who's your nanny?

Of Course Millions Make Money Off of Federal Taxes

Apparently 15 million American households receive more money from the IRS than they pay in federal and employment taxes. According to the author these 15 million Americans have learned to game the system:

In the last 40 years, Washington has passed a series of laws, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and the child tax credit, that send money to lower- and middle-income families through the tax system. Republican presidents started and expanded some of these credits. Democratic presidents have started and expanded some of these credits. No party exclusively owns or disowns the Freeloading 15 million.

Thus, argues this author, these 15 million Americans have learned to make the tax code work for them and they now receive more money from the government in credits than they pay in taxes. However, I suspect that this figure is woefully underestimated. The author does not at all mention the millions of households whose sole source of income is from Federal, State, and local governments. What about the freeloading 16 million State and local government workers or the 2 million civilian Federal Government workers or the who-knows-how-many contractors to Federal, State, and local governments?

It truly does amaze me that so many people think that government workers pay taxes. If you were to ask anyone whether government workers pay taxes, I suspect that very likely response will be, "Well, their pay stub shows that taxes were taken out of their base salary, ergo, they pay taxes." Government workers and contractors do not pay taxes, they are paid out of taxes. The only reason government workers "appear" to pay taxes is due to the accounting trick in their pay stubs. If a government worker's check says he was paid $100,000 with $30,000 taken out in taxes, it means that he received $70,000. It does not mean that he earned $100,000 and had $30,000 taken away from him. 

On the other hand, a businessman in the private sector who earns $100,000 and has $30,000 taken out actually earned $100,000 in the market and lost $30,000 in taxes. He would have had his entire $100,000 had the $30,000 not been taken out for taxes. However, without the businessman's $30,000 and the tax payments from millions of others who work in the private sector like him, the government worker would not have been paid anything because there would have been no revenue out of which to pay him.

But I can't fault governments for using this trick. If a government worker's pay check clearly reflected the fact that he does not pay taxes, the vast majority of Americans might realize that there are in fact two classes of people in this country: the tax payers and tax consumers. And the tax payers might rise up against their exploiters. However, this accounting trick appears to be quite efficacious at blurring the line between tax payer and tax consumer because so many tax payers believe that they are sharing the burden of government with tax consumers.

None Dare Call It Colonialism

The US Government invades Iraq, installs a government of its own choosing, writes said government's constitution, plans to leave 50,000 troops to ostensibly "advise and assist" said government, builds its own military bases, and builds a $700 million embassy for US Government and Iraqi government workers. But this is not colonialism to anyone except Michael Hirsh.

Drinkers 1, Nanny State 0

Who wants to live forever? In response to Freddie Mercury's timeless question, I do, and it looks like I'm well on my way.

In what must certainly come as a kick in the nuts to politicians, bureaucrats, and fun police everywhere, a new study suggests that heavy drinkers outlive nondrinkers. And moderate drinkers -- those who consume one to three drinks per day (and the category into which I fall, at least on Sunday through Thursday) -- have the lowest mortality rates in alcohol studies.

I'm no doctor or scientist, but I think I've got enough experience in this department to qualify as an expert. And if you ask me, moderate drinkers outlive everyone else because alcohol kills germs, makes you happy, cuts stress, and makes you drive better. Well, okay, maybe not that last one, but I maintain that, generally, the vast majority of people who drive with a BAC in excess of the state's arbitrary limit are much more careful than they are if they haven't had anything to drink.

But I digress. I'm glad to know alcohol is on my side, and that it loves me nearly as much as I love it.

If I have one quibble with this study, it's the researchers' deferential caveat to the PC partypoopers by noting that drinking can be bad because it can "impair your memory" or lead to "other mishaps" like cheating on your spouse.

Seriously, guys, everyone knows it's not cheating if you're on vacation, wearing a rubber, or drunk -- especially if you can't remember! Jeesh.

How 'Bout a Holiday Honoring Actual Workers?

OK, I take that back. We shouldn't have any federal holidays because we shouldn't have a federal goverment. But considering abolition of the state ain't gonna happen anytime soon, we could at least improve on the asinine Labor (Union) Day.

Is it just me, or is it funny that a holiday claiming to honor workers is observed by enforcing laziness?

My wife and I have just purchased an old home that we're in the process of partially remodeling, and I can tell you it's refreshing to meet people who actually appreciate the value of work.

We're dealing with the standard empty promises from our general contractor, but of his subs who actually do show up when expected, we've had great results. For instance, the drywall guy was mudding walls on Saturday morning. When I thanked him for working the weekend, he said he works seven days a week -- it makes getting up for work on Monday a lot easier. I'll have to remember that one.

There's also no overvaluing a good plumber. Personally I don't screw around with pipes and toilets -- no matter how hard I try, I just can't keep them from leaking. These guys are true gems, but there's no national "Plumbers Day" is there?

Real workers won't be sitting at home next Monday. Ironically, they'll never have a national day set aside just for them.

The Brutus That Helped Save My Dad's Life

After a week of inability to access my Typepad account -- thankfully Brutus was able to keep this place alive in my absence -- I'm finally back online. Apparently some sort of bug had infiltrated this lovely internet haven and not only blocked me from posting (and I pay the bills!) but also jacked up the layout of the home page.

Anyhow, I wanted to share a story involving another Brutus -- my parents' new puppy -- that literally helped to save my dad's life last week. It's amazing to me how events unfold in this universe sometimes.

Last Tuesday my mom called me at work to tell me my father collapsed while taking their new puppy to the vet. Noticeably shaken, she couldn't really tell me much more than that, but when I asked if he was breathing she said, "yeah, but that's all."

Little did either of us know she was wrong about that.

My dad has had his share of health problems ever since he was almost killed at work 25 years ago when he suffered a devastating head injury on a construction site. Nothing like preparing to lose a father when you're in 7th grade. He was hit on the head with a piece of rebar while standing on the side of a drott. At the time he was a 39-year-old superintendent and was talking to the drott operator when the rebar sprang from a piece of concrete and struck him, knocking him out cold and sending him face-first onto a pile of rubble. It was the first time in his career he wasn't wearing his hard hat in the field.

As a super of a construction project, he probably should've known better than to walk outside without head protection. According to his doctor, however, had he been wearing a hard hat he likely would've been killed almost instantly -- I can't remember the exact rationale given at the time, but I recall hearing something about the velocity of the rebar shattering the plastic helmet and sending fragments into his skull. Dad was in a coma for two weeks, and we were told that 5 percent of patients suffering his extent of head trauma actually live. A month or so later, he walked out of the hospital.

One life down, eight to go.

Anti-Cop Hip Hop-"A Friendly Game of Baseball"

Recently I have been listening to some classic hip hop and I was struck by the amount of anti-cop lyrics. This is not surprising because blacks and police historically have not gotten along and frankly I don't think blacks and police will ever get along. Hip hop from the 1990s reflected this hostility. I remember several songs that were fiercely anti-cop. I enjoyed them back then, but the songs really did not enter my psyche until I was first pulled over by the police when I was seventeen. And ever since that incident, my experiences with police have ranged from simply neutral to oppressive and miserable. I don't remember ever having a good experience with an on-duty police officer.

Now that I am an anti-state libertarian, I can now see the police for the menace to society that they really are. Police just don't terrorize blacks; they are equal-opportunity abusers who terrorize anyone and everyone. Old women, old men, young women, young men, little boys, little girls, disabled boys, and disabled girls of all races have felt the heavy hands, feet, batons, tasers, and bullets of the police. And this is not a case of "just a few bad apples". The police in this country have a systematic history of violence  As long as a majority of people continue to give the benefit of the doubt to police officers as "enforcers of the law", I don't see any respite from police brutality in the near future.

Nevertheless, there is no need for libertarians to keep our heads down about this matter. We still have anti-cop rappers who express our anger for us and speak truth to power in a very popular art form. Perhaps the lyrics of these songs can plant seeds that will be fertilized by the fetid abuses of the State and eventually grow into mature radical libertarians.

I plan to make this a regular series of posts to share the anti-cop songs I grew up with and also share others that I discover. I thought about starting with NWA's "F*** the Police", but almost everyone knows of this song. Even people who hate hip hop know about this song. So I'm going to begin this series with a song that I don't think most folks know about, but this is one of the best anti-cop songs I've ever heard. The song is "A Friendly Game of Baseball" by the group Main Source. This song appeared on their debut album Breaking Atoms in 1991. I first heard this song on the Boyz n the Hood soundtrack. You can listen to the original version from Breaking Atoms here and the remix from The Boyz n the Hood soundtrack here. The lyrics are the same for both versions. Below are the lyrics. Both of the links to the songs open in new windows so you can read along with the lyrics if you wish.

Here's Another Suggestion to Legalize Marijuana

From Jacob Sullum at Reason I found this article about a group of black police officers who support Proposition 19, California's marijuana legalization initiative. An excerpt:

Ron Hampton, the police association’s executive director, said he decided the group should get behind the measure because it would eliminate laws that have a negative impact on the black community.

“It means that we will be locking up less African American men and women and children who are using drugs,” said Hampton, a retired Washington, D.C., police officer with 25 years experience. “We’ve got more people in prison. We’ve got more young people in prison. Blacks go to jail more than whites for doing the same thing.”

Hampton said that the money being spent on the war on drugs could be better spent on education, housing and creating jobs. “It just seemed like to me that we have been distracted in this whole thing,” he said. “We can take that money, and focus and concentrate on things that really make a difference in our community.”

Neill Franklin, a retired police officer and the executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, and Alice Huffman, the state NAACP’s president, spoke on a panel at the black police association’s conference in Sacramento on Thursday. “I saw with my own eyes the devastating impact these misguided marijuana laws have on our communities and neighborhoods,” said Franklin, who is black and who worked in law enforcement for 33 years.

Rather than support an initiative, black cops, why don't you just stop arresting people for possessing or selling marijuana? Aren't you the reason why so many African Americans are in jail for marijuana in the first place?

Is Obama a Christian?

Recently there has been much questioning among Americans about President Obama's faith. Twenty percent of Americans think he is Muslim and forty-three percent have doubts about the President's faith. The 20 percent who think he is Muslim probably jumped the gun when they concluded that he was Muslim. But is there any reason to doubt the President's claims that he is a Christian?

Matthew 7:15-20 says:

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

So what kind of fruit has the President produced since he has been in office? Well, just three days in his presidency he ordered a drone attack on Pakistan that killed at least 15 people. He added an additional 30,000 troops to the war in Afghanistan. He promised to pull all US troops out of Iraq by 2009 during his campaign in 2008. He is "fulfilling" that promise now much later than his supporters hoped, but only the most naive statists actually believe this. However, those of us who recognize horse manure when we smell it are not fooled. He has authorized the assassination of an American citizen. Even Bush did not go that far. His administration continues to threaten war with Iran. He refuses to end the drug war which contribute to chaos and death. In Mexico alone over 28,000 people have been killed since 2006. Does this fruit appear to be good or evil to you?

The 20 percent who think Obama is Muslim have been hasty in reaching their conclusion, but the forty-three percent who doubt that Obama is Christian have very good reason to be suspect. The fruit that Obama has produced while in office does not appear to be that of a good tree.

The Ground Zero Mosque Controversy Is Now Over

The current Miss USA has spoken and has said that the proposed mosque project should be moved. See, she is Miss USA and Muslim, and the highest ranking Muslim American in the county (no offense, 20 percent of Americans who think Obama is Muslim). Therefore, there is no way to refute her argument that the mosque or Islamic center or whatever the fearmongering conservatives want to call it should be moved. She says that she is American first, which makes perfect sense because she clearly doesn't give damn about property rights anymore than most other Americans in this country.

I Wonder if Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson Will Protest This

DEA seeks Ebonics experts to help with cases

UPDATE: Radley Balko wrote about this and included this clip from Airplane! +1 for Radley!

The Tyranny of Seat Belt Laws

Above this race of men stands an immense and tutelary power, which takes upon itself alone to secure their gratifications, and to watch over their fate. That power is absolute, minute, regular, provident, and mild. It would be like the authority of a parent, if, like that authority, its object was to prepare men for manhood; but it seeks, on the contrary, to keep them in perpetual childhood: it is well content that the people should rejoice, provided they think nothing but rejoicing. For their happiness such a government willingly labors, but it chooses to be the sole agent and the only arbiter of that happiness; it provides for their security, foresees and supplies their necessities, facilitates their pleasures, manages their principal concerns, directs their industry, regulates the descent of property, and subdivides their inheritances: what remains, but to spare them all the care of thinking and all the trouble of living?...The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided; men are seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting: such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to be nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.-Alexis de Tocqueville

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely-Lord Acton

When a libertarian begins a diatribe against seat belt laws, invariably he is met with ridicule from liberals and conservatives. I'm sure that if this post makes its way to a liberal or conservative, that individual will immediately laugh. He will say that this is why libertarians remain outside the mainstream and do not deserve to be taken seriously. Why should America worry about seat belt laws when there is wealth inequality, global warming, the war on terror, education, (insert your mainstream urgent political topic here) to worry about?

But libertarians have very good, principled reasons to despise and oppose seat belt laws. These laws represent everything libertarians hate about the State in general and the democratic State in particular. The reasons why libertarian hate seat belt laws include, but are not limited to, the following: Seat belt laws violate the self-ownership of the individual; they are yet another way for the State to rob its subjects; they empower citizens and that power corrupts them; and they infantilze adults. Liberals and conservatives who advocate and defend these laws necessarily accept and tolerate all of the above.

I'm Investing in Honey Bees

Bees trap deputy in his car for three hours.

The Prince Georges County, MD Area Might Become a Little Safer

The murderous thugs who work for the PG County Police Department in the Washington metropolitan area might lose more than 16 percent of their officers due to retirements.

Don't Smoke Weed out of Baby Bottles

Wouldn't want to get arrested after your baby eats dinner.

'Buy Local' Silliness

"Buy local" programs have gained momentum in the past couple years, probably due in no small part to our increasingly unstable economy. These initiatives might seem to make sense on the surface -- invest in your local economy by trading with hometown merchants -- but over time they will do little more than contribute to a reduction in consumer choice and an increase in prices.

As some of you may know, I am the creator and distributor of an award-winning chili spice mix and fantastic pepper sauce (buy here no matter where you live in the U.S.!). A couple restaurants that buy my products are big participants in a "buy local" program here in St. Mary's County, so, ironically, I very well may be the beneficiary of this program -- I've noticed that shop owners like to be able to boast that they carry locally-made or -grown merchandise.

Now, there's nothing wrong with complementing your inventory with local products, and obviously anyone has the right to run her business as she chooses. My argument is that, when taken to the extreme, buying and selling only local goods is much less productive than offering an array of products from everywhere else is.

Let's say for example that each of the dozen or so stores that carry my products do so only because I'm a local guy, and that all other shops across the country choose to do the same with distributors from their own localities -- in essence, they won't buy from me because I don't live in their backyard. If I had the choice to sell to merchants only in Maryland, or to those in every other state except Maryland, which do you think I'd choose? Under which scenario would I be able to continually lower my prices for consumers, understanding that larger production runs (as a result of higher sales volumes) translate to lower wholesale production costs? Under which scenario would shoppers be exposed to a greater variety of products? To ask these questions is to answer them.

Whenever economies start to tank, the general inclination of the public is, unfortunately, to implement protectionist measures under the misguided belief that if you force (or at least encourage) people to buy homegrown goods, money will stay inhouse, jobs will be saved, and life will be good. But how often does this work, at least in the long term? History has yet to provide us with an example of a situation in which simultaneously reducing consumer choices and raising prices resulted in an increase in living standards.

If we truly want to stimulate the economy and generate wealth, the best thing to do is to look for the best possible products at the best possible prices -- regardless of where they originate.

Challenged Yet Unopposed: The Perpetual Re-election of Steny Hoyer

This is the first year I've noticed that Steny Hoyer hasn't even bothered to put up campaign signs prior to a general election. Yet, anyway. He doesn't need to, of course, given that he knows he literally cannot lose, but still you'd think he'd at least pretend he could. Shows you how much I know.

In a district (MD-5) where I'd say that at least half of Republicans vote for Hoyer because of their affiliation with the Pax River navy base, which Hoyer (for better or worse) is overwhelmingly credited with protecting from closure, he always wins re-election in a landslide. Notwithstanding the power of incumbency in and of itself, most Southern Marylanders simply will not vote for any Hoyer challenger when they think it might cost them a job.

But this year is different than most. The House majority leader is being challenged -- stop laughing -- by Republican nominee Charles Lollar, a black conservative touted as the new face of the GOP, and by Ron Paul-endorsed Republican Collins Bailey, who was destroyed by Hoyer in 2008.

Considering that at least half of all the white conservatives in Southern Maryland are going to vote for Democrat Hoyer in a few months, Lollar obviously doesn't have a chance in hell. And since no more than 10 percent of people anywhere values liberty, Bailey has even less of a shot. But because both candidates will split whatever non-Hoyer Republican votes they have coming their way -- I'm thinking 25 percent max -- Hoyer will massacre the GOP once again.

But come on, Steny, at least get your lackeys to slam a few yard signs into the ground along the highway. I might start to think this whole democracy thing's a sham.

The Most Heroic Valedictorian Speech You Will Ever Hear

This is Erica Goldson's valedictorian speech delivered during the graduation ceremony at Coxsackie-Athens High School on June 25, 2010. You can read the text here. She quotes John Taylor Gatto and H.L. Mencken so you know this must be awesome.

A Brilliant Idea from a Politician Not Named Ron Paul

Former Mexican President Viscente Fox has come out in favor of drug legalization in Mexico:

In a proposal published over the weekend on his website, Fox argued that drug addiction and drug-related violence should be treated as distinct and separate challenges.

"So, drug consumption is the responsibility of the person who consumes; of the family who is responsible for educating; and of the education system and the socioeconomic context," wrote Fox, who was president from 2000 to 2006. "What we have to do is legalize the production, the sale and the distribution."

It gets even better:

Fox said Mexican troops should return to the barracks. The army was not designed nor trained to fight organized crime, Fox said. Removing the troops would also ensure that soldiers would not cross the line into human rights abuses....

"Legalizing in this sense doesn't mean that drugs are good or don't hurt those who consume," Fox wrote. "Rather, we have to see it as a strategy to strike and break the economic structure that allows the mafias to generate huge profits in their business." (emphasis added).

Fox was unsuccessful as president of Mexico fighting the war on drugs, but given that he had to deal with incessant pressure from the US Federal Government it is no surprise he had to become a former President to make these statements. But clearly Fox understands that it is the illegality of drugs that leads to gang wars, a much more aggressive domestic army, militarized police, and death. And there has been much death. According to the Mexican government, 26,000 people have been killed in the drug war since 2006 when current president Felipe Calderon escalated the drug war.

Will the former President's words actually influence any policy? I seriously doubt it. The US Federal Government will continue to pressure the Mexican government and the other Latin American governments to keep drugs illegal. The people who benefit from the drug wars will continue fighting to keep drugs illegal. Plus, Mexico is a foreign country full of brown people and we all know that the political elite in this country have never cared about brown people in foreign countries. If the starvation of about 500,000 Iraqi children during the Bush-Clinton sanctions to punish Saddam Hussein was "worth it" to the ruling elite, then surely the lives of 26,000+ Mexicans to end the scourge of drugs is pocket change.

My Toddler Understands the Nature of the State

Recently my 2-year-old figured out how to unhook his car seat buckles, so my wife and I have been reminding him that he needs to leave them alone once he's strapped in.

A couple days ago I clipped him in to take him to daycare, hopped in the driver's seat, grabbed my seat belt, and said, "We have to make sure we put our seat belts on so we're safe" -- I'd wear mine regardless of absurd state/federal laws -- and he said, "Yeah or the policeman will take you away!"

I almost teared up I was so proud.

Of course, I wondered where this was coming from. Surely he doesn't remember the handful of times I've pointed out cop cars and mumbled "evil bastards," so I think our daycare lady's been telling the kids this so she can get them to leave their buckles alone when she's carting them around.

I'm pretty sure our daycare provider is no radical anti-statist like yours truly, so it's probably just coincidence that she's teaching my child to fear the police -- even though the majority of parents no doubt tell their kids they should trust the state's armed gang of marauders.

Whatever the case, I'm relieved to know that my toddler already associates the police with kidnappers. I'm sure a lot of readers suspect I'm crazy for being happy about this, but just consider what would actually happen to you or your child these days if you had the temerity to drive them around without the proper state-mandated restraints.

The police officer is the new Boogie Man.

Why the US Can't Win in Afghanistan

This war differs from other wars, in this particular. We are not fighting armies but a hostile people, and must make old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war.-William T. Sherman

The WikiLeaks recent publication of 90,000+ pages of documents on Afghanistan has caused much wailing and gnashing of teeth among our rulers. Supposedly the publication of these documents endangers the lives of the U.S. and Afghan soldiers fighting to liberate that country from the Taliban and install a democratic government. The real reason why the Pentagon fears the release of these documents or any leaks from the war is that these leaks might convince the American public that the war is futile and demand that the war come to an end. Fred Reed makes the same observation:

Note that the Pentagon’s orchestrated screaming has not been about technical data that might in fact get GIs killed, but about revelation of the ugly things the US is doing to people. Consider the footage of an American helicopter gunship killing pedestrians in a city street, and apparently having just a swell time doing it. This didn’t reveal military secrets. But it showed the gunship crew as the butchers they are. Bad juju for the military. PR is all.

The pattern holds. Remember when the White House furiously suppressed video of torture? The Taliban would have garnered no tactically devastating details. But men screaming, choking, crying, bleeding, begging – even the patriotic might gag.

Why are the fun and games at Guantanamo kept secret? Watching a man die under torture does not make it easier for the Taliban to ambush Marines. In no way would it endanger American forces. But it would endanger the war. The golden goose.

The U.S. Government must negotiate a complex public opinion that tolerates a war ostensibly being fought by a noble nation to free an oppressed people. American soldiers are heroes in the minds of Americans; their soldiers would not intentionally kill Afghan civilians. Of course, the American people will tolerate the deaths of civilians as long as they are not the targets of the attacks. If a wedding party is bombed and many innocent Afghans killed, the American people will forgive the US Government as long as it apologizes and promises to kill fewer civilians. However, if evidence proving the US Government targeted the wedding party appeared, then the American people would think that the war is unjust and the warmongers would lose support.