Can you smeeeelll what the Net is cooking?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This is sort of an unofficial sequel to my other post on the value of the internet. I have been seeing more and more importance in the internet in relation to living in a stateless society. It may seem like baby steps, but slowly the ability to copyright and trademark things is going down the tube. Music and movies, television shows and copies of books are all over the place. These days it's seen as a vital part of marketing something to give away free things on the internet (i.e. an mp3 from a new album).

In addition information is pletiful on the web which seems to be decreasing the need to pay for education. I had a friend who taught himself how to edit movies through pirated software and now works in Hollywood editing films. He actually edited the Omen and the Passion of the Christ.

The internet has also allowed people to buy (though illegally) from offshore pharmacies instead of paying for overpriced meds.

The internet has given people with similar ideas to link up around the world. Finally, a semi-safe place to discuss ideas.

It is also an almost completely free market where new companies pop up and fail every day. Software or hardware becomes outdated and outmatched by up and coming competitors (For example: It was IBM, then Apple, then Windows, and now it's between Apples and Lenux). Today's Amazon is yesterdays CdNow.

I truly think people undervalue how much the internet can really mean to us. It is the ultimate freezone, where laisezz faire type behavior leads to much of the bad being weeded out, and most of the good coming to our attention. Notice how google prioritizes results so that low quality returns don't show up until a few pages in.

There is also an abundance of natural law on the internet. If one person go's around trolling or hacking, often they will be banned or counterhacked.

I hope you feel lucky every time you have a half hour on the internet, because that 30 minutes of potential knowledge could change the world as we know it.

Keepin' it Real with Illegal Immigration

Alright. I know this is a very sensetive subject with a lot of people on all sides. There are the American born Americans who feel angry about the situation. There are Legal immigrants in America who feel angry. There are legal immigrants who feel sympathy. There are American born American who feel sympathy. There are illegals who are angry at the Americans. There are illegals who feel lucky to be here.

With this many sides, this type of topic can real stir up emotions.

Let me start with saying that I have known lots of illegal immigrants from Mexico and Ecuador. Most of them were in situations where they had to immigrate because of wars, violence, lack of work etc. But many had alright lives there and just came over because it's better here. I must admit that if I was stuck in some buttfuck Mexican town getting paid shit, and being in the midst of drug ring crossfire and corrupt police tactics I would probably immigrate to America too.

But there are obviously problems with this. The U.S. and California have shown that we cannot support nearly as many as we are supporting. There are not enough jobs, resources etc. here for this many people legal or not. Many come to this country and get fake papers (which is very easy especially in L.A..) so they can either work one job under that name, one job under the table, and also receive welfare on a third name. This is incredibly harmful to our budget on a state, local, and federal level.

But look at this realistically. Instead of spouting off facts about how much illegals are hurting our country, and how they're stealing our jobs or whatever else, how about taking a look at the actuality of this situation. South America is not getting any better. It sucks to live there unless you have a lot of money. There is poverty, gang violence, corrupt police and militant groups covering the territories.

So what makes us think that we have the right to judge their motives for coming here? Even if it is simply "for a better life", I can respect that....I mean shit. We stole Mexico from them, and the rest of the U.S. from the Natives. I would just say this is karma.

But it doesn't end on that, whether we deserve it or not. The real point is - No one is ever going to be able to stop illegals from entering the country. Not anymore than we could stop drugs or weapons or child porn from entering the country. We keep focusing on "building a fence", or "increasing border security" when this is a very irrelavent part of the problem.

It's almost like our government doesn't want them to stop coming over here. They "buff up" border patrol once in a while to please the public, but it rarely results in less people immigrating.

So let's assume that we can't stop illegal immigration. Then what? Well, as an anarchist I don't believe in making laws and such to stop the abuse of the system. But this would be a better alternative to what's happening. How about employers verify employees social security cards? How about we announce that "anyone who comes into the hospital or emergency room must be verified as a citizen before treatment". It sounds harsh, but what if we give it a year before we do it. Just let people know it's coming so you better either carry your S.S. card with you, or go run to a country that will take you into their E.R. How about we tighten up welfare and stop letting people with fake social security numbers receive help?

The political side of me says this would work. But still, my anarchist tendencies lead me more towards the point that tax dollars shouldn't be paying for things like healthcare and welfare anyways. So if the only "systems" to rip off were private charities, then it would be the private charitie's responsibility to verify citizenship and/or choose whether they want to serve immigrants or not.

My bottom line here is that we need to take our focus off "those evil illegals" and point the blame at the real criminals. If our government is going to take tax money from us to spend on programs like welfare and medicare then they damn well better scam-proof the system. They want us to blame the illegals because it takes the heat off of them. Just a thought.

The Fastest Way to Get Somewhere....

They always say that "the fastest way to get somewhere is in a straight line". In this modern society of tightly woven suburban houses, factories, and enormous buildings we have prescribed paths that we are meant to take. You don't have to take all these paths, but eventually you will realize that society has set things up so taking any other path is dangerous or illegal. When I walk to the store every morning I could technically hop a few fences and get there in about four minutes flat. But following all the different sidewalks and crosswalks it takes atleast five to seven minutes.

It's sort of funny because I find myself in the randomness vs predestination argument. Are we truly free when the pathways in our homes, our yards, our neighborhoods, our cities, our freeways are all planned out for us? How much room do you have to live your life naturally when there are unnatural paths for us to follow?

I know this may seem like a little thing to most people. "It's just a walkway man...Get over it". But it brings up the bigger questions of "How much control do we have over our own lives?". How much of our life is affected by taking the prescribed paths? Now this can be on a very low level such as what I'm talking about. But it can also be an issue of how much we really run our own existence.

For example the other day my friend and I were walking to the bus stop to go to the mall. On the way there she says to me "I don't want to walk up the hill, let's take the long way". There are two ways to get to the bus stop. One is up a hill and down one street. It's uphill but it's shorter. The other way is all flatland but takes an extra three or four minutes to reach the bus stop. So we went the flatland way. As we start to cross the supermarket parking lot her parents drive up in their Jeep and offered us a ride. This meant we got to the mall atleast fifteen to twenty minutes faster than if we were to have not gotten a ride.

This may sound insignificant, but just think back to all the times a simple wrong turn or an unplanned visit into a new store changed everything. In highschool I met many of my friends through random ways. Some people I would become friends with because one of us happened to be wearing a band T shirt that the other one was also into. Some people I met because we were both class clowns. Some people it was just the simple act of another friend bringing them around.

When I was raided by the DEA for marijuana sales in 2003 they found almost 4 ounces (a quarter pound) of dried cannabis. The night I was raided I was smoking out of a hookah with three other people and was about to leave to nightschool. We decided to smoke one more bowl. About half way through the police busted in and arrested me. I think back sometimes about what would have happened if I had left for school instead of smoking. One simple change of mind, or a decision to stay a few more minutes, or drive a little faster can completely change your life.

So in this world of prescribed paths, how much does this actually affect our freedom of choice? In more "primative" times we would hack a pathway through forests, cross lakes and rivers etc. These days if you tried to cut out a mile and a half by crossing the river instead of going around to the bridge, everyone would look at you like you're crazy, not to mention most likely getting arrested.

So what's my point? Well, there's not a whole lot you can do about this kind of thing except give an answer, which I don't have. I see the universe and society as random in nature, but with chances and possibilities combining to form certain paths. Within these set paths is the ability to use free will. The problem is that it's usually much harder to make some choices than others. For example taking the free way may be the way you're supposed to go, but flying an airplane in a straight line to your destination would be much faster. The problem there is not everyone has an airplane, and there's not exactly landing strips at every location you're trying to get to.

So my advise is this: In your every day life remember that you are subject to extreme pressure to conform and make decisions based on their level of difficulty. To thrive and stay a vital human being you must actively make choices for yourself. If you see a quicker way to get somewhere, by all means take it. If a law doesn't make sense, by all means break it. And most importantly - never regret anything that has come to pass if it was a decision that you made on your own. The only things you should regret are things that you did because of pressure from peers, society, church, government, friends, family etc.

"I took the path less traveled" - Cliche quote from Robert Frost

Anarchy is a State of Mind

If you google the words "anarchism", "anarchist", or "anarchy" you will get results ranging from shirts and buttons, to punk bands and songs, to various descriptions of anarchism branches, to articles on Somalia. I think the only point that all people can agree on is that anarchism deals with the idea that no government is the best government. Sure many also reject the idea of gods or idols, some use "anarchist" as a word to slander someone, some use it in a very shallow sense, and some simply want to tear down the government to build a "better" one. But the one constant is that "anarchism" deals with living without government (even if it's only temporarily).

One thing that I've heard come out of the mouth of everyone from democrats to republicans to libertarians and oligarchists is "Anarchism would never work". I've had personal ideological struggles with this over the years. People have pointed out many ways that an anarchist society could fail, and how the current state of mankind would never let such a great system work.

But this blog entry is not to counter the many points of disagreement between anarchists and non-anarchists, nor is it to counter the points which anarchists argue about amongst themselves. I truly believe that having no true government could be a very realistic possibility, even with today's state of man. But the point of this entry is to voice my opinion that anarchism is often misunderstood. It is not a one world system, nor is it necessarily a one country or one state system. Even if the entire government was under a military style totalitarian government, anarchism has and will always exist.

People always assume that anarchists plan to take over the world (or country) and take away the government. I think that most anarchists realize that some countries, due to social stigmas, religious pressure etc. may never dissolve their government. On the first level, think of the idea of sovereign states is very important to remember. The way I imagine anarchism would work on this level of human consiousness would be in the same way the South tried to seperate from the U.S. during the civil war. If enough people get together with roughly the same ideologies it would not be unlikely that small government-free societies could thrive. Let's start on a small level.

Let's say that tomorrow Van Nuys California decided to become a sovereign state. The way the Federal and California State government is going, it's not like it would be unthinkable that Van Nuys may have enough money locally to thrive. And as much as I would hope violence would not be a part of this struggle, I would think that the people of Van Nuys could probably hold off the State from trying to reclaim the area. Let's say that the bankrupt California government decided "Hey, we need their tax dollars. Let's go physically force them to rejoin us.". Well, firstly they would have to get past all the armed locals, and whoever they designated as "police" (in the Anarcho capitalist sense of the word). Next, assuming the local economy was doing well, Van Nuys may actually have more funds to fight with than the State itself.

Of course this is a hypothetical, and Van Nuys would not be the most likely place to become or stay sovereign. So what about...hmmm...Green Valley California? It's a remote area with lots of ranch type properties, and untouched natural areas. This area is not heavily patrolled by police. For example it takes about 45 minutes for cops to respond to accidents in some of the more isolated areas. If the majority of Green Valley residents decided to seperate from the state, there's not much the State could do. Assuming the state even had the funds to send a ton of police to reclaim the area, not only is it a hard area to penetrate, but the state would be looked down on for doing this, since it is in our constitution that we may seperate from the rest of the Country if we feel it to be necessary.

I guess my bottom line is that if people were organized enough, there's not much the State could do. And this is only talking about one area seperating. If multiple areas in close proximity to eachother seperated and became alies, what choice would they have but to let it go? The confederacy was such a large amount of land that the U.S. could not let it go for financial reasons. But if just one street, one town, one city, one state at a time became independent, it would be very hard to stop...especially without the federal government.

Infact, areas like Green Valley are almost sovereign in a sense. They pay taxes, but the amount of police out there is so minimal that it's sort of a "take care of yourself" type place. My friend who lives there was burglarized twice, and both times the criminals were chased off with the family's guns. Another reason I don't support gun control.

But this is all somewhat irrelavent to this post. I was just trying to paint the picture that once an area becomes independent, it's a huge hassle for the State/Federal government to bring you back without one hell of a fight (i.e. The civil war). I relate this to my main point: Anarchy is a state of mind. Now this can be an individual or collective state of mind, but here I will be talking about the individual.

Take someone like my favorite beat author William S. Burroughs. He was a bisexual, gun carrying, heroin addict. He spent most of his life making money off of writing. He also spent most of his life on drugs, running from State to state, country to country avoiding several charges he collected over the years. He never slowed down, never gave up, never went to jail. He was an anarchist in the truest sense of the word. It wasn't until his old age that he returned to Kansas where he lived out the rest of his life, still abusing opiates, and reading new age books.

Or look at Buddha, or Jesus, or Gandhi, or Henry David Thoreau. While these people weren't exactly "active" anarchists, they lived their lives how they wanted to. Some got away with it and some didn't.

I site these examples to give strength to the idea that "anarchy IS a state of mind". This can apply on many different levels. First you can live in anarchy by simply not following rules you don't see as useful or just. Second you can live in anarchy by living in the spiritual world as opposed to the physical. Even when locked in a small prison cell, if the mind is free, so is the person in question.

I think this is a major problem with anarchists today. They live in the modern system waiting for the day that they announce on the news "We're an anarchy now!". What they don't realize is that to be in the mindset that you must be in to live without masters, rulers, kings or presidents, you must first already be free. I fuck up sometimes and take the easy way out. But the last few years I have been living in my own personal anarchy. I don't work a typical job. I pay my rent in cash, off the record. As far as I know there are no records as to what my current address is. I don't pay attention to the few tickets I've received, and don't plan on it. I don't drive or own any property. I do my best to avoid taxes, though I do have to pay sales tax, since it's quite hard to live in a suburban neighborhood without a car and find alternative ways of aquiring living supplies. But overall I follow no law, rule, or social code that I don't see fit. I don't pay attention to any laws except the laws that I have created for myself. Once again, I'm not flawless, but I have done quite a good job surviving while doing exactly what I want.

It comes down to the fact that this is your life, and it may be your only chance to experience existence. Who knows if there is other forms of existence? I personally believe there is, but I can't verify it. No matter how much trouble comes out of me not living the way society sees fit, I can't just hand my life over to the powers that be. I don't believe that I can be paid enough to spend my time doing things that I don't want to do. Life is very short when you think about it. So why would anyone take the "easy" way out? I don't regret anything that's happened to me (and I've had tons of fucked up things happen, let me tell you) because they are all results of choices that I made without influence from government, society, churches etc.

P.S. I know this post is a bit disjointed. Sorry. I just didn't feel like following the rules! Hahaha...

-W.K.

Obama-Care Narcs!

Just thought I'd warn anyone unaware that our government is looking for people to snitch on anyone who has views against the Obama health care reform plan. Yep, it's sort of like McCarthyism for libertarians.

I personally have a lot against the reform ranging from conflicts with the socialist/fascist nature of the program, the history of the quality of socialized medecine, and mostly the government running private companies out of business. Someone better turn me in!

There's also a picture being posted around Los Angeles of Obama photoshopped in the Joker's makeup (Heath Ledger's version), with the word "socialism" below it. A ton of people are super pissed about this. Ranging from the horrid depiction of our president (even though Bush was transformed into a vampire in a poster during his presidency), to the "white face" makeup (assuming this was an intentional racist gesture). LA Weekly freaked out about it.

I know that when we have Republicans in office we're subjected to open oppression (i.e. the patriot act), but is this quiet oppression any better? Instead of being open totalitarians (i.e. The Republicans), they sneak around using informants to turn in "anti Obama care" crazies. Recently the government also issued a warning against "far right extremists", which can mean anything from Rush Limbaugh, to Murray Rothbard, to the Unibomber. They said that right wing ideologists are more likely to use violence as a means of spreading their message, while left wing extremists are more likely to use cyber crime and protesting to spread theirs. How soon we forget the collectevist-anarchist lead assault on the World Trade Organization and it's surround businesses. Or how about the Animal/Earth Liberation front (which I support by the way)? Their main tactic is destruction of private property. Or what about the Sea Shephard, who uses everything from water cannons to a ramming device on the front of the boat?

I'm not necessarily condeming any of the above acts, but it's ridiculous to assume the left wing extremists are peaceful.

Another point is that a lot of people who are accused of being right wing are usually far more libertarian in nature. Timothy McVeigh, the Unibomber, and the Waco "cult" were of mostly libertarian mindsets. I do not consider myself right wing, or conservative in the least. But I often get grouped in with them because of my stances on firearms, privacy, and big government.

Everybody watch out! Big Brother is lubing up his big red, white and blue penis, getting ready to fuck us all in the ass.

Step One: Never trust your government

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I get the label "conspiracy theorist" alot. Why I agree that there have been many government conspiracies in the past, I do not fall for every single theory out there. I am still undecided about the moon landing (though I am puzzled by the low quality of the tapes used), I do not believe 9/11 was an inside job (atleast not in the traditional sense), and I don't buy the fact that the freemasons or the Bavarian illuminati have any real influence on society (except the individual members it produces).

But I do believe certain things had very fishy elements to them. And some I think were outright conspiracies. In this blog I will summarize several events in American history that are either highly suspected to be or are confirmed as cover ups or conspiracies.

THE FEDERAL RESERVE - Before 1913 when the federal reserve was established, banks made their own currencies. There was also an official federal currency, but it was not exclusively used. When banks began to ensure the safety of money and then loan out that money to other customers, big problems came up. The banks would not get paid back loans and have to tell their customers they couldn't pay them. The word would get around and everyone would come for their money. The bank would pay off as much as they could, then go under. Many people lost all their money this way. The demand for federal control over banks and currency became overwhelming. A group of elite bankers, politicians etc. went to Jekyll island and secretly came up with the structure of the Federal reserve. They kept this very secret, because the people coming up with the new system were the same ones who ran the banks that ripped everybody off. It wasn't until after 1913 when public support for the reserve was high that they began to brag about their secret meetings.

TUSKIGEE SYPHILIS STUDY - From 1932 to 1972 the U.S. Department of Public Health knowingly infected African Americans with syphilis to research advance stages of the disease. They were promised free health care in return. When they could have easily been given penecillin, they were instead left to die....And you think animal testing is bad!

HUMAN RADIATION STUDIES - From 1944 to 1974 the U.S. government performed thousands of human radiation experiments, and intentional releases of radiation. When asked if it could happen again they said "Yes". During times of crisis they could waive consent, and it would not be up for public scrutiny. Let's hope they don't summon you for "radiation duty" the next time they need a human guinea pig.

MK-ULTRA - Though there are many more questionable acts and outright cover up/conspiracies, this is my favorite example. Starting in 1950 the government began a study on the possible use of mind control, behavior modification and/or using drugs as weapons of war. They gave Americans (many military) doses of marijuana, LSD, Psilocybin, Mescaline, Heroin, Barbituates etc. It is also reported that they experiemented with sound wave technology and it's effects on the mind. In the early 1970s the CIA intentionally destroyed all records of the event. Many participants in the study have permanent mental and physical problems from the research.

So why is it that we wait for leaks to come out, or for the government to admit their actions after the fact? What good does it do us to discover (some) of their evil ways, if we simply ignore their behavior in the future? I think it's equally dangerous to believe everything is a conspiracy. But not believing that our government could, or would do such terrible things and lie about them is the first step in losing your freedom.

Our government can, has, and will do anything it can to keep it's power and money. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I just like to say I have a good "bullshit detector".

Cannabis, Prisons, Taxation and Regulation...

Here is a complicated issue for me. I have held several stances on medical marijuana and recreational marijuana for years. I have been a medical marijuana patient (officially) since 2004 under California State law as well as local laws in Los Angeles county. I have many conflicts with both the government and the marijuana movement. I will try and explain my beliefs in a clear manner.

First off I have a problem with outlawing crimes which essentially hurt no one besides the "lawbreaker". As much as they try and tell us cannabis (or any drug) causes violence between gangs/cartels and funds terrorism, it's complete horse shit. The only thing that causes violence in the drug business is the reactions of cartels and gangs to the boundaries of prohibition. There would be no drug cartels if drugs were legalized. They would be sold in stores, and if any violence was happening behind the scenes, it wouldn't be any more than violence between oil or banana cartels. The only thing prohibition has ever done is anger people, violate the constitution, raise drug prices, cause violence, and give more power to the underground thugs.

But as you know I am very pro counter economics. As much violence that goes on because of the black market, I believe it's possibly our most valuable tool in giving power back to the people. So my next problem is with the complete legalization, taxation, and regulation of marijuana. Medical and recreational marijuana advocates act like if it's legalized it will be available for sale in high quantity/quality for a good price, and that they'll be able to grow it in their back yards. The reality of government regulation has never been so nice.

In Canada when the government set up a medical marijuana "stash" to send out to varified medical marijuana patients, patients complained it was a low quality grade of dry cannabis which was shred up into "shake" and then sent.

When our government took over the tobacco industry not only did tobacco become filled with toxic and addictive chemicals, the price has increased significantly and you must have a license to grow or sell tobacco.

When prohibition was repealed alcohol's quality probably increased as far as safety, but the alcohol content has been decreased significantly and it's still not legal to make your own booze.

When the government began to come up with opiate derived painkillers they were outlawed for use without a prescription, and to grow for use entirely. The price increased dramatically, and many were combined with very harmful drugs like tylenol or aspirin.

The steps that it seems the government takes when legalizing drugs are the following: Control who can grow and/or sell it, Tax it as much as possible, control active chemical content (usually reduce). Why does anyone in their right mind believe the government will just let California's number one cash crop (above grapes) go to the stoners? Why when California alone could pull in ATLEAST 1.5 Billion dollars anually would our corrupt, financially devistated state legislature ever give it up? This is just California. Our federal government is also in serious financial trouble, and I doubt they are going to let billions of dollars in revenue and billions of dollars saved in the war on drugs go out the window?

I guarantee that if marijuana is entirely legalized/taxed it will increase in price, decrease in quality, decrease in availability, and be almost impossible to grow or sell it legally. I'll use California as an example. As of last year they began taxing medical marijuana. A gram that used to cost $20 now costs about $22. Not a huge amount, but enough to screw the average sick person out of their medecine for that day. I've gone there with $20 and had to beg them to let me owe them $2. If they're willing to tax the sick, then I imagine they won't think twice about taxing the average stoner.

Now my major problem with drug laws (particularly cannabis) is the amount of people we have in prisons for non violent marijuana related crimes. 2003 figures from an article on police overcrowding stated that:

2,078,570 men and women incarcerated on June, 30, 2003, an increase of 57,000 more inmates than state, local, and federal officials held on the same state a year earlier.

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2001 Statistics on marijuana arrests stated:

641,108 people were arrested in 2001 for marijuana possession charges.

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While this does bring in revenue from all the useless marijuana tickets given out, the amount of people who don't have the money to pay the ticket (in California) and wind up doing jail time is significant. This is a loss of revenue. Statistics also show that people incarcerated have a much higher chance of reoffending than if they were never introduced to the prison enviroment.

Another thing this does is it takes up the time of police, when they could be doing things like stopping burglaries, or solving murders. In Los Angeles towns like Downtown's skid row, or South Central - the Police spend more time harassing drug dealers and buyers than they do stopping the horrid crimes that go on there every minute of the day.
There are old homeless women who get abducted by crackheads. They imprison them in a tent or squat and once a month force them to cash their social security checks. Homeless people and meth heads kill eachother on the corner for someone looking at them wrong. There are children being abused by their family members both physically and sexually. It's amazing that they feel busting a pot dealer is significant even in the smallest meaning of the word.

So in conclusion, my hope for cannabis is that it becomes decriminalized and/or tolerated as in Amsterdam. Coffee shops function there freely, people smoke and buy cannabis there without being harassed. Hell, people smoke crack on the streets there. And time has shown that their crime rates and addiction rates are quite low, considering. I hope that personal marijuana growing will be possible, sales and purchase of marijuana will not be a crime, and that the price and quality of cannabis stays in the hands of the people.

All I'm saying is, be careful what you wish for.