One of the big differences between Gov. Scott Walker’s bill before the state legislature in Wisconsin and Gov. John Kasich’s bill in Ohio is that the Wisconsin bill does not apply to cops and firefighters. I have a completely different feeling about cops and firemen than I do about teachers, sanitation workers and pretty much all other civil servants.
The risks involved in their professions put them in a class by themselves. What dollar value can you place on a man or woman rushing into a burning building to save a child’s life? A year’s salary? Three years’ salary? More? Think about it.
What about the time a police officer has to draw his gun to protect you? Unless you’ve been there pulling out a weapon yourself, you cannot possibly identify with that emotion.
Many years ago, I was behind the counter when a holdup man with a stocking over his head pointed his gun directly at me. He was shouting and, without thinking, I drew my gun. I fired. Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson saved my life but not my health. I replayed that situation in my mind for the next month or so and spent a great deal of that time suffering in the bathroom.
I still believe that cops and firefighters are worth more than their weight in gold and before you ask — the answer is “NO!” There are no cops or firemen in my family.
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If elected officials on both sides of the aisle are sincere in their attempts to reduce costs of government, let them start by reducing the precious, overpriced mega-perks they enjoy. Anybody wanna argue?
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They number more than 26,000. To keep warm, many of them congregate in subway stations. They even ride the trains and sleep a bit more comfortably by stretching out across three seats. No one dares to move them. After looking into their sad eyes, many passengers take pity on them and provide them with food.
There are those who consider them a nuisance and are in favor of having them rounded up and moved to an isolated area. Yes. They are homeless.
But they are not the homeless as we know them.
They are the stray dogs that roam the Russian capital city of Moscow. The animals are mostly harmless but there are, however, some aggressive dogs that travel in packs. Those sometimes attack people.
At this moment, there is a movement by the authorities to gather them for relocation that is being met with resistance. It is sad that these animal lovers don’t offer us any advantage for keeping them in the area. They only inform us that if moved to a “concentration camp” they will catch diseases from each other and die slow painful deaths.
Regular readers know that my roommate and I love to travel. We have visited many cities in Asia where the local governments encourage stray dogs to roam freely. These animals serve a very worthwhile purpose. They chase, kill, eat and cleanse the area of rodents. Why haven’t we heard this from our friends in Russia? I am StanGershbein@Bellsouth.net asking, do they not have mice in Moscow?
