9-11, hypocrisy, exploitation, and media silence

[scooterbug44]

The bill to provide 9-11 first responders with health care benefits has still not passed - it is being held up in the Senate by Republican filibuster.

The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act would provide health care and compensation payments to responders who suffered illness from exposure to toxins at the World Trade Center site.

That is all - it's its own bill.

Jon Stewart has been trying to call attention to the issue and has dedicated parts of his show to it all week - because oddly enough NO MAJOR MEDIA OUTLET IS GIVING THE STORY ATTENTION.

Fox news dedicated craptons of outrage and more than a month of focused coverage to the mosque near Ground Zero, and uses 9-11 as a rallying cry whenever it can, but the fact that the heroes of 9-11 are dying and can't get medical care for deadly illnesses directly related to 9-11 is apparently a non-issue.

9/11 First Responders React to the Senate Filibuster - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - 12/16/10 - Video Clip | Comedy Central

 

[30ashopper]

What's in the bill?

 

[Here4Good]

Read it:

Read The Bill: H.R. 847 - GovTrack.us

It provides health screening and care for responders and survivors.

I have not heard the GOP say what their objection is, except for the cost.

They've offered no amendments.

Back in July, they called it " a job-killing growth of government that wou;d create a new entitlement and waste taxpayer dollars. ".

Ah, that magic phrase - "job killer".

It is to be funded via a tax on corporations who use overseas tax havens. I guess that's why the GOP figured it would kill jobs - in the Caymans.

 

[30ashopper]

Read it:

Read The Bill: H.R. 847 - GovTrack.us

It provides health screening and care for responders and survivors.

I have not heard the GOP say what their objection is, except for the cost.

They've offered no amendments.

Back in July, they called it " a job-killing growth of government that wou;d create a new entitlement and waste taxpayer dollars. ".

Ah, that magic phrase - "job killer".

It is to be funded via a tax on corporations who use overseas tax havens. I guess that's why the GOP figured it would kill jobs - in the Caymans.

Good lord, all that just to help some folks pay their medical bills? Just enroll them all in a federal health plan. This bill is an example of what's wrong with Washington.

 

[Here4Good]

OK, so where's that proposal? The GOP has been stonewalling on this for two years. Makes them look like assh***s when they could look like heroes.

I cannot understand why people who have to go out and beg for votes are so completely stone deaf to what the voters would approve of.

Oh, wait, that's right - they don't need the voters approval anymore, they just need campaign funding to put pretty ads and tough words in front of couch potatoes who can't be bothered to actually think about anything anymore.

(And I am not picking on the GOP here - this is a bipartisan issue, no team is better than the others on this)

The really deeply bitter part of me says that the GOP attitude on this is because this is a New York issue, and New York votes for the other team.

 

[30ashopper]

OK, so where's that proposal? The GOP has been stonewalling on this for two years. Makes them look like assh***s when they could look like heroes.

Well, remember, dems have been in control of all the committees, so they've had control over bill authorship and what ultimately gets to the floor for consideration. Republicans then can only offer amendments. There may well be a republican proposal out there that never got to the floor. Next year this will change.

I'd say push the first responders thing off a few weeks and see what comes out of the House as a replacement.

 

[Bob]

look no further than the recent supremely conservative court ruling allowing unlimited corporate funding of their dc weasels.

 

[Here4Good]

Well, remember, dems have been in control of all the committees, so they've had control over bill authorship and what ultimately gets to the floor for consideration. Republicans then can only offer amendments. There may well be a republican proposal out there that never got to the floor. Next year this will change.

I'd say push the first responders thing off a few weeks and see what comes out of the House as a replacement.

You may be right, but holy cow, what a way to run the country.

 

[scooterbug44]

Good lord, all that just to help some folks pay their medical bills? Just enroll them all in a federal health plan. This bill is an example of what's wrong with Washington.

I agree with your last sentence.

This isn't just to help "some folks pay their medical bills," it's to help 9-11 responders who were exposed to incredibly unhealthy conditions and are having massive health problems as a result.

It's funded, it's the right thing to do, and they don't have the basic decency to pass it.

 

[30ashopper]

I agree with your last sentence.

This isn't just to help "some folks pay their medical bills," it's to help 9-11 responders who were exposed to incredibly unhealthy conditions and are having massive health problems as a result.

It's funded, it's the right thing to do, and they don't have the basic decency to pass it.

If these folks are running into health problems and their public service health benefits aren't covering things, I'm fine with helping them out. But did you read that bill? With all the systems and departments we have in place now we can't accommodate these folks with what we have? I sense an ulterior motive here. That bill seems rather large and complicated for accomplishing what seems rather simple to me.