The IRS Scandal II

Ok, a little more information is starting to come out and I'm a tad confused.

The issue at hand appears to be the review of applications for 501(c)(4) tax exempt status. But it's not only a tax exemption, it's the right to not have to reveal the people who donate to the organization.

There are two types of groups covered under 501(c)(4). The first are "Social Welfare" groups and the second are "Local associations of employees." In this particular case it's the "Social Welfare" groups that appear to be the issue.

These are groups that, according to the IRS code, are "Civic leagues or organizations not organized for profit but operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare."

Such groups may engage in political activities as long as (a) that is not the groups primary activity and (b) the groups activities does not "include direct or indirect participation or intervention in political campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public of­fice."

Well that's clear as mud. But it gets better. The code goes on to say "if an or­ganization is organized exclusively to promote social welfare, it may still obtain exemption even if it participates legally in some political activity on behalf of or in opposition to candidates for public office."

In other words, they can't participate directly in a candidates campaign but they may still engage in political activity on behalf of, or in opposition to, candidates they feel promote or don't promote whatever "Social Welfare" they're involved with?

You have got to be shitting me?

So why wouldn't the IRS take a really close look at groups whose names implied political partisanship?

I guess the big question here is what was the criteria for extra scrutiny and was that criteria biased?

The IRS Scandal

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) targeted conservative groups or groups that were criticizing the government for special scrutiny on their tax exemption applications.

You have got to be kidding me.

Hey, I think some conservative groups are bat-shit crazy and a danger to our democracy but some left wing groups are as well.

You can be sure the GOP will bang this drum long and loud and, you know what, they should. We need to be certain something like this never happens again.

It's Official

Minnesota will become the 12th state to legalize gay marriage. The Minnesota senate passed the bill 37-30 and the governor says he will sign it Tuesday. Gay marriages should begin by August 1st.

So May was a big month with three states legalizing gay marriage. New Jersey is still bogged down due to Chris Christie's veto. That's a shame. The arithmetic doesn't look good for an override.

I don't agree with Christie. He wants the measure to be on the ballot. I don't think someone's rights should be up for a vote.

Moving Toward Twelve

The Minnesota assembly today passed a bill to legalize Gay Marriage. The senate leader believes he has to votes to pass it and the governor has said he will sign it.

In a little side show, supporters of the bill accepted a Republican amendment to change "marriage" to "civil marriage."

I find this suspicious. Federal laws say "marriage." They don't say "civil marriage." I suspect the Republicans are trying to create a different category of "marriage" here. I think they're kidding themselves. All marriages are civil marriages. They may also be blessed or sanctified by a religion, but they're all civil marriages.

9/11/13 - A Day of Prayer and Fasting

Joseph Farah over at World Net Daily (WND) is calling for a day of prayer and fasting to save America.

In the article articulating the supposed need you can find an excellent example of dishonesty meant to stir up the fears of people who have low intelligence and little education. Allow me to provide an example or two, or three, maybe four.

Example 1
"America is facing challenges today that, in many ways, rival anything seen since the start of World War II."

America is always facing such challenges. In the fifties we had polio, the cold war and Joseph McCarthy. In the sixties we had the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam war. In the seventies we had Watergate and runaway inflation. In the eighties we had the Iranian Hostage Crisis, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Iran-Iraq war. In the nineties we had the Gulf War and the impeachment of Bill Clinton. In the 2000s we had 9-11 and the Great Recession.

Example 2
"There’s a concerted effort to redefine marriage as any union between people, regardless of sex, possibly regardless even of the number of participants in that union and possibly even regardless of the status of blood relationship between them."

The first statement is actually sort of true (a rarity at WND) even if expressed in a strange way. The statements following each "possibly" however are total horseshit. No one is proposing to legalize polygamy, group marriage or incest.

Example 3
"America continues to abort unborn babies by the millions and has now moved further in the direction of euthanasia on both ends of the life spectrum – possibly even making it a matter of national, state-controlled health-care mandates."

There were 1.2 million abortions in 2011 so saying "by the millions" is a bit misleading but overall the statement is accurate. The claim that we've "moved further in the direction of euthanasia" is at best debatable and at worst total crap. Again, the statement after the "possibly" is total horseshit. This is the old "death panels" nonsense all over again.

Example 4
"Government seems determined to enforce a monopoly on force by making it more difficult for Americans to exercise their constitutionally protected right to procure and bear firearms."

Really? Really? Background checks to prevent the wrong people from procuring firearms is an attempt to "enforce a monopoly on force?" WTF planet do you live on?

Example 5
"Government and cultural institutions are breaking down the pillars and principles upon which self-government has been built."

Ah yes, the ever popular unsupported assertion. I don't suppose you'd like to provide a specific example of this one would you? No, I didn't think so.

Example 6
"Government is building up its authority and diminishing the role God plays as the supreme authority in the lives of free people."

I'm not even sure what the hell this means. Again, an example of "government building up its authority" would be nice. As for "God" being the "supreme authority," read the Constitution. God plays no part and has no authority in our secular Republic.

Example 7
"Government is broken. No longer does Washington see itself as a servant of the people but rather as their master."

Government isn't broken. It actually does a fairly good job. Congress is broken but not for the reasons this moron thinks "Government is broken."

Consider this, in 2011 ExxonMobil made $41 billion in profit. Yes Virginia, that's billion with a "b" and profit with a "p." That's more than $76 million for every congressman in Washington. Would you like to guess WHO Congress views as the boss?

Ok, enough. I often wonder whether people like this actually believe this crap or they simply think it will stir up the under 80 IQ set and make them money. I'm betting most of the people who say stuff like this are social dominators that are just doing what it takes to lead the authoritarian followers around by the noise and relieve them of what little cash they have.

There have been "wars and rumors of wars" since cavemen started throwing rocks at each other and I don't expect it to stop any time soon. We'll probably always have problems. Of course praying and fasting accomplishes nothing  toward solving those problems.

And then there were Eleven

With little fanfare Delaware voted today to become the 11th state to allow same sex marriage.

Same sex marriages could begin as soon as July 1st.

Can you hear the walls crumbling? Now if we can just keep the SCOTUS away from the trowel and mortar.

The Boy Scout Vote

Well it's May so the Boy Scout council will be voting soon. The problem is this is what I call a "have you stopped beating your wife vote?"

The proposal is to accept gay member into the scouts up until age 18. At age 18 they must leave. This locks the door on any gay leaders. There would be no change of the scout's "no atheists" rule.

The problem is you can either vote "yes" or "no." There is no other option. So if you believe there should be no restriction what do you do?

If you vote "no," because the proposal is incomplete, you essentially vote for the current policy and the boy scouts can say, "see admitting gays was rejected."

If you vote "yes," then they can say "see the proposal was accepted."

Personally I would vote "no" in the hope the proposal would be defeated and the pressure would remain on for a change of policy.

This is the same problem I have with presidential approval ratings. Saying you disapprove doesn't say WHY you disapprove.

Are you disapproving because he's a left wing socialist or because he's not enough of a left wing socialist? If the latter, you're not about to vote for a Mitt Romney instead.

Jason Collins

Jason Collins has just announced that he is gay. What makes this remarkable is that Jason Collins is a professional basketball player for the Washington Wizards of the NBA,

This makes Collins the first openly gay active player in a major professional team sport in North America.

Other players have come out after they retired but no one, before now, has done it while still playing.

Let me tell you, that took guts. A sports locker room is not the place for the faint of heart with all that testosterone and adrenaline flying around.

So far the reaction from politicians, the media and other players has been either positive or silence. Folks from Kobe Bryant to Bill Clinton have expressed their support. The usual suspects on the religious right are, of course, going even more bat-shit crazy than usual but that's no real surprise.

Jason, you the man. I hope this all works out for you.

Now we wait for the 1st gay baseball, hockey and football players to come forward. We all know they're there and it's just a matter of time.

Jets cut Tim Tebow

After one year the Jets have decided to part company with Tim Terrific.

To say the stint in New York was a disappointment would be an enormous understatement. I do not understand why, late in the season, with Mark Sanchez struggling they didn't at least give him a chance.

Now with the draft of Gino Smith from West Virginia, I'm betting we're going to see another circus.

I have an idea, how about the Jets send Rex Ryan packing. I'll bet that would help.

As for Tim, I have no idea. The Jacksonville GM says he doesn't see any scenario where Tebow ends up with the Jaguars and I've always thought that might be the best fit.

So, at least for the moment, the saga of Tim Terrific and the NFL is at a lull but I'm betting we haven't seen the last of this soap opera yet.

Meanwhile, over on Pluto

In case you missed it, the "Awakening" conference, sponsored by Liberty Counsel, was held last weekend at a half full First Baptist Church in Oviedo Florida just outside of Orlando.

As reported by Right Wing Watch headliners included Michelle Bachmann, in person, and Marco Rubio via video.

Right Wing Watch observed that the major themes of the conference included the following, with commentary.

America is in spiritual decline and on the verge of total destruction at the hands of dictator-emulating, jihad-enabling socialist President Barack Obama and his religious-freedom-hating allies in the radical homosexual lobby.

In other words they won't let us force our morality on everyone else and they won't let us persecute everyone who looks different, acts different or thinks different than we do. Oh yeah, and we don't know what the hell socialism is but we know we're 'agin it.

Conservative America, is at war – at war with militant Islam, secular humanism, abortionists, a “radical homosexual activist movement,” and with Satan, who inspires these movements.

So, where's you "god" in all this? I thought he was all powerful? Did he decide to sit this one out?

President Obama is leading America down the road to socialist tyranny.

This despite a Republican house, a conservative supreme court and the fact that you idiots clearly don't know what constitutes socialism. I notice you're not crying about the still improving economy anymore are you?

Public schools are left-wing indoctrination centers and there’s no excuse for Christian parents to send their students to a public school.

In other words, they're teaching the kids REAL math, REAL science and REAL history instead of the delusional conservative crap these folks like to make up.

Christian educators should treat public schools as a mission field.

Aside from the fact that "Christian educators" is an oxymoron, I don't know WTF this even means.

Conservative political losses among Hispanics and youth are due to lousy public education, media bias, and bad messaging by conservatives.

No, its because Hispanics and the young recognize that conservatives are bat-shit crazy and have no handle upon reality whatsoever.

Political action alone will not be enough to save America – only a religious revival and Great Awakening will turn America around.

First of all, what YOU consider to be "America" doesn't deserve to be saved and it won't be. You're not going to be able to reverse the progress of the last 50 years. If anything, it's about to accelerate so get used to the idea.

Therefore conservative preachers need to be much more aggressive in their preaching.

I can't think of a better way to dig your own graves than to let these bat-shit crazy morons be more aggressive. Hey, I have an idea. How about you split off and create a separate political party focused on the themes of this conference?

Yeah, that would work.

Rhode Island Senate Approves Gay Marriage

By a vote of 26-12 the Rhode Island senate passed the gay marriage bill.

The bill needs to return to the house for what amounts to a procedural vote, the governor is expected to sign the bill and gay marriages could start being performed as early as August 1.

Rhode Island will become the 10th state to approve gay marriage. Next up are Delaware and New Jersey.

I'll be at an ACLU Cinco de Mayo event supporting gay marriage.

The dark days of late 2009 seem far away today don't they? Now if only the supreme court has the courage to do the right thing. I'm counting on John Roberts to realize and accept the flow of history.

Rhode Island Gay Marriage Bill Moves to Senate Floor

The Rhode Island Senate Judiciary Committee moved two bills legalizing gay marriage to the senate for debate and vote while rejecting a bill to have a gay marriage referendum that also allowed broad discrimination against gay couples.

Opponents are expected to propose amendments to delay the bill but it looks to be just a matter of time now. Governor Lincoln Chafee has promised to sign the bill into law.

A recent Brown University poll showed 60% of Rhode Islanders support gay marriage while 26% are opposed.

Rhode Island would be the 10th state to approve gay marriage and the approval couldn't come at a better time with the Supreme Court poised to decide on DOMA and Prop 8.

France Legalizes Gay Marriage

Despite some significant opposition, especially from the Catholic Church, France became the 14th country today to legalize gay marriage by a vote of 331-225 in the lower house of the National Assembly.

The law also allows gay couples to adopt children.

Can you hear the walls crumbling? Can you hear Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia calling for cement and trowel to shore it back up?

The Rock Pocket Mouse

The hallmark of a good scientific hypothesis is its ability to make accurate predictions. One of the things that makes the Theory of Evolution so powerful is its ability to make specific, accurate predictions.

The rock pocket mouse is native to the New Mexico desert and has been a research interest of Dr. Michael Nachman of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

The pocket mouse is a lover and not a fighter. Dr. Nachman refers to the little thing as the "Snickers Bar" of the desert. It's on just about everyone's menu. Snakes, foxes, owls and even the occasional hawk love to munch on the pocket mouse.

His only hope for seeing another day is to not be seen by the predators that are looking for a quick snack or a light lunch. The mouse's light tan, sand colored fur is its best defense.

Now about 1,000 years ago there was a lava flow in the desert that, when it cooled, turned areas of the ground black. A pocket mouse on a black surface might as well put up a "free lunch" neon sign.

So, if evolution is correct, mice living on the lava flows should have evolved darker fur. That's prediction #1.

Sure enough, pocket mice that live on the lava flows are actually black and not sandy colored.

Prediction #2, there should therefore be an identifiable genetic change that causes the mice to have dark fur and, sure enough, that's precisely what Dr. Nachman and his associates found.

But what about the fact that there are black furred mice on different lava flows hundreds of miles apart? The probability of the same genetic mutation occurring in all of those cases is very, very small. Therefore, prediction #3, there should be different genetic mutations that caused darker fur in different groups of pocket mice and, sure enough, that's exactly what was found.

But wait a minute. The lava flow only occurred about 1,000 years ago. Isn't that too short a time for a genetic change to work its way through an entire population?

Nope, because mice have lots of offspring in a short period of time. Even a slight advantage of 5%-10% allows the change to propagate in a couple of hundred years.

Now granted this is what creationists call "microevolution." There's no speciation involved but so-called "macroevolution" is simply microevolution over a very long period of time. There is no known factor that limits evolutionary change.

The Boston Suspects Press Conference

I just watched the press conference and I have three observations.

(1) It appears this is going to be a Federal prosecution which means the death penalty may be on the table.

(2) Why does everyone focus on fear? Yes, there is always concern when this sort of stuff happens but people did pretty well. I didn't see anyone shaking in their boots. Calm and courage seemed to me to be the order of the day.

(3) Did we really need 12 different people putting in their two cents? One spokesman would have been sufficient.

I'm also not impressed with those people that talk about prayers. If your "god" is all-knowing, prayer shouldn't be necessary.

The Boston Marathon Suspects

Well the first phase is over.

After a firefight last night in which one of the suspects, 26 year-old Tamerlane Tsarnaev, was killed, the second suspect, 19 year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was arrested hiding under a tarp in a boat behind a Watertown house.

Apparently the police and FBI spent the whole day searching a 20 square block area a block and a half from where Tsarnaev was actually hiding.

Maybe now Glenn Beck and the other right wing assholes will stop with the nonsense about a conspiracy to protect a Saudi-Arabian student who they were so sure was involved despite repeated assurances from authorities that the man was innocent.

It's too much to hope that this fiasco will finally demonstrate to Beck's audience that the man is a lunatic unworthy of taking seriously.

On the reality front, I wonder when the criticism of the police and FBI will begin? Despite hundreds of police combing the area they couldn't find him because, essentially, they were looking in the wrong place.

They had even given a preliminary "all-clear" when someone supposedly reported seeing blood leading to the boat. The blood may have been the result of Tsarnaev being wounded in last night's firefight. Maybe if he hadn't been wounded he would have been halfway to Wyoming while the keystone cops were searching everywhere in the town except where he actually was.

Ok, that wasn't nice. Four days to get them both is pretty impressive.

As for the media, I understand they can't sign off when something could happen any second but boy can they talk about nothing. If I had heard one more "neighbor" tell an incoherent story about nothing I would have blown a gasket.

Of the networks, NBC was the least annoying and next was CBS. Fox was doing OK until it brought on Geraldo Rivera who started spewing unsubstantiated crap but, by far the worst, was ABC.

There was this woman who was annoying beyond belief. My daughter thought it might have been Diane Sawyer. I don't know who it was but I would have paid big bucks to dump a bucket of ice water on her to shut her up. Instead I used the channel changer. Great invention that.

Now we move on to phase two. Growth of the right wing conspiracy theories and persecution of the innocent.

Michelle Bachmann will probably blame in on the Muslim Brotherhood.

Glenn Beck is already focused on that poor Saudi student and will probably throw in Common Core somehow.

Matt Barber and Linda Harvey will blame homosexuality and gay marriage and last, but not least, Pat Robertson will blame it on demonic influences allowed to creep into American society because prayer was removed from the public schools.

Boy Scout Gay Resolution

The Boy Scouts apparently, after reviewing responses to its questionnaire from members and sponsors, are proposing to split the difference on its gay ban and allow gay scouts but not gay leaders.

A spokesman stated that the resolution, if passed in May, would insure that "no youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone."

No mention was made of atheists so I assume that ban would remain in place. That means that personally I will most likely continue to withhold support. Practically speaking that means I get to buy more $4 boxes of Girl Scout cookies.

The problem of course is this perpetuates the idea that gays cannot be trusted around children. A idea, based upon the existing evidence, repeatedly labeled as false by the professional psychological and psychiatric organizations.

This is a step in the right direction, but its not good enough in my opinion.

Gay rights organizations have already begun to criticize the decision which is no surprise. The big question is whether groups that have withheld support will continue to do so or accept this as an acceptable compromise.

I guess we shall see what we shall see.

New Zealand makes 13

New Zealand became the 13th country to legalize same sex marriage joining Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Denmark Iceland, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and Uruguay. Vietnam, originally was to address the question in the spring of 2013, has delayed action until 2014.

There are 13 jurisdictions in the US, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, the District of Columbia, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maryland, Washington, Iowa and three Tribal jurisdictions, in which same sex marriages can be performed, 10 jurisdictions in Brazil and two in Mexico.

The wall is crumbling and the forces of darkness are in retreat but the war isn't over yet.

In France opposition to same sex marriage is becoming increasingly vocal as legalization creeps forward and in the US the SCOTUS is poised to pass judgment on two critical same sex marriage cases. The current conservative court could turn back the clock by a decade with a bad decision.

Victory is certain. The only questions are how long will it take and what will be the cost? The SCOTUS could help things enormously by, if not coming down in favor of gay marriage, then at least rendering neutral or benign decisions.

Unfortunately I don't have all that much confidence in a court that includes Scalia and Thomas.

Gun Background Checks

A poll says that 90% of the American people support expanded background checks before someone can buy a gun.

A Senate bill to extend background checks to cover additional situations such as including checks for guns purchased online and at gun shows can't get 60 votes for closure to take it to a vote.

This is a disgrace. Our government clearly no longer works. This is utterly, totally and completely absurd.

Screw the Republicans and those Democrats that don't have the courage to do the right thing.

Bombing at Boston Marathon

Two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. According to the latest reports there are 3 dead and 113 injured. Who planted the bombs and why is unknown. Law enforcement officials are treating the incident as a terrorist attack which seems reasonable to me.

New York has tightened security just in case and the media is going crazy.

Yes it's a big story but little is known right now and interviewing everyone that was in the vicinity of Boston isn't going to change that.

What do you want people to say?

There were two explosions and they scared the hell out of anyone in the vicinity. That's just plain common sense and a normal reaction. Repeating it thirty-five or forty times isn't going to change anything.

Stay calm, move out of the area and let the authorities do their job. I'm sure we'll all hear about it when they learn what's going on.

The US Media, especially television media, really need to put a lid on it. Speculating and going all loony tunes over things just encourages other nut cases to try the same thing. Remember that baseball long ago learned not to show field crashers on television.

So, who do I think is responsible? I have no clue and neither does anyone else right now so let's not prepare any declarations of war just yet.