Silkroad Online Forums

I saw a topic called "Things you didn't know were illegal" and started to post there, but reconsidered because my rant was too off topic for that thread. Squirt's first comment in the thread was:

"Being a Cow and Lacking ID in West Bengal, India [is illegal]"

Money itself is illegal under certain circumstances.
Possession of large sums of cash is illegal.
Giving too much money away (without telling the government about it) is illegal.

You could lose your cash (under Forfeiture Law) if you had too much on you and would be presumed a drug dealer even if you never so much as took or sold a single aspirin. Burden of Proof and Presumption of Innocence would not apply. The presence of cash and police suspicion is enough. Your money will be confiscated and the courts will forfeit it unless you spend $$ to "defend" yourself. Your rights don't matter. The fact that it 'belongs' to you doesn't matter. If you have too much, defend yourself, you scoundrel!

You could break the Tax Law if you gave too much money away -- and the power of the IRS is almost unlimited when came to tracking you down and making you pay, pay, pay. You are "allowed" to give $12,000 to a friend or family member without reporting but if in the same year you give them another penny it would bring the total gift allotment over the statutory limit and you would be breaking the law if you didn't report.

It's illegal to drive without paying tax (well, almost). The State of Virginia has sanctioned a study to consider a per-mile driving tax. One of the things they will consider is that as alternative fuels continue to replace gasoline the state will want to develop different ways to generate funds.

Speaking can get you arrested (sometimes).
Freedom of speech does not cover yelling "FIRE" in a crowded movie theater. Even mentioning the word "bomb" in airports can be enough for you to have committed a crime.

The Nanny-State
State legislatures have passed bills criminalizing smoking in vehicles where children are present. Driving while not wearing a seatbelt is also a stoppable offense. Which means that a police officer can pull you over and ticket you (with a fine of up to $250.00 for multiple violations) if you are not wearing a seatbelt. The two laws show growing prevalence of the Nanny State. In a similar manner, States have decided that they have an interest in public health and have passed laws allowing taxing cigarettes as a 'deterrent' because smoking is bad for us. The monies generated from the inflated cigarette tax go to the general fund, which will not aid in health care or smoking cessation.

How can it get worse?
The FBI is trying to expand the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) to have greater electronic surveillance capabilities. If passed, the bill would force manufacturers of common networking devices (ethernet hubs, telephone switches, wifi routers, etc) to develop modifications and upgrades that integrate built-in backdoors that allow law enforcement or others to monitor traffic.

How can it get worse? By using a National Identification Card system combined with a national information database. The House of Representatives passed, H.R. 10, The 9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act. Among other things, this act allows Congress to standardize driver’s tests in all 50 states. Then, instead of being issued a State Drivers License you will be issued a National Identification card. This gives the Federal government the ability to track you physically, and at their sole discretion, offers them a way to compile your personal, medical, and financial records as well as library and gun records. A similar bill was also passed in the Senate (S. 2845 National Intelligence Reform Act of 2004). The cost in tax payer dollars for "Real ID" is in the billions.

But it's not just the government and the last two are interconnected. The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) sent a letter to Congress recently begging for more federal funding for Real ID. Why would an organization, whose membership includes AOL, Microsoft, Verizon and Yahoo, support a national ID card? For the answer, we look at a fundamental adage of Washington politics: Follow the money. Included in the ITAA membership list are Digimarc and Northrop Grumman, companies that specialize in creating high-tech ID cards, as well as Choicepoint and LexisNexis, data brokers that make their money selling personal information about you to advertisers and the government. These companies stand to make millions upon millions in contracts from states who are struggling with a federal mandate to overhaul their licensing systems and share more data.

I'll end my rant with a comment that our governments are themselves governed by their multinational corporate benefactors, not us. Going back to Squirt's comment, Being a Cow and Lacking ID in West Bengal, India isn't the only thing that is illegal. Not anymore.

~Granps

You killed it Grandpa.

Solution: Instigate revolution and restart the process.

I love your sig

Reise wrote:Solution: Instigate revolution and restart the process.

Let's cover all the bases this time.

I think the people have the right to burn the goverment down and restart it if its no longer just...(Something like that)

I'm all for government as long as it does the only thing it's good at: "DEFENSE! DEFENSE! DEFENSE!" Defense of what you ask? Defend liberty and defend us from foreign invaders. We in turn will defend ourselves from it's encroachments on liberty.
So you thought you could delete your post, eh?

always be some stupid law, and they even try to reduce Personal Freedoms
from us because they have the power.. and also goverment want have more money to
themself.

Patrick Henry wrote:Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.

What happens when it is not the government that is the source of the attack against freedom? What if governments have become the puppets of others, what if most of our governmental officials are doing their best and acting in what they think is our interest but have been blinded for so long that they forgot what freedom looked like?

What then? Again, follow the money-trail to find the culprit. In my first post I attempted to shoot an arrow of thought against those who abuse power. I don't think that the majority of our governmental officials are willingly and knowingly doing this and suspect that the true rulers of this world are those who profit most. My "arrow" was deflected in flight by my general dislike of authority and I'm sorry to see that my intent was not communicated well.

The trigger of my first post was Cows being forced to carry ID. I started wondering who stands to profit most by making citizens of the world into identifiable cows. I've learned by experience that there are two reasons for every action: The stated reason and the true reason.

~Granps

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

edit: although this is more of an abuse of power based rant, i got the presence of you hinting towards a lack of freedom. So thus: my rant.

Well when i think about it, things aren't so bad. Hell, i don't have "true" freedom and there are a lot of law injustices that exist.. but seriously, since when did we demand perfection? Things could be so much worse. Take the drug lands of Mexico that are over run with narco gangs. Even by introducing army reinforcement ( that fails miserably at changing culture ) and a large fund form the American government, the cops are losing the war. Gangs still kill simply for the sake of marking territory, police numbers grow thiner through fear and inside trading ( well im not sure if things are different now, my information is a little untimely ).

My point? I live in a nice quiet town, i go about my daily life, i get great government based training, i get a stable transport system, i have an average normal life where i can dress and say what i want, without going to silly extremes of course ( though why would i want to? or is it simply about having the right to do it? ). I may not be truly "free", but I'm happy with how my country is governed. If theres some odd injustices, than so be it. When you try to get 20 odd million people to abide by one law set which gives everyone total freedom without anarchy there is always going to be problems. There will always be someone who disagrees with some law, some minority that gets fucked over in the end, some jerk that feels he has the rough end of the stick. How can you please everyone? Lets just be thankful for what we have, right?

~Ted

Greetings Ted,

I would not call your comments a "rant" at all. I agree with you about appreciating our freedom so please don't confuse my point with any kind of "hint". I never intended to complain about living in the USA or anything like that and would readily join you in giving thanks for not only our freedoms but also for our leaders. But it is precisely because I love the freedoms afforded me that I so much resent their erosion. My view comes from what I've experienced in my lifetime and what I've heard from my father directly. My complaint is about the erosion of liberties that have happened in two generations time. My worry is, "What Next?"

You spoke of the difficulty of trying to get 20 million people abiding by one law - but you've got it precisely wrong there. What governments try to do is codify 20 million laws to form one people. It can't work, you see? What has happened to the voice of the people, the voice of the common man? If we are pretending to be a government of the people, by the people and for the people, where then is the voice of the people in our governments?

Prophet Izaach wrote:Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

You've asked who watches the watchers (or guards the guardians). I don't like Wiki for the most part but will quote in response to your question, Prophet Izaach. Plato's answer to your question is:

"that they will guard themselves against themselves. We must tell the guardians a "noble lie." The noble lie will inform them that they are better than those they serve and it is therefore their responsibility to guard and protect those lesser than themselves. We will instill in them a distaste for power or privilege; they will rule because they believe it right, not because they desire it."

Now back to Ted's thought (or 'rant' if you prefer that term):
We are doing this to ourselves. What kind of education can free us from our own self made trap?

Interesting to me to notice the erosion of public opinion these days. If I were to approach the "man on the street" and ask him/her their thoughts about the purpose of government I would think that few would reply affirming the governments role of protection. Barotix got it right in his above post when he said "Defend, Defend, Defend" but not many are that true to origins because they watch actions, not forming principles.

We've followed the advice of our wisest men in the choices made yet we find ourselves in greater and greater distress. Falling into a quagmire or quicksand requires finesse and a stillness of spirit to even be able to assess the situation, let alone save ourselves. The problems surrounding the nations of the world these days are a quagmire most foul.

~Granps

the fall of an empire. Why defend? Help it along. This one is quickly becoming more and more a disgrace. To defend would only let it stretch its power so it can take more down with it. Tear it down.

but I like AMERIKA.

XemnasXD wrote:the fall of an empire. Why defend? Help it along. This one is quickly becoming more and more a disgrace. To defend would only let it stretch its power so it can take more down with it. Tear it down.

Greetings Xemnas,

You've asked a good question - to answer I would have to dig deep within and remind myself that I don't think that I am part of this government, in point of fact, I don't think of myself as more than a person who by happenstance of birth became a citizen here. I've been taught that the accident of my birth makes me a citizen and that gives me rights. What? Am I stupid? Why would I choose to not accept rights and entitlements?

Okay, as I grew, acceptance of my free gift was natural to a young man, but I also became an old man and like many old men, I started to understand that it isn't like when I was a child. I've been weaned from the teat and know that rights come with responsibilities.

Boiled down, it is because I love my neighbors that I will defend them. If we abandon hope then yes, I would agree that it would be irresponsible to "stretch" or "lengthen" the depth of our disgrace. My personal view is that all power and all authority comes from God.

I am commanded to pray for those in authority above me.

~Granps

I saw Erosion and I got excited because I thought we were going to talk about soil science or biophysics =[

dom wrote:I saw Erosion and I got excited because I thought we were going to talk about soil science or biophysics =[

no one likes professional tree-huggers....