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It's the weekend! No topics for today.
Check out the top 10 topics from last week.
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Fired IRS chief denies political motive for Tea Party targeting
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At a House Ways and Means Committee hearing Friday, Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller, who was fired by President Obama this week but is sticking around to help with the transition, sloughed the whole “IRS attacks Tea Party” thing off as some “foolish mistakes” made by "people trying to be more efficient in their workload selection." Earlier this week, Miller blamed the political targeting on "rogue" officials in Cincinnati, but on Friday he said the behavior was "obnoxious" but that he does "not believe that partisanship motivated the people who engaged in the practices described in the inspector general's report." He even took issue with the word "targeting." We’ve also learned since Friday that when the agency's Tax Exempt Organization Director Lois Lerner broke the story last Friday in response to a question at a meeting of the American Bar Association in Washington, the IRS had planted the question. It was by Washington tax lawyer Celia Roady, who serves on the IRS's Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities. Even the way the news came out was disingenuous. It was an inside job, and Ms. Lerner knew the question was coming. She implied at the time that her apology for the targeting, conveniently timed to front-run the Treasury IG report, was a spontaneous answer to a surprise question from the audience.
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Wall Street Journal: Merely a Tax Misunderstanding
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Senate panel to finish work on Gang of 8 bill this week
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The Senate Judiciary Committee will almost certainly pass the sprawling immigration overhaul bill by the end of the week, setting up a floor fight for early June. The two biggest wild cards in the final days of the markup are whether Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) wins enough concessions on high-skilled visas to persuade him to vote for the bill and whether Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) decides to offer an amendment allowing gay Americans to sponsor their foreign-born partners for green cards. The former could boost bipartisan support for the bill, but the latter could wash it away. The Gang of Eight has essentially turned back all but minor changes to the measure, maintaining unity as the committee has considered more than 140 amendments.
Despite offering the first extended debate on immigration reform in years, the legislation has competed for attention against a succession of higher-profile stories — first the Boston bombings during the bill’s release, then the spate of Obama administration scandals during the markup. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) plans to put the bill on the floor when the Senate returns in June.
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Politico: Immigration bill nears finish line
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Tea Party groups prepare to sue IRS
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A group of Tea Party leaders, being represented by the American Center for Law and Justice, are preparing to sue the federal government for the practice of targeting Tea Party groups. ACLJ Executive Director Jordan Sekulow told FoxNews.com he'll likely file the civil suits next Wednesday or Thursday on behalf of more than a dozen Tea Party groups who say they were singled out by the IRS and had their tax-exempt status severely delayed or denied altogether. The number of plaintiffs in the civil suit is growing as is the list of people ACLJ wants held accountable. It’s still unclear whether the organization will file as a class-action or individually in the 17 different states where the complaints originate. ACLJ is representing men and women describing direct financial harm the IRS caused them. Allegations that the IRS had been targeting conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status date back years but a government report released Wednesday backed up the claims. The White House has spent most of the week trying to contain the fallout from the scandal. By Friday, two of the agency’s top tax officials had been removed from their posts. One, outgoing acting IRS commissioner Steven Miller, was grilled Friday morning in the House Ways and Means Committee by Republican and Democratic lawmakers who demanded answers on why the unfair practice of targeting conservative groups was allowed to continue on his watch.
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Fox News: 'We could lose everything': Tea Party groups prepare to sue IRS
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Boy Scouts vote this week on allowing gay scouts, not leaders
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Boy Scouts of America leaders will vote this week whether its membership policy should be overhauled so that openly gay boys can participate in Scout units. The proposal to be put before the roughly 1,400 voting members of the BSA's National Council on Thursday, at a meeting in Grapevine, Texas, would retain the Scouts' long-standing ban on gays serving in adult leadership positions. Conservatives within and outside the BSA community, including the board of director of the Middle Tennessee Boy Scout Council have denounced the proposal, saying the Scouts' traditions would be undermined by the presence of openly gay youth. "We are continuing to uphold the standards, beliefs and traditions Scouting has held for over 100 years," said Lee Beaman, board president of the Middle Tennessee Council, which says it serves 35,000 youth and adults. The day after that announcement, Bill Moser, a longtime Scout leader in Clarksville, Tenn., announced his resignation, saying he couldn't support a policy that would force openly gay youth out of Scouting when they turned 18. In January, national Boy Scout executives floated a plan to give sponsors of local Scout units the option of admitting gays as both youth members and adult leaders or continuing to exclude them. Conservative pressure defeated that plan before the May meeting. Conservative Scout leaders are getting help from the Family Research Council, which opposes lifting the ban on gay youth, saying such a change "will dramatically alter the culture and moral landscape of America."
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MyWay.com: Will Boy Scouts accept gay youth? Vote is imminent
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Alexander: 'I'm running a Colin Powell campaign....'
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Lamar Alexander plays the starring role in a Politico.com article about long-time GOP incumbent senators, and how they are staving off challengers this time around. “I’m running a Colin Powell military operation, which is assemble an overwhelming force, focus on a single target and have the stomach to see it all the way through to the end,” Alexander boasted to Politico. The article uses Monty Lankford as Alexander’s prime catch. Lankford had strongly considered running against Alexander and reportedly decided not to run before Alexander recruited him as a top fund-raiser and campaign co-chairman for him. Politico reports: The GOP senators up for reelection all have vulnerabilities on the right, including votes for the 2008 bank bailout and the 2012 fiscal cliff deal that McConnell, Cornyn, Graham, Alexander and Collins all endorsed. Collins’s moderate voting record is a ripe target, as are Graham’s positions on immigration legislation and Alexander’s willingness to buck his party on environmental and other domestic issues. The recent Washington controversies are giving the senators a unique opportunity to woo the right — whether it’s McConnell’s rhetoric against the Internal Revenue Service, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) railing at the White House for its handling of the Benghazi attacks or Alexander slamming Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for soliciting private donations to help with the implementation of Obamacare. And some of the senators are finding ways to push issues in Washington that resonate back home, including last week, when the Senate passed a McConnell-Alexander plan they called the Freedom to Fish Act targeting federal restrictions along a river their states share. And, all of the incumbents are experienced fund-raisers. Alexander ended the first quarter of 2013 with $1.8 million in cash and has stepped up his fundraising considerably since then.
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Politico: GOP senators stave off primary foes
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Immigration union opposes Gang of 8 bill
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The gang of 8 Immigration bill is under attack from the union representing 12,000 federal immigration officers. Kenneth Palinkas, president of the National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council, said Monday his group is joining a growing list of similar organizations opposed to the sweeping immigration bill crafted by the Gang of Eight lawmakers and under consideration in Congress. Earlier this month, the National ICE Council, which represents more than 7,000 agents, sent a letter to Congress sharply criticizing the legislation and says it will not support it. There are three major unions that represent the country's immigration officers and agents. Palinkas says the bill doesn’t address what he called “the risky pressure put on adjudication officers to rubber stamp applications instead of conducting diligent case reviews, fails to fix the ‘insurmountable bureaucracy’ which often prevents USCIS officers from contacting and coordinating with ICE agents in cases that should have their involvement and doesn’t do enough to address the problem of student visa overstays.” Translation: the bill is filled with portholes for potentially dangerous foreigners.
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Fox News: USCIS union says it opposes Senate immigration bill
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Opinion: IRS used to stop free speech
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The unfolding IRS scandal is all about trying to control free speech. Democrats want conservatives to shut up. David Rivkin and Lee Casey, who served in the Justice Department during the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations make that case in today’s Wall Street Journal. The pair write: The IRS crackdown on conservative organizations was a direct and inevitable consequence of political and policy messaging by the Obama administration, and by the campaign-finance reformers who share these views. Congressional Democrats are also to blame, since many of them have publicly or privately urged the IRS to go after conservative tax-exempt organizations. Campaign-finance reformers and their allies are now pressing to broaden the IRS crackdown to apply to all tax-exempt organizations. In their view, the problem is not only with express political advocacy, but with all tax-exempt activities that might have political overtones, or be related to political issues. Indeed, many argue that such organizations should be conspicuously apolitical. This is wrong as a matter of law and policy. Congress doesn't have to provide tax-exempt status to social-welfare organizations, but having done so it cannot discriminate by the kind of advocacy in which such groups engage. The fact that the IRS was able to target conservative donors—similar to the way donors to the NAACP were targeted at the height of the civil-rights battles—shows how disclosure can lead to speech-suppressing government actions.
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Wall Street Journal: David Rivkin and Lee Casey: The IRS and the Drive to Stop Free Speech
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Federal regulations cost nearly $15k per U.S. family
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A new report by the Competitive Enterprise Institute highlights the extraordinary and growing costs of federal government regulations. Just the pages in the Code of Federal Regulations hit an all-time high of 174,545 pages in 2012, an increase of more than 21% during the last decade.
In 2012, the cost of federal rules exceeded $1.8 trillion, roughly equal to the GDP of Canada ($1.81 trillion) and India ($1.82 trillion). Regulatory burdens cost each US household $14,768, meaning that red tape is now the second largest item in the typical family budget after housing. When it comes to “economically significant” rules — those estimated to cost at least $100 million each — the current Administration is “in a class by itself,” according to the report. The bureaucracy finished up 57 such rules in 2012 and another 167 are in the pipeline.
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aei-ideas.org: Red tape facts: Regulatory costs are now the second largest item in a typical family’s budget
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Tsarnaev associate killed by police
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A former mixed martial arts fighter who was fatally shot by an FBI agent in Florida following a "violent confrontation" knew one of the Boston Marathon bombers and was being questioned about an unsolved triple homicide that may be linked to him. Ibragim Todashev was shot and killed early Wednesday during a shooting at an apartment complex near Universal Studios in Orlando. He knew Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older of the two brothers behind the April 15 bombing attack. Todashev was shot while being questioned about an unsolved 2011 triple homicide in Waltham, Mass., in which one victim was a onetime associate of Tsarnaev, according to the FBI. In the aftermath of the bombing, questions were raised about a possible Tsarnaev connection to the triple murder, in which the throats of the victims in the 2011 incident were slashed and their bodies were covered with marijuana.
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Fox News: Florida man killed by FBI agent reportedly had link to Boston Marathon bomber, triple murder
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Obama wants to repeal law that authorized war on terror
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President Obama drew sharp criticism from Republican senators Thursday for urging the repeal of the 2001 law that effectively authorized the war on terror. The president addressed the law, known as the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), toward the end of an hour-long speech largely devoted to explaining and defending his administration's lethal drone program. He even referenced the fact that America is at war in defending the legality of the drone strikes. But Obama made clear that his ultimate goal is to update, and then repeal, the use of force law, saying he wants to fight terrorism without keeping the country on a "perpetual war-time footing."
" The Afghan War is coming to an end. Core Al Qaeda is a shell of its former self," Obama said. "Unless we discipline our thinking our definitions, our actions, we may be drawn into more wars we don't need to fight, or continue to grant presidents unbound powers more suited for traditional armed conflicts between nation states,” said President Obama. "Our systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue. But this war, like all wars, must end.” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called the president’s mindset "really incredible." "I believe we are still in a long drawn-out conflict with Al Qaeda. To somehow argue that Al Qaeda is ... on the run, comes from a degree of unreality that to me is really incredible," said McCain, saying the terror network is "expanding" across the Middle East. "To somehow think that we can bring the authorization of the use of military force to a complete closure contradicts reality of the facts on the ground," he said.
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Fox News: Republicans criticize Obama over call for repeal of 2001 use of force law
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Meet the next famous 'Taylor'
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May 24, 2013 - One of the volunteer performers at my Armed Forces Day celebration, 17-year-old Taylor Bennett, and her parents, joins me in the studio. Here's one to keep an eye (and ear) on.
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Ralph Rant: Get to the 'top' of this
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May 22, 2013 - To preserve the Republic, Republicans in Congress cannot stop until they get, not "to the bottom of this," but "to the top of this."
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ABC Analyst: IRS decision goes close to Obama
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May 21, 2013 - ABC political analyst Trey Hardin talks about his blunt assestment of the origin of the IRS scandal. “I can say with a very strong degree of certainty that people very close to the president not only knew but authorized that,” said Hardin, and much more.
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Ralph's Steeplechase experience - part one
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May 13, 2013 - Here's the first of my two-part report on my first Steeplechase experience, and what may be the best steeplechase rase in the nation.
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Ralph's Steeplechase experience - part two
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May 13, 2013 - This report includes interviews with the track announcer, the veteranarian, a horse owner and the man in charge of logistics for the race.
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Opponents rise against BRT
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May 15, 2013 - In this premeditated Ralph Rant, I break the news of a new group that has formed to oppose Nashvill'e planned Bus Rapid Transit on West End Ave.
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Rick Williams, BRT opponent, speaks out
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May 15, 2013 - Rick Williams is a member of the steering committee for TNResponsibleTransit, the group opposing the planned Nashville Bus Rapid Transit on West End Avenue. You can reach him at TNResponsibleTransit@gmail.com. This is the group's debut media interview - in its new campaign to stop BRT.
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Tennessee Tea Party leaders respond to IRS scandal
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May 13, 2013 - Ben Cunningham, founder of the Nashville Tea Party and Mark West, President of the Chattanooga Tea Party, respond to the IG report that busts the IRS for targeting Tea Party Groups for harassment in 2011, prior to the 2012 election.
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Legislative Townhall Meeting in Franklin - part 1
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April 27, 2013 - First half of the state legislative townhall meeting in Franklin with the Williamson County delegation - Sen. Jack Johnson, Rep. Charles Sargent, Rep. Glen Casada and Rep. Jeremy Durham.
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Legislative townhall meeting in Franklin - part 2
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April 27, 2013 - Second half of the legislative townhall meeting in Franklin, covering the 2013 legislative session with Sen. Jack Johnson, Rep. Charles Sargent, Rep. Glen Casada and Rep. Jeremy Durham.
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Sen. Rand Paul on guns, immigration, taxes
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April 18, 2013 - U.S. Sen. Rand Paul discusses the failed gun bill, the immigration reform bill ahead, and the right strategy on taxes.
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Leahy launches 'The Real Conservative National Committee'
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April 4, 2014 - Author, Breitbart correspondent and tea party activist Michal Patrick Leahy discusses a new organization formed to improve the ground game needed to help elect more conserative candidates to Congress, starting in 2014 with the GOP primary for U.S. Senate
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Corker sees positive signs in Obama outreach
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March 6, 2013 - Sen. Bob Corker discusses spending reforms on which Republicans and Obama might agree, and should, he says, be working on. Corker is one of a handful of Republicans to which the president has reached out with phone calls and dinner meetings to try to seek common ground on fiscal reforms.
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Ralph Rant - Woodward v. Obama
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March 4, 2013 - Anatomy of the sequester - the closing arguments in Woodward v. Obama.
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WEB EXCLUSIVE: EEOC Commissioner slams new guideline on criminal BG checks
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Feb. 23, 2012 - An EEOC commissioner levels damning charges against her fellow commissioners' action to issue updated guidelines that pose the threat of lawsuits against private businesses that conduct criminal background checks on employee prospects - even if state law demands it. This is a major challenge to the 10th Amendment by a seemingly rogue group of federal regulators.
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Duet: Fudge and Obama
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Jan. 22. 2013 - Enjoy (and share) this short montage featuring Rep. Marcia Fudge, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus and President Barack Obama. Fudge was participating in a Washington University Panel discussion and Obama is delivering his 2nd inaugural address.
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Analysis: Obama's 2nd inaurugal
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Jan. 22, 2013 - Here's my analysis of President Obama's 2nd inaugural address. George Washington, he ain't. High marks for the poetry - the "music" if you will, but the message, the "lyrics" didn't match the music.
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PARODY ALERT - The future of Day to Pray
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Jan 17, 2013 - The inventor of the time machine offered me a ride to the future. I chose Jan. 17, 2060 to see what kind of world my grandchildren would be living in when they're my age. Please don't tell Mike Huckabee what I found.
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Sen. Jack Johnson suggests local control of wine in grocery stores
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Jan. 15, 2013 - Among other things, Sen. Jack Johnson of Franklin discusses a new wrinkle in the wine in grocery store debate. He also reacts to the news that a $125 million state investment in a solar company is in jeopardy.
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Rep. Carr announces 10th amendment caucus
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Jan. 15,2013 - Rep. Joe Carr discusses the 2nd amendment debate through a 10th amendment prism and announcec the formation of a 10th Amendment Caucus.
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Age highlights economic freedom
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Jan 12, 2013 - Things start happening to people in their late 50s and early 60s that are fairly remarkable. This premeditated Ralph Rant just might be the prologue to my (eventual) audio book.
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Sen. Jack Johnson opposes open meetings move
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Jan. 9, 2013 - State Sen. Jack Johnson (R-Williamson Co.) calls "foul" on a Democrat colleague over the question of the General Assembly exception to the Open Meetings law.
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Rep. Joe Carr opposes bill sponsor limit
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Jan. 9, 2013 - Rep. Joe Carr (R-Rutherford Co.) explains his opposition to the proposed 15-bill sponsor limit for House members.
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Attorney Ross Booher argues case for Charter School "state authorizer"
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Jan. 7, 2013 - Ross Booher, the attorney for a charter school who battled the Metro Nashville School Board, makes the case that the state would make a more objective judge of charter school applications.
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Bonfire anyone?
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Jan. 7, 2013 - In this premeditated Ralph Rant, I invite Tea Party groups to join me at a bonfire April 15th. Let's all pour some fuel on to the grassroots fire it will take to eliminate the corruption in the federal income tax system. Symbolically burn your own rewards to let Congress know we want them to eliminate deductions and credits - and lower rates accordingly.
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School Security Roundbatle
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Dec. 20, 2012 - This is the "raw" tape of the roundtable we broadcast in seven parts on Nashville's Morning News. (It's 38 minutes long, so it will take a while to load)
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Tennessee to consider Texas 'armed teacher' plan
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Dec. 18, 2012 - Rep. Joe Carr of Lascassas says he will pursue a plan in the next session of the general assembly to allow local school district to train and arm teachers if they so choose. Texas already does this, and at least one Texas district is taking advantage of the local control.
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New monster a 'committee' production
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Dec. 18, 2012 - There is a growing population of a new menace walking among us, and he may be a unique product of the "village" it supposedly takes to raise our children.
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Parents, wake up! Your children are killing your children
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Dec. 17, 2012 - The Connecticut massacre of first-graders turned up the spotlight on a relatively new menace unleashed on society, and regardless of who or what created it, only parents can stop it.
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Johson warns: Medicaid is going to expand
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Dec. 13, 2013 - State Sen. Jack Johnson warns Medicaid is going to expand in Tennessee, through the "woodwork effect" when Obamacare chases reluctanct people (alaready qualified) into the program - regardless of whether Gov. Haslam accepts the expansion of Medicaid prescribed by Obamacare. I sneak in some analysis of the legislature's posture on the issue.
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Sen. Jack Johnson opposes, but holds out final judgment on Medicaid expansion
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Dec. 12, 2012 - State Sen. Jack Johnson has all the reasons - including one no one else has discussed before - to turn down President Obama's "offer" to expand Medicaid, but he's leaving his powder dry in respect for Gov. Haslam's perceived predicament on the issue.
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Tennessee needs 10th Amendment Caucus
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Dec. 5, 2012 - Ralph challenges State Rep. Joe Carr to instigate a 10th Amendment Caucus in the legislature.
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Ralph Rant: Bipartisan gang attacks producers
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Dec. 14th, 2012 - This fiscal cliff negotiation may be the second worst performance in modern Republican history.
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Ralph Rant: Corker crowned King of means testing
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Nov. 30, 2012 - The headline pretty much speaks for itself.
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Medicaid expansion more than budget issue
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Nov. 1, 2012 - I respectfully disagree with Gov. Bill Haslam that the decision whether Tennessee should accept the expansion of Medicaid prescribed in Obamacare is "largely a budget issue."
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Alexander on coal regs - Round 2 |
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June 14, 2012 - Sen. Alexander returns to respond to some of the reaction to his stand on new coal plant regulations.
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Alexander defends coal regulations, says he will run again |
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June 13, 2012 - Sen. Lamar Alexander defends his stand in favor of new coal plant regulations - explains why he belives Medicaid is to blame for higher college tuition - and says he intends to run for reelection in 2014.
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Exclusive: The first hand account of "The Last Man to Die" |
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May 11, 2012 - A 92-year-old Cookeville, TN WWII veteran solves a 67-year secret behind one of the most famous WWII photographs.
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Click here to see view the albums in Ralph's photo gallery.
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 Ralph Bristol is a 30-year veteran of radio and TV broadcasting. He is a US Air Force veteran and holds a BS degree from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. Ralph was a radio and TV reporter, anchor and news director in Missouri and Illinois before joining WORD Radio in Greenville/Spartanburg, SC in 1995.
In the spring of 2007, Supertalk 99.7 WWTN beckoned Ralph to Nashville. Ralph defies political labels, and has no partisan loyalties, but can best be described as a libertarian/conservative. Ralph writes and speaks extensively on education, tax and economic issues. In his spare time, Ralph terrorizes golf courses, invents useful things with sharp tools and dead wood, and entertains audiences with irreverent humor and contrarian insight. Invite him to speak to your group at your own risk. |
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