SICKO Rides Again

I have six words for Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Laura Ingraham, Marc LeVigne and Glen Beck.

Actually, I have two words that I'll use three times each: "Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!"

I can't thank you all enough for making Michael Moore a Household Name. Had it not been for your incessant, persistent and bile-spewing rants against Moore for making his "shock-u-mentary" SICKO when it came out a couple of years ago, Moore's classic documentary about the failures in America's health care system would have been seen by maybe 100 film aficionados in the art houses in Manhattan and LA/Hollywood.

So, once again, thank you Sean and Rush et, al. for bringing SICKO to the attention of millions of people. Thank you for everything you did to help Michael Moore win his Oscar.

Enough of that.

In 20 words or less, SICKO awakened America to its collective failure to guarantee adequate health care coverage for all of its people.

In 35 words or less, SICKO infuriated Big Insurance so much that it did everything it could to discredit Moore -- "Big I" even enlisted the Bush people in the State Department to lie about the film's release in Cuba.

(You can get the whole Bird's Eye Low-Down, directly from the horse's mouth via Huffington, by reading one of my previous commentaries on this topic.)

You undoubtedly have seen SICKO so I won't wear you out about it -- if, for some reason, you have not, get it, and watch it Tonight!

I bring this matter to today's table because, up in the little town of Enfield, CT, the mayor and members of the town council recently instructed the town's librarian to cancel a showing of the movie. Seems that a Tea Bagger voiced a complaint about the film being shown at the library.

The citizen told the town council (and I am not making this up) that he didn't want his "tax dollars spent" on any exhibition of Moore's masterpiece, or on subsequent public discussion of the film's content on town property.

So Hizzonor and the Melon Heads on the council ordered the librarian to cancel SICKO, and if the librarian didn't knuckle under, the librarian faced some form of cryptic "disclipinary action" and the predictable threat that his budget would be cut.

For his part, Hizzonor claimed the film was too controversial to be shown in town-owned real estate. Asked what film he might consider more appropriate for public discussion, he said (and, again, I am not making this up) the mayor answered: "Finding Nemo."

Please understand that the town of Enfield is located about 15 miles north of Hartford, the Insurance Capital Of The World. With a few of the nation's biggest Players In The Insurance Industry home-based there, Hartford is the nation's strongest fortress in opposing Health Insurance Reform. It would come as no surprise if we eventually learn that the Tea Bagger who complained to the Town Council is employed at Aetna or one of the other "Big I" Giants.

But I digress...

Hizzonor and the Melon Heads in Enfield were no more and no less than useful Stooges to the dictates of "Big I" in suppressing meaningful public discourse on the importance of Health Care Reform. This indictment can also be handed down charging Hannity et. al. with the same crime.

Put aside the First Amendment arguments for a few minutes and ponder what is really happening here. "Big I", in collusion with Conservative Talk Radio, has poisoned the well vis a vis constructive discussion regarding Health Care Reform.

Now, thanks to one Tea Bagger, a municipal government gets dragged into the mire after taking many, many sips of the Cool-Aid served up daily by Conservative Talk Radio.

There is "stupid" and then, again, there is "dangerous." When stupid meets dangerous meets conservative talk show airwaves, we're all in trouble.

With the Republicans in the US House voting to repeal "Obama-Care," such discourse is more important than ever -- and thankfully, the repeal measure will go nowhere in the Senate.

So, and finally: thanks again fellas!

You have done a fantastic job of making SICKO more relevant than ever.

(NOTE: Mega-Tip of The Hat to Andy Thibault at cooljustice.com and the rest of the Facebook crew for generating mega heat on this issue.)