Ken Calvert: "Kids aren't familiar with IRS abuses but they do like cookies. Maybe Cookie Monster should know about the IRS."
Cookie Monster: "Me no understand what he trying to say. Me just like coooooooookies!"
An opinion piece on the IRS predictably combining from the GOP is not from who we think it is coming from but from lesser-headlines-known Rep. Ken Calvert.
Yes, as the title states, Ken Calvert has utilized the best critical thinking skills any Congressman could have and uses Cookie Monster as a way to articulate his arguments about the IRS:
http://www.pe.com/...
BY KEN CALVERT August 04, 2013; 04:00 AM
If you give the Cookie Monster cookies, he’s going to eat them. I know that, you know that, and kids know that.
Luckily for them, kids aren’t as familiar with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as they are with the Cookie Monster. Adults, however, know that if you give the IRS more authority and power, it is going to use, and possibly abuse, that power.
While having someone responsible for collecting federal taxes is unavoidable, the recent scandals have understandably increased the anxiety Americans feel about the IRS.
Calvert's lost me there. First off, how can you make an argument about a critical problem in the IRS and put an analogy that includes most fearless Sesame Street character, the one who is the foremost expert how how to consume cookies, to make your case?
First off, Cookie Monster is a character for children and exists within the make believe world of kids' imagination. Kids like to be goofy, silly and imagine.
But most importantly, Cookie Monster STEALS cookies but he isn't harming anyone, except their enjoyment of eating them. He didn't do any abuse like the IRS, unless you think there's a symptom known as Cookieitis where one becomes abusive about cookies like smoking, drugs or alcohol or won't be transparent about their love for cookies. I believe I've had my share of Cookieitis but then again, I've never been the abusive type so I guess I don't have it after all. I love cookies though.
I have no idea why I just went through this whole argument the way I did. Let's proceed on toward dissecting Congressman Calvert's "opinion" piece:
http://www.pe.com/...
Before any of these stories were reported many people already had concerns about the size and power of the IRS, which is derived from our overly complex tax code. The federal tax code now consists of nearly 4 million words. For the sake of comparison, there are a little more than 750,000 words in the Bible.
Unfortunately, we are on a path to making the code even more complex and giving the IRS enhanced power through the implementation of Obamacare.
In fact, Obamacare’s 47 major changes to the tax code have been called “the largest set of tax law changes the IRS has had to implement in more than 20 years” by the IRS Inspector General.
Ah yes, the IRS tax code and expanding it to apparently bloat the size of the IRS and the implementation of the Affordable Health Care Act have relevance to the IRS abuses that are going on. Yes, keep on talking...
http://www.pe.com/...
Stripping away our burdensome tax code is the best way to prevent future abuses by the IRS. After all, the only way to stop the Cookie Monster is to take away his cookies.
Ken Calvert, R-Corona, represents the 42nd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Once again, Congressman Calvert doesn't understand that if he's making the argument about abuses in the IRS, he can't make the argument that they are stealing from conservatives, Tea Party groups or any other targeted groups.
Therefore, how DOES the IRS compare to Cookie Monster?
Yeah, my thoughts exactly. By the way, guess who tweeted Calvert's opinion piece?
You guessed it...
D-D-D-Darrell Issa!
Let's see how viable Congressman Calvert's district is for a potential Democratic challenger in 2014:
http://ballotpedia.org/...
According to Wikipedia's information on the CA-42 district that Calvert represents, it includes the Inland Empire, communities of Corona and Murrieta:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Ok. Congressman Calvert has also served in Congress since 2003, which means of course he also voted to continue funding the Iraq War which increased the U.S. debt and deficit.
The following are the unemployment figures of the regions in the CA-42 district which Calvert represents:
Inland Empire: 10.2%
Corona: 7.0%
Murrieta: 6.3%
Average Unemployment for Calvert's district: 7.8%
Yup, let's target Congressman Calvert for re-election. He's not doing anything for the district.
I mean, really, can the CA-42 get a better Congressman than this?
6:46 PM PT: By the way, check out the video of Ken Calvert. None other than then-Rep. Todd Akin appears in the video, sitting down. Glad he's out.
Ok. Congressman Calvert, you're next!