The camcorder shakes as it films the thud of thick .50 caliber bullets ripping through a steel plate target in the heat of the Arizona desert. Panning across the jagged rocks and cacti, the camera then focuses on the shooter: a smiling Mexican sitting down on the dust as he uses both hands to fire the huge state-of-the-art weapon that can tear through tank armor. He was the happy customer, having bought the killing machine from an Arizona gun shop for about $21,000. The grainy video was seized by ATF agents in a raid on a weapon traffickers' safe house in Yuma. One man in the film was arrested and faces charges. But the man who showed off his shooting on the video is believed to be south of the border using the cannon-like gun to wage Mexico's relentless drug war.
a smiling Mexican sitting down on the dust as he uses both hands to fire the huge state-of-the-art weapon that can tear through tank armor.
He was the happy customer, having bought the killing machine from an Arizona gun shop for about $21,000.
But the man who showed off his shooting on the video is believed to be south of the border using the cannon-like gun to wage Mexico's relentless drug war.
Legal gun sales in this country facilitate this illicit trade.
According to federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives data collected over the past three years, more than 90 percent of firearms traced after being seized in Mexico are from the United States.
It's hardly a mystery where many of them come from. The ATF agent in charge of its Houston division noted in a New York Times story in April there are about 1,500 licensed gun dealers in that area alone.
No mention of the fact that 90 percent of firearms traced is not 90 percent of firearms seized. That little fact is not mentioned, and left for the observant reader to figure out on his own - probably in the hope that the majority of readers won't notice it.
What's true, an ATF spokeswoman told FOXNews.com, in a clarification of the statistic used by her own agency's assistant director, "is that over 90 percent of the traced firearms originate from the U.S."You would think that might be a significant fact, wouldn't you? Apparently, the AP doesn't think so:
But a large percentage of the guns recovered in Mexico do not get sent back to the U.S. for tracing, because it is obvious from their markings that they do not come from the U.S.
[...]68 percent of the guns that were recovered were never submitted for tracing. [...]83 percent of the guns found at crime scenes in Mexico could not be traced to the U.S.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives recently reported that up to 95 percent of guns seized at scenes of drug violence in Mexico can be traced to U.S. commercial sources. [Emphasis added]So, yesterday 90% of guns seized were traced to the US, today it's 95%? How does that work if 83% of gun seized could not be traced to the US?
More than 150,000 soldiers deserted in the last six years, according to Mexican Congressman Robert Badillo. Many took their weapons with them[...]and, according to "Ed Head, a firearms instructor in Arizona who spent 24 years with the U.S. Border Patrol":
Some guns, he said, "are legitimately shipped to the government of Mexico, by Colt, for example, in the United States. They are approved by the U.S. government for use by the Mexican military service. The guns end up in Mexico that way -- the fully auto versions -- they are not smuggled in across the river."Gee, I bet those guns "can be traced to U.S. commercial sources." I'm sure Colt could be considered a "commercial source" - depending on how you define the term. Notice that the AP never tells you what they mean by "commercial source."
"I don't want to punish your success, it's just that I want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they've got a chance at success, too. I think that when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody." (emphasis mine)Think about that. If you're successful, he wants to make sure that other's have a "chance at success" too - by forcibly taking the money you worked for, and earned, and giving it to people who haven't earned it, and who may not have worked for it at all.
GIBSON: The Bush doctrine, as I understand it, is that we have the right of anticipatory self-defense, that we have the right to a preemptive strike against any other country that we think is going to attack us. Do you agree with that?
PALIN: I agree that a president’s job, when they swear in their oath to uphold our Constitution, their top priority is to defend the United States of America.
I know that John McCain will do that and I, as his vice president, families we are blessed with that vote of the American people and are elected to serve and are sworn in on January 20, that will be our top priority is to defend the American people.
GIBSON: Do we have a right to anticipatory self-defense? Do we have a right to make a preemptive strike again another country if we feel that country might strike us?
PALIN: Charlie, if there is legitimate and enough intelligence that tells us that a strike is imminent against American people, we have every right to defend our country. In fact, the president has the obligation, the duty to defend.
PALIN: Charlie, if there is legitimate and enough intelligence that tells us that a strike is imminent against American people, we have every right to defend our country. In fact, the president has the obligation, the duty to defend.I encourage you to read the whole transcript. Pay attention to what was edited out of what was actually broadcast. Form your own opinion of Gov. Palin, and how the media is trying to twist her image to make her look like someone she isn't.
GIBSON: Do we have the right to be making cross-border attacks into Pakistan from Afghanistan, with or without the approval of the Pakistani government?
It's funny, but I don't remember seeing anything like this after Obama's convention speech, or after Biden's acceptance speech. Just Governor Palin's. (I will freely admit I may have missed either if they exist. If anyone knows of it, and can provide a link to prove it, let me know and I will stand corrected.) Now most of the time, a Yahoo! headline will stay "on top" like this for one or two hours, and then be rotated to one of those four bottom positions before it's taken of the main page completely. This one was on top for almost eight hours!ST. PAUL, Minn. - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters held back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth.I'll admit, $750 million is a lot, especially when compared to other states. But that figure is absolutely meaningless in this context unless you compare it to how much Alaska requested before she became governor. Did it go up, or down? Did it stay the same? Did she veto any requests and have the legislature override her? How much higher than other states requests was that? How does this amount compare to other states when adjusted for the higher cost of everything in Alaska? Is it unusual for a town that size in Alaska to have a lobbyist in DC? How does that $27 million compare to other Alaskan towns that size?
Some examples:
PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."
THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."
PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state senate."The AP is not even addressing the same issue here. Gov. Palin's assertion was that Obama has not "authored a single law or reform." They never state that he has. They simply list a few laws that he "helped" pass. As far as the "two big, contentious measures in Illinois," there are several points they don't address. Did they become law? What do they mean "he was a leader" on those measures? Did he actually author them? Did he author any major sections? Again, an answer without relevant context.
THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.
PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."They shoot themselves in the foot with this one. They say it themselves. McCain's plan would cut taxes for everyone. Obama's plan raises taxes on the wealthy and on successful small businesses. That sounds like what she said, with more detail. As far as how much each plan would increase after-tax income, notice that they only compare for the middle class. What about the poor, or the "upper-middle" classes?
THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.
Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families.
He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.
MCCAIN: "She's been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America's energy supply ... She's responsible for 20 percent of the nation's energy supply. I'm entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America," he said in an interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson.This one seems a bit of a wash, although I think that the size, terrain, and isolation of Alaska create unique challenges for a governor that balance out the smaller population. Under the Alaska constitution, the oil belongs to the people of Alaska, and the oil companies lease the right to drill and sell it. I believe that the governor's office is responsible for any lease negotiations that come up, and for interfacing with the oil companies otherwise. Beyond that, I don't really know enough about the governor's role in managing Alaska's oil to comment. Though I do believe that is more than the governor of Texas does.
THE FACTS: McCain's phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she's no more "responsible" for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where Alaska is the largest state in America, McCain could as easily have called it the 47th largest state — by population.
MCCAIN: "She's the commander of the Alaska National Guard. ... She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities," he said on ABC.Again, I don't really know enough about how much interaction a governor has with their National Guard to comment here, though I do believe that any border state deals with national security issues. Additionally, unlike any other border state, Alaska shares a water border with a less-than-friendly nation with a history of aggression - Russia. Given Alaska's isolation from the rest of the U.S., that has to be a concern of any Alaskan governor.
THE FACTS: While governors are in charge of their state guard units, that authority ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. When guard units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, they assume those duties under "federal status," which means they report to the Defense Department, not their governors. Alaska's national guard units have a total of about 4,200 personnel, among the smallest of state guard organizations.
FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin "got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States."I have to think this is just jumping on a misstatement. My bet is that Huckabee intended to say that she got a higer percentage of the vote than Biden. For him to have meant it the way they say here would simply be non-sensical. Without knowing the actual numbers, of course, I can't say if he would have been right or not.
THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor's election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.
FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MITT ROMNEY: "We need change, all right — change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington — throw out the big-government liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin."I can't say much to that, except that Republican - especially over the last eight years - doesn't neccessarily equal conservative. Don't forget that one of the biggest complaints conservatives have had in recent years has been about RINOs - Republicans In Name Only. This is one reason "change" has been such a popular message this election, and why Gov. Palin is so popular with conservatives.
THE FACTS: A Back-to-the-Future moment. George W. Bush, a conservative Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year, Republicans controlled Congress. Only since January 2007 have Democrats have been in charge of the House and Senate.
A Texas man who shot and killed two men he suspected of burglarizing his neighbor's home was cleared in the shootings Monday by a grand jury.From ABC:
A Texas man who shot and killed two men he believed to be burglarizing his neighbor's home won't be going to trial. A grand jury today failed to indict Joe Horn[.]It may be my own bias, but CNN appears to be trying to be more neutral, or slightly favoring Mr. Horn. ABC is almost blatant in their opinion that he should have been indicted. But don't take my word for it. I encourage everyone to read both stories and judge for themselves.
