Posted on 06/21/2014 10:28:19 PM PDT by chessplayer
Talk about the lesser of two evils. With the Obama administration stonewalling Congress on the IRS scandal (and Fast and Furious, and Benghazi, and …), House hearings have produced a continuous stream of outrages, including yesterday’s jaw-dropping display of arrogance from IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, who smirked as he declared that the IRS didn’t owe an apology to anyone for its targeting of conservatives. Clearly, the Department of Justice under Eric Holder has no interest in investigating abuses of power that target Barack Obama’s opponents, or investigating much of anything except how to move Gitmo detainees into federal courts for civil trials. And the House on its own hasn’t much power to do anything except expose the abuses and the arrogance.
Carl Cannon wrote last night that he’s become convinced of the necessity, but only because it has become the least bad option. He gives a lengthy read on the reasons why both parties allowed the special-prosecutor law to lapse after a series of politically abusive, ridiculously lengthy, and almost completely futile investigations discredited the position:
>> House hearings have produced a continuous stream of outrages
The Congressional Carnival...
Is there no state criminal laws that could be used to rid us of these power mad control freaks? Got to be something on the books, such as theft by deception, forcing organizations to spend money to defend themselves about being fraudulent organizations, on invented baseless charges? Wouldn’t the manpower used and legal and financial advise amount to theft by unlawful taking?
We have laws on the books that do not allow you to cut off the tags on your mattress, mean to tell me we can’t find one state law that fits the actions of these hoods?
Speshul persucutor
The reason most of these “hearings” and “investigations” go nowhere is because they are seen as opportunities for grandstanding. The idea that in her 5 allotted minutes, a Maxine Waters can capture the professional insight of a Wall St banker or a “big oil” CEO or even a baseball player suspected of being on steroids is beyond preposterous, when for all practical purposes she has the the brain of a gerbil.
Obama is Law-Less because Republican “leaders” are BALL-LESS!!
waking up every morning knowing someone is watching you or tailing you or going through you papers/life is about the same as waking up in prison after a good dream.
beautiful fantasyland (a free American) is smashed by the reality that you're not and functionally imprisoned.
don't ask .... I know.
A repeat, for example, of Ken Starr and his circus of clowns (recall klinton's "is is" to run out the clock? Not "go for the throat" prosecutors, more like playing "patty-kake") is not needed.
The "process" needs to be straight-up and clearly adverserial; Henry Hyde's flag has been on the ground a long time now having been forsaken.
Our vauanted "system" of Checks-and-Balances is as dead as a dodo and has been for decades.
Your comment, sir, is a flagrant attack upon the integrity of the Gerbil! The Gerbil has been the object of persecution and perversion throughout this homosexual land and continually struggles for its very survival! Have you no shame? :o)
That is simply not true.
Congress has the inherent power to arrest and imprison for Contempt of Congress. They don't need to crawl to Holder or the Federal courts.
The House of Reps could have the House Sergeant at Arms arrest Lerner and the IRS thugs that have 'lost' the emails RIGHT NOW and hold them indefinitely until they testify completely and truthfully to the oversight committee. If they lie they can be imprisoned. There used to be a jail right in the Capital Building for that purpose.
Congress has the obligation, responsibility and the POWER to hold the government agents and employees accountable. But don't hold your breath waiting for that to ever happen. The GOP Establishment and the Obama Regime both play for the same team.
It is really time to take direct action.
It seems that there are two avenues that can be taken. The first, and also the worse, is the Special Prosecutor who would answer to the Justice Department, and we know where that would lead. The second is the Independent Council, also problematic based on past experiences. In my opinion, Ken Starr was an absolute flop who allowed himself to be tied in knots by a combination of the media and the Clinton’s. It would only be effective if the leader him/her self was truly willing to be led by the law and not public opinion. That is a tall order.
Like all the so-called “investigations” we hear about every day and never being resolved, “what difference does it make?”
If we are to ever save this country, the ONLY recourse any of us have is at election time. Choose wisely and carefully.
Typical democrat filth...
the second thing they should do is press for a fair tax and decimation of irs-its clearly been targeting certain groups and wields too much power-maybe some of the 90,000 employees facing possible loss of their jobs will start talking
I believe that you hit the nail on the head in your first paragraph. As Conservatives comprise what was once the American people, the Republicans have shown their contempt for them, and the contempt they hold them in in everyway possible.
Don’t overlook the seductive mistress that is Washington. What we think will be a fresh new start often becomes enslaved to reelection considerations above all. Not a small thing is the readiness of so many to bow at their feet. Fund raising for the next election begins on the first day in office.
We always have high hopes when some fresh new face leaves home to change the world, but more often it is their world that changes. This may sound pessimistic, but it is based on many years of direct observation and involvement in that world.
The House of Reps could have the House Sergeant at Arms arrest Lerner and the IRS thugs that have ‘lost’ the emails RIGHT NOW and hold them indefinitely until they testify completely and truthfully to the oversight committee.
So the 5th Amendment means nothing? Anyone who pleads the 5th can be arrested and thrown in jail?
“jaw dropping arrogance” doesn’t even begin to describe this jerk. He laughed at the questions knowing full well that no one would ever be criminally prosecuted in this fiasco. I wanted to jump into the screen and sucker punh him.
First on all, Lerner has already been held in Contempt of Congress on May 7, 2014 of this year.
Second, lets look at the relevant section of the 5th Amendment
...nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself
Congress is not a court and it does not conduct criminal cases. It is investigating the operation of the government of which it has TOTAL oversight. Lerner was a government employee acting as an agent of the government committing official crimes against the American people. She wasn't stealing office supplies for her own personal use.
Third, there is no settled law or court decision that says a government employee being investigated for their action in a official capacity can plead the 5th Amendment to a Congressional oversight committee. Everyone just assumes it.
Fourth, its my opinion that the black robed tyrants that ruled in Watkins v. United States and Quinn v. United States that Communists had 5th Amendment protections from Congressional investigations had willfully subverted the law and the Constitution for the express purpose of protecting and advancing the cause of Globo-Marxism.
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