Same-sex 'Marriage' via IRS Regulations

Eight Democrat U.S. Senators have called on the Internal Revenue Service to promulgate tax regulations to accommodate homosexuals as couples "married filing jointly."

-- From "Senators call on IRS to clear up rules for same-sex couples" by Allison Linn, senior writer msnbc.com 6/23/11

In the letter, the senators noted that some state tax laws recognize same-sex marriages or domestic partnerships, even though the federal government does not. That’s creating confusion for couples who want to file accurate returns but are classified differently by state and federal tax regulators, they said. They asked the IRS to offer guidance.

This isn’t the first time the tax issue has come up. The National Taxpayer Advocate, an independent organization within the IRS that seeks to help taxpayers, also noted in a 2010 report to Congress that the confusion between state laws that recognize same-sex marriages or domestic partnerships, and federal rules that do not, were creating complications for taxpayers.

The senators say some of the confusion would be cleared up if the Defense of Marriage Act were repealed. That’s a federal law that specifies that marriage is between a man and a woman only.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Senators to IRS: Fix the Gay Tax Mess" by Scott James, The Bay Citizen 6/23/11

A change last year, originally meant to help same-sex couples in some states take advantage of tax rates offered to heterosexual couples, instead required gay couples to follow complex new rules to file their returns.

The rules were so confusing, most had to hire professional accountants, paying as much as $4,000 for expertise to file their returns. An estimated 60,000 gay couples in California are impacted.

The senators’ intervention comes less than two weeks after another problem related to the situation was exposed: Hundreds of gay couples who followed the new rules had their returns rejected anyway by someone named “J. Bell” in the Fresno IRS office because the couples were not straight.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Reparations Paid to Homosexuals for Discrimination

Citizens of Cambridge, Massachusetts will be taxed to make payments to same-sex 'married' employees to offset, what local officials consider to be, a federal tax code that discriminates against homosexuals.

UPDATE 7/10/11: City payments to homosexuals begin

-- From "Cambridge to give stipend to same-sex employees" by The Associated Press 6/9/11

The city beginning in July will pay quarterly stipends to city employees in a same-sex marriage who must pay federal taxes on the value of the health benefits their spouse receives from the city.

Federal law requires employers to calculate the value of the benefits received by a same-sex spouse as taxable income to the employee, while health benefits of an opposite-sex spouse are not taxable.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Same-sex stipend may be a first in the US" by Brock Parker, Boston Globe Correspondent 6/9/11

While a number of private employers, such as Google, already offer an additional stipend or payment to same-sex married employees to defray the cost of the federal tax, Cambridge is believed to be the first municipality in the nation to do so, said Sarah Warbelow of the Human Rights Campaign, a national lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil-rights organization.

The city, which in 2004 was the first in the nation to offer same-sex marriage licenses, currently provides health insurance benefits to the spouses of 22 city and school department employees who are married to a partner of the same sex, said city personnel director Michael Gardner. The stipend will cost the city an estimated $33,000 per year once it is fully implemented.

The federal tax costs same-sex married families as much as $1,500 to $3,000 a year that those of the opposite sex do not have to pay, officials said.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Also read White House Torpedoed Marriage from Start

Tea Party View from a Liberal 'Christian' Journalist

The Washington Post sent their out-of-touch columnist to the Chicago Tax Day Tea Party rally to provide a skewed opinion of those Americans who are foreign to her.

-- From "'Frightened' tea party comes to Chicago" by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, The Washington Post's On Faith 4/15/10

The tea party movement held a rally in Daley Plaza today at noon. A core group of about 300-400 mostly middle and retirement aged white people listened to speeches and carried signs. "Axis of Evil--Obama, Pelosi and Reid," "Abolish the Federal Reserve," "My Favorite Marxist" [with a picture of President Obama as an alien], "Please dispose of socialism carefully," and "Reload and Repeal" as examples. Around them another circle, about half as large, more racially and ethnically diverse, with Chicago police walking between, was made up of the anti-tea party folks. They carried signs like "Teabagging = bigotry," "CHI-town is Obama country," "Support health care," and "Equal rights for Gay Americans." Anti-war signs abounded. At first glance, the whole plaza looked exactly like democracy in action.

I walked around, asking people if they'd talk to me. When I identified myself as a blogger for The Washington Post's On Faith site, quite a few of those with tea party signs or T-shirts refused to speak to me, and two men pointedly turned their backs. A couple of folks were willing to talk, however, and I spent nearly half an hour sitting on benches in the shade with an older couple from Wheaton, Ill.

. . . This couple was of retirement age. I asked them if they were on Medicaid. They both nodded. They also are on Social Security. "Aren't those big government programs?" I asked. "Well, we wish we didn't have to take this money, but we need it," the wife replied.

I asked them if they were Christians and active in their church. They assured me they were. The husband had a copy of the Constitution in his hand, so I asked him about what he thought about the Establishment clause of the first Amendment and political activity like this. "People have been brainwashed about separation of church and state," the husband assured me. "The government's plan is to get rid of religion."

. . . About an hour into the rally, there was a scuffle. I couldn't see, but the crowd became more charged. Chicago Police moved in. "What was that about?" I asked several people closer to the stage. "A guy went crazy and started shouting." "He was just a plant to make us all look crazy." This was debated among the crowd for a short while, and then things calmed down and the drone of the speeches continued.

. . . I also happened upon Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Non-Violence, the long-time anti-war tax resister, peace activist and three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee. She and other anti-war folks were also protesting taxes, only because tax dollars are used to support war. . . .

I wish I could be more like Kathy Kelly, calmly witnessing for peace as the tea party unfolds around her. But I'm frightened too. I'm frightened of the undercurrent of fear that was right below the surface of Daley Plaza in Chicago today.

To read the entire column, CLICK HERE.

Tea Party - Mainstream Media Wake Up

ABC shows recognition of the power of the people in their report that the Tea Party movement is challenging "moderate Republicans," but there are reports of these ad hoc American grassroot gatherings targeting politicians of all stripes.

-- From "Tea Party Activists Gaining Steam Across the Country" by Kate Snow And Kristina Wong, ABC News 1/7/10

A political movement is sweeping the country, and taking politicians down.

The most recent victim of "tea party" activists was Florida Republican Jim Greer, who resigned from as state party chairman this week, in part because of the activists' objections to his alliance with Florida's Republican governor, Charlie Crist, who is running for the U.S. Senate. The activists are vocally supporting Crist's opponent -- a young, outspoken conservative, Marco Rubio -- and some believe the tea party group may bring down Crist, too.

Tea party activists in California may cause the first woman to lead a Fortune 500 company to lose her bid for the U.S. Senate because she's not conservative enough.

And in Kentucky, Rand Paul, the son of a former presidential candidate Ron Paul, is riding the tea party wave.

Next week, Eric Odom, the man most often regarded as the founder of the tea party movement, is taking a crew of tea party followers to Massachusetts, sensing the Democrat running for Ted Kennedy's old seat, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, might be vulnerable.

So-called "tea party patriots" are members of a political movement sweeping America whose core beliefs center around fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government and free markets.

The majority of supporters are Republicans. But as the number of self-identified Republicans continues to drop, the tea party moniker is also drawing independents.

And there are Democratic converts in the tea party ranks now, too.

"A year ago, the Obama supporters were the passionate ones," New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote this week. "Now the tea party brigades have all the intensity."

By one count, there are at least 3,000 tea party organizations all over the country.

To see the video news report and to read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Tea Party Rallies Against IL GOP Favorite Son Kirk

Chicago south suburban Tea Party, which claims nation's largest 2009 local gathering, organized to defeat Republican leading candidate for Obama's former U.S. Senate seat.

UPDATE 2/12/10: Primary Winner Mark Kirk Backed by John McCain

UPDATE 1/11/10: Mark Kirk loss would "severely shake the foundations of the GOP establishment"

UPDATE 1/9/10: New York Times - Is Kirk too liberal?

UPDATE 1/7/10: Florida Tea Party "turns guns" on GOP leadership

So-called Tea Party groups show opposition to incumbents and career politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, nationwide.

NOTE: Video NOT related to article below

-- From "Tea Party Folks Are your neighbors" by Phil Kadner, Southtown Star Sun-Times Media 1/7/10

"We're here to protect the Constitution," Homer Glen resident Mary Lou Benakovich informed me. "We're pro-gun, anti-abortion, anti-tax and oppose RINOs running for office."

"Republicans in name only, RINO," Benakovich explained. "Mark Kirk . . . is a RINO."

This was billed by some as an anti-Kirk rally. Literature distributed at the rally labeled Kirk "pro homosexual," "pro abortion," "a gun grabber" and "tax and spender."

"He's worse than Obama because Obama's a Democrat," Benakovich said. "Kirk claims he's a Republican, but he's a traitor to everything the party is supposed to stand for."

Claris Van Kuiken, 55, of New Lenox, said she joined the movement because she fears politicians are not only attempting to undermine the country but Christian institutions as well, with a vision of a one-world government and occultism.

Stephen J. Balich, the Homer Township clerk and a leader of the Will County Tea Party Alliance, said the group's members are neither Democrats nor Republicans - just voters trying to take their country back.

Every person I spoke with was so bursting with enthusiasm for the cause that I had trouble taking notes.

One man told me he's tired of writing letters to politicians in Washington only to get form letters back saying, "Thank you for writing. Now I'm going to vote the way I want to."

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Obama: 100 Days of Change for the Family

Watch this video to get the full report on the first 100 Days of the Obama presidency. This report will take you beyond the media and Administration spin to what the First 100 days of "change" really means for the family.

Sandy Rios Speaks at Tea Party - Lisle, IL 4/15/09

Liberal Media Minimize Pastors' Freedom to Preach

Defying a federal tax law they consider unjust, 33 ministers across the country will take to their pulpits this Sunday and publicly endorse a candidate for president.

-- From "Ministers to Defy I.R.S. by Endorsing Candidates" by Laurie Goodstein, New York Times 9/26/08

They plan to then send copies of their sermons to the Internal Revenue Service, hoping to provoke a challenge to a law that bars religious organizations and other nonprofits that accept tax-deductible contributions from involvement in partisan political campaigns.

The protest, called Pulpit Freedom Sunday, was organized by the Alliance Defense Fund, a consortium of Christian lawyers that fights for conservative religious and social causes. When the fund first announced the protest this year, it said it planned to have 50 ministers taking part. As of Thursday it said it had hundreds of volunteers, but had selected only 33 who were fully aware of the risks and benefits.

The fund provides legal support for religious conservatives who have long felt aggrieved at what they say are limits on their religious expression.

Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, said: “This is not something these churches want to do in secrecy and hiding. In fact, they don’t believe they’re doing anything wrong. They don’t believe they’re violating the law.

“What they’re doing is talking to their congregations about biblical issues related to candidates and elections, and they believe they have the constitutional right to do that.”

In the last decade, church politicking has drawn increasing scrutiny. Organizations like Americans United for Separation of Church and State have made a show of reporting churches to the I.R.S. to deter transgressors.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

If you want to read liberals' opinions about the danger of allowing church leaders to speak freely, then CLICK HERE (L.A. Times), or CLICK HERE (N.Y. Times), or CLICK HERE (Boston Globe) . . .

Tax dollars support sickness masquerading as art at Sundance Film Festival

AFA reports that tax dollars were used to support the Sundance Film Festival which recently featured a "tasteful film about men fornicating with horses."

The National Endowment for the Arts gave between $100,000 and $249,000 to help underwrite the festival, and the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) gave between $50,000 and $99,999.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) gets millions of dollars to support "art." A few years ago the NEA helped fund a crucifix submerged in urine and named "Pis- Christ." NEA has sponsored similar "art" projects with tax dollars.

PBS gets tax funding from The Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Every other non-profit broadcasting station must raise their own funds, but CPB and PBS are funded with hundreds of millions of tax dollars. PBS is probably the most liberal network in America. Hollywood has hundreds of millions of dollars to underwrite the cost of the Sundance Film Festival, but they would rather use your tax dollars than their own money. Together, these two organizations provided upwards of $350,000 of tax money to the film festival.

Read the rest at americanfamilyassociation.com