Issa Subpoenas ATF

[Katya Mullethov]

"The unwillingness of this Administration – most specifically the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms – to answer questions about this deadly serious matter is deeply troubling," said Chairman Issa. "Allegations surrounding this program are serious and the ability of the Justice Department to conduct an impartial investigation is in question. Congressional oversight is necessary to get the truth about what is really happening."

http://oversight.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1231:chairman-issa-subpoenas-atf-for-project-gunrunner-documents-&catid=22:releasesstatements

[rl6214]

1. And here I was looking for another Aprils Fool

K&R

[Bold Lib]

2. This is going to get interesting.

[safeinOhio]

3. Darrell Issa?

You guys have some funny heros for being members of Democratic Underground. One issue voters are what's wrong with this country. That's how we have ended up with all of these fascist governors and congress people.

[Katya Mullethov]

4. Were you hoping for another April Fools joke ?

Breuer Confesses: Implicates Holder


"You have no idea the pressure we were under," the diminutive assistant AG sobbed in front of news cameras. "Some of us tried to talk reason into him, but then he'd take off his belt--right in the middle of a staff meeting--and start swinging."

[slackmaster]

5. Issa is not the person you should be against in this specific situation

He's on the right side of this one.

[safeinOhio]

6. Perhaps not, but then

I wouldn't post a letter about how kind Hitler was to little kittens at a Jewish message board.

[tortoise1956]

11. Apt comparison

When you take into account some of the things ATF has done in the past:

Ruby Ridge was created in large part by the ATF retaliating against Randy Weaver when he wouldn't agree to turn informant against the Aryan Nation. At least some of the charges they filed were blatantly false, such as accusing him of being a bank robber with criminal convictions. Those false charges were part of the reason that drove his defiance, the result being that his case was eventually turned over to the U.S. Marshals, and we know how that ended.

Waco was a bloodbath because ATF wanted to make a big splash. The following is an excerpt from Wikipedia:

The affidavit of ATF investigator David Aguilera for the search warrant claimed that there were over 150 weapons and 8,100 rounds of ammunition in the compound. The paperwork on the AR-15 components cited in the affidavit showed they were in fact legal semi-automatics; however, Aguilera told the judge: "I know based on my training and experience that an AR-15 is a semi-automatic rifle practically identical to the M-16 rifle.... I have been involved in many cases where defendants, following a relatively simple process, convert AR-15 semi-automatic rifles to fully automatic rifles of the nature of the M-16. ... Often times templates, milling machines, lathes and instruction guides are used by the converter."Aguilera stated in the affidavit and later testified at trial that a neighbor had heard machine-gun fire. However Aguilera failed to tell the magistrate that the same neighbor had previously reported the noise to the local Waco sheriff, who investigated the neighbor's complaint. Paul Fatta, who was also involved in the failed takeover of the group in 1987, told the New York Times that Koresh and he had visited the sheriff after the surveillance had been spotted and claimed that the sheriff's office told them their guns were legal.

Before the raid started, Koresh told an ATF agent who had infiltrated them that he knew who he was, and that they knew a raid was coming because of a warning they had received. The ATF went ahead anyway, and the rest is history.

As far as I'm concerned, the ATF is out of control. I don't care who takes them down. If a democrat won't do it, then to hell with them.

[Katya Mullethov]

13. They do invoke an almost immediate Godwinian reflex , don't they ?

In my minds eye this whole "fuck a few dead meskins ...just pad the numbers" scheme is no different than Amon Goeth sniping from his balcony over coffee and a smoke .
And they would have gotten away with it too , if it hadnt been for "those meddling blogger kids" ..... and a couple of dead Feds .


As a lifelong student of prohibtion , Gunwalker is one fascinating chapter in a long war on ourselves , and fits well with the natural progression of such things . I am duly impressed with both the ability of the internet to get this story out , and the depths of collusion and incompetence in old guard journalists . The question now , is who writes the next chapter . Us or them ?

[Hestia]

7. I belive he/she? is talking about the article - this is about the buying of guns in the US

and used by narco's from Mexico killing US Border Patrol personnel with those same guns. It was supposedly called by a higher up in either ATF, DEA, FBI, or ? Nobody knows who made the decision to run guns by/in our government. IIRC, it started in the Bush years. Let's see if a neo-con can get the answers through an investigation. Yes, this just may get to be very interesting.

[TheWraith]

8. I wish I had some faith this would actually get a proper investigation.

However, with a grade-A fuckstick like Issa in charge, I'm sure that it's going to be turned into a political circus for throwing bullshit at the President. The ATF has engaged in serious misbehavior, and they need a top to bottom cleaning out for it. But more than likely, all that'll happen is rocks get thrown at Obama, despite the fact that this started under the Bush administration, and then the ATF will be left exactly the way it is. Because it's in the Republicans' best interests to have obvious, obnoxious corruption in the ATF to scare people into believing that the Democrats are anti-gun.

[DissedByBush]

9. Somebody needs to

It's sad that Issa gets to score political points taking down the guilty.

[PavePusher]

10. There's been plenty of time for everyone else to tag into this game.

Time to vote in some more new blood. Quite frankly, it's another good reason for term-limits. I'm sick and tired of professional politicians.

[tortoise1956]

12. Hear hear!

The main difference between most politicians nowadays - Dems and Repubs alike - is who they accept their "legal" bribes from. Definitely time for term limits.

Anyone up for writing and supporting a constitutional amendment?