Fraudster Elect

American Scofflaw
And this guy voted for Obama

The Gay Secretary

When Obama told us that he would "totally change the economic system;" "totally change America;" and "totally change the world," he wasn't kidding. There has been much speculation that he "doesn't know what he is doing." In a sense they are right, but in one thing they are dead wrong and that is he intends to carry out his promises as they pertain to the country's economic system, the social system and how America fits into the international order. To think otherwise is to ignore the obvious.

Observing the United States of America destroy itself from within is one of the most heart rending, angering, events imaginable, but it is happening. Several years ago, I included sarcastic comments in an essay for the benefit of Osama bin Laden, exhorting him to be patient because all he had to do was wait and the US would destroy itself. Tragically, that sarcastic admonition is in advanced stages of coming to fruition.

The USA, once the economic envy of the world is fast becoming its whipping boy, its laughing stock, and its economic and social black hole. Once the defender of righteousness and good, it is rapidly declining into the pit of self-delusion, over-indulgence and Rome, except that it took Rome longer to fall than the length of its history of the United States from its founding to date.

In a laughable moment during his recent White House Press Conference Obama stated that we would move the economy from "borrow and spend to save and invest," this on the heels of the largest expansion of government spending in history. Of course the "lemmings" lapped it up, but reality is that the statement was made on the heels of ten year projections of multi-trillion dollar deficits. So, either Mr. Obama doesn't have a clue, or he is, shall we say, "prevaricating?" Worse yet, there is plenty of circumstantial evidence that Obama is intentionally overspending to bring the dollar and economy to bankruptcy so that people will beg for a complete government takeover. And what would such a takeover be called? A bailout? Or communism? Or, just plain fraud.

Timmy's Dirty Little Secret

American Scofflaw

What Geithner does not want the public to understand, his ‘dirty little secret’ is that the repeal of Glass-Steagall and the passage of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act in 2000 allowed the creation of a tiny handful of banks that would virtually monopolize key parts of the global ‘off-balance sheet’ or Over-The-Counter derivatives issuance.

Today five US banks according to data in the just-released Federal Office of Comptroller of the Currency’s Quarterly Report on Bank Trading and Derivatives Activity, hold 96% of all US bank derivatives positions in terms of nominal values, and an eye-popping 81% of the total net credit risk exposure in event of default.

The five are, in declining order of importance: JPMorgan Chase which holds a staggering $88 trillion in derivatives (€66 trillion!). Morgan Chase is followed by Bank of America with $38 trillion in derivatives, and Citibank with $32 trillion. Number four in the derivatives sweepstakes is Goldman Sachs with a ‘mere’ $30 trillion in derivatives. Number five, the merged Wells Fargo -Wachovia Bank, drops dramatically in size to $5 trillion. Number six, Britain’s HSBC Bank USA has $3.7 trillion.

After that the size of US bank exposure to these explosive off-balance-sheet unregulated derivative obligations falls off dramatically. Just to underscore the magnitude, trillion is written 1,000,000,000,000. Continuing to pour taxpayer money into these five banks without changing their operating system, is tantamount to treating an alcoholic with unlimited free booze.

The Government bailouts of AIG to over $180 billion to date has primarily gone to pay off AIG’s Credit Default Swap obligations to counterparty gamblers Goldman Sachs, Citibank, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, the banks who believe they are ‘too big to fail.’ In effect, these five institutions today believe they are so large that they can dictate the policy of the Federal Government. Some have called it a bankers’ coup d’etat. It definitely is not healthy.

This is Geithner’s and Wall Street’s Dirty Little Secret that they desperately try to hide because it would focus voter attention on real solutions. The Federal Government has long had laws in place to deal with insolvent banks. The FDIC places the bank into receivership, its assets and liabilities are sorted out by independent audit. The irresponsible management is purged, stockholders lose and the purged bank is eventually split into smaller units and when healthy, sold to the public. The power of the five mega banks to blackmail the entire nation would thereby be cut down to size. Ooohh. Uh Huh?

This is what Wall Street and Geithner are frantically trying to prevent. The problem is concentrated in these five large banks. The financial cancer must be isolated and contained by Federal agency in order for the host, the real economy, to return to healthy function.

This is what must be put into bankruptcy receivership, or nationalization. Every hour the Obama Administration delays that, and refuses to demand full independent government audit of the true solvency or insolvency of these five or so banks, inevitably costs to the US and to the world economy will snowball as derivatives losses explode. That is pre-programmed as worsening economic recession mean corporate bankruptcies are rising, home mortgage defaults are exploding, unemployment is shooting up. This is a situation that is deliberately being allowed to run out of (responsible Government) control by Treasury Secretary Geithner, Summers and ultimately the President, whether or not he has taken the time to grasp what is at stake.

Once the five problem banks have been put into isolation by the FDIC and the Treasury, the Administration must introduce legislation to immediately repeal the Larry Summers bank deregulation including restore Glass-Steagall and repeal the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 that allowed the present criminal abuse of the banking trust. Then serious financial reform can begin to be discussed, starting with steps to ‘federalize’ the Federal Reserve and take the power of money out of the hands of private bankers such as JP Morgan Chase, Citibank or Goldman Sachs.

So, What Will You Do?

American Scofflaw

I was taught in school that taxation without representation was a legitimate reason to eject a government.

Well, we are there.

We The People pay some of the highest taxes in the world, and whereas other nations with high taxes have free education and free health care and good roads and schools and hospitals, We The People, for all that money we pay, get ... bombs.

Big, shiny, bombs.

The United States has been kept on a war economy since the end of WW2. And today the people are being looted for trillions of dollars to hand to Wall Street, who provide nothing in exchange for all that money.

More than 90% of Americans demanded Congress refuse to bail out the financial centers that created this whole mess.

Congress refused to listen.

That is taxation without representation.

And worse, taxes must go up to cover the new bailouts.

Decision time is fast approaching for you, me and everyone.

Blinded By Science

Obama, It's Me Again

The Gay Secretary

I used to live in Los Angeles. I lived through the Rodney King riots.

I watched the cops run like hell.

I watched law-abiding citizens go to gun stores to buy protection and were blocked by California's waiting period.

I watched as criminals who did not already have guns simply smashed the windows of gun stores and abandoned police cars and steal the guns they wanted.

And I watched a store keeper standing on the roof of his store, with his AK-47, keeping the looters at bay when the police were nowhere to be found.

So, you tell us all why it would have been preferable for this law abiding store owner, whose entire life was invested in his business, to not have that AK-47 to protect his business when the cops ran like hell.

You just try to explain that one.

Read all about it and then give this duped Obama voter a shout, okay?

Denied

American Scofflaw

Trying to buy health insurance on your own and have gallstones? You'll automatically be denied coverage. Rheumatoid arthritis? Automatic denial. Severe acne? Probably denied. Do you take metformin, a popular drug for diabetes? Denied. Use the anti-clotting drug Plavix or Seroquel, prescribed for anti-psychotic or sleep problems? Forget about it.

What's more, you can discover that if you lie to an insurer about your medical history and drug use, you will be rejected because data-mining companies sell information to insurers about your health, including detailed usage of prescription drugs.

These issues are moving to the forefront as the Obama administration and Congress gear up for discussions about how to reform the healthcare system so that Americans won't be rejected for insurance.

It's especially timely because growing numbers are looking for individual health insurance after losing their jobs. On top of that, small businesses, which make up the bulk of South Florida's economy, are frequently finding health policies too expensive and are dropping coverage, sending even more people shopping for insurance.

The problem is, material available on the Web shows that people who have specific illnesses or use certain drugs can't buy coverage.

''This is absolutely the standard way of doing business,'' said Santiago Leon, a health insurance broker in Miami. Being denied for preexisting conditions is well known, but when a person sees the usually confidential list of automatic denials for himself, "that's a eureka moment. That shows you how harsh the system is.''

Boyoos

I Don't Think So

A sailor was fatally shot Sunday aboard the destroyer Halsey, Navy officials confirmed yesterday.

Please, Barry, Listen

In the midst of its worst recession in decades, President Barack Obama says it would be better to create new jobs that can't be outsourced instead of bringing back such low paying jobs from other countries.

American Scofflaw

They weren't low-paying BEFORE they were outsourced!

What has clearly happened here is that Obama aroused the ire of his corporate masters when he promised to end the tax incentives that made it attractive for corporations to outsource US jobs to other countries.

So now he is backing off trying to bring those jobs back. His sour grapes attempt to get off the hook is that you really do NOT want your old job back, you want to go find a new one! Just where that new jobs is to be found is, of course, not his problem.

Let Me Scam The Ways

זה כל כך פשוט

Real Or Scofflaw Hoax???

Experts have been called in to examine the Google ghoul filmed at a former Victorian docklands which has a dark and sinister past.

The woman dressed in long skirt, crisp blouse, bow tie, blue boater hat and scarf appears to be shimmering above the pavement.

She was captured by the Google Street View cameras in Tiger Bay, Cardiff - the scene of murders and unsolved mysteries going back 200 years.

The water sculpture seen in the picture is used as the gateway to enter the fictional world of Dr Who spin-off Torchwood.

Local medium Jane Cohen, 39, said: "Apparitions have often been caught on film but are invisible to the naked eye. "This woman is very smart - but she is dressed in clothes that you just don't see these days unless it's in a period drama on TV.

"But what is really strange is that she doesn't appear as a full figure - you can't see all of her."

The old docklands has been redeveloped with a theatre, waterside restaurants and plush apartments.

But local historians say the woman was filmed in the heart of the notorious Tiger Bay - once the busiest sea port in the world.

The image was filmed last June as the Google cameras filmed the streets and landmarks of the Welsh capital.

The Google cameras have also captured a spooky ET alien figure in New Jersey, United States.

Ashcroft: Certain Water Sports Okay

Stop Scofflaw

American Scofflaw
I oppose this latest grab for control over our lives (California may ban black cars) for two reasons. The first is that if one thinks about it long enough, there is always going to be one more reason why the government should control our lives just a bit more. How much water we use, when we can run the air conditioners, where we can live, what clothes we must wear and when, what we may or may not watch on the internet, to what gods we must sacrifice, etc. etc. etc.

It never stops.

Until you make it stop.

The second reason I am opposed to this level of government tinkering in our lives is that while the science behind banning black paint is fairly straightforward, the same is not true for some of the other intrusive measures government has taken, such as the push for ethanol that turned out to ruin automobile fuel systems and created a food shortage.

Even today as the Earth demonstrably cools, those government entities that have hitched their fortunes to human-caused global warming are still trying to figure out a direct path into your wallet and control over your hot body, reality be damned. and of course, it continues to emerge that government-mandated vaccinations may be contributing to the epidemic of autism.

The fact is that the government has botched a lot of things, including the economy, Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, our industrial base, just to name a few. The assumption that government knows best is simply not operational at this time.

Thanks, Music Scofflaws

American Scofflaw

Well, thanks to the music thieves, governments are now pressing for laws to allow random searches of all of our computers for stolen materials without probable cause. The real danger is, of course, that corrupt people involved in those searches will copy and exploit personal business information for their own use.

In theory, what these laws do is force you to leave the keys to your house with the local police station, so that the cops can come in and look around whenever they feel like it, even when you are not at home. No sane human would allow this, given the previously reported actions of the police forces, and likewise many of us carry data on our laptops which is private not only to our own businesses but to our clients.

As one example, on my laptop I have materials related to a TV show I work on; materials which are of some value to the various fan magazines, but which would be harmful to my client if it were released. I am legally allowed to have this material, but what if some TSA bozo (assuming he didn't drop the laptop and wreck it again) sees the familiar faces, decides to copy off the files, then sells them to a buddy at 'embarrassing moments on the set' magazine! The bozo picks up a few thousand, I get in trouble because I was the last person known by the production company to have the files, and all we get from TSA is "We're fighting music piracy!"

So in the name of protecting profits, the government will treat all of us like we are criminals rather than dealing with the fact that we cannot expect young people to be moral when the leaders of our nations are so obviously immoral.

Let us be honest; real criminals and terrorists can buy plenty of those fingernail sized multi-gig flash drives to put sensitive data on, then sneak them through the security scans (hidden inside the hundreds of tons of cocaine and heroin that cruise right past the customs people every year). Homeland Security admits that half of the practice bombs get through those gates (probably more now that TSA is working for RIAA) so getting a flash drive past them is easy.

So, in short, we will all be totally inconvenienced for a policy that doesn't stand a chance of working in the first place, but opens up our private files for looting by the "authorities."

Ask Me No Questions, I'll Tell You No Lies

Judge signals unwillingness to release secret 9/11 papers

1. Why didn't jets intercept the airliners since they had numerous warnings of terrorist attacks?

2. Why did Ashcroft stop flying commercial airlines, citing an unidentified "threat" in July 2001?

3. Why did FEMA lie about their presence in New York on 9/11?

4. Why didn't the Secret Service hustle Dubya out of the classroom?

5. Why did George H.W. Bush meet bin Laden's brother on 9/11?

6. Why did passengers or crewmembers on three of the flights all use the term boxcutters?

7. Where are the flight recorders?

8. Why were the FISA warrants discontinued?

9. How did Bush see the first plane crash on live camera?

10 Why was security meeting scheduled for 9/11 cancelled by WTC management on 9/10?

11. How did they come up with the "culprits" so quickly?

12. How did they find the terrorist's cars at the airports so quickly?

13. Why did Shrub dissolve the Bin Laden Task Force?

14. Why the strange pattern of debris from Flight 93?

15. How extensive was the relationship between the Taliban, the ISI and the CIA?

16. What exactly was the role of Henry Kissinger at UNOCAL?

17. When was it decided to cancel building a pipeline from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan?

18. Why did the FBI in 1996 close the files to investigate Osama bin Laden's relatives in Washington?

19. Why did .Bush stop inquiries into terrorist connections of the Bin Laden family in early 2001?

20. Who made the decision to have John O'Neill stop investigating Al-qeada accounts?

21. Who gave the decision to give him a security job at the World Trade Center?

22. Did John O'Neill meet anyone of the FEMA in the night of September 10th?

23. What about media reports that hijackers bought tickets for flights scheduled after Sept. 11?

24. Why did none of the 19 hijackers appear on the passenger lists?

25. Why would devout Muslims frequent bars, drink alcoholic beverages and leave their bibles?

26. Why would the hijackers use credit cards and allow drivers licenses with photos to be zeroxed?

27. Why did the hijackers force passengers to call relatives?

28. How did the hijackers change the flight plan without law enforcement or the military try to stop them?

29. How did a hijackers passport miraculously appear near the WTC? Who found it and what time?

30. How could the FBI distinguish between "regular" Muslims and hijacker Muslims on those flights?

31. Why was there not one "innocent" Muslim on board any of these flights?

32. Did someone go through the passenger lists looking for Muslim names and label them as hijackers?

MOHAMMED ATTA

33. Did the Florida police provide information that Atta was searched because of 1) an expired Visa, 2) driving a car without a license, 3) because of an incident at Miami Airport?

34. Why did Atta leave his bag at the airport and the employees didn't put it on board?

35. Who found his bag? How can we be sure it it was his bag?

36. Why did Atta place a video "how to fly planes", a uniform and his last will into his bag, knowing that he would commit suicide?

37. Why did Atta leave his drivers license in a rental car?

38. When did Atta train on a flight simulator?

39. Did Atta leave the US while in training and then return?

40. Why did Atta decide to study at Opa Locka, a famous hub of 6 Navy training bases and includes government partners like U.S. Coast Guard Air Station, Police (Miami-Dade) Aviation Unit?

41. Why was Atta allowed to study since he was stopped by the police for driving without a license and also for violating his visa?

THE BLACK BOXES AND CRASH VIDEO

42. Why were the Black Boxes never recovered ?

43. Why didn't the FBI release the air traffic controller's protocols?

44. Why did the FBI not release the Flight Data Recorder info?

Just Ain't True

American Scofflaw

WSJ: Sales of new homes rose in February for the first time in seven months, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday, another sign that the housing market is thawing

Bloomberg: Purchases of new homes in the U.S. unexpectedly rose in February from a record low as plummeting prices and cheaper mortgage rates lured some buyers. Sales increased 4.7 percent to an annual pace of 337,000 . . .

Marketwatch: The U.S. housing sector continues to see signs of improvement. The latest government data showed new home sales climbed in February for the first time in seven months, sending shares of home-building companies soaring.

>

A parade of the mathematically innumerate business writers (and even worse headline writers!) continue to misread data. The latest evidence? New Home Sales.

After incorrectly reporting the Existing Home Sales, the mainstream media misread the Census department report of New Homes.

No, New Home Sales data did not improve. In fact, they were not only not positive, they were actually horrific. The year over year number was a terrible down 41%. Sales from this same period a year ago have nearly been halved.

Why did the media report this as positive? If you only read the headline number, you saw a positive datapoint: February was plus 4.7% over January.

To get the the facts, you need to read below the headline. In the present case, it wasn’t the seasonality factor that was confusing, it was the “90-percent confidence intervals” — or as it is more commonly known, the margin of error.

From the Census Bureau:

Sales of new one-family houses in February 2009 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 337,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 4.7 percent (±18.3%)* above the revised January rate of 322,000, but is 41.1 percent (±7.9%) below the February 2008 estimate of 572,000.

The median sales price of new houses sold in February 2009 was $200,900; the average sales price was $251,000. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of February was 330,000. This represents a supply of 12.2 months at the current sales rate.

Note that the month over month data at 4.7% — plus or minus 18.3% — is statistically insignificant. (i.e., meaningless). The reported data does not inform us if sales improved month-over-month or not. It is a range, from down -13.6% to plus 23%. Since “zero” is part of that range, we can draw no conclusion. As the Census Department itself notes, “the change is not statistically significant; that is, it is uncertain whether there was an increase or decrease.”

The data does however, tell us that the year-over-year sales fell 41.1% plus or minus 7.9% gives us a range of -49% to -33.2%. The entire range is negative, therefore we can conclude sales fell year-over-year.

These are facts. This is data. This is how you interpret it. Most of the MSM reports (WSJ, Marketwatch, Bloomberg) were simply wrong.

Not nuanced, not shaded, but 2+2=5 wrong.

Let me remind that many of these folks incorrectly misinformed you that Housing wasn’t getting worse in 2006, 2007 and 2008 — just as Home sales and prices went into an historic freefall. Now, these same folks are misinforming you that Housing has turned around and is improving. That is simply unsupported by the data.

(And don’t even ask about television — they simply read the wrong news. Here is a life lesson for you: Never believe news people who read teleprompters. They have no idea what they are doing, they are reading what someone else wrote. When it comes to data interpretation, they are quite literally clueless. Rely on news readers to your personal financial detriment).

The bottom line: Learn to interpret data correctly. Avoid using the people who cannot do so as primary news sources.

This Is Why The Stock Market Is Soaring Right Now

American Scofflaw

"Mark to Market" only works for a short while, then will crash the system.

That is what happened to Enron, who (together with Arthur Anderson) used "Mark to Market" to proclaim huge earnings and wealth even as they sank into the quicksand with their employees and investors.

I Lovvvvve Pinning Scofflaws

The Weimar Solution

Got It

It's In The Can

American Scofflaw

A dumpster filled with forms that included personal information could have been a gold mine for any identity thief, but because of several alert workers at a nearby beauty shop, police were able to move in and take action.

Hair stylist Anita Rence expected to see trash in the dumpster behind the salon where she works, but she found much more than that. "And its everything from W-2's, W-4's, copies of driver's licenses, social security numbers...just everything...I mean, horrible."

A thief could use this personal information to steal someone's identity. "As a business owner, as a citizen, as a mother, as anybody...we're told all our lives shred, shred, shred...that should have been shredded...there's free shredding services, there's no excuse," says salon owner Dedra Derigo.

The documents came from a Westaff office on US 301 in the 6th Street Plaza, which is now apparently closed.

According to the company's website, the staffing company was just bought out last week, and the sign on the door reads, "We are not taking applications at this time."

The timing of the tossed documents galls the salon's owner. "And these are people who are using a temporary agency to get employment to tide them over through these rough times, and now they have to deal with this on top of everything else," says Derigo.

Fortunately, there is a happy ending. Salon workers called police, who arranged to have the dumpster secured and the documents destroyed.

Police say while the document dumping is wrong, it is not illegal. "There's nothing illegal about this, nothing illegal, but we're going to try to do what's the responsible thing to do and protect these citizens, even though they're not here," says Capt. Bill Spitler of the Sarasota Police Department.

Police are recommending people who filled out applications with Westaff over the last several years to have conduct a credit check.

I Told Your Gestapo Goons We Had Nothing To Talk About

American Scofflaw

Where were the US Marshals leading up to 911?? On stand down orders, perhaps????

A Washington, D.C., man who believes Barack Obama probably isn't eligible to be president – and colorfully stated as much to a federal judge who dismissed a case challenging Obama's residency in the White House – says he got a visit from U.S. marshals for his exercise of free speech.

James Robertson

Jesse Merrell was reacting to Judge James Robertson's decision to throw out a case challenging Obama's eligibility because the issue had been thoroughly "twittered."

Merrell sarcastically gave the judge a "good-for-you."

"How dare people use a flimsy thing like the Constitution to darken your sanctimonious door!" he wrote to the judge. "The insane idea that a blue-gum baboon slashing our Constitution has to prove U.S. citizenship – as our silly old Constitution demands – is too absurd to consider in the sacred chambers of the tiny tin gods of the Potomac, adorning the royal purple and sipping Jim Jones Kool-Aid.

"Thanks to smug, slimy shysters like you, Obama gets a free ride – snootily stomping on our foolish Constitution, which supercilious idiots like you have long ago shredded for their own stupid opinions!" Merrell continued.

A short time later, he said he found two U.S. marshals on his doorstep.

"After reading your story about Federal Judge James Robertson dismissing a suit challenging Obama's natural born citizenship, and suggesting sanctions, I wrote him a very critical letter," Merrell . "Two U.S. marshals came to visit me, making threats to silence me.

"I told them unless the First Amendment had been repealed, or they had a warrant for my arrest, we had nothing to discuss," he continued. "But they insisted on coming in, and making further threats.

"I responded with another letter, with firm language, but nothing I haven't used for 30 years, and quoting Thomas Jefferson's warning to bind judges with the 'chains of the Constitution' to prevent mischief."

“Release Madoff or Risk War”, Israel Warns US

By Sorcha Faal

Russian Intelligence reports are stating today that Israel’s incoming right-wing Nationalist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ‘ordered’ President Obama to release disgraced Wall Street investor Bernard Madoff [photo top left] or ‘risk full and total war’.

Not being reported in the United States about its worst ever case of financial fraud involving former Mossad agent Bernard Madoff is that the billions in funds collected from the wealthiest American-Israelis were used to finance Israel’s Global intelligence network reported to have been responsible for numerous attacks against its perceived enemies.

According to these reports, Madoff was the chief financier for a vast Israeli spy and sabotage network set up by former Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) director Jacob Perry (Yaakov Peri) who ‘transformed’ himself into one of America’s most powerful businessman and led what FSB sources call the смертоносная шатия 7 [English translation roughly means “Murderous/Fatal Gang of 7”].

These reports further state that Madoff was ‘convicted’ in a ‘one of a kind’ designed trial in which his guilty plea kept all evidence against Israel’s betrayal of the United States from being entered into official American records as it was deemed by the Obama administration as ‘too incendiary’ for the American people to know about.

President Obama, however, appears ‘more than willing’ to confront the Israelis, especially after being informed of the full extent of Israel’s involvement in the 9/11 attacks and the other attacks planned by the Israeli assassination and sabotage teams sent into the United States posing as Israeli ‘art students’, and of which the Washington Post News Service reported on in the immediate aftermath of the attacks before going permanently silent.

Listen Up, Folks

By Timmy the Lad

The easiest way to tell this story is to post the text of a letter I sent to my Senators and Congressman yesterday. Here it is:

"March 19, 2009

Sen. Christopher Dodd, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, Hon. John B. Larson

Re: Duplicate Payments to AIG Counterparties?

Gentlemen,

I noticed that several prominent financial services firms that received TARP funds last year also appear on the recently-released list of counterparties to be paid by AIG from bailout funds.

These firms include AIG International, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo/Wachovia, and possibly others. The total of counterparty payments due to these firms from AIG appears to be at least $30,900,000,000.

This presents the possibility that some of these firms could have applied for and received TARP funds last fall, in anticipation of defaults by AIG; and are now in line to receive payment by AIG. Thus, they stand to be paid twice, with the money for both payments coming from taxpayers.

This possibility raises three questions:

1. What controls, if any, are in place to guard against this kind of double-dipping?

2. If no controls are in place, what steps will be taken to forestall the possibility of such duplicate payments and who will take them?

3. If duplicate payments have already been made, what steps will be taken to recover the money and who will take them?

In the ideal world, companies receiving duplicate payments to the same account would return the money on their own. But, as recent experience has amply shown, these firms cannot be trusted to "do the right thing" under almost any circumstances. This would certainly be one of them.

Could you gentlemen please look into this matter and let the public know the extent of any such double-dipping? If, as I suspect, double-dipping is found, what steps are being taken to protect taxpayer interests?

Thank you.

Very truly yours,

Timothy F. Geithner
Secretary of the Treasury

Hey, Jay

Dear Judge: SCREW!!

American Scofflaw
On February 26, 2007 and again on May 2 of that year, a team of U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Attorneys and Federal District Court Judge Nancy G. Edmunds of the Eastern District of Michigan tried to order Peter and Doreen Hendrickson to testify against themselves.

Judge Edmunds (described by The Ann Arbor News and The Grand Rapids Press as guilty of perverting justice in another recent case, as well) granted a DOJ- and IRS-requested “summary judgment” in a lawsuit attempting to force the Hendricksons to change sworn testimony on their tax returns in order to give the federal government a pretext for claiming the couple owed income taxes in 2002 and 2003.

The suit, and Edmunds’ “order”, are part of a sustained IRS effort to suppress revelations about the true legal nature of the income tax presented in Peter Hendrickson’s book, 'Cracking the Code- the Fascinating Truth about Taxation in America', which have had the tax agency in behind-the-scenes disarray for many years now.

Since the book went to print in August 2003, readers have been steadily recovering every penny withheld from them in connection with the income tax from the federal and state governments -- including Social Security and Medicare ‘contributions’.

Edmunds’ "order" is purely for the consumption of a gullible public and press. Forcing someone to change sworn testimony is not only outside the authority of any court (or anyone else) but attempting to do so is a violation of several different criminal statutes.

Nonetheless, the DOJ and IRS have made careful and deliberate use of the "order"-- posting press releases claiming a victory in court, without mentioning that the "order" purports to dictate the content of the Hendricksons’ sworn testimony, and thus is inherently void. The agencies also fail to mention that the reason this "order" was sought is that without a change in the Hendricksons’ returns, there is no legal pretext by which the government can claim that any tax is due from the couple for the years involved.

Along with issuing the “order” regarding the Hendricksons’ previous testimony, Edmunds also played her part in another IRS pretense by way of this “lawsuit”, involving agency-fabricated mis-statements of law it claimed were found in Hendrickson’s book. In constructing its “complaint”, the government asked Judge Edmunds to enjoin the Hendricksons from filing returns reflecting these fabricated, erroneous legal assertions.

Edmunds compliantly issued this additional meaningless injunction, barring the Hendricksons from filing any forms based on these IRS-invented “false and frivolous claims” which she says are set forth in 'Cracking the Code-...'. (These “claims”-- such as that “wages do not constitute income”, or that “only government workers are liable for income taxes”-- not only do not appear in the book, but are explicitly contradicted by the book.)

The tax agency then began announcing that Pete Hendrickson has been enjoined against acting on what is presented in his book, when Hendrickson and his wife have actually been barred from nothing by this “injunction”. (Such an injunction would be outside the power of the court in any event, since to tell anyone what he or she CAN’T say amounts to dictating what must be said.)

Judge Edmunds did all of this without the formality of a trial, and despite the fact that not only do official Treasury Department Certificates of Assessment show that the Hendricksons owe no taxes for the years in question, but nowhere in the complaint does the DOJ present evidence that the Hendricksons owe anything or that their testimony is false.

The Hendricksons have taken the matter to the Supreme Court.

These Are My Friends

American Scofflaw
And theses are the people he needs to take care of, get it???

Crazies On Prowl

American Scofflaw

Less than a year ago, the most repellent area bus tour we knew of was the one that induced Sex and the City–crazed tourists to put $40 on their Citi cards for a cupcake and a glimpse at Carrie Bradshaw's brownstone. How times have changed! Now, everyone's clamoring aboard the Populist Rage Bus.

The Connecticut Working Families Party this weekend has organized a bus store that will make stops at Wilton, Connecticut, AIG office as well as the security-patrolled homes of AIG execs who are fearing for their lives.

"We're going to be peaceful and lawful in everything we do," said Jon Green, the director of Connecticut Working Families. "I know there's a lot of anger and a lot of rage about what's happened. We're not looking to foment that unnecessarily, but what we want to do is give folks in Bridgeport and Hartford and other parts of Connecticut who are struggling and losing their homes and their jobs and their health insurance an opportunity to see what kinds of lifestyle billions of dollars in credit-default swaps can buy."

Right, they're not fomenting rage, they're just encouraging it. So if you happen to record someone's address so you can return in the dead of night, it's not like Working Families told you to! We know we sound paranoid and we really can't believe we're actually on the same side as Rush, but this is getting way out of hand. Oh, to have fat ladies in high heels clogging up the West Village again.

AIG Exces Scorned, Even In Driveways
Bus Tour

You Make The Call

American Scofflaw

You make the call:

This

or

This

Join Today, Die By Your Own Hand Tomorrow

A Day To Memorialize A National Deception

American Scofflaw
Just like Pearl Harbor.

More than seven years after terrorist attacks on America left nearly 3,000 people dead, U.S. Congress took a major step today toward establishing 9/11 as an annually recognized National Day of Service.

Language to designate 9/11 as a National Day of Service and Remembrance has been included as an important provision in the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act, or GIVE Act, (H.R. 1388), which was introduced today and authorizes groundbreaking federal support for many innovative national service programs

The concept of mandatory national service is a direct violation of the 13th amendment. More to the point, the services we are ordered to "volunteer" are the ones we were told our taxes were paying for. So where did the money go? Why are we paying taxes for services we are not expected to do for ourselves?

Pay Up, Please

American Scofflaw
Thirteen firms receiving federal bailouts owe more than $220 million in unpaid federal taxes, a powerful House Democrat said Thursday.

Georgia Rep. John Lewis, chairman of the House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee, indicated that two companies receiving federal bailout money each owed more than $100 million.

Lewis did not name the companies.

“This is a disgrace,” he said. “We shouldn’t take it anymore either. We want to get to the bottom of what is going on here … Taxpayers deserve nothing less than the truth.”

Lewis, who was holding a hearing about the distribution of stimulus funds, noted that firms receiving bailout money had been required to sign contracts stating that they did not owe any taxes.

Lewis’ remarks come only hours before the House of Representatives is set to vote on legislation to try to recoup bonuses paid to Wall Street executives with taxpayer money.

Americans Need Not Apply

Translations

American Scofflaw

1. financial engineering = new ways of gambling

2. Investors = gamblers

3. Stock & Futures Markets = casinos

4. Financial Analysts = casinos’ salesmen / women

5. Bonds = I.O.Us.

6. Banks = Dishonest Money-lenders (actual money-lenders licensed not as banks, but as money-lenders, cannot create “money out of thin air”. They have to use their own capital – 100% to lend)

7. Currencies = fiat money toilet papers

8. Derivative markets = ponzi scheme

Constitutional Fisticuffs

American Scofflaw
The liberals are definately worried. I wonder why???

Imus As Hitman

By Jessica Heslam

Radio shock jock Don Imus insisted he was joking when he threatened to shoot WTKK host Jay Severin during yesterday’s St. Patrick’s Day broadcast in Boston - but Severin’s agent doesn’t buy it and called the I-Man’s explanation “pathetic.”

The early morning showdown at the Wilbur Theatre - where the 68-year-old Imus told Severin to get off the stage or he’d shoot him - sparked a war of words yesterday between the two camps.

“I heard that Imus’ spokesman tried to characterize this as an ‘obvious joke’ on Imus’ part. That’s pathetic,” said Severin’s agent and attorney, George Tobia.

“Leaving aside the utter inappropriateness of such threats in any context, including joking, that explanation does not fly,” Tobia said. “He threatened to shoot Jay. Twice. And in an agitated and menacing manner. It was not intended for the audience to hear, although a number of people did hear it. If he were joking, why did Imus order him away? That would not make sense.”

Imus spokesman Matthew Hiltzik shot back at Tobia. “With such a delusional, pitiful representative, it’s no surprise that Jay’s career is ‘shot,’ ” Hiltzik said.

The Herald disclosed online yesterday that the confrontation occurred shortly after 6 a.m. at the special Kiss Me I’m Imus event, when Severin went on stage during a commercial break to say hello to friends in the show’s cast.

The two exchanged greetings before Severin walked away. But Imus producer Bernard McGuirk quickly called him back because Imus wanted to talk to him. Severin squatted down to speak with Imus, who was seated in a chair on the stage.

Imus then lashed out at Severin for telling the Herald and his listeners in October that he would no longer appear on the I-Man’s show because he was tired of his insults.

Imus told Severin to get off the stage or “I’m going to shoot you.”

Imus then repeated the threat and turned toward Severin.

“Do you (expletive) understand what I’m saying to you?” he said. “You get off this stage right now or I’m going to shoot you.”

Both Severin and Tobia confirmed the account. Hiltzik also confirmed the exchange, including the shooting remarks, but said Imus - who reportedly has a license to carry a handgun - wasn’t serious. Hiltzik said Imus was not carrying a handgun yesterday.

“This is one of the most desperate attempts for attention that I have ever seen,” Hiltzik said. “He was obviously joking - it was a figure of speech. And just for the record, Don is not very good at shooting people with his pencil.”

The Return of Eliot "Ness" Spitzer

by Eliot Spitzer

Everybody is rushing to condemn AIG's bonuses, but this simple scandal is obscuring the real disgrace at the insurance giant: Why are AIG's counterparties getting paid back in full, to the tune of tens of billions of taxpayer dollars?

For the answer to this question, we need to go back to the very first decision to bail out AIG, made, we are told, by then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, then-New York Fed official Timothy Geithner, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke last fall. Post-Lehman's collapse, they feared a systemic failure could be triggered by AIG's inability to pay the counterparties to all the sophisticated instruments AIG had sold. And who were AIG's trading partners? No shock here: Goldman, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, UBS, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, Barclays, and on it goes. So now we know for sure what we already surmised: The AIG bailout has been a way to hide an enormous second round of cash to the same group that had received TARP money already.

It all appears, once again, to be the same insiders protecting themselves against sharing the pain and risk of their own bad adventure. The payments to AIG's counterparties are justified with an appeal to the sanctity of contract. If AIG's contracts turned out to be shaky, the theory goes, then the whole edifice of the financial system would collapse.

But wait a moment, aren't we in the midst of reopening contracts all over the place to share the burden of this crisis? From raising taxes—income taxes to sales taxes—to properly reopening labor contracts, we are all being asked to pitch in and carry our share of the burden. Workers around the country are being asked to take pay cuts and accept shorter work weeks so that colleagues won't be laid off. Why can't Wall Street royalty shoulder some of the burden? Why did Goldman have to get back 100 cents on the dollar? Didn't we already give Goldman a $25 billion capital infusion, and aren't they sitting on more than $100 billion in cash? Haven't we been told recently that they are beginning to come back to fiscal stability? If that is so, couldn't they have accepted a discount, and couldn't they have agreed to certain conditions before the AIG dollars—that is, our dollars—flowed?

The appearance that this was all an inside job is overwhelming. AIG was nothing more than a conduit for huge capital flows to the same old suspects, with no reason or explanation.

So here are several questions that should be answered, in public, under oath, to clear the air:

What was the precise conversation among Bernanke, Geithner, Paulson, and Blankfein that preceded the initial $80 billion grant?

Was it already known who the counterparties were and what the exposure was for each of the counterparties?

What did Goldman, and all the other counterparties, know about AIG's financial condition at the time they executed the swaps or other contracts? Had they done adequate due diligence to see whether they were buying real protection? And why shouldn't they bear a percentage of the risk of failure of their own counterparty?

What is the deeper relationship between Goldman and AIG? Didn't they almost merge a few years ago but did not because Goldman couldn't get its arms around the black box that is AIG? If that is true, why should Goldman get bailed out? After all, they should have known as well as anybody that a big part of AIG's business model was not to pay on insurance it had issued.

Why weren't the counterparties immediately and fully disclosed?

Failure to answer these questions will feed the populist rage that is metastasizing very quickly. And it will raise basic questions about the competence of those who are supposedly guiding this economic policy.

Poppycock

The Gay Secretary

Let's remember what the "internet" is. It's nothing more than several suites of protocols for transferring data from one computer to another, or from one newtwork to another; and it's any set of (say it with me now) inter-networked computers running those protocols. Thanks to the boys at DARPA, the internet we know and love (based largely around the TCP/IP protocol suite) is desinged to be decentralised, with realtime compensation for changes in the number and positioning of functioning routers and nodes.

If I have a computer publishing a web page using HTTP and another computer across the room reading it, that's the internet. If I maintain a file server that exterior clients can access using VPN, that's the internet. If I work out a means to shift packets using AM radio, and such packets can cross from one network to another, that's the internet.

In essence, the internet is like a road system. Sure, and interested party can put up roadblocks at strategic locations, and they can try to lock down or tear up any routes they don't like. But others can build new roads and new roadnetworks as well, and it's impossible to control the whole thing at once, as long as the equipment and the people who know how to build and use it are scattered throughout the populace.

Now, possibly, the World Wide Web as we know it might be able to be co-opted. But the www is not the whole internet. I recall the salad days of Usenet - a decentralized method of collecting public information. In fact, I recall the atomic bomb board. Either a legitimate means for nuclear engineering students to share infromation or an elaborate joke, the atomic bomb board (Usenet designations varied) held actual real-world information on nuclear weapons design. Not the kind of thing that the Department of Energy, the Secret Service, or the FBI liked to see.

However, they couldn't get rid of it. Not just because of the perfidy of computer savy students, but because of the nature of Usenet. Usenet consisted of directories of files stored at various nodes. Periodically, each node hosting a Usenet directory would enquire if any of the nodes it was connected to lacked any of the files in it's host directory. Any missing files (or the whole directory) would be transferred to the other nodes.

So for instance, the University of Illinois would ask the University of Wisconsin if there were any Usenet files the UofI was lacking, or the UofW was lacking, and they'd copy and transfer files. Simple enough. So if the Secret Service tried to take down all of the atomic bomb board files at the Univeristy of Illinois, the University of Wisconsin would just copy it's files over to UofI, and service would be restored. If the University of Wisconsin suffered the same treatment, then the Univeristy of Illinois would fill in the gap. If, somehow, there was a co-ordinated attack at both of them simultaneously, then it was likely that the Univeristy of Minnesota would update both UofW and UofI after the fact. The atomic bomb board became almost impossible to remove.

Now, interestingly, that was the model of the late 1980's and early 1990's. The hacker/cracker credo was "All information wants to be free". Using a redundant, decentralised, self-correcting model, the information was in a sense free.

But something changed. E-commerce. The World Wide Web came into general use, and with it attempts to sell things online. The need to control access to information (paid sites, credit transfers, personal financial information) led to information no longer being free. Gradually, the server-client structure became commonplace, as it is easier to control information that way. Web-mail has edged aside traditional email, Chat clients have overtaken IRC, Web forums have replaced newsgroups and mailing lists. Websites have replaced gopher sites.

But we remember. We remember Usenet. We remember SMTP and POP3. We remember Gopher. We remember Telnet and the BBS. In the 21st century, the information we need is canaled, damed, and piped. It's controlled because it's easier that way, because money can be made that way, and free information doesn't drive an economy well. But all that can change. If anyone tries to "control the internet" we remember how to set that information free.

Show Down

It Was Me, All Right

Evil Trolls Did It

Don't blame the Bush administration for all the country's economic problems.

That's the message from former Vice President Dick Cheney.

President Barack Obama constantly talks about the enormous economic troubles that he inherited when he took office in January. Cheney agrees that Obama did indeed came into power amid very difficult economic circumstances.

But Cheney says he doesn't think the Bush administration can be blamed for creating the economic woes. Cheney says it's a global financial problem. He says the idea that fault can assigned to the previous administration is "interesting rhetoric" but he doesn't think people care about that.

Cheney spoke on CNN's "State of the Union."

Phony Obama Rage

The Gay Secretary

American Scofflaw
And, remember this guy voted for Obama!

Apparently the president was "outraged" that AIG paid out $165M in pay and bonuses after his own congress forced $175B down their throats in the face of reported 10:1 to voter opposition (that was the low end).

I guess the president doesn't follow Goldman Sachs, which paid out $11B in pay and bonuses after grabbing $10B from taxpayers.

Gee, let's see...

$11B (GS) vs. $165M (AIG)
110% of taxpayer funds (GS) vs. 0.1% of taxpayer funds (AIG)

But isn't this the obvious problem with centrally managed Socialist/Marxist economies? A few people, especially those dumb enough to think they can manage the entire world economy in real time, cannot possibly understand a single company from an outsider's perspective, let alone the truly infinite complexity and often counter intuitive efficiencies of global capitalism, assuming it was ever tried.

It is also a shame the President of the United States feels the need to belittle his office by quarreling with the CEO of a penny stock, and apparently losing.

你怎麼想它， scofflaw ？

Lingering Scofflaw Acts

American Scofflaw
More than seven years after the first bio-terror attack on the United States, Congress is considering creating a commission to probe the government's response to the anthrax-laced letters that killed five people.

Representative Rush Holt, a Democrat, has submitted a bill that would create a bipartisan commission to investigate the government's handling of the 2001 attacks, which also exposed 17 people to the powdery anthrax spores.

"Myriad questions remain about the anthrax attacks and the government's bungled response to the attacks," Holt said in a statement.

Holt said in a statement that the commission would review an investigation conducted by the FBI, which for years pursued the wrong suspect before turning its attention to a government anthrax researcher who committed suicide before he could be charged.

"The bipartisan commission would make recommendations to the president and Congress on how the country can best prevent and respond to any future bio-terrorism attack," Holt said.

The commission would be given 18 months to conduct its inquiry.

The Justice Department concluded last August that Bruce Ivins, a bio-defense researcher at the US Army's Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, was solely responsible for sending the anthrax letters.

Ivins committed suicide in July 2008 after being informed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of plans to bring charges against him.

Initially, the FBI's suspicion fell on another bio-terror expert, Steven Hatfill, who was declared a "person of interest" and pursued until 2006, when the leadership of the investigation was changed.

In March 2008, the FBI settled a lawsuit initiated by Hatfield for 5.8 million dollars.

Okay, Let Us wade in here.

American Scofflaw
While I understand the anti-smokers concerns about our health, targeting roll your own tobacco for such a huge tax increase is counter-productive. Most roll-your-own tobacco is organically grown whereas the commercial cigarette farms use cheap mineral fertilizers which are laced with polonium.

It is the polonium which is the source of the major health problems one sees with cigarettes (but not with pipes or cigars). and, we know from Dr. Jeffrey Wigand's appearance on "60 Minutes" that commercial cigarette manufacturers artificially increase the addictive components in their products, something roll-your-owns do not.

It seems this tax is intended to protect the profits of the big cigarette manufacturers rather than to address the health issues.

More Bonuses Planned For Bankers

It's no secret...The economy in the United States is in shambles. With unemployment at an all-time high and everyone struggling to make ends meet while living paycheck to paycheck, it would unimaginable that bankers, most which have net worth's in the billions, would receive even more multi-million dollar bonuses, courtesy of taxpayer dollars. But, according to an article posted on the New York Times website early Sunday morning, that is precisely what AIG executives are going to receive.

According to the article, "American International Group (AIG), which has received more than $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money from the Treasury and Federal Reserve, plans to pay about $165 million in bonuses by Sunday to executives in the same business unit that brought the company to the brink of collapse last year."

In an attempt to justify the bonuses, Edward Liddy, the government-appointed chairman of AIG, said that the they're necessary in order to "keep the best executives with the company".

According to the New York Times article, the bonuses "will fuel a popular backlash against the government’s efforts to prop up Wall Street." This would certainly render the latest "stimulus plan" basically useless.

In what seems to be yet ANOTHER broken promise from the Obama administration, the bonuses were scrutinized by the President last week, yet they will allowed to go forward "because lawyers said the firm was contractually obligated to pay them." Past bonuses already have prompted President Obama and Congress to impose tough rules on corporate executive compensation at firms bailed out with taxpayer money. In fact, during his campaign, Obama made several statements in which he promised to take a stand against corporations shelling out massive bonuses from taxpayer dollars.

In an article posted on the ABC News website back in January, Obama blasted Wall Street executives "shameful" and "the height of irresponsibility" for accepting billions of dollars in bonuses.

With the future of the nation's (as well as the world's) economy in serious doubt, it would seem unconscionable that bankers would receive such gratuitous bonuses, especially from US tax dollars. However, it seems to be a growing and disturbing trend these days, complete with a President who is showing no signs of curbing it.

The Ultimate Cartel

American Scofflaw
It is unfortunate, but understandable, that young people in the United States are not taught (in the government's schools) the history and operation of their country's most powerful financial institution, The Federal Reserve System. Created in 1910, codified by Congress in 1913 (along with the personal income tax), this "system" facilitated the US government's ability to inflame the nation's citizens for the purpose of supporting the European war of 1914-1918 (World War I). Warfare provides a source of immense borrowing and provides banking corporations with huge profits in the form of interest income. Several of these same Wall Street banks financed Adolph Hitler two decades later.

Readers desiring an insight into the international interests and subsequent political relationships of the bankers who created the Federal Reserve System can click here. To understand how recent the Federal Reserve System is, my own parents were alive when it was created in the USA. The adoption of "central banking", a concept indispensible to enforcing policies determined by big central government, is as old as Alexander Hamilton and The Federalists. Central banking has been tried and thwarted in the past. Today it is alive and well. For a brief background of this subject, read this fascinating essay.

Obama’s Gun Ban List Is Out

The Gay Secretary

Here it is, folks, and it is bad news. The framework for legislation is always laid, and the Democrats have the votes to pass anything they want to impose upon us. They really do not believe you need anything more than a brick to defend your home and family. Look at the list and see how many you own. Remember, it is registration, then confiscation. It has happened in the UK, in Australia, in Europe, in China, and what they have found is that for some reason the criminals do not turn in their weapons, but will know that you did.

Remember, the first step in establishing a dictatorship is to disarm the citizens.

Gun-ban list proposed. Slipping below the radar (or under the short-term memory cap), the Democrats have already leaked a gun-ban list, even under the Bush administration when they knew full well it had no chance of passage (HR 1022, 110th Congress). It serves as a framework for the new list the Brady’s plan to introduce shortly. I have an outline of the Brady’s current plans and targets of opportunity. It’s horrific. They’re going after the courts, regulatory agencies, firearms dealers and statutes in an all out effort to restrict we the people. They’ve made little mention of criminals. Now more than ever, attention to the entire Bill of Rights is critical. Gun bans will impact our freedoms under search and seizure, due process, confiscated property, states’ rights, free speech, right to assemble and more, in addition to the Second Amendment. The Democrats current gun-ban-list proposal (final list will be worse):

Rifles (or copies or duplicates):
M1 Carbine,
Sturm Ruger Mini-14,
AR-15,
Bushmaster XM15,
Armalite M15,
AR-10,
Thompson 1927,
Thompson M1;
AK,
AKM,
AKS,
AK-47,
AK-74,
ARM,
MAK90,
NHM 90,
NHM 91,
SA 85,
SA 93,
VEPR;
Olympic Arms PCR;
AR70,
Calico Liberty ,
Dragunov SVD Sniper Rifle or Dragunov SVU,
Fabrique National FN/FAL,
FN/LAR, or FNC,
Hi-Point20Carbine,
HK-91,
HK-93,
HK-94,
HK-PSG-1,
Thompson 1927 Commando,
Kel-Tec Sub Rifle;
Saiga,
SAR-8,
SAR-4800,
SKS with detachable magazine,
SLG 95,
SLR 95 or 96,
Steyr AU,
Tavor,
Uzi,
Galil and Uzi Sporter,
Galil Sporter, or Galil Sniper Rifle ( Galatz ).
Pistols (or copies or duplicates):
Calico M-110,
MAC-10,
MAC-11, or MPA3,
Olympic Arms OA,
TEC-9,
TEC-DC9,
TEC-22 Scorpion, or AB-10,
Uzi.
Shotguns (or copies or duplicates):
Armscor 30 BG,
SPAS 12 or LAW 12,
Striker 12,
Streetsweeper. Catch-all category (for anything missed or new designs):
A semiautomatic rifle that accepts a detachable magazine and has:
(i) a folding or telescoping stock,
(ii) a threaded barrel,
(iii) a pistol grip (which includes ANYTHING that can serve as a grip, see
below),
(iv) a forward grip; or a barrel shroud.
Any semiautomatic rifle with a fixed magazine that can accept more than
10 rounds (except tubular magazine .22 rim fire rifles).
A semiautomatic pistol that has the ability to accept a
detachable magazine, and has:
(i) a second pistol grip,
(ii) a threaded barrel,
(iii) a barrel shroud or
(iv) can accept a detachable magazine outside of the pistol grip, and
(v) a semiautomatic pistol with a fixed magazine that can accept more than 10
rounds.
A semiautomatic shotgun with:
(i) a folding or telescoping stock,
(ii) a pistol grip (see definition below),
(iii) the ability to accept a detachable magazine or a fixed magazine capacity
of more than 5 rounds, and
(iv) a shotgun with a revolving cylinder.
Frames or receivers for the above are included, along with conversion kits.
Attorney General gets carte blanche to ban guns at will: Under the proposal, the U.S. Attorney General can add any “semiautomatic rifle or shotgun originally designed for military or law enforcement use, or a firearm based on the design of such a firearm, that is not particularly suitable for sporting purposes, as determined by the Attorney General.”

Note that Obama’s pick for this office, Eric Holder, wrote a brief in the Heller case supporting the position that you have no right to have a working firearm in your own home. In making this determination, the bill says, “there shall be a rebuttable presumption that a firearm procured for use by the United States military or any law enforcement agency is not particularly suitable for sporting purposes, and a shall not be determined to be particularly suitable for sporting purposes solely because the firearm is suitable for use in a sporting event.” In plain English this means that ANY firearm ever obtained by federal officers or the military is not suitable for the public.

The last part is particularly clever, stating that a firearm doesn’t have a sporting purpose just because it can be used for sporting purpose — is that devious or what? And of course, “sporting purpose” is a rights infringement with no constitutional or historical support whatsoever, invented by domestic enemies of the right to keep and bear arms to further their cause of disarming the innocent.

Okay, Police, Go Away You've Done Enough Damage

By Mark E. Vogler

A man stabbed to death a teenage boy who was trying to burgle his house, sources said today.

The man, who is in his early twenties, was arrested after he attacked the 17-year-old boy, who was said to have been breaking in to the house with two other youths.

Lawrence, Massachusetts Police said today that they were called to the house at Melrose Street, Lawrence, at 2pm yesterday after reports of a disturbance.

"We have been burgled as well last month so that's two burglaries in three or four weeks," said Maurice LeFebre.

He added: 'They are good people who live in that house. They are very co-operative and nice.

'When somebody broke into our house the lady came round because we were not at home and called the police and the police called my wife and she came home.

'I cannot say it is a nice area because someone set fire to the bushes in my front garden. We have had problems two or three times.

'On one occasion somebody broke the window. It is just the youths or something. All the areas have problems but it is 70-80% a nice area here.'

One 75-year-old woman, who did not want to be named, said: 'We heard that somebody had been stabbed. There were about seven police cars and then another one came tearing up the road.'

An 84-year-old neighbour who lives close to the property said she had trouble before with youths throwing eggs at her house.

American Scofflaw

I think the man was arrested by the police to save them the embarrassment of once more being shown to be totally ineffective.

I mean, this proves yet again that the police never arrive in time to PREVENT a crime. They only arrive afterwards and stand around in their spiffy uniforms looking stern and promising justice revenge.

More crimes are prevented by private citizens then by the police, so the police, in order not to have to stand around looking totally useless, arrest the guy who was the VICTIM of the original crime.

Lickspittles

American Scofflaw
Remember yesterday's post about how the Obama administration had refused to release the details of a secret copyright treaty because doing so would compromise "national security?" Well, it turns out that there are plenty of people who are cleared to be privy to this "sensitive" document -- strangely, they all seem to work for giant copyright companies!

Of course, they're allowed to know what's in the treaty -- but the public, activist groups, consumer rights groups, and the artists whom this treaty is supposed to protect are all forbidden from knowing what it says.

What an embarrassment for an administration that holds itself out as an end to the corrupt, business-as-usual beltway fandango.

Chairman , Mr. Eric H. Smith
President
International Intellectual Property Alliance

Vice-Chairman
Mr. Jacques J. Gorlin
President
The Gorlin Group

Sandra M. Aistars, Esq.
Senior Counsel, Intellectual Property
Time Warner Inc.

Kira M. Alvarez, Esq.
Director, International Government Affairs
Eli Lilly and Company

Mark Chandler, Esq.
Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary
Cisco Systems, Inc.

Ms. Erin L. Ennis
Vice President
The U.S.-China Business Council

Francis (Frank) Z. Hellwig, Esq.
Senior Associate, General Counsel
Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc.

J. Anthony Imler, Ph.D.
Director, Public Policy, Latin America
Merck & Co., Inc.

Ms. Mary A. Irace
Vice President, Trade and Export Finance
National Foreign Trade Council, Inc.

Jeffrey P. Kushan, Esq.
Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood LLP
Representing Biotechnology Industry Organization

Stevan D. Mitchell, Esq.
Vice President, Intellectual Property Policy
Entertainment Software Association

Douglas T. Nelson, Esq.
Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary
CropLife America

Timothy P. Trainer, Esq.
President
Global Intellectual Property Strategy Center, P.C.
Representing the Thomas G. Faria Corporation

Neil I. Turkewitz, Esq.
Executive Vice President
Recording Industry Association of America

Ms. Susan C. Tuttle
Governement Programs Executive
IBM Corporation

Mr. Herbert C. Wamsley
Executive Director
Intellectual Property Owners Association

Ms. Anissa S. Whitten
Trade Director
Motion Picture Association of America, Inc.

Ms. Deborah E. Wiley
Senior Vice President
John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Association of American Publishers, Inc.

Shirley Zebroski, Ph.D
Director, Legislative Affairs
General Motors Corporation