Photoshop™ Of The Day: Drunk With Power

And The Voices That Annoy Him Are Those Of The Founders

Presented for your dining and dancing pleasure—“In IRS Scandal, Echoes of Watergate” by George Will:

The burglary occurred in 1972, the climax came in 1974, but 40 years ago this week—May 17, 1973—the Senate Watergate hearings began exploring the nature of Richard Nixon’s administration. Now the nature of Barack Obama’s administration is being clarified as revelations about IRS targeting of conservative groups merge with myriad Benghazi mendacities.

This administration aggressively hawked the fiction that the Benghazi attack was just an excessively boisterous movie review. Now we are told that a few wayward souls in Cincinnati, with nary a trace of political purpose, targeted for harassment political groups with “tea party” and “patriot” in their titles. The Post reported Monday that the IRS also targeted groups that “criticized the government and sought to educate Americans about the U.S. Constitution.” Credit the IRS’s operatives with understanding who and what threatens the current regime.

Jay Carney, whose unenviable job is not to explain but to explain away what his employers say, calls the IRS’s behavior “inappropriate.” No, using the salad fork for the entree is inappropriate. Using the Internal Revenue Service for political purposes is a criminal offense.

It remains to be discovered whether the chief executive is guilty of more than an amazingly convenient failure to superintend the excesses of some executive-branch employees beyond the Allegheny Mountains. Meanwhile, file this under “What a tangled web we weave”:

The IRS official in charge of the division that makes politically sensitive allocations of tax-exempt status said Friday that she learned from news reports of the targeting of conservatives. But a draft report by the IRS inspector general says this official was briefed on the matter two years ago.

An emerging liberal narrative is that this tempest is all the Supreme Court’s fault: The Citizens United decision—that corporations, particularly nonprofit advocacy groups, have First Amendment rights—so burdened the IRS with making determinations about who deserves tax-exempt status that some political innocents in Cincinnati inexplicably decided to begin by rummaging through the affairs of conservatives. Ere long, presumably, they would have gotten around to groups with “progressive” in their titles.

Remember, all campaign “reform” proposals regulate political speech. And all involve the IRS in allocating speech rights.

Liberals, whose unvarying agenda is enlargement of government, suggest, with no sense of cognitive dissonance, that this IRS scandal is nothing more sinister than typical government incompetence. Five days before the IRS story broke, Obama, sermonizing 109 miles northeast of Cincinnati, warned Ohio State graduates about “creeping cynicism” and “voices” that “warn that tyranny is . . . around the corner.” Well.

He stigmatizes as the vice of cynicism what actually is the virtue of skepticism about the myth that the tentacles of the regulatory state are administered by disinterested operatives. And the voices that annoy him are those of the Founders.

Time was, progressives like the president 100 years ago, Woodrow Wilson, had the virtue of candor: He explicitly rejected the Founders’ fears of government. Modern enlightenment, he said, made it safe to concentrate power in Washington, and especially in disinterested executive-branch agencies run by autonomous, high-minded experts. Today, however, progressivism’s insinuation is that Americans must be minutely regulated because they are so dimwitted they will swallow nonsense. Such as: There was no political motive in the IRS targeting political conservatives.

Episodes like this separate the meritorious liberals from the meretricious. The day after the IRS story broke; The Post led the paper with it, and, with an institutional memory of Watergate, published a blistering editorial demanding an Obama apology. The New York Times consigned the story to page 10 (its front-page lead was the umpteenth story about the end of the world being nigh because of global warming). Through Monday, the Times had expressed no editorial thoughts about the IRS. The Times’ Monday headline on the matter was: “IRS Focus on Conservatives Gives GOP an Issue to Seize On.” So that is the danger.

If Republicans had controlled both houses of Congress in 1973, Nixon would have completed his term. If Democrats controlled both today, the Obama administration’s lawlessness would go uninvestigated. Not even divided government is safe government, but it beats the alternative.

For your ironic reading pleasure: the Nixon Articles of Impeachment watergate.info/impeachment/ar…

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) May 14, 2013

AP Condemns Unprecedented Intrusion By DOJ

“The habits and language of clandestinity can intoxicate even its own practitioners.”--William Colby

WASHINGTON (AP)—The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative's top executive called a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into how news organizations gather the news. 

The records obtained by the Justice Department listed incoming and outgoing calls, and the duration of each call, for the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters, general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn., and the main number for AP reporters in the House of Representatives press gallery, according to attorneys for the AP. 

In all, the government seized those records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to AP and its journalists in April and May of 2012. The exact number of journalists who used the phone lines during that period is unknown but more than 100 journalists work in the offices whose phone records were targeted on a wide array of stories about government and other matters. 

In a letter of protest sent to Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday, AP President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Pruitt said the government sought and obtained information far beyond anything that could be justified by any specific investigation. He demanded the return of the phone records and destruction of all copies. 

"There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters. These records potentially reveal communications with confidential sources across all of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a two-month period, provide a road map to AP's newsgathering operations, and disclose information about AP's activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know," Pruitt said.

Derek Mead at Motherboard opines, “It's an almost unfathomably arrogant move. Right in the middle of a growing privacy shitstorm in Washington—which includes the IRS, NSA, and every other TLA you can imagine—the DoJ decided to notify one of the largest press agencies in the world that it had been spying on it.”

Ace asks, “But was this about national security—or was it about political embarrassment? Did the Administration take extraordinary steps to protect national security secrets, or to cover up yet another Benghazi-like massaging of talking points?”

One must assume the AP is sufficiently infuriated given the fact that they found out about the seizure on Friday but waited until Monday to release the story.  Can you say “maximum impact?”  Yep.  They.  Are.  Pissed.

Maybe now the MSM will finally decide the Obama administration is worth investigating.

Truth is suppressed, not to protect the country from enemy agents, but to protect the government against the people.

Jay Carney says WH had no knowledge before today's press reports of Justice Dept attempt to obtain seek phone records of the AP reporters.
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) May 13, 2013

DOJ secretly spying on AP? Gee, imagine what they do to journalist who don't regularly fellate them.
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) May 13, 2013

Rot In Hell Kermit Gosnell

Don't think of it as a 'death sentence.' Think of it as a 280th-trimester medical procedure. #Gosnell

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) May 13, 2013

Imagine how Dante would have described Gosnell's place in Hell.

— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) May 13, 2013

Obama: I Heard About The IRS Through The Grapevine

Clearly, the nation may witness the appointment of a special prosecutor in the IRS scandal that erupted on Friday, May 10, 2013.

From the New York Daily News, “On Friday, the IRS apologized for what it acknowledged was ‘inappropriate’ targeting of conservative political groups during the 2012 election to see if those groups were violating their tax-exempt status.

According to Reuters, “When tax agents started singling out non-profit groups for extra scrutiny in 2010, they looked at first only for key words such as ‘Tea Party,’ but later they focused on criticisms by groups of ‘how the country is being run,’ according to investigative findings reviewed by Reuters on Sunday.

“Over two years, IRS field office agents repeatedly changed their criteria while sifting through thousands of applications from groups seeking tax-exempt status to select ones for possible closer examination, the findings showed.”

“At one point, the agents chose to screen applications from groups focused on making ‘America a better place to live.’”

Obama said he first learned about the IRS actions from news reports Friday. He said those responsible for the practice should be held "fully accountable."

The president added that his administration will get to the bottom of what happened at the IRS. "I have no patience for it. I will not tolerate it."

“Politicizing the IRS was one of the articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon,” noted Doug Schoen, who handles polling for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “That being said, we are still a very long way from that point.” But, Schoen added: “The allegations are very, very serious, and it is simply impossible to believe that it was just Lois Lerner and some low-level employees in Cincinnati who came up with this scheme to systematically focus on Tea Party and ‘patriot’ groups.”

According to Chris Cillizza and Sean Sullivan writing for the Washington Post:

“What became clear in the first 72 hours of the story was that this (a) wasn’t an isolated, dumb incident by some random field office, (b) was something high-level officials were aware of, and (c) was going to be in the news cycle for quite some time.” 

“The problem for Democrats is that the IRS’s targeting of conservatives plays directly into a long-held belief by many Republicans (and even some independents) that official government arms are being used to carry out political agendas.” 

“’Any political scandal that begins by validating previously held contentions of a political opposition is bound to be trouble,’ said one senior Senate GOP operative. ‘When it includes denials that have been proven false, it gets much worse.’”

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) to hold a hearing Friday investigating the IRS scandal.

— Bret Baier (@BretBaier) May 13, 2013

We Change The World A Little Each Day With Our Kindness

I have a lot to be thankful for and that thankfulness came full circle when I learned of Amusing Bunni’s passing.  Please let me explain what I mean.

Bunni lived alone.  When she received her fatal diagnosis she found herself in dire financial straits.  I live alone as well.  Knowing that Bunni faced her own mortality alone is heart-wrenching.  I am fortunate in the fact that I have taken care of all of my final expenses.

When I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in March of 2006, I did not want my friends to face dealing with my affairs.  You see my parents are both gone and most of my extended family are also gone.  Knowing that most of my friends are in no position financially to assist in such things, there was a sense of urgency that before my diagnosis did not exist.

I have worked hard to become debt-free.  I’m one year away from retirement.  Bunni was not so fortunate.  Perhaps that is why I have cried and cried and cried since God called her home and her plight brought me to my knees.  It breaks my heart that she had to worry about her mortgage, her health insurance and even food.

On the other hand, Bunni had amazing friends in the blogosphere who sent what they could afford when she made her plea for financial assistance.  She was a proud woman.  She accepted the prayers, well-wishes and gifts of money with extreme grace and unending gratitude.

One of her close friends, Opus #6 posted this on her blog:

“I would like to thank you again for the donations you gave to Carol when she was alive and after her death. You literally made the end of her life a time of contentment instead of misery. Without you she would have lost her home and her health insurance. These possibilities weighed on her mind a lot, and the donations enabled her to stave off those events. Comforting the sick and grieving like you did, besides being a wonderful thing to do, has GOT to be worth big points in God's book. I can't imagine it any other way. My heart swells to think of the good, lovely people that I share this world with. God Bless all of you.”

Her words beautifully describe what I wanted to say.  If you didn’t know Bunni you missed a true blessing.  She was one of the bravest people I have ever known.  She touched so many hearts.  Her true nature was to help others, to protect and love them.

There’s an old axiom that says, “What I spent, I had; what I saved, I lost; what I gave, I have.”

There is a dedicated PayPal donation button on the right-hand sidebar.  It has been set up to help defray Bunni’s final expenses.  I hope you will consider giving whatever you can afford even if you didn’t know our dear, sweet Amusing Bunni.

There but for the grace of God, go I.

Farewell My Friend

Today, everybody’s Bunni Buddy will be laid to rest.  Bunni’s Funeral Mass will be held at 11:00AM at Transfiguration Catholic Church in Chicago followed by a procession to Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Evanston, IL where she will be buried alongside her beloved mother.

Remembering is an act of resurrection and I encourage everyone to visit Bunni’s Legacy Guest Book to add your message or memory of her.

Opus #6, Bunni’s friend, has flown from California to Chicago to attend her funeral.  On her website, she has placed a dedicated PayPal donation button to take care of Bunni’s final expenses including her funeral, priest and cemetery costs.  It is located at the top of the left-hand sidebar.  She had no family.  I hope that everyone who reads this post will consider giving a token of your love for her.

Bunni, it broke our hearts to lose you, but you didn’t go alone.  A part of us went with you the day God called you home.  From this day forward we’ll look for you in rainbows high up in the sky.

Amusing Bunni: Now Safe In God’s Hands

Carol Mackie, known in the blogosphere as Amusing Bunni, is now safe in God’s hands.  He saw her getting tired; He put His loving arms around her and whispered, “Come to Me.”

There’s a lump in my throat and sorrow is tugging mightily at my heart as I try to fashion a fitting tribute to such a kind and gentle woman.

The news in November of 2012 that Bunni had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and had only a few months to live was a gut punch to those who knew her.  Living alone, Bunni was more fearful of dying destitute than anything else.

Her friends encouraged her to use the power of the Internet to reach out for help.  She was amazed at the outpouring of love, prayers and financial support.  She was so appreciative of the prayers and well-wishes that were sent her way.  She was especially thankful for “the wonderful emails from PayPal saying ‘a donation has been made.’”

Sadly, in mid-March, Bunni wrote on her blog, “…I haven’t been getting any of those in quite a while.  You know I don't like to ‘beg’, and never ask you to ‘hit the tip jar’ and all that other stuff.  I just have my medical donation button at the top right of the Blog, and I hope and pray that you can find some extra money to help me out when you can.  Well, I'm asking again now because after over 4 months without any money coming in at all, things are REALLY tight around here.  Unlike some people, I am not married, so I can't depend on anyone else's income.  If you are married and have a supportive partner, you are TRULY BLESSED by God and go and give them a kiss & a hug RIGHT NOW.”

You could plainly tell that Bunni was scared.

We all have lives that must be led and, often without meaning to, we forget about others who are in trouble.  I decided to see if I could reinvigorate the Good Samaritans who had so graciously helped with her medical fund when she first told us of her grave situation.

Even in her terribly weakened state, dear Bunni would send an email thank you note demonstrating her gratitude.  They were never a “form letter” thank you.  Each one was personalized for the donor.

From March 11, 2013 Bunni wrote:

“Thank you for your generous donation to my Medical fund!  What a nice gift.   I thank you SO, SO MUCH for helping me. That was extremely giving of you. I am trying to be brave, and your lovely gift will definitely make my plight easier during this time.”   

“God Bless you, I am so lucky to have such loyal and giving friends, and people who read my plight and enjoy my blog.    And, when a fellow blogger or reader is in need, they are the FIRST people to come to their aid.  It renews my faith in humanity.  My Easter Season will be happier, and I thank you for your kindness.” 

“Have a great week; you’ve made mine happier than you'll ever know.  Again, best wishes from the bottom of my heart, and you are an angel to think of me and want to help in such a big way.  I know your kindness will be rewarded by God.  I hope your Spring Season is wonderful.  Mine is made brighter by nice people like you.” 

Huggs, Bunni and her Kitteh ;-) 

Opus #6 wrote: “[She] never had enough income after that to make ends meet without your help. Your generosity allowed her to live her days at home, without losing her home, and to be able to purchase nutritious food and some small comforts. I pray that God blesses all of you for your kindness.”

The true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul and Bunni’s kindness and generosity was like that which one might find in the soul of a child.  Faced with her own mortality she taught us all how to be brave and true.

It is said that when the great philosopher Aristotle was asked, “What is a friend?” he replied, “A single soul dwelling in two bodies.”

Barking Spider and Bunni developed an online friendship years ago.  In one post, “Spidey” as his friends call him wrote, “I first met Bunni some years ago shortly after I finally gave in and got myself online. She was one of the very first people I met and we clicked immediately. I quickly grew very fond of little Bunnikins and eventually came to love her like the sister I never had—that love has only grown over the years.”

Bunni loved Spidey and the feeling was mutual.  When he heard the bad news about her, his plans to travel from London to Chicago to visit her took on a sense of urgency. He shared his thoughts about his visit.  It was a touching story from which one could easily glean the love he felt for her.

After he learned of her passing, your heart broke for him as you read his post “Our Darling Little Friend.”

“I truly hope she's with her mother again—that was her dearest wish—it was that one thought that gave her the strength to carry on these last few months. She certainly deserves to be with her again after all these years, (she lost her mum when she was only five years old), and that she's once again, surrounded by love, warmth, completely free of pain and at total peace.”

“I hope Bunni and I get to meet again someday—and, of course, when we do meet, I also hope that her mom actually approves of me as being suitable company for her darling daughter.”

Bunni’s mother would surely approve of so giving and loving a man who would travel hundreds of miles, crossing an ocean to comfort a friend and write such endearing words about the daughter they both loved.  Oh yes, Spidey, you will make suitable company for your darling Bunni.

The words of Henry David Thoreau come to mind.  “On the death of a friend, we should consider that the fates through confidence have devolved on us the task of a double living, that we have henceforth to fulfill the promise of our friend's life also, in our own, to the world.”

A golden heart stopped beating.  God closed your weary eyes and whispered “Peace be thine.”

Bunni, it broke our hearts to lose you, but you didn’t go alone.  A part of us went with you the day God called you home.

The graphic I created for this post incorporates the banner from Bunni’s blog, the picture that Spidey chose to display with his loving tribute to her, a bunny with a tear in its eye and a golden crucifix to represent the faith she had in God.

Spidey, I hope you find it a suitable tribute to your friend.

Mark Twain Also Said…

At Tuesday’s White House presser, ‘Ol Jug Ears quipped when asked by ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl if he still had “the juice” to get the rest of his agenda through Congress, “I think it’s a little, as Mark Twain said, “Rumors of my demise may be a little exaggerated at this point.”

Mark Twain also said quite famously, “He’s an experienced, industrious, ambitious, and often quite a picturesque liar.”

In The Land Of Bleating Sheep And Braying Jackasses

Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa is not impressed.