"Nooney Tunes" and "Witch Hunts".

A few years ago I co-founded the Afrosphere [spear]collective with a few like minded bloggers who wanted to push political thought and inspire critical thinking on the Internet.

One of the people who came out of the Afrosphere movement and who writes very insightful and thought provoking articles is a brother from Texas by the name of Eddie Griffin.

I recently got an e-mail from Eddie with a wonderful article about the recent happenings in Washington, which I think is worth reading:

"I.R.S. Witch Hunt: First Stop

By Eddie Griffin

 

Witch hunts are always ugly. Innocent witnesses are badgered into submission and potential defenders intimidated into silence. The accused is always the unpopular and hated. And, for sure, no one is more hated than tax collectors.

 

But before a congressional lynch mob gets this fire started, we need to store sanity to the evidence-gathering process. For starters:

 

A Sept. 28, 2010 letter from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Max Baucus to then-IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman demanded deeper scrutiny by the agency of 501(c) organizations’ political activities.

 

Specifically, the letter called on Shulman to “survey major 501(c)(4), (c)(5) and (c)(6) organizations involved in political campaign activity to examine whether they are operated for the organization’s intended tax exempt purpose… Baucus specifically referenced a Sept. 16, 2010 Time article, “The New GOP Money Stampede”… Baucus also referenced “a group transforming itself into a non-profit under 501(c)(4) of the tax code,” ensuring, as the Time article put it, that the group would “not have to publicly disclose any information about its donors.” That “group” Baucus referenced was actually Crossroads GPS.

 

Why does Sen. Baucus seem to suddenly have a case of amnesia? In Congress started this inquiry into non-profits acting as political fronts, why are they now looking for an apology and a pound of flesh from Douglas Shulman?"   

 

Because hypocrisy rules the day in American politics. People choose political sides and then pretend that they care more about the country than the political gang they belong to.

 

Fortunately, most of the people in America seem to be coming around and are beginning to understand what is really going on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the real scandals in Washington.

Conservatives are about to find out that it's not only those poor Negroes in urban areas who depend on food stamps.

 

My experience has taught me that quite a few working head of households, college students, and hardworking families who are trying to make ends meet in America depend on food stamps as well.

 

Yes, there is fraud, but show me an area of society where there isn't fraud. I guarantee you that if we were to put a microscope to some of these politicians passing these draconian laws against  people they consider powerless we would find that their milk isn't exactly clean, either.

 

This is one of the real scandals in Washington that no one is talking about.

 

Speaking of politricksters in Washington, the clowns from both sides of the isle were in full finger- wagging mode today.

 

Good for Eric Holder for at least wagging back.

 

These hearings today involved the AP scandal, which, by the way, is the only one of these scandals that I consider serious--- or will even pay attention to.

 

This IRS "scandal" is a joke. Why? Because as I have been saying for the past few days, there is nothing to see here; been there done that.

This is selective outrage on the part of the clowns in Washington and the corporate media whores who have to drive their ratings.

 

No wonder O had to talk to the nation this evening to calm their fears. I just wonder where this outraged media was for all those years when Bush was in power and investigating churches, black organizations, and liberal groups. (Just ask Eric Dyson. Bush and his boys went after him five years in a row. FIVE!) I  know that I am starting to sound like a broken record, but I think I will keep playing this tune until you all at least catch the lyrics.

 

"We'd have every major liberal newspaper in America calling for investigation ending in impeachment. It'd be leading the evening news. We'd have have every group that had liberal or progressive tendencies demanding answers and marching on the White House. And leaders of Congress, Democrats in Congress, demanding to have answers. It'd be a nightmare at the Bush White House had this been done on our watch."

 

Mr. Rove, with all due respect, it was done on your "watch", and you seem to be sleeping pretty well these days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

The big overreach.

You [right]wingnuts might want to hold off on the impeachment party for the "Socialist" in the White House. I mean just when you think that you will finally get to see that Negro hold a press conference, put up a peace sign, and ride off into the sunset; it turns out that lady luck is smiling on him once again.

Anyway, it looks like the man in charge of allegedly targeting those Tea Party groups at the IRS was a W appointee. (Oh, and memo to Marco Rubio: there is no IRS Commissioner, that position has been vacant since November.)

"Oh Field, there you guys go blaming Bush for everything again"

Yes, and he makes it so easy for me.

But again, this all begs the question: Why is this even a scandal when W and his people were targeting the NAACP and other liberal groups with the heavy hand of the IRS when he was holding the hammer? The Tea Party apparently rejected an apology from the IRS; I would like to know why they (the IRS) even apologized to them in the first place. I certainly don't think the NAACP or Greenpeace got any when W was slapping his political enemies around.

Here is something you wingnuts and your friends might need to understand. If you are a political action group (such as the Tea Party)you cannot get 501(c)(4) tax-exemption status for your group. The IRS will target you if they believe that you are breaking these guidelines. These wingnuts crying a river over the government targeting should take a ticket and stand in line.

"Reuters has obtained part of a yet to be released report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) that confirms that the IRS was targeting groups on the left and right who focused their activities on advocating for expanding or limiting of the size of the government. The report also states that the screening process was not influenced by the Obama administration, and that none of the groups screened were denied tax exempt status.
Without the claims of a partisan witch hunt against conservative groups, this latest Republican fueled Obama scandal is set to lose all of its sizzle.
The real reason why Republicans are desperately trying to drum up a scandal here is because they don’t want the IRS forcing their dark money groups to pay taxes. The IRS is threatening their Citizens United fueled political slush fund, and Republicans want it to stop. Republicans are trying to bully the IRS into backing off.

It turns out that Obama isn’t Richard Nixon after all. He wasn’t using the IRS to attack his enemies. In their own bungling way, the IRS was trying to deal with the problems caused by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. First, Benghazi crashes and burns, and now the IRS scandal could be fading fast."

Oh yes, Benghazi, the places where almost half of you black helicopter tin foil clowns can't find on  a map. Well, as it turns out, those leaked e-mails were apparently edited to make the Socialist in Chief look bad.

"Turns out the press got played again by Republicans. Jake Tapper has the smoking gun of the original email from the Obama administration which differs significantly from the “leaked emails” ABC ran with.

In an exclusive for CNN, Tapper reveals that CNN has the original email sent by a top Obama aide, regarding the administration’s reaction to the Benghazi attacks. Tapper reported, “The actual email differs from how sources characterized it to two different media organizations.” [Source]

I bet republicans all have very long arms.

Finally, on to a more serious subject: The urban terrorist terrorizing the hard working people of New Orleans.

19 people were shot at a Mother's Day parade, and the national press treated it as if it was just another one of those unruly young Negroes living out his gangsta fantasies here in America.

Two monsters cause death and mayhem at the Boston Marathon and they shut down a major American city and there is 24 hours cable news coverage about the incident. This was "terrorism", what happened in New Orleans was not.

Tell that to the poor people who live in that neighborhood or who went to that parade.

The FBI quickly issued a statement saying that this was not a terrorist act, and we could all just get on with our lives now. Nothing to see here America. Just Negroes in the hood being Negroes. You can all go back to pursuing happiness.  That is until the real terrorists strike again. (Shout out to Greg Fuller for this story.)

Melissa Harris Perry lives in that neighborhood, and along with the wonky Chris Hayes she tried to bring attention to the double standard when it comes to the mainstream media.

"You know, I thought that line, I want to ask you what you make of that line,” Hayes said. “This was street violence. I saw this on social media. Shooting in New Orleans. And then it was like, oh, oh, oh. That’s just, you know, gang-bangers in New Orleans, probably a black neighborhood, you know, that’s just life in the big city. Street violence isn’t terrorism, it’s not terrifying, it’s not terror that is being visited on people every day.” [Source]

Wrong Chris. "Street violence" is terror, and it's being visited on people every day. Maybe not the people in America that most Americans care about, but they are people, and they are Americans, and when they are terrorized it needs to be highlighted just like it is with the people of Boston.

The tax man cometh for the Tea Party, and Darrel's pants is on fire.

What's all the fuss about the IRS targeting the Tea Party? S**t happens with the IRS. Just ask Wesley, Lauren, and Redd. And I know that they allegedly broke the law and the Tea Party did not, but I didn't hear folks making a fuss when W's IRS targeted the NAACP back in 2004. Besides, anytime you can make Mark Levin miserable that's a good thing.

"The Internal Revenue Service is auditing the NAACP, scrutinizing the nation's oldest civil rights group after its chairman gave a stinging criticism of the Bush administration in a speech this summer.

Julian Bond's July 11 comments at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's convention in Philadelphia chastised President Bush for being the first sitting president since Herbert Hoover not to address the group.

Bush declined the group's invitation to speak, while Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry accepted.

In a letter dated Oct. 8, the IRS Tax Exempt and Government Division informed the NAACP's national office in Baltimore of the investigation.
The letter said the probe was limited to " ... whether or not your organization has intervened in a political campaign. ... "
Bond said yesterday that the audit was "an attempt to silence the NAACP" right before a tight presidential election.

"They are saying if you criticize the president we are going to take your tax exemption away from you," he said. "It's pretty obvious that the complainant was someone who doesn't believe George Bush should be criticized, and it's obvious of their response that the IRS believes this, too."
In a statement, IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson said the agency could not comment on activities involving specific tax-exempt organizations, but he rejected Bond's claims.

"Any suggestion that the IRS has tilted its audit activities for political purposes is repugnant and groundless," the statement said.

The IRS letter states that Bond's speech "condemned the administration policies of George W. Bush on education, the economy and the war in Iraq."
The letter goes on to note that the NAACP's 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status prohibits "directly or indirectly participating or intervening in any political campaign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate for public office."
Tool of both parties

Bruce Payne, a lecturer in public policy at Duke University, said administrations, both Democratic and Republican, have used the IRS to harass political opponents." [Source]

Nothing to see here folks, move along.

Finally, Darrel Issa has been implying that Hillary and the White House has been lying and covering up about the B word. But  guess what; we know that he is a liar.

"An exchange on Sunday morning’s Meet The Press illustrates how even the most subtle distinction can carry heavy political undertones. In discussing this week’s hearings on Benghazi, Rep. Darrel Issa (R-CA) asserted that Ambassador Thomas Pickering, who led the Accountability Review Board on Benghazi, “refused to come before our committee.”

Amb. Pickering jumped in to correct him, saying “That is not true,” and telling host David Gregory that “I said the day before the hearings, I was willing to appear, to come to the very hearings that he excluded me from.” [Source]

Nothing "subtle" about what Mr. Issa was doing; the man was lying plain and simple, and props to Ambassador Pickering for calling him on it.

Still no taxes, and a wingnut tops the "birthers".

I would like to start this post by calling out Democratic Congresswoman, Lois Capps. If what is being reported is true, I say shame on Ms. Capps.

"From 2001 to 2005, Rep. Lois Capps rented a room in her home to a staffer, but failed to report the income to the IRS until this year, the Daily Caller first reported.

Jeremy Tittle, a "case worker" in the California Democrat's district office, took a room in Capps' Santa Barbara home, paying $41,480 during the time he was there.

Capps' staff says the matter has been adequately addressed.

"Capps' accountant filed all her amended returns from 1998-2011 this year, and she has paid them," Capps' campaign spokesman Jeffrey Millman wrote in an email to the website. "As soon as we became aware of this, Lois immediately filed an amended return and cleared it up right away. ... The amended returns are on her website and everybody can look at it."

Yes, but this is not good. Ms. Capps, as an elected official, you have an obligation -and a duty- to do due diligence when filing your taxes. Now folks are saying that this issue could cost you the next election.

"The error is likely to factor prominently in Capps' 24th District re-election race against Republican former Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado.

"How do you not report income you're getting from a person on both your congressional and campaign payroll who lives in your house? #REALLY," Maldonado tweeted early Friday morning.

"Is it really viable to ask the people of this district to believe that Congresswoman Capps simply forgot to report income she was receiving every month from someone living in her house, who was on her congressional staff and was also being paid by her campaign--it doesn't pass the believability test," a Maldonado campaign spokesman said in a statement Friday, noting the hypocrisy they view.." [Source]

Yes, I can certainly understand that.

Which brings me to Mitt Stiff Romney. Mr. Romney called out Harry Reid and told him to "put up or shut up". He had to do this because Harry Reid claims that he heard from a good source that Stiff hasn't paid his taxes in ten years. Stiff, of course, denies this, and says that he has paid more than his fair share of taxes. Yet still, he refuses to release his returns prior to 2010.

Now everyone is focused on Harry Reid and his allegations, but Harry Reid is not running for president of these divided states of America; Stiff Romney is the candidate. And here is how he can make Harry Reid and the rest of the democrats clamoring for his tax returns look like fools and hit one out of the park with voters: release the returns. Hold a huge press conference--complete with blow up models of your returns-- and declare to America that you have nothing to hide. Yes, you are filthy rich, but you worked hard, and you are where every American wants to be. If elected, you will give them a better chance to make it happen.

Of course, given what we have been hearing -and reading- about his economic plan, Stiff might not want to talk taxes right about now. It was released by a non-partisan and independent organization, and it says that Stiff's plan would raise taxes on the middle class and cut taxes for folks in his tax bracket. (I wonder how he plans to make up $350 billion in federal revenue.) 

I hope Mr. Romney and his supporters understand that I am telling him all this out of love and respect. I do not want him to end up like Ms. Capps. Your taxes are not a private matter when you are running for the highest office in the land, and if, God forbid, it turns out that you have done something that is illegal or to circumvent our tax laws, I dare say that we all have a right to know.   

Finally, further proof that wingnuts are from another planet. (Dude is a republican from Byrdstown, Tennessee, so I am pretty sure that he is a wingnut.) So this elected state representative believes that O will fake an assassination attempt on his own life so that he can suspend the upcoming elections and hold on to power. I kid you not!

"A Tennessee state representative helped create Internet pandemonium Tuesday when he forwarded an e-mail claiming the Obama administration was going to stage an assassination attempt in order to delay the 2012 presidential election, The Tennessean reports.

Kelly Keisling, a Republican state congressman from Byrdstown, Tenn., forwarded the e-mail to his constituents, even though it had never been confirmed to be true.

The e-mail stated that President Barack Obama and members of his administration were going to create a fake assassination attempt “that would be blamed on ‘white supremacists’ and subsequently used to enrage black and Hispanic communities driving them to rioting all across the nation,” according to theory, penned by right-wing blogger Joe Angione." [Source]

Lord have mercy! Now I know why some of the folks commenting here anonymously say some of the things that they do.







        

Tax Day.

True confessions: I hate tax day. I will leave it at that. (I know the IRS monitors these blogs.) Having said that, I will never be mistaken for Wesley Snipes. I have no problem with paying my fair share of taxes. I love the roads that I drive on and all the other benefits I reap from the federal government while my tax dollars go to work. So there. All you teabagger protesters can kiss my ass. If you really want impress me and make a sacrifice for something you believe in, give up your social security checks when it's time to retire. And, when Father Time grabs you and you start getting sick, pay out of your own damn pockets for whatever medical care you will need.

And while we are on the teabaggers, let me take a little time to praise his O ness: Just a couple of years ago ago this country's economic foundation was on the verge of a collapse. The Dow was tanking, unemployment was rising, and the big D was on every one's lips. (Brother can you spare a mortgage payment?) Now let's be honest wingnuts, we are over a year into the age of Obama and things ain't looking so bad. The Dow is up over 11,000 points, unemployment is holding steady. (Didn't the wingnuts predict that unemployment would be at 12% by now?) And even though home values are way below what they were during the peak of the housing bubble, the bleeding seems to have stopped in the housing market.

On the international front I see O doing some good things as well: (His feud with my home country not withstanding.) He is trying his best to rein in the nukes ,and even though I am still not down with the war in Afghanistan, he seems to be doing a great job with the war on terror where Pakistan is concerned. There has been no major terrorist attack on A-merry-can soil (knock on wood), and he is reaching out to world leaders in a meaningful way to increase our -moral-standing in the world.

Do I have some issues with the guy? Sure I do. But if I am going to be totally honest, so far he has been better than the frat boy at playing leader of the free world. (Oh field, you are just saying that because he is black like you. If he was a white republican you would be all over him.) Nope, if he was a white republican they would be getting his bust ready for Mount Rushmore.