Hey, you know how a lot of people who go to the Burning Man Festival every year are maybe the kind of people who would like there to be more government? OK! Here. HAVE SOME:
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) officials wants Burning Man organizers to spend $1 million on a VIP compound at this year’s festival.
The Reno Gazette-Journal reported Friday that federal officials have asked the festival to set up the compound — called the “Blue Pit” — complete with washers and dryers, hot water, air conditioning and couches for some of the 150 staffers who work the event each year.
You know how awful this is? Let me put it this way: Harry freaking Reid is yelling at the Department of the Interior over this, which just goes to show that there really can be a government proposal so stupid that even the second-biggest lame duck in government won’t sign off on it. For those unfamiliar, Burning Man is basically an insane amount of people going out and living in the desert for a couple of weeks; it is not a venue that is amenable for providing the basic comforts of Western civilization to a bunch of government officials. Also, the estimated cost of this facility would be a million bucks, which is why the government is trying to get Burning Man to pay for it. Because I don’t want my tax dollars going to give a BLM staffer free air conditioning during his two week vacation.
But, hey, this is all for Burning Man’s eventual good, right? I mean, clean and pampered BLM staffers are happy staffers, so the organizers should be happy to oblige. After all, aren’t these same staffers in the same organization that is processing Burning Man’s permitting? – Which, mind you, hasn’t been formally approved yet.
Moe Lane
PS: It is my devout hope that the Society for Creative Anachronism’s annual Pennsic War never gets large enough to ‘require’ federal oversight. Because bureaucracy is like kudzu, honestly. Sentient, obnoxious kudzu.
First they came for the Burning Man festival, and I…wait, what the heck is Burning Man?
The BLM requests that the SCA set up a “Blue Kingdom”, complete with throne room, courtiers, manned sedan chairs and a jester.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA :wiping eyes: Oh, man, you have no idea why that’s funny and I have no intention of telling you.
Just wait till the spot check your siege towers for ADA accessibility.
Just desserts – good and hard.
There are some relatively rich, powerful people who go to Burning Man. The feds denying a permit to the festival? They’ll be crushed like peas stepped on by an elephant.
That would be my guess, anyway.
Is this the one where they take all the useless individuals, that aren’t worth feeding through the winter, put them in a huge wicker cage and burn them alive?
Oh.
Dunno if you see comments to older posts or not, but here I am, anyway.
I “Like”-ed the Burning Man group on Facebook, and have been pleased with the strange structures and ideas they’ve posted. Bare boobs don’t hurt, either.
Yhey’ve been complaining about the BLM, and after your post, I waited for the next complaint, and commented with your line “This is what More Government looks like.”
Well, the response was not what I (nor you) expected. Some Dem commented with “How can you compare with this?”
The follow-ups were all about the evils of Socialism. I posted a pic of “My Che shirt is in the wash” (With the Hitler photo), and it got numerous “Like”s.
Further, there is an active drive-by shooting gun group. (Hey. It’s the freaking desert!)
I found the whole thing very interesting. Maybe Burners aren’t who I thought they were.
The site is still low-traffic enough that I can keep track of comments easily, so as long as the threads are still open, feel free.
As to Burning Man… it sounds like a cliche, but it really is true that going out into the desert leaves its mark on a man. Or woman. Or I-identify-as, I suppose. So I guess I’m not surprised that people who keep going out there, or who yearn to go out there, might not be so easily quantified. 🙂