Senate Bill 851 has been introduced to shrink government. Putting a face on the tragedy, the local daily selected the Mountain Resources Commission as a poster child for the “host of groups and committees that would be eliminated.” At its last meeting, the group “discussed landslide mapping.” From there, we are led to conclude the discussion saved lives. The commission also “is working with the US Forest Service, the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area, UNCA, and Appalachian State University on a web-based regional vitality index that would measure economic, environmental and cultural indicators.”

You can access a copy of the bill here. Some of the committees and such to be terminated have names that should grab your funny bone. Others have gravely serious names, but leave one wondering what political appointees sitting around a table could do about these problems.