IRS skepticism

[JRP1994]

Am I the only one who does not, for one second, buy the story about the IRS "losing" classified emails from Lois Lerner?

I'm not saying that there IS a scandal, or that this should be an issue (I don't know enough about the situation to pass judgement either way). But still. We're living in the 21st century -- incredibly advanced computer systems, NSA metadata on millions of people, an agency handling highly classified information -- am I really expected to believe that the IRS just "lost the emails?

This is reminiscent of Ollie North's paper-shredded documents.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Reminds me of this:

[Simfan34]

Obama good!

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Obama good!

Republican officeholder=automatic HP.

[Simfan34]

Obama good!

Republican officeholder=automatic HP.

Exactly, with these people.

[Never]

The IRS isn't trustworthy, even for for a government entity. In this day and age, the government shouldn't just "lose" emails.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The IRS isn't trustworthy, even for for a government entity. In this day and age, the government shouldn't just "lose" emails.

Given how creaky the IRS has been with its efforts to computerize, I doubt the IRS is in this day and age.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

The IRS isn't trustworthy, even for for a government entity. In this day and age, the government shouldn't just "lose" emails.

Given how creaky the IRS has been with its efforts to computerize, I doubt the IRS is in this day and age.

Yeah, the OP lost me when he used the phrase "advanced computer systems" in conjunction with the IRS. It's hardly the first place to get a big computer update budget, especially given Republican efforts to starve the agency and privatize functions throughout the last decade.

It's highly believable that the IRS could lose emails. It's even more believable that the agency doesn't have the IT department resources to recover them once they're lost.

[krazen1211]

It would be funny if real America used the Lerner line, and, uh, lost tax records due to a computer crash.

[Meursault]

The sort of disgruntled Forgotten Manism on display in this thread smells of curdled milk.

[krazen1211]

The parasitic IRS has been spending its money engaging in debauchery in Vegas.


And check out their standards!

All federal employees and federal contractors are required by law to preserve records containing adequate and proper documentation of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, and essential transactions of the agency. Records must be properly stored and preserved, available for retrieval and subject to appropriate approved disposition schedules.

If you create or receive email messages during the course of your daily work, you are responsible for ensuring that you manage them properly. The Treasury Department’s current email policy requires emails and attachments that meet the definition of a federal record be added to the organization’s files by printing them (including the essential transmission data) and filing them with related paper records.

[Badger]

I don't buy this any more than I buy the missing 18 1/2 minutes of the Nixon tapes as being "accidental".

[krazen1211]

Am I the only one who does not, for one second, buy the story about the IRS "losing" classified emails from Lois Lerner?

Link

After informing Congress on Friday that it can't find two years of email from former Director of Exempt Organizations Lois Lerner, House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp revealed Tuesday that the IRS can't produce records for six more employees whose hard drives also supposedly failed.