On October 7, 2011 at approximately 3:33 am, Officers of the Salisbury Police received a call to respond to the area of Alabama Avenue and Beauchamp Street for the report of a rape. Upon arrival the officers met with an adult female victim who advised that while in a parking lot at the end of Alabama Avenue she was accosted by a lone suspect. The victim stated that the suspect produced a knife and forced her to re-locate to an area away from the parking lot where she was raped. The suspect then fled from the area on foot.
Salisbury officers established a perimeter and immediately began a search. The officers, along with the assistance of Salisbury K-9 Miso apprehended the suspect after a substantial foot chase. The suspect, listed below, has been identified by Detectives as responsible for the rape. The victim was transported to the Peninsula Regional Medical Center for treatment and was released. The investigation also revealed that the suspect was responsible for an earlier attempted assault on an adult female in the area of the Super Giant food store on South Salisbury Boulevard.
Chief Duncan commended the officers of the Salisbury Police Department, the Wicomico County State’s Attorney’s Office, the Salisbury University Police and the Wicomico Bureau of Investigation who worked to bring this case to a successful conclusion.
This investigation is continuing.
ARRESTED: Devron David Holloway-Smith, 19 years of age
Marion Station, Maryland
CHARGES: First degree rape
Second degree rape
First degree assault
Second degree assault
First degree sexual assault
Second degree sexual assault
Reckless endangerment
Theft
Trespassing
Malicious destruction of property
DISPOSITION: Released to Central Booking
CC $ 201100039351
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
Friday, October 07, 2011
Are Debit Card Fees Meant to Get Consumers to Use Credit Cards More?
Why are Bank of America and other financial institutions charging new monthly fees for debit card usage? The move has predictably caused a backlash, and the net result may be that fewer customers will keep using debit cards at all. Could that be the point?
At first glance, the purpose of debit card fees is pretty obvious: As Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan told CNN Money, the company has “a right to make a profit,” and the new fees provide increased, regular monthly revenues. In the past, debit cards have been enormously profitable for banks. More recently, it doesn’t look quite as easy for banks to make piles of cash via debit cards because reform measures have changed the rules regarding interchange fees and overdraft policies. To make up for the expected loss in revenues, some banks are passing along new monthly fees to customers who simply want to use their debit cards.
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At first glance, the purpose of debit card fees is pretty obvious: As Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan told CNN Money, the company has “a right to make a profit,” and the new fees provide increased, regular monthly revenues. In the past, debit cards have been enormously profitable for banks. More recently, it doesn’t look quite as easy for banks to make piles of cash via debit cards because reform measures have changed the rules regarding interchange fees and overdraft policies. To make up for the expected loss in revenues, some banks are passing along new monthly fees to customers who simply want to use their debit cards.
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Wheaton's (Unofficial) Homecoming For Gay Evangelicals
When José Vilanova graduated from Wheaton College in 1989, he assumed he wouldn't be going back to visit his alma mater — known as the Harvard of Evangelical schools — either by himself or, God forbid, with his gay partner. Like most Evangelical colleges, Wheaton maintains that homosexuality is not God's design for humanity. That's why Vilanova felt like he couldn't come out at the suburban-Chicago college.
The need for secrecy, plus the fact that he was a low-income minority student at an expensive, mostly white school, contributed to his feeling of not belonging on campus. "Being Latino, poor and gay was this spectacular triple threat of wrongness," says Vilanova, who teaches religion and media courses at Miami's Florida International University. And so, after all of his friends at Wheaton had graduated, he says, "I had zero reason to go back."
Sarah Palin Says Criticism Of Hank Williams Jr. Is "Disgusting"
Country music star Hank Williams Jr is the victim of double standard after being dumped by ESPN for comparing President Obama to Hitler, Fox News analyst Sarah Palin said Thursday.
"Hank Williams and what he is going through now, I think it's a very clear illustration of a greater societal problem and that is the hypocrisy on the left -- the liberals who can throw these stones at a conservative and they knowing that they're not going to be held accountable," Palin told Fox colleague Sean Hannity on his radio show Thursday.
Williams, the son of country music legend Hank Williams who died in 1953, was the voice behind ESPN's Monday Night Football opening song which included the words "are you ready for some football?" for decades.
Shazam! Esurance Now Owned By Allstate
Esurance, the insurance company known for its online quotes and annoying commercials, is now officially part of Allstate, after the larger company announced that it has completed the $1 billion acquisition.
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BREAKING NEWS: Brewers Advance To NLCS
Milwaukee Brewers beat Arizona Diamondbacks to advance to the National League Championship Series.
Owners of Zuccotti Park Say Conditions Unsanitary From Wall Street Protests
Owners of New York City's Zuccotti Park may be starting to get fed up with it being occupied.
Brookfield Office properties, the firm that owns the central location for the Occupy Wall Street protests, has released a statement claiming that they have not been able to properly maintain the park and that sanitation has become a growing concern.
"Because many of the protestors refuse to cooperate by adhering to the [park] rules, the park has not been cleaned since Friday, September 16th, and as a result, sanitary conditions have reached unacceptable levels," said in a written statement by the property management firm.
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Brookfield Office properties, the firm that owns the central location for the Occupy Wall Street protests, has released a statement claiming that they have not been able to properly maintain the park and that sanitation has become a growing concern.
"Because many of the protestors refuse to cooperate by adhering to the [park] rules, the park has not been cleaned since Friday, September 16th, and as a result, sanitary conditions have reached unacceptable levels," said in a written statement by the property management firm.
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Cain In First With 20 Point Lead
The poll found that 38 percent of Republican primary voters said they would vote for Cain if the primary were held today. Eighteen percent said they would would vote for Romney, while 12 percent each said they would vote for Perry and Ron Paul. No other candidate attracted double-digit support.
Source
Obama Will Win If Republicans Pick Establishment Candidate
And the next President of the United States will be: teleprompter populist extraordinaire, Barack Obama.
Should the Republicans nominate one of the three current frontrunners – Mitt Romney, Rick Perry or Michelle Bachmann – Barack “Back-on-track” Obama wins (despite polls showing him with just a 41 percent approval rating) by playing the populist card he’s already begun to deal, forecasts Gerald Celente, Trends Journal publisher.
The President is already calling the bluff of his Republican foes, demanding a millionaire’s tax and daring a gridlocked Congress not to pass it.
“Warren Buffet’s secretary shouldn’t pay a higher tax rate than Warren Buffet,” Obama moralizes. “It is wrong that in the United States of America, a teacher, or a nurse, or a construction worker who earns $50,000 should pay higher tax rates than someone pulling in $50 million.”
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Should the Republicans nominate one of the three current frontrunners – Mitt Romney, Rick Perry or Michelle Bachmann – Barack “Back-on-track” Obama wins (despite polls showing him with just a 41 percent approval rating) by playing the populist card he’s already begun to deal, forecasts Gerald Celente, Trends Journal publisher.
The President is already calling the bluff of his Republican foes, demanding a millionaire’s tax and daring a gridlocked Congress not to pass it.
“Warren Buffet’s secretary shouldn’t pay a higher tax rate than Warren Buffet,” Obama moralizes. “It is wrong that in the United States of America, a teacher, or a nurse, or a construction worker who earns $50,000 should pay higher tax rates than someone pulling in $50 million.”
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Organizer Admits To Paying ‘Occupy DC’ Protesters [VIDEO]
A liberal organizer told the Daily Caller on Thursday afternoon that he paid some Hispanics to attend “Occupy DC” protests happening in the nation’s capital.
TheDC attended the protest event, an expansion of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement that began in New York City. Some aspects of the protest, it turned out, are more Astroturf than grassroots.
One group of about ten Hispanic protesters marched behind a Caucasian individual from the DC Tenants Advocacy Coalition, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting rent control in Washington, D.C.
Asked why they were there, some Hispanic protesters holding up English protest signs could not articulate what their signs said.
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TheDC attended the protest event, an expansion of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement that began in New York City. Some aspects of the protest, it turned out, are more Astroturf than grassroots.
One group of about ten Hispanic protesters marched behind a Caucasian individual from the DC Tenants Advocacy Coalition, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting rent control in Washington, D.C.
Asked why they were there, some Hispanic protesters holding up English protest signs could not articulate what their signs said.
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Today's Top Stories 10-7-11
BLOOMBERG
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney says he will offer a more assertive foreign policy than President Barack Obama, promising increased military spending, a strong deterrent against Iran and an investment in missile defense systems.
President Obama is scheduled to confer today with U.S. Senate Democratic leaders on a strategy for getting a vote on a $447 billion jobs plan that he said would give the economy the “jolt” it needs to spark hiring.
Ireland aims to be the first of three bailed-out euro-area countries to exit their rescue program, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny said.
Pacific Investment Management Co.’s Bill Gross said employment gains in September that were almost double analysts’ forecasts aren’t enough to sustain growth in the U.S. economy. The economy needs 200,000 to 250,000 new jobs per month to expand.
Canada’s economy added the most jobs in eight months in September, led by hiring at schools, bringing the country’s jobless rate to its lowest since 2008 and adding to evidence the country is averting a new recession.
Payrolls climbed by 103,000 after a revised 57,000 increase the prior month, Labor Department data showed. The gain reflected the return to work of 45,000 telecommunications employees. The jobless rate held at 9.1 percent.
Investors withdrew about $113 million from U.S. municipal-bond mutual funds in the week through yesterday, Lipper US Fund Flows said today.
Italian bonds declined, erasing yesterday’s gains, amid fading optimism that euro-area officials are near to resolving the region’s debt crisis. German bunds fell after a U.S. report showed employers added more jobs last month than economists forecast. Portugal’s bonds slid as Moody’s said it cut the ratings on nine of the nation’s banks. Spanish bonds gained as the European Central Bank was said to buy the nation’s securities along with those of Italy.
AP Top Stories
Demonstrators filled Freedom Plaza in Washington for a peaceful afternoon protest against war and other causes, including corporate greed.
Libyan government forces fired rounds of heavy artillery at Muammar Gaddafi's home town of Sirte on Friday as they launched their largest assault so far to capture the last major bastion of support for the deposed leader.
Syrian security forces opened fire at protesters in several parts of the country on Friday, killing at least eight people and wounding scores, while a leading opposition figure was beaten up by pro-government gunmen and rushed to a hospital in Damascus, activist said.
Molly Katchpole, the 22-year-old Bank of America customer who organized a grassroots campaign against the new $5 debit card fee, delivered more than 153,000 petitions to a bank branch in D.C.
No major medical group recommends routine PSA blood tests to check men for prostate cancer, and now a government panel is saying they do more harm than good and healthy men should no longer receive the tests as part of routine cancer screening.
A Zogby poll showed Herman Cain leading the Republican field, topping former front-runner Mitt Romney by an astonishing 20 points.Cain would also narrowly edge out Obama in a general election, the poll found, by a 46 to 44 margin.
Wholesale businesses increased their stockpiles of autos, computer equipment and heavy machinery in August, boosting inventories for a 20th straight month as their sales rose at the fastest pace in five months.
Home Ownership: Biggest Drop Since Great Depression
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The percentage of Americans who owned their homes has seen its biggest decline since the Great Depression, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The rate of home ownership fell to 65.1% in April 2010, 1.1 percentage points lower than it was in 2000. The decline was the biggest drop since the 1930s, when home ownership plunged 4.2%.
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The rate of home ownership fell to 65.1% in April 2010, 1.1 percentage points lower than it was in 2000. The decline was the biggest drop since the 1930s, when home ownership plunged 4.2%.
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Tiger Makes Cut, Shoots A 68
Woods ran off three straight birdies early in his round and survived a bumpy patch in the middle for a 3-under 68 on Friday in the Frys.com Open. He was seven shots behind Paul Casey, making a revival of his own.
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LATEST POLL RESULTS
Nervous American Voters Worried About Botching Another Election
WASHINGTON—According to a Rasmussen poll released Thursday, nearly all American voters share a deeply held fear of botching another election in 2012, with the majority admitting that selecting candidates suitable for public office is something they are just not very good at.“When I think about how bad things are already, I can’t help but worry that it’s going to get infinitely worse once we step into the voting booth next November,” said Gavin Daniels, 34, of Columbus, OH, one of 1,200 registered voters who participated in the survey. “This country has repeatedly screwed itself over at the ballot box, and I have this really sickening, unshakable feeling we’re going to do it again next year. That’s just sort of what we do.”
“I keep asking myself, ‘Am I going to completely fuck things up by dropping the ball on my vote for president and sending someone patently corrupt or incompetent to Congress?” he continued. “And the answer for me and millions of other American voters is yeah, probably. God knows we do almost every time.”
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Government Tells Power Plants To Go Ahead And Pollute More
Proposing to relax emissions standards for power plants in 10 states, the Environmental Protection Agency is allowing power plants to send more pollution across state lines than previously allowed. And plants that ignore the relaxed Cross-State Air Pollution Rule guidelines and keep on going pollution-crazy won't have to pay any penalties until 2014 rather than previously-planned 2012.
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330 lb Man Donates $5 To Fight Childhood Obesity For Every Pound He Loses
Some people want to look good for the beach. Others want to be able to enjoy their favorite sport again. Hank, who started his journey at 335 pounds, is motivating his weight loss goal by donating $5 for every pound he loses to a local non-profit that fights childhood obesity.
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T-Mobile Can't Cut Prices Because That Would Prove They Are Competing With AT&T
Last spring when the first Senate hearings were held regarding AT&T's pending purchase of T-Mobile USA, the folks at the Death Star repeatedly stated that they weren't trying to eliminate competition because they don't view the much smaller T-Mobile as competition. Unfortunately for T-Mobile, having to keep up that charade while AT&T fights the Justice Dept.'s attempt to block the deal could result in the loss of millions of customers.
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The TSA: Protecting Us From Bald Women And Artificial Knees
"She then said, ‘And if we don’t clear you, you don’t fly’ loud enough for other passengers to hear. And they did. And they stared at the bald woman being yelled at by a TSA [Transportation Security Administration] Supervisor," writes the "bald woman," Lori Dorn.
Ms. Dorn is a consultant in "human resources" who underwent "a bilateral mastectomy in April and had tissue expanders put in to make way for reconstruction at a later date." She was flying out of New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport last week when the TSA pounced on her, as it has countless other survivors of cancer.
Though Ms. Dorn had submitted to the TSA’s pornographic and carcinogenic "imaging scanner," she "was asked to step aside to have my breast area examined." Perhaps this will disabuse the serfs once and for all of the fallacy that posing in these gizmos rescues them from the TSA’s punitive "patdowns"; you do "choose" to be either ogled or groped, whatever the TSA implies.
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Ms. Dorn is a consultant in "human resources" who underwent "a bilateral mastectomy in April and had tissue expanders put in to make way for reconstruction at a later date." She was flying out of New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport last week when the TSA pounced on her, as it has countless other survivors of cancer.
Though Ms. Dorn had submitted to the TSA’s pornographic and carcinogenic "imaging scanner," she "was asked to step aside to have my breast area examined." Perhaps this will disabuse the serfs once and for all of the fallacy that posing in these gizmos rescues them from the TSA’s punitive "patdowns"; you do "choose" to be either ogled or groped, whatever the TSA implies.
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Quote Of The Day 10-7-11
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”
- Isaac Asimov, column in Newsweek (21 January 1980).
More Cantaloupe Recalled For Listeria Fear
DEPEW, N.Y. — A western New York distributor has recalled 4,800 packages containing cantaloupe because of possible listeria contamination connected to the larger recall of the fruit from a farm in Colorado.
Fruit Fresh Up Inc. of Depew says they were sold in the Buffalo area through stores and caterers between Aug. 31 and Sept. 11. They were labeled Cantaloupe Chunks, Cantaloupe Slices, Gourmet Fruit Salad, Small Fruit Salad, Small and Large Fruit Salad with Pineapple, Fruit Salad with Kiwi, and Fruit Trays. Authorities say no illnesses have been reported so far. Consumers should return or destroy any fruit they still have.
No Prostate Test: 'Throwing Baby Out With Bath Water'
CHICAGO — An influential panel's recommendation against routine prostate cancer screening in healthy men has prompted worries the move will increase cancer deaths.
he U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the same group that recommended doctors scale back on mammograms for women, is thinking of recommending against use of the prostate-specific antigen or PSA test.
The task force, an independent panel appointed by the federal government, plans to give a common blood test known as the PSA test a rating of "D," suggesting there is moderate or high certainty that the test has no net benefit or that the harms outweigh the benefits. The draft report was obtained by The Cancer Letter newsletter and is scheduled to be published Tuesday.
Boy Steals Mother's SUV And Crashes It Into Phoenix House
PHOENIX – A 10-year-old boy stole his mother's SUV and drove it through south Phoenix Thursday night, narrowly missing a group of children before crashing into a house.
Police said two other children were also in the car at the time of the crash, which occurred moments after officers saw the vehicle rolling erratically through the city.
"There's another child in the passenger seat if I'm not mistaken, his age was 12 and then there's a child in the backseat that's five," said Phoenix Police Sgt. Mark Humbles.
Iraq War Vet Fights For Return Of Children Taken by Estranged Wife To Japan
When veteran Michael Elias was serving in Iraq in 2008, he longed for the day when he could return home to his wife and two children in New Jersey.
When that day finally came, he was not ready for the nightmare he has endured for the past three years.
His marriage soon fell apart and his wife, Mayumi Nakamura, did the unthinkable when she violated a Bergen County court order and fled in December 2008 with the couple's 2-year-old son, Michael, and 4-year-old daughter, Jade, back to her native Japan. In Japan, a lack of child-custody laws means Elias, a former sergeant of the United States Marine Corps, has basically lost all rights to see his children or have them return stateside.
“Winning The Future”
I know this is supposed to be the smartest administration ever, but if I were running a campaign with a fairly unpopular incumbent, the last thing I’d do is have a re-election slogan whose initials were:
“WTF”
AOL News Boss Takes Sides in Wall Street Protest
A leading force in online journalism appears to be making a strong effort to be anything but fair and balanced.
Arianna Huffington, president and editor-in-chief of AOL Huffington Post Media Group, has become a full-on supporter of the Occupy Wall Street protests — injecting her endorsement of the demonstrations into her media outlets’ coverage of the events in lower Manhattan.
The media baroness has been tweeting and re-tweeting up a storm in support of the Occupy Wall Street protesters, and she’s been taking shots at the Tea Party and Fox News in the process.
Revealed: Why You’re Not Where You Thought You’d Be By Now
Do you ever compare yourself to other people your age and feel like you don’t measure up?
Do you look at your life and think you should be “further along“ by now?
Do you know that this kind of thinking is precisely what is holding you back?
Two Vehicle Accident
Real Estate Auction Of A Snow Hill, MD Bed & Breakfast- Oct. 8, 2011
OWNER RELOCATING
AUCTION: October 8, 2011 @ 10 AM – ON-SITE
OPEN HOUSE: Sunday OCT. 2nd from 2-4 PM
Snow Hill Maryland Bed and Breakfast
Personal Property (Art, Furniture, Collectibles, etc.) to Auction as well! Click here to view details!
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Maryland Business PAC Starts To Refill Its Coffers
Maryland Business for Responsive Government kicked off the revival of its dormant political action committee Tuesday with the hope of raising $250,000 to spend on state elections in 2014.
With that much money behind it, the MBRG effort to refuel the Business Leadership PAC would more than fill a void left earlier this year when the Maryland Chamber of Commerce mothballed its affiliated committee.
The leadership PAC will “unify our voices and consolidate our resources so we can have a voice in Annapolis,” said PAC Chairman Caleb Ewing Jr. to the crowd of about 100 before they ate their $175-per-plate salmon and steak at the BWI Airport Marriott.
“The businesses in Maryland can’t afford to continue to be an ATM for the state,” he said.
Tuesday’s attendees included Annapolis lobbyist Bruce C. Bereano, retired Maryland Retailers Association President Tom Saquella, Republican fundraiser Dick Hug and former House Minority Leader Ellen Sauerbrey, a two-time gubernatorial candidate and now co-chair of MBRG.
There was also a large segment of the Republican bloc in the General Assembly in the crowd, including at least 13 delegates and six senators, among them Senate Minority Leader Nancy Jacobs of Harford and Cecil counties.
“It’s just important that we have a business presence in Annapolis. They’re not being heard,” said Sen. Allan H. Kittleman, the Howard County Republican who preceded Jacobs as minority leader. “The chamber does what they can do but they need help. The unions are awfully powerful in Annapolis.”
The influence of labor unions was a prominent theme for John Fund, a Wall Street Journal columnist and Fox News contributor.
“I’ve followed Maryland politics,” Fund said. “It’s a challenge.”
But, he said the economic malaise and weight of budget crunches at the national, state and local levels can force a “different conversation with the electorate,” one that could lead small-government reforms a right-leaning audience like the one he addressed Tuesday would support.
“The old platitudes and old placating won’t do,” Fund said. “We’ve run out of time and we’ve run out of money.”
MBRG President Kim Burns said the organization plans to hold one fundraiser a year to fill the PAC. Figures from Tuesday’s event were not immediately made available.
The PAC will make contributions to candidates for governor, comptroller, senator, delegate and, potentially, attorney general, Burns said.
“It’s become clearer and clearer to us the business community needs a bigger voice in Annapolis,” she said.
PACs in Maryland can skirt the contribution limits of $4,000 per candidate and $10,000 per election cycle by making independent expenditures in a race and transferring money to political committees. Transfers are limited to $6,000 per committee.
Chamber President and CEO Kathleen T. Snyder said the board of the Maryland Chamber PAC decided in January to let the fund go fallow. The PAC was nearly emptied during the 2010 election cycle.
Chamber members looking to donate will be directed to the MBRG fund, Snyder said, and the committees will even share some leadership — Betty Buck, president of Buck Distributing Co. in Upper Marlboro, chaired the chamber’s PAC board and now serves on the board of the Business Leadership PAC.
The chamber PAC spent $24,000 last year, according to campaign finance records maintained by the University of Maryland Center for American Politics and Citizenship. Donations were spread to the campaigns of 10 Democrats and six Republicans, including party leaders and the heads of key committees and subcommittees. The chamber PAC spent $36,000 in 2006.
“The PAC board and our board thought we should let it become inactive for the upcoming cycle. Because of the recession it was getting harder to raise money,” Snyder said. “Some of the larger companies have their own PACs, and some of the smaller companies were saying, ‘We just can’t afford to do this right now.’”
She said the PAC endorsements could sometimes make harder the jobs of the four registered chamber lobbyists, the largest business lobbying group in Annapolis.
“Sometimes if the PAC endorses one candidate and another is elected, they have very long memories,” Snyder said.
Looking For Places To Take The Kids For Halloween Frights?
Kids fun too! (just earlier), Kids costume contest at 7:30, Kids games and crafts beginning at 4pm to 7:30. Even if you can't find a sitter to enjoy the Adult party, you don't have to miss out on the dinner...since the kids can have fun too!
Help us say Goodbye to 2011!
USCG Princess Grace About To Be Put To Rest
Unfortunately I was not in the Office at the time this ship came through the draw bridges but several witnesses informed me they had about a half an inch on either side to get it through. Other witnesses told me once they saw how huge the ship was, they turned their vehicle around and took another route home.
One thing I do know, the Coast Guard used every single inch of life out of this ship. The Government doesn't give the Coast Guard a whole lot of money for new things and they are usually the recipient of what the Navy doesn't want any more. That being said, I'm sure this ship has seen many ports in its time, including its last, Salisbury, Maryland.
Maryland's Millionaires May Feel Sting Of 'Buffett Rule'
WASHINGTON - In Maryland, a state with the nation's second-highest concentration of millionaires, there are a lot of eyes on President Obama's push for a "Buffet Rule" tax on the wealthiest Americans.
Details are still sketchy on the president's plan, but Maryland multimillionaire Ted Leonsis — an Obama supporter — is among those already bristling.
"Economic Success has somehow become the new boogie (sic) man," Leonsis, who declined to be interviewed, wrote in a Sept. 25 blog post, noting that he has already given the maximum contribution to Obama's re-election campaign.
"(S)ome in the Democratic party are now casting about for enemies and business leaders and anyone who has achieved success in terms of rank or fiscal success is being cast as a bad guy in a black hat," said the owner of the Washington Capitals, Wizards, Mystics and the Verizon Center.
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Details are still sketchy on the president's plan, but Maryland multimillionaire Ted Leonsis — an Obama supporter — is among those already bristling.
"Economic Success has somehow become the new boogie (sic) man," Leonsis, who declined to be interviewed, wrote in a Sept. 25 blog post, noting that he has already given the maximum contribution to Obama's re-election campaign.
"(S)ome in the Democratic party are now casting about for enemies and business leaders and anyone who has achieved success in terms of rank or fiscal success is being cast as a bad guy in a black hat," said the owner of the Washington Capitals, Wizards, Mystics and the Verizon Center.
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Bi-National Gay Couple Facing Separation By Deportation
A Philadelphia couple that got married in D.C. in June is facing separation Friday, when Anton Tanumihardja is scheduled to be deported.
Tanumihardja can’t be sponsored for residency because that option doesn’t exist for same-sex couples, NBCPhiladelphia.com reported.
Tanumihardja came to the U.S. from Indonesia on a tourist visa in 2002 and later had his application for political asylum denied. He was scheduled to leave his partner, Brian Andersen, and this country in February but was granted a temporary reprieve.
“He is a gay man who has had the opportunity to live openly as a gay man in Philadelphia. And now he's going back to live where in order to survive, you cannot be open," Lavi Soloway, the couple’s attorney, told CNN in February.
Eight months later, Tanumihardja’s time is up again.
Twisted Government Accounting Behind Postal Service Woes
You might have heard that the United States Postal Service is in trouble: that it's losing billions, that it will have to end Saturday service and close branches — and most inflammatory, that it might need a government bailout. Perhaps you heard that the Postal Service couldn't pay $5.5 billion bill that came due Sept. 30 and that only an emergency postponement saved it from the government's equivalent of default.
In fact, it's the Postal Service that’s currently bailing out the U.S. government. Politicians have been raiding Postal Service revenues for years, using them to make the federal deficit appear smaller than it really is. The fiscal gyrations are so twisted that the Postal Service is right now forced to pre-pay health care benefits for employees the agency hasn't even hired yet — in fact, for many future employees who haven't even been born yet — all to artificially shrink the federal deficit.
It's these crushing accounting tricks, not the cost of delivering mail, that has pushed this 200-year-old institution to the brink.
Welcome to the wacky world of Washington, D.C., accounting.
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In fact, it's the Postal Service that’s currently bailing out the U.S. government. Politicians have been raiding Postal Service revenues for years, using them to make the federal deficit appear smaller than it really is. The fiscal gyrations are so twisted that the Postal Service is right now forced to pre-pay health care benefits for employees the agency hasn't even hired yet — in fact, for many future employees who haven't even been born yet — all to artificially shrink the federal deficit.
It's these crushing accounting tricks, not the cost of delivering mail, that has pushed this 200-year-old institution to the brink.
Welcome to the wacky world of Washington, D.C., accounting.
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Flying Relatives Home On United For The Holidays? Better Just Send Them A Check
When Cindy purchased her adult daughter's plane tickets to visit for the holidays, she didn't realize that United would rather have her just send her daughter the cash. At least, that's the only logical explanation for the rule she learned about only after the purchase was complete: the credit card used to buy the tickets must be available at check-in. How is Cindy's daughter supposed to present her credit card?
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US Needs To Generate 261,200 Jobs Per Month To Return To Pre-Depression Employment By End Of Obama Second Term
Every few months we rerun an analysis of how many jobs the US economy has to generate to return to the unemployment rate as of December 2007 when the Great Financial Crisis started, by the end of Obama's potential second term in November 2016. This calculation takes into account the historical change in Payroll and includes the 90,000/month natural growth to the labor force, and extrapolates into the future. And every time we rerun this calculation, the number of jobs that has to be created to get back to baseline increases: First it was 245,500 in April, then 250,000 in June, then 254,000 in July. As of today, following the just announced "beat" of meager NFP expectations, this number has has just risen to an all time high 261,200. This means that unless that number of jobs is created each month for the next 5 years, America will have a higher unemployment rate in October 2016 than it did in December 2007. How realistic is it that the US economy can create 16.2 million jobs in the next 62 months? We leave that answer up to the US electorate.
Source
When Will Fall Begin?
You're not the only one to pick up on the late-changing fall foliage. The federal government has noticed, too. An ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey said fall remains a mystery, and it isn't clear what is causing trees to hold onto their color. Researchers at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center partnered with Seoul National University in South Korea and used satellites to show the end of the growing season was delayed by six-and-a-half days from 1982 to 2008 in the Northern Hemisphere. The Geological Survey is working with NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, watching the change of seasons from space, by focusing on Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.
It Is Dangerous To Be Right When The Government Is Wrong
Where Do Our Rights Come From?
After a trip to the American Midwest in 1959, Nikita Khrushchev, then the ruler of the Soviet Union, became convinced that corn could solve many of the USSR’s economic woes. Russia had long struggled with miserably inadequate food supplies, the result of years of inept Communist agricultural policies. Having witnessed the wild success of corn production in America, Khrushchev reasoned that the grain could be equally successful in Russia, and thus support increased meat and dairy production necessary to feed the population. He therefore commanded that vast swaths of land, including the frigid tundra of Siberia, be converted to corn crops. As it turned out, corn was entirely unsuitable to the Russian climate, and the plan was a complete disaster.
The reason, of course, that the policy failed was Khrushchev’s ignorance of the immutable fact – the self-evident truth – that corn can only be grown under certain conditions, and Russia’s climate did not provide them. The cost of this misjudgment was wasted resources and prolonged hunger. It is obvious that politicians must enact laws which are in accord with such "truths." If they do not, then the inevitable consequence is human suffering. There are some things which humans and their constructed governments simply cannot change; that is to say, those things transcend our human capacities and cannot be the object of our will. Individuals and governments are thus always secondary and subject to these truths.
What are these truths, but "natural laws"? What other laws are there, with which human commands must accord? As we shall see, there are natural rights every human possesses by virtue of being human which protect our essential "yearnings" from government interference. And as we shall also see, manmade laws are only valid to the extent that they comport with and are subject to these natural rights. This is all known as the Natural Law.
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After a trip to the American Midwest in 1959, Nikita Khrushchev, then the ruler of the Soviet Union, became convinced that corn could solve many of the USSR’s economic woes. Russia had long struggled with miserably inadequate food supplies, the result of years of inept Communist agricultural policies. Having witnessed the wild success of corn production in America, Khrushchev reasoned that the grain could be equally successful in Russia, and thus support increased meat and dairy production necessary to feed the population. He therefore commanded that vast swaths of land, including the frigid tundra of Siberia, be converted to corn crops. As it turned out, corn was entirely unsuitable to the Russian climate, and the plan was a complete disaster.
The reason, of course, that the policy failed was Khrushchev’s ignorance of the immutable fact – the self-evident truth – that corn can only be grown under certain conditions, and Russia’s climate did not provide them. The cost of this misjudgment was wasted resources and prolonged hunger. It is obvious that politicians must enact laws which are in accord with such "truths." If they do not, then the inevitable consequence is human suffering. There are some things which humans and their constructed governments simply cannot change; that is to say, those things transcend our human capacities and cannot be the object of our will. Individuals and governments are thus always secondary and subject to these truths.
What are these truths, but "natural laws"? What other laws are there, with which human commands must accord? As we shall see, there are natural rights every human possesses by virtue of being human which protect our essential "yearnings" from government interference. And as we shall also see, manmade laws are only valid to the extent that they comport with and are subject to these natural rights. This is all known as the Natural Law.
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TSA Installing 300 New Body Scanners
The Transportation Security Administration is installing 300 new body-imaging machines in 29 small and regional airports. That will make a total of 101 airports with the new gear. The millimeter wave machines have software designed to spot hidden metal objects without showing details of people's anatomy. The administration has requested funds to buy another 275 machines this year.
Libertarian Wall Street Protesters Demand End To The Fed
George Washington’s Blog gets the big picture, not like the myopic MSM and the old farts on this site who see a Soros conspiracy behind every tree. Go back to watching that nutjob Glenn Beck. There are no restrictions on who can protest. You bunch of old cranky farts can sit in front of your computers and declare these protests meaningless, but that doesn’t change anything. The existing social order is in the midst of being overturned and you don’t even see it. Because you don’t want to see it. It makes you uneasy and worried. Too freaking bad. It’s going to happen whether you like it or not.
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WARNING, there is some language on this link you may not like.
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WARNING, there is some language on this link you may not like.
Wilmington Drops 2 Paid Holidays For Some Workers
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) -- The city of Wilmington has eliminated two paid holidays for some city employees, including Columbus Day, which means city offices will be open for business on Monday.
Wilmington Mayor James Baker announced Thursday night that Columbus Day and Lincoln's Birthday in February were eliminated and would be replaced by "floating days" that employees may use with approval over a calendar year.
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Wilmington Mayor James Baker announced Thursday night that Columbus Day and Lincoln's Birthday in February were eliminated and would be replaced by "floating days" that employees may use with approval over a calendar year.
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More Americans Moving In With Relatives To Save Money
With unemployment rates high and the economy still struggling, many Americans have moved in with relatives, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data. The result: the largest increase in the number of Americans living in multi-generational households in modern history.
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BREAKING NEWS: Fitch Downgrades Italy, Spain Ratings
Fitch lowered its credit rating on both Spain and Italy on Friday, cutting Spain's long-term rating to "AA-" from "AA+" and Italy’s to "A+" from "AA-."
While not entirely unexpected, the news took some of the momentum out of the stock market. The Dow is now off 20 points, having rallied earlier in the session.
From Fox News
While not entirely unexpected, the news took some of the momentum out of the stock market. The Dow is now off 20 points, having rallied earlier in the session.
From Fox News
Unemployment Stuck at 9.1 Percent in September;103,000 New Jobs Added
The nation's long jobs drought continued in September, with unemployment staying at 9.1 percent as the economy added 103,000 non-farm jobs, the Labor Department announced Friday.
Unemployment has remained sluggish all year after declining from a high of 10.1 percent in October 2009. While there was improvement during 2010, it has flatlined this year, according to Steven Leslie, lead analyst for financial services at the Economist Intelligence Unit.
Oracle Settles For $200 Million
Software giant Oracle Corporation has agreed to pay nearly $200 million plus interest to settle a false claims lawsuit. The suit concerned the contract Oracle held under the GSA's Multiple Awards Schedule program. The Justice Department said it's GSA's largest false claims settlement ever. The suit was first brought by a whistleblower, and later joined by the government. The suit claimed Oracle failed to give government customers the same discounts it gave commercial customers, as required under federal rules. Oracle denies the charges. A company spokesman said it elected to settle rather than face drawn-out litigation. The whistleblower is former employee Paul Frascella. As his share of the recovery, he receives 40 million dollars.
Tracked: The Supreme Court Shouldn't Let Technology Trump the Constitution
Yesterday we filed a friend-of-the-court briefin United States v. Jones, which Adam Liptakat The New York Times called "the most important Fourth Amendment case in a decade." We are asking the Supreme Court to hold that the government needs to establish probable cause and obtain a warrant before attaching a GPS device to a person's car and tracking their every move.
This case is one of the first in which the Supreme Court will grapple with the profound impact of new technologies on the privacy that Americans have always enjoyed and expected. It could shape whether the Fourth Amendment's protections from warrantless searches keep pace with new technologies, preserving our civil liberties into the 21st Century.
96-Year-Old Black Woman Denied Right to Vote in Tennessee
Dorothy Cooper is a 96-year-old black woman who lives in Chattanooga,Tennessee. She was recently denied a voter identification card because she didn’t have her marriage certificate available — the same card that’s required by the state to vote. This coming election may be the first one she misses in 50 years.
In February, all 20 Republicans and one Democrat in the state senate passed a measure requiring Tennessee voters show a driver’s licenses or other government-issued photo identification before casting a ballot. Democrats countered that the bill’s provisions would make it tougher to many of the 500,000 adult Tennesseans — many of them poor, elderly or handicapped — who have no state driver’s license.
In February, all 20 Republicans and one Democrat in the state senate passed a measure requiring Tennessee voters show a driver’s licenses or other government-issued photo identification before casting a ballot. Democrats countered that the bill’s provisions would make it tougher to many of the 500,000 adult Tennesseans — many of them poor, elderly or handicapped — who have no state driver’s license.
I WANNA BE THE MINORITY
I have the double pleasure of pissing off SSS with a Green Day song and an anthem that describes the Occupy Movement. It seems many older people can’t wrap their heads around what is happening. They are stuck in the past. They think the protestors are a bunch of losers. I find it funny that Boomers who looked like dirtbags during their 1960s heydey are heaping scorn on the way some of the protestors on Wall Street look. Classic Boomer.
What the old timers fail to realize is that the Majority will never change anything. It’s the Minority that change things. Denial and dreams of better times don’t mean shit. The world is on fire and opinions are not going to put the fire out.
What the old timers fail to realize is that the Majority will never change anything. It’s the Minority that change things. Denial and dreams of better times don’t mean shit. The world is on fire and opinions are not going to put the fire out.
BREAKING NEWS: Justice Dept. Seeks to Block Ala. Immigration Law
Department of Justice asks federal appeals court to block enforcement of
Alabama’s new immigration law
From Fox News
Alabama’s new immigration law
From Fox News
Bank Of England Increases QE By £75bn
(Financial Times) -- The Bank of England acted more swiftly and more decisively on Thursday than most economists had expected to inject a further round of stimulus into the economy, as its governor warned that the nation may be facing its "most serious financial crisis ever."
The Bank's Monetary Policy Committee voted for the first time since November 2009 to increase its purchases of gilts, this time by a further £75bn to £275bn. Many economists had expected the move, known as quantitative easing, to come in November after the MPC reviews its forecasts for growth and inflation and that it would opt for a more limited £50bn move.
Afghanistan, A Promotion In Tatters
It's a fantasy to think we are winning the war in Afghanistan ... Ten years after the West intervened to overthrow the Taliban regime, our strategy is still fatally flawed, argues a former ambassador to Kabul. 'Without a credible political product to offer people caught in the crossfire, no settlement will hold. – UK Telegraph
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OK 2 Text & Drive? 16 States Say Sure
It's no secret that texting while driving is risky, with a new Texas Transportation Institute study showing that composing or reading a text message can double a driver's reaction times. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says "drivers have a responsibility to put away these distracting devices every time they get behind the wheel," the Associated Press reported.
Occupy Wall Street: The Coordinated Promotion Continues
Confronting the Malefactors ... There's something happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear, but we may, at long last, be seeing the rise of a popular movement that, unlike the Tea Party, is angry at the right people ... When the Occupy Wall Street protests began three weeks ago, most news organizations were derisive if they deigned to mention the events at all. For example, nine days into the protests, National Public Radio had provided no coverage whatsoever. It is, therefore, a testament to the passion of those involved that the protests not only continued but grew, eventually becoming too big to ignore. With unions and a growing number of Democrats now expressing at least qualified support for the protesters, Occupy Wall Street is starting to look like an important event that might even eventually be seen as a turning point. – New York Times / Paul Krugman (left)
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Democrats Invoke ‘Nuclear Option’ in Senate
Democrats invoked the so-called “nuclear option” to change the rules in the U.S. Senate, bypassing Republicans and evading two difficult votes, including one on President Obama’s jobs bill.
The procedural precedent, which blocked Republicans from adding more amendments, could speed passage of a bill to punish China for currency manipulation.
It could also open a Pandora’s box, forever altering the traditions of the senate and its role on Capitol Hill.
The bickering was the culmination of months of arguments and fierce partisanship that revealed themselves tonight in a nasty fight over procedure that yielded little actual progress on legislation.
The Truth Could Cause Significant Damage
The charade: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner spoke before the House Financial Services Committee—chaired by Spencer Bachus, who'd declared in an interview last December that in "Washington, the view is that the banks are to be regulated, and my view is that Washington and the regulators are there to serve the banks."
Geithner was speaking on behalf of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, which he chairs. Established in July 2010, it was to come up with strategies that would ensure that the financial crisis wouldn't show up on our TV screens as reruns.
Now the reruns are here. Only the banks are bigger, the problems larger. The "solution" of the financial crisis—shifting trillions of dollars in risks and losses to taxpayers and central banks—is backfiring. What was largely a private-sector drama now engulfs entire countries. And while there are plenty of exciting financial subplots in the U.S., for the moment, the Eurozone is front and center.
"A severe crisis in Europe could cause significant damage by undermining confidence and weakening demand," Geithner said (Reuters [13]).
Confidence! A series of bank "stress tests" were supposed to suffuse us with a cozy sense of confidence in the banking sector—despite all the very obvious issues that were piling up left and right. The last desperate stress test was held in July in Europe. Dexia, which had already been bailed-out in 2008, passed with flying colors. Three months later, it goes kaput (Euro Tidbit: The Lies of 'Stress Tests' [14]). Other banks will follow.
If inspiring confidence isn't based on facts and transparency, it's a con game. And if the facts are awful, trying to pull a bag over our collective heads isn't going to help.
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Geithner was speaking on behalf of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, which he chairs. Established in July 2010, it was to come up with strategies that would ensure that the financial crisis wouldn't show up on our TV screens as reruns.
Now the reruns are here. Only the banks are bigger, the problems larger. The "solution" of the financial crisis—shifting trillions of dollars in risks and losses to taxpayers and central banks—is backfiring. What was largely a private-sector drama now engulfs entire countries. And while there are plenty of exciting financial subplots in the U.S., for the moment, the Eurozone is front and center.
"A severe crisis in Europe could cause significant damage by undermining confidence and weakening demand," Geithner said (Reuters [13]).
Confidence! A series of bank "stress tests" were supposed to suffuse us with a cozy sense of confidence in the banking sector—despite all the very obvious issues that were piling up left and right. The last desperate stress test was held in July in Europe. Dexia, which had already been bailed-out in 2008, passed with flying colors. Three months later, it goes kaput (Euro Tidbit: The Lies of 'Stress Tests' [14]). Other banks will follow.
If inspiring confidence isn't based on facts and transparency, it's a con game. And if the facts are awful, trying to pull a bag over our collective heads isn't going to help.
More
Housing Bust Worst Since Great Depression
The American dream of homeownership saw its biggest drop since the Great Depression, according to new census figures. The analysis found the homeownership rate fell to 65.1 percent last year.
Full Story
Full Story
Erratic Driver Dies in Crash With Police In Pursuit
The driver of a pickup being pursued by a state trooper was killed after running off the road and hitting a tree on Route 100 in Pasadena Wednesday.
The driver, who was alone in the blue 1998 Dodge Dakota, has not been identified. The truck was not his, but is not believed to have been stolen, state police said.
Jury: Grandmother Should Serve 35 Years
A jury recommended the Virginia grandmother who was convicted Thursday of the first-degree murder of her granddaughter serve 35 years in prison. Carmela dela Rosa, 50, will be sentenced on Jan. 6. At that time, the judge can reduce the term but not increase it.
Full Story
Full Story
Dobbins Island Dispute Goes To Md. High Court
Court of Appeals will weigh whether beach should remain available to the public
Lisa Bender spent her summers in the 1960s sailing to Dobbins Island in the Magothy River for some summer fun."You'd picnic, meet people and swim," the Severna Park woman said of her trips to a beach that she and many others considered to be a public place. In the 1990s, she began taking the next generation of her family there.
Then David and Diana Clickner bought the 7-acre island in 2004, with plans to make it their family home. They have no interest in hosting a summerlong party or in sharing the beach with uninvited strangers who often leave their trash behind. So in 2006, the Clickners erected a fence to mark their private property.
Did The Wicomico County States Attorneys Office Tip Off The Daily Times?
Because Todd has CLASS, he chose to use this image, rather than one with Ruark's hands in handcuffs as he passes by.
Nevertheless, I will never believe the SPD was a part of this tip off and while I hold no grudge and am proud of the fact that Todd was the one called, every one out there has to wonder who called and why.
This is now a private citizen with a peace order against him. I had several conversations with the local MSM talking about whether or not the original peace order should be news. In the end we all agreed, if it were anyone else there's no way we'd publish such information.
Politically, there's a small group of locals that enjoy such exposure. They think they'll fly under the radar but if I have my way I can assure you, they won't.
Has Davis Ruark made some mistakes, absolutely. There's no question about that. However, are some of these problems enhanced politically, you better believe they are. I have been at the opposite end of vindictiveness and each and every one of you know that. From the former Chief of Police, former Warden and former Mayor, I have had my share of problems and in the end, (against all odds) I beat each and every one of them.
So do sit tight before you in fact pass judgment. And think about this. With three lawsuits against me, did you really believe I'd win all three?
Classy work Todd, thank you.
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