OK, take a deep breath, 'cause this one's gonna be a shocker (well, not really).

Apparently, U.N. peacekeepers and international aid workers have been requiring rather repugnant quid-pro-quos for food. Or so says Save the Children U.K.:

LONDON — Save the Children UK says in a report released Tuesday that it has uncovered evidence of widespread sexual abuse of children at the hands of peacekeepers and international aid workers in war zones and disaster areas.

The report said more than half the children interviewed knew of cases of coerced sex and improper sexual touching and that in many instances children knew of 10 or more such incidents carried out by aid workers or peacekeepers.

In some cases, children as young as 6 years old were abused, the report said.

But wait - it gets worse:

The report details many types of abuse allegedly committed by peacekeepers and aid workers, including trading food for sex, coerced sex, improper touching and kissing, forced prostitution and using children for pornographic purposes.

It's worth noting that the U.N. is "deeply disturbed" by the reports. I wonder if that's a Burma cyclone kind of deeply disturbed, or a genocide in Darfur kind of deeply disturbed, or what. They seem to be deeply disturbed a lot over there.

Then again, I'd say the U.N. is always deeply disturbed - in a highly-corrupt-and-not-dealing-with-reality sort of way.

Hopefully, the no-doubt-forthcoming sternly worded letter will clear up any confusion.

Labels: United Nations

Barack Obama is apparently ready to tell us his secret.

He sees dead people:

"On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes -- and I see many of them in the audience here today -- our sense of patriotism is particularly strong."

{CHORTLE}

Sorry. Couldn't help it.

It's worth noting that his gaffe is conveniently absent from the speech posted on his website. Those are just the prepared remarks, and who prepares to sound like an idiot?

Want to watch the clip? Here you go:



There is much liberal excuse-making for the gaffe, including the ever-popular 'he's just tired,' and a little tossing around of possible 'videoshopping.'

Wonder if a Republican would get the same latitude?

Doubt it.

On the good side, though, B-HO's vision of dead Heroes in the audience doesn't make him nearly as big a dumb@$$ as Jimmy Carter.

So he's got that going for him.

Predictably, though, the media's only focus this morning is Hillary's 'assassination' comment. Tasteless, maybe. But if the MSM hadn't dumped her for he-whose-middle-name-shall-not-be-mentioned, something tells me you wouldn't have heard about the remark at all.

Well, at least while this country is politically swirling around the bowl, we've got plenty to laugh at.

UPDATE:
Obama's got some issues with history, too - he recently told a story of his uncle liberating Auschwitz with U.S. forces. Problem is that the Soviets liberated Auschwitz.

I could allow for the fact that he just misstated the camp name...if he hadn't told the same story some time ago. Only this time, it was that the relative (who he alternately names as his uncle or his grandfather) heard the tales from the troops who had liberated Treblinka and Auschwitz, not that he'd been there.

And if you check out the link above in this update, you'll find out that Barack's mother was an only child. Apparently, his great-uncle was in the service, so maybe that's it. But that still doesn't fix the grandfather reference. And if his great-uncle and his grandfather are the same person, well, I just don't even want to go there.

Of course, there's also the possibility that he's just outright lying, and that next week, his great uncle will have - a la Dr.Evil's father - invented the question mark.

Somebody ought to get me some sort of flow chart to follow this one.


UPDATE #2: Obama has now apologized for his error. Seems the deal is that it's the great-uncle and Buchenwald.

Anyone for the great-grandfather's uncle and Buchenwitz?

Labels: B-HO, Barack Obama, humor, Jimmy Carter, Moonbats, politics

WREATH LAYING - President George W. Bush, left, and Army Maj. Gen. Richard J. Rowe Jr., Military District of Washington commander, take part in a Memorial Day commemoration wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery, Va., May 26, 2008. Defense Dept. photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley



Story - More Photos

Labels: Arlington National Cemetery, Army Major General Richard J. Rowe Jr., Memorial Day, photos, President George W. Bush, Tomb of the Unknowns

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Operation Enduring Freedom
Homeland Security Secretary Welcomes New Citizens During Ceremony

Homeland Security / War on Terror / Hamas-Hezbollah Happenings
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FAA Probe After Pilot Claims 'Rocket' Shot Past Plane
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Other Military News
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'Today's Air Force' Features Disaster Relief

Worldwide Wackos
U.N. Watchdog: Iran Nukes a 'Serious Concern' (Gee, ya think?)
IAEA: Iran may be withholding info in nuke probe (Again I say - Gee, ya think?)
Obama says won't guarantee Ahmadinejad a meeting - Video
China urges progress in North Korea nuclear talks

Homegrown Moonbats
Did Carter Out Israel's Nuke Weapons Arsenal? - VIDEO (What a collossal @$$)

Politics / Government
Is Oprah Suffering From Obama Backlash?
ELECTION HQ: McCain Scolds Obama for Not Visiting Iraq
McCain says he and Obama should visit Iraq together (Oh, now THAT would be a fun trip, eh?) Clintons campaign in Puerto Rico; Obama in NM
Era of the Big Clintons May Soon Be Over - VIDEO
Senate to debate emissions cuts
McCain edges away from Bush on policy
Obama on the attack
Do Republicans want Bush's help?
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Candidates ponder Iraq strategy
Full Coverage: 2008 Election
Obama says he will fight McCain for western states
Can Barack Obama Win Over The Jewish Vote?
Court rejects appeal by ex-Illinois Gov. Ryan
WTO members tussle over industry proposals

In the Courts / Crime and Punishment / Law and Order
2 Handguns Found Near Decomposed Bodies of 5 Family Members Discovered in California Mansion
Supreme court: anti-bias laws cover reprisal claims

Adventures in Political Correctness
Too 'Sexy?' You May Be Sued for Using the Adjective

Media in the Media / Bloggers in the News / Watching the Web
YouTube suit called threat to online communication

Science / Medicine and Health / Technology
Woman Gives Birth to 2 Sets of Twins in Maryland
Mars Lander Set to Stretch Robotic Arm - VIDEO - PHOTOS
Orbiter captures Phoenix probe's descent to Mars - Video
Vodafone rings the changes with Sarin departure
TSMC may raise prices for high-end chips
Microsoft sees Windows Mobile unit sales up 50 pct
Israel's Altair to supply chips to Japan

Mother Nature
Midwest Blown Away by Twisters - VIDEO - PHOTOS
Statement on Federal Disaster Assistance for Iowa
Boy, 11, Mangled by Eagle in Unexplained Attack in Michigan Woods
12-Year-Old Girl Stung by Scorpion at Wal-Mart
Mexico Hunts Killer Sharks After Rare Series of Attacks
80,000 Flee Over China Post-Quake Flood Risk - PHOTOS
Aftershocks topple 420,000 houses in China
China works around the clock to drain quake lake - Video
China set to ban ultra-thin plastic bags
Factbox: Bag bans around the world
Greenpeace protests against Spanish tuna ship
Senate set to debate emissions cuts
EU parliament panel against Baltic gas link
Seven EU states seek overhaul of CO2 rules
Heavy pollution warning issued in Beijing
Remote controlled planes to explore hurricanes

News from My Neck of the Woods
String of Shootings in New York City Leave 8 Wounded
Gun dealer takes on New York City in court

Oddities
Louisiana Barber Ticketed for Working on Sunday, Monday
Victoria's Secret 'So Sexy' Hair Fight Spills Into Court
Pilots Run Out of Fuel, Pray, Land Safe Near Jesus Sign
Tokyo Customs Agent Forgets $10,000 Worth of Marijuana in Random Passenger's Suitcase
French Skydiver's Balloon Takes Off Without Him - PHOTO ESSAY: Sacre Bleu, Mon Ballon!
Boy, they REALLY make tourists feel welcome here!
Heartbroken man climbs into morgue freezer
Church calls zombie parade blasphemous
Harkleroad fulfils naked ambition with Playboy shoot
"Flintstones" arrested in car emissions protest
Video: Chasing cheese down a hill
Duo tries to break world handshaking record

Fox News
FOXBusiness: Home Sales Post Unexpected Rise
Pop Tarts: Sexist Society? Carrie Underwood Explains Why She Wants to Be Single

Reuters
Home prices fall at record pace
Factbox: Home price drop by city
Sales of new homes rise in April
Consumer confidence at 16-year low
Small business sentiment still shaky
Sydney Pollack dies in Los Angeles - Video
Slideshow: Faces of Sydney Pollack
Factbox: Oscar-winning filmmaker
Mbeki's rule in limbo as townships burn
Video: SAfrica rounds up attackers
Violence said under control
Consumer confidence hits 16-year low in May
S&P, Dow lose gains as energy stocks fall
Single-family home prices tumble
Myanmar junta extends Suu Kyi house arrest - Video
Food prices seen causing pain in war zones
No spark with fuel costs
Factbox: Asian nations raise fuel prices
Sinking teeth deeper into Asia
Yen to carry on
InBev/Anheuser talks seen soon, SABMiller soars
Vodafone rings the changes with Sarin departure
Current interest rates appropriate: Fed's Yellen
Burger King announces board changes
Bernstein cuts Lehman, Goldman, M.Stanley earnings view
Verizon to offer new Starz online video service
Suez, GdF boards to meet on merger June 4: report
Apollo, Blackstone in talks for Chemtura: source
LG Elec watching GE appliance unit sale plans: CEO
"Indiana Jones" hits $311 million worldwide - Video
Rediscovered Goya sketches set for London auction
"Sex and the City" film poses "big" question
Grammer to play bad dad in ABC family comedy
Video: French film takes top Cannes prize
Chicago best city for traders: survey
Saving Singapore's cuisine one laksa at a time
Rediscovered Goya sketches set for London auction
Australia's Chef Bloom says patience makes good food
Salmon Fishing author's new book explores obsession
Video: Sherpa on top of the world ..again
Pistons shut down Celtics to even series
Red Sox see off Mariners to snap losing streak
Wings clip Penguins to take 2-0 Stanley Cup lead
Timely Kuznetsova throws down gauntlet
Red Wings goalie Osgood enjoys starring role against Pens

Associated Press
Home sales post unexpected April increase
Japan urges limiting kids' cell phones
Martin Sheen opens up about son Charlie's drug use
Kuznetsova, Safina advance at French Open
Borders returns to Web retailing after 7 years
Hair patrol: La. barber ticketed for Monday work
S&P: US home prices tumble a record 14.1 pct in 1Q
Osgood blanks Pens again; Red Wings halfway to Cup
Stocks mixed after home sales, consumer data
Major changes urged in transracial adoption
Can women alone make 'Sex and the City' a hit?
Osgood and Red Wings 2 wins away from Stanley Cup
Cannes 2008: Lots of stars, and some movies, too
McDyess scores 21; Pistons beat Celtics, tie series
Willie Randolph remains Mets manager after meeting

News Blaze
Memorial Day Photos: Soldiers Honor Fallen Comrades during Memorial Day
My Son Died for You
Soldiers' Angels and Patriot Guard
Iraq News
Operations in Iraq
FOB Warhorse Memorial Photos
Videos

CENTCOM
Bush: Commanders in Iraq will get what they need
Iraqi government improving Wasit
Iraqi Army leads patrol
Petraeus appears before Armed Services Committee
Odierno speaks to Senate at confirmation hearing
New Sons of Iraq stand up for their communities
Leders select Rashid reconstruction projects
Coalition troops provide aid in Zuwarijat

USJFCOM
Task Force Ramadi helps free enterprise take hold in Iraq
Command unveils new command and control vision - podcast
Command looks at future capabilities with DoD leadership - podcast
Joint Forces Reserve Officer Orientation Course begins

Multi-National Force - Iraq
ISF learn combat camera skills, document missions
Iraqi Special Operations Forces detain Special Groups leader (Baghdad)
Coalition forces capture suspected Special Groups criminal
Alleged car bombing facilitator, 20 other suspected terrorists detained
Sons of Iraq tips MND-B Soldiers to weapons cache (Baghdad)
Regimental Support Squadron earns distinguished honors

DefenseLink
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President, Defense Leaders Commemorate Memorial Day
Mullen Recalls Sacrifices, Praises Troops
Military Women Honor Fallen Comrades
Rolling Thunder Rumbles Into Capital - Photos
‘Flags In’ Tribute Begins Commemoration
Commentary: Iraq Veteran Reflects
Comrades, Loved Ones Contemplate Sacrifice
Progress Shown at Pentagon Memorial

IRAQ NEWS
No Time for Al-Qaida to Regroup as Coalition, Iraq Forces Up Pressure
Iraqi Forces Learn Combat Camera Skills
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MILITARY NEWS
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AFGHANISTAN NEWS
Troops Kill, Capture Militants, Destroy Weapons

FACE OF DEFENSE
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AMERICA SUPPORTS YOU
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Germany
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Darmstadt Frankfurt Frankfurt/Main Freiburg/Breisgau Garmisch
Garmisch-Partenkirchen Geilenkirchen Gelnhausen Giessen Kitzingen
Hanau Am Main Heidelberg Mainz Mannheim Nurnberg Stuttgart Trier
Wiesbaden Wurzburg

Gitmo

Guam
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Iraq
Al Azamiyah Al Basrah Al Hillah Al Karkh Al Kazimiyah Al Kut
An Nasiriyah Baghdad Baqubah Mosul Najaf Nineveh Tall Kayf

Japan
Kadena Air Base Okinawa Tokyo Yokohama

Today in History
1529 - Thirty Hungarian Jews are charged with conducting a blood ritual, and burned at the stake.
1679 - The Habeaus Corpus Act (no false arrest / imprisonment) passes in Great Britain.
1703 - Peter the Great founds St. Petersburg (later renamed Leningrad).
1813 - The U.S. captures Fort George, Canada.
1844 - Samuel F.B. Morse completes the first telegraph line.
1862 - Battle of Hanover Court House, VA (Slash Church, Peake's Station)
1863 - The CSS Chattahoochie explodes on the Chattahoochie River in GA, killing 18; Siege of Port Hudson, LA.
1883 - Czar Alexander III is crowned in Moscow.
1896 - The first major tornado to strike the urban U.S. hits in St. Louis and East St. Louis, killing 255 and leaving thousands homeless.
1905 - The Japanese fleet destroys the Russian East Sea fleet in the Straits of Tushima.
1907 - Bubonic Plague breaks out in San Fransisco.
1918 - Battle of Aisne.
1919 - A U.S. Navy flying boat complets the first transatlantic flight - it takes 11 days; Charles Strite patents the pop-up toaster.
1921 - After 84 years of British control, Afghanistan achieves sovereignty.
1927 - Japan intervenes in the Chinese civil war.
1930 - Richard Drew invents masking tape.
1931 - The first full-scale airplane testing windtunnel opens at Langley Field, VA; the first flight into the stratosphere occurs, in the first balloon with a pressurized cabin.
1933 - The Austrian communist party is banned.
1935 - The Supreme Court declares FDR's National Recovery Act unconstitutional.
1936 - The RMS Queen Mary leaves Southampton on her maiden voyage, to New York.
1937 - The Golden Gate Bridge is dedicated.
1940 - The British and French begin Operation Dynamo; the evacuation of Dunkirk.
1941 - Allied troops begin evacuating Kreta; FDR proclaimes an "unlimited national emergency" due to Germany's sinking of the Robin Moor ; the German battleship Bismarck is sunk by the British naval force.
1942 - Dorie Miller is awarded the Navy Cross for his acts at Pearl Harbor;Hitler orders the murder of 10,000 Czechoslovakians; the Italian army begins the siege of the French western Fort Bir Hachim; Nazi Reinhard Heydrich is shot and mortally wounded in Prague.
1943 - The U.S. forbids racial discrimination in the war industry.
1944 - The Allies land in Biak, Indonesia, in Operation Horlicks; the Japanese advance in Hangkhou, China.
1948 - Arabs blow up a Jewish synagogue - Hurvat Rabbi Yehudah he-Hasid.
1951 - Chinese Communists force the Dalai Lama to surrender his army to Beijing.
1960 - A military coup overthrows Turkey's democratic government.
1963 - Jomo Kenyatta is elected as the first prime minister of Kenya.
1966 - The 55th German F-16 Starfighter crashes; 6 French fighters crash above Spain.
1968 - The nuclear submarine USS Scorpion is lost, five days before its scheduled return to port in Norfolk. The cause is still unknown.
1969 - Construction begins on Walt Disney World.
1977 - 2 Boeing 747s (Pan Am & KLM) collide in the Canary Islands, killing 582.
1980 - South Korean police end a people's uprising; 2,000 people are killed.
1981 - John Hinckley attempts suicide by overdosing on Tylenol.
1985 - Britain agrees to return Hong Kong to China in 1997.
1986 - President Reagan orderes 2 Poseidon-class submarines dismantled.
1988 - The Senate ratifies a treaty eliminating medium-range nuclear missiles.
1994 - Alexander Solzhenitsyn returns to Russia after 20 years in exile.
1997 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin signs a historic treaty with NATO.

Birthdays
1818 - Amelia Jenks Bloomer, suffragette; known for her pantaloons
1819 - Julia Ward Howe, American author/lecturer (Battle Hymn of the Republic)
1823 - Union Major General John Gray Foster Major General
1836 - Confederate Brigadier General Edwin Gray Lee
1837 - Confederate Major Genreal Robert Frederick Hoke
1897 - John Douglas Cockroft, English physicist (Radar), Nobel prize winner
1911 - Hubert Humphrey, Senator-MN, 38th Vice President, 1969 Presidential candidate
1915 - Herman Wouk, novelist (Caine Mutiny, Winds of War)
1918 - Yasuhiro Nakasone, Japanese Prime Minister
1923 - Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State, Nobel Peace Prize Winner
1930 - William S. Sessions, director of the FBI
1944 - Christopher J. Dodd (Senator-CT)
1947 - Peter DeFazio (Representative-OR)

Passings
1647 - Achsah Young, first woman known executed as a witch (Massachusetts)
1790 - Jeremiah Carlton, laziest man in history, inherited a fortune at 19, went to bed and stayed there for the next 70 years
1863 - Union Brigadier General Edward Payson Chapin
1910 - Robert Koch, German bacteriologist (TB, Cholera), Nobel prize winner
1941 - Günther Lütjens, German Admiral (Bismarck)
1951 - Thomas Blamey, soldier

Reported Missing in Action
1965
Lynn, Doyle W., USN (PA); F8D shot down, KIA/BNR

1966
Monahan, Robert W., Civilian; Released by Viet Cong January, 1967

Scales, Thomas R., Civilian; Released by Viet Cong January,1967 - deceased as of 1998

1967
Blackwood, Gordon B., USAF (CA); F105D shot down, remains returned, ID'd November, 1989

1970
Lee, Glen H., USAF (HI); F4D shot down, remains returned, ID'd August, 1994

1971
Knuckey, Thomas W., US Army (NJ); OH58A shot down (w/Taylor), remains ID'd August, 1993

Taylor, Phillip C., US Army (NY); OH58A shot down (w/Knuckey), remains ID'd August, 1993

1972
Latendresse, Thomas B., USN (WA); A4F shot down, released by DRV March, 1973 - retired as a Captain - alive and well in 1998

Labels: Headlines, History