Freedom Action National Conference offers a Bargain!

The Freedom Action National Conference is sponsored by Tom DeWeese and the American Policy Center and 23 co-sponsoring organizations and will take place August 12, 13 and 14 at Valley Forge, PA.

29 Leading spokesmen of the Freedom movement; including Thomas Woods, Sheriff Richard Mack, Michael Badnarik; and workshops for local action; networking; organizing; preparing to limit the power and growth of the Federal government to restore the Republic. Join us!

You can attend for just $100!

Click on the link for details and to register for the conference.

Hurry, savings will expire!

In Defense of Liberty,
Tom DeWeese

P.S. If you cannot attend the live event in PA, we are also offering a Live Video Stream from the conference. Get all the details here: http://freedomactionconference.com/live-stream

Bye Bye Wal-Mart: Wal-Mart Radio Tags to Track Clothing

Kaye Beach

July 29, 2010

What is Radio Frequency Identification?

RFID is a generic term for technologies that use radio waves to automatically identify people or objects.

Read up on Jeremy Bentham.  Bentham called the idea of natural rights “Nonsense on stilts”  He was a Utilitarian.  Utility being the point.  Bentham believed that the right or moral law or policy was the one that produced “the greatest good for the greatest number of people”

Jeremy Bentham also designed the Panopticon “a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind, in a quantity hitherto without example.”

The original Panopticon was design for a prison or other institution where maximum control with minimum manpower was desired over the individuals within. The panopticon as a metaphor serves to illustrate the dangers of ubiquitous surveillance that is fast becoming a reality for us today.  Read The Panopticon Singularity for a better idea of what I’m getting at.

Bentham knew how to tame the minds of men and understood that the closer your identification becomes to yourself, you, your very body, the better for the purpose of control.

He also understood the power of the gaze.

Where in your life now do you feel perfectly assured that you are utterly unobserved? You home?  How about your phone calls and emails?  Got a “smart meter” yet?

We now bank on the thought that we are insignificant and therefore not likely to be subjected to the totality of scrutiny that the state already possesses to levy upon us.   As we get more accustomed being intruded upon and  as the technologies become more accepted and advanced our insignificance will become less and less protective of our sense of seclusion.  So many aspects of  our life have already been invaded by the prying electronic eye of the state and soon no aspect will be assured privacy.  We will know that we are logged and accounted for as we go about our daily business and we will react to this just as Bentham understood we would when he designed his Panopticon.  We will act as though we are under constant scrutiny and adjust our behavior accordingly.

As a man thinks, so shall he be.

From the Wall Street Journal

7/23/10

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to roll out sophisticated electronic ID tags to track individual pairs of jeans and underwear, the first step in a system that advocates say better controls inventory but some critics say raises privacy concerns.

Starting next month, the retailer will place removable “smart tags” on individual garments that can be read by a hand-held scanner. Wal-Mart workers will be able to quickly learn, for instance, which size of Wrangler jeans is missing, with the aim of ensuring shelves are optimally stocked and inventory tightly watched. If successful, the radio-frequency ID tags will be rolled out on other products at Wal-Mart’s more than 3,750 U.S. stores.

[…]But the company’s latest attempt to use its influence—executives call it the start of a “next-generation Wal-Mart”—has privacy advocates raising questions.

While the tags can be removed from clothing and packages, they can’t be turned off, and they are trackable. Some privacy advocates hypothesize that unscrupulous marketers or criminals will be able to drive by consumers’ homes and scan their garbage to discover what they have recently bought.

They also worry that retailers will be able to scan customers who carry new types of personal ID cards as they walk through a store, without their knowledge. Several states, including Washington and New York, have begun issuing enhanced driver’s licenses that contain radio- frequency tags with unique ID numbers

[…]Some privacy advocates contend that retailers could theoretically scan people with such licenses as they make purchases, combine the info with their credit card data, and then know the person’s identity the next time they stepped into the store.

“There are two things you really don’t want to tag, clothing and identity documents, and ironically that’s where we are seeing adoption,” said Katherine Albrecht, founder of a group called Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering and author of a book called “Spychips” that argues against RFID technology. “The inventory guys may be in the dark about this, but there are a lot of corporate marketers who are interested in tracking people as they walk sales floors.”

[…]Several other U.S. retailers, including J.C. Penney and Bloomingdale’s, have begun experimenting with smart ID tags on clothing to better ensure shelves remain stocked with sizes and colors customers want, and numerous European retailers, notably Germany’s Metro AG, have already embraced the technology.

Read More

The question is;  How can these little chips sprinkled upon our individual items and purchases compromise our personal privacy?

Remember  pointillism in art class?  Little dots of color up close mean little, but create a vivid picture when you step back from the canvas.  Little bits of information provided by the radio tags individually reveal little, but when taken in context create a coherent story about you.  Your location, habits and  associations can be discerned easily as these little buggers become more and more prevalent.

Georges Seurat’s A Sunday on La Grande Jatte—1884, at varying levels of abstraction.  Even the lower right image is actually an abstraction of an abstraction: while the original work is still composed of distinct points, the image you’re seeing here was produced at far fewer dots per inch by the printer…

The message is that data points may become far, far more common, due to RFID.  While each, by itself, is next to meaningless, in vast accumulations you’ll start to discern meaningful pictures.

Or, as Lenin said, “Quantity is quality.”

To better understand how RFID tagging of individual items can compromise your privacy, see this excellent presentation embedded below.

View this document on Scribd

An American Stasi?

Excellent article on Fusion Centers from The Freeman

The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reported on July 25 that “there are 72 fusion centers around the nation, analyzing and disseminating data and information of all kinds. That is one for every state and others for large urban cities.”

What is a fusion center?

The answer depends on your perspective. If you work for the Department of Homeland Security, it is a federal, state, local, or regional data-coordination units, designed to improve the sharing of anti-terrorism and anti-crime data in order to make America safer. If you are privacy or civil-rights advocate, it is part of a powerful new domestic surveillance infrastructure that combines data from both the public and private sectors to track innocent people and so makes Americans less safe from their own government. In that respect, the fusion center is reminiscent of the East German stasi, which used tens of thousands of state police and hundreds of thousands of informers to monitor an estimated one-third of the population.

The history of fusion centers provides insight into which answer is correct.

Fusion centers began in 2003 under the administration of George W. Bush as a joint project between the departments of Justice and Homeland Security. The purpose (pdf) is to coordinate federal and local law enforcement by using the “800,000 plus law enforcement officers across the country” whose intimate awareness of their own communities makes them “best placed to function as the ‘eyes and ears’ of an extended national security community.” The fusion centers are hubs for the coordination. By April 2008 there were 58.

The growth has continued under the Obama administration. Indeed, Obama has also continued Bush’s concealment of domestic intelligence activity by threatening to veto legislation that authorizes broader congressional oversight or review of intelligence agencies by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). As a result of that threat, the GAO provision was removed from the Intelligence Authorization Act.

Due to secrecy, it is difficult to describe a typical fusion center. But if the Indiana Intelligence Fusion Center is typical, this is what one looks like.

Indiana’s center has essentially become an arm of Indiana law enforcement…. It has 31 full-time staffers and two part-time employees. Some … are state employees. Others are assigned to the center from other agencies, such as the FBI, Transportation Security Administration, and Marion County Sheriff’s Department. They are joined by workers from the Department of Correction, the Indiana National Guard, the Indiana State Police, the Department of Natural Resources and local campus police…. There are also private sector analysts on contract. Previously those analysts were from EG&G Technical Services of California. The most recent contract with EG&G called for payment of $1.1 million….

Fusion centers invite reports from public employees such as firemen, ambulance drivers, and sanitation workers as well as from the private sector such as hospitals and neighborhood watch groups. They often operate tip hotlines; this means a “suspect’s” name could be submitted by a disgruntled employee, a hostile neighbor, or an ex-spouse who seeks child custody.

What or who is targeted by this sweeping coordination of data?

To get an idea, let’s look at the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) program, which the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence said “should be a national model.” In June 2008 the departments of Justice and Homeland Security recommended expansion of the LAPD program to other cities.

In April 2008 the Wall Street Journal reported on a new LAPD policy that compelled officers to report “suspicious behaviors” to the local fusion center. LAPD Special Order #11, dated March 5, 2008, defined a list of 65 suspicious behaviors, including using binoculars, taking pictures or video footage “with no apparent esthetic value,” abandoning a vehicle, taking notes, and espousing extremist views. Local police were converted into domestic surveillance agents.

READ MORE

Post-Primary Blues? The Ches Cat Points the Way

July 28,2010

‘

Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’
‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat.
‘

What a disappointing Primary for those who are fed up with politics as usual!

There were some wins, in fact, but I want to speak to the looming  issue of “losses”

So, which way ought we go from here?   As the Cat explains to Alice,  that all depends on where it is you want to get to.

Since I became actively involved in politics, I have seen a new awakening among the previously apathetic.  In fact, I am one of those previously apathetic.  I voted alright.  I was told and believed it to be my duty. I was taught that it is most unforgivable to shirk a duty.

So I registered (Republican, of course) when I came of age and tried to choose the more honest of the candidates presented me and called it good.  What spurred me to become active was the sense that the government had become unbearably intrusive, the realization that my generation may be the one to see the end of the great experiment that is the USA.  To see this possibility and yet do nothing is not an option.   In a more practical sense, politics for me is a matter of pure self-defense.

I consider myself lucky to have found myself in good company, there are many before us who cannot say that.   A growing number of Americans are pushing back and as our government continues to fatten and intrude upon the many who simply wish to be left alone, we can expect this number to grow.

It is hard for us of like mind to understand why so many do not see the wrecking ball headed in our direction.  We see it so clearly.  If you are nodding your head right now, you may count yourself as one of the proverbial canaries in the coal mine.  You are exquisitely sensitive to the signals that portend the loss of individual liberty, you bristle to witness that mere men now presume to usurp what is granted us by our Creator.   This is the concept that sets America apart.  We know that if we lose that distinction, we lose all. We should understand that we are a part of the first wave in a struggle that will take no less than a generation to see results.  This is a distinctly unsatisfying position for those who have already lost all patience.  I believe that when the turning point comes (if there ever is a clearly defined point of turning at all) most of us will not be here to celebrate.

The victory is in the struggle, the journey is the destination and we are laying the foundation.

Let’s not be so distracted by the need for evidence that we are right or “winning” that we forget why we are here.  Accept no compromise or political expediency and expect no accolades for your labors in this lifetime.

So, where ought we go from here?  Why, straight ahead of course.

Next-What we won….

Big Question: Did Ken Miller Author and support this tax/fee/revenue increase bill?

 

By Kaye Beach

All of this may seem very confusing but don’t despair, there are really only a few points you need to consider in order to know whether or not Ken Miller bears responsibility for the Health Care Claims Levy;

1. Ken Miller authored the bill
   
2. A bill cannot be altered or advanced without the approval of the author meaning that the author has sole power to withdraw their bill.
   
3. If Ken Miller really opposed the bill, he could have killed it.
   
4. He didn’t kill it.
   
5. The bill authorized a “revenue increase” of 70.6 million dollars
   
6. The “revenue increase” is derived from a 1% TAX on medical insurance providers
   
7. If it were a “fee” the payer would receive some service of benefit in return.
8. With this bill, he payer does not gain anything in return.
9. The revenue increase, by definition is a TAX
   
10. And the health care providers are REQUIRED to pay.
    

All of the above are documented facts.

Therefore;

A.Ken Miller’s assertion that he did not author or support a tax increase is deceitful.

B.Ken Miller did author and supported a TAX INCREASE

C.I do not want a state treasurer who is deceitful

D.I will not vote for Ken Miller.

___________________________________________________________

 

From CapitolBeatOK.com

The final flurry of activity in the 2010 session of the state Legislature, enacting a number of “revenue enhancements” (or fees, or tax hikes, depending on whose interpretation one endorses), remains a source of great controversy.

One piece of the puzzle is House Bill 2359, a revenue increase of $70.6 million. The boost in government tax income came from a combination of provisions, including a decrease in discounts for vendors, and caps on total discounts to vendors, as well as an increase in fees on coin-operated devices. At dawn of the last day of the 2010 regular session, authors of H.B. 2359 were listed as state Rep. Ken Miller of Edmond and Sen. Mike Johnson of Kingfisher.

House conferees reported the bill in what became its final language at 1:45 p.m on that last day — Friday, May 28. The House conferees were Speaker Chris Benge of Tulsa, Rep. Jeff Hickman of Dacoma, and Rep. Ken Miller.

Miller was the author.

As House author, only he could change language in the bill. The conference committee report reflects his agreement to the language.

At 2:11 p.m., Rep. Miller, as House author, asked to be removed as principal author of the bill. He was replaced by Rep. Guy Liebmann of Oklahoma City.

At the same time, Miller was added as co-author of the measure.

At 3:33 p.m., Rep. Miller voted for a motion on “previous question” which passed 61-33. Miller voted for previous question, i.e. to cut off all questions.

Passage of this motion had the effect of preventing further debate on the matter.

Then, at 3:37 p.m., H.B. 2359 was approved in the state House on “fourth reading” by a vote of 61-35, with Rep. Miller voting in opposition.

At 3:40 p.m, a motion to attach an emergency clause to the bill failed narrowly. Although the emergency secured 66 votes, with 32 against, it was short of the votes needed to prevail.

Miller voted against the emergency clause.

Then, at 3:42 p.m., a motion to reconsider the emergency clause for H.B. 2359 passed 67-18.

Miller was one of 16 members who refrained from casting a  vote.

At 3:44 p.m., the emergency clause passed 69-23, with nine members absent.

The motion had barely enough votes to prevail. Miller was one of the absent members.

The measure then went to the Senate, where it passed on fourth reading, at 4:48 p.m., by a vote of 39-9.

The Senate adjourned at 5 p.m.

The bill went to Gov. Brad Henry, who signed it a few days later.

(emphasis added)

The Enemy Within:OK D4 Earns Credits

A Nebraska author and screenwriter picks up the travesty that passes for politics in Oklahoma’s Fourth District;

You think its “Democrats” that are killing this country? You’re right, they are – the party consists of an overwhelming majority of Socialist / Marxist / Fascist / Dictatorial types, so they must get top billing. The thing, is, there’s another killer.

But it is quiet – nearly silent. And it’s among us. The enemy within. People who say they are “on our side”.

Be sure to read the entire excellent article: Real Lies and Lying Liars Who Are Killing This Country

Here is a portion of her article;

For now, though, I will only reference one.

And it’s far more important than a Tea Party.

In Oklahoma’s 4th Congressional District, a County GOP chair and Vice-Chair, with the help of at least one other individual, are determined to protect incumbents and to obstruct challengers directly from their positions as party officials. Behind the scenes, from positions of attempted anonymity, they pervert information and sell it as truth.

For a sampling of out in the open activities of the Vice-Chair in particular read these posts by Axxiom:

Cleveland County GOP Vice-Chair Tells RJ Harris He is Banned

Why Is Tessa Breder Cleveland County GOP Vice-Chair So Slot Slinging Happy

Vice-Chair Breder and Chairman Bobby Cleveland are not satisfied with using their positions directly, including control of party resources and information to protect incumbents like Congressman Tom Cole. It is well known by many in the county area that Cleveland and Breder are the master minds behind the anonymously authored blog Okie Pundit.

I will not link to their site – they will NOT get help driving traffic directly from me.

To summarize briefly, “Okie Pundit”‘s full time job is to smear challenger candidates and cheerlead 24/7 for incumbent Republican politicians.

Smears include clever hit jobs like this:

And perversions of facts such as characterizing of candidate RJ Harris’ name change from Barnes back to his birth name Harris when he discovered it had been changed as a small child. Cleveland, Breder, et al have tried to connect RJ’s difficult family circumstance with which the name change was associated with the closure and failure of his businesses several years ago. The hit squad that is the Cleveland County GOP do more than imply Harris changed his name to evade paying taxes, which is passes.

To avoid linking, I have embedded an image of the about page for the site here – the most interesting statement is:

Okiepundit.com is a conservative blog written by several long-time Oklahomans.  If you don’t like our anonymity, then you don’t need to read us.  (The last sentence applies primarily to the politicians who throw fits when we’re critical of them).

I know I have no need to read Okie Pundit. I know when I go there, I’m going to get all pro-incumbent politician drivel and hit pieces on all the challengers, straight down the line. The only purpose for even giving the light of day to the name of their lie-filled website is to point out who is behind it.

And more importantly, display the thuggery of party officials who will stop at literally nothing to protect incumbents who are no longer fit to hold office. Tom Cole, for instance, has voted to fund Planned Parenthood, for the TARP (bailout), voted to increase spending at record rates when Bush was still in office, appealed for support to the Obama Administration on the NASCO project that is an open-borders neon sign, and has many questionable connections and funding sources. Among them is the very creepy Aspen Institute, a very progressive, globalist think tank based in Colorado. Further, Cole’s Wikipedia page, updated July 22, 2o1o, notes his wife recently filed for divorce due to infidelity.

Is Tom Cole worth protecting? If you lived in Oklahoma, who would get your vote? The establishment, Progressive Republican, or the long-term member of the military with two tours of active duty (on the cusp of being three) who can clearly articulate all of the principles of the Constitution, has been faithfully married to his wife of 20 years, and is pursuing a law degree?

All of these examples of thuggery should bother far more people than they do. They should inspire more questions than they do.

Should anyone take an anonymous website with an obvious axe to grind remotely seriously?

When ARE we all going to turn our backs on all of these people and express the proper scorn when others have no problem with this conduct?

Will it be when hell freezes over?

Dear Lord above, I pray it will be much sooner than that.

“Irrefutable” Ken Miller DID Author and Support the Tax/Fee on Health Benefits

July 27,2010

By Kaye Beach

I Did some research.

The Bottom line?

Quote;

“Miller is solely responsible for the TAX/REVENUE/FEE increase, or rose by any other name he calls it. In my opinion it is dishonest for Ken Miller to claim he never ‘authored a TAX increase”

Jack Dake

Although Rep. Miller denies it, he did author the bill. He is responsible for nursing it through the process but then later he had Rep. Cox  substituted as author.

“Their most ridiculous assertion is that I authored and supported a tax increase bill” –Ken Miller

This was an 11th hour bill.
They had to vote to suspend the rules in order to pass it. Rules say that there must be a 5 day wait on revenue enhancing legislation.

Rep Cox says the difference between a tax and a fee is in the eye of the beholder.

The providers are quite likely to pass the Fee/Tax on to their clients.You think?

Did this bill come in at 6pm on Friday so that there would be no chance for the public to protest it?
It was stated that 75 votes were desired.  Why?  Otherwise the measure could be challenged as a tax.

Is the definition really that imprecise?
want to watch the debate?
http://okhouse.mediasite.com/mediasite/SilverlightPlayer/Default.aspx?peid=7c75c58853cd48c6a8078c33dd54011a1d

*update* Turns out, Miller DID author and SUPPORT the bill.

The below is correct and provable by legislative documents posted online.

Jack Dake  says;

I just listened to a misleading phone call from Ken Miller running for st. treasurer. I believe his call is false.

He claims he never authored a tax increase.

I hold in my hands the May 27 HB 2359 summary put out by the Okla Republican House leadership. “Impact: FY11: REVENUE INCREASE OF $70.6 MILLION” is the direct quote from the Okla House REPUBLICAN staff report. Author–KEN MILLER!

The full story: only the author of a bill can advance it thru the legislative process or insert language into a bill. If at any time Miller wanted to kill his bill he merely had to not let it advance.

Miller is solely responsible for the TAX/REVENUE/FEE increase, or rose by any other name he calls it. In my opinion it is dishonest for Ken Miller to claim he never ‘authored a TAX increase’.

The next day, May 28 at 1:45pm Miller signed the conference committee report with its $70 million taxes/fees/revenue increase.

That moved the bill to the House floor. At 2:11pm, 26 minutes later, Miller had his name removed as PRINCIPAL author and substituted with Rep. Guy Liebmann’s name, but kept his name as “CO-AUTHOR”, to keep control of the bill.

Why would Miller do this? I believe it could only be because he didn’t want someone to claim he authored the $70 million tax increase since he has a Republican primary.

In fact, that’s what he said in his Sunday phone call. From 3:33 pm to 3:44 pm, he votes FOR HB 2359 once, twice votes against, and twice doesn’t vote, in the process of the bill becoming law.

It is irrefutable that Ken Miller authored this bill and it never could have passed without HIM moving the bill through. His vote against HIS OWN BILL was what? Clearly, just to protect his run for state treasurer.

His phone call-“never authored a TAX increase”-just a word game-it was a ‘revenue” increase, not a tax increase

His vote against HIS OWN BILL was what?

Clearly, just to protect his run for state treasurer. His phone call-“never authored a TAX increase”-just a word game-it was a ‘revenue” increase, not a tax increase, don’t ya see? I am sick of Republicans who play these games. I urge you to vote for Owen Laughlin.

Jack Dake, Jr.”

Here are the documents;

View this document on Scribd

Oklahoma R3publicans Endorse RJ Harris for Congress in CD04

Press Release for Immediate Release

Subject:  Oklahoma R3publicans Endorse RJ Harris  for Congress in CD04

“The choice in District 4 was obvious,” noted Sandra Crosnoe for Oklahoma R3publicans,  ”RJ Harris is the only Constitutional, limited government candidate in the race. Harris’ understanding of the proper role of government and his ability to articulate core principles is among the most solid I’ve seen in my many years in politics,” Crosnoe went on to say.

Harris stands head and shoulders above his incumbent opponent in the race. His love for Oklahoma, his honorable nature, and commitment to family are apparent to all who know him. His many years of service both to Oklahoma and our country, which include two active tours of duty overseas, are further evidence of a steadfast character.

RJ Harris has been actively involved in the Republican party and is clearly committed to the restoration of the republic. Through his speeches at rallies and events, Harris has been leading the way back to the Constitution and the proper role of government.  His proven character, ability to commit and persevere in difficult circumstances, and his thorough knowledge are exactly what is needed in the U.S. Congress, right now.

OKR3s urge District 4 voters to carefully consider their Congressional vote in the upcoming July 27 primary. There are only two candidates on the ballot and the winner of the primary will be the next U.S. Congressman for Oklahoma’s 4th District.

RJ Harris’ website contains additional information on issues and events.  He can be contacted via email to contact[at]rjharris2010[dot]com .

Sandra Crosnoe serves on the policy board for R3publicans and can be reached via email to sandiec99[at]hotmail[dot]com. R3publicans participate with other groups in Oklahoma to provide timely information via OKgrassroots online.

Oklahoma R3publicans are working to restore the republic in the Republican party in Oklahoma. Our state is one of the “reddest” in the nation and we are pleased to be a part of that dynamic.  R3s are grassroots, philosophically constitutional people of principle actively working to inspire Republicans to positive action.  We believe that powers not expressly delegated to the federal government are reserved to the states and to the people.  Our efforts across Oklahoma are focused on limited constitutional government.

For the Win in 2010 Series Note: This is third in a series of endorsements to be released by Oklahoma R3s. It is worth noting that many people working to restore the republic have been involved in all phases of the primary season and are working hard to elect people with constitutional limited government principles, so in one sense this is a formal way of letting everyone know who we have been helping and working with this season.

Why is Tessa Breder, Cleveland County GOP Vice Chair so snot slinging happy?

For the same reason pigs love to roll in….uh mud.

After gaming a smear on RJ Harris, contender for the US House of Representatives in OK D4, she is unable to restrain her true nature and sends a little message to some of Harris’ supporters to make sure they do not miss her brilliance.

A few days ago it was this charming  message;

“Just saw someone with an @rjharris2010 shirt pissing on a bush on campus corner. I would expect no less.” 12:14 AM Jul 18th via UberTwitter

She seems to want to make sure she gets credit so if you want to read the trash, knock yourself out…

PutridWasteofSpace

After you go take a shower, you can read the truth right here

Although with the reputation Okie Pundit has earned due to the shallow and error ridden articles put out by the blog, no response would have been perfectly appropriate. I commend RJ Harris for telling the whole story, as personal as it is.

Let’s hear it for Tessa everybody!

Maybe she has gotten enough attention now and will give us a break for a bit.

Oklahoma Officials Ignore Evidence of Tax Credit Heist

7/24/10

More info on the alleged tax credits fraud

The Gazette ran a story about the tax credits issue recently.

Nick Baker replies to the Gazette;

He says all the state officials quoted have been provided with evidence of fraudulent tax credit claims and false reporting by the OTA many times over the past 3 years.  Most officials, aside from a “handful of state representatives” have disregarded this information completely.  Baker says the most of the evidence can be found in state documents.

One example given by Baker is that Altus Ventures claims to have invested 221 milliion Quartz Mountain Aerospace in 2005 and another 221 million in 2006. In reality, says Baker, only 32 million was invested in 2005 but Altus Ventures still received 127 million in tax credits.

Baker says that when he notified state officials about this discrepancy, they simply ignored the issue and two years later when Altus Ventures failed for lack of funds, officials again ignored evidence presented them about the organization’s false claims.

July 31, 2009 the FDIC seized First State Altus Bank where 643 million in fake loans were covered and according to Baker it was these fake loans that were used to inflate the amount invested in Quartz Mountain Aerospace from 32 to 421 million!  Once again, when state officials were notified about this wrongdoing they chose to ignore it.

There is more but go read the article and the rest of Nick Baker’s reply to it yourself.

The validity of Nick Baker’s assertions can be easily confirmed.  His website is The Prowling Owl

Billion Dollar Budget Hole