Friday, February 18, 2011

Barker's Newsbites: Friday, February 18, 2011


Welcome to Friday...

Let the weekend begin...!!!
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5 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=a6jskX_gPvVc

In what union leaders say is becoming a national fight, protests against legislation to restrict public employees’ collective-bargaining rights spread from Wisconsin to Ohio.

* CLASS WARFARE MAY SOON BE MOVING INTO THE PHYSICAL REALM.

In Madison, Wisconsin, crowds that police estimated at 25,000 engulfed the Capitol and its lawns yesterday during a third-straight day of protests as Democratic senators boycotted the legislative session.

* AND THAT'S THE POINT, FOLKS; THE DEMS ARE THE PARTY NOT OF "THE PEOPLE," BUT RATHER, THEY ARE THE PARTY OF THE GOVERNMENT WORKERS - WHOSE WAGE, BENEFIT, AND ESPECIALLY RETIREMENT PACKAGES ARE BREAKING BUDGETS ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

* FOLKS... UNDERSTAND... WE'RE NOT TALKING PRIVATE SECTOR UNIONS. NO. WE'RE TALKING PUBLIC SECTOR UNIONS. AND QUITE FRANKLY, PUBLIC SECTOR UNIONIZATION IS ANTITHETICAL TO THE INTERESTS OF... er... THE GENERAL PUBLIC.

* WHAT THESE DEMS ARE REALLY SAYING IS, "SCREW YOU, TAXPAYERS!" FOR POLITICIANS - AND DEMOCRATIC POLITICIANS IN PARTICULAR BECAUSE ORGANIZED LABOR IS THEIR PARTICULAR CONSTITUENCY - THERE'S A CLEAR CONFLICT OF INTEREST INVOLVED IN THE SENSE THAT WHILE THEY'RE (THE POLITICIANS) SUPPOSED TO BE NEGOTIATING IN THE GENERAL PUBLIC LONG TERM INTEREST, THEIR PERSONAL POLITICAL INTERESTS DICTATE THAT THEY GIVE AWAY THE STORE TO THE ALLIES IN ORDER TO WIN UNION VOTES AND CAMPAIGN DONATIONS!

With states facing deficits that may reach a combined $125 billion next year, Republican governors and legislatures in states including Wisconsin, Ohio and New Jersey are targeting changes in rules for collective bargaining and worker contributions for health-care coverage and pensions.

* BECAUSE DOING SO IS IN THE GENERAL PUBLIC INTEREST! MY GOD... THE MATH IS THE MATH!

February 18, 2011 at 8:49 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.fox6now.com/news/witi-02182011-mps-closed-friday-story,0,4838415.story

[Wisconsin's] largest school district has joined those that have canceled classes due to teacher shortages caused by union protests at the state Capitol.

* AND THESE TEACHERS WHO HAVE WALKED OFF THE JOB SHOULD BE FIRED. PERIOD.

* LISTEN... THEY'RE FREE TO PROTEST TO THEIR HEART'S CONTENT ON WEEKENDS, BEFORE WORK ON SCHOOL DAYS, AFTER WORK ON SCHOOL DAYS, BUT ENGAGING IN AN ILLEGAL WORK ACTION THAT HURTS THE KIDS... THOSE DOING SO SHOULD BE FIRED.

Officials say more than 600 of the 5,400 teachers in Milwaukee Public Schools called in sick Friday to attend the protests over Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill.

* AND THOSE TEACHERS SHOULD BE FIRED. THIS WOULD OPEN UP 600 SPACES FOR PRESENTLY UNEMPLOYED TEACHERS TO TAKE.

(*SHRUG*)

February 18, 2011 at 5:18 PM
William R. Barker said...

* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704657704576150673159045188.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

The [GOP controlled] 112th House of Representatives spent the week debating how to fund the rest of fiscal 2011.

In sharp contrast to his recent predecessors, Speaker John Boehner is sticking to his vow to make the chamber more open and accountable. His committee chairmen having presented a base spending bill, Mr. Boehner threw open the floor for full discussion. Some 600 amendments came pouring in.

(*CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

"Chaos," "a headache," "turmoil," "craziness," "confused," "wild," "uncontrolled" are just a few of the words the Washington press corps has used to describe the ensuing late-night debates. There's a far better word for what happened: democracy.

(*STANDING UP TO APPLAUD*)

It has been eons since the nation's elected representatives have had to study harder, debate with such earnestness, or commit themselves so publicly. Yes, it is messy. Yes, it is unpredictable. But as this Presidents Day approaches, it's a fabulous thing to behold.

(*PROUD NOD*)

The Democrats' style of management - on ObamaCare, cap and trade, financial regulation, stimulus - was to secretly craft bills and ram through a vote, denying members a chance to read, to debate, to amend. They learned this from former Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who infamously micro- managed his GOP majority from 2003-2005.

The House had become a place where the leadership called all the shots and the majority saluted.

(*SAD NOD*)

But this week the country witnessed the House coming together to argue over and exercise its foremost responsibility: power over the purse. And from the look of the amendments, both sides were eager to use that funding authority to put the Obama policy machine on notice.

(*CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

* To be continued...

February 18, 2011 at 10:10 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 2)

There were amendments to prohibit funds for the mortgage-modification program (Darrell Issa, R., Calif.), for wasteful broadband grants (Jim Matheson, D., Utah), for further TSA full-body scanning machines (Rush Holt, D., N.J.), for the salaries of State Department envoys tasked with shutting Guantanamo Bay (Tim Huelskamp, R., Kan.). And amendments designed to cut off funding for IRS agents enforcing ObamaCare.

(*STANDING UP AGAIN TO APPLAUD*)

Americans got to see what happens when members of Congress exercise their collective knowledge of the federal government. Mr. Issa put forward amendments to prohibit the National Institutes of Health from spending money studying the impact of yoga on hot flashes in menopausal women.

(*CHUCKLE*)

Minnesota Democrat Betty McCollum offered to strike funding for the Department of Defense to sponsor Nascar race cars.

Neglected questions were once again asked. Should we get rid of federal funding for the arts? Should the government be designating federal monuments? What's the role of NASA?

(*APPROVING NOD*)

* REMEMBER WHAT LINCOLN QUIPPED ABOUT GRANT'S DRINKING? WELL... I'LL BE GLAD TO SEND SPEAKER BOEHNER ALL THE TISSUES HE REQUIRES AS LONG AS HE KEEPS ON PERFORMING AT THIS LEVEL!

Neglected questions were once again asked. Should we get rid of federal funding for the arts? Should the government be designating federal monuments? What's the role of NASA?

One of this week's more symbolically rich cuts came from Arizona's Republican Jeff Flake, who won an amendment erasing $34 million for the National Drug Intelligence Center in Johnstown, Pa. (The center, despite serving no real purpose, had been protected for decades, via earmarks, by the late [democrat] Defense appropriations chair John Murtha.)

The nation witnessed Democrats - the members not in the majority - offer their own amendments, a courtesy Speaker Nancy Pelosi never extended.

(*DOUBLE THUMBS UP*)

Remarkably, voters saw Republicans disagree vehemently with each other. Nowhere was this more clear than in this week's vote to defund a second (duplicative) engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The engine is being developed in a town near Mr. Boehner's Ohio district, and the speaker is a supporter. Yet 100 Republicans joined 123 Democrats (and Defense Secretary Robert Gates) to oppose the second engine and save taxpayers $450 million this year and $3 billion in the long-run.

Mr. Boehner didn't have to allow that vote. Mrs. Pelosi wouldn't have. But in opening the House, Mr. Boehner has done far more than put reform above his own priorities. This week's exercise forced members to read the underlying spending bill; to understand the implications of hundreds of amendments; to remain on the floor for debate; and to go on record with votes for which voters will hold them accountable.

(*SALUTE TO BOEHNER*)

Congress, this week earned its pay. Long may that last.

February 18, 2011 at 10:10 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110217/bs_nm/us_wiki_china_treasury

Confidential diplomatic cables from the U.S. embassies in Beijing and Hong Kong lay bare China's growing influence as America's largest creditor.

The cables, obtained by WikiLeaks, show that escalating Chinese pressure prompted a procession of soothing visits from the U.S.Treasury Department.

In one striking instance, a top Chinese money manager directly asked U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for a favor.

In June, 2009, the head of China's powerful sovereign wealth fund met with Geithner and requested that he lean on regulators at the U.S. Federal Reserve to speed up the approval of its $1.2 billion investment in Morgan Stanley, according to the cables, which were provided to Reuters by a third party.

Although the cables do not mention if Geithner took any action, China's deal to buy Morgan Stanley shares was announced the very next day.

(*SMIRK*)

The two Treasury officials to whom the cables were addressed, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia Robert Dohner and Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Monetary and Financial Policy Mark Sobel, declined through a spokesperson to comment for this story.

The State Department also declined to comment.

* IMAGINE THAT! (*SMIRK*) (*SNORT*)

February 18, 2011 at 10:11 PM

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