I guess they didn't get the memo. Brady Bunch calls embarrassing attention to ATF's lack of a director.

Me and Paul Helmke, 19 April 2010, when the desperate publicity whore was piggy-backing camera time off the RTC Rally at Gravelly Point Park, Virginia. Contributions to the Brady Bunch are in the toilet this year. (Pained look of crapping glass doesn't come from acting school.)


"Leave the gun. Take the canoli."

So, now comes the Brady Bunch blowing their vuvuzelas about
their latest chicken-little threat to civilization as they want it.


"Obama Endangers Safety by Not Naming ATF Head"

Whatever shall we do? Breathlessly, they stammer:

The year and a half delay by President Barack Obama in naming a director to oversee the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives has seriously weakened efforts to enforce Federal firearms laws, thus jeopardizing public safety and national security.

The President has left ATF leaderless even while armed extremists have attacked military posts, museums, political targets and even the Pentagon. Approximately 45,000 Americans have been killed by guns and 150,000 have been shot and injured since President Obama took office.

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence today issued a report on the consequences of this lack of leadership on the gun issue by the President. The organization sent a letter to President Obama on June 10 stressing the importance of naming a Director for ATF, but has not received a response.

ATF officials are now facing a foreign policy crisis exacerbated by the nation's weak gun laws, as tens of thousands of firearms have flooded across America's southern border to Mexican drug cartels killing thousands and threatening that country's democratically elected government.

A foreign policy crisis?!?!? Great Horny Toads, Yosemite Sam! Is World War III about to break out? The Bradyistas continue:

"The failure to nominate an ATF director for over a year and a half is unprecedented and threatens our nation's ability to combat gun crime and trafficking that arms criminals and terrorists," the report states. "No other President has allowed this critical position to remain vacant for so long."

The ATF, part of the Justice Department, has not even had an Acting Director since November 2009, when Ken Melson was required to step down due to statutory limits on how long an Acting Director can serve. There have been rumors for months that someone might be appointed, but still no formal announcement has been made. Meanwhile, Congress is now debating legislation misnamed the ATF Reform and Firearms Modernization Act, which would severely limit ATF's ability to revoke the Federal firearms licenses of gun dealers who lose hundreds of firearms from their inventories without any record of sale."

Some have suggested that President Obama has shied away from making a nomination for fear of resistance from the powerful gun lobby," the report argues. "As Senator and Presidential candidate, Obama was a forceful advocate for reasonable gun laws, but as President he has been unwilling to show any leadership on the issue. President Obama has signed into law legislation allowing guns in national parks and shielding important crime gun data from public view, contrary to the positions he expressed before taking office. Whatever the reason for the prolonged vacancy, the practical result is that public safety is endangered, foreign policy is threatened, ATF is less able to 'enforce the laws on the books,' morale at the agency suffers, and important legislation that would keep communities safe remains in limbo." . . .

"The Obama White House's inaction and silence about the gun issue puts public safety as well as the nation's security at risk," Brady Campaign President Paul Helmke said. "Firearms are flowing into the hands of extremists who say they want to overthrow the government, and into the hands of drug cartel killers who want to destabilize our neighbors to the south. How can we enforce any of the laws on the books, which are already much too weak, when the agency most responsible for that enforcement goes over a year and a half with no leadership?"

OK, so here's the deal, Paulie. Here's your first clue: If the Obamanoids haven't appointed a new director it is because they've got what they consider pretty damn good reasons of their own for not wanting to.

Faithful readers of Sipsey Street will recall that our slippery fifth floor intelligence agent Waldo, ensconced tight as a tick on the command deck at the "Concrete Asshole of the Universe," reported that the Obamanoid Chicago Gang was vetting one of their own, Andrew F. Traver, for the top slot at ATF, being somewhat upset at finding out that their first choice, former Acting Director (and now Deputy Director) Ken Melson, was actually serious about cleaning out the Augean Stables at Federal Gun Cop HQ. Like the only honest piano player in the whorehouse, Melson's rectitude was not in keeping with the corrupt anti-firearm agenda-driven Chief Counsel's Office and their political bosses who meet in Charlie Schumer's favorite Chinese restaurant in DC, the Hunan Dynasty on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Of course, The Gang was upset to learn that we had advance word of the Traver vetting, and especially upset that we had zeroed in on his links to the virulently anti-firearm Joyce Foundation. That the Joyce Foundation is Traver's weak link in terms of Senate confirmation was underlined by visits to this and other websites by folks at DOJ computers using the search terms "Traver", "ATF"and "Joyce Foundation."

Current betting in the fifth floor restrooms at the Concrete Asshole of the Universe is that Traver will end up as another acting director, because the last thing the Obamanoids want is a confirmation hearing featuring the Van Jones of gun control right before the election. But, they absolutely need somebody in there to tell Ken Melson to get down off his high horse and quit trying to bring law, logic and system to the agenda-driven cowboys of the Chief Counsel's Office.

Paulie and the Brady Bunch must not have gotten the memo. The very last thing Eric Holder wants right now is for anyone to be reminded of the petard they have hung themselves on -- thanks to all of the Chief Counsel's Office machinations over the years -- by having all of it dredged out by unfriendly GOP senators at a permanent director's confirmation hearing UNDER OATH.

No way in hell will Holder receive the Brady screed kindly. In fact, that Paulie was clueless enough to even issue it is proof positive of how out-of-the-loop and impotent he has become since the Obama regime took power. And after spending all that money and time getting one of their own elected. Poor Brady Bunch. Poor Paulie.

Guess he'll have to content himself with pimping camera time at Open Carry rallies. He forgot he was dealing with The Gang.



"Oh, Paulie. . . Won't see him no more."

Ahh Paulie, won't see him no more. sound bite The Godfather sound bites

Mike
III

Later: Here's the whole screed.