Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, October 29, 2013


Hey Gang!

 I know... I know... only two newsbites and a stand-alone yesterday...

 Listen. I'm "teeing up" now so as to hit the ground running this Tuesday morning!

Posted by at

23 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/362484/top-dem-admits-we-knew-jonathan-strong

House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer conceded to reporters today that Democrats knew people would not be able to keep their current health care plans under ObamaCare and expressed qualified contrition for President Obama’s repeated vows to the contrary.

* I'LL NEVER UNDERSTAND HOW EVEN SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS CAN SHRUG STUFF LIKE THIS OFF.

“We knew that there would be some policies that would not qualify and therefore people would be required to get more extensive coverage,” Hoyer said in response to a question from National Review.

* "SOME" POLICIES.

* FOLKS...

(*SIGH*)

Asked by another reporter how repeated statements by Obama to the contrary weren’t “misleading,” Hoyer said “I don’t think the message was wrong. I think the message was accurate. It was not precise enough…[it] should have been caveated with – ‘assuming you have a policy that in fact does do what the bill is designed to do.’”

* I WOULD DONATE $100 TO CHARITY IF ONLY GOD WOULD STRIKE HOYER DOWN.

Hoyer noted that people losing access to their current plans are mostly in the individual market, which is a small segment of the overall market. He also argued requiring those plans to follow new mandates and regulations was important for ensuring those plans included “adequate coverage so the public would not have to be on the hook for serious illnesses or other illnesses.”

* FOLKS... THESE PEOPLE ARE SCUM... LIARS... DECEIVERS... IT'S THAT FRIGGIN' SIMPLE.

October 29, 2013 at 1:19 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://news.yahoo.com/senate-democrats-back-automatic-debt-limit-hikes-145832075--finance.html

Democrats controlling the Senate proposed Tuesday to avoid future showdowns over the so-called debt ceiling by giving the president authority to authorize additional federal borrowing unless Congress can muster veto-proof margins to block him.

* BUZZ! UNCONSTITUTIONAL. I REALIZE DEMOCRATS (AND FAR TOO MANY RINOs) WANT TO AVOID RESPONSIBILITY BY AVOIDING DECISION MAKING, BUT THE CONSTITUTION IS CLEAR; NO BRANCH CAN SIMPLY "TRANSFER" ITS CONSTITUTIONAL POWERS, PEROGATIVES, AND RESPONSIBILITIES TO ANOTHER BRANCH.

The Democratic legislation is based on a proposal first unveiled by GOP Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky during the 2011 debt limit battle.

(*SNORT*)

* NOTHING SURPRISING THERE! (AS I WAS SAYING ABOUT THE RINO CONTINGENT...)

But McConnell weighed in against the Democratic plan even before it was unveiled, saying debt increases must be paired with spending cuts or other reforms.

* I'VE GOT A BETTER IDEA... WHY NOT SIMPLY CREATE A SIX YEAR BUDGET (A SENATE BUDGET WHICH WOULD BE SENT TO THE HOUSE BECAUSE ULTIMATELY THE BILL WOULD HAVE TO COME OUT OF THE HOUSE) THAT LEADS TO A BALANCED BUDGET... AND FROM YEAR SEVEN ONWARD WE START PAYING OFF DEBT PRINCIPLE.

October 29, 2013 at 1:54 PM
William R. Barker said...

* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/22/sowell-the-race-hustlers-among-us/?page=all#pagebreak

* BY THOMAS SOWELL

Years ago, someone said that according to the laws of aerodynamics, bumblebees cannot fly. But the bumblebees, not knowing the laws of aerodynamics, go ahead and fly anyway.

Something like that happens among people. There have been many ponderous academic writings and dour editorials in the mainstream media lamenting that most people born poor cannot rise in American society anymore. Meanwhile, many poor immigrants arrive here from various parts of Asia, and rise on up the ladder anyway.

Often these Asian immigrants arrive not only with very little money, but also very little knowledge of English. They start out working at low-paid jobs but working so many hours, often at more than one job, that they are able to put a little money aside. After a few years, they have enough money to open some little shop, where they still work long hours, and still save their money so that they can afford to send their children to college. Meanwhile, these children know that their parents not only expect, but demand, that they make good grades.

Some people try to explain why Asians and Asian-Americans succeed so well in education and in the economy by some special characteristics that they have.

* HMM...

That may be true, but their success may also be a result of what they do not have; namely, “leaders” who tell them that the deck is so stacked against them that they cannot rise, or at least not without depending on “leaders.”

Such “leaders” are like the people who said that the laws of aerodynamics showed that the bumblebee cannot fly.

Those who have believed such “leaders” have, in fact, stayed grounded, unlike the bumblebees.

* TO BE CONTINUED...

October 29, 2013 at 2:45 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)

A painful moment came for me years ago, when I was on the lecture circuit, after a talk at Marquette University, when a young black student rose and asked: “Even though I am graduating from Marquette University, what hope is there for me?”

Back in the 1950s when I was a student, I never encountered any fellow black student who expressed such hopelessness, even though there was far more racial discrimination then. We knew that there were obstacles for us to overcome, and we intended to overcome them. The memory of that Marquette student came back to me, years later, when another black young man said that he had wanted to become a pilot, and had even planned to join the Air Force in order to do so. But then, he said, he now “realized” that “the Man” would never allow a black guy to become a pilot.

(This was decades after a whole squadron of black fighter-plane pilots made a reputation for themselves in World War II as the Tuskegee Airmen. There have been black generals in the Air Force.)

Both these young men — and many others — have learned all too well the lessons taught by race hustlers, in their social version of the laws of aerodynamics, which said that they could not rise.

You don’t hear about racial “leaders” such as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson among Asians or Asian-Americans.

(Here and there, you may see some irresponsible academics peddling that line in the classroom — some of whom are of Asian ancestry, since no race of human beings is completely lacking in fools. But they do not get the same attention, or draw the same following, as race hustlers operating in black or Hispanic communities.)

By and large, Asian youngsters rise and fly.

Other groups in times past also arrived on these shores with very little money and often with very little education, at least during the immigrant generation.

A poem by Carl Sandburg, back during that era, referred to a Jewish fish peddler in Chicago: “His face is that of a man terribly glad to be selling fish, terribly glad that God made fish, and customers to whom he may call his wares from a pushcart.”

(This fish peddler probably had not gone to college, and so had no one to tell him that he couldn’t make it, and that his children couldn’t rise, because this was such a terrible country.)

No one can claim that there was no anti-Semitism in America, any more than they can claim that there was never any anti-Asian discrimination. There was plenty of both. But that is very different from following “leaders” whose message would only keep them grounded, after the skies were open to them as never before.

October 29, 2013 at 2:46 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/29/taxpayers-pay-3310-each-visitor-clinton-birthplace/

It costs the federal government $33.10 for every visitor to the national park created to commemorate President Clinton’s birthplace — which averages just 24 people a day, according to a scathing new report that says Congress has created far more parks than the system can handle.

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

Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican and Capitol Hill’s top waste-watcher, said in the new report that Congress is more intent on creating new parks than it is on spending money to maintain existing ones, which has led to major problems at some of the gems of the system, such as a $24 million backlog on work on trails at the Grand Canyon or the $2 million in tort claims the government faced one year from patrons tripping on bad sidewalks at Independence National Historic Park in Philadelphia.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

But the Clinton park, located in Hope, Ark., is particularly stunning since it was Mr. Clinton who signed a law in 1998 to try to clamp down on frivolous new parks — only to see Congress break that rule in 2009 to create one for his birthplace.

* 2009 - BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS CONTROLLED BY THE DEMS.

Mr. Clinton isn’t the only former president whose legacy has turned into a sink for taxpayers’ dollars.

Ronald Reagan’s boyhood home in Illinois isn’t even part of the park service yet, and the owners show no signs of selling, but the government spent $72,000 in 2012 for the site.

* WHY...?!?! (HOW...?!?!) DETAILS, PLEASE!

The fight over adding new park sites vs. maintaining existing ones has gone on for years, and the National Park Service regularly battles against some of the sites lawmakers try to create, saying there’s already an $11.5 billion maintenance backlog.

* BUT THESE FRIGGIN' DUMMIES IN CONGRESS DON'T LISTEN!

“The NPS is subsidizing Washington D.C. area concerts, preserving parks in foreign countries, and purchasing even more park property — including real estate on the U.S. Virgin Islands for nearly $1 million per acre,” Mr. Coburn wrote in the report. “At the same time, the crowned jewels of our National Park System have become tarnished.”

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

Coburn said more Americans were struck by lightning in 2012 than visited Aniakchak National Monument in Alaska, which saw just 19 visitors that year. Indeed, Alaska accounted for three of the six parks with the highest cost per visitor in 2012, according to the Coburn report figures.

Even in urban areas, some park properties get little use. The Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial in Philadelphia, just a few block away from the Liberty Bell, had just 3,313 visitors in 2012.

One park created in 1978, the Rio Grande Wild & Scenic River, had a budget of $193,000 in 2012, which worked out to more than $319 for each of the 604 official visitors.

Another 1978 park, the Thomas Stone National Historic Site in Maryland, costs taxpayers $91 per visitor.

October 29, 2013 at 2:53 PM
William R. Barker said...

* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304655104579163412724696396

Is there a method to President Obama's style of leadership, his methods of decision-making, his habits of attention, oversight and follow-through?

In recent months I've been keeping a file of stories that might suggest an answer. See what you think:

The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 28, 2013

"President Barack Obama went nearly five years without knowing his own spies were bugging the phones of world leaders.

* SO HE SAYS...

Officials said the NSA has so many eavesdropping operations under way that it wouldn't have been practical to brief him on all of them.

* UH-HUH...

"They added that the president was briefed on and approved of broader intelligence-collection 'priorities,' but that those below him make decisions about specific targets."

* BUT... BUT... BUT... ISN'T "LEADER BUGGING LEADER" EXACTLY OBAMA'S "LEVEL?"

The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 28, 2013

"HealthCare.gov is the highest-profile experiment yet in the Obama administration's effort to modernize government by using technology, with the site intended to become a user-friendly pathway to new health insurance options for millions of uninsured Americans.

"'This was the president's signature project and no one with the right technology experience was in charge,' said Bob Kocher, a former White House aide who helped draft the law."

* YEP... THAT ABOUT COVERS IT...

The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 21, 2013

"Tensions between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia have grown sharply in recent months. President Barack Obama authorized the CIA to provide limited arms to carefully vetted Syrian rebels, but it took months for the program to commence. . . .

"One Western diplomat described Saudi Arabia as eager to be a military partner in what was to have been the U.S.-led military strikes on Syria. As part of that, the Saudis asked to be given the list of military targets for the proposed strikes. The Saudis indicated they never got the information, the diplomat said."

* IN CASE ANYONE IS UNAWARE, AFTER FIVE YEARS OF OBAMA RELATIONS WITH SAUDI ARABIA ARE IN TATERS.

* TO BE CONTINUED...

October 29, 2013 at 3:17 PM
William R. Barker said...

* OOPS... MAKE THAT THREE-PARTER... (Part 2 of 3)

New York Times, NYT Oct. 22, 2013

"Besides the Syrian government's gains, there was mounting evidence that Mr. Assad's troops had repeatedly used chemical weapons against civilians.

"Even as the debate about arming the rebels took on a new urgency, Mr. Obama rarely voiced strong opinions during senior staff meetings. But current and former officials said his body language was telling: he often appeared impatient and disengaged while listening to the debate, sometimes scrolling through messages on his BlackBerry or slouching and chewing gum."

* IT REALLY IS A FAIR QUESTION... "WHO IS THIS MAN?"

Washington Post, Sept. 28, 2013

"On Saturday, as the shutdown drama played out on Capitol Hill, President Obama played golf at Fort Belvoir in Virginia."

* YEP... THAT'S OBAMA FOR YA...

Washington Post, Sept. 6, 2013

"For French President François Hollande, it seemed like the perfect response: a lightning-quick strike on Syria to punish the government for an alleged chemical weapons attack.

"But with President Obama's surprise decision to ask Congress for a go-ahead on military action, Hollande has found himself embroiled in political controversy abroad and at home. Instead of vaunting Hollande as a warrior charging off to do battle, critics say he now looks more like a sidekick who was left in the lurch by his American ally."

* WELL... FUCK THE FRENCH... BUT, STILL... OBAMA COULD HAVE HANDLED THIS MUCH MORE COMPETENTLY.

* TO BE CONTINUED...

October 29, 2013 at 3:18 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 3 of 3)

Eisenhower biographer Jim Newton, quoted in New York Times, July 15, 2013

"The essence of Eisenhower's hidden hand, of course, is that there was real work going on that people didn't know at the time. If that's true now, then Obama really is emulating Ike. If, on the other hand, he's simply doing nothing or very little, that would be passivity, not hidden-hand leadership."

* IKE WAS A SUCCESSFUL PRESIDENT WITH CONCREATE ACHIEVEMENTS. OBAMA...??? COM'ON...

New York Times, July 5, 2013

"In polo shirt, shorts and sandals, President Obama headed to the golf course Friday morning with a couple of old friends, then flew to Camp David for a long weekend. Secretary of State John Kerry was relaxing at his vacation home in Nantucket.

"Aides said both men were updated as increasingly bloody clashes left dozens dead in Egypt, but from outward appearances they gave little sense that the Obama administration viewed the broader crisis in Cairo with great alarm."

(*PURSED LIPS*)

Vali Nasr, "The Dispensable Nation," April 2013

"The president had a truly disturbing habit of funneling major foreign-policy decisions through a small cabal of relatively inexperienced White House advisors whose turf was strictly politics.

* STRICTLY POLITICS.

Their primary concern was how any action in Afghanistan or the Middle East would play on the nightly news, or which talking point it would give Republicans."

(*PURSED LIPS*)

New York Times, Nov. 17, 2012

"Mr. Obama's reluctance to put American forces on the ground during the fight, and his decision to keep America's diplomatic and C.I.A. presence minimal in post-Qaddafi Libya, may have helped lead the United States to miss signals and get caught unaware in the attack on the American mission in Benghazi. Military forces were too far from Libya's shores during the Sept. 11 attack to intervene."

* NO IT WASN'T. (EVEN WHERE THE NYT CRITICIZES OBAMA THEY CAN'T BRING THEMSELVES TO HIT THE BULLS EYE.

Gregory Hicks, former deputy chief of mission in Libya, on "60 Minutes," Oct. 27, 2013

"For the people who go out, on to the edge, to represent our country, we believe that if we get in trouble, they're coming to get us, that our back is covered. To hear that it's not, that's a terrible, terrible experience."

* YES...

(*SAD NOD*)

Call Mr. Obama's style indifferent, aloof or irresponsible, but a president who governs like this reaps the whirlwind — if not for himself, then for his country.

October 29, 2013 at 3:18 PM
William R. Barker said...

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

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20131029/OPINION01/310290010/Romneycare-foretells-Obamacare-failures?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s

Weeks after the botched rollout of ObamaCare's exchanges, Democrats are desperately trying to reassure Americans that a not-ready-for-primetime website is unrelated to the "benefits" customers will experience when they can finally enroll.

“Despite this initial bump in the road, we must remember the Affordable Care Act is more than a website,” wrote Congressman John Dingell, D-Dearborn, in a constituent email over the weekend. “It’s affordable, quality health insurance made available to everyone.”

* REFRESH ME... ARE MEMBERS OF CONGRESS NOW BEING FORCED TO GET THEIR INSURANCE VIA OBAMACARE EXCHANGES...??? AND... ARE MEMBERS OF CONGRESS LOSING THEIR SPECIAL CONGRESSIONAL BENEFITS, SUCH AS THE OFFICE OF THE ATTENDING PHYSICIAN IN THE U.S. CONGRESS?

* FOLKS... IF YOU'RE NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE ABOVE "OFFICE," IT'S CONCIERGE MEDICINE PROVIDED TO ALL MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND THEIR FAMILIES FOR SOME RIDICULOUSLY LOW FEE... SOMETHING LIKE $503 A YEAR. (OH... SUPREME COURT JUSTICES AND THEIR FAMILIES ARE ALSO COVERED!) HERE... FOLKS... READ ALL ABOUT IT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attending_Physician_of_the_United_States_Congress

But that reassurance is no more credible than the fib that website crashes were due to high traffic volumes.

* "FIB." CUTE.

Yes, ObamaCare is more than a website — it is more premium hikes, more government deficits, more waiting to get care.

* TO BE CONTINUED...

October 29, 2013 at 3:42 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 2)

Obamacare is modeled after Massachusetts’ 2006 health care law. Indeed, President Obama will be in Boston Wednesday singing its praises. But for the last seven years, RomneyCare has failed in its promise of lower costs, better care access and universal coverage.

Passed by Republican Gov. Mitt Romney and a Democratic legislature, RomneyCare pioneered ObamaCare’s now familiar individual mandate, government-built health exchanges, and Medicaid expansion.

RomneyCare was actually tailored for the known demographics of its state’s uninsured population, unlike its wide-open federal counterpart. As a result, RomneyCare’s smooth rollout was a contrast to ObamaCare's chaos.

But, ominously, the wheels started to come off as RomneyCare's features kicked in. Within two years of its launch, the program’s costs were exploding.

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

The wheels started to come off as RomneyCare's features kicked in. Within two years of its launch, the program’s costs were exploding.

(*SIGH*)

“Coverage for the uninsured in the state exchange was more expensive than estimated,” says Josh Archambault, director of Health Care Policy at Massachusetts’ Pioneer Institute, of 20% cost over-runs that necessitated tax hikes.

* 20% COST OVER-RUNS!

To control costs, Archambault adds, Massachusetts also doubled down on exchange regulation, reducing customers’ choices.

* HMM... WHO ELSE TENDS TO "DOUBLE DOWN" ON DISASTEROUS FAILURES...?!?! (THAT'S RIGHT! BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA!)

What’s more, RomneyCare inflated state health premiums that were already among the nation’s highest. Which is to say, while RomneyCare has failed to reduce costs, its residents were already paying for a heavily regulated system. Not so for the rest of America, which is now witnessing sticker shock as Washington imposes Massachusetts-sized costs on everyone.

Michigan premiums for an average family will grow 12%, according to exchange data compiled by the Heritage Foundation. Indiana’s premiums rise 26%; Florida’s 25%.

Massachusetts’ health entitlement spending ballooned to 40% of its budget (and you thought Michigan’s 25% was out of control).

* YOU'RE READING THIS, RIGHT, FOLKS?

But didn’t all this spending lead to universal health coverage in Massachusetts? No.

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

No.

The state already had an unusually low 6% of its population uninsured. RomneyCare has cut that number in half, mostly with hundreds of millions in government subsides. But coverage is still not universal. Meanwhile, access to health care has declined.

* WHAT'S THAT...?!?!

Meanwhile, access to health care has declined.

(*BANGING MY HEAD AGAINST THE DESK*)

* TO BE CONTINUED...

October 29, 2013 at 3:43 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 3 of 3)

If RomneyCare predicted ObamaCare's high costs, it warns of worse: growing physician shortages as regulations drive caregivers from the market.

A 2011 survey “by the Massachusetts Medical Society reveals that fewer than half of the state’s primary care practices are accepting new patients, down from 70% in 2007,” reports Anne-Marie Turner, president of the Galen Institute.

“The average wait time for a routine checkup with an internist is 48 days. It takes 41 days to see an OB/GYN, up from 34” in one year.

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

This doctor shortage, driven by poor government reimbursement for health services, also has increased hospital emergency room visits, contradicting Obama’s — and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s — claim that Medicaid expansion will reduce uncompensated care.

* AGAIN... FOLKS... THESE ARE THE FACTS...!!!

Just 53% of internists and 62% of family physicians, for example, will see Massachusetts Medicaid patients.

* WHAT'S OBAMA'S NEXT MOVE? RE INSTITUTE SLAVERY... ONLY UPON DOCTORS AND OTHER MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS? SERIOUSLY, FOLKS... PERHAPS NANCY PELOSI WILL SIMPLY "DEEM" MORE DOCTORS INTO EXISTENCE!

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

“Insurance rates have continued to increase with more mandates like fertility coverage,” says Paul Bachman, director of research for Boston’s Beacon Hill Institute. “So now the governor has approved price controls that dictate that health costs can’t increase more than inflation.”

(*SNORT*)

* THE IRONY... IT WAS THE WAGE AND PRICE CONTROLS OF WW2 WHICH GOT US INTO THIS MESS IN THE FIRST PLACE!

That means more doctor shortages.

* YEP... THE DOMINOES WILL CONTINUE TO FALL...

As RomneyCare shows, the future does not fulfill John Dingell’s promise. The Affordable Care Act is unaffordable.

October 29, 2013 at 3:43 PM
William R. Barker said...

* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304655104579164022258530180?mod=WSJ_Opinion_AboveLEFTTop

One reason most states in the Northeast keep losing ground to other parts of the country is that politicians keep thinking they can suspend the basic laws of economics.

(*NOD*)

This is the region with the highest tax rates, the heaviest regulatory burden and now the highest minimum wages. New York recently raised its minimum wage to $9 in 2016 from the federal rate of $7.25, and waiting in line is New Jersey.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

* FOLKS... COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE AND FRANKLY AN ASSAULT UPON FREEDOM OF CONTRACT.

Mandatory wages are always a bad idea, but they are especially counterproductive in a state like New Jersey where the unemployment rate is still 8.5% and has stayed above the national level throughout the post-2009 expansion.

* BUT I THOUGH CHRIS CHRISTIE WAS THE SECOND COMING...???

There are already 400,000 Garden State residents who can't find a job at the current minimum wage, and a higher forced pay rate will only make jobs harder to find.

* "WON'T." MANY RESIDENTS "WON'T" TAKE A JOB AT MINIMUM WAGE.

* AS TO THOSE WHO "CAN'T" - PARTICULARLY YOUNG PEOPLE... HIGH SCHOOL KIDS... COLLEGE KIDS - A HIGHER MINIMUM WAGE WILL ONLY TIGHTEN THE JOB MARKET FURTHER AT "THEIR" RUNG. (OH... AND FOR THOSE LUCKY ENOUGH TO GET JOBS... CONSUMERS WILL PAY HIGHER PRICES IN ORDER TO CREATE THE PROFITS NECESSARY TO PAY THE HIGHER WAGES.)

Most jobs in New Jersey — and everywhere in the country — pay well over $7.25 an hour, and the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data indicate that the average wage rate for non-agricultural workers is $24.09.

* I DO WONDER IF THIS IS "STRAIGHT WAGE" OR "TOTAL COMPENSATION" - MEANING BENEFITS INCLUDED.

Most minimum-wage jobs are in the restaurant, fast food, retail, hotel and other service industries.

These are positions that don't require high skill levels, and the minimum wage is usually a "starter pay" level while the worker is trained and employers determine if they want to keep this worker on the job. Most minimum-wage workers get a pay raise within a year of being hired, according to research from the Employment Policies Institute.

* AND MANY SERVICE JOBS ARE BASED UPON TIPS... NOT JUST SALARY. RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU FEAR BARTENDERS ARE UNDER-COMPENSATED. (*GRIN*) (*SNORT*)

* TO BE CONTINUED...

October 29, 2013 at 6:34 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)

Raising the minimum wage makes young and low-skilled workers more expensive to hire, especially in low-margin businesses. It also encourages firms to substitute more automation and labor-saving technologies to cut costs.

(*NOD*)

Especially with higher ObamaCare costs coming, this is a recipe for increasing unemployment among the least skilled - especially minority teens.

* SO SAYS PAST STATISTICAL ANALYSIS!

The most recent evidence on this point was the rise in the federal minimum wage in three stages to $7.25 an hour in 2009 from $5.15 in 2007. The pay hike began at the time the economy entered recession, and the black teen unemployment rate climbed from about 30% to above 45% when the last hike hit. Young unskilled workers were priced out of the labor market. The black teen jobless rate over the last five months has still averaged above 40%, and without a job their minimum salary goes from $7.25 to zero.

(*SHRUG*)

Advocates of the initiative argue that higher wage minimums will stimulate the state economy by putting more money into the hands of workers, who will spend locally and thereby enhance the job market. In this circular logic, making workers more expensive impels employers to hire more workers.

* LISTEN... FOLKS... WE ALL KNOW ABOUT HENRY FORD. YES... MIDDLE CLASS WAGES MEAN MIDDLE CLASS SPENDING. BUT... BUT... MIDDLE CLASS WAGES REQUIRE EMPLOYER PROFITS... ENOUGH PROFITS TO NOT ONLY TURN AN INITIAL PROFIT, BUT PAY FOR CONTINUED R&D AND CONTINUED EXPANSION... ENOUGH PROFIT ALSO TO PAY A RETURN ON INVESTMENT WHILE ATTRACTING NEW INVESTMENT... THERE ARE A LOT OF STEPS IN THE PROCESS. JUST AS I ACKNOWLEDGE HENRY FORD... I ALSO POINT YOU TO THE EXAMPLE OF THE SLOW SUICIDE OF THE AMERICAN AUTO INDUSTRY! WAGES AND BENEFITS NEED TO BE TIED TO PROFITABILITY!!!

The advocates in Trenton also point to a 1994 study by David Card and Alan Krueger that found a minimum-wage increase in New Jersey boosted employment in fast-food restaurants relative to neighboring Pennsylvania where the minimum wage did not rise. But this was re-examined by University of California Irvine economist David Neumark, who used better data. He reported in a 2000 American Economic Review study that "the New Jersey minimum wage increase led to a 3.9% to 4% decrease in fast food employment in New Jersey" compared to Pennsylvania.

* OOPS...

A new study by the Employment Policies Institute examined the demographic profile of people who would be affected by the minimum-wage increase. Half are under the age of 25. Almost 54% are teens or adults who are not the primary earner living at home. The average family income with one or more minimum-wage worker is $53,554. That's not rich, but it sure isn't a family in poverty.

New Jersey needs more reform to regain its economic vitality, especially a cut in a tax burden that remains among the nation's highest even after Mr. Christie's property-tax cap. But in the meantime Garden State voters can help their state by defeating this maximum unemployment initiative.

October 29, 2013 at 6:35 PM
William R. Barker said...

* FOUR-PARTER... (Part 1 of 4)

http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-77965005/

The White House and State Department signed off on surveillance targeting phone conversations of friendly foreign leaders, current and former U.S. intelligence officials said Monday, pushing back against assertions that President Obama and his aides were unaware of the high-level eavesdropping.

* DOES ANYONE READING THIS TRUST BARACK OBAMA'S WORD? SERIOUSLY... EVERYONE LIES... MOSTLY WHITE LIES... POLITICIANS DISSEMBLE AS A MATTER OF COURSE... BUT HAVE WE EVER HAD A CHIEF EXECUTIVE WHO LIES SO OFTEN ON SUCH WEIGHTY MATTERS?

Professional staff members at the National Security Agency and other U.S. intelligence agencies are angry, these officials say, believing the president has cast them adrift as he tries to distance himself from the disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that have strained ties with close allies.

* LISTEN... OBAMA AND HIS CREATURES ALLOWED A U.S. AMBASSADOR AND THREE OTHER AMERICANS TO BE MURDERED IN BENGHAZI WITH NO RESCUE ATTEMPT. I TRULY BELIEVE THESE PEOPLE ARE CAPABLE OF ANYTHING.

The resistance emerged as the White House said it would curtail foreign intelligence collection in some cases and two senior U.S. senators called for investigations of the practice.

* BY "RESISTANCE" I BELIEVE THE TIMES MEANS "TRUTH." (AND THEY MUST BELIEVE THEIR SOURCES OR ELSE THIS ARTICLE WOULD NEVER HAVE RUN.)

France, Germany, Italy, Mexico and Sweden have all publicly complained about the NSA surveillance operations, which reportedly captured private cellphone conversations by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, among other foreign leaders.

* AGAIN... AT THIS LEVEL... DOES ANYONE TRULY BELIEVE THAT SUCH RISKS ARE TAKEN ABSENT PRESIDENTIAL NOTIFICATION AND APPROVAL...? I DON'T. BUT THAT'S THE STORY THE OBAMAITES TRIED TO PEDDLE!

* TO BE CONTINUED...

October 29, 2013 at 7:25 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 4)

On Monday, as Spain joined the protest, the fallout also spread to Capitol Hill.

Until now, members of Congress have chiefly focused their attention on Snowden's disclosures about the NSA's collection of U.S. telephone and email records under secret court orders.

"With respect to NSA collection of intelligence on leaders of U.S. allies — including France, Spain, Mexico and Germany — let me state unequivocally: I am totally opposed," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee.

* AND YET IT HAPPENED...

"Unless the United States is engaged in hostilities against a country or there is an emergency need for this type of surveillance, I do not believe the United States should be collecting phone calls or emails of friendly presidents and prime ministers," she said in a statement.

* AND YET... IT OCCURRED...

Feinstein said the Intelligence Committee had not been told of "certain surveillance activities" for more than a decade, and she said she would initiate a major review of the NSA operation.

* FEINSTEIN IS OBVIOUSLY INCOMPETENT. ANY FIT INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN (AND RANKING MEMBER) WOULD BE IN THE LOOP... INSIST UPON BEING IN THE LOOP... AND BE IN IT!

She added that the White House had informed her that "collection on our allies will not continue," although other officials said most U.S. surveillance overseas would not be affected.

* A LITTLE LATE NOW, WOULDN'T YOU SAY?

* TO BE CONTINUED...

October 29, 2013 at 7:26 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONTINUING... (Part 3 of 4)

In Madrid, Spanish Foreign Ministry officials summoned the U.S. ambassador to object to the alleged NSA communications net in Spain. Citing documents leaked by Snowden, El Mundo, a major Spanish daily, said the U.S. spy agency had collected data on more than 60 million phone calls made in just 30 days, from early December 2012 to early January 2013. Precisely how the surveillance is conducted is unclear. But if a foreign leader is targeted for eavesdropping, the relevant U.S. ambassador and the National Security Council staffer at the White House who deals with the country are given regular reports, said two former senior intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in discussing classified information.

* SO... MORE EVIDENCE THAT THE WHITE HOUSE TRIED TO LIE IT'S WAY OUT OF RESPONSIBILITY. UNFRIGGIN'BELIEVABLE!

Obama may not have been specifically briefed on NSA operations targeting a foreign leader's cellphone or email communications, one of the officials said. "But certainly the National Security Council and senior people across the intelligence community knew exactly what was going on, and to suggest otherwise is ridiculous."

* AGAIN... IF WE'RE GONNA BE BUGGING OUR MAJOR ENEMIES - FORGET OUR MAJOR ALLIES - THE PRESIDENT SHOULD NOT ONLY "KNOW" BUT HE SHOULD BE THE ONLY ONE ABLE TO AUTHORIZE SUCH RISKY ACTIVITIES THAT IF FOUND OUT (WHEN FOUND OUT!) MIGHT LEAD TO MAJOR INTERNATIONAL SCANDAL AND BLOWBACK WHICH HURTS BOTH OUR NATIONAL REPUTATION AND NATIONAL INTERESTS!

If U.S. spying on key foreign leaders was news to the White House, current and former officials said, then White House officials have not been reading their briefing books.

* BENGHAZI WASN'T BAD ENOUGH, HUH? HOW MUCH INCOMPETENCE CAN THIS NATION SURVIVE?

* TO BE CONTINUED...

October 29, 2013 at 7:27 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 4 of 4)

Some U.S. intelligence officials said they were being blamed by the White House for conducting surveillance that was authorized under the law and utilized at the White House. "People are furious," said a senior intelligence official who would not be identified discussing classified information. "This is officially the White House cutting off the intelligence community."

* WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO GENERAL BETRAYUS?

(*SMIRK*)

Any decision to spy on friendly foreign leaders is made with input from the State Department, which considers the political risk, the official said. Any useful intelligence is then given to the president's counter-terrorism advisor, Lisa Monaco, among other White House officials.

Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said Monday that Obama had ordered a review of surveillance capabilities, including those affecting America's closest foreign partners and allies.

* YES... ANOTHER "REVIEW." THAT SHOULD SET THINGS STRAIGHT.

(*SPITTING ON THE FLOOR*)

"Our review is looking across the board at our intelligence gathering to ensure that as we gather intelligence, we are properly accounting for both the security of our citizens and our allies and the privacy concerns shared by Americans and citizens around the world," Carney said.

* CARNEY IS AN ASS. WE'RE TALKING ABOUT SPYING ON THE CHIEF EXECUTIVES OF OUR CLOSEST ALLIES!

Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said the review would examine "whether we have the appropriate posture when it comes to heads of state, how we coordinate with our closest allies and partners, and what further guiding principles or constraints might be appropriate for our efforts." She said the review should be completed this year.

* FOLKS... THEY'RE STILL COVERING UP BENGHAZI, FAST AND FURIOUS, THE IRS SCANDAL, AND THE DOMESTIC SPYING SCANDAL!

Citing documents from Snowden, the German news magazine Der Spiegel reported last week that the NSA's Special Collection Service had monitored Merkel's cellphone since 2002. Obama subsequently called Merkel and told her he was not aware her phone had been hacked, U.S. officials said.

* IMAGINE SHE BELIEVES HIM... WHAT DO YOU SUPPOSED THIS WILL MAKE HER THINK ABOUT HIS COMPETENCE? EITHER HE'S A LIAR OR A TOTAL DISENGAGED INCOMPETENT! GREAT! WONDERFUL!

Intelligence officials also disputed a Wall Street Journal article Monday that said the White House had learned only this summer — during a review of surveillance operations that might be exposed by Snowden — about an NSA program to monitor communications of 35 world leaders. Since then, officials said, several of the eavesdropping operations have been stopped because of political sensitivities.

* IN A SHORT FIVE YEARS OBAMA HAS CREATED ABSOLUTE CHAOS BOTH DOMESTICALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY.

October 29, 2013 at 7:27 PM
William R. Barker said...

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

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/richard-cohen-a-question-of-competence/2013/10/28/10539e20-3ffa-11e3-a624-41d661b0bb78_story.html

Where is Casey Stengel when we need him?

In 1962, as the manager of the brand new and determinedly hapless New York Mets — 40 wins, 120 losses — he looked up and down his bench one dismal day and wondered, “Can’t anybody here play this game?”

That phrase kept coming at me recently as I watched the impressively inept performance of the Obama administration in both foreign and domestic policy. On a given day, this administration makes the ’62 Mets look good.

This is a surprise — at least to me. If Barack Obama has an image, it is of the infinitely cool, cerebral leader. The man can give a rousing speech, but he is, at heart, a planner and a plodder. Both of his presidential campaigns were exercises in micromanagement — digital all the way. Obama was the better candidate, but he had, by far, the better organization. Yet this same man has lately so mishandled both domestic and foreign policy that he is in mortal peril of altering his image.

* BETTER LATE THAN NEVER... BUT, STILL, THE FACT IS, OBAMA'S IMAGINE BEGAN TO TATTER WITH THE PORKULUS BILL. (REMEMBER THAT ONE?) BARELY IN OFFICE AND HIS SINCERITY - AND COMPETENCE - WAS IN DOUBT. (AND QUICKLY FOLLOWING THIS WAS THE HENRY LOUIS GATES JR. "INCIDENT.")

This unsettling and uncharacteristic incompetence became shockingly clear when Obama failed to come to grips with the Syrian civil war.

* APPARENTLY BENGHAZI DOESN'T REGISTER AS A "BUMP IN THE ROAD" TO AUTHOR COHEN.

(*SNORT*)

* TO BE CONTINUED...

October 29, 2013 at 11:14 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 2)

I did not agree with the president’s do-nothing policy, but at least it was both a policy and intellectually coherent. What followed, though, was both intellectually incoherent and pathetically inconsistent — a “red line” that came out of nowhere and then mysteriously evaporated and a missile strike that was threatened and then abandoned. It was a policy so wavering that if Obama were driving, he would be forced to take a breathalyzer.

The debacle of the Affordable Care Act’s Web site raised similar questions about confidence.

This was supposed to be Obama’s Big Deal.

The president has other accomplishments — navigating out of the Great Recession was no minor feat...

* THIS IS HOW OUT OF TOUCH WASHINGTON LIBERALS ARE; COHEN THINKS WE'RE OUT OF THE RECESSION!

(*GUFFAW*)

...but restoring the status quo does not get your face on Mount Rushmore.

* RESTORING THE STATUS QUO...?!?! IS HE NUTS...?!?! ANYWAY...

(*SIGH*)

Something went wrong. People could not sign up.

Why? Not sure.

Who’s at fault? Apparently no one. An act of God.

Pathetic.

Here, I must mention that bit of theater in which various world leaders wax indignant about their telephone conversations being bugged by the National Security Agency (NSA). This is not Obama’s doing since the program predated his time in office.

(*SNORT*)

* SORRY. THE CLOCK BEGINS ANEW WITH EVERY NEW ADMINISTRATION. CLINTON'S FAIULRES LED TO 9/11, BUT 9/11 HAPPENED ON BUSH'S WATCH.

* THE THING IS... BUSH HAD 8 MONTHS TO STOP BIN LADEN... OBAMA HAS HAD ALMOST FIVE YEARS IN OFFICE... THREE SINCE OBAMACARE WAS PASSED AND SIGNED INTO LAW.

* TO BE CONTINUED...

October 29, 2013 at 11:15 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 3 of 3)

But the decibel level of the outrage does suggest that in Germany, France, Brazil and elsewhere, Obama’s standing is not what it once was.

* IT NEVER WAS! HIS "CELEBRITY" RATING WAS HIGH... BUT RESPECT... FEAR... NOT SO MUCH. HE DELIBERATELY SEVERED THE "SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP" WITH GREAT BRITAIN. OUR RELATIONS WITH SAUDI ARABIA ARE IN TATTERS. RUSSIA...? CHINA...? COM'ON... OBAMA'S TIME IN OFFICE HAS BEEN A DISASTER FOR U.S. FOREIGN POLICY.

He and America are no longer held in either awe or respect, and the bugging program, instead of seeming a necessary evil, looks both clumsy and silly. Bugging Angela Merkel’s personal phone...

(*HEADACHE*)

But the reaction of the bugged has been nothing compared to the bleat of anger coming from the Middle East. The Saudis, who usually whisper their differences, have severely upped the volume and now talk dismissively of Obama and America.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

They didn’t like the way we washed our hands of Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, a steadfast and durable ally, and then dealt with the Syrian civil war in such a wobbly fashion. In recent days, the kingdom has rejected a seat on the U.N. Security Council and, in the person of its intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan , has said the U.S.-Saudi relationship is strained. (Bandar, a former ambassador to Washington, can hardly be dismissed as anti-American.)

* BUT IS IT SIMPLY INCOMPETENCE, FOLKS? I SAY NO! I SAY THIS IS WHAT OBAMA MEANT BY "FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGE AMERICA." NO THRILLER WRITER COULD COME UP WITH A "CHARACTER" PRESIDENT SO INTENT UPON HURTING OUR COUNTRY AS OBAMA.

Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy, and in the long run Riyadh and Washington were always going to make an odd couple. But the current spat is not about values but about reliability and performance. The Obama administration has botched Syria and, in the Saudi (and Israeli) view, cannot be trusted to deal firmly with Iran. An erratic presidency has made the world a bit less safe.

* DAMN STRAIGHT!

History will someday provide perspective and say, possibly, that Syria and ObamaCare did not matter. I doubt it. At the least, they help validate the once-frivolous Republican charges of incompetence.

* OBVIOUSLY THE CHARGES WERE NEVER FRIVOLOUS! SEEMINGLY IT WAS COHEN'S ATTITUDE FROM 2008 THRU NOW THAT HAS BEEN SHOWN TO BE... UMM... OVER-CONFIDENT CONCERNING OBAMA.

A competent president would beware. As Casey Stengel might note, strike three is coming up.

* IF I'M RIGHT... OBAMA'S GOAL IS TO STRIKE OUT... TO LOSE THE GAME... PERHAPS TO SEE THE TEAM FOLD...

October 29, 2013 at 11:15 PM
William R. Barker said...

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

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-what-did-president-obama-know-and-when-did-he-know-it/2013/10/28/584702d0-4013-11e3-a751-f032898f2dbc_story.html

For a smart man, President Obama professes to know very little about a great number of things going on in his administration.

* "PROFESSES." CUTE.

On Sunday night, the Wall Street Journal reported that he didn’t learn until this summer that the National Security Agency had been bugging the phones of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other world leaders for nearly five years.

* HA! HA! HA!

That followed by a few days a claim by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius that Obama didn’t know about problems with the HealthCare.gov Web site before the rest of the world learned of them after the Oct. 1 launch.

(*SNORT*)

It stretches credulity to think that the United States was spying on world leaders without the president’s knowledge, or that he was blissfully unaware of huge technical problems that threatened to undermine his main legislative achievement.

* THANK YOU, MR. MILBANK! THANK YOU FOR JOINING ME IN RECOGNIZING REALITY!

But on issues including the IRS targeting flap and the Justice Department’s use of subpoenas against reporters, White House officials have frequently given a variation on this theme. Question: What did Obama know and when did he know it? Answer: Not much, and about a minute ago.

(*SNORT*)

* ABSOLUTELY TRUE!

* TO BE CONTINUED...

October 29, 2013 at 11:31 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 3)

The Associated Press’s Josh Lederman led off Monday’s White House briefing with an obvious question: “Was the president kept out of the loop about what the NSA was doing?”

“I am not going to get into details of internal discussions,” press secretary Jay Carney replied, repeating previous promises that “we do not and will not monitor the chancellor’s communications.” (This formulation conspicuously omits the phrase “did not.”)

CNN’s Jim Acosta cited the HealthCare.gov rollout and the IRS targeting, which Obama said he learned about through news reports. “Is there a concern,” Acosta asked, “that the president is being kept in the dark on some of these issues?”

Carney told Acosta he had “conflated a bunch of very disparate issues.”

* UH-HUH...

“Republican critics,” Acosta said, “are making the case, though, that the president appears to be in the dark about some pretty significant stories that are swirling around this White House.”

“Well, Republican critics say a lot of things, Jim,” Carney replied icily.

That’s true.

But in this case...

(*DRUM ROLL*)

...the Republicans understated the number of issues on which the president has claimed to be in the dark.

* ONE MORE TIME...

But in this case the Republicans understated the number of issues on which the president has claimed to be in the dark.

* UNDERSTATED...!!!

A compilation by the Republican National Committee titled “The Bystander President” cited the NSA spying on Merkel, the ObamaCare rollout and an investigation of the IRS’s targeting of political groups (the White House counsel knew of the inquiry but said she didn’t inform Obama).

The RNC also mentioned the failure of clean-energy company Solyndra, which had received government funding (Carney had said Obama read about it in “news accounts”), and the attempts to go after reporters’ phone and e-mail records (which the president also found out about from reading the news, Carney said).

(*PURSED LIPS*)

The RNC didn’t mention that Obama had allegedly known nothing about an FBI investigation of an affair involving David Petraeus that led him to resign as CIA director.

Neither did it mention two other claims that conservatives often question: Obama’s ignorance of a guns-on-the-border sting operation called “Fast and Furious” that went awry, and his [supposed] unawareness of requests for additional diplomatic security in Libya before a U.S. outpost in Benghazi was attacked.

* CONNECTING THE DOTS YET, FOLKS...???

* TO BE CONTINUED...

October 29, 2013 at 11:32 PM
William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 3 of 3)

There’s no reason Obama should have known about Fast and Furious or diplomatic security requests.

* ACTUALLY THERE IS... BUT PUTTING THAT ASIDE... IF MEMORY SERVES BOTH HOLDER AND CLINTON ALSO PROFESSED IGNORANCE OF AN OPERATION THAT CROSSED BORDERS AND ARMED DRUG CARTEL MEMBERS IN MEXICO SANS PERMISSION FOR THE OPERATION FROM MEXICAN AUTHORITIES. SO, YEAH... I CALL "BULLSHIT."

But how could Obam not know his spies were bugging the German chancellor?

* HE COULDN'T NOT KNOW - THAT'S THE POINT. EITHER HE'S LYING OR ELSE FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES SOMEONE ELSE - UNINDENTIFIED - IS ACTING AS "TRUE" PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES WHILE OBAMA STICKS TO TELEPROMPTER SPEECHES AND PLAYING GOLF.

“Is it believable that the president would not know about surveillance of the head of state of a close American ally?” ABC News’s Jon Karl asked Carney. “Does that sound plausible to you?”

* IT'S... NOT... PLAUSIBLE...!!!

This finally provoked a hint from Carney that Obama did, in fact, know that the NSA was bugging Merkel. “The Wall Street Journal probably doesn’t appreciate the suggestion that their story is wrong,” he said, referring to a report that said Obama learned of the activity in the summer, “but I would say simply that we’re not going to comment on specific activities reported in the press,” he said.

* CHILDISH GAMES. CUTENESS. THAT'S WHAT WE GET FROM THE PEOPLE AT THE HELM OF STATE.

Another hint came from Carney’s assurance that “the president has full confidence in General [Keith] Alexander and the leadership at the NSA.” (Obama probably wouldn’t have such confidence if that leadership had kept him in the dark about something as consequential as the bugging of world leaders’ phones.)

On one level, it would be reassuring — and much more credible — if the White House admitted that Obama is more in the loop than he has let on. On another level, it would be disconcerting: Is it better that he didn’t know about his administration’s missteps — or that he knew about them and didn’t stop them?

October 29, 2013 at 11:32 PM

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