Thursday, March 31, 2011
Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, March 31, 2011
Welcome to another exciting episode of...
(*DRUM ROLL*)
...Bill explores YouTube!
Now the other day when I was listening to Pandora, low and behold, on came the late, great Bing Crosby singing "Mountain Greenery."
(Notice folks; no link provided; I can't seem to find a linkable freebie of Bing actually performing, so I leave it to you if you're interested in hearing the ULTIMATE version!)
As is often the case, one thing led to another and before I knew it I was discovering all sorts of neat performances of this class Rogers and Hart tune from "The Garrick Gaieties".
Nice, huh?!
Com'on... you guys know this song!
Now... as I've noted... I wasn't able to find the ULTIMATE rendition of "Mountain Greenery" - the Bing Crosby recording - but I was able to find Perry Como doing a credible job.
Not bad... (Not Bing... but not bad...)
And now... something really neat!
See... this is what I mean! There is just so much really cool stuff on YouTube...
(*GRIN*) (*NOD*) (*SIGH OF APPRECIATION*)
And finally folks... last but certainly not least... the late, great Lady Ella performing "Mountain Greenery" and "Our Love Is Here To Stay" at a 1979 televised concert special.
My God... it sends a chill down your spine, doesn't it?! It does mine... I'll tell ya that!
What a voice! What absolute tonal perfection!!!
Anyway, folks, I could spend all day doing this... browsing through YouTube.
God bless the America I grew up knowing...
God save the country we're left with today.
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http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/9113812/at-least-40-civilians-dead-in-tripoli-strikes-vatican-official/
At least 40 civilians have been killed in air strikes by Western forces on Tripoli, the top Vatican official in the Libyan capital told a Catholic news agency on Thursday, quoting witnesses.
"The so-called humanitarian raids have killed dozens of civilian victims in some neighborhoods of Tripoli," said Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli, the Apostolic Vicar of Tripoli.
"I have collected several witness accounts from reliable people. In particular, in the Buslim neighborhood, due to the bombardments, a civilian building collapsed, causing the death of 40 people," he told Fides, the news agency of the Vatican missionary arm.
* NOT IN MY NAME!
Western powers say they have no confirmed evidence of civilian casualties from air strikes...
* YEAH. THAT'S IT. THE VATICAN IS LYING. (*SNORT*) (*SNICKER*) (*ROLLING MY EYES*)
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-2002-toppling-brutal-dictator-dumb
* NOW AS YOU GUYS KNOW, I'M NOT BIG ON POSTING CNS ARTICLES, BUT LET'S FACE IT... YOU'RE JUST NOT GOING TO BE EXPOSED TO THIS SORT OF INFORMATION VIA THE MAINSTREAM LIBERAL MEDIA.
* BTW... REGARDING AUTHENTICITY... SEE: http://www.barackobama.com/2002/10/02/remarks_of_illinois_state_sen.php
(*SMIRK*)
President Barack Obama, as an Illinois state senator in 2002, said that using military force to topple a murderous dictator amounted to a “dumb war” and should be opposed.
The “dumb war” Obama was criticizing was the planned invasion of Iraq and the murderous dictator was its leader, Saddam Hussein.
Obama, speaking at an anti-war rally in Chicago on Oct. 2, 2002 said that while Saddam was a brutal tyrant, that was not enough to justify using military force to remove him from power.
“Now, let me be clear - I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein,” said Obama in his speech. “He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power. He has repeatedly defied U.N. resolutions, thwarted U.N. inspection teams, developed chemical and biological weapons, and coveted nuclear capacity. He's a bad guy. The world, and the Iraqi people, would be better off without him.”
* YEAH... AND... GO ON... (*TAPPING MY FOOT*)
"I don't oppose all wars. ... What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne."
(*SMIRK*)
Obama argued that deposing Saddam militarily was not necessary, because Iraq posed no “direct threat” to the United States.
(*SMIRK*)
Obama also cited Iraq’s weakened economy and the fact that it was still possible to contain Saddam’s aggression, repudiating the Bush administration’s rationale that Saddam posed too great a threat to American interests and his own people to be left in power.
(*SNORTING WHILE SHAKING MY HEAD*)
“But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors, that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military is a fraction of its former strength, and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history,” said Sen. Obama.
* NO DUSTBIN FOR QADDAFI, HUH?
* FOLKS... (*SIGH*)... WHAT A HYPOCRITE.
http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/tracking-the-late-season-noreaster_2011-03-30
[The Headline:] April Fools' Day Nor'easter Is Coming
A major Northeast winter storm is imminent Thursday and Friday. Winter storm warnings have been posted for parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. This storm will develop Thursday afternoon off the East coast and intensify Friday off the coast of New England. Strong winds and the wet, heavy nature of snow may lead to power outages in the area covered by the winter storm warnings. Major travel disruption over a wide area is possible. A wide zone of at least 6 inches of snowy north and west of New York City to Boston I-95 corridor. Snow would first begin early Thursday afternoon in the mountains of West Virginia and Virginia. Thursday night, rain will rapidly change to snow from northeast Pennsylvania into interior New England. Nor'easter will quickly intensify Friday producing heavy snow and high winds over eastern N.Y. state, Vt., western/central Mass., N.H. and Maine.
* REMEMBER, FOLKS... (*CHUCKLING*)... IF IT DOESN'T SNOW - IT'S GLOBAL WARMING. IF IT DOES SNOW - IT'S GLOBAL WARMING. IF IT'S GLOBAL COOLING - THAT'S SIMPLY A SIGN OF GLOBAL WARMING. IF "GLOBAL WARMING" DOESN'T PAN OUT AS A RALLYING CRY, TRY "CLIMATE CHANGE."
(*LMAO*)
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2011-03-30-wal-mart-ceo-expects-inflation_N.htm
U.S. consumers face "serious" inflation in the months ahead for clothing, food and other products, the head of Wal-Mart's U.S. operations warned Wednesday.
* FOLKS... WE'VE BEEN SEEING SERIOUS INFLATION - IT'S JUST THAT MOST FOLKS DON'T RECOGNIZE IT BECAUSE THE SIMPLE CONCEPT OF "PRICE PER OUNCE" DOESN'T CLICK WITH MOST "EDUCATED" AMERICANS. (YEAH... I'M REFERRING TO PACKAGE RESIZING; PAYING THE SAME PRICE - SOMETIMES MORE - FOR SAY A 12 OUNCE PACKAGE OF "WHATEVER" THAT YOU USED TO PAY FOR A 16 OUNCE PACKAGE.
[I]nflation is "going to be serious," Wal-Mart U.S. CEO Bill Simon said during a meeting with USA Today's editorial board. "We're seeing cost increases starting to come through at a pretty rapid rate."
* THANK YOU PRESIDENT OBAMA... THANK YOU TIM "THE TAX CHEAT" GEITHNER... THANK YOU BEN BERNANKE...
Along with steep increases in raw material costs, John Long, a retail strategist at Kurt Salmon, says labor costs in China and fuel costs for transportation are weighing heavily on retailers. He predicts prices will start increasing at all retailers in June.
http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0311/not_a_secret_anymore_a00ccd98-0d9e-4822-8936-168f3a51b959.html
President Obama finally and quietly accepted his “transparency” award from the open government community this week - in a closed, undisclosed meeting at the White House on Monday.
(*LMAO*)
The "secret" presentation happened almost two weeks after the White House inexplicably postponed the ceremony, which was expected to be open to the press pool.
This time, Obama met quietly in the Oval Office with Gary Bass of OMB Watch, Tom Blanton of the National Security Archive, Danielle Brian of the Project on Government Oversight, Lucy Dalglish of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and Patrice McDermott of OpenTheGovernment.org, without disclosing the meeting on his public schedule or letting photographers or print reporters into the room.
* FOLKS... (*STILL LAUGHING*)... YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP!
“Our understanding going into the meeting was that it would have a pool photographer and a print reporter, and it turned out to be a private meeting,” Bass told Politico.
* WELL... THIS IS THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION AFTER ALL - THINGS CHANGE! (*SMIRK*)
Just hours before the White House put off the original event, White House press secretary Jay Carney was defiant in his defense of Obama’s transparency record...
(*STILL LAUGHING*)
* AGAIN, FOLKS... ON A SERIOUS NOTE... THOSE OF YOU WHO REGULARLY FOLLOW NEWSBITES KNOW EXACTLY WHAT KIND OF RECORD OBAMA HAS AMASSED.
* YES... POLITICO IS "OUTING" OBAMA ON THIS ONE. BUT COM'ON, FOLKS... BY AND LARGE THE MSM REPORTING ON THIS WILL BE SIMPLY "OBAMA WINS TRANSPARENCY AWARD," BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, LEAVING THE FALSE IMPRESSION THAT HE WON THE AWARD FOR ACTUALLY BEING... er... TRANSPARENT.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/146891/Hillary-Clinton-Favorable-Near-Time-High.aspx
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's favorable rating from Americans is now 66%, up from 61% in July 2010 and her highest rating to date while serving in the Obama administration. The current rating is just one percentage point below her all-time high rating of 67%, from December 1998.
* SEE WHAT I MEAN ABOUT THE STUPIDITY - ACTUALLY THE IGNORANCE COMBINED WITH LAZINESS - OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE?
* FOLKS... THOSE OF YOU WHO FOLLOW NEWSBITES... IS THE CASE NOT ROCK SOLID THAT MADAM CLINTON'S "OVERSIGHT" OF THE STATE DEPARTMENT HAS BEEN A DISASTER? (RHETORICAL QUESTION; THE ANSWER IS "YES.")
* FOLKS... DON'T EVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA - BOTH THEIR NEWS AND ENTERTAINMENT ARMS.
Clinton enjoys extraordinary popularity among women, and particularly women 50 and older. She also receives support from a solid majority of independents and 40% of Republicans.
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*) (*MASSIVE MIGRAINE HEADACHE COMING ON*)
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OIL_PRICES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-03-31-10-27-39
The price of oil rose to a 30-month high on Thursday...
* AIN'T THE AGE OF OBAMA GRAND...?!?!
Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude rose $2 to $106.27 a barrel in midday trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. At one point it hit $106.77, the highest it's been since September, 2008.
(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)
In London, Brent crude rose $2.03 to $116.98 per barrel.
* OUTSTANDING...
(*SMIRK*)
Gas pump prices continue to rise along with the price of oil. The national average in the U.S. on Thursday hit $3.606 for a gallon of regular...
* CHANT IT WITH ME, FOLKS: O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A!
* HOPE... CHANGE... HOPE... CHANGE...
(*SIGH*)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704559904576231012132521614.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_AboveLEFTTop
Democrats like to paint House Republicans as "extreme" ideologues held captive by the Tea Party. But after reviewing the House GOP's new plan to reform the housing market, we wish the Tea Party had grabbed a few more hostages.
* OH, JEEZ... I'M GONNA HATE THIS, AREN'T I? (*CLENCHING MY JAW*)
On Tuesday Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee introduced eight bills to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-created mortgage giants at the heart of the financial crisis. These toxic twins have already gobbled up $156 billion of taxpayer money. But not one of the eight bills would shut down Fannie or Freddie - even on a delayed fuse.
(*BLOOD PRESSURE ALREADY SHOOTING THROUGH THE ROOF*)
You could argue that the House GOP has rolled out a less aggressive reform plan than one of the options recently floated by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. (Yes, the same Secretary Geithner who quietly gave Fan and Fred an unlimited call on taxpayer cash on Christmas Eve of 2009.)
(*SLAMMING MY FISTS ON THE DESK*)
Those Republicans seem to have decided that fundamental reform isn't possible with a Democratic Senate. At least that's the charitable view.
* BULLSHIT!
Another is that Financial Services Chairman Spencer Bachus, a longtime friend of the mortgage twins, still can't liberate himself from the housing lobby that wants Fan and Fred to rise again.
(*GRITTING MY TEETH*)
* THE ARTICLE ITSELF DESCRIBES THE VARIOUS REPUBLICAN PLANS.
The House GOP thinking seems to be that throwing out several reforms will increase the chances that one or more will stick in the Senate. Perhaps that will turn out to be shrewd, but offering so many bills could also let the Senate's Fan and Fred backers pick the least important and claim to support "reform" that is no such thing.
Senator John McCain will roll out a better plan today that would force Fan and Fred to shut down or go private within five years. His proposal also includes the crucial reform of shrinking the size of the loans that Fan and Fred can guarantee, which is now $729,750...
* SOUNDS LIKE MCCAIN IS ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THIS ISSUE. (AS ALWAYS... CREDIT GIVEN AS DUE!)
* DOESN'T IT MAKE YOU WANNA PUKE? MIDDLE LOWER AND MIDDLE CLASS TAXPAYERS SUBSIDIZING LOANS WHERE THE MORTGAGE - THE MORTGAGE! - IS JUST SHORT OF THREE QUARTERS OF A MILLION DOLLARS.
Bringing this so-called conforming loan limit down to zero over a few years, and then setting a date for the liquidation of Fan and Fred, is the reform that taxpayers need.
* AGREED!
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/263454/battling-big-abortion-rep-mike-pence
* BY CONGRESSMAN MIKE PENCE (R-IN)
Planned Parenthood clinics focus mainly on abortion - and because money is fungible, there is no way to fund the useful services without freeing up money for the organization to spend on abortion.
In 2009, the group made only 977 adoption referrals and cared for only 7,021 prenatal clients, but performed a record 332,278 abortions.
(In other words, a pregnant woman entering a Planned Parenthood clinic was 42 times more likely to have an abortion than to either receive prenatal care or be referred for adoption.)
Planned Parenthood recently made plain the centrality of abortion to its mission by mandating that every one of its affiliates have at least one clinic that performs abortions within the next two years.
(*SHRUG*) FOLKS... WHATEVER YOU BELIEVE ABOUT THE RIGHTS AND WRONGS OF ABORTION... THESE ARE THE NUMBERS AS THEY RELATE TO WHAT PLANNED PARENTHOOD IS ACTUALLY ABOUT.
Advocates for the abortion industry have sought to portray efforts to defund Planned Parenthood as a “War on Women,” but the issue is big business, and that business is abortion.
On Feb. 18, 2011, with bipartisan support, the House of Representatives passed the Pence Amendment, which would end taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood.
Despite efforts to suggest otherwise, the Pence Amendment does not reduce funding for cancer screenings or eliminate one dime of funding for other important health services to women; the money that does not go to Planned Parenthood as a result of the Pence Amendment will go to other organizations that provide these services. If the Pence Amendment becomes law, thousands of women’s health centers, clinics, and hospitals will still provide assistance to low-income families and women. The Pence Amendment would simply deny any and all federal funding to Planned Parenthood.
This legislative battle is about Big Abortion vs. American taxpayers.
According to its most recent annual report, [Planned Parenthood] raked in $1.1 billion in total revenue.
Of that amount, $363.2 million came from taxpayers in the form of government grants and contracts.
While current law prohibits Planned Parenthood from directly using tax dollars on abortions, taxpayers subsidize its overall operation, freeing up funds that can be diverted to direct spending on abortion.
* AGAIN... THIS GOES TO PENCE's INITIAL POINT: MONEY IS FUNGIBLE. (*SHRUG*)
As Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood director, recently said, “Planned Parenthood’s mission, on paper, is to give women quality and affordable health care and to protect women’s rights. In reality, their mission is to increase their abortion numbers and in turn increase their revenue.”
Big Abortion routinely puts profits over women’s health and safety. When women testify in favor of tightening safety standards at clinics, Planned Parenthood fights them. And despite the fact that 88% of Americans favor informed-consent laws that provide information about the risks of, and alternatives to, abortion for women, Planned Parenthood opposes these efforts and works to keep women in the dark.
(And tragically, in some instances, Planned Parenthood has refused to cooperate when law-enforcement officials have sought information to help girls they believed to be victims of child rape or molestation.)
Many organizations that provide charitable services, such as the Salvation Army, do not expect to be underwritten by American taxpayers. Why should Big Abortion be the exception?
As Abby Johnson has said, “There are better uses of our money. Planned Parenthood provides shabby, limited health care.” If supporters of Planned Parenthood wish to support the organization, they have every right to do so, but they should not expect everyone else to sign the check.
The time has come to deny any and all federal funding to Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/03/clinton-tells-house-obama-would-ignore-war-resolutions.php?ref=fpa
The White House would forge ahead with military action in Libya even if Congress passed a resolution constraining the mission, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during a classified briefing to House members Wednesday afternoon.
* AND FOLKS... THE WAR POWERS ACT IS IN AND OF ITSELF A "RELAXATION" OF CONSTITUTIONAL NORMS; THE WAR POWERS ACT WAS ITSELF AN ACT OF POLITICAL COWARDESS WHICH CONGRESS PASSED ONLY TO AVOID DEALING WITH IT'S OWN CONSTITUTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES TO PROACTIVELY TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ALL OVERSEAS MILITARY ACTIONS OF THE UNITED STATES.
* BOTTOM LINE... OBAMA's LEGAL POSITION IS THAT WHEN IT COMES TO MILITARY POLICY... (*SIGH*)... HE IS ALL-POWERFUL SHORT OF IMPEACHMENT. (FRANKLY, I'M NOT SURE IF HE'D "ACCEPT" FUNDS BEING CUT OFF OR WHETHER HE'D TRY TO SIMPLY STRIP THE MONEY FROM THE GENERAL BUDGET UNDER COVER OF EXECUTIVE ORDER.)
* FOLKS... AS I'VE SAID, YOU DON'T NEED THERE TO BE A HITLER WITH HIS GESTAPO AND SS OR A STALIN WITH HIS KGB IN ORDER FOR "TYRANNY" TO EXIST.
Clinton was responding to a question from Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) about the administration's response to any effort by Congress to exercise its war powers, according to a senior Republican lawmaker who attended the briefing.
Sherman, who asked Clinton about the War Powers Act during a classified briefing, said Clinton and the administration are sidestepping the measure's provisions giving Congress the ability to put a 60-day time limit on any military action. "They are not committed to following the important part of the War Powers Act," he told TPM in a phone interview. "She said they are certainly willing to send reports [to us] and if they issue a press release, they'll send that to us too."
* FOLKS... NOTICE THAT YOU'RE GETTING THIS HERE AT NEWSBITES - NOT VIA THE MSM. (*SHRUG*)
Clinton plainly admitted the administration would ignore any and all attempts by Congress to shackle President Obama's power as commander in chief to make military and wartime decisions. In doing so, he would follow a long line of Presidents who have ignored the act since its passage, deeming it an unconstitutional encroachment on executive power.
* HMM... I WONDER WHAT SORT OF PAPER TRAIL EXISTS CONCERNING OBAMA's PRE-PRESIDENTIAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE WAR POWERS ACT AS CONSTITUTIONAL? (*SMIRK*)
* OH... YEAH... SILLY ME! ALMOST FORGOT THAT AS A U.S. SENATOR. OBAMA USED TO QUOTE THE ACTUAL CONSTITUTION TO MAKE THE POINT THAT PRESIDENT BUSH WASN'T A KING. (*SNICKER*)
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