Sicko. The war has begun. Pharma 1 - Sicko 0

[Guest Civs]

A comedy about 45 million people with no health care in the richest country on earth.

Funny movie. I liked the part when he discusses how Al-qaeda detainees in Guantanamo get better and free healthcare. He then takes a boat from Miami to Guantanamo with 9/11 volunteers who have incurred health problems due to their exposure to ground zero. He figures since these are heroes they should deserve the same if not better healthcre treatment. Suprisingly, they are denied and then head to Cuba where they end up getting proper treatment for free which they could not obtain in the US. Castro must be loving this publicity.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie. As always Mr Moore goes a little far with his points, but some times he does make some decent points.

[Guest endymion]

It has already leaked to BitTorrent. Stealing it would be a crime, but then so is visiting Cuba without permission from the US State Department.

[Guest slamminshaun]

Interesting...

http://www.breitbart.tv/html/1762.html

[Guest slamminshaun]

Well, at least the Cuban government gave the movie "two thumbs up". They said it highlights "the human values" of their government.

click here

[Guest coach]

Interesting...

http://www.breitbart.tv/html/1762.html

Whoa! Excellent commentary. I really like his analogy of loaning a DVD to a friend. I'm honestly kind of surprised that isn't illegal, too.

[Guest coach]

It has already leaked to BitTorrent. Stealing it would be a crime, but then so is visiting Cuba without permission from the US State Department.

I can't imagine why they wouldn't give him permission.

[Guest clubchicky]

maaaaaan I can't wait to see this movie!!! I am really curious to hear about this health care business I have heard mixed things...that even though Europe and other countries have free health care taxes are higher? Is that true? Does anyone think that universal health care is not as good as a health care that we pay for here?

I am extremely interested because being a bartender and some other service industry jobs have no health care plan...so if something happens to me, or if I get sick I am screwed....I hate it...until I graduate and get a good job I am not covered! Does anyone know if certain colleges offer any health plans for students???

[Guest coach]

Taxes in those countries are higher for a variety of reasons, one is to support state-run health care. However, overall they pay a lot less per person for their health care. Since basic preventative services are free, a lot more people get them, which results in a lot fewer unnecessary trips to the emergency room, amongst other things, and saves everyone a *lot* of money. Health care in America is cheap, but only if you *never* use it, and even the healthiest person uses it eventually.

[Guest endymion]

I can't imagine why they wouldn't give him permission.

His trip didn't meet the qualifications for a visa so he didn't get one. He didn't even wait to get denied, he applied, didn't hear a response, went anyway. He didn't violate the law in order to protest an unjust law, so I'm having trouble sympathizing. He willfully broke the law and he should pay for it.

I got stuck, exactly one year ago, with an unexpected medical bill for something like $7500. I'm self-insured, and negotiating that bill and paying it off was my full-time job for weeks. Our health care system is extremely broken and unfair here in the US. I first heard way back then about Sicko and I was really excited to see it, but the whole breaking-the-law thing seems to taint the movie. Michael Moore loses credibility by pulling stunts like that.

[Guest Civs]

maaaaaan I can't wait to see this movie!!! I am really curious to hear about this health care business I have heard mixed things...that even though Europe and other countries have free health care taxes are higher? Is that true? Does anyone think that universal health care is not as good as a health care that we pay for here?

I am extremely interested because being a bartender and some other service industry jobs have no health care plan...so if something happens to me, or if I get sick I am screwed....I hate it...until I graduate and get a good job I am not covered! Does anyone know if certain colleges offer any health plans for students???

actually if i'm not mistaken FSU now requires for all their students to have healthcare insurance. for those that don't, they will be offering one for about $1,500+ a year and it can be paid with financial aid. other colleges in FL are starting to move in this direction. sorry i don't have a link, but i know i read it on the herald not too long ago.

[Guest slamminshaun]

Sounds like some of you are almost as excited about this movie as Castro and his communist buddies are. I've never seen the Cuban government so happy about an American movie!

click here

[Guest endymion]

Official trailer for Sicko!

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The film itself also leaked to YouTube but it was only online briefly.

In a July 2004 interview with the Scottish newspaper Sunday Herald, Moore said, "I don't agree with the copyright laws and I don't have a problem with people downloading the movie and sharing it with people as long as they're not trying to make a profit off my labor. I would oppose that ... I do well enough already, and I made this film because I want the world to change. The more people who see it the better, so I'm happy this is happening."

If he's such a big fan of communism then that makes sense.

[Guest coach]

I've never seen the Cuban government so happy about an American movie!

Pretty pathetic' date=' eh? Maybe if our system didn't suck so hard, they wouldn't have so much to gloat about. But, we all know that money is better spent on killing people than healing people.

[Guest Marina22]

I can't imagine why they wouldn't give him permission.

His trip didn't meet the qualifications for a visa so he didn't get one. He didn't even wait to get denied, he applied, didn't hear a response, went anyway. He didn't violate the law in order to protest an unjust law, so I'm having trouble sympathizing. He willfully broke the law and he should pay for it.

I got stuck, exactly one year ago, with an unexpected medical bill for something like $7500. I'm self-insured, and negotiating that bill and paying it off was my full-time job for weeks. Our health care system is extremely broken and unfair here in the US. I first heard way back then about Sicko and I was really excited to see it, but the whole breaking-the-law thing seems to taint the movie. Michael Moore loses credibility by pulling stunts like that.

Who cares if he broke the freakin' law? I am down with it because he was traveling there just to make a point in his documentary. Then again, I guess that's a sore subject for you.. :

[Guest endymion]

I'm not Cuban. And I'm against the embargo. But you can't just go around breaking the law when you feel like it because you're important enough. The movie was not made in protest of the Cuban embargo, it was made about US health care.

I grew up here and I think it's stupid that my 'free' country tells me that 200 miles South of here is a Prohibited Zone. There are a lot of reefs and bays and ocean down there that I want to see in person after staring at it in Google Earth.

If I can't go then Paris Hilton can't go. George Bush's daughters can't go. Michael Moore can't go. If they get to go then I want to go too.

Oh and I want to bring email to the people there when I go. Especially if somebody doesn't want me to.

[Guest slamminshaun]

I grew up here and I think it's stupid that my 'free' country tells me that 200 miles South of here is a Prohibited Zone.

Last time I checked, Castro never paid us for all the real property, financial assets, and businesses he confiscated when he assumed power. I love how people overlook that small little thing... he owes us almost a TRILLION DOLLARS!!!!!

Has Castro ever offered to write us a check for $1 Trillion?? We should just sweep it under the carpet and pretend it never happened? Why should we let Castro financially benefit more than he already has off the United States?

[Guest endymion]

Last time I checked' date=' Castro never paid us for all the real property, financial assets, and businesses he confiscated when he assumed power. I love how people overlook that small little thing... he owes us almost a TRILLION DOLLARS!!!!!

[/quote']

We just confiscated an entire country and all of its oil fields. You look like a real hypocrite for saying that the US is allowed to confiscate a country by military force but nobody else is. "Revolution", "coup" and "regime change" are synonyms. I might support the embargo if it looked like it were working, but obviously it isn't working. I do support increased technological efforts to counter information oppression in Cuba. At this point, blogs and Wikipedia have a better chance of changing Cuba than starving people.

Regardless of my opinion on the embargo, it's the law. Celebrities should not be able to go around breaking any law that's inconvenient for them. It threatens the "American way of life", because we're all supposed to be equal under the law in the United States.

If Michael Moore made a movie about how the US embargo on Cuba isn't working, and he violated the embargo in protest in order to make the movie, then great. Disobeying an unjust law is one thing, but disobeying an inconvenient law in order to pursue your unrelated goals is just.... a criminal act. Simple as that. If I were to visit Cuba, I would be arrested. If Angelina Jolie were to visit Cuba, she would not be arrested. That creates inequality within our own 'egalitarian' democracy.

[Guest mr.miami]

If michael moore really cared about health care so much he wouldnt weigh 300 pounds.

[Guest Marina22]

I'm not Cuban. And I'm against the embargo. But you can't just go around breaking the law when you feel like it because you're important enough. The movie was not made in protest of the Cuban embargo, it was made about US health care.

I grew up here and I think it's stupid that my 'free' country tells me that 200 miles South of here is a Prohibited Zone. There are a lot of reefs and bays and ocean down there that I want to see in person after staring at it in Google Earth.

If I can't go then Paris Hilton can't go. George Bush's daughters can't go. Michael Moore can't go. If they get to go then I want to go too.

Oh and I want to bring email to the people there when I go. Especially if somebody doesn't want me to.

Yeah, I heard years ago from a Colombian friend that Cuba was beautiful. Unfortunately, life's not fair and Micheal Moore tried to go there legally and when they ignored and/or shunned him he went anyway.. Of course celebrities get treated different than other people look at the times we are living. What you should be happy about is that people like him make films like these to uncover more inadequacies in our government. I don't agree with what's going on in alot of places in the world but that's just how it is.

[Guest endymion]

If our society stratifies further and further into a privileged elite, versus a bunch of 'ordinary' people like you and I, then why is this country any better than Cuba?

Like Shaun, I worry a little about Americans who are so eager to disparage the United States government that they're willing to celebrate the Cuban government.

[Guest Marina22]

If our society stratifies further and further into a privileged elite, versus a bunch of 'ordinary' people like you and I, then why is this country any better than Cuba?

Like Shaun, I worry a little about Americans who are so eager to disparage the United States government that they're willing to celebrate the Cuban government.

You are assuming that I think this government is better than Cuba's. I am an American citizen even though not by birth and therefore, I don't feel completely American and gung-ho about the government. The reason why is because I find alot of similarities and corruptions in the Amercian government as in other less savory governments like Cuba.. We are supposed to be better but we are not.

[Guest endymion]

You are assuming that I think this government is better than Cuba's.

For the moment I still do, simply because of the fact that I have access to this web site. And I can say "FUCK GEORGE W BUSH!" here without getting thrown in jail. But if Paris Hilton gets to go to Cuba and I can't because I'm not famous, then I'm going to start to lose faith.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Michael Moore was not protesting the Cuban embargo. Michael Moore was disparaging US health care, and US Cuba policy was inconvenient for him. He decided to break the law, which makes him a criminal, not a protester.

[Guest pod]

Exactly. Fattie could have waited to get approval to go to Cuba, and his little pet project here could have made the same amount of money in the box office, since realistically, it doesn't matter what time it was released. Healthcare is fucked, yeah, but it has been and will be, so 2 or 3 extra months wouldn't have killed him (maybe it might have from his bacon intake) to wait to get approval, and film in Cuba. I had a prof in college who waited for months to get approval just to do a project on the Afro-Cuban population down there. Hell, it was for research purposes through a major private university.

More hypocrisy from the limousine liberal set that a lot of you seem to uphold...Moore, Johnny Depp, etc. It's easy for them to speak about social justice and equality when they don't have to worry about paying the rent, the mortgage, or finding a gig to pay off a stupid license suspension in a hurry.

Save the dreadlocked sea-squirrels, don't eat meet, feel bad for the poor wittle cows in the field. Sure, it's convenient for them to preach this, but they can afford to do so. They claim to be about freedom, but in reality, they value this overbearing nanny state, and their idea of freedom only applies when it falls in line with their beliefs.

To quote a certain movie if the beliefs of the limousine liberal/caviar socialist set goes down:

"I like to think; I like to read. I'm into freedom of speech and freedom of choice. I'm the kind of guy likes to sit in a greasy spoon and wonder - "Gee, should I have the T-bone steak or the jumbo rack of barbecued ribs with the side order of gravy fries?" I WANT high cholesterol. I wanna eat bacon and butter and buckets of cheese, okay? I want to smoke a Cuban cigar the size of Cincinnati in the non-smoking section. I want to run through the streets naked with green jello all over my body reading playboy magazine. Why? Because I suddenly might feel the need to, okay, pal? I've seen the future. Do you know what it is? It's a 47-year-old virgin sitting around in his beige pajamas, drinking a banana-broccoli shake, singing "I'm an Oscar Meyer Wiener".

Michael Moore needs to be hunted for sport.

[Guest coach]

What's your point? That they should quit trying to do anything to improve society just because they are rich?

[Guest endymion]

What's your point? That they should quit trying to do anything to improve society just because they are rich?

Well, you don't "improve society" by flaunting its laws whenever they're inconvenient. Paris Hilton really needed that midnight hamburger even though she was pretty buzzed, and she was important enough that she didn't think the rules applied to her. Anybody claiming to be out to 'improve society' needs to adhere to a higher standard than her.

Michael Moore is a massive hypocrite (pun intended) for putting out a movie slamming on American health care when he's a big pile of flab. He's been giving these interviews where he claims that he's practicing what he's preaching and that he's losing weight and getting into shape, but look at the photo on this article, he doesn't look any thinner to me.

NYmag: Did Sicko change your own health?

Moore: At some point I felt that was being somewhat disingenuous when I wasn’t taking care of my own health.

NYmag: Did you lose weight for this film so that critics wouldn’t call you a hypocrite?

Moore: Not at all. [Losing weight] actually works against me. I spend so much time feeling in the minority of things that the one thing where I’ve been consistently in the majority is that two thirds of the American public is overweight. See, as I’ve gained weight over the years, I’ve become more popular. You can really track the box office going up as I put on the pounds: Roger & Me, $7 million. Bowling for Columbine, $21 million. Fahrenheit, $120 million.

NYmag: How did you take them off?

Moore: Actually, Roger Ebert told me about this book called the Pritikin diet. In three months, I lost 30 pounds.