Ticketmaster and Live Nation Win Approval To Merge - a.k.a: Good-bye music industry. Seriously, I expect this to bring ticket prices so high that they'll be essentially be cutting off their only other revenue stream: concerts. Although this wouldn't really be a bad thing. Would we really miss Ke$ha? I'd much rather listen to a jazz trio at a local martini lounge anyway.

listed in: concerts, doj, government, music, obama | ∞

Why Can't the I.R.S. Help Fill in the Blanks? -

Yeah, government. WTF?

Requiring taxpayers to file returns without being told what the government already knows makes as much sense "as if Visa sent customers a blank piece of paper, requiring that they assemble their receipts, list their purchases -- and pay a fine if they forget one," said Joseph Bankman, a professor at the Stanford Law School.

And why does California get all the cool things like hydrogen-powered cars and pre-filled state tax forms?

listed in: government, taxes | ∞

Newsweek: The truth about Obamacare - A good article that clears up some common misconceptions, along with the White House website.

listed in: government, healthcare, politics | ∞

Stimulus Winner Is Ford - Apparently we have so little faith in the car companies we (the U.S. government) bailed out (GM, Chrysler), a majority of the cars we bought to replenish our federal fleet were from Ford. Ha!

listed in: auto industry, government | ∞

Civic Literacy Test - Test your general knowledge of the United States history and government. I got a 79% (without cheating!) Which isn't bad considering the average elected official in the United States got a 44%.

listed in: government, politics | Comments (4)

TSA Enables Passengers to Go at Their Own Pace - In Salt Lake, the TSA is using the familiar downhill-skiing symbols to pipe travelers with different experience levels in different lines. The green circle would be perfect for the girl that was in front of me last time I flew who asked why she had to remove her MP3 player from her pocket when she went through the metal detector.

listed in: government, transportation | ∞

Transportation Security Administration Blog - I think this is probably one of the best ideas ever thought up by a government agency. They open up comments for everyone, and have honest conversations with us -- ordinary airplane travelers. FEMA: Please start one too.

listed in: blogs, government, transportation | ∞