By living in a municipality, you get certain benefits as paid for by your taxes. These include police dept., fire dept., public schooling, etc. When you choose to live in a forest, you forgo certain protections by virtue of choosing not to participate in said municipalities. Some do this intentionally.
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When you choose to live in a forest, you are privy to the dangers of living with the surrounding hazards, as you are when you live in a city, a flood plain, on a fault, etc. You should mitigate potential and possible damages to the best of your abilities, and accept the dangers associated with your choices.
Enter Federal Protection. When the surrounding forest is on fire, and you have not paid for municipal fire protection, what do you do? Good question. Have we deemed that our federal dollars should go to protect the property of those who have chosen to live in a place that does not provide those services? I don’t think so, but I’m probably mistaken.
When said house burns down, should said homeowner get federal aid to rebuild their home? I suppose, since we give people money to build their homes after repeated flooding, earthquake, and hurricane damage. I don’t understand insurance, so I can’t really comment on it. Well, I understand how its supposed to work, but I don’t fully get how it does work. But that’s why I’m paying them.
I’ll talk about “let it burn” in a different posting so I don’t come off as a complete lunatic in just one message…
hey andy, i’m using an absolutely lovely and amazing powerbook g4 in soho to write to you and say hello. if you and michelle ever want to vacation in new york you’re more than welcome to stay at my apartment. i suppose re: federal protection, since they do pay their federal taxes they can get support from the federal government, but don’t the feds give money to states who in turn give or loan it out to individuals? but in the end, i guess it’s a part of the welfare that we get in our country.
oh, i just visited the highly touted prada store by rem koolhaas, and it’s a bit disappointing architecturally. and my second night in new york, i ran into meghan mccarthy and joe capp at 28th and 3rd.
Good points. Now this is a bad example, but suppose people live in the way of wildfires in Malibu? (Yes, many would say Californians should burn.) Anyway, should the rich people who build within M-bu receive federal aid?Your hurricane example is a good one — I lived through three, one of which damaged my home, property, and pulled the roof off of my garage.Most homeowners’ policies don’t cover flooding; my insurance company paid for my roof and fence, but had my house been a victim of storm surge I would have had to get help from FEMA. I lived downtown, a mile from the Cape Fear and five miles from the ocean, well within city limits. While I would have felt sorry for myself, I wouldn’t feel sorry for people who live on the beach (especially ones who rebuilt there last time their house fell in). But a fire is big . . . I don’t know.
I have company visiting from Wisconsin, hence less computer time. Also, the brat pack is a play on the rat pack: Sammy Davis Jr., Sinatra, etc. In the 80s, there were a bunch of new teen/twenties actors referred to as the brat pack. You ARE Keith. Cool.