Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) has set up a new Web site, Names of the Dead, to memorialize Americans who died because they had no health insurance:
Every year, more than 44,000 Americans die simply because have no health insurance.
I have created this project in their memory. I hope that honoring them will help us end this senseless loss of American lives. If you have lost a loved one, please share the story of that loved one with us. Help us ensure that their legacy is a more just America, where every life that can be saved will be saved.
Grayson announced this new Web site on the House floor:
Grayson may be leaving himself open to some online practical jokers. At the moment I write this, four names are memorialized in the site’s rotating list:
⢠Lassie Martin, 10, Kanab, UT
⢠Norma Jeane Mortenson, 36, Los Angeles, CA
⢠Steve Rogers, 90, New York, NY
⢠Wile E. Coyote, 55, Sedona, Arizona
All four of those names are fraudulent. Lassie Martin is the dog “Lassie,” whose owners on the 1950’s TV show were called the Martins (and the town of Kanab, Utah, was one of the filming locations). Norma Jeane Mortenson was Marilyn Monroe’s real name. Steve Rogers is the fictional Captain America from Marvel Comics, and of course there’s Wile E. Coyote.
NRCC spokesman Andy Seré released this statement: “What is wrong with this man? Alan Grayson’s morbid exploitation of ‘the dead’ for personal political gain may be the most shameless stunt he’s pulled yet. Once again, he’s proved himself to be an abject embarrassment to Central Floridians who want more than a circus clown for a congressman.”
Late Update: The automated list of names has been removed from the site. It may be that mourning “Hugh G. Reckshinn,” age 44, from Dumas, Texas, was a bit too much for them.
