Monday, August 29, 2011
Barker's Newsbites: Monday, August 29, 2011
All good things in moderation!
So... alive and well following "The Great Storm of 2011."
(*SNORT*)
But, hey... it's not like I got away unscathed! The frigg'n cable went out for 20 minutes!
(*HUGE FRIGG'N GRIN*)
In all seriousness, a lot of people did get nailed, but the damage was mostly limited to flood plain areas. That said... if you're one of the folks in a flood plain area - or among those for whom "mostly" didn't cut it - this storm was indeed no joke.
Hey... the NYS Thruway was still closed this morning between our exit here in Orange County and the Rockland County line when Mary left for work!
No real damage here at my place. A couple large tree branches fell, but luckily they fell safely where there was nothing but grass below.
We experienced three or four microsecond power surges, but aside from having to reset the clock on the microwave and reboot the cable box, no actual power outages.
My father-in-law got four inches of water in his basement down in Pearl River, but that was only because a power outage disabled his sump pump. Luckily his washer and dryer are on blocks to begin with so they were fine and except for the pilot light going out, his boiler is fine too. Minimal damage and clean-up.
My "brother" Joey answered the storm by getting a generator! (And of course... after getting the generator he ended up not losing power... but, hey... now he has it - meaning I have it too!)
My friends Coll and Kenny made it through with all their trees - and thus their house, cars, pool, and shed - intact, though the street behind them was flood and several of their neighbors suffered major flooding... as in evacuation by boat!
All my other friends and relatives are o.k., thank God.
And today... it's a beautiful day!
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903327904576524423674218998.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop
Since everyone has a suggestion or three about what President Obama can do to get the economy cooking again, here's one of ours: Immediately suspend the Environmental Protection Agency's bid to reorganize the U.S. electricity industry, and impose a moratorium on EPA rules at least until hiring and investment rebound for an extended period.
* HEAR! HEAR!
The EPA is currently pushing an unprecedented rewrite of air-pollution rules in an attempt to shut down a large portion of the coal-fired power fleet. Though these regulations are among the most expensive in the agency's history, none were demanded by the late Pelosi Congress. They're all the result of purely bureaucratic discretion under the Clean Air Act, last revised in 1990.
* WORST OF ALL... THIS SO-CALLED "BUREAUCRATIC DISCRETION" DOESN'T ACTUALLY EXIST! WHAT'S GOING ON IS SIMPLY ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THE CONSTITUTION BEING TRASHED AS THE SEPARATION OF POWERS IS DELIBERATELY VIOLATED BY THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION.
the EPA's regulatory cascade is a clear and present danger to the reliability and stability of the U.S. power system and grid. ... The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, which is charged with ensuring the integrity of the power supply, reported this month in a letter to the Senate that 81 gigawatts of generating capacity is "very likely" or "likely" to be subtracted by 2018 amid coal plant retirements and downgrades. That's about 8% of all U.S. generating capacity.
If a foreign power or terrorists wiped out 8% of U.S. capacity, such as through a cyber attack, it would rightly be considered an act of war.
(*SIGH*) (*NOD*)
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/08/29/morning-bell-lessons-from-hurricane-irene/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
[I]n recent history, the United States has over-federalized disaster response in a way that threatens the resiliency of the nation’s communities, according to a new report from The Heritage Foundation:
In the course of 16 years, the yearly average of FEMA declarations tripled from 43 under President George H. W. Bush to 89 under President Bill Clinton to 130 under President George W. Bush.
In his two and a half years in office, President Obama has issued 360 declarations without the occurrence of one hurricane or large-scale earthquake.
In the first six months of 2011, President Obama issued 144 declarations, which puts him on pace for 288 declarations for the year - by far the most in FEMA history. (The current single-year record is President Clinton’s 157 declarations in 1996.)
The authors write that the federalization of routine disasters requires FEMA to become involved with a new disaster somewhere in the United States every 2.5 days. And that’s becoming a serious problem, because FEMA is perpetually in a response mode, leaving little time and few resources for catastrophic preparedness.
Likewise, states have learned to beg Washington for help whenever a natural disaster strikes in the hope of receiving a FEMA declaration and the accompanying money. In short, states are becoming more dependent on the federal government, and FEMA is spreading itself too thin by responding to too many smaller incidents, thereby leaving it less prepared to handle the major disasters.
In the case of Hurricane Irene, Heritage’s Matt Mayer writes that, “like Hurricane Dean a couple of years ago - when FEMA spent $50 million for a cloudy day in Houston - FEMA likely spent tens of millions preparing for Irene and will drop a lot more on declarations issued to states because of Irene.”
[T]his leaves Washington with a choice: continue devoting more funds to FEMA’s ever-expanding role or scale back the agency, reserving federal funds for truly catastrophic events and other federal priorities.
[T]he federal government is not a replacement for local response and crisis management.
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2011/08/29/alert-for-swarm-and-slug-mobs/
There’s an alert out about recent assaults on bike riders in south St. Louis.
Trailnet.org, an organization that promotes hiking and biking, is cautioning riders to be on the alert for roving bands of [black] teenagers who swarm and attack riders.
Trailnet says the latest attack was last Thursday (8/25) afternoon near Missouri Botanical Garden where a group of 10 to 15 "African-American" teens charged and attacked a cyclist.
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
“They weren’t really interested in robbing me. It just seemed like they wanted to beat me up,” says assault victim Cheech Ramirez. “They weren’t interested in letting me get off the ground and having a fair fight.”
Ramirez says he and his friends returned to the scene minutes later to help another bicyclist who was being beaten.
Police say there have been other, similar attacks in the city, and they believe all the victims are picked at random.
* YEAH? RANDOM? WERE ANY BLACKS TARGETED?
Police urge bike riders to be aware of their surrounding and call 911 when they see a swarm mob preparing an assault.
* OR... YOU COULD ARM YOURSELF AND IF YOU'RE ATTACKED... DEFEND YOURSELF AND SOCIETY AT LARGE.
Mayor Francis Slay is calling for action, possibly with citizen bike patrols set up with the help of Trailnet and local police.
* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=45780
* BY PATRICK J. BUCHANAN
A week ago, an item buried in The Washington Post reported that President Obama had "issued an executive order requiring government agencies to develop plans for improving federal workforce diversity."
* HUH...???
Though only 12% to 13% of the U.S. population, blacks hold 18% of all federal jobs.
* YEP. THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT... (*SCRATCHING MY HEAD*)
African-Americans are 25% of the employees at Treasury and Veterans Affairs, 31% of State Department employees, 37% of the Department of Education, 38% of Housing and Urban Development.
(*TAKING A BREATH*)
They are 42% of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., 55% of the Government Printing Office, and 82% of the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency.
According to The Washington Post, blacks hold 44% of the jobs at Fannie Mae and 50% of the jobs at Freddie Mac.
The EEOC - where African-Americans are over-represented by 300% - has been asked to oversee the new government-wide initiative to promote diversity and inclusion in the federal workforce.
* OH, JEEZ... (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
President Obama, wrote [Washington Post reporter] Isaac Arnsdorf, is targeting "a problem that has been on the administration's radar. Whites still hold more than 81% of senior pay-level positions."
Now, as white folks are two-thirds of the U.S. population, and perhaps three-fourths of those in the 45 to 65 age group who would normally be at senior federal positions, why is this a problem?
(*SHRUG*)
As no one has contended otherwise, we have to assume that the men and women who hold these top positions got there because of the longevity of their service and the superiority of their skills.
* ONE WOULD HOPE!
* FOLKS... PLEASE... KEEP READING; THE FOLLOWING IS IMPORTANT AND SOMETHING NOT MANY PEOPLE ARE AWARE OF.
* To be continued...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)
Perhaps, while he is battling for a greater diversity of sacrifice and rewards up there on Martha's Vineyard, our president might reflect on another example of the "over-representation" of white males - in the caskets coming home to Dover.
In the first five years of the Iraq war, Asian-Americans were 1% of our fallen heroes, Latinos 11%, African-Americans 10%.
White Americans were 75% of the dead, and from photos of the fallen in newspapers since, the ratios appear to hold.
* STILL... I'D LIKE TO SEE THE NUMBERS. I'M NOT COMFORTABLE WITH "APPEARS TO HOLD" IN THE CONTEXT OF THIS PIECE.
Does this overrepresentation of white men in the body bags and caskets coming home bother our commander in chief, who wants fewer white men at the top level of his executive branch?
* MY GUESS IS THAT IT CERTAINLY WOULD... BUT I'M ALSO GUESSING THE PRESIDENT HAS NO IDEA.
Has Obama taken a close look at his hypocritical party on Capitol Hill? Though African-Americans are fully 25% of all Democratic voters, in a Senate Democratic Caucus of 53 members, there is not a single black man or black woman.
[I]f liberals believe in affirmative action, why don't Democratic senators practice as well as preach it? Why don't they lead by example rather than by exhortation? Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer have been around for decades. Why do they not agree to flip a coin, have one resign, and have Gov. Jerry Brown appoint Rep. Barbara Lee, head of the Black Caucus, to the U.S. Senate?
(*FALLING TO THE FLOOR LAUGHING SO HARD*)
* OH, PAT... FRIGG'N BEAUTIFUL...!!!
Why does not Barbara Mikulski, who has been there forever, not stand down and let Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley appoint Rep. Elijah Cummings of Baltimore to the Senate?
Let Chuck Schumer go forth and do likewise, show us what a heroic liberal is, and let Gov. Andrew Cuomo name an African-American to replace him in the Senate.
* AFFIRMATIVE ACTION FOR THEE - BUT NOT FOR ME! THAT'S THEIR MOTTO!
Senate liberals applaud affirmative action programs that deny white students and white federal workers admissions and promotions they have earned by their labors. But when, ever, has one of these liberals voluntarily made the sacrifice that he demands be imposed upon others?
* GOOD FRIGG'N QUESTION!
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