Lois Lerner and our lack of Justice Dept.

…And Justice for None

 The View from the Middle

If you haven’t figured it out yet, whenever the government releases information at 5:00 pm. on Friday, it is their attempt to blow a fast one past the American people.  They are hoping that we have started our weekend and by Monday we will have forgotten, or better yet missed, the issue they are trying to hide.  This is a soft version of deception, yet very effective, and it should anger and even sicken all of us. 

So, you ask, what is the latest version of the governmental duplicity?  Last Friday as the clock stuck five, our (lack of) Justice Department announced that there would be no criminal charges filed against any IRS official in connection with its targeting of conservative groups requesting 501 (c)(4) status.  This just confirms this Justice Department’s complete partisanship and incompetence.  They can’t convict a fellow liberal comrade even with a confession.  Don’t take my word for it, let’s see what Lois Lerner said when responding to her own planted question back in 2013:

“They (IRS employees) used names like Tea Party or Patriots and they selected cases simply because the applications had those names in the title. That was wrong, that was absolutely incorrect, insensitive, and inappropriate”

“They also sent some letters out that were far too broad, asking questions of these organizations that weren’t really necessary for this type of application. In some cases…they asked for contributor names. That’s not appropriate”

So, Lois Lerner admitted that the targeting happened and that extremely inappropriate questions were asked of these groups.  She also admitted that their requests were delayed.  And, from a few of her e-mails that weren’t conveniently lost, we know that she called these groups “crazies” who were determined to ruin our country.  And this doesn’t even address the fact that the tax division of the IRS also coincidentally audited these groups.  One of the victims of this abuse described all of this as the “weaponization” of the IRS.  But of course, there was no political motivation or so says Lois Lerner, and she gets off. 

So let’s get this straight.  The targeting occurred.  The damage was done.  People were abused if not destroyed, but as long as the offender says she didn’t mean it, after the fact, then all is forgiven.  Given that standard, we couldn’t convict anyone who is simply willing to lie.  This Justice Department is incapable of looking at the facts of a case and realizing that they are inconsistent with the denials of the perpetrators.  And we wonder why there is no accountability in the government.

But we shouldn’t be surprised.  This is not the first time this (lack of) Justice Department has looked down the barrel of a gun loaded with facts and simply ignored it.  Eric Holder, the Obama bundler and previous Attorney General, actually lied to congress, but paid no price.  Again, don’t take my word for it, here is what Eric Holder said to Congress when asked about abusing the freedom of the press, and in this case the press was Fox News:

“With regard to the potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material – that is not something I’ve ever been involved in, heard of or would think would be wise policy”

Oops!  He must have forgotten that he had actually signed off on a warrant to snoop into James Rosen’s e-mails and to track his movements.  In the warrant, Rosen was called a potential “aider and abettor and co-conspirator”.  But what’s a little lie like this to Congress anyway?  It’s a felony, that’s what it is.  No problem.  Mr. Holder expressed remorse when he was caught in his lie so his Justice Department let him off.  I’m sure they’d do the same for you or me, right?  Personally, I think we would be rotting in jail for the exact same behavior.

This is the same Attorney General who obtained AP phone records improperly, failed to hold Black Panther activists accountable for voter intimidation and was held in contempt by Congress for not providing documents in the Fast and Furious investigation.  The contempt of Congress charge was a bi-partisan vote, but the (lack of) Justice Department decided not to investigate itself in the Fast and Furious case.  Oh, I feel better.

And finally, we have Hillary Clinton admitting that she lied to the American people and she will not be held accountable either.  Again, don’t take my word for it, here is what Ms. Clinton wrote to the Egyptian Prime Minister within 24 hours of the Benghazi attack:

“We know there is NO connection between the attack in Libya and the video.  This was a planned attack and had nothing to do with the film.”

Of course, at the same time she was telling the American people just the opposite.  The reality is that the American people would not have blamed the Administration for the attack on Benghazi.  They would have taken some heat for being unprepared and for not responding the night of the attack, but that is minor compared to the wrath that the American people have heaped on Hillary for lying to them.  The cover-up is always worse than the original sin.

What is sad about all of these cases, and what infuriates most Americans and me is the lack of accountability in our government.  There seems to be different rules for government employees than for us regular folks.  The good news is that I feel a growing anger in the country about this double standard.  “We the People” are seeing the government for what it is – a huge, inefficient, corrupt, irresponsible and unaccountable blob that needs to be reeled in. 

What we need is a good political outsider for President and term limits in the Congress.  There, now I do feel better.