Paying respect to 9/11

That's actually not what this post is about, in fact, this post is about just the opposite. This post is about disrespecting American heros, those people who risked their lives to help others on September 11, 2001.

You see, in a bold move to avoid adding to the budget, Senate Republicans blocked a $7.4 billion dollar bill that would have paid for healthcare for first responders and others who are suffering from breathing in the toxic fumes and dust after the Word Trade Center collapsed.

That's right America, the party that led us into a nonsense war in Iraq, a crucial part of "the war on terror," the party that plays to Islamophobia and is dead set against a community center a few blocks from ground zero on the grounds that it is offensive to the memory of 9/11 is refusing to pay for healthcare for first responders. Quite the tribute.

Just as a further reminder, the war in Iraq has cost about $750 billion. The tax cuts for the wealthy that Republicans championed will cost $700 billion but we can't find $7.4 billion to pay for healthcare for the heros who risked their lives on 9/11. But these people walk around with American flag lapels and denounce mosques and call themselves patriots. Truly disgraceful. Shame on you Republicans, shame on each and every one of you who stood in the way of spending a meager amount of money on sick heros while flinging your fear-mongering about Muslims and a deficit that you created around as an excuse.

I've tried to be as nonpartisan as possible in the wake of November's massively disappointing elections and the possible looming derailing of much of the progress America has made in the last two years, but Republicans make it so difficult. No, we can't respect the first amendment and the right to freedom of religion, we can't embrace our own Constitution, apparently the first amendment is just as un-American as a Muslim community center. But here's what we can do, we can control the purse strings, and we can deny healthcare to the people who did more than any elected official to make a difference on 9/11.

This is nothing short of morally reprehensible and for Republicans to cloak their disdain for American heros in the guise of fiscal responsibility after they just pushed through tax cuts that will cost the nation $700 billion is the height of hypocrisy.

I will continue to support ideas and actions that strengthen America, and I acknowledge that Republicans have some of those ideas, but there's no excuse for blocking healthcare for first responders, and every REAL American patriot should be furious about what happened today.