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Sunday, July 18, 2010

BREAKING NEWS: 2 Found Dead In Salisbury

Two people have been found dead on Emery Court just off Beaglin and Glen Ave. Police are not telling what happened as of yet, it's a Police Matter at this time.

More to come.

UPDATE: We've been told gun shots were heard last night but the Police were not called. SPD did a welfare check and found two dead inside the apartment.

A Letter To The Editor

"The Salisbury Fire Department was just dispatched to a reported structure fire at the Queen City Lodge on Catherine Street at 1845 hours on July 18, 2010. I was heading to my car to go to the station and heard Deputy Chief 2(Bill Gordy) responding. I turned my car off and went back into the house to spend time with my family.

I like many other volunteers and career members refuse to go back to calls as long as Bill Gordy and Rick Hoppes are still running the Salisbury Fire Department. Jim Ireton you promised us better. We have lost all faith and trust in you."

NEA – Education First

NEA – the National Education Association – is the nation’s largest union.  Maryland teachers are almost universally members through their local “associations” (union locals).  The NEA claims to be putting our children first.  Why, then, does the NEA sanction an “NEA Drag Queen Caucus”?

I try to be fair.  I don’t believe in discriminating against folk because of their sexual orientation.  But, a DRAG QUEEN CAUCUS?  Does that have any place in our schools?

"They already have had the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, [and] Transgender Caucus and apparently felt that the drag queens needed their own caucus," explains Finn Laursen, executive director of Christian Educators Association International (CEAI).
"America, I think, needs to respond and to realize what the National Education Association stands for; they're not hiding it.  It's appalling to many of our conservative Christian educators who, in their own lives, could not support this kind of thing but find that their dues are being used to support just those kinds of thing," he adds.
Laursen also tells OneNewsNow there was a movement this year to see the NEA's pro-abortion stance changed to a more neutral position, but that effort failed. "The organization and its delegates were just unwilling to step back and take no position on abortion," he laments. "They're going to continue their pro-abortion stance."

We can’t have prayer in school, but the NEA thinks that we should have abortions and distribute condoms?

H/T – Anglican Mainstream

from Delmarva Dealings

Two 8 Week Old Kittens Now Up For Adoption

GO HERE to check out these two new kittens.

Start Your Child's Beer Pong Training Early


Rounding out our trilogy of beer pong posts this week, here's an exciting product that commenter Nic715 pointed out: Hasbro's game Cuponk. Throw the ball into the cup, and lights go off and electronic noises sound. It's a way to have some family fun and hone your kids' skills long before they leave for college.


FTC To Take A Closer Look At Debtors Being Thrown In Jail

It's not a crime to owe money, and debtors prisons have been abolished -- but that doesn't mean that people are not being routinely arrested and put in jail for failing to pay debts. A few weeks ago the Minneapolis Star-Tribune published an investigative piece about arrest warrants being issued for people with less than $100 in debt, many of whom didn't even know that a collector had taken legal action against them. Now, following a letter by Sen. Al Franken (noted hater of the Comcast, NBC merger), the FTC has agreed to look into the issue.

More »

Another Johnson & Johnson Plant Under Investigation

The hits just keep on coming for Johnson & Johnson -- on the heels of the news that the company would be closing down and laying off some 300 employees at the Philadelphia-area factory that was churning out musty, yucky pills, another plant in Lancaster, Pa., failed to receive a clean bill of health after an inspection by the Food and Drug Administration.

More »

Meet Delegate Hopeful Mike McCready

What is Love?

1 COR. 13:1-13

4 Love is patient; love is kind. Love does not envy; is not boastful; is not conceited;
5 does not act improperly; is not selfish; is not provoked; does not keep a record of wrongs;
6 finds no joy in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends....

Christian love (agape) is to be the guiding principle for all we do. Jesus said that love for God and love for our neighbors were the most important commands of scripture (Matt. 22:37-40). When you read the above passage, you might want to mentally insert the definition "concern for others that leads to sacrificial action".

Israeli Gov't Calls For Immigration Crackdown

Illegal immigrants were the main topic of Sunday's Ministerial Committee on Legislation meeting, as a number of immigration regulations were discussed.

Some possible regulations included a measure that would prevent both West Bank and Gaza Palestinians from joining their relatives in Israel and receiving permanent residence status. The ministers also discussed the possibility of sending illegal aliens to Africa and Europe, and possibly requiring loyalty vows for legal aliens and immigrants.

At the beginning of the meeting, Netanyahu said "this is a national issue of the highest importance; it has both demographic and humanitarian aspects. In effect, we are the only western country that lacks a clear immigration policy. Today, we will start the discussion in order to correct this. "

The prime minister added that the new law, drafted by Minister of Justice Yaakov Neeman, "should conform to our national interests, first and foremost providing security and ensuring the Jewish and democratic character of the country."

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and Interior Minister Eli Yishai discussed the possibility of sending some of the thousands of illegal African immigrants in Israel to African and European countries that are willing to accept them. Ayalon said he is talking to his European counterparts, but that it is unlikely that such a plan will succeed.

"Illegal immigrants are endangering Israel's existence," Yishai said. "The south of Israel has fallen under siege." Yishai also suggested harsher punishment for Israelis who employ illegal immigrants, and called for Israel to finish a fence along its border with Egypt.

Netanyahu said he is pushing to build a "ground obstacle along the border with Egypt. I don't care which government office does it; what's more important is to start building quickly, and that is what we'll do."

In reference to the illegal immigration issue, Netanyahu said: "Israel faces the danger of a flood of illegal workers from Africa into our territory. This is a real threat to Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. Most western states have taken action to prevent such dangers."

"It can not be," Netanyahu added, "that Israel, which is undoubtedly one of the most threatened states in the western world, does not have an immigration policy that defends our national and security interests."

[They get it.. why don't we?-- Editor]

More from JPost

Bay Bridge Span Closing Sunday Night


Maryland transportation officials are warning motorists they will shut down the eastbound span of the Bay Bridge late Sunday.

D.C.'s Best Campaign Ad Of 2010?

Wall Street Reform That Isn't

President Obama lauded Senate passage of the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul, saying that "because of this bill, the American people will never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street's mistakes."

That statement is untrue.

Instead of ending tax-paid bailouts of politically favored corporations that are "too big to fail," Dodd-Frank makes the process permanent.

The only thing Dodd-Frank has changed on bailouts is this: Before the bill was passed, bailouts had to be approved by Congress, as with the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program first proposed by President Bush and then extended by Obama. But in the future, thanks to Dodd-Frank, instead of congressional votes, Treasury Department bureaucrats will unilaterally decide under the bill's "orderly liquidation process" how much of the taxpayers' money to hand out to troubled firms.

Worse yet, according to the Judicial Conference of the United States, Dodd-Frank makes tax-paid bailouts of selected corporations permanent in a manner that overrides the bankruptcy process established by the U.S. Constitution.

"This is a substantial change from the bankruptcy law because it would create a new structure within bankruptcy court and remove a class of cases from the jurisdiction of the bankruptcy code," the conference said in a recent letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy.

To paraphrase Mark Twain, despite consuming more than 2,300 pages, Dodd-Frank bears the same relationship to reform as "lightning" does to "lightning bug." The terms sound like they are connected but in reality are entirely different.

Read more at the Washington Examiner

Obama Administration Efforts In Africa May Violate Federal Law

The Kenyan president wants a new constitution, one that opens the door to abortion on demand.

President Obama is willing to use U.S. taxpayer dollars to persuade voters to approve the updated governing document, which would loosen regulations designed to protect the unborn, establish Muslim family courts and create a right to homosexual marriage.

It's not unusual that Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki would see enactment of the provisions as a "government project," but Mr. Obama is on shaky legal ground when he commits U.S. government resources to it.

On Aug. 4, Kenya's 12.3 million registered voters will be asked a simple question: "Do you approve the proposed new constitution?"

It is doubtful that many will have the opportunity to read the entire 206-page document, which was created by a committee of experts whose consultants and office equipment were bankrolled with $580,381 in grants from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Section 26 of the proposal explicitly allows a "trained health professional" to snuff the life of an unborn baby at any stage of a pregnancy. "It is a radical departure from existing law," Rep. Christopher H. Smith, New Jersey Republican, told The Washington Times.

Under the Siljander Amendment, a provision of federal appropriations law, it is illegal to use foreign aid to "lobby for or against abortion."

The U.S. Embassy in Nairobi on Friday told the Associated Press that it had suspended or terminated nine grants, but it denied directly funding the referendum's Yes campaign.

Officials obviously were feeling congressional heat, as Mr. Smith had obtained documents from USAID's inspector general that identified $632,479.99 in federal grants whose explicit and direct purpose was rounding up affirmative votes.

More from The Washington Times

Roads To Ruin: Towns Rip Up The Pavement


SPIRITWOOD, N.D.—A hulking yellow machine inched along Old Highway 10 here recently in a summer scene that seemed as normal as the nearby corn swaying in the breeze. But instead of laying a blanket of steaming blacktop, the machine was grinding the asphalt road into bits.

"When [counties] had lots of money, they paved a lot of the roads and tried to make life easier for the people who lived out here," said Stutsman County Highway Superintendant Mike Zimmerman, sifting the dusty black rubble through his fingers. "Now, it's catching up to them."

Outside this speck of a town, pop. 78, a 10-mile stretch of road had deteriorated to the point that residents reported seeing ducks floating in potholes, Mr. Zimmerman said. As the road wore out, the cost of repaving became too great. Last year, the county spent $400,000 on an RM300 Caterpillar rotary mixer to grind the road up, making it look more like the old homesteader trail it once was.

Paved roads, historical emblems of American achievement, are being torn up across rural America and replaced with gravel or other rough surfaces as counties struggle with tight budgets and dwindling state and federal revenue. State money for local roads was cut in many places amid budget shortfalls.

In Michigan, at least 38 of the 83 counties have converted some asphalt roads to gravel in recent years. Last year, South Dakota turned at least 100 miles of asphalt road surfaces to gravel. Counties in Alabama and Pennsylvania have begun downgrading asphalt roads to cheaper chip-and-seal road, also known as "poor man's pavement." Some counties in Ohio are simply letting roads erode to gravel.

The moves have angered some residents because of the choking dust and windshield-cracking stones that gravel roads can kick up, not to mention the jarring "washboard" effect of driving on rutted gravel.

But higher taxes for road maintenance are equally unpopular. In June, Stutsman County residents rejected a measure that would have generated more money for roads by increasing property and sales taxes.

Rebuilding an asphalt road today is particularly expensive because the price of asphalt cement, a petroleum-based material mixed with rocks to make asphalt, has more than doubled over the past 10 years. Gravel becomes a cheaper option once an asphalt road has been neglected for so long that major rehabilitation is necessary.

More from the Wall Street Journal

US Pushing UN Status For Gay Rights Group

The Obama administration and 14 members of the U.S. Congress are urging the U.N. Economic and Social Council to accredit the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission so it can work at the United Nations.

The U.S.-based organization, which has offices in South Africa, Argentina and the Philippines, has been trying since 2007 to get consultative status with the council, which serves as the main U.N. forum for discussing international economic and social issues.

The organization, the U.S. government and the members of Congress believe the group's application has not been approved because it promotes gay rights.

The council, known as ECOSOC, is currently holding its high-level meeting at U.N. headquarters and the United States decided to seek approval directly from its membership.

A U.S. draft resolution circulated Friday would have ECOSOC grant the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission consultative status.

Jessica Stern, the commission's program director, said the group expects the 54 members of ECOSOC to vote on the U.S. draft on Monday.

More details here

Bachmann Forms Tea Party Caucus


Republicans have been wrangling for more than a year over how exactly to handle the tea party movement, but now Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) is bringing them under the big tent.

The House Administration committee, which usually takes days to approve something of this nature, approved Bachmann's request to create a House Tea Party Caucus in a day. It will certainly give the national movement a more official voice within the House Republican Conference.

Bachmann, already a hero within the tea party, sent a letter to House Administration Chairman Robert Brady (D-Pa.) Thursday to register the House Tea Party Caucus to serve as an “informal group of members dedicated to promote Americans’ call for fiscal responsibility, adherence to the Constitution and limited government.”

Bachmann, in a statement, said Americans have “had enough of the spending, bureaucracy and the government-knows-best mentality running rampant today throughout the halls of Congress.”

More here

Accident On Kiley Drive & Northwood Drive

Dear Mr. Albero,

I'd like to know if you would please publish this for me. Any assistance you can render would be greatly appreciated.On May 25, 2010 there was an accident on Kiley Drive & Northwood drive in Salisbury, MD. If anyone witnessed this accident involving a motorcycle and a mazda in front of the pink opportunities building please contact Charles @ 443-365-6622.

Thank you

LATE RUNS VAULT SHOREBIRDS TO SIXTH STRAIGHT WIN

Tyler Townsend Goes 3-For-5 With Two Doubles

SALISBURY, Md
. – Delmarva first baseman Tyler Townsend went 3-for-5 with two doubles and a run batted in as the Shorebirds defeated the West Virginia Power with a pair of runs in the eighth at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium Saturday. The Shorebirds move 2.5 games back of Lakewood in the second half.

With the game tied, 4-4, in the eighth, Delmarva scored twice for the win. Gary Helmick started the frame with a walk, Brian Conley followed with a one-out single into center and Ty Kelly loaded the bases with another walk. Then, Townsend hit a roller that West Virginia second baseman Jarek Cunningham fielded but missed the tag on Kelly, allowing Helmick to come in with the go-ahead run.

The ‘Birds tacked on a final run on a passed ball as Conley scored.

Delmarva took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. With Ty Kelly on first with a single and one out, Tyler Townsend followed with a double to right and Kelly scored on a throwing error from Jose Hernandez in right field.

T. J. Baxter made it a 2-0 game for the ‘Birds in the bottom of the fourth. Kieron Pope walked to start the frame before Baxter lined a double to left with two out to lengthen the lead.

Townsend added an RBI single up the middle in the fifth off of West Virginia pitcher Melkin Laureano for a three-run lead. With one out and one on, Kelly reached on an error. Townsend’s base hit scored Mike Mooney, who singled to right to start the inning.

West Virginia’s Aaron Baker had a two-out solo homer to right to cut into the lead off Bobby Bundy.

The Shorebirds loaded the bases in the sixth on singles by catcher Justin Dalles and Helmick and a hit-by-pitch from Mooney. Brian Conley then drew a walk to force in a run but a groundball double play ended the inning.

The Power got the run back in the top of the seventh on an Evan Chambers single to right. Bengie Gonzalez walked and stole second before coming around to make it a 4-2 game with reliever Thomas Phelps on.

Phelps (3-1) picked up the win for the Shorebirds with 2.1 innings and Ryan Kelly took the loss for the Power in 1.1 innings.

Kyle Morgan knotted the game for West Virginia in the top of eighth with a two-run blast to right on a 2-2 count.

The Shorebirds and Power close the series Sunday at 5:05 p.m. On the mound for Delmarva will be right-hander Matt Hobgood (3-7, 4.16). West Virginia will go with righty Phillip Irvin (4-1, 2.72). For tickets and information, contact the Shorebirds’ box office at (410) 219-3112.

SHOREBIRDS GAME NOTES: 7/17 vs. West Virginia

PREVIEW: Fresh off a comeback win on Friday night, the Shorebirds aim for their sixth straight win in game four against West Virginia. The ‘Birds plated three runs in the eighth inning last night to overcome a 2-0 deficit. David Walters earned his first save of the season by pitching a scoreless ninth.

STARTING PITCHING SUCCESS: Over the last ten games, Shorebirds starting pitching has allowed just 33 hits and three earned runs in 59.2 innings pitched. Further, the ten starters have combined to strike out 52 batters with just 11 walks.

SIX IN A ROW: The Shorebirds look to match their season long win streak of six, which they accomplished between June 14 and 19. The Shorebirds beat Kannapolis and Lexington during the previous six-gamer.

FRIENDLY CONFINES OF PERDUE: The Shorebirds are 14-6 in their last 20 home games at Perdue Stadium. The ‘Birds are now over .500 at home on the season at 24-23.

17 OF 18: Brian Conley has reached base in 17 of the last 18 games that he has appeared dating back to June 25. He has reached in six straight games.

EIGHT FROM ‘09 TO DOUBLE-A: Eight players that at some point appeared on the Shorebirds roster in 2009 have made it to at least Bowie (AA) in 2010. The list includes: Joe Mahoney, Greg Miclat, Nathan Nery, Eddie Gamboa, Pat Egan, Raul Rivero, Rick Zagone and Brandon Cooney.

10 IN A ROW: West Virginia sends right-hander Melkin Laureano to the hill in game four. He marks the tenth straight right-handed starter that the Shorebirds will face. The last left-handed starter against Delmarva was on July 6th when Robbie Erlin started for Hickory. West Virginia is expected to make it 11 straight tomorrow when RHP Phillip Irwin starts.