These people have feelings and lives as Americans. What is wrong with American recognition of them?


BY BILL EGBERT
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Monday, January 28th 2008, 4:00 AM

When President Bush delivers his final State of the Union speech Monday night, in the gallery of the House chamber will be Ground Zero workers who have been ill since just a few months after his first.

"This will be my third State of the Union in a row I've gone to," said Queens paramedic Marvin Bethea, who will attend as a guest of the New York City congressional delegation.

"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 contract would have expanded the spending caps for the six local clinics treating and tracking ill first responders, as well as establish an office to handle Ground Zero claims from across the country, using $108 million already appropriated by Congress.

More: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008...ident_bus.html

Like many of our military Veterans, we tend to forget or discount them. How about Americans taking care of Americans?