We're From the Government. We're Here to Help.
Editor: Janine Hansen
Vol. 37 No. 8, Email Version
“No Manual Can Opener”
It’s the Little Things that Make the Difference
When I saw the pictures on the news of the empty shelves, as people panicked in advance of hurricane Irene on the East Coast, I thought it was a good time to take stock. We all need to be prepared for natural and man made disasters. It feels like disasters are increasing world wide…So let’s take stock.
First of all, Nevada is the third most active seismological (earthquake prone) state in the nation, behind Alaska and California. Since the earthquake in Japan, the Ring of Fire is currently roaring all around the Pacific Basin. We are even having earthquakes in less active areas like the 5.8 that recently struck the East Coast. However, there has not been that much activity on our West Coast until last week when there was a 6.4 earthquake in Vancouver, B.C. Canada. Within the last three weeks there have been over 12 large 6.0 to 7.0 earthquakes around the world, especially around the Ring of Fire.
In addition to earthquakes, we are very vulnerable to any interruption in trucking because nearly all of our food is trucked in. Stores now operate on a just in time inventory, which means they don’t stock extras in the back.
I read a compelling article about a man in Vermont who was stuck in his house without electricity, unable to go anywhere for several days because of the flooding from hurricane Irene. He didn’t even have a manual can opener to open his outdated food. He had to let his chickens and goat run free because he had no food for them. He did have a generator, but the goat jumped on it, cracked the gas tank and it got clogged with feathers from the chickens roosting on it. I think it really got his goat. It’s the little things we usually don’t think about that caused his personal disaster. He responded by deciding to become prepared.
I’m sure, in case of disaster, you don’t want to depend on the government’s incompetent FEMA to help you. By the time they get there, you might be like the people in the Superdome after Katrina. See article by Ron Paul, “We’re from the Government and We’re Here to Help.”
So once again…let’s take stock….What if the electricity went off in your community for 3 days…
7 days…14 days…What would it mean to you and your family?
WATER: Is the first consideration. What have you done to insure that your family has water if there is a disaster? You should have at least 1 to 2 gallons per person per day for 2 weeks and some means to purify additional water because it may be contaminated. See ‘Emergency Preparedness on our website and take the Water Quiz and read the Preparedness Suggestions.
FOOD: Do you have a reasonable supply of non-perishable people and pet food all the time?
COOKING: Do you have a camp stove or an alternative way to cook your food and the fuel you need on hand?
LIGHT: Do you have alternative lighting: lanterns, candles, flashlights with extra batteries on hand?
MEDICINE: Do you have extra prescription medicine on hand, as well as, first aid supplies?
HEAT: Do you have any alternative means of heat if the power goes out, like a kerosene heater with kerosene, fireplace or wood stove? Do you have extra blankets, warm clothes and boots?
SANITATION: If you have no water, have you considered what you would do about sanitation? Garbage bags, hand sanitizer, wipes, toilet paper, disinfectant?
SPECIAL NEEDS: If you have little children or the elderly in your home, are you always prepared with extra diapers, formula, and any special dietary items they may require?
FAMILY PROTECTION: Do you have a way to protect your family?
ENTERTAINMENT: Do you have something to do when the IPod, Computer hence Face Book, and cell phone don’t work? What about some old fashioned board games or a good book?
CASH: ATM’s won’t be working and banks would not be open. Do you have some emergency cash?
SOME EXTRA: Do you have extra to share with your extended family, neighbors or friends?
ARE YOU PREPARED? Or will you be depending on FEMA? That’s a real gamble!
“For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilence, and earthquakes, in divers places.” KJV Matthew 24:7
Cops, Courts, and Collusion with the Legislature
Just Say No to the Ticket Tax
Last week, I was in “Justice” Court for a “speeding” ticket I received back in January 2011. The trial had been postponed. It was an eye opening experience that brought clearly to mind the COLLUSION that exists between the Cops, the Courts, and the Legislature in their scheme to raise more REVENUE.
I was ticketed by the highway patrol for speeding in a “Construction Zone,” although there were no orange warning signs indicating that it was a construction zone, no cones, no barrels, no workers--just out of the blue there was a black and white reduce speed sign and in rapid succession a 65 and a 55 mile an hour speed signs. These were placed too close together to safely slow down. It was a speed trap.
The highway patrol had a plane overhead and cops were pulling people over as fast as they could. The airplane cop testified in court that on his first page there were 22 people ticketed (I was number 14) but that he hadn’t brought the second page which contained many more. I received a $302 ticket. I was so astonished at the manner in which the signs had been placed that I drove to town turned around and drove 10 miles back to check it out. In all my years of driving I have never witnessed anything like it.
Before the trial, my husband and I researched the law and found that the temporary speed signs were in violation of federal and state law, because there were no warning signs as required, and the signs were NOT placed with the required distances between them. These federal and state laws are mirrors of each other and are based on safety standards. The signs were placed in clear violation of the federal law and state law.
I made the case in my trial that this “construction zone” was in violation of the law and therefore I was wrongly charged. However, we found out according to the deputy district attorney…that the state can change the speed limits in the state at any time for any reason…and, I might add, without regard to federal or state law or safety requirements. Copies of the federal laws were not allowed to be placed in evidence. The engineer from the Nevada Dept. of Transportation was not allowed to give testimony regarding these facts, because the D.A. objected and the Judge backed him up. The D.A. said I was not ticketed for speeding in a construction zone, although that contradicted the testimony of the cop who gave me the ticket, but that I was just speeding.
The final outcome, after three and a half hours in court, was that the law, federal and state, has no place in the court room. The Judge simply repeated the D.A.’s arrogant absurdities in making her final decision. The implications of this are far reaching, if you consider what that really means is that the state does not have to obey the law and that cops and the courts are a law unto themselves. That is shocking!
I told the Judge that the entire proceedings were fraudulent. That justice was not to be had as the law was not allowed in her courtroom. I was bold in telling the truth. I had nothing to lose. I’d already paid the $302 fine. Apparently, chagrinned by the entire fiasco, the judge reduced my fine to $100, but as the law requires, charged me an additional $92 “administrative assessment”, more appropriately identified as a “ticket tax”.
Administrative assessments or the “ticket taxes” are simply a sneaky way the Legislature has found to revenue their citizens without adding new “taxes”, and they have an advantage of avoiding protests because they pick us off one at a time. The Legislature, the Courts and the Cops get away with their “ticket tax” because almost nobody takes the time to fight their tickets. Because my trial lasted three and a half hours with at least seven government employees required to be there, I cost the government money rather than allowing them to make money on me. If everyone went to court and fought their tickets, the government would soon realize that the “ticket tax” is an unprofitable revenue scheme. Unfortunately, we’re all too busy trying to pay our other taxes to take the time to fight the “ticket tax”.
In NRS 176.059-176.0613, the Legislature identifies the special uses of the administrative assessments, the “ticket tax” revenues. Everyone is on the take because ultimately the money ends up in City, County and the State General Funds. However, the lion’s share of money goes to the COURTS, from the municipal courts to the Supreme Court. It is used for every conceivable project including: court administration, facilities, continuing education, services of retired justices, debt service, juvenile justice system etc, etc, etc. And then there’s money going to the Cops through the Peace Officers’ Standards and Training Commission. Even the Dept. of Transportation, the ones responsible for the regulations regarding Construction Zone signs and safety, receives money for a “computerized interoperative system for information related to law enforcement.”
Of course, these exorbitant administrative assessments don’t only apply to tickets, but to all misdemeanors and in NRS176.062, they also apply to gross misdemeanors and felonies. What a racket for under the radar revenuing by the Legislature!
I wonder if they ever considered that because the cops and the courts financially benefit from the “ticket tax”, justice might be directly impaired. An independent judiciary is one of the bulwarks of a free society. But, if the judges and the courts are directly benefiting from the revenue raised from tickets or other misdemeanors, impartiality and indeed the whole justice system is called into question by the ticket tax.
This entire experience made clear to me the corrupt COLLUSION between the COPS, the COURTS, and the LEGISLATURE. All three branches of government, and those working for them, are directly benefiting from “ticket tax” which means MORE TICKETS--MORE TICKET TAXES and unfortunately LESS JUSTICE.
Challenge your ticket in Court and cost the government money instead of allowing them to make money from you. Make it unprofitable to raise revenue and fund their programs through “administrative assessments.” Just Say No to the Ticket Tax! -end-
Nevada Families Eagle Forum Newsletter is published 12 times a year. The Subscription price is $25.00.
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We're From the Government. We're Here to Help. |
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By Congressman Ron Paul, September 5, 2011 In the wake of hurricane Irene, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is expected to come hat in hands asking for more money from Congress. Like the rest of the government, it is broke. It has been suggested that any additional funds allocated to FEMA should come from cuts elsewhere. This seems harsh and lacking in compassion to big government advocates who do not understand economics, but I would go a step further. FEMA should never have been established. It is based on misguided ideas of disaster relief. This seems shocking to those who have never been subjected to the secondary disaster that is the arrival of FEMA on the scene of a catastrophic event. But explaining FEMA’s ineptness is not the same thing as saying no one should help people affected by disasters. Quite the opposite. Victims of disasters should get any and all help possible, and there is virtually no limit to the generosity and compassion of good American people after devastation hits. One only need to remember the outpouring after Katrina to know this is true. FEMA, however, did more to get in the way of relief than to actually provide and facilitate it. The examples are numerous. When the call was put out for volunteer firefighters, they volunteered by the thousands. It was FEMA, for reasons of control and bureaucratic ineptitude, who made sure they were not, in fact allowed to actually help. When a group of firefighters arrived from Houston, instead of being put immediately on the job, they were told to sit around and wait. After waiting for two days doing nothing, they were simply sent home. One thousand volunteer firefighters were sent to Atlanta to undergo sexual harassment training while fires actively raged in the city. The ones that remained through this stupidity were sent to escort the president around or to distribute fliers instead of putting out fires. Computer engineer Jack Harrison was told his skills were needed to rebuild technological infrastructure. After being given the runaround for about two weeks, he was misallocated as head of security on the cruise ship FEMA had leased, when he should have been using his skills to help. All manner of help was turned away or mismanaged by FEMA while people suffered and waited. Even the Red Cross had its hands tied by FEMA. It has only gotten worse since 9/11. Compare the stories of two flotillas - one after 9/11 and one after Katrina. Within an hour of the 9/11 attacks, the largest boatlift in history was organized spontaneously by locals who saw an immediate need and responded immediately. Over 500,000 terrified New Yorkers were taken off the island by ferries, tugboats, pleasure crafts, fishing boats and barges when all other access points had been shut down. A similar flotilla attempt was privately organized after Katrina. 500 boats caravanned to New Orleans to rescue patients from hospitals that were out of supplies and desperate. Unfortunately, FEMA had taken over by then and they were turned away, empty, while the patients languished, still stranded. Tragically, the Vermont Air National Guard helicopters were in Iraq when Irene hit, and they were desperately needed here. The establishment of FEMA is symptomatic of a blind belief in big government's ability to do anything and everything for anyone and everyone. FEMA is a bureaucratic organization. Bureaucracies, while staffed with well-meaning people, are notoriously slow and wasteful by their very nature. When people are starving, injured and dying they need speed and efficiency, yet FEMA comes along with forms and policies and rubber stamps. This sort of thing is bad enough at the DMV, but in matters of life and death where seconds count, this is just not acceptable. True compassion would be to get FEMA out of the way. -end- |
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