CNN reports that the Tea Party’s favorable rating is up nine points since CNN’s March poll.  Read all the details here.

You be the judge:

The Huffington Post may even be outraged.

Senator Tom Coburn might sound heartless, but his focus on eradicating profligate spending has passed the crucible of credibility on this.

From Roll Call: “The tornado damage near Oklahoma City is still being assessed and the death toll is expected to rise, but already Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., says he will insist that any federal disaster aid be paid for with cuts elsewhere.”

State Senator Arthur Orr will be calling into the show tomorrow night with a wrap up of the legislative session.  In the meantime, you can follow any breaking developments here.

The column is from The Albany Tribune.  The book on the subject to read is Mark Stein’s America Alone.

Granted, it took blatant hard-to-ignore examples for Piers to figure it out, but we welcome him aboard the trolley of self-evident truth:

From Al.com: “Gov. Robert Bentley today cautioned that legislators ‘had better be listening to the people’ regarding private school tax credits saying most people do not favor public money going to private schools…

“’I would like to encourage the House members, as well as the senators, to reach out to their constituents and just ask them one simple question. Are you in favor of tax dollars going to support private education and being taken away from public schools? And just ask them that question. I know what the answer is,’ Bentley said during an interview in his office.”

The premise of the question is flawed.  Who would be taking away tax dollars from public schools?  The answer is, any parent who isn’t satisfied that her local public school isn’t educating her child.

School choice tax credits are part of the Alabama Accountability Act, which Bentley signed into law in March.  Now he wants the tax credits deferred for two years.  According to the story, “He said that will give schools time to improve under a policy ‘flexibility’ provision of the law and possibly avoid the ‘failing’ label.”

Competition, not tax dollars, will help failing public schools improve.  The Governor ought to know that.  He sounds as though the AEA has gotten to him.

I’d say.  The Washington Post reports that when the CIA asked the AP not to run a story on a foiled terror plot for reasons of national security, the AP obliged for five days.  Then they were assured that the coast was clear.

They were prepared to run the story, but, according to the Post piece, “the journalists were asked by agency officials to hold off on publishing [it] for just one more day.

“The CIA officials, who had initially cited national security concerns in an attempt to delay publication, no longer had those worries, according to individuals familiar with the exchange. Instead, the Obama administration was planning to announce the successful counterterrorism operation that Tuesday.

“AP balked and proceeded to publish that Monday afternoon.”

And in doing so, the AP incurred the wrath of the administration, which wanted to be the first ones to announce that, one year after they had gotten Osama, they were still on top of taking out terrorists.

In other words, it’s not a matter of debate as to whether or not the AP threatened national security.  They didn’t.  They threatened the Obama administration’s re-election aspirations, and paid the price.  Which is why news outlets from Left to Right won’t let this scandal go.

Literally!  During the House Ways And Means Committee hearing today on the IRS scandal, Pennsylvania Republican Mike Kelly passionately said to outgoing IRS Commissioner Steven Miller what all of us, irrespective of ideology, are thinking.  If you missed the end of the show tonight, it’s a must watch.

Shocking, I know.  The Daily Caller reports, “The commander in chief of the American armed forces today forced a violation of Marine Corps regulations, so he wouldn’t get wet.

According to Marine Corps regulation MCO P1020.34F of the Marine Corps Uniform Regulations chapter 3, a male Marine is not allowed to carry an umbrella while in uniform. There is no provision in the Marine Corps uniform regulation guidelines that allows a male Marine to carry an umbrella.

If Obama plans on escaping scandal by re-branding himself as an authentic Commander-In-Chief, he needs to do his homework.

To those who say that the problem with the IRS is underfunding, I offer this, from the Fiscal Times: “A new report from the Government Accountability Office released Monday says the Internal Revenue Service must improve its internal controls to save millions of tax dollars.”

Read the whole thing.  Among the things that will stand out are the tax refunds made to dead people.

It’s a legitimate question, with an interesting answer.

I look forward to hearing from those who insist that Senator Paul is an “authentic” libertarian—the ones who have given him a pass to date, and who have promised to hold him accountable should he let them down.

The story is from Reason magazine.

From today’s Washington Post: “The Common Sense Campaign,  a self-described constitutionalist group based in Montgomery, Ala., aspired to be a smaller version of the National Rifle Association — powerful and influential, without having to pay federal income taxes.

“‘We wanted to have a voice too,’ said the group’s chairman, Pete Riehm. ‘The biggest difference between us and them is money.’

“But Common Sense never reached the nonprofit stage. The organization gave up seeking tax-exempt status after two years of Internal Revenue Service demands for everything from the group’s blog posts to the names of ‘anyone who gave you so much as a dollar,’ according to its officials.

“‘We were spending thousands of dollars between the filing fees and attorney fees,’ Riehm said. ‘We realized that just paying the taxes would cost a whole lot less.’

“Common Sense was one of scores of groups that faced months and even years of delays in seeking tax exemptions after the IRS started targeting groups with names containing ‘tea party,’ ‘patriot’ and other terms associated with conservatives. The practice, which appears to have lasted for about 18 months until early 2012, has set off a political firestorm in Washington and a criminal investigation by the FBI and the Justice Department.”

The average waiting time for liberal groups seeking non-profit status over the same period of time has been four months—and the endless list of intrusive questions has been absent.

This is a simple matter of whether or not this administration used to IRS to stifle free speech.  And as of this morning, the President—when given the opportunity to answer whether or not he knew this was going on—has refused to answer the question.

Josh Kraushaar’s story in The National Journal bolster’s my claim that when the time comes for impeachment proceedings to begin against The President, the Clintons will be clandestinely playing a prominent role.

…Peter S. Goodman, the Executive Business Editor of The Huffington Post.  In a ridiculous blog post today, Mr. Goodman says, “Lost in the latest political scandal is a simple fact: The Internal Revenue Service was acting in the public interest when it opted to train its auditing power on the Tea Party and affiliated groups.”

The idea that the IRS acts in the public interest is probably not going to be a talking point for the administration, nor is the sentiment that the IRS, under any circumstances, should play favorites.

So what is Goodman getting at?  He explains, “Like any institution, the agency has limited resources at its disposal. The notion that everyone ought to be treated the same, with auditing powers sprayed around like a lawn sprinkler, is ridiculous. Cops concentrate patrols in high-crime areas. And while we properly decry racial profiling and odious tactics like New York City’s Stop and Frisk campaign — through which people are subject to police pat-downs for no other reason than their being black and male — no one would criticize the police for keeping an eye on people who are openly encouraging criminal behavior.”

Criminal behavior?

Yes, says Goodman: “We are living in a time of startling inequality, long-term joblessness, entrenched poverty and the breakdown of middle-class opportunity. Our classrooms are crumbling. Whole cities are consumed by neglect and deterioration, while suburban communities now contend with foreclosure, homelessness and despair.  Government alone cannot fix any of these problems, but government clearly has a role to play. Government must boost investment in education and spur innovation through support for research. Government must maintain a safety net for people in need. All of this costs money.”

A debate about the purpose of government is healthy, course, as is a debate about how much all of us should pay in taxes.  Whether or not those of us who think that government is bloated and we should shrink it so that we can keep more of the fruits of our labor—and whether or not our position is criminal—could only be debated by delusional thugs like Huffington Post bloggers.

This video, provided here by Breitbart, makes it clear that Attorney General wants to keep any investigation of Benghazi in the family.

I hope the President has the opportunity to answer a question about this tomorrow.

More evidence that the President’s brief statement tonight was empty rhetoric, from Gateway Pundit.  Remember, Commissioner Miller has only been at the helm of the IRS since November 9^th of last year.  He had absolutely nothing to do with targeting anyone.

Here’s the AP story about President Obama’s IRS statement today.