Well being that I've become a bit (!) pushier in recent times, here's my introduction: I'm George Tabb's self appointed girl friday.
I started up WHIRLWIND COALITION which is grass roots activism regarding the true situation of First Responders (firefighters and cops and EMT and not just from NYC but those who came rushing from all over to help in any way they could after the Sept. 11th 2001 tragedy) as well as individuals who volunteered on 'The Pile'' also the former nearby residents and schoolchildren who were allowed back in the vicinity all of whom were exposed to severely toxic conditions in Lower Manhattan when it should've been closed off to everybody but HAZMAT people.
Air quality test samples taken immediately after 9/11 were in fact showing the dangers but were covered up by then head of The Environmental Protection Agency Christine Todd Whitman so that Wall Street could be up and running again (which it was within a week and the head of the New York Stock Exchange Richard Grasso received a staggering hefty bonus for that).
While I understand the U.S. Federal Government felt that sort of thing extremely important they also put many people in harms way by covering up the dangers of being in Lower Manhattan and have not really been helping anybody who is sick and dying (or those who HAVE already died because of their exposure to the severe toxicity at Ground Zero or what George Tabb refers to as 'Chernobyl On The Hudson'.
George is a longtime punk/hardcore musician/columnist/author and activist since the beginning of the aftermath of Sept. 11th 2001 (the beginning of the aftermath sounds weird yes) he lived right nearby to The World Trade Center and he was running around predicting a cancer cluster which got him seen as a bit of a lunatic by some though a few very big news organizations, MSNBC and The Washington Post and PEOPLE magazine did interview him about the issue until there was a major media clampdown about the whole subject of people getting sick in Lower Manhattan from the aftermath a media blackout which by the way has been melting away BECAUSE of we the people. I gather information and write essays posting them on The Whirlwind Coalition Myspace page and sometimes I get to go on a radio program or in front of people and talk about George and the whole issue, what I see going on and see not going on.
Lately I've come to realize that certain people involved are strategically trotted out by the Feds and (rightfully) discredited in order to further monkeywrench legitimate people from all of the country who did get sick from that 9/11 dust. A few scammers cause disbelieve in everyone else credibility is their working theory. Also from time to time there are OP-ED articles in the local New York papers chock full of misinformation and outright lies written by individuals with Lower Manhattan real Estate interests or connections with those who have interests in that regard while the reporters who write the facts and the truth are not always allowed to do so.
Juan Gonzalez, Susan Edelman, Carl Campanile to name some of the wonderful New York journalists who want to and have written the truth about the 9/11 aftermath victims.
Though WHIRLWIND COALITION is currently on Myspace
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http://www.myspace.com/whirlwindcoalition
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when George gets a bit more stabilized in terms of health (meaning when he can do more than periodic radio and magazine interviews and making Youtube videos we have bigger goals such as a regular website and other goals regarding this issue which we have already worked a bit on so far but like I said his health is sometimes precarious.
Apart from all that I'm a longtime musician beginning in 1986 with a band called The Obituaries out of my hometown in Portland Oregon that's still around and I'm in some other bands as well from time to time when the Obits are on hiatus. Perhaps I'll soon have a website but right now am happy having a Mayspace page
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http://www.myspace.com/monicanelson
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Because I've been a longtime reader and fan of (yes all roads DO lead back to that don't they) George Tabb's columns and his 2 recent books when I realized he was going to die without people actually getting involved I thought up up Whirlwind Coalition in May of 2006 to do anything I could to help.
I want to help keep him from dying an unfair death due to governmental apathy and to help with what George wants to shout about in terms of the others whose bodies have been messed with health wise and who have also run out of money to pay their doctor bills same as him thus making everyone exposed to those toxic conditions even sicker and in over a 100 cases dying without proper diagnosis and treatment for the laundry list of illnesses that everybody acquired (up to 70,000 people gee quite a coincidence). The money IS there TO properly diagnose and treat George and everybody else sick like him. But in many cases it's not being released but being spent on lawyers and in some cases it's sitting in the bank collecting interest and in many cases the 9/11 clinics are merely throwing meds at people rather than diagnosing and treating everything they acquired in the aftermath. Treating tumors and cancers and the whole laundry list merely with meds is killing people.
George as an activist for the 9/11 illnesses or as some call it the WTC sick but not affiliated with any group is able to say things (as can I) that others in his situation can't, First Responders and the volunteers who rushed from all over the country to help put out the fires and dig through the rubble looking for survivors and bodies. Those who have become sick because of their exposure to the toxicity cannot publicly tell of all that is happening to them health wise due to the threat of pensions hanging over their heads and being bullied by their own police or firefighters departments into keeping their mouths shut or even worse they and the civilian volunteers and former residents of Lower Manhattan and tourists who were there and those who worked nearby don't have any proper information as to why they got sick with certain things after 9/11. I can back up everything I say and write about this subject by the way and ORGAN has been instrumental in helping Whirlwind Coalition to grow to which I am grateful beyond words.
So yes to make a short story long 2 years ago I appointed myself George Tabb's girl friday because I realized if something needs to be done and you want to help but don't know exactly WHAT to do then create a job for yourself and get to work and it has worked out
Oh and recently I've recently decided I also want to be a poet, I've been a singer/lyricist for decades but a year before I did decide that I needed to go out and be a singer/lyricist I actually wanted to be a poet, but poets seemed kinda lonely (that's a kids eye for you)
but I've realized they don't have to be. I'm going to have a regular website after Sept. I guess because there's a lot of stuff and Myspace doesn't fit it all sometimes and I have to juggle some pages
All the best to you Sean and Marina personally and in everything you do
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(Oh I almost forgot)
http://www.georgetabb.com
http://www.myspace.com/helpgeorgetabb
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Again, thank you thank you thank you ORGAN for everything in regards to George and Whirlwind Coalition!!!!
-Monica