Special thanks to R.Neal and his bzzgirl for the tickets to Sicko!

Thank you so much for the Sicko tickets.
Even though the movie made me feel terrible, I'm very grateful to you for organizing this event. Everyone should see it.
I'm still sorting out my feelings, and I think I'll have to see it again. Brings back so many old memories that I've tried to suppress about my brother's brave, hopeless struggle with the healthcare system.
Hurts so bad to think about how and why he died.
And that it didn't have to happen.
Again-- everyone should see this.

Thank you for the tickets. Damn the man, I think I'll move to France.............

Hubby wants me to send our apologies for not joining the discussion following the film. He has to work all the time to pay our insurance premiums and had to get home to bed. ;)

Thank you so much for a great evening!

One particular highlight was having Sarah walk into the theater only to run out to the lobby and exclaim, "It's flat!"

I enjoyed the movie. Felt Michael Moore did an exceptional job. I did not see anything construed or embellished. I agree with StaceyDiamond that the majority of the people who need to see this probably won't; however, I brought two teens into the theater who seemed to get the message...and they needed to get it.

Doug McCaughan
http://realityme.net/

Doug neglected to say something else the 14-year-old said.

"Tommy and I are the only people here who aren't OLD."

From D Mac and the Mister. We appreciated the tickets to the movie and the fellowship afterwards. Glad to finally meet many of you. It has inspired me to peel away my pessimission and get involved in something where I have experience and knowledge.

Thanks to R. Neal and his Mrs. for arranging this get-together. The movie was thought provoking and quite emotional at times. The conversations afterwards were also thought provoking and entertaining. During the drive home, my wife and I discussed the topic at length and have begun to wonder how we might best find an opportunity to respond to these issues on a local and national level. As a community (online and reality), we owe it to ourselves to find opportunities to take movies and messages like this and build on it to improve our nation.

I enjoyed meeting so many good folks and regret that I did not get to speak to more of you. Hopefully, we'll have the opportunity to meet again soon.

Dang it that I live in Nashville. I feel like I missed out!

____________________________

I'm a guy in a Reagan mask -- and I'm running for President!

I have started to attempt to pull together an attendance round-up and a review round-up. If you have posted a review or just want to say you were there tonight, jump over and let me know.

Doug McCaughan
http://realityme.net/

Evenings like this make the "struggle" worthwhile...

And fun. Thanks to all who contributed their presence. We missed the rest of you.

What a nice gift from Randy and Michelle to all of us.

Best applause line: "If we can find the money to kill Germans(in WW II), we can find the money to help people."

Thanks and Peace,

Steve

Thanks to everyone who came out for the movie. It was great seeing everyone and meeting some new folks and putting some new faces with names. I can't remember the last time I was around a smarter or nicer bunch of people.

I'm still trying to get my mind around the movie. I thought I knew a lot about this subject, but I learned a lot. It was much better than I expected, and I had pretty high expectations.

The main thing I came away with was:

"Why can't we?"

Anyway, thanks again to everyone who came out. It was a great evening.

Thanks to Randy for making this event happen. It was nice to finally see some of you, albeit briefly.

This is the first Michael Moore film I've seen. It's certainly thought-provoking. It's a bit anecdotal for my tastes, and I don't know about holding Cuba out as a model (Cuba ranks lower than the US on one of the world health care rankings that Moore cited). But hopefully this film will give health care reform a more prominent role in the national dialogue as we head into another campaign cycle.

Brian A.
I'd rather be cycling.

Wonderful film. Wonderful gathering. Wonderful night. I will encourage everyone I know to see this film...STAT!

For a little more analysis on the subject, see this article from CNN. It would appear that we already have the means to accomplish universal health care via the existing Medicare program. At least that looks like a logical place to start.

The main thing the film did for me was dispel the myths I had bought into about the British and Canadian health care system. They may have flaws, but it's hard to argue that they don't have a superior system to ours overall.

Seeing how our system affects the most vulnerable people in our society makes me very, very angry. With my vote and my encouragement that others to see this film, I am going to do my part to effect change.

www.herstonlaw.com

Thanks again for the tickets. My wife is pregnant with our first and the story about the mother whose daughter was refused treatment (and later died) until she went to another hospital really shook her up. What a shitty country we live in when money is more important than savings someones life.

The movie was even better than I thought it would be. There will be many arguments as to why we are better than them (Canada, England, France,....). Great gathering! Wonderful to meet so many kindred spirits!

I thought the CNN movie reviewer said it well,
Having "enjoyed" first-hand experience of two of these three health systems -- the British and the Canadian -- I can attest that they're not quite as idyllic as Mr. Moore paints them. Except in comparison with the U.S. system, of course, and that's the point. Moore is a master of overstatement, but his comic shtick hits the target more often than not. It only hurts when we laugh.

There's a great organization of doctors who support single-payer, and their website has lots of useful resources: a solid, detailed proposal for a single-payer system; updated news, and lots more.

See: www.pnhp.org

I really wanted to go, but I had already stayed home from work sick-o w/ a bad cold and it wasn't good for my wife's schedule either. We definitely will see it.

Did watch Michael Moore last night interviewed on NOW. He was very impressive. Not strident at all and extremely sharp. He also was very pragmatic about criticisms of other countries that have universal coverage. He said if we're such smart Americans, why can't we do what they do right and avoid or fix what those countries do wrong. Instead of using those flaws as excuses not to adopt a system that gets the basics right (universal coverage).

Along with everyone who posted above, I'd like to thank the two of you for putting this together; it was an act of both generosity and activism, and I hope it starts a sustained dialogue about the issue. Kudos to the Neals, and kudos to Michael Moore.

The aftershow conversations at Margarita's were another high point for me. I enjoyed meeting and talking to everyone.

--Socialist With A Gold Card

I'm on my way to Utah today, but I'm looking forward to meeting everyone in person someday. Just had too much to do last night. The worst thing about going away was having to board Krishna my puppy. Geesh it felt just like leaving a kid with a babysitter. Let's hope the terrorists aren't lurking about big airports here. I'll be in Chicago this evening. If they keep us on the tarmac with overflowing toilets for hours look for me on TV. They'll be hauling me off to the booby-hatch for sure.

The pictures Doug took: http://www.flickr.com/photos/domesticpsychology/sets/72157600572378787/

Let me, again, extend my thanks to Randy and Bizgirl for their hospitality. I probably would have seen Sicko eventually; but, then again, like many movies, it would have been something that I would have put off. Like Betty, I’m planning to see it again. Sitting through the trailers, however, reminded me of the reason that I find it easy to avoid most of the currently produced movies.

My apologies for not joining folks for the after the movie discussion. It appears that I had been somewhat overly optimistic that my back problem was behind me and over did it on Thursday. Paid the price all day Friday and the extended sitting took its toll. Thankfully after seeing Sicko, it’s a problem that currently does not require medical attention and that I can resolve with exercise

Where did it all go wrong? Can’t remember much about the situation but I can recall being sent off for a short visit when school let out in June so that my father could have an operation. Complications set in and he wasn’t released from the hospital until just before Christmas. Certainly, in the America of today, my parents would have lost everything. But then, hospitals were not-for-profit organizations, not doctor-owned, for-profit businesses. As I later heard, he received new state of the art medicines that were then only available to the military because of a limited supply.

Not sure whether or not I was the source of the guffaws referred to earlier. If, like Moore, I hadn’t found humor in the absurdity of the situation, I would have been extremely depressed knowing that I very well could become a victim of the current system.

The one good thing about being pessimistic is - at least it shows you understand the situation. -- Unknown