The Dog Ate My Homework

     We often hear the story of how an elementary student thinks his teacher is gullible enough to buy the excuse, “The dog ate my homework.”  Evidently the IRS and White House think the public is that gullible too.

     The IRS started targeting conservative political groups starting in 2010.  Originally, the IRS tried to sell the idea that it was done by only a couple of rogue agents in a local Cincinnati, Ohio office, but it soon became apparent that it was a nationwide policy.  Where this policy came from is still unknown.

     Lois Lerner was the director of the IRS Exempt Organizations Unit.  She made a statement to Congress that she had done nothing wrong, and then pled the fifth.  I am not sure how she can legally make a statement and then refuse to answer questions about that statement, but she did.

     Congress asked the IRS for copies of Lerner’s e-mails and was told they would be provided.  Now, 18 months later, the IRS says two years of her e-mails have been lost due to a computer crash.  Not all her e-mails were lost, just the ones Congress asked for.  The e-mails of six other people involved with Lerner were also lost. 

     The computer with the e-mails crashed.  The back-up computer also crashed.  Information could still be recovered from the hard drives, but both hard drives were sent to a recycler to be destroyed with no attempt to recover the data. I can’t imagine the IRS losing anything.  They never seem to lose the amounts of money they want us to pay.  It sounds to me like the IRS has a dog that ate their homework. 

     Most IT experts say the e-mails should still be recoverable from servers or other means such as the individuals they were sent to or received from.  Do you suppose all those hard drives just happened to crash also? 

     I have an Idea.  Why don’t we just ask the NSA for copies?  I’m sure they have a record of the missing e-mails.

     Lois Lerner retired in September of 2013 after 12 years with the agency.  There have been no consequences for any part she played in targeting conservative political groups.  Her annual pension is in excess of $100,000.

     Lerner’s replacement is Stephen A. Martin.  He is described as an IT expert.  Some other interesting trivia is that Martin made the maximum donations to Obama’s political campaigns.  Both are probably just coincidences.  Or are they?

     After several years we still do not know who initiated the IRS targeting conservative political groups.  President Obama said there is absolutely no evidence of any wrongdoing.  Since the dog ate the e-mails, we may never know. 

     I don’t think we can expect much help from the Department of Justice since Eric Holder is the Attorney General.  Holder has already been held in Contempt of Congress for failing to turn over documents in the Fast and Furious scandal.  There were no consequences for Holder.  He thumbs his nose at Congress. 

     Nixon was impeached and left office partially because of an 18 ½ minute gap in the white house tapes.  Now we have two years of e-mails missing because the dog ate them.  It seems that as our federal government gets bigger, it gets more politically corrupt, and much better at covering up that corruption. 

     I like this joke I saw in The American Legion Magazine.  “What’s the difference between golf and politics?  In golf, you can’t improve your lie.”