Betrayed
It's amazing. Just when you think there are no new depths of shamelessness and betrayal of trust to which the Bush administration can sink, they manage to dig deeper into unchartered infamy. Hold on now, I'm not even mad yet. I'm talking about the 77 percent cut in the medical assistance for 9/11 first responders in the current federal budget. Gravely ill firemen, police, and other workers who labored at that site, workers who have come down with life-threatening respiratory illnesses linked to their heroic efforts at ground zero, are being shafted once again.
In the name of full disclosure, I am not writing this from some disinterested "good citizen" viewpoint. I have a young nephew, John McNamarra, a heroic fireman who worked as a first responder at that site and who later volunteered for rescue work after Katrina in New Orleans. For the past few years he has been suffering from various cancers resulting from that work, for which he is currently under treatment at Sloan Kettering. Last weekend, he called me to talk about the government's new betrayal. As the father of a one-year-old son, Jack, John is fighting the battle of his life, and there is no godly reason why men such as John have to fight the government as well for proper medical care and compensation. One pill -- yes one small pill that reduces the agonizing nausea of his chemotherapy costs as much as a thousand dollars. Okay, I can rail about the greedy drug companies and their obscene profits, but my first concern is our government's ingratitude and cruelty, something which the Congress must address and remedy to help all these men and women.
As Representative Carolyn Maloney writes, "It's shocking that the president would use his final budget to take an axe to 9/11 health care programs." Ms. Maloney is a wonderful representative but her use of shocking seems naïve. Are you shocked? After Katrina? After Walter Reed? After? After? Not me. I recall that first lie told by the federal government about the risk at Ground Zero to workers, one that came through the Bush mouthpiece, Christie Todd Whitman, then head of the Environmental Protection Agency, now a lobbyist for nuclear power. This former New Jersey governor claimed that anyone in the area of Ground Zero, meaning not only the workers who worked in the rubble trying to rescue the buried and reclaim body parts, but the residents of the apartments in the area, were safe from the toxic fumes that filled the air for days, sometimes weeks. According to a later report of the New York City Department of Health:
"The collapse of the Twin Towers brought 200,000 tons of steel, 5,000 tons of asbestos, 12,000 miles of electric cables and 425,000 cubic yards of concrete crashing down into lower Manhattan... The combustion produced a toxic cauldron of concrete, dust, glass fibers, and cancer-causing asbestos, as well as particles of lead, chlorine...24 gallons of jet fuel, and burning plastics released carcinogens including dioxins etc."
As someone who lived more than 80 long city blocks north of Ground Zero I could smell the bitter, toxic air coming in through my bedroom window for days.
The first Bush betrayal was the unscientific, false reassurances which endangered so many; and according to John and others, was not the result of ignorance but done by design. It seems that the federal government and the city wanted to reopen Wall Street quickly, fearing the economic repercussions of 9/11. In order to do so they had to reassure the public that the area was safe, without having any scientific evidence that it was indeed safe. So the health of many thousands was put at risk, thousands of Ground Zero workers and ordinary citizens who would have taken greater precautions to guard their lungs against these toxins had not the government told them that this was unnecessary. How many babies living in that area at the time of 9/11 are doomed to serious lung disease in the future thanks to George W's reassurance? We won't know about future ramifications until years from now, but right now there are thousands of people who might otherwise be healthy today who are suffering from some form of respiratory disease or cancer, thanks to the Bush government's criminal reassurance, and continuing negligence.
Over 3,000 firefighters sought respiratory treatment since 9/11. In the year after the attacks city firefighters as a group lost lung function equivalent to 12 years of aging. There are other appalling statistics for the police and similar statistics for construction and iron workers. I could go on, but we get lost in numbers, at least I do, and this isn't about statistics, it's about simple justice for these men and women, medical and financial compensation, and human decency. The decency part is not now possible. We won't get it as long as George W is president, and we can only hope that these valiant first responders will not be forgotten by the next administration. When you add this to the atrocious way our wounded Iraqi soldiers and vets have been treated it is a panorama of governmental malfeasance verging on atrocity.
It is hard to forget that this is the Republican government that profited politically from the fear of terror brought on by 9/11, both on the national level through Bush's red alert re-election, and on the local New York level in terms of that B-movie ghoul who impersonates a human so ineptly, Rudy Giuliani; a man who built his fortune on other men's misfortune from 9/11.
ABC TV had scheduled a full report on the health crises faced by the first responders in 2007. But then that nut in the Philippines falsely confessed to the killing of Jon Benet Ramsey so that critical report was replaced by perp shots and the usual sad pictures of the murdered child in her beauty queen paraphernalia. The ABC in-depth report on the 9/11 first responders and their health problems was never aired. So much for the concerns of the MSM for anything but the last murder or the next scandal.
John will be speaking in Washington today, February 26th, on the steps of the Capitol, together with a group of men and women suffering from 9/11-related health injuries. Wouldn't it be wonderful if somebody listens to them and then, does something about their critical problems? I wouldn't bet the farm on it. In the 1920s, there was a mantra promoted by the French psychologist and self-help guru, Emile Coue, that suggested one should rise in the morning and say, "Every day in every way, I get better and better." And you would. We might bring that up-to-date for the Bush administration by rising in the morning and saying, "Every day in every way they get badder and badder." And they will.
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I bet in Cuba those pills cost only a few cents.
"Land of the free, home of the brave?" Right. Only if you're healthy and don't need medical care. Otherwise, you're a slave to corporate "health providers" and totally brow-beaten by the very government we're supposed to wave flags for.
I am with you a thousand percent - except that I don't feel betrayed. Everything was crystal clear to me - not to be arrogant. If I felt betrayed, I felt betrayed by the American people who have been sleeping dormant while this mad-man criminal and all his mad-man criminal friends took over the country with such little resistance. Let's not make the same mistake again. This is OUR country! NOT the politicians, but all of us. Of the people, etc - right? Let's all learn from our mistake and keep America the home of the BRAVE (instead of fear mongered) and FREE (instead of the terrible blows we have suffered to our constitution. Let us support our brave ailing friends, and stop waiting for this crime family to step up. How can they step up? A step up for them would be to sewer level!
No more fear. We are the folks that will die for liberty, no?
And let's show our support for the brave women and men who are always there to help us when we really need it. Let's now be there for them!
"Pursuit of happiness" rings pretty hollow when you can't afford a home, education, or health care.
What kind of country is this?
When you go overseas, Europeans ask you, "What is it with you Americans and your right to free speach, right to bear arms? What about your right to health care and education? These are the things that matter in terms of your quality of life, your potential.
One more reason why when Michelle Obama says "for the first time I'm really proud of my country" it immediately rings a bell !
Bush and Co probably figured that firemen, since they work for a living, are more likely to be democrats, so the hell with them. Or it's one more example of being a "compassionate conservati
I'm proud, too, that Americans finally seem ready to make a break for freedom. It's like we finally got a whiff of it and we're ready to bolt.
The tragic loss of health coverage of those who helped at Ground Zero could be avoided. Free, Universal Healthcare for all. NONE of the current presidential candidates are offering it. It is time for us to DEMAND IT!
Want to help the 9/11 responders? Michael Moore has a link on michaelmoo
I agree. There's no reason the wealthiest country on earth can't provide health care to its own citizens.
Oh, that's right... we have a huge, pompous military to pay for. We haven't noticed that the only ones who fight us have found much, much cheaper ways to do that. So much for all that expensive military technology and all those bases around the world. In fact, it's our indominable military that has led others to forumulate more creative and cheaper attacks. It's totally backfired on us. When will people figure that out?
Let's align ourselves with the other civilized countries in this world. None of them have militaries that come near ours, but they all have much better health care systems. I don't want to rule the world... I just want to live my own life in peace...
No surprise with Bush but Congress really needs to do something about this. Our entire country is in need of healthcare for all but when those special few put their lives on the line to help others then it is owed to them by the government.
I think Congress should hold hearings on this and I also think this should be made a campaign slogan. Target those GOP Senators and Congress persons that would ignore this situation. Run ads against them and get them out of our government.
We knew before he went into office that Bush would be at war in Iraq and our family used to make bets on how long it would take him after he gained control of government
This immoral behavior will continue until we put a stop to it. There are things we can do.
Put the Dems in complete control of WH and Congress. Remind them that they will not return until we care for these brave people.
NYC polics and firefighters, EMS, Transit etc should go on strike( even if illegal) until their demands are met. Force the rich in NYC to foot the bill through tax surcharges.
How can I get intenet footage of today's rally? I will circulate it among local news agencies.
Yes, police and firefighters should go on strike until something is done. Will they? Do they care enough to make such a big statement?
I am so sorry your nephew has had to endure these nightmares, and your eloquent post was a great tribute to him.
While I don't believe the present government will do anything to help him, I do believe in karma.
Bush and Cheney may not realize it, but they are trapped in bodies, minds and souls that are devoid of human decency.
At some point, God will deal with them as fairly as they have dealt with the American people- especially our true heroes.
This is aprt and parcel with bushco(tm) claiming that he was going to cut the deficit in half by the time he left office (which is ANOTHER topic, which I'm not going to discuss here and now) using "creative accounting". He raised the ammount to be spent on Veteran's medical care one year, then for the next two years assumed that the levels would not increase, and that the 3 years following that would go down to LESS than it was before he raised it, EVEN THOUGH HE ORDERED THE VA TO TREAT EVERY VET RETURNING FROM IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN!!!
BushCo gets caught and exposed for crimes against humanity every few weeks or so. No one in Congress or the Senate does anything about it setting a powerful precedent for future administrations.
I think the most damning thing that can be said about this is not in reference to the Bush administration but to the American public. It is "We know."
i believe that this behavior is part and parcel of why most americans are sick of politicians. there seems to be an almost total lack of concern on the part of the bush administration regarding first responders, our military and the american public in general.
this disregard of our finest, while not illegal is most certainly immoral. i, for one,do not understand how they get away with it; the american people are not cold and calloused and yet, somehow, there is no public outcry or it is lost in the overwhelming drivel that passes for news these days.
This is so horrific.
In a just world those who have profited so handsomely from the repercussions of 9/11, and the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq should be fined for reparations and health care for their victims.
I'm so sorry you're nephew is having such struggles. May he find peace.
A grand for one pill? Holy Toledo.
Hello all and thank you for the great job on the post Sherman.Th
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