May 17, 2013

Where is the balance as far as hiding secrets of government?

On the one hand, I despise the fact that many Bush era civil liberty wounds have not been healed by Obama. I think he owes Bradley Manning a pardon, and Julian Assange an apology. I think that there needs to be an outright overhaul of the intelligence agencies of this country, from the NYPD to the CIA. The CIA in particular has gotten way too big for it's britches, way less accountable than it should be, and indeed, may need a complete disbandment and reboot. It says a lot where we spend so much on an agency that has become known for it's blunders, while smaller intelligence agencies across the world laugh.

However, there is the other hand. As much as we may think we are exceptions to History, we are not. There will always be a need for spies and covert operations, because psychopaths of all stripes, creeds, and nations are going to hide what they do, and unless we have people who can out sneak them, they will do their damage long before the standard cops can show up. There is a need for covert ops to stay covert, as Valerie Plame showed. Ms Plame that makes the talk shows could have very easily been Ms Plame shot by a North Korean firing squad. The people that try to save lives can be exposed, then killed, all because some internet twit wants to become a celebrity. We need a blanace here, the question is, where to draw the line?

May 17, 2013

My two cents on the IRS scandal

Now, I know what some have said where people did admit to targeted people based on keywords like "tea Party." As Obama put it, that cannot be tolerated. Some IRS people have resigned. However, I do think that there were factors that do not make up for this, but that cannot be ignored, as they have far greater consequences, and can do far more damage than any scandal.

The fact is, Citizens United wrecked many of the safeguards that used to separate "tax exempt charity" from "political group where Billionaires dump money so they can get policies that make them more money." Of course, many groups applied for this tax exempt status, most of the right wing, because they were saving money and planning towards this for years. Want an example:

http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/05/true_the_vote_says_it_was_targeted_by_irs_--_appropriate.html

Now, True the Vote was a political organization whose purpose was to restrict the ability to vote. They helped get rid of early voting in my state, Florida, and they tried to get the infamous "voter id" laws passed in my state. Now, the Tax Exemptions were for those organizations that were" NOT Primarily political in nature." How an organization called True the vote, which is not dedicated to anything BUT Voting, can get that exemption is foolish, and an example that these new rules were ABUSED. There were a rush of these organizations after Citizens United, with no support for the IRS as they were taking in this added load.

If people were being fair, they would change the IRS, and give them more of a budget, as this new frontier means they will be locking horns not just with domestic billionaires, but companies that, for all we know, may be just a war chest for China and Saudi Arabia. Let's face it, we have watered down the rules so bad there is nothing stopping the Peoples Republic of China or Al Qaida from just shoveling money into Pacs, or even admitting who they are. Of course, with Wall Street funded groups advocating Charter schools, and the Koch brothers, we need not look overseas for trouble. To water down the standards enough that any group can call themselves a "charity", even though they are pursuing policies that will PROFIT their masters, and NOT expect something to break down is folly.

Of course, the media will make it seem like we need to get the IRS, which means that a president Paul or Christie can kill or cripple it, which means the oligarchy can and will run ramshod. If the IRS is broken, they will not stop until they finish wrecking the federal government, and turn this nation into a corporate plantation/whorehouse! Let us not forget, the reason we are in sop much debt is that, ever since Ron Ray Gun, we have been cutting taxes for the rich every damned year, with the weak, brief exception of the Clinton years. Even his "high taxes" were far short of the 1950's, or most modern industrial states for that matter.

I am not sayign ignore or deny the IRS screw ups, I am saying do not be fooled into doing the GOP dirty work, by moving past the point that there were way, way too many abuses that were going unchecked. Let's not even get into the fact that ACORN got killed and they turned out to be innocent.

May 15, 2013

Maureen Dowd: Administration failed in Benghazi

http://www.adn.com/2013/05/13/2901101/maureen-dowd-administration-failed.html

The reason why I bring this up is, that while Dowd hates Obama, she almost NEVER says anything remotely critical of Hillary. She is in the Hillary 2016 bandwagon, and she puts most of this on Obama, but the fact she also includes Hillary means there is something very odd.

May 14, 2013

One of the Tea Party groups targeted by the IRS, just happens to be True the Vote

http://beforeitsnews.com/libertarian/2013/05/surprise-surprise-one-of-the-tea-party-groups-targeted-by-the-irs-just-happens-to-be-an-anti-voter-fraud-organization-2503186.html

Now, this is not just a political organization, this was a group meant to actually restrict the right of people to VOTE. They helped kill early voting, and impaired voter registration. They were also instrumental in destroying ACORN.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/167648/true-vote-still-out-screw-vote

So,while I understand we do not want one group to be targeted, are we to bash the IRS teeth so flat they dare not investigate people who outright abuse the rules?

May 14, 2013

IRS' Tea Party controversy added to Senate probe

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/05/13/levin-mccain-irs-tea-party-investigation/2156331/

Now, I humbly offer this opinion.

Do I want the IRS to be a political weapon, no?

However, there is one glaring fact that is NOT being mentioned, an Elephant in the room, two in fact.

One, under the guise of "non-profit organization", many people are carrying out political agendas,which benefit THEIR wallet! Churches in particular do this, because well they may feed the occasional child, they also use that Charity to enforce an agenda. Anywhere you see the major GOP donors, you will see that they always use those donations to push a political bend, such as the Koch brothers, who make sure student have to read Ayn Rand, and that schools have to hire a conservative professor.

Yes, I am sure the left may have some non profits that do that too, although the major left wing groups tend to fall under very intense scrutiny (a la Acorn, ala OWS.) But even beyond left or right, the whole idea of Non profit, aka (don't tax us even though we have a lot of money) has been abused. The IRS should not have to apologize for putting anyone who does not want to pay taxes under scrutiny, PERIOD.

Thom hartmann makes my point better than I can:

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/16311-on-the-news-with-thom-hartmann-the-irs-has-apologized-to-conservative-political-groups-for-singling-them-out-for-additional-review-and-more

Why is the IRS apologizing for doing their job? The Associated Press reports that the Internal Revenue Service has issued a formal apology to conservative political groups for "singling them out for additional review." According to the report, groups with the words "tea party" or "patriot" in their names were subject to extra scrutiny during their attempts to gain non-profit status. The additional reviews were conducted during the 2012 election, to verify that the groups were not violating non-profit status. Under IRS rules, so-called charitable organizations can conduct political activities, but it can not be their primary focus. Lois Lerner, who oversees the tax-exempt IRS division, said that the additional scrutiny was conducted by low-level employees only, and that it was not motivated by political bias. The fact is, any non-profit group, regardless of political affiliation, should be following the same rules on political activities. Tax payers should not be subsidizing political think tanks. The only issue here is whether only conservative groups were targeted. If politicians want taxpayers to pick up the tab for campaigning, they should give up the corporate money and move to publicly financed elections.

May 11, 2013

what is left leaning libertarianism?

What I do not get is how the left leaning Libs expect corporations to be held in check, or prevent a mob from stomping all over the rights of minorities. If Dixie could have slavery back, there would be slave kennels at wal-Mart.

May 11, 2013

when Glenn greenwald and Libertarians attack.

Ok, my point is this, facts are facts, and if even a complete asshole says 2 plus 2 equals four, it is a fact. Me personally, I think it is ironic that the GOP attacks over benghazi, when THEY cut the funding for it. But I also think that the real scandal is that Hillary and Obama decided that we had to be involved in the first place. Gadafi was an asshole, but like Hussein before him, his departure let the Ben ladin style Jihad take power.

That being said, if you think I will ignore the facts that Libertarian motives are naive at best, wicked at worst, you have another thing coming. If GG wanted to make his point, he did not have to supprt the Fox News brigade, nor support a racist that wants to overturn the Civil Rights act like Ron Paul.

Let me be blunt, even if you hated Obama, even if you hate all Dems and GOP, would you really want to hitch your wagon to people like this?

and if you do, I have every right to suspect your judgement skills.

May 4, 2013

If the Clinton tax rates had remained in effect, the entire national debt would have been paid off

http://rationallythinkingoutloud.com/blog/2011/01/20/if-the-clinton-tax-rates-had-remained-in-effect-the-entire-national-debt-would-have-been-paid-off-by-2012/

The facts speak for themselves.