Tuesday, May 14, 2013

WE ARE ONE TREE
Warts and All



Hard to figure sometimes...

Before launching into my reaction to the “Gotcha Game” in Washington, I must make clear that I consider the alleged targeting of conservative groups for special scrutiny by I.R.S. officials to be reprehensible... beyond the pale, actually, in these times of economic instability in our country.  Republican congressmen Darrell Issa of San Diego and Jim Jordan of Ohio are appropriately outraged.  I agree with their outrage.  So does the President of the United States agree. A dozen Republican senators, including Orrin Hatch (Utah), Rob Portman (Ohio), Mitch McConnell (Kentucky), Church Grassley (Iowa), and Rand Paul (Kentucky) also agree with their outrage.  They have sent a letter to I.R.S. Commissioner Shulman saying, “We have received reports and reviewed information from nonprofit civi organizations in Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas concerning recent IRS inquiries perceived to be excessive.”  They went on to say, “It is critical that the public have confidence that federal tax compliance efforts are pursued in a fair, even-handed, and transparent manner--without regard to politics of any kind.  To that end, we write today to seek your assurance that this recent string of inquiries has a sound basis in law and is consistent with the IRS’s treatment of tax-exempt organizations across the spectrum.”  I Agree.  The President of the United States agrees. 

Slack-jawed McConnell went on to say to reporters, “We can’t count on the administration to be forthcoming about the details of this scandal because so far they’ve been anything but.”  

When, I wonder, can we count on these and other members of Congress to turn their attention to governance and social justice issues that are obviously impeding the growth of our economy and weakening the social fabric of our country.  Of course, turning the I.R.S. into a political department of government would do great harm to the nation. Former Commissioner, Ron Shulman, under whose term (completed in November 2012) the targeting occurred, was appointed in 2008 by President George W. Bush. He made clear in a hearing last year that the I.R.S. has been and should remain a non-political department.

We all should be appropriately disappointed and distressed that targeting occurred.  People responsible for it should not keep their jobs.  Appropriate amends should be made to aggrieved not-for-profit organizations. We can then hope that members of Congress will finally begin to work together to solve the nation’s problems as diligently as some of them have been working to weaken rather than strengthen the efforts of the duly-elected Obama Administration to lead our country into a bright future.


5 comments:

Charles said...

Jerral, I agree with your sentiment...in general. The ugly truth is that some of these not-for-profit organizations simply use their status to fund their organizations agenda, be they right or left wing. One such group would be Pat Robertsons "700 Club". Another example would be the Westboro Baptist Church. These organizations should be audited and gone after.

John B. said...

"Warts" here...you know how to handle me? take a little duct tape and place on me for a week and replace duct tape for the next 3 week period and I will dissolve....

One tree...coming from one earth......

Which makes sense to me ...our common ground is mother earth.....not one god. I was checking the yellow pages the other day for a church address and was dazzled by the huge number of christian communities....all claiming the truth. Some were very clear that gays were not welcome by their god....others welcomed gays saying their god loved them. Others believe that their god only allows women to have children and abortions are taboo....while other churches say it is a woman's right to chose...and so on. It became clear to me that this one god idea is not accurate any more. There are gods I could not follow or respect and there are other gods that seem more open and welcoming...

In Hawaii, the Hawaiians were polytheistic.....having many gods....division of labor....probably not a bad idea(Christians came and tried to crush their beliefs' by saying
they were pagan.....Hawaiians understood that the earth was their common ground...what we all have in common.....but to believe in one God was not a requirement of the sacred....

Jesus himself never came to start a church nor was he a christian. He came to call us to live in more complete and humane ways with self and neighbor...
Yes Judaism is monotheistic and yet like christianity and Islam there are many different voices that are in major conlfict within themselves...in Judiam.


So the tree comes from common ground and yet like the three children of Abraham(I see 3 different lines in the tree) they fight as the tree seems to be in an internal fight ....

one god or many? does it matter?

Be well

agape'
JB

Anonymous said...

Right on!
M.L.

Taylor said...

Once again I want to thank you for your insight and commentary on what is going on in our country. You are a good spokesperson for many of us who may not be as articulate.

Marion said...

Tea Party, New Liberty, .... Make up your own! Who DOES have the responsibility that the mission statement is consistent with the tax structure? The FBI would not have touched This knowingly, yet they kept files on MLK and the Kennedys. And they would not have told the IRS that surveillance was ongoing, I think that Issa and his henchmen should also all be under scrutiny to be sure that their objectives are honorable and legal. Is this not checks and balances?