Friday, October 21, 2011

Barker's Newsbites: Friday, October 21, 2011


In line with my "Gadhafi post" below and my reminiscing about American values... the classic American Western character study... here's a little blast from the greatness of America's past.

Oh... and for a bit of variety... diversity if you will... check out this... and this... and this...

10 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/22/business/ge-profit-up-despite-volatile-economy.html?_r=1

General Electric, the nation’s largest industrial company, on Friday reported net earnings for the third quarter of $3.2 billion, up 57 percent from the same period in 2010 despite what the chief executive called a “volatile” economic environment.

* NOW AIN'T THAT JUST THE MOST AMAZING COINCIDENCE! THE COMPANY HEADED UP BY OBAMA'S "JOBS CZAR" AND MAJOR PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SUPPORTER JEFFREY IMMELT IS DOING... er... WELL... DURING THE AGE OF OBAMA.

(*JADED CHUCKLE*)

The strongest industrial growth for large American manufacturers has recently come from abroad, accounting for more than half of industrial business in some cases.

* WHY CAN'T THOSE LAZY, UNEMPLOYED AMERICAN BUMS SIMPLE COMMUTE BACK AND FORTH TO ASIA EVERY DAY?!

(*SNICKER*)

GE Capital has been weathering the wake of the financial turmoil unleashed in late 2008.

* YEAH... I BET! FUNNY HOW OWS DOESN'T SEEM ALL THAT INTERESTED IN OBAMA'S CRONY CAPITALIST ALLIES.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

* FOLKS... NOTICE HOW OUR GOOD FRIENDS AT THE NYT FAIL TO HIGHLIGHT GE's ACCELERATING POLICY OF OUTSOURCES JOBS - EVEN ENTIRE BUSINESS LINES - OVERSEAS. (I'M SURE THIS LACK OF FOCUS IS JUST ANOTHER.. er... COINCIDENCE.)

(*SMIRK*)

William R. Barker said...

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/car-company-us-loan-builds-cars-finland/story?id=14770875

With the approval of the Obama administration, an electric car company that received a $529 million federal government loan guarantee is assembling its first line of cars in Finland, saying it could not find a facility in the United States capable of doing the work.

* WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO SAY, FOLKS?

* OH, YEAH... JUST THIS:

The loan to the start-up electric car company Fisker is part of a $1 billion bet the Energy Department has made in two politically connected California-based electric carmakers producing sporty - and pricey - cutting-edge autos.

* HMM... "POLITICALLY CONNECTED..." DURING THE AGE OF OBAMA...??? YOU DON'T SAY...?!?!

Fisker Automotive, backed by a powerhouse venture capital firm whose partners include former Vice President Al Gore...

(*SHRUG*)

* FOLKS... SERIOUSLY... YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS SHIT UP...

* FOLKS... SERIOUSLY... ABSENT VIOLENCE... HOW DO WE TAKE OUR COUNTRY BACK? (JUST A QUESTION... JUST THROWING IT OUT THERE...)

An investigation by ABC News and the Center for Public Integrity's iWatch News that will air on "Good Morning America" found that the [Obama administration controlled] DOE's bet carries risks for taxpayers...

* IMAGINE THAT! (*SMIRK*) I AM SHOCKED... SHOCKED, I TELL YOU! (*SMIRK*)

...[and] has raised concern among industry observers and government auditors, and adds to questions about the way billions of dollars in loans for smart cars and green energy companies have been awarded.

* HEY... IT'S NOT LIKE WE'RE IN THE MIDST OF STAGFLATION WITH U6 UNEMPLOYMENT/UNDEREMPLOYMENT MEASURED (AND THIS IS A LOW MEASUREMENT BASED UPON COOKED METHODOLOGY) 16.5% WITH OUR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BORROWING 43-CENTS OF EVERY DOLLAR SPENT AND THE VAST MAJORITY OF INDIVIDUAL STATES IN HOCK UP TO THEIR CITIZENS EYEBALLS...

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD IN DISGUST*)

* BUT, HEY... AS LONG AS AL GORE AND FRIENDS OF OBAMA CAN MAKE MONEY USING THE U.S. TREASURY AS THEIR OWN PERSONAL PIGGY BANKS...

(*SIGH*)

* AGAIN, FOLKS... EXPLAIN TO ME HOW I AVOID THE CONCLUSION THAT KILLING THESE SCUMBAG THIEVES IS THE ONLY WAY TO TAKE OUR COUNTRY BACK? (NOT A THREAT... I'M JUST LOOKING FOR ANSWERS...)

* OH... BY THE WAY...

Fisker is more than a year behind rolling out its $97,000 luxury vehicle bankrolled in part with DOE money. While more are promised soon, just 40 of its Karma cars (below) have been manufactured and only two delivered to customers' driveways, including one to movie star Leonardo DiCaprio.

(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

Tesla Motors, [another politically connected "green" start-up] whose prime backers include PayPal mogul Elon Musk and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin [as well as the U.S. taxpayers given no choice in the matter by the Obama administration]...has lost money every quarter. And while its federal funding is intended to help it mass produce a new $57,400 Model S sedan, the company has no experience in a project so vast.

* O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A!

* HOPE AND CHANGE... HOPE AND CHANGE... HOPE AND CHANGE...

William R. Barker said...

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/oct/20/senators-blast-justice-department-fast-and-furious/

Two senior Republican lawmakers lambasted the Justice Department on Thursday for its “false denials” in the Fast and Furious gunrunning operation, demanding that the FBI turn over documents in its ongoing probe into the shooting death by Mexican bandits of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

* DO THEY MEAN "PERJURY...?" (YEAH... I THINK THEY MEAN PERJURY...)

* FOLKS... IN ALL SERIOUSNESS... THE INMATES ARE RUNNING THE ASYLUM; ERIC HOLDER SHOULD PROBABLY BE IN JAIL RATHER THAN SERVING AT OBAMA'S ATTORNEY GENERAL. THE FACT THAT HE'S WHERE HE IS... THAT REALLY SHOULD TELL YOU ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION.

William R. Barker said...

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

http://blog.heritage.org/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&p=82091&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell

If you listen to Vice President Joe Biden, the most effective way to prevent rape and murder is more federal stimulus spending.

* NOPE... NOT AN ONION SATIRE... NOT A SNL SKIT... THIS IS RIGHT OUT OF THE NEW YORK TIMES AND NETWORK NEWS!

The Vice President made the remarks first in a speech on Tuesday at the University of Pennsylvania, saying additional stimulus would put police on the streets and lower crime, adding that he wished conservative lawmakers “had some notion of what it was like to be on the other side of a gun, or to have a 200-pound man standing over you, telling you to submit.” On Wednesday in Flint, Michigan, Biden doubled down on those comments.

Biden was confronted on video by Human Events editor Jason Mattera and was asked: “And if the Republicans don’t pass this bill, then rape will continue to rise?”

Biden angrily responded: “Murder will continue to rise, rape will continue to rise, all crimes will continue to rise.”

White House press secretary Jay Carney gave President Obama’s blessing to this message in yesterday’s press briefing, even as The Washington Post’s “fact checker” gave Biden “four pinocchios,” calling the claim “absurd.”

* FOLKS... (*SHRUG*)... THIS IS WHAT WE GET FROM THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION.

Biden also has the blessing of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D–NV) who scheduled a vote yesterday on the $35 billion stimulus bill the Vice President was pushing...

* READ ON, FOLKS... READ ON!

That bill was defeated with bipartisan opposition last night, with Senator Ben Nelson (D–NE) saying: “I don’t think you increase taxes for new spending,” and Senator Mark Pryor (D–AR) saying: “I’m not sure federal taxpayers should be paying for teachers and first responders. That’s traditionally a state and local matter.”

(*SHRUG*) (ALTHOUGH IT IS SCANT COMFORT THAT NOT ALL DEMOCRATS ARE TOTALLY OUT OF THEIR MINDS...)

* To be continued...

William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)

Let’s not pretend that more federal education spending is needed. Since 1970, school enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools has increased just 7% while staff hires have increased 83%.

As Heritage’s Lindsey Burke explains, “On a per-pupil basis, federal spending on education has nearly tripled since the 1970s.” (And Washington has almost no measurable progress to point to after all of that spending!)

Likewise, Burke says: “In the 1950s, there were approximately 2.36 teachers for every non-teacher in a school district. Today, in our nation’s school systems, that ratio is closer to 1 to 1.” (The administrative counterparts are necessary to keep up with all of the new federal red tape being passed down with the money.)

* ALSO THERE'S THE PROLIFERATION OF UNNECESSARY AND UNAFFORDABLE AUXILIARY PERSONNEL... TEACHERS' "AIDES"... LUNCH-ROOM "AIDES"... ETC., ETC., ETC.

And thus explains the problem with the federal government hiring local cops, firemen, and teachers. The money is either short term, leaving state and local governments with either huge holes to fill later and merely delaying unavoidable layoffs, or the “temporary” money becomes a permanent growth in federal spending since future Congresses won’t draw it back.

(*NOD*)

* NOW LET'S EXAMINE HOW THIS WORKS (OR RATHER DOESN'T WORK) IN TERMS OF LAW ENFORCEMENT:

Take COPS. The “Community Oriented Policing Services” enacted by President Bill Clinton in 1994 was supposedly temporary and would put police on the streets to help stop crime.

Between 1996 and 2001, nearly nine times more money was spent on this initiative by Clinton than on counterterrorism by the FBI.

(*SIGH*)

The program, still alive today, has since shelled out billions of dollars to such crime-ridden communities as Beverly Hills, California, and Wellesley, Massachusetts, with little impact on crime rates, according to multiple studies by Heritage’s David Muhlhausen.

* BILLIONS PISSED AWAY ON POLITICALLY DIRECTED PORK - MEANING FUNDING THAT MIGHT OTHERWISE GO TO ADDRESS ACTUAL NEEDS WITHOUT REGARD TO POLITICAL MANIPULATION.

The communities that do hire new police can’t sustain them without constant federal aid, but more often, the money is spent on existing workforce or funds the type of congressional earmarks programs that make you cringe. (And now even Biden is implicitly arguing that this program failed, since he now claims we need billions more to do the exact same thing - but with new rhetoric, a new name, and a new tax.)

Biden and Reid’s goal is simple: Tax and spend.

It’s the only idea they have.

And this time they’re using [phoney] scare tactics to try to achieve it.

* THE ULTIMATE GOAL...? (READ ON...)

Taking money out of the economy so Biden and Reid (who is now 900-plus days without even passing a budget) can redistribute [your hard earned tax dollars and add further debt to the backs of your children and grandchildren].

William R. Barker said...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/21/markets-forex-idUSN1E79K0I320111021

The U.S. dollar slumped to a record low against the yen on Friday...

(*SIGH*)

The euro last rose 0.8% to $1.3883 ...

* REMEMBER WHEN AMERICA WAS THE GREATEST NATION ON EARTH... THE HOME OF "THE ALMIGHTY DOLLAR?"

* FOLKS... PEOPLE... UNDERSTAND... FIRST BUSH... THEN OBAMA... WITH BERNANKE THE CREATE OF BOTH THE DEMPUBLICAN AND REPUBLICRAT PARTIES...

* FOLKS... THEY'RE DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY... DELIBERATELY...

William R. Barker said...

http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings

* JUST BROWSE...

(*SHRUG*)

William R. Barker said...

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/napolitano-dhs-authorizing-illegal-aliens-work-us

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that under the administration’s policy of exercising “prosecutorial discretion” in the enforcement of the immigration laws, her department is currently authorizing some illegal aliens to work in the United States.

* HUH...?!?! (BTW - HAT TIP TO MIKE D. FOR BRINGING THIS TO MY ATTENTION.)

During Wednesday’s hearing, Napolitano mentioned that as a result of the “prosecutorial discretion” policy, the Obama administration will review “roughly 300,000” cases that are on the “master docket of what’s pending in immigration courts.”

* FOLKS... COM'ON... THERE'S NO MEANINGFUL REVIEW. LOOK AT THE NUMBER WE'RE TALKING ABOUT - 300,000! HOW MANY EMPLOYEES WILL BE DOING THE "REVIEWING?" WHAT'S THAT MEAN IN TERMS OF "THE MATH" REGARDING HOW MANY REVIEWS CAN BE DONE...? FOLKS... WE'RE CONSTANTLY LIED TO BY GOVERNMENT...!!! THEIR PROMISES ARE PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO KEEP...!!!

“At some point in the process there needs to be decisions made about who is to be removed,” Napolitano said. “It cost in the neighborhood of $23,000 to $30,000 to actually remove somebody. That’s our cost, [it] doesn’t include Justice Department cost. The Congress gives us the ability to finance removals of 400,000 people a year.”

* FOLKS... ISN'T THAT THE PROBLEM...?!?! ISN'T IT THE PROBLEM THAT "IT COSTS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF $23,000 TO $30,000 TO ACTUALLY REMOVE SOMEBODY"...??? HOW DO THEY FIGURE IT COSTS THAT MUCH.... ANYWHERE NEAR THAT MUCH?! THIS IS INSANE ON THE FACE OF IT! AND IF IT REALLY DOES COST THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS THEN WE NEED TO CORRECT THAT INEPTNESS ON THE PART OF GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRATS!

“The goal” of that process is “to administratively close some of the low priority cases so that we can facilitate handling the higher priority cases,” said Napolitano. That indicates that some illegal immigrants will be allowed to stay in the country because their cases will be closed.

* MEANING A BACKDOOR AMNESTY...!!! MEANING "ADMINISTRATIVE AMNESTY!" MEANING ONCE AGAIN BOTH CONGRESS AND EXISTING LAW ARE BYPASSED!

* FOLKS... THIS IS NO LONGER A NATION UNDER THE RULE OF LAW. IT REALLY IS THAT SIMPLE.

On Tuesday, the Obama administration announced that it removed a record 396,906 individuals in fiscal year 2011, which ended on Sept. 30. ... In the course of today’s hearing, Sen. Grassley and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) accused Napolitano of inflating the numbers. Napolitano subsequently acknowledged that the fiscal 2011 removal numbers include immigrants deported in fiscal 2010.

(*JUST THROWING MY HANDS UP IN THE AIR*)

William R. Barker said...

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

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=47018

* MORE WISDOM FROM PATRICK J. BUCHANAN

In Federalist Number Two, John Jay looks out at a nation of a common blood, faith, language, history, customs and culture. "Providence," he wrote, "has been pleased to give this one connected country to one united people - a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion ... very similar in their manners and customs ..."

(*NOD*)

Are we still that "one united people" today?

* UNFORTUNATELY NOT. WHAT MANY SEE AS MERE PARTISAN POLITICAL CONFLICT IS MORE CORRECTLY LABELED CULTURAL DISCONNECT. WHAT SOME SEE AS "RACIAL DIVIDE" IS AT ITS HEART CULTURAL DIVIDE.

We are not now and will not [in the future] be "descended from common ancestors."

We will consist of all the races, cultures, tribes and creeds of Earth - a multiracial, multicultural, multi-ethnic, multilingual stew of a nation that has never before existed, or survived. (The parallels that come to mind are the Hapsburg Empire that flew apart after World War I, and the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia that disintegrated after the Cold War.)

(*SIGH*)

No more will we all speak the same language. We will be bilingual and bi-national. Spanish radio and TV stations are already the fastest growing. In Los Angeles, half the people speak a language other than English in their own homes. As for "professing the same religion," where 85% of Americans were Christians in 1990, that is [presently] down to 75% and plummeting. The old Christian churches - Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran and especially Episcopalian - are splitting, shrinking and dying.

* I PERSONALLY WAS NOT RAISED TO BE A REGULAR CHURCHGOER NOR AM I A REGULAR CHURCHGOER. THAT NOTED... ORGANIZED RELIGION IS PART OF THE GLUE OF A CIVIL CULTURE AND CIVIC SOCIETY.

Where three in four Catholics attended Sunday Mass in 1960, it is now one in four. One in three cradle Catholics has lost the faith. The numbers of priests and nuns are plummeting; religious orders are dying; Catholics schools are closing.

The moral consensus and moral code Christianity gave to us has collapsed. Since the great cultural-social revolution of the 1960s, there has occurred what Nietzsche called the "transvaluation of all values." What was morally repellent - promiscuity, homosexuality, abortion - is now seen by perhaps half the nation as natural, normal, healthy and progressive.

* REGULAR READERS KNOW MY VIEWS ON HOMOSEXUALITY. IT IS "NATURAL" FOR THOSE BORN THAT WAY... WHICH DOESN'T MEAN IT'S NOT "ABNORMAL" BEHAVIOR. IT IS! MY POINT IS THAT "ACCEPTING" HOMOSEXUALS AS FELLOW HUMANS WORTHY OF LOVE AND RESPECT IS A DIFFERENT MATTER THAN PROCLAIMING HOMOSEXUALITY AS A VALID "LIFESTYLE CHOICE" ALONG THE LINES OF EVERYONE HAS A RIGHT TO A FAVORITE AND LEAST FAVORITE COLOR, FOOD, CLIMATE, ETC. AS TO ABORTION... THOUGH I FAVOR FIRST TRIMESTER "CHOICE"... IF THERE IS A GOD I'M FAR FROM CONFIDENT THAT HE AGREES. (*SHRUG*)

* To be continued...

William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)

Socially, too, America is breaking down. Where out-of-wedlock births in the 1950s were rare, today, 41% of all American children are born out of wedlock. Among Hispanics, it is 51%; among blacks, 71%.

* FRANKLY... I DON'T KNOW IF IT'S POSSIBLE TO 'SAVE" BLACK AMERICA. (*SHRUG*)

And the correlation between the illegitimacy rate, the drug rate, the dropout rate, the crime rate and the incarceration rate is absolute.

(*NOD*)

There was a time not so long ago when the nation was united on a common faith, morality, history, heroes, holidays, holy days, language and literature. Now we fight over them all.

Do we all agree on what the First Amendment says about the freedom to pray in school and celebrate Christmas and Easter? How can we be the "one nation, under God" of the Pledge of Allegiance, or the people "endowed by their Creator" with inalienable rights, if we cannot even identify or discuss or mention that God and that Creator in the schools of America?

Do we agree on what the Ninth Amendment says about right to life? What about what the 14th Amendment says about affirmative action? What the Second Amendment says about the right to carry a concealed gun?

We cannot control our borders, win our wars or balance our budgets. In three consecutive national elections - 2006, 2008 and 2010 - the incumbents have been repudiated. Confidence in politics, politicians and the future of the country has never been so low in our lifetimes.

* AND WITH GOOD REASON! INDEED, MY CONSTANT QUESTIONING REGARDING WHAT OTHER VIABLE OPTIONS EXIST TO "TAKE BACK THE COUNTRY" ABSENT THE USE OF VIOLENCE ARE A HIGHLIGHT TO THIS REALITY!