Category: Wall of Fame Assholes

The State Doesn’t Desire Justice, Only Punishment

Read the following excerpt and try to guess what the convicted man did:

The government seized both cars and charged Beno with a spate of offenses, including two felony counts of conspiracy to commit fraud, one felony count of owning a vehicle without a vehicle identification number tag and two misdemeanors tied to those missing VIN tags.

If you guessed the man tried to run drugs with those vehicles you would be… wrong. The crime committed by this most dastardly of individuals, this man charged with several felony crimes, was owning cars that were not approved by the state for importation:

Authorities in Wisconsin are bound and determined to crack down on gray market vehicles. According to Stevens Point Journal, In 2010, the state government orchestrated a sting to catch Justin Beno selling two Nissan Skyline models, one of which played a role in the Fast and Furious franchise. A Wisconsin Department of Transportation investigator spotted both a 1995 and a 1996 Skyline up for sale and pretended to be a buyer. The investigator asked if it were possible to get the cars titled, and Beno said he believed the vehicles could be titled in Florida, then retitled in Wisconsin.

This story demonstrates a number of things I hate about our justice punishment system. First, it demonstrates how controlled the markets are, one can’t even own an imported car unless it is on a state-approved list. Second, it demonstrates the absurdity of stripping somebody of their rights merely because they’ve been convicted of a felony. Felons aren’t allowed to own guns or vote in this country and I can think of no logical reasons a man charged with owning a vehicle that didn’t have a vehicle identification number tag shouldn’t be allowed to do either. Third, this story also demonstrates that the system is all about punishment:

Brown County Deputy District Attorney Dana Johnson offered Beno a plea deal wherein he would accept the misdemeanor charges and give up both fully restored Skylines. After offering to pay the fines and help the authorities find buyers for both machines overseas, the prosecutor declined. Instead, both cars will be crushed and sold for scrap. That’s particularly heartbreaking after Beno spent years assembling both from parts bought from all over the world.

Two perfectly good automobiles are going to be destroyed just so the state can get its jollies off by throwing around its authority. They might as well just say, “If you disobey our decrees we will do whatever it takes to hurt you as much as possible.” Beno put years of his life into restoring those two automobiles and then offered to help the state find foreign buyers for the illicit machines. This didn’t satisfy the state’s bloodlust though, if the cars were sold it wouldn’t have completely crushed Beno’s spirit, he wouldn’t be hurt enough. After all, the state needs to inflict the maximum amount of pain possible on any slave who steps out of line otherwise they may get the crazy idea they can step out of line again.

Anybody who believes the United States is the land of the free isn’t paying any attention.

A Failure to Address the Problem

Let’s say you’re in charge of the state’s indoctrination education centers and students have been missing “too much” school. While they’re grades haven’t suffered they have obviously disobeyed the state’s decrees and thus must be punished, what can you do? If you answered, “Throw them in jail.” then you may have a future career in public education:

Judge Lanny Moriarty said last month Diane Tran was in his Justice of the Peace court for truancy and he warned her then to stop missing school. But she recently missed classes again so Wednesday he issued a summons and had her arrested in open court when she appeared.

Tran said she works a full-time job, a part-time job and takes advanced placement and dual credit college level courses. She said she is often too exhausted to wake up in time for school. Sometimes she misses the entire day, she said. Sometimes she arrives after attendance has been taken.

The judge ordered Tran to spend 24 hours in jail and pay a $100 fine. Judge Moriarty admitted that he wants to make an example of Tran.

How does putting the girl in jail accomplish anything? Her “crime” is missing school so the judge decided to put her in jail, an act that will ensure she misses more school. That’s kind of like cutting off your head to cure your headache. Furthermore if the girl is an honors student and still has time to work a full-time job, a part-time job, and take advanced placement for college level courses it’s pretty obvious that high school is holding her back.

With all the talk about oil pipelines in the United States we seem to ignore the other great pipeline this country has, the school to prison pipeline.

Unapproved Protests in Canada

In a strange twist of ironic fate it appears as though it’s illegal to protest the Canadian government without get approval first:

Those arrested were released on Thursday and issued with fines of more than C$600 (£370), AFP news agency reports.

Authorities invoked Bill 78, which requires eight hours’ notification before public demonstrations.

Bill 78, passed last Friday, requires marches to follow pre-approved routes, but protesters say it infringes their democratic rights, and have pledged to legally contest it.

Since the passing of the public assembly law, more than 300 people were arrested overnight at a protest in Montreal last Sunday and another 100 were detained in the city on Tuesday.

Maybe I’m missing something but isn’t the whole point of protesting to oppose an action or actions by the state? Was the Canadian government trying to be ironic by passing a law that requires you ask the state for permission in order to air grievances with the state? Is the Canadian government full of fixie-loving hipsters?

This does show that the United States doesn’t have a monopoly on police state behavior, even our supposedly polite neighbors to the north have a little police state going.

Be Careful What You Wish For

I’ll be honest, a vast majority of my friends don’t hold much in the way of prejudice. I don’t have any overtly racist, sexist, or otherwise bigoted friends that I can think of off of the top of my head, which is probably why I forget that monsters like this exist:

The pastor, identified on YouTube as Charles L. Worley of Providence Road Baptist Church in Maiden, N.C., condemns President Obama’s much-publicized endorsement of same-sex marriage while calling for gays and lesbians to be put in an electrified pen and ultimately killed off.

“Build a great, big, large fence — 150 or 100 mile long — put all the lesbians in there,” Worley suggests in the clip, reportedly filmed on May 13.

He continues: “Do the same thing for the queers and the homosexuals and have that fence electrified so they can’t get out…and you know what, in a few years, they’ll die out…do you know why? They can’t reproduce!”

Perhaps Worley should be careful what he wishes for. I vaguely remember the leader of some country or another that did something very similar to members of a religion. If history has taught us anything it’s that persecutions often target specific religious group.

Worley may get his wish although the people tossed in his electrified cage may be him and any of his loyal followers.

People like this are why an armed society is necessarily. If given the chance you can bet Worley would act on his desires, he would gladly round up homosexuals and toss them in a cage. He’s a psychopath, he has zero regard for the wellbeing or rights of others. The only effective way to defend against these types of psychopaths when they do manage to obtain power is by refusing to comply and that often means armed resistance. I don’t care if somebody started rounding up homosexuals, jews, blacks, communists, or any other group, I would gladly stand by them and help in their resistance against the tyrants trying to bring harm upon them. It is my sincere hope that those of you reading this would also stand by them.

Obama’s Hypocrisy Regarding the War on Drugs

Penn Jillette is not only an excellent illusionist, he’s a well spoken advocate of libertarianism. Unlike many libertarians (including myself) Penn seems to have a knack for explaining concepts in very clear language, which he did when addressing Obama’s hypocrisy regarding the war on drugs:

Do we believe, even for a second, that if Obama had been busted for marijuana — under the laws that he condones — would his life have been better? If Obama had been caught with the marijuana that he says he uses, and ‘maybe a little blow’… if he had been busted under his laws, he would have done hard f*cking time. And if he had done time in prison, time in federal prison, time for his ‘weed’ and ‘a little blow,’ he would not be President of the United States of America. He would not have gone to his fancy-a** college, he would not have sold books that sold millions and millions of copies and made millions and millions of dollars, he would not have a beautiful, smart wife, he would not have a great job. He would have been in f*cking prison, and it’s not a god damn joke. People who smoke marijuana must be set free. It is insane to lock people up.

The Obama administration has been cracking down on medical marijuana facilities even though Obama himself has admitted to using marijuana and cocaine. Had Obama been caught he would be suffering the fan of so many victims of victimless “crimes” instead of sitting in the Oval Office ordering the murder of American citizens.

I’m guessing Obama never wonders what would have happened to him under many of the laws he pushes to adamantly to enforce. Does he stop to consider the fact that under his current war on drugs he’s be sitting in prison? Probably not, psychopaths generally don’t stop to consider others.

Verizon to End all Unlimited Data Plans

Apparently Verizon is sick of playing second fiddle to AT&T’s general dickery. During an investor conference call Verizon announced that they would be eliminating unlimited data plans, even for customers who have been grandfathered in:

Verizon Wireless subscribers who have held onto their $30-a-month unlimited data plans will soon be forced to upgrade to a new tiered offering the company plans to launch this summer, according to the Web site Fierce Wireless.

Speaking at the J.P. Morgan Technology Media and Telecom conference today, Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo told investors that the company’s 3G unlimited data plans that customers were allowed to hang onto last year when Verizon switched to a tiered offering will soon go away entirely. Instead, the company will migrate its existing and new 4G LTE customers to a new “data share plan.”

Way to go guys, I think you’ve finally made a move that will gain you more hatred than AT&T generally receives. I really hope the big four carriers; AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon; thank the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for enforcing the current monopoly of cell phone service in the United States.

If the FCC didn’t maintain a monopoly on spectrum and dole it out in auctions that bring in billions of dollars the current large carriers would actually have to face competition. Unfortunately no small company can enter the cell phone market because they can’t afford the billions of dollars needed to license spectrum from the FCC so we’re stuck with a cartel of four big assholes and a small handful of other carriers (who usually license the rights to use the big fours’ towers).


Image obtained from Chris Lyspooner’s Facebook page

Sending the Wrong Message

The state is often schizophrenic when it comes to the messages it sends. One hand of the state will tell you to do ‘X’ while the other hand demands that you do ‘Y’ and the joke is that ‘X’ and ‘Y’ are mutually exclusive:

Hidden in weeds in Detroit’s Brightmoor area, Chevilott and his Wayne County crew discovered a loaded, snubnosed revolver as they were mowing the lawn mid-morning on May 3.

“It was damaged, so it could’ve went off. Surprisingly, it didn’t kill the guy on the mower,” Chevilott explained. “It got picked up, so we put [it] in the van, waited [for] police to drive by.”

However, Detroit police never did drive by, so Chevilott finished his work day, drove the gun home and later that same evening turned it into his local police department in Garden City.

He says the cops ran the gun and discovered the weapon had been stolen from St. Clair Shores in 2005.

“They said I did the right thing getting it off the street.”

Obviously Chevilott did a good thing. He found a discarded weapon and turned it over to the police so they could determine if it was stolen and/or used in a crime. Good on Chevilott for performing such a public service. Leaving loaded unsecured weapons lying around is certainly dangerous and we should encourage people to secure them, right? Not according to the Wayne Country Department of Public Services:

However, Chevilott’s superiors at the Department of Public Services had a much different opinion. His foreman, who had knowledge of the situation, was suspended for 30 days, and after 23 years on the job, Chevilott was fired for violating department policies.

According to a Wayne County spokeswoman and the rules, employees aren’t allowed to possess a weapon on work property.

While one hand of the state, the police, encourage people to secure discarded weapons so they will not be a danger the other hand, the Department of Public Services, says doing so will cost you your job. What’s a person to do? We’re often told that we should do the “right thing” but end up being punished for it. Chevilott will probably think twice about securing a discarded weapon since doing so this time cost him his job.

It’s sad that we now live in a society where common sense and decency are discarded for absolute adherence to rules and regulations. You can’t even help a dying man without fear of violating some law and thus facing a lawsuit down the road.

They Hate Us Because of Our Freedom

Remember that the people of the Middle East hate us for our freedom:

America’s top military officer has condemned a course taught at a US military college that advocated a “total war” against Muslims.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Martin Dempsey, said the course was “totally objectionable” and “against our values”.

The voluntary course at the Joint Forces Staff College in Virginia also suggested possible nuclear attacks on holy Muslim cities such as Mecca.

I doubt suggestions of nuclear strikes on holy cities such as Mecca have anything to do with their anger. A rather interesting slide show [PDF] was obtained by Wired regarding this class and it’s worth a skim through. There isn’t anything I found too surprising in the slides but the presenter obviously has few kind thought regarding Muslims.

Keeping You Safe

No words strike as much fear into many peoples’ hearts as “We’re with the government, we’re hear to help.” For example and innocent man had the state “help” him perform “repairs” to his property:

Two years ago today, Joe Del Rio was awakened to find city officials at the door of his lifelong home in East Austin, demanding entry. Before it was over, the Police Department’s SWAT team and the Fire Department had been deployed, and Del Rio said he was detained and questioned for about 10 hours because of what officials called a multilevel bunker-like space under the house with suspicious and unusual materials.

After the city billed Del Rio in April for about $90,000 in repairs it said were critical to make the home on Canterbury Street safe, Del Rio sued the City of Austin last week for what his lawyers say was a heavy-handed and unconstitutional seizure of his property without compensation.

Let me get this straight, a SWAT team stormed this man’s property, detained and questioned the man, and performed “repairs.” I wonder what kind of repairs were performed:

Del Rio also said officials concreted in the basement, fenced and locked the perimeter of the home and removed utility meters, making the house, in its current state, uninhabitable. The suit says that at the time of the seizure, Travis Central Appraisal District records put the house’s reasonable fair market value at upward of $172,000.

I guess if you have an insanely twisted mind filling a basement with concrete could qualify as a repair.

The State Makes Hypocrites of Its Supporters

Stephen King wrote an article that has the entire progressive movement cheering his name. In the article King expresses his desire to have the state tax him more. While I give a great deal of credit for the comedic value in this article (seriously, I never knew King was such a vicious writer, kudos to him) I have to take that credit away from him due to his total lack of understanding of the nature of the state. His closing paragraph says it all:

What charitable 1 percenters can’t do is assume responsibility—America’s national responsibilities: the care of its sick and its poor, the education of its young, the repair of its failing infrastructure, the repayment of its staggering war debts. Charity from the rich can’t fix global warming or lower the price of gasoline by one single red penny. That kind of salvation does not come from Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Ballmer saying, “OK, I’ll write a $2 million bonus check to the IRS.” That annoying responsibility stuff comes from three words that are anathema to the Tea Partiers: United American citizenry.

King wants the government to tax him more so they can pay for maintaining roads, education, repairing the faltering infrastructure, and caring for the sick and poor. Unfortunately that’s not what the state will do with the extra money. What will the state do? Buy more bombs.

This is something I don’t get, a vast majority of my friends who demand the rich be taxed more also claim oppose the police state and war. They’ve been duped into holding hypocritical beliefs. On one hand they decry any expansion of the police state and military intervention but on the other hand they advocate people give more money to fund the same beast that’s implementing the police state and killing innocent people overseas. Giving the state more money enables it to buy more military hardware such as drones, tanks, bombs, and bullets. The more money they have at their disposal the more they can spy on you here and the more people they can kill overseas. During the Vietnam War people actually advocated tax protests in an attempt to starve the beast that was sending American men and women to die needlessly in a foreign country that never attacked us. What does it take to get these people to wake the fuck up? Do we have to kidnap their children and send them off to war? Do we have to install spy cameras in their homes?

Let’s address King’s next claim of “American responsibility.” He claims that charity and private investment cannot fix environmental issues (he specifically states global warming but I would like to give him a little more credit than just using a random talking point). What’s the solution than? Give the state more money? The very same state who causes most of our environmental problems in the United States by granting legal protection to polluters? Yeah, that’s worked out well so far. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an organization that exists solely to protect wealthy polluters. Terry Anderson wrong an excellent book titled Political Environmentalism that goes over some of more egregious instances of environmental cronyism. Instead of protecting the environment the EPA protects its cronies by ensuring the business environment is hostile to competition while allowing the emission of as much pollutants as their cronies demand. Does King really want to give the primary instigators of our environmental problems the power to further intervene on environmental matters? That would be akin to handing a serial killer a chainsaw and telling him has full immunity from legal prosecution for any murders he commits with that chainsaw.

The state has mastered duping people. They can get the same people who demand the banks be allowed to fail support a bank bailout. How the fuck did they get so good at fooling people? Is the average person so lacking in the department of critical thinking that they’re unwilling to stop and consider issues more deeply than the talking points they’re fed by the 10 o’clock news? Do these people not actually read bills before stating their support of them? These aren’t even clever scams, anybody who spends 15 minutes looking into them can see what is really going on.

It’s amazing how the state gets so many suckers to back mutually exclusive demands. Are you against war? Demand more taxes to fund the war machine! Do you want the banks to fail? Support a bank bailout! Want the environment cleaned up? Fund the political machinery that allows polluters to dump toxic waster into the water and air from lawsuits! Do you believe two plus two equals four? Believe it equals five instead!