How Absurd Is That?

            There are so many scandals spinning like tornadoes around Washington these days, it is difficult to focus on any one without being immediately distracted by the latest news on another.  If I were a writer for late night TV comedians, I would send Thank You cards to the federal government for all the fresh material dished out daily.  Actually, the absurdity of it all is beyond comical.

            Take the Justice Department, for example, which is responsible for investigating violations  of the First Amendment.  Well, we now have clear evidence of abuse of the First Amendment's  right of free speech in the Associated Press and James Rosen cases.  Feigning outrage, President Obama charged Eric Holder with the responsibility of getting to the bottom of these abuses.  But it so happens that Eric Holder himself signed the paperwork authorizing the surveillance on James Rosen in an unconstitutional attempt to criminalize Rosen's reporting.  So now we have Eric Holder being charged with the responsibility of investigating himself.  How absurd is that?
            We now know that State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland played a major role in altering the Benghazi talking points, thereby concocting the big lie foisted on the American public by Ambassador Susan Rice.  Nuland should have been fired.  Instead, Obama nominated her for Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs.  Not fired... Promoted.  How absurd is that?
            Nine months after she learned of the targeting of conservative groups and said she put a stop to them, Lois Lerner, IRS Director of Exempt Organizations, was still signing off on threatening letters to these same organizations.  This is the same woman who appeared before a Congressional committee to say she did nothing wrong and then took the Fifth.  The embarrassment was too much, so she was asked to resign.  She refused.  So she was placed on PAID administrative leave.  Not fired... Sent on a paid vacation.  How absurd is that?
            More than three years ago Major Nidal Hasan killed 13 and wounded 32 people in Fort Hood.  While sitting in jail all this time awaiting trial, he has been getting regular army pay amounting to more than $278,000.  The wounded, on the other hand, have been denied pay and medical benefits given to soldiers wounded in combat.  Why?  Because the army did not classify this attack as combat-related nor as a terrorist attack, which it clearly was. Instead, the army called this massacre "workplace violence."  How absurd is that?
            Who's in charge here, anyway?  What an absurd question!

             

Intimidation

            It's kind of a standing joke around our house. Before every breakfast and before every dinner, my wife places a small dish containing several vitamin pills by my plate. I always object. "Why so many pills?"  "Because I want you to live a long time," she says, "and these pills keep you healthy." If I dare protest too much, I am met with a stiff order laced with Hispanic temper. "Take your pills!" One does not argue long with a Latina. At least not with this one.

            Since 1989 my spouse, devoted to my physical wellbeing,  has been buying vitamin pills and other products, mostly toiletries, from an Idaho company called Melaleuca.  Those who are not familiar with Melaleuca may become more so, because its founder, Frank Vandersloot, has been in the news lately as a victim of President Obama's campaign shenanigans. His name was placed atop Obama's enemies list when Melaleuca donated a million dollars to Mitt Romney in 2012. What followed is a prime example of the abuse of power by the government.
            According to Vandersloot, leftist blogs and journalists began smearing him as a disreputable character. Then Michael Wolf, an investigator linked to the Obama campaign,  began snooping around for any kind of dirt he could dig up. When he came up empty, the IRS moved in with three successive letters of audit. This same IRS had audited Vandersloot only once in the previous 30 years and gave him a clean bill of health. The new IRS inquisition found nothing either.  But the IRS did hold up a refund due Mr. Vandersloot. He's still waiting.
            Next, the Department of Labor started looking into Melaleuca's labor practices.  It also came up empty. But the message was clear: This is what happens to Obama's opponents. The word is INTIMIDATION.  
            Such abuse of power is beyond indefensible. It is criminal.
            Frank Vandersloot is a wealthy man. He could afford to spend $80,000 on legal and accounting fees to defend himself.  But what if he didn't have the resources to fend off the politically motivated henchmen of the Obama administration? What about all the ordinary citizens who were targeted by the IRS because their names were associated with the Tea Party?
            Melaleuca topped $1 billion last year in product sales.  Some may wish to criticize Melaleuca's multi-level marketing methods.  That's fine.  I myself was one of those critics way back when. Now I think I'll give a rousing cheer for Frank Vandersloot, take my pills, and shut up.

           

Tyranny

            Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, said, "Experience has shown that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time,...perverted it into tyranny." In this he echoes the political philosophy of John Locke (1632-1704), who had a great influence on Jefferson's thinking.

            Locke said that when you see the supreme executor of the government going about to set up his own arbitrary will in the place of law, or when that executor employs force, treasure and offices of the society to corrupt the rest of the government by solicitations, threats, and promises, at that moment such an executor cannot any longer be trusted.
            We have seen this Administration make its own law via mountains of regulations and executive orders bypassing Congress; we have gagged on a health care bill forced down our throats; we have endured the waste of our national treasure on array of green enterprises doomed to failure; we have been buried by an avalanche of empty campaign promises; and we have suffered the embarrassment of empty threats to take action upon the crossing of red lines.
            Worst of all, we have witnessed our government, which has a sworn duty to protect us, place politics above American lives. The despicable behavior of this administration in the Benghazi affair is unforgivable.
            After repeatedly taking credit for killing Osama bin Laden and assuring us that al Qaida was no longer a viable force, our president and his Secretary of State refused to increase security in Libya. When our facilities came under attack, our government rejected desperate pleas for military assistance, because that would have been an admission that its assurances on al Qaida's demise were false. To compound this lie, it concocted a story about a spontaneous demonstration in response to a video, all the while knowing that Benghazi had been attacked by terrorists. This lie was presented to the American people by Susan Rice who may not have known the story was a lie. But others surely did, as the twelve changes to her talking points prove. But there were much bigger liars.
            Hillary Clinton lied to us while looking directly into the camera. President Obama did the same, and repeated the lie to the world at the United Nations. The worst, to me, was Obama and Clinton lying to the families of the dead Americans as their draped caskets were but a few feet away. I cannot express the degree of disgust I feel.
            We have seen with our own eyes the power of government perverted into tyranny.