Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, August 31, 2010


W.W.J.B.D?
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8 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/08/30/who-is-the-man-behind-the-ground-zero-mosque/

As the Ground Zero mosque controversy continues to simmer, questions continue about the background of the man who wants to build the $100 million Islamic cultural and religious center.

* I HAVEN'T COMMENTED MUCH ON THIS WHOLE MOSQUE/ISLAMIC CULTURAL CENTER ISSUE. THIS ARTICLE IS WORTH A NEWSBITE HOWEVER.

[Developer Sharif El-Gamal has often been reluctant to answer questions.

[CBS News] reports the developer’s reluctance to talk may have been related to his prior run-ins with the law.

His most recent arrest was in 2005 for assault on a man he met while working as a waiter at Serafina Restaurant...

* Er... LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT; FIVE YEARS AGO THIS "DEVELOPER" WAS A WAITER...??? (BUT NOW HE'S PREPARED TO BUILD A $100,000,000-PLUS BUILDING...???

He reportedly punched the man, breaking his nose and cheekbone and spit on him. El-Gamal first said he didn’t hit the man, but arrest documents obtained by CBS 2 showed he later conceded “his face could have run into my hand.”

Records showed El-Gamal also had trouble coming up with the $15,000 settlement reached in 2008, and had to pay interest.

* O.K., HERE'S THE DEAL: I WANT TO KNOW HOW THIS GUY WENT FROM WAITER TO MULTI-MILLIONAIRE DEVELOPER IN FIVE YEARS. (REASONABLE QUESTION...?)

El-Gamal also has a number of other arrests on his record: In 1990, he was arrested in Nassau County and pled guilty to disorderly conduct; 1992, he pled guilty in Nassau to DWI and paid a $350 fine; 1993, he pled guilty in Nassau to attempted petit larceny and paid a $100 fine; 1994, arrested for disorderly conduct in Manhattan; 1998, there was another Manhattan disorderly conduct arrest; 1999, yet another Manhattan disorderly conduct arrest.

* IS THIS GUY A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN - OR EVEN A NATURALIZED CITIZEN? IF NOT, I'D SUGGEST HE BE DEPORTED!

El-Gamal also owes over $227,000 in unpaid real estate taxes and a spokesman for the Department of Finance said interest will be added for each and every day its unpaid.

* OH, JEEZ... LET'S HOPE OBAMA DOESN'T FIND OUT - HE MIGHT APPOINT EL-GAMAL TO HIGH FEDERAL OFFICE! (*SMIRK*)

August 31, 2010 at 9:21 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7972863/Afghanistan-bomb-attacks-kill-twenty-one-US-soldiers-in-48-hours.html

Twenty-one American troops have been killed in Afghanistan since Friday in one of the bloodiest periods of the summer.

August 31, 2010 at 10:05 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/083110dntexebjfolo.a5140066.html

U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson awarded eight scholarships last year to her grandsons and a top aide's children - bringing to 23 the number of awards she handed out since 2005 in violation of Congressional Black Caucus Foundation eligibility rules.

The Dallas Morning News reported Sunday that over the last five years, the Dallas Democrat has awarded up to $20,000 in 15 scholarships to two grandsons, two great-nephews, and aide Rod Givens' children between 2005 and 2008. The 2009 awards - reflected in a previously undisclosed list provided Monday by the foundation - push that above $25,000.

* IS IT JUST MY IMAGINATION, OR IS THERE A "STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT" LINK BETWEEN MEMBERSHIP IN THE CBC AND CRIMINAL ACTIVITY AS COMPARED TO MEMBERSHIP IN OTHER HOUSE CAUCUS'?

"That looks bad," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, a watchdog group. "This is just wrong. A member shouldn't do this."

Jan Baran, a top Republican ethics lawyer in Washington whose clients have included former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, said the awards may amount to fraud, given that the applicants and those selecting the winners should have known about the eligibility rules. "If you make factual misrepresentations to obtain money it's usually a form of fraud, either civil or criminal, where you're trying to take possession of money under false pretenses," Baran said. "The question is, who committed the fraud." Baran added that he couldn't think of any congressional ethics case that even remotely resembled these circumstances.

Charity experts say the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation would run afoul of tax laws if it allowed lawmakers to steer money to relatives.

* YA THINK!?!?

Application forms require students to attest that they are not related to a caucus member or their employees, or others connected with the foundation.

Foundation records indicate that more than a third of the foundation scholarships she has awarded since 2005 went to her relatives or those of her aide.

August 31, 2010 at 10:18 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467004575463220571688814.html?mod=WSJ_hps_MIDDLEForthNews

A roadside-bomb attack killed four U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, the latest casualties in a particularly bloody spell that has left 18 service members dead since Saturday.

The deaths bring this month's total to 54, including a Marine killed in fighting in the volatile southern province of Helmand on Friday whose death wasn't announced until Monday night.

August 31, 2010 at 11:07 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704323704575461913267776270.html?mod=WSJ_hps_MIDDLEThirdNews

* YA WANNA GET SICK TO YOUR STOMACH? READ THIS!

Congressional investigators are questioning a half-dozen lawmakers for "possibly" misspending government funds meant to pay for overseas travel, according to people familiar with the matter.

(*SMIRK*)

Congressional rules say the daily travel funds, called a per diem, must be spent on meals, cabs and other travel expenses. But when lawmakers travel, many of their meals and expenses are picked up by other people, such as foreign governmentofficials or U.S. ambassadors. That can leave lawmakers with leftover money. Lawmakers routinely keep the extra funds or spend it on gifts, shopping or to cover their spouses' travel expenses, according to dozens of current and former lawmakers.

* F--KING SCUM!

The cash payments vary according to the cost of living and range from about $25 a day in Kabul to more than $250 a day in one part of Japan. Lawmakers also usually request and receive an additional $50 a day. ("Leftover funds" can add up to more than $1,000 a trip for longer visits to expensive regions.)

* THIEVING BA$TARDS!

Some lawmakers said it has been a longstanding custom of lawmakers in both parties to keep any extra money. If lawmakers weren't allowed to keep leftover travel funds, "you could never get many members traveling," said Mr. Ortiz, the Texas Democrat, in an interview earlier this year.

* AND THAT WOULD BE BAD... HOW AND WHY...???

The per diem program receives little oversight, and no records are kept for how the money is spent or how much is returned to the government after trips.

When lawmakers arrive in a foreign country, U.S. government officials give them an envelope with cash in the local currency. The money is meant to cover three meals and incidental expenses, which federal travel regulations say include transportation and tips for baggage handling and other services.

When lawmakers leave the country, U.S. government officials convert any leftover foreign currency into U.S. dollars.

(*SNORT*) AS OPPOSED TO RETURNING THE UNSPENT FUNDS TO THE EMBASSY FOR FUTURE CONGRESSIONAL TRAVEL EXPENSES!

August 31, 2010 at 11:07 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703369704575461601764263106.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

The President's bad faith...perfectly illustrates the Obama political method: Bipolar rhetoric that lurches between partisan distortion and bipartisan entreaties - all the while governing hard to the Left with Democrats in Congress running the show.

* WELL... DOES THE ABOVE WHIT YOUR APPETITE TO READ MORE? IF SO (AND IT SHOULD!), WHY NOT UTILIZE THE LINK AND READ THE PIECE FOR YOURSELF?

Democrats are trying to keep control of Congress by scaring the wig off grandma with a phantom GOP plot against Social Security. That is not news. Social Security scare tactics have been regular campaign themes since FDR. President Obama's unique contribution is to do this even as he's begging Republicans to help him reduce the deficit and reform entitlement spending.

On the one hand, Mr. Obama has charged his deficit commission with crafting a bipartisan plan to restrain entitlements. "Everything's on the table. That's how this thing's going to work," he said when he created the commission in February. "We now have to, in a gradual way, reduce spending, particularly on those big ticket items" like Social Security, he later added in Racine, Wisconsin. "That's going to be our project for the next couple years."

Yet even as Mr. Obama beseeches Republicans, he and his political allies are playing the Social Security card for all it's worth in this campaign season. This has all the earmarks of a political bait and switch designed to ambush Republicans if they're gullible enough to believe his bipartisan pleas.

* SERIOUSLY... READ THE FULL PIECE; IT'S WORTH YOUR TIME! YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THESE BASTARDS ARE DOING!

Mr. Obama wants the GOP to support entitlement reforms in exchange for tax increases, but when they do he'll pocket the revenue and slam the GOP for the entitlement "cuts." The irony is that the fiscal condition of Social Security could be substantially improved simply by readjusting its actuarial formulas to slow the growth rate of benefits. But Republicans are unlikely to sign on even to that if they're going to be demonized for such a modest "cut" anyway, much less endorse a reform like raising the future retirement age.

* SERIOUSLY... READ THE FULL PIECE!

August 31, 2010 at 11:07 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/31/news/companies/fdic_problem_bank_list/

The government's list of troubled banks hit its highest level since 1993 during the second quarter... The number of banks at risk of failing rose by 53 to 829, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said in its quarterly survey of the nation's banking system.

(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

* THE OBAMA RECOVERY CONTINUES... (*SIGH*)

[Eight hundred and twenty-nine institutions is] nearly double the 416 banks that were on the FDIC's watch list a year ago...

(*SIGH*)

So far this year, 118 banks have failed, with 45 closings during the last quarter. FDIC chief Sheila Bair said she expects 2010 bank failures to exceed last year's tally of 140...

The FDIC...deposit insurance fund, which covers customer deposits when a bank fails...operates in the red, with a deficit of $15.2 billion.

* I'M NOT A CPA... (*PAUSE*)... BUT THAT SOUNDS KINDA BAD... (*SHRUG*)

August 31, 2010 at 11:05 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/politics/Obama-Disses-Gov-Perry-on-Texas-Trip-101875358.html

[Texas] Gov. Rick Perry was denied a meeting with Obama when the president visits Fort Bliss on Tuesday.

Perry spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said the Republican governor had asked to meet with the president on Tuesday to discuss border security.

Cesinger said Monday that White House aides said the president would not be available for such a meeting.

* PRETTY MUCH TELLS YOU ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HOW SINCERE (*SMIRK*) OBAMA IS ABOUT POLITICAL COMPROMISE OR EVEN SIMPLE OPEN DEBATE.

August 31, 2010 at 11:05 PM

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