UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council and Secretary-General Kofi Annan will both face sharp criticism for allowing corruption and waste to overwhelm the Iraq oil-for-food program, according to a probe of the $64 billion operation. The Independent Inquiry Committee's definitive report, to be released Wednesday, will fault U.N. management for allowing Saddam Hussein to manipulate the program. The committee, led by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, calls for widespr...

Since the liberals here love polls it doesn't look good for your pathetic "blame Bush" tactics. CNN) -- A majority of Americans believe the city of New Orleans will never completely recover from the effects of Hurricane Katrina and the resulting flooding, according to results of a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Tuesday. Fifty-six percent of 609 adults polled by telephone September 5-6 said they believe the hurricane devastated the city beyond repair. And 93 percent of poll respond...

IT’S OFFICIAL: THE AMERICAN LEFT NOW BELIEVES GEORGE W. BUSH IS GOD. Bellowing leftists such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cindy Sheehan have blamed Hurricane Katrina – something insurance companies classify as an act of God – on President Bush’s "killing policies" (and, in RFK Jr.’s case, those of Mississippi’s Republican governor, Haley Barbour). Former Clinton aide Sidney Blumenthal also penned an article in The Guardian chalking up the flood to the Bush administration’s having cut one it...

Once again instead of concern for their fellow citizens, liberals are trying to exploit a tragedy for political purposes. There are some liberals (and Democrats) who made the rather bizarre claim that funding the Iraq war – in conjunction with Bush’s tax cuts - caused funding for flood control projects in New Orleans to be cut thereby causing the flood. Yet, ironically, they may have hoisted themselves by their own petard. While investigating the validity of these claims, evidence has be...

Christian kids get suspended for reading the Bible at lunch, but these islamists get empty classrooms to use? Where is the ACLU about this? Yasmeen Elsamra had a simple request: While her classmates were eating lunch, she wanted to go off by herself for a few moments to pray. The 14-year-old was told she couldn't, and went home distraught that afternoon in October 2003. Praying five times a day is a cornerstone of her Muslim faith. "If I wasn't allowed to pray my second prayer at s...

What a plan..... DEMOCRATIC House members unveiled their version of the Contract with America yesterday - a plan for governance should their party win control of the House of Representatives in November. The agenda items of their "New Direction for America" include stem-cell research, promoting energy-efficient technology, raising the minimum wage, making college tuition tax deductible, preventing the privatization of Social Security and restoring budget discipline (which is code for ...

I believe this is the kind of economy the democrats want. What do you think? During the period from 1980 to 2000, only two OECD countries, Germany and Greece, recorded slower growth in income per capita than France. But Germany had to go endure the huge costs and trauma of reunification with East Germany. Greece was hurt by the wars in the Balkans. What's France's excuse? Second, whatever growth there is in France does not trickle down to the poor. Many young second-generation immigr...

Does anybody know what it is though? I can take one guess "raise taxes". "Today's report confirms that the Bush economy continues to go in the wrong direction for millions of American families, who are living paycheck to paycheck and struggling to make ends meet. Gas prices have doubled, oil company profits have tripled, while real income has stalled. Middle-class Americans are feeling squeezed, while the Republicans' Big Oil cronies are rewarded with tax breaks and subsidies that are...

So much for the starving teenagers. CHICAGO - Older American teenagers living in poverty have grown fatter at a higher rate than their peers, according to research that seems to underscore the unequal burden of obesity on the nation's poor. "Today the percentage of adolescents age 15-17 who are overweight is about 50 percent higher in poor as compared to non-poor families, a difference that has emerged recently," said Johns Hopkins' sociologist Richard Miech, the study's lead author. ...

ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 22 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Governor Jon Corzine's massive tax hike will do little to alleviate New Jersey's budget woes and attract new residents, according to a new study from the non-partisan National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF). After reviewing years of data, NTUF found that despite over $3 billion in tax increases since Fiscal Year (FY) 2002, New Jersey is still sliding further into debt. http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20060522/pl_usnw/update__more_taxes_won_t_...

She's not too popular with the leftist loons now. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) drew boos and hisses from an audience of liberal activists yesterday as she defended her opposition to a timetable for withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq, and later she received an implicit rebuke from Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) for failing to acknowledge that her support for the war was a mistake. Clinton's and Kerry's appearances at the Take Back America conference at the Washington Hilton put on...

Another loss for the left. WASHINGTON - Top White House aide Karl Rove has been told by prosecutors he won't be charged with any crimes in the investigation into leak of a CIA officer's identity, his lawyer said Tuesday. Attorney Robert Luskin said that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald informed him of the decision on Monday, ending months of speculation about the fate of one of President Bush's closest advisers. Rove testified five times before a grand jury. http://news...

What nutjobs. ORLANDO, Fla. - As Tropical Storm Alberto threatened to strengthen into the ninth hurricane in 22 months to affect Florida, former President Clinton predicted Monday that Republican environmental policies will lead to more severe storms. "It is now generally recognized that while Al Gore and I were ridiculed, we were right about global warming," Clinton said at a fundraiser for the Florida Democratic Party. "It's a serious problem. It's going to lead to more hurric...

A perfect example of how to take down business. New York legislators, not satisfied with having the second highest tax burden in the nation, are pondering what some call "the biggest tax increase in the history" of the state, in order to force businesses to provide employee health care. The Syracuse Post-Standard reports that legislators are considering the potential $ 8.4 billion tax increase as part of the "Fair Share for Health Care" bill: The bill would levy an additional t...