Friday, March 25, 2011

Barker's Newsbites: Friday March 25, 2011


O.K., kids... take a moment... take some deep breaths... do a few sets of scales...

(You know... "Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Ti-Do...Do-Ti-La-Sol-Fa-Mi-Re-Do")

Ready?

O.K.! Let's start our Friday with a little Frank!

Belt it out... really belt it out...!
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7 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/texas-on-the-potomac/2011/03/obama-says-he-didnt-inform-mexico-of-u-s-gun-smuggling-operation-because-he-didnt-know-about-it/

Under fire for an operation that allowed smuggling of U.S. weapons across the nation’s border with Mexico, President Obama said in an interview that neither he nor Attorney General Eric Holder authorized the controversial “Operation Fast and Furious.”

* WHO DID AUTHORIZE IT?

The Mexican government has complained that it didn’t know about the U.S. operation that allowed guns to illegally cross the southwestern border so they could track the weapons.

* WELL... I CAN UNDERSTAND WHY WE WOULDN'T ENDANGER THE SECURITY OF THE OPERATION BY "SHARING" WITH LOCAL MEXICAN POLICE OFFICIALS, BUT TO NOT NOTIFY THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT AT ALL... NOT AT THE HIGHEST LEVELS... THAT SOUNDS RATHER ODD - ODD AND IRRESPONSIBLE.

The investigation into the program comes after it was connected to two weapons that were found at the scene of a border shootout that killed U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in December. Likewise, a gun smuggled from the U.S. were used to kill Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent Jamie Zapata, but it has not been determined if it was part of “Fast and Furious.”

* SO... HOW MANY AMERICAN LIVES HAS "OPERATION FAST AND FURIOUS" NOW COST?

The controversial operation was the subject of a CBS News Investigation that reported ATF was allowing traffickers to bring weapons into Mexico in order to track them rather than arresting the traffickers. Obama said Holder has assigned an inspector general to investigate what happened, because he does not know who authorized the operation.

* HOLDER DOES NOT KNOW...?!?! (EITHER HE'S A LIAR OR A TOTAL INCOMPETENT.)

“Letting guns ‘walk’ is not something that is acceptable,” Holder said during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing. “Guns are different than drugs or money when we are trying to follow their trail. That is not acceptable.”

* UM... APPARENTLY IT WAS ACCEPTABLE! IT HAPPENED! (YOU FRIGG'N INCOMPETENT...!!!)

March 25, 2011 at 12:53 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/business/economy/25tax.html?hp

General Electric, the nation’s largest corporation...

* AND ONE OF THE NATION'S FOREMOST "OBAMA FRIENDLY" CORPORATIONS!

...had a very good year in 2010.

* CRONY CAPITALISM BEEN BERRY, BERRY GOOD TO G.E. CEO JEFF IMMELT!

The company reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion...$5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States.

Its American tax bill?

* HMM... A LITTLE MORE THAN TWO BILLION...? (I'M GUESSING G.E. DIDN'T REPATRIATE OVERSEAS PROFITS, SO 35% OF $5.1 BILLION?)

None.

* NONE...?!?!

In fact, G.E. claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.

* WHAT THE F--K...?!?!

G.E.’s giant tax department, led by a bow-tied former Treasury official named John Samuels, is often referred to as the world’s best tax law firm. Indeed, the company’s slogan “Imagination at Work” fits this department well. The team includes former officials not just from the Treasury, but also from the I.R.S. and virtually all the tax-writing committees in Congress.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

* HEY, KIDS... THINK IT'S JUST A COINCIDENCE THAT G.E.'s CEO, JEFF IMMELT, IS ALSO OBAMA'S "LIAISON TO THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY" AS WELL AS CHAIRMAN OF THE PRESIDENT'S COUNCIL ON JOBS AND COMPETITIVENESS...?

(*SNORT*)

A review of company filings and Congressional records shows that one of the most striking advantages of General Electric is its ability to lobby for, win and take advantage of tax breaks.

* SING IT WITH ME, FOLKS: "JEFF AND BARRY, SITTING ON A TREE..." COM'ON! YOU KNOW IT!

While the financial crisis led G.E. to post a "loss" in the United States in 2009, regulatory filings show that in the last five years, G.E. has accumulated $26 billion in American profits, and received a net tax benefit from the I.R.S. of $4.1 billion.

* IN OTHER WORDS... (*SIGH*)... THEY'RE "PAID" (IN TAX BENEFITS) WHETHER THEY LOSE MONEY OR MAKE MONEY. NICE GIG!

* FOLKS... (*SIGH*)... THIS IS A FOUR PAGE NYT ARTICLE. I'LL LET THOSE OF YOU INTERESTED READ THE STORY IN IT'S SAD AND DISGUSTING ENTIRETY AT YOUR LEISURE.

March 25, 2011 at 1:13 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/567121/201103241838/Stealth-And-Trade.aspx

[Obama's] EPA is giving funds to charitable organizations to attack GOP members of Congress.

The American Lung Association, considered one of America's most credible and worthy charities, has placed four billboards in Michigan's 6th Congressional District - including one outside the office of Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., who heads the House Energy and Commerce Committee - that feature a sickly looking girl with an oxygen mask and read, "Rep. Fred Upton, protect our kids' health. Don't weaken the Clean Air Act."

Did you know telling the truth about climate change causes childhood asthma?

* WELL... NOW YOU KNOW.

(*SIGH*) (*SNORT*)

We have heard the litany of horrors that climate change is said to bring about - retreating glaciers, rising sea levels, drought and flooding, disease and famine. Now we are told that fighting the EPA's power grab to regulate greenhouse gases will lead to an increase in childhood asthma.

(*JUST ROLLING MY EYES*)

[The political and ideological alliance] between the EPA and the ALA goes back to at least the early 1990s. As John Merline reported in IBD way back in 1997, from 1990 to 1995 the EPA gave the American Lung Association some $5 million. JunkScience.com reports that the EPA has given the ALA an additional $20 million the past decade.

In return, the ALA is putting up billboards in opposition to reining in an EPA that is guilty of at least mission creep and at worst of accumulating power not authorized by our elected representatives in Congress.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

This incestuous back-scratching arrangement demeans the ALA's noble mission.

(*NOD*)

The EPA, with President Obama's blessing, is clearly trying to get around congressional intent and the will of the American people to implement cap-and-trade through EPA regulation - and paying the ALA to falsely frame it as a public health issue.

* FOLKS... (*SIGH*)... THIS IS A PATTERN. OBAMA'S MISUSE OF GOVERNMENTAL POWERS MUST BE ADDRESSED AND STOPPED!

March 25, 2011 at 1:34 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.mogop.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/2011-03-14-Ethics-Complaint-re-McCaskill.pdf

With Senator Claire McCaskill’s (D-MO) tax fraud scandal morphing from an $88,000 “oversight” into a $300,000 debacle, it’s worth considering how much her hypocrisy is really corruption.

[T]he Missouri GOP uncovered a startling revelation from McCaskill’s financial disclosure files. According to the group’s ethics complaint, since she became a senator in 2006 "McCaskill has spent at least $75,990 of taxpayer funds to pay for 89 flights aboard a private corporate plane of Timesaver, LLC… a company that she co-owns with her husband.”

* TSK...TSK...TSK... NAUGHTY, NAUGHTY CLAIRE!

Moreover, “in 2007, Senator McCaskill reported Timesaver LLC as providing her with income from ‘rent’ of between $50,001 and $100,000.”

* WHOA...! MY GOD... THIS IS BETTER THAN KERRY'S YACHT! THIS IS RANGEL LEVEL CORRUPTION!

In its complaint, the Missouri GOP reminds the Senate Ethics Committee that the “Senate Ethics Manual makes clear that Senate Rule 37 exists to prohibit activities ‘which could represent a conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict of interest.’”

* YEAH... I'D SAY WE'RE TALKING PRETTY DAMNED CLEAR "CONFLICT OF INTEREST."

Initially, McCaskill claimed that only one of the 89 flights was for a purely political purpose, a violation of the U.S. Treasury’s reimbursement policy.

* JUST ONE...?

However... McCaskill [soon thought better of her initial move and] sent Treasury a refund check for all the identified flights.

* OH... AND BEYOND THAT...

McCaskill volunteered that she failed to pay Missouri taxes on the plane for four years, amounting to almost $300,000.

(*SNORT*)

With all this hypocrisy...

* AND PERHAPS CRIMINALITY...???

...on public display, it’s worth considering how far back McCaskill’s “tax problem” can be traced.

Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government website posted a 9-page document detailing the multiple liens incurred by McCaskill and her first husband, David Exposito, for - get this - failure to pay debts. In one case, a car dealership owned by Exposito (but in McCaskill’s name) owed $1 million to General Motors Acceptance Corp.

* HEY... DIDN'T WE BAIL OUT GM? (*SMIRK*) PERHAPS IF SCUMBAGS LIKE MCCASKILL HAD PAID THEIR DEBTS... (*SHRUG*)

Between her 1995 divorce from Exposito and her 2006 Senate victory, McCaskill married John Shepherd, a St. Louis real estate developer who’s made millions owning “affordable housing” projects funded by the government.

(*ROLLING MY EYES*) (*GUFFAW*)

With the media and her political opposition sensing more corrupt business practices in McCaskill’s orbit, don’t be surprised if soon a scandal erupts over Shepherd’s housing contracts or landlord status.

March 25, 2011 at 3:05 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-glimpse-of-a-future-with-obamacare/2011/03/16/ABcNfkRB_story.html

The one-year anniversary of the "Affordable Care Act" this week brings new reason to consider a major health-care announcement by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

Almost five years into his state’s RomneyCare plan, it turns out that spending is out of control, threatening public-sector budgets and private-sector wealth generation.

The "solution" to this government-created mess, Patrick told the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce last month, is... more government control; "health-care reform Part II" as some are calling it.

(*SMIRK*) (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

Americans in the other 49 states should pay attention. Massachusetts is the blueprint for ObamaCare, and Patrick is among those who want his state’s plan to serve as a national model.

(*NOD*)

The first part of Patrick’s proposed "solution" is mandating managed care - the old HMO repackaged as an “accountable care organization” (ACO) - under which Big Medicine makes more money the less care it provides.

(*STILL SHAKING MY HEAD*) (*PURSING MY LIPS*) (*SIGHING*)

The second part is old-style Big Government. Patrick wants government bureaucrats to review and approve prices in the contracts between insurance companies and medical providers.

(*BANGING MY HEAD AGAINST THE WALL*)

* PERHAPS FRIEND-OF-OBAMA PATRICK SHOULD TAKE A CLASS AT HARVARD REVIEWING THE FAILURES OF THE OLD SOVIET ECONOMIC MODEL.

The first to feel the sting will be Massachusetts state employees, Medicaid recipients and individuals enrolled in the highly subsidized state insurance plans. Patrick wants to put them in managed-care plans forthwith.

There may be scientific reasons to sign up for managed care in a diverse health-care system that offers choice. But who would freely choose a system based on rationing?

Massachusetts residents supported RomneyCare, but now they face mandated managed care. Many providers and insurers offered their credibility to the RomneyCare effort, thinking that it would expand access to care without undermining their fiscal health. They will now be bargaining with bureaucrats over pricing.

(*STILL SHAKING MY NOW BLOODY HEAD*)

In Massachusetts health care, the first fib was told by then-Gov. Mitt Romney, who declared that he could radically expand government health care without it costing more.

* THUS... ROMNEY - WHO HAS YET TO CREDIBLY RENOUNCE ROMNEYCARE - SHOULD NOT BE A CANDIDATE... LET ALONE A FAVORED CANDIDATE - FOR THE GOP's 2012 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE NOD.

“Every uninsured citizen in Massachusetts will soon have affordable health care and the cost of health care will be reduced,” Romney wrote in the Wall Street Journal in April 2006. Despite this declaration, backers of the Massachusetts system now maintain that RomneyCare was never about controlling costs but simply expanding access to insurance.

(*SMIRK*)

Five years in, Bay State residents are being told that global budgets, price controls and rationed care are not only necessary but good for their health.

Terry Dougherty, director of MassHealth, said recently, “I like the market, but the more and more I stay in it, the more and more I think that maybe a single payer would be better.”

Don’t believe it.

[Instead] believe this - single payer is the logical and, indeed, likely extension of Romney-ObamaCare.

* AND THAT'S ALWAYS BEEN OBAMA'S END GAME.

March 25, 2011 at 4:46 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/story/11060496/1/general-electrics-harlem-horse-trade.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA

GEl Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt and Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY)...have - or at least had - were two things in common: immense power and a keen interest in tax policy.

[Today's] New York Times front page story...

* SEE TODAY'S NEWSBITE #2

...raises some troubling questions about the relationship between Rangel and Immelt, and, by extension, about corporate lobbying and U.S. tax policy.

* SOME BACKROUND...

Last year, Rangel was censured by his fellow House members and stripped of his chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee, which oversees tax policy. He isn't even allowed to vote on subcommittees. [The long serving Democrat's] censure came as the result of ethics violations, including the underreporting of assets, failure to pay taxes and using government stationery to solicit donations from companies that had business before him.

* OF COURSE AN ORDINARY CITIZEN WOULD HAVE NO DOUBT ENDED UP IN JAIL... BUT THAT'S ANOTHER STORY.

In May 2008, while Rangel still held his chairmanship, he met with GE tax chief and former U.S. Treasury official John Samuels.

Samuels dropped to one knee and begged Rangel to extend a tax break that is especially important to GE, according to the report, which notes that a GE spokeswoman said Samuels was joking.

(*SMIRK*)

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

Rangel was presumably not joking, however, when he changed his position on the issue, known as "active financing," the same day.

* THE SAME F--KING DAY...!!!

[Rangel's] reversal allowed GE and other companies, including Caterpillar, JPMorgan Chase, Ford and IBM to save an estimated $4 billion annually in taxes.

* THAT'S FOUR BILLION (WITH A "B") DOLLARS!

A month later, Rangel and Immelt were together in Harlem announcing a $30 million donation to benefit New York City schools, $11 million of which would go to institutions in Rangel's district.

* FOLKS. WE'VE GOT A KLEPTOCRACY RUNNING THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. OBAMA-IMMELT; IMMELT-RANGEL.

Rangel and GE told the Times there was no connection between GE's donation and the tax break...

* HEY... IF YOU CAN'T TAKE CHARLIE RANGEL'S WORD - OR JEFF IMMELT's - WHOSE CAN YOU TAKE... RIGHT...?! (*SNICKER*)

...though the article points to what appear to be conflicting statements by Rangel about whether he discussed the donation with GE or Immelt.

(*SMIRK*)

* FOLKS. THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS LIKE THE FRIGG'N MAFIA. I MEAN, JEEZ... YOU FOLKS WHO HAVE BEEN READING MY NEWSBITES ALL ALONG... HOW ELSE WOULD YOU DESCRIBE IT?!

March 25, 2011 at 7:57 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-birthing-center-20110325,0,5726974.story

Southern California has become a hub of so-called "birthing tourism."

The birthing centers are a twist on similar centers in China in which women recuperate for a month after delivery, following a strict diet and traditional rules meant to ensure their future health.

American centers offer these services as well - but the focus here is on giving birth.

The actual deliveries take place in local hospitals.

Most of the women go back to China after giving birth. But they know their children can return easily in the future to enjoy such benefits as free public education.

It is not illegal for pregnant women to travel to the U.S. to give birth.

(*MASSIVE MIGRAINE HEADACHE*)

March 25, 2011 at 10:41 PM

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