It’s a few days old, is Rep Kelly’s (R-PA) thumping of the IRS, but it’s new to me. And I quite enjoyed it.
What’s chilling here, as a kind of subtext, is Miller’s look and demeanor as he’s being berated. The cast of his eyes. He’s got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll’s eyes.
It’s time to rid ourselves of the IRS. In fact, it’s been time for a long time. My political “awakening” came, I’ve mentioned before, when I first heard Steve Forbes pushing a flat tax and I surprised all of my perfunctorily liberal friends in grad school by backing Forbes, a Republican, for President, based entirely on what to me was the rather obvious fairness and simplicity of tax system he was proposing. He was, of course, kind of a one-trick candidate, but then we were enjoying the end of history, and it seemed as good a time as any to fix a clumsy and obtrusive tax behemoth, and Forbes was actually running on doing just that.
It seemed American, what he was proposing. Whereas even before I was “political” or had given it any kind of studied thought, the progressive income tax had always bugged me — had always struck me as completely at odds with the ideals laid out in our founding documents.
And now that we know — again! — that the IRS is in many respects a willing political enforcement arm of power-drunk politicians, there’s simply no reason to keep it around in its current, nearly omnipotent state.
That it will be attached very soon to our health care is, in a word, obscene.
Take it out back, put two in its skull, throw some dirt over it, and then come back inside and have a sandwich and an icy cold soda pop. Followed by a well-deserved nap.
(h/t awesomeness)
Gimme a beer and a hammock in a shady spot, and I’m there. But I ain’t doing that kind of dirty work for just a cold sodie pop.
Mark Levin was pushing this Friday night (I think).
He wanted people to call their Congress members and tell them that we have seen that the IRS can never be trusted, and it is time that they go.
a willing political enforcement arm of power-drunk politicians
I’d like to add “a willing [and simultaneously ignorant!] enforcement arm of power-drunk politicians”. The IG MR. George just now testified that “training” would make an improvement in the behavior of the IRS. I beg to differ. Training is what we do with seals or dancing bears. Education is the thing these people need, but there’s little prospect they’re going to “get it” in their lifetimes.
Rep. Jim Jordan just nailed Shulman to the wall. With cut nails and a two pound maul.
The following Democrat Congressman Connolly begins his questioning with “Mr. Shulman, you were appointed by Pres. Bush when?”
There are actually a small number of Democrat members of the House Committee who are evincing anger, genuine anger, at the bureaucrats under examination. Lynch, Speiers, for two. Even to a certain extent Cummings, as he upbraided Shulman for inaction on matters under his knowledge.
Thing is, their arguments apply with equal force to the men and women above the bureaucrats — *gasp* — even the highest political elected magistrates — ** double gasp ** — even to the office of the President! The Democrat Congresspeople seem not to understand this, at all.
They can refuse to understand it, or pretend not to understand it, to be sure, but the logic they themselves have imposed won’t allow any other conclusion, and that‘s going to be their future trouble, whether they understand or admit it or not. The question remaining to be answered, I guess, is whether at some point any of these evidently angry Democrats choose to recognize their logic applies to their highest political leadership (in a political analog to Howard Baker with Nixon, say). No one is holding their breath on this one.
He’s one of the black-eyed children.
In other news, three bebe heron chicks go chk chk chk. When they get older, it will be clackity-clack, and then as adults, it’s kronk.
Umm. What? A Waffle House index?
Sounds like informal mockery to me.
Imagine what working for the IRS would do to your soul.
I would expect all IRS employees to have similar eyes.
The Waffle House Index has been used for many years. The ability of Waffle House to keep its doors open and feed people on a shoestring puts the billions spent by FEMA to produce a little goodness at a very high cost to shame.
I knew someone who worked at the IRS office in Utah before they closed it. She said you weren’t allowed to have anything in your cube except pictures of family. My calendar photos of fleurs would be prohibited.
She said the place was about as strait-jacketed and soulless as you might imagine; when she interviewed for a job with us, she begged us to free her from that loony bin.
Time to go, IRS.
Political theater and nothing else. Call me when we start raising the black flag and start gutting these fucks.