Karl Marx, Tax Resister

Image by Ben Heine

From FSK:

This quote was very interesting. Karl Marx said "Refusal to pay taxes is the primary duty of the citizen!"

Sometimes, I wonder if Karl Marx really was one of the top free market thinkers of all time. When I was in my State brainwashing center, I remember learning "Marx and Communism are evil!" However, we didn't spend any time reading things he actually wrote.

The context of the above Marx quote is the Revolutions of 1848, a time of great political unrest in Europe.

From Wikipedia:

During the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states, the royal and military aristocracy prohibited the first popularly-elected parliament from assembling, and that parliament responded by declaring the government out-of-business:

So long as the National Assembly is not at liberty to continue its sessions in Berlin, the Brandenburg cabinet has no right to dispose of government revenues and to collect taxes.

Karl Marx, via his newspaper, the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, published this decree, adding: “From today, therefore, taxes are abolished! It is high treason to pay taxes. Refusal to pay taxes is the primary duty of the citizen!” Marx was later prosecuted for promoting tax resistance, but was acquitted after arguing that it was not illegal to promote tax resistance against an illegal government.



Hmm, acquitted because it's not illegal to promote tax resistance if the government is itself illegal. Since the US government is highly illegal, and in constant violation of the US Constitution every moment of its existence, it follows that Karl Marx would approve of American tax resisters.

Karl Marx, anti-tax hero!

More Madness from General McChrystal

While reading through the news this morning, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of horror when coming across an AP story that began:

The top military commander in Afghanistan is asking for up to 80,000 more American troops even as he warns that rampant government corruption there may prevent victory against the Taliban and al-Qaida.

What I found horrifying was not just that General McChrystal’s asking for 80,000 more troops but that he’s asking for these troops while, at the same time, admitting that his plan “carries a high risk of failing.” Yes, you heard me right. Citing officials at the Pentagon and White House, the AP story noted that McChrystal has prepared a document which admits that, even with these additional troops, the counterinsurgency “carries a high risk of failing.”

Now I’m personally not against taking chances. Whenever I’m playing a game of Risk, for instance, I’ll often try my luck. If I have ten pieces on Alaska and my buddy has twenty on Kamchatka, I might roll the dice a few times, see what happens.

But McChrystal’s not playing a fucking board game. He’s not sacrificing plastic game pieces but actual human beings. Now I’m not saying that I’d support the escalation if it had “a high risk of succeeding.” Of course I wouldn’t. I’m absolutely against this war. Period. I’m just astounded by the general’s brazen disregard for human life, for American life no less.

If President Peace Prize approves McChrystal’s plan, then many more American soldiers will be killed and injured and maimed. Many more soldiers will come home with brain damage and PTSD. Many of these returning soldiers, after being denied proper care from the VA, will turn to drugs and alcohol. Many will ultimately commit suicide.

Even those of you who think the war is justified would be hesitant to sacrifice your son or daughter or niece or nephew for a plan that “carries a high risk of failing.”

But, of course, the war isn’t justified. It has nothing to do with keeping America safe from terror. We’re no longer even fighting al Qaeda. We killed most of those guys back in 2001, and even Obama’s National Security Advisor admits that there are currently less than one hundred al Qaeda operatives in the country. Rather, we’re fighting a homegrown insurgency, one being lead by a nationalist organization that has never even attacked the United States.

Don’t get the wrong idea, I definitely don’t want these Taliban scumbags returning to power. But, as it is, the US is just propping up Hamid Karzai, a truly despicable man, one who’s aligned himself with warlords, one who stole the August presidential election and recently signed a bill into law which effectively legalizes rape within marriage.

Of course, McChrystal insists that, if the Taliban comes back into power, they will again provide a safe haven for al Qaeda. Oh give me a break. “Protecting al Qaeda back in 2001 brought no end of trouble to Mullah Omar and his associates,” Harvard’s Stephen Walt has written, “and if they were lucky enough to regain power, it is hard to believe they would give us a reason to come back in force.”

And even if the Taliban allowed al Qaeda to return, Walt continues, “the United States isn’t going to sit around and allow them to go about their business undisturbed. The Clinton administration wasn’t sure it was a good idea to go after al Qaeda’s training camps back in the 1990s (though they eventually did, albeit somewhat half-heartedly), but that was before 9/11. We know more now and the U.S. government is hardly going to be bashful about attacking such camps in the future.”

I don’t exactly know why this war is being fought. I don’t know why McChrystal and the politicians so desperately want to rule Afghanistan. I just know that they’re lying. By now, anyone with half a brain should know that they’re lying. And I know that more people—many, many more people—are going to die as a result. And, in the end, we might never know what it was all really about.

The Television Terminator

I don't know why I have to wake up to stories like this: Schwarzenegger set to ban 'energy-guzzling' big screen TVs in California. I don't even have the energy this early in the morning to really comment on this, probably because all the energy is being sucked up by all those big ass TV sets.

A spokesman (spokesperson? I mean, even though it's a male in this case, is it a politically incorrect anti-women--oops, womyn--thought crime to use "man" in this context?) for the Consumer Electronics Association says up to 25% of current televisions for sale on retail shelves will have to be pulled. The plan in California is to ban sets more than 40 inches wide.

Naturally, the human-hating enviro-nuts are all for it. In a state quickly going completely down the crapper, this is what California's incompetent rulers come up with. It's supposedly to save the state money by reducing energy costs (but aren't those being paid by the private residents using those TVs?), but no real talk of permanently slashing the state budget and ridding Californians of the myriad of needless regulations, laws, taxes and public "servants" that hang like a mill-stone about their necks, causing mass migrations of people and businesses to more friendly, less-oppressive states (thank God for what little Federalism still exists in the United States).

Getting rid of most of California's existing government and parasites state employees would be a far better money and energy-saving move, and the residents of the Tarnished Golden State would then be able to enjoy those big-screen televisions and afford to buy even bigger ones with all the money they would suddenly find returned to their pockets. And maybe then, with extra cash in hand, television would no longer be one of the only means of escape from the nightmare dystopian world that is Schwarzenegger's California.




Note: Gotta love the upside down logic of "Energy" Commissioner Julia "This will actually save consumers money" Levin.

The Hiltons Ain't Got Nothing on Chavez

From Breitbart.com,

President Hugo Chavez has ordered the "acquisition by force" of a landmark Hilton Hotel on Venezuela's Margarita island, the government's Official Gazette announced Tuesday.

...The sprawling complex includes 280 rooms, 210 suites, a casino, stores, restaurants, offices and meeting areas, as well as the adjoining marina.

The assets will be held by the state tourism corporation Venetur, which reports to the Tourism Ministry, as part of an "urgent" effort to boost "the social development side of the tourism and hotel industries in Nueva Esparta state," the Gazette said.

It is not the first time Chavez's government has checked into a Hilton and stayed for good.

Caracas has already seized the Hotel Hilton in Caracas, rechristening it the Hotel Alba, a reference to the Venezuelan-led leftist regional alliance Alianza Bolivariana para las Americas (ALBA).

In the past four years, Venezuela has implemented the nationalization of industries it sees as strategic including electrical utilities, cement, steel, oil services and banking.

The news coming out of Venezuela just gets steadily more ludicrous with every day that passes. The seizure of a Hilton hotel is only the most recent news that I've come across. The last news that I've heard before this was about Chavez acquiring more weapons because he's convinced that the US is going to come into Colombia and aim missiles at Venezuela, and the news that I'd heard before THAT was about Chavez making the sale of Coke Zero illegal due to ambiguous "health concerns."

I'd mock amazement, but there is little that Chavez can do that will surprise me in the least. I've had the pleasure of hearing his sound clips on Primer Impacto on Univision for a good chunk of my life, and any Spanish-speaking person who has ever been subjected to that can attest to the utter ridiculousness of Chavez. He may be able to convince his fervent followers (and believe me, they exist in droves), but the rest of the world just looks on in complete confusion. Videos of Chavez preaching to an adoring choir erupting in applause, news stories of his latest paranoias, his newest nuclear arms purchases, his latest and greatest encroachments on personal liberty, and his steady destruction of any semblance of a free market remaining of Venezuela - it's all so surreal that you can't even imagine that it's happening, or even worse, that the same could happen elsewhere.

We Voted For Change, and Now We're Asking For It

Great insight on the true reason for police giving out tickets, by the way. It's not about public safety, it's about generating revenue for a government cash-starved in the midst of the government-created recession. As the economy gets even worse, be prepared for even more police harassment and State sanctioned repression.

Potluck Perils

So, we had a potluck at work. It was for the made up Wear Your NFL Football Jersey To Work Day (and only half a dozen of my co-workers showed up in the things; they got their pictures taken while the rest of us ordinary street clothes wearers were left out). I hate those kinds of events. Nothing against people eating other people's food, but it always makes me feel obligated to bring something in on the scheduled meal sharing day. I got the idea to just make up a candy and nut mix and make that my pathetic contribution, but I thought better of it, and the day ahead, in a discussion with my manager, he brought up the fact that everyone who wanted the easy way out was bringing soda, and that it would be nice to have something to drink as an alternative, like juice.

Well, that planted the seed, and juice it would be. I brought two bottles in, but, lazy bastard that I am, I didn't visit the store the night ahead, I waited until the morning of the potluck, and bought the juice on my way to work. This meant, of course, that it wasn't cold on my arrival. My manager the day before had said something about maybe someone could bring ice and how in the past they'd had it stored in the freezer compartment of one of the fridges in the break room until eating time. I don't think I have to say that no one brought any ice this time.

My solution was simple; I put my juice bottles in the freezer to get cold, but I knew it would require two hours or more to bring the juice temperature down to drinkable degrees. I left them there, unprepared for the email announcement just seconds later that it was time to "dig in" (I would end up taking my unopened and very cold juices home the next day).

I didn't dig in, at least not at first. But I did finally eat, not having brought anything (except some cookies that I was now going to save and take back home with me) and had a small plate of home-made rice and beans, a small bowl of chili (the very last of it, in fact) and a slice of store-bought cheesecake. It was when I got to the rice and beans that I had a thought. The rice and beans were stone cold, though no doubt they had been at least a little warm when delivered by their provider, and I was sure they were perfectly safe to eat, if unappetizing in their unheated state.

What I thought was what an unregulated situation it was, with no government appointed nanny inspecting for food safety, no license needed to prepare food for consumption outside the home, as long as it was not for sale. But what if I desired to make extra income that way, or even work for myself and quit my job to bake or cook for profit from a home kitchen and oven.

The State with its laws takes opportunities away from the poor, preventing them from making a living and earning their way out of poverty. It forces people into wage slavery or worse (starvation or homelessness) by cutting off choices.

Not so long ago I returned a U-Haul truck and met outside the door of the rental center a man and his mother, an older lady who didn't speak English. They had an older car and they were selling tamales and burritos out of the trunk. They offered beef, pork and chicken, and several employees of the U-Haul place bought their lunch from the two. It was all very illegal, but that does not equal wrong, and the nice man and his gentle, smiling mother were doing no harm, just making some money proving a product and service that others, in a free exchange, were willing to trade their dollars for.

But if the issue of food made at home is one of public safety and health (instead of what it really is, protecting the turf of those able to afford a commercial kitchen and willing to pay government extortion fees for the "privilege" of preparing food for sale) then how long will it be before potlucks are outlawed?

It's happening already with so-called child care, as with the case of the mom threatened with fines for watching her neighbor's kids each day before the start of school (though the State may back down, due only, I'm sure, to public outrage at such idiocy). The British police state, however, is not so easily persuaded by pressure (though possibly they'll be changing that insane law as well):

Two working mothers have been banned from looking after each other's toddlers because they are not registered childminders.

The close friends' private arrangement had let them both return to part-time jobs at the same company.

However, a whistle blower reported them to the education watchdog Ofsted and it found their informal deal broke the law.

A whistle blower? More like a nasty little Nazi watchdog; a sick, twisted, pro-State government lover and hater of liberty (you can't be for government and liberty at the same time, it's impossible).

Read on:

This was because little-known rules say friends cannot gain a 'reward' by looking after a child for more than two hours outside the child's home without agreeing to a number of checks including one from the Criminal Records Bureau.

Although the mothers never paid each other, their job-sharing deal was judged to be a 'reward'. Campaigners fear thousands of working families could be innocently breaking the rules by relying on close friends for informal childcare.

There you have the Orwellian, the Kafkaesque nightmare nature of the State, a tyranny ruling a world where you can never be sure if you're within its laws or not, no matter how innocent your activity, or how closely you think you're fulfilling the letter of some piece of legislation.

There is only one ultimate solution. We must end the State in order to wake up from the nightmare.

Hyperinflation Nation

Just over a year ago, America's monetary base was equal to 6pc of national income. Now, after a year of money printing, it's 12pc. The US has expanded its basic money supply by a staggering 108pc in 12 months. No wonder the currency markets are alarmed about future US inflation.

'Benign currency neglect' could spell real danger for US economy

The Possibility of a Potential Potluck Poisoning

The moment had arrived, the potluck was here, no longer mere plan, it was time to appear, with food, of course, to set before others, and engorge oneself.

But what should I give, in order to get? Bake a pie on my own? Cherries or no, Billy Boy I am not. In my kitchen I could concoct nothing, with no oven that works, no stove top that lights, no place to prepare a dish that would hopefully delight. It's true I'm a cook when I've got a good book, but without the essentials, no recipe's credentials can provide the guide to chow that will wow.

That was the moment I settled on how I would go to the "party". What was the excuse, the reason, for this feast? Wear Your Football Jersey To Work Day, invented in just the last two weeks . Do I own a football jersey? No. Was I going to buy one just for a potluck. No, or at least I was in no hurry.

I went to the store, bought a dollar bag of candy corn, looked for mixed nuts, decided they were too much, grabbed a can of party peanuts (how appropriate) instead, and had my ingredients for a fall snack for all.

My second thoughts loomed large as the day approached. Call out sick? Nah, thought I, I'll just nix the mix and get something rich. Back to the market (Trader Joe's this time) and cookies unlike your ordinary baked biscuits became my target. I pulled a few containers down from the cookie shelf (they have one, ya know) and settled on a nutless variety or two. With my cookies in hand, I thought "not enough", so why not provide a soda alternative too, like some juice or some tea for iced drinking stuff.

Pomegranate and unfiltered apple, a worthy couple of drinks that would incite some to grapple.

I went into work, my brown bag hiding my contributions to the luck, and waited to see if the food was out yet. I start late in the day, and am there half the night, so I figured the food would be out on the back tables where I too could display all my choices and their colorful labels.

But my juice was not cold! Oh no, was I that bold? Could I bring something in that was meant to be cool and ignore what I was told about bringing it ready , and so look like a fool and very unsteady?

I took my juice to the fridge, put it into the freezer, hoping I wouldn't forget it like some crazy old geezer. Express cooling will work, it just has to, I said, but my doubts were not going away.

I watched from my seat as the crowd swarmed over the food, the line growing long and the food growing low. While there were some lazies like myself who'd brought store-bought pies and cakes and even big boxes of cookies (my next door neighbor brought just a single six-pack of diet soda, just so he could load up his plate without feeling an ounce of guilt, not an iota) most had home-made dishes to fulfill hungry wishes. Of course upon seeing that cookies were already there, I took mine, wrapped them tight and hid them, making sure no one was aware.



The meal went fine, or so it seemed to me, but I hadn't yet eaten, and a few came to see and to ask why I'd avoided the line. I was without paper plate or bowl or cup, no food was at my desk, naught but my hiding cookies for which no one was looking.

After much coaxing and dear old Catherine's insistence (she'd made her own chili in a crock pot of spices, one of, I would guess, her very few vices) I got out of my chair and went for the vittles, a case less of hunger than lack of resistance.

The chili was low, almost down to a spoonful or so, but I managed somehow to scoop out enough to resemble a bowl. With that, a thin slice of cheesecake and some homemade black beans and Spanish rice, I had a meal that I considered quite nice.

But the thought then occurred to me, what if someone gets sick? How clean are our kitchens, how pure our fixings?

No body of government regulations looks over our shoulders in our domestic food preparations. The logic is clear, if it's okay for free people to take a voluntary risk, with friends, neighbors or even sometimes (horrors) complete strangers, and to eat what they fix, why can't I make some food from my home, to sell for a profit, ending my wage slavery if that's how I want it?



Next: The Great Football Jersey Disappointment, plus, If I Can Watch Your Kids While They're Waiting For the Bus, Why Can't I Cook Some Food and Sell it to You Without Someone Making a Fuss?

Paul on the Obomba "Peace" Prize

"The anti-war left doesn't exist anymore. Code Pink now supports Obama's position in Afghanistan".



via Politically Confused

The Cops Are the Bad Guys

It's about time I started this. I have a huge backlog of stories I've meant to post or post about on cops and their evil activities. So, expect this to be a regular feature here, and watch for many more episodes to come of The Cops Are the Bad Guys!

I'll start it off with this link to a recent account of an encounter with some of the evil clowns experienced by George Donnelly:

It was a beautiful autumn day in the Delaware Valley - until some thugs on the payroll of the Plymouth, PA police department assaulted me and terrorized my son just steps from my home.

Cops Assault Me and Terrorize My Toddler Son Right Outside My Home