I read this today on Yahoo but 10 hours later it still makes me giggle so I thought I would post it.

Rocker and Political Analyst extraordinaire Ted Nugent spoke out against the Department Of Justices Raids on  Gibson Guitars on Fox Business with Lou Dobbs.

Some Classic Ted Quotes:

“Life as we know it would be worthless with out Gibson”

“This is going to come to an end -we’re going to vote these punks out of office!”

We Stand With Gibson Guitars Rally Oct. 8

A coalition of 26 Tea Party and Conservative groups from across the US will be hosting a rally in support of embattled Gibson Guitars, next month.

As you may know, Gibson Guitars was recently raided by Holder’s Justice Department over the type of wood it uses in guitars.

Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar Corp. held a press conference to explain the situation.

The Wall Street Journal expanded on the story.

Gibson Guitar Corp., a big user of ebony and other scarce woods, for years has allied itself with Greenpeace and other environmental groups to show it was serious about preserving forests.

That didn’t stop the Nashville-based company, whose guitars are used by such musicians as B.B. King and Angus Young of AC/DC, from running afoul of U.S. authorities over allegedly illegal imports of wood. Though no charges have been filed, Gibson factories have been raided twice, most recently last week, by federal agents who say ebony exported from India to Gibson was “fraudulently” labeled to conceal a contravention of Indian export law.

Henry Juszkiewicz, chief executive officer of the closely held company, said in an interview that a broker probably made a mistake in labeling the goods but that the sale was legal and approved by Indian authorities.

The more I watch the debates of our Presidential candidates the more I must align my self with Ron Paul. His values appear to be my values, we both believe in smaller government, liberty, the constitution and the free will of the people.

My favorite Ron Paul Quotes…

“1913 wasn’t a very good year. 1913 gave us the income tax, the 16th amendment and the IRS.”

“One thing is clear: The Founding Fathers never intended a nation where citizens would pay nearly half of everything they earn to the government.”

“Stimulus might appear to work for some people for a short time. It worked for a short time for Solyndra. For a time, they could pretend to be engaging in productive activities that would help the economy. For a time, unemployment was 1,100 people less. But the recent bankruptcy of Solyndra shows that the government is a terrible venture capitalist. This charade cost the American people over half a billion dollars they could not afford, yet there is no mea culpa. The administration is not questioning its calculations, or how they could have been so wrong on their unemployment predictions in the wake of the last stimulus.” -ronpaul.com

“Another term for preventive war is aggressive war – starting wars because someday somebody might do something to us. That is not part of the American tradition.”

“We need to understand the more government spends, the more freedom is lost…Instead of simply debating spending levels, we ought to be debating whether the departments, agencies, and programs funded by the budget should exist at all.”

“Freedom is not defined by safety. Freedom is defined by the ability of citizens to live without government interference. Government cannot create a world without risks, nor would we really wish to live in such a fictional place. Only a totalitarian society would even claim absolute safety as a worthy ideal, because it would require total state control over its citizens’ lives. Liberty has meaning only if we still believe in it when terrible things happen and a false government security blanket beckons.”

“Deficits mean future tax increases, pure and simple. Deficit spending should be viewed as a tax on future generations, and politicians who create deficits should be exposed as tax hikers.”

“Everyone assumes America must play the leading role in crafting some settlement or compromise between the Israelis and the Palestinians. But Jefferson, Madison, and Washington explicitly warned against involving ourselves in foreign conflicts.”

“I am just absolutely convinced that the best formula for giving us peace and preserving the American way of life is freedom, limited government, and minding our own business overseas. ”

“I will always vote what I have promised, and always vote the Constitution, as well as I will not vote for one single penny that isn’t paid for, because debt is the monster, debt is what’s going to eat us up and that is why our economy is on the brink.”

Ron Paul is the Rodney Dangerfield of the 2012 Presidential Race. That’s too bad because he is the one rational thinking person in the race.

Just Watch…

Read More About Presidential Candidate Ron Paul

I find WikiLeaks latest posts offensive. It is not whistle blowing, its treason, espionage and a blatant attempt to ruin the United States of America, politically, socially and economically.  It’s an outright attack on America. The documents were gathered illegally through a coward.

Our President isn’t taking this very serious. So let’s pretend I am The President of the United States…

Top 10 Ways I would “handle” WikiLeaks

1. Contact Israel and have Mosaad make Julian Assange “disappear” like those responsible for Munich 1972 Olympic murders. It’s a bit extreme but would send a message.  Don’t F*** With America.
2. Accuse Julian Assange of espionage. I would proceed with charges etc. I would label him an enemy combatant/terrorist. This would immediately limit his ability to travel.
3. I would find a way to limit his ability to finances. The US should freeze accounts and go after WikiLeaks funding.  (Remember Will Smith’s character in “Enemy of the State”.)
4. Cyber attack the site.  It’s a website for Pete’s sake.  We could overflow his hosting with requests (Denial of Service Attack), we could hack the site, we could use our power and influences with his host, the telecoms that support the site etc.
5. Put pressure on Iceland to remove the site. They are a member of NATO and an alleged partner and ally.
6. Release all personal data about Julian Assange, and his investors.
7. Wiretap his phone and allow people to visit a website and listen.
8. I would have Secret Agents and Special Forces visit him at home often. Bring him hot chocolate and stuff during the visits.
9. 1 way ticket to Kabul.
10. Google Bomb Julian Assange=Douche

The other day I was reading a post by one of my favorite bloggers, Billionaire Mark Cuban.  In four short paragraphs Cuban scared the hell out of me.

The post is about an investment of his in technology that monitors traffic information and patterns.  Cuban claims that it allows for anonymity but can help businesses monitor traffic. Think shoppers at a store and how they wander through.  It helps the business develop better flow for sales.  In my mind its brilliant.

What scared me was this…

The next extension is to install it in places where we can add facial recognition software. So rather than someone checking in to a specific application, we would already know you are there.

Even more interesting is the fact that Facebook provides a database of 500mm people and their names from around world. While not all profile pictures are going to be valid in facial recognition software, most will. Few people exclude their basic name and picture information from public search, so FB could be the first to provide a database of names and faces to the commercial world of facial recognition

Now add in a tad of Policing.

The problem is this simple things we upload to Facebook and other sites can and probably will be used to cause us harm.  By harm I mean we could now be forced to pay fines, fees and taxes and all the data used to enforce these are provided by us on the web.

Cuban’s company might not be doing this but our government might very well be. I work in government and I understand the simple principle that anyone who has to “get elected” to keep their jobs is never ever trustworthy of anything including personal information.

If you don’t believe me think about this…

Two years ago the Utah State Tax Commission purchased Pictometry.  USTC purchased and licensed the software and allow all of the information used for any state or local government agency.

Here is the scenario…

You fix up your yard etc now the property tax division can see this using Pictometry and can adjust your property value thus increasing your taxes. Or if you build/add on something without the proper documentation suddenly the government without proper procedure can see it from their office without due process of law.  Properties are now able to be looked at without your consent and without proper due process of law.

This software is accurate and the photos are updated several times a year.  I have access to these photos. They are so accurate that I can recognize some I know mowing their lawn. This accuracy has increased revenue so much that Utah is able to pay the outrageous fees for this software and data and still make more money than without it.

Now imagine what they are doing with your recently updated profile pics from Facebook.

Let’s let our minds wander a little with imagination and I will propose a simple scenario.

Big Brother Government needs to create a new revenue stream…  Elected officials need to have a cause for the people so that he can get re-elected.  IE: Funding a new sports arena.

Big Brother decides that in addition to funding the new sports arena, he wants to combat obesity by taxing McDonalds because McDonalds makes people fat.  (My view is people do things to be fat not McDonalds).  The government in acts a visitation style tax.  I mean after all government knows what’s best for you and that is only one visit to McDonalds per week. If you visit McDonalds more than 2 times a week they will tax your order.  Facial recognition software could make it so that government could monitor your activities using Facebook profile photos or any other government database.

Another version of this scenario is insurance companies also monitor McDonalds traffic and charges you more for healthcare because you visit McDonalds at a higher rate.

It makes it seem that George Orwell wasn’t too farfetched now.

My opinion as an honest law abiding citizen is simple.  It’s no one’s business how many times I visit McDonalds including McDonalds.

We have all heard that there is no escape from Death or Taxes.

As the sour economy continues and states are struggling to balance bloated budges, they look to find creative “no harm” taxes.  For some reason the boneheads in government think that taxes increase economic output.  This is a huge fallacy. Stealing business revenues for elected officials’ pet projects kills jobs. Look no further than California (high tax) vs Texas (low tax) in the battle for economic growth.

Anyway that’s a different argument…

States starving for a new source of slop at the free trough of out of state businesses are looking towards the internet as the panacea for the aches of a poor fiscal policy. The latest target of creative government funding is taxing out of state retailers. States view these large businesses as a cash cow with no re-election impact. The states’ biggest online target is Amazon.

The online retailer Amazon is currently embattled with several states over sales tax. Past customer data seems to be a target of North Carolina.  Apparently North Carolina has the balls to go after anyone and everyone who has made a purchase from Amazon since 2003.  Amazon had to counter with a lawsuit to block the North Carolina Department of Revenue from getting its hand on this data.

I personally find this very interesting because Utah has been trying to tax internet purchases for the last 10 years.  Utah has been very unsuccessful at this game. The only weapon they have is Utah’s use tax which levees a sales tax on most catalog and internet purchases but also includes magazine subscriptions. I am worried that Utah might get the same idea as North Carolina.

We recently discovered that Utah has no problem with circumventing the Constitution’s 4^th Amendment protection in online activities via state laws. I can’t wait to see if this revives Utah’s lust for more cash.

I don’t understand why government officials can’t be more frugal. Look at how complicated and bloated the Federal Government budget is here.

The thing that I find scary is at what point is my privacy protected?

Apparently my online activity, my cable, my cell phone and now my customer data isn’t protected from the government. No longer are my habits anonymous to them. Pretty soon I see laws telling me what books and movies I can read.  Just read Amazon’s statement in this lawsuit.

The North Carolina Department of Revenue (the “DOR”) is demanding that Amazon turn over the name and address of virtually every North Carolina resident who has purchased anything from Amazon since 2003, along with records of what each customer purchased and how much they paid. If Amazon is forced to comply with this demand, the disclosure will invade the privacy and violate the First Amendment rights of Amazon and its customers on a massive scale. But the DOR does not need personally identifiable information about Amazon’s customers in order to audit Amazon’s compliance with state tax laws.All it needs to know is what items Amazon sold to North Carolina customers and what they paid, and Amazon has already provided that information to the DOR.

Apparently the Utah legislature is no fan of The Constitution.  Last year the Utah legislature passed a bill that would allow prosecutors the power to get your contact information from your ISP or cell phone companies without the oversight of a judge when the prosecutors suspect a child sex crime. Don’t get me wrong I believe child sex offenders deserve harsh penalties however I believe also that they deserve the due process of law.

This year legislature passed House Bill 150 Administrative Subpoena Amendments that broadens the powers of prosecutors to bypass the Constitution once again but this time it includes more crimes which include suspected felonies, as well as cyber-stalking and cyber-harassment (misdemeanors).

This is a violation of the 4^th Amendment Right of illegal searches and seizures specified in the due process clause. Where the hell is the media on this? Where is the ACLU? Where is Glenn Beck?

The Fourth Amendment specifies that any warrant must be judicially sanctioned for a search or an arrest, in order for such a warrant to be considered reasonable. Warrants must be supported by probable cause and be limited in scope according to specific information supplied by a person (usually a law enforcement officer) who has sworn by it and is therefore accountable to the issuing court. Source: Wikipedia

The new law removes the judicial oversight of the process of obtaining evidence. Remember the three branches of government that provide checks and balances. If one of them is removed who is doing the checks and balances. In layman’s terms who’s watching the cops if the judge is taken out of the obtaining of evidence?

According to the Salt Lake Tribune: “Since the bill took effect, more than 200 such subpoenas have been issued, or slightly more than one a day.”  Courtesy of  Saintless

Saintless goes on to say:

And last year’s bill is proof that it’s not needed. We tend to hear about it when there’s a child porn case in Utah. And I certainly haven’t heard of anywhere near 1 new case per day in the last 6 months, which tells me that it’s either being over used (and abused), or isn’t effective. And with no accountability, all I can think is: “Who will watch the watchmen?”

Odd don’t you think? The most conservative state in America doesn’t support The Constitution.  This is the same state legislature that passed laws challenging the authority of the Federal Government with the Firearms Freedom Act.

So the 10th Amendment is more important than the 4th Amendment?  That is the message the Utah Legislature is peddling with their actions.

This whole rant was stirred by a post, I read today on Pete Ashdown’s blog: Go Pete Go!!!

Now the funny part about this. Brad Daw is a hypocrite of the finest order.

House Bill 150′s sponsor is Brad Daw R-Orem. I didn’t know anything about Brad Daw so I googled his name. I found out that he is up for re-election in 2010. I went to his campaign website. his website is full of Founding Fathers quotes and testimony about Daw’s devotion to upholding The Constitution. Here is the text of his site. (Hey Brad… if you are computer genius maybe you could use W3 compliant code because your site coding sucks worse than your design.)

Send Brad back to the Legislature in 2010I can say it no better than Thomas Jefferson did in the Declaration of Independence:
	“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
I believe, further, that the right to life begins before birth, that liberty is best preserved by limited government intrusion, and that happiness is best pursued in a loving and committed family.

He also has a link to a video in which he appears for The Patrick Henry Caucus.

Where the hell does he get off violating the 4th Amendment with his legislation and then preaching about his support of The Constitution?

Orrin Hatch is having a town meeting…  Now is your chance to tell him what an assclown he is, how much you hate a career politician  or how much his music sucks.

Its the freedom of America to go and tell you leaders to shape up or get unelected.

Do you civil duty and tell him what you think.

From: Correspondence_Reply@hatch.senate.gov [mailto:Correspondence_Reply@hatch.senate.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2010 3:02 PM
Subject: Correspondence from Senator Orrin Hatch

April 6, 2010

I want to bring to your attention two upcoming town hall meetings in your area of our state.

Utahns from every corner of our state are tremendously concerned with recent action taken in Washington, D. C. including a takeover of the nation’s health care system, out of control federal spending, and an ever-increasing federal deficit that threatens the security and well-being of generations to come. For this reason I am continuing my initiative to hold town hall meetings in various areas of our state to ensure that citizens throughout Utah are able to be part of an ongoing dialogue about the challenges we are facing and help to find solutions. I hope you can attend.

April 7, 2010 — 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Weber County Town Hall Meeting

Orion Junior High School

370 West 2000 North

Harrisville, UT 84414

April 8, 2010 — 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Salt Lake County Town Hall Meeting

Elk Ridge Middle School

3659 West 9800 south

South Jordan, UT 84095

Your Senator,

Orrin G. Hatch

United States Senator

I love the politics of Utah… It’s a train wreck that never ends and is endlessly entertaining. The jackasses that run this state are plentiful. The schemes mostly hare-brained and mostly we can blame the Mormons if you read the majority of commenter’s posts on Utah news sites.

Here are a few of my favorites this year. This year is a tight budget year which makes lawmakers a little bit crazier than normal.

School bus ads bill

In a surprising effort to rethink revenue a bill was created for advertising on the exterior of the bus an idea that has saved nearly 20 teaching jobs in Boston. Again the purse strings wanted to save the children from exposure to advertising… KSL.com

It was killed today in committee even though a Dan Jones poll has 65% of Utahan’s support it.  I support it. It’s funding schools without increasing my taxes. I think more government should try to find ways to monetize their operations.

FYI: that the Jordan School District is laying off staff but that wasn’t enough for the Utah legislature to try and create revenue and save 250 teaching positions in an already understaffed district.  Salt Lake Tribune

A Bill to cut Utah Officials Pay

It’s a tight budget year and everyone needs to contribute but then again maybe not everyone.

The Deseret News reports Rep. Neil Hansen, D-Ogden, wants the Legislature to slash the salaries of Gov. Gary Herbert, Lt. Governor Greg Bell, Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, and Treasurer Richard Ellis

House Majority Leader Kevin Garn said lawmakers won’t go down that road and that Hansen’s bill has “zero chance of passing.”   KSL.com

Goose and gander her folks… Why is ok to screw non elected Utahans?

More Budget Cuts for The Ordinary

State retirements get to give a little for the budget. There is also a bill to cut retirements, reduce retirement payouts and add 1-5 years turning a 30 year state retirement into a 31-35 year retirement.  Utah Legislature: State retirement changes gain final approval This is one reason not to re-elect Sen. Dan Liljenquist, R-Bountiful.

Tobacco Tax Increase isn’t looking good especially with the threat of a Governor’s veto. Utah Legislature: Proposed smoking tax would benefit education, law enforcement

Repeat the above response: Goose and gander her folks… Why is ok to screw non elected Utahans?

A Bill to Eliminate the 12 Grade

While I think this is slightly silly Sen. Buttars at least had some out of the box thinking on this one.  A lot of students either waste their senior year or are too busy doing college courses. Why not send them to college early?  Why not make the senior year more stringent and make the youth more educated? Utah Legislature: Buttars pitches plan to save Jordan schools

A Bill to make MLK day also John M. Browning Day.

I am not making this up. I am extremely pro-gun but even I think this bill is asinine. My favorite part is it was created by my Senator, Mark Madsen.  Stupidity unfettered.  Luckily this bill has been killed and its redo to suggest another day has also been defeated.  This one is one of my favorite bills.