Hey Taxpayer! Wanna Talk to the Gummint? That’ll be $100 please.
I am sooo frustrated with the National Park Service. As I’ve said before in this blog, I want to make my upcoming Yellowstone Tour d’Joko something a little more than my ordinary travel video. To that end, I sent a request to Dr Harry Heasler, head geologist at Yellowstone National Park.
Dr Heasler is not allowed to just talk to me on camera. No. He needs permission from their Film Department. So today, I spoke with the head of that department. It’s one of those rare occasions I actually speak with a member of the federal government.
I tell ya… It’s enough to turn me Republican!
No, not really.
The thing is this. The NPS normally would require me to purchase a permit, at a cost of $200 , post an insurance bond and pay for the time of the federal employees I wish to engage in making my video. I am not a real film company. I do not make my videos for any financial gain. I strive to educate and inform, but I am not connected to any educational institution. It would not be fair to ask me to make all this effort for my silly Tour d’Joko videos…
To be fair, the head of the video department understood this. She ruled that I would only need to pay $100 to interview Dr Hank Heasler for fifteen minutes, and I would not need to post an insurance bond.
Naturally, I was hoping they would just waive the fee entirely.
Fine. I don’t need no fancy gummint scientists to make me a special Tour d’Joko video! Keep your damn experts! I’ll be my own expert!
If it’s the guy in the pic and uniform – he looks kind of hot. I wish you had paid.
Hey you can talk to me for free. I am very opinionated, but often too lazy to google. 🙂
Maybe a documentary on slave labor in 2012. How none of the clients of the Temp Agency I work for can hire me. Not just the client I am currently working for. But anyone they have a business relationship with.
I am some what surprise to read this. I can understand if the scientist might ask you to pay to record him. Of course, it would be his choice if he ask for money. But, for the government to ask for it… That surprise me. Than again, the state is hungry for any money and the federal maybe the same way.