"The purpose of taxation is redistribution of wealth."
WRONG...!!! (But we'll get to that in a moment...)
A fellow guest at a party I attended over the long Memorial Day weekend actually came out with the above absurd statement! (A Brit expat! A trained Barrister! An educated man!)
At first I thought he was joking. Indeed, upon the words leaving his lips, all I could visualize was Errol Flynn as Robin Hood!
(*GUFFAW*)
But, no... he was indeed serious.
I proposed to him that the only proper purpose of taxation was to fund necessary governmental activities (obviously the specifics are open to discussion, argument, and disagreement) benefiting one's locality/state/nation which were historically and reasonably the responsibility of government - national defense being the number one example; but he didn't buy it.
Oh, well... what can you do? This guy ain't alone... in fact, his attitude might be more the norm than mine nowadays.
(*SIGH*)
Anyway, folks... just a point to ponder... a philosophical question for each one of my readers to answer for himself or herself.
5 comments:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/05/29/holder-runs-into-roadblocks-on-off-the-record-meetings-on-leaks/
Attorney General Eric Holder's plans to sit down with media representatives to discuss guidelines for handling investigations into leaks to the news media have run into trouble.
* AND WHY IS THAT...???
The Associated Press issued a statement Wednesday objecting to plans for the meetings to be off the record.
* OFF... THE... RECORD...?!?!
* SERIOUSLY...??? THIS MORON HOLDER THOUGHT HE COULD GET AWAY WITH HOLDING "OFF THE RECORD" SIT-DOWNS WITH REPORTERS...?!?! UNFRIGGINBELIEVABLE...!!!
"If it is not on the record, AP will not attend and instead will offer our views on how the regulations should be updated in an open letter," said Erin Madigan White, the AP's media relations manager.
The New York Times is taking the same position. "It isn't appropriate for us to attend an off-the-record meeting with the attorney general," executive editor Jill Abramson said in a statement.
* PARTIAL GOLD-STAR; LET'S FACE IT... THE PROBLEM FOR THE AP AND NYT IS THAT IF (WHEN!) NEWS LEAKED OF ANY "OFF THE RECORD" MEETINGS WITH HOLDER AT THIS POINT THEY'D LOSE ANY AND ALL CREDIBILITY THEY'VE EVER HAD.
Like the New York Times and the Associated Press, CNN will decline the invitation for an off-the-record meeting. A CNN spokesperson says if the meeting with the attorney general is on the record, CNN would plan to participate.
* WELL... "DUH!"
The Huffington Post's Washington bureau chief, Ryan Grim, also said he will not attend unless the meeting is on the record. "A conversation specifically about the freedom of the press should be an open one. We have a responsibility not to betray that," Grim told CNN.
* WOW... GOOD FOR GRIM! (I'LL ADMIT... I'M PLEASANTLY SURPRISED!)
But Politico posted an item on its website saying editor-in-chief John Harris plans to attend one of the meetings with Holder.
* POLITICO... (*SNORT*)
"As editor-in-chief, I routinely have off-the-record conversations with people who have questions or grievances about our coverage or our news-gathering practices," Harris said in the Politico item. "I feel anyone - whether an official or ordinary reader - should be able to have an unguarded conversation with someone in a position of accountability for a news organization when there is good reason."
* UH-HUH. (*SPITTING ON THE GROUND*) WHAT... TOTAL... ABSOLUTE... BULLSHIT!
http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/29/irss-shulman-had-more-public-white-house-visits-than-any-cabinet-member/
Publicly released records show that former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman visited the White House at least 157 times during the Obama administration, more recorded visits than even the most trusted members of the president’s Cabinet.
(*PURSED LIPS*)
By contrast, Shulman’s predecessor Mark Everson only visited the White House once during four years of service in the George W. Bush administration and compared the IRS’s remoteness from the president to “Siberia.”
The scope of Shulman’s White House visits...is even more striking in comparison to the publicly recorded access of cabinet members.
* FOLLOW THE LINK... EXAMINE THE CHART... IT TRULY IS STRIKING!
The visitor logs do not give a complete picture of White House access. Some high-level officials get cleared for access and do not have to sign in during visits. A Washington Post database of visitor log records cautions, “The log may include some scheduled visits that did not take place and exclude visits by members of Congress, top officials and others who are not required to sign in at security gates.”
* ALL TRUE...
* HOWEVER...
Many visits by current and former cabinet members are in the logs, and the record depicts an IRS chief uniquely at home in the White House.
Attorney General Eric Holder, President Obama’s friend and loyal lieutenant, logged 62 publicly known White House visits, not even half as many as Shulman’s 157.
Former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, to whom Shulman reported, clocked in at just 48 publicly known visits. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earned a cool 43 public visits...
(*SHRUG*)
Shulman has more recorded visits to the White House than HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (48), DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano (34), Education Secretary Arne Duncan (31), former Energy Secretary Steven Chu (22) and former Defense Secretary Robert Gates (17) combined.
“Sooner or later this [question] will have to be answered,” tweeted Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume, “What was the ex-IRS chief doing at the White House all those times?”
* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/29/3422519/lawyer-zimmerman-prosecutor-withheld.html
A court employee who retrieved photos and deleted text messages from Trayvon Martin's cellphone has been placed on administrative leave after an attorney testified that prosecutors didn't properly turn over the evidence to the defense, an attorney said Wednesday.
* ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE...?!?! THE EMPLOYEE SHOULD BE IN JAIL AWAITING TRIAL!
Former prosecutor Wesley White said he was ethically obligated to reveal that Fourth Judicial Circuit Information Technology Director Ben Kruidbos retrieved the data that weren't turned over.
Kruidbos was placed on leave shortly after White testified during a hearing in George Zimmerman's second-degree murder case on Tuesday. (White said Kruidbos was interviewed by state attorney investigators twice before the action was taken.)
* GEEZUS...!!!
White said he wasn't surprised of possible evidence violations by Zimmerman prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda. "I was saddened by it, but I'm not surprised," he said.
* SO IT'S NOT JUST A "COURT EMPLOYEE" (THE IT DIRECTOR!); IT'S ALSO THE PROSECUTOR...?
White first learned about the evidence through Kruidbos more than a month ago, he said.
* AND WE'RE ONLY FINDING OUT ABOUT THIS NOW...???
Phone and email messages left at the office of Fourth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Angela Corey were not immediately returned.
(*PURSED LIPS*)
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)
Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in 17-year-old Martin's killing and has pleaded not guilty, saying he acted in self-defense. Circuit Judge Debra Nelson has denied a defense motion to delay the trial, which scheduled to begin on June 10.
White led the Nassau County state attorney's office before resigning in December, citing differences of opinion with Corey. He is now in private practice.
White said the photos Kruidbos retrieved were of a hand holding a gun and one depicted drugs. The content of the text messages wasn't specified.
"I'm an officer of the court and I'm obliged to inform the court of any misconduct or any potential misconduct coming before the court. Whether it's by the defense or prosecution," White said.
* UNFRIGGINBELIEVABLE!
The defense released photos of a gun, marijuana plant and Martin's text messages publicly, saying that if prosecutors planned to paint Zimmerman as the aggressor and Martin as the innocent bystander, they wanted the information to defend him. Attorneys won't be able to mention the teen's drug use, suspension from school and past fighting during opening statements at the trial, Nelson ruled Tuesday.
* NO RIGHT, MY FRIENDS... NOT RIGHT...
Nelson has set a full hearing on the turning over of evidence for next week.
Defense attorney Mark O'Mara has previously brought a handful of motions alleging that the state attorney's office had been slow to turn over other evidence. O'Mara said Tuesday that he felt compelled to bring this matter to the attention of the judge after a hearing earlier this month in which De la Rionda was emphatic that he'd turned over all evidence related to Martin's cellphone.
* PERHAPS DE LA RIONDA WILL WIND UP IN JAIL HIMSELF!
"Kruidbos knew information that nobody else would know about what the state attorney's office didn't give us," O'Mara said. "The picture of the gun in the hand, for example, had not been turned over to us. But that had been created back in late January within the state attorney's office. "That inquiry, if in fact it continues and it certainly should, could lead to some very dire consequences for those who made presentations to the judge that were not accurate."
* AT LEAST ONE WOULD HOPE!
O'Mara reported on the defense team's website Wednesday that Zimmerman's defense fund had less than $5,000 left. The fund had raised almost $315,000 by January.
His attorneys are calculating that Zimmerman needs another $120,000 to put on a good defense, or even another $75,000 to give him a fighting chance.
* WHAT ABOUT SIMPLY JUSTICE...?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-05-27/40-frightening-facts-fall-us-economy
* JUST BROWSE THROUGH THE ARTICLE... THE STATS...
* I RAN ACROSS A FEW QUIBBLES... BUT ON THE WHOLE... YEP... PRETTY ACCURATE PICTURE.
Post a Comment