Two socialists agree. Obama is said not to be a socialist but a lll his friends are socialists or communists

Obama, Hollande agree on much - but not Afghanistan

How to live above your means: Your tax dollars at work

Man who had 30 kids with 11 women wants child-support break

By Rene Lynch

You have to say this much for Desmond Hatchett: He has a way with the ladies.

The 33-year-old Knoxville, Tenn., resident has reportedly set a Knox County record for his ability to reproduce. He has 30 children with 11 women. And nine of those children were born in the last three years, after Hatchett -- who is something of a local celebrity -- vowed "I'm done!" in a 2009 TV interview, saying he wouldn't father more children.

But Hatchett is back in the news this week because he's struggling to make ends meet on his minimum-wage job. His inability to make child-support payments on such a meager salary also means he's back in court again and again, most recently to ask for a break on those payments.

"Yes, we've got several cases with Mr. Hatchett," Melissa Gibson, an assistant supervisor with the Knox County child support clerk's office, said with a sigh.

Hatchett's attorney, Keith Pope, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Under the law, there's nothing officials can do to force Hatchett to keep his pants on.

"If there's something out there like that, I'm unaware of it," Gibson told The Times, before adding, "It definitely needs to be."

Gibson said Hatchett is believed to hold the Knox County record for most children. (He'd hold a similar record in most counties in the U.S., which might explain why news of his predicament was pinging around the Internet on Friday.)

Gibson said she couldn't say whether any of his children receive public assistance. The youngest is a toddler; the oldest is 14. Asked in a TV interview whether he can "keep up with it all," Hatchett said he knows all their names, ages and birthdates.

Also in a TV interview, Hatchett tried to explain -- in a PG-rated way -- how he managed to end up with so many kids: "I had four kids in the same year. Twice."

When Hatchett is working, he is required to turn over 50% of his wages for child support -- the maximum allowed under law. Child support payments are based in part on the ages and needs of the children.

Some of the mothers of Hatchett's children get only $1.49 a month, reportedWREG in Memphis.

Who knew Pierre Franey was a Cherokee

DID ELIZABETH WARREN PLAGIARIZE HER 'POW WOW CHOW' RECIPES?

The credibility of Massachusetts Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren took another hit today as Boston radio talk show host Howie Carr released evidence that appears to confirm Ms. Warren may have plagiarized at least three of the five recipes she submitted to the 1984 Pow Wow Chow cookbook edited by her cousin Candy Rowsey.

Two of the possibly plagiarized recipes, said in the Pow Wow Chow cookbook to have been passed down through generations of Oklahoma Native American members of the Cherokee tribe, are described in a New York Times News Service story as originating at Le Pavilion, a fabulously expensive French restaurant in Manhattan. The dishes were said to be particular favorites of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and Cole Porter.

The two recipes, "Cold Omelets with Crab Meat" and "Crab with Tomato Mayonnaise Dressing," appear in an article titled “Cold Omelets with Crab Meat,” written by Pierre Franey of the New York Times News Service that was published in the August 22, 1979 edition of the Virgin Islands Daily News, a copy of which can be seen here.

Ms. Warren’s 1984 recipe for Crab with Tomato Mayonnaise Dressing is a word-for-word copy of Mr. Franey’s 1979 recipe.

Mrs. Warren’s 1984 recipe for Cold Omelets with Crab Meat contains all four of the ingredients listed in Mr. Franey’s 1979 recipe in the exact same portion but lists five additional ingredients. More significantly, her instructions are virtually a word for word copy of Mr. Franey’s instructions from this 1979 article. Both instructions specify the use of a “seven inch Teflon pan.” The 1984 Pow Wow Chow recipe reads:

Use a small omelet pan, or, preferably, a seven-inch Teflon pan. Heat about one-half teaspoon butter in the pan. Add about one-third cup of the egg mixture. Let cook until firm and lightly brown on the bottom, stirring quickly with a fork until the omelet starts to set. When set slip a large pancake turner under the omelet starts to set. When set, slip a large pancake turner under the omelet and turn it quickly to the other side. Let cook about five seconds. Remember, you want to produce a flat omelet, not a typical folded omelet. Turn the omelets out flat onto a sheet of was paper. Continue making omelets until all the egg mixture is used.

Ms. Warren’s instructions are word-for-word copies of Mr. Franey’s 1979 instructions for this recipe, with one exception. Ms. Warren says, “Let cook until firm and lightly brown…” and Mr. Franey says “Let cook until firm and lightly browned…” [emphasis added]

Mr. Franey elaborates in this 1979 article on the origins of the recipe:

When I was chef at Le Pavilion it enjoyed a considerable esteem in America, and the owner, Henri Soule, had one particular specialty that he would ask to have prepared for his pet customers. The dish was a great favorite of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and Cole Porter. It is a delicate and interesting creation, especially good for summer dining. It consists of small omelets, flavored with herbs and bits of tomato, served cold with a crab meat filling…This is not the usual oval-shaped omelet rolled over a filling and served hot. It is a flat omelet that is cooked like a pancake and turned over once on the skillet, then served cold. [emphasis added]

Mr. Franey does not suggest that the Duke and Duchess of Windsor enjoyed Cold Omelets with Crab Meat due to any claim on their behalf of Cherokee ancestry, though it is true that the Duchess was American born.

The third potentially plagiarized recipe, "Herbed Tomatoes," appears to be copied from this 1959 recipe from Better Homes and Garden.

Ms. Warren ‘s campaign has not commented on the suggestion that she may have plagiarized her recipe contributions to the Pow Wow Chow cookbook. Sales of the Pow Wow Chow have heated up on Amazon since this controversy began, vaulting from a lowly 1.2 million ranking book to number 11,289 early this morning.

When you believe the ends justify the means everything is available to you: It's the leftist mindset

Green Armegeddon

The wisdom of the extreme left greens, in this case Finnish writer Pentti Linkola:

"What to do, when a ship carrying a hundred passengers suddenly capsizes and there is only one lifeboat? When the lifeboat is full, those who hate life will try to load it with more people and sink the lot. Those who love and respect life will take the ship's axe and sever the extra hands that cling to the sides."

"The composition of the Greens seems to be the same as that of the population in general — mainly pieces of drifting wood, people who never think."

"A minority can never have any other effective means to influence the course of matters but through the use of violence."

"Any dictatorship would be better than modern democracy. There cannot be so incompetent dictator, that he would show more stupidity than a majority of the people. Best dictatorship would be one where lots of heads would roll and government would prevent any economical growth."

"The most central and irrational faith among people is the faith in technology and economical growth. Its priests believe until their death that material prosperity bring enjoyment and happiness - even though all the proofs in history have shown that only lack and attempt cause a life worth living, that the material prosperity doesn't bring anything else than despair. These priests believe in technology still when they choke in their gas masks."

"That there are billions of people over 60kg weight on this planet is recklessness."

"Alternative movements and groups are a welcome relief and a present for the society of economic growth."

"We will have to...learn from the history of revolutionary movements — the national socialists, the Finnish Stalinists, from the many stages of the Russian revolution, from the methods of the Red Brigades — and forget our narcissistic selves."

"Everything we have developed over the last 100 years should be destroyed."

You can read more gems like these here. I only note that Linkola still seems to be here, so using his first quote, he doesn't seem willing to give up his place on the lifeboat. I also note the absolute certainty he has, the hubris of these folks knows no bounds. On a ship calmly sailing along, nicer than any ship in history, yet he is sure its headed for a major disaster, enough so that he wants to start killing off the other passengers.

The Democrat money laundering machine

GM’S BAILOUT BUCKS

AUTOMAKER GAVE SEVEN FIGURES TO DEM LOBBYISTS AFTER BAILOUT

General Motors has funneled more than $1 million to two powerhouse Democratic lobbyists since the taxpayers rescued the automaker in 2009.

GM teamed with Navigators Global and the Podesta Group beginning in 2010 and soon arranged six-figure contracts with lobbying teams headed by Democratic bundlers Vin Roberti and Tony Podesta. Each earned top nods from GQ’s Monthly Power List soon after inking the GM contracts.

Roberti has been the automaker’s highest paid lobbyist since 2010. The longtime- Democratic activist and film producer has represented a slew of Democratic allies, pushing for unionization expansion as a UPS lobbyist, which FedEx Corp. called a UPS bailout; broadband internet stimulus for AT&T; and support for the TARP bank bailout on Citigroup’s behalf—the same bailout that would later rescue GM.

The automaker has rewarded Roberti for his efforts.

Roberti, a longtime fundraiser for Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, merged his lobbying shop with Navigators, a Republican shop, in December 2008. The K Street firm soon cashed in on nearly $400,000 while representing GM, which received more than $70 billion from taxpayers.

The bipartisanship was not to last, however. When Navigators spun off the Democratic lobbyists in 2011, GM followed suit, shifting a lucrative $392,500 contract to the newly formed Roberti and Associates. The firm has earned $80,000 from GM so far in 2012, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Roberti has established himself as a power player in Connecticut politics. His Washington D.C. ties have enabled his 29-year-old son, Dan, to raise more than $1 million in the Democratic primary for Connecticut’s 5th Congressional District.

But Roberti is not without controversy. His relationships with the state have been tainted by tax troubles and in the past his film production company has raised some eyebrows.

He garnered nearly $140,000 in tax liens on three Connecticut properties between 1995 and 2001. All of those debts have since been repaid.

His film production company, Palisades Media Company, has been accused of pedaling pornography. In 2004, soon after Palisades financed the John Kerry documentary, “Going Upriver,” the company became the sole American distributor of “9 Songs,” a British film The Guardian called the “most sexually explicit film in the history of mainstream British cinema.” The film featured real oral and sex scenes between its two stars and even a scene of ejaculation, according to the New York Daily News.

Roberti’s personal dealings have proven controversial, but GM’s relationship with the Podesta Group has spurred congressional corruption investigations.

The company in 2010 enlisted the services of Tony Podesta, who raised nearly $500,000 for Democrats with his lobbyist wife, Heather, between 2008 and 2010. Podesta’s brother, John, is a major figure in liberal politics, serving in the Clinton administration, co-chairing President Barack Obama’s transition team, and running the Center for American Progress.

The Podesta Group earned $590,000 from General Motors in 2010 and 2011, including major advocacy work on vehicle emissions standards. Podesta met with Obama Regulatory Czar Cass Sunstein on July 21, 2011, just eight days before the administration announced new regulations mandating 54.5 miles-per-gallon cars by 2025.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) soon initiated an investigation into the meeting to see if the administration developed the policy “in secret” to benefit the government-owned automaker.

“If in fact the CAFE standards are the result of political haggling and not the application of proven science to the laws passed by Congress, then the administration stands in violation” of the Administrative Procedures Act, Issa wrote in an August 2011 letter to the White House. In the letter, Issa noted “The administration’s unusual insistence that auto manufacturers forsake their statutory right to challenge the final rules before they are even drafted.”

The New York Times reported that GM “expressed no reservations about the regulatory measure” after the standards had been announced.

A lawyer familiar with the CAFE standards told the Washington Free Beacon that GM’s silence was because it helped design the standards.

“Domestic automakers accepted all of the administration’s demands, including the increased emissions,” the lawyer said. “They plotted with the government to impose these strict standards and then push the costs down onto consumers.”

Roberti, Podesta, and GM did not return calls for comment.

How the one-percenter roll.

Al Gore has a girlfriend: California donor and activist Elizabeth Keadle

What a despicable group of people.

Roman Polanski Coming to Cannes for Tribute and Image Rehab

Controversial French filmmaker, Oscar winner Roman Polanski, may be the real lightning rod at Cannes this year. Today a filmed interview with him called “Roman Polanski: A Memoir,” was shown to a packed house. Polanski’s old friend Andrew Braaunsberg conducted the interview with the director at his Swiss estate during his house arrest in 2010. This is not Marina Zenovich’s “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired,” which revealed a lot about Polanski’s original legal situaton. The new film barely addressses much of that.

The new film is more of a conversation between Polanski and Braunsberg and Polanski about the director’s horrifying experiences a a child in the Holocaust, and the way he recreated them for “The Pianist.” In that respect it’s a fascinating interview. Braunsberg and director Laurent Bozereau make Polanski, who is rarely seen by his fans or detractors, a very human side. He’s certainly no monster but a complicated man wih a painful past.

Press shy, Polanski comes to Cannes on Monday for a tribute and a screening of one of his great films, “Tess.” He may also attend a small filmmakers dinner. But his presence here will be felt, without a doubt. And when a deal is made for the interview film to be shown in America, it will cause a sensation.

Do you think the WH will stop at anything?

Obama’s bin Laden leaks angered military

When they published their revealing book last August about the nation’s fight against terrorism, the authors, two New York Times national security reporters, immediately felt heat from the Pentagon for dishing too much operational info about the killing of Osama bin Laden.

“I was stopped by a very senior officer in the special operations community who basically wanted to rip my lungs out,” said Thom Shanker, who co-authored “Counterstrike: The Untold Story of America's Secret Campaign Against Al Qaeda,” with Eric Schmitt.

But, he revealed at a counter terrorism expo this week, the info came directly and officially from the White House, not some garbage can digging operation. “I said to him, ‘Sir, that information came officially to us from the podium at the White House,’” Shanker said.

He added, “Your civilian leaders make choices about describing missions, perhaps for their own partisan political ends, perhaps to show the nation that their tax dollars are being spent well, but that’s the way it is.”

Shanker, an acclaimed Pentagon reporter and author, said he had a little advice for the unidentified officer: If you make general, “this is part of your new world.”

He and three other terrorism reporters helped to open the Counter Terror Expo at the Washington Convention Center and revealed something that most outside the journalism world don’t know: Repeatedly, the news biz has held reporting stories about the war on terrorism because it might harm an ongoing operation.

“The media’s got a pretty good record there,” said Schmitt, the Times’ national security reporter. He said that a number of NYT stories have been held and that the paper’s publisher is pressed by President Obama to delay publication “in some cases."

Associated Press reporter Eileen Sullivan added that when a story threatens lives and the Pentagon or White House seek a delay in publishing, “we almost always comply.”

Hollywood helping elect Obama. Propaganda

Cannes 2012: Harvey Weinstein Gets Political By Buying Documentary About the Fall of Gaddafi

The Weinstein Co. co-chairman also is expected to pick up "Code Name Geronimo," a movie about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, which could be seen as an effort to boost President Obama's chances of re-election.

Wading into political waters, the Weinstein Co. has acquired U.S. rights to the documentary The Oath of Tobruk, a look at the eight-month conflict that led to the fall of Muammar Gaddafi by French philosopher and journalist Bernard-Henri Levy. The film is schedule to be screened as part of the official program at the Cannes Film Festival on May 25.

Levy’s film documents the unfolding of the war in Libya and the spontaneous popular revolt that became a revolution through the efforts of the Libyan people in their country and in major cities including Paris, London and New York.

PHOTOS: Cannes 2012: Day 2 in Pictures

In announcing the acquisition, TWC co-chairman Harvey Weinstein clearly signaled his political intentions. He described the buy as a political move, designed to provide hope for other countries in the region like Syria. In a statement, he said that the film “highlights the invaluable leadership from President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. American audiences will get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how our government and the French government worked together to stop the slaughter of innocent civilians and brilliantly handled the overthrow of a government.”

In another move that also could have political implications, the Weinstein Company is expected to pick up rights to a dramatic feature Code Name Geronimo, from director John Stockwell,about the hunt for Osama bin Laden. If the Weinstein Co. releases that film before the November elections, it could be seen as an effort to help boost Obama’s re-election chances, while also stealing thunder from Kathryn Bigelow’s own hunt-for-Osama movie Zero Dark Thirty, which Sony has scheduled for release on Dec. 19.

PHOTOS: Cannes 2012: The Market's Most Outrageous Movie Posters

Tobruk will screen as an official selection in Cannes next week. Four key figures of the Libyan revolution, who have been invited by Lévy, will attend the screening to dedicate their achievement in Libya to their Syrian friends.

Levy hailed TWC’s involvement in the film by saying, “For me, Harvey Weinstein is not simply The Artist. He is the producer who helped launch Amnesty International in the United States; the man who fought capital punishment with the weapon of cinema; and the one who defended Roman Polanski in the face of those who wished to lynch him. This Weinstein, I am happy to learn, is joining Studio 37 in the adventure of The Oath of Tobruk.“

The film was produced by Studio 37, a financier of the Academy Award best picture winner The Artist, Margo Cinema and Arté. Rezo is currently selling remaining territories.

Remember when Hillary Clinton promised the US would use "smart power"? How's that working out

North Korea Seen Restarting Work on Nuclear Reactor

By Nicole Gaouette - May 17, 2012

North Korea has restarted construction on a nuclear reactor that is an essential component in building nuclear weapons, according to a U.S. university monitoring project.

Commercial satellite imagery from April 30 shows that the Pyongyang government is close to completing a containment building for a new experimental light water reactor, according to a website maintained by Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies based in Washington.

The reactor, for possible completion by 2014-2015, would be able to supply needed electricity as well as fissile material for a nuclear weapon, thereport says. It quoted a former deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Olli Heinonen, as saying that once the reactor is operational, it would be capable of producing enough plutonium to add “a little more than one bomb per year” to North Korea’s nuclear weapons stockpile.

U.S.-led talks to curb North Korea’s nuclear program fell apart last month. The U.S. and South Korea have expressed concern that the North, under new leader Kim Jong Un, is preparing to test a nuclear explosive device soon.

North Korea issued several threats last month with officials talking of “powerful modern weapons” and threatening to reduce South Korea to “ashes” in minutes.

Diplomats to Meet

The construction of the experimental light water reactor, “which the North Koreans have indicated is the prototype for additional reactors, as well as a uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon, is an important indication of the North’s intention to move forward with the expansion of its nuclear weapons stockpile in the future,” said a post today on the ‘38 North’ blog run by the U.S.-Korea Institute at SAIS.

The State Department would not comment on the report, in keeping with its policy of not commenting on intelligence matters.

South Korea’s chief nuclear envoy Lim Sung Nam plans to meet his U.S. and Japan counterparts in Seoul on May 21 to discuss affairs on the Korean peninsula following North Korea’s April 13 long-range rocket launch, a violation of United Nations resolutions. The U.S. delegation will be led by Special Representative for North Korea Policy Glyn Davies.

The U.S. canceled food assistance in response, leading the North Koreans to break off an agreement to halt testing of nuclear devices or long-range missiles. U.S. officials say that North Korea must comply with its commitments under the 2005 Joint Statement of the Six-Party Talks, which include South Korea, China, Russia and Japan.

Construction on the reactor resumed in late February or early March, the report said.

The combination of the reactor and enrichment plant could allow the North to continue expansion of its nuclear-weapons stockpile “well into the future,” according to the report.