be?

An actual conservative believes in community and accountability to a moral tradition that puts the greater good of others ahead of oneself. Take a look at the way the very conservative communities of New England's Puritan towns were arranged around the village green known as "the commons."

Shared public spaces were owned by the community, for instance grazing land, and town meetinghouses. People were obliged to show up and participate in the fledgling democracy and vote. Taxes were dispensed by committees for charitable purposes. A duty to government and obligations placed on citizens by other citizens --- when it came to putting the life of the community ahead of the self --- were the norm. The free-market and individual enterprise were strictly curtailed based on not just the needs of the community but, when it came to things like banking and lending, the Old Testament teachings that frowned on "usury" --- in other words banks making more money than they should from ordinary people-- were upheld.

And the line that is sure to explode heads...

President Obama is a conservative. He believes in the brotherhood of all people. He believes in the freedom of the individual to make moral decisions. He believes that sexuality, religion and skin color should not define us but the content of our characters should define us. He believes that we are our brother's keeper. He believes in loyalty to community and country --- in other words patriotism, whether that's the honor of serving in the military or the honor of paying taxes to support not just national defense but how we treat what the Bible calls the least amongst us.

I agree completely. And I think many on the right know this which is why they have become hyper ragers right now. How dare President Obama try to out conservative the conservatives! Let's paint a Hitler moustache on him and scare some people. Yeah, that'll work!

Mr. Schaeffer's right, dudes. What the fuck happened to your party?

Liberal Media Watch

The media is all liberally biased, right?

"GOP hopes rekindled" (headline from MSNBC)

"Blow to Obama" (headline from MSNBC)

"GOP Scores Big on Election Night" (headline from CNN)

"GOP Rules Election Night" (headline from CNN)

"Setback to Obama" (NY Times headline)

"Victories seen as a sharp blow to Democrats and showed the limits of President Obama's political clout." (Comcast News headline)

Hmm...I thought the media were in the tank for President Obama. It couldn't possibly be they just want to SELL something...anything....no matter who their audience is, now could it?

This same "liberal media" has also buried the story of the loss by the Republicans in NY-23. Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck all got behind the "real" conservative, Doug Hoffman. It was quite a scene of GOP infighting which resulted in the election of a Democrat, Bill Owens -- the first Democratic congressman from that region since Ulysses S Grant was president. In fact, the "fake" Republican, Dede Scozzafava, that was forced to drop out of the race by the psychotics that are currently running the GOP ended up backing Owens. Huh. Isn't that interesting? Perhaps there aren't as many "real" Republicans out there as Rush, Glenn, and Sara would like to think. How sad...

Anyway, I don't buy into the media's "The GOP Are Back!!!" meme. If they were, NY -23 would be in Hoffman's hands. As it stands, a very conservative state (VA) voted for a Republican (gosh, what a shock) and New Jersey voted out the guy who was up to his eyeballs in Goldman Sachs kickbacks. Whoopity Doo!

Wow

I share that fear, and I believe they should be fearful. And I believe the greatest fear that we all should have to our freedom comes from this room, this very room. And what may happen later this week, in terms of a tax increase bill masquerading as a health care bill. I believe we have more to fear from the potential of that bill passing than we do from any terrorist right now in any country.

It makes my heart all warm and fuzzy to know that the right at least aren't trying to hide it anymore. How many times did she use the word "fear?"

Ah well, as long as they are being rational about it and grounding their assertions in facts and logic while strictly adhering to the scientific method.

Chest Thumping

In what was quite possibly one of the most amusing screeds by the right in the last few years, Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism failed (see: completely) to address the issue of nationalism. You can't complain about a group of individuals (liberals) and label them America "haters" while, at the same time, calling them fascists. It's akin to criticizing a political party or a country of too little government control and then walking away, screaming, "Commies!"

A key tenet of fascism is a fierce sense of nationalism. A recent article by Neal Gabler illustrates the fact that the right are the ones that have this key ingredient of fascism.

There is nothing wrong with self-satisfaction or national pride. But the incessant trumpeting of our national superiority to every other country in the world is more than just off-putting and insulting. It is infantile, like the vaunting of a schoolyard bully that his Dad is better than your Dad. It is wrong. And it might be dangerous both to ourselves and to the rest of the world.

It also doesn't work. We live in a global economy now and it is simply good business to understand and get along with other cultures. Wait. Sorry. I just realized that the words "understand" and "get along with" when used in conjunction with the right can probably only exist on one place in the world.

Fantasy Island.

Just....Wow.

Take a look at this picture I received in an email forward recently. Click on it for a bigger image.

Really?

FUCKING REALLY????!!!????

Setting aside the obvious offense to women everywhere, it is yet another nauseating example of male stereotyping which will sadly lead to more men thinking this is "cool."

Every fucking day I turn on the TV and all I see are commercials which portray men as essentially enjoying four things: eating, sleeping, watching TV, and playing video games. Each ad somehow manages to make them look moronic doing each of them. I am sick and tired of it.

Men are NOT simple creatures. We have just as many complex emotions as women do. The main reason why men are so fucked up in our culture is that their sociocultural context has told them that this fucking TV remote pictured above is the ideal. Never has their been a larger or smellier load of shit.

To say that I loathe this picture is the understatement of...forever. In fact, add up my dislike of Michelle Bachmann, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and Michelle Malkin and it is still but a thimble full of hatred compared to the above image of the "Male" in the year 2009. But that's not even the worst part.

The fact is that this stereotype comes from somewhere as all stereotypes do. There ARE guys like this and some who probably find it funny. More than likely, they are beyond hope. But this certainly doesn't help the ones that aren't. So, shit like this pushes the ones that don't think this is funny into going with the flow and the cycle of the "Buffoon Man" continues.

What a giant load of diarrhea.

Blow Away, Dudes

Check out this article from the New York Times regarding the Department of Justice's decision to cease pursuing medical marijuana stores in various states where it is legal across the country. Honestly, I never thought I would see it happen but it's finally up to the states now.

I have no doubt that my state will be the LAST one in the US to ease any sort of marijuana restrictions (see: 90 foot pole up ass on any sort of happy, fun time) but I am still quite pleased. It's insane that this drug is not legal. The illegality of it has caused our already over filled jails to be filled more and has fueled the Mexican drug cartels violence. States can now pursue sensible restrictions and penalties that don't send someone to jail for a minimum of 25 years.

And an extra stream of tax revenue will mean help for states like California who are having severe budget problems.

But the best part? Certain people have to now admit that the words "less federal government" and "the Obama administration" must be used in tandem. Hee Hee....

Quaking With Fear

It's quite an amusing thing to get into a discussion with a conservative these days. As the eyes turn wild with paranoia and fear, the mouth begins to froth. Screams of "statism" and "liberal fascists" begin to be heard as the explanation (fully based on logic and facts...not!) of how all liberals are on one giant power crab is heard at very loud tone.

"That bitch in the House!!!!"

was the first comment from my Uncle Bill when the subject of politics came up. Yeah, good thing the right doesn't lead with their feelings.

But the power grab thing has always cracked me up. Juxtapose what the right says about the twirling moustache liberals thirst for power with a recent statement from Harry "Milktoast" Reid.

We’re leaning towards talking about a public option.

Wow. I am overwhelmed by his Hitleresque statements and tactics. He's a comin' to git ya! Hide your guns and children...

A True Hero

I am here today because of a conversation I had last June when I was voting. A woman at my polling place asked me, "Do you believe in equal, equality for gay and lesbian people?" I was pretty surprised to be asked a question like that. It made no sense to me. Finally I asked her, "What do you think our boys fought for at Omaha Beach?" I haven't seen much, so much blood and guts, so much suffering, much sacrifice. For what? For freedom and equality. These are the values that give America a great nation, one worth dying for.

Amen, Phillip. Thank you for your service.

File Under: No Shit

Apparently, the Secret Service is seeing an increased level of death threats against President Obama, more so than any other president.

Gee, I'm shocked.

For months we have been hearing much downplaying from the right about how "all presidents get threats" blah blah blah.

But the Boston Globe is now reporting that the Secret Service is not tasked to handle all of these new threats and may need to re-tool it's mission.

The unprecedented number of death threats against President Obama, a rise in racist hate groups, and a new wave of antigovernment fervor threaten to overwhelm the US Secret Service, according to government officials and reports, raising new questions about the 144-year-old agency’s overall mission.

Remember the Brooklyn Park incident from a while back? Check this out.

Two days before Obama’s appearance at San Francisco fund-raisers on Thursday, a 59-year-old Northern California man was indicted on charges of sending a racist, profanity-filled e-mail threatening to kill Obama and his family. The rambling e-mail included specific references to Michelle Obama and the phrase, “do it to his children and family first in front of him,’’ according to the indictment.

Yeah, BP was an "isolated" incident.

Oh, and it was nice to this "highly disputed" report again.

The Southern Poverty Law Center says that antigovernment militias and white supremacist groups have strengthened in recent years, responding to an increasingly diverse population and what they see as an expanding government.

A center study released in August found a nearly 35 percent growth in racially based domestic hate groups since 2000 - from 602 to 926. The center concluded that opposition to Obama’s election has only increased the phenomenon.

“A key difference this time is that the federal government - the entity that almost the entire radical right views as its primary enemy - is headed by a black man,’’ the report said. “One result has been a remarkable rash of domestic terror incidents since the presidential campaign, most of them related to anger over the election of Barack Obama.’’

They're just a bunch of leftists down there at the SPLC so I wouldn't pay them no never mind.

And it's a good thing that we have Rush, Glenn Beck, and a zillion other pundits encouraging so much love and affection for the president. I'm sure that their listeners can tell that they are only entertainers.

Bono and National Security Advisor James Jones?

A reader sent me this link from the New York Times.

The general and I also found ourselves talking about what can happen when the three extremes — poverty, ideology and climate — come together. We found ourselves discussing the stretch of land that runs across the continent of Africa, just along the creeping sands of the Sahara — an area that includes Sudan and northern Nigeria. He also agreed that many people didn’t see that the Horn of Africa — the troubled region that encompasses Somalia and Ethiopia — is a classic case of the three extremes becoming an unholy trinity (I’m paraphrasing) and threatening peace and stability around the world.

The military man also offered me an equation. Stability = security + development. In an asymmetrical war, he said, the emphasis had to be on making American foreign policy conform to that formula.

Meanwhile in ass hat land...

Obama is giving the American immune system AIDS.

...but if you support this weakening of our defenses and the politicians that call for them, then you become responsible for the consequences of the next attack

Huh. Now which side is it that is divisive and hyper paranoid?

Sitting in Wonder

From AP.

The Pentagon's personnel chief said Tuesday the military has completed its best recruiting year since 1973, meeting all its goals and bringing in a better educated group of young people.

The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps met goals for active duty and reserve recruiting during the budget year ended Sept. 30 — the first time that has happened since the all-volunteer force was established, said Defense Department head of personnel Bill Carr.

Hmmph. Now I wonder why that is? Could it be anything at all to do with having a president who actually takes his time in deciding whether or not to send troops into harm's way? One that cares about the troops and their families?

One that respects them and their sacrifice?

A Better Day

Rather than celebrate a complete fucking lie (Columbus Day), why not honor the memory of Matthew Shepard who was brutally murdered 11 years ago today? You can start by thanking the Lord we have a president who said this last Saturday.

We should not be punishing patriotic Americans who have stepped forward to serve the country. We should be celebrating their willingness to step forward and show such courage ... especially when we are fighting two wars. I will end don't ask-don't tell.

Say goodbye to the Defense of Marriage Act soon as well.

Buh-bye.

The Blessed Glow of Complete Vindication

Something has happened that we agree with the Taliban and Iran...he doesn't deserve the award.

-Boss Limbaugh, on the Nobel Peace Prize award given to President Obama.

Now, who was it that said that our fundamentalists and their fundamentalists are pretty much the fucking same?

Republicans support...rape?

I just received this letter in my email box from Senator Al Franken.

Dear Mark,

I'm really excited to send you this message! Now, I know what you're thinking. Normally when I say that, I inevitably follow with something like, 'Please click here to donate today,' but not this time.

Today, I actually mean it.

It's not that we don't genuinely need the help of our phenomenal grassroots donors, we do. But after spending two years talking about what I planned to do if elected, it's an incredible feeling to finally get you up to speed on what we've gotten done.

Last Thursday, I offered an amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriations Bill that would stop funding defense contractors who deny victims of sexual assault their day in court. My efforts were inspired by Jamie Leigh Jones, whose story is a chilling call-to-action, and whose actions to right this wrong a stunning profile in courage.

When Jamie was 19, she was working for then Halliburton subsidiary KBR in Iraq, where she was placed in a barracks with 400 men. She complained about sexual harassment, but KBR took no action and she was eventually drugged and gang-raped by co-workers. When she tried to report what had happened, KBR locked her in a shipping container under armed guard. One of her guards smuggled her a cell phone, which she used to call her dad. Her dad and her Congressman got her back to the States.

Once Jamie was back with her family, she discovered that the fine print in her contract with KBR prevented her from taking her case to court. Since then, she's been telling and retelling her story around the country, fighting on behalf of victims of sexual violence.

Yesterday, by a vote of 68-30, the United States Senate adopted the Jamie Leigh Jones Amendment, ensuring that employers cannot unfairly force victims of sexual assault into arbitration. While Jamie's fight is not over, from now on victims will have a better shot at seeking something that far too often eludes them: justice.

I was honored and humbled to play a small role in seeing this amendment passed, and am so pleased to let you all know today that while Minnesota, and the country, face serious challenges, we're making some progress on standing up for those who have previously been without a voice in Washington.

Thanks so much for your support, I'll be sending more updates soon.

All the best,

Al

The first thing that struck me right off the bat was...who in the fuck were the 30 assholes who voted against this amendment? Let's find out, shall we? Here is the list.

NAYs ---30
Alexander (R-TN) Barrasso (R-WY) Bond (R-MO) Brownback (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Burr (R-NC) Chambliss (R-GA) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Corker (R-TN)	Cornyn (R-TX) Crapo (R-ID) DeMint (R-SC) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Graham (R-SC) Gregg (R-NH) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Johanns (R-NE)	Kyl (R-AZ) McCain (R-AZ) McConnell (R-KY) Risch (R-ID) Roberts (R-KS) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Thune (R-SD) Vitter (R-LA) Wicker (R-MS)

What a fucking shock...a bunch of white, male, rednecks all of whom are up their eyeballs in giving rim jobs to corporations like KBR and Haliburton.

I've heard a lot of shit from the right about how more government takes away people's rights. What about the rights of Jamie Leigh Jones? Here is a prime example of how a private company is doing EXACTLY what the right fears will happen if the government sets more regulation.

I also took a lot of shit from a poster (LabRat) on TSM about slavery. She screamed and howled at me for days about how I was a/n (insert various derogatory terms here) by saying that corporations enslave people and our country isn't as free as we might think. Well, Lab, here's an example of what the fuck I am talking about. They locked her in a container for 24 hours! Tell me exactly how this is "freedom."

People that support ANY of these men above ought to be ashamed of themselves. Look at one of the names above. He was your party's nominee for cripes' sake! Are you that ball cupping in love with THE CORPORATION that you don't know right from wrong anymore?

Apparently so.

Capitalism: A Conservative Review.

Last in Line and I saw the new Michael Moore film last Saturday night. As with Moore's last film, Sicko, I thought a review was called for from the right side of the aisle and from the same astute scribe. Take it away, Last!

Last in line for Michael Moore's new movie. Keep in mind I’m no writer so random thoughts will be randomly thrown in among the paragraphs and I can’t talk about every subject covered in the movie because that would make this review too long.

One could easily make the observation that MM is irrelevant. GWB won by a wider margin in 2004 than he did in 2000, and that was 2 months after Fahrenheit 9/11 was released. The town hall meetings have had a much stronger impact on the health care debate in this nation than Sicko did and this new movie won't matter much either. The themes in this movie, while important, seemed dated to me…Sicko might have been more appropriate now (while Congress is debating the health-care bill).

One can’t help but notice the common schticks in Moores movies - one-sided stories, ironic stock footage, ominous music, exploitative interviews, awkward confrontations, personal testimonials, absurd/scary facts and figures, use of vintage documentary footage, and pranks that cheapen the message. The movie weaves a familiar Michael Moore story of David versus Goliath (and we all know that nobody ever roots for Goliath). To me, he paints America’s sins with too broad a brush. Pointing a relentless finger at “capitalism”, Moore sounds a little too much like anyone Markadelphia criticizes for getting a little too hot under the collar about “socialism”. In both cases, they’re not making an argument - they’re demonizing a word.

The opening credits roll over security-camera footage of bank robberies in progress. Moore associates the taking of property at gunpoint with free markets, not with taxation.

Next thing we learn is that America is Rome, too distracted by Nascar and Mixed Martial Arts to care that we’re being exploited by wall street. The people who are losing their homes because of the collapse of home prices didn’t do anything to deserve it - if they treated their houses like ATMs or didn’t understand that the A in ARM stands for Adjustable, it’s because greedy Wall Street CEOs and their minions tricked them into doing it. There were several personal testimonials showed here and I’m sorry but I need to know the context of the situation behind why these folks are losing their homes. As usual, Moore only tells part of the story. He doesn’t criticize the home owners who displayed their own greed in taking out unaffordable mortgages and tapping their home-equity every year to buy cars and flat-screen televisions. Sure he showed Countrywide ads about refinancing your home but nobody forces anybody to use their homes as an ATM every year.

Moore clings to a romanticized version of the American past where unions and 90% tax rates on millionaires made America totally awesome.

He interviews a guy from a company called Condo Vultures. This is the same stuff he pulled in Sicko – the Condo Vulture guy in this movie represents capitalism the same way the folks living off of skid row in Sicko represent the American health care system. When Moore goes over to Europe in Sicko, he only profiles white, upper middle class folks. Funny how that works, isn’t it? He also profiles a for-profit juvenile-detention center in Pennsylvania whose operators bribed two judges to give kids longer sentences, thus increasing revenues to the facility. This is a crime and aren’t the men involved are facing long prison sentences? It might come as a shock to some but political corruption predates capitalism and exists in every country on earth. While presenting both these stories, Moore is tackling the wrong subject. This isn't about Capitalism - this is about the lack of ethics and morals by some people who operate within the confines of a capitalistic system. That there are predators that will take advantage and exploit a situation for their own gain is not limited to capitalism. We all know that there are very bad excesses in capitalism - there always has been and there always will be. Capitalism will always be flawed by the prejudices inherent in all humans. Nobody I know who is pro-business thinks people should get away with breaking the law. Speaking for myself, I am pro-free markets. Health care could serve as a great example of what happens when free market forces are taken totally out of the equation. There is no way that nine-out-of-ten people in this country can afford an average hospital stay. This country decided that somebody else has to pay their hospital bills…insurance companies, medicare, medicaid, whoever. In an ideal world, the price in medical services would have to adjust to what people can afford, just as many other things in our economy do (in an ideal world).

Moore spends a lot of time profiling the Republic Window and Door workers in Chicago who refused to leave their factory. Completely left out of the movie was the fact that government (Daley, Blago, and Stroger Jr) had a strong role in Republic going out of business when Cook County raised its sales tax to 10.25%. Many people wrote in to local papers like the Daily Herald and stated that they started saving thousands of dollars on large purchases by doing their shopping outside of Cook County and purchasing windows and doors is a very large purchase. By the time the sit-in began, Cook County had posted a 13% drop in monthly revenue. Moore didn't touch the subject of how raising taxes, any taxes, hurts individuals with purchasing power, businesses being able to stay in their locations and make a profit, and a steady stream (not falling) of revenue for local governments. No company exists to provide jobs. A company exists to produce profit for the owners. Too many people function from a mindset that says the company had a primary responsibility to it's workers. The business owners didn't get together one day and say, "Let's create jobs for workers". They got together and said, "Let's create a business to produce profit for ourselves. In the process, we'll need to hire some people” and that’s why lots of people exchange the term "fair" for "my self-interest".

One particularly chilling sequence explores how woefully underpaid, overworked and therefore unreliable our nation's commercial airline pilots are. If you're currently afraid of flying this portion of the film won't do you any favors.

Moore talks about companies taking out life insurance policies on employees and cashing in on them when employees die. They are called Dead Peasant policies. If you feel they are just wrong, congress and the president can demand legislation banning them.

Moore admits that he once considered entering the priesthood because he admired the church’s commitment to helping the poor. Moore interviews several priests and bishops, some of whom share his view that capitalism is evil and none of whom think capitalism is good for poor people. At no time does anyone mention that some of the most impoverished places in the world do not have capitalist systems in place. It does make one think that maybe we should adopt a more "Christian" ethic of helping those less fortunate but then when you realize that the Christian Ethic isn’t an a la carte menu (allowing us to pick one item and not the others), you’ll then realize what a constitutional travesty that would be.

He spends a lot of time talking about unions and General Motors. I found it odd that he didn’t mention the bailout of the auto industry as he sure talked a lot about the bailout of the financial firms a lot. The union dream and the dream of a strong GM are over, and the reasons Moore cites are only part of the story. In 2008, GM and Toyota actually sold about the same number of vehicles. Toyota turned a $1.7 billion profit while GM lost around $9 billion. That doesn’t happen by accident. Until these automakers and their unions resolve the structural problems that creates this kind of unprofitability, the dream will remain just that – a dream. GM is basically a retirement home/health care facility with a auto plant as a side project. GM has a policy of 30 years there and you can retire and they seemed surprised when lots of people retired at 48 and drew on the pension and free health care for another 30 years.

Bernie Sanders makes a quip that Nurses salaries are too low. Nurses are very well paid at this point in time.

The commercial for the city of Cleveland was absolutely hilarious.

MM claimed that nobody saw the collapse coming. That’s wrong, Peter Schiff saw it –http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I0QN-FYkpw

The film communicates that blood is on both Republican and Democratic hands when it comes to our nation's economic collapse. Chris Dodd and Tim Geithner come off almost as badly as Hank Paulson.

This concept of positive/negative rights colors Moore’s stories of foreclosures in Miami. The families facing eviction aren’t borrowers who failed to live up to their end of a contract. They are shown as Americans whose right to own a home is being violated (there is no such right but that doesn’t stop the folks in the community from harassing the process server who isn’t even an employee of the bank).

One problem with capitalism today could be globalism. We all compete but we don’t all play by the same rules. The transition to a global economy will be painful. Politicians are not going to tell you what you do not want to hear: that the days of getting paid $30/hr turning a bolt on an assembly line are over. Neither political party or labor union can stop that.

At the end of the film, Moore gives us what he thinks is the ultimate illustration of the failure of capitalism: shots of people on the rooftops in the flooded Ninth Ward of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit. The flooding occurred due to levee failure as well as poor maintenance of the flood walls surrounding the city. Spending many mornings of my youth hunting on farms along the Mississippi River in Illinois, I can tell you who is in charge of levees – the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (a government agency) but hey – if you refuse to know the facts, refuse to get alternative viewpoints and buy into everything Moore says then capitalism must be at fault.

In conclusion, I consider the crash of the mortgage backed securities market as perfect operation of the free market and this recession we find ourselves in is not a failure of market economics. It is a reassertion of market economics after a decade in which we paid ourselves more than we were producing, and funded it all with complicated credit instruments. Moore is throwing stones in a glass house he often frequents. Just look at how far Moore, a one-time assembly-line worker turned journalist turned documentary film maker, has come. His journey alone exemplifies the social mobility made possible by the very economic system he rails against. Economic downturns and upswings are as natural as the tides. Human history proves this. The causes can be heaped on “greed” or “capitalism,” but unless Moore thinks that human nature will suddenly transform and we’ll all behave as saints now that the “right people” have now been elected, he’s being just a little bit cynical.

The system could definitely use some improvement but it does not need replacement.