I THOUGHT WE IMPEACHED NIXON...?

Today's news includes a story that the NAACP is in trouble with the IRS. Did its accountants file the wrong forms? Forget to enclose a check? Debit when they should have credited?

None of the above.

No, Julian Bond had the temerity to criticize the Bush Administration in a speech at its July convention. Now, the NAACP is being audited to determine whether it should keep its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.

To qualify for such status, an organization must not take sides in political campaigns. Bond condemned the policies of the Bush Administration and noted that Bush would not address the NAACP, while candidate John F. Kerry (who is running against Bush, and is from a different political party... you may have heard) would.

I guess the question is this: If an organization's very reason for existing is challenged by one candidate and not the other, is it supposed to sit silently by?

More to the point, is this a cynical attempt by the Bush Administration to remind its white southern supporters which side of the issues it sits on? As ill-prepared as Bush is to govern, it would be a very clever thing to attack the NAACP on an issue having nothing to do with its real disagreements with African-Americans. And Karl Rove and Karen Hughes are certainly master political operatives.

If groups like the NAACP can't choose sides politically, it's probably reasonable that they don't receive tax-exempt status. You'll notice the Christian Coalition is smart enough to not be tax-exempt. But choosing to challenge the NAACP during this election season smacks of the White House Plumbers more than anything I've heard recently in the Dumbya Era. Heck, even Nixon would have been smart enough (I think) to have waited until after the election to put the screws to the uppity NAACP.

Tuesday frightens me.

THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO REPLACED BY THE CURSE OF THE GRAB-INO

From today's New York Daily News:

Boos rained down from all corners of the Stadium last night, as A-Rod fell short of the World Series (news - web sites) - the main reason he wanted to leave the Rangers and come to the Yankees in the first place.

Oh, it couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Alex Rodriguez, who spurned Seattle for Texas "to win" and not for the money, once again failed to deliver in the postseason. It goes back to 2000, when he barely showed up for Seattle after Roger Clemens buzzed him high and inside in his first AB.

Rodriguez may have appeared to be a team player after moving to third base with the Yankees, but it always seems to be about him and not about the team. Maybe it's just appearance. I don't know. I know Derek Jeter wouldn't have flailed like a girl at Bronson Arroyo's glove while running to first in Game 6. I know no team with Alex Rodriguez on it has ever won a League Championship Series, even given a 3-0 lead in games and a lead with the most dominant closer in baseball history on the mound twice with the Series on the line.

And the Red Sox say they're they idiots.

QUESTION: IS THIS ANY DIFFERENT THAN THE KENNEDYS?

Bush Brothers Briefcase Full of Pork

Ted Rall and George W. Bush

Rall rants.