Justin Bieber MUST STOP SINGING...!!!

Oh... My... Frigg'n... God...!!!

He's TERRIBLE...!!!

(Unbelievably frigg'n terrible...)

It actually hurt my ears and upset my stomach to hear him "sing" on tonight's Tree Lighting in Rockefeller Center TV special.

(The "yeah...yeah... yeahs" were the worst!)

Is this really what it's come to, my friends?

Donny Osmond... Michael Jackson... David Cassidy... these were all kids with talent and no doubt all of you could name others.

Justin Bieber...?!?!

He sucks!

America is truly on the verge...

(*SIGH*)

Postscript...

Oh... My... Frigg'n... God... AGAIN...!!!

I did NOT need to see that music video with Mariah Carey playing a pedophile slut and Justin Bieber playing... God only knows what!

Seriously, folks... what is wrong with our society...?!?!

This was supposed to be a family holiday special... a tarted up 31-year-old Mariah Carey wiggling her ass at and blowing kisses to 17-year-old lip-synching Justin Bieber isn't my idea of good ol'-fashioned yule-time cheer.

God help this frigg'n country. I swear to God... as often as not I'm simply ashamed to be an American.

This country is definitely on the wrong track.

Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Drudge Headlines of the Moment:

Q3 Productivity Revised Down To 2.3%...

Oil Jumps Above $101 a Barrel...

(Now wait for it... wait for it...)

Dow Soars 400 Points!

Is it me, folks...??? It's like being told by your doctor that except for the cancer that's on track to kill you before the year is out... well... you're in fine health!

Hmm... I wonder... might the following have "something" to do with the disconnect?

FED TO THE RESCUE...

Folks... we are so frigg'n screwed!

Hey... folks... did you read yesterday's newsbites - particularly the newsbites concerning how our illustrious Senators have finally crossed the Rubicon and officially voted to repeal the Constitution as it applies to our basic civil rights?

No...?!?! You're a day behind...??? Well get cracking! As you'll see if you bother to check out the newsbites in question... sadly I'm not really exaggerating.

I really don't know what to tell you, folks.

America has jumped the shark.

Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Chapter 11, huh?

Sadly symbolic if you ask me.

(*SIGH*)

Barker's Newsbites: Monday, November 28, 2011

Post Thanksgiving recovery...

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Thanksgiving 2011...!!!

Happy Thanksgiving, my friends!
God Bless!

Today's video selection is being "sponsored" by Carl David VanDemark, Esq.

(Allow me to explain...)

As my best friend Carl reads this, he's finding out that the "honor" of choosing today's "theme" video is gonna cost him... cost him $25 (or perhaps more... his choice).

Actually... Carl is going to match my donation (perhaps even exceed my donation) to two organizations which deserve our support and which are going to get it on this fine Thanksgiving Day!

These two organizations are:

Hope For The Warriors
1335 Western Blvd.
Suite E.; PMB 48
Jacksonville, NC 28546

(Send 'em $20 or more, buddy!)

and

Charity Navigator
139 Harristown Rd.
Suite 201
Glen Rock, NJ 07452

(They get $5 pal!)

Why these two charities? Simple! At first I was going to donate to the more well-known Wounded Warriors Project, but upon further research - relying upon Charity Navigator - it became clear to me that Hope For Warriors is the better choice.

(Feel free to backstop my research... you'll see what I mean.)

Anyway, gang... that's the deal. Today we don't simply say "Happy Thanksgiving," we instead turn those words into a concrete demonstration of who we are as Americans.

I'm asking the rest of you reading this to join me and Carl.

Yeah... I know... no doubt all of you - all of my friends - are already quite generous with your charitable giving, particularly at "the holidays."

Well... give more! It's that simple! If you read and enjoy my newsbites and other blogging, show your appreciation by "humoring" me! Donate! I know you can spare it folks... I have very few unsuccessful friends!

(*GRIN*)

I wish each and every one of you a joyous Thanksgiving and may each and every one of us always keep in mind that whatever troubles we face... there are people out there who have faced far worse.

God Bless America...!

Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, November 23, 2011

I love Thanksgiving.

I love all holidays!

Holidays are a time to celebrate the here and now, but they're also a time to remember the past days of our lives... to remember and give thanks for all the blessings in our lives.

My Grandma Barker lived to a ripe old age - she was in her 90's when she passed. She grew up in an era of horse-powered transportation... literally... horse-powered.

Grandma Barker would tell me about her uncle... who served in the union army during the Civil War.

Here's a song she used to sing to me as a toddler. It took me some time to find it... but here it is.

I hope you all take a moment to think back on your oldest childhood memories. I hope you all revere the past as I do. As long as we keep our memories near, our departed loved ones will never truly be gone.

Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, November 22, 2011

O.K., just think about it... 1967 was... 44 years ago!

Nan Hayworth (R-NY-19) Can Drive Me Nuts...

Since she's been in my member of Congress, federal spending has gone up 5%.

And now I read this...

The congressional committee tasked with reducing the federal deficit is poised to admit defeat as soon as Monday, and its unfinished business will set up a year-end battle over emergency jobless benefits and an expiring payroll tax holiday.

Democrats...consider particularly urgent the need to extend jobless benefits and the one-year payroll tax cut.

[T]he payroll tax cut, enacted last December...would [if extended] add more than $100 billion to budget deficits and [further] reduce Social Security’s dedicated financing stream.

Rep. Nan Hayworth of New York said she is “extremely sympathetic to extending” the payroll tax holiday...

Unfrigg'nbelieveable, huh...?!?!

Oh... and then there's this...

New York Rep. Nan Hayworth (R) threw her support behind Mitt Romney on Friday [November 4].

Yeah... Romney...

Obviously I'm appalled. (Not surprised, though...)

Hey... folks... is Nan a real improvement over John Hall? Damn right! But don't ever mistake Dr. Nan Alison Sutton Hayworth for a Tea Party stalwart. She's not. She's certain more "Right" than "Left," but beyond that she's your basic Republican establishment pol.

When push comes to shove, Nan Hayworth will back the likes of a John Boehner - or a Mitt Romney - and that's just the way it is.

Barker's Newsbites: Monday, November 21, 2011

Truer words were never... er... sung.

Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., Nov. 19 & 20, 2011

I'm gonna miss Regis...

Barker's Newsbites: Friday, November 18, 2011

How can you not love Taylor Swift...?

Will Congresswoman Nan Hayworth (R-NY-19) Go Along?

From an editorial in today's Wall Street Journal:

It took a $142 billion taxpayer bailout to convince the Obama Administration to pledge in February to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, rein in the Federal Housing Administration and encourage the revival of a private mortgage market.

Congress is moving in exactly the opposite direction less than a year later - with the quiet approval of the White House.

Late Monday a bipartisan Congressional committee announced an agreement to increase FHA's maximum mortgage limits to $729,750 from $625,500 through Dec. 31, 2013.

(The bill is linked to a continuing resolution to fund Congress past Saturday, increasing the likelihood that this backroom deal will become law.)

The House is scheduled to vote on the bill today without debating these changes, in what ought to be an embarrassment to Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

The National Association of Realtors is lauding this idea as great for housing "stability," by which it means that the taxpayer subsidies for its industry will keep coming, even for fancy homes.

The median sales price of existing single-family homes nationwide in the third quarter was $169,500, according to the Realtors's own data. Politicians from higher-cost regions argue that higher loan limits are needed, but even Los Angeles has seen median prices fall to $324,800 from $402,100 in 2008 - well below $729,750.

This FHA payoff to the housing lobby comes as the agency has had to publicly reveal the extent of its financial travails. In its annual report to Congress Tuesday, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and an independent auditor reported the FHA has a 0.24% capital reserve, well below its statutory 2% minimum for the third year running.

(Take $1.1 trillion of outstanding loan guarantees divided by $2.6 billion in capital reserves and you get a 422-to-1 leverage ratio, up from 33-to-1 in 2009. By this standard, Lehman Brothers was risk-averse.)

So how much would a bailout cost, even before the proposed loan-limit increase? University of Pennsylvania real-estate finance professor Joseph Gyourko noted in a paper last week that FHA "systematically" underestimates future default risk, not least because it lends to borrowers with very little equity in their homes and uses rosy economic assumptions. Mr. Gyourko estimates that FHA is "materially underreserved by at least $50 billion, with the true figure likely higher."

These numbers are no surprise, given FHA's inherently risky business model.

FHA provides 100% explicitly taxpayer-backed mortgage loans to first-time moderate- to low-income borrowers.

FHA down payments can be as low as 3.5%, at a time when most private lenders are prudently insisting on 20% after the housing bust.

In fiscal 2011, 85% of FHA loans had a down payment of less than 5%.

Like Fannie and Freddie, the housing collapse hit FHA hard. The difference is that the FHA has since become the political class's main substitute for the private subprime lending it once encouraged. As subprime lending vanished after the crash, FHA became the major lender for marginal borrowers. The share of new mortgages it insures has risen to 24% in July, the latest data available, from 6% in 2007.

In September, FHA said it had 635,096 seriously delinquent loans, or 8.7% of its portfolio, up from 8.4% the prior year, and 8.3% in 2009.

(When we first questioned the FHA's rapid loan expansion in 2009, then FHA Commissioner David Stevens lectured that there was nothing to worry about.)

(Acting FHA Commissioner Carol Galante still claims the fund is "actuarially sound," which makes us wonder what an unsound fund would look like.)

FHA is also expanding beyond its traditional role as a low- to moderate-income lender. The average FHA borrower's credit score exceeded 700 - for the first time ever - according to Tuesday's annual report.

(These are borrowers traditionally served by private mortgage insurers. This may improve the FHA's default rate in the future, but it will come at the price of crowding out private competitors.)

[All of which] brings us back to Congress's increase in FHA's lending limits.

The Obama Administration promised in February to return FHA "to its pre-crisis role as a targeted provider of mortgage credit access for low- and moderate-income Americans and first-time homebuyers."

Republicans agreed - only to renege now.

(GOP leaders figure that increasing Fannie and Freddie loan limits might upset the tea party, so their compromise gift to the housing lobby is to raise FHA's subsidy and hope this slips under media radar.)

As ever, the excuse is that this will lift housing prices, which will help the larger economy. But we have learned the hard way that artificially inflating home prices does not lead to durable growth. Government policies already steer too much capital into housing, at the expense of other industries that would do more to increase prosperity. The FHA deal is bad for taxpayers and the economy - and especially [bad] for claims that Republicans favor taxpayers over special interests.

Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, November 17, 2011

Nah...Nah-Nah-Nah...Nah-Nah...Nah-Nah...

Nah...Nah-Nah-Nah...Nah-Nah...Nah...

Ya feel me?

Protesting? Fine! Rioting...??? A criminal rabble? Shot 'em down like rabid dogs.

Nah...Nah-Nah-Nah...Nah-Nah...Nah-Nah...

Nah...Nah-Nah-Nah...Nah-Nah...Nah...

Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, November 16, 2011

It's in the bible... kinda!

Why I Don't Trust Congresswoman Nan Hayworth (R-NY)

Senator Jim DeMint explains why we can't trust my congresswoman, Dr. Nan Hayworth (R-NY-10), nor can we trust Speaker of the House John Boehner, Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican House or Senate Leadership, nor of course... obviously nor of course... Obama, Pelosi, Reid, or any of the Democrats:

A LETTER FROM SENATOR JIM DEMINT (R-SC) ON BEHALF OF THE
SENATE CONSERVATIVES FUND:

Despite bipartisan promises to cut spending after the 2010 elections, Washington politicians are still voting to make the government even bigger and more expensive than ever.

Don't believe me? Just two weeks ago, Democrats and Republicans in the Senate passed three new spending bills to increase 2012 funding above 2011 funding levels.

Even though the federal government is nearly $15 trillion in debt, it's spending at record-high levels. Federal spending has gone up 5% in the first nine months of this year alone.

All the talk of cutting spending after the 2010 elections has been just that - talk.

In the spring fight to avert a government shutdown, Republicans promised $100 billion in real cuts but then compromised for $38.5 billion in future savings. In reality, the Congressional Budget Office found the deal still resulted in an increase of more than $170 billion in federal spending from 2010 to 2011.

The "largest spending cut in history" ended up being a spending increase.

Americans were then told the “real” spending cuts would come during the summer fight over the decision to raise the nation's debt ceiling.

Conservatives pushed the Cut, Cap, and Balance plan to balance the budget within ten years in exchange for increasing the legal borrowing limit. Instead of doing that, however, Democratic and Republican leadership made a “compromise” deal to allow President Obama to increase our national debt to nearly $17 trillion, conditioned only on the creation of a “super-committee” that would produce debt-reduction recommendations by the end of the year.

[This “super-committee”] isn't really trying to cut spending. It seeks only to spend the country into bankruptcy a little slower.

Rather than letting the country rack up $23.4 trillion of debt by 2021, the super-committee hopes to keep it to $21.3 trillion. It's the difference between speeding off a cliff at 91 miles per hour versus 100 miles per hour.

One would think that, in the sub-AAA-rated America that's moving down a path dangerously similar to the one Greece is on, members of this super-committee would be eagerly rooting out waste throughout our behemoth government. Not so. Reports indicate that the committee, which works in secret, has spent months debating how high they should raise taxes to lower the deficit.

While everyone is waiting for the super-committee to unveil its grand plan, Congress continues to spend with abandon. Even modest proposals to make small cuts are rejected with overwhelming, bipartisan force.

Oklahoma Republican senator Tom Coburn offered an amendment two weeks ago to reduce funding for the Rural Development Agency (RDA) by $1 billion.

A 2007 Washington Post investigation of the agency stated, "More than three decades after the program was created, USDA officials still don't know whether it works." The [bipartisan] Congressional Research Service has found there are "more than 88 programs administered by 16 different federal agencies to target rural economic development." In recent years the RDA has used taxpayer money to make profligate loans to casinos, beach resorts, and water parks.

Still, 85 Senators, consisting of every Democrat and many Republicans, opposed the cut to this wasteful spending. Only 13 senators, all Republicans, supported Coburn's amendment.

If the Senate can't bring itself to trim $1 billion from a duplicative program, how can it ever be expected to cut the trillions needed to balance the budget?

This isn't some isolated example of the Senate's misguided ways. Even though easy credit fueled the housing bubble and subsequent bust, eight Republicans recently joined 52 Democrats to pass an amendment sponsored by New Jersey Democrat Robert Menendez to raise the maximum size of federally subsidized loans to $729,750, pushing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to back mortgages far above average home prices. It's as if 60 U.S. senators learned nothing from the market crash and have no idea Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in constant need of bailouts from the Treasury Department.

Folks... we're in deep, deep trouble.

Like it or not, America is a two-party state and both parties are overwhelmingly corrupt. This venial majority is not... I repeat... not... going to be thrown out of office come next November and replaced by principled, financially responsible constitutionists.

I and other citizens like me got Nan Hayworth elected to the House in November of 2010. To say that she's been a disappointment would an understatement. She is loyal to John Boehner and that's that. She was "captured" by Boehner and the House GOP leadership months before she was sworn into office. Guess what folks...? She's gonna be re-elected next year. I doubt she'll even be challenged for re-nomination!

There are literally a handful of Senate Republicans who can be trusted.

There are maybe... maybe... forty... fifty... sixty (tops!) House Republicans who can be trusted.

Few of our elected federal representatives are literally morons. By and large you can't rise to the level of being chosen by one of the parties and then elected to the House or Senate if you're a literal moron. This said, I doubt many members of the House or Senate have the basic factual knowledge concerning what ails this country that I do - or that any daily "Newsbites" reader does. (And even the ones who do... how often are they 100% honest with their constituents, with the American People? You know the answer...)

We've got a dysfunctional system, folks. We have the inmates running the asylum and by their actions they're literally setting this nation and our People up for a fall such to make the Great Depression look like a mild downturn.

How do we save America?

Our "Republic" is no more. (If you don't understand what I mean by this there's no point in your reading further.)

The Rule of Law is routinely skirted and often trampled by those responsible for writing, enforcing, and interpreting it.

Via crony capitalism (and crony socialism!) our politicians are all too often bought and paid for, yet, due to the powers delegated to the parties via gerrymander and legal regulations (campaign laws) written by these same politicians, it's quite difficult to dislodge incumbents and even when incumbents are dislodged... the "better" choice is often only a better choice in comparison.

Again, folks... Boehner? Sure... better than Pelosi... but not the man the country needs! Nan Hayworth? Head and shoulders above her proudly left-wing predecessor, John Hall, but with the proof being a federal government which has grown by 5% during her brief tenure so far in office... obviously she's not the woman I thought I was voting for.

How do we save our country, my friends? How do we save America for our children... our grandchildren... and for generations yet to come?

Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, November 15, 2011

God bless Johnny Cash... and God bless America!

Carl David VanDemark, Esq. v. Barker

Well, well, well... what do we have here?

We have a "Letter to the Editor" from best bud and midtown-Manhattan attorney Carl David VanDemark praising the recent asinine decision of clearly deranged senior federal Appeals Court (D.C. Circuit) Justice Laurence H. Silberman to uphold the constitutionality of ObamaCare.

Regarding Justice Silberman's concurring opinion in Susan Seven-Sky, aka Susan Sevensky, et al., Appellants v. Eric H. Holder (No. 1:10-cv-00950), Counselor VanDemark writes...

Judge Silberman is a genius!

(Now before you tie me to a Thorazine drip and lock me in a rubber room, hear me out.)

Obviously the correct decision is that the individual mandate is unconstitutional. However, in upholding ObamaCare in his recent D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals opinion, Judge Silberman has "thrown down the gauntlet" and challenged the SCOTUS to do the right thing.

You see (this is the genius part), if Judge Silberman had simply held that the individual mandate is unconstitutional, he would have made it too easy for the Supremes (read Justice Kennedy) to hang their hat on one of the other circuit court opinions (e.g., that the mandate is really a tax) and uphold ObamaCare.

But not anymore!

Judge Silberman wrote that judicial validation of the mandate could "turn the Commerce Clause into a federal police power, at the expense of state sovereignty."

That's right folks, uphold ObamaCare and you've just flushed Article I Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution down the toilet.

That's the truth, but can Justice Kennedy handle the truth?

But wait, it gets better! In finding support for his (non-nonsensical) opinion, Judge Silberman went all the way back to Wickard v. Filburn, the 1942 case where the Court held that Congress could limit wheat growing for personal consumption because of the total affect it could have on inter-sate commerce. So... if the individual mandate is not permitted under the Commerce Cause, then neither are laws limiting wheat growing for personal consumption!

At that point (did I mention Wickard was a 1942 case?), the whole house of cards comes crumbling down.

Brilliant I tell you! Brilliant!

Hmm... I'm not so sure, Carl. Indeed I fear Silberman has offered Justice Kennedy just the cover he'll need in order to argue that Obama's federal government mandate that insurance be purchased is simply a "logical offshoot of the Wickard decision."

Remember McCain-Feingold, Carl?

You claim that "Silberman has thrown down the gauntlet." Hmm... and your guess is that Kennedy will refuse to pick it up...???

Remember how Bush signed "McCain-Feingold" even while expressing "reservations about the constitutionality of the broad ban on issue advertising."

That was Bush being... er... "clever." (Too clever by half as it turned out!)

That was Bush "throwing down the gauntlet." (How'd that work out, Carl?)

Carl, the fact is, Wickard is the Law of the Land. In 1942 the Supreme Court crossed the Rubicon and laid the foundation for all that has come after. Yes, at times various Supreme Court majorities have fought back, have restricted government intrusion into free markets, but the pattern - from our perspective - has over time been one step forward and two steps back.

Yes, Carl, I understand your premise... your reasoning. You expect Justice Kennedy to "pick up the gauntlet" and joined by Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, and Alito this will enable the "conservative majority" to once and for all drive a stake into the heart of Wickard.

I've gotta tell ya, buddy... not only do I fear Kennedy will do just the opposite... but in addition I wouldn't even trust Roberts and Scalia to take that ultimate step. You need to understand something, Carl... the only "true" constitutionist on the High Court is Clarence Thomas. He's the only one for whom the Constitution itself trumps stare decisis come what may. While Scalia is often misidentified as a true constitutionist, the truth is, Scalia will - depending upon how old and how entrenched bad precedent is - grit his teeth and "abide" by "bad law" if and when he feels the alternative is simply too disruptive to "settled law" and the various precedents which over time have come into being based upon that "settled law."

Anyway, Carl... I hope and pray you're right.

I hope and pray I'm wrong.

If in the end you're proven prescient then it's my treat for all you can drink at Defiant followed by pizza at the Nanuet Restaurant!

If on the other hand my fears turn into reality... it'll be your treat... at Peter Luger.

Barker's Newsbites: Monday, November 14, 2011

Do ya remember this one...?!

Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., Nov. 12 & 13, 2011

A shout-out to Shaky!

Com'on, folks... admit it... you never know what you're gonna get as the newsbites theme of the day!

Barker's Newsbites: Friday, November 11, 2011

Today's newsbites theme video is dedicated to Joe "The Scumbag" Biden - Vice President of the United States... Barak Hussein Obama's "trusted" number two.

(Check out today's first newsbite in the comment section; that will explain it all...)

Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, November 10, 2011

Yep... this is my America!

This is their America... where a guy is fired for airing his political opinions when asked!

In the Left's America first you distort someone's comments - lie about them - and then you punish them... because, folks... rants like this don't derail a career, but making the point that "natural enemies" golfing together was nothing more and nothing less than phony political posturing - shots for the camera - falsely portraying a bipartisanism that doesn't truly exist in terms of basic ideas and worldviews and where it does on occasion lead to "compromise"... far more often than not the American Taxpayer is the ultimate victim of said "compromise!

Folks... com'on... that's what Williams was getting at! The "Hitler" remark wasn't about comparing Obama to Hitler... to a Nazi... to an anti-Semite...

(Though actually, on that note...) (*SHRUG*)

No, folks... seriously... he could have said "Yankees-Red Sox," he could have said "Bill O'Reilly-Barney Frank," he could have...

(*SIGH*)

Well... you get the point.

As for Williams later line about calling Obama and Biden "the enemy"... it was the media who linked that to the "Hitler-Netanyahu" crack; clearly Williams was answering a separate direct question.

Listen, was the "Hitler-Netanyahu" crack ill-advised - stupid, in fact? Yeah! But, com'on... deliberately advancing the false narrative that Williams "called Obama Hitler" in the sense of slurring him as a Nazi... as a mass murderer... that's just disgusting and unfortunately such sleaziness and dishonesty is an ongoing tactic of the Left.

Yes... "the Right" has engaged in more than a fair share of morally repulsive low blows over time, but frankly... the record clearly shows that not only does the Left engage in more dirty blows... but... the liberal media and the Left in general often grants their fellow-travelers a pass beyond any pass they'd grant to a dumb remark thrown out by a conservative.

Good for Country Music for rallying around "one of their own!"

God bless the movers and shakers of the CMA for defending "one of their own" who deserves defending!

I Hate Mitt Romney

OK, folks, bear with me... I recorded last night's GOP debate among the presidential candidates and while I'm barely 15 minutes into it, already my blood pressure must be something like 199/150.

First... Jim Cramer...??? Are these people frigg'n kidding me...?!?!

Next... that scumbag Romney...

Right out the box he had me cheering him as he insisted that he was totally against any U.S. taxpayer bailout of Italy... against any U.S. taxpayer bailout of Europe...

...UNLESS...

...UNLESS...!!!

...unless it was through the IMF - the same IMF which is largely funded by the American People's tax dollars - in which case, Romney declared, he'd be "happy to do it."

Folks... for fear of having this blog shut down I'm heroically restraining myself from writing what I'd like to about Mitt "Two-faced Scumbag" Romney.

To be continued...

OK... I'm back!

God bless Michelle Bachmann, Herman Cain, and Rick Perry!

Why? Because when the question of the whether the Republican candidates supported Barak Obama's irresponsible plan to further capsize Social Security's financing by extending the ill-conceived and already-damaging payroll tax "holiday" gimmick both Dempublicans and Republicrats are guilty of having "provided" the American People, these three were the only real conservatives who raised their hands to oppose a policy which robs Peter to pay Paul.

Damn Gingrich to hell for standing pat and refusing to call a spade a spade...

And damn Romney to hell for backing Obama enthusiastically on this... transparently pandering as only Romney can.

To be continued...

OK... ok... Gingrich just redeemed himself on the question of what needs to be done to resanify (I just made that word up... it means "to make sane again") our nation's higher education structure.

By the way, folks... just as a side comment... Ron Paul really shone in last night's debate.

Another aside... Rick Santorum came off well too! (He's learned not to be overly aggressive!)

Bachmann...? She too had a good night. She came across as serious, knowledgeable, and best of all... non-pandering.

Huntsman? Jeezus... he totally blew it when it came to the questions regarding China and trade policy! Apparently Huntsman's position is that whatever China does - however they cheat, manipulate, lie, steal - we shouldn't retaliate. Huntsman actually came out and said we need to keep on following the same "methods" of dealing with China (and indeed world trade overall!) as we've followed for the past 40 years!

(Now, folks... if Huntsman wants U.S. trade policy to remain the trade policy which has led to the deindustrialization of America and the loss of millions and millions of meaningful, well-paying, American security providing jobs over the last 40 years... well... that pretty much tells you all you need to know about his... er... "expertise.")

Giving credit where credit is due, trade policy and China policy specifically is one area where Romney shined last night. That said...

Folks... if Mitt Romney is the Republican nominee I'll vote for him. I feel there's no choice. Another four years of an Obama dict... er... presidency and this nation is done! But here's the thing, folks... Romney is a total phony. He's a self-serving phony without convictions... at least as far as I can tell. He'll say anything and he'll support or oppose anything solely for purposes of political advancement.

But, folks... Obama is worse.

Gingrich is the man.

Is he the perfect man? No. Is he the perfect candidate? No. But compared to the likes of Mitt Romney...?

Do I like Herman Cain? Yep. I sure do! He's a breath of fresh air! He's done American a huge favor by forcing the other candidates - and indeed the American People - to think about tax policy and to consider how we can fix our broken federal tax code.

But is Herman Cain gonna be our next president? I can't see it. Also, I can't see him resoundingly defeating Obama in one-on-one debates; indeed, I can imagine Obama "trapping" Cain into making a fool of himself on the national stage with not millions of people watching live, but tens of millions watching live.

Rick Perry? Same deal!

But, Newt...? Newt would wipe the floor with Obama! Newt would destroy the man!

I mean, folks... Obama couldn't take on Paul Ryan and win - and that was in the White House itself with Obama holding all the cards! Remember...?!?! Remember Obama getting so frustrated... so mad... that he actually lost his cool and started snapping at Ryan, using rudeness and bullying rather than civil intellectual debate to counter Ryan's fact-buttressed arguments? Just imagine Obama trying to best Newt Gingrich in one-on-one debates in front of television, radio, and online audiences of tens of millions of Americans... likely hundreds of millions of human beings when you add in all the foreign citizens who will tune in to such debates!

Anyway... that's my take.

Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Can you spare four minutes and thirty-three seconds?

Serious question!

Can you put aside whatever else it is you're doing for four minutes and thirty-three second?

If you can, then please do. If you can't right now... then wait till you have the time to play today's newsbites theme video absent distractions.

When you have the time to do so, turn off your phone first. Dedicate a lousy four minutes and thirty-three seconds to nothing but watching... to listening.

We're in trouble, folks.

Wall Street isn't America. Neither is "Occupy Wall Street."

We're in deep, deep trouble, folks, and we're not going to save this country by letting the mainstream media and the politicians lie to us and manipulate us.

Day in and day out I post my newsbites. I offer my take on what I consider important news... news, facts, and analysis which I believe offers you folks the information you should have - the contextual information you should have - in order to be "part of the solution" rather than "part of the problem."

Tears literally well up every time I hear Ronnie Dunn sing "Cost of Livin'"

I remember feeling the same way back in 1982 when Billy Joel's "Allentown" would play on the radio.

Folks... it's not 1982.

My dad is long dead. His generation - the generation that lived through the Great Depression and fought and won World War Two - is mostly gone.

Ronald Reagan is dead. There's no "new Ronald Reagan" to elect come next November. The best we can hope for is Newt Gingrich...

Folks... think about this: It's not inconceivable that Obama will win re-election! Hell... it's not even inconceivable that Obama will win re-election and that Democrats will retain the Senate!

My point? Our future seems to be dire at worst and... well... uncertain at best.

The Left is deliberately chipping away at the moorings of traditional American culture and the vast majority of establishment Republicans - particularly corporate and financial "movers and shakers" - are more interested in "cooperating" with China so as to achieve short term profits and personal wealth creation via stock appreciation than in beating China and ensuring that the backbone of this nation - our lower-middle and middle classes - have meaningful, gainful employment.

Understand, folks... no Reagan... no Thatcher... no John Paul II... no World War Two generation... Eisenhower era and even Kennedy era Americans largely retired... the "Big Three" little more than punching bags for a South Korean car company named Hyundai...

Folks... my God... look around you! Consider where our nation stands in 2011 vs. where we stood - what our existing capacities and reserves were - even in 1982!

We are not the men and women our grandparents were and most of us - even if we make more money, have more "toys," go out to dinner more and take more elaborate vacations than - aren't even the men and women our parents were.

Entire regions and cities of America are no longer America for all intents and purposes!

Folks... it's not enough to silently nod your heads in agreement with me nor to get as choked up as I do watching the Dunn video. You need to get involved.

This blog is my way of getting involved. Sharing and communicating... hopefully teaching... that's how I'm involved.

Reaching out to my elected officials and to the media and to my fellow Americans... that's how I'm involved.

I'm begging the rest of you: Get involved yourselves. To those already involved... do more.

Folks... our country is truly on the line. Our children's futures... our grandchildren's futures... only we have the power to ensure them - or at least try.

Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Explode...?

How many bloodied combat veterans do you suppose view this promised land of ours as endangered by the collective "leadership" of the Dempublicans and Republicrats?

The oligarchs are men and women of flesh and blood. Human beings can be killed. Will it someday come to that? Must it someday come to that...?

Barker's Newsbites: Monday, November 7, 2011

Let's start off the week with a bit of Bennett... Tony, that is!

Folks... com'on... if today's newsbites theme song doesn't put a smile on your face... nothin' will!

Saturday Night's Cain-Gingrich Debate

Did you watch the Cain-Gingrich Debate last night on C-Span?

No... of course you didn't.

Hell... I didn't!

But... I watched it this morning!

Folks... the fact that something approaching a "real" debate between two serious presidential contenders occurred last night and yet for all intents and purposes there was a news blackout concerning it... that tells you everything you need to know about the media as well as the two parties and most candidates.

Like I said... I didn't watch it live. Frankly I had forgotten it was on - otherwise I would have set the DVR to record it!

But, folks... doesn't that serve to demonstrate how lacking pre-event coverage was... that even your beloved blog-host "forgot" the debate was going to be held last night?!

Folks... the mainstream media (yes... including Fox) thrives upon keeping the American People ignorant - and thus malleable.

The same applies to both political parties as well as academia.

No... it's not a "conspiracy" as such. It's not like the heads of the broadcast and cable news divisions get together for a weekly meeting with the heads of the Republican and Democrat parties and representatives of America's foremost universities and Fortune 50 businesses and plot out how they're gonna "fool" the American People over the next week.

No... it's an "organic" conspiracy. It just happens.

Yes... part of it is simply a reflection of their contempt for the average American. They don't believe the average American is interested in... er... "details"... nor do they believe the average American has the attention span or background knowledge necessary to "follow" a nuts and bolts policy discussion as opposed to sitting around the living room with popcorn and beer "rooting on" their favorite candidate and party while focusing on catching the "gotchya" moments and most clever soundbites.

Here's the thing, though: while there is of course much truth in the above caricature, the question is, why is there much truth in it?

The answer: because this is the audience that K-12, the average college education, and a lifetime of reading, listening to, and watching mainstream media in action has deliberately created!

After all, folks... gotta lead in to those commercials... gotta get those pages quickly changed so as to expose readers to as many ads as possible...

Was last night's debate the ultimate "real" debate? Not hardly! Indeed, it was more of a marketing of general free-market conservative policy direction than a true head to head debate featuring and outlining the policy differences of the two candidates.

But compared to what the American People have long been getting from the mainstream media - those silly, shallow, intellectually insulting dog and pony shows wrongly referred to as "candidate debates" - last night's debate presented by the Texas Patriot's PAC was a true breath of fresh air and hopefully the foundational block upon which future "real" debates can be constructed and presented.

Folks... we know how to run "real" debates.

Seriously... folks... we know how to run "real" debates!

Real debates are not boring. And even if they were... does anyone seriously doubt that the most brilliant minds of American news and entertainment presentation couldn't find ways of presenting "real" debates in an entertaining manner...???

(Folks... how many wildly successful television shows are their focused upon everything from dancing to weight loss... cooking to "antiquing?")

Let me ask you folks something. Just as a guess... a supposition... what sort of audience would you suppose a "real" debate between candidate Barak Hussein Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton would have gotten in 2008 at any moment in time when their nomination race was still a nail-biter?

Does anyone doubt that if, say, ABC News or one of the other networks were to announce to great fanfare that on, say, this coming Wednesday night from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. they'd be broadcasting a live one-on-one debate between Mitt Romney and Herman Cain - a "real" debate held according to collegiate rules, moderated by "professional" academic moderators whose goal was to challenge and clarify not for the purposes of "good television" but in order to "fact-check" - there would be any less of an audience than the network's normal programming would be likely to get?

Com'on... we know such a debate would get a huge audience!

Both Cain and Gingrich have now engaged in an activity that should be the norm, not the exception. They've presented their ideas to the American People in a deliberate and relatively specific manner.

Where's Romney?

Where's Perry?

Where and the second-stringers?

(Jeez... just imagine a "real" one-on-one debate between Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul...!)

We don't have to simply accept that the politicians and the media have the right to "manage" us and spoon-feed us only the news (and suppositions - whether true or false) they see fit to "allow" us easy access to.

Understand, folks... ignorance is the opiate of the masses and our mainstream establishment politicians and main-street media elite are the pushers.

Folks... regardless of what you've been taught, ignorance is not bliss! Ignorance on our part is what has enabled the political, media, and financial elites of this nation to rob us blind and enrich themselves while doing so.

Unless someone steps up to challenge President Obama for the Democratic Party's 2012 presidential nomination (unlikely) the Democrats won't be having a primary contest this time around.

That leaves the Republicans...

I call upon each and every one of you who has a Republican Congress(wo)man and/or Senator to call him or her (or them!) and demand that they as senior Republican officeholders demand of all Republican presidential nomination seekers that each of them proactively seek to engage in a series of one-on-one "real" debates between the contestants.

Folks... think about this: if the Republicans (more of them than just Cain and Gingrich) create a precedent for having REAL one-one-one debates... then when it comes to the actual head-to-head contest between whomever becomes the GOP presidential nominee and President Barak Obama the Democrats and their mainstream media allies will have little choice but to offer the American People AUTHENTIC debates between standard-bearers of conservatism vs. liberalism.

Whatever your political affiliation or ideological identity... wouldn't you want to see that?

I believe America DESERVES that!

Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., Nov. 5 & 6, 2011

Music to brunch by...

(*SMILE*)

Barker's Newsbites: Friday, November 4, 2011

I miss my America so much...

Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, November 3, 2011

While you probably won't read about it - or hear about it - via the mainstream media, the shutdown of Oakland California's port wasn't simply an overreaction to a bunch of wannabee "revolutionaries" acting out...

Folks... check it out!

Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, November 2, 2011

One of my favorite country songs!

Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Merry November...!!!