Last night my heart was in my stomach as I watched the imagery on the TV screen. The archived footage of all who filmed that tragic day will remain in my memory always. I wanted to talk to the screen and tell them not to go in, as I know how the story ends. The firefighters walking into the towers of the World Trade Center will never know that they will not return.
Those who survived were covered in a layer of white so thick that they could barely breathe. The footage showed them hacking and gasping for air as their lungs were filled with what was once a skyscraper.
Nine years later, these men and women will never be forgotten, or will they? It seems our politics are getting in the way of the needs for these fallen heroes. You have cancer now? Ah, well, too bad. And we're not going to pass a health bill for you either.
The Republican party said, "NO!" to these 9/11 Heroes. For a party that claims to be Patriots, I see nothing American about it.
Amen. Amen. Amen. Patriotism would be honoring the memory of those who died on 9/11 by giving health care to those who endangered their lives by rushing in headlong to help them. Great post - will tweet it along.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by MP. I'm not feeling like a cup of caffeine today.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Jittery. Couldn't have said it better...decaf for me.
ReplyDelete12 Republicans did vote "yes" for it and are upset at their fellow Republicans who voted "no" claiming that $8.4 billion spread over the next 11 years for the sick Americans and the victims' families was too much money.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, because we have now spent over $1 TRILLION on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. So, that's over $1 Trillion in 9 years.
$8.4 billion over 11 years for ill Americans is a teensy percentage of that $1 trillion, by comparison.
Let's compare: $120 billion, on average, spent each year on the wars versus about $0.764 billion (or $764 million) a year for this health plan over the next 11 years.
Here's another stat: the U.S. 2009 monthly spending for Iraq, alone (and this is the greatly reduced budget): $7.3 billion. In 1 month. (It used to be $12 billion a month, so at least it's less now.)
Even if we shaved the military budget by the cost of this health program, the military budget would STILL be absurdly high. $764 million a year, on average, isn't enough to even make a dent in the current budget for war. So how can it be "too much money"?