Holder is Subpoenaed

The U.S. Attorney General has been subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee.

The Committee wants all the communication concerning Fast & Furious that occurred in the upper level of the Department of Justice.  The subpoena also requests communication with the White House.

Previous documents given to the Oversight Committee had been heavily redacted.

Obama's Job Bill Dies

Source

Well, the Senate ended up voting on President Obama's Jobs Bill (despite Reid's shenanigans earlier).

And thus the bill died, in the Senate, despite Obama's heavy campaigning on its behalf.

This was to be expected, given the 1.5 trillion dollar tax increases in the bill.

Of course, Obama is expected to blame this on the Republicans.  Yet, it was the lack of support from Democrats in the Senate that led to this bill's demise.

The Senate Terrorized by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

 

Last week, Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada) unilaterally changed the rules in the Senate.

It's really sorta complicated, but basically the Republican minority was going to force an amendment which would then force a vote on Obama's Jobs Bill.

This is fairly common parliamentary maneuver to see how the wind is blowing on a bill.

In this case, the amendment would have failed (to have a vote on Obama's bill)---but it would have indirectly shown which Democrats opposed Obama's Jobs Bill and who supported it.

Reid, of course, was mortified about having a vote on Obama's bill--BECAUSE IT WAS GOING TO FAIL.

So he just changed the rules.

Uh Oh, Is Holder in Trouble?

Attorney General Holder wrote a 5 page letter last week to Congress about Fast &Furious.

Holder blames Congress for Fast & Furious, stating that they won't fix loopholes that allow guns across the borders.

Of course, the DOJ (through its department of Alcohol, Tobacco &Firearms, also called "ATF") actually sold guns across the border--hard to fix THAT loophole.

Holder also blames the "politics" of Congress as contributing to Fast & Furious, as well as poor, not-strict-enough gun control laws.

He then again says he knew absolutely nothing about Fast & Furious until this year--despite the memos he received back in 2010.

Holder refers to Fast &Furious as a "regrettable incident". 

In the meantime, more guns have been discovered in the hands of Mexican drug lords.

****************************************************

The Congressional Oversight Committee, headed by Representative Issa (R-California), has now replied to Holder.  Here are some excerpts:

"It appears your latest defense has reached a new low."

"The facts simply do not support any claim that Fast and Furious did not reach the highest levels of the Justice Department. Actually, Fast and Furious did reach the ultimate authority in the Department - you."

"Unfortunately, the Department's cooperation to date has been minimal. Hundreds of pages of documents that have been produced to my Committee are duplicative, and hundreds more contain substantial redactions, rendering them virtually worthless."

 "Mr. Attorney General, you have made numerous statements about Fast and Furious that have eventually been proven to be untrue. Your lack of trustworthiness while speaking about Fast and Furious has called into question your overall credibility as Attorney General."

Read the whole letter here.

Okay, Okay!

I have soooooo much to write about!
But I have three papers due tomorrow!
I promise, info soon on various and sundry issues, including Obama's green boondoggle and non-starting jobs bill.

Something for Attack Watch?

Do you think this needs to be turned in to AttackWatch.com?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBOMjZU-aCE

FLOTUS Travels

The First Lady's trip earlier this year to Africa cost a little more than $424,000 for the flights alone.

This cost doesn't include any other expenses---such as food, lodging, ground transportation or security.

Twenty-one family and staff also went to Africa.

Mrs Obama's daughters were listed as "Senior Staff".

This information was discovered by Judicial Watch only after filing a lawsuit based on the Freedom of Information Act.

The First Lady spoke on education and health on stops at several cities.  The trip then ended with a private safari for the family. 

Was there Pressure On Ford over Commercial?

Yes, according to the Detroit News.  Maybe not a direct order, but subtle "questioning".  Read the story and decide yourself.

Umm, Excuse Me, Holder Knew About Fast & Furious Waaaayyyyy Before This Year

Documents released Friday show that AG Holder was informed about Fast & Furious in July 2010.

In his May 2011 testimony to Congress, Holder stated he had only learned of Fast & Furious in the last few weeks prior.

In short, he lied.

NOW Holder states he didn't understand the question.  He insists that the memos didn't give him any details of the Fast & Furious operation--apparently only the name of the operation was mentioned.  Holder is adamant that he didn't know anything (AT ALL) about what was going on back in 2010.

' “He’s either incompetent or he’s misleading Congress,” responded....the press secretary for the House Oversight Committee, which is chaired by Issa.'

Meanwhile, reporter Sharyl Atkisson, who covers the White House, has been reporting on Fast & Furious.  She states that the White House and the Department of Justice has been "screaming" and "cussing" at her for trying to cover this story.

Apparently they feel that she is "not being reasonable" and is "unfair and biased".  They would like her to "be reasonable" like the NY Times, the LA Times, and the Washington Post.

Wow, this sounds a bit like the Ford commercial that wasn't well-liked by the Obama Administration.

Hey! More on Fast & Furious

More info on Fast and Furious came out last Friday.

To wit: The newly released documents show lots of emailing back and forth between the ATF Agent-In-Charge and a White House National Security staff person, which also show that phone calls occurred.

These two also shared a chart showing where the guns came from (in Arizona) and ended up (all over Mexico). 

Developed by Arizona Gun Runner Impact Team, the chart is pretty explicit in showing the extent of gun-running:



Source: CBS News via Big Government

  And, don't forget that Attorney General Holder innacurately reported to Congress that he did not know of Fast & Furious until April 2011.

Holder also denies authorizing and/or knowing of Fast & Furious when it began.

Which either points to 1) His duplicity, or
                                  2) His incompetence.

                                                     

Basically, both the White House and the DOJ are saying, "I know nuthink....I know nuthink...."