Monday, September 30, 2013

Barker's Newsbites: Monday, September 30, 2013


Son... of... a...

(*DEEP SIGH*)

We're all dying, right? From the moment we're born... no matter how we live... the "best" genes... 

(*PAUSE*)

We're all gonna die. Eventually.

On Saturday I learned that a friend of mine... a mentor... has been advised to get his affair in order.

My friend has been sick for three years now, but up until Saturday... "hope" was the watchword.

Cancer. 

Cancer and cancer related pain that over the past months has turned a once strong and vibrant man into a semi-invalid.

Fight!

(*PAUSE*)

Fight, fight, fight with your last dying breath!

(*SIGH*)

Easy enough to say while there's still no definite "death sentence." But now the doctors say that the cancer has metastasized... there's nothing more Man's medical science can do for my friend but try and keep him comfortable as his body continues to assault itself... until...

Spontaneous remission...? Something to pray for of course, but likely...? No. I fear not. I accept not.

The last two nights I've slept like shit. Worrying about my friend... worried about his wife... thoughts straying to my own mortality and to Mary's...

You never know what's going to happen! Accident... illness... 

(*SHRUG*)

In any case...

(*LONG SIGH*)

Say a prayer for my unnamed buddy - or at least wish him and his family well. We've all been there for others. One day it'll be us. 

And now... on to newsbites.

4 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://washingtonexaminer.com/even-in-shutdown-feds-get-overtime-comp-time-sunday-pay/article/2536565

A federal government shutdown will temporarily cut off pay of thousands of Uncle Sam’s workers, but for those considered “excepted employees,” there could be a nice salary bump thanks to rules allowing overtime, compensatory time and other benefits provided to those the administration feels too important to furlough.

* GEEZUS FRIGGIN' CHRIST...

In advance of the potential shutdown, the Office of Personnel Management distributed a 30-page “Guidance for Shutdown Furloughs” that spells out who will get what, if anything, if President Obama and House Republicans can't negotiate a break in the budget stalemate by Monday night, the end of the fiscal year.

Most workers won’t be considered excepted employees... As a result, they won’t receive pay during the shutdown...

* MAKES SENSE!

... though in the past Congress has approved back-pay.

* WHICH DOESN'T MAKE SENSE!

[F]or those called in to work... they will be eligible for extra pay.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

“Excepted employees who meet the conditions for overtime pay, Sunday premium pay, night pay, availability pay and other premium payments will be entitled to payment in accordance with applicable rules, subject to any relevant payment limitations,” said the guide.

* WHAT A FRIGGIN' JOKE! I MEAN... I CAN UNDERSTAND STILL PAYING OVERTIME... BUT THE REST OF IT? TELL 'EM THEY'RE LUCKY TO BE WORKING AND IF THEY DON'T LIKE IT THEY CAN QUIT!

Comp time is also available, said the guide.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

And while current federal workers might see their pay cut, retirees won’t. “Federal retirees,” said the guide, “will still receive their scheduled annuity payments on the first business day of the month.”

William R. Barker said...

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

http://www.wnd.com/2013/09/the-beltway-lies-of-the-obamacare-war/#XXqsiktim8QL0zw2.99

* BY PATRICK J. BUCHANANA

What is the truth behind the beltway lies about these crazy Republicans crashing our government?

Twice in the last week House Republicans have voted unanimously to fund the U.S. government.

(*NOD*)

* TO GO AHEAD WITH THE DEMOCRATS' DEFICIT SPENDING THAT IS U.S. GOVERNMENT S.O.P.!

A majority of Americans oppose a government shutdown. And a majority oppose ObamaCare. If national polls are to be believed, those House Republicans are doing exactly what America wants!

Who, then, is preventing the government from being funded? Harry Reid and Barack Obama. Neither will accept any continuing resolution that does not contain ObamaCare. Both will shut down this city rather than accept any such Continuing Resolution.

It is Harry and Barry who are saying: If we don’t get full funding of ObamaCare now, we shut down Washington until the House delivers.

The battle, then, is over this question: Will the next great liberal entitlement program, ObamaCare, with its manifest failings and flaws, be imposed upon the nation – against its will? The House says no. The beltway says yes.

* TO BE CONTINUED...

William R. Barker said...

* CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 3)

Few disagree that, in any national plebiscite, ObamaCare would be buried in a landslide. Few disagree that if ObamaCare were put to a vote of the Congress today, it would fail in both houses. Why, then, is it radical for the House to use its power of the purse to defund a program America does not want?

Why is it statesmanship for Obama to say he will shut down the entire government if any resolution to keep it running contains even the slightest tweak to his cherished program?

What these questions suggest is that this is at root a political and ideological war, and the beltway has assembled its usual bodyguard of lies and liars to conceal that truth.

“In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies,” said Winston Churchill.

* AND NOW.... HERE IN AMERIKA 2013 - THE AGE OF OBAMA:

Consider this keening from the Washington Post yesterday about the terrible consequences of a government shutdown: “[W]e would hope that Mr. Boehner would have compassion for thousands of moderately paid breadwinners who would find themselves in very difficult circumstances. We would hope he would be troubled by how a shutdown would disrupt research at the National Institute of Health and safety inspections at the Food and Drug Administration.”

About this lugubrious passage, several questions:

Since Reid and Obama have both said they will block any CR that does not contain ObamaCare in its pristine form, why are they not charged with some responsibility for a shutdown?

(*PURSED LIPS*)

Answer: The Post is not interested in conveying the truth about this conflict, because in this battle it is as much a political ally of Obama as is Debbie Wasserman Schultz. (But it is a more effective ally, since some still presume it is being truthful and objective.)

* TO BE CONTINUED...

William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 3 of 3)

Assume that today John Boehner came out and said at a press conference: “I have taken note of the Post’s concerns about an interruption of service at NIH and the FDA. I share those concerns. Therefore, at my direction, the House will vote this afternoon to fully fund both agencies.” Anyone think the Washington Post would celebrate Boehner’s compassion and statesmanship the next morning?

Of course not.

All this weeping and gnashing of teeth about the terrible consequences of a government shutdown is designed to whip up political animosity, direct it at House Republicans and break John Boehner.

Failing that, it is to foist upon the House Republicans full responsibility for a shutdown that the House has voted twice to avoid.

(*NOD*)

What this battle confirms is that, on major national issues that pit social and populist conservatives against Big Government liberals, the beltway press corps invariably acts like a wholly owned subsidiary of the Democratic National Committee.

More problematic, there is a slice of the beltway [faux-] Right – the contributions bundlers and kennel-fed conservatives, the summer soldiers and sunshine patriots, the George McClellans – that prefers prancing, parading and posturing to the actual fighting.

* THE RINOs.

With them the excuses are always the same. We can’t win. We have been beaten on this terrain before. The press will kill us. The White House has a microphone we can’t match. We will only hurt ourselves in the polls and throw away our great opportunity in the coming election. Besides, our corporate contributors don’t want this fight.

* BLAH, BLAH, BLAH...

Some “conservatives” even cynically suggest that the GOP let ObamaCare take effect, as it will prove such a disaster there will be a backlash against it in 2014 – and from that we can benefit.

* WE TRIED THAT WITH ELECTING OBAMA IN 2008 - AND IT WORKED! IT WORKED IN 2010. BUT BY 2012... THE RINOs HAD SQUANDERED THE TEA PARTY VICTORIES OF 2010.

With Reid’s refusal to accept the House CR with the one-year suspension of ObamaCare, a shutdown seems certain.

* THUS...

Every Republican should be out front, on TV, radio and in print this week with a simple message: “We have twice voted to fund every agency and program of the U.S. government (save ObamaCare) in a single CR. We will proceed now to pass CRs for each department and agency of the U.S. government, separately and individually."

And if Harry Reid’s Senate refuses to pass a single one of those CRs, who then is shutting down NIH and the FDA?