Friday, September 02, 2011

Closer and Curiouser

A tip of ourt Borsalino and a clink of our Armagnac snifter to Richard Serrano of the LATimes Washington Bureau who has uncovered email traffic between Arizona and the White House about the "Fast and Furious" gun-running-and tracking debacle that caused the death of former Marine and actibe border guard Brian Terry.

The story, that broke Friday is , in its entirety, available HERE.

So, contrary tothe administration's wished and beliefs, the shuffling around of the head of the BATF director within the Justice Department and the firing of Dennis Burke, the Aerizona US Attorney only served to inflame investigatpors.

Those investigators, in addition to the respected Serrano, who may be 2011's Bib Woodwrd, include Congressman Darrel Issa and Senator Chuck Grassley, who brushed aside an urgent phone call from USAG Eric Holder this week.

They will encounter him face-to-face for a showdown next week.

No more bl;acked out pages in answer to subpoenas will be accepted, Issa warned.

Stay tuned.

Thursday, September 01, 2011

See Darrel Issa, Live, Stinging Eric

Just AFTER he shuffled and jived his personnel around, US Attorney General Eric Holder tried to make a conference call to Oversight committee investigating Congressman Darrel Issa in California.

Issa "declined" the call. He will meet with Holder when he gets back to the Beltway next week. Issa says he and Senator Chuck Grassley are sick of being "gamed" with blank and black pages in response to their subpooenas.

"This investigation is not over. We need facts. We have confidential third party testimony" Issa said. He added that that testimony involves people "higher up" who have not testified under oiath regarding the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and its smuggling of guns to Mexican drug cartels that led to the death of an American Border guard, Brian Terry.

CLICK HERE for a live video of Congressman Issa.

It's good news that Issa and Grassley are not falling for the terpsichore of the DoJ. This Fast and Furious scandal is murkier and more deadly than anything in the previous century and revelations from it will serve to strengthen the U.S.A. and its borders in the long run.


Wednesday, August 31, 2011

CYA or Shell game ?

So, Ken Melson, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in the US Department of Justice has been plucked from the line of fire andmoved to a job in "Forensics" elsewhere in the DoJ.

And, Arizona US attorney Dennis Burke has been sacked as has lesser operator Emory Hurley.

These are the only people whose careers have been adversely affected by Congressman Darrel Issa and Senator Chuck Greassley investigating the BATF illegal "Fast & Furious" gun smuggling operatrion which led to at least one murder of a US Border enforcement official.

Several BATF and DoJ men have been promoted and given raises to keep them happy.

This is the meager response by AG Eric Holder to testimony that BATF personnel acquired at least 2000 (maybe 5000) automatic firearms with "stimulus-apprpriated" money and smuggled them into Mexico to "trace criminals".

The arms ended up scattered all over the southwestern Unitd States, were found in many vehicles owned and operated by undocumented Mexican infiltrators and at the scene of Brian Terry's murder.

Issa's comittee has also received information that a similar operation was carried out between the Tampa Bay area and Central American countries in the Gulf area.

Surely these CYA ahell-game moves will not end this unravelling scandal. No one lost their life in either "Iran-Contra" or Watergate.

And we haven't had a special prosecutor for "Fast and Furious" yet.

Congressman Issa says it is at least "Felony Stupid".

Do NOT miss the cogent comment from a great newdpaper HERE!

It is a fair, unbiased call for more action by "the Obama administration.