Where There's Smoke.... Updated - Invasion Training Called Off

There's a bunch of pissed off bloggers.

First, we have Bloviating Zeppelin talking about the Mileage Tax:

Do what BZ calls The Logical Extension. Always do The Logical Extension.

- It would increase taxes on drivers. More money for government to spend foolishly;
- It would tend to keep some people out of their cars for two reasons:
* To avoid extra cash paid
* To help keep their individual privacy

Next, here's Michael Bane on the National Guard conducting urban warfare training in an Iowa town. The military says this:

"It will be important for us to gain the trust and confidence of the residents of Arcadia," said Kots. "We will need to identify individuals that are willing to assist us in training by allowing us to search their homes and vehicles and to participate in role-playing."

"We really want to get as much information out there as possible, because this operation could be pretty intrusive to the people of Arcadia."

Michael responds:

Intrusive? This is the stuff of Nazi Germany, of Stalin's Russia, of Third World Banana Republics. Gain the trust and confidence of the residents? Right, and arbeit macht frei. Look it up if you don't already know what it means.

His take on why they are doing this?

My opinion? This "exercise" is a test run for door-to-door gun confiscation. There is no other way to read it.

Finally, MadRocketScientist comments on this proposed bill:

Bill proposes ISPs, Wi-Fi keep logs for police

What does the Mad One say about it?

There is absolutely ZERO information that you could possibly glean from a Wi-Fi access log that would help any law enforcement investigation, and you have no right to know what I've been doing on my network unless you suspect me of a crime. I mean, have you ever heard of spoofing?

Probably not.

What's my take on all this? Well, numbers one and three are there for all to see. It's what our government wants to do for to us.

Number two? I admit at first I was hesitant to jump on this bandwagon. I even remembered "back in the day" we used to train in the West German towns and countryside all the time.

Then it occurred to me - that's where we were expecting to fight.

Update: The National Guard says never mind:

DES MOINES, Iowa – Following publicized reports that the Army National Guard was planning a military training exercise

on the streets of a rural Iowa town, the commanding officers have called off the mock "invasion."

Well alllrightythen. Thanks to commenter Kevin for the heads up.

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