Saturday, May 19, 2012

Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., May 19 & 20, 2012


Lookin' forward to little Megan's First Holy Communion... party.

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3 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/when-government-is-the-looter/2012/05/18/gIQAUIKVZU_story.html

* READ IT AND WEEP FOR AMERICA, MY FRIENDS... WEEP FOR AMERICA...

(*PURSED LIPS*)

May 19, 2012 at 10:52 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304192704577406222518618802.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_AboveLEFTTop

California's budget deficit has grown by $7 billion in the last four months.

Uh oh.

The good news in this debacle is that the state's fiscal woes will make it nearly impossible to complete Governor Jerry Brown's runaway high-speed rail train.

The bad news is that the Governor is going to try anyway.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

In 2008 [California] voters approved $9 billion in bonds for construction under the pretense that the train would cost only $33 billion and be financed primarily by the federal government and private enterprise.

Transportation experts warn that the 500-mile bullet train from San Francisco to Los Angeles could cost more than $100 billion...

Governor [Brown] pegs the price at a "mere" $68 billion...

The state has $12.3 billion in pocket, $9 billion from the state and $3.3 billion from the feds, but Mr. Brown hasn't a clue where he'll get the rest.

(*STILL JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

Investors...won't put up any money because the rail authority's business plans are too risky. Rail companies have refused to operate the train without a revenue guarantee, which the ballot initiative prohibits. Even contractors are declining to bid on the project because they're worried they won't get paid.

(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

Mr. Brown is hoping that Washington will pony up more than $50 billion, but the feds have committed only $3.3 billion so far and Republicans intend to claw it back if they take the Senate and White House this fall. If that happens, the state won't have enough money to complete its first 130-mile segment in the lightly populated Central Valley, which in any event wouldn't be operable since the state can't afford to electrify the tracks.

* SO WHAT DO YOU SUPPOSE THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION'S RESPONSE TO THIS REALITY IS? READ ON TO FIND OUT!

None of [this] is stopping Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who is putting the squeeze on California lawmakers to appropriate $6 billion — now.

"We can't wait," he says.

The White House wants to get the money out the door before the election. It's worried that even some Democratic legislators are getting cold feet as logistical challenges and public opposition mount.

Mr. Brown and the White House are betting that the state will be in far too deep when the money runs out to abandon this mission on Camino Unreal. The Governor also figures that the $100 billion bill will seem smaller spread out over 30 years.

What's an extra $3 billion a year when the state's already $16 billion in the hole?

(*MIGRAINE*)

May 19, 2012 at 10:52 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/policy-and-strategy/228459-sen-lieberman-white-house-inching-closer-to-military-response-in-syria

With the evident failure of an international peace plan designed to end the violence in Syria, recent actions by the Obama administration indicate the White House could be inching toward a military response, a Senate Armed Services Committee member said. "I think they're moving toward some more real action," Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) told The Hill regarding the White House's evolving position on Syria.

Lieberman, along with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), has been at the forefront of the congressional effort to provide military support to Syria.

* AGAIN, FOLKS... HOW TO STOP THE OLIGARCHS ABSENT VIOLENCE?

* HAS SYRIA ATTACKED US? HAS THE PRESIDENT CALLED UPON CONGRESS TO DECLARE WAR AGAINST SYRIA? (NO! AND HE WON'T! WHICH MEANS THAT IF HE ORDERS OUR MILITARY TO ATTACK SYRIA IT WILL BE YET ANOTHER UNCONSTITUTIONAL ABUSE OF POWER BY THIS PRESIDENT - CHEERED ON BY THE LIKES OF JOHN MCCAIN AND JOE LIEBERMAN!)

"Every day that passes more people get killed," Lieberman said. "It's our moral obligation to help them."

* FUCK YOU, JOE! IT'S NOT OUR OBLIGATION TO "HELP" ANYONE OUTSIDE OF SPECIFIC TREATY OBLIGATION IN DEFENSE OF ALLIES! AMERICAN IS NOT THE POLICEMAN OF THE WORLD! AMERICANS DON'T WANT AMERICA TO BE THE POLICEMAN OF THE WORLD!

The United States has begun to help coordinate deliveries of weapons paid for by several Gulf states to the anti-Assad forces in recent weeks, according to news reports.

* UNDER WHOSE AUTHORITY? WE'RE INVOLVING OURSELVES IN A CIVIL WAR! ANOTHER CIVIL WAR!

In April, top U.S. and NATO military leaders explored possible political and military outcomes in Syria should Western powers decide to remove Assad by force, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey said during a May 5 speech in Washington.

* AGAIN... UNLESS THE PRESIDENT CALLS FOR A DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST SYRIA AND CONGRESS GRANTS THE DECLARATION...

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

* FOLKS... THIS ADMINISTRATION IS OUT OF CONTROL!

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he believes al Qaeda had a hand in a May 10 attack against military targets in Damascus, according to news reports. The attack, which included twin car bombs going off outside a Syrian military intelligence building, ended with 55 dead and dozens injured. Last Tuesday, a convoy carrying a team of U.N. observers was hit by a improvised explosive devicee while traveling through the town of Khan-Sheikhoun in northern Syria.

* SO... WE'RE BASICALLY ALLIED WITH... AL QAEDA...?!?!

If heavy weapons are funneled into Syria, it’s possible those arms could later be turned against American or allied troops by al Qaeda fighters.

* YA THINK...?!?!

If military action is taken, the responsibility for those operations must be shared with NATO and should not result in American troops on the ground in Syria, Lieberman pointed out.

* REMEMBER WHEN NATO WAS A DEFENSIVE ALLIANCE...?

* LIEBERMAN... SCUMGAG... UNDERSTAND THIS: AMERICAN TAXPAYERS SHOULDN'T BE FINANCING A WAR AGAINST SYRIA ABSENT A CONGRESSIONAL DECLARATION OF WAR. IF YOU AND THE OTHER WARMONGERS ARE SO HOT TO TROT TO TOPPLE THE SYRIAN REGIME, THEN LIQUIDATE ALL YOUR PERSONAL ASSETS AND FINANCE A COUP!

It was a NATO-led operation with American support that eventually ousted former Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi.

* YEAH... (*SMIRK*)... AND HOW'S THAT WORKED OUT?!

* P.S. - THANKS FOR LOSING EGYPT!

May 20, 2012 at 3:14 PM

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