Eideard

Rick Perry hates the federal government so much, he wishes they would just go away, completely, except when he needs them to send him bulldozers. Why does Rick Perry need bulldozers? Because he is the governor of Texas, and much of Texas is currently on fire. Wildfires are right now burning thousands of homes, exacerbated by a devastating drought that has persisted all year, despite prayer.

Perry has spent this entire disastrous year berating the feds for not spending enough time, attention, and — most importantly — money on helping his fire and drought-ridden state, at one point claiming the president had a personal vendetta against the state of Texas. (The U.S. Forest Service and National Interagency Fire Center are currently commanding firefighting efforts near Bastrop.)

Of course Rick Perry doesn’t want to see Texas burn, so it is rational of him to ignore his rhetorical distaste for the federal government and demand that they help. And Texas could use the help, because Perry and the Republicans who control all three branches of Texas government have severely slashed the budget of the Texas Forest Service.

Perry’s fanatical opposition to raising revenue to close Texas’ budget gap meant that his allies in the legislature had to find creative ways to cut costs, like cutting $34 million over the next two years from the agency that fights wildfires. The Forest Service is largely volunteer-based, and the cuts will largely affect the state’s assistance grants to buy volunteer departments the tools they need to fight fires.

Rick Perry’s legacy

Perry cut 75% of the budget designed to aid volunteer fire departments – which is most of what the great state of Confederate Texas loves him for. Then he whines about not receiving aid for the disasters where he could have used that civil service.

To quote John Hightower, Rick Perry put the Goober back in Gubernatorial.

Indian health officials have taken an unusual step to slow the nation’s birth rate – offering prizes that include a car in return for being sterilised.

One lucky man or woman can win a free Tata Nano in exchange for ending their fertility.

The first person to volunteer for sterilisation in Jhunjhunu, west of New Delhi, will be given a Nano, the world’s cheapest car, with other prizes including motorcycles, televisions and food blenders…

Reports also suggest that those volunteering to give away their baby-making ability will be paid a cash incentive of Rs1000, and Rs200 to those who urged them to go under the knife.

The move comes as India tries to control its rapidly growing population, which a recent census estimating it at more than 1.21 billion people.

I guess I could say, “Times change.” When I got my vasectomy as a young man in a very Catholic state, the surgery had to be “underground” because it was illegal. As was the sale of contraceptives.

My urologist made me swear I’d tell folks I had it done in Rhode Island.

Thanks, Honeyman

A cold wind whipped down the Texas plains on the night last month that Sharon Smith, 68, and her husband, Bill, 73, arrived here to be work-campers.

In the dark, they had trouble setting up their camper. But Ms. Smith, a former teacher’s aide from Sioux Falls, S.D., said she looked up at the starry sky, shook off a few of the burrs she had picked up lying on the ground working on their truck, and told herself it would get better.

It did.

The life of a work-camper, volunteering in places like Falcon State Park in deep South Texas in return for free rent, is not without its bumps. But as Ms. Smith also quickly discovered, the rewards can be deep as well — like making cinnamon rolls as part of her job at the camp recreation center, where she and Mr. Smith are working as hosts through the end of March.

“We’re here for three reasons,” she said, as she spread sugar on the dough. “No. 1, we like to travel. No. 2, we like people. And No. 3, we’re on a budget.”

An itinerant, footloose army of available and willing retirees in their 60s and 70s is marching through the American outback, looking to stretch retirement dollars by volunteering to work in parks, campgrounds and wildlife sanctuaries, usually in exchange for camping space.

Park and wildlife agencies say that retired volunteers have in turn become all the more crucial as budget cuts and new demands have made it harder to keep parks open.

RTFA. Reflect on the nation which to all intents and purposes invented national parks for the recreation and education of the people – now ruled by beancounters who care only for columns of profit and loss marching in obedient fashion through their budgets.

We have parks with no funds, retirees without adequate healthcare and a new generation left to fill out their American dreams with nonsense television and online myths.

At the Tomb of the Unknown
Daylife/Reuters Pictures

On a holiday reserved to honor the strides of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., President-elect Barack Obama, Vice President-elect Joe Biden and their families are among those volunteering for a national day of service, participating in a series of activities today across Washington, D.C.

“To honor the legacy of a man who lived his life as a servant to others, I will ask all Americans to make a renewed commitment to serving their communities and their country,” Obama said in a YouTube address last week. “Dr. King once said, ‘Everybody can be great because anybody can serve.’ You don’t have to wear a uniform. You don’t have to be a community organizer. You don’t even have to run for president. At a time when there is so much need, we are blessed with endless ways to contribute something to the life of this nation.”

In neighborhoods around the country, people were heading out to answer that call.

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