OK, see, when it comes down to having to have motherf***ng bakesales to help two of my favorite writers pay their medical bills?

That's when I get really, really mad about the defeatist damned majority in Congress and their willingness to simply abandon healthcare reform.

GAH.

ummm hmmmm ... VR said it all. But I am a sucker for a bakesale.

What a wonderful idea to put into action...xox

(And of course I'll be ogling the bakesale.)

What VR said. It's so infuriating.

May they mend quickly, and their wallets, too.

ditto--verbal remedy said it well!

This is a great auction idea. Fresh Farm Markets (farm)
does these auctions. Michael usually donates a potted blueberry bush. UPS to California is No local. Freight would be astronomical. Buy, the 'Apocalypse' DVD twitters-
A tape for`Anticipated Valentine V-Day.
Debate Joan Walsh, get a Laura book date.
Order lunch out with Fox Palin, Limbaugh,
Or three schizophrenic Persian psychologist.
Label all readers 'dangled heads' duh' liberal.
I'd not eat Kerry Laureman Persian hash hunk.
I bet his auction brownies make Kissinger pee.
To pee offs porch or no make yellow snow ball.

What Art said.

Seriously, my baby girl, VR, is spot-on with this issue!

I had no idea about King, wondered where he was and what had happened to him. As others have said, it's unfortunate we're in a situation, any of us, where we have to rely on the generosity and love of friends to get through mountains of medical bills, but such it is, and hopefully people will respond generously to this. Here's hoping for continued healing for both King and Cary.

Nice idea. I wish them both all the best as they recover.

the best possible outcomes for you both. I hope family and friends forgive irrelevancies, you find something to laugh about, and your pain is eased.

This is a joke right?

Jesus, are you serious? This is poignancy personified. You are all so sweet, and there's something about Joan's offer that just makes me want to cry. (I'd love to have my brother debate her....I wonder how much that would cost...)

My suggestion is to find a Canadian who's willing to marry and get your healthcare that way! I would, but I'm already married!

sorry guys. best to you all.

Have a bakesale to fund the wars. Would make it much more fiscally possible to make healthcare reform a sure deal.

Nice thing you are doing here, Kerry. I wish them both the speediest recovery.

I put my bid in!!!

Reading the comments, I couldn't say it any better than VR and Cat.

Thank you Kerry -- it's good to see the OS family rally around its own.

Cheers

But I want Red Velvet cake and...**pout**

Great idea and hope there's mucho $$$ made!

Best to both of them, in health and wealth! Great of OS to put this together!! (I love this place! Thanks!)

I wish them the best but we are all of us up against a system that is potentially brutal in terms of its treatment of us for health care. If it's not us, it's someone in our family or someone we care about deeply. And some of us have written a number of posts trying to raise awareness or change minds right here at Open Salon, only to find that our writings don't get the light of day, while stuff of far less relevance does. Not all of those posts take zero time to write. Some posts take hours or days to put together. And Open Salon is a vehicle that could be a showpiece of such things. It could commit itself to real causes and be a go-to place for content that moves America's opinion. But instead it takes a hands-off attitude and seems to just go with a lot of real randomness. It's well-known that Americans are poorly informed and disinterested in politics, and why? Because media doesn't cover it. We get instead the ill-named “reality TV” which is so far from reality it's painful. In the days after the Haiti earthquake, did OS feature the matter? Nope. If you want to know why we don't have good health care in government, look in a mirror. Joan is on MSNBC and CNN and probably other shows a lot. Salon must care. And it has the opportunity to do something, but doesn't. It squanders its chance to make a difference. And then we're asked to attend a bake sale. How disrespectful to these people. Why not marshall the forces of the entire enterprise and say “it's hit too close to home and it's finally time to do something?” It's half a week until Valentine's day and we're already drowning in red cake, Annie Hall, David Sedaris, Jane Austen, American Idol, Superman, the Superbowl, and so on. Do something useful. It's not our job to take care of your staffers, its your job. You may not have the bucks to help them but you certainly have the tools to help everyone if you were of a mind to. And you're not doing it.

Really. With you, Verbal Remedy, and you Kent Pitman! Can the pen be mightier than the scalpel, too? I'm reading "Little Dorrit" by Charles Dickens. Even then they had "The Office of Circumlocution" in the government whose whole dedicated mission was "How not to do it!" Those bastards are still around like big sinkholes in the middle of the road to a sane government. I worry that Murtha was a hatchet job by the ruthless lobbyists. Cary Tennis is one of the most sensitive, sensible writers around. We ought to give him free surgery on whatever part he needs or wants!

I am definitely bidding for Joan.....do you accept pesos?

(but after reading Kent's comment, it does occur to me as a bit odd that they have unpaid medical bills. Can you clarify a little to put us at ease?)

good luck guys.

we miss you.

My best to Cary and King. My bravo to Kent!

what Verbal said but I'll bite - er, buy

I wish both King and Cary the very best recovery. But I'm curious. What kind of health coverage does Salon Media offer to its staff that they need to hold fundraisers when people get sick?

Irritated Mother needs to add some real baked goods to that bake sale. I'm salivating over that cupcake

Having to do a bake sale for friends, and spending half of my own income on medication means things are way out of hand in the medical establishment. What do we have to do for Congress to act???!

Just for clarity: Salon is not holding an auction for Cary and King -- their friends are. I simply wanted to draw attention to their efforts.

Kerry, if you wanted to embarass Salon's owners for providing lousy salaries and benefits, this is one way to do it. Next week: Car wash!

Seriously, best wishes to King and Cary.

Kent,

I'm with you.

If you read here long enough it you will see how the government needs to step in and do health care. So here is one of the great liberal outfits on the internet. Why haven't they stepped up and put their cash into the pockets of their employees? OS execs are making great salaries off the back of their workers and when they have medical bills they have to relay on their friends to do a bake sale? OS isn't even doing the bake sale, much less just kicking in some cash to help out in a medical emergency.

I guess the government is going to have to take over health care. This just proves the point you can't depend on rich liberals either.

Kent writes: "...some of us have written a number of posts trying to raise awareness or change minds right here at Open Salon, only to find that our writings don't get the light of day, while stuff of far less relevance does. Not all of those posts take zero time to write. Some posts take hours or days to put together."

I understand your frustration -- it would be hard to miss it, since you post a version of this complaint almost every time I ever post. And my answer remains the same, I'm sure, frustrating one: Judy (and Thomas before her, and me before Thomas) tries to highlight content we think is most worthy for wider reading. Have we missed stuff? Sure. But on the whole, I think the cover and EPs do a good job of capturing the range of smart thinking/writing/drawing on Open, and reflects the same, broad mix of content we also highlight on Salon. "Relevance" is in the eye of the beholder here -- not everyone comes here, or Salon, for politics. Most, believe it or not, probably don't.

But also: The idea that posts don't "get the light of day" if we don't promote them seems really counterintiutive. It's a blog -- there are multiple ways to gain an audience on your own. Thomas has written about them. Explore them. Build your own email list. Develop your own audience. The Web is a fundamentally democratic medium -- you don't need us to help you find readers, like we're some mean ole publishing house acquiring manuscripts then refusing to publish them. Post on Open. Crosspost somewhere else if you think you might find a different audience. I think if you embrace the role of self-publisher more fully, you won't care so much whether we EP your posts or not.

I'm with Verbal and Robin. Pissed that this is happening and happy that you guys have come up with creative ways to help. Will check out and refer along.

All the best to our friends and colleagues, King and Cary...and to all our blogging colleagues who are suffering from the blatant health-care neglect in the wealthiest nation on earth

Very sad to read about the illness of the staff member of yours but post is written in a nice way
http://www.craigslisti.net/craigslist-calgary/

I'm late, but I agree with Verbal (the first comment) and I'd swear more.

I think you have a difficult job and handle it well.

OS is what it is and if people want a completely different website with a different mission they should consider putting together a business plan and see if they can get some investors to start it up.

My bid on an item I really want is in. Best to your colleagues.

I try not to stick my nose in it too much, but forgive me. As editors it isn'ty your job so much to go through each and every post looking for merit. With over ten thousand contributors even a tiny fraction of them is an unimaginable job. No disrespect here , you editors are only mortals. Speaking only for myself here, I do get discouraged when something I've worked hard on falls to the floor with a thud. That some of them do not is just great.

The thing that I would like to remind people of is that this post was intended not as a plea for cash because Salon is not doing as much as they can or at least have to, it was to bring attention to the troubles of two good people who could use some help. This is not the right place to continue in the quest for attention. My best to King and Cary and I hope they are doing well.

Kerry, you did the right thing in bringing this to our attention, many will want to help. Thanks.

Thanks all. Think the auction went well -- thanks to any and all who took part!

I won my item and am happy about it! thanks

Congrats Ariana! And thanks to all for the smart thoughts on this thread.

Wait a minute here; there's been lots of posts by Cary about his situation, but what the heck happened to King?

Hello,
Sending best wishes for your friends and admiring what Salon does for them..

what if i want to donate but i don't want any of that stuff being auctioned?

I'm only sorry I can't take part. A dietary restriction with many ingredients prohibits. Is there something other we might gather together to do?

I had no idea. Happy to hear they are on the mend and what a great idea to mend the empty pockets! r

This is so unfortunate for all of us, but especially for Cary & King!

Seeing people leave their long-held positions is bad enough, however when it's due to medical challenges...well, the loss is felt even more.

Transitions due to attrition is common place. Medical challenges & preserving one's own betterment is also common & widespread. However, "when in the course of human events" we are forced to say "good bye & best wishes for a speedy recovery" it seems that we all are taken with them and held until their recoveries are realized.

What gives us peace in the interim? The tribute of their outstanding good work lives on. Every thought that is put to text here on Open Salon is done, with King & Cary in mind!

Best Wished to you both, for a speedy recovery & thank you for your contribution in making the Open Salon...a great meeting place. A meeting of the minds & a meeting of other talented people.


Rated!

really nice pics ...
Redner

Progressive workplaces have mechanisms in place to facilitate creativity by people with disorders.

get well soon...get well soon...get well soon....

...

So sad :(

Isn't it great to have friends and family to do things like this :) It sounds like Cary and King both are well cared about back there- setting up an ebay auction is a wonderful idea to help a friend in need! Well done.
Jessica - My Dental Assistant Salary Page

Very nice graphics.

Very nice graphics.
Moderatoren

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me too, if only they can help people who are just like what I Watch The Walking Dead Season 2 Episode 1 MEGAVIDEO they will not die on that even they want to survive.