Free Republic

Whenever I'm driving around with the kids and we happen to pass a firefighter washing his prized engine, which looks like it was washed the day before, outside the station, I tend to slow down or even pull over and have the kids marvel at this heroic public servant for a minute. "Kids,"I say, "that guy probably became a firefighter at 22 and by the time he's 52, he's going to collect a pension of about $80K per year for the next 35 years." "Wow," the kids say, and I like to think they're being sincere. "Timmy (not his real...