Shaw Capital Working Management Tips and Articles

The fliers increasingly popping up around many community churches seem harmless enough. They are handwritten, include a first name and local phone number, and offer exactly what any taxpayer would want: more money back on your tax returns.

But as unsuspicious as the flier may seem, following up on the enticement could leave your bank account and your identity vulnerable to theft.

The Internal Revenue Service has seen an increase in these types of tax-return-related scams targeting church congregations across the country, especially in Louisiana.

The way the scam works is simple: An unsuspecting taxpayer calls the phone number on the flier, seeking help with filing tax returns. The scam artist then solicits the caller’s Social Security number, and in many cases, bank account and credit card numbers, giving them all the information necessary to steal the caller’s money and identity.

These scams, which exploit a tax refund system that can sometimes prove complicated, tend to prey disproportionately on elderly and low-income individuals.

“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” said Dee Harris Stepter, a spokeswoman for the IRS based in New Orleans. “Most people rely on the faith and credibility of the people in their church, and so they believe the tax help’s a legitimate thing when it’s not.”

These schemes tend to spread by word of mouth, as well-intentioned people tell their friends and family.

To avoid becoming a victim of tax scams, there are certain precautions you can take.

If you’re considering paying someone to help with tax returns, check the preparer’s track record first. The Better Business Bureau of New Orleans offers ratings of many local tax return preparers, from A+ to F, to help taxpayers make the right choice.

“Bottom line is don’t give out any of your information to anyone you haven’t checked out first,” said Cynthia Albert, the bureau’s director of operations and media relations.

Scammers often promise free money with no documentation required. The IRS will always require documentation.

Social Security beneficiaries should be wary of anyone promising refunds or larger payouts, Stepter said, because if someone’s sole source of income is Social Security, they are not eligible for income tax credits.

The IRS is also seeing a lot of scams involving expired or nonexistent tax credits, such as the now-expired Economic Recovery Credit or Recovery Rebate Credit.

Many scam artists pretend to be IRS officials. They call or email people asking for their personal information, and in some cases, threaten to arrest the person they’re calling, saying the person must hand over the personal information or else.

The IRS will never ask for personal information over email or phone.

“Be informed about what your rights as a taxpayer are,” said Stepter. “These scams are something that’s very prevalent in our society, unfortunately.”

Naomi Martin can be reached at nmartin@timespicayune.com

As Navy SEAL Team 6 closed in on its prey – Osama bin Laden — it likely entered the battle armed with the best weapons and technology available to soldiers anywhere in the world, a military expert and former Navy SEAL fighter told ABC News.

“The dogs of war were finally turned loose to do what they were designed to do,” Richard Marcinko, a former Navy commander, told ABC News. And these “dogs” carry some serious firepower.

Although tactical details of Sunday’s mission remain unconfirmed, ABC News spoke with a former Navy SEAL sniper to learn what equipment and tech toys SEAL teams usually use to take down a target.

“The organizations we’re talking about have the resources to get any weapon systems they think are necessary to do the job, and they will bring [anything] they think will give them the greatest advantage in that moment,” Richard “Mac” Machowicz, a former Navy SEAL sniper and the host of Spike TV’s “Deadliest Warrior,” told ABC News. “If they get it, and they like it, they’ll use it.”

The Blackhawk helicopters that carried them to the scene not only hold missiles and large caliber guns but provide a lookout platform.

“SEALs have developed the ability to send very accurate fire from helicopters,” Machowicz said.

Those snipers would have available highly customized rifles tailored to that particular battlefield, he said. Machowicz told ABC News that when he was a sniper, he essentially had eight different sniper rifles tailored to different scenarios.

The SEAL’s ground weapons were likely highly specialized too. “The mission dictates the target, the target dictates the weapons and the weapons dictate how they’re used,” Machowicz said. In the bin Laden scenario, the SEALs would have likely used short-barrel weapons — such as a shortened M4 or AR-15 assault rifle — that allow them to easily maneuver in and out of doors, hallways and vehicles.

Machowicz speculates those guns used a large bullet type. “There are new weapons systems that fire the .45 caliber [round] that allows you to deliver a lot more kinetic energy, and you don’t need to worry about overpenetration on the target.”

Recent advances in weapons systems have even led to the creation of .50 caliber rounds, such as the “Beowolf” for assault rifles, which can penetrate a car engine block from range.

In the sky, in-atmosphere satellites (such as predator drones) and space-based satellites convey information to the troops on the ground. Helmet-mounted cameras, which were reportedly worn during the mission to capture bin Laden, also transmitted information to commanders back at base and to the situation room in Washington.

This helps the soldiers on the ground to quickly identify their targets, pick up every threat and take them down fast.

The lookout platform from the Blackhawks is extremely important, as the ground soldiers were most likely not using night-vision goggles. “All of the rehearsals for this were most likely done at night so target identification would be natural,” said Machowicz. “You don’t want to just have night vision on the guys’ faces, because the changing light conditions could change how you are able to use that. … You don’t want guys messing with their night vision when they’re supposed to be taking out targets.”

Suppressers, which are built into most modern-day weapons, would have also likely been made available to SEAL Team 6. Contrary to popular perception, they not only provide a stealth advantage but also help the team communicate once the bullets start flying. Anyone who has been on a gun range can tell you, gunshots are loud.

A SEAL’s Tool Kit Includes the Flash Bang Stun GrenadeThat means the fancy radios used to get everyone in place until the mission starts get replaced with low-tech out loud shouting once the firing begins and stealth is no longer an option.

“Once you get that go! And the pops start happening and the gunfire goes, you no longer have to pretend you’re moving quietly. … What better way to communicate with the guy down the hall or behind you than to just scream the information out?”

One of the other useful tools in a SEAL’s kit is the flash bang, or stun grenade. This device works similar to a regular grenade but is nonlethal, while still producing a disorienting amount of sound and light. Volume, noise and power allow you to dominate a room.

“SEALs want to physically and mentally dominate that space from the moment they enter,” says Machowicz. “Now what happens, when you’re startled, anything that guy does to you just seems so much faster.”

http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/independent-woman/celebrity-news-gossip/great-art-seeks-a-thriving-economy-521206.html

Sunday Oct 31 1999

Ciara Ferguson reports on the sale of world-class art that Ireland has been chosen to host a measure of our international esteemTAGGED as the art sale of the century, and certainly the most prestigious commercial exhibition ever held in Ireland, Bassano to Bacon is an incredible collection of paintings, drawings and sculpture with an estimated worth of between £50m and £100m, which will be displayed at the K Club from November 4 to 7.

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Spanning five centuries, this “selling exhibition” will feature some of the greatest world-class artists from the Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo eras as well as 19th-century Realists and Impressionists. Major 20th-century art movements such as Fauvism, Cubism and Surrealism are also represented.

Included among 80 works will be a landscape by Cezanne; a still life by Georges Braque; two drawings by Degas; a watercolour and an oil by Andre Derain; a pencil drawing by Matisse; an oil by Monet; two paintings by Picasso; a surrealist landscape by Rousseau; and a pencil drawing of Saint Remy by van Gogh, as well as The Wild Ones by Jack B Yeats (which set a world record for Irish art last summer when it was bought for £1.2m). Also featured will be Canaletto, Bassano and Francis Bacon, whose studio has been acquired by the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art.

That Ireland should be the chosen venue for such a rich sale surely consolidates the tremendous confidence in Irish spending power. For most of us it is an opportunity to view on our home ground work by these great artists.

It all started about a year ago when a young entrepreneur and art lover, Paul Tiernan, co-owner of the Ormonde Quay Hotel, came up with the idea and contacted his friend Ray Perman of the Grosvenor Gallery in London. Perman contacted prime dealers in London Simon Dickinson, David Kerr, James Roundell and Daniel Katz who all joined forces to assemble this wondrous exhibition for Irish eyes. The organisers are expecting buyers from London, Paris and New York. Many of these works have not been seen in 25 years.

Paddy Duffy, former adviser to the Taoiseach, is clearly delighted to be the publicity organiser in his first major PR coup in his new role. One of the reasons the organisers brought him on board was to get a feel for how it should be run.

It was decided that the sale would take place on the Wednesday by invitation, but that the exhibition would be open to the public from Thursday to Sunday with an admission fee of £5 to go towards the Bacon studio.

“After a series of those tentative talks that go on between professionals, the London dealers contacted other dealers all over the world and put together this unique collection of 80 masterpieces,” Paddy Duffy says.

“Nothing like this has ever been assembled before and certainly not in Ireland. You won’t be surprised to hear that the dealers are all staying in the K Club,” he says. “There are huge risks and needless to say huge security measures in place. One of the reasons we chose the K Club is that it is guardable.”

ART is close to Paddy Duffy’s heart and he explains that his interest began very early. “I entered the Christian Brothers a callow youth of 12 and emerged almost a cultured man of 20 having been introduced to music, Greek and Roman civilisation and art. I have a life-long passion for art, and every year I spend a week or two visiting the great galleries of the world.”

Duffy had been Bertie Ahern’s right-hand man for the past 20 years. He was his speechwriter for the past 10 years and, he says, his closest friend and collaborator from the time he started.

“I resigned in June over a minor issue, but in fairness to everybody I felt that as a professional that’s what I should do. Politics is a very fine art of propriety and accountability, and if you fail in any of those you do the decent thing and resign.”

Now he’s free of the chains of government, he plans to give young Irish artists their first exhibition, “as a labour of love”, he says.

“I’m told the world of art is every bit as political as politics, but we’ll see. I’m now set up as an art and business PR consultant and this is the first major exhibition I’ve been involved in. There is huge international interest in this and the buzz that this will bring to Ireland both here and abroad is wonderful.

“One of the most exciting aspects is that these hard-nosed business people and I would venture to suggest that art people are amongst the hardest-nosed have decided to bring it to Ireland. Those people that have been invited will probably understand it better than we do because, according to economic journals, it is quite clear that Ireland is the shining light in Europe.

“The international business community understands that Ireland is a thriving economy with many new home-made millionaires, and that it also houses many international money people. I wouldn’t even be surprised if some of our former citizens might wish to come back from their tax exile for one of their 90 days to attend this sale.”

Duffy says the Mona Lisa would have been a modest painting in its day, but its uniqueness is something else. Likewise, even a postage stamp-sized work of art by Picasso is bound to fetch more than a Francis Bacon.

“Something I am personally interested in is becoming involved in recreating the aura and excitement of when Hugh Lane’s bequest was made. Francis Bacon lived in England and was considered by many to be a British artist, but like George Bernard Shaw he is one of ours. The recreation of Bacon’s studio at the Hugh Lane will bring a whole new generation of international art people to Dublin.

“Our artistic heritage began much earlier in the form of manuscripts, treasuries of stories and songs and gold work from the monasteries. After that it was dark in Ireland while the origins of all this international art was forming with the patronage of the various princes. Now there has been a wonderful blossoming of art all around the country and that can be an important industry. What we are seeing in this exhibition is the fruit of centuries of artistic patronage in Europe.”

* Bassano to Bacon, The K Club, November 4 to 7

Read more: http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/independent-woman/celebrity-news-gossip/great-art-seeks-a-thriving-economy-521206.html#ixzz1O2huHKg1