Deposed dictator Baby Doc Duvalier taken to court on his return to Haiti

Haitian police led ex-dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier out of his hotel and took him to court Tuesday without saying whether he was being charged with crimes committed under his brutal regime.

Was this truly an arrest? His longtime companion smiled and denied that he had been arrested.

Why did Duvalier return to Haiti anyway?

Haiti is a broken country drowning in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake followed by an equally devastating cholera outbreak.

Is this a perfect time for a hoodlum dictator to return to control? Will he bring civil war to Haiti?

Was the smell of the billions of dollars in relief money too much for Duvalier to resist?

Most of the relief money has not been spent. The sound of construction equipment is seldom heard.


Jean-Claude Duvalier "baby doc" is shown on left. His father the late Francois Duvalier "papa doc" is shown on the right.

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The United States promised spirited "Baby Doc" Duvalier out of Haiti and promised the brutal dictator would never return - so what happened?

Shortly before 4 a.m. on Feb. 7, 1986, Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, his gorgeous and glitzy wife Michele Bennet, their two young children, at least one mistress and about 20 close friends and servants got aboard a huge U.S. Air Force jet and headed for France.

Trunks of designer clothing, priceless art, jewels and a "hell of a lot of the gold" were loaded onto the C-141 jet in a light drizzle that morning at Francois Duvalier International Airport, as a military adviser assigned to the U.S. Embassy at the time described it.

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Now that the United States has broken its promise and Duvalier is back in Haiti there are even more unanswered questions with few real answers.

Will we ever know what really happened to most of the Haiti relief money donated during 2010?

Link here, here and here.

CU student pays tuition with 33 pounds of $1 bills

Nic Ramos wanted to send a poignant message about the rising cost of tuition at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

So, the 20-year-old economics major paid his $14,300 tuition entirely in $1 bills.

"It's over $14,000 in one-dollar-bills!"



Ramos packed the 33 pounds of cash into a big duffle and was ready when the CU business office opened last Friday morning.

The teller looked in the bag and said, "0h my gosh!" said Ramos. "And then all the other tellers came over and they couldn't believe it."

Amassing that much cash in the credit-card age was no easy task.

Ramos said he spent a couple days trooping from bank to bank withdrawing cash. Often banks could only provide $100 or $20 bills, so he had to go to still more banks for change.

"We have got every sort of reaction," he said, ranging from "That's the coolest thing I've ever heard" to "You're crazy."

Link

Folding bicycle display

A man views Brompton folding bicycles on display at the London Bike Show at the ExCeL center in London earlier this month.

Poll: voters trust Republicans more on all 10 key issues

From a Rasmussen Reports article at the link below:

Republicans officially assumed control of the U.S. House of Representatives this month, and voters now trust the GOP more than Democrats on all 10 of the most important issues regularly surveyed by Rasmussen Reports including the economy, health care, taxes and national security.

Most voters continue to favor repeal of the health care bill and tend to think repeal will cause the federal budget deficit to go down.

Link

Earth rotation changes zodiac signs

Change in earth's rotation adds new Zodiac sign - Ophiuchus.


Those who read a horoscope every day, may want to recheck what your Zodiac sign is.

The new list showing dates:

Capricorn: Jan. 20-Feb. 16.
Aquarius: Feb. 16-March 11.
Pisces: March 11-April 18.
Aries: April 18-May 13.
Taurus: May 13-June 21.
Gemini: June 21-July 20.
Cancer: July 20-Aug. 10.
Leo: Aug. 10-Sept. 16.
Virgo: Sept. 16-Oct. 30.
Libra: Oct. 30-Nov. 23.
Scorpio: Nov. 23-29.
Ophiuchus: Nov. 29-Dec. 17.
Sagittarius: Dec. 17 - Jan. 20.

Where do I fit in to all this? For now I'm just trying to learn to spell and pronounce the name of the new sign.

Link

(click on cartoon to enlarge)

Read your mind? There's an app for that

An iPhone app that lets you read your mind? Really?

The plastic headband, which costs around $100, has a sensor that presses against the user’s forehead and communicates with a free XWave iPhone application that then shows your brain waves graphically on the iPhone screen. As you focus your mind on a task the graphics are changed — a ball may move higher for instance, or your state of relaxation may be indicated by changes in a pulsating color, which moves towards blue as you become more relaxed.



Brainwave detection is powered by an NeuroSky eSense dry sensor, which provides a brain-computer interface (BCI) to sense even faint electrical impulses in the brain and convert them to digital signals that are sent to the iPhone. Previous applications of the NeuroSky technology include computer games and toys. In XWave an algorithm is applied to the brain rhythms to convert them to graphical representations of attention and meditation values.

Link

Temporary shelter

A family from Bolivia sit inside a makeshift shelter in the Indoamericano Park at the Villa Soldati neighborhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Clashes between squatters and residents who want them out the park, exploded last week killing at least 3 people and injuring dozens, according to local media and police.

AP photo

Tucson shooter trial to be in San Diego

Federal officials reportedly are planning to relocate the trial of the Arizona man accused of shooting and killing six people and injuring 14 others -- including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords -- from Arizona to California.

One of those fatally shot was the state's chief federal judge, John Roll, and a district court judge in Tucson ruled last week that all judges in the district had to recuse themselves from the case.

U.S. District Court Judge Larry A. Burns of the Southern District of California was named to oversee the case. Burns is a former prosecutor who was nominated to serve the federal court by George W. Bush in 2003.

Link

New security threat for Facebook users

A new article in PC Magazine reports that Facebook apps are allowing access to phone numbers and addresses by developers.

One security expert said "could herald a new level of danger" for Facebook members.

More here.

Former dictator Jean-Claude "baby doc" Duvalier returns to Haiti

In the past 12 months, Haiti - already the western hemisphere's weakest link - has suffered a devastating earthquake that has killed more than 250,000 people and decimated the country's infrastructure.

That was followed by a cholera epidemic that has claimed thousands more lives and as if that wasn't enough the country was then hit by a political crisis tied to the fraud-tainted Nov. 28 presidential elections.

All the country needed now was the return of the brutal exiled dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier!

Duvalier's returned to Haiti comes nearly 25 years after a popular uprising against his brutal dictatorship forced him into exile.

Jean-Claude Duvalier "baby doc" is shown on left. The late Francois Duvalier "papa doc" is on the right.

Jean-Claude Duvalier is part of a father-and-son dynasty that presided over one of the darkest chapters in Haitian history.

This will bring back horrible memories for older Haitian's who remember the feared machete wielding Tonton Macoutes, a Haitian militia force under the control of dictator Francois Duvalier "papa doc", father of Jean-Claude Duvalier.

What is the purpose of the Duvalier return? Certainly not to repay the millions of dollars he plundered from Haiti when he left nearly 25 years ago. Is there any money left in Haiti for Duvalier to plunder now?

Link here and here.

Elderly NJ woman charged 5800 after missing final mortgage payment

This appears to be an egregious attempt to fleece an elderly woman.

A New Jersey woman was billed $5,800 after missing the final payment on her 30-year mortgage.

Lawyers for 85-year-old Dorothy Rhue Allen say the fees charged by two banks and a law firm violate consumer-protection laws.

The suit says LaSalle Bank and Cenlar Federal Savings Bank started foreclosure proceedings in 2007 after the hospitalized Allen missed the last $432 payment on her Deptford, N.J., home.

The banks advised her lawyers she could pay $5,800 to avoid foreclosure. But her lawyers instead sued over the fees, and the foreclosure action was dropped.

Link

80-year-old international jewel thief nabbed in San Diego

Smartly dressed she would glide into a high-end jewelry store in Monte Carlo - or maybe Paris or Las Vegas - and smile at the clerk while asking to try on a ring or a watch. Oh, wait a minute, no not that one, the other one. How about this one?

After trying on and admiring several pieces, all the while chatting with the sales clerk, she decides that, no, she won’t be buying anything today.

She slips out as gracefully as she came in and the clerk goes back to work.

It will be hours before the clerk realizes one of the more expensive pieces - a ring that nice old lady had tried on - is missing.

That’s how Doris Payne, now 80, (pictured above) has been robbing jewelry stores for dozens of years.
The most time she ever served was in Colorado, where she did almost five years in prison for stealing a diamond ring from a Neiman Marcus store in 1998.

Link

Interesting "Bye Bye Obama" clock

It's called the "Bye Bye Obama" Clock and costs about 25 bucks.

This clock counts down the time until Mr. Obama's term expires. A Google search will find it.

The clock's kinda' cool and sure looks better than the Bush Chia shown at right.

By the way, the Obama Chia was taken off store shelves because it was racial. Yea, that's right they said it was racial. Really.

Palm Springs police chief caught in sex sting

From a Los Angeles Times report at the link below:

The June 2009 gay sex sting netted 19 public indecent exposure arrests, and disbelief and outrage have festered in this desert haven ever since.

Palm Springs, California has been known as a sanctuary for gay men and lesbian women so why was there a sting in Palm Springs anyway?

This is Palm Springs, "the gayest city in America," a gay tourist destination governed by an openly gay mayor and home to the sexually charged White Party, a dance and music festival that attracts tens of thousands of gay men every year.

Robert Stone, co-founder of the Warm Sands neighborhood association called the sting "an egregious case of entrapment, a technique that has been used by law enforcement against gay people for decades."

"Gays move to Palm Springs to get away from that."

Gay men and lesbians, by some estimates, account for nearly half of the 47,000 residents.

That strength allows them to enjoy the benefits of mainstream power and prominence while leaving them free to cherish the city's playful and at times uninhibited social scene.

The gay community is credited for rescuing the desert town, which was slowly wasting away as it clung to its past heyday as Hollywood's playground.

They restored luster to aging homes and neighborhoods and replaced shuttered storefronts with scores of new businesses.

A local gay magazine ranks the resorts, most of which are well-kept inns, by "sexual temperature."

With one half of the population gay, why fight it? If you don't like it move out.

Link

Paramedics rescue boy after tongue stuck to pole

In a scene straight from the movie "A Christmas Story," an 8-year-old Oklahoma boy got his tongue stuck to a metal pole after he licked it on a dare.

Officials said when rescue crews arrived the boy was standing on his tiptoes trying get his tongue off the pole.

Paramedics were able to help the boy by pouring water on his tongue. Once free, the boy told officials he got stuck after his brother dared him to lick the pole.

The photo shows Flick putting his tongue on a frozen flagpole as Ralphie Parker watches in the movie A Christmas Story. Flick just had to do it - after all, he was triple-dog dared.

The incident brought back a vivid childhood memory of a winter day when I was in the first grade.

I tried to lick frost from the metal steering bar of a sled while playing in a farmyard near Hurley, South Dakota.

It's something a kid never does more than once.

Link

Time Magazine: defending the indefensible

Time Magazine has a report at the link below in their Swampland blog titled In Defense Of The Mainstream Media.

This is not an easy task for anyone -- especially for Time Magazine. Time is not as left leaning as Newsweek but that's not saying much when you consider that Newsweek is a little to the left of Attila the Hun.

How can a left leaning news source defend a media made up of mostly left leaning news sources? It can't.

For most columnists of the New York Times and other decidedly leftist newspapers there is no mystery about their political agendas.

On the network evening news programs it becomes a little blurry. For instance when Tom Borkaw was reading the news on NBC Nightly News he kept his liberalism mostly in check.

It came out in dramatic fashion on election night 2000 when the Florida results were in flux. When the lead in Florida appeared to go from Gore to Bush, Tom Brokaw (above left) told Tim Russert (above right), of Meet the Press who was with him in the booth that night, "I thought we had won Florida."

It was the personal pronoun we that first gave away his liberalism that he had tried hard to keep in the closet.

Now that Brokaw, the "news reader" from my home state of South Dakota, has retired he makes no pretense about his political preferences.

Other television "news readers" such as Brian Williams don't try to hide their political leanings.

Now that "news readers" on the evening news television programs are no longer hiding their liberalism, it makes Time Magazines attempt to defend the indefensible even more difficult.

The Time report is here.

Electric car from London to Edinburgh: stagecoach was faster

The score of this exercise: Practicality 1, Greenies 0.

The BBC's stunt of taking an electric Mini (pictured) to Edinburgh reveals just how impractical rechargeable cars are.

In its obsessive desire to promote the virtues of electric cars, the BBC proudly showed us last week how its reporter Brian Milligan was able to drive an electric Mini from London to Edinburgh in a mere four days – with nine stops of up to 10 hours to recharge the batteries (with electricity from fossil fuels).

The distance from London to Edinburgh is 484 miles (778 km) a comfortable days drive in a conventional vehicle.

What the BBC omitted to tell us was that in the 1830s, a stagecoach was able to make the same journey in half the time, with two days and nights of continuous driving. This did require 50 stops to change horses, but each of these took only two minutes, giving a total stopping time of just over an hour and a half.

180 years is a big leap backward!

Link

Cross-eyed opossum is hit at Leipzig zoo

A cross-eyed opossum named Heidi sits in her enclosure at Leipzig zoo in eastern Germany.

Heidi, who is not yet on public display, has become an Internet hit, winning more than 65,000 "friends" on the social networking website Facebook!

Link

Miss Nebraska is the 2011 Miss America

Teresa Scanlan, a 17-yar-old aspiring politician from Gering, Nebraska is the new 2011 Miss America.

Teresa Scanlan won a $50,000 scholarship and a yearlong run with the crown at the competition at the Planet Hollywood casino-resort in Las Vegas, giving the Cornhusker State its first-ever win at the pageant.

Pageant officials said she was the youngest Miss America since the pageant's first competition in 1921.

Miss Arkansas Alyse Eady won $25,000 as first runner-up, while Miss Hawaii Jalee Fuselier won $20,000 for third place.

Link

Rep. Gabriel Giffords: a hard working politician

Congresswoman Gabby Giffords during a political campaign.

Giffords is shown with her Astronaut husband Mark Kelly.

This photo shows her BMW motorcycle.

Giffords is a Blue Dog (conservative) Democrat and is Arizona's first Jewish Congresswoman.

Mount Etna - dramatic eruption

Fiery lava erupts from Mount Etna, the famous Sicilian volcano.

Doctors: Rep. Giffords shows improvement

Doctors report improvement in Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (pictured) condition. She is opening both eyes, moving both legs and arms and responding to friends and family.

Her doctors call it a "major milestone" in her recovery.

"We're hoping that she crosses through many more," said her neurosurgeon, Dr. Michael Lemole.

She first opened her eyes on her own Wednesday evening while surrounded by her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, and close friends from Congress.

Her left eye, which was unbandaged, started to flicker, and she struggled a bit to widen it.

"Gabby, open your eyes, open your eyes," her husband urged her.

Kelly told her to give him a thumbs-up if she could hear him. She did more than that. She slowly raised her left arm.

Her doctors said her progress was not completely unexpected but still remarkable.

Giffords was still in critical condition.

More here.

Loughners sickness not caused by politics

From a report in the Wall Street Journal:

On all available evidence, Jared Lee Loughner is a mentally disturbed man who targeted Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and anyone near her in Tucson on Saturday because she was prominent and they were tragically accessible.

He joins Sirhan Sirhan, John Hinckley Jr. and many others whose derangement led them to horrible acts of violence.

Whatever confused political motives he expressed seem merely to be part of the maelstrom of his mental sickness.

Much more here.

John Fox hired as new Bronco head football coach

Denver is coming off a franchise-worst 4-12 season. So who did they hire as their new head football coach? John Fox (pictured) from the Carolina Panthers - a team than finished with a 2-14 record in 2010, the only team to finish worse than the Broncos.

Fox replaces Josh McDaniels, who was fired Dec. 6 amid the Broncos worst slide in four decades and the embarrassing Spygate II videotaping scandal.

Fox did take Carolina to the 2004 Super Bowl where they lost to the New England Patriots.

Mike Shanahan took the Broncos to back to back Super Bowls and won them both - one win over Green Bay and the other over Atlanta. That wasn't good enough and owner Pat Bowlen fired him - said he had gone stale and brought in young hot-shot Josh McDaniels who promptly "dismantled" the team by the worst decisions one could imagine.

Did the Broncos owner shoot himself in the foot for the second time in two years?

Bronco fans hope not.

More here.

Easy Rider actor Peter Fonda finds dead body in car

Los Angeles police say actor Peter Fonda (pictured) discovered a dead body in a car and they are investigating the death.

Sgt. Carlton Cook at the West Los Angeles Community Police Station says the "Easy Rider" actor called 911 on Wednesday after he spotted a car parked on the side of Sunset Blvd.

Maybe some out-of-work screen writers will try to make a story out of this starring out-of-work actor Peter Fonda and try to get an out-of-work director/producer to convince a hungry movie studio to make a movie out of the story.

It will never top Easy Rider, but who knows. Besides, it was Fonda who found the dead guy.

Link

Calls mount for resignation of Sheriff Dupnik

From a report at the link below:

Since he first opened his mouth on Saturday night to address the nation about the terrible shootings at a Tucson Safeway, Sheriff Clarence Dupnik (pictured) has been inaccurate, wrong, or completely biased in his handling of the case.

Never have we witnessed a prominent public figure so inaccurately and viciously politicize a national tragedy like Sheriff Dupnik did this week. And in all of his statements he has either been wrong or misdirected.

Sheriff Dupnik told reporters that shooter Jared Loughner may not have acted alone. It was a group effort. There were others involved. "We have photos." Sheriff Dupnik was wrong. Loughner acted alone.

Sheriff Dupnik told reporters that the killer Jared Lee Loughner had made similar threats in the past. Then yesterday the sheriff backtracked. He said there were no previous threats before the shooting.

It is not uncommon for a sheriff in less populated counties to do favors for a lot of influential people in exchange for votes. If this is how Dupnik kept being re-elected time after time, it may not work in the future.

Even if many voters owe him favors, our secret ballot system may do him in. He is an embarrassment to the county in the eyes of the entire nation and a constant reminder of those avoidable deaths including a 9-year-old girl.

Link

National 9/11 flag unfurled at funeral for Tucson victim born on 9/11/01

The National 9/11 Flag above was unfurled between two fire trucks in honor of the youngest victim of the Tucson shootings.

Christina Green (inset photo above) was born on September 11 2001.

This photo shows Roxanna and John Green, parents of Christina Taylor Green with their son Dallas at Christina's funeral.

Wired train

A train makes its way through the snow-covered landscape in the western German city of Essen.

Masked Greenpeace activist

A masked Greenpeace activist attends a protest against nuclear power in Bucharest, Romania last month.

An emotional Congress honors victims

Congresswoman Gabby Giffords is shown above with Speaker of the House John Boehner at her swearing in ceremony earlier this month. Giffords is shown in the center photo with her Astronaut husband Mark Kelly.


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Congress met for the first time since the attack on Saturday in Tucson, Arizona.

It was time to pay homage to Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, and the legacy of the lives lost over the weekend.

Speaker of the House John Boehner (right) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (left) sign the book of condolences and the book of well wishes for the victims of the Tucson, Arizona shooting before attending a prayer service for them in the Capitol in Washington yesterday. Standing behind is House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer.

Speaker of the House John Boehner, overcome with emotion, paused several times during a speech Wednesday as he pledged renewed "commitment to fulfill our oaths of office."

"Let us not let this inhuman act frighten us into doing otherwise," Boehner cautioned. "The free exchange of ideas is the lifeblood of our democracy."

Link

Congress job approval up sharply as GOP take over House

From a report at the link below:

With so much national attention focused on the keen criminology insights of Arizona's Clarence the Talking Sheriff, a stunning new Gallup Poll on Congress almost flew right by.

Hmm…Clarence the Talking Sheriff? That's good.

The new national survey finds that within only five days of Republicans taking majority control of the House of Representatives on Jan. 4, Americans' approval of the bicameral body's job shot up more than 50%, from its record low of 13% to 20%.

Look for this to be underreported or ignored in most of the media because it reflects unfavorably against liberal politicians.

Link

Polar bears remain off endangered list angering enviro activists

Environmental activists used the polar bear as a campaign symbol in 2008 during their attacks on the Bush administration’s decision to not place polar bears on the endangered species list.

Now the enviros are angry again. This time at the Obama administration. The Department of Fish & Wildlife declined, yet again, to move polar bears from the “threatened” list onto the endangered list.

The photo is one often presented by envois to "prove" the shrinking the polar bear habitat is shrinking. Only problem is the photo was taken near the southwest part of Hudson Bay -- in July.

Left-wing politicians were angry when Obama kept the Bush tax cuts. Now it's the environmental activists turn to be angry at Obama for keeping the Bush polar bear decision.

The science behind this must be pretty clear or Obama would just cram this through like ObamaCare or the GM takeover.

Even NASA is now predicting a possible cool decade or two which is cooling (pun intended) the threat to the polar bears.

Enviros can always go back to saving whales. Animal Planet even has a TV series to keep their excitement at a high level.

Animal Planet may never do a TV series on saving polar bears. Blood - human blood especially - in the snow is not a pretty sight.

Link

Just where was Mayor Bloomberg during that last storm?

From a sidebar in the London Daily Mail:

He came under fierce criticism for the city's shambolic response to the Christmas blizzard.

And just where Mayor Bloomberg was during the crisis has remained a mystery until now.

Today it emerged that the politician's private plane had been in Bermuda for the crucial period between December 25 and 26.

Officials at the island's airport described how they received a request for Mayor
Bloomberg's plane to be readied for takeoff the day after Christmas.

The aircraft had arrived in the early hours of December 25 and it is believed he spent the day at his waterfront holiday home.

Leave it to the Brits to sniff out the secrets of politicians and celebrities on this of the pond.

Hmm…wonder if he was attending a global warming celebration of some kind?

It's too bad the London Daily Mail doesn't have a New York edition so residents can learn what's going on in their own city.

Link

First full length movie shot with iPhone

A movie claimed to be the first ever cinema-standard film to be shot solely on the iPhone has been premiered by celebrated South Korean director Park Chan Wook.

The 30-minute film was shot using an iPhone.

It cost 150 million won ($133,000). Wonder why it cost so much? And Don't tell us it wads because of roaming charges.

More here.

Moment of silence at the capitol rotunda

Guides and visitors pause for a moment of silence in the U.S. Capitol rotunda to honor the memory of the victims of the January 8 shooting in Tucson, Arizona.

Time magazine photo

Photo: turtle on wheels

Tzvika, a turtle who suffered a spinal injury from a lawn mower, pulls herself along with the aid of newly attached wheels at the Wildlife Hospital in the Ramat Gan Safari near Tel Aviv.

About those targets and bullets on maps

The difference between targets and surveyor symbols.

Shown above are the "targets" Sarah Palin is accused of showing on maps. They are not targets.

They are surveyor symbols showing places to concentrate on in future political campaigns, yet radicals at MSNBC, etc. are claiming Palin used them as "cross-hairs" to target opponents with physical harm.

They had no more meaning that the "real" targets used by Democrat politicians shown below.

Is hate speech OK if you're a Democrat?

Former Democrat Congressman from Pennsylvania, Paul Kanjorski (pictured) is calling for civility.

In an op-ed column in the New York Times today Mr. Kanjorski had this to say:

We all lose an element of freedom when security considerations distance public officials from the people.

Therefore, it is incumbent on all Americans to create an atmosphere of civility and respect in which political discourse can flow freely, without fear of violent confrontation.

Only problem is - it was the then Congressman Paul Kanjorski who said, "That Scott that's running for governor of Florida, instead of running for governor of Florida, they ought to have him and shoot him. Put him against the wall and shoot him as reported in the second link below.

Congressman Paul Kanjorski was defeated in his bid for re-election to the House on November 2, 2010 by a 57%-43% margin. He lost to Republican Lou Barletta.

Link here and here.

Arizona's Clouseau - the sheriff of Pima County

Comparing Sheriff Dupnik (pictured) to the laughably bumbling and incompetent police inspector Clouseau, whose investigations are marked with chaos and destruction mostly brought on by himself, would be priceless - except for one thing. Clouseau was funny.

From the report:

The strangest figure to emerge from the Tucson shooting story is Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik.

He was in front of every camera around pushing a highly politicized agenda.

In the early hours after the shooting, Dupnik was mumbling about “people in the radio business and some people in the TV business” creating the climate which led to the shootings.

Later he started naming names, beginning with Rush Limbaugh.

Every time he’s been confronted about these irresponsible slanders, he admits he has absolutely no evidence or logical argument to back up his claims… until he gets to a friendly interviewer like Keith Olbermann, who wants to buy what he’s selling.

Then he suddenly declares that libeling people who had absolutely no connection whatsoever to the target of a murder investigation is one of his official duties.

The comically offhanded nature of Dupnik’s political speculations make it clear he never expected them to be challenged.

On Saturday afternoon, he clearly thought he was about to become a media and political superstar.

Instead, he became a laughingstock.

When was the last time a President of the United States had to send in his FBI Chief to handle a local incident? If you said never, you'd probably be right.

Link

Did Jessica Simpson change to a new poofy hairdo for 2011?

Jessica Simpson fans can relax, the answer is no. The wildly poofy hairdo was for a magazine photo shoot.

It's just that her publicist Lauren Auslander, had a little fun at her expense and tweeted the photo, saying jokingly, "Hey Jessica Simpson nice new 'do for 2011."

Verizon customers can have iPhone soon

From an AOL Business report:

If you aren't tired of all the Verizon iPhone buzz yet, you'll love the latest hints coming from the rumor mill. Citing an in-the-know anonymous source, Bloomberg Business Week reports that the iPhone will most likely come to Verizon before Valentine's Day -- a present for iPhone holdouts (and current owners dissatisfied with AT&T), including many business users.

Look for the usual Apple press conference and fanfare following the official announcement of a deal with Verizon. But don't look for it at this month's Consumer Electronics Show.

Expect to wait until about Valentine's Day.

Link

Venice cops in hip waders

Two Italian policemen stand on the flooded St. Mark's Square in Venice.

Tourists in Venice awoke to warning sirens as the "acqua alta" (high water), leaving 55 percent of the city under water.

Illinois proposes 75 percent income tax hike

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and the leaders of both houses of the Illinois General Assembly have agreed on raising the state income tax.

If the bill passes, the plan would raise the personal income tax rate from the current 3 percent to 5.25 percent.

That’s a 75 percent increase.

In real dollars, that would mean if you currently owe $1,000 in taxes, next year you would owe $1,750.

The report says the increase is for four only years. After four years the personal income tax would go down to 3.75 percent.

Will Illinois lawmakers really lower taxes that much once they have enjoyed having that extra tax money to spend for four years?

Link

Jared Loughner the Tucson shooter

The photo at left was taken in March 2010. Center shows his MySpace profile photo. At right is Loughner's mug shot.

Report: Palin and tea party not reason Giffords was attacked

In what is turned out to be a big disappointment for far-left politicians and the left-wing media, the shooter has been described as a left-wing pot-head by his classmates.

At first they tried to say he was soldier. Someone even said he was an Afghan vet. They were just guessing and hoping. It turned out he had been turned down by the military. The Army refused to take him.

Far-left Democrats in Washington and the left-wing media had hoped the shooting of Rep. Giffords would be a crisis they could use to demean moderates and conservatives - especially the tea party and Sarah Palin.

The first link below says Palin and the tea party rhetoric had nothing to do with the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords.

Link and here.

Full moon over Disney World

A full moon is seen over Cinderella Castle at Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

Oprah 18 minute answer leaves critics cranky

A report at the link below is titled, "TV Critics Reeling After Oprah Holds Them Hostage With 18 Minute Long Answer At Press Tour."

Actually, they must have trying to get even for her 18 minute answer with their sixteen word report title.

It must have been like a long-winded self-centered Obama press conference without a teleprompter.

Link

Report: The censorship of madmen

We cannot give lunatics editorial control of our discourse.

Within hours of the attack on Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords, liberal bloggers, pundits, and even politicians raced to pin responsibility on the Tea Party, Sarah Palin, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and the general “climate of hate” produced by opposition to President Obama's agenda.

To his credit, President Obama has not descended to the depths of Bill Clinton, who blamed the Oklahoma City bombings on Rush Limbaugh back in the 90s.

Much more here.

Chris Matthews fanaticizes watching Rush Limbaugh being shot

If the media really wants someone to blame for inciting a climate of hate look no further than the political hacks on MSNBC.

Below is just one example:

FBI Chief sent to Tucson because of unhinged sheriff?

When was the last time a President had to send his FBI Chief to take over a local incident? If your reply was never you'd probably be correct.

The photo below was a screen grab from Fox News as Megyn Kelly took on Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik over his political spin on the shooting.

Sheriff Dupnik used "vitriolic" political rhetoric while blaming "vitriolic" political rhetoric for the shootings in Tucson Saturday.

When asked if he had evidence suggesting the young shooter was motivated by conservative rhetoric, the sheriff replied, "not yet."

It's no wonder the President had to send his FBI Chief to take over.

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House Democrats adjust to life with no power

Barney Frank and Henry Waxman brood over life in the House with no power.

Barney Frank says he’ll have “more free time” on his hands.

Henry Waxman says “I don’t think it was fair that we lost this time around,” he says, blaming the Democrats’ downfall on the lousy economy that President Obama inherited. C'mon Waxman, Blaming Bush is so yesterday.

"Losing on a day-to-day basis and seeing the Republicans prevail when I so strongly disagree with them—that’s not going to be easy," he says. "It’s a less-than-pleasant situation."

Barney Frank left and Henry Waxman right
I suggest That Mr. Frank and Mr. Waxman get out their Big Chief tablets, number 2 pencils and proceed to the exercise outlined here.

Out of power House Democrats will have two years to brood over their misuse of power during the last two years - such as working on ObamaCare behind closed doors and then calling Republicans the "party of no" when they wouldn't vote for it.

These and other tactics of the last two years will be coming home to roost in the next two years.

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