Thursday, August 2, 2012

Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, August 2, 2012


Let's start today's newsbites with a high note... literally!

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6 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/01/us-usa-syria-obama-order-idUSBRE8701OK20120801

President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing U.S. support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government, U.S. sources familiar with the matter said.

* OBVIOUSLY "SECRET" NO LONGER.

* AND WHERE IS CONGRESS...???

Some U.S. lawmakers, such as Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, have criticized Obama for moving too slowly to assist the rebels and have suggested the U.S. government become directly involved in arming Assad's opponents.

* AH... BUT WHILE I UNDERSTAND MCCAIN AND GRAHAM HAVE NEVER MET A WAR THEY DIDN'T LIKE, I MEANT "WHERE IS CONGRESS" AS A BODY... AS AN INSTITUTION... AS THE BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT WHICH UNDER THE CONSTITUTI0N SUPPOSEDLY CONTROLS THE NATION'S PURSE STRINGS AND DECIDES WHEN AND WHERE WE GO TO WAR? (WHAT ABOUT ACTUAL CONGRESSIONAL VOTES? AUTHORIZATIONS?)

Other lawmakers have suggested caution, saying too little is known about the many rebel groups.

* NO NAMES ATTACHED? JUST "OTHER LAWMAKERS?" JEEZUS, FOLKS... (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

Obama's order, approved earlier this year and known as an intelligence "finding," broadly permits the CIA and other U.S. agencies to provide support that could help the rebels oust Assad.

* NOTICE YOU DON'T HEAR MUCH ABOUT LIBYA NOWADAYS... FUNNY THAT - HUH? REMEMBER HOW WE "HELPED" THE REBELS THERE? HOW'S THAT WORKING OUT...??? DIDN'T THE REBELS ACTUALLY TORTURE THEN MURDER QADDAFI... NO TRIAL... NO JUDGE... NO JURY?

* QADDAFI WAS A BAD GUY. ASSAD IS A BAD GUY. ALL I'M SAYING IS... WHAT ABOUT CONGRESS? NOW WE'RE INVOLVED IN YET ANOTHER UNDECLARED WAR... (*SHRUG*)

Precisely when Obama signed the secret intelligence authorization, an action not previously reported, could not be determined.

* FOLKS... (*SIGH*)... DOES THIS SOUND LIKE AMERICA TO YOU...?

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor declined comment.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

European government sources said wealthy families in Saudi Arabia and Qatar were providing significant financing to the rebels.

* FINE... BUT WASN'T OSAMA BIN LADIN ONCE "A WEALTHY SAUDI" PROVIDING FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO FIRST "THE RIGHT REBELS" (THE AFGHAN REBELS FIGHTING THE SOVIETS) BUT THEN LATER USING HIS MONEY TO FUND AL QIADA? IN FACT, DON'T MANY WEALTHY SAUDIS AND WEALTHY ARABS SUPPORT MYRIAD ORGANIZATIONS THE U.S. GOVERNMENT DEEMS TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS?

* JUST SAYIN' FOLKS... (*SIGH*)

August 2, 2012 at 10:39 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-01/missile-defense-staff-warned-to-stop-surfing-porn-sites.html

The Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency warned its employees and contractors last week to stop using their government computers to surf the Internet for pornographic sites, according to the agency’s executive director.

* SERIOUSLY...?

* IT'S A FUCKING NIGHTMARE, FOLKS. OUR TAX DOLLARS...

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

The Missile Defense Agency is responsible for developing, fielding and upgrading the nation’s ground- and sea-based missile defense programs... The Pentagon is seeking $7.7 billion for the agency in fiscal 2013.

August 2, 2012 at 10:44 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://news.yahoo.com/60-house-bills-name-post-offices-zero-fix-144624099--abc-news-politics.html

In the 18 months the 112th Congress has been sworn in...

* REPUBLICANS IN CONTROL OF THE HOUSE! JOHN BOEHNER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE! NAN HAYWORTH MEMBER OF THE HOUSE!

...the House has introduced 60 bills to rename post offices.

Thirty-eight have passed the House and 26 have become law.

During those 18 months, the House has produced 151 laws, 17% of which have been to rename post offices, according to Congressional Democrats.

(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

Not a single bill has come to the House floor aimed at reforming a Postal Service, which is bleeding billions of dollars because of Congressional mandates.

* AGAIN, FOLKS... (*PAUSE*)... SUNG TO THE TUNE OF "LOVE AND MARRIAGE" -- "GUNS AND AMMO, GUNS AND AMMO..."

Today the United States Postal Service will default on a Congressional mandate to pay $5.5 billion to "pre-fund" health benefits for future retirees.

On Friday, House of Representatives will leave town for a five week summer vacation.

There is no plan to take up postal reform before that summer recess.

* I'M REFRAINING FROM TYPING WHAT I'D LIKE TO TYPE OUT OF A LEGITIMATE FEAR I'D BE OPENING MYSELF UP TO CRIMINAL PROSECUTION.

August 2, 2012 at 10:55 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/07/31/philadelphia-police-searching-for-teen-suspect-on-crime-spree/

Police sources tell Eyewitness News, the young suspect wanted in connection with a series of armed robberies in Southwest Philadelphia is now under arrest.

Eyewitness News learned, tips from the public helped investigators identify the suspect Tuesday night. Then on Wednesday morning, detectives tracked down and arrested the suspect at a deli at the corner of Farragut and Chestnut Streets.

Sources say the suspect is a black male who turned 13-years-old just two months ago.

We are told he has been arrested twice before for robbery-related offenses.

* ROBBERY "RELATED...???" (IN ANY CASE, OBVIOUSLY HE WASN'T BEHIND BARS!)

Once again, the suspect is now in police custody. Police say the 13-year-old will be charged accordingly.

* WHAT DOES "CHARGED ACCORDINGLY" EVEN MEAN...?

* FOLKS... AGAIN... WE'VE LOST PHILADELPHIA. WE'VE LOST CHICAGO. WE'VE LOST D.C. (AND ON AND ON IT GOES...)

August 2, 2012 at 11:11 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-will-texass-ted-cruz-gives-tea-party-a-madisonian-flair/2012/08/01/gJQApiwePX_story.html

* JUST READ IT... READ THE FULL OP-ED...

August 2, 2012 at 11:39 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.headlinebistro.com/en/fortnight/cp_rel_freedom_win.html

Last Friday, a small business faced down the government - and won.

Hercules Industries is a closely-held manufacturing company owned by the Newland family. As Catholics, the Newlands believe their faith should be an integral part of their everyday lives, not something they put on the shelf on Sunday night. To that end, they try to run their business in a way that reflects their moral and religious beliefs.

When the Department of Health and Human Services mandated that employers like Hercules provide insurance coverage for contraceptives, abortion-causing drugs, and sterilizations starting Aug. 1, the Newlands faced a choice: Provide such coverage in violation of their faith, or face crippling fines.

* BTW, IT'S MY POSITION THAT THE GOVERNMENT HAS NO RIGHT TO MANDATE THE PROVISION OF ANY INSURANCE COVERAGE PERIOD!

Instead, the Newlands decided to stand up for the idea that religious freedom doesn’t end at the workplace door. And last Friday, a federal court agreed.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado enjoined the government from enforcing the mandate against the Newlands and their business, holding that doing so would cause them “imminent irreparable harm.”

While the ruling applies only in this case, it has important implications for all those affected by the mandate and clarifies the legal principles at stake.

Ever since the administration created this controversy by failing to include customary conscience protections in the mandate, it has tried to deflect attention from the serious religious liberty concerns that quickly arose. It crafted a religious exemption from the mandate - but one so narrow that even Mother Teresa wouldn’t count as “religious.”

It then offered a one-year “safe harbor” to certain religious institutions before fines would kick in - or, as Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York put it, the administration gave them “a year to figure out how to violate [their] consciences.”

And throughout it has accused those standing up for religious freedom of waging a “war on women,” as if government coercion of religious believers is somehow less important to women than to men.

* AGAIN... I ONLY WISH THE OPPONENTS OF GOVERNMENT ORDERED PROVISION OF "CONSCIENCE VIOLATING" MANDATES WOULD FOLLOW THE LOGIC AND JOIN ME IN OPPOSING ALL MANDATES SUCH AS THIS THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH PROVIDING PUBLIC SAFETY BUT RATHER SIMPLY INTERFERE IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYEE.

Such deflections might muddy the waters in the court of public opinion, but they don’t work as well in the courtroom. Forced to defend its position on concrete legal grounds, the administration came up short.

The Newland family contended that the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) protect them from being punished by a federal agency for living by their religious beliefs.

* AND WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE GOVERNMENT ARGUES THAT IT'S NOT A PUNISHMENT, BUT ONLY A "TAX?"

(*SIGH*)

August 2, 2012 at 11:58 AM

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