http://freekeene.com/…

From the NH Free Press‘ Kat Kanning:

Russell Kanning’s vote for the November 2008 elections is up for sale! He’s doing this to demonstrate what’s really going on in the elections. Politicians promise you all sorts of goodies in order to buy your vote: new welfare programs, new roads, new wars, the list goes on and on. Russell just wants to lay it all on the table and deal honestly, so you can buy his vote directly. He’s delegated the actual task of auctioning off his vote to me. He’ll be voting in the City of Keene, NH. Bidders from the Keene area have the added incentive that he can vote for city issues for you, in addition to the presidential and congressional rat-races. I would be auctioning off my vote too, but when city officials heard about my auction plans, they removed me from the voter rolls in their fiefdom. About a year ago, we both asked the City of Keene to take us off their voter rolls, which they refused to do in Russell’s case.

Place your bid!

FK EDITOR’s UPDATE 8/24 EARLY AM: Ebay has pulled the auction. It’s sad how obedient businesses are to the state.

IIRC FTL had covered the recent story of the guy who had tried to sell his vote on eBay and was being charged with a felony so should have known this would happen. I’ve not looked to see it’s also illegal by New Hampshire law but I suspect it is and the punishment would not be welcome. I’ve considered doing this given my relative indifference to the candidates likely to be on the New Jersey ballot come November. There are two concerns. First is obvious, being fined and/or jail time. Second is losing blog of bile if I personally hosted the auction. No matter if you are share hosting, colocating or have an actual T1 coming into your home those companies which provide the service will have no problem terminating your account at the will of the government. I believe those who were charged with selling their vote in 2004 used Craig’s list. I don’t recall if Craig’s list did or would now take down the posts.

We will see if the government busybodies react to this act.

This email is being sent to NYS NewEgg customers apparently:

Dear Valued Newegg Customer,

As a result of recent changes in New York State tax law requiring certain out-of-state retailers to collect and remit sales taxes to the State of New York, we began collecting applicable sales tax for all orders shipped to New York addresses starting June 1, 2008.

After careful review and consideration, we are pleased to inform you that we have stopped collecting New York sales tax, effective August 21, 2008. This decision was driven by your direct and candid feedback and our continued commitment to you as our valued customers.

We appreciate your patience as we worked through this process, and would like to reiterate our commitment in offering our customers the broadest product selection, competitive pricing, fastest shipping, and award-winning customer service.

We look forward to continuing to provide you with the premier online shopping experience for all of your IT and consumer electronics needs.

Sincerely,

Bernard Luthi
Newegg.com
Company Spokesperson and
Vice President of Merchandising

Disclaimer: While Newegg no longer charges sales tax to its New York customers effective August 21, 2008, you may still have an obligation to pay New York State use tax on your purchases. Newegg cannot offer you any tax advice, so please refer to applicable law if you have any questions about use tax. Nothing in this email shall be deemed to approve the validity of any New York State law, including but not limited to section 1101(b)(8)(vi) of the New York State Tax Law, which purports to require Newegg to collect and remit New York State sales tax on its sales to residents of that state.

Good for them… but what about us in New Jersey?

I can’t find an online article to confirm but Butler Shaffer over at LewRockwell.com/blog posted this:

The government of Salt Lake City has undertaken the prosecution of persons who recycle the rain water that falls on their lands. Those who collect such water for use on their gardens, or for household purposes, etc., may be visited by the rainwater police. The city’s rationale is that such recycling interferes with the rights of other property owners who might seek to claim such runoff when it would otherwise come to their lands.

But not to worry about any possible water shortages. In a number of communities - I don’t know if Salt Lake City is one of them - city governments are recycling sewer water - including water from toilets - and pumping it back into city water supplies to be returned to homeowners for drinking, bathing, and cooking purposes!

As Voltaire so wonderfully satirized the Leibnizian doctrine: things are all for the best in this best of all possible worlds. Let us drink to the wonders of our brave, new world, . . . but be sure to use bottled spring water in doing so!

bosco, better hope New Jersey doesn’t pick up on this trend.

http://wcbstv.com/…

It’s called “Operation Sentinel” and it proves just how far the NYPD will go to protect this city from terrorists. The plan involves some high-tech tracking that is coming under fire from some groups.

New York City is going to great lengths to make sure that bomb-toting terrorists can’t reach us.

“New York City is something special,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday. “It’s not just a very big city in this world. It is, in many senses, the iconic city. It represents Western Democracy.

As part of the plan the NYPD is creating a huge buffer zone, working with cops in a 50-mile radius of the city. Officials in New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Long Island are given radiation detectors to stop terrorists as far away from New York City as possible.

Police also plan to track every vehicle that enters Manhattan.

“We’re going to be adding cameras as we go forward,” NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said.

That part of that plan calls for photographing and scanning license plates of cars and trucks at all bridges and tunnels. Even small ones like the Willis Avenue Bridge will also be used to detect radiation.

“I don’t think it’s hyperbole to call this Big Brotherish,” said Christopher Dunn of the New York Civil Liberties Union. “The New York City Police Department is creating a huge computer database of the movement of everyone in a vehicle in Manhattan.”

Civil libertarians take issue with one aspect of that plan – data on each vehicle entering Manhattan would be stored for at least one month. Bloomberg, however, defended the idea.

“It is always a balance between freedoms to come and go between civil liberties and security, and I think we pretty much have the balance pretty much right,” Bloomberg said.

The reaction of New Yorkers CBS 2 HD spoke to were mixed.

“I guess I would feel safer in light of everything that happened,” said Tavis Rivere of Ridgewood, N.J. “The city has been under a lot of, you know, pressures and stuff.”

“It’s a violation — I mean it’s ridiculous,” said Sharday Hill of Teaneck, N.J. “I don’t know want everybody or someone knowing where I’m at 24 hours a day.”

The city also intends on putting Lower Manhattan in a so-called “ring of steel,” with 3,000 public and private security cameras below Canal Street. There will be 600 cops assigned to protect ground zero.

Thank you Sharday Hill of Teaneck.

Cameras are too inefficent. I think the government should mandate GPS trackers be installed in every car and have them all tracked in real time. They should also perform random vehicle checks at all entryways to the city and those roaming gangs of paramilitary should be stopping people on the street who look suspisious to ask for identification. Then I guess I’d feel safer in light of everything that happened. The city has been under a lot of, you know, pressures and stuff.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25605640/

Bowing to President Bush’s demands, the Senate approved and sent the White House a bill Wednesday to overhaul bitterly disputed rules on secret government eavesdropping and shield telecommunications companies from lawsuits complaining they helped the U.S. spy on Americans.

The relatively one-sided vote, 69-28, came only after a lengthy and heated debate that pitted privacy and civil liberties concerns against the desire to prevent terrorist attacks. It ended almost a year of wrangling over surveillance rules and the president’s warrantless wiretapping program that was initiated after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The House passed the same bill last month, and Bush said he would sign it soon.

How completely not surprising that the Democrats would hand Bush and friends more dictatorial powers.

All the amendments were defeated. McCain didn’t bother to vote, Obama, Specter, Lieberman voted for it. Feingold, who had said “This president broke the law,” voted against it. As did Biden, Clinton, Schumer, Kerry and Dodd. Glad to see the NJ senators, Lautenberg and Menendez, voted Nay.

You can find the full list of how they all voted at GovTrack.us

They have legalized a major crime and transfered a huge amount of power, which they don’t have, to the executive branch. They don’t even fully know what they are giving immunities to. The information is highly classified. Just sad.