IN MEMORIAM: RICHARD ALLAN GLENN - 1984-2005

I found out today that an amazing person is no longer with us. Allan Glenn was a frequent poster to the Internet Infidels Discussion Board, where I spend a lot of time. I knew him as WinAce, but I did not know how sick he was. Allan had cystic fibrosis, and desperately needed a lung transplant to survive.

Reminiscent of the movie The Rainmaker, Allan's insurance company and Medicaid turned him down as a cost-saving measure. Even when his doctor insisted that Allan had a good chance of survival and recovery, the ghouls would not relent. His friends tried to raise the $400,000 the operation would cost, but they were not successful. And now he's gone.

You can visit www.save-allan.org to find out more. When I think of the monsters on PalTalk who talk about "personal responsibility," and say they don't want their tax dollars going to help others, I want to tear them apart with my bare hands. If this country had any compassion or honor, we would not let money determine who lives and who dies. A better man than I would know that no one deserves pain, but I'm not so great, so I hope that every PT troll who mocks the idea of universal healthcare is stricken by a painful and horrifying disease that wrings the last teardrop out of their desiccated flesh before they die, unlamented, in hideous agony.

JC