February 14, 2005
-
MONDAY BOOK
Sicko
OK, it’s not a book, it’s the name of Michael Moore’s next film that takes on the pharmaceutical industry, but I READ about it in my newest issue of Vanity Fair in an article called “Moore’s War.” This is great news and I can hardly wait to see how it all plays out. Already six drug manufacturers have issued alerts, including Pfizer which ran a story in its online newspaper saying, “if you see a scruffy guy in a baseball cap, you’ll know who it is.” Other Moore alerts have been from: GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and Wyeth. With undoubtedly more to come. He plans to discuss members of Congress who are on committees that oversee Medicare, health company mergers and regulatory actions, as well as insurance companies, HMOs, and the Food and Drug Administration. The film is expected out by early 2006. With the competition from Canadian drugs that are much less expensive and the disastrous side effects incidents that have caused various drugs to be taken off the market lately, it’s not a comfy time for the very powerful industry that makes a drug for every single one of those little spots in your head on that graphic I posted and every little spot in your body too. I work in a medical clinic and there isn’t a week that some sales rep doesn’t spring a free lunch for some section of our staff or drop off free calendars or, of course, drugs, or pay for out-of-town speakers to come talk to our residents, etc. etc. Meanwhile I just thank Whoever the Great One is that the only prescription I have to buy each month is for a thyroid gland that gave up years ago, and it’s relatively cheap. For those of us who depend for our lives and health on much more than that, you’d better root for Moore to get the dope he needs on these crooks.
Deep Thought: “One of the worst things you can do as an actor, I think, is to forget your lines, and then get so flustered you start stabbing the other actors.”
Today I am grateful for: Squirrels
Guess the Movie: “This is a good one. We don’t go out when it rains, this is a real good one. I hope you appreciate this because my business is going down the fucking toilet. I should be in L.A., instead I’m in the Honeymoon Haven motel in Bumblefuck, Missouri because you won’t go out when it rains. Mystifying. Fucking mystifying.” Answer: Rain Man, 1988.
Winner: thenarrator.
Sick and Broke
by Elizabeth Warren
Nobody’s safe. That’s the warning from the first large-scale study of medical bankruptcy.
Health insurance? That didn’t protect one million Americans who were financially ruined by illness or medical bills last year.
A comfortable middle-class lifestyle? Good education? Decent job? No safeguards there. Most of the medically bankrupt were middle-class homeowners who had been to college and had responsible jobs — until illness struck. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 8:37 pm
+ = Discovered Condaleezza Rice has a 2nd cousin named Constance Rice who is an activist on the Left.
- = Fighting off Serious Winter Gloom.
Comments (19)
Moore always selects subjects where there is so much material to beat down on…it will be ugly…
I have an idea for a thriller (novel) that involves the pharmaceutical industry. Doggone it! Looks like he beat me to it. Hopefully his angle will be different. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Hooray for Michael Moore.
Hopefully (hah!) this will raise awareness and upset enough questions and apple and lemon carts that a rearrangement (hah!) will follow? Thank you for writing about the things you write, they are generally topics that make me wonder why people with BIG voices aren’t speaking out loud and clear. Perhaps need we a plethora of small voices united? But then, I thought Moore’s election piece would have had more of an effect than it did. (oh yes, I know you slit your grandmother’s throat, but you cleaned up after yourself beautifully and didn’t leave any big, obvious, glaring mess–so we’ll let it be. Oh, and keep on saying you’d never do such a thing and if you repeat it enough, everyone will know it is the absolute and honest, never tell a lie truth!)
This is not a tone of voice I generally employ, but. . . . Would you call it sarcasm? Maybe it is sarcastic honesty?
Yes, we need a plethora of small voices united!
I have a really difficult time with huge pharmaceutical companies being allowed to advertise their product on prime time TV so the office fills with self-mis-diagnosing patients. You think the list of adverse affects and contraindications would turn people off but when you are truly sick or truly frightened it just won’t. Got to love Moore though.
If drug companies cut their ad campaigns and marketing was limited to emailed fact sheets we’d probably cut US prescription spending in half while cutting specific drug costs 25%. And we’d be healthier. My favorite these days? Not even all the erection drugs aimed at overweight Republicans, but the “Adult ADHD” ads that completely misrepresent the problem, in hopes of hooking a whole nother generation on synthetic cocaine.
Take ‘em on Michael!
Rain Man?
Rain Man indeed!
And boy do I agree with you about the ADHD drugs, especially for kids. To me attention deficit disorder looks a lot like a kid who isn’t getting enough attention acting out to try to get it. Solution? Drugs instead of love. Grrrrr….
I don’t really agree. I think it is radically different brain formation, but it’s not a disorder, and it rarely needs drugs. Its a difference and if schools and workplaces were better designed it wouldn’t be much of an issue.
I know I should keep my mouth shut in this area. I just hate to see little kids on drugs. And I do believe that lack of enough attention and love causes the kind of hyperactive behavior that is quelled with them. Of course, in today’s world, what family has time and energy enough to do deal with anything on a consistent basis. So much easier to medicate.
Michael Moore. What a paradox. I agree with every position he takes, but despise the way he lies and exaggerates in order to bring others to his point of view. He’s his own biggest enemy. And he does more harm than good.
Good eye, thanks.
Thanks
I hope Michael Moore addresses the Cholesterol Myth in his film. I wonder though why people are put off by him? While I find him somewhat abrasive, I admire his courage to ask what needs to be asked and say what needs to be said!
Cholesterol Myth
I too am surprised by the depth of dislike I see in some for Michael Moore. In a nation in which no one but him consistently discusses the economic consequences of American corporate captalism and its political stooges, I find his “emotional stuntwork” brilliantly effective. Lies and exaggerations? Compared to what? At least everything in a Moore film is “actually” true (if perhaps contextually twisted for impact), that’s far better than what we hear from our President or our congressional leaders.
Someone needs to be addressing these important issues and I say more power to Mr Moore (no pun intended)
I recently stopped taking a prescription because it was way too expensive and it makes me mad that health care has become such a big business. This only encourages me to change my lifestyle and get back to the country and grow my own food. I am supposedly at high risk for osteoporosis but I doubt that I need a prescription. Oh well.
We need more Michael Moores in the world (and fewer George Bushs) ……….
I enjoy the expose that Micheal Moore puts out…..I am lucky enough to have full health coverage, because even here in Canada the prices of drugs can cripple you…my son’s boyfriend has Crohns and the cost of medication is so high, he can barely afford to live….without the help of parents and such he would be destitute and sick!….being a diebetic I have choked at the cost of medication even though it goes to my health care provider….Our Premier is trying to make our Health Care System more like the States, which has ticked off so many people….I hope that he has to get the permission of the Federal government before he does, but as it is he’s allowed two private clinics to open in our provincial capital….great post…..’til the next
I can’t wait for Moore to finish his next film. The Pharm industry needs a good kick in the butt, I knew a guy who contracted for them and he said that they would fly their execs over seas for board meetings on private jets and they spend more money on perks then the Dot Coms spent back in the good old tech bubble days!
I think the greedy hate Moore because he exposes the truth and the truth isn’t very popular amongst a lot of Americans…