There's no penalty for making wild accusations; it's a common political strategy, and it seems to be accepted in our everyday life because it doesn't cost a thing. I saw a good example of that this morning when Vern Buchanan(R-FL) who's on the House Ways and Means Committee say that Obamacare would add a trillion dollars to the debt when the CBO just said that it would decrease the deficit. Not one person on the “Morning Joe” panel corrected him. That's how it works; imagine a person going to work, hearing that unchallenged sound bite and then takes it for the absolute truth.
House Ways and Means Committee grilled the outgoing acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller. This is the governing body that oversees our tax laws; shouldn't they also be interested in those groups who violated their tax-exempt status? Let's say a couple of rogue employees rifled through some CEO desk draws and found some evidence of wrongdoing. Yes, the employee should be punished but do we ignore the evidence they found because it was obtained illegally? Yes the people who were singling out conservatives need to be fired for incompetence but the law needs to be revised so so it does not happen again. It's not about paying taxes because those involved are non-profits; it's all about that special clause in the 501 [c][4] that allows them to keep their donor’s name a secret. Those groups can then transfer some of that cash(without reveling names) to their political PAC where donor’s names are required. The employees were guilty of profiling. I would bet that 9 out of 10 applications to become a 501[C][4] came from conservative groups. They were overwhelmed and chose to use a shortcut such as profiling.
The afternoon I saw Megan Kelly of Fox News and Rep. Jason Chaffetz discussing the Benghazi incident. They were trying to disprove that Benghazi didn't have any security was because Congress did not provide the money. I never thought it was because Congress didn't provide the money, especially after I learned that Benghazi was a CIA outpost under diplomatic cover. The CIA had 30 people, and Ambassador Stevens had seven diplomats. I also know that Ambassador Stevens turned down military protection two times. The Marines only guard the sensitive documents ,it's up to the State Department to provide security for the embassy. The frail Libyan government would have to approve of a standing army in Benghazi.
People like David Gregory live in a bubble because he thinks he was speaking for the average man this morning, when he was complaining about the 0.9% surtax, he was playing for health care. That tax is only for people with a combined income of $250,000 or more. I disagree when a lot of people say that latest incident by the IRS will have a devastating effect on how people look at the IRS. I've heard stories of IRS incompetence all my life but unless the next three congressional hearings find something new; this issue will go way pretty fast.
I often wonder if people like Michelle Bachmann know that the country is laughing at them or does she really believe that repealing Obamacare for the37th time is an accomplishment. I also wonder why John Boehner thinks it’s appropriate to jail someone for the IRS fiasco but not for the Wall Street crash of 2008.
The only way we can get the truth is to hold those people accountable if they lie. The media needs to stop mimicking Hollywood and just report the news. A young reporter got his chance to query the president, but he wasted it, by asking the president if he was aware that he was being compared to Nixon.
Last night I heard Richard Engel say that someone in our government told the AP intricate details about a bomb we obtained from a terrorist group in Yemen. There is the public has a right to know, but it must constantly be weighed against the need to classify some information.
6 comments:
Now if if You think it was sacrilege for the president to ask a Marine for an umbrella... Check out thise website.
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/
The umbrella..., one of my step daughters friends, a marine, had the duty at the white house during the Clinton Admin.
He said, yeah it's a privilege but it's also the most boring duty a marine can draw. Stand there all day and when your 10 hours are up and you go back to the barracks, you can't mention one word about standing all day. So holding a umbrella probably thrilled the marine.
One other thing, "Let's say a couple of rogue employees rifled through some CEO desk draws and found some evidence of wrongdoing. Yes, the employee should be punished but do we ignore the evidence they found because it was obtained illegally?"
The public may not ignore it, but any court of law would, in the private sector.
In the army, that duty was a prestigious one and it used to be those selected won the " soldier of the month" or something similar...You can bet those Marines were carefully selected and that duty was noted in their military resume.
Sure a court of law of law would ignore it but it does not to be the "fruit of poisonous tree" because in the private sector you don't have to have cause to fire unless it's a civil rights violation.
Funny how when someone speaks (Sarah Palin) a picture will instantly show up with her getting off a plane with a man holding an umbrella for her....:-)
The letter by Jack Mullins disturbs me.
I am not questioning his credentials but I disagree with his reasoning.
He's blaming the president (probably for political reasons)but Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is leading the charge with a" bipartisan group of lawmakers on Thursday proposed major changes to military laws for sexual assault cases, backing a bill to prevent military commanders from handling sexual assault cases that involve their subordinates."
When the Catholic Church could no longer control the child molestration by priest they turned to a civilian review board. Penn State turned a blind eye when one of their own molested boys,rape on college campus has gotten out of control...I can' only speak for myself but I'm sick of it....The UCMJ is not superior to human dignity and it's fairly obvious to me the military is not taking these sexual abuse cases seriously...They don't have the training and they still operate under the "rank has its priviledges." Those codes are not etched in stone and last I heard the civilians rule over the military in our form of government.....These women and men are our friends,sons and daughters.
Blame Obama all you want but I think I'm not alone in wanting the sexual abuses to stop...Am I wrong?
Lol..If you are getting your news from Susan Brown that tells me all I need to know about your intelligence Mr. Bankston.
Anyone who has kept up knows that the CIA man under Petraeus scratched the mention of the terrorist in the talking points....The CIA was in full CYA mode because they had 30 men within the vicinity but we will never know why they did or did not do anything but the people that need to know have the classified version of the events we won't hear about for several years.
I fully agree with Hillary's words " what difference does it make" because her friend died whether it was a spontaneous attack or a planned one....Troops?(about 8 special forces) were in Tripoli which is 630 miles or at least 13 hours in terrain.
Amb. Stevens refused military protection because he was a real diplomat who believed he had to be among the people and if you knew anything at all ,then you would know that it would have to be cleared by the so-called Libyan government. They knew that other outposts were being hit but the reason they didn't evacuate is probably in the classified copy.
Call it a consulate,annex , or CIA outpost but it was not fortified and we still don't know why Amb. Stevens was in Benghazi that day (classified) because the Embassy is in Tripoli.
Right wingers always go for the families with cheap shots...Amb. Stevens was a dear friend of Hillary and she did meet with the families of those who died when they arrived which is a lot more than you or Sandra Brown did,
Politics of personal destruction being used by a man who often masquerades as a holier than thou Christian...Not surprising.
Wow...The VA tore into Councilman Hagan and his two amigos and one amiga for possible quorum violations with a front page story and an editorial....You can't win against those who buy ink by the barrel.
David Hagen has selective memory.
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