Fri, 01/16/2009 - 12:24am — DCblogger
How much clout does Rick Warren have?
The California megachurch minister and opponent of gay marriage who will deliver the invocation at Barack Obama's inauguration had his income tax returns audited in 1996. When the IRS tried to collect the taxes it claimed he owed, Warren went to court. Congress then passed a law granting Warren's tax deduction, pre-empting the US Court of Appeals from even taking up the case against him. The votes in the House and Senate were unanimous.
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The Godfather and His Unlimited Power
What a boss. I don't know if he's one of God's VP's, but this shows that he's certainly one of the Village
's.
Rick's will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, I guess.
But, we've always been at war with Eastasia...
That's a great catch. DCB
Thanks.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
Sigh.
Warren prevailed in part because of his prominence as the author of a book that has sold more than 25 million copies and as the founder of his 22,000-member church in Orange County. He prevailed also because he saw how his tax deduction could be turned into an example of what his defenders called "judicial activism at its worst." Right-wing talk-radio host Hugh Hewitt called it an example of "the implacable hostility of the political left to the role of God in the world and the country."
Cowards. Every last one of them, in this case. They just can't figure out how to get the upper hand here. And what has going along with right wingers gotten the the dems or the rest of us?
And how sad, frustrating, and disappointing is this:
Instead, Rick Warren posed as a defender of clergy of all faiths against a godless left-wing court. Not even the most progressive members of Congress were willing to stand up to him--not Ted Kennedy, Paul Wellstone, Russ Feingold, Bernie Sanders or Barney Frank. Obama's invitation to Warren is dismaying, but this history may make it more comprehensible.
My emphasis.
Holy shit! Or, perhaps more accurately, "unholy" shit.
Wow. I got gigged for interest on a refund which was a result of an input error by the IRS. So, yeah, my filing was correct; IRS messed up back in the day when they typed in info or something--resulted in IRS sending me money I wasn't owed. And I naively assumed they were correct. But they still gigged me on the interest. Which seemed sooooooo unfair.
But Rick Warren? His own private Congressional bill???
Just wow.
Don't feel bad
My fiance got gigged on interest too.
This was on money the Dept of Defense Finance incorrectly paid him, upon his discharge from the Navy. He had already left his ship, going to his home of record, using the last of his leave. A check was sent to his home, and he thought he had concluded his commitment to Uncle Sam.
Turns out, they sent a duplicate check to the ATM machine aboard his ship. He wasn't there to withdraw it, so the money sat there untouched. From 97-99, he had several communications with the DDF, naively believing the previous one had solved the problem, until they came calling again.
Then finally, they siezed his tax return. Months and months of arguing came to no fruition, so finally he went to see our Congresswoman. He had the proof from his ship that the overpayment was sent to the ship, and never touched, and one phone call from her office solved the problem, finally. When he finally recieved the belated tax refund, it was decreased, because the IRS had charged him interest on holding his money, that never should have been taken in the first place.
Yet, Rick Warren gets his own Congressionally Approved Tax Exemption.
He who will not reason is a bigot; he who cannot is a fool; and he who dares not is a slave.
- Sir William Drummond