Is this really the mentality?

This is perhaps the most frightening example of President Obama's thinking about himself.

The issue with Obama's environmental policy isn't that he picked everything, it's that he has a long history of supporting ideas the market has disregarded while penalizing those ideas the market does like.

The point here is that it doesn't always make sense to be first to the market.  When Acme Car Company decides it wants to build a new car there is a great deal of expense in building the first car.  That car must be designed, engineered, and the parts designed and engineered before the car can be built.

The first car is exceptionally expensive to build and the cost does not go down until a second, and third, and so on is built at which point unit cost becomes more manageable.  Obama of course, does not favor the approach that does work and instead wants to award his friends in green energy with expensive handouts for technology the market does not want.

The amazing electric vehicles that "everyone would want" have a nasty habit of causing fires and once you account for the energy spent charging the vehicles are no more economical, but instead are another pipe dream of the Smoker-In-Chief.

Unfortunately, his supporters are so drunk of their own self importance they seem to think that they can compare themselves to Jesus.  My issue with Obama isn't that he can't turn water into wine, it's that he turns any issue into whine.

Learning is changing one's behavior through information or experience...

...for some reason I don't think former President Clinton gets it.  One day...maybe even before Mrs. Clinton runs for POTUS again.

#BillClinton

A Moo-ving Experience

So you're getting ready for the end of shift when you get dispatched for a tractor trailer on its side.  While you are responding you are told that cattle are involved.  Well, here it is...a mooving experience that I am quite sure will mess someone's day up.

My question for the morning is how do you respond to this one.  Let's face it, you're on the highway.  Dangerous enough until traffic is totally shut down and then there is always so wahoo who wants to drive around the accident like last Saturday when a bystander decided to drive right onto downed power lines that we were trying to block until he got the bright idea to drive onto the sidewalk.

Beyond that there are ninety head of cattle which probably outweigh your crew by a pound or two so if they get goofy, your trauma shears and pocket knife probably aren't helping much.

Just some things to think about this morning as I listen to the morning traffic report and am glad I'm not out there today, though I do get to experience bookends of Memorial Day Weekend.  Yay!  Be safe out there.

Happy EMS Week

Whether you realize it or not, you are likely protected by that other "safety net" known as EMS.  You know, the ambulance drivers?  The people who skip meals so they can take you to the ER because you are experiencing pain in your chest, or your child was injured at their baseball game yesterday, or you had a motor vehicle accident that you didnt think any of, but that caused you to have a cervical fracture you cant feel (yet), but that is going to be a problem sooner rather than later.

These are the same people who also skip sleep during a 24 hour period so they can take your neighbors to the hospital, miss the same baseball games that you attend with ease, and enjoy the experience of being vomited on, assaulted in regular numbers, and make on average less than your local Home Depot cashier.

Yes, I will show up to work when I have a 101F fever on Christmas Day.  (Let's face it, Santa wasn't coming to see me anyway.)  I really don't mind doing this.  Sick is okay.

But, all of this is to say, a thank you might be in order.  No, I don't want cookies or cakes brought to the station, but I would appreciate a gesture of respect.  Those gestures can be best defined as awareness that we have a job to do and you can make it easier on yourself and us.

Part one, on a consistent basis drivers will not even yield to the ambulance as we race to go perform CPR on a two year old.  Please realize we are not using lights and sirens just for fun as they lost their excitement for me about nineteen years ago in what is now a twenty year career.  I actually enjoy fixing that puzzle that is broken for you.

Part two.  Help yourself or at least help us help you.  Two things that the American College of Emergency Physicians are pushing are for citizens to learn CPR and to have a disaster preparedness kit.  These are two easy steps every citizen should take on for themselves.

While for years people have pushed automated defibrillators in the public square and they have worked, we still experience more than eighty percent of sudden cardiac arrest events in private!  This means that if you, the layperson, need to perform CPR, it is likely to be on someone you know and love.  What better reason is there for learning how to push hard and push fast?

The other part of that is the mentality that someone is coming to get you.  Whether it be Katrina, Ike, Rita or hurricanes for many years past there has been an idea that I will just ride it out.  After September 11th, this mentality has to go and it is a moral imperative to be prepared to take care of yourself as disaster approaches.  This may mean to indeed "ride it out," but it may mean to be relocate until the event has past you.  Putting together a kit is not as hard as it seems and with a little regular practice you and your family can be ready to help yourself when the time comes.

Yes, I will come rescue you.  I will sacrifice time with my family so that I can put your puzzle back together, but help me help you.  Now go find a responder and say thanks and stay safe out there.

This has to be the best use of Photoshop EVER!

What else is there to say?  Well, it's coming later on the actual article, but to provide a quick amuse-bouche!

Carville does get it...still

James Carville, the bare headed political strategist that brought us Bill Clinton in 1992, is wrong.  He is wrong on abortion, gun rights, how to fix the economy, education, and the environment, BUT....he is right on how to campaign and for all my liberal leaning friends, forget Carville and assume the election is yours.

Carville is right when he says that his party has to fight for this election, but the advice could easily go both ways.  Anyone who takes the coming election for granted is a fool.

Carville is right that every recent election - here and elsewhere - incumbents are being tossed on their head.  Perhaps, they should have been, maybe not, but one thing I do know that I learned from watching Jim Carville is that elections aren't about candidates, but about people.

'No one cares about a politician's troubles, they have their own' hence the public in general gave Clinton a pass on his many personal foibles because the economy was ticking along.  Similarly, George Bush "won" the Iraq War (version 1.0), had amazing foreign policy success, and no outside distractions and lost to a Governor from Arkansas.

Just a suggestion, if you are in politics, you might want to listen to Jim Carville on the basics of his message.

Surprises In Life

"I've been around for a long time, and life still has a whole lot of surprises for me." - Loretta Lynn

Somedays you get off work having gone to bed at 4:30AM wondering did I make a difference, does it matter, am I just plan home yet?  You run to catch the little league game before you miss another of your child's game comfortable with the reality that at least you get to see them for a few minutes before  quiet afternoon, i.e. no more appointments so maybe a quick nap, and then it hits you...SURPRISE!

Something walks into your life that you don't get to walk away from, nor would you want to if you had the opportunity because this is how things happen.  On life's timeline, not yours, and all of a sudden the moron in the middle of the street last night just does not matter anymore because he is last night's news and problem and now you have the "here and now" to worry about so to speak.

From Dictionary.com...

sur·prise

 verb,sur·prised, sur·pris·ing, noun

verb (used with object)

1.

to strike or occur to with a sudden feeling of wonder or astonishment, as through unexpectedness: Her beautysurprised me.

2.

to come upon or discover suddenly and unexpectedly: We surprised the children raiding the cookie jar.

3.

to make an unexpected assault on (an unprepared army,fort, person, etc.).

4.

to elicit or bring out suddenly and without warning: to surprise the facts from the witness.

5.

to lead or bring unawares, as into doing something not intended: to surprise a witness into telling the truth.

I know some people love surprises, but for me, I am always wanting to know what is coming.  Yes, I was the kid who wanted to sneak downstairs and find out what was wrapped in all of those glorious presents before Christmas Day, I was the student who wanted to know what was on the test before we closed the books, and I guess I am the same in emergency services.  I mean, let's face it, emergencies move a whole lot slower for people who are prepared (hence the need to continually train).

In any case, surprises can be good or bad.  They can cause fear and loathing (testing) or they can be pleasant (that new Red Ryder air cooled BB gun) depending on perspective and timing and how the news came to you.  I'll let you know how this one turns out because let's face it, no surprise just happens.  There is always a ripple.

There is a demotivator poster out there that says no raindrop thinks it is responsible for the flood, but it works both ways negative and positive.  Some days good news comes and it feels like rain dropping on your head at first, but then you realize that the rain you are feeling is on a 90 degree day and the rain washes away the heat, the humidity, and your sweat.  Some days the news surprises you and you go wow and then it really hits you how good the news can be.

Enjoy the rain because sometimes the surprise from a cloudless day is as good as it goes.

A Good Guy Gets What He Deserves

No I'm not claiming to "know" Jered Weaver, but I am claiming to have gotten to spend a few minutes with him along with his manager Mike Sciosia and Dallas native, Torii Hunter, who caught the 27th fly out of Weaver's no no last night.

My moment came last September 11 when I was invited to throw out the ceremonial first pitch as one of the responders who did what we do ten years earlier.  The Angels were playing the Yankees and if you were looking for the definition of class act you would look up "Angels of Anaheim, Los Angeles" in the dictionary as Tim Mead and his crew were amazing to both me and my family.

It only figures that good things would happen to people in his organization as they are good people.

P.S. If you are watching the standings, don't.  They don't matter today nearly as much as they will at the end of September and the Halos will be where they belong then.