Originally published June 18 2013
Line dancing video proves IRS is a culture of giggling control freaks with no connection to the real world
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) In yet another stunningly insensitive example of just how out-of-control the federal leviathan has become - and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), especially - another absurd "training video" has surfaced featuring IRS employees and paid for with your tax dollars.
The video, which was posted on the House Ways and Means Committee website, features about a dozen IRS employees line-dancing on a stage. From The Associated Press:
The video of the IRS workers practicing their dance moves, which lasts just under three minutes, comes weeks after it was revealed that agency workers produced two other videos parodying the "Star Trek" and "Gilligan's Island" TV shows.
The latest recording cost about $1,600 and was produced to be shown at the end of a 2010 training and leadership conference held in Anaheim, Calif., said IRS spokeswoman Michelle Eldridge.
'The outrage is only growing stronger'
In addition to the fact that the IRS has been used as a thuggish political tool against conservative and Tea Party organizations which dared to apply for tax-exempt status, the new video antics surface at a time when several government agencies, along with federal Defense Department employees and medical personnel at the nation's military hospitals are being furloughed due to across-the-board budget cuts.
The IRS conference itself has become the target of a Treasury Department inspector general report due out soon. Titled "Collected and Wasted: The IRS Spending Culture and Conference Abuses," the report became the subject of a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing May 31.
All of the videos in question were turned over to the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee following a request for them from Rep. Charles Boustany, R-La., a senior member.
"The outrage toward the IRS is only growing stronger," Boustany, who chairs the Ways and Means oversight subcommittee, told AP. "Clearly this is an agency where abuse and waste is the norm and not the exception."
As per the usual, some IRS official issued a written mea culpa, talking about how the video was an "unacceptable and an inappropriate use of government funds," as if taxpayers didn't already know that. The statement also said - of course - that the agency was implementing new policies "to ensure that taxpayer funds are being used appropriately" (which makes you wonder why such policies weren't already in place).
In describing the video, AP reported:
In the video, various workers comment as colleagues practice their dancing in the background to music that sounds like "Cupid Shuffle," a 2007 hit by the performer Cupid. In the version obtained by The Associated Press, IRS employees' names have been erased.
At a point in the video, one woman says, "And I thought doing the 'Star Trek' video was humiliating." Oh, so funny - not.
No, we do not consent
What is patently obvious to everyone but the most committed autobot is that the federal government - in all its bloated, overpowering omnipresence - is just out of control, period.
The level of contempt in which an ever-increasing number of federal employees treat American taxpayers who provide them with lavish pay, benefits and retirement is just appalling. But who can blame them when they are enabled by career federal bureaucrats used to abusing the taxpayer's trust, only to work their way up the career ladder where they can heap more abuse on the governed masses.
To simply say that "Congress needs to do something" is not enough anymore. Congress certainly does need to act, as does this president, but in concrete, meaningful ways that send a message such abuse will no longer be sanctioned or tolerated. People need to be fired and, where appropriate, brought up on charges.
Otherwise, trust in government will continue to plummet until someday there will no longer exist the concept of "the consent of the governed."
Sources for this article include:
http://baltimore.cbslocal.com
http://www.wjla.com
http://www.foxnews.com
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