Monday, December 19, 2011
Barker's Newsbites: Monday, December 19, 2011
God bless Aunt Ruth!
Ninety-two years young and ready to go out on the town at a moment's notice!
Yesterday was our annual "Little Italy With Aunt Ruth" day and boy, oh, boy... another fine trip to THE City!
Now, folks... we're all getting older... I'm almost ashamed to report... we were all sober upon leaving for The City!
(Hell... I'd only had two bloody mary's at brunch!)
Anyway, we picked up Aunt Ruth at around 2:00 p.m., and off we went! No traffic... we were in Midtown by 3:00 p.m. and within a half hour after that we were safely street parked on 47th Street between 6th and 5th Avenues! (Not bad, huh!?)
From there, off to see THE Tree...
(BTW: The Windows at Sachs sucked this year! Bastards! No traditional Christmas theme! Can you frigg'n believe it...?!?! Unacceptable...!!!)
After wandering Rockefeller Center, snapping plenty of pictures of The Tree, gazing upon the ice skaters down "in the pit" below, our yearly pilgrimage continued and brought us to St. Pat's, where I restrained myself (just barely) from making a break for "The Big Chair" and conducting a Mass.
(*SHRUG*)
(Hey... pushing 50... I'm still me!)
Back to the car... head Downtown... next stop... Little Italy!
(Got street parking on Baxter!)
After our usual stroll up and down Mulberry we settled on Benito's (The Original) for dinner.
Outstanding! As always!
A little vino... (jeezus... we are getting old... we only down a single bottle!)... some stuffed artichoke... veal dishes for me and Aunt Ruth - eggplant parmigiana for Mary The Poop... veggies... mushroom risotto... (oh... my stomach... just remembering...)... it was off for our next stop - dessert!
Where else but Cafe Roma!?
Hey... there are flashier dessert joints... but this place has been making cannolis since 1891. Let's just say they've got it down.
No problem getting out of The City. We had Aunt Ruth home by 9:30 p.m. and we were home ourselves by 10:00 p.m.
I've gotta admit, as I've gotten older and (even) less patient I've tended to avoid The City.
Frankly... it's a hassle. The toll, the traffic, the parking...
(*HEADACHE*)
Still... once I'm there... once I'm parked...
Folks... there's only one THE City.
Especially at Christmas...!!!
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ttp://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/19/us-usa-afghanistan-idUSTRE7BI03I20111219
After 10 months of secret dialogue with Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents, senior U.S. officials say the talks have reached a critical juncture and they will soon know whether a breakthrough is possible...
* I THOUGHT WE DON'T NEGOTIATE WITH TERRORISTS?
* I THOUGHT THE TALIBAN WERE TERRORISTS?
* FOLKS... THE MONEY... THE MISERY... THE BLOOD... WHAT'S IT ALL BEEN FOR...?
As part of the accelerating, high-stakes diplomacy, Reuters has learned, the United States is considering the transfer of an unspecified number of Taliban prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay military prison into Afghan government custody.
* FROM WHICH THEY'LL EITHER BE RELEASED OR ALLOWED TO "ESCAPE."
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
U.S. officials have held about half a dozen meetings with their insurgent contacts, mostly in Germany and Doha with representatives of Mullah Omar...
(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)
* REMEMBER UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER, FOLKS? THAT WAS THE OLD AMERICA... THIS IS AMERICA IN THE AGE OF OBAMA.
http://af.reuters.com/article/egyptNews/idAFL6E7NI0RK20111219?sp=true
Egyptian security forces fought opponents of army rule in Cairo for a fourth day on Monday and the United States, worried by the violence, urged the generals to respect human rights.
* ANYONE BESIDES ME THINKING BACK TO JIMMY CARTER BETRAYING THE SHAH OF IRAN AND WHAT THAT LED TO?
Hundreds have been wounded and scores detained.
Police and soldiers using batons and teargas drove stone-throwing protesters out of Cairo's Tahrir Square, hub of the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak in February, overnight.
Medical sources said the death toll had risen to 13 since Friday.
Hundreds had returned to the square by morning after security forces retreated behind barricades in streets leading to parliament...
(*SIGH*)
The violence has overshadowed the election that is set to give Islamists the biggest bloc in parliament.
(*GRITTING MY TEETH*)
Islamist parties have swept elections in Morocco, Tunisia and now Egypt following this year's Arab uprisings.
* O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A!
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/12/19/183434.html
The fire that broke out in a Cairo library that houses thousands of rare documents raised concerns over the government’s and the army’s ability to protect historic sites at times of upheaval...
(*SIGH*)
Legal and archeological experts described failure to contain the fire that devoured large parts of the Scientific Complex in downtown Cairo and to rescue the priceless maps, manuscripts, and books kept inside as a disaster...
* SO LET ME GET THIS STRAIGH: OUR LONGTIME ALLY MUBARAK WAS BAD; THE ISLAMISTS ARE GOOD? UH-HUH...
Haggag Ibrahim, deputy chairman of the Association for the Preservation of Heritage and member of the Higher Commission for Museums, labeled those involved in setting the Scientific Complex on fire “the new Tatars” who want to erase all aspects of culture in the country.
* FOLKS... ALLOW ME TO DIRECT BRIEFLY REDIRECT YOUR ATTENTION: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhas_of_Bamiyan (ANYONE SEEING A TREND HERE?!)
http://www.cnbc.com/id/45727242
It's been 30 years since gasoline took such a big bite out of the family budget.
* YEP! FOLKS... I'M HAPPY THAT GAS IS DOWN... BUT IT'S ONLY RELATIVELY DOWN... RELATIVELY DOWN COMPARED TO IT BEING RELATIVELY WAY, WAY, UP! THE SAD FACT IS, EVEN AT $3.03 A GALLON (CHEAPEST GAS I SAW IN NJ TODAY) THAT'S WAY UP FROM WHAT IT SHOULD BE!
When the gifts from Grandma are unloaded and holiday travel is over, the typical American household will have spent $4,155 filling up this year, a record.
That is 8.4% of what the median family takes in, the highest share since 1981.
Gas averaged more than $3.50 a gallon this year, another unfortunate record. And next year isn't likely to bring relief.
* WELCOME TO THE AGE OF OBAMA, MY FRIENDS!
Over the past decade, gas has taken up 5.7 percent of the family budget. If families had spent only 5.7% this year, they would have saved $1,300.
For this year, gas should average $3.53 per gallon. That's 76 cents more than last year. It's 29 cents per gallon more than 2008, when gas last set an annual record...
(*HEADACHE*)
Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service, expects gasoline prices to approach $4 per gallon again next spring.
Ed Morse, head of commodities research at Citibank, expects oil to average $100 per barrel next year, which would eclipse 2011's average of about $95 per barrel.
* YOU THINK OBAMA'S POLICIES DON'T DIRECTLY EFFECT YOU? THINK AGAIN!
http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/display_exclusive.html?id=8578
Since as early as January 2011, and perhaps before then, [North Carolina democrat] Gov. Bev Perdue’s press office has received access to confidential employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics hours if not days before its scheduled release, quite likely in violation of federal law. The governor’s staff used its early access to massage the monthly employment press release that reported jobs data to the public.
Documents and correspondence obtained by Carolina Journal show that the Division of Employment Security, formerly known as the Employment Security Commission, sent a draft of the press release each month to Perdue’s press office. The governor’s spokesmen typically rewrote the text and added a positive spin, even if the data did not support Perdue’s talking points.
* REPUBLICANS ARE MOSTLY SCUM... BUT THE DEMS PUT THEM TO SHAME IN THIS CATEGORY!
While the operation may sound like a harmless effort to add political spin to the release of jobs data, sharing confidential BLS estimates while they are protected by an embargo violates a federal law barring the early release of employment data.
This is no small matter: A conviction for breaching the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002 carries a fine of up to $250,000, up to five years in prison, or both.
Former Gov. Mike Easley’s administration received an early briefing on the employment reports from ESC staff for several months in 2003 and 2004, if not longer, but those briefings apparently stopped after Carolina Journal learned of and reported on them in 2004.
* EASLEY TOO WAS (IS) A DEMOCRAT. THE THING IS... BUSH CONTROLLED THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH IN 2003 AND 2004. VERY INTERESTING INDEED!
* INSIDERS ASSISTING INSIDERS. NOW, FRANKLY, I DON'T BELIEVE ANYONE SHOULD GO TO JAIL OR BE FINED, BUT THIS HAS GOT TO STOP.
* TO GET A SLIGHTLY MORE PARTISAN PERSPECTIVE OF EXACTLY WHAT'S GOING ON HERE, CHECK OUT: http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/government-statistical-agency-helping-nc-democrat/264741
http://www.rollcall.com/issues/57_76/Pelosi-Expert-Was-Also-Business-Partner-211142-1.html?ref=corg
In May 2010, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) took to a podium in the Capitol to introduce a half-dozen economic experts she had convened for a meeting on how to jump-start the economy. The group had met for several hours with top Democratic leaders, and Pelosi invited them to speak publicly on their perspectives on economic growth.
What Pelosi did not mention is that one of the men in the group was her son's boss and a partner with her husband in more than a half-dozen investments, including one that generated more than $100,000 in income for the Speaker's family last year.
* FOLKS... THIS IS BUSINESS AS USUAL IN WASHINGTON IN THE AGE OF OBAMA.
It was the fourth time since 2007 that Pelosi had invited San Francisco investment banker William Hambrecht to be part of an economic policy forum on the Hill and the third time she appeared at a podium with him to speak to reporters. At none of those events did the then-Speaker reveal her financial ties to Hambrecht, and House rules did not require her to do so.
* FORGIVE ME! THE AGE OF PELOSI-REID-OBAMA!
[T]he Hambrechts have donated more than $2 million to Democratic campaigns and causes, according to Federal Election Commission records.
* OF COURSE THEY HAVE... (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
Pelosi's invitation of her family's business partner to participate in "occasional economic forums on the Hill" does not appear to violate any laws or House rules, and it would not violate the STOCK Act, a bill currently being considered by Congress that would apply to Members and staff.
In August 2009, the Office of Congressional Ethics recommended that the House Ethics Committee investigate Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO) for inviting a friend who was invested in biofuels projects with the Congressman's wife to testify on renewable fuels issues before the Small Business Committee. The OCE concluded "there is substantial reason to believe that an appearance of conflict of interest was created" when Graves invited his friend to testify. But the Ethics Committee dismissed the case on the grounds that "No relevant House Rule or other standard of conduct prohibits creation of an appearance of conflict of interest when selecting witnesses for a committee hearing."
* SUCH ARE "HOUSE RULES." (*SMIRK*)
Pelosi has advanced at least one bill that would have been beneficial to an investment her husband has with Hambrecht, but that doesn't appear to violate House rules either.
* FOLKS... SERIOUSLY... YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS SHIT UP!
* FOLKS... READ THE FULL ARTICLE FOR YOURSELVES. SEE WHAT YOU THINK.
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