UN Does Human Trafficking Too! And Putin Is Not Pleased.

Two (Russian) United Nations employees were busted for visa fraud. They were essentially writing letters of special permission for certain people to enter the country to ostensibly attend a special meeting or some diplomatic business at the UN. Neither happened, the people just came over.

Noteworthy in this news article is the fact that the MSM here in the US is mute on it. A google search right now shows a Reuters, VOA, and foreign media outlets. No NYT or LAT, no WaPo, no CBS, NBS, or ABS. Definitely does not fit the template.

The Reuters article is the most complete. Two are from Russia. And you ought to see how Pravda reports this. This is the Putin media talking with a Michael Moore twist. That’s President Vladimir Putin, the guy who put democracy in Russia into reverse.

update: The link to the Pravda story is gone. The story isn’t on the server, if the error msg is to be believed. Lesson here is, when it comes to Putin’s press, better capture it because the link won’t be there when you return.

What you missed is the whole tone of the article is different. As though it is a different story altogether. In Putin’s version, it is just trumped up charges on Russian citizens in order to further the anti-UN fervor in the US as an excuse to get out of the UN. And it goes on from there, tinfoil hat and all.

Putin characterizes the US negatively in such a way that he’s not speaking of an ally of Russia. He seems to use this topic as a means to launch on to other attacks. Like James Carville with hair. There is no anti-US reporting in the other Russian media accounts of this story. Well, not yet anyway. The other Russian media’s versions of this story are nothing of the sort of the Pravda version. They are all using a shorter version of the Reuters story.

From here it looks like Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to create some anti-US sentiment in his country. Why would this be? It is what he would need to justify (to the Russian people) his recent arms escalation and unwillingness to participate in a cooperative missile defense arrangement in that part of the world. That is presuming he gives a wit about the Russian people. Seems to me Putin has his sights on eliminating most, if not all, of the freedoms the Russian people are supposed to be able to enjoy. A ‘free’ media in Russia is on the endangered species list.

UPDATE: 8/8/07, the link is back but Putin and references to Putin are gone. His picture is gone. All of that was on the original story. For starters, here is the headline and sub-head.

USA arrests Russian UN officials to slander the organization

American authorities have been looking for a reason to get rid of the UN and obtain the absolute freedom

Congresswoman Bolts From Hearing, Of Progress

Qualifying for the most ridiculous item of the day try this. Rep. Nancy Boyda (D-KS) ran out of an Armed Services Committee hearing when retired Gen. Jack Keane described positive developments in Iraq. The purpose of the hearing was to inform Congress on the situation in Iraq. She then accused the General for further dividing the country by his assessment of progress with the war in Iraq. What’s wrong with this picture?

It’s what happens when your party is invested in defeat. I hope the good people of Kansas will make a different choice when Boyda’s term expires.

RealClearPolitics: Michael Barone

Not Much Diversity In The ‘Center’

The group claims to be the political center of the Democrat party. But people attending the Yearly Kos convention, a gathering of the wacko left blogosphere, noticed an elephant in the room. It’s pretty white.

“It’s mostly white. More male than female,” says the former high school math and science teacher turned activist. “It’s not very diverse.”

“I was completely surprised — shocked even. The political blogosphere isn’t as white as the people in this convention.”

“I hate using the word ‘diversity.’ I don’t know what we use there. But what we definitely need are voices from different communities,” she says. And the problem, she adds, stretches beyond ethnic and gender inclusion. There’s a socioeconomic gap, too.

Washington Post link

Republicans Hate Immigrants Says goLeftTV

On the forefront of what they call progressive news, goLeft.tv1 host Farron Cousins discusses the passage of Homeland Security-related bills that pertained to the 9/11 Commission’s report. Adding that Republicans hate immigrants. Being a life-long republican, that’s news to me.

“Since Republicans seem to hate immigrants for some reason” is his explanation for the addition of $3 billion to provide for adequate border security. Because Republicans want “to keep new people from coming into the country to experience the American dream.”

“Progressives”2 can not distinguish between legal aliens and illegal aliens. Or they won’t. And that’s dangerous. It also gives them the so-called moral authority to say that Republicans hate immigrants. In their world, there are no borders so there are no illegal aliens. And that’s dangerous.

Then there’s the propensity to demagogue all issues to a political advantage and say outrageous stuff like republicans hate immigrants. But that’s not unusual for the rants of Mike Papantonio and other progressives.

1 goLeft.tv is a production of Air America radio host and BIG LAW trial attorney Mike Papantonio of Levin-Papantonio, Pensacola, FL.

2 a new label to replace “liberal”

Every Vote Doesn’t Count For Democrats

And especially so when you’re fighting for illegal aliens from Mexico like Democrats were Thursday night. Witness the actual stealing of votes in the House of Representatives.

You know, all the Florida recounts that included even the kind of recounts both Gore and the Florida Supreme Court wanted, showed that Bush won. Seven years later, you can see that facts never seem to matter when politics is involved. And Thursday night was a prime example.

Republicans argued afterward that they had secured a 215-213 win on their motion to bar undocumented immigrants from receiving any federal funds apportioned in the agricultural spending bill for employment or rental assistance. Democrats, however, argued the measure was deadlocked at 214-214 and failed, members and aides on both sides of the aisle said afterward.

This is what stealing a vote looks like. When they saw they had lost the motion, the Speaker gaveled the vote closed on a procedural measure and declared the vote to be tied, which leaves the bill as is. A video on this and a press release from my Congressman Jeff Miller (R-FL) follow. Continue reading Every Vote Doesn’t Count For Democrats