WHY?

WHY?

Thursday, October 25, 2012

"I paid for my newspaper subscription with it."

You're probably wondering what the title of this post has to do with... well anything. It's a quote from tonight's council meeting.
Let me start at the beginning. The vast majority of tonight's speakers were fed up with the idea of more taxes. Really fed up. They should have been even MORE fed up with Leighton texting the whole meeting instead of listening.
Dale Harris of 'Harris Muffler' pointed out that since "Leighton became mayor taxes have increased 240%"!
Linda Urban told of a man who's vehicle had been towed by LAG. He needed his tools out of it for work. Allegedly Leo Glodzik told him he could only get his tools if he,"paid $100 and turned over his title." That seems shady to me, but honestly I don't know the legalities.
What I do know, and was witness to was a minor confrontation between Mrs. Urban and Mr. Glozdik.
Linda Urban: What did you do with his $100?
Leo Glozdik: I paid for my newspaper subscription with it!
More than anything, This (and the smirk on his face) tells me and everyone else exactly what kind of person Leo is. You remember the person Leighton vouches for.

Near the end Karen Ceppa-Hirko pointed out various major inconsistencies in the preliminary proposed budget.
And finally when Leighton tried to turn the meeting into 'city workers bad' tirade He was meet with, first, someone saying we could save money if he didn't "take gas" and then someone else (could've been me) mentioned "Or payed his buddy $300 an hour."

Honestly, there was a lot of applause for NOT getting services cut and for Leighton, council and most of city hall taking the cuts before doing anything. Specifically Leighton taking a $40,000 cut.


Dan Emplit WBFD
AKA Don Quixote

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

2012 Final Presidential Debate

I've got to say that a comment made during the debate on Monday annoyed me.




the exact transcript:
Romney: Our Navy is old -- excuse me, our Navy is smaller now than at any time since 1917. The Navy said they needed 313 ships to carry out their mission. We're now at under 285. We're headed down to the low 200's if we go through a sequestration. That's unacceptable to me.

I want to make sure that we have the ships that are required by our Navy. Our Air Force is older and smaller than at any time since it was founded in 1947. We've changed for the first time since FDR -- since FDR we had the -- we've always had the strategy of saying we could fight in two conflicts at once. Now we're changing to one conflict. Look, this, in my view, is the highest responsibility of the President of the United States, which is to maintain the safety of the American people. . .

OBAMA: Bob, I just need to comment on this. First of all, the sequester is not something that I've proposed. It is something that Congress has proposed. It will not happen. The budget that we are talking about is not reducing our military spending. It is maintaining it.

But I think Governor Romney maybe hasn't spent enough time looking at how our military works. You mentioned the Navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military's changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines.

And so the question is not a game of Battleship, where we're counting slips. It's what are our capabilities. And so when I sit down with the Secretary of the Navy and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, we determine how are we going to be best able to meet all of our defense needs in a way that also keeps faith with our troops, that also makes sure that our veterans have the kind of support that they need when they come home.


The comment that annoyed me, of course, is:
"Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military's changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines."

The condescending nature and tone of the comment was VERY un-Presidential, and wrong to boot.
First off, I know that the Marines, at least, are still taught how to fight with bayonets.

"Bayonet charges have been critical events in modern warfare. Gettysburg, and thus the Civil War, turned on a bayonet charge down little Round Top. In the Korean War, the defense of Chip Yong Ni likewise saw a famous bayonet charge, that one by the outnumbered French Foreign Legionnaires. That same war saw a platoon of U.S. Infantry take out machine gun positions with a bayonet charge on a piece of terrain that became known as “Bayonet Hill.” In both Iraq and Afghanistan, British Army units have executed bayonet charges to overcome resistance, most famously in the 2004 “Battle of Danny Boy” at Al Amara, Iraq."

Second, Aircraft carriers have been around since 1918. The USS Langley (CV-1) was in service on March 20, 1922. The Lexington class was commissioned in 1927. Nuclear submarines have been in service since the USS Nautilus was launched in 1954. To act like Governor Romney couldn't grasp the fundamentals of this is nothing but an arrogant ass looking to demean his opponent.

There is a MINIMUM number of naval vessels NEEDED to do the job that they are tasked with. If experts tell you that a certain number is the minimum, what makes him a better judge than the experts? I mean they ARE THE EXPERTS!

AND Obama is gutting not only what we have, but what we would have!
"In citing high technology, Obama gave us a display of brazen hypocrisy at its finest. On his watch, the Department of Defense has been cutting procurement programs such as the F-22 and the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle. In both cases, our military personnel must now make do with aging alternatives (the F-15C and AAV-7 family of vehicles). The F-15 entered service in 1976, the AAV-7 in 1972. By the 2016 election, both of these systems will be 40 years old, and expected to still be in service for as much as a decade. So much for relying on new technology — Obama has halted production of the high-tech replacements."

As for our Navy, "The Obama administration’s neglect of the Navy can be typified by the early retirement of the USS Enterprise (CVN 65) and its plans to decommission other naval assets. In August of this year, I outlined on NRO why the Enterprise should remain in service, but the Big E is only the most prominent asset slated for premature retirement. The administration also plans to decommission and scrap six Ticonderoga-class cruisers, although the vessels have as many as 15 years of service life left (even without further overhauls). Maintaining freedom of the seas requires hulls in the water — and the Navy hasn’t even started building the replacements for these cruisers."

"None of our carriers or submarines — no matter how high-tech they are — are capable of covering the Persian Gulf and South China Sea at the same time, or the Mediterranean Sea and the Korean peninsula simultaneously."

"What they fail to mention is the fact that China’s defense budget has at least quadrupled since 2000. China is becoming more aggressive around the Senkaku Islands and the South China Sea, in disputes with American allies such as Japan and the Philippines, and it has just commissioned its first aircraft carrier."

"In World War II, when the United States built a navy second to none, our military had a running start with the Naval Expansion Act of 1938 and the Two-Ocean Navy Act of July 1940 — bills passed long before the attack on Pearl Harbor. But even with that running start, most of those ships did not arrive on the front lines until mid-1943 or later, and many sailors and Marines paid the price in blood for America’s failure to prepare. Who will pay the price today, in the event of military conflict?"

Dan Emplit WBFD
USN 1986 - 1992

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Numbers

When Leighton became the mayor in '04 he told ALL the city worker that concessions had to be made by ALL or the city would go act47 (distressed). The FD stood up and made concessions of more than $4 million over 8 years (no other union did anything) and we didn't go act47.

We then found out that Leighton hid money (McGroarty did first) and fought for that money (about $1 million total), by my math we still gave the city $3 million (the other unions still didn't give squat) and he treats us like a baby treats a diaper.

BTW those figures include overtime, that is overtime LEIGHTON created but not hiring new firefighters as the old retire. We have a certain amount of positions that NEED to be filled every shift and without enough FF's that creates overtime.
Leightons solution to the overtime HE CREATED has been to reduce the number of firefighters per shift. We are now down to 11 from 16, where the Lloyds study (a study the city commissioned, the city paid for and the city has copies of) says that 17 per shift is the minimum for your safety and ours.

Leighton is a master at telling people half truths to make others look bad. It's amazing that people still believe the dictator when he has been caught so many time doing so many illegal things.





Dan Emplit WBFD
AKA Don Quixote

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

When the mayor was elected in 2004

When the mayor was elected in 2004, he asked all the city unions to help the city financially in their contracts or the city would face Act 47. The fire union stepped up first and did (concessions = approx 3.5 million dollars over 7 years and approx $1 million in the last 2 years).
Mayor Leighton said "By making (these) substantial concessions, the firefighters' union has agreed to become partners with the city in its revitalization plan"

The Fire Fighters Union did their part and who gets cut back? Who has the mayor demonized in the press? Remember the Lloyds study (that THE CITY commissioned, the CITY PAID for, and is available to the mayor) says 17 firefighter per shift is the MINIMUM for safety, not the mayors 11 per shift.

And what did the other unions give?


Leighton would rather pay his buddies huge amounts of money than admit he is risking our safety and yours.


Also notice that the dictator isn't cutting his own bloated salary. He is the third highest paid mayor in Pa, he makes more than the Mayor of our state capitol! And don't forget those fringe benefits like free gas! Or paying his buddy $300 per hour.



Dan Emplit WBFD
AKA Don Quixote

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Gun Control

I was sent this years ago, it's a little out of date but still relevant.
I like it. It is ALMOST as sarcastic as me.

1. Banning guns works, which is why New York, DC, & Chicago cops need guns.

2. Washington DC’s low murder rate of 69 per 100,000 is due to strict gun control, and Indianapolis’ high murder rate of 9 per 100,000 is due to the lack of gun control.

3. Statistics showing high murder rates justify gun control but statistics showing increasing murder rates after gun control are “just statistics.”

4. The Brady Bill and the Assault Weapons Ban, both of which went into effect in 1994 are responsible for the decrease in violent crime rates, which have been declining since 1991.

5. We must get rid of guns because a deranged lunatic may go on a shooting spree at any time and anyone who would own a gun out of fear of such a lunatic is paranoid.

6. The more helpless you are the safer you are from criminals.

7. An intruder will be incapacitated by tear gas or oven spray, but if shot with a .357 Magnum will get angry and kill you.

8. A woman raped and strangled is morally superior to a woman with a smoking gun and a dead rapist at her feet.

9. When confronted by violent criminals, you should “put up no defense – give them what they want, or run” (Handgun Control Inc. Chairman Pete Shields, Guns Don’t Die – People Do, 1981, p. 125).

10. The New England Journal of Medicine is filled with expert advice about guns; just like Guns & Ammo has some excellent treatises on heart surgery.

11. One should consult an automotive engineer for safer seat belts, a civil engineer for a better bridge, a surgeon for internal medicine, a computer programmer for hard drive problems, and Sarah Brady for firearms expertise.

12. The 2nd Amendment, ratified in 1787, refers to the National Guard, which was created 130 years later, in 1917.

13. The National Guard, federally funded, with bases on federal land, using federally-owned weapons, vehicles, buildings and uniforms, punishing trespassers under federal law, is a “state” militia.

14. These phrases: “right of the people peaceably to assemble,” “right of the people to be secure in their homes,” “enumerations herein of certain rights shall not be construed to disparage others retained by the people,” and “The powers not delegated herein are reserved to the states respectively, and to the people” all refer to individuals, but “the right of the people to keep and bear arms” refers to the state.

15. “The Constitution is strong and will never change.” But we should ban and seize all guns thereby violating the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Amendments to that Constitution.

16. Rifles and handguns aren’t necessary to national defense! Of course, the army has hundreds of thousands of them.

17. Private citizens shouldn’t have handguns, because they aren’t “military weapons”, but private citizens shouldn’t have “assault rifles”, because they are military weapons.

18. In spite of waiting periods, background checks, fingerprinting, government forms, etc., guns today are too readily available, which is responsible for recent school shootings. In the 1940's, 1950's and 1960's, anyone could buy guns at hardware stores, army surplus stores, gas stations, variety stores, Sears mail order, no waiting, no background check, no fingerprints, no government forms and there were no school shootings.

19. The NRA’s attempt to run a “don’t touch” campaign about kids handling guns is propaganda, but the anti-gun lobby’s attempt to run a “don’t touch” campaign is responsible social activity.

20. Guns are so complex that special training is necessary to use them properly, and so simple to use that they make murder easy.

21. A handgun, with up to 4 controls, is far too complex for the typical adult to learn to use, as opposed to an automobile that only has 20.

22. Women are just as intelligent and capable as men but a woman with a gun is “an accident waiting to happen” and gun makers’ advertisements aimed at women are “preying on their fears.”

23. Ordinary people in the presence of guns turn into slaughtering butchers but revert to normal when the weapon is removed.

24. Guns cause violence, which is why there are so many mass killings at gun shows.

25. Trigger locks do not interfere with the ability to use a gun for defensive purposes, which is why you see police officers with one on their duty weapon.

26. Any self-loading small arm can legitimately be considered to be a “weapon of mass destruction” or an “assault weapon.”

27. Most people can’t be trusted, so we should have laws against guns, which most people will abide by because they can be trusted.

28. The right of Internet pornographers to exist cannot be questioned because it is constitutionally protected by the Bill of Rights, but the use of handguns for self defense is not really protected by the Bill of Rights.

29. Free speech entitles one to own newspapers, transmitters, computers, and typewriters, but self- defense only justifies bare hands.

30. The ACLU is good because it uncompromisingly defends certain parts of the Constitution, and the NRA is bad, because it defends other parts of the Constitution.

31. Charlton Heston, a movie actor as president of the NRA is a cheap lunatic who should be ignored, but Michael Douglas, a movie actor as a representative of Handgun Control, Inc. is an ambassador for peace who is entitled to an audience at the UN arms control summit.

32. Police operate with backup within groups, which is why they need larger capacity pistol magazines than do “civilians” who must face criminals alone and therefore need less ammunition.

33. We should ban “Saturday Night Specials” and other inexpensive guns because it’s not fair that poor people have access to guns too.

34. Police officers have some special Jedi-like mastery over handguns that private citizens can never hope to obtain.

35. Private citizens don’t need a gun for self- protection because the police are there to protect them even though the Supreme Court says the police are not responsible for their protection.

36. Citizens don’t need to carry a gun for personal protection but police chiefs, who are desk-bound administrators who work in a building filled with cops, need a gun.

37. “Assault weapons” have no purpose other than to kill large numbers of people. The police need assault weapons. You do not.

38. When Microsoft pressures its distributors to give Microsoft preferential promotion, that’s bad; but when the Federal government pressures cities to buy guns only from Smith & Wesson, that’s good.

39. We don't need firearms for defense, we have 911. Even though it may take more than 6 minutes for the call to be dispatched and another 6 minutes for police to arrive.

40. Handgun Control, Inc., says they want to “keep guns out of the wrong hands.” Guess what? You have the wrong hands.




Dan Emplit WBFD
USN 1986 - 1992

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Stacey Dash gets demonized for supporting Romney


Stacey Dash was interviewed on CNN about the aftermath of expressing her Presidential choice.



Basically the smoking hot Miss Dash is getting 'Hate Tweets' because she is supporting Romney/Ryan.
What a single, black, currently unemployed actress can't express support for HER PRESIDENTIAL SUPPORT without getting death threats? What the hell is wrong with people.
She chose Romney over Obama "not based on the color of his skin, but the content of his character." She doesn't 'bash' Obama, she just expressed her belief that Romney is the better choice. And got threats because of it. Of course they were 'Anonymous', people who don't have the courage to put a name to the threat.
Did I mention she is Smoking Hot?
Dan Emplit WBFD
USN 1986 - 1992

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

And now there were only 11

I guess we shouldn't be surprised (and honestly I'm not) but the safety of people in Wilkes-Barre has been sacrificed by the dictator yet AGAIN.


Under Leighton
We've gone from 17 men/shift to 11.
From 5 Firehouses to 3 one of which (South Station) is only open about 1/8 of the time.

But Leighton has
Stolen gas
Payed his buddy $300/hour
Lied to us
Appointed cronies on panels to investigate LAG
Blamed everyone for his incompetent and corrupt 'leadership'
Oh crap just read the papers, Wake Up Wilkes-Barre and this blog.

But don't worry, I'm sure the dictator's ultra expensive security system will keep HIM safe.





Dan Emplit WBFD
AKA Don Quixote