GT "Respecting the Pain and Suffering" of 9/11 Emergency Responders

As I noted earlier this month, GT joined 158 of his Republican colleagues to defeat a bill which created a fund for the 9/11 emergency responders who have health problems due to the toxic environment created by the collapse of the World Trade Center.  At the time, GT hadn't explained his vote and I wondered which Clown Caucus approved talking point GT would point to if he was asked to justify his vote. This week at a townhall meeting in Philipsburg  we got an answer to that question.

Thompson said he understands what first responders experience in a situation, as he is a licensed Emergency Medical Technician and a volunteer firefighter.
He said he understands the emotional and physical trauma experienced but also said that the bill was not well crafted and he was concerned about where the money was going and what it paid for, which was not clear to him in the bill.

That's pretty fucking vague. And it looks like GT didn't do his homework on this one, since his excuse  is not on the the  list of Clown Caucus approved talking points (PDF). The closest item on that approved list of reasons not to vote for the bill is item #3. It must be tough remembering all those rationales for voting no.

The fact is that the bill is very clear on both where the money is going and what it pays for. Both geographic and temporal eligibility requirement for receiving the money from the fund are clearly spelled out and a detailed list of health conditions which are covered by the fund are given. The one open area is cancer which takes a longtime to develop. Hence at this time there is no epidemiological evidence to tie 9/11 to cancer risks.  You can learn more from this CBO report on the bill and the bill itself.

By the way,

...Thompson also briefly talked about the controversial mosque and community center proposed to be build in New York City near ground zero. He said that it is a local decision of the city and the federal government doesn't have jurisdiction over it. However, he also said that he didn't think those involved were respecting the pain and suffering that is still occurring there and that should have been taken into consideration.

GT has a funny way of respecting the pain and suffering of those 9/11 emergency responders.

9/11 Has Changed Everything...

...and not for the better. Go have a read.

Technorati Tags: 9/11, civil liberties, abuse of power

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Gore on 9/11

Al Gore speaks out on 9/11 in a recent GQ interview.

Okay, on to 9-11. What were you really feeling? Was there a part of you that felt a sense of relief that you weren’t in charge that day?
You mean a sense of relief that I didn’t have to deal with it? Oh no. Not at all. Not for one second. Not for one second. Why would I? I mean, well first of all, it just didn’t occur to me to feel anything like that. What did occur to me was to feel what every American felt, the outrage and anger and righteous anger, and support for the President at a time of danger… And, honestly, I was focused on the reality of the situation. And I wasn’t president, so, you know, it wasn’t about me. Now, I do wish, now that we have some distance from the events, and we have all this knowledge about what this administration did do, I certainly feel that I wish that it had been handled differently, and I do wish that I had somehow been able to prevent some of the catastrophic mistakes that were made.

Do you feel that we would be safer today if you had been president on that day?
Well, no one can say that the 9-11 attack wouldn’t have occurred whoever was president.

Really? How about all the warnings?
That’s a separate question. And it’s almost too easy to say, “I would have heeded the warnings.” In fact, I think I would have, I know I would have. We had several instances when the CIA’s alarm bells went off, and what we did when that happened was, we had emergency meetings and called everybody together and made sure that all systems were go and every agency was hitting on all cylinders, and we made them bring more information, and go into the second and third and fourth level of detail. And made suggestions on how we could respond in a more coordinated, more effective way. It is inconceivable to me that Bush would read a warning as stark and as clear [voice angry now] as the one he received on August 6th of 2001, and, according to some of the new histories, he turned to the briefer and said, “Well, you’ve covered your ass.” And never called a follow up meeting. Never made an inquiry. Never asked a single question. To this day, I don’t understand it. And, I think it’s fair to say that he personally does in fact bear a measure of blame for not doing his job at a time when we really needed him to do his job. And now the Woodward book has this episode that has been confirmed by the record that George Tenet, who was much abused by this administration, went over to the White House for the purpose of calling an emergency meeting and warning as clearly as possible about the extremely dangerous situation with Osama bin Laden, and was brushed off! And I don’t know why—honestly—I mean, I understand how horrible this Congressman Foley situation with the instant messaging is, okay? I understand that. But, why didn’t these kinds of things produce a similar outrage? And you know, I’m even reluctant to talk about it in these terms because it’s so easy for people to hear this or read this as sort of cheap political game-playing. I understand how it could sound that way. [Practically screaming now] But dammit, whatever happened to the concept of accountability for catastrophic failure? This administration has been by far the most incompetent, inept, and with more moral cowardice, and obsequiousness to their wealthy contributors, and obliviousness to the public interest of any administration in modern history, and probably in the entire history of the country!

Technorati Tags: gore, bush, 9/11

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