'Rizzoli and Isles' Episode's Arsonist Fireman Blames Boston 'Budget Cuts' Which Don't Exist in Real Life
I know, we're supposed to give TV shows and the like a bit of dramatic license to push a plot line. But doesn't it seem that an awful lot of the license taken tends to be pro-big government and left-leaning?
One pretty obvious example came along Monday night during the Season 2 finale of TNTs' "Rizzoli & Isles" (which ran again late tonight). The plot of "Burning Down the House" centered around the death of a Boston fireman in a major warehouse blaze. Ultimately, the perpetrator ended up being a fireman who was upset by "budget cuts," which were mentioned twice during the episode:
- At the beginning, one of the in-charge fireman regrets that he had to send the one who died (actually, it turn out that he was killed because he was onto the arsonist) into the building without backup, saying in essence, "That's what budget cuts will get you." He goes on talk about station closings and the like.
- In the climactic scene at the show's end, the arson-setting fireman, who ends up being responsible for a large number of them, believes he is alone in the same burned-out warehouse with Ms. Isles and is about to kill her. Before he makes his attempt, he complains about how the city "kept cutting back and cutting back," and how "they can't keep laying us off." When asked by Isles how he would prevent it, he responds (paraphrasing) that he would "burn a few buildings."
The trouble is, the City of Boston's Fire Department Budget has increased each year from 2010 to 2012.
As shown at this graphic, which was found at Page 31 of the city's 2012 budget (large PDF), the Fire Department's actual or appropriated amounts from 2009 to 2012 were as follows:
- FY09 Expenditures -- $165.3 million
- FY10 Expenditures -- $173.6 million (5.0% increase over FY09)
- FY11 Appropriations -- $176.4 million (1.6% increase over FY10)
- FY12 Appropriations -- $181.9 million (3.1% increase over FY11)
One can argue about whether the increases are big enough, but it's hard to make a case that the city is "cutting back and cutting back." Instead, it's on track to spend 10% more than it did three years ago.
Looking at another metric, total employment per the Department's About page is 1,611 in a city of about 620,000. Cincinnati's Fire Department has about half as many employees, and the city is about half Boston's size.
In other words, the situation in Boston doesn't seem to be out of whack. It certainly isn't in some kind of radical cutback mode, and hasn't been since the 1980s (with as far as I can tell no or almost no station closings since then). In fact, it's Boston's police budget which has seen real cuts (from $288.6 million in 2009 to a projected $269.2 million in 2012, also at the graphic) during the past three years.
Unfortunately, shows like these are where many of the disengaged who nevertheless vote end up getting what they believe is valid information which conforms to reality. In this case, it's not, and it doesn't.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
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Comments
Drum up some bidness!
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 2:10am.
Blumer, you're just letting the facts get in the way of a liberal narrative.
I have to assume they're not running the scripts ...
Submitted by Tom Blumer on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 2:13am.
... past Angie Harmon first.
And yes, this comment was posted for the sole purpose of generating search engine traffic on Ms. Harmon's name. :-->
⇒ Saw the show
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 2:21am.
Knew the Paddy O'Doyle thing would eventually end like it did, but was hoping his character could hang around a while longer.
Don't forget...
Submitted by Unsane on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 10:42am.
Not to mention it was mentioned on NB some time ago that Angie Harmon is in fact a fan of NB. :o)
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
That is one reason I watch it
Submitted by ricklail on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 11:25am.
That is one reason I watch it because she is a Republican. The other reason is that it is good. Hated to see Paddy O'Doyle go out like that. I figured he'd wind up swimming with the fishies.
Paddy had to go...budget cuts?
Submitted by bfrank on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 1:38pm.
At least Bisset will still be there next summer. BTW. I think Blumer misread the whole storyline. Since when does an irrational criminal need a rational reason to commit irrational crimes like arson and murder? The 'budget cuts' were not supposed to be a valid reason.
I think they came off ...
Submitted by Tom Blumer on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 1:41pm.
... as a valid reason, because in the first scene cited, Harmon's older person on the crew bought the line.
Angie got it right....
Submitted by bfrank on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 1:25pm.
An irrational criminal commits crimes based on a phantom irrational cause, i.e., budget cuts. Just like Obama and the entire liberal agenda which is based on phantom irrational red herrings. As Yoda says, 'Control, control, control must you!!!'
Blumer, I saw the show and
Submitted by jdhawk on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 2:50am.
Blumer, I saw the show and was wondering about the "cutbacks." Good call.
Meanwhile, one thing that we have learned over the last year, if not known already, from Governor Walker's state, Wisconsin, and other local and state budge debacles is that the number of employees is not necessarily driving buget decisions, but the amount and upward trajectory of the entitlements of those employees.
While the budget may be increasing and the number of employees stable, that doesn't mean that more and more of that budget is going to entitlements of the presently employed force and retiree pension and entitlement costs. I suspect that may be the case here.
When an employee neither pays a dime for their medical care nor their pension and are able to retire in their fifties, it sets up an unsustainable budgetary debacle. That is happening at the city, county, state, and federal level.
We must elect representatives that ensure that the employee pays for their own medical care in a group polic setting and their own pension via a 401k plan. This will take a hurclean effort on the part of our representatives without which we taxpayers will be stripped of our discretionary income as it will go entirely to various taxing entities.
jd---
Submitted by matthewdean on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 6:37am.
I wouldn't presume to speak for all Fire Departments, but in my career I knew of no Department that paid all medical and retirement monies for their personnel.
Safety employees (police and fire) do receive good wages and have great retirement systems, but that is part of the attraction and reason for entering those particular fields of employment in the first place. A shift firefighter in most Southern California municipal Fire Departments works ten 24 hour shifts a month. 240 hours a month, and even if the firefighter were to get eight hours sleep each shift, which is a distinctly rare occurrence , he would be putting in 16 hours a day for ten days for 160 hours per month, versus the 160 hours per month put in by a 'regular worker' over the span of twenty workdays.
Yes, there is a lot of "down" time for meals, cooking and consuming; and television watching in the evenings.
There are also tremendous time allotments for a multitude of drill and training exercises that are never ending; and most safety positions entail a certain amount of risk.
At least cops and firemen work for and towards their "lavish" retirements.
It never ceases to amaze me that more grief isn't directed towards those politicians in government "service" who do little but screw up or screw over their constituents, yet have exceptional health and retirement "bennies."
Welfare queens and weenies live pretty high on the hog, considering they never, ever, hit a lick, or even a promise at attempting to be gainfully employed; and illegal g-damned aliens are draining the coffers exponentially; but let's direct our deeply held financial angst and concerns at public servants who work at a dangerous occupation from their mid twenties to their mid fifties for a thirty year career, and then, shamefully, retire in their fifties.
Goodness sakes alive, what IS this world coming to?
MD
Pennies for your thoughts
Submitted by Unsane on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 10:40am.
Don't forget that when Gov Walker bravely instituted reforms to state pensions for government employees, requiring state employees to contribute more for their pensions and benefits, police and fire was exempt.
And for good reason. In those categories the hazards are obvious. Sure, firefighters, for instance, do get down time, but that down time can go "bye-bye" at ANY given moment.
I'd have no problem with other state employees having to contribute to 401(k)s that are slightly more generous than the private sector (because the government is competing for labor pool as well) with police and fire being exempted from that arrangement for they shall receive the traditional pension they've always gotten. This would have the effect of saving state governments money while ensuring they do the right thing for the employees who genuinely can get killed on the job simply for showing up.
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
JD, I don't know where you live, so I won't comment on
Submitted by UpNorth on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 8:42pm.
pension plans for public safety employees there. I will comment on mine. I paid into my pension plan the entire time I was a LEO. Every pay check. The city paid exactly three times, that would be 3 pay periods, two weeks each. They never paid, because our pension fund was "over-funded". That was the result of a state law that municipalities and counties had to contribute to public safety pensions, because the city of Detroit had looted the Detroit Police and Fire Pension Fund. The only exception, when the pension fund was "over-funded". So, the city book keepers said we were always "over-funded".
Not that I'm complaining about it, our fund is still valued at about 150 Million dollars. The city is dying to get their hands on the fund, but they haven't contributed, so they have no say, just one vote on the pension board, and the other trustees won't let them touch the principle.
And, I pay my share for my health care, too. So, you might want to ratchet back the rhetoric a notch or two. My pension and health care isn't, and never has been, an "entitlement".
Thank you upnorth*
Submitted by cajun2 on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 8:50pm.
Doesn't matter what city or state you live in. As a "public safety employee" also retired, I still pay into my pension and insurance coverage. After 3 decades of being on call 24/7 at great costs to my health, the total amount contributed out of my paychecks, I certainly do not see my pension as an 'entitlement". I earned every dam* penny.
remake
Submitted by right of way on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 3:08am.
same plot line from the movie backdraft with kurt russel.
This Show was a union training video.
Submitted by Avitar on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 3:58am.
Still I'm not sure that the unionize fire fitghters will burn Boston nest year when the time comes.
How original.
Submitted by motherbelt on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 8:53am.
Can you say "Backdraft"??
Liberal TV Scripts
Submitted by OldNavyChief on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 10:28am.
What else would expect from the networks. Surprised to see that they didn't try to blame it on a Republican mayor, as if that would or could be possible in Boston.
Harmon is a Repulican.
Submitted by bfrank on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 1:28pm.
I mean the show cannot be all bad if it lets O'Reilly spoof himself on the show.
No surprise
Submitted by octavioj on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 10:37am.
But this is probably not the first time this theme is used. Now a question: do people really think works of fiction reflect reality and that they can learn from one hour episodes? That would surprise me.
If you don't get your "reality" from anywhere else ...
Submitted by Tom Blumer on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 11:02am.
... or if you only get it from the Associated Press-driven morning shows, top-of-hour radio newscasts, and national/international news in the local papers plus whatever TV shows you watch, it's the only "reality" you know.
Octa,My better half is
Submitted by Kenny Bunkport on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 2:12pm.
Octa,
My better half is always telling me about something she "learned" on one of those drama shows. She understands it isn't reality, but somehow still manages to think that the basic premises and procedures shown are more or less fact.
Shows like NCIS, JAG and such
Submitted by ricklail on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 11:35am.
Shows like NCIS, JAG and such that deal with the military take a lot of freedom in their writing. Criminal Minds is really not any better. Most FBI profilers don't make arrest. The CSI's and Law & Orders act like they can get DNA in a matter of hours which in reality it takes days/weeks. I'd say that Blue Bloods might come close to the operation of the NYPD as far as politics go. I just remember these shows are fiction.
All of these shows do that
Submitted by pockets64 on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 11:59am.
Law and Order, The Good Wife, ... CSI tries, too.
Sadly, my wife enjoys "The Good Wife." I have to find other things to do when it is on. My blood pressure and I cannot take it.
Sympathies
Submitted by Unsane on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 2:39pm.
I sympathize. I saw ONE episode of The Good Wife and determined that the ONLY reason to watch it is Archie Panjabi.
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
I quit watching network
Submitted by Kenny Bunkport on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 12:46pm.
I quit watching network programming years ago. Almost all shows have a considerable left slant. And if they do show the conservative side in a non-mocking manner it's usually presented as irony or tragedy. People may not think their show is political, but when it presents nothing but the PC acceptable view of the world, it really is a perversion of real life.
The most annoying things I've noticed are: All Christians are hypocrites of the first order and are usually sociopaths. All gays are in happy, monogamous relationships and are either the most well-adjusted character on the show or played as comic relief. No minority is ever just a common thief or thug. Businessmen spent all their time thinking about screwing their customers or covering up their white collar crime. Republicans are lost sheep.
Irrational criminal utters irrational rants. Like the Occupiers?
Submitted by bfrank on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 1:19pm.
I think you proved the episode's point. The 'criminal' commits irrational acts, arson and murder, based on the the irrational reasoning of 'budget cuts' which do not exist. Just like the 'occupy' crowd which committed crimes, trespassing, vandelism, theft, rape, drug-selling, indecent exposure and countless defamations based on phantom 'Wall Street crimes', 'global warming', 'greenhouse gases', 'American war crimes', 'imperialism' , 'one' and 'ninety-nine' percent, 'fair share', 'free college education', etc. Of course with the liberals in power, it is the irrational leading the irrational with irrational rants. We hear it whenever Obama opens his mouth.
I get it ...
Submitted by Tom Blumer on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 1:33pm.
... but no one on the show ever said that the "budget cuts" weren't real, and the older person in Harmon's investigative crew supported the "budget cuts" notion in the first segment where it was mentioned.
Missed it.
Submitted by bfrank on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 1:51pm.
I was too busy noticing Isles' shoes. At least this show does not take itself too seriously like the L&O series which is laughable with their liberal rants peppered everywhere. I also enjoying seeing guest appearances by actors from shows like 'The Unit' and '24'. Even the O'Reilly appearance was fun to watch with the Lorraine Bracco character having a 'crush' on Bill.
Yeah, a lot of these shows have their liberal bents!
Submitted by NJRightWinger12 on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 1:27pm.
I saw this show, ONCE, when O'Reilly was on a few months ago-wow, did it suck, and I like Harmon! She -her character, that is-was taking pot shots at BOR's "conservative" take on everything, and Alexanders character was totally unlikeable and bizarre! Seemed to have a lefty slant, and glad I never wasted more time on this!
Tried to see The Good Wife when it first came on, but once I could tell how the show was going to go, esp with the daughters O'Bozo poster on her wall-WTF?-I quickly shut it down!
Real life arson.
Submitted by bfrank on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 1:31pm.
A firefighter in LA used the same reasoning for setting fires a few years ago but it really was about acheiving 'hero' status.
missing link*
Submitted by cajun2 on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 8:41pm.
I saw this episode and came away with a different view than most. A pyromaniac is an obsessive personality. This fireman used any "justification" to set his fires. In the episode, they state that hundreds of arson cases in this firemans district was being questioned by the "victim". Hence, the pyromaniac fireman again justified his murder of a fellow fireman but basically he was protecting himself from exposure. Crazy people can find all kinds of reasons and justifications for their actions.
It is the media that will spin a nut job to a particular political agenda. Just like the guy who flew a plane into an IRS building, like Jared Loughtner shooting Gabby Giffords.
I thought this episode was "crazy is crazy" and should not be associated with politics. Kinda makes sense when you compare the "crazies" in the OWS movement. To me, they are just a bunch of spoiled drug addled lay abouts who have been seduced into the movement as "bodies". For the organizers of the OWS movement, their actions are similar to the pyro fireman. The end justifies the means and it doesnt matter that people may die along the way.
BINGO. There is no rationalization possible.
Submitted by drsamherman on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 10:01pm.
The existence, as dictated by a properly constructed diagnosis, of a seriously debilitating mental illness that would legally render a patient incompetent as defined by statute, obviates any rationalization of a fundamentally antisocial act like like a crime of omission or commission. While the definition of competence is legally derived, the basis for a judgment of same rests on a defined and properly diagnosed mental illness per the current disease state nomenclature adopted in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual current version by the American Psychiatric Association. Especially in those patients with a tangible element of dissociative features, such as various forms of severe Bipolar I and certain Bipolar II, and every form of schizophrenic disorder, there is no point in trying to relate a motivation to perpetrate a heinous act in these patients. Their detachment from reality makes that impossible and is nothing but sheer conjecture and fantasy by those who desire to ascribe motivation where no comprehensible one could ever exist.
Excellent point as always, Cajun!