This is getting old...

1/2 I can't wait for this to be over:
*We need to get people back to work. The longer the economy is on hold, the longer it will take to fix.
*I despise politicians that tell l Americans what they can and can't do.

— Drang (@DWDrang) March 31, 2020

2/2 I can't wait for this to be over:
*I despise Americans that dime out their neighbors for "unauthorized assembly's" and "conducting non-critical business."
*I need a haircut. I am not a hippie! Open the barber shops already!

— Drang (@DWDrang) March 31, 2020

It's doesn't help that my job is a critical one, and I still have to go to work. I can telework, but that means that means I simply do my regular duties with different furniture, including cats. Not a lot of sitting back and watching movies, reading, social media, binge-watching trashy shows on Netflix, day drinking...

Did NOT see this one coming!

DHS Says Firearms Retailers, Manufacturers ARE ‘Essential Businesses’: BREAKING NEWS

USA – -(AmmoLand.com)- Under the Trump Administration's guidance, the Department of Homeland Security has declared firearms manufacturers and retailers “essential businesses,” possibly driving a spike through the heart of various state and local “emergency powers” declarations that had classified gun stores to be “non-essential” during the current Coronavirus panic, and had ordered them closed.

The reference to gun shops is found in a document released Saturday titled “Guidance on the Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce,” in the section dealing with “Law Enforcement, Public Safety, and Other First Responders.”

The document released by DHS simply says that “Workers supporting the operation of firearm or ammunition product manufacturers, retailers, importers, distributors, and shooting ranges” are considered essential.

Article quoted from Ammoland.com, emphasis in original.

Logic and logistics (not!)

So, locally Amazon started shipping a lot of stuff using their own service.

This was fine until we discovered that stuff would be taken to the Big Brown Store where we have a box, and then taken away and then taken back...

I would get a notice from Amazon saying "No one at desk to sign for package", which is stupid, unless they show up in the middle of the night...

...and then the folks at the Big Brown store told us that sometimes they found packages left at the front door when they open in the morning Or sumdood would wander in, no identifying clothing or announcement, call my name, and then leave. Or drop a bunch f packages without bothering to get a signature.

Well, there's that big block of bright yellow lockers over by the Safeway...

Turns out that the Amazon Lockers work OK.

But still...

So, without using the "R" word, one of the things we are doing this January is joining the local community center to take advantage of the exercise facilities. So I needed new gym shorts. and there were some gym shorts on a Lightning Deal. So I ordered two pair...

...which arrived as two separate packages. Because it's too hard for Amazon to recognize "He ordered two of the same thing."

Worse:

One pair of shorts filled the envelope. Two would have left a little space in the box, not sure why they shipped one in a box and one in an envelope.

Well... darn!

I have mentioned the local beer store, 99 Bottles, a couple of times.
The Clue Meter: Breakfast of Champs
The Clue Meter: Kudos!

Plus, a lot of the beer I've mentioned was purchased there. They introduced me to the concept of buying a growler and taking it home.

I started wondering if they could last when you started being able to buy craft and micro brews at the local Safeway.

Then we voted to get the state out of the booze business (sort of: that thumb is still on the scale, covertly), and booze super store opened on town, and the writing was on the wall.

So the latest "Weekly Brews" email newsletter announced that they are closing the doors forever on  December 10th, and they are selling everything.

Damn it.

Stick it! A product review

Once you start shooting regularly -- or irregularly, as the case may be -- you will, as I have mentioned before, want to acquire more magazines, since the magazine seems to be the most common point of failure in a semi-automatic pistol.

And once you start shooting regularly and using all your magazines, you will find that, sure enough, some fail and you need to ditch them (or repair them, if possible) but if they all look alike...

So you need to be able to identify which magazine it was that had the damaged feed lips, or whatever.

There are many options. On my 1911 magazines, I used paint pen:

"Drang G.I. 7rd. #4"

Paint pen wears off, but is easy enough to re-apply.

But if you have my penmanship, it looks like crap. If it matters to you...

Anyway, I was looking for a better way to manage my ammo cans, and went looking to see if there was a better looking option than a stencil and a can of spray paint. (Yes, Avery labels and a printer are usable, but ink jet ink runs in the rain. I spent 20 years in the Army. It always rains when I train...)

And I found these folks: STICKIT2THEMAX - Stickers, Banners, T-Shirts and more.

SI2TM (hope they don't mind my abbreviating their name) does ammo can stickers, in a variety of calibers and colors:

Keep reading for some info on the ammo cans!

Turns out that SI2TM also does magazine base plate stickers for several different firearms; they have both "Number and Caliber" stickers in a decent section of text  colors, and what might as well be called "morale stickers." The number stickers come in sets of 1-6 and 7-12, but for the true magazine hoarder it would be easy enough to have, say 1-12 with white on black, and 1-12 with yellow on black, etc.

(For the Sig 250/320, subcompact magazines are a different order item than the compact and full magazines)

(For some foolish reason I neglected to get a picture of the full sheet until I was over halfway through.)

The stickers are printed on a heavy duty vinyl, and seem to have a pretty good quality adhesive, although when I attached on sticker askew, I was able to peel it off and re-apply it.  Obviously, I haven't tried these out with a full destructive testing regime, and I doubt I will, but they seem to be a great option for keeping track of range/training ammo versus defensive/match ammo, both in a magazine and in the can.


I had no idea how we have been conditioned by e-commerce.  I ordered these on Tuesday. Got the order confirmation and receipt in email, then... nothing. No tracking number. What's wrong with these people?!

My order arrived on Saturday. From the east coast. Never mind...

By the way, in the photo above with the can sticker on the cans, the two cans on the right hand side of the photo are old GI 7.62mm cans. The two flat OD Green cans on the left were acquired at... Costco.

$20 for a set of one .50 caliber can and one .30 caliber can.Going back for more, I hope they're still in stock...

And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street...

Except, of course, that an exhaustive, 5 minute Internet search leaves me convinced that there is no "Mulberry Street" within thousands of miles of me.

Anyway, earlier this afternoon I was passed by a pick up truck in the livery of a new (to me) local (I assume) business called "Mercenary Exterminating."

Do they specialize in ridding one of unwanted infestations of Condottiere?

Or are they only in it for the money?

And, if the latter, need one be concerned that they will keep missing that one nest or hive of vermin, and one must keep calling them back?

Or worse, (to take it back to the first question), will Machiavelli be right, and the rats or termites come up with the scratch to outbid you, and now the Mercenary Exterminators are coming after you...? 

In other (specialty geeky) news, locally there seems to be a Greyhawk Construction Company. No word on whether they have special rates for dungeon work. Maybe Mercenary Exterminating sub-contracts to them for the wiping out of dungeon running groups...?

Speaking of "specialty geek" business names, I may have mentioned elsewhere that Seattle has a plumbing outfit known as Scharnhorst-Gneisenau Plumbing. I'm sure there's a pun in there somewhere, but I'm at a loss.  All at sea, as it were.

The Marketeers have Weird Ideers

Well, it sort of scans...

Consider the following ideas:

• What idjit decided that milk shakes have to have whipped cream and a cherry on top?
• At least Jack's minions give you the option; Ronald's serfs just hand it to you that way, like it not.  I think the redhead's do, as well.
• Some buffoon is marketing (on Amazon) a black electric toothbrush as "the ultimate Father's Day gift."
• Finally:  Look, Gevalia, we know that you're using that Fabio clone to try and sell women on the idea that your over-roasted Euro-coffee is sexy, but...
• ...A cup of coffee is sometimes called a "cuppa Joe", which means what you're trying to peddle would NOT be a "cup of Johann" but a "cup of Sepp."

Imperial Overreach

So I've been referring to the current resident of the Oval Office as "His Imperial Majesty Barack Hussein Obama" from pretty much day one of his reign.

This mocking title was because of the way he--or his handlers--conducted his campaign: He definitely seemed to me to have a grandiose idea of himself, and what he could accomplish through his office.

Aside from the question of whether he is competent enough to accomplish much beside making a mockery of the office he occupies, I haven't seen anything to change my opinion of the man himself.

Today, through the NRA-ILA, I found an editorial in the Washington Times entitled Squeezing the gunsmiths, detailing how the

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) imposes the “high risk” label on any business making firearms, regardless of the company’s actual credit history. Coupled with the Justice Department’s Operation Chokepoint, the FDIC encourages banks to drop gun stores, suppliers and manufacturers and to refuse to process their online transactions.
It’s dressed up as fraud prevention, but many of the companies targeted have good credit histories and operate good and well-managed companies. Banks comply with Washington’s demands out of an understandable fear of the consequences of saying “no.” Conducting business with clients deemed “risky” would put them in jeopardy of audits and other harassment from federal agents.

So, let's make this clear:  His Imperial Majesty, Barack Hussein Obama I, and his minions, are using armed Government Agents to try and stifle businesses they don't like.
The fact that these businesses are part of one of the few, if not the only, sectors of the economy that is not only healthy but booming probably makes them -- that is, HIMBO and his minions -- even more anxious to suppress it.
The funniest part of this, or a part that would be funny if it were not, frankly, terrifying, is that, as the editorial points out, 

When he was an ambitious state senator in Illinois, Barack Obama despised White House power grabs. It was so Washington. “The biggest problem that we’re facing right now,” he said in 2008, “has to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress at all, and that’s what I intend to reverse when I’m president of the United States of America.”

I've been doing a lot of historical reading lately, and one thing that has struck me is how, when The King  starts making unilateral, arbitrary, decisions like this, without any sort of review or control process, then eventually you wind up with smashed windows, gallows, bonfires and pitchforks, and the Jews/Nisei/Indians/Tea Partiers loaded on railcars.
Government is force.  Government is evil. There are things we can do better through a government, but it's a dangerous tool, and no single person would be allowed to wield it at his or her discretion.  That's the whole point of this "Checks and balances" thing we talk about.
It's about time, and past time, people outside the firearms business and the firearms rights community realize that "What they do to us they can do to you."

"Federal Aid Programs for State of Washington Disaster Recovery"

This seems to be the most recent information.

Federal Aid Programs for State of Washington Disaster Recovery | FEMA.gov
Release date: April 2, 2014
Release Number: HQ-14-021FS

Following is a summary of key federal disaster aid programs that can be made available as needed and warranted under President Obama’s major disaster declaration issued for Washington.

Assistance for Affected Individuals and Families Can Include as Required:

    Rental payments for temporary housing for those whose homes were destroyed or are unlivable.  Initial assistance may be provided for up to three months for homeowners and at least one month for renters.  Assistance may be extended if requested after the initial period based on a review of individual applicant requirements.  (Source: FEMA funded and administered.)
    Grants for home repairs and replacement of essential household items not covered by insurance to make damaged dwellings safe, sanitary and functional.  (Source: FEMA funded and administered.)
    Grants to replace personal property and help meet medical, dental, funeral, transportation, child care assistance and other serious disaster-related needs not covered by insurance or other federal, state and charitable aid programs.   (Source: FEMA funded at 75 percent of total eligible costs; 25 percent funded by the state.)
    Unemployment payments up to 26 weeks for workers who temporarily lost jobs because of the disaster and who do not qualify for state benefits, such as self-employed individuals.  (Source: FEMA funded; state administered.)
    Low-interest loans to cover residential losses not fully compensated by insurance.  Loans available up to $200,000 for primary residence; $40,000 for personal property, including renter losses.  Loans available up to $2 million for business property losses not fully compensated by insurance.  (Source: U.S. Small Business Administration.)
    Loans up to $2 million for small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives and most private, non-profit organizations of all sizes that have suffered disaster-related cash flow problems and need funds for working capital to recover from the disaster's adverse economic impact.  This loan in combination with a property loss loan cannot exceed a total of $2 million. (Source: U.S. Small Business Administration.)
    Loans up to $500,000 for farmers, ranchers and aquaculture operators to cover production and property losses, excluding primary residence.  (Source: Farm Service Agency, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.)
    Other relief programs: Crisis counseling for those traumatized by the disaster; income tax assistance for filing casualty losses; advisory assistance for legal, veterans’ benefits and social security matters.

(Those are the sorts of things I was supposed to be helping folks sign up for when I was involved in the Hurricane Sandy response, BTW.  We thought we were going to be passing out blankets and bottled water, some probably had visions of being some sort of shake-and-bake instant Urban Search and Rescue teams, but they turned us into administrative assistants...)

Part of the reason I bring it up is that Mrs. Drang came into the bedroom last night (I had already gone to bed, it was a school night, but I was reading) and told me that on the news they had said that "FEMA is raising money to rebuild houses destroyed in the mudslide so folks can move back in."

While I advise against underestimating the stupidity of bureaucrats, not to mention the ability of The Press to Get It Wrong, I suspect that item number 2

Grants for home repairs and replacement of essential household items not covered by insurance to make damaged dwellings safe, sanitary and functional.

is going to run into a lot of "We are very sorry, this house/homesite cannot be made safe or habitable."

And then what's a volunteer to do?

Or a political appointee, or an elected official, in election year?

***

Please note that my Wookie Suit is hanging in the closet as I type this. 

***

The FEMA release goes on:

How to Apply for Individual Assistance:

• Due to the localized impacts of the disaster, FEMA will work closely with residents, tribal members and business owners who sustained losses in the designated area on a one-on-one basis. 

• Affected individuals and business owners in designated areas can begin the disaster application process by registering online, at www.DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) or by web enabled mobile device at m.fema.gov.  Disaster assistance applicants, who have a speech disability or hearing loss and use TTY, should call 1-800-462-7585 directly; for those who use 711 or Video Relay Service (VRS), call 1-800-621-3362. Online registration is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  The toll-free telephone numbers are operating from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. local time seven days a week until further notice. Applicants registering for aid should be prepared to provide basic information about themselves (name, permanent address, phone number), insurance coverage and any other information to help substantiate losses.

The 'slide itself was localized enough that everyone impacted has probably been contacted. 

I'm sure the scam artists have come out of the woodworks, too.

Friedman and Hayek laugh -- or maybe sob uncontrollably

Debate Over Minimum Wage Hike Is Obscured By Myths - Investors.com

Most people who earn the minimum wage or slightly more are the only earners in their households and therefore are poor, right?
And so, if the federal government or state governments raise the minimum wage, that will be a nicely targeted way of helping poor people, right?
Well, no. Wrong on both counts. Most workers earning at or close to the minimum wage are not the sole earners in a household, and most of them are not in poor households.

Minimum Wage jobs are usually held by students or semi-retired folks, often part time.  Minimum Wage is not meant to be a living wage, and if (for example) MacDonalds were to pay all it's employees a "living wage" the Dollar Menu would be replaced by the Sawbuck Menu.

Some thoughts about Starbucks and Guns

So, by now anyone who is likely to be reading my blog has heard about Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz' Open Letter requesting that we not bring guns " into our stores or outdoor seating areas."

As anyone reading this blog is almost certainly aware, I live in what I sometimes refer to as "the southern frontier of Martin Luther King County"¹,so they are probably wondering what my thoughts are.

I'm conflicted.  I'm conflicted because I rarely got anything at Starbucks before Starbucks had announced their nominal neutrality in the debate over gun rights anyway.  I am also conflicted because of the multiple *facepalm* tactics employed by the advocates of Open Carry...

{An aside here.  At least one of the photos that gained wide distribution across the Internet in the midst of this issue was of a man "open carrying" a shotgun in a Starbucks.  I have been told that the subject of this photo is allegedly a US Navy sailor  "open carrying" his issued weapon in a Starbucks on base in the Middle East.  (Kuwait or Qatar.)  If so, I find the use of the photo misleading and irresponsible -- not his posting it to his own page, but the wide dissemination of it in support of a cause, without explanation}

Disclaimer: I have had run ins before with Open Carry advocates.  Too many of them have an in-your-face style that I find offensive.  During one debate on the WA-CCW Yahoo! mailing list several years ago, I suggested that range protection legislation was more important than Open Carry, especially since Open Carry was already legal in WA, if not widely recognized.  You'd have thought I'd proposed renaming the state after Osama Bin Laden; the OC contingent immediately began the ad hominem attacks on myself, my character, and my dedication to Our Cause and Mom, The Flag, and Apple Pie.

Which does nothing to win your cause any Brownie Points with veterans in general, and retired NCOs in particular.

A couple of further points to keep in mind, are that, while Seattle is generally recognized as a polite, courteous city, possibly due to it's Scandinavian influence, it also has a reputation for passive-aggressive behavior.  (Same source?)

Also, while Washington has a rep for Progressive Liberalism, two topics which keep the entire state, including Seattle, from being the most ultra-violet of states are income tax and guns.

We're rather proud, in fact, that Sarah Brady refers to us as "Gun Crazy Washington."  Among other things to keep in mind, Washington had Shall Issue concealed carry permits in the early 1960s, and State Preemption in the 80s.


Anyway.  I don't generally OC.  I regard it as poor tactics for self-defense.  I never enjoyed being the center of attention, or of causing people to freak out.  Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm misguided.  But the fact that the OC contingent tends to over-react is off-putting.

Which does not mean that my dedication to the cause of Gun Rights is diminished!

Now, one thing that is causing confusion in the Gun Rights Community is the fact that Howard Schultz' Open Letter ask us "not to bring firearms" into Starbucks' property, but it talks about OC, and it also says that "this is not a ban, it's a request."  A lot of people are choosing to interpret that as some sort of "wink-and-a-nod" acceptance of concealed carry.  And the Intardt00bz are being torn up with backing-and-forthing and justifications and gnats being strained at...

Anyhoo, as a geek with border-line Aspergers Syndrome^{2, 3}, one thing I think a lot of people are missing in their attempts to parse Mr. Schultz' request is that, under Washington State law -- and the term "Seattle Progressive/Liberal" gets tossed around a lot -- a prohibition of firearms in a place of business has no weight unless every entrance to the facility is posted.  So that Starbucks stand in your Safeway store, or the mall, or whatever, cannot effectively ban firearms.

Also, such a prohibition has no weight under law unless they catch you, ask you to leave, and you either refuse to leave or return, armed. Even then, the most they can do is ask the police to cite you for misdemeanor trespass. 

Obviously, the law in your locality will vary, but I think that Mr. Schultz ran the letter by the legal department and they told him to go with what could realistically be requested.

Meanwhile, some people are all butthurt because the letter addressed Open Carry and Firearms in general, not the Antis.

No shit.  You thought Starbucks was going to announce an Anti-First Amendment Rights Policy?

Yes, a corporate policy addressing political demonstrations/debates on Starbucks controlled property might be prudent.  In fact, I would like to see them publish a policy that "any participants of meetings, conversations, or debates that get heated or confrontational will be ejected."

I would also like to see them try and enforce it, especially when so many of their facilities are inside other businesses, or they are claiming "outside seating areas, which in many cases are simply wide areas on sidewalks.

So, to sum up, my own frequenting of Starbucks is fairly recent, they don't want me or my kind in their stores, they recognize the impossibility of an outright ban, and are engaging in what we locally refer to as stereotypical Seattle passive-aggressiveness on a corporate scale.

I will probably go back to seeking my caffeine fix elsewhere.

Unless I feel like being a rebel, in which case, suck it, Howard Schultz.

A couple of links:

• Tam has consistently said that "Howard Schultz made a polite request that I not being guns into his stores, and I will politely comply with his wishes.  Unfortunately for him, that means I will not be entering his stores either." She'd been burning up Twitter these days...
• And GC offers up Twelve Thoughts on the current debate..

1.  Meaning absolutely no disrespect to Dr. King, I have to wonder what he would have thought about changing the name of King County to Martin Luther King County, not to mention the money spent on the change.  I also wonder how the Chris Rock Rule "If you're looking at a street sign that says 'Martin Luther King Avenue' you're in the bad part of town" applies to the entire county...?
2.  Yes, I know the shrinks de-listed Aspergers Syndrome.  They got all pissy because us non-shrink types were using the term.  They did the same several years ago with "neurosis."   "You can't use our secret codewords!"
3.  I say "borderline" because I assume anyone who types "Do I have Aspergers?" into their Internet Search Engine of Choice and takes the online "Do I Have Aspergers?" Quiz will probably get a positive answer...

Oh by the way...

and, also oh by the way

Now, honestly, I think a lot of the "sound and the fury" over genetically modified food is greatly exaggerated.  We've been hybridizing critters and plants to make them easier to raise, tastier, and easier to prepare for millenia.  Which doesn't mean that there might not be safety and health concerns.

And while I am all for free enterprise, the concept really doesn't include preferred treatment of protection.  Which democrats are always railing against, but then practicing when they're in office.

Like I just said on Facebook in this specific context, I place no faith in what politicians say, bit that doesn't mean we shouldn't just accept that they're lying hypocritical dirtbags.

UPDATE:  In case you missed it -- and part of the issue is that it was allegedly snuck into the latest in a series of continuing resolutions without the knowledge of most legiscritters -- here is Snopes' write-up of the so-called Monsanto Protection Act.

Smith & Wesson Makes It Easy

Preserve America's Rights - Smith & Wesson

Contact your elected officials now!

Smith & Wesson is an American company with a 160-year history that is woven into the fabric of this great nation. We are proud to employ more than 1600 people who manufacture our products right here in America. We are a strong and proud supporter of the U.S. Constitution and its amendments, particularly the Second Amendment and the rights that it affords U.S. citizens. We support a comprehensive approach to preventing violence in our communities and a thorough evaluation of the challenges we face. However, like you, we do not support an erosion of fundamental rights in the process.

If you share this view, join with us and our law-abiding customers as we stand up and make our voices heard. This issue affects each of us, so please do not delay in letting your elected officials know that you value your rights, and they should as welll.

Let Your Voice Be Heard: Please click on one of the buttons to the right for an easy way to tell your elected officials that you care about the right to keep and bear arms. The Take Action Now! button allows you to send a prepared email letter quickly and easily. The Find Your Representatives button has detailed contact information for each of your legislators so, if you prefer, you can call them or write a personal letter.

Help Others Generate Support: Forward the link to your friends and ask them to register their support and send letters as well. Click here to email this web page to your friends.

Please take action now.

Blogstuff, + more on the Fed Audit

In comments to my immediately previous post, "...never mind...", Carl Bussjaeger pointed out that, when I edited the post for something-or-other, all links turned into links to edit the post. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, Carl, like I said in comments there, I had noticed issues, but had caught them early enough before that I was able to correct them. (They are corrected now.)

I have Posted a query about this issue on Blogger's help forums. I may have to stop using Chrome to post/edit, which would be annoying, because otherwise, Chrome works better for me on my netbook, and, frankly, sometimes it is nicer to sit in the easy chair with the netbook in my lap--often propped up on a cat!--and a frosty beverage by my side, not-watching TV and chatting with Mrs. Drang, all while blogging. (Or Facespacing...)

***

Here's a link to Senator Sanders (NOT "SaUnders") on the Fed Audit:
The Fed Audit - Newsroom: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (Vermont)

I actually suspect that many of these payments were known, sort of, but no one actually looked at the gestalt. If they go back to '07, were any of them included in TARP? Digging through my archives, you will see that I reluctantly came around to a half-hearted agreement that TARP--that is, the original, George W. Bush bail-outs--might be necessary in some cases. The cases I was thinking of were in industries like agriculture, fisheries, and the like where the small(ish) operator takes out a loan at the beginning of the operating cycle to do essential repair, upkeep, or replacement of critical equipment, or purchase critical supplies (seed, herbicides, pesticides, fertilizer), and then pays off the loans at the end of the cycle (i.e., harvest, selling the catch), and hopefully has enough to live off of until starting the cycle again next year.

I am indebted to Mrs. Drang, who happens to carry certifications in the commercial credit industry for patiently explaining this to me.

There may be a better way to do business in these fields, but, if we let that system fail, people would be dying while we figure out the replacement.

And, no, I am not entirely unbiased, what with my wife's job having something to do with the matter.  (No, her employer did not get any bailout money, at least, not directly.  Indirectly?  I dunno, they deal with banks that may have, I never asked.  Also, this credit stuff is not her entire job.  But, if the fisheries collapse because the fishermen can't get the loans to maintain their equipment or buy provisions, then, yeah, her job might count on it.  So, not entirely unbiased.)

Keep Your Assistance

In "Keep Your Assistance", Lumberjack addresses that idiotic video that's been going around, which purports to prove how Government makes all business and free enterprise and entrepreneurship possible, and only Government can save us Obama Won Kenobi, it's our only hope.

Money quote:

This isn't a government bridge, it's a gibbet. Luckily for us, it's being built by the government and will possibly collapse under its own weight.

"Truth is not a Commodity"

Dirtcrashr shares some wisdom regarding Truth, Trust, and Ethics in business and politics. 

Yes, I would like to know what politicians were involved.  And, no, I don't think they should tell us...

Sent to you via Google Reader from my Moto Droid.

IT'S CONTAGIOUS!!!

Bailout Fever hits Washington State (not that it's a surprise)

Wash. gov OKs tax cut for newspapers

Gov. Chris Gregoire has approved a tax break for the state's troubled newspaper industry.
OLYMPIA, Wash. —

Gov. Chris Gregoire has approved a tax break for the state's troubled newspaper industry.

The new law gives newspaper printers and publishers a 40 percent cut in the state's main business tax. The discounted rate mirrors breaks given in years past to the Boeing Co. and the timber industry.

Newspapers across the country have resorted to layoffs and other cost-cutting moves to deal with a wounded business model and a recession-fueled drop in advertising.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer printed its final edition earlier this year and was converted to an Internet-only publication with a much-reduced staff.

Cuz just last week His Imperial Majesty Barack Hussein Obama said it was OK.

Where was this when the King County Journal was being sold to a bunch of Canadians who wanted to turn it into a fragmented bunch of village shopping news'?

Oh, wait, George Bush was President, and the KCJ was that rarity, a (mostly) conservative newspaper...

Hattip to Gateway Pundit.

-30-

So, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has printed it's last print edition.

The newspaper world is full of angst.

Even Dave Workman, Gun 'Riter guy, has cautioned the gun community not to over-celebrate.

In today's auto-obituary to the Post-Intelligencer, I note this auspicious beginning to the paper's history:

In 1863, a disgruntled Horace Howe Jr. strode into the offices of the Overland Press in Olympia and plugged a bullet into editor Bion F. Kendall over a story whose details are now lost to history.

A little factoid that should be pasted on the wall of every editor's desk in the nation.

And one of the few P-I columnists whom I found consistently sensible, Business Analyst Bill Virgin, had this to say in his final:

It has become fashionable to attribute this industry's woes entirely to external forces including: the Internet and its components draining away advertisers and readers; those darn kids who won't pay for information and won't sit still for information that takes longer than five seconds to consume; and most recently a recession that has clobbered what few advertisers the industry still has.

To put all the blame, or even the bulk of it, on those factors is not only too convenient, but also downright deceptive. It obscures a long-standing truth about this business: American newspapers have been and continue to be, as a sector, the worst-run of any industry in this country.

The Internet may have helped weaken the precipice upon which the newspaper industry was standing, and the recession may have given it a helpful stomp to send us into the chasm. But it was the industry itself that walked out onto a ledge of crumbling shale and stood waiting for it to collapse.

If American newspapers want to look for the underlying source of their troubles, a mirror would be a good place to start -- and finish -- the search.

What sorts of mistakes did the industry make? Its reaction to the Internet is a mother lode. Instead of using the Internet as a complement to its print product, the industry went chasing after the Web and offering its most valuable property -- the news it so carefully and expensively gathered -- for free, while chasing the chimera that online advertising would support the whole thing.

The trend was no service to either readers or advertisers -- people read far more in print, and see more ads, than in an online version. The bandwidth for delivering material may be nearly infinite online, but readers' ability to absorb it isn't, and it gets even narrower online.

In the process, what newspapers did was devalue their brands and the heritage and legacies built into them, their core products and the value proposition that brought them readers and advertisers in the first place.

...

Those were hardly the only blunders made by the industry. The strategy of going after younger readers with pandering and condescending content managed to both drive away older, loyal readers, while also alienating younger demographics who understandably weren't buying what papers were selling. Newspapers treated conservatives with a mixture of revulsion, contempt, indifference and puzzlement, and there went another potentially loyal segment of the reading audience. {Emphasis added. DWD}

Those mistakes were compounded at the local level by missteps made by this newspaper. The emphasis on a Seattlecentric view of the world accomplished the task of bifurcating the market into two and then focusing on the smaller, slower-growing portion. The strategy also rendered the paper irrelevant to those who lived on this side of the lake but worked on the other, and vice versa.

...

In business there is a phenomenon known as the death spiral, in which the measures intended to rescue a company or industry not only fail to stem the losses, they actually accelerate the decline. In the case of newspapers, the loss of readers and advertisers led to cuts in content and features and greater irrelevancy, which led to more lost readers and advertisers, which led to still more cuts, which led to ...

Frankly, the biggest reason I kept the P-I for years was that the carried Tinsley's Mallard Fillmore; I suppose I could have dropped them when they started running it in only an electronic version, but I always hoped they'd bring it back in the dead tree edition.

Guess not.

Well, crap

So, we just got off the phone with Mrs. Drang's dad, concerned about his money "what with Washington Mutual Bank being bought and all."

OK, so we knew our bank was on the market, but I didn't realize it was so... shaky. (Bloomberg: "JPMorgan Buys WaMu's Deposits as Thrift Is Seized")

What I had not realized was that WaMu "was the second-biggest provider of option" Adjustable Rate Mortgages

behind Wachovia Corp., with $54 billion held in its portfolio in the first quarter, according to Inside Mortgage Finance. Of the $230 billion in loans secured by real estate at the end of the second quarter, $16.9 billion were subprime mortgages. WaMu, which ranked sixth among U.S. mortgage companies last year, was the 11th-biggest subprime lender in 2006, according to Inside Mortgage Finance.

If I'd realized that they were that big in ARMs--which led directly to the current economic mess--I'd've been pressuring Mrs. Drang that we needed to find a new bank months ago.

Tamara posted a quote by Larry* Jerry Pournelle yesterday pointing out that this has been building for years. I recall being assured when I was growing up (and this may be the first time I've used the term publicly) that there would never be another Great Depression, because of all the safeguards now built in. Sardonic sayings regarding the trouble with fool-proof systems comes to mind...

One thing that has me almost amused is the way that so many in the media are trying to blame "De-Regulating Republicans" for the current mess; just who was it leading the charge for affordable housing and easy-to-get unsecured loans, so even the poor could buy their own house?

And, yes, I know Republicans were also advocating home ownership. Still, the attempt to paint Democrats as fiscal conservatives is, well, piquant, to say the least...

Meanwhile, Greenspan got panned a few weeks ago for suggesting that, if someone took out a mortgage they could not pay, they deserved whatever happened to them, and any business that had such a poor business model that they covered such loans, ditto. Thought he was going to get lynched. In the long run, he is right; in the short term, even if the government did take a "Devil take the hindmost" attitude that the rest of us would still suffer.

I dunno. I don't think this is the end of The Republic, let alone of civilization. But I have a feeling that we will not be seeing the prosperous times of the 70s through the 90s, the sheer materialistic orgy of owning the latest and greatest, everybody expecting to own TVs and VCRs and DVDs cable and satellite and multiple computers and a car for every family member over the age of 16 and ipods and MP3s and microwaves and convection ovens and pills for everything (oh, wait, I forgot, socialized medicine) and personal watercraft and dirt bikes and ATVs and quads and skis and snowboards and...

Not for a while.

EDIT TO ADD: Frank R. James has an excellent run-down of the run-up to the current mess.

*Inside joke for trufans...

This will be interesting

Hat tip to ThreatsWatch:
According to an article published in the Los Angeles Times, Iraq is suing in the United States over the oil-for-food corruption.

BAGHDAD -- The Iraqi government announced today that it intends to file suit in United States courts to recover funds allegedly embezzled from the United Nations oil-for-food program during Saddam Hussein's rule.

A statement by government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said the lawsuits would target companies and individuals that conspired to corrupt the U.N. program.

Dabbagh did not name any companies or say how much the government hoped to gain by going to court, but his statement cited the findings of a 2005 U.N. inquiry into the program.

That investigation, headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul A. Volcker, concluded that 2,400 companies and individuals participated in fraud that included $1.8 billion in kickbacks to Hussein.

After the inquiry several of those named were prosecuted in the U.S. and Europe, resulting in prison sentences for two Texas oilmen and restitution from several companies totaling 10 of millions of dollars.

But little has been done to recover larger sums from those named in the Volcker report in countries including Russia, China, Yemen, Egypt, Vietnam, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates.

The oil-for-food program was intended to allow humanitarian goods to reach Iraq while the country was under international sanctions following its invasion of Kuwait, which precipitated the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

From 1996 through the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, the Iraqi government was allowed to sell oil in exchange for food, medical supplies and essential mechanical equipment.

The Volcker report found that Hussein insisted that kickbacks be paid to secure oil contracts.

Dabbagh said the government would set up a process to work with companies or individuals named in the U.N. inquiry that chose to "resolve their accountability" out of court.

He said the move was intended to assure foreign investors that "business in and with Iraq will be conducted transparently and in accordance with existing laws."