Republicans gag on their own medicine and it's great.

[bulloney]

How many times have we heard Republicans and conservatives preach that public agencies have to live within their means. Instead of increasing taxes when the budgets get tight, these agencies have to cut, even to the point of laying off and closing, if necessary.

Such is the case in conservative Allen County, Ohio, where Republicans control every elected county office. The radio stations are owned by conservative Clear Channel and Maverick. The newspaper is owned by the Libertarian Freedom Newspapers.

Allen County faces a major budget crisis. The county commissioners voted to eliminate all funding for 2009 for discretionary-funded agencies, such as Cooperative Extension, Soil & Water, a local civic center and other agencies.

Now, the conservative leadership of these agencies are crying foul. You can't do this to us, they cry. You're depriving the county of a valuable service, matching state and federal funds, yada yada yada.

Now, at least some of these agencies want to increase taxes as a means of funding these departments.

In an adjacent county to the north, its county commissioners announced the county refuse collection station will close at the end of the month. All of the conservatives I spoke with are crying foul, too. You can't shut down a service the county should provide to its residents, they consistently complain. Never mind that the facility has been operating at a loss since its inception and the commissioners shut it down for that reason.

If it would not be for the fact that peoples' jobs are lost over this, it would be very amusing and entertaining listening to these RW hypocrites preaching against their own beliefs.