Monday, December 20, 2010

Berman Post

Berman Post

Cuba Banned Sicko For Depicting 'Mythical' Healthcare System

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 01:37 PM PST


Basically, Michael Moore's movie Sicko made Cuba's socialized medicine look so much better than it really is that the government feared a backlash from the people if they were to see it and than actually go through the medical system. Despite what skewed movies would have you believe, socialized medicine is much worse than our system. That is why people fly here to pay for treatment instead of staying home and getting it for free.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/17/wikileaks-cuba-banned-sicko

"Cuba banned Michael Moore's 2007 documentary, Sicko, because it painted such a "mythically" favourable picture of Cuba's healthcare system that the authorities feared it could lead to a "popular backlash", according to US diplomats in Havana.

The revelation, contained in a confidential US embassy cable released by WikiLeaks , is surprising, given that the film attempted to discredit the US healthcare system by highlighting what it claimed was the excellence of the Cuban system.

But the memo reveals that when the film was shown to a group of Cuban doctors, some became so "disturbed at the blatant misrepresentation of healthcare in Cuba that they left the room".

Castro's government apparently went on to ban the film because, the leaked cable claims, it "knows the film is a myth and does not want to risk a popular backlash by showing to Cubans facilities that are clearly not available to the vast majority of them.""

Emails of Julian Assange Published

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 11:34 AM PST


I wonder how he feels about being on the other end of the disclosure mentality.

http://gawker.com/5714043/the-creepy-lovesick-emails-of-julian-assange

"Julian Assange, the founder of the world's most notorious secret-sharing operation, has some embarrassing documents in his own past. We've obtained a series of emails detailing his stalkery courtship of a teenager in his pre-Wikileaks days.

Elizabeth (not her real name) met Assange one night in April 2004, about two years before Assange started his now-infamous whistle-blowing website Wikileaks. She was 19 at the time; Assange was 33 and a student at the University of Melbourne studying physics and mathematics. Elizabeth spotted Assange at a bar near Melbourne and approached the older man with the long white hair because he seemed different than other guys she'd met."

Head to the source if you want to see those emails.

PJTV's InstaVision: S.M. Stirling on The State of SciFi And The Creation of New Worlds

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 09:28 AM PST


Video embedded below.

Learning From Bangalore: Urban Informatics at Street Level

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 07:04 AM PST

NASA - 'Man Caused Global Warming May be Staving Off The Next Ice Age'

Posted: 19 Dec 2010 05:47 PM PST


Does this mean we should be blaming non-polluters for this frigid winter? Seriously though, why is it so hard for people to say we really are unable to calculate (or even know?) all of the factors involved with the Earth's climate. Taking 'action' will have a significant, and almost certainly negative, impact on many people's lives. Before we do something major, I think it would be a good idea to know that the sacrifice being asked of us will actually have an impact, and that the impact will be a positive one.

http://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/big-questions/what-are-the-primary-causes-of-the-earth-system-variability (via)

"Earth's orbit around and orientation toward the Sun change over spans of many thousands of years. In turn, these changing "orbital mechanics" force climate to change because they change where and how much sunlight reaches Earth. (Please see for more details.) Thus, changing Earth's exposure to sunlight forces climate to change. According to scientists' models of Earth's orbit and orientation toward the Sun indicate that our world should be just beginning to enter a new period of cooling -- perhaps the next ice age.

However, a new force for change has arisen: humans. After the industrial revolution, humans introduced increasing amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and changed the surface of the landscape to an extent great enough to influence climate on local and global scales. By driving up carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere (by about 30 percent), humans have increased its capacity to trap warmth near the surface."
at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
hit counter