General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWell known “Red State Blogger” life threatening disease w/o health insurance..
Fund raising from Red State" readers and Daily Kos blogger appealing to readers Christian values to also send financial help.
This story is so screwed up on so many levels..A young man who has a wife and two children who habitually writes about the horrors of Obamacare must now put on a brave face and deal with his medical condition... They have raised $25,000, a drop in the bucket as far as Im concerned...but nevertheless this type of outreach by the community just helps strengthen right wing talking points how people can solve these kind of issues without State and Federal aid.. People pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps..
This guy, Caleb Howe.has received much love and financial help..
What the hell happens to the rest of us facing the same problem who do not have wealthy friends or celeb. status.?
I sincerely hope all end well for Mr. Howe and his family, however there are so many things wrong with this story.http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/08/01/2401341/bipartisan-crowd-funding-hospital-costs/
BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)We just give each other $25,000.00 and problems solved.
Actually..We probably die.
geckosfeet
(9,644 posts)On edit; I vote we all pay into a huge slush fund (taxes) and when people get sick they can put in a claim to pay for health care. We can call it Obamacare plus.
BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)usGovOwesUs3Trillion
(2,022 posts)And reTHUGs not only love, but also understand economic principals, so we should be able to get their buy in, too.
Why hasn't anyone ever thought of this before
geckosfeet
(9,644 posts)What we generally do in this country is take that big slush fund of tax money and redistribute it to the wealthy, military and corporate interests.
I am not sure how it has come to that, but it seems that this is the way things are going.
usGovOwesUs3Trillion
(2,022 posts)Because we live in bizarro world
NightWatcher
(39,343 posts)They think "screw everybody, what I'm sick, then help me. Still screw everybody else though"...
I also hate (I'm going to hell, I know) how only some people get fundraisers for their illness or situation. I'm sick too, have no health insurance and my family could use the help. Why not get around to everyone getting health insurance, strike that, health care instead of the local news' tearjerking stories week in and week out. Then we wouldnt see bikers rallying for a sick firefighter's kid when how many thousand die in silence.
I'll be over here prepping for my front row seat in hell
busterbrown
(8,515 posts)The Daily Kos Blogger, Semdem, asked readers to pitch in..to follow their Christian Values. I guess for people like us itsturn the other cheek and wish him well.. However fuck everyone who reads that piece of shit Red State rag. They tend to sit and relish the sufferings of millions who do not agree with their tea bag philosophy..
HillWilliam
(3,310 posts)like they do for everyone else. That is, mutter "I'll pray for you".
Translated in to English it means "I couldn't care one bit less but to expunge my five seconds of human feeling, I'll mumble a magic incantation then put you firmly out of my mind."
bluestate10
(10,942 posts)powerless. His parents likely are hard conservatives that relish taking food assistance from poor children and their poor, hardworking parents. Eric Erickson at Red State won't suddenly see the evil of his ways and start hailing the benefits of Obamacare and even national health care. Lots of beautiful, innocent girls and boys have their parents die because their parents can't afford health care. Who sorrows for the voiceless children that don't have national websites actively raising funds for them. All this story shows is that liberal and moderate bloggers are better human beings than conservative bloggers, but I already knew this.
If you end up with a front row seat in hell because of your hard feelings about this guy, I will have the seat at one of your elbows, because when I first started reading the story, I felt the guy should be sacrificed on the alter of his heartlessness, that feeling didn't change after I read the full story. All I can hope for is that the guy's experiences cause him to become empathetic to real life, powerless and less connected people that need health care and die because they don't get that health care - maybe he will look at his daughters and wife after pulling through with help from others and recognize that he needed society all along and must fight going forward to strengthen social contracts that we all depend on.
busterbrown
(8,515 posts)I feel exactly the way you do, but I backed down in my original thread because I feared that I would be called heartless...., sending horrible messages out from a progressive site.
But man when I read that the blogger over at the Daily kos was asking Progressives to contribute by following their Christian values, I was pissed!!
should have just gone with what I felt....Fuckers..all of them
reformist2
(9,841 posts)Phentex
(16,330 posts)we see this over and over and I always think how short-sighted people can be until they are hit over the head themselves. I remember when insurance rates were going up for many people (way back say in 2006 or more) and I would hear people talk about how their insurance was great, no problem, employer pays, etc. So they didn't want to talk about the issue because it did not affect them. Now that nearly everybody is being affected, either by rates or change in coverage, more people are starting to wail about it.
Many people put others down for accepting unemployment until THEY lost their jobs. THEN they complained about how little you actually got for unemployment.
But, yeah, back to the topic...it feels a little strange whenever you hear about these fundraisers. On one hand, you are glad for someone to get the help they need. On the other, you wish people would think long term and help everyone who needs help.
Safetykitten
(5,162 posts)AgingAmerican
(12,958 posts)When one of them or their kids gets shot, suddenly they become gun control activists.
NewThinkingChance40
(289 posts)having great healthcar. Problem is, the powers that be will never allow that.
hatrack
(59,442 posts)These were tweets directed at Roger Ebert when he was suffering from and disfigured by cancer:
@PBCLiberal Didn't make him any smarter. But he'll be dead really, really soon. So fuck him.
Don't you just want to be the mercy doctor, ending the reign of terror of @ebertchicago?
I mean, honestly. How many pieces need to fall off of @ebertchicago before he gets the hint to shut the fuck up?
You know, @ebertchicago, I"m not as expert on flag etiquette as you. Tell me, which one do I fly when you die of cancer?
You know, @ebertchicago doesn't mind speaking his mind on Twitter. But he doesn't have the balls, or jaw, to answer critics. Heh. Critics.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2010/05/08/redstate-blogger-howe-mocks-roger-eberts-cancer/164397
bluestate10
(10,942 posts)Ebert had a wife who dearly loved him, relatives who dearly loved him, a public many of whom dearly loved him. Everyone is dearly loved by someone. What makes Howe better than a man or woman that is wasting away from a curable disease, if they had money, while their innocent children can only watch their parent die? I am sorry, I have a hard time feeling sorry for the guy, he hurt lots of people and while he didn't do it with his own hands, likely killed many as a consequence of his rightwing blindness.
REP
(21,691 posts)Gormy Cuss
(30,884 posts)He has a choice now. He can either grow a heart or keep spewing bile. Either way he's gonna learn why Obamacare would've been better than what he has now.
Marr
(20,317 posts)He should feel honored.
busterbrown
(8,515 posts)Im pissed that I gave the blogger over at the Daily Kos the benefit of the doubt...As far Im concerned
only the guy is no better than one of those fucking neo-nazi tweekers..
Lars39
(26,093 posts)Sheldon Cooper
(3,724 posts)TheMastersNemesis
(10,602 posts)He has been perfectly ok with letting people die for lack of care. I am not that sympathetic.
There are 129 million Americans with pre existing conditions. Without the ACA none would be insured under a GOP plan. And Americans with no pre existing conditions will have them eventually.
Rectangle
(667 posts)I mean every good conservative has at least a $100K in their
HSA! Right?
Rectangle
(667 posts)his Medical Account??
Neither did I!
It would be good for all conservatives to note what a "one-way-street" it is
with these Ultra-Wealthy Plutocrats.
I'm sure Mr. Howe sure did a lot of advocating work for the Plutocrats over the
years.
Do you think they'l help Mr Howe out?
There are 100 more suckers just like him waiting to take up his post. I've had the opportunity to meet several extremely wealthy people in my life, and I can honestly say that the great majority were among the biggest cheapskates I've ever met. When they give money to "charity", they're tax dodges. They certainly aren't going to waste money on some dumb plebe who was actually stupid enough to believe the garbage their propaganda core puts out.
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)offers health insurance. Isn't that what the Red State/freeper crowd should be saying?
JHB
(37,132 posts)Oh, right. That's what they do now. "Tough luck, but not my problem. You're on your own."
truebluegreen
(9,033 posts)Just sayin'.
City Lights
(25,171 posts)ShadowLiberal
(2,237 posts)And nevermind the fact that if he had paid for health insurance himself the bills would have been a lot less, same with if the government insured him such as with medicare/medicaid.
Health insurance may be expensive, but it saves you big time when you get sick. I'd probably be like over $500,000 in debt if I had gone without health insurance the last 5 years, since I've had 2 surgeries the last 3 years, and I'm only 27 years old. I calculate I've probably gotten a 2,600% return on investment for all the money I've paid for health insurance the last 5 years.
Brickbat
(19,339 posts)Last edited Fri Aug 2, 2013, 08:03 AM - Edit history (1)
fine with it. I wouldn't be able to choose who got coverage and who didn't -- we all would be covered, because it's important that all of us in this country are healthy and don't feel like we're tied to a job or a partner in order to get health-care coverage.
In the meantime, has he tried a spaghetti feed?
mick063
(2,424 posts)The "sky high cost" of medical care.
We can find common ground if we start from there to resolve this issue instead of cornering them into defiance for purely political purposes.
Rectangle
(667 posts)>>WATCH>>>
(I can see the Love of Jesus in their answers)
busterbrown
(8,515 posts)Bullshit!! What kind of followup did you give your patients who were penniless? Did you do the follow up necessary for the patient you diagnosed with a life threatening disease after stabilizing him..
And did by chance, your hospital put into collections the bill which was not paid after you treated them?
Yea, just stop by any local emergency hospital any time you need help and see if they send you a bill or not..
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)I was visiting the US having lived in Korea for a long time. Here you don't worry about having to go to the doctor, you just go. Anyway I was sick and went to an urgent care clinic and told to go to the emergency room right away I was so bad. Of course since I didn't live or work in the US anymore I didn't have insurance. I had to spend 5 days in the hospital and was diagnosed with pneumonia. Respiratory therapy, isolated room (since I'd been outside the US and they weren't sure at first exactly what it was). After I was discharged I wasn't handed a bill, but I knew it was going to be expensive.
My mail gets forwarded from the US to here. A few months later I finally started getting bills. The total...well over $30,000. Now, where I was lucky is the hospital did have a foundation that paid almost everything (I paid around $200). Not that they could have done much to me seeing as though I was out of the country, but I certainly would have had them hunting for me to pay those bills.
wandy
(3,539 posts)This would have been my answer to Clabe How.
Fact is I'd probably brought the laptop and played him the video.
Yup, another one of reserving a front row seat in hell.
millennialmax
(331 posts)busterbrown
(8,515 posts)millennialmax
(331 posts)Drunken Irishman
(34,857 posts)davidpdx
(22,000 posts)I'm say "fuck him". His lack of compassion and his "christian" faith is a joke. People are dying slow deaths everyday due to lack of medical coverage and he sat there for years telling people they shouldn't be helped. Karma is a bitch.
Michigan Alum
(335 posts)I hope Caleb is able to get insurance after he gets through this. Unfortunately that will probably be difficult with this medical background.
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oldmom2 statenislandcon 5 hours ago −
Huh?
How can he be denied under the new 'preexisting conditions' rating rules?
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LiberalLoner
(9,761 posts)He is an alcoholic?
Every heavy drinker or alcoholic I've ever known has always been a Teabagger type, disgustingly self centered while living for the bottle.
I wish I knew how many conservatives are heavy drinkers...I bet a fair percentage are.
Read a study once that said the more a person drinks, the more conservative they become because heavy drinking impairs the frontal lobe.
If his liver failure is due to drinking, he will have to be off booze for six months to qualify for a new liver, I think.
cali
(114,904 posts)detest you making shit up. I may hate his politics but that doesn't mean he should be slimed like you're doing. and by the way, hon, I bet a fair amount of liberals are heavy drinking types too.
Your post disgusts me in every way. It sure as hell does NOT reflect Progressive values.
LiberalLoner
(9,761 posts)I'm wondering out loud, not making stuff up. I am sorry you are so offended.
And it is true that alcoholics who have liver failure have to show they are off alcohol for six months before qualifying for a liver transplant.
Also, his being young is no protection. Watch "Rain In My Heart" on you tube some time before saying alcoholic liver disease never happens to the young...notice the young lady in her early 20s who died of alcoholic liver disease.
Well, maybe there are liberals who are heavy drinkers. I dont really know, because I stay far away from heavy drinkers. I refuse to let people who drink heavily into my life, because I grew up in an alcoholic, abusive family and don't want any more harm to me to be done by alcoholics.
Oh, and by the way, since alcoholism is a disease, not a moral judgment, asking if he has that disease is not a smear, any more than it is to wonder if viral hepatitis caused his liver failure. The reason I am wondering is not to smear him, but to say, he might have a hard time getting a liver transplant if that is the case.
And honestly after all the posts here saying they are glad he is dying, you attack ME? For wondering about the cause of his liver disease? I don't hope he dies. I do hope he gets the liver transplant. If he is an alcoholic, I hope he gets help for his condition.
[link:http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/can-drinking-make-you-conservative-and-other-questions-about-the-political-brain-20120326|
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Alcohol+Brain+Damage+Pictures&id=AB94DBAF31573BCAEA400A026E65F340D48D40E6&FORM=IQFRBA#view=detail&id=AB94DBAF31573BCAEA400A026E65F340D48D40E6&selectedIndex=0
LiberalLoner
(9,761 posts)LiberalLoner
(9,761 posts)And here is an excerpt from the link above:
"Wife just revealed twe (sic) have fifth of vodka in freezer. That means I'm about to say things about Roger Ebert that Media Matters won't like." In fact Howe has a long history of sitting in front of his computer drinking vodka and tweeting about it:
How Drunk Was the Tea Bagger Blogger Who Mocked Rogert Ebert's Cancer?
Related
Tucker Max Has an Explanation
Schlitz-grasping cargo short sporter Tucker Max has finally figured out why his movie, Penis in a Beer Cozy, was a financial failure. Read
So, we're going to say he was really drunk. Probably partial black-out? Maybe he had a vague memory of typing the next morning.
LiberalLoner
(9,761 posts)Tell me again how young people can't get liver disease from alcohol abuse?
LiberalLoner
(9,761 posts)I think you really misunderstood my intent in posting what I posted. My intent was to raise awareness of liver damage due to alcohol abuse (maybe because I had a grandfather who died of alcoholic liver failure, a father who is now dying of alcoholic liver failure despite all my attempts to help him, including offering to pay for inpatient treatment for him to detox and get well again, and a brother who is a homeless alcoholic trapped in hell on earth, who has relapsed following intensive inpatient treatment for alcoholism.)
Every day I see ads on TV celebrating drinking. I see a culture that celebrates drinking to the point of passing out as being a fun and harmless thing. Juxtaposed with that, I see the damage it has caused to my family, and to me (because those who grow up in alcoholic homes pay the price, too) and to so many world wide.
Every single chance I get, I bring up the dangers of alcohol abuse.
If that is disgusting and vile and not at all in keeping with progressive values, so be it.
You were fine with posts celebrating this man's disease and possible future death, but boy you sure attacked the person who brought up the subject of the possibility of alcohol abuse being responsible for liver failure. I have no idea why you are so sensitive about the topic of alcohol abuse, alcoholism, and the terrible damage that this disease causes to so many people, but you obviously are very sensitive.
Again, I am very sorry you were offended, but I don't plan to ever stop talking about alcoholism and the damage it causes both the alcoholic and those who love him or her. It is a terrible disease, and I pray every day it can be eradicated from the earth.
I was wondering, did your user name used to be Cally or is that a separate poster here on DU?
cali
(114,904 posts)guy is or was a drinker. I don't have any problem apologizing though it's conditional: I still think its kind of yucky to speculate as you did. I will say this: there are a lot of posts worse than yours in this thread. The guy has said vile things but some of the things being said about him are straight in the vain of the things he said. I don't care if Howe is vile or this person or that is vile; I still want everyone to get decent healthcare.
I am sorry though because I don't think I saw where you were coming from in your posts.
I'm sorry you went through what you went through and I laud your activism about the dangers of alcohol.
Cali
(no, I was never Cally)
LiberalLoner
(9,761 posts)every single day now.
I probably shouldn't have been speculating. What popped up in my mind, though, was "Alcoholism claims another life, I just know it."
If anyone reads this, I want them to know, an alcoholic is not fully responsible for his or her actions and words when in the throes of alcoholism.
I know, if someone has a DUI and kills someone, they have to pay the price, that is how our laws are set up. But what I see is a person who needs help, not punishment.
I'm from Montana and what happened to my family is not terribly unusual there. Between alcohol and meth, Montana is suffering terribly.
I do not hold him responsible for what he wrote because I believe he wrote it in the throes of a disease that impairs brain function. Again, I'm speculating, I know I shouldn't do it.
But if he does come out and say he suffers from alcoholism, I hope DU'ers will consider forgiving him for his previous actions and wait to see what kind of person he is, clean and sober. If he is indeed suffering from the disease of alcoholism.
I am just so damn tired of the bottle and all it has taken from people I love and from me. And if this man is suffering from that disease, think of how much his wife and children and all those who love him, are suffering. It is a tragedy of almost unbelievable proportion.
And even if you don't have anyone in your life who suffers from alcoholism, and don't think you are harmed by alcoholism, think of how many people, under the influence, vote R because of the influence of alcohol on their brains. That affects the country as a whole.
But hey let's all have a drink to celebrate.
cali
(114,904 posts)and I applaud your compassion. I was off base. I also understand what you're saying about Alcoholism and meth. I live in rural vermont and that is a huge problem here as well.
14 years ago my son lost three of his cousins and a friend in a car accident caused by alcohol. The kids were 17 and 18 and they crossed the border to Canada to drink in a bar. On their way home, just past customs, the car went off the road, flipped over into a brook and 4 of the kids drowned.
It tore up the small community- as have so many of the alcohol related fatal car crashes involving kids that have happened around here.
I have a book rec for you. the name of the book is "The God of Beer". It's about kids and alcohol in a rural setting. The author is Garrett Keizer, Harper's contributing editor and all around interesting guy. He taught at the high school my son attended and was a minister in a tiny town. He's written a lot of non-fiction, but this was a labor of love. I'm not sure that it was entirely successful, but I think you'd find it interesting.
http://www.amazon.com/God-Beer-Garret-Keizer/dp/0064472760
LiberalLoner
(9,761 posts)I've ever read about alcoholism was "Under The Influence" by Milam and Ketchum. There are reviews of the book on amazon and other sites.
The most chilling thing I read in that book was the fact that early in the disease, when a drinker shows increasing tolerance, he or she is already in deep trouble. And that by the time the alcoholism is obvious to everyone around, in most cases it is already too late....the disease will take the man's or woman's life. We have to recognize the signs of alcoholism earlier, and intervene.
You can see the theme of alcoholism all around in our nation....Huckleberry Finn had a passage illustrating delirium tremens.
It's like this huge problem in our nation that we refuse to acknowledge or deal with. It's like we are in denial as a nation.
LiberalLoner
(9,761 posts)Kidneys are shot, but my liver is good. My liver can help someone after I am dead.
If enough people did this, maybe there would not be such a shortage of organs for transplant.
LiberalLoner
(9,761 posts)High school.
LaydeeBug
(10,291 posts)that this *isn't* a result of alcohol.
Both are based on supposition, so why the drama?
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)There's about 4,000,000 other people that are more desperate and deserving than this piece of shit.
burnodo
(2,017 posts)Voluntarily paying more taxes to take care of everyone IS socialism??
OneGrassRoot
(22,917 posts)It's nearly impossible -- given the current systems, with resources in the hands of a relative few -- to literally bail one another out with each crisis.
I see it up close and personal. This DU community is a microcosm, with more needing assistance in critical situations than those with the means to help. This also leads to compassion fatigue.
Coming together is critically important, but in a huge society -- geographically and population -- it's not realistic given our current systems, such as our healthcare-for-profit system, to address each person's crisis individually.
Conservatives don't realize this until they are impacted personally and see that even others' generosity, raising $25k, likely isn't going to keep them from facing financial ruin in the face of a serious illness.
I posted an activist idea yesterday to try to think of another way forward: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023385076
Lee-Lee
(6,324 posts)reformist2
(9,841 posts)SummerSnow
(12,608 posts)They are either
a. have friends with money to help them
b. applied for state healthcare and using it and just keeping hush about it
c. none of the above and just suffering
I know a couple who owns a herbal shop they told me they get lots of customers who use herbs to cure what ails them cause they won't use the socialized medicine aka Obamacare and they are pulling themselves up by their bootstraps blah blah blah.They told me some of them have serious illnesses and should go to a doctor .
ridiculous...is it possible that people hatred can lead to such foolishness?
Hotler
(11,353 posts)mainer
(12,013 posts)I just can't bring myself to donate to a man who'd happily see other Americans die for lack of health care.
mainer
(12,013 posts)and call them socially unacceptable. So why are liberals people donating to this guy, when it sounds like they want to throw the donations back in your face?
http://www.redstate.com/lineholder/2013/08/01/response-to-the-kossacks/
lineholder tngal a day ago
They started in with the donations late last night. It irked me rather badly, but that was nothing in comparison to how ticked off I got reading the comments to the post that had been written by SemDem.,
Big bunch of haters.
Brought out my protective streak. I just couldn't see letting it go without a response.
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tngal lineholder 18 hours ago
After I posted to you this morning my internet went down. So I was forced...forced mind you, into getting out and working. Which is to say serving papers at this time. Luckily after a few hours of "hello my name is and I hate we're meeting under these circumstamces....etc" my kid called and said the net was back up. First thing I did was to come check on you and see if the KK had been bothering anymore. Really did shock me seeing their remarks on his fund page. I could see them doing it over in their kitty litter box or here in our beautiful spacious, opulent home. But not neutral territory.
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midwestconservative tngal a day ago
The Kossacks lack the ability to know what is or isn't socially acceptable.
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lineholder midwestconservative a day ago
Sad but true. The phrase "dancing on a man's grave" comes to mind.
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bunnies
(15,859 posts)They cant even understand the concept. Disgusting.
Historic NY
(37,449 posts)isn't that one of those famous line freepers use for treatment. How about a church supper that ought to raise some funds.
Note; the old Korean lady my neighbor is dying because she needs a liver. She is in her 70's but chances are slim. Her husband isn't in great shape either. I used to run her to the medical center and hour or so away when he was there. Even with his VA and insurance her chances are slim. He asked me about Hospice.
mainer
(12,013 posts)Breeanne Howe 20 hours ago −
Thank you Melissa. Our family has been touched beyond words by the support of our friends. Daily Kos has no hope of bringing us down.
http://melissablogs.com/2013/08/01/dailykos-obamacare-and-caleb-howe/
Why should we donate when even his own family is disgusted by liberal generosity and declare they "won't be brought down by it"? What is wrong with these people? Why can't they at least be gracious and say "thank you"? Instead they want to use it to poke their fingers in liberals' eyes.
mainer
(12,013 posts)since they appear to be so pissed off about it.
lumberjack_jeff
(33,224 posts)Do I feel bad for him and his family? Sure, but he's lying in a bed which he's made his life mission to choose for all of us.
$25,000 won't cover a liver transplant. If he survives till October, he'll be eligible for Obamacare. If he survives, it will be because, lucky for him, he's an oratorical failure.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)The whole "cash in on liberal compassion and laugh at their gullibility" -thing has been done before...Why does Howe get the benefit of the doubt?