Dr. Ben Carson, family and friends target of IRS harassment for criticizing Obama

We knew this was coming…

Examiner.com: February 11, 2014

On Monday, Dr. Benjamin Carson, the former director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, said he and his family were targeted by the IRS in retribution for comments critical of Barack Obama, Newsmax reported.

According to Carson, audits and other harassment began in May or June of 2013, just a few months after his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast. Gradually, he added, the harassment expanded to include family members, associates, and his charitable endeavors.

"I’ve been quite -- I would say astonished at the level of hostility that I have encountered," he told Newsmax TV's John Bachman.

"The IRS has investigated me. They said, ‘I want to look at your real estate holdings.’ There was nothing there. ‘Well, let’s expand to an entire [year], everything.’ There was nothing there. ‘Let’s do another year.’ Finally, after a few months, they went away. But they’ve come after my family, they’ve come after my friends, they’ve come after associates," he added.

Until now, Newsmax said, Dr. Carson has shied away from tying the IRS actions to his criticism of Obama, but now he says Americans live "in a Gestapo age" even though they may not realize it.

He also said Congress has to step up to the plate and do its job.

"The reason we have divided government is if one branch of the government gets out of control, starts thinking they’re too big for their britches, you need to be able to have control," he said.

Unfortunately, Congress as a whole has shown little interest in keeping the administration in check, but a handful of conservative Republicans have spoken out.

Carson told Newsmax this is the first time he's ever been audited by the IRS.

He also said the agency has targeted his children, but didn't go into much detail, expressing concern the agency would expand their probe even further.

Newsmax added:

He also said a charitable organization that aids inmates’ children was informed last year, for the first time in recent years, that they would no longer be receiving a $1 million annual grant from the Justice Department.

"This is solely because you were involved?" Bachman asked.

"Correct," Carson said.

He also told Newsmax these acts of retribution take place because Americans refuse to take action.

"We sit there and we say, ‘Oh this is horrible.’ But we don’t do anything. And see, that’s what I’m trying to get our congressional people, our lawmakers – they’ve got to get courage," he said. "Because why would anybody who has an agenda to fundamentally change this nation, why would they stop if no one is opposing them?"

Carson also believes the retribution will continue, but promises he will not be forced into silence.

"The only reason that I haven’t shut up is because in Romans 8 it says ‘If God be for you, who can be against you?’ And I believe in that protection that God gives you," he added.

Carson's experience is "not that different from what many others are experiencing," said GOP lawyer Cleta Mitchell. "It’s quite, quite troublesome and disturbing."

"I have heard this same story over and over and over throughout the last year," she said. "I cannot tell you how many donors to conservative organizations, people who have become active, have said ‘I was never audited until I started giving money to X conservative candidate or cause.’"

Acording to Mitchell, the targeting includes donors to candidates like Mitt Romney and Rick Perry and donors to conservative issue groups.

The IRS has not just limited itself to targeting conservative donors, Tea Party groups or well-known conservatives.

As we reported last November, a cancer patient critical of Obamacare was targeted by the IRS.

Lawmakers have also threatened to unleash the IRS on the NFL over the Washington Redskins team name and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., suggested President Obama use the IRS to silence the Tea Party.

Mitchell said the situation is "pretty scary because the people who are supposed to be the neutral arbiter and law enforcement officials appear to me to be completely in the bag for the administration."

Related:

• Dr. Ben Carson Becomes Chairman of Save Our Healthcare
• Report: Cancer patient critical of Obamacare targeted by IRS for audit
• Dem. Sen. Chuck Schumer: Obama should use IRS to curtail Tea Party
• Jay Carney to Piers Morgan: Scandals involving IRS, Benghazi, AP 'don't exist'

Technorati Tags: ObamaCare,IRS,Obamaland,Dr,Ben Carson,Big Brother Tactics,Scandals,Corruption

Comments More Print Reprints About the Obamacare ‘train wreck’

WAPO: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testified before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday. The moment that made headlines was when Sen. Max Baucus, the key author of the health-care law, fretted that the rollout would be “a huge train wreck.”

We’ll get to that in a minute. But the entire testimony is worth watching as a particularly clear — and occasionally amusing — look at the dynamics surrounding the health-care law.

Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
(Jeff Martin/For The Washington Post)

The testimony begins with Baucus leaving the room to take a phone call. So Sen. Orrin Hatch, the ranking Republican on the committee, gets the first question.

Secretary Sebelius, I am curious as to how your department is funding overall efforts under the health law now that much of the initial funding has been depleted. A quick review of the HHS budget in brief seems to suggest that you are diverting funds from other areas of the department to put toward implementation. Some estimates estimate as much as a half billion dollars might be moved from other portions of the budget.

Would you describe the authority under which you believe you have the ability to conduct such transfers and whether or not you believe the Congress should be notified when these transfers occur?

Let me translate. Republicans have repeatedly refused to appropriate the money required to implement the Affordable Care Act. So, as a stopgap, Sebelius has moved money around from elsewhere in her department to try and fund the effort. Now Hatch is attacking whether that’s even legal to do. Here’s Sebelius:

Senator, we did a request additional funding with the continuing resolution in 2013 and were not given additional resources by the United States Congress, although we have the duty to implement the law. So I have, for 2013, used both my transfer authority, which is statutorily in our budget, as well as the nonrecurring expense fund for one-time I.T. costs and a portion of funding for the prevention fund to use for outreach and education.

You heard Chairman Baucus describe the level of concern and questions in states around the country, and we want to make sure that Americans fully understand the benefits that are coming their way and the decisions that they can make. We have requested in the budget that’s before you, in the 2014 budget, an additional $1.5 billion to fully implement the Affordable Care Act.

Hatch proceeds to drop this line of questioning entirely, moving on to a question about Medicaid.

Insofar as the Republican Party has a strategy on Obamacare, it’s goes like this: The law needs to be implemented. The GOP can try and keep the implementation from being done effectively, in part by refusing to authorize the needed funds. Then they can capitalize on the problems they create to weaken the law, or at least weaken Democrats up for reelection in 2014.

In other words, step one: Create problems for Obamacare. Step two: Blame Obamacare for the problems. Step 3: Political profit!

It’s also key context to understanding Sebelius’s now-famous exchange with Baucus. His question is about outreach, which of course costs money:

BAUCUS: When I am home small businesses have no idea what to do, what to expect. They don’t know what affordability rules are; they don’t know when penalties may apply. They just don’t know. I was talking to one CPA — you know, he’s not histrionic, he’s just being straight with me. He says, “Max, I just got to tell you that, you know, my — my — my clients, small business people are just throwing their hands up, and I don’t know what to tell them.” So that’s just from the small business perspective, let alone all the other issues that are going to be arising here.[...]

I just tell you, I just see a huge train wreck coming down. You and I have discussed this many times and I don’t see any results yet. What can you do to help all these people around the country going, “What in the world do I do and what — how do I know what to do?”

Sebelius’s answer is clear: For one thing, the real outreach is scheduled to begin a few months from now, when the bill is actually about to go into effect. But even given that fact, buying advertisements, hiring “navigators,” flying officials out for meetings — all of it costs money:

SEBELIUS: Well, Mr. Chairman, as — as you know, and — and we have had these discussions a number of times, we certainly take outreach and education very, very seriously. It’s one of the reasons that I think we were incredibly disappointed that our requests for additional outreach and education resources were not made available in the C.R. of 2013.

Having said that, we have engaged in efforts with the Small Business Administration, who is doing regular meetings around the country with our regional personnel. We have just released a request for proposal for on-the-ground navigators, individuals who come out of the faith community, out of the business community, out of the patient community, out of the hospital community, who will be available to answer questions, walk people through scenarios, hold seminars. We do regular seminars and Webinars, but we also understand that people have a lot of questions and are deploying as many resources as we can to answer those questions and get folks ready to engage in open enrollment on October 1st.

So here’s the chain of events: Republicans manage to deny Obamacare the anticipated funding required for smooth implementation. This makes implementation go less smoothly. Democrats begin to worry. Republicans use Democratic worries over implementation as a way to attack the law itself.

Neat trick, huh?

My read of the evidence is that the Affordable Care Act will have a much tougher first year than was initially anticipated but it won’t be the catastrophe that Republicans hope. The exceptions will be a handful of states where Republican governors have purposefully made it a catastrophe, but that’s likely to make the Republican governors look bad, particularly if the law is working smoothly in states that have tried to make it a success.

Conservative commentary on the law, with its continuous predictions of explosive premium hikes (and continuous omissions of the offsetting subsidies) and gleeful celebration anytime anything looks to be going wrong, is risking the mistake that the Obama administration made early on with the sequester. When the predictions of pain and chaos didn’t instantly come true, the whole narrative shifted in an instant.

Republicans have done a very good job prepping the country for the pain of Obamacare. They’ve not done a good job prepping the country for the people who will be helped by Obamacare.

But notice that Sebelius confidently predicts that the exchanges will be ready for open enrollment on Oct.1. There will be hitches, problems, and even scandals — but a lot of people are also going to get health insurance. Are the critics ready for that?

At this point, even some of the supporters aren’t ready for that. At the end of the hearing, Baucus jumps back in with a final question. Like many others, he’s heard that the administration is delaying the small-business exchanges — also known as the SHOP exchanges — for a full year. He wants answers. The answer, however, is that the SHOP exchanges will, in fact, be up and running this year:

BAUCUS: Yes. The real concern is the business perspective more than it is the consumers, individuals. I think I heard you say the shop — I forgot what it’s exactly called — will be delayed.

SEBELIUS: No, sir. That is not accurate. The shop will be up and running in every market in the country. For the states where the federal government will be operating the marketplace we are delaying one portion of the shop plan, which is that employers, if they choose to do so, could offer a wide variety of plans to his or her employees.

Year one for the federal marketplaces, employers will have a choice of coverage for their employees but that choice will then be passed along. Year two and beyond for the federal marketplaces, the employer, if he or she chooses, can then turn to the employees and say, “You can choose among, you know, 15 different plans.” And for state-based marketplaces that employee choice could be available from day one.

But we’ll have a two-step, so in 2014 all employers will have a choice. They’ll have a choice of plans to offer their employees, they just will not be able to say to that employee, should they choose to do so, “You can choose any plan in the shop market.”

BAUCUS: Okay.

Sarah Kliff has more on the SHOP exchanges here. But the underlying dynamics is worth noting: At this point, even Baucus is beginning to believe hype and rumors about how badly implementation is going.

The law could, in its first year, work substantially worse than was initially promised but still cover eight million people (rather than 15 million), hand out subsidies to tens of millions of grateful families, and provide a glitchy but broadly functional portal for buying health insurance. Meanwhile, most insured Americans, be they on employer-based coverage or in Medicare, likely won’t notice it at all.

That’s a world entirely consistent with Obamacare working “poorly,” and with some people seeing rate hikes or other unwelcome changes, but not particularly consistent with the Republican narrative on Obamacare destroying the American health-care system.

I doubt that Obamacare will have an easy or smooth first year. The law is big, complicated and unwieldy on its own terms, and Republican congressmen have done enough to withhold funding, and Republican governors and state legislatures enough to withhold cooperation, that implementation is sure to suffer. But Republicans may have set the bar so low that if this law even kind of works, it will be greeted with relief and surprise.

The year 2014 is going to be very interesting.

ObamaCare Survival Guide

Beating Obamacare: Your Handbook for the New Healthcare Law

Technorati Tags: ObamaCare,ObamaCare surprises,defund ObamaCare,surviving ObamaCare,Kathleen Sebelius,HHS,Affordable Care Act,taxes,socialized medicine,watch the other hand,stand-up America,wake-up America

House blocks funding for health care law (Updated)

By Catalina Camia, USA TODAY -  725Comments5Recommend

By Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images - Updated at 3:06 p.m. ET 02.18.11

The GOP-led House voted today to block funding to implement the nation's health care law.

The action came on several amendments to a must-pass spending bill that would pay for government operations from March through September.

Specifically, the House voted to prohibit any funds be used by the Internal Revenue Service to carry out the law's mandate that Americans buy health insurance. The individual mandate, one of the law's key tenets, has been struck down by federal courts.

The House also adopted an amendment by Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., to bar the Labor and Health and Human Services Departments from spending any money for the rest of fiscal year 2011 on the health care law. Still another provision adopted today would ban the government from paying the salaries of any federal employee involved in implementing the health care law.

Senate Democrats, who blocked a GOP effort last month to repeal the health care law, will try to remove these provisions when the spending bill goes to their chamber after the President's Day recess. President Obama has vowed to veto the House bill, which seeks to cut at $61 billion in federal spending for this year.

The tension over federal spending has led to a pitched battle over a possible government shutdown if Congress and Obama cannot agree to spending levels for the rest of 2011.

Our original post begins after the jump:

The House is beginning its fourth day of trying to write a budget for the rest of this year with a debate on blocking funding for the health care law.

At issue is a proposal by Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., who is trying to block any funds for the Health and Human Services and Labor Departments from being used to implement the law.

Unlike the GOP's failed efforts to repeal the law, the attempt by Rehberg to block funding is part of a must-pass spending bill to keep the government running past March 4.

The back-and-forth over spending levels for the rest of this year has added to the politically charged atmosphere over a possible government shutdown. President Obama has vowed to veto the House version of the spending bill.

Rehberg, who is also running for U.S. Senate, has vowed the House GOP majority will defund the health care law "one piece at a time."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., shot back at Republicans for trying to overturn the law and take away more funding for prescription drugs for seniors, insurance coverage for young people under 26 and protection for people with pre-existing conditions.

"This is yet again another example of our friends standing up for insurance companies at the expense of the American people," she said.

The health care law, which would require Americans to obtain insurance coverage, was signed last year by President Obama. Republicans made repeal of what they call "Obamacare" their rallying cry in the 2010 elections.

The resolution that currently funds the government expires on March 4.

------------

HOUSE PASSES AMENDMENT TO DEFUND OBAMACARE

WASHINGTON (AP) — In rapid-fire action Friday, the Republican-controlled House voted to strip federal money from President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul and from Planned Parenthood and to bar the EPA from issuing global warming regulations.

Upping the ante in the budget faceoff, the Obama administration warned that workers who distribute Social Security benefits might be furloughed if congressional Republicans force cuts in government spending.

In a letter the Social Security Administration sent to its employees’ union, agency officials said that while no decision about furloughs had been made, they were possible “given the potential of reduced congressional appropriations.”

The letter was circulated by congressional Democrats, who said such cuts could mean shuttered Social Security offices and delayed benefit payments. The letter’s distribution by Democrats underscored how the threat of jeopardizing Social Security payments is a potent political weapon.

GOP lawmakers accused Democrats of “irresponsible scare tactics,” and said their proposed cuts would not affect benefits or force the Social Security Administration to close offices. Any furloughs “would result only if that decision were made by the administration,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., said in a written statement.

Republicans are pushing a huge spending bill through the House that would impose deep cuts on domestic programs.

The overall bill is the first step in an increasingly bitter struggle between Democrats and Republicans over how much to cut federal agencies’ funding over the second half of the budget year that ends Sept. 30. Current funding runs out March 4 and a temporary spending bill will be needed to avoid a government shutdown.

Republicans say the legislation would pare Social Security’s administrative budget by $125 million from current levels plus another $500 million from a reserve fund. Democrats say the cut would leave the agency with $1.7 billion less than Obama requested.

Much of Friday‘s focus was on GOP efforts to block implementation of Obama’s health care overhaul, which dominated Congress’ work in 2009 and was enacted last year. An amendment by Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., to block the health care overhaul money was approved by a 239-187 vote.

The GOP has virtually no chance of killing the law because of support for the program from Obama and the Democratic-run Senate, but House Republicans have been trying relentlessly to chip away at it.

“It’s a law designed by those who wish to control every health care decision made by health care providers and patients, by every employer and employee, by every family and individual,” Rehberg said.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said the GOP effort would “put insurance companies back in charge, further demonstrating the majority’s special-interest priorities and hypocrisy on job creation and deficit reduction.”

In Friday’s action, Republicans muscled through a proposal to block federal aid to Planned Parenthood by a 240-185 vote and won bipartisan support to reverse a proposed Obama administration rule that seeks to crack down of for-profit colleges and vocational schools. A proposal by Texas Republican Ted Poe to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its authority to issue regulations on global warming passed by a 249-177 vote.

Taken together, Friday’s developments pushed the GOP-dominated House and the president even further apart as a March 4 deadline looms. It may make it more difficult to reach agreement if House Republicans become wedded to positions opposed by Obama and the Democratic-led Senate.

With a government shutdown possible if the spending measure isn’t extended at least temporarily, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, inflamed the situation Thursday by insisting that the GOP-controlled House would refuse to approve even a short-term measure at current spending levels.

“Read my lips: We’re going to cut spending,” Boehner declared. Democrats immediately charged that Boehner was maneuvering Congress to the precipice of a government shutdown.

The GOP would reduce spending to about $60 billion below last year’s levels, mixing an increase of less than 2 percent for the Pentagon with slashing cuts averaging about 12 percent from non-Pentagon accounts. Such cuts would feel almost twice as deep since they would be spread over the final seven months of the budget year.

The Environmental Protection Agency and foreign aid accounts would be especially hard hit, while GOP leaders orchestrated just a modest cut to Congress’ own budget.

Some of the most politically difficult cuts, to grants to local police and fire departments, special education and economic development grants, were reversed. Amtrak supporters easily withstood an attempt to slash its budget.

But with the fiscal framework of the measure already saddled with a veto threat, Republicans mounted an assault on the administration’s regulatory agenda. By a 244-181 tally Thursday, Republicans voted to block the Federal Communications Commission from enforcing new rules that prohibit broadband providers from interfering with Internet traffic on their networks. The new “network neutrality” rules are opposed by large Internet providers.

Republicans then moved, on a 250-177 vote, to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from imposing limits on mercury pollution from cement factories. Supporters said the new rules would send American jobs overseas, where air quality standards are more lax or non-existent.

Republicans also turned back Democratic attempts to boost funding for the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, whose budgets would be cut sharply under the measure, to pay for responsibilities added in last year’s overhaul of federal financial regulations.

Social issues also came into play.

Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., a strong foe of abortion, sponsored the amendment to block Planned Parenthood from receiving any federal money. The organization provides a variety of women’s health services.

“It is morally wrong to take the taxpayer dollars of millions of pro-life Americans and use them to fund organizations that provide and promote abortion, like Planned Parenthood of America,” Pence said.

The debate over cutting off taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood Thursday night became heated at times. Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., read a description of a graphic abortion procedure on the House floor, prompting Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., to deliver an emotional retort in which she acknowledged having the procedure herself as her 17-week pregnancy was failing.

“For you to stand on this floor and to suggest as you have that somehow this is a procedure that is either welcomed or done cavalierly or done without any thought is preposterous,” Speier said.

Democrats said Planned Parenthood provides much-needed access to contraception, medical exams and counseling to women and that federal law already prohibits the use of government funds for abortions in most circumstances.

Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said the GOP proposal would “make it harder to access pap tests, breast exams, routine gynecological examinations, flu vaccinations, smoking cessation services, cholesterol screening, contraceptives, and all of the other services that Planned Parenthood provides.”

Great Candid Discussion By “Real” Doctors on Healthcare and Healthcare Reform – Definitely Worth a Watch! Plus RFK Jr. on Vaccines…

Doctors speak candidly about upcoming cuts and what will happen if ObamaCare passes; about what really needs to be done; and offers and suggestions of what to do.

Today Glenn Has His OWN Doctors in White Coats Meeting - No Shills, No SEIU Affiliates

Congress to Make HC Decisions & Can’t Make War Decision - Part II

Glenn to Doctors: How Many of You Cut Feet off For Extra Dollars? - Part III

Doctor: “Government HC Causes Us To Compromise With Patients Care” - Part IV

Has Anyone Noticed the Absence of Lawyers in HC Debate? - Part V

-------------

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Tells Truth About Government Cover-up of Vaccine Dangers

Part I – Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy Present RFK Jr.

Part II – Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy Present RFK Jr.

Mind you… these are the same people that are going to making decisions about your and your family’s health…

Related Resources:

"The" Dr. Oz Bait for Vaccine: Why Did He Do It?? Oz Kids and Wife Not Getting H1N1

Reid Admits Healthcare Costs $2 Trillion

DoctorsforPatientFreedom.com

Cato Expert: Medicare Cuts Coming

Conservatives for Patient's Rights

Stop Paying the Crooks

Source: Knowledge Creates Power – Cross-Posted: the Daily Thought Pad

Posted: True Health Is True Wealth – Cross- Posted: Marion’s Place

HEALTHCARE DEBATE: 10 Questions Politicians Won't Answer

1. Why do we need to increase spending on health care by at least $1.6 trillion and steal prosperity from our children and grandchildren when we spend nearly twice per person what other industrialized nations spend on health care?

2. What programs will you cut and whose taxes will you raise to pay for health-care reform?

3. What earmarks or pet projects that you have sponsored will you sacrifice to help finance the cost of health-care reform?

4. Will you vote for a public option that requires taxpayer-funded abortion?

5. If the public option is so wonderful, will you lead by example and vote for a plan to enroll you and your family in the public option?

6. Will you vote for a plan that will allow a board of politicians and bureaucrats to override decisions made by you and your doctor?

7. If you support a “comparative effectiveness” board, what qualifies you, as a politician, to practice medicine? Have you delivered health care to a single person, much less entire classes of people you claim to represent, such as the poor, the uninsured, or children?

8. How will a government-run public option perform better than other failing government programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Indian Health Care?

9. If increasing spending on health care was the solution, why hasn’t it worked yet?

10. Are you more committed to doing reform right or quickly? Would you consider backing a thoughtful alternative to the public option? If so, which one?

READ THE FULL ARTICLE BY SENATOR TOM COBURN HERE:

Go to this link and you can contact your representative directly; that way you can tell them to stop this MADNESS! Make sure they know YOU vote!

http://www.congress.org/congressorg/officials/congress/

There will be a place to enter your zip code, then a place to click to write your representatives directly; it is all free..

Dick Morris, the author of Catastrophe, who spends several chapters on Obamacare in his book, says to keep up the pressure. Call them, email them, and write them a snail mail letter and then both fax it and put a stamp on it and mail it. Do it all and do it more than once… and then to go a Town Hall or ObamaCare Tea Party and both speak out and be seen. Talk to and email your friends. Organize a local meeting. And remind your Congressman, Senator, and the White House that you vote and will remember how they vote and listen to the American people on Obamacare, stimulus, uncontrolled spending, Cap and Tax, illegal immigration, and the list goes on!!

Call the United States Capitol switchboard today... everyday at

1-(202) 224-3121

or

1-(202_-225-3121

(202) 225-0100 - Speaker of the House Pelosi

Speaker Nancy Pelosi
http://speaker.house.gov/contact or http://www.speaker.gov/contact

and visit: www.house.gov/writerep

Senators from your State.

Call the White House at 202-456-1111 and tell President Obama you have had enough!

Enlarge Chart: Republicans unveil chart depicting bureaucratic nightmare of Dem government-run health care... Developing...

HR-3200 - full report

Breakdown Articles of HR-3200

• DETAILED ANALYSIS OF THE 1000 PAGE HEALTH CARE PLAN BY AND ATTORNEY & DEAN AND PROFESSOR OF LAW
• *Letter to Your Congress Person on Health Care (Obamacare) HR3200
• *A Look at What is Really in the Health Care Bill (HR 3200): Chilling!

Click Here To Find A Town Hall Near You!

Posted: True Health and True Wealth