Month: August 2012

Let’s Blame the Anarchists Again

Once again the state is trying to justify the tens of millions of dollars being spent on security at the Republican National Convention (RNC). As expected the state has chosen anarchists to be its boogeyman:

The FBI and police warn, in a vague, but ominous sort of way, that anarchists and other “extremist” folks are planning scary things for the upcoming Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida.

Now, is there a good chance that when thousands of people, including some of the radical political persuasion, gather, some not okay property damage will happen? Of course. However, is there an even bigger chance that the rumored threats, which this time ’round include anarchists using improvised explosive devices and “acid-filled eggs” are wildly overhyped? Definitely.

It’s kind of funny how the state sets anarchists up to be the evildoers at political conventions even though the real evildoers are inside the convention itself. While a handful of anarchists may be going around causing mischief the politicians inside are trying to nominate a warmonger, anti-rights, corporatist, monster for the presidential race. Even if the anarchists did what the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) is warning of their actions will be absolutely minor compared to Romney’s if he becomes president. Under Romney’s rule we will likely see more bailouts, more wars, and more of our rights eroded away. Perhaps the FBI should be warning about the actions of the politicians at the RNC instead of the anarchists outside.

Support Your Friendly Fascist

It appears some good news have finally come in this year’s presidential race. Vermin Supreme, the only serious presidential candidate running this election, has announced his running mate and his new political party:

In an exclusive interview with Sunshine State News early Saturday evening, American performance artist, social anarchist, and satirical political activist Vermin Supreme announced that he will be running for president of the United States under the banner of his newly created Free Pony Party. His vice presidential running mate will be Jimmy McMillan of the Rent Is Too Damn High Party.

Free ponies and cheaper rent, what else could Americans possibly ask for? This may be the election’s winning ticket and if I vote I’ll likely throw my vote in for Vermin Supreme. He’s a friendly fascist and a tyrant we should trust, how could I say no to that?

Supposed Savior of Liberty, Kurt Bills, Endorses Mitt Romney

I’m not sure how well-known Kurt Bills is outside of Minnesota but here the man’s name is a vernacular in the liberty movement. Ron Paul himself endorsed Kurt Bills so it was believed by many that Bills would be the next savior of liberty. His campaign was based on the fact he was an economics teacher and he garnered some fame within the liberty movement for using Ron Paul’s book End the Fed (of course nobody knows to what extent the book was used). Many of my friends donated a great deal of time and money to Bill’s campaign and often tried to get me involved.

I never involved myself with Bills’s campaign because the man never sat right with me (and I had to maintain my sweet anarchist street creds). My politician detector is very finely tuned and even though many of my friends said I had to support Bills because he was a true proponent of liberty I had a feeling that he was merely another player of the political game. What likely set my detector off was is willingness to let people believe he was a proponent of Austrian economics but his unwillingness to actually say he was publicly. A handful of my friends claimed that Bills called himself a proponent of Austrian economics behind closed doors but that was entirely hearsay. As it turns out my politician detector is still property calibrated because Kurt Bills, the supposed savior of the liberty movement, the man of unwavering principles, the one person who will deliver us from the darkness of statism… has endorsed Mitt Romney:

State Rep. Kurt Bills, who won the Republican Party’s endorsement for U.S. Senate, switched his presidential support Thursday from Ron Paul to Mitt Romney.

[…]

Bills said in a statement that Romney and his running mate, Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, “alone have the ability to beat Barack Obama in November and help America rediscover its conservative principles.”

I’m going to assume Bills was just playing politics when he said Romney is the best chance America has to “rediscover its conservative principles.” If Bills honestly believes that then he’s not only a fool but completely ignorant of Romney’s voting record and I would have to believe he was entirely stupid. As with Rand Paul’s betrayal of the liberty movement, Bills betrayal is being justified by those who don’t want to face reality. They’re claiming this was a necessary political move for Bills and once Bills is elected he’ll toss off the neoconservative facade and turn into a true libertarian. Sadly that won’t be the case. By endorsing Romney, Bills has demonstrated a willingness to ignore principle for political gain. Once somebody is willing to do that you cannot trust them. If he’s willing to endorse Mitt Romney, before the man even has the nomination, what else will he be willing to do once in office? Will he bend on the Federal Reserve issue to make a small gain elsewhere? Probably. Will he sign off on a piece of statist legislation to make another small gain? It’s likely.

I feel bad for my friends still working within the political machinery. First Rand Paul betrayed them then Kurt Bills. If any of you are reading this and aren’t already furious because of my disbelief in Bills secretly being a libertarian let me inform you that there are other options. You don’t have to sully yourselves by working within dangerous political machinery. Step out of the soul crushing political world and come to the wonderful world of agorism. Through counter-economics we can fight the state without having to work with the state. Instead of betraying your principles in the hope that your masters will give you a few table scraps of liberty you can actively take your liberty back. All of it. No compromising, no begging, and no underhanded deals with sociopaths are who merely using you to secure their chance to rule.

Be On the Lookout for FBI Agents Distributing Eggs

The Republican National Convention (RNC) attracts people from all walks of life. You have the hardcore Republicans, the Ron Paul advocates of liberty, anti-war protesters, and even anarchists. As usual the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) is trying to pin potential violence on anarchists and it looks like they have revealed their plan to incite violence:

The joint bulletin, titled “Potential For Violent or Criminal Action By Anarchist Extremists During The 2012 National Political Conventions,” says anarchist extremists likely don’t have the capability to overcome heightened security measures set up by the conventions themselves. In addition, Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor said Tuesday that fences have been established around “some of the more attractive government targets.”

Instead, extremists could target nearby infrastructure, including businesses and transit systems, according to Wednesday’s bulletin.

The bulletin mentions possible violent tactics anarchist extremists could employ, including the use of molotov cocktails or acid-filled eggs.

Acid-filled eggs? Really? If that’s what the FBI is planning to distribute I’ll give them points for doing something different at least. Yet this should serve as a warning to attending protesters, if somebody dressed as an anarchist is walking around, passing out eggs, and encouraging people to throw them don’t take them up on their offer. In all likelihood that person is an FBI agents who is attempting to incite violence so his agency can swoop in and save the day from the problem they caused.

Lawful Carriers of Firearms can Return to the Front of the Bus

It seems that the University of Colorado Chancellor, Phil DiStefano, wasn’t amused by Professor Jerry Peterson’s attempt to make students lawfully carrying firearms sit at the back of the bus:

University of Colorado Chancellor Phil DiStefano notified the Boulder campus faculty Tuesday afternoon that professors “do not have the right to shut down a class or refuse to teach” should they learn that one of their students is lawfully carrying a gun under a concealed-carry permit.

And, DiStefano added, any faculty members who do so will be in violation of their contracts and face disciplinary action.

I guess bigotry isn’t as pervasively loved at the University of Colorado Boulder as Peterson’s statement first lead me to belief. Thank you Chancellor DiStefano for having common sense and good judgement. Let me also thank Uncle for this story.

Thor’s Wrath

The Republican Party managed to anger Thor enough to convince him that the Republican National Convention (RNC) needed to be hit with a hurricane. If you’re at the RNC do know that your life is in the hands of sociopaths:

If a hurricane or tropical storm is bearing down on Tampa, the priority of law enforcement is to evacuate residents, leaving GOP officials to make the decision of when to evacuate delegates, Wade said.

“We have to look at a lot of factors, like timing and landfall,” Wade said. “We provide the weather information, then we take that to the host committee, which decides if the event goes on or if the event gets altered.”

What could possibly go wrong?

Politics is a Corrupt Business, Party is Irrelevant

Politics is a corrupt business run by corrupt people. Both major parties are guilty of this. While the Democrats lambasted the Republicans because one of their own said women rarely get pregnant from “legitimate” rape, a member of the Democratic Party was fooling around with a 17 year-old male:

Hours after releasing a statement saying he will seek re-election, a Minnesota state lawmaker who police say had a rest-stop liaison with a 17-year-old boy told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS he has reconsidered his position and will not be running again. He also says he will not be at the upcoming special session to discuss flood relief for the area he represents. He says he does not want to be a distraction.

[…]

Gauthier hasn’t been charged in the July incident, and authorities said he wouldn’t be because the boy was older than 16, the legal age of consent, and no money was exchanged. Police say the teenager responded to the lawmaker’s Craigslist ad for “no strings attached” sex.

I really could care less what some politician is doing behind closed doors. The only reason I bring this up because both parties have a holier than thou attitude. Members of the Democratic Party like to claim themselves morally superior to members of the Republican Party while members of the Republican Party like to claim themselves morally superior to members of the Democratic Party. Guess what? Neither party is full of moral and righteous people. Politics attracts the worst of the worst and when you work within the political system you’re likely to be working for some downright terrible individuals. When you think about it there has to be something wrong with anybody who wants a political office. Being in a political office gives you power over fellow individuals, it gives you access to the state’s gun. Individuals who want to wield violence against their fellow man are, at least somewhat, sociopathic.

Assaulting Property Right

An interesting claim made by anarcho-communists is that the state is necessary to maintain private property and if the state were abolished private property would go with it (which they see as a positive thing). The opposite is true, the state is the biggest infringer of private property:

Environmentalists and mining companies are fighting over the fate of the remote Klappan Valley in northern British Columbia. The different sides struggle for government approval of their particular plans, but almost no one fully acknowledges the property rights of the first owners of the valley, the indigenous Tahltan people.

[…]

By Canadian law, the Tahltan do not strictly own the valley. This is because their claim to it predates the existence of the Canadian state — and the government officials who conquered or negotiated treaties with most of the rest of Canada’s indigenous people never came into most of what is now British Columbia (BC).

We see this time and time again, property rights are usurped by the state to the benefit of itself and its cronies. The case of the Tahltan people is a perfect example of this. Mining companies want to extract resources on the land that has been inhabited by the Tahltan since before European settlers arrived. As the rightful owners of the land who use its natural resources to survive the Tahltan have a vested interest in preserving the land. They also have an interest in selling mining rights. Needless to say they are willing to let mining happen on their property so long as there is a balance between mineral extraction and land preservation.

The mining companies have little interest in preserving the land as it’s not theirs so they turned to the Canadian government. Even though the Canadian government didn’t come into existence until well after the Tahltan settled the land the government claims complete authority over the territory. Because of this claimed authority the mining companies know that they can take minerals from the Tahltan land without having to concern themselves with extracting said minerals in a manner that the Tahltan agree with. In this case the property rights of the Tahltan are being overthrown by the Canadian government for the benefit of mining companies.

This is what the state does. Anarcho-communists are incorrect when they claim the state is required to maintain property rights. As an entity that exists solely off of expropriating wealth from individuals the state is the biggest infractor against property rights. In fact the state is willing to go so far as to use violence against property owners:

The Tahltan did not believe their elected government had the right to give away their property, so they set up a blockade on the only road into the Klappan Valley. They let in tourists and anybody else they felt would not harm their turf, but they blocked out all mining equipment.

On, September 16, 2005, at the behest of Fortune Minerals, the Mounties rolled in and arrested 15 of the protestors, 9 of whom were elders.

Even though the Tahltan were acting in a nonviolent manner, they were simply refusing to allow mining equipment to enter their property, the state moved in with armed thugs to arrest the protesters so that the mining companies could enter and extract the resources sold to them by the Canadian government. This was merely a repeat of history though, the state has always existed by violating the property rights of others and, in fact, must violate the property rights of others in order to exist.

Witch Hunt Failed to Find Any Witches

The New York Police Department (NYPD) have been performing witch hunts for terrorists since 9/11 by spying on Muslims. After spending more than six years secretly spying on every Muslim they could find NYPD failed to find any witches:

In more than six years of spying on Muslim neighborhoods, eavesdropping on conversations and cataloguing mosques, the New York Police Department’s secret Demographics Unit never generated a lead or triggered a terrorism investigation, the department acknowledged in court testimony unsealed late Monday.

The Demographics Unit is at the heart of a police spying program, built with help from the CIA, which assembled databases on where Muslims lived, shopped, worked and prayed. Police infiltrated Muslim student groups, put informants in mosques, monitored sermons and catalogued every Muslim in New York who adopted new, Americanized surnames.

I know this will come as a shock to many Americans who believe the state’s lies about every communist Muslim being a threat to liberty terrorist but for those of us that actually look beyond the state’s propaganda the result of NYPD’s witch hunt aren’t at all surprising. A vast majority of Muslims are everyday people who wish no harm on their fellow man. Condemning every Muslim for the actions of a handful of extremists is no different than claiming every Christian is a murdered because of the Crusades.

It’s doubtful that NYPD will cease spying on Muslims although they may begin weighing Muslims to see if they weigh the same as ducks.