[ExI] Web's Reach Binds N.S.A. and Silicon Valley Leaders

[Kelly Anderson]

On Fri, Jun 21, 2013 at 11:19 AM, spike <spike at rainier66.com> wrote:

> is all just astonishing, appalling.
>

Indeed.


> >…If you really believe that, consider the power the
> heads of other major federal agencies have…****
>
> Ja, but as far as I know the IRS is the only agency which has the power to
> deeply impact you personally, by calling you in for an audit.  If they
> decide they don’t like you for whatever reason, I know of no avenue of
> appeal.
>
While it isn't federal, the Division of Child and Family Services operates
under nearly identical impunity to checks and balances. They can't take
away your freedom (directly), but they can take away your children.

>…Now consider the President's job through this lens…
>
The President has more and more limited power as the bureaucracy continues
to grow. Most mid level management remains unchanged as we go from Dem to
Rep. The only solution is to downsize it as near zero as possible. Then the
President will have the powers that were originally envisioned, and the
capacity to actually pay attention to the things under him enough to get
the job done efficiently. Nobody, (human anyway) no matter how smart, can
wrap their head around the entire Federal Government.


> Considering recent revelations, the president becomes nearly irrelevant.
>
Precisely.


> She has the theoretical power to pardon someone jailed on IRS charges, but
> I have not heard of that actually happening.
>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Rich

   - John Stinson Howell, III (1979 Income tax evasion)
   - Bernice Lena Telgemeier (1980 Attempted income tax evasion)
   - Julius Henry Telgemeier (1980 Attempted income tax evasion)
   - Charles Arnold Jacobs (1979 Submission of false income tax
return<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_return_(United_States)>
   )
   - George Caldwell<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Caldwell_(Louisiana)>
–
   income tax evasion; pardoned
   - Seymour Weiss <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Weiss> – tax
   evasion and mail fraud; pardoned
   - Pincus Green <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pincus_Green> – business
   partners with Marc Rich; indicted by U.S. Attorney on charges of tax
   evasion and illegal trading with Iran. Pardoned at the request of 3
   Republicans including Lewis Libby<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Libby>
   .[16]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_pardoned_or_granted_clemency_by_the_President_of_the_United_States#cite_note-16>


   - Edward Downe, Jr. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Downe,_Jr.> –
   wire fraud, filing false income tax returns, and securities fraud; pardoned
   - John Fries <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fries%27s_Rebellion>, for his
   role in Fries's Rebellion; convicted of treason due to opposition to a tax;
   Fries and others were pardoned, and a general amnesty was issued for
   everyone involved.


Admittedly, not terribly common... and this list is likely quite incomplete.


> The president has all kinds of constitutional checks and balances on her
> office.  It appears to me the IRS, which came along later, is operating
> completely without those checks and balances
>
Yes. This is more common still at the state level. But look at the VA. What
checks and balances are in place with those bastards?

> We could argue that this makes the IRS director more powerful than the
> presidency, for the president cannot order the IRS to do anything.  If they
> do, they risk getting caught, and there definite repercussions to that, as
> we are seeing with the current president.  But the IRS can act unilaterally
> without answering to anyone, even congress.  The fifth amendment covers the
> 16th amendment but the 16th trumps the entire document.
>
Apparently so. You see, the government's ability to steal money from the
proles is the first and most important concept in today's governmental
system. It trumps nearly everything else. Freedom is one of the earliest
victims, and not nearly the last.

-Kelly
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