On Megaupload

Bill Maher once joked about how churches don't pay taxes, yet they reap the benefits provided by tax-paying citizens. The example that he used was a fire, and his solution was for the church to pray for rain.

While incredibly funny, in light of the recent arrest of the people who run Megaupload, this is actually life that should be imitating art. The FBI flew to New Zealand, at the tax-payers expense. They flew back, with their prisoners, at the tax-payers expense. I'm pretty sure that all of the surveillance and investigatory work that they did that lead them to New Zealand was also paid for by tax-payers (in fact, I'm certain of it). Now that they are in custody, tax-payers are going to have to pay for the courts to unjustly try and convict them (did I mention that they were arrested in New Zealand for breaking a US law, which they may or may not have broken, but definitely did not do in the US of BS, which makes this a global case of harassment, but I'm getting ahead of myself). After convicting them, guess who has to pay for their imprisonment? You got it, tax-payers.

I know that this arrest is a direct result of the song that Megaupload released, that had Universal Music Group's artists endorsing Megaupload. I also know that UMG violated their agreement with Youtube when the pulled the song down (if they used the DCMA, they would have broken the law, because they don't hold the copyright, but I hope that twit.tv follows through because of the takedown of their news commentary about it). What I want to know is how much did UMG pay in taxes? I know that General Electric managed to make more in one year than I will make in my lifetime and get a tax rebate, while I had my bank account raided by New York State (thank you Emigrant, did I say thank you, I mean Fuck you!).

If the viewers of Fox News can ever manage to pull their heads our of their asses, I hope this is the first thing that they realize. They have enable a system that forces them to pay the salaries of law enforcement, who then go and enforce laws that benefit people that don't pay taxes. What the fuck? Why are they so opposed to feeding the hungry and providing housing to the homeless? GE and UMG can pay for their own best interests, so why don't we make them?

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