Tips on flying and luggage

http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/blog/ which tracks airfare specials, recently blogged via Yahoo! on the advantages of shipping luggage items by UPS/FedEx instead of the airlines, who have gotten a bit spendy on luggage recently.

But, if you're flying to a state which respects the Second Amendment, or going hunting someplace, the report at http://deviating.net/firearms/packing/report.html explains which airlines freak out, and which airlines actually follow Federal law on transporting guns.

The next time you think our legislature is silly

http://comics.feedtacoma.com/tacomic/tacomic-broke-ass-washington-state-set-give-microsoft/ leads with a cartoon illustrating that, despite a 2.8 gigabuck revenue shortfall, the Washington Legislature is absolving Micro$oft of a billion dollar tax liability.  Explanations (some with language unfit for small children) follow the cartoon.

Mind boggling.

John Kroger wants your help with regulating multi-national banks

Here's an e-mail I received from Oregon's Attorney General, John Kroger. Makes sense to me; hope you ask Martha Schraeder to vote for it. We have a great opportunity to protect Oregon's consumers. The Senate will vote on HB 3706A within the next two days. If approved, this bill will help citizens protect their rights against large multi-national banks. Presently, these institutions are not regulated by any state agency. If an unprincipled lender takes advantage of an Oregon consumer there is very little that we can do.  We need your help to change this.  Almost every business in Oregon falls under the jurisdiction of the Unlawful Trade Practices Act (UTPA). Unfortunately, the UTPA does not apply to loans or extensions of credit. HB 3706A would close this loophole by giving the Oregon Department of Justice the authority to hold lenders accountable when they violate the law, just like any other industry. Last week HB 3706A was passed with strong bipartisan support in the House. Now the bill is headed for a vote on the Senate floor. Please contact your Senator within the next 48 hours and urge them to support HB 3706A. You can locate contact information    for your senator, or email them directly   . The fate of HB 3706A will be decided within the next 48 hours, so please act now. This is a tremendous opportunity to help protect Oregonians from unprincipled lenders. I hope you will join us in this fight.