Moe Lane

Beast Of Burden, The Rolling Stones

Getting towards warm nights, thank God.

Right on schedule.

It got overshadowed by recent events both foreign and domestic, but last week Governor Pat Quinn (D, IL) signed legislation declaring that in-state affiliates for online sellers count as ‘a physical presence’ in Illinois, thus theoretically allowing the state to require those online sellers to collect sales tax information.  This is usually called the ‘Amazon tax*,’ as it is largely aimed at Amazon.com**. This is a long-standing dispute (H/T: Instapundit), and usually ends with the companies in question ending their affiliate programs: Illinois businesses and individuals were however assured (by groups like the Illinois Retail Merchants Association) that there was no chance that Amazon.com would dare end its affiliate program for Illinois***.

Turns out that this was incorrect: as usual in these cases, Amazon.com (and Overstock.com) immediately closed down its affiliate program for Illinois (beginning April 15), thus making the issue moot.  This means that no Illinois resident or company will receive a commission for sales – which means lost revenue, which means less taxable revenue for the state of Illinois (Amazon.com requires its affiliates to fill out 1099 forms, and the money that affiliates generate is subject to income tax).  It does not mean that Amazon.com itself is forbidden to Illinois: Illinois residents may continue to purchase products from the company – and given its current market share, the lack of affiliate linkage will probably not have any effect on the company’s sales at all.  In other words, the state of Illinois has just reduced its annual tax revenue and absolved Amazon.com of the necessity of paying out 4% to 15% commissions on any product indirectly sold on its behalf by a citizen of Illinois.

Brilliant move there, Governor Quinn.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

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…and I just deleted a very, very, very angry post that I belatedly realized was much more about my reflexive parental burning rage towards anybody who hurts kids than it was the ostensible target of said post, so I could use some cheerful right now: they’re keeping Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback, the taste of both of which I prefer to the fructose corn syrup versions.  Pejman’s (H/T, btw) right, though: we need Coke with real sugar, too.

Yes, yes, I should track down some Mexican Coke.  Although I hear that’s made with brown sugar, though.

So sayeth Jimmie Bise of the Sundries Shack.  It’s going to be a prediction of the next decade.  Indirectly, Jimmie references Andrew Malcolm, which leads me to a puzzler: is this comment of Andrew’s funnier?

The publisher describes the upcoming tell-all tome as “an X-rated look at the seamier side of American public life where empty-headed liberal celebrities with hypocritcally huge carbon-footprints and this year’s spouse receive immense sums of money simply for showing up at glitzy ceremonies to exchange meaningless awards.”

The working title is: “A Convenient Truth.”

No, not really.

Or this?

The book was acquired by a new Random House editor, noted talk-show guest Jon Meacham, who recently led the Newsweek print edition into oblivion.

I’m sure that it’ll be fine, though: remember Al’s poetry?  Because I did.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

…and the title is all that you need to hear, now isn’t it?  Some more grim details, though: almost 49 grand (not including tax credit) for a car that’s actually a glorified hybrid (the gas engine has to be on if you want to take this sucker on the highway); and the effective gas mileage is somewhere around 27 mpg.  Now, that sounds great if you’re the President – because Obama thinks that the average clunker out there gets 8 to 10 mpg, mostly because the President is an urban liberal* who probably hasn’t driven himself anywhere in the last decade – but it’s a bit more disconcerting for the rest of the population to be told that this Government Fiat car is the Wave of the Future.

I mean, we were told the same thing about Soylent Green.

Anyway, if you think that I’m being too cruel about the Volt, apparently it’s nothing compared to Consumer Reports’ initial assessment, which appears in the April 2011 issue and is distinctly unkind – to the point where the reviewer in two separate places explicitly questioned whether buying one of these things made anything like logical sense.  That article, by the way, casually notes one under-mentioned but actually critical point: the lack of a ambient heating system.  The way the Consumer Reports reviewer put it? “You have seat heaters, which keep your body warm, but your feet get cold and your hands get cold…” – which is bad enough for commuters.  But it’s even worse for parents who thought that they could use this vehicle to do anything like a long trip in wintertime. (more…)

I’m rooting for Mutually Assured Destruction.

A strike called by unpaid Huffington Post contributors received a major boost Wednesday with a call to arms released by the national Newspaper Guild.

The industry association called on contributors not currently on strike to cease contributions and asked members to help by “shining a light on the unprofessional and unethical practices of this company.”

The Newspaper Guild boasts 26,000 members and is affiliated with the Communications Workers of America (CWA). The CWA is affiliated with the AFL-CIO.

Via Glenn Reynolds, who also reminds us that the CWA hits women.   So, really, there’s no need to intervene in this particular cage match…

Moe Lane

You know, I’m glad that Helen Thomas still has cognitive function, as revealed in this interview (sent to me via email). Evil, twisted, and yes, anti-Semitic*, but otherwise cognitively functional:

On the Jews’ influence and power: “[The Jews are] using their power, and they have power in every direction…Power over the White House, power over Congress…Everybody is in the pocket of the Israeli lobbies, which are funded by wealthy supporters, including those from Hollywood.  Same thing with the financial markets.  There’s total control…It isn’t the two percent.  It’s real power when you own the White House, when you own these other places in terms of your political persuasion.  Of course they have power.  [To the interviewer] You don’t deny that.  You’re Jewish, aren’t you?”

You see, there’s no point to despising the mentally ill.  Neither is it nice.  After all, the mentally ill can’t help being mentally ill, right? But Thomas can; and so watching her squirm under the consequences of her actions is perfectly justified.  If she doesn’t like being treated as a Bad Person, then she shouldn’t be Bad.

Read the whole article, by the way: apparently, the interviewer flat-out asked Thomas whether or not she was non compos mentis.  A shame that they probably don’t videotape these interviews: I’d pay a buck to see her face when that question came up.  I’d pay more for a montage of the people who are going to be upset by this interview, too; there’s going to be a lot of bitter resentment among the Left-pundit class that they’ll have to tone down their memorials to this woman when she eventually kicks the bucket.  Which should happen in due time, I’m sure.

Moe Lane

*Babbling about international Jewish conspiracies is, as they say, diagnostic.

So.  Now that the UN has authorized a no-fly zone in Libya – which is another way of saying that we have decided to create a no-fly (and no-drive) zone in Libya, using the UN for cover – it’s being reported that the Qaddafi regime has immediately declared a cease-fire.  As Glenn Reynolds put it: “Blink.”

If true: well, we should have done this a week ago.  Unfortunately, we’re stuck with a President that takes forever to get to the point – and, contra Andrew Sullivan (safe link), this situation would not be “highly believable” if it were taking place under a hypothetical McCain administration.  Mostly because Qaddafi wouldn’t have dared tick off the USA in the first place; Republican hawks tend to have a low opinion of him and his regime.  Still, at least President Obama got to it eventually.

Sorry: I might be more effusive in my praise if the optics on this were better.  And optics are important.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

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Hi, my name is Moe Lane, and I’m kind of a sadist.

…What do you mean, it’s not on Amazon.com?  How the hell am I supposed to profit on the SAN loss of my readers if there isn’t an Amazon.com link?

Anyway, here’s how this thing came to be (via Hot Air).  14.3 million YT hits, my droogies.  Winning!

Four pages (full rules here), and absolutely minimalist.  How miminalist?  The combat rules boil down to “Fight, and die; run/hide, and live.”  You give your name, your profession, grab 3d6 to play with, and away you go.  And undoubtedly go insane in short order; hence the ease of character generation (as alluded to here).

I’m tempted to make this my con game in Tampa next year.  If for no other reason than I’m pretty sure that I can get six-sided dice past security at the convention with no hassles (“It’s Yahtzee!  See?  here are the sheets and everything!”)…

Via PS 238.

Moe Lane

You have got to be [expletive deleted] me… no.  No, no: they’re really going to turn the ChiComs into North Koreans for Red Dawn.  You see, the Chinese might get upset, and they’re a revenue source: but nobody in Hollywood cares if the North Koreans take offense.  After all, as Greg Gutfield notes, “…with that country, there’s nothing to be gained, financially. It’s as lucrative as a Kathy Griffin porn site.”

Yes, I know.  The goggles do nothing.

Anyway, it’s a shame: Libertas reviewed the film-that-was (SPOILERS), and it sounded fun.  Guess MGM just likes being collaborators.

Moe Lane

PS: WOLVERINES!

You were warned, and we told you so.

The title to this Hill article is “Frustration with Obama Builds” – which is highly ironic; or, at least the verb is.  The article itself discusses the President’s apparent public indifference towards getting involved with anything resembling negotiations over the ongoing budget problems; what makes it interesting is that Democrats (specifically, Sen. Kay Hagan of NC) are apparently now willing to go on the record to complain about Obama’s passivity.  What’s especially grating apparently is that the President’s planning to go to Latin America for a few days, starting tomorrow: it’s always grating when somebody goes on vacation just as the rest of the office has to start up an emergency, overtime-generating, critical rush project.

But here is the thing: why are Democrats surprised that this is happening?  We knew that the President was disinterested in governance.  We’ve known this for years. (more…)