State + Alcohol = Mass Confusion

It would appear that stupidity abounds, no matter where you may be.  With Washington finally getting rid of the state liquor monopoly, this Friday being the first day that hard alcohol can be sold in non-State run retail space, the confusion that set in before the bill was even passed is still going strong. 

All over Facebook and the Twitterverse, people are talking about the 27% “increase” in the taxes on liquor that was included with the bill, and horribly misinterpreting that tax.  Even some news agencies, who shall remain nameless, are getting it stupefyingly inaccurate, and these people get paid to present the facts. 

Meanwhile, while all of Washington is abuzz with shock and awe, confusion and wonder, Idaho is busily flexing their moral-muscle and banning a certain brand of vodka.  Why, you ask?  Well, this brand of vodka was obviously dangerous!  It has a name that might possibly be insulting to a certain group of constituents.  It could even be religiously offensive.  Five Wives Vodka, made it Salk Lake City, could possible offend Mormons, what with the name that insinuates polygamy and a picture of five women hitching up their skirts on the front of the bottle. 

This vodka was so offensive that the Idaho state-run liquor stores are refusing to carry it.  Since Idaho runs their liquor sales in the same way Washington does (until Friday), that effectively closes the entire Idaho market to a manufacturer for no reason but the whim of the powers that be in Idaho. 

Meanwhile, back in Washington, the 27% “increase” in liquor costs will be more than offset by the fact that the WSLCB is no longer able to tack on their 52% markup on every bottle.  If you do the math, you may notice that 27% is less than 52% (25% less, in fact) and store will be competing for your business, so they won’t be able to just tack on that 25% as a profit margin and keep the prices the same that they were.  You’re likely to be paying between 10% and 20% less for your liquor purchases now, and you get the choice of where to go and the additional benefit of different stores choosing to stock items that the state run stores didn’t opt to have. 

While Washington, by privatizing liquor sales, is looking at reduced cost, increased convenience and increased selection, Idaho continues the government monopoly model and has likely cost jobs for a distillery in Utah because they didn’t have a PC enough name and label for the people of Idaho, who must be easily offended since the legislature has to censor what they see on shelves.

DSHS Employee Arrested for Food Stamp Theft

A 44 year old Graham woman who works for the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, the entity in charge of the States Food Stamp program, was placed under arrest on suspicion of food stamp theft. 

The Pierce County DSHS office was contacted by a former client who had turned in his EBT card in September of 2010 when he received a letter stating that he needed to recertify for his benefits.  He thought that a bit odd, as he had asked the account be closed, and the office found that the card had been used to make purchases totally more than $3200 since that time. 

They asked the Washington State Patrol to investigate, and the subject of the investigation was moved to a different assignment in DSHS for the duration.  The investigation concluded with her arrest for four counts of unlawful redemption of food stamps, which is a felony. 

On a lighter note, I’m sure she spent the $3200 she save in food purchases for something really awesome, and we all get the joy of helping to pay for it.  Now that she got caught, we get to pay her room and board for a few years as well.  The only ‘win’ to be found in this story anywhere is the guy who managed to get himself financially stable enough not to need the state assistance anymore.  What’s even more impressive is that he voluntarily went in and turned in the card, even though he likely could have kept drawing benefits for at least a little while longer. 

He used the system for precisely what it was intended for.  To help get back on his feet.  One could only hope that there might be a few more people out there like this guy.  Hat’s off to you, good sir.  I hope you have kids, and are teaching them to be as responsible as you are.  We could use a few more people like you in this country.

WEA Endorses GOP Candidate & Gov. Gregoire Appoints GOP Senator to State Position

You didn’t read that wrong, the Washington Education Association, an organization that typically is considered “left-leaning” by people who consider themselves to be “right-leaning”, has endorsed across the void.

Kim Wyman, Republican candidate for Secretary of State, is the first statewide candidate to receive an endorsement from the WEA.  As unions typically tend to favor Democratic candidates, and teachers tend to favor democratic candidates, it comes as a bit of a shock that a teachers union might go for a GOP offering. 

The WEA also endorsed two Republican candidates for the state Legislature, among the usual smattering of Democratic candidate endorsements. 

Added to this unusual showing of non-partisan political maneuvering, we have Governor Gregoire’s appointment of GOP Senator Cheryl Pflug of Maple Valley to a state position on the Washington Growth Management Hearings Board, which pays $92,500 per year.  This is nearly double what a State Senator is paid, and comes with the added benefits of not having to run for election, and being a six year appointment.  Some cynical folks will likely say this appointment was made in order to get Pflug, the incumbent, to drop out of the Senate race to allow a Democratic candidate to have a better chance at winning, but being Pflug was one of only 4 GOPers to support legalizing gay marriage in this state, she had already likely alienated a decent sized chunk of her more “traditional marriage” favoring supporters out there. 

With all this cross party action going on, one can’t help but wonder…. are we finally going to see a little work in this state towards fixing problems regardless of party affiliation, or is this just a quirk of the game?

Medical Marijuana–The Controversy Continues

Over and over again, we’ve watch the same debates play out in different places.  Should it be legal?  Should it be legal only with a prescription?  Should it be totally illegal?

There seems no end to the varying opinions on this.  Marijuana is a controversy that just won’t go away.  As someone who believes the war on drugs is completely outside the scope of the Federal Government, I firmly believe that there should be no Federal level regulations on any drugs.  However, the states still have the power to make laws, and they are not constrained by the US Constitution in the way the Feds are. 

In Washington State, Marijuana became legal for medical use, with a prescription and a handy-dandy medical marijuana card so you can show the cops that yes, indeed, you’re allowed to have this, a couple of years ago.  The state goofed, however, and never codified the system for distribution.  This left a giant gaping hole for the Feds to wander in, ignoring the fact that Washington had passed legislation allowing medical marijuana.  There have been numerous Federal Raids of dispensaries that popped up since the legalization, and the Feds continue to arrest and prosecute more individuals all the time.

It’s high time (pun intended) that the powers that reside in Olympia get in gear and define exactly what the correct and legal method for purchase, sales, transport, and possession of medical marijuana is, so that there can be clear state laws to prevent Federal Agents from raiding indiscriminately.  While most people are unaware, State law actually trumps Federal law in all but a very few, strictly defined matters.  The Federal Government is constrained by the Constitution in what it’s allowed to do, and while they don’t follow the laws as they are supposed to, if a State were to stand up for itself and say “hey, this is OUR law, it’s OUR power, stay out!”, there wouldn’t be a whole lot the Feds could do about it. 

Washington needs to set the example, pass legislation defining exactly what the mechanisms are for legally obtaining, selling, transporting, growing, harvesting, using, controlling, or possessing marijuana are, and part of that legislation needs to include a clause making it illegal for any employee, official, agent, officer, or representative of this state, or any county, city, or municipality within it, to assist the Federal Governments enforcement of their own illegal drug laws within our borders. 

The time has come, Olympia.  Stand behind your decisions, stand up for your citizens, and stand firm against the Feds.  We are a free state of free people, and DC needs to be reminded of that.

Higher Education Costs on the Rise–Still

Just read a story at http://www.theolympian.com/2012/05/16/2107098/state-help-for-higher-education.html and felt I really needed to comment on this.

First of all, the main thrust of this article is “we gotta do something, government, help us, help us” in regards to tuition.  Tuition is being artificially jacked up because of government interference, and we’re demanding that government do something to “help” with it. 

The article continues to sight declining State funding of Universities over the last several decades.  A major contributor to declining state funding has been the Federal Government taking on an ever increasing roll in funding universities, as well as subsidizing loan programs, artificially keeping interest rates lower than they would/should be, and other things to “make education affordable for everyone.”

While this sounds like a laudable goal on the face of it, the fact is that this serves to encourage schools to offer programs that appeal to a broader range of people who can suddenly get a government guaranteed loan to go to school, regardless of whether or not the programs is actually useful.  It encourages the schools to offer more and more courses that, while appealing to some, offer degrees that are more useful as toilet paper than they are as degrees.  The schools encourage people to explore a great many of these programs, increasing the amount of time people spent in school, which in turn increases the amount of money the school takes in. 

The students don’t care, since they don’t have to pay for anything until later, and many of them simply do not understand that they are taking useless classes at far above market value prices.  The number of people being granted a degree increases every year, which devalues the degrees that others earn, and makes it so a Bachelors Degree is worth about what a High School Diploma was 50 year ago, as far as job potential goes.

The government has done far more damage than good in their quest to “make education affordable to all.”  By artificially holding down interest rates, while simultaneously lowering the bar to qualify for loans, and then backing those loans so the banks don’t have to risk anything, they government has created a situation where tuition can rise astronomically, raising the cost of education while at the same time decreasing the value one receives for that money.  It’s like inflation squared.  Education is a great goal, but it needs to be a personal goal.  If you don’t need to work hard prior to going to college, you’re unlikely to be successful at working hard in college, and beyond.  This is why 53% of Bachelors Degree holders under 25 are underemployed or unemployed.

So we demand the government step in to “help” again?

Define Libertarian

Not too shabby.  Makes a solid point.  Watch along.

Libertarian is a Verb

Kucinich Not Planning a Washington State Run

Dennis Kucinich, longtime Democratic Congressman from Ohio, has finally put an end to speculation about his intention in regards to a Washington State Congressional seat.

As strange as this situation is, after eight terms consistently being reelected, Ohio had enough negative population growth to end up losing two Congressional seats.  Kucinich ended up in a district that was merged with a neighboring district, and was forced into a showdown with Marcy Kaptur, the Dem currently seated in that other district.  After a primary lost to Rep Kaptur, Kucinich

Despite repeated visits to Washington State, even before his primary loss, and a fair deal of support from some local Dems who cite his anti-war, pro-union stands as major reasons to support him, former Rep Kucinich has decided that he will not be moving to Washington to attempt a run at Congress. 

I say that’s fine.  We need more Democrats in this state like we need more rain in Seattle, and Kucinich is far from what I’d term as a stable individual.

I do need to note that he has shown himself to be a pretty straight shooter in regards to doing what he said he’ll do, and that’s no small thing for a Congressman.  I don’t like a great deal of the things he’s done, but at least he’s not lying left and right like most other politicians.  That deserves some respect by default.

Obama and Romney–Carnival Hucksters

This is a great article I found on TenthAmendmentCenter.com.  Recommended reading.  Funny, and makes a strong point that I’ve been trying to get people to see for a bit now.

Walking along the midway of this grand carnival we call national politics, a brightly lit booth caught my eye. Dance music boomed from a loudspeaker, punctuated by the staccato voice of the carnie urging me to play his game.

“Step right up, step right up! Power to the states, right here! Come play the Tenth Amendment game!”

As I approached, I realized none other than Mitt Romney was running the booth. Behind him, I saw six bright yellow milk jugs stacked in a pyramid. Curiosity got the best of me.

“What’s this about?” I inquired.

“Knock down the federal health care pyramid and win a prize!” Romney boomed, somehow managing to speak without disturbing his bright toothy smile.

“What’s the prize,” I asked, still somewhat skeptical.

“Why, your liberty!” he beamed.

I picked up the hard wooden ball. Printed on the side were the words, Tenth Amendment.

“What’s this?” I asked, weighing the ball in my hand. It felt good. Right. Powerful.

“Well, it’s all about the Constitution. The federal government doesn’t have the right to make you buy health insurance,” he said knowingly.

“You mean like you made the folks in Massachusetts do?” I asked hesitantly.

A frown flickered across his face; then the smile returned.

“There are some similarities between what we did in Massachusetts and what President Obama did, but there are some big differences. And one is, I believe in the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution. And that says that powers not specifically granted to the federal government are reserved by the states and the people,” he said. “We put together a plan that was right for Massachusetts. The president took the power of the people and the states away from them and put in place a one-size-fits-all plan. It’s bad law.” 1

I rubbed the ball absentmindedly, pondering my options.

“Go on, try it,” he urged.

“How much?”

The smile broadened. “Not much. Just one token.”

I pulled a token out of my pocket and flipped it in the air a few times.

“Come on, give it a toss,” Romney said expectantly.

What the hell, I thought. Seems easy enough. And lord knows, I could use some more liberty. So I tossed Mitt the token, took aim and heaved the ball at the milk jugs.

Thwack!

A perfect throw.

Yellow jugs shot into the air, pirouetting like ballerinas before tumbling to the ground. I did a little victory fist-pump and stepped forward to collect my prize.

But Mitt looked angry.

“You lose!” he howled.

“What?” I responded incredulously. “I knocked over all of them. I win.”

Romney pointed at some green jugs scattered about among the yellow. “You knocked over the green ones. That’s against the rules. You lose.”

I hadn’t even noticed the green ones, but as Romney’s assistant reset the jugs, I realized that green ones were positioned in the shadows directly behind the yellow jugs, placed in such a way as to become virtually invisible. The setup made it next to impossible to knock over the yellow jugs without also toppling the greenies.

“So, what are the green ones,” I inquired, trying to contain my anger at being jipped.

“Medical marijuana,” Romney sneered with obvious disdain.

“And I can’t knock those over with the Tenth Amendment ball?”

“I think medical marijuana should not be legal in this country. I believe it’s a gateway drug to other drug violations. The use of illegal drugs in this country is leading to terrible consequences in places like Mexico, and actually in our own country. I oppose legalization of marijuana. I oppose legalizations of other kinds of drugs.” 2.

“But isn’t that also a decision reserved to the states and the people?”

“Go away, loser,” he growled, turning his back on me.

I stomped away, angry. But what could I do? I should have known the game was rigged. They all are, right?

So I ambled along the midway, bought a big stick of cotton candy, washed it down with a cold Coke and then gnawed my way through a funnel cake. I felt better. Giddy almost.

That’s when another booth caught my eye.

This one had louder music and brighter lights. AC/DC blasted from loudspeakers, and a strobe light played over the ground in front of the game. Even from a distance, I could see President Obama manned this booth. The familiar “O” logo painted on the roof was a dead giveaway.

Obama beckoned me over. “Step right up! Step right up! Play the greatest game at the carnival,” he intoned enthusiastically, flashing his pearly whites as he spoke.

“So, what’s this game?” I asked, my recent frustration now a faint memory.

“It’s the Tenth Amendment game,” Obama quipped. “Power to the states.”

“Wait a minute,” I said. “I played that game already over…”

Obama cut me off. “This one is better. Easier. And more fair. Just shoot a duck and you win.”

I leaned in and peered closely at the row of ducks on a conveyer belt slowly making their way from left to right across the booth. The ducks alternated – two males with a tux, followed by two females in wedding gowns.”

The president apparently read the confusion on my face. “Gay marriage!” He handed me a gun with Tenth Amendment printed on the side. “I respect the beliefs of others, and the right of religious institutions to act in accordance with their own doctrines. But I believe that in the eyes of the law, all Americans should be treated equally. And where states enact same-sex marriage, no federal act should invalidate them.” 3.

“What do I get if I hit one,” I asked, weighing the gun in my hands. It felt good. Right. Powerful.

A presidential pause.

“Liberty.”

I was sold. The sign indicated it just cost one token, so I flipped one over to Obama and he plucked it out of the air. I aimed…steady…slowly pulled the trigger…

Plink.

Over went the duck.

But I knew in that moment I wouldn’t win a prize. A cannabis plant hidden behind the duck fell over too.

“I’m sorry. You lose,” Obama said in a patronizing tone

“Let me guess,” I say, resignation dripping from my words. “Medical marijuana.”

“Let me be clear, I am the president.” Obama lectured. “State medical marijuana programs violate federal law. I must send in the DEA to arrest those criminals so my Justice Department can prosecute them all.”

“But isn’t medical marijuana also an issue that should be left to the states and the people?”

“Shut up, loser.”

I glared at the president. “So you can’t win. This game is rigged. You just want power to do things your own way!” I bellow. “You are nothing but a carnival huckster. Just like that other guy, Romney!”

Obama merely smiled.

“What did you expect?” he asked with a shrug. “We work for the same people.”

Gay Marriage–Everyone is Wrong!

Ok, first and foremost, I’m failing to see why this entire nation is being blinded by stupidity on this issue.  We have religious folk screaming that allowing homosexuals to marry is an “attack on the church” or “attack on <insert religion of choice here>”.  So for you folks I say shut up.  I know people like this.  They are intelligent, well spoken, logical people.  So why can’t they see past this BS?

Now, for your gay people out there screaming about this being a matter of the state granting you equal rights.  Also, shut up.  States do NOT “grant” rights.  You HAVE rights.  States can attempt to put together legislation that recognizes those rights.  States can ignore your rights and not bother to codify it.  More likely, though, States put forth laws to try to limit your rights.  You don’t need the state to “give” you your “rights”.  Beyond that, marriage is not a “right”.  Freedom is a right.  If you’re free, you marry who you damned well please, whether the state has any laws for it or not.

On to the problem.  Everyone is tied up over whether or not gay people should be allowed to marry.  Like it’s any of your business what someone else does, or is allowed to do.  But the hell out your egomaniacal busy-bodies!  Unless they’re marrying you, it’s not your business.  The problem is that States and the Federal Government seem to think they have anything to say about marriage at all, whether it be hetero or homo or something as yet undefined.  It is not their business.  It is yours.

States started licensing marriage as a means of control.  Too many people were interested in interracial marriages, and that just couldn’t be allowed!  So the states made licensing requirements.  If you wanted to be married, you had to apply for a license to do so.  Coming up on almost a century of this crap now, and instead of telling people they can’t marry outside of their race, now the state is telling people they have to marry the opposite sex.  Oppression is oppression, regardless of the justification you find in religious texts or the basis of that oppression. 

Legally defined marriage is a tool for behavior modification, control, and oppression by the State.  Period.  The problems isn’t HOW the state defines marriage, the problem is that the State defines marriage at all.

Bank of America Messed with the Wrong Guy

Had an email a couple weeks ago that said something along these lines.  Tried to check it out on snopes.com, they had it marked as inconclusive.  Since then, this issue seems to have blown up pretty well.  Here's an interview with the owner of McMillan Firearms, the person who was on the receiving end of B of A's attempted shafting.  Interview conducted and posted by the National Association for Gun Rights.

Support the National Association of Gun Rights at http://www.nagr.org

Illegal Aliens Tax Loophole?

The news this last week had many mentions of illegal aliens finding tax loopholes to claim child tax credits.  (http://www.wthr.com/story/17798210/tax-loophole-costs-billions)

The one thing that really stands out to me in this is the whole “illegal immigrants claiming exemptions for dependents that don’t even live in this country is horrible abuse of the tax payers” mentality.  There are several reasons I say this. 

First, illegal immigrants all pay taxes.  The majority of them even pay the IRS their income taxes.  Many of those don’t claim refunds at all, even though they are technically entitled to some of that money back by IRS rules, because they are afraid of doing anything that might get them sent back.  So there’s a lot of money going into the system.  This doesn’t count state and local taxes, such as property tax (paid through their rents) and retail sales tax (paid every time they make a taxable purchase).  Not to mention fees for drivers license, telephones, internet, etc.  Everywhere you go you’re taxed.  So are they. 

Second, this mess isn’t the fault of the illegal immigrants.  Note, I do not say “undocumented”, because that’s bullshit.  They are illegal, plain and simple, stop trying to sugar coat the whole damned world.  They are doing much like the vast majority of us are doing.  They are using whatever means they have at their disposal to get as much money as they can back out of the government.  Now, this method is of questionable legality, so I cannot condone it.  However, each and every one of you takes whatever deductions you can find come tax time to try to keep as much as you can, and you know it.  Don’t blame them for using this ridiculous cluster of crap we call our tax code in a way that benefits them.  That’s human nature.  Blame the IRS.  Tax codes in this country are a joke.  And a poor joke at that, since it’s not even remotely funny.  Get rid of the convoluted crap, and magically there will be no way to “game the system”.

Lastly, people are still upset that illegal immigrants are here in the first place.  Most people are pretty accepting of legal immigrants.  The only real difference between the two is how they got here.  Many illegals don’t want to break the law, but they want to try to find a better life and have no other way to get here.  The vast majority of illegal immigrants are good, hard working people who want a better life for themselves and their families.  We make is so damned hard to get into this country legally that they don’t really have much of an option.  I can’t blame them.  I’d sneak across the border too.  Fix the immigration problem by making it easy to get in legally and difficult or deadly to try to come in illegally, and all of a sudden nearly all new immigrants will do it the right way.

Shocking, I know.  Symptoms go away when you cure a disease.  Who’d have thought that.  Instead of sitting around bitching about all the little things that are bad, how about we remove our heads from our butts and fix the problems that lead to those issues.  This entire situation is due to unnecessarily complicated and convoluted tax code combined with piss-poor immigration policies in this country.  Both of which are the job of Congress to change, and instead they argue about minor and immaterial nuances of both. 

Congress, DO YOUR JOB!

Bookstaber Quotes Karl Marx Online

Karl Marx, father of Socialism, Communism, and Marxism, three different views of the same overall philosophy, was recently quoted in a blog.  The blog of an official of the Obama Administration.

Rick Bookstaber, of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (a mess of unelected goons created by the Dodd-Frank dung-splat) recently posted this little gem on his blog (full post available at http://rick.bookstaber.com/2012/05/class-warfare.html).

The capitalist maintains his rights as a purchaser when he tries to make the working-day as long as possible, and to make, whenever possible, two working-days out of one. On the other hand, the peculiar nature of the commodity sold implies a limit to its consumption by the purchaser, and the laborer maintains his right as seller when he wishes to reduce the working-day to one of definite normal duration. There is here, therefore, an antinomy, right against right, both equally bearing the seal of the law of exchanges. Between equal rights force decides. Hence is it that in the history of capitalist production, the determination of what is a working-day, presents itself as the result of a struggle, a struggle between collective capital, i.e., the class of capitalists, and collective labour, i.e., the working-class. – Marx, Das Kapital

Marx’s theories formed the most anti-American views of the 20th century, and are alive and well in the 21st.  This nation was founded on Capitalism, as Capitalism IS freedom.  Capitalism is freedom to market your goods and skills and obtain a price for them based on their worth to others.  Marxism and it’s brothers are methods of working for what the government tells you you’re going to charge, giving the portion they tell you to give over to their control, and change your rates only when (or if) they tell you to do so.  That is not freedom.  That is slavery to the Government. 

With all the hub-bub that has been around since Obama first came on the scene, with him being a revolutionary Marxist in college, his relations with known Socialists, terrorists, Marxists, revolutionaries, and Communists, and the newest, him using “Forward” for his campaign slogan (a simple word which has extremely strong and numerous historical links to Socialist/Communist political agendas) you would think that people who are working for him would have the smarts to quote someone besides Marx. 

Apparently, you would be wrong.

Whitehouse to Curb Wasteful Spending

Yes, indeed.  Did you laugh as hard as I did when reading that headline?

Today around noon, Reuters reported that Obama’s chief budget officer will issue new guidelines on Friday to boost efficiency and protect taxpayer dollars from being misspent.  The guidelines will include a freeze in real estate holdings and a cut to travel spending for federal agencies, as well as requiring government owned vehicles not be replaced until they are (don’t take a drink now or it will come out your nose) at least three years old, or have been driven 60,000 miles. 

Try saying that with a straight face.  No, seriously.  Try it.  The folks in the White House really should be in Hollywood. 

Get a freakin clue!  We need someone, somewhere, somehow who has some common damned sense and can realize that saving millions, as this initiative is supposed to do, means jack shit when we’re already TRILLIONS in the hole.  My wife comes up to me and says the car needs repairs.  The bill is $3500.  I hand her a penny and tell her to put that aside to pay for it.  That’s where we’re at as a nation, and that’s how clueless the White House and Congress are about these things.  They put together a pretty little play to try to get reelected.  It’s a fact.  It’s actual.  Not a damned thing is satisfactual. 

Nullification–Not Just for the States Anymore

The recent outrage against the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act has sparked a lot of talk of nullification.  I’ve written about it once or twice, as have many others more well versed.  Nullification, simply put, is the act of a state declaring that a Federal Law is null and void due to being unconstitutional.  There is plenty of historic evidence that the states have this power (Kentucky Resolutions of 1798; Virginia Resolutions of 1799; 10th Amendment) and some states have availed themselves of this power in the past.  Virginia recently passed a law making it illegal for any state agent or officer to assist and Federal agent or officer in detaining a citizen without due process.  That’s a big (and beautiful) step. 

But is this power limited to States?  Why should it be?  The 10th Amendment proclaims that all powers not specifically assigned to Federal Government by the Constitution inherently stay with the States or with the People.  Seems logical, since all political power originates from the people, and the Government is the tool formed by the people to take care of the daily business.  If the power is inherently the peoples to begin with, that means those people have every right to defend themselves, whether at a state, county, city, or neighborhood level.  Even if such defense is against the Great Overlords of DC.  I’d argue it’s especially so, in that case. 

The cities of Fairfax and Santa Cruz, California certainly don’t believe that power is only for the states.  Both have passed laws making the unconstitutional deprivation of due process by the Federal Government illegal in their municipalities.  Both have made the choice to stand against tyranny and defend their citizens against abuses. 

What about your city?

The Hidden Message Behind The Pledge of Allegiance

I pledge allegiance to the flag…. you know the rest.  At least you ought to.  If you don’t, your unpatriotic, I’m told.  As a matter of fact, if you choose not to participate any time someone leads the pledge you’re not patriotic.  Why is that?

Because we’re told so, of course.  How DARE you disrespect the country like that.  Children are taught from their first day in government educational facilities that they need to stand up, put their hand over their heart, face the flag, and recite this little phrase every single morning before we get down to work.  While I love my country, I find this troubling. 

One nation we may be, but indivisible we most certainly are not.  Nor are we truly supposed to be a “nation” in the traditional definition of the word.  A nation is a large area or group of people under control or rule of one central government that claims to be sovereign from other such entities.  Is that the United States?

Unfortunately, it is.  More and more every day.  However, that is NOT what we are supposed to be.  We were founded as a collection of states that had delegated very specific and limited powers of governance to a central authority for the sake of moderation in disputes and directing defense.  The Federal Government was established to help mediate between the states and coordinate matters of defense.  It was never intended to be a “ruling entity” at all. 

This “pledge”, which was originally written as a marketing slogan, was instituted in school as a way to slowly introduce the ideas that we are one nation.  Over the decades since the founding fathers declared us a free nation and established the rule of law here, we have move, slowly but steadily, towards that which we fought to break away from in the first place.  No longer are we a collection of sovereign state.  No longer are citizens free to pursue happiness, unless they obtain permission from the government.  No longer can we defend what is our from those who would take it from us.  No longer can we keep what we make or earn through our own labors.  The Government wants a cut so they can help others.  The Government won’t allow you to do that for your own good.  The Government wants you to pay your “fair share”, which will never be high enough no matter how much it is.

I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America.  A broken nation, over regulated, with taxation and penalties for all.

A Little “Journalism” Goes A Long Way

Lord, have mercy!  Reading some of the crap that passes for journalism will just about make you heave.  You can read the same story on two different websites and come away with entirely different feelings about what happened, as well as a completely different view of what happened. 

The say every story has two sides.  Never is that more true than in what we laughingly call “reporting” here in the US.  First and foremost, the job of a reporter is to report, as neutrally as they can manage (face it – we’re human – we have opinions) on the actual events of any given situation.  Now, just look around at the titles of some of these articles.  Don’t even read the article, just look at the titles. 

Today, there were two articles I saw about the same thing.  One was on the LA Times website, and the title was something like “Republicans block plans to prevent student loan interest rates from doubling on June 1” (July 1? – whatever).  Basically, loudly proclaiming that the Republicans are pricks that don’t care about you or your education. 

The next one came from a right-leaning site, the name of which escapes me right now.  It was an article about the same thing (the Senate vote to invoke cloture on the student loan interest rate debate today) and the title was along the lines of “Democrats refuse to accept GOP plan to curb student loan interest rate hike”.  In a nutshell, the title says “Dems are prices that don’t care about you or your education.” 

Meanwhile, this doesn’t actually have a damned thing to do with education.  The simple fact is that the interest rates on these loans have been artificially held down for decades, but federal regulation (those same idiots arguing over how to artificially hold it down some more).  Beyond that, because of federal guarantees, more people have access to loans that they really can’t afford than ever.  Also because of that, more people spend more time in school, leading to a shortage of jobs for well educated people, which has lead to the AA being useless, the BA/BS being nearly useless and a Masters landing you roughly the same position that an AA would have gotten you 30 years ago.  Except that a Masters requires 5 or 6 years instead of the typical 2 for an AA, and costs you much, much more. 

There’s also this great new trend that colleges started to try to keep people there longer, thus spending more money.  Classes and entire courses of study dedicated to things that, while maybe interesting, are completely useless to you as a candidate for almost any job on the planet.  Things like Art History, African Studies, Dance and Choreography, and Weapons of the Renaissance.

While some of these classes actually sound interesting, what career are you preparing yourself for?  About the only thing you can do with a course of study like that is teach classes about that subject.  That’s not a hell of a lot of job security.  Why not study something that might actually give you a few options for jobs, and allow you to make a living, support yourself, and pay off the student loans?

All of this has been made possible by the Feds keeping interest rates artificially low, and guaranteeing loans to allow more and more people to go to school for longer and longer periods of time at colleges who are raising prices higher and higher.  While that might sound like a good thing when you just skim the surface (more people going to college = good), it’s a horrible thing when you consider that many of those people are simply not equipped to make intelligent decisions or use common sense.  As such, they get useless degrees in things that really don’t make a damned bit of difference in the job market, rack themselves up with $100k in debt that they can’t afford, default on the loan (sticking the taxpayers with the bill) and then live on food stamps or whatever jobs they can find, which have nothing to do with their course of study in the least.

So, the Feds spend money to weaken the job market, increase the cost of education, promote more “educated” people with useless degrees, increase the number of welfare recipients, and cause a decline in overall wealth and standard of living all across the nation.  And they are arguing about how to do it some more, because they can’t agree on which method is best to screw us over with.  All the while the media is promoting what they believe to be the right person/group/party/entity’s plan to weaken the nation and cost us all money by specifically writing pieces that they pass off as “news” that espouse the views of either themselves, their editors, or their organization as a whole. 

That’s what passes for journalism in this nation today.

Why Vote Libertarian?

Here’s a couple of very good reasons.

Reason 1

 

Reason 2

The Powers that Be…

Perhaps the most terrifying thought in the minds of many is a government that controls all information.  I know there are some out there, hopefully not a majority, who will say “who cares”, but those people are just damned fools.  Every government in history that has had solid controls over what information it’s people had access to used it for their own purposes.  They didn’t establish control and then leave it alone.  The took control of what they wanted, removed some pieces, altered others, denied access to some without permission, and some information was simply not accessible to anyone.  Do you think our government is any different?  They certainly don’t have a great track record.

Government does not control information for the good of humanity.  Government does not control information to ensure it’s easily and readily available to anyone anywhere.  Government controls information because information is power, and it allows the government to more fully control it’s people. 

In March, there was an article in Wired (http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/ff_nsadatacenter/all/1) that details plans for a new NSA datacenter in Utah.  That’s enough to trigger a bit of worry in anyone who realizes how much data, control, access, and power the NSA has in your everyday life. Hell, it’s likely that I’m on a watch list somewhere, even before I wrote this, and I’m not a terrorist, have never made threats, don’t condone violence except in defense, and in fact encourage people to always follow the laws, even as I encourage them to get involved in the system to take control and change the laws.  I’m certain that’s enough to get me flagged somewhere in the system, at some level, as a possible threat to keep an eye on.

That will be much more easily achieved, now that the NSA has their brand new datacenter and super computers getting all setup.  From what we’ve been able to gather, this datacenter will be able to archive damned near every electronic exchange on the planet, and if any of that information is of interest, they have a system that can crack nearly any encryption known to man in no time flat.

Someone in the counter-intel community needs to get crackin (pun intended) on another solid encryption algorithm, something that’s got some bitness to it, that can slow this sucker down a bit.  If it takes the system days or weeks to crack an encryption, that’s not security.  If it takes it years or decades, then we’re talking about at least a little bit of security.  Centuries would be better, that way by the time they get anything, you’re already dead.

Now someone somewhere is screaming about the “need” for this to watch terrorist and defend our nation.  Fine.  That’s great.  If only that were the case.  They are gathering information on anyone and everyone in the world that they feel like gathering information on.  Including Americans.  Without showing probably cause.  Without a warrant.  Without the courts being involved at any level.  Some mid-management type in the NSA says “watch this guy” and it happens. 

If that doesn’t scare the hell out of every person on the planet, especially Americans who think they are Constitutionally protected from invasions of privacy by their own country…… there is something seriously wrong in their head.

Nation Wide Citizen Emergency Response Network

I think that title sounds pretty decent.  We need something like that.  In most areas of the country, if you need police, fire, or medical help in an emergency, you call 911 and someone shows up.  How long it takes them to get there varies a great deal, depending on the type of emergency, your location, the number of first responders working that shift in your area, and the other calls that are coming in at that same time.  I think, overall, we as a nation do relatively decent with our emergency responses.  There are areas that are horrible, but not nearly as many as you would be lead to believe, although there is plenty of room for improvement in most areas. 

What if you need protection against the police?  What if the state is busily violating your rights, and you need help to fight back?  No, I’m not talking about a physical altercation with law enforcement, or terrorist acts.  I’m talking about legal, moral, ethical, and financial assistance against they tyranny of the government when it’s your turn to be squished under the thumb, and your time will come.  Who do you call?  Who can come and help you?  Who can help get the word out about your plight?

That’s what such a network could do.  Basically an emergency alert network, monitored by volunteers who can sign up to receive alerts for things happening in their general area, or from across the nation if they desire.  People who are willing to help spread the word about what’s being done to you.  People who are willing to come to the jail and bring you a little money for phone calls, or maybe even lawyers who are willing to help with your case.  Perhaps even people willing to respond to the scene and make a video or audio recording of the proceedings in order to help ensure you have evidence at your trial, assuming that there are any volunteers close enough to do so when you first send the alert.

We could go so far as to have mobile apps.  Click the icon, and it automatically sends an emergency alert to the website with your longitude and latitude, and your phone number.  You can have your information pre-registered so people receiving the initial alert will have your name and call-back information, and the long/lat can be cross referenced on Google Maps to provide an approximate location and driving directions.  Once the alert has been sent, the first person to click on it can open it for editing where they can mark it as a false alert or verified emergency.  They verify it by calling the number and (hopefully) speaking to you (or maybe even the arresting officer).  If they are unable to verify it, we can mark it as unverified – unable to contact, and still dispatch as much volunteer assistance as we have in the area. 

It would take several months to years to build up a sufficient force of volunteers to adequately cover even a small portion of this nation, focusing of course on larger metropolitan areas where it’s both much more likely you’ll have run ins with the government, and also much more likely there will be volunteers nearby who can help you when you need it.  This would be something most certainly best left to a non-government entity, as it’s specifically designed to be used to protect you from the government. 

I think this may be a very worthy idea to pursue.  I also think there are some similar ideas out there that could be leveraged to help grow this. I know I ran across at least one in the past, which was basically being run as an email distribution list.  We could take this idea to the next level.  What should we call it?  Citizens Coalition Against Government Abuse?  Citizens Against Tyranny (we could all be CATs– )?

I believe over the next several weeks, I’m going to try to explore some ideas in this direction and start designing a small scale website that could handle the processes described.  Who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky and be able to grow this into a true weapon to defend us against our government.  God knows we need all the help we can get!

Illegal Immigration and Immigration Reform

For years now, I’ve been hearing people pitch a fit about immigration, illegal immigrants, etc.  Over and over and over I hear the same ignorant arguments about “taking our jobs” and “don’t pay taxes” and more similar ridiculousness.  I’m here to set the record straight, and propose a fix.

For years I’ve been telling anyone who was nutty enough to listen to me how to fix this problem.  The problem isn’t that they come here, it’s that they come here illegally.  There’s no control over the system, and the Federal Government, who is ultimately responsible for border security, does nothing.  Well, they do a lot, but none of it is useful. The majority of these illegal immigrants that people are complaining about are Mexican.  That’s simple to figure out.  They share a border with us, and have a poor standard of living.  So they want to come here to improve their lot in live.

So why do Mexicans come here illegally?  Why can’t they just do it the “right” way?  Are they all criminals who want to flout the law? 

Of course not!  It is the fault of the Federal Government, once again, that so many come here illegally.  Here’s the deal.  Immigrating to the US costs a lot of money, and takes a great deal of time.  Mexicans who want to come here typically don’t have much, if any, money.  They are hungry, poor, tired, and want to make a better life for their children.  They might starve to death, or watch family members starve to death, waiting for approval to come here legally. Add to that the relative ease of crossing the border undetected (even if caught they are dropped off back in their own country after getting a free meal or two so they can try again) and it’s no wonder they choose to do it the illegal way.  It’s quick, simple, and effective.  That’s what I’d do, too. 

Here’s a magic solution. Stop making it so damned hard to come here legally, and start making it hard to come here illegally.  If you were risking your life to cross that border illegally, and had a 2% chance of making it across alive, but could walk up to any border checkpoint, apply for residency, and be approved and into the country in less than a week, which choice do you suppose these people would make?  The hordes of Mexicans coming across that border are, by and large, a group of people looking for a better life.  Sure, there’s a few criminals, drug runners, rapists, and overall freaks.  Find me a group of people anywhere that can boast no criminal element, and I’ll show you a group that’s lying about or ignorant of their own members. 

Add to that states like Arizona, who have an extreme problem with illegal immigration, to the point that it threatens their economy, services, government, etc.  They try to take action to enforce federal laws that the Feds conveniently forget about, and suddenly the US DOJ is suing them.  The media blew their laws completely out of proportion, and made it sound as if they were out hunting every Hispanic they could find to throw them out of the country, and still nobody can come up with a plan to deal with things better. 

Meanwhile, the majority (over 2/3) of illegal residents of the United States are still paying all of the taxes that legal residents pay, as well as not getting many of the benefits that legal residents would get.  Primarily out of fear of getting caught, many won’t apply for the few benefits that they actually could qualify for still.  Not that I’m arguing for these social programs, as they should be tossed out as well, but why should we deny a group of people access to something that they are paying for? 

Here’s the fix for all of the problems caused by illegal immigration.  Make it extremely easy to come here legally. Make it a death defying, harrowing, dangerous act to even try to come here illegally. You’ll see people lined up to try to get here, all neatly documented, registered aliens with proper ID and tax numbers, ready to work their butts off and boost the economy to make it better for every current or future US resident. 

Unleash the true power of immigration.  Bring us your tired, your poor; your huddled masses yearning to breath free.  We will show them freedom, and all prosper from it.

Protests and Riots in Downtown Seattle

Throughout the afternoon, I’ve heard reports of vandalism, protests, and riots in downtown Seattle.  While I’m not in the least bit surprised, given that people around here like to piss and moan about their lot in life much more than they like to actually do anything about it, I am a little disappointed that, once again, a group of people who come together to protest are invaded by ass-clowns who turn out to be destructive, ignorant crap-weasels. 

I don’t know how many people there were protesting whatever the “not fair” of the week item is, and quite frankly I don’t care, but the reports I saw said that there were roughly 50 people involved in smashing some store fronts, spray painting an anarchy symbol on a Porsche (guess that guy had it coming for being successful) and broke some windows out of the Federal Courthouse, causing it to close early today.  I’m quite certain that the majority of people, as usual, were peacefully protesting something that they strongly believe in, and though I may not support whatever issue they were protesting, I certainly support their right to do so.  Now, because of a few dozen a-holes in the crowd, the leading story on the news tonight will be about the damage.  Whatever message they were trying to convey will be lost.  And the a-holes have their moment of fame.

In all seriousness, I hate protests. The vast, vast majority of protests that I’ve seen are people complaining about something that was caused by government action, and demanding government action to fix it.  We desperately need the Feds to take a long walk off a short pier, but these people are demanding more and more regulations to fix some perceived problem, not even realizing that the problems they are protesting were caused by those folks in DC in the first place.  I support their right to be out there voicing their opinions 100%, even if I think the opinions they are voicing is mindless, ignorant, ill thought out drivel that they don’t understand in the least. 

Now we have a declared state of emergency in Seattle, with the police ordered to confiscate any weapons being carried (legally or otherwise – not sure where the Mayor gets this power, but it’s defined in the city code – I suspect the city code is illegal at the state level, but hasn’t yet been challenged) and the peaceful protest for <insert cause here> has been destroyed. 

I have a suggestion for anyone going to a protest. No matter what you’re protesting, or how peaceful you plan for it to be.  Carry pepper-spray.  When some jackasses get out of control, hose them and call the police yourselves.  Then the news would report about your peaceful protest, and how when a few people started to get out of control, the rest of the group quickly put an end to their destructive antics and called the authorities to take care of it. 

Boy, what a better message that would be to send to the nation.  Instead of “we’re a bunch of self-righteous SOB’s who can do what we want” people will see “we disagree with policy, but will vehemently defend the rights of others and strictly enforce legal and ethical adherence within our group, even while demonstrating against something”.