White House Remains Silent On IRS Extortion Of Innocent Americans

On Monday, I wrote about the IRS practice of emptying private bank accounts when it appears to the government that there exists a pattern of bank deposits seeking to skirt the bank reporting laws requiring all deposits of $10,000 or more to be reported by the bank to the government.

The seizures are the result of a law passed in 2000 requiring banks to look for and report ‘structuring’ cases where bank deposits by an individual or business reveal a pattern of depositing sums just below the $10,000 reporting trigger in an effort to hide large deposits from the government.
The point of the law is to help the federal government hone in on terrorists, drug dealers and other criminals who deal in large sums of cash.

As noted in my earlier piece, the most recent statistics indicate that the law has gone wildly off-course with approximately 80 percent of those who had their accounts seized in 2012 turning out to be completely innocent people who did not meet the profile of a  terrorist, drug dealer or any other sort of criminal that the law was created to impact.

While I suppose one can argue that mistakes happen—particularly when the government is involved—one might also suppose that, upon learning of the error, the IRS would be all too anxious to return the money, with interest and damages, along with a profound apology for any damage done.
Not so much.  READ MORE

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TO SIGN THE WHITE HOUSE PETITION CLICK HERE
(note link didn't work previously because of changes to how the white house petition system now operates, until 150 people sign the petition is only available through this link. which you may copy and post elsewhere. Thank you.)

FIND THE BILL HERE H.R. 5212 Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act

Obamacare: Separating fact from fiction

"Corporate People" -vs- "People People"

June 29, 2012

Mitt Romney and Republicans are firing off distortions about Obamacare after the Supreme Court confirmed that the health care law is constitutional and that every American deserves access to affordable, quality health coverage. But Romney and his Republican allies are attacking this principle with tired political falsehoods about health care reform—and making the repeal of health reform their first priority.

With all the recycled myths they’re pushing, it’s important to get the facts about a law that is already helping millions of Americans. Here’s a look at what Republicans are saying—and what’s actually true—about health care reform.

#1 Republican distortion: “The President promised he wouldn’t raise taxes on the middle class by a penny with this health care law. Well, that’s been proven false now.”

The facts: President Obama has cut taxes by $3,600 for the average middle-class family over the last three years, and the Republicans fought him nearly every step of the way. From cutting taxes for every working American through the Making Work Pay and payroll tax cuts to the American Opportunity Tax Credit—a tax credit worth up to $10,000 to help families pay for four years of college—the President has put more money in the pockets of middle-class Americans.

Here’s another fact: Obamacare includes the largest middle-class tax cut for health care in history. According to the independent Congressional Budget Office, 19 million people will receive tax credits worth an average of about $4,800 each to help them afford health care. These tax credits will finally put health insurance within reach for millions of American families.

Around 1 percent of people—those who can afford to buy coverage but instead choose to opt out, shifting their costs to the rest of us—will pay a penalty. The Supreme Court acknowledged yesterday that this penalty will be charged through the tax code—but that doesn’t change its purpose of ensuring everyone who can afford insurance buys it, or its effect of lowering costs for everyone.

It’s also the same policy Romney implemented when he signed health reform in Massachusetts. In fact, for many folks in Massachusetts, the penalties under Romney’s reform were even bigger. Here’s a video of him extolling the virtues of his penalty.

#2 Romney distortion:  READ MORE

How Can We Stop the Mexican Drug Insanity When Banks and Much of the Establishment Profit Big Time from Illegal Drugs?

Photo Credit: ChrisgoldNY via Flickr

Corruption in the drug war extends far beyond the hands of drug cartels - our own banks, businesses, and government profit from illegalization of drugs.

June 26, 2012

This is the eighth article in the Truthout on the Mexican Border series looking at US immigration and Mexican border policies through a social justice lens. Mark Karlin, editor of BuzzFlash at Truthout, visited the border region recently to file these reports. You can find links to the previous coverage at the end of this article. 

 

US Banks Love Real Dollars, and Illegal Drug Money Comes in Cash

 

A recent article in The Guardian UK offers evidence that "while cocaine production ravages countries in Central America, consumers in the US and Europe are helping developed economies grow rich from the profits."

 

According to The Guardian UK story, the study by two Colombian professors found that "2.6% of the total street value of cocaine produced remains within the country [Columbia], while a staggering 97.4% of profits are reaped by criminal syndicates and laundered by banks, in first-world consuming countries."

 

One of the researchers, Alejandro Gaviria said: "We know that authorities in the US and UK know far more than they act upon. The authorities realize things about certain people they think are moving money for the drug trade - but the DEA [US Drug Enforcement Administration] only acts on a fraction of what it knows."

 

"It's taboo to go after the big banks," added Gaviria's co-researcher Daniel Mejía. "It's political suicide in this economic climate, because the amounts of money recycled are so high."  READ MORE

Why Do We Pay Energy Giants to Wreck Earth?

We must stop subsidizing the fossil-fuel industry.

April 5, 2012

To stay on top of important articles like these, sign up to receive the latest updates from TomDispatch.com here.  

Along with “fivedollaragallongas,” the energy watchword for the next few months is: “subsidies.” Last week, for instance, New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez proposed ending some of the billions of dollars in handouts enjoyed by the fossil-fuel industry with a “Repeal Big Oil Tax Subsidies Act.”  It was, in truth, nothing to write home about -- a curiously skimpy bill that only targeted oil companies, and just the five richest of them at that. Left out were coal and natural gas, and you won’t be surprised to learn that even then it didn’t pass.   READ MORE

Wall Street Attack: Big Banks Shower Congress With Money to Water Down Reform

Special interests spread money like manure on the campaign trails of key members of Congress.

April 6, 2012

Here we go again. Another round of the game we call Congressional Creep. After months of haggling and debate, Congress finally passes reform legislation to fix a serious rupture in the body politic, and the president signs it into law. But the fight’s just begun, because the special interests immediately set out to win back what they lost when the reform became law.

They spread money like manure on the campaign trails of key members of Congress. They unleash hordes of lobbyists on Capitol Hill, cozy up to columnists and editorial writers, spend millions on lawyers who relentlessly pick at the law, trying to rewrite or water down the regulations required for enforcement. Before you know it, what once was an attempt at genuine reform creeps back toward business as usual.  READ MORE

The Devil and Rick Santorum: Dilemmas of a Holy Owned Subsidiary

The father of the Investment Theory of Politics reveals what pundits are missing in the GOP's failure to lead its own electorate.

January 6, 2012

Election night in Iowa was a heavenly moment for Rick Santorum. As he marveled over the late breaking tidal wave of support that in just weeks had swept him from nowhere into a virtual tie with Mitt Romney for first place in the state’s Republican caucuses, the former Pennsylvania Senator gushed to supporters about the secret of his campaign’s success: “I’ve survived the challenges so far by the daily grace that comes from God. . . . I offer a public thanks to God.’’ 

But it was not God who saved Rick Santorum. He survived Iowa rather like a blind mole rat might someday outlive a nuclear exchange – by simply burrowing underground while Romney’s Super Pac incinerated Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry, and while Perry tried to demolish Ron Paul, whom he considered a more dangerous rival. In a state where 60% of those attending the 2008 GOP caucuses described themselves as “born again” or evangelicals, Santorum was the only ultra-conservative left for resigned evangelical leaders to swing behind.

Now, as the wall of Super Money comes down on him like a ton of gold bricks, Santorum is likely fated, like Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, and Perry himself, to flame out after a brief moment of glory and go back to working with the energy and health care enterprises that helped make him a millionaire after leaving the Senate.   READ MORE

Facebook Set to Turn Users Into Corporate Sponsors

Facebook users could soon find themselves becoming unwitting corporate sponsors under a new advertising scheme unveiled by the social network, 12/28/11. (photo: Daily Mail UK)

 

 

By Damien Gayle, Daily Mail UK

28 Decemeber 11

Facebook users could become unwitting corporate ambassadors under plans by the company to allow the site's main news feed to carry sponsorship messages carrying their mugshots.

Beginning in the New Year, so-called 'sponsored stories' appear in the main news feed that Facebook users' friends see. At present, if you click to 'like' a product, it does not always appear in the main feed.

The new update will show friends your profile picture and the product you have 'endorsed' in much larger form in the main news feed - a move that the site admits is designed to bring in advertising revenue.

Facebook say the scheme is a vital revenue booster, which will help it claw back some of the $1 billion a year it spends on developing the site.

The site claims that because the stories are labelled 'Sponsored', they will be less intrusive.

If a user decides to 'like' a product, the endorsement will also remain on their new, open 'timeline' profile, enabling companies to pay Facebook to feature their adverts more visibly.

But the announcement will infuriate users who feel that the social network is taking too much ownership over its 800 million members' personal information.

Facebook users in the U.S. have now launched a legal action against the company to contest the commercial use of the 'Like' button.

A judge in San Jose, California, has allowed plaintiffs to bring a case against Facebook in which they argue that the company is using their names and likenesses without their authorization. 

READ MORE

Get Money Out of Politics in 2012

Portrait, Michael Moore, 04/03/09. (photo: Ann-Christine Poujoulat/Getty)

By Michael Moore, Open Mike Blog

28 Decemeber 11

I have many things I'm planning to do in the New Year - walk three miles a day, use an eco-friendly laundry detergent, write fewer anonymous letters to Wolf Blitzer - but I want to declare, right here, that one of my top priorities in 2012 will be to spearhead a drive to remove ALL money from our electoral process, period. Nothing - and I mean NOTHING - we want to accomplish, from creating jobs to protecting the environment to preventing wars, will happen as long as those who hold the purse strings are the ones who own our Congress.

This destruction of our democracy can only be stopped if the majority of us make it clear that we will ONLY vote for those candidates who sign a pledge to make it their TOP legislative priority to push for a constitutional amendment prohibiting any person or entity from donating ANY money to a candidate's campaign (and that includes a millionaire candidate buying his own election). Plus, they must pledge to back a law banning elected officials from working as lobbyists after they leave office.

The majority of Americans already support strong campaign finance reform and lobbying bans. So what are we waiting for? Now is the time to act!

Here is the wording to the constitutional amendment we need:

READ MORE

The Return of Bad Newt

By Maggie Haberman and Alexander Burns, Politico

04 December 11

The all-too-familiar character from the 1990s has only peeked out in public a handful of times so far. But already, Newt Gingrich flush with pride over new polls showing his left-for-dead candidacy now leading the pack - is letting his healthy ego roam free again, littering the campaign trail with grand pronouncements about his celebrity, his significance in political history and his ability to transform America. "I helped lead the effort to defeat communism in the Congress," Gingrich said this week on Sean Hannity's show. "I'm going to be the nominee," he informed ABC News while in Iowa. "I was charging $60,000 a speech and the number of speeches was going up, not down," Gingrich said in South Carolina, explaining why he didn't actually need his consulting fee from Freddie Mac. "Normally, celebrities leave and they gradually sell fewer speeches every year. We were selling more." READ MORE