Thursday, November 15, 2012

Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, November 15, 2012


I haven't yet browsed one iota of news yet... but I'm still depressed anyway!

Yep... same ol'... same ol'... just can't get over the fact that Obama was re-elected.

Again... not that I had any great hopes for Romney... (*SIGH*) ...but at least the market wouldn't be "crashing" daily and at least I'd have a firm end date to look forward to when our long national nightmare might have at least gotten... er... less nightmarish.

Not that the markets reacting as they have is bad...

No... truth be told, a market that reflects REALITY is a good sign!

But, folks... it's more than markets... more than any mere short-term emotional reaction to last week's Election results; no... it's the fear I possess that over the next four years things are gonna get ever so much worse and ever so much more irreversible.

Anyway... on to newsbiting...

9 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/lifestyle/2012/11/14/latino-poverty-rate-climbs/

While Latinos are gaining in political clout, they are also falling down the economic ladder, new Census numbers show.

* GOD BLESS AMERICA, FOLKS! (HEY... HOW DO YOU SAY THAT IN SPANISH...???)

Latinos poverty rates climbed to 28% after the census reconfigured its algorithm to take into account medical costs and government programs. The Hispanic poverty level rose after the government took into account safety-net programs such as food stamps and housing, which have lower participation among immigrants and non-English speakers.

* FOLKS... DO WHAT YOU JUST READ MAKE ANY SENSE TO YOU...?

(*SNORT*)

* SO... PREVIOUSLY THE GOVERNMENT WASN'T COUNTING WELFARE AS "INCOME" - OR WAS IT AND NOW THEY'RE NOT...? WHAT DOES "TAKE INTO ACCOUNT" ACTUALLY MEAN...? DOES IT MEAN TAKING OUT OF ACCOUNT NOW...???

* OH... AND AS TO THAT LAST PART.. "LOWER PARTICIPATION AMONG IMMIGRANTS AND NON-ENGLISH SPEAKERS"... ARE THEY TALKING BOTH LEGAL AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AND NON-ENGLISH SPEAKERS? (BECAUSE IN THEORY ILLEGALS AREN'T ELIGIBLE FOR WELFARE... BUT THEIR CHILDREN ARE EVEN IF THEY'RE ILLEGAL TOO... AND IT'S THE ILLEGAL PARENTS WHO BENEFIT EQUALLY FROM THE BENEFITS THAT FLOW TO THE CHILDREN SINCE IT'S ALL THE SAME HOUSEHOLD!

Latinos poverty rates climbed to 28 percent after the census reconfigured its algorithm to take into account medical costs and government programs. The Hispanic poverty level rose after the government took into account safety-net programs such as food stamps and housing, which have lower participation among immigrants and non-English speakers.

* MY GUESS? OBAMA AND THE DEMS ARE REWRITING THE RULES SO AS TO DELIBERATELY INCREASE THE POOL OF WELFARE-ELIGIBLE AND THUS FURTHER "CAPTURE" THE "POOR" AND FURTHER TIE THEM INTO THE DEMOCRATIC FOLD VIA YOU SCRATCH MY BACK, I'LL SCRATCH YOURS. (ALL WITH TAXPAYER MONEY OF COURSE... A HUGE CHUCK BORROWED WITH THE DEBT ADDED TO THE BACKS OF PRESENT AND FUTURE TAXPAYERS WHO CONTRIBUTE MORE THAN THEY RECEIVE IN MONETARY VALUE.

* YEP... READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE FOR YOURSELVES, FOLKS...

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

William R. Barker said...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2217286/Global-warming-stopped-16-years-ago-reveals-Met-Office-report-quietly-released--chart-prove-it.html

The world stopped getting warmer almost 16 years ago, according to new data [quietly] released last week.

The figures, which have triggered debate among climate scientists, reveal that from the beginning of 1997 until August 2012, there was no discernible rise in aggregate global temperatures.

* ACTUALLY THERE'S NOTHING NEW, HERE; THIS IS JUST THE LATEST RELEASE OF THE SAME INFO THAT MANY OF US HAVE LONG BEEN AWARE OF.

This means that the "plateau" or "pause" in global warming has now lasted for about the same time as the previous period when temperatures rose, 1980 to 1996.

Before that, temperatures had been stable or declining for about 40 years.

(*SHRUG*)

The [newly released] data, compiled from more than 3,000 measuring points on land and sea, was issued quietly on the internet, without any media fanfare, and, until today, it has not been [widely] reported. This stands in sharp contrast to the release of the previous figures six months ago, which went only to the end of 2010 – a very warm year.

(Ending the data then means it is possible to show a slight warming trend since 1997, but 2011 and the first eight months of 2012 were much cooler, and thus this trend is erased.)

(*SMIRK*)

Some climate scientists, such as Professor Phil Jones, director of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, last week dismissed the significance of the plateau, saying that 15 or 16 years is too short a period from which to draw conclusions.

Others disagreed.

Professor Judith Curry, who is the head of the climate science department at America’s prestigious Georgia Tech university, told The Mail on Sunday that it was clear that the computer models used to predict future warming were "deeply flawed."

Even Prof Jones admitted that he and his colleagues did not understand the impact of "natural variability" - factors such as long-term ocean temperature cycles and changes in the output of the sun.

* HE MEANS S*U*N S*P*O*T*S!

Here are three not-so trivial questions you probably won’t find in your next pub quiz:

First, how much warmer has the world become since a) 1880 and b) the beginning of 1997? And what has this got to do with your ever-increasing energy bill?

You may find the answers to the first two surprising.

Since 1880, when reliable temperature records began to be kept across most of the globe, the world has warmed by about 0.75 degrees Celsius.

* THAT'S THE THING, THOUGH... THEY'RE NOT RELIABLE... (BUT READ ON... YOU'LL SEE HOW THIS MATTERS!)

From the start of 1997 until August 2012, however, figures released last week show the answer is zero: the trend, derived from the aggregate data collected from more than 3,000 worldwide measuring points, has been flat.

* AND ONE OF THE HUGE FLAWS OF MEASUREMENT HAS TO DO WITH WHERE THE MEASURING POINTS WERE! MORE OFTEN THAN NOT THEY WERE PLACED IN AREAS WHERE ANY ERRORS WOULD TEND TO BE ON THE "WARMING" SIDE! (CITY SITES WHERE CONCRETE RETAINS AND REFLECTS HEAT! STUFF LIKE THAT...)

The answer to the third question is perhaps the most familiar. Your bills are going up, at least in part, because of the array of ‘green’ subsidies being provided to the renewable energy industry, chiefly wind.

* NOTE... THIS IS A UK NEWSPAPER. THAT SAID, THE CONCEPT THEY'RE REPORTING APPLIES HERE AS WELL.

* ANYWAY, FOLKS... I'LL LET YOU READ THE FULL ARTICLE FOR YOURSELVES IF YOU'RE INTERESTED.

William R. Barker said...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-15/u-s-postal-service-on-tightrope-loses-15-9-billion.html

The U.S. Postal Service said its net loss last year widened to $15.9 billion...

* JUST TELL YOURSELF IT DOESN'T MATTER...

(*SMIRK*)

The service, whose fiscal year ends Sept. 30, lost $5.1 billion a year earlier.

* AGAIN... FOLKS... JUST TELL YOURSELF IT DOESN'T MATTER...

(*SHRUG*)

* IN A SENSE... IT DOESN'T. THELMA AND LOUISE HAVE THE WHEEL, FOLKS, AND THERE'S NOTHING WE CAN DO ABOUT IT EXCEPT ENJOY THE RIDE WHILE IT LASTS...

(*HOLDING BACK TEARS*)

Without legislative change, the service expects its losses to continue in 2013, with a forecast loss of $7.6 billion for the year that started Oct. 1, Corbett said.

(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

The 2012 loss includes the $5.6 billion payment to the fund that the service defaulted on Sept. 30, and the previous year’s $5.5 billion obligation that was due Aug. 1 and also not paid.

* HEY! WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT?! I JUST WON'T PAY MY BILLS! THINK HOW MUCH MORE POCKET MONEY I'LL THEN HAVE! WOO-HOO... WHO WANTS TO GO TO VEGAS WITH ME?! MY TREAT!

Mail volume for the year fell to 159.9 billion pieces, led by an 8% decrease in single-piece first-class items, the most profitable kind of mail that includes letters, cards and bill payments.

* DON'T PAY ANY ATTENTION TO THIS EITHER, FOLKS... CHANT IT WITH ME... NAH-NAH-NAH-NAH-NAH...!!!

The service’s outlook worsened this week, when the U.S. Office of Personnel Management said the service’s projected surplus in a government-worker retirement account has fallen to $2.6 billion, less than one-quarter of the previous year’s estimate, due to lower interest rates. It found another retirement account now has a $17.8 billion shortfall instead of a previously estimated surplus. The service has proposed tapping the surpluses to help cover its losses.

* JUST THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU JUST READ... JUST... THINK... ABOUT... IT...

“Relying on a temporary, projected surplus to keep USPS solvent is a risk no matter which set of assumptions OPM is directed to use,” said Ali Ahmad, a spokesman for House Government and Reform Committee Chairman Darrel Issa, a California Republican who is a sponsor of a postal overhaul measure pending in the House. “It is no substitute for the actual cost-cutting USPS needs to do to find real savings.”

* COST CUTTING...??? (*GUFFAW*) WHAT ABOUT THE DEBTS...?!?! WHAT ABOUT THE LOSSES...?!?! WHAT ABOUT THE SHORTFALLS AND THE UNFUNDED VERY REAL FUTURE RETIREMENT LIABILITIES...?!?!

* NAH... DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT, FOLKS... OBAMA WILL TAKE CARE OF EVERYTHING... YEAH... RIGHT... UH-HUH... GOT IT UNDER CONTROL...

(*SOUND OF A SINGLE PISTOL SHOT*)

* I'M OK! I MISSED! I'M OK NOW!

William R. Barker said...

http://washingtonexaminer.com/fema-sold-shelters-as-frankenstorm-gathered-strength/article/2513508#.UKUTvdnsbAJ

Federal officials sold hundreds of emergency trailers for disaster victims at fire-sale prices in the months before Hurricane Sandy churned toward the United States, The Washington Examiner has learned.

Now, with thousands of families left homeless in New York and New Jersey by the hurricane, those same federal officials are poised to spend more taxpayer dollars to buy brand-new trailers.

(*JUST THROWING MY HANDS UP*)

In all, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has sold nearly 900 of the prefabricated temporary homes - none more than four years old... most used only once since 2009 - according to the newspaper's analysis of federal surplus property auctions.

(*SARCASTIC CLAP-CLAP-CLAP*)

The agency even sold two trailers on Oct. 22, the same day the National Weather Service upgraded a tropical depression and christened it Sandy.

(*SARCASTIC STANDING OVATION*)

* OH... BTW...

These aren't the infamous "Katrina trailers" from 2005 that were tainted with toxic levels of formaldehyde. A 2008-or later model trailer would have been built well after that controversy became national news.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

Neither FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate during a Nov. 8 news teleconference, nor other agency officials in the days since could say how many trailers were in the agency's inventory in the week prior to the storm, or how many have since been requested from FEMA by residents in the areas hit hardest by Sandy.

* WAY TO GO, BROWNIE...!!! (OH... SORRY... I FORGOT - THIS IS THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION AND ALL IS WELL...)

William R. Barker said...

http://cnsnews.com/blog/ron-meyer/if-every-food-stamp-recipient-voted-obama-it-would-account-75-his-total

Harry Hopkins, FDR's close adviser who ran the non-defunct Works Progress Administration (WPA), once described Roosevelt's strategy as "tax & tax, spend & spend, elect & elect."

* YEP. THAT'S TRUE. A FAIRLY FAMOUS QUOTE. (IF YOU'VE NEVER HEARD IT... ASK YOURSELF "WHY?")

Hopkins believed that if Roosevelt put everyone on the federal payroll, either through aid or federal jobs, that Roosevelt would never lose.

FDR won four presidential elections in a row before his death removed him from office.

(*SHRUG*)

Food stamps rolls have grown by nearly 50% - by more than 15 million recipients - under the Obama administration.

During that same time, the unemployment rate has stayed the same.

* ENDED UP THE SAME... AFTER FOUR YEARS. ACTUALLY IT ROSE UNDER OBAMA AND THEN FELL. (AND NOTE... REPUBLICANS TOOK THE HOUSE BACK AFTER THE 2010 ELECTION!)

Either those outside of the workforce have been decimated by the Obama economy or this administration is making a conscious effort to get more Americans reliant on government. Or both.

* OR... BOTH...

(*PURSED LIPS*)

If all 47 million food stamp recipients voted for President Obama, it would account for 75.4% of Obama's 62.3 million votes.

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

If all 47 million food stamp recipients voted for President Obama, it would account for 75.4% of Obama's 62.3 million votes.

(*SHRUG*)

Welfare programs now cost taxpayers a record-high $750 billion. ...The candidates and their PACs spent $6 billion for the election. Should we add the $750 billion in federal welfare to Democratic campaign spending total?

(*PURSED LIPS*)

Not everyone on food stamps votes or votes Democrat (and no one polls this subset of the population), and I don't want to overstate the effects of the growth in welfare.

* BUT IT INTUITIVELY MAKES SENSE THAT THE MAJORITY... PERHAPS THE VAST MAJORITY... DEPENDENT UPON GOVERNMENT VOTES FOR THE PARTY OF... er... GOVERNMENT... OF... er... GOVERNMENT "AID."

If citizens vote in their own personal, short-term interests, with 49% of the population receiving some sort of federal aid, Republicans will never win another election.

* BUT OBVIOUSLY IT'S NOT THAT SIMPLE... NOT THAT CLEAR CUT. (BUT ON THE OTHER HAND THERE CLEARLY IS A CONNECTION.)

Thankfully many of those 49% are elderly voters who want a bright, debt-free future for their children.

(*NOD*)

In fact, conservatives should take heart that this election was as close as it turned out. It means that at least some of those receiving federal aid are open to conservative anti-poverty ideas.

(*SHRUG*)

While liberals throw federal money at voters, conservatives must offer them something more substantial. It's tough to beat politicians handing out free stuff, but we have to hope that careers and purposeful opportunity will appeal to American's ethos.

William R. Barker said...

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/story/20101351/jackson-jr-wont-resign-until-he-gets-disability-pay-exclusive

CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) - Sources tell FOX 32 News that Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. is willing to give up his 2nd Congressional District seat if he's given disability when he steps down.

(*SNORT*)

Jackson Jr. was re-elected to his tenth term but last month...

* AGAIN, FOLKS, I OFTEN WONDER.... WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE DEMOCRATIC VOTER BASE IS MADE UP OF SCUMBAGS? I MEAN... YA GOTTA BE A SCUMBAG TO VOTE FOR A SCUMBAG... TO VOTE FOR A SCUMBAG AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN...

...sources say, he applied for a disability package -- what could be his only income if he resigns.

* B*U*L*L*S*H*I*T

* YOU KNOW AND I KNOW THAT BEFORE LONG HE'D BE PUT ON MULTIPLE PAYROLLS... PLACED ON BOARDS OF DIRECTOR... ETC., ETC.

It is expected to take a couple of weeks for Congress to approve or deny the request.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

His house on 72nd Street in Chicago is part of the federal government's investigation into allegations that Jackson Jr. misused campaign funds. Sources say Jackson allegedly spent $20,000 to renovate and buy furniture for the family's home in Chicago, not their 5-bedroom Victorian home in Washington D.C.

Sources close to the family tell FOX 32's Darlene Hill that the congressman may be reporting the use of the space in the basement as his campaign headquarters.(FOX 32 called the House Ethics Committee in D.C. and while they would not comment specifically on Jackson's case, the federal campaign finance law states, "a campaign committee may not rent space in the candidate's home.")

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the congressman's wife, Alderman Sandi Jackson, is now being investigated because she is a consultant for Jackson's campaign operation and is paid monthly.

* HOW MUCH? THOUSANDS I'M BETTING...

Sources say that the alderman met with the Justice Department one time and was asked a couple of questions unrelated to any federal investigation involving her or her husband.

* THAT'S... er... ERIC HOLDER'S "JUSTICE" DEPARTMENT...

A Rolex watch is also part of the case against the congressman. Our sources say that the federal agents want to know where Jackson got $42,000 to pay for the watch he purchased for the woman he was having an affair with.

(*SNORT*)

William R. Barker said...

http://www.marketwatch.com/Story/target-faces-backlash-for-black-thursday-2012-11-14

On Wednesday, in a coordinated effort to rally support for waiting until Black Friday to open their doors, a group of Target customers, employees and shareholders signed a petition with nearly 212,000 signatures on the site Change.org.

* CALL ME A COMMIE... CALL ME A LEFTIST... BUT I'M WITH "LABOR" ON THIS ONE. BY AND LARGE, RETAIL ESTABLISHMENTS SHOULDN'T BE OPEN ON NATIONAL HOLIDAYS.

The petition was started by Casey St. Clair, a Target employee of six years...

* GOOD... FOR... CASEY!

Target isn’t the only retailer opening on Thanksgiving. Toys “R” Us, Walmart Stores and Sears Holdings Corp.will open at 8 p.m.

* DISGUSTING.

In 2011, Toys “R” Us opened at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving, Wal-Mart opened at 10 p.m., and Sears opened at 4 a.m. on Black Friday.

Macy’s and Kohl’s will open at midnight on Black Friday, just as they did last year.

* FAIR ENOUGH!

William R. Barker said...

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/268207-new-dem-budget-chairwoman-cannot-commit-to-doing-budget-

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) confirmed Thursday that she will seek the chairmanship of the Senate Budget Committee next year but told The Hill that she cannot commit to doing a budget.

* CANNOT... COMMIT... TO DOING A BUDGET...

This opens up the possibility that Senate Democrats will avoiding passing a budget resolution for the fourth year in a row.

* READERS. JUST A GUESS... HOW MANY OF YOU WOULD GUESS THAT MORE THAN HALF OF THOSE WHO VOTED IN LAST WEEK'S ELECTION KNOW THAT THE DEMOCRATIC SENATE HASN'T PASSED A BUDGET (THERE OWN OR OBAMA'S) RESOLUTION FOR THE PAST THREE YEARS? HOW MANY GUESS LESS THAN 40% KNOW? HOW MANY GUESS LESS THAN 30% KNOW? HOW MANY GUESS LESS THAN 20% KNOW? HOW MANY GUESS LESS THAN 10% KNOW...???

The last time the Senate passed a standalone budget resolution was in 2009.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

This past year, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said a budget was not necessary because the top-line spending number for appropriations was set in the August 2011 debt-ceiling deal.

(*SNORT*)

Unlike most bills, the budget resolution cannot be filibustered on the floor and it takes only 51 votes to pass. Democrats will control 55 seats next year.

* MEANING... (*DRUM ROLL*)

* NO... FUCKING... EXCUSE...!!! NONE IN 2010... NONE IN 2011... NONE IN 2012... AND NONE IF IT COMES TO IT IN 2013!

[T]he Budget Committee and Senate are legally obligated to do a budget resolution and that duty should not be shirked.

* BUT WITH THE RULE OF LAW LARGELY ABSENT NOWADAYS... OH, WELL...

* FOLKS... THEY'VE BROKEN THE LAW THE LAST THREE YEARS IN A ROW AND THEY'RE THREATENING TO DO SO FOR A FOURTH! AND THEY GAINED SENATE SEATS LAST WEEK! WE'RE LIVING IN WONDERLAND, FOLKS... AND IT'S NOT GOOD.

Murray, a longtime appropriator and champion of military and veterans issues as well as entitlement programs, said that her approach to the position will be to make sure targeted investments that help economic growth are not sacrificed.

* FOLKS... THESE ARE THE LIBS AT "THE HILL" CALLING MURRAY A "LONGTIME APPROPRIATOR!

* FOLKS... THESE ARE THE LIBS AT "THE HILL" ADMITTING THAT MURRAY'S RECORD IS SPENDING FOR EVERYTHING... CUTS TO NOTHING... AND SHE'S PROBABLY GONNA BE THE NEXT SENATE BUDGET COMMITTEE CHAIRWOMAN!

* FOLKS... THE INMATES ARE RUNNING THE ASYLUM!

William R. Barker said...

http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/111412-633490-benghazi-not-broadwell-should-be-focus.htm

Four Americans have been killed under still-unexplained circumstances, yet the obsession is with a general's mistress and not with the truth of why these men were left to die in Libya.

(*NOD*)

How ironic that the FBI agents who descended on the home of Paula Broadwell to gather information on the mistress of now-former CIA Director David Petraeus probably did a better job than the FBI agents who gave a cursory look at our burned-out consulate in Benghazi, leaving behind classified documents strewn on the floor and even our ambassador's diary to be picked up by CNN.

(*NODDING WITH PURSED LIPS*)

A press that ignored the administration's incompetence and swallowed its lies whole now salivates over every episode of what some have dubbed "The Real Housewives of West Point." Protect the president, but slime the military as a commune of lechers.

Senate Intelligence Committee head Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is insisting that her committee hear directly from Petraeus about his October trip to Libya to personally inquire about the Sept. 11 terror attack on the Benghazi consulate. The general reportedly will cooperate.

What did the nation's chief spy find out? What's in his report? Did it have anything to do with the curious timing of his "resignation," just after the election and just before he was to testify to Congress?

Will it blow the administration's narrative out of the water?

* I DOUBT IT. BUT LET'S SAY PATRAEUS DOES TELL A TALE THAT CONTRADICTS OBAMA AND CLINTON AND PANETTA... WILL HE BE BELIEVED OR IS HIS CREDIBILITY NOW SHATTERED?

Who gave the order for forces to "stand down" and not go to the rescue of the consulate compound or the safe house?

* WE STILL DON'T KNOW AS FAR AS I KNOW! NOR IS MOST OF THE MSM ASKING THE QUESTION. (AND CERTAINLY THEY WEREN'T ASKING THE QUESTION PRIOR TO THE ELECTION!)

A week before Petraeus' resignation, the CIA issued a flat denial that any order to stand down ever came from anyone in the agency.

* LET'S SEE WHO IS TELLING THE TRUTH!

Why wasn't a rescue attempt mounted when AC-130 gunships and Apache attack helicopters could have arrived in time?

* WE... STILL... DON'T... KNOW! (AND, INDEED, THE OBAMAITES INSIST THERE WASN'T ENOUGH TIME...)

Why, two days after officials from the National Counterterrorism Center gave Capitol Hill briefings in which they said Benghazi was likely a terrorist attack and that there were several al-Qaida training camps just outside Benghazi, did Petraeus tell lawmakers exactly the opposite, following the administration line that the attack was more consistent with a flash mob infuriated by an obscure Internet video?

* FOLKS... THIS IS WHY I DOUBT PATRAEUS WILL TELL THE TRUTH.

(*SIGH*) (*PURSED LIPS*)

And as long as we must mention Ms. Broadwell, can anyone explain the speech she made at the University of Denver on Oct. 26 in which she revealed the news that the CIA had been holding two terrorist prisoners at the consulate and the attack was an attempt by terrorists to rescue them? Was this made up to hype her biography of Petraeus, ironically titled "All In," gleaned from his computer, or was it indiscreet pillow talk?

(*PURSED LIPS*)

The press showed little interest in Benghazi when it could have been an Obama campaign show-stopper. But sex sells, particularly generals engaged in unauthorized maneuvers. Would anyone have cared if it wasn't one general's presumed mistress sending harassing emails to another general's alleged mistress?

The Obama administration, which successfully kicked the Benghazi can past the election, is probably delighted the focus is on what happened in Petraeus' bedroom rather than in the White House Situation Room on Sept. 11, 2012.

But Benghazigate is a far graver matter than the military version of "bimbo eruptions," and the country deserves answers.