Last Blog Meme of the Year!

HT to ALa at Blonde Sagacity:

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 7/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

The Blog List for 2005

Yes,..once again, time to unload some mental bulls**t onto the blogosphere!

TrekMedic + iPod - regular doses of his SSRIs =

• Amazon - M.I.A.
• Rain Came Down - Rolling Stones
• Doesn't Remind Me - Audioslave
• Pretty Vegas - INXS
• Shine It All Around - Robert Plant

Blogs I've Visited the Most This Year -

• Blonde Sagacity
• My Side of the Puddle
• Stop the ACLU!
• Whatever!
• Katey's Kafe
• Young Philly Politics
• Regular Ron
• Right in Philly
• Weapons of Mass Discussion

The 15:01 Awards,......

• Paris Hilton
• Cindy Sheehan

Thank God She's Legal Now -

• Hillary Duff
• The Olsen Twins
• Joss Stone
  

How Soon Until She's Legal? -

• Emma Watson
• Stacey Farber
• Andrea Bowen

God Help Them -

• Saddam Hussein
• Osama bin Laden (Osama bin quiet, too!)
• Teddy Kennedy
• Harry Reid
• Nancy Pelosi
• Joseph Biden

Vox Populi!! -

• Phillies attendance drops - Ed Wade gets dropped
• Bush Wins!!
• Purple-Fingered Iraqis vs Islamic Terrorists
• Afghanis (women, too - gasp!) vs the Taliban
  
• Star Trek:Enterprise Cancelled - Try Finding a copy of Season 4! (Trekkies get this one!)
• Knight-Ridder papers' decline in circulation - up for sale to right-minded new owners?

The PWE (Penis With Ears) Awards -

• Mayor John Street
• Terrell Owens
• Kofi Annan

Coming next week - my 2006 New Year's Revolutions!

Until then,..stay safe, don't drink and drive on New Year's Eve, screw the ACLU and kick a few Democrats to the curb!

There Was A Weapon of Mass Destruction in Iraq!

....and it's name was Saddam Hussein!

(link inserted into title)

Iraqis Find Grave Dating to Saddam's Rule
By JASON STRAZIUSO
(Fox link here)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Municipal workers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala found remains believed to be from a mass grave dating to 1991, when Saddam Hussein's regime put down a Shiite uprising in the south.

(snip)

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., visiting Iraq on Tuesday, said he met with the chief judge overseeing Saddam's trial. Specter said he was disappointed in how the court has allowed the former leader ``to dominate'' the trial.

``You have a butcher who has butchered his own people, a torturer who has tortured his own people,'' Specter said. ``The evidence ought to be presented in a systematic way which would show that there's been quite an accomplishment in taking (Saddam) out as opposed to letting him be a blusterbun and control the proceedings.''

Chappy Channukah

You guys figure out how to spell it!!

As the TrekMedic disproves the so-called Jewish influence on the "War on Christmas," here's well wishes to our Jewish brethren:

And a lit candle to my Jewish friends, Scott (The PokerMeister) and his katubah-bound sex toy, PokErica! (hehehe)

Merry CHRISTmas!

They say its not the gift, but the thought that counts.

That said, I have plenty of good thoughts:

• To all of the jarheads, zoomies, grunts and squids who put themselves between us and the darkness - thank you for all of your sacrifices!
• To Kitty at AFSister, ALa and AB, FbL, Holly Aho at ValourIT and all the rest, who tirelessly support our troops via the web, every day!
• To Katey and Jessika, who have blogged their daily travails for all to read. Here's hoping 2006 will work out better for you both!
• To my blogchildren - Budda and Medic Mike. Budda will keep us all laughing next year with his off-beat sense of humor. Medic Mike, well, he doesn't blog much these days because he's working two EMS jobs and trying to keep a community EMS squad together. All those hats make for weary shoulders at the end of the day. Hopefully, 2006 wil FINALLY see the 83/61 merger!

Lumps of coal to:

• Mayor John Street,..because he's Mayor John Street
• Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson - its the lack of police presence, not the guns that are killing people. If Mayor Street would stop lining his own pockets, maybe we'd have enough money to truly patrol this City.
• Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers. Mismanagement and poor planning has made the PFD downstaff 4 medic units to BLS level, when you should have at least 40 full-times buses!
• Any Pennsylvania state rep or senator who took the pay raise and hasn't turned them back in!

Next week -my New Years' Revolutions!

This is Too True!

Big HT to Frank Fitzpatrick at the Philadelphia Inkwaster for this gem:

"Terrell the Big-Mouth Wideout"

(To the tune of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer")

Terrell the big-mouth wideout

Did some very stupid things

And if you ever met him

You'd know why he's got no rings

All of the Eagles' bosses

Used to laugh and call him names

They didn't let poor Terrell

Play in any Eagles games

Then one foggy Christmas Eve

Andy came to say,

"Terrell with my team so hopeless,

"Come back so we won't be dope-less."

Oh, how his teammates loved him

When he caught a TD pass

Terrell the big-mouth wideout

Who cares if you are an ass?

I Hope Sylvester Johnson's Reading This!

(link inserted into text)

N.C. Boy Accidentally Shoots Himself, Dies

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - A 4-year-old boy accidentally shot himself in the head, and two people were charged with manslaughter after he died early Wednesday at a hospital, police said.

Police would not release the boy's identity but said the shooting happened in a private home Tuesday night.

Tyesha Nicole Lovely, 20, and Carlisle E. Francis Sr., 43, were charged with involuntary manslaughter and failure to secure a firearm from a minor, police spokeswoman Kammie Michael said. Francis was charged separately with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Investigators released few details but said an adult and two other children were in the home at the time of the shooting. Police would not say what Francis and Lovely's relationship with the boy was or whether either one was the adult who was in the house.

The boy died after he was taken to Duke University Hospital for surgery.

TrekMedic muses:
You see, commish, it isn't the fault of an inanimate object, its the fault of the people who don't take care of them!

John Conyers is an Idiot!

(link inserted into title)

Lawmaker Wants Bush and Cheney Censured

WASHINGTON (AP) - Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., called Tuesday for Congress to censure President Bush and Vice President Cheney, saying they misled lawmakers on the decision to go to war in Iraq.

Conyers, the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, introduced resolutions creating a panel to investigate the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war and separate measures censuring Bush and Cheney.

Read the rest for yourselves,....I'm too tired to make fun of these Democratic assholes tonight!

Another Dose of Philliness

In the City of Brothers,...I mean, Brotherly Love, where does one begin?

Dose 1 - In Philly, we can't properly define ethnic violence. It appears that African-Americans aren't capable of such crimes, yet they exist -

By DAVE DAVIES
daviesd@phillynews.com

A 13-YEAR-OLD Liberian boy walking home from school is jumped by thugs and beaten nearly to death. A 16-year-old from Guinea is stabbed in the chest and left permanently impaired.

And a Baptist church that's home to West African immigrants is riddled with gunfire.

These cases, all in Southwest Philadelphia, were among the evidence considered yesterday by the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission of a pattern of violence against immigrants here.

J. Whyatt Mondesire, head of the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP and a member of the Human Relations Commission, said he thought the attack was part of a pattern of harassment against African immigrants in Southwest Philadelphia.

The TrekMedic opines:
If someone like me, a right-minded Caucasian, and a few of my buddies decided to beat an African immigrant about the head until his IQ dropped to Mayor Street's level, simply because his accent and mannerisms were odd, there would be no Human Relations hearings! Instead, a bunch of knuckle-dragging baboons who declare themselves the self-appointed "leaders of the community" would recreate the scene from Frankenstein where the villagers pillaged the castle!

Dose 2 - Philadelphians are murdering each other at a record pace! As I write this, 371 people have been murdered in the City. Ronnie Polanezcky at the Daily Fishwrapper wonders why here:

SO WHAT'S causing the spike in the city's murder rate this year?

I could ask the experts for you. But I doubt their answers would be any more insightful than the heaping of truth served up yesterday at the VIP Salon on North Broad Street.

I stopped by to get reaction to the fact that another three bodies had been carted off to the morgue after another night of deadly mayhem in Philadelphia.

Usually, you get this many alpha females in one room, there's bound to be disagreements. But the women at VIP were interrupting each other to agree. And to add nuance to the argument.

"You've got kids having kids, and they've got nothing to teach them," said assistant stylist Shaquanda Carter. "They don't know how to teach their children to settle arguments. They settle fights with guns."

The head bobbing that ensued created more wind than a Conair blow-dryer.

TrekMedic opines again:
The highlighted comment leadds to Dose #3.

Dose 3 - Susan Snyder of the Inkwaster makes this excellent point about our City's school system:

When he saw two female students ignoring a school police officer's command to stop, South Philadelphia High School principal Kevin King took off in fast pursuit.

"If she asks you to stop, you stop!" King admonished when he caught up with the girls, both 15, a couple floors below.

He directed the girls to a nearby classroom, where they joined others nabbed in a midday crackdown on what seems to be the course of choice for some students: "hall-walking."

Educators say that hall-walking - avoiding class and wandering around the building - is disrupting education at the city's largest schools, eating away at morale, and leading to a deterioration in student behavior.

The TrekMedic bloviates:
A bit of disclosure about the TrekMedic: I am the product of 16 years of private, Catholic school education. Whether it was the Sisters of St. Joseph or the Christian Brothers, if I sassed off a school official like those two idiots did, the principal would have back-handed me, knocking out half of my teeth. Then, I would have been sent home to my parents with a letter explaining the dental work, thus allowing them (parents - plural!) to finish the job!

As Philadelphia charges towards a record-setting murder rate, the problem rests squarely on the desk of Mayor Street's ineffectual lapdog, Police Commisioner Sylvester Johnson. The problem, commish, isn't guns, so stop reciting - verbatim - the DNC's anti-gun talking points! That argument is bulls**t and you know it!

Crime is rampant because there's no one to start cracking down and start cracking skulls in this City! Someone needs to start enforcing some discipline with these animals and since the families, or lack thereof, won't do it, let the police set the example! (Forget a lack of a nuclear family, that's an argument for another day, and just points out the DNC's lack of any commitment to bringing stability to the inner city (not unlike the DNC's plan for Iraq, but I digress).

And furthermore, commish, the plan needs to be city-wide, not some half-assed program like "Operation Safe Streets." All that did was make life safer in Kensington, K&A and Frankford and push these animals to set up shop elsewhere.

And all along, the murder rate continues,....

A Silly Meme for a Slow Saturday

HT to Kitty at AFSister for this one:

Anti-ACLU Rant of the Week 12/15/05 - Part 2

ACLU: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union today expressed disappointment with the failure of the House to protect the liberty and freedom of innocent Americans when that body adopted flawed legislation to reauthorize the Patriot Act. The White House and its allies had placed enormous pressure on lawmakers to adopt the proposal that now heads to the Senate.

The ACLU noted that the conference report fails to require individualized suspicion before people's financial, medical or library records can be gathered by the FBI, as unanimously adopted by the Senate.ACLU Website

This is nothing more than feeding unnecessary paranoia for those who live in a state of Orwellian fear. First of all, I can't understand why people are so afraid of someone seeing their library records. If it's a public library, it's a public record. That includes any library that accepts public funding, which means virtually all college and high school libraries as well. There is a check and balance involved, because before someone's records can be obtained only after being approved by a federal judge. It would be a total waste of time for the FBI to care what someone is looking at in a Library, unless some other act of theirs puts up a flag that an investigation should be warranted. The ACLU are using scare tactics, creating the fear of Big Brother invading the libraries, when in fact investigators in ordinary criminal cases have been able to gain access to library records long before 9/11. The Feds already had these tools for cases in domestic criminal activities, the Patriot Act only extends these tools to investigators to use against terrorists.

Alberto Gonzales writes in the Washinton Post

Those who voice concern that Congress is rushing to reauthorize the expiring provisions fail to recognize the oversight it has conducted. In 2005, Congress held 23 hearings focused on reauthorization and heard from more than 60 witnesses. The Justice Department was pleased to provide witnesses at 18 of those hearings, with more than 30 appearances by our experts. I testified three times, explaining the importance of the act, responding to concerns and directly addressing the act's critics. My testimony was informed not only by the successes of the act but also by my personal meetings with representatives from groups such as the ACLU and the American Library Association. During the reauthorization discussion, I asked that certain provisions be clarified to ensure the protection of civil liberties, and Congress responded.

For example, Section 215 of the act permits the government to obtain records on an order issued by a federal judge. I agreed that the statute should allow a recipient of such an order to consult a lawyer and challenge it in court. Further, I agreed that Congress should make explicit the standard under which such orders are issued: relevance to an authorized national security investigation. In 2001 one prominent Democratic senator agreed that the "FBI has made a clear case that a relevance standard is appropriate for counterintelligence and counterterrorism investigations, as well as for criminal investigations."

The president has said that our number-one priority is preventing another catastrophic terrorist attack. Congress must act immediately and reauthorize the Patriot Act before the men and women in law enforcement lose the tools they need to keep us safe.

It isn't suprising that the ACLU would be against this, after all we are talking about an organization that thinks Gitmo detainees have the right to remain silent when interrogated. However, for the ACLU to pretend they care about people's privacy is a joke. The ACLU have been against the Patriot Act since it was first introduced. There have been no verified civil liberties abuses in the four years of the act's existence. Where privacy matters are concerned, the ACLU's record is much more tainted.

Just last year, the ACLU came under fire over privacy concerns.

The American Civil Liberties Union is using sophisticated technology to collect a wide variety of information about its members and donors in a fund-raising effort that has ignited a bitter debate over its leaders' commitment to privacy rights.

Some board members say the extensive data collection makes a mockery of the organization's frequent criticism of banks, corporations and government agencies for their practice of accumulating data on people for marketing and other purposes.

Daniel S. Lowman, vice president for analytical services at Grenzebach Glier & Associates, the data firm hired by the A.C.L.U., said the software the organization is using, Prospect Explorer, combs a broad range of publicly available data to compile a file with information like an individual's wealth, holdings in public corporations, other assets and philanthropic interests.

The issue has attracted the attention of the New York attorney general, who is looking into whether the group violated its promises to protect the privacy of its donors and members.

"It is part of the A.C.L.U.'s mandate, part of its mission, to protect consumer privacy," said Wendy Kaminer, a writer and A.C.L.U. board member. "It goes against A.C.L.U. values to engage in data-mining on people without informing them. It's not illegal, but it is a violation of our values. It is hypocrisy."

The organization has been shaken by infighting since May, when the board learned that Anthony D. Romero, its executive director, had registered the A.C.L.U. for a federal charity drive that required it to certify that it would not knowingly employ people whose names were on government terrorism watch lists.

A day after The New York Times disclosed its participation in late July, the organization withdrew from the charity drive and has since filed a lawsuit with other charities to contest the watch list requirement.

The group's new data collection practices were implemented without the board's approval or knowledge, and were in violation of the A.C.L.U.'s privacy policy at the time, said Michael Meyers, vice president of the organization and a frequent and strident internal critic. Mr. Meyers said he learned about the new research by accident Nov. 7 in a meeting of the committee that is organizing the group's Biennial Conference in July.

He objected to the practices, and the next day, the privacy policy on the group's Web site was changed. "They took out all the language that would show that they were violating their own policy," he said. "In doing so, they sanctified their procedure while still keeping it secret."

The ACLU has no room to talk. They need to sit down and shut up. The Patriot Act is a vital tool for law enforcement to keep us safe. The Senate does not need to let this important legislation expire.

This was a production of Stop The ACLU Blogburst. If you would like to join us, please email Jay at Jay@stoptheaclu.com or Gribbit at GribbitR@gmail.com. You will be added to our mailing list and blogroll. Over 115 blogs already onboard.

Anti-ACLU Rant of the Week 12/15/05 - Part 1

OK,..this isn't exactly an anti-ACLU rant, but as you know, I believe the ACLU, and their socialist cronies, are on a steady campaign to remove all religious relevance to the CHRISTmas season.

Well,...finally, I've found someone to spew some vitriol in the faces of Anti-CHRISTmas Liberals Union.

Click here to view the cartoon.

Warning #1 -
This cartoon is definitely Rated R. Please don't open it around small children!

Warning #2 -
Don't not open this around liberals, secular humanists, or socialists. It may induce paroxysmal fits of anger and the Howard Dean variant of Tourette's!

A Better Version is here!

Meme CHRISTmas

So,..my turn to wreak a little havoc in the blogosphere,...


What are your 5 favorite CHRISTmas songs?

Here's my picks:

1. Christmas is a Time to Say "I Love You" - Billy Squier
2. Christmas Wrappings - The Waitresses
3. Christmas Eve, Sarajevo - Mannheim Steamroller
4. The Christmas Duet of Bing Crosby and David Bowie
5. I'll Be Home for Christmas - Bing Crosby.

Now,..I wonder what Katey, Jessica, Kitty and Budda think about this,....?

I'd ask DanielUA and his bunch over at Young Philly Politics, but they're all a bunch of secular sourpusses anyway!

Daniel Faulkner Smiled a Little Today

With news of the execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams today, it appears that one of the reasons California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger finally found some testicles and denied this thug any clemency was based, in part, on one of the very books Williams used to plead his case.

As published on his website, radio talkshow host Michael Smerconish reports that one of Williams' books is dedicated to none other than convicted cop-killer, Mumia abu Jamal.

Addendum - Alia over at Sea2Sea has also posted it here.

Additionally, Williams dedicated books to John and Ramona Africa, leaders of the MOVE organization, whose conflict with the Philadelphia Police lead to the death of Officer James Ramp of the Philadelphia PD.

From the World Socialist Website:

The California governor noted that Williams dedicated his 1998 memoir, Life in Prison, to “Nelson Mandela, Angela Davis, Malcolm X, Assata Shakur, Geronimo Ji Jaga Pratt, Ramona Africa, John Africa, Leonard Peltier, Dhoruba Al-Mujahid, George Jackson, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and the countless other men, women and youths who have to endure the hellish oppression of living behind bars.”

The TrekMedic muses:

If we can't actually kill Mumia, isn't it rewarding to see that anyone associated with him and similarly convicted at least gets the justice he deserves?

Gads,..I've been tagged again!

A snarling HT to Katey for this one:


I need to Name 5 Weird Habits, and then tag 5 people after I'm done.

1. I always have to start sleeping on my right side (calling Dr. Freud!)
2. I shower, shave, and brush my teeth in the exact same order, every day
3. I run through my blogroll the same way, every time
4. I'm obsessed with foreign languages and can't pass up a chance to find websites about other cultures in their language
5. I think in terms of numbers first, before names

Now,..whom to pass this virulence next:

Budda, Charlie, Jessika, mdmhvonpa, and Regular Ron!

Special Thanx to Kitty at AFSister for getting to all of my good ones first! :p~~~~

Happy Holidays,..or Holy Days?

DanielUA, over at Young Philly Politics, has a post that takes issue with a pro-Christmas editorial yesterday in the Philadelphia Fishwrapper.


I, for one, believe there is a slow, inexorable push to eliminate ANY religious connotation to the holiday season, be it Christian or Jewish in nature.


On DanielUA's post, redfox1 has a decent reply that I agree with in spirit, but wish to take a little further:

It seems that there really is a difference between wishing someone "Happy Holidays" as a means of shortening a long-winded "Happy-Thanksgiving-Happy-Hanukkah-Merry-Christmas-Happy New Year" and saying "Happy Holidays" as a way of asserting you belief in some Socialist Utopia dreamworld, where all religions have been eliminated, and that the obscene marriage of this notion with American commercialism is nothing more than an excuse to have a November 1st-to-January 1st spending frenzy that borders on the pornographic these days!

So with that said, here are a few snippets of Dr. Jim A. Farrell's post:

Don't dilute the meaning of Christmas

By Dr. JIM A. FARRELL

For the Daily News

It's December. The usual battles regarding Christmas and its celebration are again raging. Attempts are once again being made to neutralize Christmas-to strip it of its meaning essentially by changing the language.

(snip)
Christmas is the occasion of the birth of Jesus the Christ, the son of God. Jesus was supernaturally conceived in Mary by God; for His holy purpose. Jesus was God in human flesh, born to Mary and Joseph to "save God's people from their sin" (Matthew 1:21)

(snip)
You might refuse to receive the expression; you might not want to act upon the truth it conveys. You might refuse to accept and celebrate Christmas for what it truly means. But please, don't neutralize it!

Dr. Jim A. Farrell is pastor of Oreland (Pa.) Presbyterian Church

Scenes from a Winter Day,....

Well, the TrekMedic picked a fine couple of days for vacation, didn't he?

Yesterday's "Snow Event" (as Carlin once said, "I hope they didn't sell out the tickets!") yielded some quirky observations from TrekMedic Terrace:

• Local neighborhood kid trudging home with his school backpack over his shoulders. Hey kid, pay attention to something other than MTV for a few minutes and you would have seen "All Philadelphia Public and Parochial Schools are CLOSED."
• Next-door neighbor #1 - poorly-laid down salt trail up the steps, but not a shoveller to be found. 3 adolescent kids in that house and no school? WTF?
• Neighbor #2 - two houses down from me - shoveled his side of the steps and the common and the pavement but neglected his next-door neighbor, an elderly woman and personal family friend. Nice going, asshole!
• Non-stop coverage of the 2.2" (officially at the airport, but no one lives there, so who cares) that fell on Philly, plus the 8-10' in the "Northern and Western suburbs." Y'know,..if you carried out a terrorist attack during a snowstorm, no one would notice!

SO,..after a half-bottle of Aleve and some down time and intimacy with a heating pad,...I say "When's the next storm of the millenia??"

More Crap for the ACLU Crowd!

Another Round of Philliness

HT to Right in Philly for this one!

This post is not politically motivated in any way. One could argue the fact that John Street may be the worst Mayor in Philadelphia history. He is corrupt, arrogant, racist, and generally really poor at his job. Murderer is not there yet, but that could change if he passes the plan to cut 4 of the 40 Ambulance (Advanced Life Support ALS) Units from the Philadelphia Fire Department. The basic life support units, the firefighters, can administer CPR and use a defibrillator, however, only the ALS units can administer advanced medical care including the administration of drugs.

If you know me you know that I have nothing but the utmost respect for the brave men and women who serve this country, whether military, police, fire, or ambulatory. They put their lives on the line every moment of their job, and for that I thank them, and that part of my motivation behind this. Secondly, I live in Philadelphia and know it is a great city. With the amount of new construction and many respected groups calling Philadelphia America's next Boom City, I am proud to call it home. I want to continue to live here with the knowledge that if my life, or the life of a family member where on the line, there would be someone available to assist.

Now, the numbers. Philadelphia currently has 40 ALS units 1 is permanently stationed at the Philadelphia International Airport. Those 39 Units could be sent anywhere in the city of the need calls. Also, keep in mind that 12 of the units are out of commission between midnight and 6:00 am leaving only 28 units. If one unit is busy, they will send another unit. Makes sense right? Until you look at the statistics.

If your heart stops beating, you are generally, completely brain dead after 4 minutes, after 1 minute brain damage can occur. So if your nearest medic team is busy, they will send the next closest available unit. Since Philadelphia is short units already, let’s see what happens. There was a cardiac arrest on 54th, but since their nearest unit was busy, the Academy and Frankford Medic was dispatched. By Mapquest that is 16 miles taking 26 minutes. Another example, there was a car accident Academy and Frankford over the holiday weekend. Their medic team was already busy, so the Medic Unit in South Philly was sent. 17 miles, 21 minutes by Mapquest. Get the idea. Such occurrences happen every day, yet they are not reported. Why does the media not latch on to this issue? Not to bash the medic units or the fire fighters, they are spread why too thin.

Three national firms came in and studied the situation in the city. All three said that the city should operate 90 units, but could get by with a minimum of 60 units. Now the city wants to cut 4 more.

Sure people abuse the system. There also needs to be a way for the Medic Units to determine a true emergency from someone who would rather go to the hospital than got to Rite Aid and spring the 3 bucks for a bottle of Children's Tylenol. Your kid has a fever, give them some Tylenol and call the doctor. Unless we are talking about 105 degree fever, you don't need to go to the hospital.

What can you do about it? If you live or work in Philadelphia, call your city council person or Mayor Street's office. The numbers are listed at the end of this post for your convenience.

When you call them, don't just ask the question, "Are you in favor of cutting ambulatory services in Philadelphia?" What person in their right mind would say yes? Ask them, "What are you going to do to prevent the cutting of the medic units and build them up to the number recommended by 3 national firms." Also, ask why Philadelphia does not have a contract in place with private ambulance company and local counties to assist when busy. I live about a mile from 2 medic units in Montgomery County and 3 blocks from a privately owned Ambulance company. There are nearly 100 privately owned ambulance companies in the Philadelphia Area (New Jersey not included), yet the city does not have a contract in place to ask them to assist when it would be prudent. We are the only major city to not have that contract in place. You need to ask your council person why that is the case.

Visit Save the PFD. There you can read the latest news, send e-mails to the Mayor and Fire Commissioner and sign a petition to wake up this city's government.

I hope you are as outraged as I am. Please if you are a blogger in the Philadelphia Area, link this post, or paste it in its entirety. Regardless of our political beliefs, this is one area where we all must come to a common agreement. This is about your life, your spouse, children, friends and all loved ones who live or work in Philadelphia.

As promised, the phone numbers:

Mayor John Street can be contacted at:

Mayor's Executive Office
Room 215 City Hall
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Fax# (215) 686-2180

Call: 215-686-1776 or 215-686-2181

If you are not sure of who your council person is visit the City Council's Website for more information.

City Council President
Anna C. Verna: (215) 686-3412

Councilmembers-At-Large
Councilman David Cohen: (215) 686-3446
Councilman W. Wilson Goode, Jr.: (215) 686-3414
Councilman Jack Kelly: (215) 686-3452
Councilman James Kenney: (215) 686-3450
Councilman Juan Ramos (215) 686-3420
Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown: (215) 686-3438
Councilman Frank Rizzo, Jr.: (215) 686-3440

District Council Members
#1 - Councilman Frank DiCicco: (215) 686-3458
#2 - Council President Anna Verna: (215) 686-3412
#3 - Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell: (215) 686-3418
#4 - Councilman Michael Nutter: (215) 686-3416
#5 - Council Darrell Clarke: (215) 686-3442
#6 - Councilwoman Joan L. Krajewski: (215) 686-3444
#7 - Councilman Richard Mariano: (215) 686-3448
#8 - Councilwoman Donna Miller: (215) 686-3424
#9 - Councilwoman Marian B. Tasco: (215) 686-3454
#10 - Councilman Brian J. O'Neill: (215) 686-3422

The Sky is Falling! The Sky is Falling!

/O.CON.KPHI.WS.W.0002.051209T0500Z-051209T1700Z/ NEW CASTLE-CECIL-KENT MD-HUNTERDON-SOMERSET-MIDDLESEX-MERCER- SALEM-GLOUCESTER-CAMDEN-NORTHWESTERN BURLINGTON-CHESTER- MONTGOMERY-BUCKS-DELAWARE-PHILADELPHIA- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...WILMINGTON...ELKTON...CHESTERTOWN... FLEMINGTON...SOMERVILLE...NEW BRUNSWICK...TRENTON...PENNSVILLE... GLASSBORO...CAMDEN...CHERRY HILL...MOORESTOWN...MOUNT HOLLY... WEST CHESTER...NORRISTOWN...DOYLESTOWN...MEDIA 1106 AM EST THU DEC 8 2005

...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 12 PM EST FRIDAY...

A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 12 PM EST FRIDAY.

A DOUBLE-BARRELLED LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL AFFECT THE REGION BEGINNING LATE TONIGHT. ONE AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WILL APPROACH THE REGION FROM THE WEST AND WEAKEN AS IT MOVES TOWARD SOUTHERN CANADA. A SECOND LOW IS FORECAST TO FORM OFF THE NORTH CAROLINA COAST AND MOVES NORTHEAST. THIS LOW WILL RAPIDLY INTENSIFY AS IT HEADS OUT TO SEA.

WITH COLD AIR ALREADY IN PLACE OVER THE REGION...THE PRECIPITATION WILL BEGIN AS SNOW ACROSS THE AREA. HOWEVER...WARM AIR IS FORECAST TO MOVE IN FROM THE SOUTHEAST AND THE PRECIPITATION MAY MIX WITH SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN TOWARD MORNING FRIDAY. THE BEST CHANCES OF ANY MIXED PRECIP ARE OVER THE SOUTHERN AND EASTERN PORTIONS OF THE WARNING AREA...WHERE THE WARM AIR WILL ARRIVE FIRST.

IN ANY AREAS WHERE THERE IS MIXED PRECIPITATION... SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE LESS THAN IN THOSE LOCATIONS THAT DO NOT MIX. HOWEVER...MIXED PRECIPITATION... ESPECIALLY FREEZING RAIN... IS CAPABLE OF CAUSING THEIR OWN PROBLEMS AND MAKING TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS.

SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL RANGE FROM 3 TO 4 INCHES SOUTH AND EAST OF PHILADELPHIA TO 4 TO 7 INCHES NORTH AND WEST. ALL PRECIPITATION SHOULD END BY NOON ON FRIDAY.

IF YOU MUST TRAVEL LATE TONIGHT INTO FRIDAY MORNING... USE EXTREME CAUTION. SLOW DOWN AND ALLOW EXTRA TIME TO REACH YOUR DESTINATION. FOUR WHEEL DRIVE VEHICLES DO NOT NECESSARILY HAVE GREATER BRAKING ABILITY THAN OTHER VEHICLES. THE MORNING COMMUTE WILL BE MUCH MORE DIFFICULT THAN USUAL. IF YOU CAN PLEASE GIVE YOURSELF MUCH EXTRA TIME TO REACH YOUR DESTINATION AND POSTPONE ANY UNNECESSARY DRIVING.

Echoes of Wars Past

Yesterday was the 64th Anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, "A Date That Will Live in Infamy."

Last night, on the CBS Nightly News, I heard Bob Schieffer do a segue from WWII to the current war in Iraq, calling it "a different kind of war."

This aggravated the TrekMedic to a certain degree:

• First, let's call this war for what it REALLY is - World War III. It is, after all, GLOBAL terrorism that we are fighting. Just like WWII, it involves allied forces united for a common goal against a common foe.
  
• Just as in WWII, we are fighting a war based on an ideology. In World War II, it was democracy against Fascism, racial hatred, and in the Pacific, the belief that the leader of Japan was divine and by divine right, was entitled to expand his empire. Today, we still fighting nothing more than an ideology, which also hopes to dominate the global mindset.
• However, unlike this World War, at least the enemy had the balls to stand their ground and fight you on a field of battle, instead of hiding like cowards behind innocent women and children.

As always, that's my opinion and you're entitled to it.

Why Does This Not Surprise Me?

Are the Eagles truly snakebit?

Eagles' Westbrook to Miss Rest of Season

By ROB MAADDI

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Running back Brian Westbrook will miss the rest of the season with a foot injury, the fourth Pro Bowl player the Philadelphia Eagles have lost for the season in the last month.

Westbrook hurt his foot in the first half of Monday night's 42-0 loss to Seattle. An MRI on Tuesday confirmed he has a Lis Franc sprain, an injury more common in automobile accidents and equestrian sports.

(snip)

Eagles tight end Chad Lewis and free safety Brian Dawkins each have overcome similar foot injuries.

The reigning NFC champion Eagles are last in the NFC East at 5-7.

Another Dose of Philliness

From the soon-to-be defunct Daily Fishwrapper:

Posted on Fri, Dec. 02, 2005
The bill that failed would cover Milton $$

The secret, $30,000-a-month payments that Milton Street, the mayor's brother, got for three years from a firm with a lucrative city-airport contract would have been disclosed long ago if the city had a law like the one that failed, 8-8, in City Council yesterday.

The only one of five ethics bill not approved would have imposed campaign- contribution limits and lobbyist-disclosure requirements on firms seeking city work in competitive bids.

Since such contracts already go by law to the lowest responsible bidder, some reasoned, new ethics rules were unnecessary.

But the $13-million-a-year airport-maintenance contract provides an interesting example.

It was awarded via competitive bid in 2001, then renewed at the city's discretion for the next three years while the firm kept Milton Street as a $30,000-a-month consultant.

There was no requirement to disclose the payments, which were revealed in January in a civil suit. Sponsor Councilman Michael Nutter said he'll try again to get disclosure requirements approved.

Council members voting against the bill were Jannie Blackwell, Darrell Clarke, Wilson Goode Jr., Rick Mariano, Donna Miller, Juan Ramos, Blondell Reynolds Brown and Marian Tasco.

Voting in favor were Nutter, Frank DiCicco, Jack Kelley, Jim Kenney, Joan Krajewski, Brian O'Neill, Frank Rizzo and Anna Verna.

The TrekMedic muses:

Notice who voted against the bill? Yup, all of the "Department of (John) Street" buddies: the architects of Philly's downfall to third-world status.

And not to play the race card, but you can't help but notice the vote almost exclusively fell along racial lines, as well.

Un-Grinching the ACLU's Grip on CHRISTmas

Taken from ALa at Blonde Sagacity:


If this has helped to get you in the neutered holiday spirit --Why don't you send the ACLU a Christmas card... preferably one with Jesus and an abundance of angels on it.

From WMCA.com:


We are excited to be launching the opportunity today...between now and Christmas we are asking you to send the ACLU direct "MerryChristmas" cards.

And we aren't talking about these generic "happy holiday" (meaning nothing) type of cards...

Go get as "Christmas" a Christmas card as you can find... something that says.. "Joy To The World", "For Unto Us A Child Is Born", but at least "Merry Christmas", put some of your own thoughts into it, sign it respectfully and zip it off in the mail to

ACLU
"Wishing You Merry Christmas"
125 Broad Street
18th Floor
New York, NY 10004

You can also officially join the "Merry Christmas ACLU Network" by clicking here.

AN ACLU Holiday Season Poem

I was going to call it a "CHRISTmas Poem,' but you know the ACLU,...

Anyway, HT to "Santa" at Right-Wing and Right Minded for this one:


The ACLU's Holiday Season poem. Enjoy.

Twas the night before December 25th and Santa's a wreck...
How to live in a world that's politically correct?
His workers no longer would answer to "Elves".
"Vertically Challenged" they were calling themselves.
And labor conditions at the north pole
Were alleged by the union to stifle the soul.

Four reindeer had vanished, without much propriety,
Released to the wilds by the Humane Society.
And equal employment had made it quite clear
That Santa had better not use just reindeer.
So Dancer and Donner, Comet and Cupid,
Were replaced with 4 pigs, and you know that looked stupid!

The runners had been removed from his sleigh;
The ruts were termed dangerous by the E.P.A.
And people had started to call for the cops
When they heard sled noises on their roof-tops.
Second-hand smoke from his pipe had his workers quite frightened.
His fur trimmed red suit was called "Unenlightened."

And to show you the strangeness of life's ebbs and flows,
Rudolf was suing over unauthorized use of his nose
And had gone on Geraldo, in front of the nation,
Demanding millions in over-due compensation.

So, half of the reindeer were gone; and his wife,
Who suddenly said she'd enough of this life,
Joined a self-help group, packed, and left in a whiz,
Demanding from now on her title was Ms.

And as for the gifts, why, he'd ne'er had a notion
That making a choice could cause so much commotion.
Nothing of leather, nothing of fur,
Which meant nothing for him. And nothing for her.
Nothing that might be construed to pollute.
Nothing to aim. Nothing to shoot.
Nothing that clamored or made lots of noise.
Nothing for just girls. Or just for the boys.
Nothing that claimed to be gender specific.
Nothing that's warlike or non-pacific.

No candy or sweets...they were bad for the tooth.
Nothing that seemed to embellish a truth.
And fairy tales, while not yet forbidden,
Were like Ken and Barbie, better off hidden.
For they raised the hackles of those psychological
Who claimed the only good gift was one ecological.

No baseball, no football...someone could get hurt;
Besides, playing sports exposed kids to dirt.
Dolls were said to be sexist, and should be passe;
And Nintendo would rot your entire brain away.

So Santa just stood there, disheveled, perplexed;
He just could not figure out what to do next.
He tried to be merry, tried to be gay,
But you've got to be careful with that word today.
His sack was quite empty, limp to the ground;
Nothing fully acceptable was to be found.

Something special was needed, a gift that he might
Give to all without angering the left or the right.
A gift that would satisfy, with no indecision,
Each group of people, every religion;
Every ethnicity, every hue,
Everyone, everywhere...even you.
So here is that gift, it's price beyond worth...
"May you and your loved ones enjoy peace on earth