posted by perkiset on Nov 16

It is true, and I am proud to relate that I have been a card-carrying member of the ACLU for a great many years. I not only laugh, but get often disgusted by the attacks on the ACLU as some kind of ultra-left or wildly out of the mainstream organization. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. By defending the Constitution, prosecuting legal wars against laws that violate our civil liberties and taking up legal arms in the defense of our essential American rights, the ACLU might well be the most conservative and patriotic organization that exists today.

The ACLU is, of course, the American Civil Liberties Union. It was founded in 1920 by a room full of civil liberty activists and today has over 500,000 members and prosecutes over 6000 legal cases per year. A quote from their website states:
 

To this end, the mission of the ACLU is simple and articulate:

The ACLU will work to preserve and guarantee:

• Your First Amendment rights - freedom of speech, association and assembly; freedom of the press, and freedom of religion.
• Your right to equal protection under the law - equal treatment regardless of race, sex, religion or national origin.
• Your right to due process - fair treatment by the government whenever the loss of your liberty or property is at stake.
• Your right to privacy - freedom from unwarranted government intrusion into your personal and private affairs.

At times, just like any organization, they may take on or be involved in cases that seem extreme or even wacky, but in fact the underlying principle of every case taken on by this excellent organization is either supported by Constitutional law, local or federal law or is a challenge to a law that is in conflict with either the Federal or State Constitutions.
 

 
So it was with both fear and delight that I watched the linked video, which was passed to me by a dear friend this morning and whom I will simply call DB. In it is a set of common interactions with police, as well as both how they went wrong and how they could go right for the citizens involved. The video is 45 minutes long and I strongly recommend every citizen of the U.S. to watch it. It gives excellent and detailed advice on how to adhere to the law, while at the same time making sure that lawmen adheres to your rights and civil liberties.
 
Thank you DB for this excellent link and for caring enough to share it with me.

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posted by perkiset on Oct 30

I’ve been going back and forth with Lupus about how America and taxes are like a gun in your face – the Federal government is essentially a thug that is extracting your money “by force” and “with a gun in your face.” Although I agree that our current administration IS a bunch of thugs and essentially a crime family, the notion that the federal government is the cause of our woes is just laughably silly. So I’m coining a new phrase just so you’ll know what I’m talking about: “Lazitarians.”

Argument: We pay too much in tax.
No, YOU pay too much in taxes. I pay an amount that is close to 11% of our family’s gross annual revenue and have for the last 20 years. Completely legit, pristine white and 100% legal tax preparation. What I don’t do, is sit around and let them tell me what I will pay.

Here’s what you don’t understand: a tax return is essentially a negotiating framework. It first off requires full disclosure ie., this is what I made last year so that we have a basis to start negotiating, but from that point on it’s up to you to figure out what you’ll pay. If you simply take the 1040EZ and pay what they list then you’re both foolish and lazy. Essentially you are purchasing the right to not have to be smart. You’re saying, “Well, I don’t really want to have to work, think, keep records or figure out what is NOT the government’s share, so I’ll just pay this instead.”

Thanks, by the way, for paying the lion’s share of the money the fed receives each year – you’re certainly paying more than me. But hey – you also get more time on the couch to watch Desperate Housewives and such. Good for you. But I digress.

Lazitarians and the like are more comfortable complaining about the way things are then doing anything about them. Screaming about taxes is certainly a lot easier than doing something about them. Little known fact: a child, working in the home for a sole-proprietorship pays no income tax (up to a certain amount). So what do we do? Form a sole proprietorship to manufacture breast cancer awareness jewelry. The money the kids make, since they are still under 18, is under our control – so we apply it to their private school costs. Presto – earned income goes towards private school. Wow, that was tough (and an oversimplification, but you get the point). Clearly, the children need to for-reals work and there’s no funny business here – but we personally would rather they learn to work than watch TV, so our home is centered around understanding income and a work ethic. Again, this is beyond most folks that would rather pay a post-tax allowance to kids so that they aren’t taken away from Grey’s Anatomy.

How about this: C Corps can pay health insurance for their employees. So we have a C Corp for one huge aspect of what we do here. Because the board has decided that this makes a great benefit, all medical expenses, including optical and dental are a benefit of working for our C corp. Presto – medical costs are pre-tax.

Here’s the deal – PinkHat’s and my life with accounting is neither simple, easy or quick. We both spend on average 10 hours per month on our accounting, reconciliation and book keeping - as well as the sum we pay a *very professional EA* to make sure we’re doing it right – because if the government decides it wants to check up on us then we want to make sure we have our ducks in a row (thank GOD for PinkHat who does this stuff brilliantly). But when we look at the amount of money we save by spending this combined 20-ish hours per month, it makes EXCELLENT financial sense. In fact, the way I see it, it is a revenue opportunity. I have a cost of business at 38%. But by working 10 hours I can reduce that by a profound amount and put a huge amount of money in my pocket. And by doing it the right-right-right way, the money stays in my pocket all year long and the government gets there piece after the year is over. Presto – I’ve even made interest income on the money that I am going to pay them.

So please – stay dumb about this issue because you’re making my life really easy. There’s a couple GREAT new shows on channel 12 tonight…

Argument: Private entities (companies / corps) are better suited to do things because they have an incentive – profit – rather than the government, which has no incentive.
Well, OK – you kind of have me on that one if you take it on face value – private corporations do have an incentive to do well – it’s called profit. But here’s the rub, and why that sentence always stops right there: Private corporations have incentive to do well FOR THEIR SHAREHOLDERS. Employees are a necessary evil, and if they can get it cheaper, do it cheaper, sell it for more, the board is happy. Lazitarians do not understand that corporations have no conscience nor any reason at all to be concerned with my health, welfare or wellbeing – except so long as I have a dollar to spend on them. IT is for this very reason that “un-incentivised government programs” are often of such value – in fact, you’re benefiting from them RIGHT THIS SECOND.

The Internet was thought of, prototyped, developed and made ubiquitous because of government, military and academic programs. The argument that “private industry is better” is simple horseshit because if they COULD have done it they WOULD have. If there was so much to be made and private industry would be so much better at this, believe me they would be. The amount of people that profit directly or indirectly is a DIRECT result of this research and development and, yours and my tax dollars. The benefits to health from the space program are innumerable. The capability to simply drive from state to state pretty easily on federal highways is marvelous.

How about this one: private industry would still have us believe that “It’s never really been proven that cigarette smoke is bad for your health.” There’s your private industry: complete denial so that they can continue to profit. And yours and my tax dollars went to fighting them on this. Where is the benefit you say? Let people smoke and die? Well, first off – I don’t have time personally to research the health dangers associated with smoking, so I need to outsource that before I decide to light up. Second, since I pay for the health care of folks that can’t afford it, and those very same folks are the ones most likely to smoke, then I’d prefer that the government continues to fight the private industry that wants to profit AT MY EXPENSE WHETHER I SMOKE OR NOT.

How does the notion of Lazitarian fit in here? Corporations make a lot of noise and are actually at least as good, if not better at propoganda than our government. It’s a whole lot easier to believe the fascists and scream at the government than it is to believe that they (corporations) could really give a shit if my drinking water is safe or not. Why we want to scream at the entity that is TRYING to make water safer (the government) while we want to give free reign to the very entities that have polluted it (private enterprise) is amazing to me. But rather than learning, we’d rather see how Addison is doing on Private Practice (hey honey - did you get that on the Tivo?) and scream. Lazitarians.

Argument: The government controls me
No, you are a Lazitarian. Noone and nowhere does it say that freedom is easy or cheap. It is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to get smart and make use of the tools that this country provides for you to prosper – if you want to eliminate the government so that you can prosper, then you are a WELFARE MOTHER. You are looking for the government to hand you the worst entitlement of all: LAZINESS. If you can’t compete because it’s “just too tough to start a business” then you are LAZY. You want to cut everyone down to your level because you cannot rise up to the challenge. Get off your butt, turn the TV off and grab a book… make a plan about how you will take responsibility for your life, rather than screaming that the government has taken it from you. It has not – you have surrendered it willingly.

And by the way, thanks again- I love the lovely landscaping on the roads around here – certainly a gift from you and your hard work. Really, thanks.

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