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Sunday, September 20, 2009

Radar on Route 50

Joe is on his way to the Western Shore this morning. He called in with a Smokey report. He said, "there are police everywhere and they are running radar".

Be careful leaving the shore, not only is traffic bad, the State of Maryland needs money. This being next to the last big weekend of the summer, they are out to get what they can, of course they would like everyone to drive safely and buckle up.

Have a safe ride, wherever you go.

MEDICINE-MIXING ALERT

Most people know not to mix certain medicines without consulting their doctors.

However, some medicines cannot be mixed with certain foods or beverages . . .

And certainly most of us know not to mix certain medicines with alcohol....

Although, some people think that mixing alcohol and medicine is harmless.

As a public service the AMA and Health Canada have recently published a new warning being distributed via pamphlets in pharmacies across the U.S. And Canada.

Attached is the cover jacket of one such pamphlet:

75 Percent of Oklahoma High School Students Can't Name The First President Of The U.S.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Only one in four Oklahoma public high school students can name the first President of the United States, according to a survey released today.


The survey was commissioned by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs in observance of Constitution Day on Thursday.


Brandon Dutcher is with the conservative think tank and said the group wanted to find out how much civic knowledge Oklahoma high school students know.


The Oklahoma City-based think tank enlisted national research firm, Strategic Vision, to access students' basic civic knowledge.


"They're questions taken from the actual exam that you have to take to become a U.S. citizen," Dutcher said.


A thousand students were given 10 questions drawn from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services item bank. Candidates for U.S. citizenship must answer six questions correctly in order to become citizens.


About 92 percent of the people who take the citizenship test pass on their first try, according to immigration service data. However, Oklahoma students did not fare as well. Only about 3 percent of the students surveyed would have passed the citizenship test.


Dutcher said this is not just a problem in Oklahoma. He said Arizona had similar results, which left him concerned for the entire country.


"Jefferson later said that a nation can't expect to be ignorant and free," Dutcher said. "It points to a real serious problem. We're not going to remain ignorant and free."

Question
% of StudentsWho Answered Correctly

What is the supreme law of the land? 28%

What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution? 26

What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress? 27

How many justices are there on the Supreme Court? 10

Who wrote the Declaration of Independence? 14

What ocean is on the east coast of the United States? 61

What are the two major political parities in the United States? 43

We elect a U.S. senator for how many years?

11
Who was the first President of the United States? 23

Who is in charge of the executive branch? 29
See the answers to the test
More: Read the Full Report from OCPA

Source

The City Of Fruitland Newsletter

NEWSLETTER
September 18, 2009




CITY HALL

The Fruitland City Council Audit Committee comprised of Treasurer Gloria Ortiz, Councilman Ray Carey, Deputy Treasurer Polly Caton and City Manager John McDonnell will meet on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 to discuss ways and items to cut from our budget. This meeting is necessary because of the over $260,000 in cuts from the State of Maryland.

RECREATION COMMISSION

The Recreation Commission meeting this week was cancelled. Some members of the Board attended the funeral of former Councilman J.R. Rains.

FRUITLAND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION

The Fruitland Economic Development Commission met in session on Tuesday, September 15, 2009, although not having a quorum there was some information discussed, however, not acted upon.

POLICE

Officers met with residents of the Church Street, N. Dulany Ave and Poplar Street neighborhoods to discuss quality of life issues and concerns. These meetings will be held quarterly with area residents to formulate strategies for dealing with crime and other issues in the community. All residents are welcome to attend.

Cpl. Shockley will undergo surgery next week. We wish him a speedy recovery.

PUBLIC WORKS

Field service staff repaired five defective meter service lines beneath the city streets this week. Locations were: 109 S. Camden Ave., 205 S. Camden Ave., 115 Staton St., 120 Ridgefield Lane and 211 Williams Ave. All of these services have been in use for 31 years.

Upgrade of the Hunt Club-Meadowbrook sewage lift station proceeds on schedule with delivery of a replacement pump within the next two weeks.

OTHER

Birthday wishes are extended to Investigator Mark Stevenson on September 25th. May you have many more.

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

On this day in 1973, future President Jimmy Carter files a report with the National Investigators Committee on Aerial Phenomena, claiming he had seen a UFO.

During his Presidential run in 1976, Carter was forthcoming that he had seen a UFO. He described waiting outside for a Lion’s Club meeting to start. He and 10 – 12 other witnesses experienced the sighting.
Editors Note:
The Town of Delmar was founded this week 150 Years Ago

Senior Health Care

The YouTube links below are Part 1 and 2 of a tape made by a Texan. He and his wife made the tape from their ranch in south-central Texas. At their own expense, they made 1000 copies and sent one to every single congressman and senator and some media outlets. Let's hope that each and every one of them watched and LISTENED!!!

Part 1 www.YouTube.com/watch?v=j7sQHunYdN8

Part 2 www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MJsF11PsnQ

Public Health Care Option

What advocates for a public health care option either don't know or won't reveal, is that, on a per patient basis, the administrative cost for, government run Medicare, is much higher than private insurance. Medicare premiums are collected by the IRS and that cost is not charged to Medicare. Medicare pays no taxes. Private companies pay a state tax averaging 2% (as high as 4% in some states). The private companies also pay income tax on their profits. In spite of this private insurance companies have a lower administrative cost, which could be even lower, with some regulation.

While most people, instinctively, understand government is extremely inefficient, it appears many politicians do not. Medicare has virtually no competition unless you count Medicaid as a competitor. It is near impossible to discover administrative costs for Medicaid as each state is probably different. Should an enlightened congress make it possible to purchase health care insurance, across state lines, the competition would likely lower prices on private insurance.

It would, therefore be reasonable to assume that if the government wishes to use taxpayer money to insure some number of people, it would best not be done by a governmental agency. We are told there is a great deal of fraud and waste in Medicare and Medicaid. We are further informed, that the government can eliminate this to pay for half of the cost of a heath care program. No one is standing in their way from doing this now. Government is simply using this as an excuse to cut care for the elderly.

By going to Google, one can find all the information required to make an informed decision. This begs a two part question, Why can't the congress or the media learn to Google?

Joel Brandes

Senate Votes To Keep Spending Millions On Stimulus Signs

Ever since the “American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009″ kicked in, it was obvious that a major part of the stimulus would be paying people to design, manufacture and put up signs alerting taxpayers where their “stimulus” money was going. You’d have to spend a fortune on an investigation to find a better example of a self-perpetuating sinkhole — and then spend even more money on signs announcing the findings of your investigation — to top this.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, and many others, want to keep spending millions on the stimulus signs because to stop doing so would be to deprive us lowly taxpayers the honor of seeing where our money is being spent (we know it when we see it, Babs, no sign necessary) — and one of those areas is the signs themselves:

GO HERE to read more.

Today's Nature Photo By Scott Phoebus

To Purchase Photos Email Me At ksphoebus@gmail.com

A Poor Analogy

Obama says his public option will not harm private healthcare. As his analogy, he points to state universities and private universities. He says both kinds of schools coexist well together. Using state and private universities as an analogy is absurd.

With regards to state universities, the government provides funding to support them. If Obama wants to apply this relationship to the health profession, he should start funding doctors’ offices and hospitals so that they can afford to see all of the uninsured for free. Instead, Obama wants to provide both with higher taxes and lower fees. His approach is clearly counterintuitive. Why does Obama despise hard working Americans?

Next time Obama uses universities as his example of how his public plan will coexist with private healthcare, you might suggest that the imbecile feeding his teleprompter should repeat junior high school.

An Interesting Website

Below is a website for food freshness and maximum tastiness...

www.stilltasty.com

Salisbury News Delivers The Best Photos Of Delmarva Bike Week Winter Place Park

When I return on Monday we'll deliver a series of photos from Bike Week. In the mean time I thought I'd deliver one of the cooler shots from Bike Week at Winter Place Park. Click on the image to enlarge it. Oh, mind you, this was shot early on Saturday. As time went on the crowd was just unbelievable and much bigger than any other crowd in the past. Oh, for those of you who were worried about me as some pansy once again threatened me to watch my back this year, (again) at Bike Week. I was there in plain view Thursday, Friday and Saturday and received nothing but welcoming hand shakes and kind remarks, AGAIN.

I Need A Favor From All Of You

Today I am taking a personal day away from just about everything, especially this Blog. My Mother has taken ill and has been admitted to a Hospital on the Western Shore. I won't get into the details but so far things don't look very good. This is a very special woman who has seen some very difficult times, yet has always been a strong and stable woman who has never let anything stop her from reaching her goals and I'm confident she'll see her way through this difficult time as well.

That being said, I will not be around the Blog at all today. I'm actually asking two things of you. If you choose to make comments today, please understand that they will not be attended to until perhaps Monday morning. The second favor I'm asking is, take a day off from commenting so when I return I'm not overwhelmed. I could use the break and quite frankly my mind is elsewhere right now, where it belongs during these times.

Thanks for understanding and I hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday. My Mother's name is Mary and your prayers would be greatly appreciated. There will be Posts pre-scheduled to go up until 9:00 AM this morning, every 5 minutes, as usual. Thanks for understanding and working with me.