Usually Right: Barker's Newsbites: Monday, May 6, 2013

Monday, May 6, 2013

Barker's Newsbites: Monday, May 6, 2013

Happy Monday, folks!

9 comments:

William R. Barker said...: * THREE-PARTER... (Part 1 of 3)

* FOLKS... READ THE WHOLE THING - IT'S A MARK STEYN PIECE! BITING SATIRE!

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/347340/immigration-transformation

Most countries in the world have irrelevant numbers of "immigrants.”

In the Americas, for example, only Canada, America, and the British West Indies have significant non-native populations.

In Mexico, immigrants account for 0.6% of the population, and that generally negligible level prevails all the way down through Latin America until you hit a blip of 1.4% with Chile and 3.8% in Argentina. There’s an isolated exception in Belize... But profound sweeping demographic transformation through immigration is a phenomenon only of the Western world in the modern era, and even there America leads the way.

Not so very long ago, its national mythology notwithstanding, the United States was little different from most other countries. In 1970, its foreign-born population was 4.7%.

* BUT TODAY...

Over 20% of all the immigrants on the planet are in the United States.

* INSANITY!

The country’s foreign-born population has doubled in the last two decades to 40 million — officially. Which is the equivalent of Washington taking a decision to admit every single living Canadian, and throwing in the population of New Zealand as a bonus.

And, while most of the West has embraced mass immigration in the last half-century, America differs significantly from those developed countries, like Canada and Australia, that favor skilled migrants. By contrast the majority of U.S. foreign-born residents now come from Latin America, and more than a quarter of them — 12 million — from Mexico.

(Personally, I don’t see what’s so enlightened and progressive about denuding Third World nations of their best and brightest to be your doctors and nurses, but it does demonstrate a certain ruthless self-interest.)

* TO BE CONTINUED...; May 6, 2013 at 12:57 PM
William R. Barker said...: * CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 2)

A policy of “family reunification” will by definition lead to low-skilled immigrants: An engineer or computer scientist is less likely to bring in an unending string of relatives — because his dad’s a millionaire businessman in Bangalore and his brother’s a barrister in London, and they’re both happy and prosperous where they are. Insofar as there is any economic benefit to mass immigration, it’s more than entirely wiped out by chain importation of elderly dependents and other clients for the Big Government state.

* YEP...!!!

So any rational immigration reform that respected the interests of the American people would attempt to reorient present policy.

* YOU'D THINK SO, RIGHT?!

Instead, the Gang of Eight’s bill will cement it, and accelerate it.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

According to Numbers USA, if the immigration bill passed, it would increase the legal population of the United States by 33 million in its first decade.

* WHAT PERCENTAGE ARE TAKERS? FORGET THE NEGATIVE CONNOTATION OF "TAKER" FOR THE MOMENT AND JUST THINK LITERALLY. HOW MANY ARE SCHOOL CHILDREN BEING EDUCATED (IF THEY'RE LUCKY!) AT A COST OF BETWEEN $8,000-$13,000 A YEAR... MORE FOR SPECIAL ED STUDENTS? HOW MANY WILL GO STRAIGHT FROM ILLEGAL ALIEN TO SENIOR CITIZEN COLLECTING SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE? HOW MANY WILL BE COLLECTING MEDICAID? HOW MANY WILL BE COLLECTING SNAP AND OTHER "BENEFITS?"

Thirty-three million is like importing the entire population of Canada . . . oh, wait, we did that shtick three paragraphs ago.

(*PAUSE*)

Okay, if you’re black, look at it this way: The demographic clout it took you guys four centuries to amass can now be accomplished overnight at a stroke of Chuck Schumer’s and Lindsey Graham’s pens.

(*SMIRK*)

And, if you belong to the 40% of Americans who’ll be encountering many of these “chain migrants” in the application line for low-skilled service jobs, isn’t it great to know that in this gangbusters economy you’re going to have to pedal even faster just to go nowhere?

(*NOD*)

Speaking of demographic clout, the main reason for not importing 33 million Canadians is that they’re supposedly a bunch of liberal pantywaists and the Republican party would never be elected to anything ever again. But fortunately 33 million Latin Americans are, as we’ve been assured time and again by Charles Krauthammer and other eminent voices, “a natural conservative constituency” — which I think translates into Spanish as “una parte del electorado conservador natural.” I Googled this phrase and it got no hits, so perhaps Dr. Krauthammer got lost in translation. But I’ll take his word for it that, once America assumes the demographics of California, the Republican party will be unstoppable.

(*CHORTLE*)

* TO BE CONTINUED...; May 6, 2013 at 12:58 PM
William R. Barker said...: * CONCLUDING... (Part 3 of 3)

Aside from that electoral windfall, the benefits of Schumer-Rubio “comprehensive reform” seem doubtful. Every new arrest in the Boston Marathon bombing reveals some laughably obvious breach of the system. Alert to the possibility that the involvement of various hardworking immigrants in the recent unpleasantness might not be the best advertisement for his bill, John McCain is now proposing that the United States look more carefully at admitting persons “from countries that have histories such as Dagestan and Chechnya and others where there has been significant influence of radical Islamic extremism.” Incendiary Chechens is nothing a bit more bureaucratic oversight can’t cure.

* SERIOUSLY... MCCAIN HAS GOTTA DIE... DIE SO HE CAN'T DO MORE DAMAGE TO OUR COUNTRY...

* NATURAL CAUSES! (*GRIN*)

The problem with this instant solution is that Chechnya and Dagestan are not “countries” — or, to be more precise, are not sovereign nations. They’re subnational jurisdictions of the Russian Federation, whose citizens travel on Russian passports. This would be the equivalent of permitting United Kingdom immigrants from Wales and Scotland, but not from England and Northern Ireland. Senator McCain’s proposal could in theory work — if you believe that our post-9/11 state-of-the-art “smart government” will have no trouble distinguishing between a guy from St. Petersburg, and a fellow from Makhachkala, formerly Petrovsk, the Dagestani capital once named after the same tsar as Petersburg. But, if you’re a wee bit skeptical that U.S. immigration officials are capable of distinguishing a Russian from one city named after Peter the Great from a Russian from another city named after Peter the Great, it’s a bit of a long shot — and that’s before the Dagestani from Petrovsk takes the precaution of getting a post-office box in St. Petersburg.

* SERIOUSLY, FOLKS... JOHN MCCAIN IS A MORON. ALWAYS HAS BEEN. ALWAYS WILL BE.

So McCain’s intervention is useful only insofar as it reminds us of the gulf between political “solutions” and reality.

(*NOD*)

When I came to this great land, I was initially worried that the government might find out about my unpaid parking tickets in Moose Jaw and the chain of unsolved prostitute murders in the port of Hamburg. My immigration lawyer explained to me that the examiners devote six minutes to each application, and then say yea or nay. I’m confident that if we toss another 33 million into the mix, we can get that six minutes cut by two-thirds.

(*RUEFUL CHUCKLE*)

Much of which can be devoted to checking the background of Dagestani applicants, assuming the immigration official takes no more than three attempts to type “Makhachkala” correctly.

* SERIOUSLY, FOLKS... STEYN'S SATIRE IS BASED UPON REALITY.

And so it will go with all the other much-vaunted “triggers”: Chances of them ever having any meaningful impact? Zero percent. The Daily Caller has already identified in the bill 999 references to “waivers, exemptions, or political discretion,” meaning that all these “triggers” will be in the hands of a federal bureaucracy that will never pull them, and will take its cue from the left-wing immigration-lobby groups the new bill funds so generously.

Beneath the phony “triggers,” an already rapid transformation of America is about to be speeded up. An informed citizenry would trade all the triggers for a straight answer to one simple question: Why?; May 6, 2013 at 12:58 PM
William R. Barker said...: * THREE-PARTER... (Part 1 of 3)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-06/gore-is-romney-rich-with-200-million-after-bush-defeat.html

In 1999, Al Gore, then U.S. vice president and a Democratic candidate for president, sold $6,000 worth of cows.

[Back then, the] former senator, who spent most of his working life in Congress, had a net worth of about $1.7 million and assets that included pasture rents from a family farm and royalties from a zinc mine, remnants of his rural roots in Carthage, Tennessee.

Funds from the cattle sale went to three of his kids, according to federal disclosure forms filed as part of his presidential run.

Fourteen years later, he made an estimated $100 million in a single month.

(*CLAP...CLAP...CLAP*)

* CAN YOU SPELL C*R*O*N*Y CAPITALISM?

In January, the Current TV network, which he helped to start in 2004...

* WITH WHAT MONEY...??? (JUST CURIOUS...) WHAT WAS HIS SHARE OF THE POT AND WHERE DID HE GET THIS MONEY FROM?

...was sold to Qatari-owned Al Jazeera Satellite Network for about $500 million.

* AND WERE THERE PRE-DATING TIES BETWEEN THE QATARI (AND OTHER) OWNERS OF AL JAZERRA AND AL GORE... FORMERLY VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE... FORMERLY SENATOR AL GORE... FORMERLY CONGRESSMAN AL GORE... SON OF A U.S. SENATOR...? (AGAIN... JUST CURIOUS...)

After debt, Gore grossed an estimated $70 million for his 20% stake, according to people familiar with the transaction.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

Two weeks later, Gore exercised options, at $7.48 a share, on 59,000 shares of Apple Inc. stock that he’d been granted for serving on the Cupertino, California-based company’s board since 2003.

* HOW DO I BECOME AN APPLE BOARD MEMBER?

* NICE, HUH... JUST... "GIVEN." 59,000 APPLE SHARES... JUST GIVEN! (HEY... YOU DON'T THINK APPLE EVER HAS ISSUES BEFORE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS - ELECTED OFFICIALS... APPOINTED OFFICIALS... DEMOCRATIC OFFICIALS... DO YOU? NAH... I'M SURE THAT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH GORE'S APPOINTMENT...)

* FOLKS... WE'RE LIVING IN AN OLIGARCHY. DEMOCRATS... REPUBLICANS... THERE'S "THEM" AND THEN THERE'S "US."

* TO BE CONTINUED...; May 6, 2013 at 1:49 PM
William R. Barker said...: * CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 3)

On paper, it was about a $30 million payday based on the company’s share price on the day he claimed the options.

(*CLAP...CLAP...CLAP*)

That’s a pretty good January for a guy who couldn’t yet call himself a multimillionaire when he briefly slipped from public life after his bitterly contested presidential election loss to George W. Bush in late 2000, based on 1999 and 2000 disclosure forms.

* YEP...

Gore isn’t finished exercising his Apple stock grants. Those 59,000 are part of 101,358 Apple options and shares of restricted stock Gore has amassed, according to company filings, giving his total holdings a gross value of more than $45.6 million today.

* FOLKS... RECOGNIZE... THIS WHOLE STOCK OPTION BUSINESS IS A SCAM OF THE INSIDERS, BY THE INSIDERS, FOR THE INSIDERS. WHAT ACTUAL "WORK" DID GORE DO FOR HIS "OPTIONS?"

Albert Arnold Gore Jr., 65, is a lot of things to a lot of people. ... Whatever you think of Gore, one thing is indisputable: leveraging his aura as a technology seer and his political and climate work connections, Gore has remade himself into a wealthy businessman, amassing a fortune that may exceed $200 million.

* WHAT "BUSINESS?" GOOGLE "CURRENT TV." THE SALE TO AL JEZZERA WAS A SCAM! CURRENT TV WAS A DOG HEADING FOR THE DUSTBIN OF HISTORY! THE SALE WAS A CLASSIC FUNNELLING OF MONEY TO GORE UNDER THE GUISE OF A SALE. THINK ME MAKING USUALLY RIGHT A PAY SITE WITH ONE SUBSCRIBER WILLING TO PAY $80,000/YR. AND THEN WRITING PART OF IT OFF AS A BUSINESS EXPENSE!

[Gore's net worth is] close to the $250 million net worth of 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, whom President Barack Obama and Democrats targeted in ads and speeches as being out of touch with most Americans.

* TO BE CONTINUED...; May 6, 2013 at 1:50 PM
William R. Barker said...: * CONCLUDING... (Part 3 of 3)

Gore, by reputation, shuns figurehead appointments for real ones. One example: At Apple’s request, he dove into an options backdating scandal, which predated his arrival, chairing a 2006 committee that recommended revisions to company policies.

* CHAIRING A COMMITTEE. UH-HUH. SO... WHAT EXACTLY DID THIS ENTAIL?

Gore's ascent into America’s 1% happened quickly. After losing to Bush, he had enough wealth by March 2008 to put $35 million into hedge funds and private partnerships through Capricorn Investment Group, a Palo Alto, California-based company, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission documents.

* BUT... BUT... BUT... HE'D BEEN VICE PRESIDENT THE PRECEEDING EIGHT YEARS AND A U.S. SENATOR PRIOR TO THAT... HOW DID HE AMASS A FORTUNE OF $35 MILLION...???

His best-selling climate books, “Earth in the Balance,” “An Inconvenient Truth” and “The Assault on Reason,” haven’t contributed to his wealth. Gore has long pledged any book and film money to his nonprofit, the Climate Reality Project, created in 2011 from two advocacy groups Gore founded a year earlier.

Gore co-founded Generation Investment Management in 2004 with former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Managing Director David W. Blood.

(*CLAP...CLAP...CLAP*)

Public filings show that in 2008 through 2011 London-based GIM racked up almost 140 million pounds ($218 million) in profits to be split among its 26 partners.

* LONDON BASED! (SO... DID THE U.S. TREASURY GET ITS "FAIR SHARE?" DID GORE PAY UNCLE SAM HIS "FAIR SHARE?")

Gore had a string of connections and invitations to join what would turn out to be prosperous enterprises. Skoll’s Participant Media produced the 2006 Oscar-winning documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” based on Gore’s climate work. The movie was pivotal in helping him win his share of the 2007 Nobel and claim speaker fees at $175,000 a pop.

* OK. SPEAKER FEES. I HAVE NO SPECIAL "GORE" PROBLEM WITH THESE.

Prior to being invited to join Apple’s board, Gore was tapped as a senior adviser to Google Inc. before its 2004 initial public offering and at a time when it was not yet a household word. Google won’t discuss his duties or compensation though some in Silicon Valley believe his pay there may be as rich as his Apple remuneration, which that company is required to disclose because he’s a director.

(*SMIRK*); May 6, 2013 at 1:51 PM
William R. Barker said...: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/may/06/senate-passes-internet-sales-tax-amazon

* THE TITLE:

Senate passes internet sales tax bill amid opposition from conservatives

* THE SUBTITLE:

Bill to overturn 1992 court decision has support of Obama, Amazon and Walmart – but its future in the House is uncertain

* LET'S HOPE SO! LET'S HOPE THAT THE DEMS AND THEIR RINO ALLIES DON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS!

The Marketplace Fairness Act, which has cross-party supporter and the backing of powerful retailers, would give states the power to require retailers with sales over $1 million to collect state and local sales taxes for online purchases. The bill has the support of president Barack Obama the majority of senators including Republican John McCain...

* FANCY THAT, HUH!

* FOLKS... THE PROBLEM ISN'T TAXING INTERNET SALES PER SE; THE PROBLEM IS HOW THEY ARE TO BE TAXED - AND THIS BILL GOES IN THE WRONG DIRECTION WITH REGARD TO THAT! THIS BILL WOULD HOLD AMERICANS HOSTAGE TO THEIR ADDRESS... TO THEIR LOCAL SALES TAXES... RATHER THAN SIMPLY DEMAND THE EQUIVALENT OF WHAT HAPPENS NOW WHEN ONE PHYSICALLY BUYS GOODS IN ANOTHER LOCALITY/STATE - NAMELY PAY THE TAXES LEVIED THERE!; May 6, 2013 at 11:07 PM
William R. Barker said...: http://wizbangblog.com/2013/05/06/al-gore-man-of-the-people-gets-paid-over-1-million-a-day-to-sit-on-apples-board-125000-per-hour/

* FOLLOW-UP TO THE INITIAL GORE NEWSBITE!

If you want a poster child for corporate greed, you can look no further than Al Gore. After he failed to get enough votes to win Florida, and therefore the Presidential election in 2000, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs added him to the list of Yes Men on Apple’s board of directors.

A report out today says Al Gore cashed out about half of his Apple stock options in January to the tune of $30 million and has at least $15 million more.

But that was his bonuses, that didn’t include his base pay.

According to Reuters, during the height of the 2008 recession, Al Gore ‘only’ made $633,000 per year, or $127,000 per board meeting - since the board only met five times that year.

(However according to SEC filings, by 2010, his yearly compensation was back up to $1.3 million per year.)

Looking at the numbers, Gore has made about $1,000,000 a year for the last 10 years to sit on a board that was famously paid to agree with Steve Jobs. And then he got $45 million in stock options as a bonus for a total of about $55 million. Considering the board meets about 5 times years, that’s just over $1,000,000 per day or $125,000 per hour.

* NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT...!

So what has Gore done to earn that money?

* THAT'S WHAT I WAS ASKING BEFORE...!

Gore’s most famous "accomplishment" was to lead the board’s investigating committee, which cleared CEO Steve Jobs and current management of wrongdoing in a stock option backdating scandal which Apple later admitted Jobs knew about.

(*CHUCKLE*)

When you’re Al Gore, Greed is good.; May 6, 2013 at 11:12 PM
William R. Barker said...: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/04/nyregion/new-york-states-ads-to-attract-business-also-draw-complaints.html?_r=2&

The Cuomo administration has set aside nearly $140 million for an advertising campaign called “New York State Open for Business,” with the money drawn largely from a state authority created to lower electricity bills and from federal disaster aid, records show.

* SO... MISAPPROPRIATING FEDERAL DISASTER FUNDS...???

* MISAPPOPRIATING STATE FUNDS...???

* BOTH...?!?!

* BTW... ONE MORE TIME... THAT'S ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY MILLION BEING MISAPPROPRIATED... AS IN $1,000,000.00 X 140...

A portion of the campaign is being financed with money from public authorities, which have missions that include protecting the environment and financing public building projects...

* AGAIN... SOUNDS LIKE MISAPPROPRIATION TO ME...

* AS TO THE MISAPPROPRIATION OF FEDERAL DISASTER FUNDS... WHERE ARE THE FEDS ON THIS...?!?!; May 6, 2013 at 11:22 PM

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Monday, May 6, 2013

Barker's Newsbites: Monday, May 6, 2013

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