"...just because something can be done doesn't mean it should be done."

Let's not mince words, not only is it rare, it's downright weird and certainly not a practical way to go normally about your business while being prepared to defend yourself. To those who are not acquainted with the dubious practice of using public displays of firearms as a means to draw attention to oneself or one's cause, it can be downright scary. It makes folks who might normally be perfectly open-minded about firearms feel uncomfortable and question the motives of pro-gun advocates...

More to the point, it's just not neighborly, which is out of character for the big-hearted residents of Texas. Using guns merely to draw attention to yourself in public not only defies common sense, it shows a lack of consideration and manners. That's not the Texas way. And that's certainly not the NRA way.

The head of the CBO answers the most frequently asked question here in short answer / long answer form.

Are any of you going to fall into the "coverage gap" created in states like ours that don't expand Medicaid eligibility, and will it affect your work choices?

Do any of you have employees that are going to cost you money if they qualify for a subsidy?

I'd like to hear any personal stories of how responsive your labor supply or demand might be to the circles and arrows pictured below:

here.

It is not hyperbole to say that our future depends on our ability to do what we have so long been told we can no longer do: act collectively. And who better than unions to carry that message...

There are big parts of our economy that are already low-carbon...

And they’re also the sectors we need to expand massively: the care-givers, educators, sanitation workers, and other service sector workers. The very ones that your new union has pledged to organize. The low-carbon workers who are already here, demanding living wages and respect.

The American Emergency Bridge Repair Team has been deployed.

Forbes: New App Lets You Boycott Koch Brothers, Monsanto And More By Scanning Your Shopping Cart

buycott.com

Have you ever wondered whether the money you spend ends up funding causes you oppose?

from their facebook page, 5/15:

For all those wondering, we chose to pull the app from the Google Play store because it had too many bugs that we won't have time to address for a couple weeks, and the additional 100+ Android users who were signing up every minute were slowing our servers to a crawl. We REALLY didn't want to have to pull it but were left with little choice. We need a dedicated Android dev!

...or something. Members of ALEC have been asked to limit the use of the organization's acronym so we'll stop paying attention. PR Watch has the details.

The F-35 "is expected to cost $1.5 trillion over its useful life" and it can't fly through a cloud.

Stupid clouds.

Here's what happened [video here] in a Senate HELP Committee hearing on the bill to gradually increase the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour in three annual steps, and then link future increases in the minimum wage to the cost of living, in a nutshell.

• "a predictable adjustment process is something we should all be able to agree on"

• The price of a #11 combo at McDonald's would go up, from $7.19 to $7.23.

• Kitchen workers at full service restaurants would likely face a slight offset in wage gains with reduced hours.

• Ranking Republican Alexander cites a study to support some hyperbolic allegory.

More about that last point after the break...

Here's a preview.

"little people's republics"??

I don't have kids, but I've known a lot of people that have, and I know that schools are right there in the Tennessee State Constitution between property exemptions and the protection of game and fish.

The General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance, support and eligibility standards of a system of free public schools. What system shall they maintain and support? A local public school system operated in each county or combination of counties.

So I don't really understand all this talk about charters and vouchers and virtual academies and Shelby County. The General Assembly is doing lot of work on vague promises to gradually, eventually fund private reformers to do their job of maintenance and support, and as that fails they'll work harder to blame the unsupported.
They're apparently having the same problem down in Texas.

They say 100,000 kids are on a waiting list for charter schools. Let me tell you about another waiting list.

Cree now sells them at the Home Depot.

Can we test some in Congressman Blackburn's office? In the spirit of renewal, I would gladly contribute to an Easter basket.

Bonus! "It's non-weird shape emits non-weird light."

The NGA Corporate Fellows Program, celebrating its 25th year, promotes the exchange of information between the private sector and governors on emerging trends and factors affecting both business and state government.

The 2013 Public-Private Partnership Award is ARAMARK Correctional Services, LLC. Har-rumph!

The goal of IN2WORK is to teach offenders the fundamentals of working in a food service environment to help them gain skills and experiences that can be leveraged when they reenter the workforce.

Previous winners

Zaid Jilani reports:

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) wants to raise the Medicare age. He says he wants to do this to save money, but he opposes letting Medicare negotiate for drug prices — meaning he would rather seniors bear the burden with benefit cuts than cut into Big Pharma’s profits.

Today, several lobbyists who represent the industry will be throwing him a fundraising lunch in Washington, D.C. at Charlie Palmer Steak, a popular [palm-greasing] spot

The Senator's D.C. office # is (202) 224-4944.

He wants the UN to force his supporters to hand over a mailing list of 170,000 liberty loving, UN hating (soon to be former?) Ron Paul supporters.

What in the world is going on? Earlier this week we were hit in the face by Ron Paul’s entirely out-of-character anti-Chris Kyle tweet, and now Ron Paul, the Internet grassroots candidate, who was at the right place at the right time to lead the rEVOLution, attacks his own grassroots supporters through an agency of the United Nations to deport them from their own domain names after 5 years of nothing but unlimited, unconditional support on our part?

Amazon.com press release:
"After compiling sales data of romance novels and relationship books... the top 20 most romantic cities in the US are:"

Amazon.com:

You've had a busy play day - You've wiretapped Mom's cell phone and e-mail without a warrant, you've indefinitely detained your little brother Timmy in the linen closet without trial, and you've confiscated all the Super-Soakers from the neighborhood children. What do you do for an encore?

Tuesday was a big day for agenda setting across the political spectrum and CQ Roll Call has a litle rundown of the opening discussions that will shape the next few months of policy wrangling.

Expecting this to be the year that a comprehensive immigration bill gets passed, Senator Leahy turned down the chance to chair the Appropriations committee to stay as chair of the Judiciary committee. On the House side, Boehner and Cantor are urging colleagues to not kill a key component of the party's rebranding strategy - again.

Leahy attempted to set the tone as Senators left for a two-day strategy retreat by offering up to the House (again) a softball of an exercise in cooperation between the two chambers:

On a quick voice vote [unanimous consent] and without any real debate, the Senate last night passed Leahy’s bill to... fortify a roster of embassies with new Marine posts and other security measures.

I got an email from the chairman of the House Education Committee today:

It is important to realize that this is not just giving public money to private schools. There are strict guidelines that must be followed.
In order to qualify for this voucher a student must first be eligible for free or reduced lunches. And secondly, that student must be attending a school that is deemed a “failing” school by state authorities. Currently the only school in Knox County that would have students eligible to participate is Sarah Moore Green Elementary.

Harry Brooks is one of our more thoughtful Republican representatives and I know he has at least one kid. I don't have any kids. Unlike Senator Campfield, I won't pretend I would begin to know how to legislate what is best for them, but I find this troubling on a very basic level that I think anyone could understand. Is the entire notion of contemporary educational reform premised upon a foundation of abandonment? Or exile? Segregation? I'm struggling for words here, and our legislators are struggling for solutions. Help 'em out.