Can you believe it? My stream of consciousness practice has ended after one day. The second day, I was sitting at the computer and drew a complete blank. I blinked and 10 minutes had passed on by. I am probably not cut out to be a writer; although it was an interesting path when I was younger.
I am going back to what I am best at which is building random websites for kicks and giggles.
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Watched the news last night and a video story came up of Texas’ Governor Perry saying their state should secede from the United States. Really?
Sure, talking about secession isn’t a new thing. There was talk in California about becoming its own country when the state had a larger GDP than many independent nations. But, all it was just talk. It never came out of the mouths of the states’ leadership.
But, let’s just run with it. What would it mean for Texas to become its own country?
They will no longer be subject to the laws and regulations of the United States.
They can set their own rules and policies for immigration.
They can create their own constitution to fit their ideals.
That sounds pretty sweet, but what would Texas lose by becoming its own country?
They will no longer have the protection of the United States military.
Texans living abroad (outside Texas) will have to apply for a working visa or be deported.
They will have to decide on the type of political system to use–Total Capitalism, Democracy, Dictatorship?
Their leader will be Governor Perry.
Cons seem to outweigh the Pros there.
I read somewhere that if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it. It being the ability to write. Researching on this subject, one solution to keep the ability sharp was to write for a set time limit every day. So that is what I am going to do. I am going to start at a set time and write for 10 minutes straight on whatever I can to fill the full 10 minutes.
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Performance Marketing Alliance reports:
The hearing to discuss [CA Bill 178] has been moved to April 27th (2nd or 3rd delay). We have heard anecdotally that the committee was surprised at the opposition to this bill. Beth Kirsch and Brad Waller are coordinating district visits, and are looking for participants. If interested, email: district_visits@performancemarketingalliance.com. Karen Garcia, and Brook Schaaf are considering another possible visit to Sacramento. If interested, email: lobby_day@performancemarketingalliance.com. Beth, Brad, Karen and Brook are also organizing editorial visits with mainstream press.
I was reading the backlog of news the other day and I stumbled on a surprisingly short-sighted bill which is equivalent to the Warriors signing Maggette in a panic move after Baron skipped town.
CA Bill 178 is authored by Assembly Members Nancy Skinner (D) and Charles Calderon (D). The bill adds this paragraph into the Revenue and Taxation Code:
(5) Any retailer entering into an agreement with a resident of this state under which the resident, for a commission or other consideration, directly or indirectly refers potential customers of tangible personal property, whether by a link or an Internet Web site or otherwise, to the retailer, if the cumulative gross receipts or sales price from sales by the retailer to customers in this state who are referred pursuant to these agreements is in excess of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) during the preceding four calendar quarterly periods. This paragraph shall not apply if the retailer can demonstrate that the resident with whom the retailer has an agreement did not engage in referrals in the state on behalf of the retailer that would satisfy the requirements of the commerce clause of the United States Constitution during the four quarterly periods in question.
After a quick skim, it looks like the state wants to apply sales tax to transactions made between online retailers and the local populace on the condition that the retailer has made more than $10,000 in sales in California in the past year. These retailers currently do not charge sales taxes in California because they do not have a physical presence in the state. That sounds reasonable, right? They do business here, we tax them. It’s the American way.
But, if you were to read the bill more carefully, you would see a major blunder on the part of Assembly members Skinner and Calderon. There is a loophole in the text which allows retailers to sell to California tax-free and those that get burned again are the residents of California.
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