Monthly Archives: March 2010

YUKIHISA FUJITA is an influential member of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan. As chief of the DPJ’s international department and head of the Research Committee on Foreign Affairs in the upper house of Japan’s parliament, to which he was elected in 2007, he is a Brahmin in the foreign policy establishment of Washington’s most important East Asian ally. He also seems to think that America’s rendering of the events of Sept. 11, 2001, is a gigantic hoax. (Read more from washingtonpost.com)

9/11 Debate: Loose Change vs. Popular Mechanics pt. 1 (2006)

IRS to Track Online Sellers’ Payment Transactions Beginning Next Year

Internet sellers who don’t report their sales will no longer be under the radar. Starting next year, any bank or other payment settlement company that processes credit cards, debit cards, and electronic payments such as PayPal will have to issue information returns telling the IRS what merchants receive. The new returns are Form 1099-K, Merchant Card and Third-Party Payments. (Read more from auctionbytes.com)

33 States Have Raised Taxes by $32 Billion/Year

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has published State Tax Changes in Response to the Recession:

The national recession has had such a devastating effect on state finances that states took in $87 billion less in tax revenue from October 2008 through September 2009 than they collected in the previous 12 months. This 11 percent decline, the steepest on record, resulted from the impact on tax collections of lost jobs, reduced wages, and lowered economic activity.

To recoup lost revenue, states have taken such actions as eliminating tax exemptions, broadening tax bases, and in some cases increasing rates as well as raising a number of fees.

(Read more from taxprof.typepad.com)

The Strange Case of Adam Gadahn

Two Pakistani officers and a government official said Sunday that an American charged with treason for working with al-Qaida had been captured, a development that could deliver another significant blow in the U.S.-led battle against the terror network.

U.S. defense, intelligence and law enforcement officials could not immediately verify the reported detention of Adam Gadahn, a 31-year-old spokesman for al-Qaida who has appeared on videos threatening the West, including one that emerged earlier Sunday. (Read more from news.yahoo.com)

Later, stories emerged that this was in fact not the case.

This great New Yorker article tell his crazy story.

Some blogs have suggested the means through which the story of his capture was propagated through twitter smells fishy:

Tim “doesn’t pay taxes” Geithner says:

Mr. Geithner is quoted as saying, “Some on the left have fallen into a trap set by the Republicans, allowing voters to mistakenly think that the biggest part of the bank bailout had come under Obama rather Bush.” Mr. Geithner should know – as he spearheaded the saving of banks and other financial institutions under both Bush and Obama. In fact, it’s the continuation of George Bush’s policies by other means that really has erstwhile Obama supporters upset.

Geithner also suggests that his critics compare government spending on different kinds of programs under President Obama: “By any measure, the Main Street stuff dwarfs the Wall Street stuff.” This insults our intelligence. Wall Street created a massive crisis and we consequently lost 8 million jobs; any responsible government would have tried hard to offset this level of damage with all available means. This includes fiscal measures that will end up increasing out privately held government debt, as a percent of GDP, by around 40 percentage points. It’s not the fiscal stimulus, broadly defined, that is Mr. Geithner’s problem – it’s the lack of accountability for the bankers and politicians who got us into this mess.

and, most notably:

“we saved the economy but kind of lost the public doing it” No, Tim. They Saved the Big Banks But Kind Of Lost The Economy Doing It.

(Read more from baselinescenario.com)

My Review of Recent Headlines.

– Association of American Physicians and Surgeons — an organization of physicians who oppose mandatory vaccination, universal healthcare and government intervention in heathcare.

– Hidden History: The Wild West wasn’t really wild

– Ron Paul: The difference between Democracy and Republic

– Credit Suisse Declares the U.S. a Riskier Investment Than Indonesia

– Great pics: Palestinians dressed as the Na’vi from the film Avatar stage a protest against Israel’s separation barrier, also here

– There is no global warming. Period.

– Video: Smashing Myths and Restoring Sound Money

– China Dumping US Treasurys: What’s the Message?

– Governments ADMIT That They Carry Out False Flag Terror

– South Carolina Lawmaker Seeks to Ban Federal Currency

– Wilson’s War

– Ron Paul’s Floor Statement on Assasination

– Vancouver’s $1 billion Olympic debt

– Libertarian themes in The Simpsons

– Fannie Taps Treasury for $15.3 Billion More After a 10th Loss

– The War on Terror Is Anti-Conservative

– New Yorker writer writes great article describing moral hazard in medicine, then, instead of searching for the root of the hazard, concludes money is evil and free markets don’t work: The Cost Conundrum

– ABC News plans 25% cutback — see also: I’m a blogger, hear me roar!

– Congressman Ron Paul returns a whopping $100,000 of his office budget to the US Treasury

– Rebuttal to Neo-Con article “Hawks we are, hawks we must remain.”

– The Census and Despotism

– Ron Paul win primary with 80% of vote!

– Iceland’s Voters About to Tell Global Banksters to Shove It

– Ron Paul: How I would put the Constitution back in the Oval Office

– In Louisiana, you need the government position to arrange flowers

– Peter Schiff’s outstanding commentary continues: Pretending job losses are good news, subsidizing Freddie & Fannie (irresponsibility), & more

– Greece’s austerity plan condemned by trade unions & public sector employees, Violent Protests in Greece. My interpretation: many people live not off the free market, but from government coercion. These are people who earn government salaries, industries with government subsidies or protections. Many politicians have made their careers by granting favors to these groups. Once a government is no longer able to pay them, these people should be force into the voluntary sector of the economy, but they do not go quietly. They protest, cry, advertise their suffering in an attempt to get to government to continue it’s exploitation of the voluntary economy on their behalf.

New Zealand rated most peaceful, U.S. 83

Americans pining for a peaceful existence might consider moving to New Zealand, the most peaceful nation on Earth, according to the 2009 Global Peace Index released Tuesday by an Australian-based research group that counts former President Jimmy Carter, Ted Turner and the Dalai Lama among its endorsers.

The U.S. is 83rd on the roster, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace that rated the relative tranquility of 144 nations according to 23 “indicators” – including gun sales, the number of homicides, the size of the military, the potential for terrorism and the number of people in jail.

. . . .

After New Zealand, the top 10 most peaceful nations are Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Austria, Sweden, Japan, Canada, Finland and Slovenia. In the bottom 10 are Zimbabwe, Russia, Pakistan, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Israel, Somalia, Afghanistan and, in last place, Iraq.

Traditional U.S. allies generally fared well on the list: Germany is at 16, Australia at 19, Spain (28), South Korea (33), Britain (35) and Italy (36).

Libya, Nicaragua, Jordan, Cuba, China, Peru and Ukraine all are rated more peaceful than the United States. Rwanda is rated 86, Syria 92, Iran 99 and Mexico 108. (Read more from washingtontimes.com)