The Razor http://www.therazor.org Ockham's Razor - Since October 2001 - by Scott Kirwin Fri, 24 May 2013 15:09:52 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 What Government Intimidation Looks Like http://www.therazor.org/?p=6104 http://www.therazor.org/?p=6104#comments Fri, 24 May 2013 13:42:17 +0000 Scott Kirwin http://www.therazor.org/?p=6104 Peggy Noonan writes:

But the most important IRS story came not from the hearings but from Mike Huckabee’s program on Fox News Channel. He interviewed and told the story of Catherine Engelbrecht—a nice woman, a citizen, an American. She and her husband live in Richmond, Texas. They have a small manufacturing business. In the past few years she became interested in public policy and founded two groups, King Street Patriots, and True the Vote.

In July 2010 she sent applications to the IRS for tax-exempt status. What followed was not the harassment, intrusiveness and delay we’re now used to hearing of. The US government came down on her with full force.

In December 2010 the FBI came to ask about a person who’d attended a King Street Patriots function. In January 2011 the FBI had more questions. The same month the IRS audited her business tax returns. In May 2011 the FBI called again for a general inquiry about King Street Patriots. In June 2011 Engelbrecht’s personal tax returns were audited and the FBI called again. In October 2011 a round of questions on True the Vote. In November 2011 another call from the FBI. The next month, more questions from the FBI. In February 2012 a third round of IRS questions on True the Vote. In February 2012 a first round of questions on King Street Patriots. The same month the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms did an unscheduled audit of her business. (It had a license to make firearms but didn’t make them.) In July 2012 the Occupational Safety and Health Administration did an unscheduled audit. In November 2012 more IRS questions on True the Vote. In March 2013, more questions. In April 2013 a second ATF audit.

All this because she requested tax-exempt status for a local conservative group and for one that registers voters and tries to get dead people off the rolls. Her attorney, Cleta Mitchell, who provided the timeline above, told me: “These people, they are just regular Americans. They try to get dead people off the voter rolls, you would think that they are serial killers.”

This week Ms. Engelbrecht, who still hasn’t received her exemptions, sued the IRS.

So in case you are keeping score that’s:

FBI visits: 9

IRS Audits: 4

ATF Audits: 2

OSHA Audit: 1

Now the tendency is for liberals to discount this intimidation, but as has been said before by people far smarter than me, life is like a wheel and it all comes round. There will come a time when Conservatives rule, and unless they want liberal groups to be harassed the same way as conservative groups have been, they might want to consider this as a true bipartisan issue. If not, they might want to start reviewing their tax returns and preparing for the full wait of the federal government to come down on them.

]]> http://www.therazor.org/?feed=rss2&p=6104 0 The Council Has Spoken: May 24, 2013 http://www.therazor.org/?p=6102 http://www.therazor.org/?p=6102#comments Fri, 24 May 2013 13:32:40 +0000 Scott Kirwin http://www.therazor.org/?p=6102 Congratulations to this week’s winners. Full voting here.

Council Winners


Non-Council Winners


]]> http://www.therazor.org/?feed=rss2&p=6102 0 Oregon Study: Medicaid ‘Had No Significant Effect’ On Health Outcomes vs. Being Uninsured http://www.therazor.org/?p=6097 http://www.therazor.org/?p=6097#comments Fri, 24 May 2013 01:11:41 +0000 Scott Kirwin http://www.therazor.org/?p=6097 This is surprising, even to me. Maybe it’s because I still have a left0ver Socialist streak in me from my liberal days when it comes to health care.

So, what did the Oregon study authors find? They found no statistically significant difference in elevated blood pressure (1.33 percent less incidence in Medicaid vs. control, p=0.65); high cholesterol (2.43 percent less than control, p=0.37); high HbA1c (0.93 percent less, p=0.61); or Framingham risk score (0.21 percent less than control, p=0.76). According to the p values, the blood pressure result has a 65 percent chance, the cholesterol result a 37 percent chance, the HbA1c result a 61 percent chance, and the Framingham score a 76 percent chance of being statistical noise. Again, statistical significance requires a p value of less than 0.05.

I think it’s critical for those of us who tend to be political ideologues to try to act based on the evidence and not on our beliefs whenever possible, to maintain a balance between completely closed minds and those that are so open our brains fall out. It isn’t easy, and we’re only human, but we need to try.

]]> http://www.therazor.org/?feed=rss2&p=6097 0 Scandal Scorecard http://www.therazor.org/?p=6003 http://www.therazor.org/?p=6003#comments Thu, 23 May 2013 15:22:19 +0000 Scott Kirwin http://www.therazor.org/?p=6003 I have promoted this article to a page at the top of this website. Further updates will appear there.
Page current as of 21:00 EST 2013-05-23.

Please refer to it at its new location.
 

Benghazi


 

IRS


 

Press Monitoring/DOJ Wiretaps


 

Gross Incompetence


]]> http://www.therazor.org/?feed=rss2&p=6003 15 Islam: A Religion of Pieces http://www.therazor.org/?p=6091 http://www.therazor.org/?p=6091#comments Thu, 23 May 2013 15:13:44 +0000 Scott Kirwin http://www.therazor.org/?p=6091 It’s so easy to confuse them these days…
Islam a Religion of Pieces

]]> http://www.therazor.org/?feed=rss2&p=6091 0 Watcher’s Council Nominations: May 22, 2013 http://www.therazor.org/?p=6087 http://www.therazor.org/?p=6087#comments Wed, 22 May 2013 14:14:49 +0000 Scott Kirwin http://www.therazor.org/?p=6087

Council Submissions


Honorable Mentions


Non-Council Submissions


]]> http://www.therazor.org/?feed=rss2&p=6087 0 Jay Carney’s Shifting Excuses for IRS http://www.therazor.org/?p=6068 http://www.therazor.org/?p=6068#comments Tue, 21 May 2013 14:40:29 +0000 Scott Kirwin http://www.therazor.org/?p=6068 A few weeks ago I referenced Blazing Saddles, today I get to reference another comedy classic, The Blues Brothers.

Jay Carney’s shifting excuses for the IRS reminds me of another famous Ja(ke), although this one has a heart of gold and is a helluva lot funnier.

]]> http://www.therazor.org/?feed=rss2&p=6068 0 NJ Teacher Not Angelina Jolie Is The Brave One http://www.therazor.org/?p=6062 http://www.therazor.org/?p=6062#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 23:43:50 +0000 Scott Kirwin http://www.therazor.org/?p=6062 Update 5/22/2013: As Julianne points out in the comments, Debbie Gentile-Abbood, Dr. Wife and I are all wrong when it comes to insurance coverage. The Women’s Health and Cancer Rights Act of 1998 mandates insurance coverage for the preventative removal of the breasts as well as their reconstruction. I have confirmed this here and here. I still haven’t been able to confirm whether Medicaid/Medicare covers these procedures, but with the law on the books I’d be surprised if they didn’t. Given the daily battles Dr. Wife faces with the insurance companies, and my cynicism towards anything that stinks of corporate or bureaucrat involvement in healthcare  we both assumed such coverage was not available to women. In this case, I’m very happy to be wrong. I know too many women who have been cut down early by the disease, and if there’s any chance of preventing it I’m all for it.
——
A New Jersey teacher has taken issue with Angelina Jolie’s decision to remove her breasts before contracting breast cancer. Evidently Jolie tested positive for the BRCA gene mutation that makes one likely to develop breast cancer and had mastectomies before the cancer developed. Debbie Gentile-Abbood says “It upsets me… That’s good for her; she’s got the best health care and she’s got money. She doesn’t have to worry about taking off of work.”

I discussed Jolie’s decision with Dr. Wife who said it was a smart idea – if you had the money. She pointed out that a positive BRCA mutation test would likely not convince an insurance company to cover the cost of the  radical mastectomies without evidence of cancer beforehand, and they would definitely not cover the reconstructive surgery Jolie underwent at the Pink Lotus Breast Center, considering it purely cosmetic. While many have commended Jolie for her courage to face a positive test and then act upon it, her actions seem less commendable for those of us who struggle getting tests pre-authorized, or writing letters to insurance companies on behalf of patients whose life-saving medicines aren’t covered in the company’s formulary. Gentile-Abbood won’t even take the test because doing so would put her family into a predicament caused by a positive result. Get the life-saving surgery and ruin the family financially, or play the odds and hope she doesn’t develop cancer. It is an appalling choice, but one that is faced every day by hundreds of women nearly all of whom lack Jolie’s means.

I don’t begrudge Jolie for her decision, but I don’t laud her either. Instead I would hope that cancer detection and treatments improve so that all women regardless of their economic background could live life without fear. Now that would be truly worth noting.

]]> http://www.therazor.org/?feed=rss2&p=6062 2 The Sublime Beauty of Stepping Stones: Germany’s Stolpersteine http://www.therazor.org/?p=6058 http://www.therazor.org/?p=6058#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 19:00:28 +0000 Scott Kirwin http://www.therazor.org/?p=6058 The Economist’s sister publication Intelligent Life has a fascinating article about stolpersteine, stepping stones memorializing those murdered in the Holocaust with stones placed in the pavement in the neighborhoods where they last lived. Artist Gunter Demnig has been laying the stones, each wrought by hand, since 1996. Each is handmade, he says, because “any form of mass-manufacturing would remind him of the mechanized and bureaucratic murder at Auschwitz.” His work has even earned him three death threats, proof that he must be doing something right.

It’s a fascinating read, and an even more fascinating memorial to view, with thousands of his brass plates embedded in streets throughout Germany. Just something to keep in mind on your next visit.

]]> http://www.therazor.org/?feed=rss2&p=6058 0 Book Review: Cannon the Brown Bear: An Illustrated Children’s Fable http://www.therazor.org/?p=6053 http://www.therazor.org/?p=6053#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 17:20:39 +0000 Scott Kirwin http://www.therazor.org/?p=6053 I usually don’t review books, let alone children’s books, but every once in awhile something comes a long that deserves my admiration.

Cannon the Brown Bear: An Illustrated Children’s Fable is a very simply story about a bear who begins free and happy and who provides for himself. But then he starts to receive food handouts and even his den is dug out for him, and he begins to find himself unhealthy and bored and unhappy. So one day he takes back his independence and begins to rely on his own resourcefulness to provide for himself, and his life is much fuller because of this.

I enjoyed the book very much. Some may find this message to be political which is a shame. Maybe it’s because I’m old but I didn’t find the message very “political” at all. Is it right wing to teach children the value of reaping what you sow? Is it Republican for children to read fables that could have been read 2,500 years ago by a Greek like Aesop? Since when is learning to provide for yourself a political act?

And I particularly enjoyed the fact that the illustrations were done by a child. As a fan of the classic illustrators like the Wyeths, I appreciate the artistry of the medium, and seeing it done with a child’s hand adds authenticity to the work.

If you are looking for a book for those in the 3-7 range, consider this one. It’s Kyle’s first work, and honestly, it’s one of the better first books I’ve read as of late. Kudos to Michaela for a job well done illustrating the work.

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