Man Buys Used iPod ... Preloaded With Military Information

Granted, some of the information is a few years old, but really, we need to be a little more careful with what's stashed on these iPods.

Apparently you can pick up outdated U.S. military files for less than $10. That's what happened to New Zealand's Chris Ogle when he bought a used MP3 player for $9 in Oklahoma. The 29 year old then took his new device home and synced it to his computer, only to discover that it contained U.S. military personnel lists that included social security numbers and cell phone numbers of soldiers stationed overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq. The files, most of which dated from 2005, also contained details of equipment inventories from U.S. bases in Afghanistan, and one mission briefing.

"The more I look at it, the more I see and the less I think I should be!" Ogle told TVNZ's ONE News. While the discovery may prove embarrassing to U.S. officials, the outdated files seem to be of little consequence to national security. However, personal information like social security and phone numbers could have put individual soldiers at risk for identity theft and personal harm.

'It’s So Nice to Live in America Again'

Honestly, I haven't kept up much on Ashley Judd in recent years, or at least since her 27th film with Morgan Freeman. Heck, used to have the hots for her.

Not anymore. She sounds like a blithering idiot.

Among the millions of people who are excited by the election of President Obama is Ashley Judd, as she demonstrated at the 40th birthday luncheon for NARAL Pro-Choice America at the Hilton Washington Tuesday.

After flubbing a few lines, Judd, who emceed the event, stopped and said, “I need to take a breath. I get so excited.”

After a brief slide show featuring Bush and other anti-abortion politicians, during which the crowd booed and hissed, Judd remarked, “It’s so nice to live in America again.”

NARAL President Nancy Keenan, whom Judd called the “Barbra Streisand of the pro-choice movement” because “she does it all," had the mostly female crowd cracking-up during her speech, as she showed a picture of the bathroom at NARAL’s headquarters, which sports a photo of President Bush signing anti-abortion legislation.

Idiots.

Shut up and act.

On second thought, just shut up.

Ace and Hot Air link. Thanks!

Comedy Gold: The Drunken Dancing Aborigine

Sure, maybe the cops shouldn't have been the ones to film this, but hey, I'm not here for any morality plays, boys and girls. If it's funny, it's getting posted.

And this is funny.

A LAUGHING police officer told a drunk Aboriginal man to sing and dance while he filmed the act, with the footage later posted on YouTube.

The video shows a heavily intoxicated Aborigine lying on the ground in the Northern Territory town of Katherine.

He starts singing The Rivers of Babylon at the behest of a police officer who is filming the incident.

A second officer then drags the man to his feet while the officer taking the footage laughs and tells him to dance and say "Happy Birthday Blake".

The Aboriginal man, who is staggering and appears close to falling, continues to sing and dances about in a circle before being directed towards a police car.

The officer filming the incident then turns the camera on himself and says: "This s... is f....d up, f....d up''.

The video has prompted outrage from some online viewers.

The only outrage I have is it's been on YouTube for months but I don't recall seeing it.

Saudi Man Hosts Mixed Concert at Fun Park, Gets Jail and 200 Lashes

Didn't turn out to be much fun after all. Besides, isn't it a misnomer to call anything in Saudi Arabia a fun park?

A SAUDI businessman was sentenced to four months in prison and 200 lashes for hosting a mixed concert at his fun park in the Muslim holy city of Mecca.

The man was arrested after an argument with agents from the powerful religious police who ordered him to end the concert, the daily Okaz said.

A court found the man guilty of hindering the work of the agents of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, known as Muttawa, and involvement in "organising a concert where men and women mix."

The ultra-conservative kingdom applies a strict version of sharia, or Islamic law, which imposes segregation between the sexes.

Remember though, we don't hate you, as our feckless president reminded you nice folks last night. We promise not to dictate to you seventh-century primordials who enslave women and lash people for having fun. Don't worry about us. Our president is busy picking fights with talk-show hosts. He has no interest in dictating to you. Keep doing what you're doing. Nobody will dare criticize you.

Wonderful: Iran Likely to Have a Nuke This Year

Doesn't you feel safe now with a pandering Barack Obama in charge?

God help us.

Iran will have enough enriched uranium to make a single nuclear weapon later this year, the prestigious International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) predicts.

The think tank's Mark Fitzpatrick made the announcement at today's launch of its annual global review of military powers.

"During 2009, Iran will probably reach the point at which it has produced the amount of low-enriched uranium needed to make a nuclear bomb," he said.

"But being able to enrich uranium is not the same as having a nuclear weapon."

However, the survey reports doubts over US Intelligence estimates that Iran halted its work on nuclear weapons six years ago.

This points to Tehran's continued development of long-range ballistic missiles able to reach targets in Israel and beyond.

Of course now if we try and coerce the Iranians into shutting down their program they'll just tell us we can't dictate to them. Thanks, Obama! You've just given our enemies plenty of ammo to use against us.

'All Too Often the United States Starts By Dictating'

What's worse, giving your first interview as president to an Arab network or trashing your own country while doing so?

What a jerk.

President Barack Obama gave his first formal television interview as president to an Arabic cable TV network, telling Al-Arabiya that when it comes to Middle East matters "all too often the United States starts by dictating."

Obama taped the interview with the Dubai-based network Monday as his envoy to the Middle East, former Sen. George J. Mitchell, set out for an eight-day trip to the region and elsewhere.

"My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy," Obama said. "We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect."

The interview complemented the new administration's first efforts to reach out to Arab leaders in the region, who have been wary at best of U.S. efforts to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Obama said he felt it important to "get engaged right away" in the Mideast and had directed Mitchell to talk to "all the major parties involved." His administration would craft an approach after that, he said in the interview.

"What I told him is start by listening, because all too often the United States starts by dictating," Obama told the interviewer.

If only he pandered to Republicans and conservatives this way. But no, they're the enemy.

He fails to understand that we dictate from a position of strength, although with him in charge we won't be for long.

It never fails with these Democrats. They never praise their own country. All they do is badmouth it and drag us down.

Name That Party, Hartford Edition: Former Community Organizer Turned Mayor To Be Arraigned Today

Well, the party affiliation is a dead giveaway since they note he's a former community organizer, and while they do note the word Democrat in a photo caption, it's nowhere to be found in the lengthy story.

Mayor Eddie A. Perez will be arrested on bribery charges at a state police barracks this morning, the result of a 15-month grand jury investigation into possible corruption at Hartford City Hall.

Perez and his attorney, Hubert J. Santos, said Monday that they believe the charges are related to $20,000 in kitchen and bathroom renovations done on the Hartford mayor's home by contractor Carlos Costa.

Costa, who has done millions in work for the city, was arrested by state police Monday, said his lawyer, William Gerace. He was charged with two counts of bribery, and one count each of fabricating evidence and the conspiracy to fabricate evidence, Gerace said.

Perez was to be charged with bribery, fabricating evidence, and conspiring to fabricate evidence, Santos said.

In an interview Monday at Santos' office, a subdued Perez apologized to the voters who elected him in 2001 and twice re-elected him under a strong-mayor charter that he championed.

Perez, 51, a former community organizer who is the city's first Latino mayor, called hiring Costa a "lapse in judgment," reiterating comments he made more than a year ago about the episode.

"There is no excuse for it. I apologize for putting my family and my city under this situation," Perez said. But he added, "At the end of the day, a lapse in judgment is not a crime."

A lapse in judgment?

Hmm. That sounds familiar.

Politics, of course, involves compromise—and by sticking with Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary, Obama has signaled his willingness to overlook an earlier lapse in judgment by his nominee in order to get the most competent person for the job.

Anyway, back to Perez. A local television affiliate fails to note his party affiliation. You figure perhaps USA Today would let their national audience know since they're probably not familiar with Hartford politics.

There it is, they do, although they wait until the 15th paragraph.

Perez, a Democrat, has said that he was wrong to hire Costa, and he repeated it again Monday.

"The perception in today's environment has the potential to undermine public confidence in government," Perez said. "That being said, I firmly believe that I did not commit a criminal act."

City Councilor Matt Ritter, also a Democrat, said he expects to the council to take "some immediate steps" in response to Perez's arrest.

"This is a very sad day for the city of Hartford," Ritter told the Courant

Gateway Pundit links. Thanks!

Kerik Plays the Geithner Defense

Now that the freshly-confirmed tax-cheating Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is safely in office, expect plenty of this.

Disgraced ex-top cop Bernard Kerik wants to be treated more like Timothy Geithner.

In new court papers, the former police commissioner complains that the feds want to send him to prison for the same sort of problems that officials overlooked in Geithner, whom the Senate confirmed yesterday as treasury secretary.

In an obvious reference to Geithner's tax troubles, Kerik's lawyers in White Plains federal court cited "recent events" showing that the vetting process for presidential appointees is "an imperfect one, during which mistakes and omissions occur."

While Geithner was allowed to pay his back taxes, Kerik was "treated differently" in his tax-fraud indictment, his lawyers charged.

Of course Kerik was treated differently. He's associated with Rudy Giuliani and George W. Bush.

Don't people realize Democrats get preferential treatment?

C'mon, Bernie, you know better.

Instapundit links. Thanks!

Mike Baker and Brad Thor Talk Terror Threats With Beck

Former CIA operative Mike Baker, and former member of the Homeland Security Analytic Red-Cell Program Brad Thor were on Glenn Beck's show today to talk about the recent threats coming from groups of Yemeni-born citizens living in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as well as the continuing threat from Mexico, just south of our border. Catherine Herridge filled the panel in on the recent threats by the Yemeni nationals, and Baker and Thor brought their counter-terrorism expertise to the table as well.



Folks, we better wake up and start paying attention to things like this, because if we don't, we are doomed to have another 9/11 happen, and it will be our own fault for allowing ourselves to become so complacent and far-removed from that event. And I'm not so sure if we will ever be able to recover from what they might bring next; regardless or where the attack comes from.

Americans continue to pay more attention to Entertainment Tonight or American Idol than we do the more important things, and we do so at our own peril. And the terrorists know this, and believe you me, they are right now plotting and planning, they know our weaknesses, and they are just waiting for their best opportunity to exploit them. Thank you Hollywood and the leftists, and the jihadi-apologist mainstream media - quite a piece of work you all weave on a daily basis.

And guess what? The jihadists don't give a flip about who our president is. We are still, after all, the Great Satan to them. Osama is not all-consumed with Obamamania. Too bad I can't say the same thing about the mind-numbed, peace-at-any-price crowd all over the rest of the world.

Kucinich Flings His Reality Boomerang to Beck

Okay, this is just out there. Beck thinks he's losing his mind because he's agreeing with Dennis Kucinich, but give Dennis a few seconds, and you get reeled right back to reality! Wow.



I love the question "did you ever work for a poor person?" and Kucinich said he has - the people of his district. Just wait for Beck's bitchslap response.

Great News: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Looking For Another $50 Billion in Bailout Bucks

Two of the government-run operations that greased the skids for our economic woes (hello, Barney Frank!) are looking to dip into your pockets for at least another $50 billion.

We are so screwed.

Mortgage finance company Fannie Mae said Monday that it likely needs up to $16 billion from the government as conditions in the U.S. housing market continue to deteriorate.

Fannie Mae's disclosure that it expects an injection of $11 billion to $16 billion in taxpayer aid comes after sibling company Freddie Mac disclosed last week that it's likely to require as much as $35 billion in federal support on top of the $13.8 billion it received last year.

Fannie, which has yet to receive any government aid, said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that the actual amount needed "may differ materially from this estimate" because its fourth-quarter financial statements are still being prepared.

In other words, expect the tab to at least double.

Washington-based Fannie and McLean, Va.-based Freddie were seized by federal regulators last fall after facing mounting losses on loans they backed during the housing boom. An agreement with the Treasury Department allows the government to invest up to $100 billion in each company, though some analysts have speculated that the companies may need more than that.

And after that $100 billion gets blown, they'll be back for another couple hundred billion.

Great.

Hot Air links. Thanks!

'It's a Surprise'

I'll say. Popping out eight babies in one shot doesn't exactly happen every day.

A woman gave birth to eight babies in Southern California on Monday, the world's second live-born set of octuplets.

The mother, who was not identified, gave birth to six girls and two boys weighing between 1.8 pounds and 3.4 pounds, doctors at Kaiser Permanante hospital told KCAL9.

"It's a surprise," Dr. Karen Maples said. "Eight newborns are in stable condition and they're doing quite well."

Doctors estimated the delivery of the babies lasted five minutes.

"They were all screaming and kicking around very vigorously," Dr. Harold Henry told the TV station.

American Networks Securely in the Tank, Obama Now Does Al-Arabiya Interview

Now that he no longer has to worry about the slavish, slobbering American media, Barack Obama is bypassing them in favor of Arab television.

Change!

As special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell heads off to the region to begin work on negotiating a cease fire between Israel and the Palestinians, President Obama has sat for his first formal TV interview with the Arabic cable TV network Al-Arabiya, ABC News has learned.

The interview was taped this evening and is set to air at 11 pm ET, as Mitchell is in the air and on his way to the region.

Stunner: Nine Former Club Gitmo Guests Rearrested

That terrorist rehab just wasn't cutting it.

SAUDI authorities have rearrested nine Islamist militants, including former inmates of the US military detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, the interior ministry said.

The ministry yesterday said the nine Saudi nationals had undergone a rehabilitation program for Islamist militants arrested in the kingdom and for returnees from the notorious US prison.

"Since the start of the rehabilitation program, nine people, who had taken part in the program, have been rearrested," a ministry official told state news agency SPA.

"Some of them had returned from Guantanamo," the official said.

The comments come in the wake of reports that two men who had been released from Guantanamo and went through the rehabilitation program had resurfaced in Yemen and had rejoined al-Qaeda.

Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler Obama was unavailable for comment.

Speaking of Yemen, there was an attack on a checkpoint at the U.S. Embassy. Surely just some misunderstanding.

Gunmen in a car exchanged fire Monday with police at a checkpoint near the U.S. Embassy in Yemen's capital, an Interior Ministry official said, hours after the embassy received threats of a possible attack.

No one was injured and the two gunmen fled the scene, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not permitted to have his name made public. He said three suspects in the area were detained.

It was not clear who was behind the shooting, but al-Qaida has for years maintained a strong presence in the country, the ancestral homeland of Osama bin Laden.

Recall in the 18-month buildup to the Iraq invasion all we heard from the left was we were "rushing to war"?

Why are we rushing to close down Guantanamo Bay when it's plainly obvious these monsters are there for a reason?

Obama's Choice: The People Or Ted Kennedy

Barack Obama likes to talk the talk when it comes to the environment. But will he walk the walk when it comes to opposing one of his chief sponsors, Ted Kennedy?

For all his talk about saving the planet, does he have to stones to go up against Kennedy?

President Barack Obama's enthusiasm for alternative energy is being buffeted by two political forces on opposite sides of plans to build the nation's first offshore wind farm off Cape Cod.

A leading foe of the $1 billion project is Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., an early and influential backer of Obama's presidential bid. A strong proponent is Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, a close friend of Obama and a source for some of his best campaign speech lines.

The plan to erect 130 giant turbines across 25 miles of federal waters in Nantucket Sound poses an early test of the president's energy policy, on stark display Monday with Obama's order to re-examine whether California and other states should be allowed to have tougher auto emission standards to combat a build up of greenhouse gases and his directive for the government to get moving on new fuel-efficiency guidelines for the auto industry.

In the final days of George W. Bush's tenure, the Minerals Management Service issued a report saying the wind farm project poses no major environmental problems, clearing the way for the Obama administration to make a final decision on whether to issue a lease for the project. Reviews by the Federal Aviation Administration and the Interior Department's inspector general are still pending.

As I spend time on Cape Cod, I've followed the Cape Wind project with some interest over the years. They claim there would be reduced energy costs for Cape residents and it enjoys fairly broad support. Though of course when it comes to the possibility of helping the residents, the Kennedys naturally crap all over the little people.

Kennedy has fought the Cape Wind project for eight years, arguing it would kill birds and endanger sea life while imperiling the scenic area's tourism and fishing industries. The turbines would stand 440 feet above sea level when the tallest blades are pointing straight up. The Kennedy family's oceanside Hyannis Port, Mass., compound would have a clear view of the project to be located 4.7 miles offshore, but Kennedy says it is not why he opposes the project.

"The interests of our state have been basically submerged to a special interest developer," Kennedy has said of the project.

Sure, nothing to do with his view.

I use the beaches on Nantucket Sound and it wouldn't bother me in the least. The turbines would barely be a blip that far out. The idea it would affect fishing and tourism is nonsense.

Still, I get the felling Obama will gladly throw Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick under the bus much faster than he would Kennedy, so expect some doubletalk from Obama about it affecting pristine waters or some such pap. Obama knows he can do whatever he pleases and the folks there will still overwhelmingly support him, even if it costs them money.

Project backers are wary of last-minute political meddling. They cite attempts in Congress over the years to derail it, including efforts by Kennedy.

"The opponents have proven to be very crafty and to embrace a scorched-earth approach to fighting this project," said Sue Reid of the Conservation Law Foundation, a conservation group supporting Cape Wind. "Of course we are going to be vigilant."

Prepare for a knife in the back, Ms. Reid.

Heh, At Least He's a Fiscal Conservative

This is about the third story today I have seen where you have gotten to play our favorite game, "Name That Party". I am used to these sort of stories normally breaking on Friday around 4 PM EST. Maybe this is the change Barry O promised.

My first clue came when I saw he was retired Air Force; sorry guys but y'all do have to claim ownership.

The 56-year-old former lieutenant colonel in the Air Force is injecting some color and controversy into an otherwise quiet mayoral race in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The guy in question is named Earl Rynerson, an openly gay businessman. Not that there is anything wrong with that. It is just randy Rynerson has a few problems like not paying credit card debts and, oh yeah, not putting the fact that he is retired on his campaign posters. He just put his former rank Lieutenant Colonel.

Look, I retired as just some lowlife, I mean, crotchety old NCO, but even I know that if I am going to use my rank on correspondence or in any sort of title block that I need to put the (RET) tag with it. The proper way to display the signature block is Rank, Branch of Service, and Status.

But folks, that is a minor thing compared to what else has come out about this guy.

Rynerson's credit card bill included at least 3 monthly payments to "Access 4M4M site," the billing name of a "men for men" sex site based in New York. "The m4m4sex website is for men looking to meet other men for sex," the Web site declares in plain English.

Another charge on his card provides a phone number for the International Masters Association, which "unites the Leather community online and [brings] Masters and slaves together," providing services for people "interested in Leather, Gear, Bondage, Rubber, Watersports and other fetishes."

Rynerson said the stories of his credit card purchases were greatly exaggerated, and compared the Web sites to YouTube and MySpace. "These are online services that a lot of people use," he told the Sun-Sentinel. "There's nothing pornographic ... nothing to that."

Gay sex and leather community just like YouTube and MySpace???

What really gets me though is that in the begining of the article they describe him as a fiscal conservative. More like a cheat and a deadbeat, or maybe candidate to be head of the Treasury.

This is the article where I found his political persuasion all the way in the last paragraph.

Also, the Fox News article makes the case that Ft Lauderdale, FL is the San Francisco of the south. Ouch.

Tony Romo's Girlfriend Now Outweighs Him

Heck, I haven't seen the NFL's most overrated quarterback around in some time. I'm beginning to think maybe Jessica Simpson ate him.

Unless maybe she's doing a movie about Anna Nicole Smith.

More photos here.

Yeah, yeah, I'm being mean, blah blah blah.

Hey, when you once looked like this it's only downhill from there.

Windfall Profits for Big Burger

Thus they become an immediate target of the federal government. Oh wait, they've already been hounded for years. But in these tough economic times and the new era of responsibility, it's just not fair they're making money while others suffer, right? Heck, they even weathered a 23% drop in the fourth quarter.

US fast-food giant McDonald's said Monday its 2008 net profit soared 80 percent from a year, lifted by growing demand from consumers seeking low-cost meals in a deepening global recession.

Net profit for the full year totaled 4.3 billion dollars, compared with 2.3 billion in 2007, the Oak Brook, Illinois-based company said in a statement.

Excluding exceptional items, earnings per share were 3.76 dollars, widely exceeding consensus market forecasts of 3.63 dollars.

The robust annual results came despite a sharp 23 percent decline in fourth-quarter net profit to 985 million dollars, from 1.273 billion in the 2007 fourth quarter. Fourth-quarter earnings per share were 87 cents, above expectations of 83 cents.

"2008 was a strong year for McDonald's," chief executive Jim Skinner said in the statement.

"Through our strategic focus on menu choice, food quality and value, the average number of customers served per day increased to more than 58 million in 2008."

Can you imagine the reaction if an oil company announced an 80% increase in profits in one year? Senate hearings would begin by Tuesday morning as sneering liberals preened for the cameras and castigated the executives for their heartlessness.

Still, I imagine some camera hog will find a way to get some face time with this.

Obama Announces Economy-Crushing Emissions Mandate, GM Cuts 2000 Jobs

Of course, King Obama is doing it to save the planet. Nothing too ambitious, of course.

"For the sake of our security, our economy and our planet, we must have the courage and commitment to change," Obama said in his first formal event in the ornate East Room of the White House.

"It will be the policy of my administration," he said, "to reverse our dependence on foreign oil while building a new energy economy that will create millions of jobs."

Oh, so it will create millions of jobs?

Hmmm.

General Motors Corp. says it will cut 2,000 jobs at plants in Michigan and Ohio, and it will halt production for several weeks at nine plants over the next six months due to slow sales.

GM spokesman Chris Lee said Monday that the company will eliminate the second shift at its Delta Township plant near Lansing, Mich., on March 30, and the second shift at its Lordstown, Ohio, plant will end April 6.

About 1,200 workers will be laid off at the Michigan plant, while 800 jobs will be cut in Ohio.

Lee says the cuts are part of the Detroit automaker's continuing efforts to "align production with market demand."

No doubt forcing mandates on the auto manufacturers will cost jobs. Where are these millions of jobs the government is going to allegedly create come from?

Finally: The Obama Etch-a-Sketch

Some people have way too much time on their hands.

The only thing missing is a cigarette.


Meanwhile, he's already experienced a shocking plummet in popularity.