Readers' Comments

This is actually not the only law which is broken, there are number of them that i observe being broken more often than not, it would be great to get to the root of it rather pin pointing a particular.

This "doctor" is the perfect example of why healthcare is basically untouchable my a lot of people.
You are comparing a mechanic fixing my breaks because I casually asked him to check them with you charging for answering a patient's question with" I don't see nothing in your throat" ? Are you serious?
First of all, if I asked a mechanic to check my brakes, that is exactly what I expect him to do! I did not say Fix my brakes! I only asked him to check them!
Most mechanics do not even charge for checking the brakes since it is such an easy task and only requires a visual inspection. They do that because they are checking to see if they can get more business by finding bad brakes and then asking if they can go ahead and fix them.

You F*&%ing "doctors" don't ask patients if they want to get billed for every word that comes out of your mind. You just charge it because you think you are entitled.
That is wrong! Even if you charged extra for takin 2 minutes to look in someone's throat including asking them if there was something else, how can you justify the 100 dollars? People pay for a service not for your medical school. You are not God and in fact you're just another schmuck eager to fill up his bank account.
The fact is that you are out of control ( all of you docs) You should be required by law to justify your billing statements. Some of you asses don't even bother to explain. You just simply send a generic looking bill requesting payment for a total amount. I'm supposed to call and ask what i'm being charged for.
Thereis no accountability and no repercussion. Thats why we are where we are.
I find obscene for family doctors who are just a bunch of pill salesman to charge 100$ for 10 seconds worth of looking in somone's throat.
Disgusting!

'we're reasonably sure a human BP would not be a woman'

Because ... what ... women would never do such terrible things?

As if all evil things done by corporations are done solely by men? As if women are not equally capable of reeking destruction on the planet?

Drop the mild misandry-as-wry-humor act - it doesn't help the cause.

"How long will it be before we revoke the lawless privileges of corporations, before we limit their immunity, curtail their immortality, and rein in their immorality?"

Maybe this will happen when authors like this stop wasting everyone's time with what-if articles about if corporations are people. They are not. That means corporations are neither male or female (or transgender for that matter).

Corporations can never be human beings, as not only do they extend beyond gender, but beyond a single sentient being. I think in most societies, the laws governing them really fail to take this into true account. Recognizing, understanding, and communicating this is the first step in changing things. Next is define exactly kind of entity they are, understand how they differ from people and other entities, work to get our politicians to understand this meaning, analyze all current laws which apply, and to redesign/exempt the legal liabilities they are able to currently avoid.

This would include things like banning non-people entities from doing things like contributing to political campaigns and lobbying and so forth.

Pretty big set of tasks, eh? Therein lies the real and bigger problem. It isn't that people cannot solve it. It's that people don't really want to do the work that goes in to solving it.

I believe the only way to address corporations is by addressing the larger problem of getting people (that is sentient human beings) more involved in the political process. Nothing will change unless more people start paying attention to issues, start asking questions, and being vigilant till the questions are answered and the problems are solved.

Slight oversight BP Amoco is the actual entity.
All contracts are held by Amoco Houston.... indirectly held by Amoco Oriental Chicago , guess who is behind that one...
The investigations go on...

Why does the United States government not use a torpedo injected with some type of hardening foam or siicone substance and shoot it in the pipe. I know they are very accurate with bombs now due to high technology. i know sealant like this exist, and it would have to have alot of force to go through the oil gushing out. I didn't know where to leave this information, but I'm going to send it to a couple of places since they were asking for suggestions.

Don't let the (ridiculous) turkeys get you down. They were so obviously sent here to comment by the org that you're outing. Keep fighting the good fight for helpless animals!

There is greater problems forthcoming to America.
Big hospitals are shutting down and insurers are increasingly squeezing the fee schedules down by two ways: reject the claim right away first and allow payments for appeal process only which can delay some form of payments for as long as 90 days or push patients to pay higher co-pays making doctor visits prohibitive in nature.

Also, Congress and Obama have not done their jobs respect to current health care problems. Public option is needed in the US. By making private insurers to cover all the uninsured basically Obama and congress have handed the medicare money to private insurers... This is not solving a problem...this is taking from a deep pocket to give it to someone else.

Government has been complaining that Medicare cost is going up but is there any accountability of any funds from medicare funds being used for other purposes??? Also medicare is a fund paid almost 45 years ahead its start use date... But, Government claims there is enough funding to sustain medicare...

This seems very strange in my view....Where is the money anyhow...stop blaming doctors and patients let's start looking what government has done with our funds!

Gosh, no conspiracy theory here. I suspect that if we get hit by a meteor it’s going to be because of some clandestine plan by Bush and Cheney. Global warming was their fault right? Oh wait, now its global climate change…

The original proposal to have independent audits of the Fed was voted down.

The vote that passed which PR Watch reported on was a limited one time audit. That vote gave our representatives cover that they are fighting for us--bull!

The banks are winning as witnessed by the vote against the Kaufman-Brown amendment to break up the "to big too fail banks."

Dear Ms. Taliaferro:

You are absolutely correct, and I very much appreciate your pointing that out. I have corrected this and added some additional information. I once knew this but had focused on her experience in state politics and recalled her lack of prior federal judicial experience. I really appreciate your taking the time to write in and help improve our work! Lisa

Toward the end of the article you state that: "In contrast, Sandra Day O'Connor, who had no judicial experience, turned out to be more of a fair pragmatist than I have sometimes given her credit for."
While I don't think prior judicial experience should be considered a requirement for appointment to the Supreme Court, I believe this statement is incorrect. Sandra Day O'Connor did have prior judicial experience. She served on the Arizona Court of Appeals, and before that on the Maricopa County Superior Court.

This is a wonderfully written and compelling piece of literature. Thank you for writing it up. I intend to blog it over at Left Edge North, and hope many many more do also.

Joe in Washington state USA