Friday, February 25, 2011

Barker's Newsbites: Friday, February 27, 2011


Folks... eclectic doesn't begin to cover it!

Now... imagine a few G.I. Joe "action figures" crashing the party!
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7 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/feb/24/shutdown-skedaddle-congress-deserted-deadline-loom/

With the clock ticking to a March 4 government shutdown, you might imagine the Capitol would be buzzing with lawmakers seeking to cut deals, make impassioned speeches and do everything they could to strike a deal on spending.

You’d be wrong.

House lawmakers stayed until 4:41 a.m. Saturday to finish up a spending bill to keep the government open, and sent it over to the Senate - only to be met with an empty chamber.

Senators had closed up shop two days before and went home for a 10-day break...

* JUST A COINCIDENCE THAT THE HOUSE IS RUN BY REPUBLICANS AND THE SENATE BY DEMOCRATS...???

* FOLKS... WISEASS PARTISANSHIP ASIDE... HARRY REID AND HIS CRONIES HAVE CROSSED THE LINE TO BEYOND IRRESPONSIBLE.

House Republicans said they’ve done their work. They stayed in session until 1 a.m. twice, worked until 3:43 a.m. another day, and then pushed until nearly 5 a.m. Saturday morning to get their bill done. Along the way, they considered hundreds of amendments and held more than 100 recorded votes.

The [Democrat controlled] Senate, meanwhile, hasn’t touched spending since before Christmas. Instead, senators have worked on a bill to update federal aviation rules, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support on Feb. 17.

(*SNORT*)

Senators then left Washington, adjourning by unanimous consent, which means no lawmakers objected to the decision.

* AGAIN, FOLKS... PARTISANSHIP ASIDE... EVEN THOUGH THERE'S NOTHING THE SENATE REPUBLICANS CAN DO TO FORCE REID AND HIS CRONIES TO DO THEIR JOBS, SENATE REPUBLICANS COULD HAVE - AND SHOULD HAVE - REFUSED THEIR UNANIMOUS CONSENT, THUS FORCING AN ACTUAL RECORDED VOTE.

February 25, 2011 at 9:56 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20110225/D9LJHDI00.html

The White House reverberated like a long-ago basement sound studio in Detroit on Thursday as the likes of John Legend, Seal, Jamie Foxx, Nick Jonas and Sheryl Crowe channeled their inner Motown before Michelle and Barack Obama. Musical pioneers Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder joined in for the celebration of all things Motown.

* HEY... AS LONG AS THE PRESIDENT AND FIRST LADY ARE HAVING FUN THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS...

* THE IRONY... A CONCERT SPONSORED BY THE TONE-DEAF.

* I WONDER HOW MANY SENATORS WERE IN ATTENDANCE...

(*SIGH*)

* THANK GOD THE WORLD IS AT PEACE AND THE ECONOMY IS HUMMING ALONG! THE OBAMAS DESERVE TO REWARD THEMSELVES FOR A JOB WELL DONE!

(*RUSHING TO THE TOILET TO PUKE*)

February 25, 2011 at 10:03 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=42000

Last year, Barack Obama committed his administration to doubling U.S. exports in half a decade.

The good news: He is on the way. U.S. exports of goods and services grew in 2010 by 16.6%.

Bad news: U.S. imports, starting from a higher base, surged by 19.7%.

(*SHRUG*)

The U.S. trade deficit in 2010 worsened by 33%, rising from $375 billion to $498 billion, the largest percentage increase in a decade.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

* FOLKS... WHERE ARE THE UNIONS? SERIOUSLY! ASK YOURSELVES! WHERE ARE THE UNIONS...???

[F]or the decade from December 2000, the month before George W. Bush took the oath, to December 2010, the end of Obama's second year...America ran a total of $6.1 trillion in trade deficits, more than our entire economic growth.

To finance those 10 years of deficits, America had to borrow $1.553 billion every day.

* REPUBLICRATS AND DEMPUBLICANS WORKING AGAINST THE MIDDLE, FOLKS. OLIGARCH UBER ALLES! OH... AND THE STUPID SHEEPLE... THEY'RE THE ONES BUYING ALL THIS "NOT MADE IN U.S.A." CRAP.

* WE ARE SO SCREWED...

In 2010, our trade deficit in manufactures alone rose 27% to $416 billion, far exceeding our trade deficit in crude oil. A decade of such deficits in manufactures has devastated the industrial states.

* AND WITH THEM OUR NATIONAL SECURITY SELF-SUFFICIENCY.

From December 2000 to December 2010, 22 states lost a third or more of their manufacturing jobs.

* AND THE SKILLS, FOLKS... DON'T FORGET THE SKILLS! WE NO LONGER HAVE THE TRAINED WORKFORCE NECESSARY SHOULD AN EMERGENCY REQUIRE IMMEDIATE REINDUSTRIALIZATION.

Last year, the United States ran a trade deficit in autos, trucks and parts of $110 billion.

* AUTOS, TRUCKS, AND PARTS, FOLKS... PRETTY CRUCIAL PART OF THE NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE!

Despite all the propaganda about exports being the future, the foreigners' share of the U.S. market is $500 billion more than America's entire share of the world market.

* OH...! BUT WAIT! IT GETS WORSE...!

And it is not only traditional manufacturing where America is getting her clock cleaned. In the critical items identified as "advanced technology products," the United States has been running a deficit with the world, beginning in Bush's second year, soaring from $16 billion in 2002 to $82 billion in 2010.

(*FEELING PSYSICALLY ILL*)

With China, the U.S. trade deficit in advanced technology products alone in the past four years has totaled more than $300 billion, with the 2010 deficit in ATP with China reaching an astonishing $92 billion.

* O.K., FOLKS... LET'S ASSUME - GIVE HIM THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT - THAT GEORGE W. BUSH WAS SIMPLY CLUELESS... THAT HE ACTUALLY BELIEVED THE "FREE TRADE" MANTRA. (I BELIEVE HE DID - HE DOES.) NOW... ASK YOURSELVES... ASSUMING THE OBAMA IS BUSH'S INTELLECTUAL SUPERIOR... HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THE SAME BASIC TRADE POLICIES STILL BEING FOLLOWED TWO YEARS AFTER OBAMA FIRST TOOK OFFICE AND CONSIDERING THAT FOR THOSE FIRST TWO YEARS OBAMA HAD A PLIANT DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS... HMM...???

February 25, 2011 at 12:51 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703530504576164821936879868.html?mod=WSJ_hps_sections_newyork

As New York City threatens to lay off 4,650 teachers, Republican State Senator John J. Flanagan introduced bill that would put teachers who are chronically late, have had poor performance ratings or have been convicted of a crime within the past five years at the top of the layoff list.

[Flanagan] introduced legislation that applies only to New York City and picks nine categories that put teachers at greater risk for layoff. It would affect 529 teachers who have been found guilty of criminal charges outside of work but who remain on the DOE payroll. The criminal charges include assault, larceny, drunk driving and drug possession.

* HMM... I WONDER IF HE HAS A DEMOCRATIC CO-SPONSOR?

Among other categories of teachers who could be laid off first under the bill are those who have been the subject of an investigation where allegations of misconduct were substantiated. The district also would have the power to terminate teachers who for two years in a row rank in the bottom 30% of all teachers as measured by their students' progress on state tests.

More than 7,000 of the city's 75,000 teachers fall into at least one of the nine categories in the bill.

(*SNORT*)

The bill will soon be joined by a companion bill in the Assembly that will be introduced next week by Democrat Jonathan Bing.

* AHH...! THAT'S GOOD...! GOOD FOR BING...!!!

The bill targets the 291 teachers who have been found guilty of incompetence or malfeasance by an arbitrator, or who have admitted guilt in an internal administrative process but haven't been dismissed. Charges in such proceedings include inappropriate or abusive behavior.

Another 305 teachers have been investigated by the Office of Equal Opportunity and allegations have been substantiated by that office that include charges of sexual misconduct, corporal punishment, verbal abuse or test cheating.

* NOW... WAIT FOR IT... WAIT FOR IT...

Michael Mulgrew, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, said the bill "would send us back to the days before civil service protections, when people could be fired for being the wrong race or gender, too young or too old."

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

State law requires teachers to be laid off on a seniority basis - regardless of whether the teachers are effective or even if they have been found to have committed wrongdoing.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been pushing for Albany to change the law to take other teacher attributes into consideration during layoffs. He has argued that the seniority-only policy will cost New York City some of its brightest young teachers.

* GOOD FOR BLOOMY! (AND I DON'T HAVE CAUSE TO SAY THAT VERY OFTEN!) (*WINK*)

February 25, 2011 at 7:23 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2011/02/25/antiabortion-billboard-in-soho-to-be-removed/

The controversial billboard in SoHo that linked an anti-abortion message with an image of a young black girl has been taken down, the company that owns the advertising space confirmed Thursday.

* HEY... FREE SPEECH IS OVERRATED... RIGHT...???

“It’s in the best interest to take it down,” said Peter Costanza, general manager of Lamar Advertising in New York. “I don’t want any violence to happen.”

The ad, located at Watts Avenue and Sixth Avenue in Lower Manhattan, reads, “The most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb.” That message is above a picture of a black girl wearing a sleeveless sundress.

Costanza said he received a report that critics of the sign harassed people at a nearby restaurant. He said he’s not taking a stand on the content of the ad but was concerned about plans for a protest.

(*SNORT*)

Life Always, the antiabortion group that placed the ad, said it “strongly disagrees” with its removal because the “message holds true, and truth has a place in the public square.”

* I AGREE. THEY SHOULD SUE LAMAR ADVERTISING.

Hal Kilshaw, a spokesman for Lamar, said the company is concerned about setting a precedent that controversial signs will be removed at the first whiff of protest. But he said the company needed to weigh the sign’s backers’ first-amendment rights versus “concerns about fairness to tenants in the area.”

* SO MUCH FOR THE FREE EXCHANGE OF IDEAS.

(*SIGH*)

February 25, 2011 at 7:23 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703775704576162400780380590.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_AboveLEFTTop

The White House has apparently decided that it won't enforce the unpopular parts of its health-care plan until after the 2012 election.

The latest evidence is its decision not to slash Medicare Advantage, the program that Democrats hate because it lets seniors choose private insurance options.

* BUT... BUT... BUT... SLASHING MEDICARE ADVANTAGE WAS PART OF THE MATH EMPLOYED BY OBAMA AND THE DEMS TO SELL OBAMACARE AS FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE!

* PEOPLE... YOU DO UNDERSTAND THAT EACH TIME OBAMA TRAMPLES THE RULE OF LAW - REFUSES TO ABIDE BY THE LAW AS WRITTEN - HE CREATES FURTHER PRECEDENT FOR FUTURE PRESIDENTS TO DO THE SAME THING. THIS MAN IS CREATING A PATHWAY TO DICTATORSHIP. THE RULE OF LAW MEANS NOTHING TO HIM.

February 25, 2011 at 7:23 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703408604576164710522796884.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_AboveLEFTTop

America's political addiction to ethanol has consequences, from raising the price of food to lining the pockets of companies like Archer Daniels Midland. So [we at the WSJ are] delighted to see another prominent booster - Bill Clinton - see the fright.

* BETTER LATE THAN NEVER, HUH! (*SMIRK*) (*SNORT*) (*RUEFUL CHUCKLE*)

"We have to become energy independent" but "we don't want to do it at the expense of food riots," the former President told an agriculture conference Thursday. He urged farmers to consider the needs of developing countries - the implication being that the diversion of corn to ethanol production limits food supplies and artificially raises prices.

No kidding.

(*YET ANOTHER RUEFUL CHUCKLE*)

At the same gathering, Department of Agriculture chief economist Joseph Glauber did the math. Despite a forecasted 4% increase in corn planting, Mr. Glauber expects corn used for ethanol to hit a record five billion bushels in 2011-12, or more than one-third of total U.S. production, thanks to renewable fuel mandates and tax incentives.

Corn prices recently hit two-and-a-half-year highs.

(*FROWN*)

[T]he forced U.S. ramp-up in ethanol production is commandeering corn that could otherwise go for food and contributing to higher food prices here and in much of the world.

The [Republican controlled] U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill last weekend that would halt funding for ethanol blending pumps and stops the Environmental Protection Agency from raising the limit for ethanol used in gas to 15% from 10%.

* LET'S SEE WHAT THE SENATE DOES... AND THEN... IF IT PASSES THE SENATE... WHETHER THE PRESIDENT WILL SIGN IT.

(*SHRUG*)

February 25, 2011 at 7:24 PM

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