(CNN) — How would the likes of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin feel about the way the United States has turned out 232 years after declaring its independence?

These powerful Senators remain in place to make our Founding Fathers roll in their graves.They focus on promoting misguided paranoia about a war that was really about oil, power, money and a sick religous agenda. The 4th of July should remind Americans about the original intention of our Founding Fathers.

What’s patriotism? Definitions differ

Fourth of July Celebrations Database

Excerpts from:

Declaration of The Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms

July 6, 1775

Honour, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them, if we basely entail hereditary bondage upon them.

In our own native land, in defence of the freedom that is our birthright, and which we ever enjoyed till the late violation of it — for the protection of our property, acquired solely by the honest industry of our fore-fathers and ourselves, against violence actually offered, we have taken up arms. We shall lay them down when hostilities shall cease on the part of the aggressors, and all danger of their being renewed shall be removed, and not before.

Zimbabwe’s Tsvangirai quits run-off

Head of Movement for Democratic Change cites violence against supporters as main reason for boycott.

Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe’s opposition leader, has announced that he will not take part in the run-off presidential election against Robert Mugabe, the country’s long-standing president.

Tsvangirai said on Sunday that Mugabe has “declared war by saying that the bullet has replaced the ballot”, and so his party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), will not be a part of the June 27 vote.

Citing violence against his supporters as a major reason for the withdrawal, Tsvangirai called on the United Nations and the African Union to intervene to stop “genocide” in Zimbabwe.

• Should international peacekeepers be sent to Zimbabwe?
• Profile: Morgan Tsvangirai
• Profile: Robert Mugabe
• Dethroning Mugabe no easy task
• Q&A: Zimbabwe’s election crisis

South Africa: Grant Temporary Status to All Zimbabweans

Because of South Africa’s dysfunctional asylum system, many asylum seekers’ claims are not examined adequately and others are not able to lodge their claims at all. Because its deportation practices are also arbitrary and haphazard, many of the tens of thousands of Zimbabweans registered as asylum seekers in South Africa are at risk of refoulement, the forcible return to persecution in Zimbabwe, a fundamental breach of international refugee law. As a party to the refugee convention, South Africa is bound by the principle of non-refoulement, and may not send people back to face persecution.

South Africa faces a stark choice: it can break international law by deporting asylum seekers and ignore the harsh reality faced by hundreds of thousands of other Zimbabweans on its territory, or it can grant them temporary status and the right to work.

Shame on the world for letting this happen. We have watched this catastrophe unfold for months.  We have watched the people of Zimbabwe decline into food and economic crisis.  We have moaned and groaned and wrung our hands at the plight of Zimbabweans.  We have watched neighboring countries abuse and attack Zimbabwe refugees.  We have watched The United Nations fail to mediate or intervene successfully.  News media has risked life and limb to bring pictures of Zimbabwe and Darfur to the World’s attention.   But, the world has distracted itself with personal economics.  Consumerism, mortgage crisis and oil prices have trumped humanitarian interests.  World Humanitarian Agencies are struggling to help with one hand tied behind their backs.  If it is not in YOUR back yard, why should you care?  Because, this is what happens when shouts of terror fall on deaf ears.  The Golden Rule needs to be remembered by everyone.  Every religion has a version of the same concept.

The wimpy GLOBAL humanitarian efforts applied to the Darfur and Burma disasters appear to have become the norm … This is unacceptable!  Put down those IPODS and cell phones long enough to donate that dollar you would have spent on the lottery or latte.  The Humanitarian Agencies need your help.  Start with:

• International Crisis Group
• Human Rights NGO Forum
• Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR)
• Amnesty International
• Zimbabwe expels UN human rights officer
• United Nations Human Rights
• Peace Africa
  

Medicare: Thousands of Medicare Providers Abuse the Federal Tax System

GAO-08-618 June 13, 2008 Highlights Page (PDF) Full Report (PDF, 39 pages)

Medicare Providers Involved in Abusive and Potentially Criminal Activity Related to the Federal Tax System

Under the Medicare program, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and its contractors paid over $400 billion in Medicare benefits in calendar year 2006. GAO was asked to determine if Medicare providers have unpaid federal taxes and, if so, to (1) determine the magnitude of such debts, (2) identify examples of Medicare providers that have engaged in abusive or potentially criminal activities, and (3) determine whether CMS prevents delinquent taxpayers from enrolling in Medicare or levies payments to pay taxes. To determine amount of unpaid taxes owed by Medicare providers, GAO compared claim payment data from CMS and tax debt data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). In addition, GAO reviewed policies, procedures, and regulations related to Medicare. GAO also performed additional investigative activities.

Our analysis of data provided by CMS and IRS indicates that over 27,000 health care providers (i.e., about 6 percent of all such providers) paid under Medicare during calendar year 2006 had payroll and other agreed-to federal tax debts totaling over $2 billion. The $2 billion in unpaid tax debts only includes those debts reported on a tax return or assessed by IRS through its enforcement programs. This $2 billion figure is understated because some of these Medicare providers owed taxes under separate tax identification numbers (TIN) from the TINs that received the Medicare payments or they did not file their tax returns. We selected 25 Medicare providers with significant tax debt for more in-depth investigation of the extent and nature of any abusive or potentially criminal activity. Our investigation found abusive and potentially criminal activity, including failure to remit to IRS payroll taxes withheld from their employees. Rather than fulfill their role as “trustees” of this money and forward it to IRS as required by law, these Medicare providers diverted the money for other purposes. Willful failure to remit payroll taxes is a felony under U.S. law. Furthermore, individuals associated with some of these providers at the same time used payroll taxes withheld from employees for personal gain. Some of these individuals accumulated substantial wealth and assets, including million-dollar houses and luxury vehicles, while failing to pay their federal taxes. In addition, some providers received Medicare payments even though they had quality-of-care issues, such as losing track of a pati