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At Least One Judge Agrees...
Monday, December 18, 2006
Vol. 8 No. 250 |
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In Today's Letter:
Comment: At Least One Judge Agrees...
Offshore: Panama Has Come a Long Way
Sovereignty: Price Inflation vs. Money Inflation
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At Least One Judge Agrees Your Property Should Remain Yours
Today's comment is by Mark Nestmann, our Wealth Preservation and Tax Consultant and President of The Nestmann Group.
Dear A-Letter Reader,
Over the years, I've been criticized for my skeptical view of the "War on Terror." But my critics have become most vocal when I dared to condemn the President Bush's authority to simply name some person or group as a "terrorist" and confiscate their property based merely on that bald assertion.
I've been called a "terrorist sympathizer," a "traitor" and "an apologist for militant Islam." But now, I'm delighted to report there's at least one courageous federal judge who agrees with me.
In a ruling made public Nov. 28, U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins struck down a major part of Bush's Sept. 24, 2001 order tagging 27 groups and individuals as "specially designated global terrorists." The order gives the president the authority to label groups "terrorists," and to seize their property, without any legal process, and give them no way to challenge the designations.
Judge Collins ruled that the order was too vague and infringed on the right of free association, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Indeed, any person or group could be named a "terrorist" under the President's authority for any reason. Or, as Judge Collins observed, "for no reason."
Judge Collins also concluded that the Executive Order giving the Treasury Secretary the right to designate other persons or groups as "Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs) was unconstitutional. Under the Executive Order, the Treasury Secretary could dub anyone a "terrorist" based only on their association with any of the 27 groups or individuals on the original list. That's because it "contains no definable criteria" for designating individuals and groups as SDGTs, and because it "imposes penalties for mere association."
However, Judge Collins' decision is hardly the end of the systematic dismantling of constitutional protections made in the name of the War on Terror (and in earlier "wars" such as the War on Drugs and the War on Money Laundering). The government will surely appeal this decision, and while the appeal is pending, it is likely to petition to permit seizures of "terrorist property" to continue.
Moreover, as I've pointed out in my blog, the Treasury Department says there is nothing the government can't confiscate once the President declares a national emergency, as President Bush has on numerous occasions to pursue the "War on Terror" (see http://nestmannblog.sovereignsociety.com/2006/10/the_us_says_it_.html ).
Not to mention the shameful laws enacted by the U.S. Congress, such as the Military Commissions Act. That particular act allows the President to throw anyone in prison, including U.S. citizens, without any judicial process whatsoever. So long as you're classified as an "enemy combatant," there's no requirement that a trial via military tribunal, or in civilian courts, ever take place.
Still, Judge Collins (who also was the first magistrate to invalidate any portion of the USA PATRIOT Act) represents an encouraging, albeit small, countertrend in the U.S. judiciary. Judge Collins represents someone willing to stand up to the President, even in the face of overwhelming public support for the War on Terror.
I hope more courageous jurists like Judge Collins step forward. They represent one of the last hopes of rescuing our republic from the scourge of totalitarianism.
MARK NESTMANN, Wealth Preservation and
Tax Consultant on behalf of The Sovereign Society
Phoenix AZ
assetpro@nestmann.com
www.nestmann.com
P.S. Now your property, your assets, and anything else you own can be seized in the name of the War on Terror. Learn how you can legally fight back.
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Your Life is an Open Book...If
- You've given out your SSN to anyone in the past 6 months...
- You belong to any church or organization...
- You hold 50% or more of your assets in any U.S. bank...
You're an easy target for unjust lawsuits, asset forfeitures and identity theft.
I'll show you 109 ways to protect your privacy and property rights - and secure your wealth - using the secrets of the United States Witness Protection Program...
LINK: http://www.isecureonline.com/reports/190SSWPP/E190GC30/
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Panama Has Come a Long Way
On Dec. 20, 1989, the United States military, by order of then President George H.W. Bush, invaded Panama to oust Dictator Manuel Noriega and install a duly elected civilian government. Twenty-three U.S. soldiers were killed but many hundreds of Panamanians died in the fire fights that lasted days. The small nation was shaken to its core, but on balance, many Panamanians hold to the consensus that "it had to be done." Since then Panama has flourished both as a stable democracy and a low inflation, growing economy. In fact, they have one of the strongest economies in all Latin America.
What a difference 16 years make! Today Panama is in the midst of a major real estate boom fueled by a large number of foreigners, including many Americans and Canadians, who are buying up Panama City condos, mountain homes in Chiriqui province and ocean front retreats on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. This boom will be spurred by a recently approved law by the National Assembly that promotes a variety of tourism incentives with tax breaks. Thirty two hotel projects, valued at approximately $3.7B dollars, will benefit from the new law, an extension of Law 8 of 1994 that promotes tourism incentives. From 1995 to the present the law has generated US1.6 billion in foreign investments. By 2008, there are current plans to double the hotel capacity in the country from the 15,831 rooms currently available. Panama's message to America: "Come on down!"
BOB BAUMAN, Editor
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Price Inflation vs. Money Inflation
The monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) was released on Friday, announcing that U.S. consumer prices didn't change in November. A flat CPI raised a few economists' eyebrows. According to the median of 75 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey, these economists expected at least a 0.2% rise.
Traders busily started buying Treasury notes and stocks, speculating that Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke would "keep interest rates steady or cut them" in the first half of next year. (The continual statement that the Fed sets interest rates shows popular ignorance of the monetary machine...the Fed doesn't set major rates, it simply expands or contracts bank reserves which influences market rates.)
Bernanke is being applauded for astute management of the dollar printing presses. "The Federal Reserve has done a good job of managing this period in the economy, of slowing the economy just enough to allow inflation to come back down to desired ranges without causing too much of a slowdown in the overall economy,'' according Russell Price, senior economist at H&R Block Financial Advisors in Southfield, Michigan.
Mickey Levy, chief economist at Bank of America in New York, says "There is moderate economic growth and inflation is in the process of peaking.'' Jim O'Sullivan, a senior economist at UBS Securities LLC in Stamford, Connecticut, tells us that "Inflation is still above the Fed's perceived comfort zone, but not by a lot and it's headed in the right direction."
Price inflation may appear to be dormant in the short term, but monetary inflation isn't. The government continues to pour coal into the inflation boiler. It's interesting that a hundred years ago 'inflation' referred to expansion of the money supply, but in the 20th century people gradually began to use it to mean price inflation.
Today, I'd be shocked if one percent of the population realized that price inflation is caused by monetary inflation, or that monetary inflation is rooted in federal deficits. This is too sad. Because if it became general knowledge that deficits are the fuel that feed the flames of rising prices, perhaps the politicians couldn't get away with borrow and spend, borrow and spend. Consider the growth of federal debt in the past 30 years:
Year Gross Fed Debt
1975 $542 Billion
1980 $909 Billion
1985 $1,800 Billion
1990 $3,200 Billion
1995 $4,900 Billion
2000 $5,600 Billion
2005 $7,900 Billion
Ask yourself how long a deadbeat government can continue to get away with it.
The CPI may seem quiet, but eventually the deluge of irredeemable Treasury IOUs will ultimately be converted to higher prices. The question is when?
JOHN PUGSLEY, Chairman
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Radical New Approach to Asset Protection & PrivacyIn 2004, more than nine million Americans had their identity stolen and approximately 1.8 million were sued. And laws like the USA PATRIOT Act greatly expand warrantless searches and permit government property seizures without proof of wrongdoing.
Big Business and Big Brother want to keep you and your wealth in plain sight, to be profitably tracked and conveniently seized. However, you can still legally create international 'lifeboats' of wealth and privacy that are practically invulnerable to snooping or confiscation.
Click below to learn more.
LINK: http://www.isecureonline.com/reports/190SLIFE/E190GC31/
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