The Pigfords, Farmers, and waste, fraud, and abuse

REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH

Pigford vs. Glickman
"In 1997, 400 African-American farmers sued the United States Department of Agriculture, alleging that they had been unfairly denied USDA loans due to racial discrimination during the period 1983 to 1997."

The case was entitled "Pigford vs. Glickman" and in 1999, the black farmers won their case.

The government agreed to pay each of them as much as $50,000 to settle their claims.

But then on February 23, 2010, something shocking happened in relation to that original judgment: In total silence, the USDA agreed to release more funds to "Pigford ".

The amount was a staggering...... $1.25 billion. This was because the original number of plaintiffs - 400 black farmers had now swollen, in a class action suit, to include a total of 86,000 black farmers throughout America ..

There was only one teensy problem:

The United States of America doesn't have 86,000 black farmers!!!!

According to accurate and totally verifiable Official USDA 2007 Census census data, the total number of black farmers throughout America is only 39,697.

Hmmm... by the Official USDA 1992 Census data the US had only 18,816 black farmers!!
Oops!!

Well, gosh - how on earth did 39,697 explode into the fraudulent 86,000 claims??

And how did $50,000 explode into $1.25 billion??

Well, folks, you'll just have to ask the woman who not only spearheaded this case because of her position in 1997 at the "Rural Development Leadership Network", but whose family recei ved the highest single payout (approximately $13 million) from that action - Shirley Sherrod.
Oops again!!

Yes, folks it appears that Ms. Sherrod had just unwittingly exposed herself as the perpetrator of one of the biggest fraud claims in the history of the United States - - a fraud enabled solely because she screamed racism at the government and cowed them into submission.

And it gets even more interesting...
Ms. Sherrod has also exposed the person who aided and abetted her in this race fraud.

As it turns out, the original judgment of "Pigford vs. Glickman" in 1999 only applied to a total of about 16,000 black farmers.
But....in 2008, a junior US Senator got a law passed to reopen the case and allow more black farmers to sue for funds.

The Senator was Barack Hussein Obama..

Because this law was passed in dead silence, and because the woman responsible fo r spearheading it was an obscure USDA official, American taxpayers did not realize that they had just been forced in the midst of a worldwide recession to pay out more than $1.25 billion to settle a race claim.

But Andy Breitbart knew. And on Monday, July 22, 2010, he cleverly laid a trap which Sherrod - - and Obama + his cronies - - stumbled headfirst into which has now resulted in the entire world discovering the existence of this corrupt financial judgment.

As for Ms. Sherrod?? Well, she's discovering too late that her cry of 'racism' to the media which was intended to throw the spotlight on Breitbart has instead thrown that spotlight on herself and the huge corruption.
Sherrod has vanished from public view.

Obama Signs Bill To Pay Black and Native Farmers

But the perpetrator of that law passed in dead silence leading to unlawful claims & corruption..... is still trying to fool all of US.

Go to Google and read for yourself "Pigford vs. Glickman", or "Pigford Obama".

As some have said, "The Republic can survive a Barack Obama. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their President."

http://mydd.com/users/nancy-scola/posts/pigford-black-farmers-and-obama

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/01/10/obama-carries-on-the-pigford-fraud/

..... there are many more ....

Shirley Sherrod, Said ex-USDA worker: "White House forced me to resign over fabricated racial controversy"

• 

BY ALIYAH SHAHID

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

One strike and she was out.
A black employee who resigned from the Agriculture Department on Monday said the White House forced her out after remarks that she says have sparked a fabricated racial controversy.
Shirley Sherrod, the former Georgia director of Rural Development, said she received a phone call from the USDA's deputy undersecretary Cheryl Cook on Monday while she was in a car. Cook told her that the White House wanted her to call it quits.
"They called me twice," Sherrod told the Associated Press. "The last time they asked me to pull over the side of the road and submit my resignation on my Blackberry and that's what I did."

The Black (by the way why is negro used some times, African, African-American some time, and Black now?)  Farmers Side! Why haven't we heard more about this??

 The U.S. Senate has been criticized for dragging its feet on compensation for black farmers based on the famous Pigford discrimination case. The case was supposedly settled by an alliance between black farmers and Tom Vilsack, the secretary of agriculture. The Obama administration has promised an extra $1.25 billion to settle the claims of the lawsuit.

Although a settlement had been reached, the Senate failed to move forward with the authorization to release the funds. That has led to a tremendous amount of frustration on the part of black farmers, who've been patiently waiting for the first black president and his colleagues to make amends for the discrimination they've suffered for decades.
t’s about time. After decades of legal wrangling and several stalled attempts in the Senate, a payout of $4.5 billion has been approved to settle longstanding claims of government discrimination against black and Native American farmers.
On Friday, the Senate approved $1.5 billion to settle claims with black farmers in the Pigford II case. That decision was followed by the upper chamber approving a separate amount of $3.4 billion to settle with aggrieved Native American farmers who alleged that the Department of Interior had badly mismanaged money accounts.
Senator Harry Reid is already claiming this as one of his big lame duck victories.
“Black farmer and Native American trust account holders had to wait a long time for justice, but now it will finally be served,” Reid said in a statement according to The Hill. “I am hearted that Democrats and Republicans were able to come together to deliver the settlement that these men and women deserve for the discrimination and mismanagement they faced in the past.”
The payout has been a long time coming. Black farmers had accused the government in a lawsuit of favoring white farmers for loans. That case was settled way back in 1999, and the deal was, and remains, among the largest civil rights settlements in history. But it’s taken over a decade — and nine failed attempts before the Senate — for lawmakers to actually approve the funds and begin the long process of paying the debt.
The money was finally approved as part of an extension of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.
In an interview on Essence.com, Dr. John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association talked about how the Shirley Sherrod fiasco actually helped bring attention to the case.

It gave validation to what we had been saying for years—how the USDA had mistreated Black farmers, and also Black employees. We still have an employee problem at USDA. She’s an example of that because we have nearly 80,000 Black farmers that said they were discriminated against, and no one’s been fired. Yet they fired this woman on the spot because they thought she’d mistreated a White farmer. I call that a triple standard. We have a long way to go with the Department of Agriculture. The fact is, there’s a terrible distrust between the Black farmers and the USDA—they treated us worse than the dirt on the ground—and that’s not going to go away tomorrow. But paying the farmers will certainly put us a step further in the healing process.

Jefferson Keel, president of the National Congress of American Indians, spoke to NPR on Monday about the ordeal.
“It’s been such a long time coming and such a painful process,” Keel said on “Tell Me More.” “We’re just happy that we’re finally at a point where we can work with Congress and I’m happy to say that Congress has finally moved these things forward.”

Shirley Sherrod's Disappearing Act: Not So Fast

By: Tom Blumer | 07/20/10 3:00 AM

My oh my, that happened quickly. Perhaps too quickly.
Until yesterday, Shirley Sherrod was Georgia Director of Rural Development for the USDA. Earlier in the day at Big Government, Andrew Breitbart put up a video that exposed Ms. Sherrod as someone all too willing to discriminate based on race.
Within hours of the video's release, USDA Director Tom Vilsack announced Sherrod's resignation, and in the process issued an exceptionally strong condemnation ("We are appalled by her actions ... Her actions were shameful ... she gave no indication she had attempted to right the wrong she had done to this man").
The NAACP, at whose Freedom Fund Banquet Sherrod spoke of her discriminatory posture, and at which the audience seemed to indicate approval of her outlook, followed a short time later, virtually echoing Vilsack.
So I guess we're supposed to forget about Shirley Sherrod from this point forward.
Not just yet. Luckily, she's not going away quietly, and is complaining about Fox News and the Tea Party causing her dismissal. Keep it up, ma’am, because you and the USDA both deserve further scrutiny.
Ms. Sherrod's previous background, the circumstances surrounding her hiring, and the USDA's agenda may all play a part in explaining her sudden departure from the agency. These matters have not received much scrutiny to this point.
An announcement of Ms. Sherrod's July 2009 appointment to her USDA position at ruraldevelopment.org gives off quite a few clues:

RDLN Graduate and Board Vice Chair Shirley Sherrod was appointed Georgia Director for Rural Development by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on July 25. Only days earlier, she learned that New Communities, a group she founded with her husband and other families (see below) has won a thirteen million dollar settlement in the minority farmers law suit Pigford vs Vilsack.

What?
The news that follows at the link, which appears to pre-date the announcement of Ms. Sherrod's appointment, provides further details:

Minority Farm Settlement

Justice Achieved - Congratulations to Shirley and Charles Sherrod!

We have wonderful news regarding the case of New Communities, Inc., the land trust that Shirley and Charles Sherrod established, with other black farm families in the 1960's. At the time, with holdings of almost 6,000 acres, this was the largest tract of black-owned land in the country.

... Over the years, USDA refused to provide loans for farming or irrigation and would not allow New Communities to restructure its loans. Gradually, the group had to fight just to hold on to the land and finally had to wind down operations.

... The cash (settlement) award acknowledges racial discrimination on the part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the years 1981-85. ... New Communities is due to receive approximately $13 million ($8,247,560 for loss of land and $4,241,602 for loss of income; plus $150,000 each to Shirley and Charles for pain and suffering). There may also be an unspecified amount in forgiveness of debt. This is the largest award so far in the minority farmers law suit (Pigford vs Vilsack).

The Pigford matter goes back a long way, and to say the least has a checkered history, as this May 27, 2010 item at Agri-Pulse demonstrates (bolds are mine):

As part of a April 14, 1999 class action case settlement, commonly known as the Pigford case, U.S. taxpayers have already provided over $1 billion in cash, non-credit awards and debt relief to almost 16,000 black farmers who claimed that they were discriminated against by USDA officials as they “farmed or attempted to farm.” In addition, USDA’s Farm Service Agency spent over $166 million on salaries and expenses on this case from 1999-2009, according to agency records.

Members of Congress may approve another $1.15 billion this week to settle cases from what some estimate may be an additional 80,000 African-Americans who have also claimed to have been discriminated against by USDA staff.

... Settling this case is clearly a priority for the White House and USDA. Secretary Vilsack described the funding agreement reached between the Administration and advocates for black farmers early this year as “an important milestone in putting these discriminatory claims behind us for good and in achieving finality for this group of farmers with longstanding grievances."

However, confronted with the skyrocketing federal deficit, more officials are taking a critical look at the billion dollars spent thus far and wondering when these discrimination cases will ever end. Already, the number of people who have been paid and are still seeking payment will likely exceed the 26,785 black farmers who were considered to even be operating back in 1997, according to USDA. That’s the year the case initially began as Pigford v. (then Agriculture Secretary) Glickman and sources predicted that, at most, 3,000 might qualify.

At least one source who is extremely familiar with the issue and who asked to remain anonymous because of potential retribution, says there are a number of legitimate cases who have long been denied their payments and will benefit from the additional funding. But many more appear to have been solicited in an attempt to “game” the Pigford system.

Here are just a few questions about Ms. Sherrod that deserve answers:

• Was Ms. Sherrod's USDA appointment an unspoken condition of her organization's settlement?
• How much "debt forgiveness" is involved in USDA's settlement with New Communities?
• Why were the Sherrods so deserving of a combined $300,000 in "pain and suffering" payments -- amounts that far exceed the average payout thus far to everyone else? ($1.15 billion divided by 16,000 is about $72,000)?
• Given that New Communities wound down its operations so long ago (it appears that this occurred sometime during the late 1980s), what is really being done with that $13 million in settlement money?

Here are a few bigger-picture questions:

• Did Shirley Sherrod resign so quickly because the circumstances of her hiring and the lawsuit settlement with her organization that preceded it might expose some unpleasant truths about her possible and possibly sanctioned conflicts of interest?
• Is USDA worried about the exposure of possible waste, fraud, and abuse in its handling of Pigford?
• Did USDA also dispatch Sherrod hastily because her continued presence, even for another day, might have gotten in the way of settling Pigford matters quickly?

The media and the blogosphere shouldn't be so quick to forget about Shirley Sherrod.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/examiner-opinion-zone/shirley-sherrod039s-disappearing-act-not-so-fast#ixzz1SPHw5rqb

Arizona did the right thing!! USA BANKRUPT

 Bankruptcy  101...why Arizona did the right thing!! 

It's easy to dismiss individual programs that benefit non-citizens until they're put together and this picture emerges.. Someone did a lot of research to put together all of this data. Often these programs are buried within other programs making them difficult to find.  

A Real Eye Opener 

WHY is the USA BANKRUPT? 

Informative, and mind boggling! 

You think the war in Iraq was costing us to much?

Read this: 

We have been hammered with the propaganda that it was the Iraq war and the war on terror that is bankrupting us. 

I now find that to be RIDICULOUS. 

I hope the following 14 reasons are forwarded over and over again until they are read so many times that the reader gets sick of reading them.

I also have included the URL's for verification of all the following  facts... 

1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year by state governments. 

Verify at: http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=iic_immigrationissuecenters7fd8  <http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=iic_immigrationissuecenters7fd8>

 2. $22 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens. 

Verify at: http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.HTML <http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.HTML>  

3.$2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens. 

Verify at: http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.HTML <http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.HTML>  

4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent  on primary
and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English!

 Verify at: http://transcrip ts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt..0.HTML <http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt....0.HTML>  

5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies. 

Verify at http://transcrip ts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML <http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt...01.HTML>

 6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.  

Verify at: 

http://transcrip ts.cnn..com/%20TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML
<http://transcripts.cnn.com/%20TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML>  

 7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens. 

Verify at: http://transcrip ts.CNN..com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML <http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML> 

 8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal Aliens for Welfare & social  services by the American taxpayers. 

Verify at: http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.HTML <http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.HTML> 

9. $200 Billion dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens. 

Verify at: http://transcrip ts.cnn.com/TRANSCRI <http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute..org/PDF/deportationPDF>  

13. In 2006, illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances to their countries of origin. 

Verify at: http://www/. <http://www/...rense.com/general75/niht.htm>  rense.com/general75/niht.htm <http://www/...rense.com/general75/niht.htm>  

 14. The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration:  Nearly One million sex crimes committed  by Illegal Immigrants In The United States. 

Verify at: http: // www.drdsk.com/articleshtml <http://www.drdsk.com/articleshtml>; 

 The total cost is a whopping 

$338.3 BILLION DOLLARS 

A YEAR AND IF YOU'RE LIKE ME, HAVING TROUBLE UNDERSTANDING THIS AMOUNT OF MONEY; IT IS 

$338,300,000,000.00 WHICH  WOULD BE ENOUGH TO STIMULATE  THE ECONOMY FOR THE CITIZENS OF  THIS COUNTRY.
Now for a drop in the bucket that you do not have  to to Snope.  The U.S. State Dept. spent $55,000,000.00 for wood stoves for other third world countries.
The U.S. is to fund $50 million over five years to provide clean cooking stoves to developing countries. Clinton says it’s in order to reduce deaths from smoke inhalation and fight climate change.
Led by the United Nations Foundation, the alliance aims to have 100 million homes using clean stoves and fuels by 2020. “Our long term goal is to have universal adoption all over the world,” said Clinton.
The new alliance gathers U.S. government agencies with the United Nations Foundation, Germany, Norway, Peru the World Health Organization and corporate backers including Morgan Stanley and Shell.
This isn't the first time Clinton has pushed for market standards in industry. While Senator in 2007, Hillary Clinton pushed for new energy standards phasing out incandescent light bulbs. Reports now claim that measure has forced American jobs to go overseas.

http://www.mrctv.org/public/checker.aspx?v=hdkUkU8zDk

$823,200 out of a $12,000,000.00 grant to a UCLA college was spent to teach African men how to wash their genitals after sex.  Yes ladies NOT BEFORE ……. AFTER.  

Paying for this from Stimulus Funds probably is truth in advertising. I bet the field researcher found it highly stimulating.
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), spent $823,200 of economic stimulus funds in 2009 on a study by a UCLA research team to teach uncircumcised African men how to wash their genitals after having sex. The genitalia-washing program is part of a larger $12-million UCLA study examining how to better encourage Africans to undergo voluntary HIV testing and counseling – however, only the penis-washing study received money from the 2009 economic stimulus law. The washing portion of the study is set to end in 2011...
Because AIDS researchers have been unsuccessful in convincing most adult African men to undergo circumcision, the UCLA study proposes to determine whether researchers can develop an after-sex genitalia-washing regimen that they can then convince uncircumcised African men to follow...
The study’s lead investigator Dr. Thomas J. Coates was the fourth highest-funded researcher in the country in 2002 and is currently conducting HIV research on three continents. CNSNews.com asked both Coates and NIMH the following question: “The Census Bureau says the median household income in the United States is $52,000. How would you explain to the average American mom and dad -- who make $52,000 per year -- that taxing them to pay for this grant was justified?”

Coates, who was unavailable for comment, directed CNSNews.com to ask grant-related questions of his assistant, Darya Freedman, who did not respond. The NIMH also declined to respond to CNSNews.com’s question.  If Clinton wants to wash African men’s genitals I have no problem with it I just don’t want to pay for it.

http://www.recovery.gov/Transparency/RecipientReportedData/pages/RecipientProjectSummary508.aspx?AwardIdSur=12567&AwardType=Grants
You put your right hand in,
You take your right hand out,
You put your right hand in
Then you shake it all about…..

What about the “jobs created” part of the stimulus? Think of all the penis washing jobs that could be created. Does a person need teaching credentials to do this job? Would Barney even be qualified? Or could he by pass the educational requirements with “life experience” credits?
Are  we THAT Stupid? 

YES, FOR LETTING THOSE  IN THE U.S. CONGRESS  GET AWAY WITH LETTING  THIS HAPPEN

YEAR AFTER  YEAR!!!!!  

If this doesn't bother you, then just  delete the message..  If, on the other  hand, it does raise
the hair on the back  of your neck, I hope you forward it to every  legal resident in the
United States ..

Obama Birth Thinking Critically

WHY WILL CONGRESS DO NOTHING ABOUT CREEPING SHARIA, OBAMA’S INELIGIBILITY, AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION?

by One Pissed-off Vietnam Vet

Are Muslims receiving preferential treatment in the U.S. because Obama occupies the Whtte House?

How many Muslims has Obama brought to America via executive orders?
Where has our national culture gone?

(Jul. 17, 2011) — So this guy says “I wouldn’t vote for a Republican if my life depended upon it. I’d vote for a two-headed Democrat first.” And this other guy says, “Don’t you get it? Doesn’t mean a hill of beans, they all belong to the same private club that’s run by the Federal Reserve.” Look, it doesn’t have to be this way, understand? What we got here now, Chicago politics on a national level? Afraid so, but we can fix it, we gotta fix it, ‘cause if we don’t, we’re toast.

Why are we toast? Why are we sliding down the precipice to a footnote? And, tell me, where is the rock that people like Ted Kennedy and Nancy Pelosi crawled out from under, to scheme to make the descendants of slaves slaves themselves, forcing dependency upon them in the form of welfare, thereby assuring their vote for the government handout unabated, continuing from generation to generation, paid for by the sweat of working Americans who paid into the kitty that Congress so aptly steals from? Where is this rock that these politicians hide under when questioned about Obama’s eligibility?

Look, I’m sorry, but you can live your life any way you want, but as soon as it touches the life of my children, and me, and my neighbors, and my country, I’m coming after you. You think you have the right of free speech? You think that it’s okay to say “Death to Israel” and that I’m just going to sit back and let you have your “free speech?“ You think you can say anything you want and expect no repercussions, then you’re in line for a rude awakening. If you’re my next-door neighbor and think that it’s “free speech” to hold up a banner that says “ISLAM WILL RULE THE WORLD,” then I will explain the facts of life to you, and you don’t get to talk back, because, by your blatant stupidity, you just forfeited any rights you may have thought you had.

I’m personally giving notice that the members of Congress better get with the program in telling the truth, and you government law-enforcement types reading this, if you’d done your jobs in the first place I wouldn’t be writing about illegals and Sharia and eligibility issues, now would I, or any number of like-minded patriots.  So what’s your sorry excuse, “Just following orders?” You make me sick.

I’m just one of millions of Americans who have had it up to here, and you know what? In the end, the truth always comes out on top. Take your best shot, but I’m for keeps.. Just remember One Pissed-off Vietnam Vet. If you hate America, you better start running. If you don’t have the legal papers to be in my country, run. If you have been hiding the facts from the American people, run. If you are a Muslim, you better run. If you are a Muslim in the United States Military, quit while you still can. And if you are currently serving in Congress, speak up, or run, because if you don’t, we’re going to turn over every rock until we find you, then you’ll know you should’ve run.

Obama stimulus funded 'guns-to-drug-lords' plan

"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors" -Plato


 Obama stimulus funded 'guns-to-drug-lords' plan Just a day after U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., called for Attorney General Eric Holder's removal, alleging a White House connection to the "Project Gunrunner" that allowed weapons to be delivered to Mexican drug lords, confirmation has come that the program originated at the highest levels of the Obama administration.

The link is the $10 million in taxpayer dollars designated to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for Project Gunrunner in Obama's 2009 American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, otherwise known as the Stimulus Bill.

Someone in Congress knew about Gunrunner, and Obama signed funding for it into law

 “Only time “gun” or “firearm” appears is in the part that give $10,000,000 to the ATF for Project Gunrunner. That was H.R. 495, asking for 15,000,000 for Gunrunner”.
H.R. 495 that I mentioned never made it out of committee, but it looks as it was to specifically fund Gunrunner.
Instead portions of it were rolled into the stimulus package a month later. That text found in H.R.1 is:
For an additional amount for ‘State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance’, $40,000,000, for competitive grants to provide assistance and equipment to local law enforcement along the Southern border and in High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas to combat criminal narcotics activity stemming from the Southern border, of which $10,000,000 shall be transferred to ‘Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Salaries and Expenses’ for the ATF Project Gunrunner.
Notice that’s $40,000,000 for Southern border enforcement, $10,000,000 of which specifically for Project Gunrunner. What does $10 million pay for here? It didn’t hire any new agents.

So Obama didn’t know anything about this, but he signed $10,000,000 in funding for the program. This thing would stink on a dung pile. It’s time for indictments.

The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) began a pilot program in Laredo, Texas in 2005 with the intention to interdict the flow of weapons from the Southwest border into Mexico. As an aside, since the majority of arms traffic across the U.S. border into Mexico is being driven by drug trade, it was believe that the program would also help to stem the flow of drugs from Mexico into the United States.
Project Gunrunner, as it was dubbed, was directed at Mexican cartels and involved numerous U.S. government agencies as well as the government of Mexico.  Cooperatively, the eTrace firearms tracking system, intended to allow law enforcement in the U.S. to trace firearms movements both domestically and internationally became a key component to the program.
By early 2008, Project Gunrunner had expanded rapidly in border states and into nine U.S. consulates in Mexico. What started as a weapons tracking program became a profitable arms sales business.  $2 million in revenue was garnered through the Merida Initiative, which was hidden in a war supplemental bill.  The Merida Initiative was a program to create a partnership between U.S. law enforcement organizations and Mexican law enforcement. The Department of Justice Inspector General began to question the growth in the programs when payrolls exploded from 25 employees to more than 200 by 2009.
Under the Obama administration ATF received an additional $21.9 million to expand Project Gunrunner, half of which was hidden in the 2009 Obama Stimulus Bill.  Nearly $12 million more was requested in fiscal year 2011 appropriations.
Project Gunrunner went nearly undetected through the latter half of the Bush administration, but the program began to unravel when Mexican gangs murdered Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry last December.  After Terry’s murder, ATF agents and officials stepped forward to expose the sale of hundreds of high-powered rifles and pistols to Mexican drug cartels, despite protests from private gun shops being drawn into the sordid affair.  These are the same private business often taken to task by the Obama administration for selling weapons to criminals, while they were selling them to the worst-of-the-worst.

WASHINGTON — The tainted "Operation Fast and Furious" has dealt the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms its worst blow since the agency's botched 1993 raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco that left four ATF agents dead.

With federal agents testifying against their commanders, members of Congress calling for the top man's ouster and accusations that ATF is fudging its gun smuggling numbers, the political fallout itself has become fast and furious.

The operation, conducted jointly with agents from ATF, FBI, DEA and other agencies was aimed at reaching beyond the low-level "straw purchasers" of weapons and building a complex case against Mexican traffickers and their weapons brokers.

Firearms reach cartels

But the weapons purchased in gun stores in and around Phoenix, as many as 2,500, got away from ATF surveillance and eventually reached the cartels in Mexico. Two of them were recovered in December at the site in Southern Arizona where smugglers killed Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.

At his news conference Wednesday, President Barack Obama said letting guns go to Mexico "would not be an appropriate step by the ATF, and we've got to find out how that happened. ... As soon as the investigation is completed, appropriate actions will be taken."

On Capitol Hill, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, have been demanding answers from Department of Justice officials.

ATF defenders, some of them retired agents, say the problem of guns from U.S. sources winding up in Mexico is a border-wide phenomenon, and Fast and Furious is just an operation gone wrong in a sea of other cases that ended in convictions.

"The problem of guns from the U.S. ending up in Mexico goes well beyond Fast and Furious, and it was there well before Fast and Furious got started," said Michael Bouchard, the ATF's assistant director for field operations from 2004 until his retirement in 2007.

The operation yielded an indictment in January that named 20 defendants, all low-level purchasers. The indictment identified purchases of 681 guns, including 589 AK-47s.

The political uproar is just the latest battle line in the long war over gun rights versus gun control. Issa and Grassley are widely considered folk heroes to gun-rights advocates who fear liberal Democrats using U.S. guns in Mexico as fodder for more firearms restrictions.

"We've been involved in this issue ever since various folks - the president of Mexico (Felipe Calderon) and President Obama - accused firearms dealers operating legally under the Second Amendment of being the source of violence in Mexico,“ said Andrew Arulanandam, spokesman for the National Rifle Association. "They're the ones advocating more gun control as a means of addressing the problem across the border."

Today, Democrats are sponsoring a forum focused on stopping the weapons flow through gun law "improvements."

Senators Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., issued a report earlier this month, "Halting U.S. Firearms Trafficking to Mexico" that called for reinstatement of the assault weapons ban and an ATF-proposed requirement that firearms dealers report multiple purchases of assault-type weapons to the agency. They based the report on ATF data claiming 20,504 of 29,284 guns recovered in Mexico in 2009 and 2010 and submitted for tracing were U.S. sourced firearms.

That's 70 percent of the total 29,284 guns traced those years.

Ongoing investigations

According to ATF, 1,573 defendants faced charges related to firearms trafficking from 2006 to 2010 under Project Gunrunner, the ATF's five-year effort to combat weapons trafficking to Mexico. The agency has 4,600 on-going Gunrunner investigations in border jurisdictions, an ATF spokesman said.

Gun rights advocates who say ATF data is suspect point out that officials last year said 90 percent of guns traced from Mexico originated in the U.S., then downgraded it to 70 percent this year. Grassley wrote to ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson challenging the 70 percent calculation.

"Unfortunately, this information paints a grossly inaccurate picture of the situation," he said, citing ATF figures he has showing only a quarter of weapons were traceable to the U.S.

A Hearst Newspapers survey last month of 44 gun prosecutions in Texas, Arizona, California, Nevada, Oklahoma and New Mexico pinpointed a total of 1,600 U.S.-purchased guns by brand name that were recovered in Mexico or intercepted en route.

Project Gunrunner

West calls for Eric Holder's removal
If attorney general given pass, 'it appears President Obama is complicit'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: July 08, 2011
1:00 am Eastern


By Michael Carl
© 2011 WND


U.S. Rep. Allen West

West is not only a reason for the African American community to feel proud

all Americans should feel lifted up by this man

He is a Veteran

He is a Statesman

He is an American First

He is everything that Obama is Not
 
A new member of Congress who rode into office during the 2010 American rejection of Washington's business-as-usual practice today said that a special prosecutor needs to review the actions of Attorney General Eric Holder regarding the "Fast and Furious" gun scandal where weapons were sold to carriers known to supply Mexican drug lords, and the circumstances make it appear that President Obama could have dirty hands in the deal.

During an appearance on the Steve Gill Show, U.S. Rep. Allen West said the roads that appear to lead to those responsible for the botched program that was supposed to trace guns to high-ranking drug lords are alarming.

"This is just another sad chapter in the Eric Holder book of ineptness and incompetence," West said. "Eric Holder needs to be brought before an investigative committee and if those charges are warranted he needs to be held accountable.

"At least the president needs to realize that Eric Holder needs to be removed from the Department of Justice … or else it appears President Obama is complicit and in approval of the actions of his attorney general," he said.

The comments:
on video on link above.

West's comments came in the wake of word from Acting Director Kenneth Melson of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that the DOJ blocked him and other senior agency officials from cooperating with members of Congress who were investigating the scandal.

West, R-Fla., said the solution is an independent special prosecutor who would be assigned to look into the roles of top DOJ officials, such as Holder, regarding the "Fast and Furious" gun-running scheme.

"If all roads lead to him as far as obstructing justice, then we've got to have that special investigation," West said.



Those revelations by Melson are fueling the outrage among members of Congress who have had concerns about the situation, especially because it appears at least one of the weapons dispatched by the federal government to a drug gang was used in an attack that killed a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

Officials with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform have been looking into the circumstances, but were tight-lipped today in light of the new developments.

"I can say that this is an ongoing investigation and that when details become available, Mr. [Darrell] Issa [Republican from California] will make them public," the committee's press office explained.

It was in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder that Committee Chairman Issa and Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley said after Melson's Monday testimony, they were disturbed to learn that guns may have been taken across the border by known criminals and that they're determined to learn more.

"The evidence we have gathered raises the disturbing possibility that the Justice Department not only allowed criminals to smuggle weapons but that taxpayer dollars from other agencies may have financed those engaging in such activities. While this is preliminary information, we must find out if there is any truth to it," Issa and Grassley wrote.

The letter also said that Melson only learned about the charge of criminals carrying the guns to Mexico after the fact. "

According to Acting Director Melson, he became aware of this startling possibility only after the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and the indictments of the straw purchasers, which we now know were substantially delayed by the U.S.," Issa and Grassley wrote.

Firearms law analyst and writer David Codrea believes that even if there is evidence to prove that known criminals took the guns to Mexico with taxpayer money, nothing is likely to be done with the evidence.

"If left to Holder's Justice Department, nothing, because it shows this had to be top-level DoJ-authorized. That's probably a question for Issa's office, although I doubt they'd be inclined to respond and we'll need to see how things play out with them as further hearings are held," Codrea said.

According the committee report, other federal agencies have also been drawn into the operation. The DEA, FBI and upper-level DOJ officers, including the U. S. attorney's office in Phoenix have been named.

The Issa-Grassley letter also says Melson was surprised about the depth of the operation

Once the Fast and Furious operation was made public, several agents and supervisors were reassigned from the Phoenix office. Melson allegedly made the reassignments but was told by DOJ officials not to report the reassignments to Issa's committee.

Spokeswoman Becca Watkins of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said there was pressure being applied.

"He [Melson] didn't say anything to the committee because the ATF operates under the DOJ," Watkins said.

Codrea said the explanation for Melson's silence is something the DOJ will have to tell under oath, but he has his own suspicion.

"That is a question for DOJ officials – under oath. My sense is because any shared information provides another thread to pull, and they don't want the fabric to unravel, so they're keeping a lid on all information and only providing bare minimal responses that have been carefully vetted for damage control," Codrea said.

There is also speculation about whether Melson will resign, something that Issa and Grassley address in their letter to Holder.

"In the last few weeks, unnamed administration officials have indicated to the press that Acting Director Melson would be forced to resign. According to Mr. Melson, those initial reports were untrue. Regardless of what we might have thought before about how he should handle a request to resign, we now know he has not been asked to resign," the letter stated.

"We also now have the benefit of hearing his side of the story and will have a chance to examine what he said and compare it to the other evidence we are gathering. However, that will take some time," the letter added.

The Issa-Grassley letter asserts that Melson is being pressured to leave, even though Melson knew that the appointment was supposed to be temporary.

"In 2009, he said he was asked to take over as acting director of the ATF. Acting director of the ATF is by its nature a temporary job. According to Mr. Melson, he was willing to serve the department with the understanding that after a short tenure as acting director, he would return to a position as a career senior executive elsewhere within the department," the letter read.

"However, two days after he told Acting Deputy Attorney General Cole about serious issues involving lack of information sharing, the Wall Street Journal reported that unnamed sources said that Melson was about to be ousted," the letter added.

Codrea agrees with that assessment and says the administration has a political motive.

"They wanted him to go quietly and they'd get their preferred anti-gun advocate Andrew Traver to bring the Chicago Way to the Bureau – either as acting or through a recess appointment as he's already pretty much been rejected through normal channels," Codrea said.

Melson's admissions were made public in a "Tweet" posted by Issa on his Twitter account.

The Tweet said, ATF Acting Director Melson spilling the beans to Darrell Issa! Issa Tweet! Darrell Issa 

#AskObama: who is right on #fastandfurious: Eric Holder or #ATF Dir.Melson, whom we just interviewed? INFO: http://1.usa.gov/pvqXJQ #2nd.
PDF File letter by Issa & Grassley http://oversight.house.gov/images/stories/Letters..." 

Holder needs to be fired and IMMEDIATELY Charged with the murder of Mexican and American Citizens.

Obama needs to be IMPEACHED and IMMEDIATELY Charged with the murder of Mexican and American Citizens.

This is no joke these are Rogue Officials that did the unconscionable this cannot be allowed to go much longer with out actions taken to remove these criminal Thug's.


BATFE ~ Busted

ATF ~ Busted

DHS ~ Busted

Obama and his Small Arms Treaty ~ Busted 
"That's good right?"`stopping these guys, and blowin' the lid off! This is Bizzarro World Blowing up in the Federal Governments new face.

The ends "DO NOT" Justify the means to get a North American Perimeter

You cannot give weapons to a cartel that has killed over 30,000 Mexicans

This is the New Water Gate
A journalist's guide to 'Project Gunwalker'

many, many links on this post; go to the link below to view them

The following is a summary and time line of articles appearing on the Sipsey Street Irregulars blog and Gun Rights Examiner, reflecting original reporting on the developing "Project Gunwalker" story by Mike Vanderboegh and myself. That's the purposely ironic name I assigned it, a parody of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive's "Project Gunrunner," and it refers to allegations by whistleblowing ATF insiders that:

* ATF management was allowing potentially hundreds of semiautomatic firearms to be walked across the Mexican border in order to pad statistics used to further budget and power objectives.
* Mexican authorities were kept in the dark, and protests that they should be informed were overridden, first by the Phoenix ATF office, and ultimately by higher-ups in Washington, DC.
* A gun used in this operation was involved in a December 2010 incident in which a Border Patrol agent was killed.

The original allegations were posted on CleanUpATF.org. Vanderboegh and I, who have a history going back years of documenting allegations posted there, and pressing for congressional hearings to investigate the claims, were both contacted independently by various ATF insiders claiming to have corroborating information and documentation. Mike vetted his sources and I used my contacts to help validate that my informant was who he represented himself to be. Mike and I did what we could throughout our separate and coordinated investigations to test and corroborate what was being told. We also had a small circle of behind-the-scenes consultants, including firearms designer Len Savage, and a few other knowledgeable advisors, all with contacts and informed insights of their own, and all of whom have earned our trust over the years.

Our primary goal was to help arrange for protection for our sources, and quickly, as retaliation was feared. Because the allegations involved higher ups within the Justice Department, the added protection afforded by separation of powers was sought. Through various contacts and machinations that are documented in the following timeline, the whistleblowers came under the protective umbrella of Sen. Charles Grassley, a senior member of the Committee of the Judiciary.

Our secondary goal was to push this story outside our limited spheres of influence and into the "mainstream press," so that it would be problematic to ignore or bury things. Again, making this happen has been an ongoing struggle, but we've seen the first cracks in the dam. The following time line will bring journalists just getting involved with this story up to speed by walking them though it, from its genesis to where we are today as major media outlets finally begin to take notice and get involved.

By way of a FAQ, two seem to be recurrent:

Will you have your sources contact us?

and

Will you provide us with copies of documentation?

The answer to both is "No." The reason is one of protection. You will need to observe official proceedings and develop/consult sources of your own.

Here's what's happened so far, at least what I can publicly disclose:

Dec. 28:

* Border Patrol agent killed with ATF-smuggled AR? Some ATF agents seem to think so.

Jan. 3:

* So the DOJ comes to visit, worried about the ATF-smuggled gun that may have killed the Border Patrol officer last month, and their exit page is CUATF.

Jan. 5:

* "Pure fact verified." The ATF scandal that's going to guarantee oversight hearings.
* ATF source confirms ‘walking’ guns to Mexico to ‘pad’ statistics

Jan. 6:

* More information on ATF ‘walking’ guns across Mexican border

Jan. 7:

* Walk Don't Run
* White House now in decision making loop on ATF "Walking Gun-gate" scandal. The ghost of Vince Foster to walk the corridors of the fifth floor?
* This just in on the Mexican end of what David Codrea has called "Project Gunwalker."

Jan. 10:

* The Curious Case of the Walking M-16s by L. Neil Smith

Jan. 12:

* Following the various threads of Project Gunwalker -- "Gun Dealer: 'ATF Approved Sales to Mexican Gun Runners'"

Jan. 13:

* Does Texas gun shop tie in with ‘Project Gunwalker’?

Jan. 18:

* Is ‘Project Gunwalker’ about to bust wide open?
* "Project Gunwalker" scandal story at a tipping point this morning, though it may take a short while for you to see it.
* Senators crawfish on helping agents in Project Gunwalker scandal. See if you can't help concentrate their minds.

Jan. 19:

* Open Letter to Senate Judiciary Committee staff on 'Project Gunwalker'
* Sources, Timeline and Summary of the ATF "Project Gunwalker" scandal and the death of BP agent Brian Terry.
* We have movement on the Senate side of the Project Gunwalker scandal.
* Outstanding idea from Kurt Hofmann on ratcheting up the pressure on the Project Gunwalker scandal!

Jan. 20:

* Mayors Against Illegal Guns issues new graphic in light of ATF's "Project Gunwalker" scandal!
* Yogi Berra was right. Rumor of a big, bad ATF bust early next week.

Jan. 21:

* ‘Project Gunwalker’ sources talking to Senate staffers
* The shadow war for the truth. "Management culture of ATF holds no regard for the life and/or safety of front line agents." STAND DOWN THE ATF!
* Will the Mexican reporter who called last night about Project Gunwalker please contact me?
* Senators now in contact with ATF agents about Project Gunwalker scandal.

Jan. 22:

* Knox reports on ‘Project Gunwalker’
* Jeff Knox and World Net Daily pick up on the Project Gunwalker scandal.
* Brian Terry memorial service marred by insincere promises and pious platitudes

Jan. 23:

* ‘Project Gunwalker’ investigators: Watch for smears, focus on leads
* David Codrea on Liberty Watch Radio about Project Gunwalker.

Jan. 25:

* ATF Project Gunrunner dog and pony show in Phoenix today. Are they ready to spin the "modified limited hangout" on the death of BPA Terry?
* Here's the dog and pony show -- "Gun Running Operation Uncovered in Arizona." Yeah? Did they arrest the Phoenix ATF SAC as the mastermind?

Jan. 26:

* Hans von Spakovsky asks "Is the fix in at Justice? Appointing Robin Ashton to oversee ethical standards is like choosing a fox to guard the henhouse."
* More on the Project Gunrunner dog and pony show in Phoenix.

Jan. 27:

* One question for ‘Project Gunwalker’ skeptics
* This just in: Senate is now referring to "Project Gunwalker" as the "Brian Terry Whistleblower Case" plus a question for ‘Project Gunwalker’ skeptics.

Jan. 30:

* Phoenix ATF reportedly retaliating against ‘Project Gunwalker’ whistleblower
* Mexican press picks up on 'Project Gunwalker'
* David Codrea: "Phoenix ATF reportedly retaliating against ‘Project Gunwalker’ whistleblower."
* "Torpedo . . . LOS!" MEXICAN PRESS PICKS UP ON 'PROJECT GUNWALKER'!! ATF brass headed for lifeboats?

Jan. 31:

* Why does link for Mexican newspaper redirect to the FBI’s website?
* A Sipsey Street Exclusive: Senator Grassley is on the Project Gunwalker scandal case -- big time.
* BREAKING NEWS: Grassley Writes Melson on Project Gunwalker
* "We do not permit the exit of arms to Mexico." Riiight. El Diaro translation, cleaned up by, ironically enough, Avatar at CleanUpATF.org
* ATF execs' ululations of agony -- Not-so-instant Karma at the tipping point of the perpetual scandal that is ATF -- and David Olofson's revenge.
* There's going to be a lot more of this before it is over.
* Plumbing the considerable depths of ATF spokesman "Baghdad Tom" Mangan's 'unawareness.'

Feb. 1:

* Media begins noticing ‘Project Gunwalker’
* Three Examiner Columns on "Project Gunwalker": Two from David and one from Kurt
* Burning the midnight oil at DOJ over Project Gunwalker.
* If it is on television, it must be true.
* Actions louder than words. Eric Holder just told the President of Mexico and Senator Charles Grassley to go fornicate themselves.

Feb. 2:

* Has ATF Phoenix SAC been transferred to Mexico?
* Late to the story, Pravda (WaPo) Parrots Kremlin Cover Up Line.
* "Heer there be Dragones." My letter to the Pravda reporters. "Welcome to the Project Gunwalker Scandal story."
* Washington Post ‘Project Gunwalker’ piece lets key claim go unchallenged
* FOX News picks up the Project Gunwalker story.

Feb. 3:

* Irrational exuberance
* Putting their money where their cover-up is. Did Project Gunwalker Scandal cause the Obama administration to double down on ATF?
* Mainstream press reports shed additional light on ‘Project Gunwalker’
* Of Whistleblowers and Watchdogs
* InfoWars on Gunwalker
* My letter to Consul General Salvador De Lara, Consul General in Atlanta of the Republic of Mexico.
* So where are the "authorized journalists" asking sharp questions of the State Dept. about the violation of treaty & protocol in Project Gunwalker?
* Chris Dumm, writing at The Truth About Guns, has an interesting observation. . .
* Alex Jones' "DisInfo Wars" finally finds the "Gunwalker" scandal, but of course they can't mention Sipsey Street.
* TTAG picks up my letter to the Mexican Consul General in Atlanta. "If there is justice in this world castration's too good for them."

Feb. 4:

* Need good Spanish translation of my letter to the Consul General ASAP
* ATF Deputy Director Melson doing the French Mistake in Lyon.
* I Accuse! Meet the Assistant Attorney General at the center of the Project Gunwalker Cover-up: Lanny Breuer.
* A word about our Project Gunwalker scandal icon.
* Death in the Desert: Project Gunwalker and the ATF Cover-Up
* WaPo Reporter: "Help! I'm trapped in my Weltanschauung and I can't get out!"

Feb. 5:

* The Project Gunwalker Scandal in a nutshell.
* ‘American Thinker’ narrates development of ‘Project Gunwalker’ story
* Did Lanny Breuer play a role in ‘Project Gunwalker’?
* BP agent Brian Terry's own valediction is an indictment of the government-paid cowards who are covering up the circumstances of his death.

Feb. 6:

* On the Obama Death Star, The Project Gunwalker scandal continues as the Empire Strikes Back in the form of evil eminence Darth Breuer.
* ATF Agent: "Unfortunately the objectives usually have nothing to do with the best interest of the Government or the public."
* No answers yet about guns found at Border Patrol agent death scene
* Profiles in Cover-up. When is some big media type going ask Janet Napolitano what the meaning of "swift justice" is? Plus a calendar to keep track.

Feb. 7:

* Big Week for Gunwalker Scandal -- Agents Suggest Witness List. "God have mercy on our agency but please don't give the bad guys another free pass."
* My letter to the Consul General of the Estados Unidos Mexicanos in Atlanta -- In English AND Spanish.
* ‘Project Gunwalker’ allegations bolstered by Project Gunrunner indictments
* Open Source Analysis of "Fast & Furious" Bust Confirms It As An Integral Part of the Project Gunwalker Cover-up.

This post will be regularly updated with new links, so those interested in having a one-stop resource to keep up with Mike and my posts should bookmark it and return to keep apprised of new developments.

From other Gun Rights Examiners:

Sean McClanahan/Des Moines:

* Senator Grassley pushes BATFE on Project Gunwalker

Kurt Hofmann/St. Louis:

* 'Project Gunwalker': Another angle from which to bring the heat
* Cutting BATFE's funding sounding better and better
* Are more tax dollars to be spent facilitating arms trafficking to Mexico?
* Where is the 'gun control' movement's outrage over 'Project Gunwalker'?

Dave Workman/Seattle:

* Selective Seattle coverage: Bloomy gun show sting v. alleged ATF 'negligence'
* Silence in Seattle: Why is Brady Campaign defending ATF operation?


Continue reading on Examiner.com: A journalist's guide to 'Project Gunwalker' - National gun rights | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/a-journalist-s-guide-to-project-gunwalker#ixzz1DMYmKfyw

http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/a-journalist-s-guide-to-project-gunwalker
_________________
I'm a Conservative ~ "BOO" and According to Obama and Napolitano I am (AKA) the "Boogieman"


Two in Rio Rico (see 'firearms recovered' link at end of column) Photo: BATFE

Continue reading on Examiner.com: ‘Project Gunwalker’ allegations bolstered by Project Gunrunner indictments - National gun rights | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/project-gunwalker-allegations-bolstered-by-project-gunrunner-indictments#ixzz1DMY0lPVV


“Grand juries have returned multi-count indictments in five cases against 34 defendants accused of assisting Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations with illegally trafficking firearms from the United States to Mexico,” a Jan. 25 press release from the District of Arizona Office of the United States Attorney announced. http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/press_releases/2011/PR_01252011_Press%20Conference.pdf It was accompanied by a press conference, one Mike Vanderboegh of the Sipsey Street Irregulars blog and I had been tipped off to in advance, and then contacted reporters urging them to attend and suggesting questions to ask, particularly about guns recovered at the murder scene of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.

One of the confidential sources that has given us consistently reliable information in the investigation we have come to call “Project Gunwalker” has performed an analysis of the indictments and connected some dots, all of which bolster allegations raised to date, including corroborative evidence that there was high level involvement at the Justice Department. Vanderboegh and I agree that the best way to throw maximum light on this is to simultaneously post it at our respective sites. http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2011/02/open-source-analysis-of-fast-furious.html

Our source’s observations follow:

OK, I can’t believe this is even necessary but since no one else seems to have done it? Let us examine what we know through open source material…

On January 25th, 2011, ATF Phoenix and the United States Attorney’s Office – District of Arizona held a press conference where they proudly displayed their 53 count “Jaime Avila Indictment” as a trophy to their exhaustive efforts in combating the flow of U.S. weapons to Mexico. (A copy of the press release and the indictment is available at: http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/ - “Press Room” under “2011 Archives.”)

Some of ATF’s sworn assertion in the case:

“15. Between September of 2009 and through December of 2010, defendants fraudulently and knowingly exported and sent firearms from the United States to Mexico contrary to the laws and regulations of the United States.”

“16. Between September of 2009 and through December of 2010, defendants fraudulently and knowingly received, concealed, bought, sold, and facilitated the transportation, concealment, and sale of firearms prior to exportation, knowing the firearms were intended for exportation contrary to the laws and regulations of the United States.”

Further: “As part of the conspiracy, members of the conspiracy both known and unknown to the grand jury shipped, transported, and exported firearms from the United States to Mexico.”

As we all know, the life of the conspiracy does not automatically reflect when ATF’s investigation began. So when did it?

“28. On or about November 19, 2009, prior to being pulled over by police, HECTOR ROLANDO CARLON attempted to dispose of an FN Herstal 5.7mm pistol purchased on November 17, 2009, by JOSE ANGEL POLANCO.”

“99. On December 8, 2009, SEAN CHRISTOPHER STEWARD purchased forty AK-47 type rifle from FFL Lone Wolf Trading Company, Glendale, Arizona, and during the course of such purchases falsely represented on ATF Form 4473 that he was the actual purchaser of the firearms. On December 9,2009, nine of the AK-47 type rifles were found by Douglas, Arizona, police officers in the course of a vehicle stop, concealed in the bumper of a car.”

Perhaps, but it may have just have been a couple of good road officers doing their job? But what about…

“36. On December 8, 2009, a male caller using a telephone number utilized by MANUEL FABIAN CELIS-ACOSTA called FFL Lone Wolf Trading Company, Glendale, Arizona, to inquire as to the number ofAK-47 type rifles in stock. Forty-five minutes after this call, on the morning of December 8, 2009, SEAN CHRISTOPHER STEWARD arrived at Lone Wolf and purchased twentyAK-47 type rifles which he transported to an auto auction business in Phoenix, Arizona, and loaded into another vehicle or vehicles.

“37. On the evening of December 8, 2009, SEAN CHRISTOPHER STEWARD returned to Lone Wolf Trading Company and purchased an additional twenty AK-47 type rifles. SEAN CHRISTOPHER STEWARD loaded the rifles into a white Nissan Titan in which MANUEL FABIAN CELIS-ACOSTA was a passenger. This vehicle was driven to CELIS ACOSTA's residence where the rifles were unloaded.”

Sounds like active investigation to me. How else do we learn the locations, phone calls, times, vehicles, passengers and the drivers? It doesn’t read like statements from a CI or even an historical account from someone directly involved. And remember, the FFL has already released a statement declaring that he was fully cooperating with ATF in this investigation. So at least by November, 2009, this was an active investigation.

Was the ATF doing active surveillance on members of this conspiracy?

“51. On or about August 19, 2010, JONATHAN EARVIN FERNANDEZ purchased nine AK-47 type rifles from Lone Wolf Trading Company, and during the course of such purchase falsely represented on ATF Form 4473 that he was the actual purchaser of the firearms. After purchasing the firearms, FERNANDEZ and DANNY CRUZ MORONES, riding with FERNANDEZ, attempted to evade agents and officers conducting surveillance.”

Although this is the only time that it appears in the affidavit, we can be certain that it is not the only time it was done. What else was going on…

“81. On or about May 28, 2010, URIEL PATINO received a .308 caliber rifle from FFL Gunnet, Peoria, Arizona, at MANUEL FABIAN CELIS-ACOSTA's instruction, and during the course of such transfer falsely represented on ATF Form 4473 that he was the actual purchaser of the firearms. After receiving the rifle, URIEL PATINO spoke with MANUEL FABIAN CELIS-ACOSTA by phone and MANUEL FABIAN CELIS-ACOSTA instructs URIEL PATINO to deliver the rifle to MANUEL FABIAN CELIS-ACOSTA's residence.”

“67. On or about July 2, 2010, in a telephone conversation with ALFREDO CELIS, MANUEL FABIAN CELIS-ACOSTA directed ALFREDO CELIS to take steps to recover twenty AK-47 type rifles seized by police on or about June 30, 2010.”

“93. On or about July 8, 2010, MANUEL FABIAN CELIS-ACOSTA and FRANCISCO JAVIER PONCE spoke on the telephone and MANUEL FABIAN CELIS-ACOSTA arranged an additional straw purchase for FRANCISCO JAVIER PONCE by URIEL PATINO.”

Can anyone say “T-III”?* (Interesting note: Every agent knows that only Main Justice (DOJ – Criminal) is the final authorization hurdle for any T-III, spin-off, or renewal. They have to be briefed on the case and no affidavit can be submitted to the court without their review and authorization.)

Now, what about the person whose name titles this indictment, Jaime Avila?

“55. On or before November 24, 2009, JUAN JOSE MARTINEZ-GONZALEZ and URIEL PATINO introduced JAIME AVILA Jr. into the conspiracy to purchase firearms. On or about November 24, 2009, PATINO accompanied JAIME AVILA Jr. into Lone Wolf Trading Company while AVILA Jr. purchased firearms for the conspiracy.”

“25. On or about January 16, 2010, JAIME AVILA, Jr. purchased three AK-47 type firearms from FFL Lone Wolf Trading Company, Glendale, Arizona, and during the course of such purchase falsely represented on ATF Form 4473 that he was the actual purchaser of the firearms.”

Avila is in no way the most culpable for firearms purchased according to the indictment. Many others have him beaten in both the number of purchases and amount of firearms trafficked. Why? Avila isn’t even charged in the most serious counts of the indictment. Why? Most striking is that on January 25th, 2011, while the ATF was serving the “Avila Indictment” and preparing for the press conference to follow – Avila wasn’t even arrested in the big roundup. Why? Well, a simple Pacer search (the Federal Courts electronic document system / available to anyone via the internet) reveals that Jaime Avila Jr. was already in jail. The court records clearly show how Avila was arrested during the early morning (just after midnight) of Dec. 16th, 2010, by Phoenix ATF agents for lying on 4473’s. So why on Dec 15th, 2010 did ATF feel the need to rush out and arrest Avila, on a hurried criminal complaint (as opposed to the proper method of indictment) after knowing of his trafficking activities, watching him and his coconspirators, listening to their phones, and investigating them for nearly the past 14 months? What happened on Dec. 15th, 2010? Why was Avila arrested on a criminal complaint, indicted on January 11th, 2011, and then re-indicted on January 19th, 2011? (2-10-MJ-00629MHB, 2-11-CR-00065-GMS, and 2-11-CR-00126-JAT) Why was an indictment and round-up named after him when he had already been in jail for over a month?

And lastly, what about the indictment in general? Although in no way does it have to state everything known in or about the case, it does raise some interesting questions. There are 81 Overt Acts that occurred “Between September of 2009 and through December of 2010” which are specifically detailed:

“110. The factual allegations in paragraphs 24 to 105 of the Indictment are incorporated by reference and re-alleged as though fully set forth herein.”

The last one listed is for August 19th, 2010. What, if anything has been done between then and the January 25th round-up? Why wait so long to indict? In the indictment’s money laundering section, albeit in no way all inclusive, it list $104,251.00 as being spent by conspirators at the one FFL on record for cooperating with the investigation. Nowhere in the indictment nor the press releases is there mentioned any seizure of that money? Furthermore, contained in the 81 overt acts there is detailed the many firearms purchases which, when read and added together, total 717 firearms. The same 81 acts only describe the recovery of 123 firearms. (Note, I may have missed one here or there for both sales and/or recoveries. My numbers are quick tallies; feel free to check my math.) Of special note is the USAO press release (again - http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/ - “Press Room” under “2011 Archives.”, titled “Fast & Furious – Map of Recoveries”) It states the Recovery Totals as U.S. – 372, Mexico – 195. (Totaling 567 / still shy of the 717 listed as purchased in the indictment.) It makes no mention of the circumstances surrounding these recoveries, but it does show…

“Rio Rico 2”. What happened in Rio Rico where 2 firearms were recovered?

Indeed. What happened? http://www.kvoa.com/news/breaking-news-border-patrol-agent-shot-and-killed-near-rio-rico/

Related information:

* US v. Avila et al. http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/press_releases/2011/US_v_Avila_Indictment.pdf
* US v. Flores et al. http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/press_releases/2011/US_v_Flores_Indictment.pdf
* US v. Broome et al. http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/press_releases/2011/US_v_Broome_Indictment.pdf
* US v. Aguilar http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/press_releases/2011/US_v_Aguilar_Indictment.pdf
* US v. Abarca http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/press_releases/2011/US_v_Abarca_Indictment.pdf
* Map of Firearms Recovered in Avilas Investigation http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/press_releases/2011/Fast_Furious_Map_ATF.pdf

*TIII = Title III Electronic Surveillance http://ilt.eff.org/index.php/Privacy:_Wiretap_Act

BLOCKBUSTER: Open Source Analysis of "Fast & Furious" Bust Confirms It As An Integral Part of the Project Gunwalker Cover-up.

This analysis came to David Codrea and Mike Vanderboegh from a current or retired ATF agent and is being released simultaneously here at Sipsey Street Irregulars and David's War on Guns and National Gun Rights Examiner column. The original document has been copied into this form to prevent it being traced.

Note: "TIII" referenced in the text is shorthand for Title III Electronic Surveillance.

The Wiretap Act regulates the collection of actual content of wire and electronic communications. Codified in 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510-2522, the Wiretap Act was first passed as Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 and is generally known as "Title III". Prior to the 1986 amendment by Title I of the ECPA, it covered only wire and oral communications. Title I of the ECPA extended that coverage to electronic communications.

More at: http://ilt.eff.org/index.php/Privacy:_Wiretap_Act

Analysis begins:

OK, I can’t believe this is even necessary but since no one else seems to have done it? Let us examine what we know through open source material…

On January 25th, 2011, ATF Phoenix and the United States Attorney’s Office – District of Arizona held a press conference where they proudly displayed their 53 count “Jaime Avila Indictment” as a trophy to their exhaustive efforts in combating the flow of U.S. weapons to Mexico. (A copy of the press release and the indictment is available at: http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/ - “Press Room” under “2011 Archives.”)

Some of ATF’s sworn assertion in the case:

“15. Between September of 2009 and through December of 2010, defendants fraudulently and knowingly exported and sent firearms from the United States to Mexico contrary to the laws and regulations of the United States.”

“16. Between September of 2009 and through December of 2010, defendants fraudulently and knowingly received, concealed, bought, sold, and facilitated the transportation, concealment, and sale of firearms prior to exportation, knowing the firearms were intended for exportation contrary to the laws and regulations of the United States.”

Further:

“As part of the conspiracy, members of the conspiracy both known and unknown to the grand jury shipped, transported, and exported firearms from the United States to Mexico.”

As we all know, the life of the conspiracy does not automatically reflect when ATF’s investigation began. So when did it?

“28. On or about November 19, 2009, prior to being pulled over by police, HECTOR ROLANDO CARLON attempted to dispose of an FN Herstal 5.7mm pistol purchased on November 17,2009, by JOSE ANGEL POLANCO.”

“99. On December 8, 2009, SEAN CHRISTOPHER STEWARD purchased forty AK-47 type rifle from FFL Lone Wolf Trading Company, Glendale, Arizona, and during the course of such purchases falsely represented on ATF Form 4473 that he was the actual purchaser of the firearms. On December 9,2009, nine of the AK-47 type rifles were found by Douglas, Arizona, police officers in the course of a vehicle stop, concealed in the bumper of a car.”

Perhaps, but it may have just have been a couple of good road officers doing their job? But what about…

“36. On December 8, 2009, a male caller using a telephone number utilized by MANUEL FABIAN CELIS-ACOSTA called FFL Lone Wolf Trading Company, Glendale, Arizona, to inquire as to the number ofAK-47 type rifles in stock. Forty-five minutes after this call, on the morning of December 8, 2009, SEAN CHRISTOPHER STEWARD arrived at Lone Wolf and purchased twentyAK-47 type rifles which he transported to an auto auction business in Phoenix, Arizona, and loaded into another vehicle or vehicles.

37. On the evening of December 8, 2009, SEAN CHRISTOPHER STEWARD returned to Lone Wolf Trading Company and purchased an additional twenty AK-47 type rifles. SEAN CHRISTOPHER STEWARD loaded the rifles into a white Nissan Titan in which MANUEL FABIAN CELIS-ACOSTA was a passenger. This vehicle was driven to CELIS ACOSTA's residence where the rifles were unloaded.”

Sounds like active investigation to me. How else do we learn the locations, phone calls, times, vehicles, passengers and the drivers? It doesn’t read like statements from a CI or even an historical account from someone directly involved. And remember, the FFL has already released a statement declaring that he was fully cooperating with ATF in this investigation. So at least by November, 2009, this was an active investigation.

Was the ATF doing active surveillance on members of this conspiracy?

“51. On or about August 19, 2010, JONATHANEARVIN FERNANDEZ purchased nine AK-47 type rifles from Lone Wolf Trading Company, and during the course of such purchase falsely represented on ATF Form 4473 that he was the actual purchaser of the firearms. After purchasing the firearms, FERNANDEZ and DANNY CRUZ MORONES, riding with FERNANDEZ, attempted to evade agents and officers conducting surveillance.”

Although this is the only time that it appears in the affidavit, we can be certain that it is not the only time it was done. What else was going on…

“81. On or about May 28, 2010, URIEL PATINO received a .308 caliber rifle from FFL Gunnet, Peoria, Arizona, at MANUEL FABIAN CELIS-ACOSTA's instruction, and during the course of such transfer falsely represented on ATF Form 4473 that he was the actual purchaser of the firearms. After receiving the rifle, URIEL PATINO spoke with MANUEL FABIAN CELIS-ACOSTA by phone and MANUEL FABIAN CELIS-ACOSTA instructs URIEL PATINO to deliver the rifle to MANUEL FABIAN CELIS-ACOSTA's residence.”

“67. On or about July 2, 2010, in a telephone conversation with ALFREDO CELIS, MANUEL FABIAN CELIS-ACOSTA directed ALFREDO CELIS to take steps to recover twenty AK-47 type rifles seized by police on or about June 30, 2010.”

“93. On or about July 8, 2010, MANUEL FABIAN CELIS-ACOSTA and FRANCISCO JAVIER PONCE spoke on the telephone and MANUEL FABIAN CELIS-ACOSTA arranged an additional straw purchase for FRANCISCO JAVIER PONCE by URIEL PATINO.”

Can anyone say “T-III”? (Interesting note: Every agent knows that only Main Justice (DOJ – Criminal) is the final authorization hurdle for any T-III, spin-off, or renewal. They have to be briefed on the case and no affidavit can be submitted to the court without their review and authorization.)

Now, what about the person whose names titles this indictment, Jaime Avila?

“55. On or before November 24, 2009, JUAN JOSE MARTINEZ-GONZALEZ and URIEL PATINO introduced JAIME AVILA Jr. into the conspiracy to purchase firearms. On or about November 24, 2009, PATINO accompanied JAIME AVILA Jr. into Lone Wolf Trading Company while AVILA Jr. purchased firearms for the conspiracy.”

“25. On or about January 16, 2010, JAIME AVILA, Jr. purchased three AK-47 type firearms from FFL Lone Wolf Trading Company, Glendale, Arizona, and during the course of such purchase falsely represented on ATF Form 4473 that he was the actual purchaser of the firearms.”

Avila is in no way the most culpable for firearms purchased according to the indictment. Many others have him beaten in both the number of purchases and amount of firearms trafficked. Why? Avila isn’t even charged in the most serious counts of the indictment. Why? Most striking is that on January 25th, 2011, while the ATF was serving the “Avila Indictment” and preparing for the press conference to follow – Avila wasn’t even arrested in the big roundup. Why? Well, a simple Pacer search (the Federal Courts electronic document system / available to anyone via the internet) reveals that Jaime Avila Jr. was already in jail. The court records clearly show how Avila was arrested during the early morning (just after midnight) of Dec. 16th, 2010, by Phoenix ATF agents for lying on 4473’s. So why on Dec 15th, 2010 did ATF feel the need to rush out and arrest Avila, on a hurried criminal complaint (as opposed to the proper method of indictment) after knowing of his trafficking activities, watching him and his co-conspirators, listening to their phones, and investigating them for nearly the past 14 months? What happened on Dec. 15th, 2010? Why was Avila arrested on a criminal complaint, indicted on January 11th, 2011, and then re-indicted on January 19th, 2011? (2-10-MJ-00629MHB, 2-11-CR-00065-GMS, and 2-11-CR-00126-JAT) Why was an indictment and round-up named after him when he had already been in jail for over a month?

And lastly, what about the indictment in general? Although in no way does it have to state everything known in or about the case, it does raise some interesting questions. There are 81 Overt Acts that occurred “Between September of 2009 and through December of 2010” which are specifically detailed:

“110. The factual allegations in paragraphs 24 to 105 of the Indictment are incorporated by reference and re-alleged as though fully set forth herein.”

The last one listed is for August 19th, 2010. What, if anything has been done between then and the January 25th round-up? Why wait so long to indict? In the indictment’s money laundering section, albeit in no way all inclusive, it list $104,251.00 as being spent by conspirators at the one FFL on record for cooperating with the investigation. Nowhere in the indictment nor the press releases is there mentioned any seizure of that money? Furthermore, contained in the 81 overt acts there is detailed the many firearms purchases which, when read and added together, total 717 firearms. The same 81 acts only describe the recovery of 123 firearms. (Note, I may have missed one here or there for both sales and/or recoveries. My numbers are quick tallies; feel free to check my math.) Of special note is the USAO press release (again - http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/ - “Press Room” under “2011 Archives.”, titled “Fast & Furious – Map of Recoveries”) It states the Recovery Totals as U.S. – 372, Mexico – 195. (Totaling 567 / still shy of the 717 listed as purchased in the indictment.) It makes no mention of the circumstances surrounding these recoveries, but it does show…

(Link: http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/press_releases/2011/Fast_Furious_Map_ATF.pdf )

“Rio Rico 2”. What happened in Rio Rico where 2 firearms were recovered?

________________________

Mike Vanderboegh answers: The murder of Brian Terry. Note that the origins of the scandal begin at least back in 2009. Note also the Justice Department approval of wiretaps. Do you recall what Senator Grassley wrote in his first letter of 27 January to Acting Director Melson about if the ATF had prior contact with straw purchasers that it would raise a number of serious questions? The fact is that coupled with the decision (by Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer) to get rid of Attache Gil and keep the Mexicans in the dark, this is where the cover-up began. It explains why the FBI has been mum on the murder investigation. They CAN'T give us details without the whole sordid tale coming out.

http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2011/02/open-source-analysis-of-fast-furious.html

ATF Project Gunrunner May Have “Lost” 3000 Firearms


U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agent Brian Terry ( courtesy littlebytesnews.amplify.com )

February 6, 2011
by Robert Farago

The “Gunwalker” scandal started at cleanupatf.org. Well it actually started at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (and Really Big Fires), where someone had the bright idea to allow rifles to travel from the U.S. to Mexico. Or maybe even “walk” them into Mexico themselves. All so the ATF could justify federal funding and garner kudos by busting said smugglers. Eventually. But not before a Mexican drug gang used two ATF-enabled weapons to murder Brian Terry, an agent for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Hang on; two weapons? What are the odds? Either the ATF was extremely unlucky in this firearms fiasco or . . . they must be responsible for a large number of deadly weapons falling into the hands of criminals. Now that I’ve had a little time to poke around the site, I’ve discovered the possibility that there may be 3000 smoking guns . . .

Have any of you non-ATF employees reading these posts ever ask yourselves ‘where is the adult supervision in that organization?’ [ED: TTAG's Chris Dumm's exact words.] As ‘gunwalker’ continues to gain attention, the guys in the Phoenix Division rumored that the number of ‘waked’ [sic] guns could be as high as 3,000.

So, where is the adult supervision that says ‘this case is not going anywhere and we are doing more harm than good so STOP?’ These cases were approved by the RAICS, ASIC, SAIC and HQ managers. [ED: anyone know what they're talking about?] So the question is why?”

And the answer is . . .

Well the word from Phoenix is that the SAIC Newell wanted to be able to track where these guns were going in Mexico. As such, the analysts have made pretty charts with lines showing where these guns have turned up. I am not sure how that stems the flow of guns South, especially considering these guns usually get recovered alongside dead bodies.

Let’s stop and think about that. A branch of the United States government was supplying weapons to Mexican criminals who used them to murder Mexican citizens. Why are we only outraged in the usual myopic sense (i.e. if a plane crashes in an African forest and no Americans died did it really happen)? At the risk of stating the obvious, this is madness. The ATF should be shuttered before they start setting fires to clear up those crimes. Madness.

http://thetruthaboutguns.com/2011/02/robert-farago/atf-project-gunrunner-may-have-lost-3000-firearms/

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

ATF Project Gunrunner dog and pony show in Phoenix today. Are they ready to spin the "modified limited hangout" on the death of BPA Terry?

President Richard Nixon: "You think, you think we want to, want to go this route now? And the--let it hang out, so to speak?"

White House Counsel John Dean: "Well, it's, it isn't really that--"

Bob Haldeman: "It's a limited hang out."

Dean: "It's a limited hang out."

John Ehrlichman: "It's a modified limited hang out."

Nixon: "Well, it's only the questions of the thing hanging out publicly or privately."

-- Watergate Tapes, 22 March 1973 meeting between Richard Nixon, John Dean, John Ehrlichman, John Mitchell, and H.R. Haldeman.


A limited hangout, or partial hangout, is a public relations or propaganda technique that involves the release of previously hidden information in order to prevent a greater exposure of more important details. It takes the form of deception, misdirection, or coverup often associated with intelligence agencies involving a release or "mea culpa" type of confession of only part of a set of previously hidden sensitive information, that establishes credibility for the one releasing the information who by the very act of confession appears to be "coming clean" and acting with integrity; but in actuality, by withholding key facts, is protecting a deeper operation and those who could be exposed if the whole truth came out. In effect, if an array of offenses or misdeeds is suspected, this confession admits to a lesser offense while covering up the greater ones. -- Wikipedia.

Confirmed with two reporters that there will be a press conference at 10 a.m. at ATF in Phoenix. It will be all about how Project Gunrunner is protecting us from the evil American gun dealers. Presumably they won't be bragging about "walking" the rifle south that killed BPA Terry. Whether they have a "modified limited hangout" ready remains to be seen.

http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2011/01/atf-project-gunrunner-dog-and-pony-show.html