Haggling on Haggis

The U.S. government enacted a ban on haggis ingredients from Scotland 21 years ago at the height of the Mad Cow outbreak in Britain.

Since that time, our presidents have been briefed on the 'Haggis Situation', our department of agriculture has to dispel rumors, and we've just spent a lot of time and effort in considering the haggis ban.

Even if we get past the Mad Cow prohibition, we have an even older law on the books. This one goes back to 1971 and bans the import of food made with sheeps lungs.

As per usual: I don't technically disagree with my government. I would hope they ban meat imports from places that have a reasonable chance of shipping us tainted meat (or so I'm told). I have no urge to try a good haggis (they lost me at liver and didn't exactly whet my appetite with the lung).

But do we really need to legislate, maintain, and consider a freaking haggis ban? Braveheart would be pissed. (You can take our lives, but you'll never take our HAGGIS!!!)

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

All the love with none of the guilt and blame

While a bunch of the aid going to Haiti is already being funded by taxpayer's around the world, I found it interesting to see a 'new' 'charity' come available from the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science for this one at Non-Believers Giving Aid.

Its an interesting option for those of us who don't feel its necessary to bring god into every aspect of daily life and don't feel it necessary to provide guilt along with their helping hand.
(Pat Robertson claims this earthquake was caused by a large voodoo ceremony held by rebellious slaves on Aug. 14, 1791. Took 'im 219 years to make up for it, but Pat's God showed them whats what when it comes to voodoo...)

I'll also take a moment to reflect upon the fact that for all the horrible and/or pointless things we spend our taxes on, it all seems almost worth it to have an organization like our government where we can rapidly respond to those in need. Yes, from time to time, I'm proud to be a taxpayer.

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

Department of Photoshop

Guess who this is.

Go ahead, guess...

Did anyone guess a figment of the US State Departments imagination? If so, you're absolutely right! * SEE COMMENTS FOR AN UPDATE*

Yes... State was feeling lonely and hadn't received any pictures or videos from their pen pal Bin Laden in quite some time so they decided to imagine what he might look like today.

Hey... Its easier than actually looking for the guy.

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

And just how lost is our government in the *ahem* 'hunt' for Bin Laden if they resort to this as a way to flush him out? Apparently, by the image, they wonder if he's been hiding in plain site, far away from the caves of Afghanistan.

Upgradin'

Another story I missed from long ago. As it turns out, they've extended the $8,500 a pop we've all been spending on a few of us who can buy houses.

But wait, its even better this time... We're also giving $6,500 to existing home buyers so long as they've lived in their current home for 5 of the last 8 years.

Yes. Not only are we using the general fund to help people become homeowners, but now we are also using it to help people who have become bored with their current homes.

Houses for those more fortunate than I...

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

I'm not afraid to turn this bus around

Are you sure the bus driver has remained designated?

That one will set Phoenix taxpayers back a couple bucks...

Slow erosion

Here are a few examples of the 40,697 laws that came into effect 1/1/10 around the country which represent the slow erosion of individual personal freedoms. Not only do these laws tell individuals and businesses how to conduct their speech and their actions, they also took a great deal of bureaucratic debating and administrative effort to enact them at a significant cost to us all.

North Carolina and Wisconsin are among a handful of states who have decided to tell bar owners, restaurateurs, and other places of business who would have otherwise chosen to allow their patrons the freedom to smoke while visiting their establishment. (Wisconsins law won't go into effect until later in 2010...)

Oregon and Illinois are among a handful of states that are telling you what you can and cannot do while driving a car. A great law? Yes. Slow erosion of personal freedoms? Yes. An added burden of enforcement and public notification? Yup.

California is limiting the ingredients restaurateurs can feed their customers. (Trans fat ban)

New Hampshire and a few others had to take the time to point out that anyone can get married no matter what my god thinks about the groom and groom.

Texas, Michigan and a few others are demanding that cigarettes sold in their state are manufactured a particular way. (Fire safe...)

Arkansas retailers can't sell realistic looking toy guns.

Massachusetts has banned dog racing.

In Ireland blasphemy has been made illegal with fines up to $35,000. Yes. Insulting my god now costs you money. Its nice to see Atheist Ireland trying to make a stand though. READ MORE (BBC)

THIS is whyweallpaytaxes.

Fuzzy Math

I'm no mathematician... However, even if I'm way off on a couple figures, this holds together pretty well...

1.) It costs the U.S. about $1 MILLION to keep 1 troop in Afghanistan for 1 year. (widely reported) For this exercise, I'm assuming soldiers in Iraq cost about the same.
2.) In 2010, there will be over 102,000 troops in Afghanistan.
3.) There are still 130,000 troops in Iraq.

This is excluding thousands of 'support troops' and other differently classified soldiers, so I'm rounding up to 250,000 troops deployed in our wars. At $1 MILLION per soldier, I'm looking at
$250,000,000,000 in 2010.

4.) There are 15.4 MILLION unemployed in the U.S. as of November. (10% unemployment) These people wish they could have a job, just about any job would be fine.

Conclusion:
We could give over 2/3 (10 MILLION) of the unemployed people in our country meager $25,000 a year jobs paid directly out of the government coffers if we weren't mired in 2 foreign wars that have relatively little to do with defending our country.
Don't get me wrong: $25,000 a year is nothing, but it would bring our unemployment under 5% and get them working until industry can offer them better jobs. Which industry could give them better jobs faster if they were employed and able to buy some things.

Think of what we could do if we had 10 MILLION extra government employees for a year. Sure, most of their time and efforts would be wasted in bureaucratic red tape, but even our government couldn't squander all that time without doing something good.

I'm not saying this is a wise idea. I'm just musing on what we might have done differently with our money...

THIS is whyipaytaxes.