IRS scandal hits 3 month mark -- where's the accountability, Mr. Obama?

Saturday, August 10 marks the third month of the IRS scandal.

On May10, when Lois Lerner, the former Director of the IRS Exempt Organizations Division, answered a question at a legal conference – a question she arranged to have asked in advance -- she clearly had no idea what would happen next.

When she admitted that the IRS had targeted conservative groups, simply because of their political beliefs, she touched off a national firestorm. Her inept attempt to apologize for the Agency’s blunder, and put it to rest, backfired.

In the past three months, we have learned that the Obama administration repeatedly tried to downplay this unlawful targeting scheme which is an unprecedented breach of the public’s trust by the IRS.

We also know that the scandal continues to expand. And we know that the Obama administration is doing very little to get to the bottom of what happened, despite the president's promise to the American people that the administration would “hold the responsible parties accountable.”

Today, after all this time, it’s clear that the Obama administration isn't really interested in the facts about how this could happen at the IRS or about holding anyone accountable.

In fact, President Obama has moved on, calling the IRS targeting scheme a “phony” scandal and acting as if corrective action has been taken and problem solved.

Not so fast.

From the beginning, the facts did not square with the excuses offered up to the American public by the Obama administration.

It did not take long to punch holes in the IRS’ story that the scheme to target conservatives began in a small office run by just a couple of rogue agents.

In our lawsuit against the IRS, on behalf of 41 conservative organizations in 22 states, the evidence is very clear: documents have revealed that IRS offices coast-to-coast were involved in the scheme, including Lois Lerner herself! In fact, she sent more than a dozen letters to conservative organizations asking them intrusive and inappropriate questions.

The White House has also claimed that the unconstitutional targeting of conservative organizations ended in May 2012. Again, our documents clearly show that the IRS abuse continued through May of 2013 with the most recent letter dated May 6, 2013 – just four days before Lerner's admission.

And we now know, thanks to the testimony of former IRS attorneys, that the office of the IRS Chief Counsel (a political presidential appointee) was involved in the scheme, too. This testimony raises important questions about President Obama’s knowledge or involvement in the scheme.

Now, there’s new information to suggest that the IRS may have been providing taxpayer information to the Federal Election Commission, something that violates federal law and the IRS's own regulations.

An FEC commissioner says he has seen previously undisclosed emails between the IRS and FEC about the targeting scheme. And lawmakers are now demanding the FEC turn over records of more than five years of communications with the IRS.

All of this information comes as the Obama administration continues to stonewall Congress about the scandal -- providing just a fraction of the information requested.

Noting the three month mark since the scandal began, Reps. Darrell Issa (Calif.) and Dave Camp (Mich.), chairmen of the House committees on Oversight and Ways and Means have voiced their concern, saying in a statement, “The American people demand and deserve accountability from their government, not to live in fear of being subject to an audit or other extra scrutiny for reasons unrelated to the content of their filing. So far, the IRS and this administration have provided no assurances that oversight and accountability is in place to prevent such abuses from happening again.”

The president did order the new Acting IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel to conduct a 30-day review of the IRS scandal. Yes, you read that right, just a 30-day review to investigate a scheme that had been underway for years. It’s no surprise that Werfel claims the 30-day review turned up no “evidence of intentional wrongdoing by anyone in the IRS.”

It’s been 3 months since the American public learned about this outrageous behavior by the IRS. No one has been fired. Lerner and a handful of others are on leave and still being paid.

And what has happened to the investigations underway by the FBI and Department of Justice? Three months later, not one of our clients has been contacted by investigators at the FBI or Justice Department.

It’s difficult to imagine how anyone could claim that a thorough investigation -- or any investigation for that matter – has been conducted without even bothering to interview the taxpayers who were targeted.

So, the IRS scandal continues. It’s been three months and counting. The last three months have produced many more questions and very few answers.

Where’s the accountability, Mr. President?

Jay Sekulow is Chief Counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ). Follow him on Twitter@JaySekulow.


SOURCE http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/08/08/irs-scandal-hits-3-month-mark-where-accountability-mr-obama/

Delivery of American Fighters to Egypt – Delayed!

It pays to speak up.  Last December, we at the ACLJ came across a little-read report indicating that the Obama Administration was intending to send advanced American fighter jets (F-16s) to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood government.

“Business as usual,” we were told.

“Just fulfilling treaty obligations,” they said.

But it wasn’t “business as usual.”  An allied Egyptian government had been replaced by the Muslim Brotherhood, our jihadist enemy.  Yes, we were literally giving advanced American weapons to an enemy of the United States and Israel.

We launched a petition to stop the delivery, and the response was overwhelming.  More than 285,000 Americans signed, and the petition became national news.

Senator Rand Paul introduced legislation to block the delivery – legislation that garnered the support of 18 other senators.  Sadly, it was defeated, but the issue was now front and center in the national debate.

Thankfully, the people of Egypt overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood, but we still don’t know what kind of government will emerge from the chaos.  Will it be an ally?  Will it be an enemy?  Facing this uncertainty, our Chief Counsel, Jay Sekulow issued a clear call:  Hold any weapons deliveries.  American aid is only for American allies.

Today, the Obama Administration delayed the next scheduled delivery of F-16s to Egypt.  While we don’t yet know the length of the delay, it is clear that the delay is due to the very factors we’ve articulated from the beginning: American aid should not be given to lawless governments.

The lesson?  If you speak loudly enough, sometimes even the Obama Administration can hear.


SOURCE http://aclj.org/sharia-law/delivery-american-fighters-egypt-delayed

ACLJ Calls Testimony Linking IRS Targeting to IRS Chief Counsel "Extremely Disturbing"

The ACLJ, which represents 41 conservative groups unlawfully targeted by the Internal Revenue Service, said new testimony released by members of Congress today revealing that the IRS Chief Counsel, a political appointee of President Obama, was involved in reviewing applications from Tea Party groups in advance of the 2010 election is “extremely disturbing” and raises critical questions about the involvement of the White House.

In advance of hearings tomorrow, Rep. Darrell Issa – chairman of the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform – released a letter detailing testimony from Carter Hull, a now-retired Washington tax specialist who was responsible for providing guidance on reviewing tax-exempt applications for Tea Party groups. Hull told Congressional investigators that Lois Lerner, Director of Exempt Organizations who is now on paid leave, directed that the Tea Party applications be sent directly to the office of IRS Chief Counsel William Wilkins for specific review and examination prior to the 2010 election.

“This is one of the most extremely disturbing revelations yet,” said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ. “It is now clear that the IRS Chief Counsel, appointed by President Obama in 2009, was involved in examining and reviewing applications from Tea Party groups – many that were basically shut out of the 2010 election process because of delays in handling of their applications. This development raises significant questions about what the White House knew and when. In a politically charged run-up to the 2010 election, why was one of President Obama’s most trusted and partisan appointees involved in examining the applications for Tea Party groups? We look forward to tomorrow’s testimony and further information about the origins of this unlawful and unconstitutional scheme that violated the First Amendment rights of our clients.”

Today’s revelation comes as the ACLJ rejected an IRS offer to expedite the application process for some organizations seeking 501(c)(4) status by creating an arbitrary 60/40 standard for groups which would require organizations to agree to devote 60% or more of their time and expenditures on activities to promote social welfare, and 40% or less on political activity.

In rejecting the offer, the ACLJ contends that the 60/40 ratio created by the IRS is not a legal standard defined by applicable statutes or regulations. The ACLJ asserts the ratio is created out of thin air and argues that “these percentages are merely safe harbor provisions the IRS has crafted in response to the problems that have been created by its own admitted misconduct.”


SOURCE http://aclj.org/free-speech-2/aclj-calls-testimony-linking-irs-targeting-irs-chief-counsel-extremely-disturbing

Critics question IRS' new 'fast-track' path to tax-exempt status

WASHINGTON — One solution the IRS has offered to the recent scandal over its handling of tax-exempt applications: a “fast-track” process, through which certain groups can simply declare themselves social welfare organizations and promise not to spend too much money on political activity.

But some lawmakers, campaign finance watchdogs, and nonprofit experts say this new “self-certification” option is a makeshift solution that lets the IRS off the hook from making tough calls about pending applications.

Under current rules, certain tax-exempt groups — those organized as 501(c)(4) organizations — are supposed to operate primarily for social welfare purposes. They can engage in some political electioneering, as long as it is not their main focus.

But political groups have eagerly sought the 501(c)(4) designation because such groups do not have to disclose their donors. Figuring out which groups legitimately deserve tax-exempt status and which are political organizations posing as do-gooders isn’t easy.

The Cincinnati IRS field agents at the center of the targeting scandal clearly struggled to figure out what constituted political activity — and to measure how much was too much. Under these new self-certification rules, some skeptics have questioned how a tea party activist in Ohio would be able to make those determinations if the federal tax agency’s own employees had such a hard time.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said the new expedited process “may help alleviate the backlog of applications,” but it’s hardly a great solution.

“Even this simplified process involves difficult determinations and by its very nature lacks perfect clarity,” he said. “Organizations may have trouble identifying which of their undertakings should be classified as promoting social welfare and which constitute political activities.”

Moreover, some critics say, the new process looks like an open invitation for bad actors to snag IRS approval for tax-exempt status with no real examination by the agency, a move that could set a new precedent for how the agency handles all such applications.

“My frank opinion is it’s just a giveaway,” said Paul Streckfus, a former IRS employee and now editor of the Exempt Organizations Tax Journal. The IRS “is basically saying ‘Just tell us you’re going to be good and we’ll give you exemption.’”

Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a campaign finance watchdog group, said the new process “potentially will help groups who are improperly claiming (tax-exempt) tax status” and appears to codify ambiguous rules that would allow groups to engage in more political activity than the law envisioned.

The new acting IRS chief, principal deputy commissioner Danny Werfel, unveiled the new process last month as one element of the agency’s effort to address the targeting scandal, in which agents in the IRS’s Cincinnati field office used inappropriate criteria to flag some tax-exempt applications for extra scrutiny.

An inspector general’s report, issued in May, concluded the IRS put terms like “tea party” and “patriot” on a watch list and subjected groups with those words in their names to a lengthy, burdensome review process. Since then, new evidence shows the IRS also flagged progressive and other groups for heightened review.

Werfel said under the new IRS process, any group that has been waiting for tax-exempt status for more than 120 days will be able to self-certify. Those who are eligible will have to swear, under penalty of perjury, that at least 60 percent of their organization’s resources will be devoted to a “social welfare” purpose and they will not spend more than 40 percent of their time or money on political campaign activities.

“This is a self-certification process which allows them a streamlined path to tax-exempt status if they agree they will operate within defined limits,” Werfel told lawmakers on the House Ways and Means Committee during a June 27 hearing.

He noted that under current law, groups already can skip the application process altogether and just start operating as a tax-exempt organization. Then when it comes tax time, they have to file a 990 —the IRS form used by tax-exempt groups — detailing their spending.

With this new process, Werfel said the IRS will secure a promise in advance from the groups that their political activities will be limited. And the IRS always can audit groups after they secure the tax-exempt status to make sure they are in compliance.

But experts say it’s unlikely the IRS will do any after-the-fact investigation.

“I seriously doubt if there will be any checking up,” Streckfus said. “The last thing the IRS wants to do is revisit any of these cases.”

During the recent House hearing, Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., highlighted another potential problem. He asked Werfel how these new rules might apply to Organizing for Action, an advocacy group devoted to pushing President Barack Obama’s agenda.

Schock noted that OFA had recently sent out “millions of emails” to Obama supporters urging them to use Twitter, Facebook and other social media to “call out” 85 Republican lawmakers that OFA labeled “climate change deniers.” The move came after Obama delivered a major address on limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

“I’m wondering whether or not that activity, those hours, and that money would be classified under the political campaign activities or under the promoting social welfare category,” Schock asked.

Werfel did not directly answer, saying experts would have to determine whether the activities were intended to influence the outcome of an election.

“If you can’t make a determination, how can we then ask a non-attorney, non-IRS commissioner, non-IRS employee to make that same determination under penalty of perjury to classify their activity as either advocating for, promoting social welfare or political campaign activity?” Shock asked.

It’s unclear if Organizing for Action — or other politically active tax-exempt groups — are eligible for the self-certification option. The IRS said Monday about 80 groups are eligible for the expedited approval but the agency can’t disclose the names of those organizations.

A spokesman for Organizing for Action did not respond to an email requesting comment. On its website, OFA says it’s operating as a 501(c)(4), but it’s not clear whether the IRS has signed off on the group’s application or if its pending.

Similarly, a Republican-leaning group, Crossroads GPS, which spent $71 million trying to influence the outcome of the 2012 congressional and presidential elections, did not respond to messages seeking comment on the self-certification process. A Crossroads spokesman said earlier this year that it had applied for tax-exempt status in September 2010, but had not received IRS approval yet.

Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative group that represents some of the tea party groups targeted by the IRS, said he is still reviewing the self-certification option and determining the “appropriate response.”

But it “does not change the fact that the IRS should do its job and grant the appropriate tax exemptions using viewpoint neutral processes,” Sekulow said. “Its self-certification plan does not cure (the IRS’) constitutional failings.”

Streckfus said the IRS might have to go to self-certification for all tax-exempt groups, because of an increase in such applications.

The number of groups seeking 501(c)(4) status nearly doubled from 2009 to 2012. Overall, about 140 agents, most based in the Cincinnati office, are charged with examining about 70,000 applications per year.

“It’s basically an impossible task to review (all of) them,” Streckfus said. “Some of us have said the IRS will have to go to self-certify for everybody.”

That could be a good option, if the agency shifts its emphasis to auditing groups after the fact, he said. But it’s not clear the IRS is able or willing to do really thorough follow up.

So groups might self-certify and then “go on their merry way” trying to influence federal elections, Streckfus said.


SOURCE http://www.coshoctontribune.com/article/20130710/NEWS01/307100001/Critics-question-IRS-new-fast-track-path-tax-exempt-status

Jay Sekulow on Fox News with Neil Cavuto: IRS Claims it Targeted Liberal Groups

Jay Sekulow talks with Fox News about new IRS claims that liberal groups were targeted for review with Tea Party and conservative groups.


SOURCE http://aclj.org/jay-sekulow-fox-news-neil-cavuto-irs-claims-targeted-liberal-groups

Watch Out Rio: Pat Robertson Launches Homophobic, Reactionary Evangelical Organization in Brazil

BILL BERKOWITZ FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

The mainstream press has been dutifully reporting on Brazil’s recent massive anti-government demonstrations and protests that shocked the presidency of Dilma Rousseff; on the billions of dollars that have been spent on preparations to host both the 2014 World Cup and the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro; and Brazil’s recent resounding defeat of Spain in the FIFA Confederations Cub final. Little attention, however,  has been paid to the rising presence of the U.S. Christian Right in Brazil.

Enter the Brazilian Center for Law and Justice, an offshoot of Pat Robertson’s legal outfit, the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ). According to The Public Eye’s Jandira Queiroz, the ACLJ, “following the example of the Christian Right organization’s [two] offices in Eastern Europe” and one in Kenya and one in Zimbabwe, has touched down in Brazil.

In the U.S., Robertson’s ACLJ has played a major role in hot-button culture war issues in the U.S. for more than two decades. It promoted the Defense of Marriage Act passed by Congress in 1996 (recently overturned by the Supreme Court), it continues to challenge city and state sponsored domestic partnerships, it provides legal defense for anti-abortion activists protesting outside reproductive health clinics, it is a strong advocate for school vouchers, and was a major supporter of President George W. Bush’s Faith-Based Initiative.

The ACLJ is currently in the forefront of the fight against Obamacare, and it has also filed lawsuits against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), charging the agency with unfairly targeting conservative organizations.  Now representing 41 conservative groups, ACLJ chief counsel Jay Sekulow said: “The floodgates opened after we filed our initial lawsuits. We have been contacted by many additional organizations that have been unlawfully targeted by the IRS — revealing that this unconstitutional scheme was pervasive and damaging to our clients.”

The acronym ACLJ wasn’t created as a takeoff on the ACLU by the writers on Saturday Night Live or Real Time with Bill Maher. When the organization was founded by Robertson in 1990 it explicitly aimed to counter the work of the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), and its naming reflects that intent.

Developing an evangelical foothold in Latin America

Organized in the Brazilian state of Goiás, the Brazilian Center for Law and Justice (BCLJ) will offer legal services for “people who don’t have the means to pay for lawyers when they’re wronged,” and to defend “religious freedom, human rights and life.” Filipe Coelho, “the son of a prominent evangelical minister and the brother of two others,” founded the BCLJ last year, Queiroz pointed out. According to The Public Eye’s Jandira Queiroz Coelho’s salary and operating expenses “are sent in monthly installments from the ACLJ [which has an annual budget of nearly $17 million] in the United States — at least until BCLJ begins fundraising in Brazil.”

In an interview with Queiroz, Coelho “said he personally was not engaged in politics until ACLJ asked him to be its Director of Operations in Brazil.” Living the U.S. for “almost half of his life,” … he graduated in Business and Economics from King College, which is affiliated with both the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. “In politics, I just like to see what’s related to my area,” he told Queiroz. “I just came back [to Brazil] five years ago but I just started to work on politics three months ago, with BCLJ. I’m still green.”

Writing in the Winter 2012-13 issue of The Public Eye, Queiroz, a PRA research fellow and a longtime reproductive and LGBTQ rights advocate in Brazil, maintained that “The ACLJ’s move into Brazil is sharply strategic.” Brazil is second only to the U.S. in number of Christians within its borders, “and the number of evangelicals … is growing fast. While 90 percent of the country identified as Roman Catholic in 1980, 21 percent of the population now identifies as Protestant.”

The evangelical community in Brazil, like other Latin American countries, often leans left on economic issues, and things are changing on some social issues as well; Brazil is home to the largest gay pride parade in the world. However, it is unclear if this progressive economic and social tendency will hold in the face of growing US evangelical funding and influence.

Queiroz reported that “A Pew study found that 51 percent of evangelical leaders in Latin and Central America believed that homosexuals should be accepted by society, compared to 23 percent of evangelical leaders in Europe and nine percent in North America. But the social conservatives seem to have the strongest will to political power.”

The Evangelical caucus at the Brazilian National Congress was inaugurated with 26 members during the Constituent Assembly of 1987. There are about 70 deputies (out of 513) in the lower house and three senators (out of 81) currently in its ranks. Most are pastors, bishops, or self-nominated “apostles” from a range of denominations. This caucus, though a minority group, is influential because of its alliance with landowners, entrepreneurs, and other conservative groups represented in the Brazilian Parliament. Together, they make up the majority of the Congress and have been blocking some of the progressive aims of the federal government, especially over the last decade.

Evangelicals have established a stronghold on radio and television and they, according to Queiroz, “are broadcasting more talk shows, preaching programs, and live transmission of services, with pastors, bishops, and apostles promoting political campaigns on the airwaves.”

“In Brazil, many pastors and televangelists are, like Pat Robertson, owners of communications empires that include publishers, producers, record labels, and radio and television channels, as well as elaborate portals on the Internet." Anti-homophobia legislation is seen as “a threat to their ‘freedom’ to keep preaching on national television that homosexuality is an abomination in the eyes of God, and that the homosexual movement is implementing a plan to transform the whole country into Sodom and Gomorrah.”

U.S.-based evangelicals promoting their books and DVDs are welcomed onto the airwaves and television sets of conservative Brazilian evangelicals.

“In its short existence, it is clear that the BCLJ is using some of ACLJ’s same tactics to try to win influence: wooing government officials and facilitating access to them, building alliances with key evangelical powerbrokers, and hiring local staff to serve as its face,” Queiroz reported. “But the evangelicals here are much better resourced than in some of the other countries in which ACLJ operates. It remains to be seen whether it will find a place for itself in a country with a more moderate evangelical movement than it is used to, and where evangelicals are already highly engaged in the political scene.”

Back in the states, even though the ACLJ is thriving and engaged in business as usual, its business practices have come under scrutiny by several groups tracking charitable organizations.

According to BBB Wise Giving, an organization that, according to its website, “helps donors make informed giving decisions and promotes high standards of conduct among organizations that solicit contributions from the public,” the ACLJ “does not meet” its “10 Standards for Charity Accountability.” Charity Navigator “Your Guide to Intelligent Giving,” gives the organization’s “Overall” performance one star (out of four); it gets three stars for its “Financial” management, and receives no stars for “Accountability & Transparency.”

The Public Eye is a quarterly publication of the Somerville, Massachusetts-based Political Research Associates, an organization that has been in the forefront of investigating, monitoring and reporting on right-wing movementsfor over 30 years.  


SOURCE http://truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/18067-watch-out-rio-pat-robertson-launches-homophobic-reactionary-evangelical-organization-in-brazil

Alabama Tea Party group joins IRS lawsuit

MOBILE, Ala. - The Common Sense Campaign, a Mobile-based Tea Party group, has joined a federal lawsuit against the IRS, according to organizers.

The campaign was one of 16 Tea Party groups added June 25 to a lawsuit filed by the American Center for Law and Justice, which claims the IRS violated constitutional law by targeting conservative organizations for their political beliefs.

The ACLJ filed its initial lawsuit May 25 on behalf of 25 groups including the Wetumpka Tea Party. Both the Common Sense Campaign and the Wetumpka Tea Party told AL.com that they were singled out by the IRS over their applications for tax-exempt status.

Pete Riehm, co-founder of the Common Sense Campaign, said the aim of the lawsuit is to prevent the IRS from future abuses.

"Our objectives are to identify the abuses at the IRS, understand the scope of abuses, root out all the contributing factors, hold those responsible accountable, and ensure the IRS never again has the capability to undermine the Constitution and oppress the rights of American citizens," Riehm said.

Riehm referred specific questions about the lawsuit to ACLJ, a Washington-based law firm that represents 41 tea party organizations in 22 states.

ACLJ chief counsel, Jay Sekulow, said the amended complaint was necessary because "the floodgates opened" after the firm filed its initial lawsuit.

“We have been contacted by many additional organizations that have been unlawfully targeted by the IRS — revealing that this unconstitutional scheme was pervasive and damaging," Sekulow said.

Of the 41 groups included in the lawsuit, 19 received tax-exempt status after lengthy delays, 17 are still pending, and 5 withdrew applications because of frustration with the IRS process.

White House officials have said that while the additional scrutiny was inappropriate it was not partisan and therefore no laws were broken.

Sekulow said he was confident the American public will eventually learn the truth of who exactly ordered that conservative groups be targeted — and to what extent the Obama administration knew of the targeting.

“How could the White House counsel and White House chief of staff know about this tactic, but the president did not? We remain dedicated to ensuring that those responsible for this unconscionable scheme are held accountable,” Mr. Sekulow said.

The ACLJ’s amended complaint states: IRS agents “working in offices from California to Washington, D.C., pulled applications from conservative organizations, delaying processing those applications for sometimes well over a year, then made probing and unconstitutional requests for additional information that often required applicants to disclose, among other things, donor lists, direct and indirect communications with members of legislative bodies, Internet passwords and user names, copies of social media and other Internet postings, and even the political and charitable activities of family members.”

Click here to read a copy of the amended lawsuit.


SOURCE http://blog.al.com/wire/2013/07/second_alabama_tea_party_group.html

Jay Sekulow: Funding, arming Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood is dangerous

The United States should stop sending taxpayer dollars to nations that embrace Islamic terrorism – nations that behave like adversaries, not allies.

Case in point: Egypt and the radical Muslim Brotherhood. The Obama administration recently agreed to spend an additional $250 million in taxpayer funds to send weapons to this increasingly unstable nation.

That's in addition to the more than $1 billion annual taxpayer giveaway to Egypt. The U.S. is putting highly sophisticated tanks and warplanes in the hands of terrorists – ...
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SOURCE http://www.ocregister.com/articles/egypt-514898-brotherhood-muslim.html

Pro: Weapons sent to radical Islamic nations likely will end up killing Americans, Israelis

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA. — EDITOR’S NOTE: The writers will be addressing the question, Should the U.S. end funding for Egypt and other nations tied to the Muslim Brotherhood?

The Obama administration should stop sending taxpayer dollars to nations that embrace Islamic terrorism—nations that behave like adversaries, not allies.

Case in point: Egypt and the radical Muslim Brotherhood. The Obama administration recently agreed to spend an additional $250 million in taxpayer funds to send weapons to this increasingly unstable nation.

That’s in addition to the more than $1 billion annual taxpayer giveaway to Egypt. The U.S. is putting highly sophisticated tanks and warplanes in the hands of terrorists—terrorists who are hostile to America and to our longtime ally, Israel.

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi is a blatant and outspoken anti-Semite who calls Jews the “descendants of apes and pigs” and says that Egyptian children should be “nursed” on “hatred” for Israel.

The Muslim Brotherhood, the governing political body in Egypt, is widely recognized as an organization that inspires and supports terrorism and is affiliated with the terrorist group, Hamas. Al-Qaida’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, even has direct ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Egypt is now becoming not just a source of terrorists but also a launching pad for terror attacks; including deadly ones launched against Israel from Egyptian soil. And Egyptian terrorists were present in the 2012 Benghazi attack and in the recent attack and violence in Algeria. There also are credible reports that Egyptian authorities denied the U.S. direct access to a Benghazi terrorist suspect, a disturbing act from an alleged “ally.”

Egypt has passed a Shariah-based constitution that restricts religious freedom and provides a legal basis for continued persecution of Egypt’s embattled Christian minority. The government-backed persecution of Coptic Christians gets worse by the day.

The reaction from the Obama administration? Send Egypt hundreds of millions of dollars in high-tech weapons—200 M1A1 Abrams battle tanks and some 20 F-16 fighters. The most recent shipment of four warplanes was sent to Egypt just weeks ago. Eight more F-16’s will be delivered by the end of the year. The troubling fact is that the U.S. has become Egypt’s major arms supplier.

This is not only dangerous to our national security, but it also represents an extremely significant threat to Israel. As Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, put it: “Friends don’t send U.S. taxpayer-funded F-16s and tanks to the enemies of their friends.”

Every new F-16 or tank delivered to Egypt is another weapon that can be used to consolidate the Muslim Brotherhood’s grip on power. Every new dollar of economic aid buys the Brotherhood more time.

For President Morsi, this aid represents far more than a marginal increase in military and economic strength; it represents an American seal of approval and a stamp of legitimacy on his repressive regime. Every F-16, every Abrams tank is a propaganda victory for the Morsi regime.

Egypt still has a chance for moderation. After all, few things cure radical impulses better than the experience of radical rule, and the country does have a long recent history of peace with Israel. But moderation will be infinitely more difficult to achieve if we arm and aid its most dangerous enemies.

With Americans asked to tighten their financial belts because of the sequester, our government should withhold sending hundreds of millions in taxpayer funds to nations such as Egypt, until we get proof—and that means actions, not just words—that they are a true ally. It’s time we sequester terrorists.

As Egypt still struggles to determine its destiny, if we put our thumb on the scales at all, we must not do so in favor of jihadists. The Muslim Brotherhood needs our weapons and our money. We do not need the Muslim Brotherhood.

And we don’t need U.S. taxpayers footing the bill.

Jay Sekulow is chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice. Readers may write him at ACLJ, 1000 Regent University Drive, RH-422, Virginia Beach, VA 23464.


SOURCE http://gazettextra.com/news/2013/jun/27/pro-weapons-sent-radical-islamic-nations-likely-wi/

More Organizations Join Legal Battle Against IRS‏

An additional 16 Tea Party and conservative organizations signed on to a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service filed in federal court in the nation’s capital on Monday, according to the class-action suit’s lead attorney.

Attorney Jay Sekulow, the founder and leader of the American Center for Law and Justice filed the amended lawsuit by adding an additional organizations, including a pro-life group, to the complaint.

According to Sekulow the addition groups brings the total number of organizations represented in the court challenge to 41.

Following the discovery that the IRS targeted groups seeking legal tax-exempt status whose names contained certain words such as “patriots,” “constitution,” and others, the ACLJ filed the initial lawsuit on May 29 on behalf of 25 organizations.

During his appearance on Fox News Channel on Monday, Sekulow continued to argue that top Obama Administration officials violated the constitutional rights of the groups by secretly targeting these organizations because of their political beliefs. Sekulow and many other observers say they believe Obama’s minions used the IRS during the 2012 election cycle to harass supporters of Obama’s opposition, Mitt Romney.

In a press conference and his released statement, Sekulow said:

“The floodgates opened after we filed our initial lawsuit. We have been contacted by many additional organizations that have been unlawfully targeted by the IRS – revealing that this unconstitutional scheme was pervasive and damaging to our clients. As Congress continues its investigation, and as we expand our federal lawsuit, we’re confident that the truth will be revealed and important questions answered: How did this targeting scheme begin? Who ordered it? How could the White House counsel and White House chief of staff know about this tactic but the President did not? We remain dedicated to ensuring that those responsible for this unconscionable scheme are held accountable.”

The amended ACLJ complaint alleges that officials from the IRS “working in offices from California to Washington, D.C., pulled applications from conservative organizations, delayed processing those applications for sometimes well over a year, then made probing and unconstitutional requests for additional information that often required applicants to disclose, among other things, donor lists, direct and indirect communications with members of legislative bodies, Internet passwords and usernames, copies of social media and other Internet postings, and even the political and charitable activities of family members.”

Among the organizations added to the complaint is an anti-abortion group allegedly singled out because of its opposition to the Obama abortion agenda.

“The ACLJ contends the group, AMEN (Abortion Must End Now) – based in Yuma, AZ – was singled out because of its name and because the group is “focused on defending the Sanctity of Life and to put an end to abortion once and for all” and intends to “provide education . . . about the effects of abortion and to present pro-life brochures,” noted Sekulow.

Jay Sekulow has argued 12 cases before the United States Supreme Court since 1983. He only lost one case.

Sekulow’s amended lawsuit urges the federal court “to find that the Obama Administration overstepped its authority and violated the First and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, the Administrative Procedure Act, as well as the IRS’s own rules and regulations.”

“The lawsuit requests a declaratory judgment that the defendants unlawfully delayed and obstructed the organizations’ applications for a determination of tax-exempt status by means of conduct that was based on unconstitutional criteria and impermissibly disparate treatment of the groups,” Sekulow said in his statement.

SOURCE http://www.albanytribune.com/26062013-more-organizations-join-legal-battle-against-irs%E2%80%8F/

ACLJ lawsuit against IRS swells to 41 conservative groups

The American Center for Law and Justice Tuesday added 16 additional tea party and conservative groups to their original 25 organization lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service — bringing the number of groups in their court challenge to 41.

“The floodgates opened after we filed our initial lawsuit,” ACLJ chief counsel Jay Sekulow said. “We have been contacted by many additional organizations that have been unlawfully targeted by the IRS — revealing that this unconstitutional scheme was pervasive and damaging to our clients.”

ACLJ is arguing that the IRS unfairly targeted conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status for extra scrutiny, delaying applications, making “unconstitutional” requests for information such as donor lists, Internet passwords and user names, copies of social media activities and the political activities of family members.

Of the now 41 groups 19 of the organizations received their tax-exempt status after long delays, 17 are still waiting, and 5 withdrew due to frustration over the process.

ACLJ believes the Obama administration, by targeting these groups violated First and Fifth Amendment of the Constitution as well as the the Administrative Procedure Act, and the rules and regulations governing the IRS. They are seeking injunctive relief to protect their clients from retaliation as well as compensatory and punitive monetary damages.

A pro-life group is among the groups added to the suit today. AMEN (Abortion Must End Now) of Yuma, Arizona received a letter from the IRS in October of 2010 questioning whether their goals to educate about the effects of abortion would be acceptable. The group’s tax-exempt application is still pending.

“Now we have evidence that the IRS is somehow uniquely qualified to make a determination about content and regulate how a pro-life organization can explain its mission and beliefs,” Sekulow said of the IRS’ questions to AMEN. “Imagine the outcry if Planned Parenthood or NARAL was subjected to this abuse. This is another blatant example of an IRS out of control — an agency that embraces unlawful and unconstitutional conduct.”

Another group added to the complaint, the Arlington Tea Party of Arlington, Texas, received an IRS request for a “a temporary Username and Password that we could use to review your organization’s website” as well as print outs of its social media pages, fundraising solicitations, workshop materials, and handouts.

The group applied for tax-exempt status in 2011.They are still waiting for approval.


SOURCE http://dailycaller.com/2013/06/25/aclj-lawsuit-against-irs-swells-to-41-conservative-groups/

Radical Muslim Brotherhood Gets More US Tax Dollars Despite Terror Ties

The news from Egypt is grim.

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood president, Mohammed Morsi, made international headlines this week as he appointed Adel Al Khayat as governor of Luxor, an ancient Egyptian city that is key tourist destination.

The problem with Mr. Khayat? He just happens to lead the “political” arm of a terrorist organization that massacred tourists in Luxor in 1997. The details of the attack are beyond grisly, with many of the dead disemboweled and notes “praising Islam” placed inside their mutilated bodies.

And that’s not all.

On Tuesday, the New York Times reported on the rise of blasphemy prosecutions since Morsi ascended to power.

In recent cases, Egyptian courts have sentenced a writer to five years in prison for allegedly promoting atheism, sentenced a lawyer to a year in prison for allegedly insulting Islam in a private conversation, and fined a Christian schoolteacher $14,000 for allegedly insulting Muhammad in her classroom.

These recent revelations pile on top of the “old” news, including violations of the peace treaty with Israel, failing to protect our American embassy from attacks and launching systematic crackdowns on Egypt’s Coptic Christian community.

Against this backdrop of Shariah and jihad—and hidden behind the blanket news coverage of the Obama administration’s other scandals—the White House has decided to increase its financial support for the Muslim Brotherhood, quietly clearing the way for the U.S. to give Egypt $1.3 billion in military aid.

On May 10, the very day that Lois Lerner issued her contrived apology for the IRS targeting conservative groups, Secretary of State John Kerry formally waived—on national security grounds—statutory requirements that he certify that Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood government was “implementing policies to protect freedom of expression, association, and religion, and due process of law” before providing any further American military aid.

Think about this for a moment: The Obama administration threw the Mubarak regime (for all its flaws, a stalwart American ally that kept peace with Israel) under the bus ostensibly because of its human rights violations but is waiving human rights conditions to prop up a more brutal jihadist government.

Let’s not forget the motto of the Muslim Brotherhood: "Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Quran is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope."

That is the organization that we are empowering—that we are arming—at American taxpayer expense.

In the coming days and weeks, secular and Christian opposition leaders are planning nationwide protests against a Morsi regime that has proven competent at implementing Shariah law but not at running an economy.

Morsi’s jihadist allies plan a crackdown, and if and when they succeed, you may see the terrible sight of American-made and taxpayer-purchased tanks and other armored vehicles literally crushing the Christian opposition.

The saying goes that there is “no better friend and no worse enemy” than a United States Marine.

The Obama administration has turned this on its head. When it comes to the Middle East, we have proven to be the worst of friends and the best of enemies.

We sat on our hands during Iran’s Green Revolution, when the Mullahs were briefly in danger of being overthrown.

We similarly sat on our hands in the early days of the Syrian uprising against the brutal, Iran-allied Assad regime, before jihadists had taken over the Syrian opposition.

But we acted quickly to support the Egyptian uprising, tossing aside a longtime ally.

Across the Middle East, jihad is ascendant. The Mullahs remain comfortably in power in Iran (busy building a bomb), Syria’s opposition is dominated by al-Qaida-affiliated militias, and Egypt is firmly in the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood.

And now we’re arming Egypt and considering arming jihadist rebels in Syria.

The Obama administration is doubling down on failure—at the expense of Egyptian Christians and the American taxpayer.

Jay Sekulow is chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice. This article originally appeared on FoxNews.com


SOURCE http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/39997-radical-muslim-brotherhood-gets-more-us-tax-dollars-despite-terror-ties

As Egypt unravels, Team Obama increases support for Muslim Brotherhood

The news from Egypt is grim.

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood president, Mohammed Morsi made international headlines this week as he appointed Adel Al Khayat as governor of Luxor, an ancient Egyptian city that is key tourist destination.

The problem with Mr. Khayat? He just happens to lead the “political” arm of a terrorist organization that massacred tourists in Luxor in 1997. The details of the attack are beyond grisly, with many of the dead disemboweled and notes “praising Islam” placed inside their mutilated bodies.

And that’s not all.

On Tuesday, the New York Times reported on the rise of blasphemy prosecutions since Morsi ascended to power.

[pullquote]

In recent cases, Egyptian courts have sentenced a writer to 5 years in prison for allegedly promoting atheism, sentenced a lawyer to a year in prison for allegedly insulting Islam in a private conversation, and fined a Christian schoolteacher $14,000 for allegedly insulting Muhammed in her classroom.

These recent revelations pile on top of the “old” news, including violations of the peace treaty with Israel, failing to protect our American embassy from attacks, and launching systematic crackdowns on Egypt’s Coptic Christian community.

Against this backdrop of Shariah and jihad – and hidden behind the blanket news coverage of the Obama administration’s other scandals – the White House has decided to increase its financial support for the Muslim Brotherhood, quietly clearing the way for the U.S. to give Egypt $1.3 billion in military aid.

On May 10, the very day that Lois Lerner issued her contrived apology for the IRS targeting conservative groups, Secretary of State John Kerry formally waived – on national security grounds – statutory requirements that he certify that Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood government was “implementing policies to protect freedom of expression, association, and religion, and due process of law” before providing any further American military aid.

Think about this for a moment: The Obama administration threw the Mubarak regime (for all its flaws, a stalwart American ally that kept peace with Israel) under the bus ostensibly because of its human rights violations but is waiving human rights conditions to prop up a more brutal jihadist government.

Let’s not forget the motto of the Muslim Brotherhood: "Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Koran is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope."

That is the organization that we are empowering – that we are arming – at American taxpayer expense.

In the coming days and weeks, secular and Christian opposition leaders are planning nationwide protests against a Morsi regime that has proven competent at implementing Shariah law but not at running an economy.

Morsi’s jihadist allies plan a crackdown, and if and when they succeed, you may see the terrible sight of American-made and taxpayer-purchased tanks and other armored vehicles literally crushing the Christian opposition.

The saying goes that there is “no better friend and no worse enemy” than a United States Marine.

The Obama administration has turned this on its head. -- When it comes to the Middle East, we have proven to be the worst of friends and the best of enemies.

We sat on our hands during Iran’s Green Revolution, when the Mullahs were briefly in danger of being overthrown.

We similarly sat on our hands in the early days of the Syrian uprising against the brutal, Iran-allied Assad regime, before jihadists had taken over the Syrian opposition.

But we acted quickly to support the Egyptian uprising, tossing aside a longtime ally.

Across the Middle East, jihad is ascendant. The Mullahs remain comfortably in power in Iran (busy building a bomb), Syria’s opposition is dominated by Al Qaeda-affiliated militias, and Egypt is firmly in the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood.

And now we’re arming Egypt and considering arming jihadist rebels in Syria.

The Obama administration is doubling down on failure – at the expense of Egyptian Christians and the American taxpayer.

Jay Sekulow is Chief Counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ). Follow him on Twitter@JaySekulow.


SOURCE http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/06/21/as-egypt-unravels-team-obama-increases-support-for-muslim-brotherhood/

Pastor Saeed Abedini's wife pleads for US action at congressional hearing

The wife and attorney of Pastor Saeed Abedini, an American jailed in Iran for his Christian faith, pleaded for the U.S. government to take action to free him during a congressional hearing Friday in Washington.

Naghmeh Abedini expressed frustration that the government has not been responsive in working toward her husband's release.

"I must say, I'm disappointed with our government; I'm disappointed that our president and state department has not fully engaged in this case, disappointed that this great country is not doing more to free my husband, a U.S. citizen," Mrs. Abedini said. "I expect more from our government."

She gave a heart-felt testimony before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the U.S. Congress during a hearing on "The Worsening Plight of Religious Minorities in Iran."

Mrs. Abedini said her husband has endured beatings, torture and told that he must renounce his Christian faith while being held captive in Iran.

The mother of two broke into tears when she told senators on the panel that her kids do not yet know about the eight-year jail sentence and what that means.

"They ask: Does daddy not love us anymore? Does he not want to hear our voice anymore?" testified Mrs. Abedini. "I had to tell them that he was in prison because he loves Jesus."

Earlier in the hearing, Dr. Jay Sekulow, the attorney who has been representing the Abedini family, unleashed his anger at the State Department for being silent on the pastor's case.

"The problem in this case is that the State Department is AWOL. They are missing. They act as if they are embarrassed about Abedini's faith," said Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice in Washington D.C.
Dr. Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice testifies that religious minorities including Christians in Iran are facing systematic and systemic persecution and discrimination.Photo: Ecumenical News

Sekulow said his organization has received over half a million petition signatures in the past few weeks urging for Abedini's release. He said the European Union and Australia has also called for his freedom.

"U.S. was silent. It is troubling and extremely offensive," he said. The ACLJ lawyer also pointed to their absence at the hearing as a sign of their lack of concern.

Last year, the ACLJ was able to get the State Department and international community to rachet pressure for Iran to free Youcef Nardarkhani, an Iranian pastor who was jailed and sentenced to death for apostasy.

Nardarkhani was not an American citizen yet the State Dept. spoke out, Sekulow pointed out. "Saeed Abedini is an American citizen. He's us," he added. "He deserves more from his government."

Last summer, Abedini returned to Iran with his family to help build a state-run, secular orphanage. The pastor from Boise, Idaho, was arrested and imprisoned without charged for five months.

In January, Abedini was charged with threatening the national security of Iran through his leadership in Christian house churches from years earlier and was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Sekulow said the situation of human rights and religious freedom in Iran is "deteriorating," reporting that following the Nardarkhani's case, Christians are jailed under crimes of national security rather than apostasy.

"Christians, either ethnic of coverts, are facing systematic and systemic persecution and discrimination."

A member of Congress also spoke during the hearing, calling it "cowardly" that the State Dept. has yet to respond to a Feb. 12 letter sent by 37 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives urging for the release of Abedini. Another letter by 12 U.S. Senators was also sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Jordan Sekulow, executive director of ACLJ, also testifed before the congressional hearing Friday.

At the end of the hearing, Republican Senator Frank R. Wolf of Virginia urged members of Congress to "publicly stand" with Abedini and work toward his release.


SOURCE http://www.ecumenicalnews.com/article/pastor-saeed-abedinis-wife-plead-for-us-action-at-congressional-hearing-21874

Chief counsel in lawsuit against IRS: top Democrat Cummings’ claim is ‘ridiculous’

The chief counsel in the nationwide class-action lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service said that Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings’ claim that a lone “conservative Republican” was responsible for the agency’s improper targeting of conservatives is “ridiculous.”

Jay Sekulow, who represents more than twenty conservative groups that were targeted by the IRS in a class-action lawsuit brought by the American Center for Law and Justice, scoffed at Cummings’ claim that the investigation of the agency’s targeting of President Obama’s political opponents should be wrapped up.

“Committee staff conducted a key interview last week with the IRS manager who supervised the team of screeners that evaluates applications for tax exempt status in Cincinnati, and this official stated that he is a ‘conservative Republican’ with 21 years of experience at the IRS,” Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, claimed in a divisive letter to Republican Oversight chairman Darrell Issa earlier this week.

“Based upon everything I’ve seen, the case is solved. And if it were me, I would wrap this case up and move on, to be frank with you,” Cummings then said on CNN.

But Cummings’ claim is absurd in the face of clear evidence that the IRS targeting was planned out of Washington, said Sekulow.

“That’s ridiculous. [Cummings' claim] is nonsense. We know that Lois Lerner was sending letters to tea party groups from Washington. We know that at least four different offices were involved, according to our documentation. Other IRS employees are saying that Washington was involved,” Sekulow told The Daily Caller.

Washington-based IRS lawyer and registered Democrat Carter C. Hull personally oversaw the agency’s targeting in Cincinnati, according to interviews that two Cincinnati-based IRS employees gave to congressional investigators.

“I was essentially a front person, because I had no autonomy or no authority to act on [applications] without Carter Hull’s influence or input,” Elizabeth Hofacre, an employee of the Cincinnati IRS office, said in an interview with congressional investigators. Another Cincinnati IRS employee said that Washington was “basically throwing us underneath the bus.”

Spokespeople for Rep. Cummings have failed to return repeated Daily Caller requests for the name of the “conservative Republican” in Cincinnati that Cummings claimed was responsible for planning the improper targeting. The title given for the unnamed gentleman does not appear in any published organizational chart of the Cincinnati IRS office.

SOURCE: http://dailycaller.com/2013/06/13/chief-counsel-in-lawsuit-against-irs-top-democrat-cummings-claim-is-ridiculous/

Bradlee Dean: God Gives Victory When His People Fight!

There is no doubt America is being assaulted by an administration that is tyrannical, attempting to rule through policy – not law – only because the American people have become rebels against their own foundational principles and have eaten the fruit of their own ways.

For those that have not taken the time to understand history (God’s story), He promised judgment to a disobedient people. Read Deuteronomy 28 and you will see there are 14 verses of blessings to a people that keep the commandments of the Lord, while there stands 54 verses of curses against those that refuse God’s rule.

Let’s take a look at what took place just this last week in America on the behalf of a people that respond to God’s commandments. Instead of magnifying crimes – which only strengthens tyranny – the American people are beginning to magnify the law unto judgment in order to establish righteousness and peace (Isaiah 51:4):

• Operation Rescue let out a press release this week stating that in 2013 alone, 30 abortion clinics have been closed down, more than doubling the amount of closures over all of last year.
• A tea party group in southern California held an “Impeach Obama” demonstration on a major freeway overpass, holding signs such as “Remember Benghazi” and “Obama Lies.” Their protest brought so much attention that it backed up traffic over 10 miles!
• It was also reported that officials in eight northern Colorado counties united in opposition to the state’s new gun control laws and oil and gas regulations, going so far as considering seceding and forming a new state, North Colorado. Citizens also successfully petitioned to recall two senators, Senate President John Morse and Sen. Angela Giron, who continuously ignored their constituents and voted for gun control legislation.
• The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) filed a lawsuit against the IRS on behalf of 25 tea party groups that were targeted when seeking tax-exempt status. Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the ACLJ, stated, “The IRS and the federal government are not going to get away with this unlawful targeting of conservative groups. … The lawsuit sends a very powerful message to the IRS and the Obama administration – including the White House: Americans are not going to be bullied and intimidated by our government.”
• After pressure from anti-religious groups to keep prayer out of high school graduations, Liberty High School Valedictorian Roy Costner IV took to the podium, tore up his pre-approved speech and instead thanked his parents for leading him to the Lord at a young age. He then proceeded to pray the Lord’s Prayer. The crowd burst into applause and cheers so loud Costner’s voice was almost drowned out. Costner’s prayer has received worldwide support and media coverage.

So it stands true that God is willing to give what His people are willing to fight for. America, we fight the good fight of faith because the law is on our side, and God grants us the victory every time.

Students erupt in protest after superintendent attempts to shut down Bradlee Dean’s assembly program:

Bradlee Dean speaking at a conservative conference in Arizona:


Think IRS scandal is bad? You should see what MSNBC and Rachel Maddow did to Bradlee Dean. Help his lawsuit against them. Stand for America and get your free gift.

Bradlee Dean is an ordained preacher, heavy metal drummer, talk-show host of the Sons of Liberty Radio, and speaks on college and high school campuses with his ministry, You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International. @BradleeDean1


SOURCE http://www.rightsidenews.com/2013061632712/life-and-science/culture-wars/bradlee-dean-god-gives-victory-when-his-people-fight.html

FBI hasn’t contacted a single tea party group in IRS probe, groups say

There is no evidence that the FBI has contacted a single tea party group in its criminal investigation of the Internal Revenue Service, according to the groups the IRS abused.

“We have not been contacted by any federal investigative agency and, to date, none of our clients have been contacted or interviewed by the FBI,” Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice told The Daily Caller on Thursday. The ACLJ has filed suit against the IRS on behalf of 25 conservative groups, with additional groups being added in the next couple weeks, according to a spokesman.

“I have been very surprised that I have not heard from anybody and frankly, none of my clients have. I talk to other tea party leaders on a regular basis,” said Cleta Mitchell, the lawyer largely credited with pushing the IRS abuses to the forefront.

“It’s been a month and I can’t see any evidence of an investigation of the IRS,” Mitchell told TheDC Thursday. She represents nine tea party groups targeted by the IRS.

Tea Party Patriots — a group with thousands of local chapters — “has not been contacted by the FBI” either, according to Jameson Cunningham, the group’s spokesman.

The revelation suggests that the FBI is in no hurry to get to the bottom of the scandal, despite the Obama administration’s promise to investigate the IRS’s multi-year abuse of conservative groups.

“Americans are right to be angry about it, and I am angry about it,” Obama said in a White House statement on May 15. “I will not tolerate this kind of behavior in any agency but especially in the IRS, given the power that it has and the reach that it has into all of our lives.”

Attorney General Eric Holder promised in mid-May that the FBI would get to the bottom of the IRS’s behavior by opening a criminal investigation.

“I can assure you and the American people that we will take a dispassionate view of this,” Holder told congressional investigators on May 15. “This will not be about parties, this will not be about ideological persuasions. Anybody who has broken the law will be held accountable.”

But in separate testimony before congressional investigators Thursday, FBI Director Robert Mueller seemed completely unaware of the progress of any such investigation.

Republican Rep. Jim Jordan lit into Mueller for his lack of knowledge during a House judiciary committee hearing.

“This is the most important issue in front of the country in the last six weeks, and you don’t know who the lead investigator is?” Jordan asked, sounding shocked.

“At this juncture, no I do not,” Mueller responded.

“Do you know if you’ve talked to any of the victims?” Jordan went on. “Have you talked to any of the groups that were targeted by their government? Have you met with any of the tea party groups since May 14, 2013?”

“I don’t know what the status of the interviews are by the team that’s on it,” Mueller said.

Reached for comment Thursday afternoon, the FBI’s Washington, D.C. press office transferred TheDC to a long-ringing phone line and eventually hung up.


SOURCE

Tea Partiers Don't Have a Good Legal Case Against the IRS

The improper targeting of tea party groups and other conservative nonprofits by the Internal Revenue Service has inspired a wave of lawsuits against the agency. The suits have provided an opportunity for grandstanding—"Americans are not going to be bullied and intimidated by our government," declared the American Center for Law and Justice's Jay Sekulow, who is representing 25 conservative groups suing the IRS—but legal experts say those cases may yield little more than publicity.

There are at least three pending lawsuits against the IRS and its employees, with most of the plaintiffs alleging the agency violated their free speech and equal protection rights by singling them out for additional scrutiny. All of the plaintiffs seek monetary damages from the IRS or key employees. Some are also seeking the nonprofit status they've still not received, along with a permanent injunction against the agency barring it from meddling in their affairs again. But outraged tea partiers are in for an uphill battle.

For all the speechifying about free speech, First Amendment rights don't apply to the issue at the heart of those suits: tax-exempt status. Such arguments "are unlikely to persuade courts because tax exemption has not been thought to be a First Amendment issue, because the organizations have the right to speak even if they're taxable," explains Frances Hill, a professor at the University of Miami School of Law. "The idea that their status may be delayed or denied doesn't mean that their First Amendment rights have been denied or imperiled."

Beyond the First Amendment issues, legal experts who have reviewed the lawsuits think they have a limited chance of success, largely because the courts have very narrow authority to do what lawyers like Sekulow are asking them to do—that is, to award damages for alleged constitutional violations or order the IRS to recognize their nonprofit status.

Matthew Journy and Jeff Tenenbaum, tax lawyers at the DC firm Venable, analyzed Sekulow's complaint and concluded that the court is likely to dismiss 23 of the 25 plaintiffs straight away. Here's why: In one part of his case, Sekulow is suing under a section of the Internal Revenue code that allows a nonprofit to ask a judge to order the Treasury Department to recognize its nonprofit status if the IRS has either refused to do so or improperly delayed a determination. But that part of the code applies only to nonprofits seeking 501(c)(3) status, a tax-exempt designation that has tight restrictions on political activity and that allows donors to deduct their contributions from their taxes. Only 2 of the 25 plaintiffs in the case sought such a designation. The rest applied for 501(c)(4) status, which allows limited political activity but not tax-deductible contributions. These nonprofit entities are not covered by the statute Sekulow is suing under. Even if they were, 13 of the plaintiffs have already won the only real remedy available under that particular provision: tax-exempt status. (Sekulow didn't return a call for comment.)

The remaining two plaintiffs who might be allowed to proceed with legal action will still face major hurdles, particularly because their complaint, as it's currently written, isn't specific enough to meet the high bar the court requires, according to Journy and Tenenbaum.

All of the pending suits are asking a court to award punitive damages—even though the law of sovereign immunity expressly prevents the award of such damages against the government in most cases. In tax-exempt cases, punitive damages are only available under very limited circumstances that may not apply to many of the tea party plaintiffs.

One of the highly publicized cases is a class action spearheaded by Mark Meckler, a cofounder of the national umbrella group Tea Party Patriots. Meckler largely disappeared from the tea party scene in early 2012, not long after getting arrested at New York City's LaGuardia Airport for trying to bring a gun through security. He recently resurfaced with a new group called Citizens for Self-Governance, which has been trying to sign up class members for a suit against the IRS. The aggregated claims of many plaintiffs could potentially add up to a significant award in a class action.

The named plaintiff in the suit is Meckler's hometown tea party group, the NorCal Tea Party Patriots. Their suit attempts to circumvent the many impediments to winning big damages from the IRS by targeting Lois Lerner, the embattled director of the exempt organization division, and other IRS employees, in the hopes of holding them individually liable for constitutional violations. (Meckler did not return a call for comment.)

But the bar is high for winning a lawsuit against a government employee. To do so, the plaintiffs must prove not only that the IRS employees violated their constitutional rights, but also that "a reasonable person would have known that the employees' actions violated a clearly established constitutional right," explains Lloyd Mayer, a law professor and associate dean at the University of Notre Dame law school.

Before Meckler's legal team could make that argument, though, it would first have to succeed in getting a judge to certify the case as a class action, meaning they could pursue claims on behalf of every tea party group targeted, regardless of whether those groups signed on as plaintiffs. That's become increasingly difficult to do. Legislation passed in 2005 creates strict rules about how class action cases can be brought, and the Supreme Court has been very hostile to class actions under Chief Justice John Roberts.

Sekulow and a group called True the Vote, which filed a separate lawsuit, are attempting to find a source for damages by arguing that the IRS is guilty of violating a law barring the agency from disclosing private tax return information. The law allows taxpayers to win up to $1,000 per disclosure, plus attorneys fees. Historically, it has been invoked when IRS employees have taken unauthorized peeks at the tax returns of the rich and famous. But the tea partiers are arguing that the IRS violated this law by subjecting them to additional scrutiny and forcing them to divulge more private information than they needed to. Hill, for one, doesn't think this argument will fly. "It's not the same as employees who were sorting through Hollywood stars filings during their lunch hours just for fun," she says.

Mayer agrees: "What is odd about these claims is that normally this type of action is based on a claim that the IRS disclosed to other parties the protected information. Here, instead, the plaintiffs are asserting that the IRS forced them to disclose such information to the IRS unnecessarily through overbroad inquiries. It is not clear that such an overbroad inquiry by the IRS can be the basis for this type of damages action."

Despite all of these obstacles, Hill thinks that at least one or two of the pending lawsuits could make it to the discovery phase of litigation, which she suspects may be one of the motivating factors for filing them. Discovery will compel the production of internal IRS documents and perhaps the depositions of Lerner and other IRS employees—in other words, plenty of opportunity for dirt-digging that could embarrass the government.

But discovery works both ways. It would also give the IRS the opportunity to show that it was justified in holding up the applications of certain tea party groups. Such discovery might not be especially flattering to at least one of the groups that's currently suing the IRS. In a separate case decided last year, a Texas judge ruled that True the Vote, a 501(c)(3) established to police the polls during the 2010 elections supposedly to root out alleged voter fraud, was operating like a political action committee and improperly aiding the GOP. The group has also come under fire for donating $5,000 to the Republican State Leadership Committee during the 2012 election. Nonprofits are barred from making political donations. But Cleta Mitchell, the attorney for True the Vote, says, "I've reviewed all these allegations and the facts in each…and I'm not worried about them. We have a strong case."

True the Vote is asking a judge to award financial damages because of the agency's requests for additional information in connection with its nonprofit application. But its lawsuit, if successful, almost guarantees that even more information about the group will be disclosed—and not just to IRS officials, but to the broader public. Hill observes that at the moment, "I think the IRS at this point is far less interested in conducting discovery of these groups than the groups are in conducting discovery of the IRS."

If the IRS does want to head off all that tea party scrutiny, it has an easy out in the case of True the Vote and two of Sekulow's 501(c)(3) clients. It can just recognize their nonprofit status. The cases will likely go away. The complaints, no doubt, won't.


SOURCE http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/06/tea-partiers-dont-have-case-against-irs

Tax liberation and transformation--NOW

It is beyond obvious by now that the IRS has become nothing but a totalitarian puppet of controls and terror for Americans. I hear from any Americans, who aren't "Stepford Wives" Obama clones, who don't think our tax rates are too high and that the IRS is out of control. I beg to differ with that assumption and thought, however. Based on the unfolding evidence and testimonies of countless witnesses and whistleblowers, the IRS is not out of control at all. It has been in the complete control of Obama, his administration, and agenda to punish all Obama enemies from the start.

It has been revealed now that all the orders to attack Tea Party groups and other conservatives came straight from the White House and D.C. It wasn't a low-level moment of rebellion in a single city as the Obama sound bite theatre threw out to the media.

Records show that the disgraced former IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman went to the White House 157 times. This is dramatically more times than Obama's most trusted cabinet members. Hmmmm...Compare that to the Bush days. The IRS commissioner only came to the White House one time to see Bush.

The facts being revealed so far show major high ups in the IRS, from Lois Lerner onward, who turned the already oppressive IRS into Obama's SS, breaking laws to simply punish, stall, and destroy Obama's enemies.

Jay Sekulow and ACLJ are representing at least 25 Tea Party groups in a lawsuit against the IRS. There are other battles building against the crimes of the IRS on Obama's enemies. I pray it is the tsunami of all tsunamis for the IRS. Bravo to the ACLJ for taking the right step to defend criminally attacked Tea Party groups who represent the voice of "The people."

Congress and the ACLJ MUST see this through and force accountability with the IRS, or they will continue to hurt, attack, and destroy Americans. Their sense of empowerment will know no limits if we do nothing now except complain over coffee. IT IS TIME TO SUPPORT THOSE WHO ARE DOING SOMETHING AGAINST THE IRS AND OBAMA CRIMES NOW.

Already, some hiding as conservatives, and even a minister who has contacted me and other media outlets, have boldly and fraudulently attacked the ACLJ and their lawsuit against the IRS. The slander, lies, and false accusations jump out of the Obama playbook with neon lights. Naturally, Obama plants wouldn't want the IRS or Obama power structures attacked.

For REAL Americans who love God and country there is no back down now. There is only follow-through, battles, lawsuits, and every other action we can think of reflecting our Constitution and power as "The people."

The time for tax revolution and transformation is now

Not only should the IRS be shut down and arrests made all the way to the top, but there needs to be a fair tax introduced. I am a huge fan of stopping ALL taxes accept a 2% transaction tax someone pays when they buy a product or service. We must stop all income tax, payroll tax, capital gains tax, excise tax, hidden taxes everywhere must all go.

If you tax all government transactions, including Wall Street, unbelievably you are talking nearly $900 trillion a year – 2% that is $18 trillion. Think of how quickly our country could get out of debt, pay our bills, and build back our military, Medicare, Social Security, and roads, while liberating people, businesses, and all incomes. Our government has not introduced such a simple and fair tax plan, because they are addicted to control, power, and money. I wrote a whole chapter on the 2% tax in my book "The People's President" you can get on www.amazon.com.

We do not need the IRS (Gambino crime family) running our unethical and threatening tax system now, and we sure DON'T need them running the Obamacare killing machine unfolding as we speak. The IRS and Obamacare must be destroyed ASAP.

Morsels from Obamacare to be managed by the IRS

-Fines and threats for non-compliance
-Lines and dramatically cut healthcare for our seniors as they age
-Dictated salaries and limits for doctors
-Stealing nearly a trillion dollars from Medicare – thus hurting our seniors even more
-No privacy with medical records and information
-Using doctors and mental health professionals as Obama spies to sift out guns

Get behind your representative and senator and encourage and remind them to follow through and do the right thing with the IRS and whatever else it controls. Get behind and support the ACLJ and other groups who are daring to stand up to Obama and the IRS crimes.

Join me as we explore these and other issues on my national radio show from 7-10 pm PAC, www.therothshow.com.

© Laurie Roth


SOURCE http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/roth/130612

ACLJ: Time for Tough Questions for Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan

WASHINGTON--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), focusing on constitutional law, today called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to fully examine the judicial philosophy of Solicitor General Elena Kagan, President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court.

“It's time for tough, probing questions and clear, thorough answers,” said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ. “There are many questions facing the Supreme Court nominee - perhaps none more important than: does she consider the Constitution the final authority or will she legislate from the bench? With no judicial experience, the Senate Judiciary Committee must pose specific questions about her legal positions of the past and her judicial philosophy - how does she view the role of Justices, the Constitution, and the rule of law? The American people deserve forthright answers from Elena Kagan during the confirmation hearings.”

Led by Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow, the American Center for Law and Justice focuses on constitutional law and is based in Washington, D.C. The ACLJ is online at www.aclj.org.

Contacts

American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ)
MEDIA CONTACTS:
For Print:
Gene Kapp, 757-575-9520
or
For Broadcast:
Christy Lynn Wilson or Todd Shearer
770-813-0000

Visit ACLJ Newsroom: www.DeMossNews.com/aclj

Jay Sekulow, Suing the IRS for Freedom Loving Tea Party, Says He Helped Write the USA Patriot Act

Jay Sekulow is all about freedom and liberty – for some.

He’s not a fan of a woman’s right to the control of her own body. He’s been a major litigator on behalf of abortion protesters’ rights.

He’s a big proponent of religious freedom — for some. His nonprofit filed a lawsuit to stop the ground zero mosque.

In the last two weeks, he’s been on a whirlwind of television interviews railing against the oppression of the IRS stalling the rights of his clients to get their organizations registered as tax-exempt nonprofits – some of which were political organizations with clearly no right to get registered. His clients are Tea Party groups, whose mottos invariably include the words liberty and freedom.

And now it turns out, this is the same man who helped John Ashcroft write the USA Patriot Act, despised by right and left alike as a malignancy on liberty and freedom.

In Hans J. Hacker’s 2005 book, The Culture of Conservative Christian Litigation, Hacker writes: “When interviewed in September 2004 for this project, Sekulow noted that he worked on the USA Patriot Act from ‘concept to completion.’ ”

In an August 20, 2011 radio interview with Rick Wiles on Trunews, Jordan Sekulow, the son of Jay Sekulow and an executive in his sprawling nonprofit empire, expanded further on his father’s involvement in the writing of the notoriously anti-civil-rights legislation:

“We supported the Patriot Act…we helped write the Patriot Act…we were working with Attorney General Ashcroft when we wrote it. We were responding to 9/11 attacks; we had the technology to get things done.”

What does that even mean – “we had the technology to get things done.”

As we reported yesterday, since 2006, John Ashcroft has been the recipient of $2.3 million from the Law and Justice Institute, a nonprofit created by Jay Sekulow, which for most of its life seems to have had little purpose other than to funnel money to John Ashcroft. (We sent an email to John Ashcroft asking for clarification and received the response yesterday from his spokesperson: “No comment.”)

Ashcroft stepped down as U.S. Attorney General under George W. Bush in 2005 and started his own consulting and lobbying firm, Ashcroft Group LLC. In 2006, the Washington Post reported that his firm had 30 clients, a third of which he would not disclose, with many involved in selling products or technology for homeland security. At that point, the Office of Management and Budget was expecting Federal spending on homeland security to reach $60 billion by the following year. The Ashcroft Group told the Post that it had taken ownership stakes in eight of its clients. Since 2005, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, the Ashcroft Group has received over $5 million in lobbying fees.

Ashcroft also sits on the Board of Academi, the company previously known as Blackwater, the private military firm which has come under fire for the killing of civilians while working for the U.S. government in Iraq.

The two major nonprofits that provide income to Jay Sekulow and his family are the Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism (CASE) and the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ). CASE states on its IRS tax filing that its mission is “the ideal that religious freedom and freedom of speech are inalienable, God given rights…” ACLJ tells the IRS its mission is “ensuring the ongoing viability of freedom and liberty in the U.S.”

How do those goals intersect with writing the USA Patriot Act? In addition to filing lawsuits framed as constitutional arguments, Jay Sekulow spends an enormous amount of time as an advocate for Israel and its security interests. ACLJ provides funding to a related nonprofit, the European Center for Law and Justice (ECLJ), where Sekulow serves as Chief Counsel. ECLJ says it holds “Special Consultative Status as an NGO before the United Nations.”

In an August 6, 2012 letter to Mark Thompson, Director General of the British Broadcasting Corporation, Sekulow wrote the following:

“In its coverage of the 2012 Olympics, the BBC has maintained a biased and politically divisive stance in its dealings with the State of Israel. On its website compilation of competitor nation profiles, the BBC has intentionally refused to list Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. While the BBC respects the right of other nations to designate their own capitals by listing them as such on their country profiles, the BBC, by refusing to list Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, demonstrates an ignorance of international law, openly biased and politically-charged journalism, and a clear intention to insult and denigrate the State of Israel vis-à-vis other participating states.”

A search at ACLJ.org pulls up 557 entries about Israel or Muslims, including the following:

Obama’s Gift for the Muslim Brotherhood

Submission to the International Fact-finding Mission on Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

Standing with Israel Against Media Bias

American Evangelicals Stand With Israel

On May 28, an opinion piece appeared at the Wall Street Journal titled “Curious IRS Timing.” The article said that the IRS was giving special scrutiny to groups supporting Israel and that “many applications related to Israel had to be sent to ‘a special unit in D.C.’ ”

Sekulow came to represent 27 Tea Party-type groups all over the country before the IRS – long before the media attention began. His office is in Virginia but groups as far away as Hawaii, Texas, Kentucky, Ohio, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Hawaii became his clients. How exactly did that happen if these groups are the independent, spontaneous grassroots movements we’ve all been told they are.

Since 1998, Sekulow and his family and related businesses have received over $40 million from his sprawling array of nonprofits. Given Sekulow’s strident advocacy of Israel while never listing that as a core goal for his nonprofits with the IRS, perhaps the IRS has good instincts in setting up a special unit.  


SOURCE http://wallstreetonparade.com/2013/05/jay-sekulow-suing-the-irs-for-freedom-loving-tea-party-says-he-helped-write-the-usa-patriot-act/

IRS Officials Knew in 2010 That Pro-Life Groups Were Targeted

The scandal broke weeks ago but IRS officials knew as early as 2010 that pro-life and conservative groups were being targeted by the Internal Revenue Service. Of course, no news broke about the scandal until after President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election victory.

As Reuters reports:

A misfired email from a U.S. Internal Revenue Service employee in Cincinnati alerted a number of Washington IRS officials that extra scrutiny was being placed on conservative groups in July 2010, a year earlier than previously acknowledged, according to interviews with IRS workers by congressional investigators.

    Transcripts of the interviews, reviewed by Reuters on Thursday, provided new details about Washington managers’ awareness of the heightened scrutiny applied by front-line IRS agents in Cincinnati to applications for tax-exempt status from conservative groups with words like “Tea Party” in their names.

    The transcripts show that in July 2010, Elizabeth Hofacre, an IRS official in Cincinnati who was coordinating “emerging issues” for the agency’s tax-exempt unit, was corresponding with Washington-based IRS tax attorney Carter Hull.

    In April 2010 Hofacre had been put in charge of handling tax-exempt status applications from conservative groups by her Cincinnati supervisor.

    She was asked to summarize her initial findings in a spreadsheet and notify a small group of colleagues, including some staff in the Washington tax-exempt unit. However, she sent her email to a larger number of people in Washington by accident.

    “Everybody in DC got it by mistake,” Hofacre said in the transcripts. She later clarified that she did not mean all officials but those in the IRS Exempt Organizations Rulings and Agreements unit.

    The Cincinnati office, where IRS reviews of applications for tax-exempt status were centralized, used a “be-on-the-lookout” (BOLO) list that included the words “Tea Party” and “Patriot” for flagging applications for extra review.

Jay Sekulow, the head of the pro-life legal group ACLJ, says his firm is moving ahead with its comprehensive lawsuit against the IRS on behalf of victims, including pro-life advocates.

“The IRS spin isn’t working. There are now reports that a key Obama campaign official met with IRS leaders, just as the IRS started targeting conservative groups – singling them out for abuse and harassment simply because of their beliefs,” he said. “Yet this week, some on the Left in Congress attacked the very victims of this atrocious government abuse.”

Sekulow added: “One listed the conservative views of the targeted groups and said, “Let’s stop the charade of pretending that these are social welfare organizations.” Another said, “If [conservative groups] didn’t come in and ask for this tax break, you would have never had a question asked of you.”"

“At the ACLJ, we don’t blame the victim, we sue the IRS. We’re in federal court defending the constitutional rights of more than two dozen groups. In a few days, we’ll be amending our lawsuit to add even more clients,” he continued. “We will hold the Obama Administration accountable.”

Reports indicate President Barack Obama’s top attorney knew in April that the Internal Revenue Service was targeting pro-life and conservative groups. The reports show Obama’s top lawyer was notified in April that the Treasury Department’s inspector general had finished an audit of the IRS over the allegations.

James Dobson, the pro-life family advocate, disclosed that he was a victim of IRS discrimination because he spoke out against pro-abortion President Barack Obama.

In one case LifeNews has profiled, a pro-life group was told it had to promote abortion. A top pro-life legal group also informed LifeNews that cases it handled support mounting accusations that demonstrate the agency’s abuse of pro-life organizations.


SOURCE http://www.lifenews.com/2013/06/07/irs-officials-knew-in-2010-that-pro-life-groups-were-targeted/

We must be knowledgeable to protect our freedoms

In editor Gary Sawyer’s May 26 column he seems to believe it is possible there was no conspiracy at Internal Revenue Service to target conservative groups. He suggests employees took a shortcut or were overwhelmed with these tax-exempt status applications or maybe it was just stupidity.

The serious, unlawful IRS actions must stop and every person responsible for the violations must be held accountable. It has been proven this IRS abuse was not limited to a few employees in the Cincinnati office. Top IRS officials know nothing or plead the Fifth Amendment or get promoted to direct the new office that will be responsible for affordable care (Obamacare).

I suggest readers view the website of the American Center for Law and Justice, www.aclj.org, for details on this very real IRS scandal. The American Center for Law and Justice was founded in 1990 to help protect our religious and constitutional freedoms. Jay Alan Sekulow is the highly regarded chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice. Mr. Sekulow’s May 17 written statement to the House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means and other documents are available at this website.

Recently I’ve seen television interviews with Americans, people on the street. Too many people haven’t even heard of Benghazi, the IRS, AP, James Rosen or Department of Justice scandals. We still have our freedoms by God’s grace and by immeasurable sacrifices of our brave military heroes. How tragic if we lose our freedom by our own careless indifference to what is happening in our government.

Judith I. Gandy

Decatur


SOURCE http://herald-review.com/blogs/letters/we-must-be-knowledgeable-to-protect-our-freedoms/article_67281ba4-ce12-11e2-8d5b-001a4bcf887a.html

Saeed's Wife Uses UN Speech to 'Plant Gospel'

The White House and U.S. State Department are once again calling on Iran to release an American pastor jailed for his faith.
   
Saeed Abedini is serving an eight-year prison sentence in one of the most brutal prisons in the world for sharing the Gospel.
   
On Monday, Abedini's wife appeared before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to plead for her husband's release.
    
"Why is he being held? Because he exercised his rights of religious freedom, expression and peaceful assembly," she told the council. "I hope that my presence here today will put a face to those that suffer when a government does not uphold its obligation to protect these freedoms."

The 33-year-old Iranian-born pastor has endured torture while in prison.

"On at least two known occasions, Iran's officials have physically tortured my husband," she testified. "These instances of torture have caused my husband to have symptoms of internal bleeding."

The White House said it was "deeply concerned" Monday about Pastor Abedini's plight and promised to press for his release until he was back home with his family. The U.S State Department also chimed in.

"We condemn Iran's continued violation of the universal right of freedom of religion and call on the Iranian authorities to respect Mr. Abedini's human rights and release him," Wendy Sherman, the State Department's lead nuclear negotiator, said.

"We will continue to pursue this in every way possible that we can, through every channel we possibly can," she vowed.

But Abedini is not alone.

Last month, Iranian authorities shut down the largest Persian-language church and arrested its pastor. With less than two weeks to go before Iranians pick their next president, authorities are reportedly targeting individuals and groups deemed dangerous, including growing Christian churches.

Just before ending her U.N. speech, Naghmeh said on Facebook that she wanted to use her appearance to plant the seeds of the Gospel message before a global audience.

"Iran has kept Saeed's imprisonment because Saeed believes in forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ and that whoever accepts this forgiveness of sin can be reconciled to the God of peace and love," she wrote. "This is the God of peace we are all searching for."

Will Naghmeh's appeal to the UN have any effect on Pastor Saeed's situation? Why does the regime say Christians are dangerous? Jay Sekulow from the American Center of Law and Justice answered these questions and more on Wednesday's Newswatch, June 5. Click play to watch.

SOURCE http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/June/Saeeds-Wife-Uses-UN-Speech-to-Plant-Gospel/