Rebane's Ruminations
May 2013
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George Rebane

The flowering Obamagate scandals are simply “controversies” as National Propaganda Radio spent a great deal of time this morning assuring its audience.  Nothing special here, the President always comes out to the formally prepared East Room in the evenings to remark on little kerfuffles or differences of opinion.  Everyone go back to sleep.


LymanGilmoreOverflightPioneer aviator Lyman Gilmore was celebrated yesterday
at the school of his name.  There was a big ceremony for students and speakers to recognize Nevada County’s contribution to early aviation.  The event included an organized overflight by a large group of local aviators, some of  them with national reputations.  The flight was comprised of 18 private aircraft led by Jim Booth in his now familiar yellow AT-6 warbird followed in close formation by three members of the Ryder Flight.  Getting all those airplanes in the air, oriented and lined up, and then back on the ground on a very windy day was a grand feat of organization and heads up piloting by all participants – H/T to our own Bob Hobert (Ryder Flight leader and RR reader, who also sent me the pic) for organizing and getting everyone briefed and debriefed.  I was happy to be invited by Jim to again fly in the rear seat of the T-6.

“Untruth” versus lie.  The media, led by Fox News, seems to have some problem with those terms.  Even the conservative Dr Charles Krauthammer (around our house known as ‘The Bonze’), their most noble of nationally syndicated commentators, dripping with gravitas, can’t bring himself to call a lie a lie – well, he did once last night.  On the air politicians aren’t lying, they’re telling “untruths”.  For us with simpler minds, an untruth is any statement that is not true independent of the intent behind its utterance – misreading a clock and then falsely reporting the time is an untruth.  A lie is a known untruth told with intent to deceive.  Most politicians are inveterate liars, it’s part of the job requirements – let’s call a spade a spade when their lies are obvious to the whole country.

Rosa Koire will present an update on Agenda21, and how this UN inititiative has been making progress ‘Behind the Green Mask’.  Here’s the info –

When:  Tuesday May 21, 2013, 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Where: Grass Valley Veterans Hall, 225 S. Auburn Street, Grass Valley
Admission: $20 at the door; $15 in advance
Advance tickets: BriarPatch Co-op, online at http://www.cabpro.net (special events tab) or by calling CABPRO (530) 478-1331

Those of us a bit paranoid about government training guns on its own citizens (aka us), should keep their eye peeled on the first steps that our military has now taken in this direction.  Obama’s Pentagon has “unilaterally” granted itself powers to aid local law enforcement agencies to curb “civil disturbances” by changing some wording in the US Code covering ‘Defense Support of Civilian Law Enforcement Agencies’ (more here).

[update]  New  speech codes will be sweeping the nation starting with the college campuses and the revision of what consists of sexually harrassing speech.  This will not stop with either the campuses or sexual harrassment.  All the while our astute progressives are protesting, ‘What new regulations? there’re no more new regulations.  And let’s talk about Bush instead.’  Obama’s fundamental transformation is on a roll.  (more here).

[18may13 update]  Well, it looks like it’s CYA time in embassy land, at least in the mid-eastern part of the world.  Now that everyone’s attention is on the Benghazi debacle, tragedy, and cover-up, no ambassador in that part of the world is going to be left behind in alerting the mother temple (aka Foggy Bottom) that threats to their embassies and consulates are increasing.  (more here)  For sure Kerry is not going to hang on to Hillary’s hand as he helps Obama throw her under the bus.  So we are sure to see some visible muscle deployed closer to where the action is anticipated.  And playing his cards right, maybe ol’ John can emerge out of all this as the new, improved, and heroic hopeful for 2016.  Crazier things have happened.

Posted in , , , , ,

128 responses to “Ruminations – 16may13 (updated 18may13)”

  1. Gregory Avatar

    The Benghazi talking points is about lying to the American people to protect Obama’s reelection effort. That’s Nixonian. So is the IRS subverting the Citizens United decision by stopping all conservative/tp 501c applications in their tracks immediately after the decision.
    None of this is going away anytime soon, and the sooner criminal investigations start, the sooner people will be giving up superiors in order to cut better deals with the prosecution.
    For Boehner, it may well be Christmas in July.

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  2. Steve Frisch Avatar
    Steve Frisch

    Greg, nothing the IRS did would stop anybody. Under IRS law 501c4 organizations, just like C3’s, can self declare and operate as though they are legal entities. They are allowed under law to operate as though they have received their declaration letter. The declamation letter is not necessary to either operate or receive funds. Since C4 donations are not tax deductible not having the declaration letter does not affect donations, or sources and uses of cash.
    Please don’t construe this as me saying that what the IRS did was right, it was most decidedly wrong, and the people responsible should be fired. But in the end it has zero net effect on the ability of the organizations in question to operate.
    Just a little someone one picks up when they live by IRS law:)

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  3. Steve Frisch Avatar
    Steve Frisch

    Oops…..should read ‘declaration’. Darn I Pads!

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  4. Ben Emery Avatar
    Ben Emery

    George,
    “These pages are replete with acknowledging that our nation’s interests are not evenly or even ‘fairly’ distributed across the globe. Whatever gave you the idea that people think that way remains a puzzle, one of the ones the solution to which I am truly ignorant.”
    Why people think that way is a majority of the world wants it to be that way. The problem is that a very small few oligarchs control much of the worlds policies. I don’t have time to look it up but a study that followed the money on global issues came down to around 5,000 people or organizations and then there was an elite subgroup that held the most power even within the top 5,000 influential people or organizations on the planet.
    I am with the vast majority of the world on this one and don’t identify myself as a human being first and American second. Being the US doesn’t give us carte blanche to what ever policy, resource, or government we want. The idea of that is just the ways things are is why I continuously call you an authoritarian. If you lived in any of the nations around the globe where US military is used to secure resources and profits you might take a different position. Your for liberty as long as it is your own but the liberty of others you can take it or leave it. Amazing.

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  5. George Rebane Avatar

    BenE 413pm – You nailed me again, guilty as charged. If options are few, I will again opt first for liberty and prosperity for my fellow countrymen, and people who share my outlook and values. If I cannot provide prosperity and happiness to the entire world, then I will not give away of my own prosperity, security, and quality of life to make my country an egalitarian, participant in the misery of the world.
    Now reading that statement, the reflexive thinking progressive will immediately conclude, ‘Aha, there he is, another authoritarian who wants to put the world under his heel for more Lebensraum, or something equivalent.’ (Funny, I never heard the Left accuse Stalin of that either before, during, or after WW2.)

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  6. Steve Frisch Avatar
    Steve Frisch

    George, perhaps you should read a little more American history, the vast majority of the American “Left” was anti-Stalin, both long before WWII, increasingly after the Nazi-Soviet nonaggression pact, and after Barbarossa. There were admittedly some American Stalinists, but they were few and far between.

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  7. George Rebane Avatar

    SteveF 536pm – that sounds like a lot of standard Great Society revisionism. The truth was 180 out. Our progressives and socialists were ga-ga with the “full employment” that Stalin bragged about during the Depression. America’s Movietone news were constantly full of ‘Potemkin village’ type newsreels showing happy Soviet workers harvesting crops and building big dams.
    The public debate about turning toward a Soviet solution was a dominant theme as FDR kept spending billions on public works while unemployment remained unchanged. Even Woodie Guthrie captured the spirit. Current historians cite the successes of the Communist Party USA during that era. Historian Ellen Schrecker talks of recent scholarship showing the CPUSA in “a more nuanced portrayal of the party as both a Stalinist sect tied to a vicious regime and the most dynamic organization within the American Left during the 1930s and ’40s.”
    But thanks for another piece of your belief system that illuminates your remarks in these comment streams.

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  8. Paul Emery Avatar

    Gregory writes 18 May 2013 at 03:10 PM
    “None of this is going away anytime soon, and the sooner criminal investigations start, the sooner people will be giving up superiors in order to cut better deals with the prosecution.”
    Wrong Gregory. Benghazi has peaked and has no where to go. The AP flap reflects Republican ideals on the war on terror and the press will soon forgive. The IRS story will burn on for awhile but it will be a controlled burn with adequate firewalls. So far Obama has picked up support in the last couple weeks according to the Gallup daily tracking poll.
    http://www.pollingreport.com/obama_job1.htm
    The pubbers are largely viewed as obstructionists and unless they gain ground with Hispanics and women they are sunk. Scandals never win elections.

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  9. Gregory Avatar

    By a Gallop poll released two days ago, Americans by 69/21% think Benghazi needs further investigation, and 74/17 believe the IRS needs further investigation. Paul, I think you’re in deep wishful thinking if you think they don’t have legs.
    Obama may be looking presidential by causing the acting IRS commissioner to leave a few weeks earlier than planned and firing the guy who’s had the job running the 501cX department for, what, a week or two? But that doesn’t mean the people don’t think the IRS and Benghazi crap doesn’t stink.

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  10. Gregory Avatar

    I’m so happy to hear from Frisch that the 501c4 designation is so meaningless.
    If it’s so useless, why didn’t the IRS just send a letter to every applicant helping them understand how all that time and expense was just wasted effort and giving them instructions on how to live without it? Left wing (as little as 3 weeks to granting) or right wing (27 months and counting for many; not a single one after the first TP 501c4, after the Citizens United case).

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  11. Michael Anderson Avatar
    Michael Anderson

    Gregory, the torrent of applications from little tea peoples, 15-minutes-of-fame wannabes like Mark Meckler, is what caught the eye of the IRS.
    The IRS uppermucks had already been politically cleared to accept the nonsense from the big boyz, like Axelrod and Rove. But faced with an opportunity for some billable busywork, and as Steve Frisch duly noted, these poor, tiny-scale “non-profits” were given the standard you-are-not-one-of-us rogering.
    IRS and customer service? Doesn’t exist, and it never will.

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  12. Steve Frisch Avatar
    Steve Frisch

    And yet once again Greg, as is his standard modus operand, does not respond to the key point I made. It is not necessary for a 501 c 4 to obtain a declaration letter to operate as a nonprofit, and does not effect their ability to receive donations, which are not tax deductible anyway, so, from an operational perspective, is a complete non-issue. Nor does Greg acknowledge my statement that it was bad behavior by the IRS and should be punished by all of those responsible being fired.

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  13. Steve Frisch Avatar
    Steve Frisch

    George I am wondering if you could define “the Left” for me?
    The term is so broad that it is difficult to place it in any meaningful historical context regarding your statement that, “Funny, I never heard the Left accuse Stalin of that [authoritarianism] either before, during, or after WW2.”
    At various times I have heard you define “the Left” as just about anyone who does not adopt laisse fair principles, leaving a pretty big group of people open to the charge that they are ‘Stalinists’ in chinos.

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  14. George Rebane Avatar

    SteveF 714am – Fair question, but not an easy one. I try to use Left in the way it is commonly used in the broad media and academics. ‘The Left’ today occupies the semantic root of a structure of labels that define more nuanced economic, social, geopolitical refinements each with their own labels – e.g. collectivist, socialist – applied both in-country and trans-nationally, which applications may differ.
    Again searching for a compact definition one finds the good broad definition in Wikipedia that is useful in these pages.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-wing_politics
    One that is closer to the way I have explained it can be obtained from this piece.
    http://www.theobjectivestandard.com/blog/index.php/2012/06/political-left-and-right-properly-defined/
    But to me the closest is what I wrote in
    http://rebaneruminations.typepad.com/rebanes_ruminations/2013/02/ideologies-and-governance-a-structured-look.html
    In sum, I don’t think that everyone will agree with each others’ definitions, but that agreement is really not necessary for a dialogue to continue. The important requirement is that each understands the other’s definition.

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  15. Todd Juvinall Avatar

    We know it when we see and read it. The left is just like porn.

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  16. Steve Frisch Avatar
    Steve Frisch

    George, if you define left as any of the above your statement that you, “…never heard the Left accuse Stalin of that [authoritarianism] either before, during or after WW2”, is completely false. Not only did huge swaths of what you would define as “the Left” openly criticize and oppose Stalin (for example American Trotskyites, trade unions, socialists, and even the American Communist Party under Charles Ruthenberg before he died) most people you have defined as ‘the Left” here, including New Deal leaders, openly opposed Stalinism, and considered much of what they were doing as a means of defeating Stalinist communism. Just because some news reports touted full employment in Russia does not mean that ‘the Left” supported Soviet style Stalinist communism. The same news reports touted full employment in Hitler’s Germany and Mussolini’s Italy, does that mean we were fascists? (of course I know you believe that Fascists and Communists are the same thing).
    The reality is the vast majority of the American people are firmly in the broad center of both our own politics, and the worlds politics, historically, even under the pressure of the Great Depression.
    By casting such a wide net in your definition of “the Left” and lumping them together in support of Stalinism you are in essence engaging in wild hyperbole that does nothing to advance any meaningful discussion. It is indeed illustrative of your belief system and technique; all people who disagree with libertarian principles are Stalinists. Something makes me think that fleeing Stalin for the bosom of the west may have affected your thinking more than you would be comfortable admitting.

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  17. Steve Frisch Avatar
    Steve Frisch

    I expect Todd to think “he knows it when he sees it”. What he fails to realize is that what Potter Stewart went on to say was, “…and this is not it.” I expect nothing less than truncated paraphrases of misquotes from Mr. Juvinall.

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  18. Paul Emery Avatar

    But Todd must be speaking from an experienced hand when he says he knows porn when sees it.

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  19. Russ Steele Avatar

    The Diplomad 2.0 has some thoughts about the Left, Democrats, and Liberalism this morning HERE. Not recommended for our lefty readers unless they have taken their blood pressure meds. The truth is hard to deal with some times and elevalted blood pressure can result in heart attacks. Please be cautious.

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  20. George Rebane Avatar

    SteveF 842am – You presented a lot of assertions there. I’ll just address one of them. When I referred to Stalin in my 601pm, I used him as the leader of the USSR and the international communist movement then in full swing. I did NOT refer to ‘Stalinism’, which is an interpretation of the instantiation of communism that differentiated itself from Trotskyism, etc. (Among their differences, Stalin wanted to two-step international communism, first consolidating communism in Russia and its near abroad. Trotsky saw the communist movement as one continuous “proletarian revolution” sweeping the world. But those differences were not the reason Trotsky had to be thrown out of a window in Mexico City.)
    Nevertheless, such nuances to a person of my leanings are pretty much pointless, since I appose them all under the same banner. But I do understand that to leftists, there are important differences there.
    As to how the Left divided itself during the 1930s and 40s, I also leave that interpretation to the various histories to which each of us subscribe. All I can say there is that ‘my history’ has demonstrated extraordinary explanatory and predictive powers of what I have observed during my lifetime.
    Using your understanding that I believe “… all people who disagree with libertarian principles are Stalinists” is yet another illustration that both of us ascribe unacceptable attributes to each other, reside in different Americas, and have distinctly different visions for our country’s future.

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  21. Todd Juvinall Avatar

    I see the libs go after the messenger. What a hoot! I would say the resident libs probably pray to the god of Hugo Chavez’s dead soul. He and Daniel Ortega were what represented a good lefty here in our hemisphere. Thank Reagan for helping the Contra’s (Ollie North too). Hugo proved that even a good commie has to die sometime. We know it when we see it.

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  22. Steve Frisch Avatar
    Steve Frisch

    George Rebane 19 May 2013 at 12:14 PM
    Really George if your case is that no one from “the Left” opposed “the leader of the USSR and the international communist movement then in full swing” you are even more demonstrably incorrect. I am sure you would have considered the New Deal, the English Labor government, the Yugoslavs under Tito, and even Franco’s Spain [since Fascists and Communists are really just one and the same] as the left….yet all actively opposed Stalin.
    What I am really objecting to here is your insistence on grouping all people who disagree with your brand of ‘conservatarianism’ together into one camp. You are intentionally implying that all members of ‘the Left” were supporters of Stalin, which is just bullshyte. It is not only inaccurate, it is a classic propaganda ploy to create ‘guilt by association’. Just want to make sure that when people actively seek to emulate Joe McCarthy we call it what it s.

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  23. George Rebane Avatar

    SteveF 1244pm – You seem to be having a lot of fun with my 601pm about all members of the Left supporting Stalin. You might want to reread what I said. Is this what set you off?
    “Our progressives and socialists were ga-ga with the “full employment” that Stalin bragged about during the Depression. America’s Movietone news were constantly full of ‘Potemkin village’ type newsreels showing happy Soviet workers harvesting crops and building big dams.”
    Are you again into another bout of ‘I know what you were really thinking’?

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  24. Steve Frisch Avatar
    Steve Frisch

    I do know what you were really thinking….its friggin’ obvious….and no, that’s not what ‘set me off’, as you say…..you were thinking you could smear all members of “the Left” with association with Joe Stalin by stating that they did not oppose his authoritarianism. I’m here to remind readers that that is nonsense.
    By the way, since according to you Fascists are really Socialists, and Socialists are Leftists, then Francisco Franco resisting Soviet intervention in Spain during the Spanish Civil War, and Franco’s charges that was an attempt by Stalin to create a communist dictatorship, is an example of the Left accusing Stalin of authoritarianism, ……just to show readers just how ridiculously convoluted and twisted your logic is.

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  25. Paul Emery Avatar

    Stephen
    I think it’s proper to take the “tarian” out of describing Georges political philosophy since he in no way embraces contemporary Libertarian thought on foreign policy which strongly supports disengagement from foreign entanglements and commitments. George is in actuality a Goldwater Republican. “Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice.”
    Todd
    Your support of Iran Contra will hang around your neck like a pork chop in a dog pack when you talk of restricting the powers of government. So let’s assume then that Obama is entitled to the same operating rules that Reagan had when he set up and administered Iran Contra and all it’s glories.

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  26. Gregory Avatar

    “And yet once again Greg, as is his standard modus operand, does not respond to the key point I made.”
    -Frisch 6:05AM
    To the contrary, I dismissed it, as one should do to most red herrings being used to derail the real discussion, especially with the background to that one in hand.
    “It is not necessary for a 501 c 4 to obtain a declaration letter to operate as a nonprofit, and does not effect their ability to receive donations, which are not tax deductible anyway, so, from an operational perspective, is a complete non-issue.”
    That was laid out in detail by a letter from the now outgoing IRS honcho Steven Miller to Orrin Hatch, who, in sworn prior testimony, may well have committed a lie of omission as he’d known at the time that right wing groups really were being targeted.
    Operating for a few weeks not knowing whether or not you’ll be liable for taxes on donations isn’t a big deal, but we’re talking about years where no right wing group was given the 501(C)(4) blessing. While the President’s half bro got his questionable 501(C) in three weeks.
    “Nor does Greg acknowledge my statement that it was bad behavior by the IRS and should be punished by all of those responsible being fired.”
    What’s to acknowledge? You probably love your mother, too. I’m with Boehner on this one, I want to see who goes to jail.

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  27. Paul Emery Avatar

    Gregory
    No one goes to jail for “scandals” What specific laws do you see being violated? The IRS can do pretty much whatever it wants and does swing with the political flow. What else is new?

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  28. Todd Juvinall Avatar

    PaulE, your dislike of the support for the Contras is quite telling. What is being conveniently left out of your response to it is the withdrawal of money from Congress for their support and isn’t foreign policy the world of the executive? Plus, tell us PaulE so we can remember correctly, how many people were convicted in the so-called, democrat contrived “scandal”?
    Please tell us all PaulE how you would have prevented the infestation of our hemisphere by Russian/Cuban communism? We are all ears.

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  29. Gregory Avatar

    “No one goes to jail for “scandals””
    People go to jail for high crimes and misdemeanors. Lying under oath to Congress is one. Disclosing personal or private information from income tax filings to political adversaries is another.
    It’s way too soon to start sweeping it under the rug, Paul.

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  30. Steve Frisch Avatar
    Steve Frisch

    Todd Juvinall | 19 May 2013 at 03:16 PM
    “Please tell us all PaulE how you would have prevented the infestation of our hemisphere by Russian/Cuban communism? We are all ears.”
    We could have started after the declaration of the Monroe Doctrine and in the 100 years afterward by not supporting governments that shot people in the head for demanding land reform and changes to land tenure. Bottom line is almost all of the revolutions and revolutionary movements in central and south America revolved around this issue until the rise of drug trafficking. Instead what we did was support governments that were so corrupt that land ownership could never be perfected, thus people were left with no choice but to rise up and seize the land that government never provided protected property rights over, or where governments violated their property rights on by deeding it illegally to others. Consequently communist revolutionary movements were able to take advantage of this dynamic to gain traction. This is the ugly other side of the property rights sword.

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  31. Steve Frisch Avatar
    Steve Frisch

    Gregory | 19 May 2013 at 02:34 PM
    Shows how much you know about nonprofit tax law Greg….501c4 organizations do not pay taxes, thus, “Operating for a few weeks not knowing whether or not you’ll be liable for taxes on donations isn’t a big deal, but we’re talking about years ….” is TOTALLY irrelevant operationally. 501c4 ORGANIZATIONS DO NOT PAY TAXES. They get to operate as c4’s with all the benefits of a c4 UNTIL they get an authorization letter. Get it? This would have been an issue if they had been DENIED authorization. They were not. They will never be liable for taxes.
    DONORS to 501c4 organizations do not get to DEDUCT their contributions as charitable contributions, so it makes no difference to them…….so this does not inhibit contributions.
    If the IRS had acted like this to a 501c3 organization it would have made a difference…

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  32. Paul Emery Avatar

    You discount my sarcasm Gregory. IF anyone is convicted they will likely be pardoned by Obama much like Bush the Ist pardoned the Iran Contra scoundrels. You don’t really have faith that justice will be served do you? What historical perspective do you base that optimism? Iran Contra? Nah Pardoned by Bush Watergate? Nah That was a government coup to bring Nixon down. He was pardoned by Ford anyway. The Pubbers always cover their bases by pardons if necessary.
    This will bring a tear to your eye for sure-Fords Pardoning of Nixon.
    “Finally, I feel that Richard Nixon and his loved ones have suffered enough and will continue to suffer, no matter what I do, no matter what we, as a great and good nation, can do together to make his goal of peace come true.
    Now, therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from July (January) 20, 1969 through August 9, 1974.

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  33. Gregory Avatar

    Paul, Ford’s pardon of Nixon made it easy for me and many others to vote for Carter.
    Clinton chose to reserve the pardon for more hardened criminals.
    And Frisch continues to think that delaying IRS determinations for more than 3 years has no “operational” impact. Keeping your lawyers busy for years does have an operational impact, as does improper requests about members, donors and the prayers one might be making.

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  34. Todd Juvinall Avatar

    I see the Frisch hubris is uncontrollable once again. I asked PaulE and the Frisch commented. I guess with PaulE’s approval.
    And it looks like the Frisch is now blaming America once again for the ills of the hemisphere. Even since the Monroe Doctrine. Amazing.
    Alas, the Frisch’s explanation for PaulE did not answer the simple question I asked anyway.

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  35. Steve Frisch Avatar
    Steve Frisch

    I never said that I in any way support what the IRS did; a careful review of my comments would show that I said they were wrong, and the people responsible should be fired. But Greg, I think you have proved pretty clearly that you don’t know squat about nonprofit law. Of course there is little reason for you to know about it, as opposed to me, who deals with it almost every single day. In this I am the professional and you are the amateur. Nice twist of fate eh?
    Clearly answered you question Todd, support land reform and a meaningful land tenure movement to invest citizens in these countries with property rights. Kind of the American solution. How could you be against that?

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  36. Paul Emery Avatar

    Todd
    “We know it when we see and read it. The left is just like porn.”
    Gee Todd, I haven’t watched porn so I can’t make that assumption based on my experience like you apparently can.

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  37. Paul Emery Avatar

    Todd, as far as how to keep the commies out of Central and South America we start by supporting righteous leaders not gangsters like Batista who sowed the ground for Castro with his gangster infested regime , Somoza, Pinochet (thousands killed in death camps) , Manuel Ortega (who was our friend till he threatened to spill the beans on the CIA-crack cocaine racket he was fronting).
    Dictators have been supported by the U.S. throughout history in among others, Nigeria, Uganda, Bolivia, Cuba, Brunei, South Africa, Brazil, Haiti, Guatemala, Taiwan, Honduras, El Salvador, Vietnam, Liberia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, , Morocco, Philippines, Zaire, Turkey, Iran, Greece, South Korea, Chile, Cambodia, Fiji, Ethiopia, Portugal, Nicaragua, Rhodesia, Paraguay, Indonesia, Dominican Republic, Argentina Pakistan…….on and on

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  38. George Rebane Avatar

    PaulE 617pm – Dictators continue to be supported to this day by the US and every liberal developed country. As they say, it’s the price of doing business with them in the context of everyone’s larger national interests. Perhaps your libertarian patch is fraying if you now feel that the US should somehow be involved in universal nation building, even to the detriment of our own interests. Something doesn’t tie here.
    Not sure where you’re going with this focused anti-American screed.

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  39. Todd Juvinall Avatar

    Well PaulE, my quoting a Supreme Court conclusion has somehow morphed into you supposedly never watching porn. That is too funny.
    America’s foreign policies are certainly debatable and it appeared both parties (even the Whigs) thought America was better off in their times to be implementing the Monroe Doctrine. Even the Cuban blockade is a form of the Doctrine. Anyway, I am sure you two lovelies can find many things to bash America about, this is just the latest.
    BTW, I don’t care what it takes to get my cheap bananas.
    Frisch still thinks I asked him the question and he clarifies his answer to the question I never asked him. What a hoot. But if he would like to travel to the countries south of the border and convince them to be more like America, I say go getum Steve Frisch. Do as much for them as you have done for American property rights as a SBC Exec.

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  40. Steve Frisch Avatar
    Steve Frisch

    You are an idiot Todd, the main reason revolution has died down in central America is that they have been engaged in land reform…..I have been there to see it.
    But you are free to eat all the cheap bananas you want.

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  41. Michael Anderson Avatar
    Michael Anderson

    I would like to suggest a Celebrity Porn-Off community fund raiser. Something for Women of Worth, for example.
    Bring us your hard drives and we will get down to the nitty gritty. There should be hard betting on winner and loser, and no-holds-barred deep data analysis.
    Todd, will you bring us your hard drive? For a good cause?

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  42. Gregory Avatar

    Frisch, I bow to your superior knowledge regarding how to eke a six figure income by operating a profitable non profit. Enjoy it while it lasts.
    I think it’s been made pretty clear that the IRS intentionally impeded conservative groups while fast tracking left-liberal ones. IRS honchos apparently also lied to congress when they were confronted with those complaints a year ago, during the election. Wonder why?
    That’s more than a firing offense. This isn’t going away.

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  43. Todd Juvinall Avatar
    Todd Juvinall

    Frisch, name calling? Weren’t you the biggest whiner about that? What a hoot.
    MicgaelA is obsessed with me and my TSA cele3brity. I would suggest you bring your own hard drive for inspection.
    Regarding the Frisch and bananas. My goodness, you have just done everything about everything and been everywhere haven’t you? Now we are told you got to see the landuse problems of Central America. So what did you do SteveF? Help the commies? My goodness, next you will have already been to Mars! LOL!

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  44. Ben Emery Avatar
    Ben Emery

    Happy Monday to all the fascists and corporatists that frequent Rebane’s Rumination pages.
    Bill Ayers is featured in a great interview done by Cornell West. I found my self saying, “that’s right” and “power to the people” throughout the interview. The scariest power of all to those who are in a small minority of opinion, as are George, Russ, Greg, Todd, and so on is allowing the people having the controls.
    Controversial activist Bill Ayers, author of the upcoming text Public Enemy: Confessions of an American Dissident
    http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/tavis/local-tavis-1026321.mp3

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  45. George Rebane Avatar

    BenE 1116am – And a happy Monday to our far out leftist. Were you to offer any definitions of fascism or corporatism, I venture that you would not find a single such critter frequenting these pages.
    But your joyous hoisting of “controversial activist Bill Ayers” to our attention again confirms your membership in the local chapter of Lenin’s Lads.
    BTW, I do agree that all RR readers should listen to the Ayers interview to get the true cut of the man’s jib. Talk about the Great Divide.

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  46. earlcrabb Avatar

    Ben’s embrace of communist ideals and the latest comments from the candidate for Lt. Gov. of Virginia stating that women who suffer miscarriages should be required to report it to the police just reinforces my belief that neither the left or right has their tin caps screwed on tight enough.

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  47. George Rebane Avatar

    earlcrabb 121pm – Thanks for that pointer to the Virginia Repub candidate Bob. Your comment splits into a discussion of 1) the aspects of left/right extremist thought, and 2) an admitted approach to deal with late term abortions.
    The latter discussion belongs under ‘Fetus + 12 inches = Baby’ where I quote the presumably offensive part of Obershain’s bill in the Virginia legislature. Here’s the link to my comment under that post –
    http://rebaneruminations.typepad.com/rebanes_ruminations/2013/05/fetus-12-inches-baby.html?cid=6a00e54f86f2ad883301901c6407c7970b#comment-6a00e54f86f2ad883301901c6407c7970b

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  48. Todd Juvinall Avatar
    Todd Juvinall

    So let me get this straight. I as a conservative love individual freedom, America, the flag, oppose abortion (but oppose the Virginians lunacy), favor the 10 Amendments of the BOR, love people, beleive in Jesus, think our country is the best and that is bad to BenE?
    My my my. No wonder BenE got less votes than me.

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  49. Michael Anderson Avatar
    Michael Anderson

    Todd, let’s not forget what Archie once said about bananas:
    “They’re picking bananas in Brazil and them Indians down there, they don’t care about what you look like.”

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  50. Ben Emery Avatar
    Ben Emery

    George,
    You can find my definition on these pages of both Fascists and Corporatist. They have been well established over the last year or so.
    Bob,
    I thought Bill Ayers and Cornel West would get the blood pumping on this fine Monday. As for communist ideals, once again I think the propaganda of what communism is has infected much of our country. I think you’re mixing up democratic socialism and communism, there is a big difference on many fronts. An example, decentralization is a key part of ds while central planning and power is essential for communism. The countries that are found annually in the best rated places to live are found in democratic socialist nations, most in Northern Europe.
    What is Democratic Socialism?
    http://www.dsausa.org/what_is_democratic_socialism

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