Free Republic

Rudy Giuliani's plan to ride in a Miami-Dade firetruck in Sunday's Three Kings parade has outraged some firefighters who say the presidential candidate has ''lied'' about his 9/11 record because he did too little to equip and protect emergency workers. The controversy -- unwittingly set in motion by County Commissioner Rebeca Sosa -- has politically pitted firefighters against one another in Miami-Dade as well as in New York. To quiet the feud, the IAFF's local Miami-Dade chapter, 1403, will cover its numbers on the union-owned firetruck by draping it with an American flag. Giuliani's campaign said he will probably ride...

Holiday goodies from the Big Apple are here again. New York City firefighters drove the Christmas caravan 1500 miles. This is the third straight year the generous firefighters have collected toys and food and made a special delivery to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. These firefighters who endured 9-11, were among the first responders after Katrina. "This is my fifth time down. The last two times have been toys for the kids. And the first three times were supplies. And as long as they give it, we can get it down here," said fireman Gary Moore. New Yorkers are again more...

Inhaled corticosteroids (ICS), antiinflammatory treatments often prescribed for asthma, may be beneficial in preventing respiratory illness, according to a new study. The research examined the effectiveness of ICS in preventing asthma and other respiratory illness due to inhalation exposures experienced by NYC firefighters after the World Trade Center (WTC) collapse. Two years post-collapse, those firefighters treated with ICS reported positive feedback. "Respiratory protection is often needed during disasters, but it is difficult to get it instantly, and many responders, without EMS or fire experience, have not been trained or fit-tested to wear equipment properly. Couple this with a disaster environment...

Little Green Footballs reported late in the day Friday that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is still on his way to GROUND ZERO Monday. (I personally never bought the partial transcript from 60 Minutes anyway...) We're rolling out the wagon to "greet" him. Liberty St. and Broadway 9am - I will be there.

God bless these heroes and all of the men and women fighting to keep America safe. May the families of those who are lost be comforted.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Once again, the city will pause for four moments of silence to mark the attacks that killed thousands. Family members will lay flowers by the fallen twin towers, and the names of more than 2,700 victims will be read. But much will be different on the sixth anniversary of Sept. 11, after tense arguments about where to hold the ceremony, if a presidential candidate should be allowed to speak and whether focus on the commemoration has become excessive. Firefighters, first responders and construction workers who helped rescue New Yorkers and many who later recovered victims' bodies...

More than a week after two New York City firefighters died in a smoky fire at the former Deutsche Bank building, city officials relieved three senior fire officers of their posts yesterday, asserting they had failed to inspect the building or to draw up a specific plan on how to fight a fire inside the contaminated tower. At a City Hall news conference yesterday, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said the local firehouse had not performed any of the required inspections of the building on the edge of ground zero since 2006, even though the 41-story building, damaged in the Sept....

Supporting a candidate simply because you believe he can defeat another candidate is a hollow endorsement. But the greater political miscalculation is Cramer’s willingness to overlook Giuliani’s substantial shortcomings. Giuliani is shamelessly running on his perceived accomplishments following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. But his reputation is built more on myth than on fact, and the nation’s paid professional firefighters outline their issues with Giuliani in a documentary that can be found at www. rudy-urbanlegend.com. Giuliani’s treatment of our brothers and sisters with the Fire Department of New York after the terrorist attacks prevents the nation’s career firefighters from...

NEW YORK - Mayor Michael Bloomberg says preliminary air quality tests showed no danger Sunday morning in the area around the Deutsche Bank building, which burned for almost seven hours Saturday. The seven-alarm blaze brought back all too painful memories for the New York City Fire Department as the burning building, abandoned after 9/11, claimed two more lives. Robert Beddia, 54, had been on the job 23 years and was assigned to Engine 24. Joseph Graffagnino, 33, joined the FDNY eight years ago and was assigned to Ladder 5. "There were two men who were dedicated to helping this city...

Firefighters die in blaze by ground zero By VERENA DOBNIK, Associated Press Writer 22 minutes ago NEW YORK - A seven-alarm fire ripped through an abandoned skyscraper next to ground zero in Lower Manhattan Saturday, killing two firefighters who were responding to the blaze. ADVERTISEMENT Officers at the scene were preventing nearby residents from returning to their homes, telling them that authorities were concerned the former Deutsche Bank office building, vacant since the 2001 terrorist attacks turned it into a toxic nightmare, could fall. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that fear turned out to be unfounded. The plume of gray smoke...

Wednesday's steam pipe explosion happened several blocks away, but judging from recent angry exchanges between city and United Nations officials, if a similar emergency occurs at the U.N. building, rescue efforts are not likely to run nearly as efficiently as they did Wednesday on 41st Street and Lexington Avenue. Increasingly contentious haggling over issues such as legal jurisdiction and procurement rights have stymied efforts to address hundreds of violations of safety codes discovered at the U.N. building recently, more than 50 years after it was built, U.N. leaders have been slow to address them, frustrating the city's commissioner for the...

Possible GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson had two meetings on Rudolph Giuliani's home turf today. Thompson met with Michael Long, head of the state conservative party and with Steve Cassidy, president of the firefighters union. Yesterday, the International Association of Fire Fighters released a video, criticizing Giuliani's handling of 9/11. When asked about the controversy, the former Tennessee senator, a Republican, refused to weigh in and would not comment on Giuliani's record on 9/11. "I have the greatest respect for Steve and his organization and what they're doing,” said Thompson. “I've read about it but I don't have enough knowledge...

Possible GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson had two meetings on Rudolph Giuliani's home turf today. Thompson met with Michael Long, head of the state conservative party and with Steve Cassidy, president of the firefighters union. Yesterday, the International Association of Fire Fighters released a video, criticizing Giuliani's handling of 9/11. When asked about the controversy, the Tennessee Republican refused to weigh in and would not comment on Giuliani's record on 9/11. "I have the greatest respect for Steve and his organization and what they're doing,” said Thompson. “I've read about it but I don't have enough knowledge about it, and...

The FDNY is testing out a high-tech system to keep track of firefighters when they're battling blazes The fire department is working with the U.S. Navy to come up with a small, but hardy, electronic chip to lodge in firefighters' gear. The chip would transmit a signal when firefightrers moved near their trucks. That would let firefighters take roll automatically, instead of by hand. Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta says it would make firefighters' work safer. For example, the system could help make sure all firefighters are accounted for after they have to clear out of a burning building. The city...

Five Babies Saved From Harlem Apartment Fire February 12, 2007 Five babies are alive today thanks to the quick work of family and firefighters who saved them from a raging fire in Harlem. Flames erupted just before 3:30 Sunday afternoon at a building at Lennox Avenue and 116th Street. It's unclear what sparked the three alarm fire, but it's not considered suspicious. Victor Coit was able to rescue two of his grandchildren, but firefighters wouldn't let him go back for his twin granddaughters. "We escaped through the fire escape, through the living room window and came down, and as I...

Whiskey co.'s Bravest effort BY RICHARD WEIR DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER In 212 years, not much has changed on the label of a Jim Beam bottle - except the occasional addition of a new name to a list of distillers that spans seven generations. But the Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey has a new label in New York that pays tribute to the legacy of a fallen firefighter. Replacing the time-honored red seal and Jim Beam family crest is a red firefighter's helmet emblazoned with "343" - the number of firefighters who died on Sept. 11, 2001. Next to the helmet,...

President Bush hailed an FDNY paramedic last night at an Iftar dinner marking Islam's Ramadan holidays - calling the Brooklyn man courageous and compassionate and citing his near-death experience at Ground Zero on 9/11... "Paramedic Muhammad is a proud Muslim. He is a patriotic American."

The day after President Bush quoted her by name in his televised national address, 9/11 widow RoseEllen Dowdell was glowing. "I was kind of dumbfounded. It was pretty amazing to hear a President say your name," Dowdell, 49, said yesterday. Her husband, Kevin, a lieutenant with Rescue 4 in Queens, died in the World Trade Center attacks. "It was an honor for him to mention us." On Monday, the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Dowdell watched rapt from her Breezy Point home as the commander in chief described meeting her this year at West Point's graduation, where her...

Yesterday the President participated in 9/11 ceromonies in New York including attending a memorial service. Today he attended a ceremony at the Fort Pitt Firehouse on the lower east side of Manhattan afterwhich he travelled to Shanksville, Pennsylvania to lay a wreath at the Flight 93 crash site. He and the First Lady then went to the Pentagon to lay another wreath at the crash site there as in Shanksville the President and first lady met with families of those who lost their lives after the wreath laying ceremony. Yesterday the Vice President appeared on the Meet the Press. Today...

I just found this very touching video and thought I'd pass it along. The singer/song writer, Kristi Nelson, has a beautiful voice. Click on : Watch Mama Will Hold Me video at the link above (I couldn't get it to work in cable mode but it worked in 56k mode) It's been a tough day. Never Forget.