Republican betrayal of 9/11 responders

Oh, the contradictions of the right. Damn big government and their socialist agenda, but hands off my Medicare. Damn those liberal activist judges … except when it's our activist judge and he rules against a crucial plank of healthcare reform that was lawfully passed by Congress. Requiring every American to have health insurance is no more socialist than requiring every American to have car insurance, and certainly no more socialist than the federal government bailing out Wall Street's Gordon Gekkos using taxpayer money.

Recently, though, perhaps the most unconscionable act was the blatant obstructionism Republican Senators engaged in recently: they threatened to deny healthcare to 9/11 first responders who are now suffering illnesses resulting from toxic exposures at Ground Zero. Reflecting the party's flawed moral character, every single Senate Republican followed through on their threat to block the bill until Democrats agreed to extend Bush-era tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans.

Partisanship venom at its finest. Our nation's bravest souls, who ran into burning buildings to save innocents, were almost deprived healthcare because our politicians wanted to cut rich Americans a tax break. The Zadroga bill, named after the first NYPD officer whose death is attributed to the noxious fumes at Ground Zero, initially passed in the House, but fell three votes short of the 60 needed to break the Senate filibuster. It wasn't until late last week that the bill also passed in the Senate, but not without Democrats' begging, and with only minimal public outcry.

The hypocrisy is astounding, nauseating almost. For the past nine years, the Republican rallying chorus has consistently harkened to the heroism of 9/11, whether it was relevant or not. Remember 9/11: we shall never forget. The astronomic sales of NYPD T-shirts speaks volumes. Rhetoric is cheap, but when it comes to actually providing for our first responders, the Republican party failed, and failed miserably. The disturbing display of callousness towards 9/11 first responders was indicative of the vindictive partisan divide we are destined to see next year.

According to the WTC Health Registry annual report, of approximately 70,000 registered enrollees, 10% reported developing asthma in the first 16 months after 9/11. In the year following the attacks, firefighters developed the lung disease sarcoidosis at five times the normal rate. Public health experts fear the widespread development of malignant mesothelioma, a type of lung cancer attributable to asbestos. Add that approximately 40% of the World Trade Centre workers monitored by a Mount Sinai Hospital study lack health insurance and it qualifies as a public health crisis.

So, who could possibly have the temerity, the unmitigated audacity, to argue against our moral obligation to take care of the heroic men and women who are now suffering after inhaling 9/11's noxious fumes? Instead of professing false patriotism and rah-rahing, "USA! USA! USA", how about we just give those brave men and women the chance to see a doctor so they can breathe easier?

The most peculiar part of the sordid mess is the relative dearth of media coverage it initially received. It mysteriously slipped under most major networks' radar. In fact, the issue was largely ignored until Jon Stewart informed the public that al-Jazeera had run a 22-minute story focusing on the disgraceful Senate rancour, which set off a flurry of media coverage.

Still, there was more fiery indignation about TSA feeling up America's nether regions than there was about 9/11 first responders getting shafted by the government. Wherever did we Americans lose our outrage? Maybe, we used it all up in the WikiUproar.

Let's see now … We had it for the 9/11 mosque hysteria, as is usually the case for anything 9/11-related. It was only too easy to incite a seething populace into faux patriotism then. Talk of the mosque was even able to ignite jingoism to epic proportions. Oh, the disgrace, the indignity. Hell, we get high blood pressure when Facebook uses Helvetica instead of the Times New Roman font. We could have used some of that emotional reaction, and that rallying cry, to remember 9/11 emergency personnel last week.

Curiously, though, depriving Ground Zero workers medical care – because of the ignominious bravado of the Republican party, no less – did not seem to detonate the public, not even mildly. The absurd temper about anything remotely pertaining to 9/11 remained sedate. Why? Because it was about Republicans guaranteeing tax breaks to privileged American suburbia-ville first. They failed at their opportunity to step up to the plate and put their money where their NYPD and FDNY bumper stickers are.

The men and women who selflessly rushed into the blazing Twin Towers to save lives did not hesitate. They did not waiver; nor did they bargain or negotiate before they lunged towards their death and towards future illnesses. But when it came to rewarding them – and not with the pseudo-patriotism of flagwaving and groupthink chants – but with tangible, compassionate medical care for their ailments, our politicians to the right of the aisle did.