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July
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- Barker's Newsbites: Friday, July 30, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, July 29, 2010
- U.S. v. Arizona -- No. CV 10-1413-PHX-SRB
- Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, July 28, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, July 27, 2010
- Summer Reading 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Monday, July 26, 2010
- Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., July 24 & 25, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Friday, July 23, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, July 22, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, July 21, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, July 20, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Monday, July 19, 2010
- Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., July 17 & 18, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Friday, July 16, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, July 15, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, July 14, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, July 13, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Monday, July 12, 2010
- Deputy Assistant Attorney General Julie Fernandes
- Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., July 10 & 11
- Barker's Newsbites: Friday, July 9, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, July 8, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, July 7, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, July 6, 2010
- Weekend Newsbites: Sat., Sun., & Mon., July 3/4/5
- Barker's Newsbites: Friday, July 2, 2010
- Operation Wetback
- Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, July 1, 2010
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July
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About Me
- William R. Barker
- Pearl River, NY High School Class of '81; Northeastern University, Boston, MA Class of '87.
11 comments:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/38054214
[T]he unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 9.5% from 9.7%...
* BUT I DOUBT YOU'RE GOING TO HEAR MANY DEMOCRATS CLAIMING "UNEMPLOYMENT IS GOING DOWN." (*SMIRK*) WHY...? BECAUSE...
[The "decline"] was largely due to more people dropping out of the labor force.
(*SMIRK*)
The US economy lost 125,000 jobs in June...
The average workweek edged down to 34.1 hours from 34.2 hours in May.
(*ROLLING MY EYES*) (*ARMS RAISED TOWARD THE SKY*)
* BASICALLY, FOLKS, AS I'VE NOTED OFTEN IN THE PAST, THE GOVERNMENT NUMBERS ARE UNRELIABLE ON AT LEAST THREE COUNTS:
1) MANY OF THE NUMBERS ARE SIMPLY "ESTIMATES" BASED UPON SURVEY DATA. (NOTE THE CONSTANTLY "REVISED" DATA NOTATIONS.)
2) THE GOVERNMENT DEFINITIONS ARE DELIBERATELY SKEWED. (EXAMPLE: IF YOU WERE COLLECTING UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS AND THESE BENEFITS RAN OUT, YOU'RE THEN SUBTRACTED FROM THE UNEMPLOYMENT ROLLS - WHETHER YOU'VE LANDED A NEW JOB OR NOT.)
3) THE GOVERNMENT IS KNOWN FOR "CREATIVE ACCOUNTING." (EXAMPLE: CENSUS WORKERS WERE HIRED THEN LET GO THEN HIRED AGAIN THEN LET GO AGAIN THEN HIRED AGAIN... AND EACH TIME THE SAME INDIVIDUAL WAS RE-HIRED THE GOVERNMENT COUNTED HIM OR HER AS A "NEW HIRE.")
http://www.lohud.com/article/20100606/NEWS03/6060403/Former-Lederle-employees-mourn-Pfizer-layoffs-lost-way-of-life
* READ THIS AND TELL ME AMERICA ISN'T IN DECLINE. I DARE YOU. (*HOLDING BACK TEARS*)
Pfizer, the latest owner of the 100-year-old pharmaceutical plant in Pearl River, said last month it was ceasing manufacturing at the factory and laying off two-thirds of its work force by 2014.
Nearly 2,000 of the 3,000 positions at the facility when Wyeth merged with Pfizer in October will be cut.
* AND THAT CURRENT 3,000 FIGURE IS BUT A FRACTION OF THE LABOR FORCE WHICH WOULD BE EMPLOYED WERE THE PLANT TO OPERATE AT FULL CAPACITY.
The ripple effect from the loss of thousands of good-paying jobs is worrying elected officials as they contemplate loss of tax revenue and small-business owners as they imagine many of their customers out of work.
The people who were given pink slips or expect to get laid off, often after working there for decades, are finding an unforgiving job market.
"This is a high-level work force - where are we going to get jobs?" asked Valley Cottage resident Jane Ripa, who was laid off from Pfizer two weeks ago after 21 years. "Who is going to want to live here? The value of houses will go down, taxes will go up."
Laid-off Pfizer employees aren't hopeful. Ripa, for example, started at Lederle 21 years ago as a laboratory technician. She went back to school while she was working to get a bachelor's degree in chemistry and then a master's degree in business administration. She watched over the years as many products made in Pearl River were taken away to be made in other places, many overseas.
The only items now manufactured at the Rockland plant are Centrum vitamins and parts of the Prevnar vaccine against pneumococcal bacteria.
Centrum now will be manufactured at Pfizer plants in Montreal and Puerto Rico, while Prevnar will be made at plants in Ireland and Belgium.
* MONTREAL... PUERTO RICO... IRELAND... BELGIUM...??? IN OTHER WORDS, F--K THE AMERICAN WORKER.
Former employees say the lost manufacturing jobs can't be replaced. Data collected by the state Department of Labor back them up. ... "Manufacturing is what made this country great," Ripa said. "Now we're sending those jobs to other countries, and the only jobs we have left are service jobs that don't pay well."
* GOD HELP THIS ONCE GREAT COUNTRY.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/congress/Dems-refuse-compromise-to-extend-unemployment-benefits-97625324.html
[The Democrat-controlled] Congress adjourns this week for the July Fourth recess without having passed a bill to extend unemployment insurance benefits to 1.3 million people who started losing them this month. ... Democratic leaders have rejected several offers by the GOP to vote for the bill if at least some of it is paid for.
Republicans...stood firm in their argument that extending benefits should not add to the deficit.
[Sen. George] Voinovich [R-Ohio] told [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid [D-Nev.] he would vote for extending benefits if at least half of the extension could be paid for with unused money from the $787 billion stimulus package.
"I came to the table with a fair compromise, and the ball is in their court," said Voinovich, whose state suffers from a 10.7% unemployment rate.
* PERSONALLY, THE ONLY "COMPROMISE" I WANT TO SEE IS ALL OF THE EXTENSION PAID FOR WITH ANY EXTENSION STRUCTURED AS TO FADE OUT WEEK BY WEEK OVER THE LIFE OF THE EXTENSION.
The House passed a sixth-month extension on Thursday, but the Senate was long gone by then...
(*SNORT*)
On Wednesday, the Senate rejected a measure to extend benefits, with most Republicans and one Democrat, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., opposed to the bill because it would add more than $33 billion to the nation's $1.3 trillion deficit. The Senate came up just one vote short of passage, with Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, Maine Republicans, voting yes.
* SNOWE AND COLLINS SHOULD BE EJECTED FROM THE GOP. I MEAN, THINK ABOUT IT... ANOTHER WAY TO PHRASE THE ABOVE WOULD BE: "EXCEPT FOR BEN NELSON EVERY SINGLE DEMOCRAT - WITH OLYMPIA SNOWE AND SUSAN COLLINS JOINING THE DEMOCRATS - VOTED TO ADD MORE THAN $33 BILLION TO THE NATION'S $1.3 TRILLION DEFICIT.
After the bill failed, Senate Minroity Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., offered a compromise that would extend benefits for two months and pay for it fully with unused stimulus funding. But Reid turned it down.
(*SHRUG*)
* SO... WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE DEMOCRATIC PLAYBOOK HERE? CYNICAL DOESN'T BEGIN TO DESCRIBE IT.
"The only reason the unemployment extension hasn't passed is because Democrats simply refuse to pass a bill that doesn't add to the debt," McConnell said. "That's it. That's the only difference between what they've offered and what we've offered."
McConnell pointed out that earlier this month, 57 Democrats voted for an amendment offered by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., that would also have used stimulus money to pay for some of the benefits. The amendment fell three votes short of the 60 needed for passage, but Reid was among the supporters.
* FOLKS... THIS STUNNINGLY CYNICAL HYPOCRISY SHOCKS EVEN ME...
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-jobs-report-20100703,0,3397439.story?track=rss
* AS A COMPANION PIECE TO COMMENT #1 CONCERNING THE "DROP" IN UNEMPLOYMENT...
Although the jobless rate in June fell from 9.7% in May, that reflected a big drop of 652,000 people in the labor force over the month.
* NOTICE THE "FELL" VS. "DROP."
With the economic recovery weakening and many employers reluctant to hire, many more unemployed people may have quit looking for work, which would push down the jobless rate.
(*SHRUG*)
* SEE WHAT I WAS GETTING AT NOW WITH COMMENT #1...???
In fact, the percentage of the overall working-age population that is in the labor force fell last month to 64.7% - near a 25-year low.
* "...NEAR A 25-YEAR LOW." YEP... THE AGE OF OBAMA, FOLKS... THE AGE OF OBAMA...
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=37893
Last night, as part of a procedural vote on the emergency war supplemental bill, House Democrats attached a document that “deemed as passed” a non-existent $1.12 trillion budget.
* YEP. THIS IS "REAL" NEWS, NOT SATIRE. THIS STUFF REALLY HAPPENS IN THE AGE OF OBAMA!
The execution of the “deeming” document allows Democrats to start spending money for Fiscal Year 2011 without the pesky constraints of a budget.
* CAN'T YOU JUST HEAR REID AND PELOSI DOING THEIR BEST MEXICAN BANDITO IMPRSSIONS CRYING, "WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING BUDGETS!"
The procedural vote passed 215-210 with no Republicans voting in favor and 38 Democrats crossing the aisle to vote against deeming the faux budget resolution passed.
* AGAIN... A CLEAR CONTRAST BETWEEN REPUBLICANS OF 2010 VS. DEMOCRATS OF 2010. AS FOR THOSE 38 DEMOCRATS... NO DOUBT THEY WERE GIVEN "PERMISSION" BY PELOSI TO VOTE AS THEY DID. THE REASON PELOSI WOULD DO THIS WOULD BE TO HELP THE MOST ENDANGERED DEMOCRATS IN THEIR RE-ELECTION BIDS. AND WHY NOT... PELOSI HAD THE VOTES TO PASS THE BILL WITHOUT THOSE 38 DEMS. (YOU KNOW SHE KEPT THAT FIVE VOTE MARGIN ON PURPOSE JUST AS A "SAFETY MARGIN" IN CASE OTHER DEMOCRATS DESERTED THEIR SINKING SHIP.)
Never before - since the creation of the Congressional budget process - has the House failed to pass a budget, failed to propose a budget then deemed the non-existent budget as passed as a means to avoid a direct, recorded vote on a budget, but still allow Congress to spend taxpayer money.
House Budget Committee Ranking Member Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) warned this was the green light for Democrats to continue their out-of-control spending virtually unchecked. “Facing a record deficit and a tidal wave of debt, House Democrats decided it was politically inconvenient to put forward a budget and account for their fiscal recklessness. With no priorities and no restraints, the spending, taxing, and borrowing will continue unchecked for the coming fiscal year,” Ryan said. “The so-called ‘budget enforcement resolution’ enforces no budget, but instead provides a green light for the Appropriators to continue spending, exacerbating our looming fiscal crisis.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100702/ap_on_bi_ge/us_med_er_crowding_8
Emergency rooms, the only choice for patients who can't find care elsewhere, may grow even more crowded with longer wait times under the nation's new health law.
* "COULD," HUH? (*SMIRK*)
The biggest users of emergency rooms by far are Medicaid recipients. And the new health insurance law will increase their ranks by about 16 million.
* "COULD," HUH? (*SNICKER*)
There's already a shortage of front-line family physicians in some places and experts think that will get worse.
* "THINK," HUH? (*SNORT*)
* HEY... PERHAPS OBMAMA COULD SIMPLY "CREATE" 8.5 MILLION NEW "DOCTORS" INSTANTANEOUSLY VIA EXECUTIVE ORDER? OR... PERHAPS CONGRESS COULD SIMPLY "DEEM" THOSE PRESENTLY UNEMPLOYED TO BE PHYSICIANS!
(*SARCASTIC CHUCKLE*)
[E]xperts point to Massachusetts, the model for federal health overhaul where a 2006 law requires insurance for almost everyone. Reports from the state find ER visits continuing to rise since the law passed - contrary to hopes of its backers who reasoned that expanding coverage would give many people access to doctors offices.
(*SMIRK*)
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7089677.html
More than two-thirds of Texas schoolchildren flunked the state's physical fitness test this year...
* AGAIN... I'M BEGGING YOU... TELL ME WITH A STRAIGHT FACE THAT THE COUNTRY ISN'T COLLAPSING!
http://www.wwl.com/Feds-taking-the-weekend-off-in-oil-fight-/7603356
One local [Louisiana] official is voicing his frustration over what he calls a "nine-to-five" attitude by some federal authorities in the face of the [Gulf] oil disaster.
Jefferson Councilman Chris Roberts says the parish has a plan to build rock levees to help keep oil out of inland waterways like Barataria Bay.
Roberts told WWL First News that after they submitted the proposal to the Army Corps of Engineers last week, Corps officials said last Friday that discussion on the plan would have to be put on hold until the following Monday, because the Corps office would be closed for the weekend.
* DO YOU BELIEVE THIS FRIGG'N $HIT, PEOPLE...?!?! OH, YEAH... OBAMA IS RIGHT ON TOP OF THIS... (*GRITTING MY TEETH*)
"Whoever reviews permits, and whatever departments and stakeholders and agencies need to give approval for this...should be working around the clock, just like the people are that are trying to get this oil picked up," Roberts said.
* YOU'D THINK, RIGHT...?!?! BUT, HEY... THIS IS THE AGE OF OBAMA... (*SIGH*)
According to Roberts, after cooling their heels for the weekend, parish officials are still awaiting an answer. He says, however, he would be very surprised to get a response over the long federal holiday weekend to come.
Roberts told WWL First News that even if some federal responders take the 4th of July weekend off, many parish workers would be working overtime.
"We don't take breaks, this is an emergency for us," he said. "We're going to continue plugging away at it."
* HMM... I WONDER HOW MANY GOLF GAMES OBAMA WILL GET IN THIS "HOLIDAY WEEKEND?" I WONDER HOW MANY PARTIES NANCY PELOSI WILL ATTEND... HOW MANY FUNDRAISERS HARRY REID WILL ATTEND... (*SIGH*)
* FOLKS... THE INCOMPETENCE OBAMA HAS SHOWN IN "DEALING WITH" THE GULF OIL SPILL IS NOT AN ABERRATION; THIS IS THE "NEW NORMAL." GOD HELP US...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703426004575339650877298556.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_opinion
The press and Internet are full of straightforward suggestions for easy ways of improving the [Gulf oil spill] cleanup, but the federal government is resisting these remedies.
First, the Environmental Protection Agency can relax restrictions on the amount of oil in discharged water, currently limited to 15 parts per million.
In normal times, this rule sensibly controls the amount of pollution that can be added to relatively clean ocean water. But this is not a normal time. Various skimmers and tankers (some of them very large) are available that could eliminate most of the oil from seawater, discharging the mostly clean water while storing the oil onboard. While this would clean vast amounts of water efficiently, the EPA is unwilling to grant a temporary waiver of its regulations.
* INSANITY. (EITHER OBAMA OR THE DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS COULD OVERRULE THE EPA - NEITHER HAS!)
Next, the Obama administration can waive the Jones Act, which restricts foreign ships from operating in U.S. coastal waters. Many foreign countries (such as the Netherlands and Belgium) have ships and technologies that would greatly advance the cleanup. So far, the U.S. has refused to waive the restrictions of this law and allow these ships to participate in the effort.
* AGAIN... INSANITY... ABSOLUTELY IRRESPONSIBLE...
[T]he federal government can free American-based skimmers. Of the 2,000 skimmers in the U.S. (not subject to the Jones Act or other restrictions), only 400 have been sent to the Gulf. Federal barriers have kept the others on stations elsewhere in case of other oil spills, despite the magnitude of the current crisis.
(*HEADACHE*) (The Coast Guard and the EPA issued a joint temporary rule suspending the regulation on June 29 - more than 70 days after the spill.)
* THANK GOD FOR SMALL FAVORS... (*SIGH*)
The Obama administration can also permit more state and local initiatives. The media endlessly report stories of county and state officials applying federal permits to perform various actions, such as building sand berms around the Louisiana coast. In some cases, they were forbidden from acting. In others there have been extensive delays in obtaining permission.
* IF YOU'RE NOT GONNA HELP, MR. PRESIDENT, THEN FOR CHRIST'S SAKE GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY...!!!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703571704575340472754546204.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion
New York's total annual Medicaid spending, $52 billion, is 73% more than the national average per enrollee - more than Texas, Florida and North Carolina combined.
The federal government covers 50% of the cost.
Since New York spends so much, however, it's been rewarded by Obama's direct stimulus aid to state budgets - specifically through a temporarily enhanced Federal Medicaid Assistance Percentage (FMAP), which has boosted New York's federal match to just over 56%.
In February, President Obama's 2011 budget proposed a six-month, $28 billion extension of enhanced FMAP funding - on top of the $90 billion from last year's stimulus bill.
[New York's Democratic Governor, David] Paterson immediately plugged New York state's $1.1 billion share of the added money into his 2010-11 fiscal plan.
* EVER HEAR THE OLD SAYING, "DON'T COUNT YOUR CHICKENS BEFORE THEY'RE HATCHED"?
[Soon after], spooked by the rising national outcry over federal spending, the House of Representatives removed the added Medicaid money from its version of a broader "jobs bill." Enhanced FMAP funds are also stalled in the U.S Senate.
* OOPS...!!! IMMEDIATE JUMP IN NYS's BUDGET SHORTFALL OF $1.1 BILLION!
Earlier this week Mr. Paterson joined other governors in Washington to beg for more FMAP...
As [New York's] Lt. Gov. Ravitch wisely noted in January in these pages, much of the federal government's recession "relief" has come with strings attached that actually make it harder for states to cut spending on health care, transportation or education. "The federal stimulus has led states to increase overall spending in these core areas," wrote Mr. Ravitch, "which in effect has only raised the height of the cliff from which state spending will fall if stimulus funds evaporate."
With an assist from the Obama administration, New York's cliff just got even higher.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/107021-steele-says-he-supports-afghan-war-after-controversial-comments
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele tried to put out a political firestorm Friday that erupted over his comments suggesting the war in Afghanistan cannot be won.
* WHY SHOULD THERE BE A FIRESTORM; STEELE'S RIGHT!
Steele was fending off calls for his resignation from conservative commentators for his comment that the Afghanistan war was not a conflict the United States wanted to engage in.
* "CONSERVATIVE" COMMENTORS...??? SO THE HILL WRITES. MY VIEW IS THAT THE TRUE CONSERVATIVES AGREE THAT WE ARE WASTING LIVES AND TREASURE IN AFGHANISTAN AND HAVE BEEN FOR SOME TIME.
Steele at a Thursday fundraiser questioned why President Barack Obama did not understand that "one thing you don't do, is engage in a land war in Afghanistan."
* SEE...! STEELE CAN SAY INTELLIGENT THINGS WHEN HE PUTS HIS MIND TO IT!
The remarks prompted a flurry of criticism from Democrats and conservative commentators, who noted that Steele's statement seemed in conflict with his party, which broadly supports the Afghanistan war.
* YA MEAN "THE PARTY" WHICH GOT ITS ASS KICKED OUT OF POWER IN 2006 AND AGAIN IN 2010? THAT PARTY...???
* THESE "CONSERVATIVE COMMENTORS" BETTER THINK TWICE. POLL SELF-IDENTIFIED TEA PARTIERS. WE'RE THE ONLY ONES WHO CAN PUT THE GOP BACK IN POWER COME NOVEMBER. SPEAKING FOR ME, MYSELF AND I, "WE" WANT OUT OF AFGHANISTAN!
Steele released a statement Friday afternoon emphasizing his support for Obama's decision to send more troops to Afghanistan.
* BECAUSE STEELE'S A COWARDLY BACKSTABBING DOUCHE BAG. (*FROWN*)
* MY GOD! TO TURN ON A DIME LIKE THAT... (*SHOCKED, APPALLED EXPRESSION*) WHAT A PATHETIC LOSER...
He also described the war as a "necessary one" in that statement.
* A$$HOLE...!!! BACKSLIDDING, HYPOCRITICAL PIECE OF GARBAGE... (*GRITTING MY TEETH*)
"We must also remember that after the tragedy of September 11, 2001, it is also a necessary one. That is why I supported the decision to increase our troop force and, like the entire United States Senate, I support General Petraeus’ confirmation. The stakes are too high for us to accept anything but success in Afghanistan."
(*MASSIVE MIGRAINE HEADACHE*)
* GOD HELP OUR POOR SERVICE MEN AND WOMEN... BOTH THE DEMS AND THE GOPers WILL SACRIFICE THEIR LIVES (AND OUR TAX DOLLARS) IN SEARCH OF POLITICAL GAIN. (IN OBAMA'S CASE IN FEAR OF POLITICAL LOSS.)
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