Let me start off by saying this: yes, I got my hands on a pirated copy. No, I won’t tell you how or where I got it. Yes, I am going to pay for a movie ticket as soon as it’s released, and I’ll probably go more than once. Yes, it is worth it.

Now then, I am naturally a fan of Moore’s films in general. Fahrenheit 9/11 was an explosive documentary that was a huge reason I began to follow politics, and I periodically throw it in on a slow night simply to re-invigorate myself if I fear my interest in politics is waning. I liked Bowling for Columbine though I thought it was misleading and severely unfair to Charlton Heston. As for Roger and Me, I always figured the point wasn’t really the interview, but rather the rest of the film, and I thought it was okay enough.

Without a doubt in my mind, SiCKO is Moore’s masterpiece thus far. From beginning to end, it is mesmerizing.

It would be easy to make a movie simply focusing on the people without health insurance in America. There’s 50 million of them or so, and they all undoubtedly have horror stories. It would be simple to show a bunch of them in distress, then show a bunch of people getting free care in France or Canada, and finish it all up with a “hey if it’s free there, why not here?” type of message, but Moore obviously isn’t satisfied.

Rather, the film focuses on the health care industry itself. Starting with the stories of multiple people across the United States who have insurance, we see many of them lose coverage for the very illnesses that would seemingly make valid the insurance they pay for. After all, what’s the point of having insurance if they leave you hanging when you get sick?

Apparently that’s the MO of the HMO and their ilk. We meet a “hit man” whose job was to comb through medical forms finding mistakes or conditions the patient neglected to mention so the coverage can be denied. We meet a woman who fielded calls of those who want insurance, and then finds out if there is any reason they can be denied it. In short, we quickly discover that in the health care industry, the word “industry” should be in bold while the “health care” part should be written in the smallest font possible.

From there it’s on to the world. Canada, England, France. The usual suspects. In each instance we look at the state of their insurance and, lo and behold, nothing costs a thing. Moore’s investigation into the matter is both hilarious and infuriating, as we see the contrast between those who are denied medical care in the United States and the universal and free care in the other nations. To most of them, paying for health care is a foreign concept, and even the reservations I had about the system fell away swiftly. The entire time spent in France is infuriating as we see the kind of benefits and coverage those people get.

The famous segment of the movie involves Moore taking a few 9/11 rescue workers, among others, to Guantanamo Bay upon learning that the detainees there get free and rather thorough health care, so he wants to get the same for our heroes. The scene and its followup are impossible to describe without spoiling them, so I won’t aside from saying that I wanted to cry not out of sadness, but a mix of sympathy for the victims of this debacle and out of anger toward those who victimized them. A special jab is even thrown at the owner of an anti-Moore website (which I won’t link to).

If you are an American citizen and this film doesn’t stir you, I would ask if you’re truly an American and really care about helping your fellow man, if you know what the stanza is at the base of the Statue of Liberty. I almost stood up and applauded all by myself at home. Even if you hated Moore’s other films, this one simply deserves a watch, and you owe it to yourself to do so. I don’t condone piracy, which is why I will gladly pay for a ticket more than once upon the film’s release, and I heavily encourage you all to buy a ticket as well for this film.

Michael Moore is the one man who may be capable of starting a revolution, and I truly hope one is sparked from this film. I would consider it far more important than F-9/11.

Hot on the heels of the article discussing the left vs the right, I might as well offer my praise to the Senate Democrats for furthering the effort to get behind renewable fuels. It’s been a rocky few months for the blue Congress, but this could get things going in the right direction.

Senate Democrats are seeking a major reversal of energy tax policies that would take billions of dollars in tax breaks and other benefits from the oil industry to underwrite renewable fuels.

On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee will take up a bill that would raise about $14 billion from oil companies over 10 years and would give about the same amount of money on new incentives for solar power, wind power, cellulosic ethanol and numerous other renewable energy sources. The bill is one of the signature issues this year for Democrats, along with immigration and the war in Iraq, and one in which they hope to clearly distinguish themselves from the Republicans.

But Senate Democrats are expected to go beyond the $14 billion in tax changes in the draft bill. Democratic officials said the committee is all but certain to adopt a proposal by Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico that would raise $10 billion from companies that drill for oil and gas in federal waters but do not currently pay royalties to the government.

Wham. I’ve been plenty annoyed with the tax breaks and back-scratching major oil companies have been getting, so it would be fantastic to see some actual effort made toward the renewable energy sources. I really don’t see why we haven’t aside from that it would require us to break from the status quo.