When I was a kid, and a female friend wanted to join the mostly male dominated conversation, which was of course about sports. The female friend stated with confidence that Babe Ruth had in fact pitched 118 perfect games. The rest of us at the table did not wait to burst into laughter. It was not because of an innate streak of cruelty, or even a desire to shun the girl from future conversations. It was simply because we could not help it. The statistic, even in as much as baseball was invented exclusively for those of us wonkish enough to enjoy statistic analysis, was so preposterous, that uncontrollable laughter was the only choice our brains gave us.
Over the last couple of days, I have seen some of the most misleading goofy statistics parroted from the Soros talking point memos as though they were some sort of original thought. What amuses me most about these repetitions is hard to say. Is it the fact that the statistics are either flat out laughably false or misleading? Is it that I will hear or read the stats and talking points from a veritable montage of people as if they developed the argument themselves? (Oddly enough, those same people are the ones who’s chief rebuttal to the arguments that I lay out will invariably be, “quit watching/listening to Fox News, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, what have you.) Is it the complete randomness of the talking point as if its author were just flailing about hoping some piece of dirt would eventually stick?
This morning, from about 17 different places, Rick Perry is the latest recipient of the honor of the baloney statistic. Today I learned that Governor Perry cut firefighting funding in Texas by 75%. When you stop laughing, please continue, I’ll give you a minute. This figure is so idiotic, comment on it seems juvenile. Conservatives, feel free to skip to the next paragraph, for you liberals, I’ll be happy to indulge you in this debate. Do you really believe that any budget anywhere in the known universe is capable of being slashed by 75%. In a time and age in our country when half of our political leaders whine like toddlers when talk is put forward of slashing budgets by as much as 0.63%, do you think it is possible to cut a municipal budget by as much as say, 3%, let alone 75%? The figure is laughable just on its face.
Now that the Conservatives have rejoined us, we’ll continue our argument. First off, the whole fire department thing is a local endeavor in every other community on the planet. Local municipalities are responsible for providing their own police and fire. I have heard not one thing ever from any of my friends in Texas which would lead me to believe that this fact of life is any different there. Texans, feel free to correct me if I am mistaken. Secondly, when ever a fiscal conservative attempts to shut the spigots off in terms of money hemorrhaging from the public largess, why is it always the vital services which are affected and not the pet projects that carry no actual value. I am certain that there is some Cowboy Poetry Festival in Texas which can be shut down before we fire almost every fire fighter in the state. We have a volunteer fire department in my community, and we also raise our own local taxes to support our own department. Ohio contributes not one penny. Why should the folks in Hamilton County be responsible for paying for the fire protection for Lorain County. The residents of Elyria, Ohio should not be asked to support the residents of Cleveland. Each community is responsible for their own affairs. Texas is no different.
That the state of Texas ever used state funds to support local fire departments is the real story here. This brings up another point. Once something gets itself added to the public dole, it is considered off limits for discontinuation. Every year we have a national debate about budgets and deficits. States and municipalities have the same thing. Every year, when people notice that our spending is insane, we will have some pundit smugly ask, where are you going to cut, as if we were financial lemmings, locked into our current national suicide pact. Yesterday, Joe Scarborough, as though it were the dumbest thing he had ever heard, blasted Michelle Bachman for suggesting that we should shut down the Department of Education. He stated as a matter of fact that this made Bachman extreme. The Department of Education did not exist prior to Jimmy Carter’s disastrous 4 years as President. It has not in any measurable way succeeded at anything. The state of our educational system has rapidly deteriorated under the governance of this relatively new directorate. Yet, according to Scarborough, it is considered as something which should be held as untouchable, merely since it is already on the budget. The only spending mentioned in the U.S. Constitution is defense spending. How’s that for extreme? With the money Perry saves by not spending the state’s funds on something clearly not within the realm of the state’s responsibility, he will be able to tax the citizens of Texas less. With the money saved, Texans will be able to determine how much of that they wish to spend on their fire protection. That is their business, and not the business of George Soros, who by the way does not live in Texas.
Side note: If this is the best you Democrats have to throw at Governor Perry, you are in deep dodo.
Cross Posted at Musings of a Mad Conservative.
