WASHINGTON -- At the beginning of the IRS Tea Party targeting controversy, the White House insisted the scandal was confined to a rogue operation in the agency's Cincinnati office. But now, it's clear the scandal was rooted in the nation's capital.
"We're following the facts; they undeniably now lead to Washington," Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said.
During its recent hearing, the House watchdog committee uncovered a connection between the extra scrutiny of applications for tax exempt status of Tea Party groups and the IRS's Chief Counsel William J. Wilkins.
What does it mean now that the IRS chief counsel has been implicated in the Tea Party targeting scandal? Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, answers that question and more on The 700 Club, July 30.
Wilkins is one of just two IRS positions appointed by the president.
Carter Hull, a lawyer who retired from the IRS after 48 years of service, told the committee he was directed to send his recommendations about the tax applications of Tea Party groups to the Office of the Chief Counsel.
"Look, we know how this works. We know that when you put this much discretion and this much discretionary power in the hands of the few, eventually, it may well be abused for partisan political purposes. That happened here and we've got to get to the bottom of it," Rep. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said.
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The White House now calls the IRS scandal "phony."
However, soon after it broke, President Obama appointed Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to investigate. Lew said there's no evidence of political wrongdoing.
"We have to look at the facts," Lew said. "There have been lot of investigations; there have been a lot of hearings, IGs, the Justice Department. There is no evidence of any political decision maker who was involved in any of those decisions."
But when pressed by the host of "Fox News Sunday," he wouldn't say if anyone has asked Wilkins if he was involved with targeting Tea Party groups.
????
Tom McClusky, works for the Family Research Council, a non-profit conservative group that was audited.
He told CBN News political targeting by the IRS is nothing new. He said the agency has become little more than a political arm of the party in charge of the White House.
"These are American citizens being targeted," he said. "They're not phony people. This is not an Astroturf kind of scandal. This is a scandal that has actual roots and shows the inherent problems at the IRS.
Source: http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/politics/2013/July/FRC-Real-People-Targeted-in-Phony-IRS-Scandal--/
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In this July 23, 2013 photo, Moises Dominguez of Mexico?s National Disaster Prevention Center laboratory shows equipment used to monitor the Popocatepetl volcano in Mexico City. Technicians keep a round-the-clock watch on Popocatepetl, analyzing data for signs of a full-scale eruption, which they can never fully anticipate. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
In this July 23, 2013 photo, Moises Dominguez of Mexico?s National Disaster Prevention Center laboratory shows equipment used to monitor the Popocatepetl volcano in Mexico City. Technicians keep a round-the-clock watch on Popocatepetl, analyzing data for signs of a full-scale eruption, which they can never fully anticipate. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
FILE - In this July 23, 2013 file photo, smoke rises from the crater of the Popocatepetl volcano as seen from a Mexican Navy aircraft on a volcano monitoring mission in Mexico. The Popocatepetl, or ?Smoking Mountain? in the Nahuatl language, is a stratovolcano, a steep conical formation built from layers of thick, slow-moving lava and ash. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, File)
FILE - In this July 23, 2013 file photo, smoke rising from the crater of the Popocatepetl volcano is carried away by wind, next to dormant Iztaccihuatl volcano, front right, seen from a Mexican Navy aircraft on a volcano monitoring mission in Mexico. According to Mexican legend, Popocatepetl was a warrior who sought the hand of Iztaccihuatl, a fair maiden whose reluctant father told her that her suitor had died in battle. The ?Romeo and Juliet?-style tale ends with the lovers turning into twin mountains east of Mexico City. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, File)
In this July 23, 2013 photo, Gilberto Castelan, director of instrumentation at Mexico?s National Disaster Prevention Center laboratory, shows a seismic graph from Dec. 18, 2000 when a large eruption was recorded at the Popocatepetl volcano in Mexico City. Sensors feed data to the constantly scrolling seismographs as the crew and volcanologists analyze the concentration of gases and changes in the shape of the mountain. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
FILE - In this July 10, 2013 file photo provided by the Mexican Navy (SEMAR), steam and ash rise from the crater of the Popocatepetl volcano seen from the cockpit of an aircraft on the outskirts of Mexico City as pilots approach the volcano. At times the only way to really see what?s going on inside is to fly over the crater, something Mexican officials do regularly, feeding Mexico?s National Disaster Prevention Center laboratory more data. (AP Photo/SEMAR)
MEXICO CITY (AP) ? In a clean, hushed room in the south of Mexico City, cameras, computer screens and scrawling needles track the symptoms of a special patient, as they have every second of every day for the past two decades. The monitors indicate that "Don Goyo" is breathing normally, even as he spews hot rock, steam and ash.
That kind of activity isn't unusual for the 17,886-foot (5,450-meter) volcano, Mexico's second-highest, whose formal name is Popocatepetl, or "Smoking Mountain" in the Aztec language Nahuatl. But this volcano, personified first as a warrior in Aztec legend and now as an old man grumbling with discontent, is in the middle of two metro areas, where his every spurt can put 20 million people on edge.
Mexico's National Disaster Prevention Center laboratory keeps a round-the-clock watch on Popocatepetl, with anywhere from six to 15 technicians analyzing data for signs of a full-scale eruption, which they can never fully anticipate.
Though lava or glowing rock would only travel so far, an explosion could be deadly for 11,000 people in three farming villages within 10 miles (16 kilometers) of the base because of landslides and hot gas. A spectacular plume of ash could also wreak havoc on one of the world's largest metro areas, much as it did in 2003, when the sky over Mexico City more than 40 miles (65 kilometers) away nearly went dark in the middle of the afternoon. The neighboring city of Puebla on the other side of the volcano from the capital would also be clouded over.
"The volcano is like a patient, and we observe the different aspects," said the center's technical director Gilberto Castelan. "Here we receive over 60 indicators in real time."
The 20-by-30-foot (6-by-9-meter) laboratory resembles those that once housed old giant supercomputers, everything plain white with a server at one end and screens all around. Five remote-controlled cameras positioned on the side of the mountain emit real-time images, while sensors feed data to the constantly scrolling seismographs as the crew and volcanologists analyze the concentration of gases and changes in the shape of the mountain. The loudest laboratory sound is a regular ping that alerts technicians to every seismic shift, at least a half dozen an hour.
The data helps set the "volcano stoplight," a three-color system in which green means little activity, yellow means warning and red starts the evacuation process ? something that has occurred only twice since 1994, when the volcano awoke again after sitting dormant for seven decades.
"It's one of the most advanced laboratories of its kind in the world, and the scientists in charge are using the best methods," said Michael Sheridan, a volcanologist at the University of Buffalo in New York who has studied Popocatepetl. "It is very difficult to predict the behavior of a volcano that has not had an eruption in recent history."
Earlier this month, Popocatepetl released ash that grounded plane flights and dusted cars, but it quieted down enough last week for the warning to drop from yellow-3 to yellow-2. The Mexican government has designated evacuation routes and shelter locations in the case of a bigger explosion.
Popocatepetl, nicknamed Popo or Don Goyo, is a stratovolcano, a steep conical formation built from layers of thick, slow-moving lava and ash ? the same type as Mount St. Helens in Washington state, scene of a 1980 eruption that was the most deadly in the U.S., killing 57 people.
Mexico's disaster prevention center says Popo has been active for at least 500,000 years and has had at least three eruptions as large as Mount St. Helens, the most recent 23,000 years ago. Unlike Hawaiian volcanos and their rivers of lava, the biggest dangers for those nearby are mudslides and swift-moving clouds of gas. For those farther away, it's the ash, which can ruin motors, stall airplanes, cover roofs with material heavy enough to make buildings collapse and cause respiratory diseases.
"Considering the number of people who would be affected, it could be considered among the most dangerous volcanos in the world," said Ramon Espinasa, director of geological hazards for the disaster prevention center.
According to Mexican legend, Popocatepetl was a warrior who sought the hand of Iztaccihuatl, a fair maiden whose reluctant father told her that her suitor had died in battle. The "Romeo and Juliet"-style tale ends with the lovers turning into twin mountains east of Mexico City. The dormant peak of Iztaccihuatl has since become part of a national park, while access to Popocatepetl is closed off.
Don Goyo, meanwhile, is the nickname for Gregory, a character who supposedly was the spirit of the volcano and would come to warn the locals of eruptions or to assure them that the mountain, despite plumes of smoke, was calm.
Today that's Castelan's job. He and his crew of technicians don't have much to say about the myths or legends, preferring to stick to the hard data in their laboratory, which opened right after Popo's reawakening two decades ago. At the time, Mexico was about to plunge into one of its worst economic crises. Since then, Mexicans say the eruptions are just Don Goyo showing his discontent with the course of his country, including blowing off smoke and ash a year ago, just before the presidential election.
Castelan prefers to look to the sensors to read Don Goyo's thoughts. The trick is monitoring the crater, where it's too hot for instruments, and that's where the seismographs offer clues.
Some tremors indicate an internal buildup of magma, while others result from expulsions of rock and ash. At times the only way to really see what's going on inside is to fly over the crater, something Mexican officials do regularly, feeding the laboratory more data.
The technicians are especially watchful of lava domes that can form inside the crater in hours, days or weeks, creating a pressurized cap.
The domes usually grow and then collapse. But they could also harden into a sort of bottle-stopper, allowing pressure to build until the volcano violently dislodges the cap in an explosion. What seems to be happening with Popo is lava settling inside, bringing the crater floor closer and closer to the rim, Castelan said.
"The volcano becomes more dangerous as the crater fills with lava, and the domes that form are closer in elevation to the crater rim," Sheridan told The Associated Press in an email. "Explosions can more easily throw red hot lava fragments over the rim and onto the volcano flanks."
In 2000, Popo's floor was 150 yards (meters) below the rim of the crater, compared to 50 yards (meters) today, he said. In the case of Mount St. Helens, the summit slid away and a new crater was formed, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Mount St. Helens' huge eruption came just 15 to 20 seconds after a 5.1 magnitude quake.
Castelan, a 42-year-old father of three, has worked in the laboratory since 1997 and steadily moved up to technical director. The job has meant days without going home, or tending to equipment failures on nights and weekends.
Sometimes he thinks, "Not again," when he's called while off duty. But he said he does the work gladly because he knows how important it is that the people in the shadows of Popo stay alerted and safe.
"It's a very important relationship that we've established," he said. "We take care of this volcano."
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George Borst's move in 1997 to Toyota Motor Credit Corp. puzzled some Toyota insiders because of his lack of experience within the finance arm. |
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LOS ANGELES ? George Borst, who led Lexus through the endaka currency exchange crisis of the mid-1990s and who has been CEO of Toyota Financial Services for the past 13 years, announced his retirement from Toyota today.
Borst will stay with the U.S. credit and insurance arm through the end of September, he told a meeting of top Toyota and Lexus dealers. He will turn 65 on Sept. 2.
His replacement will be Mike Groff, 58, the seventh employee hired by Toyota Motor Credit Corp. when the captive finance company was formed in 1983. Groff has been head of Toyota Financial Services' sales and marketing for the past five years.
Borst presided over massive growth in Toyota's finance arm ? from about $21 billion in assets in 1997 to $91 billion today, with its operating income jumping sixfold in that period, to $1.8 billion. Toyota's share of its dealers' finance business has soared from 37 percent in 1997 to 64 percent today.
In an interview, Borst said Groff is an excellent choice as his successor.
"Mike has worked in the branches and regions, in operations and strategic planning," Borst said. "His five years in sales and marketing have been the toughest five years ever, and we've had terrific results in that time."
Hired by McCurry
Borst was hired in 1985 by legendary Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. executive Bob McCurry to oversee the marketing department, a position that evolved into running Toyota's budding strategic planning department in 1991.
But his biggest challenge may have been as general manager of Lexus Division, a job he assumed in 1993. During his tenure, the dollar collapsed against the yen, making the cost of Japan-built vehicles sold in America much more expensive. The yen went from 115 to 80 to the dollar by 1995, and Lexus' launch momentum was derailed.
"I am most proud of my time at Lexus," Borst said in an interview. "When we started to struggle, we could have had bargain-basement sales and eliminated all those customer handling touches. This was our first test of who we were. And in 1995, even as our sales volume had dropped, we still swept the J.D. Power awards."
Borst's move in 1997 to Toyota Motor Credit Corp. puzzled some Toyota insiders because of his lack of experience within the finance arm. At the time, even Borst admitted he was a bit at sea. But his background in strategic planning helped meld an organization that has become a financial powerhouse.
In 2000, Toyota Motor Corp.'s 16 separate finance arms worldwide were absorbed by a new global finance unit called Toyota Financial Services Corp. Borst was named CEO of Toyota Financial Services U.S.A.
One of his first moves was to create a collaborative management committee to analyze strategies to help build the business. He also changed the unit's field structure.
In 2001, Toyota decided that its 36 finance branch offices should handle only dealer business and stop handling customer interaction. Instead, three call centers handled all customer service. About 1,000 people were affected, and some branch offices were closed. But with more than a year's notice, Toyota Financial suffered little loss of service in the move.
Award winner
The increased efficiencies allowed the unit's volumes to nearly double in five years ? growth that slowed only when the recession hit. Again, Borst made a tough decision, refusing to let Toyota Financial back out of leasing when the rest of the industry panicked. Toyota stood by its residual values, and dealers and retail customers stayed loyal to the brand.
As a result, Toyota has 345,000 off-lease customers returning to the fold within the next 18 months ? a significant opportunity for loyalty retention, Borst said.
"When you think of how competitive this market is, that's a significant advantage," he said. "Were giving dealers 18,000 leads a month from this."
Toyota Financial Services is now the No. 2 issuer of commercial paper in the world, behind General Electric. And the unit's in-house treasury department has won all four of the financial services industry's coveted awards for performance, stability, speed-to-market and risk management. No company, automotive or otherwise, has ever done that, Toyota said.
Those were key reasons why Borst was named an Automotive News All-Star in 2012.
Borst said he was proud that Toyota's finance arm ranked atop seven categories in the recent National Automobile Dealers Association survey.
"Toyota dealers can only get their cars from Toyota," he said. "But finance is a commodity product. It's a relationship business."
You can reach Mark Rechtin at mrechtin@crain.com. -- Follow Mark on
Source: http://www.autonews.com/article/20130729/OEM02/130729894/borst-will-retire-as-toyota-finance-chief
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By Tom Fornelli | College Football Writer
Florida will be starting camp Friday, but it appears the Gators will be without their starting quarterback for at least the first few practices.
The school announced on Tuesday that quarterback Jeff Driskel had undergone an appendectomy. Not a major surgery, by any means, but one that his coach says could keep him out for a few weeks as he recovers.
?Jeff had acute appendicitis and fortunately the medical staff caught it very quickly,? said Will Muschamp in a release. ?His surgery went well and how long he is out will be determined by how his body responds, which could be two weeks.?
Now, the good news for Driskel is that with the transfer of Jacoby Brissett during the offseason, he's the unquestioned starter heading into camp, and that's not likely to change following the appendectomy. The bad news is that Driskel is the unquestioned starter and he could be missing out on a couple weeks of important practices as the Gators prepare for the 2013 season.
If Driskel's appendix wasn't so selfish it would have become inflammed and uncomfortable in June or something.
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The startup behind a "wearable smart vibrator" called Vibease has taken to Indiegogo with hopes of raising at least $30,000 from fans. That sentence kind of speaks for itself, doesn't it? I mean, I could probably insert some suggestive wording from the campaign description ("People often forget that the brain is the biggest sex organ."), mention some of the high-end rewards (100 vibrators!), embed the campaign video (which is sometimes hilarious, sometimes awkward, and often both), and call it a day.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/HaN10QC-d1Y/
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