Law & Justice: February 2012 Archives
It appears that the Internal Revenue Service -- headed up by notorious tax cheat Tim Geithner -- is attempting to stifle right-wing groups who apply for non-profit status by requesting insane document dumps. What is the IRS demanding?
A hard copy printout of the website - A PDF file emailed to the IRS will not suffice (and this is the high-tech Administration)List all Social Media outlets being used (Facebook, Twitter, etc) and include hard copy printouts of every posting
A narrative description of every activity of your organization since June 30, 2010 (filing date) - And they do not want a mere description of the event, but full details - including; who conducted it, their qualifications, who was allowed to take part in the activities and how they were selected, was there a fee? (how much)
The IRS also wants to know about the members of the group and their roles and more, asking specifically for the "name, address, and corporate federal ID of all organizations that are members of our organization"
Public events are also under scrutiny with the IRS demanding to know the time, location and content schedule of each event.
Copies of any and all handouts must be included.
Names and credentials of all instructors and copies of any workshop materials used.
All speakers must be identified and copies of every speech must be included.
The government has no legitimate need for this information, and it seems clear that the the nearly simultaneous identical requests that went out to a bunch of right-wing groups is an attempt to squash these groups under the guise of tax enforcement. Shameful.
(HT: RC.)
$1000 fine for playing on Los Angeles beaches.
The Board of Supervisors this week agreed to raise fines to up to $1,000 for anyone who throws a football or a Frisbee on any beach in Los Angeles County.In passing the 37-page ordinance on Tuesday, officials sought to outline responsibilities for law enforcement and other public agencies while also providing clarification on beach-goer activities that could potentially disrupt or even injure the public.
The updated rules now prohibit "any person to cast, toss, throw, kick or roll" any object other than a beach ball or volleyball "upon or over any beach" between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
The true purpose of this kind of law is more pernicious than it might initially seem. It should be obvious that the law will not be enforced uniformly or universally... police will apply the law at their discretion. The true effect of this kind of law is to transform us from a society ruled by laws to one ruled by the whims of men. The police won't stop a couple of kids from playing ball, but if they see some "undesirable types" "disrupting" the beach they'll use this new law as a pretense for hauling them away.
A good rule of thumb: laws that can't be enforced uniformly and universally should not be passed because they create too much potential for abuse.
(HT: RB.)
