firefighters

George Bush has always been far more willing to give money to Halliburton and Exxon/Mobil than he has to give it to fund our fire departments, police departments and healthcare system.

Well, here he goes again. In the good old Republican tradition of hurting Americans which we saw so blatantly in New Orleans after Katrina, Bush is proposing to cut federal funding to fire departments, police, etc. by half. From Salon.com:

The Bush administration intends to slash counterterrorism funding for police, firefighters and rescue departments across the country by more than half next year, according to budget documents obtained by The Associated Press...

The department [of Homeland Security] wanted to provide $3.2 billion to help states and cities protect against terrorist attacks in 2009, but the White House said it would ask Congress for less than half — $1.4 billion, according to a Nov. 26 document. The plan calls outright elimination of programs for port security, transit security, and local emergency management operations in the next budget year. This is President Bush's last budget, and the new administration would have to live with the funding decisions between Jan. 20 and Sept. 30, 2009.

What? Elimination of funding for port security? Well, I guess he doesn't like port security since Democrats prevented him from turning our port security to his buddies in Dubai. More from Salon:

There is a movement afoot to get the New York City Council to open an investigation into the inept handling by then-mayor Rudy Giuliani of the replacement of defective radios for the New York Fire Department (FDNY). Remember, it was Rudy's failure to replace the radios as recommended that pretty much condemned to death the majority of firefighters that died on 9/11. Those defective radios meant that many did not get the call to get out and so died needlessly.

The organizers of the movement to investigate Rudy's mishandling of the whole affair have delivered petitions with 20,000 signitures to the City Council. Here is the footage of the petitions being delivered Oct. 29th, 2007:

To find out more about this issue, you can read about it at The Albany Project. And you can get a brief intro on this video from The Real Rudy:

Been writing about this for some time, but since I am on vacation, Bouldin beat me to the latest installment of Giuliani's 9/11 facade crumbling thanks to the efforts of firefighters, the REAL heroes of 9/11.

I will simply repost Bouldin's piece from Daily Gotham since there is not much I can add except a reminder that this is not the first time firefighters have been down on Rudy. From here this diary is Michael's:

It was on September 11th, 2001, that I first started hating George Bush. We watched the towers come down, three miles away, and the Decider was nowhere to be seen, delivering a scared little video message to the nation only hours later from some Air Force Base in some god-forsaken spot. Later, he gave an equally cringe-inducing little speech from the Oval Office; that speech must have left most of the country wondering how this crisis was going to be mastered with such a scared little man in charge. "Little" is the operative, descriptive word on so many things about the Bush era; on 9/11, little turned into too little, too late.

Into that vacuum stepped Rudy Giuliani, reassuring his grieving City, telling us what we needed to hear without sugar-coating, and with a tone of grace that was and remains admirable. Out of this, however, he has woven, with great skill, a modern myth of heroism, one potent enough to make him the front-runner for his party's nomination for President. Indispensable to that myth are the firefighters of the City of New York.

They aren't having any of it. Yesterday, the International Association of Firefighters released this video:

Here's a partial transcript (any errors are mine):

[Editor's Note: While I am on vacation I am reposting some old articles I consider still relavent. For those who care about truth rather than Republican lies, let's look at the real Rudy Giuliani.]

Rudy Giuliani has just shown that he is as much a lying fearmonger as Karl Rove or any other Bush administration toady. From Politico:

Rudy Giuliani said if a Democrat is elected president in 2008, America will be at risk for another terrorist attack on the scale of Sept. 11, 2001.

But if a Republican is elected, he said, especially if it is him, terrorist attacks can be anticipated and stopped.

“If any Republican is elected president —- and I think obviously I would be the best at this —- we will remain on offense and will anticipate what [the terrorists] will do and try to stop them before they do it,” Giuliani said.

Ummmm...let's review some history, Rudy. Ronald Reagan and the elected Bush both SUPPORTED the Muslim fanatics that evolved into al-Qaeda. Bill Clinton is the one who first recognized them as a threat and tried to get them. The attack he ordered after the bombing of the USS Coles hit the location where bin Laden had JUST LEFT. The Clinton administration PREVENTED the millenium attacks. Clinton was so focused on getting al-Qaeda that the Republicans called him "obsessed" with al-Qaeda and he TOLD Bush that al-Qaeda would be the number one focus of Bush's administration.

One of the most disgusting tactics the Republicans have used is exploiting the 9/11 attacks for their own gains. As my wife (when she was 8 months pregnant) yelled at Republican delegates to the Republican Convention in 2004, "Shame on you for turning our tragedy into a photo op!" The delegates were none too pleased being chased down the street by a very pregnant woman accusing them of exploiting our tragedy. I was in Manhattan when those planes hit... I heard them hit, though it was only later I realized what I had heard. My wife was in the subway right under the WTC when the first plane hit. That first plane also instantly took the life of a co-worker's spouse. So 9/11 is very personal for me, as it is for many Americans. When the Republicans twist it for their personal gain, I resent it.

Well, as I reported yesterday, Rudy Giuliani (the man despised by the firefighters who were the TRUE heroes of 9/11) is the latest Republican to use this disgusting tactic. Not only was Giuliani's claim that only a Republican can prevent a terrorist attack a disgusting exploitation of a national tragedy, but it is demonstrably wrong. Clinton's administration prevented the millenium attacks. He also warned the nation that al-Qaeda was going to attack again. Bush's administration ignored these warnings and the 9/11 attacks happened on HIS watch. Giuliani is wrong. Republicans have failed America and they continue to fail America as we escalate in Iraq while Osama bin Laden, the man who planned the attacks on us, goes free.