Salisbury Fire Commissioner Bob Cannon Passed Away This Morning

I want to share, (again) my personal condolences with the Cannon Family. I did speak to John Cannon this morning who informed me his Father passed very peacefully and that he lived a very good life. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the entire Family. Bob was an exceptional man.

Justice Official: Black Panther Case Lacks Proof

Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez told the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on Friday there was "insufficient evidence" to bring a civil complaint against members of the New Black Panther Party who disrupted a Philadelphia polling place in the 2008 general elections.

Mr. Perez, the only Justice Department official to testify publicly before the commission about the case, said that without sufficient proof that party members or the organization's leader, Malik Zulu Shabazz, directed or controlled unlawful activities at the poll or made speeches to incite or produce lawless action, the complaint "would have likely failed" in court.

"Based on the totality of the evidence and the relevant legal precedent, the acting assistant attorney general made a judgment about how to proceed, choosing to seek an injunction against the only defendant who brought a weapon to the Philadelphia polling place on Election Day and to voluntarily dismiss the other three defendants," he said.

More here

Train Wreck Ahead: IMF Says U.S. Debt Approaching 100% Of GDP

The U.S. national debt will soon reach 100% of GDP, the IMF predicts in a new report.

The following graph shows the sharp rise in U.S. debt starting in around 2006. By 2015, the IMF suggests, debt could reach well over 100% of GDP.

The IMF predicts that the U.S. would need to reduce its structural deficit by the equivalent of 12% of GDP, a much larger portion than any other country analyzed except Japan. Greece, in the midst of a financial crisis, needs to reduce its structural deficit by just 9% of GDP, according to the IMF's analysis.

The report, released yesterday, also wades into the debate over healthcare reform, questioning the CBO's analysis that healthcare reform would reduce the U.S. deficit.

"There are some risks to the CBO estimates, however, including that the substantial decrease in Medicare payment rates to health care providers may prove difficult to implement," the report reads.

More

Obamacare Threatens To Cram Already-Overwhelmed Hospital ERs

The new healthcare law will pack 32 million newly insured people into emergency rooms already crammed beyond capacity, according to experts on healthcare facilities.

A chief aim of the new healthcare law was to take the pressure off emergency rooms by mandating that people either have insurance coverage. The idea was that if people have insurance, they will go to a doctor rather than putting off care until they faced an emergency.

People who build hospitals, however, say newly insured people will still go to emergency rooms for primary care because they don’t have a doctor.

“Everybody expected that one of the initial impacts of reform would be less pressure on emergency departments; it’s going to be exactly the opposite over the next four to eight years,” said Rich Dallam, a healthcare partner at the architectural firm NBBJ, which designs healthcare facilities.

“We don’t have the primary care infrastructure in place in America to cover the need. Our clients are looking at and preparing for more emergency department volume, not less,” he said.

Read the rest here

Update Photos On West O.C. Fire Yesterday

Strip mall is on fire in west oc just east of home depot. Rt 50 shut down both ways.

Bailing Out Foreign Banks

According to a new report from the International Monitary Fund (IMF) the U.S. national debt will soon reach 100% of GDP. By 2015, the IMF suggests, debt could reach well over 100% of GDP.

The IMF predicts that the U.S. would need to reduce its structural deficit by the equivalent of 12% of GDP, a much larger portion than any other country analyzed except Japan. Greece, in the midst of a financial crisis, needs to reduce its structural deficit by just 9% of GDP, according to the IMF's analysis. The battle ahead will be whether to cut spending or raise taxes. That may be decided by the outcome of the November election.

With our own looming crisis, why on earth should the American Taxpayer be forced by our government to bailout foreign banks and their stockholders? Who gave them permission???

Ellen Sauerbrey

Monday, May 17, 2010
EDITORIAL: Bailing out foreign banks
U.S. taxpayers are subsidizing bad business overseas
By THE WASHINGTON TIMES

House Republicans introduced legislation last week to prohibit U.S. taxpayer funds from being used to bail out a teetering European economy, especially upside-down Greece. "If the Obama administration has its way, the U.S. will contribute to a nearly trillion-dollar bailout of European countries with economic crises that are a direct result of wasteful government spending," said Rep. Mike Pence, the House Republican Conference chairman from Indiana. The congressman is right. President Obama should focus on U.S. economic troubles instead of throwing our cash down a European rathole.

As things stand, the U.S. government is giving $30 billion in subsidized loans to Canadian banks, and the Obama administration has begun bailing out banks from Japan to Europe. The administration won't say how much money is being doled out and who is getting it. Given American anger about bailing out our own banks, there's sure to be a strong political backlash when taxpayers learn their money is being shipped off to foreign banks.

The new policy mirrors what the Federal Reserve did last year when it gave loans to U.S. banks at nearly zero percent interest. The banks turned around and used these government loans to lend money back to the federal government through the purchase of U.S. Treasury bonds, on which the banks received higher interest rates. Extending this practice to foreign banks is an outright gift to foreign shareholders.

Why the United States should subsidize foreign banks and their shareholders is a mystery. Compared to the U.S. economic crisis, many of these economies have done fairly well. Since Mr. Obama became president, U.S. unemployment has risen from 7.7 percent to 9.9 percent. Canada's unemployment rate has only gone from 7.3 to 8.1 percent. Our own unemployment rate has soared relative to the rates in the European Union and Japan as well.

A second smaller part of the bailout comes from a $54 billion International Monetary Fund loan to Greece and other European countries. Again, it's a mystery exactly how much of this loan will be the responsibility of the United States, but the number is likely to be at least $10 billion, since America typically contributes 17 percent of the IMF budget.

Subsidizing Greece doesn't make any more sense. The Greek government possesses valuable assets such as land and corporate stock it can sell off to pay its debts. Instead, Athens is sitting on odd investments such as casinos, banks, jumbo jets and even a lucrative sports-betting organization. Greeks may not want to let go of those assets, but there's no reason American taxpayers should fork over dollars to subsidize Greek nationalistic pride. This is particularly the case given that the Greek government spends 44 percent of gross domestic product, which is too much. American taxpayers shouldn't feel sorry for a country that holds out a tin cup while refusing to cut government spending.

In September 2008, 400 top U.S. economists came out to oppose a bailout of U.S. financial institutions, and the American public overwhelmingly opposed the bailout bill. Even at the beginning of last year, when claims of a crisis still gripped Washington, a Rasmussen survey showed wide American opposition by a margin of 56 percent to 20 percent.

Last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel lost her majority in Germany's upper-house of parliament as a result of her support for an unpopular Greek bailout. If Washington politicians don't start listening to their voters, many of them will suffer the same fate as Mrs. Merkel's minions.

Check Out NCAA Tournament Bracket: Men's Division III

Salisbury wins last night and plays again on Wednesday..

NCAA Tournament Bracket: Men's Division III

Animal Planet Investigates: Petland

Dear Viewers,

Animal Planet airs a special program on Monday, May 17, at 10 p.m. EST/PST exposing the grim connection between puppy mills and pet stores.

"Animal Planet Investigates: Petland" features unseen footage from some of The HSUS's puppy mill investigations and interviews with our puppy mill experts.

While revealing the heartbreaking deception behind puppy mill puppies, the program showcases our efforts to crack down on puppy mills and expose the hidden nature of the industry.

Thank you for signing our pledge to stop puppy mills! Please urge your friends to join you in signing the pledge and watching the show!

Thanks for all you do for animals.

Wayne Pacelle, President & CEO

Caption This Photo

Where's The Budget?

Congress' Historic Decision to Ignore Its Basic Duty

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) once said that the "most basic responsibility of governing is to pass a budget." Yesterday it became clear that Congress has decided to shirk that responsibility, as word broke that the House likely will not pass a budget resolution for the first time since the modern budget process was created in 1974.

That's earthshaking news, especially given the ballooning federal spending, which soared to an $82.69 billion deficit in April, a projected $1.5 trillion deficit in 2010, and even more deficits as far as the eye can see. Like any American's household budget that tracks income and expenses, budget resolutions set a framework for Congress' taxing and spending. But it's a framework that the leadership in the House would rather do without.

The news came from Rep. Hoyer himself, who said "It's difficult to pass budgets in election years because they reflect what the [fiscal] status is." In other words, with November looming on the horizon, the left doesn't want their constituents to realize just how much Congress is spending and how high taxes will go.

Heritage's Brian Riedl explains:
Members of Congress are likely hesitant to show the American people how seriously they have damaged America's current long-term budget picture. This Congress has refused to pare back runaway spending and deficits, and many of its Members may now hesitate to pass a budget resolution that shows the resulting trillion-dollar deficits. Instead, Congress is likely to try burying this vital issue in this election year.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) tepidly acknowledged election year fears yesterday when she said, "There's no question there is, at this moment, an anti-incumbent mood." With 93% of Americans calling the federal deficit a "crisis" or a "major problem," it might make sense for Congress to consider putting two-and-two together, recognize there's a reason Americans aren't happy with their performance, and exercise some leadership in righting the country's fiscal ship.

Instead, Congressional leadership and President Barack Obama are abdicating their authority and putting America's financial future in the hands of an unelected deficit commission tasked with making decisions on taxing and spending. The commission, though, is focused on long-term issues and doesn't meet until well after the FY 2011 spending bills are due.

That leaves America in a lurch. Riedl explains that the failure to pass a budget resolution prevents Congress from capping discretionary spending for FY2011, and it's an indication that Congress won't find a way to limit runaway entitlement spending. It also means that other priorities, such as extending the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts will fall by the wayside, leading to steep tax hikes, all while America is in the midst of a recession.

In the middle of this leadership vacuum, President Obama is touring the country in an attempt to convince the American people that his economic policies have steered the economy in the right direction. Yesterday in Buffalo he said:
I knew that if we didn't act boldly and quickly -- if we didn't defy the politics of the moment and do what was necessary -- we would have risked an even greater disaster."

There are 172 days left until the November election, which leaves Congress time to act boldly and quickly, to do what is necessary to take up its "most basic responsibility," pass a budget resolution, get a grip on spending and set a course for the United States' fiscal future. To sit back and do nothing would truly risk that greater disaster.

Hospital Nun Rebuked For Allowing Abortion

She agreed that seriously ill woman needed procedure to survive

PHOENIX - A nun and administrator at a Catholic hospital in Phoenix has been reassigned and rebuked by the local bishop for agreeing that a severely ill woman needed an abortion to survive.

Sister Margaret McBride was on an ethics committee that included doctors that consulted with a young woman who was 11 weeks pregnant late last year, The Arizona Republic newspaper reported on its website Saturday. The woman was suffering from a life-threatening condition that likely would have caused her death if she hadn't had the abortion at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center.

Hospital officials defended McBride's actions but confirmed that she has been reassigned from her job as vice president of mission integration at the hospital. They said in a statement that saving the mother required that the fetus be aborted.

GO HERE to read more.

Is The Brady Campaign A Closet Klavern Of The Klan?

By Alan Gottlieb and Dave Workman

They opposed a landmark court ruling that struck down the handgun ban in District of Columbia, a city with a predominantly black population.

They later opposed legislation that would grant the District full voting rights in Congress, because the measure contained a provision expanding gun rights for those same citizens.

They filed a court brief opposing a lawsuit filed against the City of Chicago’s handgun ban by Otis McDonald, an African-American whose life story would make inspiring material for a movie.

“They” are the leaders of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and one is left to wonder how this bunch would have reacted to the plight of Robert Hicks, a black man who rose to civil rights prominence in the mid-1960s. The 81-year-old Mr. Hicks passed away April 13, and is remembered for being, among other things, the last known surviving member of the Deacons for Defense and Justice.

Hicks was a worker in a paper mill, and his home in Bogalusa, LA was targeted by racist thugs for a bombing because he had the audacity to house two white civil rights workers. On Feb. 1, 1965, Hicks was warned that the Ku Klux Klan was coming, and the local police essentially stood aside, claiming there was nothing they could do, according to an account in the New York Times.

So Mr. Hicks and his wife sent their children to the homes of friends and neighbors, and did something that would no doubt cause the Brady Camp to erupt in shrieks. They called other friends for protection and, the Times noted, “Soon, armed black men materialized. Nothing happened.”

Mr. Hicks was to become a leader in the Deacons group, which was organized in Jonesboro, LA in 1964 and lasted for about four years. The traditionally anti-gun New York Times described the Deacons as a “secretive paramilitary organization of blacks.” They might just as accurately have been described as a “black militia.” The Brady Campaign has argued that the right to keep and bear arms applied only to the organized militia, but we have yet to see a Brady endorsement for the Deacons. Hicks also rose to be a leader in the local N.A.A.C.P. and also was once the head of the Bogalusa Civic and Voters League.

The Brady Campaign and their soul mates at the Violence Policy Center have consistently avoided discussing the racist underpinnings of gun control because they know it is a political minefield. Historian Clayton Cramer noted in his essay on the racist roots of gun control that, “The historical record provides compelling evidence that racism underlies gun control laws — and not in any subtle way. Throughout much of American history, governments openly stated that gun control laws were useful for keeping blacks and Hispanics "in their place" and for quieting the racial fears of whites.”

How much longer can the Brady Bunch and its allies conceal the ugly true nature of gun control laws? These laws were the cornerstone of the Black Codes in the Reconstruction South, designed to keep free blacks defenseless against the night riders who would eventually become the Klan.

Failure to address the racist roots of gun control makes every other argument professed by the Brady Campaign to be little more than a subterfuge. Municipal gun bans disproportionately affect inner city minorities, yet nobody in the gun prohibition movement dares to broach the subject, because once the lid is off of that Pandora’s Box, it is not going to close again, and anti-gunners know it.

Alan Gottlieb is founder of the Second Amendment Foundation. Dave Workman is senior editor of Gun Week. They are co-authors of Assault on Weapons: The Campaign to Eliminate Your Guns.

Grass Roots At Its Best

Tom McEntegart, Cathy & Paul Keim, Sylvia McEntegart, Matt Trenka

SHOREBIRDS DROP HEARTBREAKER, 11-10

Mikey Planeta Records Three Hits and Three RBIs

Kannapolis, N.C. – The Delmarva Shorebirds surrendered four runs in the final two innings as the Kannapolis Intimidators came from behind to win the series finale, 11-10 at Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium.

Kyle Colligan hit a base hit up the middle in the bottom of the ninth inning to score Jesus Villegas and Rafael Vera to give the Intimidators the victory.

For a second consecutive night, the Delmarva Shorebirds scored ten runs. Five Shorebirds players recorded multiple hits (Mike Mooney, Brian Conley, Tyler Kolodny, Mikey Planeta and Garabez Rosa).

Tyler Kolodny connected on his seventh home run of the season in the fourth inning. It was his first home run in 21 games and the first home run for the Shorebirds in 12 games.

The loss was pinned on James Brandhorst (1-3), while the win goes to Garrett Johnson (2-0).

The Delmarva Shorebirds travel to Charleston, West Virginia to open a four-game series on Sunday at 2:05 p.m. against the Power.