Fix Features

Jennifer Kabbany - Associate Editor

Yale President Goes Ga-Ga Over Global Warming

by Jennifer Kabbany - Associate Editor on May 20, 2013

In his farewell address to Yale University, retiring president Richard Levin took to the podium before the graduating class of 2013 over the weekend and told them – the sky is falling.

More specifically, he went on a bizarre tangent about global warming during his baccalaureate commencement address, telling grads “our insufficiently restrained emission of carbon into the atmosphere is on track to require the relocation of coastal populations around the world and cause severe draughts in once fertile agricultural regions, within your lifetimes.”

Relocation of coastal populations! Within your lifetimes! Better pack your bags, grads.

He went on to say:

Earlier this month, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration exceeded 400 parts per million for the first time in over three million years. This level is more than 40 percent higher than concentrations prevailing before the Industrial Revolution began in the mid-18th century.  Now is the time for stronger economic incentives, stricter performance standards, and large investment in carbon-free energy technologies.  The strategy for such investments should take full account of lessons of the massive 1960s commitment to space and defense technology, which gave us high performance materials, computers, the Internet, and global leadership in science and technology that propelled scores of industries and created millions of jobs.

The theme that unites all the elements of the program I am suggesting to you is this: we need to take the long view.  If we fail to invest in education, infrastructure, and innovation, we shortchange the future.  If we fail to rationalize entitlements, your generation’s prosperity will be jeopardized.  If we fail to address the challenge of global warming, your children and grandchildren will live in a world burdened by the enormous costs of coping with environmental disruption and human dislocation.

Global warming to cause – human … dislocation? Right.

Goodbye Dr. Levin, and don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

CLICK HERE to read a transcript of his entire speech to the graduating class at Yale College.

CLICK HERE to Like The College Fix on Facebook.

{ 0 comments }

Professors: IRS Scandal Could Lead To Impeachment

by Jennifer Kabbany - Associate Editor on May 20, 2013

If it can be proven President Barack Obama was involved in the IRS’ targeting of conservative groups, that’s an impeachable offense, two professors said in interviews with The College Fix.

“If there was a clear line of responsibility or authority that could be shown between the IRS and their actions targeting conservative groups and the president – he wouldn’t make it through the end of the day,” said Scott Waller, assistant professor of political science at Biola University.

Grove City College media law and ethics Professor Daniel Brown agreed, saying if President Obama knew about and did nothing to stop the IRS targeting of conservative nonprofit efforts, which took place as early as 2010 and through 2012, that’s grounds for impeachment.

Brown cited one of the articles of impeachment leveled against Richard Nixon to prove his point, noting it related to the former president using the IRS in a discriminatory manner:

Using the powers of the office of President of the United States, Richard M. Nixon, in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in disregard of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has repeatedly engaged in conduct violating the constitutional rights of citizens, impairing the due and proper administration of justice and the conduct of lawful inquiries, or contravening the laws governing agencies of the executive branch and the purposed of these agencies.

This conduct has included one or more of the following:

He has, acting personally and through his subordinates and agents, endeavored to obtain from the Internal Revenue Service, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, confidential information contained in income tax returns for purposed not authorized by law, and to cause, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, income tax audits or other income tax investigations to be initiated or conducted in a discriminatory manner.

“Our country has barely recovered from Watergate, so with a heavy heart, I concede it (could be) an impeachable offense,” said Brown, also a contributing scholar with the college’s Center for Vision and Values.

Both Grove City College and Biola University are Christian institutions.

Waller, during his interview, said a “clear line” – such as a memo or paper trail – would be the most effective evidence to show whether the president ordered or condoned the systemic and large-scale undertakings of the IRS to thwart and delay applications for tax-exempt status from conservative groups.

But he added the chances of that are slim to none. What’s more likely, the professor said, is that the president would be accused of being complicit in the IRS scandal.

Only time will tell, Waller said.

“It took two years for the Nixon scandal to kind of burgeon to the point where Nixon lost the political support of Republicans, and that is really what brought him down,” Waller said. “In a similar vein, it is going to take a while if there is something here of the damaging sort to make itself known.”

Waller said he suspects the IRS scandal isn’t going away any time soon.

“If in the investigation we start to see links to the White House and the IRS scandal, this thing is not going away for a long, long time.”

Jennifer Kabbany is associate editor of The College Fix.

CLICK HERE to Like The College Fix on Facebook.

{ 0 comments }

Obama Sounds Like A Conservative in Commencement Speech

by Jennifer Kabbany - Associate Editor on May 20, 2013

President Barack Obama frequently sounded like Ronald Reagan during a commencement speech at Morehouse College on Sunday, calling for better family values among the black community and personal responsibility over complaints about racism.

Morehouse College is a historically black, all-male university in Georgia, where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. also attended.

During his speech to the Class of 2013, Obama promoted the ideals of persistence and hard work, and told graduates not to play the blame game when things don’t go their way, not to think everything is just about ”trying to keep a black man down.”

“Barriers have come tumbling down, new doors of opportunity have swung open; laws, hearts, and minds have been changed to the point where someone who looks like you can serve as President of the United States,” Obama said.

He also told them that, while times were tough for black men decades ago – and racism still exists today - it’s time to step up to the plate and take care of business. To let go of the past and take charge of the future. Don’t rely on hand outs. Don’t blame racism.

“There’s no longer any room for excuses,” Obama said. “… In today’s hyperconnected, hypercompetitive world, with a billion young people from China and India and Brazil entering the global workforce alongside you, nobody is going to give you anything you haven’t earned. And whatever hardships you may experience because of your race, they pale in comparison to the hardships previous generations endured – and overcame.”

He delved into family values, and told the young men to stand by their future wives and children as husbands, fathers and role models. He mentioned church, hard work and perseverance.

“I was raised by a heroic single mother and wonderful grandparents who made incredible sacrifices for me,” he said. “And I know there are moms and grandparents here today who did the same thing for all of you. But I still wish I had a father who was not only present, but involved. And so my whole life, I’ve tried to be for Michelle and my girls what my father wasn’t for my mother and me. I’ve tried to be a better husband, a better father, and a better man.”

“It’s hard work that demands your constant attention, and frequent sacrifice. And Michelle will be the first to tell you that I’m not perfect. Even now, I’m still learning how to be the best husband and father I can be. Because success in everything else is unfulfilling if we fail at family.”

Despite the promising and personal speech, there were still themes expected from Obama. At one point he mentioned the notion that “as an African-American, you have to work twice as hard as anyone else if you want to get by.”

But he followed that up with citing the American Dream: “But if you stay hungry, keep hustling, keep on your grind and get other folks to do the same – nobody can stop you.”

True to form, Obama also cited perceived discriminations.

“Many of you know what it’s like to be an outsider; to be marginalized; to feel the sting of discrimination,” he said, and went on to list ”Hispanic Americans,” “Gay and lesbian Americans,” “Muslim Americans” and “women.”

But he didn’t follow it up with whining.

“Recognize the burdens you carry with you, but resist the temptation to use them as excuses,” he said. “Transform the way we think about manhood … set higher standards for yourselves and others.”

“That’s what being an American is about. Success may not come quickly or easily. But if you strive to do what’s right; if you work harder and dream bigger; if you set an example in your own lives and do your part to help meet the challenges of our time, then I am confident that, together, we will continue the never-ending task of perfecting our union.”

“Congratulations, class of 2013. God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.”

Amen to that.

Jennifer Kabbany is associate editor of The College Fix.

CLICK HERE for a full transcript of Obama’s Morehouse College speech.

CLICK HERE to Like The College Fix on Facebook.

IMAGE: YouTube Screenshot

{ 0 comments }

Professor Claims Reagan Administration-IRS Targeted Him

by Jennifer Kabbany - Associate Editor on May 19, 2013

In the wake of recent news that conservative and Christian groups have been harshly scrutinized by the IRS, a professor and author said he was targeted by the IRS during the Reagan Administration in retaliation for writing a book some deemed critical of the president’s policies.

Karl Grossman, a journalism professor at State University of New York’s College at Old Westbury and a prolific author, said he was hit with an arduous “field audit” roughly one year after his book “Nicaragua: America’s New Vietnam?” was published in 1985.

Grossman, in an interview with The College Fix, said although he has no proof the audit was in retaliation to his book, the timing of the audit coupled with the bizarre conversation he had with the IRS field agent at the time was enough to convince him.

“It went on for hours and hours,” Grossman said. “He sat there and went through every piece of paper. … Then in the afternoon … he asked if, as a journalist, I had ever faced retaliation for my work. I instantly said, ‘Well, what do you think this is?’”

Grossman recalls that the agent replied the audit was random. In the end, he only asked Grossman to reduce the amount of money he claimed as business use of the home phone, the professor said.

Grossman added the tax-collecting agency has an established pattern of abuse of power, calling it an “outrageous tradition.”

He said such abuses are well-documented in two books in particular: longtime New York Times investigative reporter David Burnham’s “A Law Unto Itself: The IRS and the Abuse of Power,” as well as historian and professor John Andrew’s 2002 book, “Power to Destroy: The Political Uses of the IRS from Kennedy to Nixon.”

“Andrew confirms what many have suspected for a long time: that presidents, political appointees, and bureaucrats have attempted to use the Internal Revenue Service to punish their enemies,” a description of the book on Amazon states, adding it’s a “dense study” that uses tomes of Capital Hill documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act to make its case.

Burnham’s 1991 book chronicles “the IRS’s internal processes, its methods of gathering data on taxpayers, improper uses of such information, and abuses of power, such as its meddling in politics through targeting of activist groups,” its Amazon description states.

“The two authors of the books, these aren’t conspiracy theory nuts,” Grossman said. “David Burnham is a very respected investigative reporter. The other author was a history professor at Franklin and Marshall College.”

The two books, coupled with the ongoing scandal in Washington D.C., and his personal experience in the 80s, proves out a clear and systemic problem within the agency, Grossman said.

“The IRS has a common thread,” Grossman said. “These books show that when there is a conservative in the White House, the IRS goes after liberals, and when there’s a liberal in the White House, the IRS goes the other way around.”

Grossman added the solution is a massive overhaul of the agency.

“Obama’s announcement that the acting commissioner of the IRS was asked and agreed to tender his resignation because of the scandal is far from enough,” he said “What is called for is fundamental change to end the tradition of IRS political tyranny.”

Jennifer Kabbany is associate editor of The College Fix.

CLICK HERE to Like The College Fix on Facebook. 

IMAGE: Professor Karl Grossman

{ 1 comment }

Embattled IRS Official Backs Out of Commencement Commitment

by Jennifer Kabbany - Associate Editor on May 16, 2013

Saying she does not want to detract from students’ graduation experience, the scandal-plagued IRS official at the heart of a controversy over the agency’s targeting of conservative groups has backed out of her commitment to speak at her alma mater’s commencement ceremony.

Lois Lerner – director for the IRS Exempt Organization Division – was slated to deliver Western New England University School of Law’s commencement address Saturday, and be given the university’s President’s Medallion – which honors “those who have distinguished themselves in a particular field or in service to an important cause that has benefited society,” the school’s website states.

But in a statement by a university official Wednesday, they said Lerner – who graduated from the law school in 1978 – will no longer attend.

“Western New England University has been notified that Lois Lerner, director for the IRS Exempt Organization Division, has chosen to withdraw as guest speaker for the School of Law’s Commencement ceremony this Saturday, May 18,” Barbara Moffat, vice president for marketing at the university, told MassLive.com on Wednesday. “In her notification to the university, Ms. Lerner cited her wish to have the ceremony focus on a celebration of the achievements of the graduates.”

University officials have said they invited her to speak long before news of the scandal broke. Nevertheless, as recently as Tuesday, they stood by their invitation after the facts in the case became widely known.

“Our plans have not changed at this time,” David Stawasz, a spokesperson for the university, said in an interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation on Tuesday. “Ms. Lerner has apologized for the actions of certain IRS employees. We are aware of  the circumstances, but our plans have not changed.”

It remains to be seen when and if Lerner will still be bestowed with the school’s President’s Medallion, however. Her actions have prompted some conservatives to dispute whether she deserves it.

Michelle Malkin on Wednesday provided on her website an email from one her sources who had emailed the university and received this response: ”Lois Lerner was chosen several months ago to deliver the commencement address … We reviewed the matter following her apology on Friday for the inappropriate actions of certain agents within the exempt organizations division of the IRS. Our plans for commencement have not changed.”

To which Malkin pointed out: “Maybe they should read the IRS Inspector General’s report before Saturday. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

In the wake of revelations that her division zeroed in on and gave extra scrutiny to groups with “tea party” or “patriot” in their names, Lerner, 62, has been thrust into the national spotlight, dubbed by some as the “face of the IRS scandal.”

Lerner knew of the inappropriate focus in her division on conservative groups since June 2011. She recently apologized publicly, but won’t comment on whether IRS employees will be disciplined, and denied any political bias was involved in the effort.

Revelations on the ongoing IRS scandal reveal Lerner’s division demanded much of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, including information “under penalties of perjury” on donor lists, names of family members and spouses, and whether people affiliated with the groups were planning to run for office.

Click Here to Like The College Fix on Facebook.

{ 0 comments }

University to Bestow ‘Face of IRS Scandal’ with Honorary Tribute

by Jennifer Kabbany - Associate Editor on May 14, 2013

The woman in charge of the IRS division responsible for reviewing tax-exempt status applications and who is at the heart of an ongoing scandal over revelations the agency targeted conservative groups is set to receive an honorary tribute from Western New England University School of Law on Saturday.

Lois Lerner – director for the IRS Exempt Organization Division – is slated to deliver the school’s commencement address and be given the university’s “President’s Medallion.”

Established in 2002, the award is “bestowed upon those who have distinguished themselves in a particular field or in service to an important cause that has benefited society locally, regionally, nationally, or internationally,” the college’s website states.

In the wake of revelations that her division zeroed in on and gave extra scrutiny to groups with “tea party” or “patriot” in their names, Lerner, 62, has been thrust into the national spotlight, dubbed by some as the “face of the IRS scandal.”

Lerner knew of the inappropriate focus in her division on conservative groups since June 2011. She recently apologized publicly, but won’t comment on whether IRS employees will be disciplined, and denied any political bias was involved in the effort.

In touting Lerner’s impending arrival to the Springfield, Mass., campus – her alma mater – university officials noted she graduated from the law school in 1978 and now oversees nearly 1,000 employees charged with reviewing IRS applications for tax-exempt status and conducting examinations and compliance efforts.

Campus officials also tout how she is past president of the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws.

More recently, she has become the butt of jokes on social media and news websites after she revealed during a conference call with reporters Friday that “I’m not good at math.”

“You’re with the IRS, thank you,” replied Tom Costello of NBC News with a chuckle. He had asked the question that prompted her admission.

“I am a lawyer, I am not an accountant,” Lerner had quickly replied.

Revelations on the ongoing IRS scandal reveal Lerner’s division demanded much of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, including information “under penalties of perjury” on donor lists, names of family members and spouses, and whether people affiliated with the groups were planning to run for office.

Western New England University School of Law officials announced May 1 that Lerner is set to give the upcoming commencement speech and receive the honorary award, roughly one week before the controversial news surfaced.

Jennifer Kabbany is associate editor of The College Fix.

CLICK HERE to Like The College Fix on Facebook.

IMAGE: Screenshot from Western New England University School of Law website

{ 391 comments }

← Previous Entries