If we can prevent the government from wasting the labor of the people
under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy. - Thomas Jefferson


Sunday, August 22, 2010

Church sues state

The Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago is suing the state of Illinois over the promises of Rod 'Only Innocent People Appear on 'The View'' Blagojevich.
After all, they had a fire. And why should they be responsible for covering their own damages when they can just turn to the state? Is not like there is anything in the constitution guaranteeing the separation of church and state...

Here's a few things that tickles my brain in a bad way:
1.) They were promised $1 MILLION even though the damages totaled $65,015.
2.) The $1 MILLION was still given out, but it was given to a PRIVATE school that was leasing the area of the church that had the fire. (Because private schools benefit everyone, not just the parents that can afford to send their kids there.)
3.) I mean really... The state has to pay to defend itself because a corrupt governor made a promise to a church? Like a governor has any business promising statewide tax funds to a small church in an urban area that is many hours away from most of the residents of the state?

If this works out for them, I think I'll drop my homeowner's insurance and sue the state for damages when it burns down.

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

read more: Church sues Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity(wgn)

Saturday, August 21, 2010

I miss mom... But I don't miss her social security!

This has been going on for awhile, and I'm sure its far from over....

Japan has over 40,000 folks that are over 100 years old. Or so their social security rolls would have you believe.

As it turns out, moving back in with your dead parents can turn into a healthy living in Japan.

The first story I saw was when some city council members thought they'd cash in on a local photo op by congratulating Sogen 'I'm Not Dead Yet' Kato for turning 111. But the family resisted saying that the old fellow had locked himself into a room to be a living Buddha. The councilmen were having none of this and had the police force their way in where they found the mummified remains of Sogen, who had been dead for many years.
The family had collected over $109,000 off of Sogen's pension.

Then there were a few more stories. Like the one about the woman who is still collecting her payments at an address that was turned to a park in 1981.

Now they busted a dude that has been carrying around his mom's remains in a backpack. Because he couldn't afford her funeral, he thought he'd keep her around and collect her checks. He describes how he washed the body for awhile then eventually broke her into pieces and loaded her into the backpack.

In all, there are more than 200 folks over the age of 100 that are collecting checks but otherwise cannot be found.

THIS is whyjapanesepaytaxes.

PS - You know we're gonna have a bunch of this ourselves now that the boomers are aging and the kids are moving back home...

read more:
Almost 200 centenarians 'missing' in Japan(bbc)
Tokyo's 'oldest woman' is missing(bbc)
Tokyo's 'oldest man' was a corpse(bbc)

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Federal Beareau of Not Investigating

For all the warnings of mis-information at Wikipedia, they sure seem to have their facts together about some legal issues. Well, they at least have a more accurate understanding of copyright laws than the FBI. Not that we'd expect the federal government's premiere law enforcement agency to understand the laws they try to enforce...

Last month, the FBI decided to send Wikipedia a cease and desist order for having a high resolution version of the FBI seal available for download on their site. They quoted a law about the illegality of displaying their seal. Here's the actual law they took a shot at quoting.*
Wikipedia promptly returned a letter, with an ACTUAL quote from the same law the FBI tried using against them. As it turns out, not only is Wikipedia not breaking the law, but they point out that they are more than happy to argue this one out in court. They have this confidence because unlike the FBI, these guys did an investigation and know they are in the right.

No small part of what chaps me on this waste of federal man hours is the fact that their investigation was as thorough as you would expect from an incompetent investigative agency. Unless Wikipedia has some sort of special lack of rights, you have to wonder why the following sites did not receive similar threats of legal action:
Encyclopedia Britannica
New York Metro
and I found at least 2 seals available amongst the documents at fbi.gov (to be fair, none of the seals on their site are high resolution, but any chump with access to photoshop could certainly use this to do as much damage as one might do with the high resolution version...)

Who would you rather have a good understanding of the law of the land - the police or a not-for-profit web site...

THIS is whyipaytaxes.
read more: F.B.I., Challenging Use of Seal, Gets Back a Primer on the Law(nyt)