Monday, March 19, 2012
Barker's Newsbites: Monday, March 19, 2012
Well, folks... another fine, fine St. Paddy's Day Weekend!
Ted, Carl, and I dined at Il Cena'colo on Saturday night. Fine meal. Outstanding wine!
Sunday... the Pearl River St. Paddy's Day Parade followed by The Leiter Family Feast and Festivities featuring...
And now... unfortunately... back to the real world.
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16 comments:
http://www.cnn.com/election/2012/primaries/state/pr
* IS THIS REALLY SOMETHING TO BE PROUD OF...???
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/16/executive-order-national-defense-resources-preparedness
* TELL ME THERE'S ANY HOPE FOR THIS COUNTRY.
* I DARE YOU TO READ THIS AND THEN HONESTLY TELL ME YOU UNDERSTAND WHEN THE HECK IT'S SAYING! (WHICH IS THE PURPOSE... IF IT CAN BE CONSTRUED TO SAYING NOTHING... IT CAN BE CONSTRUED TO SAY ANYTHING!)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/9152796/Malia-Obama-guarded-by-25-Secret-Service-agents-on-spring-break-in-Mexico.html
Barack Obama's eldest daughter is spending her springbreak in the historic Mexican city of Oaxaca in the company of 12 friends - and 25 Secret Service agents.
* ER... UMM... "SPRING BREAK?" HOW OLD IS THIS KID... 21? 20? 19? WHAT YEAR OF COLLEGE IS SHE IN...???
The US President's 13-year-old daughter Malia is staying at a downtown hotel in the city famous for its colonial architecture and well-preserved native American traditions, an official said.
* HUH...?!?!
NO PARENTS? 13 YEARS OLD? 12 FRIENDS? "SPRING BREAKING" IN MEXICO...?!?!
* FOLKS... I AT LEAST USED TO GIVE THE OBAMAS PROPS FOR PARENTING. NO MORE. THIS IS OBSCENE! THESE PEOPLE BELIEVE THEY'RE ROYALTY!
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/03/17/cee_lo_green_performs_fk_you_flips_off_crowd_at_obama_fundraiser.html
* SUB-HUMAN ANIMALS.
* I'M SURPRISED OBAMA DIDN'T COME TO THE MIC HIMSELF AND SING A VERSE!
* SERIOUSLY, PEOPLE... WE'RE WATCHING OUR NATION CRUMBLE BEFORE OUR EYES AS INMATES RUN THE ASYLUM INTO THE GROUND.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/the-road-weve-traveled-a-misleading-account-of-obamas-mother-and-her-insurance-dispute/2012/03/18/gIQAdDd4KS_blog.html
* AGAIN, FOLKS... IF THIS DOESN'T DEMONSTRATE WHAT A PIECE OF...
(*PURSED LIPS TURNS INTO A GRIMACE*)
http://paul.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1955:demolishing-due-process&catid=62:texas-straight-talk&Itemid=69
* BY THE HON. DR. RON PAUL (R-TX)
It is ironic but perhaps sadly appropriate that Attorney General Eric Holder would choose a law school, Northwestern University, to deliver a speech earlier this month in which he demolished what was left of the rule of law in America.
* NOTICE, FOLKS... WHEN I WRITE ABOUT HOW THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION IS DESTROYING THE RULE OF LAW YOU MAY (WRONGLY) ASSUME HYPERBOLE ON MY PART. IF ONLY THAT WERE TRUE! NO... OBAMA TRULY IS AN ENEMY OF THE CONSTITUTION AND AN ENEMY OF THE RULE OF LAW.
In what history likely will record as a turning point, Attorney General Holder bluntly explained that this administration believes it has the authority to use lethal force against Americans if the President determines them to be a threat to the nation.
He tells us that this is not a violation of the due process requirements of our Constitution because the President himself embodies "due process" as he unilaterally determines who is to be targeted.
As Holder said, "a careful and thorough executive branch review of the facts in a case amounts to 'due process.'" That means that the administration believes it is the President himself who is to be the judge, jury, and executioner.
* FOLKS... I MYSELF HAVE USED THE SAME PHRASE TO DESCRIBE WHAT'S HAPPENING! (PERHAPS DR. PAUL HAS BEEN READING "USUALLY RIGHT"?!
As George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley wrote of the Holder speech: "All the Administration has said is that they closely and faithfully follow their own guidelines — even if their decisions are not subject to judicial review. The fact that they say those guidelines are based on notions of due process is meaningless. They are not a constitutional process of review."
* MY FELLOW AMERICANS, OUR NATION IS BEING DESTROYED FROM WITHIN. (*SIGH*)
Sadly, many conservative leaders were silent when Republican President George W. Bush laid the groundwork for this administration's lawlessness with the PATRIOT Act, warrantless wiretapping, indefinite detention without trial, and other violations.
The misuse of and disregard for our Constitution for partisan political gain is likely one reason the American public holds Congress in such low esteem.
* MOST REPUBLICAN AS WELL AS MOST DEMOCRAT FEDERAL OFFICEHOLDERS CARE NOT A BIT FOR THE CONSTITUTION EXCEPT IN THE ABSTRACT. OUR GOVERNMENT IS ROTTEN, CORRUPT, VENIAL, AND INCOMPETENT TO THE CORE.
* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/border/armed-guards-ensuring-safety-of-organ-pipe-tours/article_ff023cb3-993e-51e2-932d-9fac0015a356.html#ixzz1pZG9aRGA
* THIS IS PRESENT DAY AMERICA MY FRIENDS. READ IT AND WEEP.
It was a tour of public lands with splendid scenery, a glib guide - and lethal firepower on hand just in case.
The tour last week - to Quitobaquito Spring at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument south of Ajo - was guarded by federal officers armed with assault rifles and other weapons.
Why?
"It's because of the perception that exposure to human and narcotics smugglers is a bad thing for the visiting public," said Matthew Vandzura, chief ranger at the monument on the Mexican border.
(*SMIRK*)
Sardius Stalker, a seasonal park ranger who led last week's tour, put it another way: "It's like going into a bad neighborhood" where protection by "armed escorts" is essential.
A quick glance back in time can help explain the need for armed protection on a public park tour.
The Quitobaquito site - a natural oasis in the desert fed by a gushing spring - and many other parts of the 330,689-acre monument have been closed to the public without escorts for much of the past decade.
Smuggling of people and drugs across monument lands had been increasing for years when a single event slammed home the hard fact of deadly danger in the area.
Park ranger Kris Eggle was slain while pursuing suspected smugglers on Aug. 9, 2002.
* AND WHAT DID BUSH DO...???
"Now, 33.32%t (of the monument) is open to the public without escort - for daytime use only," Vandzura said.
The remaining two-thirds of the preserve is closed to the public without an escort - mainly because of the danger of encounters with smugglers.
UNFUCKINGBELIEVEABLE!
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)
The escorted tours to Quitobaquito, which began several years ago, amount to an effort to reclaim turf from smugglers while protecting tour participants from excessive risk.
* WHY NOT CLOSE THE PARK ONE WEEK PER MONTH FOR SAY A YEAR AND DURING EACH OF THOSE WEEKS USE THE PARK AS A LIVE FIRE - IDENTIFY AND KILL - EXERCISE ZONE FOR SPECIAL FORCES?
So far, Vandzura said, no tour groups have encountered smugglers. But he said some tours have been canceled before getting under way because rangers got information that smugglers might be in the area.
Ranger and tour guide Stalker boarded 14 participants into two vans for a bumpy, 15-mile journey along unpaved Puerto Blanco Drive to Quitobaquito.
The road mostly parallels the border, which is lined on the U.S. side with vehicle barriers designed to thwart smugglers. Passengers in the vans could see traffic whizzing by just across the international line on Mexican Highway 2.
Just ahead of the vans was a park service vehicle with some of the escorts, who are park service law enforcement specialists.
Stalker, an animated guide serving up a wealth of nature and history lore during the drive, said people taking part in a hike around the spring site probably wouldn't even see the armed guards.
They "kind of lurk in the bushes" out of sight while keeping a close watch on the touring party, he said. "They try to be inconspicuous, but they're close - within earshot."
Indeed, the guards remained mostly out of sight as tourists - flanked by Stalker and monument volunteers - walked around the Quitobaquito lagoon and learned about plants and wildlife in the area.
Sue Walter, the monument's chief of interpretation who accompanied the tour, provided some specifics on the guard detail, which rangers prefer to refer to as escorts.
"Four of them are out here," Walter said. "They sweep the area ahead of time" and then observe the tour group from watching posts on hillsides and in the brush.
"It's an insurance policy," she said. "You don't expect anything to happen - but just in case."
Patrick O'Driscoll, a public affairs officer for the National Park Service, said the guards are in place "because it's a closed area, and we have to take basic precautions when we go in. It's maybe a little like a detail protecting the president."
Near the end of the tour, a reporter spoke briefly with one of the guards.
"The goal for us is to maintain visitor safety and stay out of sight," he said.
Officials say they are re-evaluating closed areas in hopes of opening more of the monument to the public without mandatory escorts.
"We're looking at the possibility of opening up 10 percent more of the monument to the public," said chief ranger Vandzura. "My gut feeling is that (smuggling) traffic is consistent or maybe at a slight downward angle."
Vandzura said park rangers, working closely with agents from the U.S. Border Patrol, might identify some areas that could be reopened.
He emphasized that no decisions have been made on the matter.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fast-furious-20120319,0,3662110.story
* LAW ENFORCEMENT IN THE AGE OF OBAMA... (*GNASHING MY TEETH*)
Seven months after federal agents began the ill-fated Fast and Furious gun-tracking operation, they stumbled upon their main suspect in a remote Arizona outpost on the Mexican border, driving an old BMW with 74 rounds of ammunition and nine cellphones hidden inside.
Detained for questioning that day in May 2010, Manuel Fabian Celis-Acosta described to agents from theBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosiveshis close association with a top Mexican drug cartel member, according to documents obtained this weekend by the Times/Tribune Washington Bureau.
The top Fast and Furious investigator, Special Agent Hope MacAllister, scribbled her phone number on a $10 bill after he pledged to cooperate and keep in touch with investigators.
Then Celis-Acosta disappeared into Mexico.
He never called.
* FOLKS... THIS IS INDEED A REAL NEWS STORY... FROM THE LA TIMES... NOT A SNL SKIT... NOT AN ONION PIECE...
(*JUST THROWING MY HANDS IN THE AIR*)
Fast and Furious, which is under investigation by the Justice Department's inspector general, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) and Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), began Oct. 31, 2009. From the start, Celis-Acosta, 24, was the main target, according to internal ATF documents that have not been publicly released.
An ATF flow chart listed him at the top of more than two dozen individuals involved in the gun-smuggling ring. The documents state that Celis-Acosta led the smuggling ring and that he was paid from drug proceeds to illegally acquire firearms for cartels. He carried a permanent U.S. resident card, a Social Security number and an Arizona driver's license. He moved easily between homes in Mexico and Phoenix. Eventually arrested by U.S. marshals at a relative's home in El Paso, he pleaded not guilty to gun-smuggling charges as one of 19 Fast and Furious defendants. None of the 19 has gone to trial.
* YEAH. YOU READ THAT RIGHT. "NONE OF THE 19 HAS GONE TO TRAIL."
According to an ATF "Report of Investigation," prepared by MacAllister, authorized by her supervisor, David J. Voth, and reviewed by William D. Newell, then the ATF special agent in charge in Arizona, U.S. authorities stopped Celis-Acosta as he headed south through the border town of Lukeville, Ariz.
The document said an ammunition magazine containing 74 rounds was hidden in a spare tire, and the phones in the dash. In the trunk of the 2002 BMW 754i was a ledger referring to money given to "Killer" and a list of firearms.
Celis-Acosta first said he did not know the ammunition was inside. He said a friend's mother bought the BMW "with a credit card." MacAllister was called to the scene, and Celis-Acosta began to open up. He admitted he knew "a lot about firearms." He conceded he was en route to a birthday party for "Chendi," a close associate who he said was a Mexican cartel member and "right-hand man" to Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman, head of the Sinaloa cartel.
Celis-Acosta said Chendi moved 6,000 pounds of marijuana a week into the U.S., terrorized Mexican police, wore a $15,000 wristwatch and lived in a home with "a lot of gold" inside and a landing strip outside.
MacAllister checked with the Drug Enforcement Administration and learned Chendi — real name Claudio Jamie Badilla — was a "large-scale marijuana and multi-kilogram cocaine trafficker."
MacAllister asked Celis-Acosta whether he "would be willing to cooperate." When he said yes, they confiscated the ammunition and let him go.
* AND LET HIM GO...
* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/article/firm-sells-solar-panels-itself-taxpayers-pay/434251
* ECONOMICS IN THE AGE OF OBAMA... (*GRITTING MY TEETH*)
A heavily subsidized solar company received a U.S. taxpayer loan guarantee to sell solar panels to...
(*DRUM ROLL*) WAIT FOR IT... WAIT FOR IT...
...itself.
(*SIGH*)
First Solar is the company.
The subsidy came from the Export-Import Bank, which President Obama and Harry Reid are currently fighting to extend and expand.
* AND AS PREVIOUSLY NOTED IN PREVIOUS NEWSBITES, QUITE A FEW SCUMBAG REPUBLICANS ARE APPARENTLY WORKING HAND IN HAND WITH THEM!
The underlying issue is how Obama's insistence on green-energy subsidies and export subsidies manifests itself as rank corporate welfare.
Here's the road of subsidies these solar panels followed from Perrysburg, Ohio, to St. Clair, Ontario:
First Solar is an Arizona-based manufacturer of solar panels. In 2010, the Obama administration awarded the company $16.3 million to expand its factory in Ohio - a subsidy Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland touted in his failed re-election bid that year.
Five weeks before the 2010 election, Strickland announced more than a million dollars in job training grants to First Solar.
The Ohio Department of Development also lent First Solar $5 million, and the state's Air Quality Development Authority gave the company an additional $10 million loan.
(*PURSED LIPS*)
After First Solar pocketed this $17.3 million in government grants and $15 million in government loans, Ex-Im entered the scene.
(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)
In September 2011, Ex-Im approved $455.7 million in loan guarantees to subsidize the sale of solar panels to two wind farms in Canada. That means if the wind farm ever defaults, the taxpayers pick up the tab, ensuring First Solar gets paid.
But the buyer, in this case, was First Solar.
* YOU'RE FOLLOWING THIS - RIGHT? (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
A small corporation called St. Clair Solar owned the wind farm and was the Canadian company buying First Solar's panels. But St. Clair Solar was a wholly owned subsidiary of First Solar. So, basically, First Solar was shipping its own solar panels from Ohio to a solar farm it owned in Canada, and the U.S. taxpayers were subsidizing this "export."
* CHANT IT WITH ME, FOLKS: O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A!
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)
First Solar spokesman Alan Bernheimer defended this maneuver, saying this really was an export, pointing out that First Solar paid sales taxes on the transaction.
(*SNORT TURNING INTO A LEGITIMATE CHUCKLE*) OK. GOLD STAR FOR CHUTZPAH!
But this subsidy undermines the arguments for Ex-Im's existence. Ex-Im, whose authorization expires May 31, is supposed to be a job creator, helping U.S. manufacturers beat foreign manufacturers by having U.S. taxpayers backstop the financing.
"It is critical that we encourage more American companies to compete in the global marketplace," Ex-Im Chairman Fred Hochberg said about the First Solar deal, saying the subsidy "will boost Ohio's economy, create hundreds of local jobs and move us closer to President Obama's goal of doubling U.S. exports by the end of 2014."
The implication here is that First Solar was "competing" with foreign solar panel makers in order to sell solar panels - to First Solar.
* THE CHICAGO WAY, FOLKS... (*SIGH*)
This isn't the first time Ex-Im has subsidized companies selling to themselves. In late 2000, for instance, the ill-fated power giant Enron won a $132 million direct-loan package from Ex-Im (that is, from the taxpayers) in order to sell "engineering services & process equipment" to a Venezuelan power company owned 49.25 percent by Enron. Enron was both the buyer and the seller in a 1995 sale to Turkey that Ex-Im financed through a $250 million loan.
* CALL IT "THE BUSH WAY." CALL IT "THE TEXAS WAY." BOTTOM LINE... THIS IS INSANITY, FOLKS!
Enron's healthy feedings at Ex-Im's trough before its bankruptcy also help poke holes in another Ex-Im defense: that it operates at no cost to taxpayers.
Sure, as long as the foreign buyer pays off the debt, then Ex-Im's loans and guarantees don't increase the deficit. But Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were profitable for years, too, before they failed and taxpayers had to bail them out.
Once foreign governments and foreign companies start defaulting, U.S. taxpayers pick up the tab.
At least one Enron deal resulted in U.S. taxpayers contributing to the Enron bankruptcy fund.
Also, Ex-Im has ended up owning a 747 after Air Nauru failed to make its payments because the island nation's economy - dependent on seagull droppings - went under.
* I DON'T EVEN WANNA KNOW... FEEL FREE TO GOOGLE THAT ONE FOR YOURSELVES!
This week, First Solar unloaded its St. Clair wind farm to NextEra Energy, and so First Solar's financial troubles don't threaten to put the taxpayer on the hook for this deal. But the Ex-Im subsidy itself was a great case in point as to how national industrial policy pitched in the name of helping the U.S. economy often does nothing to help the broader economy, instead helping only those companies lucky - or politically connected - enough to get the handouts.
(*NOD*)
Obama, Reid and most of the Republican leadership want to reauthorize Ex-Im this month and boost the amount of debt it can have outstanding.
* CHANT IT WITH ME, FOLKS: GUNS... AMMO... TRAIN...
* CHANT IT WITH ME, FOLKS: READY... AIM...
The lobbyists at Boeing, the Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers agree. They'll claim Ex-Im is crucial to prosperity. And for a few companies, it is.
* IN ALL SERIOUSNESS, FOLKS... IF VIOLENCE ISN'T THE ANSWER - WHAT IS...???
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/no_kugel_for_you_N4VuTrqavfOiApSHngxuMJ
* NYC MAYOR DAVID BLOOMBERG IS INSANE.
So much for serving the homeless.
The Bloomberg administration is now taking the term “food police” to new depths, blocking food donations to all government-run facilities that serve the city’s homeless.
In conjunction with a "mayoral task force" and the Health Department, the Department of Homeless Services recently started enforcing new nutritional rules for food served at city shelters. Since DHS can’t assess the nutritional content of donated food, shelters have to turn away good Samaritans.
For over a decade, Glenn Richter and his wife, Lenore, have led a team of food-delivery volunteers from Ohab Zedek, the Upper West Side Orthodox congregation. They’ve brought freshly cooked, nutrient-rich surplus foods from synagogue events to homeless facilities in the neighborhood. (Disclosure: I know the food is so tasty because I’ve eaten it — I’m an OZ member.) The practice of donating such surplus food to homeless shelters is common among houses of worship in the city.
DHS Commissioner Seth Diamond says the ban on food donations is consistent with Mayor Bloomberg’s emphasis on improving nutrition for all New Yorkers. A new interagency document controls what can be served at facilities — dictating serving sizes as well as salt, fat and calorie contents, plus fiber minimums and condiment recommendations.
(The city also cites food-safety issues with donations, but it’s clear that the real driver behind the ban is the Bloomberg dietary diktats.)
The Bloomberg administration is so obsessed with meddling in how we all live that it’s now eating away at the very best that New York citizens have to deliver.
* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://www.taxpayer.net/resources.php?category=&type=Project&proj_id=5187&action=Headlines%20By%20TCS
Statement by Ms. Ryan Alexander, president, Taxpayers for Common Sense on Senate Passed Highway Bill:
Today, March 14, 2012, the United States Senate [controlled by Democrats; Harry Reid D-NV, Senate Majority Leader) adopted “Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century” (MAP-21): the nation’s long overdue reauthorization of federal highway and transit programs.
Unfortunately, just like the last eight extensions of the 2005 highway bill, the Senate merely kicked the can down the road by failing to fix the broken highway trust fund that supports the nation’s transportation network.
Even worse, to avoid grappling with the trust fund issues, the Senate adopted a smorgasbord of funding gimmicks and smoke and mirror budgeting that will only add to the nation’s crushing $15 trillion debt and leave the transportation program even worse off in the years to come.
* AGAIN... IF VIOLENCE ISN'T THE ANSWER.... WHAT IS...??? THESE PEOPLE ARE DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY!
The Highway Trust Fund was created over 50 years ago to provide the nation’s surface transportation system with a stable and sustainable source of revenue. Supported largely by user fees — namely, federal gas taxes — improving vehicle fuel efficiency, stagnant growth in the number of vehicle miles traveled, and declining purchasing power of the tax has led to a gaping hole between trust fund revenues and the amount of money lawmakers want to spend.
Instead of making the hard choices, the two-year $109 billion ‘MAP-21’ legislation taps general Treasury revenues to support the highway trust fund with a series of 10-year transfers and offsets of existing revenue sources.
That’s right, they are using ten years worth of revenue to help pay for a two-year bill.
* I UNDERSTAND THAT VIOLENCE ISN'T THE ANSWER... BUT... I ALSO UNDERSTAND THAT ABSENT "SOMETHING" DRASTIC THESE BASTARDS ARE GOING TO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY!
To make matters worse, the offsets don’t kick in for five years – three years after this bill expires.
* FOLKS... THESE PEOPLE ARE CRIMINALS. AND THEY'RE IN POWER. THE INMATES ARE RUNNING THE ASYLUM. AND THEY'RE ON A PATH TOWARDS SETTING THE ASYLUM ON FIRE WITH ALL OF US TRAPPED INSIDE!
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)
Not only does this highly speculative budget practice subject the highway trust outlays to revenues that may never exist, but borrows ahead for today’s spending adding considerable debt to the nation’s already deficit-heavy treasury.
To paraphrase Wimpy, the Senate would surely pay us in five years for some expensive road projects today.
* IT'S NOT FUCKING FUNNY...!!!
The Senate bill also reverses the user-pays principle of the nation’s transportation system.
* UNFUCKINGBELIEVEABLE!
General revenues have little bearing on the actual needs of the nation’s transportation system. By transferring general Treasury revenues to the highway trust fund, Congress removes the responsibility from drivers — the primary beneficiary of the nation’s road and transit networks — and throws it on the backs of all federal taxpayers.
(*PURSED LIPS*)
Proposals emanating from the [Republican controlled] House and the Obama Administration are no better than the Senate’s MAP-21, also tapping offset gimmicks of a different flavor.
* FOLKS... THIS IS WHAT I'M SAYING... THE CORRUPTION IS SO ALL-ENCOMPASSING AND THE SYSTEM SO RIGGED AND BROKEN THAT SHORT OF KILLING THESE BASTARDS... THERE'S LITERALLY NOTHING WE CAN DO TO WREST THE STEERING WHEEL OF STATE FROM THEIR INCOMPETENT AND CORRUPT HANDS!
Instead of using 10-year pays-for’s and revenue provisions of little relation to transportation, Congress and the Administration should work to either restrain the transportation program to current highway trust fund revenue levels or find additional revenue sources paid for by the users of the transportation system.
Failure to do so is a failure for taxpayers, the nation’s transportation system, and efforts to rein in the country’s trillion dollar deficits.
* BUT THAT'S ALL WE GET FROM WASHINGTON - FAILURE. AND TO ADD INSULT TO INJURY, THESE BASTARDS TYPICALLY GET PERSONALLY RICH WHILE DESTROYING OUR NATION!
* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://www.taxpayer.net/resources.php?category=&type=Project&proj_id=5193&action=Wastebasket
With hearings on the FY 2013 budget in full swing on Capitol Hill, one question keeps popping up: “How are you planning for sequestration?”
The answer was too often, “We’re not.”
Considering it was barely six months ago that Congress passed and the President signed this legislative trigger to rein in the deficit with automatic cuts, the collective amnesia among government leaders is unacceptable.
In the Congressional corner, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) sent out signals that defense cuts won’t be in his budget resolution set to hit the streets next week. House Armed Services Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA) is shopping around a bill that would offset the sequester’s first year of defense cuts with government workforce reductions.
* OK. AT LEAST THAT'S A PLAN!
In his appearance before the Senate last month to discuss funding for the agency that consumes roughly two-thirds of the discretionary budget...
* THE WHOLE FUCKING THING IS DISCRETIONARY. DON'T LET THESE BASTARDS FOOL YOU WITH THEIR WEASEL LANGUAGE.
...Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that he refused to plan for sequestration.
* FOLKS... YOU'RE READING THIS, RIGHT...??? THIS IS OBAMA'S SECRETARY OF DEFENSE!
Panetta dismissed sequestration, which would require the Department of Defense (DOD) to lower its spending trajectory by more than $500 billion over the next decade, as a “crazy process."
* BUT... BUT... BUT... IT'S THE FUCKING LAW! IT'S THE FUCKING LAW THAT OBAMA SIGNED INTO LAW!
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)
National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) chief Tom D’Agostino also answered questions about sequestration plans from the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee in the negative, saying the agency’s FY 2013 budget request complied with sequestration levels. That wouldn’t get them off the hook anyway: Nuclear weapons advocates like Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH) are already trying to roll back the modest savings in NNSA’s request by requiring full funding for unnecessary programs like the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacemen building at Los Alamos laboratory (which is currently on hold).
How can the agencies that comprise the biggest budgetary account in the federal government dismiss the law of the land so casually — particularly when their boss, President Obama, has threatened to veto any attempts to skirt it? Defense Department accountants have blamed their failure to plan on the fact that the BCA is based on an old statute. DOD Comptroller Robert Hale recently told lawmakers that Pentagon lawyers must figure out how much control the BCA gives them over how and where to cut before they can construct a plan.
* THIS IS INSANITY...!!!
Let’s review what’s on the books: When this very Congress passed the Budget Control Act last summer, they created a “Super Committee” of lawmakers tasked with finding at least $1.2 trillion in budget cuts over the next decade. If the committee failed to find those cuts, a trigger mechanism known as “sequestration” would kick in, slicing the $1.2 trillion off the top line for federal agencies. It’s true that the details of how those cuts would be imposed are murky: The sequestration process was created in the 1985 Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, which was basically ignored by Congress and the President. But the BCA has put a brighter spotlight on Congress and the Administration and their need to act on the deficit.
The message that every part of the budget must feel some pain comes through clearly.
It’s true that sequestration was not designed to become law, but it was designed to force Congress to produce a serious budget reduction plan — something we have yet to see.
Lawmakers need to craft a serious plan that employs both spending reductions from across government with new revenues. Until then, agency heads must still plan for the sequestration scenario by taking a hard look at their budgets to separate the needs from the wants. Because guess what: Even if Congress does sidestep sequestration, these cuts are going to have to come anyway. The numbers on America’s budget ledger simply don’t add up to any other outcome.
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