DU'ers in a raging panic over funds they raised for "Andy"!

[smag999]

It appears there is a consideral amount of differing opinion as to whether or not they all got ripped off donating for an operation! Wildfire posts today! See the end of the link for some great arguments!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3629008&mesg_id=3629008

[traderrob6]

Andy, estranged from the infamous Barb Harris of Florida. Their all con artists and I am sooooo pleased they took the DUers for a ride.

[MisterRepublican]

UH OH! Not another Bev Harris! Andy was an associate of Bev "Emmanuel Goldstein" Harris, by the way.

[CAluvdubya]

Too funny! Now who didn't see this coming? The only surprise is how fast some of the DUmmies figured it out! LOL

[Ros42]

LMAO!!! Thanks for the great laugh! :)

[ken5050]

Could you kindly provide a very brief precis of what this is all about for those of us who choose NOT to wade in the DU swamp? Thanks

[kevkrom]

Right up your death watch alley...

[franksolich]

Thank you, sir.

The DUMMIE ALERT!s, for those unfamiliar with the case, can be found after response circa 75 or 80 (or perhaps even 50 or 60--I forget, in all this excitement) in the DUmmie FUnnies dealing with "What didn't happen in Ohio."

The DUmmies are disintegrating.

[SoftballMominVA]

Pretty funny watching them eat their own.

[KC_Conspirator]

Can you tell me a little about this whole deal at DU? I have read some of it, but who did this Andy person claim her was?

Is this the digital equivalent of someone selling them schwag at a Phish concert?

[HairOfTheDog]

Heh...

[MadIvan]

The saying about a fool and his / her money being soon parted springs to mind.

Regards, Ivan

[franksolich]

Oh man, it is a long story.

Two weeks ago, the DUmmies started a $50,000 fund-raising drive for the felonious DUmmie Andy Stephenson, because allegedly he had pancreatic cancer, and needed to be treated at Johns Hopkins in Maryland.

From that, you can assume "the rest of the story."

Crime never pays.

[MisterRepublican]

Something must be up, Skinner is locking threads!

Skinner ADMIN Donating member (1000+ posts) Tue May-10-05 11:40 AM
Original message

---

IMPORTANT MESSAGE ABOUT ANDY STEPHENSON

---

I am instructing the moderators to lock all threads relating to Andy Stephenson.

I will post more on this topic shortly. Until then, you are not permitted to start any more threads on this topic.

Thank you for your understanding.

Skinner
DU Admin

[Always Right]

Maybe Andy and Bev can co-author a book titled "The Dummies Guide to Ripping Off DUmmies."

[MisterRepublican]

Update! On the same thread about locking all Andy threads:

EVERYBODY STOP!



From this moment on, I'm going to delete every post in this thread that continues this moronic finger-pointing.

[MisterRepublican]

He's having to lock every thread about Andy. It appears their may be a mutiny in progress:

---

IMPORTANT MESSAGE ABOUT ANDY STEPHENSON (2nd try)

---

I am instructing the moderators to lock all threads relating to Andy Stephenson.

I will post more on this topic shortly. Until then, you are not permitted to start any more threads on this topic.

Thank you for your understanding.

Skinner
DU Admin

AND NO FINGER-POINTING OR FLAMING IN THIS THREAD! PERIOD.

[kevkrom]

Maybe Andy and Bev can co-author a book titled "The Dummies Guide to Ripping Off DUmmies."

Ironic, isn't it, how the DUmmies can so clearly see the (non-existent) fraud in the 2004 elections, but are blind enough to fall for the simplest of con-man tricks...

[JLO]

I copied this before the thread was locked.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3629008#3629445

MrNiceGuyDied (72 posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Tue May-10-05 11:30 AM
Response to Reply #112
157. you guys are like



Bush supporter when questioned about WMD.

I'm not some nobody.

And i already said 18 of the 20 calls to jh did get the hippa reaction.

So I started calling pretending to be the friend of an uninsured, out of state patient looking for all the options for my dying friend.

I'll diary about that later.

For now I’ll post a letter I sent to a Lawyer at JH.

....

Hi Dan,

Thanks for replying.

Briefly I'd like to explain why I called in the first place. Over the
past couple of years Andy Stephenson has been involved in a few
questionable donation drives that ended rather badly. In the past six
months I've received no less than 40 emails from Andy, or one of his
agents, soliciting donations for everything from lawyer fees,
unemployment relief, to medical tests.

This week the request took a rather shocking turn when the pleas for
money stated the were to receive cancer treatment.

Now if Andy in fact does require this treatment I'm not the type of
person that would try and hamper those efforts. However, there have
been several claims made that just don't quite add up.

As you will see in the links provided it has been made clear that
Johns Hopkins is the only hospital that can do the procedure and due
to his financial situation he must pay the hospital 25 thousand
dollars up front to schedule the surgery. The remaining 25 thousand is
apparently due before the surgery or shortly there after. This part is
not clear.

What I find disturbing is how the five main people collecting the
money will drag the good name of Johns Hopkins through the mud in
order to get people to feel sorry for Andy and fork over their hard
earned money fighting the soulless hospital administration.

Several people in the DailyKos links I have provided describe a much
different hospital system than the stereotypical impression, one often
promoted in the media, that Andy's donation crew repeat in every plea
they send out.

If Andy can get adequate treatment in his home state of Washington
then I think the methods being used to collect the money verge on
fraud. But I'm not a lawyer or law enforcement member.

To make a short story long. Had Andy said…

"I'm very sick, the local cancer hospital says my chances of survival
are 50-50 but Johns Hopkins has a treatment that will cost 20 thousand
dollars more but increase my odds to 70-30"

I think his friends and supporters would still have come up with the money.

Instead he has allowed Johns Hopkins to look like a greedy heartless
corporation without ever disclosing any alternative options.

I'm sure Johns Hopkins fundraises from the progressive community from
time to time and I think this kind of behavior hurts the reputation of
your institution and may hamper future fundraising efforts.

So, that's the reason for my concern. Please see below the links to
just some of the sites asking for donations.

The DailyKos for example has US senators posting on it and receives
half a million hits a day.

If I thought these pleas for money were limited to fringe site with
not much traffic I might not care. But considering the reach of these
sites I had to get in touch.

Thank you for your time.

Steve

Here is a typical comment from the threads.....

"I just sent some money. Not much, but I'm amazed that John Hopkins
has gotten to the point where they are asking for upfront money on a
$50,000 life saving surgery.Goddamn, I'm angry.

The notion that John Hopkins is demanding 50% down for life saving
surgery makes my fucking blood boil. I wonder how much they charge for
the same surgery to a Health Insurance company? Usually hospitals
charge the uninsured 2-3x the rate charged insurance companies."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/5/2/142624/0814

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/5/1/125012/8506

http://www.democracyforwashington.com /

http://www.seattlefordean.com /

http://shireen.forclark.com/story/2005/4/30/231124/276

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MoveOnPgh/message/1649

http://blog.pdamerica.org/?p=22

http://www.votepa.us /

http://www.seo-blog.org/5755_omfg_rageagainstthegop_mac...