The “Whitewater” school of phony outrage has been turned all the way up to eleven on the media amplifiers.
from “This is Spinal Tap”
There is nothing surprising in this. What is surprising is that the same tired con works on the same tired brains with the same tired conclusions that it did back in the good ‘ol Ken Starr daze:
Obama’s Counsel Told of IRS Audit Findings Weeks Ago
Peter Nicholas / Wall Street JournalThe White House’s chief lawyer learned weeks ago that an audit of the Internal Revenue Service likely would show that agency employees inappropriately targeted conservative groups, a senior White House official said Sunday…
Making the case for evolution even more dodgy.
Worse: this:
Obama and the IRS: The Smoking Gun?
Jeffrey Lord / American Spectator
“For me, it’s about collaboration.” — National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley on the relationship between the anti-Tea Party IRS union and the Obama White House — Is President Obama directly implicated in the IRS scandal?
There’s no news like faux nooz
You would think that intelligent reporters who WEREN’T pushing the non-news agit-prop of Rupert Murdoch would KNOW better than to swallow this swill at face value, or would have the INTELLECTUAL ACUMEN to perform the syllogism:
If A, then B.
If B, then C, therefore
If A, then C,
where
A = IRS investigation
B = “Tea Party” and
C = Koch Brothers founded and funded
But no logic courses are required to become a “journalist” a “pundit” or someone with their panties perpetually in a knot. None whatsoever, and they put their ignorance to good use in missing the forest for the trees.
Therefore, these pseudo-Watergate phony time lines and “who knew what when” and nobody ever asking why the most vicious crypto-oligarchs get to skate, scot-free of any inquiry, while the mentally challenged (like TIME‘s Joe Klein) can write imbecilic analyses like this and retain their jobs when journalism professionals are rife as dandelions and journalism jobs are scarce as “news” on Faux Nooz™:
The irs’s [sic] targeting of Tea Party groups is, however, an actual full-blown scandal. In fact, it is several scandals…
Or, rather, he WILL say next Monday, since the TIME article online says
Sorting Out the Scandals
By Joe Klein Monday, May 27, 2013
on the “TIME” magazine site
How credible do you rate a news organization that can’t even get the date to within, say, six days of the ACTUAL date? Especially when it calls itself “TIME”?
What truly frightens me, however, is the sheer, raw ignorance and cluelessness that this paragraph from the redoubtable Mr. Klein represents, surely a proof of how easily media types are hornswoggled by Murdochian media machinations:
A less obvious scandal is the question of why we have 501(c)(4)s in the first place. Why should groups promoting “social welfare”–now there’s a category!–get a tax break? And also: How on earth did we get to the point where we have a tax code so complicated that regulation 501 has a subset (c) and a further subset (4)?
Seriously, dude? Did you dress yourself this morning, because the sheer dumbassery of that statement blows my mind. Here’s the easy one: how did we get to the point? Uh, we have a COMPLEX society, oh dumbass. I bet there are that many chapters in your Smith-Corona Shop Manual, which you undoubtedly own, since you can’t possibly have figured out computers, and would have to own, since nobody services your typewriter anymore.
Ditto reporters
But to take a moment to UNDERSTAND the depth of this dumbassery, I’ve explained AT LENGTH on my blog since 2006 what 501(c)3’s and (c)4’s are. Here’s the code that Mr. Supergenius finds so impossibly complex.
(BTW: USC, means The Code of Laws of the United States of America, period. Not “tax code.” Title 26 is Tax Code. Title 18 deals with federal crimes, penalties and prisons. Title 42 is a grab bag that INCLUDES Social Security and Medicare, and Title 50 covers War and National Defense, including the secrecy and espionage laws that are the basis for the big Faux Nooz riff on the AP ‘scandal’. Just skim down and read the red HIGHLIGHTED stuff):
26 U.S.C. § 501 : US Code – Section 501: Exemption from tax on corporations, certain trusts, etc.
(a) Exemption from taxation
An organization described in subsection (c) or (d) or section 401(a) shall be exempt from taxation under this subtitle unless such exemption is denied under section 502 or 503.
(b) Tax on unrelated business income and certain other activities An organization exempt from taxation under subsection (a) shall be subject to tax to the extent provided in parts II, III, and VI of this subchapter, but (notwithstanding parts II, III, and VI of this subchapter) shall be considered an organization exempt from income taxes for the purpose of any law which refers to organizations exempt from income taxes.
(c) List of exempt organizations
The following organizations are referred to in subsection (a):(1) Any corporation organized under Act of Congress which is an instrumentality of the United States but only if such corporation – (A) is exempt from Federal income taxes – (i) under such Act as amended and supplemented before July 18, 1984, or (ii) under this title without regard to any provision of law which is not contained in this title and which is not contained in a revenue Act, or (B) is described in subsection (l).
(2) Corporations organized for the exclusive purpose of holding title to property, collecting income therefrom, and turning over the entire amount thereof, less expenses, to an organization which itself is exempt under this section. Rules similar to the rules of subparagraph (G) of paragraph (25) shall apply for purposes of this paragraph.
(3) Corporations, and any community chest, fund, or foundation, organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, testing for public safety, literary, or educational purposes, or to foster national or international amateur sports competition (but only if no part of its activities involve the provision of athletic facilities or equipment), or for the prevention of cruelty to children or animals, no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual, no substantial part of the activities of which is carrying on propaganda, or otherwise attempting, to influence legislation (except as otherwise provided in subsection (h)), and which does not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.
(4)(A) Civic leagues or organizations not organized for profit but operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare, or local associations of employees, the membership of which is limited to the employees of a designated person or persons in a particular municipality, and the net earnings of which are devoted exclusively to charitable, educational, or recreational purposes. (B) Subparagraph (A) shall not apply to an entity unless no part of the net earnings of such entity inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.
(5) Labor, agricultural, or horticultural organizations.
(6) Business leagues, chambers of commerce, real-estate boards, boards of trade, or professional football leagues (whether or not administering a pension fund for football players), not organized for profit and no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.
(7) Clubs organized for pleasure, recreation, and other nonprofitable purposes, substantially all of the activities of which are for such purposes and no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder.
(8) Fraternal beneficiary societies, orders, or associations … etc
That was Title 26 of the US Code, section 501 sub-paragraphs (c)( 3) and (c)( 4)!
You could look it up!
Got it?
Joe Klein sure doesn’t. A high school kid could figure that out, Joe. Now, a leap outside the box/bottle Klein keeps his brains in.
A Klein Bottle
(impossible in three-dimensional space)
But before we jump, consider how it is that a successful pickpocket gang runs a crowd. The wallet has already passed through two sets of hands before the quickest ‘mark’ can react.
Republicans are expected to zero in on the question of who in the Obama administration’s senior ranks knew about the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups, especially before the November election last year.
Republican lawmakers on House oversight committees are pressing the investigation, with more hearings set for this week. (Wall St. Journal, above, or ibid.)
“the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups”? You mean looking for anonymous Koch bucks in Tea Party 501(c)4’s? Take a gander at this, kiddies, and tell me that C4’s aren’t being abused by long-time Koch associates:
- Did Howie Rich Break the Law in Illinois … Again? (17 January 2010)
How a 501(c)4 is used in straight-up illegal campaigning
Like any good con game, distraction is the key to the crime. The distraction is obvious, so what’s the crime it’s covering, GOPs?
In Confessions of a Confidence Man, Edward H. Smith lists the “six definite steps or stages of growth in every finely balanced and well-conceived confidence game.”
- “One follows the other with absolute precision. In some games one or more of these acts, to use a theatrical comparison, may be dropped out, but where that happens the game is not a model one. The reference to the stage is apt, for the fine con game has its introduction, development, climax, dénouement and close, just like any good play. And this is not the only analogy to the drama, for the scenes are often as carefully set; the background is always a vital factor. In the colorful and mirthful language of the bunko man, all these parts of the game have their special names. I give them with their definitions:
- Foundation Work
- The preparations which are made before the scheme is put in motion, including the elaboration of the plan, the employment of assistants and so forth.
- Approach
- The manner of getting in touch with the victim—often most elaborately and carefully prepared.
- Build-up
- Rousing and sustaining the interest of the victim, introducing the scheme to him, rousing his greed, showing him the chance of profit and filling him so full of anticipation and cupidity that his judgment is warped and his caution thrown away.
- Pay-off or Convincer
- An actual or apparent paying of money by the conspirators to convince the victim and settle doubts by a cash demonstration. In the old banco game the initial small bets which the victim was allowed to win were the pay-off. In stock swindles the fake dividends sent to stockholders to encourage larger investments are the pay-off.
- The Hurrah
- This is like the dénouement in a play and no con scheme is complete without it. It is a sudden crisis or unexpected development by which the sucker is pushed over the last doubt or obstacle and forced to act. Once the hurrah is sprung the victim is clay in the schemer’s hands or there is no game.
- The In-and-In
- This is the point in a con game where the conspirator puts some of his money into the deal with that of the victim; first, to remove the last doubt that may tarry in the gull’s mind, and, second, to put the con man in control of the situation after the deal is completed, thus forestalling a squeal. Often the whole game is built up around this feature and just as often it does not figure at all.
Now, I don’t exactly know the game they’re playing, but this seems the most likely parallel:
Mystery shopping
There is a fraudulent confidence trick (a form of advance fee fraud) perpetrated on people in several countries who wish to be mystery shoppers. A person is sent amoney order, often from Western Union, or check for a larger sum than a mystery purchase he is required to make, with a request to deposit it into his bank account, use a portion for a mystery purchase and fee, and wire the remainder through a wire transfer company such as Western Union or MoneyGram; the money is to be wired immediately as response time is being evaluated. The check is fraudulent, and is returned unpaid by the victim’s bank, after the money has been wired.
Or, to put it another way: Certain parties cannot accept the results of elections. As part of their fundamental rejection of the Constitution AND Declaration, they continually create fifth columns entitled Whitewater, then Birth Certificate, and now Benghazi. Fortunately, like planaria, their behaviors are not the result of thought, but of instinct, and are equally predictable.
Courage.
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A writer, published author, novelist, literary critic and political observer for a quarter of a quarter-century more than a quarter-century, Hart Williams has lived in the American West for his entire life. Having grown up in Wyoming, Kansas and New Mexico, a survivor of Texas and a veteran of Hollywood, Mr. Williams currently lives in Oregon, along with an astonishing amount of pollen. He has a lively blog His Vorpal Sword. This is cross-posted from his blog.
A writer, published author, novelist, literary critic and political observer for a quarter of a quarter-century more than a quarter-century, Hart Williams has lived in the American West for his entire life. Having grown up in Wyoming, Kansas and New Mexico, a survivor of Texas and a veteran of Hollywood, Mr. Williams currently lives in Oregon, along with an astonishing amount of pollen. He has a lively blog, His Vorpal Sword (no spaces) dot com.