DAVID BOAZ: Axelrod Is Shocked, Shocked to Find Corporate Money in Elections. “Someone should ask Obama and Axelrod whether they accepted corporate contributions in Illinois, whether they fought to end that system, and whether they think democracy still exists in Illinois. But as far as I can tell, no one has, including ABC, NBC, and CNN, all of whom interviewed Axelrod this morning.”
Archive for 2010
March 14, 2010
CALIFORNIA UPDATE: California unemployment and Oklahoma’s growth – it’s the ‘Grapes of Wrath’ in reverse.
UPDATE: Reader Clifford Grout writes: “Wouldn’t that be the ‘Arugula of Wrath’?”
STILL GOING AFTER THOSE GITMO LAWYERS. Not sure what to make of this — but if John Ashcroft had staffed the Civil Rights Division with a lot of folks who had represented white supremacists, I know what the narrative would be.
THE OBVIOUS SOLUTION IS UNARMED COPS. You know, like in Britain. AP: Memphis police at fault in Pentagon shooting. Disarm the police now! If it saves just one life, it’s worth it . . . .
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: Pull the plug, Barack: It’s a mistake to try to ram through health care reform.
JEFFREY GOLDBERG follows my example.
EUROPE TRASHES ACTA as Obama praises it. It sounds like my infallible Bush predictor from the very first week of InstaPundit works for Obama, too . . . .
TOYOTA UPDATE: Investigation Questions Prius Driver’s Story. “A federal investigation of the Toyota Prius involved in a dramatic incident on a California highway last week found a pattern of wear on the car’s brakes that raises questions about the driver’s account of the event.”
A HAPPY PI DAY BLOGGIVERSARY to Ginny Ray. Like the cookies.
UPDATE: Speaking of Pi Day: MIT Announced Its Admissions Decisions Today (3.14) at 1:59 — 3.14159.
AUGH! MY EYES! Is this picture real? Please tell me it’s a photoshop . . . .
COMMERCIAL SPACE UPDATE: SpaceX says Falcon 9 rocket test fire is a success.
AN INTERVIEW WITH LYNNE OLSON, author of Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour.
ANDREW IAN DODGE: Reaction to the Inaugural British Tea Party Event. “It might be a tea party with a British twist, but the attendees’ basic concerns are the same as those of any tea party protester across the U.S.”
DR. HELEN: A YEAR OF GOING GALT, a discussion with Ed Hudgins of The Atlas Society. (Bumped).
2,000 TURN OUT FOR WISCONSIN TEA PARTY CONVENTION. (Via Ben Cunningham).
Meanwhile, also in Wisconsin, a much smaller and racially monochromatic “coffee party” event:
The tea party movement has been criticized for being “racist” because of the alleged lack of minority participation. The Milwaukee coffee party that I attended did not have a single member of any minority group, although I strongly suspect that the alternative lifestyles community was well represented.
Read the whole thing.
YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK: Two IRS Agents Demand Past-Due Taxes From Car Wash Owner: 4 Cents (Plus $202.31 Interest and Penalties).
Zeff, who also owns local parking lots and is the president of the Midtown Business Association, finds the situation a bit comical. “It’s hilarious,” he says, “that two people hopped in a car and came down here for just 4 cents. I think (the IRS) may have a problem with priorities.”
They were reportedly “very aggressive, very condescending,” too. I think they deserve some condescension themselves. The agents’ names aren’t given, which is too bad. But if IRS folks are asking “why do they hate us?” stories like this might be a good place to start . . .
UPDATE: A longstanding IRS reader emails with a contrary take:
Let’s say I’m an employer, I have employees that I pay as employees, iow I withhold federal, state, local and payroll taxes. The money that I withhold I deposit on some recurring schedule, it varies, but at the end of each quarter I file a quarterly return that reports the deposits I’ve made in the quarter possibly with a payment and at the end of the return there should be nothing owed. If you file a return late, there’s a penalty. If there’s a balance due there’s a penalty. Gee, we punish activity that we want to see less of, wotta concept.
We consider the deposits to be trust fund monies as the money is actually the employees’ that the business is paying in for them. We take a dim view of playing fast and loose with your employees’ money. If you owe delinquent taxes any money we receive is applied against the actual tax debt and is not applied against penalties and interest until the actual tax is paid. If the dude owed us 202 or 3 dollars and change with a remaining tax debt of $0.04, well, that wasn’t accrued on four cents. That’s just what’s left of the tax that he hasn’t paid up on yet.
If we’ve gotten to the point of sending out revenue officers/agents, it’s because telephone calls and communicating by mail have failed. It’s 2010 and we’re just now visiting in person over 2006 taxes? I’d say he’s been bs’ing us for quite some time and we didn’t go tearing out the driveway looking for scalps. We have a taxpayer assistance office in Sacramento, at least one, and if he’d seen fit to haul is oh so smart self on over when he got the first, second, third, nth notice this would’ve gone away.
The old boy is obviously grandstanding here because we wouldn’t have gone public with the media over this. I see folk every day that are po’d at us because we hold them accountable for their actions. I could be called very aggressive and condescending too as I have a low tolerance for BS. Blame being a retired cavalryman for that.
Well, stay tuned. If there’s more to this story, we’ll probably hear it.
Plus, from the comments in the post above, this: “Refresh my memory–what penalties and interest were assessed on Geithner again?”
Also this: “Just wait until the healthcare police get up and running, won’t that be fun. All else aside, this is an example of the biggest reason for being against government run healthcare.”
DEFENDING THE AMERICAN DREAM with a Flip videocam.
TOXIC. And not in that fun, Britney-Spears way, either.
THE MUDVILLE GAZETTE: Prelude to The Pacific. “What better way to prepare for a miniseries about the Pacific theater in World War II than watching an original propaganda film used to inform the troops and the American public on the real thing?” By Frank Capra.
THE CROSS OF OBAMA. The New York Times editors are reminding me of this from Mike Huckabee.
UPDATE: Andrew Morriss writes:
Since I suspect the NYT editors are not familiar with Christian imagery, they might not realize that this is not the best time of year to associate Obama with a cross – we’re in the midst of Lent and still have the passion to come. The whole “suffers, dies and descends to hell” part might be a bit of the Easter story they’d rather not associate with Obama right now. Plus he’s sort of in the Caesar/Pilate/Herod role right now as president (depending on how powerful one thinks the president is). Maybe Easter bunnies and chocolate would be a better theme – I’d rather think of the health care plan as a free basket of chocolate brought by a magical animal than as something on which I am going to suffer and die to redeem the sins of others, even if the latter is a more accurate description.
Indeed.
MONEY QUOTE: “We’re Democrats. We won’t even buy him a toy gun.” (Thanks to reader G.L. Carlson for noticing this).
WELL, THIS IS COMFORTING: Terror Suspects Had Jobs at British Airways and … U.S. Nuclear Facilities.
ANOTHER COFFEE PARTY ORGANIZER COINCIDENCE: “And here’s some more background on Coffee Party organizer Baxter Swilley. He was John Edward’s MO political director at the time. . . . Oh, then he was spokesperson for the Illinois Lt. Gov, who threatened his girlfriend with a knife.” Just another ordinary American fed up with the sewer that modern politics has become. More here. Including identical press releases for Coffee Party events in different states.