Beware – The IRS Wants to File Your Taxes for You

The Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC), a conservative alternative to AARP, has posted this article from which I quote. Hopefully, it does not have a chance of passing congress, but it does reveal the mindset of the IRS.

The proposal by the IRS is currently being considered by Congress, through a bill proposed by U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) which claims to streamline the federal tax return process.   But in fact, it will give the IRS the responsibility and the power to handle the filing of every American tax return. No longer will Americans be able or allowed to utilize the expertise of accountants or the countless free filing services offered by corporations, but instead will be forced to pay taxes or accept refunds based on the IRS’s independent calculations. There is an obvious conflict of interest here. The IRS earns it’s stars and stripes when it collects as much in taxes as possible, and with the current administration doing all it can to close the tax gap, the IRS has every incentive to maximize collections and minimize refunds. That means that most Americans will be issued a smaller refund and a bigger bill, and although some can hire lawyers and accountants to fight the IRS, most will not.
Without even touching on the long list of concerns and challenges this proposal will bring, we should consider that the IRS already has a bad record of doing their current job. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that the IRS answers 1 in 5 tax related questions incorrectly. The GAO also reports that the IRS has failed to correct over 67% of their mistakes going back two years, mistakes ranging from miscalculated refunds, mislabeling of addresses, and the mailing of private information about one taxpayer to the address of another. Those folks that rely on their refunds are still waiting for the IRS to repair their mistakes, and the incidents of fraud and security issues related to the mailing errors are incalculable. The UK tried a similar system a few years ago, and because of the egregious failures, particularly in terms of accuracy and privacy, their government has completely given up on the failed program and is reverting back to an American-like system. The IRS is offering to do all of our taxes for free, even though the program will cost billions to create and the long-term economic consequences will be devastating. The words of Thomas Jefferson ring true even today, “A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have.”

Read the full article here.

Lumen Fidei

I did a quick read through of the new encyclical and thought it was great. I'll do a more studious read soon and try to provide a summary. In the mean time take a look at it yourself. It is at the Vatican website.

Dr. Taylor Marshall has 15 points on his site.

And Jimmy Akin via National Catholic Register has "14 things you need to know about Pope Francis’s new encyclical," here.

To Be Happy and Prosperous

"Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the Government take care of him, better take a closer look at the American Indian."

- Henry Ford

A Great Day & Potpourri

What a day! After celebrating the 4th, I’m hit with the news that Blessed John Paul II, the Great, will become officially a Saint, and so will John XXIII.

Then I hear of the release of Pope Francis’ first encyclical, Lumen Fidei (The Light of Faith). Well, rather it was written by two popes, Francis and Benedict. I’ve already started to read it. You can read it at the Vatican website, there is also a pdf version, and I am converting it to Kindle. Here is the link: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20130629_enciclica-lumen-fidei_en.html

It’s intent is to strengthen the faith of all Catholics worldwide. It stresses the beauty of faith. A headline reads “New Encyclical Truly a Spiritual ‘Light’. I would agree from what I’ve read so far. I’ll do a summary when I can. I hope pastors will bring it to everyone in the pews. Usually when it comes to encyclicals we are on our own.

A blogger, Dr. Taylor Marshall, wrote “15 Easy Points”. Here are the first five:

1. He begins with referring to Nietzsche as the pioneer of non-faith for our era. Consequently, "humanity renounced the search for a great light, Truth itself." 

2. He then refers to Dante, who in the Divine Comedy, after professing his faith to Saint Peter, describes that light as a "spark, which then becomes a burning flame and like a heavenly star within me glimmers." The encyclical builds on Saint Peter's initial faith when he said, "You are Christ, the Son of the Living God!"

3. Next, he traces the history of faith from Abraham and up on through the Hebrews of the Old Testament. The Incarnation reveals the ultimate object of faith - Jesus Christ.

4. "In many areas in our lives we trust others who know more than we do. We trust the architect who builds our home, the pharmacist who gives us medicine for healing, the lawyer who defends us in court." But why don't we trust God? Trust or faith is a natural part of life

5. Faith transforms those who love. This is why we are saved by faith in Christ. 

You may want to visit Taylor's site, he always has something good. Click here.

Also, I hear a Conscience Act was introduced in the Senate. Keep your fingers crossed, er, rather, pray.

And the U.S. House passed the Pain Capable Unborn Protection Act to prohibit abortions nationwide after 20 weeks. It passed 228 to 196. One small step forward. I wonder what the Senate will do, if anything.

And, St. Joseph is back. The Congregation for Divine Worship issued a decree adding St. Joseph to the Eucharistic Prayers II, III, and IV. Pope Benedict approved the addition and Pope Francis confirmed it. Hurray!

Let’s pray for Fr. Francois Mourad, a Syrian monk who was slain by Islamic rebels when they raided the monastery in Syria. He was trying to protect the nuns and others.

‘We Need to Be Active Witnesses of Our Faith’

I love Archbishop Chaput. He always seems to hit the nail on the head. On June 22 he gave a speech honoring St. Junipero Serra. He speaks of our mission, the new evangelization, St. Francis and Fr. Serra. It is excellent. Below is an excerpt. I hope it encourages you to read the whole speech. It can be found here.

The “how” of a New Evangelization, or any evangelization, needs to begin with our own repentance and conversion. That hasn’t changed since Father Serra walked the Camino Real, the trail that linked California’s missions. We can’t give what we don’t have. 

As individuals, we control very little in life; but we do control what we do with our hearts.  We can at least make ourselves available to God as his agents. Personal conversion is the essential first step. It immediately affects the people around us. 

The “how” also requires us to understand the real human terrain we’re called to convert. 

Christian Smith, Notre Dame’s distinguished social researcher, suggests that the de facto dominant religion among American teenagers today is “moralistic therapeutic deism.” And he frames the creed of this new religion in this way:

First, a God exists who created and orders the world and watches over human life on earth. Second, God wants people to be good, nice and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and most world religions. Third, the central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself. Fourth, God doesn’t need to be particularly involved in one’s life, except when he’s needed to fix a problem. And, fifth, good people go to heaven when they die.

“Teen religion” largely derives from the world of adult religion, especially parental religion, and it flows naturally from what the parents of these teens actually practice.  Old patterns of religious faith among many adults have faded into a kind of vague “spirituality,” which then shapes the world into which American adolescents are socialized.

For many young people, the moralistic part of “moralistic therapeutic deism” simply means being pleasant and responsible, working on “self-improvement,” taking care of one’s health and doing one’s best to succeed. “Therapeutic” means focusing on feeling good and happy, being secure and at peace. It’s about subjective well-being and getting along amiably with other persons. And “deism” means that God exists — he created our world — but he’s not particularly involved in our affairs, especially when we don’t want him around. He’s available to meet our needs. He’s not demanding on us, but we can be demanding on him.

Obviously, very little of this has anything to do with the Gospel of Jesus Christ or the faith of the martyrs. And that’s a problem.

In practice, American society now breeds a kind of radical self-focus and practical atheism — not by refuting faith in God, but by rendering God irrelevant to people’s needs and urgencies of the moment. 

As Christopher Lasch saw in The Culture of Narcissism, consumer culture tends to create weak personalities dependent on group behavior and approval — and therefore more susceptible to advertising and product consumption. The hard and social sciences replace the clergy as a source of guidance and meaning. And social media and mass entertainment abolish solitude and personal reflection.  

So, in an age of massive self-absorption, the result is that real individuality and self-mastery are withering. Why? Because the communities that root and shape an individual in distinctive moral codes and histories — in other words, our families, churches, synagogues and fraternal organizations — can’t compete with the noise and flash of consumer society.

Here’s what that means for all of us as believers:  A “new” evangelization must start with the sober knowledge that much of the once-Christian developed world, and even many self-described Christians, are in fact pagan. 

Christian faith is not a habit. It’s not a useful moral code. It’s not an exercise in nostalgia. It’s a restlessness, a consuming fire in the heart to experience the love of Jesus Christ and then share it with others — or it’s nothing at all.

Mastering the new social and demographic data that describe today’s world, and the new communications tools to reach it, are vitally important for the Church. 

But nothing can be accomplished if we lack faith and zeal ourselves. We — and that means you and I — are the means God uses to change the world. The material tools are secondary. People, not things, are decisive.

We Want to be Taught

I just became aware of a site that is encouraging the Magisterium to implement an Ordinary Sunday catechetical lectionary. Here is what I commented on the site:

“I am extremely aware of the need for catechesis for the people in the pews. I can site many reasons, but here are a few: 1) Unless self-motivated Catholics receive no continuing formation after religious studies in grammar school, or for the lucky ones high school; 2) I've often commented on the "la la" homilies especially in liberal dioceses; and 3) Catholics are strongly influenced by the secular culture in which they live, contrary to church teaching and filled with misinformation from the media, and they don't even realize it.”

I encourage everyone to go to this site and learn more: http://www.wewanttobetaught.com/

There has been a lot of talk about the new evangelization; evangelization needs to start within ourselves, then within our local parish communities, then to the world at large.

Do you not see the need Christ has for you, as does His church? At this time when we are trying to protect our religious rights and support the efforts of Fortnight for Freedom, it is necessary for all of us to pray, inform ourselves, take action and be heard.

Fortnight for Freedom 2013

Today begins the second Fortnight for Freedom, a call for Catholics to Pray, Act, and Be Heard to protect our Religious Freedoms which are being trampled upon. I urge everyone to spend some time in these next to weeks to do just that: PRAY, ACT, and Be HEARD.

Pray:

Find a few moments each day to pray for our religious freedoms. Here is a start:

Litany for Liberty

INTRODUCTION 

Christ the Lord has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. 

Let us turn to him in humble but fervent petition, 

seeking the grace to root out from our hearts all trace of darkness, 

and all that holds us back 

from walking in the full freedom of the children of God.

As Christ is our great model for that inner freedom, 

which enables us to do the right, 

let us turn to him with confidence 

that we, too, may follow him to the fullness of spiritual freedom. 

Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy. 

Christ, have mercy; Christ, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy.

Jesus, victor over sin and death… Free our hearts. 

Jesus, source of light and hope… Free our hearts.

Jesus, fullness of truth and mystery… Free our hearts.

Jesus, teacher of seeking hearts… Free our hearts.

Jesus, healer of body and soul… Free our hearts.

Jesus, bringer of mercy and justice… Free our hearts.

Jesus, who humble the heart and mind… Free our hearts.

Jesus, release of captives… Free our hearts.

Jesus, voice against violence… Free our hearts.

Jesus, courage for the lowly/downtrodden… Free our hearts.

Jesus, origin of all authority and power… Free our hearts.

Jesus, true lawgiver… Free our hearts.

Jesus, unity of order and passion… Free our hearts.

Jesus, freedom of the Spirit… Free our hearts.

Jesus, obedient Son of the Father… Free our hearts.

For the freedom to love… Give us your grace. 

For the freedom to believe… Give us your grace.

For the freedom to hope… Give us your grace.

For the freedom to worship… Give us your grace.

For the freedom to serve in charity… Give us your grace.

For the freedom to care for the suffering… Give us your grace.

For the freedom to comfort the sick… Give us your grace.

For the freedom to feed the hungry… Give us your grace.

For the freedom to shelter the homeless… Give us your grace.

For the freedom to proclaim the Gospel… Give us your grace.

For the freedom to walk in chastity… Give us your grace.

For the freedom to live in peace… Give us your grace.

For the freedom to work in good conscience… Give us your grace.

For the freedom to stand in solidarity… Give us your grace.

For the freedom to seek justice… Give us your grace.

For the freedom to reject sin… Give us your grace. 

For the freedom to reject coercion… Give us your grace.

For the freedom to reject falsehood… Give us your grace.

For the freedom to reject evil temptations… Give us your grace.

For the freedom to reject injustice… Give us your grace.

CLOSING PRAYER 

O God, who gave one origin to all peoples 

and willed to gather from them one family for yourself,

fill all hearts, we pray, with the fire of your love 

and kindle in them a desire 

for the just advancement of their neighbor, 

that, through the good things which you richly bestow upon all, 

each human person may be brought to perfection, 

every division may be removed, 

and equity and justice may be established in human society. 

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, 

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, 

one God for ever and ever. 

Amen. 

[Collect for the Mass “For the Progress of the Peoples,” 

Masses for Various Needs and Occasions, No. 29, 

Roman Missal, Third Edition]

Act:
Pick an issue that touches your heart. Update yourself with the current news about it. Then write your congressman. Take for example the Morning after Pill. A federal judge has mandated no age restrictions, no parental notification, no prescriptions. We need congress to enact a law that the morning after pill not be made available to anyone under 18 and that a doctor's prescription be necessary. Tell your congressman what you think; that you daughter is not allowed to bring an aspirin to school or be given one by the school without your approval, yet she can obtain this high dose drug.

Make sure you are heard.

Coming to a Vending Machine near You? The Morning-after Pill

Geez! What is next?

Here is the beginning of post from Breakpoint:

I seldom get hot under the collar on the air. But a recent decision by the Obama administration has got my dander up. Stay tuned to BreakPoint.

Last week, the President threw America's parents and their daughters under a bus. And I'm hopping mad about it—and not just because I have a young daughter of my own.

First, a little history: In 2011, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overruled the Food and Drug Administration's request to make the “Plan B One-Step” drug available to all women and girls without a prescription, no matter their age. Plan B is a so-called emergency contraception drug that its maker admits could “inhibit implantation” of a fertilized egg in the womb. Sebelius agreed with the decision to distribute the drug—but insisted girls must be at least fifteen to purchase Plan B One-Step.

Please go here to read the rest of it.

Should you say "Individual" or "Person"?

I would like to call to your attention a recent post by Taylor Marshall and begin with my own comments.

I think the below post by Taylor Marshall hit the nail on the head. When you look at the condition of our society – it explains a lot. We are focused on ourselves instead of seeing ourselves as part of a whole, whatever the whole may be: family, faith community, neighborhood, citizen, etc. An infant is by nature focused on her/himself and rightly so. Am I being fed, am I warm,  am I clean, am I being loved? As they grow older they learn about relationships, sharing, not hurting others physically or emotionally. Then in the teens another turn to the “me”, away from family and toward peers. Dating and love brings the focus back to others – at least one other. Than children are the focus. For the large part, I think this lasts until the 50s. We then turn our attention to others and try to be of some service.

Society has relapsed to an infant’s focus. No longer do we ask what is good for all of us, but what is good for me. This is seen in so many ways. To answer Taylor’s question I am a person.

Here is the beginning of Taylor's post:

Should you say "Individual" or "Person"?

By Dr. Taylor Marshall

Has anyone ever called you a "bright individual" or a "gifted individual"? What does that word "individual" mean? It means "undivided one." Stop for a moment and consider this, you "undivided one." Isn't "undivided one" a strange way to refer to people?

Referring to people as "individuals" became common in European languages after 1600, especially in English. It's a feature of the so-called Enlightenment.

Recall that the Enlightenment was that so-called Era of Light after the so-called Dark Ages of Christendom. For historical reference, the Enlightenment after the state establishment of the Protestant Reformation and ended with the bloody guillotines of the French Revolution...

The Enlightenment posited that the nation is divisible. The Church is divisible. The city is divisible. The town is divisible. The family unit is divisible. Even marriages were divisible. However, the person is not. He or she is triumphantly individual.

The problem, you see, is that viewpoint becomes a very individualistic way of looking at reality. Now all major intellectual shifts succeed after linguistic shifts have become previously established. The debate over the definition of "marriage" is a contemporary example. The move away from person to individual signified the enshrinement and idolization of the human individual. Man truly became the measure of all things.

You can see how the Reformation paved the way for this kind of language. To be an Enlightenment Christian all you need is yourself and the Bible. That's it.

We traded in the old communion of the saints and the universal fellowship of Christendom of previous centuries for that new shiny title of individual. Denominations will divide, but the believer never will. And so the individual believer trumped everything.

Read the rest of the post here.

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day everyone. Please remember the reason we celebrate this day. Let's say a prayer for our fallen and injured brothers and sisters.

Unlike Michelle Obama, I am proud to be a U.S. citizen.