Gov. LePage is on the Drudge Report

Good for him. Anyone who's had their assets and bank accounts frozen by the IRS would likely agree with the Governor. Doesn't matter if the citizen is eventually found to be without fault - the IRS can still figuratively break down the door and seize what they want, sans due process.

I call that right in line with some of what the Gestapo did.

And before anyone starts squawking, I come from a family whose members died in the concentration camps, and no -- I'm not offended by what the Governor said.

LePage's analogy is a lot closer than many Americans can admit.

The federal government has all the powers that all democratic socialist tyrannies seek to maintain their continuance and power.

America has lost the checks and balances originally envisioned by our founders. The executive branch has become the supreme power, the congressional branch has become dysfunctional cowards and the supreme court no longer visits the constitution. It has become just another appointed government body following either edict from above or holding its finger to the wind for political acceptance.

This has been going on for decades, only the recent quickening of the pace has got our attention.

How long have we had these 5/4 decisions from the supreme court? Those 5/4 decisions delayed somewhat the full tyranny of the state, are we now going to see every 5/4 decision go the other way?

And we are expected to reverse this trend through legislation from the corrupt legislative and executive branch?

Had the Affordable Care Act vote gone 5-4 against, most conservatives would have been quite content. Just because it went 5-4 in favor shouldn't change that assessment.

Thank you, NancyEH, for your typical hit and run post. *Pats Nancy on the head* Run along, now...you're dismissed. And I mean that on many levels.

No NancyEH makes a good point, if it had been struck down 5/4 many would have thought everything was just fine in Americana.

LePage also got a headline on YAHOO with the gestapo quote!

LePage comments featured on Hot Air.

I guess we're still too close to the horror of Nazi Germany to accept the generalization of Gestapo and other Nazi references as figurative rather than literal shorthand for intimidating police powers.

The IRS in America does invoke thoughts of an intimidating arm of the state with the power to threaten and curtail your freedom.
But they're not likely to drag you from your home and execute you in front of your children.

I always marvel at the reverence for privacy among Americans who embrace the laws that compel them to reveal any and all information about their finances to an agency of the government, on threat of jail time. Just don't ask them about their health or immigration status, or make them watch a video depicting the shredding of an aborted fetus.

Well, the Governor has done it this time. He's gonna get audited ever year for the rest of his life.

"Had the Affordable Care Act vote gone 5-4 against, most conservatives would have been quite content. Just because it went 5-4 in favor shouldn't change that assessment."

What an wonderful example of what passes for liberal 'thought' these days. If the "Affordable Care Act" (how can it be 'affordable' if it adds trillions to the deficit?) had been overturned, individual rights would have been protected. But because one justice got too much political pressure, the power of the government over the individual has just been exponentially increased. And Mike G. to the contrary, anytime individual rights are protected, it's a reason for rejoicing, so it would have been proper for conservatives to celebrate a branch of government actually doing its job.

If you call a 5/4 victory as a reason for rejoicing than so be it Vikingstar.

I'd say all those 5/4 victories were just a prelude to 5/4 defeats and Roberts has shown us the way.

Does the government have the authority to require you to buy a service?

That should be a 9/0 decision, but in gestapoland, Americans must hope for the good grace of 9 crooks to pass judgment.

If you have had to deal with the IRS you will know that they act like the Gestapo in many instances. Those who have had liens put on their property by the IRS sure look at them as the Gestapo. Just wait until these thousands of new IRS agents need to deal with your illness or injury. When you are old they will smilingly tell you that you cannot have what can make your life better or longer as more productive younger people are in need. LePage was right on! Tell it like it is!

NancyEH, when did you last, if ever, read the constitution? The unaffordable Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional in its very premise that the government has the authority to compel anyone to purchase anything.

Our rights do not come from the government, but from God. And every time we chisel away our God given rights,relinquishing His gift to us by giving it to the government, we diminish our recognition of His ultimate authority in our lives. In exchange, we increase government's dominion over us, little by little, step by step.

The Jews were slaves to the Egyptian King for over 400 years, subject to hard labor and the will of the Egyptians...but they were fed and clothed and watered. We are heading in that same direction. Only our kings are found in Washington, DC and in our state or municipal governments.

For what its worth, the PPH has nearly 1000 reader comments contributed to the gestapo story and nearly 450 reader comments contributed for the Dems demanding an apology story. Interesting reading as well, namely in that most taking aim at the Gov have no ability to debate and resort to name calling and the like, a do as I say, not as I do mentality. Any bets as to which side of the aisle those comments come from?

Does NancyEH pay for her own insurance or as one of the protected class of indoctrinators does someone else pay for it? If she does not pay for her own, want to bet she would be screaming about how unfair it would be to make her do so?

The comment was a bit of the classic LePage foot-in-mouth, but I really don't have that much of a problem with it. The IRS has hired thousands of new revenue agents over the last couple of years, and some of the ones I've run into recently are arrogant, threatening and in some cases cruel. Bunch of jerks.

I miss the "kinder and gentler IRS" promised under Bush I.

"If you call a 5/4 victory as a reason for rejoicing than so be it Vikingstar.

I'd say all those 5/4 victories were just a prelude to 5/4 defeats and Roberts has shown us the way."

If it had been a victory, of course I would call it a victory.

"That should be a 9/0 decision, but in gestapoland, Americans must hope for the good grace of 9 crooks to pass judgment."

I'll just point out that 4 of those "crooks" opposed vehemently the decision. So, you would want to cleanse the Supreme Court of people who actually agree with you? And, you have apparently decided that your country is "gestapoland", and anybody not as politically pure as you are are "crooks"?

Trust me, I know which side.

Anyone who says the Feds don't act like thugs needs to read the following BDN story about collections on student loans. We can anticipate the same thuggery when it comes time to collect Obamacare penalties.

30 years ago, this lady mistakenly thought she'd folded a $3,100 student loan in with others, during a debt consolidation. Instead of contacting her for payment, the Feds gave her case to one of their collection agencies. There are other stories included in the article, regarding the brutal tactics being employed by the government and the collection agencies.

Does anyone really think the same thuggery won't emerge with regard to Obamacare scofflaws?

**************

Federal government gets tough on student loan defaults

By John Hechinger, Bloomberg News
Posted July 08, 2012, at 6:40 a.m.

Lawyers drained Linda Brice’s bank account and seized a quarter of her...pay... $900 a month. Brice, a first-grade teacher and Coast Guard veteran, begged for mercy... couldn’t afford food, gas or utilities.

.... defaulted on $3,100 ...borrowed ...30 years ago...for college. ...chief federal judge... ruling...Brice should pay only $25 a month. ...law firm of Goldsmith & Hull — representing ...federal government — ...withdrew $2,496 from her bank account.

“I am at the end of my rope,” Brice wrote ...in...court filing. “I apologize ... but I simply do not know what to do."

BDN

********

The law firm, acting for the Feds, disobeyed the Federal judge's ruling, and seized her money. They berated her, telling her to sell her car, and wouldn't let up. Over a $3,100 loan.

The judge had to force them to return the extra money they'd taken, and they ended up settling for the principal amount on the loan - but offered no apology for the manner in which she was treated, despite the judge's chiding the law firm.

This is what we have to look forward to with Obamacare, and the Governor is correct in describing such tactics as something the "Gestapo" would do.

Looks like Adrienne got through to him.

From a press release from the Blaine House:

AUGUSTA – Governor Paul LePage released the following statement Monday regarding his recent radio address in which a comparison was made of the Internal Revenue Service to the Gestapo:

“It was not my intent to insult anyone, especially the Jewish Community, or minimize the fact that millions of people were murdered.

Clearly, what has happened is that the use of the word Gestapo has clouded my message. Obamacare is forcing the American people to buy health insurance or else pay a tax. Our health care system is moving toward one that rations care and negatively impact millions of Americans.

We no longer are a free people. With every step that Obamacare moves forward, our individual freedoms are being stripped away by the Federal Government.

This should anger all Americans.”

Good for Adrienne. I had a VERY hard time believing that word would have passed muster from his handlers.

Really like the Guv, but sometimes he's his own worst enemy.

I remember the outrage from the left over this:

Bush is Hitler rhetoric

Oh, wait, there WASN'T any outrage from the left.

Hey, maybe the lefties are just lying hypocrites.

Exactly, Tom. It's called a "convenient memory."

I can live with LePage's gaffes. Quite a change from Baldacci's pablum drips. No apology necessary.

charlie

"We no longer are a free people."

Hmmm where is the outrage from that statement?

From time to time over the many years, there has been the familar story in the Reader's Digest of the IRS raising heck with someone over taxes. The story always end in the same way. After years of legal proceedures the IRS finally was wrong and the victim dies of stress related illness.
Gestapo ? Please, don't insult the Germans.

Oh, a more correct term for the IRS,,,,,, Thieves Incorporated.

I am just waiting for the FRIST DEM to get Stopped, Frisked and Robbed by the IRS for no Health Insurance. (If it would ever happen) then see how they feel. Hee, Hee, Hee! I just had a young lady make the statement she thought the Gestapo term was not called for and when I asked her what she thought of the "BROWN SHIRT COMMENTS her side harped about when Bush was in Office, she wrote back she never had herd of the BROWN SHIRTS. Suggested she look it up as of course she hadn't as they haven't taught the REAL HISTORY in High School for Years. Just the rewritten one. She had one of her friends who is Jewish say the same thing. Suggested to her to ask Mom and DAD or even the Grandparents about the BROWNSHIRTS. There ya go, the dumming down of the youth of today and the past 20 years. HOLY!

Calling the IRS the Gestapo is not to be taken literally as a force who murdered and tortured citizens. What they did was encourage fear of the government, intra-family espionage, neighbor against neighbor, required absolute obedience and were pretty much above any civil law. If you don't think so, just Google IRS Abuses.

As regards the Guv...it is what he does, NOT what he says that counts. The Liberal-Marxists all think it is what you say that matters. To heck with what you actually do.

Hogan's Hero's reruns were on at my house growing up. When Lepage said "gestapo" I knew exactly what he meant. He is dead on accurate. Being offended is a state of mind.........

For me--without question--the good Governor's most endearing quality is the utter scorn and unbridled disdain he holds for the federal government.

well said Virgil.

Paul LePage speaks my language. I totally get the gestapo comment. I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment.

Let the dogs bark. This caravan is moving on.