| Man, this is almost literary in its development. Rep. John Sinrud, whom you may remember from such films as "So I married someone who is completely out of touch with reality" and "Assault is a form of speech," is the man responsible for killing a Republican bill to establish a firefighting fund, so that firefighting operations wouldn't have to be funded with accounting gimmicks and IOUs.
Well, Sinrud played his game, even asking recently during an Audit Committee hearing, "Where is it that we have to protect those structures? Why not just let them burn?" Now, I'm sure this was nothing more than an attempt to flesh out first principles using the always popular Socratic method, but it does beg some awfully good questions, including "Where is that we have to enforce laws? Why not just let them be broken?" and "Where is it that we need to prevent violence? Why not just let people be assaulted?" Oh, wait, I already forgot, beating up on people is free speech in Sinrud bizarro universe.
Now, hilariously, Republicans have been attacking the Governor for vetoing a tax credit for firefighters, even as their own party's leadership gutted a proposal to fund those firefighters' paychecks. Given how expensive this firefighting season was, it'll probably require a second special session, meaning that Montana Republicans just may hold the dubious honor of turning 2007 into the first year in Montana history that the legislature had to convene three times because they kept f***ing up (someone may want to look into that, 'cause I think there's got to be a special place in history for Sales, Lange, and Sinrud, the men to whom we owe our gratitude for this situation).
Anyways, let's just keep in mind that Sinrud's response to big fire costs was to Monday Morning QB and suggest that the state should have just let the fires burn down people's houses.
All of this, of course, comes about a year after their last banner carrier, Conrad Burns, called firefighters lazy (hmm, maybe they already are letting these structures burn, they're just getting paid for it).
And the big Republican solution? Whine about tax cuts.
Brilliant. |
