Reform the IRS Now: Help With Writing Your Letters to Congress

 By Faultline USA

These are some of the ideas I came across as I composed my letter to my elected officials in Congress. Feel free to use whatever you like but get your letters out daily!!! Here are the links to finding the contact forms for your U.S. Representatives and Senators online.

The IRS must be completely reformed in the wake of the agency targeting tea party and other conservative groups.
The IRS has violated it’s own regulations and the American Constitution by targeting and unlawfully delaying and obstructing conservative organizations’ applications for a determination of tax-exempt status, and the IRS has continued to bully and intimidate Conservatives.

Additionally, the inspector general found that on many occasions the IRS made inappropriate and intrusive demands for information from conservative groups that applied for exemption under Section 501(c)(4) of the tax code.

On May 29th, 2014 The American Center for Law and Justice filed a  lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., on behalf of 25 Tea Party and conservative organizations against the U.S. Attorney General, Treasury Secretary, and Internal Revenue Service - including top IRS officials. (Read more here)

In the lawsuit, the ACLJ cited six counts arguing the federal government violated the Constitution, federal law, and even its own rules and regulations.

The IRS and the Obama Administration must be held accountable for these unlawful actions and reparations must be made on behalf of all Americans. It is not enough that certain parties be found guilty or that injunctive relief and punitive damages eventually be awarded.

The IRS must never again be in a position to target and/or intimidate any American group or individual because of race, religion, or political beliefs. The IRS must be completely reformed by Congress Now.

America no longer has any confidence in the IRS. This overgrown, complex, and corrupt agency has not earned the right to take on additional responsibilities that will effect the daily lives of all Americans. We cannot allow the IRS, as it exists today, to police Obamacare!

Now is the time to completely break this monster apart. Now is the time for comprehensive tax reform!

As FAREED ZAKARIA, wrote in Investor's Business Daily:

The U.S. tax code is at the heart of a system of institutionalized, legal corruption. The code is so vast because companies, industries and lobbying groups receive special preferences in return for campaign contributions, a cash-for-favors scheme that Washington would denounce as crony capitalism in any Third World country.

Technorati Tags: Reform,IRS,tax code,Congress,American Center for Law and Justice,ACLJ,Constitution,conservatives,targeting,federal law,rules,regulations,law suit,lawsuit,Obama,tax-exempt status,Section 501(c)(4),U.S. Attorney General,Treasury Secretary,Internal Revenue Service,comprehensive tax reform

Obama's DOJ Willing To Violate Free Speech Right To Make It Against Law To Criticize Muslim Extremists

By Susan Duclos

What part of "shall not be infringed" is so hard for the Obama administration, Eric Holder and the DOJ to understand? Whether it is not infringing on the Second Amendment right to bear arms, or not to infringe on the Freedom of the press, or now, to not infringe on Americans constitutional right of free speech when speaking of extremist Islamics or Muslims

Judicial Watch:

In its latest effort to protect followers of Islam in the U.S. the Obama Justice Department warns against using social media to spread information considered inflammatory against Muslims, threatening that it could constitute a violation of civil rights.

[...]

Evidently that was a precursor of sorts for an upcoming Tennessee event (“Public Disclosure in a Diverse Society”) that will feature the region’s top DOJ official, who serves as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, and an FBI representative. The goal is to increase awareness and understanding that American Muslims are not the terrorists some have made them out to be in social media and other circles, according to a local newspaper report. The June 4 powwow is sponsored by the American Muslim Advisory Council of Tennessee.

The area’s top federal prosecutor, Bill Killian, will address a topic that most Americans are likely unfamiliar with, even those well versed on the Constitution; that federal civil rights laws can actually be violated by those who post inflammatory documents aimed at Muslims on social media. “This is an educational effort with civil rights laws as they play into freedom of religion and exercising freedom of religion,” Killian says in the local news story. “This is also to inform the public what federal laws are in effect and what the consequences are.”

 The question is, are we free to point out, via TheBlaze: As the world rings in 2013, the monitoring site “The Religion of Peace” (TRP) has tallied the number of people killed in the last year by Islamists, placing the death toll at 11,267 carried out across 2,459 savage terror attacks.

Is it "inflammatory" to provide the details of those attacks, the facts and figures?  Who determines what is and is not inflammatory? By what criteria?

Does Kilian include the things that Muslims say about Jews and Christians too?

Frankly, any moderate, peace-loving Muslim that practices the Islamic religion, that takes more "offense" to others speaking out against Islamic extremist terrorists than they do the terrorists themselves that use the religion to justify murdering innocents...... can go straight to hell.

Let me take this moment to send a message to the corrupt DOJ, Eric Holder , Obama administration and Mr. Killian:

Oh my..... was that inflammatory?

(Updated post with the information on the event where Killian will speak)

IRS Actively Protects Planned Parenthood, Threatening Tax Exempt Status Of Groups Opposed To PP

By Susan Duclos

The IRS targeting of conservatives, pro-Israel groups, pro-life groups and Mitt Romney donors, grows daily and McClatchy reports the IRS also actively worked to protect the nation's largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, by threatening the tax exempt status of pro-life groups unless they promised to not protest in front of Planned Parenthood facilities.

Sue Martinek of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, already knows what happened to her and others involved in the Coalition for Life of Iowa.

She first sought tax-exempt status for the group in 2008, maintaining contact by mail and phone with a woman identified only as Ms. Richards in the Cincinnati office of the IRS that’s now at the center of the scandal.

Martinek said the woman never offered a first name. A woman’s voice on a recording at her phone number doesn’t give a name, and messages left by McClatchy brought no response.

Richards told Martinek by phone in early 2009 that the group’s application had been approved, Martinek said. But Richards added a condition, according to Martinek. Board members first needed to sign a letter promising not to picket in front of Planned Parenthood offices, Martinek said.

“We were pretty surprised. But we had never gone through the process before,” Martinek said. “I was sort of, ‘If we have to, we have to, but this doesn’t seem a good thing to do.’ ”

A board member suggested contacting the Thomas More Society, a public-interest group that provides free legal help on conservative hot-button issues. It saw the IRS request to the Iowa group as forcing the group to abandon its First Amendment rights.

“We’re certainly not about protesting and picketing. That happens to be a small part of what we do. When we do go to Planned Parenthood, we’re going there to pray,” said Martinek, who said her group focused on educational forums and wasn’t a conduit for funneling money to political campaigns.

Ironically, Planned Parenthood does enjoy the type of tax-exempt status that Martinek’s group originally sought.

Much more over at McClatchy on other targeted individual and groups.

Other IRS Scandal Updates

CNN reports on the House investigation and interviews with the IRS employees "rogue" employees, some of which were reportedly promoted after targeting conservative groups, and some interesting details have emerged from that as well.

Last week, Issa revealed they had already interviewed a potentially key IRS worker in the Washington, D.C. office – Holly Paz. Paz is a director in the IRS tax exempt division.

During a hearing with IRS Inspector General J. Russell George, Issa said Paz told his aides she was allowed to sit in on meetings with her employees and inspector general investigators. Issa said that raises questions about the true independence and veracity of the inspector general's audit on tea party targeting.

ABC News reports that there are intimidation tactics being used to prevent IRS employees in the Ohio offices from speaking freely to journalists about the scandal.

One of them, who asked not be named, told ABC News that security guards did remind employees of the official policy not to talk with the press – a warning cemented by the punch line "or risk losing our jobs."

Even leaders of the local union that represents the IRS workers under fire took the admonition to heart, hanging up on reporters who wanted to ask questions about the scandal. One longtime IRS worker and union member called the response by the National Treasury Employees Union "dazzling."

On Thursday morning, after news that Miller was sacked, two ABC News journalists walked into the Peck Federal Building in Cincinnati looking for answers. The newsmen were screened at the door by security. They emptied their pockets as instructed, removed their belts, then went through the metal detectors.

We wanted to ask who about made the decisions in the unit and when the profiling started. And whether those decision makers been identified yet.

But the answers – like the people involved – remained elusive.

As we traveled the public hallways of the building – watched over by security cameras – an armed uniformed police officer with the Federal Protective Service followed us. We were looking for a particular office—of someone who would not want to be seen talking to reporters--but chose to bypass it because of our official babysitter.

Asked why we were being escorted in a public building, the officer identified himself as Insp. Mike Finkelstein and said he was only trying to make sure that the newsmen were not a "nuisance." He brushed aside further questions. The cop said a supervisor would call to explain.

One of the reporters wanted to know if the act of following the journalists was an effort intended to scare off any federal employee who might have considered speaking to the press. That's sure what it looked like; and, even if that wasn't the goal, it was the effect.

 To date, twenty-five conservative and Tea Party groups have filed lawsuits against Internal Revenue Service, Attorney General Eric Holder and top IRS officials, alleging that the Obama administration unlawfully targeted the groups because of their political beliefs and obstructed their applications for tax-exempt status. (Source)

With all the new details emerging, every day since this exploded in the news, is it any wonder that the majority of Americans, including the majority of Democrats, want a independent special prosecutor to investigate the IRS abuses, because as was reported by McClatchy, the Treasury Department inspector general's report dealt with targeting conservatives, but not the other targeted "lists" or the issues that are becoming public since the report was conducted and released.

The reason for the independent prosecutor is clear, it will take political posturing out of the investigation itself and is more likely to dig up the entire truth more-so than the inspector general or House investigations could.

Full Wake up America coverage on the IRS scandal can be found here.

Obamacare Rate Shock And Cancellations

By Susan Duclos

A couple pieces of news about Obamacare are in the news today, both worrisome for Democratic supporters, especially the 14 Democrat senators that voted for Obamacare, but were not on the ballot in 2010 and are on the ballot in 2014.

Forbes explains that despite recent claims to the contrary by liberals and journalists that fell for California Democrats "sleight of hand," health care premiums for Californians will actually rise from 64 percent to 146 percent.

Here’s what happened. Last week, Covered California—the name for the state’s Obamacare-compatible insurance exchange—released the rates that Californians will have to pay to enroll in the exchange.
 
“The rates submitted to Covered California for the 2014 individual market,” the state said in a press release, “ranged from two percent above to 29 percent below the 2013 average premium for small employer plans in California’s most populous regions.”

That’s the sentence that led to all of the triumphant commentary from the left. “This is a home run for consumers in every region of California,” exulted Peter Lee.

Except that Lee was making a misleading comparison. He was comparing apples—the plans that Californians buy today for themselves in a robust individual market—and oranges—the highly regulated plans that small employers purchase for their workers as a group. The difference is critical.

Obamacare to double individual-market premiums

If you’re a 25 year old male non-smoker, buying insurance for yourself, the cheapest plan on Obamacare’s exchanges is the catastrophic plan, which costs an average of $184 a month. (That’s the median monthly premium across California’s 19 insurance rating regions.)

The next cheapest plan, the “bronze” comprehensive plan, costs $205 a month. But in 2013, on eHealthInsurance.com (NASDAQ:EHTH), the average cost of the five cheapest plans was only $92.

In other words, for the average 25-year-old male non-smoking Californian, Obamacare will drive premiums up by between 100 and 123 percent.

Under Obamacare, only people under the age of 30 can participate in the slightly cheaper catastrophic plan. So if you’re 40, your cheapest option is the bronze plan. In California, the median price of a bronze plan for a 40-year-old male non-smoker will be $261.

But on eHealthInsurance, the average cost of the five cheapest plans was $121. That is, Obamacare will increase individual-market premiums by an average of 116 percent.

The examples continue, read the entire article, but the bottom line is liberals claiming Obamacare would actually lower California healthcare premiums, allowed themselves to be conned, either because they wanted it to be true or because they are truly that gullible.



The next article, via Fox News, simply confirms what businesses and now even unions, have recently asserted, that Obama's promise of "If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan," was an outright lie.

New health insurance rules under ObamaCare could lead to a host of personal insurance plans being canceled as early as this fall, a scenario expected to cause consumer confusion. 

Under the federal overhaul, those policies that cannot meet new insurance plan standards may be discontinued. This means individuals, and some small businesses, that rely on those plans will have to find new ones.

A reminder of the most terrifying part of Obamacare, the IRS, "the same agency that is currently under investigation for targeting ordinary Americans for their political beliefs will now act as the “key enforcer” of your healthcare."


Full Wake up America coverage on the Obamacare disaster can be found here.

Holding Those 'Rogue' IRS Agents Accountable Really Means Promote Them!!!

By Susan Duclos

One of those lower level "rogue" IRS employees that sent out intimidating and threatening letters to conservative groups that were targeted by the IRS, consistently, is then-Exempt Organization Specialist Stephen Seok.

Rather than be held "accountable" for the confirmed and deliberate targeting of conservative groups, Mr. Seok was actually promoted to a supervisory position within the IRS, job title : Supervisor IRS agent.

Contacted for comment on when and why Seok was promoted, the Cincinnati IRS office had no comment and referred all inquiries to the Washington office. The Washington office, when contacted, also refused comment on Seok’s promotion, citing the Privacy Act of 1974.

It appears some of the “rogue agents” in the Cincinnati office are being rewarded for targeting conservatives, not punished.

This is just the latest revelation in the whole saga of corruption where the IRS targeted conservative groups, pro-Israel groups who had policies that contradicted Obama's policies, Mitt Romney donors and even pro-life organizations.

Seok is not alone in being held "accountable" by promotion, as was revealed by ABC News in mid-May.

Sarah Hall Ingram served as commissioner of the office responsible for tax-exempt organizations between 2009 and 2012, and she too was promoted, to director of the IRS’ Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare office.

Let us not forget Lois Lerner,  the head of the exempt organizations division of the IRS, the woman who arranged to plant the original question so she could "apologize" publicly, who personally signed cover letters all the way up to May 2013 to those targeted conservative groups, and who has been given a "bushel of Pinocchios," by the Washington Post Fact Checker for outright lies since the scandal broke publicly, hasn't been fired.

When asked to resigned Lerner refused, then was put on administrative leave, meaning she is getting a paid vacation, funded by American taxpayers.

It appears that Barack Obama's definition of "accountable" is far different than what Americans consider it to be.

Which is probably why a plurality of Americans (49%) feel that the Obama administration was directly involved in the decision to target conservatives and that 76 percent of Americans, which include 63 percent of Democrats, think a special prosecutor should be appointed to investigate the IRS abuses in targeting conservatives.

Full Wake up America coverage on the IRS scandal can be found here.

History Of IRS Official In Charge Of Targeting Conservatives Traced Back To 1996 FEC Job

By Susan Duclos

Lois Lerner,  the head of the exempt organizations division of the IRS during the 2010-2013 period where the IRS was deliberately targeting conservatives (now on administrative leave), has a history of using intimidation tactics against conservatives going back to 1996 when  she was head of the Enforcement Division of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and directly involved in the 1996 Illinois U.S. Senate race.

Via Illinois Review:

Soon after the IRS story broke, Al Salvi told Illinois Review that it was IRS official Lois Lerner who represented the FEC in the 1996 Democrat complaint against him. According to Salvi, Lerner was, without question, politically motivated, and went so far as to make him an offer: "Promise me you will never run for office again, and we'll drop this case."

Salvi declined her offer. In fact he ran for Illinois Secretary of State in 1998.

But when he saw Lerner plead the Fifth Amendment before Congress last week, he recognized her. "That's the woman," Salvi said. "And I didn't plead the Fifth like she did."

In 2000, a federal judge dismissed the FEC case against him, clearing Salvi's name and reputation.

Now with the revelations about Lerner, the IRS, and the intriguing connection to Durbin, Salvi shared with Illinois Review his experience with Lois Lerner.

Read the details at Illinois Review.

Related to the IRS issue is the breaking news that the IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman visited the White House at least 157 times during the Obama administration, more recorded visits than even the most trusted members of the president’s Cabinet, leading to speculation that the conservative targeting of Obama's "enemies" was not the work of "lower level" employees as has been claimed, but came directly from the top, the White House.

A couple other IRS related headlines today include "Obama's 'Chicago Way'," and  "What's going on between IRS and True the Vote."

Full Wake up America coverage on the IRS scandal can be found here.

MSNBC Ratings Tank; Rachel Maddow Hits Lows

By Susan Duclos

MSNBC ratings are in a free-fall, with their flagship program The Rachel Maddow Show delivering it's lowest rated month since it's debut in September 2008.

Averaging 539,000 viewers in primetime and 175,000 viewers in the adults 25-54 demographic, MSNBC suffered double-digit drops from last May -- down a respective 20 and 19 percent. Losses were less substantial in total day, down 10 percent to an average 346,000 viewers and down 7 percent to 115,000 adults 25-54, while all other nets pulled growth in multiple categories.

The soft start for All In With Chris Hayes has not helped. Hayes, down 32 percent in total viewers from The Ed Show last May, has offered a poor lead-in for MSNBC's primetime flagship, The Rachel Maddow Show, at 9 p.m. The show delivered its lowest-rated month since it debuted in September 2008 (717,000 total viewers) and its second lowest with adults 25-54 (210,000). Maddow was topped by typical time slot victor Sean Hannity and CNN's Piers Morgan.

Recently it was reported that ratings for CNN's Piers Morgan Show has taken CNN's 9 pm time slot to the lowest levels in two decades, which is indicative of the fall of the most popular media personalities of the political left between Maddow and Morgan.

MSNBC's Chris Matthews, Al Sharpton and Martin Bashir, landed in fourth place in their timeslots—a marked change from their normal second-place status.

By the way, Fox's Sean Hannity saw his ratings soar by 18 percent, which is pointed out by The American Spectator, who also notes that others reporting this, somehow forgot to mention that little tidbit.

There are a couple very entertaining spins on this news coming from liberals, well worth mentioning.

For example, Atrios claims, MSNBC isn't really all that liberal...... excuse me while I fall off my chair laughing.

Then we have Joe Gandelman over at The Moderate Voice, claiming that MSNBC's downfall is the new show All in With Chris Hayes and, of course, since that show is right before Rachel Maddow's show, her tanking ranking could be Hayes' fault also.

Although, Gandelman is honest enough to admit to one of Maddow's many failings:

Yes, she is highly intelligent and she does do her show by a different drummer, but it can be grating to hear her repeat the same idea or fact reworded five times or slowly slide into a story. She repeats reworded the same idea or fact five times of slowly sides into a story. On a story, she may slowly slide and repeat the same idea or fact not once or twice or three or four times but five times. Five times (you get the idea..The idea you get…Idea, you get it..).

The bottom line is, die-hard liberals will tune into MSNBC and especially the liberal favorite, Rachel Maddow, but everyone else....meh, not so much.

 Face it, if people other than the die-hard liberals, wanted to watch Maddow, but didn't enjoy the show before hers, they could easily click their remotes and tune her in when All in With Chris Hayes was over.

They aren't.

This also helps explain why liberals felt the need to create all those fake Rachel Maddow supporters on Twitter back in March.

They must have seen the writing on the wall.

Quinnipiac Poll Sees White House Scandals Starting To Affect Obama's Approval Rating

By Susan Duclos

Some polls are finally showing news of the controversies and scandals rocking the White House affecting Obama's approval ratings.  Quinnipiac shows a significant drop considering the time it usually takes for details of major news stories to trickle into American's homes, and the fact the new details are emerging every day.

Obama gets a negative 45 - 49 percent job approval rating, compared to 48 - 45 percent positive in a May 1 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University, conducted before the IRS allegations surfaced. 

The biggest drop for Obama was from Independent voters, who give him a 37 percent approval and a 57 percent disapproval compared to 42-48 on May 1st.

Obama has not only taken a hit on approval, but on the issue of trustworthiness:

Americans are divided 49 - 47 percent on whether Obama is honest and trustworthy, down from 58 - 37 percent, the last time Quinnipiac University asked the question September 1, 2011.

The IRS and AP/FOX News attack on media scandals are rated as "legitimate" concerns by voters as well, but the Benghazi scandal called "politics."

Support for an independent prosecutor to probe the IRS issue is 88 - 6 percent among Republicans and 78 - 17 percent among independent voters, 78 - 17 percent among men and 74 - 18 percent among women.

"There is overwhelming bipartisan support for a special prosecutor to investigate the IRS," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "Voters apparently don't like the idea of Attorney General Eric Holder investigating the matter himself, perhaps because they don't exactly think highly of him. Holder gets a negative 23 - 39 percent job approval rating."

American voters say 43 - 32 percent that congressional criticism of the Obama Administration's handling of the terrorist attack in Libya is 'just politics.' Voters say 44 - 33 percent, however, that members of Congress who criticize the way the Obama Administration handled the IRS are raising 'legitimate concerns.' Criticism of the Justice Department's seizure of journalists' phone records also raises 'legitimate concerns,' voters say 37 - 24 percent.

Anti-Government sentiment is being compared to the the voter's mindset in 2010 about trust in the federal government:

Only 3 percent of voters trust the federal government to do the right thing almost all the time, while 12 percent say they trust it most of the time; 47 percent say some of the time and 36 percent hardly ever. That compares to results of a Quinnipiac University poll in July 2010, four months before the Republican sweep that year on the back of anti-government sentiment, when 2 percent said almost always, 16 percent said most of the time; 50 percent said some of the time and 31 percent said hardly ever.

"All of these investigations may be having a negative effect on voters' willingness to trust the federal government.to do the right thing," said Brown.

Obama's fading approval numbers in the Quinnipiac poll are on par with the most recent The Economist/YouGov poll which has Obama underwater with a 52 percent disapproval and 47 percent approval and the Fox News poll which has Obama's disapproval at 51 percent and 45 percent approval.

Both Rasmussen and Gallup polls still show Obama at 50-51 percent approval.

New York Times, CNN And Associated Press Heads Refuse To Meet With Eric Holder 'Off-The-Record'

By Susan Duclos

Attorney General Eric Holder wants to meet with Washington bureau chiefs of several major media outlets in an off-the-record powwow on Thursday and Friday, to discuss guidelines into how the Department of Justice handles news leaks and the media organizations that report them.

This follows the major scandal rocking Washington that has seen calls from both sides of the political spectrum calling for Holder's dismissal or resignation after phone records from the Associated Press were seized, then a Fox News reporters tracked with his emails monitored and multiple phone records obtained with warrant to do so, personally signed by Eric Holder.

A number of media organizations are refusing to attend the meeting as long as it is off-the-record.

The Associated Press issued a statement Wednesday objecting to plans for the meetings to be off the record. "If it is not on the record, AP will not attend and instead will offer our views on how the regulations should be updated in an open letter," said Erin Madigan White, the AP's media relations manager.

The New York Times is taking the same position. "It isn't appropriate for us to attend an off-the-record meeting with the attorney general," executive editor Jill Abramson said in a statement.

Like the New York Times and the Associated Press, CNN will decline the invitation for an off-the-record meeting. A CNN spokesperson says if the meeting with the attorney general is on the record, CNN would plan to participate.

The Huffington Post's Washington bureau chief, Ryan Grim, also said he will not attend unless the meeting is on the record. "A conversation specifically about the freedom of the press should be an open one. We have a responsibility not to betray that," Grim told CNN.

Unsurprisingly, the liberal leaning Politico has agreed to attend. Fox News has not decided whether to attend Friday's session which they were invited to.

Via TV Newswer: DNC spokesman Brad Woodhouse lashed out against that trend on Twitter, saying that refusing to meet with Holder "kind of forfeits your right to gripe," drawing incredulous reactions from reporters; Dylan Byers from Politico just responded, "Jesus, Brad."

Don Surber from Charleston Daily Mail responds to Woodhouse's ridiculous assertion with "@woodhouseb "forfeits your right" -- the motto of this administration."

John Podhoretz from Commentary Magazine tweets his answer to the DNC spokesman"Your literacy incredible. Your lack of verbs wonderful. Your position untenable. Your self-awareness negligible."

BuzzFeed's Andrew Kaczynski tweets "I suppose they can just find how they feel via subpoenaed email and phone records.... ... .. ."

Reactions to Woodhouse continue to pour in, they can all be seen here.

Journalists meet and have off the record discussions all the time, but in a case dealing with an all out attack on the media and freedom of the press, the last thing any decent journalist wants is have their readers see them allow the Obama administration to muzzle them on that very issue.

[Update] Huffington Post has the tally so far on who is in and who is out.

Not going: New York Times, AP, Huffington Post, McClatchy, CNN, CBS News, Fox News and Reuters.

Going: The Washington Post, Politico, and ABC News.

Undecided: NBC News.

Holder enlists Dems Top Spin Doctor to Manage DOJ PR Nightmare

Holder Taps Schumer's Spin Doctor to Manage PR Nightmare - When an individual or agency has a public relations problem, they call in crisis management specialists. Holder has enlisted the help of Senator Chuck Schumer's attack dog Brian Fallon to head up the DOJs Office of Public Affairs

Brian Fallon, one of the top Democratic communicators on Capitol Hill and long-time spokesman for Senator Charles Schumer of New York, has been tapped by Attorney General Eric Holder to run the Justice Department’s Office of Public Affairs, according to a person familiar with the decision. Fallon will inherit a communications office that has been under intense pressure in recent weeks following the disclosure of the Justice Department’s decision to subpoena phone records from the Associated Press in a national security leak investigation. While Holder was recused from that investigation, he was involved in a separate probe involving a Fox News reporter and played a role in the decision to seek a search warrant for the private e-mails of the reporter, James Rosen. The leak investigations have drawn fire from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle as well as free speech advocates and media organizations who question the scope and intent of the Justice searches involving reporters. Holder Taps Schumer's Front Man - Bloomberg.

Cross-posted at Politisite  

Too Easy!!! Anthony Weiner Campaign Trolls For Interns.... Seriously

By Susan Duclos

The entertainment begins with the news that the Anthony Weiner for Mayor campaign has posted an unpaid job posting, trolling for interns.

Starting with the ad itself:

"Hard"working is a no-brainer so, let us move on to being willing to work as a team.

Remember some of the team sexting?

Flashback:

• "practice saying, 'god, anthony, I'm cumming again."

• "you will surely make noise when I take you deep."

•  "ridiculous bulge in my shorts now. wanna see?"

Let me interrupt myself to remind readers that the whole sexting scandal that led to Weiner's resignation from Congress, came because he did "show" the bulge in his shorts, publicly when he sent it out to all of Twitter instead of sending it to his sext team member, then tried to claim his account had been hacked, before admitting, yeah, he did it.

Moving along to more of his "team" playing:

•  wow a jewish girl who sucks cock! this thing is ready to do damage"

•  "I was hoping my fat cock would be a selling point too"

• "tonight i'm just a man with a raging hard on"

Just a small sample... read more of the Best Of Weiner Erotic Texts over at AskMen.

How about that line "meeting goals given by staff." They probably should have said "campaign staff" cause, ummmm, Weiner's reputation is goal oriented for a whole different type of "staff."

Moving along to the NYP article about Weiner hunt for interns:

The ad says the former Queens congressman wants interns who can use "social media to enhance our message."

Way too easy... as the photo above shows, Weiner definitely is a pro on using "social media" to "enhance" an image.......huh?

“This is an unpaid internship but we are willing to work with you to get you school credit,” the campaign says, urging applicants to send their résumé to intern@anthonyweiner.com.

Ok, the article didn't actually link the email address, I did that..... it might be fun to see how many people decide to have their own fun with applying to work "hard" as team to "enhance" Weiner's image.

A huge thank you to Anthony Weiner for deciding to run for Mayor of New York, it isn't often that politics are entertaining, but this promises to provide endless entertainment for those of us with twisted sense of humors.

[Update] This is cross posted now at PolitiSite and they have some awesome Twitter responses embedded about this post... go...see... laugh.

Video- Mitch McConnell Ad: 'Demand Answers' Ties Obama To IRS Scandal

By Susan Duclos

In a two-minute 40-second Mitch McConell ad, titled "Demand Answers," he ties Obama to the recent IRS scandal rocking the White House, where the IRS was used to punish Obama's enemies, ending with the words “Intimidation, Retaliation, Secretive” across the screen with the audio of Barack Obama saying: "We’re going to punish our enemies, and we’re going to reward our friends."

That comment was made in a interview conducted by Univision with Obama in 2010.

[WATCH]- Demand Answers (Below the video is the description via The Hill)




The ad includes footage of IRS tax official Lois Lerner pleading the Fifth amendment during a congressional hearing on the agency’s targeting of conservative political groups and accuses the Obama administration of a “culture of intimidation.”

“Again and again, this administration and its allies have used the resources of the government itself to intimidate and silence those that oppose it,” McConnell says in the two-and-a-half-minute-long video, entitled “Demand Answers.” “I think that the leader of the free world and his advisers have better things to do than to dig through other people’s tax returns.”

The video cuts from clips of Lerner and other IRS officials either defending or claiming ignorance of the agency’s actions to a clip of Nixon saying, “if the president does it, that means it’s not illegal.”

The video closes with the words “Intimidation, Retaliation, Secretive” unfurling on the screen over audio of Obama saying: “We’re going to punish our enemies, and we’re going to reward our friends.”

This ad capitalizes on the recent revelations that the IRS deliberately and systematically targeted conservative groups, Tea Party, Patriot and 9/12, as well as reports of the IRS putting additional scrutiny on pro-Israel groups who were told their tax exempt applications had to be sent to "a special unit in D.C. to determine whether the organization's activities contradict the Administration's public policies."

There are also questions about how many Mitt Romney donors were audited after being publicly targeted on Barack Obama's campaign website. (WuA covered both the pro-Israel targeting and the Romney donor audits, here on May 11, 2013)

With more and more coming out about the IRS targeting, every day, and Democrats like Max Baucus saying  "a lot" more is going to come out, and recent reports showing that the IRS Commissioner visited the White House 118 times in 2010 and 2011, this is the perfect time for McConnell's ad tying obama to the IRS.

Full Wake up America coverage on the IRS scandal can be found here.

NRCC On Obamacare's Bureaucracy: Welcome To IRS-Care

By Susan Duclos

The NRCC reveals the eight offices that will handle the Obamacare bureaucracy, all under the corrupt IRS division of the government.

Via NRCC:

The IRS has been in the news recently for improperly targeting conservative groups. But it’s worth remembering that come next year, the IRS will have a “dominant role” in ObamaCare. You heard that right: the same agency that is currently under investigation for targeting ordinary Americans for their political beliefs will now act as the “key enforcer” of your healthcare.

Paul Bedard of the Washington Examiner is shedding some light this morning on what exactly this new IRS structure will look like.

According to Bedard, the IRS is planning on creating 8 new offices and “teams” to deal with the government’s takeover of healthcare—more than initially planned.

In even more “comforting” news, Bedard continues on to say that the structure the office uses to deal with ObamaCare will mirror the current bureaucratic structure that the scandal-ridden agency uses.

The structure also allows for “executive steering committees,” “program management offices,” and “working teams” to deal oversee the agency’s role in the law.

It’s also worth remembering that the head of the ObamaCare office will be Sarah Hall Ingram. Ingram was formerly the director of the tax-exempt organizations office–the division under fire for improperly targeting Americans based on their political beliefs.

Executive Steering Committees? Working Teams? The same official who once ran the IRS office tainted by scandal?

Well, I feel better already.

The only thing they need to do now is find someone to put the cover sheet on the TPS reports.

Anyone feel all warm and fuzzy yet?


Full Wake up America coverage on the IRS scandal can be found here.


 

Video- Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann Won't Run For Re-election

By Susan Duclos

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann announces, via video on her website, that she will not be running for re-election in 2014.

[WATCH]



From her website:

Thank you for watching my video. Please share your thoughts with me in the space provided below. As I said in my video, I will continue to work overtime for the next 18 months in Congress defending the same Constitutional Conservative values we have worked so hard on together -- and I will continue to keep you updated as I always have. Again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for your continued support. I look forward to working with you in the near future.

Bachmann's announcement is generating a lot of buzz as you can see in the headlines and discussions over at Memeorandum.

National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Rep. Greg Walden issued a statement saying Bachmann "has been a tireless advocate and dedicated Representative for the people of Minnesota’s Sixth District."

"Michele was the first Republican woman elected to represent Minnesota in the U.S. House of Representatives, and she has worked hard each day to ensure that her constituents’ voices are heard in the halls of Congress," he continued.

In her video, shown above, Bachmann states " I promise you I have and I will continue to fight to protect innocent human life, traditional marriage, family values, religious liberty, and academic excellence."

It should be interesting to see what form her fight takes and it would be highly entertaining to see her team up with Sarah Palin in some way, just to watch liberal talking heads explode on a regular basis.

Another Media Column Calling For The Firing Of Eric Holder

By Susan Duclos

Jonathan Turley, the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University,takes to the pages of USA Today, joining with other recent media op-eds, in calling for Attorney General Eric Holder to be fired.

Teaser:

Ignoble Legacy

Yet, at this month's hearing, the attorney general had had his fill. Accordingly, Holder adopted an embarrassing mantra of "I have no knowledge" and "I had no involvement" throughout the questioning. When he was not reciting the equivalent to his name, rank and serial number, he was implicating his aide, Deputy Attorney General James Cole. Cole, it appears, is Holder's sin eater. Holder was so busy denying responsibility for today's scandals, he began denying known facts about older scandals, such as the "Fast and Furious" gun operation.

In the end, Holder was the best witness against his continuing in office. His insistence that he did nothing was a telling moment. The attorney general has done little in his tenure to protect civil liberties or the free press. Rather, Holder has supervised a comprehensive erosion of privacy rights, press freedom and due process. This ignoble legacy was made possible by Democrats who would look at their shoes whenever the Obama administration was accused of constitutional abuses.

On Thursday, Obama responded to the outcry over the AP and Fox scandals by calling for an investigation by ... you guessed it ... Eric Holder. He ordered Holder to meet with news media representatives to hear their "concerns" and report back to him. He sent his old sin eater for a confab with the very targets of the abusive surveillance. Such an inquiry offers no reason to trust its conclusions.

The feeble response was the ultimate proof that these are Obama's sins despite his effort to feign ignorance. It did not matter that Holder is the sin eater who has lost his stomach or that such mortal sins are not so easily digested. Indeed, these sins should be fatal for any attorney general.

The far left and the far right appears to agree on this issue, yet Barack Obama refuses to dismiss his good friend Eric Holder, despite the outright lies he told to Congress, under oath, the incompetence shown with issues such as Fast and Furious, and his personal involvement in the aggressive attack against free press.

By refusing to fire Holder, Obama is directly linking his own legacy to that of Holder's.

For such a supposedly smart man, that is a very stupid decision.

Colorado Gun Control Democrats Facing Recalls

By Susan Duclos

Colorado Democrats that voted to expand gun control are facing the ire of Colorado Second Amendment supporters, in what is described as the "first wave  of fallout over legislative votes to limit gun rights," according to an Associated Press article, via Yahoo News.

In Colorado, gun-rights activists wasted no time seeking recalls to oust state Senate President John Morse and three other Democratic lawmakers. The targeted lawmakers weren't necessarily the main advocates for ratcheting back gun rights, but all come from districts with enough Republicans to give opponents hope they can boot out the Democrats and replace them with lawmakers friendlier to guns. Colorado is the only state outside the East Coast to have adopted significant statewide gun controls this year.

"Colorado seems to be the testing ground for some of the gun measures, so this has national implications," said Victor Head, a plumber from Pueblo who is organizing a recall attempt against a Democratic senator.

 [...]

In an interview, Morse seemed resigned to facing a recall vote after signatures are verified. He believes national gun-rights supporters are using his district to make a national statement about the political peril officials face if they take on gun control.

"That's what's going on here. They want to take out the Senate president," Morse said.

The organizer of the Morse recall effort, Anthony Garcia, didn't disagree. Garcia doesn't live in Morse's district but in the northern Colorado town of Brighton. Garcia said Morse was targeted not just because of his votes for gun control but because he is a prominent Democrat from a competitive district.

"It's as much about saying Colorado is angry as it is about getting one guy out," Garcia said. "Legislators need to know when citizens are outraged that they can't ignore the people."

The actual numbers for the results of recalls, show why constituents are so willing to wage a recall campaign if they feel their state lawmakers are not representing them as they were elected to do. Joshua Spivak, who tracks recall elections nationwide at the Hugh L. Carey Institute for Government Reform at Wagner College in New York provides those numbers.

• At least 169 officials at all levels of government faced recalls last year, up from 151 the year before.

•  In Colorado last year, seven recall efforts made it to ballots, all local races, Spivak said. Of those seven, two officials were ousted and two more resigned.

•  Nationwide, 108 recalled officials last year lost or left office after a recall. That makes the recall a powerful tool — and one likely to be used more often, Spivak said.

The recall effort underway is just one area that the Colorado gun grabbers are under attack, with over 50 Sheriffs suing the state of Colorado because of the recently passed gun control laws, saying they are "unenforceable and encourage disrespect for the law, which puts both law enforcement and the public in greater danger."

Colorado residents are also seeing  200 direct jobs, 400 supply-chain jobs and the $85 million  annually, move to another state as gun manufacturer Magpul, who has joined with the Sheriffs in their lawsuit, continued with their plans to relocate their business to a more gun friendly state because of the gun control laws passed by Colorado Democrats.

HiViz Shooting Systems, which makes sights, recoil pads and other accessories, has also decided to relocate out of Colorado, for the same reasons, taking their jobs and money out of the Colorado economy as well.


Full Wake up America coverage on the Second Amendment battle raging in Colorado can be found here.

Moral Decay, The Media, And Our Language

STRONG LANGUAGE AHEAD!! But needed to make my point.

 It seems the English language itself, may be more to blame than anything. And I'm at times guilty also.We as adults, have gotten so used to our TV saying more and more everyday that it's OK to curse, without really cursing. Getting close.......but not really! We think it's funny, when it's on TV! K Mart actually enlists underage kids, to "tongue in cheek" the word "ass" and "shit". Let's watch, shall we?





If you hear one of your kids saying this.."Look at that frickin' big gas man shipping his pants!", without saying anything, you may be guilty too! Thanx to Frickers for the add in. We accept this word for fuck, but we eat there, so it's OK! Love the wings!They are fucking awesome. Same? same? right? But it's OK. They do it on TV all the time, right? Heck yes.......Heck is not an obvious word for not saying hell is it?
 I'm just reminiscing about how our words have lost a lot of meaning. I want The Flintstones to "Have a gay old time", without the snickers. Now you have to call someone a weirdo, instead of queer. At least being a gay female, has it's own unique name. Notice any word play yet? Anything we say about Anthony's Wiener, is bitchin'. But how dare you call me a bitch! I didn't see what all the fuss was over such a small subject as his penis, (can't say that on  broadcast TV, but we sell stuff that goes on them, and in a vagina!) But we got cable!!  And if you have children you probably, lock out late night Comedy Central on Saturday.
 Hell is on any station at any time. A reporter describing the Oklahoma devastation compared it to Hell. I could not say this word as a child, although they tried to scare the hell out of me at church saying hell. Very confusing to small children. And still is to me.
 For a Politician to lie used to be the worst! Now we elect the best liars. The media makes sure of that! And no party lines drawn here folks! ALL are guilty! Well, the biggest part of them are Liberals! Had to get a bit of kneecapping in, it's what I do!
  If I missed any words feel free to add them in the damn comment area. I won't read them, because I see it on the Freakin' Boob Tube!

 Heh,heh, he said "boob"!
 And the phallic symbol of America, stands proudly at attention in the background of two nuts!

    In Mother Effin Liberty,
                 Skeez

Piers Morgan Brings CNN's 9PM Time Slot To Lowest Levels In Two Decades

By Susan Duclos

Both MSNBC and CNN saw a massive drop in viewers, specifically the coveted demographic of 25-54 age groups, in May.

MSNBC experienced a double digit drop for May.

CNN experienced its "lowest prime time numbers among total viewers in over two decades, according to Deadline, but it is the figures for Piers Morgan Tonight that brings up the question of why CNN hasn't dumped him by now.

...Piers Morgan Tonight received the lowest total viewer and 25-54 demo numbers that CNN has had in the 9 PM time slot in two decades. The interview show got only 417,000 total viewers and 117,000 among the 25-54 demographic......

Fox News is out-reporting all the other cable news networks, for totals, primetime, morning shows, 5PM,  all the way down to 11PM, according to TV By The Numbers, in the May 28 2013 report.

Since we are talking about the media, a few related headlines from the Media Research Center:

CNN Drags Its Feet Reporting Eric Holder Approved Seizure of Fox Reporter's E-Mails, Phone Records

Obama Presidency Has Given Liberal Media Bias a New and Dangerous Form’

NBC Fails to Report Its Own Scoop That AG Holder Approved Investigation of Fox's Rosen

ABC Spends Only 16 Seconds on IRS Official's Suspension

Gallup Polls Show Obamacare Really Bad For Businesses And Hiring

By Susan Duclos

A pair of Gallup polls, taken together, show some really bad news for the economy due to Obamacare and the unintended consequences of Obama and Democrats' heatlh care law.

Starting with poll results from Gallup released on May 10, 2013, half of U.S. businesses feel Obamacare will be bad for them and 41 percent are holding off hiring because of Obamacare.

It gets worse:

When asked if they had taken any of five specific actions in response to the ACA, 41% of small-business owners say they have held off on hiring new employees and 38% have pulled back on plans to grow their business. One in five (19%) have reduced their number of employees and essentially the same number (18%) have cut employee hours in response to the healthcare law. One in four owners (24%) have thought about eliminating healthcare coverage for their employees.

Implication, via Gallup:

However, more important for the U.S. economy in the short term is what small-business owners say they are already doing in anticipation of the new law's continuing implementation. About four in 10 say they are holding off on hiring and new growth plans. About one in five say they are letting people go or cutting employees' hours. Even after discounting small-business owners' political views, these actions suggest the ACA could be a significant drag on the U.S. economy -- at least in the short term.


The next poll result release from Gallup is from the Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index survey, released on May 28, 23.

That survey shows that four in 10 small-business owners say they have held back on hiring, and one in five owners say they have let employees go, due to the healthcare costs associated with the Affordable Care Act. As implementation of the law continues, the number of small-business owners who take these steps could increase.

Recent related news:

CNN/ORC International Poll: 54% Still Opposed To Obamacare

Letter From Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa To State Dept. And Subpoena For Benghazi Talking Points

By Susan Duclos

Embedded below is the letter that House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa has sent to Secretary of State John Kerry, with a subpoena, demanding all documents related to the Benghazi talking points.

Via The Hill:

In the letter, Issa states that the department's release of 100 emails earlier this month was "incomplete." Issa demands that Kerry produce "relevant documents through subpoena. The enclosed subpoena covers documents and the communications related to talking points prepared for members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and used by Ambassador Susan Rice during her September 16th, 2012, appearances on CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, and CNN."

Read the letter below:

Congress Letter and Subpoena To John Kerry uploaded by Susan Duclos

Related:

Full Wake up America Libya coverage found here.

Viral Video- Veteran Teacher Resigns 'Everything I Love About Teaching Is Extinct'

By Susan Duclos

The highlights of the video that has gone viral of 15-year teaching veteran Ellie Rubenstein, resigning from her job due to retaliation against four teachers who were  vocal in advocating for their children, are provided by TheBlaze:

Frustrated and out of options, Rubenstein decided to resign instead of face the transfer — and she did it in a way that has garnered over 350,000 views.

Among her concerns that have now gone viral:

• “I have experienced the depressing, gradual downfall and misdirection of education that has slowly eaten away at my love of teaching.”
• “The emphasis in eduction has shifted from fostering academic and personal growth in both students and teachers, to demanding uniformity and conformity.”
• “Raising students’ test scores on standardized tests is now the only goal, and in order to achieve it the creativity, flexibility and spontaneity … have been eliminated.”
• “Everything I loved about teaching is extinct.”
• “Curriculum is mandated. … The classroom teacher is no longer trusted or in control of what, when, or how she teaches.”
• She says complaint forms and write-ups are being used as tools to target teachers and keep them as “yes men,” instead of being used to get rid of poor educators — and she even takes a shot at the union.

Watch the entire resignation — which includes plenty of more examples and quotes and even mentions “tracking” of students — below:



This comes on the heels of an article here on WuA, just this morning, where an Illinois teacher is now facing disciplinary actions for informing his high school students of their constitutional rights.

AG Eric Holder Investigated For Lies Told Under Oath To Congress About Attacking Free Press

By Susan Duclos

The House Judiciary Committee is launching an investigation into whether Attorney General Eric Holder lied under oath in his May 15, 2013 testimony, when he claimed "In regard to potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material -- this is not something I’ve ever been involved in, heard of, or would think would be wise policy."

Video below is of the exchange with  Representative Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), the quoted assertion above comes at the 5-minute mark.



It was subsequently reported by NBC and others, that Holder personally signed off on the warrant which labeled Fox News reporter James Rosen, "an “aider, abettor, and/or co-conspirator," for reporting information given to him by a source.

Via The Hill:

Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (Wis.), the second-ranking Judiciary Committee Republican, told The Hill that Holder should resign.

He accused Holder of misleading the panel during the investigation of the Fast and Furious gun-tracking operation, and again when he claimed to not know about the AP probe.

“As we saw in Fast and Furious and are seeing now, Attorney General Holder refuses to hold himself accountable,” he said. “He misled the Judiciary Committee under oath when he said he had not heard about Fast and Furious and he misled us again when he claimed to be unaware of the AP scandal. The head of DOJ should be someone the American people can trust. Attorney General Holder should resign.”

Not only did the NBC report contradict, then confirm, that Holder lied under oath in his testimony, but Barack Obama has charged Holder with investigating the wrongdoings to which Holder was personally involved in.

Question to ponder: If Eric Holder would lie, under oath, to Congress, does anyone other than Obama, really trust him to investigate himself?

IRS Targeting Conservatives: IRS Commissioner Visits White House 118 Times In 2010, 2011

By Susan Duclos

From the beginning of the IRS targeting conservatives in 2010 to 2011, the IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, was a frequent visitor at the White House:

The Washington Examiner reported on Monday that Mark Everson, Commissioner of Internal Revenue from 2003 to 2007, during the Bush administration, visited the White House exactly once while in office. Indeed he felt like he’d “moved to Siberia” so out of the ordinary political loop was he. But Douglas Shulman, Commissioner from 2008 to 2012, during the Obama administration, visited the White House 118 times just in 2010 and 2011. His successor, Steven Miller, also visited “numerous” times.

The targeting began in 2010, continued through 2012 and has recently been shown, by followup letters, into at least May 6, 2013.

The May 6, 2013 followup letter starts on page 8 of the PDF embedded in a WuA article on May 24, 2013.

Yet, Obama denies he knew anything of the IRS targeting of conservatives, pro-Israel supporters, Mitt Romney donors and Tea Party groups?

The White House first denied any knowledge, then Jay Carney was forced to admit senior staff knew, then admit other staff knew, but claims the directive to target conservatives did not come from the White House.

That is a claim that a plurality of voters, do not believe.

[Update] Hopefully one of at least four investigations being launched, will get to the truth of the matter of where the directives came from, who approved the orders and what involvement, if any, the White House had.


Related:

Full Wake up America coverage on the IRS scandal can be found here.

Eric Holder's Fake 'Remorse' And Why Shield Law Wouldn't Have Prevented DOJ Attack On Free Press

By Susan Duclos

Cartoon by Chip Bok, via Towhall

According to The Daily Beast, unnamed aides claim that Attorney General Eric Holder started feeling "a creeping sense of personal remorse," as he read a Washington Post article detailing the exact nature of the DOJ's role in attacking the free press, reporting on the affidavit which Holder himself signed off on and approved, calling a Fox News reporter " at the very least ... an aider, abettor and/or co-conspirator" in the crime, for doing nothing more than his job.

DOJ officials, realizing the issue could turn into a press feeding frenzy, went into damage-control mode. Over the weekend they scrambled to prepare their response, including readying a press statement assuring that Justice had no plans to indict Rosen.

But for Attorney General Eric Holder, the gravity of the situation didn’t fully sink in until Monday morning when he read the Post’s front-page story, sitting at his kitchen table. Quoting from the affidavit, the story detailed how agents had tracked Rosen’s movements in and out of the State Department, perused his private emails, and traced the timing of his calls to the State Department security adviser suspected of leaking to him. Then the story, quoting the stark, clinical language of the affidavit, described Rosen as “at the very least ... an aider, abettor and/or co-conspirator” in the crime. Holder knew that Justice would be besieged by the twin leak probes; but, according to aides, he was also beginning to feel a creeping sense of personal remorse.

The sweeping seizure of the AP phone records had thrown Justice on the defensive. But at least in that case Holder had some personal insulation; having been interviewed by the FBI, he’d recused himself from the investigation and, thus, had not personally signed off on the subpoenas. In the Fox case, however, Holder knew he bore a direct measure of responsibility. He had approved a search-warrant application that equated a reporter’s newsgathering activities with criminal conduct. That put Holder at the center of the brewing controversy, all while the Obama administration was being buffeted over allegations that the IRS had targeted conservative groups and by the continuing Benghazi tempest.

That is when Holder and even Barack Obama started pushing the red herring of the "Shield Law."

By week’s end, Holder knew he had to be proactive in stemming the criticism and restoring the department’s credibility with the press. He and his advisers began exploring ways to reform the Justice Department’s internal guidelines for investigating leaks to safeguard the media against overly intrusive tactics. (Obama announced a review of the guidelines during a major speech on counterterrorism last Thursday.) Meanwhile, on Friday, Holder made a round of calls to Capitol Hill in an attempt to mollify concerned lawmakers. In calls to Sens. Charles Schumer (D-NY), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Holder said he understood why there had been such an outcry over his department’s actions. As one of Holder’s advisers put it, the message was: “Look we get it. We understand why this is so controversial, and we’re ready to make changes to find the right balance.” At the same time, Holder enlisted their help to get a media-shield law passed in Congress. (On Sunday, Schumer announced the formation of a bipartisan “gang of eight” to press for the legislation.)

Yes, about that Shield Law......

Perhaps the most significant structural flaw in the current system, however, is that the fox is guarding the henhouse. Prosecutors whose main interest is catching and convicting leakers call the shots on how aggressively to pursue reporters as part of their investigations. That is why, Holder believes, there is ultimately no better solution than passing a media-shield law that would place those decisions in the hands of an independent federal judge......

Would a Shield Law have prevented the Obama Department of Justice from zealously attacking the Associated Press by seizing their phone records without notification? Or protected James Rosen at Fox News from the being monitored and having his phone records and email account secretly monitored?

Washington Post reports the answer... no.

Under the shield legislation, the DOJ could still delay notification of a covered journalist of a subpoena — but only if a judge, not the administration, decided that disclosure would pose a substantial threat.

“The difference is that instead of DOJ unilaterally making that determination,” the department would “have to convince a judge that this was the case,” said University of Minnesota Law Professor Jane Kirtley.

The reason the "Shield Law" is a red herring, specifically being used right now as a way mitigate the damage, look no further than some of the original reporting by The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza, who clearly outlines how Obama's DOJ shopped around for a judge that would give them what they wanted after two judges had already denied them.

The new documents show that two judges separately declared that the Justice Department was required to notify Rosen of the search warrant, even if the notification came after a delay. Otherwise: “The subscriber therefore will never know, by being provided a copy of the warrant, for example, that the government secured a warrant and searched the contents of her e-mail account,” Judge John M. Facciola wrote in an opinion rejecting the Obama Administration’s argument.

Machen appealed that decision, and in September, 2010, Royce C. Lamberth, the chief judge in the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, granted Machen’s request to overturn the order of the two judges.

All the Shield Law would have done is give the Obama administration and Eric Holder someone else to throw under the bus when their antics became public.

Then we have the matter of the "exception" in the Shield Law, which Obama himself pushed for in 2009, again it would have prevented the law from protecting the media:

The bill contains a large exception for national security, a compromise Obama pushed for back in 2009. In classified leak cases, a subpoena could not be quashed if the information would help prevent or mitigate an act of terrorism or other harm to national security. In a non-classified case, the reporter is not protected in those cases and if the information could help identify the perpetrator of an act of terrorism.

No doubt a federal media Shield Law would be a good thing, but it would not have prevented the abuses perpetrated against the media, by the Obama administration, in these two cases. It is more of a "look something shiny over that way," red herring, to distract from the very nature of those abuses.