Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, September 21, 2011


Just another day in the Age of Obama...

(*SIGH*)

(Yeah... "so sad" is right!)

*** BTW ***

Back to my mini-walks today!

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9 comments:

William R. Barker said...

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

http://blog.heritage.org/2011/09/21/morning-bell-the-obama-investigations/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell

You wouldn’t know it if you solely paid attention to the mainstream media, but while President Barack Obama attempts to sell the country on hundreds of billions in new stimulus spending and $1.5 trillion in new taxes, his Administration is smack in the middle of several growing scandals: the Operation Fast and Furious gun-running debacle and the crony capitalism wrongdoing involving Solyndra and LightSquared.

* AGAIN, FOLKS... MOST "INDEPENDENTS" DON'T READ THE WSJ... THEY DON'T READ THE "CONSERVATIVE" PRESS... THEY RELY UPON NETWORK NEWS, MAYBE CNN, AND OF COURSE UPON THEIR LOCAL RAGS AND THE NYT/AP MSM ECHO CHAMBER.

In the fall of 2009, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which is overseen by President Obama’s Department of Justice, launched an effort to sell weapons to small-time gun buyers in the hopes of tracing them to major weapons traffickers along the southwestern border and into Mexico. Their effort, which is known as Operation Fast and Furious, failed terribly.

Around 1,500 of the guns went unaccounted for, about two-thirds of those guns ended up in Mexico, a border patrol agent was shot and killed with weapons that were sold as part of the operation, 57 Fast and Furious weapons have been connected to at least 11 violent crimes in the U.S., and in Mexico an unconfirmed toll of at least 200 people have been killed or wounded with other weapons linked to the botched effort.

Save for recent reports from CBS News and the Los Angeles Times, and earlier reporting by ABC News, the mainstream media has largely ignored the story and the White House press corps has not bothered to ask the President or press secretary Jay Carney about the scandal since July 5 - that’s 78 days, and over 40 press briefings, without one single related question.

* IT IS FRIGG'N AMAZING, HUH? THE BLATANT, "IN YOUR FACE" PARTISANSHIP OF THE MSM IS SIMPLY OUT OF CONTROL.

Meanwhile, congressional hearings were held, top officials associated with the operation were removed from their positions, and a third individual resigned. In the latest news, Mexican officials are complaining that, to this day, the United States has not offered an explanation about Fast and Furious, much less an apology. And yesterday, CBS News reported that a series of secretly recorded audio tapes thought to have been recorded in March reveal that an Arizona gun dealer and an ATF agent involved in the operation were worried about the unraveling scandal.

* YEP... COVERED HERE AT USUALLY RIGHT!

* To be continued...

September 21, 2011 at 11:05 AM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)

Turning from guns to butter, another scandal has cropped up, this one involving the solar panel manufacturing company Solyndra, which received a $535 million loan guarantee from the Energy Department as part of President Obama’s green jobs spending spree. The President lauded the company when he spoke at the unveiling of its new factory in May of last year. But now, little more than a year later, it stands bankrupt and plans to lay off more than 1,000 employees. Days after it filed for bankruptcy, the FBI raided the company’s offices and the homes of its executives.

The Obama Administration had a lot riding on Solyndra and the promise it offered. The President had made “green” energy a centerpiece of his failed plan to boost job growth in the United States, likening his effort to America’s “moonshot” - the space race following the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik.

The import of the company’s bankruptcy was evident in a January 31 e-mail between Office of Management and Budget staff regarding “Solyndra optics.” In the e-mail, the staff discussed what it would look like if the company went belly-up down the road, its implications for the 2012 elections, and how an earlier default might give the Obama Administration some credit for “fiscal discipline.”

* FOLKS... THIS IS A DEEPLY CORRUPT AS WELL AS INCOMPETENT ADMINISTRATION.

Then there’s the story of LightSquared, a wireless start-up company backed by billionaire Democratic donor Philip Falcone. The Daily Beast reports that military officials fear that the company’s technology could interfere with GPS signals - and that “two U.S. officials allege the White House tried to influence their [congressional] testimony to rush key testing, to LightSquare’s benefit.”

* YEP! COVERED HERE AT USUALLY RIGHT YESTERDAY!

Enter the investigations. Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Tuesday that his committee plans to investigate government loans to private companies made by the Obama Administration, according to The Hill. “I want to see when the president and his cronies are picking winners and losers,” Issa said. Now, Reuters reports that Solyndra’s chief executive and chief financial officer will invoke their Fifth Amendment rights and refuse to answer questions at the hearing on Friday.

A cross-border gun-running scandal, deaths in the United States and Mexico, staff removals and resignations, secret audio recordings, complaints from foreign officials, hundreds of millions of dollars in loans, bankruptcy, an FBI raid, campaign donors, and allegations of inappropriate White House influence in congressional testimony. There are serious questions coming out of Washington. It’s time the media start demanding answers.

(*NOD*)

September 21, 2011 at 11:05 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/21/business/economy/gop-urges-no-further-fed-stimulus.html?_r=2&partner=MYWAY&ei=5065

Even though the financial markets have been counting on the Federal Reserve to take action...

* HMM... THE "FINANACIAL MARKETS." IN ENGLISH DOESN'T THAT MEAN "THE BANKERS," AND "THE WALL STREET FAT CATS?" (RHETORICAL QUESTION; THE ANSWER IS "YES!")

Republican Congressional leadership sent a letter to the Federal Reserve chairman on Tuesday evening urging it not to engage in further stimulus.

* GREAT. THEY'RE GONNA "URGE" BERNANKE NOT TO FURTHER DISTORT THE ECONOMY. (*SMIRK*)

The letter was sent in the midst of a two-day meeting in which Fed officials are widely expected to undertake policies to lower long-term interest rates.

* WHICH WOULD BE EXACTLY THE WRONG MOVE. (*HEADACHE*)

“We have serious concerns that further intervention by the Federal Reserve could exacerbate current problems or further harm the U.S. economy,” said the letter, signed by four of the top Republicans in Congress: Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate Republican leader; Jon Kyl of Arizona, the Senate Republican whip; House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia.

* OH...! "SERIOUS CONCERNS!" WELL THAT WILL CERTAIN SET BERNANKE BACK ON HIS HEELS! (*SNORT*)

* FOLKS... BERNANKE NEEDS TO BE REMOVED FROM HIS POSITION. HE WON'T BE. THESE BASTARDS IN WASHINGTON - DEMPUBLICANS AND REPUBLICRATS - ARE GOING TO CONTINUE THEIR ASSAULT UPON THE DOLLAR AND CAUSE FURTHER AND LONGER LASTING STAGFLATION AND ASIDE FROM VIOLENCE... I SEE NO WAY OF STOPPING THEM.

Republican Congressional leaders expressed not only skepticism that further easing would improve the recovery, but also concerns that such actions might be damaging. “Such steps may erode the already weakened U.S. dollar or promote more borrowing by overleveraged consumers,” the letter from Republicans said.

* DUH...!!! (*FEELING A STROKE COMING ON*)

Many economists, however, are unconvinced by these risks...

* YEAH. THE SAME INCOMPETENTS WHO HAVE BEEN STEERING THE SHIP OF STATE ONTO THE ROCKS ALL ALONG! THE INMATES ARE RUNNING THE ASYLUM, FOLKS...!!! (BUT, AGAIN... SHORT OF VIOLENCE... THEY'LL "WIN" AND WE'LL LOSE.)

Less than a year ago Michele Bachmann, a Minnesota congresswoman who is running as a Republican presidential candidate, sent a letter to Mr. Bernanke urging him to refrain from the last round of stimulus, which the Fed ultimately decided to do.

* AND TIME HAS PROVEN BACHMANN RIGHT AND BERNANKE WRONG! (DOESN'T REALITY MATTER TO ANYONE...?!?!)

In recent months other Republican presidential candidates have stepped up their attacks on Fed policy, with Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, calling further easing “treasonous.”

* AGAIN, FOLKS... IF A FOREIGN POWER OR TERRORIST ORGANIZATION WAS DELIBERATELY TRYING TO DESTROY THE DOLLAR IT WOULD BE CONSIDERED AN ACT OF WAR; WHEN BERNANKE DOES IT... IT'S FED POLICY. (*BRAIN ANEURYSM GROWING THREATENING TO BURST*)

* FOLKS... RON PAUL IS CORRECT - END THE FED!

September 21, 2011 at 11:20 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.suntimes.com/news/watchdogs/7680344-452/fraud-case-targets-grants-awarded-by-president-obamas-friend.html

The indictment of a Chicago nurse accused of diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds for her personal use has turned a spotlight on an Illinois state agency that awarded her money while it was headed by one of President Barack Obama’s closest friends, Dr. Eric E. Whitaker, records show.

Under Whitaker, the Illinois Department of Public Health awarded Margaret A. Davis - the former program director of the Chicago Chapter of the National Black Nurses Association - a no-bid contract and seven AIDS- and cancer-related grants that became part of her $500,000 cash-siphoning scheme, prosecutors say.

* I'M SURE IT'S JUST A COINCIDENCE... (*SNORT*)... YEAH... (*CHUCKLE*)... JUST A COINCIDENCE.

* GOTTA LUV CHICAGO, FOLKS!

According to federal subpoenas and other records, Davis’ June 9 indictment by a federal grand jury in Springfield is part of a larger criminal investigation involving the health department and other state agencies.

(*SMIRK*)

* FOLKS... IN ALL SERIOUSNESS... THESE ARE OBAMA'S PEEPS!

Whitaker - who was hired by then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich in 2003 on Obama’s recommendation...

(*SHRUG*)

...publicly surfaced in the federal investigation in May 2010, when the Chicago Sun-Times reported that he, former chief of staff Quinshaunta Golden and two other Blagojevich administration officials - Deputy Gov. Louanner Peters and Whitaker’s successor at the health department, Dr. Damon Arnold - had been named in a subpoena seeking their state-government e-mails and other electronic records since January 2007.

None has been charged with any crime.

Whitaker, 46, left state government in October 2007 to work alongside future first lady Michelle Obama at the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he’s now executive vice president for strategic affiliations and associate dean for community-based research - a job that paid him $670,833 in 2009.

* NAH... NO FAT CATS HERE!

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Whitaker frequently traveled with Obama, and he remains part of the president’s inner circle. He vacationed with the president in Martha’s Vineyard late last month and attended three White House parties earlier this year.

* FOLKS... FEEL FREE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN ITS ENTIRETY. ILLINOIS POLITICS IS A CESSPOOL. (AND THAT'S WHERE OBAMA CAME FROM!)

September 21, 2011 at 11:43 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-pensions-legislation-watchdog-20110921,0,4724416.story

All it took to give nearly two dozen labor leaders from Chicago a windfall worth millions was a few tweaks to a handful of sentences in the state's lengthy pension code.

The changes became law with no public debate among state legislators and, more importantly, no cost analysis.

Twenty years later, 23 retired union officials from Chicago stand to collect about $56 million from two ailing city pension funds thanks to the changes, a Tribune/WGN-TV investigation found.

(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

* FOLKS... READ THE ARTICLE AND YOU'LL UNDERSTAND WHY I FEAR VIOLENCE IS THE ONLY ANSWER.

September 21, 2011 at 12:15 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/277797/obama-s-predictable-scandals-victor-davis-hanson

In the 2008 campaign, Barack Obama’s loud and welcomed hope-and-change promises to end insider influence, lobbying, and earmarks were essential to his well-crafted image of the outsider reformer.

(Once that liberal narrative was embraced by the media, few seemed to care [that] the "other," cynical Obama was the first candidate in the history of public financing of presidential campaigns to renounce the program — in order to maximize his campaign stash, much of it pouring in from firms like Goldman Sachs and BP.)

* YOU FOLKS DO REMEMBER THAT - RIGHT?

The country shrugged at such contradictions: Surely such a saintly progressive had saintly reasons; or, if he didn’t, exemption must be given for a messianic figure to use questionable means to achieve his noble ends.

([A]ccording to PolitiFact...of the 17 grand promises candidate Obama made on ethics reform, he has so far kept only five.)

That principle of liberal exemption from accountability explains much of both the fundamental and the trivial about the Obama administration. As a candidate, Obama railed against “Karl Rove politics.” Few seemed to notice that he had established a website (“Fight the Smears”) asking supporters to collect information on opponents, in a Nixonian effort at preemptive action to discourage opposition.

(*SNORT*)

The notorious and now-defunct JournoList followed.

* OH, YEAH! REMEMBER THAT ONE...!?!? (*SNORT*)

Currently we see that creepy tactic resurfacing a third time with the new AttackWatch.com website, which lists pictures and names, in the glaring red-and-black style of an intelligence dossier, of those who have criticized Obama - juxtaposed with supposed rebuttals and a puerile request for readers to snoop about and send in more names of those who dare to oppose the president.

(*SMIRK*) ACTUALLY, THOUGH, FOLKS... IT'S NOT FUNNY. THE CLINTON WHITE HOUSE WAS POPULATED BY CHOIR BOYS AS COMPARED TO OBAMA'S CHICAGO CREW.

“Civility” has followed the same tired script. Channeling the outrage over the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Obama in sonorous accents called for a new civility and a softer tone of public discourse - even though the man who shot Congresswoman Giffords was clearly sick and incited by neither left nor right political rhetoric. That the president, both in campaigns and in governance, had begged Latinos to “punish our enemies” and had called on supporters to “get in their faces” was irrelevant.

(*RUEFUL CHUCKLE*)

The Congressional Black Caucus and the union bosses apparently understood that disconnect, as progressives called Tea Party types “son of bitches” who could go “straight to Hell”... In the postmodernism of Obama, self-proclaimed underdogs and victims are not bound by protocols intended for their oppressors: Some illiberal targets clearly have to be demonized to thwart their demonic plans.

(*NOD*)

In this world of liberal exemption, a suspect Dick Cheney conspires with an evil Halliburton; but liberal financiers who donated to Barack Obama to ensure progressive change can’t really want unwarranted insider profits from a Solyndra or a LightSquared.

(*SNICKER*)

* FOLKS... THE AUTHOR IS SIMPLY SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON THE HYPOCRISY.

September 21, 2011 at 1:04 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/checkpoint-washington/post/with-more-space-needed-us-planning-major-expansion-at-detainee-facility-in-afghanistan/2011/09/21/gIQAGD6LlK_blog.html

Even as U.S.-led forces draw down in Afghanistan, U.S. officials expect the number of detainees at their main prison to increase - and by a significant margin.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

Officials had already announced that they would retain control of the Parwan Detention Center north of Kabul well beyond the planned 2012 transfer date...

* SO MUCH FOR GETTING OUT...

* HEY... REMEMBER WHEN CANDIDATE OBAMA RAN ON A PLATFORM OF CLOSING GITMO...? (*SNORT*)

U.S. officials recently said they intend to solicit contractors to help expand the facility’s capacity from about 3,500 beds to 5,500 beds.

* AND WE'VE ALL SEEN HOW "WELL" HIRING "CONTRACTORS" HAS WORKED OUT. (*SNICKER*)

* FOLKS... WE'RE IN DEEP SHIT AND GETTING IN DEEPER EVERY FRIGG'N DAY THIS CLOWN OBAMA IS IN OFFICE.

September 21, 2011 at 2:26 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/277819/unsound-bites-thomas-sowellhttp://www.nationalreview.com/articles/277819/unsound-bites-thomas-sowell

* BY DR. THOMAS SOWELL

The so-called “debates” among Republican presidential aspirants are classic examples of the media spreading misunderstanding instead of enlightenment. The ancient admonition, “With all your getting, get understanding” has been replaced in the media by, “With all your getting, get sound bites - and, if possible, ‘gotcha’ sound bites.”

* I'VE BEEN SAYING THIS FOR YEARS! WE KNOW HOW TO PUT REAL DEBATES ON; WE SHOULD DO SO!

After all the media hype over Gov. Rick Perry’s having called Social Security “a Ponzi scheme,” viewers are no more informed than before as to what specifically is a Ponzi scheme, what are the objections to such schemes, and whether those same objections apply to Social Security.

* AND, YES... SOCIAL SECURITY IS A PONZI SCHEME.

Even if such questions were answered, we would still not have weighed the alternatives to Social Security. Serious issues like that cannot be covered in sound bites or with “gotcha” questions from the media.

(*NOD*)

The whole “debate” format, with far more candidates included than have any realistic chance of getting the nomination, means that serious issues cannot get serious attention, because there is just not enough time with so many people. Most of what we learn from those “debates” is who is glib and fast on his feet.

(*SAD NOD*)

We already have a president who is glib and fast on his feet. But he is a disaster when it comes to the economy, among other things. Do we need more of the same from Republicans?

* AMEN, BROTHER SOWELL... AMEN...!!!

A real debate between two candidates, such as the famous Lincoln–Douglas debates in the 19th century, could bring out what the fundamental differences between the candidates are - and in the process enlighten the public on issues that affect their lives. But the short attention span of today’s population means that something like the Lincoln–Douglas debates would have a very small audience.

* I DISAGREE. AS CYNICAL AS I OFTEN AM, I BELIEVE IF WE STARTED OUT SMALL... SAY HOUR DEBATES BETWEEN TWO CANDIDATES ON CONSECUTIVE NIGHTS... AN AUDIENCE WOULD DEVELOP.

What are called candidate “debates” today are questions from media journalists, with the time allotted for the answers being too short for anything other than quick and superficial responses.

(*FRUSTRATED NOD*)

Not all interviewers are like the media hosts who conducted the first two candidate “debates.” Interviewers like Brian Lamb or Charlie Rose - people who try to bring out what the person who is being interviewed has to say, rather than trying to trap them with “gotcha” questions - could get a lot of useful information out of a candidate in an hour.

* I AGREE TO A CERTAIN EXTENT... BUT WE ALSO NEED PEOPLE LIKE GLENN BECK AND RUSH LIMBAUGH INVOLVED IN THE PROCESS. (WHO WOULD "BALANCE" BECK AND LIMBAUGH? COM'ON, FOLKS... THE REST OF THE MEDIA - INCLUDING A LARGE SEGMENT WITHIN FOX NEWS AND THE "CONSERVATIVE" PRESS WOULD BALANCE BECK AND LIMBAUGH ALONG WITH THE LIKES OF THE THREE BROADCAST NETWORKS, PBS, CNN, THE NYT, THE AP... AND SO ON AND SO FORTH!)

That would leave the public with something to really think about, rather than just some catchy words and emotional phrases. We might even elect a president who knows what he is talking about, instead of someone with a talent for using rhetoric and striking poses.

* AGREED!

September 21, 2011 at 3:22 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.cnbc.com/id/44608472

Stocks closed near session lows after selling off sharply in the final hour Wednesday...

* AND WHAT HAPPENED ON WEDNESDAY...??? (WAIT FOR IT... WAIT FOR IT...)

The Fed announced it would launch a new $400 billion program in a move to rebalance its $2.87 trillion portfolio - a version of the widely expected Operation Twist - by selling shorter-term notes and using those funds to purchase longer-dated Treasurys.

* BINGO!

* FOLKS... I SAY THIS IN ALL SERIOUSNESS: UNLESS BEN BERNANKE EITHER RESIGNS OR IS SOMEHOW INCAPACITATED AND THUS CAN NO LONGER SERVE AS FED CHIEF, HE AND HIS MINIONS WILL CONTINUE TO DESTROY OUR ECONOMY.

The Fed also said it would reinvest the proceeds from maturing agency debt and mortgage-backed securities into mortgage-related debt to help keep mortgage rates low and bolster the housing market.

* AS USUAL WITH BERNANKE, EXACTLY THE WRONG THING TO DO!

September 21, 2011 at 6:07 PM

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