They completely 'diss' Michael and I am not about to put up with their trashing of a much needed reform to American Healthcare.
They posted a response regarding the 'corrections' to the record made of Sanjay Gupta's report which tried to overshadow SICKO with innuendos and suppositions. They dug themselves deep while trying to be slick.
This is what CNN said of Michael. You have to know that that angel of all angels works at CNN. Always above the frey. "It's ironic that someone who has made a career out of holding powerful interests accountable is so sensitive to having his own work held up to the light by impartial journalists, as we did in our examination of 'SiCKO,' " the spokesperson said.
"In our original report, we made one mistake...
STOP RIGHT THERE. There are grossly MORE than one mistake. The 'corporate suit alone' makes two. All you need to do is apologize to Michael Moore profusely because CNN's response to Michael's postings on his website is more spin on top of the Gupta Spin. I could go point by point and spend a better part of my day 'setting it straight' on behalf of Michael Moore for the hero he is, but, it's a waste of my time. CNN is being manipulative and attempting to undermine SICKO. That'll never happen. Too many people have been hurt and we thought the deaths at Abu Ghraib were terrible. The deaths right here in the USA go unnoticed. Something is very, very "W"rong here and CNN is attempting to defend it!
Not.
On.
My.
Time.
POINT NO. 11:
FROM MOORE'S WEB SITE:
GUPTA: (On the lone expert shown in the original piece, Paul Keckley). "His only affiliation is with Vanderbilt University. We checked it, Michael. We checked his conflict of interest. We do ask those questions."
"The Truth" (from Michael Moore's Web site):
Keckley left Vanderbilt in October 2006 to become the executive director of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. The chyron on CNN even notes his new position ("Vandy administrator to head Deloitte research center," Nashville Business Journal. November 1, 2006).
The independent chairman of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions is Tommy Thompson, who was George W. Bush's Health and Human Services Secretary from 2001 to 2005 and is currently running for president as a Republican ("Meet Tommy G. Thompson," Deloitte Center for Health Solutions).
Keckley has made large contributions to Republican candidates and organizations. He gave $1,000 to GOP Senator Bob Corker in 2006, $1,000 to the Tennessee GOP in 2002, along with $1,500 to two GOP congressional candidates and $1,000 to the Tennessee GOP in 2000 (www.fecinfo.com).
Keckley was also the CEO and Founder of EBM Solutions Inc., of Nashville, Tennessee, which counted among its customers Blue Cross of Tennessee, the drug company Aventis and others. Considering Keckley makes his living in the for-profit health care world -- a world "SiCKO" argues should be abolished -- viewers should have been told exactly where Keckley was coming from.
CNN RESPONSE:
Moore is correct. End of discussion because the rest of this mess simply tries to 'take issue' where there is none. Sanjay Gupta stated Keckley was ONLY affiliated with Vanderbilt University. He stated it on an international global corporate network news channel to 'save face.' Additionally, Gupta was emphatic that CNN checks all the 'conflict of interest.' Gupta's LACK OF KNOWLEDGE regarding the 'many affiliations' of Keckley and the ability or willingness to verbalize them is completely offending. Gupta picked the most benign of the affiliations of Keckley and made a huge issue of the fact there are taxes affiliated with 'single payer' healthcare.
NO CLUE !
It was the most astounding revelation I thought I ever heard when Gupta/Keckley stated, "...but, it's not free, there are taxes." Something tells me that is one of those 'common knowledge' things that people figure out when discussing such a large paradigm shift in an ESSENTIAL SERVICE. I did. I didn't think for one minute that what Michael was putting forth was ABSOLUTELY FREE. You want to know something, the 'Crap' the health insurance companies put forth as 'policies' ain't free either, but, it sometimes seems that way because it is taken out of one's paycheck BEFORE you get it, JUST - LIKE - TAXES. So, let's get real here, Gutpa and his corporate suit, Keckley are making something out of nothing because every American that has health insurance pays for it. Not only that but they pay deductibles amounting to thousands of dollars minimally per year ON TOP of their WEEKLY/BI-WEEKLY enrollment fees. There, of course, are the Co-Pays. When one adds all that up at the end of the year, it ain't peanuts.
What makes the 'single payer system' so attractive is that we CAN COUNT ON IT. We can, our children can, their children can, our seniors can (...and let's not BEGIN to go down the road of how our Seniors are gouged for their healthcare. Don't even start that. Minimally, a hospital admission can have an initial deductible PER ADMISSION of nearly $1000. So don't even go there.), our veterans can (...and we all know what a mess the VA system has been without any improvment in decades) and etc, etc, etc.
While Gupta and 'what's his name?'...oh, yeah...Keckley criticize the issue of taxes, those they defend (and they are defending the very health care systems that have abandoned Americans causing them hardship and death) ain't cheap either and we don't even get services we need from them.
This is the rest of CNN's Spin regarding Keckley. Tell me it matters.
Paul Keckley left Vanderbilt in late 2006. That is the affiliation Gupta referenced on "Larry King Live." In addition, CNN obtained the following details about Paul Keckley from his current employer, Deloitte Center for Health Solutions:
"The original CNN report accurately described Paul Keckley's role as a Deloitte health care expert. Keckley is executive director of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. He left Vanderbilt University in October 2006 to take this new position.
"The comments by Keckley in the CNN interview were factual, neutral and descriptive. The accuracy of his balanced comments in the broadcast has not been challenged.
"Neither the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions nor Paul Keckley has a political or ideological agenda. The center's mission is to develop innovative, practical and workable solutions to systemic issues of the U.S. health system. As such, it embraces a diversity of viewpoints that transcend easy labels.
"Keckley as an individual and Deloitte as an organization operate under rigorous rules, government regulations and professional standards designed to ensure his and our independence.
"The center has been an active participant in the national dialogue about the critical challenge America faces to preserve the best that our health care system delivers -- while at the same time seeking ways to provide coverage for the uninsured, promote wellness and prevention, deploy more effective information technology to improve patient outcomes, and reduce soaring health care costs.
"One example of how the Deloitte Center's approach is a report issued in late 2006 titled, 'The Catalyst for Health Care Reform: Providing More Choices and Innovation to Heal the U.S. Health Care Financing System.' In addition to providing a thoughtful and comprehensive overview of the key issues, it presented one possible, innovative approach to solving health care coverage for America's [46] million uninsured citizens. It reflects the serious, thoughtful and independent nature of the Deloitte Center.
'Keckley does not maintain any professional or financial ties to Aventis or Blue Cross. From 1998-2002, Keckley did serve as CEO of EBM Solutions, a private company formed by researchers from Vanderbilt, Duke, Emory, Washington University and Oregon Health Sciences University. EBM developed and licensed evidence-based guidelines to 32 hospitals, medical groups, insurance companies and drug companies during this period. Among those licensing these guidelines were Aventis and Blue Cross of Tennessee.
Maybe I'll be forced to do one point everyday, but, that will take another ten days and like CNN stated, the initial mess started six days BEFORE Mike's appearance and the rebuttal began. So, I guess we are looking at dragging this out weeks yet. That is nothing but a bore !
Mike is right.
Mike is always right.
And with every documentary there are always 'corporate spin machines' that try to 'spin dry' their dirty laundry.
NOT
THIS
TIME.
NOT AGAIN.
