Lois Lerner Told Republican in 1996: "Promise me You Will Never Run Again, and We'll Drop This (FEC) Case"

Lois Lerner Told Republican in 1996: "Promise me You Will Never Run Again, and We'll Drop This (FEC) Case"

Its Not A 1st Amendment Issue

1st Amendment to the Consitution of the United States:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

4th Amendment to the Consitution of the United States:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The Justice Dept's seizure of the phone records of AP reporters did not violate those reporter's 1st Amendment rights. No one at the AP was restrained or restricted in what they can print or say. The JD violated their 4th Amendment rights. If the JD wants to justify the seizure under the Patriot Act, then let them say so up front and defend that in court. Illegal wiretaps and requests for phone records fall under the 4th Amendment, not the 1st.

The IRS did not violate the 1st Amendment rights of anyone associated with a conservative advocacy group. No one was prohibited from associating, and no printing presses were seized. If you want to try and make the case that was the intent, you're gonna need a whistleblower to step forward and say, "We had a meeting. Our superiors told us if we make it harder for these conservative groups to get a tax-exempt staus, they might feel intimidated and stop what they're doing." That aint gonna happen.

They did however, violate numerous Tax Code regulations by releasing personal information they had no business asking for in the first place. They also violated about a half dozen Federal laws regarding privacy and definitely violated the 4th Amendment rights of the people submitting the applications for tax-exempt status and we know it was done for partisan reasons. It was politically motivated.

The IRS decides who is and who is not a tax exempt organization. They have criteria they use depending upon whether you're asking for a c3 or c4 exemption. Most advocacy groups fall under the c4 designation. Groups like CWTT, Soldiers Angels, Wounded Warrior Project, the USO and Fisher House are c3 charities because we take donations and pass that money thru to directly assist veterans and wounded. Gathering of Eagles is a c4 organization because it advocates for veterans rights and lobbies Congress for improvement of legislation affecting veterans and wounded.

The IRS is not guilty of violating TEA Party groups rights, an individual is. Someone had to compile the information and send it to ProPublica. Someone had to hit the SEND button. That someone needs to go to jail and anyone involved in the transfer, anyone who approved the release of the information needs to go to jail.

You Didn't Really Think They Were Going To Play Fair Did You?

Outrage!… After Demanding Refund From City, Richmond Tea Party Gets Letter – “You’re Being Audited”

In late October the Richmond Tea Party sent a letter to city officials demanding a refund for the $10,000 the group spent on permits, portable toilets, police presence and emergency personnel for three rallies held at same plaza where the Occupy Richmond squatters set up their camp. Now the tea party is being audited.
Right Side News reported:

"Two weeks after the Richmond Tea Party delivered an invoice to Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones for costs incurred for previous rallies; we received a letter from the City of Richmond formally stating that the city is auditing our Tea Party.

Coincidence? This audit is an obvious attempt to intimidate and harass us for standing up against the unfair treatment and discrimination against our Tea Party.
As reported on the front page of the Richmond Times Dispatch, the Richmond Tea Party delivered an invoice for charges incurred in our previous three Tax Day rallies at Kanawha Plaza because Mayor Jones chose to allow Occupy Richmond protesters to convene in the same park for two weeks.

The Mayor not only allowed the Occupiers to break the law, but he visited them in the city-owned park. “Jones said that as a ‘child of civil rights’ and protests, he had allowed the group to remain in the park but understands his mayoral responsibility to uphold laws of the city,” reported the Richmond Times Dispatch"

Read the rest at Gateway Pundit and if you look at the right side of that image, about half-way up, that would be your humble servant, Moi.

Those Pesky Tea-Baggers Are At It Again

Left Blames Tea Parties for Austin Plane Crash

On Thursday, a deranged man supposedly angry at the IRS flew a plane into one of their offices in Austin, Texas. Joseph Andrew Stack, the pilot, was killed in the crash, and several people were injured. Stack also apparently set his house on fire before leaving on his mission; his wife and daughter escaped. The attack is being considered criminal, not terrorist.

Columnist Michelle Malkin writes, "Investigators found a Web posting, identified as Stack's 'suicide manifesto,' in which he railed against tax laws, inequity, government and crony capitalism. He also targeted 'puppet' George W. Bush, murderous health care insurers and the pharmaceutical industry." His angry tirade concluded, "The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed." Not exactly the words of a supporter of capitalism.

Clearly, Stack was trying to get back at what he called "Big Brother IRS man," but his politics are rather muddy. That didn't stop Leftists from blaming the Tea Party movement. We saw it coming.

Time magazine, The Washington Post, New York Magazine and talkingheads at the cable networks immediately jumped on the anti-IRS theme, while ignoring Stack's slam of capitalism. Jonathan Capehart of The Washington Post's Post Partisan blog, wrote, "[A]fter reading his 34-paragraph screed, I am struck by how his alienation is similar to that we're hearing from the extreme elements of the Tea Party movement." New York Magazine said that "a lot of his rhetoric could have been taken directly from a handwritten sign at a tea party rally."

One blogger at the popular Daily Kos Web site railed, "After months of threats on the United States government, and government institutions, the Anti-Government forces known as the teabaggers have struck with their first 911 [sic] inspired terrorist attack." Numerous comments on the Huffington Post blog likewise threw blame in the wrong direction.

Tea Partiers do not support communism, and they do support the Rule of Law. Stack's words and actions are the antithesis of the Tea Party movement's goals.
The Left, however, never lets facts get in the way of a good story.

Dear Mr. President

Dear Mr. President:

Recently, you stated that: "There will be a time for profits...Now is not that time." Not since you made Joe the most famous plumber in America by telling him (and all of us) that you wanted to "spread the wealth around" have you been so transparent about your attitude toward the private sector.
You complain about "excessive" CEO salaries and bonuses. And I must admit that it strains credulity to imagine the chutzpah it takes for some of these companies to engage in such indulgences with both hands outstretched to the federal government for bailout dollars in numbers most of us can't even comprehend. It is unseemly at best to watch these jackals presiding over companies that are hemorrhaging buckets of red ink while they fly off into the sunset in their corporate jets with their golden parachutes -- paid for by American taxpayers.
Unfortunately, the same rules don't seem to apply to you and your cohorts in government. You have an equally arrogant, cavalier attitude toward the hard-working Americans who pay for your salary and your extravagant lifestyle. And you don't seem to play by the rules you create for the rest of us. Your new treasury secretary cheated on his taxes and yet was confirmed to oversee the Internal Revenue Service. Your nominee to run the health and human services department is the poster boy for limousine liberals who don't even pay for their limousines -- or at least not the taxes they owe on them. And your attorney general believes in pardons for terrorists and tax cheats.
Meanwhile, you and your Democrat Congress act as though the revenue you are using for your pork-laden bailouts and so-called stimulus packages just grew on the money tree in the back yard at the White House and is yours to do with as you see fit. Well, let me remind you of something, Mr. President: that money you are doling out is money my great-grandchildren haven't even earned yet. It is tax revenue your successor five presidents down the line will have to steal from them in order to pay for this madness.
The saddest thing about this whole scenario, Mr. President, is that you are killing the one entity in our society that is actually creating jobs. Any high school Economics 101 teacher can tell you that in good economic times, 75 percent of new jobs in this country are created by small, independently-owned businesses. In times like these, when corporate America is slashing workforces like mad, that number is 100 percent!
And yet who gets the bailouts? Joe the Plumber or Sam's Handyman Service, who eek out a living trying to find enough work to keep themselves and one or two employees afloat? No, it's Citibank and the bloated auto industry. We're told that they are "too big to fail."
Well, let me tell you something, Mr. President. Granted, it would be a pretty big ripple through the economy if General Motors went under. But if you put every small entrepreneur in this country out of business, our economy, as we know it, will be gone.Mr. President, small business owners are being crushed by a largely hysteria-created recession.
Their credit has been cut off because of the irresponsible behavior of Members of Congress and the greed of some on Wall Street. These entrepreneurs aren't asking for a bailout. They just want you and your bloated, obstructionist government to get out of their way!
Not the time for profits, indeed! With all due respect, this is precisely the time when businesses need profits. But then, the ignorant souls who voted for you -- many of whom don't even pay taxes -- have so wrapped themselves in victim status and class envy that they are cheering you on as their new Fairness Czar; so I guess I don't expect you to listen to me. I won't have a real say in the matter again until the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November 2012. See you then.
Respectfully,
Doug Patton
An American taxpayer