WASHINTON'S DANGER

Three strikes and you are out; maybe! That certainly is not true in Washington DC. This past week has been marked by the Benghazi Hearings, the IRS Scandal and the FBI seizure of newspaper reporter’s phone records without a court order.

More is being revealed about Administration’s reactions to the attack on the Benghazi Consul Residence. And the fact that they did color the initial press releases to try to hide any terrorist involvement. Since this “hearing has been initiated by some of the Statesmen in our legislative bodies, and since this is an election off year it will soon be forgotten, along with a federal budget.

On the other hand seizure of phone records by the FBI is a blatant disregard of the 4^th Amendment, and also was done with the intention of violating the 1^st Amendment; freedom of the press; especially with the ability of reporters to keep secret the identity of the source of their information. This has the odor of a Police state.

The third atrocity is the revelation of the IRS obtaining information about certain to the Political Right organizations to deny them tax exempt status. Among the information requested were the names of individuals associated with the organization.

There was a threat implied in this action for IRS action against those named individuals besides removing tax free status.

Not since the days of Richard Nixon has there been such contempt for the basic laws of this country. The Nixon government was on a road to abrogation of the basic principles of freedom in our constitution. Only the amateurish Watergate fiasco stopped them; not because of the break in, but because of the cover up attempts.

According to Karl Rove who is not noted for his liberalism or strict unblemished reports; the IRS process has been used by other Presidents two of whom happened to be Democrats; namely FDR and JFK to threaten or punish those that opposed their policies.  This was in an Op-Ed in the WSJ last week.

I believe that it would be a national catastrophe if the Obama government is found to be tainted as the evidence seems to indicate. Despite attestations that the President knew nothing about the IRS action until the story broke in the Newspapers there is evidence reported that individuals in the Administration were aware last year of the scandal.

If Obama has been isolated from the public by staff members that he had no knowledge of the IRS actions that, along with the petty politics which hamstring our Congress, would suggest that we have a dysfunctional federal government.

If on the other hand he had been aware of such practice early in the game and did nothing that could be destructive even fatal to the once unimaginable social gains that led to the election of an African-American as President; that would be equally dangerous.