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2010
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October
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- Nancy Calhoun, Roxanne Donnery, and Chris McKenna
- Barker's Newsbites: Friday, October 29, 2010
- Hide Your Young Daughters...!!!
- Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, October 28, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, October 27, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, October 26, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Monday, October 25, 2010
- Weekend Newbsites: Sat. & Sun., Oct. 23 & 24, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Friday, October 22, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, October 21, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, October 20, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, October 19, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Monday, October 18, 2010
- Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun.; Oct. 16 & 17, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Friday, October 15, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, October 14, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, October 13, 2010
- I Need A Vacation To Recover From My Vacation!
- Vacation Time! "See" You On Tuesday, Oct. 12th!
- Barker's Newsbites: Monday, Oct. 4, 2010
- Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., Oct. 2 & 3, 2010
- Barker's Newsbites: Friday, October 1. 2010
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October
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About Me
- William R. Barker
- Pearl River, NY High School Class of '81; Northeastern University, Boston, MA Class of '87.
16 comments:
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/10/13/morning-bell-the-oil-drilling-moratorium-doesnt-end-till-the-permits-begin/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
The White House got the headlines they wanted -- The Washington Post: U.S Lifts Ban on Deep-Water Drilling; the Los Angeles Times: U.S. Lifts Moratorium on Deep-Water Drilling in Gulf of Mexico; the New York Times: White House Lifts Ban on Deepwater Drilling.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told reporters on a conference call yesterday: “We are open for business.”
Don’t believe the White House or Salazar for a second.
(*NOD*)
While [Wednesday’s] announcement does remove one legal barrier to the resumption of energy investment in the Gulf, the Obama administration still retains full discretion over whether or not any new permits will be issued. And all indications are that those new permits will not be coming any time soon.
(*SMIRK*)
Since President Barack Obama first banned drilling for gas and oil in the Gulf in May, about 36 rigs in the Gulf of Mexico have been put out of work, five rigs have left for Egypt and other parts of Africa, and 12,000 jobs have been lost.
If the ban stays in place, the long-term and indirect economic losses will cost more than 175,000 jobs.
The problem with President Obama’s new drilling policy, as with all of his economic policies, is the uncertainty it inflicts on our nation’s job creators. Louisiana State University professor Joseph Mason tells The Christian Science Monitor that “uncertain policy decisions” are making it difficult for rig operators to plan for the future. Referring to the rig operators, Mason continued, “and when they can’t plan around it, they move.” And by “move” Mason means taking jobs and energy overseas.
President Obama’s legal ban on deepwater projects has also meant a de facto ban on all energy investment in the Gulf. Since the April 20 Deepwater Horizon spill, Interior has issued only 10% of shallow water permits that they normally do. Institute for Energy Research senior vice president Dan Kish tells Politico: “I don’t know what business can run at 10 percent of what it normally does.”
(*NOD*)
Pressed for details on when Interior will actually start issuing new permits, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Regulation and Enforcement director Michael Bromwich told reporters: “It will clearly not be tomorrow and it will not be next week.
(*SMIRK*)
President Obama’s preferred [energy] "policy" is reduced energy demand, and even if he can’t accomplish that, he still would oppose the development of our country’s energy resources.
Ken Tanguis of Houma, Louisiana, had been a mechanic for Diamond Offshore Drilling for most of his life. But since President Obama instituted his drilling ban, Diamond has laid off more than 300 workers, and now Tanguis only works three weeks on and three weeks off. Tanguis told NPR: “I don’t want a handout from the government. I don’t want a handout from BP. I don’t want anything. I just want to go back to work. I want to go back to drilling.”
The only thing standing between Tanguis and a job is President Obama’s de facto drilling ban. We hope the President allows Ken to go back to work soon.
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/10/14/morning-bell-the-tea-party-is-here-to-stay/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
At one time, social obligations and services were carried out by community groups, family networks and even local governments. Now, an ever growing and ever more unaccountable federal bureaucracy undermines our spirit of self-reliance and self-improvement by making more and more Americans dependent on Big Government.
Government support for dependent persons has grown from $7,293 per person in 1962, to $31,950 per person today (adjusted for inflation).
132.5 million Americans either pay no income tax or live in a household that pays no income tax. This is up from just 34.8 million in 1984.
Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid eat up 41% of all non-interest federal program spending. Unchecked, this will grow to 62% over the next decade.
Federal government aid does not strengthen communities and families: just look at how the federal welfare system undermined family structures and hollowed-out communities for a generation.
Jonathan Rauch explains in his book, “Government’s End,” “By definition, the power of government to solve problems comes from its ability to reassign resources, whether by taxing, spending, regulating, or simply passing laws. But that very ability energizes countless investors and entrepreneurs and ordinary Americans to go digging for gold by lobbying government. In time, a whole industry – large sophisticated, professional, and to a considerable extent self-serving – emerges and then assumes a life of its own. This industry is a drain on the productive economy, and there appears to be no natural limit to its growth.”
* CRONY "CAPITALISM" MY FRIENDS. IT'S WRONG. IT MUST BE STOPPED. NO BAILOUTS. NO CORPORATE OR UNION WELFARE. NO IMPOVERISHING "REGULAR" AMERICANS IN ORDER TO STEER MONEY INTO THE HANDS OF THE POLITICALLY CONNECTED "INSIDERS" SUCH AS OBAMA'S FRIENDS AT GOLDMAN SACHS AND BERNANKE'S FRIENDS AT CITICORP. (AND LET'S NOT EVEN GET INTO DEMOCRATIC PARTY AND UNION CORRUPTION...)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/14/AR2010101408327.html
The [Obama] Treasury Department has relied extensively on outside contractors in its execution of the financial bailout, an oversight committee said in a new report, shielding much of the work of the massive government effort from public view.
"Private companies today fulfill many of the TARP's most important functions," Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.), chairman of the oversight panel, said in a conference call with reporters Wednesday. "It invites many concerns that wouldn't exist otherwise."
* YA THINK...?!?! (*SNORT*)
The report notes some ways that the contracting process limited transparency. Contractors, for example, are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. And they can hire subcontractors whose compensation and involvement are not publicly disclosed.
* CUTE! REAL CUTE... (*SMIRK*)
Moreover, the Treasury Department relies on law firms, investment management firms and others to disclose any conflicts of interest themselves.
(*LAUGHING OUT LOUD*)
The oversight panel had particular skepticism about the use of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two mortgage finance firms effectively controlled by the government, to carry out mortgage relief programs. Both firms "have a history of profound corporate mismanagement," the report said, "and both companies have fallen short in aspects of their performance," including a data error by Fannie Mae and, for Freddie Mac, problems meeting deadlines.
* FOLKS... THIS IS THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION... THIS IS BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS CONTROLLED BY THE DEMOCRATS...
(*SIGH*)
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/10/15/morning-bell-a-legal-victory-on-the-road-to-repeal/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
On October 23, 2009, a reporter asked Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): “Madam Speaker, where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?”
Speaker Pelosi shook her head dismissing the question: “Are you serious? Are you serious?” Pressed for a more substantive response later, Pelosi’s press spokesman admonished the reporter: “You can put this on the record. That is not a serious question. That is not a serious question.”
Yesterday, Roger Vinson, senior federal judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida, found it to be a very serious question indeed. Judge Vinson characterized the Obama Justice Department’s motion to dismiss the constitutional challenge to Obamacare brought by 16 state attorneys general, four governors, two private citizens and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) as “not even a close call.”
(*CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)
Addressing the Obama administration’s claim that Congress had the authority to enact Obamacare pursuant to the Commerce Clause, Judge Vinson wrote: "The individual mandate applies across the board. People have no choice and there is no way to avoid it. Those who fall under the individual mandate either comply with it, or they are penalized. It is not based on an activity that they make the choice to undertake. Rather, it is based solely on citizenship and on being alive. As the non-partisan CBO concluded sixteen years ago (when the individual mandate was considered, but not pursued during the 1994 national healthcare reform efforts) 'A mandate requiring all individuals to purchase health insurance would be an unprecedented form of federal action. The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States.'”
(*NOD*)
The Commerce Clause was not the only issue that the Obama administration lost. Judge Vinson was even harsher when addressing claims that Obamacare could be justified by Congress’ broad power to tax: "As noted at the outset of this order, and as anyone who paid attention to the healthcare reform debate already knew, the Act was very controversial at the time of passage. … Because by far the most publicized and controversial part of the Act was the individual mandate and penalty, it would no doubt have been even more difficult to pass the penalty as a tax. Not only are taxes always unpopular, but to do so at that time would have arguably violated pledges by politicians (including the President) to not raise taxes, which could have made it that much more difficult to secure the necessary votes for passage. … Congress should not be permitted to secure and cast politically difficult votes on controversial legislation by deliberately calling something one thing, after which the defenders of that legislation take an “Alice-in-Wonderland” tack and argue in court that Congress really meant something else entirely, thereby circumventing the safeguard that exists to keep their broad power in check."
(*NOD*)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101015/ap_on_re_us/us_budget_deficit
The Obama administration is set to report Friday that the federal budget deficit exceeded $1 trillion for the second straight year...
(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)
The Congressional Budget Office is projecting that the deficit for the 2010 budget year that ended Sept. 30 will total $1.29 trillion.
* THE OBAMA/PELOSI/REID FEDERAL BUDGET DEFICIT LAST YEAR - 2009 - WAS $1.4 TRILLION.
* $1.29 TRILLION + $1.4 TRILLION = $2.69 TRILLION.
* I'VE LISTED THE NUMBERS MANY TIMES, BUT IF ANYONE NEEDS A REFRESHER ON HOW THE DEMS HAVE BEEN DOING, FEEL FREE TO GOOGLE THE DEFICIT NUMBERS FOR DEMOCRAT YEARA OF CONGRESSIONAL CONTROL 2007 AND 2008 AS WELL AND THEN COMPARE THESE NUMBERS TO ANY YEAR WHEN EVEN THE DAMNED RINOs CONTROLLED CONGRESS.
(*SIGH*)
The Obama administration is projecting that the deficit for the 2011 budget year, which began on Oct. 1, will climb to $1.4 trillion.
(*MIGRAINE HEADACHE*)
Over the next decade, it will total $8.47 trillion.
* "THANK YOU" OBAMA! "THANK YOU" NANCY PELOSI AND HARRY REID! "THANK YOU" DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS...!!! (*SMIRK*)
Obama has appointed a bipartisan commission to study the deficit and recommend policy changes.
* ISN'T THAT HIS FRIGG'N JOB...?!?! ISN'T THAT CONGRESS' JOB...?!?! THESE FRIGG'N SCUM SHOULD BE TARRED, FEATHERED, AND EXILED TO ONE OF THE POLAR ICE CAPS...!!!
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-15/bernanke-sees-case-for-further-action-on-economy-with-too-low-inflation.html
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said additional monetary stimulus may be warranted because inflation is too low...
* SEE WHAT I'VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT, FOLKS...?!?! THESE BASTARDS ARE ACTUALLY ANNOUNCING THEIR POLICY OF UNDERCUTTING OUR OWN CURRENCY AND SPURRING INFLATION!!!
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 index of stocks rose...
* UNDERSTAND FOLKS... OFTEN WHAT'S BAD FOR YOU IS GOOD FOR THE OLIGARCHS. THE RICH CAN WEATHER INFLATION WITHOUT HAVING THEIR LIFESTYLES CURTAILED; MOST OF US CAN'T.
* WORST OF ALL FOLKS... INFLATION DESTROYS SAVINGS WHILE REWARDING DEBT. (*SIGH*)
Fed officials, concerned that expectations of lower inflation will become self-fulfilling, are debating whether to encourage Americans to believe that prices will start rising at a faster pace so that they would spend more of their money now...
(*SHAKING MY HEAD IN DISGUST*)
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/10/15/morning-bell-a-legal-victory-on-the-road-to-repeal/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
On October 23, 2009, a reporter asked Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): “Madam Speaker, where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?”
Speaker Pelosi shook her head dismissing the question: “Are you serious? Are you serious?” Pressed for a more substantive response later, Pelosi’s press spokesman admonished the reporter: “You can put this on the record. That is not a serious question. That is not a serious question.”
Yesterday, Roger Vinson, senior federal judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida, found it to be a very serious question indeed. Judge Vinson characterized the Obama Justice Department’s motion to dismiss the constitutional challenge to Obamacare brought by 16 state attorneys general, four governors, two private citizens and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) as “not even a close call.”
(*CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)
Addressing the Obama administration’s claim that Congress had the authority to enact Obamacare pursuant to the Commerce Clause, Judge Vinson wrote: "The individual mandate applies across the board. People have no choice and there is no way to avoid it. Those who fall under the individual mandate either comply with it, or they are penalized. It is not based on an activity that they make the choice to undertake. Rather, it is based solely on citizenship and on being alive. As the non-partisan CBO concluded sixteen years ago (when the individual mandate was considered, but not pursued during the 1994 national healthcare reform efforts) 'A mandate requiring all individuals to purchase health insurance would be an unprecedented form of federal action. The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States.'”
(*NOD*)
The Commerce Clause was not the only issue that the Obama administration lost. Judge Vinson was even harsher when addressing claims that Obamacare could be justified by Congress’ broad power to tax: "As noted at the outset of this order, and as anyone who paid attention to the healthcare reform debate already knew, the Act was very controversial at the time of passage. … Because by far the most publicized and controversial part of the Act was the individual mandate and penalty, it would no doubt have been even more difficult to pass the penalty as a tax. Not only are taxes always unpopular, but to do so at that time would have arguably violated pledges by politicians (including the President) to not raise taxes, which could have made it that much more difficult to secure the necessary votes for passage. … Congress should not be permitted to secure and cast politically difficult votes on controversial legislation by deliberately calling something one thing, after which the defenders of that legislation take an “Alice-in-Wonderland” tack and argue in court that Congress really meant something else entirely, thereby circumventing the safeguard that exists to keep their broad power in check."
(*NOD*)
http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local-beat/Health-Care-Reform-Blamed-for-Huge-Hike-in-Premiums-105041674.html
The state [of Connecticutt] has given Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield the go ahead to raise premiums by as much as 47% for some members, and says health care "reform" is the reason why.
The new rates took effect Oct. 1, and include increases from 19% all the way to 47% depending on the individual, the Hartford Courant reported.
(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)
[Connecticutt] Insurance Commissioner Thomas Sullivan...[notes that] the new rates included "very rich benefits" mandated by federal law.
* AHH... MANDATED BY FEDERAL LAW... (*SMIRK*)
[Connecticutt] Attorney General Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to...Sullivan on Oct. 6, asking [why] what he called "excessive" increases were approved without full consideration of all the facts. Sullivan responded..."There is not one person in the state of Connecticut who will see an increase in their current premiums based on what the department approved for Anthem and Aetna," Sullivan said in a release. "The rates that were filed and approved reflect the current cost to deliver care and the impact of more comprehensive benefit designs required under the federal healthcare reform law. If the attorney general wants to complain to someone, he should complain to Congress."
* THE DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS... (*SMIRK*)
In a letter to Blumenthal, Sullivan said..."I find myself in an unprecedented place and time, as do my counterparts throughout the country, in overseeing one of the most far-reaching policy initiatives enacted by the federal government in recent history," Sullivan said in the letter. "It is unfortunate that this reform, while addressing insurer behavior, has provided little to no reform of the escalating costs of the health care delivery system."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/currency/8065529/China-warns-US-against-making-yuan-dispute-a-scapegoat-for-a-flagging-economy.html
China has again warned the US not to use the dispute over the value of the Chinese currency, the yuan, as a “scapegoat” for its high unemployment and flagging growth prospects. The remarks from China’s ministry of commerce came hours before the US was due to release a report on whether it considers China a “currency manipulator” as fears grow that tensions over the currency could lead to a protectionist trade war.
* PROTECTIONISM IS JUST WHAT THIS COUNTRY NEEDS...!!! (THE PROBLEM IS, OUR "COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF" WOULD PROBABLY BLOW THE WAR SHOULD ONE BREAK OUT...) (*SIGH*)
The artificially weak Chinese currency, which some analysts say is trading up to 25% below its true market rate, has become a growing political issue in the US where it is blamed for giving Chinese exporters an unfair advantage at the cost of millions of US jobs.
* AND IT DOES GIVE CHINESE EXPORTERS AN UNFAIR ADVANTAGE!
* IF COSTING AMERICANS "MILLIONS OF JOBS" ISN'T AN "ATTACK" UPON US... (*SIGH*)... THEN I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS!
China has repeatedly said it cannot afford the costs of substantially re-valuing the yuan at a time when global demand for its exports remains weak and the recovery from the global recession remains fragile.
* NOT OUR F--KING PROBLEM...!!!
China has also said that legislation currently being formulated in the US to impose trade tariffs as a result of the yuan’s under-valuation would be in breach of World Trade Organization regulations.
* F--K THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION! LET'S DO WHAT'S GOOD FOR AMERICA AND AMERICANS. THE REST OF THE WORLD HAS RIDDEN OUR COATTAILS FOR FAR TOO LONG. TIME FOR THEM TO CARRY THEIR OWN WEIGHT.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101015/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_guantanamo_war_crimes_1
A plea deal that would reportedly keep a Guantanamo prisoner in custody for eight more years isn't sitting well with a key witness against him: a former Army sergeant who was partially blinded and lost a friend in the firefight that led to the alleged al-Qaida militant's capture.
* "JUSTICE" IN THE AGE OF OBAMA...
Khadr, who was 15 when he was captured following the firefight in Afghanistan in 2002, was originally scheduled to go on trial Monday at the U.S. base in Cuba. He faces war crimes charges that include murder for allegedly throwing a grenade that killed Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer, a special forces medic from Albuquerque, New Mexico.
* I GUESS THE ATTITUDE IS "F--K SGT. SPEER... F--K LAYNE MORRIS." (MORRIS IS THE FORMER ARMY SGT. WHO WAS PARTIALLY BLINDED IN THE TERRORIST ATTACK.)
Khadr's lawyers and U.S. officials declined to release details about any proposed agreement. But the Toronto Star reported that a proposal already approved by the military would impose a sentence of less than 10 years, on top of the time he has already been in custody. Postmedia News, another Canadian outlet, said he would get eight, with one more in Guantanamo and the rest in his native country. (Both cited anonymous sources.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC4xMOwldSk
* NANCY F--KING PELOSI. (TELL ME WITH A STRAIGHT FACE THE SYSTEM AIN'T BROKEN...)
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/15/what-the-numbers-say-about-progress-in-afghanistan/?hpt=T2
American support for the war in Afghanistan has never been lower, according to the latest CNN polling. The low numbers just the latest figure in the complex math being calculated to determine how the US should proceed in the ten year war.
The latest poll from CNN and Opinion Research Corporation found only 37% of all Americans favor the war, 52% say the war in Afghanistan has turned into a Vietnam.
* NOW FOLKS, I'M NOT MUCH FOR POINTING TO POLLS, HOWEVER... THE 52% OF AMERICANS POLLED WHO SAY THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN IS ANOTHER VIETNAM ARE RIGHT ON TARGET... DEAD ON TARGET.
The U.S. has lost 386 troops so far this year [alone].
* R.I.P. MARINE LANCE CORPORAL SCOTT LYNCH OF GREENWOOD LAKE, NY. CONDOLENCES TO HIS WIDOW, TANYA LYNCH, AGE 22.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703673604575550322091167574.html
It needs to be said. The rescue of the Chilean miners is a smashing victory for free-market capitalism.
If those miners had been trapped a half-mile down like this 25 years ago anywhere on earth, they would be dead. What happened over the past 25 years that meant the difference between life and death for those men?
Short answer: the Center Rock drill bit.
This is the miracle bit that drilled down to the trapped miners. Center Rock Inc. is a private company in Berlin, Pa. It has 74 employees. The drill's rig came from Schramm Inc. in West Chester, Pa. Seeing the disaster, Center Rock's president, Brandon Fisher, called the Chileans to offer his drill. Chile accepted. The miners are alive.
* AND IF THERE'S ANYONE READING THIS WHO IS HEARING OF THIS FOR THE FIRST TIME... ASK YOURSELF ONE SIMPLE QUESTION: WHY?
Longer answer: The Center Rock drill, heretofore not featured on websites like Engadget or Gizmodo, is in fact a piece of tough technology developed by a small company in it for the money, for profit. That's why they innovated down-the-hole hammer drilling. If they make money, they can do more innovation.
This profit = innovation dynamic was everywhere at that Chilean mine. The high-strength cable winding around the big wheel atop that simple rig is from Germany. Japan supplied the super-flexible, fiber-optic communications cable that linked the miners to the world above.
A remarkable Sept. 30 story about all this by the Journal's Matt Moffett was a compendium of astonishing things that showed up in the Atacama Desert from the distant corners of capitalism.
Samsung of South Korea supplied a cellphone that has its own projector. Jeffrey Gabbay, the founder of Cupron Inc. in Richmond, Va., supplied socks made with copper fiber that consumed foot bacteria, and minimized odor and infection.
Chile's health minister, Jaime Manalich, said, "I never realized that kind of thing actually existed."
That's right. In an open economy, you will never know what is out there on the leading developmental edge of this or that industry. But the reality behind the miracles is the same: Someone innovates something useful, makes money from it, and re-innovates, or someone else trumps their innovation. Most of the time, no one notices. All it does is create jobs, wealth and well-being. But without this system running in the background, without the year-over-year progress embedded in these capitalist innovations, those trapped miners would be dead.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703440004575548280684121298.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has come under intense criticism for threatening to cancel the largest infrastructure project in the nation, a new rail tunnel connecting New York City with the Garden State. But Mr. Christie is right to be skeptical.
* DAMN STRAIGHT HE IS! JEEZUS... ENOUGH ALREADY WITH NYC! INCREASE PARKING AND FERRY TRAFFIC. MAKE RAIL AND BUS TRAVEL AFFORDABLE. I'VE GOT BETTER USES FOR MY MONEY THAN SUBSIDIZING GOVERNMENT CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS FOR UNIONS WHICH THROW 90% OF THEIR SUPPORT TO THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. THE DEMS WANNA PAY OFF THE UNIONS... LET 'EM DO IT WITH POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS, NOT PUBLIC ASSETS!
Currently, many commuter trains have to deposit passengers at an alternate rail station in Hoboken, N.J., where commuters then take subway-style trains into Manhattan. The ARC would create a direct link to midtown Manhattan for many of these commuters.
(*ROLLING MY EYES*) POOR BABIES!
The tunnel has been in planning for two decades and during that time cost estimates have soared to nearly $9 billion...Christie says a recent analysis by the Federal Transit Administration estimates the final price tag would actually be nearer to $14 billion.
(*HEADACHE*)
But the amounts committed by the federal government and the transportation agency (the Port Authority of NY & NJ) are capped at $6 billion ($3 billion each). Jersey taxpayers would be responsible for cost overruns - and the state's transportation trust fund is already entirely devoted to servicing previous debt.
(*SMIRK*)
The transportation fund is tapped out in part because the legislature has for years swept money from the gas tax into the general budget, where it has financed everyday operations instead of build roads, bridges and tunnels.
* AND SOME PEOPLE WONDER WHETHER I'M BEING SERIOUS WHEN I CALL FOR TARRING AND FEATHERING - OR WORSE - OF MANY POLITICIANS... (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
Glad to have you back! And, as always, very entertaining reading about your travels. **Also - check on your "spam" settings with the email acct - - everybody else is getting our emails.....
Thanks Jared!
As to Frontier... (*SIGH*)... I don't know what their problem is.
Nope. You weren't stuck in my (Frontier) email spam filter. (That was the first thing I thought of too!) (*GRIN*)
Frontier just screws up sometimes.
You can (or at least you SHOULD be able to) always get through to me via my iambarker@gmail.com alternate address.
Looking forward to chatting with you on Sunday and nailing down our upcoming travel plans.
(*WINK*)
BILL
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