Political Correctness and National Suicide

By William L. Garvin
"The goal of political correctness is rigid conformity in thought and deed.  It is as if the reins of culture have been turned over to zealots who are now bullying society down the chute toward ideological purity.  They are the new moralizers, and while they don't wear clerical garb, they behave like a secular Taliban in how they condemn, mock, ridicule and shame all who challenge their orthodoxy." ... Dan Weber

There is an interesting confluence of forces in our culture.  On one hand, we are seeing a hypersensitive percentage of our American citizenry that feels entitled to live a life free of challenges to their individual worldview or belief systems.  At the same time, an increasingly permissive legal system encourages and conspires in promoting an increasingly litigious society.  This combustible combination results in quasi-extortion by well funded activists and effectively resembles a planned economic assault on the rights and privileges of the majority.  In effect, we have a tyranny of the minority and sometimes, an exceedingly small minority.

Charlton Heston once said that "political correctness is tyranny with manners."  We are rapidly approaching the point where the tyranny of political correctness is equivalent to national suicide.  Here are some examples.  Several students at a high school were sent home on Cinco de Mayo for wearing t-shirts that had an American flag design.  However, students wearing Mexican flag designs were not sent home.  A student at a California college was told to take off her cross that she was wearing on a necklace because some other students might find it offensive.  How about the painting of Jesus that hung in the Ohio school district since 1947.  The district removed the painting after lawsuits by the ACLU and the Freedom From Religion Foundation became too costly.  They also insured the Ten Commandments displays in Kentucky schools were removed because they had received a letter from "a person" who was offended.  How about the "Blessed are the Peacemakers" painting at Mountain Home Air Force Base that the commander ordered removed from the mess hall because one person complained.  Simultaneously, the "Military Religious Freedom Foundation" (both oxymoron and ultra-moronic) filed suit.  How about the superintendent who ordered a six-year old girl to remove "God" from a poem she wrote and was supposed to read on Veterans Day.  She had intended to honor her two grandfathers who had served in Viet Nam.  How about the New York school teacher who was forced to remove the quote from President Ronald Reagan from her classroom?  It said: "If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under."
 Of course, that hyper-sensitive and easily offended few were immediately incensed when a base chaplain wrote an online article for "Chaplains Corner."  The article was entitled "No Atheists in Foxholes: Chaplains Gave All in World War II" and traced the history of the famous quote popularized by General Dwight Eisenhower and Ernie Pyle.  Heaven forbid that a chaplain should write about spiritual guidance and matters of faith!  The hyperbaric Mikey Weinstein and good old Military Religious Freedom Foundation think this should be forbidden fruit and forbidden activity.  Furthermore, these anti-religion zealots are demanding that the chaplain be formally punished.  This is just the latest of
 of many assaults on religious freedom in the military.  Freedom of religion has morphed into freedom from religion!
This politically correct insanity fits right into an administration that renames the war on terrorism as an "overseas contingency operation" or a "man-caused disaster."   The Fort Hood massacre by an Islamic fanatic is downsized and trivialized as "workplace violence."  The proposed profiling law in New York would prohibit police from broadcasting race when they issue "be on the lookout" (BOLO) alerts.
Finally, there's Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA), the current administration's version of Baghdad Bob.  He was offended by the FBI posting pictures of "Most Wanted Terrorists" on the side of busses in Seattle.  He feared that it was "racial and religious profiling" and lamented that it only showed Muslims and not the other races, religions and causes on the FBI list.  He fired off a self righteous letter to the FBI.  Not surprisingly, that was enough to get the ads pulled.  However, according to the FBI's own statistics, of their 32 "Most Wanted Terrorists," only two are not Muslims!  If Muslims don't want to be disproportionately represented on most wanted lists, maybe they should stop committing acts of terror in the name of Islam.  Until then, the tyrannical PC police will systematically march our compliant culture to the national gallows. 

Perception is Not Reality

 

By William L. Garvin

 

Contemporary mainstream media strikingly resembles a carnival Fun House where every mirror distorts every image.  The model is predictable:  liberals are lionized; Blacks are beatified; Caucasians are vilified; and conservatives are crucified.  The incessant media drum beat around Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman epitomizes this.  Unfortunately, it is also a sad commentary on “low information voters,” their lack of knowledge, and illogical conclusions.

 

Martin has been lionized as “an innocent child,” analogous to Emmett Till, Medgar Evers, a seminal figure in the civil rights movement, an “unarmed young man who committed no crime.”  Al Sharpton, the poster child for incendiary hyperbole, even conjured up similarities with the trial of Jesus Christ.  What idiocy!  On the other hand, Zimmerman was not only denied his Hispanic identity, but he alternately “profiled, stalked, pursued, confronted and murdered a young, innocent black boy.”  Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Florida) typified the media position: “I want America to see this sweet young boy who was hunted down like a dog, shot in the street, and his killer is still at large.”  Every flaw in Martin’s character was covered up and every exculpatory factor in Zimmerman’s life was ignored or withheld.  Old photos of a very young Martin were chosen while audio and video tapes were deliberately edited to show Zimmerman in the worst possible light.

 

After the acquittal, for some inexplicable reason, the racial dividers focused on “Stand Your Ground” laws.  This was NEVER a defense or element of the Zimmerman trial!  They are deliberately conflating disparate issues but for the record, a few facts are in order.  Eric Holder should do his homework.  Pay close attention:  Blacks represented 16.6% of the Florida population in 2012.  However, of the 133 SYG defenses mounted in that year, one-third (44) were from Blacks.  Twenty-four (55%) were successfully acquitted and eleven (25%) were convicted.  Whites used the defense 76 times and 40 (53%) were acquitted and 25 (33%) were convicted.  It is clear that Blacks use the SYG defense far out of proportion to their numbers and are far more successful in its use than Whites.   Of course, the Zimmerman trial was about self defense, not SYG.  Martin was the one who broke Zimmerman’s nose and was on top of him pummeling him (according to the witness) when he was shot, hence the acquittal.

 

In the worst kind of pandering, President Obama and Eric Holder have joined the usual suspects (Sharpton and Jackson) postulating a premise that if Martin would have been white, things would have been different.  If a white teenager in the same circumstances had been beating up a black man and then been killed, the outcome would have been the same BUT YOU WOULD HAVE NEVER HEARD ABOUT IT!  The media, the NAACP, Sharpton, Jackson, Holder, and Obama don’t seem to care very much about black on black crime, let alone black on white crime.  Here are some examples:  a 17-year old teenager was sitting in his vehicle in a parking lot in Charleston when he was murdered.  Four black men have been arrested.  You probably don’t know any of their names.  In Brunswick, Georgia, a 17-year old and a 14-year old tried to rob a young woman.  When she said she didn’t have any money, one said “Do you want me to kill your baby?”  He fired a shot into the ground, another grazed her ear, then a third shot went into left leg.  Despite her pleas, De’Marquis Elkins walked around the stroller and shot Sherry West’s baby in the face.  Antonio died but you probably didn’t even know his name. The prolonged rapes, hideous tortures, and grisly murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom are even more gruesome in detail.  However,  the media never seemed to detail the story because it doesn’t fit the Chris Mathews “on behalf of all white people I apologize” modality.

 

By the way, if you’re black, don’t stray from the party line.  Charles Barkley and Bill Cosby both supported the jury’s decision in Sanford.  Subsequently, they were viciously attacked by numerous black twits on Twitter.  The paper tiger attackers excessive use of the N-word ending with an “a” not an “er” negates the “term of endearment” definition that Rachel Jeantel tried to establish.  Will Holder solicit tips from the public on racism by Barkley and Cosby to justify civil rights actions?  As for the president, someone who attended a “rich kid” high school, extremely expensive white colleges and universities, and then meteorically rose to the presidency and was subsequently reelected, there is little “street cred” in his purported experiences with discrimination.  It’s just another Fun House mirror distorting reality.   

Sad But Not Surprising

By William L. Garvin

There was nothing surprising when President Obama snipped that he wouldn’t scramble jets for “a twenty-nine year old hacker.”  After all, he wouldn’t scramble jets when Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans were about to be murdered in Benghazi.  As far as we know, the Commander in Chief was “missing in action” for nearly all the terrorist assault.  When the going gets tough, some go to bed.   Or they go yachting.  During the Egyptian coup, John Kerry denied he was aboard his yacht but the pictures say otherwise.  If you lie about the little things, you’ll lie about the big things.  No wonder there is so little trust in this government.



Equally sad but not surprising is that a police chief in Mexico was killed earlier this year with one of the weapons that Eric Holder gun walked to drug cartels in his “Fast and Furious” fiasco.  According to Mexican officials, over 200 other Mexican nationals have been murdered with these same weapons.



Sadly but not surprisingly, the IRS has yet to talk to any of the targeted Tea Party groups in its investigation.  Then again, has anyone heard any testimony from the survivors of the Benghazi massacre?  When the State Department investigated itself, no one was held accountable.  When the Justice Department investigated itself, no one was held accountable.  When the IRS investigated itself, no one was held accountable.  Democrats now hope America will forget Scandalpalooza because “what difference does it make?” or “it happened a long time ago,” or “we need to move on.”  Democrats in congress demanded a special prosecutor in the third-rate Valerie Plame disclosure but ignore crimes against the people of much more serious import.



We can’t afford White House tours.  We can’t afford military flyovers.  We can’t afford fireworks to help our troops celebrate Independence Day.  We can’t afford to eliminate the one-year backlog on Veterans Administration claims.  We can’t even afford to give them an efficient computer system.  But we can afford a $100 million trip to Africa for negligible purposes and negligible results.  We can afford to give $70 million in bonuses to IRS employees.  We can allow them to blow $53 million on parties disguised as conferences.  Who do they think they are?  GSA?  We can afford to dump more money down the green energy rat hole.  This is all sad but not at all surprising. 



On the cultural front, we see “gay pride” celebrants in Seattle assault Christian street preachers, tear down their signs, and pummel them with fists and curses.  When pro-life demonstrators sing “Amazing Grace” on the steps of the Texas state house, pro-abortion demonstrators chant “Hail, Satan” and “I hope your daughter is raped!”  One woman held a sign and had her very young child hold a similar sign saying “If I wanted the government in my womb, I’d f*** a senator!”  Then maybe, just maybe you should stop asking other taxpayers to pay for your birth control and your abortions.   Liberals tolerate anything but dissent from their orthodoxy.  Sad but not surprising.



Speaking of abortions, President Obama is the first president to address Planned Parenthood, thus bolstering his credentials as the most pro-abortion president in history.  Anyone who knew his voting history as a state senator in Illinois knows this is sad but not surprising.  In 2011-2012 FY, PP made over $150 million in revenue along with $542 million in taxpayer funding.  They aborted 333,965 babies.  What was both sad and surprising was his closing comment of "Thank you, Planned Parenthood. God bless you. God bless America. Thank you."  What God would bless this infanticide?  The president continues to “evolve” farther and farther from his Christian faith.



On the media front, if George Zimmerman is acquitted, should the media be charged as a co-conspirator in inciting to riot?  Why did they doctor the 911 tape?  Why did they doctor the photos?  Why did they invent the term “white Hispanic”?  Why did they even choose this trial for all their attention?  There are hundreds of black youth murdered every year in Chicago, Detroit, and Washington, D.C.  Why chose this one unless you wanted to instigate racial division.  Why do you ignore the fact that white criminals choose black victims 3 percent of the time but black criminals choose white victims 45 percent of the time?  This was a media lynching, pure and simple.  As the trial unfolds, liberal arguments and liberal suppositions are systematically destroyed.  This is all very, very sad but not at all surprising.

Bullies in the Pulpit

By William L. Garvin

“I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United State  and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, so help me, God.”  

Somewhere along the line, that oath of office was lost.  When the Defense of Marriage Act was enacted—affirmed by 85 Senators, 342 Representatives, and signed into law by William Jefferson Clinton, it became the law of the land.  President Obama and his Attorney General chose to ignore Congress and refused to defend the law.  Governor Jerry Brown swore a similar oath of office which adds the Constitution of the State of California.  Over 7 million voters in California (52.24% of the votes cast) defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman.   Governor Brown and his Attorney General ignored the voters and refused to defend the law and the Constitution.  No matter where you stand on the issue, it should cause you great concern when bullies are elected to the pulpit, forsake their elected responsibilities, and run roughshod over their constituencies.

It seems as if there is an increasing frequency of blatant bullying throughout our government.  It goes hand in hand with a lack of accountability and a lack of consequences for wrongdoing.  Look at the IRS.  Lois Lerner was in charge of the unit that clearly and systematically bullied conservative groups.  After wholesale violations of the Constitutional rights of many Americans, she scurries behind the protections of that same Constitution.  As for accountability, she now sits at home drawing full salary and will likely receive a government bonus.  This is an unvarnished travesty.  Of course, many liberal voices are saying that progressive groups were also targeted.  Really?   Why hasn’t a single progressive group come forward to demonstrate similar unwarranted intrusions into their privacy, concomitant intimidation and equally blatant bullying?  The KKK used to be the terrorist arm of the Democrat party; now it’s the green eyeshade auditor in the IRS who is the domestic terrorist.

And isn’t it just coincidental that the Environmental Protection Agency just happened to make the unfortunate mistake of leaking the names and addresses of farmers to activist environmental groups?  The EPA will also be a vital cog in the Bully-in-Chief’s targeting of fossil fuels.  Daniel Schrag, one of the president’s “science” advisors, recently said “The one thing the president really needs to do now is to begin the process of shutting down the conventional coal plants.  Politically, the White House is hesitant to say they’re having a war on coal.  On the other hand, a war on coal is exactly what’s needed.”  Bullies love wars when they don’t have to fight.  They don’t care if the costs of electricity sky rocket.  In fact, President Obama said they would necessarily have to do just that.  That’s fine by him—he can afford it.  As for the working class Americans who will be most strongly affected—let them eat cake.  Cap and Trade failed in Congress so now the President will strangle coal into submission with executive orders, EPA regulations, and Keystone pipeline inaction. 

Attorney General Eric Holder’s entire tenure has been one of bullying and lack of accountability.  Particularly egregious is his assault on states who attempt to insure the security of their borders or the security of their elections.  In a serendipitous example of extreme irony (and hypocrisy), the Obama administration released a fact sheet about the $53 million it spent to help 500,000 people gain “legal identification for voting in Kenya.”  In Kenya, it’s a critical step for democracy; in the United States, it’s voter suppression.  In Holder’s mind, a government can legitimately require ID for buying liquor or cigarettes, for getting on a plane, for cashing a check or qualifying for welfare.  However, if an ID is required for casting a vote, then it’s entirely racist.

During this administration, we have seen bullying by the IRS, FBI, DOJ, DHS, NSA, HHSA, EPA, Energy, Interior, State, and Defense, by the president, governors, and mayors.  We’ve seen the media bully with lies, distortions, cover-ups, and by deliberately editing and distorting audios and videos.  It’s time to stop being a victim.  It’s time to stop looking the other way.  It’s time to stop sweeping misconduct under the rug.  It’s time to kick the bullies out of their bully pulpits!   

“Arab Spring” shows little hope

By William L. Garvin

Ever since we had a past president wrestle with what the meaning of “is” is, politicians of every stripe have developed a pernicious and pervasive habit of making technically accurate statements with the intent to deceive.  High level witnesses before congress have now developed the same despicable pattern.  As a result, every single word uttered, even under oath, must be closely examined.  Unfortunately, the only I’s being dotted during this presidency are those in “inconsistent, inexplicable, and ineffective.”  The T’s they have failed to cross are “terrorism, tyranny, and transparency.”  This government is doing its best to keep citizens in the dark.

Apparently, it is too much to ask of main stream media to stick to an issue and actually perform solid investigative reporting.  Only in a fantasy world will Charlie Gibson look down his nose over his scholarly half-glasses and dare someone to explain “the Obama doctrine.”  Only in fantasy world will Charlie ask why “leading from behind” isn’t the same thing as “following.”  Only in fantasy world will reporters ask what the basis is for intervention in Libya and Egypt but abstention in Iran and Syria.  Only in fantasy world will government witnesses who utter “the least untruthful statements” be confronted with their “LIES!”

Only in fantasy world will the media point out how disastrously the president performed on this last trip abroad.  He made so many gaffes that even Joe Biden is embarrassed!  Forget the First Lady staying in the Princess Grace Suite at $3,300 per night while the White House tours are shut down because of a lack of funds.  Forget the President insulting both Catholic and Protestant schools but saying nary a thing about madrassas.  Forget the President continually confusing British Finance Minister George Osborne by calling him “Jeffrey.”  In his awkward apology, the President said Jeffrey Osborne was his “favorite r and b singer.”  How badly must Al Green be feeling?  Forget that the 200,000 crowd Senator Obama commanded dwindled to 4,500 for his presidential speech in Berlin.  Forget that media press secretary Chris Mathews excused his tepid and mundane delivery as “too much sun on his teleprompter.”  Instead, just look at his one on one with Russian president Vladimir Putin.  Our President threw up more bricks than his last basketball shooting video.  This was the ultimate “never bring a knife to a gun fight” scenario.  Never bring a community organizer to a negotiation with a KGB operative.

Remember, in his first term, President Obama had already been snookered by the Russians with the START treaty and the cancellation of the European missile defense system.  The “reset button” and “increased flexibility” don’t seem to be serving the President or the United States any better this time around.  For instance, please explain how the United States buying Russian helicopters for use in Afghanistan is advantageous to our country and our own aerospace industry.  This is especially puzzling when Russia then uses the proceeds of those sales to send arms, munitions and other war supplies to the Assad regime in Syria.  After you shake hands with Putin, you better not only check your rings (ask Robert Kraft!), you better also count your fingers!

Only in fantasy world will the White House be asked how much influence the Big Dog wielded in saying the president might be perceived as a “wuss” or “a total fool” if he continued to dither.  Goaded into action, President Obama now says he will supply small arms to Syrian rebels.  This will be the equivalent of President Clinton bombing an aspirin factory.  Additionally, how about some background checks before you walk weapons into the hands of crazy people who are bent on our destruction?  One would think you would have learned some lessons after gun walking weapons into the hands of Mexican drug cartels, but apparently not. 

The highly touted “Arab Spring” shows little hope for the future.  Likewise, the North Korea situation and the Iranian pursuit of nuclear weapons seem undeterred.  Russia is totally intransigent in their support of the Syrian government and Hong Kong refused to extradite an American charged with treason.  The Muslim Brotherhood rulers of Egypt get fighter planes, tanks, and millions of dollars of American money and what do we have to show for it?  Hillary Clinton traveled millions of miles as Secretary of State but what tangible results did she achieve?  Maybe she could explain the Obama Doctrine but only in fantasy world will she ever be asked.  After all, at this point in time, what difference does it make? 

Is Enough EVER Enough?!

By William L. Garvin

 
A few years ago, Dr. Wess Roberts wrote a management primer called LEADERSHIP SECRETS OF ATTILA THE HUN.  In it, Attila explored various management principles in teaching his Huns how to become chieftains.  Keep in mind that Attila did such a skillful job of organizing a bunch of nomadic tribes into such an efficient fighting force that the Pope called him “the Scourge of God.”  Obviously, he had some skills.  One of his fireside lessons to his potential chieftains was that “You don’t kill the messenger who brings you the bad news; you kill the messenger who FAILS to bring you the bad news.”  It is obvious that President Obama has not read this book.

Apparently in the Obama Administration, messengers feel they are likely to be killed if they bring the President ANY news of any sort whatsoever!  Has there ever been a president so uninformed as to what is going on in any of his departments?  In the normal government and business world, it is an operating maxim that “bosses don’t like surprises.”  In any healthy organization, direct reports are always encouraged to spot potential mistakes and/or disasters and immediately bring them to the attention of their superiors.  Not in this one.  Somehow, absolute and total ignorance is seen as some sort of virtue rather than a prima facie case of managerial incompetence.

Real or feigned ignorance of inappropriate government activities should not be a shield from consequences for wrong doing.  Where was the accountability for the “Fast and Furious” fiasco where the Department of Justice put thousands of guns into the hands of Mexican drug dealers and murderers?  If the President was not involved and had no knowledge, why did he invoke executive privilege?  Was it to cover up the obvious “inconsistencies” in the statements of Attorney General Eric Holder?  Why did the mainstream media bury the resignation of DOJ attorney, J. Christian Adams, when Holder refused to prosecute the sentencing of the New Black Panther Party for voter intimidation after the case had already been won by summary judgment?

If that wasn’t enough, then we have the massacre of four Americans in Benghazi.  The murderers have yet to be hunted down and held accountable even though their identities are known.  Furthermore, whoever told our military to “stand down” has neither been identified nor held accountable.  Whoever denied the Benghazi requests for security has neither been identified nor held accountable.  Whoever concocted the ridiculous pipedream that a video caused the terrorist attack has neither been identified nor held accountable.  Remember when George Bush was castigated and publically flogged for waiting eight minutes before responding overtly to the 9/11 attacks?  Where was President Obama for the seven hours during the Benghazi attack?  His whereabouts have not been identified nor has he been held accountable.  No, Jay Carney, it was not a long time ago and yes, Hillary, it does make a difference.

If that wasn’t enough for loyalist lemmings, now we have the IRS admitting they targeted the Tea Party and conservative groups.  Not enough?  They targeted pro-Israel groups.  Not enough?  They targeted religious groups.  Not enough?  They targeted private businesses if the owners made contributions to conservative causes and candidates.  Not enough?  The IRS has 60 million medical records.  Not enough?  DOJ targets Fox News.  Note enough?  DOJ targets the Associated Press.  Not enough?  NSA is capturing and storing phone records for millions of Americans with no reasonable suspicion let alone probable cause.  Not enough?  John Kerry “secretly” allocates $1.3 billion to Egypt and its Muslim Brotherhood rulers.

However, as Colonel Allen West aptly notes, we did not monitor the Tsarnaev family despite clear warnings from Russia.  We did not monitor Major Nidal Hassan’s conversations with radical cleric Anwar-al-Awlaki before his terrorist attack at Ft. Hood.  Mr. President, that was not “workplace violence” when the extremist major is yelling “Allahu Akbar”!  We did however put the Benghazi video maker in jail where he remains today.  Unemployment remains up.  Health care costs are up.  Food stamp usage is up.  Food costs are up and the stimulus didn’t stimulate.

For the low information voter none of this is enough.  In fact, nothing will ever be enough.  Even Jon Stewart, their “favorite philosopher,” mocking the IRS, DOJ, and the Chosen One, will not be enough.  The Emperor will always have clothes; government can always be trusted; absolute power will never corrupt; and they will continue to blindly support President Obama.  Being liberal is never knowing you should be sorry for what you are doing to America!     

 

Nobody Knows Nothin’!

By William L. Garvin

 

From 1965-1971, HOGAN’S HEROES was a popular television series starring Bob Crane and a terrific assortment of supporting actors.  The plot centered on a group of prisoners in a German POW camp during World War Two.  The allied prisoners were headed up by Colonel Hogan who did his best to outsmart Colonel Klink, the camp commandant.  One of the most memorable characters was the rotund Sergeant Hans Georg Schultz, played by John Banner.   Schultz was an affable but inept prison guard who, whenever becoming aware of Hogan’s plans and schemes, adamantly proclaimed “I know nothing!  I see nothing!  I hear nothing!”   Sergeant Schultz was the prototype for the Obama administration leadership team.

 

When the mainstream media finally became aware of the “Fast and Furious” fiasco that put thousands of guns into the hands of Mexican drug cartels, the Obama administration knew, saw and heard nothing.  When a Department of Justice attorney resigned in protest of DOJ policy to not prosecute cases against minorities, (a la the New Black Panther Party), the Obama administration knew, saw and heard nothing.  The national debt is now over $16.8 trillion and this administration knows, sees, and does nothing.  The Keystone pipeline is still stalled by Environmental Protection Agency obstructions while crony capitalism “green” projects sail through but the Obama administration knows, sees and does nothing.

 

The Internal Revenue Service targets Tea Party and other conservative organizations for special scrutiny but fails to subject liberal organizations to similar onerous treatment; the Obama administration knows, sees and hears nothing.  The Department of Justice singles out Fox News reporters and AP reporters for criminal investigations but the Obama administration knows, sees and hears nothing.  Eric Holder’s signature on that subpoena is such an inconvenient truth!  Four Americans die in Benghazi after multiple requests for security are denied, military aid is not rendered, and someone smokes up a hot air concoction that an obscure video is the causative factor and the Obama administration knows, sees and hears nothing.  That’s how tyranny operates.

Take the case of “True the Vote”, a Houston-based nonprofit formed by Catherine Engelbrecht and her King Street Patriots Tea Party group.  In an interview, Ms. Engelbrecht describes the IRS abuse of power: “We applied for nonprofit C-3 status early in 2010. Since that time the IRS has run us through a gauntlet of analysts and hundreds of questions over and over again. They’ve requested to see each and every tweet I’ve ever tweeted or Facebook post I’ve ever posted. They also asked to know every place I’ve ever spoken since our inception and to whom, and everywhere I intend to speak in the future.”

Engelbrecht’s application allegedly triggered aggressive audits of one of her family’s personal businesses as well. The FBI began a series of inquiries about her and her group; the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms began demanding to see her family's firearms in surprise audits of her and her husband’s small gun dealership--which had done less than $200 in sales; Occupational Safety Hazards Administration audited their small family manufacturing business; and the EPA-affiliated TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environment Quality) did a surprise visit and audit due to “a complaint being called in.”  The Democratic Party of Texas filed a lawsuit against her; so did an ACORN affiliated group.  Ultimately, the IRS determined that it actually owed a refund to Engelbrecht; the BATF found nothing wrong in any of its repeated visits and audits; OSHA’s fine-toothed comb found reason to demand $25,000 from Engelbrecht’s family business; and TCEQ demanded the Engelbrechts spend $42,000 on additional storage sheds.  “This is what the beginning of tyranny looks like," Engelbrecht said.

 

The excuse offered up by David Axelrod, the President’s Chicago mouthpiece, is that government is just “too big” for one man to govern.  Actually, that is what the Tea Party has been saying all along.  If President Obama showed as much interest and enthusiasm for governing as he does for fundraising, he might not have to discover these scandals in the Friday newspapers.  However, it is impossible to believe that there was no knowledge of any of these situations in the White House.

 

If in fact, he is surprised by all these problematic issues (not to mention Democrats and unions protesting the ObamaCare “train wreck”!), it shows a fundamental lack of organizational discipline, a lack of communication within his executive team, and a lack of personal and professional accountability throughout governmental agencies.  Given the previous lack of presidential experience in management or leadership, the sad state of current governmental affairs was entirely predictable.  The lying, cover-ups and governmental oppressions were not.