Minor Shakeup at ATF Over "Fast and Furious"

"Fast and Furious" the incredibly stupid BATF&E operation that put thousands of military style civilian weapons in the hands of the Mexican Cartels has become too great a burden for the Obama Administration, but not big enough to actually hold some responsible and accountable.

What the press is reporting as a major shakeup, is actually a serious of minor moves by Eric Holder's Justice Department to deflect blame and to hope that the public (and Republican legislators) move on.

Kenneth Melson, acting director of the BATF&E since since 2009, was reassigned after admitting mistakes in the sting operation meant to try to crack down on weapons reaching violent drug gangs from U.S. gun stores. Re-assigned?......Huh?

Dennis Burke, the U.S. attorney for Arizona, resigned after admitting mistakes in the operation.

Emory Hurley, the lead government prosecutor was also reassigned. I fear being redundant, but re-assigned? You have got to be kidding me!!!)

Another administration official said the shake-up at ATF was a chance for a "fresh start given everything they've gone through lately." Fresh start? How about a fresh start for the ATF agents whose careers were ruined because they had the ethics and character to question their bosses who allowed and abetted arming the cartels? How about some justice for Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry who was gunned down by one of these weapons the BATF&E allowed to go south?

The BATF&E has yet to answer if the guns used to shoot two and kill one ICE agent in February of this year were part of the Fast and Furious weapons import idiocy.

These supposedly sting operation, called "Fast and Furious," has birthed congressional probes which have been stymied by the Obama Administration.

I have received several dozen e-mails from people who believe this was an intentional arming of the cartels from U.S. sources to give proof to the other baseless accusations of Felipe Calderon, the Ass Clown of a Mexican President, that the U.S. was to blame for the Mexican violence and butchery which has killed over 40,000 at last count. It would also, as the theory goes, give Obama new fodder to call for elimination of guns rights in this country.

Obama the Lawyer?

This was sent to me from a contact in Chicago who stated the following was from a former Chicago lawyer now practicing law in Tyler, Texas:

Obama the Lawyer? Make up your own mind, but consider this: The IARDC stands for Illinois Attorney Registration And Disciplinary Committee. It's the official arm of lawyer discipline in Illinois, and they are very strict (and mean as hell). Even I, at the advanced age of almost 65, maintain (at the cost of approximately $600/year) my law license that I worked so hard and long to earn.

https://www.iardc.org/


Former Constitutional Law Lecturer and U.S. President Makes Up Constitutional Quotes During State Of The Union (SOTU) Address. Consider this:

1. President Barack Obama, former editor of the Harvard Law Review, is no longer a "lawyer". He surrendered his license back in 2008 in order to escape charges he lied on his bar application. A "Voluntary Surrender" is not something where you decide "Gee, a license is not really something I need anymore, is it?" and forget to renew your license. No, a "Voluntary Surrender" is something you do when you've been accused of something, and you 'voluntarily surrender" your license five seconds before the state suspends you.

2. Michelle Obama "voluntarily surrendered" her law license in 1993.

3. So, we have the first black President and First Lady - who don't actually have licenses to practice law.

Source:

4. A senior lecturer is one thing, a fully ranked law professor is another. Barack Obama was NOT a Constitutional Law Professor at the University of Chicago.

5. The University of Chicago released a statement in March 2008 saying Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) "served as a professor" in the law school-but that is a title Obama, who taught courses there part-time, never held, a spokesman for the school confirmed in 2008.

6. "He did not hold the title of Professor of Law," said Marsha Ferziger Nagorsky, an Assistant Dean for Communications and Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago School of Law.

Source:

7. The former Constitutional Senior Lecturer (Obama) cited the U.S. Constitution the other night during his State of the Union Address. Unfortunately, the quote he cited was from the Declaration of Independence ... not the Constitution.

8. The B-Cast posted the video:

9. Free Republic : In the State of the Union Address, President Obama said: "We find unity in our incredible diversity, drawing on the promise enshrined in our Constitution: the notion that we are all created equal.

10. Um, wrong citing, wrong founding document there Champ, I mean Mr. President. By the way, the promises are not a notion, our founders named them unalienable rights. The document is our Declaration of Independence and it reads:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

And this is the same guy who lectured the Supreme Court moments later in the same speech? When you are a phony it's hard to keep facts straight!

Message From Eric Cantor and You Cut

The new House Republican majority was elected with orders to stop Washington from spending money it doesn't have, and we listened. The jobs and savings of too many Americans are at stake for Washington to continue ducking the toughest choices.

This spring, the House passed a budget that would cut spending by trillions of dollars and encourage private-sector job creation - without raising taxes. Among its key components are tax reforms that close unfair tax loopholes, while lowering the tax rates for everyone.

Unfortunately, the Democrats who still control the Senate and the White House rejected both our budget and a House-passed "Cut, Cap, and Balance" plan that would save trillions.

The Budget Control Act, which has now been signed into law, represents a step toward fiscal sanity in Washington, but only a step. It includes roughly a trillion dollars in up front deficit reduction including real caps to restrain future spending, and no new tax increases.

Bottom line, Washington can't keep spending money it does not have. By participating in the YouCut program over the past year and a half, you were among the first Americans to take action in this cause. Together, we have made a lot of progress, but much more remains to be done.

In the weeks and months ahead, be sure to stay tuned, as there will be several unique opportunities for you to participate in the legislative process. Working together, we will change Washington's culture of spending into a culture of savings.

Regards,

Rep. Eric Cantor
Majority Leader

Vote on You Cut


http://www.majorityleader.gov/YouCut/

Eliminate Grants to Worsted Wool Manufacturers
Potential savings: at least $20 million over 10 years
Manufacturers who weave worsted wool products in the United States that were doing business during the years 1999-2001 obtained eligibility to receive a portion of $5 million in annual grant funding under the Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2004. The program was initially intended to be a temporary measure to assist manufacturers in adjusting to changes in U.S. trade laws which subjected them to increased foreign competition, with funds terminating in 2007. However, like many “temporary” government programs, it has been repeatedly extended. It currently is slated to expire in 2014. The initial intent of helping companies “adjust” to changes in trade law that are now more than a decade old has been fulfilled, and even the Obama administration has recommended terminating this program. Eligible manufacturers have already received $25 million in subsidies over the past 5 years to invest in whatever productivity improvements were necessary to counter increased foreign competition.


Eliminate the Science To Achieve Results Program
Potential Savings: up to $650 million over 10 years
The Environmental Protection Agency’s Science to Achieve Results program [STAR] funds scientific and engineering research grants to researchers and academic nonprofit institutions. The $60 million annual program also provides graduate fellowships in environmental sciences in the form of $37,000 yearly for living expenses, research and tuition assistance to masters and doctoral students. Subject matters of the research focus on policy priorities of the EPA, including technologies whose commercial application would be of limited appeal without imposing federal regulations like “cap and trade” systems restricting carbon emissions from stationary sources such as electrical power plants. Development of potentially uneconomic technologies helps the agency implement a heavy-handed regulatory agenda. Moreover, prior assessments of the program by the Office of Management and Budget [OMB] have concluded that some of the funded research is duplicative of research carried out by other federal agencies.

End Federal Funding for Municipal Bike-sharing Programs
The Federal government distributed more than $53 billion in funding for highways and transit projects in FY 2011 from the federal highway and transit trust funds. Federal excise taxes on gasoline sales are supposed to support these programs, however spending has significantly exceeded gas tax revenues in recent years. One reason for the excess has been federal spending on projects that don’t involve highways or transit systems at all, including federally funded bike sharing programs. Bike sharing programs were part of the more than $1 billion the federal government spent on programs to promote biking and walking in 2010. Federal bike and walking programs received hundreds of millions of stimulus dollars in addition to an annually recurring funding base that now exceeds $600 million. Bike sharing programs involve installation of bike storage facilities throughout a metropolitan area, together with the purchase of publicly-owned bicycles that riders can use for free or a nominal fee as a method of transportation. Federally-funded bike sharing programs are currently operating in cities such as Washington DC, New York City, and Minneapolis.