Free Republic

Anyone who deals with the IRS on a regular basis knows that the agency is in trouble: IRS employees are less able than ever to effectively and efficiently handle their work. The internal problems facing the agency were greatly exacerbated by the 35-day government shutdown that began in late December of last year. But the shutdown is not by any means solely responsible for the agency’s dire situation. To put all this in better perspective, let me give you pictures of what the agency looked like before the shutdown, and what it has looked like after the shutdown. What the...

If access to firearms were as easy as President Obama insisted in the aftermath of the South Carolina church massacre, Carol Bowne would be alive today. The 39-year-old New Jersey woman with a restraining order against an ex-boyfriend was murdered by that boyfriend while she waited for her application for a gun permit to wind its way through a process that takes at least two months to complete. But it wasn’t completed soon enough: The Berlin Township woman got a restraining order against a former boyfriend, installed security cameras and an alarm system to her home and began the...

Do you think you receive fair value for the money you spend on taxes? The fact is you don’t, because there is excessive corruption in both the way your tax money is collected and in the way it is spent. Many countries are notorious for the tax collectors being “on the take.” At the federal level, it is rare for an Internal Revenue Service agent to put his hand out, but that does not rule out considerable corruption. The corruption starts with Congress. Members of Congress “buy votes” by handing out “free stuff.” It includes expenditures on programs that few,...

Democratic senators have offered an amendment to the cybersecurity bill that would limit the purchase of high capacity gun magazines for some consumers. Shortly after the Cybersecurity Act gained Senate approval to proceed to filing proposed amendments and a vote next week, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), a sponsor of the gun control amendment, came to the floor to defend the idea of implementing some “reasonable” gun control measures. ... The amendment is identical to a separate bill sponsored by Lautenberg. Feinstein was the sponsor of the assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004.

THIS IS FROM NRA-HQ --- PLEASE CIRCULATE ==================================== Recent Internet alerts from some "pro-Second Amendment" groups have suggested that the National Rifle Association has either accepted a compromise that would include reenactment of the 1994 Clinton Gun ban and/or the McCain-Reed gun show restrictions, or will not actively fight against their passage in the Senate. Not only are these claims completely false and ridiculous but they are also extremely counterproductive to our legislative strategy and agenda. Gun control groups are spreading the same rumors in hopes of confusing pro-gun senators as to our position in hopes of gaining their support....