IRS Scandal Grows
Earlier this month, Washington was rocked when the IRS admitted to and apologized for targeting Tea Party and Patriot groups. But a report from McClatchy Newspapers suggests that the IRS effort to target conservatives may have been much broader.
As we have previously reported, Christian ministries, such as the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan's Purse, were also hit with IRS audits. Morton Blackwell's Leadership Institute went through an audit that lasted 13 months!
But this latest report notes that the IRS also went after several pro-life groups. In one case, an IRS official demanded that every board member on Coalition for Life of Iowa sign a statement pledging not to protest Planned Parenthood clinics. The IRS also demanded to know the content of their prayers.
This is beyond outrageous! But more to the point, such systematic and widespread targeting does not happen by accident. Nor could it have been the work of just a few "rogue agents." (By the way, investigators with two key House committees are conducting interviews with IRS officials in Cincinnati, Ohio, this week and next.)
What is even more astonishing is how many liberals are actually encouraging the IRS. When Bette Midler heard about the scandal, her reaction was, "I love the IRS!" Believe it or not, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) fretted that all the attention created by the scandal would have a chilling effect on the IRS agents!
It is really shocking how the left has allowed authoritarianism to become part of its culture. We've seen it over the decades in the left's accommodation of the Soviet Union, its moral equivalency between Israel and radical terrorists, the demands of the militant homosexual rights movement and Hollywood's love for dictators like Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. Now many liberals seem perfectly happy to impose Stalinist tactics against conservatives here in America.
Obama Avoids Filling Critical Posts
We have learned a tremendous amount about these latest scandals thanks to the work of various inspectors general. These are critically important positions throughout the government charged with internal policing and exposing waste, fraud and abuse.
It is very hard to play politics with inspectors general. They are one of the crucial checks built into the system. Obviously members of Congress can't patrol the halls of the vast federal bureaucracy. But according to Breitbart.com, many of these vital positions are vacant.
The Pentagon IG position has been vacant for a year and a half. And if you think that's bad, the State Department hasn't had a confirmed inspector general since 2008. A skeptic might think that Hillary had insisted that no one look over her shoulder while she was there.
Whenever there is a cabinet post, Supreme Court vacancy or some other position Obama wants filled, he has not hesitated to demand quick confirmation from the Senate. Yet when it comes to naming inspectors general, he seems to have a hard time making up his mind.
Stop The Insanity!
Today's headlines bring us several disturbing examples of the bizarre world politically correct liberals are trying to create.
The Washington Post reports that a five year-old boy in Calvert County, Maryland, has been suspended for 10 days for bringing a "cowboy-style cap gun" on a school bus. According to the boy's mother, her son was just really excited to show his new toy to a friend.
I understand the sensitivity about guns in school. But it was a toy! The left erupts in fits of rage when it comes to keeping the country safe from terrorists, but loses all common sense when it comes to kids and toys.
The boy was hauled into the principal's office and interrogated for more than two hours, during which time he wet his pants. Not satisfied with terrorizing this child, school officials also called his older sister in for questioning too.
The family has hired an attorney to contest the absurdly harsh punishment and to get the child's permanent record expunged.
Where is the ACLU? If a GITMO detainee were interrogated to the point of wetting himself, the left would be up in arms. But thanks to the left's perverse worldview, we are turning little boys into criminals and coddling alleged jihadists. This is insanity!
Speaking of insanity, Chicago suffered another horrendous shooting spree over Memorial Day weekend. Six people were killed and 11 were wounded. Like most reasonable people, Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) is fed up with the gangbangers who are terrorizing the city. He said, "I think it's completely within the capability of the United States government to crush a major urban gang. Just think of what the greatest generation did here in Chicago, pretty much crushing the Capone organization."
So what is the response of Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL)? The former Black Panther accused Kirk of racial insensitivity, saying, "I am really very upset with Mark," adding that his plan was an "upper-middle-class, elitist white boy solution to a problem he knows nothing about." People are dying and this liberal Democrat appears to be sympathizing with the murderers!
But wait, there's more. From America's Left Coast, a super-majority in the California State Senate approved legislation Wednesday stripping the Boy Scouts of its tax-exempt status because it does not permit homosexuals to be adult leaders. The bill also targets any youth organization that does not embrace the "gender identity" choices of every individual.
In other words, if a girl decides she feels like a boy, a majority of California state senators believe the Boy Scouts should be forced to admit her.
Pastors, are you paying attention? Today it's youth groups that don't embrace homosexuality. Tomorrow it could be churches.
And to the Boy Scouts, we told you so. Liberals rejected your recent compromise and won't stop until the ban on gay scoutmasters is lifted too. The sponsor of this outrageous bill said that the BSA has "a central flaw so profound that until it is fully fixed it means they are out of line with the values of California."
Obamacare Will Cost You!
Yesterday we reported that millions of Americans are about to learn that they can't keep their current health insurance plan because it doesn't meet the "one size fits all" Big Government standard that Obamacare demands. To add insult to injury, the new plans you will be forced to buy starting next year will cost you a lot more too.
According to Forbes, individual insurance plans in California, which just set up its Obamacare state exchange, will increase as much as 146%.