The Random Comic Strip

The Random Comic Strip

Words to live by...

"How beautiful it is to do nothing, and to rest afterward."

[Spanish Proverb]

Ius luxuriae publice datum est

(The right to looseness has been officially given)

"Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders," wrote Ludwig von Mises, "no one is relieved of his share of responsibility by others. And no one can find a safe way for himself if society is sweeping towards destruction. Therefore everyone, in his own interest, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle."

Apparently, the crossword puzzle that disappeared from the blog, came back.


Saturday, June 21, 2014

I Do Not Understand Why...


...more people are not disgusted. The IRS has engaged in the absolutely worst thing they can do: they targeted certain groups, based on indication of ideology, leading up to and during a political campaign.

It is, according to the White House, a "phony scandal." However, the White House first said it didn't happen then that it did but it was done by a couple of rogue agents in Cincinnati then it comes out that it wasn't confined to Cincinnati but went all the way to Washington. At some point, Lois Lerner (the director of IRS Exempt Organizations at the time) was called to testify before a Congressional Committee. She read a prepared statement and then invoked her Fifth Amendment right not to speak. Neither you nor I could get away with this in a court of law. So far, Lerner has.

Now we learn that all of the emails (minus the ones we already knew about) were lost due to an unrecoverable hard drive failure. I do not work for the IRS (Heck! I don't work for anyone) and never have... but I have worked at a large corporation that had a lot of computers. Backups were scheduled on a regular basis. I will presume that the federal government would not do something similar unless there was rampant incompetence throughout the agency. Therefore, all of the emails could not have been lost. Following that logic, the emails must be being kept away from Congress, illegally.

I don't know if you do regular backups but are you shocked that, perhaps, neither does the IRS?

You do realize, I am sure, that such an excuse would never work for the poor citizen being audited by the IRS? Just imagine telling the IRS auditor that all of your records were lost in a hard drive crash. Would they say "No problem... that's perfectly acceptable. You are free to go." Or would they prosecute?

But where is the outrage about this scandal? Where is the media? All I hear are crickets...

Here's an excerpt from an ABC News story on it:

Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, asked Koskinen to testify a week after the IRS disclosed that it had lost an untold number of emails to and from Lois Lerner. Lerner headed the division that processes applications for tax-exempt status during a time when, the IRS has acknowledged, agents improperly scrutinized applications from tea party and other conservative groups.

Camp was clearly expecting Koskinen to be more contrite.

"What I didn't hear in that was an apology to this committee," Camp said after Koskinen's opening statement.

"I don't think an apology is owed," replied Koskinen.

The IRS commissioner also dismissed Camp's call for a special prosecutor to investigate, saying it would be "a monumental waste of taxpayer funds."


What incredible arrogance! At some level, these people work for us! We pay taxes so they have the jobs they have. 



2 comments:

Tom said...

I saw a poll recently asking people how much confidence they have in various institutions. The military came in at 74% positive; the presidency scored 29% positive. Congress came in just behind TV news, at 7%. The poll didn't ask about the IRS ... but my guess it would compete with Congress for last place.

Douglas said...

My guess is that you are right, maybe the IRS would be a little worse than Congress. By the way, Congress is made up of two houses: Senate and House. I wonder if the survey question bothers to rate them separately? I suspect not.
None of it answers "Why?"