An Zhu

Well, I've had a good run on Livejournal (8 and a half years!), but since we started our new webcomic, we figured we might as well merge them. So from now on, my blog will appear at O'Chang Comics



Cheeeeahz!

Love this new video by my Filipino band mates Bad Omen (AKA "The Outsourced")



Cheeahz!

From the Village Voice:

"The hated revenge-porn profiteer says he wants to teach a lesson with his web site. How long before the 26-year-old learns one himself?"

Wow. Our society has reached a new low.

During the past week, we've been seeing a lot of pretty radical bills and budget proposals which cuts a tremendous amount of money from social services for the disabled and poor while simultaneously giving huge tax breaks for the wealthy and exempting pensions from taxes (we're already the oldest state in the country). The Governor has said he wants to lower the sales tax and tobacco tax and abolish the income tax by the time he leaves office.

I call this the "termite policy" because it essentially rots state government from the inside out, cutting off funding or "starving the beast" if you will.

Frankly, I think we need to get bold if we're going to truly deliver to the core conservative constituency. So I proposed a bill to a focus group of my Republican colleagues.

"An Act to Abolish All Taxes Once And For All would:

1) Abolish the income tax

2) Abolish the sales tax

3) Abolish all excise taxes,

4.) Abolish cigarette, gambling and alcohol taxes

5) Abolish all "user fees"

6) Get rid of tolls

7) Prosecute any municipal official who tries to collect property taxes

8) Provide an online "donation can," which would allow you to use your PayPal account to contribute money to the service of your choice. You would specify which "cause" you would like your money to go to fund. For instance, you could fill in "school" or "road" (an additional line would allow you to fill in which road and what part)

I decided to scrap the proposal when all six of them exclaimed that it was a "brilliant idea" and that I should immediately file it as an emergency bill because they would vote for it. Then one of them wrote down a list of books on Austrian economics that he said I would find inspiring.

Irony is lost on tea partiers.

Here's some more local Maine color. I was waiting for the guy in this video to start talking about how, "When Ron Paul is elected, we won't need fire permits!"

- Cheeeahz!

Given my experience with coyote hunters, I am really looking forward to this Cops-style show on Maine game wardens. A lot of characters out in these parts!





Cheeahz!

I love Immortal Technique. One of the most intelligent rappers I know out there:



Cheeahz!

I found this article about billionaire hedge funder Peter Thiel's idea to create a libertarian colony off the coast of California to be fascinating and a great first step to proving whether Ayn Rand's dream can be realized. Although I don't have any money to contribute, I fully support the idea of sending libertarians out to sea on a flotilla.

For all of you Tolkien fans, I particularly liked this quote:

A devoted J.R.R. Tolkien fan from an early age, Thiel is equally enamored with Kirill Eskov's The Last Ringbearer, a retelling of The Lord of the Rings in which Sauron is a beleaguered victim and the elves are bellicosely bent on world domination. "Gandalf's the crazy person who wants to start a war," Thiel explains, "and Mordor is this technological civilization based on reason and science. Outside of Mordor, it's all sort of mystical and environmental and nothing works. Anyway, it's really clever."

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Cheeahz!

I think my favorite comment on this story came from someone in Maine:

"He's got the mouth to cause the revolt on the convention floor to get Rep. Paul his rightful due. Sometimes you have to have the muscle. I'd love nothing better than to hear the Gov. run his mouth at the convention.

Even talk about their Mothers if need be."