TreeTop contest continues!

Don't forget you can vote again for Tony Yuen and Fire Station 13's video!

Vote for Tony Yuen's BBQ Sauce!!!

Spokane Firehouse 13 cook Tony Yuen needs your help! Check out the video of Tony and the gang and then vote for it!

Safety first. You may want to tarp your keyboard to prevent drool damage.

Note: The rules required that videos had to be 4 minutes or less.

Fire Press Release Two Fer

Buckeye Command

Incident #: 2011024317 Date of Incident: 6/22/2011 Issuing Officer: Battalion Chief Jones

Narrative:
On 06/22/11 at 13:14 hours, the Spokane Fire Department responded 3 engines, 2 ladders, 1 rescue, and 2 battalion chiefs to a reported structure fire at 2311 W Buckeye. First arriving SE3 reported smoke showing at the roof of a two story single family residence. Firefighters aggressively performed an interior attack on the fire while additional fire crews completed search and rescue, roof ventilation and salvage and overhaul. The fire was located by SE3 in the basement and extinguished. No one was home at the time of the fire. 6 fire companies with 21 firefighters responded to this fire. There were no injuries to civilians or firefighters. Damage by fire was confined to the basement and first floor, smoke damage thought out the structure. This fire is under investigation by the Spokane Fire Departments SIU.

Cause:
This fire is under investigation by the Spokane Fire Departments SIU.

Damage:
Fire was cnfined to the basement and first floor . Smoke damage thought out the strusture.

# Firefighters Repsonding: 21

Dollar Loss: $10,000

End Of Release For more information on this release please call (509) 625-7002

Spokane House Hotel Fire

Incident #: 2011024096 Date of Incident: 6/21/2011 Issuing Officer: AC Schaeffer

Narrative:

On Tuesday June 21, 2010 at 5:41 AM, Spokane Ladder 4 and Engine 4 were dispatched to an automatic alarm at 4301 West Sunset. While the initial companies were enroute, Fire Dispatch received additional information from the business that smoke was present on the first floor. Fire dispatch subsequently upgraded the alarm to a full response adding 6 additional companies including 3 Engines, 1 Heavy Rescue and 2-Senior Ladders under the direction of Battalion Chiefs Moline and Haworth. Station 4 companies arrived within 7-minutes and reported a working fire in the first floor of the five-story hotel. Due to the topography of the hill, the first floor of this building is actually below grade. The fire was rapidly growing in a commercial laundry service area and had spread to large electrical utility components which created tactical concerns for the companies entering the fire area. The incident was upgraded by Chief Moline to a "working incident" and multiple companies were assigned to manage assisting the orderly evacuation of civilians and controlling the building's ventilation system. Ladder companies provided quick searches of adjoining areas while engines were utilized to support the building's standpipe system and stretch hose leads to the below-grade fire. It took 34 Firefighters just 20-minutes to locate and knock down the fire and control the incident. Firefighters were able to contain the damage to the primary service area on the1st floor and successfully prevented it from spreading vertically to the second floor or to any of the adjoining horizontal areas. The commercial electrical service was shut down and tagged out by Avista on-scene due to the severe damage and electrocution concerns to workers. No civilians or firefighters were injured as a result of the incident.

Cause:

The cause is under investigation by the SFD's SIU and the Hotel Management is assisted any displaced occupants. The building is not able to occupy this morning, but all efforts are being made to isolate areas in the building which can be used for safe occupation.

Damage:

Firefighters remained on scene for several hours, protecting the building's contents from additional damage during the salvage and overhaul operations. The damage to the first floor laundry service area is significant and does include severe damage to electrical components. The total dollar loss due to the fire was estimated at $25k-45k.

# Firefighters Repsonding: 34

Dollar Loss: $45000

End Of Release For more information on this release please call (509) 625-7002

MDA Summer Camp and Fill the Boot

SFD Brothers and Sisters,

We had a get together with the MDA folks and the Union and even a City Councilperson last week. Fill The Boot is scheduled for Sept. 17^th this year so please put that on your calendars. I have a goal for getting so many off duty L-29 personnel to turn out that we have the lowest need for on duty folks in years. We are the 3^rd highest Fire contributor for MDA in the State and they really appreciate our involvement although I sure wouldn’t mind seeing us climb a couple of spots!

I would also love to see us start getting involved in providing folks for helping the local MDA with their camp over in Rathdrum. They love to have EMTs and Paramedics help out because these kids need someone watching over them but it is the time of their lives and many of them can’t wait for Summer Camp each year.

I also wish to extend many thanks To Brian Turpin as he has been getting involved as well. The Union Officers and Bill Gonzalez are working with the City regarding the permit process. Jana Worthington and I are planning on getting some more info out soon and answering questions about how we can help.

Let’s make this year with MDA the best yet!

Terry Canfield

SE13A (soon)

Memorial Service Procession for Fallen Firefighter

Wenatchee, Washington – June 14, 2011 – Arrangements are underway to coordinate the funeral procession for the memorial services of Battalion Chief Garet Rasmussen of Chelan County Fire District 1.

Memorial services with full honors for Battalion Chief Garet Rasmussen will be held on Saturday, June 18^th at 1pm at the Town Toyota Center, 1300 Walla Walla Avenue in Wenatchee, Washington.

If your agency is interested in sending fire apparatus to this service, please contact:

Firefighter Matt Rise (509) 662-4734 of Station 11, Chelan County Fire District 1

Home remodeling that promotes union work and energy conservation...

Energy Efficiency is a Win, Win, Win!!

If you live in Spokane's South Hill, you have an excellent opportunity
to save on your home energy costs.

Participating homeowners have saved up to 50% on their energy bills.

Save Money, Save energy, Create Jobs!!!

Bulk Neighborhood Pricing + Utility Incentives + Federal Grants & Tax Credits + Low Interest Loans = Cost-Effective Energy Retrofits!!

Four Easy Steps to Energy Efficiency:

· Pre-Audit: You can call (509) 532-1688 to sign up or get more information. You will be asked for information to determine if yourhome is a good candidate for an energy saving retrofit. You can also go online to fill out the information at www.sustainableworks.com.

· Energy Audit: Skilled trade workers will inspect your home todetermine where you can save energy and money. Thanks to federalstimulus and utility support, your audit will cost only $95 (fully refundable if we don’t recommend any improvements) and includes installation of CFL light bulbs, showerheads and faucet aerators to start saving immediately.

· Energy Consultation: An energy consultant will review the findings with you and suggest the most cost-effective steps to reduce your energy usage. You will only select the extent of energy savings activities and costs that you are comfortable with.

· Energy Savings Retrofit: SustainableWorks coordinates everything - contractors, financing, and project management. The SustainableWorks project manager will make a final inspection to be sure you are fully satisfied with the work and the energy savings.

Previous SustainableWorks projects have served Seattle,South Perry District, and Northwest Spokane. For more information, to sign up for an energy audit, or to Volunteer, please call (509) 532-1688 or go on-line at www.sustainableworks.com.

Article on two San Francisco firefighters killed in flashover.

From SF Weekly:

Vincent Perez, Anthony Valerio, S.F. Firefighters Killed in Blaze, to be Honored Friday at Funeral

By Erin Sherbert, Mon., Jun. 6 2011 at 8:00 AM

Categories: Local News

Share9

0diggsdigg

Tony Valerio

​San Francisco Fire Department will gather on Friday to honor two of their own who were killed while battling a blaze at a Diamond Heights home last week. Lieutenant Vincent Perez, 48, died Thursday after the fire and Anthony "Tony" Valerio, 53, was pronounced dead on Saturday morning.

The double funerals will be held Friday at St. Mary's Cathedral on Gough Street. The time is tentatively set for 12:30 p.m.

Fire Chief Joanna Hayes-White released a statement on Saturday, shortly after Valerio died: "This has been an extremely difficult time for the members of the San Francisco Fire Department," she said. "Their deaths have left all of our members with heavy hearts -- they will be greatly missed."

Niether Perez nor Valerio were married or had children. Both were experienced firefighters who served on Engine Company 26. They were two of 30 firefighters who responded to the major blaze on Thursday morning at about 10:45 a.m. at 133 Berkeley Way. A woman and her children escaped the house fire, but both Perez and Valerio were upstairs in a room when a "flashover" occurred. That happens when temperatures rise so much that everything in the room ignites at one time. When fire officials found them, the two were badly burned and knocked unconscious.

Vincent Perez

​Perez died about an hour later, while Valerio clung to life at San Francisco General Hospital, with friends and family by his bedside. Although firefighters were not feeling optimistic as of Friday; they told SF Weekly, they were expecting that Valerio would not make it. He died at 7:45 a.m. the following day.

Valerio served the city for 27 years, 13 of which were with the Department of Public Health, and 14 years with the Fire Department. He grew up in the Bay Area, attended El Camino High School, City College of San Francisco, and then San Francisco State University, according to fire officials.

Perez, who was also raised in the Bay Area, was a 21-year veteran of the San Francisco Fire Department. He had served as a member of the U.S. Marine Corps.

San Francisco Fire Fighters Local 798 has established Trust Accounts at the San Francisco Fire Credit Union (SFFCU) for Perez and Valerio's families. Contribution can be sent to SFFCU, 3201 Cailfornia St., San Francisco, CA 94118 or made through www.sffirecu.org.

Follow us on Twitter at @SFWeekly and @TheSnitchSF

Tags:

133 Berkeley Way, Anthony Valerio, Diamond Heights blaze, engine company 26, San Francisco Fire Department, St. Mary's Cathedral, Vincent Perez

Fire Press Release

Pho Van Restaurant Fire

Incident #: 2011021516 Date of Incident: 6/3/2011 Issuing Officer: AC Schaeffer

Narrative:
COMMERCIAL FIRE On Friday, June 3, 2011 at 11:42PM, 6 Companies of Spokane Firefighters, 3 Engines, 2 Senior Ladders and 1 Heavy Rescue under the direction of Battalion Chiefs Cornelius and Clive Jones responded to a building fire at 1212 North Hamilton (Pho Van Restaurant). While responding, firefighters were notified by a passerby that smoke was emanating from the restaurant. The first company arrived within 4-miniutes and found an intense fire inside the rear of the 40' x 30' concrete building. The incident was upgraded to a working fire by the first ladder company which added an additional company and other off-duty resources. Ladder companies had to force entry into multiple sides of the building which allowed engine companies access to the interior where they successfully located and extinguished the fire. Ladder companies also performed a rapid, well-coordinated search of the premises for any victims and found nothing. There were no injuries to civilians or firefighters on this incident.

Cause:
The incident is currently under investigation by the Fire Department's SIU.

Damage:
The fire was confined to the area in the rear of the building in less than 30-minutes. Firefighters were able to protect a large amount of the restaurant's contents. Damage estimates are still being calculated.

# Firefighters Repsonding: 31

For more information on this release please call (509) 625-7002

9-11 Memorial Stairclimb

If you, or you and your crew, would like to participate in the 10th Anniversary Stairclimb here in Spokane please contact Jason Keen. The website here offers more details.

Have you ever thought you might like to play the Bagpipes or Drums in a Firefighter/Police Pipes and Drums band??

Well now’s your chance!

Come join us at the Spokane Valley O’Doherty’s Irish Pub for an informational/recruitment meeting. We are looking for ANY Career firefighters/law enforcement active or retired in the Spokane area that would like to learn the bagpipes or drums and belong to the Spokane County Firefighters Pipes and Drums band. Experience is not required. Spokane Valley O’Doherty’s has been gracious enough to be our meeting place. So come have a few pints, and join the band.

When:

Informational/Recruitment Meeting

June 7th, 2011 1900 hrs

Where:

O’Doherty’s Irish Pub (Valley Location)

11723 E. Sprague

Spokane Valley, WA

RSVP

Chris Wetherell at 435-2600, or firefighterweth@hotmail.com

Great CDC site on surviving the Zombie Apocalypse

The CDC has done a great job in getting people to prepare for disasters by framing these preparations for floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, etc. in terms of a zombie outbreak. Enjoy!

Fire Press Release Two Fer

Early Morning Strip Mall Fire

Incident #: 2011019034 Date of Incident: 5/17/2011 Issuing Officer: AC Schaeffer

Narrative:
On Tuesday May 17, 2011 at 6:04 AM, 8 Companies of Spokane Firefighters, 5 Engines, 2 Senior Ladders and 1 Heavy Rescue under the direction of Battalion Chiefs Brown and Fielder responded to a commercial structure fire at 918 North Division "U-Save Cleaners." Firefighters arrived within 5-minutes and found a long strip mall with smoke showing from a middle unit (U-Save Cleaners). Firefighters met an employee which explained that she had discharged a fire extinguisher to the ceiling after seeing flames. Initial companies entered the Cleaner's portion of the building to locate and extinguish the quick moving overhead fire while additional companies forced entry into adjoining units to prevent the fire from spreading to other businesses. SFD members skillfully protected clothing, records and equipment in the building while holding the fire to the area above U-Save Cleaners. The fire was extinguished completely in just 30 minutes. No injuries were reported.

Cause:
The cause of this early morning fire is still under investigation.

Damage:
Primary damage is limited to the U-Cleaners section of the building. Utilities have been temporarily disabled to the entire building limiting service to Supercuts and Hollywood Video.

# Firefighters Repsonding: 29

Dollar Loss: $20000

End Of Release For more information on this release please call (509) 625-7002

STRUCTURE FIRE WITH BURN VICTIM

Incident #: 2011018498 Date of Incident: 5/13/2011 Issuing Officer: AC Schaeffer

Narrative:
On Friday May 13, 2011 at 2:32 PM, 8 Companies of Spokane Firefighters, 2 Senior Ladders, 5 Engines, 1 Heavy Rescue under the direction of Battalion Chiefs Cornelius and Jones, responded to a building fire at 229 West Second Avenue in downtown Spokane. While enroute to the incident, companies were notified that civilians may be trapped and one victim was reportedly ".on fire in the hallway of the first floor..." The first companies arrived within three-minutes and confirmed that smoke was showing from the front and rear of the three-story apartment building. The first due Engine and Ladder went to work immediately on arrival and secured water supply and stretched a hoseline in attempt to control the fire's progress and protect the egress of civilians from the upper floors. Simultaneously the Ladder Company searched the area of the fire unit for savable civilians. A male victim was located and removed from the hallway of floor 1 to the exterior where he was immediately treated by awaiting SFD Paramedics. All companies assigned on the alarm were immediately dedicated to searching the building while trying to suppress the fire's progress when they arrived. Decisive action by first arriving company officers allowed a successful search of the entire building which resulted in a confirmation that all 25 occupants were evacuated and accounted for. The fire was declared under control in less than 30-minutes and no other injuries were reported.

Cause:
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Fire Department's Special Investigation Unit.

Damage:
Damage was limited to the first-floor unit of the fire's origin. The building was protected with a fire alarm system AND a sprinkler system. Both systems worked appropriately. The smoke detectors and fire alarm alerted all of the building's residents of the emergency and allowed for an early and controlled egress. The closest sprinkler head to the fire was activated and successfully kept the fire confined to the area of origin until firefighters could stretch hoselines to the seat of the fire and extinguish it completely. The building's safety systems have been restored and Fire Marshal Lisa Jones has allowed occupancy for the building with exception of the unit that received damage from fire. The victim is an adult male suffering from critical 3rd degree burns over 60% of his body plus significant airway burns. He was initially transported to Sacred Heart and has just been transferred to Harborview in Seattle.

# Firefighters Repsonding: 31

Dollar Loss: $10,000

Fire Press Release

House Fire Indian Trail Neighborhood

Incident #: 2011017928 Date of Incident: 5/9/2011 Issuing Officer: Craig Cornelius / Battalion Chief

Narrative:
The Spokane City Fire Department dispatched fire fighting crews to 4329 W. Arrowhead Rd. at 16:59 hours on Monday, May 9th, 2011. Fire Dispatch forwarded to the responding companies that there was fire and visible flames in the home's mechanical room. Engine 17 from the neighborhood fire station located at Lowell and Indian Trail arrived within 4 minutes of being dispatched. Engine 17's crew under the direction of Lt. Jeff Hager reported that they had a basement fire in a single family residential home. Lt. Hager and his crew donned their Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) and immediately advanced a charged hose line through the garage to the back entry door. Other responding fire companies were assigned to help in moving the hose while Engine 17 advanced down the interior stairs into the basement. Additional hose lines were stretched to provide protection for the attack crew, and to secure a water supply from a near by fire hydrant. The owner of the home, who was present when the fire started, had attempted to extinguish the growing fire and burned portions of his hands and face in the process. Assistant Chief Brian Schaeffer who lives in the Indian Trail neighborhood arrived shortly after the first arriving fire crews. Chief Schaeffer made contact with the home owner and assisted in providing medical care for his burns and smoke inhalation. The home owner was transported to a local hospital for additional treatment. The fire itself was quickly knocked down and confined to a portion of the basement by the fast aggressive action taken by Engine 17's crew. The fire cause is still being investigated at this time, but appears to be accidental in nature.

Cause:
Fire cause is still under investigation.

Damage:
Fire damage was confined to the basement.

# Firefighters Repsonding: 26

Dollar Loss: $20000

End Of Release For more information on this release please call (509) 625-7002

A message about the future of your L and I insurance.

Many of you don’t know me, but I’m a state representative from the 3rd District in Spokane. I worked as a concrete finisher and a labor representative. A lunch bucket guy with a high school education who finds himself in the Legislature.

Lately, I'm reminded of the old adage that you don’t pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel (today it’s by the tanker car).

Here’s why I’m reminded: Recently, my hometown newspaper, the Spokesman Review, wrote a patently false editorial, “Industrial insurance reform hits labor hurdle,” and called me out by name.

What was false about it? Well, too much to get into here, so I’ll just limit my critique to the headline: They’re not supporting industrial insurance “reform;” they’re really advocating injured worker exploitation, and proponents didn’t just hit a “hurdle,” they hit a brick wall of common sense.

You see, business interests are pushing proposals, like ESB 5566, that could have catastrophically injured workers coerced into accepting lump-sum buyouts rather than the workers’ compensation benefits they are owed and have paid for.

When these workers find themselves unable to take care of themselves after these settlements run out, they’ll have to turn to taxpayer-funded social safety net programs. To me, that’s an abuse of the working families and taxpayers that I go to work every day to serve, but the Spokesman Review, with a flawed analysis that didn't consider the facts, jumped into the debate.

That’s why I need your help today to urge my colleagues in the legislature to vote NO on lump-sum buyouts. Click here to contact them with our easy-to-use tool.

Many of my colleagues have stood up and said we will not stand for these lump-sum buyouts, or any other attack on injured workers. Now we’re trying to convince more legislators that there are better ways to improve workers’ comp than putting people in their most vulnerable hour at further risk. We need your help.

There will be action to change our workers’ comp system in some way this special session, and the people who have the power to decide what those changes are need to hear from you, their constituent.

Help us help injured workers. Speak truth to power. Click here to contact your legislators.

Tell them we have a strong workers’ comp system where employers already pay consistently among the lowest costs in the nation, and where Washington workers are the only ones in the country who help pay into the system.

Tell them that lump-sum buyouts are abusive and unfair and have no place in our balanced system; and, that as a taxpayer, you are not willing to bear employers’ costs for workplace injuries.

Tell them that improvements to the system are welcome as long as they don’t threaten injured workers’ ability to get the care they need and actually bring efficiencies to real issues we see in our system.

But please talk to them today. I need your help, and more importantly, so do the injured workers under threat in this special session.

Sincerely,

Timm Ormsby
Representative, District 3

In a nod to the Royal Wedding, today's Labor Quote is from the always popular Marquis of Carmarthen

"For what purpose were they suffered to go to that country [the American colonies], unless the profit of their labour should return to their masters here?"

The Marquis of Carmarthen commenting before the British Parliament in 1774 on the purpose of establishing colonies in North America

Spokane City Council Supports the Basic Human Right and Law of Collective Bargaining...

All of the city council except for this one councilmember:

This Morning's Labor Quote from Adam Smith, Father of the "Free Market"

This disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful, and to despise, or, at least, to neglect persons of poor and mean condition, though necessary both to establish and to maintain the distinction of ranks and the order of society, is, at the same time, the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments. That wealth and greatness are often regarded with the respect and admiration which are due only to wisdom and virtue; and that the contempt, of which vice and folly are the only proper objects, is often most unjustly bestowed upon poverty and weakness, has been the complaint of moralists in all ages.

–Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments pt i, ch iii (1759).

This week's Labor Neighbor Radio

Click title link to listen

Last night's city council meeting...

Was great!

All city council members except Nancy McLaughlin voted to affirm Spokane's commitment to the human right of collective bargaining - a right recognized by all free nations on our planet. Ms McLaughlin voted against this nonbinding resolution.

I will post the audio here, as soon as I can get it. Many Local 29 members came out to show support for Councilman Snyder's resolution and to speak in favor of it.

It was an especially entertaining evening as Council President Shogan upbraided the always entertaining George McGrath. It was no surprise that George spoke against the resolution and us. He even tried to denounce the resolution when it wasn't even the subject the council was addressing! I'll try to get that audio for you too.

All in all, a great night. It will be rebroadcast on City Channel 5 on the 28th at 6pm. Enjoy!

And now a word from Aristotle...

"Whenever men rule by reason of their wealth...that is oligarchy, and where the poor rule, that is democracy." Aristotle. Early Greek Philosopher

Your Spokane Firefighter's Union asks you to take a look at this auction to benefit a great charity!

This morning's quote

"The view has been gaining widespread acceptance that corporate officials... have a 'social responsibility' that goes beyond the interest of their stockholders... This view shows a fundamental misconception of the character to use its resources and to engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game... Few trends could so thoroughly undermine the very foundation of our free society as the acceptance by corporate officials of a social responsibility other than to make as much money for their stockholders as possible." 1976 Nobel Prize winning Economist Milton Friedman in his 1962 book Capitalism and Freedom

Washington House and Senate Propose Raiding your LEOFF 2 Retirement.

Action Alert
Legislature sweeps LEOFF Plan 2 funds!

This action will undermine the authority of the LEOFF Plan 2 board and undercut the foundation of the voter approved Initiative 790 that Firefighters worked so painstakingly to pass. This attack is not unlike many we have observed all around this country.

The State Senate budget plan was released tonight, and (like the House budget) their proposed reduction in LEOFF Plan 2 contributions will create a $75 million shortfall in funding. Both the House and Senate have also chosen to eliminate their first payment to the Local Public Safety Enhancement Account for future benefit enhancements. The WSCFF legislative team has clearly and consistently delivered a strong message not to reduce LEOFF Plan 2 contributions with leadership and budget writers in both chambers – they did not heed our advice. Now is the time for each legislator to hear from every WSCFF member and our families that this is not an acceptable way to balance the state’s budget.

· This budget intentionally underfunds the LEOFF 2 pension system and is a raid on our pension plan.
· The underfunding in this 2 year budget will create higher than ever rates for employers, members and the state in only 4 years.
· This change violates the voter approved authority of the LEOFF 2 board. Our board of plan members, employers and legislators has the responsibility to establish reasonable and appropriate rates for our plan.

What can YOU do?

Every member must call and email their legislator! Follow this: Find your legislator link to find the email and phone number for your legislators. If you are a member of your local’s leadership, ensure that your Local delivers the following message to the legislators that represent your local:

· The first priority of the WSCFF since the beginning of this legislative session has been the full funding of LEOFF 2 pension system. (The plan still has $1.256 billion in unrealized losses from the great recession)
· Underfunding LEOFF Plan 2 is irresponsible and will cause rates to increase to unprecedented levels in just four years.
· The 15 million dollar cut in state funding this budget cycle translates to a 75 million dollar impact on the system this biennium.
· We insist that you work with the WSCFF legislative team to resolve this Firefighter and Public Safety Priority.

Finally, check your calendar...if you are not on duty this Thursday, April 14, 2011, we want at least 100 union firefighters to be at the WSCFF office by noon on Thursday. Our goal is to brief each member at the WSCFF office so that they are able to make personal contact with their legislator. Then, we need you to attend a 3:30 hearing on the pension raiding bills in the House Ways & Means Committee. Make yourself easily identifiable as a firefighter - we want to deliver the message that underfunding LEOFF Plan 2 is a foolish idea!

The Senate Ways and Means Committee will soon schedule a similar meeting and we will need to approach that hearing with the same force and strength.

Stay tuned for more updates and be prepared to act to protect your pension. This is the first of several potential requests for you to make personal and professional contact with your legislators.

Please RSVP with your name and local number and direct any questions to Bud Sizemore (bud@wscff.org). Provide your contact info if you need a response.

We are gearing up to host our SFD Bloomsday water station...

your help is needed to make this a successful year Sun May 1 7am

Broadway and Nettleton

I need someone willing to bring down a spare engine

Spokane Firefighters have sponsored the 4th water/aid station along the Bloomsday course for almost 20 years now, it is one of the few events we have to get out and support a great community event - somewhere between 40-50k participants run, jog, or walk the course. While many participants travel in from out of town the vast majority are Spokane area residents. Our sponsors Wake up call coffee and Mike's Old Fashioned donuts have returned with us this year, donating our morning treats. Spouses and kids are encouraged to come help out. T-shirts are provided and SFD members receive a 1/4 point. The event can last up to about 1pm by the time we are cleaned up and gone but there is not a specific time commitment, come on down and go when you gotta go. Please bring a snow shovel and leaf rake if you got one. Give me a call with questions.

Thanks,

Frater 9A

On the Anniversary of MLK's Assassination - the day after he made a speech to a public-sector union...

Remembering MLK and the rights of labor

By LEONARD PITTS JR.

lpitts@miamiherald.com

Once upon a long time ago, a tired man faced an audience of public workers. They were on a wildcat strike, demanding the right to collectively bargain and to have the city for which they worked automatically deduct union dues from their paychecks. The city’s conservative mayor had flatly refused these demands.

“You are doing many things here in this struggle,” the tired man assured them. “You are demanding that this city will respect the dignity of labor.” Too often, he said, folks looked down on people like them, people who did menial or unglamorous work. But he encouraged them not to bemoan their humble state. “All labor has dignity,” he said.

On Monday, it will be 43 years since that man was shot from ambush and killed in Memphis, Tenn. Martin Luther King’s last public actions were in defense of labor and union rights.

One wonders, then, what he would say of Wisconsin.

Or Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Florida or any of the other places where, like a contagion, the move to weaken or effectively outlaw unions has spread. One wonders what he would make of a conservative governing ethos that now defines public employees — teachers, police officers, firefighters — as the enemy.

Actually, we need not wonder what King would have said, because he already said it. In the speech quoted above, he warned that if America did not use its vast wealth to ensure its people “the basic necessities of life,” America was going to hell.

The Baptist preacher in him reared up then, and his voice sang thunder. For all the nation’s achievements, he roared, for all its mighty airplanes, submarines and bridges, ‘‘It seems that I can hear the God of the universe saying, ‘Even though you have done all that, I was hungry and you fed me not. I was naked and you clothed me not. The children of my sons and daughters were in need of economic security and you didn’t provide it for them.’ ”

It will come as a surprise to some that the civil rights leader was also a labor leader, but he was. He had this in common with Asa Philip Randolph, who suffered long years of privation to establish the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. And with Walter Reuther, brutally beaten when he organized sitdown strikes that helped solidify the United Automobile Workers. And with Crystal Lee Sutton, inspiration for the movie Norma Rae, who lost her job for trying to unionize a textile plant in Roanoke Rapids, N.C.

These people and many others fought to win the rights now being taken away.

Granted, those rights have sometimes been abused — used to shelter the incompetent or reward the greedy.

But to whatever degree our workplaces are not filled with children working adult hours, to whatever degree an employer is required to provide a clean and safe workplace, break time, sick time or fair wages, that also reflects organized labor’s legacy.

It is instructive that this campaign to roll back that legacy is contemporaneous with a New York Times report on how General Electric earned $14.2 billion in profit last year, yet paid no U.S. taxes. Indeed, the Times says, GE netted a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.

What’s it tell you that some of us are on the offensive against working people, but breathe scarcely a peep when a giant corporation somehow slips through government-provided loopholes, paying no taxes? If need is a character flaw, what, then, is greed?

In some sense, we have traveled 43 years forward to get back where we were in 1968. King would doubtless find that sobering. One is reminded of the axiom about those who will not learn from history. One is reminded of the quote about the price of freedom.

And one is reminded of a song Billy Preston sang in the summer of 1973. “Will it go round in circles?” he asked.

Apparently, it already has.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/02/2147591/remembering-mlk-and-the-rights.html#ixzz1IbxopTO2

From Mike Bacon - Firefighters, Cops Warn Republicans Anti-Union Stance Has Consequences

Firefighters, Cops Warn Republicans Anti-Union Stance Has Consequences
Huffington Post
4/1/11


WASHINGTON -- Leaders from two unions known to support the Republican Party warned of serious repercussions for GOP candidates in the 2012 elections, saying the onslaught of anti-labor bills in state capitals has shifted their political allegiances.

“Our political principles are pretty straightforward. We’ll support those that support us,” Harold Schaitberger, general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, told HuffPost. “We tend to stick with those who stick with us.”



“There is a distinct possibility that the pro-labor candidate in the next election will be looked at much more favorably than their overall record,” Chuck Canterbury, national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, told HuffPost. “The vast majority of our membership will put other issues aside.”



The inclusion of police and fire unions in an Ohio bill that stripped collective bargaining rights from public employees may have been the last straw for the two conservative-leaning groups. But even in Wisconsin, where Gov. Scott Walker’s actions exempted them, cops and fire fighters marched shoulder to shoulder with teachers and other public workers.

Now, the public safety unions are signaling what could be a tectonic shift in the political landscape, one that could result in a level of labor solidarity missing for recent elections.



“I don’t want to say we are unhappy with Republicans but we are very unhappy with the far-right wing of the party that seems to have taken the Republican Party hostage,” said Canterbury, whose union endorsed George W. Bush and John McCain in the last three presidential elections. “We are extremely unhappy with the snowball that rolled in in Ohio and we are traditionally a very conservative organization. We’ve been bipartisan.....But with the actions that have taken place, there’s going to be tremendous reprisals taken out at the polls” by police and their families.”They feel like their public officials turned their back on them.”



The FOP political action committee gave less than $30,000 in 2010, most of it evenly distributed between Republicans and Democrats. But Canterbury expects his union will spend significantly more money in 2012 elections and recall and referendum votes in Wisconsin, Ohio and other states where labor is being asked to shoulder the brunt of budget deficits.



“Nobody will get money from us who don’t openly support us,” the police union chief said.



Schaitberger, whose firefighters union wields significantly more clout, said his union would also be spending more in support of Democratic candidates. During the 2010 elections, the union gave $2.7 million in political contributions, with about 82% of its money going to Democrats and the rest to GOP candidates.



“In 2012, it going to change,” he said. “Our members are furious.... We will be putting our money where our mouth is.”

Schaitberger said GOP governors and legislators across the country were attacking union rights, even though the media has largely focused on events in Wisconsin and Ohio. “This is clearly a GOP right-wing coordinated attack on workers,” he said. “Their goal is to kill our union and cripple us in the political arena.”



He is perhaps most concerned about New Hampshire, not coincidentally host of the first presidential primary. Republicans there have a veto-proof majority in the legislature and are pushing a bill that may be “the most draconian of any of the anti-worker, anti-collective bargaining attacks,” he said.



The legislation would turn public employees who fail to reach a contract agreement into “at will workers” who could be fired at any time and would not have the right to negotiate wages, working hours and working conditions.

Schaitberger said that legislation is the kind of overreach that has galvanized his members and will have “significant blowback” at the polls.



“There has been a very significant shift when you look at the Republican attacks we see in the states,” the fire union boss said. “They are going to be in our cross hairs and our members will politically respond accordingly.”

Olympia Labor Rally

Brothers and Sisters of the WSCFF, your participation in a major Labor Rally at the Capitol is imperative in relaying an important message - “PUT PEOPLE FIRST!”

Washington’s working families have not only been blamed but punished for damage done by Wall Street banks and corporations. Thousands of public and private-sector workers from all trades will join together in solidarity to state loud and clear - “Our rights to fair working conditions and collective bargaining will not be taken away!”

There is strength in numbers! Don’t miss this opportunity to make an impact!

Get ready for April 2-8! The Washington State Labor Council is organizing a week of solidarity actions.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS for these events.

visit www.wscff.org for information on this important event.

More on Triangle FIre...

Brothers and Sisters,


Please have members go to www.iaff7thdistrict.org and read the story about the “Triangle Shirt Fire Happens Again”………………lets get this thing going!



Ricky J. Walsh

IAFF 7th DVP

2011 MDA Stairclimb

Have been wanting pictures, and was promised a story about this, but nothing - only this tidbit from Facebook:

"The 2011 SFD/L29 stair climb team competed in the annual Columbia Tower Stair climb in Seattle. We raised almost 25k for the Luekemia/Lymphoma society, which was 2nd amongst all the teams who participated! The event although a competetion amongst firefighters is primarily intended for fundraising for the cancer society."

Kinda lame. Come on! Where are the stories?!?! Where are the pictures!?!? Inquiring minds want to know what 2011's event was like before 2012!

Rally to Remember: 100 Year Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

Rally Friday, March 25 · 5:00pm - 8:00pm
Corner of Ruby, Division and North River Drive

March 25th, 1911, 146 garment workers lost their lives in one of the worst workplace disasters in American history. Join us for a rally to remember this dark day in the history of the American labor movement, and support our continued efforts to advance the cause of the working class in America.

Questions? Contact bethany72@comcast.net


Contact: Bethany Heath
509.270.2453
bethany72@comcast.net

We are rallying on Friday to mark the 100th Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. We will meet Friday the 25th of March at the corner of Ruby, North Division and North River Drive and memorialize each victim in chalk in solidarity, as is being done in New York.

It is our hope to also educate the public about the success of Shirtworker's Union, in which a single child worker from the Diamond Shirt Co. Called the 1909 general strike which gave us the 8 hr days we enjoy today. This success, in the face of the tragedy that followed shoes that the success of the movement in 1911 is affected by the future of our struggle in 2011. The labor movement finds success not in a gesture, but a solidarity of cause. The present and future quest for fairness in the American Workplace.


What the Triangle Shirtwaist fire means for workers now by Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis Secretary of Labor

A century ago this week, in Lower Manhattan, a young social worker named Frances Perkins was having tea at the Greenwich Village townhouse of her friend, the socialite Margaret Morgan Norrie. They were interrupted by clanging fire truck bells. Then they heard the anguished screams: “Don’t jump!”

They raced out of the townhouse and ran toward the commotion: a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, just off Washington Square. Flames and black smoke shot from the top floors, and as they watched in shock, young girls and women, some alone, some clutching hands, inched up to the windows’ ledges — and jumped to their deaths.

Perkins would describe the scene in lectures later: “They couldn’t hold on any longer. There was no place to go. The fire was between them and any means of exit. It’s that awful choice people talk of — what kind of choice to make?” She added: “I shall never forget the frozen horror that came across as we stood with our hands on our throats watching that horrible sight, knowing that there was no help.”

The sewing factory employed more than 500 people, who worked long hours for low wages, in wretched and unsanitary conditions. They turned out “shirtwaists” — blouses with puffed sleeves and tight bodices popularized by the “Gibson Girl.” The factory owners had locked the fire-escape doors. The seamstresses were trapped when fire raced through the sweatshop just before closing on March 25, 1911.

In less than 20 minutes, 146 people, mostly Italian and Jewish immigrant women and girls, were dead. The last six victims were officially identified just a few weeks ago. Triangle outraged the public and offered a grisly example of how powerless workers were without collective bargaining

, because unionized garment workers received better pay and had safer conditions. And it galvanized Frances Perkins.
Twenty-two years later, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed her secretary of labor, the first woman to serve as a Cabinet secretary. During her 12-year tenure, she directed the formulation and implementation of the Social Security Act, one of the most important pieces of social legislation in our history. Among other extraordinary accomplishments, she helped create unemployment insurance, the minimum wage, and the legislation that guarantees the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively. She also established the department’s Labor Standards Bureau, a precursor to what is now the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Perkins clearly had the Triangle victims in mind as she weaved the nation’s social safety net.

Now I have the same job she once held, with the responsibility of repairing and strengthening that net. And although our passion for workers’ rights came from different paths (she was the daughter of privilege; I am the daughter of immigrant union members), I understand the impact that moment had on her work.

I had my own moment involving a sweatshop. Although it was not as horrifying as that afternoon was for Perkins, it fueled my beliefs. In 1995, 75 Thai immigrants were freed from a so-called factory in the city of El Monte, Calif., part of the district I represented in the state Senate. They had been forced to eat, sleep and work in a place they called home.

Their employer confiscated their passports and kept them like slaves. Threatened with violence to themselves or their families, the workers hunched over sewing machines in dimly lit garages bound by barbed wire, sewing brand-name clothing for less than $2 an hour. Most of them were women.

I met them shortly after they were freed and heard their stories. And at that moment, the unthinkable became real for me. I had assumed that sweatshops were a thing of the past. But they had just spread — from Perkins’s New York City to my Los Angeles, from the Italian and Eastern European immigrants victimized in her day to the Asian and Latino immigrants victimized in mine.

Combating garment sweatshops is, sadly, still on the labor secretary’s agenda. In the past fiscal year, the department’s Wage and Hour division conducted 374 investigations and collected $2.1 million for 2,215 workers, primarily in the major U.S. garment centers of Southern California and New York. In these cases, vulnerable immigrant workers have been deprived of minimum-wage pay, overtime pay and safe working conditions — all the haunting echoes of Triangle.

We have had many improvements in the past century. Today, we have more tools to pursue violators who deny workers their pay, including issuing subpoenas and preventing companies from shipping goods produced in violation of the law.

In 1911, more than 100 workers were estimated to have died on the job each day. In 2010, 4,340 workers were killed on the job — and more than 3.3 million were seriously injured. Last April 5, in a fiery explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia, 29 miners died in one day.

I was at the mine the next day, while rescue efforts still were underway.

In times of crisis, one often becomes two people. In one sense, I was simply Hilda, the person I’ve always been, there just to be by the family members’ sides as they kept vigil. In another sense, I was Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis, trying to convey to them the depth of their government’s commitment. In either case, no words can adequately express your emotion and sympathy. A grief that great can be endured only if it is shared — and then acted upon in good time.

Both Triangle and Upper Big Branch became calls to action. New York quickly implemented groundbreaking workplace safety laws and regulations, including fire exits. But nearly one year after Upper Big Branch, the Mine Safety and Health Administration, part of the Labor Department, still needs additional tools that only Congress can provide. And OSHA needs better tools, such as stricter penalties against employers who put their workers’ lives at risk, and stronger protections for whistle-blowers.

In both cases, if these workers had a voice — a union — and the ability to speak up about conditions, these events probably could have been prevented, because unions play an important role in making workplaces safer. In both cases, they had tried to organize and faced virulent opposition.

Today, workers and their allies are being met with that same kind of opposition. In states nationwide, working people are protesting the actions to strip them of collective bargaining. The Triangle fire and the Upper Big Branch explosion a century later make clear to me that workers want and need that voice — about wages and benefits, yes, but about more, too. Collective bargaining still means a seat at the table to discuss issues such as working conditions, workplace safety and workplace innovation, empowering individuals to do the best job they can. And it means dignity and a chance for Americans to earn a better life, whether they work in sewing factories or mines, build tall buildings or care for our neighbors, teach our children, or run into burning buildings when others run out of them.

I’ll be thinking about all of this as I make my way to New York on Friday for the 100th anniversary of the Triangle factory tragedy. The building is still there; it now houses offices for New York University. Thousands are expected to mark the occasion with a march, speeches, the reading of the victims’ names and the laying of flowers in their honor at the site by schoolchildren. It will be a powerful reminder of what we’ve lived through, and what we still have to do.

History is an extraordinary thing. You can choose to learn from it, or you can choose to repeat it.

For me, the choice is clear, as it was for Frances Perkins. We must always be a nation that catches workers before they fall.

talktosolis@dol.gov

SKI FREE ON MARCH 26th

Military, Firefighter & Police
Appreciation Day

Where: Lookout Pass Ski Area

When: Saturday, March 26, 2011
Lifts operate from 8:30 to 4pm PST

What: Ski FREE with current picture ID and
affiliation. Spouse and dependents included.

How: Go to ticket windows

Location: Easy access right off I-90 at the
Idaho/Montana state line, Exit 0
12 miles east of Wallace, Idaho


Thank You

Luke Hoene / Account Executive

lhoene@mdimarketing.com
509.624.9659 x106 office
509.290.0672 cell
1618 West Dean Ave. / Spokane WA 99201
www.mdimarketing.com

Local 29 in the St Paddy Day Parade!

Fire Press Release Two Fer

ISSUING OFFICER: Dave Haworth/Battalion Chief
DATE OF INCIDENT: 3/8/2011
INCIDENT TYPE: Structure Fire
INCIDENT ADDRESS: 4827 N Addison
CITY: Spokane
STATE: Wa
ZIP: 99207

NARRATIVE: On Tuesday, March 8th, at 0100 AM, the Spokane Fire Department responded 3 engines, 1 ladder, 1 pumper-ladder, 1 heavy rescue, and 2 battalion chiefs to a reported structure fire at 4827 N Addison. The Northside Battalion Chief arrived first and reported smoke coming from the front door of a single story, wood constructed residence. Engine 15 was the first arriving fire company and advanced a preconnected hose off of their truck to the front door. Other arriving companies were assigned to search the residence to ensure all occupants were out, remove the smoke, and connect a supply hose to a hydrant. The fire was found in the kitchen and was extinguished before it had a chance to spread to the rest of the house. All occupants had been asleep, but they were alerted by a smoke detector and escaped. Again this fire underscores the critical importance of having a working smoke detector in your home.

PROBABLE CAUSE: The fire was likely caused by cooking oil being left on the stove.
DAMAGE EXTENT: The kitchen sustained heavy fire damage with smoke damage to the rest of the first floor. The tenents were unable to return to their home and are spending the night with neighbors.
DOLLAR LOSS: 5000
FIREFIGHTER RESPONSE: 22
MUTUAL AID: None Given

For more information on this release, please call (509)625-7002 and/or check out the SFD Blog at www.spokanefire.blogspot.com

END OF RELEASE

ISSUING OFFICER: Craig Cornelius / Battalion Chief
DATE OF INCIDENT: 3/7/2011
INCIDENT TYPE: Structure Fire
INCIDENT ADDRESS: 812 E. Jackson
CITY: Spokane
STATE: WA
ZIP: 99207

NARRATIVE: This morning, March 7th, 2011 at 04:10 am the Spokane Fire Department dispatched 6 apparatus to a reported fire in a home located at 812 E. Jackson.

Ladder 2 under the direction of Lt. Don Waller, arrived at the fire scene within 4 minutes. Lt. Waller reported that he had a residential home with light smoke showing from the basement. He verified that all occupants were out of the home and started assigning incoming fire crews.

Hose lines were brought into the basement and onto the first floor. An additional search of the home was made. Crews making the search found a small dog in a crate and brought it out to the family. The small dog was unharmed.

Crews in the basement located a fire in a crawl space and extinguished it. The crawl space was difficult to access due to clearances and heavy smoke. Firefighters were on the scene for over an hour verifying that the fire was out and had not spread to other areas.

The fire was confined to the crawl space area in the basement. The upper portion of the home sustained heavy smoke damage. There were no injuries at this fire and the cause is still under investigation. Early indications are that the cause is electrically related.

PROBABLE CAUSE: Fire cause is still under investigation at this time, possible electrial.
DAMAGE EXTENT: Fire confined to basement.
DOLLAR LOSS: 18000
FIREFIGHTER RESPONSE: 22
MUTUAL AID: None Given

For more information on this release, please call (509)625-7002 and/or check out the SFD Blog at www.spokanefire.blogspot.com

END OF RELEASE

Submitted to the S-R's Letters to the Editor.

West Plains Fire Service

In the article on March 9, “Fire administrators say consolidation is complicated by Labor...” “Economically it makes sense, but politically it may not.” The fire fighters are not complicating the issue; in fact Labor groups have developed multiple plans and solutions for consolidation. It makes economic sense for all agencies and especially the affected citizens. It appears some Politicians and administrators have a fear of doing what is right for the community. Are the citizen’s best interests being considered? Does each agency by itself have enough staff to provide a safe work environment to protect the citizens? Are the citizens getting what they are paying for? Duplication of services and multiple responses by various agencies is not the best way to provide service, it makes sense to merge and consolidate services. Those in control say “they are in favor of regionalization” but their actions say differently. Mergers and consolidation of services has the potential to save the taxpayer money and provide a better level of service. Labor is not the problem. It is the administrators and politicians that stand to lose their position or role. Regionalization works and it is in the best interest of the citizens.

Mark Vietzke
President Spokane Firefighters IAFF Local 29
Tim Lively
President SIA Firefighters IAFF Local 1789

America Is NOT Broke

OK. This article is by Michael Moore. And I get it that some of you don't like him. He gets on my nerves sometimes, too. But, he hits the nail on the head with this article. This is the stuff the TV news won't tell you. In fact, this is the stuff they don't want America to know. Instead, they want America to think that you and your collective bargaining, your pension and your standing together, as a union, are the reason we are in the mess we are in. It is simply not true and Mr. Moore points that out. I don't agree with all that he says here, and I know his hyperbole will turn a lot of you off, but his voice is sticking up for all of us who are in unions and I thought you might like to hear what he says:

Michael Moore | Saturday 05 March 2011

America is not broke.

Contrary to what those in power would like you to believe so that you'll give up your pension, cut your wages, and settle for the life your great-grandparents had, America is not broke. Not by a long shot. The country is awash in wealth and cash. It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks and the portfolios of the uber-rich.

Today just 400 Americans have the same wealth as half of all Americans combined.

Let me say that again. 400 obscenely rich people, most of whom benefited in some way from the multi-trillion dollar taxpayer "bailout" of 2008, now have as much loot, stock and property as the assets of 155 million Americans combined. If you can't bring yourself to call that a financial coup d'état, then you are simply not being honest about what you know in your heart to be true.

And I can see why. For us to admit that we have let a small group of men abscond with and hoard the bulk of the wealth that runs our economy, would mean that we'd have to accept the humiliating acknowledgment that we have indeed surrendered our precious Democracy to the moneyed elite. Wall Street, the banks and the Fortune 500 now run this Republic -- and, until this past month, the rest of us have felt completely helpless, unable to find a way to do anything about it.

I have nothing more than a high school degree. But back when I was in school, every student had to take one semester of economics in order to graduate. And here's what I learned: Money doesn't grow on trees. It grows when we make things. It grows when we have good jobs with good wages that we use to buy the things we need and thus create more jobs. It grows when we provide an outstanding educational system that then grows a new generation of inventers, entrepreneurs, artists, scientists and thinkers who come up with the next great idea for the planet. And that new idea creates new jobs and that creates revenue for the state. But if those who have the most money don't pay their fair share of taxes, the state can't function. The schools can't produce the best and the brightest who will go on to create those jobs. If the wealthy get to keep most of their money, we have seen what they will do with it: recklessly gamble it on crazy Wall Street schemes and crash our economy. The crash they created cost us millions of jobs. That too caused a reduction in revenue. And the population ended up suffering because they reduced their taxes, reduced our jobs and took wealth out of the system, removing it from circulation.

The nation is not broke, my friends. Wisconsin is not broke. It's part of the Big Lie. It's one of the three biggest lies of the decade: America/Wisconsin is broke, Iraq has WMD, the Packers can't win the Super Bowl without Brett Favre.

The truth is, there's lots of money to go around. LOTS. It's just that those in charge have diverted that wealth into a deep well that sits on their well-guarded estates. They know they have committed crimes to make this happen and they know that someday you may want to see some of that money that used to be yours. So they have bought and paid for hundreds of politicians across the country to do their bidding for them. But just in case that doesn't work, they've got their gated communities, and the luxury jet is always fully fueled, the engines running, waiting for that day they hope never comes. To help prevent that day when the people demand their country back, the wealthy have done two very smart things:

1. They control the message. By owning most of the media they have expertly convinced many Americans of few means to buy their version of the American Dream and to vote for their politicians. Their version of the Dream says that you, too, might be rich some day – this is America, where anything can happen if you just apply yourself! They have conveniently provided you with believable examples to show you how a poor boy can become a rich man, how the child of a single mother in Hawaii can become president, how a guy with a high school education can become a successful filmmaker. They will play these stories for you over and over again all day long so that the last thing you will want to do is upset the apple cart -- because you -- yes, you, too! -- might be rich/president/an Oscar-winner some day! The message is clear: keep you head down, your nose to the grindstone, don't rock the boat and be sure to vote for the party that protects the rich man that you might be some day.

2. They have created a poison pill that they know you will never want to take. It is their version of mutually assured destruction. And when they threatened to release this weapon of mass economic annihilation in September of 2008, we blinked. As the economy and the stock market went into a tailspin, and the banks were caught conducting a worldwide Ponzi scheme, Wall Street issued this threat: Either hand over trillions of dollars from the American taxpayers or we will crash this economy straight into the ground. Fork it over or it's Goodbye savings accounts. Goodbye pensions. Goodbye United States Treasury. Goodbye jobs and homes and future. It was friggin' awesome and it scared the shit out of everyone. "Here! Take our money! We don't care. We'll even print more for you! Just take it! But, please, leave our lives alone, PLEASE!"

The executives in the board rooms and hedge funds could not contain their laughter, their glee, and within three months they were writing each other huge bonus checks and marveling at how perfectly they had played a nation full of suckers. Millions lost their jobs anyway, and millions lost their homes. But there was no revolt (see #1).

Until now. On Wisconsin! Never has a Michigander been more happy to share a big, great lake with you! You have aroused the sleeping giant know as the working people of the United States of America. Right now the earth is shaking and the ground is shifting under the feet of those who are in charge. Your message has inspired people in all 50 states and that message is: WE HAVE HAD IT! We reject anyone tells us America is broke and broken. It's just the opposite! We are rich with talent and ideas and hard work and, yes, love. Love and compassion toward those who have, through no fault of their own, ended up as the least among us. But they still crave what we all crave: Our country back! Our democracy back! Our good name back! The United States of America. NOT the Corporate States of America. The United States of America!

So how do we get this? Well, we do it with a little bit of Egypt here, a little bit of Madison there. And let us pause for a moment and remember that it was a poor man with a fruit stand in Tunisia who gave his life so that the world might focus its attention on how a government run by billionaires for billionaires is an affront to freedom and morality and humanity.

Thank you, Wisconsin. You have made people realize this was our last best chance to grab the final thread of what was left of who we are as Americans. For three weeks you have stood in the cold, slept on the floor, skipped out of town to Illinois -- whatever it took, you have done it, and one thing is for certain: Madison is only the beginning. The smug rich have overplayed their hand. They couldn't have just been content with the money they raided from the treasury. They couldn't be satiated by simply removing millions of jobs and shipping them overseas to exploit the poor elsewhere. No, they had to have more – something more than all the riches in the world. They had to have our soul. They had to strip us of our dignity. They had to shut us up and shut us down so that we could not even sit at a table with them and bargain about simple things like classroom size or bulletproof vests for everyone on the police force or letting a pilot just get a few extra hours sleep so he or she can do their job -- their $19,000 a year job. That's how much some rookie pilots on commuter airlines make, maybe even the rookie pilots flying people here to Madison. But he's stopped trying to get better pay. All he asks is that he doesn't have to sleep in his car between shifts at O'Hare airport. That's how despicably low we have sunk. The wealthy couldn't be content with just paying this man $19,000 a year. They wanted to take away his sleep. They wanted to demean and dehumanize him. After all, he's just another slob.

And that, my friends, is Corporate America's fatal mistake. But trying to destroy us they have given birth to a movement -- a movement that is becoming a massive, nonviolent revolt across the country. We all knew there had to be a breaking point some day, and that point is upon us. Many people in the media don't understand this. They say they were caught off guard about Egypt, never saw it coming. Now they act surprised and flummoxed about why so many hundreds of thousands have come to Madison over the last three weeks during brutal winter weather. "Why are they all standing out there in the cold? I mean there was that election in November and that was supposed to be that!

"There's something happening here, and you don't know what it is, do you ...?"

America ain't broke! The only thing that's broke is the moral compass of the rulers. And we aim to fix that compass and steer the ship ourselves from now on. Never forget, as long as that Constitution of ours still stands, it's one person, one vote, and it's the thing the rich hate most about America -- because even though they seem to hold all the money and all the cards, they begrudgingly know this one unshakeable basic fact: There are more of us than there are of them!

Madison, do not retreat. We are with you. We will win together.