(CBS’s Sharyl Attkisson)ATF officials didn’t intend to publicly disclose their own role in letting Mexican cartels obtain the weapons, but emails show they discussed using the sales, including sales encouraged by ATF, to justify a new gun regulation called “Demand Letter 3″. That would require some U.S. gun shops to report the sale of multiple rifles or “long guns.” Demand Letter 3 was so named because it would be the third ATF program demanding gun dealers report tracing information.

On July 14, 2010 after ATF headquarters in Washington D.C. received an update on Fast and Furious, ATF Field Ops Assistant Director Mark Chait emailed Bill Newell, ATF’s Phoenix Special Agent in Charge of Fast and Furious:

“Bill – can you see if these guns were all purchased from the same (licensed gun dealer) and at one time. We are looking at anecdotal cases to support a demand letter on long gun multiple sales. Thanks.”

On Jan. 4, 2011, as ATF prepared a press conference to announce arrests in Fast and Furious, Newell saw it as “(A)nother time to address Multiple Sale on Long Guns issue.” And a day after the press conference, Chait emailed Newell: “Bill–well done yesterday… (I)n light of our request for Demand letter 3, this case could be a strong supporting factor if we can determine how many multiple sales of long guns occurred during the course of this case.”

One thing to note, the gun control being pushed here was not about the typical Liberal bugaboos, assault rifles (which are any rifle that looks scary) and handguns. That said, this is really the first confirmation that Los Federales wanted to use the operation to enact some controls on long gun sales because they and the other federal agencies were forcing gun shop owners to sell them multiple long guns which they then let walk across the Mexican border without alerting the Mexican government, and then said guns were used to kill lots of people, including a US Border Agent, Brian Terry.

Every day we seem to get more revelations about Fast and Furious and Operation Gunwalker. Eric Holder gets to talk to Congress again today. Just think back to the Bush years: the Democrats and their MSM supporters would be calling for Bush’s impeachment by this point.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

The ranks of America’s poor swelled to almost 1 in 6 people last year, reaching a new high as long-term unemployment left millions of Americans struggling and out of work. The number of uninsured edged up to 49.9 million, the biggest in more than two decades.

The Census Bureau’s annual report released Tuesday offers a snapshot of the economic well-being of U.S. households for 2010, when joblessness hovered above 9 percent for a second year. It comes at a politically sensitive time for President Barack Obama, who has acknowledged in the midst of a re-election fight that the unemployment rate could persist at high levels through next year.

The overall poverty rate climbed to 15.1 percent, or 46.2 million, up from 14.3 percent in 2009. The official poverty level is an annual income of $22,314 for a family of four.

Reflecting the lingering impact of the recession, the U.S. poverty rate from 2007-2010 has now risen faster than any three-year period since the early 1980s, when a crippling energy crisis amid government cutbacks contributed to inflation, spiraling interest rates and unemployment.

Guess which Party was in control of the Legislative branch for the entire time, and the presidency for half that time?

The median — or midpoint — household income was $49,445, down 2.3 percent from 2009.

So, this is what Obama and the Democrats policies have wrought. If they had simply said at the beginning of 2009 that they were simply going to keep things stable, not pass this and that legislation, and not propose or even discuss things that create consumer and private sector concern and uncertainty, the recession, which officially had ended in June 2009, would have melted away, and we would have been back on the road to prosperity. But, no, not only did they decide to avoid fixing the problems (such as Fannie and Freddie), they made things worse.

Of course, poverty in America isn’t exactly poverty in other countries. Heck, our poor are actually fat. Hot Air’s Tina Korbe deals with what poverty actually looks like. So, really, what we are looking at is people making less now than they used too. The Left will surely blame this on the evil rich, instead of the underlying boneheadedness of Democrat policies.

The Lonely Conservative has more, as does Doug Powers and Michelle Malkin.

He’s considered one of world’s most dangerous terrorism suspects, and the U.S. offered a $1-million reward for his capture in 2005. Intelligence experts say he’s a master bomb maker and extremist leader who possesses a wealth of information about Al Qaeda-linked groups in Southeast Asia.

Yet the U.S. has made no move to interrogate or seek custody of Indonesian militant Umar Patek since he was apprehended this year by officials in Pakistan with the help of a CIA tip, U.S. and Pakistani officials say.

The little-known case highlights a sharp difference between President Obama’s counter-terrorism policy and that of his predecessor, George W. Bush. Under Obama, the CIA has killed more people than it has captured, mainly through drone missile strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas. At the same time, it has stopped trying to detain or interrogate suspects caught abroad, except those captured in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“The CIA is out of the detention and interrogation business,” said a U.S. official who is familiar with intelligence operations but was not authorized to speak publicly.

Why? The story goes on to describe several reasons why the United States’ primary intelligence agency has done mostly away with one of its important roles in dealing with Islamic terrorism, such as whining about the Bush era detentions and interrogations, how it gives the CIA a headache,” and Obama forcing the CIA to follow the Army field manual. Of course, we are losing valuable intelligence by not interrogating the jihadis ourselves, thanks to the policies of our feckless president.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration failed to set up an “effective” communications system during last year’s BP oil spill and threatened its own credibility by “severely restricting” the release of “timely, accurate information,” according to a newly released report commissioned by the U.S. Coast Guard.

Quietly posted on the Coast Guard’s website two weeks ago, the report offers the first major assessment of the federal government’s communications efforts during the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

“Several layers of review and approval by the White House and (Department of Homeland Security) prevented timely and effective crisis communications and hindered the Coast Guard’s ability to … (keep) stakeholders informed about the status of the response,” the report reads, adding that “accurate and timely messaging from the response organization improves transparency with the public.”

I’m shocked, shocked to learn that Team Obama’s communication was not timely and was restrictive.

It took a while, but the U.S. State Department is now tweeting in Arabic.

With unprecedented political turmoil rocking Egypt and protesters turning to social media such as Twitter and Facebook, the mouthpiece of U.S. foreign policy wants in on the game.Its first message? #Egypt #Jan25 تعترف وزارة الخارجية الأمريكية بالدور التاريخي الذي يلعبه الإعلام الإجتماعي في العالم العربي ونرغب أن نكون جزءاً من محادثاتكم

(Translation: “We want to be a part of your conversation!”) (Teach: “Recognized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of America’s historic role played by social media in the Arab world and want to be part of your conversation” is the translation I get)

The new State Department Arabic Twitter feed, @USAbilaraby, joins a growing chorus of Twitter feeds describing and commenting on events in Egypt and across the Arab world, where social media is helping to broadcast political ferment.

I can think of a few things they could have said otherwise, something like “we support your protest against your dictator” and “why do you support radical Islam?”It’d be nice if they actually kept the feed going, since the last tweet was 8 hours ago.

The feed, which currently has a scant 161 followers (555 as of my posting time), has passed along messages including President Barack Obama’s statement that the future of Egypt is in the hands of the Egyptian people and Vice President Joe Biden’s demand that Egypt immediately stop harassing journalists and scrap its emergency law.

We should be glad that Sheriff Joe is putting has vast foreign policy experience, you remember, that is why he was picked for the Team Obama ticket, to good use in such a productive manner.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has directed the State Department to spare no effort to harness the power of the Internet to spread the U.S. message….

What is the US message? Is it that Mubarak should go now, starting yesterday, or, an orderly transition? Is it all the mixed messages, forcing Team Obama to combat a rift between the State Dept. and White House? Is the message much better after all the initial missteps? Maybe it’s all the smart power, which has seen the US standing in Egypt go from 30% to 17%? Just remember, when Obama or Little Bobby Gibbs stutter through some response about what to do with Egypt, one of the Tweets said: “President Obama: There is no room to return to the previous situation. can u donate $3 dollars?”

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

President Obama will outline an agenda for “winning the future” in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, striking a theme of national unity and renewal as he stresses the need for government spending in key areas and an attack on the budget deficit.

I can understand why he doesn’t want to discuss what happened in his past: unsustainable spending, massive spending that failed miserably, ignoring jobs, the health system fiasco, focusing on cap and tax, ignoring jobs and the economy, failing to close Gitmo, ramping up the Afghanistan War (interesting that the media ignores all the war deaths), failing to pull us out of Iraq as he promised, ignoring jobs and the economy. But, he had some great parties at the White House and lowered his golf handicap!

Mr. Obama previewed the themes in a video e-mailed Saturday evening to supporters who had helped in his election campaign. But the video made plain that his speech would be geared more broadly toward the political center, to independent voters and business owners and executives alienated by the expansion of government and the partisan legislative fights of the past two years.

How centrist can it be when he sends a preview out to his ObamaZombies (some of whom are not particularly happy with the tone)? I’m not sure if it asked for money, since I deleted the email without reading it, but, on a separate note, people were not alienated by “partisan legislative fights”, they were alienated by, as mention, expansion of government and idiotic spending. And we all know Obama can talk the talk: he did it during the campaign. But, he cannot walk the centrist walk. We saw that during his first two miserable years.

“My No. 1 focus,” he said, “is going to be making sure that we are competitive, and we are creating jobs not just now but well into the future.”

By “we” he means Someone Else doing it, as he stands on the sidelines, too busy playing with his Blackberry to cheer for his kids. It’ll take the adults in the House to enact real world, wise legislation that addresses the reality of the marketplace to get the economy revved up again, generally, they need to reduce the unsustainable government spending and ridiculous bureaucratic burdens on private business. They should also look towards making the 2001/2003 tax cuts permanent, at least for those making under $387k. Why that number? The tax cuts rates used a high number in that range for the highest tax bracket because it made sure that most small business owners were not in the highest bracket. Furthermore, reduce the corporate tax rate (while repealing most of the loopholes.) Give companies that incentive to keep their companies, and workers, here in the United States.

The Times says that last part, regarding lowering the corporate tax rate, may actually be in the speech. If it is, the GOP need to jump on this by the end of the week with actual legislation, forcing Obama to put up or shut up.

Expect the SOTU to include many calls for bipartisanship, followed by shots at Republicans.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

The Federal Communications Commission appears poised to pass a controversial set of rules that broadly create two classes of Internet access, one for fixed-line providers and the other for the wireless Net.

You know, if it’s “controversial”, then perhaps it’s not the best of ideas to pass it. This isn’t similar to issues like passing the Civil Rights Act (which Democrats opposed): how many people can honestly complain that they have been denied access, not including those who cannot afford broadband……hmm, could there be an ulterior motive?

The proposed rules of the online road would prevent fixed-line broadband providers like Comcast and Qwest from blocking access to sites and applications. The rules, however, would allow wireless companies more latitude in putting limits on access to services and applications.

Just writing out loud, but, does that mean that they couldn’t block access to sites run by Islamic jihadis, as required by other federal law?

Net neutrality, broadly speaking, is an effort to ensure equal access to Web sites and cutting-edge online services. Mr. Genachowski said these proposed rules aimed to both encourage Internet innovation and protect consumers from abuses.

Supporters of net neutrality always speak of abuses, yet, they are short on actual, specific examples, particularly egregious ones that cause harm.

“These rules fulfill a promise to the future — to companies that don’t yet exist, and the entrepreneurs that haven’t yet started work in their dorm rooms or garages,” Mr. Genachowski said in remarks prepared for the commission’s meeting on Tuesday in Washington. At present, there are no enforceable rules “to protect basic Internet values,” he added.

When Liberals start speaking of promises to the future, be scared, very scared. Something else is going on, and, generally, it is not what you think, and their intent is something else.

Notably, the rules are watered down for wireless Net providers like AT&T and Verizon, which would be prohibited from blocking Web sites, but not from blocking applications or services unless those applications directly compete with providers’ voice and video products, like Skype.

F.C.C. officials said there were technological reasons for the wireless distinctions, and that they would continue to closely monitor the medium.

So, when those applications and services start running up the bandwidth, and the companies are losing money out the ying yang, then what? Well, then the Law Of Unintended Liberal Consequences kicks in, and the first people to whine like a kid who wants to open his present NOW will be……liberals, who’ll demand more government regulation, making the situation worse.

Then there is Senator Clown, er, Franken, who provided his own high end whine, saying the rules to give government heavy involvement in Internet service weren’t strong enough, and would essentially allow wireless carriers to *GASP* run their businesses in a way to make money. And

Mr. Franken and other critics say the rules come with major caveats; for instance, they would allow for “reasonable network management” by broadband providers. And they would discourage but not expressly forbid something called “paid prioritization,” which would allow a media or technology company to pay the provider for faster transmission of data, potentially creating an uneven playing field.

Guess who sets the limits for “reasonable network management”? Government. Like ObamaCare, this is a medium step towards heavy government involvement in control of the Internet. That’s the endgame. Just imagine if Conservatives wanted more government involvement in what Hollywood and the entertainment industry produces.

The State of Illinois is still paying off billions in bills that it got from schools and social service providers last year. Arizona recently stopped paying for certain organ transplants for people in its Medicaid program. States are releasing prisoners early, more to cut expenses than to reward good behavior. And in Newark, the city laid off 13 percent of its police officers last week.

How could that be? The Generation Theft Act gave them tons of money to run their schools and services and stuff…..huh? That money is all gone? All those appropriations have ended? The states are now mostly broke, since people aren’t spending like they used to, tons of people aren’t working, so they do not have any income to file on their tax forms, they are keeping big ticket items longer, so less property tax? Man, who could have predicted that the Stimulus would leave states in that condition?

While next year could be even worse, there are bigger, longer-term risks, financial analysts say. Their fear is that even when the economy recovers, the shortfalls will not disappear, because many state and local governments have so much debt — several trillion dollars’ worth, with much of it off the books and largely hidden from view — that it could overwhelm them in the next few years.

Here in North Carolina, the media has been beating the drum over what is going to happen with the schools, not too mention other government services. The schools are looking at lots of layoffs and increased school sizes, due to much lower revenues. Ye Olde Stimulus gave them operating income for two years, yet, Mom and Dad have cut them off, and they have to pay for themselves. And unlike Big Daddy government, states cannot run a deficit. At least their not supposed to.

Some of the same people who warned of the looming subprime crisis two years ago are ringing alarm bells again. Their message: Not just small towns or dying Rust Belt cities, but also large states like Illinois and California are increasingly at risk.

So, massive federal spending/giveaways did not help the state finances? Painting bridges and repaving roads was a failure? Sounds similar to what happened with the private sector vis a vis the Stimulus and other Democrat recovery efforts.

But the finances of some state and local governments are so distressed that some analysts say they are reminded of the run-up to the subprime mortgage meltdown or of the debt crisis hitting nations in Europe.

Analysts fear that at some point — no one knows when — investors could balk at lending to the weakest states, setting off a crisis that could spread to the stronger ones, much as the turmoil in Europe has spread from country to country.

This comes barely through one quarter of the article, and the doom and gloom, which is, in fact, real, continues for the rest of the story. There are no bright spots. And this all comes from the Liberal Paper Of Record, which handles all the information as straight news, with nary a hint of blamestorming nor looking for a culprit, unlike what they usually do, which is no surprise, because we can truly lay the blame primarily at the feet of Democrats, who really do not know how economies work. Personally, I do not like to assign nefarious motives to what their legislation and spending and bailouts do. They really aren’t that smart, and probably truly think their policies should work, and are surprised that they aren’t working.

Take the tax cuts of 2001/2003, which they characterized as tax cuts for the rich for 8 years, but now want to keep the portions that are tax cuts for the middle class. They fail to understand that it is people with money that keep the economy moving, and when they spend in all sorts of different ways, the economy is stimulated, money flows, jobs are created, people have more disposable income, more people are made richer, and the states have money in their coffers.

Let me make it simple for Liberals, though, they will surely say “that’s not the way it works! If you take from the rich and give free money to societal parasites, they will magically create jobs and stuff.” Let’s take a guy, we’ll call him….John Kerry. His effective tax rate is low. So, instead of sheltering his money, he decides to purchase, well, say, a yacht. He has to pay taxes on it to the state it is registered in, and perhaps his own state. That’s a lot of moo-la to the state coffers. And some company and the people who work for it made a boat load (sic) of money. John now has to berth it and maintain it, so, a dock owner and other folks are going to necessary, and paid, for doing just that. So now dock owner, let’s call him Barry O, has more money, so, instead of taking a staycation, he and the family are going to Disney World. This means that a hotel is going to make some cash, as will the people who serve them. The concessions stands people, the souvenir people, and all other manner of people will make money. And they need new clothes, so the store they buy them from, and, perhaps a salesperson, will make more money. At each point, sales tax is being assessed, which goes to the State coffers, making them more solvent.

Then there is this lady, let’s call her Nancy. She decides to take that extra cash that would have otherwise gone to the Federal government had her tax rate gone up, and buys a new Jaguar. Well, two, because one is always in the shop. That salesperson makes a great commission. So, the salesperson, we’ll call her Diane F., can now afford to ditch her old car, and buys a used Infiniti. Salesperson makes money. That salesperson, we’ll call her Michelle O, now has the money to purchase that HD 3-D TV and Blu Ray player she has been dying for. So, now that salesperson, Harry R. has cash, and, decides to finally start that technology repair and installation business she has been longing for for years. Nancy is a friend of Harry’s parents, and drops some start up capital his way, too, with an expectation on return. Over time, as people buy more TVs and computers, his business booms, and he hires people to help him out. Notice, at each stage, tax money is paid to the state. People have more income, so, they pay income tax to the states, not to mention property tax on the vehicles. And even with lower federal tax rates, they end up paying more to the federal government, because the “rich” are making more money, and not shelter as much, they pay more in taxes on their returns.

Finally, to pre-rebut a liberal talking point, yes, this has happened with higher tax rates. That said, once a rate is lowered, people do not want it to go up, and, if they are concerned that it will, they’ll shelter that money. They won’t spend as much. Investment capital dries up. Less money flows through the economy. Which means less money for the state governments, leaving them on the brink of becoming Greece.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU. sit back and Relax. we’ll dRive!

The problem with bringing down the stubbornly high unemployment rate is that employers are learning to do more with less.

Employers still aren’t hiring enough. Just look at November’s disappointing employment report, which barely eked out a gain in jobs. Or better yet, look at the holiday workers at your local mall. If you can find them.

Why, yes, they do go on and on about businesses learning to do more with less. So, in Liberal World, it obviously can’t be the fault of Obama and the Donkeys, those folks who just lost the House in a historic way, as well as lost a ton of state legislatures and governors mansions.

It can’t be the fault of Democrats creating uncertainty with the tax rates.

It can’t be the fault of the Democrats for the Porkulus bill.

It can’t be the fault of the Democrats for passing a destructive health bill while ignoring the economy for damned near a year.

It can’t be the fault of the Democrats for massive bloated federal spending.

It can’t be the fault of the Democrats for playing the class warfare card.

It can’t be the fault of the Democrats for pushing jobless benefits over jobs creation.

It can’t be the fault of the Democrats for simply creating massive uncertainty and worry in the private sector, causing companies to not hire.

No, it has to be those evil private companies.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU. sit back and Relax. we’ll dRive!

Time’s up for Democrats looking for good news on the economy.

More bad news this week squelched any hope that President Barack Obama and his party might benefit from a glimmer of an improvement in the economic picture before Election Day.

Instead, it is a picture of a stalled recovery, reminding voters of the many promises by Obama and his top aides that better days were just around the corner.

Well, we all know that any promise by Barack has an expiration date. Usually about an hour after TOTUS has left the room.

Home prices, the Achilles heel of the economy, are falling again. Consumer confidence remains at levels usually associated with a recession. And on Friday, the government is expected to announce that economic growth was around 2 percent in July, August and September, less than half of what is normal in even a modest recovery.

Have you noticed that the “cute” stories about things such as “funemployment” have dried up, along with the serious ones about people simply giving up looking for work and being completely demoralized? Perhaps the media has realized that these stories are a) harming Obama and b) not going to get Obama and the Dems to institute legislation that will actually fix the problems.

One of the biggest mistakes that Obama made was predicting exactly how much his economic policies would turn around the economy and start creating jobs, according to Bill Galston of the Brookings Institution.

“One of the rules of public policy is that you don’t put a number and a date in the same sentence,” he said.

When you are spending a trillion dollars, you best have some sort of projected outcome, much like one does with an action or SMART plan. Of course, since most of the people who crafted and supported the Stimulus boondoggle have little to no experience in actual business, it is rather difficult to understand the principles and follow through with a wise plan:

1. Identify the problem
2. What actions will be undertaken?
3. Who owns the action?
4. When will it be completed?
5. What will be the results?

They got close, but, basically winged it, with no one checking their plan to see if it is workable. It was like if a 5 year old was asked to craft the plan

1. Identify the problem (the economy is tanking, and we have lots of cookies to distribute to our supporters)
2. What actions will be undertaken? (spend a trillion dollars on roads that do not need paving and/or repair, pay back our campaign supporters with double chocolate chip)
3. Who owns the action? (Not Me. And Sheriff Joe, who has run around the country making campaign appearances. Unicorns)
4. When will it be completed? (just in time for the 2010 mid-terms)
5. What will be the results? (“Hey, Joe, give me a big number.” “How’s 3 million and 8% sound?” “Perfect. I’m heading to Andrews to play 18. Call Bo if you need anything.”)

Of course, that almost makes it look like they had a plan. A really bad one, but, a plan. In reality, I would bet there is not even a draft or a deck out there.

“There is very little confidence in the economy out there, and obviously, that is weighing heavily in the elections,” said Holtz-Eakin.

There seems to be a section missing from that sentence, namely, “and obviously, Democrat policies have been utter failures, not too mention being extremely unpopular, so, that is weighing…….”

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU. Re-Change 2010!