How to stick it to Junk Mailers

Blogadilla has a hilarious post about how to get back at junk mailer. Apparently, one can take one of those "No Postage Necessary" envelopes, put it on a box filled with bricks, and mail it. The junk mailer will then have to pay something like $0.20 an ounce.

The only catch to this is that since 9/11/01, all packages must have a return address before the post office will mail them. So, the junk mailer will know where the package came from, and so may either take you off of the mailing list, or may retaliate with more junk mail, albeit without "No Postage Necessary" envelopes.

Conservative populism

The New Republic's Jonathan Chait makes an excellent point about the current political philosophy espoused by the Clintons. Chait calls it "conservative populism," which unlike "liberal populism," which is based in social science and facts, is based in anti-social science and a deliberate disregard for facts. Hillary Clinton's blanket abandonment of all economists in the face of alleged popular support for a gas tax holiday is only one example of this phenomenon.

Eric Schlosser on Corporate Espionage

Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation and Reefer Madness, has an excellent piece in today's New York Times. Schlosser argues that the public American corporations use more and more unethical and illegal tactics to spy on those whom they see as a threat. Just as "A Senate inquiry during the 1930s prompted companies to disband their private armies and stop spying on labor unions," Schlosser argues for federal hearings and action to curb these current round of spying.

Primary Predictions: 5/6

Indiana: Clinton, by less than 10%
North Carolina: Obama, by more than 10%

The engame is now set. There is no way that the Clinton campaign can catch up in delegates (assuming that even if Michigan delegates were alloted that Obama would get some proportional to the "uncommitted" vote). Her error was that she disregarded smaller, less populous states in February and March, such that Obama was able to wrack up giagantic margins and take a lead in delegates (since we've all seen from the past few primaries that winning a large primary by 10% doesn't really help a candidates margin much).

That said, Obama will not get a majority of the delegates without a significant surge of superdelegates. It is looking more and more likely that this will only happen if Clinton concedes.

So, one more month of Clinton trench fighting until the calls for her to drop out grow to a deafening roar. At which point she has two options: drop out and let Barack be the nominee, or bloody him further that the party turns to an even bigger Clinton family enemy: Al Gore.

It's your call Hillary.

Best Pizza in NYC

Even with pizza, you get what you pay for. Without a doubt, Una Pizza Napoletana's Anthony Mangieri makes the best pizza in New York City. He uses the best possible ingredients (including imported wood for his oven), and hand makes each and every pizza. The experience itself is also amazing, since from the tables one gets to watch Anthony make each pizza.

It's expensive - two individual pizzas and wine will run you over $60 - though when did a filling spectacular dinner in Manhattan cost less than that? Una Pizza is certainly worth a trip.

Unpasteurized milk

Excellent piece in Harper's about unpasteurized milk (hat tip to ABP). Milk is one of those things that is more dangerous in the short term if unpasteurized, yet in the long has likely has a role in increased incidences of immune deficiencies (allergies, etc.).

Here's the simple question: If I can legally buy cigarettes and a restaurant can serve raw fish, why can't I buy unpasteurized milk? If the government thinks that, with appropriate labeling about the risks I'm taking to my health, I'm mature enough to choose my smoke and my fish, why can't I do the same with my milk?

Furthermore, why can't we just test all unpasteurized milk for the most harmful bacteria and then pasteurize the milk that is above safe level. This way, we're allowing people to benefit from drinking unpasteurized milk without exposing them to undue risk.

Voter ID Laws: Worst of both worlds

The Supreme Court recently ruled that state laws requiring government-issued photo ID to vote are constitutional. As Marie Cocco points out, these laws are mostly a blatantly partisan attempt by Republicans to disenfranchise democratic voters.

Let's start with the ideal. In this fantasy, there would be a national database. Each potential voter would present him or herself for identification (be it photo ID, fingerprint, retinal scan, or cheek swab), and then after verification, he or she would be allowed to vote. Registering for identification would be as simple as registering to vote, or as simple as getting a birth certificate. Every citizen would have the appropriate means of identification, at no charge and minimal inconvenience.

Now let's return to reality. Every voter does not have equal access. Government issued photo ID are expensive, and odds are if someone doesn't have the money to get them, he or she certainly doesn't have the time to jump through the necessary hoops to get one for free. Furthermore (which is why it always seems to be Republicans pushing for these laws), the voters most affected by these laws are likely to vote Democrat, making this far more about partisanship and far less about combating voter fraud.

So, ideally, should states require ID to vote? Yes. Given our current system of access to government identification, can we equitably require ID to vote? No.