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Gov't Computers Used to Find Info on "Joe the Plumber"
After Joe Wurzelbacher of Ohio gained fame as "Joe the Plumber" in the course of the current presidential campaign, it seems that he's drawn more than idle curiosity from people with access to what should probably be confidential information. An anonymous reader writes with a story from The Columbus Dispatch that "government insiders accessed Joe the Plumber's records soon after the McCain-Obama debate. 'Public records requested by The Dispatch disclose that information on Wurzelbacher's driver's license or his sport-utility vehicle was pulled from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles database three times shortly after the debate. Information on Wurzelbacher was accessed by accounts assigned to the office of Ohio Attorney General Nancy H. Rogers, the Cuyahoga County Child Support Enforcement Agency and the Toledo Police Department.' Welcome to 1984."
One would do well to actually read 1984 (as opposed to just scream its title every time the Right does something you don't like).
1984 was an comment by Orwell on the Communists. Orwell, himself a socilaist, learned to hate and fear the Communists after the Spanish Civil War.
Big Brother was an obvious stand-in for "Uncle Joe" Stalin.
In 1984 you will see: ... with a life penalty?) and University speech codes (University "Free Speech Zones" are a wonderful example of NewSpeak, DoubleThink, and ThoughtCrime wrapped into one)
* The Ministry of Truth, the media manipulation of news and history (ala the recent Reugter's Photoshopping of pictures from the Israel/Lebanon war; Dan Rather's falsification of documents)
* NewSpeak, the changing of language to make certain thoughts impossible (ala the politically correct language redefinition we experienced in the 70s/80s e.g. "differently abled" for "handicapped", in Sweden "husmor" replaced by "hemmafru" or their English cognates "housewife" with "stay-at-home-mom")
* DoubleThink, the simultaneous holding of two or more mutually exclusive ideas (e.g. "homosexuality is something you are born with" and "homosexuality is a personal and private decision"; or "racism is always wrong" and "affirmative action is the right thing to do")
* ThoughtCrime, making the mere ability of thinking something a crime. You see this all the time in Hate Crime legislation (what murder wasn't already a crime
* also the breakdown of the family and sexual relationships (which has less obvious parallels but "PolPot & the child turns their parents in" (like Winston's neighbor) would be an example)
* furthermore the mild anti-semitism, the hatred of Goldsteinism, today you see this all the time however this is mostly thinly veiled as an attack on "Zionism"
We really shouldn't be surprised by the EU and The Left's fascination with this kind of behaviour. Orwell saw and predicted it nearly 50 years ago.
I'm a small business owner, and while we do well over $250K/year in revenue, I don't make more then $100K/yr. I don't believe I should be paid any more then my highest paid employee. Let's assume though that I did take more than $250K out of the business a year (which is what you'd have to do to hit the $250K limit Obama talks about). I have no problem with a higher tax rate kicking in above $250K/yr of my income, as long as the money is spent properly (i.e. NOT on bailouts, wars, etc).
We've had public health care for years in Canada, our social security is better and we are a welfare state, you can join the club too it's a lot nicer on the other side; we don't turn the aged away because they cannot afford medical service, we actually have a huge booming retirment industry; oh and did I mention that we keep crazy people off the street by giving them money (and possibly preventing them from harming others)....just a thought. Oh and after these bailouts, our tax bracket will be even lower than yours ;)
99% of your inmates should have had medical attention but now you get to pay for them for the rest of their known lives.
~Bullets and electrictity are far cheaper than re-education.
Now remember everyone belongs to everyone else, repetition is key.
(Of course if Russia invades we are turning to you to save us :'( )
I was working on a project where I had to be given access to a state's law enforcement computer system, which was the access point for their Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), the US National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and several other systems. I had to watch a videotape and read and sign a document promising all sorts of hell if I ever abused my access by, say, running someone without cause. One real-life example was a cop who would notice an attractive woman go by on the road and run her license plate to get her home address, where he would subsequently show up. I was glad to see that they had such strict policies. Anyone who uses their access privileges to stalk or attempt to dig up info on someone should be prosecuted.
Cue the tape! Fast-forward to minute 5. This video shows employees who were hired by "Homeland Security" to spy on a potential terrorist. Instead, they decided to spy on a private house where man/lady were having sex.
This spying on Joe the Plumber is essentially the same thing - an invasion of privacy. Now I know you'll probably argue this is just a show, but having worked for the government, I can confirm that your information is Not secure. People are reading things about you that you don't want them to know (like how much you're paying to child support, or how much you earn, or how many times you got speeding tickets).
LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92xf94JPoB8&feature=related
The government is not your daddy. Its purpose is not to raid middle-class neighbors' wallets and give it to you.
I find that impressive, that they're keeping an audit trail of everybody who accesses a record in the DMV database.
Since Joe's comments have noticeably harmed Obama and/or helped McCain, it's reasonable to assume those doing so were Obama supporters or surrogates hoping to find evidence with which to smear Joe.
That's actually not a reasonable assumption.
It's just as possible that McCain supporters or surrogates were looking for evidence with which Joe might be smeared, before McCain started talking about the guy in front of 56 million people.
Campaigns go and dig up dirt (aka "vetting") on their own people.
Maybe McCain learned from his complete failure to vet Sarah Palin.
It's also just as likely that a bunch of curious idiot employees of the State did it.
Until an investigation is done, your speculation is no better than mine.
And at least I'm keeping an open mind.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
You do know a government is in place for the benefit of the people
Lets go down the list of the biggest socialist regimes in history. The Soviet Union...check. Their nationalization of all private property and gov't distribution of everything from jobs, to schools, to health care, to cars places them at the leftest of the leftists. And the communist party was for the benefit of the people? Ok.
North Korea....oh, check. Kim Jung-Ill gives a fuck about his people? Or does he just like being in charge? His collective farm system works SO WELL that NK needs regular shipments of...everything?
Communist China (before they moved to the more profitable fascism). Mao "benefitted" over 45 million Chinese into the ground.
We can keep going. The truth is: In capitalism, man exploits man, and in communism it is the exact opposite. The difference is I have some choices and property in capitalism and a chance to change my station in life with enough hard work.
I agree with you that corporate welfare is a problem. I dislike government-owned corporations as much as i dislike corporation-owned governments. If Jefferson where here he'd probably mention a "wall of separation" between corp and state.
And yes, the world IS organized pretty well. You can choose from every form of government you can think of. You can even join a hippy commune and have your own. But you leftists seek to homogenize the world into 1 class, the poor. And that my friend is an absurd attempt to remake the world.
THL phish sticks
In Indiana I can go run plates for $5 dollars each in person. For a $50 dollar fee I can run as many as I want for $4 dollars.
In Oregon you can buy a CD with every Oregon driver on it. Someone put it on the internet and there was wailing and gnashing of teeth. The phone company in real time can and does sell off everyone's name, address and phone number.
And on and on....
It may be illegal to use that particular system in Ahia but I'm curious if there is a legal way to do it?
I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
Wealth is being spread all the time. One cannot but marvel at the way the little "spread the wealth" phrase has been repeated like the most damning line ever, while the whole US has seen in slow motion how hundred of billions of dollars have been "spread" to a small, specific part of society, without essentially any reaction whatsoever from the proponents of not-"spreading the wealth", whatever it is that that may possibly mean.
Again: wealth is being spread all the time. The key point is who are the beneficiaries of all that spreading which is happening all the time.
....may be enough to reduce my gross income so that I have to choose between food and fuel....
A solution might be to tax OUTgo rather than INcome and get rid of all other taxes. That tax would have to include ALL spending, not just necessities. A rich person or company buying stock or another company or anything else would be taxed on that also, not only the consumers buying bread and gasoline they buy, as it is with sales tax today. In short have a flat TRANSACTION or MONEYFLOW tax. All the incessant speculative trading in all "markets" could be taxed. This tax might only have to be a percent or two. However it would work only if NO transaction was exempt and all transactions were taxed the same. One big company buying another for $10 billion would pay $100-200 million in taxes.
A normal working person might only have to pay $1 or $2 when buying a $1000 item. A $200,000 house purchase might cost $2000 to $4000 in tax.
The big problem would be not in collecting the tax, but in distributing the collected taxes equitably among the various levels of government.
All theory is gray
Your misconception of what "spread the wealth" means is disappointing.
Spread the wealth happens in many different ways. School supplies for underfunded schools, after school programs to keep kids off the streets, subsidizing medical bills for veterans, maintaining parks and other public places, etc.
Since welfare reform in the 90's, the government is not giving away money to people who don't work. It's not taking your tax money and directly lining the pockets of people with a lower income. At most, "spread the wealth" may apply to people whom, after getting laid off, are collecting unemployment while looking for something to do. But these people have been paying taxes into the system for so long, you'd think it's only fair that they get a little bit of assistance when they're in trouble.
You know, the funny thing is, unless you were earning over $250K a year, "spreading the wealth" probably would make you wealthier, or at the least no worse off than now. Wealthier in terms of quality of life, in terms of how many growth opportunities you have (as a small-business owner) or the quality and integrity of your employees.
It means you don't have to worry about the guy who cuts your lawn for you for $20 because he's not worried about what his kid is doing after school, or worried that his kid can't afford college. It means you can walk down the street at night without fear of being harassed by drunks or mugged by someone trying to make ends meet without an honest job. It means your business will get customers, and you won't have to undercut your competition by a lot because your existing customers are shopping for the best deal for their money because they don't have much money anymore.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."