“Moons and Junes and Ferris Wheels”

He had a picture - just a single picture of her.  That’s all that remained.

It was from a bygone era that no longer meant much to anyone except to him.

It was a vastly different era.  Love was in very short supply.  The country was at war. 

This war was tearing the nation apart.  Buildings, draft cards and American flags were burned.  Schools were temporarily closed.  Roads and access to buildings were blocked.  Government buildings were burglarized.  Parents and children became estranged as never before.  Children left home and joined communes and embraced a rebellious, radical, sometimes violent lifestyle.  Brothers stopped speaking to one another.  The contemporary depiction of the police was “the pigs.” Service men were spat on, egged and called "baby killers."  Young Americans headed north of the border to avoid imprisonment.  Protestors were beaten, imprisoned and shot to death while 58,282 families buried their loved ones – the casualties of this war.  The country also witnessed the sunshine of hope for a brighter tomorrow eclipsed by the dark moons of assassination as the country also buried their most compassionate and loving leaders of the day.      

In the midst of all this he found his deepest love in life. He was also nineteen and a draftee destined for Southeast Asia. While stationed overseas he met a fellow GI from his home state.  They quickly became good friends.

Unlike most military friendships this one endured and was exceptional.   They found themselves living in the same city after they were discharged from the military.  They continued to remain the best of friends. 

Now, many precious years later, he finds himself suffering from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.  His pal from his service days would often visit him at the VA hospital.  It was during these visits that the relationship developed into a very profound closeness.    

The disease had advanced to the point where he was unable to walk, get out of bed on his own power and had limited use of his hands and arms. The respiratory complications were beginning as he had just overcome a bout with pneumonia.  He knew remaining days were short and felt now was the time to show his good buddy the picture.  

He had met her through a family friend.  He talked about his short visits back home during his training in which they began dating and how the spark was ignited.  But it was during his 30 day leave over the Christmas holidays and before he went overseas that marked the high point in the relationship. 

He spoke of the parties, the wonderful dances, the hayride, all the family and casual gatherings with friends.  It was she who introduced him to Camelot.  Because she still lived at home she had a curfew for which he was most grateful.  It was that curfew that provided the most cherished memories of all.  When they would arrive at her home the family would be asleep upstairs.  They would put on music and embrace and hold one another while talking for hours before he would finally leave. 

But like Camelot, there was an air of tragedy in loving her.  He would be going away and because she was so beautiful and special he couldn’t expect her to wait for him.  There was also the reality that he may not return.  This impending gloom, while never discussed, was a constant and thus a serious source of awful frustration.  He said; “when I looked at her as I boarded the airplane, I knew it was for the last time – I would never see her again.”  And he never did. 

He concluded by leaning forward in his wheelchair, placing a mostly crippled hand on his good buddy’s knee and with a warm smile said; “In an era filled with hatred – ‘Moons and Junes and Ferris Wheels’, my very good friend.”  At least I HAVE THE PICTURE.”

The reference to Moons and Junes and Ferris Wheels is from the Joni Mitchell composition “Both Side Now” a 1968 hit record for Judy Collins.  

“Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way you feel
As every fairy tale comes real
I've looked at love that way

But now it's just another show
You leave 'em laughing when you go
And if you care, don't let them know
Don't give yourself away

:
I've looked at love from both sides now
From give and take, and still somehow
It's love's illusions I recall
I really don't know love at all”

That was the last time his dear friend visited.  He had requested no more visits.  He didn’t want his devoted companion to see him deteriorate into a human vegetable or watch him die.

He had no remaining family.  He never married, his parents had passed and his only sibling, a brother, was killed in Vietnam.

On the day he was laid to rest the flag that draped his coffin was presented to his loving buddy at the gravesite and, at his request, so was that picture. 

Something’s New at The IRS?

The four gentlemen would meet every two months or so for dinner. 

At one such gathering, one of the gentlemen revealed a horrifying story in the hope of educating and protecting his three buddies from the same fate.  We will call him Peter.  

Peter had just completed an IRS audit. 

It began with a request for Peter to provide all his records in support of his last three IRS filings.  It escalated into the demand that Peter supply written documentation as to where every penny he deposited into his checking account and saving accounts it was obtained.  The arduous chore could obviously not be accomplished to the IRS’s satisfaction.  Therefore, each and every penny that could not be adequately identified through written documentation as non-taxable, was deemed as taxable income.  In addition to the back taxes, there were, of course, the penalties and interest on all newly established taxable money dating back as far as three years. 

Coincidently enough, when the IRS submitted their final bill to Peter it very closely resembled the exact amount in his passbook savings accounts, his savings certificates and his IRA accounts – for which additional taxes would be levied for early withdrawals.  

Finished with the Feds Peter would now have to deal with the state.  What he learned was that the state would have to become his first priority as they easily trumped the Feds when it came to vicious aggressiveness in collecting their money. 

This whole process taught ole Peter that the cherished concept of innocent until proven guilty does not apply when dealing with the IRS.  He was guilty until he proves his innocence.  There is no burden of proof the IRS must meet when making any accusation or demand – absolutely no due process under the law. 

Which brings us to the crème de la crème of our tale. Peter naturally thought he had accurately filed and adequately met his tax burden over the years.  As the frustration mounted over one unreasonable IRS demand after another Peter asked the big question; “Why are you auditing me?  What red flags popped up on my returns?”  The IRS agent handling his audit responded by saying; “There were no red flags.  You have recently had surgery, gone through a divorce and left a long-standing job.  We like to take a look at anyone we find in that position.”  None of that personal information was ever communicated to the IRS by Peter.  

Peter’s story was validated in September of 1997.  Congressional hearings were prompted by Katherine Hicks of Apple Valley, California when she decided to risk the wrath of the IRS by writing to Congress to end their harassment.  What surfaced through testimony of former IRS agents as well as a line of citizens that stretched from Minneapolis to Poughkeepsie was that lower- and middle-income Americans were routinely targeted and subjected to Gestapo-style treatment and audits.  These individuals where primarily targeted because they did not have the means to defend themselves and where therefore viewed as easy pickings by the IRS.  

IRS agent Jennifer Long testified; "I can personally attest to the use of egregious tactics used by IRS revenue agents which are encouraged by members of the IRS management.  These tactics, which appear nowhere in the IRS manual, are used to extract unfairly assessed taxes from taxpayers, literally ruining families lives and businesses, all unnecessarily and sometimes illegally."  Yep - that certainly described Peter’s experience. 

In 1998 some obviously inadequate laws were enacted to curb these abuses even though the Clinton administration opposed any effort to do so. 

Now the media is all agog over suspected IRS targeting of political groups.  This puerile, woe-is-me political whining and media frenzy centers around IRS § 501(C)4.  The ambiguity in this law currently serves as a safe haven for the IRS, who may or may not have had a targeting agenda; as well as providing fodder for those who wish to create a controversy by charging that targeting occurred even if those activities never took place.  This ambiguity exists because it is the exact climate our politicians want.  It provides the IRS with the legal cover they need to continue to act autonomously as both judge and jury.  

The IRS has long been the bully-boy of the American government.  President Kennedy threatened an audit of the steel executives in 1962 when they refused to honor their agreement with the steel workers union.  IRS audits are routinely conducted to harass organizations and individuals suspected of nefarious activities.  It was the IRS that finally sent Al Capone to jail. 

What we as a nation should be focusing on is a complete revamping and restructuring of our current tax laws, programs and system.  Those reforms need to include the elimination or at the very least, a severe curtailing of IRS abusive power used not just to prosecute the unsavory among us, but rather to eliminated the bullying of Americans they identify as low-hanging fruit. 

As long as our media and politicians are intoxicated by their own egos and self-indulgence thus refusing to honor their responsibility of promoting and protecting the general welfare and common good, we can expect nothing more than the same non-existent and insufficient reform we were left with in 1998.