Table This ... Mark Steyn

Steyn Online ^ | 8 May 2014 | Mark Steyn

[Rummyfan]

...

~As I've said before, American government is corrupt. Lots of countries have, alas, Big Government, but, unlike, say, Sweden or Germany, America has corrupt Big Government. Here is merely the latest example.

As you know, the IRS demanded that Tea Party groups provide lists of their donors. This was (in the absurdly measured word of investigators) "inappropriate". The IRS then assured Congress that all these donor lists had been destroyed. It now turns out that they weren't. Can you guess, boys and girls, what happened next?

Rep. Dave Camp, Michigan Republican and chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, asked the IRS to review the names on those lists to see whether any had been audited. The IRS reported back that 10 percent were audited — substantially higher than the average rate of 1 percent of average Americans who are audited each year.

So, if you want to stay un-audited, make sure you're "average". Don't do anything un-average - like supporting groups from one particular side of the political spectrum. If you've got a spare forty bucks, give it to Organizing for America rather than the Tea Party: that's the way to have a quiet life.

[Rummyfan]

~More corruption. The easiest kind of donors are forced conscripts. My old friend Jillian Melchior reports that the Healthcare Michigan branch of the Service Employees International Union has seen its membership plummet 80 per cent in the last year. How did this happen? A sudden exodus from the state? An ebola outbreak? No. It turns out the bulk of the SEIU's "donors" were family members of elderly and disabled people involuntarily designated as "public employees" and forced to pony up to the union heavies:

Melissa and Kevin Haynes were born with hypertonic cerebral palsy, a severe disability that impaired their cognitive development, leaving them functioning as infants. For more than 30 years, their devoted parents, Robert and Patricia, have cared for them in their home in Macomb Township, Mich. The two disabled adults received Medicaid checks each month, money that went toward their care. But in 2006, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) began collecting 2.75 percent from each of these checks, claiming that Robert and Patricia were employees — not only of their own children but also of the Michigan state government.

[bert]

Who will bell the cat?

[ArtDodger]

What is really ghastly is liberals are ok with this if denouncing it means going against their party. Party uber alles.

[jsanders2001]

> Who will bell the cat?

Cat? You mean CATs as in feral colonies everywhere. There will have to be cat bell’ers in every community.

[major-pelham]

The SEIU should be defending criminal charges for that. For anyone its blatant fraud and thievery, why should they be any different?

[Junk Silver]

“The SEIU should be defending criminal charges for that.”

The fact that the SEIU and their enablers are not facing charges in this matter is a horrifying confirmation that we are now living in a banana republic.

The Left has succeeded in completely politicizing America’s revenue and justice systems. Should we be grateful that hardened criminals like Dinesh D’souza are being pursued instead?

[Noob1999]

btt - for later

[zeugma]

~As I've said before, American government is corrupt. Lots of countries have, alas, Big Government, but, unlike, say, Sweden or Germany, America has corrupt Big Government.

This needs to be repeated often. Americans don't really realize how corrupt our government is at all levels. It's not just a few bad actors or bad apples, or rogue minions. It is absolutely corrupt to its very core, in just about any respect you care to mention.