Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, April 4, 2012



Yeah... a song lyric.

From a country song.

Sends a chill down my spin every time I hear it.

You know where "there" is - right? "There" is Vietnam. "Lost" is as in killed during the war.

No. I'm not fixated on the Vietnam War - though I am just old enough to have pounded quite a few drinks with some guys who fought in that war.

No. When I hear that line I think of Iraq... I think of Afghanistan... I think of politicians sacrificing our men and women in "nation building" which... well... which as far as I can see from the evidence I often note in various newsbites just doesn't work.

I think of what it must be to be the mother... the father... the wife, husband, daughter, son, of someone sacrificed for some politician's idea of pragmatism... or worse... political self-interest.

Com'on, folks... I've said it before, I'll say it now, and no doubt I'll repeat myself in the future; George W. Bush, for all his many, many faults, believed in "the cause." He believed "staying the course" was in the best interests of this nation and our people. 

President Obama? Well... think of candidate Obama. Think of Senator Obama - who opposed  Bush's "surge" in Iraq and made it quite clear that his goal was to get the United States out of both Iraq and Afghanistan.

I believe with all my heart that Obama knew that Afghanistan was a lost cause all along. My guess... if he'd thought it "politically viable" he'd have ordered our troops to begin exiting Afghanistan within 30 seconds of taking the Oath of Office and becoming Commander-In-Chief.

But he didn't... did he?

He hmm'd and haw'd and finally decided on his own half-assed "surge" while refusing to give the generals the full compliment of additional troop strength they had told him was necessary.

Why did he do this? My guess? We're back to political self-interest. Obama knew - or at least he believed - that if he were to be able to win re-election four years hence he'd have to at least try to "win" the war in Afghanistan - or at least have it look to the American People that he had tried.

How many American service personnel have died or been gravely wounded in Afghanistan since the day President Obama took office? Frankly... I don't have the heart - or the stomach - to research and post the answer. Too many... that's for damn sure.

So here's to lifting a glass to Montgomery Gentry and all the men and women who have worn the uniform and all the friends and family members who have directly sacrificed right alongside them.

6 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://www.congress.org/news/could-earmarks-make-a-comeback/

Could earmarks come back to Congress?

In a recent closed-door meeting with Republicans, Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama proposed bringing back earmarks to help the House overcome gridlock, reports Reuters.

* ...CLOSED DOOR MEETING...

(*CLEANING MY GUN*)

“I just got up … and did it because I was mad because they were talking about how we can’t get 218 votes,” Rogers told Reuters, referring to the minimum of 218 votes needed to pass legislation in the 435-member House.

* AGAIN, FOLKS... "REPUBLICAN" MIKE ROGERS OF ALABAMA.

“There was a lot of applause when I made my comments. I had a few freshmen boo me, but that’s okay. By and large it was very well embraced,” he added.

* I'LL BET...

(*GNASHING MY TEETH*)

A current ban on earmarks will last an additional nine months, and many new lawmakers came into Congress opposed to the practice. But Rogers said Speaker John Boehner is considering forming a committee to study earmark reforms.

* HAVE ANOTHER CIGARETTE, SPEAKER BOEHNER! IN FACT... "REAL MEN" SMOKE THREE PACKS A DAY; BE A "REAL MAN," JOHN.

(*GIVING THE BASTARD THE FINGER*)

Boehner has said that earmarks helped get stalled legislation through Congress in the past.

* YEAH... I HAVE NO DOUBT HE SAID THAT...

William R. Barker said...

http://www.congress.org/news/does-d-c-need-a-national-latino-museum/

Does Washington, D.C., need a National Latino Museum?

Prominent Republicans and Democrats have jumped at the chance to impress Hispanic voters in an election year by supporting a proposal for a new Smithsonian museum, reports CQ’s Alan K. Ota.

* AGAIN, FOLKS... 43-CENTS OF EVERY DOLLAR THESE BASTARDS IN WASHINGTON SPEND - ON OPERATING EXPENSES - IS BORROWED. AND THEY CONTINUE TO PILE ON THE DEBT. OTHER THAN VIOLENCE... HOW DO YOU STOP A BIPARTISAN OLIGARCHY OUT TO ENRICH THEMSELVES IN POWER AND MONEY AT THE EXPENSE OF THE NATION?

A bill by Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) has the support of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).

* AGAIN, FOLKS... SHORT OF KILLING 'EM...?

(*SHRUG*)

“Given the names of the people supporting this, I think this has a pretty good chance of happening,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), a supporter.

* ...A SUPPORTER.

* FOLKS... WHAT'S IT GONNA TAKE FOR THE AVERAGE SELF-DESCRIBED "FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE" VOTER TO GET IT?

* "TEA PARTY SENATOR" MY ASS!

William R. Barker said...

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/scalding_reply_at_jfk_1MPVUvXcIMbxUzbYoH5HGP

A TSA screener was arrested at JFK Airport for hurling a cup of hot coffee at an American Airlines pilot who told her and some colleagues to tone down a profanity- laced conversation in a terminal, sources said yesterday.

The dust-up occurred at about 5 a.m. on March 28, when airman Steven Trivett, 54, who was off-duty, was exiting Terminal 8 and overheard the banter, according to Port Authority police sources.

Trivett, of Butler, Tenn., told them they should “conduct themselves more professionally in uniform and not use profanity or the n-word,” a source explained.

One screener told him to “mind his own business” and cursed him out.

Trivett then identified himself as a “TSA officer” who is an armed pilot.

When he tried to grab at the ID tags of screener Lateisha El, 30, she pushed him and tossed a “full cup” of hot coffee on him, police say.

Trivett was not seriously injured. El, of Brooklyn’s East New York, was given a desk-appearance ticket on harassment and misdemeanor-assault charges.

* AND THE RESPONSE OF THE TSA TO THIS... er... "INCIDENT" IS...???

William R. Barker said...

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/74518.html#ixzz1qSiEhp6p

* I POST THIS ONLY BECAUSE UNTIL LAST NIGHT... (*PAUSE*)... I HADN'T EVEN HEARD ABOUT THIS STORY.

* APPARENTLY EITHER I SIMPLY MISSED IT, OR... DRUDGE... NRO... THE WSJ... THEY ALL "SPIKED" IT.

* GIVING CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE, I FIRST CAME UPON THIS STORY VIA O'REILLY ON LAST NIGHT'S "FACTOR."

* DOES IT MAKE ROMNEY A "BAD GUY?" NOPE.

* BUT DOES THE LACK OF COVERAGE KINDA PROVE MY POINT CONCERNING THE ESTABLISHMENT "CONSERVATIVE" MEDIA? DAMN STRAIGHT! (REMEMBER NEWT'S TIFFANY PURCHASES...?!?!)

William R. Barker said...

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

http://michellemalkin.com/2012/04/04/the-democrats-election-forgery-racket/

A few weeks ago, Obama senior adviser and seasoned Chicago operative David Axelrod joked on MSNBC about election corruption. Asked whether “vote early and often” scams had come to an end in his shady hometown, Axelrod snarked: “Well, certainly on the air.”

Yuk, yuk, yuk.

Behind the scenes, Democrats have been busy faking petition signatures, forging ballots and enlisting medical professionals to authorize fraudulent doctors’ notes for liberal teachers-union operatives protesting Republican opponents.

It’s no laughing matter.

This week, four Democratic officials in Indiana were hit with felony charges related to petition fraud in the state’s 2008 primary. The prosecutions are a result of the local South Bend Tribune newspaper’s investigation last fall into “hundreds of county residents’ signatures” forged on petitions used to put Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the Democratic primary ballot. At least two whistle-blowing government officials came forward to expose the forgery racket, which court documents say was formulated by Democratic Party officials inside local party headquarters.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

A veteran county Democratic Party chair, Butch Morgan, resigned in October over the scandal; three employees in the St. Joseph County voter registration office reportedly helped Morgan execute the scheme. Among the hundreds of unsuspecting residents whose names were illegally signed to the petitions: the prosecuting attorney in the case and a former Democratic governor of the state!

That’s the audacity of ACORN-style hoaxes.

(*SILENCE*)

* TO BE CONTINUED...

William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)

Without the phony signatures, there’s a significant chance that Obama would not have qualified for the primary ballot — throwing the validity of the entire election into question.

(*TAPPING MY FINGERS ON THE DESKTOP*)

Dr. Deb Fleming, the county’s Republican chairwoman, told the South Bend Tribune that the Democratic machine has dominated her backyard for decades. “They have ‘a culture of corruption’ here and throughout Indiana. ‘I’m sure there are other things. They’ve just never gotten caught,’ she speculated. ‘Because they’ve been in control of St. Joseph County for so long, they felt they could get away with it.’”

It’s a widespread culture of election corruption that has festered in Obama’s Chicago, crossed into Indiana and bubbled up across the country.

On Tuesday, a New York judge set new trial dates for Democratic officials and political operatives accused of another ballot fraud conspiracy. A first round of prosecutions against Democratic Elections Commissioner Edward McDonough and his co-defendant, former Councilman Michael LoPorto, ended in mistrials last month. The two men also face separate voter fraud charges involving a plot by Democrats to win the radical Working Families Party primary back in 2009. The WFP is a front group for President Obama’s dear old friends at fraud-plagued ACORN.

According to law enforcement authorities, the ring of Democrats tried to rig the primary election for city council and county legislature by forging absentee ballots and ballot applications to ensure that their candidates also won the Working Families Party primary line.

Fox News Channel investigative reporter Eric Shawn noted that a whistle-blower in the case, WFP employee Sarah Couch, told investigators that her bosses “asked her to issue a Working Families Party press release that would ‘point blame at the Republican Party,’ and she refused to do so.”

Another whistle-blower, Democratic operative Anthony DeFiglio, told police that “faking absentee ballots was a commonplace and accepted practice in political circles, all intended to swing an election.”

Meanwhile... in Wisconsin... the state’s Medical Examining Board decided last month to investigate 11 additional doctors for writing fake sick notes for public union teachers who ditched their classrooms to protest GOP Gov. Scott Walker.

(Nine other medical professionals have already received slaps on the wrist.)

Primary petitions. Absentee ballots. Doctors’ orders. Fraudulent signatures are becoming the signature of desperate Democrats who play the electoral game by one set of rules: By Any Means Necessary.

Yet, progressives in the media and White House continue to strike a see-no-election-fraud, hear-no-election-fraud, speak-no-election-fraud pose. And Team Obama’s Axelrod supplies the laugh track.

Yuck, yuck, yuck.

(*SIGH*)