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Jewish World Review Sept. 26, 2011 / 27 Elul, 5771 Scandals proliferate --- But most media are playing them down By Jack Kelly
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | More scandals swirl about Barack Obama than perhaps any president before him. Let's start with ... SOLYNDRA
After receiving a $535 million guaranteed loan from the Obama administration, Solyndra, a manufacturer of solar panels, filed for bankruptcy this month. In a possible violation of federal law, private investors were given priority over taxpayers for claims on Solyndra's assets. The White House overrode objections from analysts at the Office of Management and Budget, who questioned Solyndra's business plan. Billionaire George Kaiser, a major investor in Solyndra, is a major fundraiser for Mr. Obama. He and Solyndra executives visited the White House 20 times before the loan was made. The FBI raided Solyndra's San Francisco headquarters Sept. 8. At a congressional hearing Friday, Solyndra executives said they wouldn't answer questions because they might incriminate themselves. LIGHTSQUARED
The general commanding the Air Force Space Command told the House Armed Services Committee that the White House pressured him to make his testimony more favorable to a satellite communications company owned by an Obama donor. The Pentagon fears the wireless telephone network planned by the company, LightSquared, will interfere with the Global Positioning System on which the military depends for navigation and targeting, Gen. William Shelton said. LightSquared owner Philip Falcone, his wife and LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja donated more than $90,000 to Democrats and often met with administration officials. Mr. Obama owned stock in LightSquared when he was a senator. He bought the stock on the very day the Federal Communications Commission issued a ruling favorable to LightSquared. The Federal Aviation Administration also expressed "serious concerns" about LightSquared's plans -- airliners rely on GPS too. But the FCC, headed by Julius Genachowski, another major Obama donor, gave conditional approval to LightSquared in January to build near the GPS bandwith. Mr. Genachowski has refused to let Congress examine the FCC's records of its dealings with LightSquared. After Gen. Shelton's testimony was made public, the FCC said LightSquared may not go forward until further testing proves the GPS would not be harmed. LightSquared could get people killed. Gunwalker already has. GUNWALKER
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives deliberately permitted more than 2,000 guns to "walk" across the border to Mexican drug cartels, we learned last December when two of them were found near the body of Border Patrol Officer Brian Terry. Guns tracked by the "Gunwalker" operation, which was set up to learn how the cartels were getting U.S. weapons, have since been recovered at 11 other crime scenes in the United States. It was a rogue operation in Arizona we knew nothing about, Justice Department officials said. Since then, there have been reports that the ATF and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Tampa allowed the vicious Salvadoran gang MS-13 to obtain weapons and that the ATF and FBI permitted criminals in Indiana to buy guns for gangs. An internal memo which indicates "political appointees" were involved in Gunwalker is being withheld from Congress, Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson told investigators in July. The inspector general at Justice obstructed their inquiry, lead congressional investigators said Wednesday. Gunwalker is a sting gone wrong, the administration claims. Since ATF had no authority to follow the guns across the border to make arrests -- and made no effort to coordinate with Mexican police -- this is unlikely. Some think Gunwalker was a cynical attempt to promote gun control in the United States by fomenting violence in Mexico and claiming that U.S. guns play a major role. Others suspect the government wanted to build up the Sinaloa cartel to keep its more powerful rival, Los Zetas, from seizing power in Mexico. Several mainstream media outlets are following the story, but it hasn't received much play. White House reporters haven't asked a question about Gunwalker since July 5, Rory Cooper of the Heritage Foundation noted last week. Watergate was on the front page for more than a year. Nobody died in Watergate. Gunwalker guns may have killed hundreds -- including at least one U.S. law enforcement officer. But to most journalists, a scandal isn't all that scandalous unless a Republican is involved.
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JWR contributor Jack Kelly, a former Marine and Green Beret, was a deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan administration.
© 2011, Jack Kelly |
Arnold Ahlert | |||||||||||
