Haiti’s precarious political and humanitarian situation possibly took a turn for the worst last night. The notorious former dictator of Haiti, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, arrived in Port-Au-Prince via Air France. It’s his first trip back to Haiti after being ousted 25 years ago. But don’t worry, he didn’t come for politics. No, really. He promises.

“I’m not here for politics,” Duvalier told Radio Caraibes. “I’m here for the reconstruction of Haiti.”

A sudden return to the homeland he and his father raped and looted is beyond brazen. The government of Haiti (such as it is) has long promised to put Baby Doc on trial for his crimes should he ever set foot on Haitian soil again. We’ll see if they keep their word.

[Read more about Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier]

You can always count on Sean Penn to say something dumb. He’s truly one of the most ignorant men in Hollywood, possibly in all of America. Worse, he’s also a Red.

His latest idiotic comment was to fellow ignoramus Bill Maher concerning his love affair with Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez:

Penn, appearing on HBO’s "Real Time with Bill Maher" on Friday, defended Chavez during a segment in which he detailed his work with the JP Haitian Relief Organization, which he co-founded.

"Every day, this elected leader is called a dictator here, and we just accept it, and accept it" said Penn, winner of two Best Actor Academy Awards. "And this is mainstream media, who should — truly, there should be a bar by which one goes to prison for these kinds of lies."

I wonder if Penn is advising Chavez since that’s exactly what happens to journalists in Venezuela when they say something Hugo doesn’t like.

This of course comes on the heels of Penn’s comment early last week that he hoped his critics “die screaming of rectal cancer.”

Nice guy.

If you got up early enough this morning you may have read about Obama’s backdoor tax increases soon to hit the middle class — courtesy of Reuters. But if you slept-in you probably have no idea what I’m talking about.

Reuters released a story this morning with the headline Advisory: Backdoor taxes to hit middle class, and it laid out in detail all the tax increases coming our way courtesy of Obama.

Obviously, this kind of information getting out to the voting public is unacceptable to The White House, so not surprisingly the story has since been deleted.

Where the Reuters story once stood remains only this message:

The story Backdoor taxes to hit middle class has been withdrawn. A replacement story will run later in the week.

I guess the reporters are going to rewrite it and then send it to The White House for approval before it goes out again.

Unfortunately for the Hugo Chavez like regime currently occupying 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. I have the original article in it’s entirety for your reading pleasure.

Read this and save a copy so you can refer to it when Obama’s henchmen make the cable rounds and spews lies about their phony policies.

Backdoor taxes to hit middle class

NEW YORK (Reuters.com) –The Obama administration’s plan to cut more than $1 trillion from the deficit over the next decade relies heavily on so-called backdoor tax increases that will result in a bigger tax bill for middle-class families.

In the 2010 budget tabled by President Barack Obama on Monday, the White House wants to let billions of dollars in tax breaks expire by the end of the year — effectively a tax hike by stealth.

While the administration is focusing its proposal on eliminating tax breaks for individuals who earn $250,000 a year or more, middle-class families will face a slew of these backdoor increases.

The targeted tax provisions were enacted under the Bush administration’s Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. Among other things, the law lowered individual tax rates, slashed taxes on capital gains and dividends, and steadily scaled back the estate tax to zero in 2010.

If the provisions are allowed to expire on December 31, the top-tier personal income tax rate will rise to 39.6 percent from 35 percent. But lower-income families will pay more as well: the 25 percent tax bracket will revert back to 28 percent; the 28 percent bracket will increase to 31 percent; and the 33 percent bracket will increase to 36 percent. The special 10 percent bracket is eliminated.

Investors will pay more on their earnings next year as well, with the tax on dividends jumping to 39.6 percent from 15 percent and the capital-gains tax increasing to 20 percent from 15 percent. The estate tax is eliminated this year, but it will return in 2011 — though there has been talk about reinstating the death tax sooner.

Millions of middle-class households already may be facing higher taxes in 2010 because Congress has failed to extend tax breaks that expired on January 1, most notably a "patch" that limited the impact of the alternative minimum tax. The AMT, initially designed to prevent the very rich from avoiding income taxes, was never indexed for inflation. Now the tax is affecting millions of middle-income households, but lawmakers have been reluctant to repeal it because it has become a key source of revenue.

Without annual legislation to renew the patch this year, the AMT could affect an estimated 25 million taxpayers with incomes as low as $33,750 (or $45,000 for joint filers). Even if the patch is extended to last year’s levels, the tax will hit American families that can hardly be considered wealthy — the AMT exemption for 2009 was $46,700 for singles and $70,950 for married couples filing jointly.

Middle-class families also will find fewer tax breaks available to them in 2010 if other popular tax provisions are allowed to expire. Among them:

* Taxpayers who itemize will lose the option to deduct state sales-tax payments instead of state and local income taxes;

* The $250 teacher tax credit for classroom supplies;

* The tax deduction for up to $4,000 of college tuition and expenses;

* Individuals who don’t itemize will no longer be able to increase their standard deduction by up to $1,000 for property taxes paid;

* The first $2,400 of unemployment benefits are taxable, in 2009 that amount was tax-free.

Ouch — that’s gonna leave a mark.

-Chris Jones

It seems as if every time we turn around we see some Hollywood d-bag like Sean Penn rubbing elbows with Hugo Chavez, Castro, or some other nasty dictator or Commie.

Given that actors make a living using freedom of expression and rake in millions of dollars through the capitalist system, it seems odd that Hollywood would have such a love affair with dictators and tyrants.

John Nolte from Big Hollywood explains.

The Times Online has an interesting article about the 10 most decadent dictators in the world. The list is a veritable who’s who of all encompassing tyranny and brutal oppression. Click through to the article to see who has a so-called “pleasure brigade.”

1. Kim Jong-il — Leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea)
2. Ferdinand Marcos — President of Philippines (1965-1986)
3. Nicolae Ceausescu — President of Romania (1967-1989)
4. Saparmurat Niyazov — President of Turkmenistan (1990-2006)
5. Idi Amin — President of Uganda (1971-1979)
6. Joseph Stalin — Leader of the Soviet Union (1923-1953)
7. Mohammed Reza Shah — Shah of Iran (1941-1979)
8. Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti — President of Iraq (1979-2003)
9. Mobutu Sese Soku — President of Zaire (1965-1997)
10. Suharto — President of Indonesia (1967-1998)

The NY Times is reporting today that Queen Elizabeth II has officially stripped Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe of his honory knighthood. The British foreign office says the move was a “mark of revulsion” for his African dictator’s “abject disregard” for Democracy.

The question that really needs to be answered here is how in the hell was Robert Mugabe granted Knighthood? Are they just handing that title out to just anyone these days? The Brits claim he was given Knighthood during a state visit in 1994 when “conditions in Zimbabwe were quite different.”

I’m not sure what “conditions” they’re referring to, but Robert Mugabe has been a vicious third world dictator since the day he took office.

I’m not blaming Britain for having relations with his government, but it’s pretty incredible that a thug like Mugabe would be given Knighthood. Maybe they should have given Knighthood to Mobutu Sese Seko, and other African strong men as well.