EMAIL SIGN UP!
Most Popular This Week
- Corporate Win: Supreme Court Says Monsanto Has 'Control Over Product of Life'
- Cornel West: Obama 'Is a War Criminal'
- Patent Filing Claims Solar Energy ‘Breakthrough’
- Disaster Capitalism Strikes as Hedge Funds Circle Near-Bankrupt Municipalities Like Vultures
- Ignoring Bee Crisis, EPA Greenlights New 'Highly Toxic' Pesticide
Popular content
Today's Top News
My Congressman, Bart Stupak, Has Neither a Uterus Nor a Brain
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 MooreMMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com
Comments
Note: Disqus 2012 is best viewed on an up to date browser. Click here for information. Instructions for how to sign up to comment can be viewed here. Our Comment Policy can be viewed here. Please follow the guidelines. Note to Readers: Spam Filter May Capture Legitimate Comments...
118 Comments so far
Show AllI'm smarter than Mike. I know this health insurance bonanza bill is crap. I know that voting Dem is only voting the other side of the single party coin.
For all his so called smarts, I, a former factory working high school graduate who also lives in Michigan, am smarter than Mike.
I'm probably not as smart as Mike or you, Barrycounty, but I did grow up in northern Michigan. Given the near universal infiltration of only Fox and CNN as news in that market, a crackpot like Stupak is not only better than just another republican, it's comparable to a socialist in most other districts. It's actually a sign of progress that the district can elect a non-republican. Stupak may be as much a republican as a democrat, but a republican will certainly be a total republican.
I know CD readers love to say there's no difference between the two parties, but there really is. Al Gore was no George Bush. Joe Biden is no Dick Cheney. Yes we have the choice and it is an ugly one. Power is elected to either a 100 percent corporatist party or a 95 percent corporatist party. If more of us got up and actively applied our passion to democratize the Democratic Party, maybe progress could be made.
Yeah, I know this is what Thom Hartmann says and he, like Michael, is scoffed by many here at Common Dreams. That is a pity. Transforming the Democratic Party is far more attainable than establishing a third party of any influence. As we know, third parties are marginalized by media and the deck is institutionally stacked against them. A system of proportional representation would be their only hope for real leverage.
You and I Barry, as well as Mike, all know the corporate wealth care bill is crap. I detest it with all my heart. But I do detest republican rule even more. Giving them more power will not help anything.
Here's a notion: Let's say we see this bill become law and go into effect. The blowback from the mandated purchase of insurance will be outrage. More people might wake up and demand a better plan. Maybe this outrage could be channeled towards a real push to advance Medicare for all. Just sayin'...Unintended consequences could run either way.
Well said.
Demoks allow the torture to go on by intervening just long enough for the victim to catch his breath. And so Demoks are the enablers. The Demoks in now way are able to compensate for the damage. The net is hugely negative. Calculate the net.
So I suggest we let the Repuks have full reign. We need the people to get a really good taste of kaka so they will finally decide enough is enough. Via this approach it will happen sooner. You can vote far-left third party, and have peace of mind knowing that you are not contributing to the delinquency of the society.
we already had caca with eight years of george w. bush, resulting in two wars, a depression, and a huge deficit as well as a supreme court that can't reason. surely you don't want more of THAT.
for peace and sustainability
No we don't but Obama is continuing all of it and we're not gonna accept that. You wanna excuse Obama like that fine but don't expect him or his party to hold out for long for continuing the caca !!
You're right about Obama's inexcusable continuation of Bush/Cheney military and "security" policies. One thing for certain if McCain was president, Roberts and Alito would have another Federalist Society member in their majority. Forget the hype and hope, the Supreme Court was my primary reason to vote for Obama.
So, yes, the crap can always get deeper. You can count on it with Republicans in power.
From one of those scoffers, very well thought out and presented. I too often let my anger and frustration get the better of me. I must retrench and try to think things through a little more before I vent with such invective. It all just seems so insurmountable. The government seems to be such a monolith totally insensitive to the wishes of not just the majority, but 60 to 70 percent of the majority. Anyway, thanks again for the post.
My Congressman, Bart Stupak, Has Neither a Uterus Nor a Brain. Then he should represent you perfectly.
"My Congressman, Bart Stupak, Has Neither a Uterus Nor a Brain" and neither do the bozos that voted for him.
You can be sure that at least some of them do, indeed, have uteruses.
Peoples' willingness to vote against their own interests never fails to amaze me.
Michael Moore is correct on one thing in this article - so-called religious belief is used to oppress women.
However, religion is used to oppress all of us.
He is wrong when he says that this so-called healthcare bill is "weak, simple-minded, but now ultimately necessary."
This fraudulent bailout of the insurace industry was designed and pushed out on us from the White house. It will guarantee the death of any real chance for reforming our stupid, corrupt, Wall Street system of corporate domination. It is insidious.
He is wrong when he says that "C Street is where power, money, sex, and religion meet."
C Street is just one of the most odiously obvious places where the orgy occurs. This nation and many, if not most other nations are awash in this crap.
He is wrong to assume that Nuns are wise.
If they were, they would see that they are participating in their own oppression and that they are reinforcing one of the worst institutions of Patriachical domination.
He is wrong if he thinks that he can seem to endorse a woman's right to choose AND support the Catholic Church (or any other of the major churches which are all about male dominion) and not be seen as a hypocrite.
He is wrong if he thinks electing another democrat is a good idea.
After this week, wherein we witnessed the truth about Dennis Kucinich and the avalanche caused by the stomping and farting of the dumbocrat "leadership" demanding compliance, only a fool or hypocrite or liar would endorse anything, especially when you don't know what kind of fraud is in the wings, from either side of this beastly one party system.
What a waste!
I would encourage any person of conscience to vote against the Insurance Company Bailout Bill.
Consumers, especially young healthy consumers, are not buying health insurance as they can see its a bad deal. That is cutting into profits, something must be done .. let's force people to buy their faulty product! Problem solved!
so you are for 45,000 unnecessary deaths each year due to lack of access to health care continuing because you don't get your way on everything? is that the sort of radical you are?
for peace and sustainability
The current bill will not go into effect (except a few provisions which are not relevant to your point) until 2014. That means, using your own figure, that 180,000 USans will still die unnecessarily before 31 million out of 50 million now uncovered are finally forced to buy coverage. The other 20 million would still be on their own, of course.
Expanding Medicare to cover all would, by comparison, take a few months (creating Medicare from scratch took less than a year), would cover ALL of us, and would cost far less than Obama's Insurance/Big Pharma deal/giveaway.
But, of course, that would kill for-profit health insurance and dry up the corporate bribes to Obama & both corporate parties of Congress. And we can't have that now, can we?
Yes!
No offense, but this "saving the lives of X thousand" is obviously being pushed as a foolproof Talking Point for defenders of this abomination-- like the 59,000 nuns who are being exalted as health-care Joans of Arc for supporting this atrocious No Insurer Left Behind scam.
It's as bogus and manipulative a straw-man as the exact parallel argument used by Obama apologists during the 2008 campaign, questioning the bona fides of skeptics and branding them as self-absorbed elitists.
At the time, Obama skeptics here and elsewhere were bombarded and excoriated with the ideological theory that political action isn't supposed to be about "personal feelings", much less a matter of individual conscience. At the time, the argument was that despite Obama's flaws or shortcomings, a TRUE "radical", "progressive", "liberal" should put aside personal scruples and stand in solidarity with the oppressed minority of African-Amerikans looking to Obama for long-overdue and Historic deliverance.
Now resolute opponents of this legislative monstrosity are charged with risking "45,000 unnecessary deaths", and breaking the hearts of 59,000 nuns to boot.
Sorry-- this claim might be persuasive to those leaning towards support and looking for a handy rationalization in the first place, but I'm not buying it.
And incidentally-- if you really expect to startle or shame anyone into coming over to your way of thinking, you'd do better to leave off the obligatory put-downs like "because you don't get your way on everything".
For some reason, those who take the Sensible, Serious, Practical, Common-sense Tough Love approach can't resist letting their Stern Parent displeasure show. So they can't resist tossing in offhand remarks like this one, or similar straw-men like "... just because Obama isn't PERFECT", or "... just because you expect instant gratification...".
The only difference in rationalizing bad LAWS instead of bad POLITICIANS is that it's harder to fling around the term "hater".
I agree! Stern parents are bad. And I also don't like it when my old granny changes what I say and then scolds me for something I never said! I think old grannies do that because then they can always be right. :-]
This bill gives "peace and sustainability" to the health insurance industry. They will have peace of mind because thsy don't have to worry about where their sustainable customer base will come from. The Dumbocrats have made sure of that in their quest for sustainable campaign financing from this same industry.
45,000 people/year die for lack of maedical care.
100,000 people/year die and 200,000 people/year are permanently injured due to medical errors, that is, due to receiving medical care.
Your chances of dying from medical care is twice your chance of dying by going without.
Uh oh! She called you the R word. You radical, you! Well, I'm a radical too, because I also oppose this piece of shite bill.
The right to lifers are all worked up because a few women might be able to find some loophole in this bill and manage to get an abortion, even to save her own life. Strange that it does not bother them to have thousands die in our country because they cannot get care or insurance. As for the fact that we cannot afford this, the same people thought we could afford tax cuts for the rich, which drained our treasury. Also it was fine with them to keep an unnecessary war off budget to fool people. The Medicare Advantage and prescription medicine programs were also added to the deficit, and now the people that thought that was all just fine are yelling their heads off about the costs of this bill. How hypocritical can people get?
Strange that it does not bother them to have thousands die in our country because they cannot get care or insurance.
Nor does it seem to bother them that we send thousands of "our best and brightest" (bullshit, they are the poorest and most hopeless who see no other future for themselves) to die by the thousands in needless wars and occupations, and countless hundreds of thousands of deaths at the hands of this country in the Middle East seems just fine with them. Gotta save the life of the fetus so that we can kill the resultant human being in a war for oil and pipelines. What utter hypocrisy.
Fuck you, Michael, its a bad bill and YOU KNOW IT. When are you finally going to cut the Democrats loose for the fascists they have become?
Pretty much expresses my sentiments. Moore talks outside both sides of his mouth. I heard him on NPR just a few days back whining about the Bill, now he supports it according to his latest tripe. He was against it, before he was for it. Go figure. Must be some kind of bi-polar disorder. Moore is a lip service revolutionary who puts the breaks on before the revolution can begin: but rest assured the gravy train will continue to pour in from his films...
Good post! Because we the people who post everyday on CD are real revolutionaries, so we can tell that Moore is a just a silly lip service revolutionary! :}
I object to Bennifer's comment being flagged.
Bennifer is what graffiti artists call, or used to call, a "tagger".
It specializes in inconsequential, substance-free one-note sarcasm in a vain and impotent attempt to ridicule challenges to its presumably orthodox beliefs.
Its anti-intellectualism and severely limited range of expression is certainly pathetic, but IMO not offensive enough to flag.
I suggest lighting a citronella candle instead.
I don't know what the people who post on CD do in their 'real' lives by way of revolutionary praxis. But a revolution can be as simple as using public transportation, or a bike; shopping at your local organic farmers market; vote one's conscience instead of what the entrenched elites tell you; recycle 100% percent of your waste; downsize one's life; get off the grid; build sustainable housing; shop at second hand shops; boycott corporate Ameri[k]a; give up one's corporate job and launch your own gig by way of sustainable business, art, healing, or right livleyhood; take your money out of banks and use local Credit Unions; think global, act local, and shop local; build authentic progressive political movements like the Greens; just say no to the duopoly; use water more wisely, because we will be fighting wars over water in our lifetimes; take up a body practice/exercise program to eliminate your need to use the medical system; stop eating meat as most land has transitioned to accomodate corporate cattle industry by clear-cutting the Amazon rain forest which is the lungs of the Earth, so to provide meat to fast food diners like Burger Thing... take your pick. Create your own... but one thing for sure, why pay homage to the losers like Moore? Do you honestly think he does any of this? The guy is a walking bill board for addictive eating disorder...
What is this flagging shit anyway? Who flagged that comment and why? Is it the nazi editors on CD?
Someone, anyone, please enlighten me about this absurdity!!
I join the chorus of those who object to the flagging of this post. I think it expresses a valid opinion, couched in a bit of humorous sarcasm.
The point of flagging is not that we disagree, however vehemently, with an opinion, and the flagger should have known better.
signed
A real revolutionary...oh, wait......drat.
Kent Shaw
Thank you for expressing my thoughts. Ordinarily I don't like hard language, but in this case, you choose the appropriate suggestion for Mr. Moore.
I need to cut out the hard language. All it does is prove a lack of imagination and creativity.
Moore continues his campaigning for this bill and caving to the Democrat leadership... Moore's support for this bill which is a give-away to the insurance companies flies in the face of his movie: Capitalism: A Love Story.
Moore in this article:
"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?"
Moore on March 17, 2010 in the CD article: The Green They Steal, The Greed They Wear:
"Please, Democrats -- just say that -- then pass this poor excuse of a bill. Pass it because, if President Obama takes a fall on this one, I don't know if he'll be able to get back up. And then NOTHING will get done. We can't have that"
"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."
The relevant point is the medication. This child may have used a rope, or a plunge from a high place in the absence of a firearm. It is still a tragedy, but the instrument is given to mush power.
I believe it is the zeitgeist of Americans which must be changed. Our time is one of violent use of firearms, indeed, it is felt we are exceptional and entitled throughout the world; therefore, we must not be surprised that firearms are so commonly used for self inflicted violence.
Blaming the firearm is only a ruse by the ruling elite to distract us from the real issue: international violence by the American military as an instrument of the corporate bosses.
Yes, it is all about the class war, and we the people are loosing because we have been distracted.
"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?"
Abortion is a form of birth control for poor people. Condoms, birth control pills are budget busters for many, but free abortions through Planned Parenthood save these people.
The ruling elite have set up the problem, then blame the victim. It is all about class warfare.
I wasn't aware that abortions from Planned Parenthood were free. Are you sure about that. Because if you are wrong, your entire posting makes no sense.
"...weak, simple-minded, but now ultimately necessary health care bill..."
Why is it "ultimately necessary"? The gap between the Democratic image and what the party does is so blatant that this excited and stupid campaign to get the thing passed is well into the realm of the bizarre.
Why is it ultimately necessary despite being an egregious giveaway to the insurance industry? I'd like some specifics, for example, on the question of why, after it is passed and signed, we can breathe a sigh of relief that we are on the track to a public health care system. Giving the insurance industry more legal power over peoples lives is a step in the right direction?...but, no, it's a terrible bill but it has to be passed because...because...something about "transformative"... an echo from a boffo Madison Avenue ad campaign.
Speaking of weak, simple-minded...
More apologies for the D party, we just have to get rid of a few bad apples. Our fabulous corporate-run Democracy Inc. is functioning wonderfully. I am sure things are going to change now, thanks Mike.
A real prophetic call: an oldie but goodie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPbJY2rs0QI&feature=PlayList&p=CDA3562E2C3B9A67&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=11
Yeah yeah Moore but you support the bill anyway so what's your point anyway?
I respectfully suggest you re-read the letter...pretty obvious point, I'd say!!
I was just asking a rhetorical question from an Obama apologist who could care less about the damn bill. I read plenty of Moore's articles posted on this site so I know what a silly horse he is. Go back and read Moore's previous articles on this site and learn to connect the dots. If Moore had at least a quarter of a brain, he would be calling for an all out opposition to the current health care bill being pushed through Congress and it ain't just about abortion. Read what Kent Shaw said and those articles and get some knowledge please ! And don't even think about calling me some rightwinger. We here are angry at Moore but different reasons.
Here, here!!! I don't care what's in the bill - so long as it's defeated! This is fascism - private corporations taxing the public (who has no representation).
no, toll roads are private corporations taxing the public. i appear to be the only person here who thinks obama means well for the afflicted among us. he watched his mother die unnecessarily fighting wrongful health insurance decisions. there will be subsidies for poor people to get insurance.
for peace and sustainability
"there will be subsidies for poor people to get insurance."
Oh just "insurance" but no health care? Some chumpy change there !
Right now, I don't care WHY they vote against this idiotic corporate-welfare bill. Any vote against it is welcome - we can argue about the details later. The people who elected Bart Stupid should have to live with his insanity - but not the rest of us !!! I can live with the government taxing us for 'the common good' - but not handing over taxing privileges to private corporations !!! Enough already !!!
ALL INSURANCE COMPANIES ARE EXTORTIONISTS - if we did that sort of thing in our own private affairs, we would go to jail, which is where all these criminals belong.
Ray Berthiaume
You must read A BRIEF LIBERAL CATHOLIC DEFENSE OF ABORTION! I don't know why this book has not been more widely read.
I'm sure it's a page-turner, but I still haven't gotten to the prequel: "A Brief Liberal Catholic Defense of Homophobic and Sexist Bigotry".
Cicero: "Freedom is participation in power."
All this angst over this health care deform doesn't mean jack because when those mandates hit the public in this bleeding-out economy the shit is going to fly thicker than a country jamboree of chimpanzee feces-flingers on meth. Eight months from now Obombit and Lofty Emanuel are going to have their Republican Dream Congress so they never ever have to pretend to be progressive again and they'll be that much closer to their swell lobbying gigs for the MIC and Israel.
The thing that sucks is that it took Congress over 40 years just to pass this little half-assed health care deform. Even if the country's economy comes back within another 20 years there's no guarantee it will EVER get any better than this.
By 2013 it will be high time for the pitch forks and guillotines. The fascist shit will be up to everyone's nostrils.
Fantastic post. I could not agree more.. :)
"D"
Insightful comment. I think economic catastrophe will make most of our discussion here irrelevant. The bill doesn't take effect for several years. What's going to happen in that interim? Will there be an economic base that can sustain mandated health insurance? IOW, who among the unemployed, fatally indebted former consumers which will make up a large portion of the US is going to buy any insurance at all, mandated or not? Will they be subsidized? With what? Moody's is already mulling the downgrading of US sovereign debt, which is code for "you're bankrupt". The mandate will be toothless because you can fine people all you want; if there's nothing in their bank account, what are they going to pay it with? And if there's nothing in the public bank account, where does the subsidy come from?
This bill is transparently a last ditch effort of a dying industry that sees the writing on the wall. They know they will fail if left to the vagaries of the economy, thus they seek the force of government to keep them going. It's a desperate ploy, and it can only provide temporary relief. As to its effect on people's actual health care, it is trivial; it will neither help nor make things worse than they already are.