And now to Tennessee, the state that once brought us rock n' roll (at least the white version) and classic country, but gifts us now with earworm garbage like Kings of Leon and twee Taylor Swift and a WHOLE MESS O' CRAZY!
First, in the "nothing can possibly go wrong" category, Tennessee has become the 4th state in the US to pass a law that allows gun owners to carry concealed weapons into bars. Forgetting the rather obvious risks with this (people in bars never get in fights, naturally), there is also the completely silly, courtesy of this New York Times article, which tells of a recent incident in Virginia where a customer with a concealed weapon shot himself in the leg while drinking beer at a restaurant. And they said that smoking was dangerous to a bar patron's health.
And now for the "too crazy to be true" category.
Over in Obion County, we see what happens when laissez-faire reaches its logical conclusion. Obion County requires every homeowner to pay a $75 fee for fire department services. When a fire broke out at Gene Crannick's home, the fire service arrived and watched as his house burned down, because he hadn't paid the fee. He offered to pay whatever it took on the spot, in cash, and the firemen continued to refuse. And then, TWIST! The neighbor's house caught on fire. Luckily he had paid the fee, and the fire department put out the fire, but the damage was done. Irony? If the fire department had dealt with Mr. Crannick's fire, his neighbors house would not have been harmed at all!
Dear Tennessee, keep going this way, and your sex will indeed be on fire.
The world's first fire brigade began on a smaller basis. The Roman politician Crassus would send his men to a burning building and offer to put it out, on the condition that the owner sold the property to him at a knock-down rate. If the owner refused he'd let it burn. Of course, in those days putting the fire out meant knocking down most of the building anyway.
ReplyDeleteI have even read that he would deliberately set fire to properties unless he was paid off in advance with backhanders; so he invented the fire brigade and the protection racket at the same time.
As a London walk once taught me, apparently it was standard here as well that you pay different companies firefighting licenses, and if you chose the wrong company you could end up with no protection!
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