Doug Ross @ Journal

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Mind-boggling: TSA forces Richmond Airport to give convict unlimited access to all classified areas, which... violates TSA's own rules

Beltway insiders refer to Janet Napolitano, head of the Department of Homeland Security, as "Janet Incompetano". The DHS chief has suffered through a series of monumental gaffes over the past year, including her bizarre claim that "the system worked" after a terrorist came within millimeters of killing hundreds on a Detroit-bound flight.

Earlier this month, a Richmond newspaper reported that the TSA actually violated its own rules in forcing the city's airport to give unfettered access to a convict.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration insisted that Richmond International Airport issue its highest-level security clearance to a TSA security officer with a felony conviction for robbery.

...The airport would not identify the TSA employee nor reveal his age. The employee did not divulge on his application -- though a records check last fall did -- that he had been found guilty of robbery within the past 10 years.

The federal agency's demand that RIC issue the "security identification display area" badge came despite the fact that Richmond International's TSA-approved security program prohibits issuing security badges to people convicted of any disqualifying crimes.

...The Transportation Security Administration threatened the airport with unspecified consequences, Mathiasen said, unless RIC agreed to issue the badge to the employee... Faced with the TSA's demands "and against its own prudent judgment," the Capital Region Airport Commission, which owns and operates RIC, issued the access credentials to the federal employee late last year.

...Transportation security officers' duties include handling the security screening of passengers to prevent weapons and dangerous material from being taken onto an airliner, and participating in briefings concerning security-sensitive or classified information.

Not to worry, however: only 3.3 million travelers fly in and out of Richmond International.

Just to satisfy my own curiosity, I looked up "incompetent buffoon" in my old, hard-copy encyclopedia. While a picture of Janet Napolitano did not accompany the article, the lovely visage of her mentor -- Janet Reno -- did appear.

Consider this reason number four thousand, six hundred and twelve that President Obama's ideological appointees are setting the stage for a real "man-made disaster."

Hat tip: Mere Rhetoric.

A Little Housekeeping

My seven regular readers may have noticed the recent changes in the format of this august journal. The intent is to improve readability, reduce scrolling and annoy liberals.

As always, if you have feedback, please leave comments or email me -- any critiques are welcome. Except from liberals.

Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror: How the Teachers' Unions Are Destroying California's Economy

Nearly 10,000 California state retirees pull down more than $100,000 a year, thanks to public sector unions and the Democrat politicians who support them. For just this tiny group of retirees, the expense represents almost $1.5 billion a year for California's taxpayers.

Of this total, 3,090 retired educators in California receive more than $100,000 a year.

The Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD) is but one example of the dysfunction. The district is nearing complete insolvency thanks to the teachers' unions. 85% of CUSD’s budget already goes to salaries, pensions and benefits; but that's apparently not enough for the unions.

Expenditures:
Total Expenditures per year, 2009-2010, $381,716,882

Salaries:
Certificated Employees, 2009-2010 - $193,507,709
Classified Employees, 2009-2010 - $57,262,822
Employee Benefits, 2009-2010 - $72,388,03
Total Salaries, pensions and benefits - $323,158,586

Meanwhile, the teachers' union (CUEA) has not yet negotiated a new contract, which means the old contract remains in force. Thus, the union has not agreed to a single cut in salaries, pensions, or benefits and even have projected salary increases.

The cuts that are being proposed instead target the kids and parents.

$1.66 million: Eliminate funding for all extra-curricular activities, and all stipends for department chairs
$1.30 million: Eliminate funding for all sports programs
$1.20 million: Capture savings from lower-than-anticipated costs for employee health insurance
$1.20 million: Eliminate 25-to-1 pupil-teacher ratio in the first grade
$1.00 million: Eliminate elementary school block music
$1.00 million: Remove money from fund for facilities maintenance, leaving only $2.6 million over next four years
$0.70 million: Close two small elementary schools
$0.50 million: Delay purchasing new textbooks per the standard textbook adoption cycle
$0.25 million: Eliminate all summer school in grades K-8
$0.21 million: Reorganize the district's business services department
$0.14 million: Eliminate the college-level International Baccalaureate program in high schools
$0.10 million: Eliminate resident substitutes at high schools, use district list instead

The recent history of the district is enlightening. Union officials have fought school choice, sensible compensation models and other necessary reforms tooth-and-nail. And the tale of a former CUSD superintendent provides a glimpse into the failures of the system.

Convicted and sent to jail? Not to worry: you'll still get to keep your pension

Retired Capistrano Unified School District Superintendent James A. Fleming could face jail if convicted on a felony indictment over the use of school resources to track his political enemies. But conviction won't stop Fleming from receiving his pension funds: $141,000 a year from California and $64,000 from his 27-year stint in Florida.

While overseeing the school district, Fleming and other board members were accused of violating open meeting laws, retaliation against political opponents and creating "enemies" lists, which contained the names of his critics, their children and even the schools they were attending.

Prior to his retirement in 2006, Fleming's total compensation was more than $348,000 a year. After moving to California from Florida, the district agreed to add five years to the 15 he'd worked. In addition, the district agreed to cover Fleming's medical expenses in retirement though he hadn't worked the requisite 20 years.

Even if he is convicted on all of the 2007 charges, both his pensions will remain in force.

California State Teachers' Retirement System: Double- and Triple-Dipping

Rudy Castruita is a typical double-dipper: he's currently the Professor of Clinical Education at the University of Southern California. But, having served as the San Diego County Superintendent of Schools for 12 years, his pension payments are also a quarter of a million dollars a year. The fact that he's gainfully employed as a professor appears not to affect his extremely rich defined-benefit pension.

Karen Colby, former superintendent of the Ocean View School District, received a "golden parachute" pension of $134,515 a year despite issues raised concerning her performance. Likewise, retired Orange County superintendent Thomas Godley pulls in over $210,000 a year despite an extremely troubling career. He served as a budget chief for a school district when a finance worker stole $3.7 million.

Retired school superintendent Theresa Daem receives $235,000 a year, though she ran a small, four-school district with less than 4,000 students. Cameron McCune, the retired superintendent of the Fullerton School District, lives in Palm Springs pulling down a cool $244,000 a year.

Chaos and Misery Await Californians Thanks to the Unions

In the Capistrano district, teachers earn an average of around $82,000 a year in salary, which does not include extra assignments or benefits. Because of the state's immense problems, the CUSD budget shortfall has risen to $34 million since the first of the year.

Despite all of these issues, the teachers' union hasn't formally offered a single real concession to the district.

It's time that California officially banned the public-sector unions. The choice is clear: complete insolvency and disaster -- or survival. Right now, the unions represent a cinder-block tied to the state's feet as it tries to stay afloat.

Linked by: The Washington Examiner and Pension Tsunami. Thanks!

Larwyn's Linx: Obama declares legislative war

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COTD: The obvious next step is to simply mount government owned speed and movement sensors right in the car. A dashboard mounted printer can spit out infraction notices as required... Once a Police State is out of control there is no limit to how far out of control it will go. We the people, formerly called Citizens but now known only as Consumers, have been swindled into surrendering our Sovereign power to a cabal of corporate thugs. They will do anything required to hold onto power.

Let me ask you this. Twenty years ago would you have believed that the US government would ever take ownership of GM, or that they would give 100 billion dollars to an insurance company, or that they would purchase 90% of all new mortgages or that they would run a 2 Trillion Dollar deficit while funneling hundreds of billions to Wall Street? All of this would have seemed inconceivable to me. Except for the vestiges of civil rights we still possess we are literally turning into the old USSR where our entire economy is run by central government command. -- 'Steve'

Saturday, February 20, 2010

The World Looks Different to the Editors of the Gray Corpse

Dan from New York:

Report clears Bush officials of misconduct over 'torture' memos (CNN)

Lawyers Cleared Over 9/11 Memos (WSJ)

Report Faults 2 Authors of Bush Terror Memos (NYT)

Got no time for the corner boys,
Down in the street makin' all that noise,
Don't want no whores on eighth avenue,
Cause tonight i'm gonna be with you.

--Tom Waits, "Jersey Girl" (Click. As good as it gets.)

Andrew Breitbart has the final call.

Another success story for Politburo-style central planning: 80% of Delinquent Homeowners Will Lose Homes, 6 Million In All

Despite spending billions of taxpayers' hard-earned money on programs designed to prevent foreclosures, Real Estate Consulting estimates that "80% of homeowners who are currently delinquent on their mortgages will end up losing their houses."

Of the 7.7 million delinquent homeowners, we actually think that only about 1.6 million will be able avoid losing their homes, and that the remaining 6.1 million will lose their homes...

We say that there is 5 million units of shadow inventory because we estimate that about 1.1 million delinquent homeowners already have their homes listed for sale, and we would not classify those homes as “shadow.”

More good news for the economy: Citibank is warning that its checking account holders may not be able to withdraw their own funds without waiting for seven days.

Seen on a recent Citibank (C) statement: "Effective April 1, 2010, we reserve the right to require (7) days advance notice before permitting a withdrawal from all checking accounts. While we do not currently exercise this right and have not exercised it in the past, we are required by law to notify you of this change."

[Is this an] idea backed by Citi's big shareholder, Uncle Sam, or one of its regulators, Sheila Bair?

I called Citi about it and they said the warning applies only to customers in Texas and that the notification had been mistakenly included on statements nationwide. Whatever the explanation, it doesn't exactly inspire confidence in Citi.

Over at Mish's place, commenter 'Steve' sums things up for us as eloquently as anyone.

Let me ask you this. Twenty years ago would you have believed that the US government would ever take ownership of GM, or that they would give 100 billion dollars to an insurance company, or that they would purchase 90% of all new mortgages or that they would run a 2 Trillion Dollar deficit while funneling hundreds of billions to Wall Street? All of this would have seemed inconceivable to me. Except for the vestiges of civil rights we still possess we are literally turning into the old USSR where our entire economy is run by central government command.

Illegally, I might add, since none of this outrageous behavior is constitutional.

But that never seems to stop the Democrats. Every law, for them, is 'living and breathing' -- including the highest law in the land.

Constitutionality, the People's Will and Midterm Elections be damned: Dems Will Use Nuclear Option for Socialized Health Care Cramdown

In what would represent the greatest abuse of budget reconciliation rules in Congressional history, Democrats plan to execute a socialized medicine cramdown whether the American people want it or not.

...the plan is to have the President submit reconciliation legislation to be posted on the internet this weekend. The legislation will be crafted in a manner so that it can be passed using special reconciliation procedures created solely to enact laws to reduce the deficit as part of the annual budget. The next step is for the President to conduct his half day bipartisan summit at the Blair House on February 25th. With that faux-bipartisan stunt over with, the President will be free to pass legislation in a partisan manner that tosses aside the regular rules of business in the Senate...

Yet again, the Obama Administration has tossed aside transparency and has crafted this legislation behind closed doors. Not even all Congressional Democrats have been looped into this secret proposal...

According to the Grey Corpse (my pet name for The New York Times, and the one I hear they prefer), Rahm "Al Capone" Emanuel, Nancy "Stretch" Pelosi, Harry "The Body Odor" Reid and HHS Secretary Kathleen "Silly-us" Sebelius have set the stage for the legislative nuke.

The usually tame and nonpartisan Charlie Cook laid the smackdown on the dying Democrat Party.

...when unemployment numbers started proving to be much, much tougher and it started becoming more clear that the stimulus package hadn't worked properly, they just kept plowing ahead on health care. And this isn't a communications problem. This is a reality problem. And I think they just made some grave miscalculations and as it became more clear that they had screwed up, they just kept doubling down their bet.

And so I think, no, this is one of the biggest miscalculations that we've seen in modern political history.

...The thing that I think a lot of Democratic strategists are really concerned about is that some of these districts are going to be gone for a generation or more. I mean, they're not coming back. They're ones that had somehow managed to hang on in Democratic hands even after the Democratic Party fell out of favor in a lot of the South. But once they slip away, I'm not sure they're coming back.

Democrats are trying to leverage the news that health care premiums have exploded in California to market their incoherent and illegal cramdown. Wellpoint, for instance, raised premiums 39%, which set the village idiot of economists -- Paul Krugman -- into a predictable tizzy. Problem is, California's arcane regulations are entirely to blame: similar hikes did not occur in other states.

Wellpoint's rate hikes are the direct result of the Golden State's insurance regulations—the kind that Democrats want to impose on all 50 states. Under federal Cobra rules, the unemployed are allowed to keep their job-related health benefits for 18 to 36 months. California then goes further and bars Anthem from dropping these customers even after they have exhausted Cobra. California also caps what Anthem can charge these post-Cobra customers.

[Gee, who woulda thunk that price controls don't work?]

...This explains why Anthem lost $58 million in California on its post-Cobra customers in 2009. If WellPoint didn't raise premiums amid these losses, it would soon be under assault from its shareholders, if not out of business.

Government destroys any economic system it touches, which is why America's founders expressly forbade the insane Statist experiments in which the Soros-controlled Democrats now engage.

And, last I checked, 39% is almost order of magnitude less than the one-year increase in the federal deficit incurred since Barack Obama took office.

Massachusetts, with a state-controlled health care system, has the second highest health care premiums in the nation.

Thus, abandoning facts, logic and reason, Barack Obama and his Congressional sycophants appear ready to deliver a nuclear enema to the American people.

As Charlie Cook says, "It's a reality problem."

So when Barack Obama claims he's "not an ideologue", he's either lying -- or simply stuck on stupid, take your pick.

Get Your J.D. Hayworth Blog Widgets!

Help J.D. unseat John McCain, the man who slams GOP rivals with the harshest of tactics while treating Barack Obama with kid gloves.

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Dubai Hit: The Purloined Passport

Dan from New York:

In the wake of the flawless operation that ended the life of a Hamas mass murderer, the idiots of Israel's cringing class (on display today in the WSJ) are calling it a "botched job" and a "diplomatic nightmare" because the passports were forged, the hit squad was captured on Dubai's ubiquitous surveillance cameras and Britain's nose is bent slightly out of joint. Granted, things certainly would have turned out better if the people involved had used their real passports, worn dark sunglasses and big floppy hats, and hidden behind the palms in the hotel lobby. But alas, the brazen crew and the reckless organization that sent them were not that clever.

So far, the only ones in custody for this "crime" are two Palestinian members of Fatah, arch foe of Hamas. So naturally the finger of suspicion points to the Mossad. Interpol has put out an APB and the shocked, shocked authorities in Dubai are calling for the arrest of Mossad chief, Meir Dagan. (rotsa ruck.)

But amid this hubbub, aren't we all overlooking something that's staring us in the face? Before that piece of terrorist trash was found belly-up, for years he was passing through customs throughout the Arab world and beyond, no questions asked, no muss no fuss. It was nobody else's business until the Jews came for him and brought the maggot to justice without so much as a shot fired, a drop of blood spilled or a hotel room disturbed.

Meanwhile, popular American talk show host Michael Savage is still persona non grata in the British Isles.

If the Israelis don’t come to grips with the implications of this little anecdote, then the fate that awaits them will be sad and richly deserved.

Related: The Dubai Hit Captured on CCTV: When you want to say goodbye, say it with bullets.

A History of Corruption in Chicago, Featuring Your Favorite Union Hacks, Trial Lawyers, Petty Bureaucrats and Democrats. But I Repeat Myself.

Nine researchers at the University of Chicago collaborated on a project that tracked corruption in Chicago politics for 140 years. The executive summary:

"...During the last several decades, Cook County has been a center of corruption with scandals emerging in many different units of county government... Public or political corruption occurs when government officials use their public office for private gain or benefit. In Cook County government this includes outright bribes as well as campaign contributions made by individuals or corporations in exchange for jobs, inflated contracts or political favors. It includes ghost payroll jobs in which individuals get a paycheck but do no work. With an annual budget of more than $3 billion—dishonest public servants find many different ways to profit illegally.

The purpose of this report is to summarize the many different forms of corruption and to recommend basic reforms that need to be enacted to clean up Cook County government..."

http://www.uic.edu/depts/pols/ChicagoPolitics/Anti-corruptionReportNumber3.pdf
Money quote: "The Cook County States’ Attorney likewise has a major role to play in curbing corruption in the county. For the last 30 years, the office has rooted out corruption only when Republicans have held the office. When Democrats have held the office they have most often whitewashed or overlooked the obvious problems."

Enjoyable read, especially if you live in Chicago and enjoy being screwed over and over again by the party of union thugs, anti-school choice proponents, trial lawyers and economic illiterates.

Oh, but they do it for the children.

Gee, I can't wait to get my SmartMeter™ from Pacific Gas & Electric. After all, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

According to PG&E, the "SmartMeter™ system will be rolled out to all PG&E customers by mid-2012", whether customers want it or not. The system resembles nothing so much as a Big Brother arm of the government, monitoring your power usage in real-time. There are reports that the price you will be charged for power -- at least in some locations -- will vary based upon time of day, demand and other factors.

And the system purportedly "keeps your information secure" using "secure wireless technology" (an oxymoron, to be sure) in beaming the details of your usage to PG&E.

But the fact is that cyber attacks against the "SmartGrid" are all but certain over the next twelve months as programs like PG&E's roll out.

Attacks against the power grid are likely to rise and intensify during the next 12 months as smart grid research and pilot projects advance, according to utility security experts and a recently published report that analyzes threats to critical infrastructure...

The so-called Project Grey Goose Report on Critical Infrastructure points to state and/or non-state sponsored hackers from the Russian Federation of Independent States, Turkey, and China as the main threats to targeting and hacking into energy providers and other critical infrastructure networks.

...utility security experts agree that utility security administrators will have their hands full during the next year, as the transition from isolated, closed energy-generation and transmission networks to IP-based and wireless ones begins to take shape in the form of pilot smart grid projects... Doug Preece, senior manager for smart energy services at Capgemini, says he expects an uptick in hacking of smart grid devices during the next 12 months as more smart-grid pilot projects are launched at energy firms. "The penetration of these devices is going to dramatically increase in numbers in the next 12 months, and then it's going to plateau," Preece says. "There's a window of opportunity for malicious intent."

...The smart grid's distributed approach exposes these networks and systems, he notes, and they will be most vulnerable in the early phases as they get up and running... "The worst-case scenario would be an attacker compromising [the smart grid] and then controlling the distribution of power," he says.

The worry is that smart grid vendors and energy firms are rushing to deploy the new technologies without properly securing them... The Grey Goose report calls out Russia, Turkish hackers, and China as the top threats to the power grid.

Given the sophistication of APT malware these days -- and especially state-sponsored attacks -- it's not even clear that, say, China pwning these idiotic SmartMeters would even be detected.

These petty bureaucrats are more interested in controlling every aspect of your lives than tapping the plentiful energy sources that are scattered throughout the United States. Since they don't care about securing new sources of real energy for the U.S., they're probably just as unconcerned about securing these new networks.

A Reminder: Which Republicans Voted To Confirm Eric Holder and His Terrorist-Supporting Appointees in the DOJ

Attorney General Eric Holder has now confirmed that at least nine Department of Justice appointees worked directly or indirectly (e.g., filing Amicus Curae briefs) as terrorist advocates. Other DOJ political appointees also worked for law firms that participated indirectly in the defense of Gitmo terrorists.

This comes on the heels of Holder's outrageous failure to prosecute the New Black Panthers who intimidated voters at a Philadelphia polling station in 2008.

And Holder, of course, had a catastrophically poor track record that should have clearly warned Congress against his confirmation: he had helped free FALN terrorists for Bill Clinton in an apparent quid pro quo; he had approved the pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich after his wife had donated millions to Bill Clinton; and he'd had deep involvement in a variety of other situations that should have disqualified him instantly from holding any public office.

Last August Michelle Malkin helpfully reminded us of the list of Republicans who had voted to confirm Holder:

Alexander (R-TN)

Bennett (R-UT)

Bond (R-MO)

Chambliss (R-Ga)

Collins (R-ME)

Corker (R-TN)

Graham (R-SC)

Grassley (R-IA)

Gregg (R-NH)

Hatch (R-UT)

Isakson (R-GA)

Kyl (R-AZ)

Lugar (R-IN)

McCain (R-AZ)

Murkowski (R-AK)

Sessions (R-AL)

Snowe (R-ME)

Specter (R-PA)

Voinovich (R-OH)

Voinovich and Specter no longer count, of course, as the former has retired and the other switched his affiliation to the Party of Weakness.

The usual suspects -- Susan Collins, Lindsay "Goober" Graham, John McCain and Olympia Snowe Job voted for Holder -- along with a bunch of more solid Republicans who definitely should have known better. It's high time this foursome left the Senate permanently, replaced by true conservatives.

Larwyn's Linx: It's All the Tea Parties' Fault

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Nation

It's All the Tea Parties' Fault: Malkin
Whoa: Obama Caught in a Major ACORN Lie: GWP
Holder: Yes, Nine DOJ Appointees Worked for Terrorists: Ace

DOJ Clears Bush Lawyers On Torture, Left Apoplectic: RWN
Project Vote: It Ain't the Voting, It's the Counting: BigGovt
Getting rid of gun control: Times

'Obama has chosen decline for America': RWN
Amy Bishop: Destitute and Crazy?: GrandRants
ACORN hit with new accusations: Fox

Obama supporter, socialist murderer says she's crazy: GWP

Economy

John Edwards, Mesothelioma Man, and Health Reform: AT
Government Stimulus a Huge Lie: AJStrata
Family breakdown and the nation's pocketbook: AT

Longtime Dem Consultant Torpedoed by Union Thugs: RWN
Obama: All Americans to Live on Debt: Langbert
Privatizing city schools could save millions: WyBlog

Climate & Energy

NASA: If you eat, travel or breathe, you're a cause of global warming: Virtuous
Surprising No One: Liberal Media Completely Embargoes Phil Jones Admissions: Ace
Bribes, Scamulus and More Green Fail: CBullitt

Follow the Climate Change Money Trail: Wizbang
Government fails at weather-stripping; wants to take over health care next: BlogProf
What Has Happened To Man-Made Global Warming?: AJStrata

Media

Response to Olbermann: ‘People of color’ at Tea Parties: Haddock
Associated Press refuses propaganda released by... the White House?: Snapped Shot
Family Guy Actress Speaks Up on Taunting of Palin's Down Syndrome-Suffering Son: BlogProf

What Media Won’t Tell You: Doctors Are Challenging Government Health Care-and the AMA: BigGovt
Andrew Breitbart Slams Failed MSNBC Host Rachel Maddow: GWP
Meh: Pirate vs. Customer: C&S

World

Annals of the Mossad: What Happened in Dubai?: PJM
Iranian Regime Launches First Iranian-Built Destroyer: GWP
At what point does criticism of Israel become anti-Semitic?: Grobman

Middle East Terror and Double Standards: PJM
Obama’s New Name For Iraq War: RWN

SciTech

MagicJack: Cheap, Way Overhyped, But Really Works: Mossberg
Spike In Power Grid Attacks Likely In Next 12 Months: Dark Reading

Cornucopia

Tiger's Wood: Wizbang
Next is breathing air: SondraK
About Brie: C&S

Friday, February 19, 2010

Mitt Romney Used 'Vulcan Death-Grip' on Idiot Rapper

Some rapper no one has ever heard of says Mitt Romney used a 'Vulcan Grip' on him after a bizarre incident involving Cheetos, chicken wire and a Jiffy Lube gift certificate.

Sky Blu says Romney drew first blood. Well, he said Romney grabbed him after angrily telling him to move his seat up.

"He grabs my shoulder .. and I just react BOOM get off me!" Blu told the video camera. "He put a condor grip on me. What am I supposed to do?"

"That's like a Vulcan grip," offered his bandmate Redfoo.

"Like a Vulcan grip," Blu concurred. "I'm not your prey. I'm not a salmon going upstream. You're not going to grip me up."

Blu, clad in his underwear while telling the story in a hotel room, went on to say that during the maelstrom Romney's wife screamed, he (Blu) threw in a few cuss words and that the cops didn't buy his version of the incident.

"The man assaulted me. I was protecting myself," he said.

Wow. No one would ever figure this for a P.R. ploy.

Haiti After-Action Report

Sean sends in an eye-witness report:

As one who worked natural disasters here in the US, Hurricane Andrew and the Northridge earthquake, I understand how frustrating it is when you want to help and you run into government red tape and agency power struggles. A foreign country would be intensely more frustrating as you will read in this report. Also, as is stated in this report, be very careful to whom you donate money for these disasters. It is very disappointing to see how very little actually gets to the victims who need it the most.

News back from #########. He and ######### made it back somewhat safe and sound. Here are their observations:

To All,

I just returned from Haiti with #########. We flew in at 3 AM Sunday to the scene of such incredible destruction on one side, and enormous ineptitude and criminal neglect on the other.

Port o Prince is in ruins. The rest of the country is fairly intact. Our team was a rescue team and we carried special equipment that locates people buried under the rubble. There are easily 200,000 dead; the city smells like a charnel house. The bloody UN was there for 5 years doing apparently nothing but wasting US taxpayers' money. The ones I ran into were either incompetent or outright anti-American. Most are French or French speakers, worthless every damn one of them. While 1,800 rescuers were ready, willing and able to leave the airport and go do their jobs, the UN and USAID (another organization full of little Obamaites and Communists that openly speak against America). These two organizations exemplified their parochialism by:

USAID, when in control of all inbound flights, had food and water flights stacked up all the way to Miami, yet allowed Geraldo Rivera, Anderson Cooper and a host of other left wing news puppies to land.

Pulled all the security off the rescue teams so that Bill Clinton and his wife could have the grand tour, whilst we sat unable to get to people trapped in the rubble.

Stacked enough food and water for the relief over at the side of the airfield then put a guard on it while we dehydrated and wouldn't release a drop of it to the rescuers!

No shower facilities to decontaminate after digging or moving corpses all day, except for the FEMA teams who brought their own shower and decon equipment, as well as air conditioned tents.

No latrine facilities, less digging a hole. If you set up a shitter, everyone was trying to use it.

I watched a 25 year old Obamaite with the USAID shrieking hysterically, berate a full bird colonel in the Air Force because he countermanded her orders whilst trying to unscrew the air pattern. " You don't know what your president wants! The military isn't in charge here! We are!"

If any of you are thinking of giving money to the Haitian relief, or to the UN, don't waste your money. It will only go to further the goals of the French and the Liberal left.

Bad place, bad situation, but a perfect look at the new world order in action. New Orleans magnified a thousand times. Haiti doesn't need democracy. What Haiti needs is Papa Doc. That's not just my opinion, that is what virtually every Haitian we talked with said. The French run the UN and treat us the same as when we were a colony. At least Papa Doc ran the country.

Oh, and as a last slap in the face, the last four of us had to take US Air home from Phoenix. They slapped me with a $590 baggage charge for the four of us. The girl at the counter was almost in tears because she couldn't give us a discount or she would lose her job. Pass that on to the flying public.

Figures. If the UN is involved, odds are a hundred-to-one it's also a criminal operation.

The Vettes That Time Forgot

Spotted at DigitalCorvettes:

Thanks to a hot tip by a DigitalCorvettes.com member who happened to be in the right place at the right time, another DC member was able to obtain these exclusive photos of the new "Corvette dungeon" that appears to be the final resting place for Peter Max's 36 Corvettes. The 1953 Corvette is there and all the other Corvettes seem to be there as well.

The red '74 and red '75 Corvettes have significant rear damage with the '74 being the worst.

In the DigitalCorvettes.com members opinion, "this is another several year stop for these 36 Corvettes", and, "you wouldn't put them here if this was an active project, these cars are tucked away pretty good and it's obvious for the long haul. If you wanted them accessible, this isn't the place to put them."

No offense, but I'm betting Peter Max voted for Obama.

Hit on Hamas: When You Want to Say Goodbye, Say It With Bullets

CCTV cameras captured the events alleged to have occurred related to the murder of a Hamas terror honcho in Dubai. Mahmoud Abdel Rauf al-Mabhouh (Arabic: محمود عبد الرؤوف المبحوح;) was a senior Hamas military commander and a founder of the deadly Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

Al-Mabhouh was assassinated in the Al Bustan Rotana Hotel in Dubai on January 19, 2010, having arrived in the country earlier that day from Syria. It is suspected by Dubai police that he was murdered in his hotel room.

Continued at: Hit on Hamas: When You Want to Say Goodbye, Say It With Bullets.

As I said about Inglorious Basterds, there's nothing that brings people together like killing Natsees.

Our friends the Saudis: police officer sentenced to 120 lashes for marrying six women (when everyone knows the legal limit is four wives)

A man's got to know his limitations. In this case, four wives is the line you simply can not cross.

A Saudi court has sentenced an employee of the kingdom's religious police to 120 lashes for marrying six women... The court banned the man from standing as a preacher and leading prayers, ordered him not to travel abroad for a five-year period and to memorise two chapters from the Koran.

The accused, in his fifties, is not a member of the Saudi Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice's morals squad but holds an administrative position there, the official said.

...The commission makes sure Saudi society abides by an austere interpretation of Islam in the kingdom, where clerics control the justice system.

With more than 5,000 members, its squads roam streets and shopping malls to make sure unrelated men and women are kept apart, that shops and restaurants are shut at prayer time, that women are covered from head to toe and to search for alcohol and drugs.

Putting up with six wives? The man deserves a medal, not 120 lashes.

Wait -- who said that?

President Obama Convenes "Deficit Commission" to Probe Reasons for Massive Deficit Plus Invent More New Taxes, Regulations and SEIU-staffed Agencies

Problem:

Solution:

If you're the leader of the Democrat Party, whose policies have already bequeathed a deficit of about $105 trillion in massive stimulus programs, unfunded entitlement programs and immense regulatory bureaucracies, then the answer is "new taxes". What did you expect? Slashing the size of government?

Yesterday President Obama signed an executive order establishing a 'deficit commission' to investigate remedies (read: new taxes) in order to pretend to address the problem.

The possibilities for new revenue sources are nearly endless:

• A VAT tax is "on the table", according to Nancy Pelosi.

• A 'Cap-and-Trade' system for rationing energy would raise about $846 billion in new revenue for the government while passing costs on to every American, rich and poor.

• New health care taxes are also looming, which amount to several hundred billion in additional taxes.

• Confiscation of private 401(k) and pension plans is also on the menu, according to Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor.

Slashing the size of government is an impossibility for the modern Democrat Party because it is the government. The paper-pushing federal bureaucracies are the Democrat Party.

There are no limits to the growth of the government. Because sending 50% to 60% of your labor to the government isn't enough for this crew. The SEIU wants more.