Unintended Consequneces?

[Jccarlton]

So why did I have to go to the Daily Mail to find out about this?:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ments.html
And why are the people in charge dithering? Do they really want to see the country burn, literally?

[hanelyp]

Deliberate? Difficult to be sure intent and effect align without more evidence. The effect of the IRS rule is certainly predictable, which makes it at least gross incompetence. If it stands now that it's been illustrated we can conclude deliberate beyond reasonable doubt. But regime defenders will blame wreckers and saboteurs.

[mvanwink5]

Not to worry, they will gerrymander this thing all over the crony world, this is just to give them an excuse to slip their pals through the door this exception will make. Cynics are required to understand the mentality of these politicians.

[JLawson]

Not to worry, they will gerrymander this thing all over the crony world, this is just to give them an excuse to slip their pals through the door this exception will make. Cynics are required to understand the mentality of these politicians.

I'm starting to think it's impossible to be adequately cynical.

I read "Washington Goes To War" by David Brinkley a few years back (along with Herman's 'Freedom's Forge') - and with the with the politicians of the time, it's amazing we actually won WW2. Talk about a bunch of self-absorbed, self-important jackasses... but the good thing was they couldn't do that much harm. (Okay, you can argue they did enough with the '30s...) They could see that the survival of their political culture depended on the US winning the war, and they acted accordingly.

But at the time they were limited in what they could do. Now... there doesn't seem to be any limits, nothing too small for government to 'help' with, and no real way to tell them "Okay, no thank you, go the hell away and let us do for ourselves thank you kindly..."


Wouldn't it be funny if there's a 'critical mass' of government, beyond which it explodes? (Like a critical mass of U235? Small quantities aren't a problem. A quantity a few ounces shy of critical mass isn't a problem... it's when you add the extra governmental mass that you have a problem.)

And you can have a slow explosion like what happened with the USSR, or a fast one like what seems to be approaching - but I think we're looking at a catastrophic self-disassembly in the offing.

The politicians aren't willing to consider NOT 'help' us in areas they haven't got the vaguest clue about (other than a pathological need to 'help'). Obama didn't know how complicated Insurance was to buy, so he tossed it at a bunch of politicans to 'simplify' the process - ignoring sites like EHealthInsurance.Com and TheHealthSherpa.Com. He felt he had to reinvent the wheel to 'help' us - and in the process made it triangular.

The Mythbusters made a square wheel. It kinda worked, too. (For certain values of 'work' that included way too much stress on the vehicle and a short ride before it broke...)

Obamacare may prove to be the piece that causes everything to explode.

[MSimon]

I'm expecting a massive collapse of the Democrat Party in the 2014 elections.

Assuming the Republicans don't get stupid. IMO not a good assumption.

The wild card is Cannabis Prohibition. About 80% favor Med Pot. About 60% favor full legalization. The Republicans - aside from the libertarian contingent headed by Rand Paul - are totally opposed. I have outed more than a few of the opposed around here. That is the one issue I think could damp down the Results.

[ladajo]

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/autho ... eagan.html

[williatw]

I'm expecting a massive collapse of the Democrat Party in the 2014 elections.

Assuming the Republicans don't get stupid. IMO not a good assumption.

The wild card is Cannabis Prohibition. About 80% favor Med Pot. About 60% favor full legalization. The Republicans - aside from the libertarian contingent headed by Rand Paul - are totally opposed. I have outed more than a few of the opposed around here. That is the one issue I think could damp down the Results.

I think as far as re-taking the Senate in the 2014 elections it is the Republican's to lose. Legalizing pot for now is for the most part a state issue, don't see how it would effect the Senate races much unless as you say, the Republicans decide to stupidly come out in force against it.

[Betruger]

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/autho ... eagan.html

We should measure welfare's success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many are added.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quote ... p1S7OQG.99

As if..

[MSimon]

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/autho ... eagan.html

Love his love for liberty. But he was a Drug Warrior. OTOH he was involved (at the head of the scheme in fact) with Iran Contra which was in part a plan to finance the Contras by CIA drug smuggling. And not some relatively harmless (compared to alcohol) drug like pot. But cocaine. After months of denial by the CIA, once the furor died down the CIA admitted it. You had to be watching closely to notice.

Our intel agencies never lie to us. Continuously. But they do so conveniently.

BTW the use of drug profits to finance covert operations was pioneered by the Brits. I used to think Lyndon Larouche was nuts on the matter. Until I studied the history.

Here is a scurrilous review of the book "Dope Inc." http://www.lyndonlarouche.org/dope.htm but it gets the essentials. I once owned a copy of the book. But the "Jews" are just a cover for the essential information. That review, which I just read, uncovered something I didn't know "Spengler" aka David P. Goldman was at one time a Larouchie. He writes for Asia Times (or did) and now PJMedia. http://isteve.blogspot.com/2009/04/spen ... mself.html and http://pjmedia.com/spengler/ and http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Others/Spengler.html.

I don't think Spengler has ever written a column on the drug trade since he was with Lyndon. Odd. I may have missed it but I do follow these things quite closely as you know. He does mention it parenthetically in his discussion of other subjects. I have asked him about it in comments to his various posts. He has never addressed the subject directly since his Larouche days. As far as I know.

BTW Tojo of Imperial Japan fame was involved in the Dope trade. I discuss that here: http://classicalvalues.com/2012/08/dubious-sources/ Which brings up the question. What are we really doing in Afghanistan? Curiouser and curiouser.

Well that was a long digression.

Update: - without irony -->

Iran’s theocracy displays the same apocalyptic panic about its demographic future that Hitler expressed about the supposed decline of the so-called Aryan race. Unlike Hitler, whose racial paranoia ran wild, Iran’s presentiment of national death is well founded on the facts. That is not to understate Iran’s paranoia. In 2013 Iran’s vice president alleged that Jews ran the international drug trade.

http://pjmedia.com/spengler/2013/11/26/ ... epage=true

[TDPerk]

" Iran Contra which was in part a plan to finance the Contras by CIA drug smuggling"

Not even slightly true. It at worst involved looking the other way while foreigners involved in the effort also involved themselves with drug smuggling. The sole potentially illegal part was selling armaments to Iran via Israel to try to get an "in" with the Iranians to get hostages freed from Lebanon, and using the proceeds to fund the Contras, when the Dems had forbidden any such expenditure with the Boland Amendment--itself of questionable constitutionality.

[palladin9479]

But at the time they were limited in what they could do. Now... there doesn't seem to be any limits, nothing too small for government to 'help' with, and no real way to tell them "Okay, no thank you, go the hell away and let us do for ourselves thank you kindly..."

There is a way but it takes work and time, and to be honest most Americans are just too lazy to care. The legislation that has the most impact on your day to day life will be local legislation passed at the state or city level. Getting involved in state politics will will lead to the state taking a different approach then the federal which can have some very interesting effects. See Colorado and Washington's legalization of cannabis for an extreme example. The important take away is that you are just a number, the only way to be heard / seen is to amass a large enough population demographic that votes start to ride on your opinion on a particular issue. The hard part is that it may require you to sacrifice your position on another issue so you have to do deep thinking and prioritize your issues.

EX
I abhor liberals and socialism as a rule yet I also value the decriminalization of cannabis. So I often find myself with strange political bedfellows.

[MSimon]

" Iran Contra which was in part a plan to finance the Contras by CIA drug smuggling"

Not even slightly true. It at worst involved looking the other way while foreigners involved in the effort also involved themselves with drug smuggling. The sole potentially illegal part was selling armaments to Iran via Israel to try to get an "in" with the Iranians to get hostages freed from Lebanon, and using the proceeds to fund the Contras, when the Dems had forbidden any such expenditure with the Boland Amendment--itself of questionable constitutionality.

There is ample evidence that Ollie North and CIA aircraft were involved. And Ollie noted the transport of "kilos" in his note books. I suppose he was referring to rice and beans. Gary Webb did an expose - which the government refuted until the subject died down. And then the CIA said he was correct.

Some more recent events:

http://www.madcowprod.com/2013/09/27/si ... -cocaine2/

http://www.madcowprod.com/2013/11/15/ns ... drug-ring/

http://www.madcowprod.com/2013/08/30/co ... n-the-u-s/

http://www.madcowprod.com/2013/08/20/up ... -burn-run/

From the last link:



Also from that link:

Surely he remembered CIA pilot Barry Seal flying weapons down to the Contras on old C-123 military cargo planes, and then flying back with a cargo hold filled with tightly-wrapped packages of cocaine.

Surely he remembered CIA official John Hull, who used a landing strip on his ranch in Costa Rica to send planes north filled with drugs?

None of them are allowed into the tiny nation-state of Costa Rica today. They've been permanently barred for drug trafficking.

It is comforting to know that DEA chief administrator Michelle Leonhart, who traipsed around Afghanistan a few years ago on the arm of American drug trafficker Oliver North, will someday face sanctions too, just maybe not in this life.

[MSimon]

EX
I abhor liberals and socialism as a rule yet I also value the decriminalization of cannabis. So I often find myself with strange political bedfellows.

I am in a similar situation and I am frequently amused. When I go to firedoglake to discuss drug issues the most I do re: politics is show how that issue is self defeating/contradictory for the right when couched in their own terms. i.e. I have to sneak in the right's concern for liberty and free markets. It is a fine line. I got banned from Talk-Left for a while over it. Jeralyn has since forgiven me.

[MSimon]

Gary Webb's Vindication:

Webb was vindicated by a 1998 CIA Inspector General report, which revealed that for more than a decade the agency had covered up a business relationship it had with Nicaraguan drug dealers like Blandón. The L.A. Times, New York Times and Washington Post buried the IG's report; under L.A. Times editor Michael Parks, the paper didn't acknowledge its release for months. The L.A. Times' smears against Webb continued after his death. After Webb committed suicide in a suburb of Sacramento in December 2004 - the same day he was to vacate his just-sold home and move in with his mother - a damning L.A. Times obituary described the coverage by the three papers as "discrediting" Webb. As Katz admitted to Mantle, "We really didn't do anything to advance his work or illuminate much to the story, and it was a really kind of tawdry exercise. ... And it ruined that reporter's career."

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/g ... ory-061813

http://news.firedoglake.com/2013/06/03/ ... es-writer/

Well OK. You can say that CIA was not directly involved. Except for Ollie's kilos of something.

[MSimon]

The comments at the firedoglake link are interesting. And note my prior comment at: viewtopic.php?p=108762#p108762