The Washington Post reports that a firefighter has been killed fighting wildfires near San Diego.
It is clear that our war on fire is a complete and utter failure, and that we should immediately pull out of California and allow the wildfire to run its course. Furthermore why are we fighting fires near San Diego when the real fires are near Los Angeles. It is clear that we cannot afford to give the President a blank check, and should withhold funding to the Forestry Service and FEMA until he can demonstrate a real plan for dealing with these fires. As one Bush Administration official put it:
“There’s fire on so many fronts, it’s not even manageable at this point,” said Chris Cade, a fire prevention technician with the U.S. Forest Service, as he watched a pillar of smoke he estimated at 9,000 feet rise into a hazy sky thick with ash. “I am at a loss what you can do about it.”
Of course the Administration keeps trying to put a positive spin on things despite the record of failure.
California Forestry Department incident commander John Hawkins told exhausted firefighters not to give up.
“We hear losses,” he said. “But the bottom line is we don’t hear how many were saved, how many of you put your name, your body, your heart on the line to save the houses.”
The war against fire in California is a quagmire. It’s time to let the UN fight these fires for us.
(In all seriousness, my condolences to the family of a fallen firefighter. In many ways they put themselves on the line just as often as soldiers do, and many have given their lives in the service of their country. Their sacrifice is another example of the strength of character that makes this nation what it is.)
LOL… I heartily approve. And offer my condolences.
Or more accurately:
The recent fire in California demonstrates perfectly why we must continue our War on Water. When the fire hit, the threat from water could no longer be ignored. I applaud the President for his foresight and judgement in continuing the battle against water, as a fire like this one can never be allowed to happen again. Imagine if water could give dangerous liquid to the fire: the only warning we may have is a steam cloud over a major city.
It almost seems like you’ve been waiting in hope that a firefighter would die as an excuse to make this dopey analogy.
JR: Obviously you never took the SATs. I can guarantee you that the analogy terrorism:Iraq :: water:fire would not be the right answer.
Mark,
No. The left waited for soldiers and marines to die so that THEY could make the dopey statement in the first place.
Jay is capably lampooning it.
You may proceed to the next strawman.
Mitch, the only way you or Jay are gonna be able to sell the parallel of fighting wildfires in California to waging pre-emptive war in Iraq is if the fire departments set the blazes themselves as an excuse to go out and extinguish them. This happens in the sense of “controlled burns”, so maybe that’s not so far off. If that were the case, it would be just as hard to feel sorry for the fire department after scorching the Earth with a blaze they set themselves as it is to feel sorry for Bush having instigated a war and now being scorched by the outcome of that deplorable decision.
Yes, poor Saddam didn’t do a thing to anyone, and big mean George W. Bush just had to go and get rid of him…
Actually, the metaphor of Iraq as a “controlled burn” is a good one. A controlled burn is done to prevent a larger fire from spreading by taking away its source of fuel – which is exactly what the rebuilding of Iraq is designed to do.
O/T, Jay, but for the record I was quite satisfied with my 750 verbal score.
And a controlled burn only works if it’s placed right. The “controlled burn” that is Iraq belonged near Rancho Cucamunga and was placed in upstate Oregon instead.
How horrid is this metaphor that you have foisted upon us, Mr. Reding.
And should I point out that, unlike Saddam Hussein, the California fires actually HAVE caused American deaths at home? Terror might fit the wildfire meme, but Saddam is more like an open-pt barbecue than a roaring blaze. At least he was before the war. God knows where that loose ember will lodge itself, and what it might cause to burn now.