Friday, March 15, 2013

Barker's Newsbites: Friday, March 15, 2013


You folks know what today is... right?

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5 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/03/illegal-immigrants-released-88871.html

The Obama administration reversed itself Thursday, acknowledging to Congress that it had, in fact, released more than 2,000 illegal immigrants from immigration jails due to budget constraints during three weeks in February.

* BY "REVERSED ITSELF" THE FINE FOLKS AT POLITICO ACTUALLY MEAN "YEAH... HE LIED... HE GOT CAUGHT... SO HE NOW ADMITS IT."

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

The director of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, John Morton, said his agency had released 2,228 illegal immigrants during that period for what he called "solely budgetary reasons." The figure was significantly higher than the "few hundred" immigrants the Obama administration had publicly acknowledged were released under the budget-savings process. He testified during a hearing by a House appropriations subcommittee.

* BY "TESTIFIED" THE FINE FOLKS AT POLITICO MEAN "ONE MORGAN WAS UNDER OATH HE HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO TELL THE TRUTH."

"We were trying to live within the budget that Congress had provided us," Morton told lawmakers. "This was not a White House call. I take full responsibility."

* HMM... LET'S WALK BACK THAT "NO CHOICE" QUIP. TO CLARIFY, MORTON COULDN'T LIE ABOUT THE NUMBERS BECAUSE THE NUMBERS ARE PART OF THE OFFICIAL RECORD. AS TO WHO ABOVE MORTON MADE THE CALL ABOUT RELEASING THE CRIMINALS... UNLESS THERE'S A PAPER TRAIL...

(*SHRUG*)

Morton told lawmakers Thursday that the decision to release the immigrants was not discussed in advance with political appointees, including those in the White House or Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

* AGAIN... WOULD NAPOLITANO BE SO STUPID AS TO PUT SUCH ORDERS IN WRITING...??? FOLKS... ASK YOURSELF... DOES IT RING TRUE THAT A RELATIVELY LOW LEVEL POLITICAL APPOINTEE LIKE MORTON WOULD MAKE A DECISION SURE TO CAUSE A POLITICAL FIREBALL WITHOUT INSTRUCTIONS - OR AT LEAST AN OK - FROM ABOVE...???

The Associated Press, citing internal budget documents, reported exclusively on March 1 that the administration had released more than 2,000 illegal immigrants since Feb. 15 and planned to release 3,000 more in March due to looming budget cuts, but Napolitano said days later that the AP's report was "not really accurate" and that the story had developed "its own mythology."

"Several hundred are related to sequester, but it wasn't thousands," Napolitano said March 4 at a Politico-sponsored event.

* BUT... IT... WAS... THOUSANDS...!!!

March 15, 2013 at 11:19 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_PAKISTAN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-03-15-07-57-56

The head of a U.N. team investigating casualties from U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan declared after a secret research trip to the country that the attacks violate Pakistan's sovereignty.

* IN OTHER WORDS... THEY'RE ACTS OF WAR.

Ben Emmerson, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, said the Pakistani government made clear to him that it does not consent to the strikes...

* DID YOU KNOW WE'RE AT WAR WITH PAKISTAN? HMM... WHEN DID CONGRESS DECLARE WAR AGAINST PAKISTAN?

* HEY... GUYS... DON'T GET ME WRONG HERE! I HAVE NO PROBLEM BLOWING AMERICA'S ENEMIES TO BITS... BUT WHAT I DO HAVE A PROBLEM WITH IS THIS PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE BULLSHIT WHERE WE PAY OUR "ALLY" PAKISTAN BILLIONS UPON BILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO BE OUR "ALLY" YET ON THE OTHER HAND VIEW THEM AS AN ENEMY WHOM WE CAN HIT (ACTS OF WAR) ANY TIME WE FEEL LIKE IT.

* FOLKS... THINK ABOUT IT... HOW MANY REGULAR AMERICAN GI's... GRUNTS... OUR ACTUAL FIGHTING MEN AND WOMEN... HAVE BEEN CAUGHT UP AND PUNISHED FOR SUPPOSEDLY VIOLATING "RULES OF ENGAGEMENT" DURING THE WAR ON TERROR WHILE OUR PRESIDENT AND THUS OUR NATION OFFICIALLY VIOLATES INTERNATIONAL LAW IN BROAD DAYLIGHT! IT'S SICK...!!!

According to a U.N. statement that Emmerson emailed to The Associated Press on Friday, the Pakistani government told him it has confirmed at least 400 civilian deaths by U.S. drones on its territory. The statement was initially released on Thursday, following the investigator's three-day visit to Pakistan, which ended Wednesday. The visit was kept secret until Emmerson left.

* PERHAPS EMMERSON WAS AFRAID OF GETTING "DRONED DOWN" HIMSELF!

(*SNORT*)

For many years, Pakistan allowed U.S. drones to take off from bases within the country. Documents released by WikiLeaks in 2010 showed that senior Pakistani officials consented to the strikes in private to U.S. diplomats, while at the same time condemning them in public.

* AGAIN... NO ONE IS "DEFENDING" THE SCUMBAG PAKISTANIS!

Cooperation has certainly waned since then as the relationship between Pakistan and the U.S. has deteriorated. In 2011, Pakistan kicked the U.S. out of an air base used by American drones in the country's southwest, in retaliation for U.S. airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. Emmerson, the U.N. investigator, came away with a black and white view after his meetings with Pakistani officials. "The position of the government of Pakistan is quite clear," said Emmerson. "It does not consent to the use of drones by the United States on its territory and it considers this to be a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity."

* FOLKS... "BIG PICTURE"... THIS AIN'T GOOD FOR OUR REPUTATION NOR DOES IT SERVE OUR BROADER LONG-TERM NATIONAL SECURITY INTERESTS.

March 15, 2013 at 11:45 AM
William R. Barker said...

* THREE-PARTER... (Part 1 of 3)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-15/obama-will-use-nixon-era-law-to-fight-climate-change.html

President Barack Obama is preparing to tell all federal agencies for the first time that they have to consider the impact on global warming before approving major projects, from pipelines to highways.

* BASED UPON...???

* AND BTW... WHAT'S "CONSIDER" MEAN... WHAT'S IT MEAN IN TERMS OF FEDERAL POWER... END RESULT...???

The result could be significant delays for natural gas- export facilities, ports for coal sales to Asia, and even new forest roads...

* WELL, "DUH!"

In taking the step, Obama would be fulfilling a vow to act alone in the face of a Republican-run House of Representatives unwilling to pass measures limiting greenhouse gases.

* AND HE GETS THIS POWER FROM... er... WHERE...???

He’d expand a Nixon-era law that was intended to force agencies to assess the effect of projects on air, water and soil pollution.

* BY "EXPAND" THEY MEAN "REWRITE." THIS IS... er... ILLEGAL! ONLY CONGRESS CAN MAKE LAWS! VIA THE CONSTITUTIONAL PROCESS!

“If Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will,” Obama said last month during his State of the Union address. He pledged executive actions “to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy.”

* YOU DON'T THINK WE HAVE A DICTATOR...??? WELL... WHAT WE HAVE CERTAINLY ISN'T A PRESIDENT WHO CONSIDERS HIMSELF CONSTRAINED BY THE CONSTITUTION... BUT THE RULE OF LAW...

* TO BE CONTINUED...

March 15, 2013 at 1:17 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 2)

While some U.S. agencies already take climate change into account when assessing projects, the new guidelines would apply across-the-board to all federal reviews. Industry lobbyists say they worry that projects could be tied up in lawsuits or administrative delays.

* OF COURSE THEY WILL...!!!

* AND YA GOTTA LUV THE "SUBTILTY" OF THE REPORTING... "INDUSTRY LOBBYISTS..." (*SNORT*) WELL I'M NOT AN INDUSTRY LOBBYIST AND NEITHER IS ANYONE READING THIS... YET WE ALL KNOW THAT "YES, PROJECTS COULD BE TIED UP IN LAWSUITS OR ADMINISTRATIVE DELAYS!"

For example, Ambre Energy Ltd. is seeking a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers to build a coal-export facility at the Port of Morrow in Oregon.

* EXPORTING... WE LIKE EXPORTING...

Under existing rules, officials weighing approval would consider whether ships in the port would foul the water or generate air pollution locally. The EPA and "activist groups" say that review should be broadened to account for the greenhouse gases emitted when exported coal is burned in power plants in Asia.

* SO LET THEM LOBBY CONGRESS TO PASS SUCH A LAW! THAT'S WHAT THE CONSTITUTION CALLS FOR...!!!

Similar analyses could be made for the oil sands that would be transported in TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s Keystone XL pipeline, and leases to drill for oil, gas and coal on federal lands, such as those for Arch Coal Inc. and Peabody Energy Corp.

* AGAIN, FOLKS... THERE'S SIMPLY NO DOUBT THAT THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION IS ANTI-ENERGY GENERATION. BY THIS I MEAN THEY WANT TO LIMIT EXPLOITATION OF FOSSIL FUELS AND CAUSE PRICE RISES OF THOSE FOSSIL FUELS WHICH ARE BEING GENERATED SO AS TO "DISCOURAGE" USE. (THIS AIN'T A "CONSPIRACY THEORY" FOLKS; THIS IS THE RECORD OF THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION.)

If the new White House "guidance" is structured correctly, it will require just those kinds of lifecycle reviews, said Bill Snape, senior counsel at the Center for Biological Diversity in Washington. The environmental group has sued to press for this approach, and Snape says lawsuits along this line are certain if the administration approves the Keystone pipeline, which would transport oil from Canada’s tar sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

(*SHRUG*) SEE...

“The real danger is the delays,” said Eisenberg of the manufacturers’ group. “I don’t think the answer is ever going to be ‘no,’ but it can confound things.”

(*NOD*)

* TO BE CONTINUED...

March 15, 2013 at 1:18 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 3 of 3)

The White House guidance itself won’t force any projects to be stopped outright. Instead, it’s likely to prompt lawsuits against federal projects on these grounds, and increase the probability that courts will step in and order extensive reviews as part of the “adequate analysis” required in the law, said George Mannina, an attorney at Nossaman LLP in Washington.

(*SMIRK*)

“The question is: Where does this analysis take us?” he said. “Adequate analysis may be much broader than the agency and applicant might consider.”

* WHICH IS WHAT I WAS GETTING AT UP ABOVE WITH MY "BTW... REGARDING THE MEANING OF THE WORD 'CONSIDER'" REMARK.

While the Obama administration’s guidance could be easily rescinded by the next administration, the court rulings that stem from these cases will live on as precedents, Mannina said.

* AGAIN... JUST AS THE PRESIDENT DOESN'T MAKE LAWS... SHOULDN'T MAKE LAWS... UNDER OUR CONSTITUTION... (*PAUSE*) ...NEITHER SHOULD THE COURTS!

While Obama failed to get Congress to pass cap-and-trade legislation, the EPA reversed course from the previous administration and ruled that carbon-dioxide emissions endanger public health, opening the way for the agency to regulate it.

* WHICH EPA HAD NO AUTHORITY TO DO...!!! WHICH THE PRESIDENT HAD NO AUTHORITY TO DO...!!! WHICH THE COURTS DON'T HAVE THE CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY TO LAWFULLY RUBBER STAMP...!!!

Using that finding, the agency raised mileage standards for automobiles and proposed rules for new power plants that would essentially outlaw the construction of new coal-fired power plants that don’t have expensive carbon-capture technology.

* FOLKS... EVEN OLD COAL-FIRED PLANTS HAVE EXPENSIVE CARBON-CAPTURE TECHNOLOGY. WHAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT IS SETTING ABSURD "POLLUTION" STANDARDS THAT TAKE NO ACCOUNT OF COMMON-SENSE COST-BENEFIT REAL-WORLD IMPACT!

* FOLKS... I'M SITTING 35 MILES OR SO FROM MANHATTAN... THE AIR IS FRESH AND CLEAN AS IS THE WATER. ENOUGH WITH THIS LUNACY! GLOBAL WARMING EFFECTIVELY CEASED IN THE MID/LATE 1990's... AND WHILE IT MAY RESUME... OR WHILE WE MAY BE IN FOR A NEW ICE AGE... CLIMATE CHANGE IS NATURAL... MAINLY HAVING TO DO WITH SOLAR ACTIVITY AND GRAVITATIONAL FORCES EFFECTING SEA CURRENTS... (*SIGH*)... THIS WHOLE "GLOBAL WARMING CRISIS" IS A SCAM. IT'S NOT A COINCIDENCE THAT AL GORE IS WORTH HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS... PERHAPS BILLIONS.

March 15, 2013 at 1:18 PM

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