Zadroga 9/11 bill why no media coverage?

[Luminiferous]

I don't read the Huffington Post, but it was the only site I could find (beside The Daily Shows) that carried the links..
I have two relatives living with the after effects of their responding to 9/11 and now the GOP filibusters a health bill that could help them?? Unbelievable.. Even more unbelievable is how every media outlet chooses to ignore the fact, except Jon Stewart... Watching the interviews with the first responders is rather emotional.

GOP blocks 9/11 first responders bill; ABC, CBS, and NBC ignore the story

Thursday night marked the final "Daily Show" of the year -- and the decade -- so it's fitting that Jon Stewart spent its entirety discussing something both near to his heart and tied an event that happened nearly 10 years ago: the 9/11 First Responders Bill.

Stewart has probably spent more segments this year on the legislation known as the Zadroga bill than any other topic. The bill would provide $7 billion in benefits for those who first responded on 9/11 and are now experiencing subsequent health problems such as cancer and respiratory disease. While it has passed in the House, Senate Republicans are filibustering it so that it doesn't pass in the Senate.

However, Congress did just agree on and pass the controversial tax cut bill that will give tax cuts to everyone including the very rich.

"Yes!" Stewart exclaimed. "That is astoundingly good news for firefighters who make over $200,000 a year."

Nearly pulling his hair out at one point, Stewart expressed his annoyance at "the party that turned 9/11 into a catchphrase" now blocking legislation to help its heroes. Adding to his frustration, none of the three major networks have covered the story in over two months. Surprisingly, Stewart realized this was a actually a job for Fox News, "the nation's leading source of 9/11-based outrage."

But how does the conservative network feel about Republicans blocking the bill? As Stewart showed, Fox news hasn't gotten one 9/11 first responder to talk about why they need the Zadroga Bill. in fact, only one network actually picked up the story in a meaningful way: Al Jazeera.

"Our networks were scooped with a sympathetic Zadroga Bill story by the same network Osama bin Laden sends his mix-tapes to!" Stewart said with frustration. "This is insane!"

In the following segment, which you can watch below, Stewart interviewed four real 9/11 first responders and heard their response to the filibuster. Things get emotional, but it is a must-watch for anyone who cares to hear how Congress's actions are affecting the heroes of 9/11.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/1 ... 98114.html

[MasterOfMeatPuppets]

Compassionate conservatism FTW!

9/11 is just another day when it doesn't benefit the Republican agenda.

[bane]

I don't know squat about this bill. This is the first I've heard of it, but I have to ask, 7 BILLION dollars? I'm sympathetic to anyone that was injured or lost their life trying to save lives on that horrible day, but why should the nation treat them any differently than we would any other police officer or fire fighter that gets injured or killed on the job?

[Luminiferous]

I don't know squat about this bill. This is the first I've heard of it, but I have to ask, 7 BILLION dollars? I'm sympathetic to anyone that was injured or lost their life trying to save lives on that horrible day, but why should the nation treat them any differently than we would any other police officer or fire fighter that gets injured or killed on the job?

It is different because not every firefighter or policeman will ever encounter the same thing as the first responders to 9/11 did.. There has never been a catastrophe of that proportion on American soil. This was a day like no other and hopefully we'll never see again. Not saying that police and firefighters do not lay their lives on the line daily.

This is dealing with the FIRST RESPONDERS and the health issues they have contacted and encountered since that hellish day. The people who went in there to rescue fellow Americans. These people selflessly put themselves in dangers digging through rubble and ash, searching for survivors with no thought to their own health and welfare. Along the way they exposed themselves to unknown carcinogens and suffered devastating health conditions like lung cancer and heart disease and death...

For all the parading the GOP does about 9/11, this is the last thing they should filibuster and the media seemingly ignoring THIS 9/11 related news bite while covering every other fucking one anytime a politician tries to get re-elected or a fucking Ground Zero mosque is mentioned is unbelievable..

[MasterOfMeatPuppets]

I don't know squat about this bill. This is the first I've heard of it, but I have to ask, 7 BILLION dollars? I'm sympathetic to anyone that was injured or lost their life trying to save lives on that horrible day, but why should the nation treat them any differently than we would any other police officer or fire fighter that gets injured or killed on the job?

I've always wondered that also. Listening to the GOP and their conservative allies, I would have thought 9/11 was the first time in known history policemen or firefighters ever put themselves at risk for the public good. Now that they no longer have any real propaganda value to the GOP, they just want them to fade away. I hope the filibuster breaks so I can see how many Republicans stick to their guns and how many sell out.

It is different because not every firefighter or policeman will ever encounter the same thing as the first responders to 9/11 did.. There has never been a catastrophe of that proportion on American soil. This was a day like no other and hopefully we'll never see again. Not saying that police and firefighters do not lay their lives on the line daily.

This is dealing with the FIRST RESPONDERS and the health issues they have contacted and encountered since that hellish day. The people who went in there to rescue fellow Americans. These people selflessly put themselves in dangers digging through rubble and ash, searching for survivors with no thought to their own health and welfare. Along the way they exposed themselves to unknown carcinogens and suffered devastating health conditions like lung cancer and heart disease and death...

The difference between 9/11 and any other time cops, firemen and EMTs have risked injury and death is merely a matter of scale.

For all the parading the GOP does about 9/11, this is the last thing they should filibuster and the media seemingly ignoring THIS 9/11 related news bite while covering every other fucking one anytime a politician tries to get re-elected or a fucking Ground Zero mosque is mentioned is unbelievable..

Why shouldn't they filibuster? No one cares anymore and the only way this could bite them in the ass is if they actually had to vote to abandon in their hour of need the heroes they lionized.

[bane]

I don't know squat about this bill. This is the first I've heard of it, but I have to ask, 7 BILLION dollars? I'm sympathetic to anyone that was injured or lost their life trying to save lives on that horrible day, but why should the nation treat them any differently than we would any other police officer or fire fighter that gets injured or killed on the job?

It is different because not every firefighter or policeman will ever encounter the same thing as the first responders to 9/11 did.. There has never been a catastrophe of that proportion on American soil. This was a day like no other and hopefully we'll never see again. Not saying that police and firefighters do not lay their lives on the line daily.

This is dealing with the FIRST RESPONDERS and the health issues they have contacted and encountered since that hellish day. The people who went in there to rescue fellow Americans. These people selflessly put themselves in dangers digging through rubble and ash, searching for survivors with no thought to their own health and welfare. Along the way they exposed themselves to unknown carcinogens and suffered devastating health conditions like lung cancer and heart disease and death...

Firefighters and policemen do things that every day all over this country. Like MOMP said, the only difference is scale. I don't want to rain on the heroism parade, because those people are heroes, but they're no more heroic than some firefighter in bumfuck Iowa that goes into a burning house to try and rescue a family. It happens all the time. They just don't end up plastered all over national television.

[MasterOfMeatPuppets]

I'm wondering why any Dems haven't jumped on this. Not only does the GOP want to deny regular people health care, they won't even give it to those poor heroes of 9/11.

[Luminiferous]

Stewart and Mike Huckabee discussed that MOMP... Who knows?

Maybe they figured out the truth that they are part of what's been labeled the 'Lame As Fuck' congress..

[MotleyMaiden]

There is a huge difference. Most FF go into a scene and they might be at a fire for a few hours before being done. They then have days and some times weeks before being exposed to those to types of hazards again. In the case of 9/11 the FF and police were exposed to the hazards on a massive scale day after day for weeks on end. First while searching for survivors and then while recovering victims remains.

It is ridiculous that the government is ignoring them in their time of need and even more so that the media is ignoring them. Many of these people gave all that day and many more are still giving the ultimate sacrifice. They deserve more then to me ignored by this nation. If we could pay out millions to the families who happened to have loved ones who worked there then we certainly can pay for the healthcare of the people who responded that day who are now sick and dying as a result.

[MasterOfMeatPuppets]

There is a huge difference. Most FF go into a scene and they might be at a fire for a few hours before being done. They then have days and some times weeks before being exposed to those to types of hazards again. In the case of 9/11 the FF and police were exposed to the hazards on a massive scale day after day for weeks on end. First while searching for survivors and then while recovering victims remains.

If any of those people got hurt working on the job, they should be taken care of like anyone else hurt on the job. We're also forgetting the people who actually cleaned up that mess after the FF and cops went home. They worked in that shit a lot longer. I don't believe those FF and cops were any more heroic or deserving than the local guys who would run into my burning house and save my sorry ass from getting cooked like a Christmas ham. It's a matter of scale.

It is ridiculous that the government is ignoring them in their time of need and even more so that the media is ignoring them. Many of these people gave all that day and many more are still giving the ultimate sacrifice. They deserve more then to me ignored by this nation. If we could pay out millions to the families who happened to have loved ones who worked there then we certainly can pay for the healthcare of the people who responded that day who are now sick and dying as a result.

Millions of people bought into the happy crappy idea that anyone killed on 9/11 was somehow automatically more special than anyone who ever died before or after that day. People who had the misfortune of being there at the wrong time (or their survivors) hit the jackpot and those who consciously took the risks and paid the price get jack shit. That's ridiculous.

[MotleyMaiden]

I personally didn't and don't believe that the survivors of the victims of 9/11 (except the FF and police) deserved multimillion dollar payouts but they got them. They should have gotten the same workman's comp payout and life insurance, SS insurance that anyone else would have gotten that was killed on the job. The only reason I think that cop's and FF's families should have gotten more is because they went into the buildings when they knew they were unstable (esp the second tower) to try and get people out.

But ANYONE involved in the recovery effort and a lot of those people were FF, should be taken care of if they are now sick because they stayed in that hazardous hell hole for weeks on end. And they did so looking for remains. When they could have and should have just said bulldoze it, bury it and call it a grave. That is where your loved one's final resting place will be.

[MasterOfMeatPuppets]

The world has moved on and now we get to see how much the GOP really values the heroes of 9/11.

[bane]

Doesn't the City of New York have insurance? Seriously. A local cop here gets shot by some asshole criminal and dies leaving behind a wife and family but his life and sacrifice is somehow worth less than the guys that did the same on 911? I'm sorry but that's fucked up. Politicians have used those guys to further their own agendas for years, and passing a bill to pay them out of federal coffers for their injuries is simply an extenuation of that. I don't see the kids that come back from Iraq and Afghanistan with missing appendages getting that kind of treatment. Nor are the ones that don't come back at all. You want to pass a bill that gives federal aid to hero cops and hero fire fighters, fine, but give to all of them. You can even set it up in the first responders names as a tribute to them, but giving them 7 billion dollars while ignoring the rest of them all over the country is pretty fucked up if you ask me.

[Skate4RnR]

I don't know squat about this bill. This is the first I've heard of it, but I have to ask, 7 BILLION dollars? I'm sympathetic to anyone that was injured or lost their life trying to save lives on that horrible day, but why should the nation treat them any differently than we would any other police officer or fire fighter that gets injured or killed on the job?

The same reason people don't want a mosque down there. It's sacred and those that worked then are dying when our country was in it's most vulnerable state since Pearl Harbor for starters.

Now, I have read the other posts but here's a point. Not necessarily my point because you are right. Is ground zero and 9/11 sacred or not? In this case it is not because big money people will not benefit from helping them.

[bane]

I don't know squat about this bill. This is the first I've heard of it, but I have to ask, 7 BILLION dollars? I'm sympathetic to anyone that was injured or lost their life trying to save lives on that horrible day, but why should the nation treat them any differently than we would any other police officer or fire fighter that gets injured or killed on the job?

The same reason people don't want a mosque down there. It's sacred and those that worked then are dying when our country was in it's most vulnerable state since Pearl Harbor for starters.

Now, I have read the other posts but here's a point. Not necessarily my point because you are right. Is ground zero and 9/11 sacred or not? In this case it is not because big money people will not benefit from helping them.

IMO, the site itself should hold a place in America's collective heart as sacred, kind of like the Arizona does. Speaking of the Arizona, were the the sailors that were maimed or killed on that ship compensated more than every other sailor that died in WWII?

[Skate4RnR]

I don't know actually.

If they weren't was that the right thing to do?

Should we always look to the past for our answers today?

Just thinking.

[bane]

I don't know actually.

If they weren't was that the right thing to do?

Should we always look to the past for our answers today?

Just thinking.

I don't know man. I think that gets wrapped up in too much symbolic bullshit. Sacrificing your health or your life in service to your country or your community should hold equal value whether you did it at some big symbolic battle (or in this case attack site) or if it happened in some insignificant mud hole somewhere that nobody knows about. A life is a life, you know? The value is the same.

[Skate4RnR]

I agree. It's just this shit has been used as a political smoke screen for so long and it's towed and towed all over for political leverage. Then, hey, we love these men and women so much and a bill comes up to help them with their bills that relate to their probs related to 9/11, FUCK NO!!! Cut 'em off, I think that's what makes a lot of people infuriated.

[Luminiferous]

Just to clarify, many of the workers were down at ground zero for over 10 months working 12 hour shifts digging through that rubble. This wasn't like a house fire that they extinguished and they were back in the firehouse 8 hours later..
The bill covers everyone who went down there to help. Not just police and firefighters..

The heavy equipment operator in the Daily Show clips suffers from stage four inoperable throat cancer on both lymph nodes. The transportation worker in charge of trucking out debris out of the area has lung and heart disease. They are part of over 6,600 people now suffering from health issues. The city put them on workman's comp, which cuts their health insurance because they're not working. So while they're fighting the disease, they are also fighting work comp to get their medical bills paid.
The health issues have become a financial burden on the city and the bill is merely trying to take care of those who went beyond that call of duty during that horrific time.
To be fair, currently 9/11 responders receive free health care, but funding is discretionary from year to year. Under the bill, funding would be permanent and responders would receive health care for life.
The cost for the bill is to be paid for by closing a loophole for corporations that find tax havens in foreign countries, which also allows jobs to be shipped overseas. Which, of course, the US Chamber of Commerce and the GOP opposes..

[MasterOfMeatPuppets]

Just to clarify, many of the workers were down at ground zero for over 10 months working 12 hour shifts digging through that rubble. This wasn't like a house fire that they extinguished and they were back in the firehouse 8 hours later..
The bill covers everyone who went down there to help. Not just police and firefighters..

That's cool.

The cost for the bill is to be paid for by closing a loophole for corporations that find tax havens in foreign countries, which also allows jobs to be shipped overseas. Which, of course, the US Chamber of Commerce and the GOP opposes..

I can see why our usual Republican cheerleaders/apologists have avoided this like herpes.

[MotleyMaiden]

I just had breakfast with my mother who is an avid Tea Party member (don't get me started on that). I mentioned this bill to her. Her response: Well, let their insurance cover it. Most of them were firefighters anyway, so they should have insurance. AAHHHHHHH!!!!! Sometimes I would like to smack my own mother and this is one of those times. I love my mother dearly but this is the same woman that has no problem accepting medicare and SS disability payments for HER health problems (and even complains if she doesn't get regular raises even though no other federal workers are getting raises) but wants to deny that right to others.

And that is what I see as the problem with the GOP. They want the hand outs when it affects them but when it affects someone else, well, fuck THOSE people, THEY need to be willing to get a job and work because WE don't want to support them. Who cares if they have stage IV lung cancer from breathing in deadly air at ground zero while helping to find the remains of thousands of people. Chemo only makes you a little tired, they can still work, I mean how else are they going to get insurance. Right?!?! AAARRRRGHHHHH!!!!!

[bane]

Just to clarify, many of the workers were down at ground zero for over 10 months working 12 hour shifts digging through that rubble. This wasn't like a house fire that they extinguished and they were back in the firehouse 8 hours later..
The bill covers everyone who went down there to help. Not just police and firefighters..

That changes things a bit.

[Skate4RnR]

The cost for the bill is to be paid for by closing a loophole for corporations that find tax havens in foreign countries, which also allows jobs to be shipped overseas. Which, of course, the US Chamber of Commerce and the GOP opposes..

That's all I needed to know. Typical.