MatthewMaynard.net

We filed our federal and state taxes tonight, and are due a refund for both. Our effective federal tax rate is 0% and the state rate is 1.5%.

I don’t feel guilty for not paying income tax at the federal level. I look on income tax as a form of slavery. If you don’t, you might consider this: slavery is accurately described as a 100% tax on the wages of labor. Given that definition, how much of a slave are you to the government, and how much is morally justified?

If the government writes the law such that I can escape all fiscal penalty for being employed, it is wise, moral, and just to do so. If I end up reducing their income for paying public debts, then it puts more pressure on them to spend less of the money they do take in, so that the burden they put on others becomes less. Further, I don’t find any moral objection to wanting a 0% tax rate, since I would want others to pay the same rate and be equally free of the tax slavery.

The obvious question comes up – how do you pay for government? You start by cutting the government to only what is authorized by the Constitution. Then, staple the remaining budget to a wall and start throwing darts at it. Keep only one out of every three programs hit by a dart. Capitation taxes should be able to cover the rest, and anyone not able to pay a capitation tax could solicit help from his community or offer service in lieu of payment.

Here endeth the rant. Too bad it doesn’t also mark the end of the 16th Amendment.

Just don’t tell Shepherd Book about it. They’ll end up in the special level of Hell, the one reserved for child molesters and people who talk at the theater.

Just … wow.

100 years ago today, the US Army adopted the Colt Automatic Pistol as the standard sidearm of the US Army. It replaced the Colt M1892 revolver, chambered in .38 Long Colt (sort of a short .38 Special), which had itself replaced the M1873 Single Action Army revolver in .45 Colt. In 1985 the M1911 was replaced with the M9 in 9mm, and today many in the Special Forces community are fielding pistols in .45 ACP instead of the 9mm M9.

So over the course of 138 years, we have gone from a .45 caliber pistol, to a .38 caliber pistol, to a .45 caliber, to a .38 caliber, to a .45 caliber. That’s Mother Army for you, never making up her mind.

The first change was precipitated by the creation of smokeless powder and double-action revolvers. However, the new revolver-cartridge combination proved disappointing in the field (read: the bad guys kept coming after we shot them, so we were pissed as hell at the jackass who thought this would be a good weapon for the field). The Moros of the Philippines, who were the recipients of the disappointing rounds, were so hopped up on their local substance of choice that they didn’t notice the pain it inflicted.

It probably occurred to some old sergeant that the good ol’ .45 SAA would do a hell of a lot better against such adversaries, and so he pulled it out of his ruck, loaded it up, and commenced to make a much more noticeable pain in the bodies of his Moro opponents. Of course, there’s no arguing with massive blood loss, but some poor Moro probably tried anyway, and ended up all the deader for it.

The Army, upon reading several reports from sergeants such as these, realized that it would be a good idea to issue a decent caliber handgun, and an even better idea if it could hold more than six rounds and load itself. But where could they find such a gun?

Only in the mind of John Moses Browning (all hail).

Browning managed to invent not only the longest-serving pistol in US Military history (the M1911) but the longest-serving weapon in US Military history, the M2 Heavy Machine Gun – but that’s a different story. The M1911 became the iconic pistol of everything American – even Humphrey Bogart used one in Casablanca to shoot Major Strasser. If you saw an American with a pistol sometime over the next three quarters of a century, odds are it was a M1911.

I would encourage you to get one, if you don’t have one. If nothing else, you will be holding a piece of history in your hands, which is more than you can say for a Glock.

• Cops aren’t your friends.
• I suppose I should not be surprised that Obama has a skill for spending money, but the rate still surprises me nonetheless.
• Your assignment for the week: compare and contrast the what-did-they-know-and-when-did-they-know-it similarities between Watergate and the latest revelations in the Gunwalker scandal.
• As I write this, silver bullion is at $37 an ounce. Got metal?

Then again, if the Air Force report is to be believed, Starscream killed himself by accident.

Well, the Wildcats had a good run, but they couldn’t pull it out. The last game against Connecticut was just a series of 10-0 runs by both teams, with the difference consisting of three point shots and free throws. Derrick Williams got in early foul trouble and was pulled out, and it took the spirit out of the team. When he was put back in after the half, the Cats were noticeably better. But it wasn’t enough; UConn just wanted the win more than we did – although we did make them earn it.

This is a good team, and it can take a while to get back into tournament play after a coaching change. To have made it to the Elite Eight after only one season not in the tournament (the first in a quarter century) is quite the accomplishment. Coach Miller should be proud of his men, and vice versa. I look forward to next year.

Oh, and how did the Sun Devils do this year?

Caption or photoshop the above photo and link to it in the comments. I’ll pick the best one on Monday. The winner gets a link to whatever website they want put on the sidebar. Photo from espn.go.com.

So, there’s 4:58 left in the first half of the Arizona-duke game, and duke leads 31-24. I’m not much of one for sports, so I’m not going to stay up until 3AM watching the game, but I will wonder this:

Will any of the duke players play rugby with the Wildcats on the court, like they did in ’01? And not get the foul call, of course.

No, I’m not bitter. We earned that loss. But still, the best officiating is the kind that doesn’t breed examples of apparent favoritism.

Some people have too much time on their hands. But then, if I’d been the one to write a flight sim that would still be going strong 13 years after release, I’d be tickled to death that people would be building cockpits around my work.

And if you want a free, updated version of the game, look here. I am not responsible for wasted hours of your time.

I’m just the enabler.