IRS SCANDAL HEARING NONSENSE

So the House Ways and Means Committee held its hearing today, so thst the poor conservative "social welfare" groups could lament the harassment they received from the IRS in their application for 501c4 tax exempt status. There were tears, talking of the "chilling" effect it had on them, and the "tyranny" we are living under. It was a regular crack pot lineup. Most Democrats showed little in the way of balls and did the whole la-dee-da crap like "we need to get to the bottom of this terrible betrayal of trust" and the like. Thank God that Rep McDermott from Washington showed some spunk and laid it on the line. They really need to call forth non-conservative and non-political groups who were scrutinized and find out what they had to go through to achieve their status.

My mother applied for 501c3 tax exemption for her animal welfare group that rescues stray cats, gets them needed health care including spay and neutering, and then finds homes for them. The process for them was very involved and took a year and a half. They wanted to see a detailed budget, names of volunteers, etc. They certainly are not a right wing political group.

We know that a deluge of applications for 501c4 status came forth in the last few years, especially from the right. They are basically dodging taxes which is an inadvertent way for the American people to finance their purely political purpose. This includes "progressive" political groups also.

I am not sure what the National Organization for Marriage was doing there as they have been tax exempt for a while. Their beef is an allegation that the IRS deliberately leaked donors names to pro-gay marriage groups for purposing of targeting said donors. This seems like a separate issue. Of course they would be required to release donors names if they were not hiding behind the 501c4 "social welfare group" status. The guy they sent, John Eastman, seemed REALLY angry. Interesting to see what "evidence" he has.

Look, I realize that they were not supposed to use conservative key words pinpointing groups to subject to further scrutiny. But we don't know how far reaching this so called "conspiracy" is. Also, lets open an investigation into the targeting of liberal groups, including the NAACP, Greenpeace,etc., by the Bush administration. Will they call these folks forth to testify too? I guess not.

For a few minutes I watched the Fox coverage of today's hearing, but had to switch to C-Span before I upchucked. The bubble headed bimbo reporting at the time kept interjecting her "unbiased" comments like how "shocking" this "impassioned" testimony was. Fair and balanced my ass. If you wonder where the Stepford Wives went, they were reprogrammed and set up at Fox news.

Hopefully the Dems get some hair on their chests and fight these idiotic conspiracy theories that the Dave Camp-Darrell Issa gang are pressing. If you don't yet have proof, gut feeling is not enough!
-Louwis