Boom: Obama Administration Knew of IRS Targeting in June of 2012

townhall has;

Boom: Obama Administration Knew of IRS Targeting in June of 2012
Guy Benson | May 17, 2013

Earlier in the week, White House spokesman Jay Carney categorically denied that no one at the White House was aware of the IRS targeting operation prior to late April of this year.  Minutes later, he walked back his own assertion.  Then came yesterday's (brief) presidential press conference, at which a reporter asked the president when the White House became aware of the IRS abuse.  Obama's answer was parsed and evasive.  He said he personally found out about the IG report last Friday.  Both Obama and Carney clearly sought to convey a sense that the White House only became aware of the problem very recently, but neither quite said it.  Why such careful rhetorical stepping from the president and his spokesman on this question?  Perhaps because they either knew or suspected that other shoes were going to drop.  Like this one from the New York Times:

The Treasury Department’s inspector general told senior Treasury officials in June 2012 he was auditing the Internal Revenue Service’s screening of politically active organizations seeking tax exemptions,disclosing for the first time on Friday that Obama administration officials were aware of the matter during the presidential campaign year. At the first Congressional hearing into the I.R.S. scandal, J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration, told members of the House Ways and Means Committee that he informed the Treasury’s general counsel of his audit on June 4, and Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin “shortly thereafter.” It remained unclear how much the disclosure would affect the broader debate over the I.R.S.'s problems. Complaints from Tea Party groups that the I.R.S. was singling them out became public in 2012, through media accounts.

This sentence from the Times story is precious:

Mr. George told Treasury officials about the allegation as part of a routine briefing about ongoing audits he would be conducting in the coming year, and he did not tell the officials of his conclusions that the targeting had been improper, he said.  Still, the inspector general’s testimony will most likely fuel efforts by Congressional Republicans to show that Obama administration officials knew of efforts to single out conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status for additional scrutiny, but did not reveal that knowledge during President Obama’s re-election campaign. 

Yes, New York Times, the sworn testimony of the Inspector General and your reporting may "fuel efforts by Congressional Republicans" to, um, point out what happened.  For his part, Treasury says Wolin didn't discuss the revelation with anyone outside of his own department.  First of all, the IRS is overseen by Treasury, which is run by the executive branch.  Targeting conservative was a systemic, well-known practice for years inside the IRS.  Even if Wolin is telling the truth, we now know that at least some administration officials at Treasury were made aware of the investigation six months before the election.  Are we to believe that Wolin didn't bring this explosive information to his boss, Sec. Tim Geithner?  Is there any chance this didn't make its way up the food chain in June of last year, if it hadn't already?  NBC News' Lisa Myers raised similar questions about the IRS this morning.  She noted that IRS brass failed to disclose this extraordinary information last September in a letter to Congress:

"Imagine, if you can, what would have happened if this fact came out in September 2012 in the middle of the presidential election.  The terrain would have looked very different."

We now have confirmation that it wasn't just the IRS that knew about all of this and failed to disclose it in the closing weeks of a bitterly-fought election.  (Allahpundit asks some good questions about that here).  Treasury was in the loop, too.  The "guess who knew?" game keeps creeping closer to the White House door, and the "official" story seems to be changing almost hourly.  For instance, we also now know that Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has known about this for months.  Acting IRS Commissioner Stephen Miller served up quite a few eye-opening remarks during today's testimony.  Among them was the explanation that a huge uptick in applications for tax-free status that coincided with the rise of the Tea Party is what precipitated the "efficiency/triage" targeting program.  One small problem:  There was no deluge of applicants during that time frame.  Oh well, time to dream up another excuse.  I'll leave you with this piece from Politico cataloging what we still don't know about the IRS story.  So far.  Honestly, they barely scratch the surface.

Thank You townhall and Mr Benson.

Unreal: IRS Official Who Oversaw Targeting Scandal Now In Charge of ObamaCare Division

Townhall has;

Unreal: IRS Official Who Oversaw Targeting Scandal Now In Charge of ObamaCare Division

Guy Benson | May 16, 2013

Reality is sometimes crazier than fiction.  My initial reaction? You must be joking (via ABC News):

The Internal Revenue Service official in charge of the tax-exempt organizations at the time when the unit targeted tea party groups now runs the IRS office responsible for the health care legislation. Sarah Hall Ingram served as commissioner of the office responsible for tax-exempt organizations between 2009 and 2012. But Ingram has since left that part of the IRS and is now the director of the IRS’ Affordable Care Act office, the IRS confirmed to ABC News today. Her successor, Joseph Grant, is taking the fall for misdeeds at the scandal-plagued unit between 2010 and 2012. During at least part of that time, Grant served as deputy commissioner of the tax-exempt unit.

If you're waiting for a rimshot, give it up.  Smell the reality, friends.  And In case you were curious, yes of course Ms. Ingram raked in more than $100,000 in taxpayer-funded bonuses as she oversaw her office's the abusive targeting scheme.  Now she's off to bigger and better things; namely, monitoring and enforcing your healthcare arrangements.  Conservatives havealready started making the IRS-Obamacare nexus clear -- a killer talking point -- but this new information brings the connection to an entirely new level. The woman who is arguably the individual most directly responsible for the operation of the IRS targeting scandal has been promoted to run Obamacare enforcement.  Let that sink in.  Obamacare's core individual mandate, which the Supreme Court upheld as a tax in 2012, goes into effect next year, and our trustworthy, apolitical pals at the Internal Revenue Service are in charge of policing it.  I'm sure being infected by toxic IRS taint will make Obamacare even more popular than it already is.

On a related note, the House just voted (again) to repeal Obamacare in its entirety.  Democrats mocked and belittled the effort, wherein every Republican voted in favor of uprooting this unaffordable mess, while all but two House Democrats voted to keep it in place.  Look at these obsessed fools, banging their heads against a wall for the 37th time, liberals are chuckling.  I doubt they'll be laughing for long.  First of all, several of the more narrowly-tailored repeal votesactually succeeded. But here's another key point here: Both Democrat "yea" votes came from House veterans who represent red districts.  That means that every other vulnerable Democrat, and every single Democratic freshman, voted to protect every last detail of Obamacare, including IRS enforcement.  How's that going to play?  (Have fun, NRCC).  House Republicans couldn't have timed this symbolic vote any better.  Hell, the GOP campaign committees should send flowers to the entire IRS management team.  I'm speechless.

UPDATE - By the way, ABC News also confirmed that the "fired" IRS acting commissioner was on his way out anyway.  The second head to roll, Joseph Grant, was just promoted eight days ago to the position that he's now vacating.  Eight days ago, he was elevated to replace...you guessed it, Sarah Hall Ingram.  Kudos all around, guys.

Thank You Townhall and Mr Benson.

Kentucky Sues J&J/Risperdal

pharmalot has;
Kentucky Sues J&J

Posted Fri, 05/17/2013 - 8:40am by Ed Silverman 3

whac a mole.jpg

whac a mole.jpg

Like a game of whack-a-mole, no matter how many times Johnson & Johnson attempts to put to rest lawsuits over the marketing of its Risperdal antipsychotic, another claim pops up. The latest is a lawsuit filed this week by the Kentucky attorney general, who like others before him in federal and state governments, charge the health care giant with illegally promoting the widely prescribed pill.

The charges are familiar: J&J is accused of hiding and minimizing side effect data about diabetes and weight gain, and concealing evidence that Risperdal causes increased levels in children of a hormone that stimulates breast development and milk production. Last fall, J&J began settling lawsuits charging the pill causes gynecomastia, which is the abnormal development of large mammary glands in males (here is the lawsuit).

In the scheme of things, this is just one more lawsuit that, as noted, covers familiar ground, but underscores the extent to which Risperdal marketing practices continue to haunt the health care giant, which is struggling to overcome the negative impression caused by manufacturing gaffes that led to countless product recalls and a scandal over the safety of its hip replacement devices.

Continue reading pharmalot coverage here.

Thank You pharmalot and Mr Silverman.

"Stunner": Administration Spied On Congress Too: US House Cloakroom Wiretapped

Townhall has;

"Stunner": Administration Spied On Congress Too
Carol Platt Liebau | May 16, 2013

Update: A member of Congressman Nunes' staff reached out to clarify that the DOJ seized phone records, not from the cloakroom itself, but from the Capitol. Even so, it is problematic from a separation of powers standpoint for the Executive branch to be monitoring the activities of a co-equal branch of government -- which, to the extent it's hoping to trace conversations between the press and Members of Congress, is exactly what it's doing.

---------------

 

Yesterday, on his radio show, Hugh Hewitt interviewed Congressman Devin Nunes -- who reported that as part of its probe into the AP, the Obama administration had actually wiretapped the Congressional cloak room. 

HH: The idea that this might be a Geithner-Axelrod plan, and by that, the sort of intimation, Henry II style, will no one rid me of this turbulent priest, will no one rid me of these turbulent Tea Parties, that might have just been a hint, a shift of an eyebrow, a change in the tone of voice. That’s going to take a long time to get to. I don’t trust the Department of Justice on this. Do you, Congressman Nunes?

DN:No, I absolutely do not, especially after this wiretapping incident, essentially, of the House of Representative. I don’t think people are focusing on the right thing when they talk about going after the AP reporters. The big problem that I see is that they actually tapped right where I’m sitting right now, the Cloak Room.

HH: Wait a minute, this is news to me.

DN: The Cloak Room in the House of Representatives.

HH: I have no idea what you’re talking about.

DN:So when they went after the AP reporters, right? Went after all of their phone records, they went after the phone records, including right up here in the House Gallery, right up from where I’m sitting right now. So you have a real separation of powers issue that did this really rise to the level that you would have to get phone records that would, that would most likely include members of Congress, because as you know…

It's not entirely clear to me whether Congressman Nunes means that the telephone in the Cloak Room was one of the numbers for which the DOJ sought a subpoena in the AP matter and wiretapped, or whether the DOJ subpoenaed Cloak Room phone records (this latter explanation seems most likely).  But in a broad sense, I'm not sure the distinction really matters.

The fact is that The White House knowingly sought and obtained confidential information from a place where Congressmen have a reasonable expectation of privacy.  That constitutes a serious separation of powers issue, as the President has no business seeking or obtaining confidential information pertaining to the inner workings of a co-equal branch of government conducting its business.  And whether it was simply phone records of calls made or received or the actual recording of calls, it is difficult to fathom how the administration could have gathered the kind of information it was seeking without significant intrusion and gathering of inside knowledge of the workings of Congress.

Now the question has to be whether any of the information thus garnered was used (or rather, misused) for political purposes.  With the crew in this administration, anyone care to lay any bets?

Thank You Townhall and Ms Platt-Liebau.

pic cred to Comrade R.O.C.K. In The USSA at thepeoplescube.com

HHS Doles Out 2nd Round of Billion Dollar Innovation Awards, But Can't Say What Savings Seen Yet From First Round

CNSNews has;
HHS Doles Out 2nd Round of Billion Dollar Innovation Awards, But Can't Say What Savings Seen Yet From First Round

May 15, 2013

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By Penny Starr

(CNSNews.com) – Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Wednesday the second round of about $1 billion in “Health Care Innovation Awards,” as part of the ongoing implementation of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.

“We’re going to announce the latest steps we’re taking to spur innovation in our health care system by supporting some of the most promising ideas from around the country from lowering cost by improving the quality of care,” Sebelius said.

“Bringing down health care cost is our top priority,” Sebelius said.

But Richard Gilfillan, director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, who took questions from reporters on the conference call, could not tell reporters how much the $900 million awards given out last year has saved taxpayers in health care costs.

A reporter asked Gilfillan about the $1.9 billion savings over three years that HHS officials had predicted from the first round of awards and whether he could report any savings over the first year.

“All of our round-one proposals, our applicants, have put in operating plans,” Gilfillan said. “They’ve begun operations, but we do not have any estimates to share with you at this time.”

Another reporter asked a more pointed question:

“Has CMS’s actuaries found or confirmed savings by any innovation center project at this point, and are you guys preparing yet to expand any of them to become a permanent nationwide program as you’re authorized under the health law?” the reporter asked.

“We are still in relatively early stages of the roll out of some of the models that we have,” Gilfillan said. “We’re working closely with our colleagues in our evaluations group and our colleagues in the actuarial group to monitor performance.

“We do not have any results that we would use to pursue the path you describe,” Gilfillan said.

“Do you know when you might?” the reporter asked.

“I’m not commenting on that today,” Gilfillan said.

“Under this announcement, CMS will spend up to $1 billion for awards and evaluation of projects from across the country that test new payment and service delivery models that will deliver better care and lower costs for Medicare, Medicaid, and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) enrollees,” a press release on the announcement stated.

The announcement of the awards, which are funded by the health care law, mentions cost savings: “Each model is expected to generate savings for the total cost of care for Medicare, Medicaid and/or CHIP beneficiaries.”

Last year’s awards averaged $8.4 million each and were given to projects in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.

Thank You CNS and Ms Starr.

IRS Faces Class Action Lawsuit Over Theft of 60 Million Medical Records, Including All California State Judges

HealthCare IT News has;
IRS Faces Class Action Lawsuit Over Theft of 60 Million Medical Records
Erin McCann, Associate Editor
California HIPAA-covered entity sues big time
SAN DIEGO | March 15, 2013

The Internal Revenue Service is now facing a class action lawsuit over allegations that it improperly accessed and stole the health records of some 10 million Americans, including medical records of all California state judges.

According to a report by Courthousenews.com, an unnamed HIPAA-covered entity in California is suing the IRS, alleging that some 60 million medical records from 10 million patients were stolen by 15 IRS agents. The personal health information seized on March 11, 2011, included psychological counseling, gynecological counseling, sexual/drug treatment and other medical treatment data.  

"This is an action involving the corruption and abuse of power by several Internal Revenue Service agents," the complaint reads. "No search warrant authorized the seizure of these records; no subpoena authorized the seizure of these records; none of the 10,000,000 Americans were under any kind of known criminal or civil investigation and their medical records had no relevance whatsoever to the IRS search. IT personnel at the scene, a HIPPA facility warning on the building and the IT portion of the searched premises, and the company executives each warned the IRS agents of these privileged records," it continued.

According to the case, the IRS agents had a search warrant for financial data pertaining to a former employee of the John Doe company, however, "it did not authorize any seizure of any healthcare or medical record of any persons, least of all third parties completely unrelated to the matter," the complaint read. 

The class action lawsuit against the IRS seeks $25,000 in compensatory damages "per violation per individual" in addition to punitive damages for constitutional violations.  Thus, compensatory damages could start at a minimum of $250 billion.

Thank You HeathCare IT News and Ms McCann.

So California's Judges have reason to be Upset.

California's Judges Ought to be upset. They Also Ought to have dragged This mess out and 'Upset' it. 

'Mental Health' in San Francisco: Link Fest

But so far as We've seen, they ALL Appear to be OK with it. 

ALL of Them.

Perhaps they need to be Familiar with Why they ought to be upsetting it:

http://psychroaches.blogspot.com/search?q=18C95