Beyond Tea-Party Somnambulism!

Archive for the ‘Politics – other’ Category

Organizing for Social Justice Continues

The need to organize for social justice continues to be crucial in the efforts to win over money’s influence.

BY JUDY OF OCEAN CITY, MD ON JUNE 7, 2013

This month we remember the lives of Senator Robert Kennedy and Civil Rights Activist Medgar Evers (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medgar_Evers).  Senator Robert Kennedy was assassinated forty-five years ago, on June 6, 1968, and Medgar Evers was killed on June 12, 1963.

Medgar Evers is remembered for his brave fight for racial equality. He served in the U.S. Army during WW II and was the first NAACP field secretary for Mississippi. The mission, “Jim Crow Must Go”, resonated through the South during his efforts to end racial discrimination and injustices.

New York Senator Robert Kennedy sought to “address the needs of the dispossessed and powerless in America – the poor, the young, racial minorities and Native Americans”. (rfkcenter.org) At the age of 42, Senator Kennedy lost his life, fighting for social change.

This article, written by Ben Jealous, President and CEO of the NAACP (naacp.org),  demonstrates the need to continue organizing for social justice. Money cannot win over dedicated citizens who “step up” to have their voices heard.

http://flcourier.com/2013/06/06/organized-people-can-beat-organized-money-every-time/

Category:

Corporate Greed, Corporatism, Money Out Of Politics, Politics - other, Race relations

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The IRS Scandal – A Different Perspective!

The following is a letter-to-the-editor of the Daily Times, Salisbury, MD.  It was written by attorney, Mike Pretl and he has given us permission to post it on Delmarva Progressive.  It is an authentic appeal to look at the IRS issue with a fresh face and to realize that when dealing with the IRS, there are no good guys and bad guys, only well-documented applications and questionable ones.         

Perhaps I am the last person who should be coming to the defense of the Internal Revenue Service, and its Exempt Organization office in Cincinnati.  I have had numerous legal battles – detailed requests for information, and a few arduous audits, initiated by overzealous agents at that office.  Nevertheless, I am convinced that the current “scandal” is overblown and purely political in nature.  I find it incredible therefore that Administration officials are grumbling excuses and apologies, rather than defending themselves by explaining clearly what that office does every day, and is supposed to do.

In 40 years as a Maryland attorney, I have been pleased to create more than 75 nonprofit, tax-exempt corporations.  I have represented nearly all pro bono (without fee).  With few exceptions, all of these groups operate at the progressive end of the spectrum – environmental activists, health care reformers (pre-Obamacare), community organizers, juvenile service providers, charter schools, church-affiliated entities, and “friends” of a scout troop and  child advocacy center.  Exempt status has been sought under various sections of the Internal Revenue Code, chiefly Sections 501(c)(3), (c)(4), and (c)(6).  Perhaps half of all the applications were greeted with IRS questions — a “request for further information” – sometimes elementary, and often  detailed and onerous.  In the past I would tell my clients to expect a determination letter in about 120 days. More recently I have had decisions delayed for months, or for a year or two, always without explanation.

And I repeat, these are virtually all liberal advocacy organizations, and the hassles and delays have occurred during the last seven administrations – four Republican and three Democratic.

In my ongoing role as unpaid counsel to these groups, it is my duty not only to collect data and file IRS applications, but to advise what they can and cannot do to retain their exempt status.  Many leaders of (c)(3) charities are surprised to learn that they may lobby the legislature to a limited extent, in support of their goals, but of course cannot engage in elective politics.  The (c)(4) (“social welfare”) entities are told that they may support candidates who support their goals, but under the IRS Code, elective politics cannot be their “primary” activity, or a “substantial part” of their daily efforts.

Which brings us back to the current “scandal.”  Despite some apparent excesses and unfortunate statements, it appears that the IRS agents have been caught doing just what they are paid to do – enforcing the Code.  Following the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in 2009, numerous organizations were formed, most of them on the right, and sought (c)(4) status so their contributors need not be disclosed.   Many Tea Party chapters and similar groups did not disguise their role as primarily political efforts, however, so the non-political career employees at IRS marked them presumptively ineligible for exempt status.  The agents perhaps went overboard in a few cases – but that zeal hardly suggests a conspiracy.

A final personal story:  A few years ago, the leading Maryland handgun control advocacy group –which had established separate (c)(3) and (c)(4) entities — was wrongly accused of improper election-year activity. IRS auditors promptly served each entity a series of 82 detailed document requests.  The IRS agents were far from friendly, and we spent nearly a year in proving our client not at fault.  At the end, however, we explained to our volunteer board of directors that occasional scrutiny, often unpleasant, is the price we must pay, to secure the invaluable benefits of tax-exempt status.  Perhaps Congressional investigators will soon  get the same message.

 Mike Pretl is a semi-retired attorney, residing in Riverton, in Wicomico County.

Category:

Corporatism, Delmarva Local News, IRS, Politics - other, Taxes, Tea Party

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Righteous Indignation Over Benghazi

This is a letter from Steve Templin, to the Editor of the Daily Times, Salisbury, MD:T

To the Editor of The Daily Times,
This is my response to Garrett Preischs’ letter to the editor, from 5/20.

The “righteous indignation” of the conservatives over the tragedy in Benghazi was predictable and is nothing other than grandstanding partisan brinkmanship. Mr. Garrett Preisch was correct in his letter about Benghazi occurring during the watch of the nations first Black President, while at the same time, incorrect about the sanitizing of the correspondence to protect the re-election of President Obama. The agencies involved were doing, as David Ignatius of the Washington Post wrote on May 17, an exercise in CYA (“covering your ass”).

My question to the conservative is, Where was your “righteous indignation” over the attacks on the US Embassies in Calcutta, India on January 22, 2002, killing five, or Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on December 6, 2004, killing nine? Where was the GOP “righteous indignation” when U.S. diplomat, David Foy, was killed in Karachi, Pakistan on March 2, 2006? Where was this “righteous indignation” when there were thirteen attacks against US embassies during the Bush Administration?

Where was this “righteous indignation” when over four thousand of our sons and daughters were killed, and tens of thousands injured, in Iraq, for a war based on lies, revenge and profit?

Where was their “righteous indignation” when the House Republicans voted for an amendment, in 2009, to cut $1.2 billion from State Department operations, including funds for 300 more diplomatic security positions, and cut embassy security funding by $128 million in fiscal 2011, and $331 million in fiscal 2012?

Category:

Politics - other, Rep. Andy Harris, Right-wing

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Gun Advocates Have It All Wrong!

I am not an anti-gun advocate, however, I do believe that the government, whether State or Federal, has the right, and the duty, to regulate and control guns in our society. Regarding a statement that I recently came across by in a LTE, “If that were true then the First Amendment would have been disassembled a very long time ago.” This person seems to be  saying that there are no limits or controls on the 1st Amendment! If so, then he is wrong! I know the following may be long, but it is essential in understanding our Constitution and how it works!

"NRA-Armed with Pride"

“NRA-Armed with Pride”

As everyone knows, free speech rights can be controlled and regulated, especially when such speech is clearly seen as a danger to the physical safety of individuals. That’s why no one may yell “Fire” in a crowded theater, when there is no fire. The threat of injury supersedes the person’s right to speak.

Also, the Supreme Court has further defined certain speech, also known as “at-risk speech,” as being unprotected by the First Amendment, such as:

          1)  Burning draft cards to protest draft — prohibited because of superior governmental interest.

          2)  Words likely to incite imminent violence, termed “fighting words.”

         3)   Words immediately jeopardizing national security.

         4)  Newspaper publishing false and defamatory material — libel.

And, the 1st Amendment has other rights that are regulated, as well, including the taxation of religious organizations…if they want to keep their tax-free status, they may not be active in political activities. The “right of the people to peacefully assemble” is also regulated, where the safety, and even the convenience of the public, is jeopardized. Hence, Occupy Wall Street protestors were removed from certain locations, and protestors, anywhere, may not block streets and thoroughfares or may even be required to obtain permits before being allowed to assemble.

The government, Federal and State, has the right to regulate commerce, land use, the protection of our air and water, and so many other areas of our society. How were any of these actions allowed? Simply put, because the PEOPLE wanted these things. And, the PEOPLE are what allow these policies to continue. 

I hear over and over again, how the “Founding Fathers wanted this and the Founding Fathers wanted that!” The fact is that the Founding Fathers knew that their wants and desires were limited by their deaths; that the world is ever evolving and changing, as they, themselves, were witness to. (see the diary of James Madison, from the 1787 Const Convention) They realized that the only way to have a government and country that would endure, was to give the PEOPLE the power and authority to make changes (even if it was just the white, male landowners)! Hence, one of the most important parts of the 1st Amendment: “…the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” If the Founding Fathers didn’t want changes to happen, they would never have allowed that right to be included!

200+ years and counting!

200+ years and counting!

Further, the Founding Fathers also realized that they were not infallible. They knew that they were part of a “great experiment” and that, even great experiments fail if their rules and hypotheses are inflexible and not subject to change. Hence, they wanted the Judicial Branch (on par with the Executive and Legislative Branches) to be able to interpret the law and adjudicate disputes. One of the first major cases decided by the Supreme Court of the United States, under the great Chief Justice, John Marshall, was Marbury v. Madison (1803). It is a landmark decision on this important question: “Does the Supreme Court have the authority to review acts of Congress and determine whether they are unconstitutional and therefore void?” The answer: “Yes! The SCOTUS has the duty and responsibility to review acts of Congress to determine their Constitutionality. What this means is that the Court must be able to interpret the Constitutional intent.

OUR children & grandchildren!

OUR children & grandchildren!

"I'm Not Crazy; All I Wanna Do Is Shoot Some People!"

“I’m Not Crazy; All I Wanna Do Is Shoot Some People!”

Through 200+ years of interpretation, we are at a point where gun-advocates want the right to own any “military-grade” weapon they want to put into their arsenal. These “strict Constitutionalists” are wrong, not only in their Constitutional approach, but also in their thinking that we would all be safer in our beds at night, if well-armed citizens, capable of fighting against the US military, were camped across the street from us. I’m sorry, but I, for one, would not (and don’t) feel safer in that scenario. It seems to me that the lunatics are trying to take over the asylum…and they want to be allowed to be armed to the teeth! The result is not knowing who the “good guys” and the “bad guys” are…and they all want the right to walk down the street with their AR-15, or .44 Magnum!  Maybe, we should all get some popcorn and sit along the Washington or Baltimore Beltways at rush hour, and see how that turns out!!

Category:

1st Amendment, 2nd Amendment, Gun Control, NRA, Politics - other, U.S. Constitution

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Romney? Bongino? Harris? Really?

Can he relate?

 

Why is it that Republican candidates are so focused on attacking their opponents? Could it be because they have no real plan, except to return to the Bush days of less regulation, allowing the banks and Wall Street to continue their rape of the Middle Class; the Bush days, when two wars were waged (destroying the surplus in our budget that was handed to Bush by Pres Clinton); the Bush days, when, even though he had wars on two fronts, he decided to cut taxes, sending the deficit through the roof (and which he then handed to Pres Obama); the Bush days, when jobs were being lost at the rate of 500k, 600k, 800k+ per month; the Bush days, when the President felt that the fight to find bin Ladin was a waste of time & resources, which Bush then handed to President Obama, who felt that finding and killing the man responsible for the death of 3000 Americans on 9/11/01, was still an imperative…and then DID IT?

I especially love tracking the GOP “secret key phrases” – like “school choice initiatives”, meaning a voucher system for religious schools…the antithesis of what the Constitution stands for…separation of church and state! We are seeing the increasing rise of an American Taliban…those religionists who believe that God and the President should rule America, that their prayers should be taught in schools, that Christianity should be declared the official religion of the United States.

The founding fathers are tossing in their graves…their dream of an America free from the chains of religious rule or persecution, where a person’s beliefs should be personal and private, where people would not be intimidated by the church or the government…where the rise of a theocracy was feared as much as the rise of a monarchy!

Thinking too hard?

The GOP needs to read more about our history; they whine about how taxes are unfair for the wealthy, when, the truth is that personal income tax rates are near the lowest at anytime since the income tax started…35%. Those of us with experience and the motivation to research the facts, know that our tax rates in the ’50s and ’60s were 70%-90%…that even during the “Reagan years”, tax rates were lowered from 69% to 50% until the very end of Reagan’s 2nd term.

The GOP extremists should look in the mirror when they point at those they charge with an “entitlement mentality.” The truth is that the wealthy have been with that state of mind for the past 40 years, which is why wealthy incomes have risen explosively, while Middle Class incomes (and savings) have declined drastically…the American Dream is now ONLY a dream, with no hope of achievement by most Middle Class Americans, whose children will be the first generation NOT to do better than their parents!

What a jokester!

Romney? Ryan? Bongino? Harris? Really?

Category:

Dan Bongino, Mitt Romney, Politics - other, Rep. Andy Harris

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Ayn Rand = Paul Ryan = “I Got Mine, Screw You!”

The TRUTH about Paul “Ayn Rand” Ryan. Don’t keep this secret…share it with everyone you know.  Unfortunately, there is something here for everyone to hate!

Ryan: “I can’t believe there are people who are really buying my crap!”

1. His economic plan would cost America 1 million jobs in the first year. Ryan’s proposed budget would cripple the economy. He’d slash spending deeply, which would not only slow job growth, but shock the economy and cost 1 million of us our jobs in 2013 alone and kill more than 4 million jobs by the end of 2014.

2. He’d kill Medicare. He’d replace Medicare with vouchers for retirees to purchase insurance, eliminating the guarantee of health care for seniors and putting them at the mercy of the private insurance industry. That could amount to a cost increase of more than $5,900 by 2050, leaving many seniors broke or without the health care they need. He’d also raise the age of eligibility to 67.

3. He’d pickpocket the middle class to line the pockets of the rich. His tax plan is Robin Hood in reverse. He wants to cut taxes by $4.6 trillion over the next decade, but only for corporations and the rich, like giving families earning more than $1 million a year a $300,000 tax cut. And to pay for them, he’d raise taxes on middle- and lower-income households and butcher social service programs that help middle- and working-class Americans.

4. He’s an anti-choice extremist. Ryan co-sponsored an extremist anti-choice bill, nicknamed the ‘Let Women Die Act,’ that would have allowed hospitals to deny women emergency abortion care even if their lives were at risk. And he co-sponsored another bill that would criminalize some forms of birth control, all abortions, and in vitro fertilization.

5. He’d dismantle Social Security. Ironically, Ryan used the Social Security Survivors benefit to help pay for college, but he wants to take that possibility away from future generations. He agrees with Rick Perry’s view that Social Security is a “Ponzi scheme” and he supported George W. Bush’s disastrous proposal to privatize Social Security.

6. He’d eliminate Pell grants for more than 1 million low-income students. His budget plan cuts the Pell Grant program by $200 billion, which could mean a loss of educational funding for 1 million low-income students.

7. He’d give $40 billion in subsidies to Big Oil. His budget includes oil tax breaks worth $40 billion, while cutting “billions of dollars from investments to develop alternative fuels and clean energy technologies that would serve as substitutes for oil.”

8. He’s another Koch-head politician. Not surprisingly, the billionaire oil-baron Koch brothers are some of Ryan’s biggest political contributors. And their company, Koch industries, is Ryan’s biggest energy-related donor. The company’s PAC and affiliated individuals have given him $65,500 in donations.

9. He opposes gay rights. Ryan has an abysmal voting record on gay rights. He’s voted to ban adoption by gay couples, against same-sex marriage, and against repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell.” He also voted against the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which President Obama signed into law in 2009.

10. He thinks an “I got mine, who cares if you’re okay” philosophy is admirable. For many years, Paul Ryan devoted himself to Ayn Rand’s philosophy of selfishness as a virtue. It has shaped his entire ethic about whom he serves in public office. He even went as far as making his interns read her work.

If there was ever any doubt that Mitt Romney’s got a disastrous plan for America—he made himself 100% clear when he picked right-wing extremist Paul Ryan as his running mate. Paul Ryan is bad for America, but we can’t beat him if Americans don’t know everything he stands for. 

Category:

Corporate Greed, Economy & Deficit, Environment, Health Care, Jobs, Paul Ryan, Politics - other, Pro-Choice, Right-wing, Taxes, Tea Party, U.S. Constitution, War on Women

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Ryan…Looks Don’t Always Match Content!

The media describes Ryan’s looks as the “boy next door!”

Well, I put on my sunglasses and baseball cap and was able to sneak through his back woods to snap this shot of the real Ryan, where looks match content.

Ryan: “No, it’s really me…really…do I look like I could lie to you?”

Here’s another angle, showing a little more of his humanity:

Ryan: “I should have worn my jacket! I look so good in jackets! Damn!”

Category:

Paul Ryan, Politics - other

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Ryan…NOT Inscrutable!

Ok, folks, is it just me or does Ryan always look like he just fucked another million Americans?

Ryan: “Was it good for you?”

Category:

Paul Ryan, Politics - other

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The GOP Strategy…Keep The Truth Secret!

The following is a post that is circulating in the online LTE sections of small-town papers around the State.  It appears to be from a “local” writer, but I think it is clearly a piece of Bongino

Dan Bongino – An “outsider”, born in NYC and a resident of MD for a couple of years!

campaign literature.  I have responded to it online and added my response in the Comments section.

There is an old saying which states “liberal policies care about the poor in theory- it’s the real poor they have a problem with”. Having spent many years in poverty as a child, I am intimately familiar with the pain of hunger and the burning desire for a better tomorrow. I will not be lectured by elites about their intentionally cryptic notions of “fairness”. It is my personal relationship with a past filled with painful memories of waking up hungry and the realization that it wasn’t just a bad dream that motivates me to confront an ideology that has imprisoned generations in an endless state of poverty. This sentence, imposed by decades of bureaucratic mismanagement, is marketed to the disadvantaged among us as a “gift” from self-anointed political philanthropists.

I refuse to accept the misguided notion, blindly propagated by institutional elites, that the political party best representing the interests of struggling lower income communities is the liberal wing of the Democratic party. When I analyze the issues I encounter most on the campaign trail, the economy and healthcare, I am deeply troubled by the quality issues in our prize city of Baltimore.

The Baltimore economy has been struggling to attract new businesses for decades. An exodus of tens of thousands of its citizens has not helped, as those leaving have taken their intellectual capital with them. A litany of new taxes and a “bureaucracy first, people second” approach to governing has led to an environment where the remaining citizens are viewed simply as tools to support the bureaucracy rather than the inverse. A well written op-ed piece by Steve Hanke and Stephen Walters in the Wall Street Journal on this very subject uses this stunning statistic which sums up the utter failure of Baltimore’s reliance on liberal economic ideology, “in 1950, the city’s median income was 7% above the national average. Today it is 22% below it.”

To add to the economic absurdity, the Mayor of Baltimore has now raised the “temporary” bottle tax, as if the chimerical dreams of a flourishing economy and streams of tax revenue were simply being subdued by the tax rate and not the underlying economic principles. We as Republicans must walk proudly into these communities, as I regularly do, and profess our ideas for growth, which are blind to socioeconomic class. I refuse to accept that a proud city, with infrastructure, public transit, access to the northeast corridor, a world class port and proximity to another major metropolitan area (Washington D.C.), should be relegated to a second class economy. I will not stand idle, while the good citizens of this great city are subjected to another minute of this “ignore the results” ideology.

With thousands of struggling lower income citizens utilizing Medicaid as a primary means of seeking access to healthcare, and ever increasing enrollment into the program, one would think, absent the facts, that the program serves the poor well. With their numerous speeches about “fairness” and “equality” it is easy to see why so many are misled. However, when we look again at the actual results of their “generosity” with our money, the story changes dramatically. An oft quoted University of Virginia study has shed light on the results on this program. The statistic that should ring alarm bells reads, a Medicaid recipient is 97% more likely to die after surgery than a person with private insurance. Wait, it gets much worse, a Medicaid recipient is 13% more likely to die after surgery than a person with no insurance at all. In what dictionary does this suffice as a definition of “help”?

With this piece I ask, rather I implore those at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale; please vote for change in 2012. Please allow us a shot at repairing decades of damage to your economy, your education system and your access to quality healthcare. Vote for change and hold us accountable. The worst possible outcome would be more of the same and you have a subsequent election to change it back if dissatisfied. Please stop going on blind dates in the voting booth. I will not stop sounding the siren and will fight for every vote in every Maryland community. And for those who continue to tell me I am wasting my time I ask you, “what are you doing to fight for those who need us most?”

Dan Bongino is the Republican nominee for United States Senate in Maryland

 

Category:

Dan Bongino, Health Care, Politics - other, Right-wing, Sen. Ben Cardin

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“Who Built That?” – Another Spasmodic Approval of Romney Fraud!

This is an article posted to the Easton StarDem last week, by Dan Bongino, Republican candidate for US Senator from Maryland.

Dan Bongino – Another Republican candidate buying into Romney’s fraudulent TV ad

Recently, I awoke at 5am to the sound of my six-month old daughter Amelia crying. When I entered her dark room to soothe her, I saw my wife, struggling to stay awake, holding Amelia in one arm as she was attempting to work on her barely lit computer screen with her other arm. My wife Paula is an entrepreneur and a small business owner. She also happens to be a first generation immigrant, who suffered through much chasing her American dream–all of her hard work culminating in her pledging allegiance to our flag as part of her citizenship ceremony. We both remember this as one of the proudest days of our lives.

I am writing of this incident because it succinctly describes a scenario repeating itself all over America today. Small business owners are making incredible sacrifices in their struggles to keep their businesses afloat. This is the reason why the President’s “you didn’t build that” comment has infuriated Americans across the political spectrum. The simple fact is that my wife did build “that.” She built her business, through countless hours of hard work and a commitment to a quality work product. I marvel daily at the countless hours she spends at her home office designing and repairing small business websites. She is the very epitome of the American dream, collectively enhanced but most importantly, self-made and personally driven.

The President’s statements are equally infuriating because he is attempting to create a fissure between Americans where there isn’t one. No Republican I am aware of is running for office on a platform of no taxes, no roads, no teachers and no military. I cite these examples because the President chose to mention the use of roads, the work of good teachers and the development of the backbone of the modern internet, through a military research initiative, as examples of how government should be the primary recipient of accolades for individual success. This is absurd and displays a backward logic which is hard to justify. It is the very success of people, such as my wife, willing to put their names behind a business endeavor, with no guarantee of success, that finance the government projects which the President speaks of. It is my wife’s, along with millions of others struggling for a better tomorrow, sweat, toil and willingness to take a risk that has made America exceptional amongst nations, not its roads.

The economy is clearly struggling. Americans are hurting and they are scared. Scared that for the first time, yesterday may have been the best it was ever going to be. This outlook has never been a component of our national psyche. The President’s statements will haunt him in this election as they echo all over our vast country. As my wife and I struggle through this historically poor economic recovery, I feel the pain of Americans hoping and praying that there is a better tomorrow and I ask the President to stop creating division by asking who built what, and to focus on getting our growing legion of unemployed Americans, just asking for a chance to build anything, back to work.

Dan Bongino, a devoted husband and father, served in the United States Secret Service for more than a decade, in which he was assigned to the elite Presidential Protective Division. He represented the U.S. as a lead government security official in over 25 countries. Holding graduate degrees in Business Administration and Psychology, Dan has gone on to start several successful businesses in Maryland. As an entrepreneur, he understands the role small businesses play in establishing a framework for continued prosperity and economic growth.

Category:

Dan Bongino, Economy & Deficit, Jobs, Mitt Romney, Politics - other, President Obama

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