Operation Fast and Furious in the Presidential Debate

People were asking me if I saw the presidential debate. I tried not to. My daughter had it on when I was working on the computer and I heard part of it. I really find it too upsetting to watch. Politicians will tell you what you want to hear to get elected then do what they want when they’re in power.

One blog reader pointed out that Romney mentioned Operation Fast and Furious in the debate. I missed that part and had to take another look at it on Youtube. I find it immensely hypocritical that Republicans in the States are trying to use Operation Fast and Furious to lynch Obama when George Bush did the exact same thing in Operation Wide Receiver. Both operations were wrong.

Yet I find the lack of media coverage about it in Canada to be disturbing. I also find Obama’s response to that question offensive. Romney brings the subject up and Obama responds by smiling and saying next question. The murder of a US border agent and bringing tons of cocaine into the United States is nothing to smile about.

Romney pointed out that the American people have heard very little about why Operation Fast and Furious was put in place and who was responsible for it since the president has exercised his executive privilege over it. Indeed, that is a huge concern. Keeping an unlawful state secret is not only unlawful but in this case is a threat to National Security.

There’s a new riveting TV series on called Last Resort. It is very dramatic and pushes the envelope to the extreme, but the point is that citizens are sworn to protect the constitution not the government. Helping the government break the constitution is treason. Defending the constitution is not.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the CIA arms dealing, drug trafficking and money laundering is a huge concern and a huge threat to national security as well as national prosperity. It didn’t just magically start in Fast and Furious and in Wide Receiver. Judge Bonner complained about the CIA bringing a ton of cocaine into Florida when he was a DEA agent.

The CIA kept adamantly denying it over and over again. Then when Judge Bonner went on 60 Minutes and documented everything they finally admitted it but said that as the only time and it was a mistake. They were trying to catch the bad guys. That was a lie. They made no attempt to track the cocaine or make any arrests just like in Fast and Furious.

This drug trafficking is non partisan. Barry Seal was deeply involved in the CIA’s drug trafficking and arms dealing out of Mena, Arkansas in support of the contra rebels in Nicaragua when Clinton was Governor of Arkansas under President Bush Sr. Oliver North and Richard Secord were in charge of everything that went in and out of Nicaragua at the time under Iran contra. Bo Gritz and Terry Reed both testified about George Bush Sr.’s role in drug trafficking for the CIA during Vietnam. It is a huge problem that has gone on for generations and has crashed banks as a result.

Income Tax Inequity

My other concern about the Presidential debate is the hypocrisy that continues. Romney kept repeating his plan is to reduce taxes for the middle class. Why does he keep saying that? Because he is telling voters what they want to hear and was caught on hidden camera saying the exact opposite.

I agree, putting a hidden camera on Romney was cheap. Yet his claim that 47% of Americans don’t want to work and won’t vote for him is typical of his real position on the matter. Romney is the rich criminals’ poster boy. There is nothing wrong with being rich. I do not support the redistribution of wealth. My concern is the investment fraud that continues where the rich continue to steal from the working class. The people who have jobs and pay taxes. Stealing tax dollars is wrong. That has nothing to do with not wanting to work. In that case it is the rich criminals who don’t want to work because they are stealing from those who are. As we saw on the cover of the Rolling Stones, that is what Bain Capital was all about.

Michael Moore raised a good point in his movie Capitalism a Love story. Reagan’s tenure as President saw a huge transformation in the nation’s taxation policy that went from one extreme to the other. At one point the rich were paying a huge percentage of income tax. Then after bankers and Wall Street took positions in office, that dramatically change to the opposite extreme where they pay next to nothing in income tax. Donald Trump is one example. Warren Buffett is another. Donald Trump, bragging about not paying any income tax at all is not right. It’s not a sign of being wise and shrewd in knowing tax laws. It is evidence of why the system has gone to the opposite extreme where the rich steal from the poor. This has nothing to do with the poor being jealous of the rich. It’s about everyone paying their fair share.

Warren Buffett pays less income tax than his secretary. He admits that’s wrong. His secretary pays income tax at a rate of 35.8 percent of income, while Buffett pays a rate at 17.4 percent. As we recall, back in the day, the more money you earned the higher the tax bracket that put you in. Seeing this go to the other extreme is disturbing. Not only because it has resulted in a huge amount of lost tax revenue which has compounded the debt, but also because it results in a huge amount of money hidden off shore that could be helping build the American economy. That is the MO of Bain Capital. To evade taxes by investing off shore. That doesn’t help the American economy. Investors shouldn’t be rewarded with tax deductions for doing that.

During the presidential debate, Romney was clear he wanted to maintain this status quo for the rich. That is not going to help repay the debt or rebuild the American economy. Romney’s quote was that the rich keep paying 60% of the tax. When a billionaire is in a much lower tax bracket than his secretary, that is wrong. I’m not saying we should go back to the other extreme where the rich are over taxed. I’m saying all these loop holes where the rich can evade taxes by investing off shore need to be replaced.

Financial Crisis in Canada

Recently there was a doom and gloom report claiming Alberta and Ontario are at high risk for a Greek financial crisis style collapse. These kind of manipulative statements are very disturbing. Of course Canada could see a Greek style financial collapse. We already saw how Earl Brian and the CIA used investment fraud to steal millions from Canadian investors to raise money for the October Surprise.

If it happened then, it could happen again. After all, that is what caused the Greek financial crisis - investment fraud. What was public money became private money, then all of a sudden disappeared. Goldman Sachs was directly involved. Iran contra wasn’t just about selling arms to Iran to free hostages. They paid Iran to keep the hostages until after the election.

The purpose of Iran contra was to sell Iran weapons to raise money to fund the contra rebels in Nicaragua. The purpose of the cocaine trafficking in Iran contra was to raise money for the contra rebels. In Al Martin’s book, the Conspirators, he goes into detail explaining how Jeb Bush instructed him to commit investment fraud to raise money under Iran contra for the contra rebels in Nicaragua. The Agency’s involvement with money laundering and investment fraud is nothing new. It has crashed banks in the past. Banks don’t crash all by themselves. Someone has to break in and steal from them. Usually it’s the people that own the banks who are involved in defrauding them.

Right now I see three problems that need to be addressed: The Agency’s arms dealing and drug trafficking, Tax inequity and investment fraud that is crashing banks and stealing tax dollars. These three things need to be addressed.