Moral Tyranny

Since virtually all lefty nanny-state proposals are being enacted into law without serious opposition (thanks GOP!), this seems to be a good time for a quote from rightwing knuckle-dragger C.S. Lewis:

"It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

C.S. Lewis, The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment

Breaking News from the Ministry of Truth

CNS News:

Senate Democrats united to pass a financial regulatory bill that allows the government to collect data on any person operating in financial markets at any level, including the collection of personal transaction records from local banks, including customers’ addresses and ATM receipts.

The new bureaucracy is then allowed to “use the data on branches and [individual and personal] deposit accounts … for any purpose” and may keep all records on file for at least three years and these can be made publicly available upon request.

And we have always been at war with Eastasia.

Russia Has No Piracy Problem

Eleven Somali pirates seized a Russian oil tanker. Russian special forces regained control of the tanker, killing one pirate and capturing ten. The ten pirates were then released, but their boat sank and they died.

The end.

Don't Worry, Be Happy

Section 9006 of the health care bill -- just a few lines buried in the 2,409-page document -- mandates that beginning in 2012 all companies will have to issue 1099 tax forms not just to contract workers but to any individual or corporation from which they buy more than $600 in goods or services in a tax year.

Don't think about the implications of this little bookkeeping change. It'll just ruin your day. Trust your government. Trust. Your. Government.

What Constitutes "Consent of the Governed?"

"Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state has become lawless or corrupt. And a citizen who barters with such a state shares in its corruption and lawlessness...There is only one sovereign remedy, namely, non-violent non-cooperation." - Mohandas Gandhi

A Thought for Today

“What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.”

– Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 1787. ME 6:373, Papers 12:356