Compean and Ramos are free!!!

At long last.

Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean have been released from federal prison after serving more than two years in solitary confinement for the non-fatal shooting of a Mexican drug smuggler.

But, for some strange reason, they're not completely free.

Ramos and Compean were unable to comment Tuesday as they are under a gag order until they are released from federal custody on March 20.

The pair will remain on "supervised release" for a period of up to three years, according to a statement from Ramos' lawyer, David Botsford. Botsford said it was appropriate to commute the pair's sentence in light of the "onerous" conditions they experienced while incarcerated.

Let's pray the Supreme Court takes up their case and reverses the travesty of their convictions.

366 people were kidnapped in Phoenix, Arizona in 2008

Second in the world behind Mexico City.

More ransom kidnappings happen in Phoenix than in any other town in the United States, according to local and federal law-enforcement authorities. Most victims and suspects are connected to the drug-smuggling world, usually tracing back to the western Mexican state of Sinaloa, Phoenix police report.

Arizona has become the new drug gateway into the United States. Roughly half of all marijuana seized at the U.S.-Mexico border was found along Arizona's 370-mile-long stretch.

One result is a kidnapping epidemic. Nearly every other crime here is down. But police received 366 kidnap-for-ransom reports last year, 359 in 2007. Police estimate twice that number go unreported. [emphasis mine]

I'm so glad we have former Arizona governor Janet Napolitano as our new Homeland Security Secretary. Aren't you?

Fiscal Reality Central

If you watched The Big Zero's press conference last night, you heard him say that there is virtual agreement from the economic community on the need for government spending. Yet another lie. Please visit the Cato Institute's Fiscal Reality Central and read their full-page ad listing hundreds of economists who disagree with The Big Zero.

He said it! The Big Zero LIED in front of the world!

Did you catch it? It was in response to the first question he took.

We are going through the worst economic crisis since The Great Depression.

LIE!!! And he did it so effortlessly. Can't wait to hear a reporter challenge him on it.

The Big Zero's address tonight

Dear Reader, during The Big Zero's prime time press conference this evening, if you hear The Big Zero use a phrase like this:

"...this is the worst economy since The Great Depression..."

make sure to scream "Liar!" at the television. This is most assuredly NOT the worst economy since The Great Depression. It is, however, the worst economy since The Carter Years.

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Hope and change.

President Barack Obama warned on Thursday that failure to act on an economic recovery package could plunge the nation into a long-lasting recession that might prove irreversible, a fresh call to a recalcitrant Congress to move quickly.

Poor guy. He's never been a leader before, so he wouldn't know this, but it helps to be optimistic instead of pessimistic when you're trying to get people on your side. That's O.K. This is a great time for on-the-job training. Right? He'll come around, I'm sure.

The dumbest of them all

Really, what else is there to say?

Bug Eyes takes the cake.

Is there anyone patriotic in The Big Zero's administration?

Hope and Change.

Barack Obama on Tuesday gave up his nomination fight for Tom Daschle and a second high-profile appointee who failed to pay all their taxes, fearing ugly confirmation battles that would undercut his claims to ethical high ground and cripple his presidency in just its second week. "I screwed up," he declared.

"It's important for this administration to send a message that there aren't two sets of rules - you know, one for prominent people and one for ordinary folks who have to pay their taxes," Obama said in one of a series of interviews with TV anchors.

"I'm frustrated with myself, with our team. ... I'm here on television saying I screwed up," Obama said in an interview on NBC's "Nightly News with Brian Williams." He repeated virtually the same words in several other interviews.

The White House announced that Daschle had asked to be removed from consideration as health and human services secretary and that that Nancy Killefer had made the same request concerning what was to be her groundbreaking appointment as a chief performance officer to make the entire government run better.

"They both recognized that you can't set an example of responsibility but accept a different standard of who serves," said spokesman Gibbs.

I think that Plugs walked up to them, told them they weren't patriots, and that was that. Just like he did here:

It's all part of being The Big Zero's wing man. Who will be the next person to feel Plugs' sting?