IRS Targeting Another Right Wing Group?

The NY Times shocks us by front-paging this:

Leaning Right in Hollywood, Under a Lens

By MICHAEL CIEPLY and NICHOLAS CONFESSORE

LOS ANGELES — In a famously left-leaning Hollywood, where Democratic fund-raisers fill the social calendar, Friends of Abe stands out as a conservative group that bucks the prevailing political winds.

A collection of perhaps 1,500 right-leaning players in the entertainment industry, Friends of Abe keeps a low profile and fiercely protects its membership list, to avoid what it presumes would result in a sort of 21st-century blacklist, albeit on the other side of the partisan spectrum.

Now the Internal Revenue Service is reviewing the group’s activities in connection with its application for tax-exempt status. Last week, federal tax authorities presented the group with a 10-point request for detailed information about its meetings with politicians like Paul D. Ryan, Thaddeus McCotter and Herman Cain, among other matters, according to people briefed on the inquiry.

The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the organization’s confidentiality strictures, and to avoid complicating discussions with the I.R.S.

Since you ask, the "Abe" is Abe Lincoln.

Those people said that the application had been under review for roughly two years, and had at one point included a demand — which was not met — for enhanced access to the group’s security-protected website, which would have revealed member names. Tax experts said that an organization’s membership list is information that would not typically be required. The I.R.S. already had access to the site’s basic levels, a request it considers routine for applications for 501(c)(3) nonprofit status.

Friends of Abe — the name refers to Abraham Lincoln — has strongly discouraged the naming of its members. That policy even prohibits the use of cameras at group events, to avoid the unwilling identification of all but a few associates — the actors Gary Sinise, Jon Voight and Kelsey Grammer, or the writer-producer Lionel Chetwynd, for instance — who have spoken openly about their conservative political views.

What is going on? This is like reporting, yet it paints team Obama in an unfavorable light. Disorienting! We even learn that left-leaning groups seem to get tax-exempt status somewhat painlessly:

People for the American Way, Mr. Lear’s group, stands as something of a liberal counterpart to Friends of Abe, though the organization is far larger, with an affiliate that spends millions of dollars a year on issue advocacy in Washington and beyond. But the entertainment industry has been crisscrossed by progressive groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council, which maintains a tax-exempt educational adjunct under the 501(c)(3) provision, and includes the producer Laurie David and the actor Leonardo DiCaprio among its trustees. Another, the American Foundation for Equal Rights [founded in 2009], is a nonprofit that supports marriage rights for gay people and counts the producer Bruce Cohen and the writer Dustin Lance Black among its founders.

Who could have guessed? FWIW, the American Foundation for Equal Rights is structured to have bi-partisan appeal. From Wikipedia:

Leadership

AFER is governed by a seven-member board of directors. The board president is Academy Award-winning producer Bruce Cohen, and the treasurer is Michele Reiner. Other board members include Academy Award-winner Dustin Lance Black; Human Rights Campaign (HRC) president Chad Griffin (who served as AFER's board president prior to his position at HRC); philanthropist Jonathan D. Lewis; former Republican National Committee chairman Kenneth B. Mehlman; and actor and director Rob Reiner.^[4] Co-founder Kristina Schake was a board member until December 2010, when she joined the White House staff as Special Assistant to the President and Communications Director to First Lady Michelle Obama.

AFER's staff is headed by Executive Director Adam Umhoefer.

AFER’s advisory board is co-chaired by Robert A. Levy, chairman of the Cato Institute, and John Podesta, Chair and Counselor of the Center for American Progress. Advisory board members include Julian Bond, Lt. Dan Choi, Margaret Hoover, Dolores Huerta, Cleve Jones, David Mixner, Stuart Milk, Hilary Rosen, and Judy Shepard.^[5]

Comments

[MarkO]

Thug.

[Black Hat]

I read this in this morning's times and I wondered why they would print it. Are they trying to get out in front of something?

[matt]

Rob Reiner? Bipartisan?

[Ignatz]

--IRS Targeting Another Right Wing Group?--

Targeting?
I deplore this militaristic, Palinesque, violence promoting jargon.
Aren't our vigilant IRS guardians under enough stress as it is?

I see an extensive audit in Mr Maguires near future.

[Ignatz]

--Rob Reiner? Bipartisan?--

Sure. The board is divided between those directors who have heads with brains and those made of solid meat.

[peter]

What is going on? This is like reporting, yet it paints team Obama in an unfavorable light. Disorienting!

LOL!!!

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Ignatz-- funny you should mention that. Our friend in Chi Town notes several coincidences. Obummer puts Holder/Podesta in charge of 'reforming' NSA, today the Hill reports Schumer starts his anti-Tea Party jihad (did it ever stop?), and we have this NYT reportage about IRS abuse. Could this be smokescreen for the datamining Holder/Podesta will do with NSA info for political blackmail? Worth paying attention to.

[soldier of orange]

Yawn. Yet another donut hole. But this should inspire us all.

""I am a conservative Republican and I believe in God first," Atanus said. She said she believes God controls the weather and has put tornadoes and diseases such as autism and dementia on earth as punishment for gay rights and legalized abortions.

"God is angry. We are provoking him with abortions and same-sex marriage and civil unions," she said. "Same-sex activity is going to increase AIDS. If it's in our military it will weaken our military. We need to respect God."

[qrstuv]

Soldier, tell me again how the beliefs of a single private individual are more interesting than the actions of our government against our fellow citizens.

Actually, don't bother to reply. We hear from people like you often, and you're obviously just employees of the Machine.

[centralcal]

Something needs to be done about the IRS - but our wimpy Congress just spout sound and fury, and do nothing!

[centralcal]

Gack! I get to work and check in on the net and see my twitter newsfeed full of a bloated, gas-bag like Moon, with Hilary's face in it.

Good lawd!

[clarice]

Instapundit has a link a couple of days old to the IRS comment section on its proposed new regs regarding 501(c)(4) groups--go there and give em hell.

[centralcal]

And, trying to outdo the awful Hilary moon, is this:

Our country is completely NUTS.

[Extraneus]

I'd wear it.

[Extraneus]

Schumer to poison Tea Party

Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the Senate Democrats’ political guru, has a plan to poison the Tea Party by driving a wedge between its rich funders and its blue-collar rank and file.

Schumer, one of the Democrats’ most influential strategists, will argue in a major speech on Thursday that super-wealthy Tea Party donors have hijacked the grassroots movement that grew out of the economic anxiety of the 2008 financial collapse to suit their pro-big-business agenda.

ADVERTISEMENT
He’ll lay out a blueprint for how Democrats could exploit what, he argues, is a weakness in the opposition in the address at the Center for American Progress, a pro-Democratic think tank founded by John Podesta, who just joined President Obama’s inner circle at the White House.

"There is a glaring weakness, one very weak link in the Tea Party’s armor, which is an inherent contradiction within the Tea Party that, I believe can be exposed to greatly weaken their hold on the policy debate," Schumer will say, according to excerpts of his remarks.

"The fundamental weakness in the Tea Party machine is the stark difference between what the leaders of the Tea Party elite, plutocrats like the Koch Brothers want and what the average grassroots Tea Party follower wants," he will say.

Schumer will argue Democrats must defend popular government programs, such as extended unemployment benefits and student loan subsidies, to persuade Tea Party voters they could benefit from federal programs.

[clarice]

Speaking of Plutocrats rich elites--Kennedys, Pelosi, Reis, Clinton, Feinstein, DeLaurio the ugly, Soros, Kerry, etc etc etc.

I hope Schumer swallows his own bile.

[clarice]

*ReiD*

[sbwaters]

Broke and baroque.

[Whisk]

Oh yes @ 11:44

The cognitive dissonance of a conservative group of activists (?) championing the Security apparatus, calling Snowden a traitor, whilst they claim to be for small gubmint, is a direct link to the apparatus they derogate.

[sbwaters]

Schumer will argue Democrats must defend popular government programs, such as extended unemployment benefits and student loan subsidies, to persuade Tea Party voters they could benefit from federal programs.

Trying to bribe with entitlements those who believe we can't afford those entitlements? Swift!

[Extraneus]

"The average Tea Party member, like the average American, likes government run Medicare, likes government built highways and water and sewer lines, likes government support for education, both higher and lower," he will say.

Schumer contends powerful Tea Party patrons, such as David H. Koch and Charles Koch, have directed the anger of many independent voters toward the government to ease federal regulation of their multibillion-dollar industries.

“Wealthy Tea Party leaders have convinced Tea Party rank and file and many other Americans that anti-government ideology is the answer to their problems — but many Tea Partiers and sympathizers support government programs — Democrats must exploit the difference,” Schumer’s office said in a statement announcing the speech.

[Extraneus]

The Koch brothers...

[Jaws music]

[Ignatz]

--Schumer will argue Democrats must defend popular government programs, such as extended unemployment benefits and student loan subsidies, to persuade Tea Party voters they could benefit from federal programs.--

Brilliant.

[jimmyk]

"The average Tea Party member, like the average American, likes government run Medicare, likes government built highways and water and sewer lines, likes government support for education, both higher and lower," he will say.

That's about as accurate as this: "The average liberal Democrat, like the average American, wants smaller government, massive spending cuts, lower marginal and average tax rates, and the elimination of several cabinet departments including Education, Commerce, Agriculture, and Energy."

Isn't it fun to speak for the other side?

[Extraneus]

“What the senator is getting at is, they’re very populist, and they are hard-pressed economically,” Democratic pollster Celinda Lake said of Tea Party voters. “So I think there is an interesting point right now where Democrats can lay out an economic agenda that really pressures the Tea Party leaders.”

Lake said Schumer and other Democratic leaders would be hard pressed to convince Tea Party voters to embrace big government, but they could push a populist economic agenda that resonates with them.

“A majority of Tea Partiers do support raising the minimum wage. They like to stand up for the little guy,” she said.

[Cecil Turner]

Yeah, nothing says "patriot" like giving/selling military secrets to the Chinese and Russians.

[Extraneus]

This is interesting.

Schumer also wants state officials to mull switching to a “jungle primary” system similar to what was adopted in California, in which the two highest recipients of votes in a nonpartisan primary advance to the general election.

He believes this would reduce the influence of conservative ideologues in low-turnout races. The election of some hard-core conservatives has made it more difficult for Senate Democrats in Washington.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), for example, helped trigger the October government shutdown. He defeated former Sen. Bob Bennett, who had been more willing to cross the aisle, in a GOP contest.

[Extraneus]

Schumer teaming up with the F'nork?

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Schumer-- that Leviathan Plutocrat doesn't even pretend anymore, he's strictly in the bribe and shakedown the voters business. Disgusting. The good news? Sending Schumer out to recruit TP voters is not a good marketing plan for Dems. He's completely repulsive, a walking negative stereotype. He'll infuriate TP and their sympathizers. nationalizing the 2014 elections with Schumer's face is manna for Repubs in states like La, NC Iowa etc.

[matt]

The Pimp Olympics?

The Democrat agenda is to use the IRS, the FBI, the AG, and all other tools of state to oppress their political opponents while the RINO's stand by and golf clap.

I saw this morning that California's microstamping requirement is now driving Smith & Wesson and Ruger out of the market. Fascism is fascism any way you look at it.

[Whisk]

"Yeah, nothing says "patriot" like giving/selling military secrets to the Chinese and Russians."

You've obviously been following the issue with intense focus.

Why don't you ask him some intelligent questions? Live q&a at 3 EST.

http://www.freesnowden.is/asksnowden/

[matt]

It's all about shoring up the base with Leftists like Schumer. He wants to go back and say he tried his best before they send in the Brownshirts.

[Whisk]

Cherry picking the social/economic issues based upon religious ignorance and personal prejudice is the best way to keep everything, and I mean EVERYthing, the same.

Congrats.

[Cecil Turner]

Why don't you ask him some intelligent questions?

Too busy rereading Sibel Edmonds's book.

[rich@gmu]

afternoon all.

had a great meet up with DrJ yesterday. Thanks for dinner. Enjoyed the meeting. That is a pretty snazzy building down in Arlington.

Grandpa Lurker. Congratulations and prayers for good health.

another day of class.

[rich@gmu]

I want to sleep for 16 hours.

[Extraneus]

Btw, why do they worry about people like Mike Lee or even tea partiers in that article? I thought the gov't shutdown was a boon for Democrats.

The election of some hard-core conservatives has made it more difficult for Senate Democrats in Washington.

Huh?

[Jane-Rebel Alliance1]

That's about as accurate as this:

I was talking with my niece earlier about how weird it has been to be accused of being a "racist" about a thousand times because I'm a tea partier - while not having a racist bone in my body. I decided that from now on I want to be referred to as "anorexic". I assume if it is repeated often enough everyone will see me as Twiggy from now on.

So please, if you talk about me at a JOM meet-up, the appropriate adjective is "anorexic".

[rich@gmu]

will do Jane. not a pleasant thing to be called.

I've got a splitting headache and have to go home then work.

[MaryD]

LOL, Jane! Can I be anorexic too?

[rich@gmu]

>>>The Democrat agenda is to use the IRS, the FBI, the AG, and all other tools of state to oppress their political opponents while the RINO's stand by and golf clap.<<<

and to weaken and eliminate local authority. find the whole thing revolting.

the irs requesting memberlists.

[rich@gmu]

please no, it is really a sad thing to see.

[rich@gmu]

and I'm a bit light in the wallet...all the bells and whistles...429.59/credit hour.

[rich@gmu]

a bit early for date night. where did everyone go?

[henry]

Rich, how did the IRS emergency audit system miss you?

[386J-I-B289]

Cross post:

Please God, make this a real cover and not some photo shop. Supposedly, its this Sunday's cover. Bonanza time at JOM this Sunday. Get all your best snarks ready.

[Threadkiller]

Jerome Corsi:

" http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/01/barack_hussein_soebarkah.html This is just developing. Loretta Fuddy was a member of the Subud religion (Indonesian origins) in Hawaii -- Ann Dunham also associated with Subud cult. The photo below is the founder of Subud -- Mohammed Subud -- resemblance is pretty shocking/striking. The pictures of Subub were, I believe, in the 1970s. I would appreciate any thoughts any of you might have about this."

Maybe this will get cleared up during the State of the Groin speech.

[jimmyk]

Hillary looks like she's lost a bit of weight in that shot.

Or is that Don Zimmer?

[centralcal]

Jane, how about we say you are scrawny - skin and bones - instead.

[Rob Crawford]

Meh. Unless her cankles are neutronium, Christie has a higher gravitational pull.

[jimmyk]

And those pix of Subud look like a cross between Barry and Mario Cuomo.

[Truthbetold]

Clarice
Did you attack Giraldi for talking about your friends Perle and Feith?

Who Can Control Israel’s Arms Dealers?

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/who-will-control-israels-arms-dealers/

[centralcal]

TK, those pictures are rather shocking. Do you think they're legit?

[Threadkiller]

I don't know anymore, ccal.

[Beasts of England]

@centralcal: While the sketches are much better than the finished product, the Olympic outfits are fairly attractive. I think the young athletes will find them appealing and will look appropriate for the event.

[centralcal]

Well, I will take your word for it, Beasts. I think they are hideous. But, I am a junior senior citizen, ergo they are probably gonna be very popular with the young.

[386J-I-B289]

How cold is it on the First Coast of Florida?

We have a men's golf group that plays every Friday. Lower handicaps, about 20 to 50 guys depending on the time of year. For the first time in 15 years of this group playing together, the leader has decided to not conduct play on this Friday due to the tempurature at 0900hrs (35F) and its windchill of 25F.

First time in 15 years but we are warming so there is some relief in sight.

[386J-I-B289]

BTW, I see a lot of Juan Williams in those pics. Especially at the eye line.

[Titus]

"Who Can Control Israel’s Arms Dealers?"

Since Israelis are their own Shibboleth there is no need for control.

[narciso]

A concoction, out of the mind of Dr, Who;

http://www.ign.com/wikis/doctor-who/Abzorbaloff

from the earlier LUN:

[Threadkiller]

I wonder if Subud has ever been harassed.

"subud site:irs.gov" shows they have exempt organizations everywhere.

[Beasts of England]

I receive mail from the AARP, too, centralcal. ;)

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

JiB/JimmyK-- looks more like Tiger Woods to me. Although I can see the 50/50 Barry-Mario Cuomo.

[Titus]

Thank you Ed Snowden. This wouldn't have happened without you becoming a hated criminal for our sakes..

"WASHINGTON — An independent federal privacy watchdog has concluded that the National Security Agency’s program to collect bulk phone call records has provided only “minimal” benefits in counterterrorism efforts, is illegal and should be shut down.

The findings are laid out in a 238-page report, scheduled for release by Thursday and obtained by The New York Times, that represent the first major public statement by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which Congress made an independent agency in 2007 and only recently became fully operational.

The report is likely to inject a significant new voice into the debate over surveillance, underscoring that the issue was not settled by a high-profile speech President Obama gave last week. Mr. Obama consulted with the board, along with a separate review group that last month delivered its own report about surveillance policies. But while he said in his speech that he was tightening access to the data and declared his intention to find a way to end government collection of the bulk records, he said the program’s capabilities should be preserved.

[narciso]

I don't see much bipartisanship in that lineup,
Mehlman, blanc mange extraordinaire, Cato's Levy is an, exception, most are doctrinaire leftists,

categorical claims one way or another, have proven
dubious, as with the matter of aggressive interrogation,

[centralcal]

Alrighty then!

O’Reilly Factor host Bill O’Reilly will interview President Barack Obama during the Super Bowl pregrame show. It will be O’Reilly’s third interview with Obama, the last airing before the 2011 Super Bowl.

For the folks, doncha know.

[Captain Hate]

Two bullshitters doing what they do best on Super Bowl Sunday? What are the chances?

[centralcal]

I see that little Matty Yglesias and little Ezra Klein will be working together in the big new media project Klein is creating.

[Beasts of England]

Anyone defending Snowden has never had a security clearance and certainly doesn't understand the nature of classified data - especially not the critical and sensitive level of the data and programs that the dipshit revealed. He's a traitor and should be hanged.

[Titus]

You don't need a security clearance to understand the malice which grows uncontrolled within a bureaucracy. But that's only within an untoward bureaucracy like the IRS, idn't it, Mr Panda? You are an idiot, but it's not a hanging offense.

[Threadkiller]

When the discussion turned to the NSA and expected reforms, Congressman McClintock explained that he had stopped listening to the President "because he has a terrible habit of saying one thing and doing something completely different."

"His administration lied to the Congress under oath, denying that the federal government was collecting any kind of records on Americans. That was James Clapper, he should have been fired on the spot. He's still in the administration," noted Congressman McClintock.

"We were then told, oh, it's only phone and internet records but no content. And then we learned of the XKeyscore program, which is monitoring content in direct violation of our 4th Amendment rights."

"We were told it was being used against terrorists," he continued, "then we learned from Reuters last year that information from warrantless and indiscriminate searches is routinely turned over to domestic police agencies. And then they use this Orwellian process called parallel construction to hide from the courts and from the defendants the warrantless origin of this information."

"So I'm tired of words from this administration and this President," said Congressman McClintock. "I would prefer action, and I would prefer action, for a change, that is actually in support of our Constitutional rights." 

http://www.tommcclintock.com/media/audio/1686

[narciso]

This is embarassing, if not outright illegal

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/01/ferraris-rolexes-and-a-shopping-spree-inside-the-extravagant-life-of-bob-mcdonnell-and-his-wife/

[narciso]

t does seem overdone'

http://twitchy.com/2014/01/23/freedom-barfed-all-over-these-team-usas-sochi-uniforms-are-officially-hideous-pics/

[Beasts of England]

Really, Titus? Really? You ever been read-in to a black program and signed the documents that clearly state that you can be punished by death for unauthorized disclosure of the data? Obviously you haven't, moron.

[narciso]

Some proper editing;

http://twitchy.com/2014/01/23/seriously-wtf-nyt-magazines-planet-hillary-cover-will-haunt-your-dreams-pic/

[386J-I-B289]

From our friend Don Surber. It begins:)

[Beasts of England]

Ever had a CNWDI caveat? WNINTEL? Do you even understand the extraordinary sensitivity of single-point intelligence failure? Obviously you don't. Go fuck yourself.

[Beasts of England]

lol, JiB!! Classic!

[jimmyk]

He's a traitor and should be hanged.

Yeah, it's one thing to say that some good may inadvertently come from what he did (along with much bad), but to make a hero out of him as Ron Paul, for example, did is ridiculous:

Ron Paul ‏@RonPaul 21h

Thank you for waking us up, Edward #Snowden. Send him your own note of thanks here:

[Ignatz]

--You don't need a security clearance to understand the malice which grows uncontrolled within a bureaucracy.--

Like a single payer health care bureaucracy that not only handles our phone calls and emails but decides whether we live or die?

Do your reverse misunderstandings of others' alleged ones constitute idiocy?

[Truthbetold]

Beasts

Marc Grossman has!

Valerie Plame Wilson’s friend, Marc Grossman, guilty of Treason!

http://illinoispaytoplay.com/2013/08/03/valerie-plame-wilsons-friend-marc-grossman-guilty-of-treason/

[Threadkiller]

If the "black program" was designed to intrude, violate, and eventually usurp our Second Amendment rights, what would you think of the traitor that went against the disclosure obligations in his contract?

[Titus]

" You ever been read-in...?"

Obviously you haven't the right stuff. Snowden smoked your weed, but had the chops when he revived his senses. I won't wait for your epiphany.

[henry]

Snowden transmitted to our enemies far more than the unconstitutional domestic overreach by the NSA. Shot while hanged.

[386J-I-B289]

Kelo is alive and well in Orlando

Although, the good Reverand LeAndrew Shack can show Jesse and Al a bit more hustle. He wants $40 mil for his $700K appraised church. But Orlando is doing this for the kids - the ones who play soccer, so their Dads and Moms can watch the MLS.

[Ignatz]

I'm with jimmyk on this. A great deal of good already has come from Snowden's acts however a great deal of harm may and probably already did occur.
The federal government has become an adversary of its citizens but that does not mean we don't still face many actual foreign enemies as well.
Snowden could have made everyone painfully aware of the feds' overreach and blatant spying on its own citizens without dumping massive wholesale intelligence data that not only lets our enemies know how we're collecting info on them but what actual info has been collected.

That's kinda close to aid and comfort to the enemy; aid and comfort which didn't have to occur with just a bit of discretion on his part to isolate the releases to the civil liberty issues involved. If that was too much work for him then maybe he isn't quite the selfless hero he wants to portray himself as.

[Beasts of England]

Nice job of conflation, retard. I'm no fan of trashing our freedoms, but I also know there are appropriate channels and avenues to address the issues.

You need the epiphany, Titus, not me. I have the right stuff - something that will always allude keyboard tough guys and dilettantes such as yourself.

[Titus]

"I'm no fan of trashing our freedoms,"

Well, that is a sort of epiphany, like declaring water is 'wet'.

[Threadkiller]

Is a government that overreaches the rights of its people worthy of enemy status? How much overreach do you allow of the Second Amendment?

[Truthbetold]

Beasts

What do you have to say about Russ Tice?

[Beasts of England]

I can't imagine what that program would be, threadkiller. Seriously.

Amen, Ig, henry and jimmyk. I can't imagine how Snowden ever got a clearance at that level. He's delusional and his mental instability should have been disqualifying factors. Where the heck was the FBI for his polygraph? Wow.

[Titus]

" however a great deal of harm may and probably already did occur."

I keep hearing this. Has Mike Rogers and Feinstein failed to carefully document with charts and graphs.? How about those stalwart defenders of the Constitution, Clapper and Hayden. Have they capitulated to the Snowden supporters?

Maybe they could fashion a sort of UN Bibi bomb for illustrative purposes.

[Threadkiller]

If we consider the information that Snowden dumped to be all true, can anyone explain why there are 11million illegal aliens that can't be found within our borders?

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Snowden-- if he's a whistleblower and not a traitorous criminal, he completes his civil disobedience by standing trial and taking whatever consequences the legal system has for him. If he's morally right, but legally wrong he serves his sentence with the knowledge he did the right thing. That is the essence of moral civil disobedience. If he's both morally and legally correct he'll be acquitted. But Snowden didn't do that, didn't do any of that, did he?

[matt]

I am of two minds on Snowden.

The results I have seen to date have not shown that there have been any consequences except a major blow up between the USA and its allies on spying and some major programs that almost certainly violate the 4th Amendment have been exposed.

Have there been any documented cases of sources blown except ELINT? Dead Agents or their contacts?

This is a country that had Hansen and Ames and Walker and seems to have some Iranian or Chinese scumbag stealing our deepest secrets every week.never mind the French or Israelis who steal us blind economically and technically.

Snowden has been accused of treason and espionage, but is it? Do we know factually and definitively that it has hurt our national security?

The fact is that our civil rights are being horribly eroded on a criminal scale worthy of the Stasi or Gestapo or NKVD.

The moment law enforcement got the first information on a domestic police matter the 4th Amendment was violated. That we have a secret court that then defends this bullshit offends me deeply.

Where is evidence that shows that this massive surveillance and security apparatus has saved a life? We have evidence of its misuse. And the only major case the FBI had in Boston was blown.

"I can't tell you because then I'd have to kill you" is non operative in 99.9999% of domestic cases.

[Enlightened]

Barry Soetoro of Columbia U was a Foreign Student? I thought since he was born in Hawaii he was a US Citizen?

Gateway Pundit has a copy of his student ID card - I know, it's probably fake.

[Jane-Rebel Alliance1]

O’Reilly Factor host Bill O’Reilly will interview President Barack Obama during the Super Bowl pregrame show

It's a perfect coupling. I can't stand either of them.

I'm not so sure about "scrawny" CC - but it's better than "racist".

[Threadkiller]

Look no further than the idea for Fast and Furious, Beasts. The program was designed to show the irresponsible nature of the gun culture of the United States. Had Brian Terry's death not been the whistle blowing event of that program, what would it have grown into?

[Rob Crawford]

Use a consistent name, Dana, or STFU.

[Beasts of England]

Have there been any documented cases of sources blown except ELINT? Dead Agents or their contacts?

Blown ELINT is bad enough, matt. And, no, we wouldn't know of the single-point agent deaths. That's the whole issue. These assets are life-long operators and are truly irreplaceable.