Dem Congressman Blasts Shinseki and Obama Over VA Scandal

What the V.A. has done to our military vets is absolutely unconscionable. The fact that it wasn't just one or two random V.A. hospitals that were fudging records but a whole slew of them nationwide, makes it doubly so.

And it's not just Republicans who are outraged, there are even some Democrats who are equally disgusted with the scandal.  In this video, Congressman David Scott, D-GA, takes the Veterans Administration to task and actually criticizes Barack Obama for his lack of "urgency."  He also wants Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki sacked, and happens to be a co-sponsor of a bill that would allow for that to happen.

We send our troops abroad, put them in harms way, and then deny them prompt medical care when they return stateside?  Putting some on secret lists because of delays in treatment?  So far, 26 hospitals are under investigation, and 40 vets probably died because of those delays  at the Phoenix hospital alone.

When Scott and Republican chair of the House Veteran Affairs committee Jeff Miller paid a visit to the VA hospital in Atlanta, Scott claims they were lied to by administrators regarding suicides.

“And they told a damn lie! Because the very next day it was exposed there was another solider that committed suicide. And they covered it up."

He was also critical of Obama's tepid response to the scandal. And you certainly can't call him racist since Scott is black.

“I listened to the President today, and I was very disappointed with President Obama today,” he said. “There was no urgency. Mr. President, we need urgency, we need you to roll up our sleeves and get into these hospitals!”

Obama refuses to fire Shinseki, and Shinseki refuses to resign.  If the scandal continues to escalate that very well could change.

We owe our vets!

Source: Daily Caller

No Mosques Monitored, Everyone Else, Yes

The whole NSA phone surveillance scandal has pretty much split the nation, even down party lines.  On the one hand, we have those who believe that monitoring is a necessary evil, a means to protect our country from terrorists and a repeat of 9/11, and that if you have nothing to hide then what's the big deal. On the other hand, we have those who believe that it's a huge "Big Brother" infringement upon our privacy. Regardless of where you stand on the issue, I think we can all agree that if nothing else we should be monitoring mosques, considering the bulk of terrorist activity in the 21st century is Islamic-based. But apparently mosques were not being monitored. That's right, the FBI were not allowed anywhere near mosques, unless it was approved.

According to Investor's Business Daily:

Since October 2011, mosques have been off-limits to FBI agents. No more surveillance or undercover string operations without high-level approval from a special oversight body at the Justice Department dubbed the Sensitive Operations Review Committee.

Who makes up this body, and how do they decide requests? Nobody knows; the names of the chairman, members and staff are kept secret.

We do know the panel was set up under pressure from Islamist groups who complained about FBI stings at mosques. Just months before the panel's formation, the Council on American-Islamic Relations teamed up with the ACLU to sue the FBI for allegedly violating the civil rights of Muslims in Los Angeles by hiring an undercover agent to infiltrate and monitor mosques there.

Before mosques were excluded from the otherwise wide domestic spy net the administration has cast, the FBI launched dozens of successful sting operations against homegrown jihadists — inside mosques — and disrupted dozens of plots against the homeland.

If this is true, it's outrageous.  Then again, airport security will pat down an old-lady in a wheelchair, rather than singling out those who would be more likely to harm us.

One has to wonder had the FBI been monitoring mosques could the Boston Marathon bombings been prevented?

The FBI never canvassed Boston mosques until four days after the April 15 attacks, and it did not check out the radical Boston mosque where the Muslim bombers worshipped.

The bureau didn't even contact mosque leaders for help in identifying their images after those images were captured on closed-circuit TV cameras and cellphones.

One of the Muslim bombers made extremist outbursts during worship, yet because the mosque wasn't monitored, red flags didn't go off inside the FBI about his increasing radicalization before the attacks.
This is particularly disturbing in light of recent independent surveys of American mosques, which reveal some 80% of them preach violent jihad or distribute violent literature to worshippers.

If you're going to monitor everyone, then don't exclude a segment of the U.S. population that has spawned radicals from its midst.

Scandal In DC: State Department Covers Up Prostitution and Drug Charges

Latest scandal.  Allegations that the U.S.State Department covered up possible misconduct by State employees.

From alleged "sexual assaults" of foreign nationals hired at the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon by a security official stationed there, to the allegations that a U.S. ambassador had a penchant for doing it with prostitutes in public parks, and

“routinely ditched…his protective security detail” in order to “solicit sexual favors from prostitutes.”

In the case of the ambassador, the investigation was curtailed after investigators were told to stop. The ambassador continued at his post.

Video Parody- Obama/Verizon "Can You Hear Me Now"

Some clever people over at Slate.com, I think, came up with this funny video parody in response to the NSA/Verizon phone scandal.

"Can you hear me now?"  Yes, they apparently can.



H/T LB

EPA Allegedly Targeted Conservative Groups In Addition To The IRS

More government scandal- In addition to the IRS singling out conservative groups, there are now accusations that the EPA, yes the Environmental Protection Agency, did the same thing.

Shameful!

Read here.

IRS Wastes $50 Million On Conferences, Including A Lame Star Trek Parody

More controversy re. the IRS.  An audit of the agency that audits taxpayers discovered that the IRS spent approximately $50 million from 2010 to 2012 on perks for employees, including baseball tickets, and over 200 conferences.

A government watchdog's look at the scandal-hit agency's books found that it spent around $50 million on more than 200 conferences for employees between 2010 and 2012, according to the House Oversight Committee. The spending included baseball tickets, $135,000 in fees for 15 outside speakers (among them: $17,000 paid for a talk on "leadership through art"), and videos showing IRS employees taking line-dancing lessons and acting in a Star Trek parody, the AP reports.

The two videos were part of a $4 million conference in Anaheim, California, the Star Trek parody alone cost $60,000 to produce.  They didn't even bother to negotiate lower room rates, and some lucky ones- out of the 2,600 people in attendance- got to stay in $3,500 per night presidential suites.

According to acting IRS chief Daniel Werfel things have changed since then.

Watch the video of those IRS folk learning line-dancing courtesy of taxpayer money.  And the pitiful Star Trek Parody.

Source: Newser

Pro-Israel Group Also Targeted By The IRS

So it wasn't just conservative Tea Party affiliated groups that were unfairly targeted by the IRS, pro-Israel groups allegedly were as well, according to Lori Lowenthal Marcus, president of the pro-Israel group Z Street.

Lowenthal Marcus said her group was told that its application for tax-exempt status needed to be reviewed in Washington, apparently because its message is contrary to the Obama administration's stance on Israeli-Palestinian issues. She said they followed up after not hearing anything about the application for seven months.

She said an IRS agent told them, "If you're an organization connected to Israel you need to have special scrutiny from the IRS and some of those groups will be sent to a special unit in Washington, D.C. to determine if your activities are in contradiction with those of this administration's public policies. ... You can look at us and see if our activity is inappropriate. You cannot look at us and tell us that our thoughts or beliefs are inappropriate."

They're suing.

Source: Fox News

Tax Cheat Charlie Rangel Blasts Ousted IRS Commissioner For Abusing The Tax System

Questioning ousted IRS Commissioner Steven Miller, tax cheat Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) tells him its "wrong to abuse the tax system." Too bad he has done the same thing, but at least he blasts the guy.