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Name: Thotman
Location: Lehi, UT
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Obama the FIRE MARSHAL

Posted by Thotman on Sunday, March 22, 2009 1:00:00 PM
 
 
I have a neighbor who lost his house recently. Oh, not as you may suppose, it was not a foreclosure, just a really HOT fire.  Yep, burned it right down, along with six other homes on that street.  They SAY it started with a wreck of a Diesel tanker. The funny thing is the whole neighborhood watched the newly established fire department as they "fought" the blazes.  The reason we were all standing there was because WE used to be members of the town Volunteer Fire Dept, and we had actually arrived on the scene to HELP fight the fire.  The NEWLY HIRED Fire marshal arrived in his new eco friendly car to inform us that the NEW FULL TIME FIREFIGHTERS would be arriving shortly with the trucks, hoses, and respiration gear and that THEY would fight the fire. WE WOULD NOT BE NEEDED other than to just do what HE TOLD US TO DO.
 
Many of us having been in the fire fighting business for much of our lives, realized that the NEW hydrants in the neighborhood were out of service... the line had been shut off while a new subdivision connected to the city supply down the street. We told him he would need to do what we had done BEFORE in major fires, bring in all five trucks, and let US DO OUR JOB, and stop micro managing the situation... but he informed us that the new PROFESSIONALS were in charge and that they didn't need US telling them how to do THEIR job.  Well, when the first truck arrived it was the brush fire unit, that has a VERY SMALL tank, pump and hose. It sprayed about 300 gallons on the fire... by that time that grease fire on Wintertons stove had spread from the kitchen up into the stairway. It was then that the Fire Marshall stopped a passing tanker truck so he would have SOMETHING to spray on the fire. GET the hoses hooked up and get that VALVE open he screamed before leaving them to their task...
 
We were all SHOCKED as we watched him commandeer that passing tanker truck INSISTING that the cargo of DIESEL FUEL be used to douse the fire. At this point Lobb Lindford a rather portly gentleman who ran the radio station spoke up...I HOPE HE FAILS to get that DIESEL VALVE OPEN he barked into his phone, apparently broadcasting from the scene... When the new FIRE MARSHAL  heard that, he motioned to his CHIEF, who came over and started yelling about our lack of SUPPORT for the new fire marshal and telling us all it was TERRIBLE that Lobb, the DEFACTO head of our old VOLUNTEER department was standing there HOPING the FIRE MARSHAL would fail.  Oh, he then went on with a lot of accusations and rantings, pretty much unrelated to the FIRE AT HAND, about how Linford was our chief and how nobody liked him and how he was impeding the great fire fighting effort NOW in progress by SAYING on the radio that he hoped the  NEW FIREFIGHTERS failed to get that fuel tanker's cargo ON TO THAT FIRE.   Some of us couldnt believe what we were hearing...or seeing. 
 
The longer the fire burned the MORE the fire marshal talked with the news crew that stood there reporting from the scene.  I understood that for HIM this wasnt a fire, but a MEDIA event.  As his crews showed up,  ONE AFTER ANOTHER THEY LEFT for any list of reasons, mostly they said they were preparing their taxes and couldnt miss the deadline just a few hours away. Others simply QUIT after seeing the DIESEL tanker backed up with hoses leading to the fire.  I suppose they didnt mind the uniform and pay,  but when it came to putting THEIR fingerprints on the hose filled with FUEL, they wanted nothing of it.  Those that did stay were oblivious to what was about to take place.
 
Linford kept BROADCASTING on the radio from his pick-up about the scene that was unfolding, and even people who had voted to abolish the OLD department and HIRE these new PROFESSIONALS were gathering to see the fiasco unfold.  The CITY COUNCIL came and called a meeting on the Johnson's lawn.  They actually voted on whether there would be need MORE fuel tankers diverted help fight the "biggest fire" since Price's market burned down in the late 1930s (forgetting completely the explosion at the refinery in the late 70s.)  Soon after that the fire jumped to the NEXT houses...and the diesel fuel began to flow.
 
As he sat there in his shiny new car, cell phone to his ear, some of us began to drag our garden hoses toward the surrounding neighborhood homes and attach them but without a freely flowing HYDRANT LINE there wasnt enough water or pressure to really fight the fire. He got out of the car, and spoke to us every few minutes about how he would NOT ALLOW those houses to burn down.  Then stood before the local TV CREW smiling as if he were RUNNING FOR OFFICE, rather than as someone who ALREADY HAD THE JOB or even knew how to do it. 
 
The old chief was out of town but we old volunteers naturally gathered like friends at a bar. It didnt take long until we began to grumble about the lack of speed and expertise we were witnessing. We heard he had called for the NEW 800 thouasand dollar ladder truck but that it would be a couple HOURS until it arrived since it was at a maintence shop when the call came in. TWO HOURS? What good will that do?  some of us shouted...  It was as if he didn't hear a word we said.  He just went back over to the cameras, told everyone that this crisis could turn into a catastrophy,  then he jumped in his shiny new vehicle and FLEW down the street to the local deli like he was going to a fire.  When he returned, everyone was all abuzz over some claim by the NEW CHEIF that LINDFORD was the defacto Volunteer fire chief and that FLASH was responsible for this tragedy because he had approved turning off the water while new subdivisions connected to the lines...everyone knew that  Flash Michelson, the old chief wasnt that great, but we also knew that Lindford just ran the radio station as he had for the past 20 years... volunteered when there was a fire, and that WE hadnt needed a chief since the city had voted for a PROFESSIONAL fire department complete with a FIRE MARSHAL AND a NEW CHIEF.  When Lindford had said on the radio that he hoped the FIRE MARSHAL failed to get that fuel tanker valve open...mostly for his belief that spraying diesel fuel on the fire would do more harm than good...most folks understood, but some people will hear what they WANT to hear.
 
By the time the first pumper truck arrived on the scene the first house was fully in flames and three more had roof fires.  Just then Sally came up in her new car, got out, walked over and SPIT on Linford. HOW DARE YOU SAY YOU HOPE THE NEW GUYS FAIL?  she shouted.  She had been one of the most vocal advocates of a "REAL FIRE DEPARTMENT", mostly because they were building the new fire house on land she had sold them.  Alot of the towns people had benefitted from the decision to disband the volunteers and replace them with this new bunch. Why they even took over the AMBULANCE garage and were buying THREE more ambulances from Harv's local dealership.  He too, was standing there being interviewed by the TV station from the Capital, droning on and on about how the town LOVED the new vehicles and how necessary this CHANGE had been.
 
Unfortunately what should have been a two alarm fire had turned into a FIVE ALARM BLAZE even tho the CHIEF had not yet been unable to get that second fuel tanker valve open.  He had half the crew working on it and the city council had passed THREE emergency measures on Johnsons lawn in less than  15 minutes.  They had approved two new fire stations, six new trucks, four more ambulances and had determined to hire sixty more fire fighters thru JOB SERVICE...OH, and fix THREE city roads, two bridges, and build a railroad spur to the fairground. (not to mention funding five IMPORTANT recreation or arts programs that had never been important enough to fund on their own)  
 
I had to smile as one after another Small crews from surrounding cities arrived and their leadership stood before the camera shaking their head and testifying to how horrible this fire had been, how it was the perfect storm for all the difficulties that could NOT have possibly been overcome...all while an accellerant was beginning to be sprayed onto the houses.  The Wintertons whose house was now a pile of smoldering rubble stood by in shock that the fire had not been contained in the first few minutes, and worse that the new fire marshal had been so intent on putting that Diesel fuel on the flames... they had lost their entire life's work.  
 
Six other houses were still in diesel fueled flames, and when I could no longer watch...I got in my SUV and drove toward home, KNOWING that if something was not done the entire town would eventually go up in flames...HAVE YOU GOT THAT VALVE on that next tanker OPEN YET I heard someone yell as I drove past two FUEL tankers? You're DAMN RIGHT...someone shouted.....I recalled Linfords words as I drove away...and thot to myself..., I wish he had failed...  
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The THREE Days the Power Plants shut down for maintanence.

Posted by Thotman on Monday, March 02, 2009 12:00:00 AM
I have been wondering what COAL FIRED POWER PLANTS could do to make a statement about the threat that faces them. First, I want to say that I understand the profit motive for their operation, but when faced with CAP AND TRADE as a back door TAX on the people thru the ELECTRICAL/COAL plants, and the assalt on such industries by the current government, I believe that a short MAINTANENCE period taken by every Coal fired generator ALL AT ONCE might demonstrate to the American people just what is at stake here.  
 
What would be the difference between a three day LOSS of proceeds and a 50% loss of stock value in the coal based industrial sector when the government imposes draconian requirements upon it?  I think the three day hiatus would create much LESS of a loss, but it would show our country what will happen when the beast of burden is overloaded by a socialist regime intent on creating revenue by over taxation of ONE specific industry.  CAN YOU IMAGINE waking up to find your electricity has been cut off to allow for the plants to impliment cleaner technology?...Can you imagine a scenario which required an INCREASE in the price of ELECTRICITY roughly equivalent to the GAS PRICES we experienced  during 2008?  (triple your current cost!)  CAN YOU IMAGINE the outrage the public would experience when to restore service, you had to agree to a three fold increase in your electric bill?  Well its on its way and I think we should have a sampler of just what that will mean.  
 
I recall during the election seeing a video of  President Obama stating that he would tax the Coal based electric companaies OUT OF EXISTANCE.  I see he is already proposing that path, which concerns me as much as the socialization of medicine. (which has caused the medical stocks to tank over the last week)...The funny thing is that NOBODY seems to care that the projected deficit for the year is over THREE TRILLION dollars, a quarter of our total debt in ALL THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY...all created in less than TWO MONTHS.
 
If I were an owner of a Coal fired power plant, I would be making plans for a three to five day upgrade as soon as possible. ALL thanks to the current CAP AND TRADERS, who want to eliminate CO2 at any cost.  I would show them exactly what life will be like once their agenda is implemented.  
 
If such a maintanence program were instituted, I would have to break out my generator and propane cook stove. Use the computer less and  make a few trips to buy diesel...open the windows rather than run my air conditioner, and pray for those in Phoenix who would have to live in 115 degree heat.  I would probably spend more time in the canyons, or driving my car until well after sunset....but I do believe that a few days without the industries that Ceasar Obama will put out of business with his global warming solutions, would serve to wake us all up...drastic times call for drastic measures... Coal fired plants...GO ON a 3-5 day STRIKE! ...errrr maintanence program....
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Where we get our NEWS

Posted by Thotman on Thursday, February 05, 2009 4:15:24 AM
I have recently become disenchanted with the main stream media. Not just the ABC, CBS, NBC connection, but AP, Reuters, NPR, CNN, MSNBC, and FOX...Yes, FOX... It seems to me that outside the common link sites like Drudge and the Blogs of  both left and right...there is little that  conservative can read that is  worthwhile and almost nothing is trustworthy.  I have stopped reading much on Politico since the election.  RealclearPolitics has become tedious, and the cheerleading that goes on on Talk radio just gets older than dirt...
So, what is a conservative to do?... I think I have found a delightful little watering hole on the net where I can read until my heart is content, watch videos, and enjoy one of the BEST little Blog-Casts around...Breitbart's B-CAST, hosted by Scott Baker and Liz Stephens.  It is a quirky little news show which features some popular as well as some "out of the mainstream" guests, mixed in with an assortment of videos that have been culled out of the massive expanse of cyberspace.  There is everything from day to day politics to cultural gems like a feature on the Pastor Gene Scott who had a particular fundraising method that was absolutely halarious.  Some days clips from such train wrecks as the VIEW and MSNBC are properly critiqued...other days one can find special interest clips about cows wearing bras, or the latest proof that there is no consensus when it comes to global warming...(errr climate change)   

We may  hear an entire phone interview about "media malpractice" (complete with echo) or enjoy with the hosts,  a superbowl victory by B-Cast's home town team.  In it all the spontaneous commentary and the chemistry between the hosts is an interesting and entertaining break from the evening news or the countless news outlets that forget who the audience is.  

Andrew Breitbart has not only one of the finest news outlets, but an excellent Video section and a new BIG HOLLYWOOD section that is incredibley well done. If you get the chance to go read the anonymous conservative blogger Jon David's "my weekly date with a liberal" don't miss it. And if you have about an hour to watch the B-CAST live each afternoon,  or later as the playback repeats until its posted in the archive ...you just may become a B-Cast addict.
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Republican CONFIDENCE vs Democratic FEAR

Posted by Thotman on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 12:00:00 AM
John McCain said today that the economy is FUNDAMENTALLY sound, but that it has currently made life very very very difficult for many Americans.  Obama says the country and the economy are going to hell in a hand basket all because McCain is another Bush....YAWN....  I am impressed by their different approaches to the current financial crisis on WALL STREET.  In fact I think the difference in the approach is worth a very close look. 

In the midst of the Democrats effort to label McCain/Palin as LIARS when the McCain campaign makes a supposedly HORRIBLE reference to teaching sex education to Kindergarteners, and their insistence that their new mantra “LIAR LIAR PANTS ON FIRE” is the best descriptor of the Republicans, a few of the big investment banks are on the verge of failure, mostly a result of speculation on a housing bubble. It’s almost as if they have forgotten their new "McCain/Palin liars Inc" mantra, as they hop back on the age old democratic fear machine, and begin screaming that our country is in terrible TROUBLE, and that the economy is worse than at any time since the GREAT DEPRESSION...and on and on and on...It seems they are hoping the FEAR will make us all willing to support a candidate with absolutely NO indication that he can FIX the problem...

Let’s not remind them that most of the regulatory deficiencies have existed during both Democratic and Republican control of both Congress and the Presidency...but that is beside the point... My concern is that sometimes by screaming bloody murder that the economy is HORRIBLE, the confidence necessary to overcome the crisis is destroyed by the constant drum beat about the impending crisis…oh the gloom and doom.  Obama and the Democrats are masters of this kind of self fulfilling prophesy.  

FDR, during the worst days of the DEPRESSION, realized that the most important aspect of recovery in tough economic times was not to pretend that the world was hunky dory, or that there was no problem, but rather that the difficulties were not overwhelming nor insurmountable and that the country as a whole was sound and able to recover from the economic hardships the entire country faced.   HE WAS POSITIVE, not naively so, but confidently so...In his fireside chats on the radio, which most of the nation tuned into, so they could be inspired and find REAL HOPE as they listen to what the PRESIDENT had to say...(without any opposing viewpoint).   He would enourage, promise, enlighten, and  ask the American people to have faith in his and their own efforts to pull the nation  up by its bootstraps.   It may be argued that it took a war to complete his task, but in the middle of the most trying economic times in the history of our nation, he was NEVER a FEAR MONGER.  

McCain in his speeches, so far has been upbeat but totally recognizant of the depth of the crisis in our housing sector which has now spread to the Wall Street INVESTMENT Banks...He mentions that FUNDAMENTALLY our economy is sound...meaning that on MAIN STREET the banks are HEALTHY…at least healthy enough to BUY those Wall Street banks as was the case when Bank of America purchased Merrill Lynch.  I heard today that the Community banks are healthy and for the most part, aggressive where credit worthy borrowers are concerned.  I read that last quarter growth was 3.3 percent, meaning we are not yet in a RECESSION....and that 10 banks have failed this year, in contrast to the HUNDREDS per year that failed during the late 70s and early 80s....

Obama would have us all believe that these times worse than even the 1930s showing not only his ignorance of history and the economic trends since that time...but that he has the solution to FIX something he hasn’t even properly diagnosed. 

The regulatory deficiency has been the problem which has allowed the current meltdown of  sub prime lenders, and brokers...NOT a Democratic or Republican cause, though I am sure both parties are part of the wrong doing up to their eyeballs... I hear him telling his audiences that the crisis is INSURMOUNTALBE without his "hope and change" and YET, by his fear mongering he is murdering hope and showing us he is the only one changing.

I think we need a president who can inspire confidence in, not only his shallow assessments of how bad things are, but one who can inspire confidence in the country, our ability to pull ourselves out of the current dilemma...with hard work, smart investment, letting the free market make natural course corrections with government support but not total government control.   We need a President who is NOT A FEAR MONGER, but one who can recognize and DIAGNOSE the economy and recognize the difference between a broken arm and a  major stroke.... between leg cramps and blood clots in the leg.... between indigestion and a heart attack... between Lung cancer and asthma....AND THEN prescribe the proper treatment... 

A Doctor who is screaming that we are going to DIE, is not the one I want treating me.  A doctor who can recognize the seriousness of the disease, warn us of its eventual consequences while INSPIRING US to DO all that is necessary to GET WELL is the doctor I want. 

McCain is such a man...Obama is probably a good man, but his effort to become the one who operates, has him telling me I am going to die because of my LAST DOCTOR...and that HE is the only one who can perform the age old procedure... and Ill be damned, if he wants me to get a second opinion.... 

He tells me he's a specialist, however, I can’t find his name in any medical journal, in fact someone tells me he has not even assisted in the OR, but a few times...   Dr McCain is telling me I have a serious infection, and that fundamentally I’m ok...that its not chronic...but that it CAN be life threatening if not treated....He wants me to know how SERIOUS it is...but he refuses use FEAR...when experience and JUDGMENT tells him that emotional trauma is one of the worst elements of a measured and intelligent treatment program. 

I want wisdom and judgment...inspiration from confidence and trust...I don’t want a fear monger screaming how without his PERSONAL expertise, I am doomed...he says we have to CHANGE Course and that anyone not emphasizing the the HORRIBLE prognosis and the incapability of anyone but him to intercede, is a LIAR... well,  Anyone who tells me I have just a few months to live without HIS involvement....Fails to recognize that there are some who can offer a cure that doesn’t include scaring the patient to death.

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The Judgment of the Candidates

Posted by Thotman on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 12:00:00 AM

The Judgement of the Candidates

Two weeks ago, a decisioin faced Obama, the simplest choice in any man's lifetime,  who to chose as his vice presidential running mate. The candidates...Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Hillary Clinton.   There simply were no others, not Kane, not Biden, not Todd, and not another token woman...the ONLY logical and politically intelligent thing to do would be to choose the most reconcilatory, the strongest and most helpful candidate out there for the Democratic ticket.  IT WAS A NO BRAINER, and the Republicans KNEW the moment he did, the election would be over.  But  in a magnificent moment of luck and sheer Democratic STUPIDITY, Barack Obama showed his inate arrogance, his lack of political savy, and his complete lack of GOOD JUDGMENT when he snatched defeat from the jaws of victory with his FIRST REAL administrative decision of his 20 month campaign, and probably of his entire lifetime.  Promptly demostrating that he lacks the judgement necessary to MAKE THE RIGHT BIG DECISIONS.  He chose Biden...
 
In contrast a week ago McCain faced the second most difficult decision of HIS lifetime, who to chose as his vice presidential running mate.  The candidates...Romney, Polenty, Lieberman, Ridge, Jindal, Huckabee, Hutchison, Cryst, Sanford, Gulianni, a host of little known men and women like Huntsman, Hunter, Palin, some business types like Whitman, and a few other long shot women like Rice.  The most logical and politically intelligent thing to do would be to choose the strongest and most helpful candidate out there, he was told...It was a decision that seemed to be a no win situation and Republicans KNEW the moment he Picked his running mate, the opposition forces against the most likely names would rush forward with their outrage, take their voters and go home, and the election would be LOST. The Democrats and their media cheer leaders had gathered mountains of hit material for any expected contingency.  But in a MAGNIFICENT moment of good fortune and SHEER Polictical GENIOUS, John McCain showed his inate leadership qualities, his sixth sense for doing what is right in the BIG MOMENT and his complete and utter mastry of GOOD JUDGMENT and snathced VICTORY from the looming jaws of defeat....with one of many adminstrative decisions made by a campaigner who knows that the BUCK STOPS with HIM.  He Promptly demostrated his superior wisdom and correct judgement to make the Correct BIG Decison. He chose a winner, Palin 
 
McCains choice of Palin was a bold and gutsy choice filled with just the right deliberation and knowledge.  It wasnt a "safe" choice, or his personal "first impulse", but rather the pragmatic choice that says louder than ANY SPEECH..that this man means what he says when he says I WILL CHANGE HOW THINGS ARE OR HAVE BEEN DONE.   Obamas choice of Biden was a perfect illustration that HIS CHANGE MANTRA is ALL TALK and NO DO...he PROMPTLY CHOSE a man who is anything but change and reached out to the man MOST LIKELY to vote for the same ole worn out Democratic dogmas of the past. He PROMPTLY CHOSE to change NOTHING as his gladiator speech in the Denver colliseum illustrated.... he returned to age old Democratic pablum as the foundation of his PROMISE THEM EVERYTHING but dont discuss how to pay for it policies.
 
The game has changed in one short week. and it is all due to the simple difference in the JUDGEMENT OF TWO MEN... "The ONE" who lacks it, and the other who demonstrated it with conviction and with very little concern about whether he would be upstaged... lets face it, the Obama choice can be explained in only ONE way... his fear of being upstaged by Hillary.  Likewise McCains choice can be explained in one way as well... his willngness to do the right thing  and simply be himself, a change agent with little or no concern about who got the accolades or whether the elite media and politicians agree...and in presenting what may well be the next Iron Lady, he became almost Churchillian.  
 
And no matter how the Media or the blogosphere tries to spin it, they are going to have a very hard time telling us that what we see and hear with our own eyes and ears isnt so.  Tho I can see they are trying their best to do just that.  McCain demonstrates more GOOD JUDGEMENT in his very nature than even Obama can put into WORDS.
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