Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, July 6, 2011


God Bless John Wayne!
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5 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303339904576406163574698214.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion

China is now the largest supplier of pharmaceutical chemicals - hundreds of tons annually - to the world.

* DID YOU KNOW THIS...? ANYONE...? I DIDN'T. HMM... I WONDER HOW THIS BRAVE NEW WORLD OF INTERNATIONAL "FREE" TRADE IS WORKING OUT FOR AMERICA?

Beginning in 2007, tainted heparin (a blood thinner) imported from China was linked to the deaths of 149 American patients.

* OOPS.

When Illinois-based Baxter Healthcare sourced cheap heparin from China in 2007, for example, it carried out all legally required tests. But the tests it used at the time were unable to detect the contaminant that caused fatal allergic reactions, and the dangerous drug slipped through.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

Generics of Neoral, the drug used to decrease the risk of kidney transplant rejection in the United Kingdom, provide an example of the problems that can arise in drug manufacturing. Because of its price (about $250 a month), health administrators tend to favor generic copies. Unfortunately, not all copies of Neoral are exactly equivalent. On average, the copies increase the likelihood of rejection by 10%. As Atholl Johnston, professor of clinical pharmacology at Barts Hospital and the London School of Medicine, recently explained to me, "That's 200 people losing kidneys in the U.K. every year."

* IN OTHER WORDS, FOLKS... THE HEALTH "ADMINISTRATORS" ACTED AS A SORT OF STATISTICAL "DEATH PANEL."

Five clinical studies published in the U.S. and abroad show that copycat versions of imatinib mesylate, a leukemia drug, lead to a higher risk of fatality.

[F]or the past four years, a group of researchers working with me has sampled over 2,000 products from emerging markets. About 5% were substandard - either due to suspect or under-dosed ingredients, or to inappropriate formulations that made the correct ingredients insoluble.

* OUTSTANDING! (*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

The potential for a large-scale catastrophe in this country is growing. In 2002, the U.S. imported $331 million of pharmaceutical chemicals from China; by 2010, it was $1.74 billion and rising.

* JEEZUS... (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

Several pharmaceutical industry experts in China privately indicate that up to 25% of ingredients purchased in China by Western companies come from unknown sources.

(*JUST THROWING MY HANDS UP*)

Lower-quality products also mean more recalls, which can lead to dangerous shortages. The number of times when a desired life-saving drug was unavailable in U.S. hospitals and clinics tripled between 2006 and 2010, to a record 211 cases, according to the University of Utah Drug Information Service. In the first quarter of 2011, eighty-nine incidents were reported.

July 6, 2011 at 10:08 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304803104576427740437445826.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_BelowLEFTSecond

If ever a president seems to have learned nothing from the times he's living in, Barack Obama is it.

Economies around the world are foundering from an accumulation of policy excesses produced by the sort of straight-line, robotic thinking he's applying to so-called corporate average fuel economy rules.

* THE LOGIC - OR RATHER LACK THEREOF? (READ ON!)

If more money for less work is popular, thought Greece, twice as much money for half as much work will be even more popular.

If 64% of Americans owning their own homes is a good thing, thought Bill Clinton, 67% is better. If 67% is good, thought George Bush, 69% is better.

* FRIGG'N BUSH... (*GNASHING MY TEETH*)

If forcing auto makers to build cars that deliver an average of 35.5 mpg is good, believes Mr. Obama, forcing them to deliver 56.2 is even better.

Praying for the insanity to blow over is the auto industry's strategy for dealing with the Obama administration latest urge to double down on fuel economy mandates. Auto makers, wishing to appear deferential to the government that bailed them out, only plead that any new targets be ratcheted up slowly so future administrations will have plenty of chance to repeal the rules before they take effect.

* HERE'S THE PROBLEM WITH POLITICAL "SOLUTIONS" TO TECHNOLOGICAL PROBLEMS, FOLKS:

Engineering is absent. Any appreciation of the law of diminishing returns is absent.

Sean McAlinden of the authoritative Center for Automotive Research recently pointed out that many of the materials needed for ultra-high-mileage vehicles would outstrip current world production several times over.

* IN OTHER WORDS... REALITY - WHAT REALITY...?!?! FULL SPEED AHEAD AND DAMN THE ICEBERGS...!!!

Asking consumers, meanwhile, to bear the cost of fuel-economy improvement they don't value will cause them to keep their old cars on the road longer. And in pursuit of what benefits? If we junked every gasoline-powered car and truck in America, it would have no appreciable impact on global carbon dioxide. If, as Mr. Obama intends, we switch to electric cars, those cars would be powered by coal, so the alleged atmospheric dividend will be doubly elusive.

(*BANGING MY HEAD AGAINST THE WALL*)

If his goals were rational and important, Mr. Obama would pursue them rationally - asking Americans for permission to tax gasoline to incentivize purchase of high mileage cars.

* AND OF COURSE WE'D SAY "NO!"

He does not.

Early in his administration, he gave a speech delineating the goal of one million electric cars on the road by 2015. He liked the round number. He liked the Kennedyesque ring. Now his bureaucrats are pursuing that goal as mindlessly as his predecessors pursued an increase in the rate of homeownership, because they liked the sound of it.

(*JUST NODDING IN DISGUST*)

July 6, 2011 at 10:37 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://oversight.house.gov/images/stories/Letters/2011-07-05%20ceg-dei%20to%20ag.pdf

To: The Honorable Eric H. Holder, Jr.; Attorney General

From: Darrell Issa; Chair Committee on Oversight & Government Reform U.S. House of Representatives and Charles E. Grassley; Ranking Member Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate.

* FOLKS... YOU'VE GOTTA READ THIS LETTER!

Yesterday, Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson participated in a transcribed interview regarding Operation Fast and Furious and related matters with both Republican and Democratic staff. He appeared with his personal counsel...

The evidence we have gathered raises the disturbing possibility that the Justice Department not only allowed criminals to smuggle weapons but that taxpayer dollars from other agencies may have financed those engaging in such activities. While this is preliminary information, we must find out if there is any truth to it. According to Acting Director Melson, he became aware of this startling possibility only after the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and the indictments of the straw purchasers, which we now know were substantially delayed by the U.S. Attorney's Office and Main [Department of] Justice. Mr. Melson provided documents months ago supporting his concerns to the official in the ODAG responsible for document production to the Committees, but those documents have not been provided to us.

It is one thing to argue that the ends justify the means in an attempt to defend a policy that puts building a big case ahead of stopping known criminals from getting guns. Yet it is a much more serious matter to conceal from Congress the possible involvement of other agencies in identifying and maybe even working with the same
criminals that Operation Fast and Furious was trying to identify. If this information is accurate, then the whole misguided operation might have been cut short if not for
catastrophic failures to share key information. If agencies within the same Department, co-located at the same facilities, had simply communicated with one another, then ATF might have known that gun trafficking "higher-ups" had been already identified. This raises new and serious questions about the role of DEA, FBI, the United States Attorney's Office in Arizona, and Main Justice in coordinating this effort. Nearly a decade after the September 11th attacks, the stovepipes of information within our government may still be causing tragic mistakes long after they should have been broken down.

Any decision about Mr. Melson's future with the Department would need to be justified solely on the basis of the facts and the needs of the agency, rather than on his
decision to speak to us . . . Knowing what we know so far, we believe it would be inappropriate to make Mr. Melson the fall guy in an attempt to prevent further congressional oversight.

* FOLKS... SERIOUSLY... I DON'T ASK THIS OFTEN, BUT I'M ASKING YOU TO FOLLOW THE LINK AND READ THE FULL LETTER FOR YOURSELVES. YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND HOW OUT OF CONTROL THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION IS!

July 6, 2011 at 2:41 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://gawker.com/5818310

The last time we checked in on White House salaries, we found that an astonishing 75% of continuing staffers got raises from 2009 to 2010 - a huge number given the fact that, according to compensation experts, most companies had skipped routine raises that year in reaction to the economic crisis that the White House was busy failing to solve.

This time around - from 2010 to 2011 - the ratio is a little less dramatic. Of the 270 White House staffers who have been there for more than a year, 146 - or 54% - received raises. The average salary increase was 8%.

* THE AVERAGE SALARY INCREASE WAS... 8%...???

If you look at only staffers who got raises, the average increase was twice that.

* 16%...?!?!

* FOLKS... LOOK AT THIS FUCKING CHART...!!! http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gawker/2011/07/0706_whchart.jpg

Overall, it should be noted, the White House's salary budget contracted slightly, from $38.8 million to $37.1 million, largely because the number of staffers fell.

* ACTUALLY... (*SMIRK*)... AS I UNDERSTAND IT THIS IS SMOKE AND MIRRORS. APPARENTLY WHAT IS HAPPENING IS THAT SALARIES OF CERTAIN STAFFERS "ATTACHED" TO THE WHITE HOUSE ARE BEING PAID FOR BY THE DEPARTMENTS THEY FORMALLY WORK FOR.

The average salary also dropped from $82,721, or 65% above the median household income, to $81,765 - or 65% above the median household income.

* NOT SURE IF THAT'S A TYPO OR A SNARK.

* AGAIN, FOLKS... CHECK OUT THE CHART: ONE GUY - KEVIN LEWIS - GOT AN 86% RAISE. HIS TITLE? DIRECTOR OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN MEDIA. (I SHIT YOU NOT!)

July 6, 2011 at 4:45 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.ajc.com/news/investigation-into-aps-cheating-1001375.html

Across Atlanta Public Schools, staff worked feverishly in secret to transform testing failures into successes.

Teachers and principals erased and corrected mistakes on students’ answer sheets.

Area superintendents silenced whistle-blowers and rewarded subordinates who met academic goals by any means possible.

Superintendent Beverly Hall and her top aides ignored, buried, destroyed or altered complaints about misconduct, claimed ignorance of wrongdoing and accused naysayers of failing to believe in poor children’s ability to learn.

For years - as long as a decade - this was how the Atlanta school district produced gains on state curriculum tests...according to an investigative report released Tuesday by Gov. Nathan Deal.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*) GIVE THE PHRASE "THANK A TEACHER" A WHOLE NEW MEANING, HUH?

The voluminous report names 178 educators, including 38 principals, as participants in cheating. More than 80 confessed. The investigators said they confirmed cheating in 44 of 56 schools they examined.

* NAH... NO REASON TO THINK AMERICA IS IN TERMINAL DECLINE... (*SIGHING WHILE SHAKING MY HEAD*)

July 6, 2011 at 8:03 PM

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