At long last, Bradley Manning has been charged. It has only taken almost two years, and was more likely resulting from the military’s inability to ‘break’ him by torture into becoming a star ‘witness’ against Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. The death penalty is probably still on the table, despite comments to the contrary, if merely… [Read more…]
January 17, 2012
by Andrew McInnes
As many noteworthy events unfold in these United States and elsewhere (National Defence Authorisation Act, for example), the disconnect between what is perceived important by people, and what is presented as important to people, is increasingly jarring. Calls of ‘censorship’ are growing, and with good reason: The lack of meaningful news, especially from domestic news… [Read more…]
January 16, 2012
by Andrew McInnes
This essay consolidates several different posts, which can be read via Part 1 of the series. Additionally, I have refined and improved upon these previous writings, so if you read them, please keep in mind they have been superseded. Basic Taxation Taxation has often suffered a rather negative showing in the arena of public opinion.… [Read more…]
January 6, 2012
by Andrew McInnes
Image via Wikipedia. In this excellent post, Rick Falkvinge (Twitter) touched upon ‘the four boxes of liberty‘ concept, and uses that as a springboard for a discussion about privacy in the context of rising authoritarianism, amongst other concerns. For those who are unaware, the ‘four boxes’ are as follows: “There are four boxes to be… [Read more…]
January 3, 2012
by Andrew McInnes
Image via the band Anti-Flag With the passage of the (insufficiently infamous) National Defence Authorisation Act, or NDAA, into law, there are growing and well-founded cries of ‘police state’, even ‘martial law’. The second is not accurate, although I understand the sentiment. Martial law is when military authorities take over order enforcement, because the civilian authority… [Read more…]
December 8, 2011
by Andrew McInnes
This page was put up by the Boston Globe, and quickly yanked after the Boston Police Department decided not to evict #OccupyBoston from Dewey Square. I’m pretty sure the Globe would have preferred this piece hadn’t been noticed. I have a saved version of the file. Anyone who wants it, drop me a message via… [Read more…]
December 2, 2011
by sharingactivist
In case you missed it, Emma Sullivan is a Kansas high school student whose irreverent tweet about Kansas governor Brownback, incurred his wrath and the wrath of Sullivan’s school administration. You can read about it here. The incident could evoke any number of commentaries on the many shabby aspects of the situation: Brownback’s pettiness; the… [Read more…]
November 29, 2011
by Andrew McInnes
Image via The Daily Bail. Ever since this Democracy Now! interview, the Police Executive Research Forum, or PERF, a previously unregarded police strategy NGO, has been receiving some clearly undesired attention. In that interview, PERF Executive Director Chuck Wexler unwisely let slip that it was PERF which had been coordinating the conference calls which Oakland… [Read more…]
November 20, 2011
by Andrew McInnes
Just recently I went on a day-trip to Yakima, Washington. I highly recommend not moving there, for any reason. If you already live there, dear Reader, you have my sympathies. The city looks like it had been carpet bombed. Only one real city street was left, filled with very sad and poor people and looked… [Read more…]
November 9, 2011
by Andrew McInnes
Much is made about the proper form of economies. Comparatively less is made of their proper functioning. Economies are taken to be black boxes; their internal workings are regarded with nearly religious awe. Some propose to simply leave economies to their own devices, befitting their deified nature. Others insist that altars and holy relics –… [Read more…]
October 31, 2011
by Andrew McInnes
Once upon a time in the United States, there was more to ‘official’ political discourse than the two-party dictatorship which we have today. The philosophy of the ‘losing’ side in the 1776 Revolution, chased North to Canada by gunpoint, is one such example. That ethic is Toryism. To be a Tory is not surprising in… [Read more…]
October 30, 2011
by Andrew McInnes
Based upon The Star-Spangled Banner. Feel free to sing aloud! O! say can you see by the cop’s mobile light What so proudly we hailed at the journos’ last streaming? Whose bank fraud and fake ‘change’ through the financial blight, O’er the kettle we watched were so blatantly gleaming? And the tear gas’s flare,… [Read more…]
October 29, 2011
by Andrew McInnes
Image via zazzle.com There is a very good reason why the Democrat and Republican parties seem similar. The roots of both parties are sunk in the same place: a political suasion known as Whigism. In a nutshell, Whig thought can be best called proto-corporatism. They favoured the consolidation of economic power into privately owned institutions,… [Read more…]
September 28, 2011
by Andrew McInnes
Read part 5 here. This post is a technical analysis of the taxation policy which I presented previously. The analysis will be in a Keynesian/Galbraithian manner, involving formulae and discussion of the various components thereof. I will try to make this as painless as possible. In a nutshell, my taxation policy is designed to limit… [Read more…]
September 20, 2011
by Andrew McInnes
Read part 4 here. The point which I have been trying to make can be summed up briefly. Taxation is the most powerful tool in defining and supporting the most invested and motivated stakeholders in a given economic system. Given the present circumstances, I shouldn’t need to defend insisting that corporations are not the best… [Read more…]
September 9, 2011
by Andrew McInnes
Read part 3 here. The present era of corporate dominance is coming to an end. This is for numerous reasons, which are deserving of their own discussion. Suffice it to say, corporations desperately need stable, dependable profit growth; an economic transition is underway which will leave that need impossible to meet. Given the impending collapse… [Read more…]
September 3, 2011
by Andrew McInnes
In Part 2, I wrote about how taxation policy, and specifically no-tax policies, create the single most active and dedicated class of status quo supporters. The question arises: why not have everyone taxed equally, to ensure equality? On paper it is a lovely conceit. In reality it has never happened. Someone always has enjoyed the… [Read more…]
August 26, 2011
by Andrew McInnes
Continuing from Part 1. The biggest stakeholders and supporters of any particular political are not difficult to find, although it is somewhat counter-intuitive. Instead of following the money, as the old phrase goes, one must find whence money – specifically taxation money – does not come. It’s an obvious but unstated truism that the biggest… [Read more…]
August 12, 2011
by Andrew McInnes
Right now, it seems to be that there are two ‘philosophical’ camps regarding taxation in the US Federal Government. One camp says taxation is evil, is a hindrance to the enrichment of the chosen capitalists, and must be eliminated for the hardworking rich puttering on the golf course. The other camp contents itself with insisting… [Read more…]
August 6, 2011
by Andrew McInnes
Perestroika was the most significant factor leading to the demise of the USSR. It was a social, political, and economic programme masterminded by Mikhail Gorbachev, the General Secretary, and later the only President, of the Soviet Union. It was, in short, a revolutionary restructuring of Soviet society from the bottom up and top down, covering… [Read more…]
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March 11, 2012
by Andrew McInnes
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