Internet Sales Tax Collection Proposed In Virginia

thats Sen. Hangers plan, and the Retail Federation is eager to help:Hangers bill, SB660, would add technical language to the sales tax statute that would require some Internet-based retailers to pay the tax."It levels the playing field for small businesses," said Margaret Ballard, vice president of advocacy for the Retail Alliance,
via Tertium Quids: Time to tax internet sales?. I understand the mentality from Miss Ballard. It is the same mentality from people who don't get as good a deal as you on a big purchase . Or  others who skirt on their taxes because they either know how to get all the loopholes or their work sitution is privledged to being able to more easily avoid taxes. Such as a barber getting paid alot of cash in tips or Amazon.com who doesn't have to collect sales tax from virginia customers. It is a victim mentality and should not be supported. Protectionism is never the answer more freedom and less taxes is. Mr. Leahy, (the author of the blog post) makes a good point that affiliate programs will most likely suffer or go away if this goes through. But then he goes on to say this (responding to a commentor) :
I'm not saying collecting the tax is necessarily bad. But I do wonder about the unintended consequences.
Collecting a tax is always bad especially in 2009.

TSA agent fucks with passenger's mind..then gets fired

Then he pulled a small, clear plastic bag from her carry-on - the sort of baggie that a pair of earrings might come in. Inside the bag was fine, white powder. Put yourself in her place and count out 20 seconds. Her heart pounded. She started to sweat. She panicked at having to explain something she couldn't. Now picture her expression as the TSA employee started to smile. Just kidding, he said. He waved the baggie. It was his.
The worst part of the story is his name doesn't get released so everyone can ostracize him. Privacy violation my ass.
Ann Davis, the TSA spokeswoman, said this afternoon that the worker is no longer employed by the agency as of today. She said privacy laws prevented her from saying if he was fired or left on his own.
via Daniel Rubin: It was no joke at security gate | Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/21/2010.

Freedom From Government- If You're the Preferred Religion

This has been going on for years with the specific exemption for the amish relating to social security and medicare payroll taxes. It's only fitting it continues with medical insurance. Is it because regular people don't fight as hard?
In an e-mail message Friday, she said she was unaware of the Amish interest in the bill and that their objections to the mandate surprised her because the Amish do buy vehicle insurance, for instance.
Don't know why it would surprise the professor. Making decisions about how much insurance someone needs? Wow! I'm sure alot of people could get by with just car insurance and pay for healthcare out of pocket in a more free society. She also had this to say.
"If the government can tolerate a religious exemption, then it must do so evenhandedly among religious believers with the same beliefs. This is sheer favoritism for a certain class of religions, or even for one religion."
via Watertown Daily Times | Amish families exempt from insurance mandate.

Liberty Books I'm Reading

Media_httpmisesorgima_ozfvc
Media_http4bpblogspot_ipbhq
I noticed this book while browsing at the local library and noticed it is authored by Thomas Woods who also did the great Politically Incorrect Guide to American History. I've read that so and enjoyed it so I picked this up and It will spell out to you how the constitution has been violated basically since it was written. The quotes you will see referenced in this book will astound you more than the actual explanations provided by the authors.
I'm actually enjoying this more than "End The Fed". If you are into reading liberty books even just on occasion, I'd recommend picking this one up. It really spells it out to me that the only way individuals will retain their freedom is by speaking out on these ideas and coming together, standing together on these issues by civil disobedience and concentrated numbers. Being the minority nationally is ineffective but everyone nationally in the minority could make a powerful majority in one state and state a beacon of freedom. Of course this is still a pipe dream but everybody has dreams ; ) .

Would you Take Your Own Life if You Believed in What you Were Fighting For?

From Yahoo news:
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Suicides in the US Army rose to a new record in 2009, with 160 soldiers taking their lives, the military said Friday, calling it a "painful year."

I have read other stories by British papers taht moral is very low. Ok now I'm sure some people will say the two or not related and can be caused by why an increase of suicides each year since 2007?

If you listen to the radio and here about the USO they end they will state their slogan "Until Everyone Comes Home". I think that is the point, everyone will never ever come home. The US Government is the 21st Century's Roman Empire. Being the world's policeman is not "defending liberty".

Freedom Related News Update

According to The AnarchAngel blog gun owners will have to worry less about be proscecuted if this passes the house and is signed by a governor. The blog states it has a good probability of passing. The two bottom provisions are being striked from the books opening up possibility of concealed carry without permit.

A. A person commits misconduct involving weapons by knowingly:

1. Carrying a deadly weapon without a permit pursuant to section 13‑3112 except a pocket knife concealed on his person; or

2. Carrying a deadly weapon without a permit pursuant to section 13‑3112 concealed within immediate control of any person in or on a means of transportation; or

I thought rights aren't supposed to be subjective? Guess not since they can decide and change their minds on what constitutes "misconduct" from year to year. This is potentially very big news because I think the only states where CC without a permit is legal are Alaska & Vermont. Arizona is a much more populus state so I will be following this.

Example of Charity In a Highly Taxed America

Some welfare supporters will state, albeit in different terms without forced re-distribution of wealth poverty will increase and people will "fall through the cracks". Cliches such as that and "safety net" sound great but where does everyone look? Government. Freedom is always the answer and will lead to less poverty through the division of labor and competition increasing innovation with the human nature to win and succeed.

Technology such as SMS messaging and mobile phones has allowed Americans to donate 7million dollars to relief efforts in Haiti. Most of that has gone to the Red Cross. Someone told me their CEO makes $400,000 a year! But i digress. I think these signs of giving show such promise in a free market solution. Imagine if you had just 25 percent more money? Would that change a $5 donation to $30 dollars?

For comparison total giving for a whole year (2009) of 4million via mobile phones has been surpassed in 36hours. This is a lot of money considering how much people are taxed as a whole. Not even considering inflation americans will pay more in taxes than they will pay for food, housing and clothing combined.

People also care where their money goes. Charity's can compete for money. Obviously if you can give your money to whoever you want, bad charities will be weeded out. This is in contrast to welfare where if people game the system there is little to be done about it and no incentive to do so by government workers because it's not their money being lost. This is shown brilliantly in Prescious, a recent hollywood movie.

Corporations shell out money for selfish reasons also. Improving their image to compete for customers. AT&T's image is horrible online and this won't help them either.

T-Mobile said Thursday its current customers trying to connect with "loved ones
in Haiti during the aftermath" of the earthquake can make calls to Haiti without
being charged for international long distance calls through Jan. 31.

T-Mobile customers "who may already be in Haiti will be able to roam on T-Mobile’s partner networks in Haiti (operated locally in Haiti under the names Voila and Digicel) free-of-charge through the end of the month

It is a very simple concept that applies to every decision. If it is your money individually you care where it goes. You earned it. This fact and this fact alone makes charities a million times over more efficeient than government at allocating and spending aid money. Try to imagine the results if that number was 14 million donated or 24 million donated? How many more people would be helped?

Wiretapping and Recording the Police In Public Are Not The Same Thing

Media_httpinthenameof_bfoni
From the Boston Globe...

This story is not just isolated to Massachusetts but is interesting in one respect. They have been arresting then convicting different people on wiretapping charges for recording the police in public. They also have been arresting people and not being able to convict them. The difference pointed on in the article is recording openly versus secret/hidden recording. I contend that as a police officer no expectation of privacy should be expected at ANY point in time!

Recording openly stands up better in court because of Mass’s two party consent wiretapping law. Two party consent is supposed to apply to conversations where an “expectation of privacy” is expected. This means on the telephone or a private dwelling etc. It that case both parties have to agree and you have to inform the other person you’re recording them.

This should not apply to police for two reasons. One, if police detain or pull you over they do so by force. I can’t just walk away aka hang of the phone and say hey I don’t want to be part of this conversation if I can’t record it. I could do that with any other person or vice versa. Two, their salaries are paid by tax dollars and the only way to *somewhat* protect against abuses is recording and spread of information. Also almost all interaction with police is done on public property paid for by public funds taken from everyone.

I should also note that any person including police should have no expectation of privacy on public property for any reason as if everyone has had to pay for it than anyone should be able to record on it. If you want privacy go to a private place where the rules are set like that.

A big thing I got from the article is the different choices people were making about recording. Do you openly record and risk them confiscating the camera and you not getting the footage and getting arrested quicker? Or do you secretly record and have a better chance of not getting arrester and maybe footage but less standing in court. I guess it demands on the situation and how many people you have. But for the most part I would say do both maybe open video and audio with secret audio as the backup

This is one of if not the most important issues of today as if this issue is lost a totalitarian state is surely much more imminent. I encourage everyone to do what they can activism wise to further camera/audio recording on public aka government property. Although not legally civil disobedience in all situations I think a fund to help reassure people they will have assistance if arrested or in jail etc. would be something I’d like to see.

.

Links of the Night

Brad from "The Liberty Papers" blog on why HOA's can be as bad as Child Protective Services in some cases. This is something that I think could be stopped with some activisim or some help from the neighbors on trying to sell their house and get out of the situation.

Story from NPR on increasing body scanner use. If you notice the picture of how they use to fly in the 60's it was similar to getting on a bus. Why not have this type of screening for buses? Oh wait they're moving that way! Screening for airlines is just the first step in getting people used to screening then it will of course be expanded.

And if you're one of those doubters who says "Oh it is just for airlines... and what do you have to hide? It won't ever get into regular public life or private establishments." Well think again! The dutch are developing a mobile unit that can be used in public at sporting events etc.

Amtrak, "We're even worse than flying"

The train was delayed almost 24 hours! What if greyhound was delayed extremely long and everyone stopped riding them? Or megabus? Well they would go out of business. But If Amtrak or metro ridership decreases 33 percent or 50 percent their funding stays same or sometimes goes up? I'll probably be dead before Amtrak or subway systems are sold off to private or given to private companies.

Speaking of metro, hear about the near miss where the train almost hit the independent inspectors (after taking 6 months to be allowed to inspect) near braddock road metro? Well the supervisor gets a week suspension and train operator gets "disqualified". I wonder why they use the word disqualified? It's because they can't fire the fucking idiot so he just gets placed at another job.