Chris Matthews ...

Proving once again, he is as easy to entertain and thrill as a cat is with a laser light.

The NewsBusters post on Skvara should also be of interest. Apparently, Skvara has chosen to be a professional victim for the John Edwards campaign. It is odd that a man who claims he cannot afford health care coverage for his wife is able to travel around and around to Democrat events.   Funnier still that a man with the ability to get himself on national television repeatedly, can't get a job to pay for health insurance for his substitute teacher wife.   (Yes he is disabled from a car accident in 1998 or 1999).

I call on the Edwards campaign to pay for Skvra's health insurance. John is very concerned about everyone, and Steve is closely associated with your campaign. Pitch in John.  Help this poor guy who can't "work" but can only kvetch on national TV.

In August I posted the following about Skvara.

I have a suggestion for Skvara. Why don't you take responsibility for you own life, instead of asking the government to solve your problems. Get a job, buy some health insurance if it is a tremendous priority.

In his question Skvara said:

After 34 years, with LTV Steel, I was forced to retire because of a disability.  Two years later, LTV filed bankruptcy.  I lost a third of my pension and my family lost their healthcare.  Every day of my life I sit at the kitchen table, across from the woman who devoted 36 years of her life to my family, and I can't afford to pay for her health care! What is wrong with America and what will you do to change it?

 

Skvra was born in 1947. He is a union activist. Prominent on that website is a boycott list, including Wal-Mart. Skvra previously appeared on Lou Dobbs  blaming the loss of American Jobs on Wal-Mart's desire for low prices.

LTV Steel filed for bankruptcy Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2000. It liquidated in 2001 after it could not reach a deal with the United Steelworkers Union.   

By his own account, he begain working for LTV in 1964 when he was 17.  It is funny how all of his anger is directed at the government and the corporation. No anger is expressed to the Steel Workes Union, which was an active particpant in the bankruptcy of LTV Steel. No where does he accept personal responsibility for providing for his own family.  Nor does he turn to the union to which he paid dues for 34 years for help.

What Skvara did not tell you is that ISG Group, which bought the assets of LTV Steel has been working to increase coverage to people like Skvara.

International Steel Group (ISG), the company that bought the assets of LTV in 2002 and those of Bethlehem Steel in 2003, worked with the USW to establish a benefit trust fund called the ISG Voluntary Employees’ Benefit Association, or VEBA. VEBA offers prescription helpBy March 2005, the VEBA had sufficient funds to begin offering a prescription drug program to both Medicare-eligible and non-Medicare retirees and dependents who lost coverage through the bankruptcies. Medicare beneficiaries now have the option to receive prescription drug benefits from the VEBA plan or a Medicare Part D drug plan, but not both. Approximately 75,000 individuals were eligible as of early 2006.

  Skvara also did not mention that he is an Edwards supporter who booed Hillary Clinton at a the take back America rally.