Yesterday the City put out a press release that was promptly tweeted by many was the news that the California Emergency Medical Services Authority had cleared several Alameda Fire Department paramedics of any alleged violations. While it doesn’t appear that anyone has taken credit for filing the complaint against the AFD paramedics with the EMSA, it sounds a lot like some of the allegations that were filed by the not really a group but a group, the “small unaffiliated group” that has been watchdogging the AFD of late. The most recent complaint they have generally lodged was that Alameda Fire Chief Mike D’Orazi was unqualified for the position. Despite the protestations that they were all about having a “fact based discussion” when confronted with facts, the discussion sort of fizzled out.
Anyway, the allegations leveled against four separate AFD paramedics were eerily similar to the complaints that have been published on various blogs and in letters to the editor, essentially, from reading the EMSA letter to the City it appears that complaints were made that
- Two paramedics were unable to resuscitate the victim because of an equipment failure
- County protocols dictate that the victim be transported to cardiac or trauma center
- A paramedic that wasn’t on scene completed the incident report (the allegation was that this was done to cover up for a paramedic on probationary status)
- Paramedic on probationary status violated his probation by being in a paramedic unit
Unsurprisingly the EMSA found no merit to any of these complaints. I wonder if the SUG will be putting out a statement about this turn of events.
My bet is that they will not say anything than their usual “the reviewer who found no merit was:
a. Corrupt
b. A friend of Marie’s or Lena’s or Rob’s
c. A recipient of big money from the Firefighter’s Union”
That has been their retort to all the prior failed claims and accusations – why change horses in mid-stream?
Comment by Kate Quick.ze — November 23, 2011 @ 6:33 am
Raymond Zacks death was 100% preventable
Comment by Dr Poodlesmurf — November 23, 2011 @ 7:07 am
paramedics would not have been called … if others had done their job on the beach
Comment by Dr Poodlesmurf — November 23, 2011 @ 8:10 am
Happy Thanksgiving Dr. Poodlesmurf.
Comment by John P. — November 23, 2011 @ 8:12 am
God Bless us All
Comment by Dr Poodlesmurf — November 23, 2011 @ 8:29 am
3. Death from second-hand smoke is also preventable, but we have libertarians from SUG ranting about infringing on people’s rights to kill themselves. Where’s the consistency? Stay away from the tryptophan this Thanksgiving.
Comment by Dennis V. — November 23, 2011 @ 10:48 am
6.
Read it and weep.
“Conclusions The results do not support a causal relation between environmental tobacco smoke and tobacco related mortality, although they do not rule out a small effect. The association between exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and coronary heart disease and lung cancer may be considerably weaker than generally believed.”
http://www.bmj.com/content/326/7398/1057.full
Comment by Jack Richard — November 23, 2011 @ 1:07 pm
7. From the Center for Disease Control …in this century.
“In adults who have never smoked, secondhand smoke can cause heart disease and/or lung cancer.”
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/secondhand_smoke/general_facts/index.htm
Comment by Dennis V. — November 23, 2011 @ 1:28 pm
Jack, your link would be more convincing if it were to a reputable scientific organization and not some random consulting company. Dennis’ link, along with this one the one listed below, present a very different story.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Tobacco/ETS
And now, I hope, back to our regularly scheduled topic…….
Comment by david burton — November 23, 2011 @ 1:33 pm
From my link:
“Follow up
Long term follow up was undertaken at the University of California at Los Angeles on all 118 094 participants from California. This is described in detail elsewhere and summarised in table 1.18 The participants were matched several times with the California death file and the social security death index on the basis of their name and other identifying variables.1819 Overall, 79 437 deaths were identified up to 31 December 1998, and the underlying cause was obtained from the California death file and death certificates for 93% (73 876) of these deaths.”
7 & 8 stories:
Key phrase in # 8 is “can cause heart disease and/or lung cancer”. “can cause” not “does cause”, no argument from here that it can cause bad things, plus it stinks, #9 shoots the messenger not the methodology.
Comment by Jack Richard — November 23, 2011 @ 2:50 pm
Jack R. another commenter noted that the study that you cited above was funded by tobacco companies and the analysis in the study has been largely discredited.
Comment by Lauren Do — November 23, 2011 @ 4:48 pm
So what, the non-smoking studies are all funded by non-smoking advocate groups. I ask again if second hand smoke kills, why is smoking still legal?
Comment by Jack Richard — November 23, 2011 @ 5:25 pm
I’m grateful for truth-telling and fact-checking this Thanksgiving, and for those who present divergent views.
I’m also grateful that the appropriate state agencies we entrust with oversight are doing their jobs, generally speaking,
despite voters’ unwillingness to fund state government and schools at adequate levels.
Here’s to greater accuracy all around–and a bit more civility, too–in the coming season.
Comment by Jon Spangler — November 24, 2011 @ 9:45 am
13
Thanks for the compliment, Jon. Now let’s sharpen our knives.
Comment by Jack Richard — November 24, 2011 @ 10:00 am
#13: Jon, notice you recently moved into a glass house. As part of your new environment are you going to stop sending negative campaign literature like you were proudly doing in 2010?
Comment by Dr Poodlesmurf — November 26, 2011 @ 8:13 am
“I’m also grateful that the appropriate state agencies we entrust with oversight are doing their jobs,…”
Indeed!
“The United Farm Workers recently sent out an alert. The Texas Board of Eduction is “erasing Cesar Chavez and all Hispanic historical figures from public school text books.” Given the size of the Texas schoolbook market, its government specifications tend to have a wag-the-dog effect on the national industry.
Chavez, in particular, was eliminated on the grounds that he “lacks the stature…and contributions” and should not be “held up to our children as someone worthy of emulation.” According to the UFW press release, the state School Board and its appointees have complained of “over representation of minorities” in the current social studies standards.”
http://c4ss.org/content/1764
Comment by Jack Richard — November 26, 2011 @ 9:36 am
Thanksgiving…thanks, giving is over…
“… generally speaking,
despite voters’ unwillingness to fund state government…”
Closer to home
Perhaps, if we would only fund him adequately?
“Prison doctor gets paid for doing little or nothing
California surgeon has been on leave with pay, fired, fighting his dismissal or doing paperwork since ’05.
July 13, 2011|Jack Dolan
SACRAMENTO — The highest-paid state employee in California last year, a prison surgeon who took home $777,423, has a history of mental illness, was fired once for alleged incompetence and has not been allowed to treat an inmate for six years because medical supervisors don’t trust his clinical skills.
Since July 2005, Dr. Jeffrey Rohlfing has mostly been locked out of his job — on paid leave or fired or fighting his termination — at High Desert State Prison in Susanville, state records show. When he has been allowed inside the facility, he has been relegated to reviewing paper medical histories, what prison doctors call “mailroom” duty.”
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/13/local/la-me-prison-doctor-20110713
Comment by Jack Richard — November 26, 2011 @ 9:45 am
The Compensation Monster Devouring Cities
The real battle over public workers’ pay is happening in city halls, not state capitols.
Those compensation costs have soared over the years, as politicians made overgenerous promises to local government workers—not just pay but also the right to retire on full pensions at age 50 or 55, annual cost-of-living increases to those pensions, and full health care for life. These concessions haven’t merely resulted in big deficits; they have pushed many localities to the edge of fiscal ruin. Without substantial reform—soon—local taxpayers are likely to face a lethal combination of major tax increases and crumbling services.
Earlier this year, California’s Little Hoover Commission, a government oversight agency, observed: “Barring a miraculous market advance and sustained economic expansion, no government entity—especially at the local level—will be able to absorb the blow [from rising pensions] without severe cuts to services.” Los Angeles’s retiree costs currently make up an already troubling 18 percent of its budget, for instance, but the commission estimated that the percentage would swell to 37 percent by 2015. Retiree costs just for L.A.’s public-safety workers could double to $700 million annually, “enough . . . to fund a second police department in a major city.”
The pension situation is even graver elsewhere in California. Anaheim is already spending 22 percent of its $252 million budget on pensions, and its mayor estimates that pension contributions could increase by 50 percent, or about $27 million, in four years. San Francisco’s comptroller has estimated that his city’s pension bill will rise from $357 million this year to $422 million next year and then to $800 million in just a few years. San Jose’s pension costs for police and firefighters have already quadrupled over the past decade. Without reform, the city estimates that its yearly pension costs, $63 million in 2000, will swell to $650 million in 2015.
California’s local governments padded their employee count by 15 percent from 1999 to 2008, with average annual pay rising 60 percent, to $61,185, not counting the cost of benefits, according to the Little Hoover Commission. Average pay for cops and firefighters climbed 69 percent, to $89,056, again excluding benefits.
http://www.city-journal.org/2011/21_3_public-workers.html
Comment by John — November 26, 2011 @ 11:38 am
Bleeding Green: California losing green businesses
SACRAMENTO, CA – Green businesses have joined the exodus of California companies leaving the state or expanding only outside state borders.
In 2011, 172 companies have moved out or are moving out of California, Business Relocation Coach Joe Vranich said.
Vranich, who tracks the movement of companies, said the number of companies moving out of the state is five times higher than the rate of companies that moved out of California in 2009. According to Vranich’s research, the states most likely to receive fleeing California businesses are Texas, Arizona, Colorado and Nevada.
“Everything is difficult to do in California.” CEO of Green Trail Energy Dennis Wingo said. “When you try to rent property, the different requirements, the unemployment compensation. We knew if we were going to expand we either had to hire a bunch of robots who wouldn’t cost workmans’ comp or move operations out of state.”
Comment by John — November 26, 2011 @ 12:17 pm
“When we were in Nevada, we listened to 100 businesses that left the state and one gentleman got up and said, ‘California was the death of a thousand cuts,’” Logue said.
Logue said the governor has over 600 appointments and should switch out the bureaucrats for people who understand business. He would also like to see the passion of the occupy movement turned on the legislature.
“When you go to the Central Valley and look at the unemployment rate and look at who is representing those people, you need to rise up,” Logue said. “I need to see them in Sacramento sometime outside my window, 10,000 of them saying, ‘I want to go back to work. What are YOU doing?’ You cannot kill the goose and expect golden eggs.”
Comment by John — November 26, 2011 @ 12:27 pm
The City that Outsourced Everything
Comment by John — November 26, 2011 @ 2:38 pm
whoopee! let’s race to the bottom. Since Texas and Nevada are willing to under cut sound practices California can’t compete, so that makes California bad? California border touches Mexico, hell we stole it from Mexico, so why not turn the whole state into Maquiladora? Oh, right, because we just want the cheap labor in unregulated environment, but we don’t want to pay for kid’s education or for them to become citizens. life is tough when you want everything both ways. I want my MTV! I want my free lunch! waah!
Comment by M.I. — November 26, 2011 @ 3:16 pm
There is no real Race to Bottom…..California is 48 or 49th Nationally in Student performance while Teachers are #1 or #2 in pay. Don’t mess with our sound Practices.
Comment by John — November 26, 2011 @ 6:13 pm
Mark, it’s difficult to understand your lead-in sentence: “whoopee! let’s race to the bottom. Since Texas and Nevada are willing to under cut sound practices California can’t compete, so that makes California bad?”
I realize it was tongue-in-cheek lead to the rest of the tongue-in-cheek paragraph but it begs the question; What would you do? I’m not looking for an argument, but frankly, I’ve not heard reasonable suggestions for alternatives to the path that has let us to where we are. What is the mechanism you support to address the very real situation in California outlined in the following paragraph and link?
“The state’s nonpartisan budget analyst on Wednesday said California will fall $3.7 billion short this fiscal year, likely resulting in fewer public school days, cuts to libraries and further reductions in developmentally disabled services.”
Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/17/4060870/grim-california-budget-forecast.html#ixzz1evp1FVcK
Comment by Jack Richard — November 27, 2011 @ 10:38 am
Interesting video John. The takeway? – carve out a high income enclave (such as Bay Farm) and incorporate as a seperate city so that your taxes don’t support community wide needs, then hire someone who will depress employee wages. Why am I not suprised this concept has found support in the south. Give it a few years and they will improve on it with a new concept called plantations.
Comment by notadave — November 28, 2011 @ 9:20 am
Your political party has supported the plantation concept since Jefferson and Jackson formed the party. They (Democrats) still support it. It’s just that they’ve changed the name to the ‘welfare state’.
Comment by Jack Richard — November 28, 2011 @ 12:11 pm
25
As we watch this Council and Mayor Celebrate the New Target Store.
Target should bring some jobs here also.
Cashier
Target Salaries in San Francisco (217 in US)
$8.59 average per hour
Sales Floor Team Member
5 Target Salaries in San Francisco (351 in US)
$8.94 per hour
Cashier/Sales Floor Team Member
2 Target Salaries in San Francisco (36 in US)
$8.93 per hour
Sales Floor Team Leader
2 Target Salaries in San Francisco (123 in US)
$17.72 per hour
Comment by John — November 28, 2011 @ 4:14 pm
25
Working for Target
http://www.jobbite.com/reviews/target
Comment by John — November 28, 2011 @ 5:21 pm