The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal.com’s “Best of the Web” written by the editor, James Taranto.
Out on a Limb
“Presidential Debate Season Could Alter GOP Race”–headline, Politico.com, Sept. 7
Acts of Maileficence
To the list of institutions lining up for a government bailout you can add the U.S. Postal Service. “The Obama administration said on Tuesday that it would seek to save the deficit-plagued Postal Service from an embarrassing default by proposing to give it an extra three months to make a $5.5 billion payment due on Sept. 30 to finance retirees’ future health coverage,” the New York Times reports:
Speaking at a Senate hearing, John Berry, director of the federal Office of Personnel Management, also said the administration would soon put forward a plan to stabilize the postal service, which faces a deficit of nearly $10 billion this fiscal year and had warned that it could run out of money entirely this winter.
One senator has an idea:
Noting that some great books have been written based on letters sent by the Founding Fathers and by soldiers, Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, urged the postmaster general to run an advertising campaign urging Americans to send more letters to each other.
“There is something special about receiving a piece of first-class mail, knowing that it comes from someone you care about,” she said. “I really believe that if someone would begin to market the value of sending a written letter to someone you love, you might be surprised what it will do for your Christmas season.”
Hey, they could do the ad campaign on the cheap by relying on email! Another idea occurs to us: Why not save on delivery costs by putting pretty pictures on stamps and encourage people to buy and save them? …..
For more “Best of the Web” click here and look for the “Best of the Web Today” link in the middle column below ”Today’s Columnists.
NOTE: The excerpts above are from the 9/7/11 BOTW archives.
