From DC to Hollywood, conservatives say right speech under attack by left

The Badger State and Tinseltown are separated by some 2,000 miles, but in so many ways Wisconsin and Hollywood couldn't be farther apart.

Lindsay Lohan, Kim Kardashian and the rest of the Tinseltown glitterati don't have much in common with Midwest living.

But in what conservatives see as the Brave New World of a left-led assault on right-bearing political speech, the home of the late-Joseph McCarthy and liberal Hollywood may have more in common than meets the eye.

In a startling piece last month, the New York Times reported that Friends of Abe, a Hollywood-based conservative group, has been stymied in its pursuit of nonprofit status by the Internal Revenue Service.  FOA would be allowed to take in tax-deductible contributions under a tax-exempt position.

Perhaps the IRS delaying the 501(c)(3) designation of a conservative organization should come as little surprise from an agency that was found last year to have targeted scores of right-leaning groups. What may be more surprising is that, as the Times put it, "in left-leaning Hollywood, where Democratic fundraisers fill the social calendars," a conservative organization can exist.

But Friends of Abe - as in Lincoln - is anathema in this liberal citadel, and that's why the group maintains a very low profile and keeps its member list confidential.

The IRS, it seems, doesn't care much for conservative confidentiality.

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