Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, April 6, 2011


Say what you will about ol' Babs, but the lady can sing!
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19 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/japan-no-2-core-melted-reactor-vessel-rep-20110406-074109-708.html

A top official from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said on Wednesday it was not clear that Japan's Fukushima No. 2 nuclear reactor has melted through the reactor pressure vessel.

Earlier, Democratic lawmaker Edward Markey told a House of Representatives hearing on the nuclear disaster that the NRC had told him the core had melted through the vessel.

"That's not clear to us, nor is it clear to us that the reactor has penetrated the vessel," said Martin Virgilio, deputy executive director for reactor and preparedness programs at the NRC.

* FOLKS. NOTICE I HAVEN'T GIVEN MUCH TIME TO "NEWS" CONCERNING THE SITUATION IN JAPAN? THE ABOVE STORY NICELY SUMS UP WHY I HAVEN'T BEEN COMMENTING. THE TRUTH IS... NEWS REPORTS HAVE ALL ALONG BEEN ALL OVER THE BOARD AND SIMPLY CAN'T BE TRUSTED.

* ONE THING I DO KNOW FOR SURE: THE TSUNAMI ITSELF CAUSED FAR MORE DEATH, DESTRUCTION, AND INJURY THAN ANY "FALLOUT" (PARDON THE PUN) FROM THE NUCLEAR REACTORS BEING DAMAGED HAS OR WILL. PERIOD.

April 6, 2011 at 1:05 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/04/06/2011-04-06_obama_looks_to_al_for_help_in_12_run.html#ixzz1IkQtTbWY

President Obama is making his second visit to [NYC] in as many weeks and is calling upon an unlikely ally to shore up the support of his political base.

Obama will be speaking Wednesday for the first time as commander in chief at the annual convention of the National Action Network and standing with its founder, the Rev. Al Sharpton...

* 1) AS "COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF...?" IS THIS SIMPLY THE REPORTER TRYING TO ADD A LITTLE EXTRA SHINE TO OBAMA'S PROPER TITLE, "PRESIDENT?"

* 2) IMAGINE RONALD REAGAN OR PAPPY BUSH OR DUBYA WHEN THEY WERE PRESIDENT SPEAKING AT A RALLY SPONSORED BY AN ORGANIZATION FOUNDED BY DAVID DUKE.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

* FOLKS... AL SHARPTON IS A PIECE OF GARBAGE. I UNDERSTAND THAT THE MEDIA - INCLUDING FOX NEWS' BILL O'REILLY - HAS PRESENTED THE GUY AS IF HE'S NOT A RACIAL ARSONIST, BUT TWO WRONGS DOESN'T MAKE A RIGHT. YOU'RE KNOWN BY THE COMPANY YOU KEEP AND OBAMA KEEPS SOME PRETTY TRASHY COMPANY.

April 6, 2011 at 1:20 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://dailycaller.com/2011/04/06/washington-post-and-cbs-receiving-money-from-obamacare-slush-fund/

* FOLKS. AS YOU KNOW, I ALMOST NEVER POST "NON-AUTHORITATIVE" NEWSBITE FODDER, BUT THIS IS AN EXCEPTION.

* KNOW THAT IF I FIND ANYTHING THAT DISCOUNTS WHAT I'M ABOUT TO POST, I'LL SHARE IT WITH YOU RIGHT AWAY.

Two mainstream news organizations are receiving hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars from ObamaCare’s Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP), a $5 billion grant program that’s doling out cash to companies, states and labor unions in what the Obama administration considers an effort to pay for health insurance for early retirees.

The Washington Post Company raked in $573,217 in taxpayer subsidies and CBS Corporation secured $722,388 worth of Americans’ money.

The ERRP, which Republicans call a slush fund, provides taxpayer money to Obama administration-selected states, companies and labor unions with already-in-place early retiree health insurance programs, and aims to make certain that their employees who retire early still have health insurance coverage before they reach Medicare eligibility age.

Almost $2 billion of the $5 billion fund, which was supposed to last until 2014, has already been distributed to corporations.

New projections expect the funding to run out before the end of 2012, if not sooner.

* YEP. SOUNDS LIKE A SLUSH FUND TO ME! $5 BILLION IN TAXPAYER DOLLARS DISTRIBUTED NOT VIA SPECIFICALLY TARGETED LEGISLATIVE ACTION - TAXPAYER FUNDING AS DIRECTED BY CONGRESS - BUT RATHER A BIG PILE OF MONEY SIMPLY GIVEN TO THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH (I'M ASSUMING WHEN DEMS STILL CONTROLLED BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS) TO DISTRIBUTE AT THEIR DISCRETION.

In addition to CBS Corporation and the Washington Post Company, recipients of ERRP funding include the United Auto Workers union, which secured $206,798,086 in taxpayer money, AT&T, which took in $140,022,949, and General Electric (GE), which raked in $36,607,818.

(GE has made headlines recently for not paying any U.S. taxes last year.)

IBM got $12,989,690 in taxpayer money.

Verizon pulled $91,702,538 in taxpayer cash, too, and General Motors received $19,002,669.

More than $6 million went to different Teamsters groups nationwide, and millions more went to the United Mine Workers, United Food and Commercial Workers, the AFL-CIO and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

* FOLKS... DOES THIS SOUND KOSHER TO ANY OF YOU...? PUTTING CRONYISM ASIDE, WHY THE HECK ARE TAXPAYER BILLIONS - YES, BILLIONS - GOING TO SUBSIDIZED THE LIKES OF THE WASHINGTON POST COMPANY, CBS CORPORATION, AT&T, IBM, GE, VERIZON... (FOR THE MOMENT LET'S LAY THE ISSUE OF THE UNIONS ASIDE)?

April 6, 2011 at 1:37 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=42663

* A FOLLOW-UP TO THE PRECEEDING NEWSBITES...

Back when ObamaCare was being [debated], [then-Speaker] Nancy Pelosi (D-CA0 assured us we needed to pass it to “find out what’s in it.”

* YEP! THAT'S A REAL LINE; IN CONTEXT! (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

The House Energy and Commerce Committee, [now] chaired by Republican Fred Upton of Michigan, just found something else that was...in it: “a $5 billion bailout fund for state governments, Fortune 500 companies, and Hollywood unions that is rapidly going bankrupt after doling out half a billion dollars much more quickly than anticipated.”

* BY "BANKRUPT" UPTON IS USING HYPERBOLE TO NOTE THAT THE $5 BILLION AUTHORIZATION IS EXPECTED TO BE FULLY ASSIGNED/DISTRIBUTED BY THE END OF THIS MONTH RATHER THAN LASTING TILL 2014, WHEN THE PROGRAM IS SET TO SUNSET.

(*SHRUG*)

That five billion in funding, by the way, is roughly the same as the amount allocated to the high-risk pool for people with pre-existing conditions - ostensibly the major reason we detonated ObamaCare and destroyed the American health insurance system.

* AGAIN... DISCOUNTING THE HYPERBOLE... YES, IT DOES INDEED SEEM STRANGE THAT THOSE WITH PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS MUST SHARE FULLY HALF THE TOTAL $10 IN FUNDING WITH THOSE WHO... er... NOT ONLY DON'T SUFFER FROM PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS BUT IN MANY CASES TOOK EARLY RETIREMENT BY DESIGN... BY CHOICE.

The bailout fund is formally known as the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program. It’s a federal subsidy to “employers and unions that provide health coverage to early retirees.” According to the committee’s analysis, “The ERRP reimburses the employer 80% of the actual cost of an early retiree’s health expenses between $15,000 and $90,000,” based on “qualified claims beginning on or after June 1, 2010.”

* YEP! YOU READ THAT RIGHT! WE THE TAXPAYERS ARE SUBSIDIZING 80% OF THE ACTUAL COST OF AN EARLY RETIREE'S HEALTH EXPENSES UP TO $90,000 - THAT OBVIOUSLY INCLUDES PLATINUM, DIAMOND COVERED POLICIES FOR UNION AND CORPORATE EXECUTIVES WHICH PROVIDE EVERY BENEFIT UNDER THE SUN!

The Energy and Commerce report notes that “Like many provisions and accounting gimmicks in the health care law, it has largely escaped public scrutiny because of the sheer volume of programs and spending crammed into the law without scrutiny or Congressional oversight.” (In other words, nobody has really paid much attention to where the money went.)

(*SMIRK*)

Over one third of the $535 million spent in 2010 went to five public union benefit and pension plans, in California, New Jersey, Georgia, Kentucky, and Texas.

Fifty-six percent of all funds distributed in 2010 went to government organizations.

(Over five thousand entities have been approved for EERP bailouts, and 47% of them are government organizations.)

In the private sector, the committee tactfully notes that EERP money is going to “companies that do not appear to need the financial assistance of the federal government,” including “Fortune 500 companies with billions of dollars in revenue..."

* HOW DO YOU LIKE OBAMA'S "HOPE AND CHANGE" NOW, FOLKS?

Along with the billion-dollar windfall for AARP, this is another example of how the primary function of socialist programs is making well-connected people rich… at the expense of average Americans, who are told they have a moral duty to fork over their tax money and be satisfied with a reduced standard of living.

April 6, 2011 at 2:12 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/44/post/despite-spending-impasse-obama-to-head-out-of-washington/2011/04/05/AFpsdknC_blog.html

A fiery President Obama insisted Tuesday that if he and congressional leaders couldn’t reach a deal to avert a government shutdown, “I want a meeting again tomorrow here at the White House.”

* WELL... BETTER LATE THAN NEVER IN SHOWING A BIT OF LEADERSHIP...

Obama’s team may not include the president himself.

* HUH...?!?!

Despite the impasse in Washington over federal spending, the president as of early Wednesday was scheduled to give two speeches outside of Washington: one on energy in the Philadelphia suburbs, then another Wednesday evening to a group of black political activists in New York.

(*HEADACHE*)

April 6, 2011 at 2:47 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.cnbc.com/id/42454041

Gold hit record highs a second straight day Wednesday and oil soared to fresh 2-1/2 year highs...

(*SIGH*) (*HEADING TO THE MEDICINE CABINET TO POP SOME ASPIRIN*)

The spot price of gold which reflects trading in bullion, rose to an all-time high of $1,461.91 an ounce...

(In futures trading, U.S. gold for June delivery rose half a percent to a record high of $1,467.00 an ounce.)

Silver, the poorer investor's alternative to gold, hit 31-year highs of $39.75 an ounce in spot trading.

* A 31-YEAR HIGH.... YEP... THAT'S... er... "CHANGE" I'D SAY!

[T]he dollar fell to a 14-month low against the euro...

(*POPPING MORE ASPIRIN*)

* FOLKS... (*RUEFUL CHUCKE*)... JUST THINK ABOUT WHAT THIS MEANS. EUROPE AND THE EURO HAVE TO CONTEND WITH GREECE, SPAIN, IRELAND, PORTUGAL... (*POUNDING HEADACHE*)... AND YET THE EURO IS CLIMBING AGAINST THE DOLLAR. WHAT DO YOU SUPPOSE THAT SAYS ABOUT FOREIGN FAITH IN OBAMA'S AMERICA?

London's Brent crude oil rose above $123 a barrel...

In New York, U.S. crude climbed...to below $109...

U.S. corn futures fell half a percent, not too far from record highs reached on Tuesday, as worries over low U.S. stockpiles continued to support the grain's price. Corn for May delivery on the Chicago Board of Trade corn traded at above $7.61 a bushel. The contract hit an all-time high of $7.70-3/4 on Tuesday. Corn prices have jumped more than 15% since a U.S. Department of Agriculture last week showed unexpectedly low stockpiles as of March 1.

* THANK GOD SKYROCKETING FUEL AND FOOD COSTS AREN'T REALLY... er... INFLATION AS MEASURED BY OUR BELOVED FEDERAL GOVERNMENT! (*SMIRK*)

April 6, 2011 at 3:04 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hf5Smpi-LpRGoCyPOYCHE-Ry36LA?docId=CNG.692381365d745fc505df40c97673c9ec.a31

Cuba on Tuesday announced plans to drill five deepwater oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico beginning this summer, expressing confidence that its efforts will be rewarded with major new energy finds.

(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

Some studies estimate Cuba has probable reserves of between five and nine billion barrels of oil in its economic zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Cuban authorities have said their crude reserves are as high as 20 billion barrels.

Cuba's economic zone in the Gulf, just a stone's throw from the US state of Florida, is divided into 59 blocs. Of those 20 are ventures with Repsol (Spain), Hydro (Norway), OVL (India), PDVSA (Venezuela), Petrovietnam and Petronas (Malaysia). Petrobras (Brazil) recently pulled out and Sonangol (Angola) recently signed on.

(*MORE SARCASTIC CLAPPING*)

* REMEMBER HOW THE U.S. UNDER EISENHOWER RESPONDED TO SPUTNIK? (*SNORT*) NOW - UNDER OBAMA - WE'RE LETTING FRIGG'N CUBA EXPLOIT GULF OIL RESOURCES WHILE AMERICAN INTERESTS ARE NEGLECTED - DELIBERATELY SO.

April 6, 2011 at 3:38 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12964360

Surgeons say patients in some parts of England have spent months waiting in pain because of delayed operations or new restrictions on who qualifies for treatment.

(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

* SOCIALIZED MEDICINE... YEA!

(*SMIRK*)

In several areas routine surgery was put on hold for months, while in many others new thresholds for hip and knee replacements have been introduced.

The moves are part of the NHS drive to find almost $33 billion in efficiency savings by 2015.

* AH... "EFFICIENCY SAVINGS..." NOTHING TO WORRY YOUR PRETTY LITTLE HEAD ABOUT THEN!

(*SNORT*) (*SNICKER*)

Surgeons have described the delays faced by patients as "devastating and cruel."

* "DEATH PANELS, ANYONE...? (*LOOKING AROUND*)

Peter Kay, the president of the British Orthopaedic Association (BOA), says they've become increasingly frustrated that hip and knee replacements are being targeted as a way of finding savings. "We've started to get reports over the last nine months that access to these services are being restricted. "GPs were told not so send as many patients to hospital, maybe to delay referrals until the end of the financial year while perhaps introducing thresholds for surgery."

He says that simply delaying surgery by one means or another does not improve the outcome for patients as their condition can deteriorate. "The double jeopardy is that patients wait longer in pain, and when they have the operation, the result might not have been as good as it otherwise would have been had they had it early."

* OH... WHY, OH, WHY CAN'T WE BE MORE LIKE THE BRITS! (*ROLLING MY EYES*)

April 6, 2011 at 3:38 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SUPREME_COURT_BREYER?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-04-05-22-38-05

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer argued Tuesday that judges need to apply the Constitution's values with an eye toward the changing times as he talked about the past successes and missteps of the nation's highest court.

* BREYER SHOULD BE IMPEACHED AND REMOVED FROM THE BENCH. HIS JOB IS TO RULE ON THE LAW AS BRACKETED - ULTIMATELY REPRESENTED - BY THE WORDS IN THE CONSTITUTION AND SUBSEQUENT AMENDMENTS AS THOSE WORDS WERE MEANT TO BE UNDERSTOOD AND WERE POPULARLY UNDERSTOOD AT THE TIME EACH BECAME THE LAW OF THE LAND.

* FOLKS... THE LIBS DON'T EVEN PRETEND TO HOLD THEMSELVES TO THE CONSTITUTION AS OPPOSED TO THEIR OWN WHIMS AND POLICY PRESCRIPTIONS. OUR REPUBLIC IS HOLDING ON BY A THREAD.

Breyer told hundreds of people during an event in downtown Little Rock that a judge's job is to figure out how the Founding Fathers' values apply to modern issues.

* AGAIN... BREYER ISN'T SIMPLY WRONG... HE'S ADMITTING THAT HIS RULINGS ARE BASED UPON HIS BEST QUASI-LEGISLATIVE POLICY JUDGEMENTS AS OPPOSED TO FOLLOWING HIS OATH AND BEING TRUE TO THE CONSTITUTION AS (TO THE BEST OF HIS LEGITIMATE UNDERSTANDING, WHETHER OR NOT HE "LIKES" WHAT HE UNDERSTANDS) WRITTEN AND INTENDED TO BE OBEYED.

The 72-year-old Breyer, considered one of the court's more liberal justices, believes that the court should apply the Constitution's values with a pragmatic view toward present circumstances, rather than focusing only on the document's historical meaning.

(*SHRUG*) FOLKS... I REST MY CASE. AGAIN... BREYER IS HIMSELF VOLUNTEERING MY CASE FOR ME!

* FOLKS... THIS IS TREASON. THIS IS A DELIBERATE UNDERMINING OF THE CONSTITUTION. HE'S ADMITTING IT!

* FOLKS... THE FOUNDERS GAVE US THE AMENDMENT PROCESS. THE AMENDMENT PROCESS IS THE ONLY LEGITIMATE WAY TO SHIFT AWAY FROM THE "DOCUMENT'S" HISTORICAL MEANING. (*SHRUG*)

April 6, 2011 at 3:39 PM
William R. Barker said...

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

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703712504576244502330718680.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

* THIS IS THE WSJ's POSITION IN A NUTSHELL:

Some House conservatives are grousing that Mr. Ryan's proposal doesn't cut spending enough to balance the budget in 10 years. This is a foolish complaint.

(*CONTEMPLATING*)

* FOOLISH, HUH? LET ME ASK YOU, FOLKS... IF YOU AND YOUR WIFE AND LOADED UP CREDIT CARD AFTER CREDIT CARD BY LIVING ABOVE YOUR MEANS FOR YEAR AFTER YEAR AND FINALLY IT CAUGHT UP TO YOU.. (*PAUSE*)... HOW DO YOU SUPPOSE YOUR CREDITORS WOULD REPLY TO YOUR TELLING THEM NOT ONLY, "WELL, WE WON'T BE ABLE TO MAKE GOOD ON OUR DEBTS EVEN IF YOU GIVE US TEN YEARS TO DO SO," BUT BEYOND THIS YOU SAY TO THEM, "BY THE WAY, WE STILL EXPECT YOU TO KEEP LENDING TO US SO THAT WE CAN CONTINUE TO LIVE ABOVE OUR MEANS, ONLY TO A LESSER DEGREE"?

* WELL...???

* O.K. I'VE HAD MY SAY. I'LL LET THE WSJ MAKE THEIR POINTS NOW:

Mr. Ryan's budget roll-out is an important political and policy moment because it is the most serious attempt to reform government in at least a generation. The plan offers what voters have been saying they want - a blueprint to address the roots of Washington's fiscal disorder.

That choice is clear enough by comparing the Ryan blueprint with the 2012 budget that President Obama rolled out only two months ago. ... Mr. Ryan proposes to spend $6.2 trillion less, return spending to its modern average of roughly 20% of GDP, and add $4.7 trillion less to the national debt.

* IN CONTRAST...

Mr. Obama would keep spending at 24% of GDP even before ObamaCare fully kicks in, while running annual deficits of $600 billion a year or more despite trillions of dollars in tax increases.

* To be continued...

April 6, 2011 at 4:33 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 2)

The Ryan plan would chop $179 billion from the 2012 White House budget...

* HOLD IT! HOLD IT... HOLD IT... HOLD IT...!!! I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT WHITE HOUSE BUDGET PROPOSALS. WHAT I WANT TO KNOW IS HOW MUCH RYAN's PROPOSAL WOULD CUT AS COMPARED TO THE PREVIOUS YEAR'S ACTUAL SPENDING.

* FOLKS... YOU'VE GOTTA REALLY PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT THESE FOLKS ARE ACTUALLY SAYING. EXAMINE REPUBLICAN WORDS AS CLOSELY AS YOU WOULD DEMOCRATIC WORDS. AS REAGAN CAUTIONED, "TRUST, BUT VERIFY!"

* HERE. LET'S START FROM THE TOP AND CONTINUE...

The Ryan plan would chop $179 billion from the 2012 White House budget and another $241 billion in 2013. This would be the largest two-year savings since the demobilization of the military after World War II.

* ARE WE TALKING STRAIGHT 1945 DOLLAR TO 2011 DOLLAR WITH THE POST WW-2 DEMOBILIZATION EXAMPLE OR ARE YOU TALKING INFLATION ADJUSTED? (CALL ME A CYNIC... I'M BETTING THE FORMER.) (*SMIRK*)

Mr. Ryan would cut funding for corporate welfare and hundreds of ineffective programs, reform agriculture subsidies, reduce the federal work force by 10% and repeal ObamaCare, among other good ideas.

* THAT I BELIEVE AND THAT I APPLAUD.

Mr. Ryan's budget would reduce federal borrowing to 2% of GDP by 2017, which is a manageable level of new debt and a huge improvement from the roughly 10% of GDP the Treasury is borrowing now.

* HEY... FOLKS... I'M DOWN FROM A LITER A DAY TO A FIFTH A DAY - YAHOO! (*SMIRK*) (*ROLLING MY EYES*)

* YO... POLITICIAN SCUM... WHY MUST WE CONTINUE LIVING BEYOND OUR MEANS BY EVEN 2% OF GDP...?!?! WHY CAN'T WE LIVE NOT JUST "WITHIN OUR MEANS," BUT WITH ENOUGH INCOME NOT SPENT TO PUT TOWARDS RETIREMENT OF THE NATIONAL DEBT?!

* FOLKS. AGAIN. READ CLOSELY. IGNORE THE CONGRATULATORY "TONE" AND PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO WHAT THE AUTHOR IS ACTUALLY NOTING. DEFICITS ARE TO CONTINUE! DEBT IS TO GROW!

Mr. Ryan also proposes a tax reform that would cut the U.S. personal and corporate tax rate to 25%, in return for eliminating loopholes and credits that allow companies like Whirlpool and General Electric to pay little tax.

* SOUNDS GOOD IN THEORY; I'LL WAIT TILL I KNOW MORE ABOUT THE DETAILS BEFORE GETTING TOO EXCITED, THOUGH.

* HEY... FOLKS... BOTTOM LINE: WHILE AS YOU SEE I'M NOT SHY IN SLAMMING RYAN OR THE WSJ... REGARDING THE BUDGET OBAMA PROACTIVELY SEEKS TO CONTINUE DRIVING OUR ECONOMY OFF A CLIFF VIA DEFICITS AND DEBT PROPOSALS DWARFING ANYTHING EVEN THE MOST LIBERAL REPUBLICAN IS ON RECORD AS FAVORING.

April 6, 2011 at 4:33 PM
William R. Barker said...

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

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703806304576235011671013644.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

* A BIT OF HISTORY...

When the Fed was created in 1913, the gold standard limited its power as did the balance between the 12 reserve banks across the country and the Federal Reserve Board in Washington.

Lawmakers thought that the reserve banks would represent regional economic interests in tension with the national political agenda of the board in Washington.

Moreover, the Federal Reserve Act imposed a hard constraint on the Fed's balance sheet: 40% of the Fed's notes had to be backed by gold.

Finally, the Fed's charter was temporary, lasting only 20 years before requiring congressional reauthorization.

These constraining forces began unraveling almost right away. During World War I, the Wilson administration suspended and then restricted the dollar's convertibility into gold. In 1927, the Fed's charter was extended indefinitely. In 1932, the Glass-Steagall Act effectively unmoored the Fed's balance sheet from gold by allowing government bonds to serve as collateral against the issuance of Federal Reserve notes. And with the passage of the Banking Act of 1935, the Fed's newly expanded powers were concentrated in the Federal Reserve Board, at the expense of the reserve banks.

* DID ANY OF YOU LEARN THIS IN SCHOOL? I'LL BE HONEST; I DIDN'T. HOW'BOUT MY READERS WITH A BACHELORS IN FINANCE AND/OR A MASTERS IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION?

(*SNORTING, SMIRKING, SHAKING MY HEAD*)

Thus by the mid-1930s, the only remaining check on the Fed's power was statutory.

Statutory supervision of government bureaucracies is usually workable because Congress maintains the power of the purse.

But...

(*PAUSE*)

...the Fed, which can print money, has no budget constraint.

* BINGO!

* IN OTHER WORDS, DEAR READERS, SHORT OF IMPEACHING INDIVIDUAL FED MEMBERS OR CANCELLING THE FED's CHARTER, THERE'S LITTLE CONGRESS CAN DO TO STOP THE FED FROM ACTING AS IT CHOOSES IN TERMS OF MONETARY POLICY.

* To be continued...

April 6, 2011 at 6:50 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 2)

[The Fed's] profit and loss statement doesn't matter because, unlike every other legal entity, its liabilities are irredeemable. Not having a real budget means that the Fed doesn't have to compete with anyone for scarce resources.

(*SNORT*)

* AH... BUT THROUGH MONETARY POLICY THEY CAN INFLATE OUR REAL RESOURCES - OUR DOLLARS AND DOLLAR DENOMINATED PROPERTY - AND THUS ROB US OF WEALTH!

Accordingly, Congress, banks and businesses - institutions that would typically be skeptical of a government bureaucracy's uncontrolled expansion - are instead interested in capturing the Fed for their own purposes. From the Long-Term Capital Management bailout in 1998 to the cleanup of 2008, Congress has come to rely on the Fed's ability to act—and thereby excuse Congress from having to vote on unpopular bailouts. What's more, the government remains dependent on the Fed to help finance its debt going forward. Similarly, banks and big corporations are potential beneficiaries of low-cost leverage and (in the wake of popped bubbles) expedient bailouts.

* YEP. YOU'RE GETTING THE POINT. THIS IS HOW MOST POLITICIANS - OF BOTH PARTIES - WANT IT!

(*HEADING TO MY BAR TO POUR MYSELF A STIFF DRINK*)

Thanks to the tea party, there are increased numbers of reform-minded leaders in Congress willing to take on big issues such as the Fed. But even those lawmakers who recognize the Fed's threat to liberty are advocating narrow fixes, such as imposing the "single mandate" of price stability (and removing the Fed's statutory responsibility for full employment). That alone wouldn't impose any meaningful check or balance on the Fed's power. If the history of the Fed proves anything, it is that no mere rule will take the fiat out of fiat money.

(*NOD*)

[T]here is no reason to believe that a single mandate would have stopped "quantitative easing." More importantly, what would happen to the single mandate of price stability if and when the Fed violated it? At worst, Congress would hold hearings and be very, very upset. (Or it wouldn't do even that, because the most likely reason the Fed would allow inflation to get out of control is to finance Congress's ever-growing budget deficits.)

* TELL ME AGAIN WHY VIOLENCE ISN'T THE ANSWER... (*QUIZZICAL EXPRESSION*)

[W]hat oppositional force is truly capable of hemming [the Fed] in? One answer is a revived gold standard, which would once again obligate the Fed to redeem dollars for gold at a fixed rate.

(*NOD*)

Equally effective would be to leave the Fed and the dollar system untouched, but to allow gold a level playing field on which to compete with the dollar. Utah has already taken the first step in this direction by passing a law formally recognizing gold as legal tender. But for the playing field to be truly leveled, all taxes on gold transactions need to be removed and individuals and businesses need to be permitted to report their financial accounts in gold.

(*NOD*)

* FOLKS... WHAT POSSIBLE JUSTIFICATION CAN THERE BE FOR A SUPPOSEDLY FREE PEOPLE TO BE DENIED THE RIGHT TO BASICALLY "BARTER" THE COMMODITY OF THEIR CHOOSING - BE IT GOLD OR OIL OR ANYTHING ELSE?

While it might not seem obvious to pit the dollar against gold, which has not been used as final money in over 100 years, it would provide a significant restraint on the Fed.

Simply allowing gold to be used as currency again would concentrate the minds of the Federal Reserve Board on keeping inflation under control.

Competition, after all, would mean that if the Fed doesn't preserve price stability, it will lose its monopoly franchise - not just get a tough talking-to from Congress.

April 6, 2011 at 6:51 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://washingtonscene.thehill.com/in-the-know/36-news/9071-amid-shutdown-drama-rep-brown-invites-lawmakers-on-a-boutique-shopping-trip

With a government shutdown looming, Capitol Hill was a pretty serious place on Wednesday afternoon.

But for Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.), what better way to ease the tension than with a congressional ladies personal shopping trip in Arlington, Va.?

According to an email from Brown’s scheduler titled, “Outing with Congresswoman Corrine Brown,” staff member Cathy Gass invited Brown’s fellow female Congressional Black Caucus members to join the lawmaker at a boutique in Crystal City, Va. on Wednesday afternoon.

According to the email, which was addressed to “CBC Schedulers,” Brown “would like to invite the woman [sic] CBC Members to go shopping with her at Daniel’s Boutique this afternoon after votes.

Please let me know if your Member is interested and I will inform the Congresswoman.”

Gass also suggests that for members who “would like to share [their] dress size, the boutique can pull some items for them to have available once they arrive.”

* HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!

* FOLKS... FIRST SCHUMER GETTING CAUGHT BY OPEN MIC DISHING OUT PROPAGANDA POINTS AND GENERALLY MAKING IT CLEAR THAT THE DEMS WANT NOTHING MORE THAN TO CAUSE A CRISIS THAT THEY WON'T... er... PUT TO WASTE; AND NOW THIS... REP. CORRINE BROWN... DEMOCRAT OF FLORIDA.

(*SNORT*)

A spokesman for Brown declined to comment on the shopping trip.

(*STILL CHUCKLING TO MYSELF*)

April 6, 2011 at 6:51 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Video-Libya-Rebels-Accuse-Nato-Of-Being-Too-Slow-To-Act/Article/201104115966111?lpos=World_News_Carousel_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15966111_Video%2C_Libya%3A_Rebels_Accuse_Nato_Of_Being_Too_Slow_To_Act

Libyan rebels have accused Nato of being too slow to act and asked them to suspend operations unless they "do the job properly".

Rebel leader Abdel Fattah Younes has complained that the alliance takes hours to respond to events on the battlefield because of an overly bureaucratic process.

He claimed the alliance's inaction was allowing Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's forces to advance and was letting them kill people in the rebel-held city of Misratah "every day".

He said: "Nato is moving very slowly, allowing Gaddafi forces to advance. Nato has become our problem."

Mr Younes also said if Nato had wanted to lift the siege of Misrata, it could have done it weeks ago.

* WHAT A F--KING MESS...

April 6, 2011 at 6:51 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/nbc-s-brokaw-saudis-so-unhappy-obama-adm

* AGAIN, FOLKS, I'D PREFER THAT THIS WERE A NYT OR WASHINGTON POST PIECE, BUT THE EMBEDDED VIDEO SPEAKS FOR ITSELF.

Reporting from Baghdad, Iraq yesterday, NBC’s Tom Brokaw said the Saudi Arabian monarchy is “so unhappy with the Obama administration for the way it pushed out President Mubarak of Egypt” that it has sent senior officials to the Peoples' Republic of China and Russia to seek expanded business opportunities with those countries.

(*HEAD ABOUT TO EXPLODE*)

Earlier in his report, Brokaw noted that while U.S. military forces are supposed to leave Iraq at year’s end, the U.S. Embassy staff was being beefed-up from 8,000 to nearly 20,000 personnel.

(*SMIRK*)

* ANYONE WANNA GUESS HOW MANY OF THESE ADDITIONAL 12,000 EMBASSY "STAFF" WILL BE "SECURITY" PERSONNEL...?

* FOLKS... AS HAS BEEN NOTED HERE AT USUALLY RIGHT TIME AND AGAIN, OBAMA AND CLINTON HAVE BEEN LYING TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ABOUT THE U.S. GETTING OUT OF IRAQ.

(*SHRUG*)

April 6, 2011 at 6:52 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/04/06/george-soros-events-weekend-aim-remake-financial-order-media-wheres-reporting/

* FOLKS... (*SIGH*)... IF YOU THINK GLENN BECK IS NUTS... (*SHRUG*)... CLICK ON THE ABOVE LINK AND READ THE PIECE.

George Soros -, the left-wing billionaire - is helping fund two major conferences [this weekend] that start on the same day, in two different locations just three hours apart by car.

The emphasis of both conferences is a familiar one to American voters - change.

The first gathering in Bretton Woods, N.H., is an economic conference Soros once described as “a grand bargain that rearranges the entire financial order.”

Just down the road in Boston, a Soros-funded media conference is gathering...for the National Conference for Media Reform.

That “change the world” conference includes two commissioners from the FCC, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Bernie Sanders, four Democratic representatives, the head of Columbia University...

(*SIGH*)

* NANCY PELOSI. DEMOCRATIC HOUSE MINORITY LEADER. IF OBAMA IS THE NATION'S NUMBER ONE DEMOCRAT AND HARRY REID IS NUMBER TWO, THEN PELOSI SHOULD PROBABLY BE RANKED AS NUMBER THREE.

* OBAMA... SHARPTON. (REFERRING TO AN EARLIER NEWSBITE.) NOW... PELOSI... SOROS. (*SHRUG*)

Columbia University President Lee Bollinger, whose school also includes the well-known and partly Soros-funded Columbia School of Journalism, is one of several speakers advocating for increased government funding for media. He called for federal funding of the media in a 2010 Wall Street Journal piece with the terrifying headline: “Journalism Needs Government Help.” Bollinger pushed for the creation of a public media that combines NPR, PBS and Voice of America. He also wants to “end to the regulation of ‘indecent’ language and images in broadcast programming” and return to the Fairness Doctrine.

* FOLKS... THESE PEOPLE ARE DANGEROUS. THEIR AGENDA IS ORWELLIAN.

April 6, 2011 at 6:52 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Obama-says-little-shortterm-apf-1680912387.html?x=0&.v=4

Pitching the promise of energy independence, President Barack Obama cautioned Wednesday that it's going to be tough to transition from America's oil-dependent economy and acknowledged there's little he can do to lower gas prices over the short term.

* O.K. (*LAUGHING*) WHAT A JOKE. FOLKS... THE TRUTH IS THAT OBAMA WANTS HIGH OIL PRICES; HE WANTS THEM AS HIGH AS THEY CAN GO SHY OF GUARANTEEING HIS OWN ELECTORAL DEFEAT NEXT YEAR.

* FOLKS... NO... OBAMA DOESN'T WANT OIL TO BE $7 GALLON NOW. I DOUBT HE EVEN WANTS GAS TO BE ABOVE $4 GALLON COME NOVEMBER 2012. BUT THE SECOND HE'S RE-ELECTED... THAT'S WHEN HE'LL START TALKING ABOUT HOW WE NEED TO START LIVING IN THE "REAL WORLD" - LIKE EUROPE - WHERE GAS IS $7... $8... $9 A GALLON. THAT'S HIS GOAL FOLKS; TO HAVE US PAY WHAT EUROPEANS PAY.

"I'm just going to be honest with you. There's not much we can do next week or two weeks from now," the president told workers at a wind turbine plant.

* AGAIN, FOLKS, THERE'S NOTHING "HONEST" ABOUT WHAT OBAMA IS SAYING HERE.

* FOLKS... OBAMA HAS DONE EVERYTHING WITHIN HIS POWER TO ENSURE THAT ENERGY PRICES "NECESSARILY SKYROCKET." AND IT HAS WORKED!

Obama said he wants to move toward "a future where America is less dependent on foreign oil, more reliant on clean energy produced by workers like you." That will happen by reducing oil imports, tapping domestic energy sources and shifting the nation to renewable and less polluting sources of energy, such as wind, the president says. He has set a goal of reducing oil imports by one-third by 2025.

* FOLKS... (*SIGH*)... ALL I CAN DO IS POINT YOU BACK TO TWO YEARS AND MORE OF NEWSBITES AND BLOG POSTING. THE MAN IS A LIAR. HE'S AN INCOMPETENT. HIS IS A DELIBERATE POLICY OF CREATING SHORTAGES AND THEREBY RAISING PRICES.

Obama needled one questioner who asked about gas prices, now averaging close to $3.70 a gallon nationwide, and suggested that the gentleman consider getting rid of his gas-guzzling vehicle.

* YA LIKE THAT, FOLKS? "NEEDLED," HUH? NO... WHAT THAT WAS WAS THE GLOVED HAND OF TYRANNY. WHAT HE CAN'T SIMPLY ORDER YOU TO DO, HE'LL FORCE YOU TO DO VIA MAKING IT UNTENABLE FOR YOU TO CONTINUE LIVING THE AMERICAN DREAM.

Gasoline prices rose another 2 cents Tuesday to a new national average of just over $3.68 a gallon, according to AAA and other sources.

(*SIGH*)

April 6, 2011 at 6:52 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704013604576246821949372388.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLESecond

The normally obscure race for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat that suddenly became a referendum on Republican Gov. Scott Walker's attempts to curb public employee union power appears headed to a recount. David Prosser, a member of the court's 4-to-3 conservative majority, has a 419-vote lead out of 1.5 million votes cast over JoAnne Kloppenburg with a scattering of precincts left to count.

Any recount [must] be scrutinized for irregularities and possible vote fraud.

A recount in a similarly close race in neighboring Minnesota's 2008 U.S. Senate race stretched on for months, amid charges that some counties counted absentee ballots according to different standards than others did. Al Franken, the Democrat, was eventually sworn in after pulling ahead by 315 votes. His victory gave - for a time - Senate Democrats the critical 60th vote they needed to pass ObamaCare over a potential filibuster.

A win by Ms. Kloppenburg could also have a significant impact. ... Ms. Kloppenberg's victory would mean the return of an activist liberal majority on the court that was notorious for its anti-business decisions on tort law and medical malpractice.

A recount and any subsequent litigation in Wisconsin could bring the state's unusual same-day registration law into the spotlight. ... ID requirements are minimal. If someone lacks ID, he can vote so long as someone who lives in the same city vouches for him. In practice, same-day voting becomes an engraved invitation to commit voter fraud with little or no risk of detection.

A 67-page 2008 report by investigators for the Milwaukee Police Department blew the whistle on what it called an "illegal organized attempt to influence the outcome of [the 2004] election in the state of Wisconsin" - a swing state where recent presidential elections have often been very close. The report found that in 2004 between 4,600 and 5,300 more votes were counted in Milwaukee than the number of voters recorded as having cast ballots. Absentee ballots were cast by people living elsewhere; ineligible felons not only voted but worked at the polls; transient college students cast improper votes; and homeless voters possibly voted more than once. The report found that in 2004 a total of 1,305 "same day" voters gave information that was declared "un-enterable" or invalid by election officials.

According to the report, this loophole was abused by many out-of-state workers for the John Kerry campaign. They had "other staff members who were registered voters vouch for them by corroborating their residency."

* FOLKS... WHEN IT COMES TO VOTE FRAUD IN MODERN AMERICA THE RECORD IS - LIKE IT OR NOT - CLEARLY A PARTISAN ONE. WHILE OF COURSE REPUBLICAN FRAUD HAS OCCURRED, THE MAJORITY OF FRAUD COMES OUT OF DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL MACHINES, OFTEN URBAN, OFTEN UNION AND LEFTWING SPECIAL INTEREST CENTERED.

The investigative unit believed that at least 16 workers from the Kerry campaign, and two allied get-out-the-vote groups "committed felony crimes."

[L]ocal prosecutors didn't pursue them in part because of a "lack of confidence" in the abysmal record-keeping of the city's Election Commission.

(*SNORT*)

* FOLKS... VOTER FRAUD IS A BIGGER PROBLEM THAN IT'S PORTRAYED AS BEING. (HMM... I WONDER WHY THAT IS...? COULD IT PERHAPS HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH "WHO" IS "PORTRAYING" THE REALITY?) (*SNORT*)

April 6, 2011 at 11:10 PM

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