The classic educational cartoon series "Schoolhouse Rock" has revised its "I'm Just a Bill" episode to account for a Senate committee's vote on "conceptual" health care legislation that has not yet been reduced to actual legislative language.In the new version of the cartoon, "Bill" has been renamed "Dieter," after a fictional West German expressionist art critic who was played by comedian Mike Myers on the show "Saturday Night Live."
Dieter showed little interest in the guests he interviewed on his talk show "Sprockets," just as the Senate committee voting on health care legislation seems little interested in the actual results of large-scale changes to the entire U.S. health care system.
In keeping with the "conceptual" theme of the Senate's "legislative" process, the new cartoon features Dieter responding to criticisms of the health care changes he personifies by saying "Your narrative has become tiresome," and, in some cases, simply yelling "Touch my monkey!" -- a reference to his pet monkey Klaus.
Producers of the revised episode acknowledged it might "freak some kids out," but they said they felt obligated to present "an accurate depiction of the Senate legislative process."
