Category Archives: Government

Is your mailbox a managed service point? Until a few months ago I had never heard of a managed service point. That’s when I noticed the white barcoded USPS sticker on the inside of the door to my mailbox (see photo). Yesterday I asked my mail carrier why it is there.
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A committee at Lake Superior State University (LSSU) publishes an annual list of words banished because of misuse, overuse, and general uselessness. Entries for 2010 include “shovel-ready,” “tweet,” and “teachable moment.” Until now I haven’t felt the need to submit an entry for their consideration. They get thousands of nominations each year. But when I browsed their web site last weekend, I noticed that “fair share” has never been officially sanctioned even though the committee has been performing their invaluable service since 1975.
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By “it” I’m referring to the recently enacted health care legislation that requires all Americans, with a few exceptions, to buy health insurance or face a fine. With astonishing “end justifies the means” reasoning, a majority in Congress and the president set aside the oath they took to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.” Some of them argue that the general welfare or interstate commerce clause provides the legal cover they need. Get real. I think they just didn’t see any other way to enact universal health care legislation.
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Yesterday I got pulled over by a Bremerton black-and-white for making a “rolling stop.” At least that’s what the officer called it. Since I didn’t try hard to talk him out of a citation and don’t fit the stereotypes who sometimes escape with a warning, I was surprised when the officer abruptly let me go without even checking my insurance and registration. Bremerton is having budget problems like other cities in Washington, so you might think city policy would be for traffic officers to issue what could have been a $124 ticket whenever possible. Apparently not.
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By now tens of millions of households have gotten a letter from Mr. Robert Groves, the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau, stating that the 2010 census form will be arriving in the mail soon and requesting that it be filled in and returned promptly. Raise your hand if you didn’t know that. Raise your other hand if the census letter will have any effect on how you process the census form. After reading the letter, I had three thoughts about it.
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Last week while I was waiting for my turn in the post office I looked over the list of commemorative stamps the USPS will issue this year. The 2010 stamps made me think about the stamps issued in 1960, which predated the year I started collecting stamps, although not by much, but was one of the first year sets I completed.
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My title isn’t completely apt. What I mean is that I wouldn’t be able to make up comments like the ones I read recently in The Seattle Times. Readers commented on an article describing a plan to build high occupancy toll lanes on Interstate 405. The lanes would be free for vehicles carrying three or more people, while cars with one or two occupants would pay a fee to use them. At last count the story had 169 comments. I skimmed through them, partly to gauge public reaction, but mostly because the way people express themselves in an online forum can be educational, clever, thought provoking, and at times LOL funny.
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