I’m an organizer of an activist group in Illinois and I’m inviting you to join the Tea Party Blogring at http://www.xanga.com/groups/group.aspx?id=2570286

Every day, federal, state and local governments stifle small businesses to privilege well-connected incumbent companies. It’s a system of protectionism for influential insiders who don’t want competition.

Here are some examples.

Case No. 1.

• The monks at St. Joseph Abbey had to take the state of Louisiana to federal court to defend their right to sell handmade caskets.
• Funeral directors had managed to get Louisiana to pass a law decreeing that only “licensed funeral directors” may sell “funeral merchandise” like caskets.
• To sell caskets legally, the monks would have to obtain a funeral director’s license, which requires a year-long apprenticeship, passing a funeral industry test and converting their monastery into a “funeral establishment” by installing embalming equipment, among other things.

Case No. 2.

• Hector Ricketts offers New York City residents an alternative to New York’s public transportation.
• He employs drivers who offer commuters rides in minivans and typically charge $2 a head — the subways and buses charge $2.25.
• The city’s public transit union used its political connections to regulate the vans to death: The politicians have decreed that vans may not drive routes used by city buses or provide service to a passenger unless it is prearranged by phone; and the vans must keep a passenger manifest on board and enter the name of everyone to be picked up.

Case No. 3.

• Melony Armstrong of Tupelo, Miss., wanted to expand her African hairbraiding business, but was told that she needed a full cosmetology license.
• That required 1,200 hours of classes and a cosmetology instructor’s license — 2,000 more hours.
• The courses and license had little to do with her profession and were simply barriers to entry favored by her competition.

Source: John Stossel, “Entrepreneurs under Attack,” Freeman Online, December 2010.

For text: http://www.thefreemanonline.org/columns/give-me-a-break/entrepreneurs-under-attack/

For more on Regulatory Issues: http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/?Article_Category=38

Our big, sweet Josie is starting to fail after giving us years of joy and love.  I brought her home on Christmas Eve twelve years ago when she was just six weeks old.  She is the best Christmas present I’ve ever gotten.

She’s slowly losing the use of her hind legs and she’s starting to gag for no apparent reason, like she’s trying to cough .  The vet says that the gagging is an indication that she has fluid and congestion building around her heart and lungs. 

Her hind leg problems are just a symptom of what most large dogs eventually suffer from and she’s no exception.  She has trouble getting up stairs and seems to almost pull herself up with the strength of her front legs.   Sometimes her back legs stumble and she slides back down the stairs.

Why do the good things in your life never seem to last long enough?