Headlines: Scandal, Murder, and Lies

I feel like every day there's a new headline that is stomach-turning. I have been semi-AWOL from political commentary lately because I've been working on getting my wedding put together. I don't like commenting on political stories without doing a decent amount of background research. However, it feels like we still don't actually have a lot of information about anything that's been happening, so I thought I'd do a quick rundown of the big stories before they become obsolete. I have strong feelings about all of them and want to share my opinion whether I have enough research or not.

Benghazi. Here is what I have been able to put together:
1) The people in Benghazi asked for more protection. The State Department said no. The first attack in Benghazi happened in the evening.
2) After hearing of the first attack, one of our people in Tripoli asked his commanding officer if they could send some of the military to Benghazi to help. The commanding officer said no. The second attack happened. Four Americans were left dead.
3) The talking points for the Sunday shows were changed 12 times.
My take on it:
1) If Ambassador Stevens asked for more security, there was probably a reason for it. We should probably know what that is. IF the State Department looked into the threat that Stevens was concerned about and decided it wasn't a threat, the State Department made a mistake. Plain and simple. Yes, it cost four Americans their lives, but it's the State Department's job to make decisions about placing security around the world and, unfortunately, no one can always make the right decision. However, if the State Department just ignored his request for more security without investigating, that's a much bigger problem.
2) If there was an attack going on in a country that was over 5 hours away by military plane and I didn't know who was behind it, there is no way in hell I would take some of the military away from the base in Tripoli. What if Tripoli was next? What if they were using Benghazi as a distraction to get military away from Tripoli to attack Tripoli? Unless there was military to spare, my military would stay exactly where it was and protect what it was assigned to protect. Yes, there is a loss in the four people in Benghazi, but it's not a loss of an entire military base. Tripoli was never under attack. I'm just saying, at the time, people didn't know if it could have been next.
3) Are you kidding me?! How are we supposed to trust our government if they don't tell us the truth? I'm not completely naive--I know the government has kept secrets from the American people from the dawn of time, but I don't see how this lie that was changed 12 times helped us have confidence in our government. I just don't. I would have wanted to know if it was Al-Quaeda up front. How did this make anything better?!

IRS targeting conservative groups. I'm not even going to explain this one further; I think the headline says enough.
Here's my take on it:
Seriously?! I don't know who the IRS thinks it is, but since when is it legal to target conservative groups?  This is wrong and if it had been liberal groups or gun owner groups or women's groups or anti-abortion groups or humanitarian groups or any group, I would be just as upset! A lot of liberals are saying, "Oh maybe they should be targeted." If you're one of those liberals, please stop talking. Just stop. I don't care what group it is; we all have the same rights and we all deserve to be respected. The IRS needs to get it's poop in a group and fix this. And it seems like there are a few people in the IRS who need to be fired.

DOJ spying on AP. Apparently the Department of Justice thought it was appropriate to secretly subpoena a bunch of phone records used by AP reporters and editors. One of the phones targeted was the phone in the House press room.
My take on it:
Excuse me? Seriously. Who does this?! The AP is (I think) the largest press organization in the world and everyone gets their info from this organization. The problem with this situation, beyond the obvious illegality of it, is that the AP reporters are amazing at getting sources to talk. Now, if I were an anonymous source who knew lots of juicy things and found out that the Department of Justice could now know who I am, I would quit talking. There goes a great source. Come on, DOJ, pull it together.

Gosnell. (I wasn't planning on talking about this, but one of my readers asked what I thought about it, so I decided to include it.) I'm not going to hit on the details of this case, because they make me sick to my stomach. This is the case about the doctor who was performing late-term abortions on women in an unclean clinic with unclean tools and actually killed some babies who were born alive as well as a mother on whom he performed an abortion. He was convicted of 3 counts of first-degree murders and one count of manslaughter. He could have faced the death penalty, but waived his right to appeal his conviction and so will serve life in prison.
My take on it:
The first time I remember hearing about a death penalty case was Timothy McVeigh back in 1998 and I remember wondering why they were killing him because it didn't make sense to me. I have been incredibly against the death penalty for as long as I can remember. This Gosnell case is the first time in my entire life I have thought that someone deserves the death penalty. Gosnell was a trained medical professional. While everyone understands that killing people is bad, medical professionals sign an oath to not kill people. This guy used his job to perform illegal abortions and then kill babies--and he got paid for it. It makes me sick.

My take on all of this:
Three of the four above stories involve Washington. I am incredibly upset about all of this! I take my trust in my government very seriously. And right now I do not trust my government. When are we going to get answers? They're there--we know that because some have been leaked. But how much is the government changing the "facts" before they release them to us? How are we supposed to trust whatever they release as being the "facts?!"

And what about Obama's involvement? The right is putting all of this on him: "the IRS targeted conservative groups--Obama must have told them to." "Obama probably changed the Benghazi talking points." "The DOJ just spied on the AP--Obama doesn't respect people's privacy." I think everyone jumps on Obama because he is the President. He's in charge. But everything that happens in Washington doesn't cross his desk.

I'm not saying Obama had nothing to do with any of this. I am really disappointed in him. He hasn't been as forthcoming about everything as I had hoped he would be. While some or none of this might be his "fault," I don't think he's done a great job of doing damage control. If he isn't involved, he needs to make it very clear to the country. If he is involved, he needs to make it very clear to the country.

To the right: Remember when the left was doing to Bush exactly what you're doing right now to Obama? You were pissed. Back off until there are more answers. Then, if we find out that Obama's been involved in a cover-up, go nuts. If he's not involved, though, stick to the facts and quit harassing him.

To the left: Stop blindly supporting someone you don't personally know just because you both wear blue. Like I said to the right, wait until we have more answers, but then if the answers aren't what you wanted them to be, don't make excuses or say that everything is biased.

To both parties: Don't call yourself "progressive" or "open-minded." It's adorable, but ignorant. If you bash the other party just because they believe something different than you do, you're obviously extremely close-minded because you don't see the other side as even having a point that could be valid. Both parties do it and both parties look asinine because of it.

And, finally, to our elected officials: The fastest way to become fallible is believing in your own infallibility. Own up to what's going on. If you've screwed up, sucks for you because you might get fired. Chances are, if you're honest, people will be more likely to forgive you. If you haven't screwed up, congratulations; you're still in the denial phase. Everyone is fallible. Just be honest.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi