08:06 – I’m surprised it took this long. Yesterday, a Montana man, citing the recent SCOTUS decision on same-sex marriage, applied for a marriage license to allow him to marry a second woman. If Montana officials have any sense, they’ll grant it.
The real problem is that everyone has been arguing around the real issue, which has nothing to do with same-sex marriage, plural marriage, group marriage, and so on. The question that should have been before SCOTUS was whether the government has any right to be involved in marriage in any way. My position, of course, is that it’s none of the government’s business. Marriage should be a purely personal arrangement between private persons. The government should be forbidden to be involved in marriage or to consider marital status in any way, particularly with regard to taxation.
By making marriage a purely personal matter, as it should be, we eliminate the problem. Churches cannot be forced to marry a gay couple, nor can gay-owned bakeries be penalized for refusing to bake wedding cakes for heterosexual couples. The IRS could no longer discriminate against married people because everyone would be taxed as an individual. Get government completely out of marriage, and the problems go away.
Barbara has tomorrow off work for the holiday, and we plan to spend most of the long weekend doing science kit stuff. Inventory of finished kits is low, and we need to start building it up for the rush that starts later this month.
16:02 – I just shipped a science kit to Canada, which was apparently the first one I’d shipped there since sometime in May. On 31 May, USPS changed prices for Priority Mail International, but only for Canada. All other countries remain the same: the only factors that determine price are the weight of the package and which country it’s being shipped to.
But USPS now has zoned rates to Canada, taking distance into account. Not zones in Canada, mind you. For a given weight, the price is the same to anywhere in Canada. Instead, the shipping price varies according to where the shipper is located in the US. There are now eight US zones,from 1.1 to 1.8. If you’re in a low zone, 1.1 or 1.2, the shipping price may actually be less than it was before the price change. If you’re in a high zone, it goes up dramatically. For example, a shipper in zone 1.8 (e.g., Honolulu) will pay something like $30 additional to ship a 5-pound package. For what we ship–6+ to 8+ pound packages–our break-even probably would have been Zone 1.2. Unfortunately, Winston-Salem is in Zone 1.4, which means our shipping costs to Canada for a typical package have increased by almost 30%.
The shipping surcharge covers more than just the additional shipping cost. Our actual costs also include higher credit-card charges on international shipments, additional packing materials, and the extra half hour or so it takes to re-package and ship to an international customer. We’ve been charging a $44 shipping surcharge on Canadian shipments for three or four years now, which means we absorbed two or three increases in postage costs by leaving the surcharge the same. Until recently, we were paying $36.43 in actual postage, which left only $7.57 to cover those other costs. The kit I shipped today went at the 6+ pound rate (< 7 pounds) and cost $44.11 in actual postage, leaving us -$0.11 to cover the additional costs.
So I just increased the shipping surcharge for Canadian shipments to $60, which is actually a couple bucks more than our actual cost. But I figure it’ll probably be another three years before I get around to updating it, so this way we won’t end up taking a loss when postage prices go up again next year.
God was missing for six days. Eventually, Michael, the archangel, found him, resting on the seventh day.
He inquired, “Where have you been?”
God smiled deeply and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds, “Look, Michael. Look what I’ve made.”
Archangel Michael looked puzzled, and said, “What is it?”
“It’s a planet,” replied God, and I’ve put life on it. I’m going to call it Earth and it’s going to be a place to test Balance.”
“Balance?” inquired Michael, “I’m still confused.”
God explained, pointing to different parts of Earth. “For example, northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth, while southern Europe is going to be poor. Over here I’ve placed a continent of white people, and over there is a continent of black people. Balance in all things.”
God continued pointing to different countries. “This one will be extremely hot, while this one will be very cold and covered in ice.”
The Archangel, impressed by God’s work, then pointed to a land area and said, “What’s that one?”
“That’s Texas, the most glorious place on earth. There are beautiful mountains, rivers and streams, lakes, forests, hills, and plains. The people from Texas are going to be handsome, modest, intelligent, humorous, but proud and they are going to travel the world. They will be extremely sociable, hardworking, high achieving, carriers of peace, and producers of good things.”
Michael gasped in wonder and admiration, but then asked, “But what about balance, God? You said there would be balance.”
God smiled, “I will create Washington, DC. Wait till you see the fools I put there.“
This right-wing Roman Catholic gun nut agrees with RBT completely on getting the Unholy State out of the marriage racket.
While we’re at it, get them out of the education racket, too.
For starters.
Gorgeous day here in the northwestern connuh of Vermont with a nice breeze off the lake, blue skies and blue wottuh.
Off to VA group meeting shortly and Mrs. OFD will be heading south to pick up GG and bring her across Maine to the cottage in northern NB over the next 48 hours.
I’ll be back here on the usual house and yard grunt and scut work, although just now was told the live-in bf of the neighbor’s daughter next door is looking to make a few bucks and will do yard work for us, like trimming tree branches and stacking firewood. I dunno about this, though; liability/insurance? And someone we don’t know being on the property occasionally, although this is fairly common up here in rural and small-town Vermont. Thoughts?
Great comments by Ray and OFD to start the day.
Now, be afraid, be very afraid, Bernie Sanders is a force to be reckoned with:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/07/02/should-bernie-sanders-record-setting-crowds-worry-hillary-clinton/
Or is Bernie going to meet with an “accident”? The Clintons have a history of people who are on their wrong side meeting untimely ends.
Mixed thoughts, depending on how old he is. If he’s a teenager, my experience is that you’ve pretty much got to work alongside him, both to supervise and to make sure he doesn’t slack off.
If he’s an adult, well, sometimes it works out, but usually not. My experience is that the work quality is usually pretty lousy. After all, if the guy were any good, he wouldn’t need the little money he can earn that way. Of course, there are exceptions – good people having a bad spell. In cases like that, everybody wins: you get some good work done, they get a helping hand. But that’s not the usual case.
If he weren’t your neighbor, I’d say “why not, give it a try”. Being as he’s a neighbor, you do have to consider what will happen if he does lousy work, and you have to send him on his way. Having the neighbors pissed off about something like that is not optimal.
@Brad
+1
The question that should have been before SCOTUS was whether the government has any right to be involved in marriage in any way. My position, of course, is that it’s none of the government’s business. Marriage should be a purely personal arrangement between private persons. The government should be forbidden to be involved in marriage or to consider marital status in any way, particularly with regard to taxation.
There is a large financial component to the gay marriage issue. Besides tax issues, there are a lot of other financial benefits and obligations to marriage, including insurance, inheritance, child support, alimony, etc. The civil part of marriage is a contract, albeit an often vague one. If the state gets out of the marriage business, would arrangements between private persons be enforced by the courts, like other contracts? If not, how would you enforce them?
It’s 74 degrees at 9:30 am here on the Columbia. Predicted high of 97 this afternoon, but with only 28% humidity. We do not have air conditioning, as is common in the Northwest. Lots of cold drinks and sitting in the shade today.
Rick in Portland
Yes. Marriage should be a private contract, treated like any other. The government should not even be allowed to know who’s married.
Works for me as to marriage. I think that standard marriage contracts would be developed, which would be used by most people. People with enough assets already have private contracts in the form of pre-nuptual agreements.
Jewish tradition has used marriage contracts, called ketubot (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketubah), although they are now a ritual.
How do you handle child support and paternity obligations?
Rick in Portland
Incidentally, all courts should be privatized as well. Child support and paternity? By pre-existing agreement for child support, or, if there is no agreement, by a new agreement. If the parties can’t agree on their own, a private court should rule, ordinarily that the parent willing to pay the costs for the child determines the custody. If neither parent is willing to pay, put the kid up on eBay, where it’d quickly find a new home.
Paternity obligations? None, except by agreement between the parties. If a woman is pregnant and chooses to bear the child, she’s on the hook for all costs unless the father volunteers to assume some or all of them. Remember, abortion should be cheap and easily available to any woman who wants one.
This right-wing Roman Catholic gun nut agrees with RBT completely on getting the Unholy State out of the marriage racket.
While we’re at it, get them out of the education racket, too.
And Housing and Urban Development.
I suspect that we need a Department of Agriculture as that is a Defense issue. I am not sure that we need the food stamps that are 90% of the Agriculture budget though. People used to go beg for food in exchange for work. Actually, people would work for other people just for food and housing. Maybe a little spending cash.
Oh, my eyes! “Caitlyn Jenner needs a fashion intervention”
http://nypost.com/2015/07/01/caitlyn-jenner-needs-a-fashion-intervention/
How does a private court enforce its decisions?
People used to also be quite obsessed with Howard Dean back in 2004. Look how quickly his campaign deflated.
Agree with RBT and OFD about getting the Government out of the marriage and education racket, but while we’re at it, let’s get them out of about everything else too. The Constitution defines the role of the Federal government, and they have clearly overstepped that role.
And someone we don’t know being on the property occasionally, although this is fairly common up here in rural and small-town Vermont. Thoughts?
Live-in boyfriend? I’d pass on that. It just sounds like problems in the future for all the reasons Mr. Brad said.
The Tenth Amendment is largely ignored. SCOTUS sucked all of the power out of it many decades ago.
For all you who are gardening this post just came up on lifehacker:
http://lifehacker.com/create-a-personalized-vegetable-gardening-cheat-sheet-w-1715404846
Answer a few questions and the tool generates two cheat sheets: one with growing instructions and another with a growing calendar.
In the past I have used this planner that is on the Gardener’s Supply Company website:
http://www.gardeners.com/how-to/kitchen-garden-planner/kgp_home.html
I hope you find these useful.
Regarding the 10th Amendment, IMHO and amateur scholar opinion Lincoln got rid of it during the War of Northern Aggression.
Long live the Rebel Flag and The Dukes of Hazard.
Long live the Rebel Flag and The Dukes of Hazard.
Long Live Trump 2016!
“Live-in boyfriend? I’d pass on that. It just sounds like problems in the future for all the reasons Mr. Brad said.”
Indeed. Thanks for the input, hermanos; I will let the wife bring it up again, or the neighbor himself, and try to get more intel. The gent in question has a short gray beard, though probably significantly younger than me. The daughter and whole situation is a question mark at this point; but as Mr. brad says, we have the neighbor to consider on a permanent basis. Otherwise I’m in no particular hurry to get this ball rolling.
Tx for them links, Mr. DadCooks! I’ll get right on those.
Heh.
Naturally half the viewers didn’t get the reference there. Pretty clever. I had a red 60s Bug out in Kalifornia for a brief time in Marin County during part of my fun times with Uncle, and then upon return to “The World,” got a ’73 yellow Super Beetle. Seven years later, a Kharmen Ghia convertible, which caught fire while I was driving it to my MA State Police Academy training.
No V-dubs since.
We had a 2003 New Beetle for 7 years. A convertible. I learned to hate convertibles during that time. Broke a lot. Thank God for an extended warranty. Sold it over BB! Yay!
Trump 2016! “A New New Beetle in every garage.”
Rodham 2016! “No More Garages!”
Rodham 2016! “Secure Email!”
Rodham 2016! “A re-education camp in every town!”
The IRS could no longer discriminate against married people because everyone would be taxed as an individual. Get government completely out of marriage, and the problems go away.
What about inheritance from a spouse to a spouse? Always taxable?
Ah, the first real car I had, i.e., more than something I fixed up and sold, was a red 1966 bug (this was around 1980 – hey, it was what I could afford). What a car – reliable, great traction even on ice, and if it did break, you could fix it yourself, rather than taking it to a computerized workshop. Of course, my memories may be just slightly biased…
Stupidly, I sold it after a couple of years, to buy a much newer American car. Which broke down regularly, had steering that wandered all over the road, slipped around when it saw snow in the distance – crappy, crappy, crappy.
I fixed up and sold, was a red 1966 bug (this was around 1980 – hey, it was what I could afford)
I owned a 61 beetle when I was in high school. Simple, reliable, easy and cheap to fix. Only issue was cold starting that was eventually fixed by installing a heated fuel jet in the carb. Sold that car when I went in the USAF.
While in Hawaii I purchased a ’66 beetle. Was a good car for Hawaii and I eventually shipped it back to the states. It was reliable, few repairs and what repairs were required were cheap. Only thing that bothered me was the system was 6 volt. Had I got a ’67 it would have come with 12 volt system.
got a ’73 yellow Super Beetle.
I traded my ’66 beetle for a ’74 Super Beetle. Nothing but problems. Speedometer had to be replaced twice, fuel gauge five times. One time going home at night all the electrical went out. Had to walk to girlfriend’s house, wait until morning and take the vehicle to the dealer. Another time the clutch went out and required replacement. During strong rains water would accumulate on the floor. Dealer could not find the leak. All of this was under warranty before the lemon laws.
After the warranty expired I drilled a small hole in the floor so the water would drain. Of course this water over time caused rust problems in the floor. The battery, being under the rear seat, was in danger of falling through the floor so I placed a piece of plywood under the battery to avoid a nasty surprise.
A/C was added by the the dealer and was made by DPD. Sometimes the A/C expansion valve would ice up and stop the A/C. Had to wait until the system warmed to get it to work again. Mostly happened on long trips. Also found a cracked compressor mount.
When the car was about five years old, I filled the tank, drove 30 miles and used a quarter of the tank. Found a fuel line that was split and was spewing gas. Replaced that line myself. Finally got tired of the problems and traded the vehicle in for a Honda Accord.
Kharmen Ghia convertible, which caught fire
After buying the Honda I returned to the dealer about two weeks later to pick up my new license plates. Talked to the salesperson who said they sold my old VW within two days. But the couple that bought it returned to the dealer mad as hell. Seems they were driving down the road and the vehicle caught fire. Probably another fuel line problem.
Really soured me on VW. Will never buy another one. My niece has a VW diesel and says it has been great, no problems in three years. Regardless, I will never take the chance on one of those vehicles again.
I hear you on the later Beetles – my dad had a ’73 Super Beetle, which also had it’s share of problems. That said, the later VWs – say, for the past 10-15 years – have been very good, from all that I hear.
Personally, I’ve only had Japanese cars, after my misadventures with American junk in the 1980s. From what I hear, that was the lowest point; after that things got better. My mother always drove American, out of sheer patriotism. She liked big Buicks and Oldmobiles with automatic transmissions and spongy suspensions. Not to my liking, but the quality in later years seemed to have recovered. In terms of features, still not a lot for your money – the union wages are a killer. The Japanese models are often produced domestically, but – no surprise – in right-to-work states.
[snip] What about inheritance from a spouse to a spouse? Always taxable? [snip]
Inheritance taxes punish hard work, talent, and success, and they’re a second bite of the apple. Get rid of them.
misadventures with American junk in the 1980s. From what I hear, that was the lowest point; after that things got better
That has been my experience. My wife (before I married her) purchased a 1974 Pinto. The body and auxiliary engine parts were metric, the rest was SAE. It was a pain to work on that vehicle.
The A/C was of the variety where the compressor was activated full time when the A/C was turned on as opposed today’s system that cycle the clutch. Temperature was maintained by a bleeder valve. This caused the discharge side of the system, specifically the receiver/dryer to get very cold. On a trip from San Antonio to Dallas this receiver/dryer became a massive chunk of ice on the exterior. So much so that turning right (the receiver/dryer was in the right front wheel area) became very limited as the tire would impact this iced over product. Bad design all around not to mention the fuel tank.
I also purchased a 1980 Ford F-100. Sloppy fit on most of the body parts. Doors had thick gaskets, about one inch thick, to seal the doors as the fit was so poor. Just generally bad workmanship in most areas. I had the inline 6 and the rear spark plug was constantly having the ceramic shattered because the cooling was very poor on that rear cylinder. Replacing that plug was not easy.
Smog control systems that were just absolute crap (the vehicle had a carb). I disabled the air pump and straight piped the catalytic converter. I also replaced the factory carb with an aftermarket because the factory carb developed problems with stuck linkage, blocked ports and just general problems.
The Japanese were killing the US auto industry as was evidenced by the quality of the Honda Accord that I purchased. The fit and quality was much better than the US and markedly better than the Pinto my wife was driving. Less road noise, better ride, better handling, just a better vehicle by far.
Fast forward to today with my 2014 F-150. The fit of the body panels is excellent, the interior is excellent, the ride is excellent, it is quiet on the highway, responsive for a full sized cowboy Cadillac, markedly better than my prior Ford products. The US auto industry has come a long ways. They had to otherwise they would not have survived. However, Chrysler is still slow to catch up.