Dear Christine Todd Whitman (or... "Got Lungs?")...

[reprehensor]

Dear Christie,

Because of the actions you took in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, people are dying.

On Sept. 18, 2001, then-EPA head Whitman released a statement declaring the results from air monitoring tests in New York showed "their air is safe to breathe."

Almost two years later, the EPA's inspector general released a report concluding the EPA's assurances were based on preliminary test results. The report also said that EPA press releases were softened under pressure from the White House.

Since then, multiple studies have documented health problems amongst 9/11 emergency responders and workers. One study released last year by Mount Sinai Hospital in New York showed more than 70 percent of Ground Zero workers suffered health ailments or severe respiratory problems. - http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/05/former_epa_chie.html

Here's one of them, Christie, (hope you don't mind me calling you Christie), Vito Valenti. He needs new lungs, or he's gonna die, Christie.



Maybe you've heard of Vito. He was recently on the View;
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=385&topic_id=25068

He has also been on the news a bit;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGStsbCRKk4

I can't wait to hear your testimony to Congress, Christie;
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/05/update_exepa_ch.html

And yes, we "insist".

For more information on the 9/11 first responders and the living hell many of them are going through, check out John Feal's website;
http://fealgoodfoundation.com/

Feal was involved in post 9/11 clean-up and was badly injured at Ground Zero. He has since dedicated his life to helping fellow Ground Zero victims.

At least the 9/11 First Responders are getting help from somewhere.

After all, Michael Moore can't take everyone to Cuba.

Sleep tight, Christie. I know Vito won't.


Regards,

-reprehensor.


P.s. By the way, Christie, what else is the Bush administration not telling us the truth about, regarding 9/11? I mean, if the health of a few thousand people ain't no biggie for Bushco, kinda makes me wonder about 3,000 or so on 9/11.

--------------------------------------------

If you would like to send Vito some love, send him an email here;
lego372(at)optonline.net

But he really needs some lungs. His health is failing rapidly. If you can help, somehow, please do.

[Gabi Hayes]

1. great! but PLEASE cc this, or better yet, re-address it, with emphasis

to St. Rudy

you know, America's Mayor:

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/05/rudys_wtc_probl.html

It isn't just that Rudy Giuliani is out of step with the pro-life Republican Party. It isn't just that Bernard Kerik and Rudy's poor judgment at his consulting firm are giving him ethical headaches. It's that the 9/11 legacy that Rudy is riding to the White House (he thinks) is more mixed than he would like the country to know about. That's especially true with the health issues that resulted at the WTC from the EPA prematurely declaring "the air's fine (link from 2004), just go to work and clean it up"(link from 2006). That's all part of Rudy's legacy, as the NY Times points out this morning.

Anyone who watched Rudolph W. Giuliani preside over ground zero in the days after 9/11 glimpsed elements of his strength: decisiveness, determination, self-confidence. Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld at ground zero three days after the World Trade Center collapsed. Those qualities were also on display over the months he directed the cleanup of the collapsed World Trade Center. But today, with evidence that thousands of people who worked at ground zero have become sick, many regard Mr. Giuliani’s triumph of leadership as having come with a human cost.

Christie Todd Whitman belongs in that group (she was head of EPA). And everyone was being pushed by the WH. But it turns out that Rudy had his own issues here. Thousands of people (that's thousands) have become sick because of decisions made on his watch.

An examination of Mr. Giuliani’s handling of the extraordinary recovery operation during his last months in office shows that he seized control and largely limited the influence of experienced federal agencies. In doing that, according to some experts and many of those who worked in the trade center’s ruins, Mr. Giuliani might have allowed his sense of purpose to trump caution in the rush to prove that his city was not crippled by the attack.

[mzmolly]

2. Oh how very sad. Kicking and recommending for "Vito."

:kick:

Thank you reprehensor.

[Octafish]

Kick to the pants of the warmongering liars and traitors...

Bush knew.

Plot to assassinate Bush – reports

Ashcroft Flying High

Genoa braces for G8 summit

Why would Osama bin Laden want to kill Dubya, his former business partner?

I can't stand liars.



or treasonous warmongers.

[Swamp Rat]

9. k&r

[autorank]

3. Damn, this guy gave for his city, state country...how did they treat him.

Great post, K*R

[Rex]

4. They pushed DDT on us and never stopped.

The government has a tendency to lie to its people about health situations that could cause a panic. Not a lot of faith in our WH or Congress or the Judicial. Matter of fact, I don't trust any of them right now.

Wondering just when it will end.

[EFerrari]

5. K&R

[mhatrw]

6. These actions alone rise to an impeachable offense, IMHO.

Thousands will die horrible early deaths because the White House thought it was more important to reopen downtown Manhattan ASAP than tell the truth about the air quality there.

Could any action demonstrate more clearly how little they value the lives of brave, selfless Americans versus the almighty dollar?

[Major Hogwash]

7. Can they sue Christie for saying it was safe?

Or is she covered under some weirdass government rule that says she can't be held accountable for her actions today while she was in office a few years ago?

You know that Cheney is going around saying that he can't be held liable for the things he has said, don't you?

[reprehensor]

12. There is a bad precedent from April...

http://wcbstv.com/politics/local_story_110160127.html

Apr 20, 2007

Court Ruling May Stop 9/11 Air Quality Lawsuits

(CBS/AP) NEW YORK An appeals court ruling could spell trouble for New Yorkers suing the Environmental Protection Agency and its former chief for saying that sooty Lower Manhattan air was safe to breathe after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

A three judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declared this week that EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman and other agency officials can't be held constitutionally liable for making rosy declarations about air quality in the days following the World Trade Center's destruction.

The opinion, written by the court's chief judge, Dennis Jacobs, said opening EPA workers up to lawsuits for giving out bad information during a crisis could have a catastrophic side effect.

"Officials might default to silence in the face of the public's urgent need for information," Jacobs wrote...

...Some preliminary scientific studies have indicated that as many as 400,000 people were exposed to toxic ground zero dust. Hundreds and perhaps thousands of people have fallen ill, and several have died from lung ailments blamed on inhaled Trade Center ash.

Continued...
http://wcbstv.com/politics/local_story_110160127.html

----------------------------

That's what these heroes are up against.

The problem is, at the same time, NYC has now admitted that the dust is responsible for killing people, just one person for now, but how can they realistically deny Vito and the others?

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/05/23/nyc_adds_post_911_death_to_victims_toll/?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+News

May 23, 2007

NYC adds post-9/11 death to victims toll

NEW YORK --A woman who died of lung disease five months after Sept. 11 was added Wednesday to the medical examiner's list of attack victims, marking the first time the city has officially linked a death to the toxic dust caused by the World Trade Center's collapse....

Continued...
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/05/23/nyc_adds_post_911_death_to_victims_toll/?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+News

[seemslikeadream]

8. When life depends on it

http://blog.aflcio.org/2006/07/28/more-bush-cover-up-on-hazards-at-ground-zero-clean-up /

Today’s New York Daily News reveals the White House gave then-EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman the power to bury embarrassing documents by classifying them “secret” after the Sept. 11 attacks.

“I hereby designate the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to classify information originally as ‘Secret,’” states the executive order, which was signed by President Bush on May 6, 2002.


Joel Kupferman of the New York Environmental Law and Justice Project told the Daily News:

I think the rationale behind this was to not let people know what they were potentially exposed to. They’re using the secrecy thing to cover up their malfeasance and past deceptions.

Immediately after the attacks, Whitman assured the public the site was safe, according to Democracy Now. A little more than a year ago, President George W. Bush vetoed a bill that included $90 million to monitor the health of rescue and cleanup workers who were at ground zero.

In 2003, it was revealed that just days after the Sept. 11 tragedy, the Bush White House pressured the EPA to tone down reports about the potential health hazards resulting from the buildings’ collapse.





Over five thousand tons of asbestos were used in just insulation for the structural steel.

At the edge of ruin - steeped in the Asbestos quagmire
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=928662&mesg_id=931457

Why did the White House prevent EPA from telling Americans about asbestos?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=928662&mesg_id=931391

duplicity of some companies, by the negligence of our own government
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=928662&mesg_id=931364

[HamdenRice]

10. Casualties

Just yesterday, for the first time a person was added to the list of victims of the attacks who died of lung disease -- a woman lawyer who was caught in the dust cloud and died a few weeks I believe, later.

[LiberalEsto]

11. If I were God

I would sentence her to empty the bedpans of these dying victims for the rest of her life, while listening to their moans of pain.

[autorank]

13. And she's a "liberal: Republican...

...sanctimonious to the end, damn she's consistent.

[fudge stripe cookays]

19. Sounds like a plan!

This nauseates me what these people are having to go through.

[nam78_two]

14. K&R

She is one of the worst. Did a nice job of gutting the EPA-what else to expect from a protege of Reagan :puke:.

[petgoat]

15. So a week after 9/11, the Bushcists were already leaning on

agencies charged with protecting public interest, and
getting them to pervert their studies in the service
of the neocon agenda.

[PCIntern]

16. Tell you a story:

I'm a dentist and my entire staff heard me say on 9/11 a few minutes after those buildings fell that if I knew anyone in medical school now, I would tell them to become a pulmonologist, and open a practice east of Brooklyn. It was a clear environmental disaster with long tentacles. God help all these people. It's worse in a way than a nuclear bomb for them b/c you can measure radiation, you can't measure micro-damage to lungs which will later manifest itself as COPD or Cancer.

[reprehensor]

20. Good call.

Not so good for the first responders.

Media reports suggest that thousands of people are going to die because Christie's EPA wouldn't tell the truth, allegedly at the behest of the Bush administration, eager to re-open the stock exchange, etc.

Arguably, more people are going to die because of this lie.

And yet, and yet, the world is expected to believe that George Walker Bush "wouldn't tell a lie" about 9/11.

It's the exact opposite.

[nam78_two]

17. kick

:kick:

[seemslikeadream]

18. 1999 Halliburton CEO - Cheney aquires Dresser (Harbison-Walker)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=928662&mesg_id=931457

Dresser is a longtime Bush family company.

These companies were steeped in the Asbestos quagmire. At the edge of ruin. 200,000 asbestos claims that could reach 2-3 million a piece.

In June of 2002 Halliburton had lost a large claim and sent the stock tumbling to a dangerous low.

I believe Cheney took on Dresser as a favor to GHWBush and the Bush family. His task was to prevent Asbestos claims from destroying Dresser and Harbison-Walker. Using his defence contacts he was able to secure BILLIONS of U.S. dollars in a war in Iraq to bolster HAL stock and give time for Buddies like Orin Hatch to push a bad asbestos liability bill through congress. Which required a GOP controlled senate. Wellstone dies in a crash. As a asbestos victim advocate he would NEVER of stood and allowed the Asbestos bill introduced by Hatch to live as long as it did. They spent millions on ads trying to convince limiting asbestos liability was good for victims.

The bill now stalled or dead has disappeared from the public as the war in Iraq and the election dominates the media.

The asbestos libility and estimated 750,000 claims is the single most expensive liability claim tracked to a single cause in U.S. history. Tort reform and Judicial appointments all now appear to guided by the outcome of this bill. Interestingly enough the public is now being hit with another campaign to allow Bush judicial appointments to go ahead.

For Bush to not gain the Presidency in November will certainly mean that any asbestos friendly legislation will be difficult if not impossible to pass. Funds pooling into Halliburton as a result of Cheney's open ended no-bid contracts will surely end and put Halliburton at risk for complete dissolution as law suits send the company spiraling into financial oblivion.

With the above threads it really looks like there has been a huge effort on the part of many big corporate type GOPers to make sure asbestos does not cause major economic strife for a large portion of U.S. industry. Much of which is the backbone of the U.S. military industrial complex.

It sickens me the length people will go to protect money and allow people to suffer generation after generation.

[lovuian]

21. Guiliani was part of it too Dust to Dust

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1B2WBD-F-7I

[Gold Metal Flake]

24. "How's the air, Rudy?"

He should be greeted witht that question, vocally and graphically, everywhere he goes.


"How's the air, Rudy?"

"How's the air, Rudy?"

"How's the air, Rudy?"

"How's the air, Rudy?"

"How's the air, Rudy?"

"How's the air, Rudy?"

"How's the air, Rudy?"

"How's the air, Rudy?"

"How's the air, Rudy?"

"How's the air, Rudy?"

[Decruiter]

22. We knew that day the air was not healthy to breath. Just a few days before

a good friend told me I could not toss out a television into the trash. Against the law.

He was in sales and working with a number of different government entities, on 9/11 it was not hard to see there were massive pollution issues.

9/11, Katrina, the massive food recalls, the list just goes on and on.

Thanks Reprehensor (and to FSC as well), for staying on top of it all!

What happened on 9/11/01 was just a continuation of 11/22/63.

Peace.

[reprehensor]

23. Could be.

JFK & 9/11: Insights Gained From Studying Both
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7404458118476453937&hl=en

[Decruiter]

25. Thanks, I'll look it up. I heard the most heart rending interview the other

day on NPR with the author of the new book Brother.

At the end of the interview he was asked why the Kennedy family had not done more, his response in a jist, it is up to us, not them.

A huge crime was committed and until that crime is solved the US can not ever move forward. It is up to us the people, we are the citizens and democracy is not a spectator sport.

Love you both, hope you all are well.

[seemslikeadream]

26. W. R. GRACE

This is the way workers should have been protected from W.R. Grace's poison