Tag: Your Government Doesn’t Love You

Placing Blame at the Right People

I think the title of this story is rather interesting. The title is Brazil banks sued for Amazon deforestation. Obviously reading this has brought to light more evils committed by those terrible bankers who are slowly ruining our planet through their insatiable greed. Well that is until you actually read the story:

Brazil’s biggest bank – the state-run Banco do Brasil – is being sued for allegedly funding deforestation in the Amazon.

For those of you who have a lapse in reading comprehension the emphasis I’m trying to point out is the fact that one of the banks being sued is actually owned and run by the government of Brazil. Of course it’s unfair to blame the state when multiple banks are being sued and the other one is a privately held institution:

The smaller state-owned Banco da Amazonia is also being sued.

Unless it isn’t that is. So why am I bringing this story up? Because I’m sure there will be people spouting on about how the evil banks of Brazil are causing deforestation and that the only solution is for the Brazilian government to step in and reprimand these horrible banks. Those who actually read and understood the article though will realize that these banks are state property and thus the previously mentioned actions would require the Brazilian government to reprimand itself which creates an interesting conflict of interest.

Basically I’m trying to point out the fact that the blame shouldn’t be put on “evil bankers” in this case but on evil government.

Down the Memory Hole

My favorite thing about the Internet is how well it has eliminated the political memory hole. Nothing can be posted online and then fully removed. Unfortunately it seems some of the politicians haven’t come to realization yet and continue to make stupid comments and then try to have them removed through legal threats:

The Polk County Republicans in Wisconsin are now trying to cover up a video of one of their own elected representatives that they released via YouTube. The video in question shows United States Representative Sean Duffy (R-WI) complaining about how he is “struggling” to get by on his $174,000 salary.

Bitching about how hard life is when you make $174,000 a year isn’t going to win much sympathy in Wisconsin where the average yearly income is notably lower. What it will do is give your political opponents artillery to send your way next campaign season.

A copy of a take down notice for this video can be found here. The person who made the film is claiming copyright violation which legally is true since he did make the video. It’s also a great way to arm the Democrats with more artillery next season when they can not only say Mr. Duffy was whining about only making $174,000 a year but also tried to cover up the mess later. In these cases it’s just best to leave it alone and let people forget about it (it doesn’t take long, the average American attention span is two weeks).

Remember We’ll Have No Troops On the Ground in Libya

Unless of course we do:

US President Barack Obama has secretly authorised covert assistance to rebels seeking to overthrow Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi, US media reports say.

He recently signed a document known as a “finding”, allowing support to the rebel groups, Reuters news agency and ABC News said.

Such “findings” are a common way for the president to authorise covert operations by the CIA.

When the CIA gets involved in a conflict it can only go from bad to worse (for a good read on the failures of these CIA tactics pick up a copy of Legacy of Ashes). Also I remember distinctly that George W. Obama promised that we wouldn’t have any boots on the ground in Libya. This would indicate that he was lying but that’s impossible because he’s Mr. Hope and Change!

Utah Looking to Gimp Their Carry Permits

Utah arguably has the best carry permit in the United States. Although the requirements of getting it are annoying (fingerprints) the state does have reciprocity agreements with the most states. It appears as though some of those states are getting pissy that Utah doesn’t require a non-resident to get a permit from their state before getting a Utah permit and have pushed Utah’s legislators to change the law. Sadly this change appears to be going through:

The Senate passed unanimously a bill Monday that would require non-Utahns to obtain a concealed weapon permit from their home state before being issued a Utah permit.

The bill, SB36 authored by Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem, aims at working with 33 other states that have reciprocity agreements with Utah — allowing states to maintain more control over their concealed weapons permit records.

Why is it Utah’s problem that other states want more control over their peasants citizens and why is Utah bending to the will of other states? As pointed out by Senate President Michael Waddoups this change will cost Utah $1.3 million but nobody else cares because those funds are dedicated so they can’t be woefully pissed away on stupid projects.

So if you’re a holder of a non-resident a Utah permit but lack a permit from your home state it’s likely (going by the complete lack of resistance in Utah’s Senate) going to get you banned from holding a Utah permit for 10 years. Just remember to thank your state’s “representatives” for pushing Utah into this after you’ve thanked Utah for being the bitch of other states.

You Know That Conflict of Interest I Periodically Mention

I often talk about a conflict of interest the exists by having one branch of the government determine the validity of the action another branch takes. The idea of having the same organization both perform actions and watchdog itself doesn’t fly anywhere else but somehow we’re willing to accept it when such action is taken by government. It would seem that I’ve found an example of this:

A bitterly divided Supreme Court tossed out a jury verdict Tuesday won by a New Orleans man who spent 14 years on Death Row and came within weeks of execution because prosecutors had hidden a blood test and other evidence that would have proven his innocence.

The 5-4 decision delivered by Justice Clarence Thomas shielded the New Orleans District Attorney’s office from being held liable for the mistakes of its prosecutors. The evidence of their misconduct did not prove “deliberate indifference” on the part of then-District Attorney Harry Connick Sr., Thomas said.

How’s that for the government protecting it’s own? An innocent man spent 14 years on death row because a prosecute concealed evidence that would have acquitted the man. Instead of holding the District Attorney’s office liable for the actions taken by one of its members the Supreme Court decided to shield the office from any accountability.

This is about as disgusting as it gets ladies and gentlemen. When a government office can’t be held responsible for taking 14 years of a man’s life because of direct actions taken by one of its members then there is no recourse. Then again what can be expected from entities that have officers that shoot an innocent person and give that office nothing harsher than paid administrative leave?

The land of the free is become less so every day.

Outbidding Police in Their Own Buy Back

Sometimes you find people doing their best to do good. Take the story posted up by No Lawyers – Only Guns and Money where a private organizations, Texans for Accountable Government (TAG), offer $110.00 cash to buy guns to complete with the Austin Police Department who were only offering $100.00 grocery cards in exchange for firearms. The best part though is that TAG will be giving these firearms to those in need (and can lawfully purchase them).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGovcSN07SU]

Because It Worked Out So Well Before

It seems our 100 $600,000 cruise missiles didn’t do a whole Hell of a lot of help the Libyan rebels. That shouldn’t have been surprising though as the rebels are still outgunned on the ground. I like how George W. Obama is pretending to make an effort to avoid sending in ground troops but we know it will eventually happen. The next facade he’s bringing up is the possibility of arming the Libyan rebels.

This is a great idea because then when we get sick of them rebels twenty years down the road we can fight our own equipment just like we did in Afghanistan. Granted I wouldn’t have a problem with this if it wasn’t for two facts; tax payers will be paying for the weapons and we’re likely going to send in ground troops anyways so this whole deception is pointless. I’m hoping to be happily surprised and find out we’re not sending ground troops in but alas I don’t think Bush 2 is going to avoid occupying another major oil producing country.

More Government Stealing Shit

Need an increase in your blood pressure this morning? Well I think I can oblige you with a video of the Delaware Department of Transpiration stealing more private property:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0ZZHGO5sXw]

Yes they not only ripped out a basketball hoop that’s been there for 60 years but then they stole it after telling the owner he could keep his property. I hope this man gets some justice but being the justice is doled by the ones stealing property I highly doubt it.

TSA Witch Hunt

The Transpiration Security Administration (TSA) is on a witch hunt… literally:

Here’s a situation for all you aspiring managers: If you were the boss at a U.S. government agency and one of your employees complained that she was afraid of a co-worker’s religious practices, what would you do?

Would it change your decision if the religion were Wicca, and the employee feared her co-worker because she thought she might cast a spell on her?

Here’s how the Transportation Security Administration handled it:

It fired the witch.

I thought it was illegal to fire somebody in the United States because of their religious practices. Oh yeah I forgot that rule only applies to private industry, it’s OK when the government fires people based on their religion. To be fair we should probably look into what specific religious practice lead to the co-worker filing a complaint. Maybe the witch was sacrificing a small animal at the airport:

The assistant director told her he was investigating a threat of workplace violence. He said that her former mentor in on-the-job training, officer Mary Bagnoli, reported that she was afraid of Smith because she was a witch who practiced witchcraft. She accused Smith of following her on the highway one snowy evening after work and casting a spell on the heater of her car, causing it not to work.

Or the co-worker is a complete fucking idiot, that was actually my second guess. It’s nice to know the tradition of an honest to goodness witch hunt hasn’t completely died off. Thor forbid if somebody were to practice a non-mainstream religion. Oh and this line made me chuckle:

And it sheds light on work life at the TSA, where the 40,000-plus public employees who keep bad people and bad things off of airplanes have started voting this month on whether to join a union.

Name one instance where a TSA operative was able to keep a bad people or thing off of an airplane. Since the establishment of the TSA it seems to be that bad things keep getting onto airplanes. Let us not forget the shoe bomber, underwear bomber, and of course the liquid bombers. All of them managed to get past the TSA security theater without any problem.

Oh, and bonus points to MSNBC for find a way to mention unions in a story that has absolutely nothing to do with unions. Real subtle.