The National Park’s Service’s Million Dollar Out-House

THEY DON’T EVEN FLUSH!!! If the national parks department can pay a million dollars for an outhouse, how much do you think the national healthcare system will pay for hospitals?

“Heading to a national park this holiday weekend? As I reported before, if you go to the right one, you may have the privilege of using a million-dollar outhouse.

In Pennsylvania, the National Park Service built a one-seater outhouse that looks more like a chalet than a toilet.”

“When the government spends your money, they decide local slate isn’t good enough. The slate must be imported from Vermont.

They must use flower seed that costs $700 a pound. The outhouse must have windows and a porch. Why does an outhouse need a porch? And of course, the paint must be epoxy that costs $78 a gallon.

When the smoke cleared, more than $780,000 had been spent to build the outhouse. How did they spend that much? Well, bureaucracy costs money.

It took more than a dozen Park Service engineers and architects two years to design the outhouse. That cost over $100,000. Then to oversee the project, a supervisor from Denver lived onsite in Pennsylvania for about a year. That cost another $80,000.

Then they had to get environmental approvals and meet all government construction rules. That meant hiring minority-owned firms; size requirements mandated by the Americans With Disabilities Act; and paying union-like construction wages. It adds up.

And it gets worse. In Montana, the Park Service has built a four-hole outhouse. The cost: One million dollars. Give me a break. ” (from blogs.abcnews.com)

Madoff Claimed He Was “On The Short List” To Be Next SEC Chairman

The crooks are in charge.

Bernard Madoff once boasted that he ‘was on the short list’ to be the next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a report issued Wednesday by the agency’s internal watchdog.

The blistering report offers new details into how the agency missed the multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

Madoff’s claim came during a 2005 interview with agency investigators. The report doesn’t detail whether Madoff’s claim was ultimately verified but it did note that Madoff told the investigators that Christopher Cox — the now-disgraced former SEC chairman — would be appointed to the position ‘a few weeks prior’ to the official announcement. (Read more from huffingtonpost.com)

Congressman Rangel (D – NY), chairman of tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, also ducks taxes

This is scarcely worth posting. It seem very clear that taxes are for us little people, and not our leaders who feast off them.

“Earlier this month the Chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee ‘amended’ his 2007 financial disclosure form—to the tune of more than a half-million dollars in previously unreported assets and income. That number may be as high as $780,000, because Congress’s ethics rules only require the Members to report their finances within broad ranges. This voyage of personal financial discovery brings Mr. Rangel’s net worth for 2007 to somewhere between $1.028 million and $2.495 million, while his previous statement came in at $516,015 and $1.316 million.

When you’re a powerful Congressman and working diligently to increase tax rates to pay for President Obama’s health-care plan, we suppose it’s easy to lose track of one of your checking accounts.” (online.wsj.com)

Rabbis Considering Ban on Selling Houses to Arabs

“Hareidi and national-religious rabbis will meet Monday in Jerusalem to discuss ways of dealing with the Arab influx into Jewish neighborhoods in northern Jerusalem, as well as the purchasing of agricultural land in the Galilee by wealthy foreign Arabs.

The rabbis are expected to call for an end to the phenomenon of sale of land and houses by Jews to Arabs. The organizer, Aryeh King, who heads the Israel Lands Fund, told Arutz Sheva’s Hebrew service that he is hoping to see the rabbis issue a pronouncement that sale of land and houses to Arabs is forbidden. . . .

According to King, the economic downturn is causing many Jews in the Galilee as well as in the ‘socially weaker’ parts of Jerusalem to sell their homes to Arabs.” (Read more from israelnationalnews.com)

Top Jundallah Figure Says US Ordered Attacks

“In a high profile press conference in the city of Zahedan, Iran, international media gathered to hear a statement from Abdolhamid Rigi, a high ranking member of the Balochi separatist movement Jundallah who is awaiting execution by the Iranian government for his role in a series of murders.

. . . .

In particular, Rigi confirmed that Jundallah previously had ties with al-Qaeda for operations in Pakistan, and that the groups split in 2003 over differences of opinion about strategy in Iran. Not long after severing its ties with al-Qaeda, the group started a relationship with the United States government.

That fact has never been disputed, indeed US officials have repeatedly confirmed that the government has secretly encouraged and advised Jundallah as it fights the Iranian government. But Rigi insisted the US ties went well beyond encouragement.

Rigi insisted that five years ago when the relationship began the US government gave the group $100,000 and promised to provide it with ‘everything we needed.’ He also claimed that the US was directing the group’s attacks, saying ‘they told us whom to shoot and whom not to. All orders came from them.’

Previously US officials had insisted the government was deliberately avoiding direct funding to avoid Congressional oversight, but the Bush Administration did funnel considerable money into ‘covert’ operations against the Iranian government.” (Read more from antiwar.com)

John Stossel – a Libertarian in Manhattan (and on television!)

“I don’t agree with the conservatives who want government to play the role of morals policemen, and I don’t agree with the nanny state liberals. I’m a libertarian.

If you live and work in Manhattan like I do, it can be tough to be a libertarian. It means I’m surrounded by people who vehemently disagree with me – especially in the mainstream media. My kids went to school with Senator Al Franken’s. I went on his radio show thinking I could have a decent argument with him about economics, but no. He wouldn’t entertain a fair debate. He just yelled at me and called me a liar.

Georgetown University Professor John Hasnas has this take on what it feels like to be a libertarian these days:

It feels bad. Being a libertarian means living with an almost unendurable level of frustration. It means being subject to unending scorn and derision despite being inevitably proven correct by events.

Imagine spending two decades warning that government policy is leading to a major economic collapse, and then, when the collapse comes, watching the world conclude that markets do not work.

Imagine continually explaining that markets function because they have a built in corrective mechanism; that periodic contractions are necessary to weed out unproductive ventures; that continually loosening credit to avoid such corrections just puts off the day of reckoning and inevitably leads to a larger recession; that this is precisely what the government did during the 1920’s that led to the great depression; and then, when the recession hits, seeing it offered as proof of the failure of laissez-faire capitalism.

Yup. It often feels bad. But so what? It’s our job to fight for freedom.” (Read more from blogs.abcnews.com)

Mexico decriminalizes “personal use” amounts of drugs

“MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico enacted a controversial law on Thursday decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs while encouraging government-financed treatment for drug dependency free of charge.

The law sets out maximum ‘personal use’ amounts for drugs, also including LSD and methamphetamine. People detained with those quantities will no longer face criminal prosecution; the law goes into effect on Friday.

Anyone caught with drug amounts under the personal-use limit will be encouraged to seek treatment, and for those caught a third time treatment is mandatory — although no penalties for noncompliance are specified.” (Read more from belowthebeltway.com)

Stricter Tax Codes Causing Wealthiest Americans to Renounce Citizenship

“As offshore havens comply with transparency demands, a growing number of ultra-wealthy Americans are handing back their passports

Private client lawyers and relocation specialists are reporting a surge in wealthy Americans living abroad who are prepared to give up their citizenship to avoid the scrutiny of US tax authorities.

Although such a move means they have to pay an exit tax, lawyers say this is a price people have become more willing to pay this year, now the fall in asset values has reduced the size of the imposition.

Jay Krause, a partner at private-client specialist law firm Withers, said: ‘The number of inquiries from US citizens wanting to expatriate from their citizenship has increased rapidly in the last year.’

The level of interest is set to increase following the tax disclosure deal between the US Government and UBS of Switzerland, involving the names of 5,000 alleged US tax evaders being handed over to the authorities. The UK concluded a tax deal with Liechtenstein last week.

Because of this, many ultra-wealthy individuals who have chosen to become stateless now cruise outside coastal waters in their mega-yachts in the belief that if they stay on the move, tax authorities will not be able to catch up with them. One analyst who did not want to be named, has estimated the number of stateless tax evaders amounted to a few thousand.

This implies the quantity of money outside the grasp of global tax authorities could be trillions of dollars.

Under US tax laws, the worldwide income of any US citizen or resident is subject to tax. The US is the only country in the world that requires its citizens to stump up, no matter where they live. . . .” (Read more from wealth-bulletin.com)

Barney Frank now talking compromise on Fed Audit

Well that didn’t take long. Just days ago, I posted this video in which Barney Frank, questioned by a constituent, expressed support for Ron Paul’s audit of the Fed. He’s now talking about a compromise:

“WASHINGTON (Reuters, Sat Aug 29, 8:23 pm ET) – Rep. Barney Frank, the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, hopes to craft a compromise bill with lawmakers who want to open Federal Reserve monetary policy decisions to audits, a spokesman for Frank said on Saturday.

A bill sponsored by Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul that would allow the Government Accountability Office, a federal watchdog agency, to audit Fed interest-rate decisions has won the co-sponsorship of more than half of the House.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has warned the bill would compromise the U.S. central bank’s policy-making independence and could undermine financial markets and the economy.

The Financial Times reported on Saturday that Frank hoped to bring forward compromise legislation that would safeguard the Fed’s independence, while enhancing transparency and creating checks and balances for the central bank’s use of emergency lending powers.

Steven Adamske, a spokesman for Frank, told Reuters the congressman would work with Paul on a compromise bill. He said compromise language had not yet been written and provided no further details. A spokesman for Paul could not be reached….” (Read more from dailypaul.com)

If it doesn’t reveal an answer to this question, then the compromise bill is bullshit: WHO GOT THE FUCKING MONEY???

(independence my ass)

Fraud Claims Soar as Karzai Moves Closer to Vote Win

“Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) issued a new set of vote results today, showing President Hamid Karzai inching further ahead of his chief rival Abdullah Abdullah with about 35% of the votes counted, and nearing the majority of votes needed to avert a run-off vote.

Karzai’s presumptive victory has been considerably tainted, however, by thousands of accusations of voter fraud, and officials now say that nearly 700 of the complaints it has received so far are ‘Category A’ allegations of fraud or intimidation, meaning that any of them is large enough to have potentially had an impact on the outcome of the vote.

Not only that, but officials say that the number is expected to rise even further as the votes continue to come in from the nation’s more remote regions. Between the low voter turnout and the enormous number of allegations of fraud, the credibility of the final results, which were initially expected on September 17 and are now expected to be delayed even further, is very much in doubt.” (Read more from myantiwar.org)

Minimum wage & Unemployment. This is not a coincidence!

I found this on examiner.com. Truth, staring you in the face.

Minimum wage laws cause unemployment and higher prices. They harm exactly the people they are designed to help. If someone cannot produce something worth $7.25 an hour (or whatever the minimum wage), you do not help him by making it illegal for him to work.

To paraphrase Ron Paul: the goal of improving the standard of living for Americans is certainly a noble one, but if this could be accomplished simply by passing laws which require employers to pay more money to their employees, then what is the moral justification for stopping at $7.25? Why not raise the minimum wage to $8 or $10? or for that matter why not $15 or $20 or $100?

Clearly, if the minimum wage were $100, you could imagine businesses, large and small, restructuring their production methods to favor automation, and fewer, more highly skilled employees. You can also imagine prices rising, because these means of production are less efficient. A small increase in the minimum wage has exactly the same effect, though its impact isn’t clearly discernible as unemployment numbers get overwhelmed by other factors.