Quote of the Day...Today You Get Four. Read, Repeat, Digest!

"The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly...it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over.": Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda Minister

"The process [of mass-media deception] has to be conscious, or it would not be carried out with sufficient precision, but it also has to be unconscious, or it would bring with it a feeling of falsity and hence of guilt.... To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies - all this is indispensably necessary.": George Orwell in the book 1984

"Like the effect of advertising upon the customer, the methods of political propaganda tend to increase the feeling of insignificance of the individual voter": Erich Fromm, psychoanalyst and social philosopher, 1900-1980

"Half a truth is often a great lie": Benjamin Franklin

Not In My Backyard - Even at $4.00 a Gallon

True to form nobody wants to pay $4.00 per gallon for gas, nor do they want oil rigs offshore. That was the message from this morning's article in the Daily Times.

Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan doesn't want the view from his beaches ruined. It doesn't matter that you would need a telescope to see an offshore rig. Nor does he want the risk of pollution. Forget the fact that there is a higher risk of pollution from the city's own waste water treatment plant. How many oil spills were there after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the Gulf?

I wonder what Meehan would say if the government proposed outlawing recreational and commercial fishing in the waters off Ocean City. There is probably more pollution from that than there would be from a dozen rigs parked 12 miles off his coast.

Meehan shouldn't feel bad. At least his "not in my backyard" views aren't nearly as bizarre as the arguments put forward by Delaware Sen. George Bunting (D-20):

"The only way I could be supportive of it is if we had a threat to national security, like if we're embargoed or something," he said. "The gas situation is really hurting a lot of people, and I think we as a nation are going to have to start being leaner in our use of fuel."

Let's assume that it takes up to ten years to get a rig sited, built, installed and put in operation. IF we had some sort of "world emergency" (Bunting's term, not mine), it would be a little difficult to help with that emergency by drilling offshore, wouldn't it George?

True to form, our leading local Democrats like Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) don't want offshore drilling. They claim to support research for "alternative energy sources". Why wouldn't they? These guys love more big government programs.

I support research for alternative energy sources as well. The difference is that I believe that we should strip the oil companies of their current corporate welfare and allow them tax credits for research in those areas. Does anyone honestly believe that the government can solve the energy problem better than the private sector?

Let's face facts. The Democrats are not the least bit interested in SOLVING the current energy crisis. This is little more than a campaign issue for them. O'Malley's remarks are a case in point:

"The governor supports efforts to reduce our dependence on foreign oil by investing in cleaner, alternative and renewable sources of energy, but does not support lifting the moratorium because of environmental concerns regarding our coastal bays, Chesapeake Bay and our critical areas," said O'Malley spokeswoman Christine Hansen.

Let's assume that we had offshore drilling off the Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia coasts. How would that affect the Chesapeake Bay? How would it affect our coastal bays? There would have to be a massive spill, coupled with a strong easterly wind. Given the safety record of modern oil platforms, is this really an unacceptable risk?

In addition to the oil being pumped, what about the potential economic development benefits?

Again, our Democratic brethren aren't looking for solutions. They simply want to spend tax dollars and whine in the media.

Cardin and Biden are two cases on point. Last week on WICO-AM, Cardin's rebuttal to any discussion of offshore drilling was "it won't do anything to lower the price of gas now". On this morning's "Meet the Press", Biden's response was almost exactly the same - only more long winded.

IF we don't start doing something now, there will NEVER be any effect on price of oil. Instead we will continue to be at mercy of the other oil producing nations as well as growing economies such as China and India.

Lest you believe that I'm only picking on the Dems, I commend you to Joe Biden's co-conspirator on "Meet the Press", Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC). When confronted with a series of quotes where he opposed offshore drilling his response was, "$4.00 a gallon gas and $135 per barrel oil".

With men of such strong philosophical conviction, is there any wonder that Barack Obama could wind up in the White House and the Dems could wind up with a filibuster-proof Senate? The best thing Sen. John McCain could do is kick Graham out as national co-chair and put real conservatives like former senator Phil Gramm and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) front and center.

cross posted at Delmarva Dealings

cross posted at Red Maryland

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Technorati Tags: 2008, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, politics, Maryland politics, Virginia politics, Delaware politics, Barack Obama, John McCain, Joe Biden, Lindsay Graham, Tom Coburn, Phil Gramm, Martin O'Malley, George Bunting, Ocean City, Rick Meehan, energy, GOP, Democrat, campaign

Extreme Makeover Home Edition In Poolesville

Extreme Makeover Home Edition is doing a build in Poolesville this week. It’s an incredible story…a woman with 14 children (4 of her own, and 10 she adopted from her sister who died of cancer). They’ve been living in a hotel in Rockville, facing the constant threat of homelessness and being separated. Their new home is in Poolesville, off of Jeremiah Church Lane (location details are at: http://www.classicextreme.net/location.htm). The family just found out about this today, and the build will be taking place all week. The full press release is below. We’ll keep you posted throughout the week with daily media updates and press releases, as well.

ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Says “Good Morning” to a Montgomery County Family

Classic Homes of Maryland Joins ABC to Build Family Dream Home in Poolesville

Rockville, Md. – June 22, 2008 – The lives of Felicia Jackson and her fourteen children will be forever changed as they awoke this morning to Ty Pennington’s “Good Morning” wake-up call. The unsuspecting family was surprised by Ty Pennington and the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition team this morning when they learned they had been selected to receive the home makeover. Classic Homes of Maryland will join Ty’s team in making a family’s dream into a reality.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is a race against the clock. The EMHE team, Classic Homes of Maryland and all of their designers, contractors and several hundred volunteers will work together to design a new home for the Jackson family, demolish their existing home, and build their dream home; all within seven days.

The Jackson family was selected to receive an Extreme Home Makeover out of thousands of applicants due to their amazing story of family, hardships, and survival. After growing up as a foster child in the state system, Mrs. Jackson grew up to raise her own family with four children she’d love dearly. However, she longed to find the family she never knew. After much searching, Mrs. Jackson was able to locate her birth sister, with whom she had been separated from as children. The two women reconnected, grew close and became family again.

However, tragedy soon struck. Mrs. Jackson’s sister lost her life to cancer. Since both women knew the hardships of growing up as foster-children, Mrs. Jackson pledged to her sister that she would not allow her children to become foster-children too. She adopted all 10 of her sister’s children, becoming a mother to fourteen. As a single mother, Mrs. Jackson has fought hard to maintain a stable environment for her large family. They now live in a hotel and Mrs. Jackson faces a continual risk of losing everything.

With the help of Classic Homes of Maryland, many donors and volunteers, EMHE will build the Jackson family a home they can call their own. In the span of a week, what would normally be a four-month project will be completed. And the family will leave the stressful and uncomfortable environment they currently call home.

“We are honored to be part of this project. The uncontrollable circumstances of life can make us all vulnerable. It’s a joy to see the community pulling together to help a family stuck in an unfortunate situation,” says Amita Jain, Vice-President of Classic Homes of Maryland.

Construction begins on June 23rd at the project location in Poolesvile. All members of the community are invited to join in anyway you can. Volunteer, donate, or simply cheer on the hard workers. For more information, please visit www.classicmd.net and follow the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition links.

About Classic Homes of Maryland

Classic Homes of Maryland, based in Rockville, Maryland, has been building homes for over 25 years. Their affordable, high-quality home designs are built on their customers’ land, offering an alternative to expensive custom homes built in developments. Customer choice motivates Classic Homes of Maryland, and customers are able to choose from a wide variety of home designs, finding a plan that is the perfect fit for their lot and their lifestyle. For more information visit www.classicmd.net or call 301-251-2001.

About ABC-TVs Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” which has won back-to-back Emmy Awards as Best Reality Program (non-competitive), is entering its 6th season on ABC. The program is produced by Endemol USA, a division of Endemol Holding. Anthony Dominici is the executive producer; and David Goldberg is the president of Endemol USA.

Salisbury News Ranks #1 Again

Maryland's Most Influential Political Blogs

1 Salisbury News
2 Pocomoke Tattler
3 monoblogue
4 Maryland Politics
5 Politicker MD - Inside Politics for Political Insiders
6 WorcesterRight
7 Charles County Cafe
8 Delusional Duck
9 The Duck Unplugged
9 Brian Griffiths
11 Martin O'Malley -- Broken Promises -- OMalleyWatch.com -
12 Gunpowder Chronicle
13 Maryland Moment
14 Baltimore Reporter
14 Anne Arundel Maryland Politics - aapolitics.us -
16 Free State Politics
16 Silver Spring Daily Photo 6
18 Kevin Dayhoff
19 Maryland Politics Today
20 Delmarva Dealings

Question of the Day, Sun 6/22

What's the best advice you have ever given?

Who did you give the advice to? Did they like what you had to say? Did they use your advice to their advantage?

Congressional Candidate Harris Visits Shore

1st Congressional District Candidate Andy Harris visited through the Eastern Shore today with stops in Oxford, Salisbury for the Delmarva Chicken Festival, and Somerset County. Today's visit coincides with Andy's 28th Anniversary to his wife Sylvia (Cookie) who he is going back to tonight to celebrate. Congratulations and God Bless!

Car Show at the Festival

Wheels that Heal put on a car show yesterday at the 59th annual Delmarva Chicken Festival. Cars filled up the back lot behind the theatre and Dick's Sporting Goods with everyone passing up and down appreciating some good work.

Founded in 2003, Wheels that Heal is a community oriented group who put on events dealing with cars to benefit charities, communities, and Wheels that Heal is a non profit organization.

Visit their website Here.

Delmarva Chicken Fest a Huge Success

With well more than 60,000 festival goers passing through the was being hailed as a huge success yesterday by event officials. I was out at the festival from the morning to mid afternoon and the crowd kept coming in. The public was treated to some great food, music, access to local groups, and craft vendors for two days to help celebrate the staple way of life for Delmarva, the chicken.

Attesting for the crowd could be best shown by the Salisbury Lions Club and Salisbury Jaycees massive cooking devices. Both groups were having a blast and working hard to keep the festival flowing with chicken.

Weighing in at 650 pounds, a diameter of 10 feet, a depth of 8 inches, and a capacity of 160 gallons of oil, the Lions had each of the four compartments of the frying pan boiling for fried chicken. These guys were constantly cooking and scooping up with metal crab nets chicken all day long to sustain the demand of the crowd. This frying pan has been used in every Delmarva Chicken Festival Ever.



The Salisbury Jaycees got this BBQ pit constructed on site. Spanning 10 grates long they were throwing chicken on the grill and basting them with a mop and bucket for everyone. Like the Lions get up, they were constantly cooking for the demand.



Thanks to everyone who managed, set up, and worked this event for everyone!

Allen Family Food Night with The Shorebirds

The Shorebirds conclude their 4 game homestand tonight against the Hagerstown Suns. Note, the Sunday's games have changed evening times. Tonight's game starts at 6:05 and gates open at 5:00.

Allen Family Foods will be giving away a free Shorebirds t-shirt to the first 1,000 fans through the gates and give a fireworks display at the conclusion of the game.

Tickets start as low as $6.00.

Come out and support your Delmarva Shorebirds!

Salisbury Zoo Llama History

I have compiled some information about the historical ISIS records regarding the llamas at the Zoo under Jim at least. Nothing too scandalous, but more informative.


ID Number Sex DOB Location Disposal Date Sire Dam
1547 UNK 12/27/04 Salis. Pub. Sale 2/24/06 1284 1169
1545 UNK 11/23/04 Salis. Still there 1284 844
1544 UNK 11/10/04 Salis. Pub. Sale 2/24/06 1284 1156
1542 UNK 10/13/04 Salis. Pub. Sale 2/24/06 1284 1190
1501 UNK 12/01/03 Salis. Pub. Sale 2/23/05 1284 1169
1495 M 8/25/03 Salis. Death
Malicious
Destruction 8/29/03 1284 1165
1489 UNK 7/31/03 Salis. Death Injury by Exhibit Mate 3/18/04 1284 844
1488 F 7/22/03 Salis. Pub. Loan Return 2/25/05 1284 1190
1487 M 6/26/03 Salis. Pub. Sale 2/25/05 1284 1156
1466 M 10/4/02 Salis. Death
Euthanasia 12/19/02 1284 1169
1453 M 6/17/02 Salis. Pub. Sale 1/1/03 1284 1190
1454 F 6/4/02 Salis. Pub. Loan Return 1/1/03 1284 844
1451 F 5/3/02 Salis. Death
Env. Behav. Conditions 5/3/02 1284 1156
1405 M 5/15/01 Salis. Pub. Sale 1/31/02 1284 1156
1400 M 4/27/01 Salis. Pub. Loan Return 1/1/03 1284 844
1394 M 3/19/01 Salis. Pub. Sale 1/1/03 1284 1190
1284 M 1999 in @ Salis 3/19/00 UNK Pub. Loan Return 2/23/05 UNK UNK
1196 F 6/10/97 Salis. 1999 in @ Salis 3/19/00 10/28/97 1176 844
1190 F 2/27/97 Salis. Still there 968 541
1188 F 1/18/97 Salis. Pub. Loan Return 1/18/97 968 1156
1176 M 1994 in @ Salis 4/29/96 Pub.
Bolivia Pub. Loan Return 10/11/99 UNK UNK
1169 F 4/22/96 Salis. Still there 968 844
1168 F 4/22/96 Salis. Still there 968 844
1156 F 12/94 in @ Salis 9/14/95 Public Still there UNK UNK
1144 M 4/28/95 Salis. Pub. Sale 3/28/96 968 844
1129 M 1/26/95 Salis Pub. Loan Return 4/15/95 968 541
Gap 1069,1067,10,50,1049,1018,1006
968 M 6/7/87 in @ Salis 7/6/90 UNK Pub. Loan Return 3/7/99 UNK UNK
Gap 956
844 F 8/10/87 Salis. Death
Old Age 9/12/06 762 23
UNK=Unknown Data
Pub. = General Public source or known breeder i.e. not a normal zoological institution.

This is fine as they are considered a domestic breed.
Gaps = not overly relevant to the data and over 10 years ago.

Interesting notes: Mammals are generally pretty easy to determine sex. If they did not physically capture the animal they could simply have watched it urinate to determine sex.

Of those “Still there”, it has not been documented which one died as of yet. This is also fine, as sometimes I will wait until all the data is in to officially close the file, plus I may only submit information to ISIS once a month.

I highly suspect the Jay Rapp was breeding these Llamas simply for income and/or public draw, as they are relatively long-lived animals (15-20yrs is a good life) and relatively easy obtain from the public sector. We got our two from a local llama farm, when our last one needed to retire; the owners opted to give us a breeding pair. However, we will breed maybe once and then fix the male, as that is all we have space for and when the time comes we can ask them again or go to another zoo for a donation or purchase.

On the plus side Joel did give out the reasoning why the llama passed away, with the gross necropsy report. That is a good thing, sharing the information. The water source concerns me, I would hope if nothing else a simple bucket with fresh water is provided. Since they have access to the river/creek, I am relatively sure that consumption and exposure could have been a problem. We occasionally (yearly) test our ponds that are supposed to be mostly storm run off from the zoo area (which is not really the case and why we sample this water).

The Ocean City Fire Parade

Thanks to Mr. Wayne Barall we were able to deliver you some photos of the Parade in Ocean City. I had experienced some difficulties while out there and Wayne was kind enough to deliver some of his photos of the event. GO HERE to see more photos of that event.

I'm told the Parade itself was a good one and a half hours shorter than years past but very enjoyable. Fuel played a large roll in the Parade having fewer pieces of equipment.