Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, April 19, 2011


There's a thin line between happiness and contentment vs. frustration and violence.
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10 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-venice-shooting-20110418,0,6246677.story

* AND YOU DON'T THINK AMERICA'S IN DECLINE...?!?!

A man was in critical condition after a shooting Saturday on the Venice boardwalk... The shooting occurred amid a "flash mob" crowd that was organized at least in part over Twitter...

[T]he crowd, including young men in gang attire and tattoos, swelled in the late afternoon.

* YA LIKE THAT? "YOUNG MEN" IN GANG ATTIRE AND TATTOOS. HOW'BOUT WE CALL 'EM WHAT THEY ARE - DANGEROUS ANIMALS... CRIMINALS...

About 6:30 p.m., six to eight shots rang out at 17th Avenue and Ocean Front Walk... The victim ran half a block to an alley where he collapsed...

The crowd scattered through the neighborhood, with some hiding in nearby shops. The bus stops were mobbed with people trying to flee by public transportation...some in the mob ran away backward so they could continue to watch the action. "They were laughing. It was all part of the event for them...there's a kind of free-for-all down here. Everybody is trying to get away with as much as they can."

* CAN'T HAVE MORE "FUN" THAN SHOTS RINGING OUT IN A CROWDED TOURIST AREA IN BROAD DAYLIGHT, HUH...

The victim, in his mid-20s, was struck in the head and side and taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center... The man's name and updated condition were not available Sunday evening. No arrests have been made.

(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

[B]usiness owners said disturbances have been escalating.

* WELL OF COURSE THEY HAVE...! DUH...!

April 19, 2011 at 8:27 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8459813/Britons-shot-in-Florida-killed-as-part-of-gang-initiation.html

James Cooper, 25, and James Kouzaris, 24, were in Florida when they were killed at 3am in a "gangland area" rarely visited by tourists.

* SARASOTA, FLORIDA MY FRIENDS... (*SIGH*)

They apparently accepted a lift from someone they met in a bar, thinking they were being driven home.

A 16 year-old, named locally as Shawn Tyson (left), was charged with their murder. It emerged yesterday that he was freed by a judge last week despite being arrested over an armed robbery.

* HEY... WHAT'S A BIT OF ARMED ROBBERY BETWEEN FRIENDS, RIGHT?!

The bodies of Mr Cooper, a tennis coach who once played Andy Murray, and Mr Kouzaris were found riddled with bullets on a one-way street in the [neighborhood] known for drug dealing and gang activity.

Police are investigating the theory that the pair spent the night bar hopping in Sarasota. Officers suspect they believed they were being driven the 12 miles to the resort of Longboat Key. Instead, they were taken to Newtown, Sarasota, where they were confronted by a gang of masked men.

Police sources said both men were running away when they were shot. Their bodies were found 50-ft. apart. They still had money on them and police found no evidence to suggest they had been wanting to buy drugs.

Police said the 16-year-old boy, charged with double murder, was believed to live with his mother... [Tyson] had been charged with aggravated assault after shots were fired in an attempted robbery two weeks ago. However, he was released while police carried out further inquiries.

(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

Police said he would now be charged as an adult which could lead to the death penalty.

* WE CAN ONLY PRAY!

April 19, 2011 at 8:47 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.fox8.com/news/wjw-local-air-traffic-controller-suspended-for-watching-movie-txt,0,2903386.story

In its release, the FAA said the following:

"During the early morning hours of April 17, 2011, an air traffic controller at the Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center was watching a movie on a portable electronic device while working a radar position. For a little more than three minutes, the controllers microphone was inadvertently activated, transmitting the soundtrack of the movie over the radio frequency for that airspace. The problem was brought to air traffic controls attention by the pilot of a military aircraft using an alternate frequency. The controller has been suspended from operational duties pending an investigation. FAA policy prohibits the use of portable DVD players and other devices from being used on the floor of the radar room."

* THE FISH ROTS FROM THE HEAD DOWN. (*SHRUG*) WELCOME TO HOPE AND CHANGE.

It is clear from the agency's release that those flights with which the controller should have been communicating were unable to get messages through to the controller.

* LISTEN. THESE CONTROLLERS WHO ARE FALLING ASLEEP AND OTHERWISE ACTING IN SUCH A MANNER AS TO PUT THE FLYING PUBLIC IN HARM'S WAY SHOULD BE CRIMINALLY PROSECUTED AND UPON CONVICTION JAILED. IT REALLY IS THAT SIMPLE.

An FAA spokesman declined to answer questions, including how the interruption impacted traffic through the area.

The identity of the Oberlin air traffic controller was not released.

The FAA also is investigating why two air traffic controllers in Lubbock, Texas, were out of contact for an extended period.

* UNFRIGG'NBELIEVEABLE...

April 19, 2011 at 8:57 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704004004576271253244143890.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopOpinion

Take Pell Grants. Right now, a college student who graduates in four years with a perfect 4.0 grade point average gets less money than a student who takes six years and squeaks by with a 1.9.

April 19, 2011 at 9:57 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704821704576270783611823972.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories

U.S. multinational corporations, the big brand-name companies that employ a fifth of all American workers, have been hiring abroad while cutting back at home...

* HOPE... CHANGE... HOPE... CHANGE...

The companies cut their work forces in the U.S. by 2.9 million during the 2000s while increasing employment overseas by 2.4 million, new data from the U.S. Commerce Department show. That's a big switch from the 1990s, when they added jobs everywhere: 4.4 million in the U.S. and 2.7 million abroad.

* REMEMBER, THOUGH... THE 90's ENDED WITH THE TECH BOOM GOING BUST. MUCH OF THE "GROWTH" WAS SMOKE AND MIRRORS STOCK APPRECIATION WITH NO ACTUAL PRODUCTIVE PROFITS ASSOCIATED!

In all, U.S. multinationals employed 21.1 million people at home in 2009 and 10.3 million elsewhere, including increasing numbers of higher-skilled foreign workers.

* CALL ME CRAZY, BUT I'D SURE LIKE TO HAVE A PORTION OF THOSE 10.3 MILLION JOBS IN THE HANDS OF AMERICANS IN AMERICA.

The data also underscore the vulnerability of the U.S. economy, particularly at a time when unemployment is high and wages aren't rising. Jobs at multinationals tend to pay above-average wages and, for decades, sustained the American middle class.

(*SIGH*)

The Commerce Department's summary of its latest annual survey shows that in 2009, a recession year in which multinationals' sales and capital spending fell, the companies cut 1.2 million, or 5.3%, of their workers in the U.S. and 100,000, or 1.5%, of those abroad.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

Between 2005 and 2010, [G.E.] cut 1,000 workers overseas and 28,000 in the U.S. ... [T]oday, 54% [of G.E.'s employees] are [overseas].

(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

Oracle, which makes business hardware and software, added twice as many workers overseas over the past five years as in the U.S. At the beginning of the 2000s, it had more workers at home than abroad; at the end of 2010, 63% of its employees were overseas.

Caterpillar...has been adding workers world-wide - except for global layoffs in 2009, amid the recession - but is hiring much faster abroad. Between 2005 and 2010, its work force grew by 3,400 workers, or 7.8%, in the U.S. and 15,900, or nearly 39%, overseas.

Cisco Systems Inc., which makes networking gear, has been creating jobs much more rapidly abroad. Over the past five years, it has added 10,900 employees in the U.S. and 21,350 outside it. At the beginning of the decade, 26% of its work force was abroad; at the end, 46% was.

* ONE (SEMI) BRIGHT SPOT...

Microsoft is an exception. It cut its head count globally last year, but over the past five years, the software giant has added more jobs in the U.S. (15,300) than abroad (13,000). About 60% of Microsoft's employees are in the U.S.

April 19, 2011 at 10:19 AM
William R. Barker said...

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

http://blogs.forbes.com/johntamny/2011/04/16/india-and-the-economic-folly-of-a-college-degree/

“…if an equal proportion of people were educated at the public expense, the competition would soon be so great, as to sink very much their pecuniary reward.” Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, p. 151

* YEP!

An all-too-predictable headline blared from the front page of the Wall Street Journal recently, titled, “India Graduates Millions, But Too Few Are Fit to Hire”.

[I]t would be easy to [substitute] "U.S.” [for] “India.”

(*NOD*) (*SIGH*)

Though politicians, educators and their media enablers would have us believe that the act of earning a college diploma makes short people tall, turns bad writers into Somerset Maugham, and the mathematically challenged into highly-paid engineers, reality is happily intruding. What’s going on in India is a good example.

As Geeta Anand reported in the Wall Street Journal, though call-center company 24/7 Customer Pvt. Ltd is eagerly searching for “recruits who can answer questions by phone and e-mail”, it’s found that “so few of the high school and college graduates who come through the door can communicate effectively in English, and so many lack a grasp of educational basics such as reading comprehension, that the company can hire just three out of every 100 applicants.”

This is our future.

(*NOD*) (*SIGH*)

* To be continued...

April 19, 2011 at 1:24 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 2)

[W]ith politicians aggressively promoting "advanced" education with the taxpayers’ money, the inevitable result will be universities handing out more and more worthless diplomas to marginal attendees who will enter college with no skills, and who will similarly depart without the skills prized by employers. Worse for the victims of this supposed compassion, many will emerge with a great deal of debt as their reward for having wasted four years.

* YEP...!

As for those who emerge debt free, they won’t be much better off either. Having spent four years daydreaming through classes on Greek mythology and feminist art history, they’ll have lost four years of real work that actually teaches them how to get by in an advanced society.

* AN EXAGGERATION? YES... BUT HOW MUCH OF ONE...?

Taking nothing away from the fun that is college, the idea that [the average liberal arts] "advanced" education is anything more than a high-priced union card is hard to countenance.

* YEP. A DEGREE IS FAR TOO OFTEN A PRE-REQUISITE IN AND OF ITSELF TO GAIN AN INTERVIEW FOR A JOB WHICH BY RIGHT DOESN'T REQUIRE A COLLEGE DEGREE - OR AT LEAST DOESN'T REQUIRE THE DEGREE THE CANDIDATE HOLD. (*SHRUG*)

Importantly, there’s not much learned in college or graduate school that is applicable to what’s done in the working world, so the real purpose of both is to serve as a signaling device. Put simply, the thesis written senior year at Harvard on the rise of Cinema verite in the ‘70s is not what appeals to Goldman Sachs, Google and Microsoft, but the fact that the student got in to Harvard means this person is most likely both hard working and smart. Companies figure they can train individuals with both attributes to do any number of productive, wealth-creating activities in the real, working world.

Some will of course point out that college isn’t only about courses on medieval literature, and that some students take accounting and finance classes with an eye on working in those areas. No doubt that’s true, but if so, it would be even more worthwhile to skip the nosebleed tuition and simply get to work on passing the CPA and CFA exams.

(*NOD*) (*CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

[J]ust as over-issuance of a currency relative to demand ultimately reduces its value, the drive to make college a pedestrian right has made the diploma increasingly worthless.

As for India, the story of untalented college graduates is a reminder that rather than something that makes us smart, college is at best what smart people have traditionally aspired to. Try as we might to make everyone above average, these attempts as revealed by the Indian experience are vain on their best day.

April 19, 2011 at 1:25 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://blog.heritage.org/2011/04/18/morning-bell-framing-the-debt-limit-debate/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell

In May, Congress will begin debate on our nation’s debt limit.

It would irresponsible and reckless for them to even consider raising the limit without also enacting spending cuts and reform.

Today’s national debt...is approximately $14.3 trillion.

To put that into perspective, the government’s annual budget for 2011, which is in itself bloated, is roughly $3.7 trillion.

[T]o put the future health of our economy in perspective, President Obama proposed in his 2012 Budget proposal that we add $9 trillion to that debt over the next ten years.

* INSANITY...

Our government borrows nearly 40 cents on every dollar it spends.

* INSANITY...

Many in Washington claim we should, once again, ignore the debt limit alarm bell. They say coupling a debt limit increase with spending cuts and reforms puts the full faith and credit of the United States at risk. This is nonsense. It is critical conservatives do not give in to the scare tactics of the Left. They have one goal in mind: Distracting us from our nation’s fiscal crisis through fear and intimidation.

As Heritage economist J.D. Foster, Ph.D., noted in January: “Refusing to raise the debt limit would not, in and of itself, cause the United States to default on its public debt. Both immediately and long after it reaches the debt limit, the government would have far more than enough revenue coming in that the Secretary of the Treasury could use to pay interest on the debt.

* EXACTLY!

[D]iscussion over the debt limit has been rife with hyperbole, false choices and irresponsible conjecture. It started when White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee said we would risk damaging the “full faith and credit of the United States” by not blindly raising the ceiling.

* OBVIOUS NONSENSE... WE HAVE PLENTY OF REVENUE COMING IN TO PROVIDE FOR NOT ONLY INTEREST PAYMENT, BUT ALSO TO MAKE A START ON DEBT REPAYMENT. STEP ONE - BALANCE THE BUDGET!

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner warned Congress...

* SERIOUSLY, FOLKS... WE ALL KNOW TIM "THE TAX CHEAT" GEITHNER IS A POLITICAL STOOGE AND A TOTAL INCOMPETENT AS AN ECONOMIST.

President Obama told the AP last week that failure to raise the debt ceiling “could plunge the world economy back into a recession.”

* JUST THE OPPOSITE, FOLKS! HERE'S WHY:

The world economy will be in much worse shape if America continues to dishonestly approach its fiscal future.

(*NOD*)

President Obama himself voted against raising the debt ceiling in 2006 saying: “The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure…Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.”

* FOLKS... THAT WAS THE OBAMA RATIONAL LIBERALS SUPPORTED. FOLKS... THAT WAS THE OBAMA THAT EVEN I LOOKED FAVORABLY UPON!

April 19, 2011 at 1:25 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110419/ap_on_re_us/us_medicare_reprieve

Millions of seniors in popular private insurance plans offered through Medicare will be getting a "reprieve" from some of the most controversial cuts in President Barack Obama's health care law.

* AND GUESS WHO'S GIVING OUT THESE... er... "REPRIEVES?"

In a policy shift critics see as political, the Health and Human Services department has decided to award "quality bonuses" to hundreds of Medicare Advantage plans rated merely average.

The $6.7 billion infusion could head off service cuts that would have been a headache for Obama and Democrats in next year's elections for the White House and Congress. More than half the roughly 11 million Medicare Advantage enrollees are in plans rated average.

* FOLKS... THIS IS EVEN WORSE THAN THE WAIVERS! NOW HE'S SIMPLY GIVING MONEY AWAY DIRECTLY WITHOUT CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL!

The insurance industry says the bonuses will turn what would have averaged out as a net cut for Medicare Advantage plans in 2012 into a slight increase.

* AGAIN... HOW DOES $6.7 BILLION GET SPENT WITHOUT SPECIFIC CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL?

April 19, 2011 at 5:09 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703922504576272562475083084.html?mod=WSJ_hps_sections_markets

A weaker dollar pulled oil futures higher Tuesday...the greenback falling against the euro.

The dollar fell steadily throughout the day...

U.S. gasoline prices on Tuesday averaged $3.84 a gallon, up nearly a $1 versus a year ago, according to auto club AAA.

* O-BA-MA! O-BA-MA! O-BA-MA! O-BA-MA! O-BA-MA! O-BA-MA! O-BA-MA! O-BA-MA!

April 19, 2011 at 8:55 PM

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