I received a response this morning from Betty Malone, one of the tree farmers behind the petition for the new federal Christmas tree board. I promised you guys I’d post anything substantive I received from the NCTA and I promised Betty that I would post her email without edits or editorial comment. It goes without saying that most folks here will agree to disagree with the NCTA and Betty, but she gives a great presentation for her point of view and I expect disagreements will be expressed in the usual thoughtful style. Everything that follows is from Betty Malone: Dear…
Category: Government
Government evils — but I repeat myself
I’m not sure why yesterday’s Christmas tree tax story struck such a chord (with me and everybody else in the blogosphere, apparently). I mean, it’s a $0.15 tax on something you buy once a year. What’s the big deal?* A new USDA program would be set up and the secretary of agriculture would appoint a board to oversee promotion of live Christmas trees. That’s a PITA. But hey, what’s one more government program and 18 more pages of regulation among so many? “Got Milk?,” “Pork: The Other White Meat,” and “Beef, It’s What’s for Dinner” (among others) are already imposed…
Remember that big Emergency alert system demonstration? Today at 2:00 p.m. EST. Or, you know … whenever. Maybe. BWG. It’s nice to know that “they” aren’t quite up to taking over the world yet.
I thought it was an Onion story when I first heard about it. But yes, apparently we have a Dire National Crisis in the Christmas tree industry that requires the federal government to step in with new taxation. And some people actually like the idea. Big question: If “the industry” wanted this, why did it have to get the gummint to do it? Merry Freaking Christmas. It’s enough (well, almost enough) to turn a body toward that abomination whose name I normally do not even utter: the Art*f*c**l Chr*stm*s Tr**. (Tip o’ hat to S, whose email finally persuaded me…
Here’s the latest from Jake MacGregor. Just one chapter again this week (the cold weather is rough on Jake’s health). But it’s one that ties some loose threads. Silver on “The Free Rider Fallacy.” (For the next time one of your dubious friends brings up one of those endless why-liberty-can’t-work hypotheticals.) Sweden. Hey, maybe you could send us some of your government. Well, on second thought … Of course you haven’t been following the long, drawn-out wedding and Insta-Divorce (TM) of whichever Kardashian that is … starts with a K, something like that. Me neither. Ahem. And I don’t read…
Still deadlining. Oy. But I’m beginning to believe that the light I see at the end of that tunnel might not be an onrushing train. This weekend I’m going to collapse in a happy heap. Meanwhile, the news … “Penn Jillette’s 10 commandments for atheists.” I’m neither an atheist nor a fan of commandments. Still, these are pretty good. (Tip o’ hat to PT.) Can any of you techno-hackers tell me if this might work at a distance of 50 yards or so? I’ve had this little problem … Six things nobody will tell you about MF Global. I mean,…
Man, this round of deadlining is hurting my head and my whole self. I’ve just done the second draft of the most difficult article I’ve written in years. Probably wrote 15,000 words overall (that’s about 1/6th of a novel, people) to get 4,000 that I hope are useable. Write, rewrite, cut, cut, cut, rewrite, cut, cut. Have a feeling the client will still want one more session of slash and burn. Maybe tear the thing down to 3,000 or 3,500. After that, more deadlines. More challenging ones, in a way. Some days, I wish I’d taken up a promising career…
… Well, we’ll see about that on November 9. From Jim B. in a comment section, the feddies will try to take over all radio and television broadcasting at 2:00 p.m. EST on that date as a “test” of the system. As one of the commentors on that article put it, this isn’t actually a test — which would be done at oh-dark-thirty. This is a demonstration. Of power. And fear. Odd, too. The old Emergency Broadcast System (EBS), which has been around since the cold war, relied on the discretion of the broadcasters (which, granted, could be fallible). The…
It’s amazing — and encouraging — how many commentators suddenly seem to be realizing that the problem isn’t “right” or “left” or even a matter of a system needing “reform.” The problem is oligarchy. Tuesday I linked to a very good article about The Bigs. Novelist Barry Eisler is among the first to come right out and use the proper term. (Tip o’ hat to J.) That noxious Louisiana law banning second-hand dealers from transacting any business in cash. You may have read about it. Ellendra in the comments points to an article that says it was passed in virtual…
Two from The Onion (language in both NSFW): Steve Jobs obituary and “Nervous American Voters Worried About Botching Another Election.” One from Ragnar in a recent comment section. Sort of a redneck punk rap song, “My Country, My Ass.” (“Teacher used to say we had a Bill of Rights. I think they took our rights and sent us the bill.”) Regulators vs an enterprising ship salvager. What to do if you can’t afford a vet. DRM encourages piracy. No surprise, really. Neither is this. (Not that the fedgov should be subsidizing anything, of course.) Funniest pet Halloween costumes. Think it’s…