Political Stuff:

• Analysis: Why everyone is saying no to Obama
• U.S. regulator to unveil open Internet plan

Economic Stuff:

• HSBC bids farewell to dollar supremacy
• Sanctions and isolationism
• Car showrooms quiet after clunkers clamor ends
• Obama open to newspaper bailout bill
• US May Face ‘Armageddon’ If China, Japan Don’t Buy Debt – This article has a great video, which is below.

Recipe Stuff:

• Slow-Cooked Tomato and Herb White Beans – Haven’t made but plan to.
• Eggplants stuffed with ricotta and ham — Aubergines farcies à la ricotta et au jambon – Making on Tuesday!

Interesting Stuff:

• The Post–9/11 Roundup of Innocents
• US Detention Camps For Political Subversives

In 2002, FEMA sought bids from major real estate and engineering firms to construct giant internment facilities in the case of a chemical, biological or nuclear attack or a natural disaster. Okanogan County Commissioner Dave Schulz went public three years ago with his contention that his county was set to be a location for one of the camps. Alex Jones has attended numerous military urban warfare training drills across the US where role players were used to simulate arresting American citizens and taking them to internment camps.

• Halliburton Subsidiary Gets Contract to Add Temporary Immigration Detention Centers - (NYT Subscription)

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 — The Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a contract worth up to $385 million for building temporary immigration detention centers to Kellogg Brown & Root, the Halliburton subsidiary that has been criticized for overcharging the Pentagon for its work in Iraq.KBR would build the centers for the Homeland Security Department for an unexpected influx of immigrants, to house people in the event of a natural disaster or for new programs that require additional detention space, company executives said. KBR, which announced the contract last month, had a similar contract with immigration agencies from 2000 to last year.

The contract with the Corps of Engineers runs one year, with four optional one-year extensions. Officials of the corps said that they had solicited bids and that KBR was the lone responder.

A spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Jamie Zuieback, said KBR would build the centers only in an emergency like the one when thousands of Cubans floated on rafts to the United States. She emphasized that the centers might never be built if such an emergency did not arise.

“It’s the type of contract that could be used in some kind of mass migration,” Ms. Zuieback said.

• Jim Rogers Knows – His 10 Tips for a Successful Life
  • I think I should point out Jim’s list here and you can click the article for more.
    1. Conduct your own research and trust your own judgment.
    2. Focus on what you yourself love.
    3. Be persistent.
    4. Broaden your horizons and see as much of the world as you can.
    5. The most important thing you can learn is how to think and question everything you hear.
    6. Study and learn from history.
    7. Master more than one language – and make sure one of them is Mandarin.
    8. Don’t panic.
    9. Take care of yourself and don’t neglect the sunscreen.
    10. Remember that boys need girls more than girls need boys.

• 1 Inch Piece Fresh Ginger, peeled
• 2 Cups Water
• Juice of 1 Lemon
• 1-2 Tbsp Honey, or to taste

Directions:

1. Cut the ginger into disks.
2. Bring the water and ginger to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and let steep for 5-10 minutes.
3. Remove ginger from water.
4. Add the lemon juice and honey to the water and stir to dissolve honey.
5. Serve tea in mugs.

Via weelicious.com.

Some of my weekend reading had to do with our tax system.  First, did you know that it is totally voluntary?  According to the Tax Division of the USDOJ web site it is!  Straight from their web site:

The Tax Division’s mission is to enforce the nation’s tax laws fully, fairly, and consistently, through both criminal and civil litigation, in order to promote voluntary compliance with the tax laws, maintain public confidence in the integrity of the tax system, and promote the sound development of the law. (1)

This statement could be read several different ways.  Such as if you do not voluntary pay your taxes they will use force to take them from you.  It is of my opinion the DOJ should remove “voluntary” from their web site.

Senator Harry Reid:

It seems as though Senator Harry Reid says Taxation is “voluntary.”  He must be reading the DOJ’s web site and interpreting it a bit differently than I have. (3)

So far there’s a fairly good track record going on as to our “voluntary” tax system with a Senator and depending on your reading of the DOJ’s web site both on board, right?  However, I think what the senator was saying is that there are many tax breaks that the government gives to people and business to stimulate certain areas of our economy.  Side note: there goes the argument that lower taxes do not stimulate an economy.  At any rate, because these are tax breaks it is totally voluntary for these people and businesses to pay taxes on those taxes the government doesn’t collect.  He doesn’t quite go so far as to say that the taxes the government does collect are voluntary.  I don’t think he would ever say that because he’s a moron.

Government vs. Bill Benson:

Then there is this nice story on News With Views.  In the case of the Government vs. Bill Benson the government is going after him for stating that the Sixteenth Amendment was not ratified and as a result people are not required to file for income tax returns (2). 

“In this historic 16th Amendment litigation, the Government has sued Bill Benson seeking an injunction prohibiting him from falsely telling people the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was not ratified and therefore people are not required to file an income tax return. The Government contends it is entitled to an injunction because Benson is promoting an abusive tax shelter, conduct made subject to a penalty per 26 U.S.C. Section 6700.” (2)

On January 10, 2008, the Federal District Court in Chicago issued a permanent injunction against me on the grounds that I was falsely telling people the 16th Amendment was not ratified. The Court refused to look at the evidence of the non-ratification of the 16th Amendment, deciding that the facts necessary to prove my statement was true were “irrelevant,” What has America come to when the government can accuse you of lying and prohibit you from presenting a defense in a so called court of law? My attorney, Jeffrey A. Dickstein, will be filing an appeal to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. I urge you to review the pleadings filed in this case so you can see for yourself the tyranny being practiced in our courts. (7)

A little refresher about the Sixteenth Amendment and what it actually is we need to visit Wikipedia.

The Sixteenth Amendment (Amendment XVI) to the United States Constitution allows the Congress to levy an income tax without apportioning it among the states or basing it on Census results. (4)

Also, a little history on income tax in America and Bill Benson is probably warranted for those of you that are interested you can read 16th Amendment – The Sixteenth Amendment Bill Benson Litigation.  It shouldn’t take too long to read and is a good background of the history and the case.

Mr. Benson’s case is more of a first amendment issue as he is going around trying to educate people on the history of the Sixteenth Amendment.  However, in our “voluntary” tax system the government doesn’t like this and is, in my opinion, trying to silence him.

You should read Section 6700 and then the details of the case at jeffdickstein.com and decide for yourself what exactly is going on and how wonderful our “voluntary” tax system really is.

UBS & the IRS:

Last, but not least, there is a very nice article in the WSJ today on the front page of Money & Investing below the fold entitled, IRS Extends Deadline to Declare Foreign Accounts.  Our tax system is so nicely voluntary that the government has a “special voluntary disclosure program” (5) for those who are evading taxes at the Swiss bank UBS.  If the US citizen’s account holders do not “voluntarily” turn them self in the US government will get the information from the Swiss run bank regardless of the fact that this would violate Swiss law (6).

Conclusion:

Although there are aspects of the US income tax that are voluntary, such as the “special voluntary disclosure program” that was set up for the US customers of the Swiss bank UBS and you can voluntarily pay taxes that the government does not collect.  It seems that other aspects of our income tax system are not so voluntary despite what DOJ, Senator Harry Reid, Mr. Benson’s pending case, and the great voluntary program to turn yourself into the government tells us otherwise.

Someone does not know what they are talking about.  I’m going to leave it up to you to decide, but I bet you can guess who I think is in the wrong here.

Sources:

1. Tax Division of the USDOJ web site
2. Benson Goes to Supreme Court for All of Us, 9/21/2009
3. Reid “Taxation Is Voluntary”
4. Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
5. IRS Extends Deadline to Declare Foreign Accounts, 9/21/2009
6. Deal reached over names of UBS clients, 8/01/2009
7. Bill Benson’s Web Site

External Links:

• 16th Amendment – The Sixteenth Amendment Bill Benson Litigation
• U.S. Code collection – Title 26, Subtitle F, Chapter 68, Subchapter B, Part I, § 6700. Promoting abusive tax shelters
• Permanent injunction against Bill Benson
• Review of Bill Benson’s pleadings