A Curious, if Rare Example of Justice

Occasionally one of the "good guys" prevails in this Byzantine "justice system" we suffer under. Behold!



H/T: Market Ticker

The Smell Test: FAIL!

In a previous life this humble blogster had occasion to participate in a "covert" law enforcement operation involving two agencies; one federal and one of Los Angeles county. He therefore managed to acquire a somewhat rudimentary insight into the workings of "sting" operations as popularized in the 1973 film staring Paul Newman and Robert Redford.

Probably the most annoying and frustrating feature of such projects is the tendency of higher supervisorial and administrative bureaucrats personnel to micromanage how these scenarios play themselves out. Contrary to conventional wisdom, most, if not all, such capers are closely monitored by command and control functionaries for the simple reason that the political and career-destroying fallout can prove to be: shall we say "unpleasant".

In 1974 a president of the United States was forced to resign over the coverup of a third rate burglary operation aimed at garnering political dirt on an opponent who arguably had the chances of a snowball in hell of gaining the presidency. That burglary resulted in prison terms for several of the personages involved in the incident as well as the disgrace/conviction of the serving Attorney General.

The Watergate scandal did not involve the death or injury of a single human being. Such is not the case regarding the unfolding scandal involving the alleged "sanctioned" transfer of at least 1800 firearms to drug cartels in Mexico by the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives. Not only are there two federal agents murdered by the "walked" firearms, but an as yet unknown number of Mexican and US citizens whose bodies have been discovered in mass graves in Mexico.

When questioned regarding operation "Gun Runner" involving the ATF approving of the sale of firearms to "straw" buyers for illegal trans shipment to drug cartels in Mexico, the White House and the Attorney General denied approval for or much less knowledge of such an operation. In light of documents provided by ATF agents who have come forward protesting "Gun Runner" and this writers prior experience, the denials fail the smell test big time.

One may be excused for inquiring qui bono (who benefits) from what amounts to such a human tragedy. The answer is very likely contained in a revealing article here and hopefully you, dear reader will read the entire text. If whistleblower ATF agent John Dodson had not revealed that the walking of guns to Mexican drug cartels had been engineered by his bosses the allegations regarding ATF being used as a tool to advance the citizen disarmament political agenda of the Obama Administration would lack traction.

The AK-47 used to gun down fellow federal agent Brian Terry, once recovered, would no doubt have been identified by ATF as a weapon recently purchased from a US gun dealer on the southwest border (ATF would have had, after all, the serial numbers and other identifying documentation).
There would have been no need to mention the existence of any ATF ‘secret sting,’Operation Fast and Furious, or any links between these ATF endeavors and the movement of the weapon used to murder Terry across the US border and into the hands of his Mexican assailants.
Instead, the discovery and identification of the AK-47 used to gun down a US agent as one sold by a US gun dealer and then trafficked ‘illegally’ over the border into Mexico and into the possession of the cartels might have created a ‘perfect PR storm,’ neatly reinforcing the arguments put forth, first, by Mexico’s government, which contends there would be no gang violence in that country if the US didn’t supply gangs with guns; second, by higher-ups in the US government who favor tougher gun-control laws and non-intervention in Mexico (DOJ and the Obama Administration); and, third, by the public anti-gun lobby in America.
Indeed, here’s how that story would have read: Mexico’s claim re the US fueling cartel violence is right, and worse yet, weapons trafficked from the US [gun dealers and gun shows] are no longer being used just to murder Mexicans, but to kill Americans as well.

The silence concerning this unfolding scandal on the part of most of the "mainstream media" is deafening. Instead, the population is treated to a feeding frenzy concerning "Weinergate" (pun intended). We, as imperial subjects of the former Republic known as the United States are truly, not only bankrupt but thoroughly screwed.

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ!

h/t: Mike Vanderboegh

An Open Letter to My Fellow Lovers of Liberty

Yesterday concluded the trial in the Netherlands of Geert Wilders. Mr Wilders was prosecuted for speaking his opinions. He did not interfere in the internal affairs of any Muslim nation nor did he incite anyone to violence unless those who would kill him for expressing his opinions are considered "incited".

I have seen nothing in the so called "libertarian" media expressing any outrage at this so called trial in a "Western" nation. I have however, read reams condemning Israel for defending its existence against those who are routinely incited to commit a second holocaust.
The following is a translated transcript of Geert Wilders' closing argument at his trial:

Mister President, members of the Court,
I am here because of what I have said. I am here for having spoken. I have spoken, I speak and I shall continue to speak. Many have kept silent, but not Pim Fortuyn, not Theo Van Gogh, and not I.
I am obliged to speak. For the Netherlands is under threat of Islam. As I have argued many times, Islam is chiefly an ideology. An ideology of hatred, of destruction, of conquest. It is my strong conviction that Islam is a threat to Western values, to freedom of speech, to the equality of men and women, of heterosexuals and homosexuals, of believers and unbelievers.
All over the world we can see how freedom is fleeing from Islam. Day by day we see our freedoms dwindle.
Islam is opposed to freedom. Renowned scholars of Islam from all parts of the world agree on this. My witness experts subscribe to my view. There are more Islam scholars whom the court did not allow me to call upon to testify. All agree with my statements, they show that I speak the truth. That truth is on trial today.
We must live in the truth, said the dissidents under Communist rule, because the truth will set us free. Truth and freedom are inextricably connected. We must speak the truth because otherwise we shall lose our freedom.
That is why I have spoken, why I speak and why I shall continue to speak.
The statements for which I am being tried are statements which I made in my function as a politician participating in the public debate in our society. My statements were not aimed at individuals, but at Islam and the process of islamization. That is why the Public Prosecutor has concluded that I should be acquitted.
 Mister President, members of the Court,
I am acting within a long tradition which I wish to honour. I am risking my life in defence of freedom in the Netherlands. Of all our achievements freedom is the most precious and the most vulnerable. Many have given their lives for freedom. We have been reminded of that in the commemorations of the month of May. But the struggle for freedom is much older.
Every day the armoured cars drive me past the statue of Johan de Witt at the Hofvijver in The Hague. De Witt wrote the "Manifesto of True Freedom" and he paid for freedom with his life. Every day I go to my office through the Binnenhof where Johan van Oldenbarneveldt was beheaded after a political trial. Leaning on his stick the elderly Oldenbarneveldt addressed his last words to his people. He said: "I have acted honourably and piously as a good patriot." Those words are also mine.
I do not wish to betray the trust of the 1.5 million voters of my party. I do not wish to betray my country. Inspired by Johan van Oldenbarneveldt and Johan de Witt I wish to be a politician who serves the truth end hence defends the freedom of the Dutch provinces and of the Dutch people. I wish to be honest, I wish to act with honesty and that is why I wish to protect my native land against Islam. Silence is treason.
That is why I have spoken, why I speak and why I shall continue to speak.
Freedom and truth. I pay the price every day. Day and night I have to be protected against people who want to kill me. I am not complaining about it; it has been my own decision to speak. However, those who threaten me and other critics of Islam are not being tried here today. I am being tried. And about that I do complain.
I consider this trial to be a political trial. The values of D66 [a Dutch leftist liberal party] and NRC Handelsblad [a Dutch leftist liberal party] will never be brought before a judge in this country. One of the complainants clearly indicated that his intentions are political. Even questions I have asked in parliament and cooperation with the SGP are being brought as allegations against me by Mr Rabbae of GroenLinks [the leftist Dutch Green Party]. Those on the Left like to tamper with the separation of powers. When they cannot win politically because the Dutch people have discerned their sinister agenda, they try to win through the courts.
Whatever your verdict may be, that is the bitter conclusion of this trial.
This trial is also surrealistic. I am being compared with the Hutu murderers in Rwanda and with Mladic. Only a few minutes ago some here have doubted my mental health. I have been called a new Hitler. I wonder whether those who call me such names will also be sued, and if not, whether the Court will also order prosecution. Probably not. And that is just as well. Because freedom of speech applies also to my opponents.
My right to a fair trial has been violated. The order of the Amsterdam Court to prosecute me was not just a decision but a condemning verdict by judges who condemned me even before the actual trial had begun.
Mister President, members of the Court, you must now decide whether freedom still has a home in the Netherlands
Franz Kafka said: "one sees the sun slowly set, yet one is surprised when it suddenly becomes dark."
Mister President, members of the Court, do not let the lights go out in the Netherlands. Acquit me: Put an end to this Kafkaesque situation.
Acquit me. Political freedom requires that citizens and their elected representatives are allowed to voice opinions that are held in society.
Acquit me, for if I am convicted, you convict the freedom of opinion and expression of millions of Dutchmen.
Acquit me. I do not incite to hatred. I do not incite to discrimination. But I defend the character, the identity, the culture and the freedom of the Netherlands. That is the truth. That is why I am here. That is why I speak. That is why, like Luther before the Imperial Diet at Worms, I say: "Here I stand, I can do no other."
That is why I have spoken, why I speak and why I shall continue to speak.
Mister President, members of the Court, though I stand here alone, my voice is the voice of many. This trial is not about me. It is about something much greater. Freedom of expression is the life source of our Western civilisation.
Do not let that source go dry just to cosy up to a totalitarian regime. "Freedom," said the American President Dwight Eisenhower, "has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die."
Mister President, members of the Court, you have a great responsibility. Do not cut freedom in the Netherlands from its roots, our freedom of expression. Acquit me. Choose freedom.
I have spoken, I speak, and it is my duty - I cannot do otherwise - to continue to speak.
Thank you.

The verdict in Mr Wilders' trial is expected to be handed down on 23 June.

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

A May Day "Surprise"?

The "wetwork" executed this past weekend by Dick Cheney's "hit squad" had this writer scratching his head, especially in view of the fact that we now know that Sheik Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad had been under surveillance by US intelligence assets since 2007.

Our current administration is known for NEVER undertaking any potentially major project without considering the probable impact on its political objectives i.e. getting the leftist collectivists re elected in 2012. For that reason; why not wait until October of next year to take out the most wanted fugitive on the planet? That would be a major "October Surprise".

A report by Neil Sears in the UK Daily Mail states:

For although the CIA has thought since September that he [bin Laden] was in hiding in Abbottabad, special forces stormed his fortress only days after the website [Wikileaks] published new secret documents.
These made reference to named ‘couriers’ carrying Bin Laden’s message to his followers, and also to Abbottabad as a possible Al Qaeda bolthole.
America has already revealed that it was led to Bin Laden by tracking a man identified as his key courier. 

We may have differing viewpoints as to the degree we support or condemn Mr. Assange's publication of documents embarrassing to our rulers, but the possibility his actions may have been instrumental in forcing the US government's hand at this early date prior to the 2012 elections could be seen as a "goodness thing", at least by conservatives.

I should remind readers that with the passage of a similar period of time between George H.W. Bush leading the "liberation" of Kuwait (March 1991 94% approval rating) and his defeat at the polls in 1992, the parallel to 2012 cannot be lost on Democrat operatives. This is especially true when the Repubs will likely be taking a page from Mr. Carvill's playbook: "It's the economy, stupid!"

h/t Thomas Lifson

Déjà Vu with a Variation

Easter Greetings to all you impatient readers. Your humble blogster has finally (with the assistance of some truly outstanding 21 year old Panamanian rum) toasted the Rising of the Christian Savior and partially overcome his depression induced by observing the recent unfolding events on the planet's social, cultural and economic stage.

In many respects recent events as viewed by us superanuated citizens exhibit copious doses of déjà vu. For example, the recent spike in the price of motor fuel is considered sufficiently threatening to our political rulers that we are being assured that the "authorities" will leave "no stone unturned" in unmasking the "possibly" illegal actions of "those in the oil and gas industry" responsible for this outrage. What a relief.

Such announcements by politicians seem to be routine when the media begin reporting public outrage, and to that extent there is little surprise. What is a new twist to the currently unfolding price increases is the willingness by the mainstream media to insulate the political establishment from any culpability. We are not now treated to the shrill condemnations of "gouging and profiteering by Bush/Cheney oil industry cronies". Instead, reporters of MSNBC and the New York Times hasten to assure us that Mr Obama is blameless. Wait a minute!

1) Domestic exploration and drilling for new sources and often in producing/existing crude oil fields has been effectively banned by Mr Obama's bureaucratic goons throughout this administration; thus withholding billions of barrels from the global market thereby reducing supply of the product.

2) No permits for the construction of new petroleum refining facilities have been issued for over 3 decades in spite of exponentially increasing demand.

3) The Federal Reserve has been operating its printing presses at warp speed in excess of 2.5 years to pay for out-of-control federal expenditures resulting in the devaluation of the US dollars which are used to purchase crude oil on the international markets.

To illustrate this condition, simply examine the chart below recently posted by Karl Denninger at The Market Ticker®.

Click the graph to enlarge

The red and green line is the price of crude oil per barrel and the white line is the value of the US dollar.

In modern times politicians have been extremely sensitive to the consumer price of motor fuel. In some nations the low price of gasoline is subsidized by the government. In Venezuela when ΛΕΟΝΙΔΑΣ was cruising aboard his auxiliary sloop LEONIDAS, the mid 1980s' price of diesel fuel for foreign flagged vessels at the fuel docks amounted to US $1.55/gallon. The price to all domestic Venezuelan consumers was US $.06/gallon. The price for Venezuelan consumers of gasoline was equivalent to US $.12/gallon. These are the same prices that continue today. Indeed we witnessed subsidized Venezuelan fuel for sale in the harbors of Grenada and Bequia by enterprising smugglers.

The last time a Venezuelan leader successfully raised gas prices was in 1998, when then-President Rafael Caldera also ended Petróleos de Venezuela's monopoly on domestic gasoline sales. Foreign companies, which were promised that the country would eventually end fixed gasoline prices, rushed in, hoping to capitalize on growing demand. But when Chávez took office in 1999, those promises were forgotten. Many of the companies that invested in stations, including Shell and ExxonMobil (XOM), subsequently wrote off their investments and left.
In the years since, prices of most other goods have risen dramatically—consumer prices in general are up fivefold since 1998—and the Venezuelan minimum wage has kept pace. The widening gap with gas prices has forced many gas station operators to shut down.

The US government has long been loath to admit the true extent of monetary and thus price inflation as reported by the Consumer Price Index which conveniently omits the costs of energy and food. The index does however factor in shelter i.e. home prices which have declined sharply since 2008.

An excellent example of what our rulers have done in order to finance the welfare/warfare state is observed in the decline in the value of the US dollar since the establishment of the Federal Reserve bank in 1913: The price of a high quality Men's suit in 1910 was $20.00 i.e. one ounce of gold. In 2011 an equivalent man's suit is priced at about $1450.00 i.e. just under the present price of 1 oz of gold. The slight decline in the cost of today's men's suits is the productivity increase due to recent advances in technology. Other such comparisons abound.

"Freedom" Packages

Your humble host is not a big fan of John Stewart but occasionally one of his skits is hilarious. This is one such example.

The Daily Show
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Project "Gunwalker" Updated

Since 14 December of last year when two semiautomatic AK 47 "assault" rifles were recovered at the scene of a "shootout" between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and Mexican criminals in southwest Arizona leaving Agent Brian Terry dead, the "mainstream" media has finally been dragged kicking and screaming into reporting the story.  Also, US government agencies such as ICE and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) have been less than forthcoming on the circumstances and background surrounding the incident.

What is gradually emerging from this tragic event is the liklihood that federal agencies are being used as tools in the pursuit of a political agenda undermining rights guaranteed by the second Amendment.

For many months it has been alleged by spokespersons at the highest levels of the Administration that the violence of the drug cartels in Mexico has been fueled by weaponry supplied by private legal sources in the US; thus justifying additional regulations on gun transactions by heretofore legally licensed firearms dealers.

The ATF keeps statistics on the origin of "cherry-picked" weaponry seized at crime scenes in Mexico and has been massaging them to make it appear their major sources were gun shops and gun shows in the US. This practice proving insufficient in generating public support for additional gun control regulations has apparently resulted in the policy of sanctioning the transfer of larger masses of weapons into Mexico (project gunrunner). This project would serve two bureaucratic purposes: 1) a justification for additional funds and personnel for ATF and 2) mobilizing political support for more stringent gun control legislation.

Apparently our bureaucratic and political "servants" failed to realize that the historic ability to control cultural memes via the MSM no longer obtains in the era of "alternative" media. Two dedicated and unpaid members of that alternative media, Mike Vanderboegh  and David Codrea have, virtually unaided, engaged in the investigative digging, reporting and prodding which has resulted in the exposure of this scandal which in the opinion of this observer far exceeds the importance of the Watergate affair in that the resulting deaths in both the US and Mexico are yet to be enumerated. A daily perusal of both of the above web sites is highly encouraged in order to obtain an understanding of the scope of our rulers efforts to eliminate our liberties.

The most outrageous facet of this scandal is the spin produced by not only the federal agencies complicit in the coverup but the traditional media outlets who serve as government apologists and spin doctors.
By far the best illustration of the of the mentality of these government employed creeps is recorded in an exchange between Mike Vanderboegh and an un-named veteran of government operations which is here reproduced with permission of the author:

Let me tell you what this was, and where it came from, based on a conversation I had with a long-time, well-informed veteran of American government intelligence operations the other day.

"Do you think," he asked me, "that this happened accidentally in a vacuum?" Meaning that one day "Gunwalker Bill" Newell, Phoenix SAC, just got a wild hair and decided to invent his own foreign policy. "Things like this happen because of meetings. People sit in meetings and they decide what they want to happen. And then they take decisions, make policy and implement that policy to achieve those ends." He added, "That's why State is so nervous. They signed off on this. In a meeting."

Gunrunner, I pointed out to him, predated the Obama administration. "Yes, but 'walking guns' didn't." I told him it seemed to me that given the dates on the documents that the meetings crafting this policy must have taken place sometime in mid-2009. "And who took power in January, 2009?" he replied.

He continued, summing up this way. The gun issue was known to be radioactive. Every time the Democrats embraced it they got killed at the polls the next election cycle. What was needed, in Rahm Emanuel's parlance, was a good crisis to exploit, something to change the paradigm. The gun confiscationists had always danced in the blood (my term, not his) of every mass shooting and gotten nowhere, to their chagrin and frustration. What was needed was a game changer. Something that fit the meme of "we've got to tighten up on American gunowners, gun stores and gun shows because they are feeding the slaughter." Mexico was perfect. The ATF controlled the reporting of the statistics, the headlines were lurid and if the rest of us gunnies knew that you don't get automatic weapons, hand grenades and RPGs from gun shows and gun stores, most of the American people were too ignorant of the issue to care about the distinction. But the fact was, as the IG report and other sources concluded, the amount of weapons from those legitimate American sources did not meet the allegation. More importantly the statistics didn't meet the policy need. So, how to "fix" that? Project Gunwalker. If there weren't enough semi-auto "assault rifles" in Mexico, the ATF could fix that. And the murders would follow, justifying the policy change of cracking down on "assault rifles," gun shows and the like.

"So," I said, "you're saying that this was a deliberate attempt by policymakers at the highest levels of the Obama administration to subvert the Second Amendment and further diminish the free exercise of firearm rights of honest citizens?"

"You got it. Sucks, huh?" He laughed bitterly.

I thought of Zed in "Men in Black."

He added, "Of course the meeting transcripts won't reflect the truth so plainly, but then neither did the Wannsee Conference. These bastards always talk in riddles about what they're really after. Watch what they do, not what they say."

Sucks, huh?

Interestingly enough, this humble blogster has in a previous life attended and participated in similar "meetings".

Updated 9 March 2011 @ 17:10 EST




ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ!

A "Brave New World"

Mostly absent from the recent reporting of widespread unrest in the Mideast is a curiosity concerning the underlying cause of such a seemingly tectonic shift in the political fortunes of so many "tyrannical" governments. The casual references to a sudden awakening of interest in "democratic" governance begs the question as to why after the better part of a century following the departure of the European colonial powers such events would emerge within the span of less than 100 days.

The common denominator throughout the region encompassing the upheaval is the relative poverty of the masses of the population even in regions blessed with substantial natural resources such as petroleum. Those populations are forced to expend larger percentages of their incomes on necessities especially food which has undergone exponential price increases over recent months.  This brings to mind the aphorism: "a hungry man is an angry man".

Those of us in "western" society appear to have difficulty grasping such a concept but the likelihood of our experiencing such a reality increases inexorably day by day. The main reason? Enter stage left Mr. Benjamin S. Bernanke and his fellow banksters:

Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke
Before the National Economists Club, Washington, D.C.
November 21, 2002:
".... Like gold, U.S. dollars have value only to the extent that they are strictly limited in supply. But the U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost. By increasing the number of U.S. dollars in circulation, or even by credibly threatening to do so, the U.S. government can also reduce the value of a dollar in terms of goods and services, which is equivalent to raising the prices in dollars of those goods and services. We conclude that, under a paper-money system, a determined government can always generate higher spending and hence positive inflation."

Until August of 1971, international financial accounts were settled with gold. Subsequently, the means for settlement  has been (printable) US dollars i.e. the world's "reserve currency". When US dollars are printed or created by electronic fiat irresponsibly the result as we know is inflation and it is exported globally to foreign central banks who are also engaged in currency inflation. 

Gold closed last Friday above $1432.00 per troy ounce.

Welcome to the brave new world of inflation.

For the Children!!!

An Obvious Solution...

...To the crime problem.



h/t Mike Vanderboegh

"Who You Gonna Believe, The Government or Your Lying Eyes? UPDATED

It has been many years since this writer first observed the aphorism: "Don't steal; the government hates competition". At the time, the admonition fit nicely onto a bumper sticker and elicited a smile and a chuckle. Likewise, almost everyone is familiar with the proverb regarding 'the only sure things in life are death and taxes". To those two categories could doubtless be added a corollary: the ruling government elite lies systematically in the furtherance of its various agenda items. The case for this assertion is presented convincingly by Judge Andrew Napolitano in his recent publication Lies the Government Told You.

The government consistently promotes its agenda of disarming the U.S. population and  relies heavily on the "mainstream" media outlets by touting the meme that the narco terrorists in Mexico are obtaining their arms and weaponry from the same suppliers who sell guns legally to law abiding US citizens e.g. mom and pop gun stores and gun show venders in the southern tier of states.

Since early last year, the [ATF]’s press releases have constantly made mention of the so-called Iron River. Call it branding, sloganeering, or the Big Lie. Say something often enough and people believe it. If the federal agency charged with policing American gun sales keeps talking about an Iron River of illegal gun sales, if the media repeats the menacing meme like a well-meaning mantra, an iron river there must be.
Not a trickle. A river. A steady flow of weapons, moving from Bob’s Gun Stores (or similar)  to Los Zetas drug cartel (or similar). A river that must be dammed! Because we’re damned if we don’t. Damned by a personage no less prominent than Felipe Calderon, the President of Mexico. Damned, chided and publicly humiliated for our inability to staunch the flow.

 Such assertions are eagerly spread from government agency press releases by graduates of leftist journalism schools who are both lazy and anxious to further the government's citizen disarmament agenda.

I recently posted on the likelihood that the ATF was attempting to "pad" the statistics on private US sources for weapons recovered from Mexican drug gangs in order to justify its budget requests. Consider that as it seamlessly dovetails with Parkinson's Law to what has been learned of  "Project Gunwalker" especially as evidence surfaces  via WikiLeaks that our lying government has known from the get-go that the real main source of the weaponry in the hands of the Mexican cartels is in fact the Pentagon. (scroll up as the link is to the bottom of the posting)

Ask yourself, dear reader how many of the types of weapons displayed in the above graphic are sold at your local gun shop or gun show. If the truth of the matter is ever revealed, the minute trickle of gun shop arms making their way south into Mexico will turn out to be ordinary Mexican citizens attempting to defend themselves from the Zetas and the Sinaloa drug cartel.

UPDATE:  TUESDAY 15 FEB 2011  10:05 HRS

[T]he 90 percent number [touted by the agenda driven ATF] was derived from a June 2009 U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report to Congress on U.S. efforts to combat arms trafficking to Mexico.

According to the GAO report, some 30,000 firearms were seized from criminals by Mexican authorities in 2008. Of these 30,000 firearms, information pertaining to 7,200 of them (24 percent) was submitted to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) for tracing. Of these 7,200 guns, only about 4,000 could be traced by the ATF, and of these 4,000, some 3,480 (87 percent) were shown to have come from the United States.
his means that the 87 percent figure relates to the number of weapons submitted by the Mexican government to the ATF that could be successfully traced and not from the total number of weapons seized by Mexican authorities or even from the total number of weapons submitted to the ATF for tracing. In fact, the 3,480 guns positively traced to the United States equals less than 12 percent of the total arms seized in Mexico in 2008 and less than 48 percent of all those submitted by the Mexican government to the ATF for tracing. This means that almost 90 percent of the guns seized in Mexico in 2008 were not traced back to the United States.

The remaining 22,800 firearms seized by Mexican authorities in 2008 were not traced for a variety of reasons. In addition to factors such as bureaucratic barriers and negligence, many of the weapons seized by Mexican authorities either do not bear serial numbers or have had their serial numbers altered or obliterated. It is also important to understand that the Mexican authorities simply don’t bother to submit some classes of weapons to the ATF for tracing. Such weapons include firearms they identify as coming from their own military or police forces, or guns that they can trace back themselves as being sold through the Mexican Defense Department’s Arms and Ammunition Marketing Division (UCAM). Likewise, they do not ask ATF to trace military ordnance from third countries like the South Korean fragmentation grenades commonly used in cartel attacks.

Of course, some or even many of the 22,800 firearms the Mexicans did not submit to ATF for tracing may have originated in the United States. But according to the figures presented by the GAO, there is no evidence to support the assertion that 90 percent of the guns used by the Mexican cartels come from the United States — especially when not even 50 percent of those that were submitted for tracing were ultimately found to be of U.S. origin.

Latin America is awash in weapons that were shipped there over the past several decades to supply the various insurgencies and counterinsurgencies in the region. When these military-grade weapons are combined with the rampant corruption in the region, they quickly find their way into the black arms market. The Mexican cartels have supply-chain contacts that help move narcotics to Mexico from South America, and they are able to use this same network to obtain guns from the black market in South and Central America and then smuggle them into Mexico. While there are many weapons in this category that were manufactured in the United States, the overwhelming majority of the U.S.-manufactured weapons of this third type encountered in Mexico — like LAW rockets and M60 machine guns — come into Mexico from third countries and not directly from the United States.

Mexico's Gun Supply and the 90 Percent Myth is republished with permission of STRATFOR.

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ!

cross posted at: Eternity Road

A Short-Notice Invitation

For those readers within puking reasonable traveling distance of the District of Criminals Columbia, you are invited to:

The historic first hearing of Chairman Ron Paul's monetary policy [sub]committee, to expose the Fed as the prime creator of unemployment and so much human suffering, will take place at: 10:00AM on Wednesday, February 9, 2011, in Room 2128 of the Rayburn House Office Building, the main hearing room of the Financial Services Committee. The witnesses include the eloquent Austro-free-market stars Thomas DiLorenzo of Loyola College and Richard Vedder of Ohio University.

Source

Glimmerings of a Eureka Moment

More evidence emerges daily supporting the assertion engendered in my previous post as evidenced by the below embedded video produced by the main stream financial media. Heretofore the fiat currency dots were connected only by such "fringe" voices as Peter Shiff, the followers of Ludwig VonMises and the Austrian school of economics.

The so called "main stream" economic scholars are beginning to understand that the recent and ongoing unpleasantness in the middle east is driven by the planet's largest central banks causing inflation in the commodity (food) markets by running the printing presses in overdrive. As the talking head in the video points out, the poor in the Arab world must spend 80% of their income on food and food prices continue to rise exponentially. The populations of those countries are lashing out at their only available targets, the oppressive regimes tormenting them which in most instances are propped up by the American Empire.

Until recently the US through military and economic aid to tyrants in the region has been able to precariously maintain the political status quo. Those days are swiftly coming to an end as the US treasury is effectively bankrupt. We are very likely beginning to reap what our corrupt rulers have sown.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

cross posted at: Eternity Road

The End Game Begins

Recent postings and comments here as well as on other sites appear to be assuming a somber note. Can it be that the citizenry is at last awakening to the precarious nature of Western culture in general and the American empire specifically? We are now beginning to hear even the "One" speak of the "unsustainability" of our present economic and financial direction. However, can he be taken seriously when in the next breath he proposes we "invest" additional (borrowed) treasure in a rail scheme which has already been proven bankrupt?

If one does not have his head buried in either the sand or his rectal cavity he should be beginning to consider individual options for dealing with the deteriorating situation. What continues to amaze this observer is the debate on how the now ongoing collapse can be reversed by "cutting expenditures" on this or that government "program" by some miniscule sum. By miniscule, we continue to insist on defining such "cuts" as mere billions of dollars (Federal Reserve banknotes) of increases in future growth.

The time is now past when such a discussion is relevant to the real world. The Empire has begun collapsing around us and academic debate over which interest group's sacred cow is to be slaughtered and whose is to be spared serves little objective purpose. We have been overtaken by events. An example would be the back and forth over reductions in the "defense" budget. It may or may not be advisable to maintain hundreds of thousands of military personnel and hardware thousands of miles from our shores. More importantly, how can such policies be pursued when the means for supporting them is borrowed from our likely competitors? As in the later part of the fourth century Roman empire, the legions will be retreating from the periphery whether or not it pleases the emperor.

If you look at what they pay, you will think them abundant in riches, but if you look at what they actually possess, you will find them poverty stricken. Who can judge an affair of this wretchedness? They bear the payment of the rich and endure the poverty of beggars...

It now behooves individual families to consider which tools will be useful in addressing the cascading of events. The only sure wager is that the world of 5-10(?) years hence will be substantially changed from what obtains today. For example, will that hoard of gold bullion coins and bags of junk silver serve to ameliorate the dearth of what are  now considered necessities? Will we be able to defend from predators consisting of starving mobs of our fellow citizens or a desperate and dying government the meager means of continuing a brutish existence? Only those of the remnant either blessed or cursed by experiencing these most dangerous of times will be equipped to record the events for the enlightenment of future generations. Make no mistake, just as a wounded beast is the most dangerous of creatures, a dying empire is a most murderous enemy of the lives, liberty and property of its subjects.

If there is a God may he have mercy on us all. Meanwhile, keep the powder dry and sell your liberty as dearly as possible.

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ!

cross posted at: Eternity Road

Historic Parallels

Tonight we will be treated or subjected (depending on your viewpoint) to the Kabuki theater performance known as the "State of the Union" address by the President of the United States. Rumor has it that POTUS will be pushing for increased "investment" in national infrastructure and "research" in order to "restore" competitiveness. It is further rumored that POTUS will acknowledge the negative impact of excessive regulation on the nation's economy and in addressing the situation will impose additional regulations. In other words: "the beatings will continue until morale improves".

The President will doubtless urge the Congress to increase the national debt ceiling by at least another trillion dollars in order to "buy time" to implement "deficit reduction". Have we heard this before? Since Congress first enacted a debt ceiling has it EVER failed to raise that ceiling in order to accommodate the increased spending investment? I thought not. Why not simply repeal the so called debt ceiling and continue borrowing until our creditors finally wise up and refuse to finance the spending addiction? It is only a matter of time until the inevitable day of reckoning arrives. The question answers itself. The current political class assumes the collapse can be postponed until they are safely retired.

Additionally, there is always the Federal Reserve which will; and is arguably now acting as the lender of last resort by buying government bonds with freshly created banknotes and electronic digits.  This practice is already resulting in the inflation that government hastens daily to deny, understanding that the booboisie will eventually realize that the 2% Fed inflation target (soon to be spiraling upward) is in fact a tax. The government profits from inflation when it prints additional banknotes by being the first to spend them before their inflationary impact works its evil on the rest of the serfs. This is an ancient practice dating from at least the later Roman Empire where taxes were required to be paid in unclipped gold coins but imperial expenditures were paid in clipped or debased coins at face value.

The government schools of recent decades when deigning to teach history at all, which is increasingly rare, offer up a sanitized version of past "civilizations". These versions generally designate the fall of the western Roman empire in Europe as A.D. 476 when a descent into the "dark ages" occurred. This factual distortion conveniently obscures the economic/cultural situation which obtained in fourth and fifth century Europe.

One of the great weaknesses of standard accounts of the Middle Ages is that they compare the poverty of the provinces with the wealth of the city of Rome in the early Empire. This is completely misleading. The comparison should be between the provinces in the first century with the provinces five centuries or more later. Here, the typical serf was better off under the manorial system of the so-called "dark ages" than the slave had been in Augustus' day. Farming was more efficient, due to crop rotation. Metallurgy was more advanced. Road building was not, but the roads had been more for military control than trade.

Economic historian Robert Latouche as far back as 1956 argued that, in comparison to the heartland of Western Europe in the early Roman Empire, economic conditions were better during the dark ages. Another economic historian, Rondo Cameron, two decades ago wrote that "medieval Europe experienced a flowering of technological creativity and economic dynamism that contrasts strongly with the routine of the ancient Mediterranean world.

During the rule of the later Roman emperors citizens were legally bound to their taxing districts and sons were forced to enter the trades and occupations of their fathers. We see the beginnings of such a system today in the US where income earned outside of the country by expatriate citizens is taxed as if it were earned within the US.

Another measure of what our government has wrought is comparing the value of our (infinite) currency today to the purchasing power of a finite commodity such as gold. During the reign of Augustus Caesar in the first century an ounce of gold bought a quality robe/toga or a suit of armor.  The services of a Roman scribe-messenger could be obtained for the better part of a month for an ounce of gold. In 1910 an ounce of gold equalled US $20.00 which was the price of a quality man's suit. In 2011 an equivalent man's suit is priced at $1,300.00 about equal to an ounce of gold or the wages of an urban messenger for the better part of a month.

This is the work of the Federal Reserve Bank whose enabling act of 1913 stated its purpose as "stabilizing" the value of our currency. How's that working out?

cross posted at: Eternity Road

End of a "National" Monopoly?

I hope it would not be overly presumptuous of this humble blogster to assume that you, dear readers (all three of you) are aware that there are several states in this once perfect union who are in dire financial straits due to having overspent their budgets by substantial sums. California, Illinois, New York and New Jersey come immediately to mind with the attendant handwringing on the part of their spendthrift politicians.

That sigh of relief by residents of more parsimonious states who have assured themselves that the inevitable economic pain will be confined to the populations of the bankrupt states are in for a rude awakening.

The actions of the central bank, The Federal Reserve, are not controlled by a Congress who, due to the political climate revealed by last November's mid term elections may decline to bail out the spendthrift states. If Mr Bernanke elects to purchase the soon to default state and municipal bonds of these entities (naturally at face value) those bonds will soon join the worthless "assets" lounging on this or that  taxpayer guaranteed "balance sheet".

As disastrous as the above described nightmare scenario is, imagine the following: California resorts to printing "legal tender" dollars at its printing presses in Sacramento. Preposterous you say? Compare such a national disintegrating event with what we just learn is happening in the European Union:

In news reports that have thus far not attracted much attention, the Irish Central Bank has been printing euros out of thin air to prop up its ailing banks. The whole of Europe will pay for this action, as the result will be increased euro-zone price inflation. We can only imagine the reactions of Germans if this continues – though apparently the Irish action is legal from the EU's standpoint so long as the ECB is "informed" in advance and approves. As is often the case, we doubted our reaction to the news, so we went trolling the ‘Net to see if anyone shared our instinctive reaction that this was overwhelmingly bad news for the euro. Here's one comment we found:
"Wait... have I just slipped into a parallel universe? Is this some sort of early April's fools joke? Doesn't this defeat the entire point of a single currency and the ECB? Were the rules changed on the quiet without anyone noticing?"

The nations (states) who responsibly "lived within their means" will be handed the bill for profligate states' irrational policies. This is the stuff of which revolutions are made. We are indeed living in "interesting" times.

Got food and ammo?









cross posted at: Eternity Road

US Government Bureaucracy Smuggling Guns to Mexican Drug Cartels?

A thread running through much of the reporting of violence along and mostly south of the Mexican-US border is that most of the weaponry used by the Mexican drug cartels is supplied by private sources in the US and smuggled south.

"Federal authorities say more than 60,000 U.S. guns of all types have been recovered in Mexico in the past four years, helping fuel the violence that has contributed to 30,000 deaths. Mexican President Felipe Calderon came to Washington in May and urged Congress and President Obama to stop the flow of guns south."

The Washington Post article quoted above refers as you can see to, "Federal authorities" who are charged with gathering and collating statistics relating to firearms. Enter BATFE, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. After examining the statistics published by the "authorities" several US gun rights groups whom the Post refers to as "the gun lobby" found several problems and inconsistencies. Firstly, only an unknown portion of the weapons seized in Mexican crimes were sent to the US for identification and the "authorities" claimed that "80-90% of them could be traced to private sources in the US e.g. licensed gun dealers. When these statistics were challenged and it was pointed out that the cartel members, especially those involved in the Acapulco Police Massacre and similar crimes prefer fully automatic weapons such as AR 16s and AK 47s which are not available from non governmental US sources, the ATF simply discontinued publishing the statistics.

Recently and since the death of a US Border Patrol agent in a shootout  in Arizona, allegations have surfaced that the source of the weapon used in the agent's death was possibly the ATF field office in Phoenix and it's attempt to "pad statistics" by transferring weaponry into Mexico without consulting the Mexican government:

    •    ATF’s Phoenix office allowed the guns to go across the border.
    •    The ATF office in Mexico was denied permission to share this information with their Mexican counterparts.  Believing this was wrong, they went over the heads of the Phoenix office and requested permission directly from headquarters in DC.
    •    The higher-ups sided with the Phoenix decision to withhold the information from Mexican authorities.

If this is true, there are some federal bureaucrats that are in need of serious jail time.

It is common knowledge that the Mexican drug cartels pay their "employees" substantially more than the Mexican military and law enforcement. Thus the desertion rate of Mexican police and military trained personnel is extremely high and these deserters take with them the issued automatic weaponry which was originally supplied by US military and law enforcement agencies.

The efforts by lapdog mainstream media and federal bureaucracies to paint gun dealers in the US as complicit in the ongoing bloodbath in Mexico is one of a piece with the gun control lobby's effort to disarm law abiding US citizens. The apparent attempt by ATF bureaucrats to pad gun trafficking statistics in order to defend their fiefdom and pursue a citizen disarmament  agenda needs to be investigated by an independent agency. It is also time to end the failed "drug war" which like most prohibitionist projects only serves to increase the price of the prohibited product thus generating lucre for criminals.

Déjà vu all Over Again

One of the first orders of business for the 112th Congress which will convene this week will be a debate on increasing the national debt limit. As of today the national debt surpasses $14 trillion. The statutorily imposed limit of $14.294 trillion was signed into law on 1 June 2010 a mere 7 months ago by President Obama. The president appears anxious to sign a new and increased debt limit as soon as it is passed by Congress in order to avoid what one of his advisors characterizes as a catastrophe involving a government default on its obligations and an inability to borrow more money.

The debate is likely to become contentious as "Some Republicans in the new Congress have said they'll seek to block an increase in the Debt Ceiling unless a plan is in place to significantly reduce federal spending and unfunded government liabilities on entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare." Your humble blogster's bluff detector has just gone off. Regardless of the sturm und drang, the political game of chicken will end with a hefty increase in the debt ceiling and the can will continue to be kicked down the road to the point of collapse wherein there will be no fools left other than the printers at Mr.Bernanke's Fed willing to bid on U.S. Treasury bonds.

Nevertheless, plan on hearing political speeches such as the following in the halls of the Capitol: 

“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can't pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.”

The above are the words of Senator Barak Hussein Obama on 20 March 2006. Boys and girls; we are in DEEP doo doo.

Swedish Man Loses His (other) Head

In the socialized medicine health care reform debate the president has taken a bit of flack from socialists progressives for not expending more political capital in order to achieve "single payer" health care here in the US. In point of fact, "single payer" as it refers to the progressives' concept of health care is a gross misstatement. A true single payer system would consist of the health care consumer paying for it out of pocket whereas the progressives would have the taxpayers (that's multiple payers) pick up the tab. The following is an interesting but not surprising outcome of socialized single payer lack of health care.  

A Swedish man was forced to have his penis amputated after waiting more than a year to learn he had cancer.
The man, who is in his sixties, first visited a local clinic in Blekinge in southern Sweden in September 2009 for treatment of a urinary tract infection, the local Blekinge Läns Tidning (BLT) reported.

When he returned in March 2010 complaining of foreskin irritation, the doctor on duty at the time diagnosed the problem as a simple case of inflammation.

After three weeks passed without the prescribed treatment alleviating the man’s condition, he was instructed to seek further treatment at Blekinge Hospital.

But it took five months before he was able to schedule an appointment at the hospital.

When he finally met with doctors at the hospital, the man was informed he had cancer and his penis would have to be removed.

It remains unclear if the man would have been able to keep his penis had the cancer been detected sooner.

"If it's any consolation, he's probably better off without it. Given what we've learned about Swedish law from the Julian Assange case, those things just get you into trouble over there."

h/t: James Taranto 

Government Agencies at Work

Warning: R rated narration!



H/T William L. Anderson