Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, July 25, 2012


Ahh...


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15 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/virginia-politics/2012/jul/25/tdmain01-romney-camp-asks-va-to-probe-voter-forms-ar-2081517/

Mitt Romney's campaign is asking Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to launch an investigation into voter-registration forms that are being sent to Virginia residents and addressed to...

(*DRUM ROLL*)

...deceased relatives, children, family pets and others ineligible to vote.

(*SMIRK*)

The "errant" mailings from the Washington-based non-profit group Voter Participation Center have befuddled many Virginia residents, leading to hundreds of complaints.

The organization has been mass-mailing the forms — pre-populated with key information such as names and addresses — to primarily Democratic-leaning voting blocs such as young adults, unmarried women, African-Americans and Latinos.

(*SMIRK*)

* FOLKS... SMIRKS ASIDE... THIS AIN'T FUNNY. AS I'VE BEEN SAYING ALL ALONG, THE DEMS WILL LIE, CHEAT, AND STEAL IN ORDER TO WIN BY HOOK OR CROOK.

* ANYONE WHO INSTINCTIVELY TELLS THEMSELVES "BOTH SIDES DO IT" NEEDS TO DO A BIT OF RESEARCH. BOTH SIDES DON'T "BOTH DO IT" IN ANYWHERE LIKE THE SAME NUMBERS. VOTER FRAUD IS PRIMARILY A DEMOCRAT TACTIC THAT GOES ON IN DEMOCRAT-CONTROLLED CITIES AND STATES.

Justin Riemer, the Virginia State Board of Elections' deputy secretary, said forms have been sent by the group to deceased infants, out-of-state family members, and non-U.S. citizens, among others.

In a letter this month, the State Board of Elections asked the group to cease pre-populating their forms and raised questions about how the group was obtaining lists of registered voters, citing the errant forms.

Riemer noted that pre-populating the forms violates rules set forth in the state code and the Virginia Constitution requiring that voters fill out their own forms.

* AND THIS IS VIRGINIA! CAN YOU IMAGINE ILLINOIS... CHICAGO... OTHER DEMOCRATIC PARTY STRONGHOLDS?

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

July 25, 2012 at 11:29 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2012/07/cia-finds-stack-of-overlooked-documents-on-bin-laden-129985.html

The CIA recently "discovered" a "4 to 5 inch stack" of documents that relate to the spy agency's cooperation with the makers of a forthcoming Hollywood film on the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, according to a new court filing.

* "DISCOVERED...???"

The documents about CIA dealings with the film now titled "Zero Dark Thirty" were "inadvertently overlooked" in response to a Freedom of Information Act request and lawsuit filed by the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, Justice Department attorneys said in a motion filed in federal court in Washington Tuesday afternoon.

* "INADVERTENTLY OVERLOOKED...???"

[R]ecords, obtained through the Judicial Watch suit, showed that even as top Pentagon officials were complaining that too much information was being disclosed about the raid that killed bin Laden, a senior DoD official promised the filmmakers a Navy SEAL team contact who could offers details about the raid.

Obama has forcefully denied that White House officials deliberately leaked classified national security information, though the administration did declassify some information related to ot obtained in the May 2011 raid.

* "OT...???" OPERATIONAL TACTICS...???

A political firestorm over leaks broke out in May of this year in part due to documents the CIA and Pentagon released about their contacts with "Zero Dark Thirty" filmmakers Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal. ... CIA documents showed that Boal was given a tour of a mock-up used to plan the raid on the compound in Pakistan, but a CIA spokeswoman said in an internal e-mail that the agency's contacts with the filmmakers should be kept "a bit quiet" due to "sensitivities" about the selective nature of such access. ... The bin Laden raid movie, "Zero Dark Thirty," had originally been due out from Sony in October. However, after critics complained that it was a thinly-disguised effort to boost Obama's re-election chances, the studio moved the release date to December 19.

The discovery of the additional records, which are being processed but were not immediately released, could fuel Republicans' attacks on what they say is the Obama Administration's pattern of using national-security information to burnish President Barack Obama's reputation and his re-election standing.

* "REPUBLICANS' ATTACKS...???" EVEN DEMOCRATS ON THE HOUSE AND SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEES AND VARIOUS MILITARY COMMITTEES HAVE BLASTED OBAMA FOR THIS! NICE TRY, POLITICO!

(*SNORT*) (*SNICKER*)

Likely GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney hit that theme hard on Tuesday in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. "This conduct is contemptible. It betrays our national interest. It compromises our men and women in the field,” Romney said. “Whoever provided classified information to the media, seeking political advantage for the administration, must be exposed, dismissed, and punished. The time for stonewalling is over.”

* ANYTHING ANYONE DISAGREES WITH...? Hmm...?!?!

July 25, 2012 at 11:54 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.ocregister.com/news/police-365157-shootings-officer.html

Police battled "pockets of unrest" in downtown Anaheim, California...

* YEP. ANAHEIM... AS IN WHERE DISNEYLAND IS LOCATED... (*SIGH*)

...late Tuesday night, hours after a large crowd attempting to get inside City Hall broke into violent protest.

With more than 20 people under arrest, police reported restoring order Wednesday morning after a fourth day of clashes between officers and protesters angry over two fatal officer-involved shootings in Anaheim last weekend.

* "PEOPLE...?" "PROTESTERS...?" HOW'BOUT "ANIMALS!" HOW'BOUT "RIOTERS!" JEEZUS FRIGGIN' CHRIST... WHAT'S IT GONNA TAKE...?!?!

At least five people were reported hurt in the unrest, with crowds setting fires, smashing windows and throwing rocks and other projectiles at officers in riot gear who fired non-lethal rounds at demonstrators refusing to disperse.

* SETTING FIRES... SMASHING WINDOWS... THROWING ROCKS...

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

Earlier in the evening, four or five men were seen filling 1-gallon glass bottles with gasoline and placing rags in them at an Arco Station at Anaheim Boulevard and Broadway, said Jon Dunton, a legal representative for the business. Police were called and directed employees to shut down the pumps.

* WOW...

July 25, 2012 at 12:06 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2012/07/5987?utm_source=RTA+Gregg+Rule+of+Law&utm_campaign=winstorg&utm_medium=email

Close attention to particular decisions by European institutions and governments before and during the present economic crisis suggests that many have significantly infringed the rule of law.

Beginning in the late 1990s, several EU governments chose to ignore the 1992 Maastricht Treaty’s legally binding criteria concerning the public finances of euro-member aspirants.

Article 121.1 of Maastricht required such countries to have (1) no more than a 60% debt-to-GDP ratio, and (2) a ratio of annual government deficit to GDP that did not exceed 3% at the end of the preceding fiscal year. Had these criteria been adhered to, nations ranging from Italy to Belgium should have been excluded from adopting the euro.

They were, however, permitted entry.

In 2001, Greece was allowed to join the eurozone, despite having a debt-to-GDP ratio exceeding 100%.

This pattern of ignoring particular EU treaty obligations — which, by definition, constitute a good portion of EU law — was replicated in the early 2000s when Portugal, Germany, and France violated the 3% deficit ceiling upon eurozone members. Such offenders were supposed to be subjected to what were called “excessive deficit procedures.” While proceedings were begun against Portugal, and later Greece (though they were never completed), calls for the same procedures to be applied to Berlin and Paris were blatantly disregarded by the European Council of Ministers following political pressures from Germany and France.

The obvious inconsistency in applying existing law to similar cases was striking. Indeed the European Court of Justice decreed in 2004 that the Council of Ministers’ decision not to enact proceedings against Germany and France infringed European law.

That ruling, however, also was ignored by the Council and EU member states.

No one should therefore have been surprised that by 2005, five of the then-twelve euro area countries had or were planning deficits above 3%. Seven of them also had debt-to-GDP ratios above the 60% figure (with two having debt ratios above 100% of GDP).

With the onset of the financial crisis in 2007, treaty breaches became more explicit as many eurozone members engaged in heavy deficit spending in a (forlorn) attempt to mitigate recession and spark growth.

Even more worrying, however, was the European Central Bank’s decision in 2010 to start purchasing the sovereign bonds of euro-member states on secondary markets in order to forestall significant slippage of bond prices.

How this can be reconciled with Article 123.1 of the 2007 Lisbon Treaty that formally prohibits the ECB from purchasing debt instruments from any EU institution or government whatsoever (national, regional, or local) never has been clarified.

Even less clear is the legality of the decision of the EU and member states from 2010 onward to provide direct financial assistance to countries such as Greece and Portugal.

(Article 125 of Maastricht stated that neither the EU nor any member state was liable for or could assume “the commitments of central governments, regional, local or other public authorities, other bodies governed by public law, or public undertakings of any member-state.”)

In all the instances above, European governments and institutions made choices to adopt policies that are, at a minimum, difficult to square with existing EU law.

One measure of a society’s commitment to the rule of law is whether its public institutions resort to “extra-legal” means in times of crisis. By that standard, several European supranational institutions and governments seem to have inched toward something that Europeans, ranging from Aristotle and Cicero, to Thomas Aquinas and Thomas More, have consistently underscored as unworthy of civilized societies: the rule of men.

July 25, 2012 at 12:57 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444025204577547141392397120.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopOpinion

Last night New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg made an extraordinarily dangerous and radical pronouncement.

* AND THIS IS THE FIRST I'M HEARING OF IT!

He was appearing on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight" when the host asked him: "Why do so many Americans not feel angry enough to demand further gun control?"

Here's his answer:

"Well, I would take it one step further. I don't understand why the police officers across this country don't stand up collectively and say, we're going to go on strike. We're not going to protect you. Unless you, the public, through your legislature, do what's required to keep us safe."

* BLOOMBERG SHOULD RESIGN - OR BE IMPEACHED AND REMOVED FROM OFFICE.

The Puffington Host reports that Bloomberg is not standing behind his statement:

"According to a tweet from New York Times reporter Kate Taylor, Bloomberg tried to walk that statement back on Tuesday. 'I don't mean literally go on strike,' Bloomberg said, according to Taylor. 'In fact in New York they can't go on strike - there's a law against it.'"

* AGAIN... HE SAID WHAT HE SAID. HE SHOULD RESIGN OR BE IMPEACHED.

[T]he context of Bloomberg's remarks makes clear that he did mean the phrase literally.

Merriam-Webster defines strike as "a work stoppage by a body of workers to enforce compliance with demands made on an employer." Bloomberg said he wants police to declare "collectively": "We're not going to protect you. Unless you, the public, through your legislature, do what's required to keep us safe."

* YEP. PRETTY FRIGGIN' LITERAL! CAN'T GET MORE SPECIFIC THAN THAT!

July 25, 2012 at 1:14 PM
William R. Barker said...

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

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/312211/huma-abedin-s-muslim-brotherhood-ties-andrew-c-mccarthy

Despite mounting evidence of close ties between the Muslim Brotherhood and Huma Abedin, Secretary of State Clinton’s close aide, Republican congressional leaders — particularly Senator John McCain and House Speaker John Boehner — continue to target their ire not at the State Department but at Representative Michele Bachmann.

* THAT'S BECAUSE MCCAIN AND BOEHNER ARE SCUMBAGS. (YEAH... YEAH... AN AD HOM... BUT ANY REGULAR READER OF THIS BLOG IS WELL AWARE OF WHY I VIEW MCCAIN AND BOEHNER AS I DO.)

Representative Bachmann is one of five House conservatives who have raised concerns about Muslim Brotherhood infiltration of our government. Glenn Beck reported Tuesday that GOP leadership is trying to extort an apology out of Bachmann by threatening to boot her from the House Intelligence Committee if she fails to submit.

* I BELIEVE BECK.

* SO... RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU'VE EVER HEARD OF "THE UNION FOR GOOD."

[T]he Union for Good (sometimes referred to as the “Union of Good”) is formally designated a terrorist organization under American law.

* SO... ANYONE EVER HEAR OF SHEIKH YUSUF AL-QARADAWI...?

Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi {is[ the Muslim Brotherhood’s chief sharia jurist...

(*PURSED LIPS*)

Sheikh Qaradawi is a promoter of jihadist terror. His fatwas endorse terrorist attacks against American personnel in Iraq as well as suicide bombing — by both men and women — against Israel. He is a leading supporter of Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestinian branch.

He also runs an umbrella organization called...

* CAN YOU GUESS?

(*SMIRK*)

...the Union for Good.

(*SMIRK*)

Huma Abedin’s mother, Saleha, who is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s female division (the “Muslim Sisterhood”), is a major figure in not one but two Union for Good components. The first is the International Islamic Council for Dawa and Relief (IICDR). It is banned in Israel for supporting Hamas under the auspices of the Union for Good. Then there’s the International Islamic Committee for Woman and Child (IICWC) — an organization that Dr. Saleha Abedin has long headed. Dr. Abedin’s IICWC describes itself as part of the IICDR. And wouldn’t you know it, the IICWC charter was written by none other than . . . Sheikh Qaradawi, in conjunction with several self-proclaimed members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

(*SHRUG*)

* TO BE CONTINUED...

July 25, 2012 at 1:41 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)

Clearly, these significant Muslim Brotherhood connections are of scant interest to Speaker Boehner, who has decided the problem is not the Brotherhood connections but the people who are shedding light on the Brotherhood connections.

* AS FOR MCCAIN... (READ ON...)

In McCainWorld, these are what are known as “a few unspecified and unsubstantiated associations.”

(*SMIRK*) (*SNICKER*)

* YA EVER HEAR OF SIHAM AL-QARADAWI? SHE'S THE DAUGHTER OF SHEIKH YUSUF AL-QARADAWI.

In the 2010–2011 academic year...[a] Fulbright scholarship was awarded to a "lucky" chemistry student from Qatar. Her name...

* COM'ON, FOLKS... ONE GUESS!

...Siham al-Qaradawi.

(*RUEFUL CHUCKLE*)

(Now, besides despising America and having lots of global academic connections - at least in countries where he’s not banned - the sheikh happens to be a very wealthy man; the sharia-advisory business can be very profitable. And while the sheikh’s daughter is said to be an exceptional chemist... the world is full of exceptional chemists. How is it that Qaradawi’s daughter gets the State Department prize?)

Obviously, Huma Abedin does not make Obama-administration or State Department policy. Policy is made by President Obama and Secretary Clinton, and they hardly needed Ms. Abedin (aka: Mrs. Anthony Weiner) in order to have pro-Islamist leanings. Nevertheless, since Secretary Clinton’s tenure began, with Huma Abedin serving as a top adviser, the United States has aligned itself with the Muslim Brotherhood in myriad ways.

To name just a few:

Our government reversed the policy against formal contacts with the Brotherhood; funded Hamas; continued funding Egypt even after the Brotherhood won the elections; dropped an investigation of Brotherhood organizations in the U.S. that were previously identified as co-conspirators in the case of the Holy Land Foundation financing Hamas; hosted Brotherhood delegations in the United States; issued a visa to a member of the Islamic Group (a designated terrorist organization) and hosted him in Washington because he is part of the Brotherhood’s parliamentary coalition in Egypt; announced that Israel should go back to its indefensible 1967 borders; excluded Israel, the world’s leading target of terrorism, from a counterterrorism forum in which the State Department sought to “partner” with Islamist governments that do not regard attacks on Israel as terrorism; and pressured Egypt’s pro-American military government to surrender power to the anti-American Muslim Brotherhood parliament and president just elected by Egypt’s predominantly anti-American population.

(*SIGH*)

July 25, 2012 at 1:41 PM
William R. Barker said...

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

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/312206/polls-and-party-affiliation-michael-g-franc

How would the media have reacted if the headline on the most recent Washington Post/ABC News poll had been “Romney Up 5 over Obama; Enjoys Clear Edge on Handling of Most Policy Issues”?

Imagine, moreover, the hyper-spin if the poll had also found that close to 60% of Americans disapprove of the president’s overall job performance and that similar super-majorities disapprove of his handling of such core issues as the economy, health care, and immigration.

The psychology of the entire presidential race would shift in a nanosecond.

Well, of course, that wasn’t the case.

The Washington Post/ABC poll found the two candidates in a dead heat — 47%to 47%.

Obama’s job-approval rating remained stuck at 47%, and his disapproval checked in at a disappointing, but politically manageable, 49%.

Slightly more than half of Americans disapproved of his handling of the major policy issues.

But lost in all the analysis is that the poll may have included far too many Democrats and too few Republicans in its sample; 33% of those surveyed were Democrats, and only 24% were Republicans.

That cuts against the voluminous data on partisan affiliation collected by the Gallup Organization.

* FUNNY, THAT, HUH? (*SMIRK*)

In its 2012 American Values Survey, the Pew Research Center identified a new and profound dividing line in American politics. “Americans’ values and basic beliefs,” Pew concluded, “are more polarized along partisan lines than at any point in the past 25 years.” Partisan identification, Pew added, “has now become the single largest fissure in American society, with the values gap between Republicans and Democrats greater than gender, age, race or class divides.”

Pollsters should bend over backwards to make sure their sampling methodology reflects this insight. Over-sample the adherents of one party or the other, Pew’s research tells us, and you might as well toss the entire poll onto the trash heap.

Perhaps this is why President Obama’s standing in the polls is higher than one might expect, given the steady stream of negative economic news. Pollsters may be getting this all-important criterion of valid polling — the correct ratio of Republicans to Democrats — wrong.

* TO BE CONTINUED...

July 25, 2012 at 2:12 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)

According to Gallup, Democrats out-numbered Republicans nationally by up to nine percentage points for a considerable spell. But over the past few years, the GOP has erased that advantage. In the most recent Gallup data, from June, the two parties are at absolute parity, with 30% of Americans identifying themselves as Democrats, 30% as Republicans, and 39% as independents.

This partisan parity remains largely in place even when Gallup adds “leaners” (independents who lean toward one party or the other) to the GOP and Democratic numbers.

Reconfiguring the Post poll to reflect Gallup’s findings would dramatically alter the top-line numbers.

Romney’s strength would rise significantly as Obama’s fell.

Romney, it turns out, may actually be ahead by as much as four or five points.

Other widely cited polls have the same unfortunate tendency to oversample Democrats.

* SHEER COINCIDENCE, I'M SURE! (*SNICKER*)

Case in point: the Kaiser Health Tracking Poll. It often finds majority support for ObamaCare and, more generally, widespread public support for an aggressive governmental role in health care. Its most recent survey found not only that voters were happy with the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold ObamaCare but also that a majority (53%) wants to either keep the law as it is or expand it.

If this sounds odd and out of sync with numerous other polls on ObamaCare, consider that Democrats outnumbered Republicans in the Kaiser sample by more than ten percentage points — 32.1% to 21.9%.

Oops.

(*SMIRK*) (*ROLLING MY EYES*)

* FOLKS... IN ALL SERIOUSNESS... THE MSM IS GONNA DO ALL THEY CAN - INCLUDING DELIBERATELY UTILIZING FLAWED POLLS - TO BOOST OBAMA AND THE DEMS. BE AWARE OF THIS!

So, Mr. or Ms. Conservative, before you scratch your head at the next poll that has your liberal cousin doing handsprings, check first to see whether the ratio of Republicans to Democrats is close to what Gallup has found. If it isn’t, pay no mind. It’s just another exercise in “Garbage in, garbage out.”

July 25, 2012 at 2:12 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/312196/obamacare-no-free-lunches-michael-tanner

The president loves to cite the fact that college students are now able to stay on their parents’ policies until age 26.

This has undoubtedly made it easier for some students to get or keep insurance coverage. But the additional coverage is not free.

In fact, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, the cost of continuing coverage from 18 to 26 could run as high as $3,400 per child per year. Much of that additional cost is passed back to companies that provide insurance coverage to dependents of their employees.

The predictable result: Companies are dropping dependent coverage altogether.

* OH... AND YOU'RE GONNA LOVE THIS ONE, FOLKS... (READ ON!)

Among them is one of the largest union-administered health-insurance funds in New York, SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, which is now dropping dependent coverage for 30,000 workers. Ironically, the fund had previously covered nearly 6,000 workers’ children, some up to age 23. Those students, along with other spouses and children, are now out of luck.

* OOPS!

And what about students whose parents don’t receive dependent coverage at work, and who can’t afford to pay the additional cost themselves? Many of them used to be able to get coverage through their college. But new rules and regulations under ObamaCare are forcing many colleges to discontinue their coverage or to dramatically raise premiums.

* OOPS!

Lenoir-Rhyne University of Hickory, N.C., the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash., and Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, are all dropping school-sponsored plans starting in the fall. The colleges said that Obamacare’s regulations would have driven up students’ premiums tenfold. And, Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kan., was forced to raise the premium on the plan it offered students from $445 to more than $2,000 to pay for the new level of coverage required by the health-care law.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

The Obama administration’s requirement that insurance include contraceptive coverage is also causing Catholic universities to drop student coverage. Already, Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, and Ave Maria University in Florida have recently dropped their student plans.

(*SIGH*)

ObamaCare has not only failed to curb rising insurance costs, it has already added 2%–3% to premium prices.

* IF ONLY! OUR PREMIUMS ARE JUMPING 17% THIS COME AUGUST!

Nor should we forget that across the country there are people who are not being hired or, worse, are being laid off, because employers cannot afford the cost of insurance...

(*PURSED LIPS*)

These unemployed workers are more of the unseen victims of ObamaCare.

(*NOD*)

This is a lesson that goes well beyond ObamaCare. Politicians often act as though government programs are cost free. President Obama, in particular, seems to believe that government intervention comes without any down side. Regulations do only good. Taxes don’t harm anyone — except maybe a few rich people, and they don’t count anyway. But there are always costs and unexpected consequences. Those costs and consequences may not be as easily seen as the goodies that government distributes, but they are no less real.

July 25, 2012 at 2:36 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443437504577547810527774628.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLESecond

Eric Holder's "Justice" Department is widening its crusade against voter ID laws, beginning an investigation this week into Pennsylvania, a perennial battleground state with a new law requiring voters to present photo identification at the polls.

While challenges to states' Voter ID law have been making similar headlines in Florida and Texas, this is the first time the Justice Department may challenge a voter ID law in a state not required by the 1965 Voting Rights Acts to get federal pre-clearance for changes to its voting laws.

July 25, 2012 at 3:29 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/story/2012-07-25/buckyballs-ban/56481316/1

The Consumer Product Safety Commission Wednesday said it has a lawsuit against the maker of the popular magnetic desk toy Buckyballs, as part of its four-year response to product safety issues.

* OUR FEDERAL FUCKING GOVERNMENT IN ACTION...!

On Wednesday, Maxfield and Oberton, maker of Buckyballs issued a response to the CPSC lawsuit headlined "Thank you for trying to drive a $50 million New York-based consumer product company out of business."

(*CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

* GOOD FOR THEM!

Some major retailers, including Amazon, Brookstone and Urban Outfitters, have agreed to stop selling these and similar products because of the risks posed to children who swallow the tiny balls...

* FOLKS... IT'S OUT OF FUCKING CONTROL! HOW MANY PENNIES... NICKELS... DIMES... AND QUARTERS ARE SWALLOWED BY SMALL CHILDREN EACH YEAR? HMM? PERHAPS THE FEDS SHOULD SUE THEMSELVES!

Dozens of children have ingested the tiny magnets in Buckyballs and similar products sold by competitors. At least 12 of the ingestions involved Buckyballs and many required surgeries, the CPSC says.

* "DOZENS...?!?!" "AT LEAST 12...?!?!" WE'RE A NATION OF THREE-HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN MILLION FUCKING PEOPLE...!!!

[T]eenagers have also swallowed them when using them to pretend to have lip or nose piercings, Wolfson says.

* CONGRATUFUCKINLATIONS! DARWIN AWARD WINNERS - EACH AND EVERY FUCKING ONE!

* AGAIN... TO REITERATE...

On Wednesday, Maxfield and Oberton, maker of Buckyballs issued a response to the CPSC lawsuit headlined "Thank you for trying to drive a $50 million New York-based consumer product company out of business."

* THIS IS FUCKING OBAMA!

The company release also alleged that the CPSC alerted retailers to the agency's lawsuit before "giving the company a chance to defend itself and its products."

* YEP. THAT SOUNDS LIKE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN THE AGE OF BUSHBAMA...!!!

* READ THE FULL ARTICLE, FOLKS, AND THEN APPLY COMMON FUCKING SENSE TO DEMOLISH THE GOVERNMENT'S ARGUMENTS.

July 25, 2012 at 5:49 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jul/25/house-passes-ron-pauls-audit-fed-bill/

[T]he House on Wednesday approved a bill that would let Congress’s chief investigators conduct a full audit of the Federal Reserve’s shrouded decision-making process.

The overwhelming 327-98 vote...

* WHO THE FUCK WOULD VOTE AGAINST THIS BILL...?!?! APPARENTLY 98 HOUSE MEMBERS DID!

...sends the bill to the Senate where Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, has previously expressed support for an audit — though it’s unclear he’ll carve out time for the legislation this year.

* LET'S KEEP OUR EYE ON MITCH MCCONNELL. I'LL TRY AND KEEP AN OPEN MIND. ALSO LET'S SEE WHAT ROMNEY DOES.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

Opposition in Congress came chiefly from Democrats...

* FIGURES. BUT, STILL... "CHIEFLY" ISN'T THE SAME AS "ENTIRELY."

Congress established the Federal Reserve nearly a century ago. The system, which consists of a board of governors and 12 regional banks, act as lenders of last resort to the country’s banking system...

* BULLSHIT! THE FED IS THE PRIMARY BUYER OF TREASURY DEBT! FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES THE FED IS THE LENDER OF "FIRST RESORT" AS MUCH AS "LAST RESORT."

...and it is charged both with fighting inflation and with promoting economic growth and employment.

* THE FED'S *POLICIES* ARE TO DELIBERATELY STOKE THE FIRES OF INFLATION! AGAIN... THE "CHARGE" THEY'VE BEEN GIVEN IS NOT WHAT THEY'VE BEEN DOING! INDEED, THEY'VE BEEN DOING THE OPPOSITE!

* STILL HAVING TROUBLE FINDING THE OFFICIAL VOTE TALLY, BUT APPARENTLY ONLY ONE REPUBLICAN - ROBERT TURNER (R-NY) VOTED WITH THE MAJORITY OF THE DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS AGAINST THE BILL. DEMOCRATS VOTED AGAINST THE BILL BY A MARGIN OF 97 AGAINST AND ONLY 89 FOR.

* FOLKS... AGAIN... AS SCUMMY AS THE GOP IS... THE DEMS ARE FAR, FAR, FAR WORSE.

July 25, 2012 at 6:16 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/07/25/gops-don-young-backs-democrats-hirono-in-unusual-ad/

Republican [in name only] Rep. Don Young of Alaska has filmed a highly unusual ad for Democratic Rep. Mazie Hirono [of Hawaii], who’s running for U.S. Senate and faces not only a Democratic primary opponent but also a Republican in the fall.

* DON YOUNG IS THE POSTER CHILD FOR EVERYTHING THAT'S WRONG WITH THE GOP ESTABLISHMENT. I'M TALKING HIS RECORD, NOT SIMPLY THIS LATEST ALIGNING HIMSELF WITH A LIBERAL DEMOCRAT.

* IF I COULD SNAP MY FINGERS AND "SMITE" YOUNG I WOULD. HE'S THAT BAD. HE'S THE WORST OF THE WORST. LOOK INTO HIS RECORD AND YOU'LL SEE WHAT I MEAN.

It’s a striking ad, not just for the cross-partisan endorsement but for also the two lawmakers’ apparent affection as they play off their partisan differences. ... At the end of the ad the two hug.

The ad is noteworthy for several reasons. It’s rare for a sitting lawmaker of one party to endorse a candidate in the other party. And in this case, Hawaii is a state where GOP leaders hope to snatch a Democratic seat, currently held by Sen. Daniel Akaka, with the candidacy of former Gov. Linda Lingle, though polls suggest that is an uphill battle.

Ms. Hirono’s Democratic primary opponent, Ed Case, is positioning himself as a moderate who is better-positioned than the more liberal Ms. Hirono to defeat Ms. Lingle, and Mr. Young’s endorsement could help her cause.

* YA THINK BOEHNER WILL DENOUNCE YOUNG AS HE DID MICHELLE BACHMANN...? HMM...?

* YA THINK ROMNEY WILL OPEN HIS MOUTH...? HMM...?

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD IN DISGUST*)

July 25, 2012 at 7:01 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/239373-donation-to-manchin-is-new-fodder-in-feud-between-norquist-sen-coburn

Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative anti-tax group...

* ANTI-OVER-TAX... ANTI-IRRESPONSIBLE SPENDING... PRO-REAL TAX REFORM...

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

...is taking shots at Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) for donating to Senate Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

(*SNORT*)

* WOULDN'T IT BE GREAT IF MITCH MCCONNELL WERE TAKING SHOTS AT COBURN... IF MITT ROMNEY WERE TAKING SHOTS AT COBURN...

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD IN DISGUST*)

Grover Norquist, president of the group, noted in a Twitter posting Sunday that Manchin had a 15% rating by the American Conservative Union in 2011.

* JEEZUS...

Coburn told The Hill he gave $250 to Manchin’s campaign on June 27 because his colleague shares his concerns for the long-term interests of the nation.

* AND MANCHIN'S REPUBLICAN OPPONENT DOESN'T...? WELL...?

“I think he votes thinking about the long-term interests of the country. We don’t agree on everything but he’s a good guy,” Coburn said.

* ONE... MORE... TIME...

Manchin had a 15% rating by the American Conservative Union in 2011!

* LISTEN... FOLKS... AS REPUBLICAN SENATORS GO, COBURN IS ONE OF THE GOOD GUYS. BUT HE'S NOT A DEMINT REPUBLICAN. HE'S NOT A RAND PAUL REPUBLICAN. WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE HE'S A GUY WHO WILL PUSH AGAINST THE TIDE, BUT ONLY WITHIN THE LARGER CONTEXT OF WORKING WITH THE GOP ESTABLISHMENT. HE CAN'T BE TRUSTED. IN FACT, HE ONCE LIED TO ME - I HAD HIM ON THE PHONE ON A CALL-IN SHOW AND HE JUST BALDFACED LIED TO ME.

(*SHRUG*)

July 25, 2012 at 7:01 PM

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