16 Year Old Hannah Smith Missing Since New Year’s Day, Janaury 1, 2012, in East Greenbush, NY (UPDATE: Found Safe)

16 year old Hannah Smith has been missing since New Year’s Day in East Greenbush, NY. Hannah went missing in the early hours of January 1, 2012; foul play is not expected. Hannah was last seen at about 12:45 AM January 1 when her father, Stephen Smith, kissed her good night after a family New Year’s Eve Party. Hannah left the family home some where between 1 AM  and 8 AM. Hannah Smith left with her cell phone, iPod and laptop computer, but not their chargers.

According to reports, Hannah Smith suffered a traumatic brain injury two years ago during a terrible car accident when she was hot by a drunk driver. As per the family, her brain injury affects her ability her make good decisions. Things have been a struggle ever since the accident. Some friends have mentioned that she talked about running away.

“She’s very precious to me and it’s breaking my heart I don’t know if she’s safe,” said Hannah’s father Stephen.

Hannah went missing during the early morning hours on New Year’s Day. Her parents are worried about her state of mind when she left. Foul play is not suspected.

Hannah suffered a traumatic brain injury two years ago during a car accident. A drunken driver slammed his truck into the car Hannah was in with her father in November 2009. Every day since has been a struggle.

“She has issues being extremely vulnerable,” Loriann said.

HELP FIND HANNAH SMITH FACEBOOK

Pic – Facebook

Description of Hannah Smith:

 5’5” tall
weighing 115 pounds
with brown hair
green eyes.

Local Police have reviewed Hannah’s Facebook page to try and determine whether there are any clues as to where she may have gone. Could she have met someone on-line? On Thursday blood hounds traced the Hannah’s  scent from the family home on Meadow Lane to Thomas Street, about a half mile away. It is possible that she met some one at this location and was picked up.  The family believes that she might be headed  for New York City or New Jersey.

If anyone has any information regarding missing Hannah Smith, please contact the East Greenbush Police Department at 518-479-1212.

UPDATE I: East Greenbush teenager Hannah Smith found safe late Saturday night and reunited with her family.

East Greenbush Police say they located Hannah Saturday and that she is now in the care of her parents, Loriann and Stephen.

FOX23 News spoke with Loriann Sunday morning. The family is asking for privacy, saying they are happy to have Hannah home, but this situation is not over yet.

US Navy Rescues Iranian Ship & Sailors held by Somali Pirates … Because America is Just So Evil … Iran Says a “welcome and humanitarian act”

How must the following story be reported in Iran to its people? AMERICA TO THE RESCUE …

Talk about your ironies … The US Navy ship was in the area due to Iranian hostilities. Once again, America to the rescue! The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Kidd responded to a distress call from the Iranian vessel, , the Al Molai, that had been held captive for more than 40 days, by Somali pirates. The result, the US cavalry to the rescue and 13 Iranian fishing sailors were saved. A U.S. Navy team boarded the ship and detained 15 suspected Somali pirates.

A U.S. Navy destroyer has rescued an Iranian fishing boat that had been commandeered by suspected pirates just days after Tehran warned the U.S. to keep its warships out of the Persian Gulf.

American forces flying off the guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd responded to a distress call from the Iranian vessel, the Al Molai, which had been held captive for more than 40 days, the U.S. Navy said Friday. The Kidd was sailing in the Arabian Sea, after leaving the Persian Gulf, when it came to the sailors’ aid.

Image that? The US Navy ship was in the area due to the Iranian government in Tehran threats to cut off the Strait of Hormuz. We have been told by Iranian officials that the US is no longer welcome in the Gulf. I bet these Iranian fishing sailors rescued by the US Navy beg to differ. Whether at odds with a country or not, the United States is always there to lend a helping hand … A note to the haters of America, “It’s what we do.”

“It’s what we do. And it’s what we do in that part of the world. We get a distress call, as we did in this case, even though it came from an Iranian ship. When the pirates went after them, we respond to those calls,” Panetta said. “We did what we have to do in that situation. I think it just sends an important message to the world that the United States is going to abide by international rules and international order, and that’s exactly what we did here.”

This is what separates the Unites states from the other countries that US “haters” try to compare us to and say we are the same. Could we have expected the Iranian government to have come to a US boats rescue? Hmm? Not unless they wanted to take possession of the boat like a military drone.

OH, THE IRONY

UPDATE I: First the irony and now for something completely different … Wow, how much worldwide exposure did this humanitarian act get … Iran has finally commented and states that the  January 5 US Navy operation was a “welcome and humanitarian act.”

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told Iran’s Arabic-language broadcaster, Al-Alam, that “all nations should display such behavior.”

“We consider the actions of the U.S. forces in saving the lives of the Iranian seamen to be a humanitarian and positive act and we welcome such behavior,” Mehmanparast was quoted as saying.

Post Iowa Caucus … Mitt Romney Up Big in New New Hampshire Polls with 20 Point Lead, Santorum Sees Modest Bounce

With just a few days to go before New Hampshire primary, Romney with commanding lead.

Following the Iowa Caucus 8 vote narrow victory by Mitt Romney over Rick Santorum, the former Massachusetts Governor appears to be up big in the polls for the New Hampshire primary. According to three polls, Mitt Romney has a commanding lead in the Granite state of NH. Romney is in the lead in New Hampshire; however, it appears that Santorum has received a modest bounce as well. It is impossible to imagine that Mitt Romney will not win NH; however, the real question is whether the second place candidate will be Santorum or Paul and if that individual will get more than 20% of the vote.

A Suffolk University poll for Boston-based WHDH-TV shows Mitt Romney up big with an overwhelming 40%, in second is Ron Paul with 17% and Rick Santorum has surged into third with 11%.

An NBC/Marist poll, Romney receives 42% of likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire, followed by Ron Paul with 22, and Rick Santorum at 13%. Although Romney has a commanding lead in NH and it is pretty much a forgone conclusion that the race will be called much quicker primary night in New Hampshire, than that of the Iowa Cuacus, the poll shows that Santorum has made considerable gains from 2% to 13% in a month.

More than a month ago – in an NBC-Marist poll conducted Nov. 28-30 – Romney stood at 39 percent, Gingrich at 24 percent, Paul at 16 percent, Huntsman at 9 percent, Perry at 3 percent and Santorum at 2 percent.

The University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll conducted for WMUR-TV also shows Romney up big in New Hampshire prior to next weeks primary and Santorum with an increase. The poll shows Romney leading the way with 43% of the vote, Paul in second with 18%, Santorum in third up from 4% to 11%, and Gingrich and Huntsman trailing the pack.

More polling data and analysis at the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity. Also, the most recent Rasmussen poll shows a major shake up in the GOP race, Santorum up big; however, Romney up as well.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Republican Primary Voters in New Hampshire finds Romney earning 42% support. Texas Congressman Ron Paul is a distant second with 18% of the vote, followed by former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, hot off his photo finish with Romney in the Iowa caucuses, at 13%.

According to the Real Clear Politics average polling, Romney up by 21% in the Granite state.

Senator Marco Rubio (FL-R) to Obama … You are Turning America into a “Deadbeat Nation”

Is this the “Hope & Change” America was promised … a deadbeat nation?

US Senator Marco Rubio (FL-R) fired off a scathing yet accurate letter to President Obama stating that during his first term and the lack of leadership from The One,  Obama is turning America into a “deadbeat nation”. With record number of Americans on food stamps, millions unemployed and a record federal national debt, Obama answer is to continue his reckless spending and European-like nanny state policies.

The entire letter can be read HERE.

In a scathing letter sent to Barack Obama this morning, Senator Marco Rubio said that under the President’s first term in office, “more and more people have come to believe that America is becoming a deadbeat nation.”

Rubio went on to pledge that he would challenge any further increase in the debt ceiling, arguing that “we [Congress] need to make it routine to actually spend no more than we take in.” In the letter obtained by HUMAN EVENTS, the Florida Senator said that President Obama’s upcoming request to increase the debt ceiling by a whopping $1.2 trillion will cause the nation’s public debt to surpass the $16 trillion mark.

“I will oppose your request to continue borrowing and spending recklessly.”

[...]

If President Obama led the charge to reduce the country’s unsustainable debt in mid 2011 rather than punt the enterprise to a “Super Committee,” asserted Rubio, we’d already be on a pathway toward economic growth and prosperity. “Unfortunately, the first three years of your presidency have been a profile in leadership failure.”

America cannot afford another four more years of Obama, let alone the damage he might cause in the next year prior to the 2012 election.

Joran Van der Sloot Trial in Murder of Stephany Flores in Peru Begins Today … Then Extortion Charges in US?

Finally, two murders later … Joran Van der Sloot will be tried in a court of law, it’s been a long time in coming.

Joran Van der Sloot murder trial of 21 year old Stephany Flores begins in Peru today. Van der Sloot is accused of murdering Stephany Flores on May 30, 2010, five years to the day of the disappearance and  presumed death of Natalee Holloway in Aruba. Joran Van der Sloot admits to killing Stephany Flores; however, he claims, as per his attorney  Luis Jimenez Navarro, that the murder was not premeditated. Joran Van der Sloot was charged last year with “qualified murder” and simple robbery, that  together could carry a sentence of up to 30 years in prison.

Joran van der Sloot goes on trial Friday in Peru, ready to admit to killing a 21-year-old woman while planning to fight more stringent charges that could land him more time in prison, his lawyer said.

About six and a half years ago, the Dutch national was considered the prime suspect in the case of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway, who vanished while on a graduation trip to the Caribbean island of Aruba. He was arrested twice but never charged in connection with Holloway’s disappearance, which is still unsolved.

Yet van der Sloot’s trial in another high-profile case, which his lawyer said has a tenuous connection with the Holloway story, is set to go forward Friday.

The 24-year-old is accused of killing Stephany Flores in his Lima hotel room in May 2010. Police say that he took money and bank cards from her wallet and fled to Chile, where he was arrested a few days later.

According to Radio Netherlands, United States authorities are currently involved in negotiations with the Peruvian government to have Van der Sloot extradited to the US for trial immediately after his trial in Peru ends to face trial and extortion charges as he tried to extort $250,000 from Beth Holloway, mom of missing Natalee Holloway.

One thing is for certain, Peru has an opportunity to do what Aruba refused to do … provide justice for a murder victim. This time Joran Van der Sloot does not have pappa Sloot and his connections to get him out of this one. Joran, its time to face the music for the first time in your life.

For more updates and discussion, go to Scared Monkeys Forum: Natalee Holloway/Stephany Flores Case Discussion threads.