El Paso Times

CARACAS, Venezuela—A Venezuelan politician is holding an unusual raffle to raise campaign cash. The grand prize: breast implants. For a little under $6 a ticket, donors get the chance to win the pricey operation free of charge.

Breast enlargement is widely popular in image-conscious Venezuela. In recent years as many as 30,000 women have had the operation annually, according to the nation’s Plastic Surgery Society.

Gustavo Rojas, who is running as an alternate for the National Assembly in Sept. 26 elections, said there is a great demand for the surgery.

The prize for his fund-raising effort may be a little unusual, Rojas conceded Friday, but he said it’s like raffling off a TV set or a telephone.

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One of these things is not like the other…

Flat Screen T.V.

Slim-line Telephone

Breast Implants

And Calderon has the unmitigated gall to criticize how we treat Mexican illegal aliens in the U.S.

El Paso Times

MEXICO CITY (AP) – A survivor has told police that 72 people found dead at a ranch near the Mexican border with Texas were migrants kidnapped by an armed group, a federal official said Wednesday.

The bodies of 58 men and 14 women were discovered Tuesday when Marines manning a checkpoint on a highway in the northern state of Tamaulipas were approached by a wounded man who said he had been attacked by gang gunmen at a nearby ranch.

A federal official said that man had identified himself an illegal migrant. The man said he and other migrants had been kidnapped by an armed group and taken to the ranch in San Fernando, a town about 100 miles south of Brownsville, Texas, according to the federal official, who had access to the investigation. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the was not authorized to speak publicly about the case.

The official said police believe the migrants were mostly from Central America.

It was unclear if all 72 were killed at the same time – or why. Another federal official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said investigators believe the victims were killed within recent days.

The newspaper Reforma, citing a police report, reported that that the migrants had refused to pay extortion fees demanded by the armed group. The federal officials could not immediately confirm that.

Investigators had not determined who was behind the massacre. But one of the federal officials noted that the area is controlled by the Zetas drug cartel, which has diversified into trafficking of migrants trying to reach the United States.

Drug gangs often demand payment from migrants trying to cross the border and sometimes kidnap them, holding them hostage while demanding money from relatives in the United States or their home countries.

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The Mail Foreign Service has more on this story

Don’t feel too bad for these lying thieving dead illegal aliens. Their lying thieving illegal alien family members in the U.S. will end up with a financial jackpot ( and U.S. citizenship) courtesy U.S. tax payer.

By Simon McGee

Business chiefs have issued advice to companies and public bodies on how to escape heavy penalties for failing to display European Union flags after British organisations were fined an astonishing £150  million for not giving the EU enough publicity.

Companies receiving European grants must display its logo on their buildings, posters and websites or face being forced to pay back some of the funding. Now Yorkshire Forward, a regional development agency, has produced an 18-page booklet that advises organisations how to escape the punitive penalties.

The pamphlet details ‘approved’ versions of the EU flag, instructions on its colour and dimensions, and the precise wording that must accompany the logo. The rules also require building and infrastructure projects to display billboards and plaques praising the EU for providing funds.

Each poster or plaque must set aside ‘25 per cent of the total area’ for EU propaganda. They must also include the words: ‘Investing in your future.’ The Yorkshire Forward booklet also reveals the organisations to have fallen foul of the petty regulations.

Among the projects hit was a £3.5  million refurbishment of Whitley Bay Playhouse in North Tyneside. Some £60,000 of the EU’s £626,500 contribution had to be repaid because of ‘a number of failings’. Not meeting rules on publicity cost the scheme £16,450 of the total.

The YMCA in Peterborough had to repay £1,325 of a grant to help promote parenting skills, volunteering and sports among young people, again because it fell foul of the strict rules on publicity.

Organisers had not displayed the EU flag at YMCA premises or used it in publicity material.

Last month, it emerged that Brussels bureaucrats had ordered the British Government to collect an astonishing £150  million from organisations and companies because of failures to prominently display the EU flag on premises that were receiving funding.

Critics are particularly appalled as Britain is a £6.4  billion net contributor to the EU budget. Last night, Local Government Minister Bob Neill said: ‘It is unfair that local firms, community groups and councils are being punished by EU officials for the most minor breaches of complicated and over-bureaucratic EU rules.

This is a sledgehammer to crack a nut. ‘Disadvantaged and needy groups should not lose out because of failing to follow excessive EU propaganda demands to the letter.

‘The end result is British taxpayers’ money being wasted on bloated design guidelines, form-filling and millions of pounds of red tape.’

A number of other British regional development agencies, which help Whitehall to distribute EU grants, have issued their own guide books to prevent further disqualifications of grants.

Six pages of the Yorkshire guide are devoted to showing how the EU’s circle of stars flag should appear on letterheads, Press releases and publicity. The guidelines for commemorative plaques state they ’should be placed where they can be seen by the public and should not be hidden away in obscure locations’.

It adds: ‘Reception areas are ideal, as areas by entrances. Plaques should be sized so that they are easily readable.’

And in a stark warning to any recipients of EU funding, it states: ‘Project managers are reminded that failure to implement the publicity regulations or implementing them incorrectly could lead to expenditure being declared ineligible, leading to loss of grant on which the project is depending.’

The European Commission was unavailable for comment last night.

The African illegal aliens had set up a camp in La Courneuve and refused to dismantle when ordered to do so. Check out how these ingrate parasitic illegal alien breeders use their babies by tying them on to their backs and laying down on them to try to stop the police.

By Laura Bruno– USA TODAY

TRENTON, N.J. — Drivers in New Jersey who don’t speak English must be informed of the consequences of refusing to take an alcohol breath test in a language they understand, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday.

No other states require translations of the statement, though some, including New York and Washington, provide access to translators, and others, including New Jersey, have made some translations available by computer or in print, says Jeffrey Mandel, who filed a brief in support of the Marquez case for the state’s Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

“I think other states are going to follow New Jersey’s lead,” Mandel says. “It should not logistically be an issue for police departments — every department has access to computers, with laptops in cars or at stations.” The ruling does not require translators be available on short notice or allow for a “too drunk to understand” defense.

State Attorney General Paula Dow’s office maintained state law did not require the statement to be understood, just that it be read. Spokesman Peter Aseltine says the decision gives immunity to any drunken driver who speaks a language that the officer is unable to identify or translate.

“There are over 150 different languages spoken in New Jersey,” Aseltine says.

Since April, New Jersey has provided police with a website with the statement in audio and written form in 10 languages widely spoken in the state. State police have used the website at headquarters before administering the breath test, said a spokesman, Detective Brian Polite, but there are no statistics available as to how often.

Parsippany, N.J., Police Chief Michael Peckerman says that typically, all drivers charged with driving while impaired are read the statement at the station prior to police trying to administer the breath test. He could not say whether the foreign-language website had been used yet in Parsippany. He says he expects the case will result in more litigation as defense attorneys try to push the limits of the new ruling.

Martin Perez, president of the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey, called the ruling “a step forward” to dealing effectively with the states’ population. More than 1.5 million immigrants live in New Jersey, and a quarter speak a language other than English at home, according to U.S. Census statistics

“If you can use the language a person speaks, it benefits not only that individual person, but the police work as well,” he said.

And they usually travel from Latin American countries into the USofA illegally, wherein, law abiding tax paying citizens are forced to redistribute their wealth to these parasitic ever-breeding Latino peoples.

Denver Post

Former President Bill Clinton said it first, and seven former heads of state echoed the sentiment at a Biennial of the Americas roundtable Monday: The hard issues of poverty, health care, education, social inequity and climate change must be resolved before democracy truly takes root in the Western Hemisphere.

“In order to ensure sustainability, we need to divert social policies to specific populations,” said former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo — those populations being women, the impoverished and indigenous people.

Clinton recorded a video address for the roundtable, held at Denver’s Ellie Caulkins Opera House as part of the month-long Biennial. The meeting was streamed live online.

Clinton said 

inadequate sanitation, lack of clean water for 140 million people and the spread of disease in the hemisphere all contribute to a diminished quality of life. “Borders don’t count for much anymore,” he said. “And bad things can travel fast.”

The seven former presidents of Peru, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador (two were represented), Guatemala, Panama and Argentina all are part of an initiative of the Global Center for Development and Democracy to strengthen democracy in Latin America.

Toledo founded the center in 2006. The next year, he called former Latin American heads of state and two former European presidents to help experts and academics draft the “Social Agenda for Democracy in Latin America for the Next 20 Years.”

The plan outlines 16 policy areas as a framework “to reduce the region’s destructive inequality and to make its political institutions more inclusive.”

Now Toledo and his Global Center colleagues are trying to garner support.

“We decided to work on the Social Agenda because we don’t share the (wealth) and aren’t giving people the same opportunities,” said former president of Guatemala Vinicio Cerezo. “The form of democracy we have will fail, and that’s why we are working here.”

The roundtable participants’ comments reflected a desire to ease poverty and improve social dynamics in their own region before seeking help globally.

“If we resolve social problems in our own countries,” Cerezo said, “then less immigrants will come (to the United States).”

Former Argentinian President Fernando de la Rúa expressed concern that Arizona’s immigration law will cause discrimination.

Hipolito Mejía, the former president of the Dominican Republic, said he was inspired by Clinton’s comments about how many problems aren’t confined by borders.

The Dominican Republic “shares an island with Haiti,” he said as he talked about Haiti’s problems being the region’s as well.

Monday marked six months since a devastating earthquake struck Haiti, throwing the most impoverished nation in the Western Hemisphere deeper into social and economic crisis.

Clinton, who is co-chairman of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission with Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, said Haiti also stands as a potential “model of what we can do.”

But in order to modernize and improve the country, it will take the efforts of the entire region, he said.

Jim Polsfut, president of the Americas Roundtable, moderated the event before an audience that almost filled the 2,200-seat opera house.

He said he was especially moved by Mejía’s suggestion that the “three necessary elements for people to thrive are education, education and education.”

Toledo and other members of the Social Agenda task force will meet with Clinton in November to discuss recruiting former U.S. presidents to join their work. He also plans, at some point, to present the agenda to President Barack Obama, the prime minister of Canada and leaders of the European Union.

“The Bill Gateses of the world have not yet invented anything that replaces the chemistry of looking eye to eye, shaking hands and working together,” Toledo said.

The forum Monday includes former presidents from Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Brazil. Their discussion at Denver’s Ellie Caulkins Opera House is part of the city’s monthlong “Biennial of the Americas,” an arts and culture festival.

Some of the issues up for discussion by the former presidents include ideas on how to promote democracy and reduce poverty.

By Jack Dolan– Los Angeles Times

Nearly 200 ATMs in casinos and strip clubs have been removed from the network that allows access to California welfare benefits, and the ban may be extended to bingo halls, racetracks, gun stores and massage parlors, state officials said Friday.

The announcement follows Times reports that millions of dollars have been withdrawn from welfare accounts at gambling establishments and adult clubs with debit cards issued to people on state aid.

The cash, meant to help the needy feed and clothe their families, was dispensed at casinos and poker rooms at a rate of more than $227,000 per month between October and May, state officials have acknowledged.

In his introduction to an 18-page reform plan released Friday, California Department of Social Services Director John A. Wagner said it is his responsibility to “ensure that benefits are used for the purposes for which they are intended.”

The plan, which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week ordered Wagner to produce, includes beefing up the department’s computer systems to detect waste and fraud and updating the document that welfare recipients sign before they get benefits.

“The form currently does not provide guidance regarding the use of the cash aid,” Wagner wrote.

Schwarzenegger will review the department’s suggestions for other businesses to remove from the list. “We’re going through the suggestions to see which ones make sense,” spokesman Aaron McLear said Friday.

Since 2007, nearly $4.8 million has been withdrawn from welfare accounts at gambling establishments, state officials said last week. The amount is small compared with the billions California spends on welfare each year, but it has taken on symbolic significance as state leaders struggle to close a $19.1-billion budget deficit.

Schwarzenegger proposed eliminating CalWorks, which includes the cash portion of welfare benefits, in May.

The addresses of casinos, strip clubs and many other businesses that Wagner acknowledged are inconsistent with the goals of the welfare program appear on the state website showing beneficiaries where they can withdraw cash. Bars and bail bond businesses will also fall under the state’s review, Wagner said.

Medical marijuana dispensaries also appear on the website but were not mentioned in the reform plan.

It is not clear how much was withdrawn at most of the establishments because the Schwarzenegger administration denied a January request from The Times for a copy of the state data file showing withdrawals from all ATMs in the network. Officials said federal law prohibited them from releasing sales data for “food retailers.”

By Jay Ambrose–Washington Examiner

Oliver Stone, a politically dim bulb wishing to shine bright with his new idolizing documentary on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, says he has just one complaint about the guy. He’s on TV too much. Ought to cut it out. Not good.

And so finally, after years of unrelieved, deep immersion in loony, leftist ideology, the Hollywood director has a solitary insight. Sadly, he understates it.

According to a press report, Stone said Chavez is “overpowering” with his many hours of almost daily rambles in which he mixes lectures, news and occasional songs.

Others of us might say this verbal strutting is exhibitionist, megalomania in keeping with Chavez’s bizarre imitation of a responsible leader. If it were not likely he would just make things worse, you might advise him to tend instead to an economy rendered one of the world’s worst by an 11-year set of policies Stone refers to as a wonderfully laudable “social transformation.”

Jackson Diehl, a Washington Post editorialist, ably sums up the transformational actuality. The Venezuelan inflation rate of 30 percent is three times higher than anyplace else in Latin America and worse than other economies mistakenly believed as bad as it is possible to be. While Mexico, Argentina and Brazil are growing at 8 percent a year, the gross national product of Venezuela was down in the first quarter by almost 6 percent. Notes Diehl, Greece can’t compete with that collapse.

All this manifests itself in cruel ways, observers report — four-hour-a-day electricity blackouts, ever fewer jobs, woeful wages, rampaging crime and, hey, you are looking for basic foods? Don’t look here, skinny ones.

While drought is a factor, the main reasons given for the debacle are willy-nilly confiscation of private property, arresting business operators for such horrors as raising prices when insolvency was the alternative, scaring foreign investors away by nationalizing their operations, inflation of the currency, sink-the-nation debt, ignoring infrastructure for transient goals and various other progressive policies.

But the poor are being treated more equitably under this socialist Robin Hood, right? Not according to a former economist with the Venezuelan government. In parts of an essay available on the Internet, he said Chavez had done next to nothing in his first eight years to increase that portion of the national budget devoted to programs for the poor, and that meanwhile life had grown harsher for them – a higher percentage of underweight babies and homes with mud floors, for example.

You as a Venezuelan don’t like what’s going on? Shut up, Chavez advises you through a law that will send you to jail for two and a half years if you criticize him.

Unfair? Hey, if you’re a reporter who is “inaccurate,” the sentence is five years.

He has come to control much of the media and has chased political opponents out of the country, had them locked up and has looked the other way when some have disappeared. Don’t worry about the Supreme Court saying stop that stuff. He has already stopped the court. He has taken control of it. It’s his baby.

Human rights violations don’t end there — our own State Department reports unlawful killings by security forces- but here is what you get from Stone and some other Hollywood buddies: Hugo is just as nifty as nifty gets.

Does this flapdoodle matter? Yes, because these clowns lend this tyrant credibility when there are elections coming up this year for the legislature and then the presidency and because a defeated Chavez just might be that much more inclined to resort to military power if emboldened by heil-Hitler reverence. Even stupid ideas can have consequences.