So, I made the mistake of looking at the local source of propaganda in my home city of Tucson AZ, and discover that a pack of Idiots had attempted to bribe Amazon to locate their second headquarters here--

BY SENDING THEM A 21 FOOT SAGUARO CACTUS.

HOW ARE THEY IDIOTS? LET ME COUNT THE WAYS:

1.Saguaros are a protected species, as they grow only here in the southern part of Arizona and the northern part of Mexico. It takes a huge pile of permits to move a young one from one side of a yard to the other.

2. Where were the Departments Of Agriculture for AZ, the same for Washington State, and the feds? Washington State has highly restrictive laws about importing non native plants, and for good reason--as do we. And Saguaros have developed some sort of virus in the last few decades.

3. Saguaros grow only an inch to an inch and a half EVERY TEN YEARS. That means this particular specimen was likely a new sprout WHEN OUR FOUNDERS WERE STILL ALIVE. I live here, up to my eyeballs in the danged things, and if ANYONE in the "real" world even breathes on one of the oldest ones, it's a pile of fines. To try and move one brings down a mob of screaming tree huggers--yet not this time, despite the fact they had (somehow) procured not only an extremely valuable specimen, they somehow got the permits to carry it across multiple state lines, to a place where it would die. SO WHERE THE HECK ARE THE TREE HUGGERS WHEN YOU NEED THEM?

4. IF Amazon had been insane enough to accept this "gift", it could only have been planted inside in an totally controlled environment (an expensive one), and it would have cost them a passel of money to keep it alive were it possible to do so.

Wow, what an amazing idea--convince a company to relocate to your city by sending them a very valuable "gift" that will cost them a ton of money and aggravation, flouting and bypassing a mountain of environmental and agricultural regulations, and possibly transporting exotic plant diseases out of your state and into theirs--one that will then likely die by inches no matter how much money they throw art it.

Now THAT is an excellent metaphor for what happens to businesses that move to Tucson/Pima County: The permitting costs a ton of money and aggravation. IF you throw enough money at the permitting process--or the lunatic government likes you--mountains of regulations and restrictions get conveniently ignored, for a time at least. OR--they don't. Depends on who and what you are. And with the steadily increasing theft by regulation and taxation we have here, your business will die by inches.....

BRILLIANT.

Fortunately, saner heads prevailed in Seattle at Amazon Headquarters, and they "regifted" the saguaro to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, the local museum/zoo dedicated to all things in the Sonora Desert--along with many others far older. There are saguaros there that were alive when COLUMBUS arrived in the "New World".

But a warning to Amazon--the fun ain't over yet. The Tucson group of idiots is plotting another attempt, and Phoenix/maricopa county is plotting as well (and they are even more idiotic than their associates HERE are).

But at least we might get rid of Flake next election, and with any luck Mc Cain will retire or something, or get voted out.