Upholding The Traditions of The F.B.I. And B.A.T.F.

This is disgusting. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms employs a man, Edward Bender, who, according to numerous individuals, is an outspoken racist. The man is a chemist who testified at the trial of John Muhammed and is scheduled to testify in the trial of Lee Malvo.

A supervisor and "Bender continually and loudly expressed strong racial prejudice using such words as 'jungle bunnies' and 'niggers' repeatedly," a 1991 FBI memo stated, recounting allegations from one of Bender's lab colleagues. ...

Bender "would not label instrumental output, follow protocols, wash glassware, clean the laboratory, leave his work area in clean condition though he worked trace analysis, was generally insubordinate and openly and extremely racially biased using racial slurs often in my presence," Whitehurst said. ...

"He joked a lot about blacks' facial features," Gregor said. "I do not consider Bender to be a serious bigot. He would make offensive remarks about anybody."

A 1992 FBI interview report quoted Bender as recounting "discussions which occurred after either he or Rudolph saw a street person out the window who was generally black. The comments would include a question as to whether that individual was formerly the mayor of a given city."

If these claims are true -- and Bender admitted to making "joking" racial comments but denied making certain slurs -- Bender and whoever is responsible for hiring him at the ATF should lose their jobs.

My suspicion is that we won't hear a peep about this from the Ruby Ridge Waco-ff Janet Reno-hating crowd -- unless they give an award to Bender.