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-- Firefighters: "He recognizes homeland security, but he keeps cutting our budgets."

Firefighters: "He recognizes homeland security, but he keeps cutting our budgets."

http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/i...71896179580.xml

I love these guys for telling it like it is.

quote:

Firefighters decry 9/11 images in Bush campaign ads Saturday, March 06, 2004 By Jim Harger The Grand Rapids Press The image of New York firefighters carrying flag-draped remains appears for just a split second in President George W. Bush's new TV commercial, but it is long enough to annoy Tony Beurkens. He and other Grand Rapids firefighters gathered Friday to watch the campaign spot, which critics say capitalizes on Sept. 11 emotion for political gain. "If they are going to ride on our backs, it's time they give us the homeland security funds we were supposed to get, " said Beurkens, president of the Grand Rapids Firefighters Local 366. "He recognizes homeland security, but yet he keeps cutting our budgets." Beurkens and other leaders of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) around the country are calling on the Bush campaign to remove the images of firefighters at the scene of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. While Bush has touted progress in homeland security, they say he has failed to follow through with the funding they need to protect Americans. "Isn't it ironic? We're the first line of defense," said firefighter Brian Brewer and he and Beurkens watched the commercial from their fire station on Bridge Street NW. Grand Rapids firefighters are facing the possibility of layoffs and the elimination of overtime pay later this year as city officials struggle to balance the city's budget in the recession that followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "I just think it's a slap in the face," said Shaun Abbey, president of Kentwood's IAFF Local 3174. "We lost 350 of our brothers in that event, and he's going to use it to get elected." Though Congress has passed legislation to hire 75,000 new firefighters nationwide, union leaders say Bush has refused to put the necessary funds in his budget. The union has been an early supporter of U.S. Sen. John Kerry, who is on track to become the Democratic challenger to Bush. "What he says about firefighters is nowhere near to what he is doing to firefighters," said Paul Hufnagel, state IAFF president. Bush's re-election campaign began airing the commercials nationally Thursday on cable television and on broadcast stations in about 80 media markets in 18 states. One ad shows the charred wreckage of the World Trade Center with an American flag flying amid the debris. Another -- and a Spanish-language version of it -- use that image and one of firefighters carrying a flag-draped stretcher. In January 2002, just a few months after nearly 3,000 people died in the attacks, Bush told House and Senate leaders in a meeting at the White House that "I have no ambition whatsoever to use this as a political issue" that midterm election year. On Thursday, his aides defended the ads as appropriate for an election about public policy and the war on terror. "Sept. 11 changed the equation in our public policy. It forever changed the world," said Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary. "The president's steady leadership is vital to how we wage war on terrorism." Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani also came out in support of the ads, saying they were done "in a very tasteful way." But the commercials have angered some victims' relatives as well as the firefighters' union. "It's absolutely inappropriate," said Colleen Kelly, who lost her brother, Bill Kelly Jr., and leads Peaceful Tomorrows, a group for victims' families. "There are certain memories and certain images that I consider sacred." Kristen Breitweiser, of Middletown Township, N.J., whose husband, Ronald, died in the World Trade Center, said Bush should not use the tragedy as "political propaganda." "Three thousand people were murdered on President Bush's watch," she said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. � 2004 Grand Rapids Press. Used with permission

in all honestly, I'd rather Bush spend money paying for airport security and intelligence than better compensation for firefighters. In fact, I don't think the federal government should really be paying fire fighters anything - I think that should be the responsiblity of local and state agencies.

I believe it is also fairly common knowledge by now that the abuses of the phrase "homeland security" by local agencies to obtain the federal funds is similar to the corruption in Italy.


So not only is the "contation" wasting away endless dollars by corruption, but I that money would better be used in prevention, say of a nuclear warhead coming into the USA, then of "containing" the radioactive blast and debris that would follow.


The firefighter in the article says "Isn't it ironic? We're the first line of defense". I find it ironic they actually think they are the first line. Firefighters do excellent work, and save many lives, and also have a role in homeland security, but know your place They say Bush committed to hiring 75,000 firefighters, I'd rather they'd hire 75,000 Arab speaking CIA operatives.

Hmmm that is kind of a good common sense point. Unless there were significant additional cause of fire risk, I would rather spend that money in preventing a situation where firefighters are going to have to do the sort of thing that they did in 9/11. I dunno, kind of like spending $2 million on more firefighters to fight the fires arsonists set rather than spending the $200,000 to add more police men to the payroll to prevent the arsonists from ever starting the fires .

Re: Firefighters: "He recognizes homeland security, but he keeps cutting our budgets."

quote:

Originally posted by DaveSZ http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/i...71896179580.xml I love these guys for telling it like it is.

Funny how the media didn't 'tell it like it is.' The AP buried the fact that the IAFF endorsed John Kerry early in the presidential campaign, just as many unions did. Don't you think that's perhaps the most important fact in this article? It colors a readers view of the entire piece, and you can bet it would have been in the first sentence if this were about a conservative endorsement.

This article also says nothing about the union's general membership, who despite having liberal union leadership, tend to be somewhat conservative in their beliefs whenever they're polled.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiheral...ics/8123214.htm

Re: Re: Firefighters: "He recognizes homeland security, but he keeps cutting our budgets."

The point is not about what role the fire fighters play in fighting terrorism, the point is that because of budget cuts many of them may lose their jobs while the person(s) who threw them out on the street stand to gain politically from images of their heroism.

quote:

Originally posted by imokruok Funny how the media didn't 'tell it like it is.' The AP buried the fact that the IAFF endorsed John Kerry early in the presidential campaign, just as many unions did. Don't you think that's perhaps the most important fact in this article? It colors a readers view of the entire piece, and you can bet it would have been in the first sentence if this were about a conservative endorsement. This article also says nothing about the union's general membership, who despite having liberal union leadership, tend to be somewhat conservative in their beliefs whenever they're polled. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiheral...ics/8123214.htm

Thank you for that link:

quote:

In January 2002, just a few months after nearly 3,000 people died in the attacks, Bush told House and Senate leaders in a meeting at the White House that, "I have no ambition whatsoever to use this as a political issue" that election year.

Kerry is a center-rightist on the political spectrum.

Re: Re: Re: Firefighters: "He recognizes homeland security, but he keeps cutting our budgets.&q

quote:

Originally posted by DaveSZ Kerry is a center-rightist on the political spectrum.

yea, and I'm a communist

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