WHY WE SHOULD KEEP SPEAKER PELOSI AND MICHAEL MOORE SHOULD SUE CIGNA
Just a couple of brief comments today…there has been talk of having Nancy Pelosi step down from her leadership position…that she should not be Minority Leader. To those who are saying that I say: SCREW YOU…Nancy Pelosi did not lose the elections, you middle of the road, vacillating democrats did. Nancy Pelosi has been one of the best Speakers we have ever had…not only did she accomplish a lot but also she pissed off Teahadist-Republicans and for that reason alone we should keep her…just to piss off Republicans.
Last night I heard an interview with Michael Moore and this cat who is a former Cigna spokesperson and executive…he came out and spilled the beans…he told Michael Moore that Cigna and other insurance company had done a pervasive and deliberate campaign to slander and destroy him. Now, you hear of many celebrities who have sued publications for publishing lies that amount to a hill of beans and they have won. With this former Cigna employee’s statements it would be enough for Michael Moore to have Cigna on his breakfast plate…he should put a great big MF law suit on their asses and see if those executives who were doing this after they get through paying Michael Moore $500 million dollars they would still be able to carry to the bank one big, fat bonus check.
How the Insurance Industry Tried to Discredit Michael Moore
by Bill Berkowitz,
From Buzzflash
“They tried 'to push Michael Moore off a cliff' says Wendell Potter, a former CIGNA spinmeister, and now a determined health insurance whistleblower. His new book, 'Deadly Spin,' exposes the health insurance industry's misinformation and disinformation campaigns aimed at killing health care reform.
It is the summer of 2006; Filmmaker Michael Moore is putting the finishing touches on his latest film called Sicko, a movie that purports to take on the health care system in the United States. Coming on the heels of the critical and box office successes of Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11, the highest grossing documentary in history, Moore is hot; Hollywood hot. People's Choice Awards hot - in January of 2005, at the Thirty-First Annual People's Choice Awards, Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, receives the "Favorite Movie" award. Titans in the insurance and pharmaceutical industries have every reason to be concerned.
No one, other than Moore and his crew know what's in the film; although it appears that health care industry operatives are doing all they can to sniff out the details. Variety reported that when plans for the making of Sicko became public, several large drug companies "mounted plans to combat the doc, including circulating memos to employees warning them not to cooperate with Moore." The memos instructed their employees to be on the lookout for "a scruffy guy in a baseball cap" going around asking too many questions. PhRMA (The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America), which represents the country's leading pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies, had not yet issued any public statements regarding the film.
Fast forward four-plus years: In a recent appearance promoting his news book "Deadly Spin," on MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Wendell Potter, a former Vice President of corporate communications at CIGNA -- one of the United States' largest health insurance companies -- and now a fellow at the Center for Media and Democracy, a corporate watchdog group, talked about how America's health care industry worked feverishly to defeat President Barack Obama's health care reform initiatives.
During the course of the interview, Potter also mentioned the insurance industry's plan to discredit Michael Moore prior to the release of Sicko. "We ran a story in our online newspaper saying Moore is embarking on a documentary -- and if you see a scruffy guy in a baseball cap, you'll know who it is" Stephen Lederer, a spokesman for Pfizer Global Research and Development, told the Los Angeles Times at the time.
"Moore's past work has been marked by negativity, so we can only assume it won't be a fair and balanced portrayal," said Rachel Bloom, executive director of corporate communications the Delaware-based firm, AstraZeneca. "His movies resemble docudramas more than documentaries."