For the third time, Marvin Bethea will be in the audience for George Bush's State of the Union address. Thankfully to him, it will be George's last. Bethea was a paramedic based in Queens when he rushed Ground Zero to help people in one of our nation's worst disasters. Now he is taking several medications a day and is sick and tired of how the President neglects him and all the 9/11 responders who have become ill after breathing the toxic air of Lower Manhattan following the collapse of the Twin Towers.
From The Daily News:
"I'm fed up with how we're treated," said Bethea, saying he now takes 12 medications daily and still has trouble getting adequate health care. "They went from calling us heroes to treating us like zeros."
Ground Zero volunteer John Feal was even more blunt in skewering the White House.
"You got $3 billion a month to kill people," Feal said. "You got $3 billion a year for health care."
On the eve of Bush's speech, 9/11 responders, union leaders and elected officials gathered at Ground Zero Sunday to blast the White House for recently yanking a contract for ailing 9/11-responder care.
"They just don't want to spend the money," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan), whose district includes Ground Zero. "They'd rather see these people die."
The apathy of the White House is sad, but unfortunately true. Bush loved to use the true heroes of 9/11 for his own quest for war but now that they need his help he refuses to give it. He rejected spending extensions for clinics that care for the rescue workers. Tonight, when he talks about what he wants Congress to pass, perhaps he could change his mind about people like Marvin Bethea and John Feal, but we already know he won't.
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