Monday, May 2, 2011

Barker's Newsbites: Monday, May 2, 2011


Never forget...
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13 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110502/wl_nm/us_binladen_brotherhood_1

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said on Monday that U.S. soldiers should be withdrawn from Afghanistan and Iraq after the killing of Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the September 11 attacks that led to two U.S.-led wars.

* HEY... WHEN THEY'RE RIGHT, THEY'RE RIGHT! I AGREE! I CONCUR! MORE THAN ENOUGH AMERICANS HAVE DIED IN ONGOING "NATION BUILDING" EXERCISES.

May 2, 2011 at 8:46 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/266153/killing-bin-laden-jim-lacey

Over the next few days and weeks, we will [hopefully] find out a lot more about how Osama was discovered and how Special Operations Forces broke into his compound and killed him.

How could Osama have lived in a huge compound - some say a mansion - since at least August (likely much longer) without coming to the attention of Pakistan’s all-pervasive intelligence service?

That they were "not aware" of his presence is all the more unbelievable as it appears that his residence was in a town dominated by a Pakistani military base.

[Osama bin Ladin] was living in a compound at least eight times larger than any other house in the area, one constructed only in 2005. Did Pakistan’s intelligence service really miss it?

May 2, 2011 at 9:03 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/266028/discredited-mark-steyn

* YOU'VE GOTTA READ STEYN, FOLKS! NOT ONLY IS HE HILARIOUS, BUT AS USUAL, HE'S RIGHT ON TARGET.

* I REALLY CAN'T EXCERPT THIS PARTICULAR ESSAY BECAUSE THE HUMOR RUNS THROUGH IT AND "EXCERPTING" WOULD WREAK THE "FLOW." (STILL... LET ME GIVE A BRIEF PREVIEW...)

[Former Treasury] Secretary [Paul] O’Neill popped up the other day on Bloomberg Television to compare debt-ceiling holdouts to jihadists. “The people who are threatening not to pass the debt ceiling,” he said, “are our version of al-Qaeda terrorists. Really.”

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*) (O'NEILL CONTINUED...)

“They’re really putting our whole society at risk by threatening to round up 50% of the members of the Congress, who are loony, who would put our credit at risk.”

* UH-HUH... (*SMIRK*) (*SNORT*) HERE'S STEYN'S RESPONSE:

But hang on...when you hit your “debt ceiling,” your credit is at risk.

If you’ve got a $10,000 credit card, and you run it up to the limit, but you need a couple more grand right now, pronto, because you outspend your earnings by 50% every month and you have no plans to change that anytime soon, well, the bank might increase the limit to $15,000, or $20,000.

Or they might not.

There is a question mark over your credit because there is a question mark over your credit worthiness: It is at risk.

* IT IS AT RISK...!!!

* HEY... READ THE FULL PIECE, I'M TELLING YA - WELL WORTH YOUR TIME!

May 2, 2011 at 9:27 AM
William R. Barker said...

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

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703655404576293232066996982.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

* THIS IS KINDA SCARY...

[Obama's] Health and Human Services Department this month sent a letter to 83-year-old Forest Labs CEO Howard Solomon, announcing it would henceforth refuse to do business with him.

What earned Mr. Solomon the blackball?

Well, nothing that he did - as admitted even by HHS.

(*SCRATCHING MY HEAD*)

Forest Labs entered into a federal plea agreement in September over misconduct in its marketing of antidepressants Celexa and Lexapro.

* WHY OFFER A "DEAL?" THINK ABOUT IT FOLKS... THIS ISN'T LIKE A CRIMINAL MATTER WHERE THE DA OFFERS A DEAL IN RETURN FOR FINGERING THE "BIG FISH." IF THE FEDS HAD THIS COMPANY DEAD TO RIGHTS, WHY NOT PRESS THEIR CASE AND ENSURE THAT "JUSTICE IS DONE?" NO, FOLKS... THIS IS ABOUT BRINKMANSHIP... IT'S ABOUT POLITICS... AND IT'S WRONG.

The allegations were among a rash of government suits claiming that marketing to doctors common among drug companies amounted to fraud against Medicare and Medicaid.

(*SNORT*) SO THEN SHOULDN'T DOCTORS BE GOING TO JAIL...??? AGAIN, FOLKS... NONE OF THIS PASSES THE SMELL TEST.

[S]ome companies including Forest chose to settle rather than engage in extensive litigation.

* BUT AGAIN... THE QUESTION ISN'T WHY FOREST WOULD CRY UNCLE - THAT'S A NO-BRAINER; THE QUESTION IS... IF THE FEDERAL CHARGES WERE BOTH SINCERE AND LEGITIMATE, WHY NOT TAKE THE CASE BEFORE A JUDGE AND JURY AND IF WRONGDOING IS FOUND... PEOPLE GO TO PRISON?

In any case, the federal complaint contained no suggestion that Mr. Solomon was involved with, or even aware of, misconduct.

(*SNORT*) (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

* To be continued...

May 2, 2011 at 10:08 AM
William R. Barker said...

* CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 2)

And the question of his continued leadership was never part of the plea deal.

* WHOA...! NOW THAT'S NOT PLAYING FAIR!

Only after a federal court ratified the deal in March did HHS drop its intent-to-ban bomb.

* FOLKS... A TYRANNY DOESN'T NECESSARILY HAVE TO BE AS IN YOUR FACE AS HITLER'S GERMANY OR STALIN'S U.S.S.R. UNDERSTAND WHAT'S SLOWLY BUT SURELY HAPPENING TO YOUR COUNTRY. THE RULE OF LAW IS BEING PERVERTED AND REPLACED WITH THE RULE OF MAN... THE RULE OF OBAMA.

HHS says its action is about holding corporate CEOs "accountable,"...

* BUT... BUT... BUT... WOULDN'T "ACCOUNTABILITY BE SENDING CRIMINALS TO JAIL...???

...but it looks more like the Administration's latest bid to intimidate the health-care industry into doing its bidding on prices, regulations and political support for ObamaCare.

(*NOD)

This is the same agency that has threatened insurers with exclusion from new state-run health exchanges if they raise their premiums more than Mrs. Sebelius wants, or if they spread what she deems to be "misinformation" about the President's health bill.

(*NOD*) REMEMBER THAT, FOLKS? I DO!

Regulators aren't above bringing flimsy cases, and corporations often settle them simply to avoid huge legal bills and additional public relations risk.

(*PURSED LIPS*) (*NOD*) (*SIGH*) FOLKS... THERE'S "HARD" TYRANNY... AND THERE'S "SOFT" TYRANNY.

Forest Labs is sticking by Mr. Solomon, saying the exclusion is "unjustified." But even the company has acknowledged that if Mrs. Sebelius implements her ban, Mr. Solomon would be forced to step down at least temporarily while the company takes her to court. Every CEO in America will get the message that his job is at risk if he quarrels with an Administration's bureaucratic orders.

(*PURSED LIPS*) (*NOD*)

CEOs are accountable for their actions, but it is simply unjust for a powerful regulator like Mrs. Sebelius to threaten a company with ruin if it doesn't dismiss a CEO who has had no formal charges or proof of wrongdoing brought against him.

* FOLKS... IF POLITICIANS CAN DESTROY PEOPLE LIKE HOWARD SOLOMON WITHOUT ACTUALLY CONVICTING HIM OF A CRIME... IMAGINE HOW LITTLE RECOURSE YOU AND I WOULD HAVE IF FACED WITH GOVERNMENTAL OVERREACH?

May 2, 2011 at 10:09 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703567404576293412847545714.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_AboveLEFTTop

North Koreans may be starving again this spring, and Jimmy Carter knows who's at fault.

(Hint: It's not Kim Jong Il.)

After his swing through Pyongyang last week, the former President blamed...

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

...the U.S. and South Korea for refusing to send the hermit kingdom food aid without conditions.

* FOLKS... (*SIGH*)... JIMMY CARTER IS AN ASS. HE WAS ALWAYS AN ASS. HE'LL ALWAYS BE AN ASS.

May 2, 2011 at 10:40 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703778104576287142139307816.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_AboveLEFTTop

Ever since the Supreme Court's misguided 2005 decision in Kelo v. City of New London, states have been passing their own laws to protect property owners from abuses of eminent domain. One of those laws was enforced this month in California, and the decision is a major victory for property rights.

(*CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

In Community Youth Athletic Center v. National City, San Diego Superior Court Judge Steven R. Denton ruled that National City, California's designated blight zone is "invalid and unenforceable." The decision means the city will not be allowed to seize property belonging to CYAC, a local boxing gym that sponsors programs for at-risk kids.

(*STANDING OVATION*)

May 2, 2011 at 10:45 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703567404576293540346765996.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion

John Stossel writing at Reason.com, April 28:

It stuns me when President Obama appears before Indian groups and says things like, "Few have been ignored by Washington for as long as Native Americans."

The U.S. government has "helped" no group more than it has "helped" the American Indians.

The government has made most Indian tribes wards of the state. Government manages their land, provides their health care, and pays for housing and child care. Twenty different departments and agencies have special "native American" programs.

The result?

Indians have the highest poverty rate, nearly 25%, and the lowest life expectancy of any group in America.

Sixty-six percent are born to single mothers.

Nevertheless, Indian activists want more government "help."

(*SIGH*)

May 2, 2011 at 10:50 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/asia/02reconstruct-capture-osama-bin-laden.html?hp

For nearly a decade, American military and intelligence forces had chased the specter of Bin Laden through Pakistan and Afghanistan...

(*NOD*)

As Obama administration officials described it, the real breakthrough came when they finally figured out the name and location of Bin Laden’s most trusted courier, whom the Qaeda chief appeared to rely on to maintain contacts with the outside world.

* AND HOW, PRAY TELL, DID THEY "FIGURE OUT" THE NAME AND LOCATION OF OSAMA BIN LADIN'S "MOST TRUSTED COURIER...???"

Detainees at the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, had given the courier’s pseudonym to American interrogators and said that the man was a protégé of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the confessed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.

* DETAINEES WHERE...?!?! WHERE...?!?! (ONE MORE TIME...) WHERE...?!?!

* FOLKS... HAD HOLDER AND OBAMA HAD THEIR WAY - HAD OBAMA POSSESSED THE BALLS TO CARRY THROUGH ON HIS CAMPAIGN PROMISE TO CLOSE GUANTANAMO BAY INSTEAD OF BETRAYING HIS WORD THEN... WELL... THEN... GITMO WOULD HAVE BEEN CLOSED!

* FOLKS... IF OBAMA AS A SENATOR HAD HAD HIS WAY GITMO WOULD HAVE BEEN CLOSED BACK IN 2005!

FOLKS... COM'ON... (*CHUCKLING*)

American intelligence officials said Sunday night that they finally learned the courier’s real name four years ago...

* O.K. THAT WOULD HAVE HAVE BEEN 2007; OBAMA TOOK OFFICE AS A U.S. SENATOR IN JANUARY 2005. (*SHRUG*) NOW, AGAIN, AS FAR AS I KNOW, OBAMA ALWAYS OPPOSED GITMO. (*SHRUG*)

May 2, 2011 at 1:49 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/570654/201104291849/Obamas-Other-Hand.aspx

While we were distracted by the president's birth certificate show-and-tell, [Obama's] EPA released its guidelines for expanding federal power under the Clean Water Act.

America's economy and freedom are at stake.

The 1972 Clean Water Act was originally intended to protect the "navigable waters of the United States" - you know, the kind boats travel down. It was broadly and quickly interpreted to any pool of water in America capable of supporting a bathtub-variety boat.

* AGAIN, FOLKS, THE DECLINE AND FALL OF OUR CONSTITUTIONAL FEDERAL REPUBLIC HAS BEEN LONG IN THE MAKING... (*SIGH*)

The word "navigable" was forgotten and ignored...

* THE AUTHOR IS NOT - REPEAT, NOT - EXAGGERATING.

[T]he act's scope expanded to the point that water that collected after a rainstorm was considered a "wetland" worthy of environmental protection.

* LITERALLY...!!! FOLKS... THIS IS THE KIND OF THING THAT HAS LONG BEEN GOING ON.

A 2006 U.S. Supreme Court case from Michigan produced five different opinions and no clear definition of which waterways were covered. This essentially left the government with a clean slate on which to write its own interpretation - just about everything.

(*NOD*)

House Agricultural Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) says the expanded EPA guidelines would let the government "regulate essentially any body of water, such as a farm pond or even a ditch."

A bipartisan group of 170 congressmen wrote a letter to the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers urging them not to issue the expanded guidelines.

* THE QUESTION IS... WHY DIDN'T EACH AND EVERY MEMBER OF THE HOUSE AND U.S. SENATOR SIGNING ON TO THAT LETTER?!

* SEE, FOLKS... (*SIGH*)... AND THIS IS IMPORTANT: MOST OF OUR FEDERAL ELECTED OFFICIALS ARE MORE THAN HAPPY TO SHIRK THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES AND GIVE AWAY THEIR POWERS TO THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH. THESE PEOPLE ARE MOSTLY SCUM.

Not just agriculture but energy production is affected.

The EPA recently revoked the coal mining permit for Arch Coal's Spruce Mine No. 1 in Logan County, W.Va. The permit was issued four years ago and since then Arch Coal, which provides 16% of America's supply, has followed every jot and tittle of the rules it was told to operate under.

It didn't matter.

After an investment of $250 million in the mountain-top mining operation, which when fully operational would have employed 215 miners directly and 300 indirect jobs in support services, it was ordered to shut down. These were, no pun intended, "shovel-ready" jobs.

As we have warned, the EPA said it was acting under the authority of the Clean Water Act, saying the mine employed "destructive and unsustainable mining practices that jeopardize the health of Appalachian communities and clean water on which they depend."

* IN OTHER WORDS, "CATCH-ALL" AUTHORIZATION WAS CLAIMED. FOLKS... NO ACTUAL LEGISLATIVE LANGUAGE AUTHORIZES ANY SUCH THING.

The EPA is currently suspending 79 such surface mining permits in West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee. It says these permits could violate the Clean Water Act and warrant "enhanced" review.

* FOLKS... (*SIGH*)...

This is not about clean water any more than cap-and-trade is about climate change. It's about increasing government power over our every aspect of our lives. The power to regulate is the power to destroy, and part of the administration's goal of raising energy prices to the point green energy looks acceptable if not attractive.

May 2, 2011 at 2:10 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/570634/201104291749/What-To-Expect-When-Amateurs-Set-Oil-Policies.aspx

Are high gas prices a good thing?

* MOST DEM POLITICIANS CERTAINLY THINK SO!

In 2008, then-Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar - now the interior secretary in charge of the leasing of federal oil lands - refused to vote for any new offshore drilling. In a Senate exchange with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Salazar objected to drilling on America's outer continental shelf - even if gas reached $10 a gallon.

(*SHRUG*)

* AS TO OUR PRESIDENT HIMSELF...

Obama recently promised the Brazilians that he would be eager to buy their newfound offshore oil - while prohibiting similar such exploration here at home.

(*HEADACHE*)

From 2007 to 2008, Steven Chu - now [Obama's] energy secretary - weighed in frequently on global warming and the desirable price of traditional energy. Once he asserted, "Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe."

(*SNORT*)

Chu also lamented: "We have lots of fossil fuel; that's really both good and bad news. We won't run out of energy, but there's enough carbon in the ground to really cook us."

(*ROLLING MY EYES*)

In other words, $10 a gallon for gas would be desirable, while an enormous amount of recoverable American oil, gas, coal, tar sands and oil shale should be left untapped.

* YEP... THAT'S WHAT THESE FRIGG'N LUNATICS BELIEVE!

During the 2008 campaign, Obama himself had strange ideas about the prospect of high prices for fossil-fuel-generated energy: "Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket."

* COM'ON... YOU ALL REMEMBER THIS, RIGHT?

Candidate Obama also elaborated on the envisioned role of his administration in ensuring such high prices: "So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can. It's just that it will bankrupt them."

* THAT ONE TOO! (COM'ON... THE GUY WARNED US...!!!)

As for consumers' plight in paying skyrocketing gas prices, the president, now and in the past, has sounded ambivalent. He recently told a questioner, "If you're complaining about the price of gas and you're only getting 8miles a gallon, you know, you might want to think about a trade-in."

* OR... "SCREW YOU IF YOU HAVE A BIG FAMILY OR YOU REQUIRE A TRUCK OR IF YOU JUST CAN'T AFFORD TO TRADE IN YOUR OLD CAR."

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

May 2, 2011 at 2:37 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/sports/02gender.html?hpw

When the University of Delaware announced this year that it was demoting its men’s track and cross-country teams to club status, the news was sad but not surprising to many who follow college sports.

Delaware is one of dozens of universities that have eliminated low-profile men’s teams like wrestling, gymnastics and swimming in an effort, the universities say, to comply with Title IX, the federal law that bans sex discrimination in education.

* OH... BTW...

[This same University of Delaware] plans to add a women’s golf team in the fall.

(*HEADACHE*)

* OH... AND ALSO BTW...

[W]omen now made up a majority of enrolled students at colleges and universities.

(*RUEFUL CHUCKLE*)

* OH, YEAH... WOMEN NEED TO BE... er... "PROTECTED" FROM DISCRIMINATION... (PARTICULARLY WOMEN WHO GOLF!)

* MEANWHILE...

[M]embers of the men’s track team have...filed a complaint with the federal Office for Civil Rights, which oversees Title IX, alleging that Delaware is discriminating against its male athletes.

(*CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

Universities can comply with Title IX in one of three ways: by showing that the number of female athletes is proportionate to the share of overall female enrollment, by demonstrating a continuing history of expanding sports for women, or by proving that the athletic interests and abilities of the female student body are being met. Rather than spend money on expanding sports for women, many universities have instead cut men’s teams in order to comply with the proportionality method.

* WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY? SERIOUSLY! FOLKS... THE ABOVE REASONING IS ASS BACKWARDS!

[M]en who claim discrimination under the law have had a poor success rate, especially in the courts...

* NO SHIT, SHERLOCK!

Tom Rogers, a former captain of the Delaware track team who graduated in 1989, said universities like Delaware were distorting the intent of Title IX. “How did we ever get to a place where a program that is supposed to be about creating opportunities for women is now being used in a way to create no opportunities for women and to cut men?” he asked.

Delaware officials declined to comment...

(*SMIRK*)

May 2, 2011 at 3:09 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_DEBT_LIMIT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-05-02-15-27-56

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is giving Congress more time to negotiate a deal that would raise the nation's borrowing limit.

(*SNORT*)

* BUT ONLY DAYS AGO TIMMY THE TAX CHEAT WAS SWEARING ON A STACK OF BIBLES WRAPPED IN AMERICAN FLAGS THAT IF THE DEBT LIMIT WASN'T RAISED BY MAY 16 THE U.S. WOULD DEFAULT...?!?!

The U.S. government will hit its $14.3 trillion borrowing limit on May 16.

In a letter to congressional leaders, Geithner said Monday that he can delay a default on the debt until Aug. 2...

* SO... WAS TIMMY BOY LYING WITH REGARD TO PREVIOUS STATEMENTS? OR... IS HE SIMPLY SO INCOMPETENT THAT HE SINCERELY HAD NO IDEA THAT THE OLD LINE HE WAS FEEDING THE PRESS WAS... er... INOPERATIVE? WHICH IS IT, TIMMY?

* FOLKS... SERIOUSLY... JUST FURTHER PROOF THAT NO ONE IN THIS ADMINISTRATION CAN BE TRUSTED TO TELL THE TRUTH.

May 2, 2011 at 11:16 PM

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