MMA Referee Slams Fighter

I'm a big mma fan, and trained a little with the Gracie family in the military. I ran into this vid of a ref slamming an mma fighter, and couldn't resist posting it.

Here We Go Again ... New League To Rival NFL

I was a regular at the XFL games here in Vegas as I supported my Outlaws. My face paint got me on more than one XFL publication, and I even met Stephanie McMahon when she interviewed me. McMahon himself said the XFL would have been a success if all the fans were like the fans in Vegas. Then again, we are pro-sports crazed here because we don't have a pro team, and we sold the games out.

Now it looks like Vegas will get another chance to prove it's football love in another league to compete with the NFL.

Review Journal:

Mark Cuban, the maverick owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, is one of the key figures in an effort to create a new professional football league that would place a team in Las Vegas.

In fact, according to a New York Times article, Cuban might become the owner of the Las Vegas franchise, which could start playing preseason games in August 2008.

The article said Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Mexico City already have been selected for the potential eight-team United Football League, which would play on Friday nights. The UFL's plan is to move into cities where NFL teams do not exist.

We have a huge debate in Vegas about getting a pro team of any sport, and the NFL refuses to come here because of the gambling in spite of the football loyalty here. Many Las Vegans don't want a pro team now because of the NBA All Star fiasco we just experienced. There is great concern that the violence, and other criminal activity, we experienced then would be replicated constantly with a pro franchise.

Sam Boyd Stadium director Daren Libonati said:

"I wouldn't be surprised that Las Vegas would be considered because of the great success with the XFL and with the Outlaws and the kind of numbers they did."

See, I told you we packed the stadium. Every other city except Las Vegas struggled with their XFL teams. Hopefully, things will be different this time around. More and more fans are starting to watch NFL Europa and the Arena league is doing well also. Fans will never look to another league to replace the NFL, but that doesn't mean there can't be success.

The TV deal is what can kill the UFL. Due to the NFL being on virtually every network ... they will have to rely on second rate stations to carry the games. I can envision decent success of the UFL (especially given that owners of pro teams will be involved), but I envision a marriage of the UFL and the NFL in the future. Rather than sending players to Europe to develop without any coverage ... the NFL could enter into an agreement with the UFL to lend players for development. The UFL would be a perfect fit for a "minor league" to the NFL ... potentially with NFL teams sponsoring UFL teams such as we have in MLB.

For me it's the more football, the better. I hope we can get the UFL off the ground so Las Vegas fans can once again show the NFL how stupid they are by refusing to bring a team here.

US General Dispels Myths About Iraq

No major media coverage, no congressmen, no presidential candidates have said a damn word about this. Every time the military speaks, and outlines the lies of Iraq, they are ignored. Unless they hate Bush, of course.

Army Brig. Gen. Steven Anderson, deputy chief of staff for resources and sustainment, outlined 10 myths of Iraq in order to inform the public as to the truth.

American Forces Press:

A U.S. general serving with Multinational Force Iraq recently took time out of his mid-deployment leave to let the American public know that the situation in Iraq is different from what they might think.

“There are some signs that our new strategy is working,” Anderson said in a teleconference from Baghdad. “It’s going to be a long, hot summer, and it won’t be really until the end of it that we’ll be able to evaluate it. There is plenty of opportunity, and plenty of reason to be cautiously optimistic about what’s going on over there.”

The 10 myths, as outlined by Anderson, are:

-- The war in Iraq is about oil;

-- The U.S. is fighting alone in Iraq;

-- Iraq is engulfed in a full-scale civil war;

-- The Iraqis were better off under Saddam Hussein than under the new government;

-- The Iraqi government is ineffective;

-- Economic development is non-existent in Iraq;

-- Contractors cost the U.S. government too much money;

-- U.S. troops aren’t properly equipped;

-- Morale is low among U.S. troops; and

-- The U.S. has lost in Iraq.

None of these myths is true, Anderson said, and the situation in Iraq is much better than is often reported here.

Anyone who actually talks to the troops, or embeds themselves during combat operations already knows this. The rest of you are so far in the dark that plasma could shed any light on you.

The United States is not alone in the fight, Anderson said. About 32 countries are contributing troops to the fight in Iraq, and about 40 countries are providing contractors and logistics support.

The original coalition for Iraqi Freedom was larger than the coalition for the first gulf war, and it continues to be so. The first gulf war was a coalition of about 30 countries, and we still have a coalition of 32 in Iraq now.

While violence levels in Iraq still are unacceptable, the situation is not a full-scale civil war, Anderson said. The fight involves religious extremists on the fringe and does not involve large-scale force-on-force combat, he pointed out.

Duh! Only a tard could believe that this is a civil war. To call Iraq a civil war is exactly like saying the US is in a civil war because the Bloods and Crips are fighting. There's no difference ... other than gang violence in the US takes more lives.

The General had lots to say ... well worth your time.

ACLU Sues Aerospace Company For Torture

This is rich. The ACLU is going sue happy again, and suing any private company that has ever been affiliated with the CIA. The ACLU is claiming this company is guilty of torturing terrorist suspects. Well, not really torturing the suspects themselves, but rather helping the CIA do it.

Topix:

CBS affiliate KPIX in San Francisco is reporting that a SPeace activists allege Jeppesen International Trip Planning organized secret "extraordinary rendition" flights for terrorism suspects on behalf of the CIA, usually to countries that practiced torture.

An ACLU spokesman in New York confirmed that a lawsuit will be filed in federal court in Northern California against "an aerospace company," however the spokeswoman would not name the company pending a teleconference on Tuesday morning.

Basically, the ACLU is saying that the aerospace company is guilty of allowing the CIA to torture suspects on their planes, or by flying suspects to places where they may be tortured.

It's guilty by association. The company never carried out any torture themselves, but because they were contracted by the CIA ... they are guilty of it anyway. Since the ACLU hasn't been able to get a torture conviction in their lawsuits against the US ... they'll go after private companies that do business with the US now.

School Bus Crash Outside Batavia

This is one of my pet issues on my show, and I'll usually tell everyone about school bus accidents. My purpose, to get seat belts on every school bus. Compartmentalization (which turns your child into a projectile) has proven itself to be far inferior to seat belts. The cost of seat belts on buses is low, could easily be phased in, and have proven to improve safety, and behavior of children in the districts they are used. There is no reasonable argument against them.

One of the arguments I did receive was how big, and safe a bus is. Given the recent collisions involving buses and similar sized vehicles ... that argument is trash. SUV's easily overturn school buses as well, and we've seen that a couple dozen times this year.

Yet another argument was that the drivers were so well trained that the likelihood of an accident was minute. I have a relative who drives a school bus, and family friends who drive school buses ... all say the same thing: "We may be trained, but other drivers aren't." If someone else makes a mistake and slams into the bus ... there is little the bus driver can do.

After becoming annoyed that the media was not reporting school bus accidents ... I began to. The first year I was on the radio I averaged one school bus accident a week in the US, but you would have never known about it with the lack of media coverage. Many involved deaths, and serious injuries that were all preventable had the children had seat belts.

Today, a small bus crashed with a dump truck. While many small buses do have seat belts for special needs kids it proves that accidents happen no matter how well trained a driver is.

I don't know if this bus has belts, but several people went to the hospital ... some by helicopter.

You can go to the NCSPS website for more info on bus accidents.

Should The TB Man Be Prosecuted For Terrorism?

With the world so focussed on terrorist activities, and average citizens finally doing their part to report suspicious people, we are going to face some tough decisions on what we will prosecute as terrorism.

One of the few justifiable arguments against the Patriot Act is that normal crimes may become a terrorist crime due to interpretation, and US law has been trending towards making minor disturbances felonies rather than simple warnings as they were in the past. I wrote about that trend here.

Which brings me to this case of the guy with a rare, advanced form of tuberculosis flying around the world.

We have been concerned about bioterrorism in the US for quite some time. This fear was realized with the anthrax attacks after 9/11 which had Americans petrified of opening their mail. Of the known bioterrorism agents out there, smallpox is of the greatest concern to authorities. Tuberculosis isn't on the list of bio-agents, but many have been clamoring for TB to be included amongst the threats. It seems they will be able to get some traction due to this case.

AP:

A man with a form of tuberculosis so dangerous he is under the first U.S. government-ordered quarantine since 1963 had health officials around the world scrambling Wednesday to find passengers who sat near him on two trans-Atlantic flights.

The man told a newspaper he took the first flight from Atlanta to Europe for his wedding, then the second flight home because he feared he might die without treatment in the U.S.

At first glance it seems that maybe this wasn't a big deal. Many people do their best to get back to the US for medical treatment. It does show that he was aware of his illness, however, and still chose to fly around the world.

Health officials said the man had been advised not to fly and knew he could expose others when he boarded the jets from Atlanta to Paris, and later from Prague to Montreal.

The man, however, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that doctors didn't order him not to fly and only suggested he put off his long-planned wedding in Greece. He knew he had a form of tuberculosis and that it was resistant to first-line drugs, but he didn't realize it could be so dangerous, he said.

So health officials are saying this guy was told to not fly, and that he was fully aware of possible exposure to other people. A claim he refutes.

I am leaning towards the health official's story because the man said he rushed home because he feared he would die without American medical treatment. Clearly he knew his illness was dangerous. Besides, when you get sick you run home and research your illness as much as possible, and we all know the dangers of TB. I find it near impossible for this guy to plead ignorance here.

His blunders would continue ...

He flew to Paris on May 12 aboard Air France Flight 385. While in Europe, health authorities reached him with the news that further tests had revealed his TB was a rare, "extensively drug-resistant" form, far more dangerous than he knew. They ordered him into isolation, saying he should turn himself over to Italian officials.

Instead, the man flew from Prague to Montreal on May 24 aboard Czech Air Flight 0104, then drove into the United States at Champlain, N.Y. He told the newspaper he was afraid that if he didn't get back to the U.S., he wouldn't get the treatment he needed to survive.

Now his claims of ignorance are completely out the window. Regular TB is dangerous enough to not fly, and he was contacted in Europe with the news that he had super TB. He was then advised to turn himself in, and go into isolation. An order he blatantly ignored.

Not only did he not go into isolation, he didn't turn himself in, and after being told again to not fly ... he flew into Canada after making stops in other countries. Then he drove from Canada to the US. Never adhering to the orders to go into isolation, and turn himself in.

Now the passengers and crews of the flights he took have to be tested several times until they are in the clear. So far nothing has turned up, but they have no way of knowing how many people he came in contact with while he was galavanting around Europe and Canada. The threat of the disease spreading has not gone away.

The CDC told him he couldn't fly aboard commercial airliners.

"I thought to myself: You're nuts. I wasn't going to do that. They told me I had been put on the no-fly list and my passport was flagged," the man said.

He told the newspaper he and his wife decided to sneak back into the U.S. through Canada. He said he voluntarily went to a New York hospital, then was flown by the CDC to Atlanta.

He is not facing prosecution, health officials said.

"I'm a very well-educated, successful, intelligent person," he told the paper. "This is insane to me that I have an armed guard outside my door when I've cooperated with everything other than the whole solitary-confinement-in-Italy thing."

So the CDC told him he couldn't fly, but he thought they were nuts, and we are supposed to believe he's intelligent? It would be hilarious that he is making the case that he has cooperated if it wasn't such a dangerous situation. It is nice to know that he is facing prosecutions, but what kind?

Which brings me back to the original question ... Should he be prosecuted for terrorism? It might seem a little extreme, but this guy was a walking, talking biological weapon. He also intentionally ignored advice to travel on two separate occasions, and he snuck into the US after he was put on the no fly list because of his disease. He may not understand why he's under armed guard, but I do.

Many of you may correlate this case with deliberately infecting people with AIDS. I believe that to be attempted murder (murder if successful), but others have made the argument for that being a terrorist act. Clearly AIDS is an epidemic, and any successful biological attack would create an epidemic. The difference is that you must have contact to contract AIDS, but TB is spread through the air. The mere presence of this guy in any building, or outdoors, may lead to a massive epidemic.

Regardless of if you believe he should be charged with terrorism (which carries a light sentence anyway) we must agree that knowingly put thousands of people in danger. There can't be a light sentence for his blatant disregard for human safety.

Take the poll below, and share your answers.

Should The TB Man Be Charged With Terrorism?
	Yes
	No
	He should be charged with attempted murder
	He should be charged with reckless endangerment
	He should not be charged with anything
pollcode.com free polls

Vandals Deface Veteran's Graves

97 veteran's graves in Washington State were vandalized. Vandals replaced American flags on the graves of 14 veterans with swastika flags, removed 46 flags, and burned 33 other flags.

American Legion Post 93 doesn't think it was just a prank, but an organized Nazi effort. The cops think it was just kids trying to "shock the community."

In either case, I hope the perpetrators die in a fire.

Update:

Same thing happened near Philly, and Massachusetts.

Hillary Endorses Socialism ... Lies About Household Income

We all knew she was at best a Socialist, and at worst a full blown Commie ... it's just nice to hear her actually say it.

AP:

Presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton outlined a broad economic vision Tuesday, saying it's time to replace an "on your own" society with one based on shared responsibility and prosperity.

Come on now ... be honest with yourself ... you know where this is going.

The Democratic senator said what the Bush administration touts as an ownership society really is an "on your own" society that has widened the gap between rich and poor.

"I prefer a 'we're all in it together' society," she said. "I believe our government can once again work for all Americans. It can promote the great American tradition of opportunity for all and special privileges for none."

DING! First she endorsed ethnic cleansing in Iraq, and now she is endorsing Communism! You can't ask for a better gift when you return from vacation than this.

"Special privileges for NONE." That means she wants to take away money from those who work hard, and give it to those who don't. A nice car, house, boat, clothes, vacations, etc. are all special privileges. She's just told you point blank that she wants to take that away.

"We have sent a message to our young people that if you don't go to college ... that you're thought less of in America. We have to stop this," she said.

Not only that, but we've sent a message that if you hold degrees from two of the most prominent universities in the world ... you're a dunce. Hence the attacks on President Bush.

Clinton said she would open up CEO pay to greater public scrutiny.

Now this is funny. Is she going to allow people who are not invested in a company have a say over how much the CEO makes. There are already plenty of ways for a CEO's pay to be scrutinized ... by the shareholders, and that should never change.

Now here is a nasty spin/lie depending on how you see it.

In the last six years, productivity has increased, but family incomes have gone down, she said, leading to rising inequality and pessimism in the work force.

Now I get to beat her over the head with this one. You see, pay in the US has increased at a faster rate than productivity. That means we are getting paid more for doing less ... period. That is a unanimous fact in the economics world people.

Martin Crutsinger (AP) wrote about this not too long ago in a piece titled "Productivity Growth Skids to Standstill" , and it refutes what Hillary is saying in her latest Communism is great speech.

Growth in productivity — the key ingredient for rising living standards — skidded to a standstill in the late summer while workers' wages and benefits shot up at the fastest clip in more than two decades.

The combination of slowing productivity and rising wages was seen as a formula for inflation troubles down the road.

So our wages rose more than at any other time in the past 20 years while productivity remained stagnant. That's not what Hillary was saying ... was it?

Productivity, the amount of output per hour of work, showed no growth at all from July through September. Growth was just 1.3 percent over the past 12 months, the weakest showing in nine years.

The cost of wages and benefits measured by each unit of output grew at an annual rate of 3.8 percent in the third quarter.

Employee compensation climbed by 5.3 percent over the past year. That gain was the fastest since a 5.8 percent rise in the 12 months ending in the fourth quarter of 1982.

Technically, Hillary was right about productivity increasing, but she was way off on family income going down.

Higher wages and benefits are good news for workers. But such increases can trigger inflation if companies pass on the higher wage costs by making products more expensive.

Forget about the price of our goods going up for a minute. Let's simply look at the companies. We all know for a fact that small business drives the US economy, or we all should. It's not big business that drives it, but the little guy who is now paying his workers more money for doing less than they were doing (per dollar) a few years ago. Hardly seems fair. Companies are faced with two choices:

1. Pay the higher wages by having their workers produce more ... thus created higher profit margins.
2. Pay the higher wages out of the profits from price increases without increasing productivity, and face scorn from shareholders.
   

Option 2 may ultimately lead to the company going overseas to get cheap labor, or folding altogether. You can't have it both ways.

Maybe you don't believe me. Fine. Hardly pro-big business Labor Radio says that the average income rose 8.6% from 2001-2006 (the same 6 years Hillary is talking about), but the average family income did decline from 2001-2004 by 3.6%.

You'll notice that family income study is missing two years on it. That's because household income has been growing the past two years as we recover from 9/11. The drop in household income is still easily explained without using 9/11 as an excuse.

You can't have an 8% increase in individual pay, and still have a decline in family income unless you factor in another growing trend ... women choosing to stay home with their kids is on the rise. While workers are earning more ... the loss of a second income altogether would cause a decline. That's the family's choice, and is not a problem for government to rectify. Remember how I told you that household income has been on the rise the past two years? The US Census Bureau is the one saying the median household income is on the rise. Hillary didn't mention that either.

Hillary also spoke of increases in education, universal health care, and more social programs in this same speech. All of this requires one thing ... higher taxes. Something she neglected to mention as a cause of income problems. Not only has our personal income suffered due to increases in taxes the past 20 years, but she is proposing more tax hikes. Which will what? Take more money out of our paycheck. Meaning we will make less ... not more.

We owe it to ourselves to be the type of society Hillary speaks of. We shouldn't be selfish people. On that I agree with her, but what she is proposing is the ultimate in selfish. If we truly didn't want to be a selfish society then we wouldn't want those who make more money to give us handouts. To take from the haves and give to the have nots is selfish in its purest form.

Nor can we believe the words of someone who says they will raise taxes, and increase your pay. The bottom line is if Hillary gets the programs she desires ... our taxes will go up, and more of our money will go directly to the government without us ever gazing upon it. It's not the salary that counts ... it's the pay we take home that allows us to live our lives.

Mexicans Boo Miss USA

I guess Mexicans aren't just content with shouting Osama, booing our national anthem, and booing our soccer team. Now they are booing Miss USA.

Miss USA (Rachel Smith) has been booed repeatedly while in Mexico for the Miss Universe pageant ... simply for being an American. I guess Mexico proved they weren't ready for the world stage, and showed themselves to be the worst kind of hosts.

Miss USA was booed at a parade last week, the crowd drowned out her pageant answers by shouting "Mexico! Mexico!" After the chants she spoke to the crowd in Spanish ... further proving her superiority over those in attendance. Miss USA was then booed again when she stepped on her dress, and fell during the evening gown portion of the pageant.

Miss Japan went on to win the crown, Mexico was humiliated on the world stage, and Miss USA placed 4th runner up while Miss Mexico placed several slots lower. This has brewed into a conspiracy in Mexico. They are saying it is proof that the US is favored in everything. Perhaps the Mexican immaturity did ingratiate Miss USA in the eyes of the judges causing her to place higher in the standings, but I doubt it.

For the record ... Miss USA is way more hot than Miss Mexico. Here's your proof ...

Miss USA (Rachel Smith)

Miss Mexico (Rosa Maria Ojeda Cuen)

The Rosie Cartoon: Part Deux

As everyone knows ... my favorite subject is Rosie. I will talk about her antics for hours. Naturally, I go on vacation and the next big Rosie story explodes ... leaving me sadly out of the loop. Well, I just couldn't resist taking my own personal jab at Rosie on my first day back.

Most of you know my nickname for her (The Abominable Pumpkin Head), and many of you are fans of my first Rosie cartoon. The cartoons were a fun way for me to take cheap jabs at Rosie, and it gave me a chance to use my Photoshop while proving a point. I noticed that it would be extremely easy to make a strip comic of Rosie's words, and it would be more entertaining than simply giving you a list of what she said. Please bare in mind that the Rosie cartoons are slightly humorous, but are simply meant to drive home a point.

Without further adew ... I present The Rosie Cartoon: Part Deux


I hope you enjoyed it.

Dumbass Whales Still Lost ... Let 'Em Die

No one else has the guts to say this ... so I will. These whales are too stupid to live.

Whether we like it or not natural selection has worked for billions of years. I was saying this before I went on vacation last Saturday, but they are still aimlessly lost even with our assistance. Yes it's sad, but so is life. If the mother whale is this dumb then what hope of the future does her calf have? Whales have ways of finding food, and navigating over great migratory distances spanning hundreds ... sometimes thousands of miles. The methods they use are still largely not understood by humans. Yet these two can't pull off a u-turn, and find their way back to the ocean after 16 days and counting?

Now they are getting sores because of exposure to fresh water. Even when faced with illness and certain death the mother can't lead her calf out to sea. As is always the case in the animal kingdom (of which we are a part) some creatures simply deserve to die.

Maybe there is a darker possibility we should consider. Perhaps this is a Humpback murder suicide. It is extremely ignorant to think that human mothers are the only mammals capable of killing their own kids.

Terrorism And A Loaf Of Bread

I'm officially back from my vacation, and the blog will be updated regularly once again.

My wife and I went to Disneyland for our vacation, and had an interesting experience one day while leaving the park. Disneyland has a security checkpoint on your way into the courtyard used to enter California Adventures and/or Disneyland, and you are checked once again as you leave the courtyard from the theme parks. There is also a security check when leaving Downtown Disney. Both on your entering, and leaving, security has you open all of your bags so they may view the items you are carrying. I have no problem with this whatsoever. What I do have a problem with is that overzealous security officer who gets off on harassing people. You know the one.

On the first morning of our trip my wife and I went to Downtown Disney to kill some time before the parks opened. Upon leaving Downtown Disney to go ride some rides we had to go through security. No biggy, we've done it a hundred times already. This time was a little different.

The family in front of me was a young Mexican couple with their baby in a stroller, and they spoke little English. The wife and baby went through security just fine, and were not stopped. The husband had a backpack that he needed to open in order to display the contents of the bag. He was prepared and had the bag open as he got to the security screener (an old fat lady). As the screener peered into the backpack she stopped the man, and reached into his bag. She pulled out a loaf of wheat bread, and the interrogation began.

"What are you doing with this bread," she asked. He responded in barely understandable English that they were going make sandwiches with the bread. "You're going to make sandwiches huh? Where's the meat?" No joke, she asked him where the meat was for the sandwiches. He didn't seem to understand the question. They then began speaking in Spanish, and I couldn't understand what they were saying. However, she asked him if he was making sandwiches, and where the meat was about 10 times.

Keep in mind that this is all happening as the family is leaving Downtown Disney, and they were already allowed in through security when they entered Downtown Disney. Clearly the other screener didn't feel threatened by a loaf of bread, but this lady was different. I also never heard him refer to what type of sandwich he was going to make, and she never asked about peanut butter or anything else ... only meat.

As this is happening I was drawing on all of my training in explosives, terrorist tactics, and improvised weapons ... I could not recall a single piece of information regarding a loaf of bread that would apply here. The only thing that would have made sense was if they were hiding something in the bread ... which is reasonable, but the bread was sliced. All she had to do was separate the slices to see if anything had been hidden, and she never once attempted that. I was stumped.

Finally, after about 8 minutes (not an exaggeration) the wife came back to find out what was going on. She spoke much better English than her husband. She too was grilled about the lack of sandwich meat, but she wasn't having any of this lunacy. After arguing for about 2 minutes she finally pointed out the obvious that they were LEAVING Downtown Disney, and they had been allowed to enter without any problems. She finally asked if they were allowed to leave Disney with their loaf of bread, or throw it away. The screener then allowed them to leave with the loaf of bread, and never offered an explanation.

Now you can use bread in certain explosive devices, but we are talking Macgyver stuff here. There would also have to be other components that would be blatantly obvious to anyone that they were a threat. None of that was evident, and I've already covered the smuggling/theft inside the bread. I figured I forgot some way of using bread as a weapon, and checked it out online. I haven't been able to find anything else besides this, but a sandwich that lasts three years isn't what I'd call a reasonable security threat.

In case you didn't know ... Disney sells bread inside their parks, but it's special Disney bread. Perhaps that was the motivation for harassing this family ... I don't know. It's good to know that if terrorists ever figure out how to use a loaf of bread against us ... this woman is on the case. I just wish I had my 10 minutes back.

Breaking Headlines

I haven't been real active the past couple of days. I have been running errands and getting my doctors appointments out of the way before I go on vacation next week. My wife and I will be at Disneyland for a few days next week ... so I will have AP breaking news headlines on the site until I get back. They will be updated several times a day for fresh content.

Remember, even if I'm out of commission, and not blogging, I have about a dozen news feeds in the right side bar. I have news feeds from several news sources which will give you breaking news from the US and the world throughout the day.

I also have official Department of Defense news, Multinational Force Iraq news, and the headlines from several prominent blog sites as well, including: Little Green Footballs, Worldnet Daily, Newsmax, Newsbusters, and more. Enjoy the headlines, and make sure you check back on a daily basis for the updated news feeds. I will be back blogging sometime next week unless a major story breaks that warrants an interruption of my vacation.

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Iraq Attacks US Navy Warship ... Twentieth Anniversary

Before the first Gulf War, the War on Terror, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and long before Clinton implemented regime change in Iraq as the official US policy ... the only successful cruise missile attack on a United States Navy vessel was carried out by Saddam's forces.

On May 17, 1987 the USS Stark (guided missile frigate) was struck by two French made Exocet anti-ship missiles fired by a French made Iraq Mirage F1 of the Iraqi Air Force.

The first missile hit the Stark's port-side hull, but did not detonate. The second entered at roughly the same spot as the first and exploded in crew quarters. Thirty-seven sailors were killed and twenty-one were injured.

The USS Stark did not fire in self-defense.

The ship made its way to Bahrain where it underwent repairs before returning to its home port of Mayport, Florida.

Saddam and Iraqi officials claimed the attack was not authorized, but Saddam claimed the pilot was not punished. As we all know, and has been pointed out countless times during the current conflict, Saddam ruled with an iron fist. It is highly doubtful that anyone would launch an attack on a US naval vessel without his authorization. Not to mention Saddam's assertion that the pilot was not punished for causing an international incident. When have you ever known Saddam to forgive anyone for embarrassing him?

You can see the photos of the USS Stark after the attack here.

You can pay your respects to the killed sailors at this site ... which was set up as a memorial to those lost.

Democrats Still Snubbing Fox News For Debates

Looks like the Dems can't learn an easy lesson. Not only are they not attempting to lure conservative voters to there side, but they are snubbing everyone who watches the most popular cable news channel.

All of this in light of the GOP Fox debate clearly proving its superiority over the MSNBC debate (I use that term loosely). We all knew the Fox debate was conducted far more professionally than the previous debate, but it turns out Fox had about a million more viewers as well.

U.S. Offers Reward For Info On Missing Soldiers

The US military has released that they are offering an award for any information on our missing soldiers.

Military.com:

The U.S. military has offered rewards of up to $200,000 for information leading to the return of three missing American Soldiers, a U.S. general said Wednesday.

Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of U.S. troops south of Baghdad, said the offer was made on 50,000 leaflets distributed in the area where the troops disappeared.

Here's hoping it works.

Terrorist Admits Trying To Draw U.S. Forces Into Saudi Arabia

According to Saudi news sources terrorists have attempted to lure American forces into Saudi Arabia in an attempt to coax the two countries into war.

Earth Times:

Riyadh - Suspected militants being held in Saudi Arabia on charges of plotting terror attacks have told prosecutors their main aim had been to draw the United States into Saudi territory, Saudi media reports said Tuesday.

In April 172 suspected terrorists were arrested, and they have proved to have been connected with 7 different terrorist cells, including al Qaeda.

The reports said they admitted that their plot had been part of a larger terrorist campaign that involved targeting other countries in the Gulf, such as Kuwait and United Arab Emirates.

They also said they had planned to attack Saudi Arabia's Bqeeq oil field under the instruction of Osama bin Laden.

There has been little coverage of the terrorist attacks in the other Middle Eastern countries outside of Iraq and Israel, but they have been frequent. Remember, an American soldier was just killed in one such attack in Pakistan.

The suspects said that if American forces had moved into Saudi Arabia to prevent their attack on an oil field they would have been easy targets for al Qaeda. It is also reasonable to assume that this action by American forces would possibly lead to a shoot out with Saudi forces ... although a small one.

Compare The Question Of The Two GOP Debates

We all know that the first GOP debate was a debacle, and most likely organized to be a debacle by MSNBC. There were foolish questions, inappropriate questions and flat out disorganization. It was like watching a junior high school debate with a bunch of kids who've never debated before. Fox clearly showed everyone that they are the better news organization with this second debate. They also showed why they have a hell of a lot more viewers than MSNBC.

I ran across this link on Hotair from National Review. It is a video comparison of the questions asked at both GOP debates so you can see who the real news organization is, and who the bias advocacy group is. Enjoy.

Illegal Aliens Suing Factory After Immigration Raid

It's a couple of days old, but it's still a worthy blog post.

361 illegals feel that it is their right to get the overtime pay they were denied because they were taken into custody during an immigration raid, and so they are suing.

Reuters:

Workers including 361 illegal immigrants were cheated of hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime pay at a factory at the center of a high-profile raid in Massachusetts, according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday.

Lawyers are watching this one very closely for precedent. Can you imagine the lawsuits that lawyers will file on behalf of criminals who've been taken into custody after committing a crime? Will they all be able to recoup their lost wages?

The illegals were also upset about a few other things as well. Apparently the company would deduct 15-30 minutes of pay from a worker who was at least 1 minute late to work. Sounds like a nasty thing to do, but it's the fault of the illegals not the company. If you are willing to violate employment laws ... you must be prepared to have employment laws violated when it pertains to you. Especially when the laws never legally applied to you anyway.

Growing Number Of Scientists Reversing Their Global Warming Theories

Funny thing is that more environmental scientist denounce the man-made theories than support it. It's always been that way, but some of the scientists (mostly out of the environmental field) are changing their minds that man causes global warming. Hell, how can you not with NASA telling you it's the sun every other day?

U.S. Senate:

Many former believers in catastrophic man-made global warming have recently reversed themselves and are now climate skeptics. The names included below are just a sampling of the prominent scientists who have spoken out recently to oppose former Vice President Al Gore, the United Nations, and the media driven “consensus” on man-made global warming.

The list below is just the tip of the iceberg. A more detailed and comprehensive sampling of scientists who have only recently spoken out against climate hysteria will be forthcoming in a soon to be released U.S. Senate report.

Now is when we will start to see the greenies who support the Senate when they work for climate change to start attacking the Senate as big oil shrills.

Follow the link to read who the scientists are, and their bio's.

Democrats Promise Budget Surplus If Taxes Are Raised

This is one of the worst economic plans I've ever seen. They, of course, want to stick it to the rich, but the middle class is not safe in this proposal either. There is also spending increases for Medicare, children's health care and farm subsidies. This should give you an idea of how much they want to increase your taxes ... the largest increase in history.

AP:

Congressional Democrats Wednesday announced agreement on a $2.9 trillion budget blueprint for 2008, promising a budget surplus in five years but only by allowing some of President Bush's tax cuts to expire.

The Dems also chose to pass up overhauling social programs on the verge of collapse.

Democrats took a pass on overhauling federal retirement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, which are threatened with insolvency in coming decades with the retirement of the Baby Boom generation. They instead hope to address shortfalls in benefit programs after the 2008 election as part of broader talks that would also determine the future of the Bush tax cuts.

Like true politicians ... let's wait until after the 2008 elections to tell people how to fix these things. It is too politically dangerous to announce your plans to fix them in order to get elected. Then after the election they will say the same thing ... that they won't announce a plan to fix the programs until after the following election. The circle of deceit will continue until the programs break.

The worst part of the Dem's plan is that it makes a bunch of assumptions, predictions, and guesses on what the future will hold. There is no money for any conflict, which is highly irresponsible given the current state of affairs with several countries. They are also guessing the rates, and taxes of many factors to come to their final conclusion.

They expect the taxpayer to accept the largest tax increase in history based on guesses because they've promised a surplus in a few years that will ultimately never materialize. They may lie to us about a surplus like they did last time in order to fool us. There never was a surplus under the last administration and Congress ... it was a lie. Looks like we are headed there again.

Illegal Alien Advocates Rally For Hillary's Support

I don't really know what more they want her to do. Hillary already appointed the former head of La Raza to her campaign staff. I guess advocates plan to hold actions outside the offices of Sens. Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton.

Staten Island Advance:

New York City immigrants and advocates plan to hold actions outside the Manhattan offices of Sens. Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton.

Frustrated over what the rally sponsors call the senators' lack of active leadership in the immigration debate so far, participants will urge their representatives to become more vocal over the next two weeks.

They want to get the Senate's support in order to make sure pro-amnesty legislation goes through.

U.S. Coast Guard Breaks Record For Cocaine Find

Good job and well done to all of my "coasties" out there. The US Coast Guard is not only the most underrated, and underappreciated, of all the military services, but they are also one of the most effective.

The coasties just broke a record for a cocaine find, and deserve some long overdue credit.

UPI:

The U.S. Coast Guard seized a record-breaking 3,800 gallons of liquid cocaine from a fishing boat in the Eastern Pacific, a prosecutor in Florida said.

The smugglers were Ecuadorians with one Colombian.

Well done coasties ... well done.

Hamas Launches Missiles At Israel ... Fatah Gunmen Seek Asylum In Israel

Hamas called off yet another cease-fire a couple of months back, and has been attacking Israel on a regular basis since then. Of course, the media isn't really covering that because no innocent Palestinians have died yet.

Hamas has also called off (again) the cease-fire with Fatah, and has been attacking them as well.

For those of you who hate Israel, and want to blame them for the cease-fire breakdown ... Hamas went public when they ended it by saying there would never be peace with the "Zionist entity."

Debka:

Sderot took heavy damage from at least 20 missiles which directly hit several homes, in which 19 civilians, including a mother and her son, were wounded.

Yes, it was unprovoked. Israel's response was less than stellar.

Israel's response was confined to a helicopter strike against unpopulated areas in N. Gaza.

The Debka File is also reporting that at least 13 Palestinian gunmen were killed in fighting between Hamas and Fatah yesterday, and it appears that several Fatah gunmen have sought asylum in Israel.

According to some reports, a group of Fatah fighters, some in uniform asked Israel border troops for asylum. Abbas has called for a cessation of hostilities.

The Palestinian Security Minister has also resigned as a result of the violence between Hamas and Fatah.

Update:

Qutar News Agency is reporting that Hamas is threatening more attacks after this one. Hamas spokesman, Abu Obaida, confirmed the attack was Hamas. He said that the attack was in response to Israel celebrating their existence.

He Said The Attacks Marked The 59th Anniversary Of The Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe) And In Response To Israel Celebrating The Anniversary Of Its Creation.

In Another Statement On The Hamas-run Al-aqsa Satellite Channel, Abu Obaida Vowed To Fire More Barrages Of Rockets Into Israel Within The Coming Hours.

Xinhua News Agency is reporting that the US is calling for, you guessed it, a cease-fire. How many times does Hamas have to tell us that they aren't interested in a cease-fire with anyone. I told everyone that Hamas would violate the cease-fire with Fatah, and they did. That's what Hamas does.

Update:

Hamas commander killed in fighting with Fatah.

Jordan Reveals Plot To Assasinate President Bush

Can't wait to see HuffPo comments on this one.

The plot involved 3 militants in Jordan, and they were going to attempt an assassination on President Bush on his last visit to the kingdom. They were arrested the day before he arrived.

They were planning on attacking the US and Danish embassies.

Haaretz:

A Jordanian prosecutor on Wednesday revealed a previously undisclosed plot by three alleged militants to assassinate U.S. President George W. Bush during his last visit to the kingdom.

The military prosecutor charged the three Jordanians, Nidhal Musleh al-Momani, Sattam al-Zawahrah and Tharwat Daraj, with plotting to carry out terrorist attacks and the illegal possession of explosives. The three also were planning to attack the American and Danish embassies in Amman, the prosecutor alleged during the opening day of the trial.

The Jordanian authorities arrested the three men on November 28, one day before Bush's arrival in Amman for talks with King Abdullah II and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The prosecutor told the court the defendants were found with homemade bombs made by filling large plastic bottles with gasoline.

These guys were so Muslim that they hated all non-militant Muslims, and considered them infidels. How's that for some religion of peace news?

He described them as adherents of the Takfiri ideology, an extremist doctrine that regards even non-militant Muslims as infidels.

Great ... even more radical radicals.

Denver To "Hide" Homeless For Democratic National Convention

Now, I'm no fan of most homeless people, but the Democrats always proclaim to be. How many times have you heard that we need to show compassion for the homeless, or we need to provide free social services to the homeless from Democrats? Lots ... right?

Well, Denver will host the Democratic National Convention this year, and instead of allowing the Democrats to highlight the homeless problem so we can help these poor souls ... they're going to hide them from public view until after the convention. Then it's back to the streets with you ... smelly bum.

My mayor, Oscar Goodman, has been nationally demonized for his treatment of the homeless here in Las Vegas, but he's never proposed anything so "Vlad Dracula" as this.

Rocky Mountain News:

Denver plans to clear downtown streets of the homeless during the Democratic National Convention here in 2008.

The city will open an emergency shelter normally used during winter deep freezes, and keep other shelters in the city open 24 hours during the August gathering. In addition, an army of outreach workers will fan out across downtown to persuade the homeless to come inside during the convention.

Wow, talk about wanting to sweep your problems under the rug. So is this just a case of Denver being embarrassed by their homeless population, or is it something more?

Roxane White, Denver's manager of human services had this to say:

The effort is motivated by security concerns and is not just an effort to spruce up Denver's image at a time when the city will be under a media spotlight.

Special attention will be paid to the "security zone" around the Pepsi Center, which includes the South Platte River, a favorite campground for the homeless.

Oooh, it's a security thing. I see, homeless people are criminals now. Why is it that whenever I say that I get some Dem crawling up my butt telling me how "insensitive" I am? Hypocrisy reigns supreme, I guess.

The most intriguing part of her statement isn't the security angle ... it's the whole 'throwing the homeless out of their homes because we have a bunch of wealthy Democrats coming to town, and they don't want to see your filthy, drunk ass hanging around their convention' part of her statement that intrigues me. She is admitting that the homeless are being removed from "a favorite campground" of theirs in order to hide them from the public. When my mayor closed down Circle Park because of the homeless problem there ... he was verbally assaulted nationally by homeless advocacy groups. He was even labeled the most unfriendly person to the homeless.

Denver is not alone, and several other cities for both parties have done similar things. It's just a little humorous to hear that the homeless-friendly Democrats aren't going to seize upon the opportunity to talk about the problems with capitalism, and its affects on innocent people who end up being homeless. What better platform to talk about social programs, and reform, than to illustrate the homeless population right outside the front door?

Protests Against Reid, Pelosi In Support Of Our Troops In Three Cities

I received a public announcement from MoveAmericaForward.Org two days ago, and several people have picked up on it. There will be protests in San Fransisco, Carson City (capital of Nevada), and Las Vegas against what Reid and Pelosi have been saying and doing in regards to our troops. Below is their latest commercial for victory in Iraq.


In the letter Joe sent me he outlines 3 things they are asking people to do.

Part 1 – Move America Forward will be asking its members to send a white protest “surrender feather” and “Surrender Monkey” postcard to the offices of speaker Nancy Pelosi (San Francisco) and Senator Harry Reid (Nevada).



Part 2 – On Thursday May 17th at 10:30 AM, Move America Forward will be holding “Surrender Is Not an Option” rallies at the offices of speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid. The Grassroots organization is asking that its members bring white “surrender flags” to show their displeasure with Reid and Pelosi.



Nancy Pelosi: 450 Golden Gate Ave. San Francisco, CA 94102



Harry Reid : 333 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Suite 8016, Las Vegas, NV 89101



Part 3 – Move America Forward will be debuting a new ad that takes Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi to task for their “war is lost” attitude towards the war in Iraq.

The feather thing is great. You can add your own little twist and send 4 white feathers instead. Receiving 4 white feathers was a sign that you were a coward in the British Empire.

12 Year Old Girl Forced To Watch Brokeback Mountain In School Sues

When I was in high school we watched a Romeo and Juliet movie that had some brief nudity (her breasts, his butt), and we all thought that was extremely odd. Can you imagine having your kid being forced to watch two guys going at it like they were just let out of prison?

WND:

A 12-year-old girl who says she was traumatized when her teacher showed the film "Brokeback Mountain" featuring love scenes with homosexual cowboys is suing the Chicago Board of Education for $500,000.

It turns out it was a substitute teacher who showed the film, and apparently they didn't want the kids to narc.

"What happens in Ms. Buford's class stays in Ms. Buford's class," is what the substitute teacher told eighth-grade students at Ashburn Community Elementary School after showing the R-rated movie, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in Cook County Circuit Court.

As a native of Las Vegas I'm getting tired of everyone ripping off our motto, and interjecting it into every other sentence they say. R-rated movies aren't supposed to be shown in school at all ... let alone to 12 year olds. This case sound a lot like the gay seminar story a little while back.

Apparently this family has complained before because the girl was being forced to read school material that had curse words in it.

Ex-Cadet Sues West Point For Kicking Him Out

Charles Chesnutt Jr is fighting because West Point sent him a tuition bill after he was kicked out for not running fast enough. The kicker ... West Point wants tuition for all three years of his education.

Military.com:

Charles Chesnutt Jr., a law student at Southern Methodist University, said in the lawsuit that he enrolled at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in the fall of 1998.

After he couldn't pass the running test, he was asked to leave in spring 2001 and honorably discharged from the Army, he said.

But in 2006, Mr. Chesnutt received a letter from the Defense Department demanding that he pay about $114,000 for his three-year education. The letter said the Army had determined that Mr. Chesnutt failed the test on purpose, according to the lawsuit.

West Point cadets receive free tuition in exchange for at least five years of active-duty service and three years in the reserves.

So this guy attends West Point for three years free, can't fulfill his obligations, gets kicked out, and is upset that West Point would like to be compensated for the three years of education they gave him?

He says he gave West Point paperwork that showed he had problems with his knees. I don't know if it was an injury he had recently had, or if it was a long standing issue. If it was an old injury ... how did he complete the previous three years with no problem? Suddenly he can't run fast enough after three years of training ... I don't buy it. He owes the tuition.

U.S. Soldier Killed In Pakistan

With everything happening with our missing soldiers in Iraq right now this story may not make headlines. Missing uranium, terrorist threats, and Pakistani forces coming under attack are commonplace in Pakistan lately. This time, one of our guys was caught in the gunfire.

Military.com:

Militants opened fire Monday on a convoy carrying U.S. and Pakistani military officials near the Afghan frontier, killing one American and one Pakistani soldier, the Pakistani army spokesman said.

Two American and two Pakistani soldiers were also wounded.

Marine: Haditha Didn't Need Probe

The case against the Haditha Marines has been falling apart in recent weeks. Maj. Dana Hyatt testified, as many Marines have, that he didn't feel the scene he witnessed deserved an investigation.

Military.com:

Hyatt said a corporal from the squad involved in the killings told him that he had heard someone in the house loading a machine gun, and that is why they cleared rooms with such aggression.

"It made sense. It sounded OK," said Hyatt, who has been given immunity to testify.

The Marines are saying that all of the 24 dead were civilians, but Hyatt testified that 8 were insurgents. That has not been verified.

He goes on to talk about the compensation paid to the family of those killed at Haditha.

Based on what he saw, Hyatt said he was authorized to distribute more than $40,000 in compensation to relatives of the dead.

Still, Hyatt testified that his understanding of Marine rules was that when civilians died in combat operations, no follow-up investigation was necessary.

Remember that the Marines did, in fact, come under fire after the IED. They were ambushed by gunmen. An event originally cast aside by everyone who wanted to see these Marines hang. Haditha was also well known as an insurgent hotbed at the time, and the video didn't turn up until months later. The guy who recorded the video also turned out to be a terrorist supporter himself.

Chicago Bears' Devin Hester Moves To Offense

Devin Hester, the rookie who shattered the return TD record last year, is moving to the offensive side of the ball. For those of you who don't follow the Bears, or Hester, he is a defensive back.

Hester has been heavily recruited by the Bears coaches to switch to offense and be the Chicago version of Reggie Bush. He has held out for long time saying that he wanted to play defense, but he also likes scoring touchdowns. In they end, the option of going for 6 won him over, and the Bears announced that Hester will move to offense this coming season.

Naturally, the Bears are very excited about the move because Hester may be the most dangerous player in the NFL with a football in his hands, and comparisons to Reggie Bush are not far fetched. Hester is also not new to playing offense so the transition should be fairly smooth.

Rex Grossman is like a kid in a candy store with all of the new offensive weapons he's been given this offseason. Drafting Greg Olsen at tight end, and now moving Devin Hester to offense, will add two electrifying weapons to an already very potent offense. With Grossman's first full season as a starter being vastly superior to many of the great hall of fame quarterbacks (in spite of some bumps) his development will continue to benefit from such quality players to rely upon.

Poll: Should Mock Attacks On Schools Be Allowed Without Telling The Students It's A Drill?

Should Schools Conduct Mock Attacks Without Telling The Students It's A Drill?
	Yes
	No
	Never, even if the students are told
pollcode.com free polls

Remember The Illegal Alien Prostitutes That Turned Out To Not Be Illegals? Yeah, They're Illegals Again

Last week I told you about the most FUBAR investigation I've seen in a while.

The FBI and Las Vegas police are giving the exact opposite story about Operation Doll House. The two year investigation supposedly broke up an international prostitution ring with 25 illegal alien women taken into custody.

Then we learned that some of them may be the victims of human trafficking, and none would be deported. The Salvation Army, who received $450,000 from the government to help trafficking victims, said they "don't deport victims." The prostitutes were to be given "T visas", and have the opportunity to get their green cards.

Next, the FBI came out and said that none of the women were trafficking victims, and were prostitutes willingly.

Since then, the FBI and Metro (police) have been fighting a war of words in the public media, and now the story has changed again.

Review Journal:

"We know of more than one ... tricked into coming here and thought they were going to be working legitimate," Lt. Dave Logue, who headed the investigation for the Metropolitan Police Department's Criminal Intelligence Section, said Thursday.

Now we are back to the women being trafficking victims.

But on Friday, Staretz said the FBI couldn't rule out the "potential for human trafficking" in the case.

"To date, we have no evidence that they (the women) were there against their will. That's not to say that human trafficking won't be uncovered in the future."

On Wednesday, Staretz was sure there were no victims of trafficking, but now he waivers a little. Until further into the article.

Then the spokesman for Metro said:

The FBI is aware of the "more than one" victim.

"We are definitely on the same page."

Metro has just called the FBI liars by saying that they DO know of victims of trafficking. The FBI is still maintaining that it has no evidence of trafficking at all.

Now the FBI and Metro get into an argument about the legal status of the prostitutes.

Staretz (FBI) also told the Review-Journal on Wednesday that all but one of the women were "here apparently on tourist visas."

"They're all here legitimately," he said.

Logue (Metro) said he was surprised by Staretz's statements.

"The majority of the girls absolutely were here illegally," he said.

FBI says they are legal ... Metro says they aren't. Remember, these two forces were working together on a TWO YEAR LONG INVESTIGATION, and they still can't get their story straight?

Capt. Csaba Maczala, who heads the Metropolitan Police Department's Homeland Security Bureau, said he also was surprised by Staretz's statements that the women were not trafficking victims and that most of them were in the country legally.

"Seventy-five to 80 percent were illegal aliens," Maczala said.

Asked why he thought the FBI said there were no trafficking victims, Maczala said: "They probably don't want to compromise the case."

Clearly Metro has no problem compromising the case then. Nice to know.

Staretz stood by his statements Friday.

"We have not uncovered any human trafficking victim," he said.

Staretz also said that on the day of the bust, some of the women had their own cars and passports.

He said that none of the women was identified as a human trafficking victim on the day of the raids.

I know, I know ... it is painful to read the statements these two organizations are making. Who to believe ... the FBI or Las Vegas Metro?

While the FBI and Metro continue to call each other liars in the media ... the Salvation Army is still giving sanctuary to the prostitutes captured in the bust. No charges have been filed against any of the girls.

I don't know if this is agency rivalry here, or if it is a government cover up of another investigation. A sheriff and undersheriff from California were arrested in connection with the prostitution ring ... maybe there is something going on we don't yet know about.

Nudists Want To Attract Younger Members

File this one under obvious. The aging population of nudists is desperately trying to attract younger, hotter members.

AP:

To draw 20- and 30-somethings, nudist groups and camps are trying everything from deep discounts on membership fees to a young ambassador program that encourages college and graduate students to talk to their peers about having fun in the buff.

"We don't want the place to turn into a gated assisted living facility," said Gordon Adams, membership director at Solair Recreation League.

Yep, they're recruiting on college campuses in order to get younger people naked.

The median age is 55 at Solair, where a yearly membership is $500 for people older than 40, $300 for people younger than 40 and $150 for college students.

The older you are the less likely people would like to see you naked, I guess.

The nudists are thoroughly confused as to why young hot people wouldn't want to look at a bunch of old wrinkled people. They believe the kids think they're hippies. They do acknowledge that there is an income gap, and that is why you pay less for membership the younger you are.

The nudists are going about this all the wrong way. If they want to attract younger people to their lifestyle they need to attract young ladies. You do that by offering free drinks on a "ladies night." The girls will come, they will drink, and they will get naked. Once that happens ... the young guys will come to see the young girls, and you've now the nudist lifestyle has been exposed to an abundance of young people.

Kansas And Missouri Say No To Tax Refunds For Illegals

Believe it or not there is an argument out there that illegal aliens don't get tax refunds. Not only do they get refunds, but they will often get the refunds of the person whose identity they stole, and this is pretty common. Now these two states are not handing out any refunds to illegal aliens for just that reason.

Fox News:

Kansas and Missouri, while the states are happy to receive the income taxes, they won't provide a refund because they say they can't be sure from whom the money was withheld unless there's a Social Security number.

The rallying has begun amongst illegal alien advocacy groups to stop this from happening. They are saying that it is unfair to take the taxes, but not provide a return.

But state tax officials say taxpayers must provide truthful information, and that's not happening when an illegal worker uses a false Social Security number.

The IRS has known for a long time that illegals steal identities, and claim the returns on that stolen identity. Congress has demanded that the IRS turn over that information, but the IRS has refused to rat out illegals. Missouri has found a way around that.

In Missouri, the Department of Revenue won't process a return if the worker uses an ITIN and attaches a W-2, said Jim Brentlinger, the department's tax bureau administrator.

In those cases, the state sends the worker a letter requesting documentation for why the return doesn't have the Social Security number that is on the W-2.

Finally, we have a couple of states who notice that tax information doesn't have matching numbers, and doing something about it.

Mort Kondracke Endorses Hillary's Plan For Ethnic Cleansing

I stumbled upon this at Hotair earlier today, and found it interesting that it took so long for someone to openly endorse Hillary's Iraq policy should she be president.

Real Clear Politics:

Without prejudging whether President Bush's "surge" policy will work, the administration and its critics ought to be seriously thinking about a Plan B, the "80 percent solution" - also known as "winning dirty."

The "winning dirty" strategy is to allow the 80% majority Shiites and Kurds to suppress the Sunnis.

Kondracke goes on to make a blunder in his piece that I don't think anyone else has caught yet.

No one has publicly advocated this Plan B.

Wrong! In fact a 2008 presidential candidate HAS endorsed allowing ethnic cleansing in Iraq as their strategy ... Hillary. Now Hillary has tried to hide her position on allowing ethnic cleansing ... most recently at the Democrat debates.

Kondracke then goes on about there being a civil war in Iraq, and I won't waste too much of my time further destroying that nonsense again. It is impossible to have a civil war with only 10-20% of the country fighting it. That is gang warfare ... not a civil war.

He goes on to say of the surge:

The new strategy deserves a chance, but so far civilian casualties are not down, progress on political reconciliation is glacial, and U.S. casualties have increased significantly.

Kondracke strikes out again. Clearly civilian casualties are down since the surge started ... as I wrote here, and Iraqi civilian casualties have been declining since February of this year (according to news reports). US troop casualties are also down from the average last month. Of course, our troop casualties have fluctuated every couple of months since the insurgency started in 2004, but US troop deaths have declined annually every years since the start of the insurgency. None of these truths made it into the column, and I doubt he knows anything about Operation Arrowhead.

Remember How The Polar Bears Are Dying Off? Yeah ... Their Population Has Increased

Just so everyone knows ... polar bears have existed in far warmer times on Earth than now. So they can, and will, survive our current warming trend. In fact, in Canada their population has increased dramatically since the 80's. The greenies are gonna hate this story.

NewsBusters:

As marvelously reported May 3 by the Christian Science Monitor (emphasis added throughout):

Polar bears are the poster animals of global warming. The image of a polar bear floating on an ice floe is one of the most dramatic visual statements in the fight against rising temperatures in the Arctic.

But global warming is not killing the polar bears of Canada's eastern Arctic, according to one ongoing study. Scheduled for release next year, it says the number of polar bears in the Davis Strait area of Canada's eastern Arctic – one of 19 polar bear populations worldwide – has grown to 2,100, up from 850 in the mid-1980s.

That's about a 150% increase in polar bear population. Pretty cool for a warming planet huh?

"There aren't just a few more bears. There are a ... lot more bears," biologist Mitchell Taylor told the Nunatsiaq News of Iqaluit in the Arctic territory of Nunavut. Earlier, in a long telephone conversation, Dr. Taylor explained his conviction that threats to polar bears from global warming are exaggerated and that their numbers are increasing. He has studied the animals for the Nunavut government for two decades.

This is a great development. What a shame that the greenies won't announce this resounding success, and will instead decry the study as a lie.

Report: Bottled Water Is Destroying The Planet

I've been making this argument for a long time now. Never mind that bottled water removes all the minerals we are supposed to take into our bodies, but it is destroying the planet.

Mercury:

"Bottled water is really expensive, in terms of environmental costs and economically," said Ling Li, who wrote the report for the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute.

Most of you might be able to guess how bottled water is destroying our environment, but just in case you can't:

The environmental impact can start at the source, where some local streams and underground aquifers become depleted when there is "excessive withdrawal" for bottled water, according to the report.

In addition to the energy cost of producing, bottling, packaging, storing and shipping bottled water, there is also the environmental cost of the millions of tonnes of oil-derived plastic needed to make the bottles.

Are you getting the picture now?

There is also some mess about poor third world countries not being able to have bottled water, and that being a bad thing. I don't know why that isn't be heralded as an environmental benefit, but I guess anything that tells us we are oppressing people makes us feel good.

Obama Makes Up Another Number Off The Top Of His Head

Not only did Obama make an innocent mistake by saying that 10,000 died in the Kansas tornadoes, but now he is flat out making up numbers about fuel efficiency. Just like the Kansas National Guard scorned Obama, and others, for saying they didn't have the equipment to conduct recovery efforts ... Toyota is scorning Obama for saying their cars average 45 mpg.

Chicago Tribune:

"While our fuel standards haven't moved from 27.5 miles per gallon in two decades, both China and Japan have surpassed us, with Japanese cars now getting an average of 45 miles to the gallon," Obama said.

"I'm not sure where he got that figure," Toyota spokesman Mike Michels said. "No carmaker gets 45 m.p.g. Ours is closer to 30 m.p.g."

We should all forgive Obama for the 10,000 dead remark ... he simply misspoke. That isn't the case here. He either lied, or was lied to by someone advising him. No matter which scenario it may be it poses a serious problem for Obama who has been increasingly making misstatements while on the campaign trail.

Obama also made some other mistakes in that statement. China and Japan don't have fuel standards, and our fuel standard was mandated by the government ... not the automakers. Mr. Mateja (who wrote the article) rightly asserted that if Obama were elected ... the first thing he should do is appoint a fact checker.

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John Edwards Says He'll Look Into WTC 7 ... Let Me Help John

One of the funniest videos to come out of the current campaign. Not only does Edwards not know what the truther is talking about, but he promised to look into it when clearly he won't. There is no need to look into it. Sane people know that, but here is a quote from someone who was there, Deputy Chief Hayden:

Yeah. There was enough there and we were marking off. There were a lot of damaged apparatus there that were covered. We tried to get searches in those areas. By now, this is going on into the afternoon, and we were concerned about additional collapse, not only of the Marriott, because there was a good portion of the Marriott still standing, but also we were pretty sure that 7 World Trade Center would collapse. Early on, we saw a bulge in the southwest corner between floors 10 and 13, and we had put a transit on that and we were pretty sure she was going to collapse. You actually could see there was a visible bulge, it ran up about three floors. It came down about 5 o’clock in the afternoon, but by about 2 o’clock in the afternoon we realized this thing was going to collapse.

So we gathered up rollups and most of us had masks at that time. We headed toward 7. And just around we were about a hundred yards away and Butch Brandies came running up. He said forget it, nobody’s going into 7, there’s creaking, there are noises coming out of there, so we just stopped. And probably about 10 minutes after that, Visconti, he was on West Street, and I guess he had another report of further damage either in some basements and things like that, so Visconti said nobody goes into 7, so that was the final thing and that was abandoned. Firehouse: When you looked at the south side, how close were you to the base of that side? Boyle: I was standing right next to the building, probably right next to it. Firehouse: When you had fire on the 20 floors, was it in one window or many? Boyle: There was a huge gaping hole and it was scattered throughout there. It was a huge hole. I would say it was probably about a third of it, right in the middle of it. And so after Visconti came down and said nobody goes in 7, we said all right, we’ll head back to the command post. We lost touch with him. I never saw him again that day.

More eyewitness accounts here.

Illegal Alien Prostitutes Will Not Be Deported ... Major Government Cover Up

Recently, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department finished off a two year investigation known as "Operation Doll House." The operation was designed to break up an organized prostitution ring that has been operating here in Las Vegas. The girls who were selling themselves were illegal immigrants.

I did a show about this last week after I found out that the illegal women would not be deported, would be given "T visas", and would be allowed to remain in the US permanently because some of the women "may" have been the victims of human trafficking.

My stance was that even if some of these women were victims of trafficking (a horrible crime) that once their testimony was used in court ... we should send them back home. The basis for my argument was that they either used illegal means to get into the country before they were enslaved, or they were kidnapped. In either case they should be deported. Now we are learning NONE of these women were victims of trafficking, and they are still being protected by the Salvation Army.

Review Journal:

The FBI disputed Wednesday that women found in neighborhood brothels during raids on April 21 were victims of human trafficking.

Dave Staretz, chief division counsel for the FBI's Las Vegas field office, said none of the 25 women found during the Operation Doll House busts was a victim of human trafficking.

"As soon as this operation went down and all the prostitutes were interviewed, the FBI and Metro, on the ground as well, did not identify any human trafficking issues, that women were being held against their will in any way," Staretz said.

"They were all there voluntarily. They expressed they were happy with the money they were making."

I stressed over and over on my program that Metro (police) was saying "maybe" some of these women were victims of trafficking. At no point did Metro say definitely to the trafficking allegation.

Lauren Hermosillo, a Salvation Army social worker who is helping the women, told the Review-Journal on May 3 that the women would be given special "T visas" to remain in the United States because "we don't deport victims."

Ok, now we know they aren't victims. Will they be deported now? The RJ tried to contact Hermosillo, but now she is clamping her mouth shut and refusing to talk about the case.

We are also now hearing that all of the women are here legally on tourist visas.

Staretz said one of the prostitutes, who was a minor, was from Las Vegas.

"The rest were here apparently on tourist visas. They're all here legitimately," he said.

Now how did the FBI and Metro go from saying a two year investigation netted a bunch of illegal women to now they are all legally here in the US? After a two year investigation you can't get your story straight?

One of the pimps in this organized prostitution ring, Ping Sheng Chang, was given a deal, and will only plead guilty to one count of attempted pandering. He faces anywhere from probation to 4 years in prison depending on the judge. This guy is a pimp in an international prostitution ring, and he gets a plea deal like that?

This case is extremely FUBAR! Just a couple of days after the national headline grabbing raid we are hearing that everything, and I mean everything, they told us that night is exactly what wasn't the case. Perhaps there is just a massive amount of incompetence here, but it stinks more like a cover up.