The American People Should Be Furious

Screw Up, Move Up, Cover Up: The Fast and Furious Edition

There are now enough Operation Fast and Furious officials playing hide-and-seek in the Obama administration to fill a "rubber room."

That's the nickname for taxpayer-subsidized holding pens, such as the ones in the New York City public schools, where crooked employees are separated from the system and paid to do nothing. Perhaps the White House can stimulate a few construction jobs by adding an entire rubber room annex for "reassigned" scandal bureaucrats at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It's getting mighty crowded.

Good News

But not good enough news.

Melson being bounced out of ATF

Kenneth E. Melson, under fire in connection with the controversial Fast and Furious gun-trafficking investigation, will announce today that he is stepping down as acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Waiting for better news. Reporting has been absolutely dismal on the Fast and Furious scandal.

The ATF isn’t the only agency to bear some responsibility for the botched operation that sent guns to Mexico. The Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Drug Enforcement Agency seem to have possessed information that could have had a material impact on Fast and Furious (i.e. info that could have eliminated or reduced the ostensible ‘need’ for the operation in the first place). Or, as the letter puts it, “We have very real indications from several sources that some of the gun trafficking ‘higher-ups’ that the ATF sought to identify were already known to other agencies and may even have been paid as informants.”

Taxpayer money was likely used to finance the gunrunning. “The evidence we have gathered raises the disturbing possibility that the Justice Department not only allowed criminals to smuggle weapons but that taxpayer dollars from other agencies may have financed those engaging in such activities.”

Senior ATF officials would have preferred to cooperate with Congressional inquiries — but “Department of Justice officials directed them not to respond and took full control of replying to briefing and document requests from Congress.”

Melson was at no point asked to resign.

The very best coverage of Fast and Furious has been from the NRA.



This entire administration needs to be removed form office. Everyone.

Social Security

I gather the left have never bothered to Google what a Ponzi scheme is.

--Frank J.

Guitar Hero

This story is just crazy.

The Gibson Guitar Saga Gets Steadily Curiouser

It has come out that Juszkiewicz is a Republican donor, while the CEO of one of his principal competitors, C.F. Martin & Company, is a Democratic donor. Martin reportedly uses the same wood, but DOJ hasn't raided them, leading to speculation that the Obama administration is sending a warning to Republican businessmen that they had better not oppose his re-election, lest they face criminal investigations. Normally such speculation would not be credible, but Eric Holder has politicized the Department of Justice to a point where such questions must be taken seriously.

Mark Steyn relates a similar incident involving a piano maker.

They're antique pianos. They come with ivory keys. They're grandfathered in. There is no criminal intent and, in the most basic sense, no underlying crime. Yet he’s looking at being tossed in jail "for years"? Any "justice" system with such an utter lack of proportion is not justice at all. It speaks very poorly for us that we tolerate it.

As Jimmy McMillan might say: The government is too damn large.

Walk This Way

Sometimes you feel like a nut...

The Bobsy Twins

Gunsmoke was one of the greatest shows on television and this has got to be one of the strangest Gunsmoke episodes I've seen.

"Look! It's the dumb marshal."

Quote of the Day

"Men fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks. Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again; poor fools. And their grand-children are once more slaves."

--D. H. Lawrence

Insight into Investing

I'm always very leery when someone claims to know what Jesus would do because, frankly, there are a lot of fairy tale Jesus' out there, but I think Lenny Cacchio takes the right approach in this piece:

Jesus the Investment Banker

The economy has a way of commanding our attention, and it should. While it's tempting to ask what Jesus might do in times like these, it's a tough question to answer without asking more questions. Do you mean what would he do as a carpenter from Nazareth? That would elicit an entirely different answer from what he would do as the King of Kings.

Just for the fun of it, let's try to figure out what Jesus the Investment Banker might do. In fact, Jesus spoke a couple of parables that give us a strong indication of how he would approach a few challenges our economy faces.

Entering the Era of Mobs

Liberals Aren't Funny, They're A Riot!

"And as long as there are liberals, there will be some people stoking the mobs."

"Mobs are always the same -- destructive, left-wing and without any clear cause"

"Liberals love mobs because rioting and anarchy is their path to power."

They can't always use mobs but they do what they can.

R/C Airplanes Turned Up a Few Notches

This thing looks positively dangerous.


Insanely Fast Remote Controlled Jet - Watch more Funny Videos

I watched the whole thing just to see how they would land it. Magnificently, if I do say so myself.

Why There is No Job Growth

The single biggest impediment to job growth

The U.S. government. Having built a small business into a big one, I can tell you that today the impediments that the government imposes are impossible to deal with. Home Depot would never have succeeded if we'd tried to start it today. Every day you see rules and regulations from a group of Washington bureaucrats who know nothing about running a business. And I mean every day. It's become stifling.

There is no need for another stimulus, it doesn't cost the government anything to create jobs, the government can't create jobs, just get out of the way of the American people. Let the American people do what they do without being hampered by over-regulation, micro-management from Washington and so much paperwork you can't even spend time working your business for all the time it takes to make sure it is right. And let us keep our money and spend or give it away where WE see the need. We don't need you bureaucrats in Washington, I know you hate to hear that but WE DON'T NEED YOU. We need you out of the way.

The End Result of Social Programs

The Sun Never Sets on the British Welfare System

The Nazi war machine couldn't break the British, but the modern welfare state has.

The Spoiled Masses

You want to see face of 'terrorism'?

I've been watching the coverage of the Philadelphia and London riots for days, and not one public official, not one reporter, no one has called the perpetrators of these acts of violence what they are – terrorists.

I honestly believe this is what happens to societies that try to bribe the disenchanted with "entitlements" and welfare. It doesn't lead to a more peaceful society. It leads to a more expectant and demanding underclass.

That's what we are seeing in London and Philadelphia today.

Neal Boortz also comments on the riots: Riots in London

These riots in London have taken on a socio-economic bent, pinning the achievers in Great Britain against the moochers. The more we hear from these people who are rioting, the more we realize that many are using this as an excuse to act out and show those evil rich people that "we can do what we want." Yeah, those evil rich people .. it's all their fault that our government benefits are being cut! This is our way of showing that "we're redistributing the wealth."

This is the direct result of liberal/socialist policies, this is the outcome.

Criminal Conspiracy in the Dept. of Justice

What "the news" won't tell you.

CHEVy

This is what it looks like behind the instrument cluster of a 2004 Chevy Trailblazer. Why did I take the instrument cluster out? Because GM used defective stepper motors for the instruments and I had to replace them, the tach and speedometer no longer worked. It is not a rare problem either, if you own a GM vehicle with those stepper motors they will go bad. If you need a cheap fix check out Brian's Speedometer Repair.

No More Lawyers in Congress

This I can agree with, no exceptions though.

When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing; when you see that money is flowing to those who deal not in goods, but in favors; when you see that men get rich more easily by graft than by work, and your laws no longer protect you against them, but protect them against you...you may know that your society is doomed.

- Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

Doesn't Make Sense to Me

Man Fatally Shoots Self While Cleaning Gun

St. Petersburg police say 50-year-old Wilfredo LaFontaine was on the phone with his girlfriend Wednesday as they were preparing to move out of their apartment. The girlfriend was in the leasing office of Tamarind Bay Apartments to return their keys when she heard a stumble and a pop over the phone.

She was returning the keys so obviously they had already moved out, the apartment must have been empty and they were probably going through and making sure nothing is left behind. I've moved out of a few apartments in my time and turning in the keys is just about the last thing you do. So the man decided that was the time to start cleaning his gun? Really? Not very likely. Were there any cleaning supplies out? A table where he could work?

Police say the girlfriend and a leasing agent rushed back to the apartment, where they found LaFontaine slumped against the door with a gunshot wound to his chest. He was still alive when officers and paramedics arrived. Police say he indicated that he had been preparing to clean his revolver.

I'm sorry but the story just doesn't add up. Why would he have the gun in his hand at all? The gun cleaning story makes no sense. Possibly he was holding it with his finger on the trigger and he tripped but I also think that is unlikely as the gun would most likely have been pointing away from him. It is an awkward position for your hand to be holding a pistol and pointing it at your chest. I don't even understand why he would have had the gun in his hand in the first place, I wish there were more detail in the story. The gun should have been in a holster. He was either being very, very stupid (it happens) or it was a suicide.

Treat every gun as if it were loaded.

Always point the muzzle in a safe direction; never point a firearm at anyone or anything you don't want to shoot.

Keep your finger off the trigger and outside the trigger guard until you are ready to shoot.

You must follow the simple safety rules of gun handling every time. A table saw or a band saw is very dangerous if you don't follow the safety rules. So is a car. So is plugging in your appliance.

Envy

Excellent commentary, as usual from Bill Whittle.

You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbor's. --Exodus 20:17

Government Overreach

Young girl saves a baby bird from a cat, mother gets fined $535

Today's shining example of "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" comes from Fredericksburg, VA, where a young girl prevented the family cat from pouncing on a lost baby woodpecker and her mom ended up with a $535 ticket (and faces the possibility of jail time) for violating the Federal Migratory Bird Act.

Despite the fact that 11-year-old Skylar Capo actually saved the tiny lost woodpecker from a violent death, and then successfully released the bird back into the wild, a Virginia State Trooper was still dispatched to the Capo home where Skylar’s mom was slapped with the $535 ticket.

I want to know who called the police. Who calls the police because a little girl saves a bird from a cat? Probably the same person who calls the police because a kid makes a lemonade stand.

Edit 8/4: When Obama hands you lemons...

. . . the state enforcers won't let you make lemonade.

Enabling the Predators

Read the original article at the link, as well as the commentary by Victor Davis. Snapshot of a Sick Society

The law-enforcement officer, who no doubt means well, nonetheless describes a productive worker, striving to clean her car, as "in the wrong place at the wrong time." But in fact, it is the anonymous teen who is in the wrong place at the wrong time — as if civilization could possibly continue if the majority followed his wrong hours and wrong behavior. Ms. McVay, in fact, was in the right place at the right time, and she should have had every expectation that that she could go to the car wash before work without worry that a murderous gang-banger would slit her throat.

In truth, the teen was an opportunistic predator, on the prowl for an easy victim, which translated into profiling a woman alone. His killing was "random" only to the extent that had he encountered instead three large men washing down a truck at 5 a.m., he surely would have kept his blade sheathed and passed on by with no thought that he "simply wanted to kill somebody that night." In short, he did not want to kill just anybody that night: He wanted instead to stab an easy somebody, who might offer little resistance, and perhaps cash and car as a bonus.

Our liberal society is not doing its job to protect the innocent from the predators. It is, in fact, encouraging the exact opposite. It means well, it wants to help, but it ends up helping the wrong people. The innocent victim is all but forgotten while the predator is made out to be a victim and protected at every turn. Yes, it's a sad commentary on a sick society.

Let me just add that there is nothing wrong with the constitutional rights given to American citizens, they are just and right. It is the politically correct implementation of them that the society has gradually embraced that is wrong.

The Great Enabler

Vancouver Coastal Health to hand out $50,000 worth of crack pipes

"There's been a shift to crack cocaine smoking and we want to make sure the services we provide are the services they need ... if we're providing syringes and what we need are pipes, we’re not serving them," Gustafson said.

There comes a time when you have to stop helping someone because all you are really doing is enabling them. People want to act without consequences and government wants to help them by taking the consequences away. Their lives are destroyed either way.