Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, November 15, 2011


God bless Johnny Cash... and God bless America!
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7 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/193581-secret-farm-bill-primed-for-passage-in-debt-deal

Lawmakers on the House and Senate Agriculture committees are trying to write a new five-year farm bill through the supercommittee process.

The legislators are using the supercommittee to avoid what would be a more public, election-year debate in 2012, when the current farm bill expires and new legislation would be scheduled for writing, according to critics of the effort.

“We call it the secret farm bill,” said one environmental activist, who worries that if the lawmakers succeed, it will prop up U.S. farm payments through 2017.

While some of the changes lawmakers are expected to propose would save billions on paper, critics say the new farm payments could balloon in cost if commodity prices fall.

“They are completely trying to write a whole new farm subsidy program,” a second activist said. “They are making an end-run around people who question these programs.”

(Locking in the changes through the supercommittee [would mean] that the panel’s recommendations must get an up-or-down vote in Congress. That would give less leverage to opponents of farm subsidies.)

The proposals from Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and ranking member Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and House Agriculture Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) and ranking member Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), who have been negotiating for weeks, are expected to include a new type of revenue-based insurance for some crops as well as a bolstered price-triggered payment for other crops.

(The Agriculture committees had been asked to deliver recommendations on $23 billion in cuts over the next 10 years by Nov. 1, but they missed that deadline. )

* FOLKS... I ENCOURAGE YOU ALL TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE. BEAR IN MIND, THE ARTICLE IDENTIFIES "ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISTS" AND EVEN THE AMERICAN FARM BUREAU AS OPPONENTS OF THE RE-WRITE. (IN OTHER WORDS, STRANGE BEDFELLOWS FOR IDEOLOGICAL OPPONENTS OF FARM SUBSIDIES TO HAVE.) THE ARTICLE IS CLEARLY SKEWED SO AS TO PORTRAY OPPONENTS OF THE RE-WRITE EFFORT AS THE "GOOD GUYS," BUT I'M TAKING THE HILL'S SKEW AS A CAUTION RATHER THAN AS GOSPEL. I'LL TRY AND GET MORE INFO ON THIS ISSUE.

November 15, 2011 at 11:18 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/solyndra-department-of-energy-pushed-hard-for-company-not-to-announce-layoffs-until-after-2010-mid-term-elections/2011/11/15/gIQA2AriON_story.html?wprss=rss_whitehouse

The Obama administration urged officers of the struggling solar company Solyndra to postpone announcing planned layoffs until after the November 2010 midterm elections, newly released e-mails show.

Solyndra’s chief executive warned the Energy Department on Oct. 25, 2010, that he intended to announce worker layoffs Oct. 28. He said he was spurred by numerous calls from reporters and potential investors about rumors the firm was in financial trouble and was planning to lay off workers and close one of its two plants. But in an Oct. 30, 2010 e-mail, advisers to Solyndra’s primary investor, Argonaut Equity, "explain" that the Energy Department had strongly urged the company to put off the layoff announcement until Nov. 3.

The midterm elections were held Nov. 2...

* FOLKS... THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION HAD NOTHING ON OBAMA!

On Nov. 3, 2010, Solyndra announced it would lay off 40 workers and 150 contractors and shut down its Fab 1 factory.

* AND YET... (READ ON!)...

[The Obama Energy) Department agreed to continue giving Solyndra installments of its federal loan despite the company’s failure to meet key terms of the loan, and...

* OH... FOLKS... READ ON!

...in February restructured its loan to give investors a chance to recover $75 million in new money they put into the company before taxpayers would be repaid.

* ...BEFORE TAXPAYERS WOULD BE REPAID...!!!

Republicans...argue Obama used his clean energy initiative to steer valuable loans to benefit his friends and donors.

* AND THE EVIDENCE SEEMS TO BEAR THEIR ARGUMENT OUT!

November 15, 2011 at 12:19 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2011/11/14/retail-workers-fight-back-want-stores-closed-on-thanksgiving/

As more retailers try to turn Thanksgiving Thursday into Black Friday - some employees are fighting back.

More than 80,000 people signed an online petition on change.org asking retail giant Target to reverse its decision to open its doors on Thanksgiving Day - and allow workers to spend the holiday with family and friends.

* I JUST SIGNED THE PETITION. I HOPE YOU FOLKS READING THIS DO SO AS WELL!

After Target, Macy’s, Best Buy and Kohl’s announced plans to open at midnight on Thanksgiving the biggest fish of them all - Walmart - decided to go even further and open at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving.

* FUCK ALL THESE GREEDY DISRESPECTFUL SCUMBAGS!

Other major retailers are choosing to remain closed on Thanksgiving Day, citing their employees’ right to a holiday. “We wanted to give our associates Thanksgiving Day to spend with their families,” said Bill Gentner, senior vice president for marketing at J.C. Penney, in an interview with the New York Times.

* GOOD FOR J.C. PENNEY! I HOPE PEOPLE REWARD J.C. PENNEY AND PUNISH THE GREEDSTERS.

November 15, 2011 at 12:31 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OIL_PRICES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-11-15-00-03-27

Oil prices climbed to near $100 per barrel Tuesday following a series of positive reports about the U.S. economy.

* "POSITIVE...???"

* FOLKS... IN ALL SERIOUSNESS... WHAT THE FINANCIAL COMMUNITY LOOKS UPON AS "POSITIVE" IS MORE OFTEN THAN NOT A PREVIEW OF HOW YOU AS AN INDIVIDUAL OR MEMBER OF A FAMILY ARE GONNA GET SCREWED!

Brent crude, which is used to price many foreign oil varieties, rose 45 cents to $112.34 per barrel in London.

* FOLKS... AGAIN... UNDERSTAND... OBAMA'S ENERGY POLICY IS TO PLACE UPWARD PRESSURE ON FOSSIL FUELS (GAS!) SO THAT WE'LL ALL PAY MORE TO USE LESS. (AND IF YOU'VE GOT A LONG COMMUTE... THAT'S YOUR FRIGG'N PROBLEM!)

* HEY, FOLKS... NO DOUBT YOU'RE THRILLED THAT GAS PRICES ARE "DOWN" FROM THEIR HEIGHTS... BUT GUESS WHAT? (READ ON!)

Gasoline prices are about 52 cents higher than the same time last year.

(*SMIRK*)

* FOLKS... UNDERSTAND... OBAMA'S POLICIES OF RESTRICTING DRILLING AND CONTINUING TO BLOCK THE NEW PROPOSED CANADA-U.S.A. PIPELINE ARE DELIBERATE EFFORTS TO ENSURE THAT YEAR BY YEAR AVERAGE FUEL COSTS INCREASE FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

* OH... AND FOLKS... RISING FUEL PRICES LEAD TO RISING INFLATION... PUSHING UP THE COSTS OF PRODUCTION AND TRANSPORTATION OF PRODUCTS AS WELL AS OTHER INFRASTRUCTURE COSTS. OBAMA WANTS YOU TO PAY MORE FOR LESS! YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND THIS...!!!

November 15, 2011 at 12:58 PM
William R. Barker said...

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

http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=75124207697efe9a19ed9a724&id=eaf5c4e63f&e=46483ed98d

* 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.

* THIS IS WHY I FEAR TARGETED VIOLENCE IS THE ONLY ANSWER. I'M NOT THREATENING ANYONE, BUT I WOULDN'T SHED A TEAR (INDEED, I'D CLAP TILL MY HANDS BLED) IF PROMINENT DEMPUBLICAN AND REPUBLICRAT SPENDAHOLICS WERE "REMOVED” FROM OFFICE BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.

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.)

* MY CONGRESSWOMAN, NAN HAYWORTH (R-NY), A FOLLOWER OF JOHN BOEHNER, REPEATEDLY LIED ABOUT THE BOEHNER DEAL. (CHECK THE ARCHIVES OF USUALLY RIGHT FROM THAT PERIOD - I LAID IT ALL OUT AS IT WAS HAPPENING.

* FOLKS... CHANCES ARE (SOMETHING LIKE A 95% PROBABILITY) THAT EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOUR FEDERAL REPRESENTATIVES LIED TO YOU AS WELL. ONLY A HANDFUL OF “TEA PARTY” REPUBLICAN ELECTED OFFICIALS IN THE HOUSE AND SENATE TREATED THEIR CONSTITUENTS WITH THE BARE MINIMUM OF RESPECT WITH REGARD TO TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT THE “OBAMA-BOEHNER-MCCONNELL-REID-PELOSI” BETRAYAL.

* AGAIN, FOLKS... IF VIOLENCE ISN’T THE ANSWER... WHAT THEN IS? THE REPUBLICAN TAKEOVER OF THE HOUSE HAS BARELY SLOWED THE GROWTH OF THE FEDERAL LEVIATHAN, NEVERMIND REVERSED IT. THE BOEHNER-MCCONNELL REPUBLICANS HAVE BEEN LYING TO US ALL!

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

* WE WERE LIED TO - LIED TO BY BOTH REPUBLICRATS AND DEMPUBLICANS.

* To be continued...

November 15, 2011 at 6:32 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)

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.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD IN DISGUST AT THE MEMORY*)

[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.

* FOLKS... (*SIGH*)

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 supercommittee 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.

* IT SEEMS TO ME THAT SENATOR DEMINT HAS JUST IDENTIFIED 85 WELL-DESERVING CANDIDATES FOR... er... “REMOVAL.”

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?

* IT CAN’T BE! THUS... WHAT ALTERNATIVE - VIABLE ALTERNATIVE - IS THERE BESIDES... (*PAUSE*)... (*SIGH*)... (*SHRUG*)

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... IF YOU SEE A PATHWAY TO SAVING THE COUNTRY THAT DOESN’T INVOLVE LITERALLY KILLING THESE SCUM PLEASE LAY IT OUT! (AGAIN... I’M PERSONALLY THREATENING NO ONE... I’M NOT CALLING FOR ANY LAWS TO BE BROKEN... I’M JUST LAYING OUT THE SCENARIO AND LIKELY ULTIMATE RESULT IF A “GAME CHANGER” ISN’T INTRODUCED AND ASKING FOR ALTERNATE - VIABLE - “GAME CHANGER” SCENARIOS.)

November 15, 2011 at 6:32 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://blog.heritage.org/2011/11/14/morning-bell-how-president-obama-killed-thousands-of-jobs/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell

If Americans needed any further proof that the Obama Administration is one of the most political on record, or that, for all the recent demagoguing, it really cares only about re-election - not about job creation - then you need look no further than its cynical Keystone XL oil pipeline decision last week.

Over the last several months, radical environmentalists along with Hollywood celebrity activists descended on the White House in protest, urging President Barack Obama to block the construction of the $7 billion pipeline that would bring in more than 700,000 barrels of oil per day from Alberta, Canada, to the Texas Gulf coast.

Last week, they got their wish.

The Obama Administration on Thursday announced that it would delay a decision on the pipeline until after the 2012 election.

The Keystone pipeline would have done what the President’s hundreds of billions of dollars in “stimulus” spending failed to do. It would have created thousands of jobs (tens of thousands, by some predictions), while generating $5.2 billion in property tax revenue for Montana, South Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Texas.

And it would have done it all with private dollars - not taxpayer dollars!

The kicker is that despite all the hoopla from the enviro-celebrity protests, this pipeline should have been anything but controversial, even by the Obama Administration’s own findings.

Heritage’s Nicolas Loris explains: “Radical environmentalists act as if this is the first oil pipeline being built in the United States. We have 50,000 miles of oil pipeline in this country that have provided massive economic benefits with minimal environmental harm. [B]uilding the Keystone XL pipeline is nothing new, and it’s one of the most environmentally sensible ways to transport oil. Even the Obama Administration determined it to be safe when the State Department’s recent Environmental Impact Statement found that the pipeline would pose few environmental risks.”

Another important point is that even if the Keystone pipeline isn’t constructed in the United States, the resource will still be tapped... Heritage’s David Kreutzer explains that the development of Canada’s oil sands will be slowed (thereby increasing its cost), and it will be diverted to non-U.S. consumers, meaning that the Canadian oil will be shipped across thousands of miles of ocean to Chinese refineries. Kreutzer’s admonition to the Obama Administration: “block the XL pipeline if you think the environment will be better served by shipping Canadian oil an extra 6,000 miles across the Pacific in oil-consuming super tankers and then refining it in less-regulated Chinese refineries. In addition, be aware that replacing the Canadian oil means the U.S. also must import more oil by tankers, which are less efficient than pipelines.”

When the President puts his job over those of tens of thousands Americans, that is politics and a presidency at its worst.

November 15, 2011 at 9:17 PM

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