Daily Archives: January 27, 2012
Arizona House Speaker Tobin to Put Some Light on Obama’s Fast & Furious Scandal
AWR Hawkins writing in Big Government on Speaker Andy Tobin’s efforts to investigate the Fast & Furious scandal of the Obama Administration …
As I wrote in a post for Big Government this past Sunday, January 22, the Arizona’s legislature has decided once more to do the job the feds won’t do, and has launched its own investigation into Fast and Furious. And during an appearance on FOX NEWS this morning, Arizona House Speaker Andy Tobin explained why they’ve taken this step. He said that constituents were flooding their offices with questions about the gun-running operation, and he said one recurring question was, “You’re not waiting for the feds [to do something] are you?” He then said the answer to that question was “No.”
Said Tobin:
This is an incident that occurred on Arizona soil, with Arizona business owners, [where we lost] an Arizona agent (Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry), and quite frankly we felt it needed a lot more attention. We felt our citizens needed a place to go to share their stories. Maybe there’s more there. This was a failed program right from the start and I think the idea is to put more light on it.
Tobin explained that as he’s watched this story unfold, and learned about the tactics used in Fast and Furious, it just hasn’t made sense: “I’m from the family of a law enforcement officer and I don’t think that the process by which they were going was the direction in which we fight back on border security and drug infiltration.”
He went on to explain that the Arizona House has been disappointed in the way Eric Holder has handled things up till now, and added:
It doesn’t appear he had a grasp on it right from the beginning when the inquiries started coming in. And forgive me for being concerned when I hear that the federal government’s here and they’re here to help. [We’re] the state that had to pass S.B. 1070 so we could help secure our borders, and the fed sued us…we’ve lost millions of acres of forest land [to fires] because the feds won’t let us clean them, we’ve got a Navajo power plant that the EPA may close…I meant the list goes on and on.
Without ambiguity Tobin added:
The public deserves some answers and we can’t wait for the fed to give us some of those answers. So let’s put some light on it, let’s have some transparency in government. Let’s go ahead and bring some Arizona citizens in to testify and see where this leads us.
I’m all for what Tobin and the rest of his colleagues in the Arizona legislature are doing. It’s time to put some heat on the feds and see if Holder changes his story (again).
10 Points about the Brewer-Obama Dust-up
Regarding yesterday’s brouhaha between the president and Arizona’s governor at a Mesa airport yesterday, here are 10 key points to remember:
1. President Obama has repeatedly shown that he is a temperamental man.
2. Obama has a history of treating Republicans, military officers, congressmen, and others with disdain and a common lack of respect.
3. Gov. Brewer acted with decorum and respect.
4. Brewer also stood up for herself and deserves respect for that.
5. The Arizona Democrat Party is distorting the incident by demonizing Brewer — without foundation — and trying to raise money off the incident.
6. Obama talks a good game about civility and open-mindedness, but the truth is he is closed-minded and unwilling to listen to opposing points of view.
7. Obama has a history of grandstanding to show up Republicans who are polite and respectful in return.
8. Many left-wingers do not wish to actually debate topics and briskly walk away to avoid confrontation.
9. Obama is the most polarizing president in U.S. history.
10. Democrats, like Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder in particular, are known for judging things — like Brewer’s book, Senate Bill 1070, conservative talk radio, the actions of a Cambridge, Mass. police officer, and others — without reading them or looking into the situation. They use fall-back knee-jerk reactions that make them look bad.
The Measures of a Man Named Trent Franks
By Tony Perkins, President
The Family Research Council
Jan. 26, 2012
The March for Life may be over, but the momentum has carried on right into the U.S. Capitol, where two men are doing their part to put feet to the prayers of millions of American seeking to restore the right to life in our nation. Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) is kicking things off with a push to ban D.C. abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy, when it’s widely known that babies can feel pain. “It will emphasize the humanity of the child and the inhumanity of what is being done to them,” Rep. Franks told the Washington Post. As chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee that handles the District, he is all but guaranteed a vote on the House floor. Meanwhile, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has filed the Ultrasound Informed Consent Act, which, like Texas’s law, requires doctors to perform an ultrasound and describe the baby’s development before a woman consents to abort. So far, the measure has 44 co-sponsors. Encourage your member to become one of them. Contact your representatives and ask them to support the Franks and Jordan bills.
