Barring completely unforeseen circumstance, I’ll be going home tomorrow afternoon. Friday will be a sleep day, as nobody will be prodding, poking, measuring, questioning and/or sticking every 90 minutes.
On the political front,we have a couple important stories. One is the great TEAbuggery targeting scandal. I still can’t figure whether anyone did so with malicious intent. Technically, a 501(c)(4) must operate exclusively to promote social welfare. The IRS when under Bush redefined the regulation to be primarily to promote social welfare. The simple thing to do would be to enforce the law as written, but Republicans set it up this way so billionaires can cheat. Chris Hayes has more.
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Finally, consider this: You have an application from a group of self-avowed activists, who have tried hard and been fairly successful at getting their candidates elected, and they call themselves a “party”. Just maybe it could be that their primary purpose is political… ya think?
The other story is how the US Attorney, DC, under the supervision of the Asst. AG, seized AP telephone records. Let me start with what Rachel Maddow had to say.
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There are some major differences, between the Bradley Manning case and this one. Manning’s leaks involved no ongoing operations and did not reveal sources and methods. They certainly damaged our national hubris, but not our national security. These leaks,on the other hand, outed an intelligence operation in the field and exposed a double agent, who is no longer employable in that role. Going after the leaker is justified, but they went to far. We need a journalist shield law, and were it not for the Republican Party, we would have it.
14 Responses to “Personal Update Plus–5/15/2013”
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Chris Hayes: "…they're [IRS] a tax collector, not a regulator."
An interesting point to note is that just under 1800 applications were being processed by the IRS for 501 (4) status in 2010 and 2011. But in 2012, the number jumps to almost 2800 apps. Likewise, the number of people available to process these apps is was 900, 900, and just under 900 in 2012. I'm sure that the people charged with actually getting the work done were looking for ways to speed up the process. They just didn't handle it particularly well.
Rachel Maddow — I think what came out of this for me was the short cutting of regulations by the DOJ. When you are charged with being the chief law enforcement of the nation and you take short cuts, that is not a good sign. That the Republican/Teabaggers are all over this is simply an opportunistic move to try and discredit the Obama administration. Same old shit, another day.
I agree that reporters need to be shielded from unwarranted attacks on their sources. As Rachel's guest said, come to the AP and discuss what is needed BEFORE you take it.
In every living democracy there will always be a tooing and froing between individual rights and governmental rights – but this seems a step or two too far! I had always thought that they had to get a judge to approve a wire tap – this is quite shocking! Very good report by Rachel Maddow (but of course!).
If journalists lose their freedoms – the rest of the population will soon follow – and Heaven help America if the Repuglicons build on these infringements of people's rights!
The man responsible for the the IRS fiasco has now resigned. Isn't it funny that he was a GW appointee?
I think they were justified in getting AP's phone records. Did they find the leaker? I think that's the important factor here.
The IRS fiasco . . . that's an interesting development! I wonder how the Republican/Teabaggers will spin that one? The plot thickens!
Just to keep our ducks lined up in a row, Steven Miller, who just resigned, was a career IRS employee appointed as the Acting Commissioner was appointed to that position in November, 2012. By the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, he could only hold that position 210 days – so he would've been out this coming June 8th no matter what.
The guy who was in charge when this fisaco was going on WAS a Bush appointee – Doug Shulman. And he testified before Congress in March, 2012 that the IRS was NOT engaged in targeting anyone.
Bait and Switch comes to mind, simply a distraction… The wealthy needs more without the needy getting in the way… 🙂
Thanks, everyone. I'm back at home. I re-injured my leg, so I'm hurting a bit, but at least I made it. Hugs!
Home Sweet Home!
Home Is Where the Heart Is
What You Call Hell, I Call Home
Phone Home
Home, Home on the Range …
You get the idea …
Home is the best place for you even though it is not the best home for you.
Welcome home!
Glad you're home but not glad that you wrecked your leg again! What were yo doing? . . . chasing nurses again?
The kids are glad that you're home. I saw Winnie packing his bags ready to come down there and set your doctors straight!
You probably know that I posted your articles to Care2 and encouraged people to post responses at the site which some did. But others stayed with Care2. So here is my news link so you can pick out your articles and read the responses when you have time and energy. http://www.care2.com/news/member/775377582?sort=submitted
Please remember that Rome wasn't built in a day, nor were healthy Tom Cats. Take it easy!
Thanks everyone. Lynn, I was getting into a cab seat just a little taller than my ass is high.
Glad to see that hospital time has not dulled your sense of humour! Khoda Hafez
I am really bugged that Obama came out against the IRS on this one. The group that raised red flags was a Tea Party associated "religious organization" that sprang up overnight and paid Glenn Beck a million bucks for "fund raising." Seems to me that the IRS was doing its job to target stuff like that. And I do believe that if one group was doing that, then all the other groups associated with the Tea Party that sprang up overnight deserved to be looked at, too. I do not like giving the Tea Party a pass because they are somewhat powerful – and that is what Obama did.
I just don't get Obama's response to this at all, not at all. The acting head of the IRS lost his job on this one – and for what? He was doing his job. And now, because of Obama's response, the Teahadists have a free pass to get even more corrupt while claiming tax exempt status for their faux religiosity.
just caught up a little with what you've been through, tom – for some reason your feed to my google reader hadnt been coming through in the regular sequential stream, and with so much i follow, i hadnt noticed…
hope you make it back to where you can post regularly; you still have a lot to contribute from your unique corner…