Monthly Archives: December 2012

Anti-drone protesters knocked off course by broad restraining order

"Adams said that he has repeatedly been arrested as he attempted to deliver a letter to the base commander, Colonel Greg Semmel, and others accusing the government of war crimes. The order of protection, issued by Donald Benack, a judge in the Dewitt town court, Onondaga, New York, on 25 October, forbids the 17 activists from contacting Colonel Earl A. Evans. The activists, Adams said, had asked if the order meant they had to stay away from the weekly permitted protest across the road from the base. The response from law enforcement officers: if Evans found it 'irritating' then it did." Continue reading →

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Afghan Children Legitimate Targets, Says U.S. Lt. Col., As They Might Have “Hostile Intent”

"When the war gets to this level--whether or not we believe the Army's assertions that the kids it's killing in Afghanistan deserved it--it's time to rethink whether you are winning hearts and minds, nation rebuilding, or just involved in an endless insane game of blowing shit up and making people so mad they give you what you think is a legitimate excuse to keep blowing shit up." Continue reading →

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Online sales tax to be added to National Defense Authorization Act

"This may be the last Christmas of online shopping without paying sales tax. A proposed online sales tax has been offered as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, much to the ire of opponents. The Marketplace Fairness Act, and its House counterpart the Marketplace Equity Act, seek to clarify, and arguably overturn, a 1992 Supreme Court ruling that requires retailers to have a physical presence in a state in order to collect sales tax on goods." Continue reading →

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Equality Under the Law

In failing to give due consideration to the proper role of government, both our nation and our state are sliding down the proverbial slope towards what?  Less prosperity, lower productivity, higher unemployment, losses of freedom, insurmountable public burdens of debt just to name a few of the maladies associated with impoverished society and to which we are precipitously headed.  A prime example of this failure was highlighted in this past Sunday’s New York Times, “Lines … Continue reading →

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TSA Creates New Watchlist Of Those Who Failed Pre-Check Applications

"The Federal Register for Monday, November 19, 2012, quietly advises that 'TSA also is creating and maintaining a watch list of individuals who are disqualified from eligibility from TSA Pre✓TM…' Millions of frequent flyers have applied to PreCheck in the hope of mitigating the abuse they suffer at the airport. But now, with breathtaking irony, the TSA discloses that anyone it rejects winds up on yet another of the police-state’s watchlists, his agony at the airport even worse than before." Continue reading →

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A Long-Distance Relationship With the I.R.S.

"Foreign financial institutions will be required to scour their records for signs that customers are American, like a U.S. address or phone number or instructions to transfer funds to a U.S. bank account. Anyone flagged in the search will be asked to provide proof of citizenship and/or residence status, and Americans will have to provide a Social Security number. Even with the penalties, Fatca is not expected to raise significant revenue for the U.S. Treasury; the Congressional Budget Office forecasts a take of $8.7 billion over 10 years. That is barely a rounding error in an annual budget of more than $3 trillion." Continue reading →

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Two-thirds of millionaires left Britain to avoid 50p tax rate

"In the 2009-10 tax year, more than 16,000 people declared an annual income of more than £1 million to HM Revenue and Customs. This number fell to just 6,000 after Gordon Brown introduced the new 50p top rate of income tax shortly before the last general election. It is believed that rich Britons moved abroad or took steps to avoid paying the new levy by reducing their taxable incomes. Far from raising funds, it actually cost the UK £7 billion in lost tax revenue." Continue reading →

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Grover Norquist Draws the Line

There have always been libertarian and authoritarian strains within the Republican Party. Both are very different, often to the degree of incompatibility. Generally speaking, the libertarian strain is what generations have always thought of as traditional American conservatism—limited government, individual liberty, free markets, strong national defense, and loyalty to the Constitution. However imperfect, this is [...]

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