On the road, again

We're on our way to see the American Indian museum on the Capitol Mall.  Sandra is feeding the chickens, Helen is watching the house, and I'm hoping the hot pepper seedlings can survive for two days without water.

We stopped in at the Virginia Arboretum.  Varieties of flowers are blooming, and the irises alone were worth the walk.  We also passed through a "rural historic preservation area."  I often think of Virginia as backward, but in many respects it is way ahead of Pennsylvania.

I know I was supposed to post about majority tyranny in Pakistan tonight, but I must make a comment on the I.R.S. targeting the Tea Party groups.  What irritates me more than anything is that the whole disaster diverts attention from real scandal, which is that hundreds of millions of dollars are being deducted from income taxes by rich right-wing Republicans.

If I had been I.R.S. director, I would have targeted groups for review this way.  You start with the ones with the most donations and work down.  O.F.A. would probably be in that mix, but so would Rove's group, the Romney front group, and the Koch Brothers.  These groups are making the whole idea of democracy a delusion, and some idiots from the I.R.S. have now made them look like victims.

Praying at the Western Wall

Last week a group of liberal Jewish women attempted to pray at the Western wall in Jerusalem.  They were met by hundreds of Orthodox men who catcalled, whistled, and threw both water and plastic chairs.  It took 300 police to separate the groups.

The ultra-Orthodox, who depend on Israeli subsidies for their large families and avoid serving in the army, have real issues with gender.  They were the people who spit on an 8-year-old girl for wearing a dress that was considered “immodest.”  

When I taught the “Intro to Political Thought” class, I always included a reading from Theodor Herzl, usually considered the founder of modern Zionism.  Herzl advanced the idea of a homeland for Jews, at one time considering Uganda as a possibility.  The state he envisioned, from my reading, was more secular than religious.  I believe he would have been appalled at people who catcalled women trying to pray.

I’ve often thought how nice it would be if we could put all the “orthodox” believers--be they Jews, Muslims, Christians, Basque nationalists, Serb nationalists, 2nd Amendment wackos, Ayn Rand acolytes, Hindu fundamentalists, militia members, and Ted Cruz--on an island somewhere.  The whole world would be a much nicer place.

Libya

Almost all thoughtful observers agree that once our ambassador to Libya was attacked last year, there was nothing that could have been done to save him and his colleagues.  The elite troops were too far away to make any difference.  What Congress is “investigating” is the lack of preparation before the attack and the Administration’s explanation after the attack. 

Interestingly, the Republicans who are criticizing the Administration are some of the same people who voted to cut funding for embassy security around the world.  

The main purpose behind the Fox News/Republican ranting about Benghazi is to smear the Secretary of State at the time of the attack--Hillary Clinton.  This is not about Libya.  It’s about the 2016 Presidential race.  It’s tiresome.

501(c)(4)

A 501(c)(4) group is one that is supposed to promote “social welfare.”  Contributions to those groups are tax deductible, provided the groups don’t have as their primary purpose the influencing of elections.  All kinds of political PACS, including hundreds of Tea Party groups, blatantly violate the law, not only in spirit but in actuality. 

I don’t understand why the I.R.S. apologized for auditing Tea Party groups applying for tax exempt status.  Keep in mind that when a tax exempt contribution is itemized, that is less money collected by our government.  That means an increase in the deficit.  So we have millions of dollars going into PACs promoting conservative causes (and obviously candidates who support those causes), and the donors, mostly rich, can deduct their propaganda from their tax returns.

Our own 9/12 group here in Carbon County, an anti-abortion, pro-gun, anti-environment, Glenn Beck-inspired group, says on its website that it is a non-partisan group that backs no candidates.  Yeah.  

When I picketed a 9/12 event with a sign asking “Who funds the 9/12 group?” local businessman Fred Reinhard asked me “Who cares where the funding comes from?”  I told him I do.  I like to follow the money.

Mort Sahl revisited

In the Sixties the comedian Mort Sahl used a daily newspaper as his prop.  He’d come on stage, read a headline, and proceed to make witty and cogent comments.  (He’s still alive, by the way.)

I’m not pretending to be Mort Sahl.  Not so witty.  Nonetheless I am borrowing his technique.  Imagine me on stage with today’s New York Times.  I look at various headlines and comment.  One story details the I.R.S. is apologizing to Tea Party groups for examining their tax exempt status.  Another concerns the congressional hearings on Libya.  Page four features an article on women praying at the Western Wall in Israel.  The op-ed page has an opinion piece entitled “Pakistan’s Tyrannical Majority.”  Finally, a front page article is entitled “Heat-Trapping Gas Passes Milestone, Raising Fears.”

Those are my topics for the next five days.  I’ll take them in order.  Tomorrow night I’ll be talking about why the I.R.S. needs to examine the tax exempt status of groups like Carbon County’s 9/12ers.  Stay tuned.

My message to Paul Carpenter

Paul Carpenter is an op-ed columnist for the Allentown Morning Call.  Today he had a column praising Mr. Brinson and attacking the whole idea of labor unions. [See yesterday’s post].  Mr. Carpenter said the idea of mandating  a notice of workers’ rights to form a union was a “repugnant edict.”  

I sent Mr. Carpenter the following message.  (I don’t expect a reply--I’ve sent Mr. Carpenter emails before and never even received an acknowledgement.)

Dear Mr. Carpenter,

“Repugnant edict” seems a little strong for a notice advising workers of their rights.  I don’t see how putting up such a notice restricts Mr. Brinson or any other employer.  They are free to say what they want.

The problem for the average worker is the incredible power differential.  If I am an employee of a man who owns three fitness centers, and he tells me to work overtime with no extra pay, I have three choices.  I can do it, I can quit, or I can be fired.  One nurse has little power against a hospital administration; one clerk has little power against Wal-Mart.  It is only when workers are allowed to form organizations to represent them that they have some real bargaining power.  

And if Brinson thinks we don’t need unions any more “because of laws that now protect workers,” he might try working in a fertilizer plant in Texas, a “right to work” (?) state which has almost no unions.

If Carpenter does reply, I’ll let you know.

A Voting Milestone

The Census Bureau released a report yesterday that said 66.2% of eligible blacks voted in 2012.  For whites the rate was 64.1%.  That was the first election in U.S. history in which the black voting rate surpassed that of the white.  It was even more significant when we consider all the efforts by Republican legislators to suppress the vote with restricted hours, more difficult registration, and voter I.D. laws.

The rate for Asians and Hispanics was below 50%, but that should be moving up in the next few elections.  Finally, women vote at a higher rate than men do.  All of this is bad news for a party which seems to depend mostly on the votes of old white guys.