[alan]

Re the antics of DOJ head AG Holder, the president's declaration of Executive Privilege, the antics of the BATFE, and also referencing a discussion on Essential Public Radio, possibly heard by some, the following is a copy of my Letter To The Editor of one of my local papers, that being The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. My thoughts/comments might be of interest to some here. It is unlikely that the P-G will publish my letter, their quota system being one reason. The following was written 21 June.

Editor:

Re the above referenced, in no particular order, the thoughts follow:

1. Respecting claims by the BATFE that Operation Fast & Furious was intended to pinpoint "drug cartel kingpins" ridiculous is an appropriate description, given that the BATFE had no such capabilities. There was no way this agency could possibly track the "walked guns" to drug cartel kingpins.

2. As to guns themselves, the world is awash with real AK-47's, as opposed to the pale imitations thereof sold in this country, by federally licensed gun dealers. Real AK-47's have selective fire capability, the defining characteristic of a class of arms described as "assault rifles". The guns commercially sold in this country lack selective fire capability, being simply semi-automatic rifles, a type of arm manufactured and sold in this country since prior to The First World War, Interestingly media, re it's frequent references to "assault rifles" and "assault weapons" is strangely "fast and loose" with technical terminology, one wonders why.

3. Given existing world conditions, combined with the fact that the Mexican Drug Cartel has more cash than it knows what to do with, they could easily obtain virtually any type of light or heavy automatic firearms they desired, plus Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG's), by the plane load, possibly even by the shipload, which raises the following question. Why would they bother arranging the purchase, in dribs and drabs, of pale imitations of guns the world is literally awash in? The answer is that, being reasonably intelligent people, they wouldn't. On the other hand, a runaway government agency, the BATFE, at the behest of a historically anti gun president and attorney general would. Via this Operation Fast & Furious, which Obama et al are trying to paper over, they did.

4. With his declaration of Executive Privilege, the president tries to provide political cover to his beleaguered friend, and Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. Combined with his other problems, the economy, continued high levels of unemployment/underemployment, the lack of prosecution of banking and Wall Street criminals, yes there are a few exceptions here, this Executive Privilege business might turn out to be one of his dumber mover. Additionally, re his references to declarations of Executive Privilege by other presidents, Nixon's declaration didn't hold water, other presidents have declared Executive Privilege. Notwithstanding the perhaps questionable nature of previous declarations, none of them involved such blatant criminality as is involved here. Remember that Operation Fast & Furious violated both U.S. and Mexican law, something that President Obama might prefer not to be reminded of.