$100 Billion/Yr in US Tax Cheats

An actual respectable report from the AP, how unusual these days, on very rich US tax cheaters.

GENEVA (AP) -- A U.S. Senate subcommittee accused banks in Switzerland and Liechtenstein of helping wealthy Americans evade billions in taxes each year, and urged the establishment of tougher laws to combat offshore tax havens around the world.

In a report released late Wednesday, the Senate subcommittee on investigations estimated that offshore abuses were costing U.S. taxpayers about $100 billion a year.

It recommended a range of reforms to squeeze tax cheats, including more stringent U.S. requirements for foreign banks and harsher penalties for financial institutions failing to provide the Internal Revenue Service with details on all accounts their American clients are holding.

"Tax havens are engaged in economic warfare against the United States and the honest, hardworking American taxpayer is losing," said Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the subcommittee on investigations, which belongs to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

"The iron ring of secrecy around tax haven banks and their deceptive banking practices enable and encourage tax cheats to hide assets from the United States," the Michigan Democrat said. "Congress needs to enact strong penalties on tax haven banks that help U.S. taxpayers avoid paying taxes to Uncle Sam."

The panel's ranking Republican agreed.

"It is simply unacceptable that some individuals are using offshore tax havens and secrecy jurisdictions to shelter trillions of dollars from taxation, forcing working families to shoulder the burden," Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota said, adding that foreign banks were "exploiting gaping loopholes" in U.S. laws to act as "Al Capone safe houses for evading taxes."

Watch this Every Day

The 4th Amendment: Gone But Not Forgotten

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Obama and McCain.............both McSame!

Its Starting Already (Rovians take over McSame's campaign)

Less than a week after the Rove operatives took over McSame's campaign we are now seeing the "public" at McSame's "public" speeches being selected/rejected. More to follow soon.

GITMO torture designed to illicit FALSE confessions

Why did we really institute policies to torture "detainees"? An interesting read from Scott Shane on GITMO torture in the NYT today sheds some light on that question.

The military trainers who came to Guantánamo Bay in December 2002 based an entire interrogation class on a chart showing the effects of “coercive management techniques” for possible use on prisoners, including “sleep deprivation,” “prolonged constraint,” and “exposure.”

What the trainers did not say, and may not have known, was that their chart had been copied verbatim from a 1957 Air Force study of Chinese Communist techniques used during the Korean War to obtain confessions, many of them false, from American prisoners.

The recycled chart is the latest and most vivid evidence of the way Communist interrogation methods that the United States long described as torture became the basis for interrogations both by the military at the base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and by the Central Intelligence Agency.

The only change made in the chart presented at Guantánamo was to drop its original title: “Communist Coercive Methods for Eliciting Individual Compliance.”

Lets recap:

1. The Chinese developed torturous "brainwashing" techniques during the Korean War and used them on American prisoners. This caused much concern, not just because of torture, but because it was successfully used to illicit FALSE CONFESSIONS. As John McCain's confession showed, those same techniques remained successful during the Viet Nam War.

2. The US Air Force did a study of those techniques in 1957.

3. Near the end of the Korean War the Air Force used that study to create SERE, a training program for military personnel (primarily pilots) for Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape.

4. In 02-03 SERE trainers went to GITMO to present to interrogators “the theory and application of the physical pressures utilized during our training.”

Did we really forget that the reasons those techniques were developed was to illicit FALSE confessions?

Certainly that seems highly unlikely. A significant part of the SERE training was resistance; learning how to resist torture when it was being used to illicit FALSE confessions. Surely the SERE trainers knew that when they went to GITMO to teach US interrogators the Chinese torture techniques. Just as surely those who tasked the SERE trainers to GITMO knew that as well.

These are not simply War Crimes; but the now obviously false claim that they were used to get actionable intelligence makes it clear that they are also crimes against American Democracy; High Crimes and Misdemeanors if you will.

FISA where the hell is Obama!

Somebody please burn this on Obama's retinas.

Why Leak the Khan Bomb Design Now?

As you know from my previous posts on McBush and Iran, I am paying particular attention to possible propaganda efforts that the administration may put forth to preposition public opinion for an attack on Iran before the November elections.

With that in mind its interesting to note that Bush decided last Wednesday to echo a phrase he used repeatedly in creating the drumbeat to invade Iraq:
President Bush said Wednesday that if diplomacy fails to deter Iran from developing its nuclear program, then "all options are on the table."

Combine this with the recent release of information from unnamed "American and international investigators" regarding a possibly improved bomb design that Khan may have been responsible for. Why release information on Khan's bomb design now when it was originally discovered in 2005 (It was not until 2005 that officials of the I.A.E.A., which is based in Vienna, finally cracked the hard drives on the Khan computers recovered around the world.)?

The salient portion of David Sanger's piece in the NYT, at least with regards to my concern, is this:
Among the missiles that could carry the smaller weapon, according to some weapons experts, is the Iranian Shahab III, which is based on a North Korean design.

It is also surely no coincidence that Sanger includes the following snippet in his lead paragraph:
"....they have not been able to determine whether they were sold to Iran".....

One suspects that they were also unable to determine if the designs were sold to, I don't know, lets say Liechtenstein or to Brittney Spears for that matter. This is disappointing, Sanger was fairly independent during the run up to the Iraq invasion, lets hope he is not becoming this year's Judy Miller.

Three year old information suddenly leaking as Bush says all options are on the table, sound familiar to anyone?

Tiger Woods...probably the most outstanding single-sport player ever.

That title is going a long way for me, Ali and Michael Jordan are certainly up there. But Tiger is, perhaps, only half way through his career.

Coming back on Friday to post a 30 on the back nine, 7 birdies, on what can only be considered a very difficult course in a major that always separates the men from the boys. But today, watching him play/struggle with significant pain from recent knee surgery, was an amazing event...regardless of tomorrow's outcome. The last two holes....

Bad drive on the 17th, buried in the the ruff, needing to hook around trees, hitting a shot that almost makes the green but ends in significant ruff just left of of the putting surface on a steep lie, he addresses the ball and catches a flyer towards a pin that is running downhill away from him, and boom, the magic happens again, one hop-hit the flag, and drop in for a miracle birdie. It was the first time I have ever seen Tiger laugh on the course, at least in a major! He was, I swear, actually embarrassed that the ball went in.

Some will call that shot luck, Tiger called it that in the clubhouse later, but even to be able to have that kind of luck requires incredible talent; perfect line, perfect intent, amazing concentration.

The pain in the left knee was obvious occasionally throughout the tourney but was more so today. After the amzaing birdie on 17 his caddy reached from the green down the hill to shake his hand, but what he really did was help pull Tiger up the slope to the green.



I had stopped watching for a while after the 9th when Tiger was, I think, 5 strokes back and had just tuned in again on the 17th. After the birdie he was one stroke back. The 18th is a challenging Par 5, you have to be long off the tee and then you are looking at about 230 over the pond to a devilish green, its a tin cup hole if ever there was one. Tiger crushed a fade to perfect position then pulled out a 5-Wood and hit a big fade the left him a big breaker down hill, perhaps 45 feet. The smart play, with a day left to play (Sunday...Tiger's day) still in front of him, questions in his mind (well probably not in his mind but in most other minds) as to his physical ability to play a final round, the smart shot was to lay up and play for birdie. Not today, not Tiger. He hit the 5 and the camera stayed on Tiger, the same intense face we see on every shot, eyes following the flight of the ball, and then, as it lands, the grimace of pain; a grimace that led to what could no doubt be anything else but gut-buckling pain, just so obviously a case of incredible mental discipline.

On the green he lines up the put, lining up WAY left of the pin, so far left that the NBC announcers are freaking out, he is just on top of a small ridge, he gives the ball a slight tap, lined up perhaps 25 degrees left of the cup, the ball picks up speed and then breaks about 8 feet over the last 20 feet to roll solidly into the center of the cup. A perfect read, a perfect stroke, nerves of absolute steel.

Tiger starts tomorrow one stroke ahead of a tight pack.

Anything can happen on Sunday at the US Open. Still, of the 13 times Tiger has held or tied the lead going into the final round of a major he has won every one. That statistic is unbelievable, it says it all; luck doesn't happen 13 out of 13 times. Don't bet against him.

Dennis Kucinich, True American Patriot

Dennis Kucinich is the only presidential candidate to whom I have ever given a donation. L and I had traveled to a Kucinich gathering outside of Westport in 2004 to hear him speak. It was a lovely backyard affair, maybe 50 people in attendance. He was a wonderful speaker, not in rhetorical quality, but in his open and honest emotion, his passionate belief in peace, and his desire to take back the country from corporate dominance.

Last night Dennis stood on the floor of the House for almost 4.5 hours and called for the impeachment of GWB. The 35 Articles of Impeachment may be downloaded here. Kucinich's presentation was far-reaching, many will say too far, but for all true patriots, this was a moment that has long been awaited.; it is a first step towards righting the terrible assaults upon our Constitution and our electoral process that have been ongoing for the last seven years and that, sadly, have been largely ignored by Democrats and Republicans. It is a clear statement that there still remain at least a few people who are not willing to place personal safety above freedom or Presidential Politics above a sworn duty to defend the Constitution.

Today, almost 24 hours later, major newspapers seem to have considered this not to be news; most make only the briefest mention buried deep within the bowels of their cavernous websites. This is not surprising, the MSM shares heavy blame for failing to do any serious investigation of the issues the 35 Articles speak to.

More surprising is the general lack of attention being payed by liberal blogs that, for many years, were the only serious American media trying to unearth the truth and counter the spin of the Administration; TPM has posted only a copy of the AP article, FireDogLake and (most sadly for me) EmptyWheel and Digby have not touched it.

So what next? It appears that within two days, Pelosi will have to schedule debate on the issue (as a valid question of privilege). When Dennis's previous motion to impeach Cheney was debated an attempt to table failed (the Republicans thought they could have fun with it back in Nov. '07) and the Democrats called the question and referred it to the Judiciary Committee where it has been effectively buried (although Tammy Baldwin, Robert Wexler, and Luis Gutierrez have tried to take action on it.) (Breaking as I write, Nancy's lapdog, Steny, is already set to bury this in committee.)

No doubt Democrats will run away from this in droves; preferring to place electing Obama above protecting the Constitution. Lets be clear here, many of the Articles ARE offenses that rise to the level of impeachment and, if seriously and fully investigated, would almost certainly lead to the House impeaching the President. This makes an especially stark contrast as Dennis has stepped forward at a time that he is in a contested race to hold onto his seat. (This link is currently down and it is unclear at this time if the site is simply overloaded or if sabotage has been involved.)

This is all of a piece really, Dennis (and to a lesser degree Ron Paul) were the only candidates willing to speak the truth, both to power and to the American public, during the '08 Presidential Primaries and both were treated as jokes. I guess I have to admit it, by in large the US armed forces primarily now function as a private police for International Corporate government who run both our foreign and domestic policy. Regardless of the November elections, don't expect THAT to change easily!

Dennis Kucinich, A Real Democrat.

40 Years On

Bobby Kennedy was assassinated 40 years ago today
it puts me in a mood...nostalgia, sadness, aching for hope, for an Amerika to become America once more.

Wondering

Can we overcome slow decay, ignoble rot

JFK 11/22/63 fifth grade for me, out of school early, quite a shock but then so was the missile crisis a little earlier, even at that tender age realizing the absurdity of hiding under our desks. (and a year later my parents, big Peter Sellers fans, unknowingly take me to Chicago to see Dr. Strangelove....Chill Wills riding the bomb!)

MLK 4/4/68 already resisting the war, memories of the Illinois Bureau of Investigation hassleing me in the high school cafeteria for wearing a Peace Sign armband, they were wondering what "commies" were creating the underground newspaper that flew through the school regularly - ripe with the smell of the mimeo machine that announced its presence.

"What is that, the tracks of the American Chicken?"
"Who are you, The Mod Squad?"

9/4/70 Bye, Bye, Baby Bye Bye. Freshman year in college, Janis is gone.

9/18/70 The Star Spangled Banner blaring from the dorm window mourns Jimi's passing.

7/3/71 The Trifecta, no more Lizard King.

Time passses 12/8/80 John Lennon, perhaps this is the ultimate absurdity/obscenity?

Can this violent nation, born to the gun, always believing in a doctrine of exceptionality, just stop grabbing?

Can we think for tomorrow?

Can we sacrifice for our future?

Yes we can?

More On McBush (pun intended)

This is an important read; Cockburn and the Independent, while oft vilified by the Right, have a pretty strong record on Iraq going back to pre-invasion days.

Revealed: Secret plan to keep Iraq under US control

Bush wants 50 military bases, control of Iraqi airspace and legal immunity for all American soldiers and contractors
By Patrick Cockburn
Thursday, 5 June 2008

I will include a few excerpts at the end of this post but do go and read the whole thing!

It is starting to look like one thing this blog will do is keep a running history on a Bush/Neocon/McCain confluence (I won't yet call it a conspiracy) that may well lead the US to attack or invade Iran as well as execute preposterous goings-on with Iraq. A few words about the confluence; the NeoCon dream of remaking the Middle East still burns brightly, at least in Dick Cheney's mind, Bush is growing desperate for something he can call victory in Iraq before he leaves office and will do all he can to make it harder for the next President to abandon our Imperialist Adventure, and McCain's only real hope of election is riding the wave of fresh aggression in Iraq and thus public support for continued misadventures in Iran. This latter point will create tremendous pressure from the Neo-Con wing of what is still called the Republican Party for that aggression to ocur.

So why do I feel this must be recorded? Well before the Iraq invasion I argued long and hard with many otherwise intelligent folk that the entire justification was bogus. The problem, as near as I could tell, was that nobody was paying much attention to the netherworld of blogs and foreign press. While I am tempted to think that could not happen today, nearly 7 years later, I actually think it could easily happen again. To some degree that is a reflection of my distrust of many Democrats in Congress. After all there have been no impeachments for radically impeachable offenses (and even now many Democrats are moving to forever codify unconstitutional spying by the Executive branch upon US citizens, another important read) It also reflects my somewhat skeptical feelings towards Obama regarding his still untested backbone. And finally, there has been no significant improvement in the MSM; they continue to be lazy and worthless for the most part.

A secret deal being negotiated in Baghdad would perpetuate the American military occupation of Iraq indefinitely, regardless of the outcome of the US presidential election in November.

America currently has 151,000 troops in Iraq and, even after projected withdrawals next month, troop levels will stand at more than 142,000 – 10 000 more than when the military "surge" began in January 2007. Under the terms of the new treaty, the Americans would retain the long-term use of more than 50 bases in Iraq. American negotiators are also demanding immunity from Iraqi law for US troops and contractors, and a free hand to carry out arrests and conduct military activities in Iraq without consulting the Baghdad government.

Mr Bush is determined to force the Iraqi government to sign the so-called "strategic alliance" without modifications, by the end of next month. But it is already being condemned by the Iranians and many Arabs as a continuing American attempt to dominate the region. Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the powerful and usually moderate Iranian leader, said yesterday that such a deal would create "a permanent occupation". He added: "The essence of this agreement is to turn the Iraqis into slaves of the Americans."

For now, all I can do is Hope We Don't Get fooled Again!

Bombs Away

Well I really didn't see this Asia Times piece on attacking Iran before writing my previous post. The whole article is worth a read. (The senators mentioned are supposedly Feinstein and Lugar.)

"The George W Bush administration plans to launch an air strike against Iran within the next two months, an informed source tells Asia Times Online, echoing other reports that have surfaced in the media in the United States recently.

Two key US senators briefed on the attack planned to go public with their opposition to the move, according to the source, but their projected New York Times op-ed piece has yet to appear.

The source, a retired US career diplomat and former assistant secretary of state still active in the foreign affairs community, speaking anonymously, said last week that the US plans an air strike against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The air strike would target the headquarters of the IRGC's elite Quds force. With an estimated strength of up to 90,000 fighters, the Quds' stated mission is to spread Iran's revolution of 1979 throughout the region."

Daddy Warbucks (Arming Iraq and Attacking Iran)

A week of so ago USA Today mentioned that, "Iraq began committing money to U.S. foreign military sales in December 2006 and by last May had $3 billion in an account dedicated to the program.

About $1.6 billion worth of contracts have already been delivered and another $1 billion is under contract, Benkert said. The remaining money hasn't been spent yet.

The United States also continues to support Iraq's security forces with U.S. tax dollars. The Pentagon budgeted $3 billion this fiscal year to equip and train Iraq's security forces."

Math wasn't my major but that seems like 6 billion of arms we will supply to that oh so stable government of Iraq. Gosh any chance of blow back on this one? (How many IED's were made from parts brokered by Rummy for the Reagan administration as a gift to Saddam? How many millions did Ronnie provide to the future Taliban in Afghanistan in the 80's?)

Invade a country for no good reason causing the death of a few hundred thousand people, then tell them they have to create their own democracy while privatizing the war and the "peace" for the profit of your good buddies, look to Iran; rinse and repeat.

And here's even more depressing news; more good citizens believe we should talk with Iran than believe in Evolution.

Why is that depressing? Answer after you contemplate the graphic below from a recent Gallup Poll.

 

 

With McBush beating the drums for attacking Iran this poll can only be taken as extremley bad news for Republicans (lord knows McBush's economic policies, and I use that term loosely, will be enough of a disaster for him.)

What can change the picture?

A serious strike on Iran before the Presidential elections, thats what. Its the Hail Mary for Mc Bush and GWB is just the lad to authorize it. (That's seriously bad news for ALL OF US!)

A snip from GWB commanding the troops, from Michael Abramowitz at the Post via Talking Points Memo:

During a videoconference with his national security team and generals, Sanchez writes, Bush launched into what he described as a "confused" pep talk:

"Kick ass!" he quotes the president as saying. "If somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will seek them out and kill them! We must be tougher than hell! This Vietnam stuff, this is not even close. It is a mind-set. We can't send that message. It's an excuse to prepare us for withdrawal."

"There is a series of moments and this is one of them. Our will is being tested, but we are resolute. We have a better way. Stay strong! Stay the course! Kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe them out! We are not blinking!"

Damn I miss Ike! 

Hell I even miss Goldwater! Even his granddaughter still has some common sense.

“‘I don’t know if [Barry Goldwater] would recognize the Republican Party today,’ Alison Goldwater Ross, a registered Democrat and granddaughter of the 1964 GOP presidential candidate, told The Huffington Post. ‘I’m sure if we were to raise his ashes from the Colorado River… he would be going, ‘What? This is not my vision. This is not my party.’”

(Please forgive the partial duplicate post below. Lycos has fallen and it can't get up. Their new webon interface is pretty spiffy for us HTML laymen put it seems to be missing a way to delete a broken post.)

Kurzweil Continued

P-man,over at Emergent Ink, is a good friend and I have enjoyed arguing with him for many years now; he's a strong thinker. He is also what I would call a Peak Oil Pessimist (although I am sure he would consider himself a realist, not a pessimist.) He has read and linked to my previous post on Kurzweil and solar energy, and I thank him for that. And he has posted a rejoinder to Kurzweil and solar that is well worth a read.

However I have a few bones to pick;

#1         P-man seems a bit too skeptical of Ray's prophecies.

That is to say my rating of the estimated prophet is a bit higher than P's.

 #2        (and somewhat more salient)  P-man is convinced that, even if the  growth rate Kurzweil predicts in solar pannel technology is believable, there won't be enough energy around to build those panels. (I think we can agree that we will be able to build those panels without using much if any petrolium products in the basic materials except of course  the energy to produce those materials.)

The problem with P's energy argument is this. What if, instead of being able to provide all our energy with solar, we can only provide 1%. And what if we dedicate 5% of that new energy to making more solar panels? Even if we only compound it monthly it will take a bit les than 32 months to reach the 100% solar -supplied goal. Lets say half of that new energy is used in scaling up manufacturing, we are still looking at a 5 year project. If Kurzweil is anywhere near correct in his projections we just need to start 5 or 10 years before oil runs out; still quite possible in my opinion!

Kurzweil, Singularity, and Peak Oil (Oh My!)

Spinning off from my first entry at Da Stinct, I took a quick look at Ray Kurzweil and his thoughts on solar; an interesting cat no doubt.

 Well, we know he makes a damned fine electric piano, and as a futurist his predictions have been far better than most; nailing down the fall of the Soviet Union long before is was a glimmer in Ronnie's eye,predicting the explossion of the Internet was a pretty good call too.

 I suppose then Kurzweil is worth listening to.

  Here's Kurzweil on solar; "Here's what I mean: Today we produce 14 trillion (about 1013) watts of power, 78 percent of which comes from fossil fuels. We have, however, plenty of energy in our midst. About 1017 watts of sunlight fall on the earth, or roughly 10,000 times more energy than we regularly consume. Solar panels today do a poor job of capturing this energy because they are inefficient, expensive, heavy, and difficult to integrate with building materials. Today production of solar power costs on average $8 per watt, much more than other energy sources.

The economics of solar power are poised to change dramatically, however, as a new generation of solar panels made with nanomaterials comes of age. Developed by a series of venture-backed companies eagerly jockeying to disrupt that $1.9 trillion worldwide oil industry, these innovative panels are projected to drop in price within a few years. And whether or not any of the known businesses now developing them are successful, once we have full-scale molecular nanotechnology-based manufacturing, we'll be off to the races.

 At this point, energy will become an information technology dominated by massively parallel, computation-controlled molecular manufacturing processes. In 20 years, I believe solar panels will be as inexpensive as a penny per square meter. We will be able to place them on buildings and vehicles, build solar energy farms, and incorporate them into clothing for powering mobile devices. Converting 0.0003 percent of all sunlight hitting the earth, which will be feasible at that time, will let us meet 100 percent of our energy needs two decades from now. In yet another welcome change, we will be able to store the energy in nanoengineered fuel cells that will be tiny and widely distributed, a great improvement over the centralized, dangerous energy storage facilities we rely on today, such as liquid natural gas tanks."

 Speaking of worth listening to, I do think that we should be together, don't you?

 

If you want to see a bit more on Kurzweil's Law, check out this site with a brief and interesting explanation that includes "Spock's Chessboard"!

 For more on the "Singularity" drop in in to Wikipedia one more time.

Or watch Kurzweil speak (3 part episode) at YouTube.

I still think the law of unintended consequences will reamin in effect. If it only leads to Giant Gorrilas Clutching Volkswagen Beatles, I'll breathe a sigh of relief!

Nothing to Say That Can't be Said

Well since I'm wearing my old (pre-google) Blogger T-shirt I thought perhaps it was time to un-kick the habit.

 Got any blog hits for me P-man? (check out his blog...good stuff!)

 

 

 Speaking of hits I haven't seen people chewing gum this hard in nearly 40 years!

 

 

I'm not sure what this is going to turn into,  but I promise not to talk about Peak Oil too often.

 Heard some interesting quotes from Kurzweil today, might have to go look em up...... something to the effect that in 20 years solar panels will produce and store ALL the world's energy needs.

 As I tend to be a bit twisted that got me to thinking about what would happen should that come to pass. I mean really, thats a lot of energy..... energy that is already being used here on ole planet Blue. What happens to the Earth if we re-purpose all that solar energy; take it from whatever its current use is (and thus make some kind of perhaps significant change what, our climate, the ground temperature, the thermal currents...who knows) and instead burn it up in our cars and homes?