It's All Make Believe

American Scofflaw
Eleven years after the publication of her best-selling Holocaust memoir - a heartwarming tale of a small Jewish girl trekking across Europe and living with wolves - the Massachusetts author yesterday admitted the whole story was a hoax.

Oookay

American Scofflaw
A US man has been rejected in his bid to become a police officer for scoring too high on an intelligence test.

Peace, Love, Dope

American Scofflaw

Annie, Get Yo Gun---And Tom, Dick, Harry, etc

American Scofflaw
The problem at Virginia Tech was not that there were guns on campus — only the campus police and gunman were armed — but that it was a “gun-free zone.” As a result, there were not enough people carrying guns to neutralize the gunman once he began his rampage. He should have been outgunned after his first shots. To a criminal or deranged person bent on killing, a gun-free zone is a free-fire zone. As is obvious from all such incidents, the police arrive too late to prevent multiple killings.

Fun with Numbers

by Edgar J. Steele

Hey, boys and girls! Want to have some fun? With numbers? Follow along and let's see just how much fun Mom & Dad have been having with what they call "finances." First, though, let's look at a fun kind of picture that grownups call a "chart":

USSR was better prepared for its collapse than the US

by Dmitry Orlov
Through all these years of exposing government lies and deceptions, I have always stated that my fondest wish was to avoid a violent revolution, and that instead we would see the US Government simply collapse from its own debts, lies, and corruption the way the USSR had done.,

Hilay, Hilary, Hilary---We Need to Talk

American Scofflaw
Senator Clinton, an issue of accountability and credibility. You have loaned your campaign $5 million. You and your husband file a joint return. You refuse to release that joint return, even though former President Clinton has had significant overseas business dealings. Your chief supporter here in Ohio, Governor Strickland, made releasing his opponent's tax return one of the primary issues of the campaign, saying repeatedly, "Accountability, transparency." If he's not releasing, his campaign said, his tax return, what is he hiding? We should question what's going on. Why won't you release your tax return, so the voters of Ohio, Texas, Vermont, Rhode Island know exactly where you and your husband got your money, who might be in part bankrolling your campaign?

Tax Evasion, Yeah, Baby!

American Scofflaw
Tens of thousands of well-heeled but anonymous tax evaders. From Britain, from the United States, but, above all, from Germany.

Citizens 1, Scofflaws 0

American Scofflaw

A shopkeeper who killed an armed mugger in self defence during a "frenzied" attack will not be charged.

False Flag Update

American Scofflaw
The US 9/11 Commission stumbled across strong evidence of treason by Dick Cheney when it interviewed Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta, who was present in Cheney's famous command bunker as Flight 77 sped toward Washington, DC. Cheney was at the center of national military exercises simulating terrorist hijackings of US aircraft -- at the very time that those hijackings were occurring in real life. On May 23, 2003, Secretary Mineta testified:

"During the time that the airplane was coming in to the Pentagon, there was a young man who would come in and say to the Vice President, "The plane is 50 miles out." "The plane is 30 miles out." And when it got down to "the plane is 10 miles out," the young man also said to the Vice President, "Do the orders still stand?" And the Vice President turned and whipped his neck around and said, "Of course the orders still stand. Have you heard anything to the contrary?"

Please

This house was a steal

How fraud led to this property changing hands 3 times as son of owner sat dead inside

By Susan Chandler. Tribune

Smarts of the Day

American Scofflaw
An Austrian tourist died Monday after being bitten by a shark while diving near the Bahamas in waters that had been baited with bloody fish parts to attract the predators.

Twisted Kristol

American Scofflaw
Kristol explained that his fear-mongering political strategy would focus on Iran. He recommended that Clinton say the following about Obama: “He wants to negotiate on January 21st with Ahmadinejad. Here’s what Ahmadinejad has said about blowing up Israel.”

Ouch!

Thanks, Aholes

American Scofflaw
A woman who had her medical coverage canceled as she was undergoing treatment for breast cancer has been awarded more than $9 million in a case against one of California's largest health insurers.
"Obviously we regret the way that this has turned out, but we are intent on fixing the processes to maintain the public trust," spokesman David Olson said.

Here's the translation of that second paragraph:
"We got caught, publicly, doing this, and got burned for it.
We have to figure out a way to continue the practice, and not get caught doing it the next time."

Boot Attack

American Scofflaw
Contrary to popular assumption, DRAMs used in most modern computers retain their contents for seconds to minutes after power is lost, even at operating temperatures and even if removed from a motherboard. Although DRAMs become less reliable when they are not refreshed, they are not immediately erased, and their contents persist sufficiently for malicious (or forensic) acquisition of usable full-system memory images.

Still Want to Join?

American Scofflaw
The three-judge panel said makers of herbicides that comprised Agent Orange were protected by the "military contractor defense," which shields independent contractors from liability when fulfilling government procurement contracts.

A Message from the Women of Okinawa

Once again, American GIs have raped an Okinawan girl, one from junior high. We are angry.

We are not going to let us and our mothers, our sisters and our daughters be humiliated any longer. Whatever you do, wherever you go, we'll be watching you.

And this is what awaits you when we catch you

Trillion Dollar Joke

US War on Drugs
By Frosty Wooldridge

After the first six interviews with my brother Police Officer and Detective Howard Wooldridge of Lansing, Michigan (retired) concerning the "War on Drugs", more and more Americans understand the underpinnings of how the U.S. government protracts a national taxpayer fraud. How big a fraud? Taxpayers forked over $1 trillion in 36 years paying for the impotent "War on Drugs." Results? More drugs available, major drug networks, cheaper drugs and more potent drugs

Annals Of American History

The Water Cure

Debating torture and counterinsurgency—a century ago.

By Paul Kramer

21/02/08 "New Yorker" --- Many Americans were puzzled by the news, in 1902, that United States soldiers were torturing Filipinos with water. The United States, throughout its emergence as a world power, had spoken the language of liberation, rescue, and freedom. This was the language that, when coupled with expanding military and commercial ambitions, had helped launch two very different wars. The first had been in 1898, against Spain, whose remaining empire was crumbling in the face of popular revolts in two of its colonies, Cuba and the Philippines. The brief campaign was pitched to the American public in terms of freedom and national honor (the U.S.S. Maine had blown up mysteriously in Havana Harbor), rather than of sugar and naval bases, and resulted in a formally independent Cuba.

Girl Subdues A Scofflaw

American Scofflaw

Martial Law

American Scofflaw
The more out of control major urban areas of the US become, the more certain elements in this administration are hoping for a justification of the imposition of martial law; at first, in some areas, then the entire country.

Theft, Pure and Simple

Call 'retail renting' what it is: stealing

Submitted by Paul McNamara on Fri, 02/22/2008 - 8:06am.

Generally speaking, I refrain from pointing to online opinion polls because, well, they suck. However, I'm going to make an exception here because I find it astounding that 12% of some 4,000 respondents to a survey on The Consumerist apparently find nothing wrong with a practice euphemistically called "retail renting" or "wardrobing."

Retail renting and wardrobing really means short-term stealing.

Yesterday's Boston Globe carried a story that examined the practice and included unabashed tales from some doofus who apparently couldn't tell right from wrong if you handed him a cheat sheet.

From the Globe:

Jimmy Deignan's first time was with a $500 portable DVD player.

He bought it a few years ago at Best Buy for a Boston-to-Los Angeles flight, knowing he would return it for a full refund when he got back. More recently, in November, rather than spending $600 to rent a LCD projector for a business presentation, the Holden resident purchased one at Staples, then returned it a few days later and got his money back.

The way Deignan sees it, he is just a smart shopper: He gets the things he needs, uses them for as long as he wants, and saves money. But to retailers, this is wardrobing, a practice they say is unethical, damaging to their bottom line, and increasingly common.

Oh, stop with the unethical. It's theft, plain and simple. The only difference between this kind of theft and your run-of-the-mill five-fingered discount is the duration of use derived from the ill-gotten gains.

Bet Mr. and Mrs. Deignan were proud to read about their boy.

Which isn't to say ol' Sticky-fingered Jimmy is the only one doing this without remorse. The vast majority of those posting comments to The Consumerist item were clear-headed in their opposition and disdain. But there were a few of these:

Er...depends on how you view things as right and wrong. Some people, myself included, don't see this as wrong because it's within the return guidelines, it's playing by the rules. However, it's wrong in the sense that you buy it knowing full well you're returning it. Perhaps when a restocking fee is required for items like a computer, one would gladly pay this "rental fee". I do this. It's wrong in a sense because you know in advance you're just going to return it, but I wouldn't feel bad about it because someone else can and will still buy it so the retailer isn't out any money.

Proving once again that rationalization can be enormously powerful.

But at least that guy was wrestling with the issue. Over at another forum, on Reddit, I found this beauty:

Depends on who you're 'renting' from. I wouldn't do it from smaller businesses. I call fair game on larger corporations, though, because I believe those are the ones that need to fall.

Want change? Fight for it. Use the large corporations' policies against them.

See, it's not just OK, it's your patriotic duty.

So go ahead and feel free to defend "retail renting" or "wardrobing" or whatever other fig leaf you'd like to put on the practice here.

Just be sure to leave your real name so Mom and Dad can be proud … and I can call you a doofus.

Phony Baloney

American Scofflaw
Rescues for Homeowners in Debt Weighed
This is NOT a rescue for the homeowners. This is a rescue for the BANKS, and is by any other name still the taxpayer-funded bailout I predicted would result.

This is a repeat of the S&L debacle of the 80s, where the insiders got rich, stuck their depositors with the losses, then screwed the taxpayers to make it all better.

Bam

American Scofflaw
See Clip
Surveillance cameras captured this stunning image of a man getting punched out by another man following aan apparent dispute over aisle space in a Lower East Side deli.

Pay Up, Scofflaw!

American Scofflaw

Anyone who has ever seen Aaron Russo's documentary "From Freedom to Fascism" knows precisely what we are dealing with here.

And all most tax protesters are saying is, "show us the law" compelling us to pay these taxes.

The problem is, they can't.

Federal minister apologizes for joke he's not sure he told

American Scofflaw
Federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn has apologized for a joke he's not sure he made, responding to a complaint from a politician who didn't hear it.

Gimme That Vote

American Scofflaw

DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO THIS WOMAN??????????

American Scofflaw
Garbarino says that Officer Wiley Willis beat her up after turning off the police video camera. Willis's attorney insists that Garbarino slipped and fell when Willis tried to prevent her from leaving the room. However, Garbarino says that the extent of her injuries are proof that she was beaten.

Well, Well, Well...

Holocaust lawyer jailed for fraud
American Scofflaw
JERUSALEM - A Tel Aviv court sentenced an Israeli lawyer today to 12 years in prison after finding him guilty of defrauding dozens of Holocaust survivors of German compensation money.

The court also fined Yisrael Perry 5.5 million dollars (3.5 million euros) over a string of charges, including stealing the equivalent of about 200 million dollars from survivors of Nazi concentration camps.

Perry had created an association purported to help Holocaust survivors obtain pension rights from West Germany’s social insurance institute in the early 1990s, the judge wrote in his ruling.

Perry embezzled millions in premiums his clients thought were being passed on to insurance companies.

Dozens of Holocaust survivors and their descendents fell victim to the scam.

"Perry committed a sin and acted unlawfully, to say the least, and hurt other people. He tricked, cheated and committed severe crimes for years," judge Zeharya Kaspi wrote.

Israel and West Germany signed an agreement in 1952 under which Israel and survivors of Nazi camps and persecution receive billions in reparations.

In the 1990s, tens of thousands of Jewish survivors sued Germany and other European countries for Holocaust-era insurance claims.

Help

Papers, Please

American Scofflaw
Amtrak passengers will be subjected to random screening of their carry-on bags as part of a new security initiative that will include armed officers and bomb-sniffing dogs patrolling platforms and trains, an Amtrak spokeswoman said Monday.

Secret Settlements

Many Pharmacy Lawsuits Settled Quietly

By Erik Brady and Kevin McCoy,

USA Today

Posted: 2008-02-14 12:05:06

(Feb. 14) - Chanda Givens wanted to ensure the health of her unborn child when she became pregnant last February. Her doctor prescribed a prenatal vitamin, Materna. But instead, a Walgreens store in suburban St. Louis gave her Matulane, a chemotherapy drug that interferes with cell growth.

According to the federal lawsuit she later filed against Walgreens, Givens, then 29, suffered weeks of "nausea, vomiting, neurologic symptoms -- dizziness, lightheadedness, chills and shortness of breath." A medical exam showed her fetus was not developing normally. She miscarried in early April.

She said the loss of her baby was a direct result of Walgreens' giving her the wrong drug, and she and her husband, Courtenay, sought actual and punitive damages in excess of $75,000. Her attorneys contended Walgreens failed her on multiple levels in terms of supervising its personnel and verifying the prescription with her doctor.

Was Walgreens really to blame? What caused the error? There is no way to know: The case was settled out of court a few weeks after the lawsuit was filed. Givens, her husband and her attorneys now cannot talk about it publicly because they signed a confidentiality agreement.

USA TODAY found a number of lawsuits that alleged corporate malfeasance in cases of pharmacy errors at Walgreens and CVS. Many were settled, and nearly all the settlements included confidentiality agreements.

"Settlements buy silence," attorney J. Douglas Peters says. "Attorneys have an ethical Catch-22: They have a duty to their client and a duty to the public good. But their first duty is to their client. And if the client is going to get paid, the big-box pharmacies insist on silence."

That's why Peters, who practices in Detroit, is unable to talk specifically about individual cases of pharmacy errors he has settled over the years. But he says he has seen a pattern in which drug chains settled cases after they were asked to produce data revealing what happens behind the drug counter, such as how many prescriptions pharmacists are expected to fill in how much time.

Gun Free Zones Turn to Kill Zones

American Scofflaw
The question is not whether private property owners have a right to bar firearms on their property -- they do.

Rather, the first question here is whether our government agencies are making it fully clear to the managers of buildings otherwise open to the public -- such as Clark County's courthouses and public libraries -- that they will not be shielded from the financial repercussions should employees or customers die under circumstances where they could otherwise have defended themselves and others with their own firearms.

Transcript Of Plot To Kill JFK Discovered?

American Scofflaw

A cache of JFK-related memorabilia discovered by the Dallas County District Attorney's Office includes a transcript of an alleged meeting between Jack Ruby and Lee Harvey Oswald two months before Kennedy was killed.

The documents were discovered in an old safe on the 10th floor of the county courthouse, according to an AP report.

The AP report goes to great lengths to cast doubt on the veracity of the documents, quoting Sixth Floor Museum curator Gary Mack in dismissing the transcript as "a bad B movie," and speculating that the files were actually part of a movie script being written by former DA Henry Wade, the prosecutor in the Jack Ruby trial.

Front City

American Scofflaw
So really, you Muslim terrorists can all be really comfortable doing business with the companies in Europe, because we really, really, REALLY did shut down all the CIA front companies, we had set up. Honest. No kidding. Swear to God. Really

Boys vs Girls

Sentencing SNAFUS

American Scofflaw
Stephanie Michele Smith, 34, of 153 Hopkins St., Apt. No. 7, Battle Creek, pleaded no contest to uttering and publishing and convicted by court of being a second offense habitual offender: minimum 1 year in jail, $637.24 in fines, costs and fees.

Larry's 7 Billion Dollar Kiss in the Mail

American Scofflaw
I will repeat, there has never been a historical precedent for a steel-framed building to collapse due to fire,other buildings suffered far worse damage without collapsing.

Sign This At Your Own Peril

American Scofflaw
Military enlistment form

I've Fallen, and I Can't Get Up

US Dollar going the way of the Dodo bird
American Scofflaw

Is This Really Necessary, Your Honor?

American Scofflaw
A Boston-based federal judge wore a black cocktail dress, fish-net stockings and high heels when police arrested him for drunk driving after he rear-ended a pickup truck last week, sources said.

Dopers

Where's my Laptop?

A lost laptop, a $54 million lawsuit: part 2

by Bob Sullivan

Raelyn Campbell's tale of frustration over her lost laptop has generated a high volume of comments, so the original story and the comments it solicited have been moved to this page to provide readers with easier access.

How much compensation does a consumer deserve for the loss of a laptop computer loaded with personal information? Raelyn Campbell figures it’s $54 million -- if you throw in a little extra for lost time and frustration.

Six months after bringing a damaged laptop computer into a Best Buy electronics store for repairs, and three months after the firm admitted losing it, Campbell filed the whopper of a lawsuit recently in Washington, D.C., Superior Court.

Best Buy has told Campbell that her demands are unreasonable, and has tried to settle for far less. But Campbell said she didn’t start out making astronomical demands. Months of stalling and brush-offs by the company led her to the drastic measures, she said.

Best Buy spokeswoman Nissa French said the company couldn’t comment on Campbell’s story, citing the ongoing litigation. A lawyer for Best Buy did not return phone calls or e-mails.

When Campbell bought her new laptop in 2006 at a Best Buy store near her D.C. home, she said a clerk talked her into paying $300 for an extended warranty. She thought that was a fortunate choice when the computer's on/off switch broke about a year later.

In May, she brought the computer back to the store and was told repairs would take two to six weeks. That wasn't terribly convenient for Campbell, who works for a nonprofit Asia research firm and travels frequently overseas.

But six weeks turned out to be a wildly optimistic estimate.

Dumped

American Scofflaw (see video)
Tampa Florida - The Hillsborough Co. Sheriff's Office held a press conference at 10:30am regarding the deputy who can be seen on video dumping a man in a wheelchair onto the ground.

They've announced that Deputy Charlette Jones has been relieved of her duties without pay pending the outcome of an investigation. She has not officially been terminated.

Jones has been employed by the Hillsborough Co. Sheriff's Office since 1996.

Chief Deputy Joe Docobo watched the video for the first time last night and said he found himself in "disgust" and was "appalled at every level."

Docobo also announced that two corporals and a sergeant involved are now on administrative leave with pay, and the jail supervisor on duty did not have knowledge of the incident.

Brian Sterner broke his neck almost 14 years ago and is a quadriplegic.

Sterner, who can drive, was arrested on a traffic violation. When he was booked into the Orient Road Jail last month, Sterner couldn’t believe what happened.

He says a deputy looked at him and didn’t believe he was a quadriplegic. She walked behind him, took the handles on the back of the hospital-grade wheel chair and dumped it forward.

Sterner says he tried to roll as he was going down, but hit so hard he thought he had broken two ribs. Then, while he was on the floor, deputies frisked him and tried to get him back into the chair.

Sterner says he told them how to pick him up and put him back into the chair, but because he can’t feel anything from his breastbone down, he says he was injured and didn’t know it. Sterner thought he had broken two ribs, but jail x-rays showed that wasn't true.

The Hillsborough Sheriff's Office didn't know anything about the incident until we showed them their own tape. Now an investigation is underway.

J.D. Calloway, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office, says this has all come to light today, so this review is very active.

While we tried to get a written report about the incident, the major who runs the Orient Road Jail told us there is no incident report, because as far as they are concerned, they didn't have a problem with, or cause a problem to, an inmate in a wheelchair.

But don’t tell that to Brian Sterner.

Sterner says it's incredibly degrading and it’s an example of how poorly trained the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office is. He adds, if they’re trying to figure out if somebody needs to be in a wheelchair or not, there are many other ways to do it than to dump somebody on their face.

Chief Deputy Joe Docobo added at the press conference this morning, the sheriff's office will now try to "make things right for this gentleman."

American Scofflaw TV--Kill 'em all 2

American Scofflaw TV--Kill 'em all

Super Pissed Chick

Bush Administration Waterboarding

American Scofflaw
Waterboarding, as we have known from the time of the Inquisition, doesn't really produce the truth: it produces whatever confession the torturer wants to hear.

After World War II, the practice was considered so heinous a violation of human rights that Japanese soldiers who waterboarded American soldiers were executed.

There is nothing which does not make this a heinous violation of human rights today. Not only has this practice tarred us morally; it has also destroyed the reputation of this country around the world.

It will be decades before this damage can be undone.

We're Watching You!

American Scofflaw
Drivers who use E-ZPass toll transponders are having their movements recorded even when driving on free public roads. New Jersey Star-Ledger columnist Paul Mulshine confirmed that the state's department of transportation uses E-ZPass scanners to know when, for example, a motorist drives to the mall on Route 24 in the Short Hills area.

Are You listening?

Oops: White House spokesman admits telecoms spied

John Byrne
Raw Story
Wednesday February 13, 2008

Oops.

On the eve of a vote to give telephone companies immunity for their alleged participation in the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretap program, White House spokesperson Dana Perino admitted that the companies actually spied.

Because they were patriotic.

"The telephone companies that were alleged to have helped their country after 9/11 did so because they are patriotic and they certainly helped us and they helped us save lives," Perino told reporters at Tuesday's press briefing.

The admission, while possibly a verbal slip-up, was first noticed by Ryan Singer, of Wired.

The Senate gave the phone companies immunity by a 69-29 vote. It passed wiretapping bill in its entirety just before 6pm ET, 68-29.

Earlier this afternoon, the immunity measure's staunchest opponent, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), announced he would abandon his effort to block the bill with a filibuster, arguing that the House, which has passed an immunity-free bill, would be a better place to try to strip immunity from Congress's final piece of legislation.

"We lost every single battle we had on this bill," Dodd said on a conference call Tuesday with reporters and bloggers. "And the question is now, Can we do better with the House carrying the ball on this bill?"

The bill to update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, including a provision granting retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that facilitated government spying, passed the Senate on a 68-29 vote Tuesday evening.

Insurers of Foreclosed Homes Brace For Arson Epidemic

American Scofflaw
The real estate market could be going up in smoke – literally.

Al-Qaeda leaders admit: 'We are in crisis. There is panic and fear'

American Scofflaw
Okay, the bovine excrement meter is twitching on this one. How is it that FBI, CIA, etc. etc. etc. can never find Al Qaeda (nudge nudge wink wink) but the Times is always able to pick up a phone and get an interview?

American Scofflaw TV

American Scoffflaw TV

Scofflaw, In Plain Sight

American Scofflaw

Digital speed cameras which capture drivers smoking or eating at the wheel are being introduced nationwide in a new move to hammer motorists.

Drivers will also face fines, bans and even jail for infringements such as driving without a seatbelt, using a hand-held mobile phone or overtaking across double white lines.
The hi-tech DVD cameras, which have instant playback, will also be used to provide photographic evidence against those eating sandwiches or rolling-up cigarettes at the wheel.

Girls just Wanna Have Fun

Fort Drum Disgrace

American Scofflaw
The bottom line is it’s insane to join an organization that turns on its own via deprivation and indifference.

Your best bet is to stay out of the US military altogether until it is rebuilt materially and constitutionally.

The idea of unionizing may sound odd, but it will give US military personnel access to war resources and post war help they will never get on their own.

Ari Shapiro’s NPR article is excellent on scoping out how the DOD’s modus operandi deprives its own. in time of need albeit in a very limited fashion.

Crawling on your belly to go to the toilet or being left bedridden for three consecutive days is insane and cruel punishment for those that have served, endured and suffer needlessly at the hands of their benefactors

The Police are Coming, The Police are Coming

American Scofflaw
Amendment II
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

The Boston Police want to help---help themselves right into your home!!!!

Trash and Prosper

American Scofflaw
On the lookout for disturbing trends? Here's one for your pile: According to a recent article in Fortune, there has been a noticeable increase in not just fraud but arson that has kept pace with the housing depression.

American Scofflaw Girls Take No Prisoners

McCain And Brain Dead Voters

Says it All, Doesn't it??

Scofflaws or No?

American Scofflaw

Some consumers complain, Bank of America is hiking rates based on no apparent deterioration in their credit scores at all.

Academic Money Laundering

American Scofflaw

Trent Huddleston claims in a lawsuit filed Thursday that he discovered an "unrestricted" account used to funnel "unusually large" sums of money through the university each month _ which would exceed US$1billion on an annual basis _ that was not used for any legitimate university purpose.

Government Retirement Funds - The tricks revealed

by Walter Burien - http://CAFR1.com
02/07/08

To stay on base when it comes to your thinking towards the local Government Retirement funds, read what follows:

1. The fund's balance is calculated whereby the investment return is to equal annual liability of implied payouts to the retirees now and for each year in the future based on the number of "projected" employees.

2. The 1st trick government played on the employees is: the employee does not own 1c of those funds. Local government investment funds are "strictly participatory", the employee gets a benefit but does not own 1c of the fund.(The same as if you bought a train ticket. You get a ride but do not own the train).

3. The 2nd trick government played on the employee and the taxpaying public was: the actuarial projections used to say what the funds balance should be. If they could get away with saying they were going to get a projected 7% return average over the next ten years and in reality they were getting a 14% return, here they just doubled the funds balance over what was needed and the employee will not get 1c extra and the taxpayer and employee gets hit for higher contributions when in fact they should have received refunds. (1990 - 2000 most were accomplishing 16% to 21% per year and the employee was told 7%, or the actuarial projection being used not the real rate of return)

4. The third trick pulled off by government was; they would hire many new employees to cover surpluses in the pensions. This was done by "vesting" the new employee with the full amount from the fund to equal the employee's projected payout when they retired. EXAMPLE: 1,000 new hires at this time will require say $785,000,000 additional in the fund at retirement, poof there goes 785 mill locked in. On the other hand, if they lay off 1000 new hire employees, gee-wiz , look we are over funded by 785 mill and they now can slip it out for their use. Local governments (especially NJ) will use this tactic to raise taxes let's say by 785 mill and then after the fact lay off employees where they now take out 785 mill from the fund and here they get two bangs for the buck, 785 tax increase plus 785 from the fund or 1.5 billion in benefit and the public nor the dismissed employee is any the wiser.

What you must keep in the forefront of your mind is the power base that has been created by "where" those funds are invested. Any project, corporation, or fortune can be guaranteed internationally by where those funds (trillions in composite totals) are invested. So, the underlying motive was not the employee or the taxpayer, it was the power base of who was going to be the next millionaire if not billionaire based on where that money was placed and thus more, more, more, anyway, more. Bigger is better, more slices of the pie to go around. (and I note in final effect not primarily to the employee or the taxpayer, quite the opposite)

People would not look being that the gang would throw out sound bites to make the public and employees not look (make them falsely feel guilty if they even thought about looking)

The good point of that excessive growth in the government pensions was that it helped drive the economy over the last forty years and gave the ability to control a guaranteed high return on the funds as a monopoly of no equal, whereby the takeover of the international market place through the use of those funds occurred. The bad point was those funds were getting their best return from "International" investments taking advantage of the cheap labor and thus; outsourcing and a drop in US investments.

Now you know why the markets have done what they have done over the last twenty years and those government pension fund balances were ever growing and in the black each year. The control of those funds built up the definition of underlying greed applied, and I make special note that as a result of the 911 event, my did they make a killing for the stage to be set at that time and over the next six years. Set the stage for almost doubling their funds in some cases. Coincidence I guess. To bad those mid-eastern boys did not know what our boys knew here. They could have become wealthy instead of having their countries looted and over a million of their people killed. Dumb Mid easterners. I guess they were not as greedy as we were, but give them a chance we are in the process of assimilating them and they will be conditioned to follow our ways. We dangle that greed carrot oh so well to convert populations, even to new comers with strange and old ways.

On a last note per government pensions, even though government accounts in their fund balances for the full ride on the train, the employee only has an optional ticket on the train so where they get off on the ride, if before the end of the tracks, they do not get a refund, the funds balance does. The employee gets the benefit up to the point of where they get off. So it is "very" important to look at governments growth over the last 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 years to compare government employees vs. population growth. You may just notice some excessive trends there that may need a little trimming. My suggestion would be to look at where government was in 1960 and after accounting for population increases, use that as a target mark for the return of government size to where it should be. New Zealand did it, why not we....? Knock out the implanted greed factor (kill it now before it is to late) and it could, no would happen as time goes; over night..

Walter Burien
http://CAFR1.com

Tel. 928-445-3532

Tell me Again Why I joined the American military?

American Scofflaw
Our vets coming home from these wars in Afghanistan and Iraq deserve, and should get, the best possible care for both mental and physical injuries sustained on their tours of duty.

I think it would be instructive for these attorneys for the Bush Administration to be given their fatigues and weapons, then plant them in the center of the worst fighting going on right now in either Afghanistan, or Iraq

I would be interested to see if their positions change on this issue, having witnessed what our vets experience in combat.

Barnie Fife wannabe cleared

American Scofflaw
Suffolk prosecutors have cleared a former Mitt Romney aide who was accused of pretending to be a state trooper during a bizarre phone call to a Wilmington plumber.

The Sexist GM

American Scofflaw

“She’s really sharp. She’s very much polished in terms of her reporting,” the drooling GM said. “Having a woman on your sports team is important, especially when she is wearing a tight, short mini and high heels.”

“Girl X is the first woman on the American Scofflaw sports staff since what’s her name bolted for national sports television network ESPN in the summer of , um, whenever it was, 2006,” said the GM.

American Scofflaw station management and ownership had wanted a woman since you know who’s departure.

Girl X officially replaces the has-been, whose contract wasn’t renewed.

“His last day is tomorrow, if he isn’t kicked out sooner,” said the panting GM. “Anyone who says women don’t watch sports is so wrong,” he said. “We have the numbers to back it up. Women watch. They always love a good gossip or catfight. Oh, they’ll watch, believe me.”

CO: Shaken caucus official reports ballot stuffing

by Bev Harris

http://www.opednews.com

I just interviewed a gentleman in Boulder, Colorado who provided a detailed report. He was one of the caucus officials (chairman? captain? not sure of the lingo). They hand counted the ballots and the two elderly ladies counted them wrong. He corrected them. He carefully wrote down the correct information. While he was doing this, one of the elderly ladies was grabbing at the envelope; she ultimately did take the envelope and hurry away with it.

She then dropped the envelope and as she was picking it up, the
gentleman I interviewed (who does have a name, which I'll release with
his permission when he signs an affidavit) -- anyway, he witnessed her
take a ballot (which he had NOT seen fall out of the envelope) and put
it into the envelope. He noticed that, while all the ballots were
folded, this one was not folded.

She stated that she was bringing the envelope to where the Republicans
were putting all the ballots together. He asked her where this would
be, so he could go there too. She said she might "stop at her home" on
the way.

He called me initially, quite shaken, trying to learn where the
Boulder County Republicans were convening. I do not know.

The miscounts were against Ron Paul. The extra ballot inserted was for
Romney. He expressed amazement that these two seemingly nice elderly
ladies were involved in cheating, both on the count and, the one lady,
with the ballot stuffing. I should mention that the attendance in his
precinct was low, and even a few ballots would skew the count.

As we know, in Iowa it was quite a delay before we could get precinct
results from the caucus. I am unsure as to how promptly Colorado will
release precinct results, or even IF they will.

Hold on to Your Laptops

American Scofflaw
Travellers have their gadgets swiped

US customs officers are taking devices and passwords, ripping contents including web browsing histories, emails and documents and returning laptops over a week later

Waterboarding is legal?

American Scofflaw

Everything Hitler did was legal, too.

Did that make it right?

Does the fact that Hitler declared everything he did to be legal grant absolution to the Germans of Nazi Germany who went along with what Hitler did ... because it was legal?

So, when George Bush says that torture is now legal in the United States, and you go along with that, what does that make you?

Master of Scam

American Scofflaw
Consider the number 72,000. This number — of total U.S. battlefield casualties in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, through Jan. 5, 2008 — is simple enough, but as I ponder the fact that Paul Sullivan and his organization, Veterans for Common Sense, had to wrest it from the Department of Defense with a Freedom of Information Act request, and the fact that the only media outlet to pick up on it so far is the Scottish newspaper The Herald, I begin to grasp the extent of the deception in place sustaining the war on terror.

The reason that the casualty totals reported are far lower, Sullivan explained to me, is that the Defense Department releases the stats on only one category of battlefield casualty to the media, the number of GIs “wounded” in action, that is, harmed by the instrumentation of war: bullet, shrapnel or knife.

A GI who cracks his head on the windshield of his Humvee in a crash, though he may have suffered brain damage and had to be evacuated from the battlefield, is considered “injured,” not “wounded,” Sullivan explained, and thus doesn’t show up in the figure the DoD releases and the media misleadingly report. Likewise, a GI who suffers a heart attack, or, let’s say, one of those desert mystery illnesses, or a severe emotional collapse, is “ill,” not “wounded,” and is also MIA from the official casualty count. And in this way does the war remain a tad more statistically palatable to a distracted public.

It is at this level of deception that things get horrific: in the denial of care for physically and, especially, emotionally wounded vets — men and women suffering from the private hell of post-traumatic stress disorder.

“VA hospitals and clinics have already treated 263,909 unplanned patients from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars,” according to a Vets for Common Sense press release. “On top of that, VA reported 245,034 unanticipated disability claims from veterans of the two wars.”

Note well the words “unplanned” and “unanticipated.” This facet of the Bush administration’s lack of planning for its invasions has so far escaped significant notice. Apparently the neocon brain trust expected such a cakewalk that the costs and logistics of GI medical care weren’t taken into account. Sullivan said he fully expects the VA to face as many as 700,000 patient claims — including staggering numbers of PTSD claims as our battle-weary troops “deploy for a third or fourth combat tour in an escalating war that surrounds our troops with 360-degree combat 24 hours per day” — which could run up a tab of $700 billion. The only way to control this monster expense is routine claim denial.

Treason in Translation

American Scofflaw
Most Americans have never heard of Sibel Edmonds, and if the U.S. government has its way, they never will. The former FBI translator turned whistleblower tells a chilling story of corruption at Washington’s highest levels—sale of nuclear secrets, shielding of terrorist suspects, illegal arms transfers, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, espionage

The Horse's Head

American Scofflaw
Two weeks ago George Bush was sent on a mission to the Middle East to deliver a horse's head. We all remember the disturbing scene in Francis Ford Coppola's “The Godfather” where Lucca Brassi goes to Hollywood to convince a recalcitrant movie producer to use Don Corleone's nephew in his next film. The “Big shot” producer is finally persuaded to hire the young actor after he wakes up in bed next to the severed head of his prize thoroughbred. I expect that Bush made a similar “offer they could not refuse” to the various leaders of the Gulf States when he met with them earlier this month.

I Don't Think So, Somehow

Crybaby Nation

American Scofflaw

Patriots fans who traveled thousands of miles and spent untold thousands of dollars to root on their heroes were instead left sobbing - literally.

“They’re still the best team,” 34-year-old Brockton native Melissa Trotman said through tears as she hugged her friends.

“It was an awesome game. Of course we’re disappointed,” added an equally weepy Brooke Anderson of Medford.

One surly, red-eyed fan who refused to give his name summed up the loss, saying, “This sucks. It’s unfortunate. They still had a great season," he bawled.

And You, Scofflaw!

Girls of the Day

Crooks Annoymous

American Scofflaw

Oh, I know says the goldsmith, I'll just have to keep lending this counterfeit money backed by nothing so they can work hard for me for free, and I will own every asset on this planet for free. So the goldsmith starts to lend out money again and lends out $10,000 the first year which again causes the BOOM. And, on and on it goes.

The only difference today is that there is no limit to the lending, so there's continual money being created which forces us to fight each other to get our hands on it, to pay back our own share of debt, while the price of everything skyrockets endlessly.

And, the goldsmith's are now called the Federal Reserve System and the funny money counterfeit notes are called Federal Reserve Notes. In the 1930's there was roughly $30 Billion in gold at Fort Knox, and now we owe $7,937,046,735,823.

THE BIGGEST LIE EVER BELIEVED

American Scofflaw

Trying to corner Clinton, Obama, Romney and McCain into addressing America's immigration invasion proves harder than arm wrestling an octopus! Trying to get our apathetic American public to force definitive answers from this presidential quartet proves tougher than bringing an Egyptian mummy back to life.

Count Me in on this Racket

American Scofflaw

Tax avoidance by large companies and wealthy individuals costs the Government £25bn a year, the equivalent of £1,000 for every working person in Britain, according to research published today.

Draw Pardner

American Scofflaw

Two off-duty officers from different police departments wounded each other in a gun fight in the middle of a road in an Atlanta suburb, authorities said.

Both officers suffered non-life-threatening wounds, police said. Their conditions were not immediately known on Saturday.Technorati Profile

Officer Jay Daily, a five-year veteran of the Duluth Police Department, exchanged multiple gunshots with Fulton County officer Paul Phillips on Friday afternoon, police said.
Daily was in custody Saturday, charged with aggravated assault, Cpl. Illana Spellman of the Gwinnett County police said.

Politically Incorrect LED Sign

Is That You, Hillary?

Justice for Natalee This Time?

Scofflaw Absurd

American Scofflaw

A free magazine handed out in Suffolk, England by local police aimed to deter young girls from boozy nights in racy mini-skirts by warning that women 'intent on getting ratted' should make sure they had waxed their legs and were 'wearing nice pants' in case they collapsed.

The magazine then went on to show pictures of young women slumped on the ground next to messages urging them: 'If you've got it, don't flaunt it.'

I know the advice is well intentioned, but it makes me uncomfortable to think that the 'she had it coming attitude' is now being delivered by the very people who should be protecting the right of every woman to say no whatever they wear.

I can only say I'm perplexed at the suggestion that smooth legs and a nice pair of knickerswill save your self-respect, or help your safety, were you to roll up in a ditch at the corner of the road.

Phew...!

Snipes Acquitted of Tax Fraud

American Scofflaw
Action star Wesley Snipes was found not guilty of federal tax-fraud and conspiracy charges Friday, but was convicted on three misdemeanor counts of failing to file a tax return.

Snipes and two co-defendants, a delicensed accountant and a tax protest leader, were indicted in 2006. Snipes faced six additional counts of willful failure to file a tax return from 1999-2004, a period in which he signed two contracts for more than $10 million on sequels in the "Blade" trilogy. He was acquitted on three of those and convicted on the others. He could be sentenced to three years in prison after originally facing a possible 16 years.

Sexy Scofflaw

American Scofflaw

Scantily-clad women have been banned from taking part in Thailand's Songkran water festival this weekend.

Bangkok's Metropolitan Authority (BMA) has ordered women in 'spaghetti-strap or strapless tops' to stay away.

If they break the rules, they will be asked to leave the festivities, which will be monitored by police and city monitors.

Thai women have been embracing revealing fashions in recent years, having turned their backs on traditional modest apparel such as the sarong.

The Songkran new year festival, traditionally a rowdy celebration involving water fights, occurs at the hottest time of year in Thailand.

The BMA says that it wants the festival to highlight Thailand's cultural heritage in its celebrations.

"If we find any women wearing spaghetti-strap blouses, we will ask them to leave the water-throwing areas," said city clerk Nattanon Thaweesin.

Thailand's Culture Minister Uraiwan Thienthong said that the ban was part of a government campaign against revealing clothes.

"We want to create a good image of the country," she said.

Officials in Chiang Mai, Thailand's second city, have also banned spaghetti-strap tops.

However, they went further and included 'hot pants' in the ban.

Chiang Mai's mayor, Boonlert Buranupakorn said that he has asked police to lecture women if they were wearing "improper clothing" and tell them to get changed.

From the Voice of Authority

American Scofflaw

"I believe I am correct on this. I think if you were to go back and try to find and review the ratification of the 16th Amendment, which was the Internal Revenue, Income Tax, I think if you went back and examined that carefully, you would find that a sufficient number of states never ratified that Amendment." -- Judge James C. Fox, Sullivan v United States, et. al. March 21, 2003

Girl woops man

The McCain Nutiny

A Marriage of Criminal Convenience

16 Amendment Be Damned Again

American Scofflaw

For the jury to convict, they have to be shown the law that Snipes is accused of breaking, and moreover, they have to prove that he intended to break it.

If Snipes truly believed that there is a question of the legality of the tax laws, if indeed a reasonable person looking at the available evidence might conclude there is a problem with the legality of the income tax (As Judge James C. Fox did in Sullivan V. United States), then Snipes may be in arrears on his taxes, but there is no demonstrable criminal intent.

Plus, we now have the star witness for the prosecution exposed in a lie by a video on YouTube!

Since the courts and judges are paid from tax money I do not expect a fair or impartial hearing on the matter. The judge will try to fry Snipes as an example to anyone who dares doubt the word of the government (that lied us into a pointless war of conquest with claims of Saddam's nookular bombs).

But regardless of what happens to Wesley Snipes, the attention the case is receiving is causing more and more Americans to take a closer look at whether or not the income tax is in fact legal or not.