Gee, for a minute I thought maybe last summers town “hells” would finally be over. Oops my mistake.
Stay Classy Ohio TeaBaggers, Stay Classy.
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4 responses to “Stay Classy Ohio TeaBaggers, Stay Classy.”
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More of an update & a now a name via TPM here:
“TPM LiveWire
Man With Parkinson’s Who Was Berated By Tea Partiers: ‘I Embody The Controversy’ (VIDEO)
Justin Elliott | March 19, 2010, 4:43PM
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An anti-health reform protester yells at Bob Letcher (right).
“The man with Parkinson’s who sat down in front of a group of anti-health reform rally in Ohio this week, only to have dollar bills thrown at him by an angry protester screaming about “handouts,” tells TPM in a phone interview that he was aiming to present his own body as a powerful symbol of the debate.
“I feel I embody the controversy that was being fought out,” Bob Letcher, 60, tells us. “No one was engaging, everyone was screaming. I thought, I don’t have to scream, I just have to be there. I walked over and sat down … I sort of presented myself as an argument by myself.”
The episode took place Tuesday outside the Columbus office of Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH), where hundreds supporters and opponents gathered for dueling health care demonstrations.
Letcher made his way over to the anti-health care crowd bearing a homemade sign asking, “Got Parkinson’s?” I Do and You Might. Thanks for helping! That’s community!”
“I scribbled it — it’s not so neat because I can’t write very neatly,” says Letcher, whose voice has been slowed by the disorder. A former college teacher, he tells TPM he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2000, but he believes he had symptoms of the disorder since 1996.” [End Cite. More at link].
This always was & remains as ever a deeply moral issue. RTL? It’s right there, lying on the ground as you curse him and berate his mere existence. And you know? Sad but true, life’s costly. Death’s always cheaper. Kilroy’s now a yes vote for HCR too. Sure enough, Kilroy was there when needed! JMP
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Tweety does an update on the Vid for MSNBC:
UPDATE (posted by HuffPost staff):
Hardball grills the president of Americans for Prosperity over the incident at the rally they promoted. See the NEW video:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-mary-jo-kilroy/stand-up-for-decency_b_504778.html
JMP
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Classier:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/03/18/90669/state-of-the-health-care-debate.html
State of the health care debate: Talk radio attacks an 11-year old
Les Blumenthal | McClatchy Newspapers
last updated: March 18, 2010 08:28:46 PM
“WASHINGTON ‚Äî Conservative talk show hosts and columnists have ridiculed an 11-year-old Washington state boy’s account of his mother’s death as a “sob story” exploited by the White House and congressional Democrats like a “kiddie shield” to defend their health care legislation.
Marcelas Owens, whose mother got sick, lost her job, lost her health insurance and died, said Thursday he’s taking the attacks from Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin in stride.
“My mother always taught me they can have their own opinion but that doesn’t mean they are right,” Owens, who lives in Seattle, said in an interview.
Owens’ grandmother, Gina, who watched her daughter die, isn’t quite so generous.
“These are adults, and he is an 11-year-old boy who lost his mother,” Gina Owens said. “They should be ashamed.”
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., told Marcelas Owens’ story to President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden at the White House health care summit last month. Murray also has spoken about it on the Senate floor. Last week, Owens was in the nation’s capital to speak at a health care rally and to meet with Senate Democratic leadership.
Limbaugh, Beck and Malkin are skeptical about the story, saying there were other forms of medical help available after Owens’ mother, Tifanny, lost her health insurance. They lambasted Democrats for using the story.
[Cut…]
Malkin dismissed Marcelas Owens as “one of Obama’s youngest lobbyists” who has been “goaded by a left-wing activist grandmother,” promoted by Murray and has become a regular on the “pro-Obamacare circuit.”
Malkin also suggested there were other programs that could have helped Tifanny Owens, adding, “It’s not clear that additional doctors’ visits in the subsequent months would have prevented her death.”
Tifanny Owens died in June 2007 of pulmonary hypertension, which is described as high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs that can lead to heart failure. The disease is considered rare. While there’s no cure, it can be treated.
The treatments can cost as much as $100,000 a year and must be “consistent and constant,” said Katie Kroner, the director of advocacy and awareness for the Pulmonary Hypertension Association.
“It’s extremely important to have health coverage,” she said.
Owens was an assistant manager at a fast food restaurant when she became sick in September 2006. As she became sicker, she missed work and was eventually fired, leaving her without health insurance. She was treated twice in an emergency room and died at age 27 after a week of unconsciousness. Gina Owens has custody of Marcelas and his two younger sisters.
Gina Owens said her daughter didn’t qualify for Medicaid. State officials said that without knowing the details, it was impossible to speculate on whether Tifanny Owens would have qualified.
Tifanny Owens might have been eligible for Washington state’s basic health care plan, which is aimed at the working poor. The plan has had a long waiting list for some time, said Sharon Michael of the Washington state Health Care Authority.
“Right now, we have 100,000 people on the wait list,” Michael said.
Limbaugh has gone after young people before. In 2007, he told listeners that Democrats were exploiting an 18-year-old Yup’ik Eskimo and that her congressional testimony of global warming made him want to “puke.”
Murray said she was appalled at how vicious the health care debate has become.
“The mom in me is getting really mad,” she said. “You don’t tear apart an 11-year-old because his mom died.”
Marcelas Owens said he’ll never know if his mother might have lived if she had health insurance.
“At least if she had it she would’ve had a fighting chance,” he said.
Just about 120 per day dying needlessly w/o any real resort to adequate care. JMP
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Hell never ends. Only inhales & exhales. Differing rates of respiration, seen from slightly different angles. But yeah, saw the vid, thanks for posting it. JMP
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