Monday, November 13, 2006

More on the Gravy Train "gravy train"...

...as photos have surfaced purporting to show the Los Angeles firefighter, Tennie "Big Dog" Pierce -- who, as you will recall from an earlier entry here, was awarded $2.7 million by the cowardly City Council because he was subjected to a prank by other firefighters -- participating in a few "pranks" of his own.

He really looks as if the "racist, demeaning" culture of the Fire Department hurt his tender feelings, doesn't he?

The authenticity of the photos has been verified by other firefighters.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times, leader of the howling liberal mob, is whining that the LAFD must mend its "racist" ways. Since the editorial uses the term "boys" over and over, it can only be referring to white male firefighters.

Once again, the politically correct, it's-all-the-white-man's-fault media is ignoring facts in order to promote its agenda of victimization.

But because this is an agenda embraced by not only the Times but leftist elected officials whose very existence depends on ranting about "racism," the citizens of L.A. are on the hook for $2.7 million and a full pension for poor, persecuted Tennie.

You may also noticed that the same web page that revealed the "real Tennie" also mentions an upcoming fund-raiser for five firefighters who were killed fighting a recent wildfire. No $2.7 million giveaway of taxpayers' money for their families....

I hope Tennie enjoys his lucrative retirement. He is living proof that imaginary racism can be very profitable.

TOTALLY NON-PARENTHETICAL THOUGHT: My own City Councilperson, whose major claims to fame have been pimping over $1 million to get colorful lights strung on a local bridge and being the daughter of a locally famous political figure, voted in favor of the Big Payout. She, and other council members, slipped a ballot initiative past the unsuspecting (and uneducated) public to weasel out of being affected by the term-limit laws. I will be working hard for Saddam Hussein if he wants to run against her in the next election...

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is just one more thing that will add to the growing backlash that's building. The eventual explosion is not going to be pretty.

MrScribbler said...

L&S -- true equality between all people will only come when no group is singled out for special protection or condemnation.

Anonymous said...

Those pics were awful. :(

mesa custom furnishings said...

let's assume i know a bit more about the details of the settlement than you do. here's a reply i sent to another enlightened blogger:

Jennifer,



Just read your Tennie Pierce posting. Such insight for someone only twenty!



Now for some “context” on the settlement not covered in TV blurbs or on KFI. We’ll start with the press release from Mr. Pierce’s lawyers. You were probably too busy scanning Alpo photos onto your blog to actually do some “reporting,” so here goes:



It turns out a few months prior to the dog-food incident, one of the “participants” directed some particularly nasty language towards another black firefighter. Use your imagination here. As a Latina, Jennifer, I’m sure you’ve had a few racist words thrown your way. Make you feel all gooey inside? Here’s where the whole “context” thing starts to take shape. Maybe that firefighter with the big vocabulary didn’t like black folks to start with.



So one day Tennie Pierce comes in from a long shift, he sits down to eat, and suddenly all his co-workers are laughing at him. Oh, and at the time, Pierce just happens to be the only black working at the station.



Jump back to 1994.



Ring a bell, Jennifer? Granted, you were eight at the time and there were Beanie Babies to consider, but that was the year the LA City Council released an audit citing – among other things - racism and sexism running rampant on the LAFD. Pretty much you name the “ism” and the Department had it covered.



There was outrage, a call for reform, promises of swift and thorough changes by the Department. And then something like eleven years passed.



This past January yet another audit report was released on the LAFD. In it, City Controller Laura Chick basically said nothing had changed and all those pesky little “isms” still remained. Boring stuff, really, unless of course you’re a fireman. Also included in the report was the statistic that 87% of African-American respondents had either “experienced or had direct knowledge of racial discrimination on the job.” Now sure, Jennifer, that number sounds high. But the other way to look at it, I suppose, is that 13% of blacks didn’t have an issue, and we’ve got to start somewhere, right?



Point three: the LAFD found that the participants and supervisors engaged in a “collective attempt” to cover-up the dog-food incident. Kind of a biggie, that one, so I’ll say it once more with feeling: the LA Fire Department came to that conclusion, Jennifer, not the LA City Council. Notice the distinction? City Council, elected by the taxpayers, merely acted on the facts that were presented to them.



Lastly, there’s the notion of the incident’s long-term effects on Mr. Pierce - and its aftermath - and the pattern of destructive behavior within the LAFD that fostered them.



Dennis Zine, the Council’s lone dissenter, states that there is no visible damage to Tennie Pierce, no physical harm we can see. I’ll admit a lost limb or lazy eye is much easier to quantify in terms of dollars and cents than, say, psychological damage. But does Zine have a point here? He did serve thirty-plus years on the LAPD, an institution long-noted for its sensitivity and valor. There are hours of video footage to prove it.



Instead, let’s consult someone in the medical field. I know, I know, that darn “context” word again.



Sure, we could cite the UCSC professor’s testimony on the “prank’s” long-term psychological harm. We could delve into the history of racism, bring up slavery, and how really really inconvenient the idea of integration was – and still is – to some people in this country.



Seriously, though. Yaaaaawn! Why not ask you, Jennifer? You’re the one studying Developmental Psychology. Surely you’ve heard of PTSD. Wait, you’re not a Tom Cruise fan, are you? Anyway, experts like you apply it to all sorts of charming situations: women mistaken for punching bags, ungrateful war vets, whiners toiling under touchy-feely bosses.



And so assuming a person is blessed enough to fit into one of these or maybe a few hundred other categories, how exactly would that toxicity manifest itself? Internally, I mean. Forget the easy-out of a limp or stuttering or a wheelchair.



Would it keep you up at night? When you do sleep, would it give you nightmares? Make you short with people? Less trusting? Someone who grew up here in LA and dreamed of becoming a firefighter so he could actually make a difference in the world and suddenly now that same man – all six-foot-five of him, the former football star – he hates to leave the house?



Imagine for a moment co-workers barking at you. Over and over again, day after day. To your face, behind you back, in front of supervisors, even. Supervisors that play along with the “joke” and prefer to sweep the whole thing under the rug. It’s all there in the testimony, Jennifer.



This is all fun and games, right? Get a sense of humor. So you find the occasional can of dog-food in the back of your truck. So what if people bring the incident up in front of your twelve-year-old daughter and she wonders why they call you “Dog-food Boy.” Can’t you take a joke? You’re a firefighter, you’re a hero. Relax. Trust these guys, they’re your brothers.



It’s not like your life is in their hands.



John McDonald

MrScribbler said...

Well, let's not assume you know more about this than I do.

Plenty of evidence has come in to show that Tennie Pierce was happy to participate in all kinds of hazing, so long as it was not directed toward him. Then, it became "racist."

This is the handy catch-all of our times: if you are a member of a minority -- any minority -- and want to make a quick killing, cry that you are being picked on because of your race.

According to reliable testimony, Pierce wanted to let the whole matter drop at the time, but a lawyer (and perhaps someone else) convinced him he could turn a bite of dog food into a major payday.

If money was awarded for "hurt feelings" regardless of race, there would be millions of us lining up for our cut.

If you wish to feel sorry for Pierce, that's your business. YOU pay him the $2.7 million.

As for me, I will continue to be outraged by real racism, and will treat racial malingerers like Tennie Pierce with the scorn they deserve.

mesa custom furnishings said...

you're right: i'll say for a fact i can provide you some real insight into the case. if you're really interested. or you can listen to "john and ken" for your facts.