The Community Breakfast Group (CBG) will discuss “The Week that Was” at their Thursday breakfast meeting on July 10. Much of the news has been related to continuing Federal Government scandals. Have there actually been more and worse scandals during the Obama Administration, or have we forgotten the scandals that occurred on Bush’s watch? What do you think?
The IRS scandal continues to get worse. In June, the IRS improbably claimed it could not produce copies of emails of Lois Lerner and other high ranking IRS officials. On Thursday, July 10, IRS lawyers will appear in federal district court to explain why they never reported the emails missing in the context of a lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch. And the following day, the IRS legal team is expected to try to block outside access to the evidence that Lois Lerner’s computer crashed—if such evidence exists. This is beginning to sound more and more like the events unfolding during the Watergate investigation. In May 2013, the Treasury Inspector General released an audit report confirming that the IRS used inappropriate criteria to identify potential political cases. As a result, IRS Commissioner Steven Miller and IRS Director, Exempt Organizations, Lois Lerner were designated as scapegoats and forced to resign. Will Secretary of Treasury Jacob Lew be next to go?
After a string of flash victories in Mosul, Tikrit, Kirkuk and Diyala, the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) boldly declared that its fighters were going all the way into Baghdad. Since then, the leader of the Shiites, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, has called on his followers to take up arms against the Sunnis. The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) has mobilized more than 100,000 militias to defend against ISIS. The Shiite led Iraqi army has driven ISIS forces from Tikrit. The Shiite Iranian army has joined the fight against ISIS. The ISIS advance has apparently been stopped, at least temporarily. Is the ISIS threat over? Will Iraq be partitioned into three separate countries?
Officials in the Phoenix VA hospital lied about how long the wait times were for veterans to see a doctor and a news report from CNN on April 30, 2014 said that at least 40 United States Armed Forces veterans died while waiting for care at the Phoenix, Arizona, Veterans Health Administration facilities. By June 5, 2014, Veterans Affairs internal investigations had identified a total of 35 veterans who had died while waiting for care in the Phoenix VHA system. An investigation of delays in treatment throughout the Veterans Health Administration system is being conducted by the Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki resigned. Will others be designated as scape goats?
And the list goes on. There is the ATF gun walking scandal, the NSA surveillance scandal, the NRLB information leak, the GSA Las Vegas training extravaganza and many others. Has it really been just as bad under other Presidents? Will these scandals end with the designation of a scape goat, or will there be real reform of our government?
The CBG meets for breakfast every Thursday at 7:30AM at the Holiday Inn Express in Chestertown. Our meetings start promptly at 7:30AM, so you may want to come at 7:15AM to get your breakfast before the meeting.
Les Moorhouse will discuss campaign for Register of Wills at our meeting on July 17.
Joe Lill says
Editor,
….Sounds like we need to waterboard some people to get the truth about the Benghazi “Weapons of Mass Destruction”….only then can we can we hang the “Mission Accomplished” banner at the entrance to the Holiday Inn Express.