and THIS is why I don't like people

Have we all heard about THIS by now?

So, apparently Obion County, Tennessee, doesn't have it's own fire department. About 20 years ago, in lieu of getting one they made a deal with neighboring South Fulton to help them out... on a subscription basis: $75 annually gets you on a "list" of homes the South Fulton Fire Department is compelled to save. An "insurance premium" for a civil service, basically. Why not just pay into South Fulton's fund via a tax and make sure ALL of Obion County's homes were covered? Well, we're talking about the Heartland of America, remember, so you've probably answered your own question: A TAX!? What are you, a SOCIALIST!!?? ;)

So a week ago, a couple of houses in Obion County caught fire. The firefighters came out and promptly hosed-down the home that had "paid up." The one next door, where the fire had originated, was not paid up... and not only did they just let it burn - they didn't rescue the cat and three dogs who were trapped inside and burned to death.

Now... setting aside the fact that this kind of bullshit is EXACTLY why I gave up calling myself a "Libertarian" - I mean holy hell, people, I think even Galt's Gulch probably eventually got a fucking fire truck... though, for my "Conservative" readers, here's YOUR GUY defending the policy while his sidekick makes fun of the victim. Really. For fuck's sake... even the most rigidly anti-social-spending people will usually make the obvious exception for police and firefighting.

But setting aside all that, even IF you can "get behind" this whole a'la carte civil service thing... HOW exactly can anyone from the fire department upwards justify letting the animals die along with the house? Alright, he didn't pay to protect the HOUSE so they "had to" let that burn, okay, maybe... but the pets didn't have any "say" in whether or not the check got mailed!

What kind of human being is either staffing or running this fire department that doesn't help them anyway when the tools to do so are literally right at their disposal? Would they have also done nothing were the homeowner himself trapped inside? I almost don't want to know...

So the next time my tongue slips about vast stretches of "humanity" being basically worthless? THIS KIND OF CRAP is probably what I'm talking about.