Detectives Investigate Home Invasion Robbery

Location: 28000 block of Basin Road, Millsboro, DE

Date of Occurrence: Monday, September 19, 2011 at 12:00 a.m.

Victims:

-55 year old Millsboro female
-48 year old Millsboro male
-66 year old Millsboro female

Suspects:

-Suspect #1: Black male, light complexion. He was last seen wearing a black ski mask and a green military style field jacket. He was also armed with a handgun.

-Suspect #2: White male (no further description). He was last seen wearing a purple bandana covering his face, and dark clothing, and a green military style field jacket. He was also armed with a handgun.

Resume:
Millsboro, DE- The Delaware State Police are currently investigating a home invasion style robbery that occurred early this morning in Millsboro, DE.

The incident happened at approximately 12:00 a.m. this morning as two male suspects armed with handguns burst in through the front door of a residence located in the 28000 block of Basin Road, in Millsboro. Both suspects ordered three subjects who were inside of the home to the ground. They then demanded and received prescription medication and other personal items from the victims. Once they received the property, the suspects both fled from the home in an unknown direction.

Detectives are asking anyone who may have any information in reference to this incident to contact Detective Fred Chambers at 302-856-5850 ext. 206. Citizens may also provide a tip by texting keyword “DSP” plus your message to 274637 (CRIMES). Tipsters may also provide information through lines maintained by Delaware Crime Stoppers at (800) TIP-3333. Callers can also submit information via the internet at www.tipsubmit.com.

Banks To Small Business: Online Theft? Tough Luck

Banks are holding companies responsible when their accounts are raided by cybercrooks

Two years ago hackers stole $5.2 million from the online account of Experi-Metal, a 135-employee metal products manufacturer in Sterling Heights, Mich. The bank, Comerica (CMA), got nearly 90 percent of the money back, but said the unrecoverable $561,000 was Experi-Metal’s problem because the company had allowed a computer to be infected. “The fraud department at Comerica said, ‘What’s wrong with you? How could you let this happen?’ ” says Valiena A. Allison, Experi-Metal’s chief executive officer. The company sued to recover the money, and in June a U.S. District Court judge in Detroit found that Comerica’s response didn’t meet standards of good faith and fair dealing. Comerica agreed to pay almost the entire amount. (The bank declined to comment, beyond saying that the matter was resolved.)

Cybercrooks are stealing as much as $1 billion a year from the accounts of small and midsize companies in the U.S. and Europe, according to estimates from Dell SecureWorks (DELL), a security arm of the PC maker. Overseas gangs target small commercial accounts protected by rudimentary security measures at community or regional banks. The accounts typically aren’t covered by fraud insurance, as individual accounts are, and businesses often find themselves on the hook for losses. “Everyone expects their bank to protect them,” says Avivah Litan, an analyst at tech researcher Gartner (IT). “Businesses are not equipped to deal with this problem, and banks are barely equipped.”

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College Students Are Wasting Money All Over The Place

If you're a college student or a parent of a college student, then you are all too aware of how bleeping expensive college tuition is these days. So, that sucks, but there are other place students are wasting money needlessly, exacerbating the financial damage done. Avoid it!

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Northeast Having A Pumpkin Shortage

If you live in the Northeast you'll want to buy your pumpkins early this year because they're going to run out fast, as we guessed last week. A rainy summer and flooding from Irene have ruined many pumpkin crops. Now that the official harvest has come in, it looks like instead of hunting for The Great Pumpkin, most people will just be hunting for "a" pumpkin.

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Wicomico County’s Family Portal Open For The 2011-12 School Year

Wicomico County’s popular Family Portal -- for families with students in grades 3-12 -- has reopened for the 2011-12 school year. Family Portal is an online resource where parents and guardians can monitor their student’s grades, attendance and other information.

This year, for the first time, students will also be able to review their grades and other information through their own login at the Family Portal.

Family Portal supports the goals of the school system and the Wicomico County Board of Education to engage families and provide opportunities for communication. Providing timely information for parents, guardians and students about student performance serves the school system’s Bridge to Excellence Master Plan strategic priorities of High Student Achievement, Safe Learning Environment, and Effective & Efficient Operations.

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America’s Most Outrageous Teacher Cheating Scandals

As we reported last week, many states have failed to implement simple and effective checks [1] for teacher cheating. Scandals involving cheating by teachers and schools to pump up ever-more-important student test scores swept the country this summer. But they've also been happening for years, and oversight is only now beginning to catch up.

Here's an overview of some of the most shocking instances of teacher cheating, plus a few episodes that may have been overblown.

The 'Lake Wobegon' Effect (1987-89)

One of the earliest investigations of teacher cheating was spearheaded by John Jacob Cannell, a family physician from West Virginia who was shocked to hear that his poverty-stricken home state, with high rates of illiteracy, was performing above the national average [2] on standardized tests. Cannell latched on to the issue and discovered that students in 48 states were supposedly performing above the national average — in part because they were being judged using out-of-date comparisons.

This phenomenon was christened the "Lake Wobegon Effect," after Garrison Keillor's legendary town where "every child is above average." Cannell's reports argued that score inflation resulted from infrequent test updates and too much "teaching to the test," as well as outright teacher cheating [3]. While his findings were hotly debated, a Department of Education-sponsored study confirmed most of them [4].

Columbus, Ohio: After President Clinton Lauds School, Students Claim Cheating (2000)

Just weeks after President Clinton visited a Columbus school to laud its astronomical gains on test scores [5] and argue that Clinton-Gore strategies were working [5], the school was enveloped in a cheating scandal [6]. Three students told a teacher that they had received assistance on the previous year's exam [7]. District investigators found no evidence to support the claims, but some parents found the accusation credible, and the veteran teacher who passed along the students' claims said she had been forced to go on disability leave after retaliations from the principal [7].

New York City: Early Cheating Scandal May Have Been Overblown (1999-2001)

Aggressive schools investigator Edward Stancik [8] uncovered a wide range of cheating in New York City schools, including a seventh-grade teacher who had placed the answers to a test by a pencil sharpener, encouraged his students to sharpen their pencils, and left the room. But Stancik's most explosive findings, which implicated 32 schools and 52 educators [9], did not hold up to scrutiny. A New York Times investigation into his methods found that some of his accusations seemed dubious, and that innocent teachers may have suffered as a result [10].

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Hearing Begins In Death Of Killer Whale Trainer

Orlando, Florida (CNN) -- A federal judge heard testimony Monday in a hearing over whether SeaWorld Orlando should be charged with a willful violation in the death of killer whale trainer Dawn Brancheau.

The first witness in the hearing took the stand before participants broke for lunch. Outside the Seminole County Courthouse, where the hearing was taking place, members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals demonstrated.

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QUOTES OF THE DAY 9-19-11

“But man is not made for defeat,” he said. “A man can be destroyed but not defeated. ”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

“Let him think that I am more man than I am and I will be so.”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

“Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready.”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

“I may not be as stong as I think, but I know many tricks and I have resolution.”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

“Intelligence is so damn rare and the people who have it often have such a bad time with it that they get bitter or propagandistic and then it’s not much use.”
― Ernest Hemingway

“The man who has begun to live more seriously within begins to live more simply without”
― Ernest Hemingway

“Most people were heartless about turtles because a turtle’s heart will beat for hours after it has been cut up and butchered. But the old man thought, I have such a heart too.”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

“Fish,” he said, “I love you and respect you very much. But I will kill you dead before this day ends.”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

“By “guts” I mean, grace under pressure”
― Ernest Hemingway

“He no longer dreamed of storms, nor of women, nor of great occurrences, nor of great fish, nor fights, nor contests of strength, nor of his wife. He only dreamed of places now and the lions on the beach. They played like young cats in the dusk and he loved them as he loved the boy. He never dreamed about the boy. He simply woke, looked out the open door at the moon and unrolled his trousers and put them on.”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

“Have faith in the Yankees my son. Think of the great DiMaggio.”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

“The fish is my friend too…I have never seen or heard of such a fish. But I must kill him. I am glad we do not have to try to kill the stars. Imagine if each day a man must try to kill the moon, he thought. The moon runs away. But imagine if a man each day should have to try to kill the sun? We were born lucky; he thought”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

“But I think the Great DiMaggio would be proud of me today.”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

“But, he thought, I keep them with precision. Only I have no luck anymore. But who knows? Maybe today. Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready.”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

“Perhaps I should not have been a fisherman, he thought. But that was the thing that I was born for.”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

“This is the second day now that I do not know the result of the juegos he thought. But I must have confidence and I must be worthy of the great DiMaggio who does all things perfectly even with the pain of the bone spur in his heel.”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

“The old man’s head was clear and good now and he was full of resolution but he had little hope. It was too good to last, he thought. He took one look at the great fish as he watched the shark close in.”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

“I wish it had been a dream now and that I had never hooked the fish and was alone in bed on the newspapers.”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

“Do not think about sin, he thought. There are enough problems now without sin. Also I have no understanding of it.”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

New Supersized Heinz Ketchup Packets

A much larger Heinz ketchup packet is starting to show up in restaurants across the country. The container, shaped like a traditional Heinz bottle with a peel-back lid, holds three times more ketchup than the previous H. J. Heinz Co. squeeze packets.

The company’s ‘Dip & Squeeze’ design is also true to its name, giving ketchup lovers the option of dunking their french fries instead of trying to squeeze it out, which can be a messy way to eat — especially while on-the-go.

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Poverty In America: Faces Behind The Figures

At a food pantry in a Chicago suburb, a 38-year-old mother of two breaks into tears.

She and her husband have been out of work for nearly two years. Their house and car are gone. So is their foothold in the middle class and, at times, their self-esteem.

"It's like there is no way out," says Kris Fallon.

She is trapped like so many others, destitute in the midst of America's abundance. Last week, the Census Bureau released new figures showing that nearly one in six Americans lives in poverty — a record 46.2 million people. The poverty rate, pegged at 15.1 percent, is the highest of any major industrialized nation, and many experts believe it could get worse before it abates.

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U.S. Gamers Crack Puzzle In AIDS Research That Stumped Scientists For Years

In just three weeks, online gamers deciphered the structure of a retrovirus protein that has stumped scientists for over a decade, and a study out Sunday says their breakthrough opens doors for a new AIDS drug design.

The protein, called a protease, plays a critical role in how some viruses, including HIV, multiply. Intensive research has been underway to find AIDS drugs that can deactivate proteases, but scientists were hampered by their inability to crack the enzyme's structure.

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Wicomico County Sheriff's Office Press Releases 9-19-11

Incident: Violation of a Protective Order
Date of Incident: 18 September 2011
Location: 34000 block of Pitts Avenue, Pittsville, MD
Suspect: George B. Ruark, 28, Pittsville, MD

Narrative: On 18 September 2011 at 7:57 PM, deputies responded to a residence in the 34000 block of
Pitts Avenue for a reported domestic situation. Upon arrival, they met with a female resident who advised
that George Ruark, who was the subject of a protective order obtained by the female, was inside the
residence in a back bedroom. The deputies entered the bedroom and located Ruark. Upon confirmation
that he was in violation of the Protective Order, Ruark was placed under arrest.

Ruark was transported to the Central Booking Unit where he was processed and taken in front of the
District Court Commissioner. After an initial appearance, the Commissioner detained Ruark in the
Detention Center in lieu of $75,000.0 bond.
Charges: Violation of a Protective Order

Incident: False Report
Date of Incident: 17 September 2011
Location: Salisbury, MD
Suspect: Andrew J. Shockley, 24, Millsboro, DE

Narrative: On 17 September 2011at 10:18 AM, a deputy from the WCSO met with Andrew Shockley in
the lobby of the Sheriff’s Office. The purpose of Shockley’s visit was to report his motorcycle stolen.
Shockley told the deputy that Shockley was visiting a residence on Manoa Boulevard at 4:00 AM that
same morning when he saw an unknown subject jump on his motorcycle and drive away. Shockley was
adamant that he never gave this individual permission to leave on the motorcycle. After taking a report,
the deputy drove in the vicinity of Manoa Boulevard with Shockley in an attempt to locate Shockley’s
motorcycle. They located it at a residence in the 1100 block of Kiowa Boulevard. Further investigation by
the deputy revealed that the bike was not stolen; it was instead loaned out by Shockley in exchange for
CDS. After being confronted, Shockley eventually admitted that was correct, that he thought he might be
able to use the Sheriff’s Office to recover his motorcycle.

The deputy transported Shockley to the Central Booking Unit where he was processed and taken in front
of the District Court Commissioner. After an initial appearance, the Commissioner released Shockley on
Personal Recognizance.

Charges: False Report to Law Enforcement
False Statement to a Law Enforcement Officer

Sex Vacation Not What You Think

Anticipation. It’s one of life’s most underrated and overlooked sensations. Remember the moments leading up to your first kiss? How you felt seconds before you touched someone you’d been longing for? The wondering. The waiting. Would it happen? When? What would it be like?

When we’re dating, we have the chance to experience this again and again. But once we have a partner to whom we’ve committed monogamy, well, then, the anticipation is gone. You know your partner is there. You know what it’s going to be like. You know how he or she will react and how you will as well.

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Blind Woman Says Her House Was Stolen And Bulldozed

A 77-year old blind Texas woman says she thought she was signing a document to get relief from taxes, but instead she was tricked into signing over the deed to her house.

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The World's Largest Sperm Bank Is Turning Down Redheads

The plight of the redhead continues. Cryos International in Denmark, the largest sperm bank in the world, has stopped accepting sperm from flame-haired would-be donors.

The Telegraph reports that the rejection is simply a matter of supply and demand: sperm from redheads is rarely requested from those who are buying the, er, product. "There are too many redheads in relation to demand," said Ole Schou, the director of the bank, told a Danish newspaper. "I do not think you choose a redhead, unless the partner — for example, the sterile male — has red hair, or because the lone woman has a preference for redheads. And that's perhaps not so many, especially in the latter case."

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Kids And Guns: Why Doctors Have A Right To Know

A federal court has blocked a new Florida law that limited the ability of doctors to ask patients if they had guns in the home. Judge Monica Cooke, a Republican appointee, rightly said that the law interfered with both doctors' right to free speech and patients' right to receive information.

The ruling, which came down last week, struck an important blow for freedom of expression. But it did something more: it dealt a rare setback to a gun-rights lobby that is increasingly using its considerable political power to support policies that have little to do with the right to bear arms and needlessly put innocent people at risk.

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Why The Charlie Sheen Roast Isn't Worth Watching

Comedy Central airs its Charlie Sheen roast Monday night, and I for one, will not be watching. I'm not taking some sort of stand against the concept as a whole -- sure these roasts can be unkind but they tend to be fun. And even at their most uncouth, there does tend to be some benefit to the jokes –- roasting of a celeb can double as a clinic for comedy writing. And please, Sheen fans (if you're still out there?), let's be clear: I'm not calling for a complete boycott, either.

Instead, I'm just sending to the universe a message that I'll be putting my time to some better use. The whole crazy-Charlie thing is just so tired, and so over.

Sunday night's cameo at the Emmy awards is a prime example of why the spotlight needs to be fixed on anyone other than Sheen. At this point, and especially after Sheen last week made the mea culpa rounds on television, the novelty of wondering what he might do next has really worn off. At best, his appearance comes off as a little sad and at worst, seeing Sheen onstage these days leaves a really awkward aftertaste.

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IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man my son!

By Rudyard Kipling

Woman Seriously Injured In Dog Attack

Location: Residence in the 20000 block of Saw Mill Road, Ellendale, DE

Date of Occurrence: Monday, September 19, 2011 at 12:05 p.m.

Victim:

-74 year old Ellendale, DE woman

Resume:
Ellendale, DE- The Delaware State Police are currently investigating a dog attack in which a 74 year old woman was seriously injured this afternoon.

The incident occurred at approximately 12:05 p.m. today, Monday, as a 74 year old Ellendale woman went to visit her daughter at a residence located in the 20000 block of Saw Mill Road in Ellendale, DE. The daughter was the owner of a Pit Bull dog which she had put away prior to the victim entering the residence for the visit. After a period of time, the victim advised her daughter that she was leaving and in fact left the residence. However, the victim had left something behind and re-entered the home. The daughter, not knowing that the victim had come back into the house, released the dog from the room it had been in. The dog then attacked the victim causing serious injuries to her. The dog owner was unable to subdue the animal as this was occurring.

As responding Troopers arrived, the dog, which had not stopped its attack on the victim, became aggressive towards them, and had to be put down. Its body was turned over to the SPCA. The victim was transported by helicopter to the Beebe Medical Center where she was stabilized. She was then flown to the Christiana Hospital in Newark, where he was admitted. Her condition is unknown at this time. There were no other injuries.

This incident remains under investigation.

GOVERNOR MARTIN O’MALLEY, LT. GOVERNOR ANTHONY G. BROWN ANNOUNCE RELOCATION OF MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Transit-oriented development project will stimulate economic growth and job creation in Prince George’s County

NEW CARROLLTON, MD (September 19, 2011) - Governor Martin O’Malley and Lt. Governor Anthony G. Brown, joined by Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker, today announced the relocation of the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) from its current location in Crownsville, Maryland, to a building that will be newly constructed in New Carrollton, Maryland. 

                               

The new site, called “Metroview,” will locate DHCD’s headquarters in a new, retail, residential, and mixed-use facility in New Carrollton. When it is completed, it will also be convenient to the Purple Line light rail. The project is anticipated to generate a net public benefit (to both the State and County) of over $11 million over the course of the 15-year lease and create an estimated 300 jobs in its construction and an additional 80 retail jobs. 

“Five years ago, Anthony and I made it a priority to place a State agency headquarters in Prince George’s County,” said Governor O’Malley. “Today, we are making a modern investment in a modern economy that will create jobs and build a transit-oriented development project to allow us to do the right thing for reducing traffic and sprawl, the right thing for our quality of life, and the right thing for our land, our water, and our air.”

In June of last year, the Governor and Lt. Governor announced plans to relocate DHCD to Prince George’s County to bring an agency dedicated to neighborhood revitalization closer to one of the population centers it serves most, while promoting smart growth and sustainable communities. 

“With the relocation of DHCD to New Carrollton, we will not only fulfill our promise to bring a State agency to one of our most populous counties, but we will provide a significant economic boost to New Carrollton and Prince George’s County at a time when we most need it,” said Lt. Governor Brown. “This project, estimated to create over 350 jobs and generate millions of dollars in economic impact, demonstrates that by bringing the public and private sectors together with a focus on smart growth, we can create jobs, spur revenue, and build stronger communities in Prince George’s County and throughout Maryland.”

Transit-oriented development (TOD) is a critical component of the State’s Smart, Green and Growing initiative aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions, sprawl development and traffic congestion, while fostering economic growth.  TOD creates compact, walkable neighborhoods around transit stations and increases transit ridership by creating destinations within a short walk of stations. It also offers residents a convenient commute to jobs, shopping and entertainment in the region.

“Over the past year, my office has worked closely with Governor O’Malley and Lieutenant Governor Brown to move this County forward,” said County Executive Rushern L. Baker, III. “Today is no exception, and our partnership has once again led to a vital step forward for the County and the State. The new metro-accessible Department of Housing and Community Development will bring jobs and growth to Prince George’s County while helping build a greener, more sustainable Maryland.”

The developer for this project is Grand Central Development, whose principals include Mr. Carl Williams, a Prince George’s County resident. This new project received the highest score total out of the 16 qualified responses.  It is a mixed-use development of retail, office, and apartments, where:

• The first floor will consist of approximately 30,000 square feet of retail space;
• The next four floors will be office space, leased primarily to DHCD, with a small portion being leased to the City of New Carrollton; and the upper 22 floors (400+ units) of market and affordable rental housing; and
• Total square footage is nearly 700,000 square feet.

The expected move-in date for the project is late summer/early fall of 2013.

“We are both humbled and honored to be selected as the developers of the first state headquarters agency to locate in Prince George's County,” said Carl Williams, member of Grand Central Development. “It is exciting to have the opportunity to positively impact the community in which we live and work. This is a significant development for Prince George's County and we thank the Department of Housing and Community Development for being such an important partner in positioning our County as a thriving metropolis and one of the state's economic leaders. The Grand Central Team will do everything in its power to make sure that we continue to move forward in a positive direction and bring more economic growth to New Carrollton, Prince George's County and the Great State of Maryland.”

Censors kill Off China's 'Super Girl'

(Financial Times) -- Super Girl, China's version of Pop Idol, is to be dropped from television schedules in spite of attracting 400m viewers at its peak, following government pressure on a programme that some officials saw as subversive because the audience voting too closely represented Western-style democracy.

Li Hao, deputy editor and spokesman of Hunan Satellite TV, which broadcast the show, was quoted as saying the changes were under disciplinary measures by the State Administration for Radio, Film and Television, and the broadcaster would soon launch new programming on morals, security and housework instead.

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Alcohol And Marijuana... Not My Kids!

No parent wants to believe their kid is a party animal at the age of 13, 15 or even 17. But, is it naive to think that your teenager hasn't had a drink?

In a new, national poll conducted by C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital at the University of Michigan, only 10% of parents said they believe their teenagers (ages 13-17) have used alcohol in the last year. Even fewer, 5 percent, thought their kids had used marijuana during that same time period.

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Child Abuse Increased As Economy Crashed, Study Shows

Poverty, stress lead to harsher parenting and abuse, researchers say

As the U.S. economy began to tank, the number of abused kids landing in the hospital with severe brain injuries spiked, a new study shows.

Anecdotes linking child abuse to the recession have surfaced before, but there had been no hard data to back the connection until now.

“It’s definitely disturbing,” said Elizabeth Gershoff, a psychologist who studies parenting but was not involved in the study.

Although there is no proof that financial hardship itself is causing the uptick in abuse, earlier research has tied parental stress to child maltreatment.

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4 Years Ago Today

Deadliest Catch visits Lower Shore Enterprises.

5 Years Ago Today

Charles Jannace Registers To Run For Wicomico County Executive.

China Calls For Restart Of North Korea Nuclear Talks

China's foreign minister called Monday for the resumption of long-stalled six-nation talks on nuclear disarmament in North Korea following conciliatory gestures by the two rivals recently.

North Korea abruptly walked out of the nuclear negotiations in April 2009 but in recent months the impoverished country has repeatedly expressed its willingness to rejoin the talks aimed at dismantling its nuclear weapons program in return for international aid and other concessions.

South Korean and U.S. officials, however, have been wary of the North's overtures, saying it must first abide by commitments it made in earlier rounds of the talks.

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TSA Fires 28 Agents Who Allegedly Did Not Do Jobs

In the slow but inevitable reaction to the scandal in which several Transportation Security Administration agents were accused of letting un-screened baggage make it on to flights, the agency fired 28 employees. Fifteen others connected to the alleged negligence — which is believed to have occurred over several months in Hawaii last year — were suspended. Three others left their jobs voluntarily.

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The Amish Bernie Madoff

It seems you don't need electricity to commit fraud. A man has been likened to being "The Amish Bernie Madoff" after he was accused of operating a Ponzi scheme that defrauded over 2,700 Amish families, nonprofits and businesses out of $16.8 million.

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Virginia Approved to Add Tolls on Interestate 95

Virginia is the latest state along the I-95 corridor to get permission to add toll booths to collect fees to pay for upkeep of the Old Dominion State's portion of the federal highway.

Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, announced Monday that the Federal Highway Administration has granted preliminary approval to charge drivers for using the north-south corridor that spans more than 1,900 miles from Maine to Miami.

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SS: Ponzi Scheme Isn't The Problem

Everyone by now knows what a Ponzi Scheme amounts to. We all became familiar with it when Bernie Madoff was caught using it to amass a fortune at the expense of clients who were unaware that his plan to put away money for them amounted to such a scheme.

The issue in the case of Madoff wasn't actually so much the scheme but the lack of full disclosure about it.

Ponzi schemes are legion around the world and people knowingly take part in them. For instance, most insurance companies use them, collecting funds from new clients and paying old ones in part from the newly acquired cash. Retirement systems make use of the scheme, as well. Those who have paid in are often receiving the funds new clients pay now. And so with the Social Security system. The Social Security system would be no problem if it were voluntary and those who are part of it knew from the start the risks involved.

Fractional reserve banking is like that, too: When people deposit their money in banks the money isn't all left in vaults until they withdraw it; rather, much of it is used to give loans and make investments. And clients of the bank know this but figure the bankers are skilled at what they are doing and will not use the funds recklessly, irresponsibly. But the bankers do not expect all custumers to suddenly withdraw their funds; the banks could handle that. But since it is common knowledge, nothing is amiss in such arrangements.

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The Old Man And The Sea - 2011

“The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.” – Ernest Hemingway

“Though the Federal Reserve policy harms the average American, it benefits those in a position to take advantage of the cycles in monetary policy. The main beneficiaries are those who receive access to artificially inflated money and/or credit before the inflationary effects of the policy impact the entire economy. Federal Reserve policies also benefit big spending politicians who use the inflated currency created by the Fed to hide the true costs of the welfare-warfare state.” – Ron Paul

Ernest Hemingway and Ron Paul never met. Ron Paul was completing medical school in 1961 when Hemingway committed suicide at his home in Idaho. I think they would have hit it off. I stumbled across the quote from Hemingway above. Those words could have come directly out of the mouth of Ron Paul. Both men spent their whole lives seeking the truth and presenting their ideas in a blunt straightforward manner. Hemingway is one of the most renowned writers in American history, with classics such as A Farewell to Arms [15], For Whom the Bell Tolls [16], and The Sun Also Rises [17] to his credit. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1954. He constructed a new literary style characterized by lean, hard, sparse dialogue. He influenced literature and young authors for decades. As a teenager I was immediately drawn to his gritty realistic novels. There was no nonsense to his novels. They always involved man’s struggle against death and hardship. Most of his best work was done in the 1920s and 1930s, but he produced one of his finest works in 1951 towards the end of his life. Hemingway won the Pulitzer Prize for his story about an epic battle between an old man and a great marlin.

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The End Of A Beautiful Day On Delmarva

9-18-11

Fraternal Order Of Eagles Delivers Pork Chop Dinners To The Homeless

One thing that never gets old is giving to those who are down on their luck. The Fraternal Order of Eagles delivered, (once again) quite a few pork chop dinners, (including rolls and desert) this weekend.

Never forget where you came from Folks.

The "Missing White Woman Syndrome"

by Julia Dahl

According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), there are as many as 100,000 active missing persons cases in the United States at any given time. If you went solely by what you read in the media, you’d probably assume that most of these cases involve pretty white women.

After all,  disappearances like those involving Natalee Holloway, Lauren Spierer and Holly Bobo  get splashed across the headlines and are the focus of morning talk and true crime shows. But do the statistics support this perception?

The FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) breaks down the 2010 missing person statistics by age, sex and race.

Age
The NCIC database indicates that of the 692,944 people reported missing in 2010, 531,928 were under age 18. Most people would agree that it’s reasonable and appropriate for cases of missing children to get a lot of press. Children are vulnerable and innocent. And such cases are every parent’s worst nightmare.

In addition, the Amber Alert system is specifically designed to use the media and other resources to get word out quickly when a child has gone missing in order to increase the odds of their safe return.

But  all missing children cases aren’t treated the same. As they do in cases involving missing women, the media seems to pay more attention to missing white girls. Caylee Anthony is a good example.

And this pattern isn’t limited to the U.S., either. Case in point: the world-wide coverage of the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann in Portugal.

Sex
According to the NCIC statistics, 355,243 women were reported missing in 2010,  compared to 337,660 men. But the slight edge that women have in the numbers doesn’t seem to justify the barrage of coverage their cases get at the expense of all those missing men.
Think about it: when was the last time you saw extensive media coverage of the disappearance of a man?

Some have explained the media’s focus on missing women by pointing to society’s apparent obsession with “damsels in distress.”

People are riveted by cases in which a young beautiful—often blonde—girl has apparently been abducted by an evil-doer and is in need of rescue.

Race
Besides sex, race is the biggest factor in determining how much interest journalists seem to show in a missing persons case.

It’s difficult to tell from the NCIC statistics exactly how many white women were reported missing in 2010, because the database lumps white and Hispanic missing persons together (418,859) and doesn’t break down the race information by gender.

But journalists certainly act as if cases of missing white people, especially women, merit extensive coverage. There’s even a name for the phenomenon: the missing white woman syndrome.

As Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post eloquently explained, “The specifics of the story line vary from damsel to damsel. In some cases, the saga begins with the discovery of a corpse. In other cases, the damsel simply vanishes into thin air.

“Often, there is a suspect from the beginning—an intruder, a husband, a father, a congressman, a stranger glimpsed lurking nearby. Sometimes the tale ends well, or well enough…[b]ut more often, it ends badly. But of course the damsels have much in common besides being female…A damsel must be white.”

For example, the disappearance of pregnant Laci Peterson was a huge news story. In contrast, a pregnant black woman named LaToyia Figueroa who disappeared was barely a blip in the national media, despite efforts by her family to enlist journalists’ help in finding her. (Like Peterson, Figueroa was later found murdered.)

Why the Disparity in Coverage?
Several reasons have been posited for the disparate attention of the media—both mainstream and tabloid—on missing white women. The most basic and obvious reason is because it pays.
Kevin Drum reported,  “According to a cable news employee who was willing to state the obvious on an anonymous basis, ‘We showcase missing, young, white, attractive women because our research shows we get more viewers. It’s about beating the competition and ad dollars.’”

Kristal Brent Zook, a professor at the Columbia University School of Journalism, has said that many consider women more sympathetic potential victims than men—and white women even more so.  “Who’s appealing? Who’s sexy?,” observed  Zook. “ The virginal, pure, blond princess is missing…It has a lot to do with class and sexuality and ageism, not just race.”

According to another theory,  there’s an unconscious bias in newsrooms that leads journalists to assume that men or members of a minority group go missing all the time and usually because of their involvement in some sort of criminal activity.

Thus, journalists may not see missing men or African-American women as victims in the same way they see missing white women.

This bias could be corrected if newsrooms were more diverse, some argue. “The more diverse our work forces are and newsrooms are, the greater the chances our stories will truly reflect our communities,” says Dan Shelley, former chairman of the Radio Television Digital News Association.

A 2005 article  in the Los Angeles Times on the coverage of the Natalee Holloway disappearance claimed  that news directors have become more conscious of slanted  reporting as criticism of the disparity of missing persons coverage has grown.

But six years later, such coverage doesn’t seem to have changed at all. 

Robin L. Barton, a legal journalist based in Brooklyn, NY, is a former assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and a regular blogger for The Crime Report. She welcomes readers’ comments.

http://www.thecrimereport.org/archive/2011-08-the-missing-white-woman-syndrome

The Rich Got Richer And, Well, You Know The Rest

A new graphic from Economic Policy Institute shows that the old adage about the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer has proven true in recent years.

The liberal-leaning economic think tank took a look at who gained and who lost wealth between 1983 and 2009, the year the U.S. officially came out of recession.

According to their analysis, the vast majority of the wealth gains — more than 80 percent —  went to the richest 5 percent of the population.

The slightly-less-wealthy also saw some gains, but that’s where the good news ends. The bottom 60 percent of households by wealth actually lost ground over the 26-year period, according to EPI.

Things have not likely gotten much better for folks since 2009. The Census reported last week that real median income fell again last year, marking the third straight year that has happened.

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Not Just Arsenic: Scientists Spot Many Chemicals in Food

People may have been surprised to find out this week that apple juice contains arsenic, but scientists say that many foods contain trace levels of compounds that sound scary but are virtually harmless at low levels.

"Arsenic is something we all take in," said ABC News' chief health and medical correspondent, Dr. Richard Besser. "We take in small amounts of a lot of things that if you take in large quantities are dangerous, but in small amounts aren't."

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5 Die At Biker Fest; Carbon Monoxide Suspected

Fumes from a generator leaked into a camper, killing three men and two women who were at a biker festival to raise money for needy children, an organizer for the event said.

Police were investigating the deaths but said no foul play was suspected. Two of the men worked security into the early morning hours Sunday during the festival's party, which featured motorcycle drag races, live music and bikini and tattoo contests. The charity's website said there was free beer.

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Women In Construction Say "Men At Work" Signs Are Sexist

Construction has traditionally been a male-dominated industry, but these days, more women are taking up the trade.

As the industry changes, so do the signs. Most contractors now use gender-neutral signage, something like 'road work ahead.'

That's why some north Texas women who work in construction were surprised to see a "Men and Equipment Working" sign along the Trinity Trail in Fort Worth. They say the sign is sexist.

"Hey, what about me? Yeah. I'm out here," said Cristy Treder, who worked in construction for 13 years.

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"I Messed Up," Netflix CEO Says

(CNN) -- Netflix Co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings made a public apology in his blog Sunday after a customer outburst against a hike in prices."I messed up," Hastings said.

"I owe everyone an explanation."Hastings posted the mea culpa after a barrage of customer backlash that caused Netflix stock to plunge.Netflix subscribers quit the service in droves last week after the unexpected increase.

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There's a 1 In 3,200 Chance A Satellite Might Hit A Human This Week

NASA is closely watching a six-ton satellite as it prepares to fall to Earth. Scientists believe the dead satellite will hit on Thursday or Friday of this week, give-or-take a day, and they believe it'll break up into 26 pieces as it gets closer. The odds of one of those pieces — the heaviest will be about 350 lbs. — hitting a person are 1 in 3,200. Right now, all continents except Antarctica are likely to see some falling debris. (NASA)