That was my brother's death you were cheering, you a$$holes

[FourScore]

Tue Sep 13, 2011 at 01:05 PM PDT
That was my brother's death you were cheering, you a$$holes Updated
by Susan from 29

To all of those tea-jadist assholes at last night’s GOP debate: I don’t generally like to use profanity, but I fear that English is above your comprehension level, so in terms you might better understand, may God damn your worthless souls to hell for all eternity...

SNIP

...Steve worked 14 hours a day building beautiful guitars. Songs will not be sung because he died and will make no more. Thanks to the Republican Party’s theft of our national wealth, he barely eked out an existence with financial help from my husband and me. Money for health insurance? Don’t be ridiculous...

SNIP

...And all of the laughter and love goes away with that last breath. The intelligence, the creative beauty, the caring compassion. They all disappear. But that probably wouldn’t matter to you since I doubt you would recognize any of it.

Love, compassion, beauty. Laughter, intelligence. And the ability to realize a dream. A dream that never included cruelty or indifference to the suffering of others.

And I cannot, for the life of me fathom why he is only ashes today and you are walking this earth.

But then, I am not the hero my brother was. He would have forgiven you. He would have understood the source of your fear that caused those cheers. I don’t want to.

I think you are scum...

READ THE WHOLE POST WITH UPDATE HERE (VERY POWERFUL!): http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/09/13/1016557/-That-was-my-brothers-death-you-were-cheering,-you-a$$holes-Updated?via=siderec

[seabeyond]

1. wow.... nt

[rurallib]

2. I regret I can only rec this once

OMG, I am crying.

[dtexdem]

15. Proud to be part of the reccing crew.

And damning the teabagger wrecking crew.

[liberal N proud]

3. +++1

[MountainLaurel]

4. Incredible piece.

And so timely -- on a friend's FB page last night, I saw an entreaty for folks to contribute to a fund to pay for the medical care for a 19-year-old girl (an uninsured college student) who was in a car accident recently.

[HappyMe]

5. k&r

No words.

[SpiralHawk]

6. Wow - Republicons are a shameful, unethical lot

just stunning

[closeupready]

7. K&R

[Smilo]

8. We have all seen the jar on the counters/the car washes pleading

for help for those that are uninsured. Each time I see those, I think there for the grace of God and try to help.

The heartless scum that laugh are not just moronic, insensitive jerks, they have absolutely no freaking idea that they and/or their loved ones could be next. Will they laugh when the plug is about to pulled on them?

[FourScore]

21. Those jars on the counter break my heart every time. BTW,

Welcome to DU, smilo!

:hi:

[eppur_se_muova]

23. Those jars on the counter = Republicare.

Proud Merkins lifting themselves up by their own impovershed bootstraps -- by begging for charity from strangers. YEEEEEEHaw! USA! USA! USA!

[Evasporque]

9. speechless...and a bit teary....nt

[polly7]

10. K & R nt.

[OneGrassRoot]

11. K&R n/t

[Blue Owl]

12. The Repukes should be fading away to oblivion following that GOP debate

And they will -- they can't walk this one back.

[rurallib]

13. the media will bury it and it goes away

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

14. Are you kidding?

The media is proclaiming them winners after last night's election results.

[Blue Owl]

18. In reality, the GOP is fading

The tea party is an M$M holograph, not a real, legitimate force it is portrayed to be. There's NO ONE going to tea party gatherings, have you seen the photos?

The Koch Bros. can afford to make a fancy smoke & mirrors machine that lies to people every day in order to advance their agenda.

Meanwhile we'll just go on with our lives thinking the GOP represents 50% of the country without bothering to really check. The paperless, electronic voting machines are so trustworthy why it's a no-brainer that time after time, the GOP keeps winning 51-49, isn't it.

[Doctor_J]

45. Check the results of the elections last November

We really will never get the country back if we keep thinking we're winning while getting trounced

[totodeinhere]

25. Yea, they faded away so much that they won two big elections the next night.

They won in heavily Democratic NY 9 and they won in a bigger than expected landslide in Nevada 2. Some fading away to oblivion. I have been hearing that the GOP is going away for years but they just keep winning elections anyway.

[chervilant]

29. Of course!

The electronic voting machines are designed to insure results that are bought and paid for by the corporatists who've usurped our media, our government, and our global economy. And, the 'data' we see regarding the Tea Party is trumped up propaganda intended to convince the hoi polloi that the basic tenets of the 'GOP' du jour are embraced by the vast majority of us.

[Blue Owl]

34. Oh they "won" did they?

Fair and square, just like they always are.

:sarcasm:

[totodeinhere]

49. Well, the Democrats had held that seat for the past 88 years.

If the Democrats could win there before, why is the GOP suddenly able to cheat to win when they couldn't before?

[The Doctor.]

55. The Republicans began a strategy a while back,

I wish I could find the posts on it. Basically, they've been systematically getting people into key positions, including on the boards of elections in small towns and slowly corrupting the process.

A perfect example of how this eventually panned out for them was Ohio.

[Delphinus]

65. I see

what you are saying. School boards, too.

[Frustratedlady]

16. What an incredible story. His guitars were gorgeous.

I think this is the only way the Baggers or Republicans are going to be beaten...shame them for their crass, selfish, narrow-minded behavior. They remind me of those cheering for death in Roman arenas.

The mysterious part is that they claim to be Christians.

They didn't learn from the same Bible I did. We Methodists are tolerant, but I have to confess that I can't be tolerant of these clowns. They are a disgrace to humanity. If I'm headed to hell for saying so, so be it.

[firehorse]

17. Our culture does not value its artisans. There is no place for them - even though every product we

use and consume was at one point designed by them.

I make jewelry for a living. There were times my stuff sold in the most high end of stores and sold to famous people, at the same time I could be seen selling on the street selling as a vendor. The same people who assume I must be mental or homeless when I'm on the street are absolutely surprised to know I'm uninsured and in high end stores.

Most of my friends who are designers or freelance are on medicaid or uninsured. They may sell over $100,000 of product a year, but at the end of the year they are lucky to make much of a profit. These people are not lazy, they work 80 hours plus per week as entrepreneurs. They have employees, interns and rent studios to make their products. And yet they are technically well below the poverty line.

[Happyhippychick]

19. K&R

[chervilant]

30. hmm...

You wouldn't happen to know someone with serious precious metal clay chops who needs an apprentice?

[marions ghost]

70. It is now to the point that

anyone going into the art or craft field will be seen as suicidal (unless they have a big bucks daddy
somewhere). What little profit these kinds of crafts used to make is now gone. And that's not going to change in these recessionary times.

We live in a country where health insurance is a luxury item.

[RockaFowler]

20. I really hate these Tea Baggers

All of them. They have no idea how their words affect people. THis is such a sad story. I posted it to Facebook. One of those rabid Repukes I know will probably disagree as usual. Time to get rid of a few people on my list.

[Initech]

22. I do too, they stoop to new lows on a daily basis and they don't care.

[orbitalman]

24. Truly K & R

[a2liberal]

26. K&R (n/t)

[lunatica]

27. I am cryng as I read this

It's been a gut-wrenching couple of weeks, full of needless death and immense pain.

[madamesilverspurs]

28. We are better than this!

My heart breaks for you and your family, and for this country.

[Butch350]

31. Sorry for your Loss...

He sounds like a beautiful person.

The hate that goes out from those people - may it return to them 10,000 fold!

[Uncle Joe]

32. Peace and healing to Susan from 29 and her family.

Thanks for the thread, FourScore.

[Prophet 451]

33. I don't have words

K&R

[PA Democrat]

35. The lives of Wall Street CEOs who have created economic agony for millions

are so highly valued that they would receive the best health care available. The life of this man who lovingly crafted guitars that created such beautiful music is worth only the balance of his bank account.

Our society is sick.

[harmonicon]

36. Some well-needed context is missing from this post. nt.

[AtheistCrusader]

40. It's in the clip of Ron Paul answering a Wolf Blitzer question about 'who pays'

in a hypothetical scenario where the subject may have means, but chooses not to buy insurance, and something drastic happens such as a coma for 6 months.

During RP's answer, some of the audience shouted out 'let him die' and cheers.

Happened during the CNN primary debate.

[harmonicon]

58. Ok. I have no idea how I was supposed to glean that from the OP though.

I recognize that many people here are acutely attuned to what goes on in the world of cable "news", but there are also a lot of us that have nothing to do with it whatsoever.

[AtheistCrusader]

62. It was sort of the topic of the day

so people tend to make assumptions that everyone else has seen it. You raised a good question.

[pengillian101]

63. I agree.

I hadn't visited DU earlier today, and had no clue that this was the topic of the day.

Weird - it wasn't just YOU, :-) I was right there with ya. I had no reference what this was about from the OP.

[polmaven]

37. Ohhh!

Not much can be said. That says it all! RIP Steve.

[proud patriot]

38. k, r , shared and tweeted

[Octafish]

39. 'My brother would have forgiven you.'

A true human being, he was.

[lillypaddle]

41. kick & rec

how could rethugs suck any more?

[Enthusiast]

42. I couldn't possibly think less of Republicans than

I do already.

Same goes for Democrats that push Republican ideas and objectives.

[dorksied]

43. Amazing article... moved me, angered me.

[flamin lib]

44. And my friend Kevin too. Stages of grief? Stuck at anger . . . nt

[The Traveler]

46. K & R and this

Is it not a shameful burden that we must endure sharing the body politic with these gutless, heartless, fascist wannabe knuckledraggers? Sometimes I think we should take them up on their offers of secession ... let them have their Redneckistan. We will gather the engineers, the thinkers, the guitar makers and craft the better place.

[hifiguy]

47. Happy and proud to rec

even though I am a latecomer to the thread. How unutterably sad.

Note this horrifying coda in Susan's update:

"And to the DNC spokesman who said that the cheers last night would not be used against the GOP and that only lefty bloggers would even discuss it: Fuck you."

[libmom74]

71. I'll add a Fuck you to taht DNC

spokesman. This is exactly why when the Democrats should be winning big on the issues they are losing big (especially in places that they shouldn't).

[mvd]

75. I can't believe they aren't using it

What has happened to our party!?

[ceile]

48. K&R n/t

[louslobbs]

50. Nothing to add except my Rec, sadness, and growing anger K&R

Lou

[Presidentcokedupfratboy]

51. The TP are awful

Calling them human is impossible, since you have to be a human being first.

[Swede Atlanta]

52. My condolences..............

So sorry to hear about your brother.

I don't understand why Americans view health care as a privilege and not a right. It goes along with the idea that when you are unemployed but actively looking for employment somehow at the end of the statutory period your need for continued support evaporates into thin air.

I do not defend those that abuse our public benefit system. But don't punish those that follow the rules because we have ineffective policies and procedures to weed out those that do.

Most of those clapping whether it was for the number of people Rick Perry has murdered as governor or the number of people that have died or suffered as a result of a lack of health insurance and care claim to be Christians.

I suggest none of them would even recognize Christ if he walked among them. He would be the community organizer. He would be for universal health care, against subsidies for corporations and the wealthy. He would be opposed to capital punishment and discrimination.
He would be for throwing the money changers out of the temple or in modern parlance, throwing the greedy preachers from their pulpits. He would be for the rights of workers to organize, clean air and water and health standards. He would be for literally everything government does EXCEPT for war. He would be for fair and compassionate treatment of immigrants (legal and illegal). He would be for equal treatment for men, women, gay, straight, handicapped, etc.

I think these faux Christians will find themselves among those "gnashing teeth" when the ultimate day of judgment comes because they refused to read the words of the Bible and internalize them. They allowed the mega-preachers, driven by power, greed and hatred, to define their spiritual existence.

[FourScore]

68. Well said, Swede Atlanta! n/t

[Moostache]

76. I'll go one further....I wish the clapping howler monkeys were dead.

I too cannot fathom why they walk the earth still and people of good will and conscience are gone or are suffering needlessly in similar situations all across the country. My mother is fighting cancer and losing. She has battled for 6 years - through 5 rounds of crushing chemotherapy, 3 surgeries and endless tests and monitoring and more tests.

Without the benefit of Medicare, she would have departed this world without ever getting to hold 5 of her 7 grandchildren from my sister and myself.

Without the benefit of Medicare, her illnesses would have bankrupted her and my father (and she would have blamed herself, though Dad never would have heard it) - Dad, who was forced into early retirement when the steel mills outside of Chicago began failing and consolidating and being bought out last decade. He worked a lifetime only to be forced out in the end and left without a legacy or a company that he could point back to and say "I helped build that. I was part of something larger than myself and something that contributed to making a better society." He is worried sick all the time that Mom won't be with us much longer and doesn't know what he is going to do without her.

Dad is also starting to show signs of Alzheimer's - he forgets things much more than ever and frequently repeats parts of a conversation clearly unaware that we had discussed the same thing a few minutes earlier. Dad is still caring for his own 94 year old mother, who has full Alzheimer's and has lived in a near vegetative state for the last 5 years and has not recognized family members in nearly a decade. It was only the benefit of my grandfather's union negotiated pension and health benefits that allowed my grandmother to last as long as she has before Dad began liquidating her estate 2 years ago to pay for care. That money is nearly gone and Dad is terrified of what happens next. The stress is enormous and I can see it sapping the life out of my parents faster than it should and much faster than it needs to be happening.

My parents have been married 45 years this past June and we all hope that Mom can recover from her last surgery and more chemo enough to be with us for more, but hope fades in the face of the relentless onslaught of cancer. With that fading hope, I am watching the slow motion disintegration of my father as well and it is heart breaking. To live this, as I am sure so many more millions are right now - many, many of which are doing it under even far MORE stress and worry than my family and then see mis-informed morons bleating like sheep on command or worse yet applauding the appalling is too much.

Without the benefit of Medicare, my mother and father would have lost the house that they raised our family in, they would have had to become a burden to their own children. Instead of a retirement of time spent together and opportunities to shape their grandchildren, they would have been living in fear of foreclosure and eviction - they are already struggling with the fact that they may soon have to sell the family home anyway because Mom can no longer navigate the stairs or the floor plan.

What this country desperately needs is to rid itself of these jackals who howl in glee at the thought of executions or the uninsured dying alone in pain and in anguish.

What this country needs is a politician who is willing to sacrifice EVERYTHING - including death threats and intimidation and everything in between - to see to it that the powerful have their death grip on this nation broken.

I heard those people shouting and clapping and I was physically ill.

They not only want people dead, they want to end Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and all other manner of government programs that help people in their hour of greatest need. Well, not to put to fine a point on it, but FUCK THEM! FUCK THEM! FUCK THEM! Our mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles and mere strangers are HUMAN BEINGS. They are not so sort of twisted fucking ATM that spits out "profits" for someone or for some faceless "corporation". They are not the sum total of their economic output only. They are people dammit...they are the only thing more precious to us than our own next breath. They are my mother, my father, Susan from 29's brother and maybe your kin as well.

Life is not money and money is not life. If these fuckers cannot get that through their head, then maybe it is time for a new Declaration of Independence, time to once again "becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.".

There is no common ground with murder.
There is no common ground with torture.
There is no common ground with slavery - either of the body or the spirit.
There is no common ground with racism.
There is no common ground with bigotry.
There is no common ground with discrimination.
There is no common ground with greed and exploitation - of resources, people or power.

There is no common ground with the "Tea" Party and if I am truly in the minority of the population with that belief, then maybe it is time to find those like-minded individuals who DO agree and begin moving towards a political separation and equal station among the powers of the earth. I am sorry, but I cannot abide a group of people so callous, so heinous and so dedicated to greed, money and power that they would cheer the deaths of other humans.

I wish I had the equanimity of Robert Kennedy, the ability to suffer so much more than I have, to suffer the horrors that he experienced within his family and to still be able to talk about being a country and being countrymen once more (with all apologies to RFK....this speech of his always brings me to tears: http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Ready-Reference/RFK-Speeches/Remarks-of-Senator-Robert-F-Kennedy-to-the-Cleveland-City-Club-Cleveland-Ohio-April-5-1968.aspx) I wish I had his eloquence and ability to move men. I wish he were here still. I hope that the moment allows us to find a man of his caliber once more, because I can't see it at times and those times are becoming too frequent for my liking...

Sorry for the disjointed ramble...but I had to get that off my chest and at least for a few hours I feel a better...

[Paka]

53. K&R

With tears in my eyes. Thank you for posting.

[Highway61]

54. OMG

Makes me sick. WTF kind of country has this turned into.

[AnnieK401]

56. Very Powerful

Thanks for posting. Very sorry for the loss of your brother.

[FourScore]

69. Welcome to DU, AnnieK401!

:hi:

[Riley18]

57. K&R

[PatrynXX]

59. that might be the only time to use those words together

I get it for installing weatherbug :( or for more serious things like voting for Obama in 2008.

I'd say your justified in damning the audience. Ron Paul slipped a bit on that one. but Ron used to be rather extreme. he mellowed over the years. would have loved to hear the guitars. can great drums out of them too.. mariachi music..

[ThatsMyBarack]

60. "There are guards at Highland...."

I guess healthcare really is a police state now!

[Yon_Yonson]

61. I am speechless ... my heartfelt condolences

[ScottLand]

64. K&R.

[sfpcjock]

66. Thanks...

Hey Bachmann, your cheap grandstanding about "Obamacare" is what kills 45,000 Americans per year!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1938517&mesg_id=1938517

[OwnedByFerrets]

67. k an r

[Divine Discontent]

72. there's what people need to hear in response to the wolves at the door! they are evil & uncaring!

http://www.zazzle.com/republicans_2012_keeping_millions_out_of_work_bumper_sticker-128002960205017719

[Zambero]

73. Living breathing people are mere abstractions to this bunch

As a musician, I greatly appreciate what your brother was inspired to create during his lifetime. His spirit will certainly continue to breathe life through his instruments.

[mvd]

74. Kick - wish I could still R

Thanks very much for posting!