Tim Cook wrote:
> Because programming computers is a non-vital operation. 

Of course it is. If you have the skills to program computers that run the 
air traffic control, you should do it for free, to prevent possible 
collisions? Manufacturers of air bags should be required to install them in 
your older car for free?

 > Not putting out
> a fire when you have the capability to do so is deliberately allowing a 
> significant portion of a person's life to be destroyed.

Yes it is. So? Not giving a donation to the volunteers puts their life at 
risk, too, as well as the property of everyone else in the community.

So anyone who is capable of saving your property should be required to 
voluntarily do so?  Termite exterminators, for example? Once you're a fire 
fighter, you can never take a different job?  And surely, if someone in your 
city is hungry and you have food in your pantry, you're an awful human 
being, right?

Should the construction worker be required to rebuild your house for free if 
it burns down in spite of the fire fighter's best efforts? Should you be 
required to provide backup services for their digital data if you happen to 
have enough storage space on disks in your house? Should the gardener be 
required to work for free if all your landscaping is dying? Am I beginning 
to sound like I play too much Bioshock? ;-)

How about fires in different towns? Should they be required to drive 30 
miles to go fight fires elsewhere?

It boggles my mind that you see an obligation for volunteers to risk their 
life for you, especially if you're completely unwilling to help even a tiny 
bit. I didn't even take it as a given they'd put out the fire in my house 
when I *did* pay. That's what volunteer *means*.

> It shouldn't matter.  A group of firefighters going to someone's house 
> just to watch it burn down and not help is about as far down the pole of 
> being a decent human being as you can get.

Not paying volunteers $10 to help them buy the equipment and training they 
need to more safely risk their life while saving your million-dollar house 
is also pretty far down on the pole of being a decent human being, I'd say.

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Understanding the structure of the universe
    via religion is like understanding the
     structure of computers via Tron.

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