Hmmmm, if this was any ordinary person, do you think the IRS would accept the excuse that these income sources were accidentally missed or overlooked? NO...the person would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Why is Mr. Rangel getting away with this? Here is the link to the below article. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203706604574376720192072820.html
The Absent-Minded Chairman
Charlie Rangel wins the personal lottery.
When normal people happen to "find" their own money, it might mean a twenty left in a winter coat, or discovering change beneath the sofa cushions. But if you're Charlie Rangel, it means doubling your net worth.
Earlier this month the Chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee "amended" his 2007 financial disclosure form—to the tune of more than a half-million dollars in previously unreported assets and income. That number may be as high as $780,000, because Congress's ethics rules only require the Members to report their finances within broad ranges. This voyage of personal financial discovery brings Mr. Rangel's net worth for 2007 to somewhere between $1.028 million and $2.495 million, while his previous statement came in at $516,015 and $1.316 million.
When you're a powerful Congressman and working diligently to increase tax rates to pay for President Obama's health-care plan, we suppose it's easy to lose track of one of your checking accounts. That would be the one at the federal credit union with a balance somewhere between $250,001 and maybe as high as $500,000. And when you're crunched for time and pulling together bills to pass in a rush, we guess, too, that you might overlook several other investment accounts, even if some of them are sizable, such as the ones Mr. Rangel missed at JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Oppenheimer and BlackRock.
Oh, and those vacant properties in Glassboro, in southern Jersey? Everybody in Manhattan tries not to think much about New Jersey, so those lots and their as-much-as-$15,000 value must also have slipped down the memory hole. (The New York Post reported yesterday that Mr. Rangel failed to pay property taxes for two of the lots, according to the county clerk's office.)
The Chairman probably isn't doing a lot of dining at KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell or Long John Silver's, either, which may explain why he didn't disclose the $1,001 to $15,000 in stock he owns in Yum Brands, the conglomerate that runs those chain restaurants. Compared to his undisclosed portfolio stake in PepsiCo—$15,001 to $50,000—that's practically a rounding error.
All lawmakers amend their financial reports from time to time, though rarely are the errors this extensive. Via email, a Rangel spokesman declined to offer details about how the errors occurred, noting that "Once the Ethics Committee completes its work, then we can answer questions in more detail." He added that Mr. Rangel is now "confident that his records have been subjected to an exhaustive and complete review, and that the amendments accurately reflect his financial interests."
Among other issues, Mr. Rangel is currently under investigation regarding his use of four rent-stabilized apartments at New York City's tony Lenox Terrace and soliciting donations with his official letterhead for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at City College of New York, which was itself built with a $1.9 million earmark. Yet another part of the probe is his failure to report $75,000 in income from a rental villa at the beachfront Punta Cana Yacht Club, in the Dominican Republic.
Mr. Rangel blamed that last one on the language barrier because he doesn't speak Spanish. We can only imagine what language he speaks with his accountants and tax attorneys.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Does this feel a bit like big brother?
Here is the link to the article listed below.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10320096-38.html
Some of you may not agree, but it feels like the government would be able to access my life through my computer and that feels like a violation of my privacy rights. Any opinions, thoughts, clarifications, by anyone? I'd like it if someone could reduce my paranoia.
Bill would give president emergency control of Internet by Declan McCullagh
Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet.
They're not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773 (excerpt), which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.
The new version would allow the president to "declare a cybersecurity emergency" relating to "non-governmental" computer networks and do what's necessary to respond to the threat. Other sections of the proposal include a federal certification program for "cybersecurity professionals," and a requirement that certain computer systems and networks in the private sector be managed by people who have been awarded that license.
"I think the redraft, while improved, remains troubling due to its vagueness," said Larry Clinton, president of the Internet Security Alliance, which counts representatives of Verizon, Verisign, Nortel, and Carnegie Mellon University on its board. "It is unclear what authority Sen. Rockefeller thinks is necessary over the private sector. Unless this is clarified, we cannot properly analyze, let alone support the bill."
Representatives of other large Internet and telecommunications companies expressed concerns about the bill in a teleconference with Rockefeller's aides this week, but were not immediately available for interviews on Thursday.
A spokesman for Rockefeller also declined to comment on the record Thursday, saying that many people were unavailable because of the summer recess. A Senate source familiar with the bill compared the president's power to take control of portions of the Internet to what President Bush did when grounding all aircraft on Sept. 11, 2001. The source said that one primary concern was the electrical grid, and what would happen if it were attacked from a broadband connection.
When Rockefeller, the chairman of the Senate Commerce committee, and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) introduced the original bill in April, they claimed it was vital to protect national cybersecurity. "We must protect our critical infrastructure at all costs--from our water to our electricity, to banking, traffic lights and electronic health records," Rockefeller said.
The Rockefeller proposal plays out against a broader concern in Washington, D.C., about the government's role in cybersecurity. In May, President Obama acknowledged that the government is "not as prepared" as it should be to respond to disruptions and announced that a new cybersecurity coordinator position would be created inside the White House staff. Three months later, that post remains empty, one top cybersecurity aide has quit, and some wags have begun to wonder why a government that receives failing marks on cybersecurity should be trusted to instruct the private sector what to do.
Rockefeller's revised legislation seeks to reshuffle the way the federal government addresses the topic. It requires a "cybersecurity workforce plan" from every federal agency, a "dashboard" pilot project, measurements of hiring effectiveness, and the implementation of a "comprehensive national cybersecurity strategy" in six months--even though its mandatory legal review will take a year to complete.
The privacy implications of sweeping changes implemented before the legal review is finished worry Lee Tien, a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco. "As soon as you're saying that the federal government is going to be exercising this kind of power over private networks, it's going to be a really big issue," he says.
Probably the most controversial language begins in Section 201, which permits the president to "direct the national response to the cyber threat" if necessary for "the national defense and security." The White House is supposed to engage in "periodic mapping" of private networks deemed to be critical, and those companies "shall share" requested information with the federal government. ("Cyber" is defined as anything having to do with the Internet, telecommunications, computers, or computer networks.)
"The language has changed but it doesn't contain any real additional limits," EFF's Tien says. "It simply switches the more direct and obvious language they had originally to the more ambiguous (version)...The designation of what is a critical infrastructure system or network as far as I can tell has no specific process. There's no provision for any administrative process or review. That's where the problems seem to start. And then you have the amorphous powers that go along with it."
Translation: If your company is deemed "critical," a new set of regulations kick in involving who you can hire, what information you must disclose, and when the government would exercise control over your computers or network.
The Internet Security Alliance's Clinton adds that his group is "supportive of increased federal involvement to enhance cyber security, but we believe that the wrong approach, as embodied in this bill as introduced, will be counterproductive both from an national economic and national secuity perspective."
Update at 3:14 p.m. PDT: I just talked to Jena Longo, deputy communications director for the Senate Commerce committee, on the phone. She sent me e-mail with this statement:
The president of the United States has always had the constitutional authority, and duty, to protect the American people and direct the national response to any emergency that threatens the security and safety of the United States. The Rockefeller-Snowe Cybersecurity bill makes it clear that the president's authority includes securing our national cyber infrastructure from attack. The section of the bill that addresses this issue, applies specifically to the national response to a severe attack or natural disaster. This particular legislative language is based on longstanding statutory authorities for wartime use of communications networks. To be very clear, the Rockefeller-Snowe bill will not empower a "government shutdown or takeover of the Internet" and any suggestion otherwise is misleading and false. The purpose of this language is to clarify how the president directs the public-private response to a crisis, secure our economy and safeguard our financial networks, protect the American people, their privacy and civil liberties, and coordinate the government's response.
Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for an on-the-record answer to these four questions that I asked her colleague on Wednesday. I'll let you know if and when I get a response.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10320096-38.html
Some of you may not agree, but it feels like the government would be able to access my life through my computer and that feels like a violation of my privacy rights. Any opinions, thoughts, clarifications, by anyone? I'd like it if someone could reduce my paranoia.
Bill would give president emergency control of Internet by Declan McCullagh
Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet.
They're not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773 (excerpt), which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.
The new version would allow the president to "declare a cybersecurity emergency" relating to "non-governmental" computer networks and do what's necessary to respond to the threat. Other sections of the proposal include a federal certification program for "cybersecurity professionals," and a requirement that certain computer systems and networks in the private sector be managed by people who have been awarded that license.
"I think the redraft, while improved, remains troubling due to its vagueness," said Larry Clinton, president of the Internet Security Alliance, which counts representatives of Verizon, Verisign, Nortel, and Carnegie Mellon University on its board. "It is unclear what authority Sen. Rockefeller thinks is necessary over the private sector. Unless this is clarified, we cannot properly analyze, let alone support the bill."
Representatives of other large Internet and telecommunications companies expressed concerns about the bill in a teleconference with Rockefeller's aides this week, but were not immediately available for interviews on Thursday.
A spokesman for Rockefeller also declined to comment on the record Thursday, saying that many people were unavailable because of the summer recess. A Senate source familiar with the bill compared the president's power to take control of portions of the Internet to what President Bush did when grounding all aircraft on Sept. 11, 2001. The source said that one primary concern was the electrical grid, and what would happen if it were attacked from a broadband connection.
When Rockefeller, the chairman of the Senate Commerce committee, and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) introduced the original bill in April, they claimed it was vital to protect national cybersecurity. "We must protect our critical infrastructure at all costs--from our water to our electricity, to banking, traffic lights and electronic health records," Rockefeller said.
The Rockefeller proposal plays out against a broader concern in Washington, D.C., about the government's role in cybersecurity. In May, President Obama acknowledged that the government is "not as prepared" as it should be to respond to disruptions and announced that a new cybersecurity coordinator position would be created inside the White House staff. Three months later, that post remains empty, one top cybersecurity aide has quit, and some wags have begun to wonder why a government that receives failing marks on cybersecurity should be trusted to instruct the private sector what to do.
Rockefeller's revised legislation seeks to reshuffle the way the federal government addresses the topic. It requires a "cybersecurity workforce plan" from every federal agency, a "dashboard" pilot project, measurements of hiring effectiveness, and the implementation of a "comprehensive national cybersecurity strategy" in six months--even though its mandatory legal review will take a year to complete.
The privacy implications of sweeping changes implemented before the legal review is finished worry Lee Tien, a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco. "As soon as you're saying that the federal government is going to be exercising this kind of power over private networks, it's going to be a really big issue," he says.
Probably the most controversial language begins in Section 201, which permits the president to "direct the national response to the cyber threat" if necessary for "the national defense and security." The White House is supposed to engage in "periodic mapping" of private networks deemed to be critical, and those companies "shall share" requested information with the federal government. ("Cyber" is defined as anything having to do with the Internet, telecommunications, computers, or computer networks.)
"The language has changed but it doesn't contain any real additional limits," EFF's Tien says. "It simply switches the more direct and obvious language they had originally to the more ambiguous (version)...The designation of what is a critical infrastructure system or network as far as I can tell has no specific process. There's no provision for any administrative process or review. That's where the problems seem to start. And then you have the amorphous powers that go along with it."
Translation: If your company is deemed "critical," a new set of regulations kick in involving who you can hire, what information you must disclose, and when the government would exercise control over your computers or network.
The Internet Security Alliance's Clinton adds that his group is "supportive of increased federal involvement to enhance cyber security, but we believe that the wrong approach, as embodied in this bill as introduced, will be counterproductive both from an national economic and national secuity perspective."
Update at 3:14 p.m. PDT: I just talked to Jena Longo, deputy communications director for the Senate Commerce committee, on the phone. She sent me e-mail with this statement:
The president of the United States has always had the constitutional authority, and duty, to protect the American people and direct the national response to any emergency that threatens the security and safety of the United States. The Rockefeller-Snowe Cybersecurity bill makes it clear that the president's authority includes securing our national cyber infrastructure from attack. The section of the bill that addresses this issue, applies specifically to the national response to a severe attack or natural disaster. This particular legislative language is based on longstanding statutory authorities for wartime use of communications networks. To be very clear, the Rockefeller-Snowe bill will not empower a "government shutdown or takeover of the Internet" and any suggestion otherwise is misleading and false. The purpose of this language is to clarify how the president directs the public-private response to a crisis, secure our economy and safeguard our financial networks, protect the American people, their privacy and civil liberties, and coordinate the government's response.
Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for an on-the-record answer to these four questions that I asked her colleague on Wednesday. I'll let you know if and when I get a response.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Been a While
It's been a while since I have blogged. I have either not been in the mood to write much or I struggle getting all my thoughts organized into something understandable for other people.
Since my last blog, much has happened. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in June and has already had surgery and started her chemo. I am amazed at her strength and faith during this time. I am so thankful for the presence of Jesus in her life.
One of my friends is expecting again, which is very exciting. Babies are wonderful!
My boss suddenly left our agency and we have been in limbo again. I am struggling with my job right now. Some things happened that have made me feel very disrespected and devalued. I am praying to God on this a lot. I want my life to be a witness to how amazing Jesus is so I don't want to react to the situation at work in a way that would dishonor Him and be a bad witness. I do have to do something about the work situation. I really do feel that I was treated badly and I would at least like someone to acknowledge the fact that what they did wounded me. I may not get what I want. If I don't, then I have to make a decision about whether it is the type of agency I want to work for long term. I am very torn inside. What has occurred is very counter to the mission of my organization, so I hope I can have some positive closure.
I am going to facilitate a small group through my church on the fall series, "King of the Hill". It will be a study on the Beatitudes and Sermon on the Mount. I am excited to get back into ministry at my church. I am also going to start helping out with the U Count Campaign. This is a ministry that seeks to educate about human trafficking and support women in India who are trying to free themselves from sex trade slavery. I would like to donate one of my photographs to the silent auction the church is having in September. It has to be blown up quiet a bit to be auctioned off, so I will have to see how much it costs, if any of my pics can keep their quality while being blown up, and how much a frame would cost. If nothing else, I will aim to help at the auction and gearing up for it. It is for a very worthy cause. The U Count ministry has tugged at my heart since they started it at the church. I cannot imagine living the life these women have lived and are living. It astounds me.
I have been reading a book called The 5000 Year Leap: A Miracle That Changed the World, Principles of Freedom 101. I highly recommend it. It goes through how our country was founded and why it's founding helped accelerate innovation and a higher quality of life. I fear for our country. Too many politicians say they want to help the little guy but all their schemes do is limit freedom and often end of making life worse, not better, for the little guy. I am disheartened and pray daily for godly leadership in our government. I see our country growing as a welfare and nanny state. This creates dependence on government and pushes God out of the picture. Once I am done reading this book, I will let you know what one I start next. I have so many I want to read, it is hard to focus on just one book.
It's hard to believe that summer is almost over. It's gone so fast! Well, I think that will be all for now. Hopefully, I will write sooner rather then later. :)
Since my last blog, much has happened. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in June and has already had surgery and started her chemo. I am amazed at her strength and faith during this time. I am so thankful for the presence of Jesus in her life.
One of my friends is expecting again, which is very exciting. Babies are wonderful!
My boss suddenly left our agency and we have been in limbo again. I am struggling with my job right now. Some things happened that have made me feel very disrespected and devalued. I am praying to God on this a lot. I want my life to be a witness to how amazing Jesus is so I don't want to react to the situation at work in a way that would dishonor Him and be a bad witness. I do have to do something about the work situation. I really do feel that I was treated badly and I would at least like someone to acknowledge the fact that what they did wounded me. I may not get what I want. If I don't, then I have to make a decision about whether it is the type of agency I want to work for long term. I am very torn inside. What has occurred is very counter to the mission of my organization, so I hope I can have some positive closure.
I am going to facilitate a small group through my church on the fall series, "King of the Hill". It will be a study on the Beatitudes and Sermon on the Mount. I am excited to get back into ministry at my church. I am also going to start helping out with the U Count Campaign. This is a ministry that seeks to educate about human trafficking and support women in India who are trying to free themselves from sex trade slavery. I would like to donate one of my photographs to the silent auction the church is having in September. It has to be blown up quiet a bit to be auctioned off, so I will have to see how much it costs, if any of my pics can keep their quality while being blown up, and how much a frame would cost. If nothing else, I will aim to help at the auction and gearing up for it. It is for a very worthy cause. The U Count ministry has tugged at my heart since they started it at the church. I cannot imagine living the life these women have lived and are living. It astounds me.
I have been reading a book called The 5000 Year Leap: A Miracle That Changed the World, Principles of Freedom 101. I highly recommend it. It goes through how our country was founded and why it's founding helped accelerate innovation and a higher quality of life. I fear for our country. Too many politicians say they want to help the little guy but all their schemes do is limit freedom and often end of making life worse, not better, for the little guy. I am disheartened and pray daily for godly leadership in our government. I see our country growing as a welfare and nanny state. This creates dependence on government and pushes God out of the picture. Once I am done reading this book, I will let you know what one I start next. I have so many I want to read, it is hard to focus on just one book.
It's hard to believe that summer is almost over. It's gone so fast! Well, I think that will be all for now. Hopefully, I will write sooner rather then later. :)
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