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News/Politics 5-23-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

Well the IRS scandal continues to raise more questions. And answers don’t seem to be coming anytime soon. Everyone seems to have “forgotten”, “didn’t or don’t know”, or took the 5th. It seems the only way we’ll get them is a special prosecutor. Maybe an offer of immunity will jar some memories and loosen lips.

Now as for Lois Lerner and her claiming the 5th…..

Lois Lerner might win the legal battle but she’s prolonging the political war. And her bravado has prompted House Oversight and Government Reform Committee  Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) to say she has waived her constitutional right  to not comment. From Politico

Some legal experts disagree with Issa. Other’s don’t.

Lois Lerner, the Internal Revenue Service’s embattled director of Exempt  Organizations, could be held in contempt of court and jailed for refusing to  testify before Congress, civil-rights lawyer Alan Dershowitz says. “She’s  in trouble. She can be held in contempt,” Dershowitz told “the Steve Malzberg  Show” on Newsmax TV. From NewsMax

That might help loosen her lips.

The IRS, like many in the Obama admin, are not being forthcoming with answers.

IRS Misses Filing Deadline: Fails to Comply With Congressional Demand for All Communications With WH About Targeting Conservatives, from CNSNews

Oversight on IRS targeting came from Washington all along, from NationalReview

So who’s next to go under the bus?

The Washington Post highlights her role in the IRS scandal, in which the top lawyer in the West Wing is purported to have played goalie with information in order to ensure plausible deniability:

Looks like we now know who pulled the strings in Cincinnati.

From Fox19

They also provide a nice run down of the players, and what they’re up to today.

“What this means for you… consider this chain of command since the story broke. Former Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller… retires-. Joseph Grant, Commissioner of Tax Exempt and Government Entities… retires. Lois Lerner, Head of Exempt Organization…says she will invoke her 5th amendment right to not incriminate herself when called before Congress on Wednesday. Holly Paz, Director of Exempt Organizations, subpoenaed to Washington to be interviewed by members of Congress. All of this IRS leadership, in Washington D.C.

Then one level down is Cindy Thomas, the highest ranking employee in Cincinnati in this Tax Exempt and Government Entities Department that no one in Congress is talking to… yet. ”

And yet the WH’s top lawyer says she never informed the President. 

We’re also expected to believe the former head of the IRS didn’t mention it on any of his 118 visits to the WH. From WeaselZippers

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In other news…..

According to Gallup, 72% of Americans think the country’s moral values are getting worse. I guess they’re just stating the obvious. From CNSNews

” A large majority of Americans hold a bleak  outlook on the state of morality in the United States, as 72% said the  nation’s moral values are “getting worse,” and only 20% said that moral  values are “getting better,” according to a recent Gallup survey.

The poll specifically showed that Americans who attend church weekly,  are married, or are Republican, were the most negative about the  country’s moral direction. But even Democrats, people who attend church  infrequently, and the unmarried had high negative outlooks about the  nation’s moral values.”

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I suppose that story is the perfect lead in for this one…

From NBCNews

“After years of emotional debate, the Boy Scouts of America are considering a proposal at their annual meeting to allow gay youths to participate openly in the popular organization for the first time.

The exclusion of gay Scouts has been the subject of much wrangling and soul searching in the century-old organization — from local troops and councils to online petitions to national board meetings. The dispute was even heard by the Supreme Court, which said 13 years ago that as a private membership organization the BSA was free to decide who it would admit.

Here is a rundown of what is at stake in the vote, which is scheduled to take place Thursday among the 1,400 delegates of the National Council gathered in Grapevine, Texas.”

This vote would allow gay scouts to participate, but would still ban gay scout leaders.

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Here’s some non-shocking news on Ivy League commencement speakers. From CampusReform

“The list of keynote commencement speakers at Ivy League institutions for 2013 does not include a single conservative, a recent study authored by the conservative Young America’s Foundation (YAF) found.

Instead seven of the elite schools opted to invite ideological liberal speakers such as media billionaire Oprah Winfrey, Vice President Joe Biden (D), Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D), Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I), among others.

Only Brown University, which chooses a commencement keynote from among its students, did not have a 2013 speaker who is generally associated with the left.”

Not at all surprising. The left is always intolerant of those who disagree with their ideology.

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51 thoughts on “News/Politics 5-23-13”

  1. Part of my job is to talk to people from all over the United States. I talk to the retired, the about to retire, and those so rich that a million dollars for a condo on the beach sounds like a good deal. I also talk to a lot of other people. This IRS thing is HUGE. People aren’t going to let that slip by. What amazes me is that Obummer still has at 52% approval rating. Do these people just have their heads in the sand or somewhere else? Or have they swallowed that much of the Kool-Aid?

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  2. Lots of them don’t know, i.e. “Low information voters”.
    Lots of them are liberal and don’t care, they think government is good.
    Lots of them think that it won’t affect them because they already have theirs.
    Some know what’s happening, and care, but assume there’s nothing to be done.

    I hope that helps.
    😯

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  5. I’m going to have to add to Chas’ list what was told to me by a young, black man, “We don’t care what he does, we are just happy to have a black president.”

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  7. From an e-mail. It partly answers Kim’s question.

    The presidents of ABC News and CBS News have siblings who work in the Obama administration and are involved with Benghazi.

    Political consultant Richard Grenell told “Fox News Watch” that the ties raise concerns as to why the mainstream media has not more aggressively pursued the story.

    “I think the media’s becoming the story, let’s face it,” Grenell said. “CBS News President David Rhodes and ABC News President Ben Sherwood, both of them have siblings that not only work at the White House, that not only work for President Obama, but they work at the (National Security Council) on foreign policy issues directly related to Benghazi. Let’s call a spade a spade.”

    Newsmax.com
    http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Network-News-Ties-Obama/2013/05/12/id/504036#ixzz2U7YMtxyE

    As in Benghazi embassy protection, we’ve hired the foxes to guard the henhouse.

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  8. I’d add another to Chas’ list..

    Lot’s of them get their news from biased sources and enablers who hide the truth of many matters.

    Exhibit 364532 (Yeah, there’s alot)

    http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-philbin/2013/05/23/networks-evening-shows-don-t-name-islam-london-terror-attack

    “What does a murderous jihadist terrorist have to do to get some recognition for his cause? You hack a British soldier to death in broad daylight on a London street while shouting “Allahu akbar” and then “swear by the almighty Allah” that you’ll never stop fighting, and the U.S. broadcast networks still can’t bring themselves to utter a word about Islam.

    True, the ABC CBS and NBC evening broadcasts called the attack “terrorism,” but for all the information they gave viewers, the attackers might have been Basque separatists or animal rights zealots.”

    Some of the Low-Info Voters out there actually think they are informed. Most who get their news from the alphabet networks would be in this category. They don’t know any better.

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  9. Targeting conservative groups is bad. Targeting pro-life groups while trying to protect PP is worse. This one shows just how low the IRS was willing to go, and yeah, really low.

    http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/349077/irs-morality-defend-planned-parenthood-deluge-adoptive-families-audits-david-french

    “Earlier this week, in a feeble attempt at humor on Facebook, I posted: “If you haven’t been audited by the IRS during the Obama administration, can you even call yourself a conservative?” Given the scale of the abuses, I should probably just shorten it and say, “Only RINOs don’t get audited.” My wife and I got audited in 2011, with the IRS examining every inch of our adoption the previous year. The process was painful, but we got through it, and our refund may have been adjusted by a few dollars (the amount of the adjustment was so small, I don’t actually remember). In other words, the audit was a gigantic waste of time — for the IRS and for our family. A Facebook commenter, however, pointed me to a report that made me rethink the experience.

    As we get word that the IRS has harassed a number of pro-life groups, including at least one alleged demand that a pro-life group not picket Planned Parenthood, check out this statistic: In 2012, the IRS requested additional information from 90 percent of returns claiming the adoption tax credit and went on to actually audit 69 percent. More details from the Taxpayer Advocate Service:”

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  10. Patience, patience. The approval ratings will start to go down in time.

    It’s the steady drip-drip-drip of these stories that eventually — and inevitably — takes its toll on the public’s perceptions of an administration.

    I’m guessing Nixon’s ratings were still in the “OK” range when Watergate began to break. I seem to recall many saying exactly the same things I hear some people saying now — “low-level” operatives/employees, “not a big deal,” etc.

    Eighteen months later, people were pretty much done with it all (and with the president).

    I think initially people are eager to support the person they voted for; it takes a while for that confidence to chip away. But eventually it does if the issues are legitimate.

    Meanwhile, the liberals I know have been oh-so-quiet over the past couple weeks, not seeing any of the usual in-your-face (we’re in charge and you’re not) FB postings. 😉 Which is all fine by me. That attitude really does get so old. …

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  12. You know there is some arrogance on this page — it’s not as if the solely fox, newsmax, cns, daily caller, red state readers are as high information as they think nor as unbiased as they think, nor as fair as they think. Benghazi is the classic example. And the news meme — right because Roger Ailes is so totally unconnected to conservative politics … right. Pot meet kettle.

    The IRS scandal, again, I’ll wait to see what investigations reveal before making a judgment about White House involvement.

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  15. CB Just to be fair I am married to a former military person who thinks Bill Mahar represents his thoughts quite well. We now watch CNN or MSNBC exclusively.
    He keeps telling me that people don’t like Obama because they are racist. My reply is that he is just as much white as he is black. I don’t care what color his skin is. I just think he is the wrong person for the job. I also think he is getting a pass because he is black. Look at what impeached Clinton (D) look at what almost impeached Nixon(R).

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  16. Good post by Michael Horton on the tornado aftermath:

    http://networkedblogs.com/LvaGr

    “…..I noticed that evangelists of atheism—mainly from other parts of the country—quickly appeared in chat rooms. ‘If a god who allowed this does exist, we would have to call him evil,’ said one. It’s struck me that this person lives in a world as simplistic as any radical fundamentalist claiming to read God’s mind. For both, the answers are clear. For both, God is not hidden and he does everything directly and immediately. Both imagine a God who sends natural disasters like Zeus throwing thunderbolts from Olympus, either for sadistic pleasure or for specific judgments. ….

    “The choice is between placing our confidence in a God who is both good and sovereign despite the moral and natural evils—even when we don’t have all the answers, and giving up on any transcendent meaning for love as well as suffering. …

    “By the look of things, Good Friday yielded only one of two choices: a God who doesn’t care or a ‘Savior’ who was a fraud. Because Christ has been raised in history, our lives are no longer ‘the show about nothing.’ We have come from somewhere grand and although we have fallen from it, we are being taken far beyond that glorious beginning, in the train of the Conqueror who has defeated death and hell.”

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  19. Thank you for reminding us not to gloat, CB.

    Like it or not, we’re all in this together: this is our government, our IRS, our tax dollars. I’m astounded by the things I’ve been reading, but I’ve been troubled by the “wrongness” of things for a number of months.

    There’s danger in our government coming apart at the seams, no matter which side you’re on. We need to be praying.

    I like to pray for truth to be revealed, because I think that’s Biblical. I also like to pray that God would provide us what we need, not what we deserve.

    And to remember, the “little ones” are going to need help, whether we want to help or not.

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  20. Although, like the majority here, I am a conservative, I really do not like the term “low-information voter”. It sounds like merely a different way of calling one’s ideological opponents stupid.

    I’ve already been hammered enough, by some I know & love, with the accusation that those against same-sex marriage are bigots, haters, ignorant, or all 3. And I have also seen the “low-information voter” thing used by liberals against conservatives.

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  21. I don’t know if I made myself clear in my above comment. What I’m saying is that each side of various issues seems to want to paint their opponents as hateful or ignorant or stupid. Both sides do it, & I’m tired of it.

    As for “low-information voters”, you’ll find them on any side of any issue.

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  22. Good points about not gloating. It’s never good when the country becomes stuck in the blame game and is forced to deal with internal crises that can distract from the business at hand, whether domestic or foreign.

    (I suppose, though, some of us have seen and heard enough gloating for a lifetime over the past 5 years. I’m just thankful that — for now — that seems to have at least toned down a bit in my circles.)

    And I also realize, Calvinist that I am, that God is at work through all of this, maybe especially through the crises. We don’t know what He’s doing much of the time. But we can trust that He’s doing something and that really is a comfort.

    So we pray, wait and watch.

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  23. I still remember running into a friend at the dog park back in the Katrina days. I doubt she knew my political persuasion, I generally don’t share it often as a minority on the west coast, but she had the biggest smile on her face I think I’ve ever seen.

    “So,” she said, absolutely beaming. “Looks like the wheels are coming off of the Bush administration!”

    She just exuded happiness. 😉

    Everyone’s turn comes around.

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  24. A low information voter is one who gets his news from scanning the front page of the newspaper and from ABC News on the Hour.

    Recently, someone, FoxNews, O’Rilley, I think, had a “man on the street interview”. I believe, in downtown Manhattan. The question was, “What do you think of the President’s Supreme Court selection?
    He got several favorable comments.

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  27. Chas, and I think the question specifically was what they thought about the president appointing Judge Judy to the Supreme Court, wans’t it??? Eeeek.

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  29. For the record: I was a low information voter from 1953-1965. I was so involved in making my way through the world, I had no time for current events. I was for Truman when he was President, but Ike converted me.

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  30. Karen O,

    The use of the term “Low Info Voter” doesn’t imply that someone is stupid, at least not to me. Uninformed might be nicer though, I’ll concede that. But I see it as an accurate description. When the term is used it’s meant to say that someone isn’t up on things, as they should be, before voting. Or that perhaps they vote on the basis of celebrity appeal as opposed to poilcy appeal. I don’t think it means someone is stupid. I don’t mean it in a pejorative manner. Many people aren’t stupid but they still make voting decisions, based not on fact but because of something they heard on TV. It’s not an ideological description either. I know many Republican and Independent LIV’s as well. They’re not stupid either, just misinformed, or too lazy to search for answers on their own.

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  32. The Boy Scouts have made a Hugh mistake. This is not going to stop the GLBT Community and their supports from attack them. What the Boy Scouts have done is thrown their base under the Bus, in hope of stop the GLBT Community from attack them. All this is going do is make Christian’s Church decide do we want to support a group that is open itself up to the promoting and excepting of sexual sin.

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  33. Kim, don’t argue with your former military man. It doesn’t matter at all how he votes in Alabama. In NC, it might make a difference because we have a lot of blue in the Raleigh/Durham area, and along the coast.

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  36. from yesterday;
    kbells — depending where your Mississippi friends crossed the border there’s a legitimate police reason to question persons crossing with southern plates. The majority of illegal guns in southern Ontario come from Virginia and other states with lax gun laws. Any southern plate then sets off alarm bells when crossing at Detroit or Buffalo. Secondly, many Americans “forget” to register (declare) their weapons when crossing the border especially those crossing in the west on the way to Alaska. CBC television once followed Cdn customs agents in Alberta as they interviewed Americans heading to Alaska on a hunting trip. All denied having guns in the car/truck and then were shocked to discover the second amendment doesn’t apply north of the 49th parallel and their guns are confiscated for failure to declare. In both instances, the customs agents are enforcing Canadian criminal code. However, when customs agents interrogate people crossing the border to attend a feminist conference thats not a legitimate police matter.

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  37. AJ — most of my examples do come from the FBI because the American left isn’t naive when it comes to dealing with government agencies. The American left has a strong libertarian/anarchist tendency and often doesn’t bother with organizational structures (the Occupy movement is a perfect description of this tendency), hence the IRS can’t be involved.

    I googled Maher’s gift to Obama’s PAC — I’m surprised. Maher’s extremely critical of Obama, perhaps the thought Obama was the lesser of two bad choices. His donation is interesting in that it reveals the problems with PACs and Citizens United …. technically he didn’t donate to Obama rather an independent PAC which Obama can’t direct. Hopefully you saw Colbert’s brilliant satirical send-up of this whole mess when he created a PAC for his show.

    You may think its a deliberate meme created by the White House but the current IRS investigation do indicate flaws with the Citizens United decision in that it gives the IRS even more power. I would think true conservatives would agree and seek to curtail the IRS’s involvement by changing the rules regarding campaign funding. This way the IRS is not in charge of what is a political organization.

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  38. Low information voter is an accurate term which can be used by any side of a political argument (hence its probably a useless term). We usually assume people disagree with us because they don’t have enough or the right type of information. Hence, our desire to shower people with “facts”. Interestingly FOX chair Roger Ailes has been quoted that a “fact” is simply what people or viewers believe is true.

    Chas’ link is interesting but the elites in government, media, academia, business etc have always been connect if not by family than by common experience (Ive League, marriage, neighborhoods, private schools, etc). These connections are even more evident in smaller countries like Canada (population wise that is). Essentially its not much different than county politics just a different circle of friends and associates.

    Thus, elite Republican and Democrats really aren’t that much different — there’s a bit of a rivalry for the “spoils” but that’s about it — they all come from the same background, party loyalty doesn’t really matter. Only when you check the views and backgrounds of the Progressive and Tea Party caucus, is there a real difference and neither group will ever achieve any real success … unless the corporate elites want them to, which explains the funding behind the Tea Party groups.

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  40. ricky weaver …. that study has been floating around facebook for awhile now. However, I don’t think the authors interviewed British coal miners. Perhaps its true of the American left of center males …. I always thought the Democratic party to be rather wimpy. Given the misspelling of some Tea Party signs, some members of the left have also called for literary tests as a voting qualification.

    driveguys — police hate cell phones … they have cameras and with some smart phones instant uploading capabilities … they can confiscate the phones but the video is broadcasted live on the internet for the world to see. And this has limited their ability to harass groups and led to some convictions in terms of wrongful deaths.

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  41. Finally, the 72% moral values are in decline is a pretty useless poll. Conservatives might say their is a decline because of advances in gay rights for example while the left may see the bitterness this produces and what they see as the obsessive behavior of the right to prosecute Obama of something as evidence for moral decline. Thus, moral decline is seen by everyone for opposite reasons.

    Links for the day,
    Heritage foundation tells Republicans not to govern or legislate but simply focus on scandals. They embrace not governing as a political strategy.

    Heritage letter to Republicans on Capitol Hill: Don’t legislate, just scandalize Obama

    Also — what is terrorism? In the wake of the attack of a British soldier in London, the Guardian has a thought provoking column on why we call some incidents terrorism and others not.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/23/woolwich-attack-terrorism-blowback

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  42. HRW, I welcome persons of all persuasions to support my literacy test proposal. It is one algebra word problem. Everyone can vote, but if you take the test you must get the problem right for your vote to count. Taking the test is voluntary, but voters who take the test get: a) a gift certificate to any store at the mall; b) a case of beer; or c) a tree planted in his/her name.

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  43. HRW – You say that the American left “has a strong libertarian/anarchist tendency”, but I think of people on the left/liberals as being very pro-gov’t intervention & pro-regulations up the wazoo.

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  45. CB, It is not one particular algebra word problem. It is any algebra word problem. It would be changed every election. The truth is that far less than 20% of American voters can do an algebra word problem. My guess would be 5%. It would not be multiple choice, so no lucky 1 in 4 guesses.

    Both parties would try to train their voters, but it wouldn’t make much difference. An algebra word problem, even more than an ordinary literacy test, discriminates against major Democratic constituencies.

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  46. In this day and age, a spelling test would discriminate against all voters …. life without spell check.

    Karen O … you’re thinking of the Democratic party which is fairly centrist if not leaning right in comparison to the Occupy movement. And for all the anti-gov’t rhetoric, Republicans also embrace gov’t solutions … esp. if it helps their corporate friends, agriculture subsides, the religious right and military spending. Most politicians embrace gov’t they just like to apply it in different areas and to benefit different groups.

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  48. HRW, A spelling test would greatly benefit the Republicans. Young people (largely Democrats) never learned to spell. However, it would not hit many Democrat groups the way an algebra word problem would.

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  51. HRW, you keep comparing the OWS movement with the Tea Party. The big difference is that OWS was started and based on an illegal act. (trespassing). They have had numerous clashes with the police. They can’t even get the Tea Party for littering.
    I also find it funny that OWL with their nicely printed signs that were handed out (by who?)is called a grassroots movement and the Tea Party with homemade (and sometimes misspelled sign, cause, sure if you comb through thousands of pictures you will eventually find a goofy sign) is called astroturf.

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