Tag Archives: Dictatorship

IRS visits Sacramento carwash in pursuit of 4 cents

Arriving at Harv’s Metro Car Wash in midtown Wednesday afternoon were two dark-suited IRS agents demanding payment of delinquent taxes. “They were deadly serious, very aggressive, very condescending,” says Harv’s owner, Aaron Zeff.

The really odd part of this: The letter that was hand-delivered to Zeff’s on-site manager showed the amount of money owed to the feds was … 4 cents.

Inexplicably, penalties and taxes accruing on the debt – stemming from the 2006 tax year – were listed as $202.31, leaving Harv’s with an obligation of $202.35. (Read more from sacbee.com)

Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman want the right to detain YOU

Why is the national security community treating the “Enemy Belligerent, Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010,” introduced by Sens. John McCain and Joseph Lieberman on Thursday as a standard proposal, as a simple response to the administration’s choices in the aftermath of the Christmas Day bombing attempt? A close reading of the bill suggests it would allow the U.S. military to detain U.S. citizens without trial indefinitely in the U.S. based on suspected activity. Read the bill here, and then read the summarized points after the jump.
According to the summary, the bill sets out a comprehensive policy for the detention, interrogation and trial of suspected enemy belligerents who are believed to have engaged in hostilities against the United States by requiring these individuals to be held in military custody, interrogated for their intelligence value and not provided with a Miranda warning.

(There is no distinction between U.S. persons–visa holders or citizens–and non-U.S. persons.)

It would require these “belligerents” to be coded as “high-value detainee[s]” to be held in military custody and interrogated for their intelligence value by a High-Value Detainee Interrogation Team established by the president. (The H.I.G., of course, was established to bring a sophisticated interrogation capacity to the federal justice system.) (Read more from theatlantic.com)

Toyota vs. Government Motors

The media has been hyperventilating over safety concerns in Toyota vehicles, presumably for our sake. Now that the government owns and runs GM, I cannot take this news without suspicion.

Austrian Economist Patrick Barron said it best:

The U.S. government owns General Motors and now it gets to sit in judgement of GM’s most successful rival, punishing it and waging a public relations campaign to malign Toyota’s products. Sounds like another great way–in addition to the “Cash for Clunkers” program–for the government to provide a backdoor subsidy to its captive company and its union supporters.

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Toyota’s Troubles Deepen
Toyota Motor Corp.’s quality crisis deepened Tuesday, as U.S. regulators accused the company of dragging its feet on fixing defective gas pedals and threatened civil penalties and further reviews of Toyota products.

The move means that Toyota’s efforts to address its biggest-ever safety and public-relations mess are far from over. Last week, the administration indicated it had no issues with how Toyota had responded to the sudden-acceleration reports, which led the company to recall about six million vehicles and have been linked to at least five fatalities.

“While Toyota is taking responsible action now, it unfortunately took an enormous effort to get to this point,” Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood said Tuesday in a statement. “We’re not finished with Toyota and are continuing to review possible defects and monitor the implementation of the recalls.”

Mr. LaHood said Transportation Department officials flew to Japan in December to meet with Toyota executives and remind the company “about its legal obligations.”

Toyota woes mount as gov’t examines Prius brakes
Toyota faced mounting pressure Thursday as the government opened a probe of brake problems with the Prius, a crown jewel of its lineup. The beleaguered automaker said it was “too soon” to decide whether to add the hybrid to the millions of cars it has recalled.

. . . . The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it would assess the scope of the problem and the safety risk to about 37,000 cars that could be affected.

Epic Analysis & Predictions

I envision us looking back at this statement with great sadness. Let it not be said that no one tried to prevent what is about about to happen.

I’m glad I was able to find a transcript of Congressman Ron Paul’s statement. Youtube videos sometimes vanish. I’m storing the transcript here.

More Fantastic Commentary by Peter Schiff


* Healthcare legislation unconstitutional because it treats citizens of different states differently.
* “Patriot” Act mandates that money managers be agents of the FBI & IRS.
 
 
 

* Sacraficing Security for Liberty
* Ridiculous executive pay for Fannie & Freddie executives. They run bankrupt, government subsidized companies. Congress should regulate these pseduo-government companies, instead of sticking their noses into the business of private enterprises.
* Idiotic Federal Reserve policies to withdraw liquidity and preserve our phony recovery.
* Government propping up home prices. Talking heading claiming recovery.

The Christmas Congress

From a Campaign for Liberty email:

Dear Friend of Liberty,

While Americans busy themselves with holiday preparations, the weeks surrounding Congress’ Christmas break can often be the most dangerous time for our freedoms.

After all, we were given the “gift” of our Federal Reserve System just a couple of days before Christmas in 1913.

Part of the legislation being considered before Congress adjourns this year is the $636 billion Defense Appropriations bill.

It’s bad enough that this Congress, which was elected by a country tired of our endless nation-building, is about to vote to keep overextending our military and involving it in unconstitutional interventions, but lawmakers are seeking to include much more than defense items in this appropriations package.

According to the latest reports, legislators may attempt to tack on language forcing monopoly bargaining on every policeman, firefighter, and emergency medical technician (EMT) in the country, as well as extending the PATRIOT Act.

Some in Congress want to add H.R. 413 and S. 1611, the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2009, to the House and Senate appropriations bills.

H.R. 413 and S. 1611 would override state labor laws, increase the power of the federal government to intervene in local arrangements, and continue to strip away the decision-making power of non-unionized workers.

And reports indicate that lawmakers are looking to include a temporary extension of some of the PATRIOT Act’s provisions that are set to expire at the end of the year. These representatives argue that they need more time to debate revisions to the Act.

When it comes to the PATRIOT Act, there’s only one course of action that needs to be taken – once again respecting our civil liberties by immediately repealing the entire bill.

In addition to the massive appropriations legislation, lawmakers could also vote as soon as Wednesday on raising the debt limit on the federal government’s credit card by as much as $2 trillion.

It is long past time Congress began paying down its debts instead of firing up the printing presses. Real change means facing reality and rejecting any further attempts from both major parties to add to our debt.

Decline of Empires

I think this long interview is a great critique of military populism and American empire. I do have a few disagreements:

– 21:50 – Mr. Johnson’s suggested reforms are weak and beside the point. There’s one thing we can immediately do to fix our empire / looming tyranny, and that’s returning to a commodity based currency.

– 32:30 – Ha! He lists Paul Krugman as one of the few media figures who isn’t espousing the government message. I almost fell out of my chair.

– 37:00 – Ron Paul is my Cicero! Though I have nothing against Senator Byrd.

In general, his economic criticism is a little weak and misguided.

U.S. Spies Buy Stake in Firm That Monitors Blogs, Tweets

America’s spy agencies want to read your blog posts, keep track of your Twitter updates — even check out your book reviews on Amazon.

In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the CIA and the wider intelligence community, is putting cash into Visible Technologies, a software firm that specializes in monitoring social media. (Read more from wired.com)

Dear CIA,

Decode THIS:

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