Who will fight for the 19 in AZ?

Nineteen brave firefighter died on June 30th fighting a raging wild fire outside of Yarnell, Arizona.  They left family and loved ones behind but they stayed till they could do no more and paid the ultimate price for it.  Many of them had young children and their mothers waiting at home for Daddy to return.  Daddy never came home from work. 

The local government of Prescott, Arizona is denying thirteen of these brave firefighter's families death benefits because they claim that they were "Seasonal Workers".  Seasonal workers that died defending the homes and property of citizens in the state.  Seasonal workers that worked full time forty hours a week or more on the payroll for the city of Prescott.   

This is wrong on so many levels of common decency that it is not even remotely funny.  Where would the people of Arizona be if the wild fires did not have brave men and woman that fight these fires?  Where would many more homes be after the late June fire if not for the many people that happen to be firefighters that are labeled Seasonal Worker?  Burned out and a pile of ash to sift through to recover any memories is where they would be.

Ashcraft’s mother, Deborah Pfingston, has planned a news conference Wednesday in Prescott. It was originally scheduled for Tuesday.

Pfingston said city officials promised they would retroactively reclassify the seasonal, temporary employees as permanent so the families could receive additional survivor benefits.

City officials have countered that they cannot legally and posthumously reclassify the men as full-time employees so their families can receive additional benefits, including health insurance.

City spokesman Pete Wertheim told The Associated Press that six of the firefighters were permanent employees. Thirteen, including Ashcraft, were seasonal. - FOX NEWS

Getting out of responsibility for caring for these thirteen labeled seasonal workers families is not going to fly in anyone's eyes and heart.  We are a nation that is supposed to stand up and do the right thing.  That isn't happening in Arizona.  The city of Prescott, Arizona just labeled all of the thirteen seasonal worker firefighters lives as worthless.  That is not the American way.

God has no greater love than that for someone willing to give up their life for another. All 19 did just that.  No shame on the 19 Hot Shot's that gave their lives.  People of Prescott might want to raise your voices high and loud.

Papamoka

The South Shall Rise Again

Have you ever had the pleasure of meeting anyone from the south?  I'm one of those New England born hot headed liberals that loves my southern friends.  They have a quality of life about them that is more common sense and passionate than people in the north.  People from the south are warm and friendly for the most part and the one thing you notice in a southerner is that they just want to say hello and be friendly.  They love children, love family, love good food, and most of all are very patriotic.  Good virtues that make for good friends and people all around. 

One of my dearest friends lives in North Carolina.  When he speaks it is almost like reading a Mark Twain book but funnier.  His words are to the point and he makes his point clear which is a true southern thing.  We could talk on the phone for hours if not interrupted.  You will always know where you stand with anyone from the south.  But that isn't true with what the southern states elect to represent them?  Why is that?

People like me look at the political actions in the south as hi-jacked.  Family values was somehow manipulated into serving the masters of the plantation or special interests rather than the child that needed food, or love, or a descent education.  Compassion in politics is no longer valid in the southern states of this country in both the Senate and the Congress.  People that live in the south no longer matter to the people they elect.  Checks to political campaigns matter.  The bigger the check the more attention you get.  That is a fact, and it goes against everything that I know of all my southern friends.  But they can not write big checks so their voice is meaningless. 

We have a government that is lost and lacks any leadership.  Us against Them mentality.  There is no longer a working function of our current government.  The congress is hi-jacked by people throwing tantrums on both sides instead of doing the job of finding the common ground.  Both political parties are guilty of it.  Who pays the price for inaction?  We do.

To all my friends in the south, I love ya bunches but ya need to get off the porch and start minding the store.  Your well respected and loved hospitality is being stolen from you by shop lifters that call themselves your representatives in the United States Congress.  Time to see if your voice can reach far enough to make a drop of dew drop off a ripe melon.  The south shall rise again.  Good people will not stand for being kicked by politicians that sold out against their personal family values. 

Franklin Roosevelt loved his time in Georgia, simply because the people were friendly to him and intensely genuine.  In turn, he invested large amounts of his own personal money to build facilities for kids with polio.  He saw the kids, he saw the people, he acted.  You don't see that in any leaders in most southern states anymore.  More for those that have too much and less and less for those that have nothing seems to be more important.  That is NOT a southern quality I would want to be associated with.  Maybe it is time for the south to rise and turn blue again where people matter first?  Just a thought.

Papamoka