Thursday, May 5, 2011

Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, May 5, 2011


Now here's something you don't come across every day!

6 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://cbsdetroit.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/basicskillsreport_final.pdf

The National Institute for Literacy estimates that 47% of adults (more than 200,000 individuals) in the City of Detroit are functionally illiterate...

* COM'ON... CHANT IT WITH ME, FOLKS... "U-S-A! U-S-A!"

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

We also know that of the 200,000 adults who are functionally illiterate, approximately half have a high school diploma or GED...

(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

* WAY TO KEEP THOSE STANDARDS HIGH, EDUCATORS!

Within the tri-county region, there are a number of municipalities with illiteracy rates rivaling Detroit: Southfield at 24%, Warren at 17%, Inkster at 34%, Pontiac at 34%.

* SING IT WITH ME, FOLKS! COM'ON.. "AND I'M PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN... FOR AT LEAST I KNOW I'M FREE..."

(*SIGH*)

William R. Barker said...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-05/jobless-claims-in-u-s-unexpectedly-jump-due-to-special-factors.html

More Americans unexpectedly filed first-time claims for unemployment insurance payments last week...

* F--K YOU! F--K YOU AND YOUR "UNEXPECTED" BULLSH-T!

* FOLKS... FOR GOD'S SAKE... HOW MANY TIMES DO YOU NEED TO READ "UNEXPECTED" IN STORY AFTER STORY, MONTH AFTER MONTH, YEAR AFTER YEAR...

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

Applications for jobless benefits jumped by 43,000 to 474,000 in the week ended April 30, the most since August, Labor Department figures showed today.

* PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN; THE OBAMA "RECOVERY" PRECEEDS APACE!

Even before last week, claims had drifted up...

(*SMIRK*) AS REGULAR NEWSBITES READERS ARE AWARE! (*RUEFUL CHUCKLE*)

The productivity of U.S. workers slowed in the first quarter and labor costs rose...

(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

William R. Barker said...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-05/food-prices-approach-record-high-as-grain-prices-fuel-inflation-worldwide.html

World food prices rose to near a record in April...

(*SIGH*)

“A sliding dollar and increased oil prices are contributing to high food-commodity prices,” Hallam said.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

William R. Barker said...

http://blog.heritage.org/2011/05/05/morning-bell-obamas-anti-energy-policies-are-bankrupting-america-2/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell

Randall Stilley has witnessed firsthand the Obama administration’s job-killing agenda.

As the president and chief executive of Seahawk Drilling, he had to lay off 632 employees before filing for bankruptcy - a direct result of President Barack Obama’s anti-energy policies.

Stilley’s company owned and operated 20 shallow-water rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. The lack of energy production - a consequence of Obama’s drilling moratorium and subsequent “permitorium” - led to Seahawk’s demise.

* JEEZUS... (*SIGH*)

On May 6, 2010, the first moratorium on Gulf drilling took effect, followed by a longer ban that lasted until October. But even after it was lifted, few deepwater permits have been issued. The long-term implications are disastrous for America.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

[N]ot everyone in the nation’s capital is content with higher prices and fewer jobs. Today the [republican controlled] U.S. House considers the first of several bills that directly addresses energy and jobs. Lawmakers will vote today on legislation that requires the Obama administration to conduct oil and natural gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and in the waters offshore Virginia.

(*CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

“What we’re proposing is to lower gas prices, create American jobs, which ironically will help drive up government revenues, and ultimately, in the wake of all the turmoil we’ve seen in the world, create an environment in which we are energy independent or on a path to energy independence,” Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) explained yesterday.

* YES...!!!

[Roskam] wants the Obama administration to hold four lease sales before June 2012 - including one off the coast of Virginia.

(*THUMBS UP*)

Aside from creating new jobs and discovering new sources of energy, the lease sales contribute a substantial sum of revenue for the federal treasury. In 2008, the offshore industry paid $9.4 billion for bids on new leases. Last year, that figure dropped to $979 million in lease bids.

(*SNORT*) (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*) FOLKS... OBAMA IS A FRIGG'N DISASTER AS PRESIDENT!

William R. Barker said...

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/159397-obama-floats-plan-to-tax-cars-by-the-mile

The Obama administration has floated a transportation authorization bill that would require the study and implementation of a plan to tax automobile drivers based on how many miles they drive.

* FOLKS... THE AGE OF OBAMA MARCHES ON. (AND MARCHING YOU'LL BE INSTEAD OF DRIVING IF OBAMA HAS HIS WAY!)

News of the draft follows a March Congressional Budget Office report that supported the idea of taxing drivers based on miles driven.

Among other things, CBO suggested that a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax could be tracked by installing electronic equipment on each car to determine how many miles were driven; payment could take place electronically at filling stations.

* THE CBO...?!?! BUT REPUBLICANS CONTROL THE HOUSE... (*SCRATCHING MY HEAD*)

* BUT HOLD IT! (WAIT FOR IT... WAIT FOR IT...)

The CBO report was requested by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND), who has proposed taxing cars by the mile as a way to increase federal highway revenues.

(*SMIRK*) AH... THAT EXPLAINS IT!

Obama's proposal seems to follow up on that idea in section 2218 of the draft bill. That section would create, within the Federal Highway Administration, a Surface Transportation Revenue Alternatives Office.

* AH...! NOT JUST HIGHER TAXES... NO... BUT A NEW GOVERNMENT AGENCY...!

* FOLKS... DAY AFTER DAY, WEEK AFTER WEEK, MONTH AFTER MONTH, YEAR AFTER YEAR... THE PATTERN IS UNDENIABLE.

The administration seems to be aware of the need to prepare the public for what would likely be a controversial change to the way highway funds are collected. For example, the office is called on to serve a public relations function, as the draft says it should "increase public awareness regarding the need for an alternative funding source for surface transportation programs and provide information on possible approaches."

(*SNORT*)

The new office would be funded a total of $200 million through FY 2017 for the project.

* TO DO A STUDY, FOLKS! TO DO A FRIGG'N STUDY...! WE'RE RUNNING DEFICITS IN THE TRILLIONS - DEFICITS ON OUR OPERATING BUDGET - AND OBAMA AND THE DEMS WANT TO EXPAND GOVERNMENT AND THEY'RE PISSING AWAY AN ADDITIONAL $200 MILLION TO DO SO.

William R. Barker said...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/movies/jackie-cooper-film-and-television-actor-is-dead-at-88.html?hpw

Jackie Cooper, the pug-nosed kid who became America’s Boy in tear-jerker films of the Great Depression, then survived Hollywood’s notorious graveyard of child stardom and flourished as an adult in television and modern pictures, died on Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 88.

* BUMMER!

His agent, Ronnie Leif, said Mr. Cooper died in a hospital after a short illness.