IRS Selectively Targeting

[Ed W]

Waterboarding is nothing compared to other tortures.  Have none of you ever watched Brave Heart?  The Medieval English had torture down to an artform. How would you like to be hacked to death with knives and then beheaded as that soldier in the UK?

George Orwell's protagonist, Winston Smith, is faced with denouncing his lover or having a cage filled with rats fitted over his head.  Our cruelty is only exceeded by our imagination, it seems.

[Red Arrow]

George Orwell's protagonist, Winston Smith, is faced with denouncing his lover or having a cage filled with rats fitted over his head.  Our cruelty is only exceeded by our imagination, it seems.

I read 1984 l-o-n-g before 1984.  I don't remember details from it.  I do remember big brother and the concepts though.

[Ed W]

I had a dystopian novel habit for a while as a teenager. I read 1984 and Fahrenheit 451. But there are others as well, like October the First is Too Late, Lucifer's Hammer, and more.  Many were based in the nuclear paranoia of the cold war.

[Red Arrow]

I had a dystopian novel habit for a while as a teenager. I read 1984 and Fahrenheit 451. But there are others as well, like October the First is Too Late, Lucifer's Hammer, and more.  Many were based in the nuclear paranoia of the cold war.

1984 was required High School reading.  I didn't read the others you mentioned.  I think Fahrenheit 451 was made into a movie I didn't see.

[Conan71]

I'll take waterboarding over a drone strike any ol' day.

[Hoss]

I'll take waterboarding over a drone strike any ol' day.

I'll take both over a shotgun blast to the face any day also.

[Conan71]

I'll take both over a shotgun blast to the face any day also.

Well shotgun blast ought to be over pretty quick at 5 ft. anyhow.

[Gaspar]

Special Prosecutor here we come.  Looks like the head of this snake is actually the head of the snake.  The IRS chairman actually spent more time consulting with the president than anyone on his cabinate!



Shulman's extensive access to the White House first came to light during his testimony last week before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Shulman gave assorted answers when asked why he had visited the White House 118 times during the period that the IRS was targeting tea party and conservative nonprofits for extra scrutiny and delays on their tax-exempt applications.

By contrast, Shulman's predecessor Mark Everson only visited the White House once during four years of service in the George W. Bush administration and compared the IRS's remoteness from the president to "Siberia." But the scope of Shulman's White House visits — which strongly suggests coordination by White House officials in the campaign against the president's political opponents — is even more striking in comparison to the publicly recorded access of cabinet members.



Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/29/irss-shulman-had-more-public-white-house-visits-than-any-cabinet-member/#ixzz2UmJqMp15


Democrats now want one too!

Three-quarters of U.S. voters want a special prosecutor to investigate the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of Tea Party groups, according to a poll that showed a drop in President Barack Obama's approval and trust ratings.
In the survey released today by Hamden, Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University, registered voters favored a special prosecutor by 76 percent to 17 percent. Those backing such a move included 63 percent of Democrats. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-30/special-irs-prosecutor-favored-as-obama-support-drops.html

[Conan71]

This sort of tyranny will be brushed off as a waste of taxpayer resources and a witch hunt.  I don't care which party was targeted, it's dangerous when the IRS starts inserting itself into politics or allowing itself to be used as a political tool.

[RecycleMichael]

... it's dangerous when the IRS starts inserting itself into politics or allowing itself to be used as a political tool.

I 100% agree. But I think it is naive to think that this is the first time it ever happened. I posted when it happened under Bush. I assume it has happened under every President.

The people who did this were career civil servants. They have an odd sense of power and probably thought they were helping the party and people in power. I don't believe this was ordered by the President or even the top people in the IRS. It is just one of the faults of the system of federal bureacracy.

[Conan71]

I 100% agree. But I think it is naive to think that this is the first time it ever happened. I posted when it happened under Bush. I assume it has happened under every President.

The people who did this were career civil servants. They have an odd sense of power and probably thought they were helping the party and people in power. I don't believe this was ordered by the President or even the top people in the IRS. It is just one of the faults of the system of federal bureacracy.

I'm quite certain Presidents have used the IRS as a vindictive tool through many administrations.

What is troubling though is the cozy relationship Shulman has had with the White House compared to previous IRS execs.  It's also troubling that the IRS employee union (was anyone aware they were unionized?) gave 94% of their contributions in the 2012 election to Democrats, Democrat PACs, and various other fund-raising tools.

Why are government employee unions participating in electioneering in the first place?  These unions are fully funded with money which comes from tax-payer-provided jobs.  How do you try and overhaul an agency like the IRS or the tax code when the IRS essentially has the power, via it's employee union, under the guise of protecting IRS jobs, to buy off tenured politicians who can help keep more over-sight out of a bureaucracy. We see this on a local level with the FOP and Firefighters Union when they endorse candidates for mayor and council. That's damn frightening to me.  Or maybe I'm too much of a simpleton to really understand what is going on here.

The National Republican Congressional Committee is running advertisements that call on Democrats to return campaign contributions from the union representing Internal Revenue Service employees.

The NRCC says that the National Treasury Employees Union gave over $700,000 to select Democrats and campaign organizations — including President Obama, the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

The group is now running advertisements on Facebook and StumbleUpon calling on those individuals and groups to return the contributions.


"Despite their faux outrage over the IRS scandal, House Democrats have tried to keep secret that they're campaigns were funded by the agency now embroiled in scandal," NRCC Spokesman Daniel Scarpinato said. "It's time for Democrats to give back this tainted money."

The NRCC's attempt to tie Democrats to the IRS comes as the nation's tax collector is embroiled in scandal and faces lawsuits, hearings and investigations for its targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.

While Democrats have accepted campaign contributions from the IRS union, so too have Republicans, albeit by much smaller margins.

In 2012, 94 percent of the NTEU's campaign contributions went to Democratic candidates, PACs, and party committees, while Republicans received only 4 percent. In 2010, 97 percent of the union's campaign contributions went to Democrats and 2 percent went to Republicans.



Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/17/nrcc-calls-on-dems-to-return-campaign-contributions-from-irs-union/#ixzz2Uo7gPApv

[Gaspar]

I'm quite certain Presidents have used the IRS as a vindictive tool through many administrations.

What is troubling though is the cozy relationship Shulman has had with the White House compared to previous IRS execs.  It's also troubling that the IRS employee union (was anyone aware they were unionized?) gave 94% of their contributions in the 2012 election to Democrats, Democrat PACs, and various other fund-raising tools.

Why are government employee unions participating in electioneering in the first place?  These unions are fully funded with money which comes from tax-payer-provided jobs.  How do you try and overhaul an agency like the IRS or the tax code when the IRS essentially has the power, via it's employee union, under the guise of protecting IRS jobs, to buy off tenured politicians who can help keep more over-sight out of a bureaucracy. We see this on a local level with the FOP and Firefighters Union when they endorse candidates for mayor and council. That's damn frightening to me.  Or maybe I'm too much of a simpleton to really understand what is going on here.

Shulman spent more time with President Obama than Monica did "under" President Clinton.

[Conan71]

Shulman spent more time with President Obama than Monica did "under" President Clinton.

I thought she served in front of him, not under.

[Gaspar]

I thought she served in front of him, not under.

She was a fan of the beret, and Clinton was a fan of the Cincinnati Beret.

[heironymouspasparagus]

I read 1984 l-o-n-g before 1984.  I don't remember details from it.  I do remember big brother and the concepts though.

My first time to read it was about 1966.

You really don't need to re-read it, though - we have been living it for the last 30 years or so with the Republicontin redefinition of terms that we have enjoyed lo, these many years!  Just listen to Hannity, Limbaugh, Rove and their ilk.... and I do mean ilk!!