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2012
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April
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- Heather MacDonald on the Lessons of the Rodney Kin...
- Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., April 28 & 29, 2012
- My Buddy the Tory
- Pearl River School District v. U.S. Dept. of Educa...
- R.I.N.O.s Strike Again!
- Barker's Newsbites: Friday, April 27, 2012
- The Scumbag Thirteen
- Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, April 26, 2012
- How Can Anyone Support Obama...?
- Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, April 25, 2012
- New York State Primary -- Tuesday, April 24, 2012
- Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, April 24, 2012
- I'm Begging You, Folks... READ Tyler Durden's Latest!
- Barker's Newsbites: Monday, April 23, 2012
- Bill's Tattoo Rant
- Page-views...
- Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., April 21 & 22, 2012
- Barler's Newsbites: Friday, April 20, 2012
- Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, April 19, 2012
- This is Obama's and Holder's America, Folks
- The Democrat-Controlled Senate Has Done It Again...
- Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, April 18, 2012
- Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, April 17, 2012
- Barker's Newsbites: Monday, April 16, 2012
- The Great Kobe Beef Scam
- Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., April 14 & 15, 2012
- Barker's Newsbites: Friday, April 13, 2012
- The Case of John Derbyshire
- Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, April 12, 2012
- Gotta Share This...
- Pass the Norpramin...!!!
- Post #1,002
- Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, April 11, 2012
- Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, April 10, 2012
- Barker's Newsbites: Monday, April 9, 2012
- Long Weekend Newsbites: 4/6-7-8/2012
- ObamaCare... Marbury v. Madison... and Conservatives
- Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, April 5, 2012
- Dr. Thomas Sowell on "Obama the Liar"
- Politically Incorrect Bill Strikes Again!
- Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, April 4, 2012
- China's Growing High-Tech Threat
- Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, April 3, 2012
- Just Read It. (Just Frigg'n Read It!)
- I Love Country Music
- Barker's Newsbites: Monday, April 2, 2012
- Even the Washington Post Can't Abide NBC's Outrigh...
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April
(47)
About Me
- William R. Barker
- Pearl River, NY High School Class of '81; Northeastern University, Boston, MA Class of '87.
10 comments:
http://cnsnews.com/blog/craig-bannister/epa-officials-philosophy-oil-companies-crucify-them-just-romans-crucified
Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) took to the Senate floor today to draw attention to a video of a top EPA official saying the EPA’s “philosophy” is to “crucify” and “make examples” of oil and gas companies - just as the Romans crucified random citizens in areas they conquered to ensure obedience.
Inhofe quoted a little-watched video from 2010 of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official, Region VI Administrator Al Armendariz, admitting that EPA’s “general philosophy” is to “crucify” and “make examples” of oil and gas companies.
In the video, Administrator Armendariz says:
“I was in a meeting once and I gave an analogy to my staff about my philosophy of enforcement, and I think it was probably a little crude and maybe not appropriate for the meeting, but I’ll go ahead and tell you what I said:
“It was kind of like how the Romans used to, you know, conquer villages in the Mediterranean. They’d go in to a little Turkish town somewhere, they’d find the first five guys they saw and they’d crucify them.
“Then, you know, that town was really easy to manage for the next few years.”
“It’s a deterrent factor,” Armendariz said, explaining that the EPA is following the Romans’ philosophy for subjugating conquered villages.
Soon after Armendariz touted the EPA’s “philosophy,” the EPA began smear campaigns against natural gas producers, Inhofe’s office noted in advance of today’s Senate speech:
“Not long after Administrator Armendariz made these comments in 2010, EPA targeted US natural gas producers in Pennsylvania, Texas and Wyoming.
“In all three of these cases, EPA initially made headline-grabbing statements either insinuating or proclaiming outright that the use of hydraulic fracturing by American energy producers was the cause of water contamination, but in each case their comments were premature at best – and despite their most valiant efforts, they have been unable to find any sound scientific evidence to make this link.”
In his Senate speech, Sen. Inhofe said the video provides Americans with “a glimpse of the Obama administration’s true agenda.”
That agenda, Inhofe said, is to “incite fear” in the public with unsubstantiated claims and “intimidate” oil and gas companies with threats of unjustified fines and penalties – then, quietly backtrack once the public’s perception has been firmly jaded against oil and natural gas.
http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/el-salvador-40-strippers-obamas-secret-service-tea/nMhxJ/
Seattle-based Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne (KIROTV- CBS- COX MEDIA GROUP) just returned from El Salvador...
* FOLKS... (*SIGH*)... READ THIS ARTICLE.
* IF THIS IS TRUE...
(*PURSED LIPS*)
* AND FOLKS... IT'S NOT JUST THE SECRET SERVICE - IT'S HILLARY CLINTON'S STATE DEPARTMENT!
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/us_marines_punished_over_brazil_CFoAQRBe4IhzxaFnHBEVtK
A Brazilian prostitute injured last year in a scuffle with a U.S. Embassy staffer and two Marines is now suing the federal government - a development in the aftermath of the Secret Service prostitution scandal in Columbia.
The incident occurred in late 2011 in the city of Brasilia when at least one of the Americans pushed the woman from a car outside of a nightclub.
The Embassy tracked down the women and paid her medical bills, but she now intends to sue, a senior U.S. official has confirmed to Fox News.
* YOU'RE READING THIS - RIGHT?!
* HILLARY CLINTON'S EMBASSY!
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Tuesday the "incident" has been "fully investigated" and that the Marines and the embassy staff member have been punished.
* HOW...? HOW WERE THEY "PUNISHED?" THEY HIRED A HOOKER... TRIED TO STIFF HER... ULTIMATELY ASSAULTED HER... HOW WERE THEY "PUNISHED?"
“I have no tolerance for that kind of conduct, not here or any place in the world,” Panetta told reporters in Brazil.
* BUT... BUT... BUT... APPARENTLY THERE WAS "TOLERANCE" LAST YEAR WHEN IT HAPPENED! THE GOVERNMENT EVEN PAID THE MEDICAL BILLS! FUNNY HOW "NO TOLERANCE" ONLY SEEMS TO APPLY AFTER THE CAT IS OUT OF THE BAG.
* FOLKS... CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW MUCH SHIT WE DON'T KNOW ABOUT THAT'S BEEN HAPPENING SINCE OBAMA TOOK POWER...?!?!
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/04/tsa-screeners-drug-arrest.html
Four current and former TSA screeners have been arrested and face charges of taking bribes and looking the other way while suitcases filled with cocaine, methamphetamine or marijuana passed through X-ray machines at Los Angeles International Airport, federal authorities announced Wednesday.
(*PURSED LIPS*)
http://news.yahoo.com/tsa-defends-pat-down-4-old-kan-airport-231522461.html;_ylt=A2KJ3CVkiJhP2S4AInDQtDMD
The grandmother of a 4-year-old girl who became hysterical during a security screening at a Kansas airport said Wednesday that the child was forced to undergo a pat-down after hugging her, with security agents yelling and calling the crying girl an uncooperative suspect.
The incident has been garnering increasing media and online attention since the child's mother, Michelle Brademeyer of Montana, detailed the ordeal in a public Facebook post last week. The TSA is defending its agents, despite new procedures aimed at reducing pat-downs of children.
The child's grandmother, Lori Croft, told The Associated Press that Brademeyer and her daughter, Isabella, initially passed through security at the Wichita airport without incident. The girl then ran over to briefly hug Croft, who was awaiting a pat-down after tripping the alarm, and that's when TSA agents insisted the girl undergo a physical pat-down.
Isabella had just learned about "stranger danger" at school, her grandmother said, adding that the girl was afraid and unsure about what was going on.
"She started to cry, saying 'No I don't want to,' and when we tried talking to her she ran," Croft said. "They yelled, 'We are going to shut down the airport if you don't grab her.'"
* JEEZUS FUCKING CHRIST... IS THIS AMERICA...? IS THIS STILL EVEN AN AMERICA WE CAN RECOGNIZE AS SUCH?
But she said the family's main concern was the lack of understanding from TSA agents that they were dealing with a 4-year-old child, not a terror suspect.
"There was no common sense and there was no compassion," Croft said. "That was our biggest fault with the whole thing — not that they are following security procedures, because I understand that they have to do that."
Brademeyer, of Missoula, Mont., wrote a public Facebook post last week about the April 15 incident, claiming TSA treated her daughter "no better than if she had been a terrorist." The posting was taken down Wednesday. Another post said the family had filed formal complaints with the TSA and the airport.
In a phone interview from her home in Fountain Valley, Calif., Croft said Brademeyer tried to no avail to get TSA agents to use a wand on the frightened girl or allow her to walk through the metal detector again. She also said TSA agents wanted to screen her granddaughter alone in a separate room.
"She was kicking and screaming and fighting and in hysterics," Croft said. "At that point my daughter ran up to her against TSA's orders because she said, 'My daughter is terrified, I can't leave her.'"
The incident went on for maybe 10 minutes, until a manager came in and allowed agents to pat the girl down while she was screaming but being held by her mother. The family was then allowed to go to their next gate with a TSA agent following them.
Croft said that for the first few nights after coming home, Isabelle had nightmares and talked about kidnappers. She said TSA agents had shouted at the girl, telling her to calm down and saying the suspect wasn't cooperating.
"To a 4-year-old's perspective that's what it was to her because they didn't explain anything and she did not know what was going on," Croft said. "She saw people grabbing at her and raising their voices. To her, someone was trying to kidnap her or harm her in some way."
* HAD I BEEN THERE I'D BE IN JAIL RIGHT NOW. THERE'S NO WAY IN HELL I WOULDN'T HAVE INVOLVED MYSELF IN THE SITUATION. THIS IS INSANITY. THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS OUT OF CONTROL.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/47186701
The four-week moving average for new unemployment claims, a closely followed measure of labor market trends, rose 6,250 to 381,750, its highest since the week that ended Jan. 7.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast new claims falling to 375,000 last week.
(*SMIRK*)
* OOPS.
* HERE... FOLKS... LET ME GIVE YOU AN EXAMPLE OF THESE IDIOTS SCREWING AROUND WITH THE STATS:
New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits fell slightly last week...
* NOW, FOLKS... THAT'S THE FIRST SENTENCE YOU'LL READ IF YOU GO TO THE ACTUAL ARTICLE. SOUNDS GOOD, HUH? POSITIVE! OBAMANOMICS AT THEIR FINEST! (BUT READ ON...!)
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped by 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 388,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday.
* THAT'S THE SECOND PARAGRAPH OF THE ARTICLE. AGAIN... SOUNDS PROMISING - RIGHT? SOUNDS... UMM... GOOD - RIGHT? WELL... READ ON...
The prior week's figure was revised up to 389,000 from the previously reported 386,000.
(*SMIRK*)
* FOLKS... DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'VE JUST READ? IN ENGLISH: "OOPS... WE UNDERCOUNTED UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS BY 3,000 LAST TIME AROUND."
(*SNICKER*)
Employers added 120,000 new jobs to their payrolls in March, the least since October... "We seem to be chasing our tail with the labor market now with seemingly reported declines in weekly numbers coming from persistently higher levels week-after-week," said Andrew Wilkinson, chief economist strategist at Miller Tabak in New York. "Today’s reading also gives the uncomfortable drift upwards in initial claims the feel of a trend rather than aberration."
(*SIGH*)
The number of people still receiving benefits under regular state uninsurance programs after an initial week of aid rose 3,000 to 3.315 million in the week ended April 14.
The number of Americans on emergency unemployment benefits fell 45,930 to 2.73 million in the week ended April 7, the latest week for which data is available.
* AND BY "FELL" THEY MEAN SIMPLY THAT EXTENDED BENEFITS RAN OUT FOR THESE PEOPLE. MAYBE THEY'VE FOUND NEW JOBS... MAYBE THEY HAVEN'T. WE JUST DON'T KNOW.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/04/25/marine-corps-discharges-sergeant-who-posted-facebook-posts-critical-obama/
A U.S. Marine sergeant will be discharged for criticizing President Obama on Facebook...
* GOOD.
* YEAH. YOU READ THAT RIGHT. I WROTE "GOOD."
* ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY DON'T HAVE THE SAME FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS AS CIVILIANS. THEY DON'T HAVE A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO PUBLICLY DENIGRATE THEIR COMMAND STRUCTURE. THIS IS JUST COMMON SENSE.
Sgt. Gary Stein will get an "other than honorable" discharge and lose most of his benefits for violating the policies, the Corps said.
* FRIGG'N MORON. JEEZ..
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
The Marines acted after saying Stein stated March 1 on a Facebook page used by Marine meteorologists, "Screw Obama and I will not follow all orders from him."
* JEEZUS... YOU CAN'T HAVE THAT!
Stein later clarified that statement, saying he would not follow unlawful orders.
* TOO LATE! HEY... IF HE HAD WRITTEN THAT ON FACEBOOK ORIGINALLY I'D BE IN HIS CORNER - BUT HE DIDN'T!
Brig. Gen. Daniel Yoo, the commanding general of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, said in a brief statement Wednesday that evidence supported an administrative board's recommendation to discharge Stein.
Tom Umberg, a former Army colonel and military prosecutor, said Stein persisted even after being warned.
"The Marine Corps gave him the opportunity to think about his actions, yet Sgt. Stein continued to undermine the chain of command," said Umberg, who was not involved in Stein's case. "I think his purpose was to leave the Marine Corps in a dramatic fashion in order to begin a career in talk radio or what have you."
(*SHRUG*)
* IN ANY CASE... STEIN MADE HIS BED.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/illinois-is-running-out-of-time-and-money/2012/04/25/gIQA7r4khT_story.html
After trying to tax Illinois to governmental solvency and economic dynamism, Pat Quinn, a Democrat who has been governor since 2009, now says “our rendezvous with reality has arrived.”
Illinois was more heavily taxed than the five contiguous states (Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin) even before January 2011, when Quinn got a lame-duck legislature (its successor has fewer Democrats) to raise corporate taxes 30%, giving Illinois one of the highest state corporate taxes and the fourth-highest combination of national and local corporate taxation in the industrialized world.
Since 2009, Quinn has spent more than $500 million in corporate welfare to bribe companies not to flee the tax environment he has created.
Quinn raised personal income taxes 67%, adding about $1,040 to the tax burden of a family of four earning $60,000.
Illinois’ unemployment rate increased faster than any other state’s in 2011.
Its pension system is the nation’s most underfunded, and the state has floated bond issues to finance pension contributions — borrowing money that someday must be repaid, to replace what should have been pension money that it spent on immediate gratifications.
Quinn’s recent flirtation with realism — a plan to raise the retirement age to 67 and cap pension cost-of-living adjustments — is less significant than the continuing unrealistic expectation that some of Illinois’ pension investments will grow 8.5% annually.
Although the state Constitution mandates balancing the budget, this is almost meaningless while the state sells bonds to pay for operating expenses (in just 10 years the state’s bonded debt has increased from $9.4 billion to $30 billion), underfunds pensions and other liabilities, and makes vendors wait (they are owed $5.6 billion).
The Illinois Policy Institute, a limited-government think tank, in a report cheekily titled “Another $54 Billion!?” argues that in addition to the $83 billion in pension underfunding the state acknowledges, there is $54 billion in unfunded retiree health liabilities over the next 30 years. Illinois, a stronghold of public-employees unions, “is on pace to spend nearly $1 billion on retiree health care benefits in fiscal year 2013, more than double what it spent in 2003. Worse yet, these liabilities are growing more than twice as fast as tax revenues.”
* FOLKS... IF OBAMA IS RE-ELECTED... MY GUESS IS HE'LL TRY TO BAIL-OUT ILLINOIS.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303592404577361883019414296.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop
Most people have heard that full-time working American women earn only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men.
* WHICH IS TRUE. BUT DO YOU KNOW WHY? (AND IF NOT... WHY NOT? FOR THIS IS BASIC INFORMATION I LEARNED FROM SELF-STUDY BACK IN HIGH SCHOOL!)
* ANYWAY... (*SIGH*)... HERE'S WHY:
[T]hese numbers don't take into account the actual number of hours worked.
And it turns out that women work fewer hours than men.
(*SMIRK*)
The Labor Department defines full-time as 35 hours a week or more, and the "or more" is far more likely to refer to male workers than to female ones.
According to the department, almost 55% of workers logging more than 35 hours a week are men.
In 2007, 25% of men working full-time jobs had workweeks of 41 or more hours, compared with 14% of female full-time workers.
In other words, the famous gender-wage gap is to a considerable degree a gender-hours gap.
* DUH!
* OH... AND OF COURSE... WORKING FEWER HOURS MEANS SHINING LESS BRIGHTLY THUS ATTRACTING LESS POSITIVE ATTENTION THUS LESSENING CHANCES FOR PROMOTION... YADDA, YADDA, YADDA.
* MAKE FRIGG'N SENSE - DOESN'T IT?!
(*SIGH*)
The main reason that women spend less time at work than men — and that women are unlikely to be the richer sex — is obvious: children.
Today, childless 20-something women...earn more than their male peers.
* DID YOU KNOW THIS? (I KNEW THIS!)
But most are likely to cut back their hours after they have kids, giving men the hours, and income, advantage.
* YES! AND FOR MOST PEOPLE WHAT ARE THE PEAK EARNING YEARS...??? (HINT: IT AIN'T YOUR 20's!)
(*SMIRK*)
One study by the American Association for University Women looked at women who graduated from college in 1992-93 and found that 23% of those who had become mothers were out of the workforce in 2003; another 17% were working part-time. Fewer than 2% of fathers fell into those categories. Another study, of M.B.A. graduates from Chicago's Booth School, discovered that only half of women with children were working full-time 10 years after graduation, compared with 95% of men.
(*SHRUG*)
* SO THERE YA GO, FOLKS. SO... THE NEXT TIME YOU'RE IN A POSITION TO SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH SOME WITLESS KNOW-NOTHING... PLEASE DO!
http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/26/world/asia/afghanistan-violence/index.html
A man wearing an Afghan National Army uniform killed a U.S. coalition service member, the U.S. military said Thursday. It was the latest in a string of such attacks.
* ANOTHER NEEDLESS DEATH.
It is unclear whether the shooter was an Afghan soldier or an infiltrator wearing the uniform.
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