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Nearly half of the federal government’s firefighting air tankers are siting idle at a California airport, grounded by the Obama administration...

That didn’t take long. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) said they were expanding their probe into a troubled anti-gun-trafficking program, two days after the Justice Department announced a shake-up of officials who oversaw the program. Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) (AP Photo by Harry Hamburg) In a letter Thursday to Ann Scheel, the acting U.S. Attorney in Phoenix, Messrs. Grassley and Issa essentially put the Arizona district office on notice, saying its role “in the genesis and implementation of this case is striking.” They sought extensive documents – emails, memos, notes and the like...

(WASHINGTON) House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) today released the following statement regarding Department of Justice personnel changes involving Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke, ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory Hurley: "While the reckless disregard for safety that took place in Operation Fast and Furious certainly merits changes within the Department of Justice, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee will continue its investigation to ensure that blame isn't offloaded on just a few individuals for a matter that involved much higher levels of the Justice Department. There are still many questions to...

Sources say ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson is being moved out of the top job at the Bureau. It's not yet publicly known where he would go, but sources inside the Justice Department believe one option is a transfer to a position at Department of Justice headquarters. The Justice Department had no immediate comment, and did not confirm the move. Melson's move would be another in a number of high-level personnel shifts, as the Inspector General continues investigating the so-called gunwalker scandal at the Justice Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. ATF promotes "Fast and Furious" supervisors...

According to a release from Rep. Darrell Issa, (R-Calif.) his House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has scheduled new hearings into the on going Operation Fast and Furious scandal — this time they’ll be talking to ATF agents based in Mexico: “Operation Fast and Furious: The Other Side of the Border” will examine accounts of agents based in Mexico Washington DC– On Tuesday, July 26th, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will convene a hearing as part of the ongoing investigation into the Department of Justice’s Operation Fast and Furious, a tragically flawed effort that is connected to...

Border: A 2-year-old video shows a high Justice official saying "the president has directed us," including the attorney general, to speed up Project Gunrunner and the offshoot that got a border agent killed. This tape has no 18-minute gap, and while it does not feature the president himself, the March 24, 2009, video may rival the tape that turned a "third-rate burglary" into a presidential resignation. No one died at Watergate. Agent Brian Terry lost his life in the administration's obsessive pursuit of gun control. In addition to Agent Terry, Immigration Customs Enforcement Agent Jaime Zapata was also killed in...

UPI) -- Former U.S. Rep Dan Rostenkowski, who rose to be chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and went to prison in disgrace, died Wednesday. He was 82. Rostenkowski died at his summer home in Powers Lake, Wis., after a long battle with cancer, the Chicago Tribune reported. A onetime Washington political insider and power broker, Rostenkowski represented his Chicago 5th Congressional District in Congress for 36 years, rising to head the powerful tax-writing Ways and Means Committee that rewrote the 1986 U.S. tax code. The son of 32nd Ward Democratic Alderman Joseph Rostenkowski, Daniel was first elected...

Chairman Issa Chastises ATF for Refusal to Comply with Subpoena "If you do not comply with the subpoena, the Committee will be forced to commence contempt proceedings."   WASHINGTON. D.C. – Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform today, in a letter to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) Acting Director Kenneth E. Melson, criticized the Director for failing to produce any documents in response to a subpoena issued March 31. The subpoena was issued after ATF and Department of Justice officials failed to cooperate in good faith with...

SAN FRANCISCO -- The jury in the Barry Bonds convicted the seven-time MVP guilty of obstruction of justice, but the defense and prosecution agreed to a mistrial on the other three remaining counts. The judge, after speaking to the jury foreman, said she believes the mistrial is the proper decision given that the jury believes it has reached a crossroads. The jury is being brought back into the courtroom to read the verdict on the one count on which it agreed. The eight women and four men are returning the verdict after four days of deliberations. The jury has worked...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A leading House Republican warned the Obama administration on Thursday about demoting a federal worker who complained to her agency's internal watchdog that political appointees were interfering with records requests by journalists and others. Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said the demotion at the Department of Homeland Security "appeared to be an act of retaliation." The committee is investigating the political reviews of records requests under the Freedom of Information Act. "Obstructing a congressional investigation is a crime," said Issa, R-Calif. The department said it had done nothing wrong. -snip-...

Three police officers in a Pennsylvania town obstructed a federal investigation into the beating of an illegal Mexican immigrant to protect the accused white football players to whom the officers had personal ties, a prosecutor said Thursday. (snip) Police Chief Matthew Nestor and two subordinates obstructed the investigation by tampering with evidence and witnesses or lying to the FBI, federal prosecutors allege. They have pleaded not guilty. (snip) Defense attorneys rejected the government's allegations in their opening statements, calling their clients honest small-town officers doing the best they could under difficult circumstances.

She is the face of the Congressional Democrats. She is unreasonable, unrelenting, delusional and singularly partisan. She is liberalism unhinged. She speaks in staccato electioneering slogans, Jobs! American’s message was Jobs. We get it, Jobs. Yet, she doesn’t get it. By electing Pelosi as minority leader, Democrats show that not any of them get it. America’s message to Democrats was jobs two years ago when Democrats under the leadership Mrs. Pelosi, Ms. Peolsi was speaker of the House when they forced through healthcare reform over America’s objections. For two years, Democrats ignored Americans who needed jobs so that they could...

Sean Hannity got Bobby Jindal on the radio today to talk about the Gulf oil crisis and just let him go. One thing is clear: Bobby Jindal does not need a teleprompter to give you the entire run down on the Federal response to this crisis. In fact he spit out so much information I had to listen to this a couple of times because he really does lay it out in detail. The bottom line is what we all know already, that the Feds have botched this oil response royally from day one. But it’s the specifics that Jindal...

The White House apparently isn't going to be answering questions about a mystery uncovered by private investigators, who, working independently, found that President Obama is using a Social Security number set aside for applicants in Connecticut, while there is no record he ever had a mailing address there. WND previously reported the investigators discovered that the number was issued between 1977 and 1979 – while Obama's employment reportedly dates back to 1975 at a Baskin-Robbins ice-cream shop in Oahu, Hawaii. The questions were raised by affidavits filed separately in a presidential eligibility lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the...

Conservatism is about being not obstructionist, but principled. Imagine if someone told you that even though you are a Christian, in order to get along better with others, you need to put your religious beliefs on hold until 2012. Don't worry about that "salvation" thing for a couple of years. Or imagine if you were asked to love your parents a little less because your full-hearted devotion to them is getting in the way of showing your affection for others. Wait until the next election to prove your respect for your family. Diminishing these deeply held beliefs and feelings would...

President Obama tore into the Republican opposition on Capitol Hill Wednesday, blaming the GOP for what he called politically motivated opposition on virtually every issue. Democrats have been willing to incorporate Republican ideas on health care and other issues, he said, but Republicans have not been willing to do the same. Addressing a gathering of Senate Democrats, Obama promised to "call (Republicans) out when (Democrats) extend a hand and get a fist in return."

White House Blocks Testimony by First Lady's Ex-Top Aide in Walpin Case Republican efforts to interview a former top aide to Michelle Obama in the controversial case of a fired inspector general have been stymied by the White House, the the top Republican looking into the case said Tuesday Republican efforts to interview a former top aide to Michelle Obama in the controversial case of a fired inspector general have been stymied by the White House, the top Republican looking into the case said Tuesday. The White House counsel's office has blocked Republican investigators from interviewing Jackie Norris, former chief...

PHILADELPHIA—Leonard Luchko, 52, of Collingdale, PA, a former employee of Senate Democratic Computer Services, was sentenced today to 30 months in prison for conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Luchko pleaded guilty in August 2008 to 29 counts. He was a defendant in a criminal case in which former Pennsylvania State Senator Vincent J. Fumo was also a defendant. “This sentence should sound a warning of deterrence for other employees who do the illegal bidding of their bosses,” said Magid. The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division. It was prosecuted by...

41 Senate Republicans Send Letter To President Obama Urging Consultation On Judicial Nominees March 2, 2009 President Barack H. Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C.  20500 Dear Mr. President: We look forward to working with you as you consider nominees for the federal judiciary.  Unfortunately, the judicial appointments process has become needlessly acrimonious.  We would very much like to improve this process, and we know you would as well.  It is in that spirit that we write early on to suggest two steps your Administration can take to achieve that shared goal.   First, in the beginning...

Top Stanford official charged with obstruction Suzy Jagger in New York The woman whom US regulators had hoped would lead them to the heart of what they believed to be one of the world's biggest frauds, was arrested and charged with obstruction yesterday. Laura Pendergest-Holt, the former chief investment officer at Allen Stanford's frozen US financial empire, had agreed to assist investigators and had said she would fly from her home in Mississippi to Houston to help the receiver sift through Mr Stanford's assets. However, last night she was charged with obstruction. In earlier written affadavits, it was claimed that...