The Truth Handler

Friday, April 10, 2009

How to Combat Mexican Drug Cartels - Legalize Their Activities

"The new Obama policy is analogous to an alcoholic admitting to a drinking problem, but then blaming beer distributors and trying to have them arrested. The analogy to alcohol can be taken a step further. According to the Justice Department, the biggest organized crime threat in the U.S. today is the presence of the Mexican drug cartels in 230 U.S. cities. Similarly, in the United States, organized crime got a huge boost by the prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s and 1930s."

How to Combat Mexican Drug Cartels: Newsroom: The Independent Institute

The War on Drugs...aren't we getting sick of losing wars? Maybe force isn't the solution to every problem we have? Let's give freedom a try, eh?

Pulp Nonfiction - Creating Pollution with Environmental Laws

"Two years in Washington have started to make me feel jaded. I've come to expect that even nobly conceived laws will be manipulated and distorted for private ends. But once in a while I hear a story that gives me the queasy feeling that I'm nowhere near cynical enough. Such is the case with the tale of the paper industry and the alternative-fuel tax credit.

Thanks to an obscure tax provision, the United States government stands to pay out as much as $8 billion this year to the ten largest paper companies. And get this: even though the money comes from a transportation bill whose manifest intent was to reduce dependence on fossil fuel, paper mills are adding diesel fuel to a process that requires none in order to qualify for the tax credit. In other words, we are paying the industry--handsomely--to use more fossil fuel. "Which is," as a Goldman Sachs report archly noted, the "opposite of what lawmakers likely had in mind when the tax credit was established.""

Pulp Nonfiction - The Nation

The unintended effects of legislation almost always outnumber and overshadow any positive effects over time.

People Want to Believe in Government

"President Obama wants to spend billions of dollars to stimulate the economy. He and his party believe this will create jobs, protect the poor, and help get the country out of a grave economic crisis. Welcome to life in modern Russia.

I’m teaching in St Petersburg for the next few months. But if the language weren’t different and the sets a little cheaper, you’d never know it from watching the nightly news. The policy wonks say a lot of the same things. Why are bad ideas so universally popular?"

Liberty For All » Blog Archive » People want to believe in government

Ex-prison chief: U.S. policy aided Khmer Rouge

"The former chief of the Khmer Rouge's most notorious prison said his group would not have risen to power in the 1970s if it weren't for the policies of former U.S. President Richard Nixon and his top diplomat, Henry Kissinger."

Ex-prison chief: U.S. policy aided Khmer Rouge - Asia-Pacific - msnbc.com

Kissinger is the Obama administration's go-to guy on foreign policy. Why do we keep listening to this asshole?

John Maynard Keynes - The Man Behind the Ruinous Economic Theory

It's an Outrage! Chia Obama Head Removed From Stores!

Story Here

Local Currencies: Communities Printing Own Money To Keep Cash Flowing

Local Currencies: Communities Printing Own Money To Keep Cash Flowing

Good money flows to take place of the bad...at least until the Feds close down this "illegal" activity, to maintain their monopoly.

Complicated tax returns befuddle and frighten Americans

"Even the Internal Revenue Service’s taxpayer advocate declares that “it adds insult to injury that … taxpayers today find filing so complicated that they feel compelled to pay transaction fees simply to file their taxes.”"

Complicated tax returns befuddle and frighten Americans | McClatchy

Complicated tax codes, corporate laws, OSHA laws, SEC laws, FDA laws, etc... don't benefit the average American. They benefit the wealthy and powerful who can afford lawyers and accountants to find loopholes in that law, or even better, lobbyists to build the loopholes into the law (thus making them even more arcane and complicated).

Liberals who think they are helping the poor, uneducated, and underprivileged by enacting draconian laws and regulations to restrict the evildoing of those big corporate evil guys are working against their purpose. Who do you think is hurt from all the forms and Food & Safety regulations and building code requirements and OSHA standards necessary to open a restaurant? McDonald's or Sally White (who just so happens to make the best damn ribs in the whole world, and wants to open a small place in her neighborhood)?

Of course all the poor people are eating at McDonald's!!! No one else can afford to open a goddamn place down the street to compete with them!

Judge: U.S. hid witness's mental illness in Guantanamo cases

"The Justice Department improperly withheld important psychiatric records of a government witness who was used in a "significant" number of Guantanamo cases, a federal judge has concluded."

Judge: U.S. hid witness's mental illness in Guantanamo cases | McClatchy

"Listen, we got a plan, and we're following it regardless of the 'facts.'"

Obama Administration Backs Bush Policy in Terror Case (Update1)

Under Bush, the government argued national security would be jeopardized if the 2007 suit against Boeing’s Jeppesen Dataplan is allowed to proceed. Jeppesen was accused of falsifying flight plans to disguise the Central Intelligence Agency’s delivery of suspected terrorists to secret prisons where they were allegedly tortured.

The ACLU alleged that Jeppesen helped transport terrorism suspects on more than 70 flights to countries where they weren’t protected by U.S. law and were tortured during CIA interrogation.

‘Reprehensible Policy’

“Eric Holder’s Justice Department stood up in court today and said that it would continue the Bush policy of invoking state secrets to hide the reprehensible history of torture, rendition and the most grievous human rights violations committed by the American government,” said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero in a statement yesterday. “This is not change. This is definitely more of the same.”

Obama Administration Backs Bush Policy in Terror Case (Update1) - Bloomberg.com

The Federal government deciding which lawsuits go to court and which ones don't? That doesn't sound like freedom.

CIA Has Quit Operating Secret Jails, Chief Says

CIA Director Panetta Says Agency Is No Longer Operating Secret Prisons - washingtonpost.com

Obama gets this one right, but gets the wiretapping/immunity wrong.

Fed Said to Order Banks to Stay Mum on ‘Stress Test’ Results

Fed Said to Order Banks to Stay Mum on ‘Stress Test’ Results - Bloomberg.com

It's their tax money, why should they know who it's going to?

Jabba the Rush

In Italy, They Called It Fascism

"America, are you honestly going to sit idly by as your government completely co-opts private industry and eradicates what's left of the economic model that's produced what little prosperity you're left with today?"

who's your nanny?: In Italy, They Called It Fascism

Actually, it's private industry that has co-opted the power of government. It's called privatizing profits, and nationalizing losses. "If I win on this giant bet, I get the dough. If I lose on this giant bet, you pay the losses." It's a good gig, if you can get it. How do you get it? Scare Americans. Apparently they will give up any and all freedoms if they are afraid. Tell them your bank is their "system," and it is about to collapse! They'll believe you.

In Warrantless Wiretapping Case, Obama DOJ's New Arguments Are Worse Than Bush's

In Warrantless Wiretapping Case, Obama DOJ's New Arguments Are Worse Than Bush's | Electronic Frontier Foundation

The 4.7 Million Iraqi Refugees Caused by America

"There are 4,700,000 Iraqi refugees, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. What is the U.S. policy of assistance to Iraqi refugees whose lives were torn apart by the American bombing and occupation? Do we even have such a policy?"

Mondoweiss: Bromwich: Who talks about the 4,700,000 Iraqi refugees?

Former FBI chief defends flow of money to Saudi ambassador

"$2 billion from an British arms manufacturer to Saudi Arabia's then-U.S. ambassador, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, has come under scrutiny. Louis Freeh defends Bandar on 'Frontline.'"

Former FBI chief defends flow of money to Saudi ambassador

Monsanto Writing Legislation to Push Onerous Regulations on Small Farmers

Red Cross says doctors helped CIA "torture"

"Health workers violated medical ethics when they helped interrogate terrorism suspects who were tortured at secret CIA prisons overseas, the International Committee of the Red Cross said."

Red Cross says doctors helped CIA torture | International | Reuters

In 2003, Canada & Australia Give Same Speech

In 2003, Stephen Harper and Australian Prime Minister John Howard deliver largely identical speeches urging their nations to join George W. Bush's Coalition of the Willing to go to war with Iraq.

Drug Decriminalization in Portugal

"In 2001, Portugal began a remarkable policy experiment, decriminalizing all drugs, including cocaine and heroin. Some predicted disastrous results—that drug addiction rates would soar and the country would become a haven for "drug tourists." Now that several years have passed, policy experts can study the results. In a new paper for the Cato Institute, attorney and author Glenn Greenwald closely examines the Portugal experiment and concludes that the doomsayers were wrong. There is now a widespread consensus in Portugal that decriminalization has been a success. The debate in Portugal has shifted rather dramatically to minor adjustments in the existing arrangement. There is no real debate about whether drugs should once again be criminalized. Join us for a discussion about Glenn Greenwald's field research in Portugal and what lessons his findings may hold for drug policies in other countries."

Drug Decriminalization in Portugal (Cato Institute: Policy Forum)

Freedom works???!! If only our forefathers had told us about this. Given us some sort of document or system which explained this. Damn you, forefathers!

US Munitions Delivered to Israel

US munitions delivered to Israel | Amnesty International

"Durnnit! I just can't seem to figure out why those Middle Easterners hate us! I got it! They hate us for our freedoms!"

Why Are Army Recruiters Killing Themselves? - TIME Magazine

"Lawrence Kagawa retired last July after more than 20 years in uniform; he spent the latter half as a highly decorated recruiter, and his tenure included a stint in the Houston battalion from 2002 to 2005. "There's one set of values for the Army, and when you go to Recruiting Command, you're basically forced to do things outside of what would normally be considered to be moral or ethical," he says."

Why Are Army Recruiters Killing Themselves? - TIME

15 Year Ponzi Scheme Discovered

Homes, Cars, Art Seized In Ponzi Investigation - cbs4denver.com

"...but, but, but I thought we were paying billion upon billion of tax dollars to the SEC to perform audits and PROTECT US from bad banks and investment schemes!!!" Hmmm....that system doesn't seem to be working.

Geithner's Stress Test "A Complete Sham," Former Federal Bank Regulator Says

Geithners Stress Test "A Complete Sham," Former Federal Bank Regulator Says: Tech Ticker, Yahoo! Finance

The stress test is a Public Relations scheme, designed to make you feel good about giving up your tax dollars to legalized ponzi schemes.

Argentina's Experience With Monetary Schemes Part I

Argentina's Experience With Monetary Schemes Part II

Stop Spending Our Future For the Baby Boomers' Present

Disney Made One Movie, And Has Been Tracing Ever Since

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Glenn Greenwald on Obama Secrecy/Immunity Claims

"...what fueled the extreme hostility towards the Bush/Cheney administration were their imperious and radical efforts to place themselves behind an impenetrable wall of secrecy and above and beyond the rule of law. It would require a virtually pathological level of tribal loyalty and monumental intellectual dishonesty not to object just as vehemently as we watch the Obama DOJ repeatedly invoke these very same theories and, in this instance, actually invent a new one that not even the Bush administration espoused. "

Keith Olbermann's scathing criticism of Obama's secrecy/immunity claims - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com

(invoking Jedi mind trick) "This is not the change you're looking for..."

"At a formal press announcement Monday and in media appearances over the next day, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates unveiled the biggest military budget in world history, in anticipation of an endless series of Iraq and Afghanistan-style wars by American imperialism.

Both the military budget itself and the official who drafted it—Gates held the same position in the last two years of the Bush administration and is the first Pentagon chief to be retained by a new president—underscore the fundamental continuity between Obama and Bush."

Pentagon budget envisions a series of Iraq-style wars :: www.uruknet.info :: informazione dall'Iraq occupato :: news from occupied Iraq :: - it

Traces of explosives in 9/11 dust, scientists say

Deseret News | Traces of explosives in 9/11 dust, scientists say