SiCKO

There are several recipes for a fine Friday evening.

The kids are out and we open a bottle of wine and sit on the deck and watch it get dark, for one.

Or we get free tickets to a movie with a bunch of people we have something in common and then there's margaritas afterward. That one works too. Really well, as it turns out, even if the margaritas did need a little something. you get a bunch of passionate people discussing everything and who cares if it ain't perfect...it's perfect.

Michael Moore gets hammered by conservatives. Mostly those who have never seen a Michael Moore movie and stayed in your seat at the end to watch all the credits, because of the little jewels (eat your vegetables and go for a walk) hidden amongst the amazing list of contributors. Of course we stay there to let the tears dry up a bit. I still can't figure out how I can cry and laugh at the same time, but I was in good company as the whole crowd had the giggling sniffles.

Frankly, I know of any number of depressing stories concerning the American health care system. When I realized that I was going to actually watch SiCKO I was dreading a somber, gut wrenching, tragic experience. Well, sure, we cried and hurt for those people, but mostly we laughed.

We laughed at the opening stupid statement by our President, and then two hours of reaction shots as we wondered why other countries have medical systems that serves people instead of HMO's and they wondered why we have a medical system that doesn't.

Does Michael Moore present both sides of the argument? Of course not. We have the "other side" hammered at us incessantly every day of our lives. Drug ads, insurance ads, ads for attorneys who want you to get what you deserve because you've been harmed by mesothelioma...Sicko is not "fair and balanced" and I would have been severely disappointed if it had been. I wanted a message, "The whole world thinks the American system is stupid and broken," and I wanted to be entertained. I wanted to laugh and by golly, I did.

I laughed at how stupid we are for putting up with our idiotic medical care system and I laughed at the rest of the world laughing at how stupid we are for putting up with our idiotic medical care system...And...I got pissed, as Sicko clearly demonstrated that it's our fault things are this way.

Can we do what has to be done? Sure. Will we? I don't know...But I want to do what has to be done.

And so does everyone else who was in that theater.

Go see Sicko...I dare you!

Peace,

Steve