Barrett Rainey's Second Thoughts

It’s always seemed to me, people who attempt to do their own taxes should first try to take out their own appendix. If they’re successful doing the latter, they should have no trouble doing the former. This year, the tax side of that self-challenge may be even riskier for honest filers.

Self-tax doers normally have a backup at the IRS – the ubiquitous phone call for help with questions. There’ll be some new issues this year because of some tax law changes in 2014 and the matter of how to deal with subsidies – if qualified – and other issues dealing with Obamacare that will likely raise some need for assistance. Lotsa luck!

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen is the bearer of some really bad news. For instance, of the millions of people who annually call for filing help, less than half will get through to someone at the agency this tax season. Less than half! Of those that DO get to a live person on the other end, many will spend as long as an hour on hold. Those who want to try emails or some other electronic avenue for assistance will have no better luck. Forget it.

Remember that old term “sequester? Or “sequestration” which always reminds me of “castration” because the result is about the same. Well, your friends in your old do-nothing Congress have approved an IRS budget for 2015 which is the lowest since 2008! Yep. The outfit has to make do with less money than seven years ago.

And therein are those telephone waits and the emails going into a bottomless electronic pit and the six-out-of-ten callers who’ll never get someone on the phone. Oh, and a hiring freeze meaning the loss of some 4,000 more full-time employees by July. Since 2010, the IRS has lost about 17,000 employees while the tax load has increased and increased again.

Then, there’s the matter of audits. Yes, Virginia, there’ll be fewer audits for many of the same reasons. And while you may says that’s “good news” ‘cause you aren’t likely to have someone sniffing around your tax returns and checking your math, it also means more tax cheats and non-filers will get away with tax larceny. Since 2010, the Commissioner estimates the agency has not been able to collect about $6 billion owed because the enforcement division has 5,000 fewer employees than in 2008. He’s estimating you can add another $2 billion to that loss for 2015.

Now, a billion here and a billion there can really add up – especially during your old sequestration. But if you take more sheriff’s deputies off the trail, there’ll be more stagecoach holdups. ‘Twas always thus. And thus it still is.
And you just know the non-filers and tax cheaters know all this news, too.

If you’re expecting a refund, your wait will be longer. Especially if you’re a paper filer. Those using the old computer machine will see their refunds held up but only by a few days.

For years, Idaho’s excuse for a legislature did the same thing. “Get that damned old tax commission out of our business,” cried the folks at home. So the cretins came to Boise for years with avowed intent to cut, cut, cut the Commission budget. And they did, did, did. Then one legislative day, someone got them to understand basic math: fewer auditors to look for dollars meant fewer dollars for them to spend. On frivolous unconstitutional lawsuits and failed challenges to the federal government and the like.

So, the legislature relented just a bit by increasing the Commission’s staff of auditors by half a dozen or so. And voila!!! A year or two later, the old Commission was auditing more and improving the amount of taxes collected. It really worked! More hands doing the digging meant more tax dollars in the bucket.

Now, Idaho’s two U.S. Senators – Crapo and Risch – who were members of that old Idaho Legislature when the “more-auditors-means-more-income” lesson was learned, seem to have forgotten all that. They’ve become hardy supporters of “castra…” er, I mean “sequestration” with the I-R-S one of their favorite targets.

Remember, IRS Commissioner Koskinen is projecting a tax income loss – because of staff cuts – of about $8 billion. Imagine adding that “found money” to the nation’s education budget. Or, as our current Congress thinks, $8 billion more for Afghanistan bombs and missiles.

And the cherry on top for the IRS? Koskinen says, if it’s necessary keep his budget balanced, it may be necessary to close the agency for several days later this year. After tax season. Just lock the doors.

In the wise words of my favorite Russian comic: “What a contry!”

Yes, Spell Check. “Contry.”

Posted in Column | | Comments Off on Congressional unwisdom

The war of terror is over. The terrorists won.

Before reaching for your friendly keyboard to throw electronic “rocks” my way, consider the evidence. As a matter of fact, consider a lot of evidence. The latest: three guys massacred 16 people in France. Though they met their own violent end(s) hours later, there are now 10,000 French army troops walking the streets of that country with 10,000 automatic weapons at the ready. Three dead guys – 10,000 armed troops. Plus God knows how many local cops, security types and various private guns-for-hire.

One guy – just one – puts some explosive powder on his shoe in an aircraft and tries to light it afire. From that day forward, hundreds of millions of us have had to walk barefoot in airport lobbies. One guy – millions barefoot.

Another guy – just one – had what appeared to be an explosive in his shorts while being an airlines traveler. From that day forward, hundreds of millions of us have had to endure full body scans and/or body scans with hand wands. One guy – millions of us being body scanned.

I could fill a few dozen more paragraphs but you get the idea. When dealing with terrorists, they almost always win by definition because, from the moment of the violence, everyone else reacts. Or over-reacts. Someone breaks into your house – you buy a burglar alarm. Or a gun. Or both. You buy new and heavier locks. More of ‘em. Somebody bashes your parked car. You fix it and park it somewhere else. You react – doing things you otherwise wouldn’t have done. Your thinking changes.

First the violence – the terror, if you will. Then the response.

Many moons ago, I landed in Washington D.C. – unemployed. Thanks to the late Sen. Len Jordan, I was hired as a uniformed Capitol police officer. Now days, Capitol officers are professionals – as well-trained as the D.C. cops. Patronage employees are now limited to copiers and staple machines.

I used to wander the halls of the Capitol and the House and Senate office buildings, first as a tourist and later as a reporter. You don’t do that today. Scanners, badges, armed police, body searches and more. All over the place. There are large cement planters everywhere on the Hill to block someone trying to ram a vehicle into a building. Acres of blacktop and more of just grass – cordoned off to keep open spaces on the Hill – open. Sharpshooters on the roofs of many federal buildings around the Capitol. Same with the White House and other locations.

Terrorists. Just a handful over the last 40-50 years. But billions spent in that same time reacting. Just in Washington D.C..

Checked your local court house or city hall carefully lately? Looked really close at those new cement planter boxes out front? The little security cameras in the trees or jutting out from the eaves? How about the new “No Parking” areas or the removal of parking spaces that used to be so handy? Noticed an armed officer or two in public buildings – or schools – in our little towns? How about all that new military hardware for local cops?

Terrorists. Winning. While we react.

Been listing to all the TV “talking heads” claiming to be terrorism “experts” lately? A lot of ‘em couldn’t find a terrorist in a barbershop. But there they are. “Experts.” A guy named Jeremy Schaill really nailed all the media the other day on CNN. Even CNN. Scahill has credentials in the terrorism business second-to-none. Authored several books. Has personally jumped back and forth across the front lines in Iran, Afghanistan, Syria and other “hot spots” for years. He’s dealt with many terrorists face-to-face. Knows his business. And knows the phonies.

His take on these “experts?” “CNN, MSNBC and Fox are engaging in the terrorism network industrial complex having people on as paid analysts who’re largely frauds who’ve made a lot of money portraying themselves as terror ‘experts’ but have no actual on-the-ground experience.”

Even there, the terrorists have won. A few of them have scared the Hell out of hundreds and hundreds of millions of us around the world. And created a new cottage industry of frauds. The media reacts. We react.

We now live in a world where terrorists and their deadly acts are becoming part of our daily lives. New York City, Washington, D.C., Pocatello, Idaho, Colfax, Washington and Madras, Oregon, are the front lines. A local water supply – a key bridge across the Columbia River – a little courthouse in Curry County – a National Guard armory in Wenatchee. Your street. My street. Every street. Now a front line for terror. The war is no longer “over there.” It’s “right here.”

We have not yet begun to see the changes – the dramatic, life-altering changes – coming in our lives. So far, we’ve been reactive to terror and those who practice it. By definition and by specific acts, that’s how it’s always been. That will change. It must. What we don’t know is how.
And how much. Or what. Or when.

As I said, so far, they’re winning.

Posted in Column | | Comments Off on We lost the war

Hate mail on the ol’ I-net keeps hitting new highs. Or lows. For several years, the target was Pres. Obama, his wife, kids and any non-white person supporting the President. Told a number of my friends to knock it off. Lost several.

Now the target I see most is Muslims. Any Muslim. Since the Paris terrorism, there’s been a sharp increase. Hardly a day goes I don’t get a couple hate mails. Some are supposed to be “joles” but many are filled with lengthy quotes from speeches or writings of some “noted authority” here or abroad on the dangers of the Muslim way of life. Checking the background of some writers, I found several hated somebody else before they got around to Muslims. Hate and racism du jour, I guess.

Just speculation on my part but I doubt many who circulate this mental garbage have ever met a Muslim much less had one as a friend. They’re a distinct minority in our Northwestern back yard. Had it not been for the military and living in Washington, D.C. as a reporter for a few years, I probably would’ve lived my entire life Muslim-less.

But I ‘ve gotten to know a few. And, while not being an authority on all things Muslim, I can say my experiences were interesting, mind-broadening and I found not a whole lot of difference from anyone else with a strong religious base in their history. Orthodox Jews are a good example. Some practice faithfully; some don’t. Baptists, Catholics and we Presbyterian/Methodists, too. Sometimes.

“But what about their supposed violence against all things not Muslim?” you ask. “And Sharria law and ‘death to the infidels’?’” Yes, there is that. Sometimes. “Course we non-Muslims had our crusades and some witch burnings. But we don’t talk much about those.

As a Presby/Methodist hybrid, I’ve attended a lot of Bible study classes trying to stay protestantly multilingual. One of the things that’s struck me repeatedly was how much violence and death there is in our own religious teachings. Lots of it. Moses, for example, wiping out whole villages and thousands of families from elderly to children during the trek from Egypt to the Promised Land. Wholesale slaughter! Before leaving Egypt, there was all that Passover killing. And all the murders of babies after Christ’s birth. Crucifixions, stoning, stabbing, poisonings, etc.

Then there were the instructions from God and/or his spokesmen on earth to kill certain people, punish family members, exact deadly vengeance on misdoers, run people out of town, confiscate property and on and on and on. Not to mention famines, plagues, drought and drowning everybody. Or those stake burnings.

Yep, Christianity is pretty blood-thirsty. Kind of like that Sharria law thing. Except nobody in our town has sacrificed a virgin or stoned a prostitute or cut the hands off a thief for… damn … I can’t remember when. But it’s been a long, long time.

I suppose if I lived in a Muslim country and ignorantly hated the Christians -as some ignorant “christians” hate Muslims – I could come up with hundreds of examples of biblical “teachings” to fill up some hate e-mails for friends. Lord knows, the Bible is a treasure trove of murder and retribution for enemies of God. There are some doozies!

In case my point isn’t clear here, it’s this: if we insist on developing our thinking and feelings based on someone else’s selective information – if we go around talking about or warning about some stranger’s murderous intent using some other nut’s phobia’s and hate-mongering as our sources of information – we’re going to show a lot of ignorance that really doesn’t become you. Or me. Are there bad guys? Yep. Muslim? Maybe. Maybe not. Do they live next door? Not likely.

More than anything else, that’s the basis for most hate e-mails I’ve seen lately. Ignorance. Fear. Wanting to believe the worst. A susceptibility to the voices of hate that relentlessly fill our national airwaves and in-boxes. A need to feel superior to someone else by making them villains. Used to be Blacks. Then Hispanics. Now it’s Muslims. Or all of the above.

But being a Muslim and practicing the tenets of your faith doesn’t automatically make you a bad guy. No matter how hard ignorant individuals and ignorant countries try to make it so. Universally banning certain styles of clothing does more to inflame than build a bridge to understanding. Burnings copies of the Koran – or threatening to – won’t improve cultural relationships. Burning Mosques says more about the mental vacuum of the match-holders.

I’m treating the forwarded anti-Muslim e-mails exactly as I did the ones about our President. Heavy use of the “delete” key. I’m just one. But, if you do it too, maybe we can make a dent.

Wiping out a hateful electronic lie and striking a small blow for world peace. Now that’s a good day’s work.

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I don’t know anyone who “hates” cops. No one. Oh, I’m sure there are some criminals, psycho’s and maybe a few ex-spouses who harbor some bad feelings. But “cop hating” by the general public? I don’t know ‘em.

So this begs the question: Why is so much of today’s media chock full of ‘stories’ of police hatred? Where’s it coming from?

Seems to me there are two sources – or maybe “suspects.” First, many in the New York City and national media – including the usual hate voices – who’ve either become very sloppy in their “reporting” or have deliberately perverted what the original street protests were about.

In some media, the words have become a sort of shorthand when reporting interactions between officers and citizens – especially citizens in large groups like a protest march. Scan the headlines of major newspapers. Read the “crawl” lines below TV talking heads. The words “cops” and “hate” appear a lot. Listen to Beck, Coulter and the other professional political perverts dropping them into their verbal garbage.

Months ago, when all this street marching started, it had nothing to do with “cops.” It was an expression of outrage at a local Missouri system of justice that seemed blind to justice – a grand jury had been force fed deliberately misleading information by a prosecutor with his own agenda. A small town tragedy became a national disgrace when local authorities reacted badly and confronted legal demonstrators with a display of military force. The original message of distrust of a system turned to outrage at the city’s terrible judgement and irresponsible actions. But not cop hatred.

As the number of demonstrations increased across the country, the basic message was still the same: distrust of a system that didn’t provide equal treatment for all. Distrust of the system. Not cop hatred. Yes, there were agitators who took advantage of the situation to loot and steal. But the overwhelming numbers of demonstrators were orderly and, for the most part, responsive to local authorities. No cop hatred.

The second suspect? If I had to pick a moment in time when the “cop hatred” words entered the larger, national picture it would be about the moment a police union boss – running for his own re-election – charged the New York City Mayor with attacks on the city force. Charges even the police commissioner refuted.

While NYC politics have always been rough-and-tumble, this voice was unnecessarily shrill, incredibly ill-timed and stupid. As his caustic words tumbled out of HDTV’s across the country, those not accustomed to New York political “discourse” heard something new. Cops, we were told, were “pushing back” on a city official who had “betrayed” them. He hadn’t. But the latent anger of a few, who’re always there, was suddenly taken as the voice of the “majority” of the city’s 35,000 officers. It wasn’t. But it seemed so. And since then, too many NYC cops have been acting like spoiled children.

From that point – and reinforced many, many times since nationally – we’ve heard the words “cops” and “hatred” joined. The original – and seemingly justified – reasons for people in the streets disappeared from the story. Then, with the coincidental assassination of two NYC officers by a deranged loner, the “us-versus-them” embers blew up to become a full-scale distortion. A couple of other disconnected cop killings across the country got thrown into the mix, talk show haters grabbed hold, headlines turned to cop killings and the original messages which began in Ferguson, MO, all but disappeared.

The brutal fact is police officers have been getting killed in-the-line-of-duty since biblical times. It’s a risk that goes with the job. But so is this: most officers have served a full career to retirement without ever having fired their sidearm in anger. Good men. Good women. When faced with danger, they used their heads instead of their weapons. Not always possible but more often than not, it was. And it worked.

Nobody is well-served with all this “cop hatred” B.S.. It’s divisive, cruel, untrue and avoids the real issues of why people are in the streets. The NYC police union loudmouth getting too much attention is trying to feather his own re-election nest and is using a minority of badge-wearing miscreants to prop up his personal goal. Interesting that leaders of the other four NYC police unions are either keeping their silence or using much less inflammatory rhetoric.

Police professionals are not “citizen haters.” The vast majority of citizens are not “cop haters.” So why is something that doesn’t exist getting so much attention? And so many headlines?

We need to return national attention to the real criminal justice problems that brought people to the streets. We need to silence – or at least ignore – voices using division and hatred to draw us away from that original purpose. The national task at hand is not to listen to voices of hate trying to drum up ratings or advertising dollars. Or, trying to stay employed at any cost.

The honest national interest here is the singular pursuit of justice. For all. Yes, even for the haters.

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