Notice, the Right of Inquiry and 18 USC 1001

IRS Notice (courtesy Google Images)

My research indicates that that the current legal system is characterized by notice, notice, and, uh, notice.  When the IRS comes a-callin’, their first act is to send you a notice.  So far as I can tell, virtually all civil causes of action (especially if initiated by the “government”) start with a notice.

Procedural due process includes: 1) Notice; and 2) Opportunity to be Heard.  While true crimes (like murder or robbery) cannot be said to start with notice, I suspect that most penal offenses (which are of a civil nature with attached criminal penalties) probably start with notice.

As I’ve explained in other articles dealing with notice (see, http://adask.wordpress.com/category/notice/; especially, http://adask.wordpress.com/2008/07/27/notes-on-notice-and-procedural-due-process/#more-88 and http://adask.wordpress.com/2008/09/08/notes-on-notice-procedural-due-process-2/#more-129) it appears that a notice need not present or allege all facts or law relevant to a particular claim.  The notice must merely provide sufficient facts or law to put the recipient “on inquiry”.  I.e., the notice must merely be sufficient to cause the recipient to ask questions.

 

“Petro-Currencies” Replace Petro-Dollar

Petro-Dollars (courtesy Google Images)

Every so often, I propose a theory that’s new (to me, at least).  When I do, my initial presentation of that theory is often clumsy and incomplete.  This isn’t surprising.   If the theory offers a new insight, it takes time to learn how to explain it clearly.   However, over time, if the theory comes to seem valid, my presentations of that theory become more refined and easily understood. 

Today, I present another theory with language that’s at least clumsy (some might say, “half-baked”).   I don’t like to present texts that seem clumsy even to me, but I have to do so to not only to try explain the theory to my readers, but also to explain it to myself.  More, I must make the presentation because I know that some of my readers will make comments that will help me to better understand if the theory is probably true or probably false and thereby help me to make clearer presentations in the future.

In essence, I can’t seem to take this theory any further without help from my readers.

For today’s theory du jour, I propose that while the former global monetary system from A.D. 1971 to A.D. 2001 was based on the singular “Petro-Dollar,” in the past two years it’s been replaced by a new system based on several “petro-currencies”.  The fiat dollar is no longer the only currency that can purchase petroleum, but with the reemergence of the US as an oil exporting nation, the fiat dollar has gained some value as one of several “petro-currencies”. 

The emergence of the several “petro-currencies” might explain the last 20-month decline in the price of gold.

 

The Incredible Power Of Concentration – Miyoko Shida

This has nothing to do with law, politics or economics.  But I think you’ll applaud.

video     00:07:43

 

Can I Borrow a Cup of Bullets?

The Department of Homeland Security has reportedly bought or ordered 2 billion rounds of ammunition.  President Obama threatened gun control and the public reacted by buying several million firearms and tens of millions of bullets.

Result?  A nation-wide ammunition shortage.   This shortage doesn’t merely affect private gun owners, but also affects the local police departments who find it increasingly difficult to buy ammunition.  Some police are therefore reduced to borrowing bullets.

This could be a blessing for loansharks:  I.e., “I’ll lend you 10 bullets today for 15 on payday.”

video    00:02:10

 

In Defense of High-Capacity Magazines

video    00:02:10

“. . . because the government has decided how many rounds you need to protect your family.”

 

Florida Shortened Yellow Lights to Gain Revenue

Red light camera system (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Florida reduces the time on yellow lights by only a fraction of a second and gains $50 million in traffic light revenue.

Traffic light revenues are important because they’re ultimately based on the presumption that we can be charged for an offense that no one actually witnessed.  Yes, some cop may later “witness” the video tape, but that strikes me a kind of hearsay since the cop didn’t witness the actual event.  If the government is allowed to impose fines based on the “testimony” of machines and without eye-witnesses, it won’t be long before you’re issued a ticket for using too much toilet paper based on a computer that monitors your bathroom.

On the one hand, the use of machines (like computers and video recorders) to penalize offenses may be a good thing since such mechanical monitors may help reduce the incidence of offenses and crimes.  On the other hand, the use of machines like computers and video recorders to penalize offenses may be a bad thing since they allow government to grow more efficient and ever-larger without the cost of adding additional personnel.  Mechanical and electronic enforcement devices are conducive to a police state.

 

Zoning Creates Debts, Debtors & Government Dependents

Diagram of zoning change in Nell Fisher reserve and adjacent plots of land. Each “Zone” is based on a purported PURPOSE.  But what is the real PURPOSE?  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Forty years ago, my father bought a little retirement farm in Wisconsin.  The farm included a wonderful old barn and a house that was started back about A.D. 1900.

The house was a standard, two-story farm house.  But it was particularly interesting because it was built one room at a time.  You could tell because not one of the six ground-floor rooms had a floor that matched the level of any adjacent room’s floor. Each room’s floor was a half or three-quarter’s inch higher or lower than the adjacent room’s floor.

It was apparent that the original farmer had saved his money, bought the land, and then saved more money to build his first room (now, the kitchen).  I’m sure that he, his wife and kids all lived in that first 250 ft² room.  Later, as the farmer worked and saved more of his profits, he bought more lumber to build a second room (probably a bedroom).  Then he even dug a basement under the third addition (no small feat in that rocky soil).  After what may have been five or ten years, the farmer had built a pretty nice, two-story home.

I can imagine how hard that farmer had to work.  I can imagine the strain of saving enough of his earnings each year to buy more lumber to add another room.  I can also imagine the pride that the farmer, and his wife, and even their kids felt each time the farmer was able to add another room onto their house.  There had to be a real sense of accomplishment.

But, most importantly, they had to be delighted that there was no debt.