Riots in France, American preparedness, and IRS investigations

Muslim riots in France are being blogged and reported quite extensively. Areas of inquiry I would like to see covered include:

1. What roles are the Muslim clergy playing in this whole thing? Are they advocating the lawlessness (which, with all of my prejudices, I strongly suspect)? Are any Muslim imams in France calling for law and order and an end to the violence? If so, this should be reported.

2. What is being done in America to deter similar Muslim behavior here? History, recent and distant, has shown that Muslims respond quite positively to a clear show of force and strength. It must be made clear that America will not tolerate the same kind of behavior that is now happening in France.

There are, to be sure, several differences between American and France. Most notably, many Muslims have integrated into our American society, and have found success and prosperity in America. Without in any way negating the statements made in the previous paragraph, I will observe that many in Muslim community leadership positions can potentially be persuaded to take a stand against violence because they have much to lose if the Muslim community in America behaves in the same manner as their French counterparts. There are Muslims who are quite willing to work with the authorities to keep law and order in the streets of America. Outreach to the Muslim community is a valuable component of deterring Muslim riots in America (though, as noted above, a definitive show of strength is a sine qua non to effective deterrence).

3. What are the authorities in America prepared to do if deterrence fails, and the Muslims start rioting in the streets here? Will there be pissing contests over whether the first response should be the Army or the State Militia or the local gendarmerie? Will the police and the fire departments break down each others' wagons? Are the Federal, state and/or local chief executives prepared to give the "shoot to kill" order?


But never mind the Muslims! We need to protect ourselves against the Internal Revenue Service!

Seems that the All Saints Church in Pasadena, California is now being investigated by the IRS. The Church allegedly violated the restrictions against partisan political activity by tax-exempt organizations because an "emeritus" guest pastor (whateverthehell that may be) made certain statements in a single sermon. The church has retained Marcus Owens, former chief of the IRS's Exempt Organizations Division and now a member of the Caplin & Drysdale law firm, to represent them against the IRS. This is a power hitter lawyer at a heavy artillery tax law firm (the Caplin in Caplin & Drysdale is Mortimer Caplin, former IRS Commissioner). Marc Owens has responded quite eloquently to the IRS's nastygram investigation letter (as well he should, given the fees he must be billing for his services).

Understand that I have no inherent empathies for All Saints Church. It is a leftist idiotarian moonbat congregation, plain and simple (just surf through their website if you have a sufficient supply of Zantac, Prilosec and/or Nexium to treat your stomach)! I will even go so far to say that All Saints Church DESERVES the IRS investigation.

It is reassuring to know that the IRS is enforcing the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code that prohibit churches from engaging in political activity. Perhaps the IRS will give similar scrutiny to the various Muslim mosques, whose activities of late have grown ever increasingly political.