IRS considers taxing work perks like food, gym memberships

In competitive job markets like Silicon Valley, companies are doing everything they can to entice the best and brightest -- offering freebies that have become the stuff of legend. 
Employee perks like free food at lavish cafeterias, laundry and even yoga are not unheard of. 
But the taxman could soon crack down. 
The IRS reportedly is looking at these perks and seeing if these companies need to start paying up for the free stuff they offer employees. 
David Gamage, a tax expert and professor at the University of California, Berkeley, said it would really boil down to who benefits from these perks. 
"To what extent is this intended as a perk, a form of compensation, for the benefit of the employee, or to what extent is this just another way the employer gets the employee to work harder and longer and do things for the benefit of the employer?" he said. 
If it's the latter, then it's harder for the IRS to tax it. 
The Wall Street Journal first reported that the agency is considering whether the freebies like food, shuttles, haircuts and more are really fringe benefits on which workers should be taxed. Some tax experts see the perks as skirting the edges of the law, and warn the companies may be violating it -- but also think it would be a very aggressive move for the already-busy IRS to pursue this when they have much more on their plate. 
Silicon Valley-based Clari, which has several dozen staffers developing cloud technology for smart phones, is one such company that offers free food -- to workers who rarely leave their desks. 
CEO and co-founder Andy Byrne argues that providing good, healthy food is a necessity, not a luxury, and that everyone benefits. 
"They win [because] they're happier, our customers win [because] they get a higher quality product and then our shareholders win because they see our momentum in the market. For a small company like Clari, the idea of taxing the perks would have a devastating effect, not only for the employers who would have to cancel the perk, but also for the workers who would have lower productivity," he said. 
IRS officials declined to comment for this article. 
According to Gamage, these perks have become a necessity in the workplace. 
"Tech is a really competitive world at the high end, in terms of employers recruiting the top talent, and employers have responded; not just by paying high salaries, but by providing all sorts of perks," he said. 
Even if the IRS does crack down on this perk, the high-tech lunch isn't likely to completely disappear. Legal experts suspect most companies will probably just report it as "taxable income" to employees and then pay them more in salary to cover the cost. 
Claudia Cowan currently serves as Fox News Channel's (FNC) San Francisco-based correspondent. She joined the network in April 2008.

IRAN

Carson: White House wanted me to apologize for 'offending' Obama

FILE: March 8, 2014: Possible GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson at the Conservative Political Action Conference, in Oxon Hill, Md.REUTERS

Conservative sage Dr. Ben Carson is claiming the White House was offended by his now-famous keynote address at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast and asked at the time for an apology call to President Obama -- which he didn’t make.
The anecdote is found in Carson’s upcoming book “One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America’s Future.”
Carson, who became a conservative sensation after the address, was highly critical of the direction of the country though he never blamed the president, who was sitting just a few feet away.
“He did not appear to be hostile or angry,” Carson wrote in the book. 
“But within a matter of minutes after the conclusion of the program, I received a call from some of the prayer breakfast organizers saying that the White House was upset and requesting that I call the president and apologize for offending him. I said that I did not think that he was offended and that I didn’t think that such a call was warranted.” 
The passage was verified Tuesday by publisher Sentinel, a division of Penguin Group (USA). 
Carson, a former director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University, also suggests in the book he has no plans to run for president in 2016 unless called by God. However, he has placed third in two recent straw polls and is being courted by the well-funded National Draft Ben Carson for President Committee.

How much will ObamaCare cost you in taxes?

On this April 15, filers and accountants alike are finding a new array of taxes resulting from the president’s health care legislation. These include at least 20 ObamaCare-related tax increases totaling  $409 billion over the next ten years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.
The new taxes are especially irksome to ObamaCare opponents, because they are imposed by a law that passed on a straight party-line vote and are being enforced by an agency that some accuse of party favoritism.
"I think it's rather unfortunate that the IRS has this huge role in the Affordable Care Act because it's always controversial," said Mark Everson, a former IRS Commissioner. "Then, to tie it up with this very controversial domestic law, it just makes the job tougher," he said.
"I think you can take issue with the way ACA was paid for. But, the fact of the matter is, it’s sustainable over the long run," said Yvette Fontenot , a former Senior Policy Director at the White House Office of Health Reform.
 "It slows health care cost growth for people. And it reduces the deficit, and it was in fact paid for. The Medicare prescription drug benefit that was passed by the Republicans added $400 billon to the deficit and not a dime of it was paid for," she said.
Among  the new taxes:
- A Medicare Tax Increase of .9 percent for individuals earning over $200,000 or married couples earning $250,000
-A net investment income tax of 3.8 percent tax on individuals, estates, and trusts worth more $200,000 or $250,000 for joint filers.
- And an increase in the threshold for itemized deductions for medical expenses from 7.5 percent  to 10 percent of gross income.
There are also new taxes on insurance companies, drug makers, and medical device manufacturers. Architects of the Affordable Care Act say those businesses can afford it, given the millions of new customers they'll be serving. "More people will have health insurance and be able to use their product more effectively," said Fontenot.
But one skeptic said the projected 10-year tax increases from ObamaCare are more than twice what the Joint Committee on Taxation forecasts. "It raises the costs of these things," said Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform. "One of the promises of ObamaCare is that it will reduce costs.  These more than a trillion dollars in tax increases on health care raise the cost of health care and that's why you're seeing the price of health care, the cost of insurance, going up, not down,"  he said.
One study  by AdvaMed, a trade association, finds the medical device tax alone may put 45,000 jobs at risk. The National Federation of Independent Businesses  projects that new taxes on insurance companies may jeopardize another 125,000 to 249,000 jobs.
That figure does not include the man-hour costs of complying  with 20,000 pages of regulations.
The Fox News Taxpayer Calculator  breaks down the tax burden over the next 10 years by income level. If you make under $15,000:  it's just over $59.00. If you make between $50,000 and $100,000, it's $6,069.90. And if you make between $200,000 and $250,000, it's $38,200.66
Those  numbers appear to confirm  the observation  of Cato Institute Senior Fellow Michael Tanner that ObamaCare is "a wealth-transfer program with health insurance attached."

The Gettysburg Address, Esquire Political Blog, and Sean Hannity.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863

(Bailey) There is a Blogger named Charles P. Pierce
 
  that works at Esquire Magazines political, that slams Fox news and Sean Hannity for covering the story of the Government showing armed force against one of it's own citizens, Cliven Bundy .

    Maybe Mr. Pierce should read the Gettysburg Address before he blogs his mouth off next time. If people like Sean Hannity & Fox News had not been there to cover this story, it would probably have ended much worst.

Eric Holder and the Race Card: The issue the media can't resist

April 8, 2014: Attorney General Eric Holder testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

When Eric Holder became attorney general in 2009, he declared that when it comes to discussing race, we have become “a nation of cowards.”
Now there’s plenty of discussion of race, some of it swirling around Holder himself.
In recent days, conservative critics have accused Holder of playing the race card to deflect criticism—while his liberal allies believe some of that criticism is racially motivated. It reflects a classic cultural divide in this country and in the media establishment.
Just days ago, I was questioning whether New York Magazine went too far in proclaiming that everything about the Obama presidency was somehow colored by race. The argument this time is over who’s responsible.
What set off the racial fireworks was a Hill confrontation between the nation’s first black attorney general and Rep. Louie Gohmert, who cited the House holding him in contempt two years ago over the Fast and Furious gun-running scandal.
“I realize that contempt is not a big deal to our attorney general but it is important that we have proper oversight,” Gohmert said.
“You don't want to go there, buddy,” Holder shot back.
Holder was steamed, and in a speech the next day to Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, it showed.
Decrying “unprecedented, unwarranted, ugly and divisive adversity,” Holder said: “If you don`t believe that, you look at the way -- forget about me, forget about me. You look at the way the attorney general of the United States was treated yesterday by a house committee. Have nothing to do with me. What attorney general has ever had to deal with that kind of treatment? What president has ever had to deal with that kind of treatment?”
Holder never mentioned race. He didn’t have to. Since the AG and his boss are black, and he was speaking to a largely African-American audience, it’s surely not a wild inference to say that he was implying the attacks are racially motivated.
Factually speaking, Congress gave other attorneys general—Alberto Gonzalez, John Ashcroft, Janet Reno—a very hard time. John Mitchell went to jail. Ed Meese was investigated three times by special prosecutors. But Holder seems convinced that he has been singled out.
There is something about Eric Holder that gets under the skin of his detractors, who point to the IRS investigation, Benghazi and a litany of other cases. This lit the fuse.
“He should have been fired a long time ago,” Fox’s Bill O’Reilly said. “And I don't know what -- I don't care what color he is. Do you think that the House committee called him in and say, ‘Let's get the black guy today’? Is that what they did? Does anybody believe that?”
Karl Rove, a top Bush lieutenant, called Holder’s remarks “very unattractive whining and self-pity.”
But the view from the left part of the spectrum is very different.
Sharpton, on his MSNBC show, agreed with the AG’s assessment, saying that “a strategic reason that they`re going after Holder is he`s on the line dealing with voting rights, which a lot of them want to, in my opinion, suppress the vote. I think that this is the man what is holding his finger in the dike, protecting the rights of voters and that`s why I think a lot of the venom is going against him.”
President Obama, in his own address to the Sharpton gathering, blamed Republicans as “people who try to deny our rights” through bogus claims of voter fraud.
Charlie Rangel also chimed in: “If there’s anyone that believes the color of the president is not an issue, they’re not realistic.”
Are at least some people who can’t stand Obama and Holder influenced by the color of their skin? That’s hard to deny. But there are plenty of folks who are just unhappy with their policies and the way they do their jobs. Turning every round into a litmus test—“He played the race card!” “No, they’re prejudiced against him!”—isn’t terribly helpful.

Another Democrat suggests racism within GOP, drawing another sharp response

In this Sept. 3, 2013 file photo, Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y. is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington.AP/File

New York Rep. Steve Israel said Sunday a significant part of the Republican Party is “animated by racism,” marking the third time in recent days that a leading Democrat has appeared to make race an issue and drawn a sharp response from Republicans.
Israel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, whose major role is the get his House members re-elected, told CNN’s “State of the Union” that not all of his Republican colleagues are racist.
“Not all of them, of course not,” he said. “But to a significant extent, the Republican base does have elements that are animated by racism.”
Israel made his comments after Attorney General Eric Holder testified Tuesday before the House Judiciary Committee, then suggested the next day at a forum on civil rights that the past five years in Washington have been marked by "unprecedented, unwarranted, ugly and divisive adversity."
"If you don't believe that … you look at the way the attorney general of the United States was treated yesterday by a House committee," Holder continued.
The comment drew a sharp response from House Speaker John Boehner, who on Thursday told reporters: “There's no issue of race here. The frustration is that the American people have not been told the truth about what happened at the IRS.
“The American people have not been told the truth about what happened in Fast and Furious. The administration has not told the American people the truth about Benghazi. We've been going through all of these hearings, having to hold people in contempt because they've made it impossible to get to the documents. They have not been forthcoming.”
On Sunday, Washington Republicans suggested Democrats, at risk in November of losing more House seats and their control of the Senate, in large part over problems with ObamaCare, are trying to change the topic of public discussion.
“Dems are desperate to try to discredit conservatives because they don’t have the facts on their side,” the Republican National Committee said in a statement. “Holder tried to play the same racism card. … This must be the Dems’ latest strategy to distract from ObamaCare. Like their previous attempts, though, this one won’t work either.”
On Thursday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi appeared to suggest race is playing a part in why congressional Republicans do not want to act on comprehensive immigration reform.
“I think race has something to do with the fact that they’re not bringing up an immigration bill,” the California Democrat said. “I’ve heard them say to the Irish, ‘If it were just you, this would be easy.’ ”

Federal agency vows to continue legal action after ending Nevada ranch standoff

(Bailey) Everyone knows that the battle will never be over, as there's nothing more sure in this world then death and taxes. 
The Bureau of Land Management vowed Saturday that it would continue its legal fight to remove illegal cattle from a rural Nevada range after ending a tense weeklong standoff with a rancher and his supporters.
"After 20 years and multiple court orders to remove the trespass cattle, [rancher Cliven] Bundy owes the American taxpayers in excess of $1 million. The BLM will continue to work to resolve the matter administratively and judicially," a statement from the bureau said. "We ask that all parties in the area remain peaceful and law-abiding as the Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service work to end the operation in an orderly manner."
The BLM also announced that it was wrapping up its month-long operation to seize the 900 cattle roaming on federally owned land approximately 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas and would release the 400 head of Bundy's cattle it had already seized "in order to avoid violence and help restore order."  
"Based on information about conditions on the ground, and in consultation with law enforcement, we have made a decision to conclude the cattle gather because of our serious concern about the safety of employees and members of the public," the statement read.," the statement read.
Bureau officials had dismantled designated protest areas supporting Bundy, who they say refuses to comply with the "same laws that 16,000 public land ranchers do every year."
A group of about 1,000 supporting Bundy cheered and sang "The Star Spangled Banner" when BLM made its announcement.
The standoff at the ranch became increasingly tense the longer it lasted, prompting elected officials in several states to weigh in, militia members to mobilize and federal land managers to reshape elements of the operation. The Las Vegas Sun reported that some protesters were carrying handguns and rifles, but there were no reports of shots fired or injuries
The roundup started last Saturday after the BLM and National Park Service shut down an area half the size of Delaware to let cowhands using helicopters and vehicles gather about 900 cattle that officials say are trespassing.
Bundy, 67, and his large family cast their resistance to the roundup as a constitutional stand. He says he doesn't recognize federal authority over state land.
The dispute that triggered the roundup dates to 1993, when the BLM cited concern for the federally protected tortoise. The agency later revoked Bundy's grazing rights.
Bundy claimed ancestral rights to graze his cattle on lands his Mormon family settled in the 19th century. He stopped paying grazing fees and disregarded several court orders to remove his animals.
BLM officials, however, say Bundy owes more than $1.1 million in unpaid grazing fees.
BLM faced criticism when police used stun guns on one of Bundy's adult sons during a Wednesday confrontation on a state highway near the Bundy melon farm in the Gold Butte area.
Video of that confrontation spread on the Internet, along with blog commentary claiming excessive government force and calls to arms from self-described militia leaders. Some have invoked references to deadly confrontations with federal authorities, including a siege of a ranch home in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in 1992 and the fiery destruction of a religious compound near Waco, Texas, that killed 76 people in 1993.
"Our mission here is to protect the protestors and the American citizens from the violence that the federal government is dishing out,” Jim Landy, a member of the West Mountain Rangers, who made the journey from Montana to Nevada, told Fox News Channel. “People here are scared."
Arizona state Rep. Bob Thorpe of Flagstaff said he and state legislators weren't arguing whether Bundy broke laws or violated grazing agreements. Thorpe said the Arizona lawmakers were upset the BLM initially restricted protesters to so-called free speech zones.
Sen. Dean Heller and Gov. Brian Sandoval, both Republicans, have also said they were upset with the way the BLM was conducting the roundup. After the areas were removed Thursday, Sandoval issued a new statement.
"Although tensions remain high, escalation of current events could have negative, long lasting consequences that can be avoided," it said.
Amy Lueders, BLM state director in Nevada, said Friday that two protesters were detained, cited for failure to comply with officers at a barricade on Thursday and released.
That brought the number of arrests to three. Bundy's son, Dave Bundy, was arrested Sunday on State Route 170 and released Monday with citations accusing him of refusing to disperse and resisting arrest.
Lueders said 380 cows were collected by Thursday. She declined to provide a cost estimate for the herding operation.
Fox News' Edmund DeMarche, Matt Finn and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Asian American group tries to reconnect with GOP, citing shared core values

FILE: 2013:REUTERS

A group of Asian Americans is starting a grassroots effort to garner support for the Republican Party and its candidates, saying the GOP most closely aligns with their core values including family, education and entrepreneurship.
The group, the Asian Republican Coalition, is co-founded by international investment banker John Ying, who during the 2012 presidential election cycle served on the Republican National Finance Committee.
“We need a forum, and this first step will go a long way,” Ying told FoxNews.com earlier this week.
He hopes the effort, which will include a May 6 kickoff event at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., will provide a “friendly front door” for both potential voters and Republican lawmakers and officials.
While much of the Republican Party’s focus has recently been to trying to connect with Hispanic voters, considering Democratic President Obama won 71 percent of their vote in his re-election victory, Asians are the country’s fastest-growing ethnic group, according to a 2012 U.S. Census report.
However, over the past three presidential election cycles, Asians have increasingly voted Democrat: 73 percent for Obama compared to 26 percent for GOP nominee Mitt Romney in 2012; 62 percent for Obama compared to 35 percent for GOP nominee Arizona Sen. John McCain in 2008; and 56 percent for Democratic nominee John Kerry compared to 44 percent for GOP winner George W. Bush in 2004.
“How did the Republican Party lose us?” Ying asks.
Part of the problem, he concedes, is that Asian Americans have been “shy” about engaging in this country’s political process and as a race is a “complex,” non-homogenous group speaking lots of different languages.
Though the Asian population in the United States is estimated at roughly 18.9 million, indeed their turnout for presidential election cycles is relatively low.
Just 3 percent voted in 2012, compared to 72 percent for whites, 13 percent for blacks and 10 percent for Latinos. And Asian turnout was a mere 2 percent in the previous two presidential cycles.
With group co-founder Thomas Britt, who specializes in mergers and acquisitions with China, Ying and his group have talked with the Republican National Committee and recently made the rounds on Capitol Hill, trying to connect and reconnect with Republican lawmakers.
"No question, the Asian-American community is one of the fastest growing demographic groups,” said Nevada GOP Sen. Dean Heller. “It is critical that the men and women of this community have their voices heard in the upcoming elections. The ARC will play an important role in ensuring that this community is well represented."
Ying made clear his group is “obviously interested in the 2014 and 2016 elections” but emphasized members, at least for now, want to focus only on “broader issues.”
“We’re step-by-step type of people,” he said.
Ying repeatedly says the group is focused on family, education, entrepreneurship, personal freedom and “merit- and work-ethic driven opportunity.
The group -- a 501 (c) 4 tax-exempt nonprofit -- is also trying to make clear it is open to all Americans, including those who might be married to an Asian or do business in Asian markets.
“We want to broaden the footprint beyond bloodlines,” Ying said.

Rancher Prevails in 'New Ruby Ridge' Battle as Feds Back Down

 The Bureau of Land Management said Saturday it will stop the roundup of cattle owned by Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy.

The BLM says the animals have been illegally grazing on public lands for 20 years.

The BLM announcement came a after rangers started gathering the animals from land near Gold Butte, Nev.

The agency says it is concerned about the safety of its employees and the public.

Earlier this week, BLM officers and supporters of the Bundy family were involved in a scuffle. Cliven Bundy's son, Ammon Bundy, was shot with a stun gun twice by federal agents. Another woman said she was thrown to the ground by an officer.

With Bundy supporters pouring in from around the country, safety concerns began to grow.

BLM said it would not enforce a court order to remove the cattle and was pulling out of the area.

"Based on information about conditions on the ground, and in consultation with law enforcement, we have made a decision to conclude the cattle gather because of our serious concern about the safety of employees and members of the public," BLM Director Neil Kornze said, reports ABC News.

"We ask that all parties in the area remain peaceful and law-abiding as the Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service work to end the operation in an orderly manner," he said.

Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie brokered a deal to end the roundup, reports CBS News Las Vegas.

Tea party groups and Libertarians had joined in the widening battle in recent days.

Elected officials in states ranging from Arizona to Washington were rushing to Nevada on Thursday night after watching a startling video of an angry clash between protesters, including private militias, and U.S. Bureau of Land Management rangers, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The 10-minute video showed Bundy's son Ammon being tasered and Cliven's sister Margaret Bundy-Houston, a cancer survivor, being tackled to the ground by a ranger.

"Watching that video last night created a visceral reaction in me," said Arizona Rep. Kelly Townsend, a tea party Republican who drove from Phoenix to take part in a protest rally in Bunkerville near Bundy's 160-acre ranch. "It sounds dramatic, but it reminded me of Tiananmen Square. I don't recognize my country at this point."
Townsend is associated with a patriot group known as the Oath Keepers, which advocates that its members, mostly current and former U.S. military personnel and law enforcement officials, disobey any orders that they are given if they believe they violate the Constitution.

The Arizona lawmaker told the Review-Journal that Bundy "may be in the wrong as far as the law is concerned," but the manner in which the roundup is being handled is "un-American."

The video showed law enforcement officers holding yellow tasers and barking dogs as BLM trucks involved in rounding-up Bundy's cattle attempted to drive through State Route 170 into Bunkerville

Nevada Republican Assemblywoman Michele Fiore called the footage "horrifying," and said that she had been twice to the protest site in a show of support, as well as to "protect our Nevadans and keep the peace."

Fiore said, "I'm highly offended by the feds coming in as aggressively as they have.
But officials for the BLM have claimed that the high level of security is necessary due to the ongoing violent threats from the Bundy clan and their supporters."

BLM has shut down a 1,200-square-mile area while hired cowboys round up 900 cattle "trespassing on federal land that has been deemed a protected habitat for an endangered desert tortoise.

Although federal authorities claim that Bundy has been illegally allowing his cattle to graze on 600,000 acres of federal property for 20 years, the rancher says the land belongs to the state, and it's been used by his family to graze cattle since the late 1800s.

Bundy has compared the protest to the 1992 standoff at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and the 1993 raid on David Koresh's Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, which ended with dozens of deaths.

"Mr. Bundy is breaking the law, and he has been breaking the law for 20 years," said BLM spokeswoman Amy Lueders. "He owes the taxpayers of the United States over $1 million."

BLM rangers had rounded up more than 350 head of Bundy's cattle by Thursday.

The Oath Keepers' Facebook page instructed members planning to join the protest to bring cameras and "film everything but not to wear military camouflage or openly carry rifles," according to the Review-Journal.

"Any rifles people may have with them need to stay in the vehicles," the post said.

Fearing that the showdown could turn into an even more dangerous situation, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval warned, "Although tensions remain high, escalation of current events could have negative, long-lasting consequences that can be avoided."

Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/tea-party-libertarian-ranch-ruby-ridge/2014/04/11/id/565102#ixzz2yiNQLNm3
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White House: No visa for Iran's UN ambassador pick

The White House announced Friday that the U.S. will not issue a visa to Iran's choice for U.N. ambassador, over concerns about his involvement in the 1979 U.S. Embassy hostage crisis in Tehran.
The decision comes after Congress earlier this week approved a bill that would bar Hamid Abutalebi from stepping on U.S. soil. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the White House is reviewing that legislation but announced that Abutalebi would be barred anyway.
"We have informed the United Nations and Iran that we will not issue a visa to Mr. Abutalebi," Carney said. "We certainly share the intent of the bill passed by Congress as we have already told the U.N. and Iran that we will not issue a visa."
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said it was "not a viable nomination."
Denying visas to U.N. ambassadorial nominees or to foreign heads of state who want to attend United Nations events in the United States is rare, if not unprecedented.
American officials, though, have objected to the selection of Abutalebi because of his alleged participation in a Muslim student group that held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days in the 1979 incident. The concerns became a rare point of bipartisan agreement in Congress. The House unanimously approved the legislation on Thursday by voice vote, four days after a similar vote in the Senate.
Former American hostage Barry Rosen told Fox News on Friday that the decision to bar Iran's ambassadorial pick is a "great victory for America."
"There are special moments in American political life when grassroots activism and a bipartisan Congressional action moves an Administration to do the right thing. This is one of those rare moments in the history of the United States," he said.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who sponsored the measure in the Senate, said Friday he appreciates the president "doing the right thing" and blocking the ambassador from the U.S.
"I think that's a real moment of clarity," Cruz told Fox News, in describing the bipartisan agreement on the issue.
Earlier this week, Cruz called the nomination "a deliberate and unambiguous insult to the United States."
The Iranian government, reacting late Friday, objected to the visa denial. The Iranian Mission to the U.N. said: "It is a regrettable decision by the US Administration which is in contravention of international law, the obligation of the host country and the inherent right of sovereign member states to designate their representatives to the United Nations."
The Iranian Mission to the United Nations will be run by Deputy Permanent Representative and Charge d'Affairs Ambassador Hossein Dehghani while the dispute is settled.
The dispute comes amid nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers.
U.S. immigration law allows broad rejection of visas to foreigners and, in many cases, officials do not have to give an explicit reason for why other than to deem the applicant a threat to national security or American policy.
The law bars foreigners whose entry or activity in the U.S. would "have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States."
It also bars people who have engaged in terrorist activity, which the law defines as including seizing and detaining others; threatening to kill, injure or continue to detain them; and violent attacks on internationally protected persons such as diplomats and other agents of the U.S. government.
Iranian opposition leaders heralded the decision on Friday.
"This decision is prudent and should serve as an example for other countries not to allow Iranian regime's terrorists disguised as diplomats into their territory," said Soona Samsami, the U.S. representative of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, describing Abutalebi as a "terror mastermind."
Fox News' Eric Shawn, Jonathan Wachtel and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Union warns House Democrats of retaliation for opposing Keystone XL

The Keystone Oil Pipeline is pictured under construction in North Dakota.Reuters

One of the nation's leading building trades unions is stepping up pressure on House Democrats who oppose the Keystone XL pipeline, calling on union members in 27 congressional districts to punish their representative in the midterm election.
A letter distributed by the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA) to the 27 districts calls for union members to make sure their representative "feels the power and the fury of LIUNA this November," The Hill reported.
"Your member of Congress is trying to destroy job opportunities for our LIUNA brothers and sisters," read the letter signed by Terry O'Sullivan, the general president of LIUNA, and obtained by The Hill on Friday. 
"For every action, there is a reaction, and our reaction to this frontal assault on our way of life needs to be loud and clear. If you do not stand with us, we sure as hell will not stand with you," O'Sullivan wrote, citing the jobs Keystone would create.
The House members being targeted by the union include Reps. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J.; Anna Eshoo, D-Calif.; Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz.; and Tim Ryan, D-Ohio. All of the representatives signed a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry in March urging him to reject the pipeline.
The letter to union members asks them to remember that "unemployed construction workers desperately need the work" generated by Keystone XL, calling it a "lifeline" for thousands of members, according to The Hill. 
LIUNA said it supports reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but not at the cost of jobs, according to the report. 
"The livelihoods of LIUNA members are too important for our union to continue ignoring the actions of supposed ‘friends’ who stand in the way of jobs that enable our proud members to provide for themselves and their families," read a letter to Rep. Jan Schakowksy, D-Ill.
The Republican-controlled House has voted several times to approve the $5.4 billion pipeline, which has support from a majority of senators. 
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., blocked a vote last week on a Republican proposal that would have allowed construction of the pipeline and made numerous changes in the nation's health care law. GOP lawmakers say all of the proposals would help create jobs.
Eleven Senate Democrats, including six who face contested races this year, sent a letter to President Obama on Thursday, urging him to approve Keystone by the end of May.
The five-year review of the Canada-to-Texas pipeline has been "exhaustive in its time, breadth and scope" and has taken longer than reasonably justified, the senators wrote to the president. 
Approval of the pipeline is needed to ensure pipeline operator TransCanada does not miss another construction season, the senators' letter said.
Six of the Democrats who signed the letter face challenges this year: Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Mark Begich of Alaska, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, John Walsh of Montana, Kay Hagan of North Carolina and Mark Warner of Virginia.
The Keystone XL pipeline has emerged as an election-year dilemma for Democrats.
Wealthy party donors are funding candidates who oppose the project — a high-profile symbol of the political debate over climate change. But some of the party's most vulnerable incumbents are pipeline boosters, including the six who signed the letter Thursday.
Several former Obama administration officials, including ex-Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and former national security adviser James Jones, have called on Obama to approve the pipeline. Jones told Congress last month that approval would send Russian President Vladimir Putin a message that "international bullies" can't use energy security as a weapon.
Environmental groups and some top Democratic donors oppose the pipeline, saying it would carry "dirty oil" that contributes to global warming. They also worry about possible spills. 
Tom Steyer, a billionaire environmentalist, has vowed to spend $100 million —$50 million of his own money and $50 million from other donors — to make climate change a top-tier issue in the 2014 elections. Opposition to Keystone XL is a significant part of that effort.
White House press secretary Jay Carney said Thursday that the review of the pipeline "needs to run its appropriate course without interference from the White House or Congress." 
The State Department is reviewing the project "and when there's a decision to be announced, it will be announced," Carney said. The State Department has authority over the project because it crosses a U.S. border.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Out-of-state groups ride in to stand with Nevada rancher in battle with feds over grazing rights

(Bailey) You can say anything to the Government, like go to hell and they'll claim it's a threat.

Cliven Bundy said his family's herd has always grazed on public land. (Courtesy Bundy Ranch)

Groups from as far away as New Hampshire are riding out to Nevada to join the cattle rancher whose standoff with the federal government is growing tenser by the day.
The groups said they were going to the ranch, some 80 miles north of Las Vegas to stand with Cliven Bundy, who property is surrounded by federal agents. Bundy's herd, which once numbered nearly 1,000, is being thinned out by private contractors under the watch of dozens of armed federal agents in SUVs and helicopters, the government says, he has refused for two decades to pay fees to allow the cattle to graze on federal lands.

“Our mission here is to protect the protestors and the American citizens from the violence that the federal government is dishing out.”- Jim Landy, West Mountain Rangers

“Our mission here is to protect the protestors and the American citizens from the violence that the federal government is dishing out,” Jim Landy, a member of the West Mountain Rangers, who made the journey from Montana to Nevada, told Fox News Channel. “People here are scared.”
Bundy's family called for support this week after some incidents of violence between the family and protestors with law-enforcement. Bundy’s son was shot with a stun gun on Wednesday and his sister, Margaret Houston was pushed to the ground in incidents caught on video. The protests began to grow last week, after agents from the federal Bureau of Land Management shut off access to a large swath of federal land to round up Bundy’s cattle.
Landy said groups were going to the scene to try to help keep the peace.
“The Bundy family is expecting to be shot if they try to round up their own cattle,” he said. “We are here to make sure they are not harmed. The American people are afraid of their Federal Government.”
Members of a Utah militia arrived at the ranch Wednesday, and other militias from Texas, New Hampshire and Florida are reportedly set to arrive in the coming days.
The fight involves a 600,000-acre area under BLM control called Gold Butte, near the Utah border. The vast and rugged land is the habitat of the protected desert tortoise, and the land has been off-limits for cattle since 1998. Five years before that, when grazing was legal, Bundy stopped paying federal fees for the right.
“For more than two decades, cattle have been grazed illegally on public lands in northeast Clark County,” the BLM said in a statement. “BLM and (the National Park Service) have made repeated attempts to resolve this matter administratively and judicially. Impoundment of cattle illegally grazing on public lands is an option of last resort.”
Bundy, 67, who has been a rancher all his life, told FoxNews.com last week he believes the federal agency is trying to push him to the breaking point and likened his situation to the 1993 disaster in Waco, Texas, in which federal and state law enforcement agencies laid siege to a compound of religious fanatics calling themselves Branch Davidians, a move that resulted in the deaths of 76.
Bundy, a descendant of Mormons who settled in Bunkerville more than 140 years ago, claims an inherent right to graze the area and casts the conflict as a states' rights issue. At a news conference Friday on his ranch, he said the federal government is wrong to deny his cattle access to the grazing land they've always used. He said he barely recognized the land during an airplane flyover earlier in the day.
"I flew down along the river here, and I'd seen a little herd of cows," he told a gathering of supporters. "Baby cows. They was grazing on their meadow and they was really quite happy.
"I then flew up the river here up to Flat Top Mason, and all of a sudden, there's an army up there. A compound. Probably close to a hundred vehicles and gates all around and vehicles with armed soldiers in them.
"Then I'm wondering where I am. I'm not in Afghanistan. I think I'm in Nevada. But I'm not sure right now," he said to applause and defiant shouts.
Federal officials said that  BLM enforcement agents were dispatched in response to statements Bundy made which they perceived as threats.
“When threats are made that could jeopardize the safety of the American people, the contractors and our personnel; we have the responsibility to provide law enforcement to account for their safety,” National Park Service spokeswoman Christie Vanover said to reporters Sunday.
The land issue allegedly began after Bundy stopped paying grazing fees in 1993. He said he didn't have to because his Mormon ancestors worked the land since the 1880s, giving him rights to the land.

Journalists’ guide to Islam called cave-in to political correctness

Founding dean of the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University Lawrence Pintak (inset) recently co-edited an e-book meant to be a field guide for journalists when reporting on Islamic issues.

A "how-to" guide published by a prominent journalism school to help reporters covering Islam-related issues is under fire from critics who say it sacrifices the First Amendment to political correctness.
"Islam for Journalists,” an online guide from Washington State University, says coverage of the Muslim world can be fair, yet inoffensive without compromising journalistic principles. Yet it pointedly condemns publication of images of Muhammed, an act which is forbidden by the Koran, and seems to equate it with violence carried out in the name of Islam.  
Click here to read "Islam for Journalists"
“Across the Muslim world extremists are wielding their swords with grisly effect, but the pen…can be just as lethal,” Lawrence Pintak, dean of the school's Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, wrote in the introduction to the guide.
“Many Muslim journalists simply couldn’t understand why Western news organizations would republish the offensive images just because [of a legal right]. Journalism is not supposed to be a weapon [it is meant] to inform, not inflame,” Pintak wrote.
The guide has been endorsed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a group with ties to extremists in the Middle East.

“...But Security is often an excuse for censorship.”- Jutte Klausen, Brandeis University

In 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published two editorial cartoons depicting the Islamic prophet, calling the effort an attempt to contribute to the debate about criticism of Islam and self-censorship. Predictably, Muslim groups in Denmark complained and protests took place around the world, including violent demonstrations in some Muslim countries.
Jutte Klausen, a professor at Brandeis University, wrote the book “The Cartoons that Shook the World” about the events, only to see the offending images cut by publisher Yale University.
“My book was censored,” Klausen told FoxNews.com. “The issue was that nobody really understood what the cartoons meant. It was a different dilemma for the media at the time when they were published. No one was prepared for an international media landscape and how something like this could have different meanings for different people.
“After that it became a matter of security,” she added. “But security is often an excuse for censorship.”
Pintak, who did not return requests for comment, vehemently defends his support of press freedom in the guide, even as he seemingly making the case for censorship.
“A commitment to press freedom is in my blood,” he wrote before adding, “Journalism is not supposed to be a weapon.”
The author also seemingly panders to the Muslim faith, explaining in the guide that Muhammad is off-limits because “although he is not divine, he is considered ‘the Perfect Man.’”
“By imitating him, “Muslims hope to acquire his interior attitude—perfect surrender to God," he added, as if such a deep knowledge of a particular religion is required of journalists.
Pintak did not immediately return a request for comment. But some experts supported his position.
“It is true to a degree. There does need to be some sense of moderation,” Kevin Smith, ethics chair for the Society of Professional Journalists, told FoxNews.com. “I do agree that sometimes the way we may cover a story is to create harm, but sometimes there is help in the harm.”
“We understand that sometimes we have to create harm, but it’s based in the intentions of bringing an issue to light," he added. "The real key in ethics is to ask how much can be minimized.”

Rush on Colbert Pick: 'CBS Declared War on Heartland of America'

       Rush Limbaugh did not join the line of people congratulating Stephen Colbert on being tabbed to replace David Letterman as host of "The Late Show" after he retires next year.
On his radio program Thursday, Limbaugh said that by choosing the 49-year-old Colbert,
"CBS has just declared war on the heartland of America."

Limbaugh said that with a Colbert-hosted Late Show "no longer is comedy going to be a covert assault on traditional American values, conservatism. Now it's just wide out in the open. What this hire means is a redefinition of what is funny, and a redefinition of what is comedy." Limbaugh called the hiring of Colbert, who made his mark satirizing political conservatives on "The Colbert Report" on cable television's Comedy Central channel, blatantly counters the values traditional America has sought in their television programming.

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"They're blowing up the 11:30 format under the guise that the world is changing and people don't want the kind of comedy that [Johnny] Carson gave us, or even Letterman," Limbaugh said. "They don't want that anymore. It's the media planting a flag here. Maybe not the media's last stand, but it's definitely a declaration."

Limbaugh added that by hiring Colbert, CBS showed no interest in selecting a host that appealed to both sides of the political aisle.

"They hired a partisan, so-called comedian, to run a comedy show," Limbaugh said. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uYDGGInfykA

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Contempt of Congress

Republicans renew fight against ObamaCare as Sebelius resigns

Republicans responded to news of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' resignation from the Obama administration on Thursday with fresh calls to repeal the president's health care law. 
Sebelius leaves the administration after the tumultuous launch of the Affordable Care Act exchanges last fall. Despite calls for her ouster from Republicans at the time, she stayed on until the enrollment period ended at the end of March. 
A White House official said President Obama will formally make the announcement on Friday, and nominate White House budget office director Sylvia Matthews Burwell to replace the outgoing secretary. The Senate would have to confirm Burwell to the position. 
Republicans quickly made clear that Sebelius' departure will not temper their criticisms of ObamaCare.
"Virtually everyone who has come into contact with this law has had new reason to worry about what it means for the government to control their health care," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a statement. "Secretary Sebelius may be leaving, but the problems with this law and the impact it’s having on our constituents aren’t. ObamaCare has to go, too." 
Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Orrin Hatch said Sebelius "had one of the toughest jobs in Washington" because she had to implement the law, which he said is "flawed" and continues to fall short.
"While we haven’t always agreed, Secretary Sebelius did the best she could during the tumultuous and volatile rollout of the law," Hatch, R-Utah, said in a statement.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Sebelius' resignation will not fix problems with ObamaCare.
 "The next HHS Secretary will inherit a mess -- Americans facing rising costs, families losing their doctors, and an economy weighed down by intrusive regulations, "Priebus said in a statement. "No matter who is in charge of HHS, ObamaCare will continue to be a disaster and will continue to hurt hardworking Americans."  
The administration touted the surge in enrollment in the last few weeks, with Sebelius saying Thursday that 7.5 million American have now signed up for coverage under the law. 
But the technical difficulties surrounding the launch, as well as ongoing concerns about the implementation of the law, hung over her. She leaves just one week after the enrollment period ended, and as a tough midterm election cycle expected to focus heavily on ObamaCare begins.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi praised Sebelius' leadership during the rollout, saying she had "been forceful, effective, and essential."
"Her legacy will be found in the 7.5 million Americans signed up on the marketplaces so far, the 3.1 million people covered on their parents' plans, and the millions more gaining coverage through the expansion of Medicaid," Pelosi, D-Calif., said.
The White House official said Sebelius notified Obama of her decision to leave in early March.
"At that time, Secretary Sebelius told the president that she felt confident in the trajectory for enrollment and implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and that she believed that once open enrollment ended it would be the right time to transition the department to new leadership," the official said, adding the president "is deeply grateful for her service."
West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin praised the nomination of Burwell, a fellow West Virginia native, in a statement Thursday.
"I am confident that her leadership will ensure that we enact commonsense fixes to the Affordable Care Act to help improve the lives of millions of Americans," Manchin said.
Rep. Steve Daines, R-Mont., who is running to fill the seat vacated by Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, said in a statement that Sebelius' resignation "has been a long time coming—but it’s too little, too late."
"While Secretary Sebelius' resignation is a good start, it's not enough—we need to repeal ObamaCare before further harm comes to Montana families, and replace it with Montana-driven reforms that put the patient and their doctor—not government bureaucrats—in charge of health care decisions," Daines said.   
Sebelius, having served five years with the president, was among the longest-serving Cabinet secretaries in the administration. 
But Sebelius' relationship with the White House frayed during last fall's rollout of the insurance exchanges that are at the center of the sweeping overhaul. The president and his top advisers said they were frustrated by what they considered to be a lack of information from HHS over the extent of the website troubles.
The White House sent management expert Jeffrey Zients to oversee a rescue operation that turned things around by the end of November. 
The Associated Press contributed to this report.