The Off Topic Topic

[Ed Anger]

I call being the paladin who kills all the goblins.

I'm the guy who throws beanbags.

[PDH]

I call being the paladin who kills all the goblins.

I'm the guy who throws beanbags.

I need the foam 2-handed sword to prove my manhood.

[Ed Anger]

I got a perfect score on my Electrical Engineering final exam!  A+ for me! 

Hah!  Suck it you 18 year old geeks!

Me, BA and Faceman need to build a tank out of a shed. Will you: help?

[PDH]

I got a perfect score on my Electrical Engineering final exam!  A+ for me! 

Hah!  Suck it you 18 year old geeks!

That's not a real subject,. History, now THERE'S a subject.

[LaCroix]

I've seen it all now. A middle school play based on a D&D adventure:

d&d so close to christmas? will no one think of the children? 

[Josephus]

Anyone watch last night's Dexter? 

[Grey Fox]

I can't

[DisturbedPervert]

Anyone watch last night's Dexter? 

Yeap   

[Josephus]

I can't

How long have you been without cable? Can you complain to someone?

[DisturbedPervert]

I really wish Season 5 started next week.  I hate waiting so long. 

[Josquius]

I've seen it all now. A middle school play based on a D&D adventure:

Fantastic.
But what of the copyright fairies?

[Grey Fox]

I can't

How long have you been without cable? Can you complain to someone?

2 month & 14 days. I can but so far it hasn't produce anything. There is only so much Customer service can do until engieneering gets the actual cable ran. It's this week or in January or Spring, who knows. I don't have much hope.

Bell is avalaible but I'm not *that* desperate yet.

What I'd really like is for someone to give me a date but so far, no luck.

[Savonarola]

Thanks Cal and MB for helping us out   

In record numbers, guns and ammo fly off shelves
Michigan expects record $17M in taxes from sales
BY TINA LAM
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

The continued high-volume sale of guns and ammunition nationwide in the last year will lead to a big increase in funds for wildlife habitat and management across the country, including Michigan.



A federal tax collected on firearms and ammunition sales is redistributed to wildlife and hunting programs in each state, and only three -- Alaska, Texas and Pennsylvania -- get more money than the $17 million Michigan is expecting this year: $6 million more than last year's record.

With budget cuts and the coming merger of the state's departments of natural resources and environmental quality, the extra bucks will come in handy.

Besides funding hunter education and wildlife management, the tax is used to lease land from farmers to give hunters access and to operate the state's 128 game and wildlife areas.

The amount each state gets is based on its number of hunting licenses and land. Michigan has hordes of hunters and the most state-owned land east of the Mississippi.

So, when someone in Kentucky buys a gun, they're helping to pay for Michigan wildlife programs, said Chuck Nelson, a professor of forestry at Michigan State University. "These federal dollars are more critical than ever," he said.

Tax on sales boosts wildlife programs
Across the country, gun shops have had a busy year.


"My phone hasn't stopped ringing since last Nov. 6," said Tim McMahon, in-house instructor for gun classes at Wolverine Shooting Sports in Brownstown Township. "It's never been like this before."


One reason for the rush is that many gun owners thought the election of President Barack Obama would usher in a new call for gun restrictions. Another is the popularity of concealed-weapon permits, like those in Michigan, that allow owners to keep firearms in purses or glove boxes if they have a permit. And there's also the broadening of the state law that allows people to defend themselves with deadly force, even outside their own homes.


Guns are no longer taboo. Single moms, college students and even older women are buying them and learning how to use them, McMahon said.


And, even though some hunters and nature lovers might not know it, gun and ammo sales -- even in other states -- translate into money for Michigan. Nationwide, gun and ammo sales benefit wildlife and hunting programs through a federal excise tax, the Pittman-Robertson Act, that has been collected since 1939 and is distributed annually to each state based on its number of hunting licenses and land area -- and Michigan has a lot of both.

What the tax pays for
Last fiscal year, Michigan collected a record $11.5 million from the tax to pay for wildlife research, managing game reserves and hunter education. For the current budget year, that number is expected to jump to $17 million -- almost three times the state's take a decade ago.


Besides hunter education and wildlife management, including waterfowl banding and bovine tuberculosis research, the tax money also is used to lease land from farmers to give hunters access and to operate 128 state game and wildlife areas, said Mary Dettloff, spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.


And some projects benefit both hunters and wildlife watchers, such as the Pointe Mouillee State Game Area in Rockwood, which has both hunting areas and a wildlife refuge for bird watching.


"Really?" queried Tom Millen, 42, of Canton, an avid hunter who bagged an 8-point buck in the Thumb over the Thanksgiving holiday. "I never knew buying a gun and ammo was good for the environment, I mean outside of helping to keep the deer population in check. I might have to go out and get a new rifle now."


Karen Ballasco, 52, of Lincoln Park isn't a hunter and doesn't like guns -- she says she's afraid of them. But she does love birds and nature.


So "perhaps I can put my fears aside for awhile if it helps the birds and things," she said. "If it helps nature, then I guess guns can't be all bad."

Huge jump in sales
Nationwide, tax collections on the sales of weapons and bullets jumped 46% from Oct. 1, 2008, through Sept. 30, according to preliminary figures from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The amount of collected taxes sets a record. The agency distributes the money to states. Actual gun sales are not reported, but the excise tax is an indicator of their numbers.


There have been previous bursts of gun and ammo sales, such as around 1994, when a 10-year federal ban on semiautomatic weapons went into effect. But last year's sales tax collections more than doubled those figures.


The national pot of tax money began to rise sharply around last November's election, said Ted Novin, spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a nonprofit trade association for the firearm industry.


Besides politics, the sour economy, which tends to drive up crime, also has contributed to the increase, as more people have bought guns for self-protection, gun sellers and experts said.


Regardless of the reasons, the boost in gun tax revenue is welcome at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, which is being combined with the Department of Environmental Quality and got a $9-million chop in funding for next year. So the extra $6 million in gun taxes compared with last year will come in handy, the DNR's Dettloff said.


It's only a small share of the agency's budget, which was $275 million last year, and "it doesn't solve a lot of our problems," she said.


But every little bit helps.

[Josquius]

julöl is FUCKING AWESOME.
Such a shame that its a christmas only thing, amazing taste. I'm half considering buying a bunch of bottles before I go home on Friday to stash in my room for next semester.

[Pat]

julöl is FUCKING AWESOME.
Such a shame that its a christmas only thing, amazing taste. I'm half considering buying a bunch of bottles before I go home on Friday to stash in my room for next semester.

How much is it? I was thinking of popping by bolaget tomorrow, don't think I've tried it