The Virginia State Board of Elections is trying to water down the voter registration requirements by no longer mandating US Citizenship and freedom from felony convictions.  This is my response to them:

To the SBE:

What possible benefit could come from removing the citizenship and felony requirements from the voter registration forms other than to increase voter fraud.  The law is clear.  § 24.2-418. Application for registration:  US Citizenship is required, and felony convictions disallowed, and registrants are “subject to felony penalties for making false statements pursuant to § 24.2-1016.”

In trying to water down the voter registration requirements, you compromise the sovereignty of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the rule of law.  From Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution of Virginia:

That all power of suspending laws, or the execution of laws, by any authority, without consent of the representatives of the people, is injurious to their rights, and ought not to be exercised.

Reject this misguided plan, or find yourself in contempt of our laws and constitution and have the decency to resign.

If you are a resident of Virginia, please make your voice heard before Monday, August 3, at 11:59pm here.

I have frequently called the government out for doing the wrong thing, so it’s only fair for me to acknowledge when they do the right thing:

The Oak Initiative, a group that I am affiliated with, applied for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status four years ago in 2010.  As with many similar groups, their application was wrongfully delayed by the IRS, far longer than the official 15-month processing time [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

About a week ago, the Oak Initiative received notice from the IRS that their 501(c)(3) application had been approved.  So to whoever at the IRS had the courage and leadership to do the right thing, thank you!  I hope that others will follow your example.

If the IRS has lost all of the potentially incriminating testimony that Congress has subpoenaed, are we to believe that this is all they have lost, or do they in fact lose volumes of data right and left? If their data retention problem is so very severe, how do they even continue to function as an agency?

The IRS has not only forgotten that it answers to the People of the United States, but is now feigning a criminal level of incompetence to cover up its wrongdoing, all the while seeking to permanently establish its corrupt practices.

In the words of Becky Gerritson in her testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee:

We are patriotic Americans.  We peacefully assemble.  We petition our government.  We exercise our right to free speech and we don’t understand why our government tried to stop us.  We aren’t here as serfs or vassals.  We’re not begging our lords for mercy.  We are born free American citizens and we’re telling our government that you’ve forgotten your place.  It’s not your responsibility to look out for our well being and monitor our speech.  It’s not your right to assert an agenda.  The post that you occupy exists to preserve American liberty.  You’ve sworn to perform that duty and you have faltered.

There is bipartisan agreement that what the IRS has done is wrong.  Having a corrupt and fraudulent IRS benefits nobody and has directly harmed at least one organization with which I am personally affiliated.

Thank God, this country is still free, and I intend to shine as much light as necessary on the corruption to protect that freedom.  If you think the IRS needs to be independently audited, you can sign this petition.

Mister President, please help us out with that transparency that you promised, and please take another look to see if per chance you do detect a little smidgen of corruption in your administration.  If you take the high road, your administration won’t have to resort to underhanded tactics.

Excerpt from President Ronald Reagan’s Radio Address to the Nation on the Observance of Easter and Passover, April 2, 1983:

My fellow Americans:

This week as American families draw together in worship, we join with millions upon millions of others around the world also celebrating the traditions of their faiths. During these days, at least, regardless of nationality, religion, or race, we are united by faith in God, and the barriers between us seem less significant.

Observing the rites of Passover and Easter, we’re linked in time to the ancient origins of our values and to the unborn generations who will still celebrate them long after we’re gone. As Paul explained in his Epistle to the Ephesians, “He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. So then you were no longer strangers and aliens, but you were fellow citizens of God’s household.”

This is a time of hope and peace, when our spirits are filled and lifted. It’s a time when we give thanks for our blessings—chief among them, freedom, peace, and the promise of eternal life.

This week Jewish families and friends have been celebrating Passover, a tradition rich in symbolism and meaning. Its observance reminds all of us that the struggle for freedom and the battle against oppression waged by Jews since ancient times is one shared by people everywhere. And Christians have been commemorating the last momentous days leading to the crucifixion of Jesus 1,950 years ago. Tomorrow, as morning spreads around the planet, we’ll celebrate the triumph of life over death, the Resurrection of Jesus. Both observances tell of sacrifice and pain but also of hope and triumph.

As we look around us today, we still find human pain and suffering, but we also see it answered with individual courage and spirit, strengthened by faith.

***

In this Easter season when so many of our young men and women in the Armed Forces are stationed so very far from their homes, I can’t resist recounting at least one example of their sacrifice and heroism. Every day I receive reports that would make you very proud, and today I’d like to share just one with you.

While the San Diego-based U.S.S. Hoel was steaming toward Melbourne, Australia, on Ash Wednesday, its crew heard of terrible brush fires sweeping two Australian States. More than 70 people were killed and the destruction was great. Well, the crew of this American ship raised $4,000 from their pockets to help, but they felt that it wasn’t enough. So, leaving only a skeleton crew aboard, the 100 American sailors gave up a day’s shore leave, rolled up their sleeves, and set to work rebuilding a ruined community on the opposite end of the Earth. Just Americans being Americans, but something for all of us to be proud of.

Stories like these—of men and women around the world who love God and freedom-bear a message of world hope and brotherhood like the rites of Passover and Easter that we celebrate this weekend.

A grade school class in Somerville, Massachusetts, recently wrote me to say, “We studied about countries and found out that each country in our world is beautiful and that we need each other. People may look a little different, but we’re still people who need the same things.” They said, “We want peace. We want to take care of one another. We want to be able to get along with one another. We want to be able to share. We want freedom and justice. We want to be friends. We want no wars. We want to be able to talk to one another. We want to be able to travel around the world without fear.”

And then they asked, “Do you think that we can have these things one day?” Well, I do. I really do. Nearly 2,000 years after the coming of the Prince of Peace, such simple wishes may still seem far from fulfillment. But we can achieve them. We must never stop trying.

The generation of Americans now growing up in schools across our country can make sure the United States will remain a force for good, the champion of peace and freedom, as their parents and grandparents before them have done. And if we live our lives and dedicate our country to truth, to love, and to God, we will be a part of something much stronger and much more enduring than any negative power here on Earth. That’s why this weekend is a celebration and why there is hope for us all.

Thanks for listening, and God bless you.

I don’t like calling people idiots, so I’ve redacted this, but the substance of it is hard to deny, even if I don’t agree with all of the list.  Note also that a few of the items are unverified.  Taken from Politically True:

• If you can get arrested for hunting or fishing without a license, but not for being in the country illegally …

• If you have to get your parents’ permission to go on a field trip or take an aspirin in school, but not to get an abortion …

• If the only school curriculum allowed to explain how we got here is evolution, but your government stops a $15 million construction project to keep a rare spider from evolving to extinction …

• If you have to show identification to board an airplane, cash a check, buy liquor, or check out a library book, but not to vote for who runs your government …

• If your government believes that using steroids or other drugs will ruin your life, but throwing you in prison for years will not …

• If your government wants to ban stable, law-abiding citizens from owning gun magazines with more than ten rounds, but gives 20 F-16 fighter jets to the crazy new leaders in Egypt …

• If, in the largest city, you can buy two 16-ounce sodas, but not a 24-ounce soda because 24-ounces of a sugary drink might make you fat …

• If an 80-year-old woman can be strip-searched by the TSA but a woman in a hijab is only subject to having her neck and head searched …

• If your government believes that the best way to eradicate trillions of dollars of debt is to spend trillions more …

• If a seven year old boy can be thrown out of school for saying his teacher [is] “cute,” but hosting a sexual exploration or diversity class in grade school is perfectly acceptable …

• If children are forcibly removed from parents who discipline them with spankings while children of addicts are left in filth and drug infested “homes”…

• If hard work and success are met with higher taxes and more government intrusion, while not working is rewarded with EBT cards, WIC checks, Medicaid, subsidized housing, and free cell phones …

• If your government’s plan for getting people back to work is to incentivize NOT working with 99 weeks of Unemployment checks and no requirement to prove they applied but can’t find work …

• If you pay your mortgage faithfully, denying yourself the newest big screen TV while your neighbor buys iPhones, TVs and new cars, and your government forgives his debt when he defaults on his mortgage …

• If your government believes that the way to make a school of unarmed children safe is to pass another law, this time with the illusion that three 10-round magazines in a rifle is safer than a 30-round magazine …

I want my country back from all those who are trying to manipulate it for political, financial, or ideological gain.

The IRS now wishes to codify into rules and regulations the reprehensible targeting of political opponents that they have engaged in.  Through February 27, you can comment on the proposed regulations—anonymously if you wish—and I would encourage you to do so if you love this country:  http://nonprofitfreedom.org.  Here is what I posted:

With your proposed IRS REG-134417-13 regulations, you are further curtailing the freedom of Americans, the very opposite of what this country is all about.  The IRS has over the past few years engaged in discriminatory targeting that is criminal at best, and instead of recognizing your wrongs and making amends, you now wish to codify that behavior.  To which I say, no, you may not.

I belong The Oak Initiative (https://www.theoakinitiative.org), an organization that applied for 501(c)(3) status over three years ago, but you have still not acted on their application, even though your website states as of today: “The average date of pending applications is April 2013.”

Choose now whether you will stand with the American people by whose leave you exist, or whether you will try to repress us, but be forewarned that we have historically not taken well to repression.

In the words of Thomas Jefferson, “When government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.”  Do your job with integrity and honor, and you have nothing to fear from the American people.

The IRS is out of line in this matter, and needs to hear that message loud and clear from the American people.

What the IRS has been doing is criminally wrong, and the organization must be held to account.  Lois Lerner plead the 5th Amendment, and apparently got to retire with full benefits.  So not only does President Obama indefensibly claim that there is not a smidgen of corruption at the IRS, but the IRS is now seeking to codify its unlawful practices and make them part of its rules going forward.

Why is it that the government continues to be rocked by scandal after scandal?  If it just does the right thing, there will be no scandals, and the entire country will enjoy more justice.  In fairness to the IRS, I am not suggesting that the entire organization is corrupt, but to claim that it is devoid of corruption is delusional, and the things that have surfaced have made the organization as a whole look bad.

If you work for the IRS or some other part of the Government, uphold and defend what is right at your level, so that these things don’t have to play out at a national level.  We can still right the ship if we stand up for justice and truth.

President Obama tells us there is “not a smidgen of corruption” at the IRS over the targeting of conservative groups, a delusional statement at best.  (See why I care about this.)  The Government is trying to gain more control over the People because it has lost its way and forgotten that it exists for our benefit, and not the other way around.  Through its actions and corruption, it is actively destroying its legitimacy.  It believes that it can ignore our Constitution and our laws, and conversely that it can now codify and legitimize its repression through administrative rules and regulations.

In failing to respond to and redress the grievances of the People, the Government is committing nothing less than treason against us.  This is not a partisan issue.  To every freedom-loving American, I say this:  Wake up, stand up, and call the Government to account.  America will remain free only as long as we treasure and are willing to fight for our freedom.

A fundamental flaw in ObamaCare is the premise that the Government is better able to make decisions for the people than the people are.  That is presumptuous delusion at best, and more likely insanity from overexposure to illegitimate power.  Liberty is one of the inalienable rights recognized by the Constitution, but the Government has deceitfully supplanted that with a 2,700+ page inconsistent, contradictory, monstrosity, cobbled out of legalese, and enforced by the IRS.

This is not right.  Americans were made to be free, and God help us, there will be a reckoning.

Speaking of health insurance plans, President Obama promised America “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan.”  Not so.  If you work for my employer, a major university, and you are covered under separate insurance or under your spouse’s insurance, you can no longer keep your plan.  Here’s what I received (emphasis in original):

Plan C ([Redacted] Alternative Coverage) eliminated

Plan C, also known as [Redacted] Alternative Coverage, which was only available to faculty and staff who could demonstrate they had primary insurance elsewhere or through a spouse/registered domestic partner, will be eliminated effective January 1, 2014.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires [Redacted] to ensure that all health coverage plans in which its employees are enrolled meet federal requirements, but the university has no way to ensure that plans not sponsored by [Redacted] are meeting those requirements. Because of this and other considerations, and because of the administrative complexity of the ACA for a plan like Plan C, the Employee Benefits Advisory Committee voted to recommend elimination during its September 2013 meeting.

All of [Redacted]’s medical plans meet ACA requirements. For more information, read the ACA October 1 Notice-Final that was sent to all employees.

I will find out about my new premiums in a few weeks, and I am confident they will not be going down.  ObamaCare is a step on the path to Marxism, which recognizes neither individual rights nor personal property.  This is categorically bad for America and it needs to be repealed.