Recently, the County Commission published a FAQ sheet - that stands for Frequently Asked Questions - apparently in response to the public uproar that the enactment of the new ambulance fee has caused. The County calls it a fee. I call it what it is - a tax. The uproar seems to have caught the Commission by surprise - I say that because the document appears to point fingers at the public. It states that the public hearing regarding the fee held on May 22, 2014 occurred “with no comments from the public” highlighted in bold type. So I guess we’re all out of line for expressing outrage now instead of on their schedule.

Although we don’t have free markets, market forces still prevail eventually in spite of all the interventions wrought by government. The laws of economics are as immutable as the laws of physics - ignore them at your peril. Like gravity, supply and demand and competition in the marketplace are forces that cannot be circumvented by the best laid plans of mice and men.

In the early 19th century, British soldiers who were in engaged in battle during the Napoleonic wars used to toast one another with the expression “Confusion to the French.” Lately I’m seeing some confusion on the part of scandal-fatigued supporters of the current administration. There are some that would lead you to believe that the Benghazi coverup, Operation “Fast and Furious,” the Solyndra debacle and the IRS targeting of conservative groups are fictions created by partisans motivated solely by partisan politics. The fact is that even the mainstream media has found that it can’t ignore them - try as they might. Yes Virginia, they are real - and that isn’t even the complete list.

I attended the most recent meeting of the Eastern Panhandle Business Association earlier this month. On its website the EPBA says that it has been described as a “Chamber of Commerce with Attitude”. For the record, I belong to both the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce and the EPBA and I would be inclined to agree with that assessment, but that’s a subject for another column.

Film maker Michael Moore was recently divorced from his wife of 22 years. This, in and of itself, wouldn’t be particularly noteworthy, except for details that became part of the court record. His net worth was revealed to be in excess of $50 million. Yep, Michael Moore is a card carrying member of the 1%. According to court documents, the Moore fortune includes nine properties including a posh Manhattan condo that is three apartments combined into one and his lakefront Bellaire, Michigan estate that includes a 10,000 square foot house. A local shopkeeper was quoted in the Detroit News as saying, “Why he decided to live in this conservative area, I have no idea.”

Recently Senator Elizabeth Warren came to Shepherdstown to campaign for Natalie Tenant who is running for the US Senate here in West Virginia. Warren is considered to be a “rock star” among progressives and is one of the darlings of the liberal press. According to several sources, including Wikipedia, when President Obama gave his “you didn’t build that” speech, it was derived from an earlier speech by Warren.