Freed Gitmo Detainees - China worse than Gitmo

The four of the Chinese Muslims, or Uighurs, released to Bermuda from the Guantanamo Bay prison told FOX News that they are innocent, glad to be free and hold no grudges against the United States for their captivity.

The men, who range from 31 to 38 years old, also said they think life in China, where they face persecution, is worse than life at Guantanamo.

With the help of a translator, they said they didn't know anything about Al Qaeda or Usama bin Laden, despite past allegations that they had aided the terror mastermind's escape.

"I am not a terrorist. I have never been terrorist," one of the men told FOX News. "I want to live peacefully."

The Uighurs, released this week, are staying at a guest cottage complex on the island without security or electronic monitoring, but their attorney said they will have to periodically check in with local police.

The release of the Uighurs comes amid increasing political tensions in Washington over what to do with the more than 200 detainees being held at the Guantanamo facility following President Obama's pledge to close the facility within a year of taking office.

But the Uighurs may be among the least threatening of the detainees whose fate must be decided, given that the Justice Department under the Bush administration already had decided that they should no longer be classified as "enemy combatants." - FOX News Story

Palin vs Letterman Feud Continues

NEW YORK — Sarah Palin says David Letterman owes an apology to young women across the country for his joke about her daughter.

The Alaska governor appeared on NBC's "Today" show Friday, continuing a feud with the CBS "Late Show" funnyman over his joke earlier this week that Palin's daughter got "knocked up" by New York Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez during their recent trip to New York.

Palin also said she doesn't believe she should be automatically considered the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

Asked by Matt Lauer whether Letterman owed her daughter an apology, the former vice presidential candidate broadened it.

"I would like to see him apologize to young women across the country for contributing to kind of that thread that is throughout our culture that makes it sound like it is OK to talk about young girls in that way, where it's kind of OK, accepted and funny to talk about statutory rape," she said. "It's not cool. It's not funny." - FOX News Story

I have heard about enough of all of this. Letterman was an idiot and made some out of bounds comments. He needs to step down from his pedestal and just say, hey I crossed a line and move on. I know as a parent, that you can say what you want about me, but when you attack my kids then you have crossed a line. That is what Letterman has done. Say what you want about the Adults, but leave the kids out of it.

You can bet that if comments were made about the Obama kids, everyone would be in an uproar, what makes this any different?

Big Turnout for Iranian Election

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranians packed polling stations from boutique-lined streets to conservative bastions Friday with a choice that's left the country divided and on edge: keeping hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power or electing a reformist who favors greater freedoms and improved ties with the United States.

Crowds formed quickly at many voting sites in areas considered both strongholds for Ahmadinejad and his main rival, reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi, who served as prime minister in the 1980s and has become the surprise hero of a powerful youth-driven movement. At several polling stations in Tehran, mothers held their young children in their arms as they waited in long lines.

"I hope to defeat Ahmadinejad today," said Mahnaz Mottaghi, 23, after casting her ballot at a mosque in central Tehran. - FOX News Story

Top Leadership Draw Lines in Sand for Health Care Fight

Top House Leadership drew lines in the sand on health care reform today as President Obama traveled to Green Bay, Wisconsin, for his own health care town hall meeting.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made clear in her weekly press conference that the centerpiece of House Democrat's plan to reform health care is a public option. When asked if the speaker would support a proposal gaining momentum in the Senate to create a non-profit insurance entity instead of a government plan Pelosi said "not instead of a public option, no."

The insistence on a government health insurance option means any hope for Republicans and Democrats to finally work together on an issue of great importance to the country is waning rapidly.

In his own weekly media availability, House Minority Leader John Boehner said he's "opposed to a government option. Period." Boehner said a government-run healthcare plan would make going to the doctor like going to the DMV. - ABC News Story

Pelosi Backs Release of so called Torture Photos

It's not much of a surprise, but Nancy Pelosi plans to announce she's officially opposing the Graham-Lieberman amendment banning the release of interrogation photos and videos -- setting up a showdown with the Obama administration and the Senate.

She just made the announcement on MSNBC's Ed Schultz Show. Greg Sargent reported it first.

The speaker -- who needs the backing of liberals to pass the war supplemental -- told reporters a week ago that she would support the amendment, which was engineered by the White House.

Her decision, Democratic aides say, is bound to infuriate almost everybody -- except the handful of progressives needed to pass the war bill and its controversial provision funding the International Monetary Fund.

The measure isn't expected to be taken up this week. - Politico Story

Obama running a Gangster Government

Rep Bachman-

Now we've moved into the realm of gangster government. We have gangster government when the Federal Government has set up a new cartel and private businesses now have to go begging with their hand out to their local--hopefully well politically connected--Congressman or their Senator so they can buy a peace offering for that local business. Is that the kind of country we are going to have in the future?

We need to call this for what this is, my colleagues. We need to call this for what this is. Call it out. The American people need to get outraged and figure out that it could be them next. No business is safe when you see the administration appoint czars--car czars, wage czars--there's over 20 czars that have been appointed. And what do those czars do? They bypass the Congress. We are the people's elected representatives; we have been bypassed.

We now have an imperial presidency where the President has appointed various czars reporting directly to him. - Politico News Story

Obama Administration not Transparent

The White House has refused a request from Sen. Chuck Grassley for all the exemptions it’s granted to President Barack Obama’s ethics policy.

And that’s got the Iowa Republican on a mission to make public every ethics waiver and recusal issued to administration officials.

“The American people deserve a full accounting of all waivers ... to better understand who is running the government and whether the administration is adhering to its promise to be open, transparent and accountable,” Grassley wrote in a letter Wednesday to the director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.

Obama tasked that independent agency with implementing his ethics policy, and Grassley’s letter asks the office to explain every waiver and recusal granted under the policy and to post them on its website.

The administration has been cagey about the exceptions it’s granted to the policy, quietly releasing a succession of four waivers, weeks and sometimes months after they were first granted. It has also refused to say whether there are other waivers or letters of recusal, which are more narrowly crafted than waivers.

Back in February, Grassley — who has made a career out of sometimes lonely but often high-impact crusades against waste, fraud and secrecy in government — asked in a previously unreported letter for a full accounting of the waivers from the White House’s budget office, which granted the initial waivers in consultation with the White House counsel’s office.

But a lawyer from the counsel’s office rebuffed Grassley in March, informing him that the Office of Government Ethics was still working on procedures for disclosing the waivers and recusals but would also list all of them in an annual report to be published next year. - Politico Story

I get it, If you release all of your stuff later then that constitutes being open and transparent. You don't have to do it while it is happening.

In that case Obama isn't so novel. Most administrations have become transparent after the fact.

CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN!!!!

Israeli / US Relations at all time Low

Several Israeli media outlets have expressed outrage over a White House photo released Monday showing President Obama on the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, with whom the US has sparred publicly in recent days over the sensitive issue of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

The photo shows Obama on the phone with his feet up on his desk, the soles of his shoes facing to the camera, which the reports claim was a sign of disrespect.

The Israeli daily Ha'aretz published an article today saying, in part:

"A photo released by the White House, which shows Obama talking on the phone with Netanyahu on Monday, speaks volumes: The president is seen with his legs up on the table, his face stern and his fist clenched, as though he were dictating to Netanyahu: 'Listen up and write 'Palestinian state' a hundred times. That's right, Palestine, with a P.' As an enthusiast of Muslim culture, Obama surely knows there is no greater insult in the Middle East than pointing the soles of one's shoes at another person. Indeed, photos of other presidential phone calls depict Obama leaning on his desk, with his feet on the floor."

There is no indication the White House meant any disrespect but the Isearili media concerns appear to illustrate the sensistivity and unease in US Israeli relations. - ABC News

I believe that I remember hearing during the run up to the election about how bad things would get with Israel if Obama won. Obama team said that Israel couldn't have a better friend than Obama.

Now we know who was right.

Obama Team Doesn't Expect to Give any more Money to GM/Chrysler

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's auto task force told skeptical lawmakers Wednesday the government had no plans to pump more dollars into GM and Chrysler and that the public had a "reasonable probability" of getting its money back.

Ron Bloom, a senior adviser to the task force, faced numerous questions about the roughly $80 billion in federal aid to the car companies, their lending affiliates and suppliers. He said the Obama administration's efforts had given the automakers "a chance to become viable, competitive businesses with bright futures." - FOX News Story

I don't know what the heck they would expect. If you fund a company long enough and push and pull strings for them of course they have a good chance to be viable and competitive.

Give me a couple of Billion and force all of my creditors to take pennies on the dollar, I can become viable and have a bright future.

Obama Administration Paying Palau $200 Million to take Gitmo Prisoners

Palau says its decision to temporarily take the 17 Uighurs, or Chinese Muslims, being held at the Guantanamo Bay prison was a "humanitarian gesture."

But the South Pacific island may have been motivated more by 200 million other reasons.

Two U.S. officials told the Associated Press that the U.S. was prepared to give Palau up to $200 million in return for accepting the Uighurs and as part of a mutual defense and cooperation treaty that is due to be renegotiated this year.

Figures on Palau's federal budget weren't immediately available, but if it is close to its size in 1999, when it was $71 million, the deal with the U.S. would in effect more than double the nation's spending and make it the fastest growing economy in the world.

In announcing the decision, Palau President Johnson Toribiong sounded as if the U.S. was doing his country a favor by sending the detainees there.

"I am honored and proud that the United States has asked Palau to assist with such a critical task," he said in a press release. "This is but a small thing we can do to thank our best friend and ally for all it has done of Palau." - FOX News Story