D-Day 2013 and Teddy Roosevelt, Jr.

I last posted my respects to the men - and women, as Bob Welch reminded us in American Nightingale - of D-Day 1944 on June 6, 2010, calling it Back Page News.  This year, not do much as a single mention anywhere in our local rag, the Eugene Register-Guard, not even on the back page.  What a comment on our national conscience.  What a disgrace. 

To us in America, raised on US-centric WW II history, this was the critical event of WW II in Europe.  The beginning of the end, and maybe it was.  But that gives short shrift to the Soviet Union's sacrifices.  We don't much like them any more but back in the day they killed 9 out of 10 German soldiers lost in the war.  Russia and its contemporaries remember them and honor them.  Us, not so much.

There is talk of another major celebration in Normandy next year.  That's great, as far as it goes, but what about saying thank you today?  Today, the living and dead veterans get not so much as a nod.

Here is Nancy Reagan placing flowers on the grave of Gen. Teddy Roosevelt, Jr., in 1994 while President Reagan looks on. 

TRJr deserves a special mention.  Gassed and wounded at Soissons in 1918, he had to overcome strenuous resistance to being in the invasion at all.   His commanding officer reluctantly OK'd it but thought he was sending him to his death.  Oldest man in the invasion, second man off the lead boat in the first wave (give that some thought), only general to land with the first wave, only man to serve with his son on D-Day.  

Medal of Honor for his actions on D-Day, one of only two sets of fathers and sons to win the Medal of Honor, along with Arthur and Douglas MacArthur.  As successive waves came ashore, he walked around under fire encouraging them to move inland and he personally led assaults against German positions, just as he did when he first came ashore.  He was admirably portrayed by Henry Fonda in the movie The Longest Day.  Maybe that's where you remember him from.  He is a man well worth remembering.

Here's his Medal of Honor citation:

For gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty on 6 June 1944, in France. After 2 verbal requests to accompany the leading assault elements in the Normandy invasion had been denied, Brig. Gen. Roosevelt's written request for this mission was approved and he landed with the first wave of the forces assaulting the enemy-held beaches. He repeatedly led groups from the beach, over the seawall and established them inland. His valor, courage, and presence in the very front of the attack and his complete unconcern at being under heavy fire inspired the troops to heights of enthusiasm and self-sacrifice. Although the enemy had the beach under constant direct fire, Brig. Gen. Roosevelt moved from one locality to another, rallying men around him, directed and personally led them against the enemy. Under his seasoned, precise, calm, and unfaltering leadership, assault troops reduced beach strong points and rapidly moved inland with minimum casualties. He thus contributed substantially to the successful establishment of the beachhead in France.

Only three other men won the Medal of Honor on D-Day, and one on June 7.  Four of the five were awarded posthumously, including TRJr who died of a heart attack on July 12, 1944, the same day he was promoted to major general.

TRJr is seldom remembered any more, just like the rest of the D-Day and WW II veterans.  But today is a good day to remember and thank him and them.

"If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten."
-- Rudyard Kipling

Achievements, not deaths, are the legacy of Normandy but it is death that dominates our thoughts today.  For each recorded act of heroism and sacrifice and death there were hundreds more that went unobserved or are forgotten.  They died to keep us free.  It is to our shame that they appear to our children only as roles in a video game instead of in a story of heroism and sacrifice that we have taught them.  

Gentlemen and ladies of D-Day, thank you for giving my family and me our freedom and our future.

* * * * *

"We’ll start the war from right here!"
Teddy Roosevelt, Jr, upon learning that his unit had landed a mile from their designated beach on D-Day.

Memorial Day 2013

Since America began, Americans have been dying to keep us free.

In the Civil War

In the Indian Wars

The Spanish-American War

In World War I

 In World War II

In Korea

 

In Vietnam

In Iraq

In Afghanistan

Please... Remember and Honor Them Today

Thank you

* * * * *

"All we have of freedom, all we use or know

This our fathers bought for us long and long ago."

-- Rudyard Kipling, The Old Issue

 

Corruption and Careerism at the IRS

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Images from theweek, unitedliberty, and tpnn

[Full disclosure:  I had a 27-1/2 year career in the Collection Division of IRS, doing and supervising enforced tax collection.  I was honored with the highest awards in both the IRS and the Treasury Department.  I had a 4-year post-career as an international consultant in the field of tax collection reform, during which I was honored with the highest civilian award in the Republic of Georgia.  I earned an MS-Tax from Golden Gate University.]

* * * * *

The Internal Revenue Service (and it's predecessor, the Bureau of Internal Revenue) has a long history of corruption, mismanagement and careerism.  The IRS was established in 1953 when the BIR was found to be corrupt beyond redemption. The IRS website refers to that change merely as a replacement for "a patronage system".  That's like referring to the Titanic as "a shipping incident".  They describe it like this:

1952 - President Truman proposed his Reorganization Plan No. 1, which replaced the patronage system at the IRS with a career civil service system. It also decentralized service to taxpayers and sought to restore public confidence in the agency.  (My emphasis.)

1953 - President Eisenhower endorsed Truman's reorganization plan and changed the name of the agency from the Bureau of Internal Revenue to the Internal Revenue Service.

Corruption and failure dog the agency to this day.  Presidents used the IRS to their political advantage from the jump.  Now the IRS Commissioner has admitted corrupt interference with conservative, religious, pro-life and public education groups.  Corrupt interference.  Again.

Once there was a guy who broke that mold.  In 1997 Bill Clinton appointed Charles Rossotti as IRS commissioner.  The news was full of stories of ugly IRS Collection Division abuses.  One of CharlieR's jobs was "fix it".  Did a good job, too, eliminating collection quotas, expanding taxpayer rights and creating a culture of customer service.  (No, really.) 

Another systemic taxpayer abuse that Rossotti faced was the illegal manipulation of IRS-approved installment payment agreements.  Senior IRS collection officials hid the facts until they were threatened with Congressional testimony by employees.  They finally fessed up once IRS General Counsel was brought in.  The illegal program was terminated and more than $20Mil in illegally collected taxes was returned to taxpayers.

That's it.  Just one real reformer in all these years.  The IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 is his legacy.  Look it up.  Let me know if you can find anyone else in his league.  You won't.  Not one other stand-out reformer before or since.

NB:  I always worked in the IRS Collection Division.  My comments regard things I witnessed, not second-hand stories or tales from other sources.

Most of the employees at IRS provide internal services or are technocrats who deal with technical tax matters.  I was one of the latter.

Technocrat:  a technical expert, especially: one exercising managerial authority.  (Thank you, Merriam-Webster.) 

The public is well served by most of them.  But far too many, especially managers, are simply careerists.  They sniff the wind and go in any direction they think may further their careers.  

Careerist: a professional who is intent on furthering his or her career by any possible means and often at the expense of their own integrity.  (Thank you, The Free Dictionary.)

Careerists think in terms of gaming the system to make themselves look good.  The ethics of the game seldom matter, only the result.  That kind of thinking gave rise to things like collection quotas, seizure (of taxpayer property) goals and promotions based on dollars collected.  Get the picture?

When accused, careerists lie if lies will further their careers or obfuscate inconvenient facts.  Rossotti knew that.  One of his Day 1 acts as Commish was an email to all employees telling us that quotas would not be tolerated and that he demanded high standards.  He told all employees to contact him directly by email if they knew of the existence of quotas as a measuring tool or goal in the IRS.  As expected, the careerists said "Quotas?  We ain't got no stinkin' quotas."  

They lied.  Many were later outed and reprimanded.  Sadly, most stayed with IRS.  But quotas and dollars as management tools at IRS disappeared.  Rossotti was as good as his word.  If you told him about illegal activities he looked into it.  Really.  That sort of involvement was unheard of in the IRS.  He told us how it was going to be and he made it happen.

Today's refrain is "the IRS/government/whatever is too big to oversee."  No, it's not.  It can be done.  If Ike could run D-Day without computers, is it so impossible to imagine that someone can run the IRS with the extraordinary technology they've got?  If Rossotti could do it then, why can't someone do it now?  It does require excellent public servants working very hard in order to run it properly and make course corrections when needed.  People like that exist.

Here's my recommendation:  Mr. Prez, give Charles Rossotti a call.  Ask him to return and fix this mess.  Beg, if you have to.  Play some golf with him, have a beer summit, invite him to meet Jay-Z and Beyonce at the White House, go over to his house and have breakfast.  Do something.  When he gets things going the right way at IRS you can let him turn the reins over to someone you both trust, but give him passes to all White House performances and State of the Union Addresses in perpetuity.  He will have earned it.  And he's a Democrat.  Take a chance.

* * * * *

"From my point of view any kind of mistreatment of one taxpayer or one employee is one too many."
-- Charles Rossotti

25 Years of Continuous Sobriety

This is another of those days that I couldn't believe would ever come.  25 years ago today - May 2, 1988 - I had my first day of a sobriety that has lasted ever since.  I may drink tomorrow, who knows, but I have every confidence that I'll stay sober today.  One day at a time.  25 years ago yesterday I was near death from uncontrollable alcoholism.  Today I planted berries in my garden and haven't drank all day.  See the difference?

I owe the sober life I have to a lot of people.  Bill W. and Dr. Bob were AA's founders.  I still can't believe how perfectly they understood me and my alcoholism 78 years ago.  AA has no gospel, but Bill's book Alcoholics Anonymous comes awfully close for me.  Thanks, guys.

Clair H. took me to my first two AA meetings in Modesto, CA, and has remained my trusted friend.  Thank you, Clair.

My sponsor, Jack B. from Davis, CA, took me under his wing and showed me how to live a sober life and apply the principles of AA, suggestions if you will, to my life.  He guided me through AA's 12 Steps.  He was always there for me until I left California in 1990 for a 5-1/2 year adventure in Alaska.  Thank you, Jack.

My darlin' wife had the great good sense to have nothing to do with me for the first few years but married me in 1993.  I think she was tired of my begging.  Thank you, Edythe.  I owe you more than I can ever repay.

I used to blame everyone and everything for my drinking.  "If you had my life, problems, experiences yada yada, you'd drink, too."  Well, no.  I drank the way I did because I am an alcoholic.  Am, not was.  Simple, right?  Sure, unless you are in the kind of insane denial that I was in.  In that case, it's a deadly delusion.

All of the 12 Steps are crucial to the maturing sobriety of anyone trying for a different life through AA.  However, Step 1 still has the most compelling message for me:

"We admitted we were powerless over alcohol--that our lives had become unmanageable"

Powerless?  Me?  Yep.  Didn't think that was possible.  It's just alcohol, right?  I wasn't that bad, was I?  Everybody drinks, right? Most of us do, true enough, and are able to take alcohol or leave it.  10% of us or so, not so much.  We're alcoholics.  Once we take a drink we lose the ability to stop.  It's not how much we drink, it's what happens when we drink.

Unmanageable?  Me?  How could that be?  Didn't I have a job?  Didn't I have stuff?  Didn't I have achievements?  Turns out, none of that matters.  It's what happens when you drink, and what happened for me was bad.  Very bad.  That's what unmanageable means for me.

I currently have five AA sponsees.  That means five men who want what they think I have and are willing to go to any lengths to get it.  I think highly of each of them and I pray they will get the AA program and let it change their lives.  If I could give them sobriety, I would.  Can't, though.  They have to work their own AA programs to the best of their abilities - I'm honored to be a part of those programs - and rely on their higher power, just as I did with Jack.  Helping them has helped me stay sober, though.  That's the way it's supposed to work.  Bill W. told me so.

My AA home group has two meetings a week.  That's uncommon but I like it that way.  I attend them, hang out with sober friends enjoying the fellowship that AA promises and I work with others.  I'll be at one of those AA meetings in 90 minutes.  Mediocre coffee but terrific people who really care about me and my sobriety, just as I care about them.

Thank you, God.

* * * * *

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change
Courage to change the things I can
And wisdom to know the difference

AA's  Serenity Prayer

Investing In Nothing... In Oregon

SoloPower - another solar panel disaster - is the latest Fed/State/Private Sector partnership to collapse.  This one, right here in Oregon.  The feds guaranteed $197Mil in loans but SoloPower never met the minimum requirements to cash in.  Narrow escape for us, right?  Well, no.

SoloPower (SP) opened last September.  Promised four production lines and "450 well-paid green jobs."  They eventually hired 60 employees but started laying them off in January.  

Now the CEO, chief tech officer and president have left.  SP is selling some of their equipment and trying to "restructure its $197 million federal loan guarantee."  Getting that Fed money, yessiree, that's the answer, according to new management. 

Could happen, the feds won't say what they need to do to get it back but it isn't out of the question.  Should be, but isn't.

"(T)he DOE would not say what the benchmarks are or if the feds will lower the bar in order to help the company survive."

But SoloPower isn't trudging this lonesome road alone.  Oh, no.  SoloPower is headquartered right here in my home state of Oregon.  Oregon is a big supporter of hopeless green ideas like Solopower.  Calls 'em "investments"... of your tax money.  No proof required.  All you have to do is convince some bureaucrats that your idea has legs and... free Mexican food.  In this case, free money.  Your money.  Oregon counties can't afford to staff their own jails but there's free state OreBux if you've got a good sales pitch.

What did SP need to do to get that state money?  They "had to employ 39 people and convince bureaucrats that it would still be in business in five years."  Like I said, a sales pitch.  "Just convince us and do some hiring and the money is yours."  

So they hired the first batch of hopeful employees and they promised to stay in business for five years.  The State of Oregon gave SP $20Mil in salable tax credits last December. 

That was way back, oh, three months ago.  Did SP need those credits?  Probably not so much since start-up companies in competitive industries rarely make any money for years.  Just ask Jeff Bezos.  So what did SP do?  They sold the credits... for $13.5Mil, cash. 

Think about it.  We're out $20Mil (someone's gonna use those credits to offset their tax liability or increase their refund) and the intended beneficiary only got $13.5Mil. 

And what about that 39 jobs part?  They did the hiring and they got the salable tax credits.  In December.  Last December.  90 days or so ago.

And when did they start their initial layoffs?  That was last January, the one that ended 80 days ago.  Got the money one month, fired their employees the next month and never so much as finished their first production line.  I'm not saying that was their business plan all along... OK, I am saying that.  

There's more:  Portland loaned SP another $8Mil cash and fronted some more tax credits, making the total state and local "investment" $58Mil. 

And still more:

"The former mayor of Portland seems to suggest the answer is more help from U.S. taxpayers.

'They survive by downscaling and being responsible with the resources they have,' said Sam Adams, 'by reducing costs and being able to wait out, hopefully, until Congress passes new energy tax credits.'

More tax money, that's the answer says SamA, widely loathed ex-mayor.  What could it hurt?  Except you, of course, and you can't be trusted. 

In the big picture, $58Mil or whatever isn't very much.  But if you steal it, it will be.  If the gummint pisses it away, well, it's just one of those things.  It's hard to get excited about sequester cuts in the increase in spending when the money gummint does get is squandered on stupid sales pitches like SP. 

SoloPower, Solyndra and hundreds of others.  Billions of YourBux.  You didn't earn that. 

Here's a useful rule that I shared with you on June 1, 2009, in GM and Chapter 11:

It's not an investment if you can't sell it.

 * * * * *

"The four most dangerous words in investing are: 'this time it's different.'"
-- Sir John Templeton

Taxation and Cyprus... and Russia

"Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society."  

Justice Oliver Wendall Holmes said that in 1904.  It's over the door to IRS headquarters in DC so it must be true.  

(Full disclosure:  I am a retired IRS tax collector and international tax collection consultant.  This blog began life as "TaxBlog" but that was far too limiting for what I wanted to say.)

I accept the principle that we need to fund our government and taxes are the right way to do it.  Nothing else makes sense, except to anarchists.  I leave to our lawmakers the what and how of taxation.  It is a difficult but necessary job.  It's also a job that no one in Congress is doing these days.  The cries and promises of "tax reform now" go unheard and unfulfilled.

Cyprus had a novel tax idea:  "Let's close the banks and take money out of everyone's savings accounts."  Really, that's what they proposed to do.  Close the banks for a day;  no, make it two days;  no, now it's three.  Create an electronic siphon and funnel between 6.75% and 9.9% out of all savings deposits and into the treasury. The Boss Hog at IMF was all for it.  “Now is the time for the authorities to deliver on what they have commented,” she said. (Thanks, NY Times)

Can you say "bank run?"  Oh, yeah.  It's already happening, as Cypriots are withdrawing money in excess of the anticipated tax via ATMs.

"The governor of the Cypriot central bank, Panicos Demetriades, warned lawmakers on Tuesday that as much as 10 percent of the €65 billion in deposits placed in Cypriot banks would flee the country as soon as banks’ doors open Thursday morning, should Parliament approve the deposit tax." (NYT again)

Did I mention that a whole lotta Russian expat money is on deposit in Cyprus?  

"On Tuesday, Russia’s envoy to the European Union, Vladimir Chizhov, said in Brussels that the levy was “similar to forceful expropriation,” and warned that “the whole banking system can collapse,” Reuters reported." (NYT) 

Didn't the Russians invent "forceful expropriation?  The Russians - and all other depositors -  are Cyprus' neo-kulaks.  Remember them?

Nicosia (the capitol) didn't bother to consider any possible consequences. They  include:

• Massive social unrest and possible (probable?) rioting
• Complete loss of public confidence once the banks have re-opened, leading to a run on whatever savings accounts remain
• Resulting collapse of the banking system - no money to lend = no banking
• Unwanted foreign profiteering and intervention
• A new government that at least promises not to steal citizens' money

All this is because Cyprus has spent itself into debt from which it cannot recover.  Ever.  This idea was part of an EU bailout, by the terms of which Nicosia would come up with €6Bil and the EU would lend €9Bil.  Since Nicosia didn't have €6Bil to spare, they had to come up with it somewhere.  Theft under the banner of taxation.

Now the government is trying to wiggle out of their self-inflicted disaster.  "Oh, we didn't meant that, silly Cypriots."  We meant Someone Who Isn't You.  See my  posts HERE and No, Really, You're Gonna to Pay More Tax and Neo-Kulaks and Someone Who Isn't You and Free Mexican Food. 

As I was writing this, Cyprus' parliament voted the measure down.  They called it a "stability tax."  Thing is, they voted it down after they enacted it.  How does that work in a democracy?

"After midnight, negotiators thought they had a proposal that could work: a one-time “tax” of 12.5 percent on depositors with $130,000 in the bank and milder but still painful cuts of around half that or less for everyday account holders."  (NYT)

Does that sound familiar?  Think "tax the 1-percenters!"  After all, they can afford it... can't they?  Maybe, until they can get the rest of their money outta Dodge.  Or Nicosia.  Now that this has failed in parliament, they're gonna have to re-open the banks sometime.  

Imagine that you had your life savings in a Cypriot savings account.  Would you leave it there and assume this isn't going to happen again?  Not only would I not do that, I would rid myself of euros as much as I could.  Can the EU survive if that becomes widespread?

Who could have seen this coming?  Oh, you?

"The Russians reacted angrily to a so-called stability tax on deposits in Cyprus, and at being left out of the negotiations."  (NYT)  No surprise there.  Anger is the Russian default emotion and their ox is being gored this time.  

Putin has offered The Russian Plan.  It's simple:  Give us your (extensive) oil rights and we'll bail you out.  "And own you forever" goes unsaid. Russia already provides most of Europe's energy.  Why not a little more?  That whole free market thing is such a nuisance.

All EU countries are interlinked.  What happens in each affects the others.  Germany is strong, Spain is a basket case, the north is bailing out the south and so forth.  There's going to be a full-scale world banking crisis if the the euro weakens dramatically as a result of a Cypriot bank industry failure.  Then who's going to bail out the next failure.  Greece, anyone?

The Russian Bear is licking his chops.  I warned of this three years ago, in Katyn, Bishkek and You:

"Russia isn't quiet.  Russia isn't sleeping.  Russia is coming soon to a country near you. "

---  Welcome Swedes!  For some inexplicable reason, I've been getting a number of page views from Sweden.  It feels good.  Keep coming back and please comment as you wish.

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When a new source of taxation is found it never means, in practice, that the old source is abandoned.  It merely means that the politicians have two ways of milking the taxpayer where they had one before.
-- H. L. Mencken

The Drone Debate

 

I admit to being conflicted by the ongoing drone debate.  Do we need them, when, where, who?

And land mines are fearsome things.  The world would be better without them.  Like war.  But when I was in a war I appreciated them.  They protected me from ground attack and that was all I needed to know.  I never thought about the ethics involved until Soviet land mines became controversial during their Afghan invasion.  

Then the repugnant reality of their indiscriminate killing made me stop and reconsider.... and I'm still conflicted.  I understand their need and use to protect troops, as I was once protected.  But the Soviets also dropped and placed little mines that were particularly attractive to little kids, especially little kids who had never seen a toy in their lives.  

That's the Soviet "butterfly mine' up above.  Those make me a little queasy.  The anticipated effect of these small mines was to demoralize the Afghans so much that they would stop fighting.  Victory through grief over dead and maimed children.  The actual effect was to strengthen their resolve, recruit more to their cause and reinforce their pitiless treatment of POWs. 

What are we getting for our drone attacks?  Well, we're killing a lot of al-Qaeda, Taliban and affiliated bad guys.  I'm for that, in general, if that is the purpose of our war.  But is it?   

I have completely forgotten the reason for continuing the war and simultaneously planning our exit from it.  How does that work and how do you explain it to the parents of the last soldier killed on the way out?  "Your son died a hero's death in defense of the Karzai opium crop."

When do we use drones to kill people?  Well, that's a hot topic right now.   The CIA won't even admit to the existence of a drone program and the Prez says he has the authority to, you know, kill people.  Says it's in a memo.  Won't show us the memo, though.  It's a secret.  We can't be trusted.  (Could I make this stuff up?)  Showed it to a few congressmen yesterday, after stonewalling for two years.  After all, congressmen can be trusted.  We can't be trusted.

Where are we killing the alleged baddies?  Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia, Mali, Yemen and God only knows where else.  God and the Prez and John Brennan, and none of them is talking to us.  We can't be trusted.

Who are we killing?  The administration has a curious policy:  "if you're standing near them, you must be a terrorist."  So pretty much anyone we think is a danger to us, whoever "us" is at the moment and what you mean by danger, and whomever is close by - kids, women, grocery clerks, doesn't matter.  No need for a battlefield, formation, weapon, uniform, Congressional oversight or... anything.  It's really none of our business, though.  We can't be trusted.

We have a secret army for secretly killing secret people.  We say you're on the list, you're goin' down.  Don't piss us off, bearded turban people.  Prez won't tell us who's on the list, who makes the list, why they made it or if it's possible to get off the list once you're on it.  We can't be trusted.

We are killing a lot of civilian non-combatants, but they don't really matter.  Here's the first bit of an anecdote from a CNN story that ran today:

Farmers are on their way to tend their crops when a missile slams into their midst, thrusting shrapnel in all directions.

A CIA drone, flying so high that the farmers can't see it, has killed most of them. None of them were militants.

And:

"Just because I have a beard and wear a turban, does that make me part of the Taliban?" asked Malik Jalaluddin.

But:

CIA director John Brennan has said that only in "exceedingly rare" cases have civilians been "accidentally injured, or worse, killed in these strikes."

John, have you met Malik?

And speaking of the Prez, he said about himself the other day, in reference to the non-transparency of the drone program:

"This is not Dick Cheney we're talking about here"

 Translation:  "It's Bush's fault."

And:  

"The president noted that he would have 'probably objected' over the White House’s handling of this issue if he were still a senator, they said. But, according to the sources, he noted his viewpoint changed now that he occupies the Oval Office — not a room in a Senate office building." (Credit Politico for both quotes.)

 So where are your principles, Prez?  Looks like you were against drones before you were for them.  Our current SecState used that line about the Iraq War once.  What it means is that political expediency is the only thing that matters in DC.  But they want us to trust them anyway.  To quote the Prez, "Hey, I won."

Makes you miss Dick Cheney, doesn't it?

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There is no instance of a nation benefiting from prolonged warfare.
-- Sun Tzu