Hmmm.

Now we find out "Progessive groups" were also picked on by the IRS, but this didn't make the mainstream media as much. So my FOX News friends are rejoicing....

The IRS Scandal

The IRS have apparently been up to their old evil tricks again. Back in the Nixon era, the inmates running the asylum targeted people considered enemies of Nixon. And now these idiots are back trying to harass people they may not philosophically agree with. The IRS have been systematically focusing extra efforts scrutinizing any groups with extreme right-wing ideologies. Or so the head of the agency announced to Congressional Committees. The report was sent out in emails in February.

The President is outraged. He should be. Congress is outraged. They should be. John Boughner is outraged. He should be. We all should be. The IRS are the most evil wicked pieces of filth in the American political system.

Hey, because they were picking on groups I don't agree with doesn't matter. The IRS are scum and I don't trust any of them. Just remember friends, if they can do this to the right wing zealots today, they will do it to us clear thinking, level headed wonderful people tomorrow.

It is high time to take a real look at dismantling this disgusting agency.

The Prophecy and the Politics

After the last Presidential election I was looking at a post made by the charming and lovable Bill Murgan. On this particular Facebook post his right wing sister was ranting on about how with Obama being re-elected meant the end of Western Civilization or some such thing, and I posted after her. I told her not to fret. Things will swing the other way again (in the very small area of moderate). I told her "The Repubs will talk Chris Christie into getting a gastric by-pass, he'll be slim and trim by election 2016, and he'll beat Hillary Clinton by a nose." This is a prediction I had been throwing around quite a bit amongst my friends, and any of the very angry people all around me at work who would listen. Bill's sister replied something to the effect of "You don't have to be snide" (that's a paraphrase), and I assured her I wasn't trying to be funny. I told her I was dead serious. 

The other morning when it was announced that Chris Christie had gotten stomach weight loss surgery, my wife woke me up in disbelief. She said it was creepy how it was happening like I said it would. I spoke to Bill that day, and he remembered my prediction too. I even reminded Bill's sister and all she could say was that she only hoped the rest of my prediction would come true. 

I saw this one coming from a million miles away. The Party knew they had a potential winner on their hands, but they knew a fat guy will not get elected in this Entertainment-Tonight-shallow-glamor-glitz world we live in. Now understand, even though this prediction is beginning to play out, there are a zillion (well maybe not a zillion, but many) variables that could arise to change the whole election landscape. The Dems might not run Hillary. Another Dem could dynamically charge out of the wilderness ala Barrack Obama. The right wing extremists of the Republican Party might put on enough pressure to push Jeb Bush into the spotlight. (Gosh I hope not.) But if the rest of my prediction does play out, I can live with Chris Christie. He is a moderate Republican and he can be reasonable and open to compromise.  I would never vote for him, but I could easily see a slim President Christie winning over a majority of the American Public.

As for the Politics part of this post, let's talk about the President's stance on gun legislation. Most right wingers will not understand the rest of this post so you may as well go catch the next episode of "Duck Dynasty". 

The President is pro Second Amendment. He is. But he has to react. He represents everybody, and that includes shooting victims. As I predicted, this too is all smoke and mirrors. So far, assault weapons are off the table, large clips are off the table, and about the only thing left is more extensive background checks. I will never understand how after the Newtown shootings when the President said that we should more vigorously enforce existing laws and have better background checks, the right started crying "He wants to take our guns!" But what he is saying now is much more clever than that. This is where it gets tricky. The President (and the First Lady) keep saying "This deserves a vote." "Contact your Congressmen and let them know this deserves a vote." But the deal is, President Obama knows that it will never pass a vote. He knows it. But for him, it's win-win. He showed the anti-gun people he wanted a vote, and then can blame the Repubs when it fails. This is politics at it's finest. These subtle nuances are a thing of beauty and a wonder to behold.

And in the end nothing will change, and politics roll along as usual.

Now Is The Time Republicans to Ask the Tea Baggers to Leave

It is growing ever more apparent that it is time for the mainstream Republican Party to grow a pair and ask the right wing fanatics that joined the GOP for no reason other than to ride the coat-tails of credibility, to...well...exit. The Republican leaders are at the perfect junction to tell these folks to hit the bricks without losing much at the polls. In fact, it would undoubtedly be to the GOP's benefit three plus years from now.

I can't remember exactly when it was that any right wing flaky fanatical wing nut could label him/her self a Republican and put themselves on a ballot as being legitimate, but it happened. The Republican leadership allowed these folks to jump on the bandwagon, but it rapidly became apparent that might not have been the best course of action. They wanted a win more than they wanted to worry about who the winners were. And now that selfish choice is coming back to haunt them.

According to Tim Dickinson's insightful article in the March 28, 2013 Rolling Stone, although the GOP is trying hard to market themselves as "colorblind", and not "anti-government", the truth is becoming painfully more apparent, and in my opinion it is being primarily fueled by the right-wing fringe of the Party. Some Repubs are rethinking gay marriage, and some are even talking friendlier about immigration. But don't be fooled. These Tea Party nuts will never leave their perceived reactionary safety net.

I soon will write an open letter to John Boeghner begging him to dredge up some intestinal fortitude and kick these Tea Party bastards out into the street. It is early in the cycle and now is the time. All the initial hysteria will be gone from the fickle American public's mind by the 2014 elections, and most certainly in 2016. Let the Tea Party form their own party. It will be the joke of everyone.

The Republican Party has been held hostage long enough. The thing that gave the Tea Party any leverage at all is the GOP belief that if the Tea Party were to go solo, they would steal votes from the GOP thereby ensuring Democratic victories. If they move now that won't be true. The real Republicans have never bought into this dog and pony show. Let there be all the headlines and flurry of news activity. In two weeks the Tea Party will have the credibility legs of Pat Paulsen's Stag Party.

More to follow.........

I Predicted This to Friends...

As I predicted to friends after all the talk about gun control fired up after Newtown, it will be a dog and pony show for awhile, and then everything will pretty much go back to normal.

Whatever normal in this crazy world is.

So far, banning any assault weapons is off the table, banning high capacity clips is off the table, and extended background checks have developed a serious cough. This is a good thing. These would have all disgusted our Founding Fathers, who, for all their faults, were brilliant guys in my estimation.

The President, who I love, is slightly misguided in his attempts to be the President of everybody all the time. I applaud his efforts, but he recently made a statement about the rise in poll numbers of people who fear the government. He made a statement - "The government is us. We elect these people." With all due respect, not necessarily Mr. President. I did not elect one single police officer in my town. I didn't get to elect the city manager who hired all the "public safety" officers. I didn't elect any of the folks in our military. These are the folks our Founding Fathers wanted us to be willing and ABLE to take on.

I strongly believe our Founding Fathers of course could not envision where the technology of weaponry would take us, but wherever it goes, they expected us, as good citizens, to keep up.

We should never, ever, ever settle for less than what the cops have. Ever.

Let's Talk About Guns.

I really want a Corvette. I have really wanted one ever since I can remember. I know there are people out there who would think "Why does anyone need a car like that?" Or "Nobody needs a car that goes that fast." Or even "Someone could steal and lose control of a car like that and hit a bus and kill 20 kids." True. But still. I am a law abiding citizen, and I really want one.

After the horrible atrocity that occurred in Newtown Connecticut in our recent past, I was sure "gun control" would come front and center, and in very short fashion. And it has.

Why is it, I ask, that the guys who were smart enough to write the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, - the Articles, suddenly became brain-dead when it came to the Amendment that they all found so important (only after Freedom of Speech, Religion etc.) to make it the SECOND Amendment? Why were they so totally off the mark on this?

It always amazes me that most of the public would have an absolute fit if we tried to alter or abridge the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 13th, or 20th Amendment, but don't have any problem at all with destroying or at least dismantling the 2nd Amendment. Here's a question; If we don't have any weapons, how are we supposed to organize and arm a militia? And who pray tell do we think we will be organizing this militia against? Squirrels? Deer? No, dear readers, the cops. The military. That's who our Founding Fathers wanted us to be ready to take on. Please, let me refer you to The Battle of Athens (Tennessee 1946). I don't think the Founding Fathers cared how advanced the technology became, I believe they expected us, as good citizens, to keep up. When the cops and the military give up 30 round clips, we will too.

I teach a class on cognitive restructuring to prisoners called "Thinking For A Change". In it, the main thrust of the class is to make them understand that whenever they make a decision based on emotion, it is always, always, always the wrong one. And now that's what Congress and the Country is doing. They are making decisions based on emotion. And guess what? These decisions are the wrong ones.

The big problem with gun control legislation is that it only affects law-abiding citizens. See, not to be condescending, but criminals don't obey the law. That's why they are criminals. So only criminals will have assault rifles. Except not. Because there are already hundreds of thousands of them out there, and the mere talk of this kind of legislation has fueled the sale of hundreds of thousands more. I work with people that didn't have any a month ago, but now own two.

The school in Newtown CT was "gun free zone." Essentially there was already a gun law in affect there. But the criminal didn't obey the law. The law-abiding citizens in there did and were helpless. And ever notice that well over half the time these whack-jobs pick spots where they are relatively certain they won't meet any armed resistance? Shopping Malls, theaters, schools, and Churches, all seem to be favorite spots for the wing-nuts. Because they like the fact that they can shoot and they don't have to worry about return fire. In Michigan there are many places where licensed concealed weapons carriers cannot carry.

What about more background checks? Why? And what will that prove? With the possible exception of the Gabby Gifford shooter and the Colorado Theater shooter, most of these wing-nuts would easily pass a background check. The military base shooter was a Psychologist for crying out loud.

Limiting clip size is another case of legislators who don't understand basic weaponry passing laws about it. Like with any clip, one just takes two of them and duct tapes them together. With practice and adeptness one can smoothly reverse the clip in under a second. For that matter, most experienced shooters can change to a new clip in a little over a second. Furthermore, what legislators might want to consider is that by eliminating assault rifles they may be making things a bit more dangerous. If these kooks can't get an assault rifle and opt for a shotgun, God help up all. Many people are under the impression that assault rifles are the most deadly thing out there. Not even close. If the shooter in Newtown would have taken the right shotgun with double-aught buckshot, there would have been no survivors at all in that school. He might've taken out every living soul on the entire block.

So maybe having people in the school armed is not such a bad idea. I don't mean teachers should be in front of the class with a side arm on. But how about a built in reinforced lock box in a drawer of their desk? This could be on a volunteer basis, and the key could be kept on their person at all times. In the event they hear shooting, and pandemonium outside of their class room, they may be able to save some children. They would be properly trained and would have to take the weapon home each night.

People often say "Is that the kind of America you want to live in? Where teachers, administrators and others have weapons?" My answer is no. I want it to be Mayberry everywhere. But sadly, it isn't. Life isn't what we wish it was. There are always going to be crazy people. But because there are, the rest of the entire population shouldn't be punished or denied rights.

And just as aggravating are the right-wingers that hear the President say he may issue an executive order that calls for more vigorous enforcement of existing laws and then they start screaming "He wants to take our guns!" Where does that come from? Ironically, the President is a proponent of the Second Amendment according to one of his Harvard professors. By Executive Order he can call for the more vigorous enforcement, and he can call for more sophisticated background checks. Big deal. But as far as banning assault weapons or clip size, that will have to go through the House of Representatives aka the Republican Party. Let's see how that goes...how they vote for it and then spin it back on the President.

I think it's time to buy a gun. And by the way the new corvette can attain speeds to 190 miles per hour. Nobody needs to go that fast. But I want one. I may want to hurry down to Tennessee to learn more about The Battle of Athens. Maybe you should too.

Steven

Whenever I see one of the two or three black reporters FOX News have managed to dredge up, I think of the Samuel L. Jackson character in "Django Unchained."