I saw articles on this story on most of New York's newspapers today. I don't know if the allegation that Zadroga used illegal drugs is true or not, but that shouldn't matter anyway I think and I hope Bloomberg gets lynched for this shit !! Goddamn I hate Bloomberg...I think I hate him even more than Giuliani !!

Saying James Zadroga isn't a hero is like saying Michael Boomberg isn't the mayor, George Bush isn't the president, and Christine Todd Whitman never lied. The sad fact is all three are true, and all three have played a part in the death of a NYPD hero, and countless others. In closing, science says Bush has no brains Bloomberg has no heart, and Whitman has no regard towards human life. - John Feal

By Jon Gold
10/31/2007

On 1/7/2006, it was reported that "a police detective has died from lung disease, which the NYPD believes he contracted while working at Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks." [...] "The tragedy makes James Zadroga, 34, the first rescue worker to die from illness attributed to the Ground Zero rubble, a police spokesperson said yesterday." [...] "He was a hero, he disregarded his own health and life to rescue people at Ground Zero," said Michael Palladino, head of the Detectives' Endowment Association."

On 4/12/2006, the Zadroga family released the findings of the NJ Medical Examiner. It said, "It is felt with a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the cause of death in this case was directly related to the 9/11 incident," wrote Gerard Breton, a pathologist at the Ocean County (New Jersey) medical examiner's office in the February 28 autopsy."

On 10/1/2007, it was reported that "the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, which sits in Manhattan, will hear oral arguments today on whether the city is immune from lawsuits brought by the thousands of firefighters, police officers, and construction workers who searched for survivors and cleaned up on the site of the World Trade Center." After hearing the oral arguments, the three judges on the panel decided that they would let the law suits go through.

On 10/16/2007, it was reported that "New York City is willing to enter discussions to settle a lawsuit with 9,000 rescue and cleanup workers at the World Trade Center disaster site who may be sick from inhaling toxic dust."

On 10/17/2007, it was reported that "with about 9,000 claimants, the average payout would be some $66,000 per worker, not nearly enough to cover medical bills and lost wages, particularly in the case of deaths." That meant that the settlement probably wasn't going to be accepted, and the trials were going to go ahead. Which meant that the money they might pay out would be staggering compared to the settlement.

On 10/19/2007, after being asked by Joseph Zadroga, James Zadroga's father, to verify the NJ Medical Examiner's findings so Joseph would be listed as a victim of 9/11, Dr. Charles Hirsch, the NY Medical Examiner said that "it is our unequivocal opinion, with certainty beyond doubt, that the foreign material in your son's lungs did not get there as the result of inhaling dust at the World Trade Center or elsewhere." [...] "Mayor Michael Bloomberg distanced himself from the medical examiner's office in a statement Thursday, saying the independent agency made its own decisions. The city is defending itself in a lawsuit filed by thousands of workers who say they were not properly protected from the dust that made them sick. Bloomberg has also lobbied the federal government for millions of dollars to treat and monitor the ailing workers. The medical examiner's "determination in this case does nothing to change New York City's commitment to make sure that all who were affected by 9/11 get the health care they need," Bloomberg said."

On 10/23/2007, it was reported that the NY Medical Examiner's claim was that James Zadroga died from "intravenous drug injections." Essentially saying that James Zadroga was a junky, and that's why he died.

On 10/25/2007, it was reported that, "Joseph Zadroga said the former detective was taking more than a dozen medications when he died, including anti-anxiety medicine and painkillers including OxyContin, but never ground up pills and injected them. He said he kept his son's medication locked in a safe in their New Jersey home and said his son was not capable of taking medicine himself. "His mother and I were taking care of him," Joseph Zadroga said. "He wasn't ever able to correctly take his medication."

On 10/25/2007, it was reported that, "the New York City Medical Examiner concluded last week that the foreign matter found in Zadroga's lungs definitely did not come from dust generated at the World Trade Center site. That conclusion will create extra hurdles for lawmakers trying to get the federal government to pay for treatment for ailing Ground Zero workers."

On 10/26/2007, it was reported that, "Zadroga died despite excellent medical care, and his autopsy found that his lungs were filled with substances that hung in the air over The Pile. Among them, carbon, silica, calcium phosphate - found in concrete - talc and cellulose. The New Jersey medical examiner who autopsied Zadroga concluded the toxins destroyed his lungs. Dr. Michael Baden, a former city chief medical examiner who is now the state police forensic pathologist, reviewed and confirmed the autopsy findings."

Finally, as was reported above, like the Bush Administration has parroted its' "intelligence" in order to "catapult the propaganda", and after "distancing" himself from the NY Medical Examiner's office, Mayor Michael Bloomberg parroted the findings of Charles Hirsch when he said, “We wanted to have a hero, and there are plenty of heroes,” he said. “It’s just in this case, science says this was not a hero.”

I gotta tell ya. Some days, it's very hard to be non-violent. No, that DOES NOT mean I condone violence. Just trying to point out how angry this makes me.