Friday, September 23, 2011
Barker's Newsbites: Friday, September 23, 2011
Can anyone guess which of my affluent friends (hint: upper Westchester resident; attorney - midtown Manhattan law firm) forwarded the following video with a request it be made today's newsbites theme song?
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
(*SIGHING*)
(*STILL SHAKING MY HEAD*)
Hey... anything for a friend... right...?!?!
(*SHRUG*)
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http://www.wlsam.com/Article.asp?id=2293117&spid=
After the Republican presidential debate Thursday night, a senior advisor to Mitt Romney acknowledged that a line about spreading health care reform throughout the country was changed in the paperback version of Romney’s book No Apology.
* WHAT A SCUMBAG, HUH?
* SERIOUSLY, FOLKS... WE NEED PEOPLE LIKE ROMNEY TO LEAVE THE GOP AND JOIN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. THINK ABOUT IT... IF THEY ROSE TO THE TOP THERE WE'D END UP WITH A TRUE CONSERVATIVE GOP AND AT LEAST A RELATIVELY SANE AND RESPONSIBLE DEMOCRATIC PARTY! IT'S A WIN-WIN FOR EVERYONE!
During [last night's GOP] debate Romney denied that his book had been changed. ... But Thursday night after the debate, Romney’s staffer Eric Fehrnstrom said that line was indeed removed because there was more information.
(*SNORT*)
* FOLKS... I'LL KEEP SAYING IT: I FEAR VIOLENCE IS THE ONLY ANSWER BECAUSE THE ROT IS DEEP WITHIN BOTH POLITICAL PARTIES.
* GIVE PERRY CREDIT... I MAY DISAGREE WITH HIS STANCE ON IN-STATE TUITION FOR THE CHILDREN OF ILLEGAL ALIENS, BUT HE'S STICKING BY HIS PRINCIPLES. (AND ON THE INOCULATION ISSUE... HE ADMITTED HE WAS WRONG!)
* HEY... MEN AND WOMEN OF GOOD WILL CAN DISAGREE, BUT LIARS AND THOSE WHO REFUSE TO ADMIT IT WHEN THEY'VE COME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT SOMETHING THEY DID WAS WRONG... WELL... DO WE NEED SCUMBAG REPUBLICANS ANYMORE THAN WE NEED SCUMBAG DEMOCRATS? I SAY "NO!"
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110923/BUSINESS05/309230081/Patients-wait-longer-care-under-new-health-law-think-tank-says
Nearly 700,000 Tennesseans will gain new coverage under health-care reform, but those already with insurance might have to wait longer to receive care and younger people overall may have to pay more.
* ...BUT...
* ...BUT THOSE ALREADY WITH INSURANCE MIGHT HAVE TO WAIT LONGER TO RECEIVE CAR AND YOUNGER PEOPLE OVERALL MAY HAVE TO PAY MORE.
* BTW... LET'S QUITE THE PARSING. THERE'S NO "MIGHT" OR "MAY" HERE. THIS IS THE REALITY OF OBAMACARE.
Those are among findings from a report out from a think tank the state’s largest health insurer, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, launched this year to study the interface between public policy and health care.
“It will be a little longer line, but everybody will be in the line,” said Dr. Steven L. Coulter, president of the insurer’s Tennessee Health Institute and co-author of the report with William T. Cecil, an independent health-care consultant.
* SO... WHAT DO YOU THINK, FOLKS... ANYONE THINK THAT DR. STEVEN L. COULTER, PRESIDENT OF THE INSURER'S TENNESSEE HEALTH INSTITUTE WILL EVER BE TOLD HE'LL HAVE TO WAIT THREE WEEKS FOR AN APPOINTMENT TO SEE A SPECIALIST?
(*SMIRK*)
* YOU'VE HEARD OF INCOME REDISTRIBUTION? (OBAMA'S MANTRA!) WELL, FOLKS... THIS IS "RIGHTS" REDISTRIBUTION. YOUR RIGHT TO GET THE SERVICE YOU'VE PAID FOR ALL THESE YEARS IS NOW BEING "NORMED" SO AS TO "ACCOMMODATE" THOSE WHO CHOSE NOT TO MAKE THE SACRIFICES YOU DID IN ORDER TO HAVE INSURANCE. I WONDER HOW AN EXTRA FEW WEEKS WAITING FOR AN APPOINTMENT WILL FEEL FOR THE PEOPLE WHO SUSPECT THEY'VE GOT A REAL MEDICAL PROBLEM LIKE CANCER OR HEART DISEASE?
Expanding insurance coverage without a corresponding increase in the number of primary care doctors...could create problems with access to medical care, the study says.
* YA THINK...?!?!
There will be other issues bubbling up as the federal heath reform law takes effect. The reform law narrows the advantage that younger people had over older people when it comes to costs of insurance policies, for instance, Coulter said. As a result, healthy young adults will pay more unless they’re poor and eligible for government help, he said.
* YA MEAN... er... FINANCIAL HELP FROM A GOVERNMENT WHICH IS BROKE... WHICH BORROWS 40-CENTS OR MORE OF EVERY DOLLAR SPEND ON NORMAL OPERATING EXPENSES...? (*SMIRK*) OH, YEAH... I CAN SEE THAT WORKING OUT WELL.
* SO LET'S SEE IF I GET THIS RIGHT: F--K THE YOUNGER PEOPLE WHO WERE PAYING FOR THEIR INSURANCE AND THEN F--K THEM DOUBLE BY RAISING THEIR TAXES TO SUBSIDIZE "NEWCOMERS" TO THE INSURANCE MARKET. (*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)
A year or two after the state exchanges are up and running, he sees smaller employers with fewer than 50 workers ending their insurance coverage, and letting employees seek policies on the exchanges instead.
* BUT... BUT... BUT... I THOUGHT THAT OBAMA AND THE DEMS PROMISED THAT ANYONE WANTING TO KEEP HIS OR HER EXISTING INSURANCE WOULD BE ABLE TO DO SO UNDER OBAMACARE. HOW'S THAT GONNA WORK WITH OBAMACARE FORCING SMALL BUSINESSES TO END INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR THEIR WORKERS IN FAVOR OF LETTING THE BROKE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIZE THEIR WORKER VIA CHINESE LOANS?
* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/09/22/texas-school-punishes-boy-for-opposing-homosexuality/
An honors student in Fort Worth, Texas, was sent to the principal’s office and punished for telling a classmate that he believes homosexuality is wrong.
* HUH...???
Dakota Ari was in a German class at the high school when the conversation shifted to religion and homosexuality in Germany. At some point during the conversation, he turned to a friend and said that he was a Christian and “being a homosexual is wrong.”
Holly Pope said she was “absolutely stunned” when she received a telephone call from an assistant principal at Western Hills High School informing her that her son, Dakota Ary, had been sent to in-school suspension. “Dakota is a very well-grounded 14-year-old,” she told Fox News Radio noting that her son is an honors student, plays on the football team and is active in his church youth group. “He’s been in church his whole life and he’s been taught to stand up for what he believes.”
And that’s what got him in trouble.
* OBAMA'S AMERICA... EVEN IN TEXAS. (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
“It wasn’t directed to anyone except my friend who was sitting behind me,” Dakota told Fox. “I guess the teacher heard me. He started yelling. He told me he was going to write me an infraction and send me to the office.”
Dakota was sentenced to one day in-school suspension - and two days of full suspension. His mother was flabbergasted, noting that her son had a spotless record, was an honor student, volunteered at his church and played on the school football team.
Officials at the high school did not return calls for comment. However, the Fort Worth Independent School District issued a statement that read: “As a matter of course, Fort Worth ISD does not comment on specific employee or student-related issues. Suffice it to say that we are following district policy in our review of the circumstances and any resolution will likewise be in accordance with district policy.”
* THIS IS THE KIND OF BULLSHIT THAT SHOULD GET THOSE IN AUTHORITY FIRED. UNLESS THERE'S SOMETHING ELSE THAT HAPPENED THAT WOULD WARRANT PUNITIVE ACTION AGAINST THE BOY, THIS ACTION WAS CLEARLY A VIOLATION OF HIS CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH AND EXPRESSION - AS WELL AS A SEEMING ATTACK UPON HIS RELIGIOUS FAITH.
* NOW, FOLKS... I MYSELF BELIEVE THAT HOMOSEXUALITY IS A NATURAL ABNORMALITY. IT'S NOT "BAD" PER SE. YOU'RE BORN THE WAY YOU'RE BORN. BUT IF SOMEONE DISAGREES WITH ME... I DEBATE HIM - I DON'T USE THE POWER OF THE STATE TO SHUT HIM UP AND PUNISH HIM.
* To be continued...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)
After a meeting with Pope and her attorney, the school rescinded the two-day suspension so Dakota would be allowed to play in an upcoming football game.
* GOOD MOVE!
“They’ve righted all the wrongs,” said Matt Krause, an attorney with the Liberty Counsel. “This should have no lasting effect on his academic or personal record going forward.”
Pope contacted the Liberty Counsel immediately after her son was punished. “I told the school that he should never have been suspended for exercising his Constitutional rights,” Krause told Fox News Radio. “The principal is sincere in trying to do the right thing and hopefully they will tell the teacher, ‘Do not do that anymore.’ He won’t be pushing his agenda.”
* KEEP READING, FOLKS... NOW WE'RE COMING TO THE CONTEXT!
Krause called the incident “mind blowing” and said the teacher had frequently brought homosexuality into ninth grade classroom discussions. “There has been a history with this teacher in the class regarding homosexual topics,” Krause said. “The teacher had posted a picture of two men kissing on a wall that offended some of the students.” Krause said the picture was posted on the teacher’s “world wall.”
* UH-HUH. IN GERMAN CLASS...
“He told the students this is happening all over the world and you need to accept the fact that homosexuality is just part of our culture now,” Krause said.
* WHICH AGAIN... HAS EXACTLY WHAT TO DO WITH TEACHING KIDS TO SPEAK GERMAN?
The school district would not comment on why a teacher was discussing homosexuality in a ninth grade German class.
* OUR SCHOOLS ARE OUT OF CONTROL. ANYONE WHO HAS EVER HAD A RUN-IN WITH SCHOOL AUTHORITIES KNOWS THIS TO BE TRUE.
“In German class there should be no talk of being pro-Gay or homosexual topics,” Krause said.
Dakota’s mother said she believes the teacher should apologize.
“He should never have been punished,” Pope said. “He didn’t disrupt the class. He wasn’t threatening. He wasn’t hostile. He made a comment to his friend and the teacher overheard it.”
“My son knows people that are homosexual,” she said. “He’s not saying, ‘I don’t like you.’ He’s saying, ‘I’m a Christian and I believe that being that way is wrong.’”
* AND YOU KNOW WHAT... WHETHER YOU AGREE WITH THE KID'S (AND THE MOM'S) POSITION ON HOMOSEXUALITY OR NOT, THEY BOTH HAVE A RIGHT TO THEIR OPINIONS AND FRANKLY IT SEEMS CLEAR THAT IT WAS THE TEACHER - NOT THE STUDENT - WHO BROUGHT THE MATTER UP. (*SHRUG*)
* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903703604576584620319633188.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_AboveLEFTTop
House Republicans showed remarkable "forbearance" yesterday toward SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro over an ethics flap involving the Bernie Madoff case and conflict-of-interest laws.
(*RAISING ONE EYEBROW*)
"What is clear about this situation is that you did make a mistake. You admitted such and you said had you known then what you now know, you would have acted differently," Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) told Ms. Schapiro at a public hearing.
We doubt Ms. Schapiro and her SEC cops would have been so forgiving toward someone in private life who made the same "mistake."
We're referring to this week's remarkable report from SEC Inspector General David Kotz disclosing how the SEC's former top lawyer, David Becker, directly handled matters relating to the Madoff fraud case despite his mother's $2 million investment with the firm, to which he and his brothers were heirs.
(*SNORT*)
* UN...FRIGG'N...BELIEVABLE...
Mr. Becker's involvement potentially influenced whether investors who got money out of the Madoff operation before it was exposed could be shielded from so-called "clawback" lawsuits brought by those liquidating the Madoff estate. Mr. Kotz says Mr. Becker "participated personally and substantially in particular matters in which he had a personal financial interest" through his inheritance of his mother's estate.
* OH... BUT WAIT! KEEP READING...!!!
The conflict here would seem to be obvious, and Mr. Becker did at least disclose it - to Ms. Schapiro shortly after arriving at the SEC in February 2009.
* HMM...
"I did precisely what I was supposed to do," he told Congress yesterday. "I identified a matter that required legal advice from the SEC's Ethics Office. I sought that advice, received it and followed it."
* HMM...
But that still leaves the role played by Ms. Schapiro, who never told her fellow commissioners about the conflict, going so far as to let them vote on how to divide up the Madoff assets, a change from which Mr. Becker stood to benefit.
* To be continued...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)
Only in February, after Mr. Becker was named in a clawback lawsuit by Madoff trustee Irving Picard, did the commissioners learn of the conflicts by reading the press.
* FOLKS... WE HAVE UTTER INCOMPETENTS... UNTRUSTWORTHY INCOMPETENTS AT THAT... RUNNING THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT AS APPOINTEES OF THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION...!!!
Ms. Schapiro declined our request for an explanation this week, but she has said she would have had Mr. Becker recused if she had "understood that he had any financial interest in how this was resolved."
(But then why did she think he had informed her of his family's Madoff connection?)
She also said she would have wanted to disclose the Madoff connection if Mr. Becker had testified on the issue "so that we were completely forthcoming with Congress."
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
The same IG report also highlights that the SEC decided not to have Mr. Becker testify to Congress on Madoff issues lest his conflict become public.
(*SNORT*)
Mr. Becker told the IG - under oath - that after he mentioned the need to disclose the inheritance up front if he did go before Congress, the SEC's Office of Intergovernmental and Legislative Affairs Director Eric Spitler wrote that "now that I think about it, I think it would be better if someone else testified. My concern is not that there's anything wrong with it," but "when you're in a political environment . . . it would be a distraction."
The IG's office has referred its findings to the Department of Justice's Criminal Division, but as a matter of common sense the report raises serious questions about whether Ms. Schapiro can remain in her job with any credibility. Imagine how the SEC's enforcement cops would handle a private company that let a general counsel play such a role. For such a conflict to be passed off as inconsequential, and then covered up, by the agency that is supposed to investigate bad financial actors is more than a mistake. It's faulty judgment that suggests an ethical blind spot.
* "BLIND SPOT" AT BEST. AT WORST... A DELIBERATE ATTEMPT TO CIRCUMVENT PROFESSIONAL ETHICAL LINES FOR... WELL... PERHAPS FOR THE PRIVATE GAIN OF MR. BECKER WHOSE "REPORTING" TO SCHAPIRO WOULD GIVE HIM COVER SHOULD HE GET CAUGHT - AS HE DID.
(*SHRUG*)
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