Saturday, July 14, 2012

Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., July 14 & 15, 2012


Or... in Harriman... or... wherever!

Posted by at

7 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://news.yahoo.com/alaska-sues-block-low-sulfur-fuel-requirement-ships-025940611.html

The state of Alaska sued the Obama administration on Friday to block environmental regulations that would require ships sailing in southern Alaska waters to use low-sulfur fuel.

* KEEP READING, FOLKS... THIS ONE IS GONNA BLOW YOUR MINDS!

The lawsuit faults the EPA, the Department of Homeland Security and others for using a marine treaty amendment as the basis for the new federal regulations without waiting for ratification of that amendment by the U.S. Senate.

* IN OTHER WORDS, FOLKS... (*PAUSE*)... THIS LATEST BIT OF ENVIRONMENTAL EXTREMISM HASN'T BEEN AUTHORIZED BY CONGRESS! THIS "TREATY" THESE MORONS SUPPOSEDLY BASE THEIR AUTHORITY TO REGULATE UPON HASN'T BEEN RATIFIED!

* FOLKS... THIS IS YET ANOTHER ATTEMPTED END RUN AROUND THE CONSTITUTION!

The Alaska Department of Law said in a statement that the low-sulfur-fuel requirement would be costly, jacking up prices for products shipped by marine vessel and harming Alaska's cruise industry.

"Alaska relies heavily on maritime traffic, both for goods shipped to and from the state, and for the cruise ship passengers who support thousands of Alaskan jobs," Alaska Attorney General Michael Geraghty said in a statement.

"There are reasonable and equally effective alternatives for the Secretary and the EPA to consider which would still protect the environment but dramatically reduce the severe impact these regulations will have on Alaskan jobs and families."

Totem Ocean Trailer Express, a major shipper operating in Alaska, estimates that the move to low-sulfur fuel will increase its costs by 8%, Geraghty said.

* AGAIN, FOLKS... OBAMA WANTS FUEL COSTS HIGH TO "DISCOURAGE" USE OF FUEL. OF COURSE THIS DOESN'T EFFECT THE RICH, BECAUSE... WELL... THEY'RE RICH - THEY CAN AFFORD FUEL WHATEVER THE PRICE! THE POLITICIANS? THEY TRAVEL ON THE TAXPAYER'S DIME - THAT AND ON THEIR "CONTRIBUTOR'S" DIMES!

The treaty amendment at issue is a 2010 agreement under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, or MARPOL. The United States has signed onto MARPOL, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has accepted the 2010 amendment.

* AGAIN... (*SIGH*)... THERE'S THIS SMALL MATTER OF MADAM CLINTON'S "ACCEPTANCE" HAVING NO FORCE IN LAW! THE CONSTITUTION REQUIRES SENATE RATIFICATION - NOT THE SECRETARY OF STATE'S "APPROVAL!"

Domestic enforcement of the amendment is not permitted without ratification by two-thirds of the U.S. Senate, Assistant Alaska Attorney General Seth Beausang said.

* DUH!

* FOLKS... THE PATTERN CONTINUES TO EXPAND...

July 14, 2012 at 10:40 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://news.investors.com/article/618118/201207140908/rob-portman-weekly-remarks-jobs-debt-spending.htm

* THE ABOVE LINK IS TO A "POLITICAL" SPEECH BY SEN. ROB PORTMAN. USUALLY I WOULDN'T BOTHER... BUT FRANKLY... THE GUY IS RIGHT AND I CAN'T FIND ANYTHING TO DISAGREE WITH IN WHAT HE'S OUTLINED.

* AGREE...? DISAGREE...?

July 14, 2012 at 11:11 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/israel_on_the_outs_again_U3SLVPX0LjPG4V8ojjqnpN

If there’s one nation on Earth that knows what it is to be a victim of terrorism — and how best to combat it — it’d be Israel.

So you’d think.

Unless you’re the Obama administration.

Once again, Israel was excluded from one of Team Obama’s pet projects — the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum, a group of 29 nations that met this week in Spain.

Israel was not only not invited — Turkey objected — it also was completely ignored.

In remarks to the group, Undersecretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights Maria Otero didn’t include Israel in a list of terror victims.

* FOLKS... THIS IS THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION... THIS IS HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON...

(*SHRUG*)

For its part, Israel hasn’t complained publicly about what can only be seen as a very clear snub.

But the message is clear: Israel, long the world’s chief target of international terrorism, increasingly is being written out of the global discussion of that very issue.

That Washington should be complicit in this effort to isolate and marginalize Israel is ominous indeed.

July 14, 2012 at 11:50 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304373804577521432823203066.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

* READ IT AND WEEP. JUST READ IT... AND CRY FOR OUR COUNTRY.

July 14, 2012 at 11:57 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304373804577525661618527718.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTTopStories

Merchants have to pay so-called swipe fees - which are invisible to consumers - every time they swipe a credit card for payment. Consequently, accepting credit cards generally increases the cost of doing business, for retailers, doctors, gas stations and many other types of firms.

After labor costs, swipe fees are among the biggest costs of running a typical retail business.

Don't be shocked if your favorite retailer, doctor or restaurant soon asks you to pay an extra 2.5% or 3%, just for using a credit card.

Merchants big and small settled litigation against Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. Friday.

As part of that settlement, the credit-card issuers agreed to abolish the no-surcharge rule.

As a result, merchants will be able to tack on extra fees when shoppers pay with plastic.

* GOOD! THIS SHOULD BRING CASH PRICES DOWN! (THAT'S MY EXPERIENCE FROM BUYING GAS IN NJ WHERE STATE LAW ALLOWS DUEL PRICING VIA "CASH DISCOUNT.")

The settlement covers credit cards only. Fees that merchants pay for debit-card acceptance have already been cut in half as a result of a provision in the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul law that took effect last year.

* WHY SHOULD GOVERNMENT HAVE THE RIGHT TO INTERFERE WITH PRIVATE CONTRACTS IN THE FIRST PLACE? IF IT COSTS A BUSINESS MONEY TO ACCEPT CHECKS AND DEBIT CARDS THAN THE BUSINESS SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO RECOUP THESE FEES - OR NOT - AS IT CHOOSES!

July 14, 2012 at 1:18 PM
William R. Barker said...

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

http://www.humanevents.com/2012/07/13/pat-buchanan-salad-days-of-the-public-sector-are-over/

San Bernardino, Calif., has now followed Stockton into bankruptcy.

* DEMOCRATS... (*SIGH*)

Harrisburg and Scranton, Pa., and Jefferson County, Ala., home to Birmingham, are already there to welcome them.

* DEMOCRATS... (TWO OUT OF THREE...)

Detroit has been taken into receivership by Michigan. A plan under discussion is to level a fourth of the city and reconvert it into the pasture and farmland it used to be a century ago.

* DEMOCRATS...

On the Web, one may find a pictorial tale of two cities: Hiroshima, a smoking flattened ruin in 1945, now a beautiful gleaming metropolis. And Detroit, forge and furnace of democracy in 1945, today resembling Dresden after Bomber Command paid its visit.

* IN ALL SERIOUSNESS, FOLKS... BY AND LARGE WHEREVER DEMOCRATS CONTROL GOVERNMENT, SOONER OR LATTER DISASTER FOLLOWS...

* YEP. PLENTY OF CORRUPT, INCOMPETENT REPUBLICANS OUT THERE TOO! BUT I'M TALKING THE PREPONDERANCE OF EVIDENCE...

(*SHRUG*)

Other American cities are exploring bankruptcy to escape from under the mountain of debt they have amassed or to get out of contracts that an earlier generation of politicians negotiated. No longer shameful, bankruptcy is now seen as an option for U.S. cities. The crisis of the public sector has come to River City.

What happened to us?

* WE'RE NOT LONGER A REPUBLIC. WE'RE A DEMOCRACY. THE FOUNDERS WARNED US...

(*SHRUG*)

* TO BE CONTINUED...

July 15, 2012 at 10:24 AM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)

In the Reagan-Clinton prosperity...

* LET'S CLARIFY: CLINTON'S SECOND TERM ENDED IN TANDEM WITH A RECESSION - THE BURSTING OF THE TECH BUBBLE. LET'S NOT BUY INTO REVISIONIST HISTORY CONCERNING THE CLINTON YEARS.

...officials earned popularity by making commitments that could be met only if the good times lasted forever.

They added new beneficiaries to old programs and launched new ones.

They hired more bureaucrats, aides, teachers, firemen, cops.

Government’s share of the labor force soared to 22.5 million. This is almost three times the number in the public sector when JFK took the oath of office.

* AND EVEN BACK THEN GOVERNMENT WASN'T EXACTLY TINY!

These employees were guaranteed job security and high salaries, given subsidized health care, and promised early retirement and pensions that the private sector could not match. [And therefore...] The balance between the private and public sectors shifted.

As a share of the U.S. population, the number of taxpayers fell, as tax consumers — the beneficiaries of government programs and government employees who run those programs — rose. The top 1% now pays 40% of the income tax. The top 10% pays 70%.

The bottom half, scores of millions of workers, pay nothing. They ride free.

* THIS IS NOT MY AMERICA. IS IT YOURS?

U.S. cities depend on property and sales taxes. But property tax revenue has fallen with the collapse of the housing market. Sales tax revenue has fallen as a result of the recession that has kept the consumers out of the malls.

Revenues down, cities and counties face a choice. Raise taxes, or cut payrolls and services. But if taxes rise or workers are laid off and services decline, Americans in our mobile society move across city and state lines, as they are moving from California to Colorado, Nevada and Arizona. This does not end the crisis, it exacerbates it.

(*NOD*)

Keynesianism is not working.

Obama gave us an $800 billion stimulus and four deficits totaling $5 trillion. The Fed tripled the money supply and put interest rates at near zero. The banks are flush with cash. But the engine will not turn over.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

What about supply-side tax cuts?

(*ROLLING MY EYES*)

[W]ith the Bush tax cuts still in place, taxes are generating the smallest share of gross domestic product in decades. How much bigger a deficit should we run?

* SIMPLISTIC REPUBLICAN POLICIES ARE JUST AS BAD AS SIMPLISTIC DEMOCRAT SCHEMES!

Liberal economists are saying, deficits be damned, print money and spend. With Republicans blocking tax hikes and Democrats resisting cuts in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, all eyes turn to the Fed.

As Milton Friedman said, “Inflation is the one form of taxation that can be imposed without legislation.”

* FOLKS... (*SIGH*)... WE HAVE STAGFLATION. WHY DOESN'T THE AVERAGE AMERICAN RECOGNIZE THIS? SIMPLE - THERE'S A MEDIA BLACKOUT. (YOU DON'T SEE THE RETURN OF THE "MISERY INDEX" BEING FEATURED ON THE NIGHTLY NEWS, DO YOU?)

* FOLKS... AS BAD AS THE AVERAGE DOLT THINKS THINGS ARE... (*PAUSE*)... YOU FOLKS - MY REGULAR READERS - KNOW THAT THINGS ARE FAR WORSE THAN GOVERNMENT AND ITS MEDIA LAPDOGS DARE REPORT.

July 15, 2012 at 10:25 AM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)