grumpyff

Glad that MFer is dead. I would have preferred a slow death, just long enough to see the American flag on the shoulders of the unit that got him. With that said, STAY VIGILANT. This is not the end.

I agree 'Grumpyff'. I've been a member of the GOP for 35 years. Over that period of time, the GOP has more & more become the party of wealthy CEO's. Early on I wondered why these rich draft dodgers would want a job that paid less than $200,000; then the reason became obvious: the goal of the GOP is to elect a sufficient number of rich corporate types so as to be able to crush the middle class by ridding the country of unions, privatizing government services, ending defined benefit pensions, reducing or eliminating employer support for medical benefits and cutting taxes for wealthy Americans and wealthy corporations on the backs of the middle class. These are the same politicians who sought out every chance for a photo op with their arm around the shoulder of a cop or firefighter post 9/11. They all suck.

That hits the F%$# nail on the head. I am not a terrorist. I spent my time on the Pile, and luckily, so far, have only had minor problems (PTSD, and sinus problems) compared to what some of my co-workers are going through. I am really getting disgusted with the way our government is acting. I really am beginning to believe it is time for a Second American Revolution. No more Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Tea Party, but we the voters need to look at what the candidates are about. Elect only those that put country above all else. No more multiple term members, if we can have term limits on the President, then we should have them on Congress as well. Eliminate their pensions and life time health benefits for serving just one term. The current government (not just Obama, but his predecessors, Bush(s) Clinton, etc.) have given away money like crazy, and never once checked the recipients like this. Why start now?

That hits the F%$# nail on the head. I am not a terrorist. I spent my time on the Pile, and luckily, so far, have only had minor problems (PTSD, and sinus problems) compared to what some of my co-workers are going through. I am really getting disgusted with the way our government is acting. I really am beginning to believe it is time for a Second American Revolution. No more Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Tea Party, but we the voters need to look at what the candidates are about. Elect only those that put country above all else. No more multiple term members, if we can have term limits on the President, then we should have them on Congress as well. Eliminate their pensions and life time health benefits for serving just one term. The current government (not just Obama, but his predecessors, Bush(s) Clinton, etc.) have given away money like crazy, and never once checked the recipients like this. Why start now?

That hits the F%$# nail on the head. I am not a terrorist. I spent my time on the Pile, and luckily, so far, have only had minor problems (PTSD, and sinus problems) compared to what some of my co-workers are going through. I am really getting disgusted with the way our government is acting. I really am beginning to believe it is time for a Second American Revolution. No more Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Tea Party, but we the voters need to look at what the candidates are about. Elect only those that put country above all else. No more multiple term members, if we can have term limits on the President, then we should have them on Congress as well. Eliminate their pensions and life time health benefits for serving just one term. The current government (not just Obama, but his predecessors, Bush(s) Clinton, etc.) have given away money like crazy, and never once checked the recipients like this. Why start now?

That hits the F%$# nail on the head. I am not a terrorist. I spent my time on the Pile, and luckily, so far, have only had minor problems (PTSD, and sinus problems) compared to what some of my co-workers are going through. I am really getting disgusted with the way our government is acting. I really am beginning to believe it is time for a Second American Revolution. No more Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Tea Party, but we the voters need to look at what the candidates are about. Elect only those that put country above all else. No more multiple term members, if we can have term limits on the President, then we should have them on Congress as well. Eliminate their pensions and life time health benefits for serving just one term. The current government (not just Obama, but his predecessors, Bush(s) Clinton, etc.) have given away money like crazy, and never once checked the recipients like this. Why start now?

That hits the F%$# nail on the head. I am not a terrorist. I spent my time on the Pile, and luckily, so far, have only had minor problems (PTSD, and sinus problems) compared to what some of my co-workers are going through. I am really getting disgusted with the way our government is acting. I really am beginning to believe it is time for a Second American Revolution. No more Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Tea Party, but we the voters need to look at what the candidates are about. Elect only those that put country above all else. No more multiple term members, if we can have term limits on the President, then we should have them on Congress as well. Eliminate their pensions and life time health benefits for serving just one term. The current government (not just Obama, but his predecessors, Bush(s) Clinton, etc.) have given away money like crazy, and never once checked the recipients like this. Why start now?

I recently attended the Putnam Northern Westchester Fire Police Association (http://www.pnwfpa.org/) annual Seminar on traffic control/ duties of the fire police. One speaker was New York State Police Tec./Sgt. Ira Promisel, who gave a lecture on "Quick Clearance". This program is in use up the I-95 corridor and in other parts of the country. NYSP is beginning to train its troopers in this program. Sgt Promisel spoke about the need to get traffic moving where possible, and the consequences of blocking traffic unnecessarily. Economic impact, traffic congestion, pollution, and even additional accidents as other drivers particularly on the opposite side of the road rubberneck the original incident. He spoke of "lane plus one" where you take the lane of the incident, and the next adjoining lane as a safe area to work, leaving any additional lanes open to move traffic out of the area. He even touched on scene lighting, recommending turning off forward facing emergency lights, as it just slow opposing traffic (which on a divided highway is not a good thing), and having only the rear most vehicle with its emergency lighting on. No need for two engines, a rescue, and god knows how many police cars with all the light bars on.It doesn't make you safer, but a bigger distraction to other driver who want to see what is going on., leading to bigger traffic jams, and more potential for additional accidents. Position the ambulance(s) in front of the accident scene, with tow vehicles in front of that, so that ambulances may depart the scene quickly utilizing the lanes that are already closed eliminating the need to pull out into traffic. This also allows tow vehicles to back into the scene to begin clearance. Here is a link to the Quick Clearance program, http://www.i95coalit...88/Default.aspx Take a look at the video titled "Seattle Wave" to see how one incident effects traffic flow, and the safety of responders working on the scene.

I recently attended the Putnam Northern Westchester Fire Police Association (http://www.pnwfpa.org/) annual Seminar on traffic control/ duties of the fire police. One speaker was New York State Police Tec./Sgt. Ira Promisel, who gave a lecture on "Quick Clearance". This program is in use up the I-95 corridor and in other parts of the country. NYSP is beginning to train its troopers in this program. Sgt Promisel spoke about the need to get traffic moving where possible, and the consequences of blocking traffic unnecessarily. Economic impact, traffic congestion, pollution, and even additional accidents as other drivers particularly on the opposite side of the road rubberneck the original incident. He spoke of "lane plus one" where you take the lane of the incident, and the next adjoining lane as a safe area to work, leaving any additional lanes open to move traffic out of the area. He even touched on scene lighting, recommending turning off forward facing emergency lights, as it just slow opposing traffic (which on a divided highway is not a good thing), and having only the rear most vehicle with its emergency lighting on. No need for two engines, a rescue, and god knows how many police cars with all the light bars on.It doesn't make you safer, but a bigger distraction to other driver who want to see what is going on., leading to bigger traffic jams, and more potential for additional accidents. Position the ambulance(s) in front of the accident scene, with tow vehicles in front of that, so that ambulances may depart the scene quickly utilizing the lanes that are already closed eliminating the need to pull out into traffic. This also allows tow vehicles to back into the scene to begin clearance. Here is a link to the Quick Clearance program, http://www.i95coalit...88/Default.aspx Take a look at the video titled "Seattle Wave" to see how one incident effects traffic flow, and the safety of responders working on the scene.

Since you're so very well versed in NYC's unions, how did you miss Giuliani's mayoral campaigns and the union support they've received? Bloomy didn;t do too badly either whatever party line he happened to be running on. Absolutely the unions support Democrats. Maybe that has something to do with many Republican ideologies flying directly in the face of union interests.
If you are going to base your politics solely on fiscal matters, nearly impossible by the way since money is what pushes the social agenda, then how could you ever call yourself a conservative republican?? You do not make nearly enough money to benefit from any of their economic policies. Democrats are no friend to your wallet either, but they at least support most union agendas. See, and here we are back at the unions almost universally backing democrats. The right to bargain, workplace safety, pensions, health benefits, etc are all benefits won with the help of democratic legislators.
yes, the unions and the people they represent we all scream "Me me me me me." We take every penny we can get at the bargaining table often fighting protracted fights through the arbitration process and working for years without new contracts. But isn't that the American way?? Isn't that the essence of the American dream to come here and fight for what is yours as best you can? We unionized and did that. Then when cities after years of fiscal irresponsibility come back and say we're broke what did the unions do? They didn't tell the cities to go screw, they asked to sit down at the bargaining table and find a way out of the mess. In yonkers they found concessions and additional funding sources. In Wisconsin they gave up almost everything the governor was asking and delivered a balanced budget WITHOUT HAVING TO GIVE UP BARGAINING. Why then did he take it away? In NYC every agency has met their budget reductions and every union has been meeting with the city to identify cost savings. However unless its a head count reduction Goldsmith doesn't want to hear about it.
So I ask you, how is it the unions and not the politicians that are wrong this time?
Public unions already do not have nearly as many rights as private sector unions. What rights are you referring to?
In your posts you allude to union corruption, and thats a very big issue. However no union has swindled more people out of more money than corporate America. The tech collapse of the 90's was fueled by billions in out right fraud, the savings and loan scandal of the 80's another economic collapse driven by fraud, and today's mortgage crisis a slightly different situation. This time instead of anyone going to jail they all go bonuses. These executives who knew what they were doing was at the very least unsustainable and in many cases out right wrong were actually rewarded for destroying whole companies because they had fairly negotiated contracts that guaranteed them certain compensation. They didn't go back to their investors and renegotiate their retirements. The only changes were restrictions on executive compensation for anyone still owing the fed money. Since the crash bonuses and overall compensation are right back up there yet none of these companies are showing balance sheets to match these increases. I'm just a lowly paramedic with a SUNY education but that math just doesn't add up.

Sonny boy, you need a dose of the real world because what you've said proves that you have no idea what labor unions are all about and you obviously have no idea of the collective bargaining process. Stop listening to those conservative talk show hosts (many of whom are in unions themselves) who continually bash unions and read about labor unions on the AFL-CIO's website. It's just how it is in the real world. Whether you want to admit it or not, the people in here who are in labor unions are speaking the truth.
http://www.aflcio.org/

EMS'er - your anti-cop and anti-union posts piss me off.
Do you have ANY idea of just how hard our respective municipalities would put the screws to us in the police and fire professions if we didn't have Unions? They do it enough with Union protection!
I would tell you to look at the big picture, but I am sure your vision is obscurred by the Obama sticker on your Prius!

Can you give examples of how my union has not "fairly negotiated"?
Can you explain why my employer takes money out of every one of my paychecks under the title: "medical"?
While I do not have to pay into my "pension", I am paid less than when I was in the private sector and had to pay into my retirement. When I was debating switching jobs the issue was less pay, but more benefits. A hard choice when your single, no children and in your 20's, but I understood that as I got older it would be worth it.
How did we get this pension system? Was it the greedy unions that developed it? We had a city pension system until the 1960s, when the Mayors in NY State determined it would be cheaper for the taxpayers to have one pension system (and they would look good reducing cost), instead of one in every municipality and they convinced the state legislature to develop it.
Interesting way to look at it, I understand it very differently. All FF's are at similar risks of being hurt/killed at an incident, but after figuring out what a firefighter salary should be, the municipalities understand that if they lower the starting salary by up to 50% with a 5 year build up to "top" pay knowing there are still enough people willing to take the job and struggle to make ends meet for those 1st few years. It’s not non-merit, it is what they should have made in the 1st place, but the big bad unions dont have enough power to fight this reduction.
My union contract allows all members to "share" in a college funding account. By contract the city must fund $20,000 per year (not per member) to cover the tuition of all union members. At its height that was 181 members sharing $20,000. If 20 of those union members went to college, each was able to get $1,000 toward their annual college education. Now to get this benefit, the union had to give up something and in the last few years more than $10,000 of the fund each year does not get used and is returned to the City's general fund. Over the last 25 years I think about a dozen members have participated and 3 or 4 have gotten degrees.
And the tax payers benefit from all of this.
We do, we do, we do and while I did benefit from the education, it taught me how to bring over $2.5 million back into my municipality and reducing the cost of property insurance by more than a million annually for the last 14 years. Over the last 25 years $450,000 has been made available to 175 employees, but only about 1/2 has been used. and the return on the investment has been over $16 million.
You still have yet to show anyone how "they sold us out"?
I have given you the history, to bad you missed it in your research. Its true, you are ignorant of all the facts and you make a lot of assumptions, that are not true.
Then how come, for every gimme, we had to vote on giving something up? Or worst it was taken from us by an arbitrator.

Dude, wake up. They are taking away rights that these unions fought for. It is anti-American what those states have done. It is not the unions that have put the municipalities in the spot they are in. The republicans are pitting the working class against each other. (It's not fair that the unions have this and the rest of the workers don't. Vote republican and we will get rid of the big bad unions) Do you really think that the non-union citizens will see any difference in their taxes? You are kidding yourself if you think the residents will get a tax break if they strip the unions of their collective bargaining rights. The unions are not to blame. Nor are they unwilling to make concessions. But don't sit there and say that we have to cut this and that and watch those cutting get raises and if you think it hasn't happened you are insane. They are destroying what so many have worked for. It is not right.
Your comment of making sure unions are kept in line... what exactly do you mean? The unions have to negotiate every single thing in their contracts with... yup the municipality! So don't sit there and say it is the unions fault, the contracts have to be agreed to by both sides. The unions have not strong armed anyone. They have fairly negotiated their contracts. So you are saying well done to Oklahoma because you think this will be what is best for the union members themselves but not the union itself? So basically the cities can now say you will get this for pay and this for vacation and this for medical and if you don't like it you can go work elsewhere. So how is this better for the union member???

Seth,
I want to thank you and everyone else for the kind words and best wishes. The accomplishments you credit me for achieving was a team effort. I have had some of the best officers that any chief can ask for, and this goes for the guys who aren’t even around anymore. When I was sworn in as assistant chief in 1996 I had set goal for myself and the officers and I set goal for our dept. I am proud to say 95% have been achieved and the other 5% are well on the way. As someone once said to me “leadership qualities are something you are born with” well I disagree with that statement. A true leader looks to learn, listen and educate others every day even when he or she is no longer the leader. Ralph Nader said it best, "The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers."
Thank you again, but make no mistake about it I maybe an EX or Past Chief but I will always look out for Yorktown and the fire service best interest.
Past Chief McGannon

Since Officer Hess was not charged by the grand jury, he is not liable for any damages whether they be punative or compensatory. Officer Hess has been through enough stress but this federal civil trial will only add more stress. Even though he is not liable, these trials take a lot out of you.
I recently had to undergo a federal civil trial in foley square because a perp that got convicted of assaulting me and is currently serving 6 years in prison sued 6 of us for excessive force. After a week long trial I was found not guilty but it sucks because you are the defendant in federal court and thats a position no cop wants to be in.
Hold you head up P.O. Hess, you are a hero and you saved multiple lives that night and NOBODY can take that away from you.
When the trial starts I and I'm sure many Police Officers will male the trip to foley square to support officer hess and his family.

Its very hard to have a credible voice in round #2, if in round #1 you advicate breaking state law to get what you want. Particularly since the issue in round #1 did not have anything to do with vehicle size.
And since we do not know the facts as to who is at fault: The FD, The Consultants, the village, the dealer or the manufacturer, its a little early to determine who has pie on their faces.

Thier has been a huge battle over the criteria for Firefighter placement on the NYS Memorial. If you knew the details you would understand why.
It is hard to consider the worthyness of the wall criteria when some gave all while searching above the fire for a missing child and others in their late 80's with a major cardiac condition who coded while being arrested after ignoring a lawfull request to open a road for law enforcement.
The 1st is dishonored by considering the 2nd for the same honor.

From the article on Lohud:
"It's a group of about 20 men supporting their friend," said Angella Henry, D.J. Henry's mom. "DJ had over 2,500 people at his Celebration of Life. It speaks to the arrogance and inhumane treatment that our family has had to endure since October 17th. Aaron Hess is currently under investigation by the Justice Department. I guess he can kill an innocent person and be named officer of the year. I would be worried if I lived in the county. It will happen again and the next officer will receive an award. This gives a negative strike against all of the upstanding and honest officers."
I don't know about you all, but reading this a few times just made me more and more upset. Kill an innocent person? I am not one who is as savvy with the inner workings of the law as some of the members (hats off to all of you officers) but hitting a police officer with a car does not make you an innocent person. Then the last few lines are even better, taking shots at pretty much all of the officers in Westchester. I just really think this is full of so much (insert word) and I hope that at the end of all this litigation they're finally going to run out of things to complain about. Congrats on your award Officer Hess, I wish you the best on your continuing recovery from your injury and this mess.

First of all, his father doesn't appear to be politically powerful at all. Ever see him interviewed; he's barely articulate, let alone powerful. And second, your posts in general are baseless. You seem to imply it's not only possible, but even likely the Feds will pursue this case. What do you base this on? All of these incidents are reviewed by the Feds, only the most egregious are pursued, and by all standards, this case is far from egregious. Your bias is palpable, groundless, but palpable nonetheless.

" Take down the blue wall ? " Sometimes the blue wall is all we have because it seems that we have ZERO support from the communities we serve.
You ask what planet this forum is from ? The rest of us are from planet reality, how about you ?
dj henrys father is connected where ? Just because some hack civil rights leaders are leading himn around by the nose in no way makes him connected.
I applaud the PBA for giving this award to P.O. Hess.... he saved lives that night and is a hero.. END OF STORY
As far as the feds go, they are on a witch hunt in westchester county and will stop at nothing to hang a cop, even if it's under false pretenses... we all remember how the FBI agent that was investigating Det. Quinoy in Sleppy Hollow tampered with evidence to try to get a conviction.
But no matter what the feds say, it will not change the fact that PO Hess is the Pleasantville PBA's officer of the year !!!

Typical journal news reporting. The East SIde Access project is not a direct connection between Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station. It is a new tunnel from Queens utilizing the lower level of the 63 street tunnel and then under Park Avenue to a new LIRR terminal underneath the lower level of Grand Central. It was designed to give Long Islanders better access to midtown Manhattan around 42 Street, and possibly free up spots in Penn Station in the future for Metro North via the HelLs Gate Bridge or West side. Amtrak and NJ Transit will not use this at all. You will still have to take subway between Penn Station and Grand Central. Check out railroad.net for more info. According to sources there, Penn Station is operating at capacity and any slots freed up by LIRR trains going to Grand Central, Amtrak has first shot at followed by NJ transit. Work on the tunnel from 63/Lexington to Grand Central has been going on via tunnel boring machines for the last few years. The hardest part of the project, connecting the current tunnel underneath the East River to LIRR's sunnyside yard in Queens still has to be dug and will be the hardest and most expensive part of the project.

Nice photos, here are a few I took

This is a problem in your bios. You have USB listed in your bios as a bootable option before hard drive. You need to go into your bios and change your boot order so that USB is after your hard drive.

"Alright meow, check in with the IC, he wants you to stand by in the resource area for meow."
Super Trooper -- Meow