More Legacy From Our Friend, Lewis Powell

[peristaltor]

I haven't followed the IRS stink at all. Why? Well, I've barely been following the news. One good tornado, as shocking as the devastation, transforms any corporate media outlet into a Worst Destruction Footage Evar re-run machine. Why bother watching again what you've seen once

Comments

[oportet]

I don't think Tea Party organizations have been around long enough to have a history of violating regulations.

I'm not sure why the left doesn't just embrace this, instead of trying to twist it. They played dirty, kept it under wraps until after they won the big election, and came clean a good year before the next major elections - plenty of time for everyone to forget about it.

Democrat politicians stooping that low is understandable, democrat voters refusing to acknowledge they did isn't.

[kylinrouge]

peristaltor: Look, the IRS isn't charged with protecting the nation's free speech. They are charged with enforcing tax regulations. There is a formula somewhere in the IRS that takes tax filings and flags certain things. What those things are isn't revealed, but I'd be willing to bet it flags commonalities of the flagged form with previous filings shown to have broken the law after revealed in an audit.

Is this twisting? (I wouldn't call peristaltor a leftist but he's one of the few offering an explanation)

[kylinrouge]

I guess it boils down to 'When is profiling ok?' Is it never? I feel there is some value in recognizing patterns when it comes to law enforcement, especially for the police, so to me it isn't never. Peristaltor basically asks if there a history with these organizations that follow certain patterns and breaking the law. We may not know enough about the story to answer the question.

[kylinrouge]

Yeah, I'd really like to hear the details. I think the hysteria surrounding the story is a bit harsh, ultimately all we're talking about is audits on tax-exempt organizations that may or may not be abusing their tax-exempt status.

One question I have: What if they were right? What if their method of profiling discovered illegal activity? Do the ends justify the means in this case?

[cheezyfish]

How is it not. The IRS isn't about protecting free speech, but about enforcing tax regulations? It's a bit like saying the FBI isn't about protecting civil liberties, but about law enforcement, so we shouldn't worry when they do violate civil liberties.

[kylinrouge]

Is the IRS violating free speech?

[peristaltor]

Exactly. Without knowing the extent of the money/problems of similarly title orgs the IRS has discovered/penalized, the public may never know.

[sophia_sadek]

Good point. They do not violate regulations, merely political decorum.

[soliloquy76]

Republicans, specifically Darrell Issa, knew about the investigation last year, too. The reason it just came out this month was because the investigation was not completed until... this month. This story could be misleading, though, since it was written by Jonathan Karl of ABC News.

http://news.yahoo.com/republicans-informed-irs-investigation-last-125615676--abc-news-politics.html

[peristaltor]

Karl's involvement was going to be a part of my OP, but yeah, I didn't get it out. My bad.

[telemann]

LOL! I wonder when the next talk politics conspiracy month is coming up, this would great!