He Was A Patriot...3 years ago, Andy died...(includes images)

Andy taught me that we could do anything we believed in. He taught me to never give up. He taught me that being a patriot meant more than just saying you were one, or that you loved your country. He taught me that no party could claim patriotism exclusively.

The last time he stayed with me, I remember running him all over town to make copies of electronic voting machine printouts that he used to teach us all how to audit our elections so that they were free and fair for ALL Americans. When I moved out of my apartment, there were literally BOXES AND BOXES of tens of thousands of pages of that stuff he just left there before I took him to the airport for his flight to Hopkins. If you saw him, most likely he was on his cell phone...gave the impression of organization. But if you knew him...maybe he just always had things running through his mind. I can remember him getting those packets together for the class he was teaching, laying on my floor in pain, but doing it nonetheless, because he felt it was so important.

Andy taught me so much in the short time I knew him. But most of all, he taught me through our friendship and the fellowship of places like DU...we can make a difference for everyone.

I miss him.
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on HBO...I always smile when I see that...

Made me smile to think about all his good works. RIP Andy O8)

red and yellow shirt in part of it...that was his favourite shirt.

I don't have HBO. If netflix doesn't have it, I may get a one month trial to HBO just to check it out. Andy will be missed- if this country had just 1000 people like him, this would be a much better place.

him dumpster diving in rare form.

You're right. Webb does remind me of Andy.

He was, indeed, a patriot. I miss him too.

:(

we still don't have Voter Verified Paper Ballots nationally...

I'm sure he already knows what is going to happen in Nov.

:hug:

I remember sending money for his surgery, and getting thank-you emails...

I still have those...

I had gone on vacation that summer...

And he died while I was away...

When I got home, I was extremely saddened to find out that he'd died...

Rest in Peace, dear Andy...

We'll win this one for you!

K&R

:cry:

Just can't bear to delete them. That was DU's finest hour, getting the funds together for his surgery. Just wish we still had him here with us.

Thanks, Andy! :patriot:

What a loss.

Although we never met face to face- we spent many late night hours
on the phone, long distance.
I miss him too.
His candle was so bright, and taken from us far too soon.

Still, his light shines for so many of us in this darkness
that shrouds our country.

BHN

How are we doing?

resting comfortably!

:toast:

Send a lightning bolt the Baddies' way, will ya'?

And, Andy, please say 'Hello!' to my father-in-law, Jim, who joined you on his 74th birthday July 1st. Tell Papa we miss him.

You are missed. We've come so far in the past 3 years, but we have so much farther yet to go. Hopefully Obama will take us the rest of the way.

I can still remember being on a computer chat with our V.O.T.E. group the night you knew something was terribly wrong with you and how everyone told you to get to a doctor ASAP. None of us knew then just how bad it was.

We thought it was food poisoning or something...but the real proof of how great he was, was how people rallied around him. That was DU's finest moment IMO.

Those were the days, huh?

He was at home when we were on our call. I think it was a Friday night and he was going to get to a doctor on Monday somehow. He hesitated because he had no insurance.

That a sentence like that has to be written proves we are not the nation we think we are.

on edit: Who said, and I paraphrase: "A country is not judged by how it treats those who have much, but by how it treats those that have little"? I thought it was JFK, but could be wrong.

Gosh, it seems so long ago now.

Never, ever, will I give up in the fight for single payer, universal health insurance.

In memory of Andy.

edited for poor typing

Get to a doctor, Andy.

It's true -- he hesitated because he had no healthcare coverage. (I can't even bring myself to say "insurance" anymore; we need HEALTHCARE, not insurance.)

Andy always said that healthcare was the next great issue.

Marybeth
http://www.VotePA.us

:hi:

So said an inebriated Andy Stephenson in my living room. Then he had the rest of us (also inebriated) rearrange all the furniture to something more pleasing.

I miss Andy. One of the good ones, that Andy.

I can't believe it's been 3 years...

the few times he stayed with me, but I remember doing a lot of running around with him.
He always managed to smile, even when he was hurting so badly.

The one good thing to come from his passing was the fellowship experienced at his memorial (and beyond).

me to post them here?

I need to save some of those. The ONE THING I forgot was a camera.

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Hard to see, but that's Will Pitt...
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I'm on the far left at the piano
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In this one you can see the pic of Andy with his TIN FOIL HAT on the monitor!! HAHAHAHAHAHA

I'll look for more..

I'm even in the first picture. :)

That picture of Andy in the tinfoil hat is hilarious!

running all over. That piano I was playing came from a Yamaha dealer across town and it was on the third floor of the store...it was a real task to carry it down three flights, over to Town Hall, load in, and load out that same day.

But well worth it. It was a great honor to play music for Andy and his family and friends.

I remember the voting machine people were meeting here in Austin. Andy had my roommate and I driving down there all "Mission Impossible" style trying to get a list of who was there and the materials.

You did a great job that day. I'm so glad I was able to be there to honor his memory.

Thanks again for the photos and the reminder.

although I wish it hadn't been for that reason.

Andy was, and is the tie that binds...

Good to talk to you again, GOP.

and never had the privilege to meet him, thanks for the pics.

and I don't even want to ask any more, lol.

I wanted to get up there so much but, there was no leaving all the stuff happening here.

Great pix! :hug:

Andy was of a handful of congenial spirits that kept me coming back to DU in earlier years, and one of 3 that have now left us.

DU seemed brighter and friendlier then. :(

It was one of the saddest, funniest, and funnest nights I had had in a l-o-n-g time.

Cat In Seattle

:toast:

:hug:

--the issue is now much more mainstream.

I disagreed with him on some matter, and said so.

He was serious, he knew his facts, he expressed himself clearly and calmly. But there was no rancor or hostility. He was mellow.

Especially after the ugliness of the primaries, I miss that attitude.

I mourn Andy, and I recommend that folks learn how the Free Republic right-wingers harassed him during his final days.

They murdered him.

I believe the Freepers made a tiny contribution to PayPal account designated to raise funds to pay for
an operation Andy needed. Then they complained to PayPal, saying Andy wasn't really sick and it was all just a fraud. The complaints tied up the funds and delayed the operation.

There used to be a Wikipedia entry about it, but I can't find it. Indeed, I can't even find a Wikipedia entry for Andy!

I'm not Wikipedia-literate, but somebody should restore these old entries, and find out why they've been deleted.

Later, the article describes (1) a rumor that Andy was using the money for a face-lift, (2) offer of a bounty to anyone who could break into his hospital room, (3) vandalizing of the car of someone who took Andy in, (4) an attempted break-in at the home of someone else who took Andy in, (5) an "anonymous tipster" who got his Medicaid shut down.

Any lawyers out there? It seems to me that the allegations to Paypal of fraud and the Medicare "anonymous tipster" reports are actual crimes that might leave a paper trail, that could be investigated under a new administration.

Listen to the Dixie Chicks' "Not Ready to Make Nice."

Apparently, the Seattle Weekly had an article in 2005 about Andy Stephenson's illness and the FR attacks, called "Two Cases of Bile: Voter activist Andy Stephenson's pancreatic cancer has generated both love and hate on the Internet." I don't have a direct link to it, just a reposting of it on Free Republic.

Free Republic has a number of links about Andy, including:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1434439/posts (this one contains the link to the Seattle Times article)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1408830/posts

(CAUTION: Some of the FR postings are grim and ugly. Especially confusing because much of it is a report of what went on here at DU at the time, naming and quoting DU folk like Skinner, Pitt, Elisabeth Edwards. (Remember, Freepers read DU obsessively.) I couldn't find a smoking gun -- someone who says "I called PayPal and told them it was a fraud, so Johns Hopkins canceled the operation."

An honest and coherent account of the right-wing's machinations against a dying Andy might be his best memorial. Unfortunately, I don't have any more time to spend this week on this project.

I just hope someone else:

(1) digs into deletion of Wikipedia pages on Andy

(2) finds an archive of SCAMDY.COM, the Free Republic web page devoted to debunking Andy as a scammer. The page is down now, redirecting to democraticwarrior.com. The only internet archiving system that I'm familiar with comes up blank on SCAMDY.COM.

(3) Finds the 2005 domain-name registration of SCAMDY.COM. The current WHO-IS on SCAMDY.COM only shows the owner as of 2007, not 2005.

(4) Finds other articles or collections on the issue.

There's a place in hell for those bastards.

(And in my sig line.)

I miss our late, late night chats, our emails, his boundless energy and his smile. Hell, I miss all of him terribly.






Andy and Jeff (jnostam)


Andy and Rep. Cynthia McKinney

I was looking for that tonight.

:toast:

Two of my favorite people together.

I still think about him every day... I'm still doing my part to see that VVPT is still alive.

Hawkeye-X

I feel bad because when I think of him I automatcally begin to think of what FR did to screw up his hospital treatments. One thought automtically brings on the other, unbidden and anwanted.

That's when I learned that FR was not simply the antithesis of DU, but that FR was a place of very petty, small-minded people who took pride in the suffering of others.

I wish he were still around... gently correcting me on the numerous occasions I needed it, and gently praising me when I was able to make a salient and valid point,

to say the least. I just cannot believe the way those people think. It is one thing to disagree with someones politics, but to rejoice in their illness is just plain sick. I don't believe in god, but I hope that everyone that took part in that smear campaign has karma hit them in the head one day. Seriously sick individuals.

very heartbreaking time for you all then, I remember well. My continued thoughts and prayers for all of you who knew him.

Not to sound impolite by asking a question, but you make a point to say he was always on his cell. I wonder about the radiation studies on cell phones, because, I just got a new phone, and I never noticed anything with my old one, but this one, after an hour call made my head hurt around the temple, I now try to use speakerphone when I can. I really question about our universal decision to stick a radiation emission device next to our brains.

Not a Bluetooth, or use speakerphone setting. My mother has brain cancer right now (not related to cell phone use) but her doctors, neurosurgeons, believe that holding the cell phone itself against the head can increase your risk for head cancers. And they have seen plenty of them.

He will never be forgotten.

I never spoke to him in person or on the phone but it was nice to share threads with Andy here. I honestly wish there were a way to charge the Freepers for what they did to him.

Rp

Requiescat In Pace, Fra Andre.

:)

too...I remember looking all over columbus for a wire that he could attach to his phone to fax bbv stuff to someone somewhere..

:(

Front and center.

A toast to Andy and his courage and all he believed in, and all who loved him and admired him. His spirit will always live on.

:toast:

The world would be a far better place if more of us were more like him.

Anyone who would do the kind of work he did on a shoestring is a true Patriot above and beyond the call.

Few could hold a candle to the man, and we were damn lucky to have him.


May Andy rest well, and may we honor his work.


O8)









And for the sake of many, I hope I never run into the souless assholes that plagued him in his darkest hours.

K and R

cleaner than the one I have. Was it you who said something about the lint on my shirt and the red eye at one time?

I took the lint off your AND Andy's shirts!!!

i remember the day he posted it we had a really fun (hilariously silly goofy) talk that day...

and the baby pic just makes me cry...

- {{{i miss you andy}}}...

Thanks for reposting. It cheered me up.

Hawkeye-X

Good thread :-)

Does anyone know how Ted and Ballot are doing?

you got me active in politics, inspired me, coached me, and somehow even gave me an assist after you crossed over.

You were and are a "Profile in Courage".

... can't believe it's been three years.

Thanks for all of the memories.

changed my life. He befriended my son who dedicated weeks of 17 hour days to his work. Andy DEMANDED I join DU and I had to make up my screen name while he waited to see me there. I loved that guy and the week after he died I built a nature path in my back yard in his honor. Goodboy, the pic of him on the phone is probably dear to so many who loved him, since many of us were on the other end of those calls for hours and hours. Thank you for posting this. I promised him he would be remembered always, and so he is, thanks to you and the countless other friends he made during his amazing life. :grouphug:

I loved seeing all these pictures of him. He is still very dear in our hearts.

I think he's gotta be happy he still has this big family.

:grouphug:


Sonia

.

For the good fight.

I don't know how Andy felt about revenge, or retribution but there are two things in this world I wish to see: the fall of Freeps (they know why); and the end of Limbaugh.

wherever he is, is saying "thank you" to you right now.

Redstone

:kick:

You were a true patriot.

A true patriot and great guy!

:loveya: :cry:

when we raised support for his operation. I am so sorry he's gone, but we should work to make him proud.

...I have...a memory...At the height of the Gannon scandal and his dozens of unexplained visits to the Bush White House...(Andy) posted a story which suggested that some DC real estate companies were using their unoccupied properties for trysts between politicians and prostitutes...

FOUND ANDY STEPHENSON'S THREAD!

:applause:
rocknation

i miss hhim

I do remember frantically emailing and phoning you sometimes late...remember the Guckert thing?

We were trying to figure out who some of those key players were, as well as those who were involved with the 'anonymous army' site that was responsible for the most reprehensible things said about Andy and those who tried to help him.

I really needed to be reminded to never give up. It has been such a tough week thinking about those FISA amendments.

Thanks, goodboy.

We need many fighters like him.

You're missed Andy.

:loveya: :pals: :hug:

drama was going down
(bastards)

I cried every day.......

he did not deserve what happened




:hug:

to Andy


and his Family and friends



lost

He educated me on e-voting and all that was wrong with it.

Thanks, Andy!

:kick: & Recommended

She wrote me, thanking me for the donations. Her letter was so sweet that I know I kept it.

Bless you, Andy. RIP