It’s “Cringe” Time (Again)

Every month, when a Meadows resident sends me the statistics for the Deer Springs Fire District – I cringe.

Regardless of what fire district you live in, you would cringe also if you saw the numbers! (You can. It is available.)

There is this HUGE disconnect between what our fire departments do, and what the public THINKS they do. That would be fine, except the misdirection contributes to the hugely disproportionate pay and benefits firemen and women get. The AVERAGE fireman in California makes more in pay and retirement than the Commanding Officer of a Nuclear Submarine!

Now, when you combine that fact with the actual statistics, it should make you cringe.

The Deer Springs Fire Department – with four fire stations – made 1,176 responses in the five months of this year.

I know you have some inner minds-eye of brave firemen saving you by carrying your body from the second-story of your fully engulfed home…but…

So, with 1,176 responses from four stations over a five month period, how many of those were for “structure fires?”

13.

That’s right. 13!

So, on average, each fire station responds to a structure fire once every two months!

Now it is not that the “fire(sic)” people are not busy. In the Deer Springs area they responded to 268 calls for medical aid. There were 103 traffic collisions, and 27 vehicle fires, and 23 vegetation fires – and 55 false alarms and 148 calls were canceled.

But the point is that you and other taxpayers are deeply emotionally (and therefore high salary) invested in a scenario that is simply not so.

Checking the Local News

One of the reasons I particularly like the (free) voiceofsandiego.com (donations accepted), is that they bullet point things I should know in a timely manner:

“• Let’s play a game we’ll call Assume. Would you assume that people who work for taxpayer-funded public agencies are always forbidden from flying first class? Would you assume they can’t ever approve their own expenses? Would you assume they all have to follow federal guidelines on daily expenditures for things like hotel and food?

If you say yes to any of these questions, you’d be wrong. Game over.

As a new report from the San Diego County Taxpayers Association shows, several local public agencies don’t do any of these things. Employees can fly first class, rubber-stamp their own expenses and blow off federal per diem guidelines.

Sweet! Well, at least it is for the employees, who also — get this — can sometimes get their dry cleaning paid for.

As for the taxpayers, well, things aren’t so sweet.”

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/this_just_in/article_c93a1244-7518-11df-b719-001cc4c002e0.html

VOSD ranks right with the WSJ in my phalanx of news media I must check daily.

Filed Under: The Decline of America, Led By Teachers & Politicians

From the New York Times:

Under Pressure, Teachers Tamper With Tests

“Of all the forms of academic cheating, none may be as startling as educators tampering with children’s standardized tests. But investigations in Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, Nevada, Virginia and elsewhere this year have pointed to cheating by educators. Experts say the phenomenon is increasing as the stakes over standardized testing ratchet higher — including, most recently, taking student progress on tests into consideration in teachers’ performance reviews.

Colorado passed a sweeping law last month making teachers’ tenure dependent on test results, and nearly a dozen other states have introduced plans to evaluate teachers partly on scores. Many school districts already link teachers’ bonuses to student improvement on state assessments. Houston decided this year to use the data to identify experienced teachers for dismissal, and New York City will use it to make tenure decisions on novice teachers. “

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/education/11cheat.html?pagewanted=1

Comment: This article is a good read – too much to encapsulate here.

Anytime the easy way (cheating) is less onerous than working, MOST people will take the easy way. (They just don’t consider it “cheating.”)

That is why we need enforceable standards – and not just in education but in life. The number of people who accept government handouts include not just the needy, but the greedy. What the greedy take is not available to the needy. The unearned grades rob the truly gifted students of their scholarships and honors.

Turning a Phrase…

I love “Zingers.” And, here is a good one from National review:

“It took much too long, but Arlen Specter has now been rejected by two parties.:

Bada – Boom!

Filed Under: Room Service? This is Jose in Room 200..

Annually, there are about 400,000 illegal aliens housed in ICE “Detention Camps” awaiting deportation for being a border-crasher.

“At the CCA facilities that have agreed to ICE’s changes, detainees will see more variety in their dining hall menus and have self-serve beverage and fresh vegetable bars.

CCA also plans to offer movie nights, bingo, arts and crafts, dance and cooking classes, tutoring and computer training, the e-mail states.

Detainees also will be allowed four hours or more of recreation “in a natural setting, allowing for robust aerobic exercise.”

CCA also committed to improving the look of the facilities, such as requiring plants, fresh paint and new bedding in lower-risk units.”

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7043040.html

Comment: Your tax dollars at work! It must be nice to have a federal surplus!