CHAVEZ CAUGHT SUPPORTING TERRORISTS

Well, well, well. Or, as Gomer Pyle might say: “Surprise, surprise, surprise.”

Venezuela’s commie strongman, Hugo Chavez, the best friend of Sean Penn, Cindy Sheehan and others on the anti-American left, has been caught red-handed (no pun intended) supporting commie terrorists trying to topple the government of neighboring Colombia, a staunch U.S. ally in Latin America.

From the Wall Street Journal:

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — A cache of controversial computer files closely tying Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez to communist rebels seeking to topple Colombia’s government appear to be authentic, U.S. intelligence officials say.

The trove — found on a dead guerrilla leader’s laptops during a military raid in March — is likely to ratchet up pressure for the U.S. to impose sanctions on one of its most important oil suppliers.

The files that have been made public so far have largely confirmed Mr. Chávez’s well-known sympathy for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. But a review by The Wall Street Journal of more than 100 new files from the computers suggests that Venezuela has broader and deeper ties to the FARC than previously known.

These documents indicate Venezuela appears to be making concrete offers to help arm the rebels, possibly with rocket-propelled grenades and ground-to-air missiles. The files suggest that Venezuela offered the FARC the use of one of its ports to receive arms shipments, and that Venezuela raised the prospect of drawing up a joint security plan with the FARC and sought basic training in guerrilla-warfare techniques.

“There is complete agreement in the intelligence community that these documents are what they purport to be,” a senior U.S. official said. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has been sharing its assessments with the White House, this official said.

Washington’s stance is likely to hurt Venezuela’s already deeply strained relationship with the U.S., its biggest trade partner. It could also add pressure for the U.S. to declare Venezuela a state sponsor of terrorism, alongside Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria, and impose sanctions.

Is anyone really surprised? Chavez is BFF with the likes of the Weekend at Bernie’s dictator of Cuber, Fidel Castro, and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (pronounced “I’m-A-Nutjob”).

But the environmentalist wackos, opposed to all kinds of domestic energy production except wind and solar, would prefer us to buy oil from a terrorist-supporting thug like Chavez than produce our own.

More proof that the environmental movement has provided cover for disgraced socialists and communists.

What’s that they say about the environmentalist wackos? They’re like watermelons. Green on the outside, red on the inside.

MADDUX WINS NO. 350

Congraulations to one of the true class acts of professional sports, future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, who became only the ninth pitcher in the history of Major League Baseball to win 350 games.

And this quote shows what a professional and team player Maddux is, given the fact the talent-laden Padres are off to a terrible start:

I don’t want to make it out to be nothing, but it is May and we haven’t been playing that good, and you just really want to win for the right reason and not necessarily for the wrong reason. We need to start winning as a team and hopefully tonight is the start of things to come.

In other words, the personal accomplishments mean little if anything to Maddux as long as the team continues to struggle. Sounds like a certain future first ballot Hall of Fame quarterback we were privileged to get to see play here in Wisconsin.

NOW WE GET TOUGHER ON REPEAT DRUNK DRIVERS

This is closing the barn door after the horse has long escaped.

We’ve long been critical of Wisconsin’s slap on the wrist punishments for felony repeat drunk drivers. Instead, we the publicity hounds from MADD and self-serving politicians looking to seem like they care pose for holy pictures when the legal limit is lowered to .08 percent, thus making a guy who stopped at a corner tavern for a couple of beers on his way home from work at risk for arrest for DUI.

All the while, the real dangers on the road — drivers with three, four, five or more convictions — just keep rolling along merrily on their way, free to kill and maim at will with little consquences, except for the inevitable hand-wringing after the death of an innocent victim.

Patrick at Badger Blogger points out the case of a man with his 10th — 10th!!! — drunk driving conviction getting only 18 months per the request of the prosecution, which issued the standard collection of Barbra Steisand (B.S.) to the media of what a danger the guy is. If he’s such a danger, why the soft sentence?

Now we get the high profile case of Jennifer Bukosky, her 10 year old daughter and her unborn child, killed by a three-time drunk driver — three convictions and still on the road. A disgraced former physician whose license to practice medicine had been revoked by the state — technically he surrendered the license — after being caught forging prescriptions for himself.

Now, Gov. Jim Milhous Doyleone and a bipartisan group of legislators are calling for toughening the law to ensure that a third drunk driving conviction becomes a felony.

Excuse me, but why did it take so long to get the lawmakers’ attention? We’ve had multiple case after case of repeat drunk drivers blowing two to three or more times the legal limit killing and maiming and we’ve watched plea deals made by slap-on-the-wrist ADAs allow them to walk away with little if any time in the Crowbar Hotel, free to kill and maim again.

I’ll give those in Madison affected by Cranial Rectal Inversion Syndrome credit for getting it right this time.

In a side note, I’ll also give credit to the judge who ordered the assets of the drunk driver who killed Bukosky and her children frozen to prevent him from liquidating them to avoid paying off the wrongful death lawsuit filed against him.

OUR 57 UNITED STATES

I am wondering when we admitted seven new states into the union. And which ones they are to be exact.

Barack Hussein Obama recently told a crowd in Oregon that he had visited 57 states during his presidential campaign.

That’s right. 57 states.

Says blogger Andrew Malcolm of al-Los Angeles Times:

Has this aging freshman senator — he’ll be almost 60 in 13 years — lost his bearings? Are the eight new states caucus or primary? And will Howard Dean bar them from the convention too?

Here’s the incontrovertible video evidence:

And Marc Ambinder from The Atlantic speculates on what would have happened if John McCain had made this gaffe.

Given that Jay Leno has almost nightly paleolithic cracks about McCain’s age, you can bet the Drive By Media would have used this to cast doubts on McCain’s mental capability to hold office.

And our friends at Suitably Flip have the latest in Barack Hussein Obama patriotic flag pin lapels.

MADISON 911 COSTS A LIFE

And no, they don’t get to call for “overs,” either.

Madison’s 911 dispatch system flat-out blew it in the April 2 murder of Brittany Zimmerman. First, it was revealed that Zimmerman’s call to 911 should have resulted in the dispatch of police to the scene but did not.

The existence of the April 2 call from Brittany Sue Zimmermann’s phone prompted questions about how local officials handle emergency calls from cell phones, as well as about the call itself.

The 911 call from her phone was first reported Thursday by Madison’s Isthmus newspaper, and it kicked off a round of finger-pointing between county 911 officials and police.

Neither Joe Norwick, director of the Dane County Public Safety Communications Center, nor Madison police would release a recording of the call or say exactly what time it was made or how long it lasted. Norwick said the dispatcher who took the call asked several times if there was an emergency, and after getting no response, hung up. The dispatcher didn’t follow a policy of calling the number back, he said.The dispatcher instead picked up other pending 911 calls, one of which was a hang-up call. In that case, the dispatcher did call back, Norwick said.

Norwick went on to state that there were 115 non-emergency calls to 911 on the day Zimmerman was murdered, 83 from cell phones.

One of the advantages of 911 systems is that a person can call 911, for example, and be unable to speak for any reason and still receive emergency response. The few times I’ve had to call 911 here, I’ve gotten a response and had the dispatcher read my address back to me. Last year, we needed to summon an ambulance to Simmons Field during our tournament. I called on my cell phone and due to GPS technology, Kenosha’s emergency responder knew my location without my having to give the information.

It’s also my understanding that there is a required response to all 911 calls. That’s why law enforcement comes down so hard on needless calls, prank calls, etc. It’s a waste of precious resources. Did Madison’s emergency responders develop clairvoyance so as to determine that no response was needed to some calls? Is this where the Psychic Friends Network ended up?

Now, Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk says even if police had responded, Zimmerman’s murder couldn’t have been prevented. Once again, is “Catch and Release Kate” clairvoyant and able to make predictions as to what would have happened? Again, after I’ve dialed 911 here, I’ve had emergency responders in a matter of minutes. Even minutes might have helped save her life or even captured the perpetrator.

Also, the 911 operators ignored crucial sounds in the emergency call that should have triggered a police response, but once again, Madison police maintain they were never notified.

And via Bruce at Badger Blogger comes words that WKOW-TV (Channel 27) in Madison quotes someone who heard the 911 call.

Sad to say, the union thugs will go to the mat for one of their own, the 911 dispatcher, who screwed up.

THE SUPREME SACRIFICE

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” — John 15:13.

So said Jesus to his disciples on the night He was betrayed and the night before He was crucified. What can we say about a man who lay down his life for his own daughter?

The driver of a car that struck and killed a man trying to protect his 4-year-old daughter from the impact has been charged with aggravated driving under the influence, authorities said Tuesday.

Joseph Richardson, 39, was taking his daughter Kaniyah for dinner at a McDonald’s restaurant near 95th and LaSalle Streets at about 6:30 p.m. Monday when the car hopped a curb and slammed the father and daughter into a fence, authorities said.

Richardson, a choir musician and minister’s son, shielded her from the car, police and family members said.

Police “told us that he saw the car coming and lifted her up at the last minute as the car was coming,” said David Robinson, the fiance of Kaniyah’s older sister.

Another family friend said police cited a witness’ account that Richardson tried to “cushion” her from the vehicle. On Tuesday, she was listed in critical but stable condition, said a spokeswoman at the University of Chicago Hospitals.

MONEY TALKS, ‘BARBRA STREISAND’ WALKS

One of my favorite groups with an underappreciated song, AC/DC with Money Talks.

DIAGNOSIS

After yet another in a stream of medical appointments today, I have been diagnosed with polymyalgia rheumatica, or PMR.

It may have been aggravated by my drawn-out battle with the snowblower before Easter, but my doctor told me that it can be treated and eliminated. I’ve been given a prescription of prednisone to combat the ailment. Yes, prednisone is considered a steroid, so now I have something in common with Barry Bonds.

Another unusual item: polymyalgia rheumatica rarely strikes anyone under the age of 50, and since I am under 50 (still will not reveal my age), it’s a rarity for it to affect someone my age. To be truthful, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.

Good news is I hope to be back blogging on a regular basis soon. Typing has been excruciating in terms of pain. Same with just sitting at the computer.

VAN HALEN AND THE BLUE ANGELS

From 1986 comes the classic video of the Blue Angels set to Dreams by Van Halen. Absolutely breathtaking video.

FRIDAY NIGHT YOU TUBIN’

Rick Springfield and Don’t Talk to Strangers.

Chris Daughtry and Over You