Monday, January 17, 2011
Barker's Newsbites: Monday, January 17, 2011
Hey... question... did you know that today isn't Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday?
No... seriously... Martin Luther King was born on January 15, 1929.
Yep... another "convenience" holiday "staging." (God forbid every holiday isn't turned into an artificial three day weekend...)
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
Today we remember Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy. I also remember another "Jr." - Mr. Sammy Davis Jr.
To those who know history, you'll recognize that as important as Martin Luther King's impact was to our nation's history, so too was the impact of black entertainers.
If you've never heard the following song...
Well? I found it moving.
And because today should be a day or happiness and celebration - as well as reflection - here's something a bit more upbeat.
Folks... you could do worth today than to spend fifteen or twenty minutes - or even more - just browsing the internet using the two provided links as a starting point.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110116/ap_on_re_us/us_freedom_of_information
A House committee has asked the Homeland Security Department to provide documents about an agency policy that required political appointees to review many Freedom of Information Act requests...
* HUH...?!?!
The Associated Press reported in July that for at least a year, Homeland Security had sidetracked hundreds of requests for federal records to top political advisers to the department's secretary, Janet Napolitano. The political appointees wanted information about those requesting the materials, and in some cases the release of documents considered politically sensitive was delayed, according to numerous e-mails that were obtained by the AP.
(*FROWN*)
The Freedom of Information Act is supposed to ensure the quick public release of requested government documents without political consideration. Obama has said his administration would emphasize openness in providing requested federal records.
* WELL... (*SNORT*)... OBAMA ISN'T KNOWN FOR KEEPING HIS WORD, NOW IS HE?!
According to Issa's letter, Homeland Security's chief privacy officer and FOIA official told committee staff in September that political appointees were simply made aware of "significant and potentially controversial requests."
Mary Ellen Callahan told them that political appointees reviewed the agency's FOIA response letters for grammatical and other errors and did not edit or delay their release, the letter states. She also told the committee that Homeland Security abandoned the practice in response to the AP's article, according to Issa's letter.
On Sunday, Oversight panel spokesman Frederick Hill said Issa sent the letter "because the committee has received documents that raise questions about the veracity of DHS officials" on the matter. He did not elaborate.
* WOW...
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704511404576086002911806910.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsForth
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a likely GOP White House hopeful, called on congressional Republicans to block an increase in the limit on federal borrowing...
(*CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)
...and he proposed legislation that he said would prevent a U.S. default on its loans. ...Mr. Pawlenty challenged even leaders in his own party, who have said Congress must increase the federal debt ceiling rather than risk a default that could send interest rates skyrocketing and the economy back into recession.
* ANYONE WHO SAYS WE "MUST" INCREASE THE DEBT LIMIT - THUS KEEPING IRRESPONSIBLE SPENDING A REALITY - DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HE OR SHE IS TALKING ABOUT AND THEREFORE DOESN'T BELONG IN CONGRESS.
Mr. Pawlenty said Congress should pass legislation that would put interest and debt payments ahead of other federal spending and allow the federal government to pay its creditors as tax revenue flows in. With the surge of tax payments that come in between April and June, that would at least buy time to try to cut spending dramatically, he said.
* AND HE'S RIGHT!
* ADDITIONALLY, AS A LAST DITCH MANEUVER, I'D BE WILLING TO PARTIALLY DEFAULT UPON BOND INTEREST FOR U.S. CITIZEN BORROWERS. THAT WAY WE'RE NOT SCREWING FOREIGNERS, WE'RE ONLY MAKING OUR OWN CITIZENS PAY FOR THE ERRORS AND LIES OF THEIR GOVERNMENT!
"This debate about how we're going to restructure spending is inevitable. My view is, let's have it now,"
(*NOD*)
White House economists have said...
* WHITE HOUSE ECONOMISTS HAVE SHOWN THEMSELVES TO BE UTTER INCOMPETENTS SO THERE'S REALLY NO NEED TO PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT THEY SAY, IS THERE? (RHETORICAL QUESTION...)
Lawrence Summers, President Barack Obama's former National Economic Council director, said Sunday the government needed more spending right...
* AS I WAS SAYING - TOTAL INCOMPETENTS.
On "Fox News Sunday," both Mr. Pawlenty and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called on Congress to reject the debt ceiling increase.
* THAT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME! (SERIOUSLY, FOLKS, HERITAGE EXPLAINS IT ALL IN TERMS OF WHY REJECTING A DEBT CEILING INCREASE IS THE RIGHT MOVE.)
"You cannot defy the laws of gravity, and this issue of Obama's approach versus the austerity approach is a very important debate," Mr. Pawlenty said in the Journal interview. "President Obama is just wrong."
(*JUMPING TO MY FEET CHEERING*) (*STOMPING MY FEET WHILE HOLLERING OUT MY UNRESTRAINED APPROVAL*)
Mr. Pawlenty also challenged Mr. Obama to explain why as a senator he opposed and voted against a debt-ceiling increase under President George W. Bush but now says that such a stand by Republicans is reckless.
* I CAN ANSWER THAT: BECAUSE OBAMA IS A HYPOCRITICAL, PHONY SON OF A BITCH! (*WINK*) (*NOD*)
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs has said Mr. Obama took his stand when the outcome of the debt-ceiling debate wasn't in doubt and a U.S. debt default wasn't a risk.
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*) IN OTHER WORDS, FOLKS, WHAT GIBBS IS ADMITTING IS WHAT I JUST SAID!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703396604576087941210274036.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. decided to exclude U.S. clients from the private offering of as much as $1.5 billion in shares of social-networking company Facebook Inc., citing "intense media attention."
* HUH...???
In a statement provided to The Wall Street Journal, Goldman said the move came after officials at the New York securities firm "concluded the level of media attention might not be consistent with the proper completion of a U.S. private placement under U.S. law."
* HUH...???
In its statement, Goldman said the decision to limit the offering to "offshore" investors wasn't "required or requested by any other party," including the Securities and Exchange Commission.
* HUH...???
One Goldman client was told the deal is being offered only to non-U.S. clients because of regulatory concerns.
* HUH...???
* FOLKS...???
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f18783fc-21a3-11e0-9e3b-00144feab49a.html#axzz1BKqbPaHv
The price of steel has risen more than a third in two months, adding to global inflationary pressures as food and energy costs are also soaring.
* THAT'S UP 33%-PLUS...!
Floods in Queensland have severely disrupted global supplies of coking coal, a major steel-making ingredient, prompting a scramble among manufacturers to stock up on steel. That has pushed the price of benchmark US hot-rolled coil steel 37% cent higher since early November...
Spot cargoes of coking coal have traded as high as $350 a tonne – up 55% cent from quarterly contracts agreed at $225 just a few weeks ago.
* NOT GOOD, FOLKS... NOT GOOD...
Iron ore, the other major ingredient in steel, is rapidly rising towards record high prices, with benchmark grades delivered to China up 20 per cent since the start of November...
* BUT, HEY... LET'S SPEND 90% OF MAINSTREAM MEDIA COVERAGE ON "UNCIVIL POLITICAL DISCOURSE" AND... er... THE OUTCOME OF LAST NIGHT'S GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS.
(*SMIRK*)
[O]il is flirting with $100 a barrel for the first time since 2008...
[F]ood prices have risen to a record high, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/559977/201101141830/Honest-Answer-To-Govt-Woes-Is-Bankruptcy.aspx
Perhaps the most famous American budget crisis was New York City's, back during the 1970s.
When President Gerald Ford was unwilling to bail them out, the famous headline in the New York Daily News read, "Ford to City: Drop Dead."
* UNFORTUNATELY...
President Ford caved and bailed them out, after all. The rhetoric worked. (That is why so many other cities and states - not to mention the federal government - have continued on with irresponsible spending, and are now facing new budget crises, with no end in sight.)
What would have happened if Ford had stuck to his guns and not set the dangerous precedent of bailing out local irresponsibility with the taxpayers' money? New York would have gone bankrupt.
[The thing is...] millions of individuals and organizations go bankrupt without dropping dead.
(*SHRUG*) (*NOD*)
Bankruptcy conveys the plain facts that political rhetoric tries to conceal. It tells people who depended on the bankrupt government that they can no longer depend on that bankrupt government. It tells the voters who elected that bankrupt government, with its big spending promises, that they made a bad mistake that they would be wise to avoid making again in the future.
(*SHRUG*) (*NOD*)
Legally, bankruptcy wipes out commitments made to public sector unions, whose extravagant pay and pension contracts are bleeding municipal and state governments dry.
Is putting an end to political irresponsibility and legalized union racketeering dropping dead?
* I THINK NOT...
Bankruptcy says: "We just don't have the money." End of discussion. Bailouts say: "Give the taxpayers a little rhetoric, and a little smoke and mirrors with the bookkeeping, and we can keep the party rolling."
(*NOD*)
One of the political games that is played during a budget crisis is to cut back on essential services like police departments and fire departments, in order to blackmail the public into accepting higher tax rates. Often, a lot more money could be saved by getting rid of runaway pension contracts with public sector unions.
Bankruptcy can do that. Bailouts cannot.
(*NOD*)
What the public needs are current policemen and current firemen, not retired policemen and retired firemen, much less bureaucrats retired on inflated pensions.
* FOLKS... AT THE VERY LEAST WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO CUT OUT COST OF LIVING INCREASES AND STOP PROMISING PIE IN THE SKY PENSIONS TO NEW WORKERS. I'M NOT SAYING SIMPLY TAKE AWAY EXISTING PENSIONS. HOWEVER, WE'VE GOT TO START REINING THE WORST EXISTING EXCESSES IN. YES... OUR PRESENT GOVERNMENT HAS TO GO BACK ON THE PROMISES MADE BY PREVIOUS GOVERNMENTS. YES... FROM PENSIONERS PERSPECTIVE... SOME PENSIONERS ARE GONNA HAVE TO GET SHAFTED. IT'S EITHER THAT OR WE ALL GET SHAFTED.
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