Thursday, April 11, 2002

Taxes and the General Welfare. Brutus wrote that federal taxing powers "will introduce such an infinite number of laws and ordinances, fines and penalties, courts and judges, collectors, and excise men, that when a man can number them, he may enumerate the stars of Heaven," which sounds a lot like what millions of Americans face in the annual April torture of figuring out their IRS forms.Ê[Ludwig von Mises Institute] The Anti-Federalists warned that the Constitution would, among other things, lead to an oppresive tax system. 200 years later, it's obvious that they were right. comment () trackback ()  2:15:09 PM     The danger in Lebannon. (from LGF) A great column by Charles Krauthammer of The Washington Post regarding the Lebannon conflict and how it reflects... [The news, Uncensored.] Question: Why don't the UN do something about Hizbollah attacks against us ? We've followed the UN's resolution and even let UN representives check out the "new border" after we've retreated, and made some minor fixes so that everyone will be happy. We're constantly being attacked by Hizbollah even though we've followed what the UN has wanted. why can't they make a stand versus Hizbollah and stop the fire like they're supposed to ? In fact the UN is not on Israel's side, nor is it neutral. The UN is actively pro-Arab and anti-Israel, and has been for over 50 years. It would be foolish to rely on them to suddenly become neutral. comment () trackback ()  1:01:49 PM     Water 'key to ending Africa's poverty'. A UN adviser says ending water scarcity is vital if the poorest countries are to develop. [BBC News: sci/tech] The adviser seems to have overlooked the significance of African countries being ruled by kleptocracies almost without exception. Imagine that. comment () trackback ()  12:55:53 PM     Arcane Arena beta: turn style based RPG [MacNN] The web site for the game makes it sound almost totally combat oriented. I'm downloading it, though, so I'll see how it compares to "Clan Lord". comment () trackback ()  12:38:14 PM     Bush's Clone Ban Plan Irrelevant. President Bush is pressuring the Senate to pass a bill that would completely prohibit human cloning. But experts say a ban in the U.S. will not prevent scientists from moving forward with human cloning in other countries. By Kristen Philipkoski. [Wired News] The most likely effect is that such a ban would make it illegal for Americans to benefit from research done in other countries. For example, by making it illegal to receive a heart tranplant cloned in another country. comment () trackback ()  12:27:51 PM     Yahoo stock drops sharply. Investors take a dim view of the US web portal's latest results statement, sending the shares down 14% in morning trading. [BBC News: sci/tech] This isn't suprising. Yahoo's sleazy spamming policy change is only the latest of a series of actions that offend people. Their "groups" have been getting steadily less useful, thanks to Yahoo sticking huge intrusive ads all over the place. comment () trackback ()  11:43:08 AM     Everything in Moderation. Thomas L. Knapp at Rational Review - Everything in Moderation - Libertarians are often characterized as extremists. In reality, it's the conventional political parties that are populated by extremists. Libertarians are the political spectrum's only moderates. Right on, brother Tom! The extent to which we accept armed bands of thugs circulating among us and dictating our modes of living, while simultaneously extorting funds from their victims to finance enforcement of their tin-horn edicts, is the extent to which we have incorporated extremism into our worldview. [End the War on Freedom] An additional good point from the article: The fact that we even give serious consideration to the claims of people like Robert Byrd, Dick Armey, Gray Davis, John McCain et al to rule over us is the sign of a serious neurosis in the American polity, perhaps something similar to "Battered Woman Syndrome" (a point well made in a commercial for 1996 and 2000 Libertarian presidential candidate Harry Browne, by the way). comment () trackback ()  10:50:17 AM     Packing.org. No More Arizona/Utah reciprocity. (Arizona: 11 comments, 700 hits) [Packing.org] This would be annoying if true, since I have a Utah permit. Arizona does issue non-resident CCW permits, but you have to actually go there and take a class inside the state. comment () trackback ()  10:08:57 AM

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