Sometimes when I’m in a restaurant I see a headshot photograph of a celebrity with some sort of shout out to the establishment and an autograph. I know there are various classes of celebrity, but I wonder if the restaurant staff asks for such a thing, or do some celebrities mail one in on their own as a nice gesture or brings them in (the minor or local ones) with hopes of them being hung. It’s probably somewhere in between, but I always thought it would be funny for me to sign a headshot of myself and see if it can be hung and tricking them into thinking I’m actually a somebody. I bet that trick would work before we all had the World Wide Web at our fingertips.
This whole IRS unfair targeting issue smells fishy. The news broke on a Friday, as if officials were hoping it would get swept under the rug. And then if you mix in that this happened during election time in one of the most important battle ground states against organizations that oppose the incumbent administration, it all just smells bad. I’m not going as far to say that the President pulled a Nixon and ordered such a thing to occur, but something ain’t right.
There is now news about the Justice Department secretly collecting phone records from the AP. I really haven’t had time to check out the details, but that also smells fishy, but so far I think the excuse was to try to find a leak of some sorts.
OJ sure has put on some weight since being behind bars.
I caught a ‘Modern Marvels’ last night about smells and it stated that the average adult pig produces 12 lbs of manure a day. That’s a lot of crap.
It took eight full seasons, but us ‘How I Met Your Mother’ finally know who Ted’s wife is going to be. We still don’t know the character’s name, but we’ve now seen her from toe-to-head and she’s played by Cristin Milioti. Right after the episode aired and I found out her name, I thought it was a bit funny and interesting her Wikipedia page was already updated with this new info.
One of my favorite ‘Seinfeld’ moments is when Jerry is talking about fake breasts and states “It’s like finding out Mickey Mantle corked his bat.” Now there’s a story that the Mick may have done such a thing.
Speaking of the Mick, did you know his body is in a mausoleum in Dallas? I remember when he died they aired his funeral live on KDFW Fox4 and Billy Crystal and Bob Costas were in attendance. After the broadcast, KDFW sold copies of the funeral with proceeds going to some kind of charity or organization. My dad that was a weird way to raise funds, selling a video cassette of a funeral.
I recently learned about Luna 15. Right when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were about to leave the moon, an unmanned Russian ship named Luna 15 was suppose to pick up moon soil samples and return to Earth, but it crash landed some 700 miles away from the Americans. Could you imagine what would have happened if Luna 15 somehow interfered with Apollo 11?
I’ll be seeing my ear, nose, throat doctor today about my sleep apnea. My guess, a sleep study comes next.
You might want to read a little about the IRS issue before passing judgement – the "battle ground state" issue is meaningless because that is simply where the IRS office that handles the applications is – it has nothing to do with applications from Ohio or any other state – they do ALL the states.
Also, the two people most in charge during this 'incident,' Douglas Shulman and Lois Lerner, were both George W. Bush appointees. Maybe there was an actual reason these groups got extra scrutiny, such as their extensive involvement in political advocacy, which is expressly forbidden by law. We hear all the time that people of middle eastern descent (citizen or not) can expect more scrutiny because most terroristic acts are perpetrated by people of middle eastern descent. Some call this profiling, others say it is good police work. Maybe in this case the IRS has information that more of these groups were drifting away from "social welfare" and into straight advocacy, thus prompting a look at all of them. People didn't seem quite so upset when the FBI was 'infiltrating' the Occupy Wall Street groups (but not the Tea Party) and in some cases, encouraging them to commit acts for which they were then arrested. We endlessly heard after the Patriot Act that if you didn't have anything to hide, or weren't doing anything wrong, you had nothing to worry about. Is that not still true? After all, the courts have long held that tax exemption is a privilege and not a right and these groups were applying for that privilege – they should be scrutinized.
Besides, we've had to endure years of the Tea Party telling us they were bipartisan,grassroots, and not affiliated with any party. Here are the words of Michelle Bachmann:
"The liberals, and to be clear I’m NOT one of them, want you to think the Tea Party is the Right Wing of the Republican Party. But it’s not. It’s made up of disaffected Democrats, independents, people who’ve never been political a day in their life, libertarians, Republicans. We’re people who simply want America back on the right track again."
So this is not an investigation into Republicans or even conservatives – it's an investigation into "people who've never been political a day in their life" suddenly incorporating into organizations with million dollar warchests and unidentified funding.
By the way, I'm not a church guy at all, but since you are – google All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, CA and see what happened to them when their minister spoke out against the war in Iraq two days before an election. Compare that to the Pulpit Freedom Sunday movement in which the IRS took no action against the churches expressly advocating for Mitt Romney's election in violation of their 501c3 status.
I'm not sure what is worse – their false outrage or your willingness to be swayed by it.
Mark makes some good points. Just my first take but I think the controversy started with groups seeking a tax exemption, which is not allowed if their mission is political advocacy. Maybe these groups were bunched together so that the decision, up or down, could be applied uniformly and later defended as used consistently. That said, this crisis will probably end any hope of ending congressional gridlock and plays right into the worst fears of many Americans. The facts will eventually come out and it will be very painful for the IRS
From my understanding of the DOJ case involving the AP, centers on finding someone at the CIA who leaked information about a covert operation. The target is someone in the CIA. That would be a serious offense for a secret organization which makes heavy use of cooperating sources working inside of terrorist groups. Also the press has no privilege with respect to confidentiality of their sources, even though prosecutors historically don't push the issue.
Thanks for taking the time to comment, Mark. You've opened my eyes to several thing I didn't consider and I actually just overlooked, I guess my emotions got the best of me. I will admit I'm still a little confused by your last statement, I'm not sure if you direct or point something out to me.
Yup, I'm a church person, but I think as a reader of this blog, you know that I'm not a 'typical' church person.
I also took the time to look up the Wikipedia page on All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena. I'm surprised that's the first I heard of that sermon. I've made past posts about Pulpit Freedom Sunday and have been disappointed no action was taken when it happened.
And now we find it wasn't just the Cincy office, but Washington DC, as well as two other offices in California that were profiling conservative groups. I look forward to the congressional study to see how high this goes. I'd like to see jail time for the perpetrators. It's undeniably illegal to scrutinize someone based on their political beliefs, sexual preference, race…
To be clear, my last point was not a dig at you, more a lamenting of the fact that it often seems that much of America responds to perceived outrages with a reasonable sense of anguish, when in fact they have been misled regarding the facts of the situation. An example might be when I came home in the 8th grade and told my parents I got in trouble in school for "no reason." I was upset and outraged and very emotional in my reporting of the incident. I was also lying. My mother, being the near saint (and gullible mother) that she is, got outraged herself and went to the school, wherein she learned the facts of the situation. Looking back, I know I was wrong, but I also think my mother should have been a little more skeptical of my claims, due to the fact that I had lied to her before (many times). That was my point, but in my rush I truncated it to where it could be misunderstood.
I also meant no offense with the church comment. I do appreciate your nuanced views of religion and church – in many ways they echo my own, prior to my conclusion that the hypocrisy, double standards, and misplaced priorities of organized religion precluded my continuing involvement. That was my decision, and does not mean anyone else should make the same one. Heck, I like a lot of church people – I just overlook the bad choice they make on Sunday morning 🙂 In my area, Virginia, many of our churches are the Amercan version of the Taliban, exhibiting neither grace nor forgiveness, and focusing on judgment and hatred. There was a story in my local paper this morning about a 20 year old woman who worked at a "Christian" day care center and was fired, in front of the children who adored her, because she is pregnant and not married. I have little time for people who wear What Would Jesus Do wristbands and t-shirts and yet do almost nothing Jesus did. Again, there are wonderful church people, and people seek religion for many different reasons, all valid to them – it's just not for me.
Thank you for the blog – it's part of my morning routine and I enjoy it. If I'm ever down your way I'll buy you a hamburger (I don't drink, so the 'buy you a beer' thing has never worked for me).
You sound like a good man, Mark, and thanks for the kind words. I think we see eye-to-eye on many things and I look forward to having that burger with you. Sometimes my work sends me to DC area, so if you happen to live in that part of Virginia, maybe we can do it on your turf.
I'm just outside D.C. – let me know next time you're nearby and I'll take care of you…. 🙂 I'll send you my contact information through your contact page….
You might want to read a little about the IRS issue before passing judgement – the "battle ground state" issue is meaningless because that is simply where the IRS office that handles the applications is – it has nothing to do with applications from Ohio or any other state – they do ALL the states.
Also, the two people most in charge during this 'incident,' Douglas Shulman and Lois Lerner, were both George W. Bush appointees. Maybe there was an actual reason these groups got extra scrutiny, such as their extensive involvement in political advocacy, which is expressly forbidden by law. We hear all the time that people of middle eastern descent (citizen or not) can expect more scrutiny because most terroristic acts are perpetrated by people of middle eastern descent. Some call this profiling, others say it is good police work. Maybe in this case the IRS has information that more of these groups were drifting away from "social welfare" and into straight advocacy, thus prompting a look at all of them. People didn't seem quite so upset when the FBI was 'infiltrating' the Occupy Wall Street groups (but not the Tea Party) and in some cases, encouraging them to commit acts for which they were then arrested. We endlessly heard after the Patriot Act that if you didn't have anything to hide, or weren't doing anything wrong, you had nothing to worry about. Is that not still true? After all, the courts have long held that tax exemption is a privilege and not a right and these groups were applying for that privilege – they should be scrutinized.
Besides, we've had to endure years of the Tea Party telling us they were bipartisan,grassroots, and not affiliated with any party. Here are the words of Michelle Bachmann:
"The liberals, and to be clear I’m NOT one of them, want you to think the Tea Party is the Right Wing of the Republican Party. But it’s not. It’s made up of disaffected Democrats, independents, people who’ve never been political a day in their life, libertarians, Republicans. We’re people who simply want America back on the right track again."
So this is not an investigation into Republicans or even conservatives – it's an investigation into "people who've never been political a day in their life" suddenly incorporating into organizations with million dollar warchests and unidentified funding.
By the way, I'm not a church guy at all, but since you are – google All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, CA and see what happened to them when their minister spoke out against the war in Iraq two days before an election. Compare that to the Pulpit Freedom Sunday movement in which the IRS took no action against the churches expressly advocating for Mitt Romney's election in violation of their 501c3 status.
I'm not sure what is worse – their false outrage or your willingness to be swayed by it.
Mark makes some good points. Just my first take but I think the controversy started with groups seeking a tax exemption, which is not allowed if their mission is political advocacy. Maybe these groups were bunched together so that the decision, up or down, could be applied uniformly and later defended as used consistently. That said, this crisis will probably end any hope of ending congressional gridlock and plays right into the worst fears of many Americans. The facts will eventually come out and it will be very painful for the IRS
From my understanding of the DOJ case involving the AP, centers on finding someone at the CIA who leaked information about a covert operation. The target is someone in the CIA. That would be a serious offense for a secret organization which makes heavy use of cooperating sources working inside of terrorist groups. Also the press has no privilege with respect to confidentiality of their sources, even though prosecutors historically don't push the issue.
Thanks for taking the time to comment, Mark. You've opened my eyes to several thing I didn't consider and I actually just overlooked, I guess my emotions got the best of me. I will admit I'm still a little confused by your last statement, I'm not sure if you direct or point something out to me.
Yup, I'm a church person, but I think as a reader of this blog, you know that I'm not a 'typical' church person.
I also took the time to look up the Wikipedia page on All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena. I'm surprised that's the first I heard of that sermon. I've made past posts about Pulpit Freedom Sunday and have been disappointed no action was taken when it happened.
And now we find it wasn't just the Cincy office, but Washington DC, as well as two other offices in California that were profiling conservative groups. I look forward to the congressional study to see how high this goes. I'd like to see jail time for the perpetrators. It's undeniably illegal to scrutinize someone based on their political beliefs, sexual preference, race…
To be clear, my last point was not a dig at you, more a lamenting of the fact that it often seems that much of America responds to perceived outrages with a reasonable sense of anguish, when in fact they have been misled regarding the facts of the situation. An example might be when I came home in the 8th grade and told my parents I got in trouble in school for "no reason." I was upset and outraged and very emotional in my reporting of the incident. I was also lying. My mother, being the near saint (and gullible mother) that she is, got outraged herself and went to the school, wherein she learned the facts of the situation. Looking back, I know I was wrong, but I also think my mother should have been a little more skeptical of my claims, due to the fact that I had lied to her before (many times). That was my point, but in my rush I truncated it to where it could be misunderstood.
I also meant no offense with the church comment. I do appreciate your nuanced views of religion and church – in many ways they echo my own, prior to my conclusion that the hypocrisy, double standards, and misplaced priorities of organized religion precluded my continuing involvement. That was my decision, and does not mean anyone else should make the same one. Heck, I like a lot of church people – I just overlook the bad choice they make on Sunday morning 🙂 In my area, Virginia, many of our churches are the Amercan version of the Taliban, exhibiting neither grace nor forgiveness, and focusing on judgment and hatred. There was a story in my local paper this morning about a 20 year old woman who worked at a "Christian" day care center and was fired, in front of the children who adored her, because she is pregnant and not married. I have little time for people who wear What Would Jesus Do wristbands and t-shirts and yet do almost nothing Jesus did. Again, there are wonderful church people, and people seek religion for many different reasons, all valid to them – it's just not for me.
Thank you for the blog – it's part of my morning routine and I enjoy it. If I'm ever down your way I'll buy you a hamburger (I don't drink, so the 'buy you a beer' thing has never worked for me).
You sound like a good man, Mark, and thanks for the kind words. I think we see eye-to-eye on many things and I look forward to having that burger with you. Sometimes my work sends me to DC area, so if you happen to live in that part of Virginia, maybe we can do it on your turf.
I'm just outside D.C. – let me know next time you're nearby and I'll take care of you…. 🙂 I'll send you my contact information through your contact page….