I’m watching the news and weather during my pre-work departure coffee hour. The weather guy was just on, and used a term I have never heard: freezing fog. I’m not sure what to expect on the commute, but “freezing fog” mentioned in the same sentence as “black ice” can’t be a good thing.
-k-
In the Maryland State Legislature, Democratic Delegate Joseline Pena-Melnyk has introduced a measure that would sieze the remaining cash on unused gift cards, and divert that money into the state’s educational system.
Read that again. Yep, she wants to take the balances on gift cards which have been unused for four or more years, sieze the funds, and transfer the proceeds to the state’s educational budget. During her presentation of the bill:
She argued that companies are unfairly keeping money paid for gift cards and gift certificates.
Unfair? If I run a business, and you pay me fifty bucks in advance for goods or services; I’m obligated to honor your deposit. If you never return to claim those goods and services, that money is now mine. How am I unfairly keeping it? According to this astute legislator:
Pena-Melnyk calls it “enrichment for the companies.”
I call it being a dumbass consumer, who is unable to spend free money. And, Ms Pena-Melnyk, profit is not a dirty word, though it apparently is to you.
How is the state going to track the unused portions of gift cards? That’s right, by forcing businesses to do the state’s dirty work, and file annual reports on unused balances meeting the criteria. This unnecessarily adds to administrative costs for business.
Finally,
It’s also unclear whether the state would have to advertise before seizing money from each gift card, as is the custom for other abandoned property taken by the government.
Government in action: spend a buck to collect 10 cents. I have ample confidence in the Maryland government to do just that. Congratulations, Maryland, as a true-blue “Year of the Chickenshit” participant.
As much as Northern Virginia sucks, at least it isn’t Maryland. Hmmm, there may be a slogan in there someplace.
-k-
Technorati Tags: maryland, Pena-Melnyk, yearofthechickenshit
I’m batting 1.000 for the nascent NASCAR season, after predicting that Tony Stewart would win tonight’s Budweiser Shootout. And Tony had a great run, as he motored to a close victory tonight.
Does this mean that the Fantasy Racing folks can just now hang it up, and send me the trophy money for winning the Spring Challenge?
I doubt it. But old guys dream, too.
-k-
Technorati Tags: fantasycup, NASCAR, tonystewart
Speaker in the House Nancy Pelosi has apparently requested a larger, more opulent taxpayer-funded airplane to rocket her to the left coast, to “keep in touch with constituents.”
Aside from being an egregious waste of money, it amazes me that these people are even deserving of free rides on a military plane to their home district and back . The Republicans are predictably making whatever hay they can from the controversy. I have to admit, that a plane capable of carrying 175-190 people is a little bit of overkill to transport one person. The larger plane can fly non-stop to California, and is needed for “security.”
In a true bipartisan spirit, I proffer a solution, which meets all the objectives: it’s cheap, long range, and perfectly suited to its passenger. My solution is pictured to the right.
-k-
Update: Irony of ironies, from the article:
The California Democrat went before the House Science Committee in the morning to champion her commitment to do something about global warming, a rare appearance for a leader of the House.
Update 2: The plane was purportedly requested by the House Sergeant-at-Arms. But still.
Technorati Tags: nancypelosi
From The Free Dictionary:
hoax
n.
1. An act intended to deceive or trick.
Evidently, Bostonians should take this definition to heart, and realize that the cartoon characters left about the city in a perhaps ill-advised marketing campaign, were not a hoax. There was no intent to deceive or trick, and hence there was no hoax. It was a knee-jerk reaction by a bunch of officials, who must by now have remembered through which airport many of the 9-11 hijackers departed. And the arrest count is up to two, as another poor schlub, who was probably trying to make a few extra bucks, has been caught up in the investigation. The Massachusetts law is a felony offense; from the cited article:
Peter Berdovsky, 27, of Arlington, and Sean Stevens, 28, of Charlestown, were each arrested Wednesday night on one felony charge of placing a hoax device and one charge of disorderly conduct, state Attorney General Martha Coakley said.
A felony, for not anticipating what some official might do when confronted with a clearly harmless device, the intention of which was to promote a cartoon show. Man.
Add to this that the devices had been in 10 cities across the country for three weeks, and only sparked a reaction in Boston. This means either that Boston is one of the most alert and safe cities in the country, or the one most likely to inappropriately overreact to trifles. I have my opinion of which of the two it is. Hence, the return of the “Year of the Chickenshit” tag.
-k-
Technorati Tags: aquateen, Boston, TurnerNetwork, yearofthechickenshit
Nanny-staters, busybodies, and all the It Takes a Village brethren are doubtless giddy that the Bangor ME city council has passed an ordinance forbidding smoking in your own car if children are passengers.
I won’t mention what an effrontery to property rights this measure is. I won’t mention the drain on police resources that will ensue, if there’s a serious enforcement effort. I will mention that parents and guardians sometimes don’t make the best choices regarding their offspring; I’ll also say that the government on whatever level should just butt out.
If my plans ever include travel to Maine, I’ll skip Bangor and whatever it has to offer. I will say their paper has a good website, and of all the comments on the article, I liked this one:
Reading all the comments, so far, I haven’t seen anyone wonder what will happen the first time a motorist pulls over to the side of the road, takes his child and childseat out of the car, set it on the side of the road so the motorist can get back in the car and have a smoke, gee I hope it isn’t raining. Dumb ordinance passed by dumb people oh, but it’s all for the children so that makes it ok. If you people that are all for this don’t mind that your government has no problem telling you what you can do in your private property, will they have to knock before they come into your house to check for smoking around your kids?
A good observation. I always held out hope for local-level government; Bangor has unfortunately decided to join the “Year of the Chickenshit” as an early adopter.
-k-
Technorati Tags: bangor_maine, yearofthechickenshit
I guess all the post-election goings-on are getting everyone whipped into a lather. This includes ex-Speaker Newt Gingrich, who was in New Hampshire speaking over the weekend.
His comments included such pearls as this, in reference to the Muslim clerics put off a plane in Minneapolis a week or two ago:
“Those six people should have been arrested and prosecuted for pretending to be terrorists,” Gingrich said.
Pretending to be terrorists? This makes zero sense to me. And while the particulars of that case aren’t that fresh in my mind, it struck me that people were frightened by these guys’ behavior. If the Muslims did anything wrong, it was “disobeying a flight attendant”, not that they had a group prayer on the plane. Oh, and people were scared, meaning that all these imam’s actions therefore were “suspicious.” Talk about the terrorists’ winning.
But what really got me was the last paragraph of the article; I don’t know how I missed hearing about this:
Gingrich said last month the United States might have to accept new curbs of First Amendment rights to fight terrorism.
Looks like Newty has gone from the “Contract with America” to the “Contract on America.”
-k-
Technorati Tags: newtgingrich
We search the ends of the interweb here to bring you the latest in livestock on freeways. This is the tale of Christine Gamache, of Vancouver WA. Christine was driving on I-205, when she observed a 500 pound pig fall out the back of an open-top box trailer. She dodged the pig and another vehicle, stopped her car, and stood by the porker in the median until state patrol and sheriff’s officers arrived on the scene. She had no cell phone, according to the article, so it’s not clear to me how help was summoned.
Later, Gates (State Trooper), paramedics and a Clark County sheriff’s deputy joined them on the median until a man who works with livestock arrived on the scene to take the pig to safety until its owners could be located.
I presume the paramedics were called for the pig. In any event, all hands and trotters safe.
-k-
In what can only be described as an embarrassment to the passenger, and as a source of potential new threats to the TSA, an American Airlines jet was forced to land in Nashville, because of an episode of “passenger flatulence”.
According to the article:
An American Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing Monday morning after a passenger lit a match to disguise the scent of flatulence, authorities said.
In the never-ending struggle to keep the skies safe, the DHS announced that in addition to gathering your SSN, Driver’s License Number, DOB, credit card data, mortgage payment, and names of your firstborn, they will now be asking what you had for lunch, prior to your boarding the aircraft.
What a country.
-k-
As I reported here last year, the state of Connecticut had banned a Holiday beer called Seriously Bad Elf, because it depicted Santa Claus on the label.
Not to be outdone, Maine has banned another offering from the same company. This one is called Santa’s Butt. The bottle, pictured here, depicts a Santa quaffing a beer while making his list and checking it twice.
The reason given by both states in banning the potables was that “the labels might be attractive to children.” OK, that’s good enough for me. I guess the inflatable NASCAR Budweiser cars, and stand-up cardboard cutouts of Dale Jr, that grace displays are not similarly attractive. News flash to Maine and Connecticut: children are attracted to lots of things, both good and bad. It’s the parent’s place to parent and provide guidance, not yours.
The brews are all imported by The Shelton Brothers, of Belchertown MA. They also have a blog, which unfortunately doesn’t support any kind of syndicated feed that I could find. The blog entry about the Maine case is here. The Maine Civil Liberties Union is representing the Sheltons, and the contention is that the labels have expressive value over and beyond identifying the contents of the bottle. It seems obvious to me that that’s the case; if they sold posters of either or both of the labels, I’d buy one. And if I see the beer for sale around here, I’ll buy a six-pack, at least.
-k-
Technorati Tags: mainecivillibertiesunion, MCLU, sheltonbrothers