Friday, May 27, 2011

Barker's Newsbites: Friday, May 27, 2011


Now THIS a a God damned boy band...!

I plopped down in my easy chair and turned on Channel 2
A bad gunslinger called Salty Sam was chasin' poor Sweet Sue
He trapped her in the old sawmill and said with an evil laugh,
"If you don't give me the deed to your ranch - I'll saw you all in half!"

And then he grabbed her (and then?)

He tied her up (and then?)

He turned on the band-saw (and then... and then...?!)

And then along came Jones...
Tall... thin... Jones...
Slow-walkin' Jones; slow-talkin' Jones
Along came long, lean, lanky Jones...

Commercial came on, so I got up, to get myself a snack
You should've seen what was goin' on by the time that I got back
Down in that old abandoned mine, Sweet Sue was havin' fits
That villain said, "Give me the deed to your ranch - or I'll blow you all to bits!"

And then he grabbed her (and then?)

He tied her up (and then?)

He lit the fuse to the dynamite (and then... and then...?!)

And then along came Jones...
Tall... thin... Jones...
Slow-walkin' Jones; slow-talkin' Jones
Along came long, lean, lanky Jones...

I got so bugged I turned it off and turned on another show
But there was the same old shoot-'em-up and the same old rodeo
Salty Sam was tryin' to stuff Sweet Sue in a burlap sack
He said, "If you don't give me the deed to your ranch, I'm gonna throw you on the railroad tracks!"

And then he grabbed her (and then?)

He tied her up (and then?)

He threw her on the railroad tracks (and then?)

A train started comin' (and then... and then...?!)

And then along came Jones...!

Tall... thin... Jones...!

Slow-walkin' Jones... slow-talkin' Jones... along came long, lean, lanky Jones!
And along came long, lean, lanky Jones...!!!

5 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-prisons-20110526,0,6293602.story

"Computer errors" prompted California prison officials to mistakenly release an estimated 450 inmates with "a high risk for violence" as unsupervised parolees in a program meant to ease overcrowding, according to the state's inspector general.

* WOULDN'T YOU THINK THE WARDEN SHOULD HAVE CAUGHT THE SCREW UP AND NIXED THE RELEASES UNTIL HE COULD GET ABSOLUTE CONFIRMATION THAT THE ORDERS WEREN'T A... er... "COMPUTER ERROR?"

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

More than 1,000 additional prisoners presenting a high risk of committing drug crimes, property crimes and other offenses were also let out, officials said.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

No attempt was made to return any of the offenders to state lockups or place them on supervised parole, said inspector general spokeswoman Renee Hansen.

* FOLKS... SERIOUSLY... WE ALL NEED TO ARM OURSELVES. OUR COUNTRY IS FALLING APART.

All of the prisoners were placed on "non-revocable parole," whose participants are not required to report to parole officers and can be sent back to prison only if caught committing a crime.

(*SIGH*)

William R. Barker said...

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/55803.html

[T]he House joined the Senate on Thursday to pass a four-year extension of key provisions of the Patriot Act that was set to expire at midnight.

Because President Barack Obama was traveling in Europe, he signed the bill into law using an autopen, a machine that replicates the president’s signature.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*) FOLKS... (*SIGH*)

* FOLKS... PUTTING ASIDE FOR THE MOMENT THE MERITS (OR DEMERITS) OF THE "PATRIOT ACT," THERE'S SIMPLY NO DOUBT THAT THIS AUTOPEN DEAL IS YET ANOTHER BLATANTLY UNCONSTITUTIONAL ACTION BY THIS PRESIDENT.

* FOLKS... THINK ABOUT IT... WITH ALL THAT'S GOING ON, SHOULD OBAMA EVEN BE OUT OF THE COUNTRY AT THIS PARTICULAR TIME? IMAGINE... JUST IMAGINE... IT WAS A REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT AND NOT OBAMA.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

William R. Barker said...

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=13691586

Nine NATO service members were killed Thursday in Afghanistan, including seven U.S. troops among eight who died when a powerful bomb exploded in a field where they were patrolling on foot, officials said.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

It was the deadliest day for coalition forces in Afghanistan since April 27, when a veteran Afghan military pilot opened fire at Kabul airport and killed eight U.S. troops and an American civilian contractor.

* OH... SINCE A WHOLE MONTH AGO... (*SNORT*) (*SNICKER*) (*SMIRK*)

Roadside bombs killed 268 American troops in Afghanistan last year, a 60% increase over the previous year...

(*STILL SHAKING MY HEAD*)

The number of U.S. troops wounded by what the military terms improvised explosive devices also soared, according to the most recent U.S. defense figures. There were 3,366 U.S. service members injured in IED blasts - up from the 1,211 hurt by the militants' crudely made bombs in 2009, the figures show.

* AND FOR WHAT, FOLKS? FOR WHAT...???

Last year, the Pentagon provided $495 million to buy 34 tethered surveillance blimps...

* THAT'S HALF A BILLION DOLLARS RIGHT THERE! (FOLKS... WE'RE BROKE! OUT FEDERAL DEFICIT THIS YEAR ALONE IS EXPECTED TO BE $1.65 TRILLION!)

Tens of thousands of U.S., NATO and Afghan forces have been working for months to rout the Taliban from their strongholds in the south. The Taliban have retaliated with targeted assassinations of Afghan officials and attacks on Afghan and coalition forces. Eastern Afghanistan, along the Pakistan border, also has been the scene of heavy violence.

* FOLKS... WE'VE BEEN IN AFGHANISTAN SINCE 2001...!!! IT'S 2011...!!! JEEZUS FRIGG'N CHRIST...!!!

Thirty-eight international service members have been killed so far this month, including at least 13 Americans. So far this year, 189 coalition troops have died in Afghanistan.

William R. Barker said...

http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/05/wheres-tony-rezko

Thomas R. Bennett, who has been following the retrial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich for the Nuclear Chicago blog, accuses U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald of “sandbagging” and “running egregious political interference to both benefit and protect Team Obama” for not calling fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko to the stand as a government witness:

“Simply put, Antoin ‘Tony’ Rezko is the only witness that can bury Blagojevich and the Chicago Political Thuggery Machine. Why is Fitzgerald holding back Rezko? What has been promised or implied to Fitzgerald as a reward for Fitzgerald’s blatant sandbagging efforts?”

(*SHRUG*) GOOD QUESTIONS...

Bennett [has written]: “There is still a gigantic elephant in the room. Specifically, we still do not have an answer related to who leaked classified DOJ information regarding the confidential Blagojevich wiretaps.”

Bennett raises a good point about the convicted-but-still-not-sentenced Rezko, whose whereabouts after he was transferred from Chicago’s downtown Metropolitan Correctional Center last year remain murky. In his retrial of the former Illinois governor for allegedly trying to sell President Obama’s old Senate seat and seeking campaign contributions in exchange for political favors , Fitzgerald inexplicably dropped all the charges against Blagojevich that involved Rezko.

* HMM...

This despite the fact that federal prosecutors previously described Rezko as "the man behind the curtain, pulling the strings" in the Blagojevich administration.

* HMM...

If Rezko was pulling Blago’s strings, why isn’t he testifying at his trial?

* GOOD QUESTION...!

Bennett is not the only one in Chicago speculating that Fitzgerald is deliberately avoiding calling Rezko to the witness stand because he wants to avoid presenting any evidence that links Obama to this corruption.

Thursday’s testimony by Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. [may leave] him little choice [however]. In an attempt to distance himself from Blago’s alleged pay-to-play scheme involving Obama’s old Senate seat, Jackson said that the former governor refused to appoint Jackson’s wife, Sandi, as director of the Illinois State Lottery because Jackson did not give him a $25,000 campaign contribution. Bennett points out that Jackson’s testimony inadvertently presents Fitzgerald with a golden opportunity to call the elusive Rezko to the stand as the government’s rebuttal witness and nail some big game to the wall.

“The US Attorney will now be within scope to cross-examine Blagojevich related to the following question: ‘Governor Blagojevich, did you deny Sandi Jackson a state appointment as State of Illinois Director position because Congressman Jackson refused to contribute $25,000 to your gubernatorial fund?’ When Blagojevich presumably denies Jackson’s extortion charge, Fitzgerald can seal his fate by calling Rezko to the stand as a rebuttal witness and asking him the same question.

(*NOD*)

If Rezko says yes, Blago goes to jail. If Rezko agrees with the defense that the quid-pro-quo Jackson described never happened, the congressman will be caught perjuring himself to save his own skin.

* AND...

If Rezko isn’t called to testify and Blago walks, Fitzgerald will have a lot of explaining to do.

(*SMIRK*)

William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304066504576345732775990392.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

* YOU NEED TO READ THIS FULL ARTICLE, FOLKS; GOOGLE "MEDISCARE: THE SURPRISING TRUTH" BY SAVING AND GOODMAN SHOULD THE LINK NOT WORK FOR YOU.

The Obama administration has repeatedly claimed that the health-reform bill it passed last year improved Medicare's finances.

[T]he claim is true...

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

...[but] only because ObamaCare explicitly commits to cutting health-care spending for the elderly and the disabled in future years.

[A]lmost no one familiar with the numbers thinks that the planned brute-force cuts in Medicare spending are politically feasible.

* AND YET... (WAIT FOR IT... WAIT FOR IT...)

[S]uppose the law is implemented just as it's written. Consider people reaching the age of 65 this year. Under the new law, the average amount spent on these enrollees over the remainder of their lives will fall by about $36,000 at today's prices. That sum of money is equivalent to about three years of benefits. For 55-year-olds, the spending decrease is about $62,000 - or the equivalent of six years of benefits. For 45-year-olds, the loss is more than $105,000, or nine years of benefits.

* OOPS! (FOLKS... ASK YOURSELVES... IS THE MSM REPORTING THIS FAR AND WIDE OR ARE THEY DEDICATING THEIR COVERAGE TO CRITICISMS OF RYAN'S PLAN?) (*SHRUG*)

In terms of the sheer dollars involved, [ObamaCare's] reduction in future Medicare payments is the equivalent of raising the eligibility age for Medicare to age 68 for today's 65-year-olds, to age 71 for 55-year-olds and to age 74 for 45-year-olds. But rather than keep the system as is and raise the age of eligibility, the reform law instead tries to achieve equivalent savings by paying less to the providers of care.

* SLEAZY, SLIMMY, BASTARDS... (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

What does this mean in terms of access to health care? No one knows for sure, but it almost certainly means that seniors will have difficulty finding doctors who will see them and hospitals who will admit them.

[A]lmost no one familiar with the numbers thinks that the planned brute-force cuts in Medicare spending are politically feasible. Last August, the Office of the Medicare Actuary predicted that Medicare will be paying doctors less than what Medicaid pays by the end of this decade and, by then, one in seven hospitals will have to leave the Medicare system.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

* FOLKS... AGAIN... I URGE YOU.. READ THE FULL ARTICLE.