tit for tat

I'm not sure what Ms. Goodling expected to happen when she declined to go before Congress and lie for her boss, but we all could have seen this one coming:

Justice Dept. Announces Inquiry Into Its Hiring

By ERIC LIPTON and DAVID JOHNSTON

WASHINGTON, May 2 — The Justice Department has begun an internal investigation into whether a former senior adviser to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales improperly tried to fill vacancies for career prosecutors at the agency with Republicans loyal to the Bush administration, department officials said Wednesday.

The inquiry focuses on whether the former adviser, Monica Goodling, sought to determine the political affiliations of job applicants before they were hired as prosecutors — potentially a violation of civil service laws and a break with a tradition of nonpartisanship in the career ranks at the Justice Department.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/washington/03attorneys.html


And I sure am excited to learn that the biggest richest most complex tax evaders don't get audited because they are too big rich and complex. Now that's something to set your sights on:

I.R.S. Curtails Many Audits in Tax Havens

By EDMUND L. ANDREWS

WASHINGTON, May 2 — The Internal Revenue Service is curtailing audits of many people who use offshore tax havens, even when agents see signs of tax evasion, because agents fear they cannot meet a three-year deadline for finishing an examination, Congressional investigators have found.

In a report to be released on Thursday, the Government Accountability Office found that I.R.S. agents are so hobbled by “dilatory tactics” by offshore taxpayers and other problems that it takes almost two and a half years to complete a typical audit.

Many I.R.S. agents told the G.A.O., the investigative arm of Congress, that the “safest way” was often to stop an audit prematurely and sometimes to refrain from starting one in the first place.

The I.R.S. reported that almost $300 billion in investment and business income was moved out of the United States in 2003. Analysts at the Joint Committee on Taxation have estimated that the annual outflow has shot to more than $400 billion since then.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/business/03tax.htm

Only your hatred can destroy me

If you want to know something about someone, check out who they are sleeping with. In case anyone is under the impression that Google is still part of a counter culture free internet revolution >>>

Google Reaches Deal With Clear Channel to Sell Radio Ads

By LOUISE STORY

Google will begin selling advertisements across all of the stations of Clear Channel Communications, the No. 1 radio station owner in the United States, at the end of June, the companies will announce today.

Google has been working for months to expand its ad sales operation into traditional media like newspapers, radio and television. To do so, it needs traditional media companies to allow it to sell some of their ads, and it had seemed to be making little progress in radio.

But the partnership with Clear Channel represents a step forward for Google. The deal will run for several years, and will give Google access to just under 5 percent of Clear Channel’s commercial time. That will include 30-second spots on all of Clear Channel’s 675 stations during all programs and all times of the day, executives at both companies said in interviews yesterday.

The companies did not disclose the financial details of the arrangement, except to say that Clear Channel would receive the majority of the ad revenue.

“It represents an opportunity to put what is arguably the hottest sales organization in the world to work selling our inventory, and we’re very excited about that,” said John Hogan, the chief executive of Clear Channel.

Mr. Hogan said that Google would bring new advertisers to his stations and would work with those companies rather than with Clear Channel’s existing advertisers. But, he said, the Google advertisers would have access to premium inventory — in contrast to some of Google’s deals with newspapers that are allowing Google to sell only leftover ad space. And, he left the door open for a broader deal.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/technology/16radio.html


on the iPod:
Daniel Johnston