Art "Chief Reason" Goodrich's Blog (109)

Whenever I take a business trip, it also gives me the opportunity to cover a wealth of issues in my mind.

As I drove to Kansas City, Missouri, I was thinking about an article that I had read in the Sunday paper.

In the article, the author attempted to identify where we lost civility and an unwillingness to compromise in our political system.

He cited the usual suspects-social media, websites, blogs, talk radio-and offered nothing new.

I can easily understand the…

It is a story that sparked numerous discussions among the nation’s…

I have always believed that I was not capable of hating my fellow Man.

That’s not to say that, for my personal reasons, I have people that I hold no fondness towards; not many, but some.

But, I hate Paul Krugman.

Oh, don’t worry; I said that I didn’t have the capacity to hate my fellow MAN.

Paul Krugman is a repulsive, repugnant, reprehensible, reptilian reprobate!

In addition, a man has scruples, morals, ethics and…

I have started and stopped this blog a couple of times now.

The first time, there was too much anger. The second blog contained too much sarcasm.

Why?

Well; there are several reasons.

First of all, I struggle with calling an event that was filled with so much pain, suffering, sorrow and sadness an “anniversary”.

But, many are referring to the tenth year since the 9/11 attacks as “the tenth anniversary of…

While many hard-working Americans were busy trying to eek out a living and saving towards their retirement, our elected officials were busy stealing our America’s dream. Hope for a better tomorrow was fading as each new bill was passed in the dead of night and contrary to the majority of public opinion.

You realize that the mess that this country is in is our own damned fault; right?

Of course, I would expect many to disagree because we…

You can be gone in a flash in a flashover, a collapse, a vehicle accident, a fall or in a less violent but every bit as insidious manner such as a heart attack.

It can be sudden and without warning and it leaves many to ask the question, “Why”?

My brother-in-law George was walking down the hallway of…

While our “elected” officials enjoy CEO-style perks, the rest of us have to live within our budgets and all the while watch as our tax dollars are squandered by those elected to spend it wisely.

My income is taxed; my house that is paid for is taxed and everything that I purchased is taxed…

I also missed my first Fire Engineering Talk Radio show in July. I hope to do the August show, but for right now, it is beyond my control.

You see; my life has seen some changes.

Changing jobs is never easy.

Those comforts that we surround ourselves with over the course of many years with…

On Sunday, June 19^th, NBC decided to show a patriotic montage during the showing of the U.S. Open golf tournament (Patriotic video). As a result, they committed a monumental error in their omissions.

The Pledge of Allegiance that I have been reciting since grade school has included the words “one nation under God, indivisible”. That any of the words from this very short, but very powerful recitation be omitted is very…

These past, few months have been “unusual” for me. For the first time in many years, I had to prepare myself to seek employment. It was my goal to have a new job before the lay-off became effective.

My work as a risk manager for my current employer will end on June 24^th. My work for my new employer will start on June 28^th.

What is interesting to note is that I thought that I bombed at the interview and who knows; maybe the…

Yes; I like titles that are a play on words.

Salient – (say-lee-ent) adj. Projecting or jutting beyond a line or surface; protruding. Strikingly conspicuous; prominent. Noticeable. Springing; jumping.

As we are seeing, many Americans who have held silent over the years are now speaking out about the condition of the human condition (and especially THEIR condition); how exclusive our “representative” form of government has…

Blogger Note: My dad, Staff Sgt. Walter (Gotch) Goodrich is standing in the middle of the back row.

I must admit that I have been a selfish pig when it comes to Memorial Day weekend. I have been so consumed by HOW I was going to spend it that I forgot the REASON. Did you?

When…

I used to sit on the sidelines and watch discussions that centered on the interview portion of the hiring process for firefighters and wonder what was so problematic.

After-all; at my last three jobs, I was hired based upon the strength of my resume. There was no grueling grilling; just a few questions for clarification.

But now, I can say that I am not fond of job interviews and it is for one, simple reason: I don’t do well at them.

As my…

Yeah; it is used to suck the smoke and heat from structures, but it’s also used to suck any promise that many future leaders will offer new perstpective to the old hard-line ways of a traditional fire service.

I read on fire discussion boards about concern that the “old guard” isn’t passing it down to the new guard. Along with that come complaints that the new guard isn’t interested in old stuff. They want new stuff; that is, unless it deals with the same old approach to…

Well, everything was just dandy until our long time village police chief retired.

Not only did our fire department get along with Jim, but many of us had developed a real friendship with him.

The irony of this dust up between our fire chief and the new police chief is that we have terrific relationships with our county sheriff’s department and our state police.

Here is the situation that was described to me:

Our fire…

Like most other red, white and blue-blooded Americans, I savored the news that Osama bin Laden had been found and shot dead by a U.S. SEALs Team.

Blogger Sidebar: Has anyone else noticed that the mainstream media has been spelling “Osama” with a “U” instead of an “O”? I think you know why.

I have no doubt that bin Laden is dead. I have no reason to question the validity of our President’s claim. Therefore; I need no other “verification”, but I would view the “official”…

Blogger Note: Airport the movie appeared in theaters in 1970 and starred Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin and Jean Seberg. The sequel, Airport 1975 is probably more memorable of the two movies. The sequel starred Charlton Heston, Karen Black and George Kennedy.

Ask anybody.

Stuff happens to me.

Whether it’s to the store or to another state; every trip is always an epic adventure for me.

I never have a travel itinerary; I have places where I have to be and it’s a…

My first show with Fire Engineering Talk Radio is, as they say, in the can.

If you didn’t have the chance to tune in live on April21, you can go to Fire Engineering Talk Radio and you can listen to the archived version. You can also see the schedule of some excellent upcoming shows.

I am also hearing that shows might be offered as Mp3 downloads in the future.

As host, I don’t…

That is what I like to call the workers compensation system here in Illinois.

Blogger Alert: I want to be very clear that I am not singling out a particular segment of the workforce based on the links provided. My cynicism extends across the board. The term “union” appears in this article as an example of lobbying only. It does not reflect my view of unions either way, so save the vitriol.

As part of my job, I handle work injury claims for my company.…

Disclaimer: The opinions and statements made in this blog are the author’s. The opinions and statements expressed are not the opinions and statements of anyone affiliated with the Cyanide Poisoning Treatment Coalition, Fire Smoke Coalition or www.firesmoke.org.

What; me worry?

That’s what…