Unique Website of The Day

I am a stumbler and I stumble a whole lot, more than I actually should. And during my writer's block moments I find quite a lot of dead websites that need to be erased from the web, the webmaster flogged and the hosting server torched and then there are some sites that need an award. Go ahead click the title link. I am sure you will be pleased.

This image found on wiki media commons

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Pictures of Dubai

What do you get when you mix cheap labor, 140.00 per barrel oil and people who absolutely reek of Euros? One word…Dubai. This was a place that was just sand and coastline only 20 years ago and if you look at Dubai now you don't have to wonder where all the money comes from. Obviously, Dubai is not on my list of must see before I die. Simply put, because when I do, and I will, become fantastically wealthy, Dubai sits too close to Iran and Oman and who knows when those two countries decide that Dubai is too decadent for its own good and BAM it's all reduced to goat-land with a Mosque planted in the middle. Here are some pictures.














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Top 5 Brain Games

The links below are not your average brain teaser games. No sir. These activities are designed to test brain function and believe me they are waaaaaay harder than they look. After a couple of test I felt clinically retarded. Yep. Surely did. But hey look on the bright side the more tests you take the greater your mental acuity. At least that is what Confucius says.

Try this for instance

A blind beggar had a brother who died. What relation was
the blind beggar to the brother who died?
"Brother" is not the answer.

Who was the blind beggar?

Feeling retarded yet, if not take these test below.




Test 1 The Stroops Test


Test 2 The Senses Test


Test 3 The Tower of Hanoi


Test 4 Memocoly AKA Simon on steroids


Test 5 Games for the Brain


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SNL Mirror Skit

I have been a SNL fan since they were in a comedy club. And every now and again a skit comes along that just makes me almost piss my pants with laughter. The embedded skit below is called the, “Mirror Skit" and it was found on YouTube. The skit is a parody, what SNL skit isn't, of horror movies that always show the [insert scary thing here] in the mirror as a way to startle the audience into a complete frenzy. Enjoy.








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Top 20 Mobi Sites

If you own a “Smart Phone” then you more than likely have the internet. I love my Blackjack, even though this is my third one, but finding the right sites for my phone almost drove me mad. So I decided to go on a little mission and this is what I found after culling Cantoni Mobi’s list down. I didn't make each site a hyperlink just in case you wanted to try them out on your phone while reading this blog entry.

20. http://mobits.com/digg/

19. http://www.apnews.com/

18. http://slashdot.org/palm/

17. http://mobile.slate.com/

16. http://m.flickr.com/

15. http://m.npr.org/

14. http://m.live.com/

13. http://m.twitter.com/login

12. http://www.pdahomepage.com/

11. http://www.funformobile.com

10. http://m.towza.com/

9. http://www.google.com/xhtml

8. http://m.askmenow.com/aspx/frmMain.aspx

7. http://mobile.usa.gov/

6. http://pubmedhh.nlm.nih.gov/nlm/

5. http://wapedia.mobi/en/

4. http://mobile.time.com/

3. http://www.menshealth.com/mobile/

2. http://mobile.orbitz.com/

1. http://www.pocketpcmag.com/mobile/mobile.asp


These are just a few of the sites that I frequent with my pain in the assPDA. These sites load fast and have minimal bells and whistles. Have fun.


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How to Find a Good Eatery

If there is one thing I hate more than bad advertising is a bad restaurant with great advertising. And I have been duped more than my fair share by the shiny lights and catchy jingles that have preceded wilted lettuce, watered down drinks, grumpy waitresses and half-cooked chicken. Even thought I am not tricked as often, I am still occasionally fall for the coin behind the ear.

I am like most people. I often visit restaurants that have an established food standard and menus that rarely change. But every now and then I get a wild hair up my posterior that causes me to stray badly. It starts by a yearning for something different as my insane explorer side takes over. So I sit down and try to decide by surfing the internet and reading reviews of the different local eateries, wrong move. Surfing for a restaurant is like test driving a car you found in the newspaper by flapping the pages. But after years of hitting and missing like a Ford with bad cylinders, I have realized something…I have been going at it all wrong.

First, restaurants that have that certain je ne sais quoi do not need much introduction; their customers speak for the quality of their food. They often have an abundance of customers that are loyal and are fat professional eaters. This restaurant will not be found on the front page of any culinary magazine, nor do they care. They have excellent service as well as awesome food. These restaurants are true diamonds in the wood pile and they do not use the phrase je ne sais quoi.

In order to find these gastronomical diamonds you have to go on a physical search. This search includes driving around the restaurants that offer your favorite style of food and waiting for the noon or 7:00pm rush. If there isn’t a rush, then more than likely there isn’t much to the eatery. If there is a rush, look at the age of the crowd, the physical size of all parties in the crowd and if there are any families. The rationale is because young people are often weight conscious and that equates to boneless, skinless, fat free cardboard cut-outs of chicken and steaks, skinny people eat skinny people food which equates to a huge salad bar with vegetables galore, fake bacon bits and fat-free salad-flavored water, and if there are a lot of families then there is a variety of food. However the presence of older people is a plus. They represent reasonable prices and fatprofessional eaters are a gold star because they mean the food is flavorful and abundant. So look for the fat old people.

Next, walk up to the restaurant and inhale. Can you smell the food? You can’t imagine the restaurants I have been to where there is absolutely no odor coming from the exhaust. Like an idiot I went inside and the food was just as odor-free and tasteless. And that has happened a lot. But there have been restaurants that have made me drive in circles until I found the origin of that wondrous smell.

Lastly, go inside the restaurant. Who said you had to eat a full meal? Order a drink and a cheap appetizer. This is where a decision can be adequately made. I have very rarely had a bad appetizer and a great meal or vice versa because both are born in the same kitchen. Notice everything about the restaurant, look at the waiters and waitresses are they busy or on their cell phones. Slowly eat your appetizer and look at the meals being served. This should give you a full picture of what is going on. I know you are asking, “Who has the time for this?” And I say, “You do.” Because there is nothing worse than paying for a horrible meal and the gas it took to get there.

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12 Things Paramedics Know

If you want to know what the quality of life means ask someone who has a couple of months to live. They will give you an unabashed and guilt-free answer to what it means to be alive. Because with every breath they take they have one less to give. EMS is composed of people with that quality of life mentality. Paramedics and EMT’s are professionals who have a stark look at life. Because there is nothing more eye opening than seeing some one who is tip-top shape, perfect physique, low cholesterol and awesome blood pressure get killed by a bus filled with fat people and their greasy fast food bags. So here are the ten things Paramedics know, but won’t tell you willingly.

12. Life is more precious than you can ever imagine.

11. The quality of life is inherently more important that the quantity of life.

10. Darwin was right, natural selection does work. Because the addict that abuses Meth, Cocaine or Oxycotin eventually exits the gene pool with a startled expression on their faces.

9. Dead people sometimes have startled expressions on their faces.

8. There is a 1:1 chance that you will die, period.

7. Our elderly citizens are our greatest resources.

6. Marijuana smokers started as cigarette smokers first.

5. Properly fitted seatbelts save lives, airbags work and will sometimes break your nose but neither matter if you are thrown out of the car.

4. Respite for the caretaker is just as important as taking care of a loved one.

3. Addicted crack smokers will qualify for disability faster than the person who has worked all their lives and really needs it.

2. The bottom graduating medical student in a graduating class is still called, “Doctor.”

1. Not all hospitals are created equal.

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Legal Limit Waistlines

Can you imagine your insurance company penalizing you if your waistline exceeded legal healthy limits? Or could you imagine your employer making you pay a higher premium on your health insurance because you had the dreaded, “Muffin-Top” or “Dunn-Lap Disease”? If any sort of legislation passed like that in the U.S there would be a raucous cheer thrown up by ever Paramedic with a bad back. But believe it or not…such legislation exists…in Japan. Yes in the land of tiny cell phones, Godzilla and scrumptious but creepy Geisha there is a policy that men and women between the ages of 40 and 74 had to meet a certain size in their waistline.

This article was found in the Asia-Pacific section of the New York Times and written by Norimitsu Onishi

Under a national law that came into effect two months ago, companies and local governments must now measure the waistlines of Japanese people between the ages of 40 and 74 as part of their annual checkups. That represents more than 56 million waistlines, or about 44 percent of the entire population.
Those exceeding government limits — 33.5 inches for men and 35.4 inches for women, which are identical to thresholds established in 2005 for Japan by the International Diabetes Federation as an easy guideline for identifying health risks — and having a weight-related ailment will be given dieting guidance if after three months they do not lose weight. If necessary, those people will be steered toward further re-education after six more months…
So Japan has figured out that fat people are costing them money with their sweaty necks and size 36 pants. But the real kicker is that there are people that are against this effort to save money and make the Japanese population healthier. However there are people who are against a healthy population.

critics say that the government guidelines — especially the one about male waistlines — are simply too strict and that more than half of all men will be considered overweight. The effect, they say, will be to encourage overmedication and ultimately raise health care costs.
Yoichi Ogushi, a professor at Tokai University’s School of Medicine near Tokyo and an expert on public health, said that there was “no need at all” for the Japanese to lose weight.
“I don’t think the campaign will have any positive effect. Now if you did this in the United States, there would be benefits, since there are many Americans who weigh more than 100 kilograms,” or about 220 pounds, Mr. Ogushi said. “But the Japanese are so slender that they can’t afford to lose weight.”

These people also probably believe that smoking is a great stress reliever. But anyway you dice it, Japan has the right idea. But you can read the article by clicking the link in the title. If we had a healthier population there would be cheaper health care and fewer deaths from over consumption. But hey that’s just my opinion.


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Hillary's Sore Losers

The Democratic Nominee is Senator Barak Obama. He is an advocate for change. And we all know that change is need in the American political arena. Personally, I would vote for Satan himself if it meant I would get a break at the pumps or the price of food would go south. But the truth of the matter is, Satan is not running, Obama has won the nomination and Hillary has lost. However there are some Hillary supporters that would rather vote for Senator McCain than Obama. Go ahead; click the title link for their site. You will be amazed at the level of retardation some people possess. And I think they are the worse kind of voter imaginable. What madness.



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Pictures of Pedophiles

The law is the law. When an adult has improper contract with a child, charges must be filed and the person removed from society. However, if you are a female and the child is male charges are not always applied fairly. If you are guy and perform the same horrible act, then the entire leather bound book of jurisprudence is lobbed at your head. See for yourself…click the link in the title of this post.This was found on College Bars, check them out.



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Almost Flipping Ninja

If ever was a video that makes me replay and replay and replay it would be this one. Just look how Ninja-boy just staggers after almost knocking himself out.

2008 Atlantic Hurricanes Names List

There are two days left until the start of the 2008 Atlantic Hurricane Season. I shutter, literally shutter, to think what the price of gas is going to be when the first inkling of a storm is birthed off the west coast of Africa or the tip of the Yucatan. If I had the extra cash I would invest in oil myself. So here is the list of names below. And for my Gulf Coast readers…get ready. The free photo above is from a great site named Free Artistic Photos, please give them a visit.

Arthur
Bertha
Cristobal
Dolly
Edouard
Fay
Gustav
Hanna
Ike
Josephine
Kyle
Laura
Marco
Nana
Omar
Paloma
Rene
Sally
Teddy
Vicky
Wilfred


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Five Reasons McCain Cannot Win

A political strategist I am not. Politics to me is one of the most necessary evils on the face of the planet and I prefer not to be a part of evil. However the climate for necessary political change is in the air. Because with political change comes civil and military change. And change is so desperately what America needs right now. If you are not agreeing with me at this very moment, the rest of this blog entry is not for you. We complain incessantly about the price of energy, which has garnered more media frontage than the war in Iraq by the way, we complain about the price of food, and we complain about our ability to remain healthy but we have not made any strides to change any of the aforementioned. This is where politics come in. That manipulative art form that lulls voters into a false sense of reality and then BANG hits them with the truth but sadly McCain just won’t belly up to the truth.

5. 100 years in Iraq. When the U.S Army is enlisting soldiers so old that they should be at home playing with their grandkids something is amiss. There are already soldiers doing their 5th tours in-country as we speak. This Iraq war has become a virtual stalemate and the Senator needs to realize that. In order to keep fighting the bad fight, America would need more boots on the ground. And after exhausting our military supply of fresh young bodies, who do you send to fight next, third graders? The only plausible answer is the draft. And the word draft would send young rich kids scrambling across the border to Canada.

4. It’s about the economy. That all powerful money-driven beast that keeps our country afloat and McCain said he knew less about the economy than he did about the military. All this and we are in a RECESSION! Effective leadership has to be a jack of all trades, but has to have to common sense to hire the masters.

3. The need for a strong, friendly, foreign policy. Well, well, you can’t fight everyone who is in opposition of your opinion. We cannot attack Canada because they are first in North America, nor can we attack Australia because Great White Sharks live there. Think diplomacy first, warfare last.

2. Generation Gap. We are a YouTube generation, wireless, broadband, laptop generation. The President should understand popular culture because millions of his voters arise from this pool. I understand that LBJ was a good President so was JFK, but can you believe most voters could not tell you what those previous acronyms are about or what each of those men actually stood for.

1. Gas Prices. At this time of this blog posting it is 135.00 per barrel. That translates to, F*%KING HIGH at the pumps and the reason why there is corn planted all through the Deep South. If there is not a credible solution to our gas crisis besides drilling in the Alaskan wilderness then there is no reason to run for office. We are a country that lives on our gas tanks. Any assault on our fuel price should be considered a terrorist threat. Thus I approve of attacking the OPEC cartel.

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Support Your Local Paramedic

I always say, being pissed off is better than being pissed on. And boy, am I pissed off. I hate sounding whiney and I really don’t like to complain. Because I have a solemn belief that if you are comfortable with misery you are destined to make it to the top (that aforementioned belief made me manager at 6 different ambulance services and Vice-President at a seventh.) But something has to be said about the Paramedic exodus that is taking place right under the noses of the general public. This exodus places the public at an extreme risk because who is going to arrive at your home when you have your first heart attack.


I don’t like talking about my job as a Paramedic (capital P). I respect the ability of the 911 caller to remain stupid forever and ever amen. I have seen my fair share of tragedy, pain, suffering, and the evilness of humans to kill their children and set the house on fire to cover the crime. My walkabout through this invigorating and personality consuming job has stratified my soul and sharpened my temperament. My career at one time reinforced a belief that God did not exist and that the Devil was on a road trip, high on Columbian white-flake, smashing and grabbing souls across this great land. But my point of view has changed for the better.


However I digress, the reason I am pissed off is that the major responsibility of reducing morbidity and mortality, under extreme duress and insane hours are heaped upon the EMT and no one, and I do mean no one, cares…hence my pissy-tude. I have survived 20 years in the field, one divorce, one major job-induced surgery, and a war. And the most ambulance services will only pay me, is a measly 12.00 dollars per hour. 10 million dollars worth of experience…12.00 dollars per hour, nationally recognized EMS instructor…12.00 dollars per hour, 14 years of EMS management…12.00 dollars an hour. Now, if you think for a hot-second, that I am working for 12.00 an hour you’re completely insane. But this is what the new Medics are facing. 1980’s wages for a comparable job that pays 28.00-30.00 dollars in a hospital, in a controlled atmosphere, with security roaming the halls all wrapped in comfy scrub pants. New medics are jumping the fence to nursing in droves. And the ones that haven’t will shortly.


So how is the shortage of Paramedics going to affect you? There are less people caught in the vapors of a fast ambulance, the wail of a siren and the thrill of possibly saving a life. Simply put, EMS is imploding. The emergency response walls are falling in all over this country; there are manpower shortages, leakages to nursing, and people who aren’t stupid enough to fall for the “you’ll be a hero” spiel. That means longer response times for you, the under trained will arrive at your door (because most EMS programs will hand feed those who wouldn’t other wise make it) and very poor service. Yes, Paramedics would rather go home at night and make a decent wage instead of getting punished over and over again, thus the good Medics are making the leap to nursing and you dear reader are left with the bad ones.

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Advice for the 08' High School Senior

May is the season for High School 08’ seniors across the country to receive their diplomas. There will be teary-eyed Mothers as they remember their kids first day of school and Dads going, “Whew it’s finally over.” This almost religious ceremony consist of a keynote speaker, a valedictorian speaker, the principal speaking, diplomas passed to the right hand as the graduate takes pictures and expensive mortarboards flung carelessly into the air followed by hugs at the end. Now after this ceremony some facts are evident…some graduates will get pregnant, some graduates will be impregnating, some graduates will get drunk and some will sadly die. And it happens every year. Oh joy. But for those graduates who made it through life, relatively unscathed, a little heavier and a whole lot wiser what advice can you offer the new graduates without sounding like a complete idiot? Well, I have taken the liberty to list some conversation starters.

10. Just finishing high school isn’t enough. A high school education opens doors to places you wouldn’t have access to if you did not have one. But to make a decent living continue your education.

9. The military is an option. Some parents count this option out but if you want to make money, meet others your age and be around other self-starters…this is the place. I know Iraq is dangerous but so is underage drinking and buying dope in a bad neighborhood.

8. Don’t wait until fall. Being out of school or not having a focused path will only grow moss under your feet. Have somewhere to go after high school and that does not mean the beaches of Mexico.

7. Be different. Don’t let the crowd decide what you should do. Seniors all over the country fall into this trap all the time. Just because your friends want to sit out a year doesn’t mean you should.

6. Move. Staying in one place is almost a death knell for anyone’s future. The same people doing the same thing over and over again can ruin anyone’s psyche.

5. Choose your college path carefully Prerequisites and core classes are what you will be dealing with your first two years of college. Worry about your major later.

4. Find a part-time job to fill any monetary short comings. The free days have ended it is time to get a job. Can you say, ‘Welcome to McDonalds.”

3. Start working on your resume now. Volunteering to help in a possible career choice helps you get an understanding of the field you are choosing.

2. One Tree Hills is a lie. There won’t be any hand holding because you are sad, people don’t care if your friends die, or if you are having a bad day… get used to it.

1. Birth Control/HIV protection is readily available. Do I need to say more.



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Oh, you are going to love this test. This test has a meter that drops as you get questions wrong.I truly loved playing this game. Play if you dare. Click the title to get widgets like this for your own blog.

The Stupid Test

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Ten Sure Ways to Win the US Presidency in 08’

All too often the common sense God gave a Mule is overshadowed by the sheer magnitude of partisan politics when it comes to winning the Presidential election. But I have the key to win, right here in this blog. And believe me if either Obama or McCain is willing or able to make the hard decisions and choose just 5 of these simple ways I am sure they will breeze right into the White House.


10. Create a true economic stimulus plan.

I don’t mean give taxpayers money so they can spend it, even though I am getting a new air-conditioning unit out of the Bush White House, I mean jobs are good. Stable life-sustaining jobs are even better. And yes, working at McDonald's is considered a job, only if you are 15 and living at home. Our fellow Americans need jobs so they can buy health insurance and provide for their families. Show us how you intend to bring back industry and the voters will beat a path to your door.

9. Show us how to disengage, albeit proudly, from Iraq.

You cannot criminalize yawning or jealousy. You cannot put a tax on love and you defiantly cannot fight a religious movement to resist the occupying infidels, P.S we are the occupying infidels, regardless of what the spin-masters say. There is a lot at stake, there thousands of American dead and tens of thousands of American wounded. Tomorrow, there will be interference from Iran in Iraqi affairs. The day after that there will be even more American casualties and the day after that even more Iraqi soldiers will abandon their post. Show us how you intend to pull out with grace and pride.

8. Show us a feasible Health care Plan.

Let’s face it; there are people who consider any help from the government a form of welfare. Mind you, government back student loans, Pell grants, farmer subsidies and corporate bailouts in their opinion are not. How stupid is that? Sorry for the rambling, where was I, oh yes. Possessing quality, and I do stress quality health care, is the difference between life and death…literally. Don’t believe me, show up at an ER without insurance and get treated like a cockroach-encrusted turd. The health care workers raises depend on the ability of the patient to pay. If you don’t have insurance…they all hate you. Make an affordable insurance, place caps on treatments, punish offending doctors, nurses and insurance companies for bad behavior and the Oval Office is yours.

7. Show us how you intend to control Immigration.

Okay, this is a hot button issur. The Republicans want to throw every Mexican, legal or not, singing Himno Nacional Mexicano back across the border. The Democrats want to embrace the Hispanic population. But the fact remains, what do you do? Easy, increase fines to astronomical levels for undocumented workers. Deport all persons who are not citizens and not in possession of legal worker status. Make only the legal workers children born in the US…US citizens. Make legal workers liable for taxes and obtain a temporary SSN for tracking purposes. The point is there is no easy answer for this. Either choice made is going to piss someone off. But show us how.

6. Show us how you intend to educate our Children.

America develops and implements technology so fast, the rest of the world has to keep up with us…with the exception of Japan. So why is it we are having gang fights, school shootings and teacher improprieties against students. I am tired of private schools touting their benefit to society when public schools are funded better. Do something different. Start over, fire some teachers, jail some parents and put God back in the classroom. Oh and classify the Atheist as a spiritual terrorist that will certainly stop the lawsuits.

5. Show us your war face.

Can you answer the red phone at 3:00am? Can you send missile strikes with impunity then roll over and go back to sleep. Or will you be so indecisive that you hesitate and the bad guy gets a jump on America. I don’t mean attack Idaho for something Pakistan has done because the terrorist went to Idaho for vacation once back in the early 80’s. I mean can you use the Military option with gangsta precision? Tell us when and how.


4. Publicly acknowledge global warming and your plan to fix it.

Melting polar ice and insane hurricanes…nuff said. Get to fixing the problem.



3. Show us your plan to ease the tax burden on, “Average American.”

Republican’s love tax cuts, as long as they are for people in the upper income brackets. Democrats love raising taxes for programs that don’t work and build a social dependence. Espouse your happy medium and get ready to take the oath.

2. Detail your plan to stir competitive research in alternative energy.

Most people feel that because their lifespan is too short to care about energy cost. Okay, well let’s put it this way. You are creating a disease that is making your life easier but is going to murder your children in the distant future; and they are too young to comprehend the ramifications of your actions. When they get older, that disease you designed has manifested and is making them ill, they are going broke poor trying to get well and then eventually your disease kills your kids real good. Are we on the same page? Show us how you intend to make life easier for our future.

1.How do you intend to reduce the cost and dependence on oil?

We can design war vehicles that can drive by themselves, X-Planes go into space on a tight budget and the entire country is going digital in 09, and you mean to tell me we can’t find an energy source that will put OPEC in the red. For goodness sake the average computer user has access to satellite images from Google and can shop for goods and services online while naked as the day they were born. Let China, India and Russia have the oil; show us how we can commute to work without filling up our vehicles at 4.00 per gallon.

~Vale~

Voodoo Chile---Blues Version

If you are a Jimi Hendrix fan...you will appreciate his blues take on one of the most famous songs in American Rock...even though it is his song. Enjoy!




~Vale~

Just One Hurricane

I am watching the news and I suddenly came up with a revelation of sorts. This revelation hinges on the fact that hurricane season is right around the corner and if the price of oil waxes and wanes on sabotage on a pipeline in Nigeria, a Fed cut in our key interests rate or the Euro spikes once again…what in the hell is the price of oil going to reach if a hurricane approaches the Gulf of Mexico. This does not bode well for the home team. We live in a speculative economy where the slightest inkling that a product or service could be reduced would send prices spiraling out of normal consumer range. If you don’t believe me say: Tickle Me Elmo, PlayStation 3, and Guitar Hero 3. Where Christmas shortages produced panic buying at 500 percent of the toys normal cost. So what does one do? Really, how do you survive when American food prices are climbing and it will soon, real soon, be too expensive to drive? Well, I have a solution and clicking the link in the title of this blog will give you details.
Yes, a hurricane will approach the Gulf of Mexico…hurricanes have always approached the gulf. But the price of fuel nationwide has never hinged on this fact as it does now. Well, the point to this blog entry is to prepare my readers. Now, while things are still cheap…I would, because I am, stocking up on fuel sensitive items such as, cooking oil, motor oil, charcoal (you have to cook), propane fuel and making use of empty space for canned goods in your home. Sounds like the Apocalypse huh? Well sort of but the point is to be prepared. I didn’t say get matching black track suits and wait for the mothership to pick you up. I was advising that milk is 4.00 a gallon, cooking oil is 3.00 a bottle and one major weather event will place them out of your reach. But hey look on the good side we will all lose some weight with all the walking, meal reductions and such.

~Vale~

May 2nd AMR Paramedic Strike Ends…Amicably

This article appears in the online version of the Daily News Los Angeles. It was reported on May 1 2008 by Jerry Berrios, Staff Writer.

The strike involving nearly 300 paramedics and emergency medical technicians in the Antelope, Santa Clarita and San Gabriel valleys has ended.
AMR, a private ambulance company that contracts with Los Angeles County, and the International Association of EMTs and Paramedics came to a tentative labor agreement Wednesday night.
"The strike is over," said AMR spokesman Jason Sorrick. "Our employees are coming back to work. We are moving forward, and we will continue to provide the best emergency service to the citizens we serve."
According to AMR, the agreement calls for employees' wages to increase by 20 percent over the next four years, retroactive to November 2007. The company also will not make any changes to employee health-care benefits through December.
"I believe that the contract is fair and equitable," said Matthew Levy, national director of the IAEP.
Levy said the contract addresses most of the workers' concerns. Instead of the 6 percent annual raise workers wanted, they are getting 5 percent. Instead of having AMR the company paying 80 percent of health-care costs, it AMR is paying 75 percent of the premium employee health-care plan.
"It was worthwhile as we got some of the concessions we wanted," Levy said.
The workers went on strike at 8 a.m. Monday. Pickets gathered at the AMR stations in Lancaster and Irwindale. AMR brought in employees from other areas of California, Oregon and Missouri to operate ambulances.
The majority of the employees returned to work Thursday and the remainder will come back to work today.
County officials monitored the strike through conference calls with AMR management and others, e-mail with firefighters and verifying ambulance worker credentials at area hospitals.
"We are very pleased that the work action is over," said Cathy Chidester, acting director of L.A. County's Emergency Medical Services Agency. "We think it was handled well by all affected parties."
It goes to show what Paramedics can do when they wiggle in a collective fashion. Good job guys from The Apocalypse Papers!
~Vale~