Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Barker's Newsbites: February 15, 2011


Long day, folks...

Don't know how many newsbites I'll get around to posting.

But, hey... gotta have a newbites theme song, right...?!?!
Posted by at

2 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703584804576144450144733380.html?KEYWORDS=argentina

Argentina's relations with the U.S. took a sharp turn for the worse Monday as the country continued to hold military equipment it confiscated last week from a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane sent as part of a training course for local police.

* WHAT...?!?! WTF...?!?!

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Arturo Valenzuela, called on Argentina to return the property without delay.

"It's absolutely necessary that they immediately return that material. It makes no sense for it to have been confiscated this way. This material was intended for a joint exercise in training people to rescue hostages," Mr. Valenzuela said Monday on CNN en Espanol.

Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman quickly rebutted Mr. Valenzuela and called on the U.S. to apologize for violating Argentine law. "I told him, 'Arturo, we have to be careful about this. The laws are made to be followed here and in the U.S. We all need to follow them,'" Mr. Timerman said on CNN en Espanol.

Timerman accused the U.S. of using the plane to smuggle undeclared firearms, surveillance equipment and "various doses of morphine" into the country for ulterior motives.

* AGAIN... WTF...?!?!

Argentina has lodged a formal complaint with the U.S. government and will return the cargo only after investigators say they no longer need it.

* WTF... WTF... WTF...?!?!

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said in Washington at a Monday afternoon briefing the U.S. government is "disturbed" about the seizure, and continues to seek explanations from the Argentine government.

* DISTURBED...? DISTURBED...?!?! EITHER WE TRIED TO PULL A FAST ONE AND GOT CAUGHT... OR... WE'RE TOTALLY IN THE RIGHT - IN WHICH CASE I EXPECT MY GOVERNMENT TO RESPOND WITH MORE THAN JUST THE STATEMENT "WE'RE DISTURBED."

* THE AGE OF OBAMA SUCKS! IT ABSOLUTELY SUCKS... (*SIGH*)

Relations between Argentina and the U.S. have deteriorated rapidly since U.S. President Barack Obama said in January that he would visit El Salvador, Brazil and Chile next month, skipping Argentina.

Argentine officials reportedly considered Mr. Obama's decision an affront, especially after Argentine President Cristina Fernandez in December blocked a bid by some South American nations to formally condemn U.S. policy amid the WikiLeaks diplomatic cables scandal.

The leaked cables contained unflattering comments about several Latin American leaders, including Ms. Fernandez.

(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

* I DON'T KNOW, FOLKS... (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

February 15, 2011 at 7:25 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2011/02/15/healthcare-reform-law-requires-new-irs-army-of-1054

[Obama's] IRS says it will need an battalion of 1,054 new auditors and staffers and new facilities at a cost to taxpayers of more than $359 million in fiscal 2012 just to watch over the initial implementation of [ObamaCare].

Among the new corps will be 81 workers assigned to make sure tanning salons pay a new 10% excise tax. Their cost: $11.5 million.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

The requests are just the beginning, since the new healthcare program is evolving and won't be fully implemented until about 2014.

February 15, 2011 at 7:37 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)