Club Gitmo Guests Get Laptops, Email Lessons

This harsh detention just has to stop. What kind of monsters have we become?

These captives already get to order fast-food takeout from the base and have access to a phone booth for weekly calls. Now some 17 Uighur Muslims awaiting a nation to grant them asylum are about to go high-tech, with laptops and web training.

While awaiting details of President Barack Obama's order to close the prison camps by Jan. 22, commanders here have ordered 20 laptops for the captives of Camp Iguana.

''As you know, detainees are leaving this place,'' said Army Lt. Col. Miguel Mendez, who oversees detainee classes, a multilingual library and now-emerging virtual computer lab. ``We're getting them computer classes to prepare for their return.''

E-MAIL LESSONS

The Uighur detainees won't be sending electronic mail to their lawyers or family members back in communist China anytime soon.

Instead, the military is setting up an internal intranet web at the half-acre compound ''to teach them how to e-mail,'' Mendez said.

A federal judge last year ordered that the men be set free after reviewing the American military's reasons for holding them in habeas corpus petitions that reached the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. by order of the Supreme Court.

But the Chinese citizens in exile have no place to go.

As devout Muslims, they fear religious persecution in their homeland, in part because of the stigma of having been held at Guantánamo for allegedly getting paramilitary training in Afghanistan before Sept. 11, 2001.

Attorney General Eric Holder said some could come to the United States for resettlement, triggering protests from members of Congress around Virginia, where other Uighurs live and have offered to settle them.

Nury Turkel, a Washington, D.C.-based Uighur rights activist, hailed the computer training development. Internet access could allow the men to listen to Uighur broadcasts of Radio Free Asia, he said.

Moreover, laptops would help the men ''be reintroduced into a modern society,'' said Turkel, who noted that after eight years in U.S. custody the computer training ``also would give hope to the men that their freedom is nearing.''

What, like we didn't have email eight years ago?

WTF?

Egyptian Man Bobbitizes Himself

Seems to me maybe getting really drunk would be a better idea to get over something like this. But no, the guy goes and chops off his member.

A 25-year-old Egyptian man cut off his own penis to spite his family after he was refused permission to marry a girl from a lower class family, police reported Sunday.

After unsuccessfully petitioning his father for two years to marry the girl, the man heated up a knife and sliced off his reproductive organ, said a police official.

The young man came from a prominent family in the southern Egyptian province of Qena, one of Egypt's poorest and most conservative areas that is also home to the famed ancient Egyptian ruins of Luxor.

The man was rushed to the hospital but doctors were unable to reattach the severed member, the official added citing the police report filed after the incident.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the press, added that the man was still recovering in the hospital.

Seems to me marriage of any kind is pretty much unlikely now.

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Dude, Where's My Global Warming?

Brrr. A chill wind blows in upstate New York.

Local gardeners may want to take special measures to protect their plants this evening as a frost advisory has been issued for much of New York state, including Oneida County.

The advisory issued by the National Weather Service remains in effect until 8 a.m. Monday.

Temperatures are expected to fall into the mid-to-low 30s overnight, and a hard frost is likely as temperatures in colder areas approach freezing.

The bloated bag of wind Algore was unavailable for comment.

The Sound of Silence

Maybe someone in the Knicks front office can clandestinely send LeBron James a number 23 jersey now.

Just to see how it looks.

Head down and shoulders slumped, LeBron James headed off the court as the Orlando Magic streamers shot off above him.

Dwight Howard was hugging Hedo Turkoglu, dreams of Beating L.A. dancing in their heads. James wasn’t bothering to stick around to shake hands, offer congratulations or pretend there was a bright side to the Magic ousting his Cleveland Cavaliers from the East finals with a 103-90 victory in Game 6.

James was off the floor before the confetti could hit his shoulders.

He later dressed in silence in a corner of the locker room then put on some gold, oversized headphones and headed for the door. Normally one of the last to leave, he was now one of the first. With anger and frustration evident in each step, he charged through the back halls of Amway Arena without greeting anyone, got on the team bus and soon was off to the airport.

There was no looking for his mother, Gloria. There was no talking with Nike executives. And forget addressing fans and media – Mo Williams was left to answer for the defeat.

LeBron was gone. The King was silent.

Abortion Doctor Killed at Kansas Church

This is sure to go over well. Nothing like helping your cause by murdering someone.

George Tiller, a Wichita doctor who was one of the few doctors in the nation to perform late-term abortions, was shot to death on Sunday as he attended church, city officials in Wichita said.

Dr. Tiller, who had performed abortions since the 1970s, had long been a lightning rod for controversy over the issue of abortion, particularly in Kansas, where abortion opponents regularly protested outside his clinic and sometimes his home and church. In 1993, he was shot in both arms by an abortion opponent but recovered.

He had also been the subject of many efforts at prosecution, including a citizen-initiated grand jury investigation. In the latest such effort, in March, Dr. Tiller was acquitted of charges that he had performed late-term abortions that violated state law.

Update: A suspect is in custody.

Al Gore's Reporters To Go On Trial in North Korea

I still haven't heard a word about these two from the bloated environmental crusader. Makes me think he just doesn't care about their fate.

Apparently the smart diplomacy from Team Obama isn't making any headway, either.

As global powers debate how to punish North Korea for its nuclear defiance, two American journalists seized nearly three months ago face a trial this week in Pyongyang on charges that could land them in one of the country's notorious labor camps.

North Korean guards detained Laura Ling and Euna Lee, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV media venture, at the northeastern border with China on March 17. Activists who helped organize their trip say they had been reporting on North Korean women and children who fled to China for an uncertain life as refugees.

Pyongyang accused the Americans of engaging in "hostile acts" and crossing into communist North Korea illegally, and announced two weeks ago the women will stand trial June 4 in the nation's top court. Legal experts say conviction for "hostility" or espionage could mean five to 10 years in a labor camp.

Their detention and trial comes at a sensitive time in the diplomatic scramble to rein in an increasingly belligerent Pyongyang, which conducted an underground nuclear test last Monday and punctuated the defiance with an array of short-range missile tests. Diplomats at the U.N. are discussing a new Security Council resolution.

Oh my, another piece of paper sure to get the Norks in line.

In the meantime, get ready for another fireworks show.

North Korea also appears to be preparing to launch a long-range missile, a South Korean defense official confirmed Sunday. He asked not to be named, citing the sensitivity of the issue. U.S. military officials say there are signs of activity at North Korea's nuclear reactor that could indicate work to restart the facility and resume production of nuclear fuel.

Analysts warned North Korea could use the trial of the Americans to better its hand in the weeks before Obama and South Korea's Lee Myung-bak hold a White House summit June 16.

"Having two journalists detained in the North leaves the U.S. very little maneuvering room since Washington now has to take the women's safety into account," said Yoon Deok-min, a professor at South Korea's state-run Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security.

Isn't That Sweet: Bammy's Special Date Night On the Taxpayer Dime

Just imagine the howls of indignity from the media if George W. Bush shut down midtown Manhattan in the midst of a recession to take Laura to a Broadway show.

We'd never hear the end of it. But King Obama and Queen Worf get to do as they please, and the suckers in New York just lap it up.

The first couple left their girls, Sasha and Malia, behind at the White House yesterday afternoon, taking two helicopters and a small Air Force jet to make their way to Manhattan.

The Obamas were dressed to the nines -- Michelle in a sleeveless, black cocktail dress adorned with fringe, a pair of low, strappy heels and a turquoise clutch; and the president in a dark suit and white shirt, no tie.

The first stop after touch ing down at JFK was a meal at a low-key, but elegant, Greenwich Village restaurant, Blue Hill, which boasts farm fresh, locally grown dishes.

The Obamas were tucked into an out-of-the- way corner table where they enjoyed a multi- course feast specially prepared by the chef. They washed down the fine fare with wine, said a fellow diner, who also noticed Michelle relaxing with a couple of martinis.

Photographers were kept blocks away be hind barricades for the first couple's privacy.

"We left them alone the entire night," said Blue Hill diner Rachael Levit, of Manhattan. "Nobody asked for autographs or took any pictures. They were laughing and talking and seemed like they had a genuinely good time."

Oh, if you'd like to know how much this cost you, don't bother asking.

Taxpayers footed the bill for the big night on the town, which included a total of at least $24,000 for the three aircraft used to ferry the Obamas, aides and reporters to New York and back. Dinner costs and orchestra seat tickets -- at $96.50 apiece -- were paid by the Obamas.

Can we see a receipt?

Virginity Buyer Pulls Out

Probably the fact he's married has something to do with it. Or he was short on cash. Or maybe he got a good look at her. Whatever. But good news guys, she's back on the market.

She won't be taking her golden chastity belt off anytime soon.

The 22-year-old California virgin who auctioned off her virtue online for $3.8 million has yet to meet her winning bidder in the flesh -- because his wife won't let him.

Natalie Dylan (not her real name) admitted the deal had fallen through.

Last week, she got a phone call from the rogue Romeo, a 38-year-old Australian real-estate businessman, who said he had to back out.

"I told him to go back into marriage therapy," sniped Dylan.

The Aussie cad then sheepishly asked for his $250,000 deposit back. Dylan said no hard feelings; it would be returned.

Charlie Rangel, Comedian

Nothing like a tragic shooting of an NYPD officer to bring out the punchlines from amateur comedian Charlie Rangel.

There's nothing like a tragic police shooting to bring a tasteless guffaw out of Rep. Charlie Rangel.

Speaking yesterday at a rally in honor of slain cop Omar Edwards -- gunned down by a fellow cop in a case of mistaken identity -- the embattled congressman outrageously quipped that President Obama, in town for a date with First Lady Michelle, should watch his back walking around the Big Apple because he is black.

"Make certain he doesn't run around East Harlem unidentified," the controversial lawmaker snarked.

"If [he] did not have the Secret Service . . . around him, [city cops] wouldn't know if he was president of the United States."

The remark brought raucous cheers and laughter from the crowd of around 100.

Police union officials were quick to blast Rangel's remarks.

"If Congressman Rangel said . . . 'and waving a gun' he might be correct," the union official said.

A regular laugh riot, this guy.

Meanwhile, the corrupt slob won't be yukking it up over this investigation.

'I'll Miss My Wife and Children Very Much'

This is sure a novel approach to quitting smoking.

Smoker Geoff Spice is to spend a month on an uninhabited island in a desperate bid to quit cigarettes.

Geoff, 56 — who began smoking at 13 — will be dropped off with just a tent, food and water on tiny Sgarabhaigh in the Outer Hebrides, off the coast of Scotland.

The retired banker will have only sheep, seals and birds for company.

I hope he at least brings along some reading material.

He said: "I'll miss my wife and children very much, but hope this will lead to many years of extra life with them."

Even money the guys lights up as soon as he gets back.

Saudis Behead and Crucify Child Molestor

For all the whining about the use of the death penalty in this country, we're pikers compared to the Saudis and their strict interpretation if Islam.

Saudi authorities beheaded and crucified a man convicted of brutally slaying an 11-year-old boy and his father, the Interior Ministry announced.

According to the statement issued by the ministry Friday, shop owner Ahmed al-Anzi molested the boy and then strangled him with a length of rope. He then stabbed the boy's father to death when the man came looking for his son.

He hid both the bodies in his shop, the statement said, adding that al-Anzi threatened police with a knife when they came to arrest him.

Al-Anzi had previously been convicted of sodomy and owning pornographic films, a crime in conservative Saudi Arabia.

Crucifying the headless body in a public place is a way to set an example, according to the kingdom's strict interpretation of Islam.

Normally those convicted of rape, murder and drug trafficking in Saudi Arabia are just beheaded.

Megahed Charged With Terrorism

But, but, but he was just an innocent student with fireworks!

Oh, I guess not.

A federal immigration judge denied bail Friday to a 23-year-old engineering student from Tampa who has been charged by the U.S. government for engaging in terrorism.

The defendant, Youssef Megahed, has already been acquitted by a federal jury of related charges. But now, he faces essentially the same charges again in an immigration court, where if he is found guilty he faces deportation back to his native Egypt.

The undergraduate from the University of South Florida was arrested in 2007 in South Carolina with a companion, another USF student from Egypt named Ahmed Mohamed, driving a car that allegedly had explosives in the trunk. Mr. Megahed's companion explained the lengths of PVC pipe and chemical compounds were simply home-made fireworks that Mr. Mohamed planned to detonate for fun during a vacation. Mr. Mohamed later agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge of providing material support to terrorism — and submit to a 15-year sentence — while six charges of transporting explosives were dropped.

Mr. Megahed decided to fight those charges in court and was acquitted April 3 on four criminal counts stemming from the arrest. He had already served nine months in jail before making bail prior to the opening of his trial in March in Tampa.

But three days after the acquittal, Mr. Megahed was arrested a second time by federal agents at a local Wal-Mart store where he was shopping with his father. Mr. Megahed was charged under the Immigration and Naturalization Act as someone a U.S. official "knows, or has reason to believe, is engaged in or is likely to engage" in terrorist activity. He was also designated for deportation to Egypt, the country he emigrated from in 1998, when he was 12 years old.

I wonder if the Egyptians waterboard terror suspects?

Off His Meds: Ted Rall Calls for Obama's Resignation

We haven't mentioned this crank for over a year, ever since the time he called for the death penalty for George W. Bush. Showing that his looniness crosses party lines, crackpot Ted Rall opines in a column that Barack Obama should resign from the presidency.

We expected broken promises. But the gap between the soaring expectations that accompanied Barack Obama’s inauguration and his wretched performance is the broadest such chasm in recent historical memory. This guy makes Bill Clinton look like a paragon of integrity and follow-through.

From health care to torture to the economy to war, Obama has reneged on pledges real and implied. So timid and so owned is he that he trembles in fear of offending, of all things, the government of Turkey. Obama has officially reneged on his campaign promise to acknowledge the Armenian genocide. When a president doesn’t have the nerve to annoy the Turks, why does he bother to show up for work in the morning?

Obama is useless. Worse than that, he’s dangerous. Which is why, if he has any patriotism left after the thousands of meetings he has sat through with corporate contributors, blood-sucking lobbyists and corrupt politicians, he ought to step down now — before he drags us further into the abyss.

I refer here to Obama’s plan for “preventive detentions.” If a cop or other government official thinks you might want to commit a crime someday, you could be held in “prolonged detention.” Reports in U.S. state-controlled media imply that Obama’s shocking new policy would only apply to Islamic terrorists (or, in this case, wannabe Islamic terrorists, and also kinda-sorta-maybe-thinking-about-terrorism dudes). As if that made it OK.

In practice, Obama wants to let government goons snatch you, me and anyone else they deem annoying off the street.

Preventive detention is the classic defining characteristic of a military dictatorship. Because dictatorial regimes rely on fear rather than consensus, their priority is self-preservation rather than improving their people’s lives. They worry obsessively over the one thing they can’t control, what George Orwell called “thoughtcrime” — contempt for rulers that might someday translate to direct action.

Can you imagine the derision and howls of outrage that would ensue if, say, a Rush Limbaugh uttered these comments? OK, Rall is a virtual nonentity and nobody will probably notice this outside some blogs, but is he so nuts to think people are just going to be randomly snatched off the street? This is beyond fever-swamp nonsense. It's lunacy.

What Rall and the infantile left never seem to grasp is politicians make lofty promises to lure voters during campaigns and routinely renege on them once in office. It's called politics.

Any casual observer of this site knows we have little use for Obama or his policies, but let's get serious. He's been in office for four months and I don't recall seeing any serious commentator suggesting, let alone calling for him to resign. What, is Rall a closet Joe Biden fan?

If the people are disenchanted with Obama, they can send a message in the 2010 midterms and in the 2012 presidential election. Until then, Rall and any other crackpots, be they on the left or right, need to be more rational in their thoughts and not lose their minds in public.

H/T: OTB.

Linked at Hot Air. Thanks!

Hugo's Next Book for Obama

Maybe these two ought to start their own little book of the month club.

President Hugo Chavez says he has a new book for President Barack Obama: "What Is to be Done?" by communist Vladimir Lenin, founder of the Soviet state.

Chavez says he'll "give it to Obama at the next meeting."

"What Is to be Done?" is Lenin's political treatise on the role of intellectuals and the proletariat in promoting revolution, written more than a decade before he led the Bolshevik takeover of Russia in 1917.

Chavez gave Obama a copy of "Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent" by Eduardo Galeano at an April summit.

As with the previous book, I have a hunch Obama's already got this one in his library.

An Inconvenient Tennis Court

Oh, to be one of the beautiful people. Climb up on your soapbox and lecture us all about the environment while also becoming very wealthy (marrying money also helps). Yet when the moral preening ends and you need to expand your lavish estate, suddenly your environmental concerns take a back seat.

SELF-proclaimed environmentalist Laurie David is once again paving over protected wetlands in Martha's Vineyard to make improvements to her Chilmark estate.

The Vineyard Gazette reports that David, ex-wife of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star Larry David and executive producer of the global-warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," was fined $900 Tuesday after receiving a citation from the Chilmark conservation commission.

David was cited for violating the Wetlands Protection Act during the construction of a tennis court on her sprawling Chilmark property, when workers installed boards and stones to construct a path to the court.

But David -- who spent weeks on the road with Sheryl Crow in 2007 during their Stop Global Warming College Tour -- let her contractor, Bart Thorpe, take the fall for the violations. "She's obviously a very busy person, and she trusted the contractor," Thorpe told the Gazette. "I inadvertently made a mistake. It's something she had no knowledge of . . . It's a minor thing."

Maybe it wouldn't be such a major deal on the Vineyard if the supposed eco-obsessed celebrity hadn't been cited for the exact same violation four years ago. In 2005, David constructed a stone fire pit, a barbecue area and a children's theater stage in a wetlands area without a permit.

Because of the repeat offense, Chilmark officials fined David and required her to restore the area.

Oh, the horror. Now she may have to be airlifted into her tennis court in order not to soil her sneakers.

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NY Democrat Indicted on Assault Charges For Attack on Photographer

Classy bunch, these NY State Senate Democrats. This is now the second one indicted on felony assault charges this year.

Sen. Kevin Parker was indicted on multiple assault, harassment and criminal mischief charges today in connection with his May 8 attack on a New York Post photographer, Kings County DA Charles Hynes announced.

From the press release:

"The charges include Assault in the Second Degree, Assault in the Third Degree, Criminal Mischief in the Third Degree, Criminal Mischief in the Fourth Degree, Menacing in the Third Degree and Harassment in the Second Degree. If convicted, Parker faces up to seven years in prison.

An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of defendant’s guilt.

The second degree assault charge is Class D felony; criminal mischief in the third degree is a Class E felony. The others are all misdemeanors

Parker is the second Senate Democrat to be indicted on felony charges since the party took the majority last November.

The first, of course, was Sen. Hiram Monserrate, who also faces up to seven years in prison if he's convicted on charges that he assaulted his girlfriend with a broken glass.

Monserrate's attorneys are trying to get his indictment quashed, arguing that one of the grand jurors was a cop in the precinct that investigated him.

In response to the news about Parker, Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith's spokesman Austin Shafran offered the following comment:

"Sen. Smith has already taken the most severe action he is empowered to against Sen. Parker and now we will have to let the legal process run its due course."

Previously.

AP Identifies Corrupt Democrat as a Republican

C'mon, people, basic facts here.

A federal grand jury has subpoenaed a Democratic congressman in a corruption probe, the first concrete indication that a long-simmering Justice Department investigation of a top lobbying firm also has the potential to seriously damage congressional careers.

On Friday, Rep. Pete Visclosky, R-Ind., acknowledged the grand jury has demanded documents from his office, certain employees and his campaign committees.

Just one minor problem. Visclosky is a Democrat.

On the upside, they're also closing in on the corrupt John Murtha, who's properly identified.

The probe focuses on the PMA Group, a now-defunct lobbying firm that specialized in securing federal contracts for defense firms from Visclosky, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., and others on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee that Murtha chairs.

In his hometown of Johnstown, Pa., Murtha brushed aside questions Friday about one Pennsylvania defense contractor for whom he obtained $14.7 million in the last two years in congressionally directed funds called "earmarks." The Navy suspended the contractor a month ago for alleged fraud.

Murtha grew defensive when asked about the suspension at a news conference he held at a defense trade show.

"What's that got to do with me?" he asked. "What do you think, I'm supposed to oversee these companies? That's not my job. That's the Defense Department's job."

Testy, isn't he?

Here's a screen shot, just in case some of those layers upon layers of editors and fact-checkers return from happy hour and notice the mistake. Click to enlarge.

Stupidity on Steroids: Newspaper Runs Ad Calling for Obama's Assassination

This newspaper has some real sharp cookies working there.

A northwestern Pennsylvania newspaper is apologizing for running a classified advertisement calling for the assassination of President Barack Obama.

Warren Times Observer Publisher John Elchert says the ad appeared Thursday. It read, "May Obama follow in the steps of Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy!" The four presidents were all assassinated.

Elchert tells The Associated Press that the newspaper's advertising staff didn't make the historical connection.

I guess the Warren Times Observer doesn't have layers of editors and fact-checkers in the classified ad department.

Update: Here's a statement from their website.

An errant classified "personal" ad which appeared in Thursday's Times Observer has drawn the attention of law enforcement officials.

A person from Warren placed the ad, which apparently alludes to the wish that President Obama meet an untimely end by linking him with four assassinated presidents. The ad representative didn't make the connection among the four other presidents mentioned and mistakenly allowed the ad to run.

Upon realizing the mistake early Thursday morning, the ad was immediately discontinued and the identity of the person who placed the ad was turned over to Warren City Police as per newspaper policy. The local police department forwarded the information to federal authorities, as per department policy.

The folks there might want to start cleaning up their comments.

Another Choreographed 'Surprise' Stop for Obama at a Burger Joint

Here we go again.

For a health food nut, President Obama sure likes his burgers.

Obama made a surprise lunchtime stop at Five Guys, a fast-food restaurant in Washington.

The president ordered a cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, jalapeno peppers, and mustard as well as several other cheeseburgers to go. He also ordered a cheeseburger for Brian Williams, news anchor for NBC. The network was filming a day-in-the-life program at the White House.

The president snacked on peanuts, and chatted with surprised customers while he waited for his order.

There are "more problems than we thought," Obama told a man who asked him about his first months in office.

Early this month, Obama and Vice President Biden took a short motorcade ride from the White House to Virginia and ordered lunch at a small independent restaurant called Ray's Hell Burger. First lady Michelle Obama recently said she snuck out to a Five Guys restaurant without anyone noticing.

Sure, that's believeable.

Curious how those NBC cameras are always around for these 'surprise' visits.

Surprise! 'Real Housewife' of NJ a Former Criminal Coke Whore

Damn, this one sure had a lot of work done on her face. Meet Danielle Staub, formerly known as Beverly Merrill.

IF you thought the women on the "Real Housewives of New Jersey" were as hardcore as can be, you may soon be in for a bigger surprise.

In the weeks ahead, the show is apparently going to expose some blockbuster revelations about one of the cast members, Danielle Staub.

Staub has hinted on the show that she has some secrets. And now they seem to have been revealed in a out-of-print book about the life of a petty criminal and police informant.

The show's producers have not yet said what those revelations are. But the book, "Cop Without a Badge" contains some radioactive information.

It tells the story of ex-con and government informer Kevin Maher and his gal pal, Beverly Merrill -- who, in a mug shot in the book, bears a striking resemblance to Staub. According to the book, Merrill is described as a man-hungry hellion, who is busted with her boyfriend and winds up as a stripper.

Merrill becomes tangled up with Maher after her former boyfriend kidnaps a kid in a drug deal gone bad. Maher arranges a deal for Merrill, five years probation in exchange for pleading guilty to extortion, according to the book.

Merrill later marries Maher, but it doesn't last.

Afterward, according to the book, she changes her name to Danielle and takes a job as a stripper at the Satin Dolls club, the North Jersey club that subbed for The Bada Bing in "The Sopranos," A search by The Post indicated that a Beverly Merrill is connected to Staub though public records.

More here.

Danielle Staub's mugshot from 1986, when she went by the name Beverly Merrill, stripped in Jersey and was, according to the book, "a coke whore." The novel tells the story of Kevin Maher, a con man turned FBI informant who left his wife and son for Danielle/Beverly.

Bev is introduced in the book like so: "She was brunette. Long, perfectly shaped legs poked out of her leather hot pants just as provocatively as her bra-less breasts strained against her low-cut blouse."

Kevin and the bra-less wonder have "explosive sex" despite the fact that he feels Danielle/Beverly "has no morals." That, along with the fact she's not "mother material" leads Kevin to eventually leave her in the dust. And by "in the dust" I mean "on the pole" at a strip club called Shakers in Carlstadt, NJ.

Sergio Garcia Voted Prom Queen: 'It Was a Really Emotional Moment'

Following his crowning achievement, he went out and three-putted the 18th hole to cough up another major.

Oh, it's a different Sergio Garcia.

When an openly gay high school senior was voted prom queen at his Los Angeles high school last weekend, the school's students and officials not only accepted it, they basked with pride in being one of the most diverse and tolerant schools in the nation.

"Tears were almost falling down my face," said Sergio Garcia, 18, of the moment he was named prom queen at Fairfax Senior High School in Hollywood Saturday night, where he beat out eight girls for the crown.

"It was a really emotional moment," Garcia told ABCNews.com.

When asked what he thinks his award says about his school, Garcia did not hesitate to attribute his new title to the tolerance his school has for what might seem out of place to others.

It's all about the tolerance, baby!

Unless, of course, you find this nonsense kind of weird.

Traffic-Stopping Rack Identified

Apparently this ad posted on highway billboards is causing quite a stir over in Britain.

For obvious reasons. Naturally people really wanted to know who this rather delectable rack belonged to.

Now they know.

It has been the most talked about cleavage since Eva Herzigova's traffic-stopping Hello Boys! billboard campaign for Wonderbra in 1994.

And now the mystery of the cleavage on the recent M&S 'We Boobed!' campaign is finally solved.

The now-famous cleavage that has caused such a storm in a D cup belongs to 23-year-old Islington model Natalie Suliman.

As well as forming a campaign to promote the new range of quality silk underwear for M&S, the photograph was chosen by M&S for the ad apologising to the nation for charging £2 on bras above a DD cup, hence the worldwide coverage of the shots.

And even more incredibly, the 32E cleavage portrayed in the photographs is entirely natural, with no artificial uplift and no make up at all.

'When I did the shoot for M&S, the photographer didn't even want me to apply any fake tan or moisturiser as he loved my skin tone,' Natalie said.

'The Harem of Berlusconi'

This dude makes Bill Clinton look like a piker.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi faced fresh embarrassing revelations today after a magazine claimed he held a New Year's Eve party for 50 young girls.

Berlusconi, 72, has been under pressure for more than a month after it emerged he had a 'close relationship' with teenager Noemi Letizia.

Yesterday he denied having a 'steamy affair' with the 18-year-old and said he would resign if it emerged he had lied about it.

Today respected weekly news magazine L'Espresso printed a six-page article under the headline 'The harem of Berlusconi' as it revealed details of a New Year's party in 2007 at his luxury Sardinian villa.

The magazine described how 50 young girls were flown to Villa Certosa for a 'political course' which involved 'singing, dancing, shopping and lunch'.

L'Espresso said that the party on December 31st ended with a spectacular firework display and described it as a 'dream out of Pretty Woman' with the 'most powerful and richest man in Italy entertaining a group of actresses, models and wannabes'.

I wannabe Berlusconi for one night.

'I Am So Sad, I Don't Even Know What To Say'

When in doubt, marry the rich broad.

Blondes have more fun, but brunettes get the world's oldest teenager.

Archie is spurning longtime love Betty and proposing to Veronica in August's "Archie" No. 600.

"Yes!" Veronica Lodge yells on the cover of the comic as Archie Andrews slips a diamond ring on her finger and Betty Cooper looks on in tears.

"I am so sad, I don't even know what to say," the blonde says on the Archie Comics Web site in a blog post titled "Saddest Girl in the World!"

The self-involved Veronica, meanwhile, writes: "I am so excited, I am getting married to Archie . . . I wonder if Betty wants to be my maid of honor? I bet she is so happy for me!"

Betty probably should just wait it out. Archie will dump Veronica, get half her money and come crawling back. It's the Amwerican way.

Paging Randi Weingarten

Shocker! Another school teacher schtupping a teenage boy.

A Queens teacher had sex with her 14-year-old student, hooking up with the boy after school in an empty classroom, then bombarding him with hundreds of cell calls and texts, authorities charged yesterday.

Melissa Weber, 27, of West Babylon, LI, who teaches social studies at MS/IS 8 in Jamaica, had sex with the boy on seven occasions between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. from April 13 to May 14, authorities said.

And on seven other occasions, she allegedly engaged in inappropriate behavior with the boy.

"Don't tell anyone," Weber, also the boy's homeroom teacher, allegedly told him. "I could get arrested, and I could lose my teaching license."

Sources said the boy's mom grew worried after noticing her son acting oddly and cutting class.

She went to school to investigate on Wednesday, when several people -- including school workers and a student -- hinted at an inappropriate relationship between Weber and her son, the sources said.

The mom found the teacher's phone number, checked her son's cell -- and discovered hundreds of calls and texts between the two, the sources said. One of the last texts allegedly read, "Erase your phone."

Cops arrested Weber yesterday and questioned the boy, who admitted to the affair, the sources said. He had a calendar of the trysts, the sources said.

That's called keeping score.

Knowing those hacks at Randi Weingarten's UFT, they'll probably "suspend" Weber for the summer with pay.

Non-Crisis Continues: Norks Test New Missile

The Norks just unclenched their fist again.

North Korea has launched a short-range missile from its Musudan-ri rocket launch site on the country's east coast, a South Korean government official said Friday.

"What the North has launched this time appears to be different from what it had launched (previously)," the official said. "It is a new type of a land-to-air missile," the official said.

But don't worry, this isn't a crisis.

"I don't think that anybody in the administration thinks there is a crisis,"Gates said. "What we do have, though, are two new developments that are very provocative, that are aggressive, accompanied by very aggressive rhetoric."

Gates' comments, damping tensions, came after reports that U.S. and South Korean forces had been put on alert as North Korea said it was preparing for a U.S. attack.

It might be time for some more "sanctions" and strongly-worded letters.

Your Stimulus Dollars at Work: 'To Me, It Sounds Like the Federal Government Is Rewarding Bad Behavior'

Sure seems as if ACORN is doling out the stimulus money in Massachusetts. Then again, since they're a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Democrats, it really makes no difference.

If you had any doubt Obama's stimulus package was a boondoggle, you won't after reading this.

Criminal offenders, teen moms, dropouts, runaways and other wayward youths will score summer jobs with federal stimulus cash as most Bay State kids desperately scramble to land coveted seasonal gigs in a tight economy.

“To me, it sounds like the federal government is rewarding bad behavior,” said state Sen. Richard R. Tisei (R-Wakefield).

The state Department of Transitional Assistance will be using some of Massachusetts’ $1.3 million in Obama administration cash for jobs for clients’ children ages 14 to 24 who meet specific criteria, including:

* Lacking basic skills.
* Pregnant or parenting.
* School dropout.
* Homeless or runaway.
* Court-involved or an “offender.”
* An English as a Second Language learner or an immigrant.

“For the kids who really have their act together, I’d hate to see them being left out and summer jobs are not available to them,” said Senate minority leader Tisei.

Indeed, why reward the kids who play by the rules. Silly, misguided youth. Don't they realize they need to be useless slackers to be recognized by the Democrats? It's just amazing: A specific criteria is you lack basic skills.

As for kids who don't reside in the projects with Obama's Auntie Zeituni, forget about seeing any assistance.

“I don’t think the suburbs will see any of the money,” Tisei said. “The more you find out about the federal stimulus money, the more we find out what a boondoggle it is.”

Like Obama said, "You ain't seen nothing yet."

Howie Carr chimes in.

By the way, the money from the DTA summer job is “noncountable income for cash assistance.” In other words, you get to stay on the dole while you’re being paid to work.

According to the memo, the money for this program is coming from the stimulus funds, which we were told would be helping everybody, not just pregnant high-school dropout criminals.

So where is the empathy for the Dave and Ricky Nelsons of the 21st century? But then, the dirty little secret is out. When Sonya Sotomayor or Barack Obama talk about empathy, what they really mean is favoritism.

H/T loppyd.

Update: Jake Tapper exposes more stimulus fraud in Iowa.

'Death to Potatoes'

Some scandalous vote-buying by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Spud-gate?

In two weeks, Iran’s presidential election will determine whether Mahmoud Ahmadinejad remains in office and whether his country continues its drive to become a nuclear power.

The stakes could scarcely be higher, but it is the lowly potato that has been grabbing attention.

The Iranian government is handing out 400,000 tons of free spuds in rural towns. It says that it is merely distributing the surplus from a bumper crop, but Ahmadinejad’s opponents accuse it of bribing the poor. “Death to potatoes,” they chant at rallies.

The spat is instructive. To much of the world, the election is about the nuclear ambitions of a pariah state. To most Iranians, the economy is the main issue. Ahmadinejad’s rivals are savaging the record of a president who took office promising to give all Iranians a share of the oil wealth.

Iran has enjoyed revenues in excess of $300 billion, but the poor are worse off than before. By spending those revenues as if there were no tomorrow he has sent inflation, rents and property prices spiralling upwards while failing to tackle rampant unemployment.

He is seeking to divert attention from the economy by focusing on Iran’s nuclear program, a source of pride to most Iranians, and his refusal to bow to Western demands that he should suspend it. He has compared Iran’s critics to dogs, declaring: “If you retreat, they attack. If you attack, they retreat.”

Obama Spokesthing Whines About British Press

Savor the indignity that a foreign press corps isn't as slavishly devoted the The Won as the embarrassingly fawning White House press corps is.

How dare they cause us some headaches!

What a dick.

Sotomayor Ruled Against Blogger

Apparently this douche bag hack has a problems with people using the term douche bag.

President Barack Obama’s nominee to fill a Supreme Court vacancy has yet another tie to Connecticut. She sided against a student in the infamous “douche bag” case, and that has upset some free-speech advocates.

In August 2007, Judge Sonia Sotomayor sat on a panel that ruled against an appeal in Doninger v. Niehoff.

Avery Doninger was disqualified from running for school government at Lewis S. Mills High School in Burlington after she posted something on her blog, referring to the superintendent and other officials as "douche bags" because they canceled a battle of the bands she had helped to organize.

The case went to court and in March 2008, Sotomayor was on a panel that heard Doninger’s mother’s appeal alleging her daughter’s free speech and other rights were violated. Her mother wanted to prevent the school from barring her daughter from running.

Sotomayor joined two other judges from the 2nd Circuit in ruling that the student’s off-campus blog remarks created a “foreseeable risk of substantial disruption” at the student’s high school and that the teenager was not entitled to a preliminary injunction reversing a disciplinary action against her, Education Week reports.

Little Dictator to Reporter: 'You're a Disgrace'

That shalt not ask King Bloomberg a question he doesn't want to answer.

Mr. Paybarah: If the economy is turning around, as you said, does that mean the rationale for changing term limits—-

Mr. Bloomberg: I don’t know why … if we have a serious question…

At this point, Mr. Paybarah tried to finish his question, but he was cut off by the mayor.

Mr. Bloomberg: The rationale for extending term limits is that the City Council passed it and the voters will have a chance on Nov. 3 to say what they want. I don’t think we have to keep coming back to it. … If you have a serious question about the economy I will be happy to answer it.

After that Bloomberg looked exasperated, ended the press conference then leaned in, off mic, and told Paybarah, "you're a disgrace."

Dingy Harry on Bush 41: 'But Watch Out For His Wife; She’s a Bitch'

Classy guy, that dim bulb from Searchlight. Seems Harry Reid wrote a book last year and nobody noticed, but he comes off as his typical charming self, gushing with praise for former First Lady Barbara Bush.

Of course, Reid doesn’t always have nice things to say himself. While no one expects Reid to praise George W. Bush, the degree to which he is judgmental and catty regarding the former president pretty much speaks for itself. Three pages in, after lamely trying to establish his bipartisan bona fides by talking up George H. W. Bush, Reid shares this charming anecdote about his early days in the Senate: “[Former Texas senator and vice-presidential candidate Lloyd] Bentsen went on and on effusively about what a quality man President-elect [H. W.] Bush was. Then he paused and said, ‘But watch out for his wife; she’s a bitch.’ I have never had anything against Mrs. Bush, but guided by Bentsen’s crude advice, I’ve always said that our forty-third president is more his mother than his dad.”

What’s the purpose of recording for posterity a bit of hearsay defaming a woman Reid admits he has no cause to dislike? Is Reid really so petty as to insult someone’s mother? Why yes, yes he is.

This book was released in January 2008. According to Amazon, the gregarious Senate Majority Leader had readers flocking to soak in his wisdom. It currently ranks #231,849 in sales.

Popular guy.

Great News: We're On the Road to Becoming Zimbabwe

Such a comforting thought.

The U.S. economy will enter “hyperinflation” approaching the levels in Zimbabwe because the Federal Reserve will be reluctant to raise interest rates, investor Marc Faber said.

Prices may increase at rates “close to” Zimbabwe’s gains, Faber said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Hong Kong. Zimbabwe’s inflation rate reached 231 million percent in July, the last annual rate published by the statistics office.

“I am 100 percent sure that the U.S. will go into hyperinflation,” Faber said. “The problem with government debt growing so much is that when the time will come and the Fed should increase interest rates, they will be very reluctant to do so and so inflation will start to accelerate.”

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser said on May 21 inflation may rise to 2.5 percent in 2011. That exceeds the central bank officials’ long-run preferred range of 1.7 percent to 2 percent and contrasts with the concerns of some officials and economists that the economic slump may provoke a broad decline in prices.

Next thing you know, thugs will be taking over people's property. Oh wait, that's already happening.

The thug-in-chief last night told the beautiful people "you ain't seen nothing yet."

Wonderful.

"It won't be easy. There will be setbacks. It will take time."

The president conceded that his administration "had our fits and starts."

"I've made some mistakes, and I guarantee you I'll make some more," he said.

But Obama said in promising to continue to work hard, "Los Angeles, you ain't seen nothing yet."

Destroying our economy seems to be his primary goal. Of course, hoping he fails at this draws the ire of the weak-kneed among us.

Well, some of us are still willing to oppose this.

Update: Pat Dollard sends this via Twitter. It's all too real.

Only 45% Favor Sotomayor's Confirmation

That leaves 55% who think she's unqualified or who have no clue what's going on.

Of course despite only 45% saying she should be confirmed, 87% say she will be confirmed. Nothing like rolling over and putting an obvious hack on the Supreme Court.

Eighty-seven percent (87%) of voters nationwide believe Judge Sonia Sotomayor will be confirmed as the next U.S. Supreme Court justice. That figure includes 59% who believe her confirmation is Very Likely.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just five percent (5%) say her confirmation by the Senate is unlikely.

Forty-five percent (45%) favor confirmation of Sotomayor, who, if approved by the Senate, will be the first Hispanic member of the high court. Twenty-nine percent (29%) oppose her confirmation, and 26% are not sure.

Most Democrats favor confirmation while most Republicans are opposed. Among those not affiliated with either major party, 41% favor confirmation, and 29% are opposed. Hispanic voters favor confirmation by a 66% to 15% margin.

Wow, 15% of Hispanics think she's unqualified? Don't tell the media.

Peshawar Pakistan Exploding Today

I know a lot of folks like to poo poo Twitter, but when it comes to keeping in touch which things going on around the world that doesn't make out news it can't be beat.

I follow one of the Fox reporters David MacDougall and right now he is in Pakistan. So far today there have been 3 separate attacks carried out in the Peshawar district, and I received his updates via Twitter.

PAKISTAN: Death tolls vary in double Peshawar bomb attack. Local media says 2 dead, 60 wounded. My colleague is hearing 16 dead. Confusion.

PAKISTAN: 90 minutes after double bomb blasts in Peshawar market, local TV still showing a lot of chaos at scene, fires burning, smoke.

PAKISTAN: Ominous text. "God saved [name of cameraman] in the cross fire" Grateful my colleague is alive to bring video of Peshawar bombings

PAKISTAN: Local TV now reporting gunmen taken positions in a building, possible stand-off with police. Bring on those RPGs now boys!

PAKISTAN: New reports from Peshawar - another explosion? An attack on a checkpoint? No law & order

PAKISTAN: Latest attack is on a police post in Kohat Road in Peshawar. Explosion, gunfire reported from teams on the ground.

PAKISTAN: Local TV reports gunfire at main Peshawar hospital. My guy outside building says there WAS shooting, but all quiet now.

There is more. For those with Twitter accounts you can follow David here.

His last response to me was telling also.

@Just_A_Grunt I know, a series of attacks, right at the end of the work day on Thursday. Will any of it make TV news in the US? Let me know!

Manscaping: The Final Frontier

I'm into proper grooming and all that, but I think this is getting a bit carried away.

On the whole, the modern male has put up a rather pathetic defence against the process of enforced feminisation that began about two decades ago. Indeed, our primary response has been simply to mock ourselves — most recently by finding new and ironically humorous ways to combine the word “man” with the everyday nouns of our post-emasculation existence.

Thus a briefcase is now a man-bag; going down the pub with a friend is a mate-date (especially if one of you has a man-crush); the act of greeting said friend is a man-hug; the holiday you might discuss while supping on your mint-infused vodka would be a man-cation (on which you would almost certainly lounge poolside in a man-kini). And of course if you were ever to lose weight — rather than just obsess over calorie counts — that would make you a manorexic.

The variations on the man-word theme are of course endless and constantly evolving. The other day I found myself asking a supermarket employee where I could find the “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Light — For Men”. And the most fashionable Hollywood genre of the moment is the bromantic comedy (the latest example of which being I Love You, Man).

Which brings us to the final frontier, the last taboo, the great capitulation: “manscaping”.

Read no further if you're easily grossed out.

Then I asked around a bit, and discovered that a truly alarming number of my male friends were already tending regularly to their dark and musty backwaters. “Crack, sack, and back,” said one LA-based mate. “Get it done every month. I want my girlfriend’s to be as clean as a whistle, so I can hardly go around looking like the Beast of Bodmin, can I?” He then proceeded to inform me of a trimming device he had purchased from Amazon, which he described as the Ballmaster 3000. Never in my life had I ever felt so, well, married.

'We Thought San Francisco Was the World, and It Wasn't'

Doesn't sound like much has changed in San Francisco. They're still living on their own planet.

The woman who fired a gun at President Gerald Ford in 1975 and spent the next 32 years in prison said in an interview Thursday that she believed the country would change only through a violent revolution.

Sara Jane Moore told NBC's "Today" that she now realizes that her actions were "wrong ... a serious error."

The appearance was Moore's first TV interview since she was released on parole in late 2007, NBC said.

In September 1975, Moore, then around 45, fired on Ford as he waved to a crowd in San Francisco. A man near her knocked the pistol out of her hand and the shot went astray. It was the second failed attempt on Ford's life in less than three weeks.

Moore was sentenced to life in prison but released on parole in December 2007. She has lived in an undisclosed location since then.

It was during the long years in prison, she said, that "gradually I began to realize that I had let myself be used. ... I definitely think that it was wrong. I think I was misled. I think I was mistaken. I think I made a serious error."

Moore, who had been loosely associated with leftist groups in California, said she `wasn't prepared" for the things she learned about the extent of poverty and other problems.

"It was a time that people don't remember. You know, we had a war ... the Vietnam War, you became — I became — immersed in it," Moore said Thursday.

"We were saying the country needed to change. The only way it was going to change was a violent revolution. I genuinely thought that (shooting Ford) might trigger that new revolution in this country."

On politics, she said she now knows she was hearing only one side of the story. "We thought San Francisco was the world, and it wasn't."

Curious how long the left has sought change. Rather amusing to see how she was loosely affilated with leftist groups.

I always thought the left was all about peace and tolerance?

Be assured if a would-be assassin was loosely affiliated with a rigt-wing group we'd never hear the end of it.

'The Breasts Make Me Uncomfortable When I Play'

I've got to start watching more women's tennis.

STUNNING Wimbledon hopeful Simona Halep wants a boob job to reduce the size of her massive mixed double DDs.

Smasher Simona, 17, has been way out in front in junior internationals where her amazing form has won her an army of fans.

But the 5ft 5ins sports star has told how she thinks her 34DD bust is holding her back.

And now the Romanian beauty has booked herself into a private hospital for surgery.

Simona said: "This fall I'll have a breast reduction operation. The breasts make me uncomfortable when I play."

The starlet has been tipped as one of the tennis stars of the future after winning a host of junior titles and a place in the final of the junior French Open last year.

'Gaydar' Added to Oxford English Dictionary

It's one of 15 interesting new words added. Just faaabulous. Frankly, it should've been added a long time ago. I've had mine up for about 30 years, ever since my sister the former runway model took me to a couple of her shows in Manhattan.

Here's how it's defined.

noun informal a homosexual person’s ability to identify another person as homosexual by interpreting subtle signals conveyed by their appearance, interests, etc.

I don't think you need to be a homosexual to have gaydar. Seems anyone with functioning synapses can pick up on it.

Another new entry is surely something all of you can identify with: Cyberslacking.

Spending one's employer's Internet and email facilities for personal activities during working hours.

Now get back to work!

Meanwhile, I'm going to go do some ego-surfing.

Hot Air links. Thanks!

Napolitano to Canada: Stop Reminding Me of My Idiocy

Seems Janet Napolitano is yet another member of the Obama administration who doesn't like freedom of speech. What a shame. Maybe she shouldn't say such stupid things on the record.

U.S. Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano wanted to make it clear to Canada on Wednesday that she knows she misspoke when she erroneously said that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists entered the United States through Canada.

Napolitano, on her first trip to Canada since joining President Barack Obama's Cabinet in January, was discussing security issues with Canadian Minister of Public Safety Peter Van Loan.

Napolitano was trying to get past the diplomatic gaffe after an interview last month with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. in which she said—incorrectly—that the Sept. 11 terrorists crossed into the U.S. from Canada. The comments caused an uproar in America's neighbor to the north.

The Sept. 11 commission found that none came through Canada. But other extremists have, such as the would-be millennium bomber Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian convicted on multiple counts for plotting to bomb Los Angeles International Airport around Jan. 1, 2000.

"We know, and I know, that 9-11 terrorists did not cross the Canadian border. I regret that the Canadian media only seems to hear that earlier misstatement by me to that effect," Napolitano said at a brief news conference, adding that she wants to move on.

"So let me be perfectly clear: We know that. But what they also need to hear, and what you need to hear from me, are all the things we are doing with Canada, and will continue to do with Canada, to further our joint security because we share the same interests."

Other U.S. politicians have also claimed that the Sept. 11 terrorists entered the U.S. through Canada, a myth the Canadian government continues to try to dispel.

Van Loan said Canada has accepted Napolitano's correction and "moved on."

Opposition Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said in Washington last month that he thought Napolitano was seriously ill-informed about the border. Napolitano has also said that Canada "lets people into its country that we don't allow into ours."

AP fails to identify who these "other politicians" are who made such claims. Seems to me they're trying to give cover to Napolitano by saying others are as dumb as she is.

I always find it amusing when liberals are caught saying something idiotic, they want to move on. When a conservative says something dumb, they're never allowed to move on. Usually their careers are ruined.

Aren't double standards wonderful?

Man Calls 911 Over Missing Juice Box

Geez, I could see if they left out his Angus Burger or a large fries, but dude, it's just four ounces of juice.

A man who called 911 to complain that McDonald's left a juice box out of his drive-through order was arrested on Monday, Portland television station KPTV reported.

Raibin Osman appeared before a Washington County judge Tuesday on a charge of misusing emergency services. He said he called emergency dispatchers after the drive-through employee wouldn't come back to the window to give him a juice box.

"We ordered some food and we went home and our order wasn't in there," Osman said in the 911 call. "And my little brother is crying for his orange juice."

Osman's father, Raof, said the emergency call was an innocent mistake and that it escalated when the McDonald's employee laughed at the poor English of his son-in-law.

"We came back with our receipt and said, 'Hey, can we have our order? We paid for it,'" Osman told the emergency dispatcher. "And she was like, 'Oh, no, I can't do anything about it.' And she was laughing at my brother-in-law because he ordered the food and couldn't speak English right."

Meanwhile, the McDonald's employee also called 911 after feeling threatened by the men.

"I showed them that everything was correct and they got mad and told me to give them more food," the employee said in the 911 call. "And I told them, I can't give any free food away."

No doubt the ACLU will be called in for the inevitable lawsuit.

Obama the Comedian: Stimulus Has 'Saved or Created Nearly 150,000 Jobs'

Even his stenographer at the AP is finding this one difficult to swallow.

President Barack Obama on Wednesday hailed solar energy as a cost saver for a major Air Force base, one stop on a Western trip devoted to raising political money and promoting his economic policies.

Obama's aides had mocked reporters for making a fuss over his first 100 days in office, but the president was eager to assess the first 100 days of his $787 billion economic stimulus package.

It has "saved or created nearly 150,000 jobs," he said, including "jobs building solar panels and wind turbines; making homes and buildings more energy-efficient."

The White House job claims are difficult to verify because they are based on estimates of how bad the economy might have been without the stimulus rather than actual employment data. The country has lost 1.3 million jobs since February, a figure the Obama administration says would have been far higher if not for the recovery effort.

You have to be a complete imbecile to buy this nonsense, but he apparently still has faith in the 60 million gullible souls who voted for him.

No doubt the rest of his press minions will dutifully proclaim this absurd proclamation as fact.

At the current rate, the Obama economy stands to lose 20.8 million jobs by the time his disastrous term is up, but will have saved 2.4 million jobs due to the sheer magnetism of his personality and green jobs.

Flashback: Rush Limbaugh Opposed Sotomayor ... in 1997!

No wonder they call him the leader of the GOP. He saw her Supreme Court nomination coming 12 years ago.

On Sept. 30, the day of her confirmation hearing, Rush Limbaugh, the conservative radio talk show host, warned the Senate that Judge Sotomayor was an ultraliberal who was on a ''rocket ship'' to the Supreme Court. That day, Judge Sotomayor was questioned closely by Republicans.

In the end, the only Republicans to vote against her were Senator John Kyl of Arizona and Senator John Ashcroft of Missouri. The committee's other conservative members, including Orrin G. Hatch of Utah and Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, voted in her favor. Mr. Kyl and Mr. Ashcroft declined to comment today.

Carrie Prejean Guest Hosts Fox & Friends

A Fox News natural, if you ask me. Needless to say, she looks phenomenal.

Poor Kilmeade. It looks like his head's going to explode when she touches his hair around the 2:00 mark.

Here's more video. Those Fox folks know how to work it: Get her up on the stool showing the legs.

It's About Time: A Comprehensive Plan to Tax the Poor

Dude, where's my tax cut?

If you're one of the gullible Obama supporters who's been asking that question, well, you're not only not getting one, but plans are in the works to tax everything you buy.

Suckers.

With budget deficits soaring and President Obama pushing a trillion-dollar-plus expansion of health coverage, some Washington policymakers are taking a fresh look at a money-making idea long considered politically taboo: a national sales tax.

Common around the world, including in Europe, such a tax -- called a value-added tax, or VAT -- has not been seriously considered in the United States. But advocates say few other options can generate the kind of money the nation will need to avert fiscal calamity.

How about not spending us into a fiscal calamity? Has that thought occurred to any of the geniuses in Washington? We're facing trillion dollar deficits and we're going to pile on a trillion-dollar-plus health care scam.

Good luck with that.

"There is a growing awareness of the need for fundamental tax reform," Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said in an interview. "I think a VAT and a high-end income tax have got to be on the table."

Yeah, I guess just piling more taxes on us is considered fairness.

Of course we could just have a flat tax, but that would just be too simple for the solons in DC. Funny, but it sure seems to me the so-called progressives are awfully regressive.

A VAT is a tax on the transfer of goods and services that ultimately is borne by the consumer. Highly visible, it would increase the cost of just about everything, from a carton of eggs to a visit with a lawyer. It is also hugely regressive, falling heavily on the poor. But VAT advocates say those negatives could be offset by using the proceeds to pay for health care for every American -- a tangible benefit that would be highly valuable to low-income families.

Liberals dispute that notion. "You could pay for it regressively and have people at the bottom come out better off -- maybe. Or you could pay for it progressively and they'd come out a lot better off," said Bob McIntyre, director of the nonprofit Citizens for Tax Justice, which has a health financing plan that targets corporations and the rich.

Whenever you see something called tax justice, run and hide.

The left will argue this is the magic elixir to fund all their socialist programs but it will never be offset by tax reductions elsewhere, no matter what they tell you. The greed in Washington is just too great.

And in a paper published last month in the Virginia Tax Review, Burman suggests that a 25 percent VAT could do it all: Pay for health-care reform, balance the federal budget and exempt millions of families from the income tax while slashing the top rate to 25 percent. A gallon of milk would jump from $3.69 to $4.61, and a $5,000 bathroom renovation would suddenly cost $6,250, but the nation's debt would stabilize and everybody could see a doctor.

The problem there is the "rich" will still be demonized that they're not paying their "fair share" and the money will be frittered away, leaving us in the same bind we're currently in. So we'd just come full circle: paying even more federal, state, local and property tax while forking over another 10% minimum on every purchase. It's not the road to fiscal ruin, it's the expressway.

Lined with tolls, of course.

Painting The World White: Isn't That Racist?

This is a serious proposal endorsed by our new Energy Secretary, Nobel prize winning scientist, Steven Chu. He thinks painting everything white will reduce the effects of global warming.

Steven Chu, the Nobel prize-winning physicist appointed by President Obama as Energy Secretary, wants to paint the world white. A global initiative to change the colour of roofs, roads and pavements so that they reflect more sunlight and heat could play a big part in containing global warming, he said yesterday.

I have railed against Barry O's energy and environmental team from day one. They are the biggest bunch of global warming, Al Gore apostles out there and they are continuingtheir push to eliminate all carbon-based forms of energy through everything from their outlandish cap-and-trade policies, which will devastate the economy, to blocking any attempts at drilling for oil and natural gas to shutting down Yucca mountain to store spent nuclear waste, effectively shutting down nuclear power.

Of course, if North Korea manages to lob a nuke into this country or carries through on their threat to attack South Korea after announcing they will no longer honor the armistice signed in 1953, I wonder if Americans attitudes will change?

'I Think She Is Scared'

Sorry, sweetie, you're not all that. What you don't seem to understand is she wants nothing to do with you.

Really, who can blame her? She's going to appear on television with you so you can insult her some more?

Snap out of it.

Carrie Prejean has made it very clear that she has no intention of taking up Perez Hilton’s offer to "go for coffee and chat," but the Queen of Media thinks she is afraid of him.

"I think she is scared," Hilton told Tarts at a party last week. "I know so because she has refused to be on TV programs with me."

And even though Miss Universe owner Donald Trump said he would be more than happy to have the controversial blogger back at a judge at Miss USA, Hilton thinks Trump messed up by allowing Prejean to keep her crown despite her nude pic scandal and unauthorized press visits.

Expect Trump to pull the plug on this self-aggrandizing media whore before long.

This slob Hilton will be a historical footnote, at best, while the lovely Miss Prejean moves on to fame and fortune. The bitterness will eat him alive.

Researchers Discover Giant Blob Beneath Nevada

Naturally, he's the first thing I thought of when I saw the words giant blob.

Hidden beneath the U.S. West's Great Basin, scientists have spied a giant blob of rocky material dripping like honey.

The Great Basin consists of small mountain ranges separated by valleys and includes most of Nevada, the western half of Utah and portions of other nearby states.

While studying the area, John West of Arizona State University (ASU) and his colleagues found evidence of a large cylindrical blob of cold material far below the surface of central Nevada.

Comparison of the results with CAT scans of the inside of Earth taken by ASU's Jeff Roth suggested they had found a so-called lithospheric drip. (Earth's lithosphere comprises the crust or outer layer of Earth and the uppermost mantle.)

Here's how it works: "The Earth's mantle, which lies below the thin outer crust we live on, consists of rock which deforms plastically on very long time scales due to the heat and pressure at depth," West said. "In any material which can flow (including the mantle), a heavy object will tend to sink through lighter material."

And this is what the scientists think is happening with the lithospheric drip. A region of heavier material trapped in the lithosphere gets warmed up and begins to sink into the lighter, less dense mantle beneath, pulling a long tail of material after it.

"Honey dripping off of a spoon is a visual aid to what we think the drip looks like," West told LiveScience. "Dripping honey tends to lead with a large blob of honey, with a long tail of material following the initial blob."

Lil' Kim Missed the Memo About the World Loving Us Again

Funny, isn't it, how the world's dictators have become increasingly belligerent the past four months? All this yammering about hope, change and smart diplomacy is really paying off.

North Korea threatened a military response to South Korean participation in a U.S.-led program to seize weapons of mass destruction, and said it will no longer abide by the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War.

“The Korean People’s Army will not be bound to the Armistice Agreement any longer,” the official Korean Central News Agency said in a statement today. Any attempt to inspect North Korean vessels will be countered with “prompt and strong military strikes.”

South Korean President Lee Myung Bak ordered his government to take “calm” measures on the threats, his office said in a statement today. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary, Takeo Kawamura, echoed those remarks and called on North Korea to “refrain from taking actions that would elevate tensions in Asia.”

The threats are the strongest since North Korea tested a nuclear weapon on May 25, drawing international condemnation and the prospect of increased sanctions against the communist nation. South Korea dispatched a warship to its maritime border and is prepared to deploy aircraft, Yonhap News reported, citing military officials it didn’t identify.

The strongest threats in two days. Looks like they're not sitting around waiting for a call from Mrs. Clinton, who has mysteriously fallen off the radar in recent days.

Seems to me Lil' Kim smells weakness.

Had they not heard that Obama wants to "usher in a new era of diplomacy"?

Actually, they likely realize it all too well.

For one, Obama's fondness for talking has done much to reassure the world's bad actors that they needn't fear anything more from the US -- at least in the short run.

Plus, Iran and Korea seem to grasp the most basic rule of diplomacy: If you are going to negotiate, be sure to do it from a position of perceived strength.

Far better for America to be seen begging meekly for an audience after their show of force -- rather than the other way around.

That's something Obama needs to grasp pronto -- before the world becomes an even more combustible place.

If that's possible.

Of course some will do what Obama reflexively does and blame Bush. Good luck selling that argument to anyone outside of the leftwing blogosphere and MSNBC.

First, on the political front, North Korea's Kim Jong Il has challenged President Obama more in four months than he did President George W. Bush in eight years.

Since Obama has taken office, North Korea has kicked out UN nuclear inspectors, launched both short- and long-range missiles and tested a nuclear weapon.

It's not clear why the dictator has chosen to badger Obama, especially considering the president's promises of a kinder, gentler touch when it comes to rogues. But it's definitely not good news for Uncle Sam -- and the conclusion has to be that more provocations are coming in our direction.

The question is: When and how big will the next one be?

Well, Team Smart Diplomacy may want to look south.

Bolivia denied supplying uranium to Iran for its nuclear program, saying Tuesday that it has never produced the metallic element, a key ingredient for nuclear energy and weapons.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez joined top Bolivian officials in dismissing the allegations after a secret Israeli government report accused both nations of providing Iran with uranium.

Bolivian Presidential Minister Juan Ramon Quintana called it nonsense and labeled Israel's intelligence agency a bunch of incompetent "clowns."

I fear we have our own incompetent clowns here in DC.

Meanwhile, the clown-in-chief made no mention of the growing world threats while partying in Las Vegas. The man does have his priorities in order.

“It is good to be back in Vegas,” Mr. Obama told supporters gathered in the Poker Tournament Room at Caesar’s Palace. “I thought I had a good room at Ceaser’s, but now that I am president they upgraded me. They have been stashing away a really nice room. It’s like one of those high-roller rooms. And now I have it because I am president.”

Kooky Columnist on Prop 8: Hey, Imaginary Kids Support Us, So We Won!

Trying to pretend everything's coming out swell, hate-filled San Francisco columnist Mark Morford deludes himself into thinking he's on the winning team.

His evidence? Some mythical kids conjured up in his imagination, of course.

Why, it's just a matter of time until Alabama and Mississippi ratify gay marriage as well. I guess he still refuses to believe the overwhelming majority of black voters do not support the radical gay agenda.

Head on down to your local high school -- hell, make it a junior high or even an elementary -- and take yourself an informal survey. Ask the various wary, bepimpled youth of Generation Tweet what they think about those scary gay people getting married.

Ask them, in your most panicky, alarmist, Mormonified voice: Aren't they horrified at the very idea? Aren't they shocked at the very thought of two people in love having their union officially recognized and validated by the state?

Don't they know the musty ol' Bible mutters some barely coherent, mistranslated silliness about it in a single word or two written 1,500 years ago in a long dead language by acidic church elders with powermad political agendas and violently repressed libidos who nevertheless wish to instruct us all how to live and love and screw?

Please note the response. Please observe how the kids merely look at you as though you're more than a little bit deranged and prehistoric, so out of touch you might as well be Dick Cheney talking up the diesel-powered rectal thermometers he so loved back in World War I.

Classy.

Read the rest and pity this pathetic soul. Can't wait to see what he has to say when the next proposition ballot loses by an even greater number as voters rejects the even more strident, in-your-face radicalism of the militant gay left.

Norks Launch Another Missile As Obama Hits Vegas for Fundraiser

I imagine Obama was working on his putting stroke on his way west to shake down some fatcats for Dingy Harry.

The cards may not be stacked in President Obama's favor as he arrives in Las Vegas tonight for a fundraiser with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev..

More than three months after the president's comments suggesting executives avoid using taxpayer money to fund trips like junkets to Vegas, Obama could receive a lukewarm reception Tuesday at Caesar's Palace.

I guess while he's off on fundraising junkets somebody's back monitoring what he yesterday termed a grave crisis, one turining more grave by the hour.

North Korea has fired off another missile, the latest in a series since its nuclear test two days ago, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said Wednesday.

The North fired a short-range missile into the Sea of Japan (East Sea) overnight, it quoted a Seoul government source as saying.

"Intelligence authorities are now closely monitoring the situation," the source said.

The communist state fired three short-range ground-to-air missiles from locations near its east coast on Monday, the same day it conducted an underground nuclear test that shocked the world.

Shocked the world? Who exactly is shocked by what they do any more?

As for the grave crisis, all Obama says is I'm going to Vegas, baby!