Tucked Away in Bailouts

Just keep this in mind that every time the D.C. folks talk about the urgent need for bailouts:

Tucked in among billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to bail out Wall Street are a few crumbs for the people — not for the folks who took out risky mortgages or who thought someone else would pay off their credit card bills, but for that tiny slice of America that bicycles to work.

The Bicycle Commuter Act was among hundreds of earmarks federal lawmakers buried in the fine print of House Resolution 1424, aka the $700 billion bailout. It provides a way for employers to give bicycle commuters a whopping $20 a month as a tax-free fringe benefit. It’s not a lot of money, expected to cost the nation a mere $1 million a year, but it has the potential to be a big deal for bike commuters.

Mind you, I'm not against people biking to work, but was giving these folks an extra $20 a month really a priority considering everything facing our nation? I don't think so.

A Smoke Filled Room

I've been known to smoke a cigar. I even have my own humidor, so it probably goes without saying that I've got nothing against people lighting up for a smoke. Yet, this is just a perfect illustration of what's wrong with the legislative need to always pass new laws (subscription):

Come the 2007 legislative session, there will still be a smoke-filled room near the state Capitol.

Santa Fe's anti-smoking ordinance that went into effect over the summer hasn't stopped the Rio Chama Steakhouse— hard by the Roundhouse on Old Santa Fe Trail— from opening an upscale cigar bar where a single cigar costs from $9 to $42.

Kelly Torres, assistant manager of the restaurant, provided a tour of "The Humidor" on Tuesday and said the 3-month-old cigar bar has become a popular place for tourists, locals and government officials to hang out.

"It's been more popular since we are the only place where smoking is permitted," Torres said. "The same faces you would see at our bar are the same faces you would see in The Humidor."

Special interest loopholes aren't just for big business. The smoking bans should have never been passed, and this is a perfect example of why we need less laws instead of more. Consider this example when you read how many new state laws are introduced this upcoming legislative session.