Today is the day I have never been more ashamed, saddened and downright disgusted by the state of our government.
An issue I wish I had followed more closely, one that is so ridiculously important and a complete slam dunk in any person with even the most remote sense of morality, is going to be stymied today because of bi-partisan idiocy. There is a bill on the floor of the Senate today, December 22, 2010 that would provide $6.2 billion in aid to first-responders to the horrific attack on September 11, 2001.
I watched nearly two hours of video of these brave men and women speaking about their efforts to save and rescue as many people as possible. People that were speaking through vocoder voice synthesizers because of severe lung and throat cancers. People with missing limbs due to falling debris during the efforts. Many many others who aren't so disfigured but still suffer from terrible cancers, asthma, blindness and several other terrible ailments. These people risked everything they had to help the victims of that senseless crime. How are they being repaid for their efforts? Nine years of no governmental help. Many losing their jobs and not collecting workman's compensation, endless roadblocks put in place by insurance companies, astronomical medical bills or downright being unable to receive treatment and being left in a bed to die.
The bill in Senate today has enough votes to pass. A bill that will provide a large sum of money to help these heroic people. However, it's looking to be blocked and prevented from going to vote by just one man. Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. He has vowed to block this bill in any and all ways from getting to vote today. His reasoning being that it wasn't brought through proper committee votes and amendments. That we haven't had enough time to look through everything. That it's a democratic tactic to get some legislation pushed through before Congress decides to take two weeks off due to the holidays.
The fact of the matter is this: These people have been dying since a year or two after the attack. These aren't new problems and this bill isn't some new stack of papers to suddenly show up on Congress' desk. This has been in the works for years. Now this man wishes to push back the vote until after the holidays have concluded and the new Congress has been brought in. Sadly, it isn't because there is bad language in the bill, (There isn't. It closes a corporate loophole that will lose some billionaires a couple bucks) it's because there has become some insane necessity in our government to absolutely, no matter what, go against any legislation that the other side brings forth. Some have decent arguments, and some are just ridiculous positioning tactics. This one, however, is the biggest slam dunk vote that Congress has had in at least two decades.
I can't believe the kind of thoughts that go through a person's head, knowing how all these true American heroes are suffering and can actually, with a straight face, out and try to delay something that is needed so badly.
This is the last straw in an endless haystack that has made my blood boil over the last ten years. People in the government no longer wants what is best for their citizens and their country. They want to work solely for themselves and their party and gain and use any amount of power they can. It's disgusting.
I no longer want to be apart of this country anymore. If I had the ability to leave, I would in a heartbeat. If I had the money to pick up and go to Canada or England or wherever the hell else, I would start packing after I push "publish" on this post.
It is completely horrifying that people in this country are so partisan, that they can't get the most humanitarian bill proposed in decades passed. This hurts no one and only helps.
I'm not proofreading this. It needs to be posted as is.
