Tag: politics

Why the IRS scandal is the ugliest in U.S. history.

8:26 pm

Why the IRS scandal is the ugliest in U.S. history.

Why? Because you, the People, became the targets of a comprehensive federal government effort to stifle dissent, one made using the government’s overwhelming and disproportionate policing and taxing powers.

All of the other scandals, going back to Andrew Johnson’s post-Civil War scandals, Warren G. Harding’s 1920s Teapot Dome scandal, Nixon’s Watergate, Reagan’s Iran-Contra, and Clinton’s Oval Office sexcapades have actually been narrowly focused acts of cronyism, garden-variety political chicanery, or personal failings. It’s been insider stuff.

The IRS scandal, by contrast, is a direct attack on the American people. … Once a government gets the bit between its teeth and starts targeting special interest groups, that is the end of freedom, not just for those first groups targeted, but for everyone. [emphasis in original]

Such a misuse of government power must be dealt with. If we don’t do it, it will happen again, more forcefully, more violently, more viciously, and more effectively. Freedom will die.

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The White House defends the woman who was in charge of the IRS office when it harassed conservatives organizations and now runs the IRS Obamacare office.

5:15 pm

The White House defends Sarah Hall Ingram, the person who had been in charge of the IRS office when it harassed conservatives organizations from 2009 to 2012 and now runs the IRS Obamacare office.

If President Obama was so outraged about this scandal, as he claims, you would think he’d tell his minions that it ain’t appropriate to defend this person. Instead, you’d think he’d be doing what he can to get her removed from a position of power.

Instead, Ingram received a promotion and the largest amount of bonuses of any IRS employee. Moreover, the bonuses from 2010 to 2012 were all greater than $25K per year and thus required Obama’s approval to be issued. And she is still in charge of the IRS Obamacare office.

Sounds to me that, to Obama, her harassment of conservatives at the IRS was a job well done.

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AP’s CEO calls the Obama administrations seizure of their phone records “unconstitutional” and says they are considering legal action.

2:59 pm

In other news: The CEO of the Associated Press today called the Obama administration’s seizure of their journalists’ phone records “unconstitutional,” noting that they are considering legal action.

What is most disturbing to me is that, despite the clear pattern of abuse of power by this administration — from using the IRS for political purposes to making illegal appointments to smuggling guns illegally to Mexico — too many of its supporters are still willing to make excuses for it.

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“Simply a brute-force bullying effort in order to sideline grassroots opposition to the current administration.”

5:13 pm

“Simply a brute-force bullying effort in order to sideline grassroots opposition to the current administration.”

The article describes how the IRS focused on harassing small organizations that could not defend themselves while leaving untouched the big organizations with the punch to fight back, the typical behavior of a bully. More important, the IRS did not simply focus on harassing all small organizations, only those whose political philosophies differed from that of the President and the Democratic Party.

In other words, as I like to say, they were working for the Democratic Party, using the tax code to harass and destroy its opponents. Truly corrupt, tyrannical, and vile.

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Sarah Hall Ingram, the woman who ran the IRS office which harassed conservative organizations and now runs the IRS Obamacare office, received more than $100K in bonuses for her work, three of which were large enough that they requred Presidential approval.

10:15 am

Sarah Hall Ingram, the woman who ran the IRS office which harassed conservative organizations and now runs the IRS Obamacare office, received more than $100K in bonuses for her work, three of which were large enough that they requred Presidential approval.

Her bonuses for 2010, 2011, and 2012, the years in which the harassment policy was established and put into effect, were all higher than $25K, a bonus which cannot issued without the President’s okay.

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The woman who had been in charge of the IRS office when targeted conservatives beginning in 2010 now heads the IRS office that will enforce Obamacare.

3:52 pm

O goody: The woman who had been in charge of the IRS office when it targeted conservatives beginning in 2010 now heads the IRS office that will enforce Obamacare.

Her name is Sarah Hall Ingram. Remember it, you will hear that name again. Meanwhile, the man who announced his resignation from the IRS today, Joseph Grant, had been her deputy until 2012. He only took over her office after that date, which means most of the scandal occurred during her tenure.

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In order to enforce Obamacare, the IRS and HHS are creating the largest federal database ever of the personal tax, income, and health records of American citizens.

10:15 am

What could go wrong? In order to enforce Obamacare, the federal government, led by the IRS, is creating the largest federal database ever of the personal tax, income, and health records of American citizens.

Known as the Federal Data Services Hub, the project is taking the IRS’s own records (for income and employment status) and centralizing them with information from Social Security (identity), Homeland Security (citizenship), Justice (criminal history), HHS (enrollment in entitlement programs and certain medical claims data) and state governments (residency).

The data hub will be used as the verification system for ObamaCare’s complex subsidy formula. All insurers, self-insured businesses and government health programs must submit reports to the IRS about the individuals they cover, which the IRS will cross-check against tax returns.

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Two pro-life groups were told by the IRS that they had to change their position on abortion in order to get their tax exemption request approved.

9:58 am

Working for the Democratic Party: Two pro-life groups were told by the IRS that they had to change their position on abortion in order to get their tax exemption request approved.

In one case, the IRS specifically told them they had to guarantee in writing that their organization would not protest against Planned Parenthood.

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The IRS is deeply political — and very Democratic

9:03 pm

The IRS is deeply political — and very Democratic.

The analysis explains how President Obama doesn’t have to give an order to get what he wants. Instead, the partisan nature of the people who gravitate to these government jobs gives the Democrats an advantage, naturally.

In other words, you want freedom you don’t give power to the government, for it will eventually abuse that power, no matter what.

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Did the IRS audit two long-established well-known Christian ministries because of their opposition to Democratic policies?

1:59 pm

Did the IRS audit two long-established well-known Christian ministries because of their opposition to Democratic policies?

The timing of both audits is quite intriguing, especially considering that both organizations have existed for many decades without ever getting an audit. Note too that while the audits cost the organizations money, neither found anything wrong.

Sounds like harassment to me.

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After waiting fifteen months for IRS approval of its tax-exempt status and getting to response, a conservative group reapplied using a liberal-sounding name and got its approval in three weeks.

1:53 pm

Working for the Democratic Party: After waiting fifteen months for IRS approval of its tax-exempt status and getting no response, a conservative group reapplied using a liberal-sounding name and got its approval in three weeks.

There are certainly a lot of caveats to this story, but the circumstances are quite interesting, considering all we now know about the IRS’s efforts to harass conservatives.

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It appears that a number of Senate Democrats have been demanding, in writing, that the IRS harass conservative organizations since 2010.

12:19 pm

Not in a vacuum: It appears that a number of Senate Democrats have been demanding, in writing, that the IRS harass conservative organizations since 2010. More details here.

The same Democratic chairman of the Senate Finance Committee who this week is calling for hearings into IRS activities, specifically called on the IRS to engage in that very conduct back in 2010. And he wasn’t the only one. Just last year, a group of seven Senate Democrats sent another letter to the IRS urging them to similarly investigate these outside political organizations.

I mean, really, what’s the IRS for if not to harass your political opponents?

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New estimates of the 2013 federal deficit show it will be the lowest deficit since 2008.

9:40 am

Good news? New estimates of the 2013 federal deficit show it will be the lowest deficit since 2008.

The CBO claims that much of the reduction comes from new revenue, but I suspect that the real cause was sequestration, which actually forced real cuts in federal programs for the first time since Obama took office.

I put a question mark on the “good news” above in that the deficit will still be higher than $600 billion, and that spending is still out of control. This drop is merely the tiniest glimmer of hope in a black storm of disaster.

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When the IRS harassed this tea party group in Toledo in 2011, demanding what books they read or discussed, they responded by sending the IRS a copy of the Constitution.

3:38 pm

Working for the Democratic Party: When the IRS harassed this tea party group in Toledo in 2011, demanding what books they read or discussed, they responded by sending the IRS a copy of the Constitution.

“They wanted a synopsis of all the books we read,” Bower said. “I thought, I don’t have time to write a book report. You can read them for yourselves.”

Sadly, I doubt the IRS did that.

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A judge has ruled that JPL had no right to displine five scientists for sending emails at work protesting the security measures taken by the Bush administration after 9/11.

10:34 am

A judge has ruled that JPL had no right to displine five scientists for sending emails at work, protesting the security measures taken by the Bush administration after 9/11.

I have no problem with this decision, and in fact I applaud it, as I think it completely inappropriate for JPL to discipline anyone for expressing their opinions about the politics of our time. I contrast this ruling however, which essentially celebrates the freedom of JPL employees to attack the policies of a Republican administration using government resources, with the case of David Coppedge, who was fired by JPL because he happened to express conservative religious opinions while working at JPL. In the case of Coppedge, the courts ruled that it was okay for JPL to fire him.

The contrast illustrates the double standard of our time. In modern America, you are always allowed to express liberal or Democratic Party values, anywhere, anytime, and with whatever resources you can take advantage of. Freedom insists that you have that right. Should you express conservative values, however, be careful. You can be punished for doing so. For some reason (political I suspect) freedom does not permit the expression of these ideas, in all circumstances.

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Seventeen of the nation’s largest healthcare insurance companies now say premiums will rise from 100 to 400 percent under Obamacare.

8:23 pm

Finding out what’s in it: Seventeen of the nation’s largest healthcare insurance companies now say premiums will rise from 100 to 400 percent under Obamacare.

The key reasons for the surge in premiums include providing wider services than people are now paying for and adding less healthy people to the roles of insured, said the report.

Now ain’t that a surprise? The rates go up when you require insurance companies to provide more services while simultaneously requiring them to insure more sick people! Who wudda thunk it?

Actually, every Republican and conservative in the nation, as well as millions of Americans at townhall meetings in 2010, were screaming these basic facts of reality to the Democrats. They just refused to listen.

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There is also evidence that the IRS illegally leaked the tax records of conservative groups to its opponents.

9:57 am

Working for the Democratic Party: There is now evidence that the IRS illegally leaked the tax records of conservative groups to their liberal opponents.

Mickey Kaus notes that this abuse did not have to be ordered by the big bosses in the Democratic Party. The people at the IRS are mostly Democrats, and will do it naturally if they simply feel that their bosses will look the other way.

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Ten crazy and unconstitutional demands made by the IRS to conservative organizations in its effort to harass opponents of the Democratic Party.

10:47 am

Ten crazy and unconstitutional demands made by the IRS to conservative organizations in its effort to harass opponents of the Democratic Party.

All of the examples above are taken from actual IRS correspondence received by ACLJ’s 27 clients. There were many versions of the in-depth questionnaire sent to different organizations, suggesting there was more than one agent or one office involved. Though IRS officials blamed “low-level” employees in the Cincinnati office, which is the central IRS office in charge of tax exemptions, French said the abuse was far more widespread. ACLJ’s clients dealt with inquiries from IRS offices from “coast to coast.” Of ACLJ’s 27 clients, 15 finally had their status approved after 6-7 months with legal help. There are 12 groups whose status remains in limbo.

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