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THE PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL FATHER 

A father had two sons, one his own, the other, a stepson. On a frigid, frost bitten day. he tenderly dresses his own son in woolen socks, fleece lined boots, long flannel underwear, layers of over garments, a heavy winter coat, mittens, a scarf, ear muffs, a woolen hat,  embraces him with a warm, loving hug and puts a cup of hot chocolate in his hand. The stepson, he ignores leaving him nearly naked in summer underwear.  The warmly dressed son goes outside to play in the snow while the nearly naked stepson stays inside.  Later on, the father notices the stepson in the house. The father is perplexed. He cannot understand.  He asks him, "Why are you not outside with your brother playing in the snow?" He scolds his stepson, yelling "Go to your room until I figure out why, in heaven's name,  you are not outside playing in the snow." With a tear in his eye and his head cast down, the stepson shivers as he goes to the "sidelines", we mean, his room. The father seeing the tear in his stepson's eye and his cast down head, turns his back and offers his stepson no comfort. The father then calls a press conference at which he bumptiously announces to the world that "The little bastard has no excuse for not being outside in the snow". Upon hearing the father publicly slander his stepson, those who know the full story recoil in utter disbelief and vehement disgust. 

 

It's nearly Christmas so it's appropriate for us to ask: 

Do you believe in miracles?

We do.  There are just too many extraordinary "coincidences" for us to believe anything else! 

Captain Peter Bosco, his battalion and division chiefs - three innocent and honorable fire officers - are trapped amidst reprehensible accusations foully uttered against them by a smug, small minded, image-conscious, knuckleheaded mayor trying to frame them as scapegoats (click here) to protect his tea and crumpet cronies (click here).  A craven fire commissioner metaphorically hides in the corner of his headquarters,  rolled up in a ball, snivelling and whimpering, afraid to stand up to the mayor in defense of his fire department and his three innocent and honorable fire officers even though he has the means to do so (click here).  Cowed by the bumptious mayor and the feckless commissioner, the officer corps of FDNY have stood by in shameful silence (click here). 

Under siege by the mayor - abandoned by the fire commissioner - bereft of their fellow officers, is there none with the courage to rescue Captain Peter Bosco, his battalion and division chiefs?

Oh, but, there is. 

If we told you that the courageous rescuers turn out to be brother firefighters, you would not be surprised - because rescuing and being courageous are what firefighters ordinarily do. However, the rescuers are somewhat different than ordinary firefighters.  Moreover, the manner in which they have effected the rescue is somewhat extraordinary. Recall John 15:13: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."  Before ascending to heaven, the heroic firefighters who made the supreme sacrifice on 9/11 (click here)  somehow managed to leave behind sacred bits and pieces of themselves (click here) as landmarks on a trail that leads to the innocence of Captain Bosco, his battalion chief and his division chief.  Even death itself could not stop these courageous heroes from defying both space and time to rescue their brother firefighters in distress!

How they did it is unknown. 

That they did it is beyond dispute. 

As it was said in the beginning, there are just too many extraordinary "coincidences" for us to believe anything else!

Traditionally, firefighters do not abandon their own. FDNY Headquarters put together an official FDNY operation in which firefighters searched for the sacred remains of the heroic firefighters who made the supreme sacrifice on 9/11 (click here).   In the summer of 2002, in response to a subliminal summons, "Search for us here", firefighters attempted to enter the toxic Deutsche Bank Building at 130 Liberty Street. The owners, however, barred their entry.  'The building is too toxic to enter', the owners warned. The firefighters were persistent so the impasse rose to the level of Bloomberg and Scoppetta.  Here is how the New York Daily News reported it on June 11, 2002 in an article by GREG GITTRICH entitled, Bank Blocks Hunt For 9/11:

The owners of a mold-infested office tower near Ground Zero refused again yesterday to let firefighters search the building for human remains, contending the mystery fungus there poses a health risk, sources said. Lawyers for Deutsche Bank, which owns 130 Liberty St., told city officials the building should remain off limits until the results of environmental tests come back this week. While the delay upset victims' relatives, Mayor Bloomberg said it was reasonable to be cautious. He insisted Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta also wanted to hold off on the search. "I asked him point-blank, was this something that Deutsche Bank was slowing us down, or did he want that test done first? And he said quite explicitly he does not want to jeopardize the lives of our firefighters," the mayor said. "He would prefer to wait two more days."

The impasse accomplished three things that would later help in the defense of Captain Peter Bosco, his battalion chief and his division chief:

1. Bloomberg and Scoppetta were warned that 130 Liberty Street was extraordinarily toxic.
2. Bloomberg and Scoppetta paused. They did not want to "jeopardize the lives of our firefighters" by exposing them to the toxicity of 130 Liberty Street.
   
3. Bloomberg and Scoppetta concurred -- at least temporarily -- with Deutsche Bank's position that 130 Liberty Street ought to be "off limits" to firefighters.
   

Having firefighters trying to enter a toxic building, having been "warned" of its toxicity, having "paused" out of concern for the firefighter's safety and having "concurred" - at least temporarily -  to the building being "off limits" to the firefighters, surely Bloomberg and Scoppetta in June 2002 initiated within FDNY the process of planning on how to get firefighters safely into and safely out of contaminated buildings during building inspections?  Surely, the diabolic duo (click here) were not just a pair of bumbling knuckleheads who, upon discovering a problem, stuck their heads up their keisters like ostriches stick their heads in the sand in lieu of solving the problem?

Alas, it turns out that Bloomberg and Scoppetta indeed were a pair of bumbling knuckleheads. The impasse did not prompt them to initiate within the FDNY a process of planning for toxic building inspections. The mayor and the commissioner did nothing.

In addition to "the impasse", other events occurred that should have prompted the diabolic duo (click here) to initiate within FDNY the process of planning on how to get firefighters safely into and safely out of contaminated buildings during building inspections including the following:

1. September 11, 2001 (9/11) when the buildings at ground zero became toxic (Click Here) How can they not address the toxicity created by 9/11?
   
2. August 5, 2003 when Chief of FDNY Operations, Salvatore J. Cassano, issued his comments about the effect on FDNY of the proposed construction work at 130 Liberty St (Click Here).
3. November 5, 2003, when Bloomberg and Scoppetta celebrated the reopening of the Ten House and saw with their own eyes the contaminated Deutsche Bank Building looming sinisterly next door (Click Here),
   
4. September 10, 2004  When NYC et. al. were sued by firefighters, police officers and rescue workers and others who worked on "the pile" and elsewhere for not protecting them from the 9/11 toxins (Click Here)
   
5. November 22, 2004 when Bloomberg issued his Executive Order # 53 creating the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center that was in charge of the construction and deconstruction at toxic ground zero  (Click Here)
   
6. Sometime before late December 2006 Early January 2007: When the CIDS card was created for 130 Liberty Street. (Click Here)
7. Sometime before late December 2006 Early January 2007:  When firefighters started getting sick from 9/11 toxins (Click Here) Just take a look at the timeline in FDNY's Report entitled World Trade Center Health Impacts on FDNY Rescue Workers and you will see scores of events that ought to have - but did not - trigger concern about firefighters entering contaminated buildings to do B.I. (Click Here) On the one hand information is pouring into FDNY Headquarters about all of the firefighters suffering from the effects of exposure and inhalation of 9/11 toxins; on the other hand, FDNY Headquarters is doing no planning to safeguard their firefighters from further exposure to 9/11 toxins. Can't you see that we have reason to refer to Scoppetta and Bloomberg as the diabolic duo (click here)
8. These are but a few of the events that ought to have triggered the process of planning on how to get FDNY firefighters safely into and out of contaminated buildings for building inspections (B.I.)  There are countless more.
   

From the lack of giving the Ten House and other local firehouses a plan to safely inspect toxic buildings in their administrative districts, the conclusion can be drawn that FDNY Headquarters had absolutely no expectation whatsoever that toxic buildings would be inspected. Surely Bloomberg and Scoppetta are not as cruel as the heartless generals who ordered the suicidal charge of the fire brigade (click here)? As arrogant as they are, are we being naive in thinking that Bloomberg and Scoppetta will eventually concede that they screwed up?

After the impasse at the Deutsche Bank ended in June of 2002, a few remains were found within 130 Liberty Street in 2002 (Click Here).  Many more, however, stayed hidden and were overlooked until 2005 and 2006 when they miraculously rose and once again demanded Bloomberg's and Scoppetta's attention.

In about September 2005, here is what LMDC said

(Click Here)  FDNY firefighters in an operation officially sanctioned by FDNY Headquarters were intimately and actively involved in the new search at 130 Liberty Street. Here is what LMDC said (Click Here) :

The discovery of "potential human remains" created an inconvenient problem for Bloomberg.  Bloomberg had a "compact timeline" for doing the work at ground zero. See the excerpt below from Bloomberg's Executive Order #53 (For the entire executive order, (Click Here)

 

The Discovery of Potential Human Remains interfered with Bloomberg's "compact timeline". Why? Because when potential human remains are found, work stops. Here is what LMDC says (Click Here) 

The sacred bits and pieces left behind on 9/11 are a potent political force.  Even politicians as bumptious as Bloomberg must put aside their "compact timeline" and pause as a token of respect for the dead. So when Con Ed found more remains in 2006, Bloomberg took action - he issued a press release (Click Here).

Please keep in mind that Bloomberg's Press Release is dated October 27, 2006. This is months before Captain Peter Bosco arrived at the Ten House. 

In his press release Bloombeg said that "high ranking-officials" of FDNY participated in an "emergency meeting" called by the discovery of the sacred bits and pieces left behind as a landmark to the innocence of Captain Peter Bosco and his battalion and deputy chief (See red underlining). Moreover, "representatives" from FDNY participated in another meeting to discuss "implementation" (See red underlining).  The discovery of more sacred bits and pieces now prompted Bloomberg to call for "the development of protocols" (see blue underlining) for future construction within the contaminated ground zero area.  Moreover, Bloomberg called for further inspections of the toxic Deutsche Bank Building (See Yellow underlining). Bloomberg added that his "compact timeline" would not be disturbed by these discoveries (See green underlining). (Note that the Press contact, Francis C. Gribbon, is an FDNY Commissioner.) In short, FDNY Headquarters was all over this.  It wasn't the local firehouse. It was FDNY Headquarters.  The search for Potential Human Remains as they call it was a FDNY Headquarters mission.  It was not a mission of the local firehouse.

Furthermore, October 27, 2006 is more than 5 years after the terrorist attack of 9/11 contaminated the buildings at ground zero with deadly toxins.  It took more than 5 years for Bloomberg to call for the development of a "protocol" to handle the search for potential human remains within the contaminated ground zero area. But why limit it solely to workers searching for potential human remains? Why call for it 5 years too late? What about calling for a protocol to protect workers on "the pile"?  Why not call for a protocol for workers entering and working within contaminated buildings doing building inspections?  Why blame three innocent fire officers for failing to inspect a toxic building when you have not called for a protocol to protect them from the toxins therein? Can you answer us Mr. Mayor? Can you answer us Mr. Scoppetta? Is it the three innocent fire officers who were not doing their jobs or is it you?

Recall what a testy Mayor Bloomberg was reported to have said in a report by Marcia Kramer concerning the "sidelining" the the three FDNY scapegoats (Click Here).  [When you read it, read it to yourself in a nasal, high-pitched, and bumptious tone](Also, click here):

"Can't conceive of how anybody thinks we should leave anybody in a position where there's a question as to whether or not they were taking the steps to keep the city safe," Bloomberg said. "That's what their job is."

 
I guess better late than never.  But who wants to make a bet? Did Bloomberg call for the protocol because he did not want any further inconvenient discoveries of potential human remains to interfere with his "compact timeline" or did he call for it out of his desire to safeguard workers in a contaminated and toxic work environment (Click Here)?  Surely, to the bumptious billionaire the adverse health consequences caused by ground zero toxins are viewed merely as a "cost of doing business". He and Scoppetta are, after all, "numbers guys". Like the tin man, they don't have a heart, right?. Perhaps, however, we are being too harsh in our judgment of these poor, misunderstood politicians. Maybe they do have a heart.  Perhaps the problem is something else.  Perhaps they are more like the scarecrow - they just don't have a brain.

It is the sacred bits and pieces of the heroic firefighters who made the supreme sacrifice on 9/11 (click here) and others that triggered Bloomberg's call for a protocol.  No mere mortal event seems to be able to push the bumptious billionaire to act for the health and safety of ground zero workers in a toxic environment. Are you not yet beginning to see that there are just too many extraordinary "coincidences" taking place here?

Bloomberg called for his protocol in an October 27, 2006 press release.  How long did it take to develop Bloomberg's Protocol? By November 13, 2006 a final draft was on the table - that's less than a month! [Note: Those who follow this blog should review the story about Batberg and Boy Blunder (Click Here) for the plan you are about to see is the plan referred to in the story] It  consists of 7 pages.  The final draft was done well before Captain Peter Bosco arrived at the Ten House. Take a look at Page 1.

By its very words, it proclaims that it established safety and health requirements and calls for all "participating agencies" to adhere to the plan. We will learn on the next page that FDNY was one of the participating agencies.  Keep in mind also that Bloomberg announced in his October 27, 2006 Press Release that Bloomberg intended to have the toxic Deutsche Bank Building re-searched for potential human remains so this plan obviously was intended to apply to the new search there. 

Also note the words underlined in blue.  A hazard assessment was performed to identify exposures and establish controls.  What is this?  These are well known technical lingo and a well known industry standard for work within contaminated work zones. Before an employer may place an employee in a contaminated area, a hazard assessment must be done.  This is required by law.  During a hazard assessment, "exposures" are identified and "controls" established to contain and neutralize the "exposures" so the health of the workers are protected.  Hmmm. Wouldn't you like to see FDNY's Hazard Assessment, the exposures FDNY discovered and the controls FDNY established prior to sending or at least pretending to send firefighters into toxic buildings in general and 130 Liberty Street in particular?   Don't bother asking because FDNY Headquarters did not do a hazard assessment in preparation for pretending to send its firefighters into toxic buildings in general and 130 Liberty Street in particular.  Can you now see that we have reason to believe that Bloomberg and Scoppetta are trying to scapegoat three innocent fire officers and why we think that Bloomberg and Scoppetta are no good dirty rotten bastards!  In their haste to blame three innocent fire officers, Bloomberg and Scoppetta failed to find out among other things whether FDNY Headquarters did the necessary Hazard Assessment before sending NYC employees into a contaminated work zone. It's one or the other: the bumptious billionaire and the feckless commissioner are either heartless or brainless.

Here is Page 2 

 Page 2 is merely evidence that shows the fingers of FDNY Headquarters all over this.  Here is Page 3

Personal Protective Equipment! OSHA standards! "Each agency" ... "shall be required to ensure that each of their employees wearing a respirator received the required training...", "medical clearance", "fit-testing".  This is what it takes.  This is the means.  This is the ability that former FDNY Fire Commissioner Von Essen spoke about (Click Here) Don't you get it? Isn't the picture starting to become clear?  THEY FIGURED IT OUT.  By November 13, 2006, they knew how to get firefighters safely into and out of the toxic Deutsche Bank Building.  AND THE MORONS DID NOT TELL THE TEN HOUSE OR ANY OTHER LOCAL FIREHOUSE HOW TO DO IT!  THEY APPLIED THEIR KNOW-HOW SOLELY TO ONE FDNY MISSION: THE SEARCH FOR POTENTIAL HUMAN REMAINS.  They did not share their know-how with the local firehouse.  They did not apply their know-how to FDNY building inspections - which are the Cinderella of all FDNY missions. As we shall see later, for some perverse reason, FDNY is still trying to come up with a plan for safe building inspections of toxic work zones when the plan already exists! Let me repeat. FDNY HQ is still trying to figure out a plan to inspect toxic buildings when the plan was already developed in November of 2006. How confused is FDNY headquarters?

Here is page 4.

On page 4, you see the necessity of the suit within the suit of PPE (yellow underline) and of decontamination. 

Here is page 5

Here is page 6

Notice the words underlined in red.  These requirements come out of various OSHA standards.  By now, I am boring you by telling you that with regard to FDNY Building Inspections of toxic buildings, FDNY did none of this.

Here is page 7 the final page

Needless to say that the level at which this plan was put together was not at the level of the local firehouse nor was it at the level of a battalion chief nor at the level of a division chief.  This plan was put together by the very top of FDNY. Needless to say, FDNY Headquarters never gave the TEN HOUSE a copy of any written plan by which to conduct their Building Inspections of the toxic Deutsche Bank Building.  Nor any training on how to implement it, nor any equipment with which to implement it, nor any drills to practice implementing it, etc.

To summarize where we stand right now. There were two FDNY missions

1. The Search for Potential Human Remains
2. Building Inspections of toxic buildings
   

By November of 2006, FDNY in conjunction with other agencies figured out how to safely navigate personnel into and out of contaminated work zones.  The moron-in-chief at FDNY Headquarters applies this know-how solely to one FDNY mission: the search for potential human remains but not to the other FDNY mission: building inspections of toxic buildings. Then the moron-in-chief can't understand why those firefighters "apparently - but not really" tasked with the mission of doing building inspections of toxic buildings, didn't do them.  I guess that's why he's moron-in-chief. Its akin to the parent with two children.  In the bitter cold winter, the parent dresses up one child with a heavy winter coat, mittens, a scarf, long underwear, and a warm woollen hat but leaves his other child in his summer underwear and, with a stupid grin on his face, wonders aloud to the under dressed child who is standing there shivering, "Hey, how come you're not out playing in the snow?"

But it gets worse.

FDNY Headquarters staged the search for Potential Human Remains out of the Ten House.

In other words, with regard to the firefighters who were doing the search for potential human remains, FDNY Headquarters protected them with the November 2006 Bloomberg Protocol, while the firefighters who were supposed to inspect the toxic Deutsche Bank Building were left to shiver undressed in their underwear unprotected and unloved like Cinderella  (Recall the story told a few paragraphs ago about the parent and the two children).  Scoppetta, the evil step-father of the Cinderella story, truly favored one FDNY mission - the search for potential human remains while screwing another FDNY mission: inspections of toxic buildings.  And the kicker is that both missions were being staged out of the same firehouse!

I apologize for redundancy but I am compelled to repeat what a testy Mayor Bloomberg said to Marcia Kramer concerning the "sidelining" the the three FDNY scapegoats (Click Here).  [Again, it sounds better when you read it to yourself in a nasal, high-pitched, and bumptious tone] (Also, click here):

"Can't conceive of how anybody thinks we should leave anybody in a position where there's a question as to whether or not they were taking the steps to keep the city safe," Bloomberg said. "That's what their job is."

FDNY is still trying to come up with a plan!  A plan was already figured out yet FDNY is still trying to come up with a plan.  Isn't the November 13 2006 Bloomberg Protocol a good enough plan? Doesn't the right hand of FDNY know what the left FDNY is up to? Why the confusion?

Since the August 18, 2007 fire, the FDNY Fire Commissioner has punished his firefighters by imposing upon them additional inspectorial duties (Click Here). Marcia Kramer and other news organizations have reported "chaos" in the FDNY as a result of these punitive new inspection rules (Click Here).  The chaos is alarming.

Haz-Mat training cannot be supervised due to the fire house responding to fire emergencies and FDNY does not know the training standard (Click Here)

Haz-Mat Ops doesn't have sufficient manpower to inspect toxic buildings. Training is still up in the air. No-one seems to know about the November 13 2006 Bloomberg Protocol.

Neither FDNY's Manhattan Brorough Command nor the Haz Mat Battalion seems to know about the November 13, 2006 Bloomberg Protocol.  The top of FDNY Hierarchy has pulled Haz-Mat off the job with regard to inspections of the toxic buildings. Haz Mat doesn't know the details of how inspections of toxic buildings are to be conducted. Training is being given but it is not site-specific as required by law (Click Here)

What kind of chaos and confusion is enveloping FDNY? It seems to stem from the top down not the bottom up.

* * * * * * * * * * 

We once again wish to thank Deep Throat for supplying FreePetey with the pertinent information. The trail of sacred bits and pieces led from 130 Liberty Street up to the office of the Mayor and the FDNY Commissioner and back to the Ten House where it converge with FDNY building inspections. That a trail was made is undisputed. How it was made is unknown.  As it was said in the beginning, there are just too many extraordinary "coincidences" for us to believe anything else!

* * * * * * * * * *

We do not know what Scoppetta's personal eschatology is so we will share with him ours.  When it comes time to give an account of himself at the gates of heaven and St. Peter asks whether there is anyone who would speak up about him, a heavenly host of firefighters will either boo him into hell or cheer him into heaven depending on whether he acts justly toward Captain Bosco, his battalion and divisions chiefs.  At this time of year and in memory of the great saint whose name he bears, Christmas is the appropriate time for him to exonerate the three honest and decorated fire officers he has "sidelined".  It is usually sooner than later that we must account for the good or ill we do.  Why not make Christmas the time of good cheer for the entire FDNY. Give the speech, Nick (click here).

 * * * * * * * * * *

Moreover, we should never forget that sacred bits and pieces are still being discovered.  PUT IT ABOVE GROUND. NEVER FORGET. SAFETY FIRST (click here).

* * * * * * * * * *

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
John 15:13: 

We pray for the repose of the souls of the faithfully departed who gave their lives on 9/11/2001 and on 8/18/2007 and may they, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen