It appears that CBS’s 60 Minutes has, once again, has broadcast a bogus story about a Republican politician based on the story of a serial liar — and, again, did not do basic following up and fact-checking. Who believes any of this network’s original work any more?

Update, 11:40 a.m.: Michelle Malkin — “If 60 Minutes had an iota of credibility left after Rathergate, that last remnant is now gone….. Give thanks for the Internet.”

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Patrick Poole has e-mail evidence that a volunteer campaign official working for the candidate I refer to as BOOHOO (Barack O-bomba Overseas Hussein “Obambi” Obama) is “calling for volunteers to spread out to all of the area mosques in Central Ohio for afternoon prayers to bring in the vote …..” Those who objected to World Harvest Church’s ties to Ken Blackwell’s Ohio gubernatorial campaign in 2006 haven’t been heard from.

Update: Clarification of the source added. A “volunteer” can be and often is a campaign official. I will rely on the link’s characterization of that person as such until someone proves the that the e-mail’s author isn’t carrying out an “official” assignment.

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IBDeditorials.com on NAFTA (HT Instapundit):

….. the NAFTA pact wasn’t shoved through by fiat. It was negotiated over years by the Clinton administration, with major input from both Republican and Democratic Congresses.
Everyone got his or her say at the time, and after many debates, the agreement passed both houses in late 1993.

Unlike our trade with China, which is subject to tariffs but contains no major labor or environmental demands, NAFTA did include labor and environmental standards, with the trade-off for Mexico and Canada being the permanence of the treaty.

Subsequent ones, such as 2007’s Peru free trade agreement, and the nearly identical pending Colombia pact, required even tougher labor and environmental standards to ensure passage.

….. Threatening to renege on a permanent treaty — as Clinton and Obama are doing through their identical vows to “opt out” of the deal — signals loudly that America’s word is no longer its bond. A permanent pact with the U.S., it turns out, isn’t so permanent.

An approach like that toward our treaty partners sends a chilling signal to our friends. It’s Obama and Clinton who need to cool it.

Ohio Democrats who are claiming NAFTA is to blame for the state’s economic problems need to tell me how it can be that next-door Indiana is doing relatively well. A mini-update to that post is that Hoosier state unemployment was 5.1% in December; Ohio’s was 6.0%.

It goes back to December. I missed it then, so I’m catching up on it now.

From Darcy Lever, which is a suburb in Greater Manchester, England (HT Michelle Malkin):

Last updated at 09:52am on 21st December 2007

A woman woke up from a six-week coma to find she had become a mother.

Lisa Allinson, 34, suffered a stroke and slipped into unconsciousness shortly after giving birth to her first child.

She had extensive brain surgery during a long battle to keep her alive.

But as well as suffering partial paralysis and speech problems when she came round, she also suffered memory loss and had no recollection of giving birth - until her husband Andy presented her with their son Benjamin.

“For the first few days after she came round she did not know who I was and didn’t realise she had given birth,” said Mr Allinson, 34. “It was a bit of a shock for her to say the least.”

Benjamin was born on June 5, eight days after he was due, and was perfectly healthy.

But a few hours later doctors began to worry when Mrs Allinson, a pharmacist, failed to respond to questions. A scan showed she had suffered a stroke caused by pre-eclampsia, which brings on high blood pressure.

Surgeons at the Royal Preston Hospital carried out brain surgery to relieve pressure on her skull. She had to have half her skull removed and replaced with a metal plate.

Around six weeks later, as Mr Allinson and his wife’s parents Dave and Diane Rawstorne sat by her bedside, she amazed everyone by waking up and looking round. Five months on, she has finally been allowed home.

While she is not yet able to pick Benjamin up, she has been able to hold him and give him a bottle.

Mrs Allinson, from Darcy Lever, near Bolton, said: “It is brilliant to be home for Christmas and be with my wonderful husband and son. I don’t remember much of what happened and I don’t really want to. But I am determined that I will get better.”

Go here for the rest of the story.