[Guest post by DRJ]

The JAWA Report notes a Fox News exclusive that 17 members of the Afghan military studying English at Texas’ Lackland AFB have gone AWOL in the past 2 years:

“A nationwide alert has been issued for 17 members of the Afghan military who have gone AWOL from a Texas Air Force base where foreign military officers who are training to become pilots are taught English, FoxNews.com has learned.”

Some have been AWOL for as long as two years and we’re just hearing about it now? I assume these Afghans are security threats but I’m holding out hope they’re living the good life in America.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Who will prevail in Game 7? The Lakers lead the Celtics 68-64 with just over 5 minutes to play.

MORE: Lakers lead 71-68 with 2:47 left.

AGAIN: Lakers 73-68 with 2:20 to go.

UNDER 2 MINUTES LEFT: Lakers up 74-70.

1:30 TO GO: Lakers lead 76-70. Celtics take a timeout.

25 SECONDS ON THE CLOCK: Lakers 79, Celtics 76 and Kobe is shooting free throws. Now it’s 81-76.

— DRJ

UPDATE: Lakers win 83-79.

[Guest post by DRJ]

ABC News reports the U.S. Coast Guard refused to let 16 Louisiana skimmer barges return to the Gulf for 24 hours pending confirmation the barges had life vests and fire extinguishers.

If this had been the Bush Administration, wouldn’t everyone demand that the Coast Guard waive these requirements or provide life vests and fire extinguishers that met its criteria? It’s even worse in this case because money isn’t a problem — BP is paying.

Heck of a job, Barry.

— DRJ

New York Times reporter James Risen broke the NSA story. Just ask him!

So when he got some flak over that Afghan minerals story from bloggers, there was no way he was just going to sit there and take it. Instead, he reached deep into his Bag of Cliches and came up with . . . a “bloggers wear pajamas” riff:

Risen didn’t take kindly to the blogospheric criticism. “Bloggers should do their own reporting instead of sitting around in their pajamas,” Risen said.

“The thing that amazes me is that the blogosphere thinks they can deconstruct other people’s stories,” Risen told Yahoo! News during an increasingly hostile interview, which he called back to apologize for almost immediately after it ended. “Do you even know anything about me? Maybe you were still in school when I broke the NSA story, I don’t know. It was back when you were in kindergarten, I think.” (Risen and fellow Times reporter Eric Lichtblau shared a 2006 Pulitzer Prize for their reporting on the Bush administration’s secret wiretapping program; this reporter was 33 years old at the time.)

Turns out they cleaned up the language. The reporter said on Twitter that Risen’s actual language was, er, slightly more pointed:

NYT’s Jim Risen just told me bloggers criticizing his Afghan minerals story are “jerking off in their pajamas.” Yahoo worried abt language.

It’s a good thing Big Media reporters aren’t arrogant. I’d hate to see what that looks like.

[Guest post by DRJ]

Two weeks ago today, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer met with President Obama in the Oval Office. The talked cordially but without reaching an agreement on immigration and the new Arizona law. Afterward, Brewer noted that Obama discussed sending more federal resources to the border:

“Brewer said Obama agreed to send staffers to Arizona “in a couple of weeks” to discuss using more federal resources to tighten the border, including allocating 1,200 National Guard troops and $500 million more in funds for border protection and law enforcement.

“He assured us that the majority of those resources would be coming to Arizona,” Brewer said.”

Apparently that was wishful thinking because it’s been two weeks and all the Obama Administration has done is close a federal wildlife area on the Arizona-Mexico border and make clear its intention to sue Arizona (via Hillary Clinton, who says “everyone” is committed to immigration reform). Everyone is committed if by “everyone” Hillary Clinton means 34% of Americans, because that’s how many people agree with Obama’s views on immigration.

And those resources and staffers Obama said he would send to Arizona? Sounds like they are more likely to be lawyers than security for the border.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad was indicted on 10 counts of terrorism, conspiracy and weapons counts.

The article states Shahzad cooperated for 2 weeks before he asked for a lawyer. The authorities initially declined to advise him of his Miranda rights, claiming a public safety exception.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Jobless claims rose ___ [join me in filling in the blank] last week:

“The number of Americans seeking jobless benefits last week unexpectedly rose to a one-month high, indicating firings are staying elevated even as the U.S. economy grows.”

The experts explain why this isn’t good news, although we non-experts have a good idea why more jobless Americans is a bad thing:

“The labor market is not improving,” said Steven Ricchiuto, chief economist at Mizuho Securities USA Inc. in New York. “If you really are going to have a sustainable recovery, you need the labor market to improve.”

I guess this means June’s numbers won’t look that good either.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

BP CEO Tony Hayward is appearing before a Congressional committee today regarding the Oil Spill and Texas Congressman Joe Barton apologized to Hayward and BP:

“In his opening statement, Barton apologized to BP for the fund and its circumstances.

“I’m ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday,” Barton said. “I think it is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown. In this case, a $20-billion shakedown with the attorney general of the United States, who is legitimately conducting a criminal investigation and has every right to do so to protect the interests of the American people, participating in what amounts to a $20-billion slush fund. It is unprecedented in our nation’s history.”

Barton later apologized for his apology but was more direct in a statement issued in his name later: “I apologize for using the term “shakedown,” and I retract my apology to BP.”

Democrats claim they were appalled by Barton’s statement.

— DRJ

[Guest post by Jack Dunphy]

A Seattle police officer is in hot water over dishing out a bit of the rough stuff to a teenage girl. I explain today at Pajamas Media. A sample:

So the question then becomes, if a cop is assaulted by someone of his own approximate proportions, how should that cop respond? Should he be circumscribed in that response, to his possible peril, merely because it is a woman or a girl who has assaulted him? Had it been me in that situation, I might not have hit Rosenthal in the face, but I surely would have hit her somewhere.

–Jack Dunphy