shempmcgurk wrote:
> --- In [email protected], Bhairitu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>> We have "Viper" squads in the Bay Area at BART:
>> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19588150/
>>
>> Probably not here so much as to protect us against "terrorists" (in
>>
> the
>
>> Bay Area that could easily be right-wing hot headed Texans) but to
>>
> ramp
>
>> up the terrornoia and keep the populace in their schizoid state.
>>
> The
>
>> spokesman for the Viper squad on the local news last night looked
>>
> more
>
>> like someone they would be interested in than running the show.
>>
>> I began celebrating the 4th early by seeing "Sicko" at the local
>>
> art
>
>> house in one of the country's remaining dome theaters. Great film
>>
> and
>
>> there is a slight theme (which no one has mentioned) change at
>>
> about 1
>
>> hour and 15 minutes to pick up on. That's why I'm seeing support
>>
> for
>
>> Michael Moore from areas you wouldn't have expected. At that
>>
> point he
>
>> begins to look at the bigger picture. Much of what Barry has been
>> saying about the French health care system is validated and even
>>
> more.
>
>> You wind up feeling that we're really getting screwed in the US and
>> things really need to change. But gee we wouldn't want Shemp to
>>
> miss
>
>> out on a buck or two on his way to becoming a billionaire would we?
>>
>
>
>
> ....seeing as I'm one of the very few on this forum who grew up under
> a socialized health care system (and now living under a semi-
> socialized system here in the States) I'm probably in a better
> position than most to comment upon it.
>
> But all I will say is this: the solution to the health-care crisis is
> NOT more government interference in the field, but less. We do NOT
> have a free-market in health care in this country. It is a regulated
> monopoly controlled by the American Medical Association, as dictated
> by federal law. Let's have a real, true free market in health care
> in which the AMA does NOT control admissions to medical school (and
> thus control the supply of doctors) and in which alternative
> medicines are on par with western medicine.
>
The AMA is not a government agency. They lobby government a lot
though. So do the HMOs, health insurance companies and the
pharmaceutical companies. CMA is also a pain in the butt in California
as they don't like preventative and alternative medicine so they are
anti things like Ayurveda. The profit motive IS at the root of a lot
of these problems. We need a medical system where doctors get rewarded
for keeping patients healthy rather than when they get sick.
>> BTW, Bill Gates is now the second wealthiest person in the world
>>
> being
>
>> replaced by Mr. Slim the Mexican telecom tycoon.
>>
>
>
>
>
> Two observations on this:
>
> 1) The person most happy about Mr. Slim surpassing Mr. Gates as the
> richest man is the world is...Bill Gates! When Gates appeared on
> MSNBC's "The Big Idea" host Danny Deutsch asked Gates about his
> designation as the world's richest and without hesitation Gates
> responded that there was absolutely no good has ever come out of it
> for him, only bother. So I assume handing over the mantle to someone
> else is a matter of relief for him!
>
I've always observed that Gates seemed to be quite detached from his
wealth situation. With wealth comes responsibility and a lot of people
don't think it is worth it.
> 2) Aside from the fact that you gotta LOVE anyone with the
> name "Slim", I remember an item in the news a few months ago in which
> Mr. Slim was asked what he thought about Gates' and Buffet's
> incredible philanthropy (Gates has given about $20 billion of his
> fortune to charity and Buffet about $40 billion). Slim's response?
> He wasn't too impressed. He said something to the effect that if
> Gates and Buffet really wanted to help the world and the poor that
> they shouldn't give their money to charity but invest it all in other
> business ventures and become even richer.
>
> This is a man after my own heart! Slim does justice to the monologue
> of the character Arthur Jensen played by Ned Beatty in the
> movie "Network" in which he says:
>
> "It is the international system of currency which determines the
> vitality of life on this planet. THAT is the natural order of things
> today. THAT is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of
> things today. And YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature.
> And YOU WILL ATONE. Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale? You get
> up on your little 21-inch screen and howl about America, and
> democracy. There is no America; there is no democracy. There is only
> IBM, and ITT, and AT&T, and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon.
> Those are the nations of the world today."
>
> "You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I
> won't have it. Is that clear? You think you've merely stopped a
> business deal? That is not the case. The Arabs have taken billions of
> dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back. It is ebb
> and flow, tidal gravity. It is ecological balance. You are an old man
> who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations;
> there are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs.
> There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one
> holistic system of systems; one vast, interwoven, interacting,
> multivaried, multinational dominion of dollars."
>
> "The world is a business, Mr. Beale; it has been since man crawled
> out of the slime. Our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that
> perfect world in which there's no war or famine, oppression or
> brutality - one vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men
> will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a
> share of stock - all necessities provided, all anxieties
> tranquilized, all boredom amused. And I have chosen you, Mr. Beale,
> to preach this evangel."
>
Of course the point of the movie, which you missed, was how corrupt this
way of thinking is. Last I looked this was a list of people interested
in spirituality not materiality. If anything this points out why the
Vaishya caste should not rule.
