Is the government really based on the consent of the governed?

Find more of Sam’s work at the Obscured Truth Networks’s Youtube page.

If you want to see the entire thing you can check it out at FreeKeene.com but I believe its a rough draft. In the least the aspect ratio is wrong. I’ll post the other official parts as they become available.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/…

The government of Vallejo, California, files for bankruptcy, thanks to diminished returns from its tax-thefts to pay its tax-eating police, fire, and other unions. (Via Drudge.)

UPDATE from Tim Wangelin: a list of the 242 public servants publicly serving the tax-payer of Vallejo by making $100,000 or more a year.

UPDATE from Robert Mayer: “Vallejo, California’s motto of ‘City of Opportunity’ couldn’t be more appropriate…if you’re government bureaucrat, that is. Using the handy online search tool you linked to, I was shocked to discover that this city of a mere 125,000 employs 77 people in the fire department who make over $150K per year! Is this the most fire-prone city on the planet or what?”

http://www.lewrockwell.com/…

Writes Kitty Carr: “I loaded that database [of government workers in bankrupt Vallejo, CA, making more than $100K), and the number is actually 292, not 242. The highest salary is $435,638 (Police Department token woman) and the lowest is $100,499 (Community Development Department, which is not to be confused with the Development Services Department.) Of the 292 on the list, there are 148 members in the Police Department and 100 members in the Fire Department.

“Thirty-one government ‘workers’ make over $200,000, including nine in the Police Department and 30 in the Fire Department.

“According to 2003 Census data, the population of Vallejo is 119,708. The per capita income for 1999 was $20,415, but I think it is now somewhere between 54,000 and 61,000.”

UPDATE from Steven St. Jean: “The ‘police department token woman’ mentioned by Kitty Carr was one Joann West, a spokeswoman who took a retirement payout of over $435,000 last year. Realizing it was in ‘public relations’ trouble for such malfeasance, the city spent yet more tax money to hire a propaganda expert. Who did they hire? You guessed it:

“‘On Monday, Vallejo hired West, a former spokeswoman for the city’s Police Department, to guide the city through the intense public scrutiny that’s sure to come in the next few months.

“’West was the highest-paid Vallejo employee last year, taking a $435,638 payout when she retired from the Police Department.’”

City of Opportunity indeed… for bureaucrats.

http://arstechnica.com/…

State bureaucrats have converged in Washington DC for a two-day conference on REAL ID compliance. Panels cover such topics as how to get the required funding, how to meet the Act’s deadlines, and how to share data across states.

One session in particular caught the eye of Jim Harper, director of information policy studies at the Cato Institute (Full disclosure: I’m an adjunct scholar at Cato). It’s a panel discussion called “Bringing your public onboard for smoothing legislative changes.” The summary states that “every State DMV needs to find a way to educate their public so that they can ensure the legislature changes necessary to become Real ID compliant.” The panel will also “examine how much of your (i.e., the DMV’s) budget a public relations exercise is worth.” Such a “public relations exercise” would presumably be conducted at taxpayer expense.

Fascist police state. It’s going to be really interesting the next few years. I really hope the several states stick to their guns and refuse to implement REAL ID. It could be a very important showdown. Knowing that it’s unconstitutional I wonder if the federal government has the guts to bring it before the Supreme Court.

HR 2581: To amend titles XIX and XXI of the Social Security Act to permit States to expand coverage for children between 19 and 25 years of age under Medicaid and under the State child health insurance program (SCHIP). Um… 19-25 year olds are not children. The moment you can vote you are no longer a child and should be treated as a self sufficient individual. If you can vote and join the military you aught to be able to buy a pack of cigarettes and drink alcohol too.

S 311: To amend the Horse Protection Act to prohibit the shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donation of horses and other equines to be slaughtered for human consumption, and for other purposes. My family had horses when I was growing up in Southern New Jersey. I saw people with horses kept in horrible condition. This bill won’t help that. I don’t recall ever having eaten horse… but humans eating horse is far from the real problems with horses in this country.

HR 2594: Safe and Fuel Efficient Driving Act of 2007. To establish a Federal public relations and education campaign to promote responsible and fuel-efficient driving in the United States. Cute… $80,000,000 USD over 4 years to tell people to not waste gas. I suppose that’s not too bad, $80M is ~27M gallons of gas at $3/gallon. Considering we consume 384.7 million gallons/day.

HR 2597: Sanctity of Life Act of 2007. To provide that human life shall be deemed to exist from conception. I suppose it’d be nice to have clear cut definitions as to when something is a ‘person’ but hell… we don’t even have a clear definition of when someone is an independent and personally responsible adult.