April 9, 2007 – More Debate About the US Income Tax Changes Nothing

Cato Craft over at RadioFreeLiberty.com, has a pretty good podcast posted about the purpose of recognizing your own, personal, “Tax Freedom Day.” It makes you note at what point in the year a typical person's earned enough income to pay their taxes and so are finally working for their own benefit and not to pay the feds, the state, the city, the school board, the county, and the rest.

I agree with everything Cato says about the immoral and illegal nature of taxes; that arguing and acting on the view that taxes can be challenged in court on constitutional principles, as some of us do, is a wholly futile enterprise. So says Cato anyhow, and I agree. While a few people do manage to wiggle free of the long arm of the IRS, in nearly every case I am aware of, if you play this hand, you'll lose your shirt, as well as your reputation, money, property, liberty, and even life in some cases. Impeccable logical and sound and informed legal argumentation is futile. Expecting the government-run courts to seriously entertain arguments to the contrary is like expecting a cat not to chase a dangling piece of string. Of course Leviathan will act against you; its the nature of that particular beast, no? Just like a cat and dangling string.

Like the words of wisdom Cato winds up the podcast with, “the constitution is irrelevant”in American courts. Cato says “pay your taxes, and stay free”. That is to say, free to act against the state, and able to live your life. Taxes, for now, are just a cost of doing “business” with the state. A price we pay to stay at liberty.

You're a good man Cato Craft: clear-eyed and pragmatic to a fault. And that's a problem I'd like to have.

Technorati Tags: tax tax_resistence war_tax economics

April 8, 2007 -Self Defense in Theory & Practice

What Really Happens In A Gunfight?
“Truly, the most important thing in all this is where you hit your opponent. I have spoken with a little old lady who severed the aorta of a home invader with a FMJ .32 while, at the same time, talking to a police officer that could not stop a knife-wielding assailant with five rounds of .45 ACP hollow-point.” [My emphasis]

Just like with sex, it isn't the size of your gun, but what you do with it, that counts. A sad reality of the world we live in. An interesting read too, if you're not put off by the bloodymindedness of the author. Bottom line: Keeping your wits about you and marksmanship skill trump firepower.

Another interesting article on the theoretical and practical implications of taking full responsibiltiy for your personal safety is What Would Happen If the Police Just Went Away? by Warren Tilson.

Technorati Tags: guns self-defense non-aggression_principle NAP

April 7, 2007 – Some Interesting Stuff from Web Surfing This Morning

'Open Carry' [of a sidearm] Begins for Basil
“I have been open carrying on streets and trails around and in Manhattan the last week or two (and on rivers and mountain trails forever), but today I carried openly in the Three Forks hardware store and the Manhattan grocery store. No problems... everyone was friendly, though I did notice a couple of women gawking at me out the front window of the grocery store as I left, and I noticed a guy checking me out in Three Forks as I entered the store as he was leaving “ Web forum postings from the Clairefiles.

The 10 Real Reasons Why Geeks Make Better Lovers
Regina Lynn @ Wired.com

10 Foods Tough to Digest
MSN Health & Fitness column slideshow with commentary. Kind of surprising too.

Record Store Owners Blame RIAA For Destroying Music Industry
“It's not every day that you see a NY Times piece use the word 'boneheadedness' to describe the strategy of an organization." Zonk @ slashdot.org.

Cop killer 'Bucky' Phillips had time of his life on the lam
" 'I enjoyed those few months more than I've enjoyed any other time in my life,' said Phillips, who is serving his sentence at the Clinton County [NY] Correction Facility.” CNN

Max Stirner's Philosophy Examined
“ 'Eigentum,' that which is owned, is for Stirner an expression of a willed relation. As a willed relation, it can be discarded at any moment - by will. Opposed to the willed relation is the bond, the 'ought' and the 'shall'. These are simply relations that are not mine to dispose of, but which are given me from without - without also in the sense of an 'essence' I must confirm to and cannot dispose of. ” Interesting.

Parents Balking At Schools [seemingly endless] Fundraising
“"We have to pitch the merchandise, collect the money for the merchandise, and deliver the merchandise, and I'm not, as a mom and a family, set up to do that,' she says. And, after years of being asked to sell things such as wrapping paper, Eagleson finally had had enough. 'I simply called the school and called the principal and said my son will not be participating any further in sale-type of fundraisers,' she told McGinnis. And, McGinnis points out, she's not alone. At Dutch Neck Elementary School in Princeton Junction, N.J., parents voted to do away traditional school fundraisers. Principal Scott Feder says they 'went away, and now we do a 'Write a Check' campaign, where we send a letter home and the parents respond with sending in what they feel is appropriate.' Checks are written directly to the school, are tax deductible, and are producing as much money as traditional fundraisers did. Feder says the school even exceeded its goal for the campaign, two years in a row. How much time do parents save by just writing that check? 'Maybe a week's worth of hours, hours and hours and hours of time,' says Feder.” (CBS News) Voluntarism works the best anyway. (Via Strike-the-Root.com)

04/06/07 - Public Employee Unions Got What they Wanted in the Last Election – Now Let’s See if They Want What They’re Gonna Get

The Correctional Officers Union and the Michigan State Police Troopers Association both of whom happily endorsed, contributed lots of time and money, and otherwise went all out for the re-election last November of Michigan’s incumbent governor, Democrat Jennifer Grandholm. But now it seems the jokes on them. She’s pardoning hundreds if not thousands of low level incarcerates in order to close two prisons and is laying-off a few dozen state troopers and few hundred CO’s and prison staff support. Hah!

It’s sad that it took a situation of financial distress on the part of the state of Michigan to do this; it should have been done anyhow, just on principal. If these people aren’t dangerous enough to actually require incarceration on account of the seriousness of their crimes or danger to society, WTF are they even being held at all, regardless of financial considerations by the state? And good for the Grandholm administration for doing this instead of going for a big tax increase. Often the pols threaten to do this sort of thing just to scare the public into raising taxes or not at least not cutting them. She seems to actually mean it.

The union leadership, which here in Michigan is overwhelmingly Democratic, thought their support would surely lead to a different result eh? And thank you for your support guys! Haw!

April 4, 2007 - Pols vs. Educrats: An April Fool’s Joke, All Year Long

The Washington, D.C. municipal government, that exemplar of competence and rectitude, is pushing to take over management of their local school system because see, the school board is crooked, wasteful and incompetent. All reported by the Washington Post without a hint of irony or sarcasm too, although it reads like something from Fark or The Onion. This howler is like Cheech tellingChong to let him drive cuz he’s too high.

My kids go to private schools that their grandparents and myself and pay for, and I’ve found this arrangement to be worth every penny of the additional cost. Yes, I say “additional,” because the local school board still wants “their” tax money from me, too.

“School board President Robert C. Bobb said,” the article goes on to say, “in a statement that he would stay on the board, although his role would be diminished. ‘Now that the council has acted, it's time for leaders in the District to sit down, roll up our sleeves, and work together . . . with the interests of the children of the District front and center,’ he said.” Yeah, whatever Mr. Bobb; you’ll still be collecting your check and benefits even though there’s even less work for you to do, and what you’ve done so far has been just swell too.

As I’ve said before, this kind of news story could just as easily have been a satirical piece from The Onion or Fark with very little tweaking, and it is very revealing of the statist mentality of the journalists that write this stuff as well, that they can do it with a straight face. Or then again, maybe being able to is a skill the scribes learn in a class that they teach at journalism school?

Technorati Tags: politics education mainstream_media

April 3, 2007 - “Economics for Real People” vs. Vulgar Libertarian Bullshit from Corporate Press Releases

[And with all due respect to Gene Calahan who wrote a book by the same name. This article is about bad times for employees of Circuit City.]

“Like many companies,” says this revealing article in Businessweek, “Circuit City has a set of company values, which it conveniently lists on its website. First among them: 'Our associates are our greatest assets.' Last week some 3,400 of them learned what that means. Their jobs were eliminated solely because the company decided they were getting paid too much. Clearly, the company doesn't value them as 'great assets.' If it did, it would realize that firing employees because they've performed well enough to earn raises demoralizes everyone else. What kind of inducement is it for employees to work hard and excel if their reward might be a pink slip? And why would people want to shop at a store where the low premium on service is so loudly trumpeted?”

Oh the joys of being a wage slave! Those folks did everything the company asked them to do, and did it well; and their reward is to be kicked to the curb. But I hear some people actally like being wage slaves AKA corporate employees, because working for yourself is such a risky, tiresome and heavy responsibility. Whatever. Some people like S&M too.

As for me, I'll take the risk of fending for myself and come what may, rather than put my future in the hands of the corporate types and politicians who dominate American style state capitalism.

04.03.07 – The Reports of My (Impending) Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated!

I'm not dead yet.

I saw this article posted on the front page of STR today and via the BBC. Well, as Mark Twain once noted about rumors, the reports of my impending death have been greatly exaggerated.

For one, I used the moniker “Chemical Ali” way before Al-Majid ever did and I have proof. You can see it here, if you've a mind to. I should have done a DBA filing or some such action a long time ago to make sure that my ass was covered on this angle, but who knew back in the days before the Iraq invasion that I'd even need to consider such a possibility? Not me, sad to say.

So if and when the day comes when they hang this prick, keep in mind dear reader that this guy is Ali Hassan ibn-Majid Al-Tikriti and not your correspondent, who is Ali Hassan Massoud ibn-Mohammad Al-Dearborn Michigan. And as for all that other shit that this muderous Ba'athist A-hole pulled over the years as Saddam's henchman, that ain't on me folks.