Project Gunrunner Funded by Stimulus Funds

It's now coming out that tens of millions of dollars from the Stimulus Bill went toward ATF's Project Gunrunner beginning in early 2009. Operation Fast and Furious was subsequently born and thousands of guns were allowed to 'walk' into Mexico. One Border Patrol agent and one ICE agent are dead as a result of that operation in general and specifically, guns given to drug cartels in particular. This is important for many reasons but one is that on May 3rd, while testifying at a Senate Judiciary committee hearing, Attorney General Eric Holder said the first time he'd heard of Fast and Furious was a 'few weeks' earlier. Since he testified two months earlier on the subject, we will extend him the courtesy of allowing a 'few weeks' to equal eight weeks.

Again, here is the exchange between Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Holder from May 3rd. The relevant portion to this post comes very early:



That was Eric Holder in sworn testimony, where lie = perjury. In that context, take a look at this article from Investors Business Daily, h/t Sipsey Street:

The ATF's gun-running disaster was funded in the stimulus bill. Think about all the criminal and drug cartel jobs saved or created. And our attorney general once bragged to a Mexican audience about implementing it.

This could be, no pun intended, the proverbial smoking gun in a growing administration scandal that deserves as much mainstream media attention as Iran-Contra or Watergate.

Right there in the stimulus bill that no one in Congress bothered to read is $10 million for Project Gunrunner (aka Operation Fast and Furious), which resulted in the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and increased drug cartel violence.

Right there in the "shovel ready" stimulus, no black humor intended, is a provision for $40 million for "state and local law enforcement assistance" along our border with Mexico and in high drug-trafficking areas, "of which $10 million shall be transferred to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, salaries and expenses for the ATF Project Gunrunner."

Attorney General Eric Holder's "I know nothing" imitation of TV's Sgt. Schultz has evaporated with the discovery of an April 2, 2009, speech to authorities in Cuernavaca, Mexico, in which he took Gunrunner credit for himself and the rest of the Obama administration.

Holder told the audience: "Last week, our administration launched a major new effort to break the backs of the cartels. My department is committing 100 new ATF personnel to the Southwest border in the next 100 days to supplement our ongoing Project Gunrunner. DEA is adding 16 new positions on the border, as well as mobile enforcement teams, and the FBI is creating a new intelligence group focusing on kidnapping and extortion."

So which administration official put the Gunrunner money in the stimulus? Which congressman insisted on this deadliest of earmarks?

That last part is bolded for a reason. Whoever earmarked this money for ATF should either express outrage or demonstrates complicity with their silence at this point.

Eric Holder bragged about Project Gunrunner in 2009 while in Mexico, one year and eleven months prior to the generous application of a 'few weeks' equalling 'eight weeks.' Project Gunrunner was a program that operated under the auspices of being a gun interdiction effort; Fast and Furious was its nefarious offspring. While this video from then Deputy Attorney General David Ogden just a 'few days' prior to Holder's speech in Mexico does not show that Holder knew about Fast and Furious, it does get us a whole lot closer because it shows that Holder knew about the shot in the arm given to Project Gunrunner. If Holder knew about Fast and Furious as early as March, 2009 he would have difficulty applying the 'few weeks' argument to when he first heard about it. By my calculations, we'd be looking at approximately 100 weeks. Even Holder would have a tough time calling that 'a few.'



Perhaps a much larger issue is what the rest of the $787 Billion Stimulus Bill includes. If a mere tens of millions went to Project Gunrunner, what did all the rest of the money really go to?

Was the term 'shovel-ready' actually meant to be a sick, twisted and macabre effort?

Too early to tell but Americans should be choking on the irony, nonetheless.

h/t Sipsey Street

DSCC Responds to Letter from the Kochs About Request for Donations

You can put this one squarely in the 'doubling down' column. Earlier this week, Koch enterprises - the entity most demonized by left wing thugs during the Wisconsin protests - received a voicemail from Democratic Senatorial Committee Chair, Patty Murray (D-WA) in which Murray asked for a five figure donation. The Koch brothers then sent a letter to DSCC inquiring as to why it would be asking them for money in light of their obvious contempt for all things Koch. More on that HERE.

Instead of apologizing or even simply ignoring the letter, thereby giving the Kochs the last word over a faux pas of the DSCC's own doing, DSCC Executive Director Guy Cecil decided instead to double down by blaming the request on a 'staff error' (nothing like throwing your subordinates under the bus) while taking a few more cheap shots, even closing the letter with one via P.S. Here is the letter:

Dear Phil:

Thank you for your genuine, heartfelt concern about our recent solicitation and your request for clarification. Indeed, the form letter and follow-up solicitation you received was a staff error.

However, the bigger and more troubling mistake is the long political history of your employer, the Koch Brothers. As a (former?) Democrat, perhaps your time would be better spent looking into their efforts to privatize Social Security or their opposition to expanding the children’s health insurance program. Or maybe, you can post a list of all of the anonymous contributions they have made to right-wing smear campaigns across the country. If you’d like to share voicemails from all the shady groups asking you for millions of dollars, we’d happily listen to those as well.

So, I write to make it clear that your invitation was an error and has been rescinded.

Sincerely,

Guy Cecil
Executive Director
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee

P.S.: I was impressed how quickly you responded, given how often you must be on the phone with Governor Walker of Wisconsin.

Can you believe this level of immaturity coming from the head of a major political party's campaign committee? I know, I know. We are talking Democrats but we're talking pre-pubescent behavior here.

h/t Weasel Zippers

Latest Farrakhan / Shabazz Montage: Blame White Man for Bombing of Libya

It is simply amazing how blinded by racism these people are. Nation of Islam Leader Louis Farrakhan, New Black Panther Party Leader Malik Zulu Shabazz, former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D) and others are more than just a little unhappy with Barack Obama's decision to remove Muammar Gadhafi from power. However, they - especially Farrakhan - don't seem much interested in blaming Obama for it. Apparently, the real problem is that the 'white people' have magically 'turned' Obama into one of them.

Malcolm X was killed by members of the Nation of Islam because after making the pilgrimage to Mecca, he left the Nation of Islam for the Sunni / Muslim Brotherhood brand of Islam. What is so incredibly lost on the likes of Farrakhan and Shabazz is that if anyone has 'turned' Obama, it's been the Muslim Brotherhood. They have significant power throughout our highest levels of government and it is they - aside from RINOs like McCain, Graham, and Pawlenty - who want Farrakhan removed.

If Farrakhan and Shabazz would put down their race-colored glasses, they'd be able to see that most conservatives agree with them, that we should not be in Libya but their blind hatred for the white man simply will not let them see it.

Via The Blaze: