Monday, November 21, 2011

Barker's Newsbites: Monday, November 21, 2011


Truer words were never... er... sung.
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5 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20111121/D9R53CD80.html

The CIA's operations in Lebanon have been badly damaged after Hezbollah identified and captured a number of U.S. spies recently, current and former U.S. officials told The Associated Press. The intelligence debacle is particularly troubling because the CIA saw it coming.

The CIA was well aware the spies were vulnerable in Lebanon. CIA officials were warned, including the chief of the unit that supervises Hezbollah operations from CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., and the head of counterintelligence. It remains unclear whether anyone has been or will be held accountable in the wake of this counterintelligence disaster or whether the incident will affect the CIA's ability to recruit assets in Lebanon.

Who's responsible for the mess in Lebanon? It's not clear. The chief of Hezbollah operations at CIA headquarters continues to run the unit that also focuses on Iranians and Palestinians. The CIA's top counterintelligence officer, who was one of the most senior women in the clandestine service, recently retired after approximately five years in the job. Officials said the woman was succeeded by a more experienced operations officer.

November 21, 2011 at 11:27 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204531404577050312906220578.html?grcc=540883331b70edabef1d1ffb37268400Z3&mod=WSJ_hps_sections_newyork

Most City University of New York community college students drop out before graduating, squandering the system's resources as enrollment soars, according to a report set to be released on Monday.

* BY "SYSTEM'S RESOURCES" THE AUTHOR MEANS TAXPAYER DOLLARS. (*SMIRK*)

Too many students arrive at community colleges without having learned basic reading and math concepts. Most must take developmental courses that provide no credit toward a degree but still cost as much as college-level courses.

(*SNORT*)

* YOU SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED TO "ARRIVE" AT ANY COLLEGE - INCLUDING COMMUNITY COLLEGES - WITHOUT HAVING LEARNED BASIC READING AND MATH CONCEPT.

About 51% of the city's community college students leave school before earning an associates or bachelor's degree within six years of enrollment...28% get associates or bachelor's degrees within six years...

A CUNY spokesman said in a statement that the system had made efforts to boost graduation rates. But he noted that "almost four out of every five freshman who arrive at its community colleges with a high school degree require remediation in reading, writing or mathematics."

(*BANGING MY HEAD AGAINST THE WALL*)

On average, each community college dropout in New York City costs about $17,700 in federal and state financial aid and in city and state funding for running the community college system, the report found.

(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

November 21, 2011 at 11:47 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://paul.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1928:on-the-super-committee&catid=62:texas-straight-talk&Itemid=69

This week marks the deadline for the so-called congressional Super Committee to meet its goal of cutting a laughably small amount [out of automatic increases] of federal spending over the next decade.

[T]he Committee merely needs to cut about $120 billion annually from the [projected growth of the] federal budget over the next 10 years to meet its modest goals, but even this paltry amount has produced hand-wringing and hysteria on Capitol Hill.

This is only cutting proposed increases.

It has nothing to do with actually cutting anything.

This shows how unserious politicians are about our very serious debt problems.

Keep in mind that the 2011 federal deficit alone was about $1.3 trillion, which means the Super Committee needs to cut that much per year rather than "over a 10 year period."

* WHICH IS NOT WHAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT DOING!

* AGAIN, FOLKS... THEIR "BEST CASE PLAN" WOULD HAVE GIVEN US TRILLION-PLUS DOLLAR DEFICITS YEAR IN AND YEAR OUT OVER THE 10 YEARS IN QUESTION!

If Congress ever hopes to address its debt problem, it must first stop accumulating any new debt immediately, in 2012.

* AGAIN, FOLKS... THIS THIS YEAR ALONE - WITH REPUBLICANS IN CONTROL OF THE HOUSE - FEDERAL SPENDING HAS GONE UP 5% OVER LAST YEAR'S SPENDING LEVEL.

* QUESTION: HOW DO WE STOP THESE BASTARDS SHORT OF KILLING THEM? SERIOUSLY?! THEY'RE DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY!

Federal revenue likely will be about $2.3 trillion in fiscal 2012.

The 2004 federal budget was about $2.3 trillion.

So Congress simply needs to adopt the 2004 budget next year and the federal government will balance outlays and revenue.

* YEP... IT'S THAT FRIGG'N SIMPLE! YA BRING IN $2.3 TRILLION, YOU SPEND NO MORE THAN $2.3 TRILLION. IT AIN'T ROCKET SCIENCE!

Was the federal government really too small just 7 years ago, in 2004? Of course not. Only Washington hysteria would have us believe otherwise.

[O]ur Republican and Democrat friends on the Super Committee want to take 10 years, or even 30 years, to produce a balanced budget.

* IN OTHER WORDS... THEY WANT TO CONTINUE DEFICIT SPENDING. IT REALLY IS JUST THAT SIMPLE. THE MAJORITY OF OUR ELECTED FEDERAL OFFICEHOLDERS ARE TOTALLY IRRESPONSIBLE - I'D GO SO FAR AS LABELING THEIR ACTIONS TREASONOUS.

November 21, 2011 at 1:14 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://blogs.investors.com/capitalhill/index.php/home/35-politicsinvesting/6645-solyndra-staff-get-13000-taa-federal-aid

The Labor Department today announced that it had approved Trade Adjustment "Assistance" for the former employees of the bankrupt solar panel maker Solyndra.

That means all of the firm’s 1,100 ex-employees are eligible for federal aid packages, including job retraining and income assistance. The department has valued packages at about $13,000 a head.

* IT JUST NEVER ENDS. ULTIMATELY, FOLKS, VIOLENCE IS THE ONLY ANSWER I CAN COME UP WITH.

The announcement was made quietly today by the DOL’s Employment and Training Administration on its website. The decision was reached Friday. Taxpayers will have to cough up yet another $14.3 million as a result of Solyndra’s bankruptcy. They are already on the hook for $528 million in federal loan guarantees to the company that are unlikely to ever be paid back.

* WHERE'S MY $13,000...??? HOW'BOUT THE REST OF YOU... ANYONE GETTING A CHECK FROM UNCLE SAM FOR $13,000 TO PUT TOWARDS... er... "RETRAINING?"

November 21, 2011 at 6:29 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/supercommittee-tax-fight-is-about-increasing-spending-not-reducing-deficits/

* JUST READ IT...

* JUST LOOK AT THE CHART...

* VIOLENCE IS THE ONLY ANSWER.

November 21, 2011 at 6:36 PM

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