CBS 5 – KPHO

Could you stay strong?

This is the story of Jon Hammar who crossed the border into Mexico with his grandfather’s shotgun after filling out forms, paying a fee on the US side and being assured that he could legally take the gun into the country. After months working privately with the US State Department and getting nowhere the family turned to the public. Fortunately, their pleas were heard by Fox News giant Bill O’Reilly who, along with others on FNC, brought this story to light threatening tourism and loss of US dollars to the state of Matamoras. Finally, after four months solitary confinement, Hammar was released just before Christmas.

In an exclusive interview Bill O’Reilly talks to the former Marine giving us a first glimpse of his harrowing tale.

But they are wrong. Protectionism, not free trade, has traditionally been the policy of conservatives and Republicans, and it is the policy on which nations ascend economically; they descend on free trade.

Every nation which ever became a great power – from England under the Acts of Navigation, to Colbert’s France, to the US from 1861 to 1945, to postwar Japan, to China today – became such because it protected its economy (especially its industry).

Unlike Hamilton, Clay, and Lincoln, the free trade ideologues at the forementioned organizations never built a great nation.

Republicans won their first presidential election in 1860 (while also capturing the Senate) running on a pledge to institute tariffs to protect the industry. And they did. This nearly insulated America’s (or rather, the North’s) growing industry, allowing it to become the envy of the world. Successive Republican Presidents and Congresses continued these policies, shielding American industries with protective tariffs, thus allowing these industries to grow and leading America to overtake Britain (and the rest of the world) by all measures of industrial production (including coal mining and steel production) by the 1890s.

Protectionist tariffs on foreign products also allowed Congress to keep the books balanced and pay Civil War debts quickly while keeping taxes on Americans and American companies low. Before 1913, there wasn’t even any federal income tax.

America thus became the greatest industrial power on Earth, the envy of the world.

I said “successive Republican Presidents and Congresses”, because a protectionist economic policy proved itself to be not only economically successful, but also politically popular. From 1860 to 1924, the GOP – then known as the Party of Protection – put 12 presidents in the White House, versus only 2 Democrats.

By 1945, America, partially thanks to its protectionist policies and partially due to the destruction that WW2 inflicted on Europe and Asia, accounted for 42% of the world’s industrial production.

But then, something happened.

American political elites (including, increasingly, Republicans) caught the free trade virus and indulged in suicidal “free trade” economic policies.

The US joined the WTO organization, where it doesn’t have a vote, signed the GATT, and signed free trade agreements with many countries, opening its markets to their products while they kept their markets firmly closed to American goods and services.

Thus, the US stopped posting trade surpluses and, starting in 1971, began to run trade deficits which, since 1971, have been growing almost nonstop.

Big corporations, always greedily lusting for more profits and bigger salaries for their CEOs, began shipping jobs overseas.

By the 1980s, the situation was so dire that Ronald Reagan recognized the problem and asked the Congress to institute protective tariffs.

Yet, America’s slide towards the abyss on the skis greased by free traders was only slowed down, not stopped. In 1992, the US, at President Bush’s behest, suicidally signed NAFTA, opening its market to cheap Mexican products. In 1993, Republicans saved NAFTA from defeat by voting for it together with the pro-free-trade wing of the Democratic Party. Republicans literally rescued NAFTA from the dustbin of history (where it belongs) by voting for it – and thus own it.

The result? Millions of good-paying industrial jobs were lost, as factories were shipped to Mexico. Before 1993, the US had a trade surplus with Mexico. Since 1993, it has had a trade deficit with that country every single year.

In 1994, China began, on a large scale, its campaign to maximize its exports while closing its market to imports, and thus to steal Western industries, by devaluing its currency by 45%. Simoultaneously, tariffs on foreign products were hiked, and export rebates to Chinese exporters began to be provided, similarly to how they are provided in Japan.

(Japan has a 15% VAT rate on products sold on its soil, but it provides a rebate to its exporters for every product they sell abroad. So cars exported to the US face no American tariffs and are even rebated by the Japanese government, while American cars exported to Japan are taxed 15% as soon as they arrive at the Yokohama docks).

Yet, despite Chinese cheating on trade, the Congress – dominated by Republicans – gave China Most Favored Nation trade status, thus absolving Chinese products of most tariffs (while China did not reciprocate). In 2001, the Congress gave China that status permanently. In 2002, a Republican President allowed China to join the WTO. Thus, Chinese products enter America almost free of any tariffs or duties, but American products shipped to China are subject to steep tariffs.

Yet, Republicans, instead of learning from their mistakes, doubled down on their “free trade” policies. They gave Vietnam Most Favored Nation status in 2007. They gave President Bush an unconstitutional unilateral “expedited” negotiation authority to negotiate even more one-sided, unfair free trade agreements for dupes. They supported the FTAs Bush signed with Panama, Colombia, and South Korea late in his term.

In the 2008 election, all leading Republican candidates – McCain, Romney, and Giuliani – ran on free trade platforms.

The eventual Republican nominee, John McCain, even scaremongered people about “the siren song of protectionism” and went to a closed Ohio factory (which was closed because its owner shifted production overseas).

It didn’t endear him any voters, however. In the 2008 election, proud free trader John McCain was crushed 373-165, by the biggest margin of any Republican candidate since Barry Goldwater, losing even longtime Republican states like North Carolina, Indiana, and Virginia.

The election of Barack Obama probably gave some Americans hope that he would uphold his campaign promise to withdraw the US from NAFTA and to protect the US industry. He didn’t. He has barely been willing to impose tariffs on imported tires to save the tire industry.

With their own free trade mistakes costing them politically and the country economically, Republicans should have had, by 2012, learned that they were wrong and should have proposed a better policy, right? Wrong. Most Republicans continued to cling to their free trade ideology, as did the 2012 Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, who lambasted Obama for not signing any new FTAs for dupes (as if that were a bad thing), pledged to negotiate new FTAs, and firmly embraced free trade ideology. And although he pledged to designate China a currency manipulator if elected, and to enforce intellectual property laws, he wasn’t willing to do anything more than that, and even these half-measures earned him the ire of free trade ideologues such as the think-tanks and organizations listed above.

So, as the year 2012 begins to draw to an end, let us take inventory of 67 years of “free trade policies”.

They have destroyed the greatest industrial base the world has ever seen.

They have caused 55,000 factories to be closed and production to be shifted to countries where people work for slave wages and where there are no real environmental protection laws.

They have caused tens of millions of Americans to lose their well-paying manufacturing jobs and middle class worker wages to stagnate, in real terms, for over 2 decades.

They have brought about disastrous consequences for national security, as America is now dependent on foreign countries for essential things, even things essential for defense, such as Rare Earth Elements and the products made from them.

They have cost the Republican Party successive Congressional and Presidential elections, as former industrial powerhouses such as Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, and Virginia – formerly red states – have turned against the GOP and become blue or purple states. Republicans have not win Michigan since 1984 and have lost both Ohio and Virginia in both of the last 2 presidential elections.

The GOP’s reputation as the Party of Protection has been tarnished and replaced by the reputation of a party that kowtows to big businesses and outsources jobs overseas.

America, formerly self-sufficient and producing everything in the world, now imports virtually everything it needs, from textiles and simple products to cars and Advanced Technology Products like computers and cell phones.

America lost her crown as the biggest exporter in the world to Germany in 2003, which itself was overtaken by China around 2010.

America’s trade deficits with Mexico, Japan, the EU, and the world at large are the highest they have ever been.

America’s trade deficit with China is the highest ever between any two countries.

And what were these trade deficits paid for with? Borrowed money. America is now the largest debtor in world history.

And to pay for lost revenue from abolished tariffs on foreign products, taxes are being hiked on Americans and American companies.

Can America be rescued? Yes, it still can, but there isn’t much time, and it will require a complete break with the free trade ideology and policies of the free trade ideologues running the CATO Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the Mercatus Center, and the Club for Corporate CEOs’ Greed. The US should:

• Immediately implement the Export-Import Certificates proposed by Raymond, Howard, and Jesse Richman. This means that no country would be allowed to export more to the US than it imports from America.
• Immediately impose a 25% tariff on all Chinese products imported into the US. China will then have a choice between letting American products into its market or financing the US Pacific Fleet.
• Strictly enforce intellectual property laws.
• Write, and strictly enforce, product quality standards on all imported products.
• Terminate the useless Export-Import Bank.
• Withdraw from NAFTA, the WTO, and the GATT.
• Abolish all loopholes in the taxcode and use the resulting revenue (as well as the revenue coming from tariffs on Chinese products) to cut taxes across the board for all Americans and all American companies. The corporate income tax rate should be no higher than 12.5% (it’s 35% today).
• Designate China as a currency manipulator.

Tens of millions of jobs will then be created and production will be shipped back to the US – because then, in order to sell products in the huge American market, you will have to produce things in the US. And foreign countries wishing to export to the US will have to open their own markets to American products on the basis of reciprocity.

Numerous South American and Latin American dictators woke up in their pajamas to a cup of real 100% Columbian coffee and a message from the State Department: You’ve got mail.

After clicking through the banner suggesting donations for Obama’s re-election campaign, the tin despots encountered the following message:

Congratulations! You’ve just been annexed.

Now, there’s nothing more you need to do. Statewide elections for representatives to the House of Representatives and Senate will begin in five days. Your receipt of this email is confirmation of your immediate resignation.

We would appreciate a kind word endorsing the Democrat Party (just saying).

You see, we expect to have our House held hostage by the Republican Party after our own November elections, and we need all the help we can to restore the government to the people. The Senate is likewise in danger of being captured by the authoritarian GOP party, and we need your two seats to maintain the status quo of transformational change. Consider this an act of liberating your people, if you will.

Kindly transfer all treasury funds by check or money order to Hillary Clinton c/o The State Department, USA (we sent half of it to you to begin with).

Your population now has a pathway to American citizenship, and for that your lawless and corrupt government should be thankful.

Warmest regards, Hillary

P.S. Obama/Biden 2012, Clinton/Wasserman-Schultz 2016

P.S.S. Dilma, if you see my husband in Rio on behalf of the CGI, please do keep an eye on him (and don’t try any funny business).

Ironically, there are now officially 57 states, with one left to go.

Author’s note: The above is satire. It is a fictionalized account intended to elucidate certain ideas and principles by taking them to absurd lengths. It is not intended to be taken literally.

Doing business in the US and Mexico has a number of similarities, although the medium of exchange is sometimes different.

Here’s an outrage: sleazy government officials approach a major business interest and want to enter into “negotiations.” The officials casually mention, “You’ve got a nice little business here. It would be a shame if something happened to it.”

Both sides know the business needs permits to operate, current regulations could be changed or delayed and the bureaucracy’s normally glacial pace could begin to approach that of plate tectonics. All it takes is a little ill will on the government side and costs and delays start to escalate for the business side. And there’s no one to complain to for obvious reasons.

The government officials say this doesn’t have to happen. We can all cooperate for “the greater good.” Spend a little money now and it will pay off tenfold in the future. Everybody’s happy. It’s just a cost of doing business in this locale.

Yeah, yeah, you’re thinking: Wal–Mart in Mexico. Old news. The bad guys have already been treed in Bentonville.

But it’s not old news and it’s not in Mexico. It’s how Obamacare was passed in Washington, DC.

The Washington Times reports that internal Obama administration documents just released by House Republicans reveal “those negotiations violated the promises of transparency Mr. Obama made during his 2008 campaign.” Well whoop–tee–do. My question is: why didn’t those “negotiations” violate the law?

Let’s compare the two stories. In “progressive” circles all cultures are relative until a non–union US corporation decides to ‘go native,’ so to speak, and conform to the cultural norms where it’s attempting to do business.

Wal–Mart is now in a heap of trouble for potentially violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Specifically, Wal–Mart is accused of paying “mordida” translated as the “little bite” to local officials. These bribes meant the officials didn’t “lose” paperwork, invent environmental problems or arbitrarily change the rules for building permits in the middle of the process. “Mordida” is a way of life when dealing with officialdom in Mexico, as many US drivers who’ve received a traffic ticket South of the border know from personal experience.

As a result, Wal–Mart’s Mexican division rapidly built stores all across the country and became the fastest growing part of the corporation with one in five stores now located in Mexico lindo.

Now compare that with the Obama administration “negotiations.” The Washington Times reports White House Chief of Staff Jim Messina and health care honcho Nancy–Ann DeParle met with major drug company representatives and told them that if the drug companies didn’t publicly support passage of Obamacare, the administration would demand a 15 percent rebate on Medicare drugs and urge Congress remove the tax deduction for consumer advertising. Times reporters estimate this would have cost drug companies $100 billion over the next decade.

This little problem went away, just like Mexican permit difficulties, when drug companies agreed to changes in Medicaid and new fees that would raise $80 billion to offset Obamacare costs. And drug companies also agreed to spend millions of their own money on an ad campaign supporting “healthcare reform.” As a bonus, druggies also got a new captive market and Obama dropped support for importing cheaper Canadian drugs.

Right here you’ve got your quids and your pro quos. In Texas, Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, a doyen of “progressive” circles, indicted Attorney General Jim Mattox for fund–raising calls that weren’t nearly as blatant as these “negotiations.” Yet it’s business as usual in the capital as Attorney General Eric Holder spends his time attempting a posthumous indictment of Pitchfork Ben Tillman.

Here’s another similarity between the two cases. In Mexico not one government official went public when Wal–Mart money crossed his palm, which is saying something because even in the District of Columbia’s government you can occasionally stumble across an honest man. And of course Wal–Mart paid because that’s how one gets things done in a corrupt environment.

Similarly, not one White House minion felt the least bit unclean about participating in the Obama protection racket and the drug companies paid because that’s how you get things done in a Chicago administration.

Once you get past the general atmosphere of third–world sleaziness, the really insulting fact is the Mexicans got the better deal!

Wal–Mart is the largest employer in Mexico and it is planning to add an additional 23,000 new jobs. Mexican shoppers have new, modern stores with “everyday low prices” and senior citizens asking if you “want a sticker on that” when you enter the store.

On the other hand, US taxpayers are going to get a health care system that will soon resemble Mexico’s along with ballooning Obamacare deficits and fees the drug companies will pass along to them.

Progressive moralizers passed the Corrupt Foreign Practices Act to protect the third–world from its own culture. When are they going to get around to passing a Corrupt Domestic Practices Act to protect us from “negotiations” like this?

Attorney General Eric Holder

Katie Pavlich, News Editor for Townhall, released today that contempt charges will be brought against Eric Holder on June 20th.  Pavlich has been covering the Fast and Furious scandal and has written a book about this egregious episode in government ineptitude.

Fast and Furious was a botched “gunwalking” operation headed by the ATF that allowed thousands of guns to cross into Mexico in the hopes of capturing key drug cartel kingpins in the ongoing narcotics war.  It is a conflict that has already claimed over 30,000 lives since it began in 2006.  What makes Fast and Furious horrific is the fact that the guns used in the operation were responsible for the death of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.   Holder was given the option to have a contempt charge tossed if he complied with the October 2011 Congressional Subpoena.  He did not.  Here is Chairman Darrell Issa’s statement compliments of Katie Pavlich and Townhall.com:

 

For over a year and a half, the House Oversight Committee, with Senator Chuck Grassley, has conducted a joint investigation of reckless conduct in Operation Fast and Furious. With the support of House leadership, the Republican Conference, and even some Democratic Members who have expressed concern to the White House over the Justice Department’s failure to cooperate, this investigation has yielded significant results. The Attorney General has acknowledged that the operation was fundamentally flawed and he has committed to take steps to ensure that it does not occur again. Evidence found in applications for wiretaps shows that although senior officials were given information about reckless tactics, they still signed affirmations that they had reviewed the investigation and determined that electronic surveillance of phones was necessary.

Despite what the investigation has uncovered through whistleblowers and documents the Justice Department had tried to hide, the Committee’s work is not yet complete.  Attorney General Holder has failed to meet his legal obligations pursuant to the October 12 subpoena.  House leaders reiterated this failure in a May 18, 2012, letter. Specifically, the Justice Department has refused to turn over critical documents on the grounds that they show internal Department deliberations and were created after February 4, 2011 – the date Justice issued a false denial to Congress.  Contempt will focus on the failure to provide these post February 4th documents.

The Obama Administration has not asserted Executive Privilege or any other valid privilege over these materials and it is unacceptable that the Department of Justice refuses to produce them.  These documents pertain to Operation Fast and Furious, the claims of whistleblowers, and why it took the Department nearly a year to retract false denials of reckless tactics.  The Justice Department’s actions have obstructed the investigation. Congress has an obligation to investigate unanswered questions about attempts to smear whistleblowers, failures by Justice Department officials to be truthful and candid with the congressional investigation, and the reasons for the significant delay in acknowledging reckless conduct in Operation Fast and Furious.

While the Justice Department can still stop the process of contempt, this will only occur through the delivery of the post February 4, 2011, documents related to Operation Fast and Furious and whistleblower accusations subpoenaed by the Committee.  If the Attorney General decides to produce these subpoenaed documents, I am confident we can reach agreement on other materials and render the process of contempt unnecessary.”

 

….This post will be inspected by the US Department Of Homeland Security, I’m sure.  Because the words listed below raise “red flags” when used on the internet.

So, don’t talk about the illegal immigrant who gave you a denial of service at the deli when you wanted a pork sandwich….. just saying.

Download Full Document here: http://t-j.cc/KIKNMn

TERRORISM
Terrorism, Al Qaeda (all spellings), Terror, Attack, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Agro, Environmental terrorist, Eco terrorism, Conventional weapon, Target, Weapons grade, Dirty bomb, Enriched, Nuclear, Chemical weapon, Biological weapon, Ammonium nitrate, Improvised explosive device, IED (Improvised Explosive Device), Abu Sayyaf, Hamas, FARC (Armed Revolutionary Forces Colombia), IRA (Irish Republican Army), ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna), Basque Separatists, Hezbollah, Tamil Tigers, PLF (Palestine Liberation Front), PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization), Car bomb, Jihad, Taliban, Weapons cache, Suicide bomber, Suicide attack, Suspicious substance, AQAP (AL Qaeda Arabian Peninsula), AQIM (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb), TTP (Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan), Yemen, Pirates, Extremism, Somalia, Nigeria, Radicals, Al-Shabaab, Home grown Plot, Nationalist, Recruitment, Fundamentalism, Islamist

WEATHER/DISASTER/EMERGENCY
Emergency, Hurricane, Tornado, Twister, Tsunami, Earthquake, Tremor, Flood, Storm, Crest, Temblor, Extreme weather, Forest fire, Brush fire, Ice, Stranded/Stuck, Help, Hail, Wildfire, Tsunami Warning Center, Magnitude, Avalanche, Typhoon, Shelter-in-place, Disaster, Snow, Blizzard, Sleet, Mud slide or Mudslide, Erosion, Power outage, Brown out, Warning, Watch, Lightening, Aid, Relief, Closure, Interstate, Burst, Emergency Broadcast System

CYBER SECURITY
Cyber security, Botnet, DDOS (dedicated denial of service), Denial of service, Malware, Virus, Trojan, Keylogger, Cyber Command, 2600, Spammer, Phishing, Rootkit, Phreaking, Cain and abel, Brute forcing, Mysql injection, Cyber attack, Cyber terror, Hacker, China, Conficker, Worm, Scammers, Social media

DOMESTIC SECURITY
Assassination, Attack, Domestic security, Drill, Exercise, Cops, Law enforcement, Authorities, Disaster assistance, Disaster management, DNDO (Domestic Nuclear Detection Office), National preparedness, Mitigation, Prevention, Response, Recovery, Dirty bomb, Domestic nuclear detection, Emergency management, Emergency response, First responder, Homeland security, Maritime domain awareness (MDA), National preparedness initiative, Militia, Shooting, Shots fired, Evacuation, Deaths, Hostage, Explosion (explosive), Police, Disaster medical assistance team (DMAT), Organized crime, Gangs, National security, State of emergency, Security, Breach, Threat, Standoff, SWAT, Screening, Lockdown, Bomb (squad or threat), Crash, Looting, Riot, Emergency Landing, Pipe bomb, Incident, Facility

HAZMAT & NUCLEAR
Hazmat, Nuclear, Chemical spill, Suspicious package/device, Toxic, National laboratory, Nuclear facility, Nuclear threat, Cloud, Plume, Radiation, Radioactive, Leak, Biological infection (or event), Chemical, Chemical burn, Biological, Epidemic, Hazardous, Hazardous material incident, Industrial spill, Infection, Powder (white), Gas, Spillover, Anthrax, Blister agent, Chemical agent, Exposure, Burn, Nerve agent, Ricin, Sarin, North Korea

HEALTH CONCERN + H1N1
Outbreak, Contamination, Exposure, Virus, Evacuation, Bacteria, Recall, Ebola, Food Poisoning, Foot and Mouth (FMD), H5N1, Avian, Flu, Salmonella, Small Pox, Plague, Human to human, Human to Animal, Influenza, Center for Disease Control (CDC), Drug Administration (FDA), Public Health, Toxic, Agro Terror, Tuberculosis (TB), Agriculture, Listeria, Symptoms, Mutation, Resistant, Antiviral, Wave, Pandemic, Infection, Water/air borne, Sick, Swine, Pork, Strain, Quarantine, H1N1, Vaccine, Tamiflu, Norvo Virus, Epidemic, World Health Organization (WHO) (and components), Viral Hemorrhagic Fever, E. Coli

INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY
Infrastructure security, Airport, Airplane (and derivatives), Chemical fire, CIKR (Critical Infrastructure & Key Resources), AMTRAK, Collapse, Computer infrastructure, Communications infrastructure, Telecommunications, Critical infrastructure, National infrastructure, Metro, WMATA, Subway, BART, MARTA, Port Authority, NBIC (National Biosurveillance Integration Center), Transportation security, Grid, Power, Smart, Body scanner, Electric, Failure or outage, Black out, Brown out, Port, Dock, Bridge, Cancelled, Delays, Service disruption, Power lines

SOUTHWEST BORDER VIOLENCE
Drug cartel, Violence, Gang, Drug, Narcotics, Cocaine, Marijuana, Heroin, Border, Mexico, Cartel, Southwest, Juarez, Sinaloa, Tijuana, Torreon, Yuma, Tucson, Decapitated, U.S. Consulate, Consular, El Paso, Fort Hancock, San Diego, Ciudad Juarez, Nogales, Sonora, Colombia, Mara salvatrucha, MS13 or MS-13, Drug war, Mexican army, Methamphetamine, Cartel de Golfo, Gulf Cartel, La Familia, Reynosa, Nuevo Leon, Narcos, Narco banners (Spanish equivalents), Los Zetas, Shootout, Execution, Gunfight, Trafficking, Kidnap, Calderon, Reyosa, Bust, Tamaulipas, Meth Lab, Drug trade, Illegal immigrants, Smuggling (smugglers), Matamoros, Michoacana, Guzman, Arellano-Felix, Beltran-Leyva, Barrio Azteca, Artistic Assassins, Mexicles, New Federation

The Carnival Cruise line has pledged to reimburse the victims and has suspended this particular “tour.” The Mexican tourism industry had already been hard hit by the constant violence, extremely high murder rate, and overall lawlessness that plagues Mexico, with the U.S. State Dept. going so far as to issue a  travel advisory  for any Americans thinking of going to Mexico earlier this month.

MSNBC, in an act of utter malfeasance and complete denial of truth, parroted an announcement from Latitude Intl, the public relations firm representing the Puerto Vallarta Tourism Board, as they tried to downplay this dangerous incident as “very rare.”

On Saturday, Latitude Intl, the public relations firm representing the Puerto Vallarta Tourism Board, called Thursday’s robbery an “extremely rare incident.” A statement on Latitude’s Facebook page said, “minutes after we learned of the incident representatives from the local and state government, tourism leaders and tour operators [moved] to provide assistance to those involved and police and the district’s attorney office started their investigation.”

Yes, the violence and utter lawlessness in Mexico is so “rare” that even the politically correct political operatives in the U.S. State department have issued a warning about traveling to Mexico. After reviewing the State Department’s CYA  announcement telling Americans about the dangers of being robbed or killed when traveling in Mexico today, the politically correct puppets follow the lead of MSNBC… in saying no it’s not really dangerous to travel to Mexico these days:  ( emphasis added)

Millions of U.S. citizens safely visit Mexico each year for study, tourism, and business, including more than 150,000 who cross the border every day.  The Mexican government makes a considerable effort to protect U.S. citizens and other visitors to major tourist destinations, and there is no evidence that Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) have targeted U.S. visitors and residents based on their nationality.  Resort areas and tourist destinations in Mexico generally do not see the levels of drug-related violence and crime reported in the border region and in areas along major trafficking routes.

The above paragraph from the U.S. State department pretty much sums up this travesty. While warning Americans about the dangers of traveling to Mexico today, those same politically correct incompetents try to tell Americans that the Mexican drug cartels and assorted criminal Mexican Banditos do not target tourists. 

Try telling that irresponsible fairy tale to the people who just got robbed at gunpoint, while on a Cruise tour bus… while in Mexico.

Kenneth Melson, Chief Director of BATFE (Wikipedia Image)

Western Journalism is reporting on a recently surfaced e-mail that shows Kenneth Melson and other officials at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives did indeed know about the operation despite continued denials of that knowledge.

The e-mail from January 2011 shows Director Kenneth Melson and chief council Steve Rubenstein discussing the operation

Melson found out about a web site posting referring to AR-15 rifles “walked” across the border to drug cartels and asked Rubenstein for advice as to how he should handle the situation.

According to the report, Rubenstein responded that public disclosure could endanger agents and that if the person divulging the information was an employee the person would be liable for disciplinary action under the code of conduct rules of the department.

Melson responded that he would refer the matter to Internal Affairs for investigation. The Obama Administration, including then director Melson, have denied any knowledge of this operation.

“Fast and Furious was not the first federal investigation in which “bad people are allowed to continue to do bad things in the name of going after bad people.”

Once again I find myself quoting the duck in the AFLAC commercial- HUH???????????

What a bunch of double-talking nonsense. This reminds me of an episode of the television series “MASH”, when Frank Burns comes out with a typical moronic statement of “it’s nice to be nice to the nice”. Issa must be a big fan of the character of that series because he certainly mimics the Burns character. Issa has also declined to join in the chorus of Republicans calling for Holder’s resignation or firing because his committee had not “reached all the conclusions that are appropriate in this investigation.”. Well isn’t that just special? They have been “looking into” this for a year and have found nothing that comes to the level of resignation or firing? I certainly have found enough justification in my perusal of this matter to put Barack Obama, Eric Holder, and Kenneth Melson in prison for life.

Issa continued with a statement that makes we wonder how the family of Agent Terry feels knowing that the man in charge of investigating their loved one’s death thinks of him as “collateral damage”. I am not related, but I find this statement reprehensible.

“It is about a failure that seems to be pervasive within Justice that investigations play fast and loose with the expectations of what is right or wrong when it comes to what I am going to call collateral damage.”

I wrote Rep. Issa and Sen. Grassley back in June asking if they would really do what is needed or if they would make a joke out of this procedure. Unfortunately, Issa has done as I expected and made a mockery, once again, of Congressional hearings into anything. This has been a dog and pony show from the beginning, as I expected it to be. Here is the letter I wrote:

Sen. Grassley, Rep. Issa, June 3, 2011

I am writing about the controversy over the BAFTE and “Project Gunrunner”. I have discovered quite a lot about this operation in my research. I have read about the illegal activities and the deaths involved, including that of Border patrol Agent Brian Terry on December 10, 2010 in a remote area near Nogales, Arizona. I don’t know how much information you have on this so I will let you know what I know and hope that, as the members of Congress investigating this matter, you have more information than I have. The gun dealers involved in this reported the suspected straw purchases to the BAFTE, as required by federal law, and were told to let them walk so the guns could be traced to crimes in Mexico. The guns were never traced and this was only discovered because one of the guns that resulted in the death of Agent Terry was left at the scene of the shootout with the border patrol agents.

Hillary Clinton runs all over the world decrying the “gun show loophole” and claiming that guns bought at gun shows and dealers like the ones in Arizona are the cause of the violence in Mexico. We all know that this is a huge lie to impose their brand of Marxist tyranny upon We the People of the United States of America. I believe the number she claims is 90% of the guns used in crimes come from gun dealers in the United States. You and I know, as does Hillary, that this is an absolute lie but she spouts it anyway.
According to Darren Gil, the agency’s attaché in Mexico City, he was not informed of this operation nor was anyone in the Mexican government. Mr. Gil was forced to resign and claims that the authority for this operation came from the BATFE director and the Justice Department, headed by Eric Holder. When Mr. Gil found out about an unusually high number of guns captured by Mexican authorities being traced back to Phoenix, he asked for information. He told CBS in an interview that the meetings in which he challenged his superiors about the operation turned into shouting matches and he was instructed to continue to keep his Mexican counterparts in the dark about the operation.

BATFE agent John Dodson was also attempting to use the “whistleblower” statutes to reveal this illegal operation but was thwarted by a lack of response from superiors who refused to answer e-mails and telephone calls. Agent Dodson told CBS that his superiors told him that “if they were going to make omelets that they had to break some eggs”. It is a shame that one of those “eggs” that had to be broken was Brian Terry. All the time this was going on the administration was using the violence in Mexico as an excuse to attempt to subvert the 2nd Amendment and restrict law abiding citizens from owning firearms, in violation of the Constitution.

Barak Obama and Eric Holder both claim to be ignorant of this operation but are they not responsible for the actions of the bureaucrats that they appoint to office? I believe they not only knew about this operation but also either conceived it or approved it. This action rises to the level of conspiracy to violate numerous laws, violations that would land me a very long prison sentence if I committed them. Am I to assume that it is permissible for the President of the United States, the Attorney General of the United States, and the Director of the BATFE to enter into a conspiracy to violate firearms laws and the Constitution? If I am bound by these laws certainly the top law enforcement officer of the nation and his boss, the president, should be subject to these same laws.

I ask you to do your duty as the members of Congress investigating this matter to file charges and order the arrest of Barak Obama, Eric Holder, and the Director of the BATFE Kenneth Melson for murder in the death of Agent Terry, conspiracy to violate firearms laws, conspiracy to cover up this illegal action, and treason for conspiracy to intentionally violate the provisions of the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America. As a law abiding citizen of the United States, I cannot stand by and allow the very highest officers in this nation to flagrantly violate the law, and neither can you.

The continued obfuscation and cover-up of this operation is a matter of grave concern to all people who wish to live in a free Republic. If these men are allowed to escape justice for their actions what does that say about the rule of law in our land? What does it say to people like me who obey the law and do our best to make this country great? If this goes unpunished does it mean that I can do as I wish and ignore any law that is inconvenient to me? That seems to be what Obama, Holder, Melson, and others have done, ignore the very law they swore to uphold. What kind of example does that set for others if they are above the law and are allowed to do as they please because they are better than I?

I guess my question to you is will you do what is called for by law or will you sit around and wring your hands and do nothing? Will you do your duty as officers of the federal government to uphold the law and the Constitution or will you sit back and hold hearings that gain no information, and let this slide so as to not make waves? Do you have the courage to stand on law and order or will you turn a blind eye to evil and corruption? The whole nation is looking for elected officials who will stand by their oath of office and represent the Constitution and We the People of the United States of America, a quality that seems to be in very short supply these days. Will you be the ones we are looking for to show true leadership and integrity or will you be another cog in the wheel of that corruption? I know members of Congress aren’t very good at answering letters but I would very much appreciate an answer to this one. I think the American people deserve an answer to the questions I have posed here. Are you truly servants of the people?

I am sending this letter to Sen. Charles Grassley, Sen. Tom Coburn, Sen. Jim Inhofe, Sen. Harry Reid, Sen. Mitch McConnell, Rep. Dan Boren, Rep. John Boehner, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, and Rep. Darrell Issa.

I submit this in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, in faith, with the responsibility given to me by Almighty God to honor His work and not let it die from neglect.
In God We Trust,
Bob Russell
Claremore, Ok.

Isn’t this what we have come to expect from Congress? Isn’t this the normal hand wringing that ends in no action? Isn’t this the usual result of Republican “investigations” by any committee of Congress? The Constitution and the laws based upon it are ignored time and again by members of our government. They do as they wish and ignore the pleas of We the People to act in accordance with the laws of the land. I included the letter I wrote to Darrell Issa and Charles Grassley in this article to let people know that this result of the “investigation” was anticipated, and feared, from the outset. I also included the names of those in Congress that received copies of my letter. To date the only response I have received is from Sen. Coburn.

We the People are not being represented in Washington D. C., by either party. They are so busy playing fast and loose with the truth, with justice, and with the Constitution, that I fear nothing will ever be done to clean up the swamp of corruption that is our federal government. All of them are real good at running to the closest television camera or microphone to bleat out their “outrage” at what has happened, but none of them actually do anything to solve the problems. As I mentioned in a recent article, the Democrat and Republican Parties are two wings of the same bird, and have been giving We the People the bird for much too long.

The game plan in the federal government, and lately in the State of Oklahoma government, is to talk tough but do nothing. Teddy Roosevelt said, “walk softly but carry a big stick”. Today the motto of elected people is to “talk big but do nothing”. Neither party has any desire to clean up the evil of government. They are more interested in ruling than governing. We the People are merely pawns in their game of power and have no meaning to either political party other than as subjects. While the members of Congress, bureaucrats, and various presidential administrations sit on their thrones and postulate, our nation and our freedom go down the sewer.

This announcement by Issa is more proof that those in charge in Washington D. C. have no regard for those who put them there. Members of Congress, bureaucrats, and members of presidential administrations are omnipotent and beyond being held responsible for what they do. The dog and pony shows will go on until We the People revolt and make major changes in government. As long as we continue to elect people based on party affiliation we will continue to see the same results.

George Washington warned us about political parties in his farewell address. The political party has become an entity unto itself, with self-preservation being the mind-set of both parties. Unless we remove the Republican Party as the party we look to for truth, justice, and the American way, we are doomed. The Democrat Party has been completely taken over by the Marxists and Communists, and those who were run out of that party are now in charge of the Republican Party. We the People have no voice in Washington, and won’t unless we unite against the “ruling class” that controls both political parties.

We are losing our freedom because too many are willing to compromise that freedom and vote for “anyone but Obama” as the latest in the trend of voter cowardice and the herd mentality. Choosing the “lesser of two evils” will never be the answer to the dangers faced by the United States of America. The only way for our way of life, our liberty, to survive is to have the courage to stand for our guiding principles and stop giving in to the fear mongering attitude of voting for whoever the Republican establishment gives us to vote for. As long as they know we have no other options nothing will change. Until the voters stand up and vote for the one “who has no chance to win” we will continue to see our freedom sold to the highest bidder.

The announcement by Issa is one more example of “good old boy” politics. They are a fraternity, all of them, and We the People are the nerds who cannot be trusted with a voice in the future of our nation. I can only imagine how disappointed our founding fathers would be in what our nation has become.

I submit this in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, in faith, with the responsibility given to me by Almighty God to honor His work and not let it die from neglect.

Bob Russell
Claremore, Oklahoma
December 6, 2011

The crashed occurred outside of Mexico City, according to Mexican officials.

The helicopter when down during travel to Cuernavaca, in neighbouring Morelos state..

It is also being reported that all 8 people who were on board were killed, though it is not yet clear what caused the crash.

Mr. Blake was appointed to his post as Secretary of the Interior in July of last year, and his main responsibility was overseeing police forces fighting drug cartels.

In a statement from government spokeswoman Alejandra Sota said:

“Unfortunately the interior secretary, his [assistants] and the helicopter crew were found dead.”

In an eerie twist o fate, Mr. Blake’s predecessor, Juan Camilo Mourino, was killed in a plane crash in Mexico City three years ago.

You may have remembered Rick Perry’s less than stellar showing at the Fox News/Google debate from Sep 23rd, you know, the one where he said, “I don’t think you have a heart”.  Well, it looks like Ricky Perry has spent a lot of time remembering it too, and he’s decided to walk back that statement and better explain some other ones.

Above is a segment of an interview he did with Newsmax.com.  In it, he did a much better job explaining what his positions are on many aspects of immigration.  Besides the famous “you don’t have a heart” line, he also addressed how he feels about a border fence.  He says you can build one, but without personnel to man the fence, it’s not going to keep anyone out.  He also brought up concerns about how a border fence would affect private property.

I think he clarified a lot of things in the interview, but I’m still not confident he can give solid answers when he’s under the pressure of a debate.  I’ve seen him strike out three times so far, but I would be glad to see himself do a better job in the future ones.  What do you guys think?  Did this interview help redeem the poor performance he had in last week’s debate?  And do you think Perry can handle the next debate, or is he just not good answering questions under pressure?  Let us know in the comments below; we’d love to hear from you.

Wondering how she can "spend" your Tax Dollars

Mwiza Munthali, public outreach director of TransAfrica Forum, argues that U.S. officials “are not seeing Africa as a big priority. There has been some uncertainty.” The president has made just one trip to sub-Saharan Africa since his Jan. 2009 inauguration and has chosen not to accompany his wife on her journey.

Not devoted enough time to Africa? The last time I looked he was still the President of the United States – not a leader in Africa. I wish that he were a leader of any other country besides the U.S. then I would not care so much about the more than 70 rounds of golf he has played as president. It would be nice if he would devote more of his time to “common sense” solutions to the problems plaguing the United States.

This isn’t the first time the First Lady has come under fire for travel plans. The First Lady raised eyebrows last August when she decided to fly off to Spain on taxpayers dimes, commanding top-dollar luxury accommodations in the middle of a recession. The New York Daily News called her “a modern-day Marie Antoinette.”

On a couple other trips she has been questioned on her international etiquette – in April 2009, she broke royal protocol and hugged Queen Elizabeth, causing a major stir in England. Then in Indonesia last November, Michelle Obama shook the hand of a conservative Muslim minister, a form of social contact between the sexes that violated his religious vows. He blamed the First Lady for the violation.

By the sound of it I really believe she “thinks” she is better than anyone else in the entire world. When the Obama’s travel internationally they are representing the United States, but with her antics I don’t want her representing me. It is sort of like the show “Beverly Hillbillies” when a bunch of poor backwoods people are transplanted to Beverly Hills, California, after striking oil on their land – it just don’t fit.

The First Lady organized another paltry trip to Mexico in April 2010 with Jill Biden. While that trip, too, was aimed primarily on establishing contact with younger civic leaders, some muckrakers called out the First Lady for taking time to travel to a country that’s long been a crucial moment in U.S. immigration policy. Conservative blogger Michelle Malkin, for instance, argued that the trip was little more than an effort to promote “illegal alien shamnesty.”

Expectations for American engagement with Africa soared when Obama took office, with advocates citing his previous travels to his father’s homeland of Kenya and attention paid to African nations while he was a senator. But while Obama has talked about his “family members who live in villages” and told an Africa-focused Web site that he is “probably as knowledgeable about African history as anybody who’s occupied my office,” he has made just one presidential visit to sub-Saharan Africa.

Maybe we can get Obama to move back “home” to South-Africa and he can “lead” in that country – as he is about done leading this country in the WRONG direction. Now that is something I would promote for him and vote for him on. Sorry Obama I am just trying to help you out – help you right out of my White House!

Sources:
Michelle Obama heads to Africa, stirs criticism
First lady’s African trip resurrects criticism of president on African issues

Without understanding how this plan looked good on anything but the back of a napkin, the ATF’s intentions have to be taken at face value. As does White House spokesman Jay Carney’s remarks as he says that Obama “did not know about or authorize the operation”.

Now who doesn’t remember when Enron CEO Kenneth Lay said those famous words and his lawyers laid out that well-known  defense.

But certainly I didn’t know he was doing anything that was criminal.

Ignorance of your subordinates’ actions does not make you innocent.

Darrell Issa (R-CA) has been leading an inquiry into project GunRunner and while Obama’s Justice department seems to be putting up obstacle after obstacle, ATF employees are acting much differently:

“Over the last few days, Justice has conveniently turned over 200 pages of documents prior to our public hearings,” Issa spokeswoman Becca Glover Watkins said in a statement to TPM. “To date, we’ve still received an exponentially higher number of documents from concerned agency insiders than from the Justice Department itself.”

The administration is using the same “I didn’t know” tactics that Kenneth Lay employed while also trying to stall justice.

Now, according to Fox News,  the Obama administration may be taking a new tact: Operation Scapegoat.

The Justice Department is expected to oust the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to people familiar with the matter, amid a troubled federal antitrafficking operation that has grown into the agency’s biggest scandal in nearly two decades.

Moves toward the replacement of Kenneth Melson, acting ATF director since April 2009, could begin next week, although the precise sequence of events remains to be decided, these people said.

“U.S. truck-drivers and carriers must contend with ever-increasing safety, homeland security and environmental regulations that dramatically affect their costs of operations as well as their ability to make a living at their chosen profession,” said Todd Spencer, Executive Vice President of OOIDA. “Mexico does not have an even remotely equivalent regulatory regime for its trucking industry and should not be given de facto exemptions.”

In 1995 the U.S. and Mexico started a pilot program to allow Mexican trucks to travel throughout the US delivering loads brought in from Mexico. The US trucks were allowed to do the same in Mexico, but environmental issues, safety and security concerns spurred the United States to bar Mexican trucks from being on U.S. roadways.

There has been no indication from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) or the Department of Transportation (DOT) or from Mexico that any of these environmental issues or safety and security concerns have been addressed. 16 years later the environmental issues and safety and security concerns still exist, but Obama agreed to allow the Mexican trucks back into the US and at a price too. These Mexican trucks are to be fitted with Electronic on-board recorders (EOBR) that taxpayers in the U.S. are to pay for.

An electronic on-board recorder (EOBR) is an electronic device attached to a commercial motor vehicle, which is used to record the amount of time a vehicle is being driven.

The driving hours of commercial drivers – truck and bus drivers – are regulated by a set of rules known as the hours-of-service (HOS). The HOS are rules intended to prevent driver fatigue, by limiting the amount of time drivers spend operating commercial vehicles.

The prior pilot program only allowed 100 Mexican carriers to do business beyond the border zone in the United States. This time around the program has no set limit on the number of carriers or number of trucks to be allowed into the U.S. – provided they can pass an inspection of their trucks and the accreditation of their operators.

The new cross-border trucking plan will happen in three stages: The first stage will be the application and inspection of the Mexican trucks and the accreditation of their operators. The second stage starts with a three-month period of thorough inspections of the vehicles crossing the border, checks that will decrease starting the fourth month. The final stage involves the Mexican companies being notified of their permanent authorization, which can be granted after 18 months of successful operations. This authorization can only be revoked if a safety regulation is broken.

Here is a kicker, Mexico reserves the right to re-introduce its illegal tariffs if any parts of the agreement are violated by the United States. Strong arm tatics, and the U.S. does not have the guts to stand up to them.

The fact that a cross-border program is in any stage of development does not sit well with the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) leadership. “With all the talk about the need for every initiative to create jobs, it’s absolutely shocking,” said OOIDA Executive Vice President Todd Spencer. “The only jobs this ill-conceived idea can create are for non-citizens who will take jobs away from U.S. citizens.”

Coupled with the fact that the program would threaten U.S. trucking jobs, Spencer is equally concerned about the safety and security of truckers and U.S. highway users alike. “It’s a pipe dream that the safety and security issues can be resolved, given the general state of disarray or war that exists in Mexico,” he said.

So guess what needs to be done now? Yes, that’s right get on the phones and call your senators and representatives and demand them to kill this deal now. You can call the United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 provide the operator with your home zip code and they will connect you directly with the Senate office you request.

If you as a U.S. truck-driver value your job or any concerned motorist on the highways – then you must contact your Senators and Representatives and explain to them why this is not a good idea. It is ironic that the DOT is always talking about how their number one priority is Safety – then they do this.

There are many different reasons why a trucking program with Mexico is a bad idea. The following are just a few things that public officials need to know:

1. The burden should be on Mexico to raise the regulatory standards of their trucking industry, not on the U.S. to lower ours or find ways to accommodate their trucking companies and drivers.
2. Every year, US truckers are burdened with new safety, security and environmental regulations. Those regulations come with considerable compliance costs. Mexico-domiciled trucking companies and drivers do not contend with a similar regulatory regime in their home country nor must they contend with the corresponding regulatory compliance costs that burden U.S. truckers.
3. To date Mexico has failed to institute regulations and enforcement programs that are even remotely similar to those in the United States.
4. To ensure the safety and security of U.S. citizens, Mexico-domiciled trucking companies and truck drivers must be required to comply with the same level of safety, security and environmental standards that already apply to U.S.-based companies and drivers, NOT ONLY WHILE OPERATING IN THE U.S. BUT ALSO IN THEIR HOME COUNTRY.
5. Without a level playing field with Mexico, thousands of U.S. jobs will be lost if a cross-border trucking program is initiated at this time.

CALL NOW AND KEEP CALLING UNTIL LAWMAKERS REALIZE JUST HOW BAD AN IDEA THIS REALLY IS!

This article is cross-posted from Truck Drivers News