Truism

Computers can never completely replace humans.

They may become capable of artificial intelligence,

but they will never master real stupidity.

Mastectomy Bill is in Congress now

Written by a surgeon.

I'll never forget the look in my patients eyes when I had to tell them
they had to go home with the drains, new exercises and no breast. I
remember begging the doctors to keep these women in the hospital
longer, only to hear that they would, but their hands were tied by the
insurance companies.

So there I sat with my patient giving them the instructions they
needed to take care of themselves, knowing full well they didn't grasp
half of what I was saying, because the glazed, hopeless, frightened
look spoke louder than the quiet 'Thank you' they muttered.

A mastectomy is when a woman's breast is removed in order to remove
cancerous breast cells/tissue. If you know anyone who has had a
mastectomy, you may know that there is a lot of discomfort and pain
afterwards. Insurance companies are trying to make mastectomies an
outpatient procedure. Let's give women the chance to recover properly
in the hospital for 2 days after surgery.

This Mastectomy Bill is in Congress now. It takes 2 seconds to do this
and is very important. Please take the time and do it really quick!
The Breast Cancer Hospitalization Bill is important legislation for
all women.

Please send this to everyone in your address Book. If there was ever a
time when our voices and choices should be heard, this is one of those
times. If you're receiving this, it's because I think you will take
the 30 seconds to go to vote on this issue and send it on to others
you know who will do the same.

There's a bill called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act which
will require insurance companies to cover a minimum 48-hour hospital
stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy. It's about eliminating the
'drive-through mastectomy' where women are forced to go home just a
few hours after surgery, against the wishes of their doctor, still
groggy from anesthesia and sometimes with drainage tubes still
attached.

Lifetime Television has put this bill on their web page with a
petition drive to show your support.. Last year over half the House
signed on. PLEASE! Sign the petition by clicking on the web site
below. You need not give more than your name and zip code number..

http://www.mylifetime.com/community/my-lifetime-commitment/breast-cancer/petition/breast-cancer-petition


This takes about 2 seconds. PLEASE PASS THIS ON to your 20 friends.

Mastectomy Bill is in Congress now

Written by a surgeon.

I'll never forget the look in my patients eyes when I had to tell them
they had to go home with the drains, new exercises and no breast. I
remember begging the doctors to keep these women in the hospital
longer, only to hear that they would, but their hands were tied by the
insurance companies.

So there I sat with my patient giving them the instructions they
needed to take care of themselves, knowing full well they didn't grasp
half of what I was saying, because the glazed, hopeless, frightened
look spoke louder than the quiet 'Thank you' they muttered.

A mastectomy is when a woman's breast is removed in order to remove
cancerous breast cells/tissue. If you know anyone who has had a
mastectomy, you may know that there is a lot of discomfort and pain
afterwards. Insurance companies are trying to make mastectomies an
outpatient procedure. Let's give women the chance to recover properly
in the hospital for 2 days after surgery.

This Mastectomy Bill is in Congress now. It takes 2 seconds to do this
and is very important. Please take the time and do it really quick!
The Breast Cancer Hospitalization Bill is important legislation for
all women.

Please send this to everyone in your address Book. If there was ever a
time when our voices and choices should be heard, this is one of those
times. If you're receiving this, it's because I think you will take
the 30 seconds to go to vote on this issue and send it on to others
you know who will do the same.

There's a bill called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act which
will require insurance companies to cover a minimum 48-hour hospital
stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy. It's about eliminating the
'drive-through mastectomy' where women are forced to go home just a
few hours after surgery, against the wishes of their doctor, still
groggy from anesthesia and sometimes with drainage tubes still
attached.

Lifetime Television has put this bill on their web page with a
petition drive to show your support.. Last year over half the House
signed on. PLEASE! Sign the petition by clicking on the web site
below. You need not give more than your name and zip code number..

http://www.mylifetime.com/community/my-lifetime-commitment/breast-cancer/petition/breast-cancer-petition


This takes about 2 seconds. PLEASE PASS THIS ON to your 20 friends.

How the People in My District Got Stupak to Change His Mind -- and Thus Saved the Health Care Bill ...a letter from Michael Moore

How the People in My District Got Stupak to Change His Mind -- and Thus
Saved the Health Care Bill ...a letter from Michael Moore

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Friends,

Well, our full court press on my congressman, Bart Stupak worked!
Hundreds of my neighbors here in his Michigan district spent the weekend
organizing thousands of voters to get busy and save the health care
bill. We called Stupak's congressional office non-stop and we got
thousands of people up here to flood his email box
<http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/my-personal-note-morning-my-neighbors-here-bart-stupaks-district>.

And then a rare thing happened: An elected representative did what the
people told him to do. It was nothing short of amazing.

Stupak, and his seven "right to life" Democrats who had said they would
vote against the bill, reversed themselves after what Stupak said Sunday
afternoon was a week of his staff having "really taken a pounding." Hey,
all we did here in northern Michigan was let him know that we would be
unceremoniously tossing him out of Congress in this August's Democratic
primary. One of our group announced she would oppose him in the Dem
primary. That seemed to register with him.

All of this made Stupak look pretty worn down at his press conference
yesterday, pleading with people like us to stop calling his house and
waking his wife "at two or three in the morning." Hey! That's not us. We
never call during Carson Daly!

Obama needed 216 votes in the House last night -- and he barely got them
(219 was the final number). Had Stupak not done a 180 in the last 24
hours, the health care bill would have gone down in flames. Thank you,
to all of you here in northern Michigan who did what had to be done. You
and you alone saved this bill in the final moments.

Stupak stood on the floor of the House last night and, in a surreal
moment, spoke against the "Stupak Amendment"! Once he got through his
medieval meanderings about where babies come from, he gave one helluva
speech.

And, that's when Republican congressman Randy Neugebauer of Texas
shouted out: "Baby killer! <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXmMSnGKYvk>"
Wow. I guess the fertilized egg police felt betrayed by Bart.

Those of us here in Michigan will now decide what to do about our
misguided congressman. We're a forgiving lot, but maybe not this time.
We shall see.

Bart, I'm glad you discovered you didn't have a uterus. And, like the
scarecrow, I'm glad you found a bit of your brain.

A good night it was -- important little steps were taken to bring our
country into the civilized world.

Now, we have some real work to do if we really want to say we have
universal health care. The sharks who run the insurance companies have
every intention of turning this lemon into some very profitable lemonade.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com <mailto:mmflint@aol.com>
MichaelMoore.com <http://www.michaelmoore.com/>

P.S. Someday, the Hyde Amendment is going to have to go. No Democratic
president should ever agree to anything that discriminates against women.

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The Great Thing About the Health Care Law That Has Passed? It Will Save Republican Lives, Too (An Open Letter to Republicans from Michael Moore)

The Great Thing About the Health Care Law That Has Passed? It Will Save Republican Lives, Too (An Open Letter to Republicans from Michael Moore)

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

To My Fellow Citizens, the Republicans:

Thanks to last night's vote, that child of yours who has had asthma since birth will now be covered after suffering for her first nine years as an American child with a pre-existing condition.

Thanks to last night's vote, that 23-year-old of yours who will be hit one day by a drunk driver and spend six months recovering in the hospital will now not go bankrupt because you will be able to keep him on your insurance policy.

Thanks to last night's vote, after your cancer returns for the third time -- racking up another $200,000 in costs to keep you alive -- your insurance company will have to commit a criminal act if they even think of dropping you from their rolls.

Yes, my Republican friends, even though you have opposed this health care bill, we've made sure it is going to cover you, too, in your time of need. I know you're upset right now. I know you probably think that if you did get wiped out by an illness, or thrown out of your home because of a medical bankruptcy, that you would somehow pull yourself up by your bootstraps and survive. I know that's a comforting story to tell yourself, and if John Wayne were still alive I'm sure he could make that into a movie for you.

But the reality is that these health insurance companies have only one mission: To take as much money from you as they can -- and then work like demons to deny you whatever coverage and help they can should you get sick.

So, when you find yourself suddenly broadsided by a life-threatening illness someday, perhaps you'll thank those pinko-socialist, Canadian-loving Democrats and independents for what they did Sunday evening.

If it's any consolation, the thieves who run the health insurance companies will still get to deny coverage to adults with pre-existing conditions for the next four years. They'll also get to cap an individual's annual health care reimbursements for the next four years. And if they break the pre-existing ban that was passed last night, they'll only be fined $100 a day! And, the best part? The law will require all citizens who aren't poor or old to write a check to a private insurance company. It's truly a banner day for these corporations.

So don't feel too bad. We're a long way from universal health care. Over 15 million Americans will still be uncovered -- and that means about 15,000 will still lose their lives each year because they won't be able to afford to see a doctor or get an operation. But another 30,000 will live. I hope that's ok with you.

If you don't mind, we're now going to get busy trying to improve upon this bill so that all Americans are covered and so the grubby health insurance companies will be put out of business -- because when it comes to helping the sick, no one should ever be allowed to ask the question, "How much money can we save by making this poor bastard suffer?"

Please, my Republican friends, if you can, take a quiet moment away from your AM radio and cable news network this morning and be happy for your country. We're doing better. And we're doing it for you, too.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

P.S. I'll have more to say on this tonight, live on CNN, at 9pm ET. I'll be talking with Larry King about the health care bill and where we go from here, considering we still don't have universal health care.

P.P.S. In case you missed these photos in yesterday's NY Times Sunday Magazine... That's the results of seven years of madness. The Iraq War began its 8th year this weekend. How can we remove more of those responsible for this tragedy in November?


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Chih-Min "Jim" Yen

Chih-Min "Jim" Yen

Photo
* Chih-Min "Jim" Yen of Vestal

* Chih-Min Yen, 87, of Vestal, died at home on Tuesday, March 16, 2010.
He is survived by Ping, his loving wife of 63 years; his son, David; his
brother, William; and numerous nieces and nephews. He was born in Wu
Tai, Shanxi Province, China. He was the fourth of five sons of Marshal
Yen Hsi-shan, governor for many years of Shanxi province in China. Jim
and Ping met and married in China before immigrating to the U.S. in
1949. He graduated from Union College in 1953 and received a Master's
degree from the University of Rochester in 1962, the same year that they
both became U.S. citizens. They moved to the Triple Cities in 1963,
where he worked for IBM in Owego for many years. After leaving IBM he
was president of Chenango Products before becoming a consultant until he
retired. Jim and Ping helped found the Triple Cities Chinese School and
were active in the Chinese Arts Association and other community
organizations. He was a grandfather figure to many of his friends'
children.

A Memorial Service will be held at noon at Allen Memorial Home, 511 E.
Main Street, Endicott on Saturday, March 20. The family will receive
friends from 10 a.m. to noon at the funeral home. Entombment will be at
the Vestal Hills Memorial Park Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial
donations may be made to the American Civic Society, 131 Front Street,
Binghamton NY 13905.

My Congressman, Bart Stupak, Has Neither a Uterus Nor a Brain ...a letter from Michael Moore

My Congressman, Bart Stupak, Has Neither a Uterus Nor a Brain ...a letter from Michael Moore

Friday, March 19th, 2010

Friends,

I live in Michigan, in one of the 31 counties represented in the U.S. House of Representatives by none other than Mr. Bart Stupak, a Democrat. You've probably never heard of him. He's a pretty quiet guy, a former Michigan State Police trooper who boldly decided to run some 18 years ago as a Democrat in a rural part of Michigan that votes almost exclusively for Republicans (yes, I know -- what am I doing here? I'll save that story for a future letter).

His voting record is pretty conservative for a Democrat, but he's had a few shining moments. In the wake of the Columbine shootings, he voted for some gun control, a not-too-popular position to take here in northern Michigan. The NRA came after him with all they had in 2000.

But the good people of this area knew Bart's story and understood: He's been touched personally by gun violence. In a terrible tragedy, his teenage son, depressed and confused from the medication he'd been prescribed, killed himself with the family's .38 revolver. Despite the NRA's best efforts, Bart was returned to Congress by an overwhelming margin.

Yet, here we are, just days before a weak, simple-minded, but now ultimately necessary health care bill has a chance of making it through Congress -- and Bart Stupak is threatening to derail it because he wants to make sure that no woman WHO BUYS HER OWN INSURANCE with HER OWN MONEY is able to have a medically-insured abortion. We're not talkin' about federally-funded abortions -- those were stupidly outlawed long ago. Bart Stupak doesn't like that the Democrats' bill doesn't prohibit private insurance programs, set up for those whose employers don't provide it, from providing abortion coverage if they get any federal funding -- even to an individual woman paying without any government help. That's it.

A group representing most of America's 59,000 Catholic nuns has written to Congress and said that Obama's health care plan should be passed. Stupak, instead, has chosen to diss the nuns. Last night he went on TV and dug his heels in -- he said he intended to stop this health care bill and he didn't care what anyone had to say.

Now, it would be easy for some to just pass this attitude off on his Catholicism -- he believes what he believes and you have to respect him for that, even if you don't agree with him. But it's not that simple. It turns out that Stupak has been living in a subsidized room in the "C Street House," run by the infamous right-wing Christian cult "The Family." It was in this former convent that GOP Rep. Chip Pickering (according to his former wife) carried on the affair that ended his marriage. It's where South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford sought refuge as his marriage fell apart thanks to HIS affair. And then there's C Street roommate Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, who cheated on his wife with the wife of one of his top staffers. (The Justice Department is currently investigating whether Ensign committed a felony while paying off his aide to keep him quiet.)

C Street is where power, money, sex and religion meet. So am I led to believe that Bart Stupak lives in a brothel and belongs to a cult? He says he was just renting a room there. But that just doesn't ring true. Something stinks to the high heavens here, and Stupak sees no irony in taking his holier-than-thou position while living in a house that should be dubbed "Hypocrites' Hideaway."

If Stupak were truly pro-life then he'd vote for this bill. Right now, a mother in the U.S. has a TEN times greater chance of dying in childbirth than a mother does in Ireland. If you really wanted to reduce abortions, you'd have to ask yourself this question: Why does godless France, where abortion is nearly free (it's covered by their universal health insurance), have 20% fewer abortions per capita than we do? What's even more amazing about that statistic is that you can't even get an abortion in America in 87% of our counties because there isn't one single doctor in those counties who will perform one! 87%!! The Right has scared them all to death -- literally -- out of performing an otherwise legal, safe procedure. So, you can say women have "choice" in this country, but the reality is the "choice" doesn't exist in the majority of the nation. "Right to Life" has essentially won this battle. (My personal position: I don't get to have a position -- I don't have a uterus. If a Senate that was 90% female told me I couldn't have a vasectomy or made it a crime to leave the toilet seat up, I guess I might object.)

What is "life"? An egg is life, a sperm is life. Those sperm aren't running on a battery pack. They are living creatures, as is a fertilized egg. But they're not "human beings." A human being is something that can exist outside the womb of a mother. If you think a fertilized egg is a human being, then I respectfully ask you to go down to the DMV today and have them change your birthday on your driver's license to 9 months older than what you've been telling everybody.

So back to my question. Why do we have an abortion rate 20% higher than France's (and more than twice as high as Germany's), especially considering most doctors here won't perform them? The answer is ANY country that has universal health care, where contraception is free, where child care is free or inexpensive, where there is less poverty because people don't become bankrupt over medical bills -- those societies are simply going to have fewer unplanned and unwanted pregnancies.

And there the mask gets pulled off the Bart Stupaks and the "Christians." If the statistics show that countries with government-provided universal health care and nearly-free abortions are, in fact, the countries with the fewest abortions, then why on earth wouldn't the Right be the first in line to support universal health care?!!

Because it isn't about "universal health care." It's about controlling women, period. It's about sticking your nose in other people's business. It's about pushing your religious beliefs on everyone else because voices in your head tell you your Jesus is The One -- even though YOUR Jesus never said one single solitary word in any of the four gospels of the Bible about abortion or fertilized eggs being human. You've just gone and made it up about "life beginning at conception." Jesus NEVER said that. The little voice in your head said that, the same little voice that wants your grubby paws on women's uteruses. You need help. Please get some help and leave the rest of us alone, Mr. Stupak and friends.

After all, isn't it enough that women can't get an abortion in any of the 31 Michigan counties you represent in Congress? There is not one single abortion provider here in the north of the state, according to Planned Parenthood Mid and South Michigan. Hey, Bart -- you've already won! Women's rights have been stamped out in your entire Congressional district! Woo hoo!

So why don't you leave the rest of the country alone, step out of the way, and let them have the minimal health coverage this bill will give them? You wouldn't really crush the sick and infirm because of your own personal agenda, would you? What would Jesus do?

In the meantime, Bart, my neighbors and I are going to make sure a real Democrat runs against you in August's primary here. One of our religious beliefs in these parts is to never impose our religious beliefs on others.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com


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