Breathless Audacity

by Sheldon Rampton — September 6, 2006 - 9:31pm
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The largest study yet of lung problems among 9/11 rescue workers shows bad news. "Nearly 70 percent of the rescue and cleanup workers who toiled in the dust and fumes at ground zero have had trouble breathing, and many will probably be sick for the rest of their lives," reports Amy Westfeldt. The study, conducted by the Mount Sinai Medical Center, monitored the health of nearly 16,000 ground zero workers. The volunteers who dug through the rubble in search of survivors inhaled dust laden with asbestos, pulverized concrete, mercury and toxins that will leave many of them chronically sick for the rest of their lives. As Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber reported in their 2004 book, Banana Republicans, this tragedy happened because the same politicians who struck heroic poses following America’s worst terrorist attack betrayed the real heroes of the day — the construction workers, police, firefighters and everyday citizens who rushed to the scene and tried to help. In a report for the FireDogLake weblog, they tell the story of how volunteers dug through the rubble while receiving assurances — now proven false — that the air in which they worked was safe to breathe.

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FireDogLake, September 6, 2006

Comments

There was a job that needed

Submitted by jupiter on September 13, 2006 - 2:48am.

There was a job that needed to be done, so obviously these people "needed" to be lied to. (Or more correctly stated, someone ELSE had a "need" to lie to them.) I wonder if they even wore masks at all.

By the way, not NECESSARILY having to do with this blog thread, but perhaps, for all I know:

What do you call a corrupt official who allows him or herself to be bought/paid off (who is "on the take")?

Answer: A SLAVE!!!!! (Since they have been "bought")

For as "great" as America seems, lately I'm seeing it more as a house of cards, just waiting for the next breeze to blow it over --- the economy, everything. Doesn't this always happen in civilizations at some point shortly after corruption sets in? and is rampant, and not the exception but the rule for officials to be corrupt, and corruptable? You can almost expect it and guess it ahead of time (corruption).

These people must know so very little about history, and what has happened before in societies that decided lies were better than truth --- lying about the character of others, victimizing the whistle blower, etc. (There's no time in our society to learn history, or do much any kind of introspection, for that matter.) How pathetic. And how incredibly hypocritical!!!

There might be some short term gain in being paid off, but they will be haunted for the rest of their lives by what they did.

Now if they don't have a conscience, or are sociopathic (and apparently this is trendy state of being, as of late), then maybe they would be spared from being haunted by their conscience --- if it didn't exist.