Banking on Fog

Eichmann in Jerusalem, explaining a prosecutor’s exhibit of a photograph of smoke pouring from crematoria: “This is called the fog of war.”

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Why it is your duty to stop supporting the government → not being a “Good German” → Adolf Eichmann: ▶; ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦; “My life’s principle, which I was taught very early on, was to desire and to strive to achieve ethical values. From a particular moment on, however, I was prevented by the State from living according to this principle.”—Adolf Eichmann; Reflections on how I came to fear “administrative massacre” and my impressions of Hannah Arendt’s “Eichmann in Jerusalem.”; A review of 40% of Arne Johan Vetlesen’s “Evil and Human Agency.” Also: Karl Jaspers in U.S.A. Today? And: is it possible to eat conscientiously, healthily, AND frugally?; My review of Arne Johan Vetlesen’s “Evil and Human Agency” continues: what is the psychology of evil, how are evil people made, and why can’t we trust our emotional reactions to guide our response to large-scale massacre or tragedy?; Aristotle, Hannah Arendt, Maggie Gyllenhaal? Is being an ethical person like having a private sadomasochistic domination & submission game going on in your own head?; The final segment of Susan Nieman’s “Evil in Modern Thought: An Alternative History of Philosophy” visualized as a modern social media discussion thread, featuring Krüger, Dostoyevsky, Hegel, Rousset, Agamben, Eichmann, Arendt, Camus, Rawls, Adorno, Freud, Schopenhauer, Améry, Mill, and Kant.
Why it is your duty to stop supporting the government → not being a “Good German” → Nuremberg principles / war crimes: ▶; ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦; “My life’s principle, which I was taught very early on, was to desire and to strive to achieve ethical values. From a particular moment on, however, I was prevented by the State from living according to this principle.”—Adolf Eichmann; In Backwards Land, the Nuremberg Principles say that “I was only following orders” is a perfectly valid defense. In other news: The Bush Administration hired its lawyers from Backwards Land.; I review “The Question of German Guilt” by Karl Jaspers.; Alex Raskolnikov has imagined a picture of the future, and it’s a tax collector stomping on a handshake forever. Also: Ed and Elaine Brown get a good look at The Law.; Does a taxpayer enter into a criminal conspiracy with the government, with the risk of being prosecuted under the Nuremberg Principles? If you pay taxes under duress or under protest, do you not have to worry about the ethical consequences? How was Chiquita (the banana company) convicted for paying taxes? Can Caesar take your blame away? Is paying taxes obligatory, like paying your debts, regardless of the consequences? Have people really been arguing about this stuff for centuries now?; If providing material support to terrorism (e.g. “an act that evinces a wanton disregard for human life”) is a war crime, should taxpayers start getting good lawyers? Also: John Bisceglia is overwhelmed by positive feedback to his press release about his tax resistance campaign for same-sex marriage.; A whole buncha links: updates on the Peace Tax Seven, the U.S. torture policy, San Francisco’s Tea Party, E.I.T.C. fraud, the upcoming military budget, tax resistance during the Great Depression, underground economy as tax resistance, war tax resistance in the Basque country, getting creative with traditional-to-Roth IRA transfers, and when it comes to war crimes saying you were just following orders is no excuse (says Dubya).; I.R.S. enforcement numbers, updated for fiscal year 2009. Also: an woman in Britain tries, with some success, to convince her employer that it and its employees may be legally liable if it continues to pay taxes to a government that is engaged in illegal wars of aggression and other violations of international law.; Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” is legendarily grand in scope, so it’s no big surprise to find hints of his emerging philosophies of Christian anarchism and pacifism on the occasional page. I’ve found some interesting examples.; Excerpts from the appeal Charles Purvis filed to contest his war tax resistance conviction on Nuremberg Principles and international law grounds.; The Peacemakers open their first annual conference on this date in 1949. Also: Josef Brinckmann and Ed Hedemann defend war tax resistance in the newspapers.; The Mennonite publication “PeaceSigns” focuses on war tax resistance. Also: the text of war tax resister Clare Hanrahan’s tax day speech that cast out the MoveOn liberal vampires.; A rarely used tactic in tax resistance campaigns has resisters turn themselves in for prosecution for having paid taxes (for instance under the theory that paying such taxes makes them guilty under the Nuremberg Principles). Also: observations about tax resistance from the pioneering nonviolent resistance historian Clarence Marsh Case.; The necessity defense gets an airing in the trial of the Transform Now Plowshares. Also: more about Google’s aspirations to statehood. Also: Obama’s budget calls for a big boost in the federal excise tax on cigarettes.; Tax resistance news from Mexico, France, Tunisia, and Greece. Also: how do tax resisters interact with the I.R.S.? And: are citizens of countries that commit war crimes legally obligated to stop paying taxes?; Chris Coverdale refuses to pay his council tax until he is assured his government won’t spend the money on terrorist attacks. Millions of transport trucks in India sit idle in a strike to defeat a new toll. And: a house tax strike in Canton in 1901.; In 1968, Michael Harrington penned a criticism of the tactic of tax resistance, saying that it dangerously undermined democracy and could do nothing practical to change government spending.
Have things really gotten that bad? → U.S. citizens aren’t rising to the challenge → public acquiescence / approval / collaboration → ready-made excuses for brutality; glory in cruelty: ▶; ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦; More details come out about the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, and the our-shit-don’t-stink American patriots find it easy to spin the story into further proof of their virtue.; The Red Cross says that the U.S. is torturing prisoners at Guantanamo Bay by deliberate policy. Also: A “DIY festival” is a way people can help each other get off the tax treadmill; An anti-war Iraq War vet tells the peace movement that it is far too comfortable; Health Savings Accounts are having a turbulent liftoff; and maybe you couldn’t shoot an unarmed, wounded Iraqi at point-blank, but you can buy the T-shirt.; I review Adam Hochschild’s book “Bury the Chains” and look for similarities between the abolitionist sugar boycott and tax resistance tactics. Also: when the Dubya Squad says they want to “simplify” the tax code, hold on to your wallet.; A must-read modest proposal for expanding the use of torture, an interview with Adam “Bury the Chains” Hochschild, a surprisingly sensible article from Iraq War hawk Andrew Sullivan, and a war tax resister from Austin tells about living with the crackdown and hoping for a peace tax.; Here’s a protest form you can send in along with your 1040 this year. Also: Gonzales finally admits to the Dubya Squad’s torture policy. What was obvious is now explicit—and will soon be ratified, if Congress confirms Gonzales as the next attorney general.; Another convert to tax resistance thinks it’s time to tell the world. Also: Torture is bad, uh, why exactly? And now that there’s no way for a U.S. senator to plausibly claim not to know about the torture policy, the Gonzales confirmation vote takes on new significance as a roll call of part of the criminal conspiracy to commit torture.; It takes a mighty fine lawyer to claim that waterboarding is “humane”—Alberto Gonzales fits the bill, and the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee say “enough is enough.” Also: the G.A.O. says that the I.R.S. is losing its war against tax evaders.; The House Joint Committee on Taxation floats a trial balloon about extending the federal excise phone tax to things like voice-over-IP and internet use in general.; John Yoo, who helped write the Dubya Squad’s torture guidelines, says he feels vindicated now that Bush has been reelected and Gonzales has been confirmed. Also: Dubya proposes a new health insurance tax credit for people with low incomes.; A round-up of news on the torture policy, stupid budget tricks, and adventures in activism.; It was a C.I.A. interrogator at Abu Ghraib, and not a handful of poorly-trained, unsupervised, sadistic yahoos, who tortured to death the man-on-ice seen in those “thumbs-up” pictures of Charles Graner and Lynndie England.; Christian attitudes about torture—maybe it’s those crosses they wear… Also: hidden government spending may have put your family half a million dollars in debt. And: more details about the death of the phone tax. Also: What would Jesus tax? And: Is the internet the opiate of the activists? What tactics are activists in meatspace coming up with? Also: a new look at the Whiskey Rebellion.; Some quotes that caught my eye from links I followed while clearing out my backlog of unread “wood s lot” posts.; I can’t help but think that giving 10% of Americans drugs that suppress their ability to boost their analytical, introspective problem-solving in times of distress, and that promote callous, uncaring, anti-social behavior, has been a dangerous experiment.

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