Magnifisyncopathological

[Updates below.]

About 90 minutes ago, "Jan" from the U.S. Census Bureau knocked on my door. She handed me a flyer announcing the 2006 Census Test. The bilingual flyer isn't was concerns me. What concerns me is that she asked to take a GPS reading of "the exact location of your front door."

I asked her why and she didn't have an answer. She did, however, express serious worry about the government's desire to collect this information and what might motivate it. I asked her why, if she was so concerned, didn't she quit the job and do something else. She replied that she needed to pay her rent like everyone else and was planning on starting her own business. I left the opening alone and we instead talked about "alternative media" such as Alex Jones and his documentaries, 91.7FM KOOP/KVRX, Radio Free Austin, and so forth. If she was putting on a performance for me, it was convincing. She mentioned subjects that are mentioned on GCN and RBN such as government manipulation of viruses and food supplies.

She also brought up the feelings of some that arming ourselves might be a good thing in case something happens. She thought the danger came from plans within the government to crack down on independent voices and dissenters. I told her I thought that was a worry worth keeping in mind, but an economic crack-up was more likely. Nowhere in this conversation did I venture information beyond my first name, my opinion of political events, where I stood. She reacted a tad shocked when I said I'd rather not have government period, rather than reform it.

When I mentioned that having this locational data on file might be of use to federal agents stationed in Austin, specifically mentioning the IRS, she said she worked for them for a year and hated it, hated the IRS itself for what she saw.

I told her that I did not want a precise reading at the foot of my door. I also told her I wasn't going to forcibly stop her from taking a reading off my property. But I did tell her if was going to save the latitude and longitude of my address, I wanted it done out in the street. I'm well aware that the more accurate GPS technology the government uses has more resolution and a higher degree of accuracy and both the error of guided munitions and their blast radii make any potential effort to push the aiming point 25 feet or so from my house somewhat futile, but I absolutely did not want doorstop accuracy on file with the federal government.

Searching the Census Bureau website questions box for "2006 census test" gets you nothing. Searching for "GPS" gets you the same. Googling for "2006 census test" gets you a few hits. One of them, 2006 Census Test Operational Photos has this to say:

The 2006 Census Test is being conducted in portions of Travis county, Tex. and the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, S.D. The 2006 Census Test will help the U.S. Census Bureau evaluate new ways to count the population and plan a more accurate and cost-effective 2010 Census.

A hit on the Dallas Regional Office has this to say:

The U.S. Census Bureau is conducting a 2006 Census Test in Travis County, Texas, including parts of the city of Austin and its suburbs to test new technology, methods, and procedures for implementation for the 2010 Census.

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

CENSUS TAKERS NEEDED
$14.50 PER HOUR, PLUS MILEAGE

CALL NOW 1-888-814-6711

I don't have time to dig into this further, but I will when I get back home in a few hours.

UPDATED 8/1/2005 10:11am
When I first posted this, I didn't read the Fact Sheet. I wanted to sit down and look at it yesterday, but that didn't happen until this morning. Here's what it says:

The Census Bureau is testing:

• How to improve methods for collecting data from respondents who speak a language other than English, including bilingual questionnaire delivery.
  
• How to improve data collection procedures that will enhance overall data quality for people, housing units and group quarters.
  
• How effective is the use of hand held computers with Global Positioning System technology for field data collection and support operations.
  
• The impact of different replacement questionnaire-delivery strategies.
  
• How to improve data collection methods in group quarters, dormitories, correctional facilities, nursing homes, and unconventional housing.

The conversation I described above with Jan the Census Enumerator reads oddly, but that is how it went. I didn't get a "pitch" or a scripted statement. When she announced who she was and what she was doing, I expected the kind of hyper-bland, nonconfrontational, multicultural tone I've come to expect from the state's agents, especially when directly interacting with hundreds of members of the public. There wasn't a trace of that to be found with her; she backtracked almost immediately, acting more embarassed than bored.

I've sent the following message to the Dallas Regional Office public e-mail address and the Press Inquiries e-mail address for the main Census Bureau website:

TO: dallas.regional.office@census.gov
CC: pio@census.gov
Subject: 2006 Census Test & GPS

My name is Charles Hueter, I live in Travis County, TX, and I was contacted by a Census Bureau employee over the weekend regarding the '06 Test. She asked permission to take a Global Positioning System coordinate reading as close as possible to my front door.

I would like to know why such a specific measurement is necessary. Other than for simply testing equipment, for what purposes would the Bureau use these latitude and longitude readings?

Thank you for your time.

-Charles Hueter

According to the USAID website, "East Timor, the world's youngest country, is also the first country to successfully make comprehensive use of global positioning system (GPS) technology for its census." The date of that release is November 16, 2004. Might the Census Bureau be thinking about doing the same for the US?

Actually, yes: Census Bureau eyes GPS for 2010 U.S. effort

The U.S. Bureau of Census plans to equip half a million temporary field workers with GPS-capable handheld computers that will underpin the agency's efforts to re-engineer its data collection and processing operations for the 2010 effort. The field data collection automation (FDCA) initiative aims at reducing the paperwork-driven costs of staff and office space required to compile census-takers' reports using traditional methods.

More than 60 million addresses and field assignments will be handled out of 500 temporary local census offices.

In preparation for the 2010 effort, the bureau is conducting a census test between June 2005 and December 2006. As part of this test, the bureau will acquire and use up to 1,651 personal digital assistant (PDA) devices with the option of incorporating GPS hardware. Field interviewers or "enumerators" will collect household-level information using a Census Bureau-developed automated questionnaire.

The PDAs will be used to collect housing unit location information using a GPS receiver and mapping software that can display and create maps using data saved in ESRI's ArcPad shapefile format.

Census officials expect the test will determine the feasibility of using the GPS-enabled PDA devices for locating and navigating to assignment areas and housing units, collecting census and payroll data, and testing new census procedures and concepts. Bids to supply the equipment closed early in August.

The GPS equipment must output NMEA-0183 (v2.20 or later) SiRF standard protocols and possibly others and track L1, L2, or L5 C/A-code continuously. The agency's FDCA solicitation sets differential GPS as the priority signal, followed by WAAS and unassisted "pure" GPS. The test's accuracy requirement is three meters or less uncorrected, although it notes that data can be differentially corrected. Finally, the receivers will take advantage of any Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals available at the time of procurement, and specifically notes Europe's Galileo system now under development.

Looking ahead to a full-scale rollout in 2010, the Census Burea has established a website with detailed background information, reports, and other documents for potential FDCA contractors: www.census.gov/procur/www/fdca.

The above article has a date of September 2004, so when I went to the FDCA website, the only links up were those to the final Requst-for-Proposal Solicitation No. YA1323-05-RP-0009, the various draft RFPs, and a history/library of documents related to the process that led to the vendor getting selected.

One of the documents is a P54-page DF titled Scope of FDCA Program. I don't have the time to read it all the way, but I did find this on page 6:

The Census Bureau also will enhance the existing geographic database—the Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing System (TIGER), which contains street and map features as well as political and statistical boundaries used for data collection and tabulation of census results. The Census Bureau will improve the accuracy of the street and map features by having them in Global Positioning System (GPS) alignment. [collect GPS coordinates structures containing living quarters]

Further down on pages 29-30:

Address Canvassing (AC) is a field operation for verifying and correcting addresses for all living quarters and street features shown on the listings and maps produced from the Decennial Census extract of the MAF/TIGER. It is a dependent field operation that requires the listers to compare what is on the ground to what is on the MAF/TIGER. The field listers will verify existing living quarters, identify duplicates on the address list, add new living quarters that are not on the address list, identify duplicates on the list, and delete from the address list living quarters that do not exist on the ground. They will also capture GPS coordinates for every structure containing living quarters. The goal of this operation is to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the Census Bureau address file and spatial database used to control and facilitate the delivery of census questionnaires.

Listers will knock on every door to attempt to contact respondents to verify address information as well as inquire about any additional living quarters. They will compare the information to what is on their lists and maps and make the required changes. They will add any addresses that are on the ground but missing from the address list. They will delete any addresses that are on the list but are not found on the ground. They will make changes to existing addresses, such as changing an apartment number, if necessary. The listers will collect a map coordinate for every structure that contains a living quarter. In addition, they will classify all living quarters as “housing units” or “other living quarters.” “Other living quarters” are living quarters that are not conventional housing units, but are such places as college dormitories, prisons, skilled nursing facilities, and the like. The listers will make the appropriate changes to the maps. This will include adding new street features that are not on the maps, deleting street features that are not on the ground, and correcting street features, such as correcting the street name. All map and address updates from Address Canvassing will be used to update the MAF/TIGER database for later Census Bureau operations.

This corresponds with the tiny bit of officalspeak Jan said to me that day. She asked if I was the owner of the house, if I lived there, if it was a multi-family dwelling or a single home, etc.

I remain suspicious. Even though it looks as if the Bureau has been collecting this info for years, I feel considerably wary of these kinds of government databases.

More later if something arises.

UPDATED 4:05pm
Before I forget, I ought to remind you that the Census Bureau is not above making their surveys mandatory. From the American Community Survey website:

The American Community Survey is conducted under the authority of Title 13, United States Code, Sections 141 and 193, and response is mandatory. According to Section 221, persons who do not respond shall be fined not more than $100. Title 18 U.S.C. Section 3571 and Section 3559, in effect amends Title 13 U.S.C. Section 221 by changing the fine for anyone over 18 years old who refuses or willfully neglects to complete the questionnaire or answer questions posed by census takers from a fine of not more than $100 to not more than $5,000.

UPDATED 8/16/2005 5:00pm
I'm still worried about this, even after more than two weeks of sitting on the idea and considering it; I haven't heard back from the organizations I e-mailed, either. I'll try again and include a few other politicos as well to see if I can stir something up.

UPDATED 3/29/2006 12:06am
Fuck the Census Bureau and Their 2006 Census Test

UPDATED 8/3/2006 1:07pm
Via Billy Beck, I learn that NPR is talking about this: Census Bureau Adopts GPS to Find American Homes:

Two-and-a-half years from now, in early 2009, the Census Bureau plans to send an army of 100,000 temporary workers down every street and dusty, dirt road in America. They will be armed with handheld GPS devices.

Robert LaMacchia, head of the Census Bureau's geography division, says they'll capture the latitude and longitude of the front door of every house, apartment and improvised shelter they find.

"We will actually knock on doors and look for hidden housing units," he says. "We will find converted garages; from the outside, it may not look like anybody lives there."

But census workers will add each dwelling, legal or not, to the Census Bureau's Master Address File.

Posted by drizzten at 05:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Billy Beck encounters a real scumbag.

Posted by drizzten at 01:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Other than the scattered support for workers to wreck the private property of capitalists should more non-violent union measures fail ("direct action," which he says wouldn't be necessary after the market-intervening state is gone) and other than his stance that "the state's enforcement of land titles not founded in occupancy and use" ought to be abandoned (if so, would private enforcement of such land titles be allowable?), I think I agree with Kevin Carson's take on things.

I see nothing fundamentally wrong with employee-owned and -operated businesses/co-ops/banks/etc. because individuals should not be locked into one way of production against their will. It may not make economic sense from the perspective of someone wanting to maximize profits, but allowing that value to dominate over all other values when making economic decisions isn't something I'd endorse as universally sane.

I've never held the same level of enmity towards unions as a concept as some in the libertarian and so many of the republican political spectrums. Even at my most ideologically confused moment or in the heat of my most strident political diatribe, I never came close to the hostility of a George Reisman even though he does make what I think are valid points against the claim that unions are, like, mankind's only hope against, like, That Dude With The Wage Whip In The Suit Upstairs an' stuff.

Anyway, it looks like I may have to add Studies in Mutualist Political Economy to my congested reading list.

Posted by drizzten at 01:23 AM | Permalink

Man, it's hardly after midnight over here and I've found a quote that rings my cynical humor bell so melodiously, it gets "Of The Day" status.

You can’t intelligently discuss the role of unions without distinguishing between public-sector and private-sector unions. The former are all about government by the government, of the government, for the government. For them, pouring money into electoral politics makes so much sense it should be illegal.

- "Steverino" in this QandO post

Posted by drizzten at 12:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The more I think about Libertarian political philosophy, the more aware I am of its incredible destructive potential. Brad makes a joke of it in his post, but there is a radical root to the Libertarian ethos that quite like the Marxist ethos, is quite dismissive of human suffering. Results are seen as besides the point. Freedom comes before the citizen in this world view and it is quite sure of itself.

Neo conservatism and religious paternalism are on the way out. They've over reached and are being discredited by the War. My concern is that when the GOP fractures the hard core libertarians will get a crack at running the show and imposing their liberty on us.

Freedom without democracy is tyranny. Period.

-"Northern Observer" in this Brad DeLong post

Posted by drizzten at 06:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Times: Sorry, girls. The hunks are banned

Drinks companies have been ordered to hire paunchy, balding men for advertisements to meet new rules forbidding any link between women’s drinking and sex. Watchdogs have issued a list of undesirable male characteristics that advertisers must abide by in order to comply with tougher rules designed to separate alcohol from sexual success.

Lambrini, the popular sparkling drink, is the first to suffer. Its manufacturers have complained after watchdogs rejected its latest campaign because it depicted women flirting with a man who was deemed too attractive.

The offending poster featured three women “hooking” a slim, young man in a parody of a fairground game scene. Harmless fun to lead its summer campaign, Lambrini argued.

But the Committee of Advertising Practice declared: “We would advise that the man in the picture should be unattractive — overweight, middle-aged, balding etc.”

The ruling continued: “We consider that the advert is in danger of implying that the drink may bring sexual/social success, because the man in question looks quite attractive and desirable to the girls. If the man was clearly unattractive, we think that this implication would be removed.”

The ruling comes after ministers’ warnings to the drinks industry to take measures to tackle binge-drinking or face legislation.

The new CAP code instructs that “links must not be made between alcohol and seduction, sexual activity or sexual success”. Romance and flirtation are not forbidden but adverts must not be aimed at the under-18s or use celebrities in a “sexy” or “cool” manner.

Copyright 2005 Times Newspapers Ltd.

Via Sploid.

Posted by drizzten at 09:53 AM | Permalink

That dream consists of reading the "urban affairs" part of a local newspaper and seeing that it isn't entirely devoted to reports detailing the actions of government.

Observe the mission creep: (link will rot)

Austin's plan to sell $41.7 million in bonds this year includes money to design the Turner-Roberts Recreation Center and pay for the settlement of a 1996 class-action lawsuit brought by some police officers.

[...]

Nine businesses have won an annual city award for their strong commitment to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

[...]

The Housing Authority of the City of Austin received $3.1 million in federal money to improve 19 public housing properties throughout Austin.

Copyright 2001-2005 Cox Texas Newspapers, L.P. All rights reserved.

A drug possession charge against Jeremiah Green, the drummer for rock band Modest Mouse, has been dismissed, his lawyer said Wednesday.

[...]

Smith said the misdemeanor charge stemmed from Green's possession of one Valium pill. Green had a previous prescription for Valium, he said.

A felony charge of carrying a weapon in a prohibited place was dismissed May 31, Smith said. Airport authorities said they seized a ring from Green that resembled brass knuckles.

Police are urging owners of Acura Integras and Honda Accords to be aware that thieves are targeting those vehicles.

In 2004, 25 Integra owners and 105 Accord owners reported their vehicles stolen to Austin police. As of July 15, 30 Integras and 86 Accords have been reported stolen.

Officers suggest people lock their cars and take the keys when it is unattended.

Posted by drizzten at 09:12 AM | Permalink

Austin-American Statesman: Austin raids net 706 gambling machines, six arrests

Austin police seized 706 gaming machines known as eight-liners Wednesday in a series of 40 crackdowns, the largest in the city's history. Six people were arrested, and six vehicles were seized.

[...]

The legality of eight-liners, which resemble slot machines but have a tic-tac-toe-like grid that gives players eight ways to win, has been debated in recent years. In 2003, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the devices are used legally only if they award noncash prizes worth no more than $5 or 10 times the amount of a single play, whichever is less. In the establishments where the machines were taken, police say gamers were promised cash payouts.

Lordy! Cash payouts! $$$! The horror! The immorality of people choosing to gamble their money on small-time bets! Where's Jesus when you need Him!?

Police Chief Stan Knee said that an investigation into the illegal use of eight-liners began 18 months ago, when the department began receiving complaints from relatives of gamblers and other residents about the machines.

Cmdr. Harold Piatt of the department's organized crime division said the relatives had complained of players sometimes losing a week's pay at the machines, claiming that they were rigged to take people's money.

But nowhere in that fact does it require an entire population to be taxed in order to prosecute, indict, convict, and enact a response.

"I can't talk per se about individual misery, but the number of calls we've received about these machines has gone up significantly," Piatt said.

Many of the game rooms seemed to attract new immigrants and also had been the cause of increased criminal activity like burglaries or robberies, he said.

"If I'm a day laborer making $100 and not spending it on a gambling machine, I don't have to break into a car to get the money I need," Piatt said.

All of the warrants were focused on one corporation, Piatt said, but he did not release the name or its role in the gaming business. "The people who run this organization are going to have a big headache in the morning," he said.

After earlier raids, [Travis County Attorney David Escamilla] said, county prosecutors decided to pursue cases against the corporations that owned the machines instead of managers of the stores where they were operating.

"How much we really could have gotten against the individual in a situation like this is speculative," Escamilla said. "One theory in how you stop them is that you make it not financially viable for them.

"When you take their equipment and hit them with fines, they say, 'We get it. It's not really worth it.' "

However, officials with the county attorney's office said they may now begin prosecuting managers. They said they think the message has been clear that eight-liners are illegal.

In previous cases, corporations paid fines from $5,000 to $8,000. The maximum fine is $10,000.

Copyright 2001-2005 Cox Texas Newspapers, L.P. All rights reserved.

News8Austin: Illegal gambling locations busted

"Families were seeing their husbands and wives spending their entire paychecks, savings account money, on these machines with hopes of winning huge jackpots," [Austin Police Chief Stan Knee] said.

Because it is the state's business what we do with our money.

Investigators believe one group is responsible for all the sites. But police say no one was winning except one group of scammers.

Investigators say they stole tens of thousands of dollars from people using rigged machines.

"The chances of winning any money are very slim and we feel an awful lot of paychecks that went into these with no return," police Cmdr. Harold Piatt said.

State law only allows machines that give out tickets. Those tickets redemption value can't be more than $5. Redeeming those tickets for cash, gas, food or lottery tickets is illegal.

Copyright �2005TWEAN News Channel of Austin, L.P. d.b.a. News 8 Austin

Posted by drizzten at 08:48 AM | Permalink

In other words, if we only forgot about the 8 million people who risked their lives to vote and turned the country over to those who consider that vote illegitimate, we could have solved the problem. But silly us, we actually think that power should come from the ballot box and not from the barrel of a gun.

NO TO IRAQI VOTING NULLIFICATION

Every Communist must grasp the truth, "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." Our principle is that the Party commands the gun, and the gun must never be allowed to command the Party.

-Mao Tse-tung, Problems of War and Strategy

On the other hand, there is certainly no shortage of Americans who follow the law because their lives will be ruined through the legal system. They adhere to the law because they see fines and prison time levied against them if caught and convicted. Even if not convicted, one cannot underestimate the level of disruption that can be created when forced into a court or a holding cell at Police HQ.

Mao, the mass-murderous thieving tyrant that he was, recognized this clearly. For political power to be effective and therefore desirable, it cannot rely alone on popular support and the sense of obligation to obey from those who disagree with it. Those who wield the power know this...otherwise they wouldn't demand punishment against those who break the law. Without the threat of a gun in the hands of a police officer aimed at your center of mass, the myriad laws imposed on a nation would have to stand up to individual scrutiny.

The choice between the Ballot Box and the Barrel of a Gun is a false alternative. Choosing the ballot means you're choosing someone else to hold the gun you want to point at others. Choosing the gun means you're comfortable doing the dirty work yourself. The real choice is between being an aggressor (or hiring someone to be an aggressor for you) or being peaceful.

Posted by drizzten at 01:47 PM | Permalink

[Updates below.]

The Austin Health and Human Services Department says:

The Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department has scheduled a series of community meetings for bar, restaurant and business owners and anyone interested in learning more about the new smoking ordinance that goes into effect on September 1.
The following is a list of scheduled meetings:

Tuesday, August 2nd,
6:30-8:00 PM
Waller Creek Building
625 East 10th Street, Room 104
Austin, Texas 78701

Tuesday, August 9th,
6:30-8:00 PM
St. John’s Community Center
7500 Blessing Avenue, Conference Room B
Austin, Texas 78752

Wednesday, August 17th,
6:30-8:00 PM
Rosewood-Zaragosa Neighborhood Center Gym
2800 Webberville Rd
Austin, Texas 78702

Tuesday, August 23rd,
6:30-8:00 PM
South Austin Neighborhood Center
2508 Durwood Avenue
Austin, Texas 78704

Please call Karina Moore at (512) 972-5653 or email karina.moore@ci.austin.tx.us for more information about meeting dates, times and locations.

Posted by drizzten at 09:41 PM | Permalink

This is silly.

Posted by drizzten at 09:34 PM | Permalink

Village Voice: NYers to NYPD: 'I Do Not Consent to Being Searched'

Reacting to the NYPD's announcement Thursday afternoon that police would randomly—but routinely—search the bags of commuters, one concerned New Yorker quickly created a way for civil libertarians to make their views black-and-white.

In a few outraged moments, local immigrant rights activist Tony Lu designed t-shirts bearing the text, "i do not consent to being searched." The minimalist protest-wear can be purchased here, in various styles and sizes.

Your consent doesn't matter that much these days, folks. I have not voted for anyone since the 2000 election and I do not voluntarily consent to the "representatives" who think they have the authority to speak in my name. Yet they do.

The last time I voted in a state ballot process was in 2003 Texas Constitutional Amendments and each vote was a vote for increased respect for consent and individual freedom, votes against state power. I don't vote on anything now because I don't want to lend my sanction to the democratic political process. I don't support the current system and won't lend my voice (however small) to legitimizing its outcome.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly had announced the legally obvious—that New Yorkers are free to decline a search and "turn around and leave."

Court orders, warrants, statutory biases in favor of protecting law enforcement officers' lives, and "emergency scenarios" are all used to combat your consent. They can and they will overrule you. That fact is embodied best in the judge, who has broad authority to toss your whining ass in the slammer for "contempt of court."

It's embodied in any government agent who, in the name of his fucking title and who appointed him to it, will tell you to do something and if you refuse, you get fined, harassed, and could ultimately go to jail.

Government is the antithesis of consent. This is what makes the state different from all other forms of social organization, save the criminal gang. "Move elsewhere and renounce your citizenship!" someone might reply. They aren't aware that the State Department, through the Immigration and Nationality Act, tells you exactly how to renounce American citizenship. You can't just say it; you can't just write a letter. And note this with as much comprehension as you can muster:

...persons who wish to renounce U.S. citizenship should also be aware that the fact that a person has renounced U.S. citizenship may have no effect whatsoever on his or her U.S. tax or military service obligations (contact the Internal Revenue Service or U.S. Selective Service for more information).

Tony Lu's shirt is something I may buy in the future because, conceptually, it is a powerful statement. It would publicly establish (to anyone who cares to pause and think about it) that I value individual liberty over all government concerns that allegedly establish a reason to ignore it. No, "national security" is not good enough. No, "the public good" is not good enough. No, "the needs of the needy" are not good enough. Right up in the face of the greatest public policy issue in recent memory, I would be asserting my unequivocal liberty to disagree and move on my way unmolested. The existence of terrorism does not mean other people have a claim on my life.

Taken to its logical conclusion, the shirt stands for anarchy. It is a stark declaration of self-ownership and liberty. If I can refuse consent for a cop to search me under any circumstances, I can refuse consent for a cop to search my property. If consent is what matters, then there is no justification for government. No one - white, black, male, female, Park Ranger, office worker, gang member, granny, IRS agent, or child - would have the right to invade my space. Because they don't have my consent.

However, the shirt won't stop a frightened cop from tasering me, whether I pose a threat or not. The cloth and the concept won't stop a black-robed appointee from balancing my freedom against the effectiveness of executive power, whether that power even complies with the limits imposed by the Constitution or not. Explaining what I hold to be true won't put an end to the licensing of our lives, it won't end the Austin smoking ban, it won't slow down Democrat and Republican attempts to use me as their property, and it won't return any of the thousands in taxes I've paid during my life. Free will isn't going to be overturned by an idea.

A steadfast individualist principle on a T-shirt won't abolish the initiation of force against non-aggressors. It won't divest government from our lives. It won't inject sanity into the culture.

Because most individuals in this society stopped honestly giving a shit about respecting individual consent a long time ago.

Via Drudge.

Posted by drizzten at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I quote:

The Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) is a program of the U.S. Department of Energy assigned to develop and manage a federal system for disposing of spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear reactors and high-level radioactive waste from national defense activities.

Our mission is to manage and dispose of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel in a manner that protects health, safety and the environment; enhances national and energy security; and merits public confidence.

"But, Drizz, what about this?"

In 1982, Congress enacted a law called the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA). The NWPA created the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) within the Department of Energy to develop a comprehensive national program for the permanent disposal of high-level radioactive wastes and spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear utilities and national defense programs. [...] The NWPA directs the U.S. Department of Energy to site, design, construct, operate, and close a deep geologic repository and affirms the responsibility of the generators of the wastes - the nuclear utilities and the federal defense nuclear program - to pay the costs of disposal.

What about that? Well, I don't know to what extent private companies pay for the disposal of the waste they generate. However, dig this:

The OCRWM Program includes:

• Program Management - Program management activities are administered from Washington, DC. Responsibilities include oversight of quality assurance, program planning and administration, program management and integration, external interactions, human resources, and the OCRWM budget.
  
• Yucca Mountain Project – The Yucca Mountain site is located in Nye County, Nevada, approximately 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. For two decades, the OCRWM conducted scientific and engineering investigations at Yucca Mountain to determine its suitability as a nuclear waste repository.
  
• Science and Technology Program – The program explores technological improvements that could enhance the performance, safety, and efficiency of the repository at Yucca Mountain, and/or reduce the costs of the civilian radioactive waste management system.
  
• Waste Acceptance and Transportation – Headquartered in Washington, DC., responsibilities include development of waste acceptance, storage and transportation systems. Activities also include interactions with other waste owners, generators and international waste management programs.

It, in fact, is not.

Customers who use nuclear power pay for the disposal of spent fuel. The federal government collects a fee of one mil (one-tenth of a cent) per kilowatt-hour of nuclear-generated electricity from utilities. This money goes into the Nuclear Waste Fund. In addition, Congress makes an annual appropriation from the General Fund of the Treasury to pay for disposal of defense-related high-level radioactive waste.

How much does all this cost? An answer (PDF): the congressional budget request for the 2003 fiscal year was more than $590 million. The agency got more than $457 million. The Department of Energy, for the 2006 fiscal year, asked for more than $651 million (PDF) in taxpayer cash for the OCRWM (agency request here).

It does not matter to me that this would represent roughly two bucks per living American in taxes, if egalitarian means were used to distribute the burden. Ultimately, we are forced to pay for the hefty costs of figuring out how to safely and effectively transport tons of radioactive waste materials created by companies that have part of this cost outsourced to the federal government. Since the companies created them, it is their property and therefore their responsibility, not mine or yours.

Going back to a previous link:

The law is based on the principle that the generation benefitting [sic] from nuclear materials is responsible for safely disposing of the nuclear wastes it creates, rather than leaving a potentially dangerous environmental hazard to future generations.

I am not a creator of nuclear waste nor power and neither is anyone in my immediate family nor is anyone within my circle of friends. However, we are all in the "generation" of citizens this supposed principle subsumes. The creators (and by extension, owners) of nuclear waste are people who produce it. This means plant owners and operators have the responsibility of owning potentially lethal nuclear waste. Ideally, this nontrivial cost would be prominently factored into the initial plans for building these plants. However, these costs are mitigated and are lessened because the feds have involved themselves (sometimes at the urging of the nuclear industry).

How am I responsible for something I had nothing to do with, located hundreds of miles away, and done without my knowledge, input, or consent? Even more frustratingly stupid: how does an entire GENERATION get sucked into this broken chain of causality?

Posted by drizzten at 01:42 PM | Permalink

Austin-American Statesman: Getting There: Ben Wear (link will rot)

First Madrid. Then London. And, sometime, Austin?

Well, that's highly unlikely. Islamic terrorists, aside from attacks in the Middle East, to date have tended to strike in larger cities.

But with Capital Metro ramping up bus operations and at work on its first passenger rail line, the deadly bombings July 7 of three London subway trains and a bus triggered some questions about the state of transit security here and elsewhere in the United States.

The American Public Transportation Association certainly wasted no time drawing a connection.

The association, the transit industry's primary advocacy group, issued a press release that day offering condolences. The release then quickly motored on to a plea to Congress to increase federal security funding for mass transit.

The group suggested that the Senate, at that point mulling the Department of Homeland Security's $32 billion fiscal 2006 budget, set aside $2 billion for security on buses, passenger trains and freight trains.

That would be a 13-fold increase from 2005's $150 million, the same figure approved by the House for 2006. The Senate last week settled on $100 million.

Transit advocates say that's way too low, given that Uncle Sam has put $18.1 billion into aviation security since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and that daily boardings on U.S. buses and trains are 16 times greater than domestic airline ridership.

So what do transit folks want all this money for?

Better radio communications, salaries for transit security officers (mostly off-duty police officers in Capital Metro's case), training for employees in spotting and dealing with threats, public information campaigns alerting the public to be alert, fencing for public transit facilities, camera systems for buses, trains and stations.

In other words, items -- many of them -- that transit agencies would have wanted absent the Sept. 11 catastrophe.

Copyright 2001-2005 Cox Texas Newspapers, L.P. All rights reserved.

Posted by drizzten at 11:06 AM | Permalink

Slate: To Catch a Thief

With more than $30 billion annually lost to "shrink," as retail theft is called, America is in the midst of an epidemic. While the overall level of shrink has remained steady for the last 15 years, shoplifting itself is on the rise. Shoplifting occurs about 550,000 times a day, which adds up to $25 million a day in losses. That figure represents just a fraction of the problem, since current estimates suggest that the average shoplifter is caught only one out of 49 attempts.

To loss-prevention professionals, garden variety shoplifting now seems banal, a constant in American life. Asked about it, they tend to revert to fatalism and cite the 80-10-10 rule: 10 percent of the people will never steal from you; 10 percent always will, and 80 percent will if given the chance.

©2005 Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Co. LLC

Especially when they witness the stories and allegations of their "representatives" in the government and their bosses at work do the same thing, writ large.

Posted by drizzten at 10:52 AM | Permalink

Austin-American Statesman: Texas legislators: You can't expect them to tax the hand that feeds them, right?

First, our lawmakers have a special session so they can reform school financing and cut property taxes for Texas homeowners.

Then, they put both issues on the back burner and vote for raises for judges and increased retirement benefits for themselves.

Are these people just trying to get egged? Who's doing PR for these guys? Jack the Ripper?

Good hit.

The problem is that to pass a school finance package, legislators would have to put a tax whuppin' on business. And business money is what got some of them elected. So they're having a hard time billing their pimps.

Another good one.

So expect a Pay-as-You-Go school finance program where Texas children pay by the class. Under this proposal, parents would give their kids money in the morning to attend the classes they want them to take that day, just like they do with lunch money. Algebra? That's a $10 class today. American history? Special today is $7.99.

Copyright 2001-2005 Cox Texas Newspapers, L.P. All rights reserved.

I like that idea, especially if property taxes were cut accordingly. Education a la carte: the freedom to choose where to go to school, how to pay for it, and exactly what subjects to learn. The antithesis of public education.

Posted by drizzten at 09:09 AM | Permalink

[Updates below.]

Austin-American Statesman: Council member wants Austin to restrict eminent domain powers

As state lawmakers push to restrict municipalities' ability to seize residents' land, at least one Austin City Council member wants the city to crack down, too.

Council Member Brewster McCracken said he plans to introduce an ordinance in the next few weeks that would prohibit the city from using eminent domain for economic development or turning condemned land over to a private developer.

"When the government wants to get into economic development, it should have to play by the same rules that private companies play by, such as having a willing seller," McCracken said.

What about extending that notion to other areas? Taxes are coerced from generally unwilling people in order to fund your government, in essence creating unwilling buyers. If "willing" is the standard, then Mr. McCracken and I may have a lot in common. I'm not holding my breath, however.

Mayor Will Wynn said he disagreed with the Supreme Court's ruling and would support a city ordinance banning condemnation for private development.

"I don't, however, want to see the Legislature overreact because I haven't seen abuse anything like what has occurred in the Northeast here locally," he added.

Wynn, other council members, and Austin's chief litigator, Anne Morgan, couldn't think of a single case in which the city has tried to condemn land for economic development. More common is the city taking land for things such as water easements, Morgan said.

[...]

This week the state Senate passed restrictions against cities and the state seizing private land for commercial use. And a House plan would let voters decide whether to add a constitutional amendment prohibiting condemnations for that purpose. The legislation would make exceptions for projects such as highways, utility projects and sports arenas.

Under such laws, Morgan said, the city could probably still condemn land in blighted areas for redevelopment, a law that has been on the books since the 1960s.
Copyright 2001-2005 Cox Texas Newspapers, L.P. All rights reserved.

UPDATED 7/18/2005 11:13am
A perfect case in point, illustrating two different but related problems: UT has no problems with eminent domain:

Senators this morning questioned whether the proposed restrictions on the use of eminent domain for economic development would affect the University of Texas’ plans to acquire property at West Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Guadalupe Street to build a university hotel, conference center and parking garage.

But school officials said this morning they do not believe the proposed restrictions would affect them.

“We don’t think it would impact this project because it is not an economic development project,” said Patti Ohlendorf, UT’s vice president for institutional relations and legal affairs.

Rather, its purpose will be educational, with a focus on post-graduate education, said Pat Clubb, UT’s vice president for employee and campus services.

The university will own the complex and will pay a management firm to run it, Ohlendorf said. The firm will not have an ownership position, she said. Public use is expected to be minimal, in large part because it is likely to be booked for UT-oriented educational programs.

Ohlendorf said the university hopes to work out a purchase agreement with Player’s restaurant, which occupies part of the tract in question, to avoid the use of eminent domain. Players has not responded to UT’s latest offer, she said. “We are anxious to sit down with them and see what can be worked out,” Ohlendorf said.

Posted by drizzten at 08:54 AM | Permalink

...the rest of us are usually called in to pick up the slack.

Governments should not run, operate, or fund parks. This is easily within the capability of individuals and private organizations.

Posted by drizzten at 10:16 AM | Permalink

News8Austin: Taylor FD charging for wrecks

Taylor is the latest city Williamson County to create a "user fee" for emergency services.

Your insurance company will get bill if you're in a car accident and the fire department is called to the scene.

"You could go your entire life in a community and never use the fire department or EMS. So basically you're paying for a service you never use," Taylor Fire Chief Haywood Stanford said.

The city hopes to reduce taxes by only charging those who use the service.

"The cost of the service, the equipment, the manpower, all of this is continually on the rise. And the things that we have to do our job are going up faster than the tax rate can keep up," Stanford said.

Taylor is only one of a number of cities implementing the user fee. In Williamson County alone, Georgetown, Leander, Cedar Park and Liberty Hill all charge for emergency calls.

People without insurance will not be billed.

Copyright ©2005TWEAN News Channel of Austin, L.P. d.b.a. News 8 Austin

The article does not mention what the user fees amount to, but publishing them would be a good thing for it would be an additional incentive for people to keep in mind when driving. Along with pain, recovery time, medical bills, automobile repairs, legal tangles, and other costs associated with car wrecks, there would be one more to add to the heap: the cost of emergency services dashing to the scene to keep you alive and protect your property.

Posted by drizzten at 10:13 AM | Permalink

I heard the following story on NPR this morning: The Humble Baguette's Return to Glory:

[Baker Eric Kayser] cares so much about his art and profession that he was part of a group that successfully lobbied the French government to regulate what could and couldn't be called a bakery. To win that appellation, a business must do every bit of its baking on site. Otherwise, the government's Repression of Frauds department will have something to say about it.

Copyright 2005 NPR

1. A deception deliberately practiced in order to secure unfair or unlawful gain.
   
2. A piece of trickery; a trick.
   
3. 1. One that defrauds; a cheat.
      
   2. One who assumes a false pose; an impostor.

1 a : DECEIT, TRICKERY; specifically : intentional perversion of truth in order to induce another to part with something of value or to surrender a legal right b : an act of deceiving or misrepresenting : TRICK
2 a : a person who is not what he or she pretends to be : IMPOSTOR; also : one who defrauds : CHEAT b : one that is not what it seems or is represented to be

Eric Kayser is a baker. He takes what was mere grain, transforms it into bread, and sells it from a store attached to the ovens. My mother has baked bread before and I've done it as part of my cooking duties in the Boy Scouts. It is not hard to meet the conceptual requirements of being a baker. A bakery is little different: a facility that bakes and sells bread products.

The details or measurements one might make of such a place are not important when qualifying what is and what is not a bakery. My house has been a bakery in the past and will likely be one in the future because I have an oven and sometimes unbaked dough is placed in it to dry, harden, heat up, and occasionally rise. I've participated in Boy Scout camping trips where the "kitchen" includes a bakery. Certainly neither of these places has or had the capability (or experience) to produce world-class tourte, le Feuilleté Citron, le Périgourdin, or Monge bâtard. In addition, neither the inhabitants and visitors of my home nor the people on my camping trip wanted all their bread products baked on the spot. There are times it is easier, safer, faster, and cheaper to buying bread products from other people.

I don't know what the letter of the law is in France regarding what can be legally called a boulangerie. All I'm going off of is the NPR quote above and a little I learned from searching for Directorate General for Competition, Consumption and the Repression of Frauds (La Direction générale de la Concurrence de la Consommation et de la Répression des Fraudes [DGCCRF]). Is it is punishable by fines to run a business in France that calls itself a bakery when that business does not bake 100% of every bread it sells at the counter? Is it fraudulent to call yourself a bakery when not everything you sell is from the ovens in the back?

Posted by drizzten at 09:41 AM | Permalink

[Updates Below]

Whilst browsing around to kill the end of the workday, I found this: Licenses, Permits and Registrations A-Z.

The array of industries, services, jobs, and activities covered is stunning. The whole list is copied in the extended entry below.

Where would a reformist market anarchist start to abolish these areas from state control? There are more than 400 permits, licenses, and other regulatory control devices.

Abortion Facility License Renewal
Acupuncturist Information
Agriculture License Renewal
Air Permits and Registrations
Air Conditioning and Refrigeration License Renewal
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselor Information
Ambulatory Surgical Center License Renewal
Announcer (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Apprentice Jockey (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Apportioned Registration
Appraisers (Real Estate) Information
Appraisers (Real Estate) Online Renewal
Aquaculture License Renewal
Architect Information
Asbestos Air Monitoring Technician Initial License
Asbestos Contractor Supervisor Initial License
Asbestos Individual Consultant Initial License
Asbestos Individual Management Planner Initial License
Asbestos Inspector Initial License
Asbestos License/Registration Renewal
Asbestos Notification Payment
Asbestos Operations and Maintenance Supervisor (Restricted) Initial License
Asbestos Project Manager Initial License
Asbestos Worker Initial Registration
Assistant in Audiology License
Assistant in Speech-Language Pathology License
Assistant Trainer (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Assistant Trainer/Owner (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Assn. Assistant Management (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Assn. Management Personnel (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Association Officer/Director (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Association Other (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Association Staff (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Association Veterinarian (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Athletic Trainer Information
Athletic Trainer License
Athletic Trainer License Renewal
Auctioneer Information
Auctioneer License Renewal
Audiologist Information
Audiologist License
Baccalaureate Social Worker License
Backflow Prevention Assembly Tester
Barber Information
Barber License Renewal
Barber Shop Permit New Application
Barbershop and Manicurist Specialty Shop Renewal
Birth and Death Certificates
Birthing Center License Renewal
Boating
Body Piercing Studio Initial License Application (with a Tattoo License)
Body Piercing Studio Initial License Application (without a Tattoo License)
Body Piercing Studio License Renewal
Body Piercing Temporary Event License Application (with a Tattoo License)
Body Piercing Temporary Event License Application (without a Tattoo License)
Bottled and Vended Water Operator Certificate of Competency
Builder/Home Registration and Renewals
Business Form Filings - SOSDirect
Camping
Career Counseling Services
Centralized Master Bidders List (CMBL)
Certified Public Accountant Information
Child Care Center Food Establishment Permit Renewal
Child Care Center Retail Food Initial Permit
Child Care Administrators and Facilities
Chiropractor Information
Chiropractic License Renewal
Chiropractic Facility Registration Renewal
Clinical Social Worker License
Code Enforcement Officer in Training Registration
Code Enforcement Officer Registration
Code Enforcement Officer Registration Renewal
Concealed Handgun Services
Contact Lens Dispensing Business Permit Renewal
Contact Lens Dispensing Individual or Sole Proprietor Permit Renewal
Counselor - Chemical Dependency License Renewal
Counselor - Professional Information
Counselor - Professional License Renewal
Court Reporter Information
Court Reporters License Renewal
Cosmetology Commission Forms
Cosmetology License Renewal
Crisis Stabilization Unit License Renewal
Customer Service Inspector
Dental Hygienist License Renewal
Dental Hygienist Licensure by Examination Application
Dental Laboratory Registration Renewal
Dental License Renewal
Dental Licensure by Examination Application
Dentists and Dental Health Practitioner Information
Device Distributor Initial License
Device Manufacturer Initial License
Dietitian Information
Dietician Initial License
Dietitian License Renewal
Dietician Provisional License
Driver License and ID Card Information
Driver License and ID Card Change of Address
Driver License and ID Card Renewal
Driver License Office Locations
Driver Records - Individual
Drug Distributor Initial License
Drug Manufacturer Initial License
EMS - Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Personnel Information
EMS - Initial Advanced Coordinator Certification
EMS - Initial Basic Coordinator Certification
EMS - Initial Emergency Care Attendant (ECA) Certification
EMS - Initial Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) - Basic Certification
EMS - Initial Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) - Intermediate Certification
EMS - Initial Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) - Paramedic Certification
EMS - Initial Information Operator Instructor Certification
EMS - Initial Instructor Certification
EMS - Initial Paramedic License (LP)
EMS - Reciprocity (all levels) Certification
EMS - Renewal EMT - Intermediate Certification
EMS - Renewal Coordinator Certification
EMS - Renewal Emergency Care Attendant (ECA) Certification
EMS - Renewal Emergency Medical Technican (EMT) - Basic Certification
EMS - Renewal Emergency Medical Technican - Paramedic (EMT-Paramedic) Certification
EMS - Renewal First Responder Organization License
EMS - Renewal Information Operator Instructor Certification
EMS - Renewal Instructor Certification
EMS - Renewal Paramedic (LP) License
EMS - Renewal Provider License
Easement or Right-of-Way Registration Renewal
Egg License Renewal
Electrician Information
Elevators, Escalators and Related Equipment Permit Information
End Stage Renal Disease Facility License Renewal
Engineer Information
Engineering Exam Scheduling and Payment
Environmental Licenses for Installers and Operators
Farrier/Plater/Blacksmith (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Fishing License Information
Fishing License Purchases
Fitter and Dispenser of Hearing Instruments Initial License
Fitter and Dispenser of Hearing Instruments License Renewal
Fitting and Dispensing of Hearing Instruments Temporary Training Permit
Food and Drug - Device Distributor License Renewal
Food and Drug - Device Manufacturer License Renewal
Food and Drug - Food Manufacturer License Renewal
Food and Drug - Food Wholesale Registration Renewal
Food and Drug - Food Wholesaler License Renewal
Food and Drug - Multiple Product Licenses Renewal
Food and Drug – Retail Food Operation License Renewal
Food and Drug - Warehouse Operator License Renewal
Food and Drug – Wholesale Drug Distributor License Renewal
Food and Drug - Wholesale Drug Distributor/Out of State License Renewal
Food and Drug – Wholesale Drug Manufacturer License Renewal
Food Manufacturer Initial License
Food Wholesale Initial Registration
Food Wholesaler Initial License
Funeral Directors and Establishments Information
Funeral Director and Embalmer License Renewal
Geoscientist License Renewal
Grain Warehouse Licenses
Hazardous Products Registration Renewal
Hazardous Substance Initial Registration
Home Builder Registration Information
Home Registration Information
Hunting License Information
Hunting License Purchase
Hospital - General License Renewal
Industrial and Hazardous Waste Permits
Industrial Radiographer Certification Renewal
Initial Physician in Training (PIT) Permit Application
Institution Change Physician in Training (PIT) Permit Application
Insurance Agents and Adjusters Information
Insurance Agent License Renewal
Interior Designer
Intern in Audiology License
Intern in Speech-Language Pathology License
Interpreter - Sign Language and Oral
Jockey - 1 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Jockey - 2 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Jockey - 3 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Jockey Agent (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Kennel (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Kennel Owner - 1 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Kennel Owner - 2 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Kennel Owner - 3 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Kennel Owner/Owner - 1 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Kennel Owner/Owner - 2 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Kennel Owner/Owner - 3 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Kennel Owner/Trainer - 1 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Kennel Owner/Trainer - 2 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Kennel Owner/Trainer - 3 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Kennel Owner/Owner - Trainer - 1 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Kennel Owner/Owner - Trainer - 2 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Kennel Owner/Owner - Trainer - 3 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Land Surveyors License Renewal
Landscape Architect
Landscape Irrigation Licensing
Lead Abatement Project Designer Initial Certification
Lead Abatement Project Designer Reciprocal Initial Certification
Lead Abatement Supervisor Initial Certification
Lead Abatement Supervisor Reciprocal Initial Certification
Lead Abatement Worker Initial Certification
Lead Abatement Worker Reciprocal Initial Certification
Lead Inspector Initial Certification
Lead Inspector Reciprocal Initial Certification
Lead License/Certification/ Accreditation Renewal
Lead Notification Payment
Lead Risk Assessor Initial Certification
Lead Risk Assessor Reciprocal Initial Certification
License Plate - Handicap Application (PDF)
License Plate - Specialty
Licensed Vocational Nurse by Endorsement License
Licensed Vocational Nurse by Examination License
Mammography Certification Renewal
Manicurist License Renewal
Manicurist Specialty Shop Permit New Application
Manufactured Housing License Renewal
Marriage and Divorce Records
Marriage and Family Therapist Associate License
Marriage and Family Therapist Information
Marriage and Family Therapist License
Marriage and Family Therapist License Renewal
Massage Therapists Information
Massage Therapist License Renewal
Massage Therapist Registration
Massage Therapy Establishment
Massage Therapy Instructor Registration
Massage Therapy Instructor Registration Renewal
Massage Therapy School/Training Program Registration Renewal
Master Social Worker - Advanced Practitioner License
Master Social Worker License
Medical Physicist Information
Medical Physicist Initial License
Medical Physicist License Renewal
Medical Physicist Temporary License
Medical Radiologic Technologist General Certificate
Medical Radiologic Technologist Information
Medical Radiologic Technologist License Renewal
Medical Radiologic Technologist Limited Certificate
Medical Radiologic Technologist Non-Certified Technician Registration
Medical Radiologic Technologist Temporary General Certificate
Medical Radiologic Technologist Temporary Limited Certificate
Medical Staff (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Midwife Documentation Renewal
Midwives
Migrant Labor Housing Facility License Renewal
Milk and Dairy Products Permit and License Renewal
Mobile Food Unit Establishment Permit Renewal
Mobile Food Unit Initial Permit
Mold Assessment Consultant One-Year Initial License
Mold Assessment Consultant Two-Year Initial License
Mold Assessment Technician One-Year Initial License
Mold Assessment Technician Two-Year Initial License
Mold Remediation Contractor One-Year Initial License
Mold Remediation Contractor Two-Year Initial License
Mold Remediation Worker One-Year Initial Registration
Mold Remediation Worker Two-Year Initial Registration
Mortgage Banker Online Registration
Mortgage Broker and Loan Officer Online License Renewal
Motor Carrier Registration
Multiple Owner 1 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Multiple Owner 2 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Multiple Owner 3 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Multiple Product Initial License
Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Operator
Mutuel Clerk (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Mutuel Other (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Noncommercial Certified Pesticide Applicator License Renewal
Nonprofit Association Forms
Non-Certified Radiologic Technician License Renewal
Non-Certified Radiologic Technician Permit
Nursery/Floral Licenses
Nurses - General Information at the Board of Nurse Examiners Web Site
Nurses - Renewal of licenses for Licensed Vocational Nurses, Registered Nurses and Advanced Practice Nurses
Occupational Therapy Assistant License
Occupational Therapist Information
Occupational Therapist Jurisprudence Exams
Occupational Therapist License
Occupational Therapist License Renewal
Occupational Therapy Additional Facility Registration
Occupational Therapy Facility Registration Renewal
Occupational Therapy Primary Facility Registration
On-Site Sewage Facility Licensing
Optician Information
Optometrist License Renewal
Organic Certification
Orthotics/Prosthetics Facility License Renewal
Orthotist and Prosthetist Assistant Initial License
Orthotist and Prosthetist Initial License
Orthotist and Prosthetist Student Initial Registration
Orthotist and Prosthetist Technician Initial Registration
Orthotist Assistant Initial License
Orthotist Initial License
Orthotist Student Initial Registration
Orthotist Technician Initial Registration
Orthotist/Prosthetist License Renewal
Out of State Drug Distributor Initial License
Oversize/Overweight Vehicles and Loads
Oversize/Overweight Vehicles and Loads
Owner - 1 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Owner - 2 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Owner - 3 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Owner - Trainer - 1 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Owner - Trainer - 2 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Owner - Trainer - 3 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Perfusionist Information
Perfusionist Initial License
Perfusionist License Renewal
Perfusionist Provisional License
Pesticide Applicator
Petroleum Storage Tank Registrations
Pharmacist Information
Pharmacist License Renewal
Pharmacy Facility License Renewal
Pharmacy Technician Registration
Physical Therapist Assistant License
Physical Therapist Information
Physical Therapist Jurisprudence Exam
Physical Therapist License
Physical Therapist License Renewal
Physical Therapy Additional Facility Registration
Physical Therapy Facility Registration Renewal
Physical Therapy Primary Facility Registration
Physician Information
Physician License Registration
Physician Assistant Information
Physician Assistant License Registration
Plumbing Inspector License Renewal
Plumbing License Renewal
Podiatrist Information
Podiatrist License Renewal
Police Officers
Polygraph Examiner
Professional Counselor Intern (Temporary) License
Professional Counselor License
Professional Sanitarian Registration
Prosthetist Assistant Initial License
Prosthetist Initial License
Prosthetist Student Initial Registration
Prosthetist Technician Initial Registration
Private Security Individual License Renewal
Private Security Company License Renewal
Private Security Bureau
Property Tax Consultants
Prosthetists and Orthotists
Psychiatric Hospital - Private License Renewal
Psychologist License Renewal
Racing Industry Representative (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Racing Industry Staff (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Racing Official (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Radiation Registration Administrative Renewal
Radioactive Materials Administrative License Renewal
Real Estate Agents and Brokers
Real Estate Inspector License Renewals
Real Estate License Renewals and Applications
Registered Nurse by Endorsement License
Registered Nurse by Examination License
Respiratory Care Practitioner Regular Certificate
Respiratory Care Practitioner Renewal
Respiratory Care Practitioner Temporary Permit
Retail Food Operation (Retail Food Establishment) Initial Permit
Retail Food Operation (Retail Food Store) Initial Permit
Retail Foods Temporary Food Establishment Permit Initial Licensing Application
Roadside Food Vendor Initial Permit
Roadside Vendor Food Establishment Permit Renewal
Rotator Physician in Training (PIT) Permit Application
Salvage Establishment or Salvage Broker (Food, Drugs, and/or Devices)
Salvage Initial License
Sanitarians
Sanitarian in Training Registration
Sanitarian Registration Renewal
School Food Establishment Initial Permit
School Food Establishment Permit Renewal
Security Officer (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Seed Certification
Sex Offender Treatment Provider Information
Sex Offender Treatment Provider License Renewal
Social Worker Information
Social Worker License Renewal
SOSDirect
Special Care Facility License Renewal
Speech-Language Pathologist and Audiology License Renewal
Speech and Language Pathologist Information
Speech-Language Pathologist License
Stable Foreman (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
State Board for Educator Certification
Storm Water Permits
Structural Pest Control Board Initial Business License
Structural Pest Control Board Initial Certified Applicator
Structural Pest Control Board Initial Licensed Technician
Structural Pest Control Business License Renewal
Structural Pest Control Certified Applicator and Technician License Renewal
Surgical Assistants
Tanning Facilities Initial License Application
Tanning Facility License Renewal
Tattoo Studio Initial License Application
Tattoo Studio License Renewal
Tattoo Studio Temporary Event License Application
Tattooer (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Tax Professional Information
TCEQ Central Registry
Teacher Certification
Texas Department of Agriculture
Texas Funeral Establishment Renewal
Texas Racing Commission
Tooth Floater (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Trademark Forms
Trainer - 1 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Trainer - 2 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Trainer - 3 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Training Facility Employee (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Training Facility Gen.Mgr./C.E.O (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Unclaimed Property
Underground Storage Tank Contractors
Underground Storage Tank On-Site Supervisors
Uniform Commercial Code
Vehicle Inspection
Vehicle Registration and Titling
Vehicle Registration Renewal and Address Change
Vehicle Storage Facility Licensing
Vendor / Concessionaire Employee (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Veterinarian - 1 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Veterinarian - 2 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Veterinarian - 3 yr (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Veterinarian Assistant (Pari-Mutuel Racing) License
Veterinarian License Renewal
Visible Emissions Evaluator
Volatile Chemical Sales Initial Permit
Volatile Chemical Sales (VCS) Permit Renewal
Voter Registration
Warehouse Operator Initial License
Waste Management Permits
Wastewater Company Registration
Wastewater Operator Licensing
Water Quality Permits and Registrations
Water Operation Company Registration
Water Operator Licensing
Water Treatment Specialist Licensing
Weights and Measures Licenses
Well Drillers and Pump Installers
Youth Camp License Renewal

UPDATED 6/18/2008 11:05am
It seems TexasOnline.com has changed their links. Go to get to the revamped Licenses, Permits, and Registrations page. They've made it far harder to count the total because the Excel spreadsheet doesn't have one line per discreet permit/license. However, this page says there are 506 in the "A-Z" category.

Posted by drizzten at 04:56 PM | Permalink

Updates below.

Oh how I want the living, dining, and commons areas of my house to look pleasant. The ugly Institutional White seen in so many domestic situations bores me to tears. To make matters worse, there is this slight but visible pinkish tint to the paint currently on the walls. That is simply unacceptable.

I've painted my two rooms and my bathroom and Cameron painted his bedroom, but that still leaves the most-seen parts of the interior covered in the almost-white horror. So, we agreed to turn the dining area into another conversational hangout place and move the table elsewhere. The first step in transforming the old eating spot is to do something with the walls.

So we bought one of these:

Little did we know that I'd fuck up the first try.

You see, the directions that came with the wallpaper ("easy assembly!") asked that textured walls get some special treatment before pasting the paper up. We had to put up "liner paper," cover that with two coats of latex base paint, and then we could mix the water-based paste, apply it to the eight picture panels, and hang the damn things.

I screwed up by getting contact paper, the kind for using in kitchen cabinets, not on walls. It couldn't take the weight of the two paint coats and the paste-laden wallpaper. Less than an hour after we were done, the contact paper came loose from the wall and started sagging. We stapled it to the drywall in the hope things would look better in the morning. They didn't: more than half of the damn thing had parted ways with the drywall and left the rest to gravity.

Some additional problems: this thing's going in a corner, it is taller than the available wall space, and it does't come in "strips" like the UrbanOutfitters description said. It comes in eight roughly square panels that must be overlapped to allow for paper expansion and contraction as the paste wets and dries on the surface.

So we carefully removed the wallpaper from the painted surface in order to use it a second time. I wasn't going to pay $140 for a brand new picture. If my walls weren't "textured" this wouldn't be a problem, but I'd say most walls I've seen had some texture built into them beyond the variations a paint roller will leave behind.

This time, we cleaned off the residue on the wall from the contact paper and applied wallpaper primer to the surface. Tonight, we'll put up the liner paper and let it sit overnight. Tomorrow, we'll paint the two coats on. Hopefully we'll have the entire thing done by the weekend.

I'll try to get an after picture taken. I've got a before shot, but it needs to be scanned first.

UPDATED 9/19/2005 9:51am
On the other hand, sanding and staining my new desk wasn't so difficult.

Posted by drizzten at 04:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The only way to fight the terrorists is to rob them of their assets. Their primary asset right now is the indefensible actions of our governments.

-Manic, at Bloggerheads

Part of the problem is the presence of so much irrationality permeating terrorist philosophy. Often enough, the "argument" they are so violently making doesn't make sense. Their followers (the relatively peaceful base of direct physical support that advocates terrorist end goals) may not even be receptive of reasoned opposition. How can you convince and change the minds of terrorists and their enablers when they might not be open to it? If you are perceived to be the Great Satan, part of the corpus of prime evil, an infidel (or worse, an atheist!), who by merely existing is a target...why listen to you?

On the other foot, the broader network of support or sympathy is more likely to be swayed by argument. Allow my inner optimist a few minutes to talk here. They might observe the actions of government: the military invasions, the rights-restrictions, the double standards and lying, the willful blind eye turned towards vicious regimes in order to secure their support, the creeping grasp of prisoner torture and abuse, the mounting body count of civilian deaths in the line of fire, the stationing of "infidel" troops on property held to be sacred, etc. These people, seeing the harm caused by agents of the US and its allied nations, can conclude that the rebels/insurgents/terrorists have a legitimate point even if their chosen method to make that point reality is the deliberate murder of civilians and destruction of property not involved in the grievances in question. They see a complaint that has basis in reality.

If you can demonstrate that the enemy of the terrorists is not guilty of the abuses they allege, you've taken the first step towards victory by alienating them from the greater support they need to succeed. Again, terrorist goals and ideology is frequently batshit insane and against people that believe such garbage one cannot successfully argue. These are the worshippers of violence and our safety can only be secured with violence against them in return. However, these people have always been the problem. Even if Israel was pushed into the ocean, every American withdrew into the US, and we quite literally left the Arab world and other Muslims alone, there is no doubt in my mind terrorism would still occur.

But on a significantly smaller scale.

There are other assets terrorists have, but if you assume they are trying to sway populations into accepting their demands or changing political policy (some rational goal), you can fight terrorism indirectly by merely watching them rhetorically swing at empty air, reduced to just another deluded group of ranting nutjobs whom civilized people accept as the background static of any human reality. If they are using as ammunition the criminal actions of governments (and the scope of that category can be quite large indeed), then denying them that resource ought to be a priority.

Feel free to dismiss this as the uninformed blather of a twentysomething American with hardly any terrorism experience or knowledge. But this is an unmanned front against terrorism and it's long past the time to take it seriously. Military deployments cannot solve all or even most of the terrorist-related problems on this plant because a nontrivial percent of terrorist-related problems are caused by war.

Posted by drizzten at 09:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

[Updates below.]

The London bus and tube bombings took place less than 24 hours ago and the calls for killing/deporting/arrresting/interrogating all Muslims/Arabs/Leftists/Dissidents have already been made in the comment sections of Little Green Footballs:

If there are no Arabs there are no attacks

-#17

No Islam no Terror.

-Rune

Hey, better start wanding all those British grandmothers, Tahitians and American Eskimos. We wouldn't want to unfairly profile Muslims, now would we? Pathetic. I say round them all up and send them back home. An oath of fealty is worthless because of their almost universal adherence to taqiyya.

-Hankmeister

Know is-slum,
Know terror.

NO is-slum,
NO terror!

-paxnhymn

Hang the terrorists at Gitmo.

Throw out the muslims.

Fill the buses and the subways of Michael Moores ("There is no terrorist threat") and Durbins, and make them run until some islamofascist explodes them.

-Poitiers-Lepanto

Waiting for the LLL to play the 'Blame the Victim' card - 'This wouldn't have happened if Bush didn't lie and go to Iraq'.

Damn these whining people to hell - this is a war of Civilization. Good vs Evil. Freedom vs Tyranny. The left are Quislers, and enemies of America. Deport them now.

-kstagger

Maybe they'll take out that Finley Park Mosque with a jdam, during prayers hopefully!

-Jakester

He said he was "very concerned about a backlash" and called on British Muslims to "remain vigilant and calm and stay indoors".

How about remaining calm indoors....in a plane heading to the Mideast holding revoked UK passports?

-coulterclone

To world leaders:,

Invade the entire ME now! Get it over with!

-'Nam Grunt

Yeah, I DO lump them all together. Why not? The make little real effort to distinguish themselves from each other that I can see.

The solution is simple. Outlaw Islam. It's not a religion. It's a cult. Janet Reno every mosque in the country.

-jaybird

If any mosque or Islamic center can suddenly churn out these types of sociopaths, and it becomes more obvious every day that they can, what are our sworn defenders going to do about it?

-Beagle

What really shocks me here is footage of London hours after the attacks. Scores of Muslims in full garb- hijabs, burkas, men in nightie-pyjamathingies,just strolling around! You never see that after an attack in Israel so it just shocked the sh*t out of me. These Brits are living in a true lion's den.

-T.A Tiger

89 Jaybird

The solution is simple. Outlaw Islam. It's not a religion

yes

-Poitiers-Lepanto

London will stand again...

But I really hate and despise muslims and their cult of death and destruction...

-Pitiricus

Morning Charles, LGF family. Such a sad day. A grown man, sitting alone in his office, tears streaming down his face. I should be out driving my CAT, but I can't seem to leave this site. This is bigger than work, bigger than all else.
Please Nations of Liberty.......win this war. NOW.

I have no tolerance left for muslims. God forbid I should see one today. He or she would not like my sentiments.

May God bless the Brits and be with them today, on their day of awakening..........

May those that follow Islam find NO PEACE from those of us who believe in FREEDOM.

-Owl

105 PK

You know editors and producers are scrambling their troops to get the sympathetic muslims as victims angle.

I'd like to give them a story to write about.

-loppyd

It is now time to force muslims to make a choice: Live peacefully or die. I prefer the latter.

-RickZ

Where's the damn football?!

MUST...PUSH...BUTTON....

(deep breaths)

-aRedPhishHead

It wouldn't hurt my feelings if we nuked mecca, got all the filthy muslims out of their mosques and burned them all to the ground. This isn't about religion, it's about a death cult that kills innocent people. enough is enough.

-Owl

I think there are very few options as to how to deal with these people...

I think we may need to rid the globe of another religion...

-tfc3rid

The more the War of September 11th goes on, the more I find myself agreeing with Ann Coulter's initial reaction to the 9/11 attacks.
I hate these sons of fucks for making hate necessary.

-BeerDrinking_VictoryMonkey

Yes, I'm afraid "Democrat" is now synonomous with "Traitor."

-TalkinKamel

THE FUCKING LAMO WANKERS HAVE BLOWN UP MY CITY!

THIS IS LONODN'S 9/11.

GET THE MUSLIMS OUT NOW!

-Jwarrior

Yhe news is being reported, the story, however,is currently being played out in the Mosques of the West. The news crews should be at these dens of subrefuge, recording their gleeful celebrations and not hovering at the bomb sites trying to capture more gore. We have already seen gore for far to long. It is now time to address the problem. Anyone with any recon or intel experience shoild be all over their local mosques and Islamasist owned buisinesses and quietly observing and making notes to prepare for the enevitable. The goverment has failed again. It may be time for some ad hoc grassrooots direct action along the lines of the phoenix program. It's kill or be killed folks and your leadership is knitting. They should inter them all, sort out the assholes, then put them on barge in the South Pacific and sink it. Short of some kind of pro active measures (perhaps some less dramatic and short sighted than the barge scenario are in order first) by the goverment, expect more gore to follow, all dutifully reported by some bimbo with a communications degree. If the media and the pols do not get on board now and this occours in th US (and it will given our ostrich posturing) EXPECT THE INNER REDNECK TO ARISE OUT OF NORMALLY DECENT CITIZENS.

-Ackomanyuki

#321 Buckaroo, we don't need finger prints. Just send every koranic person on a one way Hajj for a life time of bliss in Mecca.

-Roger

#328:

"Ein aravim, ein piguim!"

Yes.

-Golden Jerusalem

#344 Ed:

In English:

"No arabs, no [terrorist] attacks"

It's a graffitti you see around here.

-Golden Jerusalem

There is only one way to stop it. When the world has the stomach for that, it'll be over.
It may be un-PC, and it may be insensitive, and it may even seem a little crazy...but if we are to stop the muslim death cult there is only ONE way....

KILL.THEM.ALL.

-Owl

All cell phones should have GPS that cannot be disabled w/o destroying the device. All locations should be monitored. If these locations dissect known mosques/terrorist locations they should be flagged. All cell phones should routinely be disabled in cities above a certain side. We lived w/o them for a long time as strange as it seems.

-David2

I'll tell you how. There is only one way to get rid of this monster.

We have to ban and reject islam in our societes.

I would personally declare war on the entire ideology - a worldwide civil war, but I guess it would be hard to gain support for that strategy.

I see no other way. I don't believe the religion will reform itself, and 1400 years of history proves it will never assimilate to our values.

-GreatDane

In the end, radical Islam will have to be eliminated, one way or the other. It's just a question as to when Western civilization reaches the tipping point, where they have the stomach and will to finish the job.

Seriosly, one thing we easily, without too much force or pain involved, could do in the near future is to CONFISCATE THEIR [EXPLETIVE DELETED] ROCK!

-Killian Bundy

Ceterum censeo Islam delenda est

-Rocket Rod

You get the idea.

UPDATED 7/11/2005 11:25am
Charles Johnson of LGF:

Chris Bowers at MyDD attacks LGF readers today, for verbally expressing their anger at the mass murder in London: Why Right Wing Blogs Don’t Allow Comments.

This is a great example of how far the left has devolved; London suffers the worst terrorist attack in her history, with more than 50 dead and as many as a thousand injured, and people like Chris Bowers are just horrified that anyone would react to such an atrocity with rage.

In other words, react like human beings.

What is so human about demanding that an entire religion be banned or an entire race of people be expelled from a country?

Mr. Johnson, is is possible to be more disgusted and angered by the terrorist attacks in London and still take the time to show what a substantial chunk of your readership wants to do to the people they dislike. Rage can be appropriate in reaction to wanton death and destruction. It isn't when formulating the response to it, especially when you include people WHO HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT VIOLENCE in that response.

Some good examples of the delusion in play here, from the very thread Mr. Johnson created:

They're angry at us, and not the Islamic terrorists who committed this latest atrocity.

That says it all.

-Spiritualized

what a maroon.

the people who CRITICIZE the terrorists are evil, not the terrorists themselves.

-blue_like_jazz

Islamic fundamentalists blow up innocents in London, and according to leftists, we are not supposed to express any anger, emotion or outrage.

[...]

At least the anger LGF posters express IS directed at THE ACTUAL PERPETRATORS of the bombings and murder.

-Free Speech Is Only For über-Libs

# 74 Mycroft:

The truth is there is an element here that routinely expresses some very ugly thoughts, and that's damaging to the credibility of the rest.

Oooh, ugly thoughts. As compared to deliberately targeting civilians just going to work, or children just going to school, or blowing up vacationers on holiday, or hostages beheaded and replayed all over the internet for a vicarious thrill? Hmmm, ugly thoughts vs. actual acts of brutality. Now which one is worse, I wonder . . . . From your post, I can really tell that you do wonder, to your shame.

-RickZ

Back to Mr. Johnson:

For Bowers, there’s apparently no difference between spouting off on a comment system and actually committing genocide. And if you dare to imply that Britain may have a problem with immigration from Islamic countries, the day after a bloody demonstration of that fact, why, you’re an evil racist!

Shine that light all you want, Chris. Anyone who bothers to actually follow your link will also find a vast majority of thoughtful and well-reasoned comments, of course; on the day you cherry-picked your 10 statements, there were almost 5,000 comments posted here.

Mr. Bowers does leap dramatically overboard, however, when he declares the reason why big traffic right-wing blogs don't allow comments:

There is a reason why blogs like Instapundit and Powerline do not allow comments, and why Time magazine would give its "Blog of the Year" award to Powerline even though Free Republic actually "broke" the CBS story. There is a concerted effort on the part of the right to prevent this sort of overt racism and fascism on the right from being given any sunshine.

Posted by drizzten at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Slate: Who Is a Journalist?

In the Valerie Plame case, two well-known reporters have been sentenced to jail for refusing to rat out a confidential source or sources who told them the name of Valerie Plame, an undercover CIA agent. Lawyers for the two journalists, Matthew Cooper of Time and Judith Miller of the New York Times, are asking the courts to recognize a right for reporters to decline to testify about their newsgathering activities. Failing such a ruling, media outfits including the Times insist on the need for a federal "shield law" that would create a privilege for journalists akin to privileges for lawyers, doctors, and priests.

Posted by drizzten at 04:28 PM | Permalink

Slate: Vote for Woodward!

There's an obvious-but-wacky answer to the dilemma of the "journalists' privilege" against testifying in court. What's the dilemma? a) It's helpful for a free society if there's someone people can leak to without fear that the information will come out in court. But b) why give that immunity from testimony to those people who happen to be hired by corporate media (and then claim, condescendingly, to be acting on behalf of the rest of us)? Judith Miller doesn't deserve greater First Amendment rights than a blogger like Tom Maguire just because she got hired by the Sulzbergers. But if you gave everyone who could start a blog--that is to say, everyone--immunity from having to testify then virtually nobody would have to testify.

What is his "semi-facetious proposal" to remedy this problem?

The second solution is to do what we normally do in a democracy when we have to ration special powers to a few citizens--elect them. If we need ten or twenty reporters in Washington who get special immunity from testifying in order to facilitate the "public's right to know," then let the public choose them by secret ballot. Suppose we gave these Reporters General 5-year renewable terms. They'd have to produce in order to get reelected, and if they got big stories wrong (as Miller did) their chances would dim.

I don't mean this proposal facetiously--only semi-facetiously. If we want a broad journalists' privilege, I don't see another way to get it without arbitrarily granting some citizens more rights than others.

Murray Rothbard, The Ethics of Liberty, Chapter 12 - Self-Defense:

It should be clear that no man, in an attempt to exercise his right of self-defense, may coerce anyone else into defending him. For that would mean that the defender himself would be a criminal invader of the rights of others. Thus, if A is aggressing against B, B may not use force to compel C to join in defending him, for then B would be just as much a criminal aggressor against C. This immediately rules out conscription for defense, for conscription enslaves a man and forces him to fight on someone else’s behalf. It also rules out such a deeply-embedded part of our legal system as compulsory witnesses. No man should have the right to force anyone else to speak on any subject. The familiar prohibition against coerced self-incrimination is all very well, but it should be extended to preserving the right not to incriminate anyone else, or indeed to say nothing at all. The freedom to speak is meaningless without the corollary freedom to keep silent.

If no force may be used against a noncriminal, then the current system of compulsory jury duty must also be abolished. Just as conscription is a form of slavery, so too is compulsory jury duty. Precisely because being a juror is so important a service, the service must not be filled by resentful serfs. And how can any society call itself "libertarian" that rests on a foundation of jury slavery? In the current system, the courts enslave jurors because they pay a daily wage so far below the market price that the inevitable shortage of jury labor has to be supplied by coercion. The problem is very much the same as the military draft, where the army pays far below the market wage for privates, cannot obtain the number of men they want at that wage, and then turns to conscription to supply the gap. Let the courts pay the market wage for jurors, and sufficient supply will be forthcoming.

If there can be no compulsion against jurors or witnesses, then a libertarian legal order will have to eliminate the entire concept of the subpoena power. Witnesses, of course, may be requested to appear.

Judith Miller of the New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time should be set free and no one should be incarcerated for refusing to talk to a court or prosecutor.

Posted by drizzten at 03:19 PM | Permalink

Via Of Arms and the Law (via Instapundit), I read this: Can O'Connor Shoot At The New Sandra Day O'Connor Courthouse Range in Phoenix?

A ten-year review of national gun laws reveals that public access to federal shooting ranges has been preserved. A little-known law states that any rifle range built at least partially by federal money may be used by the military and the public. This covers, for example, the Sandra Day O'Connor courthouse range in Phoenix.

Other features of the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) were abandoned, such as free .22 and .30 caliber ammunition for the public and youth groups. The rewrite of these laws are included in the completely updated 5th edition of "Gun Laws of America," to be released this month. Details are posted at gunlaws.com.

Enacted in 1956 at the height of Cold War tensions under president Eisenhower, and repealed in 1996 from gun-control pressure under president Clinton, CMP was designed to ensure the public was proficient with firearms, for national safety. This affected every knuckle-dragging, pistol-packing pocket-rocket bubba in America. All of the nation's estimated 80 million gun owners benefit from the range-access law.

"If more people knew about this law and went to the ranges, the increase in training would have a beneficial effect on gun safety," said Alan Korwin, the author of Gun Laws of America.

"The basement shooting range in the new Sandra Day O'Connor federal court house in downtown Phoenix would be a welcome addition to the limited facilities this large city has."

Korwin believes a lack of adequate places to practice marksmanship may infringe upon the right to keep and bear arms. "The Second Amendment protects the right of people to practice with the guns they bear," he says, a point recognized by this law, known as 10 USC §4309. "Otherwise, it's like free speech with no talking aloud."

From a Constitutional perspective, no "right" to gun ranges is protected or even mentioned. The 2nd says Americans can own and use firearms. It does not say how, where, why, or when...just that the government cannot infringe upon that right to own and use because the government is the primary violator of man's rights.

Infringement requires a positive action. One must actively work against my free exercise of the right in question, to curtail it, to restrict it, to prohibit it, before it can be classified as a legitimate infringement. The lack of places to shoot does not qualify because it the absence of something. If the state outlawed gun ranges, it would primarily be an infringement of the property rights of actual gun range owners. But the state isn't outlawing gun ranges (specifically, it might be, but I don't want to look into it right now) and individual people are not using force against existing ranges to shut them down (ditto).

By wrapping this in rights-language, Mr. Korwin is implying something that is left unmentioned. When rights are violated, the use of force to restitute/reimburse/punish the violator becomes justified. Well, who exactly in Mr. Korwin's mind is violating gun owner's rights here? What should be done with them? Should the state build a gun range for every 1,000 people in an area...using taxpayer money?

No, a scarcity of gun ranges does not mean a person's rights have been violated. It means there either isn't enough interest in the local market to support another venue (it's been tried and it failed) or there aren't any motivated individuals to test the waters to see if another venue can earn enough money to stay afloat (it just hasn't been tried).

I'll tell you what would be a rights-violation: getting the state to steal wealth from citizens in the form of taxes in order to provide a service that any functioning mind understands can and is provided by private people with private property.

Posted by drizzten at 02:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Updates below.

I'll be working around my house, drinking some beer, hanging out with friends, and generally having fun and being productive.

I won't spend my time celebrating the birth of a nation that has long ago ceased to exist in the form and through the intent that created it.

Besides, I can't freely celebrate the independence of a nation that was supposed to respect the rights of man because the subgovernments of that nation have infringed upon those rights in the name of my interest. The sale, possession, and use of alcohol and fireworks (to name just two prominent examples) have long been regulated and in some cases, prohibited. I'll let the reader connect the dots on that one.

UPDATED 7/4/2005 9:15pm
Some quotes I've found while browsing around. I don't endorse the viewpoints of them all, but I do sympathize with the feelings that inspired them:

There's no particular reason anymore to celebrate this country over any other. It's just another meaningless day off.

-Sandy

The government gives us a day off to celebrate what a wonderful goverment it is.

-js

When raising our glasses at times like this, there is one thing to which we must raise them before all others: our ability to endure.

-panurge

But let's look on the bright side: I am still far better off than I would be in North Korea or Saudi Arabia. Too bad "We're better than a brutal dictatorship" doesn't have quite the same ring as "We're the land of the free."

-Jennifer

I'll attend a fireworks display celebrating the collapse of the state.

Koko

Nobody celebrates the actual founding of our government, on September 17, 1787. Interestingly, that's the day that something called the Constitution was signed, which created the government that later destroyed the Constitution (kind of like the robots/nanoparticles humans create will supposedly destroy the human race.)

Ammonium

On this Independence Day, I call attention to the middle passages of the Declaration of Independence, which often go unremembered in the shadow of the document’s stirring introduction and statement of first principles.

-Skip Oliva

The fight against Al Qaeda and any who ally with them must go on but the greatest threat to liberty (and in the long run that inevitably means life) facing the people in the United States comes not from without but from within.

-Perry de Havilland

This is not America anymore, Perry. Who knows whether it ever will be again? Maybe, on some distant day. As it stands right now, however, I find this day to be the single most dis-heartening and appalling of the year.

-Billy Beck

1. Smuggle things into public squares when you’re watching fireworks. Booze, drugs, and your own smaller fireworks are classics, but immigrants work just as well in a pinch...The Fourth is not about the military, it’s not about the flag, it’s not about how much aid we can give to authoritarian third-world governments. It’s about flipping the king the bird and running your own life.

-Randall McElroy

Thomas Jefferson famously wrote that, "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." We obviously haven't been vigilant enough.

-Radley Balko

Posted by drizzten at 10:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Sonic - America's Drive-In!
1815 Airport Blvd.
Austin, TX 78702

Sir,

I can be and often am a patient person. Moreso than several of my friends, I am more willing to give other people a chance to correct mistakes and resolve problems before turning my back on them or getting publicly angry. However, the brilliant incompetence of the staff on duty last night was stunning.

My friend Shawn and I arrived at your store around 9:45. Since I was driving, I was responsible for relaying our order to the cooks inside. Right off the bat I got Shawn's order wrong because I thought when he said "bacon cheeseburger" I thought he meant the standard SONIC® Bacon Cheeseburger...not the TOASTER® Bacon Cheddar Sandwich. So I corrected myself with the order-taker. I wanted a #2 Combo (SuperSONIC™ Cheeseburger, fries/tater tots, & drink) and I wanted the burger made with ketchup, mustard, and cheese only. No veggies and no mayonnaise.

Now, the entire time I'm placing my order, the person on the other end would leave these 10-15 second pauses after I'd finish speaking. To the casual reader, this may not seem like such a horrible thing. However, the level of service I've received at other fast food joints (as well as other Sonics) has in effect conditioned me to expect quick responses on the part of the order staff. Waiting for that person to indicate I could continue with my order or to get details about what I had ordered became annoying. I was envisoning, fairly or not, some lazy jerk leaning his head on one hand, cheek squished up near his eye, typing data in with one finger on the other. The order did, however, get placed and I paid on the spot with a credit card through the new swipe pad system (I like those! Thank you!).

So Shawn and I wait.

And wait.

And wait.

And we're observing other things during this time. We're both hearing and seeing customers having trouble placing orders, waiting to place orders, and getting food for which they did not ask. It wasn't crowded when we got there, but it slowly became that way while we waited. This was partly because the people that arrived had to wait for the staff to get finished with the customers already there. And those people were not uniformly happy.

People were repeating their orders and raising their voices. We overheard someone in one car asking for help because the food he received was not the food he ordered. Another customer left his car and entered the building with his food and talked to what appeared to be a manager.

Shawn and I waited about 5-8 minutes before our food was brought out. This was within the realm of the acceptable, but longer than usual. By this time we were somewhat apprehensive. I choose your Sonic that night, Mr. Edwards, because the last time I bought food there, it royally screwed up my order. I asked for a Grilled Chicken Wrap combo with no tomatoes. What I got was a standard Grilled Chicken Sandwich (with tomatoes) with no fries. I was dumb and didn't check the order before I left and was so pissed off when I discovered the error at home I just threw the sandwich away. I came to your store last night, Mr. Edwards, to give it another chance. I wanted to know if the escalating problems of the last few nighttime visits were an anomaly, a fluke created by the impossible-to-control events that affect the dozens of people directly involved in any business endeavor.

But you and your people fucked up my order again. Ya'll fucked it up more than anyone else in the foodservice industry has ever fucked it up before. In addition, you fucked up Shawn's order. The only thing you guys got right were our drinks: a Sprite for me and a Chocolate Cream Pie Shake for him. The lady who brought the order out also accomplished a first: there was no offer of condiments or peppermint candies. In fact, there were none on her tray to speak of. We were also missing either a straw for me or a utensil of some sort for his shake.

Shawn and I sat there, more curious than anything else. What I got was a standard SONIC® Cheeseburger (with all the shit I didn't want on it) and no fries. What Shawn got was a Bacon, Egg & Cheese BREAKFAST TOASTER® Sandwich. I had just paid your store $7.68 and the personnel within did a fantastic job of not just dropping the ball, but punting it to the wrong team.

The whole time, my friend and I are watching others have trouble with their orders. One guy took a bite from his burger, got out of his car, spat the bite he took out into a garbage can, and walked into the building and spoke with the guy I assumed to be the manager, you. Another guy had been sitting in his car before we arrived and just then got the ice cream cone he ordered.

I hit the red button to speak with someone. I was asked if I wanted to place an order. I said, no, what I did order was wrong and I'd like to speak to someone about it.

I swear to fucking gawd there was a 2-3 minute space between my request and the same person asking if I wanted to order anything, like I hadn't said a word. I explained, again, what the problem was and the person on the other end told me they'd get right on it.

Shawn and I wait.

And wait.

And wait.

During the approximately 15 minutes we waited, we saw two more people walk up to the building to show people inside their orders and subsequently throw the bags away. One lady in a minivan did this and nearly drove off before the manager-person (a black man wearing a long sleeve blue shirt) jogged up to her vehicle and convinced her to stay. Shawn bugged me to either leave or go inside and talk with someone, because that was how others were getting quick results. I said I'd wait another 2 minutes because I wanted them to come to me.

After three more minutes, I collect the food and walk inside. The two serving women, who had been running back and forth delivering food the entire time, turned to me and had the deer-in-the-headlights look to them, like they simultaneously asked themselves, "Oh no, now what?"

The female who brought out my food asked me if she could help in some way. I explained the situation. The blue shirt manager guy (whom I am assuming is you, Mr. Edwards, because I called your store this morning and asked for the name of the manager who was running the place around 10pm last night) asked her what was wrong and upon finding out, leaned over some of the fryers and without so much as looking me in the eye or addressing me directly told her to take my order and have it cooked immediately. He then turned around and went back to doing what he had been doing.

I brought my receipt with me and explained the details of what we wanted and what we got. The server lady stopped me halfway through this to get a pen so she could write down everything. Shawn wanted his sandwich and I wanted my burger and fries. Satisfied that things would get fixed, I left the "lobby" where everyone else we had watched gone to complain and got back in my car.

This time, your service actually improved because the food was brought out in less than three minutes and the server lady offered a simple apology. This was a very marginal improvement: my burger didn't have ketchup and my fries weren't in the bag. I think Shawn laughed at the absurdity of it all, but I wasn't paying attention because I took a small bite to see if even this inaccurate order tasted how it should.

Mr. Edwards, can you imagine what I'm feeling at this point? Can you imagine how deeply your staff has bruised their customer relationship with me and my friend? Not only did we experience unacceptable and considerably substandard customer service, but we saw it happening to a significant portion of everyone else.

At this time, the man dressed and acting as the manager had gone from car to car, talking with the occupants for unknown reasons. He/you did not come to my car. Shawn had to flag him/you down and explain that I was missing my fries. I had already resigned myself to the very likely chance adding ketchup to my burger was beyond the capabilities of your staff, so getting the fries and getting the hell out of there was all I gave a shit about. You bustled inside and came out with the fries quickly and apologized.

Not once was there an offer to make it up to us, to attempt to compensate for the nearly 45 minute wait for an order that ought to have taken less than 10. Of course, by this time, even if you had offered a coupon for a free slushie or something, I certainly wouldn't have redeemed it at your store. I'd probably end up with a damn Corn Dog Kid's Meal Wacky Pack®, served cold, an hour after placing my order, and for twice the price.

You're fired. I will never do business with that store again and I will encourage my friends to stay away from it as well.

P.S. Your company's website is slow and unresponsive.

Posted by drizzten at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)