Hmm, I think there is a huge difference between paying for infrastructure improvements and support, vs paying for exclusive acts of a recreational nature.

I am not opposed to supporting the costs associated with keeping our country, our community, and our security intact and reasonably up to date. I am not thrilled about taking care of folks who go about their daily business and somehow end up in trouble. So long as they didn't cause the issue by being reckless, I can live with it.

What I don't cotton is when some meatball goes out and does something involving significant risk for no other reason than just because he wants to see if he can, and the rest of us foot the bill.

You are quite correct that life is full of risks. We all face our share every day. If in the course of going to work I should encounter conditions that would likely jeopardize my ability to proceed, and should I then be in need of assistance, that seems to be a justifiable reason to have someone on payroll able to render assistance. That is what will keep our society functioning through a crisis. People drop in the street all the time, regardless of their apparent condition. You can take all the precautions in the world, and you will still die someday. It is just as likely that a healthy person will drop in the street while the fatcat continues on his merry way, so I don't see how singling them out is relevent either. I would tend to conclude that those who don't take care of themselves are less prepared to deal with a physical crisis, but that is more an observatory conclusion.

Yes, I think we should've charged the Sheriff's office for that rescue. Not only were they delinquent, but their actions deliberately resulted in the destruction of government property and grave personal injury. Hopefully they will be held accountable on a negligent charge, as that is precisely what they were.

I don't care if it is falling off a mountain, crashing a motorbike, sinking a sailboat, or playing with matches in the garage. Reckless behavior ought to require individual accountability at some point, preferably before the fact. I am tired of paying for it.

As well, rescue services do cost a bit to get equipped up and kept functional through training and maintenance, again that is warranted to safegaurd against unavoidable malady. However, rescue operations also cost a lot of money, and if the rescue effort is based on needlessly reckless behavior, then I think those responsible for perpetrating the activity ought to pony up.

OBG, as for dealing with welfare fraud, you really don't want to get me started on that one, do you?