In which we grin...

I think my friend Cobban expresses it well:

In which we find /something/ to do to fight the feeling of helplessness...

According to IRS Publication 1828 "Tax Guide for Churches and Religious Organizations" (page 5):
All IRC section 501(c)(3) organizations, including churches and religious organizations, must abide by certain rules:
■ their net earnings may not inure to any private shareholder or individual,
■ they must not provide a substantial benefit to private interests,
■ they must not devote a substantial part of their activities to attempting to influence legislation,
■ they must not participate in, or intervene in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office, and
■ the organization’s purposes and activities may not be illegal or violate fundamental public policy.

Specifically: A church or religious organization will be regarded as attempting to influence legislation if it contacts, or urges the public to contact, members or employees of a legislative body for the purpose of proposing, supporting, or opposing legislation, or if the organization advocates the adoption or rejection of legislation.

Stolen from sheriffjoe with his blessing - please pass along:

Here's something YOU can do if you want to take the Mormon Church to task for its part in the YES ON PROPOSITION 8 battle:

1. Take 5 minutes to print these articles out and any others you can find (to include as evidence):
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_10839546
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_10842051

(I included other articles I found, with a hand-written "See other attached articles" note on lines 5e:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/10/08/state/n144806D74.DTL&tsp=1
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i7Ee9lkE23iWetMMU1Vy5nxReXCgD93MT0601
http://www.sltrib.com/News/ci_10664599
http://www.sltrib.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=10671847&siteId=297
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2008/10/now-the-mormon.html
http://mormonsfor8.com/ - This one's lovely, as it actually details donations.



You will notice on the pdf below that the first two websites are already listed there...however, printing them out makes it tougher for the IRS to ignore.

2. Then, print out this pre-filled form here: http://www.jaguarmoon.org/daystar/f3949a.pdf.

3. Mail the form and the printed articles to: Internal Revenue Service Fresno, CA 93888

You're done! ...

or if you prefer to fill out the form yourself...

2.1 Download the form from the IRS at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f3949a.pdf.

2.2 List the taxpayer as: Thomas S. Monson, et al 50 East North Temple Salt Lake City, Utah 84150

2.3 List his occupation as President and the business as the ridiculously full name of the church (same address).

2.4 Check the boxes for False Exemption and Public/Political Corruption.

2.5 Then in the Comments section demand that the LDS Church be fined and their tax-exempt status revoked for repeated and blatant violations of the IRS's separate of church and state rules, and for conspiring to interfere with a state's political process.

2.6 Check Yes under "Are books/records available?" and write in "campaign finance records."

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

For those of you who want to know where your dollars can help on this matter, consider making a donation to InvalidateProp8 in the name of the president of the Mormon Church, Thomas Monson, (or any other individual who you should choose.

The organization will not only work towards the fight to have Proposition 8 overturned as unconstitutional, but will also send a nice letter to your benefactor explaining the gift being made in their name.

I'm also curious about the Knights of Columbus... as a tax-exempt group, shouldn't they also be required to stay out of such matters on an official basis? And yet, they donated 1.4 million dollars to the Yes on 8 campaign. Hmmm. Does anyone know if they fall under the same category, and if such a thing qualifies them for a complaint/protest in the same way that is being suggested for the Mormon church above?

In which we say hi...

And to my friend, Josh (aka slacker_runt)... "HI!"

(Sorry for the interuption, but someone thought he didn't know me, so I told him I'd say hi to him publicly.)