The Weekend Vigilante July 7th, 2012

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Hello from beautiful Acapulco,

It's been a fun and interesting week.  Here's what went down.

THE TOOTH MOUSE

My seven year old son is finally losing his baby teeth and so we went to a very nice dentist place that specializes in children called Smile (total cost: 700 pesos or $50 USD for cleaning, anesthesia, medication for afterwards and pulling two teeth).  The all-female staff were so nice and fun about the whole thing that he felt like getting a couple of teeth pulled was a great thing to do!  That, plus being young, mostly homeschooled and going, by his own choice, to the top private school in Acapulco (for $300/month) he has an unquenchable desire to learn.

He looked on gleefully as he questioned what every apparatus in the office was for and he couldn't wait to see how they were going to pull out two of his bottom teeth.  The part he seemed most excited about was because "the mouse" would give him $1 per tooth.

"The mouse?" I asked, of my Mexican born wife.  "Yes, of course, the mouse... you don't have the mouse in Canada?" she asked me.

After some awkward moments we figured out that there is no tooth fairy in Mexico.  Here, it is "the mouse".  The dentista even gave him his two little teeth in a yellow mouse toy so the mouse would know where to find them that night.

It's funny how things in different cultures are similar but different.  I've had similar awkward moments with my wife in the past when she told me that in Mexico cats had 7 lives and that I should be careful on Tuesday the 13th!

COGER LA POLICIA

It wasn't unlucky Tuesday the 13th, but my streak with the police in Acapulco finally ended.  I have been based here for four years and have never been stopped by the police.  It's quite the record when you consider that on my scooter I don't stop for red lights, ride down the sidewalk at times, don't wear a helmet and have no license plates or registration.

But yesterday, as I was on my way to Starbucks, listening to music on my noise cancelling headphones I noticed there was a police car behind me with its lights flashing.  Since I've never been pulled over I just kept driving assuming he was like some police cars and just drives around with them on (which is quite common) or after someone else.

But after two or three minutes I noticed he was still behind me... and right behind me, inches away from my back wheel.  He also seemed to be saying something through the microphone system they have but between my noise cancelling headphones and difficulty understanding anything they say on those things I had no idea what he was saying.  So I just kept riding, figuring if they wanted something from me they could wait until I got to Starbucks which was still a few minutes and a u-turn away.

Finally I arrived at Starbucks, pulled up onto the sidewalk, parked my scooter and gave them a "what do you want look".  Not stopping for the police in the US usually means a litany of squad cars, police helicopters, chest stompings, multiple beatings to within an inch of your life and kidnapping (see a beating worse than Rodney King for not stopping for the police here if you have the stomach for it).  Here, things are more relaxed.

The police, at this point, looked quite sheepish.  It wasn't until after that I realized why.  In the spot they had tried to originally pull me over was in a quiet part of town without many people.  Where I stopped was in front of the busiest Starbucks in town, usually full of dozens and dozens of well-heeled, upscale businessmen, rich wives sipping on lattes, Mexican telenovela movie stars and even a few foreigners.

They didn't even get out of their car and they just motioned for me to come over, very discretely, not wanting to create a scene.  I could tell that most of the people in Starbucks were all looking at them angrily like they were a bunch of petty thieves - which in all likelihood they were.

The conversation, all in Spanish, went like this:

Bad cop: You have no helmet!

Me: Ya, so?

Bad cop: <long pause> What, in your country you can drive a moto with no helmet?

Me: My country?  I have no country.  But if you are asking about the place where I was born... yes, they do have laws like that.  That's why I don't live there anymore.

Bad cop: You have no license plates or registration!

Me: Ya, I haven't gotten around to it yet.  I only bought it recently (5 months is recent, right?)

Bad cop: Hmmm.  Talk to my partner in the car, he speaks English!

Me: OK... what?

Good cop: Hey, we are just trying to look out for you here.

Me: By impeding my progress?

Good cop: Hey, we could take you to jail.

Me: So, you are trying to help me out by kidnapping me and putting me in a cage?

Good cop: We're going to do you a favor and let you go this time.

Me: Adios.

In retrospect I know exactly what happened and why.  They tried to pull me over in a quiet part of town and probably thought I was a stupid tourist who would supplicate to them as I have seen many Americans do in the past... Most Americans first instinct with the police is to smile and grovel.  When they do that, the police know they have them right where they want them and they will then tell them it is $20-$50 for whatever infraction they make up.  But after I didn't stop, showed them no respect, then made them try to shake me down in front of a large crowd of upscale individuals they knew it was already going downhill.  Then, when I spoke Spanish and countered each of their comments with responses they've probably never heard before and had no comeback for they were just looking for any opportunity to get out of there.  I almost felt bad for them as they put their heads down and drove off in search of another victim.

I should put some disclaimers here.  First, not many people who haven't been here know this, but Acapulco is what I call "the deep south" in Mexico.  And, just like the deep south in the US, things work differently down here.  Down here the police have not begun to become more Americanized yet as you'll see in some places, Mexico City, most specifically.  So, don't try what I did in Mexico City or possibly some of the northern states.  But, I know this city and I know the cops are still not very advanced in their corruption techniques.

In fact, it'll likely be years or decades before they get as good as the cops in the US and Canada where some people don't even know they are corrupt.  Just look at this list of the hundreds of Toronto police who make more than $100,000 per year.  As someone gets pulled over in Toronto and pays $300 for not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign they'll react in shock when they hear that in Mexico where they may charge you $20 for a similar "crime" but they just put it in their pocket there!

Doug Casey, as always, said it well when he stated:

"Hope for the future rests in what are today derided as corrupt Third-World countries. If you're going to have a ridiculous number of impossible laws, corruption is a good thing. Increasingly, what matters is not the number or even nature of laws on the books in the place you live, but the amount of actual control the state has over private individuals. Corruption subverts idiotic laws; it's the next best thing to abolishing them."

A lot of TDV subscribers have been coming down to visit and a number have even bought or rented places here and it looks like many more are coming, which is great!  We've put James Guzman (you can see him in an Anarchast episode here) in charge of helping people who want to come down to visit or live.  As well, many of us here at TDV all live here too (at AcaCondos)... and we are looking at offering a number of other services to people like helping them get medical care.

One woman we know just came down from the US for two months with her daughter, who has MS, physical therapy because it cost $100/hour in the US but she pays $100/week (for four visits) here.  Plus, her daughter actually ended up having a romantic affair with her therapist!  This happens all the time down here.  If you are looking for romance, come to Acapulco!

Contact James Guzman (jguzman@acacondos.com) if you'd like to arrange a trip down.  We try to link up with other TDV readers and subscribers at the same time so you can meet some fellow TDV'ers while you are here.  And, I always request that trips are arranged around my schedule so I have time for drinks or dinner with anyone who visits.

NO CIVILIZATION WITH THE STATE

Here's an interesting story I came across this week.  Some obviously single man played just one ongoing game of Civilization for 10 years. The "Civilization" franchise is a series of strategy games that allow players to grow small tribes into large, sprawling nations. Players can manage resources, build armies and engage in diplomacy in an effort to grow their civilization into a world leader.  As a point of reference, a typical game of Civilization can last a few days and if you are particularly obsessive/compulsive, you could play for a few weeks or more.  He decided to push it to the limit and played it for 10 years.

According to him, by the year 3991 A.D, there were three remaining superpowers, each competing for the scant resources left on the planet after dozens of nuclear wars have rendered vast swaths of the world uninhabitable wastelands.  In his own words, it is a "hellish nightmare of suffering and devastation".

His accounts of what is ongoing aren't all that hard to believe as they echo what has been going on in the world since the advent of the nation state as the CNN article states:

"Peace seems to be impossible. Every time a cease fire is signed, the Vikings will surprise attack me or the Americans the very next turn, often with nuclear weapons," Lycerius wrote on Reddit. "Even when the U.N forces a peace treaty. So I can only assume that peace will come only when they're wiped out. It is this that perpetuates the war ad infinitum."Because of the continual fighting, he was forced to abandon his democracy and adopt a communist state, because his Senate kept overruling him when he wanted to declare war. Also, his cities are filled with starving people (90% of his world's population died from nuclear annihilation or famine from global warming) because, he says, he has to keep building war machines to sustain his combat efforts.  Constant nuclear bombardment and sabotage have melted the world's ice caps over and over again, resulting in the flooding of all terrain other than mountains. He said his world is full of swamp (which is useless for farming) and irradiated lands.

He continues, saying, "My goal for the next few years is to try and end the war and thus use the engineers to clear swamps and fallout so that farming may resume. I want to rebuild the world. But I'm not sure how."

The problem, as in with life, is that the system is not set-up for peace and prosperity.  Civilization, the game, was not programmed for that.  And, in real life, as long as we have nation-states we will also continue to have the same problems.

The only way to peace and prosperity is to reprogram the system entirely.  In the case of Civilization, it would just take the programmers having to recode the game.  In real life, the way to peace and prosperity is to move beyond the nation state, democracies and socialism and for the majority of humans to adhere to one principle... a principle so simple it is taught in kindgergarten.  Do not aggress on others.  Once humanity realizes that is all it needs to do then all nation states and governments will fall because they are all based on aggression and we can move past this embarrassing moment in humanity's ascension where we momentarily believed that aggression and the initiation of violence is okay if it is done by more than one person (the collective).

Until then, we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes into perpetuity and continue our own hellish nightmare of suffering and devastation.

TAXES ARE WHAT WE PAY FOR A CIVILIZED SOCIETY

But, of course, the oppressors are always out there spreading their propaganda.  Worse, they seem to have convinced the majority of people to actually give them about half of their incomes each year with which they can initiate massive propaganda campaigns against those same people.

I've never seen any mention on the internet of the following photograph.  TDV correspondent, Pete Kofod, called me as he passed through Washington in the District of Criminals on his way back from PorcFest to tell me of the inscription on the IRS building in D.C.

I couldn't believe it was true so he had his son, Christian, take a photo.  Here is what is written on the IRS' main headquarters:

It is hard to see but you can click here for an enlarged picture.  What it says, sneakily placed discretely just below the pillars is: "Taxes Are What We Pay For A Civilized Society - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.".

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., born in 1841, was obviously a delusional collectivist.  But, we do give him credit for being true to his word.  Upon his death he gave all his money to the state.

But, the quote itself is a misnomer.  We don't live in a civilized society today.  We live in a society based on theft and violence.  It may be quelled, from time to time, from breaking into outright chaos... mostly by force.  But the state, and it's taxes, are the antithesis of civilization.

THE JULY ISSUE OF TDV

The July issue of TDV is coming out this Tuesday.  It's another important issue as we look at everything going on in The End Of The Monetary System As We Know It (TEOTMSAWKI) and Ken Johnson, director of TDV Passports, gives us some insights into some new passport and residency programs we have negotiated in Paraguay.

If you're not a subscriber, now is as good a time as ever to subscribe.  The amount of events that occurred in the collapsing monetary system from Europe, the UK, Argentina and, of course, in the US, are mind boggling and tough to keep track of and have a perspective on it all.  But, that's what we're here to do... keep you informed and give you solutions to survive and prosper as TEOTMASAWKI continues.

OFF TO VEGAS

As soon as the July issue of TDV hits the presses I'll be boarding a plane to Las Vegas and on my way to FreedomFest (last chance to join us here!).  Anyone want to see me rent a scooter in Vegas and try to do what I did here this week in Acapulco?  Even I'm not that stupid.  The US is far too dangerous to do anything except what is explicitly allowed by the overseers.

I'll be reporting in throughout the week from Vegas and tentatively our TDV Meetup will be Friday night at 7pm with no end time... it is Vegas after all!  Let's enjoy the one place in the US with no curfew where you are still allowed to stay out as late as you want!  The place is still to be decided.  We've already had a few hundred people email us about a location so we are trying to make sure we get a place that can fit us all for some drinks and some vigilante conversation.  Plus the undercover people from the DHS, FBI, CIA, DEA and others who might just outnumber us.  Email us at TDV@dollarvigilante.com if you'd like to be emailed of the location.  Otherwise, check TDV's Facebook (like our page to get all announcements) and Twitter (add us on Twitter to receive) around Wednesday or Thursday for the exact time and place.

UNTIL THEN

Until the next time, stay free!