Paper of record

The Wall Street Journal, along with the New York Times and Washington Post, if memory serves correctly, are "papers of record."  This means they are designated by the federal government as suitable places to file certain regulatory notices, and that filing them there fulfills some statutory disclosure obligation.  Or something like that.

So I kind of understood why there were 5-odd pages of small print in the Journal's "Money & Investing" section today.  Closer inspection revealed that they were seized property notices from the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF).  Even closer inspection revealed that it was a state by state listing of mostly invidual guns the ATF had seized with very small values.  Which is ridiculous.  Even closer inspection got even funnier.  There are listings for such items as "Various Pipe Fragments Recovered From Inside and Outside of Portable Toilet.  Recovered on 01/19/2010.  $0.01" or "Shell From Disrupter Rd Utilized For Render Safe Procedures By LSP Technicians. $0.10."

A quick check of the Wall St Journal advertising rate card shows that the lowest rate (offered to highest-volume advertisers) for a full page ad in the Journal is $111,832.75.  Then think about the externalities of cutting down trees, printing, shipping, etc. It's absurd.

And also think about the thousands of proud men throughout these United States of ours who have had their beloved guns and pipe fragments snatched by the ATF, all this tremendous wealth of weaponry to be spread around by the crypto-commies inside the Beltway.  It's the makings of a fine country song.