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Saturday, September 05, 2009

Electricity Demand Sputters; Bills May Fall


Decline is a measure of recession's damage to U.S. economy

COLUMBUS, Ohio
- Consumers and businesses may finally be seeing some relief from rising utility bills, thanks to the biggest decline in U.S. electricity demand in decades.

Prices on wholesale markets are expected to decline for the rest of 2009, according to the Energy Information Agency. While rates will probably begin edging up again in 2010, it will likely be less than half the 6.2 percent jump recorded last year.

For decades as Americans bought more electronics, more appliances, air conditioners and other gizmos, energy demand has only moved in one direction and prices have followed suit.

GO HERE to read more.

OK, Time For Some GOOD NEWS!

THE MOST ENTERTAINING EVENT ON THE EASTERN SHORE





























Flea will show you the greatest time you've ever experienced on Sunday at the Docks in Crisfield.






$30,000.00 in Prize Money!

CNN Will Be There

Do NOT Miss This Event! 1:00 PM the contest begins. Be sure to arrive much earlier.

Practice runs will start at 11:00 AM.

A Message From Jonathan Taylor









I am shutting my blog site down. Thanks for the memories. Bye

FIVE More Banks Failed This Week

Failed Bank List

The FDIC is often appointed as receiver for failed banks. This page contains useful information for the customers and vendors of these banks. This includes information on the acquiring bank (if applicable), how your accounts and loans are affected, and how vendors can file claims against the receivership. Failed Financial Institution Contact Search displays point of contact information related to failed banks.This list includes banks which have failed since October 1, 2000.

GO HERE to see more.

U.N. Declares Castro A “World Hero Of Solidarity”

By Michelle Malkin • September 5, 2009 01:33 PM

Yes, it’s true.

The United Nations has declared misery-inducing, freedom-strangling Cuban dictator Fidel Castro a “World Hero of Solidarity.”

GO HERE to read more.

SHORE STABBING INVESTIGATED


(Federalsburg, MD) – Maryland State Police and Federalsburg Police Department officers are investigating an early morning stabbing in Caroline County that left the victim in critical condition.

The victim is identified as James A. Ross, 58, of the 100-block of Greenridge Road, Federalsburg, Md. He is in critical condition at a Delaware hospital.

At about 2:20 a.m. today, Dennis Mann, the victim’s house mate, called the Federalsburg Police Department and reported the victim had been stabbed. Mann told responding officers that when he arrived home just minutes before, he found the victim stabbed and lying in his bed. The victim was conscious, but was bleeding profusely.

Later this morning, Chief Donald Nagel, of the Federalsburg Police Department, contacted the Maryland State Police Homicide Unit and requested investigators assume the investigation. State Police homicide investigators and investigators from the State Police Easton Barracks Criminal Investigation Section responded and continued the investigation, with assistance from Federalsburg Police officers. Maryland State Police crime scene technicians responded to the scene and processed it for evidence.

The description of a suspect or suspects is unknown at this time. Investigators continue to contact individuals in the neighborhood and develop information about who was responsible for this crime.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Maryland State Police at the Easton Barracks, at 410-819-4747. Calls may be kept confidential.

Worcester County Deputy Fire Marshall Indicted

"Brian Winter, a Worcester County deputy fire marshall, was indicted by a Wicomico County grand jury Thursday on first degree assault and weapons violations in connection with a domestic dispute resulting in a shooting at his Salisbury residence on August 15, 2009. He is free on $50,000 bond while his wife, Jennifer White, remains in custody for similar charges."

An Interesting Comment I Thought You Might Be Interested In

Rev. James Bailey has left a new comment on your post "Obama School Children Indoctrination":

Adolf Hitler had his youth groups that were educated to be patriotic and supportive of their government. President Obama also has this right and needs to educate American youth and not let prejudice from parents be a handicap to their personal development. Obama is the most capable president that America has had. He is a visionary and will lead the world to the greatest heights that can be mastered. Those who support and live by his creed will survive and experience happiness as all wealth is shared equally.It is ignorant and uneducated parents who are a handicap to their children. All teachers will receive full checks and benefits because they are our most important asset. Other people should feel obligated to sacrifice for those responsible for the future of our children and the American Obama dream.

Start Off By Clicking On Image To Enlarge

Welcome Back College Students! "You Honk, We Drink"


This was the scene on Friday night off Camden & South in Salisbury where students were sitting out front of their apartments openly drinking and encouraging drivers to honk their horns and they'll all drink.

The Police were called but there was no response, not for an hour anyway. Looks like it's going to be yet another fun year. No confirmation of the Mayor being there having a good time creating a partnership and network with the Students.

Is This Smart Politics?


A lot of what I would call “Vulnerable Democrats” are endorsing Martin O’Malley for Governor next year, despite the fact that he increased taxes by the largest amount in history, and will be in a situation to do so again after the election.

Most people are looking at this list as how it helps Governor Martin O’Malley in a potential Democratic Primary,especially considering how Prince George’s County isn’t represented, but the flip side, is those endorsing Governor O’Malley who represent fiscally conservative areas of the State are going to face a tough time in the next election in why they want O’Malley re-elected after the tax increase, after speed cameras, after the huge government spending.

The following folks I could see this endorsement being used against them:

Senator John Astle
Senator Jim Brochin
Senator Ed DeGrange
Senator Roy Dyson
Senator Ed Kasemeyer
Senator Kathy Klausmeier
Senator Mac Middleton
Senator Norman Stone
Delegate Pam Beidle
Delegate Eric Bromwell
Delegate Jon Cardin – ok, this one is more I’m surprised O’Malley would accept the endorsement…
Delegate Galen Clagett
Delegate Virginia Clagett
Delegate Steve DeBoy
Delegate John Donoghue
Delegate Mary Dulaney-James
Delegate Sue Hecht
Delegate Sally Jameson
Delegate Sue Kullen
Delegate Steve Lafferty
Delegate Jim Malone
Delegate Jim Mathias
Delegate Johnny O Jr.
Delegate Dan Riley
Delegate Dave Rudolph
Delegate Ted Sophocleus
Wicomico County Executive Ricky Politt
Baltimore County Sheriff Jay Fisher
Baltimore County Register of Wills Grace Connolly
Charles County Sheriff Rex Coffey
Charles County Circuit Court Clerk Sharon Hancock
Harford County Sheriff Jesse Bane
Anne Arundel County Sheriff Ron Bateman
Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Frank Weathersbee
Talbot County State’s Attorney Scott Patterson
Talbot County Register of Wills Alice Anderson
Allegany County Commission President Jim Stakem
Anne Arundel County Councilman Jamie Benoit
Anne Arundel County Councilman Joshua Cohen
Anne Arundel County Councilman Daryl Jones
Baltimore County Councilman Joseph Bartenfelder
Baltimore County Councilman Vincent Gardina
Calvert County Commission President Wilson Parran
Cecil County Commission President Brian Lockhart
Cecil County Commissioner Wayne Tome
Charles County Commission President Wayne Cooper
Charles County Commissioner Gary V. Hodge
Charles County Commissioner Reuben Collins II
Charles County Commissioner Edith Patterson
Frederick County Commission President Jan Gardner
Frederick County Commissioner Kai Hagen
Harford County Councilwoman Mary Ann Lisanti
Howard County Councilwoman Courtney Watson
Kent County Commissioner Ron Fithian
Kent County Commissioner William Pickrum
Queen Anne’s County Commissioner President Gene Ransom
Queen Anne’s County Commissioner Paul Gunther
Queen Anne’s County Commissioner Carol Fordonski
Somerset County Commission President James Ring
Somerset County Commissioner James East
Somerset County Commissioner Michael McCready
Somerset County Commissioner Rex Simpkins
Talbot County Council President Phil Foster
Talbot County Councilman Levin Harrison IV
Talbot County Councilman Tom Duncan
Worcester County Commissioner Virgil Shockley
Aberdeen Mayor Michael Bennett
Annapolis Mayor Ellen Moyer

Ok… you probably get the point… if they aren’t from Prince George’s County, Baltimore City, or Montgomery County and they are endorsing Martin O’Malley for Governor, it can be a campaign issue. Some of those folks more than others, especially the Delegates and Senators that voted against the tax increase that marks all of Martin O’Malley’s accomplishments.

Source

The Truth About The Health Care Bills

"Well, I have done it! I have read the entire text of proposed House Bill 3200: The Affordable Health Care Choices Act of 2009. I studied it with particular emphasis from my area of expertise, constitutional law. I was frankly concerned that parts of the proposed law that were being discussed might be unconstitutional. What I found was far worse than what I had heard or expected.

To begin with, much of what has been said about the law and its implications is in fact true, despite what the Democrats and the media are saying.. The law does provide for rationing of health care, particularly where senior citizens and other classes of citizens are involved, free health care for illegal immigrants, free abortion services, and probably forced participation in abortions by members of the medical profession.

The Bill will also eventually force private insurance companies out of business and put everyone into a government run system. All decisions about personal health care will ultimately be made by federal bureaucrats and most of them will not be health care professionals. Hospital admissions, payments to physicians, and allocations of necessary medical devices will be strictly controlled.

However, as scary as all of that is, it just scratches the surface. In fact, I have concluded that this legislation really has no intention of providing affordable health care choices. Instead it is a convenient cover for the most massive transfer of power to the Executive Branch of government that has ever occurred, or even been contemplated. If this law or a similar one is adopted, major portions of the Constitution of the United States will effectively have been destroyed.

The first thing to go will be the masterfully crafted balance of power between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of the U.S. Government. The Congress will be transferring to the Obama Administration authority in a number of different areas over the lives of the American people and the businesses they own. The irony is that the Congress does not have any authority to legislate in most of those areas to begin with. I defy anyone to read the text of the U.S. Constitution and find any authority granted to the members of Congress to regulate health care.

This legislation also provides for access by the appointees of the Obama administration of all of your personal healthcare information, your personal financial information, and the information of your employer, physician, and hospital. All of this is a direct violation of the specific provisions of the 4th Amendment to the Constitution protecting against unreasonable searches and seizures. You can also forget about the right to privacy. That will have been legislated into oblivion regardless of what the 3rd and 4thAmendments may provide.

If you decide not to have healthcare insurance or if you have private insurance that is not deemed “acceptable” to the “Health Choices Administrator” appointed by Obama there will be a tax imposed on you. It is called a “tax” instead of a fine because of the intent to avoid application of the due process clause of the 5th Amendment. However, that doesn't work because since there is nothing in the law that allows you to contest or appeal the imposition of the tax, it is definitely depriving someone of property without the “due process of law.

So, there are three of those pesky amendments that the far left hate so much out the original ten in the Bill of Rights that are effectively nullified by this law. It doesn't stop there though. The 9th Amendment that provides: “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people;” The 10thAmendment states: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are preserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Under the provisions of this piece of Congressional handiwork neither the people nor the states are going to have any rights or powers at all in many areas that once were theirs to control.

I could write many more pages about this legislation, but I think you get the idea. This is not about health care; it is about seizing power and limiting rights. Article 6 of the Constitution requires the members of both houses of Congress to “be bound by oath or affirmation” to support the Constitution. If I was a member of Congress I would not be able to vote for this legislation or anything like it without feeling I was violating that sacred oath or affirmation. If I voted for it anyway I would hope the American people would hold me accountable.

For those who might doubt the nature of this threat, I suggest they consult the source. Here is a link to the Constitution: http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html

And another to the Bill of Rights: http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html

There you can see exactly what we are about to have taken from us."

Michael Connelly

Retired attorney,

Constitutional Law Instructor


Carrollton , Texas

Pam Geller On The State Of The Nation

by Pam Geller

I am a student of history. Professionally, I have written 15 books in six languages, and have studied history all my life. I think there is something monumentally large afoot, and I do not believe it is just a banking crisis, or a mortgage crisis, or a credit crisis. Yes, these exist but they are merely single facets on a very large gemstone that is only now coming into a sharper focus.

Something of historic proportions is happening. I can sense it because I know how it feels, smells, what it looks like, and how people react to it.. Yes, a perfect storm may be brewing, but there is something happening within our country that has been evolving for about 10 - 15 years. The pace has dramatically quickened in the past two.

We demanded and then codified into law the requirement that our banks make massive loans to people whom we knew could never pay back? Why? We learned recently that the Federal Reserve, which has little or no real oversight by anyone, has "loaned" two trillion dollars (that is $2,000,000,000,000) over the past few months, but will not tell us to whom or why or disclose the terms. That is our money. Yours and mine. And that is three times the $700B we all argued about so strenuously just this past September.

Who has this money? Why do they have it? Why are the terms unavailable to us? Who asked for it? Who authorized it? I thought this was a government of "We the People," who loaned our powers to our elected leaders.. Apparently not.

We have spent two or more decades intentionally de-industrializing our economy. Why?

We have intentionally dumbed down our schools, ignored our history, and no longer teach our founding documents, why we are exceptional, and why we are worth preserving. Students by and large cannot write, think critically, read, or articulate. Parents are not revolting, teachers are not picketing, school boards continue to back mediocrity.. Why?

We have now established the precedent of protesting every close election (now violently in California over a proposition that is so controversial that it wants marriage to remain between one man and one woman. Did you ever think such a thing possible just a decade ago?). We have corrupted our sacred political process by allowing unelected judges to write laws that radically change our way of life, and then mainstream Marxist groups like ACORN and others to turn our voting system into a banana republic. To what purpose?

Now our mortgage industry is collapsing, housing prices are in free fall, major industries are failing, our banking system is on the verge of collapse, Social Security is nearly bankrupt, as is Medicare and our entire government. Our education system is worse than a joke (I teach college and know precisely what I am talking about.) The list is staggering in its length, breadth, and depth. It is potentially 1929 x 10. And we are at war with an enemy we cannot name for fear of offending people of the same religion who cannot wait to slit the throats of your children if they have the opportunity to do so.

And now we have elected a man no one knows anything about, who has never run so much as a Dairy Queen, let alone a town as big as Wasilla , Alaska ... All of his associations and alliances are with real radicals in their chosen fields of employment, and everything we learn about him, drip by drip, is unsettling if not downright scary (Surely you have heard him speak about his idea to create and fund a mandatory civilian defense force stronger than our military for use inside our borders? No? Oh, of course. The media would never play that for you over and over and then demand he answer it. Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter and $150,000 wardrobe is more important.)

Mr. Obama's winning platform can be boiled down to one word: Change...radical change Why?

I have never been so afraid for my country and for my children as I am now. This man campaigned on bringing people together, something he has never, ever done in his professional life. In my assessment, Obama will divide us along philosophical lines, push us apart, and then try to realign the pieces into a new and different power structure. Change is indeed coming And when it comes, you will never see the same nation again.

And that is only the beginning.

I thought I would never be able to experience what the ordinary, moral German felt in the mid-1930s. In those times, the savior was a former smooth-talking rabble-rouser from the streets, about whom the average German knew next to nothing. What they did know was that he was associated with groups that shouted, shoved, and pushed around people with whom they disagreed; he edged his way onto the political stage through great oratory and promises. Economic times were tough, people were losing jobs, and he was a great speaker. And he smiled and waved a lot. And people, even newspapers, were afraid to speak out for fear that his "brown shirts" would bully them into submission.

And then he was duly elected to office, with a full-throttled economic crisis at hand [the Great Depression]. Slowly but surely he seized the controls of government power, department by department, person by person, bureaucracy by bureaucracy. The kids joined a Youth Movement in his name, where they were taught what to think. How did he get the people on his side? He did it promising jobs to the jobless, money to the moneyless, and goodies for the military-industrial complex. He did it by indoctrinating the children, advocating gun control, health care for all, better wages, better jobs, and promising to re-instill pride once again in the country, across Europe , and across the world.

He did it with a compliant media - Did you know that? And he did this all in the name of justice and...change. And the people surely got what they voted for. (Look it up if you think I am exaggerating.) Read your history books. Many people objected in 1933 and were shouted down, called names, laughed at, and made fun of. When Winston Churchill pointed out the obvious in the late 1930s while seated in the House of Lords in England (he was not yet Prime Minister), he was booed into his seat and called a crazy troublemaker. He was right, though.

Don't forget that Germany was the most educated, cultured country in Europe . It was full of music, art, museums, hospitals, laboratories, and universities. And in less than six years - a shorter time span than just two terms of the U. S.. presidency - it was rounding up its own citizens, killing others, abrogating its laws, turning children against parents, and neighbors against neighbors. All with the best of intentions, of course. The road to Hell is paved with them.

As a practical thinker, one not overly prone to emotional decisions, I have a choice: I can either believe what the objective pieces of evidence tell me (even if they make me cringe with disgust); I can believe what history is shouting to me from across the chasm of seven decades; or I can hope I am wrong, close my eyes, have another latte and ignore what is transpiring around me.

Some people scoff at me; others laugh or think I am foolish, naive, or both. Perhaps I am. But I have never been afraid to look people in the eye and tell them exactly what I believe - and why I believe it. I pray I am wrong. But, I do not think I am.

About the author via Google...

Pamela "Atlas" Geller began her publishing career at The New York Daily News and subsequently took over operation of The New York Observer as Associate Publisher. She left The Observer after the birth of her fourth child, but remained involved in various projects including American Associates, Ben Gurion University and being Senior Vice-President Strategic Planning and Performance Evaluation at The Brandeis School.

After 9/11, Atlas had the veil of oblivion violently lifted from her consciousness and immersed herself in the education and understanding of geopolitics, Islam, terror, foreign affairs and imminent threats the mainstream media and the government wouldn't cover or discuss.

Since many of you enjoy senior citizen status or will sometime in the not too distant future, I thought you might be interested in this information.

IN GOD WE TRUST

Everybody that is on this mailing list is either a senior citizen, is getting close, or knows somebody that is

Most of you know by now that the Senate version (at least) of the "stimulus" bill includes provisions for extensive rationing of health care for senior citizens. The author of this part of the bill, former senator and tax evader, Tom Daschle, was credited today by Bloomberg with the following statement.

Bloomberg: "Daschle says health-care reform will not be pain free. Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them."

If this does not sufficiently raise your ire, just remember that Senators and Congressmen have their own healthcare plan that is first dollar or very low co-pay which they are guaranteed the remainder of their lives and are not subject to this new law if it passes.

Please use the power of the Internet to get this message out. Talk it up at the grassroots level.. We have an election coming up in one year and nine months. We have the ability to address and reverse the dangerous direction the Obama administration and its allies have begun and in the interim, we can make our voices heard! Let's do it!

Senior Road Trip

While on a road trip, an elderly couple stopped at a roadside restaurant for lunch. After finishing their meal, they left the restaurant, and resumed their trip. When leaving, the elderly woman unknowingly left her glasses on the table, and she didn't miss them until they had been driving for about forty minutes. By then, to add to the aggravation, they had to travel quite a distance before they could find a place to turn around, in order to return to the restaurant to retrieve her glasses.


All the way back, the elderly husband became the classic grouchy old man. He fussed and complained, and scolded his wife relentlessly during the entire return drive. The more he chided her, the more agitated he became. He just wouldn't let up for a single minute. To her relief, they finally arrived at the restaurant. As the woman got out of the car, and hurried inside to retrieve her glasses, the old geezer yelled to her, “While you're in there, you might as well get my hat and the credit card.”


This coming week is National Senior Mental Health Week. You can do your part by remembering to contact at least one unstable Senior to show you care.


My job is done.

Founder's Quote Daily

"Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right, from the frame of their nature, to knowledge, as their great Creator, who does nothing in vain, has given them understandings, and a desire to know; but besides this, they have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge; I mean, of the characters and conduct of their rulers." --John Adams, Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1756

What A Roadside Bomb Looks Like - Up Close & Personal

SALISBURY CITY COUNCIL AGENDA, (revised)


SEPTEMBER 8, 2009
CONFERENCE ROOM 306
GOVERNMENT OFFICE BUILDING

4:00 P.M. - SPECIAL MEETING

Refund request for fees paid related to board up/clean and lien/grass cuts
(304 Delaware Avenue) – Pam Oland

WORK SESSION - FOLLOWING SPECIAL MEETING

Historic District Design Guidelines presentation – Tom Stevenson/Gerald
Eastridge (RBA Group)

Ordinance No. 2085/Ordinance No. 2086 – issue/sell General Obligation Bonds – Maryland Water Quality Financing Administration for water storage facility and sewage lift station projects – Pam Oland

FY10 proposed budget reductions – Mayor James Ireton, Jr.

Comprehensive Plan – Jack Lenox

General discussion/upcoming agendas

The Council reserves the right to convene in Closed Session as permitted under the Annotated Code of Maryland 10-508(a)

Today's Wildlife Photo By Scott Phoebus

Panchito And Pedro

Panchito and Pedro worked together and both were laid off, so they went to the unemployment office.

When asked his occupation, Panchito answered, "Panty Stitcher. I sew da elastic on da ladies' cotton panties." The clerk looked up Panty Stitcher. Finding it classified as "un skilled labor", she gave him $300 a week unemployment pay.

Pedro was asked his occupation. "Diesel Fitter," he replied. Since diesel fitter was a skilled job, the clerk gave Pedro $600 a week. When Panchito found out, he was furious. He stormed back into the office to find out why his friend and co-worker was collecting double his pay.

The clerk explained, "Panty stitchers are unskilled labor but diesel fitters are skilled."

"What skill?" yelled Panchito. "I sew the elastic on da panties, then Pedro puts dem over his head and says, "Yeah, diesel fitter!"

Obama School Speech Sparks Controversy

DALLAS (Sept. 4) - When kids all across the country return to school Tuesday, some will see a welcoming message from President Barack Obama and some won't.

Obama's planned address to students has touched off yet another confrontation with Republican critics, who have battered the White House over health care and now accuse the president of foisting a political agenda on children.

GO HERE to read more.

Doris Smith Update


It has been three weeks since Doris took her first steps and one week since she walked without a leg brace. Needless to say, there's nothing stopping her now. She has made remarkable progress in the last three weeks. She is walking (with a walker) everyday without the leg brace and getting stronger everyday.

On this past Monday, the therapists wanted to evaluate Mom's home to see how she would be able to function there. Dean loaded her up in the car and she made her first visit home in six and a half months. They said her setup at home is good with a few minor changes. Dean also took her for a short visit at the Red Men Hall.

They have set a tentative date for three weeks from now for her to go home--however, this could change if they feel she's not quite ready.

City Of Fruitland Newsletter

NEWSLETTER
September 4, 2009

CITY HALL

The Fruitland City Council will meet in regular session on Tuesday, September 8, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. The usual staff meeting will be held in the conference room at 7:00 p.m. to review the agenda with Council members. A draft copy of the agenda is enclosed for Council members to review. The City Council minutes of the August 11, 2009 meeting will be distributed to the City Council members and posted on the City of Fruitland website when available.

City Hall offices will be closed on Monday, September 7, 2009 in observance of the Labor Day holiday.

PLANNING COMMISSION

The Fruitland Planning Commission met in regular session on Tuesday, September 1, 2009.

RECREATION COMMISSION

The Fruitland Recreation Commission will meet in regular session on Tuesday, September 15, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. Please mark your calendar and plan on attending.

PUBLIC UTILITIES

Preliminary work for the upgrade to the Meadow Brook pumping station began this week by Shorite Controls. We are still waiting for additional equipment to arrive for completion. This work is upgrading the pumps to help alleviate the constant clogging problem and reduce the risk of an overflow and maintenance labor.

The new field service truck has arrived and is being outfitted to be put in service next week.

Kratovil On H.R. 45

Dear Mr. X:

Thank you for contacting my office to share your thoughts on H.R. 45, the Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act. As your Representative, I am guided by the perspectives of my constituents and our common goals of restoring fiscal responsibility to our federal government, revitalizing our economy, protecting the Chesapeake Bay and preserving the agricultural heritage of our communities.


Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009 was introduced by Representative Bobby Rush on January 6, 2009 and referred to the House Judiciary Committee. Among its provisions, H.R. 45 would create a new federal firearms transfer reporting and record-keeping system, administered by the Attorney General of the United States. The bill would require any citizen purchasing a firearm to register with and submit fingerprints to the Attorney General, and would require a purchaser to authorize the release of certain health records to the Attorney General as part of the application and registration process. A citizen owning firearms would be required to notify federal authorities upon moving to a new address or transferring a firearm to another individual.


While the goal of reducing gun violence is admirable, I have strong reservations about a number of the provisions in this bill that appear to violate the Constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. Consequently, I would oppose the Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act should it be considered before the full House of Representatives.


As a supporter of the Second Amendment, I am concerned about any legislation that could impede an individual's Constitutional right to bear arms. I understand the need for reasonable measures to keep our streets safe, but as a former prosecutor I believe that we ought to be enforcing existing gun laws rather than passing new restrictions on law-abiding citizens.

Furthermore, the creation of an overarching federal firearms registry would undermine the traditional right of individual states to set their own firearms policies.


Here in Maryland's First District, gun ownership, hunting, and recreational shooting are more than just Constitutional rights; these activities are also a part of our culture and our heritage. I am, and will continue to be, an advocate for the Second Amendment rights of all law-abiding citizens.

Please do not hesitate to contact me again in the future regarding issues that concern you. I believe that continuous communication with the residents of the First District is essential to helping me be an effective advocate for you in Congress. To stay informed, please visit my website at www.house.gov/kratovil.

Thank you again for contacting me and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,Frank M. Kratovil, Jr.

Member of Congress

Poker Run

Spinning A Statistic

I just saw California Representative Maxine Waters speak about one health insurance problem in her state. On the Keith Olbermann show, she stated 25% of health claims in her state were denied by health insurance companies.

This means: of all medical bills sent to the insurance companies following a service that was already provided, 25% of the time, payment was denied. Maxine Waters went on to say that this is precisely why Americans are going broke. Olbermann and Waters stated they were speaking of HMOs. What both don¹t seem to understand is that the doctors are the ones who don¹t get paid by the HMOs when a claim is rejected, and, according to regulations passed in the 1980¹s and 1990¹s, it is illegal for the doctors to go after the patients for the money. The patients are unaffected in this specific instance. I would expect that 90% of individuals reading this know this to be true. Why doesn't Maxine Waters or Keith Olbermann?

Are they terribly ignorant or deceitful? You decide.