Scandals: One of the nation's largest veterans groups is  being required to provide proof of membership eligibility. Posts that can't or  won't comply face heavy fines. Your government thanks you for your service.

The IRS scandal, which President Obama says is "phony," along with the  body-bag scandals of Benghazi and Fast and Furious, was once the object of faux  presidential scorn. When the president announced acting Commissioner Steven  Miller had resigned over his agency's "inexcusable" targeting of Tea Party and  other conservative groups who had applied for tax-exempt status, he feigned  concern.

"I reviewed the Treasury Department watchdog's report and the misconduct that  it uncovered is inexcusable," Obama said. "Americans have a right to be angry  about it, and I'm angry about it."

Full of sound and fury, his remarks signified nothing. Lois Lerner, who  invoked her Fifth Amendment right to be silent because she had done nothing  wrong and had nothing to hide about her role in orchestrating the targeting,  remains on paid vacation while the focus on groups considered even remotely  patriotic continues.

If the president wants to get angry about something, how about getting mad  about the IRS leaping on the American Legion, requiring individual Legion posts  to provide proof of their members' eligibility, virtually accusing the veterans  organization of being a cover for and sanctioning tax fraud?

As the Daily Caller has learned, this targeting of the American Legion is  happening under a 13-part section of Part 4, Chapter 76 of the Internal Revenue  Manual pertaining to "veterans' organizations." The section falls under "Exempt  Organizations Examination Guidelines," which was the jurisdiction of Exempt  Organizations head Lerner.

"The American Legion has recently learned of the so-called IRS 'audit manual'  and is concerned that portions of it attempt to amend statutes passed by  Congress and approved by the president," American Legion legal counsel Philip  Onderdonk Jr. told The Daily Caller.

"The IRS now requires American Legion posts to maintain dates of service and  character of service records for all members. ...The penalty for not having the  required proof of eligibility is, apparently, $1,000 per day," the American  Legion stated.

'Unconscionable' is an overused word in describing the abuses of power and  the continual overstepping of legal and constitutional boundaries by this  administration. But it certainly applies in this case. The American Legion is a  nonpartisan, not-for-profit veterans organization chartered and incorporated by  Congress in 1919, and now has more than 2.4 million members in 14,000 posts  worldwide, according to its website. It has never had to deal with such a  requirement until now.