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<<<In the 2008 criminal tax trial of actor Wesley Snipes, whose tax filings made clear that he was a sovereign tax protester, IRS senior technical adviser Shauna Henline testified that the agency receives between 20,000 and 30,000 frivolous returns each year, along with roughly 100,000 letters from tax protesters. Earlier, in 2001, the U.S. Senate's Finance Committee held hearings on the growing movement and, by 2008, the Department of Justice had decided to introduce the National Tax Defier Initiative in a bid to target key movement leaders. "Simply stated," then-Assistant Attorney General Nathan Hochman said in announcing the DOJ initiative, "we want to pull back the curtain and show the public that the promoters of these tax and bogus schemes are not some wizards that have revealed the tax-free universe to America, but instead are nothing more than garden variety hucksters and modern day snake oil salesmen, peddling their bogus tax products.">>>
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2010/fall/sovereign-citizen-kane
I think Snipes was part of the Sovereign Citizens lunatic fringe group:
Sovereign Citizens Movement
Overview
The strange subculture of the sovereign citizens movement, whose adherents hold truly bizarre, complex antigovernment beliefs, has been growing at a fast pace since the late 2000s. Sovereigns believe that they — not judges, juries, law enforcement or elected officials — get to decide which laws to obey and which to ignore, and they don't think they should have to pay taxes. Sovereigns are clogging up the courts with indecipherable filings and when cornered, many of them lash out in rage, frustration and, in the most extreme cases, acts of deadly violence, usually directed against government officials. In May 2010, for example, a father-son team of sovereigns murdered two police officers with an assault rifle when they were pulled over on the interstate while traveling through West Memphis, Ark.
The movement is rooted in racism and anti-Semitism, though most sovereigns, many of whom are African American, are unaware of their beliefs' origins[(lol)]. In the early 1980s, the sovereign citizens movement mostly attracted white supremacists and anti-Semites, mainly because sovereign theories originated in groups that saw Jews as working behind the scenes to manipulate financial institutions and control the government. Most early sovereigns, and some of those who are still on the scene, believed that being white was a prerequisite to becoming a sovereign citizen. They argued that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which guaranteed citizenship to African Americans and everyone else born on U.S. soil, also made black Americans permanently subject to federal and state governments, unlike themselves.
The Sovereign Belief System
The contemporary sovereign belief system is based on a decades-old conspiracy theory. At some point in history, sovereigns believe, the American government set up by the founding fathers — with a legal system the sovereigns refer to as "common law" — was secretly replaced by a new government system based on admiralty law, the law of the sea and international commerce. Under common law, or so they believe, the sovereigns would be free men. Under admiralty law, they are slaves, and secret government forces have a vested interest in keeping them that way. Some sovereigns believe this perfidious change occurred during the Civil War, while others blame the events of 1933, when the U.S. abandoned the gold standard. Either way, they stake their lives and livelihoods on the idea that judges around the country know all about this hidden government takeover but are denying the sovereigns' motions and filings out of treasonous loyalty to hidden and malevolent government forces.
Though this all sounds bizarre, the next layer of the argument becomes even more implausible. Since 1933, the U.S. dollar has been backed not by gold, but by the "full faith and credit" of the U.S. government (in fact, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ended private ownership of gold in large amounts in 1933; governments could still sell gold for dollars to the U.S. Treasury for a fixed amount after that, until that practice was ended by President Richard Nixon in 1971). According to sovereign "researchers," this means that the government has pledged its citizenry as collateral, by selling their future earning capabilities to foreign investors, effectively enslaving all Americans. This sale, they claim, takes place at birth. When a baby is born in the U.S., a birth certificate is issued, and the hospital usually requires that the parents apply for a Social Security number at that time. Sovereigns say that the government then uses that birth certificate to set up a kind of corporate trust in the baby's name — a secret Treasury account — which it funds with an amount ranging from $600,000 to $20 million, depending on the particular variant of the sovereign belief system. By setting up this account, every newborn's rights are cleverly split between those held by the flesh-and-blood baby and the ones assigned to his or her corporate shell account.
The sovereigns believe evidence for their theory is found on the birth certificate itself. Since most certificates use all capital letters to spell out a baby's name, JOHN DOE, for example, is actually the name of the corporate shell identity, or "straw man," while John Doe is the baby's "real," flesh-and-blood name. As the child grows older, most of his legal documents will utilize capital letters, which means that his state-issued driver's license, his marriage license, his car registration, his criminal court records, his cable TV bill and correspondence from the IRS all will pertain to his corporate shell identity, not his real, sovereign identity.
The process sovereigns have devised to split the straw man from the flesh-and-blood man is called "redemption," and its purpose is two-fold. Once separated from the corporate shell, the newly freed man is now outside of the jurisdiction of all admiralty laws. More importantly, by filing a series of complex, legal-sounding documents, the sovereign can tap into that secret Treasury account for his own purposes. Over the past 30 years, hundreds of sovereigns have attempted to perfect the process by packaging and promoting different combinations of forms and paperwork. While no one has ever succeeded, for the obvious reason that these theories are not true, sovereigns are nonetheless convinced with the religious certainty of a true cult believer that they're close. All it will take, say the promoters of the redemption scam, is the right combination of words.
Numbers
It is impossible to know how many sovereigns there are in the U.S. today, in part because there is no central leadership and no organized group that members can join. Instead, there are a variety of local leaders with individualized views on sovereign citizen ideology and techniques. Those who are attracted to this subculture typically attend a seminar or two, or visit one of the thousands of websites and online videos on the subject and then simply choose how to act on what they've learned. Some start by testing sovereign ideology with small offenses such as driving without a license, while others proceed directly to taking on the IRS as tax protesters.
In the mid-1990s, the IRS estimated that there were approximately 250,000 tax protesters in the U.S., people who believe that the government has no right to tax income. Not all of them were full-blown sovereign ideologues. Since the late 1990s, an abundance of evidence suggests that the sovereign citizen movement's growth has been explosive, although there have been no more recent IRS estimates because Congress in 1998 prohibited the agency from tracking or labeling those who file frivolous arguments in lieu of paying their taxes. But a conservative estimate of the number of all kinds of tax protesters today would be about 500,000.
Using this number and information derived from trials of tax protestors and reports from government agencies, a reasonable estimate of hard-core sovereign believers in early 2011 would be 100,000, with another 200,000 just starting out by testing sovereign techniques for resisting everything from speeding tickets to drug charges, for an estimated total of 300,000. As sovereign theories go viral throughout the nation's prison systems and among people who are unemployed and desperate in a punishing economy, this number is likely to grow.
Tactics
The weapon of choice for sovereign citizens is paper. A simple traffic violation or pet-licensing case can end up provoking dozens of court filings containing hundreds of pages of pseudo-legal nonsense. For example, a sovereign was involved in 2010 in a protracted legal battle over having to pay a dog-licensing fee. She filed 10 sovereign documents in court over a two-month period and then declared victory when the harried prosecutor decided to drop the case. The battle was fought over a three-year dog license that in Pinellas County, Fla., where the sovereign lives, costs just $20. Tax cases are even worse. Sovereign filings in such legal battles can quickly exceed a thousand pages. While a normal criminal case docket might have 60 or 70 entries, many involving sovereigns have as many as 1,200. The courts are struggling to keep up, and judges, prosecutors and public defenders are being swamped.
The size of the documents is an issue, but so is the nonsensical language the documents are written in. They have a kind of special sovereign code language that judges, lawyers and other court staff simply can't understand (nor can most non-sovereigns). Sovereigns believe that if they can find just the right combination of words, punctuation, paper, ink color and timing, they can have anything they want — freedom from taxes, unlimited wealth, and life without licenses, fees or laws, are all just a few strangely worded documents away. It's the modern-day equivalent of "abracadabra."
Since most sovereigns favor paper over guns, when sovereigns are angry with government officials, their revenge most often takes the form of "paper terrorism." Sovereigns file retaliatory, bogus property liens that may not be discovered by the victim until they attempt to sell their property. Sovereigns also file fake tax forms that are designed to ruin an enemy's credit rating and cause them to be audited by the IRS. In the mid-1990s, a period when the sovereign movement was also on the rise, several states passed laws specifically aimed at these paper terrorism tactics.
Recruits
In the late 2000s and early 2010s, most new recruits to the sovereign citizens movement are people who have found themselves in a desperate situation, often due to the economy or foreclosures, and are searching for a quick fix. Others are intrigued by the notions of easy money and living a lawless life, free from unpleasant consequences. Many self-identified sovereigns today are black and apparently completely unaware of the racist origins of their ideology. When they experience some small success at using redemption techniques to battle minor traffic offenses or local licensing issues, they're hooked. For many, it's a political issue. They don't like taxes, traffic laws, child support obligations or banking practices, but they are too impatient to try to change what they dislike through traditional, political means.
In times of economic prosperity, sovereigns typically rely on absurd and convoluted schemes to evade state and federal income taxes and hide their assets from the IRS. In times of financial hardship, they turn to debt- and mortgage-elimination scams, techniques to avoid child support payments, and even attempts to use their redemption techniques to get out of serious criminal charges.
Once in the movement, it's an immersive and heady experience. In the past three decades, the redemptionist subculture has grown from small groups of like-minded individuals in localized pockets around the nation to a richly layered society. Redemptionists attend specialized seminars and national conferences, enjoy a large assortment of alternative newspapers and radio networks, and subscribe to sovereign-oriented magazines and websites. They home-school their children so that a new generation will not have to go through the same learning curve that they did to see past the government's curtain to the common-law utopia beyond.
While the techniques sold by promoters never perform as promised, most followers are nonetheless content to be fighting the battle, and they blame only the judges, lawyers, prosecutors and police when their gurus' methods fail. While most have never achieved financial success in life, they take pride in engaging the government in battle, comparing themselves to the founding fathers during the American Revolution.
Violence
When a sovereign feels particularly desperate, angry, battle-weary and cornered, his next government contact, no matter how minor, can be his final straw. The resulting rage can be lethal. In 1995 in Ohio, a sovereign named Michael Hill pulled a gun on an officer during a traffic stop. Hill was killed. In 1997, New Hampshire extremist Carl Drega shot dead two officers and two civilians, and wounded another three officers before being killed himself. In that same year in Idaho, when brothers Doug and Craig Broderick were pulled over for failing to signal, they killed one officer and wounded another before being killed themselves in a violent gun battle. In December 2003, members of the Bixby family, who lived outside of Abbeville, S.C., killed two law enforcement officers in a dispute over a small sliver of land next to their home. And in May 2010, Jerry and Joseph Kane, a father and son sovereign team, shot to death two West Memphis, Ark., police officers who had pulled them over in a routine traffic stop. Later that day, the Kanes were killed in a fierce shootout with police that wounded two other officers.
That makes sense. eom
Surely the left-wing, radical...whatever the disruptive, fringe, attention seeking conspirators call themselves...could find a better spokesmodel than Michael Moore :) How does Tarpley appear (it does matter somewhat)? I'll bet he looks a little kooky, if not in an endearing way, like Ross Perot :)
Reading between the lines of DewDiligence (post# 120692 on Biotech Values--answer in bold print, for entertainment purposes only, and at the same time, so true):
Why is he such a secret, then? I would suspect some reputable people to give him a plug. Does he have any recognizable followers?
Oh, you'll know alright, don't worry about that :)
Gfp-You refer to Tarpley like he is God, yet I've never heard his name mentioned, other than by (mostly) you on this board. What is his allure? How does he capture the envy of people such as yourself? Inquiring minds want to know...
The pumper:
What a false sense of security his tone created. At least he's gone, right? What? He's Executive Chairman? Get the hell out of here!
He must have had nowhere else to go. Lucky us...
When that day comes, I will welcome it with open arms :)
Japan moves to protect children as new nuclear leak revealed
10:49 a.m. EDT, May 27, 2011
(Reuters) - Japan will pay schools near the quake-ravaged Fukushima nuclear power plant to remove radioactive top soil and set a lower radiation exposure limit for schoolchildren after a growing outcry over health risks.
The Education Ministry triggered protests in April when it set a radiation exposure limit for children of 20 millisieverts per year, the same dosage the International Commission on Radiation Protection recommends for nuclear plant workers.
The decision became a focal point for anger over Prime Minister Naoto Kan's handling of the crisis and the forced evacuation of tens of thousands residents.
Education Minister Yoshiaki Takaki said Tokyo would pay for local schools to remove topsoil in playgrounds that exceeded radiation limits.
It would also set a target of radiation exposure for children at schools of one-twentieth of the previous limit.
"We will provide financial support to schools . for measures to deal with soil in school yards as a way to lower radiation levels for children," Takaki told a news conference.
The magnitude 9.0 earthquake on March 11 and the massive tsunami that followed killed about 24,000 people and knocked out power to the Fukushima plant, triggering the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986.
The crisis has displaced some 80,000 residents from around the plant and prompted a review of Japan's energy policy, with the government "starting from scratch" on nuclear policy.
Greenpeace on Thursday slammed the country's "continued inadequate response" and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power said another 36 tonnes of radioactive water had leaked from a waste disposal building that has served as a temporary storage site.
The approach of Japan's rainy season increases the risk of radiation spilling into groundwater and will require tighter monitoring, Tokyo Electric spokesman Junichin Matsumoto said.
Thanks for the exPlanation and clarificatiOn. I stand Corrected.
Edit: You probably would have been referencing the big banks/brokerage/insurers, AIG, and the Auto Manufacturers, had you written this in the first half of '08 :) With that said, your chances of wealth preservation are probably better in those, but what's the excitement in that? It shouldn't be a one or the other proposition: diversity and balance is the key, if risk tolerance becomes unmanageable.
Incidentally, there are a whole lotta biotechs that have performed well to extremely well in the last few years, and not many (dare I say 'if any') that have performed worse (and still exist as a tradable company). At least there's something memorable and unique in that. Here we are, the most exciting and passionate part of Cortex in the last 5 years. I even recall Neuro suggesting how impressed he was with Stoll's excitement after revealing the anomaly was an artifact. Damn it fizzled gradually from there. In hindsight, yes hindsight, it is much more painful. I never did here Stoll's energy, but I took Neuro's word for it. It was a powerful stance, apparently by both of them. But ever since, it has been a shameful, cold, slovenly, and of course, passionless journey for them.
The 5 yr chart is even uglier:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=CORX.OB&t=5y&l=on&z=l&q=l&c=
Reality sucks sometimes, and you have to face it--another celebrity OD death, Jeff Conaway. Maybe Stoll or Varney could have saved his life with an Ampakine. But then again, who would it have benefited? Some things, most things, are probably meant to be. You just hope that you go out with dignity:
http://tv.yahoo.com/blog/jeff-conaway-star-of-taxi-and-grease-dies-at-60--3073
Elaborating on the IP theme, I can only think of one source of the watered down/diluted IP value (pun intended): You guessed it...lousy mgmt. Either there is a regulatory or industry question mark regarding the safety of these drugs (due to our friend turned foe turned friend turned foe, CX-717) which Corx mgmt didn't (or didn't have to) disclose, or the facilitators of these drugs are not establishing themselves with the right groups, or the right breadth, in a reasonable fashion. It is really quite simple, especially after 4 torturous years. Give me .20c just to end it quickly, we can alway chat on the General Religious Views board (uncensored-although they are doing very well here, lately) :)
When will that flip? Two weeks? One month?
How's that poison pill working out for us? It's those things that may have backfired on shareholders, ironically. Leadership is important, although you would never know it if you followed the expert on this board. God help 'em. Sorry if that hit's too close to home. davidal.
Not everyone is a pussy. There are always some McCain's...I mean mavericks out there. How many CNS/Pharma former manager's do you think are unemployed? I even think R&R, with their familiarity, could lead some type of appreciable liquidation. I think the key here, is that we need only to post a sign, 'Under New Management.' Rebuild the brand, even if only superficially, to provide a modest return to investors.
Very good discussion today...but that metaphor I found intriguing (and realistic). That, sparky, would have been the responsible thing to do 3 years ago, now it is absolutely imperative (they risk 'starving' and 'murdering' the shareholders and science presently). I'm assuming you are suggesting mgmt should sacrifice personal gain for the welfare of shareholders, ie., give up, throw in the towel, concede defeat for a greater purpose? It's pretty clear now isn't it? Sure, they will get money from somewhere...and the cost will be horrific, with the sole purpose being mgmt/BOD self-preservation, even if it's only short term. There is always a chance they'll get a piece, they don't want to give that up either...just keep it in low gear.
I still think if mgmt leaves first we get a bump up in price. Has anyone seen a worse 4 yr chart of companies still in existence with the same executives leading (?) the way? That should give everyone a clear perspective. It's amazing that mgmt had nothing to do with it either. Nice gig...if you don't give a shit about your constituency.
Proteostasis Therapeutics & Elan Form Drug Discovery Initiative
Strategic Relationship Combines Proteostasis’ Proprietary “Proteostasis Network” Platform With Elan’s Biology, Genetics And Neurology Disease Expertise
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Proteostasis Therapeutics (“Proteostasis”) and Elan Corporation (NYSE:ELN - News) today announced a strategic business relationship to advance Proteostasis’ platform for the discovery and development of disease-modifying, small molecule drugs and diagnostics for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and a broad array of dementia-related diseases including Alzheimer’s. This innovative initiative will combine Proteostasis’ unique discovery technology, novel targets and compounds that modulate key Proteostasis Network pathways with Elan’s long-standing strength in proprietary animal models, biology, medicinal chemistry and clinical development.
Under terms of the agreement, Elan invested $20 million into equity capital of Proteostasis and will have an opportunity to provide an additional $30 million in collaboration funding over five years. As part of the agreement, Elan will become an approximate 24% shareholder in Proteostasis, obtained a right of first negotiation to exclusively license compounds emerging from the combined initiative and will have the right to a seat on the Proteostasis board of directors as well as its scientific advisory board. By mutual agreement, this innovative relationship can be extended for a further five years.
Peter Reinhart, Ph.D., President and Chief Scientific Officer of Proteostasis, commented, “We are excited to announce this promising collaboration with Elan, a proven leader in innovative neurodegenerative disease drug development. This alliance recognizes our progress to date and provides an opportunity to further advance Proteostasis’ novel drug discovery platform. Elan’s proprietary disease models and development expertise will enable us to accelerate our programs, each of which has the potential for developing therapeutics to treat multiple neurodegenerative diseases.”
Dale Schenk, Ph.D., Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, as well as Ted Yednock, Ph.D., Executive Vice President and head of research for Elan, added their comments by stating that, “Through an emphasis on protein folding and turnover, the Proteostasis business relationship is both complementary and additive to our internal research effort which is focused on genetic targets associated with a broad array of neurodegenerative disorders. This initiative enables us to simultaneously expand possible targets and accelerate our progress in bringing science to patients, as we believe that this area is central for further scientific and clinical advancements.”
“Proteostasis’ drug discovery platform is based on an emerging concept in biology, namely that perturbations in the Proteostasis Network pathways fundamentally underlie a wide variety of diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases as well as orphan conditions such as cystic fibrosis and lysosomal storage disorders,” said Christopher K. Mirabelli, Ph.D., Chairman of the Board of Proteostasis. “This alliance provides a creative approach to financing our discovery platform and supporting the development of multiple discovery and development programs in parallel.”
Kelly Martin, Chief Executive Officer of Elan, added that, “This initiative with Proteostasis reinforces our commitment and strategic business objective of being an exceptionally high-caliber, science-driven company and provides a multitude of opportunities for Elan to advance its position as a world leader in the broad field of neuroscience. Importantly, and given the construct of the deal as a capital investment, this transaction is being consummated in a manner that will have a minimal near-term financial impact on our income statement and enable shareholders to realize the benefits of the operating leverage, embedded into our business, that combines expected double-digit revenue growth with a stable and well defined overall cost structure.”
About Proteostasis Therapeutics
Proteostasis Therapeutics is developing “Proteostasis Regulators” (PRs), small molecule drugs that restore proper protein function or remove misfolded and aggregated proteins to treat neurodegenerative, metabolic, genetic and inflammatory disorders. The Proteostasis Network is the cellular machinery responsible for protein folding, trafficking and clearance, and can become imbalanced by the cumulative effects of aging, disease, genetics, and environmental factors. PTI was founded by leading scientists who discovered a pioneering approach for treating disease by restoring protein network homeostasis. www.proteostasis.com
About Elan
Elan Corporation, plc is a neuroscience-based biotechnology company committed to making a difference in the lives of patients and their families by dedicating itself to bringing innovations in science to fill significant unmet medical needs that continue to exist around the world. Elan shares trade on the New York and Irish Stock Exchanges. For additional information about the Company, please visit www.elan.com.
Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations and assumptions contained in this news release, including expectations and assumptions about Proteostasis’ and Elan's strategic business relationship, are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Although Proteostasis and Elan attempt to be accurate in making these forward-looking statements, future circumstances might differ from the assumptions on which such statements are based. In addition, other important factors which could cause results to differ materially include the following: risks associated with collaborative relationships; whether Proteostasis and Elan can successfully discover and develop potential products and agree on licensing terms for any such products; competition; and the other risk factors set forth from time to time in the Securities and Exchange Commission filings for Elan, copies of which are available free of charge upon request from Elan investor relations.
I don't consider myself a victim, and I'm not blaming others for my mistakes. I'm pointing to mgmt(primarily) as the obvious reason why Cortex has nearly failed, yet continues on the same brutal and idiotic path. I have pointed the finger at them for self-defeating explanations, oh-so-poor follow through and focus on strategies, disconnected communications, and piggish, falsely entitled monetary rewards and incentives. I've questioned many things, which either have stirred the pot here, or been ignored by the top here. The responses (or lack there of) by the experts have amounted to nothing more than cowering and an overwhelming display of bias (which I absolutely cannot ignore). That, however, is just a sideshow to the real concern here, which is the company and their drug development shortcomings.
I don't agree with your scapegoating explanation, as I accept responsibility (yet again) for my investment. However, it is ridiculous for me to hold myself liable for the long term Cortex pps plummet, don't you think? So...I am stuck here because I choose to be, and I will continue to express how I feel, whatever that means and for what it's worth.
Now, I ask you, why are you here (on earth)? The world is a vampire for you, isn't it? :)
Gfp-Do you go on your med's when you post on this board, and go off them to post on the General Stock Ideas forum? Based on your contrasting viewpoints, that's the only thing that makes sense to me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not discouraging you, it's just simple curiosity.
I'm not blaming Varney/Stoll for my losses--never have--just sharing my low opinion of them for being such lousy leader's, which, coincidentally to my financial misfortune, I have tied my money to. There is a difference. I'm surprised you find it necessary to placate the irate shareholders here in support of mgmt, yet challenge anything that has to do with the establishment elsewhere. If it is your quest for balance, I respect it, and can relate.
There is a reason why I'm here, I don't know exactly what it is, but I'm going with it until it no longer feels right.
MF4-I'm not sure about his holiness, but he most certainly is in a cloud :)