Sometimes it's hard to be a Dad, a husband, a Catholic, a working class stiff, AND a Conservative Guy in New York State. But then again, sometimes it's kind of funny.
So funny, I moved to South Carolina...
. Thank goodness that Nancy Pelosi took a few moments from her busy day to answer the question which many Americans (with a pulse) have been asking themselves, "So, like, hey, what's up with those IRS e-mails regarding 'TEA Party targeting' being 'lost' due to multiple hard drive crashes, failures, and shredding of the aforementioned drives? Huh, what's up with that?" . Okay, not the exact question, but the response which follows WAS her actual response... .
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“What it convinces me [of] is that they need a new technology system at the IRS. They need to upgrade their technology, get it right, so that there’s no suspicion about what agenda anyone may have on that.”
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TRANSLATION: "IRS computer systems are outdated and insecure. We'll need YOUR money to fix them because up until this moment in time we didn't even know there was a problem. Now that we do, we'll need tons of money because these same outdated and insecure data systems will be managing your Health Care tracking and billing, um, once we figure out how to track and bill premiums... " . You can read the complete report here found on the National Review Online: LINK TO STORY . I would like to thank former Speaker of the House Pelosi for answering the question I've asked myself for years, "How do you fix Washington, DC?" . To her credit, she has answered my question honestly for, according to her, we must, "Throw more money at whatever the problem is because what we have today is fundamentally broken / flawed." . Gee, thanks Speaker Pelosi, I'll be sure to remember this valuable lesson in my personal life. Only problem is, of course, is that when I want a new car, I can't just take the money from someone else and force them to buy it for me. Sometimes I just have to make due with what I have. . Maybe that's a lesson folks in Washington knew once, but have forgotten since they've been in office? Perhaps we can 'help them out' by sending them back home again so they can remember what they can't seem to remember today? .
Another scandal is released to the wiles of the Media.
Another week of the "Most Transparent" Administration (in the History of Mankind) concludes.
Does it occur to you, as it does me, that each Friday night is a simply THE BEST NIGHT OF THE WEEK for "Obama Administration Leadership" to have Media outlets release 'bad news'?
Have you ever seen any:
Mis-step Mondays? Nope.
Terrible Decision Tuesdays? Nope.
Wildly Inappropriate Wednesdays? Nope.
Thumpingly Thunderous Thursdays? Nah.
And yet,
Freaky Fridays?
Oh yeah. Every Friday's been FREAKY lately.
May 31st, 2013 fits quite nicely into this category.
As reported on CNN online, no less...
(CNN) –Updated 8:40 p.m. ET Friday 5/31 -- A newly obtained video has the IRS running damage control on a new front, as the embattled agency prepares for the release next week of an inspector general report that will be critical of how money was spent on staff conferences. .
In the video, an apparent team-building exercise, employees are taught the Cupid Shuffle dance move as they prepare to present the dance as a group at a 2010 conference.
The IRS said Friday night the video "was unacceptable and an inappropriate use of government funds." .
The video's narrator describes the group of individuals as executives from the Small Business/Self Employed (SBSE) department. They say they’re competing "to become the next great dance sensation."
. The IRS said the video cost $1,600 to produce, and it played at the end of a 2010 leadership and education meeting in Anaheim for 2,600 managers in the SBSE division.
... Acting Commissioner Danny Werfel, appointed in recent weeks, said in a statement that the report will focus on an IRS conference that took place in 2010 and labeled it an "unfortunate vestige from a prior era."
. "While there were legitimate reasons for holding the meeting, many of the expenses associated with it were inappropriate and should not have occurred," he said, adding new rules have been put in place and such a conference will not happen under his watch.
There can't be anything more to this story, can there? No, that would be CRAZY.
Nothing more to see (or read) here - move along, move along.
Left out of the CNN report excerpted above (presumably by accident) is the 'Rest of the Story'...
Also Found online:IRS Spent $50 Million on Conferences Drawing GOP Scrutiny
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service spent about $50 million on 220 conferences for employees from 2010 to 2012, according to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
The cost of the agency’s conferences was released today by the committee, which is holding a hearing on the subject June 6. In one case, the IRS spent $4 million for an Anaheim, California, conference in 2010, where some stayed in rooms costing $1,500 to $3,500 a night and $135,000 was paid to outside speakers, including $17,000 for a lecture on “leadership through art.”
. Representative Darrell Issa, the Republican who leads the committee, said the agency didn’t negotiate on the cost of hotel rooms, instead receiving perks such as game tickets or free drinks, which he called kickbacks.
. “The culture of the federal workforce is one where I don’t think you can underestimate that if you don’t keep reminding the voters but also the federal workers that we’re watching, this will happen again,” Issa said on CNN’s “State of the Union” today.
... The IRS said in a statement that the video was “unacceptable and an inappropriate use of government funds.” The agency said it and the entire government have “strict new policies” to ensure taxpayer funds are used properly.
Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat from New York, was also critical of what has been revealed about the agency’s spending on conferences and videos as the federal government is under pressure to cut spending.
. “The acting director of the IRS said he would put an end to it,” Schumer said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday. “It’s outrageous. Any kind of wasteful spending like this must be put down, particularly at these times.”
Hey, wait a minute, did Chuck Schumer just say the Economy is BAD??? His Boss in DC is NOT going to be happy to read this.
Shoot, the last time President Obama watched CNBC he heard that the Economy was doing just fine...
So why am I picking on the IRS? Well, quite frankly "THEY started it" when they morphed from a tax collection agency into a Goon Squad for the White House. As I type this, they are:
An IRS with a proven track record of wasting your money. An IRS which targets political opponents of the Obama Administration. The people who will be funding (or, perhaps, (in the case of YOU dang Conservatives! - maybe not) your Health Care in the future.
Oh, and if anyone asked me, which they didn't, I would have MUCH preferred that the attendees to the IRS training learned a CLASSIC dance, vs. that Cupid Shuffle crap they were working on.
Oh, I don't know, something like, yeah, something like THIS...
The "Time Warp" from the "Rocky Horror Picture Show". . Because maybe if we could time ”Warp” Fridays into Mondays, and… .
Perhaps we can have BIG news come out on Monday nights when more of us are awake and conscious rather than on Friday evenings. . Friday after Friday, week after week, Americans sit slumped over warm beers celebrating this vital, robust, and burgeoning U.S. Economy wondering, “Why? Why did HE get re-elected?”. .
And YOU, Chuck Schumer, it’s ALL good, isn’t it? Get with the program Chucky. Pour yourself another icy-cold glass of Goofy Grape Kool-Aid!!! .
As for today… It’s Monday! .
So sorry, no more news today! Come back after Five PM on this upcoming Friday.
We’ll have another ‘Dump’ for you then… .
Shock the monkey to life Shock the monkey to life . Cover me when I run Cover me through the fire Something knocked me out' the trees Now I'm on my knees Cover me, darling please Monkey, monkey, monkey Don't you know when you're going to shock the monkey
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Shock the monkey Shock the monkey Shock the monkey to life
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-- Peter Gabriel
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Over the past week the Obama Administration's 'Perfect Storm' has come ashore pummeling the President, his staff, and every one's favorite DC lackey, Jay Carney.
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Storm Front #1: 'Inconvenient testimony' from government employees with first-hand knowledge of Benghazi's 9 / 11 Attack is relayed to Congress (by people who actually voted for President Obama.)
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Storm Front #2: The Department of Justice admits monitoring Associated Press telephone records in order to find out who in the Administration has been 'leaking information' to reporters within the AP.
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Storm Front #3: The IRS admits that staffers 'targeted Conservative groups' tax filings. America learns that words like "TEA Party", and "Patriots" are code for "Audit US now".
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The question is, of course, will anyone 'get wet' as a result of the convergence of the three simultaneous storm fronts referenced above? . Shock the monkey Shock the monkey Shock the monkey to life . The President admits that he first learned of several of the above scandals by listening to news reports of them. Interestingly enough, the only news network going anywhere near Benghazi prior to last Friday was Fox News. I guess we know what the President is watching when he's not golfing or campaigning... (roughly eight minutes per day) . Or perhaps, he has 'people' watch Fox for him? I say this because there is so much which gets past this man - he may need to hire more-attentive stooges to fill him in on the State of the Nation. When asked specifically about a scandal, or wrong-doing within his Administration he instinctively falls back to the, "Well, I've not actually heard about this first-hand - we'll look into it and get back to you... I've just learned of this via news reports..." . Really? News reports? O-k-a-y... . The Associated Press leadership had to release something (presumably to themselves?) on their DOJ in-house monitoring situation since THEY were the ones for whom the First Amendment no longer 'existed'. . The great thing about the current Administration is that the Constitution is VERY flexible! It didn't used to be quite so limber back in the 'bad old days', but under the constant tutelage of President Obama, Eric Holder, and a cast of literally THOUSANDS of fearless Federal employees, the Nation's Law of the Land is now more limber and pliable than Gumby... following a week-long Vodka binge. .
. Oh, and those Conservative Groups who were being targeted by the IRS because they dared to question our Nation's Leadership? I guess the fact that they WERE targeted pretty much confirms their suspicions that the Obama Administration is corrupt, tyrannical, over-reaching, and autocratic. Yes, they've learned that their suspicians were really, really, really, well-founded. But between you and me, THEY should have known better - they've been telling US about Barry for years. Don't they read their own press releases? . Barack Obama is a 'bad President' surrounded by 'worse' people because THEY ('worse people') work UNDER the radar. President Obama has the Press following him around like a pack of trained collies clamoring for the attention of the President, that Biscuit-Weilding dog trainer of a guy. The President's minions don't normally get a second glance from the Press Corps - the real story is what the President 'says' - not what he, or his Administration 'does'. The problem for President Obama is that beginning last Friday, the Collies showed their teeth for a brief moment and more than a few people sat up for the first time and watched out here in TV Land. . How long with the "Hell Hounds" of the Press Corps follow upon on the Perfect Storm referenced above? Probably about as long as a Gold Fish's memory (a government-funded scientist measured this as roughly 'three' seconds). Sure, Fox will continue to go after the Administration's foul-ups, but the other folks with the Alphabet-soup of call letters after their names will forget the scandals and once again begin sniffing around for 'Cookies' from the Great and Powerful Obama. . Hey, as long as that great (pretend) News Reporter, Jon Stewart, continues to support the President, I'm sure the President will be just fine... Don't you worry about him... .
. Cover me when I run Cover me through the fire Something knocked me out' the trees Now I'm on my knees Cover me, darling please Monkey, monkey, monkey Don't you know when you're going to shock the monkey . Shock the monkey Shock the monkey Shock the monkey to life . Consider this monkey shocked... .. President Obama needs to get some more cookies. The dogs remain hungry. . Woof. Woof. Woof. . Shock the monkey to life...
