It just so happens the Constitution Party is holding its nominating convention next week.

“They’re considering me; I’m considering them,” he told an audience at Hazelton’s Best Western hotel. If the CP (formerly the U.S. Taxpayers Party) selects him, it will mark the first time the slavery reparations advocate has not drafted himself into a presidential race.

Keyes threatened to run third party in 2000, if only Republicans had nominated John McCain. This election cycle, his third ever-diminishing race for president, has seen Keyes sounding even angrier than usual – which is really, really angry. Even those who viewed him favorably in the past have written that in 2008, Keyes “sounds, honestly, like he’s had a psychotic break.”

What will his campaign pledge be, that he is the only man who can beat Barack Obama? Well, at least he never got shellacked by John McCain. Err....

Maybe he'll luck out and Hillary Clinton will be both parties’ nominee.

Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein has been freed, under a new amnesty deal with the Iraqi government.

On Monday afternoon, American military officials announced that they would release Bilal Hussein, a photographer for the Associated Press who has been in custody for two years on allegations of aiding insurgents. An Iraqi judicial panel on Sunday dismissed the last charge against Mr. Hussein and ordered him released.

Maj. Gen. Douglas M. Stone, who signed the release order, said, “After the action by the Iraqi judicial committees, we reviewed the circumstances of Hussein’s detention and determined that he no longer presents an imperative threat to security.”

CBS reporter Richard Butler, meanwhile, was also freed—by the US military, from an Al Qaeda hellhole, after two months in captivity.

Richard Butler, a British photographer working for CBS who was kidnapped two months ago, was freed when Iraqi soldiers burst into a house in central Basra on Monday morning and found him bound and with a bag tied over his head.

Little Green Footballs

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JIMMY CARTER HUGS HAMAS

Jimmy Carter was on the West Bank today. He met with, and reportedly hugged, a senior Hamas official. He placed a wreath on Yasser Arafat's grave. (One of Carter's hosts helpfully explained that "Arafat's resting place was temporary, and the Palestinians hope to move his remains to Jerusalem one day.") The U.S. government has criticized Carter's determination to meet with Hamas, and Israeli officials are more or less shunning the former President.

Carter defends his mission to Hamas in these terms:

Carter acknowledged Tuesday he was not on an official mission and had "no authority at all."

"I'm not a negotiator. I'm just trying to understand different opinions and provide communication between people," Carter said.

Hamas proclaims that it wants to destroy the state of Israel and kill the Jews who live there. Israelis want to preserve their country and don't want to be murdered. These are not "different opinions." The desire to murder and the desire to avoid being murdered are not on an equal footing, and cannot be reconciled through talk or through understanding.

It's always an open question whether Carter is a knave or a fool, but in this instance, with everyone from the Secretary of State to Israel's Prime Minister pointing out the folly of his mission, the balance tilts toward "knave."

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ED KOCH: CARTER ALWAYS A "MISERABLE HUMAN BEING"

RealClearPolitics has posted Ed Koch's memories making the case that he has led "a sensational life." Exhibit A is the presidents he has met, from Johnson to Bush (43). A propos of today's news, here's Koch recalling Carter:

I came to know Carter well.

When he ran for reelection, he asked me to campaign for him in 1980 -- I was by then Mayor of New York City -- and I said that I would vote for him, but not campaign for him because he was then engaging in hostile acts towards Israel. I was popular with the Jewish community and when I would not campaign for him unless he changed his position, he called me to his hotel in New York when attending a fundraiser and said, "You have done me more damage than any man in America." I felt proud then, and even more today, since we now know what a miserable president he was then and the miserable human being he is now as he prepares to meet with Hamas.

I’ve written before about organ transplants for illegal aliens–and been attacked by the usual socialist suspects as cruel, heartless, and racist for questioning the wisdom of US public policy that indiscriminately allocates scarce health resources at taxpayer expense to illegal immigrants. The open-borders entitlement mentality has only grown deeper since the last time this issue went national with the case of Jessica Santillan. The ideologues who believe that America should be the medical welcome mat to the world have prevailed. Via the Los Angeles Times:

Ana Puente was an infant with a liver disorder when her aunt brought her illegally to the U.S. to seek medical care. She underwent two liver transplants at UCLA Medical Center as a child in 1989 and a third in 1998, each paid for by the state.

But when Puente turned 21 last June, she aged out of her state-funded health insurance and was unable to continue treatment at UCLA.

This year, her liver began failing again and she was hospitalized at County-USC Medical Center. In her Medi-Cal application, a USC doctor wrote, “Her current clinical course is irreversible, progressive and will lead to death without another liver transplant.” The application was denied.

The county gave her medication but does not have the resources to perform transplants.

Late last month Puente learned of another, little-known option for patients with certain healthcare needs. If she notified U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that she was in the country illegally, state health officials might grant her full Medi-Cal coverage. Puente did so, her benefits were restored and she is now awaiting a fourth transplant at UCLA.

Puente’s case highlights two controversial issues: Should illegal immigrants receive liver transplants in the U.S. and should taxpayers pick up the cost?

The average cost of a liver transplant and first-year follow-up is nearly $490,000, and anti-rejection medications can run more than $30,000 annually, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, which oversees transplantation nationwide.

Donor livers are also in scarce supply. In California, nearly 3,700 people are on a waiting list for livers, according to the network. Last year, 767 liver transplants were performed in the state. More than 90% of the organs were given to U.S. citizens.

Donor livers are generally allocated through a geographically based distribution system on the basis of how sick the patients are and how long they have been on the transplant waiting list.

Immigration status does not play a role in allocating organs.

Doctors and illegal alien patients rely on DHS incompetence and the deportation abyss to abet them:

If illegal immigrants inform the state in writing that U.S. immigration services “is aware of their presence and does not plan to deport them,” they could be eligible for full-scope Medi-Cal, said Norman Williams, spokesman for the state health department. Medical condition is one factor that would make immigrants eligible for coverage.

The immigrants send a form to Citizenship and Immigration Services, but the agency said it does not respond to patients or make any promises about their immigration status.

And the game continues, with illegal immigrants now voicing indignation at the inconvenience:

Jose Lopez said he came to the U.S. with his mother illegally as a child. Soon after, he contracted hepatitis A and received his first liver transplant. Eight years later, he got cirrhosis and received another transplant.

Both were performed at UCLA and paid for by the state.

As his 21st birthday approached, his mother, Maria Elena Lopez, searched for clinics that might agree to treat her son. She applied for Medi-Cal for him but has not received a response.

Her son turned 21 on Aug. 7. He said the UCLA doctors gave him extra medications to hold him over.

About a month later, his mother found the Roybal clinic, which provided Lopez with medication and monitored his care. Though his drugs never lapsed, his liver is still in rejection.

“I’m just mad,” he said from the Los Angeles apartment he shares with his parents. “You can’t just leave a person to die. That’s pretty much what they’re telling me: ‘You’re illegally here. We’re just gonna let you die.’ ”

He said he doesn’t blame UCLA for not wanting to treat him free, but added, “I was hoping for some miracle.”

Lopez just learned about the relief Puente received and said he may follow the same route. He hopes to return to UCLA for treatment.

Question: Would the Mexican government stand for illegal aliens on its soil demanding such entitlement?

Hell, no.

After extending the invitation, someone apparently had second thoughts and asked him to ditch his prepared speech and sit for a question-and-answer session instead.

No go.

Robbins strutted up to the podium, took a vote on whether he should deliver his diatribe, and then, having won approval from the audience, indignantly excoriated the media masochists–the majority of whom cheered every profane, unhinged, Bush-bashing word.

The moderator of the Q&A session that never occurred has a post about Robbins’ triumph, which he praised as “important,” here. More here. TV Newser adds this:

The idea of an outspoken actor giving the keynote to the nation’s broadcasters was lost on many people, including Robbins himself. Speaking in the third person, he said “Mr. Robbins will speak about the challenges facing broadcasters and media delivery systems.” Adding, “I’m not sure what that fucking means.”

Variety swooned:

Addressing the kickoff of the National Assn. of Broadcasters confab in Las Vegas, Robbins at first hesitated over whether to deliver the speech he had prepared, thinking he might serve the audience better by submitting to a Q&A session with a moderator.

But after some back and forth with the audience, which encouraged him to go with the speech, Robbins obliged. He launched into an apology to conservative talkers Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly “and Laura whatshername,” noting that all had labeled him traitorous or unpatriotic for having called for more time to be given to U.N. weapons inspectors before deploying military force against Iraq.

“They said I was a dupe of left-wing appeasement … and how right they were,” Robbins quipped. “Had I known then of all the smiling faces” that now populate Iraq, “the wildfire of democracy that is spreading throughout the Middle East,” he would have not spoken as he did, he said.

He added that he can see now that his words were indeed “traitorous, unfounded and irresponsible, so I apologize to the talkradio geniuses.”

…The fun started to get uncomfortable when Robbins referred to both the Reagan and Clinton administrations having eased limitations on media ownership — all to the “benefit” of communities, which then no longer had to listen to diverse, complex opinions “or alternative rock.” NAB has supported relaxing ownership rules…

…”In all seriousness, folks,” Robbins said, dropping the good-natured satirical tone, “We’re at an abyss as an industry and a country.” He talked of pervasive cynicism in the country and added that “you, as broadcasters, have the power to turn the nation away from cynicism. Or you can hide behind the old adage, ‘I’m just a businessman, just providing what the audience wants.’ ”

Robbins urged the mass of broadcasters to join the relatively few, he said, that are trying to steer away from mindless sensationalism to “appeal to our better nature.” Who knows, he said — there might even be money in that. The audience laughed.

Laughed…because maybe they’ve read the stories about all those anti-war movies tanking at the box office.

Robbins forged ahead with his anti-Ayn Rand sermon:

“Now is the time to recognize that you are not just businessmen but guardians of the human spirit with a responsibility to the health of the nation.” Otherwise, Robbins warned, “The road we’re on is a corruption of our former selves.”

About two-thirds of the packed ballroom rose to a standing ovation.

Guess this all part of that crushing-of-dissent thing of which Robbins claims he is such a victim.

It is just so very, very damned difficult to speak your mind (such as it is) when you’re a Hollywood liberal in America, isn’t it?

Flashback: Robbins slanders American troops.

MichelleMalkin.com

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EX-ABC AND CNN JOURNALIST: SHUT UP AND PAY UP

It's deadline day today for filing your federal income taxes -- and Walter Rodgers, a former ABC News and CNN correspondent is thrilled, proclaiming in a recent Christian Science Monitor op-ed: “I'm happy to pay my fair share to the government. It's part of my patriotic duty -- and it's a heckuva bargain.” Rodgers proceeded to scold “chest thumpers who paper their cars with chauvinistic bumper stickers and grumble about supporting the government of the country they profess to love” as they dare to complain about taxes:

There seems to be an inconsistency about people who insist on wearing flag pins in their lapels, but who grumble about paying taxes. My friends grouse about government as though they had minimal financial or moral obligation to support it. Are they not part of "We the people"?

Rodgers insisted that “reluctance to pay one's fair share flouts 'the better angels of our nature'” and “genuine patriots,” he contended, “don't complain about their patriotic obligations.” He concluded: “Pay up and be grateful!”

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NBC: MCCAIN'S TAX PACKAGE "DOESN'T ADD UP"

Network journalists have yet to meet a spending hike or regulation that they considered unwise, but any tax cut is always ill-advised and helps “the wealthy.” Living up to the pattern -- and illustrating how John McCain will earn media scorn for any conservative policy proposal -- NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams set up a Tuesday story on McCain's economic plan by emphasizing how “some critics say his economic plan, which centers on more tax cuts, doesn't add up.”

Reporting on McCain's plan outlined in a speech at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, reporter Kelly O'Donnell listed McCain's idea for a summer suspension of the gas tax, though that “tax is used to pay for highway repairs.” O'Donnell moved on to McCain's proposal to “double the income tax exemption for dependents to $7,000 a year,” hardly a boon to the rich, before getting to McCain's “core idea” to “lower taxes and make up lost revenue with cuts in government spending.” She then delivered the liberal line: “But critics and some economists argue McCain's math is wrong, that his plan would tilt toward the wealthy, swell the deficit, and not trim enough.”

I have no idea what the hell this statement from America's only Muslim congressman means:

Ellison went on to say if more people knew of what Islam had to teach, the controversy created by statements from presidential candidate Barack Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, might not have occurred.

Seriously, is this just a stupid non-sequitur about Islam teaching us to tolerate assholes like Jeremiah Wright or was Keith Ellison actually trying to say something more nefarious--like Islam teaches these things so chill out America??

Or maybe he's referring to Wright's church honoring Louis Farrakhan? So, more Islam and less thinking racist antisemites are cool?

Or his publication of a Hamas manifesto? More understanding of Islam, less objection to terrorists? Which would be, I dunno, ironic.

I have no freaking clue!