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Peder DeFor

Minneapolis, Minnesota
Commenter for
1 year 13 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 05/20/13 at 03:25 pm in response to Times article drills down deeper toward roots of IRS screw-up

First paragraph: "During the summer of 2010, the dozen or so accountants and tax agents of Group 7822 of the Internal Revenue Service office in Cincinnati got a directive from their manager. A growing number of organizations identifying themselves as part of the Tea Party had begun applying for tax exemptions, the manager said, advising the workers to be on the lookout for them and other groups planning to get involved in elections."
In the first sentence it says that this directive...

Posted on 05/20/13 at 03:36 pm in response to Times article drills down deeper toward roots of IRS screw-up

I'm not convinced that Noonan is right, that we can trace bad actions to Obama based on his detestation of the Tea Partiers, but I don't think she's really being correctly characterized here. The Strassel article that you mention goes far beyond mere criticism. It talks about how private citizens were singled out for mention in ads for the sin of opposing Obama, for instance. That goes well beyond some kind of policy argument. (The example in the article was also well after the IRS went...

Posted on 05/20/13 at 03:38 pm in response to Times article drills down deeper toward roots of IRS screw-up

Paul, you're completely wrong here and I hope that you'll correct yourself. After the IRS was told that they needed to apply things in an even-handed way, the Patriot/Tea Party groups were approved. They hadn't been making an inappropriate request at all. They were unfairly hounded.

Posted on 05/20/13 at 10:04 pm in response to Times article drills down deeper toward roots of IRS screw-up

Before this scandal began, I had no idea what the requirements were and I too, would have been fooled by the 'social welfare' requirement. It doesn't mean that a group must be working in some non-political way. Here is a good article on it: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-14/don-t-...

Posted on 05/21/13 at 07:28 am in response to Times article drills down deeper toward roots of IRS screw-up

First of all, thank you for the casual accusation of racism. It fits in well with what I said down below. And it blends well with your aggressive ignorance. Also, you can look down there to see that you're misinformed on the social welfare need for these groups.
If you want to argue that we should outlaw political non-profits, then go ahead and do so. But don't sweep the disparate treatment under the rug. In 2010 and 2012 left leaning groups were allowed to organize on the grass...

Posted on 05/21/13 at 07:40 am in response to Times article drills down deeper toward roots of IRS screw-up

You have this exactly wrong. The big ones sailed through, it was the small ones that had trouble. Also, see my comment down below on 'social welfare'. You're misunderstanding it. And the Crossroads folks obviously believe that what they're doing is something positive. That's not for you to judge. Personally, I'd rather go with their vision than just about any group with Progress or Organizing in their name. I bet your mileage varies.

I saw the Nate Silver article that you...

Posted on 05/15/13 at 05:11 pm in response to Obama’s three scandals: a closer look

Right now I don't see anything that points to impeachment and frankly I think that's the wrong way to look at these scandals. It's not like we should just gloss over anything below the impeachment line. All three of these deserve attention, especially the IRS one, and frankly, it's disappointing the lengths that so many of the Presidents supporters will go to try and simply wish it away.

Posted on 05/15/13 at 05:12 pm in response to Obama’s three scandals: a closer look

This is pretty straightforward. If, in fact, IRS personnel engaged in the kind of practices that had been reported on and were intentionally targeting conservative groups, then that's outrageous and there's no place for it. And they have to be held fully accountable, because the IRS as an independent agency requires absolute integrity, and people have to have confidence that they're applying the laws in a non-partisan way.

Posted on 05/11/13 at 09:26 am in response to Should the U.S. get militarily involved in Syria?

I'm hopeful that North Korea will simply be bluster and that sometime soon the regime will collapse and those poor people can become as prosperous as the South Koreans. Ideally, there will be no military need.
In Syria, our potential to make things worse is just too big. We'd probably just unite people to fight against us. Better to simply stay out. Plus, right now I don't trust this administration to do even simple tasks well, much less extremely complicated ones like fighting in...

Posted on 05/11/13 at 10:21 pm in response to Should the U.S. get militarily involved in Syria?

Are you seriously considering Libya and Egypt to be successful? Seriously? And, regarding Iraq and Afghanistan, I don't know that you could really say that we've withdrawn from either one. Iraq to some extent but not wholly. And frankly, I'll believe withdraw from Afghanistan when it happens.