When initially pondering what current event to loquaciously pounce upon today, two events seemed especially notable. And then it dawned on me how the two, eventually, seemingly somehow fit together…
First, the IRS scandal, as editorialized by USA Today…
As Congress investigates the IRS chicanery, the IRS has responded to a request for emails to and from Lois Lerner, who spearheaded the Tea Party harassment, by saying, basically, that the dog ate its homework. Or, rather, the IRS claims, somewhat dubiously, that ‘a hard drive crash’ on Lerner’s computer led to the loss of emails to outside entities ‘such as the White House, Treasury, Department of Justice, FEC, or Democrat offices.’ You know, the very people she’s accused of coordinating her harassment with.
With those emails missing, it’ll be harder to prove whether Lerner’s Tea Party harassment might have been at the behest of other wrongdoers, perhaps going as high as the Oval Office itself. But since government agencies seldom ‘lose’ evidence that makes them look good, reasonable people might suspect that there’s a cover-up going on. After all, nobody thought that the famous ‘18½ minute gap’ on Richard Nixon’s White House tapes contained anything positive about White House involvement in Watergate.
National Journal’s Ron Fournier thinks that ‘you couldn’t blame a person for suspecting a cover-up.’ No, you couldn’t. In fact, you’d have to be pretty gullible — or in-the-tank — not to suspect a cover-up.”
And second, Washington’s skin color, also as reported by the widest circulated print newspaper in the United States…
“Unprecedented pressure on the Washington NFL team to change its name reached a crescendo today when the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board canceled six federal trademark registrations owned by the team, ruling that the term ‘Redskins’ was disparaging to ‘a substantial composite’ of American Indians when the marks were granted between 1967 and 1990.
The 2-1 decision by the board does not mean the Washington team must stop using the name but gives opponents of the name another opening to hammer home their contention that the term is a despicable racial slur…
The Washington team retains its federal trademark rights pending appeal. And even if the club loses on appeal, it can continue to use the name, as it has for more than 80 years. But without federal trademark protection, others could potentially use the team’s name and logos to sell merchandise with impunity, although owners of unregistered marks can still try to protect them through state statutes or common law. The team has two months to file the appeal.”
The Intramuralist has multiple opinions swirling this day. On the IRS… do you think if we failed to file our tax returns, we could use the same excuse? … and how good do we feel, knowing that this is the organization set up to oversee Obamacare? On the Redskins… each of us deserves respect… but aren’t we again applying economic pressure in hopes of making a moral change? … is that effective?
Yes, I, too, wasn’t sure how the IRS & NFL went together — even though both abide in the same state — and then it dawned on me… Politicians and pundits pick and choose what to prioritize, obviously opting for what nets the better publicity. In other words, they don’t talk about what they don’t want to talk about.
As if on cue, Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) immediately, loquaciously pounced upon the Redskins, demanding change, charging the NFL owner with advocating “racism.” On the IRS scandal, however, according to The Hill, Reid is taking a “wait-and-see attitude,” deferring opinion to others.
Some things we like to talk about — some things we don’t. On the Intramuralist, we’ll talk about all things… even if they only seemingly, somehow fit together.
Respectfully…
AR