Local lickspittles of federal arses whine: "Don’t hamstring ATF ." (As if that was the real issue.) Giving matches & gasoline to firemen/arsonists.

Lickspittle:

1. A toady, sycophant, spaniel, groveller or yes-man.
2. A flunky or lackey.
3. A lapdog.
4. A reptile or creeper.
5. A flatterer or courtier.
-- Webster's Dictionary

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff auditioning for the job of U.S. Attorney.

Utah and Arizona, you have a problem.

Congress and the media have understandably focused on the missteps of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in the “Fast and Furious” sting operation that allowed suspected “straw buyers” to purchase weapons and transport them to Mexico in order to build cases against drug cartels.

However, the covert operation was terminated abruptly after its possible connection to the tragic death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was revealed. Unfortunately, most of the recent criticism about the operation seems to be serving as a means to attack Attorney General Eric Holder and destroy the ATF, rather than to hold those behind Fast and Furious accountable.

Horseshit.

Is there anyone familiar with my writings here who doesn't know that I have often written that, absent a repeal of the firearms laws of the United States, I prefer the devil I know in rehab (ATF) to the devil I don't know (the secret political policemen of DHS, for example)?

I am also on record that the wrongdoing by the ATF in the Gunwalker scandal pales in comparison to that of the FBI. What we have here is a systemic problem of the "law enforcement" agencies of the Federal leviathan. Yet these two local lickspittles of federal arses, Mark Shurtleff, who is Utah attorney general and Terry Goddard, former Arizona attorney general, happily set up straw man arguments to deflect blame from those people -- who took an oath, mind you -- those people who have committed crimes under color of law. The fireman we paid to put out fires have been demonstrated to be arsonists and Shurtleff and Goddard wish to give them more matches and gasoline.

It would be tragic if the furor over Fast and Furious causes our country to abandon Mexico to the cartels. The cartels are our enemy, not the ATF or Department of Justice. We need to provide the men and women fighting this critical battle with the tools they need.

"The cartels are our enemy, not the ATF or Department of Justice."

Tell that to the families of Jaime Zapata, Brian Terry and the thousands of Mexican innocents who have lost loved ones at the muzzles of Gunwalker Scandal weapons. The cartels may have pulled the triggers, but the federal government provided the weapons for a corrupt political purpose. Who, I ask, is the more guilty? How can you sort out the guilt between the murderers and those who with depraved indifference -- using taxpayer dollars and acting under color of law -- armed them?

I say plainly that the Department of "Justice" is filled with unconvicted felons who have violated law, suborned perjury and undermined the Constitution, all the time arrogantly acting under color of law as their own gang, preying upon the liberty, property and even lives of the people. I denounce them as the traitors to the Republic that they are. Until they are brought to true justice, giving them more power is at best suicidal to the Republic and to its people.

Gunwalker is the ultimate crisis of legitimacy of this power-hungry, bloated federal regime, and these two schmucks would have us ignore it. They must be looking for promotions from Lickspittle, Second Class to being real "made" gang members of the Federal Mandarins -- United States Attorneys.