Tuesday, December 21, 2010

First Responders, The Sociopaths


First Responders


The Sociopaths


40 years old vs 11


Senator Dick Durbin

H.R. 847—the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act was introduced in the House of Representatives on February 3, 2009, by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY). It is a 7.4 billion dollar measure that would direct the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to create a World Trade Center Health Program that "will provide: (1) medical monitoring and treatment benefits to eligible emergency responders and recovery and cleanup workers who responded to the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and (2) initial health evaluation, monitoring, and treatment benefits to residents and other building occupants and area workers who were directly impacted and adversely affected by such attacks." -Executive Summery
The measure would be allocated 7.4 billion dollars that would be paid for be closing a loophole in existing tax laws when companies use offshore entities as tax havens. In other words the Act would be completely paid for by corporations attempting to lower their legitimate corporate tax rates and would not add a penny to the country's deficit, something the Republicans claim to be very concerned about.
A lot of people do not understand that this measure is completely funded. I've read articles that claim that it is not, have seen television commentators say the same thing. It will be paid for by corporations who have been cheating the U.S. government out of billions of dollars of legitimate taxable income.
Of course that may be the main reason we've seen the resistance of the Republicans to move this measure forward. Anything that hurts their corporate master's bottom line they will automatically be against. And of course the US Chamber of Commerce, which is funded by corporations both foreign and domestic, has been lobbying the Republicans to kill this bill as a matter of course (US Chamber of Commerce indeed).
And they have been trying.
The original Bill did not pass in the House and and was reintroduced, thus making its torturous way through the committee process until it was first put to a vote in the full House on July 29th, 2010.
The measure failed. That's what got Jon Stewart of The Daily Show initially upset (Please excuse the little commercial, but you know how the Internet is:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-august-4-2010/i-give-up---9-11-responders-bill
The Bill finally passed the House on September 29th (268 for/160 against, with 5 abstaining), and was sent to the Senate.
When a vote to invoke Cloture (suspend debate and proceed to a full Senate vote on the actual Bill) occurred on Dec 9th, the Republicans filibustered (withheld enough votes to move the Measure forward out of debate) and would not even let the Measure proceed to an up and down vote, another thing they seemed so concerned about during the Bush years when they were in the majority.
What do you think Stewart thought about that? This is what I saw last Thursday night:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-december-16-2010/worst-responders
I've stated in a previous post my conjecture that 1/6 of the world's population are what could clinically be considered sociopathic and that the majority of Republicans in Congress fit that diagnosis:
http://joycestake.blogspot.com/2009/10/psycho.html
As I asked in the above post, how else can you explain the actions of 30 Republican Senators, including the last Republican Presidential candidate, John McCain, voting against a Bill protecting American workers from sexual molestation, including gang rape, from their fellow workers in the workplace, as described below:
http://joycestake.blogspot.com/2009/10/psycho-2.html
I can't. If you can then you're probably in that one sixth percentile as well.
Well, last month we voted them back into some measure of power by giving them control of the House of Representatives. It made no sense whatsoever to do so. We voted Barack Obama into office in 2008 in order to effect change, in a large part because of the actions taken during the previous 8 years of the Bush administration, a Republican administration, and then when he couldn't repair the damage done in those 8 years in the 2 years since he was elected, we took tools he needed away from him to continue his work in last November's election (despite the fact that he averted a major depression, and lowered taxes for 95% of Americans (unless you watch Fox News. Then in that alternative universe you live in he raised your taxes, despite the numbers on your pay stub) among many, many other things).
We get what we voted for, and the Republicans are already showing how they will govern, and they haven't even taken power yet.
Last Thursday the House Republicans voted down the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2010, a Bill designed to designate forced marriages of children as a basic human rights violation, and to help curb this despicable practice throughout the world.
"An estimated 60 million girls in developing countries now ages 20 to 24 were married before they reached the age of 18. The Population Council estimates that the number will increase by 100 million over the next decade if current trends continue." -Jodi Jacobson, Editor-in-Chief, RH Reality Check
The Bill had already passed the most dysfunctional institution in the entire country, the United States Senate, and garnered wide bipartisan support in the House... until it came to a vote (the Bill required a 2/3 majority and received 241 for / 166 against (157 of those votes Republican), with 26 abstaining). The reason the Republicans gave for voting this measure down... it cost too much (108 million over 5 years. In my mind that's not enough money), and will lead to increased abortions.
Increased abortions?! No sane person can figure that one out. How will helping to stop children from being forced into marriages increase abortions? It seems to me the opposite would be true. These guys aren't only sociopaths but they're morons as well.
But that's the Party of "Family Values," for you. As long as it's not their family then anything is okay.
And $108 million? Right after the Republicans have given over 800 billion dollars to the richest among us which adds directly to our budget deficit! Amazing. Acts that only true sociopaths could commit without batting an eye.
This is what the sponsor of the bill, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) had to say after his Measure was defeated: "The action on the House floor stopping the Child Marriage bill tonight will endanger the lives of millions of women and girls around the world. These young girls, enslaved in marriage, will be brutalized and many will die when their young bodies are torn apart while giving birth. Those who voted to continue this barbaric practice brought shame to Capitol Hill."
Read about it here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/17/house-republicans-block-child-marriage-prevention-act_n_798382.html
Quite frankly I'm ashamed to be an American when my government acts in such a harsh, callous, sociopathic manner.
Concerning the James Zadroga Act. We still have the rest of this week to try and get it passed before the Christmas break. I've learned from Senator Kirsten Gillibran (D-NY) that the bill will be put before the Senate for another vote after the New START Treaty business is taken care of, with the following changes: Since the Republicans major objection to the Bill is that it is being paid for by closing a tax loophole for American businesses thus making them pay their fair share in taxes (of course), funding will now be provided by fees to foreign business entities doing business with American companies and the government, and the total cost of the bill has been lowered from 7.4 billion to 6.2, as certain offset expenditures have been discovered to make up the difference. Let's see what excuses our Republican friends come up with now.
I urge any of our readers who live in a Senatorial District whose Senator has previously voted against this important Measure, to contact them and urge them to change their vote.
I'll end this post with Jon Stewart's conversation with four 9/11 first responders, and let you listen to them first hand:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNDmKorWJn0

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