Free Republic

MEDIUM RARE By Jim Rarey August 20, 2001 THE TAX REBATE SCAM Millions of Americans, from July through September, will be receiving checks from Uncle Sam. Millions more will not. The Congress, in what it considered a masterful public relations coup, passed a reduction in the lowest income tax rate from 15% to 10% effective in the middle of this year. This created a huge problem for tax returns to be filed by April 15th of 2002 for 2001 income. It would have been too complicated to split the year’s income into two parts to apply two different tax rates ...

MEDIUM RARE By Jim Rarey August 18, 2001 LEVY/CONDIT – AMAZING COINCIDENCES In the last several articles published by this writer, a theory has been developed that the disappearance of former intern Chandra Levy had little or nothing to do with her affair with Congressman Gary Condit. Rather, that something Chandra learned on her job at the Bureau of Prisons made her dangerous to powerful people who arranged her elimination. One of the two scenarios advanced had to do with allegations that Timothy McVeigh had been visited a number of time by Dr. Louis Jolyon West, one of the premiere ...

MEDIUM RARE By Jim Rarey August 13, 2001 CHANDRA: UNRAVELING GOVERNMENT COVERUPS? [This is the fourth in a series of articles by the author based on the premise that Chandra Levy’s disappearance and presumed death resulted from information she could have uncovered from Bureau of Prison records as part of her official duties there. (See bottom of this article for reference to earlier articles.)] Whether or not Chandra actually had knowledge of the two massive government cover-ups discussed in this article, the possibility or perception that she did (or was actively pursuing either of them) would make her dangerous to ...

MEDIUM RARE By Jim Rarey August 9, 2001 CONDIT: THE CIRCLING OF THE WAGONS For fans of western movies, the phrase “circling the wagons” immediately evokes an image of pioneers with their Canestoga Clippers forming a circle to repel an attack, usually by Indians. In media parlance today, the overworked phrase most often is used to describe supporters of politicians rallying to the defense of their beleaguered friend or meal ticket from the attacks of the media. Supporters of Gary Condit are being compared to the circling of the wagons as they castigate the media for its concentrated coverage of ...

MEDIUM RARE August 9, 2001 STATE USE TAX IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL Michigan, as do a number of states, levies what is called a "Sales and Use Tax" The "Sales Tax" is applied to most of the merchandise sold within the state. The state tries to levy the "Use Tax" on merchandise purchased from out of state but "used" in Michigan. The problem with collecting the use tax is that unless the out of state seller adds the tax and remits it to Michigan, there is no mechanism to collect it. Some out of state sellers do add the tax to their ...

MEDIUM RARE By Jim Rarey August 7, 2001 CIVIL INFRACTIONS VS CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS There is a dangerous trend sweeping state and local judicial and law enforcement jurisdictions around the country. Many infractions of laws (statutes and local ordinances) that formerly were classified as misdemeanors have been downgraded to “civil infractions.” Rules of procedure for courts vary from state to state in the handling of “civil infractions.” In Michigan, those rules are established by the State Supreme Court (whose members are elected), although there is an ongoing debate on whether the legislature should perform that function. In many states, as in ...

MEDIUM RARE By Jim Rarey July 31, 2001 CHANDRA’S DANGEROUS KNOWLEDGE This writer has been challenged by several subscribers to provide more information on which the scenario was based in the Medium Rare article of July 26th (Condit’s Rock and a Hard Place). In that article it was postulated that Chandra Levi may have come into possession of information that made her dangerous to powerful people, not necessarily Gary Condit, that required her “elimination.” Consequently, please bear with us while we “build the case.” It appears obvious that Chandra is (was) a bright inquisitive girl and young woman with a ...

MEDIUM RARE By Jim Rarey July 26, 2001 CONDIT’S ROCK AND A HARD PLACE There are only two possible explanations, in this writer’s opinion, for Gary Condit’s continued public silence on Chandra Levy’s disappearance. The first reason would be that he was criminally involved, directly or indirectly, in Chandra’s disappearance and presumed death. If that were true, his behavior would be entirely consistent with that guilt. However, if he was involved in her death, it would not likely have anything to do with his intimate relationship with her. Condit, we are learning more each week, had a history of affairs ...

MEDIUM RARE By Jim Rarey July 17, 2001 WHO IS ANALYZING CHANDRA’S COMPUTER? There has been no reference that this writer has seen as to who is doing the analysis of Chandra Levy’s laptop computer. Is it the FBI or the CIA? It is doubtful the D.C. police have the expertise required to trace websites visited by whomever was operating Chandra’s computer on the fateful day of her disappearance. This is something we need to know to be able to assess the credibility of all the leaks (and leads) coming out of the police department. Are the police chasing red ...

MEDIUM RARE By Jim Rarey July 6, 2001 CHANDRA LEVY A MOSSAD AGENT? Sherman Skolnick, the Chicago nemesis of crooked judges, has an interesting theory about Chandra Levy and Monica Lewinski (you remember Monica don’t you)? He thinks both may be agents of the Israeli spy agency Mossad. Before rejecting the theories out of hand, let’s take a look. The thing about a valid theory is that it must account for all the known facts. In both cases there are a lot of unanswered questions that could knock the theories into a cocked hat. On the other hand, some of ...

MEDIUM RARE By Jim Rarey July 5, 2001 The following news article appeared today in the local newspaper, the "Romulus Roman" in Romulus, Michigan. I believe it is self-explanatory as to the land grab going on in Wayne County. Unfortunately, this activity is not unique to Romulus or Michigan. COUNTY EXPECTS $100 MILLION PROFIT FROM PINNACLE PROPERTIES by MCN Special Writer Jim Rarey Wayne County’s Pinnacle project expects to make over $100 million profit from resale or lease of 1,800 acres of private property it is acquiring through outright purchases and condemnation of property in Romulus and Huron Township. At ...

MEDIUM RARE By Jim Rarey June 17, 2001 IS “FUNGIBLE” A DIRTY WORD? Granted it’s not a word that often comes up in every day conversation, but this writer has been using it for over five decades. Yet, when I consulted my dictionary (Webster’s New World Dictionary and Thesaurus – 1996 by Simon & Schuster) for an exact definition, it was not there. That is a significant omission. The word should be a part of every person’s vocabulary for it is the key to understanding the scams being perpetrated by government at every level and even some well respected charities ...

MEDIUM RARE by Jim Rarey June 14, 2001 RANGE WARS THEN AND NOW When this writer was a pre-teen growing up in Oregon, I read virtually every western novel I could lay my hands on from Zane Grey to Louis L’Amour. Most of the stories were a variation on just two or three themes. One recurring theme was the range wars between cattle and sheep ranchers. It was usually the bad cattlemen against the outnumbered but valiant sheep men. The local lawman (sheriff) if in the story at all was usually ineffective if not corrupt. The day was saved when ...

MEDIUM RARE By Jim Rarey May 31, 2001 INS TO ACCEPT “LEGAL” BRIBES Beginning tomorrow, June 1st, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) will begin accepting $1,000 “expediting” fees to process work visa applications in 15 days or less for business executives, foreign celebrities, athletes and other specific types of workers. This according to a Washington Post news article by Reporter Dan Eggen in today’s paper. The normal processing time is anywhere from 30 days to 9 months depending on the category of worker. Green cards for permanent workers typically take 9 months for approval. For many businessmen whose duties ...

MEDIUM RARE by Jim Rarey May 28, 2001 ON "TEACHING TO THE TEST" Which came first, the chicken or the egg? That seems to be the crux of the argument over school testing in Michigan. To use another cliché, who has the cart before the horse? Should teachers take time out from the regular curriculum to prepare students for MEAP tests or should the tests cover what is taught throughout the year? The answer to that question seems obvious but many parents are confused and concerned. That’s because there is no clear understanding of what is being tested and what ...

State Outsources Secret War by JASON VEST Best known as a place where the Air Force shoots satellites into orbit, the Eastern Space and Missile Center--just south of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida's Brevard County--would appear to focus solely on the wild blue yonder and beyond. Indeed, the 45th Space Wing's web page is pretty clear about the mission of Patrick Air Force Base and the adjacent Cape Canaveral Air Force Station: to enhance "national strength through assured access to space for Department of Defense, civil, and commercial users." But according to a closely held government document, in the ...

MEDIUM RARE By Jim Rarey May 24, 2001 PRIVATE POWER IN KOSOVO AND PERU The prefix “dyn” from the Greek connoting power or energy appears in many English works, e.g. dynamo, dynamic and dynamite. It also is found, in one form or another, in the names of corporations many of which are involved in the business of providing energy. For one corporation, inclusion of that prefix in its name may be more appropriate than many of us realized. The company is “Dyncorp.” The Virginia based company first came to this writer’s attention in March of last year. A local police ...

MEDIUM RARE By Jim Rarey May 22, 2001 FEDS COORDINATING STATE SALES TAX DRIVE There has been a continuing clamor from the governors of most states for some mechanism to collect sales taxes on their residents who make purchases from outside the state via catalogue vendors and now Internet sales of goods. The U.S. Senate has taken the lead in providing that mechanism. Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. constitution requires the Congress to approve any compacts or agreements between or among the states. Senate bill S. 512 would give that approval on collection of sales (use) taxes, subject ...

MEDIUM RARE by Jim Rarey May 14, 2001 HOLD ON TO YOUR WALLETS Sales Tax Changes Coming We should have known it was coming. Several years ago the voters approved the false alternative of an increase in the sales tax (as opposed to an increased income tax) in conjunction with a temporary reduction of property taxes under Proposal A. Now the legislature is set to expand the state’s revenue from the sales tax. A bill has been introduced in the Michigan State Senate (SB433) that could open the door to unlimited sales taxes in cooperation with other states. The bill ...

MEDIUM RARE By Jim Rarey May 10, 2001 WHERE TO GET YOUR DAILY CHUCKLE For their daily dose of humor, most newspaper readers go to the comics section. This writer often finds more humor (and spin) in the business section. Perhaps the title of this article should have been, “The Art of Headline Writing or Great Expectations.” A case in point is the Cisco Corporation. Just 14 months ago it was the world’s most valuable corporation (in terms of market value of its stock) at $560 billion, overshadowing such giants as General Motors, Exxon, and General Electric. At the end ...