gamewell45

And where does the funding come from? Peoples pockets are only so deep. At some point they are going to say enough is enough. I've already seen one fire district which wanted to hire paid firefighters to supplement the all-volunteer department and the referendum was defeated by the taxpayers. The bottom line is, unless you have a money cannon to aim at the problem, the chances of converting every Rescue squad into a paid force is nefarious at best.

I've seen armed Constables in Unionvale (Dutchess County) driving around in EV SUV's.

Everyone in Canada is guaranteed medical coverage; obviously as you cited there are isolated cases of in an emergency, one may have to wait for some type of non-threatening treatment; just like there are problems in the American healthcare system such as the recent case in Brooklyn, New York where a woman lay dead on the floor for hours before anyone came to check on her. While in an emergency situtation in our country, no one is turned away, preventative healthcare is likewise important, so if any medical issues are present they can be dealt with before they excerbate to a critical stage. Unfortunatley, those who have no insurance, are left to fend for themselves until they have a life threatening situation and are forced to the emergency room. Either way your going to pay; better to nip it in the bud and keep people as healthy as can be reasonably expected and keep costs down. We've already got socialized medicine in this country; in the form of medicare and medicade. Supported by tax dollars, so this is nothing new for the American people. I don't know anything about the publisher of the article you describe, But last year I attended a convention in Toronto and Socialized medicine was the topic of discussion and everyone there heard from many people who are Canadian citizens there dealings with socialized medicine and felt it was much better then the American medical system; sure they said there are problems with it, but they continue to work to improve it each year.

Maybe that primary goal has been modified since you read the original IFSTA Essentials book?

I'll bet that the average American who can't afford medical benefits whatsoever would gladly accept the Canadian system. For them, somethings better then nothing. As with any system, whether its in Canada or USA there are flaws in the system; the goal is to work to fix the flaws so everything runs better

Political party enrollment doesn't necessarily mean your more of a patriot over another person; What about those of us who aren't enrolled in any political party? There are plenty of Independents in the US because they have no faith in either major political party. But it doesn't mean they can't be patriots. Remember, its election year and all political parties are spewing their rhetoric. Look past the window dressing and vote your conscience.

I don't think they are out to impress anybody; rather they are proud of what they do, the comraderie they have and just want to make it known to those who might be interested. The volunteer service is going to continue to evolve and most likely you'll see more of the so-called live-in bunk-ins. More and more volunteer fire districts are taking notice of what these progressive departments do and the success that many of them are having. As far as "wash out at the Rock on a mile and half run", I think most of them could care less. They are doing what they love best and most likely have no desire to be at the "Rock". Lets give them encouragement as opposed to negativity.

I think its good that they share with others the good example they set and other volunteer departments should try to emulate them to the best of there ability. Good for them!

U.S. Congressman John Hall will introduce a bill tomorrow, Thursday, September 4th, at 1:30 PM at the Verplanck firehouse at a press confernce. The proposed Federal bill, if approved, will authorize the increase for mileage expense deducton from .14 cents to .40 cents that volunteer firefighters and volunteer emergency service providers may report on U.S. income tax returns. The Red Cross will introduce our Congressman Hall at this event. Bob Moon, President of the Westchester County Volunteer Firemen's Association, will be a participant in the press conference. Any and all volunteer firefighters and volunteer ambulance personnel are strongly encouraged to be at the event, and in uniform. It's believed that U.S. Senator Schumer will be presenting the U.S. Senate bill simultaneously in Long Island. President Moon explains that this last minute notice is the manner by which most Federal bills are introduced. In this instance, it's important that volunteer firefighters participate in this press conference.

NYMedic, when the topic has a bearing on Police work, EMS work and Firefighting which in this case it does, its appropriate to be open for discussion.

Actually, you might already qualify for mileage to and from work depending on your employement status; you should check with your accountant.

I'd tend to agree with that analogy; elected commissioners are unpaid and as such, unless they are into a power trip have little or nothing to gain personally from the position.

I'm curious, when you say he was "playing to the masses" how many people were there? 25? 100, 1,000? Was the mainstream media present? Either way, if your unhappy with his performance/treatment of those present, then by all means as you indicated, you should pull the lever for his opponent in November (that is if someone is running against him).

When are all the leftie pinkos and right wing morons in here gonna realize that both Presidential candidates are all part of the same hipocrisy. Both losers. And then you've got an arrogant, pompous, liberal Vice-Presidential candidate on the left who's full of himself, and a knife-throwing, mooseburger eating, igloo living candidate on the right who should be home raising her children (maybe her daughter wouldn't be pregnant at such a young age if she spent more time with her --its obvious she needs more supervision). Whats this wonderful country coming to? I'm starting to believe that maybe Ralph Nader (whom liberals shun) and Ron Paul (who Republicans refuse to acknowlege exists), may have some good ideas and while they don't have huge followings, I think they are honest and have the country's best interests at heart. Independent moderates are most likely the future of this country. They are beholden to no one and no single party. Either way those two clowns (McCain/Obama) aren't getting my vote. I'll write my own name in before i cast my ballot for them. Enjoy your morning coffee!

Likewise working all day into the evening hours; I was the only one at the train station this morning for the ride down to NYC; noticed no Labor Day parade today in NYC. Seems to be a thing of the past. Eitherway God bless the unions.

I think i got the best of both worlds; i have a job (non-firematic) that i still look forward to going to after 30 years, pays good money, benefits, great working conditions and i get to volunteer on the side and if i'm late to work because of it, they don't dock me for being late. It doesn't get any better then that.

Is this representative of who her constituents are??

Truckers still use them on the highways; some police agencies likewise monitor them; there's more and more people getting their ham radio license and using ham radio frequencies each year. Ham radio uses repeaters which CB doesn't normally use, so you can really listen in and chat with others regionally.

She's a lightweight. Romney would have balanced the ticket out nicely.

If he's unhappy with his leadership recommending the wrong guy, then he should work to vote out those officers who supported the recommendation and work to put officers in the union who support his best interests.

Your 100% wrong roof; you post it here and it becomes everyone's business. It's fair game whether you or I like it or not. If its so important that only IAFF members only need to discuss it, then it belongs on a union website with a password.

What are you getting so worked up over?? What does it matter who the IAFF supports? most people are going to vote how they want to; only a moron would blindly vote without investigating all of the candidates backgrounds and positions and relying soley on the unions recommendation.

Terrorists come from all religious or ethnic backgrounds; ie; Irish Republican Army or United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) comes to mind. Doesn't mean that all Christians or Latinos are terrorists.

He probably left it on his jacket and it went to the cleaners. I do that all the time.

Hays Hose is one of the nicest fire stations in the state. If you ever get the chance to visit it, by all means do so.