Fingerprints are considered to be among the most personal of information, and fingerprint databases created and proposed in the name of national security have generated much debate.
Sphere: Related ContentLiberty is incompatible with taxation, writes Tibor Machan. This is despite the famous saying by Oliver Wendell Holmes that “Taxation is the price we pay for civilization.” In fact, taxation is a most uncivilized way of obtaining funds, given that it boils down to nothing less than extortion.
Sphere: Related ContentCharter Communications, the fourth-largest cable system in the United States, has started telling its high-speed Internet customers that it is going to keep track of every site they visit on the Web. The cable company will sell the data to a firm called NebuAd, which in turn will use it to show ads to Web-surfing Charter.
Sphere: Related ContentThe Air Force wants a suite of hacker tools, to give it “access” to–and “full control” of–any kind of computer there is. And once the info warriors are in, the Air Force wants them to keep tabs on their “adversaries’ information infrastructure completely undetected.” The government is growing increasingly interested in waging war online.
Sphere: Related ContentIn North Carolina to date, attempts to pass 20 land transfer tax initiatives and 37 sales tax increases have been made. In 49 cases, the voters have overwhelmingly voted against the tax increases. Of the 20 attempts to pass a land transfer all 20 were killed in their tracks. Of the sales tax increase attempts 29 of the 37 attempts have been stopped by voters disgusted with ever rising taxes and spendthrift politicians. In the recent vote in Nash County voters rejected the increase, despite the emotional “for the children” pleas, by a margin of roughly two to one.
In light of this clear mandate against higher taxes, elected officials and proponents of higher taxes have continued to make open threats to raise other taxes or to put this tax issue back on the ballot. Voters in Nash and other counties should not dismiss those threats lightly. We can expect even more desperate and emotional pleas to be plastered in the newspapers and on TV. You can also expect the money hungry politicians, nonprofits, and public/private partners who thrive on tax dollars to be lurking behind the faces of innocent children as they attempt to sugar coat further attempts to raise taxes.
Proponents have charged that growth rates demand new capital projects, the state Medicaid deal is forcing the county to make up revenue, and that nearly $100 million dollars of capital projects must be undertaken now. The sales pitch is 80% for education with the remaining being spent on county and community projects. The truth as revealed in a John Locke Foundation brief is that growth in the county is nominal while revenue increased 9% annually, the student population in public schools is expected to decline by more than 3%, and that the county will come out $1.7 million dollars to the good because of the state assumption of the Medicaid burden.
Proponents of the .25% sales tax increase project $2.8 million dollars in revenue annually with which they can undertake capital projects. With a capital projects list in excess of $100 million dollars it doesn’t take much deduction to realize that there is great debt planned for the citizens.
With fuel and grocery prices continually rising, tolls being planned for the highways, the dollar being inflated out of existence, and the cost of living in general spiraling out of control it behooves politicians to cut spending and shelve all the feel good projects while focusing on only the necessities.
It’s easy to tax an area into poverty but it’s impossible to tax an area into prosperity.
Sphere: Related ContentMassive investment in CCTV cameras to prevent crime in the UK has failed to have a significant impact, despite billions of pounds spent on the new technology, a senior police officer piloting a new database has warned. Only 3% of street robberies in London were solved using CCTV images, despite the fact that Britain has more security cameras than
Sphere: Related ContentCongressman Charles Rangel was seen getting out of his Cadillac DeVille, which he leases for $774 per month. And how about this one: Congressman Gregory Meeks was recently seen waiting for Congressman John Conyers to step out of Meeks’ Lexus LS460, which Meeks leases for $998 per month. The American public is getting the shaft from these thieves!
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