Nevertheless, we're going to see the Packers vs. the Steelers in the next Superbowl. Both teams earned their wins and I look forward to the big game in two weeks.
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Green Bay vs Pittsburgh In Superbowl
Nevertheless, we're going to see the Packers vs. the Steelers in the next Superbowl. Both teams earned their wins and I look forward to the big game in two weeks.
Walmart Shooting Leaves 2 Dead, 2 Deputies Hurt
PORT ORCHARD, Wash. — A shootout in front of a Walmart in Washington state left two people dead and two sheriff's deputies wounded Sunday afternoon, a sheriff's spokesman said.
One of the dead was a man who shot at deputies, said Scott Wilson of the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office.
The other victim was a young woman who died after she was taken to a Tacoma hospital, he said.
The deputies' wounds did not appear life-threatening, Wilson said.
GO HERE to read more.
Is It Just Me?
Fraud Plagues Global Health Fund Backed By Bono, Others
As much as two-thirds of some grants for AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria lost to corruption
GENEVA — A $21.7 billion development fund backed by celebrities and hailed as an alternative to the bureaucracy of the United Nations sees as much as two-thirds of some grants eaten up by corruption, The Associated Press has learned.
Much of the money is accounted for with forged documents or improper bookkeeping, indicating it was pocketed, investigators for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria say. Donated prescription drugs wind up being sold on the black market.
The fund's newly reinforced inspector general's office, which uncovered the corruption, can't give an overall accounting because it has examined only a tiny fraction of the $10 billion that the fund has spent since its creation in 2002. But the levels of corruption in the grants they have audited so far are astonishing.
GO HERE to read more.
USPS Postmaster: Delivery Day Must Be Cut
Patrick Donahoe, the 73rd Postmaster General of the United States, is taking control of an organization in fiscal crisis.
Pre-funding of health benefits is a widely acknowledged financial burden on the Postal Service. There's far less agreement on how to return to profitability.
Donahoe tells Federal News Radio he's confident the USPS will return to black, but not without cutting back on delivery days.
"The loss of first class volume puts a lot of additional cost pressure" on the postal service, said Donahoe.
"We eventually will have to go from six to five days from a delivery standpoint to remain in the black."
GO HERE to read more.
Pre-funding of health benefits is a widely acknowledged financial burden on the Postal Service. There's far less agreement on how to return to profitability.
Donahoe tells Federal News Radio he's confident the USPS will return to black, but not without cutting back on delivery days.
"The loss of first class volume puts a lot of additional cost pressure" on the postal service, said Donahoe.
"We eventually will have to go from six to five days from a delivery standpoint to remain in the black."
GO HERE to read more.
Virginia Town Sells Town Hall For $1.6 Million
PURCELLVILLE, Va. - When most governments need more space, they borrow to expand, but not Purcellville.
The Loudoun County town, population about 7,000, has agreed to sell the current town hall on East Main Street for $1.6 million to Atoka Properties, a division of Middleburg Real Estate. That sale will help finance the renovation of another building for a new town hall.
"We are actually just moving around the corner to an old church building that we are renovating," says mayor Bob Lazaro. "It allows us to plan for the future."
GO HERE to read more.
The Loudoun County town, population about 7,000, has agreed to sell the current town hall on East Main Street for $1.6 million to Atoka Properties, a division of Middleburg Real Estate. That sale will help finance the renovation of another building for a new town hall.
"We are actually just moving around the corner to an old church building that we are renovating," says mayor Bob Lazaro. "It allows us to plan for the future."
GO HERE to read more.
Carney: Honest Pro-Choicers Admit Roe vs. Wade Was A Horrible Decision
[Saturday], President Obama sang the praises of Roe v. Wade. On one level, that's not surprising -- he's the most pro-choice President ever. But Obama is also a Harvard Law School alumnus, and he used to teach Constitutional law, and so you would think he would see Roe for the embarassing bit of ideologically motivated junk it is.
Lest you think I'm just showing my bias, below is a collection of pro-choice scholars and journalists slamming the decision:
******************
Laurence Tribe — Harvard Law School. Lawyer for Al Gore in 2000:
“One of the most curious things about Roe is that, behind its own verbal smokescreen, the substantive judgment on which it rests is nowhere to be found.”
“The Supreme Court, 1972 Term—Foreword: Toward a Model of Roles in the Due Process of Life and Law,” 87 Harvard Law Review 1, 7 (1973).
******************
Ruth Bader Ginsburg — Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court:
“Roe, I believe, would have been more acceptable as a judicial decision if it had not gone beyond a ruling on the extreme statute before the court. … Heavy-handed judicial intervention was difficult to justify and appears to have provoked, not resolved, conflict.”
North Carolina Law Review, 1985
**********************
(Read lots more at the Washington Examiner)
Lest you think I'm just showing my bias, below is a collection of pro-choice scholars and journalists slamming the decision:
******************
Laurence Tribe — Harvard Law School. Lawyer for Al Gore in 2000:
“One of the most curious things about Roe is that, behind its own verbal smokescreen, the substantive judgment on which it rests is nowhere to be found.”
“The Supreme Court, 1972 Term—Foreword: Toward a Model of Roles in the Due Process of Life and Law,” 87 Harvard Law Review 1, 7 (1973).
******************
Ruth Bader Ginsburg — Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court:
“Roe, I believe, would have been more acceptable as a judicial decision if it had not gone beyond a ruling on the extreme statute before the court. … Heavy-handed judicial intervention was difficult to justify and appears to have provoked, not resolved, conflict.”
North Carolina Law Review, 1985
**********************
(Read lots more at the Washington Examiner)
O'Malley Outlines Nearly $1 Billion In Cuts
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley outlined nearly $1 billion in state spending cuts on Friday, including a proposal that will cost hospitals about $264 million to fill a gap in Medicaid and a start on the daunting unfunded liabilities in the state's pension system.
The governor's budget-balancing plan includes about $285 million in spending transfers. The state will save an estimated $94 million by level funding K-12 education aid, which totals $5.7 billion. Tuition will rise by 3 percent at Maryland's public colleges and universities for the second year in a row after a four-year freeze. Reforms to state retirement plans are expected to save about $104 million.
"It won't be the last word in this budget," O'Malley said, adding that lawmakers and citizens will review and discuss it, and "we all need to stay at the table."
Jim Reiter, a spokesman for the Maryland Hospital Association, said hospitals are concerned about the big cuts to hospitals, especially after medical providers already have weathered three years of cuts.
"When you keep cutting, you can only cut so much until you hit bone," Reiter said. He said he was unsure how the cut would play out.
The governor has decided to protect the state's defined benefit pension system for public employees and not move toward 401K-type plans. O'Malley also has resisted calls from some lawmakers to begin shifting some pension costs to local governments, citing tough local budget conditions as the main reason.
"They couldn't do it, as a practical matter," O'Malley said.
The budget continues last year's deep cuts to money for local governments to use on road repairs. Local governments have to pay for their share of the cost of the property tax assessment office, which adds up to about $35 million.
Read more at the Washington Examiner
The governor's budget-balancing plan includes about $285 million in spending transfers. The state will save an estimated $94 million by level funding K-12 education aid, which totals $5.7 billion. Tuition will rise by 3 percent at Maryland's public colleges and universities for the second year in a row after a four-year freeze. Reforms to state retirement plans are expected to save about $104 million.
"It won't be the last word in this budget," O'Malley said, adding that lawmakers and citizens will review and discuss it, and "we all need to stay at the table."
Jim Reiter, a spokesman for the Maryland Hospital Association, said hospitals are concerned about the big cuts to hospitals, especially after medical providers already have weathered three years of cuts.
"When you keep cutting, you can only cut so much until you hit bone," Reiter said. He said he was unsure how the cut would play out.
The governor has decided to protect the state's defined benefit pension system for public employees and not move toward 401K-type plans. O'Malley also has resisted calls from some lawmakers to begin shifting some pension costs to local governments, citing tough local budget conditions as the main reason.
"They couldn't do it, as a practical matter," O'Malley said.
The budget continues last year's deep cuts to money for local governments to use on road repairs. Local governments have to pay for their share of the cost of the property tax assessment office, which adds up to about $35 million.
Read more at the Washington Examiner
R U Ready Freddie?
The storm could rank right up there with the Christmas Weekend Blizzard and could hit part of the same area, or different areas farther inland. No matter what, it looks like a "big deal."
In the worst-case scenario, which may not be that far on the extreme end with this storm, an all-out blizzard may hit some inland areas, while a period of strong onshore winds could lead to coastal flooding.
If some places get heavy rain on top of the thick blanket of snow on the ground, everything from urban flooding to roof collapses could occur.
The key for what the weather will be is the exact track of the storm.
A track along or just inland of the coast would bring rain over the eastern Carolinas and even a wintry mix into the I-95 corridor of the mid-Atlantic. This track would dump heavy snow, perhaps on the order of 1 to 2 feet, over the Appalachians. Snowfall rates would be intense with perhaps 1 to 3 inches per hour.
A track just off the coast would bring the heaviest snow to the I-95 cities and the beaches, as we have seen before, thus sparing the Appalachians the worst.
It is also possible the storm could swing out off the southern Atlantic coast, then hook back in over the Northeast with a more complex precipitation pattern.
No matter which way the storm tracks, it looks like trouble for the Atlantic Seaboard next week.
The best guess at this point looks like a mostly rain event for our area, with daytime temps in the upper 30's to low 40's.
But you know the drill. Be ready for anything.
Accuweather
Media Mislead Public On Birthright Citizenship
On the first day of the 112th Congress, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) of the House Immigration Subcommittee introduced the Birthright Citizenship Act of 2011, H.R. 140, which would amend “the Immigration and Nationality Act to consider a person born in the United States ’subject to the jurisdiction of the United States for citizenship at birth purposes if the person is born in the United States of parents, one of whom is: (1) a U.S. citizen or national; (2) a lawful permanent resident alien whose residence is in the United States; or (3) an alien performing active service in the U.S. Armed Forces.” With the Congressional balance of power now in the hands of those who favor tighter immigration controls, the Birthright Citizenship Act (introduced in previous years by former congressman, and current governor of Georgia, Nathan Deal) is a front-page national immigration story — and a source of great confusion for the journalists who cover it. Here are just a few of the recent gaffes made by reputable papers.
USA Today blatantly misinterpreted H.R. 140, describing it as a “revision of the 14th Amendment,” even when the bill itself states that it amends section 301 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution must have confused their readers when they stated something as a fact in one sentence, then referred to it as an “interpretation” in the next. Their reporter wrote that legislators “are targeting the 14th Amendment, which automatically grants U.S. citizenship to babies born on U.S. soil even if their parents are here illegally. The lawmakers disagree with that interpretation, and they are attempting to force the issue into the courts for a decision.”
A blog in The Hill, a Washington, D.C. paper, reported that Rep. King “thinks he’ll be able to pass a bill out of the House to end the Constitution’s birthright citizenship for U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants” in one sentence, then quoted Rep. King stating the exact opposite: “‘It’s not a constitutional provision. It doesn’t require a constitutional amendment. We can fix it by statute,’ he said.” Rep. King’s bill clearly states that it “amends the Immigration and Nationality Act,” and makes no mention of changing the Constitution.
The Immigration and Nationality Act is the federal statute that grants automatic citizenship to anyone born in the United States. It uses similar language to the 14th Amendment regarding persons born in the United States and “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” A serious and scholarly debate over the meaning of “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” is ongoing and by no means settled. Some scholars insist that the phrase has no real meaning of its own, but rather is essentially another way of saying “born in the United States.” Other scholars conclude that the authors of the Fourteenth Amendment did NOT want to grant citizenship to every person who happened to be born on U.S. soil. Both sides have evidence to support their claims, but the only opinion that matters is that of the Supreme Court, which has yet to rule on this specific question.
Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) may have thrown reporters off the scent when he ignited a media firestorm last summer by telling Fox News that he favored a constitutional amendment to end automatic birthright citizenship. But Sen. Graham isn’t leading this effort. The primary vehicle for ending automatic birthright citizenship is Rep. King’s H.R. 140, which would only change the federal statute.
There's more
USA Today blatantly misinterpreted H.R. 140, describing it as a “revision of the 14th Amendment,” even when the bill itself states that it amends section 301 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution must have confused their readers when they stated something as a fact in one sentence, then referred to it as an “interpretation” in the next. Their reporter wrote that legislators “are targeting the 14th Amendment, which automatically grants U.S. citizenship to babies born on U.S. soil even if their parents are here illegally. The lawmakers disagree with that interpretation, and they are attempting to force the issue into the courts for a decision.”
A blog in The Hill, a Washington, D.C. paper, reported that Rep. King “thinks he’ll be able to pass a bill out of the House to end the Constitution’s birthright citizenship for U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants” in one sentence, then quoted Rep. King stating the exact opposite: “‘It’s not a constitutional provision. It doesn’t require a constitutional amendment. We can fix it by statute,’ he said.” Rep. King’s bill clearly states that it “amends the Immigration and Nationality Act,” and makes no mention of changing the Constitution.
The Immigration and Nationality Act is the federal statute that grants automatic citizenship to anyone born in the United States. It uses similar language to the 14th Amendment regarding persons born in the United States and “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” A serious and scholarly debate over the meaning of “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” is ongoing and by no means settled. Some scholars insist that the phrase has no real meaning of its own, but rather is essentially another way of saying “born in the United States.” Other scholars conclude that the authors of the Fourteenth Amendment did NOT want to grant citizenship to every person who happened to be born on U.S. soil. Both sides have evidence to support their claims, but the only opinion that matters is that of the Supreme Court, which has yet to rule on this specific question.
Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) may have thrown reporters off the scent when he ignited a media firestorm last summer by telling Fox News that he favored a constitutional amendment to end automatic birthright citizenship. But Sen. Graham isn’t leading this effort. The primary vehicle for ending automatic birthright citizenship is Rep. King’s H.R. 140, which would only change the federal statute.
There's more
Is It Time For Salisbury News To Get More Involved In The Ocean City Market
Ocean City will feel a major blow very soon as Brian Shane, (Staff Writer for the Daily Times) will be moving on to a bigger and better job. Brian was, (by far) the best Reporter the Daily Times has ever had the pleasure of employing. One thing is for sure, the DT's doesn't pay very well and unless you're desperate to live in Ocean City and hold a job with a college degree and you enjoy minimal pay, well, getting into the news business is the best way to do it.
Salisbury News is looking for a Reporter in the Ocean City area as we absolutely plan on tapping into that market very soon. Spread the word.
Absolutely Incredible
That's right Folks. We had one of the biggest Friday's we have ever seen and yesterday blew away last week's numbers.
There's no question in my mind this is the way we're going to keep things from here on out because you just can't buy this kind of peace of mind.
Considering less that 1/10th of 1% of our daily visitors actually comment regularly, 99.9% of you simply come here to read the articles. That's a FACT. I don't think its asking too much to ask 1/10th of 1% of your followers to go the extra mile to make life easier for us as we provide a FREE service.
So I want to thank all of you for being so kind, for registering with Blogger and understanding why we chose to make such a move.
It's a very slow news day today so we'll be popping up articles throughout the day to keep everyone informed.
Bell: Greed Fuels Global Warming Hoax
Truth is exposing the charade of global warming’s scare tactics, professor and author Larry Bell tells Newsmax.TV. Bell, whose new book labels the warming argument a hoax based partly on greed, credits the reality check to a couple of factors, including a good dose of common sense.
“One is people are looking out the window and noticing that the weather always changes and has been changing and getting cooler actually for the last 10 or 12 years,” Bell said during an exclusive interview.
Another was the release in 2009 of thousands of hacked e-mails and other documents from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit, “that basically revealed what most people a lot of scientists had known for a long time — that there were a lot of shenanigans going on, to put it in their words,” said Bell, an architecture professor at the University of Houston.
Global-warming skeptics seized on the material from the university in Norwich, England, as evidence of collusion that advocates of the warming story manipulated data to advance their agenda.
In a bit of whimsy, with a touch of sarcasm, Bell devoted his book, “Climate of Corruption: Politics and Power Behind the Global Warming Hoax,” to global warming champion Al Gore. “Dedicated to Al Gore, whose invention of the Internet made this book possible and whose invention of facts made it necessary,” the dedication page proclaims.
Bell sees no grand conspiracy behind the global warming hoax but instead a collection of common interests shared by those who would benefit from misinformation, such as those who oppose fossil fuels and offshore drilling.
“A number of common interests,” he said, “not the least of which is that this is an enormous multibillion-dollar climate industry that goes away if there’s no one frightened.”
Ideology is pushing global warming with constant rounds of stories about weather extremes, such as the recent holiday blizzard that struck the Northeast, he said.
“You know the weather’s always changing, and you can’t take one season, one event,” Bell said. “First of all, you have to look at it globally . . . You can’t really generalize from that, but the big driver in climate appears to be in the short-term stage the ocean changes which occur on fairly regular cycles and changes in solar activity. And from those predictions, it looks like we are in for a pretty cold few decades at least that’s the indication.”
Read more
“One is people are looking out the window and noticing that the weather always changes and has been changing and getting cooler actually for the last 10 or 12 years,” Bell said during an exclusive interview.
Another was the release in 2009 of thousands of hacked e-mails and other documents from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit, “that basically revealed what most people a lot of scientists had known for a long time — that there were a lot of shenanigans going on, to put it in their words,” said Bell, an architecture professor at the University of Houston.
Global-warming skeptics seized on the material from the university in Norwich, England, as evidence of collusion that advocates of the warming story manipulated data to advance their agenda.
In a bit of whimsy, with a touch of sarcasm, Bell devoted his book, “Climate of Corruption: Politics and Power Behind the Global Warming Hoax,” to global warming champion Al Gore. “Dedicated to Al Gore, whose invention of the Internet made this book possible and whose invention of facts made it necessary,” the dedication page proclaims.
Bell sees no grand conspiracy behind the global warming hoax but instead a collection of common interests shared by those who would benefit from misinformation, such as those who oppose fossil fuels and offshore drilling.
“A number of common interests,” he said, “not the least of which is that this is an enormous multibillion-dollar climate industry that goes away if there’s no one frightened.”
Ideology is pushing global warming with constant rounds of stories about weather extremes, such as the recent holiday blizzard that struck the Northeast, he said.
“You know the weather’s always changing, and you can’t take one season, one event,” Bell said. “First of all, you have to look at it globally . . . You can’t really generalize from that, but the big driver in climate appears to be in the short-term stage the ocean changes which occur on fairly regular cycles and changes in solar activity. And from those predictions, it looks like we are in for a pretty cold few decades at least that’s the indication.”
Read more
China Using U.S. Tech For Stealth Jet?
Experts say that some of the technology for China's recently unveiled stealth fighter jet — which may pose a threat to U.S. air superiority — likely came from an American F-117 Nighthawk that was shot down over Serbia more than 10 years ago.
GO HERE to read more.
Editors Notes: Well, it couldn't be so "STEALTH" if it was shot down over Serbia!
Tide Of Cyber-Scepticism Sweeping US
The way in which people frantically communicate online via Twitter, Facebook and instant messaging can be seen as a form of modern madness, according to a leading American sociologist.
"A behaviour that has become typical may still express the problems that once caused us to see it as pathological," MIT professor Sherry Turkle writes in her new book, Alone Together, which is leading an attack on the information age.
Turkle's book, published in the UK next month, has caused a sensation in America, which is usually more obsessed with the merits of social networking. She appeared last week on Stephen Colbert's late-night comedy show, The Colbert Report. When Turkle said she had been at funerals where people checked their iPhones, Colbert quipped: "We all say goodbye in our own way."
Turkle's thesis is simple: technology is threatening to dominate our lives and make us less human. Under the illusion of allowing us to communicate better, it is actually isolating us from real human interactions in a cyber-reality that is a poor imitation of the real world.
But Turkle's book is far from the only work of its kind. An intellectual backlash in America is calling for a rejection of some of the values and methods of modern communications. "It is a huge backlash. The different kinds of communication that people are using have become something that scares people," said Professor William Kist, an education expert at Kent State University, Ohio.
The list of attacks on social media is a long one and comes from all corners of academia and popular culture. A recent bestseller in the US, The Shallows by Nicholas Carr, suggested that use of the internet was altering the way we think to make us less capable of digesting large and complex amounts of information, such as books and magazine articles. The book was based on an essay that Carr wrote in the Atlantic magazine. It was just as emphatic and was headlined: Is Google Making Us Stupid?
There's more here
"A behaviour that has become typical may still express the problems that once caused us to see it as pathological," MIT professor Sherry Turkle writes in her new book, Alone Together, which is leading an attack on the information age.
Turkle's book, published in the UK next month, has caused a sensation in America, which is usually more obsessed with the merits of social networking. She appeared last week on Stephen Colbert's late-night comedy show, The Colbert Report. When Turkle said she had been at funerals where people checked their iPhones, Colbert quipped: "We all say goodbye in our own way."
Turkle's thesis is simple: technology is threatening to dominate our lives and make us less human. Under the illusion of allowing us to communicate better, it is actually isolating us from real human interactions in a cyber-reality that is a poor imitation of the real world.
But Turkle's book is far from the only work of its kind. An intellectual backlash in America is calling for a rejection of some of the values and methods of modern communications. "It is a huge backlash. The different kinds of communication that people are using have become something that scares people," said Professor William Kist, an education expert at Kent State University, Ohio.
The list of attacks on social media is a long one and comes from all corners of academia and popular culture. A recent bestseller in the US, The Shallows by Nicholas Carr, suggested that use of the internet was altering the way we think to make us less capable of digesting large and complex amounts of information, such as books and magazine articles. The book was based on an essay that Carr wrote in the Atlantic magazine. It was just as emphatic and was headlined: Is Google Making Us Stupid?
There's more here
As Pennsylvania Implements New Wastewater Rules, Some State Waterways Still Face Problems
Many of Pennsylvania’s waterways suffer from high levels of contaminants found in gas drilling wastewater. New state regulations are supposed to help, but their immediate effects are hard to gauge.
A couple of weeks ago we wrote a story [2] about the release of partially treated gas drilling wastewater into Pennsylvania’s rivers. The post highlighted an Associated Press analysis [3] of data covering July 2009 through June 2010 and mentioned a new state rule that requires newly-built wastewater plants to meet higher treatment standards.
We wanted to know if those new standards are being met, so we asked the Department of Environmental Protection when any new plants might be built. Later that night, a spokeswoman for the DEP sent us a chart showing that a couple of dozen are planned or proposed. She also pointed out that two of about 20 existing plants on the list already meet the new regulations.
GO HERE to read more.
We wanted to know if those new standards are being met, so we asked the Department of Environmental Protection when any new plants might be built. Later that night, a spokeswoman for the DEP sent us a chart showing that a couple of dozen are planned or proposed. She also pointed out that two of about 20 existing plants on the list already meet the new regulations.
GO HERE to read more.
Multi-Car Accident In Giant Parking Lot
Six cars were involved in the crash.
Two pedestrians were struck and six cars were involved in a crash Saturday in White Flint.
Police said no one suffered injuries that appeared to be life-threatening.
One of the drivers involved, a 64-year-old female, suffered a medical condition, lost control of her car and caused the crash, police said.
The crash happened at 12:45 p.m. in the parking lot of a Giant Food store, in the area of Hubbard Drive and Rockville Pike.
Why a Gruesome Pennsylvania Abortion Clinic Had Not Been Inspected For 17 Years
According to a new grand jury report, Pennsylvania stopped regularly inspecting abortion clinics in the mid-1990s. That policy continued until just last year.
While this week's indictment involving a grisly abortion mill in Philadelphia has shocked many [1], the grand jury's nearly 300-page report also contains a surprising and little-noted revelation: In the mid-1990s, the administration of Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge, a pro-choice Republican, ended regular inspections of abortion clinics—a policy that continued until just last year.
According to the grand jury report [2][PDF] released this week by Philadelphia prosecutors, Pennsylvania health officials deliberately chose not to enforce laws to ensure that abortion clinics provide the same level of care as other medical service providers.
GO HERE to read more.
While this week's indictment involving a grisly abortion mill in Philadelphia has shocked many [1], the grand jury's nearly 300-page report also contains a surprising and little-noted revelation: In the mid-1990s, the administration of Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge, a pro-choice Republican, ended regular inspections of abortion clinics—a policy that continued until just last year.
According to the grand jury report [2][PDF] released this week by Philadelphia prosecutors, Pennsylvania health officials deliberately chose not to enforce laws to ensure that abortion clinics provide the same level of care as other medical service providers.
GO HERE to read more.
As State Of The Union Nears, Congress Plays Musical Chairs
Democrats, Republicans trying to pair up in show of seating bipartisanship
WASHINGTON — Mary from Louisiana asked Olympia from Maine because they are BFFs, but had a backup in Bob from Tennessee in case she was rebuffed. Kirsten from New York went the Sadie Hawkins route and asked John from South Dakota, and thus the deal between two members of the Senate with seriously good hair was sealed.
The talk in the West Wing may center on what President Obama plans to say on Tuesday in his State of the Union address to Congress about the still-ailing economy, or United States-China relations, or his education agenda. But here on Capitol Hill, the talk for the last few days has been all about the seating for the president’s speech and just who will be next to whom.
GO HERE to read more.
With More Jobs Coming In 2011, It May Finally Feel Like Recovery
Washington - America's slow climb from the depths of the Great Recession appears well under way.
As fears of a double-dip downturn fade, even the most pessimistic experts are asking how far and how fast will the U.S. economy recover this year?
Finally, after months with the economy essentially stuck in neutral, there are encouraging signs: Employers are beginning to add jobs, from manufacturers of steel, cars and heavy machinery to online retailers and high-tech firms.
But like a massive cleanup after a natural disaster, righting the nation's economy after losing 8 million jobs will be a long, painful process for millions of job seekers.
The worst economic downturn in a generation has sorely tested the patience and resolve of American workers, and analysts say it could take another five years before the unemployment rate returns to a "normal" 6 percent.
The recession officially ended in June 2009 — more than a year and a half ago — but it hasn't felt like it. In a new monthly poll by Marist College, 71 percent of adults still think there's still a recession.
The same poll, however, found that 54 percent now think the worst of the economic downturn is over, compared to only 39 percent who felt that way in December.
That one-month spike in public confidence may be the lagging indicator that shows the nation is turning a psychological corner on economic gloom and doom.
GO HERE to read more.
Escape Update
Richard T. Wright turned himself in to troopers at Troop 1, Penny Hill, at approximately 11:00 p.m. on Saturday. He was arrested and charged with one count each of Escape 2nd Degree and Theft. Wright was arraigned at JP Court 11 and then committed to the James Vaughn Correctional Center for lack of $2500.00 secured bail.
Released Sunday, January 23, 2011 at 7:50 a.m.
China-US Summit: Which Country Gained The Most?
Washington - Before leaving Washington for a public-diplomacy tour in Chicago Friday, Chinese President Hu Jintao called for a “win-win” relationship between the United States and China.
While it may be too soon to gauge the full impact of Mr. Hu’s state visit on bilateral ties, it does seem that each country’s leader got a “win” from their meetings.
President Obama came off as more assertive with a rising China – certainly more than he had during what some critics viewed as a weak performance when he visited Beijing in late 2009. Mr. Obama put human rights on the table, insisted on a two-way street between the two countries in terms of economic access, and apparently pressed successfully (though in private) for increased Chinese pressure on North Korea
.
For his part, Hu got all the pomp and stature of a state visit – very important to the Chinese. And he was seen as having enhanced his legacy as a pillar of China’s domestic economic transformation and its rise as a global power.
Yet the tangible results of the visit were less certain. Obama said publicly that the US will be looking for a stepped-up appreciation of China’s currency, but the high-profile currency battle between the two economic giants did not deliver any concrete developments. Recent commitments by the Chinese to make a concerted effort to respect foreign intellectual property rights took a few steps forward, but some US business leaders say they remain in a skeptical wait-and-see mode on an issue of do-or-die importance to America’s export sector. And while Hu did acknowledge in the two leaders’ press conference Wednesday that “a lot still needs to be done in China in terms of human rights,” those words were largely censored in China.
The result, in the eyes of some US-China experts, is that while the summit had points of success for each side, it probably did little to give the two key powers of the 21st century a more durable and tension-resistant relationship.
GO HERE to read more.
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