Posted on 12/18/2010 4:48:07 PM PST by VictoryGal
I first heard the following on Fox. I am no Shep Smith fan but I was outraged to hear this:
"We can't give health care to Ground Zero first responders who ran right into the fire? Went down there to save people? Do people know what this city was like that day? People were walking over bridges, they were covered in ash, they were running for their lives, they were crying, their family members were dead. And these people ran to Ground Zero to save people's lives. And we're not going to even give them medicine for the illnesses they got down there? It's disgusting, it's a national disgrace, it's a shame and everybody who voted against should have to stand up and account for himself or herself."
Now, I haven't heard anything about this from Rush, or Sean, or Beck, The Great One, etc. So I looked into it and I was expecting the dumb Democraps, in their race to multiculturalize the military and spend our grandchildren into ChiCom servitude, were blocking this important bill to take care of the heroes.
I was SHOCKED to find that it was REPUBLICANS blocking the bill. !!! http://theerant.yuku.com/topic/36730
And I don't know why!
We need to call out jerks on OUR side of the aisle when they disrespect American heroes just as we would for treasonous Dims. I am very disappointed in Rush, etc. for not dealing with this bill -- either fighting for its passage or saying why it is a bad deal.
FRiends, what in the WORLD is going on? My volunteer firefighter friends back in my native Long Island -- solid conservatives all -- are furious. So am I.
LOL!
I don't get this. I understand that cops and firefighters up there have a pretty liberal medical retirement programs and that firefighters inparticular take advantage of them. I think I read that like 80% are medically retired?
My question is: Aren't they already being compensated by the City/State with a nice pension and lifetime healthcare due to their duty related injury?
Dad didn't pay SS taxes as a cop. He paid them as a self employed guy. But did that for over 10 years and then retired...He paid enough into SS to collect, but not at the top rate. He passed in 1985 and I miss him still...
“I change the channels.”
DVR of Beckor recording is marvelous. You can do evening things, watch a little Brett & Dr. K, and then fast forward through Sheppy until you spy what looks to be a good story. Or just turn it off.
Or watch old movies.
Wow, thanks for the pointer to GovTrack. Thomas has the data but a terrible interface. GovTrack.us really puts all of a bill’s information together well!
I find it to be very capable, it can do email alerts on various trigger points (cloture votes, etc) but I admit I don’t take advantage of all that. I just like the interface, and the fact that you can get some opinion there as well. (with a grain of salt, of course)
Exactly! So this bill is to give even more money and benefits to folks like this "poor" firefighter?
Geez. I bet he has a disabled placard for his car too.
GOP wanted the bill paid for by cuts in pork spending. Dems wanted a tax hike and the PORK.
This was basically a grandstanding fake bill. Others have more details than I.
Agreed. I post on a Survivalist forum as well and this subject was beaten to death as well over there. The conclusion was that this bill was designed to give the progressive Dimocrats cover and make the GOP look petty. Nothing more.
One scammer does not erase the heroism of first responders who really need help.
From what I can see the bill may be flawed but there are folks who this bill does help... especially volunteers who were NOT well paid for their service, nor do they have a state pension.
When push comes to shove I always give the benefit of the doubt to our military (the average joes who put their lives on the line, not the generals or paper pushers), police, firefighters.
I still don’t know what to think of this bill. I’m still researching it. It doesn’t add to the deficit. It’s paid for by “closing a tax loophole” for foreign countries doing business in the US. I’m looking at that right now to see if it’s really the job killer the Chamber of Commerce says it is.
I’m not saying this firefighter is scamming anybody. As even he points out in the article, his medical retirement is above-board. Completely legal. Now, we can argue what is the sense in giving somebody classified as completely disabled and is obviously not, full retirement benefits, and how this is routine in most departments across the US, but that’s not what this thread is about.
My problem is as much as he is already getting in benefits, to include full health coverage, why is more needed for him and others like him? He’s pulling down $75K a year and full benefits.
What does this bill do for him that he doesn’t already have other than throw money at somebody who obviously doesn’t need it?
“If someone has a link as to why this is a bad bill I would like to see it.”
There is no such link because this is not a bad bill. This bill is pretty much picking up the slack where union and city benefits end. Some of these workers are being laid off and losing health benefits since they are jeapordizing city and union health plans due to high payouts. They are also being denied disability and families being denied work related death benefits because it is hard to distinguish lung cancer caused by 9/11 toxins from lung cancer from other causes (genetic, environmental, etc).
This bill basically keeps 9/11 responder’s families from going bankrupt as they watch their fathers, sons, grandfathers and grandsons slowly die. The 9/11 responders are dying slow deaths caused by 9/11 toxins and no legislation will stop that. What this bill will do is give those dying responders peace of mind knowing their wives and children will not be out of their house and their savings by the time they breathe their last.
We as a nation owe this bill to them the same way we owe logistics and engineer soldiers in a war zone our support for putting their health on the line to clean up the mess of a battlefield, in this case the battlefield being ground zero.
“Part of the legislation: Do you really think free health care for life should apply to someone who was at ground zero for four hours?”
Have you seen the reports of the density of asbestos, PCBs and other plastics related toxins that were in the air for weeks after 9/11? If you have any you have any knowledge of environmental health and safety code you would answer ABSOLUTELY to your question.
Even 1 hour of exposure to those levels would cause irreparable harm to a person. There is a reason it says 4 hours, because that is all it takes to disable or kill you if you are genetically vulnerable.
“So per this law the truck drivers who hauled debris to the landfill hit the lottery if this bill passes.”
So per this law? Have you read the bill? This pays for health care costs not covered by worker’s insurance plans...nothing more. Even the best health coverage in the nation has copays, deductibles, gaps and caps. This fills in those holes so the 9/11 responders don’t leave their families bankrupt after they die. If you made a fireman’s salary with New York cost of living, you too would feel the strain of copays, deductibles and caps on certain drugs and treatments REALLY fast. They aren’t winning a lottery with this bill, they are being allowed to die with slightly more peace of mind.
Do NOT let Obama and the dems make you cynical and bitter that you look past the people that selflessly helped our nation after an attack on the NATION, not just New York.
What in the WORLD has happened to the golden rule of Christianity in conservatives!!!!!
Then why stop with the people listed in the bill? Why not cover anyone who was in NYC for four hours during the two years that the bill uses as a guideline?
What in the WORLD has happened to the golden rule of Christianity in conservatives!!!!!
The whole concept of the government taking money from one person in order to give it to another person has nothing to do with Christian charity. People who give charitably do not need to be forced (by law) to donate time, talent, or money. The American public has been fully brainwashed to believe that Uncle Sugar Daddy US owes every victim of every conceivable event government charity. Nonsense.
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