The news observation thread

In the newspaper today I read more about the IRS scandal and the dismissal of the chief where the President called his actions "inappropriate".

I also read a bit more way back on page 5 about the DOJ's warrantless wiretapping of AP reporters. For some reason the names Woodward and Bernstein popped into my head. Oh... I know why... tomorrow is May 17th. The day that in 1973 led to these little ditties to be included in Article II (Abuse of Power), Articles of Impeachment against Richard M. Nixon, adopted by the House Judiciary Committee, July 29, 1974 :

excerpts taken from The History Place

(1) “He has, acting personally and through his subordinates and agents, endeavored to . . . cause, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, income tax audits or other income tax investigations to be initiated or conducted in a discriminatory manner.”

(2) "He misused the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Secret Service, and other executive personnel, in violation or disregard of the constitutional rights of citizens, by directing or authorizing such agencies or personnel to conduct or continue electronic surveillance or other investigations for purposes unrelated to national security, the enforcement of laws, or any other lawful function of his office; he did direct, authorize, or permit the use of information obtained thereby for purposes unrelated to national security, the enforcement of laws, or any other lawful function of his office; and he did direct the concealment of certain records made by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of electronic surveillance."

Is it me... Is it me... or is the timing and similarity just a little too much? I get that they aren't related to the same cover-up and that the President isn't directly linked (I am not on an impeachment rant... just that we once prosecuted a sitting pres for these things so they are considered to be serious crimes, jes?) but I also see the words "inappropriate" and "warrantless" that are being bandied about as niceties for "illegal" and the folks who were knowledgeable of these actions before and during the time they took place are usually called "criminals". What do we call those people who see a crime but don't report it - oh... right! "accessories" (just like iPod headphones!)?

What am I missing? Why aren't we seeing these people led away in handcuffs? Where is all the outrage?

I have no answers. I'm just as shocked by this as you.

I refuse to flounder because that is where the answer lies out in the ocean.

Flounders live in Watergate.

It's not the 70s anymore, first of all Facebook has washed away (what was left of) the old concept of privacy so nobody cares about warrantless wiretapping, most won't care if you bombard them with X-rays to look at their naked bodies. Privacy is a geek issue that the mainstream doesn't care about. Same thing with civil liberties for the most part! For most people, it's just a partisan cudgel that is awarded to the losing side as a consolation prize which they can bash the current government with until they have to give it up.

And when people realize they don't have the power to fix the issues it's a lot harder to stir up outrage. Nothing short of hands caught in the cookie jar of Blagoyevitchian levels of crookedness will do it.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: In the newspaper today I read more about the IRS scandal and the dismissal of the chief where the President called his actions "inappropriate". What am I missing? Why aren't we seeing these people led away in handcuffs? Where is all the outrage?

I think you know the answers, and I agree with you.

What do people think this guy is supposed to be doing everyday at work if they believe he didn't know anything about any of this

GameboyRMH wrote: And when people realize they don't have the power to fix the issues it's a lot harder to stir up outrage. Nothing short of hands caught in the cookie jar of Blagoyevitchian levels of crookedness will do it.

With the popularity of the current administration being somewhat in question with the folks who were on the receiving end of some IRS audits recently... one might think there was atleast one of them who was interested in prosecuting a clear violation of constitutional law.

It isn't like the right to sit down and shut up even when it makes them look borderline retarded so when there is a real opportunity to be right for once - where the berkeley are they?

ronholm wrote: What do people think this guy is supposed to be doing everyday at work if they believe he didn't know anything about any of this

Oval office aside ... why isn't Steven Miller in custody? He must be a great guy who just made a mistake of his own accord and not affiliated with any party. Just a lone guy acting on his own. Just like G Gordon Liddy

ronholm wrote: What do people think this guy is supposed to be doing everyday at work if they believe he didn't know anything about any of this

If any guy at the top doesn't know what's going on it's because

A) He doesn't care

B) He knows but subordinates are covering for him

C) He's surrounded by incompetents who kept him out of the loop

D) Any combination of the above

E) All of the above

This is supposed to be a News Observation thread. Did anyone else see anything interesting or noteworthy in the news today

I like pie. There should be a flounder pie picture for this topic. Unfortunately, I can only find this pilchard pie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargazy_pie

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: This is supposed to be a News Observation thread. Did anyone else see anything interesting or noteworthy in the news today

I read something about someone losing his leg tingle.

In reply to JoeyM:

This is not floundering. This is an off-topic on the off-topic section, and the subject matter is something that should be considered an outrage by any American, regardless of their political leanings. If politicians and government employees are treated as being above the law, then it affects everyone.

bravenrace wrote: In reply to JoeyM: This is not floundering. This is an off-topic on the off-topic section, and the subject matter is something that should be considered an outrage by any American, regardless of their political leanings. If politicians and government employees are treated as being above the law, then it affects everyone.

I'm going out to the garage. That's a far better option than whining about politics on a car forum

In reply to JoeyM:

I was going to say "stay thirsty, my friend", but I think you drink too much cool aid to be thirsty.

JoeyM wrote: I'm going out to the garage. That's a far better option than anything on a car forum

FTFY.

It appears that Miller got axed, although he was planning on leaving anyway.

bravenrace wrote: In reply to JoeyM: This is not floundering. This is an off-topic on the off-topic section, and the subject matter is something that should be considered an outrage by any American, regardless of their political leanings. If politicians and government employees are treated as being above the law, then it affects everyone.

Congress does not have to adhere to the laws the rest of us do. They are "above" the law as the law is currently written. ( written by them by the way)

Just look into Congressional insider trading---- what they do legally would put the rest of us in jail----- just ask Martha Stewart.

Yes, they abolished insider trading.......then snuck it back in while no one was looking!

We are being led by criminals.

If Nixon were alive he would have been furious. "Those motherberkeleyers tried and impeached me for violating constitutional law" he would say. "This berkeleyer walks away with just inappropriate actions? My ass!". Read that in his voice as interpreted by Rich Little.

GPS: Thank you for posting this. I've tried to type something non-floundery several times this week, and have been unable.

Can we ALL as Americans agree that this is berkeleyed up? Or do we just give this guy a pass on EVERYTHING?

This is supposed to be a News Observation thread. Did anyone else see anything interesting or noteworthy in the news today

Well. Here's what I heard yesterday: "IRS? What's an IRS? Here's a bunch of email conversations from that protest over a silly video in Benghazi. I fired the head guy! What else do you expect me to do!? I had no idea! I'm as outraged as you are! I'm not taking taking any questions. Eat E36 M3 and die, plebians!"

Is anybody buying that the White House had nothing to do with this?

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/ga-tea-party-says-irs-needs-be-held-accountable-sc/nXsGM/

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: If Nixon were alive he would have been furious. "Those motherberkeleyers tried and impeached me for violating constitutional law" he would say. "This berkeleyer walks away with just inappropriate actions? My ass!". Read that in his voice as interpreted by Rich Little.

Actually, I think he'd say "berkeleyin amateur!" Read in a hybrid Rich Little/Walter Sobchak voice.

poopshovel wrote: Read in a hybrid Rich Little/Walter Sobchak voice.

Nixon was none too keen on the type of folks who don't roll on the Shabbos.

Remember the story of the boy who cried "wolf"?

Muslim, socialist, Kenyan-born, blah, blah, blah.

Tell enough lies and no one will believe the truth from you any longer.

I have no idea if the White House will be implicated but I'm pretty confident the truth will come out at some point - it always does.

That said, the omparisons to Nixon are just so deliciously bat-crazy that I can't stop laughing, so thanks for that much.

Oh... hay... in other recent news. I read the text of a speech a week or so ago. It was generally a pretty up-beat moving piece but I'm cherry-picking just the one paragraph that stuck out as an odd thing to say to a group of recent graduates. Note that it is indeed out of context but it also appeared to be when it was in the speech (hence the "stuck out" part):

"Unfortunately, you’ve grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that’s at the root of all our problems; some of these same voices also doing their best to gum up the works. They’ll warn that tyranny is always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices. Because what they suggest is that our brave and creative and unique experiment in self-rule is somehow just a sham with which we can’t be trusted."

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