Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Barker's Newsbites: August 23, 2011


Don't cry, children! Uncle Bill's newsbites are a'comin'!

(Clap, children! Ya gotta clap...!!!)

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9 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/08/17/atf.fast.and.furious/

Three ATF supervisors who played roles in the controversial gun sales sting known as Operation Fast and Furious have been given jobs at ATF headquarters in Washington even as the Justice Department's Inspector General is probing the matter, a senior federal law enforcement source has confirmed.

* HAT TIP TO MY BUDDY MIKE D. ON THIS ONE! (SOMEHOW THE ORIGINAL EMAIL WAS MISPLACED; THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN POSTED LAST WEEK!

The transfers to Washington include one promotion...

* UNFRIGG'NBELIEVEABLE!

...and two lateral moves, according to the official who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to comment on the matter.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

The move to positions at ATF headquarters, first reported by the Los Angeles Times, were given to William McMahon, ATF deputy director of operations for the West; and William Newell and David Voth, both field supervisors in the Phoenix office who oversaw the program. Voth received a promotion to branch chief in the ATF's tobacco division, according to the senior federal law enforcement source. McMahon and Newell were provided posts at headquarters that were lateral moves, a spokesperson in the ATF press office confirmed to CNN en Espanol.

* FOLKS... WITH ERIC HOLDER RUNNING THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT... (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*) (*LONG, DEEP SIGH*)

The report of the appointments to jobs at ATF headquarters prompted a statement of outrage from Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who is on a committee investigating the operation. "Until Attorney General Holder and Justice Department officials come clean on all alleged gun-walking operations, including a detailed response to allegations of a Texas-based scheme, it is inconceivable to reward those who spearheaded this disastrous operation with cushy desks in Washington," Cornyn said.

* WELCOME TO THE AGE OF OBAMA, SENATOR!

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California, is leading the ongoing congressional investigation into the case. A spokesperson for Issa's Oversight and Government Reform Committee says the panel expects additional hearings on the subject this fall after Congress returns from summer recess.

* YEAH... (*SPITTING ON THE GROUND*)... BY ALL MEANS ENJOY THE "RECESS."

* AGAIN, FOLKS... SHORT OF VIOLENCE... HOW DO WE EXCISE THE CANCER AT THE CENTER OF OUR NATION'S GOVERNMENT?

August 23, 2011 at 8:56 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2011/08/19/rick_perry_ben_bernanke_treason_and_terrorism_99201.html

* BY MY SOMETIMES CORRESPONDENT JOHN TAMNY

As is well known now, Texas Governor Rick Perry unleashed some choice words about Fed Chairman Bernanke in Iowa on Monday. Not surprisingly, Perry's comments inflamed the commentariat...

(*SNORT*) YEP...

Karl Rove, ever eager to defend a former president whose administration he advised not so well, observed that Perry's utterances weren't "presidential". Whatever the validity of Rove's comment, it would be interesting to get his take on how "smart" it was for George W. Bush to appoint Bernanke in the first place.

(*HIGH FIVE TO TAMNY*)

The Wall Street Journal's editorial page, though supportive of Perry, suggested that the governor "was wrong to use the words ‘almost treacherous, treasonous' in referring to Mr. Bernanke." According to their editorialists, "those words ought to be reserved for specific acts of betrayal against America, and the Fed chief is certainly a patriot."

* NOT REALLY THE WORD I'D USE. I'D GO WITH "SELF-SERVING INCOMPETENT!"

[I]f it's agreed that Bernanke's policies have had a role in the dollar's evisceration since his arrival as Fed Chair...

* AYE!

...and if it's also agreed that the dollars Americans accept for their labors speak to an implicit trust in the issuer...

* AYE!

...it's arguable that Bernanke's acts constitute a certain betrayal, and as such, are treasonous.

* YES...! YES! YES! YES...!!!

Perry's words hit a nerve because he spoke honestly about what many voters feel. As Keynes long ago noted, currency devaluation is the best way to inflame society, and voters are mad. In doing what he did, Perry summoned a bit of rhetorical flourish...

(*THUMBS UP*)

Bernanke is merely hopeless at his job for his embrace of nearly every discredited economic fallacy under the sun.

(*DOUBLE THUMBS UP*)

Looking at the numbers, Bernanke took over in February of 2006. At the time an ounce of gold was selling for $569/ounce (notably, gold spiked from $480 upon his nomination; this jump presumably the markets pricing in what was ahead), a gallon of gas retailed for $2.24, and unemployment [stood at] 4.8%. Not great numbers, particularly those of gas and gold, but somewhat calm. Fast forward 5 ½ years later, however, and the situation is ugly.

Gold, the most devaluation/inflation sensitive of all market indicators has more than tripled to over $1,800/ounce, the price of a gallon of gasoline has jumped to $3.58, and the rate of U.S. unemployment has nearly doubled to 9.1%.

In the real world our blundering Fed Chairman would be gone by now, but in a Washington largely oblivious to market discipline, Bernanke has failed upward; graduating to "the world's foremost Great Depression scholar" despite economic instincts that suggest he would have felt right at home in the Hoover and FDR administrations that gave us the 1930s.

* AGAIN, FOLKS... BEN BERNANKE IS A TOTAL INCOMPETENT. IT REALLY IS JUST THAT SIMPLE.

August 23, 2011 at 9:16 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/08/obama-national-debt.html

Swallow all liquids in your mouth before reading any further.

* I MAY JUST STEAL THAT LINE! (*GRIN*)

Updated numbers for the national debt are just out: It's now $14,639,000,000,000.

* THAT'S FOURTEEN TRILLION, SIX-HUNDRED AND THIRTY-NINE BILLION...

When Barack Obama took the oath of office twice on Jan. 20, 2009, CBS' amazing number cruncher Mark Knoller reports, the national debt was $10,626,000,000,000.

* AND WHAT WAS IT WHEN BARAK HUSSEIN OBAMA TOOK THE OATH OF OFFICE TO BECOME A SITTING U.S. SENATOR BACK ON JANUARY 3, 2005...???

* FOLKS... RE-READ THAT LAST QUESTION I'VE POSED. THINK ABOUT IT. HERE'S THE THING... DEDUCTING FOR ANY SPENDING INCREASES FROM THAT POINT ON THAT THEN-SENATOR OBAMA VOTED AGAINST... ALL THE SPENDING HE VOTED FOR WAS HIS RESPONSIBILITY AS MUCH AS IT WAS BUSH'S! AND... WHILE FOR THE FIRST TWO YEARS OF HIS SENATE TERM HE WAS A MEMBER OF THE MINORITY, FOR THE NEXT TWO HE WAS A MEMBER OF THE MAJORITY!

* BOTTOM LINE... $10,626,000,000,000 IS IF ANYTHING A "HIGH" NUMBER COMPARED TO WHERE WE SHOULD REALLY START COUNTING FROM!

That means the debt that our federal government owes a whole lot of somebodies - including [Communist] China - has increased $4,247,000,000,000 in just 945 days.

* THAT'S FOUR TRILLION, TWO-HUNDRED AND FORTY-SEVEN BILLION... IN JUST 945 DAYS.

That's the fastest increase under any president ever.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

Remember the day the Democrat promised to close the embarrassing Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility within one year? That day the national debt increased $4,247,000,000. And each day since that the facility hasn't been closed.

Same for the day in 2009 when Obama flew all the way out to Denver to sign the $787 billion stimulus bill that was going to hold national unemployment beneath 8%...

(*SNORT*)

...Another $4,247,000,000 that day. (And every day since, even Obama golfing and vacation days.)

Same sum for the day Obama flew Air Force One nearly four hours roundtrip to Columbus, Ohio for a 10-minute speech about how well the stimulus was working in the politically crucial Buckeye state. Ohio's unemployment rate just jumped to 9% from 8.8% anyway.

Or last week's three-day Midwestern tour in the president's new $1.1 million Death Star bus? National debt went up $16,988,000,000 while he rode around speaking and buying ice cream cones.

The nation's debt increased $4.9 trillion under President Bush too, btw. But it took him 2,648 days to do it. Obama will surpass that sum during this term.

* OH... AND DON'T FORGET, FOLKS... DURING THE LAST TWO YEARS OF HIS SECOND TERM, THE DEMS - INCLUDING THEN-SENATOR BARAK HUSSEIN OBAMA - WERE RUNNING BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS.

* FOLKS... THE TRUE COMPARISON WOULD BE THE AVERAGE DEBT INCREASE OVER THE SIX YEARS WHEN BUSH WAS PRESIDENT WITH A RINO CONGRESS COMPARED TO THE TWO YEARS OBAMA WAS PRESIDENT WITH A DEM CONGRESS. (*SHRUG*) BUT THE MEDIA'S NOT GONNA GIVE YOU THAT. (*SHRUG*)

August 23, 2011 at 10:11 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/22/taxpayer-union-slams-stimulus-project-for-lack-jobs-officials-say-it-wasnt/?test=latestnews

A federal stimulus grant of nearly $500,000 to grow trees and stimulate the economy in Nevada yielded a whopping 1.72 jobs, according to government statistics.

* YES, FOLKS... YOUR EYESIGHT IS FINE... IT DOES INDEED SAY "ONE" JOB WAS CREATED ALONG WITH ALMOST TWO-THIRDS OF ANOTHER JOB. (*SNICKER*) AND ALL FOR THE LOW, LOW PRICE OF HALF A MILLION FRIGG'N DOLLARS!

According to Recovery.gov, the U.S. government's official website related to Recovery Act spending, the project created 1.72 permanent jobs. In addition, the Nevada state Division of Forestry reported the federal grant generated one full-time temporary job and 11 short-term project-oriented jobs.

* NICE... (*SMIRK*)

The grant also funds Spanish-language training for Hispanics in the landscaping and tree care industry to "develop employability skills and increase job retention."

* OH...! NOW THAT'S F--KING GREAT! USE TAXPAYER MONEY TO ASSIST FOREIGNERS IN TAKING JOBS UNEMPLOYED AMERICANS SHOULD BE GETTING...!!! GREAT! JUST F--KING GREAT...!!!

Nevada has the highest unemployment rate in the nation, which, according to latest U.S. Department of Labor statistics, stood at 12.9% in July.

* SO... (LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT, NOW)... THE SOLUTION IS TO TRAIN MORE MEXICANS TO TAKE JOBS UNEMPLOYED/UNDEREMPLOYED AMERICANS COULD AND SHOULD BE DOING...???

* FOLKS... AGAIN... SHORT OF VIOLENCE HOW DO WE STOP THE GOVERNMENT FROM DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY...?!?!

August 23, 2011 at 10:21 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=45701

Is the Senate trying to reignite the Cold War?

If so, it is going about it the right way.

Before departing for a five-week vacation, the Senate voted to declare Abkhazia and South Ossetia to be provinces of Georgia illegally occupied by Russian troops who must get out and return to Russia. The Senate voice vote was unanimous.

* MIND... YOUR... OWN... F--KING... BUSINESS...!!!

What is wrong with Senate Resolution 175? Just this. Neither Abkhazia nor South Ossetia has been under Georgian control for 20 years. When Georgia seceded from Russia, these ethnic enclaves rebelled and seceded from Georgia.

Abkhazians and Ossetians both view the Tblisi regime of Mikhail Saakashvili, though a favorite of Washington, with contempt, and both have lately declared formal independence. Who are we to demand that they return to the rule of Tblisi?

* MORONS! F--KING MORONS!

In co-sponsoring S.R. 175, Sen. Lindsey Graham contended that "Russia's invasion of Georgian land in 2008 was an act of aggression, not only to Georgia but to all new democracies."

* BIT OF REVISIONIST HISTORY... BUT NO SURPRISE COMING FROM THAT ASS GRAHAM.

This is neocon propaganda. Russian troops are in those enclaves because in August 2008 Georgia invaded South Ossetia to re-annex it, and killed and wounded scores of Russian peacekeepers. Tblisi's invasion brought the Russian army on the run, which threw the Georgians out and occupied slices of Georgia itself.

* AND THAT'S THE TRUTH, FOLKS; YOU CAN FIND ALL THE DETAILS IN PAST NEWSBITES FROM THE TIME IN QUESTION.

While the Russian troops withdrew from Georgian territory, they remained in Abkhazia and South Ossetia as a deterrent to Saakashvili, whose agents have been working Capitol Hill to push the United States into a confrontation with Russia on Georgia's side.

* LIKE WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH ON OUR DOMESTIC PLATE! AS IF THIS IS A VITAL INTEREST OF THE UNITED STATES! AGAIN, FOLKS... SHORT OF VIOLENCE HOW DO WE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE PROTECT OURSELVES AND OUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN FROM THE IRRESPONSIBLE ACTIONS OF THOSE IN POWER IN WASHINGTON?

S.R. 175, the work of Graham and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, declares it to be U.S. policy "to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia as regions of Georgia occupied by the Russian Federation."

* WHICH IS PURE BULLSHIT, FOLKS!

When the Senate says "regions of Georgia" are "occupied," it implies that Russia seized the territories. But as a European Union investigation has confirmed, the 2008 war began with the Georgian invasion of South Ossetia.

(*NOD*)

And what business is all of this of the United States?

(*STANDING OVATION*)

Why are we provoking a Russia for whom the Caucasus - ablaze as it is with secessionism, Islamism and terrorism - is a vital national interest?

* BECAUSE OUR POLITICIANS ARE ASSHOLES...!!!

How would Abraham Lincoln have reacted had Czar Alexander II declared the Russian Empire was recognizing the independence of Virginia and demanding that the breakaway enclave of West Virginia be returned to Richmond?

(*NOD*)

Why are we siding with Georgia, a nation of 5 million, against a Russia that seems to be on the side of self-determination? And when we recall how JFK and Ronald Reagan reacted when Russians were meddling in Cuba and Central America, can we not understand their resentment?

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD AT THE SHEER STUPIDITY OF OUR POLITICIANS*)

Medvedev believes that Saakashvili launched his 2008 attack after a visit by Condoleezza Rice, during which he may have been flashed a green light.

Russia's foreign minister believes that the Senate resolution backing Georgia has created a "revanchist mood" in Tblisi.

If there is another invasion of Georgia and a new war, the U.S. Senate will not be without major moral responsibility.

(*NOD*)

Is there to be no end to this country's meddling in other nations' quarrels and wars?

August 23, 2011 at 10:48 AM
William R. Barker said...

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

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903918104576500452522248360.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_AboveLEFTTop

Tony Bennett may have left his heart in San Francisco, but the politicians who contrived the city's Chinatown subway project must have left their brains somewhere else. The subway is a case study in government incompetence and wasted taxpayer money.

P.S. The Obama Administration is all for it.

(*CHUCKLE*)

Former Mayor Willie Brown sold a half-cent sales tax hike to voters in 2003 to pay for the 1.7-mile line on the pretext that the subway would ease congestion on Chinatown's crowded buses, but he was more interested in obtaining the political support of Chinatown's power brokers.

In 2003, the city estimated the line would cost $647 million, but the latest prediction is $1.6 billion, or nearly $100 million for each tenth of a mile.

(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

Transportation experts say the subway's design is seriously flawed and that improving the existing bus and light-rail service would make more sense. The subway misses connections with 25 of the 30 light-rail and bus lines that it crosses, and there's no direct connection to the 104-mile Bay Area Rapid Transit line or to the ferry. Transportation experts say the subway's design is seriously flawed and that improving the existing bus and light-rail service would make more sense. The subway misses connections with 25 of the 30 light-rail and bus lines that it crosses, and there's no direct connection to the 104-mile Bay Area Rapid Transit line or to the ferry.

* ONE BILLION, SIX-HUNDRED-MILLION DOLLARS, HUH?

Commuters will have to travel eight stories underground to catch the train and walk nearly a quarter of a mile to connect to the Market Street light-rail lines—after riding the subway for only a half mile.

* FOLKS... (*SIGH*)... THIS AIN'T AN ONION PARODY ARTICLE - IT'S A REAL WSJ OP-ED. (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

* To be continued...

August 23, 2011 at 3:29 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)

Tom Rubin, the former treasurer-controller of Southern California Rapid Transit District, calculates that taking the bus would be five to 10 minutes faster along every segment.

(*STILL SHAKING MY HEAD*)

The city's metro system, which is already running $150 million operating deficits, isn't likely to have the money to keep the subway running in any case. Last month the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury, a watchdog group, warned that the subway's costs "could stretch the existing maintenance environment [of the metro system] to the breaking point" and will defer the purchase of a new communications system.

(*MIGRAINE APPROACHING*)

Alas, San Francisco will likely drag national taxpayer money into the bay too. The city has applied for a multiyear $942 million "full funding grant agreement" from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to cover 60% of its capital costs.

(*BANGING MY HEAD AGAINST THE WALL*)

In January 2010, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood modified the grant criteria by adding environmental and communal benefits and minimizing cost-effectiveness. The change effectively means that any project can get federal funding as long as its sponsors claim they're moving cars off the road.

(*STILL BANGING; AGAIN... AND AGAIN... AND AGAIN*)

"Measuring only cost and how fast a project can move the most people the greatest distance simply misses the boat," Mr. LaHood wrote in January 2010 on his Fast Lane blog. "Look, everywhere I go, people tell me they want better transportation in their communities. They want the opportunity to leave their cars behind . . . And to enjoy clean, green neighborhoods. The old way of doing things just doesn't value what people want." We're told Mr. LaHood is smarter than he sounds.

* I HIGHLY DOUBT THAT.

The FTA has given the Chinatown subway one of its highest project ratings, which virtually assures a full funding grant agreement. Once the city receives such an agreement, the feds are obligated to provide whatever funds they promise. The FTA won't approve the agreements until the fall, so there's still hope that someone wises up and nixes the project. Oh, and if Congress is looking for discretionary programs to cut, New Starts would be a good start.

* AMEN!

August 23, 2011 at 3:30 PM
Mike D said...

Hey we beat that! 14.6 billion for the big dig and 60% was fed money.

August 24, 2011 at 6:54 AM
William R. Barker said...

@ Mike D.

Yep. You sure did!

Again, Mike, I ask... short of killing the bastards where is it gonna end?

BILL

August 24, 2011 at 8:12 AM

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