"Hose Dudes" mug recall

Mess with Godzilla, tempt Gorgo, defy Gort, run from the Triffods, but do not mess with public unions.

From the reader’s comments:
　
Rocket said...
In your ramblings about the police you fail to inform the public that the Wyoming Valley FOP, which includes Wilkes-Barre City Police, has also endorsed Yudichak on February 18th of this year. Why do you think they would do that? Maybe they want to keep Leighton in the City for them!!I also cannot believe the 180 degree turn you have made on the WBFD after all the free t-shirts and mugs you took from them. Just remember not to blame Delaney, the installer of your smoke detectors, but Leighton if you or your family have a medical emergency or fire and there is a delay in the response due to the Mayor's new manning procedure.
April 18, 2010 2:15 AM

Rocket?

Whoa! Def Leppard at the arena! That was freaking awesome, man.
　
Rocket! Yeah!! Satellite of love!!!

Rocket.

Yeah.

I did not take issue with that endorsement, something you probably should have thought through before launching (rocket) into your ill-advised and easily-dismissed diatribe.

Nothing against John Yudichak, but the acquisition of grant monies by those who are ultimately measured by the acquisition of grant monies does not excite, nor does it impress me.

Answer me this…State legislators are most revered for their legislative accomplishments (yeah, right!), or for the huge cardboard checks they deliver at hastily-arranged press conferences?

I really don’t have a problem with Yudichak as much as I have a problem with public sector unions being willing to bankrupt the entire shebang, and to be ready and willing on a moments notice to sully the reputations of those that are actually charged with weighing the cost/benefit ratio of services on a local level. Something that Yudichak has never had to deal with.

John Yudichak works in Harrisburg, hence, he has next to no idea what the hot-button issues are here in Wilkes-Barre. And if the WBPD, by extension, quietly endorsed him, so be it. But, by way of that “endorsement,” they did not go out of their way to attack anyone. Note the distinction.

What the WBFD wanted, it got…a stinging union rebuke of yet another mayor down Wilkes-Barre way. So, what else is new?

But what I do have a serious problem with is public sector unions making political hay so as to benefit themselves. So, what else is new?

Even though you fail to understand, this is not about Tom Leighton. If Tom Leighton disappears from the landscape, and ultimately, from the lexicon, the overly-politicized fire department will still be here and eager to disparage the next mayor, the mayor after that and the one after that. So, what else is new?

Whatever. You people are starting to bore me to no uncertain end.

Free t-shirts and mugs?

You’re under the influence, right?

Free? Um, allow me to explain this to those who were not a part of Wilkes-Barre’s many travails just a few years ago.

What I got from the WBFD was a few freebies, while what it got from me was the unmitigated audacity and unchecked temerity to publicly chastise and embarrass a city administration that cared not at all for public safety.

I was the volunteer lightning rod by which the WBFD struck at the core issues of the administration’s lack of attention to public safety issues, while it also lacked any wherewithal regarding finances and how a financial death spiral could and would impact all things public safety.

Make no mistake about any of this recent history, I was the man. I huffed, I puffed, I typed, the administration blinked, and the adoring Wilkes-Barre fire department cheered me on the entire time.

So what’s your point? Now that I’ve dared to defy the union, now that I’ve clearly fallen out of favor with the union brothers, I have no right to those “Hose Dude” mugs I, myself inspired the very creation of?

And the shirts? I accepted and proudly wore those shirts when most of the residents of this city were clueless as to how rusted fire trucks that had to be pushed out of the “Rain Forest” to get going could quickly and negatively impact upon their lives.

Don’t forget history, champ! Don’t forget who you’re talking at, champ!

As for Chief Delaney, remember, he was an unprecedented and uninvited interloper when my federally-supplied smoke detectors were installed.

This was fairly easy to follow at the time. You called fire headquarters, you requested the “free” smoke detectors, and then you would be placed on a months-long waiting list. So I called. And I figured that some day, not anytime soon, a fire engine would arrive and two firefighters donning a cordless drill would attach the state-of-the-art hardware to this modest adobe. I had seen this done at the homes of my neighbors.

Oh, but when Markie called, that very same Markie that was challenging his mayor in a very new electronic forum, well, then the accepted protocol went out the window in favor of some political intimidation. And shock of shocks, my "free" smoke detectors were installed inside of 36 hours

For the first time in recorded history, the fire chief felt it was necessary to accompany the two firemen who installed our two smoke detectors, and he was also compelled to quiz Wifey about where my computer was situated. Nice.

In retrospect (and at that time), it was easy to understand what was afoot. The mayor’s biggest and loudest and most bombastic critic requested the smoke detectors, and the mayor, as well as the fire chief, felt compelled to intimidate rather than accentuate what would normally be called a positive.

Mugs? Shirts?

Dude, I earned them all. I earned them. Each and every one of them. I was the fearless one when practically everyone around me was telling me I should be fearful of the elected and their many useless minions.

Somehow, I saw my duty and I did it. You didn't, I did. I did it. And now I'm not even worthy of a freaking beer mug?

Man, that's cold. That's just wrong.

But not one to lose perspective, I’ll say this.

I reside in Wilkes-Barre, which employs a paid fire department. And despite all of this heated Internet back-and-forth, I know damn well that if the "cleaning house" call goes out, the WBFD will be here inside of four minutes.

Cut-backs, union demands, economic realities and all of the political upheaval put aside, the emergency services in Wilkes-Barre are second to none in these here parts.

Why I feel free to take issue with a union’s lack of professionalism and acceptance of reality, I will never take issue with the professionalism of those who are paid to be the first responders in Wilkes-Barre.

I have seen these guys and girls in action way too many times to ever dare to take issue with their obvious professionalism, their knowledge, their unflappable courage under fire and their overall commitment to the public‘s good.

What we have here is a matter of cost, and how best to manage it. Or, as was done in the past, how best to mismanage it.

G’nite