WTOP Sold With 16 Other Stations

The Glass-Enclosed Nerve Center has a new owner. Local news radio station WTOP has been sold, along with 16 other stations, to Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc., the company announced today.

"The company expects no programming or personnel changes for any of the acquired radio stations subsequent to the transaction," Hubbard Broadcasting said in a press release.

The stations were purchased for $505 million from Bonneville International Corporation, which before the deal owned and operated 31 radio stations in several major cities. Bonneville will continue to run its remaining 14 stations, but CEO Bruce Reese will assume that role for Hubbard.

WTOP is the D.C. area's most popular radio station. The format of WTOP will not change, reporter Paul Farhi told the Washington Post.

Source

ACCIDENT

There's been a bad accident on Line Rd. & Rt. 353.

Obama: We Welcome China's Rise To Power

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama laid on a pomp-filled ceremony for his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao at the White House Wednesday, saying the United States welcomed his country's rise to "a strong, prosperous and successful member of the community of nations."

The president said each country had an "enormous stake" in the success of the other, but added that nations are more successful when the "universal rights of every human being" are upheld.

China's human right's policies have caused strains between the rival powers, with the U.S. calling on China to release jailed dissidents, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, who was prevented from attending the Dec. 10 prize ceremony in the Norwegian capital.

In his remarks, Hu, 67, said the U.S. and China should "seize the opportunity to forge ahead, hand in hand, and work together" for the sake of "lasting peace" and prosperity. He called for "mutual respect" of differences.

Both leaders have vowed stronger cooperation between the world's two largest economies in an effort to bridge the strains of the past year over human rights, Taiwan, Tibet and the gaping U.S. trade deficit with China.

GO HERE to read more.

GOVERNOR MARTIN O’MALLEY DELIVERS INAUGURAL ADDRESS

ANNAPOLIS, MD (January 19, 2011) – Governor Martin O’Malley delivered his inaugural address today after being sworn-in for a second term as Maryland’s Governor.  Joined with him in front of Maryland’s State House were members of the Governor’s family, Lt. Governor Anthony Brown and his family, members of Maryland’s Congressional delegation, State leaders, Maryland’s County Executives, members of the faith community, and former Maryland elected officials. 

“Today, we reaffirm that we are One Maryland, united by our belief in the dignity of every individual, and by our belief in our own responsibility to advance the greater good,” Governor O’Malley said.  “In our State, there is no such thing as a spare American; we are all in this together.  And as One Maryland, we ask God for His blessing, protection, and grace.”

A complete version of Governor O’Malley’s as-prepared remarks is available here.

                                                                                                            

Governor O’Malley, in his address, noted the challenging times our nation has experienced through this global recession, and our need for resolve to come through these times together.

“Four years ago, few could have foreseen the suffering so many Maryland families would endure as our national economy and global financial markets nearly collapsed,” he said.  “We could not have imagined how many moms and dads would lose their jobs and homes, or how many small businesses would have to close their doors.    In times of adversity, the people of Maryland do not make excuses, we make progress.”

Governor O’Malley stressed the need to come through these challenging times not only through innovation, but by rejecting the idea that we are destined to slip backwards.

“There are some challenges so large, that we can only address them together: making this new economy ours; spurring innovation; harnessing its job creating and healing potential; improving public schools, public safety, public works, the protection of our public health and our natural resources,” Governor O’Malley said.  “We must move beyond the debilitating idea that our children will not enjoy a better quality of life than we have, that we are destined to decline, backslide and fail.  No generation of Americans ever built monuments to their own comfort.  I say our best days are ahead of us – but only if we choose to make it so.”

Governor O’Malley’s used today’s address to highlight the points of progress that, despite tough economic times, we’ve achieved together as One Maryland, including:

• Maryland employers created the best year of net new job creation since 2000, adding more than 36,000 new jobs between January and November 2010.  That is a growth rate twice that of the national average.
• Record investments in public K-12 education for the last four years.
• Alone among the fifty states, kept in-state college tuition at zero percent increase for four straight years.
• Continued investment in job-creating industries like biotechnology, life sciences, renewable energy, and research and development.
• Driven crime down to their lowest rates ever recorded in Maryland.
• Extended healthcare coverage to more than 240,000 Marylanders in the last four years, half of whom are children.
• Guided by science, instituted the necessary regulations to restore the blue crab population in the Chesapeake Bay.
• Cut state government spending $5.6 billion and reduced the size of government.

Despite our challenges, Governor O’Malley outlined the positive position Maryland is in to transform our challenges into the jobs and opportunities of the new economy:

“We are at the threshold of brilliant science, innovative technology and remarkable discoveries that will transform, for the better, the opportunities and the world that we leave to our children,” Governor O’Malley said.  “From the schools, laboratories, and companies of Maryland are emerging the discoveries, technologies, and jobs that will remake our world.”

Acknowledging the need to work together to achieve these goals, Governor O’Malley called on all Marylanders to recognize the unity we share as a community:

“In this search for answers and solutions, Maryland is not a random scattering of isolated individuals totally on our own.  We need each other just as much as the next generation needs us.  We cannot allow our individual sense of entitlement to tear apart our shared sense of community.”

“To heal our painful economic and political wounds, we must connect more of Maryland to itself,” Governor O’Malley concluded.  “We must recognize the unity that already is, and find ways to work together that strengthen with that unity.  This is our challenge, not of government alone or society as a whole, but of every individual who values the title of citizen.”

A complete version of Governor O’Malley’s as-prepared remarks is available here.

Big Fire In Dorchester

There's a big fire going on in Dorchester. A canning factory near Eldorado. Units from Dorchester, Wicomico and Sussex Counties have responded.

Paramedic/Firefighter Bruce Ford Announces His Candidacy And Vision For Salisbury City Council

SALISBURY, MD – January 19, 2011 –   My name is Bruce Ford.  I am running for Salisbury City Council because Salisbury is in a crisis and I feel very strongly that Salisbury’s crime, blight and economic concerns are solvable with focused effort and strong leadership.

Other communities in our region have faced similar if not worse situations and overcome them using collaborative approaches, drawing on the wisdom of all of the community’s major stakeholders.

I was born in Salisbury, raised in Fairmount, and have lived in Salisbury for 13 years.  I have been a career paramedic/firefighter with the Berlin Fire Company for 23 years and a physician’s assistant for 7 years.  I have been married for 13 years.  My four daughters have never known another home than Salisbury.  I work hard to support my family and want to know that they are safe and free to flourish as they grow.

My priorities for the city are to:

·         reduce crime, slum and blight

·         identify a true community vision

·         position Salisbury as a regional economic hub, providing stable, well-paying jobs for city residents.

Please visit www.onesalisbury.org for more detailed information about my vision for the future of Salisbury.

I am Bruce Ford.  Together we can build a city. 

Website: www.onesalisbury.org

E-Mail: bruce@onesalisbury.org

Rep. Harris Keeps Promise And Votes For Repeal

Washington – Today, Rep. Andy Harris will follow through on his campaign promise by voting in favor of H.R. 2 “Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act” to repeal Obamacare. According to the American Action Forum, Obamacare will add more than $500 billion to the deficit in the first 10 years and $1.5 trillion in the following decade. In addition, the American Action Forum cites a network of new taxes and regulations that create major barriers to sustained job growth.

“In November, Americans sent a clear message that they do not want a Washington bureaucrat in charge of their health care,” said Congressman Andy Harris. “Our economy cannot grow with a law that creates such uncertainty for businesses and individuals. As a physician voting to repeal Obamacare, I know that Congress has an opportunity to advocate real health care solutions that will protect jobs, lower costs and preserve patient-centered health care.”

The American Action Forum letter, in favor of repeal, was signed by over 200 economists and experts – including two former Congressional Budget Office Directors. For more information on the letter please visit: http://americanactionforum.org/sites/default/files/Final%20Open%20Letter_Impact%20of%20Healthcare%20Repeal_1182010.pdf.

Congressman Andy Harris represents Maryland’s 1st Congressional District which includes: Caroline, Cecil, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s, Somerset, Talbot, Wicomico and Worcester Counties and parts of Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Harford Counties.

Garbage Collectors As Crime Stoppers?

It might seem like common sense. If the driver of a trash truck spots a crime in progress along his route, or a little kid lost, or smoke pouring out of a window, he calls 9-1-1, right?

Most probably would, but some might mind their own business, which is part of the reason why the mammoth trash collection and environmental disposal company Waste Managment came up with "Waste Watch."

It's a program that employs former FBI agents to train drivers and other employees to look out for anything out of the ordinary and gives them the tools to properly document and report the possibly significant events.

The sanitation workers are given cell phones with cameras and short forms to fill out if they spot anything unusual. They're taught to use their experience on the job, noting vehicles that may be out of place or doors left open. Most importantly they're reminded they're NOT police officers, just extra eyes and ears on the road. If they see something suspicious, they don't intervene. They call their dispatcher or 9-1-1.

"We hope that all of our drivers would do this anyway..." explains Charlie Cunningham, East Coast Security Director for Waste Management and a 24 year veteran of the FBI, "And with a little bit of training with a little big of guidance they know what to look for and they know how to report it."

"We're trying to get the drivers to be proactive" Cunningham continues. "Not to wait for something to happen but to see something and call it in. This is about being a good neighbor, this is about being an engaged employee for Waste Management, this is about being linked to the community we live in. We live in these communities, we work in these communities and that's what we're trying to get across not only to our drivers but to the police."

Waste Watch is now in effect in more than 100 communities and almost every state in the nation, all in coordination with local law enforcement who recognize the benefit of having the men (and some women) at work in the best and worst neighborhoods in town, often in the middle of the night.

In Albany, New York, police heard about the program, asked some questions, then welcomed Waste Watch with open arms.

"We see it as a mobile neighborhood watch" says Detective Jim Miller. "Our officers can't be everywhere all the time. It can't hurt."

Driver Ted Mulberry has been on the job for a dozen years and says he has new focus on his routes.

"On most stops you have a feel for what's right and what isn't" he says while driving his big front end loading trash truck. "You're more likely to notice a strange vehicle or something out of the ordinary. And it creates a safer work environment for us too. If you're paying attention to your surroundings you're less likely to get out of the truck and get wind up being in the middle of a situation you shouldn't that you don't want to be in."

"It's almost a sense of civic duty" Ted says, with a wife and three daughters at home. "For the most part a lot of the drivers live in the communities that we work in and anytime you can help, however small a part, to make the communities a little bit safer everybody wins."

"It only takes that little bit of time out of your day and you can impact somebody's life in a huge way."

GO HERE to read more.

A Letter To The Editor

WICOMICO COUNTY: HOW ‘BOUT THOSE RICK POLLITT-ICKS?

Some folks regard Mr. Pollitt as a bumpkin from Allen who has advanced from a County staff position in Somerset County to Fruitland Town Manager and now Wicomico County Executive mostly as a good old boy with local connections rather than a shrewd professional career politician. That just ain’t so, though, Sherlock.

Rick’s support of Maryland’s current master practitioner of politics, Martin O’Malley, has apparently let him learn “up close and personal” how the game should be played. And this is Rule 1: as O’Malley taught Ehrlich, don’t try to fool the public by calling a new tax a “fee” – remember Marty’s killer ad (“Hey, Bob …”) in last year’s election campaign? Something much more misleading is called for, and thanks to his close affiliation with O’Malley, Rick knows how to do the deed.

The term of choice to camouflage the truth – that means pull the wool over our eyes – is now “revenue stream.” And you don’t use it in the context of getting or imposing, but rather “identifying” one (or more as the case may be).

Those who heard his interview on radio this week know that Mr. Pollitt has learned his lesson well. This statement that he made speaks volumes: “I wonder how people would feel if we identified a new separate revenue stream so that we can [fund] our roads program…”. That’s brilliant obfuscation designed to dupe the public.

Who would be against “identifying” a new “revenue source” so we can fill potholes – that won’t cost county residents and property owners a cent, right?

WRONG!

O’Malley is now telling the public that he will balance the next state budget with spending cuts, not by more or higher taxes, so let’s hope Rick Pollitt knows how to play “follow the leader”!

AFSCME Taking Hostages

Joe-

This has apparently gone out to ALL Maryland State employees (union members or not), along with a ballot and envelopes to mail them to an 'arbitrator' who is conducting the balloting.

It is noteworthy that if this contract is approved, ALL employees will have to pay union dues and abide by the contract, according to the mailing.

It starts out with a $750 bonus for each state employee, elimination of furlough days, etc., and speaks of raises in the next few years.

Stunning.

But if they have to pay union dues, it will probably eat up any raise they might get (if they actually GET a raise-- read the fine print..)

The union says they're putting the squeeze on the gummint.  They're not-- they're putting it on you and me, and the state employees.

Imagine all those new due$-paying member$..

The Utah Pension Model?

As Illinois and New Jersey struggle to reform their broken public pension plans, we thought you might like to hear a success story for change. Witness Utah, which last March replaced defined benefit pensions with a 401(k)-style plan for new state and municipal workers.

The sponsor of the Utah reform was Senator Dan Liljenquist, who watched in horror during the 2008 stock market plunge as the state pension fund lost 22% of its assets. From nearly 100% funded in 2007, it fell to 70% funded by 2009. Utah suddenly faced a long-term $6.5 billion funding gap, and the state would have had to nearly double its annual contributions out of the current budget to make up the shortfall.

Mr. Liljenquist requested an analysis to determine the real and unvarnished financial condition of the pension fund. The state was assuming a 7.75% annual return on investment, and actuaries found that if that return fell to only 6% the system would be technically insolvent. The Utah constitution limits total state debt to 1.5% of the value of all property in the state, and the unfunded pension liability was one and a half times over that limit.

Utah's constitution bars pension changes for current workers—short of an imminent financial crisis in the fund—so the legislature created a defined contribution plan for all new hires starting this year. The state contributes 10% of each worker's salary (12% for public safety workers and firefighters), a generous amount by private company standards. If they wish, new workers can choose a defined benefit plan, but the state contribution to such a plan is no longer open-ended but is legally capped at 10%.

The reform has benefits for taxpayers and public employees. Workers own their retirement account and can carry it to another job. They also benefit because politicians can no longer steal from the pension plan to pay for other government spending. As for taxpayers, the reform will eventually slash state pension liabilities in half and they no longer bear the risk of having to pay higher taxes if the stock market declines.

Union leaders nonetheless resisted the plan, holding public rallies and threatening to defeat any legislator who dared to vote for it. But polls found that Utah voters supported reform, recognizing that the changes were fair and financially imperative. Not a single Republican who voted for the reforms lost, and the GOP picked up seats in 2010.

From now on in Utah, tax increases or spending cuts for schools, parks or roads won't be necessary to make legally required payments to retired state workers. The contrast couldn't be sharper with California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois and other states in which pension contributions are squeezing out other priorities.

We hear Montana could be the next state to adopt the Utah model, and something like a dozen more are interested in what looks to be a winner for taxpayers, workers and state budgets.

GO HERE to read more.

Biggest Bank Robbery In History

“There are over 300 bank robberies in Boston every year.  And a one-square-mile neighborhood in Boston, called Charlestown, has produced more bank and armored car robbers than anywhere in the U.S.”

That line is from the recent movie “The Town” with Ben Affleck.  He played the character of a bank robber who wanted to quit but had to pull off one last job for the bosses before he could leave.  The movie got us thinking about other famous bank robbers: Jesse James, Willie Sutton, and Ben Bernanke.  That’s right, the Bernank.  The Fed has been literally stealing money from the savers of this country for the past two years with their zero interest rate policy and now quantitative easing strategy.  But unlike a traditional bank robbery where the bank is the victim,  this time the banks have been the recipient of the stolen money.   Sure, an argument could be made that in 2009, the economy was teetering and zero interest rates helped save the economy.  But now that many economic numbers and retail sales figures have improved dramatically, the justification for zero interest rates is not there anymore.

Up until recently, the banks have been enjoying a free ride at the savers expense.  The yield curve is at its steepest slope since 1977.  The spread between the US 2 year and 30 year is 400 bps while the 2-10 spread is 275 bps.  The plan was for that big fat spread to add up to big fat bank revenues (witness Citigroup 4Q net interest revenue of over $12 billion).  But just like most bank robberies, the plan usually goes wrong and the robbers  are caught by the cops.  This time the cops are the bond market.  Prices on treasuries dropped 13% in the 4Q of 2010.  This has wrecked havoc on the banks free money plan and we are now seeing this in the investment portfolio losses of the banks (witness State Street earnings report this morning where their revenue dropped 12% due to “investment portfolio repositioning”).

The Fed has outright stated that they want the stock market to go higher to help bring confidence back to the economy.  They are trying to force John Q. Public to take his money out of his 0% yielding savings account and pump it into riskier assets like stocks.  It appears for the past 5 months that their plan was going according to script.  But unlike the movie “The Town” which had a very good ending (we won’t spoil it for you here), we are not quite sure that the Bernank will enjoy his movie’s ending and neither will we.

Source

OCPD LOCATE HIDDEN COMPARTMENT DURING SEARCH OF CAR INTERIOR

On January 16, 2011, at approximately 3:15 a.m., Ocean City Police officers stopped a vehicle for a seat belt violation.

During the traffic stop, a police K9 conducted a drug scan of the vehicle.

While scanning the car, the K9 alerted indicating the presence of illegal drugs. A subsequent search of the vehicle by police revealed a make-shift hidden compartment located in the dashboard. Officers noted a very strong odor of marijuana emanating from the car’s interior. Officers then located a quantity of suspected marijuana while searching the car’s interior.

The driver identified as Cory Lamont White, 33, of Princess Anne, and the passenger Corey Durand Jones, Sr. 31, of Salisbury, were arrested.

They have each been charged with possession of marijuana and possession of controlled dangerous substance paraphernalia.

Both were seen by an Ocean City District

Free STEM Saturday Classes Offered For Wicomico Students In Grades 4-8

Students who want to explore STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) topics and careers should check out the STEM Saturdays classes that will be offered free of charge during the 2010-11 school year.

STEM Saturdays were a hit during the 2009-10 school year, and this year classes have been added for students in grades 4-5 as well as middle school. Classes scheduled for the rest of this year are:

Feb. 12:
The Magic of Chemistry (elementary) and Out of Sight: Bringing Astronomy Down to Earth (middle), both at Salisbury Middle

March 12:
Flying Wild: Bird Science and Conservation (elementary) at Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art
Fossils of the Chesapeake: A Hands-On Exploration (middle) at Parkside High

April 9:
The Bug Detective (elementary) and The Science Behind Winning (middle), both at Salisbury Middle

Pre-registration is required and space is limited. Please click on the attached flier to print, fill out, and return as directed on the form. Students may register for all of the classes, or only the ones that suit the student’s interests and schedule.

January 19, 2011

Documents

• [510]SaturdayScienceFlyer2010-11.pdf

Board Of Education Honors Outstanding Students, Staff And Schools At Jan. 18 Awards & Recognitions Night

The Wicomico County Board of Education honored outstanding students, teachers, school groups, staff members and schools at its Jan. 18 Awards & Recognitions Night at the Wicomico High School Auditorium.

Community Giving Activities

Parkside High School, under the leadership of teacher Joe Showacre, for collecting $1,152 for the WBOC Bless Our Children Campaign in 2010. Students helped boost the total by dropping coins into jars. Parkside was the only school on the campaign’s list of $1,000-plus donors.

Salisbury Middle School’s A-Team, for an innovative collection for the Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign. The campaign encouraged students, staff and families to donate, and secured business sponsors who turned donated Eagle Bucks into cash. The school raised $870 for the Salvation Army. The Board recognized Bud Elzey and students Rylee Baker, Tyr’es Parsons and Heather Starner.

James M. Bennett High School’s Student Government Association, for the first Clippers vs. Cancer Game-a-thon on Dec. 4 to raise funds for the Brooke Mulford Foundation, which supports efforts to fight childhood cancer. From noon until midnight, the SGA and other clubs and organizations manned game and activity stations. The Game-a-thon raised more than $3,000 to battle childhood cancer. The Board recognized SGA adviser Heather Martin. SGA representatives on the project included Becky Pierson, Lizzie Weaver, Katie Gutoskey, Katie Rodriguez, Stephen Sechler, Brandon Sells, Mary Ryan, Claire Morris and Chandler Raffa.

Fruitland Primary School’s Relay for Life team, for joining in the annual Wicomico County Relay for Life and for being named the Best Rookie Team for team enthusiasm, team participation, money raised and on-site fundraising. Fruitland Primary Skippers team captain was Barbara Lord and team members were Tammy DeBerardinis, Stefanie Brinsfield, Carolyn Check, Jennifer Coburn, Denise Collins, Ellen Harlan, Barbara Israel, Laurie Kamps, Trudi Kulynycz, Dana Lynder, Jan McCabe, Samantha Miles, Jennifer Morris, Susie Jones, Janice Primm, Sally Eusebio, Brandy Rathel, Linda Stanley, Michele Stuetz and Mary Taylor.
GO HERE to read much more.

The Race To The Bottom Will Be Won By The Dollar

"This printing money is going to lead to huge trouble. It’s going to lead to higher interest rates. It’s going to lead to more inflation and at some point there is going to be a train wreck in the currency and the bond market."

Market commentator and money manager Bill Fleckenstein sat down for a recent interview with ChrisMartenson.com and opened fire with both barrels on the Fed and the monetary policy it's pursuing. He and Chris discuss the factors that enabled Bill to be one of the first to accurately identify and warn of the housing and credit bubbles - and how history is now repeating itself via the profligate printing of US dollars.

The interview covers a wide range of topics meaningful to the investor trying to make sense of where things are headed from here - including central banking culture, bubble psychology, high-frequency trading, inflation/deflation, and the true relative value of the dollar vs the Euro.

GO HERE to read more.

Do The Chinese Believe China Is A Superpower?

BEIJING - Reading the most frequently emailed article list on The New York Times website is instructive these days.

For days, China has ranked in the top three most popularly searched terms on the site.

Last weekend, four of the newspaper’s top ten most emailed articles were about China: the ongoing controversy over extreme Chinese parenting; a U.S. solar company’s decision to shut down its main operations in Massachusetts; an op-ed about the strength of Chinese education and the importance of Confucianism; and the opportunities for American architects to design and build, unfettered, in China.

Other Western media coverage of China has verged on hysteria: ranging from an entire Glenn Beck program last week devoted to the country (“Their kids are passing us!”  “They’re grabbing more and more oil!”) to a bewildering piece in Foreign Policy magazine about not just the rise of China but the rise of the Han Chinese.

No wonder a poll last week found that nearly half of Americans surveyed say China is the world’s top economic power.

And just what do the Chinese make of all this talk?

"What superpower?"Well, we know there’s a large population in China that believes their country is a superpower and that, frankly, it’s about time.  These hardcore nationalists can be found in Chinese Internet chat rooms, holding court on the “American conspiracy theory”:

“[Extreme nationalists] hold high the ‘patriotic’ banner, talk about hundreds of years of national humiliation, claim that the U.S.-led Western alliance is still ‘trying to push China to death,’ and regard the exchange rate, foreign debt purchase, trade deficit, climate change, Central Asian anti-terrorism campaigns and the neighboring countries’ worries against China as burdens.  They insist ‘China can say no,’ and that the ‘China model’ will be popular all over the world.”

GO HERE to read more.

By Session's End, Tax Hikes Could Be More Than Rhetoric

More than most General Assembly sessions, this one figures to be unpredictable. Watch for some sleight-of-hand: What you see today may not be what you get tomorrow.
 
That "no new taxes" vow from many legislators? It could be broken once fiscal reality sets in.
 
The governor's pledge to shield counties from sharing the cost of fixing Maryland's teacher pension system?
 
It may be ignored by legislators.
 
December's middling economic forecast for Maryland's budget? It may look far more optimistic by the time revenue projections are revised in March.

As for assertions that the votes are there to repeal Maryland's death penalty, this emotionally charged issue will trigger a bitter Senate filibuster — if a repeal bill reaches the floor. At that point, anything could happen.
 
The same applies to bills legalizing same-sex marriages in Maryland. Today's optimism may be short-lived once legislators start wrestling with the ethical, moral, religious and legal issues — and the strong opinions voiced by constituents.

GO HERE to read more.

Oh No! Here Come The Mexican Trucks Again

The Obama administration is preparing once again to allow Mexican trucks to roam freely on U.S. roads under the auspices of the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, with or without the approval of Congress.

Quietly, the U.S. Department of Transportation has posted on its website a "Concept Document," specifying a "Phased U.S.-Mexico Cross Border Long Haul Trucking Proposal" that envisions allowing open access to an unspecified number of Mexican trucks on U.S. roads after DOT has time to post in the Federal Register new rules circulated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, or FMCSA.

The Obama administration's determination to see Mexican long-haul rigs roll throughout the U.S. is a slap in the face to many Democrats in Congress, including Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., who fought hard in 2008 to have language inserted into legislation that would stop the project out of concerns that Mexican trucks do not conform to U.S. safety standards.

DeFazio's office confirmed to WND that he has requested that Rep. John Duncan Jr., R-Tenn., the chairman of the House Subcommittee and Transportation, hold hearings on the proposed Obama administration Mexican truck plans.

The DOT's two-page "Concept Document" specifies at the end that the agency will periodically report to Congress on Mexican trucks in the U.S. But nothing in the document suggests DOT or the FMCSA has any intention of coming to Congress to seek permission before promulgating rules, initiating procedures to safety-test Mexican trucks and open the borders to FMCSA safety-certified Mexican long-haul carriers.

More here

Please Get The Word Out

"I read sbynews.com and find there is no better way to get information to our community. I am not registered though. I hope you can help. There is an older gentleman in front of the Rite Aid on Rt 13 in Delmar with a sign that says "Homeless. Please help. God Bless". There are many shelters out there. Not sure if they are all full.  I am hoping a post could get someone out there to steer this gentleman in that direction, I think it would be great."

Men’s Slow Pitch League, Tournament Coming To The Complex This Spring

Registration Opens in February for Men’s Slow Pitch Softball Program and Pre-Season Tournament

(Salisbury, MD) The Men’s Slow Pitch Softball league is getting ready for another exciting season of action at the Henry S. Parker Athletic Complex in Salisbury.  An informational captain’s meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 1 at 7pm at the Civic Center and registration will begin in February for the 2011 season. The deadline to submit team fees and player contracts is Friday, March 18 at the Civic Center Box Office and games are scheduled to begin in April with the season concluding in July.

The league will consist of four divisions based on level of play.  Teams will play 21 regular season games which will take place on weeknights during the spring and summer at the Henry S. Parker Athletic Complex.  Some games may also be played at the Mason Dixon Complex in Delmar.

In addition to the men’s league, the County is also running a pre-season men’s softball tournament at the Athletic Complex on March 19-20.  The Wicomico County Classic tournament is a 3 game guarantee and the tournament registration fee is only $50 per team (plus umpire fees) for teams that are registered for the 2011 men’s slow pitch league.  Teams not registered in the league may also participate for a $130 team registration (plus umpire fees).  The deadline to register for the tournament is Tuesday, March 15, 2011.

For more information contact program director Steve Miller at 410-548-4900 ext. 105 or email smiller@wicomicocounty.org. 

SALISBURY CITY COUNCIL AGENDA

JANUARY 27, 2011

COFERENCE ROOM 306

GOVERNMENT OFFICE BUILDING

1:30 p.m. Salisbury Safe Streets - Neighborhood Legislative Package 2010 – Mayor Ireton

3:30 p.m. Ordinance Permit - Word of Life Center (504 Delaware Avenue) - to operate a
church in an Industrial District – Jack Lenox

4:00 p.m. Capacity fee payment proposal for NSAH Miller Holdings, LLC – Teresa Gardner

4:30 p.m. General discussion/upcoming agendas

CITY COUNCIL AGENDA

JANUARY 24, 2011 6:00 p.m.

Government Office Building Room 301

Times shown for agenda items are estimates only.
6:00 p.m. CONVENE – LORD’S PRAYER – PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
6:04 p.m. ADOPTION OF AGENDA
6:07 p.m. CONSENT AGENDA – City Clerk Brenda Colegrove
January 10, 2011 minutes
Resolution No. 2017 - appointment of Kimberly Miles to the Zoo Commission
Resolution No. 2018 - reappointment of Jane Youngk to the Marina Committee
Resolution No. 2019 - accepting donation of a surplus server from the Wicomico County IT Department
6:10 p.m. PUBLIC HEARING – City Attorney Paul Wilber
Ordinance No. 2135 - allowing elected officials to participate in elective employee benefits programs offered by the City subject to certain restrictions
6:20 p.m. ORDINANCES – City Attorney Paul Wilber
Ordinance No. 2133 - 2nd reading - amending Chapter 13.04, Section 13.04.090, Reduction or Increase of Water and Sewer Charges, of the Salisbury Municipal Code
Ordinance No. 2134 - 2nd reading - amending Section 12.04.060, Removal of Snow from Sidewalks – Notice – Enforcement, of the Salisbury Municipal Code
6:40 p.m. RESOLUTIONS – City Administrator John Pick
Resolution No. 2020 - re-designating six metered parking spaces on the west side of the 200 block of High Street for Public Works vehicle parking
Resolution No. 2021 - declaring that the Knowland Group, Inc. is eligible to receive Enterprise Zone benefits
6:55 p.m. PUBLIC COMMENTS
7:15 p.m. ADJOURN

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City Council Candidate

The Bruce A. Ford who is a candidate for Salisbury City Council is not the comptroller for the Wicomico County Board of Education, as reported by The Daily Times. (The comptroller is E. Bruce Ford and he is not a candidate nor a resident of the City of Salisbury.)

 

We hope you'll ensure that this information is shared so the mistake can be corrected. Thank you.

Hawaii Governor Can't Find Obama Birth Certificate

Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie suggested in an interview published yesterday that a long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate for Barack Obama may not exist within the vital records maintained by the Hawaii Department of Health.

Abercrombie told the Honolulu Star Advertiser he was searching within the Hawaii Department of Health to find definitive vital records that would prove Obama was born in Hawaii, because the continuing eligibility controversy could hurt the president's chances of re-election in 2012.

Donalyn Dela Cruz, Abercrombie's spokeswoman in Honolulu, ignored again today another in a series of repeated requests made by WND for an interview with the governor.

Toward the end of the interview, the newspaper asked Abercrombie: "You stirred up quite a controversy with your comments regarding birthers and your plan to release more information regarding President Barack Obama's birth certificate. How is that coming?"

In his response, Abercrombie acknowledged the birth certificate issue will have "political implications" for the next presidential election "that we simply cannot have."

Suggesting he was still intent on producing more birth records on Obama from the Hawaii Department of Health vital records vault, Abercrombie told the newspaper there was a recording of the Obama birth in the state archives that he wants to make public.

Abercrombie did not report to the newspaper that he or the Hawaii Department of Health had found Obama's long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate. The governor only suggested his investigations to date had identified an unspecified listing or notation of Obama's birth that someone had made in the state archives.

"It was actually written, I am told, this is what our investigation is showing, it actually exists in the archives, written down," Abercrombie said.

For seemingly the first time, Abercrombie frankly acknowledged that presidential politics motivated his search for Obama birth records, implying that failure to resolve the questions that remain unanswered about the president's birth and early life may damage his chance for re-election.

Read more here

Planning & Zoning’s Comprehensive Plan Meetings

Prager: Libeling The Right-- The Key To The Left's Success

Last week, following the murder of six people and the attempted murder of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona, the American people were given a vivid display of the single most important tactic of the left: libeling opponents.

Most Americans have been naively and blissfully unaware of this aspect of the left's arsenal against the right. But now, just as more Americans than ever before understand the left's limitless appetite for political power in an ever-expanding state, more Americans than ever before understand that a key to the left's success is defaming the right.

I do not recall any major American daily attacking another major American daily the way the Wall Street Journal attacked The New York Times last week under the heading "The New York Times has crossed a moral line."

I do not recall Pulitzer-Prize winning Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer ever expressing contempt toward a colleague the way he did against The New York Times columnist Paul Krugman last week.

Dr. Krauthammer ended his Washington Post column "Massacre, Then Libel" with this sentence: "The origins of Loughner's delusions are clear: mental illness. What are the origins of Krugman's?"

People are awakening to the seminal fact of left-wing success: The only way the left can succeed in America is by libeling the right. Only 20 percent of Americans label themselves liberal, let alone left. How, then, do Leftists get elected? And why don't more Americans call themselves conservative when, in fact, so many share conservatives' values?

The answer to both questions is that through its dominance of the news media, entertainment media and educational institutions, the left has been able to successfully demonize the right for at least half a century.

The left rarely convinces Americans to adopt its views. What it does is create a fear of the right that influences many Americans to align themselves with the left.

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House To Vote On Repealing Obama's Health Care

WASHINGTON (AP) - The new Republican-led House is poised to deliver an emphatic thumbs-down to President Barack Obama's landmark health care overhaul, with no ready substitute of its own.

The House vote Wednesday could turn out to be the high-water mark for repeal, a goal that energized conservative voters in the midterm elections and helped Republicans return to power in Congress.

Democrats, who hung on to the Senate, have vowed to block the GOP drive.

But House Republicans say not to underestimate their determination or their willingness to use parliamentary maneuvers to deny the Obama administration funds needed to carry out the law.

"Our vote to repeal is not merely symbolic," said freshman Rep. Nan Hayworth, R-N.Y., an ophthalmologist.

"It respects the will of the American people. And it paves the way to reform our health care."

GO HERE to read more.

Prince George's County Sees 14th Murder In New Year

WASHINGTON -- As Prince George's County detectives investigate a new murder Wednesday morning -- the 14th in 2011 -- county leadership is reaching out to both the federal government and local citizens to help stay the killing streak.

Officers found a man suffering from gunshot wounds on the 3500 block of Terrace Drive in Suitland around 2:45 a.m. Wednesday. The victim was taken to a local hospital where he died.
 
This murder adds to a deadly toll that includes 13 murders in the first 12 days of January. Police have made arrests related to four of these cases, interim Police Chief Mark Magaw said at a Tuesday news conference.
 
"Unless we have community involvement, it will not stop," said County Executive Rushern Baker at the same conference, citing what he sees as the essential component of stemming the killing spate.
 
"Unless we have community involvement, the state's attorney can't do her job. Unless we have community involvement, the sheriff can't do his job.
 
"It is the community that is going to make the difference."

GO HERE to read more.

Sex Offender Registry Still Not Finished

Despite all of the work done last session to update Maryland’s sex offender registry, the state still isn’t meeting all of the federal standards and may lose some federal funds, a Senate committee was told Tuesday. The state is over and above federal standards with some of its sex offender registry standards — such as the physical description, address, employment, and vehicle information of offenders — David Wolinski of the state’s Criminal Justice Information System told the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. But it falls short on registering juveniles.

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Number Of Millionaires Goes Down Again

The number of Marylanders filing million-dollar tax returns went down again in 2009, according to figures from the comptroller’s office. In calendar year 2009, there were 4,134 returns showing net taxable income of $1 million or more, 798 or 16% fewer than there were in 2008, according to David Roose, director of the Bureau of Revenue Estimates. Roose produced the numbers at the request of MarylandReporter.com.

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US Lawmaker: China Got Stealth Technology From Russia

China got the technology for its first stealth fighter jet from Russia, a senior US lawmaker said Tuesday, one week after the airplane apparently made its maiden flight.

"My understanding is that they built it on information that they received from Russia, from a Russian plane, that they were able to copy," House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon told reporters.

McKeon, a Republican, said he hoped to "hear more" on the issue from Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who was on a visit to Beijing when Chinese state media published photographs of the J-20 fighter in the skies over southwestern China.

"We need to be looking at China, we need to be looking at North Korea, we need to be looking at Iran," said McKeon, who has given a skeptical greeting to Gates' plans for reductions in US military spending.

"That's what really concerns me when I look at the cuts, the potential cuts, that they're talking about for the defense budget. This is not a safe world," said the lawmaker

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Are You Sitting Down?

“I can make a firm pledge.  Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase.  Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes,”
---President Obama, September 12, 2008

Beginning January 1, 2013, ObamaCare imposes a 3.8% Medicare tax on unearned income, including the sale of single family homes, townhouses, co-ops, condominiums, and even rental income.

In February 2010, 5.02 million homes were sold, according to the National Association of Realtors.  On any given day, the sale of a house, townhome, condominium, co-op, or income from a rental property can push middle-income families over the $250,000 threshold and slam them with a new tax they can’t afford.  

This new ObamaCare tax is the first time the government will apply a 3.8 percent tax on unearned income.  This new tax on home sales and unearned income and other Medicare taxes raise taxes more than $210 billion to pay for ObamaCare.   The National Association of Realtors called this new Medicare tax on unearned income “destructive” and “ill-advised” and warned it would hurt job creation.
   
(Source)

Can You Date This Picture

How Real Is Crime

Muir W. Boda

Candidate for Salisbury City Council

http://www.blogger.com/

(410)603-3347

At 1:36 am I woke up to what I thought was someone knocking on my front door. As I lay in my bed thinking that it was a little too loud to be a knock on my front door, two more loud bangs rang through my neighborhood and I knew it was gun shots. It sounded like it was in my front yard.

Immediately I made my wife get on the floor while struggling to find my phone, I then realized it was in another room. We remained on the floor for another twenty minutes between our bed and an interior wall away from windows.

I then got up and peaked out my bedroom window and could tell that lights were flashing. I then moved out into the living room, checked our alarm and then went back to our bedroom. I spent the rest of night listening to what seemed like every rain drop landing on our roof. Like everyone in our neighborhood, we tried to go back to sleep.

The psychological affects of crime on a neighborhood, regardless of crime statistics, never go away because people never forget. They never forget that one street over a resident in my neighborhood was grazed by bullet that went flying through her house. They never forget that a girl is killed because a gang thought she was getting out of someone else’s car. They never forget that a food delivery person is robbed at gunpoint across from the Doverdale Playground in broad daylight.

Crime is here, crime is real and we need to address it with real solutions, now. Until we realize that we are losing a war, long term, because we fail to address the root causes of crime. It is more than just a city issue because criminals know no boundaries. Everyone must be on board from every level of government regardless of political party, we need to work together and develop solutions now.

There's No One As Irish As Barack O'Bama 2012

WikiLeaks Cables Show Obama Sent More Troops To Afghanistan Despite Warnings

Secret diplomatic cables recently released by WikiLeaks show that the Obama administration increased the United States' military presence in Afghanistan despite warnings that the surge could make 2010 the most difficult and bloody since the 2001 invasion.

US Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry issued several cables in 2009 detailing serious concerns about the Afghan government and its leader, President Hamid Karzai.

Eikenberry claimed that Karzai "is not an adequate strategic partner" and "continues to shun responsibility for any burden, whether defense, governance or development."

GO HERE to read more.

Obama’s Mortgage Help Program A Flop

Under President Obama’s program intended to help struggling homeowners avoid losing their property, more borrowers have had their trial reduced payment loans cancelled than have received permanent modifications, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

In February 2009, the Treasury Department announced that by modifying troubled home  mortgages – i.e., reducing the monthly mortgage payments to 31 percent of their gross monthly income -- the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) would help 3- to 4-million homeowners who were experiencing trouble paying off their home loans.

Almost two years later, HAMP, which offers assistance to homeowners through a cost-sharing arrangement with mortgage holders and investors to reduce to affordable levels the monthly mortgage payment amounts of those at risk of foreclosure, is facing tough challenges.

“The program had a slow start and has not performed as anticipated,” the GAO report noted, adding that “despite program changes that are intended to increase the number of mortgage loan modifications made under HAMP, more borrowers have had their trial modifications canceled than have received permanent modifications.”

From the beginning of the federal program in April 2009 through November 2010, 1.4 million loan modifications had been made under HAMP on a trial basis, the GAO said. However, of those, 729,000 trial loan payment reductions were cancelled. Fewer than 550,000 were converted to permanently modified loans.

“The number of new permanent modifications started each month increased from roughly 36,000 in December 2009 to more than 68,000 in April 2010 and then decreased to about 31,000 in November 2010,” stated GAO.

To be eligible to receive a permanent loan modification, a loan must cover a “single-family dwelling, owner-occupied, [and] primary residence” and the borrower must “successfully complete a 3-month trial modification period” and make mortgage payments on time. 

Trial home loan modifications started under the program peaked in October 2009, a few months after the program’s inception, but declined thereafter.

More here

Medvedev: Russia Still Recognizes An Independent Palestine

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev endorsed a Palestinian state on Tuesday, saying Moscow had recognized independence in 1988 and was not changing the position adopted by the former Soviet Union.

Making his first visit to the Israeli-occupied West Bank as Russian head of state, Medvedev stopped short of issuing a ringing declaration of recognition of Palestinian statehood by the modern Russian Federation which he represents.

"Russia's position remains unchanged. Russia made its choice a long time ago ... we supported and will support the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to an independent state with its capital in East Jerusalem," Medvedev said.

Israel has been alarmed in the past two months by a string of recognitions by Latin American states including Brazil and Argentina, which some analysts say could be a precursor to a move by the Palestinians to seek full United Nations membership if efforts to revive moribund peace negotiations fall through.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has confirmed that is one of his options. At a news conference with Medvedev in Jericho he thanked Russia for being "one of the first states in the world to recognize the state of Palestine in 1988".

Communist Moscow recognized a Palestinian state declared by the late Yasser Arafat, in a move that won broad support in the Soviet bloc and developing world but had little real impact on diplomatic and political realities.

The Palestinians today say 109 states out of 192 United Nations member countries recognize their statehood. Israel has warned that a "unilateral declaration" of statehood would set back the peace process.

A senior Israeli intelligence official told a Knesset committee on Tuesday he expected more recognitions by the time of the UN General Assembly in September.

More here

Palestinian Mission Raises Flag In Washington

In a symbolic gesture, the Palestinians raised their flag over their diplomatic mission in Washington for the first time on Tuesday, as they continue in their quest for recognition by the international community.

At a brief ceremony, the Palestinians' chief envoy to the United States, Maen Rashid Areikat, hoisted the red, green, white and black banner outside the PLO General Delegation office.

"This is a historic day," Areikat said, adding that it brought him "much pride" to raise his flag. "I will remember this moment for the rest of my life."

The flag raising comes amidst the backdrop of another country recognizing Palestinian independence. Earlier on Tuesday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow had recognized Palestinian independence in 1988 and they would continue to do so today.

The United States has long said it will not recognize a Palestinian state without a deal, but the Palestinians are still seeking broader support to bring the matter to the United Nations in September.

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Food Riots 2011

Just a few months ago, these two northern Africa nations were considered to be very stable, very peaceful and without any major problems.  But now protesters are openly squaring off with police in the streets.  Many of the protesters are throwing "fire bombs" or are shooting fireworks at the authorities, and the police are responding with a tremendous amount of violence themselves.  In Algeria, several protesters have been killed by police and several others have actually set themselves on fire to protest the economic conditions.  In Tunisia, more than 100 people have been killed and the president of that country actually had to flee for his life.  But on a global scale, food shortages have not even gotten that bad yet.  Yes, food prices are starting to go up and food supplies are a little bit tighter right now, but much worse times than these are coming.  So what in the world are the cities of the world going to look like when we have a very serious food shortage?

Just as we saw during the food riots of 2008, when people get to the point where they can't even feed themselves anymore, they tend to lose it.  In the video posted below, you can really feel the desperation of these young Algerians as they riot in the streets....



This next video is of the food riots in Tunisia. You will not want to let any young children watch this video. In fact, if watching police beat and smash protesters laying on the ground upsets you, then you might not want to watch this video either. The massive food riots that have erupted in Tunisia have left many city streets looking like war zones and at this point it is being reported that the violence has left over 100 people dead. The president of Tunisia has left the country because of the rioting, and an interim president has been sworn in. It is hoped that this will help restore order. This video is absolutely stunning....

GO HERE to view more.

Another Court Historian’s False Tariff History

The only thing worse than a historian who calls himself a "Lincoln scholar" is a sociologist who does the same. This truth was on display recently in a January 9 Washington Post article entitled "Five Myths about Why the South Seceded" by one James W. Loewen.

In discussing the role of federal tariff policy in precipitating the War to Prevent Southern Independence Loewen is either grossly ignorant, or he is dishonest. He begins by referring to the 1828 Tariff of Abominations, which led to South Carolina’s Ordinance of Nullification, whereby the state rightly condemned the 48 percent average tariff rate as a blatant act of plunder (mostly at the South’s expense) and refused to collect it at Charleston Harbor. Loewen writes that "when, after South Carolina demanded the right to nullify federal laws or secede to protest, President Andrew Jackson threatened force." That much is true. "No state joined the movement, and South Carolina backed down," Loewen then writes. This is all false. It is not true that "no state joined the movement." As historian Chauncy Boucher wrote in The Nullification Controversy in South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, and Alabama joined South Carolina in publicly denouncing the Tariff of Abominations, while the Yankee bastions of Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Indiana, and New York responded with their own resolutions in support of political plunder through extortionate tariff rates.

GO HERE to read more.

Kansas Governor Proposes Raiding Highway Funds

Brownback proposes using highway funds to prop up state budget

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2011/jan/13/brownback-proposes-using-highway-funds-prop-state-/?kansas_legislature

Topeka — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is using $200 million in funds set aside for highway projects to prop up general government programs in his proposed budget.

Brownback's proposed budget would transfer the highway funds into the state's main bank account, where it can finance aid to public schools, social services and other programs.

Landon Fulmer, his policy director, told the House Appropriations Committee Thursday that it would be a one-time transfer.

And he said the transfer would not change the 10-year, $8.2 billion transportation program approved by legislators last year. (Lawrence Journal-World)

Clearly, the governor’s proposal isn’t final, and he notes that the transfer wouldn’t impact the 10-year transportation plan, but it’s not a positive indicator.

Think China Has A Big Stake In US Business? Not Yet

Washington - China holds almost $1 trillion in U.S. government bonds, but it's made only modest investments in the nuts and bolts of the U.S. economy.

China lags far behind its Asian and European competitors in direct investment in the U.S. — taking stakes in manufacturers, suppliers, warehouses and other businesses. In fact, cash-rich China is near the back of the pack.

Chinese companies invested only $791 million in U.S. firms in 2009, the last full year of data available from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. South Korean companies invested $12 billion, Japanese firms $264.2 billion, German firms $218 billion, and British companies $453 billion.

As Chinese President Hu Jintao visits the U.S. this week, he's likely to announce some new business deals, as has been his practice when visiting other nations.

To be sure, China's state companies are shopping abroad, just not here. A Chinese silicon company is preparing to buy a Norwegian metals giant for $2.6 billion. State-owned PetroChina invested almost $2 billion last year in Canadian oil producers. Late last year the China Petrochemical Corp. took a big stake in Brazilian offshore oil exploration.

GO HERE to read more.

Dallas Fed President Attacks Ron Paul

Those lawmakers who advocate "Ending the Fed" might better turn their considerable talents toward ending the fiscal debacle that has for too long run amuck within their own house. The Fed does not create government debt; fiscal authorities do. ~ Richard Fisher (Jan. 12, 2011)


When the president of any regional Federal Reserve Bank stands in front of a bunch of Harvard University graduates to tell them about how the economic mess is not really the FED's fault, you know what's coming. It came.
It is clear who his target was: Ron Paul. I am not the only person to see this. An article on the Fortune site spotted it. It was written by a standard, gold-hating, unknown journalist employed by Fortune.

His only quibble with Texas, it seems, is with the Fed-bashing focus of one of the Lone Star state's representatives in Congress, who in Fisher's view might do well to turn his energies to actually doing something rather than grandstanding about the hugeness of the gold standard.

It ended: "In short, audit this, Ron."

This journalist is clearly a sniveler. Nevertheless, I will "audit this" on Dr. Paul's behalf. He does not need me to do this, but I enjoy having a little fun at the expense of a Federal Reserve president. As for the sniveler, who cares?

What galls me about Fisher's speech is his attempt to cover up his obviously personal attack by the use of misleading rhetoric. There are no "lawmakers" who advocate ending the FED. There is only one, and there has been only one in Congress over the last 35 years. When Fisher refers to "their considerable talents," he is using the rhetoric of contempt.

Well, two can play that game, and I am better at it that Fisher is.

GO HERE to read more.

Father & Daughter Talk AMEN

A young woman was about to finish her first year of college.  Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be very liberal, and among other liberal ideals, was very much in favor of higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words redistribution of wealth.

She was deeply ashamed her father was a rather staunch conservative, a  feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.

One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on  the rich and the need for more government programs.

The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father.  He responded by asking how she was doing in school.

Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily she had a 4.0 GPA, and let  him know it was tough to maintain, insisting she was taking a very  difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew.  She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.

Her father listened and then asked, "How is your friend Audrey doing?" She replied, "Audrey is barely getting by.  All she takes are easy classes,  she never studies and she barely has a 2.0 GPA.  She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast.  She's always invited to all the  parties and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because she's too hung over."

Her wise father asked his daughter, "Why don't you go to the Dean's office  and ask him to deduct 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only  has a 2.0.  That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would  be a fair and equal distribution of GPA."

The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, "That's a crazy idea, how would that be fair!  I've worked really hard  for my grades!  I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree.  She played while I worked my tail off!"

The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, "Welcome to the conservative side of the fence."

Bigwig Tax Cheats Next On WikiLeaks Hitlist

An ex-Swiss banking exec has given Wikileaks data on what he says are over 2,000 high-level people and companies involved in tax evasion and other potential crimes. At a news conference where he passed the discs to Julian Assange in front of reporters, the man refused to name names, but said that roughly 40 politicians and "pillars of society" were on there. Assange said that Wikileaks would vet the information and publish it, along with names, in just two weeks.

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How To De-Ice Your Driveway

It's a lot easier to prevent ice from freezing on your driveway than it is to chip it off, so the first thing you want to do is get the precipitate off before it has a chance to harden. Once the rain/sleet/wintry mix stops, bust out the shovel and start getting as much slush off as possible.

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Cigarettes Start Giving You Cancer Within Minutes, Not Years

It doesn't take years for smoking to start the cancer-making process in your body, but minutes, according to a new study in the Chemical Research in Toxicology.

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Life Tenure For Federal Judges Raises Issues Of Senility, Dementia

Issues related to aging and dementia increasingly plague the federal court system, where judges in their 80’s and 90’s are shouldering a larger portion of cases.

Judge Richard Owen of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan gathered a group of lawyers in his courtroom in 2007 to discuss the possible leak of sealed documents in a business case. As the hearing got under way, Owen, then 84, asked for someone to explain this newfangled mode of communication the lawyers kept mentioning -- e-mail. "It pops up in a machine in some administrative office, and is somebody there with a duty to take it around and give it to whoever it's named to?" he asked.

Some of the lawyers figured that Owen, whose chambers came with a mimeograph machine when he became a judge in 1973, was just behind the times. Others wondered if the judge's memory was failing him. After all, the most famous case in his long career -- the back-to-back trials of Silicon Valley investment banker Frank Quattrone -- had revolved around a single e-mail. Yet he now acted as though this was the first he was hearing about it. "He didn't understand what was happening in his own courtroom," said one lawyer present that day.

Owen's memory lapses popped up at critical moments. A month after his e-mail query, the judge stumbled badly when handing down a life sentence to drug dealer Darryl Henderson for his connection to a robbery crew that murdered three people in a Bronx apartment. The prosecutor had previously called Henderson "the key into that apartment," because Henderson was sleeping with the apartment's female tenant and conceivably helped the murderers get past the front door. In Judge Owen's mind, the metaphorical key became a literal key. He announced that the tenant had given Henderson "a key to get into that apartment," and seemed unperturbed when the prosecutor explained there was no such evidence.

Then Owen expressed confusion over the relatively limited counts the jury had found Henderson guilty of and grew exasperated when the defense and prosecution tried to set him straight. Lawyers questioned whether Owen's mind was working well enough to be deciding matters of life and liberty. "Do I think age was a factor in some of his cloudy thinking? Yes," said David Patton, a defense attorney for Henderson. "There were many times when he seemed confused and exhausted.” Owen declined repeated interview requests.

GO HERE to read more.

Lockout Looming For NFL

Players and owners are struggling to come up with a new collective bargaining agreement - but will they come to terms before its too late?

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