RIP ::: 4 Americans [Missionaries] on hijacked yacht dead off Somalia - CBS News

Super intense story. Here's an excerpt:

On Monday, two pirates had peacefully come aboard the USS Sterett to negotiate with naval forces for the release of the hostages, and remained aboard overnight.

But on Tuesday, pirates aboard the Quest unexpectedly fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the Sterett. Shortly afterward, gunfire erupted inside the Quest cabin, and U.S. special forces responded, approaching the Quest in small boats and boarding the vessel, Vice Adm. Mark Fox, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command said in a Tuesday press conference.

Some pirates moved to bow and put up their hands in surrender. The U.S. forces killed two pirates in the course of clearing the vessel - one with a handgun and one in a close-combat knife fight. There were no injuries to U.S. forces or damage to U.S. ships, Fox said.

The Quest was the home of Jean and Scott Adam, a couple from California who had been sailing around the world since December 2004 with a yacht full of Bibles. The two other Americans on board were Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle, of Seattle, Wash.

Adam, in his mid-60s, had been an associate producer in Hollywood when he turned in a spiritual direction and enrolled in the seminary a decade ago, said Robert K. Johnston, a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena and a friend of Adam's.

"He decided he could take his pension, and he wanted to serve God and humankind," he said.

Johnston and Adam worked together to start a film and theology institute. Adam also taught a class on church and media at the school.

Since 2004, the Adams lived on their yacht in Marina Del Rey for about half the year and the rest of the year they sailed around the world, often distributing Bibles in remote parts of the Fiji Islands, Alaska, New Zealand, Central America and French Polynesia, Johnston said.

Scott and Jane Adam documented their maritime missionary work on their website, S/V Quest Adventure Log.

4 Americans on hijacked yacht dead off Somalia - CBS News

I Am In Awe. Our President Is A Rabble Rouser ::: Obama joins Wisconsin's budget battle, opposing Republican anti-union bill

Unbelievable.

MADISON, WIS. - President Obama thrust himself and his political operation this week into Wisconsin's broiling budget battle, mobilizing opposition Thursday to a Republican bill that would curb public-worker benefits and planning similar protests in other state capitals

Obama accused Scott Walker, the state's new Republican governor, of unleashing an "assault" on unions in pushing emergency legislation that would change future collective-bargaining agreements that affect most public employees, including teachers.

The president's political machine worked in close coordination Thursday with state and national union officials to get thousands of protesters to gather in Madison and to plan similar demonstrations in other state capitals.

How many state governors has he gone against now? He is out of control.

Obama joins Wisconsin's budget battle, opposing Republican anti-union bill

On Second Thought... ::: Egypt OKs Iran warships through Suez Canal - msnbc.com

CAIRO — Egypt has agreed to let two Iranian naval vessels transit the Suez Canal, a move that comes despite expressions of concern by Israeli officials, the Egyptian-government's MENA news agency reported Friday.

Authorities approved a request from Iranian diplomats who offered assurances that the two ships won't have weapons or nuclear or chemical material, MENA stated.

The move had been widely expected and Iranian officials have insisted the request is in line with international regulations. They say the two vessels are headed to Syria for training.

Egypt OKs Iran warships through Suez Canal - World news - Mideast/N. Africa - Iran - msnbc.com

LOL... It's A Senatorial APB ::: Dems missing from Wis. Capitol ahead of union vote | Chron.com

MADISON, Wis. — Police officers were dispatched Thursday to find Wisconsin state lawmakers who had apparently boycotted a vote on a sweeping bill that would strip most government workers of their collective bargaining rights.

The lawmakers, all Democrats in the state Senate, did not show up when they were ordered to attend a midday vote on the legislation.

The proposal has been the focus of intense protests at the Statehouse for three days. As Republicans tried to begin Senate business Thursday, observers in the gallery screamed "Freedom! Democracy! Unions!"

Republicans hold a 19-14 majority, but they need at least one Democrat to be present before taking a vote on the bill.

Democrats pulled that before in Texas. Absolutely ridiculous.





Dems missing from Wis. Capitol ahead of union vote | Top AP Stories | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

WWIII Averted Once Again ::: Iran Withdraws Suez Canal Request | The Blaze

CAIRO (AP) — Two Iranian naval vessels withdrew a request Thursday to transit the Suez Canal after Israel expressed concerns over the plans, a senior canal official said.

The official said no reason was given for the decision to withdraw the application.

The reason was their up-and-coming ass-kicking from Israel.

The Suez Canal official identified the two vessels as the Alvand, a frigate, and the Kharq, a supply ship, and said they were en route to Syria. He said they were now in an area near the Saudi Red Sea port city of Jiddah.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Wednesday that Iran was about to send two naval vessels through the Suez Canal for the first time in years, calling it a “provocation.”

Israel considers Iran an existential threat because of its disputed nuclear program, ballistic missile development, support for militants in the region and its threats to destroy Israel. While Israel has pressed for international sanctions to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons, it has not taken the possibility of a military strike off the table.

Anyway, apparently Ahmadinejad is slightly lucid, and not quite yet ready, or willing, for war. Hope it stays that way.

(And also, long live Stuxnet.)

Iran Withdraws Suez Canal Request | The Blaze

Screw Post-Racial... Halle "One Drop" Berry Should Really Stop Talking :: Berry should feel proud to call her daughter Nahla mixed-race | Mail Online

Okay, Halle Berry is now in a custody battle with her ex-boyfriend, Gabriel Aubry (the most beautiful person in the world. Halle is drop-dead gorgeous, but when they're photographed together she almost looks like a dog in comparison... here's the proof), over their equally insanely beautiful daughter, Nahla.

Here are some recent statements from Ms. Berry:

‘I feel she’s black. I’m black and I’m her mother, and I believe in the one-drop theory.’

Niiiice. The one-drop theory:

The one-drop theory (or one-drop rule) is the colloquial term for the standard, found throughout the USA, that holds that a person with even one drop of non-white ancestry should be classified as "colored", especially for the purposes of laws forbidding inter-racial marriage.

Now, if you're unaware, Halle's mother, who raised her, is white. I felt quite badly for her during Halle's Oscar-night thank-you speech, filled with her tears for black women as her white mom sat in the audience.

Halle says:

'I identify as a black woman, but I've always had to embrace my mother and the white side of who I am, too.

'By choosing, I've often [wondered]: "Well, would that make her feel like I'm invalidating her by choosing to identify more with the black side of myself?"'

Here's her plan for her daughter:

When asked to define her daughter's race, Berry - who has both white and African-American heritage - tells Ebony: 'What I think is that that's something she's going to have to decide.

'I'm not going to put a label on it. I had to decide for myself and that's what she's going to have to decide - how she identifies herself in the world.

'And I think, largely, that will be based on how the world identifies her. That's how I identified myself.

'But I feel like she's black.'

So the problem with her ex is that it made him crazy when she identified their child as black. To him, at the very least, she's mixed. And she is... 75% white, 25% black.

And if Halle would have shut up at this point I'd probably leave her alone (or maybe not).

I understand how those with African heritage choose to identify with it on a political level to remind and shame others about how blacks were treated in America. I. Get. It.

But it's enough. We certainly shouldn't be passing on that idiocy to yet another generation, especially a generation as post-racial as the youths currently growing up in America.

(For a great take on post-raciality, and an excellent slam on Obama's own racialist obsession, read this excellent WaPo OpEd by Elizabeth Chang: Why Obama should not have checked 'black' on his census form)

And anyway, the only race Halle is is the beautiful race... she doesn't just make top 10 gorgeous black women lists, but just top 10 gorgeous women lists. Make-up contracts, feature films, magazine covers, starring roles... she has got to start just being grateful and at peace with who she is.

But anyway, here's where Halle goes right off the rails... just ridiculously self-obsessed and silly...

She says: 'Well, first thing I want to say is that I'm very connected to my community and I want black people to know that I haven't abandoned them because I've had a child with a man outside of my race and I'm dating someone now outside of my race who is Spanish and French.

Hahahahahaha. Golly, I really hope all the people in the black community feel better now that they know that she hasn't abandoned them.

And then someone should remind her that a white man isn't any more outside of her race than a black man is. Good grief. Just because she has convinced herself that she is black doesn't make it so.

Poor thing. And then I immediately think, "Which one?"

Poor Halle.

Poor Gabriel.

Poor baby.

Poor all of 'em. What a ridiculous mess.

Halle Berry should feel proud to call her daughter Nahla mixed-race | Mail Online

Is Linda Gray The Best Looking 70 Year-Old Ever?! :::Linda Gray prepares to return to small screen in Dallas remake | Mail Online

I don't care how much work she's had done... whatever it was, it was invisible. She's an absolute knockout, without any of that freakish pulling or plumping or whatever.

Take a bow, gorgeous.

Linda Gray prepares to return to small screen in Dallas remake | Mail Online

Currently listening to... B.o.B - Nothin' On You [feat. Bruno Mars] (Video)

"

Republicans Give It Like They Get It ::: "Like Waxman, I Yield Back My Time." [Video]

Okay... this is an EPA hearing thingy, and it's a thumping.

Enjoy.

EPA Chief Lambasted at Hearing: 'Do You Believe in the Law of Supply and Demand?!' - Lisa Jackson - Fox Nation

Someone I Forgot I Loved ::: What Would Tyler Durden Do (On Aguilera's Thrashing of The Anthem)

I think this may be my favorite internet guy, he's at least as good as the best page in the universe, with the added bonuses of a great looking website and a steady stream of comedic brilliance.

As a gift I give you his take on Christina Aguilera's Super Bowl disaster:

Christina Aguilera has apologized for messing up the anthem

The National Anthem is 8 lines long. And it’s not some random collection of flowery words. It’s a story. The American flag was flying above Fort McHenry during fighting with the British in the War of 1812. It was there as the sun went down. As fighting went on it could be seen as the sky was lit up by explosions. At dawn, the flag was still there. Fort McHenry had been defended. It’s really not that tough to understand, or remember.

Unless you’re Christina Aguilera, who messed up the lyrics last night at the, uh, do I have to say “the Big Game”. Are they gonna sue me if I say Superbowl? Fuckers. But instead of singing, “O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming,” she sang, “What so proudly we watched at the twilight’s last gleaming?” But at least she’s apologized…

“I can only hope that everyone could feel my love for this country and that the true spirit of its anthem still came through.”

Obviously this isn’t really a big deal. She made a mistake, and she probably feels terrible. It happens. But she should have had a teleprompter. If nothing else than to block her big ass hips. I bet she wouldn’t just try to wing it if it was really important to her, like a recipe for double chocolate bacon brownies.

What Would Tyler Durden Do

Obama Goes Commie... Again: Corporate Profits "Have To Be Shared By American Workers"

He forgets two things, it seems.... 1) Workers get their share before the profits... it's called "wages". 2) If workers would like to share in the profits, they can get stock like everybody else that wants to share in another's profits.

Video here: RealClearPolitics - Video - Obama: Corporate Profits "Have To Be Shared By American Workers"

Restrepo (A 5-Star Must See)

My yearly Oscar marathon is in full swing, but I think I just ruined the field by watching a Best Doc nomination so early in the game -- narrative film can rarely compete with an excellent documentary.

And Restrepo is excellent. Perfect, even. Currently available for streaming on Netflix, every man, woman, and teenager can only gain from watching it. It is a gripping thriller and an emotional ride that shows just how hard our troops work, and how dangerous it can be for them out there in these crazy places. (Also... it reminds you how much the politics of war suck.)

I've only seen 4 of the 10 Best Picture noms, but so far not one of them compares story-wise to Restrepo. And no filmmakers worked as hard... no matter how many fussy actors or brilliant effects they had to master. (I'll blog on the bunch of them at some later date.)

Is Sarah Palin The Tiger Mom That America Needs?

I get a lot of questions from people about why I like the former Alaskan Governor so much... especially from friends and acquaintances of mine who think that they can't stand her. I think my affection is easy to understand.

When John McCain was still looking for a VP candidate, I was still quite irritated with the departure of Fred Thompson and the poor showing for Ron Paul. They would have been my dream ticket for the Rs in '08. I had no use for McCain. Thought all the visible VP potentials were lame. And then I thought of Sarah Palin, that knockout mom-of-five self-made success story kicking butt in the northern frontier.

Everything about her screamed "My people!"... the simple roots, the hard work and tenacity, the principles, the passel of progeny. She wasn't "my people" because I'd done any of those things - well... except for lots of babies - but she really represented the type of American I've always admired. She did a great job for her constituents... rooting out corruption, taking on old boy networks, securing equitable policies, and aiming for prosperity. I still can't believe McCain could see this and picked her.

Of course we don't talk about these things anymore. Instead, Palin has been attemptively corralled into a pen of shame and defeat, beaten relentlessly by a media whose hopes lie in her disappearing. Anyone else would have been intimidated and cowed by their sneers and harsh treatment. Silenced. But that's not what happened. Thankfully. Because Sarah Palin isn't just a pitbull, or a mama grizzly, she'a a Tiger Mom. And, frankly, I think we could use one just about now.

I've come to the conclusion that, more important than a leader's background or education or family, the most crucial factor in a President is the way he (or she) views the people, the mindset that is projected. We currently have an individual that seems to see little more than helpless misery, or terrible greed; sees himself as an ephemeral salve to the wounds of the weak and the punisher of the strong. Maybe it's because he lived a generally gilded life, warm and exotic, padded and coddled and callous-free, that it seems that he doesn't have a sense of challenge. Life is a zero sum game for him. Haves and have-nots. And those folks in the middle? Bitter. Clinging. Stupid.

Tiger Moms are super tough. They know life is hard. They seek not to protect their young as much as prepare their young. They "assume strength, not fragility". They demand hard work, and the accomplishing is its own reward.

(In case you missed it... the Tiger Mom's WSJ piece. And the Time cover story.)

In the beginning of Sarah Palin's first book she recounts her growing up in the man-cave of Alaska... smelling winter on an August evening. Chopping wood every day. Every day! As a means of survival! Catching or killing to eat! Often! Crazy demands to the rest of us, but, to those who meet them, a recognition of the ability of the individual to overcome life's struggles. To toughen up, and to take pride in victory.

We are a nation risen up from the toilings of hard working simple folk. People of faith and strength who forged an empire out of rough and rocky and dangerous territory. Yeah, they really could. And they could without a bureaucracy or a smarmy salesman telling them that if they didn't it was somebody else's fault.

That's not how a person, or a nation, succeeds. That's not what we need projected. I kind of like a person who looks for helping hands at the ends of their own arms, who sees people as individuals, capable and resourceful, who knows that life isn't easy or fair, but that the human spirit is resilient and capable of being inspired.

I don't want politicians that think that we need them. I prefer a leader that knows that we don't.

J. Paul Getty made an awesome statement about the secret to success: "Rise early. Work hard. Strike oil." Hilarious, seemingly cocky, yet true. It still so happens that if one rises early and works hard in America they're bound to strike something... maybe not a geyser, but certainly a shot of contentment, a sense of personal accomplishment.

I remember a while back the president was looking for an "ass to kick". I know... the jokes write themselves. But the butt to be kicked is none other than our own. And if we don't do it, there are a bunch of folks just lining up to do it for us. I'd rather it be Sarah Palin snapping us out of our slumber than the rest of them.

Is This The End Result Of The Bush Doctrine? :: Egyptian Revolution Jan 25th 2011 "We Will Have Our Rights!"

Super interesting what's going on, and what the end result will be. Egypt will not do well if the Muslim Brotherhood takes over.




YouTube - Egyptian Revolution Jan 25th 2011 - Take what's Yours!

Art? ::: Mysterious grand piano found on Biscayne Bay sandbar

It just randomly appeared.

Looks like a leftover from an 80s rock video.

Here's a mystery that gives a whole new meaning to the phrase ``piano bar.''

A grand piano recently appeared on a sandbar in Biscayne Bay, about 200 yards from the Quayside condominiums off Northeast 107th Street. Whoever put it there placed it at the highest point of the sandbar so that it's not underwater during high tide.

How and why the piano got there is a mystery. A grand piano weighs at least 650 pounds and is unwieldly to move, said Bob Shapiro, a salesman at Piano Music Center in Pembroke Park. ``You don't take it out there in a rowboat,'' Shapiro said.

This much is clear, however: The piano isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Unless it becomes a danger to wildlife or boaters, authorities have no plans to haul it away.

``We are not responsible for removing such items,'' said Jorge Pino, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. ``Even a car can become a habitat for wildlife. Unless the item becomes a navigational hazard, the Coast Guard would not get involved.''

More here: Mysterious grand piano found on Biscayne Bay sandbar - Miami-Dade - MiamiHerald.com

Shudder ::: Abortionist brutally murdered ‘hundreds’ of living newborns (with 281-page report)

The money quotes:

• In the report, the Grand Jury notes that several agencies and groups became aware of what has become known as Gosnell’s “shop of horrors,” but did nothing. They also provide extremely explicit descriptions of botched abortions, late-term abortions and infanticides rarely seen in court documents.

• Even though an NAF staff person spent several days in Gosnell’s abortion mill noting numerous violations, they failed to report him to the proper authorities, notes the document.

• While saying that “bureaucratic inertia is not exactly news,” the jurors said, “We think the reason no one acted is because the women in question were poor and of color, because the victims were infants without identities, and because the subject was the political football of abortion.”

The story:

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, January 20, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A massive, photograph-laden Grand Jury Report released Wednesday has detailed the bone-chilling practices of a Philadelphia abortionist, who clinic workers testified had delivered “hundreds” of living, breathing newborn children before severing their spinal cords or slitting their necks to complete the abortions.

Abortionist Kermit Gosnell was arrested Wednesday for eight counts of murder. One of the charges was for the botched-abortion death of 41-year-old Karnamaya Mongar, a Nepalese refugee. The other seven were for children who police had discovered, by examining their remains, had been born alive and then killed.

District Attorney R. Seth Williams released the 281-page report that was the basis for the murder charges against Gosnell and nine of his associates. Included in that report were photos of some of Gosnell’s victims.

In the report, the Grand Jury notes that several agencies and groups became aware of what has become known as Gosnell’s “shop of horrors,” but did nothing. They also provide extremely explicit descriptions of botched abortions, late-term abortions and infanticides rarely seen in court documents.

“Pennsylvania law requires physicians to provide customary care for living babies outside the womb. Gosnell chose instead to slit their necks and store their bodies in various household containers, as if they were trash,” stated the report.

The report provided detailed testimony from clinic staff who said that “killing large, late-term babies who had been observed breathing and moving was a regular occurrence” at the filthy clinic: one staffer said such events happened “hundreds” of times.

Another clinic worker, Tina Baldwin, told the jurors that Gosnell once joked about a baby that was writhing as he cut its neck: “that’s what you call a chicken with its head cut off.”

According to clinic worker Kareema Cross, Gosnell resorted to regularly killing babies after birth because he was not skilled enough to kill the baby in utero with a digoxin injection, a usual means of late-term abortion.

The report noted that one unlicensed worker at the clinic attempted to justify Gosnell’s practice of cutting of the newborns’ spinal cords as a “partial-birth abortion.” The Grand Jury concluded that the two procedures were different, however, because sucking the brains out of the baby’s head in a partial-birth abortion occurred while the head was still inside the mother, and thus served to make delivery of the evacuated head easier, whereas Gosnell’s victims were killed “when there was clearly no need or medical reason to collapse the skull.”

The day after the death of Karnamaya Mongar, Gosnell had applied for membership to the National Abortion Federations, but failed to meet its requirements. Even though an NAF staff person spent several days in Gosnell’s abortion mill noting numerous violations, they failed to report him to the proper authorities, notes the document.

“Despite his various efforts to fool her, the evaluator from NAF readily noted that records were not properly kept, that risks were not explained, that patients were not monitored, that equipment was not available, that anesthesia was misused,” states the report. “Of course, she rejected Gosnell’s application. She just never told anyone in authority about all the horrible, dangerous things she had seen.”

While saying that “bureaucratic inertia is not exactly news,” the jurors said, “We think the reason no one acted is because the women in question were poor and of color, because the victims were infants without identities, and because the subject was the political football of abortion.”

Here's Kermit:

More here: Abortionist brutally murdered ‘hundreds’ of living newborns: clinic worker | LifeSiteNews.com

Obama Breaks Bread With A Tacit Assassin? ::: Korea: Hunting Has Been Good This Year

I know our border with Mexico is no prize, but somehow I doubt we would allow incursions of policia sent to take out border crossers.

This story just makes me sick.

January 11, 2011: In the north, food has increasingly become the main obsession. That's because there's so little of it. Despite that, there are other problems. Among the upper class (Communist Party officials and military and police commanders), another big issue is growing drug use by their well-off children. Since the late 1990s, pharmacists and other medical personnel have been manufacturing methamphetamines, and selling the stuff to Chinese dealers across the border. This was a vital source of income at a time when starvation was an ever present danger. But in the last few years, more and more of the methamphetamines have been sold inside North Korea, to the children of the ruling class. Angry, and very influential, parents ordered a crackdown earlier this year, which has only been partially successful. Most of the methamphetamines are produced in towns near the Chinese border, but distributors have been found in the capital, and some other major cities. Many of those caught are executed, others are given the fate-worse-than-death and sent to prison. These "labor camps" (which kill a large number of inmates via malnutrition, violence or disease) are overcrowded. Normally built to hold about 150,000 enemies of the people, there are now closer to 200,000 inmates. That is controlled with less food and more violence, but this takes time (less time during the cold seasons). About ten percent of North Koreans are much better off than everyone else up there. But even these people, working for the bureaucracy, military or security agencies, and their families, are getting less food, or, more noticeably, food of much lower quality. Chinese traders are seeing a lot more household appliances being sold by these "middleclass North Koreans" in the markets, in order to buy more food or fuel.

The anti-government graffiti and jokes are out of control in the north. The problem is that it's no longer cool to tell the secret police about who is doing this stuff. This is a fundamental shift in the north.

The sanctions on North Korea are hurting. It's estimated that total trade up there is about $3 billion a year, and that it's been declining at least ten percent a year for the last three years. This is despite efforts to come up with new ways to smuggle weapons and military tech out. About 80 percent of the legal trade is with China, which has been enforcing more and more of the international sanctions.

China has been more cooperative in some ways. For example, North Korean border guards are under more pressure to halt people from fleeing North Korea. If you shoot escapees, there are rewards (like more food). China does not want more North Korean refugees, who often resort to illegal or semi-legal activities to survive once they arrive. So in remote areas of the border (now easily crossed over frozen rivers), North Korean border guards are allowed to pursue escapees into China, kill them, and drag the bodies back to North Korea (and collect the food bonus). Hunting has been good this year.

Korea: Hunting Has Been Good This Year

Paragraph Of The Week ::: The Political Assassination of Sarah Palin

This just sizzles.

Posted by Patrick S. Adams on Thursday, January 13, 2011 1:11:47 PM

It’s obvious that we are watching a centralized smear campaign with millions of tentacles which uses selective outrage to manufacture talking points where there is no real basis in fact in order to try to destroy Sarah Palin. Watching the liberal media perform intellectually dishonest mental gymnastics (which are probably better described as sleight of mind tricks) is akin to watching a little kid who knows he’s about to lose move the ball on the pool table when the other kid isn’t looking in a last ditch effort to turn the game. These political air benders defecate on the face of journalism and the American people when they trade in their journalistic credentials in order to distort the analytical process so brutally just for the sake of destroying those with whom they disagree. The evidence of a deliberate effort to destroy Sarah Palin is now self evident.

Read the whole piece here: The Shining City On a Hill, Political Blog, Conservative Bloggers, Republican Blogspot, Political Blogs

Wow... That Was Quick ::: Prime minister takes over as Ben Ali flees Tunisian turmoil

Tunisian President Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali left office on Friday amid continuing anti-government unrest in the North African country.

His departure was confirmed in a televised address by Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi, who said he was taking over as interim president until new elections are organised. Ghannouchi also promised to adhere to the constitution and ease the spreading chaos.

According to al Jazeera TV, Ben Ali, who came to the presidency in 1987, has left the country. But his whereabouts remain unknown.

Earlier in the day, the authorities had declared a state of emergency in a violent face-off between protesters and police that has been spiralling out of control since mid-December, resulting in dozens of deaths.

France24 - Prime minister takes over as Ben Ali flees Tunisian turmoil

Michael Ramirez, Brilliant As Usual ::: Jared Loughner Cartoon / IBD

Larger version here: RAMclr-011211-murdereribd-f.jpg.cms (800�564)

Just Keepin' Austin Weird ::: Drunk Cowboys Arrested for Riding Horse and Donkey Down 6th Street

If you actually need more than the title... lol...

Austin, TX - Two men charged with driving while intoxicated had their charges reduced to public intoxication after police arrested them for riding a horse and donkey down 6th Street.

Jose Rios, 33, and Samuel Olivo Jr., 48, were caught riding a horse and donkey in the 300 block of E. 6th Street while intoxicated. The two were coaxing people on the street to come, take pictures and pet their horse and donkey. Officers say the two were impeding traffic and could have caused an accident.

Officers conducted a field sobriety test on the two and then charged with DWI. According to Texas Penal Code, Chapter 49 (Driving While Intoxicated), the definition of a motor vehicle is given in Chapter 32.34 (a)(2) of the Texas Penal Code. The definition of a motor vehilce given in Ch. 32.34 (a)(2) is: a device in, on, or by which a person or property is or may be transported or drawn on a highway, except a device used exclusively on stationary rails or tracks.

DWI charges were dropped for both Rios and Olvio, but Rios was charged with public intoxication.

As for the animals, officers had to transfer to the horse and donkey to the Town Lake Animal Center until they could get better accomodations at Elgin animal hospital.

Video too! lol!

Drunk Cowboys Arrested for Riding Horse and Donkey Down 6th Street: MyFoxATLANTA.com

Wikileaks Revolution ::: Deadly Riots Escalating in Tunisia | The Blaze

My heart goes out to these people. I wish we had a more pro-freedom advocate of a president. They need some support.

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisian police fired rounds of tear gas at thousands of protesters in the capital Friday after some climbed atop the roof of the Interior Ministry, a symbol of the iron-fisted government they want to oust.

...

Ben Ali, 74, has maintained an iron grip on Tunisia since grabbing power 23 years ago in a bloodless coup, repressing any challenges. He has locked up many opposition figures, clamped down on dissent and kept tight control over the media but has not been able to resolve the country’s rising unemployment, officially at nearly 14 percent, but higher for educated youths.

The riots began after an educated but jobless 26-year-old committed suicide when police confiscated the fruits and vegetables he was selling without a permit.

...

U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks have described the corruption in Tunisia, and social networks like Facebook have helped spread the comments. Many ordinary Tunisians who have complained of corruption for years felt vindicated to see the U.S. cables.

Source: Deadly Riots Escalating in Tunisia | The Blaze

Mark Twain Controversy on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Some good moments here:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Mark Twain Controversy
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> The Daily Show on Facebook

Mark Twain Controversy - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - 01/11/11 - Video Clip | Comedy Central

Great Cartoon ::: How Media Pins The Blame

foden20110110palinmedia.jpg (550�495)

Tears for Australia ::: Australia floods: 25 dead and dozens missing as water swallows up Brisbane

What a terrible terrible disaster.

Lots of pix at the link, but I'll leave you with the one that smashed my heart...

Life-saver: A Blackhawk army helicopter crew member carries a baby to dry land in Gatton, west of Brisbane, after she was rescued and airlifted from floodwaters. It appears as if the child's name has been written on her arm by the rescuers for later identification purposes

Australia floods: 25 dead and dozens missing as water swallows up Brisbane | Mail Online

Simple Math For Simpletons ::: [Loughner] Fixated on Giffords (Starting in 2007 BPE... that's Before Palin Era, fools.)

I was really really sad thinking about the amped up rhetoric in the face of this terrible crime last night. Frankly, when the news of the shooting first came out, my thoughts were that it was either a narco-trafficking offshoot, or sudden jihad syndrome.

Sorry if my first thoughts following "enemy action" do not include my fellow Americans.

TUCSON, Ariz.—Accused gunman Jared Lee Loughner appeared to have been long obsessed with U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

A safe at Mr. Loughner's home contained a form letter from Ms. Giffords' office thanking him for attending a 2007 "Congress on your Corner'' event in Tucson. The safe also held an envelope with handwritten notes, including the name of Ms. Giffords, as well as "I planned ahead," "My assassination," and what appeared to be Mr. Loughner's signature, according to an FBI affidavit.

Federal authorities charged Mr. Loughner on Sunday with two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder and a count of attempting to kill a member of Congress, during a scheduled public appearance by Ms. Giffords here Saturday. More charges are expected, officials said, and Mr. Loughner, age 22, remains in federal custody. He will appear in federal court in Phoenix on Monday afternoon.

Mr. Loughner had complained to a friend about how he was treated by the Arizona lawmaker during an event several years ago, which aggravated Mr. Loughner, according to the friend.

...

"All he did was play video games and play music," said Tommy Marriotti, a high school friend. Mr. Marriotti said much of Mr. Loughner's free time was devoted to the school band. He wasn't especially political, Mr. Marriotti said, though he expressed frustration with the Bush Administration.

[snip]

Read the rest here: Suspect Fixated on Giffords - WSJ.com

And, in case you don't realize that the Palin/Right-Wing/Tea Party nexus of blame is an actual Democrat planned canard, here... from Politico:

The references to the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995 echoed in other ways. That horror, which killed 168 people including many children, helped then-President Bill Clinton stigmatize extreme anti-government rhetoric and re-energize his presidency at a time when Newt Gingrich and conservative Republicans were riding high in Congress.

One veteran Democratic operative, who blames overheated rhetoric for the shooting, said President Barack Obama should carefully but forcefully do what his predecessor did.

“They need to deftly pin this on the tea partiers,” said the Democrat. “Just like the Clinton White House deftly pinned the Oklahoma City bombing on the militia and anti-government people.”

Another Democratic strategist said the similarity is that Tucson and Oklahoma City both “take place in a climate of bitter and virulent rhetoric against the government and Democrats.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/47294.html#ixzz1AdwdHLuM

Somebody Had To Say It ::: Sarkozy: Mideast Christians victims of 'cleansing'

PARIS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday that Christian minorities in the Middle East are victims of "religious cleansing", following deadly attacks on churches in the region.

"We cannot accept and thereby facilitate what looks more and more like a particularly wicked programme of cleansing in the Middle East, religious cleansing," he said in an annual New Year's address to religious leaders.

An attack on a Coptic church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria on January 1 killed 21 people.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for that attack, which came after threats published online against Egypt's Copts from an Al-Qaeda-linked group in Iraq which had said it was behind a deadly assault on a church in Baghdad in October.

Forty-four worshippers and two priests died in the attack on a Syriac Catholic church in Baghdad in October, the worst of a series of attacks against Christians in Iraq.

French security sources said this week they had launched an investigation on terrorism-related charges after a priest filed a complaint over threats made online against a Coptic church in France.

Police in France and several other European countries have boosted security at Coptic churches which were due to celebrate Christmas on Friday, according to the eastern Orthodox church calendar.

The comments at the source are a fun read: Sarkozy: Mideast Christians victims of 'cleansing'

I'd Hit It... With A Gavel

Two great pix on Drudge today.

The one that the above title references:

And this one. Pure joy.

DRUDGE REPORT 2011�

Media Ignores Bush Success With Decision Points | The Weekly Standard

"For reasons one can't imagine." lol.

The American media, for reasons one can’t imagine, seem reluctant to report on the remarkable success of Decision Points, George W. Bush’s new book about his presidency. Indeed, other than the predictable grumbling reviews, the book hasn’t been discussed much at all by the usual suspects. Perhaps that is because they were rooting for Bush to fail. Thus, when DP opened at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, the Book Review’s feature “Inside the List” wrongly predicted that it would not have as much “staying power” as Laura Bush’s Spoken From the Heart, and besides, was already being “eclipsed by rumors that Bill Clinton will make a cameo appearance in [an upcoming movie] “The Hangover 2.”

Not quite. Nearly two months later, Bush’s book is still leaping out of book stores. It remains #1 on the NYT Best Seller List and tops the book sales at Amazon. Moreover, according to the UK’s Daily Mail, Decision Points has lapped Bill Clinton’s My Life , selling 2 million copies in just over a month—a remarkable accomplishment that took My Life 6 years to achieve. Much to the chagrin of the American Left, George W. Bush’s rehabilitation is clearly well underway. Perhaps that is why his unquestionable triumph with Decision Points is receiving such low key reportage from the mainstream American media. It just isn’t the story they hoped to tell.

Media Ignores Bush Success With Decision Points | The Weekly Standard

The WikiLeaks Vindication of George W. Bush - Larry Elder - Townhall Conservative

Worth the read. Speaking of vindicating Bush, his book has sold over 2 million copies so far. Good for him.

The WikiLeaks de facto declassification of privileged material makes it case closed: Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction -- and intended to restart his program once the heat was off.

President George W. Bush, in the 2003 State of the Union address, uttered the infamous "16 words": "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

Former Ambassador Joe Wilson sprang into action and, in an op-ed piece, in effect wrote, "No, the Cheney administration sent me to investigate the allegation -- and I found it without merit."

Put aside that Wilson's CIA-employed wife, not the evil Vice President Dick Cheney -- as Wilson implied -- sent him on the African errand. Put aside that the British still stand by the intelligence on which Bush made the claim. And put aside that the anti-Bush Washington Post, in an editorial, concluded that Wilson had lied about not finding evidence to support the Iraq-in-Africa-for-uranium claim, since he told the CIA the opposite when he reported back from Africa.

Bush claimed that Iraq sought uranium, specifically "yellowcake." What is yellowcake, and why would its presence or attempted acquisition corroborate the nearly unanimous assumption that Saddam possessed WMD?

The Associated Press called yellowcake "the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment" and said that it "also can be enriched for use in reactors and, at higher levels, nuclear weapons using sophisticated equipment."

"Bush and Iraq: Follow the Yellow Cake Road" headlined a euphoric Time magazine July 2003 piece -- written when the Bush administration began backtracking from the Iraq-sought-uranium-from-Africa claim. Time said no yellowcake equals no WMD equals bogus basis for war.

The article led with this ripper: "Is a fib really a fib if the teller is unaware that he is uttering an untruth? That question appears to be the basis of the White House defense, having now admitted a falsehood in President Bush's claim, in his State of the Union address, that Iraq had tried to buy uranium in Africa."

Time hoisted (the now discredited) Joe Wilson on its shoulders as The Man Who Told the Truth to Power: "Just last weekend, the man sent by the CIA to check out the Niger story broke cover and revealed that he had thoroughly debunked the allegation many months before President Bush repeated it." Never mind that the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that Wilson's report "lent more credibility to the original Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reports on the uranium deal" sought by Iraq in Niger.

Let's recap.

Bush, in building the case for war against Iraq, lied to the nation. He falsely claimed that Iraq was attempting to purchase yellowcake from Africa. Time magazine specifically referred to the yellowcake "lie" in accusing Bush of fabricating the case for war. Therefore, were Iraq to have had yellowcake -- an assertion called a "lie" -- it would have confirmed the presence of WMD, giving credence to Bush's declaration of Iraq as a "grave and gathering threat."

But ... there ... was ... yellowcake. This brings us back to WikiLeaks.

Wired magazine's contributing editor Noah Shachtman -- a nonresident fellow at the liberal Brookings Institution -- researched the 400,000 WikiLeaked documents released in October. Here's what he found: "By late 2003, even the Bush White House's staunchest defenders were starting to give up on the idea that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But WikiLeaks' newly-released Iraq war documents reveal that for years afterward, U.S. troops continued to find chemical weapons labs, encounter insurgent specialists in toxins and uncover weapons of mass destruction (emphasis added). ... Chemical weapons, especially, did not vanish from the Iraqi battlefield. Remnants of Saddam's toxic arsenal, largely destroyed after the Gulf War, remained. Jihadists, insurgents and foreign (possibly Iranian) agitators turned to these stockpiles during the Iraq conflict -- and may have brewed up their own deadly agents."

In 2008, our military shipped out of Iraq -- on 37 flights in 3,500 barrels -- what even The Associated Press called "the last major remnant of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program": 550 metric tons of the supposedly nonexistent yellowcake. The New York Sun editorialized: "The uranium issue is not a trivial one, because Iraq, sitting on vast oil reserves, has no peaceful need for nuclear power. ... To leave this nuclear material sitting around the Middle East in the hands of Saddam ... would have been too big a risk."

Now the mainscream media no longer deem yellowcake -- the WMD Bush supposedly lied about -- a WMD. It was, well, old. It was degraded. It was not what we think of when we think of WMD. Really? Square that with what former Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean said in April 2004: "There were no weapons of mass destruction." MSNBC's Rachel Maddow goes even further, insisting, against the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that "Saddam Hussein was not pursuing weapons of mass destruction"!

Bush, hammered by the insidious "Bush Lied, People Died" mantra, endured one of the most vicious smears against any president in history. He is owed an apology.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The WikiLeaks Vindication of George W. Bush - Larry Elder - Townhall Conservative

Venezuela Now A Narco-State? :::A Gangster With Oil - Investors.com

Years ago, Americans worried about Venezuela's leftist Hugo Chavez becoming a new Castro — with oil. It happened. Now he's filling his cabinet with drug lords, and the threat morphs into something creepier.

Last week, Chavez promoted Major General Henry Rangel Silva to general-in-chief, the top position in the Venezuelan military command.

It was a rogue act because, in 2008, the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control named Rangel and two other Chavez loyalists as "Tier II Kingpins" for material support of drug trafficking.

The U.S. designation came of an administrative process so strict and thorough the U.S. government could indict someone if it's right — and be sued if it's wrong. There have been no lawsuits.

Rangel is said to provide material support for Colombia's FARC communist terrorists, who control 60% of Colombia's cocaine production, pushing it into Mexico and other destinations.

With Mexico endangered by local cartels' trade with Venezuela's government-linked suppliers, the link to Mexico's drug war is very real. And it's a national security problem for the U.S. — a big one.

The promotion shows Chavez is surrounding himself with drug lords. Most leaders would expel someone with those credentials. Not Chavez. He almost seems to be flaunting Rangel and others like him. One can only conclude that Venezuela is now a narcostate.

With seven other Chavez loyalists also on the Treasury's list (but not yet announced) the rot is far deeper than the U.S. wants to admit. The only real question left is what will we do about it?

More here: A Gangster With Oil - Investors.com