'Lopsided' deal with enemy for Bergdahl in sharp contrast to inaction on Tahmooressi, say critics

The Obama administration’s extraordinary effort to free Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has some wondering why the president can’t make a simple phone call on behalf of a former Marine being held in a Mexican prison after mistakenly driving across the border with registered guns.
Obama announced Saturday in a dramatic Rose Garden news conference that five Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay would be exchanged for Bergdahl, a 28-year-old infantryman held captive for five years by the terrorist group. The swap angered many in the military and on Capitol Hill, because it went against long-standing policy of not bargaining with terrorists.

" ... as far the Administration went for Bergdahl, Andrew Tahmooressi is still stuck in a Mexican jail for making a wrong turn and the only thing grabbing the President’s attention so far is an online petition that forces him to respond."- Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.

“He wasn't forgotten by his country, because the United States of America does not ever leave our men and women in uniform behind,” Obama said.
Although Tahmooressi is not a prisoner of war, he served two tours of duty in Afghanistan, and now suffers post-traumatic stress disorder, according to his mother, Jennifer Tahmooressi. Friends who have visited him in prison say he has been tortured and threatened with rape and death, and they question whether the administration is doing enough to help him.
“This Administration went to unprecedented lengths for Bowe Bergdhal by making a lopsided deal with an untrustworthy partner, even when there other options still on the table that neither involved the Taliban nor prisoners released from Guantanamo Bay,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif. “Meanwhile, as far the Administration went for Bergdahl, Andrew Tahmooressi is still stuck in a Mexican jail for making a wrong turn and the only thing grabbing the president’s attention so far is an online petition that forces him to respond."
Mark Podlaski, who served with Tahmooressi in Afghanistan, told Fox News in a phone interview if President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry "can give up five Taliban leaders for a 'traitor' why can't they make a phone call to Mexico to free a Marine who served honorably?
"I've never been this upset with my government.
"Tahmooressi gave his mind and body two times -- referring to his two tours of duty in Afghanistan -- for this country."
Sam Vranicar, who also served with Tahmooressi in Afghanistan and convinced him to go to California to receive treatment for post traumatic stress disorder, echoed his comrades. 
"It's absurd how we can negotiate with terrorists in Afghanistan to get back a deserter soldier, but we can't negotiate with an ally in Mexico to bring home a loyal and honorable combat veteran," Vranicar said. "All the monies spent on preventing and fighting terrorism, many of the lives lost, have been in vain because of this 'deal' Obama made."
Jennifer Tahmooressi declined to comment on any comparison between her son's plight and that of Bergdahl, saying only that she was sure his family is grateful for his return
Hunter, a former Marine, was echoed by a former colleague in the House who served in the Army.
“To hear Obama state that “no American should be left behind” — has he forgotten about Benghazi and Marine SGT Tahmooressi?” blogged former Congressman and retired Col. Allen West.
On Monday, a Fox News journalist asked State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki  why the administration would strike a precedent-shattering deal with the Taliban, yet can’t win Tahmooressi’s freedom from an ally and neighbor.
“I understand the desire to make comparisons, but we wouldn’t compare them,” Psaki said. “This is – was a Marine (sic) who was taken while in combat, and you’re talking about a situation of an individual who the Mexican authorities are accusing of violating the law.”

Mississippi GOP Senate primary race too close to call, Ernst wins in Iowa

Six-term Mississippi GOP Sen. Thad Cochran and Tea Party-backed state Sen. Chris McDaniel were locked overnight in a too-close-to-call race for Cochran’s Senate seat and appear headed for a runoff later this month. 
McDaniel had nudged ahead of Cochran early Wednesday, with 98 percent of the state's precincts reporting. McDaniel garnered 49.6 percent of the vote to Cochran's 48.8 percent.
One candidate would have needed 50 percent of the vote to win outright and avoid the June 24 runoff. The third GOP candidate, Thomas Carey, had 2 percent of the vote.
Mississippi was just one of six states Tuesday holding Senate primaries, with Iowa’s GOP race considered the other closely-contested contest.
The other Senate primary races were in Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota. 
Republicans need to win a net six Senate seats this year to take control of the upper chamber.
In Mississippi, the Tea Party-backed McDaniel gave supporters an upbeat speech shortly after midnight at his post-election party.
“Because of your hard work, we sit here tonight leading a 42-year incumbent,” he said. “We will stand victorious. … We will win this fight.”
The 76-year-old Cochran is facing the toughest challenge of his political career against McDaniel, who entered the race deadlocked with the veteran lawmaker.
“It’s been a long night and it’s not over,” said a Cochran campaign staffer. “It looks like a runoff.”
The winner will face former Rep. Travis Childers, who Tuesday night won the state Democratic nomination, and Reform Party candidate Shawn O'Hara in the November election.
In Iowa, state Sen. Joni Ernst won the GOP primary. The 43-year-old Ernst won the nomination over five candidates including challenger Mark Jacobs, who led the race early.
Ernst will face Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley in November for the seat of retiring Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin.
All the Republicans seeking the nomination described themselves as deeply conservative, but Ernst managed to stand out in part due to two television ads. One featured her on a farm, talking about her experience castrating hogs, and the other showed her firing a handgun.
Ernst also received endorsements from a variety of groups and individuals, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Rifle Association and Sarah Palin.
The Cochran-McDaniel contest drew top billing, featuring a pillar of the GOP establishment who has helped funnel millions of dollars to his state and a younger state lawmaker who drew backing from Tea Party groups and former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
The campaign took a turn toward the sensational when four men, all McDaniel supporters, were arrested and charged with surreptitiously taking photographs of the senator's 72-year-old wife, who suffers from dementia and has long lived in a nursing home.
Police said they wanted to use the photo to further allegations that Cochran was having an inappropriate friendship with a female staffer who accompanied him on numerous overseas trips.
In Montana, Democrat John Walsh won his party's nomination for Senate, and Steve Daines won the GOP primary.
In New Jersey, former Washington policy analyst Jeff Bell won a tight GOP primary, narrowly defeating computer consultant Richard Puzzollo.
The other two Republicans running in the low-budget primary were concrete contractor Brian Goldberg and business professor Murray Sabrin. Bell will in November face incumbent Democratic Sen. Cory Booker, who is considered a heavy favorite.
In New Mexico, former state GOP chairman Allan Weh won the party primary and will face incumbent Democratic Sen. Tom Udall in the fall.
In South Dakota, former Gov. Mike Rounds won the GOP primary and enters the November race as the favored to win the seat of retiring Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson. He will face Democrat Rick Weiland, who ran unopposed.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Shinseki

White House seeks extra $1.4B to address surge in children crossing southern border

President Obama on Monday described a surge in unaccompanied immigrant children caught trying to cross the Mexican border as an "urgent humanitarian situation," as the White House asked Congress for an extra $1.4 billion in federal money to cope. Obama said the U.S. will temporarily house the children at two military bases.
Obama appointed the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Craig Fugate, to be in charge of the situation.
In its new estimates, the government said as many as 60,000 children, mostly from Central America, could be caught this year trying to cross the Mexican border illegally, costing the U.S. more than $2.28 billion to house, feed and transport the children to shelters or reunite them with relatives already living in the United States. The new estimate is about $1.4 billion more than the government asked for in Obama's budget request sent to Congress earlier this year.
Obama described the growing humanitarian issue at the border in a presidential memorandum Monday that outlined a government-wide response led by Fugate.
Obama's director of domestic policy, Cecilia Munoz, said the number of children traveling alone has been on the rise since 2009, but the increase was larger than last year. Munoz said the group also now includes more girls and larger numbers of children younger than 13.
"All of these things are contributing to the sense of urgency," Munoz said. "These are children who have gone through a harrowing experience alone. We're providing for their proper care."
The growth has surpassed the system's capacity to process and house the children. Last month, the federal government opened an emergency operations center at a border headquarters in South Texas to help coordinate the efforts and the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a division of the Health and Human Services Department, turned to the Defense Department for the second time since 2012 to help house children in barracks at Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio.
Mark Greenberg, an assistant secretary at the Health and Human Services Department, said about 1,000 children were being housed at the Texas base and as many as 600 others could soon be housed at a U.S. Navy base in Southern California.
The number of children found trying to cross the Mexican border without parents has skyrocketed in recent years. Between 2008 and 2011, the number of children landing in the custody of Refugee Resettlement fluctuated between 6,000 and 7,500 per year. In 2012 border agents apprehended 13,625 unaccompanied children and that number surged even more -- to 24,668 -- last year. The total is expected to exceed 60,000 this year.
More than 90 percent of those sheltered by the government are from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, many driven north by pervasive violence and poverty in their home countries. They are held in agency-contracted shelters while a search is conducted for family, a sponsor or a foster parent who can care for them through their immigration court hearings, where many will apply for asylum or other special protective status. Border Patrol agents have said that smugglers are increasingly notifying authorities once they get children across the Rio Grande so that they can be picked up.
Rampant crime and poverty across Central America and a desire to reunite with parents or other relatives are thought to be driving many of the young immigrants. Munoz said Monday the administration is aware of false rumors that have circulated that migrant children who get to this country would be automatically allowed to stay here or benefit from some future immigration reform legislation.
Migrant kids remain in removal proceedings even after they're reunited with their parents here, though many have been able to win permission from a judge to stay in the U.S.
The Office of Management and Budget said in a two-page letter to Sen. Barbara Mikulski, the chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, last month that the increase in children trying to cross the border alone could cost the government as much as $2.28 billion. The administration originally asked Congress for $868 million for the "Unaccompanied Alien Children" program run by Health and Human Services, the same amount Congress approved last year.
Brian Deese, deputy director of the budget office, said the Homeland Security Department would also need an extra $166 million to help pay overtime costs for Customs and Border Protection officers and agents, contract services for care of the children and transportation costs.
A House appropriations subcommittee voted last week to add $77 million to the original request. Deese sent the letter to Mikulski a day after the House subcommittee vote.

WH petition to free Marine Tahmooressi from Mexico prison reaches 100K online signatures

A petition on the White House website asking President Obama to demand the release of a Marine sergeant in a Mexico prison has garnered more than 100,000 online signatures -- a threshold that typically elicits an administration response.
“The effect of this unjust incarceration on a decorated combat Marine is despairing,” says the petition, which as of Saturday afternoon had 116,051 signatures.  
Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi was arrested March 31 after crossing the Mexican border with three guns in his truck.
Tahmooressi said he accidentally crossed the border and immediately told Mexican authorities that he had three guns in his possession and that he was unable to make a U-turn.
He said he was handcuffed and taken to prison and that his treatment worsened when he tried to escape.
Tahmooressi, who suffers from post traumatic stress disorder, said guards hit him so many times in face that he felt his jaw fall out of place.
He also said he was stripped naked and chained to a bed, with his feet on one end and his hands on another.
A State Department official, in a letter on Friday to Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who has been pushing for the Marine's release, said consular officers have visited Tahmooressi 12 times.
The State Department said last week they have raised concerns with Mexican authorities about his treatment.
“We've been very engaged,” said department spokeswoman Jen Psaki. “We'll continue to press the case.”
She also said Secretary of State John Kerry has been involved in the situation.
The White House describes the online petition effort as “a new way to petition the Obama administration to take action on a range of important issues.”
Some administration responses are messages posted on the site, which now has 82 petitions.

Hill leaders vow Shinseki’s resignation won't dim spotlight on Veterans Affairs' woes

Top Capitol Hill lawmakers said Sunday that the resignation of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki will not take the spotlight off the agency’s widespread patient-care problems and suggested a criminal probe into the situation.
Florida GOP Rep. Jeff Miller, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, told “Fox News Sunday” the intensity in Congress will not wane.
“I can promise you that,” he said. “The American people are so disgusted it's not going to fade out.”
Shinseki gave his resignation to President Obama on Friday, about five weeks after allegations surfaced that officials at a Veterans Affairs medical center in Phoenix were keeping “secret” records of patients waiting to get an appointment to conceal the extensive backlog.
Bipartisan calls for Shinseki’s resignation increased following the release Wednesday of an inspector general’s report that confirmed the secondary lists in Phoenix and evidence at 42 other VA medical facilities of “manipulation of VA data that distort the legitimacy of reported waiting times." However, the report did not confirm allegations that some veterans died while waiting.
Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said years of reports indeed made clear that the VA doesn’t have enough doctors and staff.
However, the larger issue is “the system was then gamed, which is absolutely reprehensible, which must be dealt with through criminal prosecution,” he told CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “We need to make sure that that never happens again.”
Sanders said he’s going to introduce legislation Monday or Tuesday that he hopes will help veterans waiting extensively for care get treatment at a private facility or community health center.
Sanders said Congress and “everybody” responsible for helping veterans “can bear some of the responsibility” for the VA situation.
“When you send men and women off to war, when they come home, we have a moral responsibility to make sure that all of them get the health care and the benefits that they deserve. And that is the responsibility of the United States,” he said.
Miller also was skeptical about Obama’s assertion that years of reports -- as many as 18 since 2005 -- never reached Shinseki’s desk.
“It's very difficult for me to believe that the [VA] central office here in Washington, D.C., did not have any idea about the cooking of the book and the illegal activity,” he said.
He also defended Congress on the issue by saying his committee issued recommendations based on the reports, but members were “lied to” about the follow-up numbers.
Miller argued that Shinseki last month told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee that the Phoenix situation was isolated, despite the general knowledge that the problem was “pervasive throughout the country.”
He also suggested that one way to cut the backlog is to allow VA facilities to do what they do best -- treat battlefield, traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries -- while perhaps allowing older veterans from the Korea and Vietnam wars to get outside care.

CASEY ANTHONY ADOPTS A BABY

(Bailey)  "This shows you how screwed up the laws in America are!"

By Frank Lake on January 20, 2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

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397 Votes

ORLANDO, FL – Sources close to Casey Anthony’s attorney confirmed today that Casey has adopted a baby girl from Romania.

ORLANDO, FL – Sources close to  Casey Anthony’s attorney confirmed today that Casey has adopted a baby girl from Romania.
Reporters from Orange County confirmed that Casey Anthony applied to adopt a baby girl (2 years old) from Eastern Europe in early 2010.  Sources say she was accepted by the Romanian government – pending the conclusion of her trial.

It is expensive to adopt a baby from Romania.  Some say legal costs run in excess of $25,000 to adopt, but Casey has reportedly offered the Romanians three times that amount.
Casey has plenty of money rolling in now with book deals, movie deals and a porn video that she is slated to shoot in early August.  She is already worth over $8 million dollars because of her book deal.  READ about it here.
Sources close to friends of Casey say she offered the Romanian adoption agency $75,000 for the baby.
Casey will reportedly fly to Bucharest on July 25th to pick up the baby.  Her adoption attorney will not say where Casey and the baby will live, but many are speculating that she will return to the U.S. and live with her aunt in Texas.
Romanians are appalled about the adoption and are trying to stop it from going forward. “We do not want one of our babies being adopted by that monster,” said Flaviu Trasicu.  “We have standards here that citizens of the United States do not.  As a society, we cherish our children and punish child abusers.”

Casey Anthony reportedly wants to prove to the world that she is a good mother.  Sources say she told corrections officers in the Orange County Jail last summer that she plans on adopting 3-4 babies and having 3-4 of her own.  “She thinks she can handle a lot of kids,” said Tommy Kimplin of the Orange County Jail.  “She feels like she’s changed.”
Casey has not chosen a name for the baby girl she is going to adopt, “but it’s not going to begin with a ‘C’, that’s for sure.”
Americans are outraged about the verdict… and now this!  Some feel that maybe she should stay in Romania…

GOP lawmakers: Prisoner exchange violated law

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two Republican lawmakers on Saturday accused President Barack Obama of breaking the law by approving the release of five Afghan detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in exchange for a U.S. soldier believed held by Islamist insurgents for five years.

Related Stories

• US soldier freed from captivity in Afghanistan Associated Press
• Bowe Bergdahl's first hours of freedom: Now the questions begin Christian Science Monitor
• U.S. soldier flies to freedom after Afghan prisoner swap Reuters
• Obama welcomes release of captured US soldier Associated Press
• In Prisoner Exchange, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl Released After Nearly 5 Years in Taliban Captivity ABC News

The White House agreed that actions were taken in spite of legal requirements and cited "unique and exigent circumstances" as justification.

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, 28, of Hailey, Idaho, was handed over to U.S. special operations forces by the Taliban. In return, five Afghans who were held at a U.S. detention facility in Cuba were released to the custody of the government of Qatar, which served as a go-between in negotiations for the trade.

Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon of California and Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma said in a statement that Obama is required by law to notify Congress 30 days before any terrorists are transferred from the U.S. facility. They said Obama also is required to explain how the threat posed by such terrorists has been substantially mitigated.
McKeon is chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Inhofe is the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
In response, the White House said it moved as quickly as possible given the opportunity that arose to secure Bergdahl's release. Citing "these unique and exigent circumstances," the White House said a decision was made to go ahead with the transfer despite the legal requirement of 30 days advance notice to Congress.

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FILE - This undated image provided by the U.S. Army shows Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. U.S. officials say the …

While saying they celebrate Bergdahl's release, McKeon and Inhofe warned that the exchange "may have consequences for the rest of our forces and all Americans."

"Our terrorist adversaries now have a strong incentive to capture Americans. That incentive will put our forces in Afghanistan and around the world at even greater risk," they said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said in a statement that "the safe return of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is an answer to the prayers of the Bergdahl family and a powerful reinforcement of our nation's commitment to leave no service member behind."

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Associated Press writer Douglass K. Daniel contributed to this report.