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2011
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April
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- Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., April 30 & May 1, ...
- Barker's Newsbites: Friday, April 29, 2011
- Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, April 28, 2011
- The NYT Never Ceases To Amaze
- Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, April 27, 2011
- Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, April 26, 2011
- Barker's Newsbites: Monday, April 25, 2011
- Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., April 23 & 24, 2011
- Barker's Newsbites: Friday, April 22, 2011
- Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, April 21, 2011
- Gang, I'm Not A Happy Camper
- Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, April 20, 2011
- Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, April 19, 2011
- Sarah Palin Sure Sounds Smart To Me!
- Barker's Newsbites: Monday, April 18, 2011
- Weekend Newsbites: Sat, & Sun., April 16 & 17, 2011
- Does Anyone Still Watch C.S.I. - The Original... L...
- Senate Vote Tally re: HR 1426 - The Budget "Compro...
- Barker's Newsbites: Friday, April 15, 2011
- HR 1473 - The Budget "Compromise"
- Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, April 14, 2011
- Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, April 13, 2011
- Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, April 12, 2011
- Barker's Newsbites: Monday, April 11, 2011
- Calling Rush Limbaugh - Rush Hudson Limbaugh III
- I Feel Betrayed By John Boehner and Nan Hayworth
- Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., April 9 & 10, 2011
- Barker's Newsbites: Friday, April 8, 2011
- Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, April 7, 2011
- Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, April 6, 2011
- Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, April 5, 2011
- Barker's Newsbites: Monday, April 4, 2011
- Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., April 2 & 3, 2011
- Barker's Newsbites: Friday, April 1, 2011
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April
(34)
About Me
- William R. Barker
- Pearl River, NY High School Class of '81; Northeastern University, Boston, MA Class of '87.
9 comments:
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE73M06320110423
The United States launched its first Predator drone strike in Libya on Saturday...
* AND AS FAR AS I KNOW, CONGRESS STILL HASN'T OFFICIALLY AUTHORIZED MILITARY ATTACKS UPON LIBYA.
* OUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS - THE MAJORITY OF MEMBERS OF BOTH PARTIES...? SCUM. GO TO YOUR MEMBER'S WEBSITE... GO TO YOUR SENATOR'S WEBSITE... CHANCES ARE... SILENCE ON THE ISSUE.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/04/lohan-sentenced-to-120-days-for-violating-parole-in-necklace-theft-case.html
* BEAR WITH ME... READ THE NEWSBITE AND THEN MY COMMENTARY - THE REASON I'M POSTING THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE...
A judge ruled Friday that Lindsay Lohan violated her probation by taking a necklace at a Venice jewelry store and sentenced her to 120 days in jail.
Lohan also was sentenced to 480 hours of community service at a downtown women's center and the Los Angeles County morgue.
* AH... BUT... (KEEP READING...)
Lohan immediately said she would appeal the sentence. [Lohan was expected to be released on $75,000 bail.]
* IF YOU'VE GOT MONEY... JUSTICE IS DELAYED AS A MATTER OF COURSE - AND OFTEN... JUSTICE IS DENIED.
Earlier in the day, Sautner reduced the charge the actress faces for allegedly stealing the necklace from a felony to a misdemeanor.
* WTF...?!?!
The change greatly reduces the amount of jail time the star could face if convicted. It also opens the door to possible settlement talks.
* AGAIN... WTF...?!?!
Prosecutor Danette Meyers said she will seek to overturn Sautner's decision on the misdemeanor charge, which would limit how long Lohan could serve in jail to no more than one year.
* WELL THANK GOD THE PROSECUTOR BELIEVES IN EQUAL TREATMENT BEFORE THE LAW!
"The judge abused her discretion in this case," Meyers said. "It was a felony filing because the defendant was on probation.... She has violated on numerous occasions ... the evidence was incredibly strong.
* AND YET... (*SHRUG*)
* FOLKS... WHAT'S IT GONNA TAKE TILL THE PEOPLE RISE UP AND SAY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH? EVERYONE KNOWS THE SYSTEM IS RIGGED AND THAT'S BAD ENOUGH... BUT TO KEEP THROWING IT IN OUR FACES...?
* FOLKS... AMERICA MAY NEVER HAVE TOTALLY MET THE IDEALS OF THE FOUNDERS... BUT LINES KEEP GETTING CROSSED.
* FOLKS... A RIGGED GAME WHEN IT COMES TO BASIC CONCEPTS OF LAW AND JUSTICE IS THE ULTIMATE FORM OF "BULLYING." AND AS WE'VE SEEN... SOMETIMES BULLYING LEADS TO SUICIDE... BUT OTHER TIMES... (*PAUSE*)... IT DRIVES PEOPLE TO HOMICIDE.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704658704576275482890449352.html
* FOLKS... READ THE FULL OP-ED ("Why Air Traffic Controllers Fall Asleep on the Job" by Bond and Poole) AND GET SICK TO YOUR STOMACHS.
The number of "operational errors" in which Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) aircraft-separation standards were violated has nearly doubled since 2009.
For decades, even predating the 1981 air traffic controller strike, controllers themselves have had the last word on the schedules they work. One of the most popular is called 2-2-1: Controllers work two swing shifts, two day shifts, and one midnight shift. The second day shifts ends at 2 p.m. and the subsequent midnight shift begins at 10 p.m., just eight hours later. Such a schedule disrupts circadian rhythms, creating fatigue on the midnight shift.
* SO WHY DO CONTROLLERS NOT SIMPLY "ACCEPT" BUT IN FACT DEMAND SUCH SCHEDULING...??? (READ ON...)
[C]ontrollers and their union have fought to keep 2-2-1 because it gives them a three-day weekend afterwards.
* CAN YOU BELIEVE THESE F--KING IDIOTS...?!?!
The other cause of fatigue on midnight shifts is black backgrounds on controller display screens, which require dark rooms for best visibility. But dark rooms tend to induce drowsiness, especially on a midnight shift.
* WAIT FOR IT... WAIT FOR IT... (KEEP READING...)
It is now common international practice to have light gray background screen displays that can be used in high-light environments, but in the U.S. we've all but ignored this advancement.
* FOLKS... OUR GOVERNMENT IS DYSFUNCTIONAL...!!! GOD HELP US... OUR GOVERNMENT IS RUN BY IDIOTS...!!!
The FAA would not tolerate such threats to air safety from airlines, or from mechanics, or from aircraft producers. It regulates all such entities at arm's length - and it has cracked down on airline scheduling practices conducive to pilot fatigue. But the FAA has tolerated 2-2-1 schedules and dark control rooms for decades.
Why?
Because the Air Traffic Organization, whose job is to "move air traffic safely and efficiently," is within the FAA, which in effect means the agency is regulating itself.
(*MASSIVE MIGRAINE HEADACHE BUILDING*)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703907004576279321350926848.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection
The U.S. dollar's downward slide is accelerating...
* O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A!
With no relief in sight for the dollar...
* O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A!
The dollar fell nearly 1% against a broad basket of currencies this week, following a drop of similar size last week. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index closed at its lowest level since August 2008, before the financial crisis intensified.
* O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A!
The main driver for the dollar's decline is low interest rates in the U.S. compared with higher and rising rates abroad. Lower rates mean a lower return on cash - and the pressure from that factor could intensify next week when the Federal Reserve's rate-setting committee is expected to signal that U.S. short-term rates will likely remain near zero for many months to come.
* FOLKS... IN ALL SERIOUSNESS... BUSH, PAULSON, BERNANKE, GEITHNER, OBAMA... OFFICIAL U.S. POLICY IS AND HAS LONG BEEN TO DESTROY OUR OWN CURRENCY. IT'S CALLED MONETARIZING THE DEBT. IT'S DISHONEST, DISHONORABLE, CROOKED, AND HURTS ALL OF US EXCEPT FOR THE TRULY RICH.
[I]t is worry about the U.S. budget deficit that is intensifying the sell-off.
* O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A!
[A] weaker dollar hits strained consumers by raising the cost of imported oil, as exporters seek higher dollar-denominated crude prices to offset the dollar's waning value.
* AGAIN, FOLKS... IF YOU'RE RICH... IF YOU'RE POWERFUL... IF YOU'RE A MOVER AND SHAKER EITHER IN GOVERNMENT OR THE PRIVATE SECTOR... WHAT DO YOU CARE IF GAS IS $5 A GAL. OR MORE? IT'S NOT LIKE IT'S COMING OUT OF YOUR POCKET - AND IF IT IS... YOU CAN AFFORD IT. AS FOR THE REST OF US...
(*SHRUG*)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/chinas-train-wreck/2011/04/21/AFqjRWRE_story.html
So much for the grand project that Thomas Friedman of the New York Times likened to a “moon shot” and that President Obama held up as a model for the United States.
* HUH...?!?! WHAT...?!?! WHAT IS BILL TALKING ABOUT...???
* RELAX, FOLKS... I WAS JUST GOING FOR THE "HOOK." HERE'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT - COURTESY OF THE WASHINGTON POST:
For the past eight years, Liu Zhijun was one of the most influential people in China. As minister of railways, Liu ran China’s $300 billion high-speed rail project.
U.S., European and Japanese contractors jostled for a piece of the business while foreign journalists gushed over China’s latest high-tech marvel.
(*SMIRK*) READ ON...
Today, Liu Zhijun is ruined, and his high-speed rail project is in trouble.
On Feb. 25, he was fired for “severe violations of discipline” - code for embezzling tens of millions of dollars.
Seems his ministry has run up $271 billion in debt - roughly five times the level that bankrupted General Motors.
(*OUCH*)
But ticket sales can’t cover debt service that will total $27.7 billion in 2011 alone.
* YOU MEAN THERE'S A CONNECTION BETWEEN COSTS VS. INCOME...?!?! WHO WOULD HAVE THUNK IT...?!?! (*SMIRK*) (*SNORT*)
Safety concerns also are cropping up.
(*ROLLING MY EYES*)
On April 13, the government cut bullet-train speeds 30 mph to improve safety, energy efficiency and affordability.
* A BULLET TRAVELS AT 30 MPH...??? (*CHUCKLE*)
* THUS...
So much for the grand project that Thomas Friedman of the New York Times likened to a “moon shot” and that President Obama held up as a model for the United States.
* FOLKS... READ THE FULL PIECE. IT GIVES A SHORT HISTORY OF THE FAILURES OF HIGH-SPEED RAIL IN JAPAN, TAIWAN, AND FRANCE AS WELL AS CHINA.
* WHAT'S THAT...? YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF "FAILURES" WITH HIGH SPEED RAIL ABROAD? (*SNICKER*) AIN'T LIBERAL MEDIA GREAT?! (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD IN AMUSEMENT*)
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/265491/disappearing-dollar-mark-steyn
Congressman Paul Ryan, one of the least insane men in Washington, has a ten-year plan.
* THAT'S LIKE.. er... TWO OF JOE STALIN'S FIVE YEAR PLANS! WHOOPEE...!!!
President Obama, one of the most insane spenders in Washington, has a twelve-year plan.
* HMM... LET ME START PLANNING MY 2023 SUMMER VACATION...
After hearing the president’s plan, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the U.S. sovereign-debt outlook to “negative.” Ah, the fine art of understatement. In 1940, after the fall of France and the evacuation from Dunkirk, presumably they downgraded Britain’s outlook to “spot of bother.”
* YA GOTTA LOVE MARK STEYN... (*CHUCKLING*)
At the world’s first “Presidential Facebook town hall meeting” on Wednesday, even Obama had a hard time taking his “plan” seriously. Sometimes he referred to it as a twelve-year plan, sometimes ten years, sometimes saving four trillion, sometimes saving two trillion.
(*ROLLING MY EYES*)
Go back 12 years. That’s 1999. Which, if any, politicians in that year correctly identified the prevailing conditions in the America of 2011?
(*TAPPING MY FOOT*)
Nancy Pelosi fleshed out the Obama plan: More spending. More more. Now and forever. That’s what S&P understands. The road to hell is paved with stimulus funding.
The world has started to listen to what Obama is telling us. In that respect, let me make a single prediction for 2023 - that by then the dollar will no longer be the global reserve currency. ... In Beijing, in Delhi, in Riyadh, in Rio, the rest of the planet is moving relentlessly toward a post-dollar regime.
What will America look like without the dollar as global currency?
(*SHUDDERING AS I THINK UPON IT*)
When the dollar’s role is ended, the reality of a comatose “superpower” living off a fifth of a billion in borrowed dollars every single hour of the day is harder to obscure.
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/265333/ceil-us-nro-symposium?page=2
To win the debt-ceiling showdown, the Republican House leadership must first do what all 47 Senate Republicans did when they voted for the Toomey-Vitter amendment - debunk the false assertion that failure to raise the debt limit is tantamount to a default on Treasury bonds.
Buying into this scare story - as too many otherwise-thoughtful Republicans have done - gives away any real leverage because it makes not raising the debt ceiling unthinkable.
The Toomey-Vitter approach, also known as the Full Faith and Credit Act and championed in the House by Tom McClintock (R-CA) and Scott Garrett (R-NJ), would take away from the administration the discretion to default on Treasury bonds. It would require bondholders and Social Security recipients to be paid first in the event the debt ceiling is reached.
There is more than enough revenue on a cash-flow basis to take any default risk off the table.
* FOLKS... YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND ALL THIS! BY AND LARGE THE MEDIA AND MOST POLITICIANS EITHER DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS - OR WORSE, THEY DO, BUT THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO UNDERSTAND THIS. (*SHRUG*)
* DOES MY OWN CONGRESSWOMAN - DR. NAN HAYWORTH (R-NY-19) UNDERSTAND THIS? I HATE TO SAY IT, BUT... (*PAUSE*)... IT'S DOUBTFUL.
Passing this legislation in the House - even though the Democrats already have stopped it in the Senate - would help educate the public that default is not at stake.
It would demonstrate that failure to raise the debt ceiling would cause a default only if President Obama and Treasury Secretary Geithner recklessly chose to put payments to vendors or other expenditures ahead of debt service.
(*NOD*)
By passing the Toomey-Vitter bill, the House can gain real leverage to demand that the administration make deep cuts in spending and fundamental reforms like the Medicaid block grants at the heart of the Ryan budget - or face the daunting prospect not of default, but of operating the government on a cash-flow basis.
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/265333/ceil-us-nro-symposium
The United States should not raise the debt ceiling.
The current unfunded liabilities of the United States are $113 trillion, mostly because of Medicare. This is more than $1 million per taxpayer. Now more than ever, there is the political will for serious fiscal reform.
This is what the American people want: It is why the Tea Party was formed, and why the Republicans were successful last fall.
This is a historic moment, and if the Republicans kick the can down the road, they will pay dearly for it next year.
* IF REPUBLICANS KICK THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD THE PROBLEM ONLY GETS WORSE...!
Medicare reform should be a priority; the age of eligibility for benefits should be increased, and all entitlement programs should be means-tested.
ObamaCare should be repealed, as it will increase the cost of health care and, by extension, our Medicare liability. (Better yet would be to leave these programs to the states.)
(*CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)
Just a couple of days ago, the S&P downgraded the outlook of U.S. sovereign debt. Raising the debt ceiling will send the signal to markets and voters that the Republicans are not serious about fiscal reform. This would increase the interest rate on our debt, worsen our financial condition, and accelerate us along the track to a fiscal crisis.
(*NOD*)
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/265333/ceil-us-nro-symposium?page=3
The U.S. federal budget is a complete and total mess. Politicians, especially the administration, need an intervention.
(*CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)
Refusing to raise the debt ceiling unless there is some serious commitment to cutting future spending is not extreme, nor is it risky. It’s necessary.
Everyone knows that the U.S. is on an unsustainable fiscal path.
Everyone knows that tax hikes cannot fix the mess. ... Confiscating all the wealth and income of the top 1%, 3%, or 5% will not solve the problem.
We need some adults in Washington, D.C. Our lawmakers and executive cannot keep giving away other people’s money to buy votes for themselves.
Don’t believe the “end of the world” predictions or the “apocalypse now” rhetoric. The markets understand that spending is a problem, and raising taxes to pay off the uncontrolled use of the credit card will lead to bankruptcy anyway.
* THEY'LL JUST SQUANDER THE EXTRA REVENUE - ASSUMING THAT THERE IS EVEN EXTRA REVENUE, WHICH MANY STUDIES SHOW ISN'T LIKELY TO BE THE CASE.
* FOLKS... 19% SEEMS TO BE THE "MAGIC NUMBER" ABOVE WHICH GOVERNMENT SPENDING OF GNP ABOVE THAT FIGURE CAN NEVER BE MET SIMPLY BY TAXATION. (THE LAW OF DIMINISHING RETURNS STRIKES AGAIN...)
The markets understand that not raising the debt ceiling is not the equivalent of default, especially if it ends up forcing serious and real commitments to cutting spending on entitlements in the future.
Hide the credit card.
Somebody has to.
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