Letter to the editor on Gunwalker.

Written yours yet?

Notice

I don't know if I will get to post anything tomorrow until late, for Rosey is going in early for gall bladder surgery. I'll try to have something for y'all, but no promises. Please keep Rosey in your prayers.

Mike
III

"Downfall."

It is hard for me to believe, but two more days and it will be six months since I wrote the first story about the murder of Brian Terry and the rumors of what has come to be known as the Gunwalker Scandal. David Codrea, my public partner in this venture toward the truth, has just begun Part Four of his Journalist's Guide to Project Gunwalker."

Mark Matis, my most singularly, prolifically and consistently negative commenter on this blog, said in the very first response to that very first post:

This country's "legal" system will make sure that Border Agent's family NEVER gets access to info on what REALLY happened. They are VERY good at that.

Well, six months on, I'd like to think that we're at least closer to what Mark predicted would never happen. In fact, Mark is turning out to be a pretty good reverse barometer. If Mark says it's "never" going to happen, it just might.

Not that Mark hasn't had plenty of company. Jimmy the Saint commented to the same post the next day:

"Write your congresscritter and ask when it is that the oversight hearings will begin?" Twelfth of Never.

Defender was more prescient:

This is like Watergate. The implications for the entire gun regulation mechanism... It's also like ... treason.

Jay Stang was even more prescient, saying sarcastically:

Hey, you know if you want to make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs.

No one knew then that these were the exact words of an ATF supervisor to one of the whistleblower agents.

Of course, the forward progress toward the truth of the Gunwalker Scandal (and I'm happy as can be that the term, invented by David Codrea's sardonic wit, is catching on) has not been easy, nor in a straight line. Yet, the fact that it has progressed is due in no small measure to the readers of David's and my blogs and emails, to those who got off their asses and tried to make the system work, and moved it to where we are today. For that alone, gentle readers, I thank you and hope God blesses you and yours.

The cover-up continues to break down. That is a fact.

Here is Clarice Feldman, a former federal prosecutor, writing in today's American Thinker:

I believe there were a lot of people involved at the Department of Justice and I doubt there'd be so much stonewalling and mudslinging were Holder in the clear.

Besides wanting Melson's testimony and a more forthright response to the Committee's document requests from the Department of Justice, Issa wants those agents who did come forward and speak to the Committee to be granted the federal whistleblowers protections they are entitled to by law. CleanUpATF.org. which asserts it is run by ATF agents, claims abuse of agents and mismanagement in the agency is common.

In the meantime, here's Holder's dilemma in a nutshell: If he doesn't fire Melson, the issue will continue to boil on the front burner. If he does, Melson is free to talk to the Committee, and if my suspicions are correct, Melson's testimony will lead to Holder's long deserved downfall as Attorney General.

Downfall. Here's the dictionary definition:

Down·fall (dounfôl), noun
a. A sudden loss of wealth, rank, reputation, or happiness; ruin.
b. A cause of sudden ruin.

The Gunwalker Scandal, if pushed to the complete outing of the truth will lead not only to the downfall of Holder's career (and his conceivable indictment), but to the downfall of the Obama administration and of the entire gun control agenda for a generation. Gunwalker was the commission of the ultimate deadly lie. Its exposure will destroy the legitimacy of this federal leviathan that has accrued power for a century at the cost of liberty, property and the God-given, natural and inalienable rights codified in the Constitution.

Gunwalker can be the tipping point for many downfalls.

It can be the downfall of the lie that yielding your liberty and property to an all-powerful federal government can bring you safety.

It can be the downfall of the lie that you can be made safer by unilateral disarmament.

It can be the downfall of the lie that the people who push those first two lies are interested in anything else besides power and money at the American people's expense.

I say "can be" and "if" because there is nothing certain about how far this will go. That, dear readers, is still up to you. You have brought this ugliness out into the open by putting pressure on your congresscritters, the NRA and the media. Are you going to rest now, or keep on pushing?

As for me, I'm going to keep on pushing.

"Downfall." I like the sound of that word.

Chris Muir does best Gunwalker Scandal cartoon yet!

Many thanks to David Codrea for this link to the best Gunwalker Scandal cartoon yet.

KC Star editorialist criticizes Darrell Issa's "tainted" political motivations. "Shielding indefensible political treason against the Constiution."

Mary Sanchez thinks Darrell Issa's Gunwalker Scandal investigation is all about politics. It is, but not in the way she suggests.

Mary Sanchez, an editorialist for the Kansas City Star, writes that the Gunwalker Scandal was "a gun sting" gone wrong and questions Darrell Issa's motives.

". . . Only with Terry's murder did the heated concerns of ATF agents find any traction. Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa and Rep. Darrell Issa of California, both Republicans, have issued a report charging that Operation Fast and Furious has "contributed to the increasing violence and deaths in Mexico," a result that was "regarded with giddy optimism by ATF supervisors." More than 38,000 have died in drug violence in Mexico since 2006. . .

Issa, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, began hearings on the ATF operation this month. It is worth asking whether the ATF officials are following best practices in their current Project Gunrunner operations - indeed, whether they would have been so eager to press on with them if it wasn't mostly Mexicans who were dying from the trafficked guns.

But it is also imperative to ask whether Issa's and Grassley's inquisitions aren't motivated - or at the very least tainted - by politics. Issa began his hearings by warning that no testimony would be admitted that commented on gun-control laws or legislation. That's a tell.

Oversight ranking member Rep. Elijah Cummings (D., Md.) countered that "no legitimate examination of this issue will be complete without analyzing our nation's gun laws, which allow tens of thousands of assault weapons to flood into Mexico from the United States every year, including .50-caliber sniper rifles, multiple AK variants, and scores of others."

How much do you want to bet that's a thread that won't be allowed to unravel in this or any hearing in the near future?

You might imagine my response to this. But, here, imagination is not necessary. Here's my email to Ms. Sanchez:

-----Original Message-----
From: georgemason1776
To: msanchez
Cc: jthomas
Sent: Sun, Jun 26, 2011 8:38 am
Subject: re: Your editorial. "Tainted by politics"? The ENTIRE purpose of Gunwalker was politics.

I preface this by giving you my curriculum vita in the Gunwalker Scandal. On 28 December, I was the first blogger to pick up on the scandal and realize its significance. I used my sources within and near ATF to verify the rumor, get the story out to both Senators Sessions and Grassley, link them up with the whistleblowers and the whistleblowers with the media, among them Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News. I have also discovered ATF documents, contacted sources and written analysis pieces that demonstrate that this was an operation conceived and executed at the highest levels of the Obama administration. All of this, I am confident, will be demonstrated at future hearings. That's what I know about the Gunwalker Scandal and its cover-up, having been on the inside and helped create its public beginnings. What I am questioning here is what you actually know about these matters and whether it is enough to inform your editorial writing with any accuracy whatsoever. -- MBV.

Ms. Sanchez,

I have read your editorial.

You apparently have not read the agents' testimony in the 15 June hearing.

There cannot be a "sting gone bad" when there was no sting to begin with. The agents testified that they were repeatedly told not to follow the weapons as they changed hands, even when the transfer was taking place on this side of the border. A "sting" implies developing a case that can lead to the evil bad guys being caught with the evidence in hand, hopefully before they commit a crime. The ATF agents testified that this was not the case, which puts the lie to the management excuse that this was being done to "catch bigger fish." If there was no sting, then what WAS the purpose?

The agents themselves testified that this ran contrary to EVERYTHING they had ever been taught by policy or experience about interdicting firearms trafficking to criminals and that they could not fathom the rationale behind what they knew was going to be a bloody fiasco.

The ENTIRE purpose of the Gunwalker scandal was to facilitate the trafficking of American civilian market firearms to Mexican drug cartels to boost the statistics of weapons seized in Mexico, often at crime scenes beside the dead bodies of Mexican law enforcement officers, their families or other innocents. ATF supervisors actually celebrated this in emails, described by one agent as "giddy" at the prospect that "our" weapons were being discovered at Mexican crime scenes. This was a POLITICAL purpose, to justify further restrictions on American firearm owners. Nothing else makes sense.

You are chiding Darrell Issa, who -- from the testimony now of dozens of ATF agents and DOJ whistleblowers and the thousands of pages of documents that they have turned over to him (unlike the DOJ) unredacted -- understands perfectly that the administration's purpose was a political one designed to lay the PR groundwork for more firearm restrictions and who now simply wishes to get at the truth of a POLITICAL scandal that has killed at least two American law enforcement officers and hundreds of Mexican citizens despite the most determined attempts to cover that up.

Political? You bet your ass it was political. AND THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION INVENTED IT.

Now, either you didn't pay a damn bit of attention to what the agents testified, don't have the brain cells to understand that this was not "sting gone bad" with some lofty albeit harebrained purpose, or you yourself have a political purpose in casting aspersions on Darrell Issa.

I'm betting on the latter.

For the media has done nothing but shield Barack Obama, even to the point of ignoring while it could the worst political scandal at the federal level ever -- worse than Teapot Dome, Iran-Contra and Watergate rolled into one. Teapot Dome was simply about personal graft. Iran-Contra was about unlawful funding of foreign policy. And although Watergate was, at base, about tampering with the electoral process NO ONE DIED AT THE WATERGATE HOTEL. The Gunwalker Scandal will prove, despite the best efforts of lapdog media outlets such as your own, to have been about the subversion of the Constitutional rights of Americans by creating deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, of innocents.

The shame, my dear Ms. Sanchez, is not on Darrell Issa but rather on you and all your lapdog media kind for shielding, then defending, indefensible political treason against the Constitution of the United States.

Mike Vanderboegh
PO Box 926
Pinson AL 35126
http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com

Praxis: Thrift Store Score -- USGI canteen substitute, the 27 OZ/ 800ML Klean Kanteen. Po'-boy logistics.

Klean Kanteen 27 ounce version.

Having been stuck at home for the past two days, I stopped by my favorite thrift store this morning and found a half-dozen of these.

"Klean Kanteen" 27oz Wide Bottles are made of food-grade stainless steel, are BPA-free and wide mouthed. They are durable, lightweight and easy to clean which makes them an excellent substitute for USGI 1 Quart or 2 Quart canteens. The weight of the 27 ounce version is 6.25 ounces (w/o cap), is 8.625” high (w/o cap) x 2.75” wide. The opening diameter is 2.125” (54 mm) and is made of 18/8, food-grade stainless steel, with no liner needed.


USGI 1 Quart canteen with cover and cup.

They are also unlikely to cause any comment hanging off an urban back pack or fanny belt. The Klean Kanteen, which comes in 27 oz and 40 oz wide mouth bottle versions are BPA-free, have a wide mouth for easy filling and pouring (and easy to inspect and clean, too, something that USGI's are notoriously difficult to do). Some versions have a stainless steel screw cap with polypropylene loop top, others are made of poly in their entirety. Either version is easy to grip and seals tight to prevent leakage. The stainless bottle can handle hot or cold beverages, something the plastic USGI canteens cannot.


USGI 2 Quart canteen with cover and strap.

The stainless steel does not retain or impart flavors and is dishwasher safe. The loop top lets you attach the bottle to a backpack or belt loop using a small, lightweight utility carabiner. It also works with standard back-country water filters

One review says:

Here's full-circle for you: we've gone from stainless steel canteens to plastic water bottles to...stainless steel Kanteens.

Why are we back to stainless steel? In a word: anxiety. Plastic, for all its wondrous convenience, turns out to be a lousy place to store water if you care about things like taste or possible toxic chemical exposure.

The Klean Kanteen stainless steel water bottle offers possibly the safest, most stable water storage option for backcountry travel, unless you're willing to carry glass carafes in your pack.

With a Klean Kanteen, you are saying a firm farewell to the world of hazardous plastic resins and synthetic hormones (aka BPA), be the health risks real or imagined.

You also get to say goodbye to HDPE bottle's icky plastic scent/aftertaste.

Sensitive palates may notice a hint of a metallic tang when drinking water from a Klean Kanteen, and stainless steel is definitely not flattering to water that is less than, shall we say, fresh (don't drink water from the Colorado in one, unless you love the stench of algae).

But certainly, this is a vast improvement in taste over HDPE and chemical stability over Lexan.

I think it's fair to note that Klean Kanteens are currently manufactured in China, meaning you're getting the Chinese version of stainless steel, which may or may not be up to spec in today's world.

That said, the Kanteen is unpainted, uncoated, and presumably free from nasty leaching chemicals. The Kanteen is also downright indestructible as far as typical backcountry threats are concerned. You might be able to damage one by driving your car over it, but short of that, you're not going to put a hole in one. Neither is freezing water going to be a concern, but winter travelers should note the Kanteen will likely not fit into a standard insulating sleeve because of its extended length.

The Klean Kanteen is undeniably heavy compared to its plastic and aluminum counterparts. You can get the Kanteen in 40 and 27 ounce sizes. Either is significantly heavier than a comparable Lexan bottle, which of course is heavier than an HDPE bottle. One possible way to save weight: leave your cook pot at home. You can put a Klean Kanteen on your stove and boil water in it. It is steel, after all. (Emphasis supplied, MBV.)

For backcountry use, I've migrated away from my Kanteen in favor of Sigg's excellent aluminum bottles. But for use around the home, office, or in the car, you may find the Kanteen a better choice. Weight won't be a factor here, and you can safely store water as long as you like in the Kanteen, unlike all the other choices.

Klean Kanteen 40 ounce version.

The 40 fluid ounces (1182 ml) version weighs 7.375 ounces (w/o cap). It is 8.625” high (w/o cap) x 3.5” wide. Like the 27 ounce version has an opening diameter of 2.125” (54 mm).

I would say that the 27 ounces that I picked up today are just about the right size for light tactical movement. You will also find them in 12 ounce and 18 ounce versions.

Here's the best part. The thrift stores around here sell these boogers for between $.25 to $.99 each. Today I got six of them (in shiny stainless, no paint, as pictured at the top) with the poly cap, brand new for $.39 each. Still had the tags on them. As most regular readers know, I pick up stuff like this so I can issue them later to poor boys who lack the resources for tactical gear.

Again, don't overlook thrift stores as a source for po'-boy militia logistics.

Ramirez cartoon on Gunwalker.

Ray Nagin and the secret CIA plots against him.

Sheesh.

Never give up. Best shot with a .45 pistol ever.

“Never, never, never, never give up.” -- Winston Churchill.

A tip of the boonie hat to Irregular FG for forwarding this link to the story of an amazing shot. The source for this Field and Stream article appears to be this in Air Force Magazine, July 1996 issue.

A double-take of cartoon comment on present-day federal "law enforcement."

At NPR.

Serial perjurer "Waco Jim" Cavanaugh sounds off on the appointment process of an ATF Director. Vince Cefalu for Director?

Serial perjurer "Waco Jim" Cavanaugh -- who has been serving as the ATF's unofficial criticism deflection spokesman ever since he retired (no point in subpoenaing him since he's no longer in the chain of command so the SOB can say anything he wants without factual challenge) -- tells us that the Director position of the ATF should be made "non-political." Cavanaugh wants to put the appointment process out of the reach of those blue meanies at the NRA. The meme, of course, is on track with the firearm confiscationist crowd's assertion that the Gunwalker Scandal would never have happened if the ATF had a permanent director. Here's the latest example of that from the editorial page of the Chicago Tribune.

What horsecrap.

Robert Mueller of the FBI, Hillary Clinton at State, Janet Napolitano at DHS, and all the heads of the various subordinate agencies except ATF were permanent appointees. They all saluted the Gunwalker idea when it was run up the flag pole and made sure their agencies got in line with the White House's desires. Each of those agencies is still covering up their own culpability in the worst federal government scandal ever.

If you know much of "Waco Jim's" career, the hypocrisy drips from every sentence.

Leaders earn and gain their real power not from certificates or anointments, rather from three things: Their integrity, their willingness to accept responsibility and their experience and competence to do the job.

So, in essence, the most effective way to get that leader is to keep it where it had been for the many decades: In the career civil service and in the career Senior executive service. The Justice Department can choose a very able person from that system to head up the agency.

I believe the director of ATF should be an ATF Special Agent, one who has sat out all night in the rain on a surveillance, worked on difficult bombings and arson cases, made undercover buys from violent felons, worked with victims of violent crime, talked to gun and explosives dealers and understands their issues, obtained and served dangerous search warrants, testified many times as a witness, worked with informants, heard shots fired in anger, and listened to the hate filled rants of Klansmen and militiamen neo-Nazis.

In other words, a leader who understands and has experienced the unique challenges that ATF faces.

Riiiight. Here's the real motivation of this piece. Cavanaugh, as savvy a political player in ATF's senior executive service as there ever was, a man willing to commit perjury to protect himself and his bosses, a man who was such a "team player" that he let the Waco dynamic raid go forward even when he knew the security was compromised at the risk of his own men, is speaking from his own ego here.

According to my sources within the ATF, HE always wanted to be Director, always thought he deserved it, and yet after Waco there was never going to be a political appointment for him, which is why he never got further up the chain than the Nashville field division.

He also may be trying now to make the case for himself as a dark horse candidate.

Whatever Cavanaugh's motivation, you can bet your ass it is self-serving and favor-currying. His career at ATF demonstrates little else, and his retirement has changed nothing.

You want to make somebody Director of ATF? Well, if the agency isn't going to be abolished (and I am on record as saying that as long as the current firearm laws aren't going to be repealed -- and they're not -- that I prefer the devil I know in rehab enforcing them to the devil I don't, like the secret political policemen at DHS), my vote is for Vince Cefalu. We disagree on one helluva lot, but at least he's honest. And, unlike Cavanaugh, he's not a serial perjurer. In fact, Vince blew the whistle on perjurers, which is what got him in trouble with the ATF's Chief Counsels Office to begin with.

Hey, now there's the first thing that Waco Jim and I have ever agreed on. The head of the ATF, if it is going to exist at all, maybe ought to be an honest street agent, somebody tough enough to tell his political bosses when they come to him with a BS idea like Gunwalker to go take one flying at a rolling doughnut.

However, I'm certain that Vince Cefalu is probably not the guy that Cavanaugh -- or the DOJ bosses that he is still trying to curry favor with -- had in mind.

Another country heard from. One more "only one" collectivist anal sphincter with a badge and a firearm confiscationist impulse.

McCarthy: NRA, Palin a part of 'government-sponsored racism'

"So here’s what I want to tell you. See, let’s see if we can make a connection here. Slavery. Segregation. Black codes. Jim Crow. What, what did they all have in common? Anybody getting’ scared? Government sponsored racism."

"Now I want you to connect one more dot on that chain of the African American history in this country, and tell me if I’m crazy. Federal gun laws that facilitate the flow of illegal firearms, into our urban centers across this country, that are killing our black and brown children," he said.

"The NRA does not like me, and I’m okay with that. We’ve got to get the gun debate back to center, and it’s got to come with the recognition of who’s paying the price for the gun manufacturers being rich and living in gated communities," McCarthy said.

Media report: David Burgert "may be in disguise." Sipsey Street obtains FBI retouched image of what he may look like.

Attention right-thinking, cooperative citizens. Be on the lookout for this man:

Pajamas Media interviews Vince Cefalu.

Here.

CBS finally giving Sharyl Attkisson more screen time.

Brit Twit Thinks We're Nitwits. "Obama admin faces the unique opportunity to turn Issa's witchhunt into a valuable discussion on US gun-regulation."

"Time to target gun control" he says. "US public opinion will never be more favourable than now, after the Giffords shooting and disastrous ATF gun-tracking scheme."

Counterpunching against the Empire: Vince Cefalu to be on FOX News tonight, 6:05PM Eastern / 3:05 Pacific

Just received this by email.

From CleanUpATF:

OK people here we go with the first concrete wave. You gotta understand that these ATF undercover agents are a different breed of cat. They don't roll over and lay down like the sissy's that run the join. They get up, rally together and fight back.

Who: ATF Special Agent Vince Cefalu

What: Appearing on Fox's National Cable Television Program America's Nightly Scoreboard

When: TODAY! 6:05 eastern / 3:05 pacific

Where: Nationwide on your televsion. Here is a link to find the station on your local cable

Why: Because ATF retaliated against Cefalu for blowing the whistle in the face of Congressional warnings and DOJ representatives stating that this never happens

How: Because ATF management does not care what anyone says, tells them to do or the law states.

The Gunwalker Scandal connection to the Vince Cefalu whistleblower retaliation firing.

From CleanUpATF.org we have several reactions to the retaliatory firing notice served on Vince Cefalu.

ATF agent Microscope, reacting to the news that Melson does not wish to leave the agency and become a scapegoat:

Oh that's just super Ken. Now that your ass is on the line your testicles drop and you all of sudden form a backbone to stand tall?

With everything going on how did you find the time to fire Agent Cefalu? When we find out what attorneys on your staff orchestrated the whitewash frame job you did on him they are going to be looking for the door too.

ATF agent Simple Man explains the Gunwalker connection:

DAD Bill McMahon and SAC Andy Anderson were the two agents on the disciplinary panel who voted to fire Vince. There were a couple other twits and the Bureau Deciding Official G. Elaine Smith.

Don't care about the twits. Don't care about Smith. She may have final say but she is just a puppet for Chief Counsels Office.

Andy Anderson voting to kill off an agent based on one-sided IA report? No surprises there. He wears the right cuff links and has his shirts monogrammed so he can do whatever he wants in the world of ATF executives (except ever have the respect of another hard working ATF Agent again). All you have ever done is say 'no' to agents that is until it comes time to fire one and they you say 'yes'. You are one of the ones who has to be buried in the reorganization.

Bill McMahon voted to get rid of Vince. OK. Let's review. Bill McMahon is Bill Newell's first level supervisor. Bill McMahon is in the chain of command for Fast and Furious. Bill McMahon has supervised for years, John Torres, Bill Newell, Kelvin Crenshaw. Bill McMahon could have fired any of the three, done ATF a service and been completely justified and supported. . .

Bill McMahon. What happened to you? Do you remember the day your balls fell off or did they just slowly dissolve once you started drinking the headquarters KoolAid and you never really noticed they were gone?

Vince is going to shock the House with the details of his railroading. As the truth comes out the embarrassment to ATF will grow larger. He'll have his gun and badge back with back pay soon enough.

McMahon, you'll hopefully be sitting in a jail cell, broke after the Terry's take your money in a civil suit, and you can think about what a coward you turned out to be by supporting Fast and Furious.

Hey Bill. We were going to let this one go but since you turned into a total douche, get ready to explain all your cool trips on ATF's dime where you dragged your girlfriend around. Some to Europe too, huh. You better have this covered and buttoned down tight because a whole lotta people know what you been up to, watched you do it, heard you talk about it, watched you cheat the G for your personal pleasure.

Game on bitches!

Fast and Furious -- The Facebook version.

What a hoot.

African village uses home-made twelve gauge shotguns and amateur radio to defend against rape gangs.

A tip of the boonie hat to Global Guerrillas for this link.

The local defense force in Obo includes over 200 people, organized into 5 separate groups. Almost every member was armed with a homemade shotgun loaded with hand packed shells (check out the raw footage below of one of the groups in action). These groups formed shortly after the LRA devastated the town in March of 2008, abducting 100 people and killing scores of others. Unwilling to wait in fear as the LRA fighters continued unrelenting attacks- abducting children, stealing supplies, and murdering civilians- local people took action and began to volunteer their time to defend their community.

Local Defense Units / / Obo, C.A.R. from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.