I'm sure many readers have their own version as to which is the really big lie, and rightly so. There are many to choose from. My peeve this time is the phrase "EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW". In fact, it doesn't exist.
What prompted my outrage this time? The announcement from the Department of Justice (now there's a misnomer) that Lois Lerner will not be prosecuted.
This from FOX News 9/8/17:
"The Trump administration has no plans to charge former IRS official Lois Lerner over her role in the Tea Party targeting scandal, the Justice Department said Friday in response to calls by Republican lawmakers to revisit the case. In a letter to the lawmakers, the Justice Department said that "reopening the criminal investigation would not be appropriate based on the available evidence."
And from CBS News:
"The Justice Department will not be re-opening a criminal investigation to consider charging former IRS official Lois Lerner for her role in delaying non-profit status for conservative groups, the DOJ said in a letter to top members of the House Ways and Means Committee."
I'm waiting to see if POTUS explodes on Twitter as he did when DOJ head Jeff Sessions, nominated by Trump, recused himself in another important matter. What on earth is going on here?
Lerner walks away from sins against her fellow citizens with a government retirement package paying her six figures annually. (Tell me crime doesn't pay!) This after the gall she displayed refusing to answer for her behavior as a senior IRS official and federal government employee, financially compensated by taxpayers. She was tagged with a "contempt of Congress" resolution, including votes from Democrats. Informed readers will remember the "crashed laptops" and "erased backup tapes" that defied all attempts to investigate her official work. How many people have a series of multiple backup systems to ensure nothing gets lost? Most of us don't and rarely experience a problem. She did . . . and the records were lost anyway. Many have long suspected that names in the lost records went all the way to the top.
A leftist idealog, she is accused of using her position to deny tax exempt status to applicants whose politics she disagreed with, regardless of the merit of the application. When confronted with her nefarious official activities she took the fifth and got away with it. Those who witnessed her disgraceful behavior (read non-testimony) just grit their teeth and mumble under their breath descriptive, unprintable words you hope your children never hear.
Where did the proud, hopeful statement EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW come from anyway? Research reveals the architects who designed the building housing the United States Supreme Court suggested the words be prominently displayed (in all caps) above the impressive columns at the building's entrance. It was agreed to and there they are. You can't miss them visually. . . but you can miss them in real life. Ironically the building and its' adornment portraying such lofty optimism was constructed during the depression. Perhaps an omen re decisions that will affect our mood forever.
If any reader wants to further research the lofty words, even going all the way back to ancient Greece, there is a lot of material readily available on line to satisfy the desire for more information.
But virtually all persons believe the phrase is elite legalese for a saying most of us have used a zillion times in our life, "What's good for the goose is good for the gander". We hoped it would be the case, but of course we know it isn't. The hoi polloi have come to learn that where the law is concerned different rules apply to different folks with similar cases. Goose and gander are, after all, opposites, female and male respectively. Almost daily you can find an incident, circumstance or person(s) to reinforce your gut feeling that if you were the subject of the case at hand you would be treated quite differently than someone more privileged or favored by political interests. And you'd be right.
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Lois Lerner is a lawyer and former president of the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws
After the news releases shown above, I viewed a panel of well known pols explaining why they accept the DOJ reasons for not prosecuting Lerner. They offer the lame excuse that the case is probably difficult to process to conviction and they should just let it go. They are asking us to choke down yet another case of unequal treatment under the law. We know damned well if we were in the same situation we would not be so privileged to calmly stroll away with a publicly paid annuity and not a care in the world.
What the panel and others of their ilk fail to grasp is the whittling away of trust in important institutions (see my recent essay "This Is Your FBI" published in Canada Free Press) is destroying society like a cancer eating away at vital organs. The slippery slope steepens with each incident until one cannot climb back to the peak where comfort and safety are accorded. As the Scots are wont to say, "Aye, always tak' the high road . . . the view is better and you'll look better up there." A map or GPS coordinates would be helpful to find the access route to the high road, if it exists any more.
BTW, Lois Lerner is a lawyer and former president of the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws. Unbelievable!
Bob was born in Toronto and began his financial career as a trader on the Toronto Stock Exchange. He relocated to California and became SVP and CFO of a $multi-billion diversified financial entity. He served on the board of many companies in Canada and US. An avid yachtsman, he owns a twin diesel ocean going vessel once featured in Architectural Digest magazine. He maintains a hockey web site. “slapshotreport.com” and currently resides in Sausalito, California.
