Seriously.  Bigger than Watergate, which consumed the news when I was in high school.  Bigger than the Olliver North/guns to Iran scandal during the Reagan years.  Bigger than the Valrie Plame affair that consumed the news just a few years ago. William Lajeunesse of Fox News gives the essentials:

Not only did U.S. officials approve, allow and assist in the sale of more than 2,000 guns to the Sinaloa cartel -- the federal government used taxpayer money to buy semi-automatic weapons, sold them to criminals and then watched as the guns disappeared. 
. . . 
In June 2010, however, the ATF dramatically upped the ante, making the U.S. government the actual "seller" of guns.
. . . 
According to sources directly involved in the case, Dodson felt strongly that the weapons should not be abandoned and the stash house should remain under 24-hour surveillance. However, Voth disagreed and ordered the surveillance team to return to the office. Dodson refused, and for six days in the desert heat kept the house under watch, defying direct orders from Voth. 

A week later, a second vehicle showed up to transfer the weapons. Dodson called for an interdiction team to move in, make the arrest and seize the weapons. Voth refused and the guns disappeared with no surveillance.

These guns have been used in at least one murder of a US agent.  They've been used in hundreds of murders in Mexico.  HUNDREDS!

Bob Owens of Pajamas Media gives the essential analysis:

Recall how they breathlessly reported the minute details and speculations of the Valerie Plame affair, which had much smaller stakes.

Instead, both the New York Times and Washington Post have responded to Gunwalker with attempted character assassinations of Congressman Darrell Issa, the lead investigator.
. . .
The Gunwalker conspiracy is the kind of story that journalists dream of breaking their entire careers. It is now in the palms of their hands: a story in which they can make a difference, take down the evil and corrupt, and ensure justice is served.

Instead of reporting, however, they are complicit. They have chosen to acquiesce to a clear and obvious evil, an aberration of our most basic values. They are no longer watchdogs, but docile sheep.

And all through this, Obama and company were yelling about increased violence along the border, and trying to pin the blame on Americans having easy access to guns.  I am not the only one who believes it was all a ploy to create the violence to support their gun-control efforts.

Believe that or not, as you like.  But do not doubt that the media are under-playing this to protect THEIR SIDE.  On the whole, they are liberals/"progressives"/socialists.  Obama is their man.  The Democrats are their party.  And "gun control" is one of their causes.

Obama's ex-Director of Management and Budget, Peter Orzag, trots out yet another flim-flam attempt to raise, raise, raise government spending.  It's the gridlock, you see.  THAT is the problem, he says!  He explains it all in the ever-execrable The New Republic (H/T: Drudge):

To solve the serious problems facing our country, we need to minimize the harm from legislative inertia by relying more on automatic policies and depoliticized commissions for certain policy decisions. In other words, radical as it sounds, we need to counter the gridlock of our political institutions by making them a bit less democratic.

One hardly needs to read the rest.  They never stop.  Such "a bit less democratic" institutions are properly called tyranny.  That is what he proposes--the very thing that our founders fought and died to free us from.

He would have our "Betters" (i.e., him and his ilk) make our decisions for us.

He would have our so-called "servants" become our MASTERS (yeah, him and bastards like him).

Our grandparents fought the Nazis and Fascists.  Our parents fought the Soviets in the 70 years war.  But Peter and the slimes like him want to just allow him do what those bastards couldn't--enslave you and your kids.

November 2012 is coming.  Blow these low-lives so far out of power they have to read Pravada to find out what's going on in D.C.  Hie thee to a Tea Party and start getting involved NOW, during the primaries.  This is when you can have the most effect.

Don't just think about national politics, either!  Lots of LOCAL elections have consequences, too!  Consider both THIS and THIS, for instance!

(Yet another thing from Instapundit)

Wired Magazine's Danger Room reports FBI Teaches Agents: ‘Mainstream' Muslims Are ‘Violent, Radical' :

The FBI is teaching its counterterrorism agents that “main stream” [sic] American Muslims are likely to be terrorist sympathizers; that the Prophet Mohammed was a “cult leader”; and that the Islamic practice of giving charity is no more than a “funding mechanism for combat.”

At the Bureau’s training ground in Quantico, Virginia, agents are shown a chart contending that the more “devout” a Muslim, the more likely he is to be “violent.” Those destructive tendencies cannot be reversed, an FBI instructional presentation adds: “Any war against non-believers is justified” under Muslim law; a “moderating process cannot happen if the Koran continues to be regarded as the unalterable word of Allah.”

And, OF COURSE, the lilly-livered putzes at wired are aghast at someone speaking the truth.

These are excerpts from dozens of pages of recent FBI training material on Islam that Danger Room has acquired. In them, the Constitutionally protected religious faith of millions of Americans is portrayed as an indicator of terrorist activity.

Not like Big Sis Janet and company haven't done that with Christianity...but then its OK with Wired.

Focusing on the religious behavior of American citizens instead of proven indicators of criminal activity like stockpiling guns or using shady financing makes it more likely that the FBI will miss the real warning signs of terrorism. And depicting Islam as inseparable from political violence is exactly the narrative al-Qaida spins — as is the related idea that America and Islam are necessarily in conflict. That’s why FBI whistleblowers provided Danger Room with these materials.

Guns!  Evil Christians stockpile guns!  Run for the Mosque ACLU HQ!

"Read the whole thing?"  Nah.  Can hardly stand that much.  Bleh--idiots in denial I don't need to keep reading.

4:74: Let those fight in the way of Allah who sell the life of this world for the other. Whoso fighteth in the way of Allah, be he slain or be he victorious, on him We shall bestow a vast reward.

4:89 They long that ye should disbelieve even as they disbelieve, that ye may be upon a level (with them). So choose not friends from them till they forsake their homes in the way of Allah; if they turn back (to enmity) then take them and kill them wherever ye find them, and choose no friend nor helper from among them.

4:91 Ye will find others who desire that they should have security from you, and security from their own folk. So often as they are returned to hostility they are plunged therein. If they keep not aloof from you nor offer you peace nor hold their hands, then take them and kill them wherever ye find them. Against such We have given you clear warrant.

8:12 When thy Lord inspired the angels, (saying): I am with you. So make those who believe stand firm. I will throw fear into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Then smite the necks and smite of them each finger.

8:15 O ye who believe! When ye meet those who disbelieve in battle, turn not your backs to them.

8:16 Who so on that day turneth his back to them, unless manoeuvring for battle or intent to join a company, he truly hath incurred wrath from Allah, and his habitation will be hell, a hapless journey's end.

8:65 O Prophet! Exhort the believers to fight. If there be of you twenty steadfast they shall overcome two hundred, and if there be of you a hundred (steadfast) they shall overcome a thousand of those who disbelieve, because they (the disbelievers) are a folk without intelligence.

9:123 O ye who believe! Fight those of the disbelievers who are near to you, and let them find harshness in you, and know that Allah is with those who keep their duty (unto Him). 

Yep-- violence in Islam is MAIN-STREAM.  Where, O doubter, are such verses in Christianity's "New Testament?"  Nowhere.  But they would have you believe the Tea Party is the real threat!

Oh, me precious!  For sale, they are at Amazon, and we wants one!

The 100 Trillion Zimbabwe Banknote UNC Hyperinflation Money

September 11th, 2001:  Jenny walked in to our cubicle area.  A beautiful redhead, like her mother Carol, with whom we worked.  But she brought ugly news:  "A plane just hit the World Trade Center!"  In the next couple of years, Jenny did some amazing things for which she deserves great respect.  But I'll always remember her for that moment.

Haven't seen Jenny for years, but correspond with Carol every once in a while.  God bless them both!

1.  Hot times in Boerne today.  Saw old friend Cecil Lamb today at the Boerne main square.  Been too many years....  Then MyLovelyWife and I took the dog and ate on the patio of Soda Pops.  We had the Ribeye Sandwich and it was awesome!  The counter gal also came over to pet the dog and then brought her out her own piece of fried bacon.  We'll be back!

2.  In California, the Black Panthers once took advantage of the fact is was legal to openly carry firearms.  See Reason's "What are you going to do with your gun?"   Well, CA governor Moonbeam Jerry Brown is about to sign that away.  Oh, and another bill effectively starts registration of all long guns.

3.  Note carefully this chart from The Die-Hard Recession Heads Off The Charts:

Obama's actions have the reverse of his claims.  So, what does he recommend in his big jobs speech?  More of the same.  We cannot afford to see that bottom line keep going further down!

4.  Case in point on the above:  Remember all those green jobs he promised?  He dumped over $500 Billion of your money in Solyndra (which just went bankrupt).   Zombie explains it all in a series of cartoons, Solyndra for Dummies:

Remember:  The lilly-livered, left-leaning, Lenin-loving liberal liars don't just love spending money--they love spending YOUR money!

The big "Debt Reduction Deal" is supposed to cut a total of $2.5 Trillion over the next ten years. That's $250 Billion per year!  How much is that, really?  It's just a number to most people.  Take that with the deficit, the debt . . . all those numbers!  It's hard to relate.  To wit, today's numbers from USDebtClock.org:

FEDERAL GOV:
This Year's Federal Income: $2,267,253,580,000
This Year's Federal Spending: $3,554,527,000,000
This Year's Borrowing (deficit): $1,300,000,000,000
Total Amount Borrowed (debt): $14,678,676,000,000
Spending they promise to cut next year: $250,000,000,000

Let put that in terms an average American can understand, and divide all those by four million (divide by 4, then lop off seven figures, or thereabout):

EXAMPLE FAMILY:
This year's income: $56,681
This year's spending: $88,863
This year's borrowing: $32,182
Total amount borrowed: $366,966
Spending we'll cut next year: $6,250

What do you say to a family that makes $56K but spends $88K and is already $366K in the hole?  "CUT SPENDING!"

Why?

"IT'S THE DEBT, STUPID!"

H/T:  Email from Bob Tracy