Perspective

"Why the US was downgraded...


U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000
Fed budget: $3,820,000,000,000
New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000
National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
Recent budget cut: $ 38,500,000,000

Let's remove 8 zeros and pretend it's a household budget:

Annual family income: $21,700.
Money the family spent: $38,200.
New debt on the credit card: $16,500.
Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
Total budget cuts: $385."

Scott Barber, at the Daily Paul

High Crimes

An American law enforcement officer is dead. So are at least a couple hundred Mexicans. It looks like the American government is to blame.

Why? It looks more and more certain that high-ranking American officials allowed Mexican drug cartels to buy thousands of military-grade weapons.  And not by mistake or incompetence. The media frequently refers to the Fast & Furious gun-running operation as a "botched" program, but that's inaccurate. The only thing "botched" was the coverup.

The plan actually worked as designed. The federal government ordered American gun dealers to sell thousands of guns to the most violent and dangerous criminals in the Western Hemisphere in violation of American law. Then the government intentionally allowed these guns go over the border into Mexico in violation of Mexican and international law. Then the government waited for the guns to show up at crime scenes. Well, they did - after being used to murder at least a couple hundred people.

It's really starting to look like the Attorney General perjured himself when testifying to Congress about this. That's a big deal. But perjury is small potatoes compared to what appears to have happened. With Congressmen throwing around phrases like "accessory to murder" in an election year, things are going to get ugly.

If true, this is worse than Whitewater, Iran/Contra, Monica Lewinsky, or Watergate. Way worse. If average citizens did this, they would be sent to prison for life. If the Attorney General, Secretary of State, or even the President did this, they shouldn't be treated differently. These guys aren't above the law.  We're taking about knowingly facilitating murder. With taxpayer dollars, no less.

If a foreign country did this to us, we'd declare it a state sponsor of terror. We'd institute trade embargoes and economic sanctions in a heartbeat. Hell, we'd probably invade.