Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

AP, Benghazi and IRS Scandals

I am watching the above scandals unfold and am absolutely stunned by the revelations. It is hard to believe that this is really happening and not something made up by a team of Hollywood scriptwriters.

Benghazi: Imagine your house was being broken into and you were pleading with 911 to send help and the operator hung up. When your body was finally recovered wouldn't your family want to know what happened? Would they be satisfied months later when the police commissioner finally got around to issuing a statement saying it was all a big mistake and it would'nt happen again?

IRS: Imagine if you felt strongly about a social issue and filed to create a social action group to express your views. How would you feel that after you sent in your application to be visited by agents of OSHA, Treasury, IRS, the FBI, that your business was audited for the first time as well as your personal financial records. That you were asked, "How much money is in your wallet?" These questions are so bizarre they defy explanation of why the government would ever need such absurd elements of information. Yet the fact is that this harassment was directed by the IRS against conservative political groups using the machinery of the government to gain a political advantage. What the heck was going on?

Two scenarios come readily to mind. The first is that the IRS workers were trying to discourage the applicants and trying to get them to withdraw their requests. This is supported by revelations by one targeted group in Texas that was told they were not going to get an exemption and asked it they wanted to resubmit? The lawyers replied that they were not going to "Resubmit" but were going to litigate instead, whereupon, less then a week later, their request was approved. I believe this was a part of what was going on that explains all the bizarre requests for information by the IRS. Workers were being encouraged to harass conservative groups and try and get them to withdraw their applications. The problem was that workers started getting nervous about all the active files that were building up that were receiving no action. Having the petitioner withdraw from the process was a desirable outcome that the low level bureaucrats were encouraged to foster. Hence it became a sort of "Gallows Humor," making crazy creative requests in the hope that petitioners would give up.

The second aspect to this is the possibility that the donor lists were being placed in a file that could be accessed by other government agencies that were then encouraged to "Pile On." This would explain how non-IRS agencies were made aware of the names and able to jump onto the harassment bandwagon. If this is true the White House would probably have had access and someone somewhere would have been a clearing house that orchestrated the interagency suppression effort. How else can it be explained that a request that began at the IRS came to be acted upon by so many different government agencies? For this to happen a database had to exist, and as names were identified other branches of government, controlled by political appointees somewhere, joined in a coordinated conspiracy of targeted harassment.

Then comes an IG audit from a Mr. George at the Treasury Department. Suddenly comes word that "the crap is about to hit the fan." What if you were running the IRS department that was suppressing these requests? I can imagine how the lady that had inherited that mess and let it continue for a year must have felt. No doubt she expressed her fears to Mr. Miller and he probably gave an evasive answer, (like he did to the congressional committee) saying words to the effect it was her problem... deal with it. Then when she sees her boss about to retire, and that the IG report will name her branch responsible, what must have been going through her mind? "Oh my GAWD! She must have thought.... They're going to throw me under the bus!.

While this is speculation on my part, I have worked in bureaucracies and know what would have been going through my mind if it had happened to me. JAIL TIME! So, she takes a page out of the White House play book, plants a question admits to wrong-doing and apologizes, thinking it will be released on Friday, nobody will really take note and she can manufacture a little cover showing she was open, realized what was happening and was trying to take action to rectify matters.

Like I say this is a story that even Hollywood could'nt have scripted.