If only this were still an issue today …
In the Wikipedia article on the phrase “No taxation without representation” I found the following quote:
In reality, the colonists had been offered representation under British rule, but the offer was turned down for the following reasons: (1) colonial representatives would have no way of finding out the will of their constituents, as the fastest message that could be sent home would take two to three months each way;
This is great, isn’t it? I hardly ever hear today’s politicians complain about this. I have a feeling they cared a lot more about their constituents wills back then than they do now …
No Taxation Without Representation
The other day, I was thinking - and note that what I was thinking probably applies to almost any country, not just the USA:
I live as a foreign citizen in the United States of America. Since I am not a citizen of the U.S., I’m not allowed to vote in any elections. Yet, as a resident and worker, I am required to pay taxes on several levels:
- To the Federal Government in Washington
- To the State of California
- To the County of Santa Clara and the VTA
- To other local authorities and districts
Yet I have no say whatsoever in how that money is being spent. Is that fair? Isn’t that totally contrary to one of the major ideas of the American Revolution?
Yes, I do get the “benefits” from most of these taxes - but I cannot help decide whether those are actually benefits that I feel are needed. Or should I feel “represented” by Senators, Congressmen and -women and Assemblymen and -women of my local districts? I didn’t vote for them …
I think the meaning of citizenship - not only here in the U.S. but all over the world - needs to be changed. I would feel ok with not being able to get elected myself, but I would like to be allowed to participate in elections that decide how my tax money is being spent. I think that would only be fair.
At the same time, I don’t feel it’s necessary that I’m able to participate in Swiss elections - I don’t currently live there, I don’t currently pay any taxes there - so why should I be allowed to decide how other people’s monies are being spent?
“No taxation without representation” was a rallying cry of the American Revolutionary War. During the years prior to and during the Revolution, advocates of American independence decried the fact that the American colonies were required to pay taxes to London, yet they had no representatives in Parliament. Therefore, the Americans felt that they were being forced to fund a government into which they had no input.
[No taxation without representation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]
New type of PayPal Phishing email
I’ve received quite a few PayPal phishing emails already, but this is the best and most real looking type yet … My first reaction upon seeing this was “hey, what the h#$% is going on, I didn’t buy anything from this guy, where do I click to undo this?”. But of course I didn’t click …
The link in the email points to http://maedadoboku.jp/~maeda/us/cgi-bin/webscr. (Don’t click on this link …)
Here are some headers:
Received: from blum.in ([88.80.194.20]) by mail.marchon.org
with SMTP (Code-Crafters Ability Mail Server 2.54);
Sat, 17 Jun 2006 02:29:19 -0400
Received: from daemon by blum.in with local (Exim 4.50)
id 1FrUIy-0008IB-SL
for marcel@marchon.org; Sat, 17 Jun 2006 08:29:12 +0200
To: XXXXX
Subject: Receipt of Your Payment to INPHONIC
From: PayPal
Content-Type: text/html
Message-Id:
Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2006 08:29:12 +0200Visual Source Safe Analyzer - What the heck is it still doing?
For about the last 10 minutes, it’s been saying “Pass 4 of 4, 100% complete” while still analyzing files …
Tags: vss
Claiming this blog with technorati …
Please ignore …
“lazytom’s blog” is now “Marcel Marchon’s Blog”
I decided to get rid of the alias on my blogs name and name it “Marcel Marchon’s Blog” instead. Also, the blog has moved to http://blog.marchon.org - but you should be redirected over automatically …
PS. Yeah, the layout - well, let’s just say it’s kind of experimental right now. 
Woohoo - I’m now at position 2 in the search results for “Marchon” on Google.
Just a couple days ago, I was only at position 3 (or 4 - depending on how you count). Now I only have to figure out how to get to #1 …
I have my doubts that this is going to work …
“a1.fifa.vip.undefined.yahoo.com” doesn’t sound like a real host name …
