Politics Daily

Is Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli a Birther?

David Sessions — 2010-03-15T13:36:00 00:00

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli speculated in a new interview that there may be evidence to prove President Obama is not an American citizen. Discussing Obama's birth certificate in an audio clip posted on the blog Not Larry Sabato, Cuccinelli outlined scenarios for legal challenges against the president's authority.

"Someone is going to have to come forward with nailed-down testimony that he was born in place B, wherever that is," Cuccinelli said. "You know, the speculation is Kenya. And that doesn't seem beyond the realm of possibility."

"It will get tested in my view when someone ... when he signs a law, and someone is convicted of violating it and one of their defenses will be it is not a law because someone qualified to be president didn't sign it," Cuccinelli added, in response to a question by an unidentified interviewer about how to disprove Obama's citizenship.

Video: Ken Cuccinelli Says There's a 'Possibility' Obama Is Not an American

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U.S., Other Major Economies in Danger of Losing Top Credit Rating

David Sessions — 2010-03-15T12:02:00 00:00

Filed under: Economy

The United States, Germany and other major economies have moved closer to losing their top credit rating, according to a new report from Moody Investor Services, the New York Times reports. Countries that currently have the "Aaa" rating -- a group that also includes Britain, France and the Nordic nations -- are "stable," the report says, but their "distance-to-downgrade" has substantially decreased.

"Growth alone will not resolve an increasingly complicated debt equation," the Moody's report said. "Preserving debt affordability at levels consistent with Aaa ratings will invariably require fiscal adjustments of a magnitude that, in some cases, will test social cohesion."

Credit ratings are important because higher-rated governments can borrow at lower costs. Greece has been hit by strikes and other protests as it adopts austerity measures in the face of its debt crisis.

The United States' ratio of interest payments to government revenue, which the report calls "debt affordability," has fallen to 8.7 percent. The ratio was 10 percent two years ago, but is still considered high.

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Report Is Critical of Obama's Transparency Efforts

David Sessions — 2010-03-15T10:30:00 00:00

Filed under: Obama Administration

A new report by a private research group says that most government agencies have made few changes in how much information they make available to the public, despite President Obama's promise to make his administration the most transparent in history, the New York Times reports.

The report from the National Security Archive found that, though the president has given directives to federal agencies, progress has been slow and erratic. There is little evidence that agencies have released more information than unusual or denied fewer requests for documents.

Norm Eisen, the president's counsel on government ethics and oversight, disputed the report's findings, saying that the administration has spent its first year "building the infrastructure to build a lasting change." Eisen said more government documents have been released through the Freedom of Information Act than ever, but that it would probably take another year for transparency efforts to be fully noticed.

In a report due Monday, agencies will inform the Department of Justice of their efforts to ease the process of obtaining information through FOIA requests, a process that is often marked by delays and denials. The administration will release its report on government openness next month.

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Obama to Name Retired Army Gen. Robert Harding as Head of TSA

David Sessions — 2010-03-08T12:05:00 00:00

Filed under: Obama Administration, National Security

President Obama has selected retired Army Gen. Robert Harding to lead the Transportation Security Administration. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is expected to make the announcement Monday at DHS headquarters.

The TSA has been leaderless after previous nominee Erroll Southers withdrew in January over allegations that he misled Congress about using government intelligence resources to do a "background check" on his ex-wife's boyfriend. Republicans opposed Southers over the issue of TSA employee unionization, a matter that Harding will have to address.

Union leaders said they had not yet had a chance to vet Harding, but they hoped to meet with him soon to discuss labor issues. "We haven't had the opportunity to research this candidate as we have some of the other White House nominees," American Federation of Government Employees President John Gage told the Washington Post. "However, if the administration believes him to be the best person to lead TSA, we will trust that decision until given a reason not to."

Harding retired from the Army in 2001 after 33 years of service, during which he was the Army's chief of intelligence and the Defense Intelligence Agency's director of operations. He founded an intelligence contracting company, Harding Security Associates, that now employs more than 400 people.

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Vote Count to Take Several Days After Millions of Iraqis Turn Out for Elections

David Sessions — 2010-03-08T11:15:00 00:00

Filed under: Iran

Voting tallying is underway after millions of Iraqis participated Sunday in the country's highly anticipated elections despite scattered bombings and the threat of more violence from insurgents, the Washington Post reports. The turnout was modest, but included droves of Sunnis, who boycotted the last general election in 2005.

U.S. officials hailed the election as a success, though it will likely be followed by a period of intense wrangling over political positions and alliances. President Obama said the population's determination to vote "demonstrates that the Iraqi people have chosen to shape their future through the political process," and Defense Secretary Robert Gibbs called the election "a good day for the Iraqis and all of us."

Election Day saw a smattering of violence across Iraq. At least 38 people were killed and 89 wounded, mostly in an attack in Baghdad that collapsed two residential buildings. U.S. officials were skeptical of the high number of violent incidents reported by the Iraqi police, who said they investigated over 20 bombings.

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Glenn Beck Urges Listeners to Leave Churches That Preach Social Justice

David Sessions — 2010-03-08T10:00:00 00:00

Filed under: Religion, Media

On his daily radio and television shows last week, Fox News personality Glenn Beck set out to convince his audience that "social justice," the term many Christian churches use to describe their efforts to address poverty and human rights, is a "code word" for communism and Nazism. Beck urged Christians to discuss the term with their priests and to leave their churches if leaders would not reconsider their emphasis on social justice.

"I'm begging you, your right to religion and freedom to exercise religion and read all of the passages of the Bible as you want to read them and as your church wants to preach them . . . are going to come under the ropes in the next year. If it lasts that long it will be the next year. I beg you, look for the words 'social justice' or 'economic justice' on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!"

Later, Beck held up cards, one with a hammer and sickle and other with a swastika. "Communists are on the left, and the Nazis are on the right. That's what people say. But they both subscribe to one philosophy, and they flew one banner. . . . But on each banner, read the words, here in America: 'social justice.' They talked about economic justice, rights of the workers, redistribution of wealth, and surprisingly, democracy."

Audio: The Glenn Beck Program

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Watchdogs: Following the Money in Health Insurance and International Banking

David Sessions — 2010-03-03T16:18:00 00:00

Filed under: Obama Administration, PD Investigations

This week, members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), sent open letters to the heads of America's four largest health insurance companies -- WellPoint, United Health, Humana, and Aetna -- asking how often their clients have been denied insurance coverage based on pre-existing conditions. The committee also wants information on maternity coverage and premium increases; asked the four insurance chief executives to respond by March 12 if they plan to voluntarily provide the information; and requested their testimony at a committee hearing on March 23.

The Obama administration took on WellPoint when its subsidiary Anthem Blue Cross, California's largest insurance provider, announced a 39 percent rate increase and promised to adjust its rates more regularly. WellPoint blamed the recession, despite a 26 percent increase in profits in the fourth quarter of 2009. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asked the company to "provide a detailed justification for these rate increases to the public."

Meanwhile, experts on money laundering from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee On Investigations, U.S. Treasury, Department of Justice, and companies like Walmart and eBay are scheduled to gather at the International Anti-Money Laundering Conference in Miami on March 15.

Conference speaker Robert Mazur, a former federal agent who worked undercover in the dirty money world and was key to the 1987 sting that brought down the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, told PDI he will talk about "the elephant in the room" -- that most major banks still offer complex money laundering services to international players looking for secrecy.

"The truth about money laundering is ugly," Mazur said. "Speaking strictly of drug proceeds earned annually around the globe, less than a fourth of one percent is seized each year. Until we face the fact that what's being done isn't getting things done, we can't begin to address the problem."

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Donald Kohn, Federal Reserve Vice Chairman, Will Retire in June

David Sessions — 2010-03-01T14:40:00 00:00

Filed under: Economy, Obama Administration

Federal Reserve vice chairman Donald Kohn said Monday that he would retire from the seven-member board when his term expires in June, the New York Times reports. The departure of Kohn, who played a significant role in shaping the Fed's response to the 2008 financial crisis, will increase the number of vacancies on the board to three, allowing the Obama administration to exert considerable influence over U.S. monetary policy.

The White House said Kohn's decision was "his alone" and that President Obama will name a successor before his term as vice chairman ends on June 23. Kohn could have elected to remain on the board until 2016.

The board has traditionally needed five members to operate, but after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Congress moved to allow the Fed to act with fewer than five in "unusual and exigent circumstances." That power was invoked in 2008 when the board voted 4-0 to extend credit to JPMorgan Chase for the purchase of Bear Stearns.

Congress has been considering creating a "resolution authority" to oversee the dismantling of giant, financially critical institutions and to remove the pressure to engineer individual bailouts from the Treasury and the Federal Reserve.

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Chilean Quake Shifts Focus of Hillary Clinton's Latin American Tour

David Sessions — 2010-03-01T13:30:00 00:00

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's tour of Latin America began Monday with previously planned meetings in Uruguay, where she revealed that she is personally bringing sophisticated communications equipment to Santiago, Chile. The equipment had been requested by Chile's president, Michelle Bachelet.

"Both President Obama and I spoke with President Bachelet shortly after the earthquake, offered whatever assistance the government might need -- put on stand-by search-and-rescue teams, other assets that we thought might be needed," Clinton said Monday. "They have asked for communications equipment, some of which I am bringing on our plane. Other technical equipment will be flown there in addition. But one of the reasons why they have asked me to continue my trip is to assess whatever else they might need and immediately to begin the process of providing it."

Clinton's visit to five nations was long planned and was intended to bolster the U.S. campaign to isolate Iran in international relations, but an 8.8-scale earthquake that shook Chile on Saturday and displaced millions of people is already lending a sense of urgency to the original mission.

Chile has a comprehensive emergency-response system, and will not need the level of U.S. assistance that Haiti did, but the State Department expects the Chilean government to request help with a field hospital and satellite-communications equipment.

Clinton will also visit Brazil, Costa Rica and Guatemala to meet newly elected leaders and face a wave of grievances with the United States, including climate change, trade and last year's coup in Honduras. The most crucial visit for the United States will be with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, whom Clinton will try to persuade to vote for tougher sanctions against Iran in the United Nations Security Council. Brazil recently announced that it opposed the sanctions and has expanded its ties to the government in Tehran.

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Suicide Bomber Says He Lured CIA Agents With Phony Intelligence

David Sessions — 2010-03-01T12:30:00 00:00

Filed under: Terror, Afghanistan

The suicide bomber in a late-December attack on a CIA base in Afghanistan claims in a posthumously released video that he lured U.S. intelligence officers into a trap by feeding them false information, The Washington Post reports. The bomber, a Jordanian physician named Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, says in the video that he sent U.S. and Jordanian officers fake tips about terrorist activity and videos he made of senior al-Qaeda operatives. He originally planned to kidnap one Jordanian operative, but stumbled on an unexpected opportunity to kill several Americans as well.

"It wasn't planned this way," Balawi says in the 44-minute video released Sunday by al-Qaeda's media arm. He discusses "the stupidity of Jordanian intelligence and the stupidity of American intelligence" in inviting him to Afghanistan to set up a strike against al-Qaeda.

The bombing, which killed six Americans and three others, was the deadliest attack on a CIA base in 25 years. The new video, if authentic, is the second featuring Balawi discussing his path from doctor to suicide bomber, after U.S. and Jordanian officials offered him millions of dollars for help in planning a raid.

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Criticism of Embattled Charlie Rangel Grows Louder

David Sessions — 2010-03-01T11:25:00 00:00

Filed under: House, Democrats, Investigations

As calls increase for U.S. Rep. Charlie Rangel of New York to step down or be removed as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday that she won't take action until she has the full results of an ethics investigation into Rangel's real estate deals and corporate-sponsored Caribbean trips. Appearing on ABC's "This Week," Pelosi said Rangel's alleged misdeeds have not "jeopardized our country in any way."

Meanwhile, opposition to the Harlem veteran spread from Republicans and newspaper editorial pages to his own party. The House Ethics Committee admonished Rangel on Friday for taking two corporate-sponsored trips to the Carribean in violation of House rules. The New York Times on Saturday called for Rangel's removal, citing his "arrogance" at a Thursday hearing of the matter. (The paper has also led the way in investigating Rangel's finances with stories on a sweetheart apartment deal in Harlem and numerous properties he failed to report on his taxes.) The Washington Post has editorialized against Rangel twice.

Rangel, who has served in Congress since 1971, has remained defiant, slamming newspapers for their investigations and criticizing the ethics panel on the House floor.

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Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter to Challenge Blanche Lincoln for Senate

David Sessions — 2010-03-01T10:50:00 00:00

Filed under: Senate, Democrats, 2010 Elections

Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter unexpectedly announced Monday that he would challenge Sen. Blanche Lincoln in the Democratic primary this year.

"Washington is no longer on the side of Arkansas families," Halter said on his Web site. "Bailing out Wall Street with no strings attached, while leaving middle-class Arkansas taxpayers with the bill; protecting insurance company profits instead of protecting patients and lowering health costs; gridlock, bickering and partisan games while unemployment is at a 25-year high. Enough's enough."

The 49-year-old Halter has degrees from Stanford and Oxford, and has Washington experience on his resume. He served in the Office of Budget Management under President Clinton, and eventually as the deputy commissioner of Social Security.

Lincoln is the senior senator from Arkansas and is finishing her second term in office. According to Politico, Lincoln trails a slew of potential Republican opponents, and Halter's entrance in the race further complicates what was already an uphill battle for re-election.

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FTC Cracks Down on Free Credit Reports That Aren't Free

David Sessions — 2010-02-24T17:00:00 00:00

Filed under: PD Investigations

The Federal Trade Commission announced Tuesday new disclosure rules for Web sites that advertise free credit reports but then quietly bill customers for "credit monitoring services." The new rule, crafted to enforce a law Congress passed in 2009, requires sites like FreeCreditReport.com to display a large yellow banner on their home pages directing consumers to a site where they can obtain an annual free credit report -- with no strings attached.

Though the trade commission has often regulated deceptive advertising on television and product packaging, the credit report disclosure rule marks the first time Congress has directly regulated advertising on the Internet. It is the result of bipartisan legislation overwhelmingly passed by both houses and signed by President Obama last year.

The Credit CARD Act also requires a disclosure message to appear in both the visual and audio portions of advertisements in other media, which means the singing pirates, singing bikers, and singing rockers on TV will have to add a few more lines to their ditties about the dangers of credit ignorance.

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PDI Shout-Outs: Bloody Money, Right-Wing Militias, and Saddam's Social Network

David Sessions — 2010-02-23T10:50:00 00:00

Filed under: PD Investigations

In appreciation of the great work by hard-digging journalists in our midst, PDI salutes investigative reporting in other publications:

Bloody Money

As noted in a previous PDI Watchdog column, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations is looking into the effect of foreign corruption on America's pocketbooks and politics. A recent hearing revealed a seamy swirl of American lobbyists, real estate deals, and loopholes in our federal laws through which flood millions of dollars in truly dirty money, much of it also covered in the blood of those unlucky enough to be born under foreign dictatorships, where the brutal autocrats in charge are also - surprise, surprise - corrupt. The subcommittee spotlighted suitcases of shrink-wrapped cash coming out of Africa.

Paving the way for the subcommittee was a string of great investigative reporting articles by Ken Silverstein in Harper's magazine, an especially good example of which can be found here.

Life During Wartime

Though quasi-right-wing groups like the Ku Klux Klan were active during the often mis-hyped '60s and beyond, it was armed and criminal lefty groups like the Weather Underground and Symbionese Liberation Army that haunted 20th-century American politics and culture, from Stephen King's "The Stand" (1978) to the Talking Heads' song "Life During Wartime" (1979): "Heard of a van, loaded with weapons, packed up and ready to go . . ."

Now, according to a story by Justine Sharrock in the March/April issue of Mother Jones, a burgeoning right-wing militant group is bringing back the firepower: A movement of active-duty American soldiers loosely made up of Birthers, Truthers, and 9/12-ers is stocking up on munitions and spinning strategies to fight against the U.S. government when it declares martial law. (The "Oath Keepers," as they call themselves in reference to their oath to defend the U.S. Constitution, believe President Obama is salivating at the prospect of suspending American law at any moment.) Sharrock colorfully describes the economic discomfort many of the Oath Keepers are facing, and, amazingly, gets them on the record talking about their treasonous ambitions.

Searching for Saddam

Many aspects of the Iraq war are widely recognized as failures, but one of the U.S. military's most remarkable successes hasn't been fully articulated till now: the unusual way it caught Saddam Hussein. As Chris Wilson reports in a five-part series in Slate, the U.S. rejected its traditional understanding of military hierarchy - as a top-down structure - and began looking at Saddam's web of henchmen as a Facebook-like social network. Following the patterns of ancient tribal structures, Saddam's men were connected to the dictator by a complicated series of personal relationships rather than the contents of their resumes. In later parts of the series coming later this week, Wilson will explore why this tactic is so rarely used and why it hasn't helped us nab Osama bin Laden.

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Animal Abuser Registry Proposed in California

David Sessions — 2010-02-22T11:45:00 00:00

Filed under: Law

A proposed law in California would create the nation's first criminal registry for animal abusers, forcing those convicted of mistreating animals to register their names in a public database, The New York Times reports.

The bill was drafted with the help of the Animal Defense Fund, an advocacy group based in San Francisco. The organization said the database would alert the public to dangerous individuals and possibly serve as an early detection service for other crimes. Abusers would be required to present personal information and a current photograph.

The California Senate majority leader, Dean Florentz, who introduced the bill, said animal rights is a rare bipartisan issue in the state, which has recently given new protections to cattle, chickens and pigs.

Last fall, California banned tail docking for dairy cows -- a partial amputation of the tail to make milking easier. It also ordered that the size of chicken cages be increased to allow the birds more room. The new animal protections outraged many in the agriculture industry, who have talked about leaving the state.

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Top Economists Say Recovery is 'Firmly on Track'

David Sessions — 2010-02-22T11:00:00 00:00

Filed under: Economy, Jobs

Top forecasters are encouraged by the U.S. economy, according to a new survey of 48 economists by the National Association for Business Economics, CNN Money reports. The group predicted that the economy will grow 3.1 percent in 2010 and 2011 -- just slightly lower than their prediction in November. Corporate earnings will grow 15 percent, spurring hiring and eventually driving household spending.

"Businesses are in position to take up some of the slack because of rebounding profits," said the association's president, Lynn Reaser. "Our economists believe improvement in sales and profits will cause them to put out the hiring signs relatively soon."

The association's survey predicted average monthly job growth of 50,000 in the first quarter this year, but expected that number to double in the remaining quarters of 2010. Unemployment, which currently stands at 9.7 percent, is expected to be down to 9.6 percent by the end of the year.

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Daughter of Pilot in Austin Crash Says Her Dad Was a Hero

David Sessions — 2010-02-22T09:30:00 00:00

Filed under: Media, Crime

The daughter of Joseph Stack, the man who flew an airplane into the Internal Revenue Service building in Austin, Texas, last Thursday, said her father's suicide mission was an act of heroism, Talking Points Memo reports. Samantha Bell, who lives in Norway, said the plane crash was "inappropriate," but praised her father because he "stood up to the system."

"I think too many people lay around and wait for things to happen," Bell told "Good Morning America." "But if nobody comes out and speaks up on behalf of injustice, then nothing will ever be accomplished."

Bell speculated that Stack set his Austin home on fire before the attack because it represented property taxes. "We pay taxes on our home as well," she said. "My belief is that the house was part of the government. And I think he wanted to get rid of what was left."

Stack left behind a screed against the IRS, in which he detailed the tax agency's wrongs and concluded that "nothing changes unless there is a body count."

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NATO Airstrike in Afghanistan Kills 33 Civilians

David Sessions — 2010-02-22T08:50:00 00:00

Filed under: Afghanistan

The Afghan Cabinet said Monday that an airstrike by NATO forces on Sunday killed 33 civilians, including three women and one child, the Associated Press reports. The deaths came amid a major offensive in which U.S. and NATO forces have put a strong emphasis on protecting civilians from the Taliban and earning their trust.

"We are extremely saddened by the tragic loss of innocent lives," NATO commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal said. "I have made it clear to our forces that we are here to protect the Afghan people, and inadvertently killing or injuring civilians undermines their trust and confidence in our mission. We will redouble our effort to regain that trust." McChrystal apologized to Afghan President Hamid Karzai for the mistake.

The strike hit three minibuses that were driving down a major road in southern Afghanistan. A total of 42 people were aboard. NATO confirmed that it fired on the buses, believing them to be an insurgent brigade.

The incident was another in a string of misfires since the U.S.-led coalition began a major offensive in nearby Helmand Province. On Thursday, a rocket missed its intended target -- a group of insurgents -- and killed seven police officers. Another errant rocket killed 10 civilians on Feb. 15.

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Mike Huckabee Says CPAC is Too Libertarian, Not Relevant

David Sessions — 2010-02-22T08:00:00 00:00

Filed under: Media, Conservatives

Former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said on Fox News that he didn't attend this year's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) because it had become dominated by libertarians and was far less relevant since the Tea Party movement began, Politico reports.

Confirming at least one part of Huckabee's analysis, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), known for his outspoken libertarian views, carried the CPAC straw poll with 31 percent. Mitt Romney came in second with 22 percent, while Huckabee made only a single-digit showing.

But Huckabee, who has often spoken at the annual conference, said it mattered less than ever this year. "Where CPAC was historically the event, the Tea Parties are having their own events all over the country and a lot more truly grassroots people are getting involved because of the Tea Parties," Huckabee said.

The former governor also criticized CPAC for being an openly commercial event -- a charge some conservatives also leveled against the Tea Party National Convention in Nashville earlier this month. "Because of the way that it solicits sponsors, it's almost becomes a pay-for-play," Huckabee said. "It's kind of like, who will pay money to be able to be a sponsor and get time in the program. That's one of the things that has hurt its credibility in the last couple of years.

Video: Mike Huckabee Attacks CPAC on Fox News

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Austin Crash Pilot: 'Nothing Changes Unless There is a Body Count'

David Sessions — 2010-02-18T16:03:00 00:00

Filed under: PD Investigations

A small airplane that crashed Thursday into a building in Austin, Texas, housing the IRS was piloted by a man who left behind a manifesto describing a lifetime of frustration with the tax agency. The pilot was believed to have been killed and two people were injured.

Federal authorities identified the pilot as Joseph Andrew Stack, 53. The website Austinist reported that his residence, to which he allegedly set fire Thursday, was on Dapplegrey Lane in northern Austin. Stack owned the house and a PIPER P-28 Cherokee plane that was last registered in California in 1998.

A message on a Web site registered to Stack said the writer's disillusionment with the American government had created "a storm raging in [his] head," and that "desperate times call for desperate measures."

The writer outlines his history of studying the U.S. tax code, his objections to various aspects of taxation, and the madness his feelings of powerlessness had driven him to. He rants against power of all sorts -- government, corporate, clerical -- and says Americans have been duped into believing that their system allows them to be free.

"I can say with a great degree of certainty that there has never been a politician cast a vote on any matter with the likes of me or my interests in mind. Nor, for that matter, are they the least bit interested in me or anything I have to say."

In the message, the writer wonders why lawmakers are eager to bail out failing banks and auto corporations, but unwilling to reform America's "joke" of a health care system. "Why is it that a handful of thugs and plunderers can commit unthinkable atrocities (and in the case of the GM executives, for scores of years) and when it's time for their gravy train to crash under the weight of their gluttony and overwhelming stupidity, the force of the full federal government has no difficulty coming to their aid within days if not hours?"

The message concludes with a justification of the suicide mission:

I know I'm hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand. It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their freedom in this country, and it isn't limited to the blacks, and poor immigrants. I know there have been countless before me and there are sure to be as many after. But I also know that by not adding my body to the count, I insure nothing will change. I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at "big brother" while he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend that business as usual won't continue; I have just had enough.

I can only hope that the numbers quickly get too big to be white washed and ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt; it will take nothing less. I would only hope that by striking a nerve that stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for what they are. Sadly, though I spent my entire life trying to believe it wasn't so, but violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer. The cruel joke is that the really big chunks of s--- at the top have known this all along and have been laughing, at and using this awareness against, fools like me all along.

I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let's try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.

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