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There are times that The Gadfly wishes that his passion for the part of politics for which America's destiny is ultimately tied to wasn't so damn committed.
This is one of those times:
WASHINGTON -- A congressional hearing into the furor over political targeting by the Internal Revenue Service descended into political theater of the absurd Wednesday, as the former IRS official at the heart of the case again asserted her Fifth Amendment rights and refused to answer questions.
Lois Lerner, the former director of Tax-Exempt Organizations for the IRS, led the division that oversaw the staffers responsible for making sure that so-called social welfare groups were not going out of bounds with their political activities.
Although her unit did target some progressive groups, the majority of those that faced extra scrutiny were linked to the tea party, sparking cries of scandal and political intimidation from conservatives.
Lerner refused once before to answer questions from House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), but after she invoked her right to not incriminate herself several times on Wednesday, Issa summarily gaveled the hearing to close, sparking an angry outburst from the top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.).
Cummings was incensed that after Issa asked a series of apparently damning questions, Cummings and his fellow Democrats were not allowed to respond, even to ask a procedural question.
"We're adjourned. Close it down," Issa said.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/05/lois-lerner-testimony_n_4903655.html
First off, before The Gadfly tears in to that snot-nosed, little Goose-stepper Darrell Issa (R-Ass) like a monkey on a cupcake, let's get one very, very relevant piece of truth out in to the open and on to the table.
The IRS "scandal," not at all unlike "Benghazi! Benghazi!! Benghazi!!!" is a right wing manufactured scandal for which Darrel Issa has been given the task of chief ratfucker to try and do as much public damage to the President and the opposition party that he possibly can before the 2016 elections.
As has been pointed out in numerous public media outlets, and blissfully ignored by the right wing banshees and their hired ankle-bitter Darrell Issa, a single IRS office in Ohio was found, while performing their lawful duty of ferreting out fraud by groups claiming the 501c tax exemption, to have targeted some Tea Party affiliated groups on the grounds that instead of "social welfare" work, they were actually engaged in overt political activities, which is explicitly prohibited under the law for that tax code.
What Issa, the conservatives and the corporate media don't like talking about is the FACT that it was not only conservative groups targeted by this office in Cincinnati, OH, but the probe also ensnared several liberal organizations as well.
Frankly The Gadfly feels that if the IRS has to exist, and if there are laws on the books that allow tax exemptions for purportedly "social welfare" activities, then there should be some due diligence by the IRS to ensure that these organizations are on the up and up and not trying to avoid paying their lawful taxes if indeed they are involved in other prohibited activities - such as political activism. If it were up to The Gadfly he would just pass a blanket law -- anything related to politics in any, way shape or form, you simply do not qualify for the exemption -- fucking period -- end of story.
But what really kills The Gadfly is that for all of the boo-hooing and bawling and feet stamping by the right over this fake "scandal," and before anyone ever even heard of this bullshit, the IRS had already long ago made their investigative determination. Not a single one of the Tea Party organizations (nor the liberal ones for that matter) were denied the requested tax exemption status. So really - this is a "scandal" over a "grievous injury" that quite simply NEVER OCCURRED! It is out and out fakery on the conservatives behalf to pretend that anyone's activities were negatively impacted as a result of this IRS probe.
And as far as Lois Lerner pleading the Fifth amendment -- goddamn right she should -- as The Gadfly would recommend to anyone appearing in front of ANY investigative committee chaired by the likes of one Darrell Issa. And The Gadfly doesn't want to hear any right wing wailing about how pleading the 5th implies guilt - for if that is the stand you are going to take, The Gadfly will give you a fucking history lesson, verse and chapter, of all of the Republican con artists from the administrations of Reagan, thru Bush I and in to Bush II who loved them some 5th amendment just as much as Lois Lerner demonstrated to Darrell Issa.
But finally -- yes -- now we come to this insipid little twit Darrell Issa. In a just world, Darrell Issa would be sitting in federal prison for his past criminal activities instead of collecting a $174,000 publicly funded yearly salary to be the Republican's goon hired to waste millions in taxpayer dollars creating and then chasing after the scandalous ghosts manufactured in the nether regions of his lower colon.
But you know what? He's a Republican - and if there is one thing that the GOP is good at is protecting their chosen band of little Einsatzgruppen warriors - especially those who are willing to take on the scumbag kind of work that Darrell Issa is presently engaged in.
And thus we Americans, with all of the other truly life-impacting issues facing our nation's people on a daily basis and being completely ignored by the Republican led Congress, are undeservedly treated to today's spectacle in those hallowed halls of Washington, wherein Obergruppenfuhrer Issa reveals his and his party's true dictatorial colors by holding a one man interrogation "committee." The Gadfly calls it "one man", because if you watch the video, after Issa has had his prosecutorial cake and eaten it too by accusing Lois Lerner of practically being a criminal -- at the very moment his counterpart from the opposition party attempts to participate in the hearing, he shuts down the meeting, cuts off the microphones of the other party and exits the room.
And for anyone feeling the urge to suggest that The Gadfly is treading on precarious turf by making analogies of what Issa did and comparing it to the Nazis -- tell The Gadfly that what Issa did today was not page 1 out of the Nazi handbook on how to silence opposing viewpoints.
Nonetheless, the 2016 elections are a long ways off dear readers, and unless the GOP is unceremoniously dumped out of House Congressional power on their tyrannical, goose-stepping asses come this November, you can most assuredly look forward to 2 more years of Obergruppenfuhrer Darrell Issa continuing his charade as an honorable American Congressman.
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----TFG
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