Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., Jan. 8 & 9, 2011

Com'on, folks... where else would you have this song thrown at you but here on Usually Right?

Listen to the strength of that voice! Listen to the clarity... the vibrato... the range...

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD IN ADMIRATION*)

No lip-synching... no "background dancers"... just a girl, a mic, and her back-up band and singers.

God I miss "my" America...

(*SHAKING MY HEAD IN SADNESS*)

(*PAUSE*)

O.K., so on to today's diet log:

Saturday...

10:00 a.m. - Two hard boiled eggs.

12:30 p.m. - Tuna with diced tomato, cheese, and mayo on Triscuits.

1:45 p.m. - Glass of Crystal Lite with mega-vitamins.

(The usual two cups of coffee - cream, no sugar - over the course of the morning.

6:45 p.m. - Roast beef, turkey, cheese, lettuce, tomato, pepperoni and mayo on garlic facaccia bread.

(I only ate half of the sandwich; saving the other half for tomorrow!)

7:45 p.m. - Glass of milk and a cupcake.

9:00 p.m. - Glass of white wine.

9:30 p.m. - Maple ham roll-ups - mayo, cheese, and pineapple.

Sunday...

11:45 a.m. - Amy's mom's leftover Indian food with cheese and sour cream added. (Yum!)

3:10 p.m. - Ate the other half of my roast beef, turkey and cheese sandwich from last night.

3:50 p.m. - Had a few corn chips and some dried banana chips with peanut butter and jelly "dip."

5:30 p.m. - Ate an apple.

6:00 p.m. - Had a cup of hot tea with cream & one "fake" sugar.

6:45 p.m. - One boneless pork chop (marinated, not breaded), garlic potatoes with cheese added to mixed veggies.

7:25 p.m. - Drank a glass of Diet Pepsi.

10:00 p.m. - A small slice of apple pie with half a Klondike bar.

Is Today April Fool's Day By Any Chance...???

Folks...

(*GRITTING MY TEETH*)

...you're not going to believe this:

The words “mother” and “father” will be removed from U.S. passport applications and replaced with gender neutral terminology, the State Department says.

I truly don't know what to say...

“The words in the old form were ‘mother’ and ‘father,’” said Brenda Sprague, deputy assistant Secretary of State for Passport Services. "They are now ‘parent one’ and ‘parent two.’"

(*MASSIVE MIGRAINE HEADACHE BUILDING*)

A statement on the State Department website noted: “These improvements are being made to provide a gender neutral description of a child’s parents and in recognition of different types of families.”

And you don't believe the inmates are running the asylum... that the Obama executive branch is out of control?

Sprague said the decision to remove the traditional parenting names was not an act of political correctness.

NOT an act of political correctness...???

Folks... these people are DELUSIONAL...!!!

“We find that with changes in medical science and reproductive technology that we are confronting situations now that we would not have anticipated 10 or 15 years ago,” she said.

There's a sperm... there's an egg; the sperm comes from the male - the father - the egg comes from the female - the mother. Has evolution somehow been turned upon its head since Barak Hussein Obama took the Oath of Office as President of the United States...???

“Changing the term mother and father to the more global term of parent..."

STOP...!!! I can't frigg'n take it any more...!!! This is lunacy...!!!

“Our government needs to recognize that the family structure is changing,” [says Jennifer Chrisler, executive director of Family Equality Council.] “The best thing that we can do is support people who are raising kids in loving, stable families.”

SPERM... EGG... PENIS... WOMB...

Folks... no matter what sort of family dynamic we're talking about - take the penis and the womb right out of the picture if need be - we're still talking SPERM... we're still talking EGG...

(*HEAD READY TO EXPLODE*)

The new gender-neutral passport application will be rolled out in February.

Yeah... February in Orwell's 1984... Obama's 2011.

* UPDATE - 1/9/11:

In a bid to forestall a backlash from congressional conservatives, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has ordered the State Department to amend a bureaucratic change that would have eliminated the titles "mother" and "father" in favor of the gender-neutral term "parent" in passport applications and other documents.

The State Department said Saturday that Clinton had instructed the department to retain "mother" and "father" in passport applications as well as in a form known as a "Consular Report of Birth Abroad" that U.S. embassies use to document the birth of a child to expatriate Americans. It said the forms will now ask for the names of the child's "mother or parent 1" and "father or parent 2."

Well thank frigg'n God for small favors...!

Today's Diet Log

Started off big... a slice of leftover pizza from yesterday. (8:30 a.m.)

(Oh, yeah... and the usual two cups of coffee - cream, no sugar.)

1:15 p.m. - Ate a grapefruit.

2:15 p.m. - Drank my Crystal Lite with mega-vitamin dose mixed in.

3:45 p.m. - Lettuce (as opposed to chips!) and onion dip.

4:45 p.m. - A few slices of pepperoni.

5:45 p.m. - Turkey chili with Angus beef hot dogs, cheese, sour cream; onion rings and sweet potato fries.

Portion control, folks... portion control...

6:30 p.m. - Glass of port and a piece of fudge.

8:00 p.m. - Small portion of Amy's mom's Indian rice pudding.

9:45 p.m. - A bit of sliced pineapple.

Barker's Newsbites: Friday, January 7, 2011

Did anyone happen to catch Glenn Beck's TV show yesterday?

I watch Beck's show faithfully (therefore, so should you), but as with anything, not all episodes of Beck's program are created equally. Some are better than others.

Yesterday's (Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011) show was outstanding.

Beck pointed out what I often focus on, namely, that we're constantly being lied to, manipulated, and given false (and at best contradictory) information from government and the media.

Seriously, folks... how often do I "deconstruct" reporting and even government press releases and thus prove my point? This ain't "conspiracy stuff" folks...

(*SHRUG*)

To those of you who rely upon me for a part of your daily news and "continuing education," I'll continue to do my best. Understand though, with Republicans now controlling the House as well as so many state governorships and statehouses, the administration and their allies in the media and academia are going to pull out all the stops in order to confuse, conflate, and distort what our present reality and probable future actually look like.

Keep tuned in, folks! Don't simply depend upon me. Don't simply assume I'm right - though chances are I am! Do your own research. Trust but verify!

Anyway...

(*SMILE*)

Obama Giveth... Obama Taketh Away...

Folks... I'm begging you... you've GOTTA access this link!

Here's the newsbite synopsis:

Compared to how January 2011 might have played out, where every taxpayer in the United States would have received a smaller paycheck if the 111th U.S. Congress hadn't acted to extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, the Congress' late action to extend those tax rates for another two years, while also throwing in a 2.0% payroll tax cut, might seem like a great deal.

But then we saw the changes the IRS rushed out for the income tax withholding rates that will apply in 2011 and we can confirm that the odds that you'll actually have a full additional 2.0% of your income to take home aren't very good at all.

From what we can tell, you'll only see that much of a change over your 2010 paycheck take-home pay if your income is less than $2,100 if you're a single filer, and $7,900 if you are a married filer.

Meanwhile, many of you may find yourselves actually taking home less money on your paychecks!

As for why the promise of a 2.0% payroll tax cut really doesn't add up to 2.0% of your salary or wage income... the Obama administration is altering tax withholding for 2011 with respect to what they established in 2010.

By lowering the income threshold at which income tax withholding begins to apply for the lowest income earners, the government effectively reduces the size of the payroll tax break. [This] will have economic consequences in that wage and salary earners won't actually have anywhere near as much money, and therefore, ["the breaks" will] nowhere near the impact that the Obama administration's economic planners [have led people to believe they will].

Anyone wanna wager a guess as to how much play this info will get via the mainstream media...?

Folks... as friends, relatives, and most other readers know, my Sainted Wife Mary...

(*SIGN OF THE CROSS*)

...works for a top-flight CPA firm.

When I came upon the article excerpted above I immediately sent her the link and asked her to verify it.

Folks... everything being reported in this analysis is true.

Gates, Obama, and Washington Post Reporting

God help this once great Republic!

[The headline reads:] "Pentagon to cut spending by $78 billion, reduce troop strength."

FINE AND DANDY. I APPROVE! HOWEVER... HOWEVER...

(*PAUSE*)

IF WE'RE GOING TO CUT MILITARY SPENDING, THEN WE'VE GOT TO CUT MILITARY COMMITMENTS - NO? IN OTHER WORDS, HERE'S THE RUB: IF WE'RE GOING TO GIVE THE MILITARY LESS, THAN BY GOD WE'D BETTER SURE AS HECK DOWNSIZE THE RESPONSIBILITIES IT SHOULDERS. RIGHT...? LOGICAL...???

The Pentagon will have to cut spending by $78 billion over the next five years...

MEANING $15.6 BILLION DOLLARS PER YEAR... RIGHT? CUT FROM WHAT THOUGH?! CUT FROM THE BASE OF THIS YEAR'S BUDGET OR LAST YEAR'S BUDGET, OR "CUT" FROM THE "INFLATION ADJUSTED" AUTOMATIC INCREASES...???

FOLKS... ARE YOU FOLLOWING? I'M JUST LOOKING FOR STRAIGHT ANSWERS HERE. (I KNOW... I KNOW... "GOOD LUCK, BILL!")

The surprise announcement from Gates was a reminder for the military establishment - which has benefited from a gusher of new money over the past decade - that it will not remain exempt from painful austerity measures that federal lawmakers say will be necessary to control the soaring national debt.

FAIR ENOUGH... BUT I REITERATE: IS THE "MISSION" GOING TO SHRINK ALONG WITH THE RESOURCES? ARE COMMITMENTS GOING TO BE CUT? IF NOT... THEN WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT IS RANK IRRESPONSIBILITY. (AS IF ANYONE WOULD BE SURPRISED...)

"We must come to realize that not every defense program is necessary, not every defense dollar is sacred or well-spent, and more of everything is simply not sustainable," Gates said.

GREAT. SO WHAT COMMITMENTS ARE ON THE CUTTING BLOCK? WHICH DEFENSE TREATIES WILL WE BE ABROGATING?

In response to questions, he emphasized that the $78 billion reduction over the next five years actually represents a "decline in the rate of growth," since the Pentagon budget will grow "in absolute dollars" every year.

(*SMIRK*)

GUESS THAT ANSWERS ONE OF MY QUESTION, HUH?! (DISINGENUOUS PINHEAD...)

Gates also stressed that even after the reductions in troop strength, the Army and Marine Corps both will still be larger than they were when he became defense secretary four years ago. The Army will be bigger by about 40,000 soldiers, and the Marines will still have 7,000 to 12,000 more troops, he said.

FOLKS... (*SIGH*)... SHOULDN'T WE BE LOOKING AT WHAT OUR MILITARY NEEDS ARE FIRST - WHAT WE NEED TO BACK UP OUR COMMITMENTS - AND THEN FIGURE OUT WHAT THAT WILL COST? THEN.... IF THE COSTS ARE UNAFFORDABLE... WOULDN'T THE LOGICAL NEXT STEP BE TO CUT BACK OUR COMMITMENTS...? HMM...??? (BUT NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT THIS... JUST ME...) (*SIGH*)

Gates predicted that the decisions would come under fire from critics who charge that "we either are gutting defense or we are not cutting nearly enough."

OR... GATES MIGHT CONSIDER WHAT I'M SAYING HERE..!!! (FRIGG'N PHONY...)

Gates had hoped to spare the Pentagon from the budget ax.

WHY?! (EITHER THERE ARE SACRED COWS ARE THERE AREN'T; I VOTE FOR "AREN'T.")

The Pentagon will see a short-term boost in its budget next year to about $554 billion, excluding the cost of fighting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

(*SNORT*)

WELL OF COURSE... I MEAN, AFTER ALL... WHAT'S ACTUAL FIGHTING HAVE TO DO WITH A PENTAGON BUDGET...

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

After that, however, annual spending increases will dwindle until they flatten completely in 2015 and 2016, with no extra money beyond the rate of inflation.

SO FIRST OF ALL THERE ARE NO REAL "CUTS" COMING AS YOU AND I UNDERSTAND THE WORD "CUT." SECOND OF ALL... (*SIGH*)... GATES' "FAKE" CUTS AREN'T COMING TILL 2015 AND 2016 - WHEN WE'LL HAVE NOT ONLY A NEW CONGRESS BUT POTENTIALLY A NEW PRESIDENT.

FOLKS... THESE PEOPLE ARE SO FULL OF SHIT I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN!

Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, January 6, 2011

Homey don't play dat!

(*GRIN*)

See...! I do too enjoy some rap and hippity-hop!

O.K., now back to "What's Obama Screwed Up Today" and the ol' diet journal...

8:00 a.m. - A sip of coffee contaminated with the vinegar I had left in the coffee maker from yesterday's cleaning... YUCK...!!!

11:30 a.m. - One half of a chicken, lettuce, pepperoni, tomato, and cheddar cheese sandwich on who grain bread. (With mayo...) (One pickle on the side!)

12:00 p.m. - My second cup of coffee. (I take my coffee with cream, no sugar.)

1:30 p.m. - Ate the second half of my sandwich.

4:30 p.m. - Drank a glass of Crystal Lite with mega-vitamin powder packet mixed in.

7:30 p.m. - Attended a Shiva and had a few scotches and some fruit and cookies.

8:30 p.m. - Snacked on a few broccoli crowns with some onion dip.

8:45 p.m. - Drank a Diet Coke.

9:00 p.m. - Had one slice of pizza.

10:00 p.m. - Had some orange sherbet.

Now I know... I know... my daily diet menus don't always sound like diet menus, but again, if I'm sticking to under 2,000 calories on average then that counts as dieting... for me.

Finally... to reiterate... this diet log is for me... it serves as a reminder and a tripwire. It's a means of backing myself into a corner with regards to keeping my will-power strong.

What I'm Reading and What's on Deck

I finished off Ted Bell's "Warlord" earlier this week.

Presently I'm reading "The High Tide of American Conservatism: Davis, Coolidge, and the 1924 Election" by Garland S. Tucker III, a Christmas present from by best bud Carl.

It's a great book! I highly recommend it and heartily congratulate and thank Mr. Tucker for sharing his natural storytelling talent and obvious research skills. (More on this book after I've finished it...)

Carl was also kind enough to gift me with "Frank: The Voice" by James Kaplan. (Really looking forward to reading this one!)

Speaking of good friends and the gift of knowledge and entertainment, my "brother" Phil was kind enough pick me up a copy of "Decision Points" by President George W. Bush.

While I have my problems with Bush, I truly believe the man is sincere and has always tried to serve the best interests of our country as he saw them and sees them. (Again... I'll be reviewing the book after I've read it.)

Oh...! And the Poops? She picked me up... er... "Late, Late At Night" by Rick Springfield.

(*GRIN*)

Hey... what can I tell ya... I'm a man of eclectic tastes!

Brainstorm: Man... wouldn't it be GREAT if ABC were to come out with a DVD set or downloads of the entire "Luke and Laura" saga from beginning to...

(*SHRUG*)

Anyway...

Barker's Newsbites: Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Actually, these daily newsbite posts should be subtitled "Bill's Diet Journal."

(*GRIN*)

Hey... like I said when I started the diet log, it's simply a willpower support device!

O.K., now where was I...???

Oh, yeah... today's newsbites.

Today's newsbites theme song is...

So... just for a moment think about the fact that if by some miracle another one of your fellow citizens isn't killed or grievously wounded in Afghanistan today, then surely by tomorrow, the next day, or next week our nation will suffer more casualties and squander more treasure we can ill afford to waste.

Anyway...

(*SIGH*)

First cup of coffee - 7:50 a.m.

8:30 a.m. - Nonfat lite yogurt with Special K mixed in.

12:00 p.m. - Chicken & cheese sandwich on whole grain bread with lettuce, tomato, and mayo; side of two pickles.

12:45 p.m. - Crystal Lite with mega-vitamins.

3:00 p.m. - Goat cheese on rye Tristcuits.

6:30 p.m. - Amy's mom's Indian food with sour cream and cheese - i.e. "Barkerized."

6:45 p.m. - Chocolate covered strawberry.

8:00 p.m. - Amy's mom's Indian rice pudding.

10:00 p.m. - Handful of cheddar goldfish crackers with some goat cheese; a glass of port.

Barker's Newsbites: Tuesday, January 4, 2011

O.K., let's remember who we used to be...

As to my diet...

Started off the day - 7:45 a.m. - with a banana and a cup of coffee.

Was out all morning and early afternoon; got back home at 3:30 p.m. and made myself an iceberg lettuce, tomato, broccoli, mushrooms, green olives, and pickle slices salad with two tablespoons of mayo, a few shakes of hot sauce, a teaspoon of mustard, and maybe an ounce of cheddar cheese grated on.

7:00 p.m. - Glass of Crystal Light with mega-vitamin.

7:45 p.m. - Glass of "lite" iced tea.

8:00 p.m. - Two slices of pizza.

8:30 p.m. - One grapefruit.

9:00 p.m. - One chocolate covered strawberry.

9:45 p.m. - A glass of Diet Pepsi.

10:00 p.m. - A few goldfish crackers (8 or 9 maybe).