Newly released emails show the IRS and the Treasury Department were conspiring “off the record” to target conservative groups
According to this article it now appears as if Lois Lerner was conducting off the record talks via email to use the IRS to stifle conservative opposition to the Democrats in 2012.
The Obama administration’s Treasury Department and former IRS official Lois Lerner conspired to draft new 501(c)(4) regulations to restrict the activity of conservative groups in a way that would not be disclosed publicly, according to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
The Treasury Department and Lerner started devising the new rules “off-plan,” meaning that their plans would not be published on the public schedule. They planned the new rules in 2012, while the IRS targeting of conservative groups was in full swing, and not after the scandal broke in order to clarify regulations as the administration has suggested.
The rules place would place much more stringent controls on what would be considered political activity by the IRS, effectively limiting the standard practices of a wide array of non-profit groups.
“Don’t know who in your organizations is keeping tabs on c4s, but since we mentioned potentially addressing them (off -plan) in 2013, I’ve got my radar up and this seemed interesting…,” Treasury official Ruth Madrigal wrote in a June 14, 2012 email to Lerner and others obtained by Ways and Means and provided to The Daily Caller.
Sheila Jackson Lee says writing Executive Orders for the president to sign should be the Democrats’ number one priority on their agenda
As we all know Barack Obama has promised threatened to use Executive Order to write into law what the Congress is unwilling to pass into law. It is his way or the highway.
You would think that even the Democrats in the Congress would be upset at this affront to their Constitutional power but sadly that does not seem to be the case for Sheila Jackson Lee sees this as more of an opportunity than a usurpation.
According to this article she now feels as if the Democrats’ top priority should be writing Executive Orders to send to the president for his signature.
New Hampshire Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen says you can keep your doctor under Obamacare…..if you are willing to pay more
New Hampshire Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen ran around the Granite State during the Obamacare debate and repeatedly parroted Barack Obama’s if you like your plan you can keep your plan lie of the year to anyone who would listen.
Of course this turned out not to be true and she was hit with a devastating ad for repeating this lie. Soon after the American people realized they were lied to Zeke Emanuel defended this lie by stating it was the truth…..if you were willing to pay more to keep you plan or your doctor:
The CBO has released a new report on Obamacare and the news is not good; Obamacare will directly cause the loss of 2.5 million jobs over the next decade:
The new healthcare law will cost the nation the equivalent of 2.5 million workers in the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated in a report released Tuesday.
The nonpartisan agency found the reform law’s negative effects on the economy would be “substantially larger” than what it had previously anticipated.
It said the equivalent of 2.3 million workers would be lost by 2021, compared to its previous estimate of 800,000, and that 2.5 million workers would be lost by 2024. It also projected that labor force compensation would be reduced by 1 percent from 2017 to 2024 — twice its previous estimate — and that declining economic growth would add $1 trillion more to deficits.
Part of the reason will be the fact that people will either work less hours so they will be eligible for subsidies or decide to leave the workforce altogether:
Apparently not satisfied with screwing over disabled American veterans in the budget deal Paul Ryan now has his eyes set on screwing over the American worker and the American taxpayer, for it is being reported in this article that he is in secret talks with Chuck Schumer over immigration reform. And, by the way, Trey Gowdy is also part of these secret talks for what that is worth.
Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer has held private talks on immigration with Republican Reps. Paul Ryan and Trey Gowdy.
But have no fear for according to a Ryan spokesman there are no negotiations ongoing:
The Farm Bill includes a new tax on home heating oil
In a bipartisan vote of 251-166 the House last week approved the Farm Bill. The bill will now head to the Senate and if it passes Barack Obama is sure to sign the bill into law.
Today I put 100 gallons of oil into my tank and it cost me $369.90, but when the Farm Bill becomes law it will cost me even more to put oil in my tank because hidden in this legislation is a new fee on home heating oil.
Congress‘ mammoth farm bill restores the imposition of an extra fee on home heating oil, hitting consumers in cold-weather states just as utility costs are spiking.
The fee — two-tenths of a cent on every gallon sold — was tacked on to the end of the 959-page bill, which is winding its way through Capitol Hill. The fee would last for nearly 20 years and would siphon the money to develop equipment that is cheaper, more efficient and safer, and to encourage consumers to update their equipment.
Barack Obama claims there wasn’t even a smidgen of corruption in the IRS targeting scandal
Before the Superbowl yesterday Barack Obama sat down for a live interview with Bill O’Reilly and eventually he was asked about the IRS targeting scandal. After trying to blame Fox News for the scandal Barack Obama claimed there was not even a “smidgen” of corruption in the scandal. Here is how it went down:
“So you’re saying there was no corruption there at all?” O’Reilly asked.
“Absolutely not,” the president replied. “There were some bone-headed decisions out of a local office.”
“But no mass corruption?” O’Reilly persisted.
“Not even mass corruption,” a visibly-annoyed Obama replied. “Not even a smidgen of corruption.”
If Bill O’Reilly was a real journalist and not simply a member of the mainstream media he would have asked the obvious followup question, but of course he did not.
If there is not even a smidgen of corruption in this scandal why did Lois Lerner feel the need to plead the fifth instead of testifying in front of the Congress? She is hiding something and in my opinion it is much more than her bone-headedness. If Bill O’Reilly had asked this question it would have thrown Barack Obama for a loop and it would have been interesting to hear him try to spin his way out of this, but Bill O’Reilly let him off the hook when he was flailing.
Union leaders claim Barack Obama betrayed them on Obamacare
The unions are to the Democrats what the corporations are to the Republicans–a special interest group which must be placated if the party is to receive campaign donations and support.
In order to placate the unions and win support of Obamacare, Barack Obama promised the unions that a special Obamacare exemption would be carved out for them so their members would not be subjected to the same law as non-union employees. So much for equal protection under the law.
As it turns out, however, the unions have not been exempted from the law and unions leaders are not to happy. In fact they feel betrayed:
Open thread for Sunday, February 2nd: Vinatieri from 48
Here is the open thread for Sunday, February 2nd; please feel free to post links to interesting articles and to discuss whatever issues arise during the course of the day. Nothing is off-topic here.
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Well, no musical selection this week. Instead with it being Superbowl Sunday I have decided to post the last drive from Superbowl XXXVI. After having been disappointed my whole life by Boston sports teams year after year I finally got to watch a winner, and it came in the form of the biggest upset in Superbowl history to that point, and by a team bearing the name Patriots a few short months after September 11th.
America's Watchtower 