It's Always About The Money

All of us have, at one time or another heard a cop, or one of their innumerable supporters say writing tickets for speeding was being done for safety. Of course, those of us who know better have known for ages that tickets are not given out to promote safety in any way, shape or form. They are always about the money and as if we didn't know it as a matter of fact, we have just been presented with all the evidence we require.

“The town of Moffett recently filed Chapter 9 bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Eastern District of Oklahoma in Okmulgee, according to a legal notice that appeared in the Eastern-Times Register Wednesday.”

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The audit of the town's 2003 and 2004 budgets revealed that 78 percent of the operating budget was from traffic tickets in 2003, and 84 percent of its operating budget came from traffic tickets in 2004, OHP officials said.

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It seems that the small town of Moffett, Oklahoma has had to declare bankruptcy, since their key method of gathering revenue was declared illegal back in December of 2006. More than 50% of their budget was derived from revenue generated by harassing drivers on US 64 as it passed through their little fiefdom and according to their Highway patrol that was a no no, (apparently you can derive 49% of your budget through speed traps and that's OK in OK). In 2004 Moffett collected a whopping 84% of their towns budget via armed robbery speeding tickets.

Imagine the sighs of relief that are going through peoples minds now as they find out that this speed trap of a town is now permanently out of business, as both a speed trap and a town. It seems that their former mayor left them saddled with a nice debt that can no longer be met so they are likely going to close up shop, unincorporate and become just another speck on the map as people zoom on by.

Traffic tickets are always about the money, not safety. That's why speed limits are set to arbitrary standards, even within the same locale. They want your money and they are more than willing to use armed force to take it from you. At least there's one place where the frequency of this will be lessened in the future. Hopefully something similar will be coming to a town near you soon.

I can't wait till the day comes when the same thing happens to federal, state and local governments across the country.

Technorati Tags:
Libertarian, Police State, Just Desserts

At Least They're Not Liars

As expected the people at Google have forced the switch upon me, as they said they were going to do. So far I have noticed no major issues with anything, but I am willing to bet that will not remain the case for too long. I can't say that I am overly pleased with Blogger for forcing the issue, tho. It reminds me too much of the governments way of doing business. On a more positive note the new version does seem to be a bit faster than the original, so they get a grudging tip of the hat for now.

Now to see if I am willing to "label" all of my previous posts or just leave things be.

Forced To Switch?

It looks as if Blogger may be intending to force the matter of switching to their new version. Upon logging in today I was treated to a splash page touting the supposed benefits of the new blogger. There was also a hyperlink that would let me continue on to my dashboard with a nice bright orange warning that I would only be allowed to do this once. So, it appears that the matter of switching is to be forced upon folks, like it not. The next time I login I will likely be forced to switch to their new version.

I am quite happy with the version of blogger I am currently using and don't really wish to switch to their new version. Unfortunately, I will have to switch regardless of my desires. That's the perils of using a free service, you're at the mercy of the powers that be, eh? Hope everything goes well.....

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Blogger, Blogging, Forced to Switch

America Comes To Europe

It looks as if the members of the EU are getting a taste of what the individual and "sovereign" states in America have been dealing with for a number of years; an all powerful and overbearing central government intent on bending people to its will. In this case it is via the use of European Arrest Warrants to enforce eco-crimes, (apparently there's some kind of garbage Mafia or something in the EU, since they refer to "organised environmental crime" and "criminal gangs"). Add in the socialists in Green Peace and you have a sure sign that things are rotten in Denmark (and the rest of the EU).

It's almost funny that the member states who willingly gave up their sovereignty in order to form a more perfect union are going to get a taste of federal power the whether they like it or not. In theory their Parliament and the member states must approve the measures into law, but since they have their own EU Supreme Court which is apparently not above legislating from the bench in order to grant greater powers to the central government it is unlikely that the soveregn states will win out in this matter.

How long will it be before they have RICO statutes? A bevy of "federal" laws that supersede all domestic law? Europe looks to be rapidly embracing centralised governance, as we have. With their socialist leanings they may well give concerned individuals in America a glimpse of things to come. For all intents and purposes we in America no longer have sovereign states and it is only a short matter of time before we are forced into the socialist mold of a disarmed populace who are held in thrall by a broadly reaching nanny state. With the continued destruction of the Constitution and the complete ignoring of the Declaration of Independence it is only a short matter of time before we find ourselves as the flip side of the Euro-coin. Their central government is already looking more and more like ours. How long can t be before our politicians look to them for guidance? Not too long is my guess.


Technorati Tags:
Libertarian, European Union, Socialism, Federal Government