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CBS News Covers “Fast and Furious” the Rest of MSM Claims No Knowledge

AmmoLand Gun News

Washington DC - -(Ammoland.com)- No matter how you slice it, Operation Fast and Furious is a serious problem for the Obama administration.

It’s beyond question that the ATF oversaw the sale of approximately 2,500 weapons to straw purchasers whom they knew were going to pass the guns go criminals.

And it’s also beyond question that some of those weapons were used to kill U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry on December 14, 2010. (And it’s also beyond question that Attorney General Eric Holder knew about this mess sooner than he admitted to Congressman Darrell Issa [R-CA] on May 3rd of this year.)

These are big stories. Stories that demand attention, and which could be very damning to the steadily declining Obama administration. Nevertheless, for the most part the mainstream media has stayed far away from Fast and Furious.

But there is one exception, and that is CBS News.

That’s right: While NBC, ABC, and others have looked the other way, CBS News has spent the past few weeks doggedly reporting cover-ups tied to Fast and Furious. They’ve also been asking how far up the chain of command Fast and Furious goes? (In other words – who authorized this mess to begin with?)

For example, on September 1, it was CBS News that broke the story about how the U.S. Attorney’s office in Arizona had tried to conceal the fact that Brian Terry was killed with Fast and Furious weapons. According to CBS News, internal ATF emails showed that former U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke asked investigators not to report the link between the murder and Fast and Furious weapons in order to keep from revealing Fast and Furious to the public.

And on September 9th, it was CBS News that reported that in 2010 a weapon from Fast and Furious was discovered in a car that a Mexican national was driving in the Phoenix area. He was apprehended after purposely ramming into police cars and pointing the weapon at police. This report came as a surprise to Congressman Issa and Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), because the “Justice Department still [hadn’t] told them about the 2010 Phoenix case” even  though “written requests for such information” had been made.

And it was also CBS News that broke the news of the secret Fast and Furious recordings between Andre Howard, owner of Lone Wolf Trading Company, and ATF agent Hope McAllister. These are the recordings on which Holder’s name, and that of former U.S. Attorney Burke, are repeatedly mentioned.

The bottom line: CBS News deserves credit for breaking with the rest of the mainstream outlets and reporting on this continually developing story.

And since we’ve only uncovered the tip of the iceberg on this one thus far, I’m hopeful that CBS News will continue to do yeoman’s work on this massive (criminal) operation.

AWR Hawkins

About:
AWR Hawkins writes for all the BIG sites, for Pajamas Media, for RedCounty.com, for Townhall.com and now AmmoLand Shooting Sports News.

His southern drawl is frequently heard discussing his take on current events on radio shows like America’s Morning News, the G. Gordon Liddy Show, the Ken Pittman Show, and the NRA’s Cam & Company, among others. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal (summer 2010), and he holds a PhD in military history from Texas Tech University.

If you have questions or comments, email him at awr@awrhawkins.com. You can find him on facebook at www.facebook.com/awr.hawkins.

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White House Announces Guns Do Deter Crime, Encourages Training – Official Version Says Other

At a subconscious level, anything the mainstream pronounces is taken as the “official” version.

Gunlaws.com

PHOENIX, AZ --(Ammoland.com)- Got your attention? Ok .. I’ve figured out why the “mainstream” commands so much power:

The public (including you) unknowingly gives the mainstream its power, because at a subconscious level, anything the mainstream pronounces is taken as the “official” version.

Everything else then is an argument, a debating point, an alternate reality — and must compete with the mainstream “official” version for belief. The mainstream commands a win-lose from the get-go.

It is the “compared to” effect. Whatever you set up as the comparison is the automatic winner, the compare-to item is the flat-out loser. “Black people are as good as white people,” is the perfect example. It may sound fair and balanced, but its outrageous bias is obvious when you say instead, “White people are as good as black people.” The thing compared is inferior by default. But it’s a hidden bias, and slips right on through. “Female soldiers are as good as male soldiers.”

You get the point?

If the New York Times, or the TV networks or CNN, or other standard bearers of mainstream thought were to make a non-mainstream statement even once –it would become the official version. All other thought would have to be compared against it, and suffer the fate of the compared-to viewpoint.

Imagine if the Times, or the Washington Post, were to run these stories on the front page, how this would change the mindset, the paradigm, the groundwork for debate in the nation:

• “New Study Confirms Illegal Immigration Costly, Crime Ridden,” or
• “White House Announces Guns DO Deter Crime, Encourages Training,” or
• “Federal Reserve is Damaging Economy, Needs Overhaul,” or
• “Global Warming In Doubt, Carbon Effect Exaggerated,” or
• “Experts Confirm Muslims Are At War With Western Civilization,” or
• “Loss of Morality and Religion Increasing, Harming Nation.”

Think what that would do. The vast majority of the public understands the truth of those headlines, they would be exonerated, and would hold the high ground. The truth deniers would be backpedaling so hard they would fall and get bad boo boos.

The ACLU would have to begin an uphill campaign against those ideas, instead of the uphill battle the center-right coalition now faces. The whole texture and demeanor of the country and the debate would flip. Leftists and socialists would be on the short end of the stick, and conservatives and libertarians would gain immeasurable sway and power. Wouldn’t that be nice.

Because the mainstream is not going to voluntarily adopt these views, the best course seems to be to make them increasingly irrelevant, through reduced audience, and increased reliance on everything but them for news and views. In essence, this makes the Internet an extreme threat to the existing power structure, and we can expect it to come under increasing attack and efforts at control — taxation, filters, content edicts, privacy snooping, unfairness doctrines and non-neutrality called neutrality. My new book, Bomb Jokes at Airports, addresses these issues.

P.S. It’s not about “carbon footprint” — it’s about “carbon-dioxide footprint” — the stuff plants need to survive and thrive, a cornerstone of life, the stuff you exhale. Big difference. Remember the people selling “carbon offsets”? Write a check to them and you can take a flight without guilt, believing trees would be planted somewhere with your money? It was such an outrageous scam even when it was running full bore. Now, it is such a scam it’s almost in hiding (there are vendors on the web but little else). The gullibility (and self guilt) of some parts of the public is so huge, it suggests people should need to qualify before they can vote, or breathe.

About GunLaws.com:
Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Bloomfield Press, founded in 1988, is the largest publisher and distributor of gun-law books in the country. Our website, gunlaws.com, features a free national directory to gun laws and relevant contacts in all states and federally, along with our unique line of related books and DVDs. “After Your Shoot” for media review is available on request, call 800-707-4020. Our authors are available for interview, call to schedule. Call for cogent positions on gun issues, informed analysis on proposed laws, talk radio that lights up the switchboard, fact sheets and position papers. As we always say, “It doesn’t make sense to own a gun and not know the rules.” Visit: www.gunlaws.com

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