Posted on 07/01/2005 7:18:18 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
It has been somewhat quiet on the Andy Stephenson front during the past month of June but here it is the beginning of July and the Scamdy scandal is breaking out all over again. The latest outbreak is in the Seattle Weekly magazine as you can see in this ARTICLE titled, “Two Cases of Bile” which is also the title of this DUmmie THREAD discussing the article. I urge everybody out there to read this Seattle Weekly article in that it provides great laughs in the Whitewash Dept.. Most particularly this line from the article, “’He has pancreatic cancer,’ says Johnson.” So is Johnson some qualified physician finally giving us assurance of the true nature of Scamdy’s condition? Nope. Johnson was a nurse practitioner who became a primary care provider for Scamdy. I think I have problems with my kidneys so I guess I’ll be consulting a nurse practitioner for a diagnosis. As usual the gullible DUmmie weepings (sans any commentary from Pied Piper Pitt or Skinner) is in Bolshevik Red while the commentary of your humble correspondent, wondering if the Scamdy fraud trial will take place in Washington state or Maryland, is in the [brackets]:
Good article from a good paper. Would freerepublic raise 50,000 dollars if one of them needed it? I doubt it.
[Gullible article from a gullible paper. The Free Republic would NOT allow the recipient of medical funds to receive $50,000 without the slightest bit of accountability as your gullible Skinner has done.]
It would never occur to them to do so Personal responsibility and all that sort of thing!
[Personal ACCOUNTABILITY and all that sort of thing. Skinner allowed DUmmieland to be scammed by a con artist ONCE AGAIN.]
No one ever claimed to be professional fund raisers.
[And DUmmieland is certainly an amateur act thanx to Skinner. It’s gonna be a lot of fun watching both Skinner and Pied Piper Pitt sweating bullets on the witness stand during the Scamdy trial.]
think someone else said this - it was really DU's finest hour. The freepers must be jealous.
[The Freepers are jealous that you put on a better comedy act than anything they could come up with. The way you DUmmies were so easily SCAMMED is a comedy act that is hard to top.]
I hope we can finally end this controversy.
[Pied Piper Pitt certainly does since his worrying over this scandal has caused him to stay awake since April.]
I don't get it. How can this Grady guy claim that Andy "defrauded" anyone if the money was given freely and voluntarily for a medical emergency that has been confirmed and surgery that has been performed?
[Um…Duhhhh!!! Maybe because Scamdy claimed to have pancreatic cancer in order to raise big bucks when he really suffered from something different which did NOT necessitate surgery at Johns Hopkins.]
I never quite understood the Bev Harris thing.
[It’s simple. She scammed you DUmmies and then her assistant, Andy, turned around and scammed you AGAIN.]
I don't get it, either...I believe the ones of us who contributed to Andy were more concerned with getting his surgery done in time to worry too much about how professional the fund raising was.
[Yeah, it’s really “tough” to simply have a third party, such as Skinner, collect the money for Scamdy.]
Hold the flames, but… Something about the article doesn't quite read right, although the generally sorry state of medical reporting could be the cause. My cousin died of pancreatic cancer a few years ago and I spent weeks on the Internet trying to find something, anything, that offered hope. But pancreatic cancer is usually diagnosed only after it has already metastasized. No one has ever been confirmed as surviving metastasized pancreatic cancer. Never heard of treating it with radiation, and I think that surgery is fairly rare. Often the only treament is a chemo protocal know as Gemzar(sp?), which only provides comfort, not recovery.
[And this DUmmie WINS an Andy Stephenson Kewpie Doll for having a brief moment of mental clarity for realizing that something is not quite right about this article.]
don't believe his has metastasized and when it comes to pancreatic cancer, they are continuing to make strides. His tumor was encapsulated.
[Skinner has been encapsulating any mention of “pancreatic cancer” in DUmmieland and tombstoning it.]
Fred Grady has been exposed as a Moran and that will follow him for the rest of his life. Does the idiot still have his web site up?
[Yes. http://www.scamdy.com. Visit it and you might learn something. And the threads in the discussion forum are NOT locked as Skinner tends to down when “pancreatic cancer” is mentioned too much in DUmmieland.]
I suppose now that it is proven Andy has cancer they will accuse us of stealing a tumour and implanting it in Andy.
[A nurse practitioner diagnosed pancreatic cancer. I’m CONVINCED!!!]
Because the Freepers want Andy to die. I'm now convinced that that is the reason.
[Actually we want Andy to LIVE and testify In court as to how easily he scammed the DUmmies with the aide of the incredibly gullible Skinner and that hapless cheerleading fool, Pied Piper Pitt.]
Why would someone pay for a site just to attack Andy and his friends? That is what blew me away.. that this accountant fellow (freeper) would actually spend his own money to take out a website like that. Does that man not have any clients? Hope his clients realize what a putz he is and what a bad head for money he apparently has.
[Maybe he wants the world to know how easily conned the DUmmies were by scam artist Andy.]
Do you think this article will help shut them up? It proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that Andy really does have cancer, did have surgery and is still recovering. You would think this would be the end of scamdy.
[Only the end of the beginning of Scamdy. Now the fun begins as more spotlight is shined on Andy’s scam. As to it proving “beyond a shadow of doubt” that Andy had pancreatic cancer, are you in the habit of turning to nurse practitioners for a medical diagnosis of something that could be life threatening?]
Fantastic journalism. Obviously this kind of journalism can only be done these days at an independent weekly, since it doesn't manufacture moral equivalence between Andy and the jackals who accuse him of faking his cancer. The reporter actually did the hard work of seeing for himself. My best to Mr Stephenson for a speedy recovery.
[That reporter deserves a Pulitzer Prize for going no further than a nurse practitioner to obtain a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer for Scamdy.]
I think I may just go visit Stanton. Who wants to come along? When we get there we can play baseball. So bring your bat! We could also go pheasant hunting along the way, so bring your shotgun and some birdshot. And then we can take Mr. Grady out for coffee and settle our differences in a civilized manner. Sounds like a fun trip, no?
[Sounds like a death threat, yes? And it WILL be used as evidence at your trial, Dummie benburch. I repeat, DUmmie benburch.]
They keep harping on the "Three Questions" Well here's my answer WHO THE F*CK ARE YOU TO DEMAND AN ANSWER TO ANYTHING YOU FREEPER SCUMBAGS?!?! WHAT DOES ANDY OWE YOU AN EXPLANATION FOR?
[LOL!!! Ignorance, thy name is DUmmie.]
I'm in the second group.
”Another group appears to be people who are rightfully concerned about Internet scams.”
And I think there's a lot of people in this group with me.
[LOUSY FREEPER TROLL!!!]
are you saying you think this was a scam?
[DUhhhhh!!!]
Left-Wing Web site? whoever wrote that doesn't read this site very carefully...
[LOL!!! FUnniest DUmmie line of the week!]
f*ck cancer, and f*ck freepers... I didn't know Andy had had complications. I hope he is feeling and doing better soon, and isn't listening to all the negative crap. I don't care one bit that this wasn't done the usual way, it was an unusual circumstance, with little to no time to plan. I was happy to donate, and still am happy I did.
[I don’t care that Andy scammed me and I would be happy to be conned again!]
I'm not completely up to date on what's going on, but I do know that I stumbled upon a post by WilliamPitt that was demanding answers from Andy because, according to him, the whipple procedure was not done. Has the story changed?
[Pied Piper Pitt “cleared” it up by posting a FAX document from late April claiming that Scamdy’s “pancreatic cancer” surgery was scheduled for the week of May 23 even though at the time of the FAX, the surgery was scheduled for early May and wasn’t rescheduled until AFTER the FAX was sent. Oh, and this is one big reason why Pitt has been completely SILENT about Scamdy recently. I notice that Pitt didn’t even sign on to Scamdy’s get well card in DUmmieland.]
Exactly. It was the DUmmies that wanted Andy to have cancer so bad. We hoped his problem was somewhat minor. Alas, it's that hope for good health that tripped up Andy's fundraising.
And you know he has cancer because...? Cindie
"It was the DUmmies that wanted andy to have cancer so bad."
Remember the one DUmmie who actually wrote she wanted UNdie to have cancer just to prove the FReepers were wrong? LOL.
"goodboy...having trouble controlling the Tourette's syndrome."
Man, how many posts did it take to get that collection?
Does he swear every post?
That was just his tagline.
"That was just his tagline." LOL. "...is a FReeper BTW."
Yeah, I thought I had seen some posts from the guy during this adventure.
This fundraiser could have been set up in a legitimate, accountable, and proper way in--not months, not weeks--just a day or two. A trust or fund or account could have been established quickly and easily with a bank or an attorney or the hospital. This is done all the time, routinely, for needy causes.
But the DUmmies don't want to do things like normal people.
"But the DUmmies don't want to do things like normal people."
Do as we say, not as we do.
I call him, "Useful Pundidiot Pitt."
Yes, Pitt himself had a brief moment of mental clarity on May 17 (The Day the Dam Broke). Pitt himself raised the same questions that we have been asking. Pitt himself was being a graveyard rat and a ghoul when he wrote:
I'm pretty upset right now, and I need an explanation
As you all know, I was one of the people who took point on raising money for Andy. I wrote about it for truthout two or three times, and convinced the crew at Progressive Democrats of America as well that we needed to raise a call for help.
This is what I wrote for truthout on May 3rd:
"A few weeks ago, Andy was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, one of the more dangerous varieties of the disease. His doctors told him he needed a Whipple procedure to get at the tumor, and only a few hospitals in America can perform this complicated procedure with the required competence. To compound the problem, Andy shares the plight of millions of others in our disgusting for-profit health care system and does not have health insurance."
This is what I wrote on the PDA blog, in our call for help, on April 29th:
"Several weeks ago, Andy was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He was recently told that he must undergo what is called a Whipple Procedure. This is a very serious surgery that few hospitals in America are skilled enough to perform well, and requires significant time for recovery. Fortunately, some friends managed to get Andy a slot at Johns Hopkins Medical Center, one of the premier hospitals for this type of procedure. He is slated for the procedure in the second week of May. Unfortunately, the hospital requires a $25,000 down-payment before they assent to doing the Whipple, and requires another $25,000 once the procedure is done. They are expecting the down-payment immediately."
The basis for this started way back in February. On the 29th, I posted this truthout blog entry, which I reposted here on the first and fifteenth of every month to help raise money:
"For the last several weeks, Andy has been suffering through a bout of Hepatitis. The word came down yesterday, however, that his situation is far more serious. 'I apparently have a tumor growing around the bile duct where it passes through my pancreas," he wrote. "The tissue sample was consistent with malignancy; it could be benign but I am planning for the worst.'"
Note that here it says 'tumor.' In subsequent weeks I was told that it was pancreatic cancer requiring a Whipple. Note also that the fundraising for Andy did not start a week or so ago, but started three months ago.
I woke up today to this DU thread, in which it was reported:
"fyi: it is a tumour on the duct, not the pancreas themselves. it looks to not have spread at all. it is not pancreatic cancer as others have posted, but if it was not caught early enough, it would have certainly spread there."
"...as others have posted..."
I am one of those "others" who posted it was pancreatic cancer, requiring a Whipple. I posted it here, on truthout, and on PDA. I did so because that is what I was told was the diagnosis, repeatedly, by both Andy and others.
Now that it turns out not to be the case, I have some questions:
1. If it was not the very serious pancreatic cancer, why did the surgery need to be done at Johns Hopkins?
2. If a Whipple was not required, why was $25,000 and then $50,000 needed for this surgery? Andy could have gotten this far-less-serious procedure done back in Seattle for a hell of a lot less money.
3. Why was I personally told this was pancreatic cancer? Why was I allowed to repeat this now-inaccurate diagnosis many times without anyone correcting me?
Understand: I believe Andy has a tumor of some kind, and this requires medical attention. I do not think this entire situation was fabricated from nothing.
But the 400 people who will come into this thread with "Andy doesn't need this stress" can hold your water. Andy is apparently a hell of a lot less ill than I and others were led to believe, and I need some answers. I put my reputation, the reputation of truthout, the reputation of PDA, and the reputations of all the people who work for those organizations on the line not once, not twice, but every day for weeks on this. I have a huge, huge responsibility here, and I am not going to just let that drop.
I have a personal reason for asking these questions over and above everything else. A great and good friend of PDA, activist Damu Smith, was recently diagnosed with advanced colon cancer. There is no ambiguity about this diagnosis. But because I was told Andy had pancreatic cancer requiring a $50,000 Whipple in the best hospital on the Eastern seaboard, I talked PDA into diverting time and resources towards Andy. This wound up diverting time and resources away from Damu.
I would like some answers. No wait and see. I have spent time with Andy, worked with him, thought I knew him well enough to vouch for him in a time of crisis. I am feeling personally betrayed right now, and furthermore I have put far more than my own feelings and standing on the line here.
If you think I'm a bastard for asking, I will live with that. But if this is not explained to a degree I find satisfactory, there is going to be hell to pay.
We would raise real bags of cash for a FReeper with actual cancer.
No one ever claimed to be professional fund raisers.
Believing someone's story just because you have ideology in common would not have been very professional.
think someone else said this - it was really DU's finest hour. The freepers must be jealous.
Oh yes, truly. You make we want to be a hateful idiot more and more each day.
I hope we can finally end this controversy.
Sure, a hard- psycho-Left newspaper that regularly lies on its pages decided that conservatives are evil and a fellow psycho-Left activist is a wonderful truthteller. Surely, they have put the matter to rest with their awe-inspiring credibility and objectivity.
I don't get it. How can this Grady guy claim that Andy "defrauded" anyone if the money was given freely and voluntarily for a medical emergency that has been confirmed and surgery that has been performed?
Remember that you said this when Andy asks for more cancer surgery money and it turns out he spent it on "reassignment surgery" so he can be Andrea. They will not be able to put his stuff back on, and they will not give the money back.
I don't get it, either...I believe the ones of us who contributed to Andy were more concerned with getting his surgery done in time to worry too much about how professional the fund raising was.
Yeah, pancreatic surgery performed five months after diagnosis and the patient hasn't lost any weight...yeah, that's the ticket. Seriously, the weight is the only thing that makes me 100% sure it's a scam...the other stuff is goofy but not necessarily criminal.
Hold the flames, but… Something about the article doesn't quite read right, although the generally sorry state of medical reporting could be the cause.
Let's just say Dan Rather and the guy who wrote the article have never been seen in the same place at the same time.
I suppose now that it is proven Andy has cancer they will accuse us of stealing a tumour and implanting it in Andy.
No, but I would like to note that it would be one of the least disgusting tricks y'all have pulled, especially compared to the Ronald Reagan, Barbara Olson and Laura Ingraham threads.
Because the Freepers want Andy to die. I'm now convinced that that is the reason.
That's something coming from the "be patriotic: Kill Your Baby" crowd.
I think I may just go visit Stanton. Who wants to come along? When we get there we can play baseball. So bring your bat! We could also go pheasant hunting along the way, so bring your shotgun and some birdshot. And then we can take Mr. Grady out for coffee and settle our differences in a civilized manner. Sounds like a fun trip, no?
"Peace train's gettin' longer...ride on the peace train!"
They keep harping on the "Three Questions" Well here's my answer WHO THE F*CK ARE YOU TO DEMAND AN ANSWER TO ANYTHING YOU FREEPER SCUMBAGS?!?! WHAT DOES ANDY OWE YOU AN EXPLANATION FOR?
Who am I? I...am Indigo Montoya. You killed my accountant. Prepare to die.
I'm in the second group. ”Another group appears to be people who are rightfully concerned about Internet scams.” And I think there's a lot of people in this group with me.
Proof that not all liberals are dumb, and not all liberals see wholly-coopted "journalists" from Seattle nutpapers as great sources of objective truth.
are you saying you think this was a scam?
No, pancreatic cancer victims gain weight and go on long trips all the time. Idiot.
Left-Wing Web site? whoever wrote that doesn't read this site very carefully...
My God, who do you think you are to the right of? Freakin' Lenin?
f*ck cancer, and f*ck freepers...
Good Lord, no. Even if I wanted an STD I'd find someone who was good looking and didn't smell, thank you.
I didn't know Andy had had complications.
The first complication was when PJ and Fred caught on to his act.
I hope he is feeling and doing better soon,
If he really is sick, so do I. See how easy that was? Now you DUmmies can say the same thing about Laura Ingraham.
I'm not completely up to date on what's going on, but I do know that I stumbled upon a post by WilliamPitt that was demanding answers from Andy because, according to him, the whipple procedure was not done. Has the story changed?
Yes, it has. Early and often.
Note: I also loved the DUmmie who said that we FReepers would have been in the front row cheering over Jesus' crucifixion. See what happens when you trade communion wine for bong water?
Reminds me of the video where the Maine State Trooper pulls over a guy in a Jeep who needs anger management. Especially the part where the Trooper tells the guy the ticket is $137.
That's a great line--the Keepers of the Flame of Moral Equivalence, acting all high and mighty about NOT manufacturing moral equivalence.
This is an amazing thread of criticism of eeeevil FReepers from people who hoped Laura Ingaham would die of cancer, even arguing with Elizabeth Edwards for telling them to knock it off.
Daily.
I don't... but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt in such a grave situation.
And you know he doesn't have cancer because...
and
"I didn't shed a tear for Barbara Olsen and I won't work up too much sympathy for Ingraham. Karma's a bitch, ain't it?"
Here they are on a thread bashing one human being (cancer doesn't have a political ideology) saying Laura's hatred manifested itself as cancer and this is "karma" while expressing prayers and sympathy for Andy and Elizabeth and never in their psycho Romper Room fantasy land does the thought cross their little minds that they paint Andy and lizzie with the same brush. How do these people function?
Cindie
In post 70 of this thread, I linked and posted the first thread by Pitt from May 17, when he was having a brief moment of mental clarity. Here now is the second DU thread from that day, when Pitt was being a graveyard rat and a ghoul for raising legitimate concerns:
'Need an explanation' Thread II
This is thread one, which is getting pretty huge:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
First of all, I'm not going to apologize for asking these questions. Something is not right about all this. Let's be clear:
The very-publicly-proclaimed diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, which I was personally told of, was changed to a thread-buried diagnosis of pancreatitis. The first is deadly dangerous, the second is very much not.
An enormous amount of money was raised in rapid fashion based on the aforementioned first diagnosis. For those who say 'Big deal' about the money raised, understand that it isn't about the money itself, nor is it about 'my ego.'
The organizations I work for, plus a whole bunch of organizations I have never heard of, took 'pancreatic cancer' and raised it to the rooftops. I am getting frightened PMs and emails from representatives of these organizations.
It isn't about the money. It is about the ability of these organizations to fundraise for important causes we all believe in. If this situation is not on the level, the ability for those organizations to do their good work is now imperiled. That hurts each and every one of us.
I believe Andy is sick, and I believe he needs treatment. I believe the compassion showed by DUers and others in rallying to his aid was and remains one of the most remarkable things I have ever seen.
But, based on the aforementioned concerns, I need to know why we were allowed to yell 'pancreatic cancer' and 'Whipple' and 'impending death' from the rooftops for weeks. I need to know why $50,000 was raised for a procedure at Johns Hopkins, when it appears now the diagnosed ailment could have been treated on the cheap in Seattle.
I need to know why I've been allowed to believe Andy was dying, why I was not told that this wasn't the case. Hell, a part of me is massively relieved...but the rest of me is badly hurt and deeply confused. I have called Andy my friend. Friends usually tell friends when they are no longer dying. I never heard that, and had to read it buried in a thread. If you need a personal impetus for my posts, you can have that.
This could all be a vast miscommunication. If so, if all this is on the up-and-up and it is just a matter of a bunch of wires getting crossed, then I will take whatever rap is coming for stirring up a hornet's nest. But I am not going to apologize. Anyone who thinks this is just about me does not appreciate the scope of the issue here. Hundreds of people, a bunch of important organizations and dozens of important causes are on the hook with this.
To answer the question of why I didn't talk to Andy, all I can say is this. I did talk to Andy. Dozens of times. It was from him first that I got the pancreatic cancer/Whipple/Johns Hopkins thing. It was from him first that I got the death-is-impending messages. Dozens of times. It was talking to Andy that started this, and right now, I am not at all comfortable going to Andy for confirmation of anything.
The pancreatic cancer diagnosis, the death-is-impending statements, the need to have all that money and the need for Johns Hopkins were all very publicly proclaimed. The hysteria to get it done was propelled in no small part by threads and posts from Andy himself. Therefore, a demand for an accounting of the vast discrepancies must also be public.
Howland visited Andy in his hospital room at Virginia Mason Medical Center and "listened to his surgeons, a resident, and nurses discuss his cancer with him."
And Howland knew they were surgeons because they were wearing scrubs and little booties and face masks. They were not exterminators in hazmat outfits ridding Andy's room of roaches/silverfish.
The resident just happened to be wearing an earring and a pink triangle tatoo on his forehead, and the nurses, not including the "old biddy" who didn't give Andy immediate service, were carrying collection cans with "Save Andy" painted on them.
Yet with all these high-powered "care-givers" gathered in Andy's room, Andy's "current diagnosis and treatment are unclear."
What rot. I am amazed that the Public Relations offices at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Virginia Mason have not pursued those who are trashing the reputations of their hospitals.
A reporter is allowed to be present during a consult with a patient? Crazy.
Beb-burch's threat to visit Franksolich's town with shotguns and "TAKE HIM OUT for coffee..." in the context of the "cover-up" seems clearly an incitement to murder and mayhem.
BB is a foul-mouthed, bullying punk, so would probably stay put, but he knows the people that he is encouraging, their fragile mental states requiring heavy-duty drugs, and their boundless rage; it is as if someone provided the fuel and the matches to an arsonist.
This guy should be picked up.
Have you been following this? Do you know anything about pancreatic cancer? By the time people have symptoms(pain,jaundice, weightloss) the cancer has usually spread. It's called "the silent killer" because by the time the majority of people find out about it it's usually too late. It doesn't "encapsulate", it shows up as a dense mass. Even the CT Scan done by JH...supposedly several months after he first became ill (and remember, these are the best available) shows an encapsulated tumor (the same one the doctor in Seattle saw and releived with a stent in his bile duct), a few swollen lymph nodes (as I'm just getting over strep and a chest cold, I'm betting a CT scan would show a few swollen lymph nodes on me as well) and some nodules on his lungs that they felt were probably left over from a recent inflamation, but merited further investigation. Now if you can find me one piece of evidence that supports pancreatic cancer (Andy and his cohorts words and the words of a two-bit reporter who couldn't investigate a hairball left in his shoe by the neighbor's cat don't count) I'm willing to listen. If the situation were all that grave, he shouldn't have been gallavanting around the country consuming wine, men and song and plenty of food.
Cindie
Hey Barset, where you been?!
Cindie
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