Where to Hide?

The Feds Just Won't Leave The Poor Swiss Alone

     According to a Reuters piece this morning, the Federal Government has slapped an indictment on the oldest private bank in Switzerland.

Reuters Swiss Tax Evasion

     The most amusing portion of the article is that the U.S. Government appears to have charged the corporate entity, and unnamed co-conspirators.  The results are simple enough.  The bank seems to have moved the money to a friendly unindicted bank, and continued on.  There is understandable fear amongst the employees in Switzerland, but business appears to carry on, albeit in a different form.  The bank's leading partner, a Mr. Hummler, is affected to the extent that he probably can't vacation in the United States for fear of arrest.  Beyond that, life goes on.
     I understand that the Federal Government has an interest in securing all the taxes legally obligated to it.   I also understand the need to take dramatic action in attempting to make that happen.  What is less clear is the level of effectiveness of this particular action.  Without the cooperation of the Swiss government, I fail to understand how the Department of Justice plans to actually get the information it wants.  I suppose the discovery process could yield something if Wegelin, the bank in question, participates in the lawsuit.  Beyond a special appearance to contest service of process, I doubt that will happen.  Lacking any branch in the United States means there is little the DOJ can do inside the domestic borders to push the issue.
     Stay tuned for further developments.  Swiss secrecy is something they pride themselves upon.  We'll have to see if a friendly relationship with the U.S. trumps that history.

Honduran Prison - No Me Gusta

     If media reports are to be believed, a vicious fire has led to the deaths of over 300 inmates at a prison in Honduras.  For further specifics, please click on the link here.


Fox News Honduran Fire

     While I am sure that few tears will be shed outside of those who count themselves as friends, and family of those who have lost their lives, it is scary.  This isn't the first time a crazy inferno has taken the lives of many at a Honduran correctional institution.  In fact, it appears to be the 4th such fire to claim the lives of inmates in that country since 1994.  All of the prior events led to the loss of at least 70 lives. 
     What I don't know, and the area of largest concern to me, is whether all, most, or only some of the inmates had already been convicted of criminal offenses.  The English Language news articles I have seen imply that these were bad people who had already been convicted by a Court of having done bad things.  Even if that is the case, burning alive can seldom - I'd say never - be justified by analyzing who has been burned to death. 
     The more troubling thing to me is what the event says about the general commitment to justice, safety of the public, and rehabilitation.  A system comprised of facilities that regularly (at least 4 times in 15 years) breaks down to the point of permitting mass extrajudicial death, is a system that can't be tolerated.  What does the repeated failure say about the interest of the public in improving the likelihood that inmates will be returned to society better able to interact with the law-abiding?  I know that most don't care, and you don't have to.  If any one of these men died before trial, it is one too many.  That trial would have been an opportunity for the accused to face his accuser.  It was also an opportunity for the public, the family of victims, and victims themselves to seek justice.  When the government system fails, as it did here, both sides are hurt.

Beware the Amish Bearing Raw Milk

     Not a Decision Between Guns, and Butter - Rather, Feds Use Guns to take the Butter

     As a constitutional libertarian, few things are as annoying as the Federal Government interfering in consensual transactions between consenting adults.  I know...anytime a sentence includes, "between consenting adults" the natural inclination is to believe that the discussion deals with SEX, or some other deviant topic.  Imagine for a moment that this "transaction between consenting adults" isn't sex, for money, or any consideration at all.  Instead, this transaction is for milk - specifically the sale of raw (unpasteurized) milk from an Amish farmer trying to make his way in the modern commercial world, to wealthy families living in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.  This, friends, is the world (country) in which you live.
     In 2012, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), appears to lack sufficient tasks to complete that they decide to spend time raiding Amish farmers, and in constructing straw purchases to back their desire to shut down consensual commerce.  Problematically, given the state of the law and law enforcement, I can't make a strong argument that the farmer's actions weren't illegal.  All I can say is that they shouldn't be.  The crux of the problem for Mr. Daniel Allgyer, (Amish Farmer) is that, in order to maximize his business endeavor he decided to sell his wares (raw milk) across state lines.  You see, when you run a farm in Kinzers, Pennsylvania, you may only have a local population of 2,800 people.  Simultaneously, you are only 100 miles from Washington, D.C., and its whole organic-crazed populace.
     It isn't the production, and sale of raw milk that ensnared Mr. Allgyer.  It was the law (Commerce Clause of the Constitution), and more perniciously the interpretation that has been attached to the law that has done him in.  At this point in our nation's history, it should be surprising to noone that the Feds decided to take down this operation.  Only collective recognition of the problems we face from our Government, combined with a will to thoughtfully engage in thorough debate, can change our course. 

Please see the Washington Times article linked below for additional information.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/13/feds-shut-down-amish-farm-selling-fresh-milk/print/