For the guy who said that people against the government reform would turn you away from the dinner table while eating a 5 course meal…consider this:
Maybe… or maybe not,at least we have that choice, but what you want us to do is mail someone in Washington a check for $4000 then hope that somehow they turn around and give you a bite to eat. One that is worth $100. The Government is the worst allocator of money in the world…. to this we probably ALL agree.

Health Care is too expensives, free market solutions to health care would reduce costs considerably meaning many people could then afford health care, and we would no longer have a “crisis”.
This is another example how through price fixing and lobbyist and government intervention, we have allowed things to get screwed up.

If the Democrats force everyone to buy insurance, the insurance companies WIN. If the Republicans can keep things as they are the insurance companies WIN.
If we could wake up and get the government out of business…. FOR REAL. Then we would all be better off, and saving little Suzie from shoulder pain would be easy, when you have an extra 20 grand in your pocket.

You want to be mad about something? We spend a trillion dollars a year on our foreign policy…. TRILLION. To do what? Police the world? We need to get out of other countries, and worry about the United States.
This country indeed has been sold down the river by the banks, insurance companies, the war machine, as Michael Moore (whom I don’t love) says… but the solution is to wake up to it, and stop it.

Not turn away from what made this country the single greatest country in the world.

You think Obama is less connected to those powers that be than Bush? That is crazy, look who is standing right behind him.

Simple economics tells you that you cannot take take take from those contributing and give to those begging before everyone will be on the begging side.

I was a musician for 30 years (still am) but when I was eating a snicker bar for an entire days worth of meals, I didn’t ask anyone for help. I made my own choices & lived with the consequences. I played music and worked, until playing music paid the bills. When it stopped paying the bills… back to work.

I don’t have a car, I don’t have a fancy cell phone, I don’t have designer clothes, I don’t watch movies at a movie theater, I don’t have any expensive hobbies. I still cannot afford health insurance.

I do have all four of my wisdom teeth that ache all the time and are destroying my regular set of teeth. I do have a bad shoulder that wakes me up in the middle of the night. I have not seen a gynecologist in years. I do not have health insurance.

I could wait until until I land a dream job like Randy Neals, that pays for a good insurance coverage, but in the meantime all of my hard work still leaves me insurance-less. To allege that I don’t have health insurance because I do not work hard at ‘a decent job’ is a gross misjudgment.

If we, the artists, are gathering to peacefully give voice to a genuine problem at hand, we speak for an entire nation. Stand up together, Americans, and make a positive change.

For those of you who say we should stop funding the NEA you have a seriously flawed sense of what forward thinking\moving government is. We pale in comparison to what the rest of the Western world spends in funding for the arts. The time of the arts also fosters the times of scientific reason and enlightenment. The time of Renaissance was the time of Da Vinci the time of Michelangelo the time of Galileo. So why can’t we support both; we support you so your lives are better not just to take away what you have.

We put our heart and soul in to what we do so that you may enjoy life. So the next time you go to see the movies remember you are watching a symphony of artists at work. The next time you see the beautiful photo in your favorite magazine or on the back of a bus remember we have jobs to and we work just we are not paid the same as you in your ivory tower office with benefits.

“What you fail to realize is that artists are the cultural workers who provide the entertainment you consume everyday: music, movies, TV, books, newspapers, magazines, games, theater, etc.

To resent us for this, and to be antagonistic towards supporting us in the work we do for your pleasure will ultimately reduce your pleasure sources. I suggest aiming your gun away from your foot.”

I’ve tried to explain this to people for years. Most folks just don’t understand how many artists work their butts off on a freelance basis with no benefits.