What a complete abuse of power:
IRS officials refused to grant tax exempt status to two pro-life organizations because of their position on the abortion issue, according to a non-profit law firm, which said that one group was pressured not to protest a pro-choice organization that endorsed President Obama during the last election.
“In one case, the IRS withheld approval of an application for tax exempt status for Coalition for Life of Iowa. In a phone call to Coalition for Life of Iowa leaders on June 6, 2009, the IRS agent ‘Ms. Richards’ told the group to send a letter to the IRS with the entire board’s signatures stating that, under perjury of the law, they do not picket/protest or organize groups to picket or protest outside of Planned Parenthood,” the Thomas More Society announced today. “Once the IRS received this letter, their application would be approved.”
So they had to promise not to exercise their right to protest?
Wow!
Doesn’t stop there…now if you’re a minority conservative group you will be targeted also:
A conservative Hispanic outreach group that educates Spanish-speaking and English-speaking Hispanic communities on the US Constitution was also targeted after applying for 501(c3) status, according to the group’s founder and president, Adryana Boyne.
Boyne’s organization, named Voces Action, also applied for 501(c4) status. Boyne said she abandoned her 501(c3) efforts due to the IRS’s treatment of her. “I spent thousands of dollars on attorneys and hundreds of hours dealing with the IRS on this. Our groups had separate boards and followed all of the laws,” said Boyne.
“We applied for nonprofit status in June of 2009 and we did not hear back from them until late 2010, even though we began calling them after six months had passed,” said Boyne. “We received the same kind of intrusive questions that Tea Party groups received. We are not a Tea Party group, but I have spoken at some Tea Parties.”
What kind questions?
The IRS sent us 27 pages of questions, they demanded recordings of every speech I’ve ever given and details about every person I know who is a politician in my life. They demanded to know how many times I had met with them and details of my personal relationships with them. Many of my closest friends are politicians and they wanted private information about my friendships.
And this rabbit hole seems to be getting bigger:
One of FOX19′s two sources went on say that these four IRS workers claim “they simply did what their bosses ordered.” FOX19 reported on Tuesday that the report by the Office of Inspector General states that senior IRS officials knew agents were targeting Tea Party groups as early as 2011.
In fact, according to that report, Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax exempt organizations, was told on June 29, 2011 that groups with ‘Tea Party’, ‘Patriot’ or ’9/12 Project’ in their names were being flagged for additional, and often burdensome, scrutiny.
While the IRS is pointing at ‘two rogue employees,’ the number of organizations that were singled out has swelled to nearly 500, according to Rep. Congressmen Darryl Issa and Ohio’s Jim Jordan.
And their excuse that they ONLY started scrutinizing these groups when their was a huge uptick of applications?
Lies:
Both Steven Miller, the agency’s acting commissioner until he stepped down Wednesday, and Lois Lerner, director of the agency’s exempt-organization division, have said over the past week that IRS officials started the scrutiny after observing a surge in applications for status as 501(c)(4) “social welfare” groups. Both officials cited an increase from about 1,500 applications in 2010 and to nearly 3,500 in 2012. President Obama ask Mr. Miller to resign on Wednesday.
The scrutiny began, however, in March 2010, before an uptick could have been observed, according to data contained in the audit released Tuesday from the Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration…
According to the audit, 1,735 groups applied for 501(c)(4) exemption for the federal fiscal year that ended September 30, 2010—six months after the IRS began its scrutiny. That was down slightly from 1,751 the prior year…
IRS officials did not return requests for comment about the discrepancy in how they accounted for their actions.
A former IRS employee interviewed by the Chronicle theorizes that it wasn’t the volume that gave the IRS headaches but the complexity involved in learning on the fly how to scrutinize a new grassroots network like the tea party for 501(c)(4) compliance. I can sort of buy that as an explanation for delays on the first few applications, but most of these groups look alike. The learning curve for IRS analysts should have been sudden and steep. Why did the delays and extra attention persist for years?
The learning curve required them to insist that groups don’t protest planned parenthood? To insist on lists of books read by members?
The learning curve required them to approve liberal 501(c)(4) groups in months while conservative groups were denied or took years?
Give me a friggin break.
But what do we get from progressives like Nancy Pelosi?
Pelosi: Benghazi, IRS scandals are “subterfuges” and “evasions” for GOP to ignore jobs and economy.
— John McCormack (@McCormackJohn) May 16, 2013
Sigh…..
Unbelievable.
I wonder what’s next?
Not far-fetched since it seems the only thing that works our media up is if they get snooped on themselves:
The reaction to the government seizure of the phone records is another reminder, if we needed one, that what the press cares about most is itself.
The New York Times sniffed at the Internal Revenue Service scandal. It didn’t even put the initial story on the front page. When it did eventually front it, the headline was about how Republicans were trying to make hay of the scandal. Editorially, it issued a relatively tepid tsk-tsk. But the AP subpoena earned the White House a firm rebuke in an editorial titled “Spying on the Associated Press”: The administration has “a chilling zeal for investigating leaks” and is trying “to frighten off whistleblowers.”
It sounds like the Times should go back and read President Barack Obama’s commencement address at Ohio State University the other day, where he lamented that the students have been “hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity” and “that tyranny is always lurking just around the corner.”
Yes, why can’t all the journalists hyped up about the AP subpoena simply put more trust in the good intentions and the workings of their own government?
Yes…they are mighty worked up over this but as Madison Pierce notes, there is no right to traffic in classified information so their anger is baloney. Abuse of power in the IRS? Yawn…in fact they cheer it. A cover-up of a terrorist attack that kills our ambassador and 3 others? Yawn.
Snooping into their phone records?
OMG!!!!!!
See author page
Tapping the phones of the congressional cloak room is another interesting bit of spying by the Justice Department, but you can bet that Holder knows nothing about nothing concerning the matter.
Remember, the coverup is more damning than the actual offense, whether we are talking about Clinton having his knob polished or Nixon denying the break in. It is the web of deceit that bring these guys down, and Holder and Obama have denied knowledge of everything, while feigning indignation that their underlings would stoop to such thug tactics. It is a little hard to imagine such altruistic purpose from the man who said: “If they bring a knife, we bring a gun”, “Punish your enemies”, and “Get in their faces”.
A retraction:http://www.breitbart.com/InstaBlog/2013/05/15/Congressman-Devin-Nunes-The-DOJ-Seized-House-Cloak-Room-Phone-Records-Too
*UPDATED* Congressman Nunes’ office released the following statement: “Rep. Nunes was not referring to wiretapping of the cloakroom, but to the seizure of the AP’s phone records from the House Press Gallery in the Capitol. He was explaining that those records would reveal a lot of conversations between the press and members of Congress, since reporters often speak to Members from the press gallery phones. The notion of the DOJ looking at phone records from the Capitol of conversations between Members of Congress and reporters is something that concerns Rep. Nunes, bringing up issues related to the separation of powers.”
Congressman Devin Nunes (R-CA), who sits on the House Ways And Means Committee, dropped a bombshell on Hugh Hewitt’s Show, Wednesday night. Nunes was on the show to talk about his committee’s upcoming hearing Friday into IRS-gate. The congressman broke news when he alleged that the Justice Department seized phone records from the House of Representatives as part of their investigation of the AP.
“The Pen is Mightier than the sword” a line by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839 for his play Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy. Someone with Obama’s narcissistic bent has a journal somewhere giving himself credit for all his accomplishments. Someone who lies so nonchalantly and only gets angry when someone does something he did not think of (like moving a chess piece by an observer of the contest) will sooner or later produce a smoking gun.
Obama currently giving a presser with the PM of Turkey. Will any reporter have the cajones to ask the PM of Turkey what his Ambassador was doing in Benghazi on the night of Sept. 11, 2012?
From the no-roses garden, . . . . “It was a matter of National Security.”
. . . Said with a straight face.
No scandal will touch Zippy. He is immune. He has affirmative action immunity.
He cannot lose the press. The press is part of his permanent entourage.
Our civil rights: we have the civil right to support Zero. Any other action is treasonable. My treasonous nature was revealed four years ago, when Naplitano revealed that, having been in the military and learned to shoot a weapon, I was automatically suspect.
We have lost our citizenship. Rubio wants to make illegal immigrants instant citizens, so that they can elect Democrats forever. So they broke the law. WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?
Misuse of IRS? Irrelevant. Leaking health records? Irrelevant. Spying on the press? Irrelevant. Leaving ambassadors to die? Irrelevant. Quashing political speech? Irrelevant. Failure to help blacks get jobs? Irrelevant. There can be no scandals. He Is Black. And that is enough. He cannot be disciplined in any way. The Democrat Senate will see to that.
Nothing is relevant but the march to a permanent dictatorial socialist state, with Supreme Imam Commander Zero at the helm. He is the twelfth imam, you know.
What we’re not hearing much about is whether the various conservative organizations that were given closer scrutiny by the IRS turned out to be in violation or compliance with existing tax laws.
I’m of the opinion that such organizations might actually have warranted a closer look. Their attitude toward government and taxation in general is highly negative. That’s fairly obvious. They’ve also been known to attempt to conceal the names of their donors and funding sources.
If your enforcement budget has been repeatedly cut, as has that of the IRS—largely owing to the attitudes and actions of the same republican Congress that has been politically supported by the very organizations in question—you have to use what funds you do have as effectively as possible. That means you pay closer attention to the people and organizations more likely to be evading the law.
Lies and more lies. All of this aside, what exactly is most likely the biggest lie of all of this and the one that is if fact pure unadulterated bullshit? “Oh, I learned it from reading the news just as the misinformed public. How could I have known anything before it hit the news, even if it’s been going on under my nose for years?” Doesn’t matter which administration official it is, they learned it from the news! Excuse me, but shouldn’t we as a people be at least a bit worried if our leaders learn the facts after we the people do?
There is a line in the movie 2010 which goes something like this. “Hal was told to lie by people who find it easy to lie” In so many cases this has been the M.O. of the people in politics, party be damned. Lie about it and if caught feign ignorance or in other words Lie About it! And we the people have allowed our government to become the cesspool of corruption we are now witnessing. Not only do those responsible for these lies and actions need to be held accountable but so must an electorate that chooses to ignore the obvious and abrogate their responsibility as voters. I realize I harp on this point a lot, but it is fact. When all is said and done, these things happen because we allow it and just how pathetic is that?
@Greg:
Obviously, your particular point of view would lead you to believe as you do. I’d like to think, however, that if the roles were reversed that I wouldn’t be so ok with a one-sided effort at scrutinizing of applications like you are.
By the way, tell us more on how Moveon.org gets it’s funding, considering you accuse organizations like those who are in the middle of this of hiding funding and donor sources.
Hypocrite.
@Greg: And as long as I’m on my rant, I have really short fuse right now as to the rabid Bulls… that comes from the left! (BTW: I’m letting loose here folks! My apologies in advance)
“I’m of the opinion that such organizations might actually have warranted a closer look. Their attitude toward government and taxation in general is highly negative. They’ve also been known to attempt to conceal the names of their donor and funding sources. If your enforcement budget has been repeatedly cut—largely owing to the attitudes and actions of conservative republican Congress that is supported by such conservative political organizations—you have to use what funds you do have as effectively as possible.” Is this statement a joke Greg? I supposed if I were to say Obama’s new fundraising group (sorry, I forget the name of it but you know, the one that sprang up from the campaign group) warranted a closer look you would be biting my head off for daring to suggest such a horrible act against what is clearly a left wing leaning group. It’s time to take the hypocrisy being shown here (and again over the years this can apply to most politics in some way, it’s just that the overtness of what is going on now is the worse I have ever seen in my lifetime) and tell them to blow it out their you know what’s!
As usual, Greg and morons like Axelrod for example put out anything to point blame away from illegalities! The President of the United States, The Secretary of State and the Attorney General lied! And once the IRS “admitted” wrong doing that had been going on for years, the scum bag in the Oval Office says, “If this happened”! Greg, lies are lies and illegality is illegality. No one, not the IRS or the dictator wanna be has the right to the information demanded by the IRS! No one has the right to demand that an entity sign a promise to not “protest” outside an abortion clinic as was one of the demands by the IRS to a group requesting tax exempt status! The IRS broke the law and as I hold most politicians in disdain anyway, one has to assume they acted on orders from a higher authority.
I am sick and tired of the left telling me what I am supposed to think and from my read on this the IRS in effect did exactly that as to conservative groups. Of course, one should not be surprised when homeland Security names Christian and conservative groups as hate groups! Get off it! This is the tip of the ice berg and if the so called journalists who have now supposedly had their ox gored get their heads out of their asses and do their phony baloney jobs, we could possibly get to the truth of these matters. However, if we’re going to continue to have so much of the public bury their heads in the sand, then all bets are off.
We have reached the point of critical mass, it is time to tell the president and his Justice Department and his IRS that we the American people no longer have faith in him and his corrupt bureaus. He will get the message when we the people no longer participate and put forth a resounding vote of No Confidence.
The jig is up; our president and his government are corrupt to the point, we can no longer trust that they operate in our best interests.
Let them Know: No Confidence!
@Skookum: As much as I hate to say it, I don’t think that he will get the message. He is so immersed in himself and (supposedly) protected by his inner circle that he believes his own B.S. The No Confidence you refer to has to not just be shown by the people. They have to get to the very core of the situation and it isn’t just the President and his underlings. It is in fact the political establishment as a whole. Until the electorate demands leaders that will adhere to our sacred principles of Life, Liberty a “Free Press” and the rest, this country will continue it’s slide into third world or worse status.
i hope you are correct and the gig is in fact up my friend!
Sometimes, when you see a BIG RED BUTTON, the temptation to push it is just too strong to resist.
What do I really think? I think people have totally lost their sense of proportion.
@joetote: We can be led like sheep and accept the gentle prodding of Obama’s press corps and our own compliant RINOs like Rubio with their false declarations of shock and indignation or we can fight back and bring the government to a grinding halt. Who says we must accept the institutionalized corruption. It will only take a few days of determined resistance to bring this system to complete closure. We are not the unwashed druggies of Obama’s occupy movement. We have the reins of commerce and industry, and we can bring this system down, if we mobilize with a percentage of the people who actually make this economy function. It is time for a vote of no confidence.
The IRS could not account for 64 percent of its total congressional appropriation.
The typical government approach of throwing money at a problem will not solve this one.
The problem is not lack of money.
The IRS has received all the money it has ever required from Congress.
Its budget has roughly doubled in the past 10 years.
“IRS’s lack of fundamental recordkeeping is inconsistent with recordkeeping requirements placed on taxpayers.”http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa222.html#73a
Unfortunately, the IRS is unwilling or unable to meet the same high standards of financial accountability it requires the average citizen to meet.
Obama requested $440 million more for 2014 to help the Internal Revenue Service get ready to enforce ONLY ObamaCare!
Considering how untrustworthy these agents are, I hope they don’t get one red cent of it.
Hopefully I am wrong, but here is what I see happening as of now:
1. All or just about all of our recent two term presidents have been plagued by scandals during their second term. All but Nixon survived. Obama is no Nixon. He has several advantages. He has a cult like following. His sheep will never believe he did anything wrong regardless of the evidence. There is a large number of people dependent on free hand outs. They are not going to bite the hand of Santa Claus. There is another group of people, who even though they will admit wrongdoing, won’t demand accountability out of fear of being called racist. It’s that PC thing. Lastly, he has the MSM on his side. The AP files scandal won’t matter. The MSM did everything they could to get him elected and re-elected. They have too much invested to see him go down.
2. Look at the future timeline. Congress recesses shortly. The administration will divert attention away from wrongdoing and/or downplay it. The MSM will comply by bringing other issues to the front of the news cycle they deem to be of more national importance such as Angelina Jolie getting a double mastectomy. By that time everything will quiet down because Congress will be on summer recess. When they reconvene, attention will be on a stop gap spending bill to keep government going because Reid refuses to pass a budget. Then holiday recess. Upon returning it’ll be time to focus on the 2014 mid terms. All the wrongdoing will be referred to as old news and it will played off as politics as usual. After the mid terms, it’ll be holiday recess again. Upon returning the focus will be the new Congress and more importantly, who’s running for POTUS in 2016 given that it’ll be a wide open field since Biden is VP. By that time, the new Congress will be focusing on new business and all the wrongdoing will be seen as really old news. Come 2016, the focus will be on the primaries and the presidential race. By then, Obama will be a spectator who no one will be paying much attention to.
@Skookum: You know I’m on your side on this one buddy! And I fully agree.
I really wanted to hear Chris Matthews deflect the ongoing scandals and he did with the white power fantasy. Later he stated that the messiah isn’t much of an executive because his bureaucracy is out of control. Is tingles starting to leave the plantation? Naw, I figure his knee pads are at the cleaners.
@Greg: What we are finding out is that there was no close look at liberal organizations when they were approved as soon as 90 days! Keep spinning Greg. You are likely the only one who believes it anymore.
@oil guy from Alberta: Mathews is employing an old boxing trick.
When your opponent is weakening and fighting to stay in the match, you drop your left shoulder and let your left hand drift down leaving the other guy an opening. He will see an opportunity and throw a wild right to try and score a knockout punch, but as soon as he starts to move you pivot to your right and throw an over hand right that would make a tree groan. It’s classy to turn and walk to a neutral corner before his limp body hits the mat.
It’s a feint to draw us out and make us commit. He will never sell out the Messiah.
This is a great article putting Obama thuggary into historical perspective.
http://cfif.org/v/index.php/commentary/54-state-of-affairs/1845-obamite-thuggery-has-long-history
Remember Obama’s first thuggism?
When Gerald Walpin, the well-respected Inspector General for the Corporation for National and Community Service, dared to point an unwanted focus on a close personal ally of the Obamas, not only did the White House fire him without the necessary notice to Congress but also smeared Mr. Walpin.
Later, when the Inspector General for the Department of Justice released a report this spring about the sorry state of the department’s Civil Rights Division, one of the most overlooked portions of the document was the lengthy description of how Obama political appointees worked to marginalize, demote and otherwise mistreat attorney Christopher Coates, a longtime hero of civil rights legal battles.
When Coates and fellow DoJ attorney J. Christian Adams were subpoenaed (justifiably) by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (with regard to race-based actions by Obama’s team, including the now-infamous New Black Panther voter-intimidation case), Obama’s political appointees ordered Adams and Coates to ignore the subpoena – thus putting them in legal jeopardy, and effectively forcing them to pay for their own attorneys out of their own pockets in order to merely follow the law.
Obama publicly berated Supreme Court justices during one of his State of the Union speeches.
Obama ordered executives from Humana Health to come to the White House for a dressing down for merely putting out ads against ObamaCare……to their credit, Humama’s management simply ignored Obama.
There is even an entire book filled with examples of Obama’s thuggary in governing.
@Skookum: #19
LOL. Quite right on this one Skook. Slobbering and drooling Tingles has for too long drunk the cool-aid to know how else to think.
He’s not jumping off the progressive train. The few brain cells left which he asserts as his, are simply the misfiring of the same nerves which created the sensation of buzzing up his leg. He is a loud blowhard with no common sense. But then, that’s just my opinion.
If the Obama Chicago Admin. machine begins to implode, the big money which placed him in the W.H. will get cold feet and look for a stronger horse to back.
I suspect that this is causing a few dozen sphincters to pucker around the Oval Office. They are more concerned with saving their own asses long term than anything else. We will be seeing bodies flying through the air and landing on the W.H. lawn, reminiscent of the cows and chickens flying over the castle walls and raining down on the Monty Python crew in the 1975 movie The Holy Grail. They won’t wait for passing busses. Panic is going to set in.
@Randy, #18:
I believe politically motivated accusations once they’ve been demonstrated to be true.
There were improprieties within the IRS. I have little trouble believing the people who were involved were politically motivated. I have yet to see any evidence of a systematic conspiracy orchestrated by anyone in the White House.
The fact that those who detest Obama want this to be true does not make it so. As far as I can tell, this is just the latest angle they’re working. They’ll keep it up, switching from topic to topic for the next 3 1/2 years, hoping something will eventually stick. They should do something constructive instead. Except that would require them to do something constructive. Instead, they’re totally focused laying negative groundwork for the next election. They can’t run on their own merits, because they have none to point out.
When Obama was elected, Indiana had no alternative energy developments. A couple of days ago I was standing in a field looking at functioning wind turbines spanning miles of Indiana countryside. Indiana now has a 1590 megawatt generating capacity. The wind energy capacity of the nation has expanded 10-fold over that same period. I consider that actual, tangible progress. Actual, tangible progress is the reason I vote for people.
@Greg:
Greggie, that is your standard response to anything that might shed a bad light on your beloved Marxist POTUS. But you can’t see what you refuse to see.
The Obama administration is rapidly becoming the most corrupt and scandal ridden administration in our history. Meanwhile, you continue to scream “What blue dress? I didn’t see any blue dress? Prove to me there really IS a blue dress.”
I almost feel sorry for someone as indoctrinated as you are, but I’m not quite there yet.
Obama has distanced himself from his own Executive Branch by calling it quasi-independent.
Actually the Executive Branch is RUN BY OBAMA.
All of it.
That includes the IRS.
Kevin D. Williamson: Lie No. 1: Lois Lerner’s apology last Friday was a spontaneous reaction to an unexpected question from an unknown audience member
Lie No. 2: Lerner said about 280 organizations were given extra scrutiny, about 75 of them tea-party groups or similar organizations.
SEVEN other lies:
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/348428/nine-lies-lois-lerner-kevin-williamson
The agency’s surreal criteria for added scrutiny and the “red flag” words and phrases that triggered investigations PROVE that there was bias, political bias.
What liberal or Democrat group would have raised even one of those ”red flags?”
@retire05, #24:
I reject the entire notion of a “beloved Marxist POTUS.” I don’t think in those terms.
To my thinking, the “blue dress” is a totally irrelevant historical footnote—or at least should have been. It belongs on a list of presidential foibles or political bloopers. It’s media fodder, tailored-made for people who think reality TV has something to do with reality.
This isn’t indoctrination. It’s prioritizing.
Mike Spence (R – Governor of Indiana, and former Chairman of the House Republican Conference) told Larry Kudlow that he was pleased to see Obama state that the IRS actions were “unacceptable.”
So there you have it folks, from a guy who thinks he’s Presidential material for a run in 2016 – he’s SO insightful that the Obama lies and obfuscations of the day are are good enough for him. That’s as strong a message as he can muster on the non-action, feeble, and hobbling, diatribe the President delivered on the subject.
@James Raider: Apparently Mike Spence hasn’t learned Obama’s main strength is ”words, just words.”
So, he said a few good ones.
What about the good ones he said BEFORE all of this happened?
The good words he failed to live up to.
Like:
(His very 1st Inaugural Address.)
Or:
Obama hasn’t lived up to either of those sets of good words.
What a track record!
@Greg:
Your point might have a modicum of credibility if Media Matters was not a tax exempt left wing advocacy group. Otherwise it os a steaming pile of leftwing hackery.
You have to listen to Mark Levin. Do you know that his legal foundation has sued and won many cases against various out of control government agencies? The IRS fascist tactics against the Tea Party groups was his kick off to this entertaining football game. Will it detract from Benghazi? I hope not!
Levin and his legal team convinced a reluctant whistle blower to help them draft a letter to the internal affairs department of the IRS, so that the White House could not interfere with the law suit. They had the IRS by the privates and the IRS started to apologize. Its gotta hurt.
If the Congress doesn’t shut Obama down, we are sooooooo screwed.
First, let’s look at the illegal seizure of the medical records of millions of people, including every state judge in California, every California court employee, members of the Screen Actor’s Guild (how that set with you, Sean Penn and Danny Glover?), the obvious bias of the IRS toward any group thought to be conservative, on and on and on and then add this:
ABC is reporting that the very woman who was in charge of the IRS division that handled tax-exempt applications is now being appointed as the head of the IRS division that will handle Obama compliance.
Sarah Hall Ingram was appointed as Commissioner of the Tax-Exempt and Government Entitles Division of the IRS in 2009. She was replace by the clown that just
fell on his sword for Obamaretired. Sarah Hall Ingram was just appointed, by this administration, to head up the division of the IRS that will make sure each and every one of us are compliant with the new Obamacare rules.ABC is reporting:
The Internal Revenue Service official in charge of the tax-exempt organizations at the time when the unit targeted tea party groups now runs the IRS office responsible for the health care legislation.
Sarah Hall Ingram served as commissioner of the office responsible for tax-exempt organizations between 2009 and 2012. But Ingram has since left that part of the IRS and is now the director of the IRS’ Affordable Care Act office, the IRS confirmed to ABC News today.
Her successor, Joseph Grant, is taking the fall for misdeeds at the scandal-plagued unit between 2010 and 2012. During at least part of that time, Grant served as deputy commissioner of the tax-exempt unit.
Grant announced today that he would retire June 3, despite being appointed as commissioner of the tax-exempt office May 8, a week ago.
As the House voted to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act Thursday evening, House Speaker John Boehner expressed “serious concerns” that the IRS is empowered as the law’s chief enforcer.
“Fully repealing ObamaCare will help us build a stronger, healthier economy, and will clear the way for patient-centered reforms that lower health care costs and protect jobs,” Boehner, R-Ohio, said.
“Obamacare empowers the agency that just violated the public’s trust by secretly targeting conservative groups,” Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., added. “Even by Washington’s standards, that’s unacceptable.”
Ain’t that just ducky?
@James Raider:
JR, it’s Mike Pence, not Spence, but I see your point. I live in Indiana and voted for the man. I wouldn’t have voted for him if I didn’t think the man had conservative ideals. I’ll give him a pass for that remark at this point, considering what he is doing for us here in Indiana at the moment.
I’m sure, however, that Greg, a fellow Hoosier, will disagree that what Pence is doing is good. Greg voted for the mustache on the other guy.
IS IN THERE in the CONSTITUTION, a paragraph, saying
THE people have the right to demote the CORRUPT and FRAUDULENT WHITE HOUSE,
why is the MILITARY FOR if it’s not to protect THE PEOPLE being tormented
because of following a different party,
all that is the head of the fish rotten, that goes with JARRET the TWIN OF OBAMA,
and their crew.
she swore to the hell that the PEOPLE will pay and the tortures come from them twin, delegating their wish,
to make them pay, they hate AMERICA,
I lived near Chicago for 6 years after my time in the Navy. The news that I received in that area, from the local news stations, was almost exclusively Chicago-centric (meaning all about Chicago and not the rest of the Chicagoland area).
This is the exact type of thuggish and corrupt government that the City of Chicago, and the State of Illinois (being run by the Chicago pols), had then. They had it before I got there, and they continued to have it after I made the move to Indiana back in 2005.
The various Chicago agencies and depts. were used as bludgeoning tools for Mayor Daley and the more powerful Aldermen on the City Council, to influence businesses and social groups to do their bidding, or at the very least, get out of their way. And although it was never solidly identified with Daley’s fingerprints, everyone with any sense knew the marching orders came from Daley’s office.
The Chicago Machine is alive and well, only now it has spread beyond the City’s borders, rocketed past the Illinois state line all the way to DC, infecting the entire country. And all any of the liberal or progressive people around the country want to do is give Obama passes for everything and anything while admiring his “rock star” lifestyle.
I warned about what would happen if/when Obama became president, as far as what his administration, and eventually the government, would look like. I related to people how the Chicago machine politics might affect the federal government. Anyone could have predicted this, if they would have only took the time to look beyond Obama’s image, or the words he was spreading around.
Obama, with the help of a compliant and sometimes cheerleading media, along with tens of millions of adoring, ignorant, and naive people, have brought the Chicago machine to national prominence. I hope that you all are proud of yourselves. And before you open your mouth(or type the words here) in protest, beware of the next “incident” right around the corner. And the corner after that. And on, and on, and on. The iceberg has only been scratched, but it’s tipping slowly and the underbelly of that corrupt behemoth is about to reveal itself.
@retire05, #31:
The only reason Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind) is in office is because his predecessor, Rep. Mark Edward Souder (R-Ind) resigned in disgrace when he was discovered to be in an adulterous relationship with one of his own staffers.
Stutzman has never explained why the same staffer’s cuckolded husband picked up the tab for flying him to campaign appearances all over the state without any report of those contributions being made to the FEC, as is required by law. The whole thing plays like a bad comic opera. Stutzman may well have circumvented the law to win the special election that got him into Congress in the first place.
So, this is the guy who says of the entire IRS—based upon the behavior a few specific IRS employees—“Even by Washington’s standards, that’s unacceptable.” As if he were living his life and playing the game according to some higher standard that his political opponents can’t possibly attain, or even hope to understand.
If we want to go from a specific instance to sweeping, condemnatory generalizations about entire governmental agencies, maybe we’d better apply the same sort of logic to equally to all cases, to avoid any appearance of hypocrisy.
how do you get out of this impossible situation,
the REPUBLICANS are fighting the connection between
OBAMACARE and the IRS, a law is being fix
and today a vote to repeal OBAMACARE,
TOM PRICE GEORGIA CONGRESSMAN,
I love him,
ready set ACTION
MIKE LEE UTAH SENATOR, the TEA PARTY strike back
@johngalt: #32,
I am smashing my iPad against the wall for that mistake, surely it couldn’t be my sublimely fluid capability on the qwerty keys.
I realize that those for whom we vote are rarely if ever the wished-for ideals we yearn for.
I had nothing more urgent going on in life for a moment, and so, transfixed, with bated breath, and RW&A to become enthralled, I watched and I listened as Obama, only interrupted by a “P Diddy” umbrella moment, delivered non-answering, deflecting, and befuddling responses. He lied. Again. It was embarrassing, and that should have been obvious to anyone with a pulse. Pence appears to have a pulse.
This is an opportunity for conservatives. One which should not be passed up. All members of this Administration, including Clinton, have been complicit in the abuse of power, and incompetence in governance. Keep that pressure up, regardless what the NYT has to say in defence.
@Greg: “A couple of days ago I was standing in a field looking at functioning wind turbines spanning miles of Indiana countryside”
Hope the mangled birds didn’t mess up your designer suit.
@Riverlife_Callie, #38:
Ever see a wind turbine in operation? Discard any thoughts of birds flying into a blender. The blades are enormous, slow-turning, and powerful. It’s hard to imagine many birds being blind-sided by a ponderously revolving rotor that can be easily spotted a mile or two away. I walked over to a tower and put my hand on it. It was a relatively calm day, down where I was standing. Up above, the blades were steadily turning. There was minimal sound or vibration. I’m sure that’s different in a strong wind, but there were very few houses nearby. The towers are mostly set far out in cultivated fields.
Indiana’s goal is to be getting a quarter of its power from renewable sources by 2025. I see no good reason why we can’t, or why we shouldn’t.
@23 Greg,
Greg,
Let me preface by saying I enjoy reading your comments. I rarely agree with your points and/or conclusions, but appreciate your willingness to advance thoughts that are contrarian to most that comment on this blog. I must mention that I see your posts consistently making efforts to redirect conversations away from the original topic and to muddle/cloud the message. Normally I’d take a pass as I recognize the he is your guy and not ours. I read here a lot, love the content of the regular bloggers and comments, have written a few posts, but rarely wade into the comment section. I guess (to borrow your line) you hit Red Button.
These are not abstract or conceptual issues. The IRS while generally held in regard somewhere between the Anti-Christ and the Godzill-a-gator hiding in the closet or under the bed has a fiduciary responsibility to…well as they say in their Mission Statement: Provide America’s taxpayers top quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities and enforce the law with integrity and fairness to all. http://www.irs.gov/uac/The-Agency,-its-Mission-and-Statutory-Authority . What we are talking about here on a macro level (nationally) is a clear breach of their self proclaimed mission of integrity. They have violated the trust of the American public. Those monsters in the closet and under the bed are out. Not by words, spin, nor conspiracy theories, but by the actions of the IRS.
Let me adjust my tin foil here as I project a bit…..The fears of the people have been legitimized and this is a lightening rod to every conspiracy theorist about the IRS. It matters not whether Obama was/is complicit (and he is in my view). The masses (again in my view) perceive the IRS as an extension of the central government. With central gov’t talk, people have a tendency to look to the top. Folks think this administration is ‘in charge’ and identify the behavior of the IRS as doing the bidding of the people at the top. Accurate or inaccurate (again, I believe accurate) in their view this directly ties Obama to this abhorrent behavior and is an affront to their existing fears and concerns of the IRS.
Your side is losing on this issue. Some, not all of the left media outlets are pissed off and pulling the curtain back on Oz. I don’t know if your side can bilge fast enough. Frankly, I hope not.
You mentioned 3 1/2 years. To borrow your favored position on this site, I will take the contrarian view on your comments. I say good. No, I say Excellent with a capitol E. Many of us believe it is in the best interest of this country to drag this and every other statist issue or scandal of this administration and the various departments out for the next 3.5 years. Just as you battle for your side, we will battle for ours. You mentioned constructive, well these issues are very constructive to those of us that believe this administration is doing massive harm and damage to our republic. You damned skippy we are laying the groundwork for the next election.
Your mention of merits is comical. The geyser of fibbery, misinformation, and non answers coming out of Carney’s and Obama’s mouths this week has been pure comedic gold. That old Thompson Twins song is going off in my head….Lies, Lies, Lies, Yeah.
Megawatts: Deflection, muddling, and clouding again.
Lastly, not sure what you’re waiting for to believe the actions of the IRS were anything but politically motivated.
Cheers
Looks like we have a new oxymoron soundbite for the 2014 campaign. This precisely supports many of Ronald Regan’s anti-big government quotes:
“Government is not the solution to our problem; government is”” the problem.
“Man is not free unless government is limited.”
“Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.”
“Protecting the rights of even the least individual among us is basically the only excuse the government has for even existing.”
MILLER call it a mistake,
no SIR, THAT IS A CRIME
@Greg:
OMG!! You mean adultery with a staffer is a disgraceful scandal that should force a politician to resign on his/her own?? Somebody tell the DNC!!!!
Sorry Greg…you threw a high fast ball on that one and I couldn’t resist. 🙂
You’re an ignoramus!
Look up how the eyes of all raptor birds function.
Then go and duct tape a pair of very powerful binoculars to your eyes and take a walk at the Grand Canyon.
Remember, once a bird of prey spots it’s target….a mouse, mole, vole or rabbit on the ground, it DIVES very quickly.
Again, you need to get an education.
I almost feel more sorry for you than ever.
@Dc:
That doesn’t matter to Greg. Different standards for different people and all that. He hasn’t shown any propensity to apply his “logic” equitably and fairly across the board to this point, I don’t expect that he will start any time soon either.
Nan G
and the flock of birds following the front ones,
and yes the EAGLES AND HAWCKS are the most vulnerable ones,
this time is the most dangerous time for thoses song birds coming NORTH,
and the GEESES as a flock, they don’t think they follow,
and DONALD TRUMP MENTION IT not long ago.
bye
Greg is fixing to get an education about politics in Washington….ie., EVERYTHING is politics. Sorry Greg. Everybody has to grow up sometime.
READY ? SET ? ACTION go FOX you’re good
AMERICA IS MARCHING, THE TEA PARTY families they are coming to deliver us from outrage and torment,
those who kept silent and didn’t know they had someone to take their sides, check this, these are friends
MIKE KELLY, DARREL ISSA, RAND PAUL, JASON CHAFFEY, HANNITY, GUTFIELD,
MEYGAN KELLY, BRET BAIR, CAVUTO HUCKABEE,
MARCO RUBIO, THE FIVES, thank you all,
there is no pity for the wicked
I have some more friend
@Nan G, #44:
Far more birds are killed by flying into the towers and high tension lines that have crisscrossed the countryside like fences for well over half-a-century. They’re vastly more numerous than wind turbines will ever be.
We could also talk about the enormous environmental damage and harm to wildlife done by acid rain, which is directly attributable to coal-fired electrical generation. Or we might talk about the environmental disaster that’s unfolding up in Canada, as a result of the rapid scaling up of oil sand and oil shale mining, that’s presently one of those out of sight, out of mind situations. We could talk about the horrible effects of mountaintop removal mining here at home, and the ill-contained lakes of slag and sludge that will be left behind when the operators have moved on. Appalachia is being despoiled and plundered, right under our noses, out of sight and out of mind.
In comparison to such conventional energy sources, wind energy is positively benign. It’s even better than benign. It directly reduces the need for such destructive practices. Which, of course, is the reason industries that are making billions from those destructive practices continue to do everything in their power to discredit it.
What I apparently need is not an education—which has been an ongoing process for decades—but a thorough brainwashing. That sort of “education” I politely decline.
Greg
so you got all those useful other needs,
why adding up to it, those MULTIPLE WIND TOWERS standing together like SOLDIERS creating A BARRIER will be the drop in the bucket to kill the rest of the EAGLES , HAWLKS,
songbirds and the others coming in flocks like the GEESES and DUCKS, AND MAKING HUMANS SICK as it was said by researcher
is that a logic