The Problem with Romney's Taxes

The problem is that there is no problem and that's an irritant to Democrats in a race for their political futures. Romney paid his taxes and produced his tax returns to demonstrate it.

However - 36 Obama aides owe $833,000 in back taxes

Please don't wait for MSNBC to cover that story, because you'll have a really LONG wait.

Pete Souza / White House (Obama addresses his White House staff, file)

How embarrassing this must be for President Obama, whose major speech theme so far this campaign season has been that every single American, no matter how rich, should pay their "fair share" of taxes. 

A new report just out from the Internal Revenue Service reveals that 36 of President Obama's executive office staff owe the country $833,970 in back taxes. These people working for Mr. Fair Share apparently haven't paid any share, let alone their fair share. 

Previous reports have shown how well-paid Obama's White House staff is, with 457 aides pulling down more than $37 million last year.  

Nearly one-third of Obama's aides make more than $100,000 with 21 being paid the top White House salary of $172,200, each. (Investors Business Daily)

The IRS' 2010 delinquent tax revelations come as part of a required annual agency report on federal employees' tax compliance. The report finds that thousands of federal employees owe the country more than $3.4 billion in back taxes.

The tax offenders include employees of the U.S. Senate who help write the laws imposed on everyone else. They owe $2.1 million. Workers in the House of Representatives owe $8.5 million, Department of Education employees owe $4.3 million and over at Homeland Security, 4,697 workers owe about $37 million. Attorney General Eric Holder is on the list too. But I suspect that he's been so busy defending himself from Congressional Indictment that it simply slipped his mind. (LINK)

Reelect Barack Obama

8.3% unemployment nationally, only 3 states with a real unemployment rate under 10%, $5+ trillion in new debt, $220 trillion in liabilities, housing still in the toilet, wages and savings way down… Fortunately, Obama has a plan for this. He won’t lay it out, but we’ve watched it for well over 3 years. It’s called “Spend Other People’s Money To Reward Campaign Donors And Liberal Support Groups.”

Congressional Budget? Not necessary, in much the same way as it's completely unnecessary for you and I to budget our money. Won't you give Obama just one more chance to redeem himself? After all, he won the Nobel Peace Prize. That alone should count for something.

The New Drug War?

courtesy of STRATFOR

I can't remember when there wasn't a war on drugs and when Mexico wasn't at the center of our 'war' (of sorts). And I can't remember when it wasn't easy to buy any drugs you want in the US or in Mexico. 

Since President Felipe Calderón took office in December 2006 and initiated the “War on Drugs,” murder and violence rates skyrocketed. In January 2012, the Calderón Administration quit publicly reporting organized crime related murders; possibly as part of its political re-election strategy. 

Leticia Ramírez de Alba is reporting that 88,361 individuals died during the Calderón administration. Ramírez de Alba is part of México Evalúa, and reported the above mentioned number in the “Visible and Invisible Victims” (IVVI) index. 

Since December 2006 and the implementation of the Calderón counter-drug offensive, murder rates have soared in Mexico. These murder rates have directly impacted families as murders are associated with other crimes. Between December 2006 and March 2012, 120,692 people were victims of kidnapping, extortion, or murder in Mexico. 

Considering that the average household is comprised of three to four people (according to the latest figures from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography; INEGI), for each victim, some 366,478 people close to them were also affected. 

Before the above mentioned study done by Leticia Ramírez de Alba, Reforma and other media sources were publishing murder rates that could be directly attributed to organized crime. Yearly totals reported by Reforma were as follows: 2,119 in 2006, 2,275 in 2007, 5,207 in 2008, 6,587 in 2009, 11,583 in 2010 and 11,757 in 2011. As it currently stands, an estimated 135,779 individuals will have been affected by kidnapping, extortion, or murder by the end of 2012.

Spanish Source: http://www.proceso.com.mx/?p=309572

The Federal Investigation Agency (Agencia Federal de Investigación, AFI), Mexico's FBI, officially disbanded on Thursday, July 26, with the Federal Ministerial Police (Policia Federal Ministerial, PFM) assuming operations in its place. This has essentially removed law enforcement from control of the Attorney General's office (PGR). Does anyone think that this will make a noteworthy difference?

When President Barack Obama is defeated in November 2012, will President-elect Mitt Romney start yet another war on drugs in 2013? If so, what will it look like and what good will it do? And will Mexico go along with it?