Donna Smith is best known as one of the documentary subjects of Michael Moore’s 2007 movie, "SiCKO." Her journalism career includes 15 regional awards from the AP Managing Editors. Donna now works as executive director of the Health Care for All Colorado Foundation, and co-chairs the Progressive Democrats of America’s national "Healthcare Not Warfare" campaign.
Unrelenting Terror on Mother’s Day 2011
No matter what I do, I cannot stop the terror. Like in the places where flood waters are rising in and around so many homes in the Midwest this week, some of us face immanent dangers in life that overshadow the endless coverage of Osama Bin Laden’s death. It feels ...
Until Death Us Do Part: Wedded to Wealth We Don’t Have
Perhaps it’s the media fever over the Royal wedding in Great Britain or perhaps it’s my own disgust about hearing that Exxon Mobil makes $100M a day in profits, but either way I am pretty certain many Americans would rather go to their deaths believing in fairy tales than fighting ...
Corporate Welfare Campaign by My Common Man
Every time my husband fills our gas tank, he believes he is giving corporate welfare to the most profitable industry on earth. It’s hard to argue with him. So now he has decided that he’ll just label it what it is and let the rest of the world know what ...
Quarter-Million Dead and Not Counting
After this past weekend of horrific storms and tornadoes, it was clearly appropriate for our elected officials to declare a federal disaster in some areas. With the designation comes some federal money and help for the storm-ravaged areas and residents. Few would quarrel with our government stepping up and stepping ...
Why is a Trump Bankruptcy (or Two) OK?
Donald Trump has benefited from bankruptcy twice. Donald Trump has grown his personal fortune following his two bankruptcies and now may run for President of the United States. Clearly, the rules for Donald Trump in the aftermath of bankruptcy are not the same as for the rest of us. And is ...
I'll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours
I’m long past being interested in having most experts on American values and policy tell me what I should do and what I should think. Many who claim expertise do so with little or no vetting in terms of disclosure of potential conflicts of interest. Before anyone lectures me with ...
We are All Wal-Mart Women Today, Like It or Not
I can hear it now. The gasps of those too good to ever set foot in a Wal-Mart store much less work there combined with the righteous indignation of those who never, ever shop Wal-Mart due to political or ethical reasons might well overpower the voices of the clerks and ...
Let’s Drop Healthcare Access on One Another, Not Bombs
I’m up for some political behavior modification work. How about we support and reinforce the elected officials who do what we want to see happen and stop giving power to those who act in ways we do not wish repeated? I think Vermont has it right. When their state House members ...
‘MEB4U’ License Plate Says It All
I was on my way home when I saw it on an SUV in front of me at the light. “MEB4U” on the license plate was the message this Maryland driver wanted everyone to know she paid extra to send. She was indeed ahead of me. And I had no ...
It’s a club I will never be in. Michael Moore told us about them this week. The Forbes 400. The richest 400 people in America. They own more stuff and have more cash and assets than half of the rest of us (roughly 150,000,000+ people) combined. But I had to dig ...
Trauma of the Working Class in America: Fray or Distraction?
All over America, working class people are trying hard just to maintain. Jobs are not plentiful. Good jobs are less so. Most experts on the economy think it will be years, if ever, before the U.S. economy recovers to the point where unemployment dips much below 8 percent. Think what you ...
Turn, Turn, Turn – A Season for Healthcare Policy
Today, I heard the news. President Obama supports the Wyden-Brown amendment allowing states to innovate on healthcare reform. You’ll have to pardon some of us while we readjust the mirrors. Just 20 brief months ago, I recall the trepidation and trauma that surrounded allowing the U.S. House of Representatives Education and ...
Cheshire Cat Grins in Arizona, 1.3M Souls on Board
All eyes on Madison. I get that. The whole of the progressive community gets that. But while the cat’s away the Arizona mice are playing – only it’s a deadly game of systemic violence that screams for attention every bit as intense as the day Rep. Gabby Giffords was shot ...
Fighting for Fair Fights and for Aurora
We try to teach our children to fight when they need to but to fight fairly unless there is no other choice to protect life and limb. At least that’s what my parents tried to teach me and what I tried to teach my kids. Though I know that the ...
Cold Day in Hell Arrives for Patients
When I saw the cut to the low income energy assistance programs proposed by President Obama in his budget, I knew that meant more energy/utility shut-off notices for people already struggling all over the United States. The cold day in hell has arrived for many patients and many caregivers who ...
Super Bowl Commercial for the Dead Patients
I’d love to see a Super Bowl commercial Sunday that stated the facts about how many Americans will die on Super Bowl Sunday this year because they didn’t have access to the healthcare they needed. 123 will die on Sunday, and perhaps a photo of one of the dead every ...
Will Attention Finally Be Paid to the Working Class?
“I don't say he's a great man. Willie Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper. He's not the finest character that ever lived. But he's a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. He's not ...
After SiCKO, Is Your Story Next for Censorship?
The Enfield, CT, public library is in the midst of a controversy about whether the town managers can or should halt the public showing of Michael Moore’s 2007 documentary film SiCKO about the U.S. healthcare system. Some folks are nearly up in virtual arms about the implications of this sort ...
Four years ago, Tracy Dion Pierce, Sr., 37, died because we allowed him to. We stood collectively by while his insurance company delivered the news for us: no payment for bone marrow transplant. Tracy died at home in Mission, Kansas, with his beautiful wife Julie and his loving son Tracy, ...
Oh, For Civil Healthcare in America
Ah, we must be more civil. No more taunts. No more tirades. No more gun crosshair targets, no matter how innocently placed on our graphics (though I am not sure gun crosshairs are ever really innocent in placement). We’ll be more civil in our discourse. In light of the tragedy ...
The budget crisis in Arizona means the Republican Governor Jan Brewer and her Republican legislature have decided some death is preferable to more debt. Human life has a very measureable price in Arizona, and those who look the other way as folks who might be saved die in Arizona can ...
Will Vermont’s Babies Have a Better Chance?
As Peter Shumlin was officially sworn in as governor of Vermont, there was and is great hope that at least in one state we may see passage and implementation of a truly universal, single-payer healthcare system. From Shumlin’s January 6, 2011, inaugural address: The rising cost of healthcare for Vermont's ...
Let It Snow: We Need the Leadership
Whether it’s snow, wind or flood or acute injury or illness or sudden and unexpected loss of job, food, shelter or basic necessities of life, crisis happens in most lives and in most communities. We are human, and sometimes the forces of nature or man-made forces larger than our own ...
'Twas the Night Before 2010 Christmas in America
‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the nation, Not a creature had true healthcare, except the richest in station. The wealthy were planning, all smug and all flush, For the days of their future, and their settings most plush. Other children of poor folks were weary of hearing ...
Silent Night, Lonely Night 2010
Susan Boyle sings on CNN. Life marches on. Richard Holbrooke is dead. Rest in peace, Ambassador. It is said you put up a valiant fight. Here I sit in Kansas City. No one knows I am alone; no one would grieve if I should die. No breaking news here. Just ...
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May 19th, 2013
Saturday Night Dead ---- Courtesy of the U.S. Health Care System
There are 123 fewer Americans watching and laughing at the 2013 season ender for Saturday Night Live tonight because they were killed by the U.S. health care ...
May 16th, 2013
Tornadoes, Suicide Bombs, and the U.S. Health Care Dead and Broke
The news today is grim, to be sure. Tornadoes in Texas with the dead and the missing, Roadside, suicide bombs in Afghanistan with U.S. casualties. ...
May 15th, 2013
Protecting Angelina's Honor as U.S. Health Care System Kills 123 People Daily
Yesterday I wrote about the recent revelations from Angelina Jolie about her double mastectomy. I said nothing ill-willed about the mega-star nor did I imply ...
May 14th, 2013
My Breasts and My Life Not as Valuable as Angelina's
While women and men around the world applaud Angelina Jolie for her bravery in writing such a public opinion piece in the New York Times today about her ...
May 11th, 2013
Thousands Dead in 2013 U.S. Health System Failure
Beginning tonight, I want to create the U.S. health care death toll count for all to see and read. These are the dead due to ...
May 10th, 2013
Selling Pain and Suffering to the Masses
From this point forward, as state health insurance exchanges begin to roll out their advertising and health insurance companies turn up the volume to advertise ...
May 3rd, 2013
Health Care Mayday! In Colorado – Leading Health Advocacy Group Calls for Action
It’s May. It’s American Bike Month, Asparagus Month, Asthma & Allergy Awareness Month, Better Hearing & Speech Month, Flower Month, National Bar-B-Que Month, National Egg ...
December 24th, 2009
A Patient’s View of the Senate Christmas Healthcare Gift
So, all the great fanfare and all the king’s horses. The great and almighty U.S. Senate has spoken. I will have to buy private health ...
July 15th, 2011
‘Let ‘Em Eat Peas’ Can Be the Modern Age Elitist Mantra
It has been a challenging week for many people. While our elected officials have been broadly reported to be at odds about exactly how to ...
August 15th, 2012
Dead Woman Working: American Dream Died Long Ago
It was a slow and torturous death, my American dream. And for millions of others, I am guessing it is the same. Nothing this current ...
October 21st, 2012
Dead Woman Working: Who is the Best Looking Candidate?
Several years ago, it made me angry when I heard a family member remark that she was voting for the candidate who she felt was ...
September 5th, 2011
Worker’s Ode to Labor Day 2011
Work ‘till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get up. Do it again.Work. Be grateful to be working. Work harder. Work ‘till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get ...
January 11th, 2010
White House Believes “Liberal Angst” Over Healthcare Will Go Away
Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Better it is to be of humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide ...
May 14th, 2013
My Breasts and My Life Not as Valuable as Angelina's
While women and men around the world applaud Angelina Jolie for her bravery in writing such a public opinion piece in the New York Times today about her ...
'Dirty Wars' by Jeremy Scahill
Why have you started a comedy festival in northern Michigan in the middle of winter?
Because if you were here in the dead of winter in the middle of nowhere (which is actually somewhere to us), you'd need a few laughs too ... Continue Reading
Michael Moore on MSNBC with Michael Eric Dyson, 3/22/13
Michael Moore on Democracy Now!, 6/28/12
Michael Moore on the Rachel Maddow Show, 5/11/12
Michael Moore on MSNBC, Super Tuesday, 3/6/12
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Michael Moore on the Rachel Maddow Show, 2/27/12
