HHS OFFICIAL'S EMAILS DESTROYED, TOO
Yet another Obama administration official is having email problems:
"The Department of Health and Human Services informed House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa . . . that some of the emails belonging to Marilyn Tavenner, who leads the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, may not be 'retrievable.'
"The missing emails belonging to Tavenner, whose agency runs the ObamaCare exchanges, were first reported by msnbc.com.
"Issa, whose committee is also dealing with a missing email problem in its probe into the IRS' targeting of conservative groups, said it 'defies logic' that multiple Obama administration officials are 'ignoring' federal rules on records-keeping.
"'Yet again, we discover that this administration will not be forthright with the American people unless cornered,' he said."
All of which begs the question: "Is it time to view the Obama administration as a criminal enterprise?"
A RECIPE FOR FASCISM
Liberal
columnist Jonathan Alter writes that the best way to fight the "wave"
of American companies seeking to relocate their headquarters overseas in
order to avoid high federal taxes is a government backed loyalty oath:
"The president should issue an executive order that says any company that wants to keep its federal contracts must sign a new-fangled [Non-Desertion Agreement]. It's reasonable to expect most federal contractors to be American companies. Obama has already used that leverage to raise the minimum wage for companies doing business with the government and, in a little-noticed move, to force government contractors to pay their suppliers on time."
What about for those companies that don't have federal contracts? Send in the mobs:
"Companies that fail to sign non-desertion agreements would face the kind of public shaming that has gone out of fashion but could come back with a vengeance: boycotts, petitions, angry shareholder meetings full of the language of patriotism."
As thuggish as Alter's idea is, we wonder what he thinks about the time the Obama administration actively supported an American company's relocation abroad to avoid taxes:
"As part of the bailout of the auto industry in 2009, Obama's Treasury Department authorized spending $1.7 billion of government funds to get a bankrupt Michigan parts-maker back on its feet -- as a British company. While executives continue to run Delphi Automotive Plc (DLPH) from a Detroit suburb, the paper headquarters in England potentially reduces the company's U.S. tax bill by as much as $110 million a year."
SO MUCH FOR GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY
The website USASpending.gov
is supposed to give taxpayers a quick, easy and accurate view of how
the federal government spends our money. It's touted as a model of
government openness and transparency. In reality, it's a tangled mess
of errors and omissions:
"A government website intended to make federal spending more transparent was missing at least $619 billion from 302 federal programs, a government audit has found.
"And the data that does exist is wildly inaccurate, according to the Government Accountability Office, which looked at 2012 spending data. Only 2% to 7% of spending data on USASpending.gov is 'fully consistent with agencies' records,' according to the report."
PATROLLING EVERYWHERE BUT THE BORDER
We all know there is a crisis underway along our nation's southern border. But why are federal Border Patrol agents stopping and harassing citizens many, many miles away from our borders?
"The Supreme Court ruled that the Border Patrol can set up 'inland' checkpoints anywhere up to 100 miles from an external border of the United States. That's what government now considers a 'reasonable distance' from the border.
"But that means the zone within which you could be stopped and searched includes much of Florida and California, and all of Maine and New Hampshire. Two-thirds of America's population lives that close to the border."
So what is supposed to happen at these inland checkpoints?
"The Supreme Court ruled that Border Patrol agents at these checkpoints can 'conduct brief stops for the limited purpose of verifying residence status' but cannot 'conduct searches of individuals or the interior of their vehicles.' But…Border Patrol agents do exactly that. They often demand answers to lots of questions and search cars, too.
"The reason these videos are posted on YouTube is because increasing numbers of Americans consider the searches unconstitutional. They refuse to answer the extra questions. Some refuse to roll down their windows. Then agents sometimes break the window. Sometimes they tase the driver."
TSA WANTS YOUR IDEAS
The folks who run airport security are sponsoring a contest that asks the public for ideas and suggestions that will make security lines move faster. The top prize is $15,000.
We believe this video will not only help the TSA make security lines move faster, but also make them less intrusive, less degrading and much less constitutionally suspect.
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