As IF Times

link Obama floats plan to tax cars by the mile – The Hills Floor Action.

I don’t know the veracity of this story, but if true, it would open up vast new horizons of revenue for governments.    Many eco-nazis would be pleased to see this new method of taxation implemented because in their minds, this saves the planet.    Never able to project the consequences of their actions beyond their juvenile ideals, if this plan is implemented, these greenies would in fact preside over the total downtick of civilization.   

This statement is hardly hyperbole since if people stopped to think of it, the entire foundation of civilization rests on the ability for man to transport goods over far distances.   The world would be reduced to unconnected villages of tribal influence if the ability of transportation of goods and movement of people were curtailed by prohibitive costs.   Proponents of the ‘less cars is more’ viewpoint would rather society revert back to greener modes of transportation.  Horses and donkeys perhaps. 

As is the case with most taxes, the supposed beneficiaries, the poor, will suffer the most.  People with means will be able to pay the tax and businesses will simply pass on the tax to the consumer.  Imagine the circumstance of a laborer who has to commute long distances to his job.  More of a tax on the miles he drives will either disqualify him from taking the job, or else wages will have to go up to offset the additional transportation cost.  If the wages go up, the cost of goods produced by his employer goes up, which is subsequently passed on the consumer.  The consumer either reduces his consumption, or shops elsewhere.   Very simplistically, this is how Wal Mart and other big box stores came into existence.  They were able to exploit both cheap sourcing and manageable transportation costs.  If a per mile tax were imposed, the impact will not only be on the consumer, but also on Wal Mart’s ability to offer inexpensive goods.  Net result, prices go up.

For some reason, government mindsets over the past few generations have focused on milking the populace rather than encourage their productivity.  The momentum of innovation and progress, hallmarks of an advancing civilization have been attacked and perhaps even stopped by the combinations of frivolous lawsuits, unreasonable regulation and red tape and of course by short sighted taxation.  This is analogous to cutting off parts of a steamboat to fuel the engines as the vessel slows down.  Onerous taxation is cannibalizing western society in the same way.

I suggest a far more efficient tax be levied instead.  How about a tax on politicians by the words they utter?  If they are caught uttering outright fibs, then the tax triples.  Al Gore could be the national benefactor, finally doing something useful for the nation.   In fact, with the kind of non sensical rhetoric being spewed daily by the present administration,  any budget deficits could be paid off within a generation.

link Expert: Security Checkpoints Near Soft Targets May Soon Become The Norm « CBS New York.

So for almost 10 years, the West has had to be extra vigilant for any signs of ongoing terror activity in their daily lives.  All kinds of cumbersome and debatable programs and techniques were implemented at airports and other public transportation hubs by government ‘experts’ purportedly to keep everyone safe.  All of this was necessary since the mastermind of the 9-11 terror attacks was still at large and could be plotting mayhem anywhere and at any minute.  People were told to go about living their normal lives in defiance of the terrorists, but just in case, keep looking over their shoulders and suspect everyone.  Even 6 year old girls and frail grandmothers could not be ruled out as pawns in the diabolical methods of the terrorists.  A whole new workforce of government employees was created to molest, harass and humiliate us…..in order to ensure our safety.

Well, now the 9-11 mastermind has apparently been killed. Yet somehow, the experts exhort us to be even more vigilant and sensitive to possible retaliatory attacks by Bin Laden’s fans.  !!!  So, were we better off with him at large plotting the west’s destruction when he was alive, or now with his lackeys pursuing revenge after his death?   As of now, it seems like a lose/lose scenario. 

This sounds vaguely familiar…oh I know where I’ve heard this before!  Global warming!  People may recall the earnest bleats that a decade of supposedly increasing average temperatures, over the earth’s life of over 10 million years, was convincing evidence of global warming.  Over the past year or more however, the climate has never been cooler with snowfall and cold temperatures setting low records all over the place.  The Global Warming crew see this as EVIDENCE of global warming, or as they now call it, climate change.  So now we have to redouble our efforts to fight this man caused disaster.

In the case of the terror alerts, how about we recognize that the West will always be targets for our way of life and for our conspicuous affluence.  Unless there is technology to inspect every stick of gum, every lining of every jacket and every stitch of bulky underwear and the contents of every single car on the planet, we will be subject to the efforts of the people that hate the west.   Pretending to live normal lives while inside a plastic bubble is institutionalized lunacy.  Unlike Western culture which attempts to be inclusive and tolerant of variant peoples, Middle Eastern culture is still largely stuck in the mindset of edicts created thousands of years ago with no revision.  In a famous poem, The Ballad of East and West,  Rudyard Kipling concluded as much. 

Classic wisdom it seems.  As time goes on, people may want to cast some skeptical eyes upon the on-going ‘security’ regimes imposed upon them.  Like the global warming scam, someone benefits and it’s not the public.  It’s easy to project the hysteria that will be fanned by a concerned government so that all kinds of security measures will be imposed upon the helpless people.  We’ll have people who are armed and “protecting’ us and the rest who are dependant on their presence.  Years ago,  Ronald Reagan stated that the most dangerous words ever uttered were, “We’re from the government and we’re here to help”.  If TSA practices are what we can expect as government continues to “help” us,  I think we’d be better off looking after ourselves.