Congratulations: if you are a “typical” or “average” US Citizen, today you have “freedom” from federal taxes for 2013 starting today.  That is, of course, INCOME taxes: you still have to worry about:

• Social security (FICA) taxes
• Medicare and Medicaid taxes
• Excise taxes (on all that evil, wicked stuff: alcohol, tobacco, guns, ammo, and, of course… rubber (as in tires) and gasoline and diesel  EVVVVIIILLLL!
• Telephone and related taxes
• Medical device taxes
• Health insurance taxes
• …. and all the rest.

Don’t worry, that doesn’t include state and local taxes…  do you feel needed yet?

The “messiah” – Home front
Obama: ‘Any Time Bombs Are Used to Target Civilians It Is an Act of Terror’(CNS.News)

Nathan: Oh, really?  Does that include Pakistan and Afghanistan and Libya and Syria and Mesopotamia?  Does that include flash-bangs (definitely a type of bomb) used in Chicago and other cities in the US?  Or is there some unwritten or hidden “get-out-of-jail-free” card only for big, rich and arrogant governments?

Congress in Action – Hoplophobes and hoploclasts
Background gun check bill defeated – for now (54-46)
(Fox News via JFPO) The Senate on Wednesday defeated a vital background check amendment seen as the linchpin to Democrats’ gun control bill, dealing a major setback to President Obama — who lashed out at opponents in unusually blunt terms during remarks from the Rose Garden. “All in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington,” Obama said, accusing the gun lobby of lying about the bill.

Nathan: One of the favorite tactics of really big-time liars is, of course, to accuse their opponents of lying.  What makes this particularly galling is that what HE claimed that THEY were lying about is what HE was actually lying about.  Did you get that?  Keep in mind, this is at best a temporary reprieve:  if they use the supposed killing of 20 students with a handgun as an excuse to ban “assault weapons” and do an across the board background check with a system proven to be a failure, then having 3 people killed and 150 wounded can surely be used as an excuse to ban ammunition reloading supplies and a good deal of other things, including the guns – this is far from over.

State tyranny – Monopoly
Texas Internet Vet Loses License
(Washington Times via National Policy Digest) A lawsuit filed in early April in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas is challenging the state’s ruling that a veterinarian cannot practice his profession solely through the Internet. The case, which has implications for the future of telemedicine, is being represented by the Institute for Justice, which believes the rule infringes on free speech rights, says the Washington Post.

• The retired veterinarian, Ronald Hines, operates a website that provides veterinary advice for a flat fee of $58 but refunds any fees if he cannot provide useful advice without an examination.
• Hines has potential clients, some of whom are overseas with limited access to veterinary services, send him all available medical records, including notes and X-rays.
• Hines has earned less than $3,000 a year through the website, which differs from a traditional brick-and-mortar practice by allowing him the ability to conduct research when offering advice.

Following state law, the Texas veterinary board suspended Hines’ license after discovering that his practice was strictly Internet-based. According to state law, a vet must have a personal relationship with the client and the animal and that relationship cannot be established solely through the telephone or Internet.

Nathan: Just another example of restraint of trade, racketeering, corruption, and sleazy dealing to protect a profession – while giving the consumer the shaft.

Home front – Death
Drunk Driving not only cause of teen alcohol deaths
(EverydayHealth via AOL) Analyzing 2010 federal government data, the group found that 32 percent of the drinking-related deaths among young people aged 15 to 20 involved traffic crashes, while 68 percent involved incidents such as murder (30 percent), suicide (14 percent), alcohol poisoning (9 percent) and other causes (15 percent).

Nathan: It is still the leading cause of death, just not for the majority of teen “preventable” deaths.  Of course, this type of data is very hard to really take into account: for example, most teen murders (not all) are of gangbangers in urban areas.  And it does NOT talk about WHO dies – is it the one who DIES who was drinking?  Or the one who CAUSED the death (as in both vehicle accidents AND murders).  And the contributing factors are critical as well:  for example, what is the distribution of driving (and murder) deaths among those who are in public (government-run, tax-funded) schools versus private schools versus home schools or in college (or graduated FROM school)?  What is the spread for deaths of alcohol poisoning?  And what about those less than 15?  Too much data to understand, but we know that our beloved protectors from government will glom onto this with glee.