First Responders

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The visuals show rubble and destruction. The voice-over interviews on-scene are still uncertain of details in these first hours after the crane collapse in New York City at 91^st Street and First Avenue.

But one thing is certain. The first responders are there. Emergency rescue, firefighters, police…the cogs in the mighty engine that is a civilization that works together for the common good of all.

We take them for granted most days. Maybe subconsciously aware if we live in large enough cities that the sirens are sounding in our heads like the undernote of a neverending symphony.

And yet, these are the folks who assure to our defense at home, just as their brethren go to foreign shores with the same noble purpose in their hearts.

Would that those who send them could say the same.

Homeland Security, overseen by a committee chairman, Joe Lieberman, who never oversees one of the most bloated political appointee-riddled BushCo welfare-filled monstrosities ever conceived. One. They have others.

But today is a day to pause and reflect on where we’d be without any of our first responders. If the small towns’ and big cities’ police and fire and rescue and responders had all been sucked into a phony war with its devastating consequences on lives, on limb, on our national honor…instead of the too-large percentages who’ve actually been taken via National Guard and Reserves. Too many to serve multiple tours and more than regular military. We cannot honor them enough for their sacrifice.

We’ve seen a Memorial Weekend pass. Juxtaposed with a president and would-be carrier forward of a third term wanna-be-president inveighing against Senator Webb’s 21^st Century G.I. Bill. And a “news” media that pushes Iraq further and further back into the shadows because to do otherwise means that they, too, must look in the mirror of accountability and acknowledge their culpability in furtherance of the corrupt Iraq War of Team BushCo.

We owe our first responders so much better.

So let us be first responders, too, bringing America up out of the rubble inflicted by the barbarian rule of the last nearly eight years. Let us restore the common good, the rule of law, the order of responsible regulation, the honor of a civilized government. Let us Get Out the Vote. And Vote…as if your nation depends on it, for it does.