Monday, October 28, 2013

Barker's Newsbites: Monday, October 28, 2013


Geezus... no postings since last Tuesday...?!?!

Mea Culpa, my friends... mea culpa...

Wow... eh... just... wow...

I guess I'd better do a bit of newsbiting! 

*** COMMENTS FOUND WITHIN COMMENTS SECTION ***


2 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://www.breitbart.com/system/wire/upiUPI-20131027-190047-8708

Enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program...

* FOODSTAMPS...

...has more than doubled in the past decade even during times of economic growth, U.S. researchers say.

* YEP. BIPARTISANISM AT ITS FINEST.

[F]or the first time, the number of Americans receiving food stamps increased even when the economy was growing.

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

During the 2003-07 expansion, the SNAP case load, - in a break with historic trends - rose 24%...

* 2003 THRU 2006 BUSH WAS PRESIDENT WITH A RINO CONGRESS; DURING 2007 BUSH WAS PRESIDENT WITH A DEMOCRAT CONGRESS.

The non-profit group Feeding America said 76% of SNAP households included a child, an elderly person, or a disabled person. These vulnerable households receive 83% of all SNAP benefits, which are limited to households with gross income of no more than 130% of the federal poverty guideline.

* A FEW POINTS AND REFLECTIONS UPON STATISTICS: 1) SO... HOUSEHOLDS INCLUDING A CHILD... MEANING DEADBEAT PARENTS... OR PERHAPS JUST A SINGLE DEADBEAT PARENT... NO WAY OF TELLING FROM THE STAT AS OUTLINED; 2) WERE YOU AWARE, FOLKS, THAT THE ELDERLY - AS A GROUP - ARE CLASSIFIED AS FAIRLY WEALTHY AS A GROUP? THINK ABOUT IT... MANY HAVE THEIR HOMES PAID OFF... SAVINGS... SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE... PENSIONS... GROWN CHILDREN WHO HELP THEM OUT IF AND WHEN NECESSARY; 3) TRULY DISABLED? YA MEAN LIKE STEVIE WONDER? RAY CHARLES? CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER? STEPHEN HAWKING?

* NO. DON'T GET ME WRONG. I'M NOT SAYING TRUE DESERVING NEED DOESN'T EXIST. IT SURELY DOES. JUST NOWHERE NEAR ON THE SCALE GOVERNMENT VALIDATES IT UPON NOWADAYS, HOWEVER. THERE'S FRAUD, WASTE, AND MISMANAGEMENT APLENTY. ABLE-BODIED PARENTS HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO FEED, SHELTER, AND CLOTH THEIR CHILDREN. PERIOD. I DON'T CARE IF THIS MEANS WORKING ROUND THE FRIGGIN' CLOCK AT DEAD-END MENIAL JOBS. YOU HAD THE KIDS - NOW TAKE CARE OF THEM!

The majority of SNAP households have income well below the maximum -- 83% have gross income at or below 100 percent of the poverty guideline, $19,530 for a family of three in 2013. These households receive about 91 percent of all benefits, Feeding America said.

* FIRST OF ALL, "FEEDING AMERICA" IS NOT EXACTLY A NON-PARTISAN/NON-IDEOLOGICAL ORGANIZATION. BUT BEYOND THAT, THERE'S ALL SORTS OF STATS THEY'RE NOT GIVING... SUCH AS PERCENTAGE OF FOOD STAMP BENEFICIARIES WHO OWN THEIR OWN HOMES... SUCH AS BREAK-DOWN OF OTHER ASSETS AND FORMS OF INCOME (NOT COUNTED AS INCOME FOR BENEFITS PURPOSES), ETC.

* MY BOTTOM LINE? TOO MANY PEOPLE ARE ON THE DOLE.

William R. Barker said...

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/362310/no-you-cant-keep-it-editors

So far the part of the ObamaCare rollout that is going most smoothly and affecting the most people is the cancellation of current insurance policies.

(*SIGH*)

In states around the country, hundreds of thousands of people are getting notices from insurers that their plans are no longer allowed by the law.

All told, 16 million people may be dumped from their policies, in flagrant contradiction of President Obama’s famous promise that you can keep your health plan if you like it.


Maybe the president didn’t understand the basic architecture of his own health care law, which depends on a government takeover of the individual insurance market.

* NO. HE UNDERSTOOD. HE JUST LIED.

The rules governing the new system impose a novel federal definition of insurance on the country, and plans that don’t meet it, regardless of how well they may have served their customers in the past, are, by and large, verboten. Some are grandfathered, but the rules are strict and a great many existing plans won’t pass muster.

The woes of Healthcare.gov mean that the people with cancelled policies who are supposed to go find new insurance on the exchange can’t for now...

* OOPS...

...and may not be able to by December 15, when they’d need to sign up to stay insured on January 1.

* SERIOUSLY, FOLKS... NOT FUNNY... NOT FUNNY AT ALL.

When and if the website is finally functioning, many of these people won’t like what they see. In contradiction of another famous Obama promise they will be charged more for their insurance to subsidize the costs of other people on the exchanges.

* DUH!

* OBAMA LIED...! HE LIED...!!! WHAT'S SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND...?!?!

For millions of Americans, ObamaCare will be an experience in plumbing the depths of the dishonesty of President Obama’s case for his signature domestic accomplishment.

* TOO LATE. IT'S THE LAW OF THE LAND. (WITH A SPECIAL THANKS TO CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS...)

(*SMIRK*)

Unfortunately, Republicans can’t undo the law in one fell swoop.

* YES THEY COULD HAVE. INSTEAD THEY BLINKED. DON'T BLAME THE TEA PARTY... WE AND "OUR" PEOPLE TRIED!

They can work to delay key provisions, chip away at its coercive power, and illustrate its folly, toward the longer-term goal of rolling it back in its entirety and replacing it with something better. To that end, Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson will introduce legislation to allow people to keep their current health plans by grandfathering as many of them as possible.

* SO FIRST THEY PASS - NO REPUBLICANS, ALL DEMOCRATS - A LAW THEY HADN'T READ THAT'S NOW BEEN PROVEN TO BE A DISASTER. SO... FURTHER AD HOC RE-WRITES? THAT'S THE ANSWER...???

A debate on the bill will accent the emptiness of President Obama’s assurances and further pressure red-state Democrats who have shown an eagerness to distance themselves from the law over the past two weeks.

* BUT IT'LL LEAVE OBAMA IN OFFICE... LEAVE HARRY REID SENATE MAJORITY LEADER... LEAVE PELOSI HOUSE MINORITY LEADER...

* TOTAL INCOMPETENCE LEADS TO... RETENTION OF POWER.

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

House Republicans should take up and pass the measure, which is likely to have bipartisan support, just as a proposed delay of the individual mandate did.

* SOFTEN THE BLOW BUT ALLOW THE BLOW TO STILL KNOCK YOU OUT... HMM... LET ME THINK ABOUT THAT ONE...

Ultimately, the only way to allow people to keep (and buy) the insurance they want is to repeal the law and foster a true market in health insurance. Until then, the wrecking ball of ObamaCare swings.

* TRUE. BUT ARE TODAY'S AMERICAN PEOPLE READY FOR SELF-RULE... FOR SELF-RESPONSIBILITY? I FEAR I DOUBT IT.