Not pissed off? Not paying attention.

Personally, I have not been this angered in a while. First, the "stimulus" bill set me off. Then the Phelps incident. Now we have to deal with the emerging monopoly of Ticketmaster/Live Nation. I'm going to tackle these one at a time.

1) Pelosi's plan to dump eight years of liberal spending into a "Stimulus" bill is absolute trash, but that horse has been beaten enough, as has the bill. The problems I have with it are that some of the programs set forth in the bill will not create jobs or even spending in the first year, and that is, arguably, what we need. I like a lot of the proposal in the bill, environmental, wildlife, rural broadband, and neighborhood rejuvenation... but some of these simply aren't stimulative. Just wait for the appropriation bill for this stuff, that is if there is any money left over for them.

Also, what burns me up is that Obama just wants to revert to the House bill after careful compromises in the Senate. How about not even paying lip service to bipartisanship from here on out. A democrats spending bill, by democrats, for democrats, destined to faceplant right out of the gate.

2)Mr. Phelps and the bong, what a disaster. I, as a resident of Richland Co. SC, am appalled that our taxdollars are going to chasing down college kids smoking pot. We have much bigger fish to fry in Columbia and a budget crisis in the State house, this is not the way to do things.

Also, shame on Kelloggs and Subway for having the PR department time forgot. This is the 21st century, grow up! America can handle pot, most people have smoked it now, don't freak out about it.

The one positive thing to come out of this is the elevation of Marijuana to the national stage. America is finally mature enough to discuss the ridiculousness of prohibition and hopefully sane enough to talk about alternatives.

3)Ticketmaster/ Live Nation... are you kidding me. Here, kiddies, we will see the resolve of the mighty Obama administration. If it passes, same old same old, well placed campaign contributions and business as usual. If not, good for them, us, and Teddy Roosevelt. The core principle of the free market is competition, and this behemoth would corner the live music market like Ticketmaster did..... well last decade. This is a monopoly in its truest form and should not be allowed to pass muster. They pay lip service to the customers, and while I like the idea of market priced ticketing, I doubt the TM/LN will implement it with the full efficiency and transparency that it would require.

Update: Go here for a blog dedicated to this disaster in the making.

Well, that's all I have for this week. But if you have the time to waste reading this blog, then you have the time to cut/paste a few emails to your senators and congressmen about these issues. Make your voice heard and tell them that we won't put up with this garbage anymore.