Surprise! Obama All-time Leading Recipient of News Corp. Donations

Obviously, he's in the back pocket of the evil Rupert Murdoch.

Political donations by News Corp., its employees and their families were evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, with President Obama the all-time leading recipient, according to a report from the Sunlight Foundation.

The transparency watchdog noted Tuesday that Democrats received 51 percent of contributions while Republicans received 49 percent, despite the firm's highly publicized links to the GOP, such as a $1 million donation to the Republican Governors Association in August.

News Corp. is the parent company of The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and Fox News, among others. The firm is currently under scrutiny in both the U.S. and U.K. over allegations its subsidiary News of the World hacked into voice mail accounts and bribed public officials.

"Obama being listed as the company’s top recipient might surprise some people because of its highly publicized involvement with his political rivals, like Sarah Palin who was the vice presidential candidate in 2008 and reportedly still under contract with Murdoch-owned Fox News as a paid commentator," wrote Sunlight's Ryan Sibley.

More here.

Hypocrisy, you say? Feh. Obama likes to talk one game and play another. Heck, it hardly caused a ripple last year when he railed against BP and then was revealed to be their largest recipient.

Inconvenient truths.

So clearly News Corp., its subsidiaries and employees are fair and balanced when it comes to political donations. I wonder whether we could say the same about other large news organizations?

Update: More details on past recipients.

While Obama is by far the all-time leading recipient, he's followed in order by Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Barbara Boxer, Gray Davis and Howard Berman. See if you can detect a common thread between them (hint: they're all Democrats).

Chuckie Schumer's also in the top ten. Considering Schumer was also the biggest recipient of Bernie Madoff money when he ran the DSCC, this daily double should qualify him for some kind of award.

The top recipient from News America Holdings was also a Democrat, Massachusetts Congressman Edward Markey.

For 2009-2010 from News America Holdings, the top recipients with $10,000 each were Democrats Nancy Pelosi, Berman and Schumer.

Meanwhile, the fabulously wealthy Kerry, who served in Vietnam, is the top political stakeholder in News Corp, with an estimated $600,002 to $1,250,000.

Granted, that's his wife's money.

Update: In a stunning development, a George Soros flying monkey from Media Matters put a unique spin on these revelations.

If it seems like Obama got a lot of money from News Corp. employees, that’s because he got a lot of money from a lot of people in 2008.

Soros is really getting his money's worth, huh?

Hillary Intern Now Doing Porn

Was Bill Clinton doing the hiring for his wife?

In 2006 she was suited and booted, appearing alongside Hillary Clinton as the then Senator's summer intern.

Fast forward five years and Sammie Spades has swapped the pantsuit for panties and a career in porn.

Ms Spades, whose assets include a 32DD bust and 26" waist, was planning on going to college in Buffalo, New York, when she met Mrs Clinton at a banquet and asked if she could intern over the summer months.

To her delight she was accepted at Mrs Clinton's Buffalo office. She did miscellaneous office work and no doubt made lots of coffee, but did dream of a career in politics.

'I was planning on becoming an attorney and then going into public office,' Ms Spades told TMZ.

She obviously picked a more reputable profession.

But alas, a couple of years after she left Mrs Clinton, Ms Spades ran into money problems.

She abandoned politics and decided a career in porn was the best way to pay the bills.

The star of Big Butts Like It Big 8 and White bubble Butts 4, never stopped admiring Mrs Clinton.

None of her flicks has Butterface in the title?

Remarkably, there are no reports she was DM'ing Anthony Weiner, although she of course is on Twitter.

Weiner Located: Currently in State of 'Despair'; Hillary Cuts Short Africa Trip

So, that's where he's hiding out, huh?

A Democratic source who spoke to Anthony Weiner after Democratic leaders called on him to resign Saturday told CNN that even with that public hammer dropped on him, Weiner made clear he was still "on the fence" about whether to step down.

Democratic sources CNN has talked to since Saturday said that Weiner told Democrats pressuring him to go that he wanted to wait for his wife Huma to return from a trip with Hillary Clinton. This Democratic source told CNN that Weiner specifically said in their phone conversation that he needs to "look her in the eye" and discuss this before he makes any decision, because he has done enough to hurt her.

The same Democratic source said that Weiner was emotionally falling apart on the phone in this and other conversations and in a state of "despair." Other Democratic sources who talked to him late last week described him the same way. Another person who spoke to him on Saturday called Weiner's disposition "turbulent."

OK, so his wife is scheduled to return Wednesday? Well, she could be back sooner since something other than Anthony's shorts has erupted.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is cutting short a three-nation tour of Africa due to a volcano eruption that has created an ash cloud over parts of East Africa.

Clinton was to have spent Monday night in Addis Ababa. But she will now leave the Ethiopian capital immediately because the ash cloud from the explosion in Eritrea is heading toward the city.

I question the timing.

Khadafy Now Firing Cluster Bombs on Civilians, Clueless Hillary 'Not Aware'

Remember, we're not going to stand by and allow the slaughter of civilians or something.

Military forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, who have surrounded this city and vowed to crush its anti-Qaddafi rebellion, have been firing into residential neighborhoods with heavy weapons, including cluster bombs that have been banned by much of the world and ground-to-ground rockets, according to the accounts of witnesses and survivors and physical evidence on the ground.

Such “indiscriminate” weapons, which strike large areas with a dense succession of high-explosive munitions, by their nature cannot be fired precisely, and when fired into populated areas place civilians at grave risk.

The use of such weapons could also add urgency to the NATO campaign, which has as its mandate protecting civilians from the Qaddafi regime’s harm. And it could place pressure on the United States, which pulled back air power from the war when it ceded control of the campaign to NATO earlier this month.

When asked about the munitions at a news conference in Berlin, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she was “not aware” of the specific use of cluster or other heavy weapons in Misurata, but said, “I’m not surprised by anything that Colonel Qadaffi and his forces do.”

She added: “That is worrying information. And it is one of the reasons the fight in Misurata is so difficult, because it’s at close quarters, it’s in amongst urban areas and it poses a lot of challenges to both NATO and to the opposition.”

The cluster munitions were visible in use late Thursday night, in the form of what appeared to be 120-millimeter mortar rounds that burst in the air over the city, scattering high-explosive bomblets below.

According to sources, the shelling of civilians began between Obama's second and third fundraisers last night, not between the first and second as initially reported.

'Monster' Hillary Now Getting Advice From Former Foe

These two have come a long way since those nasty primary days.

In March 2008, as Hillary and Barack battled it out in the presidential primaries, Samantha Power, a top foreign-policy adviser to then-Sen. Obama (D-Ill.), gave an interview to The Scotsman in which she called then-Sen. Clinton (D-N.Y.) “a monster” who “is stooping to anything” to beat Obama and capture the Democratic nomination.

The knives were out, and Power, a Harvard professor and author of the book A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide (2002), resigned the same day. Once elected, President Obama quickly hired her back and she is now a senior aide at the National Security Council.

Over the last few days, as Hillary Clinton rejected the warnings of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon that the U.S. should stay out of the mess in Libya, and pushed for the U.S. to participate in the French, British and Arab-led no-fly zone/military strikes to stop Moammar Gadhafi, one of the voices influencing Clinton was that of Samantha Power.

Interestingly, Frank Gaffney has a look at how the Clinton-Power-Rice troika could spell trouble for Israel.

Smart Diplomacy: Hillary Demands Release of American Contractor, Cuba Sentences Him to 15 Years

Seriously, I'm already nostalgic to the halcyon days of Jimmy Carter. This current foreign policy feels more like a halcion daze. Can we possibly look more inept on the world stage? The other day Hillary Clinton issues a strongly worded demand for the Cubans to release a USAID worker. Their response? A 15-year jail sentence. Lovely.

State-run media say a Cuban court has found U.S. contractor Alan Gross guilty of crimes against the state and sentenced him to 15 years in prison.

The court found that the 61-year-old Gross was working on a "subversive" program, paid for by the United States. The report was read out on the afternoon news. The Maryland native was arrested in December 2009 while working on a USAID backed project that aims to build democracy on the communist-run island.

We have a decrepit regime on its last legs in Havana, Obama has eased sanctions on them and opened more travel there, and this is the thanks we get.

I hope someone informs Obama while he plays the back nine.

Update: I was just joking about that back nine comment. Yet sure enough, Obama's out golfing.

President Obama just could not wait for spring weather to arrive.

For the second week in a row, the most powerful man in the world stepped away from the White House to hit the golf course.

Even as his administration and the U.S. military help Japan recover from a devastating earthquake, and as the world worries about Fukushima's nuclear reactor, the president could not resist taking advantage of the 48-degree weather in the Washington, D.C., area.

Don't strain yourself, champ, I'm sure you've got plenty of hoops to watch tonight.

'Where is the Media? Where is the Rest of the World?'

Sure doesn't appear event in Libya are garnering much sympathy from the Obama administration.

About 200 people demonstrated in front of the White House on Saturday challenging President Obama to help end recent violence in Libya.

The group was responding to reports of bloody clashes between protesters and soldiers in the isolated North African nation.

Malik Sahad, who helped organize the event outside the White House, said Libyans are now smuggling stories to the outside world via social media, essentially creating their own news coverage in hopes that the international community will step in.

"We have people that are risking their lives, who are finding ways to send their messages, their videos, their recaps, their recounts of what's been going on," Sahad said. "They're asking us, 'Where is the media? Where is the rest of the world? We don't have cameramen down here. We don't have Anderson Cooper down here. We don't have people on the ground level to give us support and to show the rest of the world what we've been going though.'"

That's because the Libyans are far more brutal and oppressive that the Mubarak regime, apparently. That and the Libyans are apparently jamming Al-Jazeera's signal.

Today, things got worse.

Libyan forces fired machine-guns at mourners marching in a funeral for anti-government protesters in the eastern city of Benghazi Sunday, a day after commandos and foreign mercenaries loyal to longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi pummeled demonstrators with assault rifles and other heavy weaponry.

A doctor at one Benghazi hospital said 15 people died in Sunday's clashes. Earlier he said his morgue had received at least 200 dead from six days of unrest. The doctor said his hospital, one of two in Libya's second-largest city, is out of supplies and cannot treat more than 70 wounded in similar attacks on mourners Saturday and other clashes.

The crackdown in oil-rich Libya is shaping up to be the most brutal repression of anti-government protests that began with uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. The protests spread quickly around the region to Bahrain in the Gulf, impoverished Yemen in the Arabian Peninsula, the North African neighbors of Tunisia - Libya, Algeria, Morocco - and outside the Middle East to places including the East African nation of Djibouti and even China.

Yet here in America, some simpletons want to compare what's going on worldwide with the Obama-inspired idiocy in Madison.

Obama, meanwhile, is absent this weekend (probably hunkering down for the NBA All-Star game), so his stooge showed up with the odious Christiane Amanpour.

ABC''s Christiane Amanpour told Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton today that her picture in a new issue of Harper's Bazaar presents the perfect image for a high-profile diplomat -- standing in a corner.

Clinton chuckled at the idea -- "I just do what photographers tell me to do, it has no metaphorical meaning for me" -- but did allow that the cycle of protests and government reaction in the Middle East is testing the "balancing act" that is essential to foreign policy.

"We want to advance our security, our values, and our interests," Clinton said on ABC''s This Week. "And if there were one template that could be imposed on every situation, I wouldn't need to have this job, and nobody else would have to, either."

In approaching the unrest in Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, and perhaps other nations in the Middle East, the U.S. is pursuing its desire to promote democracies around the world, while guarding against anti-American extremists who might take advantage of the situation -- as happened in Iran in 1979.

Instead, she and her boss are now backed into a corner, so to speak.

"In general, Americans are in favor of human rights, freedom, democracy," Clinton said on ABC's This Week.

Yeah, except for the rights, freedom and democracy of conservatives. Or Libyans.

Here's an idea. Maybe the Libyans should hold up signs voicing their solidarity with spoiled Wisconsin teachers.

Hillary Clinton Sounds Like a Tea Partier, Says Governments Need to Listen to the People

Funny, but when Americans rose up over the past two years to demand economic freedom from crushing taxes and repeatedly told Democrats they had no desire to have government-run ObamaCare shoved down our throats, they were derided as out-of-control "teabaggers" who were foaming at the mouth.

Now as instability grows in the Mideast and elsewhere, all of a sudden she's paying lip service to protesters. Now if tomorrow a million people showed up outside the Capitol or White House demanding economic reforms in the United States, would she be telling her boss to listen to the pleas of the people?

Uh, doubtful.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday urged leaders across the Middle East to embrace democratic reforms in response to growing unrest in the region despite the risk of short-term instability in countries like Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen.

Clinton told an international security conference in Munich that change is a "strategic necessity" that will make Arab nations stronger and their people more prosperous and less susceptible to extremist ideologies. The region will face greater threats and insecurity without such actions, she said.

"This is not simply a matter of idealism; it is a strategic necessity," she said. "Without genuine progress toward open and accountable political systems, the gap between people and their governments will only grow, and instability will only deepen."

Open and accountable political systems? Why, what a quaint notion. Would have been nice if we had openness and accountability before we were herded into ObamaCare. To this day the majority of people do not want it, yet we're told what's bets for us. A lot of accountability there, huh?

"Some leaders may believe that their country is an exception - that their people will not demand greater political or economic opportunities, or that they can be placated with half-measures," she said. "In the short term, that may be true; but in the long-term that is untenable."

Half measures? Like, say, a couple of dollars in tax credits so were can build solar panels in order to win the future?

"If the events of these past few weeks prove anything, it is that the governments who consistently deny their people freedom and opportunity are the ones who will, in the end, open the door to instability."

Ah, yes, but when people here protest the erosion of their freedom and lack of jobs, well, they're just an angry mob being egged on by hate radio.

Video: Hillary Clinton Falls Down on the Job

I suspect if this were Sarah Palin (or any Republican, for that matter) the left would be howling with laughter.

As one of the most powerful women on the planet, Hillary Clinton travels thousands of miles on planes to meet world leaders.

But the U.S Secretary of State's latest trip was a rather unidignified one - losing her footing as she boarded a plane in Yemen.

She slipped to her knees at the doorway and was only saved from further embarrassment when an aide gave her a helping hand.

Clinton didn't suffer any injuries - apart from a bruised ego - but someone was on hand to quickly turn the lights off before a photographer could take any pictures.

However, it was too late. Her fall from grace had already been captured on film.

Hillary Blasts 'Extremists' and 'Crazy Voices That Sometimes Get on the TV'

Over in the United Arab Emirates our Secretary of State chimes in on the Arizona shootings.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday called the alleged shooter of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords an "extremist" and urged an Abu Dhabi audience not to let the incident define the United States.

Responding to a student in the United Arab Emirates, who asked her at a town hall meeting about American animosity toward the Arab world for the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Clinton said people should work to marginalize "extremists" in all societies.

"We have extremists in my country. A wonderful, incredibly brave young woman Congress member, Congresswoman Gifford[s], was just shot by an extremist in our country," she said, according to Reuters. "We have the same kinds of problems. So rather than standing off from each other, we should work to try to prevent the extremists anywhere from being able to commit violence."

I guess calling him a leftwing extremist won't be happening. Then she begins picking up on the current liberal mantra.

Clinton said extremists do not represent the U.S. or Arab nations.

"The extremists and their voices, the crazy voices that sometimes get on the TV, that's not who we are, that's not who you are, and what we have to do is get through that and make it clear that that doesn't represent either American or Arab ideas or opinions," she said.

I'll assume she's talking about far-left extremists Keith Olbermann and Ed Schultz.

Of course you know she's not and is just taking a thinly veiled swipe at Fox, which was already blame by New Jersey Democrat Bill Pascrell Saturday.

I guess they haven't gotten the memo about dialing down the rhetoric. But rest assured this is part of a coordinated effort and it's already well underway.

Thanks to Hot Air and Ace for the links.

Smart Diplomacy: Hillary Has 'Friendly Chat' With Communist Thug Chavez

Maybe she's taking notes for her boss on how to destroy the economy.

Despite a simmering diplomatic row, President Hugo Chavez and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were seen having a brief, friendly chat Saturday at the inauguration of Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff.

"They talked and smiled, at least for five minutes. It looked like a social conversation, both were smiling," a Brazilian official who witnessed the encounter told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The encounter came only three days after the United States revoked the visa of Venezuela's ambassador in Washington, in reprisal for Chavez's rejection of the US president's appointed ambassador to Caracas.

But Chavez and Clinton were all smiles as they mingled with the presidents of Chile and Colombia and the prime minister of Portugal while waiting to meet Rousseff.

At one point, Chavez extended his hand to Clinton, who shook it, smiling. They chatted for a few minutes before moving on to formally greeting Rousseff.

Pay Off Hillary's Debt, Win Trip to NY to Meet Bill

It's come to this: Shaking down supporters and paying them off by winning a trip to meet Slick. You know he's hoping for some cute young lady to win.

There is nothing I enjoy more than good conversation with good people. Everyday, my life and work are enriched by the people I meet, and that's why I'm sending you this special invitation.

Hillary's campaign is so close to paying off the last of her debt, but she's not there yet. Will you consider helping her in this last phase by making a contribution to her campaign? If you enter by Thursday, December 16, you and a friend will have the chance to fly to New York to spend a day with me.

Last year, we flew one of Hillary's biggest supporters to New York to spend the day with me. It was such a good time that I'd like to do it again.

Click here to make a contribution and you will not only help pay down Hillary's campaign debt, but also be automatically entered to win a free trip for two to meet me in New York.

Suckers probably have to pay for their own meals.

Last I checked these two were worth over $100 million. Has it ever occurred to them to pay off their own debt?

Obama's Failed Secretary of State Promises No More Runs for Office

Say farewell. Let's hope she's telling the truth.

Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that U.S. secretary of state will be her final public position, seeming to close the door on speculation that she would run for president or take another post in the Obama administration.

“I think I’ll serve as secretary of state as my last public position and then probably go back to advocacy work, particularly on behalf of women and children, and particularly around the world because if you look at what is still happening to women in many parts of the world it is tragic and terrible,” she told a Bahrain TV interviewer.

The interviewer began by asking if she planned to run for president.

“No, I do not,” she said.

She then launched into a detailed review of her career, noting that she began as an advocate for neglected and handicapped children.

“I’ve had a fascinating and rewarding public career,” she said, recounting her time with the Children’s Defense Fund, her years in Arkansas, in the White House as first lady and in the Senate. She then said her present position would be her last in government.

Great News: Bumbling Biden Definitely on 2012 Ticket

Four more years ... of gaffes and malaprops! Assuming the public actually elects this disastrous duo again.

Bad news Hillary: Vice President Joe Biden isn't going anywhere.

Despite speculation that Biden and Hillary Clinton will swap jobs next year so the Secretary of State can be President Obama's running mate in 2012, Biden said the President has already asked him to run along side him again, a source confirmed with the Daily News.

"I tell you what, there's real trust, that's why he's asked me to run again," Biden dropped to the New York Times at the end of 40-minute interview on Tuesday. "Look, he said, 'We're going to run together, are you going to run?' I said, 'Of course, you want me to run with you, I'm happy to run with you.' "

The rumors have been swirling for months, coinciding with Obama plummeting in the popularity polls. The theory was that Biden—a former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee—really wanted to work solely on foreign policy.

In the meantime, Clinton would reenergize frustrated Democrats and independents—especially Latinos and women—by running for vice president.

Really? Where do they reach this assumption the Latino vote would flock to them with her on the ticket? Is there some special tie with them? They're already abandoning Obama as it is, so why would she be some magnetic draw? Is it the pantsuits?

Biden, meanwhile, tells us Democrats aren't running in droves from Obama because of his record of incompetence. It's just they're so gosh darned successful it's too difficult to explain to the great unwashed. Better to just smear the Chamber of Commerce, I guess.

Photo of the Day: Hillary Arrives In Rhinebeck Wearing a Tent

As the fawning media inanity over Chelsea Clinton's wedding reaches its apex today, my only wonder has been what sort of hideous pantsuit her mother would be wearing. If this photo is any indication, we should be in for a good laugh.

More photos at the link.

Smart Power: Mrs. Clinton Still Whining About Bush Administration While Handing Over Money to Pakis

Good grief, can anyone let me know what the statute of limitations is on blaming Bush? Here you have a story about Queen Smart Power over in Pakistan handing over $500 million of our tax money and she's still bitching about about the Bush administration.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sought Monday to convince skeptical Pakistanis that American interest in their country extends beyond the fight against Islamist militants by announcing a raft of new aid projects worth $500 million.

The projects, which include hospitals and new dams for badly needed electricity, are part of a $7.5 billion aid effort to win over Pakistanis suspicious about Washington's goals here and in neighboring Afghanistan, where U.S. troops are being killed in ever greater numbers in an insurgency with roots in Pakistan.

Mistrust over U.S. intentions in Pakistan is in part due to Washington's decision to turn away from the nuclear-armed country after enlisting its support to defeat the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

"Of course there is a legacy of suspicion that we inherited. It is not going to be eliminated overnight," said Clinton following talks in Islamabad.

So we're killing more jihadis there than before but there's still a "legacy of suspicion"? What, Bush didn't give them enough freebies or something?

"We're trying to escape the bonds of gravity, leave behind an era of mistrust and launch a new period of cooperation," she said during a town hall meeting attended by several hundred Pakistanis.

Escape the bonds of gravity?

What the hell is she talking about?

Meanwhile, as if we're not strapped enough for cash, her boss is going to the well to hand out money to people he put on the unemployment line.

Obama and Clinton Bagman Gets 12 Years in Prison

He'll be missed. Especially by Democrats around election time.

A wealthy Manhattan investment banker who was once a top fundraiser for Hillary Rodham Clinton and other big-name Democrats has been given 12 years in prison for bank fraud.

Hassan Nemazee was sentenced Thursday.

He reached a plea deal in March. He admitted to three counts of bank fraud and one count of wire fraud.

Nemazee was the national finance chairman of Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign. He also raised money for President Barack Obama and a long list of other prominent Democrats.

We so helpfully provided some of that long list here.

More here.

A New York businessman and onetime prominent Democratic fund-raiser was sentenced to 12 years in prison Thursday after he admitted in March to bilking three banks out of $292 million in loans.

Hassan Nemazee, chairman and chief executive of Nemazee Capital Corp., also was ordered by U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein in Manhattan to pay more than $292 million in restitution and forfeiture.

"Pride, ego, arrogance, self-image, self-importance. All of these and more are the reasons why I traveled down this destructive path," Mr. Nemazee said prior to sentencing. "I assure the court, I take full responsibility for these actions."

Pride, ego, arrogance, self-image, self-importance.

Geez, I thought he was talking about Obama.

Prosecutors had alleged Mr. Nemazee used the proceeds from the loans to make donations to the election campaigns of federal, state and local candidates; to make donations to political action committees; to make donations to charities; to purchase property in Italy; to make monthly maintenance payments on properties in Manhattan and Katonah, N.Y.; and to purchase part of a yacht.

"This crime is breathtaking in its brazenness and its scope," Judge Stein said.

I'll predict right now Nemazee's name will not be mentioned on CBS, NBC, ABC, MSNBC or CNN today.

Give Me More of That Yummy Smart Diplomacy

Talk about the gang that can't shoot straight. The past several days there's been a story developing about an Iroquois lacrosse team unable to travel to the UK for some tournament because they lack proper passports. So instead of using this as a teachable moment, our esteemed Secretary of State instead decided to pander to this outfit and waived her magic wand, ostensibly allowing them to travel overseas.

Just one problem. The Brits weren't playing along.

Oops.

An Iroquois lacrosse team heading to England was cleared for takeoff by the State Department Wednesday - only to be grounded hours later by the Brits.

The 11th-hour developments left the athletes stranded at Kennedy Airport, heartbroken at the prospect of missing a world championship.

"We are deeply disappointed," said Chief Oren Lyons, honorary chairman of the team.

The team was supposed to leave for Manchester on Sunday, but the U.S. refused to recognize native passports they've used for more than 20 years.

Team managers spoke for more than an hour with Secretary of State Clinton's chief of staff Wednesday morning, seeking permission to travel on the Iroquois Confederacy documents.

With the clock ticking down on the only flight that would get them to the tourney in time, they hammered out an agreement for a one-time waiver.

"She did take a personal interest in it," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said of Clinton's involvement.

"She feels the same way that many Americans feel, which is we want to see a team, which is by every indication one of the leading lacrosse teams in the world, have the opportunity to participate in the Olympics of lacrosse."

Clearly the American public, fresh off the stirring World Cup, has now embraced the Iroquois lacrosse team. Can't you feel the excitement?

Instead of pandering to these people, might it have been a good time to explain to them they need to use actual American passports to travel to the UK? Surely these people are aware of security concerns and international travel requirements, no?

Uh, guess not.

The U.K. Border Agency said in a statement that the British government would welcome the Iroquois team, but only if their players “present a document that we recognize as valid to enable us to complete our immigration and other checks.” The statement did not discuss the letters issued by the State Department, and a spokeswoman declined to elaborate. Until Wednesday morning, when Mrs. Clinton authorized the waiver, State Department officials had noted that federal law does not allow a tribal document to be used in lieu of a United States passport for international travel. (Security is one reason: The Iroquois passports are partly handwritten and do not include any of the security features that make United States passports resistant to counterfeiting.)

What the State Department did offer, however, were expedited United States passports for the team and its 20-person entourage. The Iroquois refused to accept them, saying that traveling to an international competition on what they consider to be a foreign nation’s passport would be an affront to their sovereignty.

Oh well, they they need to just deal with the reality they won't be attending the tournament.

Here we have the Secretary of State groveling to these folks and it's still not good enough. The Brits, to their credit, realize the potential security concerns and tell them where to go.

Clinton isn't the only one rolling over for these ingrates.

A number of elected officials have lobbied on the team’s behalf in recent days, including Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico and two Democrats from New York: Representative Louise M. Slaughter and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.

A spokesman for Ms. Gillibrand, Glen Caplin, said Wednesday evening that the senator planned to ask the State Department to join with the Canadian government to work out any concerns the British or any other countries have about tribal passports, “so that this kind of situation never happens again.”

The situation has been a costly one for the Iroquois team, which raised $300,000 to finance the trip to the tournament. Chief Lyons said the delays were costing the team some $25,000 per day. The filmmaker James Cameron, who has taken an interest in helping indigenous peoples, agreed to donate $50,000 to the team to defray those costs.

They could have all gotten passports for a lot less money and be playing games in England already.

But no, they've got to make a political point and look where it's gotten them: Looking like whiny children while our Secretary of State looks like a bumbling incompetent.

'Nobody Wanted to Hear the Story'

Trust me, "nobody" in the media wants to hear about voter fraud perpetrated by Team Obama. You think racial coward Eric Holder wants any part of this?

Feds Pressure Dems to Return Money From Convicted Financier

The Hassan Nemazee story has flown so far under the media radar ever since the Democrat fatcat was indicted last year and then copping a plea in March. If he were connected with Republicans he'd be a household name by now. Back when the Obama bagman was first popped by the feds Democrats rushed to claim they'd be returning his dirty money.

Well apparently not too many of them have done so.

Shocking, isn't it?

The Democratic pols who got campaign cash from crooked financier Hassan Nemazee are being asked to return the dirty money so it can be forfeited to the feds.

More than 100 political committees and charities have been sent letters "advising them that they received the proceeds of fraud," according to papers filed in Manhattan federal court.

"Some of these organizations have returned the donated funds; some no longer exist; some have advised that they donated the Nemazee funds to charity upon learning of the defendant's arrest; some have declined to return the funds; and some are in the process of reviewing their records and evaluating the government's request," prosecutors wrote.

The filing does not identify any recipients of Nemazee's loot, but the Harvard-educated con man was national finance chairman for Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, and also a big donor to leading liberals including President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, ex-President Bill Clinton and ex-Vice President Al Gore.

Prosecutors told the judge that they planned to "promptly provide a further update...with respect to this process."

The filing may not identify the recipients, but we will. According to the link, those who've returned Nemazee's money are the DCCC, Senator Russell Feingold, Hillary Clinton (at least two donations) and Joe Biden, dating back to 2006.

That's it. The rest of them apparently lied when they said they'd pay the money back. They include luminaries such as Bernie Madoff pal Chuckie Schumer, Schumer puppet Kirsten Gillibrand, Dingy Harry, Frank Lautenberg, Chris Dodd, Dick Durbin, John Kerry, Carl Levin, Barbara Boxer and Al Franken, among others.

The GOP would be wise to make an issue of this in campaigns this fall, in particular against those running who are holding on to Nemazee's stolen loot.

Oh, and there's also a check he wrote to the current occupant of the White House for $9,200 that hasn't been repaid.

Why are these Democrats so eager to hang on to stolen money?

Newsmeat also has another New York listing here that include a number of the aforementioned Democrats but curiously, dating back to the early and mid 1990's, Nemazee for some reason seemed to be very fond of one Jesse Helms, the late North Carolina Republican Senator.