The Senseless Census

We've been inundated by sad tales of Lois Lerner's hard drive crashing, causing all of her emails to be lost.  Poor thing!  Fortunately there are these things called servers - you know, the main computers that govern an entity's data system - and emails?  Did that crash too?  Now we hear that they've had to shell out $50k to the National Organization for Marriage for divulging their tax returns to the Human Rights Campaign.

Just a few days ago we learned that the Environmental Protection Agency cannot even protect the environment within its own walls.  It seems that the Civil Service Exam is failing to screen prospective applicants for requisite potty-training knowledge.  Its employees are defecating in its hallways.  I wish that was a joke.

So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen!  Your tax dollars at work - working against you, that is.  And I myself came across my own example.  From the United States Census Bureau I received in the mail today (that is, June 26) my 2014 Census Test.  Below is the "letter" that came with it.

Notice that I was asked to complete this thing by July 1.  Below the website address it reads, "respond on time to avoid a personal visit from a Census Bureau interviewer."  Oh, goody!  I was given 5 days to respond before I could expect an "interviewer" - accompanied by how many swat-team staff, dare I ask?  How fortunate that I did not choose this time to go on summer vacation; else I might have come home to find some jack-boot "interviewers" ready to accost me on my return.  But do bear in mind the July 1st deadline as I continue.

There were a number of questions that were rather inane, based upon this July 1st deadline.  I copied some and will post (with my identifying information redacted).  Observe.

Notice that the wording of the question is nonsensical, given that the census is supposed to be finished by July 1st?  The wording of the question implies that July 1st is in the past, not future.  It might have made more sense had I received it on July 3rd (to be submitted at a later date).  Alternatively, it would make sense to phrase the question, "Will you be living or staying at _____ on July 1, 2014?", for that would place the question in the future.

So the folks at the Census Bureau don't understand the proper usage of time in relation to language and communication.  Again, our tax dollars are being wasted.  But perhaps I should look on the bright side.  All indications are (so far) that the Census folks are at least potty-trained.

His Teleprompter Took The Fifth

For a little Sunday humor, here's a recent monologue from Jay Leno (courtesy Newsbusters).

IRS - Rotten To The Core

Like dandelion weeds suddenly sprouting all over a lawn, we have all seen more and more manifestations of IRS thuggery appearing almost hourly throughout the internet.  There is not time to comment on them all.  I will list below some key links.

IRS Targets Catholic Critics of Obama Regime
IRS Targeted Conservative College Interns
True The Vote Waiting on Tax-Exempt Status
Bachman: IRS Admissions Cast Doubt on Validity of 2012 Elections
Tea-Party Protesters Met By Armed DHS Guards
Reporters Given Forced Armed Escort in IRS Building
IRS's Lerner Has History of Harassing

Speaking of Lois Lerner, she's going before the House committee tomorrow.  She plans to refuse to answer questions and to invoke the Fifth Amendment.  She doesn't want to incriminate herself.  But doesn't that constitute a tacit admission that her answers would incriminate her?  But really - she needn't resort to that! She could just join some of her fellow progressives in laying the blame for the IRS debacle at the feet of (betcha can't guess!) - George Bush!  Surprise!

It's probably long past time that the Internal Revenue Service was abolished.  It is a threat to our republic.

Critic Of Progressive Katholyc Groups Targeted By IRS

Doctor Ann Hendershott, a sociology professor and Catholic author, found herself undergoing a grueling

audit by the Internal Revenue Service after penning a number of articles critical of the Messiah Most Miserable.  The full Blaze article can be found here.

Although she made no profit from her writing ventures, the IRS demanded to know who paid her.  Moreover, they called her to their office and insisted that she come alone.

It should be noted that she not only criticized Obama in her articles, but also some notoriously left-wing "katholyc" groups, such as "Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good" and "Catholics United".  Hendershott exposed their financial ties to George Soros just a few months prior to the IRS harassment.

Moral of the story - if you criticize the Messiah Most Miserable or even just the Minions Most Mindless, you might get a rap at your door or a phone call.  We trust that they will be so decent as to do so only during waking hours.

However, in all fairness to the Man-Child of the White House, the IRS has been doing such strong-arming long before he was born (wherever that was).  It appears that FDR got them started on their wicked ways and many Dems - and at least one Republican - made use of their arm-twisting tricks.  A Wall Street Journal piece has a decent summary of the IRS's chequered career.

By the way - the Treasury Inspector General's office released its report on the matter.  Go here and download a pdf copy to your own computers.