Guest Post: Will the 9/11 First Responders Law Do the Job?

Please give a warm welcome to fellow Blogger Barbara O’ Brien. She is dropping by to increase awareness on the 9/11 First Responders Bill. And you know how much America loves Health Care. So without further ado -

In the final days of the 111th Congress, the James Zadroga 9/11 Health And Compensation Act, also called the "9/11 First Responders bill," finally passed. The Act will provide medical monitoring and care for those who worked on the smoldering ruins of the World Trade Center after the 9/11 attacks, as well as for many who lived and worked nearby.


However, at the insistence of some senators, the final bill was considerably watered down from what it had been originally. More than $3 billion in funding was cut from the previous version of the bill, for example. Will the revised bill still do the job?


When the Senate passed the bill, initial news reports said that the monitoring and health care program would end after five years. However, the actual language of the bill provides for funding limitations for monitoring and health care after fiscal year 2016, which suggests the program might continue if Congress authorizes funding for it.


The monitoring issue is particularly critical. The collapse of the mammoth World Trade Center towers released thousands of tons of toxic particles into the air. For many weeks after the attacks, people who lived and worked in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn suffered burning eyes and hacking coughs from the foul air. Yet at the time, the federal government and the city of New York assured people the stinging fumes were not dangerous, just unpleasant.


Several days after the terrorist attacks, some independent researchers slipped past the police barricades to take samples. They found the air contained more than twice the number of asbestos fibers considered “safe,” as well as deadly levels of benzene, dioxin, and other toxins.

Why should people exposed to the toxins continue to be monitored? Asbestos in particular is a very slow killer. It has been well documented that the first symptoms of the deadly lung cancer mesothelioma may not show up for 20 to 50 years after exposure to asbestos. But early detection should prolong lives and make mesothelioma treatment and other medical care more effective.


The final bill does close the Victims Compensation Fund in five years, which is separate from the health monitoring and care part of the bill. It also provides for more stringent monitoring of benefits, which might make it harder for people to get into the program.


Today — more than nine years after the attacks — many rescue and recovery workers are
suffering deteriorating health. A study published in April 2010 in the New England Journal of Medicine found that New York City firefighters and emergency workers continue to suffer from severe and persistent lung problems because of their exposure to the World Trade Center debris. Some of these 9/11 heroes already have died.


Firefighters, police officers, and other responders who had been begging Congress for help for nine years called the passage of the bill a “Christmas miracle.” Let us hope the final version of the bill will do the job.

Crooklyn is starting off the year all wrong!!!

Kavina Irving, Brooklyn resident, was shot in the face by rival teens on her way to the store at the Seth Low houses on the 16th of January.

Joe “Benedict Arnold” Lieberman’s last Soliloquy…

Senator Joe Lieberman is going out the door lying. But I wouldn’t expect him to do anything less. He wants you to believe that he served his time and is ready to move on. LIES!! He is one of the reasons why I don’t associate with any political party. Either you stand for something or nothing at all (yes, I’m talking about you too Senator Arlen Specter).

Lieberman has been upset that the Democrats didn’t give him carte blanche when running for president in 2004. I guess he thought because he was the Vice Presidential Nominee in 2000 he was owed something. But for him to turn around and kick it with the same party that caused him to lose in 2000….well that is some Whitney Houston type stuff. Lieberman is a man without an island. The Democrats hate him and the Republicans don’t trust him. He miraculously became an independent in 2006 when he couldn’t win the Democratic Party Primary. And ever since then he has been sticking it to the Democrats. And because they put up with his shenanigans they deserve every bit of Hell he gives.

But not everyone has decided to bend over and take whatever Lieberman gives out. Apparently people are starting to wise up and have decided that they are going to give him Hell. Lieberman’s number one nemesis is Markos Moulitsas, founder of the liberal blog Daily Kos, a liberal blogger and general pain in the behind to all Republicans. The liberal grassroots organization that Lieberman would have faced for his 2012 reelection would have been fierce. The truth is he is leaving office a disgraced man. He has lost the confidence of the people that voted for him and the Democratic Party he still caucuses with. Stop telling those lies going out the door and just go.

Brotherhood Unity Weekend.

Everybody wants to be a Hero.....

Real-Life Kick-Ass Update: Ass-Kicked

When Rhetoric becomes Reality: The Cold Blooded Shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

“We serve who walks into our office and we don’t even ask what party they belong to.”

~ Gabe Zimmerman, Congresswoman Giffords 30-year-old communications outreach director - Zimmerman one of the victims of the Arizona Shooting on Saturday.



This past weekend a home grown terrorist unleashed his fury in Arizona. The terrorist walked up to Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and shot her point blank range in the head. He also killed 6 other people including a 9 year old child. And let’s not forget the 13 people that were taken to the hospital for various shooting injuries. A Federal Judge, one of the victims of this terrorist attack, had received death threats in the past. In 2009, he had received death threats over a $32 million civil rights lawsuit filed by illegal immigrants against an Arizona Farmer. Oh Uh! Illegal Aliens have rights?? Not in Arizona!!!! They build fences to keep out that kinda stuff…


The terrorist, Jared Lee Loughner, is being described as someone with a “mental issue.” Unlike when people in “The Hood” are murdered, it’s because of cold blooded animals and not people with mental defects. But I’m not a Psychologist so don’t take my opinion. I just follow the facts:

A classmate that went to school with Loughner said that he was very interested in politics and was unimpressed with Giffords.

It is confirmed that Loughner was invited to attend an event with Giffords after corresponding with her staff.

Videos that he posted on YouTube show his deep distrust of the government and religion and described America’s laws a “TREASONOUS.”

TREASONOUS??? Where have we heard that word before?

Is Obama committing Treason by advancing the cause of the Mexican takeover of the American Southwest?

We aren’t done with you yet Obama – you disloyal Manchurian African Socialist.


Now how did Sarah Palin get mixed up in all of this? Gifford voted on the healthcare bill that the Republican’s refer to as “Obamacare.” Because of that she was put on Sarah "Don't retreat; reload" Palin’s Take Back the 20 List. This list aimed (and I mean that literally) at knocking off 20 Democrats who voted for Obamacare in GOP-leaning districts. The GOP-leaning districts were designated by sniper crosshairs (that is the map that is shown above).


So if you take a deranged young man, who is possibly linked to an anti immigration group. Convince him that the Government is involved in treason and they support illegal immigrants. Wait for it….wait for it and use rhetoric involving guns and solving problems by force. You have the recipe for a Home Grown Terrorist!!!!


Now I know people (mostly on the right side of the aisle) will accuse me of attacking Palin. As I said numerous times on this blog – I’m an Independent. I don’t like the Republicans or the Democrats. But I know something is obvious when I see it. If Palin didn’t think she had any responsibility for this shooting, why was her “Take Back the 20 List” taken down off the internet? I also know that people (mostly on the right side of the aisle) will say this wasn’t a politically motivated shooting. LIES!!! What more proof do you need??? It doesn’t make sense to pretend that our current political climate didn’t cause this. The time for denial is over!!!!


Unlike many of my fellow Americans I’m not shocked that this happened. It’s not normal for a U.S. Congresswoman to be shot outside of Safeway. But we aren’t living in normal times. People are scared about the present and afraid of the future. Using Rhetoric that whips them into a frenzy isn’t helpful. It does nothing to solve problems or to create unity. It’s an excuse for people to take sides and disagree with anyone that doesn’t agree with them. For the individuals out here that are suffering from mental issues it’s worse. It plays into their irrational fears and anxieties. Thus creating a delusional world based on falsehoods that only they live in. Our words can be used as weapons or tools to build. We have the power to create the world we want to live in. We can live in a world of civility or watch the decline into civil unrest. Which world do you choose?