Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Your Tax Dollars at Work

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Protecting us from the gays!



Monday, July 30, 2007

Charity, Japan Style

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One or more people are anonymously handing out money in Japan, seemingly at random. Mailboxes have been stuffed with cash, and bank notes have been spotted falling from the roofs of businesses. How odd!

Residents of a Tokyo apartment building are baffled after a total of 1.81 million yen (15,210 dollars) was found in 18 mailboxes by Saturday, a police spokesman said.

"The money was in identical plain envelopes, which were unsealed and carried no names or messages," the spokesman told AFP.

But residents became "spooked" rather than pleased with the anonymous gifts -- and were too upright to pocket the money secretly.

"Some people initially suspected they were fake bills. When they realised the bills were real, they reported them to us," the spokesman said.

...

On Wednesday, bills worth 960,000 yen were inexplicably seen "falling" in front of a convenience store.

"We can just say the money came from the skies," a puzzled police official said. "There were other passers-by outside and customers in the store but the incident caused no confusion," he said.

"People thought it was too eerie to touch."

...

The largest single dropoff so far was in the ancient city of Kyoto on July 23, astonishing a 67-year-old woman who found an envelope containing 10 million yen of stacked bills in her mailbox.

But mystery money does not always reach police intact.

A woman walking on a bridge over Tokyo's Sumida River told officers that she saw bills falling at her feet from an elevated expressway above on July 6.

She believes 30 to 40 notes fell but police managed to collect only six notes worth 46,000 yen by the time they arrived.

"Some people were picking the money up on the bridge," the Tokyo Shimbun quoted the woman as saying.

No one can say if more people have collected money and not told police.

Media tallies suggest more than four million yen, including some found last year, has been found in the public restrooms.

Dutifully, police are holding most of the money in case the rightful owner eventually decides to reveal their identity


Amazing.

Pop-quiz time: Should this little gifting spree be counted as a collectivist/socialist act, or a free-market/voluntaryist act?

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Carnivale!

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The Freedom to Say 2 + 2 = 4 has a new edition of the Market Anarchy Blog Carnival up! In it you will find a whole bunch of freedom-soaked posts written by voluntaryholics! It's great booze for the mind, that's for sure.

The Market Anarchy Blog Carnival even features a post that I wrote at this very blog. So go check it out!

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Saturday, July 21, 2007

If The Product Sucks, Stop Buying It

1 statements

The US military has a big marketing problem. Specifically, it has bad brand identity:

In the advertising world, brand identity is everything. Volvo means safety. Colgate means clean. IPod means cool. But since the U.S. military invaded Iraq in 2003, its "show of force" brand has proved to have limited appeal to Iraqi consumers, according to a recent study commissioned by the U.S. military.


Why does it have this brand identity problem? Why are the Iraqi consumers not too keen on what they are being sold?

Because the product sucks! The US military should have a warning label on it, like you see on packs of smokes. "Warning, use of this product will level your cities and explode your families."

When products suck, you're supposed to be able to stop purchasing them. Well, that isn't an option in this case. The taxpayers have to buy the product and the Iraqis have to use it. So how the hell do we get this company to straight-up go out of business?

Incidentally, look at how delusional these fuckers are:

At the same time, Helmus said, U.S. military and civilian authorities must stop thinking of themselves as a "good-idea factory" whose every thought has greater merit than those of their customers. "Procter & Gamble doesn't even do that," he said.

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Friday, July 6, 2007

1600 Satan Avenue

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This is a Google Earth screenshot of the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC. Notice anything peculiar?

Thursday, July 5, 2007

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Profiles in American Heroism: Francois Tremblay

My esteemed colleague, Francois Tremblay, videotaped his 4th of July activities. Franc's 4th of July video has it all: Acts of patriotic symbolism, the Star Spangled Banner, and even delicious s’mores.

Give me liberty, or give me death!

Gore III is a Political Prisoner

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Al Gore's son, Gore III, was arrested in Los Angeles yesterday for having some pills and some pot in his car.

He admitted to smoking some weed before he drove, and that's not good. This guy may not serve jailtime if he's lucky, but most people in his situation do serve jailtime. It is a victimless crime (except for the driving part) and if anything, this kid needs substance abuse help, not time behind bars.

Drug laws are a travesty to this country. How inhumane, how pathetic, how evil.

FREE GORE 3!!!

Monday, July 2, 2007

Terrorist Skateboard Cell Apprehended

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Their skateboards contained WMDs, no doubt: