Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Now this is good frigg'n news!
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Sen. Lisa Murkowski was booted from office in the Republican primary Tuesday by a little-known conservative lawyer in arguably the biggest political upset of the year.
Joe Miller, backed by Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Express, became the latest newcomer to the national political stage to take down an incumbent in 2010...
Sing it with me, folks...
At the top of your lungs..!
Miller's win was a major victory for the Tea Party Movement and marked the first time it had defeated a sitting senator in a primary.
(Tea Partiers had knocked off Utah Sen. Bob Bennett at a state convention in May.)
Emboldened Tea Partiers have now set their sights on Delaware where they are backing Christine O'Donnell against...Rep. Mike Castle in the GOP Senate primary.
Murkowski is the third senator to lose this year, along with Bennett and Arlen Specter, D-Pa.
(*THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE*)
Throw the bums out, people... throw 'em out!
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100831/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mideast_talks
Palestinian gunmen opened fire Tuesday on an Israeli car in the West Bank and killed four passengers on the eve of a new round of Mideast peace talks in Washington.
The Islamic militant group Hamas claimed responsibility.
* WELL... I SUPPOSE THAT ANSWERS THE QUESTION OF WHETHER OR NOT HAMAS IS A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.
(*SHRUG*)
* YES... THE "SOPHISTICATED" ANSWER IS THAT HAMAS IS ALSO A BROAD BASED ISLAMIC POPULIST, PATERNALISTIC, SOCIAL ALLIANCE... BUT IF YOU'RE THINKING "SINN FEIN VS. IRA," WELL... NO... NOT REALLY AN APT COMPARISON.
Assailants firing from a passing car riddled the vehicle with bullets as it traveled near Hebron...
One of the victims was pregnant...
Israeli media said everyone in the car was killed.
(*SIGH*)
About 3,000 people joined a rally in Gaza to celebrate the attack. Hamas military wing spokesman Abu Obeida was among them and told The Associated Press: "The Qassam Brigades announces its full responsibility for the heroic operation in Hebron."
* FAR TOO HIGH A PERCENTAGE OF THE PALESTINIAN POPULATION IS MADE UP OF SAVAGES... ANIMALS...
Asked about the shooting, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the U.S. is aware "there are those who will do whatever they can to disrupt or derail the process."
* WHICH MIGHT HAVE BEEN AN APPROPRIATE RESPONSE HAD NOT HAMAS CELEBRATED AND INDEED "PROUDLY" ADMITTED RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIS LATEST TERRORIST ACT.
* FOLKS... WE SHOULD ALL BE ASHAMED OF OUR GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSE; WE SHOULD ALL BE ASHAMED OF SUCH STATEMENTS BEING MADE UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON AND ULTIMATELY PRESIDENT BARAK HUSSEIN OBAMA.
Bill,
Please take a look at the story at: http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20100901/NEWS02/9010346/1006/NEWS
I don't know enough about her situation and I only discovered it because of my interest in relocating to Delaware. So I've been doing more reading about Delaware life, politics, etc. I am not judging her, I am just relaying what I discovered. It may be nothing at all.
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/01/morning-bell-the-obama-doctrine/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
[A] clear Obama Doctrine can now be defined, as James Carafano and Kim Holmes do in a new paper released today.
(See: http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/08/Defining-the-Obama-Doctrine-Its-Pitfalls-and-How-to-Avoid-Them)
@ Midcon (aka: Dave) --
"Tea Party Express was unaware of U.S. Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell's past financial problems when it committed to spending $150,000 in the Republican primary."
Dave. I'm a "Tea Partier," not a member of "Tea Party Express."
(Just wanna make that clear...) (*WINK*)
"The conservative California-based group endorsed O'Donnell in July and this week pledged to spend six figures on radio and television advertisements. Levi Russell, spokesman for the group, said the party learned about the issue only in the past few weeks."
Dave... (*SMILE*)... I live in Harriman, NY.
"During her 2008 Senate campaign against Joe Biden, O'Donnell amassed thousands of dollars in campaign debt, was confronted by the IRS about unpaid income taxes and sold her Wilmington home to a campaign staffer to avoid a sheriff's sale ordered to settle mortgage claims."
(*SHRUG*)
O.K.
It's my understanding that "amassing campaign debt" is fairly standard practice.
(Please See: http://www.hillaryclinton.com/ and also https://contribute.hillarycampaign2008.com/form.html?sc=2544)
As for being forced to sell her home... (*SMILE*)... well... (*CHUCKLE*)... kinda shows she had "skin in the game," no...???
"As of her last campaign finance report, O'Donnell still had $11,751 in unpaid campaign debt from her 2008 bid."
You wanna do the research to see how much HRC still has outstanding... or should I?
(*CHUCKLE*)
Again, Dave, my point isn't to "excuse" the way American political campaigns are run, it's only to highlight that as far as I understand, this woman O'Donnell's situation seems to be fairly... er... normal.
(*SHRUG*)
Anyway... feel free to do your own research on the general topic. (Definitely let me know if I'm mistaken!)
As always, thanks for chiming in.
BILL
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703882304575465302090575676.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTWhatsNews
Private-sector jobs in the U.S. fell by 10,000 last month, according to a national employment report published by payroll giant Automatic Data Processing Inc. and consultancy Macroeconomic Advisers.
* ALSO... (WAIT FOR IT... WAIT FOR IT...)
The estimated change in employment for July was revised to a gain of 37,000 from an increase of 42,000 first reported.
* SO IN OTHER WORDS... 5,000 JOBS THOUGHT TO EXIST ACTUALLY DIDN'T EXIST AFTER ALL.
(*SMIRK*)
The August unemployment rate is projected to edge up to 9.6% from 9.5% in July.
The latest ADP report showed large businesses with 500 employees or more added 1,000 new employees. But medium-size businesses cut 5,000 workers in August and small businesses that employ fewer than 50 workers dropped payrolls by 6,000.
* HMM... USING MY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL MATH... 5,000 +6,000 = 11,000. (11,000 IS LARGER THAN 1,000.)
(*SMIRK*)
* OH...! OH...! AND YOU'LL LOVE THIS: THE TITLE OF THE ARTICLE... "Amid Job Cuts, Factories Expand"
(*CHUCKLE*)
* BUT WAIT... WAIT...! THERE'S MORE...!!!
Service-sector jobs added 30,000 last month, while factory jobs fell by 6,000.
* BUT... BUT... BUT... "Factories Expand" vs. "Factory Jobs Fell by 6,000" equals... (*MASSIVE MIGRAINE HEADACHE*)
* FOLKS. HERE'S THE BOTTOM LINE:
"A sustainable economic recovery requires strong job growth and a healthy housing market, and the U.S. has neither," said Charles Biderman, CEO of TrimTabs Investment Research.
(*SHRUG*)
* OH... AND AS I'M POSTING THIS PARTICULAR NEWSBITE... THE DOW IS UP SOMETHING LIKE 242 POINTS.
(*SMIRK*) (*ROLLING MY EYES*)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704421104575464151699794576.html?mod=WSJ_hps_sections_newyork
New York City's stand-alone middle schools do a worse job educating students than schools that offer kindergarten through eighth grade under one roof, according to a new study to be released Wednesday by researchers at Columbia University.
* HMM... INTERESTING...
On average, children who move up to middle school from a traditional city elementary school, which typically goes up to fifth grade, score about seven percentiles lower on standardized math tests in eighth grade than those who attend a K-8 school...
* VERY INTERESTING...!
The disparity stems from the toll that changing to a new school takes on adolescents and differences in the sizes of grades, the study says. Typically, K-8 schools can fit fewer children in each grade than standalone middle schools.
(*NOD*) MAKES SENSE.
[T]here aren't significant differences in financial resources or single class sizes between the two types of schools.
* GOOD TO KNOW...
In the year when students move to a middle school or junior high, the data show student achievement falls substantially in both math and English, relative to that of their counterparts who continue to attend a K-8 elementary school. [Perhaps even more disconcerting], instead of bouncing back after an initial transition year, achievement continues to decline throughout middle school.
(*FROWN*)
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/545647/201008311913/Cool-Down-Phase.aspx
America's media are largely uninterested in what a scientific association is saying about the United Nations' climate change panel. (Which tells you that the findings are, indeed, worth knowing.)
(*CHUCKLE*)
The InterAcademy Council, an Amsterdam-based association of the world's top national science academies, reported Monday the results of its review of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Its criticism of the IPCC, held up as the divine and inerrant voice on climate change, irrevocably tarnishes the panel's credibility and weakens the case for man-made global warming. While the Inter-Academy Council did not "redo the science," as its chairman said, it did scrutinize IPCC practices and methodologies and recommended a "fundamental reform" of its management structure.
The IPCC exaggerated the role that human activity has on the climate.
(*SHRUG*) YEP.
The IPCC is also guilty of including in its 2007 report - considered the holy book by environmentalists - a fraudulent claim that Himalayan glaciers will be gone by 2035.
(*SMIRK*)
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/545651/201008311913/Cant-Blame-War-For-Spike-In-Deficit.aspx
The CBO says eight years of war in Iraq were less expensive than the president's failed stimulus package.
(*SHRUG*)
The cost in lives and limbs in Iraq is beyond calculation...
* BUT THE FINANCIAL COSTS ARE NOT.
The CBO's Budget and Economic Outlook published this month puts the cost of Operation Iraqi Freedom at $709 billion for military and related activities, including training of Iraqi forces and diplomatic operations. The projected cost of the stimulus, not counting interest on the added debt, is $862 billion.
(*SHRUG*)
"Relative to the size of the economy, this year's deficit is expected to be the second largest shortfall in the past 65 years - 9.1% of gross domestic product, exceeded only by last year's deficit of 9.9% of GDP," CBO wrote.
This as unemployment hovers [at 9.6%].
The CBO analysis shows that you can't, as Barack Obama the candidate and others have tried to do, blame the unconscionable debt as far as they eye can see on the Iraq War.
* NOR CAN IT BE BLAMED UPON PRESIDENT BUSH OR THE RINO CONGRESSES OF 2001-2006.
* OH, SURE... BUSH AND THE RINOs SPENT LIKE DRUNK'N SAILORS; THE PROBLEM WITH THAT ANALOGY, THOUGH, IS THAT "DRUNK'N SAILORS" ARE MODELS OF FISCAL PRUDENCE WHEN COMPARED TO THE LIKES OF PELOSI, REID AND OBAMA.
* I'VE POSTED THE NUMBERS BEFORE; LOOK THEM UP FOR YOURSELVES IF YOU DOUBT THE REALITY THAT DEFICITS AND DEBT SHOT THROUGH THE ROOF ONCE THE DEMS TOOK OVER CONGRESS AND AGAIN WHEN OBAMA REPLACED BUSH.
(*SIGH*)
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/09/01/clunkers_a_classic_government_folly/
In the market for a used car?
Good luck finding a bargain.
The price of “pre-owned’’ vehicles has climbed considerably over the past year. According to Edmunds.com...a three-year-old automobile today will set you back, on average, close to $20,000 - a spike of more than 10% since last summer.
For some popular models, the increase has been much steeper. In July, a used Cadillac Escalade was going for around $35,000, or nearly 36% over last July’s price.
Why are used-car prices rocketing?
(*SMIRK*) COM'ON... YOU KNOW THE ANSWER!
[T]he supply of used cars is artificially low, because your Uncle Sam decided last year to destroy hundreds of thousands of perfectly good automobiles as part of its hare-brained Car Allowance Rebate System - or, as most of us called it, Cash for Clunkers.
* AND THOUGH THE ARTICLE DOESN'T MENTION IT, LOGIC DICTATES THAT SPARE PARTS PRICING IS THROUGH THE ROOF AS WELL - FOR THE SAME REASON!
* THAT'S RIGHT, FOLKS... AS PREDICTED, THE FOLKS WHO CAN LEAST AFFORD TO SPEND MORE MONEY ON USED CARS AND USED PARTS ARE GETTING HOSED. WELCOME TO THE AGE OF OBAMA!
[The Democrat controlled] Congress and the Obama administration trumpeted Cash for Clunkers as a triumph - the president pronounced it “successful beyond anybody’s imagination.’’ Which it was, if you define success as getting people to take “free’’ money to make a purchase most of them are going to make anyway, while simultaneously wiping out productive assets that could provide value to many other consumers for years to come.
(*SNORT*) AND OF COURSE THAT "FREE" MONEY WAS BORROWED FROM THE CHINESE AND LARGELY SPENT ON JAPANESE CARS...
Washington [borrowed and] spent nearly $3 billion to raise the price of mobility for drivers on a budget.
To be sure, Cash for Clunkers gave a powerful jolt to car sales in July and August of 2009. But it did so mostly by delaying sales that would otherwise have occurred in April, May, and June, or by accelerating those that would have taken place in September, October, or later. “Influencing the timing of consumers’ durable purchases is easy,’’ Edmunds CEO Jeremy Anwyl wrote a few days ago in a blog post looking back at the program. “Creating new purchases is not.’’ Of the 700,000 cars purchased during the clunkers frenzy, the estimated net increase in sales was only 125,000. Each incremental sale thus ended up costing the taxpayers a profligate $24,000.
Even on environmental grounds, Cash for Clunkers was an exorbitant dud. Researchers at the University of California-Davis calculated that the reduction of carbon dioxide attributable to the program cost no less than $237 per ton. In contrast, carbon emissions credits cost about $20 per ton in international markets.
Using Department of Transportation figures, the Associated Press calculated that replacing inefficient clunkers with new cars getting higher mileage would reduce CO2 emissions by around 700,000 tons a year - less than Americans emit in a single hour.
Likewise, the projected reduction in gasoline use amounted to about as much as Americans go through in 4 hours. (And that’s only if you assume - contrary to historical experience - that fuel consumption decreases when fuel efficiency rises.)
(*SIGH*)
When all is said and done, Cash for Clunkers was a deplorable exercise in budgetary wastefulness, asset destruction, environmental irrelevance, and economic idiocy. Other than that, it was a screaming success.
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/its-the-spending-stupid/?singlepage=true
A little-known fact is that federal spending rose by only 2.8% during fiscal 2007 under the final budget passed by a Republican Congress.
(I know, zero percent would have been preferable, and it was way too little and too late for a bunch that had let spending grow way too quickly during the previous five years.)
Then came the Democrats.
* MAKE SURE YOU'RE SITTING DOWN FOR THIS...
Spending during the fiscal year that ended in September 2008, the first full budget year under the control of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, increased by 9.1%...
* ARE YOU O.K.? DO YOU NEED A DRINK OF WATER... SOMETHING STRONGER PERHAPS...???
That percentage increase was greater than any Republican Congress under George W. Bush.
They were just warming up. Fiscal 2009 brought the beginning of the $787 billion (before interest) “economic stimulus plan.”
Despite representations to the contrary, the stimulus plan had 9,000 earmarks... Fiscal 2009 ended with a reported deficit of $1.416 trillion.
Recently, the CBO estimated that the deficit for fiscal 2010 will be a bit lower, predicting a figure of $1.342 trillion after the dust settles.
Wowee zowee.
(*SNORT*) (*CHUCKLE*)
The problem is that both last year’s and this year’s numbers are fudged. Even before considering the off-budget baloney and the Fed’s massive “quantitative easing,” each of which would require at least an additional column to treat properly, Uncle Sam’s real 2009 deficit was $115 billion lower than reported, while the 2010 deficit, assuming no additional non-cash adjustments, will be higher by the same amount.
[T]he [Obama] administration pushed as much “bad news” (asset writedowns) as it could into last year’s financial reporting, since last year was going to be a disaster no matter what. But since they overdid it with the writedowns last year (“Gosh, how did that happen?”), they can make this year look better than it really has been.
(*SMIRK*)
While the administration and CBO will claim that spending and the deficit started to head downward in fiscal 2010, the reality is that fiscal 2010 will be significantly worse on both fronts.
* FOLKS... I STRONGLY URGE YOU TO "GET THE DETAILS" SURROUNDING THESE EXCERPTS BY READING THE FULL ARTICLE!
[T]here has been no let-up in spending in most areas of the government. There’s a lot of competition for the most offensive increase, but my nominee would be the Department of Education, which through July had spent almost $81 billion compared to “only” $42 billion as of the same time last year. (It would be nice to think that nearly doubling federal spending and building Taj Mahal schools with local tax dollars have made American students twice as smart. Dream on.)
The administration’s accounting shift cleverly masks what it has really been up to during its nineteen months in office: creating a permanently high spending structure that will become ever more difficult to reduce to a decent size when (or if) sanity finally prevails.
* FOLKS... SERIOUSLY... YOU SHOULD READ THE FULL ARTICLE.
http://newsok.com/cole-case-illustrates-administrations-drifting-detainee-strategy/article/3490504?custom_click=lead_story_title
It has been nearly 10 years since the al-Qaida attack on the USS Cole in Yemen that killed 17 sailors, wounded dozens more and left a gaping hole in the warship's side. The Obama administration has the attack's alleged coordinator in custody but, apparently, no plan to bring him to trial any time soon.
Why?
That's the question after the Justice Department quietly shelved plans to prosecute Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri before a military commission.
The Washington Post reports [that] a declaration that no charges against al-Nashiri are "pending or contemplated" in the near future was slipped into a routine motions filing last week, suggesting further military trials for Guantanamo detainees are on hold. That development, along with stalled plans to try the 9/11 plotters in federal court, raises concerns administration policy is drifting...
The White House and Defense Department say that's not the case, but actions speak louder than talking points.
According to the Post, al-Nashiri was scheduled to be arraigned in February 2009, but the new administration told military prosecutors to suspend legal proceedings at Guantanamo. Later that year, Attorney General Eric Holder appeared to revive al-Nashiri's case when he said the Cole detainee would be one of at least 36 at Gitmo who would be tried in federal court or before a military commission. Now the case is in limbo again.
It's more than unfortunate. The 10-year anniversary of the Cole attack is Oct. 12. Families of the victims feel forgotten, disrespected. "It seems like nobody really cares," said Gloria Clodfelter, whose son, Kenneth, was killed on the Cole.
The fact is the administration's handling of terror detainees looks confused - [as] evidenced by the on-and-off plan to try 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York City, the indefinite delay in the al-Nashiri case and Obama's still-unfulfilled Inauguration Day executive order to close Guantanamo.
It's a poor record for a president who as a candidate criticized his predecessor on Guantanamo and the prosecution of terror war captives.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100901/ap_on_fe_st/us_odd_swing_sets_removed_1
Elementary school playgrounds in one West Virginia county are losing their swing sets.
Swings are being removed from Cabell County schools in southern West Virginia in part because of lawsuits over injuries.
Cabell County schools safety manager Tim Stewart said Wednesday that a lot of parents are accusing him of being un-American, but he says the cost of maintaining a safe surface is too expensive.
Stewart says a lawsuit in the past year involved a youngster who broke his arm jumping off a swing like Superman. It was settled for $20,000.
* PERHAPS FOR ONE DAY A YEAR IT SHOULD BE LEGAL TO JUST BEAT THE BEJEEZUS OUT OF LAWYERS... (*SHRUG*)
* SERIOUSLY, FOLKS... A POLITICAL SYSTEM THAT CAN'T DEAL WITH THIS IN SOME SANER FASHION IS BEYOND REPAIR.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hwK_CSpBxsNuVUEaDuOwmSSCiqGwD9HVCPLG0
Even as President Barack Obama was announcing the "end of combat" in Iraq, American soldiers were sealing off a northern village early Wednesday as their Iraqi partners raided houses and arrested dozens of suspected insurgents.
* IN OTHER WORDS... AMERICAN COMBAT TROOPS WERE ENGAGING IN... er... COMBAT OPERATIONS.
While the Obama administration has dramatically reduced the number of troops and rebranded the mission, the operation in Hawija was a reminder that U.S. forces are still engaged in hunting down and killing al-Qaida militants - and could still have to defend themselves against attacks.
(*SNORT*) "REBRANDING." CUTE.
[There are still] just under 50,000 U.S. troops still in Iraq [and an unknown number of "government contractors" - private security... mercenaries...]
4,500 [of our remaining military personnel in Iraq] are special forces who will regularly go on raids and capture terrorists, albeit alongside Iraqi troops.
* FUNNY... SURE SOUNDS LIKE "COMBAT" TO ME!
Iraqi forces are heavily dependent on U.S. firepower, along with helicopters, spy data and other key tools for combating terrorists that they won't be able to supply on their own for years to come.
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