Rejoice the Bunny Inspectors are on the Job

View 794 Thursday, October 17, 2013

“Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.”

President Barack Obama, January 31, 2009

Christians to Beirut. Alawites to the grave.

Syrian Freedom Fighters

What we have now is all we will ever have.

Conservationist motto

Rejoice. The Bunny Inspectors, after a two week paid vacation, are back on the job. They will be paid for their “furlough” as if they had worked full time, with no loss of time off, and they can go back to watching stage magic shows to be certain that no thaumaturgist uses a rabbit in his performance without a Federal license from the Department of Agriculture, unless, of course, the rabbit is killed as part of the performance in which case no Federal license is required. I wish I were making all this up, but I am not. It’s the law. They will also inspect back yard rabbit cages where people who keep pet rabbits have their stock, and if anyone sells a pet rabbit without a Federal license the cost is about $5000 per bunny. If your kids keep rabbits, make sure they give them away rather than sell them. It is possible that they can sell rabbits for slaughter without a Federal license, but check with your lawyer before they do it.

So rejoice. The awful majesty of the Federal Government, for which Patriot blood was shed at Bunker Hill and Cowpens and Yorktown, will come down hard on those who dare use rabbits in public performance without a Federal license; and they will not be getting away with it, since the Inspectors are on the job.

The barriers are being taken down from the unattended turnaround at Mount Vernon, and the Veterans will once again be allowed to visit the World War II Memorial out on the National Mall; and tourists on busses will be able to “recreate” and even take pictures at Old Faithful. God reigns, and the Government at Washington lives again. At least until next February, when the Kabuki resumes. And for this we pay Members of Congress $170,000 a year plus plenty much beaucoup benefits and perks, only they are about to vote themselves a raise to compensate for their strenuous efforts in the Kabuki.

And the beat goes on.

I am scheduled to go back out to Kaiser in a few minutes where they will remove the stitches in my cheek (both outside and inside my mouth) and I am not really looking forward to it. And of course the various impacts bumps and bruises of my precipitation from bed to nightstand to floor early Tuesday morning are beginning to manifest themselves. It has not be a pleasant experience. Thanks for all the good wishes.

I’m fine if a bit disgruntled. The President is now castigating the Congress for not showing leadership in this crisis. I can’t think of a suitable comment.

The good news is that somehow the sequestration was kept intact so the government will spend less this year than it did last year. Not a lot less, certainly not enough less that we will not have to borrow money in order to pay the Bunny Inspectors for the paid vacation, but less. The budget deficit is decreasing. The Debt grows monotonically of course. We must borrow money to pay our debts, a situation that does not seem to be abating, but the deficit is marginally decreasing. This is a situation that the President intends to change; he has plenty of new places to spend money.

This is pledge week at KUSC, the LA Good Music station and that makes it a week of subscription drive at Chaos Manor. I don’t normally bug you about subscriptions, but when KUSC asks for money I do; which is to say, I operate this place on the Public Radio model. It’s free. I don’t allow chatter but I do select letter for publication and this place has one of the best letter sections on the web – admittedly I am a bit behind, but I will catch up on the mail. This is a place for rational discussion; think of it as a place for rational thought about the impact of technology on society. Politically I am a former protégé of Russell Kirk and Stefan Possony, a former Cold Warrior, and that tends to color my views, but I am fairly skeptical about political theories as practiced by most political parties – and I have had enough experience managing political campaigns including for a Democratic Party Mayor of Los Angeles (Yorty) to know that no political theory is much use when it comes to government of real places in real times. Leaving me as a political skeptic.

Anyway if you do not subscribe this would be a good time to do so, and my thanks to the many new subscribers this week. And if you haven’t renewed your subscription in a while it’s never too late (or too early for that matter) to do so. Do it now while you’re thinking about it.

http://www.jerrypournelle.com/paying.html

And Roberta tells me it is time to go out to Kaiser and get stuck with needles. Sigh.