Last night, I had to run to the neighbors to make a 911 call

[TalkingDog]

because my house was on fire. It's about 500 yards away and I was out of breath by the time I got there.

But my neighbors hadn't paid their yearly protection service fee. The fire department checked the caller ID against their records and said they wouldn't come out.


Or was it because we live near a "military target" (this is true) and our house never shows up right on the GPS, not even when the census guy walked right up to our house and touched it with the GPS Unit. (this actually happened) So when the fire department drove by which rescue services often do out here because of said GPS wonkiness, (also true) they thought we were the house that hadn't paid and refused to put out the fire.


Or was it because I live in a condo, and although I had paid my condo dues which included fire protection money, the condo president forgot, or ran off with the money or snorted it up his nose.


A government works for it's people. All of them. Welfare Queens, Scammers, Libertarians, Liberals, DINOs, RINOs Conservatives, Anarchists, Fascists....and the upright citizens who do what they are supposed to do because it is the right thing.

Allowing the worst of the worst to define your actions and beliefs through their action, inaction or beliefs means that your moral center is not yours. You are sharing it with deadbeats, ne'er do wells and other unkind people.

You allow them to define your morality and it is left wanting and, as a nation, we suffer from the lack.

[TexasObserver]

1. recommend

[Scout]

2. more ignorant spew on this tired subject n/t

[ClassWarrior]

3. As opposed to the brilliance of your post?

:rofl:

NGU.

[Scout]

7. and yours! n/t

[sandnsea]

4. And that's the point, no "nuance" necessary

"Allowing the worst of the worst to define your actions and beliefs through their action, inaction or beliefs means that your moral center is not yours. You are sharing it with deadbeats, ne'er do wells and other unkind people."

It applies to a whole lot more than a house fire as well. A whole lot of people exposed their ugly underbelly.

[petronius]

5. Last night my neighbor showed up on my doorstep in tears - he'd been so busy

patting himself on the back that he dislocated his shoulder and was unable to dial 911. Luckily, our county has a progressive system of taxation to support essential services, and so EMS came right out and made things better (they even gave him a lollipop)...

[Scout]

8. +10,000 n/t

[elehhhhna]

9. my neighbor asked if he could borrow my address for his housefire

i said no.

[TK421]

6. Recommended...it would be interesting to see a breakdown of opposed/favored

in this case...since every thread I have looked at on this story seems to have a healthy dose of both of these

and sometimes, I just don't know what the fuck to think

[Pithlet]

10. Most of the DUers aren't actually defending the practice

There may be a few, I don't know. I don't agree with them. But in the rush to condemn, the point is being missed that we're blaming the county, not defending the practice. The county isn't funding the fire department. It's two separate municipalities involved. The point is to not blame the fire department. Blame the county, which brought this whole mess on themselves for repeatedly voting it down. The city, in turn, didn't show up to fight this guy's fire because essentially they could no longer afford to show up for fires they weren't funded to.

But missing the point and twisting and distorting the opposing viewpoint seems to be the DU way!

[sfwriter]

11. But they did show up... and waited two hours while his house burned.

[tnlefty]

12. And I keep stating that the decent people in this state would've

pitched in and helped out, and in my neighborhood, even though I despise most of my neighbors, would've staged a mini riot if the fired dept. showed up and refused to put the fire out. In catastrophic events, we put aside our differences and help each other.

[Pithlet]

14. Eventually, for the neighbor. But the house had already burned down.

They did not come and watch the house burn as has been repeatedly claimed. The woman even doesn't blame them for what they did http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/oct/07/tennessee-woman-doesnt-blame-firefighters-who-let/. They didn't come because they hadn't paid. They'd already stopped coming for those who hadn't paid. They couldn't afford to do it anymore because people weren't paying.

[RandomThoughts]

13. What a deep comment.

I remember clearly working since I was 11 years old starting with a paper route, even working 30-40 hours a week during high school years.

Why? Because a good job, and honest work is not only a good part of life, but also personally rewarding.

But then things slid sideways for many that deserve better, so other work seemed to be more important, even if it did not pay anything.

It is also rewarding work.