Tiller’s Clinic to Close

Days after the murder of Dr. George Tiller, the out of state M.D.s who practiced with him vowed to keep Tiller’s clinic open after a week of mourning.  Then it became less clear if the clinic would re-open.  From today’s Wichita Eagle:

“Lee Thompson and Dan Monnat, the family’s lawyers, said in a statement that the clinic, Women’s Health Care Services, will be permanently closed, effective immediately.”

In addition to reassuring the clinic’s current patients of continuing care, I assumed that Tiller’s colleagues quickly announced the clinic’s ongoing operation as a way of stating that the tragedy of Tiller’s death would not result in a “victory”, as it were, for pro-life factions prone to such violence.

Abortion is still legal in the United States, obtaining one has become more inconvenient for women in Wichita, as this article from the WE states.

iggy donnelly

UBS Recruiting American Investors

Apparently UBS, the same outfit with the major commercial package going for it, has been sending recruiters to this country, trying to get investors to deposit money in their Swiss bank, in direct violation of United States law. They are doing so for no other reason than to avoid taxes here in the states. U.S. Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, estimates the cost in unpaid taxes to the U.S. Treasury is $100 billion a year.

So far two individuals,  Igor Olenicoff and Bradley Birkenfeld, have been convicted of tax fraud, but there are still as many as 52,000 other American investors who may be guilty of the same thing. This could blossom into the biggest tax fraud case in history. But it depends on the Federal government obtaining release of the investors names.  UBS is fighting it, saying it conflicts with the Swiss secrecy laws, but the federal government is threatening prosecution of banking officials if it doesn’t get its way. So far, it appears to be a game of chicken, but the odds are on our side. The main problem seems to be will the government want to take a chance on bringing down a bank of UBS’s size?  This whole thing has some serious implications. There’s no telling who it could bring down, but my feeling is it’s something that must be done. We, the people, are being cheated out of billions yearly because of nothing more than greed.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=ax6qczN4F3Mw

jammer5

Tuesday, 06/09/09, Public Square

Any subject you want to pick apart today?

fnord