Posted on 10/05/2011 2:31:46 PM PDT by ransomnote
Full Title: Kentucky congressman tells Labor Dept. sick nuclear workers shouldn't be mocked: 'To be frank, this is offensive'
U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., whose district includes the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, came down hard on the Labor Department following reports of a training manual that seems to make light of sick nuclear workers filing claims in the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program. Whitfield made his feelings known in a letter to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.
According to reports by the Associated Press and other news organizations, the manual uses generic names such as "Freddie Krueger" -- the villain in the "Nightmare on Elm Street" movies -- to reference those making claims.
News of the manual was reported by an Associated Press article in the September 27, 2011 edition of the Washington Post. In the article, the DOL training manual referred to claimants in the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program (EEOICPA) as "Freddie Kruger" and "Hannibal Lechter" - claimants who were suffering from skin cancer and dementia. The claimants who were given these nicknames were exposed to toxic materials while employed as part of the nation's atomic weapons programs. SNIP Congress passed the EEOICPA Act to provide compensation to individuals who become ill as a result of working in these federal plants.
"To be frank, this is offensive," wrote Whitfield in his letter to Solis. "Kentucky's First Congressional District is home to the Department of Energy's Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant.... Unfortunately, the plant carries a legacy of employees exposed to dangerous and even deadly materials and as a result, I have numerous constituents who have been required to use the EEOICPA program.... These claimants deserve for the Department of Labor to be responsive and sympathetic to their needs, and not making a mockery of their health."
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.knoxnews.com ...
When Republicans take back the WH the heads of many of these departments should be fired immediately. Trusted and decent human beings need to be hired so these things don’t happen.
Yeah....government officials making fun of people suffering from skin cancer and dementia...it IS kinda funny/ Sarc
If you can’t make light of tragedy, then tragedy has beaten you.
Your weak excuse for your lack of compassion just digs the hole you’ve enjoyed digging a little deeper.
“If you can’t make light of tragedy, then tragedy has beaten you.”
That quote which you took out of context to try to portray yourself as ‘more evolved’ than others actually refers to facing one’s own tragedies - not laughing at the suffering of others. Thus, you display your ignorance and incapacity for compassion and then you follow up with useless, defensive posts trying to portray yourself as ‘more enlightened’- keep digging that hole.
Thanks ransomnote.
You’re coming across as a really a hole whether you mean to or not.
Cancer isn’t funny.
I won’t be reading the story. We really have nothing to say to each other.
My wife is a cancer survivor. Yes, there is a funny side to cancer.
I hope you have lots of laughs in your future.
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