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Well I Never! British Doc Slams Sen. Grassley and Anti-Healthcare Reform Group as "Ludicrous... False and Distasteful"

Submitted by meg on Tue, 08/18/2009 - 10:05am.

BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
by Meg White

Lord Ara Darzi, a British surgeon and former minister for the UK's National Health Service (NHS), spoke with National Public Radio's Steve Inskeep this morning about American opposition to healthcare reform. After explaining that a lot of the supposed facts about Britain's healthcare system being tossed around by those who oppose change here in the U.S. are based on outdated figures from before the British government reformed the healthcare system, Darzi reacted to a couple of clips from American news.

First, Inskeep played an audio clip of Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) talking about how, if Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) were a Brit, the NHS would refuse to treat his brain tumor or would not treat it as aggressively, because of his advanced age.

"I'm sorry to say that's the most ludicrous thing I've heard. I've heard that written down, but I've never heard it in real speech," Darzi said, adding that Grassley's remarks are "not just false, these are lies which have been used to set fear against reform."

Next Inskeep played the audio from a Club For Growth ad which suggests that the British government has figured out how much six months of life is worth, and that if one's medical procedure costs more than that "you're out of luck." Darzi rejected that insinuation outright, and reminded Inskeep that a Brit's life expectancy is longer than an American's.

"I'm not standing up here and saying we have the best healthcare system that you should copy, that is not the intention of me getting on the radio to you. It's, I'm making clear that what you're hearing is not just false and distasteful, it just far [exceeds] what I expected someone in these senior political roles to be disseminating fear against the system."

BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT

For more from NPR on the British healthcare system, listen to today's segment, Is Britain's Health System Really That Bad?

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Where are the flat earth people?

Submitted by felinetta on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 2:43pm.
Pretty soon these Einsteins' could come out and declare the earth is flat. Hell there already are believers who say dinosaurs roamed the earth 6000 years ago. The best part is that the media acts as if there are actually two sides to these issues. Oh the absurdity and madness. I feel like I'm living in an Alfred Hitchcock psychological thriller.
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Lying Loudly is not Free Speech

Submitted by Hoomai29 on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 11:50am.
Yes, we have a right to free speech, but it can't start by one side lying. The antidote to that is to make fun of the liars, point out the source where accurate data can be found and be pissed as hell if they just keep on lying. The point the Dems are missing is that lying is not ok. For those who claim to be Christian (or Jewish), it breaks one of the Ten Commandments and it needs to be pointed in no uncertain terms when it is being substituted for serious discussion.
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Idiot America is Winning

Submitted by True North on Tue, 08/18/2009 - 2:26pm.
It seemed like Smart America beat Dumb America when they elected Obama. Smart America then packed up their bags and went home, forgetting they still had to fight Idiot America. Now Idiot America is winning the war by default. Health care reform is as much about saving lives as stopping war is. The left went to the street in large numbers to protest against America's war. Why won't the left, on an individual level, not rise up and fight back against the lies and bullying of the "Town Hall Mobs'. Take the fight to the local level. If your Congressman/woman or Senator is a Democrat tell them where you stand and what will happen to his/her political career if they don't stand behind you. If Obama can't deliver on his promise of real health care reform he will be a first term lame duck and the Democratic Party will lose what credibility it has left. The right and the left are in a permanent state of warfare. The sooner the left realizes this, the better. Come on then! A better world awaits. Live long and prosper or live with the eternal shame of knowing that you were bettered by a bunch of knuckle dragging, Bible thumping high school drop-outs.
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But let's not let the facts

Submitted by Clemsy Diggs on Tue, 08/18/2009 - 1:41pm.
But let's not let the facts get in the way here, folks. Ignorance is a valid American viewpoint, dammit!

Personally, I am beyond tired of this. After eight years of the Bush horror show (during which none of these birthers and deathers seemed to have any problems with out of control government spending or the decimation of retirement funds or war profiteering, on and on ad nauseum), the tolerance, and that is what's going on, of these outright lies makes me want to just give up.

I know, I know. But unless we hear some fire from those in power against these voices, what the hell is the point?

This isn't negotiation. This is a fight. Obama needs to up his rhetoric, mobilize the people with more than two brain cells to rub together, and take the momentum back from the ignorant fools being fed lies from radio whacks at the behest of corporations who will just get richer from any reform unless they are stopped.

No public option is not an option.
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Basically a conspiracy to commit

Submitted by Chabuka on Tue, 08/18/2009 - 2:03pm.
murder...the Private Health Care Companies want to keep their profits, keep and get much more...the Republicans (Blue-Dogs) don't care how many people die, (for lack of affordable Health Care, couldn't that be called conspiring and colluding (for money, "donations") to commit murder??) all the GOP want is to destroy President Obama and the Democrats, (anything!, anyway!) to get THEIR (GOD-GIVEN)rights of POWER and Authoritarian rule back... Demand Medi-Care for all..let the GOP defend private Insurance profits and explain to the over 65 crowd, why Medi-Care is bad....(but paying private insurance companies premiums is good!)
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