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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
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 OPINION 
48

Unhealthy? Then Shut Up About Health Reform: Maher

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(Newser) – Fat? Out of shape? Otherwise unhealthy? Then shut your trap about health-care reform until you do something about your own well-being, comedian Bill Maher writes for the Huffington Post. “Unlike most liberals, I’m glad all those teabaggers marched on Washington last week,” he snickers. “Because judging from the photos, it’s the first exercise they’ve gotten in years.”

“It was fun to watch the teabaggers complain how the media underestimated the size of their march, ‘How can you say there were only 60,000 of us? We filled the entire mall!’” Maher seethes. “Yes, because you’re fat. One whale fills the tank at Sea World, that doesn’t make it a crowd.” Not that President Obama is exactly going in the right direction: “Obama has identified all the problems with the health care system, but there’s one tiny issue he refuses to tackle, and that’s our actual health.”

Demonstrators protest on Capitol Hill last weekend.
Demonstrators protest on Capitol Hill last weekend.   (AP Photo)
DC Tea Bagger Protest
DC Tea Bagger Protest   (Wikimedia Commons)
Protesters in Washington last weekend.
Protesters in Washington last weekend.   (Wikimedia Commons)
Anyone who's overweight and/or has other unhealthy habits they could be doing something to fix shouldn't be yakking about health reform, Bill Maher says, looking at Rush Limbaugh.
Anyone who's overweight and/or has other unhealthy habits they could be doing something to fix shouldn't be yakking about health reform, Bill Maher says, looking at Rush Limbaugh.   (Wikimedia Commons)
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President Arugula is not gonna tell Americans they're fat and lazy. ... And at a time when it's important to set new standards for personal responsibility, he appointed a surgeon general, who is, I'm sorry, kind of fat.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/new-rule-you-cant-complai_b_291852.html - Bill Maher

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48 comments
VIEWING:
 
spdavid
Sep 18, 09 8:08 PM CDT
No matter what kind of shape you are in the costs and effects of all of the president's programs and spending/taxing programs will effect you in a major way for the rest of your life.You have every right to be mad,question these plans and the effects of them and to be involved as much as anybody else because nobody will escape being deeply impacted.FU Maher,find another idea for stifling debate and agendas other than your own. Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
-16
IN RESPONSE:
DJM420
Sep 18, 09 10:35 PM CDT
well, why not? we will surely feel the effects of BUSH's 'presidency' for the remainder of our lives as well...at least obama's programs/policies might help someone...
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+9
IN RESPONSE:
Antiks
Sep 19, 09 4:54 AM CDT
We don't even know what the plan is at this point, so how can you even make that statement? The plan is ambiguous, and the numbers are too. $ 1 Trillion for 10 years is certainly cheaper than the disastrous War on Terror (Muslims). We need a stronger social safety net in this country, and I say tax the rich to make it happen.
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-1
IN RESPONSE:
Doctor_Zaius
Sep 19, 09 8:53 AM CDT
Bullshit, reform will lower costs, we already pay more per person by double than any other industrialized nation on the planet. And if we get a public option watch for costs to plummet. Why do you think the insurance industry is so against reform? Watching you dipshits advocating against your own interest is like watching chickens holding a rally for Colonel Sanders.
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+4
IN RESPONSE:
GreekChorus
Sep 19, 09 5:25 PM CDT
"Dr." Zaius is correct that reforms could reduce costs; however the reforms Obama wants are entirely the wrong type to do so. What we need is to separate health insurance from employment, and go to a "first party payer" system. Insurance should be restructured with a very high deductable ($5000-10000) and individuals would then pay personally for their own day-to-day health care. This would dramatiically reduce the cost of health insurance (since it would rarely be used), and directly tie the cost of health care to it's benefit, which would result in direct pressure to keep the costs down. To balance the loss of employee benefits for health insurance, health care costs could be madek 100% deductable on income taxes. Neither Democrats nor Republicans are willing to propose this, however.
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+1

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