Thom Hartmann - The latest slap in the face to 9/11 first responders

Run time: 08:04 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-plvBPBOkY   Posted on YouTube: August 19, 2011 By YouTube Member: TheBigPictureRT Views on YouTube: 139   Posted on DU: August 19, 2011 By DU Member: thomhartmann Views on DU: 796

 
John Devlin & Ken George, 9/11 first responders. Next month - our nation will honor the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Like previous years - there will be a special ceremony at Ground Zero in New York City - but this time - some people are not invited - the 9/11 first responders. This week - Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office confirmed that 9/11 first responders are not invited to the ceremony - and that the ceremony is specifically for the families of victims of 9/11. The statement from the mayor's office read, "While we are again focused on accommodating victims' family members, given the space constraints, we're working to find ways to recognize and honor first responders, and other groups, at different places and times." John Feal - the founder of an advocacy group for 9/11 first responders reacted to the Mayor's statement saying, "The best of the best that this country offered 10 years ago are being neglected and denied their rightful place."

Of course - this is just the latest slap in the face to 9/11 first responders. At the end of last year - Republicans finally dropped their filibuster against the James Zadroga Act which gave medical care 9/11 first responders who are now dying from the toxic debris they inhaled while working for months at ground zero recovering bodies at the site. Yet - just last month - the responders discovered a catch in the bill - that disqualifies them from receiving any medical care assistance for cancer cases - since according to the World Trade Center Health Program - there is no scientific link between ground zero debris and cancer. Tell that to the countless firefighters and policemen who worked at ground zero and now have throat and lung cancer. So why are we turning our backs on the first responders - some of the bravest men and women in the nation?

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If more people were awake to that, there'd be less war.

for Medicare Part E. E for Everybody.

It is quite sickening to see our legislators have to fight for something most Americans would support without hesitation.

And after witnessing the public health catastrophes created by the Fukushima and BP Deep Water Horizon disasters, Medicare Part E should be part of the approval process for any continuation of offshore drilling or nuclear power.

I had hoped the Bush Crash and hundreds of thousands of evictions (aka foreclosures) would be enough motivation for my Democratic legislators to band together in a solid block to push Medicare Part E. I was full of hope because surely those dire economic conditions would finally make it possible for the US to enact the basic compassion other industrialized countries had given their citizens long ago, to help cope with rapid economic changes they knew their citizens would face.

But we relaxed the regulations on diversity in our mass media in the 90's, so now the party of selfish cruel Survival of the Richest controls too much of our national discourse and can pretend that national health security is too expensive.