Yet Another Sport Obama Sucks At: Ping Pong

No wonder Obama can't get to Missouri until next week some time.

Can'tcha see he's busy?



Via Breitbart.

Obama Living in the Past

You've got to be kidding me.

Via NYMag:

It is a great privilege to commemorate our common heritage, and common sacrifice.

Barack Obama

24 May 2008

If only we could all turn back the clock.

H/T.

Update: It gets better.

But the president seemed to have made a gaffe during the occasion - signing Westminster Abbey's distinguished visitors' book with the wrong year.

Mr Obama dated his entry in the book May 24 2008, rather than the current year.

Apparently Mr Obama was heard to ask the dean what the day's date was - but managed to get the year wrong.

A Westminster Abbey spokeswoman confirmed it was the president who had written the wrong date.

He's clueless.

Help Put 911 In The Winner's Circle

I probably shouldn't be doing this, but what the heck I've got a forum and I might as well use it, although this may constitute abuse, but it is family and that means a lot to me.

I have a niece who has gotten into dirt track racing, previously she raced in Minnesota but has now moved to Arizona to continue her pursuit racing in a class known as X-Mod. She has a new car but needs some help bringing it up to speed to get to the winners circle. She is doing very well with the limited resources she has right now but I want to get this girl to the winners circle. Here is what she is looking for right now.

I bought a used car and it does need several improvements, better motor and I want to get a floater rear end. The seat in it is also very old and I want to get a full containment seat which costs around $500 (on the low end), a spare set or 2 of tires/wheels.

As far as sponsorships, they can be any range. Of course the bigger they are means more car exposure (graphics, colors, & extras for the sponsor) and better & more competitive equipment for me to race. It also can help how much I can travel to other tracks.

The seat is a safety item and dadgummit I want her to be safe in that car. We have so little family left on my side of the ledger, her mother, my aunt, succumbed to pancreatic cancer a couple of years ago.

The car number is 911 and when she raced in Minnesota she was fortunate enough to have sponsorship from the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) which is a private organization which assists military members.

So for you gear heads out there, motorsports fans or just folks who want to help a special girl out I encourage you to reach out to her. Any help at all will be appreciated. Help her put that 911 car into the winners circle.

Obama to Missouri Tornado Victims: I'll Come Visit Next Week or Something

While the survivors in Joplin, MO dig out of the rubble, their president is busy overseas drinking Guinness. His charming wife looks like she's about to spit it up. Meanwhile, he plans to rush back from his European vacation by Sunday to visit the devastated Joplin area.

"I know that a lot of people are wondering how they’ll get through the coming days or months or even years, but I want everybody in Joplin, everybody in Missouri, everybody in Minnesota, everybody across the Midwest to know that we are here for you," Obama said, speaking from Winfield House, the residence of the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom. "The American people are by your side. We’re going to stay there until every home is repaired, until every neighborhood is rebuilt, until every business is back on its feet. That's my commitment, and that's the American people’s commitment."

If he was so committed, why is he saying this from 4000 miles away?

I'm going out on a limb here, but if we saw such a disaster here and George W. Bush was photographed knocking back some beers you suppose the media would crucify him? Of course they would. Instead they're busy gushing how Obama has found his Irish roots or something.

Aww: Little Tommy Brady Rides the Waterslide

Looks like his mommy Giselle is waiting for him at the bottom in case he gets hurt on the way down.

Now, Brady might have finally taken that last step required to transform from a super star quarterback to tiny little man girl.



There are some pictures circulating on the internet now that paint Tom Brady is a less than favorable light. Brady and his wife Gisele Bun...whatever, were on vacation recently and decided it would be fun to go down some water slides.



Seriously, who doesn’t enjoy a good water slide!? That fact that Brady was enjoying the water slide isn’t the issue here.



Tom Brady is 6’4” and 225lbs. He gets tackled by 300lb men for a living. Knowing that, if you had guess how Brady reacted on a water slide which would you choose:



A) Had fun and smiled a bit, but did not appear scared or nervous and simply high-fived Gisele when he got to the bottom.



or



B) Put his hands up on his sides like a scared four year old boy and looked terrified as he sped down the slide.



If you guessed A you apparently think waaaaaaay too highly of Tom Brady. Brady looked like he was squealing or terrified as he rounded the corner of the slide and some lucky paparazzi photographer captured a “great” photo of Brady’s reaction while he was.... enjoying.... the slide.

Check out the close-up at the link. He looks like a pre-schooler going down the slide. If this guy wasn't an NFL quarterback, I'd really consider calling for the revocation of his man card.

On the upside, that is Giselle Bundchen waiting for him at the bottom.

H/T Spitfire Murphy.

DSK Pals Try Paying Off Maid's African Family

If their alleged rapist buddy is so innocent, why are these folks trying to pay off her family as a means of shutting her up? I suspect this won't be going over well with the DA in New York.

Friends of alleged hotel sex fiend Dominique Strauss-Kahn secretly contacted the accusing maid's impoverished family, offering them money to make the case go away since they can't reach her in protective custody, The Post has learned.

The woman, who says she was sexually assaulted by the disgraced former head of the International Monetary Fund, has an extended family in the former French colony of Guinea in West Africa, well out of reach of the Manhattan DA's Office.

"They already talked with her family," a French businesswoman with close ties to Strauss-Kahn and his family told The Post. "For sure, it's going to end up on a quiet note."

Oh, really? they seems awfully sure of themselves. One minor problem with their arrogant stance: How do they get the prosecutors to play along?

Prosecutors in Manhattan have done their best to keep the cleaning woman out of the reach of Strauss-Kahn's supporters, but the source was already predicting success for the Parisian pol's pals.

"He'll get out of it and will fly back to France. He won't spend time in jail. The woman will get a lot of money," said the source, adding that a seven-figure sum has been bandied about.

While the DA's office has sequestered the maid -- and is even monitoring her phone calls -- her extended family lives in a village that lacks paved roads, electricity and phone lines.

The average monthly income is $45, which is near-starvation, and some of her family members can't even afford shoes.

Sounds like she's an Obama relative.

The DA's office has warned local family members not to accept calls from associates of Strauss-Kahn. Even without the maid's testimony, however, prosecutors claim they have plenty of damning evidence to prosecute Strauss-Kahn, including her videotaped statement, grand-jury testimony, statements from fellow hotel employees and semen samples found on the hotel room carpet.

Strauss-Kahn, 62, remains under house arrest in a pricey lower Manhattan pad secured by his billionaire wife, Anne Sinclair. He must wear a GPS-enabled ankle bracelet and have armed guards to prevent him from escaping.

Meanwhile, in another development yesterday, it emerged that Strauss-Kahn allegedly shouted, "Do you know who I am?" as he assaulted the victim, according to a new report.

"Don't you know who I am? Don't you know who I am?" Strauss- Kahn repeatedly inquired during the incident, according to Fox News.

We sure do know who you are. We call them lowlife rapists.

Denial is a River That Runs Through the Gingrich Campaign: "Reports of My Campagn's Death Were Highly Exaggerated"

Newt hasn't quite reached an Obama-level state of delusion yet, but as you can see he's getting close.



Via Breitbart.

Australian Greens Building an Army of Know-Nothing Zombies

This sounds like a desperate campaign by far-left cranks to silence opposition to a hugely unpopular carbon pricing scam facing Australians come 2012. Those is power cannot handle the fact that people dare to have an opinion and make fun of them at every turn.

Now they're fighting back. Well, sort of.

THE Greens have launched another strike against the media, calling for volunteers for a rapid-response team to target "shock jock" and "hate campaigns" through talkback and letters to editors.

The call to action echoes Bob Brown's attack on the "hate press" last week and Twitter jibes at individual journalists from his director of media, Marion Rae.

"The Australian Greens are looking to build a national network of individuals who want to take up the challenge of responding to the misinformation and hate campaigns being waged by radio shock jocks and other sections of the community and media," says the party in an email.

So pointing out the failures of these meddling bureaucrats and doomsayers is a hate campaign?

The Democrats here have been doing this stuff for years. You can always identify them, as Rush Limbaugh is wont to do, as seminar callers. They have no idea what they;re talking about, but so sure of themselves. This part perfectly emphasizes you don't actually have to have a functioning brain to enlist in this zombie army.

It says there will be no need for the volunteers to actually hear or read the opinions and reporting to which they are responding.

So in effect they can be lamestream media types who regurgitate edited soundbites spoonfed them by party apparatchiks. Hmm. It all sounds so familiar. I wonder is Soros is financing this scheme?

Speaking of apparatchiks, it's worth noting what a colossal financial fiasco they've become.

First he points out that “What began in 2004 as a ten- persohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifn shop with a $3 million annual budget now has around 90 employees and plans to spend $15 million this year.” That is striking and demonstrates the enormous fundraising operation that they have created. But that is not translating into readers. With that budget and staff, they should be about the size of a site like Politico, but the numbers tell a far different story. According to web traffic evaluator, Quantcast, Politico averages 5.6 million monthly unique visitors, Media Matters a mere 646,200. Even if you give Media Matters the benefit of the doubt and double that number, they are still doing a fraction of the traffic of sites its size (at 1.3 million, it would still be far smaller than little Mediaite, with ten times the staff). That’s something that clearly should have been pointed out in the story.

Not exactly much of a return for a staff of 90 and a budget in the millions. It's worth noting that Quantcast number and the sites listed that Media Matters readers also like, including the far-left Democrat outfit Think Progress and even further left The Nation. Even Al Jazeera makes the list, which makes a lot of sense when you think about it.

Also worth noting is the Media Matters audience is predominately male and overwhelmingly white. They appear far less diverse than any Tea Party audience I've seen.

Breaking News From 1972: Democrats Pushing for ERA

We obviously don't have enough important issues facing us these days. Now Democrats have to rehash lost battles from the early 1970s.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney said Monday she plans to make a major push to pass and ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.

Bills calling for a Constitutional amendment to ensure women get equal treatment under the law have been introduced since 1923.

Legislation passed in 1972, but only 35 of the necessary 38 states had ratified it by the 1982 deadline.

ERA bills have been introduced in each session of Congress since, but Maloney says this time there will be a bigger effort to get it passed.

Most clear-thinking people would move on, but not Maloney. Especially in these dark days where women are under unprecedented assault or something.

"What is different now is the onslaught against women, the efforts to roll back rights we thought we had," Maloney (D-Manhattan, Queens) said.

"Many cuts Republicans are proposing affect women, children and families."

Women struggle with workplace discrimination and poverty, she said.

"In factories and offices, in mills and malls, women receive only 77 cents for every dollar that men make - and this has been consistent for 25 years," she said.

It's been a consistent fabrication for even longer.

Maloney is enlisting some real Democrats heavyweights for her battle. Or at least one.

Maloney also cited a recent observation by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia that the 14th Amendment - which says no person should be denied equal protection of the law - does not include protecting women from sex discrimination.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan, Brooklyn) called Scalia a "troglodyte" and vowed to work with Maloney to get the ERA passed.

Nadler said he'll build support for the ERA by enlisting as many bill co-sponsors as possible. Women's groups plan to keep score; lawmakers who don't co-sponsor it will be considered opponents, and their constituents will be told.

Oh no, someone's going to tell on them!

Not to quibble with Jerrold Nadley, Constitutional Scholar, but here's what the "troglodyte" Scalia actually had to say about the 14th Amendment.

In 1868, when the 39th Congress was debating and ultimately proposing the 14th Amendment, I don't think anybody would have thought that equal protection applied to sex discrimination, or certainly not to sexual orientation. So does that mean that we've gone off in error by applying the 14th Amendment to both?

Yes, yes. Sorry, to tell you that. ... But, you know, if indeed the current society has come to different views, that's fine. You do not need the Constitution to reflect the wishes of the current society. Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn't. Nobody ever thought that that's what it meant. Nobody ever voted for that. If the current society wants to outlaw discrimination by sex, hey we have things called legislatures, and they enact things called laws. You don't need a constitution to keep things up-to-date. All you need is a legislature and a ballot box. You don't like the death penalty anymore, that's fine. You want a right to abortion? There's nothing in the Constitution about that. But that doesn't mean you cannot prohibit it. Persuade your fellow citizens it's a good idea and pass a law. That's what democracy is all about. It's not about nine superannuated judges who have been there too long, imposing these demands on society.

Progressive Is A Synonym for Dictatorship

Via Ace who linked to site which linked to Huff'N'Puff, which I will never link to, PrezBo now has an internet goon squad ready to spring into action when all those truthful reports of the Obambi's latest misstep pop up. The title of the position tells you all you need to know. Director of Progressive Media & Online Response

I for one welcome our new internet overlord Jesse Lee, which is awful close to Jesse James. I am getting the good ol Fail Whale on Twitter right now but they say his avatar is the Terminator. Might I suggest Darth Vader as being more appropriate.

I hope to give him plenty of material to chase down.

Faint Praise for T-Paw, But I'm Not Damning Him

Here's my take on Tim Pawlenty's candidacy for President of the United States.

I understand he used to be a RINO on a couple of issues.

BUT...

He's seen the light now, I think.

PLUS...

He's not a kook.

He doesn't appear to have a fatal flaw.

He's not a tiresome Beltway relic.

Furthermore, he's actually running, and last time I checked that is still a prerequisite to winning the party nomination. He's also not allergic to tea parties, which is a nice touch. And of course, he's a far cry from the abject failure currently occupying the White House.

So I have Pawlenty penciled in as a definite possibility. He may be a tad boring, but that's OK - so is the the narcolepsy-inducing drone America elected last time around.

There are other potential candidates I'd be more enthusiastic about, but they haven't thrown their hats in the ring yet. Nudge me when they do and I'll reassess.



Cross-posted.

Let's Move!

Insert Moochelle Obama joke where appropriate.

US President Barack Obama had to switch vehicle after the heavily armoured Cadillac he was travelling in became stuck on a ramp at the US embassy in Dublin.

The presidential state car, nicknamed "The Beast", ran into trouble on Monday afternoon as it emerged up the ramp from the car park beneath the complex in Ballsbridge.

The car got stuck as it passed through the gates - producing a rather unhealthy scrapping sound.

Cheers by the waiting crowd were replaced by gasps, then laughter and applause.

According to RTÉ, Mr Obama and his wife Michelle stayed in the car while security officials and police officers went running over to the stranded vehicle.

A grey-coloured bus was quickly parked in front to block the view.

Mr Obama and the First Lady eventually switched to another amoured car to drive to the Marine Force One helicopter, which was waiting to fly them to the village of Moneygall, Co Offaly.

Biden: Hey, How About Me in 2016?

Well, he's going to have plenty of free time on his hands once January 20, 2013 rolls around, so why not?

Vice President Joe Biden surprised a gathering of donors in Cincinnati last week when he floated the prospect of his succeeding President Barack Obama in the White House.

Biden, who started in the Senate young and would be just 70 in 2012, raised the possibility unprompted during a wide-ranging conversation at the May 19 dinner with major Democratic Party donors, a source in the room said.

The Vice President, who has never ruled in or out running in six years, told the group he hadn't made up his mind, and cited both political conditions and his own health as relevant factors.

But the spontaneous suggestion caught the attention of at least some in the audience, said the guest, "given he volunteered that without prompting...and given the audience."

Couric Says She Can Relate to Current College Grads

Yes, one can only imagine the uncertainty facing college graduates as they move on from a $75 million contract.

Former CBS news anchor Katie Couric, who ended her $75 million, five-year run at the network last week and has yet to announce her new plans, told Boston University graduates yesterday she could “relate” to bright-eyed youths who are facing uncertainty in one of the worst job markets in a decade.

“Like the Natasha Bedingfield song says, your next chapter is still unwritten, which is both exhilarating and terrifying. And I can relate to that,” Couric said yesterday in ahumorous, well-received graduation speech at Boston University’s graduation ceremony.

Couric told the grads that she left the “Evening News” post “with a feeling of immense pride and accomplishment,” but that the move from co-anchor of the “Today” show to first solo female anchor had been “very uncomfortable.”

So uncomfortable raking in that $75 million, no doubt.

She then shamelessly used the commencement to plug her own book.

Couric also used the speech to plug her book, “The Best Advice I Ever Got,” sampling from its contents to warn students that setbacks are inevitable and “it’s how you handle that adversity that defines who you are.” Then she told students to look under their chairs.

“I’m joking! If you want the book you have to buy it,” Couric said. “Who do you think I am, Oprah?”

Classy. Whatever BU paid this twit to appear is way too much.

Yawn: AP Touts 'Exclusive' Palin Bashing Book

This is a book so exclusive we've been hearing about it for months now.

A former member of Sarah Palin's inner circle has written a scathing tell-all, saying Palin was ready to quit as governor months before she actually resigned and was eager to leave office when more lucrative opportunities came around.

"In 2009 I had the sense if she made it to the White House and I had stayed silent, I could never forgive myself," Frank Bailey told The Associated Press.

Palin's attorney did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.

"Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of Our Tumultuous Years" is due out Tuesday and based on tens of thousands of emails that Bailey said he kept during his time with Palin. It began with working on her 2006 gubernatorial campaign and continued through her failed run for vice president in 2008 and her brief stint as governor.

The Alaska attorney general's office has said it's investigating Bailey's use of the emails. Executive ethics laws bar former public officials from using information acquired during their work for personal gain if the information hasn't been publicly disseminated.

The state has yet to release thousands of emails that Palin sent and received during her 2 1/2 years as governor. Bailey's attorney has said Bailey took "great care" to ensure his writings were consistent with legal requirements.

Since when is two-and-a-half years a brief stint? When Barack Obama announced he was running for president after two years in the Senate, was that called a brief stint?

Meanwhile, since the AP is promoting this book as an exclusive, we wonder whether they'll be assigning an army of fact-checkers to it as they did with Going Rogue?

Bailey dismisses any suggestion he's disgruntled or bitter; he said he got a front-row seat to state and national politics and was able to recommend judges and set up "hundreds" of board positions. "Yeah, there were some tough, tough times but hopefully I've learned from some of that," he said. "Time will tell."

He said he has no ill feelings toward Palin, with whom he says he hasn't spoken since the fall of 2009. If anything, he said, he feels sad for her.

Sure.

Look for fawning interviews with Bailey on every possible network. They just can't get enough Palin.

It Begins: Team Obama Digging Up Dirt on Christie

Well, I guess they ought to be prepared for any possibility. Despite repeated denials that he has any intention to run, the Obama opposition research team is already prying up any possible information to use against New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

President Obama's re-election campaign is trying to dig up dirt in the Garden State.

Despite New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's repeated pronouncements that he will not seek the GOP presidential nomination, Obama operatives are compiling a dossier of what they call "opposition research" -- material that could be used to damage Christie if he changes his mind, The Post has learned.

The Obama campaign is trying to keep its efforts from public view, concerned they would only elevate Christie's already impressive standing within the Republican Party, sources said.

Why waste any money when they can simply talk to reporters covering Christie. They all hate his guts and surely would be happy to contribute to Obama's efforts.

But party leaders have been pushing Christie to enter the race, saying his brand of New Jersey tough talk could put the White House within reach for the GOP.

Republican leaders from Henry Kissinger to House Speaker John Boehner have encouraged him to run.

And well-heeled GOP donors in New York have been spreading word that Christie has privately shown a willingness to consider it.

They say Christie might enter the race if he can get part of his pension-reform agenda passed in Trenton and score a GOP takeover of one of the Democratic-controlled houses of the state Legislature in November.

Christie spokesman Mike DuHaime said, "This is just wishful thinking . . . He is not running, and he is not cracking the door open even a little bit."

But, DuHaime said, the efforts of the Obama camp are flattering.

He said it's "an acknowledgment that Christie is a bold leader successfully taking on big challenges as governor. A leader who cuts spending and takes on the special interests tends to earn notice at the highest levels."

Top Dems applauded Team Obama's preparation.

"It would be irresponsible for them to not start looking at it," said a consultant who played a key role in Obama's 2008 campaign. "It would be malpractice for them not to."

Heck, all they need to ever do is float a single rumor and the entire media establishment would run with it anyway. Obama has to remember he has a trusty corps of stenographers always eager to do his bidding.

'Bin Laden Called in His Location to the CIA Because He Was Being Driven Mad Cooped Up for Five Years With So Many Wives and Children'

It sounds like he really suffered. Poor bastard couldn't even get out of the house to go have a few beers with his fellow jihadis.

The joke doing the rounds in Pakistan at the moment is that Osama bin Laden was so stir crazy in his Abbottabad compound that he actually called in the SEAL team raid himself.

As Pakistani officials find out more about day-to-day life inside the compound, they are beginning to paint a picture that looks more like a bad American sit-com than the life of a terror mastermind.

Bin Laden's final five years on Earth appear to be a dreary Groundhog Day of three bickering wives, a brood of children - including infant twins - 18ft claustrophobic walls and a life of such austerity that there was hardly enough power to run lighting.

The three wives with the al Qaeda leader at the time of the raid are now turning on each other in custody, with the two older wives viciously accusing the youngest of betraying their husband.

And they say reports of the younger wife valiantly trying to protect bin Laden, earning a bullet in the leg for her trouble, are lies.

Despite the relatively large compound, the adults and children were cooped up on top of each other - and there was little hope of the situation changing.

Rehman Malik, Pakinstan's interior minister, said: 'The joke in Pakistan is that bin Laden called in his location to the CIA because he was being driven mad cooped up for five years with so many wives and children.'

And Glenn Carle, a former CIA official, added: 'Not using cell phone or internet, that's all sound professional strategy. But living behind 18ft walls with large numbers of women and kids is not.'

The three women in bin Laden's life were Khairiah Husain Sabir, 62, Siham Abdula bin Husain, 54, and 28-year-old Amal Ahmed al-Sadah.

Khaira and Siham deeply resented the arrival of Amal and have been highly critical of her role in their husband's life, according to Pakistan officials.

The Sunday Times quotes one official as saying: 'It's a well-known fact that when you have two older wives and then this young one comes along half their age, they don't like it.'

The tension between the three wives would have been palpable in Abbottabad. CIA agents referred to bin Laden as 'The Pacer' - so named because of the figure seen walking backwards and forwards in the compound in footage from spy satellites and drone cameras.

Socialists Swamped in Spain

The folks in Spain are coming to their senses. Suffering from the highest unemployment rate in the industrialized world, they've taken their angst out on the socialist swine who've driven their economy into the ground.

Spain's ruling Socialists suffered a crushing defeat to conservatives in local and regional elections Sunday, yielding power even in traditional strongholds against a backdrop of staggering unemployment and unprecedented sit-ins by Spaniards furious with what they see as politicians who don't care about their plight.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said the result was due punishment of his government for the state of the economy -- the jobless rate is a eurozone high of 21.3 percent. But he said he had no plans to move up general elections, which must be held by March of next year, and pledged to press on with job-creating reforms despite the loud outcry of opposition to his party.

The win for the conservative opposition Popular Party puts it in even a stronger position to win the general elections and return to power after eight years of Socialist rule.

In what Spanish media said was the worst performance on record by the Socialist Party in local and regional elections, the numbers reflecting the loss were stunning: the conservative Popular Party won at the municipal level by about two million votes, compared to 150,000 in its win in 2007, and in 13 regional governments that were up for grabs, Zapatero's party lost in virtually all of them.

One was Castilla-La Mancha in central Spain, where the Socialists have always held power. The Socialists also lost bastions like the town halls in Barcelona and Seville. The conservatives padded their majorities in Madrid and Valencia, in the latter even though the president is under investigation for corruption. Several other Socialist-controlled regional governments also fell. Spain's electoral map turned largely blue -- the color of the Popular Party.

Spain Socialists Brace for Humiliating Defeat

With unemployment over 21%, it's a surprise anyone would vote for Socialism. How many time must it be demonstrated that Socialism doesn't work and has never worked?

The ruling Socialist Party braced itself for stinging losses in regional and municipal elections Sunday amid unprecedented street protests that have caught the imagination of the nation.

The elections are a key test of how much the party's support has crumbled due to soaring unemployment and its handling of the financial crisis, and are seen as a prelude to general elections next year.

More than 34 million people are eligible to vote while in the background a growing protest movement has illustrated the strong disillusionment felt by Spaniards toward both main parties and what they call a political system that favors economic interests over citizens.

"I call for, encourage and appeal for a responsible, big turnout in these May 22 regional and municipal elections in all of Spain," Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said as he emerged with his wife from casting his ballot.

Voter turnout by 2 p.m. stood at 35.9 percent, 1.7 percent higher than at the same time in similar elections in 2007, the electoral commission said.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Polls indicate Zapatero's party could suffer the humiliation of losing historic Socialist strongholds.

The financial crisis has forced deep cuts and left Spain burdened with 21.3 percent unemployment, the highest of any nation using the Euro as its currency. The jobless rate among the young stands at 40 percent and a total of 4.9 million people are out of work in Spain, the highest number since 1997.

A large proportion of those in work earn just €1,000 ($1,400) or less per month.

Spain is forecasting limp growth of just 1.3 percent for itself in 2011, but even the Bank of Spain has rated that prediction as optimistic.

Protests have swept across Spain. Let's hope today the Socialists get swept out.

Let My Terrorist Son Go!

Pathetic.

I love my son. I enjoy our periodic visits and our weekly telephone calls, but this visit felt different. “If Bin Laden is dead,” I kept thinking, “why can’t John come home?”

A convert to Islam, John was found, unarmed and wounded, in a warlord’s fortress in northern Afghanistan in December 2001. He was subjected to physical and psychological abuse — a precursor to the mistreatment of many prisoners, in both Afghanistan and Iraq, by the American military during the George W. Bush era. Marines took a photograph of John, blindfolded, bound and naked. It was published and broadcast worldwide.

In post-9/11 America, John became a symbol of “the other.” He was called the American Taliban. A traitor. Detainee No. 1 in the war on terrorism.

President George W. Bush called John a “Qaeda fighter.” Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said, inaccurately, that he had been captured “with an AK-47.” Attorney General John Ashcroft said John had “turned his back on our country and our values.” Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani suggested that John be put to death for treason; polls showed that many Americans agreed.

This was heartbreaking to me and John’s mother. The son we know is intelligent, spiritual and good-natured. He has a wry sense of humor. He is fluent in Arabic, and curious about the history of the world’s languages and cultures.

John was not running away from anything when he first went overseas. He had a passionate desire to embrace all aspects of Islam, including the Arabic language. He embarked on an unusual odyssey of learning and adventure with full support from his parents. He selected Yemen, where he traveled in 1998, at age 17, because it was one of the best places to learn classical Arabic.

In November 2000, John left Yemen for Pakistan, and the next April, he wrote to me and his mother to say he was going into the mountains of Pakistan for the summer. That was the last we heard from him. Throughout the summer, and especially after 9/11, our family became increasingly worried about John’s whereabouts and his welfare. In December 2001 we were shocked to learn from the news that John had been found among a group of Taliban prisoners who had survived an uprising and massacre at an old fortress near Mazar-i-Sharif.

Just some innocent kid who happened to take up arms against his country. Why is he so misunderstood?

On May 2 and 3, I had two long visits with John. He remains idealistic and spiritual, and a practicing Muslim. He once told me he thought Bin Laden had done more harm to Islam than anyone in history. As I said farewell, we both felt a sense of closure. I saw grief in his eyes over the pain he has caused himself and his family.

John was a scapegoat, wrongly accused of terrorism at a moment when our grieving country needed someone to blame because the real terrorist had gotten away. Now that Bin Laden is dead, I hope President Obama, and the American people, can find it in their hearts to release John, and let him come home. Ten years is enough.

He should have been excuted.