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Index for this page...(Be aware some links below may have expired.)
All The Following Items Were Posted On May 1, 2004 Bureauc-rats Battle Teen -- And Teen Fights Back Seventeen-year-old entrepreneur Christian Alf set out to help his neighbors by creating an after-school business rat-proofing their houses. His method was simple but effective: he placed wire mesh over rooftop vents to keep roof-rats out. It was a good way to make money, and a good way to help his neighbors, many of them elderly and plagued by rats. However, after the Arizona Republic newspaper ran a story about his business, Christian quickly found himself battling another, far more dangerous form of vermin: dictatorial bureauc-rats. A complaint was filed with the Arizona Structural Pest Control Commission, arguing that young Christian was operating a pest control business without a license. It seems that some professional pest control companies supply a service similar to Christian's -- but for far more money than the $30 Christian charged his neighbors. And they apparently didn't like the competition. The Commission launched an investigation. Government agents visited Christian. The state Commission ordered Christian to shut down his part-time business -- or face a $1,000 fine. However, Christian refused to give in. Instead, he spoke out. And this was such an outrageous case that the normally apathetic public raised a furor. The Commission was flooded with letters. Newspaper columnists fumed and jeered. The case drew national attention. The Institute for Justice, a libertarian legal defense organization, jumped in the fray, threatening a lawsuit to defend Christian's right to fight rats without government permission. After nearly two weeks of this the Commission gave in, claiming they had never really ordered Christian to stop in the first place, wishing him all the best, and so on. So Christian is back in business, rats are being thwarted, and all's well. Right? Well, not quite. America is plagued with local and state regulatory bodies that routinely throttle free enterprise and prevent untold numbers of talented and hardworking people from entering a great variety of fields. These boards and commissions, although they say they exist to protect the public, actually exist to protect powerful business interests by limiting and outlawing competition. And usually the victims aren't 17-year-olds with stories that can draw such public and media sympathy. And unfortunately, the libertarian Institute for Justice can't defend but a fraction of the cases. The poor are hit particularly hard by such boards, which both prohibit them from entering many fields and keep the price of needed services artificially high. There are thousands and thousands of victims like Christian Alf. Their stories go largely unheard. Each one is an outrage in a country founded on the ideals of entrepreneurship and free enterprise. Sources: IRS "Help" Spectacularly Wrong An IRS test audit of 23 tax returns prepared by IRS employees at IRS assistance centers found that 19 of the 23 were done incorrectly. Further, when IRS auditors posing as taxpayers asked for answers to tax questions at the centers, the answers were right only 69% of the time. Responding to Congressional criticism of this appalling failure, IRS Commissioner Mark Everson said the IRS tried to train its workers adequately, but "It's a complicated law." IRS Inspector General Pamela Gardiner nonetheless told a Congressional committee that the IRS had made "impressive" improvements in the last few years in giving accurate tax advice, particularly at the IRS Web site and in the toll-free phone service. However, accuracy figures dropped this year on the phone service, she admitted, and the vaunted IRS Web site took three to four days to respond and was wrong one in five times. Source: Billions of Hours Spent Filling Out Tax Forms For decades, U.S. politicians have promised to make taxpaying simpler and less complicated. The result? The system is more complex, more costly and more time-consuming than ever before. Indeed, during the past decade, federal tinkering with the Tax Code has added an incredible "one billion extra hours" to the annual paperwork burdens on American taxpayers, according to a comprehensive study of tax complexity conducted by the non-partisan National Taxpayers Union (NTU). "Federal income tax rates have often risen and fallen, but the complexity of the tax system itself has almost always gone in one direction -- upwards," said study author David Keating. "Even though paying taxes is still the biggest pain for Americans, the very process of filing taxes has become a major headache in itself." Among the study's findings:
Keating said that complexity is "likely to get worse before it gets better," because of the increased number of citizens who will be trapped by another government tax program run amok, the "Alternative Minimum Tax" (AMT), a parallel tax system once aimed at ensuring the wealthy paid a substantial tax bill. By 2010, as many as 32 million taxpayers could be forced to complete "a second tax return" for (and pay) the AMT. Source: (Thanks to James W. Harris of the Advocates for Self-Government and The Liberator Online for the above information. If you would like a free subscription to the Liberator Online, visit: http://www.self-gov.org/liberator/maintain.html.) "In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible... Thus, political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging, and sheer cloudy vagueness... Political language [is] designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable." -- George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language," 1945.
Some interesting & provocative articles on other websites The True Test - Freedom of association, by Walter Williams: Suppose you want to deal with me but I don't want to deal with you. Should I be forced to? You might ask, "What are you talking about?" Some Doctors Turn to Cash-Only Policies, by REBECCA COOK, Associated Press Writer: When Chuck O'Brien visits his doctor, they talk about his aches and pains, his heart problems and his diet, but never about his health insurance. Is talking about online gambling illegal?, by Jacob Sullum: According to the U.S. Justice Department, I may have just committed a felony. Washington's Biggest Crime Problem, by William L. Anderson and Candice E. Jackson: The federal government's ever-expanding criminal code is an affront to justice and the Constitution. A 'social obligation' to give our money to criminals?, by Vin Suprynowicz: So, is it still against the law in America to, you know ... break the law? The answer appears to be: Only for us, not for them. U.N. Plan for Internet Control Tiptoes Forward, by Cheryl K. Chumley: The difference between these contrasting regulatory proposals being discussed at the U.S. federal level versus global echelon, of course, is congressional representatives are accountable to their constituents. The members of the United Nations, primarily anti-American in ideology and deed, are not. In Defense of Carbs, by Linda Johnston, MD, DHt: As libertarians, we are accustomed to holding minority or unpopular opinions. We even pride ourselves on being well and truly out of the mainstream. With that practice under my belt, I have no hesitation in publicly declaring another minority view by standing up in defense of carbohydrates. Stomping on free speech. by John Leo: 'Canada is a pleasantly authoritarian country," Alan Borovoy, general counsel of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said a few years ago. An example of what he means is Bill C-250, a repressive, anti-free-speech measure that is on the brink of becoming law in Canada. It would add "sexual orientation" to the Canadian hate propaganda law, thus making public criticism of homosexuality a crime. As Usual, the Wrong Question Is Being Asked, by Harry Browne: Richard Clarke says the Bush administration was too focused on Iraq to see the 9-11 attack coming. The Bush administration says Clarke is an opportunistic S.O.B. who once praised President Bush, but now criticizes Bush in order to boost sales of Clarke's book. Which one is correct? The destruction of American education, by Alan Caruba: It is very hard to figure out just how damaged the overall system is. The news dribbles out in bits and pieces. FDR's Thought Police: Still Alive, Still Censoring, by P. Gardner Goldsmith: In February, Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake famously gave the world a new perspective on the term "pop music." During the Superbowl half-time show, Timberlake grabbed the right bra cup of Jackson's leather outfit, and exposed her breast to the world. In more ways than one, it was probably the most exposure Jackson had gotten for a performance in years. Why I Am Not a Conservative, by F. A. Hayek: Conservatism may often be a useful practical maxim, but it does not give us any guiding principles which can influence long-range developments. Molecular basis for Mozart effect revealed: New research has revealed a molecular basis for the "Mozart effect" -- the observation that a brief stint of Mozart, but not other music, may improve learning and memory. Things Not Said - Homeland Security and Official Ideology, by Joseph R. Stromberg: "The Budding US Police State" - Joseph R. Stromberg on the ideology of homeland security. Massachusetts Town Becomes 300th Jurisdiction to Denounce Patriot Act, by Jim Lobe: The tiny Martha's Vineyard hamlet of Tisbury, Massachusetts, this week became the 300th local or state government to denounce the USA Patriot Act, even as President George W. Bush was campaigning for Congress to make the Act permanent before its expiration next year.
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