Friday, June 22, 2012

Barker's Newsbites: Friday, June 22, 2012


It was friggin' hot out today!

Thank God, thunder storms have broken the heat wave - at least for tonight.

Anyway... a little something different to celebrate a hot Friday!

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5 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://blogs.phillymag.com/the_philly_post/2012/06/22/gay-activists-give-ronald-reagan-finger-white-house/

Last Friday, an attaché of important gay people from Philadelphia...

* IGP's...??? (*SNORT*) (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD WITH AN AMUSED SMILE ON MY FACE*)

...made a trip to Washington D.C. as invited guests of President Barack Obama for the White House’s first-ever gay pride reception.

There, they danced to the sounds of a Marine Corps band; they dined on crab cakes and canapés; they hand-delivered letters from concerned citizens...and some of them took advantage of photo opportunities to give the late President Ronald Reagan the middle finger.

* YEP! YOU READ THAT RIGHT!

* PHOTOS: http://blogs.phillymag.com/the_philly_post/files/2012/06/republicans.jpg

“It’s not a gesture that I would use in the White House when representing our city and our community,” opines Philadelphia Gay News publisher Mark Segal (center), who opted for a sarcastic thumbs-up pose in front of the portrait of George W. Bush over the more vulgar one demonstrated by his Reagan-loathing peers, Matthew “Matty” Hart (left), and self-taught photographer turned toast-of-the-town Zoe Strauss (right).

Hart posted his photo on Facebook with the caption, “Fuck Reagan.”

Strauss simply posted hers without commentary.

(After all, the murderous facial expression and double-barreled bird-flipping seem to speak for themselves.)

“Yeah, fuck Reagan,” reiterates Hart one week after the reception. “Ronald Reagan has blood on his hands. The man was in the White House as AIDS exploded, and he was happy to see plenty of gay men and queer people die. He was a murderous fool, and I have no problem saying so. Don’t invite me back. I don’t care.”

* JEEZUS...

Switching gears, Hart describes the reception as “fantastic” and notes that the White House staff seemed “giddy.” ”A lot of work had to happen to make this reception politically viable and possible,” he observes. “There were many service members there. I met a woman with lots of medals, an important military person, who was with her partner. And all her life, she had to be in the closet—until now. And I met a couple from Tennessee in their mid-50s, two men who have been in a relationship for 22 years and run an LGBT youth program. They could barely speak with their emotions. They kept saying, All through grade school and high school, people were telling us we’re gonna burn in hell. And here we are honored guests of Obama.”

Referring to the reception and not to his photo op, Hart adds, “It was just a gesture, but a very powerful one.” Speaking of powerful gestures, Hart shot portions of the video below, which features, among other things, Segal dancing to the Marine Corps band and a wedding proposal between a female-to-male transgendered person (killer suit!) and a biological woman.

* AMERICA 2012, FOLKS!

* LISTEN... ARE MY "REGULARS" KNOW THAT I SUPPORT GAY CIVIL UNIONS. AS TO GAY MARRIAGE... I PERSONALLY SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE BUT DON'T BELIEVE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SHOULD INTERFERE WITH STATES' RIGHTS WITH REGARD TO "MARRIAGE."

* MY POINT IS... THESE PEOPLE ARE CLASSLESS SCUM - AND IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THEIR SEXUAL ORIENTATION. I HATE WILSON... I HATE FDR... YET IF INVITED TO THE WHITE HOUSE I WOULD NEVER ENGAGE IN DISRESPECT LIKE THESE BOZOS DID. NO CLASS. NO SELF-CONTROL. AND THESE ARE OBAMA'S "INVITED GUESTS;" HIS "IGP" GUESTS.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD IN DISGUST*)

June 22, 2012 at 6:23 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/06/forkless-friday-at-obama-event-127056.html

* FOLKS... THIS IS OBAMA'S AMERICA! (READ ON...)

Does a fork or dinner knife pose an unacceptable danger to President Barack Obama?

One wouldn’t think so, given the hundreds of lunches and dinners he’s attended ranging from state dinners to political fundraisers to run-of-the-mill stops on the rubber-chicken circuit.

However, at one such lunch Friday afternoon, guests heard an unusual announcement that they needed to hand over their silverware for security reasons.

“It’s very important that you use your utensils as soon as possible,” National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials board member Raquel Regalado told about 1000 delegates at the group’s annual conference.

* VIDEO: http://bcove.me/rv45huge

Regalado hurried the diners to finish up their salads and pre-cut chicken breasts, saying that the Secret Service required that there be no knives at the tables and that the forks be rounded up before Obama entered the room.

* I... SHIT... YOU... NOT...!!!

June 22, 2012 at 6:32 PM
William R. Barker said...

[B]y issuing a series of downgrades of giant banks this week, Moody's Investors Service may have performed a taxpayer service.

Two years ago President Obama and Congressional Democrats told Americans they had strengthened the banking system and revoked too-big-to-fail privileges from the financial giants.

* THEY LIED.

Now Moody's can help Americans understand that the 2010 Dodd-Frank law has fulfilled neither promise.

* A MORE "DIPLOMATIC" WAY OF SAYING "THEY LIED!"

The law's signature achievements are higher costs, reduced opportunities and weaker banks.

* LIES... LIES... AND MORE LIES...

(*SMIRK*) (*SHRUG*)

Moody's conducted an extensive review of the 15 banks that are the largest players in the global capital markets. The Wall Street gang's all here—Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, etc. The result is a series of credit-rating downgrades.

(*SNORT*) (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

In other words, Moody's is opining that the risk that one of these financial giants will default on its bonds, while still small, has been on the rise. ... Moody's makes clear that government "systemic support" is still a significant factor that elevates the credit rating of every big bank in its review.

(*MORE SHAKING MY HEAD*)

Interestingly, Moody's tends to rate the debt of bank holding companies lower than the debt of their operating subsidiaries. This makes sense given that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is now sending clear signals on how it will pick winners and losers when a giant bank gets into trouble.

* ...PICK WINNERS AND LOSERS... (*SIGH*)

The FDIC's current approach, subject to change at the whim of the bureaucracy, is that it will seek to protect the creditors, and particularly the short-term creditors, of the operating subsidiaries while seeking to impose losses on the long-term creditors of the parent companies. Assuming investors believe the FDIC means what it says, and that this plan won't be scrapped the next time the FDIC's senior staff turns over, we're still trying to forecast all of the market distortions that could result.

* DON'T BOTHER. WE GET THE IDEA. THIS IS NO LONGER A NATION UNDER THE RULE OF LAW WHERE CITIZENS KNOW WHAT THE RULES ARE.

And Congress gave up 200 years of legal tradition in the bankruptcy courts for this?

* YES. YES THEY DID.

Most investors understand that opinions from ratings agencies like Moody's do not arrive from a mountain top carved in stone. But when a bank can raise capital, improve liquidity and still suffer from a weakening credit rating, it does not suggest a healthy financial system, nor a vibrant economy.

* FOLKS... THE AMERICAN ECONOMY - AND THE WORLD ECONOMY - IS A HOUSE OF CARDS. THE REASON: THERE IS NO LONGER A RULE OF LAW - ONLY THE MISRULE OF POLITICIANS.

June 22, 2012 at 7:32 PM
William R. Barker said...

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

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304898704577480890262872180.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

During a radio debate last week between six-term Senate incumbent Orrin Hatch and his Republican primary challenger, former state Sen. Dan Liljenquist, Mr. Hatch reminded voters that if Republicans take the Senate, he is next in line to be the Finance Committee chairman - one of the plum perches in Congress, atop a committee that wields power over the tax code, trade and trillions of dollars of federal spending.

In normal times the prospect of such influence would be game, set and match for Mr. Hatch. But Mr. Liljenquist's response during the debate couldn't have been more unorthodox: "I'm running against you, senator, not despite the fact that you could be the next chairman, but because of it."

(*CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

Liljenquist accused Mr. Hatch of sitting on the Finance Committee for 18 years "while entitlement programs and the debt have exploded in cost, but doing nothing about it."

(*STANDING OVATION*)

It speaks volumes about the irritable mood of Republican primary voters that Mr. Hatch's greatest vulnerability may be what used to be a bankable asset with voters: seniority and power to deliver bacon to the state.

* LET US PRAY, MY FRIENDS... LET US PRAY...

"Do you feel at all personally responsible for the debt crisis in Washington?" Mr. Liljenquist asked Mr. Hatch during one testy debate exchange. The usually mild-mannered Mr. Hatch called the charge "B.S." and said, "I'm offended that you would ask that."

* SO... ANY SHARPSHOOTERS READING THIS...?

* JUST KIDDING... JUST KIDDING...

[T]ea party activists and groups like Freedom Works have had their sights on Mr. Hatch for two years, much like they put a bull's-eye on the other six-term Republican in the Senate, Dick Lugar of Indiana.

(*HIGH FIVES ALL AROUND*)

In early May, Mr. Lugar got walloped by some 20 points by Richard Mourdock, the conservative state treasurer. Out West, you could almost hear Mr. Hatch's nervous gulp. He's spent an estimated $10 million to save himself.

* IT'S A SICKNESS, FOLKS. HE'S POWER-MAD! THE MAN HAS BEEN A SENATOR FOR 36 YEARS! HE'S 78 FRIGGIN' YEARS OLD! HATCH IS A NARCISSIST.

Mr. Liljenquist, who is estimated to have spent less than $1 million, is an impressive challenger. As a state senator, he redesigned the Utah public-employee pension system, shifting away from a defined-benefit plan that guaranteed generous benefits to the state's public employees regardless of the performance of the market, and was going bankrupt. In its place is a defined-contribution plan, like a 401(k), that ends unfunded liabilities—liabilities that might have cost the taxpayers $5 billion by some estimates. This reform has made him the Pied Piper of pension reform around the country.

* SOLD!

Mr. Liljenquist, who got his start as a private equity manager at Bain Consulting, is a fiscal conservative who says that South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint will be his role model.

* HELL... I'M ADDING A TIP TO THE PURCHASE PRICE!

* TO BE CONTINUED...

June 22, 2012 at 7:54 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)

One reason [Hatch is] likely to survive [however] is that Mr. Hatch is no Olympia Snowe...

Hatch has a 90% lifetime American Conservative Union rating. He has been an unfailing supporter of the flat tax — "I'm an Arthur Laffer supply-sider who traveled all over the country selling the Reagan tax cuts," he reminds me — and he's an advocate of the balanced-budget amendment, pro-life policies and gun rights.

Two years ago, Mr. Hatch's Senate colleague from Utah, Bob Bennett, was ousted by the tea party fury and replaced with young conservative Mike Lee. As one source working on the Utah race at the conservative nonprofit Freedom Works tells me, "Bennett's response to his [primary] challenge was to thumb his nose at the tea partiers, but Hatch has spent two years working them, talking to them, and showing up at their meetings."

* I ACKNOWLEDGE THAT WITH ALL HIS FAULTS IT WON'T BE A DISASTER IF HATCH WINS.

And certainly Mr. Hatch's voting record for two years has been pristinely conservative.

He voted "no" on the debt-ceiling extension, the auto bailouts and sugar subsidies.

He's a leading opponent of the Law of the Sea Treaty, an assault on national sovereignty that conservatives loathe.

Mr. Hatch has also won endorsements of major conservatives like Sarah Palin, who in other races such as Indiana has opposed incumbent powers, and favored long shots—for instance, the successful Deb Fischer in Nebraska. (Mr. Hatch defended Ms. Palin when she was running for vice president, a good deed she evidently never forgot.)

Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and a leading voice in the tea party movement, has also been a champion of Mr. Hatch, because he was an indefatigable defender of her husband during his Senate confirmation hearing in 1991.

Perhaps the most important endorsement of all comes from the most popular politician in Utah today, Mitt Romney.

* WHAT AN ASS. AGAIN, FOLKS... TELLS YA ALL YA NEED TO KNOW ABOUT OL' MITT.

One thing is certain: Every incumbent Republican senator will be watching Utah with fear and trepidation on Tuesday. Elections like this keep Republicans from straying too far away from the limited-government principles that GOP voters are demanding.

* WELL... (*SHRUG*)

June 22, 2012 at 7:55 PM

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