Apparently, “firefighters” who were “following orders.” Don’t firefighters take some kind of oath like doctors? I suppose the South Fulton Tennessee Fire Department put their own spin on the oath—don’t forget to pay the $75 fee if you don’t want your home and pets to burn.

Three dogs, and one cat burned to death in a fire that was very easily controllable. The Cranick family lost everything, despite pleading with the chief and offering to pay the $75 fee.

If the fire chief was trying to make a point, he made it, but not in the way he might have expected. America is pissed.

We unequivocally need government to fulfill the duties of firefighting, policing, and rescuing. In modern society, this should be a basic expectation built into every local budget, even if the federal government must help. Is this a preview of life in a privatized America (i.e. right-wing) versus the center-left America that flourished before Republicans got a hold of the budget?

Right-wing radio personalities, including the megalomaniac Glenn Beck, thought it was hilarious to mock this man and his family. I find it especially odd that a man who claims to be so honorable and religious finds the will to be so callous and evil. It is especially ironic that Beck has a “CHARITY” poster hanging in the background of the video below. My instincts tell me that the Cranick family deserves an apology from Beck, but I doubt a man of his low caliber could muster the dignity to carry out such a gesture.

If people have the means to stop a person’s house from burning down, and save the pets inside, those people have an obligation to help. The day the majority strays away from this ideal, our country will take a plunge into darkness of the deepest kind, which we have not experienced in our lifetimes, and I hope we never do.