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OT: American Politics

Re: OT: Canadian Politics

Going back to the shooting in TO....

I was having a discussion with someone about the shooting. We were talking about "imminent danger" and something interesting came to mind. Greek cops have seen so much violence against them, they are use to it and probably have a much better idea what "lethal" and "imminent danger" looks like compared to GTA cops. That is why you don't have body counts in Greek riots despite bolder tossing and molotove cocktail bbq's.

So as much as we want to fry this cop for what appears to be a bad decision, okay, horrible decision, but you have to ask, how many times has he faced mortal danger? And what does he perceive as mortal danger? I can see him unloading several clips if someone threw a molotov at him...where as a Greek cop would put out the fire with his water bottle.....and nobody dies. On the other hand, you could count on a Greek cop (or three) braking the hand that held the knife.

I'm not making excuses for what happened, but in fairness, we have to keep things in perspective, environments....and experience.

Bring marshmallows......

:lol

Come on. This cop is just a thug with a badge.

I guess no screening process is perfect, but how did a guy like that get on the force?

There is no perspective that can justify the 6 caps after the original 3, which are also highly questionable.

This guy belongs in jail.

I know the cops in England will bash your skull in if you step out of line, which I don't have much of an issue with, if you have it coming.
 
I especially liked when he credited Bush's torture ummm I mean enhanced interrogation techniques for bringing down UBL.

I barely watch Fox News anymore though. I used to laugh at it, now it makes me angry.

I listen to the talk radio on long drives if I start to feel a bit tired, wake me right up and I'm yelling at the radio within minutes.
 
Does hopeychange cancelling the summit with Putin after he gave snowden asylum officially mean now that the "reset" with Russia was a fiasco? Can you people now admit that his signature policy of giving simpering speeches and hoping for goodwill in return is a disaster?
 
jaguars-fan-confused-wtf.gif


The Cold War ended in 1990, kb.
 
Re: OT: Canadian Politics

I'd definitely shoot someone who threw a molotov at me. That's a clear-cut case of attempted murder.

But in practice, is that the best way to prevent an escalation of the situation, or to reduce your odds of being killed?


Plus, How often do cops actually die, or even get seriously injured when they're in full riot gear getting those hurled at them?
 
Re: OT: Canadian Politics

Cops aren't armed with live rounds in those situations. They get smoke cannisters, rubber bullets, or beanbags. You wouldn't fire those at a violent crowd?
 
Re: OT: Canadian Politics

MARGARET WENTE
A nation of $100,000 firefighters



Everyone loves firefighters. They save lives. They are strong and competent. They look good on calendars. People are always happy when they show up.

But municipalities do not love firefighters. Across Canada, towns and cities are getting hosed by the skyrocketing costs of their fire departments. Thanks to arbitration settlements, your firefighters are the best paid (and possibly the most underworked) guys in town. Firefighters have been getting raises that are twice as high what other public sector workers have been getting, at a time when municipalities are strapped for funds and raises are just a memory for most of us.

Here in Toronto, firefighters recently won a 14-per-cent wage increase over five years, which means that by next year, a first-class firefighter will be making $90,000. But it’s the small towns that are hit worst. Tiny Owen Sound, Ont. (population 32,092), has 29 full-time fire professionals. Last year, 25 of them made more than $100,000. The median full-time income of people who live in Owen Sound is less than half that.

For smaller cities, the fire department is typically the largest item in the budget. It accounts for upward of a quarter of their costs. But municipalities are powerless to control firefighters’ salaries, because negotiations with the union almost always wind up in arbitration. And arbitrators aren’t obliged to give much weight to a town’s ability to pay. Instead, they simply match the settlements that everybody else got, including police. So the costs spiral ever upward, and towns are forced to cut back on libraries and roads. As Toronto city manager Joe Pennachetti told the Toronto Sun: “We feel like we’re banging our heads against the wall.”

There’s no good reason for salaries to go up so much, argues John Saunders, a consultant with Hicks Morley who advises dozens of municipalities. Firefighting is an extremely desirable job, and vacancies are scarce because people rarely quit. Last year, for example, there were more than 500 applicants for 20 firefighting jobs in the Ontario communities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo. In Cambridge, a first-class firefighter earns up to $99,397 a year, plus benefits and overtime. Yet despite the high demand for their jobs, firefighters get “retention” payments for not quitting.

Working conditions are pretty sweet too. Thanks to modern safety standards, there are very few fires left to fight. These days, most fire department calls are medical. To prove that they’re still needed, fire departments have been adding defibrillators and Jaws of Life, and frantically expanding their repertoires to respond to even minor non-fire emergencies. Still, there’s an awful lot of what we shall euphemistically call “down time,” which firemen fill by preparing meals, sleeping, watching television, polishing the trucks and rewinding the hoses.

It’s long past time to roll back firefighting costs, as cities across the United States have been forced to do. But in Canada, costs continue to escalate as unions demand even better benefits, shorter work weeks and highly desirable 24-hour shifts. Firefighters love 24-hour shifts because it gives them plenty of time off for their other jobs. Theoretically, they’re required to work seven or eight of these shifts in a 28-day period, but workers with plenty of seniority can wind up working just five or six shifts, according to Mr. Saunders. Some critics refer to the 24-hour arrangement as “a well-paid part-time job.” (As for how it’s possible to work 24 hours in a row, the answer is “down time.”)

Not even the smallest effort to control costs goes unchallenged. In Windsor, the union grieved a decision to pull a fire truck out of service in 2008, saying that the administration had promised to leave it in service until the new contract was settled, which still hasn’t happened. The arbitrator sided with the union and told the city to cough up $381,000 in theoretically lost overtime – $1,328 for each member of the fire department. Meanwhile, in Toronto, the firefighters’ union continues its endless war against Emergency Medical Services, claiming that a decision to stop dispatching million-dollar pumpers to lower-level 911 calls puts lives at risk. A consultants’ report said that a merger of fire and EMS could save the city significant money – but the tribal warfare is so bitter that it will never happen.

I have nothing against firefighters, personally. But times have changed. We can’t go on like this. I could write the same column about the police. You guys are supposed to protect us. But we can’t afford you any more.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/a-nation-of-100000-firefighters/article13647608

Other than the teachers, I don't believe there's another public sector union that has milked the government so successfully as these guys.
 
Does hopeychange cancelling the summit with Putin after he gave snowden asylum officially mean now that the "reset" with Russia was a fiasco? Can you people now admit that his signature policy of giving simpering speeches and hoping for goodwill in return is a disaster?

Grasping at straws to have at least one thing to complain about?
 
China. C-H-I-N-A. Chiiiiiiiiiiiina.

Russia is a regional power and a kleptocracy, the latter being Czar Putin's main concern. They have many sweet natural gas deals with Germany; apart from some PR for domestic media consumption, rocking the boat is not in their strategic interest.
 
By chance I happened to overhear a short few minutes of Rush Limbaugh yesterday. He was on Obama's case again, (imagine that), this time about his silence on an issue of National security. An older gent called in, claiming he was a code breaker for the military during Kennedy's era. He defended Obama and criticized Rush for reaching. Heh! Needless to say, Rush suddenly had "technical difficulties" and the call was dropped.
They've ran out of criticisms. They need to fantasize now.
 
Re: OT: Canadian Politics

they play ping pong all day

Funny story. One day a few months ago, my partner and I along with every other truck in the city was getting murdered. Paged out within minutes of the start of shift and non stop from there. About half way through the shift we finally made it to the a base, as we pulled into the driveway we got attached to another call. I really needed to piss, so I ran I'm quick.

The fire guys were literally playing ping pong and had the audacity to ask if we were busy.

The average fire truck does maybe 4 calls in a 24 hr shift. We average twice that in a 12 hr shift. So yeah, they do **** all
 
I actually can't wait until this presidency is over. I really want to see what the rightwing media machine talks about once they no longer have Obama around. There's no way that Hilary can be nearly as rich a target, and god forbid a guy like Christie wins.....what the hell will Fox & Rush talk about for 4 years?
 
Re: OT: Canadian Politics

This is a huge problem in rural and suburban Ontario where the capacity to pay just isn't there. A city like Belleville can't afford to have 86% of the Fire Department on the Sunshine List. It's wholly unsustainable.

I'd be in favour of amending Firefighter salary so that it was along the lines of a soldier's pay. A base salary and bonuses for each instance of dangerous duty.
 
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