Opinion: March 1, 2011 buzz: Hidden money, dwindling money, wasted money
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‘Despite how riveted we are by Washington blood sports, average citizens don’t always understand what ‘government’ means. That’s not because they’re dumb; it’s because the nature of government -- especially the programs it pays for that affect most Americans -- has changed drastically,’ writes Op-Ed columnist Gregory Rodriguez in his column Hidden federal benefits, which goes on to list the government benefits we may receive but not think of as such.
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In Jim Newton’s Tuesday column, Playing with fire, he sheds light on the budget-cutting at the L.A. Fire Department.
To compensate for dwindling resources, the department has been forced to adopt what it calls a ‘modified coverage plan,’ a rolling system of ‘brownouts.’ […] The result: Firefighters are often working in communities they don’t know, confronting dangers they have not been trained to address.’As a fire department, we’re at a tipping point,’ said Battalion Chief Chris Kawai, who discussed the department’s faltering strength with me recently at the Battalion 5 headquarters in Hollywood. One of his colleagues was blunter: ‘We’re being gutted.’Just hours after Kawai and I spoke, city and county firefighters responded to a house fire in the Hollywood Hills. As they battled that blaze, a ceiling collapsed. It came toppling down on Glenn Allen, who had served his city and department for 36 years. Allen was mortally wounded. On Feb. 18, he died.Allen was not killed by budget cuts, but his death was a poignant reminder of the heroism demanded of those who risk their lives for men and women they have never met.
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‘Did you watch the Oscars on Sunday? Did that look like a crowd in need of a government subsidy?’ asks Op-Ed contributor Michael Kinsley in Movie math.
In less than a decade, the absurd notion of welfare for movie producers has evolved from the kind of weird thing they do in France to an unshakable American tradition.
--Alexandra Le Tellier
