News of the Day 6-20-2012

I think that the Fed went with a continuation of Twist because it is easier to juggle and jive BLS unemployment numbers than it is to convince people commuting to work every day that gasoline is really not $5.00 a gallon.  Bernanke is going to leave the dollar more or less where it is, keep crude down, and give Obama his best chance to retain power.  At least that is the way it looks now.  His remarks at the press conference leave room for the market to speculate that QE might still come to its rescue.  Most of the market rises lately have been on low volume where a few buyers with freshly printed cash could bump up the indexes.  Certainly nobody in power wants to see the Dow at 10,000 — let alone 6,000.

Meanwhile we have the spectacle of Congress debating a contempt vote on the Attorney General along with the last-minute invocation of executive privilege by the White House.  As the "authorities" often tell us, the Great Unwashed, if you are doing nothing wrong, you have nothing to hide. 

At the very least, Holder lied under oath when he said the upper levels of the Justice Department knew nothing of Gunwalker.  In all likelihood, Obama and Holder initiated the process and the documents in question make that clear.  This is far worse than Watergate or Iran-Contra, which were principally cover-ups.  In neither case did Administration actions result in the deaths of Americans. 

Not only was Agent Terry killed by ATF-provided firearms, but hundreds of innocent Mexican citizens have been killed with weapons given to the drug gangs with full knowledge, and probably on the orders of, the U.S. Attorney General.  Eric Holder deserves to be in jail.  All this crap about separation of powers comes hours after the Administration declared that it could usurp the authority of the Legislative Branch with regard to immigration laws.  These clowns have no respect for the Constitution, no respect for the Republic, no loyalty, no patriotism, no moral compass, no concern except for the accumulation and maintenance of power.

There are no consequences for spitting in the faces of the honest, hard-working, productive, taxpaying citizens of this country.  There are no consequences for shredding the Constitution.  It's not about which party is involved.  Republicans, including George Bush, have ignored the limitations placed on the federal government by the Founders.  Democrats have made a mockery of the very term "Republic", demagoguing the population, shackling and binding us at every turn.  Both parties are guilty of purloining our freedoms with more invasive, out-of-control government, more spending, and more debt. 

This last move, however, is a whole new level of in-your-face politics and tyranny.  The whole purpose of "Fast and Furious" was to be able to claim that guns from America were being used in Mexico as a pretext for more restrictions on firearms — a backdoor attack on the Second Amendment, a ploy to gin up support for a new assault weapons ban or some even more egregious infringement.  Getting people killed only made it better.  There was nothing botched about the program until it was exposed, at which point the denials began. 

We cannot depend on Congress to fix this problem — though by all means, contact your Senators and Representatives and demand they hold Holder and the Justice Department accountable for this fiasco.  The NRA and other pro-gun organizations are working to expose the truth about this operation.  Join up and support their efforts.  Educate yourself on the issue and talk to your friends, neighbors, co-workers, and family members about what happened.  Call your local news outlets and demand they cover the story in a full and fair way.