Posted 12:50 AM by Gerald Klaas
I've been working in San Diego since February 2006 on a large migration team moving a data center and all of its hosted applications. Been a wild ride, with plenty of work (read opportunity for personal and professional growth).

In my spare time I've worked with the X-ASVP committee on a new proposal that could make life a lot tougher on spammers. The idea is to create a URL search path for every e-mail address, that defines three possible places that an end user could post an authentication token, or a description of which of the various existing protocols (DKIM, SPF, PGP, etc) he requires to get mail into his Inbox. The Internet-draft document and supporting data flow diagrams are posted at http://www.x-asvp.org/

BTW: The following secondary (top level domain) providers are also active.
http://www.x-asvp.COM
http://www.x-asvp.NET
http://www.x-asvp.ORG
http://www.x-asvp.BIZ
http://www.x-asvp.INFO
http://www.x-asvp.MOBI
http://www.x-asvp.NAME
http://www.x-asvp.AG
http://www.x-asvp.AT
http://www.x-asvp.BE
http://www.x-asvp.BZ
http://www.x-asvp.CC
http://www.x-asvp.CN
http://www.x-asvp.DE
http://www.x-asvp.DK
http://www.x-asvp.ES
http://www.x-asvp.EU
http://www.x-asvp.FM
http://www.x-asvp.GS
http://www.x-asvp.IN
http://www.x-asvp.LA
http://www.x-asvp.MS
http://www.x-asvp.PH
http://www.x-asvp.SC
http://www.x-asvp.TC
http://www.x-asvp.TK
http://www.x-asvp.TV
http://www.x-asvp.TW
http://www.x-asvp.US
http://www.x-asvp.VC
http://www.x-asvp.VG
http://www.x-asvp.WS

Posted 7:32 PM by Gerald Klaas
Back to work after a great Thanksgiving week. Some of my in-laws stayed with us for several days, and we had a great time eating too much, drinking too much, gambling at the Indian casino and braving the cold, rainy weather in order to enjoy bonfires on Souhern Oregon coastal beaches.

One thing I learned from having three teenagers share my house for a week, is that the current generation is using a blogger-on-steroids application called MySpace to share digital pics and have a kind of open doodle-board chat among friends. Since I'd like to get back to teaching again sometime, I figured I should do some poking around to see how this thing worked, lest I get another one of those know-it-all students trying to play stump-the-instructor with me again.

Can you imagine my surprise when I happened upon a site featuring a girl my stepson used to date? Funny thing is, three years ago her parents told him that she had died of cancer. How f***-ed up is that? For some three years my wife and I have helped him deal with his grief, and tried to counsel our young Marine about how a loving God could take such a precious gem from this earth. Now we find out they lied. Yeah, can you believe it? I'm thinking of suing the bastards for inflicting mental anguish, and the cost of counseling, and the time spent trying to find a grave that didn't even friggin' exist. I think the young Marine doesn't have to worry about finding her in an afterlife anymore. She and her lyin' parents better be sure they pack their sunscreen.

Posted 5:26 AM by Gerald Klaas
The President's Panel on Income Tax Reform has issued it's report. While I still believe that the income tax is unconstitutional, this would be a step in the right direction.

On a personal note, I'm currently on a business trip in Herndon, Virginia. This weekend I'll be going to Punkin Chunkin in Millsboro, Delaware.

Posted 12:35 PM by Gerald Klaas
There's an interesting story from WESH-TV today on prison inmates collecting bogus tax refunds:

After first refusing to answer any questions, the IRS admitted to congressional investigators that the problem is worse than many imagined. Last year alone, IRS records show almost 500,000 prison inmates nationwide tried to file a tax return seeking a total of $758 million.

And these guys go after a guy like Joe Banister?

Posted 12:20 PM by Gerald Klaas
Here is a copy of a letter to the editor I sent to The Sacramento Bee in
response to a blatantly biased article on the Joe Banister trial in federal court last week.

RE: Verdict Cheered by Tax Evaders (Business 6/25)

Does The Bee intend to show such an obvious bias
when reporting that a former IRS agent who claims
there is no legal authority to force employers to
withold "income" taxes is acquitted of all charges?

As one who actually attended the trial, and didn't
see The Bee's reporter in attendance, I was amazed
that the IRS's own witness, Robert Gorini, was
unable to cite any law that required Banister to
pay income taxes.

Maybe instead of vilifying those of us who care
about the rule of law by calling us "Tax Evaders",
(and by the way, I do pay income taxes), The Bee
could do us all a service by asking the IRS why
their case failed?  Maybe the jury was right?
Maybe Mr. Banister is right?  Maybe the IRS uses
a different definition of "income" than what
the Supreme court applied in the Stapler decision?


Gerald Klaas 

Posted 5:58 PM by Gerald Klaas
Once again the problem with DCMA handing too much power to the recording industry is shown as the recording industry sues an 84-year-old dead woman.
At some point, the Digital Millenium Copyright Act needs to be reformed.

Posted 9:25 PM by Gerald Klaas
It seems to me that the salient point of Schulz v. IRS is not only that "IRS summonses apply no force to taxpayers....until that summons is backed by a federal court order", but that while this will certainly raise the enforcement overhead of the IRS within the 2nd Circuit states, I think a more interesting question is:
Will banks and employers who comply with IRS garnishment "requests", without a court order, become liable for acting without proper authority?

Posted 7:34 PM by Gerald Klaas
Interesting article on the California secession movement and Move On California organization:

Those benefits would be both financial and political: "For every dollar Californians give to the federal government we see only 78-cents come back," the group's website says. It also expresses concern about "the diminishing voice of Californians in national politics" and "national trends that are tipping the balance in the direction of the religious conservative agenda."

Posted 4:03 PM by Gerald Klaas
I've been in Indianapolis (snapshot) on a business trip for the last week. I've been very impressed with this city. I enjoyed going to mass at the historic Saint John the Evangelist Catholic Church right across the street from the RCA Dome, and spent a few hours today at the Indiana War Memorial. I also enjoyed walking on the Canal Walk ( snapshot ). Yesterday I visited the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.

Posted 8:06 PM by Gerald Klaas
In all too predictable lockstep, the federal judiciary has dismissed the lawsuit
against federal agents for use of excessive force in the kidnapping deportation
of Elian Gonzalez in April 2000. From Reuters:

The family said the federal agents who raided their Little Havana
home and snatched Elian on April 22, 2000, broke down their door without warning, sprayed gas in the house and broke furniture and religious artifacts.

Posted 10:10 PM by Gerald Klaas
It was an exciting day in my household. Not in any particular order, my excitement was marked by 1) the receipt of my order of 861.info mini CD's; 2) I sent out my notarized complaint for the We The People Foundation lawsuit, and 3) my stepson moved out of the house at age 20.

I'm not completely sure where they all rank, but I have a silly grin and am enjoying a nice glass of Merlot to celebrate at least one of them. :-)

Posted 10:52 PM by Gerald Klaas
Eerily familiar to those dealing with another arm of the federal government (the IRS), comes this tidbit from the NY Times discussing the FBI's latest campaign of intimidation of law-abiding
citizens: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/16/politics/campaign/16fbi.html

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been questioning political demonstrators across the country, and in rare cases even subpoenaing them, in an aggressive effort to forestall what officials say could be violent and disruptive protests at the Republican National Convention in New York.

Last year my hometown (Sacramento, CA) was the host to the Ministerial Conference and Expo on Agricultural Science and Technology and likewise used unconstitutional intimidation tactics to quell free speech......er, uh, I mean to "keep things peaceful". A friend of mine was arrested for carrying too wide of a protest sign handle.

Posted 10:32 PM by Gerald Klaas
A BIG howdy to the recent IRS visitor to my website.

3.3.216.152.in-addr.arpa name = internet1.irs.gov.

I did enjoy this snippet from my web log

---snip---

152.216.3.4 - - [27/Apr/2004:16:38:57 -0400] "GET /taxes/html/correspondence.htm

 HTTP/1.1" 200 4788 "http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=

%22Thomas+Marusin%22" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET C

LR 1.0.3705)"

152.216.3.3 - - [27/Apr/2004:16:38:58 -0400] "GET /taxes/images/a_t_bill.gif HTT

P/1.1" 200 2539 "http://www.sacto.com/taxes/html/correspondence.htm" "Mozilla/4.

0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.0.3705)"

152.216.3.3 - - [27/Apr/2004:16:39:21 -0400] "GET /taxes/html/brewster2.doc HTTP

/1.1" 200 66048 "http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22T

homas+Marusin%22" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1

.0.3705)"

---end snip---

A quick DNS query tells me this is from the IRS web proxy internet1.irs.gov and
the referrer log shows the visitor was looking for a reference to Thomas Marusin which they found
here, part of my
Prove the 16th website.

I have some recommended reading for my IRS employee readers.

http://www.861.info

http://www.givemeliberty.org

http://www.exodus10-3.org/

Posted 6:40 PM by Gerald Klaas
Zell Miller says to Dump the 17th Amendment

Miller, a former two-term governor of Georgia, contends the Constitution's prescription for balancing the interests of large and small states and the power of state and federal governments was destroyed when the U.S. ratified the 17th Amendment in 1913.

I couldn't agree more. As I've said before, I think the 17th Amendment does more than throw off the balance of power between large and small states, it results in more centralized federal power since the Senators are no longer fighting for the preservation of power for the bodies (legislatures) that should have elected them. This is one of blogger Jim Paulson's favorite topics.

Posted 8:48 PM by Gerald Klaas
The FBI wants to tap your VoIP.

That would constitute a sweeping expansion of police surveillance powers. Instead of
asking Congress to approve the request, the FBI (along with the Department of Justice
and the Drug Enforcement Administration) are pressing the Federal Communications
Commission to move forward with minimal public input.

Much like the IRS ignores the actual LAW when interpreting a person's taxable income, these three federal bureaucracies ignore that the LAW Congress passed in 1994 specifically did not apply to Internet Service Providers, but hey, what's a little thing like The Law to stand in the way of power-hungry bureaucrats?