All Four Were In The United State Illegally.

No kidding. Actually it sounds like all involved were in this country illegally, only four are being prosecuted.

I know by now stories like this are becoming ho-hum, what's new, but these are the kind of stories that our liberal friends like to ignore and leave out of the healthcare debate. Why does this belong into a healthcare story?

Who do you think pays when these girls contract a sexually transmitted disease or need to be treated for any other ailment so that they can continue to pursue their indentured servitude?

According to the federal investigation, Cortes-Meza enticed poor girls and women — 14 to 28 years old —to leave rural Mexico for the United States. He promised them better lives, jobs and husbands even as he was planning to force them to have sex with as many as 30 men per day. He took most of the money they earned as prostitutes.

Certain counties around the Atlanta area have gotten very aggressive recently in pursuing illegal aliens and trying to get them sent back home. The problem is that as one county squeezes them they simply move to another, but even the illegals have figured out the system. They are now avoiding the "Red" counties and fleeing into the already bankrupt "Blue" counties, who of course merely whine louder and beg harder for others to pony up more tax money to bail them out.

Of course now the good citizens of Georgia are going to have to pay for 3 hots and a cot for these folks while they are guests of the penal system.

Cash For Clunkers In The Crapper

Well that didn't take long. A program to buy back old energy inefficient vehicles has apparently run out of money 4 days into a program that was supposed to last until October. You got to love government efficiency.

Transportation Department officials called lawmakers' offices earlier Thursday to alert them of plans to suspend the program as early as Friday. But a White House official said later the program had not been suspended and officials there were assessing their options.

These folks want to control your healthcare. This administration is posting one failure after another. The stimulus package that didn't stimulate, a cap and trade policy that right now is capped in congress, and an attempt at card check that got checked at the door.

This morning Libertarian Party former presidential candidate, Wayne Allyn Root, was participating on a panel discussion on Fox and Friends talking about the near beer BS session last night and he brought up the case of the Mustang Ranch in Nevada.

The Mustang Ranch was a highly successful brothel in Nevada, that is until the owner got caught for not paying taxes, and since he wasn't an elected official, got sent to jail. The government took over control of the enterprise and within a year the ranch was out of business. How bad do you have to be to go bankrupt running a whorehouse??

Anyway there are reports all over the place of dealers not being able to get reimbursed from the government for car deals they have already made, that had been approved and now with word that the entire program may be out of money I hope y'all are enjoying all this hope and the change in your pocket.

THE JERUSALEM OFFENSIVE

John Bolton spells it out here....

Legions of senior American officials have descended on Jerusalem recently, but the most important of them has been Defense Secretary Robert Gates. His central objective was to dissuade Israel from carrying out military strikes against
Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities. Under the guise of counseling “patience,” Mr. Gates again conveyed President Barack Obama’s emphatic thumbs down on military
force.

He is right, of course.

Emperor Obama wants to win the plaudits of the Arab Nations and so ensuring Israel backs away from defanging Iran is a key strategic objective in this region. Bolton goes on to add...

Relations between the U.S. and Israel are more strained now than at any time
since the 1956 Suez Canal crisis. Mr. Gates’s message for Israel not to act on
Iran, and the U.S. pressure he brought to bear, highlight the weight of Israel’s
lonely burden. Striking Iran’s nuclear program will not be precipitous or poorly
thought out. Israel’s attack, if it happens, will have followed enormously
difficult deliberation over terrible imponderables, and years of patiently
waiting on innumerable failed diplomatic efforts. Absent Israeli action, prepare
for a nuclear Iran.

It seems to me that Israel has around 12 months or less to attack Iranian nuclear sites before that option is permanently removed from the menu by the Mullahs finally gaining nukes. At that point, everything changes, with other Arab states then seeking to get nukes themselves lest they become serfs to a belligerent Islamic and atomic Iranian Republic.

I'm not sure how Netanyahu deals with this. Under Obama, the US is no friend of Israel. Under Ahmadinejad, Iran is a rogue and dangerous State seeking the means to wipe Israel off the map. The question must be one of WHEN Israel strikes rather than IF Israel strikes. But if a second holocaust is to be avoided, strike it must.

DEGENERATE CULTURE

This is what happens when a nation engenders a welfare culture and abandons all sense of personal responsibilty;

A pregnant woman who has already had 13 children taken into care last night vowed to keep on giving birth until she is allowed to keep one.

Theresa Winters has spent almost half of her life having babies, but has not been allowed to keep any of them beyond the age of two. Even her own sister believes that she should be sterilised.

But Miss Winters, 36, a heavy smoker who was herself taken into care as a teenager, insisted it was time for a 'second chance'. She accused social workers of failing to help her achieve her deepest wish of having a family with her second partner, Tony Housden.

The way to prevent this serial degeneracy is to stop ALL welfare payments and ensure that Ms Winters starts paying her way. It is terrible that she has such little self-respect but she is by no means that exceptional in thinking that it is for the STATE to be the father to her brood. When socialism enters the body politic the consequences become apparent at every level.

PASSING OF AN ERA

It is the passing of an era.

Hundreds of people have lined the streets of an English town to watch the funeral of one of Britain's last World War I veterans. Henry Allingham, who was in the Royal Naval Air Service in the war and later with the RAF, was the world's oldest man when he died 12 days ago aged 113. Since his death, the last WWI veteran in Britain, Harry Patch, has also died. Mr Allingham's funeral was followed by a flypast of five replica WWI aircraft. The veteran was being buried with full military honours.

The death of these men is cause for a moment of reflection. Like so many of that generation they served their country proudly, fought the enemy and did not apologise for it. The military tradition is an ancient and honourable one but it almost seems incompatible with the wishes of the modern liberal media that seeks to undermine the inherent nobility of our warrior class. God bless - Henry Allingham - you served your country well.

Suspended For Running Background Check On Obama

Remember the whole Joe the Plumber debacle? In that case a private citizen had his private life investigated and exposed for daring to assert that then presidential candidate Barack Obama might have some economic policies that weren't in the best of tradition of the free enterprise system that had has made America still the envy of the rest of the world by a government employee. I, and most others, spoke out against that so to stay consistent I must say that these guys shouldn't have done this either without some sort of justification, however I do find it odd that they get suspended right away after an inquiry from the Secret Service.

The United States Secret Service notified county officials that DeKalb County computer equipment was utilized to do a query on the President.

Such behavior, said William “Miz” Miller, DeKalb Public Safety director, is not to be tolerated.

The message should be clear. If you are going to do this sort of thing you need to be prepared for Big Brother to come a knocking. It no longer seems to matter whether you do this from home or work, a well placed phone call will find you on the wrong side of the powers that be.

I am not defending the officers, although I will bet at the time the officers were more curious then they had any sort of malevolent intent. What is even more ironic is that Dekalb county, a suburb of Atlanta voted overwhelmingly for Obama.

Be careful out there boys and girls, and don't use government equipment to do research.

Helpful Hints From ACORN?

French Observer Finds 'Dead Souls'
French National Assembly member Henri Plagnol told RFE/RL correspondent Ahto Lobjakas that he personally uncovered serious problems on a voter list in Orhei Vechi, a town outside the Moldovan capital [Chisinau Ed.] known for its monasteries, during his monitoring on election day.

Concerns have been high over the number of "dead souls" on voter lists, since their presence makes election fraud easier.

Plagnol said polling-station officials in Orhei Vechi initially dismissed his queries after he noticed pencil markings next to names on the voter list.

Eventually, the embarrassed officials gave up the ghost themselves: "I was told these people were dead," Plagnol said.

Monsieur Plagnol should read up on elections in Chicago. Those folks are rather well-versed in turning out the graveyard vote.

Allowing the dead to vote this past April caused all hell to break out in Moldova. Many are looking at the shenanigans that occured during yesterday's vote see only that it's deja vu all over again.

Yogi Berra is hard to translate. You have to understand America. And baseball. And Yogi himself. Viktor Chernomyrdin, who understands none of these things, nonetheless coined a Russian equivalent of Yogi's famous remark that "this is deja vu all over again."

The equally malapropistic Russian statesman, explaining in 1993 why Russians' savings would be wiped out, elucidated that "we wanted to do better, but it turned out like always."

As the dust settles, these two pieces of worldly wisdom will likely sum up Moldova's controversial repeat elections. Twitter-driven suspicion that thousands of "dead souls" had voted from the grave in April to extend Communist rule resulted in massive street protests. Things turned ugly and rioting led to a torched parliament, torture of detained protesters, at least three deaths, and a political stalemate.

Today's vote is part of a continuing contest for the broad strokes of Moldova's future: accelerated reform and EU integration or a place in Russia's coveted "privileged sphere of influence." Clean elections and political reconciliation are needed to put Moldovan society back together after April's trauma.

Unless I've missed it, both BarryO and That Woman have been silent on this. Must be afraid of getting Putie pissed off.

Regrettably, the process may once again be flawed and the outcome challenged, either on the streets or in the courts. Many have alleged that the Communists widely used harassment, biased state media, selective prosecution, and "administrative resources" to limit the opposition's chances. Perhaps most importantly, three well-regarded Moldovan NGOs each verified the voter rolls and found their quality and accuracy troublingly unchanged from last time.

These groups report that only 11 percent of the lists checked were fully correct; the rest contained either dead or duplicate souls, ineligible voters, incorrect information, or had not been published for public review.

One group said the Central Election Committee had "obstructed the monitors' work" and "ignored its legal obligations" by denying them access to the lists. Another uncovered serious problems that "place in doubt the quality of the voter rolls" -- including extensive, unexplainable increases in the number of voters from just three months earlier.

Pre-election polling suggests that this time around it will be the Communists who garner a sufficient bloc of seats to stonewall the coalition needed to elect the country's president and move ahead with the nation's business.

If so, Yogi and Viktor's sagacity will once again, sadly, mark Moldovan political life.

-- Louis O'Neill was OSCE ambassador and head of mission to Moldova from 2006-08

Via Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Community organizers from ACORN were unavailable for comment.

PROTECTION SOURCES

So who would have thought that Hillary Clinton deserves kudos for standing UP for US intelligence agencies against enemies abroad, in this case the UK?

It's reported that La Clinton has told British FOREIGN Secretary Mr Bean (aka David Milipede) that America would consider cutting security co-operation with the UK if a British court releases information about a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, Mohammad Binyam.

US readers may not be fully aware that the British left wing media have turned Binyam into a martyr and poster boy for innocence ever since he was released from Gitmo. In true Jihadist tradition, he has claimed that he was tortured him after he had been captured having accidentally wandered into a Jihad training camp in Afghanistan. He is now claiming redress through the UK liberal courts

and there is the possibility that US intelligence may be made public so compromising sources. Clinton is absolutely right to have made this threat and I trust that the UK Judiciary get their priorities right and ensure they protect sources and friends abroad.

Here A Nazi, There A Nazi

Tensions Mount in Neo-Nazi Hotel Case
Despite efforts to have them evicted, right-wing extremists in Germany continue to occupy a hotel building they plan to turn into a training center. And now police fear a violent clash between local left-wingers and their new neo-Nazi neighbors.

Bullets have been fired and weapons confiscated. But as tensions between left and right wing groups mount, a court has rejected an application to evict a group of neo-Nazis from a disused hotel in the village of Fassberg, in the northern German state of Lower Saxony.

The Hotel Gerhus went into receivership just one day before Jürgen Rieger, deputy leader of the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD), signed a 10-year lease on the property. That has sparked controversy about whether the neo-Nazis are there legally or whether they are squatting.

The receiver himself, Jens Wilhelm, had hoped to be granted a court order this week to force the neo-Nazis off the property. But he was unsuccessful and will now have to wait for a court hearing at the end of the month. Reacting to the decision, Wilhelm told Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper: "What could be more urgent than vacating an illegally occupied hotel?"

Guns Fired, Fears of Violence

And as Wilhelm's frustrations grow, so too do those of left-wing groups outraged by reported plans to convert the hotel into a neo-Nazi youth camp and training center. After shots were fired in the area over the weekend -- nobody was injured -- police seized pepper spray from two left-wingers and a baton from a group of right-wingers. Local police are also stepping up their presence because of fears of a violent clash between left and right. Local police spokesman Christian Riebandt said: "We have squad cars patrolling the area around the hotel around the clock."

The right of the neo-Nazis to remain in the 80-room hotel will be depend on whether a court deems their current lease -- signed off by the debt-ridden owners just one day before they went into receivership -- legal and valid.

Should the court rule that the lease is valid, it wouldn't be too surprising to hear that Anarchists have gone on a whoopass spree cleaned up the neighborhood.

Via Spiegel Online

The Obama's Taxpayer Funded Summer Getaway

Proving that the economy is only worrisome to average working folks, and unfettered by having to live within a budget the Obamas are going to spend even more of your money on a a quaint little summer getaway on a property in Martha's Vineyard that rents for $50,000 a week and is valued at $20 million.

The absolute arrogance of this couple and the willful blind eye that our press has in regards to their extravagant taxpayer spending ways is really beginning to grate on my last good nerve.

The farm features a swimming pool, golf practice facilities — Mr Obama plays regularly — a basketball court, access to a private beach and a rental price tag of up to $50,000 (£30,000) a week.

No deal has yet been struck on the property, but the rental agreement being negotiated has reportedly been split into three separate leases: one to be held by the Obamas — and paid for out of their own pockets — one by the Secret Service, and a third by the White House, which will be sending a large entourage to Martha’s Vineyard to accompany the President.

So far the family has traveled all over the world on our dime with Michelle making shopping trips in France and elsewhere, he is always jetsetting to a different location every week, apparently still in campaign mode, to sell his latest governmental grab, and spent tons of money taking photos of New York and frightening the citizens in the process and all the while the employment numbers get worse and the deficits continue to grow.

What happened to the press who couldn't wait to label President Bush as an absentee president everytime he went to Crawford to his ranch? Where are they now? Former President Bush had nothing on Obama when it comes to hitting the golf links either. I think the last item I saw on that was that Barry O had been golfing something like 10 times in the last 10 weeks.

How's this for change?

The Obamas are reported to be determined to pay their way — unlike the Clintons, who stayed at Martha’s Vineyard regularly during their years at the White House but who were always put up by other people and thus stayed rent-free.

By paying their own way they mean that the bill for the Secret Service and the advance team will be paid by us and I really want to see the expense report to see what the Obama's share comes to. Not bad for a couple who on the campaign trail complained about just recently being able to pay off their student loans and needed some big time help on what some consider a shady deal to purchase their home in Chicago.

Creating Jobs The Obama Way

DOE denies USEC's loan guarantee; layoffs coming
The Department of Energy has denied USEC Inc.'s application for a $2 billion loan guarantee, and the company has started "demobilizing" the American Centrifuge Project, which currently employs about 450 at its Oak Ridge manufacturing site.

"There will be layoffs," USEC spokeswoman Elizabeth Stuckle said this morning. However, the number and the timing of those layoffs has not been determined, she said..

"We will have more details later on. All those details we're still figuring out," Stuckle said.

USEC Chief Executive Officer John K.Welch, after learning that DOE would not grant the loan guarantee, made this statement today:

"We are shocked and disappointed by DOE's decision. The American Centrifuge met the original intent of the loan guarantee program in that it would have used an innovative, but proven, technology, reduced greenhouse gas emissions and created thousands of immediate jobs across the United States.

"Our application has been pending for a year, and we have addressed any concerns the department raised. Technically, we operated the American Centrifuge technology in a lead cascade for approximately 235,000 machine hours. Financially, we have invested $1.5 billion dollars in the project and offered $1 billion of additional corporate support. It is unclear how DOE expects to find innovative technologies that assume zero risk, but the American Centrifuge clearly meets the energy security and climate change goals of the Obama administration."

The company has been pushing every button possible in recent months to save the multi-billion-dollar uranium-enrichment project under construction at Piketon, Ohio, and had threatened to start scaling down the work if DOE didn't proceed. Elected officials from Tennessee, including Gov. Phil Bredesen, U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, and U.S. Reps. Zach Wamp and Lincoln Davis, had gone to bat for USEC and urged Energy Secretary Steven Chu to intervene and help back the program touted as a key part of the nation's nuclear renaissance.

Interestingly, Chu is an advocate for nuclear energy.

USEC's threats to shut down the centrifuge project apparently will now proceed, although Stuckle said the tech development program in Oak Ridge and Piketon would continue. Bob Eby heads that effort in Oak Ridge.

Welch said of the demobilization plan: "Instead of creating thousands of jobs across the country, we are faced with losing them. Instead of reducing our dependence on foreign sources of energy, we are now increasing it. President Obama promised to support the loan guarantee for the American Centrifuge Plant while he campaigned in Ohio. We are disappointed that campaign commitment has not been met."

Earlier this year, the U.S. Enrichment Corp. and Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services announced plans to form a joint venture known as American Centrifuge Manufacturing LLC, which became the lead organization in production of centrifuge machines for the new uranium-enrichment plant in Ohio.

USEC, a Maryland-based company, holds a 55-percent interest in the newly formed partnership that manages the manufacturing program that was supposed to produce about 11,000 machines eventually. Babcock & Wilcox hold sa 45 percent stake in the joint venture.

USEC said the total value of the joint venture's operations was expected to exceed $1 billion. Carl Durham is president of the joint venture.

Currently there are about 450 people working on the American Centrifuge Project in Oak Ridge, with about 250 belonging to USEC and about 200 of them with B&W.

Meanwhile, USEC stock is in a nosedive.

Via knoxnews.com

Bawney Fwank Leading by Example

Well, what do you know, one of the men with a huge role in ushering in the housing collapse wants even harsher restrictions in income for Wall Street.

A senior House Democrat wants to toughen President Barack Obama's new restrictions on Wall Street pay by banning salaries and bonuses that encourage what the government considers "inappropriate risk."

The proposal by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., which will be considered Tuesday by the House Financial Services Committee, would give the government unprecedented power in how financial executives are rewarded.

Obama has shied away from such direct intervention, even as administration officials argued that excessive compensation in the private sector contributed to the financial crisis.

"If the risk pays off, you make money," Frank said at a National Press Club luncheon Monday. "And if the risk doesn't, you suffer no penalties. Heads you win, tails you break even. It's like selling lottery tickets that only cost you money if they pay off."

You know, I find it interesting that this idea is coming from the guy who was the ringleader in bringing down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and nothing happened to him. You suffered no apparent penalty, did you, Frank?

Here's an idea for Frank. No matter how bad the economy gets, no matter how huge the deficit gets, that Congress gets paid and rather well, too. Plus, they get a lot of speaking fees at dinners and such and the golf outings with lobbyists and such. I suggest that Frank live by his own rules. Until Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pay back every dime to the taxpayer they were given to bail them out, you get paid zero. I'll go you one step farther: if the deficit goes up, Congress gets zero pay. No outside income either. And your "significant others" and boyfriends can't be making it hand over fist as lobbyists or consultants, either.

Lead by example, Frank.

SUPPORTING OUR MILITARY

So, you may think that Obama is a tad lukewarm in his support for the US military but he is a veritable General MacArthur compared to UK Prime Minister Gordon "Cyclops" Brown. Comes the news today that even as the bodies of four British soldiers killed on active service in Afghanistan are returned home the Government has launched a legal mission to restrict the level of payments awarded to servicemen and women injured whilst on combat.

The idea is that the injured soliders are only paid for the direct injury they receive whilst on duty but get nothing for the future consequences of it. Isn't that just wonderful? The British government, socialist to the core of course, despises the very idea of armed forces. I dare say they would rather replace the likes of the SAS with a battalion of aromatherapists. The left does not want to defend our nations and that is why even at this time it undermines the military.

THE NIGERIAN TALIBAN

It's not just McDonald's which is a global brand, it seems like the Taliban is the next universal franchise for the enthusiastic terrorist. It is reported that a group of Nigerian Islamist militants is barricaded inside a district in the city of Maiduguri, after two days of violence in the country's north. A BBC reporter in the city says the Islamists, known locally as the "Taliban", are shooting at anyone approaching their stronghold. I think we can safely assume these may not be the mythical "moderate" Taliban discussed yesterday, don't you?

DR DOOLITTLE AND THE TALIBAN

Like a latter day Dr Doolittle, British Home Secretary - and Mr Bean look-a-like David Miliband suggests that it is time we started to talk to the Taliban.

But not ANY old Taliban, no, he wants to chat to the moderate Taliban. Learning from the lessons of Northern Ireland, the British Government believes that if we could only talk to the Islamic scum that kill our troops we might win their hearts and minds. Yes, that's how BAD it is over here. We have a bunch of pre-pubescent dhimmis in government who having sold out to terrorism in Northern Ireland are now seeking to do likewise in Afghanistan.

The only engagement with the Taliban should be from the business end of a drone, or a rifle, or a shell. We don't need to talk to them. Killing them is the key objective - every last one of them. But Dr Doolittle knows better...

Businesses Going Down the Tubes With Obamanomics

So far many businesses are not feeling that hope and change thing yet. The only change many are going through is putting up a Going Out of Business sign.

As the effects of the economic collapse began pouring down Main Street, the government last year was left holding a record $2.1 billion in write-offs of small business loans it had guaranteed.

Officials expect the number of defaults to rise as the nation continues to climb out of the recession.

Records obtained under the federal Freedom of Information Act show the public is paying to offset bank losses on small business loans across the country, from a convenience story in the tiny Canadian border town of Houlton, Maine, to a graphic arts design company on the island of Hawaii, more than 5,000 miles away.

Despite having loans written off, little companies such as Caffe Sportivo, an espresso shop and small gym in Redwood City, Calif., are barely scraping by.

"I just couldn't make any payments. I was barely making rent or payroll," owner Chris Sakelarios said on a recent afternoon when her cafe stood empty except for two patrons who read as they sipped coffee. "The same as everyone else. We're in a hovering pattern."

And along comes Obama to raise taxes and increase government handouts. This is not going to get a whole lot better any time soon. The market is coming back a bit because things were a bit oversold. But unless the general public gains a whole lot of confidence in the economy real soon, those with income will continue to save up and wait to see how much Washington plays around with things.

For those who are too young to remember the dreadful Carter years, we are going to be entering a period of economic stagnation with a continuing high unemployment and a growing inflation as big government borrows more and more to pay for the hand outs to their voting base.

Conflict Of Interest? What Conflict Of Interest?

Susan Bayh an issue in fight over health care
President Barack Obama called Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh to the Oval Office on July 17 for a one-on-one meeting about health-care reform, Democrat to Democrat.

The left-leaning advocacy group Move On.org recently called on Bayh to support a new government health insurance plan.

And the right-leaning group Conservatives for Patients' Rights has urged Bayh to oppose a public health plan.

But for Bayh, health care isn't just the latest high-stakes political fight in Congress. It's also a substantial part of his family's income.

As the debate over health-care reform intensifies, Bayh's wife is receiving lucrative payouts from some of the companies that could be most affected by that legislation.

Bayh contends the $2.1 million that his wife, Susan, earned from public health-care companies from 2006 to 2008 represents no conflict of interest. Questions persist, however, for at least two reasons. First, Evan Bayh has been unclear about his positions on many issues related to health-care reform. Second, there's the timing of Susan Bayh's rapid rise into corporate governance.

Susan Bayh, who was a midlevel lawyer for the politically active Eli Lilly and Co. while her husband was governor of Indiana, did not serve on the board of a single public health-care company until it was clear her husband was about to ascend to the U.S. Senate. Only one month before Evan Bayh was elected to the Senate in a landslide vote, his wife was appointed to serve on the board of what would become the nation's largest health insurance company -- and arguably the company with the most at stake in the health-care reform debate.

Within a few years, numerous companies recruited her, and she eventually served on the boards of eight companies. At least one of them asked her to reduce the number of boards she served on, apparently because she was spread too thin to be effective.

Adding to speculation about a connection between her board memberships and her husband's office is Susan Bayh's unwillingness to discuss the matter, including for this story. She has declined several requests for comment on her corporate interests, making it difficult to tell where those interests end.

[....]

Where there's smoke, you usually have some fire.

Helluva lot of smoke here.


Read it all at The IndyStar

On A Roll

It's not a trainwreck -- yet, but The Messiah's approval numbers continue their trip South.

Support for the unholy trinity's government healthcare program is evaporating as well.

Not exactly the kind of change he had in mind.

None Dare Call It Paranoia

Skype singled out as threat to Russia's security
Russia's most powerful business lobby moved to clamp down on Skype and its peers this week, telling lawmakers that the Internet phone services are a threat to Russian businesses and to national security.

In partnership with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's political party, the lobby created a working group to draft legal safeguards against what they said were the risks of Skype and other Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone services.

VoIP software has used the Internet to let hundreds of millions of people talk long-distance for free, or at far cheaper rates than traditional service providers can offer.

At a meeting of the lobby this week, telecom executives portrayed the most popular VoIP programs like Skype and Icq as encroaching foreign entities that the government must control.

"Without government restrictions, IP telephony causes certain concerns about security," the lobby's press release said. "Most of the service operators working in Russia, such as Skype and Icq, are foreign. It is therefore necessary to protect the native companies in this sector and so forth."

Skype was not immediately available for comment.

In a presentation posted on the lobby's Web site, Vice President of TTK, a telecoms unit of state-owned Russian Railways, Vitaly Kotov, called on regulators to stop VoIP services from causing "a likely and uncontrolled fall in profits for the core telecom operators."

Valery Ermakov, deputy head of Russia's No.3 mobile phone firm MegaFon, drove the point home with a picture of two hands in handcuffs, the caption running, "protect investments and fight VoIP services."

Delegates at the meeting also warned that it has been impossible for police to spy on VoIP conversations, Vedomosti business daily reported on Friday.

The lobby, called the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, forecast that 40 percent of calls could be made through VoIP services by 2012.

As an alternative to Skype and its peers, the telecom executives proposed creating VoIP services inside their own firms, which would then make them safely available to the Russian public.

"MegaFon is interested in this market. We're interested in providing analogous services. We don't support limiting competition, but we want the market to be civilized," Ermakov said.

TTK's press service said on Friday that it will take until September for the relevant legal amendments to be drafted by the special committee, whose members include top telecoms executives and lawmakers from Putin's United Russia party.

I'd guess that the Soviets are a wee bit behind the civilized world when it comes to high tech -- among other things.

Via Reuters

Would You Have a Beer With Someone Who Slandered You?

I hope Sgt. James Crowley politely tells Barack Obama where to go with his invitation to come down to the White House for some cheap photo op. This mess is all the making of Henry Louis Gates and Obama. There should be no valid reason that Crowley allows himself to be used any further.

In an abrupt reversal, President Obama yesterday said he was wrong to criticize a white cop for arresting a black Harvard professor -- and he invited both to the White House to have a beer with him and talk about the incident that set off a national racial firestorm.

It was a sharp break from Obama's comments Wednesday, when he charged that the Cambridge, Mass., police "acted stupidly" by arresting Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., his friend, at his home near Harvard.

Two hours after his spokesman said Obama wouldn't be commenting any further on the matter, the president made a surprise appearance in the White House press room and revealed he had just called Cambridge Sgt. James Crowley, who had arrested Gates.

Obama stopped short of apologizing but said his impression of Crowley is that he is an "outstanding police officer and a good man, and that was confirmed in the phone conversation. And I told him that."

Ironic, isn't it, that Barack Obama has spent much of his first six months in office unnecessarily apologizing for perceived misdeeds by this country. Yet when it comes time to apologize for being so egregiously wrong in this case he refuses to apologize.

Our "post-racial" president has a racial chip on his shoulder the size of Texas.

When the tape of this incident is released Obama is really going to look bad.

Maybe then he'll actually apologize.

'I Received the News of Corazon Aquino's Death With Great Sadness'

Oops. Just one problem. Corazon Aquino isn't dead.

BRITAIN was forced to retract a statement of condolence for former Philippines president Corazon Aquino, following false reports that the ailing 76-year-old had died.

Ms Aquino, who is suffering from colon cancer, is in hospital in "serious condition", her spokeswoman Lourdes Siytangco said, refuting the rumours that had quickly spread through the Philippines.

The statement from the British embassy in Manila quoted outgoing junior Foreign Office minister Lord Mark Malloch Brown as saying: "I received the news of Corazon Aquino's death with great sadness."

Malloch Brown, who advised Ms Aquino during her campaign for office, said working with her was "one of my life's greatest lessons in courage, leadership, the art of politics and humanity".

British Ambassador Peter Beckingham also praised Ms Aquino's "grace, charisma and compassion. The Philippines has lost a wonderful leader who is widely admired in Britain for her courage and inspiration".

But less than an hour later, the embassy withdraw the statement, saying: "Our deepest apologies, it appears the information we received was premature. Thank you very much for your understanding."

D'oh!

Freefall: Obama Now Below 50% Approval

Chalk this up to hubris, arrogance, snide condescension and the desire to force Americans into a health care scam few want any part of.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 30% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-eight percent (38%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -8.

Just 25% believe that the economic stimulus package has helped the economy.

The Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who Strongly Disapprove from the number who Strongly Approve. It is updated daily at 9:30 a.m. Eastern. Updates also available on Twitter.

Overall, 49% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. Today marks the first time his overall approval rating has ever fallen below 50% among Likely Voters nationwide. Fifty-one percent (51%) disapprove.

Eighty-three percent (83%) of Democrats continue to approve of the President’s performance while 80% of Republicans disapprove. Among those not affiliated with either major party, 37% offer a positive assessment. The President earns approval from 51% of women and 47% of men.

The result of this will probably be another media poll sampling 97% Democrats and 3% Republicans in order to boost up Bambi.

Meanwhile, Obama's thugs seem intent of ramming his health care sham through as soon as possible.

'It's Not the Best Day Jon Corzine Ever Had'

Thursday was definitely not the best day New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine ever had. Sure, there have been worse, such as the day he failed to wear his seat-belt during a 90 MPH drive where he nearly lost his life. Yet as far as politics go, seeing many of his cronies arrested while in the midst of a gubernatorial race he trails by 15 points, it may have been his worst.

The sweeping corruption case that ensnared politicians across a swath of New Jersey may claim one more Democratic pol by default -- Gov. Jon Corzine, who is already on the ropes in his re-election bid.

Corzine is more than 10 percentage points behind Republican Chris Christie in the most recent polls -- and he won't be helped by the fact that his rival is the former federal prosecutor who launched the original corruption probe, experts and others said.

"I think it demonstrates that Jon Corzine had his opportunity to reform New Jersey and didn't succeed. I think that's the way it'll play out in the minds of voters," former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a major Christie supporter, told The Post.

"A governor who was a reformer would have dealt with [this level of corruption] a long time ago."

At a minimum, it gives Christie -- who is getting battered by multimillionaire Corzine's negative ads -- something to combat the attacks with.

Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf, who has worked with New Jersey politicians, said dryly, "It's not the best day Jon Corzine ever had."

One New Jersey Democrat, who asked not to be identified, described the scandal as "surmountable, but it won't be easy."

The Democrat added that there were many problems for Corzine in the arrests, including some logistical ones -- such as some of the arrests taking place in Hudson County, one of the state's most Democratic, meaning that pieces of the party's get-out-the-vote machinery are hobbled.

More scandal details here, here and here.

Meanwhile, it appears New Jersey may have regained its title as the most corrupt state in the union. That sigh of relief you hear comes from corrupt officials in New York and Illinois.

New Jersey regained the title of America's most corrupt state yesterday, thanks to a massive takedown of public officials on the take.

New York prosecutors must be falling down on the job.

If they redouble their efforts, the Empire State would surely be back on top in a blink -- given the extent of the corruption driving Albany's political culture.

For now, though, give Jersey credit: The arrests yesterday were massive -- the outgrowth of a 10-year federal probe that's already chalked up 48 convictions.

Those swept up included mayors, state legislators, county and local officials -- all netted as part of an international money-laundering and payoff scheme involving tens of millions of dollars and even trafficking in human organs.

Among the political losers was Gov. Jon Corzine's commissioner of community affairs, Joseph Doria, who was not charged yesterday but whose office was raided by the IRS and FBI; he resigned hours later.

And that's likely not the last fallout Corzine will be feeling.

Much of the investigative work in this investigation was conducted on the watch of his GOP opponent, former US Attorney Chris Christie -- who surely won't hesitate to remind voters that he successfully prosecuted 130 corrupt officials without losing a single case.

Update: More from Lawhawk.

Man Fired For Marrying Porn Star

This guy should get a pat on the back and a high five for snagging himself a babe. Instead he loses his job.

What's this world coming to?

Being laid off in Florida isn't surprising news these days, but what happened to poor Scott Janke doesn't seem quite right.

Janke, who was the esteemed town manager of Fort Myers Beach, was fired Tuesday because of his wife's job -- or rather the kinds of jobs she did on film.

Janke's wife, Anabela Mota Janke, is a porn star better known by the name of Jazella Moore. If you're familiar with her work, then you can see the problem at hand. The couple has been married for about a year, but an adult industry website outed Moore as Janke's undercover porn wife.

And then the firestorm of debates on political correctness and public decency ensued.

Commissioners voted unanimously to fire Janke, who by all accounts -- even those of the commission -- had done a stand up job running the town.

"It's our job to keep things on course and focused," Mayor Larry Kiker told NBC2.com. ''If you look at it, the man didn't do anything illegal but it's obvious what the issue is.''

Kiker said the city has been bombarded by media and television interview requests, which is not in keeping with the conservative, small town image Fort Myers wants. You can't just have porn stars running around willy nilly and taking photo ops with politicians, the commission feels. Kiker also said he knows Mrs. Janke well and she seemed like "a very genuine, very nice person."

Simmons Increases Lead Over Dodd

A primary target for the GOP next year trails badly in a new poll released today. Oh, how sweet it would be to see this corrupt hack sent into retirement.

Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd trails former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, a likely Republican challenger 48 - 39 percent in the 2010 Senate race, but he is inching up in his job approval to a negative 42 - 52 percent approval rating, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

The matchup compares to a 45 - 39 percent Simmons lead in a May 27 poll by the independent Quinnipiac University.

In this latest survey, Simmons leads 87 - 7 percent among Republicans and 56 - 27 percent among independent voters, while Sen. Dodd takes Democrats 74 - 16 percent. The incumbent has gained among Democrats, but lost independent support since May 27.

Dodd's negative 42 - 52 percent approval compares to 38 - 53 percent May 27 and this was up from a negative 33 - 58 percent April 2.

Simmons dominates a Republican primary matchup with 42 percent, while no other Republican tops 5 percent, with 45 percent undecided.

Dodd leads businessman Merrick Alpert 52 - 18 percent in a Democratic primary.

"Sen. Christopher Dodd is rebuilding his approval rating, but he is still in negative territory. He has moved the needle from 25 points down April 2 to 10 points down today. He still is losing to Rob Simmons," said Quinnipiac University Poll Director Douglas Schwartz, PhD.

The Quinnipiac poll also shows Barack Obama's approval slipping eight points, although he still has a 61% favorable rating, far superior to Dodd.

D'Oh! Cop Insulted by Obama is Racial Profiling Expert

I wonder if Baracky would like to remove the foot from his mouth now?

The white police sergeant criticized by President Barack Obama for arresting black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. in his Massachusetts home is a police academy expert on racial profiling.

Cambridge Sgt. James Crowley has taught a class on racial profiling for five years at the Lowell Police Academy after being hand-picked for the job by former police Commissioner Ronny Watson, who is black, said Academy Director Thomas Fleming.

"I have nothing but the highest respect for him as a police officer. He is very professional and he is a good role model for the young recruits in the police academy," Fleming told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The course, called "Racial Profiling," teaches about different cultures that officers could encounter in their community "and how you don't want to single people out because of their ethnic background or the culture they come from," Fleming said.

Obama has said the Cambridge officers "acted stupidly" in arresting Gates last week when they responded to his house after a woman reported a suspected break-in.

Naturally, those who are quickest to play the race card are usually the slowest to apologize for slandering people.

Obama spokesthing Robert Gibbs tried to weasel out of the mess today.

"Let me be clear, he was not calling the officer stupid," Gibbs told reporters as Obama landed in Cleveland for two health care events Thursday. He said Obama felt that "at a certain point the situation got far out of hand" at Gates' home last week.

He acted stupidly, but he's not stupid.

Thanks for clearing that up.

'We, the Ahanta, Are Not Happy at All'

Those Ahanta sure are hard to please.

The descendants of an African chief who was hanged and decapitated by a Dutch general 171 years ago reluctantly accepted the return of his severed head Thursday, still angry even as the Dutch tried to right a historic wrong.

The head of King Badu Bonsu II was discovered last year in a jar of formaldehyde gathering dust in the anatomical collection of the Leiden University Medical Center. The Dutch government, embarrassed by its discovery, agreed to Ghanaian demands that the relic be returned.

On Thursday, members of the king's Ahanta tribe, dressed in dark robes and wearing red sashes, took part in the hand-over ceremony, honoring his spirit by toasting with Dutch gin and then sprinkling the drink over the floor at the Dutch Foreign Ministry.

But descendants of the chief said they were not consoled.

"I am hurt, angry. My grandfather has been killed," said Joseph Jones Amoah, the great, great grandson of the chief.

The chief's head was stored elsewhere at the ministry and was not displayed during the ceremony. It is expected to be flown with the tribe members back to Ghana on Friday.

Tribal elders said after the hand-over that they were also angry because they had been sent by their current chief only to identify the head, not retrieve it. Taking it back without first reporting to the chief would be a breach of protocol, they said.

"We, the Ahanta, are not happy at all," said Nana Etsin Kofi II.

'Hiding the Truth About Wildly Unpopular Policies is a Democrat Specialty'

Democrats like to pretend they're tolerant and all for openness and transparency in government. It's total nonsense, but that's what they'd like the public to believe.

Well, when they behave like this, it's just more evidence they're nothing but a bunch of thugs and bullies.

Democrats are preventing Republican House Members from sending their constituents a mailing that is critical of the majority’s health care reform plan, blocking the mailing by alleging that it is inaccurate.
House Republicans are crying foul and claiming that the Democrats are using their majority to prevent GOP Members from communicating with their constituents.

The dispute centers on a chart created by Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Republican staff of the Joint Economic Committee to illustrate the organization of the Democratic health care plan.

At first glance, Brady’s chart resembles a board game: a colorful collection of shapes and images with a web of lines connecting them.

But a closer look at the image reveals a complicated menagerie of government offices and programs that Republicans say will be created if the leading Democratic health care plan becomes law.

In a memo sent Monday to Republicans on the House franking commission, Democrats argue that sending the chart to constituents as official mail would violate House rules because the information is misleading.

In their eight-point memo, which was obtained by Roll Call, Democrats identify a litany of areas where they believe the chart is incorrect.

For example, Democrats argue that the chart depicts a “Health Insurance Exchange Trust Fund” that is “simply a recipient of IRS funds, with no outflow. ... This is false.”

The chart’s illustration of low-income subsidies is also “misleading and false,” Democrats argue.

Congressional rules for franked mail bar Members from using taxpayer-funded mail for newsletters that use “partisan, politicized or personalized” comments to criticize legislation or policy.

The dispute over Brady’s chart is being reviewed by the franking commission, which must approve any mail before it can be sent. No decision had been made on the matter by press time.

Brady adamantly denied that the chart was misleading and said Democrats are simply threatened by the content of the graphic.

“I think their review was laughable,” Brady said. “It’s ... downright false in most of the cases. The chart depicts their health care plan as their committees developed it.”

“The chart reveals how their health care bureaucracy works, and people are frightened by it,” he added. “So this is their effort to try and discredit” the chart.

Republican Members have made 20 requests to mail a version of the chart to their constituents and have been told that the requests are being delayed while the commission reviews allegations that the chart is misleading.

“Hiding the truth about wildly unpopular policies is a Democrat specialty,” said one GOP aide. “I’d like to see the flow chart on how Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi plans on implementing the open and transparent government she keeps promising everyone.”

Here's what the childish Democrats don't want people to see. Problem for them is it's already gone viral.

A larger version can be viewed here.

You can even buy a t-shirt.

Flying Pig Alert: AP Factchecks Obama

It's almost difficult to believe, but the Associated Press is no longer running cover for the Liar-in-Chief.

I skipped Obama's presser last night since I hate being lied to. And for good reason, apparently.

Read the whole thing, but here are a couple of snippets.

OBAMA: "I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that. But I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home, and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there's a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately."

THE FACTS: The facts are in dispute between black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the white police sergeant who arrested him at his Cambridge, Mass., home when officers went there to investigate a reported break-in. But this much is clear: Gates wasn't arrested for being in his own home, as Obama implies, but for allegedly being belligerent when the sergeant demanded his identification. The president did mention that the professor was charged with disorderly conduct. Charges were dropped.

In case Obama actually wants the facts, he can read this. Some very inconvenient facts, I might add.

Then this:

OBAMA: "You haven't seen me out there blaming the Republicans."

THE FACTS: Obama did so in his opening statement, saying, "I've heard that one Republican strategist told his party that even though they may want to compromise, it's better politics to 'go for the kill.' Another Republican senator said that defeating health reform is about 'breaking' me."

To paraphrase LBJ, if Obama's lost the Associated Press, he's lost middle America.

H/T Ace of Spades.

Veteran's Warning On National Health Care

This is what health care looks like in a program administered by the national government. This is a report about the local VA clinic/hospital near me. The local station that I got the video from does not allow me to embed it, but please take a few minutes to go watch this report. I do not use VA facilities for this very reason, but rather use private health care options.

There is no reason to believe this type of situation would not be repeated all across this country if the plans the Democrats are trying to shove through become reality. Listen to the reasons cited in this report, they are many of the same reasons being given as reasons why the liberals plan is flawed and for many Americans could prove fatal.

If that is not enough, take 20 minutes to watch Steven Crowder's video report from Canada as reported over at Big Hollywood.

I didn't watch Barry O's dog and pony show last night, since I figured it would be like all of his past performances and stage managed to the nth degree. Judging by the coverage this morning on the various news shows, I see some semi-pointed questions were asked but the answers were seriously lacking. It seems Barack's response basically boiled down to that of a 5 year old hollering "I want" at the top of his lungs in the toy department of a discount store, and it is up to the adults, i.e., the taxpayers in this country, to tell him no.

Huge Corruption Sweep in NJ; Hoboken, Secaucus Mayors Arrested

Business as usual here in New Jersey.

Dozens of arrests are taking place across New Jersey this morning and many public officials -- including the mayors of Hoboken and Secaucus, the deputy mayor of Jersey City -- are among those being taken into custody.

FBI and IRS agents are making the roundups all across the state in what is being described as one of the biggest investigations of its kind in Jersey's scandal-plagued history.

It appears to be a corruption related investigation but justice department and FBI spokesmen would not commenting on the details this morning.

Arrests and searches are underway across Jersey City, Secaucus and numerous Hudson and Bergen county locations.

In past years, New jersey has seen more than 100 corruption-related arrests of public officials. No word on the specific charges against those being rounded up today. A press conference is expected later today.

Among those arrested this morning were Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini, Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano and Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, authorities said.

The Hudson County Democrat machine has been one of the dirtiest in the nation for probably a century, and produced the esteemed Senator Robert Menendez. With any luck he's also getting swept up with the trash.

Apparently it's a federal money-laundering rap that also involves some rabbis.

Federal authorities arrested dozens of people today in New York and New Jersey as part of a money laundering and corruption sweep. Those arrested included several New Jersey public officials and rabbis.

The suspects are scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Newark later today. Those arrested include Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano, Secaucus Mayor Denis Elwell and Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Baldini, and Jersey City Council President Mario Vega.

Here's a photo of Cammarano from earlier this week with some other esteemed Democrats. You may recognize some of them.

Here's a photo of Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano with, from left, Senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, along with New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine and Assemblyman Ruben Ramos last week outside the Hoboken PATH terminal.

Update: Instapundit links. Thanks!

So far 30 have been arrested.

The mayors of Hoboken and Secaucus, a state assemblyman and dozens of others were rounded up early Thursday as the F.B.I. swept across four counties in New Jersey as part of a two-year corruption and money-laundering investigation that ranged from the Jersey Shore to Brooklyn and has even reached into the State House in Trenton.

Agents raided the home of Joseph V. Doria Jr., commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs, who also is the former mayor of Bayonne, an official confirmed Thursday morning.

Among the roughly 30 people arrested by mid-morning were Hoboken Mayor Peter J. Cammarano III and Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, both Democrats, and Assemblyman Daniel M. Van Pelt, a Republican from Forked River, in Ocean County. Mr. Cammarano, who turned 32 on Wednesday, was elected mayor June 9 and sworn in July 1, after serving as councilman-at-large since 2005.

Also brought to the Newark office of the F.B.I. were the president of the city council in Jersey City, Mariano Vega, and that city’s deputy mayor, Leona Beldini.

The Times doesn't note it but Doria is a Democrat.

Curious how the Republican is prominently noted but most reports neglect to mention all the rest are Democrats. Moe Lane is keeping tabs on party affiliation. More details from Lawhawk.

'I Don't Know All the Facts'

He doesn't know all the facts, yet he makes a judgment and calls a police officer stupid.

Nothing like being a post-racial president.

"I don’t know – not having been there and not seeing all the facts – what role race played in that, but I think it’s fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home," Obama said in response to a question from the Chicago Sun-Times's Lynn Sweet.

Gates, Obama allowed, "is a friend, so I may be a little biased here. I don't know all the facts."

Oh, he might be a little biased, but it's OK to ruin an innocent cop's life and basically call him a racist.

For his part, James Crowley isn't backing down. Good for him.

“I just have nothing to apologize for,” he said. “It will never happen.”

More from Dan Riehl.

Update: If Obama wants to avail himself of the facts, maybe he ought to read the police report. Of course doing so would show Obama is a total chump and Gates is an angry racist asshole.

Onions: The New Waterboarding

How long until Amnesty International and the world left calls for a ban on onions? If we find out Dick Cheney ever ate onions all hell is going to break loose.

Thanks to the war on terror we have become all too aware of the torture techniques used by interrogators trying to obtain information.

Waterboarding and sleep deprivation was used on al-Qaeda chiefs in Guantanamo, while it is alleged that bloodier methods were employed in places like Pakistan and Morocco.

Now it is claimed that police on the Caribbean island of the Dominican Republic have alighted on a new and unusual torture device - onions.

The National Commission on Human Rights has documented dozens of cases in which police forced onions into people's mouths to make the victims feel as if they were choking.

While allegations of torture involving suspects and inmates has long been documented in the Caribbean country, NCHR vice president Joselin Melo said it was the first time the commission had heard of onions being used as weapons.

'They have specialised in this technique,' Melo said. 'It appears that the onion has given them results.'

When that didn't work they went to more traditional methods of torture.

Police also allegedly hit prisoners with baseball bats and subjected them to sexual abuse.

'A Wonderful Boy, My Sweetheart'

A wonderful boy, of course, who's another incarnation of Johnny Walker Lindh.

He was the terrorist next door.

A former Boy Scout from Long Island turned his back on his All-American life and converted to Islam, joining al Qaeda in Pakistan and firing rockets at a US military base in Afghanistan, authorities said yesterday.

Bryant Neal Vinas, a 26-year-old son of South American immigrants who came to the United States to give their son a better life, instead became a jihadist hell-bent on destroying America.

"He broke my heart. This is not my son," his Argentinian-born mother, Maria Vinas, of Medford, LI, told The Post, choking back tears. "I hope I never see him again."

The one-time devout Catholic's zeal to shed American blood was not contained to conflicts abroad, authorities said.

According to court papers filed in Brooklyn federal court, he also handed over to his al Qaeda handlers "expert advice and assistance" about how to blow up the subway here in New York and the Long Island Rail Road.

When he was finally arrested on the battlefield in Afghanistan and US officials caught wind of the plot, it prompted a massive security alert at Penn Station and other transit hubs last Thanksgiving.

Vinas' bizarre journey from an average suburban life in Suffolk County to that of a bearded mullah in the terrorist no-man's land of Waziristan in Pakistan has emerged as a cautionary tale of militant Islam's reach.

"A wonderful boy, my sweetheart," his mother said. "I called him my teddy bear."

Maria lost track of her son not long after giving up custody when she and her husband divorced nine years ago. When he moved out, Bryant, a one-time Scout, was active in the Catholic church.

"My husband was very religious," she said. "He destroyed my son, obviously."

The father, Juan Vinas, originally from Peru, told the Los Angeles Times that his son was living with him as late as September 2007 and became immersed in Islam after he began attending a mosque in Selden, LI. He said Bryant grew increasingly reclusive and headstrong.

Bryant began wearing Islamic robes and a skullcap, said, Juan Vinas, who was extensively interviewed by the feds.

"He became very excited" about Islam, converted from Catholicism and even tried to get his father to convert.

Yeah, I'm just positive nothing was said at that mosque that led this maggot to a life of terrorism.

Meanwhile, it looks like the spawn of Osama bin Laden is now worm food. May Vinas soon join him.

These People Are Not Human

Seriously, what can you say about these subhumans?

Three people have been accused of letting rats bite a 6-week-old girl and chew off her toes at their cluttered Ohio mobile home.

Pike County prosecutor Rob Junk says the baby's toes on one foot were gone when sheriff's deputies went to the home Sunday after receiving an anonymous tip.

The baby is in fair condition at a Columbus hospital.

A married couple and the 18-year-old boyfriend of the baby's mother are charged with felony child endangering. They were in court for an initial hearing Tuesday. They're jailed pending a plea hearing in two weeks.

'You're Going To Destroy My Presidency'

Recall Barack Obama whining the other day how "this isn't about me"?

Well, that's nonsense. Of course it's all about him.

A telling episode recounted by Senate Finance ranking member Charles Grassley reveals the Obama administration might be more worried than they are letting on that a Republican senator's comparison of the healthcare overhaul to Waterloo might be dangerously close to the truth.

Grassley said he spoke with a Democratic House member last week who shared Obama's bleak reaction during a private meeting to reports that some factions of House Democrats were lining up to stall or even take down the overhaul unless leaders made major changes.

"Let's just lay everything on the table," Grassley said. "A Democrat congressman last week told me after a conversation with the president that the president had trouble in the House of Representatives, and it wasn't going to pass if there weren't some changes made ... and the president says, 'You're going to destroy my presidency.' "

Somebody please send Baracky a waaaahmbulance.

Oh wait, are they covered by his plan?

Grassley should soon expect a withering personal assault by Obama's persons of hench in the far left blogosphere.

Instapundit links. Thanks!

Update: Thanks also to Ace, Hot Air, Michelle Malkin, and Allahpundit for the links. Great point from AP:

Consider this a complete vindication of DeMint’s point, which Obama pretended to take such offense at, that if the GOP defeats ObamaCare “it will be his Waterloo, it will break him…” Evidently The One couldn’t agree more, and with good reason. If he can’t deliver on his centerpiece policy goal with bulletproof majorities in Congress, not only will it haunt him in 2012 but he’ll have to reconsider the public’s appetite for the whole Hopenchange/Great Society agenda.

Tonight's press conference should be interesting, unless, of course, it becomes the usual twinkie-munch lovefest we're accustomed to. Obama has a glass jaw, he's on the ropes and it might not take that tough a question to floor him.

Update: Thanks to everyone who's linked the past 11 hours. This is probably the most visited post ever in our two-plus years here. Check out the comments. The Obamatons are out in force. With it today came plenty of hatemail from the angry left, best summarized by this deep thinker, no doubt a product of the Chicago public schools.

Your so call opinion about President Obama
Wednesday, July 22, 2009 3:52 PM
From: "xxxxxxxxx@aol.com"
Add sender to Contacts
To: undisclosed-recipients
So Jammie,

Regarding your blog in regards to you thinking that President Obama is "whinning" about it not being about him, well...let me remind you that it was all about George Bush and no one else. He could care less about anyone but himself or the cronies that he calls his friends. Sorry to disappoint you, but it's not about President Obama, it is all about all of us and I find that quite ineterestin that you chose the word "whinning" when referring to him. I doubt that you did the same when Bush LIED about so many things for 8 years straight. It's amazing how people like you think and hide behind the computer to express it.

Iranian Vice Presidential Pick --- REJECTED

For those that think Iran is a country filled unicorn riding, rainbow watching, misunderstood petulant children this should remove all doubt, as if beating women in public for inappropriate dress, hanging gays and murdering protesters wasn't enough evidence.

Ahmadinnerjackets recent pick to be vice president, which involved a heavy dose of nepotism, has been rejected by the real guy in charge, Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

What did he find objectionable in this choice? This.

Mashai angered hard-liners in 2008 when he said Iranians were "friends of all people in the world - even Israelis."

That little part about Israel didn't sit too well with the hard liners who hold power in Iran and pull Ahmadinejaid's strings.

Meanwhile I am sure the Obama administration will continue to seek out a chance to sit down with these folks, since they have unclenched their fist and all.

No Beer To Cry In

More evidence that the more you tax something the less people will buy it. To liberals this is completely acceptable since they presume to be the judge and jury on what products or services should be available to you, for your own good doncha know.

In England they recently raised the taxes on beer with the expected results.

UK pubs closed at a rate of 52 per week in the first half of the year - a third more than the same period in 2008 - the British Beer & Pub Association said.

The Democrats in this country are of course pursuing the same logic in regards to driving entire sectors of our energy producers out of business by their cap and tax legislation and their proposals to tax everything in their health care package. Remember back when there was a furor over the expansion of the SCHIP, that was to be paid with increasing taxes on tobacco?

It seems liberals like to point to Europe as some of utopia that we ought to emulate here while ignoring the hard data that comes from the imposition of such programs. In another example England is also reporting a rise in deaths from knives, even though they have outlawed guns almost completely and have instituted some draconian measures in regards to possession of knives. Guess where the biggest increase is occurring?

That's right, in those areas where they are imposing the tightest enforcement.

Maybe there is a connection between the two, closing of pubs and more knife violence I mean.

Obama the Comedian: 'We Rescued the Economy'

If you need a good laugh tonight, stand-up comedian Barack 'Shecky' Obama will be appearing at the White House for a one-night engagement, reportedly to be televised on some networks.

He plans on offering up some fresh material, including this side-splitter:

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told The New York Times Obama intends to use the news conference as a "six-month report card," to talk about "how we rescued the economy from the worst recession" and the legislative agenda moving forward, including health care and energy legislation.

His rescue of the economy includes three million jobs lost, near 10% unemployment, the disastrous cap-and-tax scam and now the ObamaCare scam that promises to completely wreck the economy and leave 83.4 million Americans without their current health insurance.

Of course if some reporter actually points this out to the amateur comedian he won't have any knowledge what they're talking about since he doesn't even know what's in his own plan. Is it any wonder people are openly laughing at him and his supporters.

Change!

'This Conduct is Unacceptable in a Civilized Society'

The Erin Andrews saga continues as police now suspect the person videotaping the ESPN sportscaster may have inside knowledge of her schedule or perhaps even be part of a sports crew working her events.

Beautiful ESPN reporter Erin Andrews, who was secretly videotaped naked in her hotel room by a peephole pervert, is horrified and furious over the twisted act, her lawyer said yesterday.

"We are focused on putting this predator behind bars," her lawyer, Marshall B. Grossman, said yesterday. "This conduct is unacceptable in a civilized society."

Of the probe, he said only that his client and her representatives are working with authorities to bring the pervert to justice.

They are teaming with law enforcement and scouring the Web to find the creepy cameraman and make sure no more videos are up on any Web sites.

Grossman refused to identify the law-enforcement agency investigating or even where and when the videos were made.

"We will not risk the compromise of investigations through public discussion," he said.

The revelation there are six tapes leads investigators toward the theory it could well be someone she knows who did this.

TMZ has reviewed six videos shot by the peeping Tom who secretly videotaped Erin Andrews in her hotel room as the ESPN reporter walked around naked, not having a clue she was being watched ... and there are signs the person who taped it may be connected with the coverage of athletic events.

Four of the clips were shot in the same hotel. The remaining two were shot in a different hotel. In the first hotel, the peephole is round. In the second hotel, the peephole is jagged. The furniture in the two hotel rooms is completely different.

My money is a disgruntled ex-boyfriend and/or someone related to ESPN is behind this. It can't be long until law enforcement pinpoints who was in both locations concurrently with Andrews and whittles it down from there.

'That's An All-timer If True'

You think the New York Mets have been a bumbling, stumbling embarrassment this season? Well, you can chalk up much of their misery to an unusual spate of injuries that have left them physically decimated. Though in a year of on-field gaffes and miscues, this off-field behavior by their VP of player development may be the biggest black eye.

The Binghamton Mets clubhouse nearly turned into a scene out of WWE Raw recently, when VP for player development Tony Bernazard removed his shirt and challenged the Double-A players to a fight during a postgame tirade, multiples sources told the Daily News.

Bernazard particularly went after middle infield prospect Jose Coronado, using a slang term associated with a woman's anatomy, a source indicated. The confrontation happened about 10 days before the All-Star break, according to insiders.

"That's an all-timer if true," an AL official said upon hearing the account, which was corroborated by multiple people with ties to the Mets.

Considering the Mets' Double A and Triple A teams are a combined 45 below .500, the Wilpons have more than enough ammunition to send this clown packing. This may be just the final nail in Bernazard's coffin. If that isn't, maybe this is.

The shoddy treatment of people in the system has led to mocking of the VP behind his back.

The News reported Tuesday that Bernazard, one of GM Omar Minaya's top lieutenants, recently erupted at the organization's manager of baseball operations. During a game at Citi Field, scouts took their customary seats in a row behind home plate. Bernazard showed up during play and wanted a seat occupied by a D-Backs scout. Bernazard's deputy, already seated in the row, suggested to the Mets VP that he wait until the half-inning ended, to minimize the disruption. Bernazard ripped into his deputy with a profanity-laced tirade as scouts and patrons watched in disbelief.

If this nonsense isn't enough they were shut out by the lowly Washington Nationals last night and today wake up to the five most dreaded words in sports: First place New York Yankees.