I had a patient cry yesterday.

[w8liftinglady]

A tough-guy.
Young guy with several kids.
Working-class.Uninsured.No sick time.
Will need hospitalization for a week.
Will not make rent.

We collected to make his rent.

What the fuck have we come to,folks?


Go,unions.Make these bastards who have created this fiasco come to their knees.
Do it for the rest of us.

[SammyWinstonJack]

1. K&R

:hug:

[Shaman Omaha]

79. What means K & R?

Embarrassed to have to ask, but I am new here. I searched and got "kidnap and ransom" and Kerrnighan & Ritchie (the authors of a text on C programming). "Kisses and Recovery"? "Knowledge and Rehabilitation"?

[emmadoggy]

81. Welcome to DU!

"K" stands for "kick". When you post on a thread, it "kicks" the post back to the top of the forum listing. "R" stand for "Rec" or "Recommend". At the bottom of the OP you will see a link to click to "recommend" or "unrecommend" a post. Posts with lots of "recs" get posted to the Greatest page and get a lot of visibility.

Hope that helps! Again, Welcome!

[cpamomfromtexas]

2. You are wonderful. Love your sentiments!

[DeadEyeDyck]

3. KnR

[patrice]

4. K&R

[babylonsister]

5. You rock, 'lady!!!

:hug:

[sarcasmo]

6. What a sad state this country has become.

[hamsterjill]

7. Yeppers, to their knees!

Nothing less will make a change. It's sad that it's come to this, but the working class is going to have to learn to fight back. And the best weapon the working class has is sticking together in numbers.

[RKP5637]

8. K&R

[polichick]

9. Bless you! Until more people wake up and realize how we've come...

...to this place, things are going to get uglier and uglier.

[PA Democrat]

10. As long as there are good people out there like you ,w8liftinglady

there is still hope.

There are so many people here on DU that inspire me to continue the fight. Go unions, go advocates for the poor, the disabled, the elderly our children. Go environmentalists and advocates for corporate reform. Together, we can't be silenced!

[Overseas]

11. K&R and Many Thanks ! //nt

[siligut]

12. Thank you and agreed

They have showed us who they are and must be hit until they can't get up.

[azurnoir]

13. That is a wonderful thing to do thank you K&R n/t

[tavalon]

14. I'm a unionized nurse

There aren't many of us and that is really, really, really bad. We could be such a force. I went to the WSNA and the ANA websites last night and they have zip, zilch, nada about the union situations. Now the NFN, http://www.nfn.org OTOH, is right in the middle of it. Yay!

Nurses are considered by the public to be trustworthy and quite revered. You have shown just one reason right here. I could give hundreds of others as could you. I wish we would organize nationally - we would be an even bigger force for good.

[w8liftinglady]

18. CNA has tried to organize Texas in the past. You can see how far it went

When my youngest has graduated HS, I will get much more active in organizing.Trust me.
We get fired(trust me)..

[tavalon]

21. Lived 20 years in that state of yours

I miss some of the people but the state, not so much. So, yeah, I trust you and you are right - if you pull a Norma Rae, they will fire you. Then you can come up here and work in a semi civilized situation. I'm actually not entirely happy with my union, they are weak. But it's still better to have a weak union than no union at all.

[xmas74]

30. That's what I'm afraid of.

I'm not a nurse but am trying to unionize my workplace. I suspect I'll be fired before it's over.

[truedelphi]

45. Thanks for your wonderful response to that person in need.

It made my day.

[Horse with no Name]

99. I've always thought that the reasons that we have State Boards of Nursing

instead of a national one (which truly makes more sense)...is strictly for the reason to keep us from amassing one of the most powerful unions in the country.

[SpiralHawk]

15. Why do Republicons HATE America's young, working families?

Are Republicons so intent on enriching the already rich that they will continue to dump all over young working Americans?

Why are they so twisted?

[Jakes Progress]

38. Twisted and hate filled is the definition of republican.

[Pat Riot]

64. dead eyed sharks don't hate

That would require having emotions. they just have to keep moving and greedily eat anything in their way

[Jackpine Radical]

94. "Dead-eyed sharks" is a great description of the leadership--

the Kochs, Rove, Limbaugh and their ilk. The followers are cut from a different cloth. They are fearful, angry, and ignorant, kept in that state with malicious propaganda in order to keep them from using their higher cognitive functions. The top end are psychopaths; the followers are fools.

[WinkyDink]

66. They aren't rich.

[HughBeaumont]

83. It's something far worse than love or hate, because that would imply it's personal.

I think it's that they just genuinely don't give a flying Philadelphia shit what happens to us.

Ted Turner once said that at his level, it pretty much comes down to "If I'm Rich Guy A, I want to know I have MORE than Rich Guy B."

Survival of the country be damned.

[highplainsdem]

16. K&R. And thank you for helpng him.

[Iris]

17. "We collected to make his rent." Thank you.

Thank you. Sure flies in the face of working people being greedy and selfish.

[madokie]

19. You are a wonderful person

and I feel blessed to share the same cyber space with you :hi:

[TheCowsCameHome]

20. What country is he from?

Never mind. I've answered my own question....

Bless you w8lifting lady.

[Cirque du So-What]

22. Bless your heart and the heart of everyone who helped out this man

but what about those unfortunate people to come, who will feed their children or watch them go hungry, who will have a roof over their head or get kicked out to live on the street, who will get medical attention or die like a neglected animal - all dependent upon whether they're surrounded by people kind enough and with the means to do what is rightfully accomplished collectively through good government?

You've done a wonderful thing for this man, but there are likely millions more to come - just as desperate - who will encounter people with tapped-out resources. What then? Will the masses finally awaken to the possibility that giving an endless stream of tax breaks to the wealthiest in society was not the most prudent course of action?

[w8liftinglady]

25. THAT is what I hope happens. We ARE still capable of revolt...

it just may take a little more suffering before it happens.

[Cirque du So-What]

26. Yep

I don't know what level of misery will finally become 'intolerable,' but I hope we - as a society - take action soon.

[gratuitous]

23. Young tough guy with several kids

And before his health was compromised by either a disease or accident, he probably thought he was invincible. Or maybe I'm just projecting here, because in my 20s and early 30s, I certainly thought that.

Now, he's facing a whole panoply of life options that probably never occurred to him before this: disability (short or long term), homelessness, loss of his job, and so many other prospects. I hope he talks to his friends about his situation, and impresses them with the absolute necessity of access to health care.

Bless you w8tliftinglady and your co-workers for stepping into the breach when we as a society have so badly failed ourselves in the name of some chimerical "free market" or "rugged individualist" philosophy.

[Turbineguy]

24. My sister got a bill

for $7000 for a quick visit to the Emergency Room. My Mother (the republican) was outraged. "How can they charge that much?" "It's because that's what we want in this country, Mother."

[irislake]

90. No! Americans over-whelmingly want single-payer health care

Noam Chomsky proves Americans want what other "civilized" countries want. There is a complete disconnect between the will of the people and the corporate bought-and-paid for politicians of both parties. He calls the US "a failed state".

As Gore Vidal says, "America has a one party system with two right wings."

The elite that runs your county promotes the myth of two parties and creates strife that deflects your attention from the true enemy Wall Street and the Pentagon.

I know he's a nut and has some harmful beliefs but I believe Ron Paul would be a far better president than Obama. However, they would shoot him before he got to abolish the Fed or stop your insane wars.

What do most Americans want? To stop the wars, have health care, end poverty.

[Turbineguy]

106. Too many Americans want

what Fox News tells them to want.

[Solly Mack]

27. K&R

[seabeyond]

28. wow, how sad. i am glad you were there for him. so glad. wow. nt

[spanone]

29. k&r you prove we have not become a nation of heartless fucks - yet

thank you

[Shagbark Hickory]

31. Even if he sold off several of his kids, he's still have problems paying the bills. nt

[Aristus]

32. That must have been so tough for you, w8liftinglady.

I always feel so helpless when my patients cry. I can fix sick people. It's so hard to fix broken people.

When a patient cries about something I can't treat, like domestic violence, or an undocumented immigrant's fears that she will be deported,
all my training goes out the window, and all I can do is hold their hands and try to let them know that somebody cares.

[ZombieHorde]

33. You rock. nt

[Chris_Texas]

34. BOOT STRAPS!

Right?

[1776Forever]

35. Blessings to this man and thanks for the help! My son who got MS 5 yrs ago

didn't have any insurance and he we 38 and had no children and never been married. In Florida they would do NOTHING for him! We had to just scrape together every penny we could to keep him going until he got his SSI through which took 2 years. He went to a University program and got the care he needed but it was almost too late as he had given up. I hope this guy gets the help he needs!

[kurtzapril4]

46. Did you try NMSS?

the national multiple sclerosis society? They've hooked me up with treatment at reduced or low cost, provided me with lots of information, and they're a clearinghouse for knowledge on all the treatements being tested at this time. They also have stuff for care-givers, too. They put out an excellent free magazine every other month or so....detailing treatments, lifestyle issues, coping strategies, etc.

www.nmss.org

[1776Forever]

48. We did learn of their resources years down the line. I also found out the so called

Faith Based Charities also did help but it was right before we got his SSI through. It would have been great in the initial start of his problems. Thanks for the reply. He is getting IVIG treatments now.

:hi:

[crim son]

36. There are hundreds of these stories every day.

Somebody needs to hear them, all of them, until they realize it's no goddamned joke any more and catering to the right is killing us. Any idea who that somebody might be?

[Brigid]

37. This is what the right wants.

Enough said. BTW, :yourock:

[Jakes Progress]

39. The republicans are destroying the America that we built.

They are systematically dismantling every piece of the American dream while hypocritically lauding it.

[irislake]

91. Not just Republicans!

Most of the Democrats are owned by the corporate elite. Don't fall for the myth of a two party system. As Gore Vidal said you have one party with two right wings. If the Democrats were really on your side you would have single payer health care and the gap between the rich and the poor wouldn't be so huge. America's middle class is being decimated.

God only knows why some Americans call Obama a "socialist" (dirty word in your country) because he is a Fascist --- corporate owned. His biggest contributor was JP Morgan and guess who runs the government?

You dance with the one that brung you!

My brother was ecstatic when Obama won. I said, "No -- no --- no. You don't understand. He's just a smooth-talking, glamorous, GWB. A big PR job. And what has he done? Extended the wars, continued the torture, helped the big banks at the expense of the tax payer, given the big insurance companies and Big Pharma more loot while not trying hard to get single-payer.

Wake up! You have been had!

Why do you hate Ralph Nader?

[irislake]

92. And worst of all

he is continuing the PR campaign against Iran. There is no danger of Iran getting nuclear weapons and attacking another country but Hilary and Obama are spouting the same crap GWB and Co used to attack Iraq!

Sickening! Go Ron Paul, go!

[Jakes Progress]

102. republicans with a lower case "r"

refers to all of that mind set. We have a lot of republicans with a capital "D" beside their name.

[inna]

40. The system catering to the needs of the top 0.5% at the expense of everybody else

belongs in the garbage pile of history and has to go, period.

It's only a matter of time when it happens - unless, of course, they take the whole planet down with them, before their downfall.

[steve2470]

41. k&r nt

[Liberal_in_LA]

42. Bless you for collecting to make his rent.

[snot]

43. Agreed, except to clarify, we need to be there fighting side-by-side WITH the unions.

[Paper Roses]

44. Big sigh. What have we become? n/t

[defendandprotect]

47. Wonderful -- wow!

[era veteran]

49. What a great thing to do

[PBS Poll-435]

50. K&R

:cry:



:yourock:

[DinahMoeHum]

51. There but for the grace of G*d go you or I. . .

and tomorrow it may well be you or me in that guy's place.

"Everyone does better when everyone does better" - Paul Wellstone

[MissDeeds]

52. Could not agree more

"Go unions. Make these bastards who have created this fiasco come to their knees." Spot on.

[Maru Kitteh]

53. AMEN. n/t

[Snoutport]

54. Dr, are corn nuts still a vegetable?

Dear w8liftinglady,

I'm a teacher with 60% of my students in foster care. I find myself in an ethical dilemma almost every day because the lunches we get are TERRIBLE. The worst day last week... a buttermilk bar with 619 calories and 49 grams of carbs (about four adult bites big and in its own plastic bag), a small square of fruit leather in another plastic package and chocolate milk for breakfast. For lunch it was egg salad sandwiches, cornnuts for the vegetable (another plastic bag), a bag of cheetos (plastic bag), two Oreo cookies (plastic bag) and more chocolate milk. (to be fair, out of 16 milks they sent two that were white).

Corporations have taken over the school lunch programs and now we teachers are being forced to not only feed our students this horrible HORRIBLE food, but it is completely undermining any attempts at teaching nutrition. I teach special education so I can talk about good nutrition until I am blue in the face, but my students are going to remember the real lesson from the modeling. Breakfast and lunch should be sugary, salty and it should come in a bag from a big corporation.

It breaks my heart! (So, like you, I try to pick up the slack and I got a hot pot and oatmeal packages in my room. If the lunch is particularly awful I use my break to run to the store and buy vegetables or fruit. I keep peanut butter and bread in the room. I have two amazing Educational Assistants and the three of us bake like crazy and throw bake sales so that we can serve something besides corn nuts as a vegetable.

I can't believe that there are people who think that this is O.K.

Thank you for your message. It helps to see there are other people out there standing up when they can. And, I'll tell you, I'm getting mad enough to take some of my standing up out into the streets and start making some noise.

[Dan]

69. your children will remember,..

the teachers that cared - you. They will also remember a society that didn't care. And one day in the distant future, some of these children will grow into adults that society will fear.

[Snoutport]

103. Thank you!

Very nice of you to say. :0)

[Wednesdays]

55. You mean, you didn't just let him fucking die in the street? What kind of American are you?

I mean, the bastard should have taken responsibility and saved up for a day like this.
You're just teaching him to be dependent, that's all! :spank:

(Do I really have to add the sarcasm thingie?)

[Paka]

56. Bless you w8liftinglady!

May you always stay safe and live long. Every voice of solidarity is critical for the hard times ahead. And fight we must if we hope to survive. :hug:

[valerief]

57. We are third world. Billionaires and slaves. nt

[bertman]

58. HIGHEST REC EVER. nt

[AmericanSolidarity]

59. in the richest country the world has ever known

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

[midnight]

60. This makes me want to cry.... Thank you w8tliftinglady for helping this man...

You are amazing! Our country appears to be held hostage by elitist who have no intention of following the laws, and so we have people like you and the unions...

[Shining Jack]

61. K&R

[a kennedy]

62. This just makes me cry.......

:cry: :cry: :cry: We collected to make his rent. Thank you

[Riley18]

63. My heart goes out to families without insurance and sick time.

We are going backwards instead of forward. It reminds of a book called The Jungle by Sinclair. The working people could never really be safe before unions became more organized and fought for workers' rights. Everyone seems to be losing ground lately while the rich are taking everything for themselves. I worry that my kids will not be able to have the basics because of the scope of the corporations' greed for money and power.

[StarsInHerHair]

65. K&R

nt

[RoccoR5955]

67. When will they have to take up collections for wars, and WE THE PEOPLE

can have some decent healthcare, and decent wages?

Probably only when WE take it!

[madmax]

72. We're going to need to take it

The Union busting and all attempts to defund the Democrats are critcal.

Don't know if anyone else believes this but, mho is that Tunisia and Egypt gave a lot us Americans the stones to do SOMETHING!!

[SheilaT]

68. No one should be living tat close to the edge.

It would be all too easy to say, oh he should have saved more or he should have planned better, but that's NOT what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that we shouldn't be living in a country that allows anyone to be so close to the edge.

[Chorophyll]

70. K to the R!

[madmax]

71. Food Posioning / 6 hrs in ER / Meds $ 6,400.00

:wtf: :wtf: :wtf:

I feel so sorry for your patient. If 6 hours in an ER could cost this much, :wtf: would a weeks hospital stay cost - no insurance, and can't make his rent.

Sorry I've joined the I hate America Club and until the are some major BIG changes it's exactly where I intend to stay. .

[Shaman Omaha]

80. We must become the change we want

Dear MadMax,

The fallacy in the hate america thinking is believing that government can ever provide the education and health care we deserve.

We must provide these for ourselves! We have forgotten how to farm and our farmland has been taken from us. Like the Diggers of England, it is time to farm the commons. A teacher lamented the poor lunches provided by the corporations the schools have contracted with. Like an addiction, Stop Using! Recovery is doing for ourselves what others will not do for us. Rise Up Humanity! Rise Up!

[AnneD]

73. W8lifting lady.....

We will be rallying in Austin on 3/14. If you contact the AFT in Dallas, I am sure they would be happy to make a spot for you and any friends you can rustle up. We are wanting to get as many folks as we can. I will be up there lobbying to prevent cuts to school nurses (as this is the only health care some of these kids get).

People think there are no unions in Texas, but we want those new tea bagger reps washing out their under ware after they see how many of us there really are. We also want them to know that they had better keep their hand off our TRS money. Raise money by taxing drilling leases-not raid our retirement fund. We contribute and it is our money.

[sueh]

74. Thank you w8lifinglady to you and your friends...

you are an inspiration:) bless you.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

75. Now THAT'S the spirit!

And the heart - thanks for what you all did - how many people are suffering like that family? And often in silence.

K&R

:hug:

[Shaman Omaha]

76. Three Trillion Dollars Would Buy a Lot of Health Care

America has pissed away THREE TRILLION DOLLARS on wars of aggression against the people of Afghanistan and Iraq (just to mention the most recent in the shameful litany). THREE TRILLION DOLLARS would buy a lot of health care and pay for a lot of teachers. THREE TRILLION DOLLARS would also pay for a lot of family planning, which your patient apparently could have used.

[Enthusiast]

77. K&R

These fucks would rather we die than pay their fair share of taxes. This is what is has come down to.

[nadinbrzezinski]

78. You know I saw a lot of hardship in Mexico

but we were supposed to. I mean we were a developing nation with a lot of marginal communities...but hearing Americans even in the early 1990s was always shocking... I mean the US is the most powerful nation on Earth... :sarcasm:

[madrchsod]

82. my republican rag had a front page story today about...

a family that went from a 3000 sq ft house to sharing a mobile home with their adult children. the father has`t worked in three year and can`t find a job because he`s over 40 and worse-he`s a former union carpenter. the local told him new construction won`t start for at least 5 yrs. his wife and children have a inherited disabling disease that is covered by medicad. she will be covered under obama worthless preexisting plan that takes effect in 2014 but they have no money to purchase insurance.this guy does`t want a hand out...he wants a job.




as a wise man once said..you will be known not by your words you will be know by your deeds.

:loveya:

[Lifelong Protester]

84. I'm glad I wasn't too late to rec this for the day

bless you!

And you're right, we need to bring these bastards down.

[sabrina 1]

85. Yes, we need MORE unions! They have opened a Pandora's

box. NOW people are getting a really good look at the truth about what has been going on in this country.

:kick:

[ncrainbowgrrl]

86. 31 year old female

chronic illness

learned that with "charity care" was $200 to have follow up care from ER; ER costs are one half insurance copay. ($250/2 = $125)

[area51]

87. Nurses rock.

:yourock:


Each day, 273 people die due to lack of health care in the U.S.; that's 100,000 deaths per year.

We need single-payer health care, not a welfare bailout for the serial-killer insurance agencies.

We don't need the GingrichCare of mandated, unregulated, for-profit insurance that is still too expensive, only pays parts of medical bills, denies claims, bankrupts and kills people.

Republinazi '93 plan:

"Subtitle F: Universal Coverage - Requires each citizen or lawful permanent resident to be covered under a qualified health plan or equivalent health care program by January 1, 2005."

"We will never have real reform until people's health stops being treated as a financial opportunity for corporations."

"Employer-based health insurance has always been a bad idea. Your life should not depend on who you work for." -- T. McKeon

"Any proposal that sticks with our current dependence on for-profit private insurers ... will not be sustainable. And the new law will not get us to universal coverage ...." -- T.R. Reid, The Healing of America

[irislake]

88. Oh that is so so sad!

I don't think your MSM can continue spouting the myth that America is the land of milk and honey and that you don't want that there communist socialized medicine that all advanced countries have.

I spent two and a half months in hospital. It didn't cost me ANYTHING. I saved money because I wasn't paying for food or gas for my car.

This makes my heart break and my blood boil.

I hope you Americans will take your country back from these psychopathic, heartless monsters.

People working for the MSM need to be flooded with angry emails. How can they put out the corporate point of view 24/7 and sleep at night?

Sickening.

[indimuse]

89. KNR! n/t

[Vinca]

93. America is no longer the land of milk and honey, it's the land of money.

If you don't have it, you struggle every minute of every day to survive. And money is harder to get. Millions of good-paying jobs have been outsourced and it's barely mentioned in the MSM. The majority of politicians insist globalization is good and outsourced jobs aren't the cause of our problems. Funny. Before the jobs were outsourced we were doing pretty well in this country.

[WVRICK13]

95. I Am Ashamed To Be An American

When even third world nations have national health care how can I feel good about our country when things like this happen to the working people?

[ck4829]

96. Why didn't the Koch bros come to this guy's rescue like how the tea party said they would?

K&R

[Patiod]

97. Sick time cuts into profits

What are you people, communists?

I posted a graph on my FB page showing the number of government-mandated vacation/sick days in the 21 richest countries in the world. Only the US had NONE.

And in reply? My friend's investment banker husband complained that the chart "doesn't show deficits as a % of GDP." He also pointed out that France has the most mandated time off, and we don't want to be like France.

And that comment, in a nutshell, shows what's wrong with America.

[Horse with no Name]

98. Every day at work is another story

I can't tell you how many times I have collected groceries or gas money for patients.

I've never had to collect for rent yet.

Bless you.

Times are tough out there and they are only getting worse.

K&R

[w8liftinglady]

105. and most of us can't bear to see people suffer... beyond the suffering that accompanies illness

...and that has become more and more the rule,instead of the exception.

texas leads the nation in minimum-wage employees.

I can't handle letting their kids go homeless or hungry.

[ewagner]

100. K & R

[mother earth]

101. This should not be happening in the land of the free, third world

America. We've been creating a caste society, the uber rich and the poor...the middle class is sliding into despair.

Absolute solidarity for Wisconsin. It's high time politicians are taught what representing the people is truly about. Walker and his ilk didn't cry foul when Bush created the debt that brought this country to its knees. We need to take away their benefits, that's the true irony, while they demonize unions, they are the ones draining the system for every penny they can for themselves and their wealthy puppetmasters. Follow the dirty money trail.

[MaeScott]

104. K and R. It's a war people. nt