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Do you want to try to make the case for AGW keeping this in mind?Probably not...unless you're one of those that believes that AGW causes everything.
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An Internet sales tax bill is wending its way through the Senate that will require online retailers to collect sales taxes from customers in states with sales taxes.You would think that large retailers like Amazon would be against it, but they aren't. Instead Amazon is supporting it, not because they think its right but that it will make it more expensive for smaller competitors to do business online. Call me cynical, but isn't something like that really rent-seeking by the Internet giant? After all, they have the infrastructure and the capital to deal with sales taxes from 45 different states. Most smaller businesses don't which puts them at a major disadvantage.
While there is a $1 million exemption for small businesses, that doesn't help the states without sales taxes like Delaware, New Hampshire, Montana, and Oregon. None of those states has an infrastructure for collecting sales taxes and implementing one for the benefit of other states seems like a loser.
While there was a proposed amendment that would have exempted states without sales taxes from having to collect them for other states, it was killed. (Of course that might have been a big boon for those four states if it had been included because it would have enticed online retailers to relocate to those states to avoid having to collect sales taxes.)
I can see a lawsuit coming on this one.
Looking at the ongoing battle between two states, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, the courts have consistently ruled that New Hampshire (no sales tax) does not have to collect sales tax from residents of Massachusetts (sales tax) who buy merchandise in New Hampshire. There is even a state law in New Hampshire making it illegal for New Hampshire business from being forced by other states to do so. (This was done to preclude Maine, Massachusetts, or Vermont from trying to force New Hampshire to collect their sales taxes.) If the new bill passes, then New Hampshire will have to spend its tax dollars to set up the infrastructure to collect sales taxes for other states. How is that fair?
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Are the big newpapers, like the New York Times and the Washington Post doomed to die a slow, lingering death. If the latest report from the Washington Post Co. are correct, I'd have to say they are.WaPo's parent company has reported an 85% earnings drop. That is not the sign of a healthy publication.
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By way of Glenn Reynolds comes this Quote of the Day from Samizdata:If you want to introduce someone to libertarian thinking, encourage them to try this experiment. Spend a few days reading nothing but technology news. Then spend a few days reading nothing but political news. For the first few days they’ll see an exciting world of innovation and creativity where everything is getting better all the time. In the second period they’ll see a miserable world of cynicism and treachery where everything is falling apart. Then ask them to explain the difference.Call it another case of willful cognitive dissonance if they still believe both at the same time.
Having a foot in both worlds, I have a bit more faith in the technology as it is based upon proven science and math (mixed with innovation) and no amount of political demagogy will change either... but don't tell that to the AGW folks.
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If you want to find out about what the Fair Tax really is, then Tim Condon points us to the Understanding the Fair Tax webinar coming up on May 23rd. You can register here.While I know something about the Fair Tax, I still plan to log in for the webinar because you never know if you'll learn something new.
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BeezleBub started cleaning up the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout – aka The Boat – attacking the mildew that seems to make itself at home every winter. I still have to get and install two new batteries and get The Boat down to the local marine repair shop to get a tune-up, but I expect it will be ready to ply the waters of Lake Winnipesaukee by Memorial Day weekend.Unlike previous years, we will not be renting a slip this year. Instead we'll be trailering it to the lake. While I like being out on the lake as much as is possible, we had the choice between putting some much needed work into The Boat to ensure it would be shipshape for the next few seasons or take our chances and spend the money on a slip we might not be able to use because The Boat wasn't running right.
While I may not be able to get out on to the lake as often as I would like this coming boating season, at least we'll be able to get out there, and that's the important thing.
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I saw my purported Representative to the House, Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01), on the TV this morning and frankly I didn't hear anything new from her. Then again, I doubt she's really had an original thought or idea since she's been in office. During her first term in Congress she was basically a mouthpiece for Nancy Pelosi and voted the way Nancy told her to vote. It's one reason she got kicked out during the 2010 mid-term election.Now that she's back in office by once again pulling the wool over just enough of the voter's eyes in 2012, she has even less to say than during her first time in office. Basically she has no opinion about anything.
But she is still a leftist hack who believes that only the Democrats (and maybe some Independents) in her congressional district are her constituents. New Hampshire Republicans in her district need not contact her office because she doesn't represent them.
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This just goes to show you how well supplies will be preserved in your bomb shelter if you pack them correctly. In this case they have survived over 50 years and look as good as they day they were stored.*************
I must admit that I've had exactly the same thought.“Gun people don’t trust anti-gun people because they lie to us. Yes, they do. For that reason alone, I will not trust them. Period.”
If those who disagree with you will tell any lie to get their way, then there's no way you can trust anything they say nor believe any promise they make. Such a tactic makes it impossible to debate anything. This doesn't apply just to guns, but to other issues such as AGW, taxes and spending, or our constitutional rights.
And people wonder why there's such a divide in this country.