let's keep our fingers crossed!!!!

here's my original posting on this story talk about close minded....

Falwell university’s tax-exempt status questioned after banning Democratic club

By John Byrne

In a little-noticed letter to the IRS last week, Americans United for Separation of Church and State called for a formal review of the tax-exempt status of the university founded by Rev. Jerry Falwell in the wake of the school’s decision to ban a club for campus Democrats.

Liberty University, founded by the late preacher Jerry Falwell, banned a student Democratic club in May, saying that its principles were not in line with the university’s (even though the club was pro-life and is, by most accounts, moderate). Falwell’s son is now chancellor of the school.

Americans United director Rev. Barry Lynn fired off a letter to the IRS May 27. The letter can be read here (PDF).

“Liberty University is a tax-exempt institution and isn’t allowed to support one party over another,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “If the school insists on pushing policies that favor Republicans over Democrats, it should have to surrender its tax exemption.”...................

i was feeling lazy today and not going to do any postings

but this was just too ummmmmmmmm 'interesting' to pass up

The odd details of the IRS’s latest church investigation
Federal tax law, as it relates to tax-exempt religious ministries, is pretty clear — houses of worship may not legally intervene in political campaigns, either in support of or opposition to a candidate or a party. Those who violate the law run the risk of losing their tax-exempt status.
What’s less clear is why the IRS has decided to launch this specific investigation. The closer one looks, the more unusual this appears.
The Internal Revenue Service is investigating the United Church of Christ, saying the denomination may have threatened its tax-free status by allowing Sen. Barack Obama to speak before thousands of members at a church conference in June.
A lawyer for the church denied that the denomination, or Sen. Obama, who is a UCC member, engaged in any political activity when he and others spoke before an audience of 10,000 at the church’s 50th anniversary celebration in Hartford, Conn.
A spokesman for the Obama campaign, Tommy Vietor, said the candidate “spoke to his church’s convention about his personal spiritual journey…. This was not a campaign event.”
While investigations of individual congregations are not uncommon, for the IRS to go after an entire 1.2 million-member denomination is rather extraordinary.........

makes ya wanna go

w t f ?????????????????????

IRS paid $188,000 for $38,000 clerk
IRS Paid Contractor $188,000 to Provide $38,000 Clerk
JIM ABRAMSAP News
The Internal Revenue Service paid a contractor $188,000 to provide one person to do clerical work over 11 months
The contract was included as one example of financial waste in a government report Thursday on the tax agency's involvement in a new program ordered by President Bush in 2004 to develop more secure ID cards for federal workers.
The Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration said the IRS also needlessly spent almost $2 million on a computer security system that the tax agency doesn't plan using at this time.
The IRS was responsible for developing and implementing the program for providing more secure identification cards to some 150,000 employees at the Treasury Department. The projected cost of the Treasury program was put at $421 million over 14 years.............

we MIGHT call people like james dobson

big fat liars but we won't. we will just say he got his facts f**ked up (yeah right)


Focus On Falsehood: Religious Right's Dobson Spins Whoppers About AU

By Rob Boston
It seems that Focus on the Family founder James C. Dobson just can't keep Americans United for Separation of Church and State off his mind. He blames the organization for things it hasn't even done!
Yesterday Dobson announced that the Internal Revenue Service has cleared FOF of allegations of partisan politicking. A story on FOF's news service by Stuart Shepard stated, "The IRS closed a nearly 12 month audit of Focus on the Family and Dr. James C. Dobson by affirming that the organization committed no wrongdoing.
"The investigation, which ended last week, was sparked by allegations from two groups that routinely bash conservatives: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, known as CREW, and Americans United for Separation of Church and State. They falsely accused Focus on the Family and Dr. Dobson, in his capacity as the head of Focus, of electioneering by endorsing candidates for public office."
There's one big problem with that: While CREW did indeed file a formal complaint with the IRS over Dobson's endorsements, Americans United never did. AU believed that the IRS was unlikely to consider Dobson's personal endorsements a violation of federal tax law............

'bout time

washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/30/AR2007073001427.html?hpid=topnews">Alaska Senator's Home Is Raided
Stevens Scrutinized In a Wide Inquiry Into Corruption in the State