Post by Admin on Jun 1, 2015 16:04:52 GMT
The United States IRS and Scientology's control of it:
While we are discussing Why it is necessary to keep scientology out of our government, let me remind you of the IRS corruption scandal and the VA corruption scandal of huge amounts of missing money among many other fairly major problems we have in our government: making Us work for them, instead of the government working for us.... in other words: loss of our Democracy in the favor of "it's only a dollar" mentality.
www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2014/06/14/dear-mr-president-is-there-a-smidgen-of-corruption-in-irs-lost-lerner-emails/
For an article explaining the details, and a lengthy list of the IRS transgressions against the American Public; use this link:
www.wnd.com/2014/04/lawmakers-stunned-by-new-revelations-of-irs-corruption/
April 16, 2014
WASHINGTON — Tea-party leaders and lawmakers are flabbergasted over the latest bombshell revelation in the IRS scandal – that ex-IRS official Lois Lerner was discussing with the Department of Justice a strategy to criminally prosecute conservative groups.
Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., told WND, “With each new revelation about the extent the IRS went, and wanted to go, to target conservative and tea-party groups, the level of corruption keeps getting worse.”
For key members of the House Oversight Committee, which has been investigating the scandal for a year, the revelation about Lerner’s coordination with the DOJ (then Eric Holder) appeared to confirm some of their worst suspicions.
Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said the documents underscore the political nature of tea-party targeting by the IRS and the extent to which supposedly nonpartisan officials took direction from elected Democrats.
“These e-mails are part of an overwhelming body of evidence that political pressure from prominent Democrats led to the targeting of Americans for their political beliefs,” declared Issa.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said it showed why the IRS is scared to give up the rest of Lois Lerner’s emails.
He also claimed the e-mails further proved coordination among the IRS, the Federal Election Commission, the Justice Department and committee Democrats to target conservatives.
Jordan now believes, had the committee not requested an investigation by the Treasury Department’s Inspector General, then “Eric Holder’s politicized Justice Department would likely have been leveling trumped up criminal charges against tea-party groups to intimidate them from exercising their constitutional rights.”
Reaction was also swift from one of Lerner’s main targets, the Tea Party Patriots, a national grassroots coalition with at least 3,400 locally organized chapters and more than 15 million supporters nationwide.
WND asked Tea Party Patriots President and Co-founder Jenny Beth Martin for her reaction to Lerner’s specific inquiry to the DOJ about whether tax-exempt groups could be criminally prosecuted for “lying” about political activity.
“We were not engaged in political activity,” Martin told WND. “The fact they were claiming groups were lying is another way to target and intimidate us and adds credibility to the appearance that they coordinated with Senate Democrats to silence us.”
Martin noted that Lerner has been referred to the Justice Department for criminal investigation and is awaiting a full House vote on contempt charges.
Washington attorney Cleta Mitchell, who represents Tea Party Patriots, told WND that she is particularly outraged at where the conversation originated, with Sen. Shelden Whitehouse, D-R.I., asking the DOJ to prosecute groups.
“Basically using the federal government to silence political foes. That is where it started,” said Mitchell. “He should be the person called out here for starting to sic the DOJ and IRS on these groups. Terrible.”
The revelations made Martin wonder how far the Obama administration would go to silence groups like the Tea Party Patriots.
“Local leaders around the country and I have said we were very concerned as we answered the abusive, intrusive, Nixonian questions the IRS asked for fear we may get something incorrect and we were signing those documents under penalty of perjury,” she said. “These efforts to subvert our personal freedom of speech is astonishing.”
She vowed not to be bullied or threatened into silence.
“We will continue to speak out. This kind of abuse of power and government overreach is why the modern-day tea party started, and we will continue to stand for personal freedom until those in Washington learn to cherish it again.”
Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas, told WND this latest revelation is a symptom of a larger problem, what he calls a culture of corruption rotting throughout liberalism.
“Under liberalism, tax laws have become a weapon to control behavior and punish those with differing ideas,” observed the Texan.
Stockman said liberals view government as a tool of retribution that should be used to suppress dissent.
“The only way to clean up government is to prosecute corrupt liberal activists like Lerner,” he said.
He also recommended dismantling the tools liberals use to suppress dissenting ideas, implying the solution is to abolish the IRS.
Read more at www.wnd.com/2014/04/lawmakers-stunned-by-new-revelations-of-irs-corruption/#QbR6ucctyKLopPhl.99
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But wait, there's more:
Scientologists Granted Tax Exemption by the U.S.
By STEPHEN LABATON,
Published: October 14, 1993
www.nytimes.com/1993/10/14/us/scientologists-granted-tax-exemption-by-the-us.html
WASHINGTON, Oct. 13— The Government said today that it had agreed to grant a tax exemption to the Church of Scientology and more than 150 of its related corporations, ending one of the longest-running tax disputes in American history.
"This puts an end to what has been an historic war," said Marty Rathbun, president of a Scientology organization that received a tax exemption. "It's like the Palestinians and the Israelis shaking hands."
Officials at the Internal Revenue Service and the Scientology group declined to spell out the details of the settlement and would not explain why it had finally been reached after four decades of costly and bitter court fights.
People familiar with the group's closely held finances said the tax exemptions could save the organization at least tens of millions of dollars a year in taxes.
The exemptions were granted as part of a larger settlement between the Government and the Scientology organizations that ends legal disputes that go back to the founding of the church 39 years ago. Church officials said the settlement would close more than a dozen lawsuits.
Officials at the Internal Revenue Service said the decision granting the Scientologists tax-exempt status does not change the standards for determining when an institution is to be considered religious for tax purposes. They also said that the ruling would not affect how other groups are treated.
But some tax lawyers who have advised organizations seeking tax-exempt status said the ruling would make it easier for them to argue their cases.
The church's California branch had a Federal tax exemption at one point but lost it 26 years ago, and most of the other related organizations never had exemptions. For decades, the Government has said that although Scientology can be considered a religion, its affiliated organizations had operated as businesses for the financial gain of the church's leaders, most notably L. Ron Hubbard.
Mr. Hubbard, who founded the group in the 1950's after his book "Dianetics" became a best seller, responded to the Internal Revenue Service's challenge by making anti-Government statements that became part of the church's dogma. And after Mr. Hubbard died in 1986, other Scientology leaders, including its top official, David Miscavige, continued to preach against the Government and the tax collectors. Charitable and Religious
But today, Frank Keith, a spokesman for the Internal Revenue Service, said that as part of the settlement the Government had decided to classify the sprawling empire as a charitable and religious organization.
Mr. Keith said the group was notified of the decision on Oct. 1 and that it followed a two-year review of financial statements and other information provided by the organizations about their structure and purposes. He would not say whether the final decision had been made by the new Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, Margaret M. Richardson, who would normally have to approve any large settlement.
The ruling means that the church and more than 150 related educational and counseling groups will no longer have to pay Federal income taxes. Church members may also deduct their membership dues from their taxes. Mr. Rathbun said that the groups did not expect to receive refunds of back taxes because they had not been assessed for many of the years that they were contending to be a religious organization. Conciliatory Tone
Mr. Rathbun was unusually conciliatory toward the I.R.S. today. He said the church had prevailed after what he called "an objective review" under the auspices of John Burke, an assistant commissioner who heads the agency's Employee Plans and Exempt Organizations division.
The Church of Scientology has branches around the world and has its headquarters in Los Angeles. It calls itself a "new religion," one not based on the worship of a god, but rather one that purports to teach members how to improve the quality of their lives. Instead of salvation, it promises to rid the mind of mental obstacles to happiness and help members improve the world.
But some courts and many former members have called the organization a sham, saying it relies on religious pretenses to mask a highly profitable business. Membership in Dispute
The group claims a membership of eight million, although former members say that those figures are grossly inflated and that the total is probably closer to 50,000.
The Federal Government recognized the Church of Scientology of California as a tax-exempt religious organization in 1957, but revoked that exemption in 1967. Its decision led to a wave of litigation by the church and the Government over various issues, like the church's request under the Freedom of Information Act for Government files, to the Government's attempts to assess the organization.
In 1984, a Tax Court concluded that the church had "made a business out of selling religion," and that Mr. Hubbard and his family had diverted millions of dollars of church funds. And a Los Angeles Superior Court judge called Mr. Hubbard "a pathological liar" who seemed gripped by "egotism, greed, avarice, lust for power and vindictiveness and aggressiveness against persons perceived by him to be disloyal or hostile."
Court documents showed that the church had an extensive project to infiltrate Government agencies in the United States and more than 30 countries to suppress investigations of the organization. Ultimately, 11 church leaders, including Mr. Hubbard's wife, Mary Sue, served prison terms for the wiretap of an Internal Revenue Service office and other crimes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The United States IRS and Scientology's control of it: Even More History:
In the 1970's:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Snow_White
Operation Snow White was the Church of Scientology's internal name for a major criminal conspiracy during the 1970s to purge unfavorable records about Scientology and its founder L. Ron Hubbard. This project included a series of infiltrations and thefts from 136 government agencies, foreign embassies and consulates, as well as private organizations critical of Scientology, carried out by Church members, in more than 30 countries. It was the single largest infiltration of the United States government in history with up to 5,000 covert agents. This operation also exposed the Scientology plot 'Operation Freakout', because Operation Snow White was the case that initiated the US government investigation of the Church.
Under this program, Scientology operatives committed infiltration, wiretapping, and theft of documents in government offices, most notably those of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Eleven highly placed Church executives, including Mary Sue Hubbard (wife of founder L. Ron Hubbard and second-in-command of the organization), pleaded guilty or were convicted in federal court of obstructing justice, burglary of government offices, and theft of documents and government property. The case was United States v. Mary Sue Hubbard et al., 493 F.Supp. 209 (D.D.C. 1979). Eleven high-ranking Scientologists, including Hubbard's wife Mary Sue Hubbard, were sentenced to time in prison for acts surrounding this operation. Hubbard himself was named as an unindicted co-conspirator as investigators could not link him to the crimes.
In 1979, several Scientology members were convicted for their involvement in the church's Operation Snow White, the largest theft of government documents in U.S. history. Scientologists were also convicted of fraud, manslaughter and tampering with witnesses in French cases, malicious libel against lawyer Casey Hill and espionage in Canada.
The Church then embarked on an aggressive, but more legal course, the church's hundreds of affiliated entities filing a steady stream of lawsuits against the IRS in an attempt to have their tax-exempt status approved. In addition, members of the Church started filing thousands of lawsuits against the IRS, claiming that they were entitled to tax deductions for auditing and training expenses.
They were finally rewarded in October 1993, when the IRS formally announced that the Church of Scientology and its related social betterment organizations had been granted tax exemption again. Since then, the U.S. Department of State has formally criticized several European countries, including Germany and France, for religious discrimination against Scientologists.
In his book World Religions in America, religious scholar Jacob Neusner states that Scientology's "high level of visibility" may be perceived as "threatening to established social institutions".
While we are discussing Why it is necessary to keep scientology out of our government, let me remind you of the IRS corruption scandal and the VA corruption scandal of huge amounts of missing money among many other fairly major problems we have in our government: making Us work for them, instead of the government working for us.... in other words: loss of our Democracy in the favor of "it's only a dollar" mentality.
www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2014/06/14/dear-mr-president-is-there-a-smidgen-of-corruption-in-irs-lost-lerner-emails/
For an article explaining the details, and a lengthy list of the IRS transgressions against the American Public; use this link:
www.wnd.com/2014/04/lawmakers-stunned-by-new-revelations-of-irs-corruption/
April 16, 2014
WASHINGTON — Tea-party leaders and lawmakers are flabbergasted over the latest bombshell revelation in the IRS scandal – that ex-IRS official Lois Lerner was discussing with the Department of Justice a strategy to criminally prosecute conservative groups.
Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., told WND, “With each new revelation about the extent the IRS went, and wanted to go, to target conservative and tea-party groups, the level of corruption keeps getting worse.”
For key members of the House Oversight Committee, which has been investigating the scandal for a year, the revelation about Lerner’s coordination with the DOJ (then Eric Holder) appeared to confirm some of their worst suspicions.
Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said the documents underscore the political nature of tea-party targeting by the IRS and the extent to which supposedly nonpartisan officials took direction from elected Democrats.
“These e-mails are part of an overwhelming body of evidence that political pressure from prominent Democrats led to the targeting of Americans for their political beliefs,” declared Issa.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said it showed why the IRS is scared to give up the rest of Lois Lerner’s emails.
He also claimed the e-mails further proved coordination among the IRS, the Federal Election Commission, the Justice Department and committee Democrats to target conservatives.
Jordan now believes, had the committee not requested an investigation by the Treasury Department’s Inspector General, then “Eric Holder’s politicized Justice Department would likely have been leveling trumped up criminal charges against tea-party groups to intimidate them from exercising their constitutional rights.”
Reaction was also swift from one of Lerner’s main targets, the Tea Party Patriots, a national grassroots coalition with at least 3,400 locally organized chapters and more than 15 million supporters nationwide.
WND asked Tea Party Patriots President and Co-founder Jenny Beth Martin for her reaction to Lerner’s specific inquiry to the DOJ about whether tax-exempt groups could be criminally prosecuted for “lying” about political activity.
“We were not engaged in political activity,” Martin told WND. “The fact they were claiming groups were lying is another way to target and intimidate us and adds credibility to the appearance that they coordinated with Senate Democrats to silence us.”
Martin noted that Lerner has been referred to the Justice Department for criminal investigation and is awaiting a full House vote on contempt charges.
Washington attorney Cleta Mitchell, who represents Tea Party Patriots, told WND that she is particularly outraged at where the conversation originated, with Sen. Shelden Whitehouse, D-R.I., asking the DOJ to prosecute groups.
“Basically using the federal government to silence political foes. That is where it started,” said Mitchell. “He should be the person called out here for starting to sic the DOJ and IRS on these groups. Terrible.”
The revelations made Martin wonder how far the Obama administration would go to silence groups like the Tea Party Patriots.
“Local leaders around the country and I have said we were very concerned as we answered the abusive, intrusive, Nixonian questions the IRS asked for fear we may get something incorrect and we were signing those documents under penalty of perjury,” she said. “These efforts to subvert our personal freedom of speech is astonishing.”
She vowed not to be bullied or threatened into silence.
“We will continue to speak out. This kind of abuse of power and government overreach is why the modern-day tea party started, and we will continue to stand for personal freedom until those in Washington learn to cherish it again.”
Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas, told WND this latest revelation is a symptom of a larger problem, what he calls a culture of corruption rotting throughout liberalism.
“Under liberalism, tax laws have become a weapon to control behavior and punish those with differing ideas,” observed the Texan.
Stockman said liberals view government as a tool of retribution that should be used to suppress dissent.
“The only way to clean up government is to prosecute corrupt liberal activists like Lerner,” he said.
He also recommended dismantling the tools liberals use to suppress dissenting ideas, implying the solution is to abolish the IRS.
Read more at www.wnd.com/2014/04/lawmakers-stunned-by-new-revelations-of-irs-corruption/#QbR6ucctyKLopPhl.99
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But wait, there's more:
Scientologists Granted Tax Exemption by the U.S.
By STEPHEN LABATON,
Published: October 14, 1993
www.nytimes.com/1993/10/14/us/scientologists-granted-tax-exemption-by-the-us.html
WASHINGTON, Oct. 13— The Government said today that it had agreed to grant a tax exemption to the Church of Scientology and more than 150 of its related corporations, ending one of the longest-running tax disputes in American history.
"This puts an end to what has been an historic war," said Marty Rathbun, president of a Scientology organization that received a tax exemption. "It's like the Palestinians and the Israelis shaking hands."
Officials at the Internal Revenue Service and the Scientology group declined to spell out the details of the settlement and would not explain why it had finally been reached after four decades of costly and bitter court fights.
People familiar with the group's closely held finances said the tax exemptions could save the organization at least tens of millions of dollars a year in taxes.
The exemptions were granted as part of a larger settlement between the Government and the Scientology organizations that ends legal disputes that go back to the founding of the church 39 years ago. Church officials said the settlement would close more than a dozen lawsuits.
Officials at the Internal Revenue Service said the decision granting the Scientologists tax-exempt status does not change the standards for determining when an institution is to be considered religious for tax purposes. They also said that the ruling would not affect how other groups are treated.
But some tax lawyers who have advised organizations seeking tax-exempt status said the ruling would make it easier for them to argue their cases.
The church's California branch had a Federal tax exemption at one point but lost it 26 years ago, and most of the other related organizations never had exemptions. For decades, the Government has said that although Scientology can be considered a religion, its affiliated organizations had operated as businesses for the financial gain of the church's leaders, most notably L. Ron Hubbard.
Mr. Hubbard, who founded the group in the 1950's after his book "Dianetics" became a best seller, responded to the Internal Revenue Service's challenge by making anti-Government statements that became part of the church's dogma. And after Mr. Hubbard died in 1986, other Scientology leaders, including its top official, David Miscavige, continued to preach against the Government and the tax collectors. Charitable and Religious
But today, Frank Keith, a spokesman for the Internal Revenue Service, said that as part of the settlement the Government had decided to classify the sprawling empire as a charitable and religious organization.
Mr. Keith said the group was notified of the decision on Oct. 1 and that it followed a two-year review of financial statements and other information provided by the organizations about their structure and purposes. He would not say whether the final decision had been made by the new Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, Margaret M. Richardson, who would normally have to approve any large settlement.
The ruling means that the church and more than 150 related educational and counseling groups will no longer have to pay Federal income taxes. Church members may also deduct their membership dues from their taxes. Mr. Rathbun said that the groups did not expect to receive refunds of back taxes because they had not been assessed for many of the years that they were contending to be a religious organization. Conciliatory Tone
Mr. Rathbun was unusually conciliatory toward the I.R.S. today. He said the church had prevailed after what he called "an objective review" under the auspices of John Burke, an assistant commissioner who heads the agency's Employee Plans and Exempt Organizations division.
The Church of Scientology has branches around the world and has its headquarters in Los Angeles. It calls itself a "new religion," one not based on the worship of a god, but rather one that purports to teach members how to improve the quality of their lives. Instead of salvation, it promises to rid the mind of mental obstacles to happiness and help members improve the world.
But some courts and many former members have called the organization a sham, saying it relies on religious pretenses to mask a highly profitable business. Membership in Dispute
The group claims a membership of eight million, although former members say that those figures are grossly inflated and that the total is probably closer to 50,000.
The Federal Government recognized the Church of Scientology of California as a tax-exempt religious organization in 1957, but revoked that exemption in 1967. Its decision led to a wave of litigation by the church and the Government over various issues, like the church's request under the Freedom of Information Act for Government files, to the Government's attempts to assess the organization.
In 1984, a Tax Court concluded that the church had "made a business out of selling religion," and that Mr. Hubbard and his family had diverted millions of dollars of church funds. And a Los Angeles Superior Court judge called Mr. Hubbard "a pathological liar" who seemed gripped by "egotism, greed, avarice, lust for power and vindictiveness and aggressiveness against persons perceived by him to be disloyal or hostile."
Court documents showed that the church had an extensive project to infiltrate Government agencies in the United States and more than 30 countries to suppress investigations of the organization. Ultimately, 11 church leaders, including Mr. Hubbard's wife, Mary Sue, served prison terms for the wiretap of an Internal Revenue Service office and other crimes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The United States IRS and Scientology's control of it: Even More History:
In the 1970's:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Snow_White
Operation Snow White was the Church of Scientology's internal name for a major criminal conspiracy during the 1970s to purge unfavorable records about Scientology and its founder L. Ron Hubbard. This project included a series of infiltrations and thefts from 136 government agencies, foreign embassies and consulates, as well as private organizations critical of Scientology, carried out by Church members, in more than 30 countries. It was the single largest infiltration of the United States government in history with up to 5,000 covert agents. This operation also exposed the Scientology plot 'Operation Freakout', because Operation Snow White was the case that initiated the US government investigation of the Church.
Under this program, Scientology operatives committed infiltration, wiretapping, and theft of documents in government offices, most notably those of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Eleven highly placed Church executives, including Mary Sue Hubbard (wife of founder L. Ron Hubbard and second-in-command of the organization), pleaded guilty or were convicted in federal court of obstructing justice, burglary of government offices, and theft of documents and government property. The case was United States v. Mary Sue Hubbard et al., 493 F.Supp. 209 (D.D.C. 1979). Eleven high-ranking Scientologists, including Hubbard's wife Mary Sue Hubbard, were sentenced to time in prison for acts surrounding this operation. Hubbard himself was named as an unindicted co-conspirator as investigators could not link him to the crimes.
In 1979, several Scientology members were convicted for their involvement in the church's Operation Snow White, the largest theft of government documents in U.S. history. Scientologists were also convicted of fraud, manslaughter and tampering with witnesses in French cases, malicious libel against lawyer Casey Hill and espionage in Canada.
The Church then embarked on an aggressive, but more legal course, the church's hundreds of affiliated entities filing a steady stream of lawsuits against the IRS in an attempt to have their tax-exempt status approved. In addition, members of the Church started filing thousands of lawsuits against the IRS, claiming that they were entitled to tax deductions for auditing and training expenses.
They were finally rewarded in October 1993, when the IRS formally announced that the Church of Scientology and its related social betterment organizations had been granted tax exemption again. Since then, the U.S. Department of State has formally criticized several European countries, including Germany and France, for religious discrimination against Scientologists.
In his book World Religions in America, religious scholar Jacob Neusner states that Scientology's "high level of visibility" may be perceived as "threatening to established social institutions".