How Many Scandals Are Too Many Scandals?

All those Obama adorers who worship at his altar and got us deeper into this mess than we ever should be need to pay attention as the scandals mount on "The Most Transparent Administration" in American history. If you believe that catch phrase you deserve a quick kick in the buttocks. We have Benghazigate, IRSgate, Holdergate and now Ghost E-mailgate. .

I was tuned into Fox News listening to The Five a while ago and Bob Beckel, being the last brilliant liberal legend in his own mind, wondered aloud what is wrong with cabinet officials having ghost e-mail accounts? Well Bob , you genius you, aside from the fact that they are basically illegal? Nothing. That sort of activity is covered under the laws outlined in the Freedom of Information Act which was designed to insure transparency in the federal government. Whoops! There's that transparency issued again. Only once again also being violated by those surrounding Obama.

When Eric Holder stirred up the press corps with his shenanigans, first with the Associated Press then with Fox News and James Rosen, red flags should have started waving all through the Executive Branch but somehow some didn't get the word. The press can actually be brutal if they actually do their job. Just ask members of the Nixon administration. The thing is up until the time they became the Obama lapdog and played for suckers they were hesitant to say nary a word about "The One" they anointed and have protected for how long?

The Associated Press folks obviously weren't too happy. So along come an opportunity for the Associated Press to shoot back and I'll be darned of they didn't when they reported about what appears to be a common occurrence by government bureaucrats. Which one you ask? The use of secret email accounts. Why would that happen? It's not about spam which is what is driveling out of the lips of the guilty such as Kathleen Sebelius. Or Lisa Jackson, former head if the EPA who created a fictitious EPA employee named Richard Windsor who garnered online certificates of achievement on her behalf.

Now understand that this sort of thing seems a bit suspect since Lisa was doing this sort on thing on our time and our dime while she was supposed to be protecting the environment. Maybe she was just protecting her ego. Who know?

If you don't think this administration tries to shakedown the press this will confirm your doubts if you ever had any. The Associated Press, being the now vigilant watchdog they should have been all along, issued a FOIA request to the Department of Labor attempting to gain any, and all, emails hidden in secret email accounts. They're there and this is opening up as the newest administration ball of sour wax. So what did the Labor Department do? You'll never guess or maybe you will.

They attempted to shakedown the Associated Press, after Eric Holder did what he did with his subpoenas. Now do you think that is wise? How? They told the AP that it would cost them $1.3 million for the supposed costs of the department retrieving that particular data for political appointees. Really? Here's a quote from the story itself:

"(The agency) said it needed to pull 2,236 computer backup tapes from its archives and pay 50 people to pore over old records. Those costs included three weeks to identify tapes and ship them to a vendor, and pay each person $2,500 for nearly a month’s work.

But under the department’s own FOIA rules – which it cited in its letter to the AP – it is prohibited from charging news organizations any costs except for photocopies after the first 100 pages. The department said it would take 14 weeks to find the emails if the AP had paid the money."

So the stuff hit the fan when that attempt was made and reported. The result was a department spokesperson admitting that the "cash shakedown" was a mistake. No kidding? Immediately forthcoming was all email addresses of political appointees in the Labor Department. Wait a minute! What happened to the 14 weeks needed to compile whatever you said you were going to have to compile? Transparent huh? You're darned right it was. I know a shakedown when I see one meant to dissuade anyone from obtaining information you don't want them to have. We're talking classic Chicago style politics here folks. Did you expect more or less?

This suppression of the press is now extending well beyond The Whine House which uses its bully pulpit to badgered the press corps. We have the Justice Department making reporters criminal suspects for reporting and seeking the scenes behind the scenes. And now the HHS Secretary admitting that she uses secret email accounts to avoid spam. The Lisa Jackson affair and the Department of Labor trying to monetarily shaking down the Associated Press to obtain a few email addresses for scrutiny.

So now we have an administration creating a new rule for the press under the banner of transparency? The new rule is called pay to play but it really isn't a new rule. As I said it is a classic case of Chicago politics brought to Washington DC. Do we have anyone from Chicago at the reins of power in our federal government? I'm just asking...

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As Always,

The Frog Prince