CPAC 2010: video highlights from day one

By Philip Rucker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 19, 2010

Emboldened by a belief that their political fortunes are on the rise, conservative activists descended Thursday on the capital city they love to hate, seeking to stoke what they consider a grass-roots uprising against President Obama and Democrats in Congress.

The annual Conservative Political Action Conference was once a venue for the right fringe of the Republican Party, but in recent years it has drawn more mainstream party figures and now provides a stage for presidential aspirants to prove their conservative credentials.

This year's CPAC, which began Thursday and will run through Saturday, had a festival atmosphere, as thousands of jubilant activists turned the Marriott Wardman Park ballroom into a hive of old-guard conservatives and Don't Tread on Me "tea partiers" hungry for new leaders and messages that can carry the GOP out of the political wilderness.

It was, in the words of one speaker, "our Woodstock."

Featured speakers in the opening session included former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who sought to turn the page on his 2008 presidential campaign by casting himself as a populist and every bit the conservative standard-bearer. He defended the policies of former president George W. Bush and his party's lockstep opposition to Obama's agenda, saying that Obama had "failed" and that the Democratic majority in Congress would "soon be out the door."

"If these liberal neo-monarchists succeed, they will kill the very spirit that has built the nation -- the innovating, inventing, creating, independent current that runs from coast to coast," Romney said. Pounding on the lectern as the audience leapt up, he declared: "And we won't let 'em do it."
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The attendees stomped and screamed at the appearance of the surprise guest who introduced Romney: Scott Brown. "I'm the newly elected Republican senator from Massachusetts," Brown said. "Let me just say that one more time. I am the Republican senator from Massachusetts."

Former vice president Richard B. Cheney also made an unscheduled appearance, bounding out from behind the dark curtain with his daughter Liz. He received a hero's welcome, to cries of "Run, Dick, run!"

"Knock it off," Cheney quipped. "A welcome like that's almost enough to make me want to run for office, but I'm not gonna do it."

Since the days of President Richard M. Nixon, CPAC has served as an annual gathering of conservative thinkers. But now it is an important venue for any ambitious Republican, and this year's agenda features potential presidential hopefuls. In addition to Romney, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Rep. Mike Pence (Ind.) will speak Friday, while former senator Rick Santorum (Pa.) and former House speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) will speak Saturday, before the results of a presidential straw poll are released. Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin is not expected to attend.

The gathering continues to draw its share of firebrands. Dana Loesch, a St. Louis radio host and a tea party leader there, challenged conservatives to organize in unexpected ways -- over burgers and brews at bars where liberals congregate or by starting "flash mobs." Longtime National Rifle Association leader Wayne LaPierre gave an impassioned tribute to Charlton Heston, the late actor and NRA president.

And at a time of strife within the Republican Party, which lacks a clear national leader and is struggling to unite behind a common agenda as the November midterm elections approach, one theme emerged in each speech Thursday: Attack Obama.

"When it comes to pinning blame, pin the tail on the donkeys," Romney told the thousands who had gathered for his speech.

By 10:30 a.m., the conservative movement had already seemed to crown its latest darling: Marco Rubio, 38, a son of Cuban immigrants who is running an outsider's campaign in Florida for U.S. Senate. The audience showered Rubio with applause as he ruminated in a keynote address about American exceptionalism and his own improbable journey.

"It's sometimes easy to forget how special America really is," Rubio said, making his debut on the national stage. "But I was raised by exiles, by people who know what it is like to lose their country, by people who have a unique perspective on why elections matter, or lack thereof, by people who clearly understand how different America is from the rest of the world. . . . What makes America great is that there are dreams that are impossible everywhere else but are possible here."

Rubio is running in a hotly contested GOP primary campaign against Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a race that has pitted the conservative grass roots, which have embraced Rubio, against the more moderate party establishment.

Rubio's assaults on Obama's economic policies and his administration's handling of national security enthralled the activists.

"We will do whatever it takes, for however long it takes, to defeat radical Islamic terrorism," Rubio said. "We will punish their allies like Iran. We will stand with our allies like Israel. We will target and we will destroy terrorist cells and the leaders of those cells. The ones that survive, we will capture them. We will get useful information from them.

"And then," Rubio continued, trying to speak over the boisterous crowd, "we will bring them to justice in front of a military tribunal in Guantanamo -- not a civilian courtroom in Manhattan."

Romney sounded similar themes as he defended his party against allegations from Democratic leaders that Republicans have become "the party of 'no.' "

"Before we move away from this 'no' epithet the Democrats are fond of applying to us, let's ask the Obama folks why they say no -- no to a balanced budget, no to reforming entitlements, no to malpractice reform, no to missile defense in Eastern Europe, no to prosecuting Khalid Sheik Mohammed in a military tribunal, and no to tax cuts that create new jobs.

"You see, we conservatives don't have a corner on saying no," Romney continued. "We're just the ones who say it when that's the right thing to say."

After distancing himself from the Bush administration during his 2008 campaign, Romney on Thursday defended the Bush-Cheney record, drawing hearty applause from the audience. "I am convinced that history will judge President Bush far more kindly," he said, adding: "He kept us safe. I respect his silence even in the face of the assaults on his record that come from this administration. But at the same time, I also respect the loyalty and indefatigable defense of truth that comes from our 'I-don't-give-a-damn' vice president Dick Cheney." "



Jason Mattera, spokesman for the Young America Foundation, joked about the president's drug use, saying that unlike Obama, "our notion of freedom doesn't consist of snorting cocaine." The crack got some applause but more surprised boos.



Florida senatorial candidate Marco Rubio, running against moderate Gov. Charlie Crist in a very competitive primary race, opened the event with a rousing speech on American exceptionalism. "I am privileged to be a citizen of the single greatest society in all of human history," he told the crowd.




Jim DeMint followed Rubio, saying he was in tears watching the young conservative's speech. He defended his own firm stance against Republican moderates, getting wild applause for a dig at the party-switching Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.).

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) on Thursday said that the American people are in a “battle” with President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress.

“Three years of the Democrat majority and just one year of President Obama has awakened thousands of Americans to be more passionate advocates for freedom,” DeMint said in remarks to the Conservative Political Action Conference.

“Obama’s arrogant power grabs have made Americans stand up and say ‘enough is enough,’” he added. “The battle is between the American people and the Democrats, and I like those odds.”

DeMint said that the federal government is “assaulting almost every sector of our American economy.”

“The danger of losing freedom is no longer theoretical, it’s very real,” he told a cheering crowd, which at one point broke into chants of “DeMint for president.”

“It’s really a fight between those who take their constitutional oath seriously and those who don’t,” he said.

DeMint, the leader of the Senate Conservatives Fund, went on to take a shot at some of his Republican colleagues for urging him to tone down attacks on moderate members.

“I’ve been criticized by some of my Republican colleagues in the Senate for saying I’d rather have 30 Republicans in the Senate who believe in freedom than 60 who don’t believe in anything,” he said.

He explained that “the best way” to regain Republican control in Washington is to back “strong conservatives who believe in a strong, limited constitutional government.”

DeMint also attacked Obama as ineffective in his presidency, saying that in 2012 he hopes “Americans will expect more from their president than just a great speech.”

“I think we’ve confirmed that you can’t govern from a teleprompter,” he said. “Just because you’re good on TV doesn’t mean you can sell socialism to freedom-loving Americans.”




RedState founder Erick Erickson talked about the power of conservative media. "We've got Fox News, yeah, I guess," he said. "But imagine the way we can collaborate online to fight the left."



Dick Armey, the former lawmaker and corporate lobbyist who organized many Tea Party protests, gave a no-holds-barred tirade against Obama, calling him "intellectually shallow," "romantic" and "self-indulgent" and "the most incompetent president, perhaps, in our lifetime."

Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey went after President Barack Obama on Thursday while championing the tea party movement he has helped build.

Armey called Obama “intellectually shallow,” “romantic” and “self-indulgent” in eviscerating the president during his speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference as the “most incompetent president, perhaps, in our lifetime.”

“You have no ability, you only have talent and your purpose is income redistribution,” he said of Obama. “Up and down the line, the central purpose of this presidency is for the government to be in control and redistribute income.”

Armey, who as the head of FreedomWorks has organized dozens of tea party rallies across the country, said that Obama did not recognize after getting elected that “there was already an unrest in America.”

“It was real, it was growing and it was a groundswell,” he said of the grass-roots movement that became the tea parties. “That groundswell was real before President Obama was elected.”

“We had to ask, do you hear us now? They were in a state of denial; we weren’t real,” Armey said of the White House’s reaction to the tea party movement. “They look at all of us and say, ‘Oh you poor misguided people; there must be something wrong with you.’”

Former VP Dick Cheney Visits Conservative Political Action Conference

Washington D.C. -- In a surprise appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Former Vice President Dick Cheney said he believes recent elections have been "enormously encouraging" for Republicans and predicted that President Obama will be a "one-term president."

Cheney spoke at the CPAC's conference in Washington, where he said he was attending as daughter Liz's "arm candy."


"I think 2010 will be a phenomenal year for the conservative cause," Cheney said, citing the recent elections in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts as encouraging signs of things to come.


Former Vice President Dick Cheney got a rock star reception, prompting him to make the same joke he used at CPAC in 2008: "A welcome like that is almost enough to make me want to run for office again." More seriously, Cheney predicted that Obama would be a "one term president."

Morning Press Conference on Recovery Act year anniversary

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama vigorously defended his $787 billion stimulus on Wednesday, insisting it rescued Americans from the worst of the economic calamity and ripping Republican critics who called it a waste.

Barack Obama

Obama and Vice President Joe Biden launched a sweeping effort to convince skeptical Americans that the stimulus has been beneficial on the one-year anniversary of a plan that was pushed through the U.S. Congress by Democratic majorities.

Obama, in a White House speech, said he believed the stimulus will save or create 1.5 million jobs in 2010 after saving or creating as many as 2 million jobs thus far.

His point was to show that the stimulus, while admittedly unpopular, had the effect of keeping the U.S. economy from plunging into a second Great Depression.

"Our work is far from over but we have rescued this economy from the worst of this crisis," he said.

As Obama spoke, many administration officials were fanning out across the country this week to promote projects that have been funded by the stimulus to show Americans its results.

For example, the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded $1.5 billion on Wednesday in stimulus grants to local and state governments to back 51 transportation projects.

The White House hoped that once Americans in their towns and cities saw the results of the stimulus, they would realize it has helped.

Obama has much work to do to convince Americans who are still struggling to find work amid a 9.7 percent jobless rate.

A CBS News/New York Times poll last week found that only 6 percent of Americans believed the package had created jobs. Another poll by CNN/Opinion Research Corporation showed a majority opposed the stimulus program.

And the price tag of the stimulus has gone up. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that when all is said and done, the package will end up costing $862 billion because unemployment compensation has been costlier than expected.

ELECTION YEAR PRESSURE

All this comes as Obama and his Democrats face pressure to show results in an election year in which their large majorities in Congress could be at risk.

Republicans eager to score political points emailed out to reporters the original administration estimates from a year ago that showed the U.S. jobless rate would only rise to 8 percent under the stimulus.

"In the first year of the trillion-dollar stimulus, Americans have lost millions of jobs, the unemployment rate continues to hover near 10 percent, the deficit continues to soar and we're inundated with stories of waste, fraud and abuse," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.

"This was not the plan Americans asked for or the results they were promised," he said.

Anger and frustration over high government spending and deficits have been leading causes of a wave of public discontent with Washington, and Republicans sought to ride the current.

"One year later, we see plainly that the stimulus was not a well-thought-out plan," 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said on Facebook. "It hasn't revived our economy; instead the debt-ridden package will prove to be a drag on our economy."

Obama used a portion of his speech to accuse Republicans of hypocrisy, saying they have enjoyed its benefits even as they criticized the plan.

"There are those, let's face it, across the aisle who have tried to score political points by attacking what we did, even as many of them show up at ribbon-cutting ceremonies for projects in their districts," Obama said.

He said he recognized that many Americans are not benefiting from the stimulus.

"Millions more are struggling to make ends meet. So it doesn't yet feel like much of a recovery. And I understand that. It's why we're going to continue to do everything in our power to turn this economy around," Obama said.

With Congress now working on a multibillion-dollar jobs bill, Obama warned of the possibility this year of layoffs by state governments as funding from the stimulus runs out.

(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Lisa Lambert; Editing by Eric Walsh)

Obama names deficit panel, gives it broad leeway

Charles Dharapak | Posted: Thursday, February 18, 2010 10:19 am 

President Barack Obama signs an executive order creating the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010, in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010. From left are, Vice President Joe Biden, and the co-chairs, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

"Everything's on the table. That's how this thing's going to work," Obama told reporters after tapping former White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles, a Democrat, and former Senator Alan Simpson, a Republican, to lead the 18-member commission.
Obama's comments suggested the panel would have the latitude to consider any proposals to cut government spending -- which he warned had become extravagant -- and raise taxes.
But any recommendations would have to be approved by the bitterly divided Congress, which could be reluctant to take the unpopular steps necessary to stem the tide of red ink amid heavy lobbying by outside interest groups in the months before a congressional election.
Obama promised during his campaign that families making less than $250,000 would not face tax increases but recently said he was "agnostic" about whether the panel could consider middle-class tax hikes.
Facing political pressure and investor anxiety over mounting government debt, Obama asked the commission to come up with a strategy to balance the budget, excluding interest payments, in five years.
"I'm asking them to produce clear recommendations on how to cover the cost of all federal programs by 2015 and to meaningfully improve our long-term fiscal picture," he said. "I have every confidence that they'll do that."
To achieve the goal, Obama paired Simpson, a tall, rangy former legislator from Wyoming, with the bespectacled Bowles, who has a patrician bearing as a North Carolina banker.
The administration estimates the panel's recommendations could bring annual budget deficits down to 3 percent of gross domestic product. The White House forecast a $1.6 trillion budget deficit this year, or about 10.6 percent of GDP.
Economists say 3 percent annual deficits could keep the debt from soaring further, but some fiscal hawks lament that Obama is not setting a more aggressive goal.
The panel's recommendations must be reported to Congress by December 1.
SYMBOLIC GESTURE?
Analysts said the commission would be only a symbolic gesture unless legislators muster the will to take action. Obama used an executive order to form the panel because the Senate was unable to even pass a plan to create its own.
"Both sides need to probably slaughter some sacred cows, and right now I don't think that there's political will on either side -- the well is so poisoned," said Chris Krueger, an analyst with Concept Capital, which tracks Washington for institutional investors.
The commission has been called a way to provide political cover for Obama and Congress in case they implement unpopular measures such as raising taxes to close the budget gap.
Republicans, who have remained remarkably unified against Democratic proposals on a host of issues, made clear they back spending cuts to trim the deficit and oppose tax hikes.
"Americans know our problem is not that we tax too little but that Washington spends too much -- that should be the focus of this commission," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement.
McConnell will participate by naming members to the commission, a spokeswoman said.
With Republicans hoping for big gains in November congressional elections that could hand them control of the House of Representatives or Senate, they have little incentive to support the Democratic president's efforts.
Obama's fellow Democrats praised the choice of Bowles and Simpson, although some worry about shifting focus too soon on deficit reduction while the economy remains fragile.
"Their selection as co-chairs indicates that the Obama administration is serious about making this process work," said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, whose similar proposal failed in the Senate last month.
Obama said encouraging businesses to create jobs would remain his top priority, but said he had to act on the deficit. "There's no doubt that we're going to have to also address the long-term quandary of a government that routinely and extravagantly spends more than it takes in," he said.
The panel will have 18 members, 12 to be appointed by Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress, and six by Obama. No more than four of Obama's choices will be from the same political party. Fourteen of 18 votes on the panel will be needed to report recommendations.
(Additional reporting by Steve Holland and Thomas Ferraro; editing by Todd Eastham)

Pilot Intentionally Crashes Plane Into IRS, CIA, And FBI Complex In Austin, TX

FEBRUARY 18--The man suspected of intentionally crashing an airplane into a Texas office building today appears to have posted a lengthy online diatribe attacking the Internal Revenue Service and declaring that, "I know I'm hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand." The six-page manifesto, which you'll find below, is dated "2/18/10" and is signed "Joe Stack (1956-2010)." Andrew Joseph Stack, 53, has been identified as the man who flew a small plane into an Austin building housing IRS offices. The statement was uploaded to the front page of a web site that was registered in 2003 by a Joe Stack, who listed an address in San Marcos, Texas, which is about 35 miles south of Austin. The online posting is titled "Well Mr. Big Brother IRS man... take my pound of flesh and sleep well." Cached versions of Stack's web site, which described his software development consulting business, noted that he founded the firm in southern California in 1983, and eventually relocated to the Austin area to "lend a hand to the growing high technology industry in South-Central Texas." Stack, who has played bass in an Austin band, is pictured above. Alex Melen, whose firm hosts Stack's site, told TSG that Stack last changed his web site this morning at 10:12 AM (Eastern). His Piper Cherokee crashed into the Austin building at around 11:00 AM (Eastern). Until Stack uploaded his suicide note, his site consisted of a handful of pages describing his business, Embedded Art, and its history. A screen grab of the previous front page of Stack's site, which he backed up Tuesday afternoon, can be seen here. Melen said that Stack paid his annual hosting fee with a credit card, and last year changed his billing address from San Marcos to an address on North Mopack Expressway in Austin. Prior to speaking with TSG, Melen said he had been contacted by FBI agents in Austin and New Jersey, where his hosting business is located. At 2:40 PM today, Melen deleted Stack's web site at embeddedart.com. He replaced it with a statement noting that, "This web site has been taken offline due to the sensitive nature of the events that transpired in Texas this morning and in compliance with a request from the FBI." (7 pages)

 Pilot Intentionally Crashes Plane Into IRS, CIA, And FBI Complex In Austin, TX

The Insane Manifesto Of Austin Texas Crash Pilot Joseph Andrew Stack

Thursday, 18 February 2010 19:16 Jerry DeMarco
If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt asking yourself, “Why did this have to happen?” The simple truth is that it is complicated and has been coming for a long time. The writing process, started many months ago, was intended to be therapy in the face of the looming realization that there isn’t enough therapy in the world that can fix what is really broken.

Needless to say, this rant could fill volumes with example after example if I would let it. I find the process of writing it frustrating, tedious, and probably pointless… especially given my gross inability to gracefully articulate my thoughts in light of the storm raging in my head. Exactly what is therapeutic about that I’m not sure, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

We are all taught as children that without laws there would be no society, only anarchy. Sadly, starting at early ages we in this country have been brainwashed to believe that, in return for our dedication and service, our government stands for justice for all. We are further brainwashed to believe that there is freedom in this place, and that we should be ready to lay our lives down for the noble principals represented by its founding fathers. Remember? One of these was “no taxation without representation”. I have spent the total years of my adulthood unlearning that crap from only a few years of my childhood. These days anyone who really stands up for that principal is promptly labeled a “crackpot”, traitor and worse.

While very few working people would say they haven’t had their fair share of taxes (as can I), in my lifetime I can say with a great degree of certainty that there has never been a politician cast a vote on any matter with the likes of me or my interests in mind. Nor, for that matter, are they the least bit interested in me or anything I have to say.

Why is it that a handful of thugs and plunderers can commit unthinkable atrocities (and in the case of the GM executives, for scores of years) and when it’s time for their gravy train to crash under the weight of their gluttony and overwhelming stupidity, the force of the full federal government has no difficulty coming to their aid within days if not hours? Yet at the same time, the joke we call the American medical system, including the drug and insurance companies, are murdering tens of thousands of people a year and stealing from the corpses and victims they cripple, and this country’s leaders don’t see this as important as bailing out a few of their vile, rich cronies. Yet, the political “representatives” (thieves, liars, and self-serving scumbags is far more accurate) have endless time to sit around for year after year and debate the state of the “terrible health care problem”. It’s clear they see no crisis as long as the dead people don’t get in the way of their corporate profits rolling in.

And justice? You’ve got to be kidding!

How can any rational individual explain that white elephant conundrum in the middle of our tax system and, indeed, our entire legal system? Here we have a system that is, by far, too complicated for the brightest of the master scholars to understand. Yet, it mercilessly “holds accountable” its victims, claiming that they’re responsible for fully complying with laws not even the experts understand. The law “requires” a signature on the bottom of a tax filing; yet no one can say truthfully that they understand what they are signing; if that’s not “duress” than what is. If this is not the measure of a totalitarian regime, nothing is.

How did I get here?

My introduction to the real American nightmare starts back in the early ‘80s. Unfortunately after more than 16 years of school, somewhere along the line I picked up the absurd, pompous notion that I could read and understand plain English. Some friends introduced me to a group of people who were having ‘tax code’ readings and discussions. In particular, zeroed in on a section relating to the wonderful “exemptions” that make institutions like the vulgar, corrupt Catholic Church so incredibly wealthy. We carefully studied the law (with the help of some of the “best”, high-paid, experienced tax lawyers in the business), and then began to do exactly what the “big boys” were doing (except that we weren’t steeling from our congregation or lying to the government about our massive profits in the name of God). We took a great deal of care to make it all visible, following all of the rules, exactly the way the law said it was to be done.

The intent of this exercise and our efforts was to bring about a much-needed re-evaluation of the laws that allow the monsters of organized religion to make such a mockery of people who earn an honest living. However, this is where I learned that there are two “interpretations” for every law; one for the very rich, and one for the rest of us… Oh, and the monsters are the very ones making and enforcing the laws; the inquisition is still alive and well today in this country.

That little lesson in patriotism cost me $40,000+, 10 years of my life, and set my retirement plans back to 0. It made me realize for the first time that I live in a country with an ideology that is based on a total and complete lie. It also made me realize, not only how naive I had been, but also the incredible stupidity of the American public; that they buy, hook, line, and sinker, the crap about their “freedom”… and that they continue to do so with eyes closed in the face of overwhelming evidence and all that keeps happening in front of them.

Before even having to make a shaky recovery from the sting of the first lesson on what justice really means in this country (around 1984 after making my way through engineering school and still another five years of “paying my dues”), I felt I finally had to take a chance of launching my dream of becoming an independent engineer.

On the subjects of engineers and dreams of independence, I should digress somewhat to say that I’m sure that I inherited the fascination for creative problem solving from my father. I realized this at a very young age.

The significance of independence, however, came much later during my early years of college; at the age of 18 or 19 when I was living on my own as student in an apartment in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. My neighbor was an elderly retired woman (80+ seemed ancient to me at that age) who was the widowed wife of a retired steel worker. Her husband had worked all his life in the steel mills of central Pennsylvania with promises from big business and the union that, for his 30 years of service, he would have a pension and medical care to look forward to in his retirement. Instead he was one of the thousands who got nothing because the incompetent mill management and corrupt union (not to mention the government) raided their pension funds and stole their retirement. All she had was social security to live on.

In retrospect, the situation was laughable because here I was living on peanut butter and bread (or Ritz crackers when I could afford to splurge) for months at a time. When I got to know this poor figure and heard her story I felt worse for her plight than for my own (I, after all, I thought I had everything to in front of me). I was genuinely appalled at one point, as we exchanged stories and commiserated with each other over our situations, when she in her grandmotherly fashion tried to convince me that I would be “healthier” eating cat food (like her) rather than trying to get all my substance from peanut butter and bread. I couldn’t quite go there, but the impression was made. I decided that I didn’t trust big business to take care of me, and that I would take responsibility for my own future and myself.

Return to the early ‘80s, and here I was off to a terrifying start as a ‘wet-behind-the-ears’ contract software engineer... and two years later, thanks to the fine backroom, midnight effort by the sleazy executives of Arthur Andersen (the very same folks who later brought us Enron and other such calamities) and an equally sleazy New York Senator (Patrick Moynihan), we saw the passage of 1986 tax reform act with its section 1706.

For you who are unfamiliar, here is the core text of the IRS Section 1706, defining the treatment of workers (such as contract engineers) for tax purposes. Visit this link for a conference committee report (http://www.synergistech.com/1706.shtml#ConferenceCommitteeReport) regarding the intended interpretation of Section 1706 and the relevant parts of Section 530, as amended. For information on how these laws affect technical services workers and their clients, read our discussion here (http://www.synergistech.com/ic-taxlaw.shtml).

SEC. 1706. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN TECHNICAL PERSONNEL.

(a) IN GENERAL - Section 530 of the Revenue Act of 1978 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:

(d) EXCEPTION. - This section shall not apply in the case of an individual who pursuant to an arrangement between the taxpayer and another person, provides services for such other person as an engineer, designer, drafter, computer programmer, systems analyst, or other similarly skilled worker engaged in a similar line of work.

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE. - The amendment made by this section shall apply to remuneration paid and services rendered after December 31, 1986.

Note:

• "another person" is the client in the traditional job-shop relationship.

• "taxpayer" is the recruiter, broker, agency, or job shop.

• "individual", "employee", or "worker" is you.


Admittedly, you need to read the treatment to understand what it is saying but it’s not very complicated. The bottom line is that they may as well have put my name right in the text of section (d). Moreover, they could only have been more blunt if they would have came out and directly declared me a criminal and non-citizen slave. Twenty years later, I still can’t believe my eyes.

During 1987, I spent close to $5000 of my ‘pocket change’, and at least 1000 hours of my time writing, printing, and mailing to any senator, congressman, governor, or slug that might listen; none did, and they universally treated me as if I was wasting their time. I spent countless hours on the L.A. freeways driving to meetings and any and all of the disorganized professional groups who were attempting to mount a campaign against this atrocity. This, only to discover that our efforts were being easily derailed by a few moles from the brokers who were just beginning to enjoy the windfall from the new declaration of their “freedom”. Oh, and don’t forget, for all of the time I was spending on this, I was loosing income that I couldn’t bill clients.

After months of struggling it had clearly gotten to be a futile exercise. The best we could get for all of our trouble is a pronouncement from an IRS mouthpiece that they weren’t going to enforce that provision (read harass engineers and scientists). This immediately proved to be a lie, and the mere existence of the regulation began to have its impact on my bottom line; this, of course, was the intended effect.

Again, rewind my retirement plans back to 0 and shift them into idle. If I had any sense, I clearly should have left abandoned engineering and never looked back.

Instead I got busy working 100-hour workweeks. Then came the L.A. depression of the early 1990s. Our leaders decided that they didn’t need the all of those extra Air Force bases they had in Southern California, so they were closed; just like that. The result was economic devastation in the region that rivaled the widely publicized Texas S&L fiasco. However, because the government caused it, no one gave a shit about all of the young families who lost their homes or street after street of boarded up houses abandoned to the wealthy loan companies who received government funds to “shore up” their windfall. Again, I lost my retirement.

Years later, after weathering a divorce and the constant struggle trying to build some momentum with my business, I find myself once again beginning to finally pick up some speed. Then came the .COM bust and the 911 nightmare. Our leaders decided that all aircraft were grounded for what seemed like an eternity; and long after that, ‘special’ facilities like San Francisco were on security alert for months. This made access to my customers prohibitively expensive. Ironically, after what they had done the Government came to the aid of the airlines with billions of our tax dollars … as usual they left me to rot and die while they bailed out their rich, incompetent cronies WITH MY MONEY! After these events, there went my business but not quite yet all of my retirement and savings.

By this time, I’m thinking that it might be good for a change. Bye to California, I’ll try Austin for a while. So I moved, only to find out that this is a place with a highly inflated sense of self-importance and where damn little real engineering work is done. I’ve never experienced such a hard time finding work. The rates are 1/3 of what I was earning before the crash, because pay rates here are fixed by the three or four large companies in the area who are in collusion to drive down prices and wages… and this happens because the justice department is all on the take and doesn’t give a fuck about serving anyone or anything but themselves and their rich buddies.

To survive, I was forced to cannibalize my savings and retirement, the last of which was a small IRA. This came in a year with mammoth expenses and not a single dollar of income. I filed no return that year thinking that because I didn’t have any income there was no need. The sleazy government decided that they disagreed. But they didn’t notify me in time for me to launch a legal objection so when I attempted to get a protest filed with the court I was told I was no longer entitled to due process because the time to file ran out. Bend over for another $10,000 helping of justice.

So now we come to the present. After my experience with the CPA world, following the business crash I swore that I’d never enter another accountant’s office again. But here I am with a new marriage and a boatload of undocumented income, not to mention an expensive new business asset, a piano, which I had no idea how to handle. After considerable thought I decided that it would be irresponsible NOT to get professional help; a very big mistake.

When we received the forms back I was very optimistic that they were in order. I had taken all of the years information to Bill Ross, and he came back with results very similar to what I was expecting. Except that he had neglected to include the contents of Sheryl’s unreported income; $12,700 worth of it. To make matters worse, Ross knew all along this was missing and I didn’t have a clue until he pointed it out in the middle of the audit. By that time it had become brutally evident that he was representing himself and not me.

This left me stuck in the middle of this disaster trying to defend transactions that have no relationship to anything tax-related (at least the tax-related transactions were poorly documented). Things I never knew anything about and things my wife had no clue would ever matter to anyone. The end result is… well, just look around.

I remember reading about the stock market crash before the “great” depression and how there were wealthy bankers and businessmen jumping out of windows when they realized they screwed up and lost everything. Isn’t it ironic how far we’ve come in 60 years in this country that they now know how to fix that little economic problem; they just steal from the middle class (who doesn’t have any say in it, elections are a joke) to cover their asses and it’s “business-as-usual”. Now when the wealthy fuck up, the poor get to die for the mistakes… isn’t that a clever, tidy solution.

As government agencies go, the FAA is often justifiably referred to as a tombstone agency, though they are hardly alone. The recent presidential puppet GW Bush and his cronies in their eight years certainly reinforced for all of us that this criticism rings equally true for all of the government. Nothing changes unless there is a body count (unless it is in the interest of the wealthy sows at the government trough). In a government full of hypocrites from top to bottom, life is as cheap as their lies and their self-serving laws.

I know I’m hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand. It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their freedom in this country, and it isn’t limited to the blacks, and poor immigrants. I know there have been countless before me and there are sure to be as many after. But I also know that by not adding my body to the count, I insure nothing will change. I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at “big brother” while he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had enough.

I can only hope that the numbers quickly get too big to be white washed and ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt; it will take nothing less. I would only hope that by striking a nerve that stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for what they are. Sadly, though I spent my entire life trying to believe it wasn’t so, but violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer. The cruel joke is that the really big chunks of shit at the top have known this all along and have been laughing, at and using this awareness against, fools like me all along.

I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.

The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.

Joe Stack (1956-2010)

Obama meets Dalai Lama, angering China

By Matt Spetalnick
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama hosted exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama at the White House Thursday, drawing an angry reaction from China and risking further damage to strained Sino-U.S. ties.


Obama sat down with the Dalai Lama -- who is reviled by the Chinese government as a dangerous separatist but admired by many around the world as a man of peace -- in the face of wider tensions over U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan, China's currency practices and Internet censorship.

There was no welcome fanfare on Thursday, nor a public appearance with the president. The White House released only a single official picture, rather than allow independent photographers and reporters to see the two men together. This from a president who promised — and in some other ways has delivered — unprecedented transparency in his White House.

So Obama sat down with his fellow Nobel laureate in the Map Room instead of the Oval Office — a decidedly lower status in the White House venue pecking order. Such distinctions signaled to Beijing that the Tibetan monk was not being received as a political leader. Even the White House description of the talks was done on paper. The timing was a concession, too, as Obama declined to see the Dalai Lama during his Washington stay in October because it would have come before the president's November China visit.

Speaking to reporters on the White House driveway, playfully tossing a bit of snow at them and declaring himself "very happy" with the visit.   The Dalai Lama spoke to the president about the promotion of human values, religious harmony, a greater leadership role for women around the world and the concerns of the Tibetan people, and that Obama was "very much supportive."

OBAMA PRAISE FOR DALAI LAMA
After the 70-minute meeting, the White House said Obama "commended the Dalai Lama's ... commitment to nonviolence and his pursuit of dialogue with the Chinese government."
Obama encouraged China and the Dalai Lama's envoys to keep up efforts to resolve their differences through negotiations, despite recent talks having yielded little progress.

The White House said Obama and the Dalai Lama also "agreed on the importance of a positive and cooperative relationship between the United States and China."  "The president stated his strong support for the preservation of Tibet's unique religious, cultural and linguistic identity and the protection of human rights for Tibetans in the People's Republic of China," the White House said.

On the eve of the Dalai Lama's visit, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs insisted the United States and China -- the world's largest and third-biggest economies -- have a "mature relationship" capable of withstanding disagreements.