If bankers are as smart as they are well paid, why don’t their overdraft fees work? Why don’t the fees discourage overdrafts? Why did these fees swell 17% in the last six years? Some observers figure consumers pay $30 billion in these fees. Could it be (cynicism alert!) that banks view these “penalties” as a lucrative source of revenue? Consider that the entire banking industry earned $119 billion in 2011 from all sources, sharpening the importance of overdraft fees.
Whether overdrafts derive from bad money management by customers, or calculated targeting by an industry with proven skills in this area, the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) aims to shed light. “Overdraft practices have the capacity to inflict serious economic harm on the people who can least afford it,” explains CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “We want to learn how consumers are affected, and how well they are able to anticipate and avoid paying penalty fees.”
In a conversation with Public Citizen February 28, CFPB official Corey Stone outlined the study he’ll help conduct. The assistant director explained that the agency will dive deeply into statistics to clarify a number of problems currently understood only by sampling or localized analysis.
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DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
Monday, March 05, 2012
Should The FDA Inspect Non-Meat Food Plants More Than Once A Decade?
Back in the day, slaughterhouses were the ones grabbing the attention when it came to health concerns and the need for inspectors from the U.S. Department of Agriculture on a regular basis to ensure food was safe. Now, the Food and Drug Administration checks in on most of what we eat — and they only inspect plants around once a decade, says one report.
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A Letter To The Editor: BP Credit Card Rip Off
Has anyone complained about the BP Business Credit Card Plan? We were sold a bill of goods, offerings of $0.041/2 -$0.06 1/5 cents per gallon discount on our BP Account PLUS and additional $0.01 ½ cent per gallon from all other gas stations AND the same as cash when using the BP card at all BP Stations. We moved all of our corporate 12 vehicles on to the new plan. From day one it was a disaster! We paid credit card prices at the pump, (not the cash price) we did not get the $0.4 ½ - $0. 06 ½ per gallon discount on our bills, nor did we get the other discount we were offered from any other gas stations. The expected savings cost us big time on our account.
We notified BP all the time and got a complete run around. The customer service department was indifferent and could care less. We were told to go to the originating gas station and complain to the manager. The manager says to call BP. We complained to BP on a daily basis. We got no where. Then, they can’t handle our e-mail address and CHARGE another $9.00 a month to mail the invoice. BP says you can save by using their corporate account, but don’t believe a word they say.
We notified BP all the time and got a complete run around. The customer service department was indifferent and could care less. We were told to go to the originating gas station and complain to the manager. The manager says to call BP. We complained to BP on a daily basis. We got no where. Then, they can’t handle our e-mail address and CHARGE another $9.00 a month to mail the invoice. BP says you can save by using their corporate account, but don’t believe a word they say.
The Legislative Agenda In Video
Following the State of the State, we received hundreds of questions from Marylanders across our State. In response, we recorded these videos to answer your questions and provide more information on Governor O’Malley’s 2012 Legislative agenda.
The first is a sit down question and answer session with Governor O’Malley where he talks about everything from teacher pensions to transportation investments to same-sex marriage.
Question and Answers with Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley
2012 Maryland Business Legislation Explanation
Legislative Priorities 2012
Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act of 2012
The first is a sit down question and answer session with Governor O’Malley where he talks about everything from teacher pensions to transportation investments to same-sex marriage.
Question and Answers with Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley
2012 Maryland Business Legislation Explanation
Legislative Priorities 2012
Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act of 2012
The Left Was Just As Nasty After Tony Snow Died As Breitbart
A friend emails, with results of a near-scientific experiment:
I just watched John Avlon’s Daily Beast commentary about the ugly tweets celebrating Andrew’s passing. His underlying logic, like some other commentary I’ve read, seems to accept that the vicious attacks from the left (which he counsels them to suppress out of good taste and decency) are a direct response to Andrew’s combative and aggressive personal[ity]. ‘It’s true, Andrew was a lightning rod. So, it’s natural, if regrettable, that you are reacting as you are. But try to contain yourself, people. Do the right thing, for goodness sake.’
Regretfully, I must remind these deans of civility that when Tony Snow announced that his cancer had returned, gleeful cheers rose up from prominent quarters of left. Tony, as absolutely everyone knew, was courtly, contained, a devout Evangelical Christian, whose unflappable public style could not have been more different than Andrew’s flamboyant, and, yes, often combative personality. It didn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. Low key, or fever pitch. The standard that counts is influence. If a conservative has it, they can expect to be savaged, even in death. And Andrew knew this.
Some examples:
1. In 2007, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow announced his cancer had returned. Commentators on the left-wing Daily Kos website remarked, “the world would be better off without him”.
2. Charles Karel Bouley offered these reflections for The Huffington Post before being gripped with second thoughts and deleting them:
I hear about Tony Snow and say to myself, well, stand up every day, lie to the American people at the behest of your dictator-esque boss and well, how could a cancer NOT grow in you. Work for Fox News, spinning the truth in to a billion knots and how can your gut not rot? I know, it’s terrible. I admit it. I don’t wish anyone harm, even Tony Snow. And I do hope he recovers or at least does what he feels is best and surrounds himself with friends and family for his journey.
But in the back of my head there’s Justin Timberlake’s “What goes around, goes around, comes around, comes all the way back around, ya..”
Now, I’ve been brutally honest above, and may have offended some, and for that I’m sorry. Again, I don’t want Tony Snow to suffer and die of cancer. But like many this morning, I had the thought.
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I just watched John Avlon’s Daily Beast commentary about the ugly tweets celebrating Andrew’s passing. His underlying logic, like some other commentary I’ve read, seems to accept that the vicious attacks from the left (which he counsels them to suppress out of good taste and decency) are a direct response to Andrew’s combative and aggressive personal[ity]. ‘It’s true, Andrew was a lightning rod. So, it’s natural, if regrettable, that you are reacting as you are. But try to contain yourself, people. Do the right thing, for goodness sake.’
Regretfully, I must remind these deans of civility that when Tony Snow announced that his cancer had returned, gleeful cheers rose up from prominent quarters of left. Tony, as absolutely everyone knew, was courtly, contained, a devout Evangelical Christian, whose unflappable public style could not have been more different than Andrew’s flamboyant, and, yes, often combative personality. It didn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. Low key, or fever pitch. The standard that counts is influence. If a conservative has it, they can expect to be savaged, even in death. And Andrew knew this.
Some examples:
1. In 2007, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow announced his cancer had returned. Commentators on the left-wing Daily Kos website remarked, “the world would be better off without him”.
2. Charles Karel Bouley offered these reflections for The Huffington Post before being gripped with second thoughts and deleting them:
I hear about Tony Snow and say to myself, well, stand up every day, lie to the American people at the behest of your dictator-esque boss and well, how could a cancer NOT grow in you. Work for Fox News, spinning the truth in to a billion knots and how can your gut not rot? I know, it’s terrible. I admit it. I don’t wish anyone harm, even Tony Snow. And I do hope he recovers or at least does what he feels is best and surrounds himself with friends and family for his journey.
But in the back of my head there’s Justin Timberlake’s “What goes around, goes around, comes around, comes all the way back around, ya..”
Now, I’ve been brutally honest above, and may have offended some, and for that I’m sorry. Again, I don’t want Tony Snow to suffer and die of cancer. But like many this morning, I had the thought.
More
Georgetown Student: Rush Is Right
(Georgetown,DC) - Am I the only one at Georgetown who is not upset with Rush right now?
His comments regarding Sandra Fluke, third year Law student at Georgetown University, are less outrageous when viewed in the real context of the debate on Obama’s mandate for religious institutions to include contraceptive coverage in their healthcare plans.
Fluke, in her own testimony before a Democratic panel, pointed out that the University covered birth control pills when used for the treatment of a medical condition. This is the key to understanding Limbaugh’s comments. When used for medicinal purposes and healthcare, Georgetown has no problem covering the expense of birth control under their insurance plan.
Fluke’s complaint was based on the fact that it was not covered for the use as a contraceptive, which would violate the Catholic church’s beliefs.
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His comments regarding Sandra Fluke, third year Law student at Georgetown University, are less outrageous when viewed in the real context of the debate on Obama’s mandate for religious institutions to include contraceptive coverage in their healthcare plans.
Fluke, in her own testimony before a Democratic panel, pointed out that the University covered birth control pills when used for the treatment of a medical condition. This is the key to understanding Limbaugh’s comments. When used for medicinal purposes and healthcare, Georgetown has no problem covering the expense of birth control under their insurance plan.
Fluke’s complaint was based on the fact that it was not covered for the use as a contraceptive, which would violate the Catholic church’s beliefs.
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Poet Paul Lisicky Is Next Writer-On-The-Shore Thursday, March 8
Poet Paul Lisicky continues Salisbury University’s spring Writers-on-the-Shore series, reading from his works 8 p.m. Thursday, March 8, in the Montgomery Room of the Commons. The author of Lawnboy, Famous Builder, The Burning House and the for thcoming Unbuilt Projects, Lisicky is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a National Endowment for the Arts award winner. His work has appeared in anthologies and magazines including Ploughshares, The Iowa Review, StoryQuarterly, The Seattle Review, Subtropics and Gulf Coast, among others.
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Kinchlow: The Black Two Percent
As GOP presidential rivals jockey for delegates and contemplate strategies for influencing “independents” and/or “undecideds,” one group of voters cost neither Obama nor the GOP candidates much concern, time or money – the GOP candidates, because they have no hope, and the Democrats, because they have no fear.
The group? The black vote, the 98 percent of African-Americans who consistently vote for Democrats.
What of the black 2 percent? No, I am not talking about blacks who earn the “vast sums” that the Occupy Wall Street crowd find so offensive (in others). I am talking about the real minority in America – you know, the “sell-outs,” those “Oreos,” “Handkerchief Heads,” “Clarences” (as in Justice Thomas), “inauthentic black” Uncle Toms – formerly coloreds, negroes, Afro-Americans – and now, as we are officially labeled, “African-Americans,” who vote Republican.
According to the U.S. Census, 42 million African-Americans comprise approximately 13 percent of the population. Of the approximately 16 million blacks who voted in the 2008 presidential election, 96-98 percent voted for Obama.
That’s not surprising, considering all the precedents this charismatic young black man shattered not only in the U.S. but for the entire Western world. (I am willing to stand corrected, but I cannot recall an elected black leader in any predominately white, European, English-speaking Western nation.)
Most people are unaware that from Lincoln to FDR, blacks voted for the Republican Party in the same percentages they now vote for Democrats. As they truly prized the value of their voting privileges, a much higher percentage of the population participated. For example, of the 42 million blacks, only 16 million voted in 2008.
Why do blacks overwhelmingly vote for Democrats – so much so that many no longer consider them merely voters but Democrat voters? Blacks vote for Democrats because they labor under the illusion that the Democrat Party supported – and was/is a champion of – civil rights victories for blacks. Three misconceptions, based primarily on this scenario, have been instigated and supported by both the black “leadership” and the mainstream media, black and white.
(Read about them here..)
[Ben Kinchlow is a minister, broadcaster, author and businessman. He was the long-time co-host of CBN's "700 Club" television program]
The group? The black vote, the 98 percent of African-Americans who consistently vote for Democrats.
What of the black 2 percent? No, I am not talking about blacks who earn the “vast sums” that the Occupy Wall Street crowd find so offensive (in others). I am talking about the real minority in America – you know, the “sell-outs,” those “Oreos,” “Handkerchief Heads,” “Clarences” (as in Justice Thomas), “inauthentic black” Uncle Toms – formerly coloreds, negroes, Afro-Americans – and now, as we are officially labeled, “African-Americans,” who vote Republican.
According to the U.S. Census, 42 million African-Americans comprise approximately 13 percent of the population. Of the approximately 16 million blacks who voted in the 2008 presidential election, 96-98 percent voted for Obama.
That’s not surprising, considering all the precedents this charismatic young black man shattered not only in the U.S. but for the entire Western world. (I am willing to stand corrected, but I cannot recall an elected black leader in any predominately white, European, English-speaking Western nation.)
Most people are unaware that from Lincoln to FDR, blacks voted for the Republican Party in the same percentages they now vote for Democrats. As they truly prized the value of their voting privileges, a much higher percentage of the population participated. For example, of the 42 million blacks, only 16 million voted in 2008.
Why do blacks overwhelmingly vote for Democrats – so much so that many no longer consider them merely voters but Democrat voters? Blacks vote for Democrats because they labor under the illusion that the Democrat Party supported – and was/is a champion of – civil rights victories for blacks. Three misconceptions, based primarily on this scenario, have been instigated and supported by both the black “leadership” and the mainstream media, black and white.
(Read about them here..)
[Ben Kinchlow is a minister, broadcaster, author and businessman. He was the long-time co-host of CBN's "700 Club" television program]
Is Banning Skinny Models A Legitimate Function Of Government?
Notwithstanding my post comparing stupid government policies in the U.S. and U.K., I thought the Greeks took to prize for most moronic government.
After all, the politicians in that nation think it’s fine and dandy to subsidize pedophiles and collect stool samples as a condition of getting a business license to set up an online company.
But the United Kingdom will reclaim the top spot (or would it be the bottom spot?) if the government follows through on the advice of two nanny-state academics.
Here’s a blurb from a story in the Telegraph.
Experts said the eating disorder was a disease that was linked to social and cultural influenced, the Guardian reported. The LSE academics said restricting the use of photographs of underweight models in magazines would help ease the pressure on women to be very thin. In a paper that will be published in the journal Economia later this year, LSE economist Dr Joan Costa-Font and Professor Mireia Jofre-Bonet from City University wrote: “Government intervention would be justified to curb the spread of a potential epidemic of food disorders.
Source
After all, the politicians in that nation think it’s fine and dandy to subsidize pedophiles and collect stool samples as a condition of getting a business license to set up an online company.
But the United Kingdom will reclaim the top spot (or would it be the bottom spot?) if the government follows through on the advice of two nanny-state academics.
Here’s a blurb from a story in the Telegraph.
Experts said the eating disorder was a disease that was linked to social and cultural influenced, the Guardian reported. The LSE academics said restricting the use of photographs of underweight models in magazines would help ease the pressure on women to be very thin. In a paper that will be published in the journal Economia later this year, LSE economist Dr Joan Costa-Font and Professor Mireia Jofre-Bonet from City University wrote: “Government intervention would be justified to curb the spread of a potential epidemic of food disorders.
Source
Dan Aykroyd Remembers John Belushi 30 Years After His Death
"He was my brother," the Blues Brother says of the comedian, who died on March 5, 1982, of a drug overdose at age 33.
On the 30th anniversary ofJohn Belushi's death, Dan Aykroyd is speaking out about his close friend and Blues Brothers co-star.
"What John leaves behind is his legacy of laughter and fun," Aykroyd tells HLN's Showbiz Tonight in an interview, adding: "He was my brother."
In a clip of the segment, slated to air Monday night at 11 p.m., Aykroyd reminisces about staying overnight with Belushi and his wife (although not in the same room). He and hisSaturday Night Live co-hort shared a love of the blues, and hatched the concept for TheBlues Brothers after meeting at Second City's Toronto outpost in the early 1970s.
Obama To Congressional Dems: You’re On Your Own, Chumps
First he spends lots of time campaigning against Congress, which is obviously meant to be about Republicans, but, catches Democrats up in the negativity, too. And now he refuses to share the wealth
(Politico) President Barack Obama has a bleak message for House and Senate Democrats this year when it comes to campaign cash: You’re on your own.
Democratic congressional leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, have privately sought as much as $30 million combined from Obama for America and the Democratic National Committee — a replay of the financial help they received from Obama in 2008 and 2010.
But that’s not going to happen, top Obama aides Jim Messina and David Plouffe told Reid and Pelosi in back-to-back meetings on Capitol Hill on Thursday, according to sources familiar with the high-level talks. It was a stark admission from a presidential campaign once expected to rake in as much as $1 billion of just how closely it is watching its own bottom line.
Messina and Plouffe told the two Hill leaders that there would be no cash transfers to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from OFA or the DNC, at least not before Election Day, the sources said.
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(Politico) President Barack Obama has a bleak message for House and Senate Democrats this year when it comes to campaign cash: You’re on your own.
Democratic congressional leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, have privately sought as much as $30 million combined from Obama for America and the Democratic National Committee — a replay of the financial help they received from Obama in 2008 and 2010.
But that’s not going to happen, top Obama aides Jim Messina and David Plouffe told Reid and Pelosi in back-to-back meetings on Capitol Hill on Thursday, according to sources familiar with the high-level talks. It was a stark admission from a presidential campaign once expected to rake in as much as $1 billion of just how closely it is watching its own bottom line.
Messina and Plouffe told the two Hill leaders that there would be no cash transfers to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from OFA or the DNC, at least not before Election Day, the sources said.
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Historian Williams Discusses 'Delaware And The Civil War' Thursday, March 8
Called a “border state” during the Civil War, Delaware had a surprisingly vocal Confederate presence, especially among its local leaders. Historian Stan Williams discusses the lives of some of the “movers and shakers” of Sussex County and their involvement in the war during the first half of the two-part lecture “Delaware and the Civil War.” His presentation is 7 p.m. Thursday, March 8, in the gallery of Salisbury University’s Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture, 190 Wayne St. Williams returns to lead the second part of the lecture next fall.
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30 Stupid Things The Government Is Spending Money On
If you want to get paid for doing something stupid, just turn to the U.S. government. The U.S. government is paying researchers to play video games, it is paying researchers to study the effects of cocaine on Japanese quail and it has spent millions of dollars to train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly. The amount of money that the government wastes is absolutely horrifying. Do you remember all of that political wrangling over the debt ceiling deal last year? Do you remember how our politicians told us that there were cutting spending as much as they possibly could? Well, it was all a giant lie. As you will see below, the U.S. government is spending money on some of the most stupid things imaginable. What makes all of this even worse is that we are going into enormous amounts of debt in order to pay for all of this. We are borrowing billions of dollars a day in order to pay for stupid stuff that no government on earth should ever be paying for. Trust me, you are going to find it hard to believe some of the stuff in this list. It is almost inconceivable what our politicians are doing with our tax dollars.
The following are 30 incredibly stupid things that the federal government is spending money on….
#1 The U.S. government is spending $750,000 on a new soccer field for detainees held at Guantanamo Bay.
#2 The Obama administration plans to spend between 16 and 20 million dollars helping students from Indonesia get master’s degrees.
#3 If you can believe it, the U.S. government has spent $175,587 “to determine if cocaine makes Japanese quail engage in sexually risky behavior”.
#4 The U.S. government spent $200,000 on “a tattoo removal program” in Mission Hills, California.
#5 The federal government has shelled out $3 million to researchers at the University of California at Irvine to fund their research on video games such as World of Warcraft. Wouldn’t we all love to have a “research job” like that?
#6 The Department of Health and Human Services plans to spend $500 million on a program that will, among other things, seek to solve the problem of 5-year-old children that “can’t sit still” in a kindergarten classroom.
#7 Fannie Mae is about to ask the federal government for another $4.6 billion bailout, and it will almost certainly get it.
#8 The federal government once spent 30 million dollars on a program that was designed to help Pakistani farmers produce more mangos.
#9 The U.S. Department of Agriculture once gave researchers at the University of New Hampshire $700,000 to study methane gas emissions from dairy cows.
#10 According to USA Today, 13 different government agencies “fund 209 different science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education programs — and 173 of those programs overlap with at least one other program.”
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The following are 30 incredibly stupid things that the federal government is spending money on….
#1 The U.S. government is spending $750,000 on a new soccer field for detainees held at Guantanamo Bay.
#2 The Obama administration plans to spend between 16 and 20 million dollars helping students from Indonesia get master’s degrees.
#3 If you can believe it, the U.S. government has spent $175,587 “to determine if cocaine makes Japanese quail engage in sexually risky behavior”.
#4 The U.S. government spent $200,000 on “a tattoo removal program” in Mission Hills, California.
#5 The federal government has shelled out $3 million to researchers at the University of California at Irvine to fund their research on video games such as World of Warcraft. Wouldn’t we all love to have a “research job” like that?
#6 The Department of Health and Human Services plans to spend $500 million on a program that will, among other things, seek to solve the problem of 5-year-old children that “can’t sit still” in a kindergarten classroom.
#7 Fannie Mae is about to ask the federal government for another $4.6 billion bailout, and it will almost certainly get it.
#8 The federal government once spent 30 million dollars on a program that was designed to help Pakistani farmers produce more mangos.
#9 The U.S. Department of Agriculture once gave researchers at the University of New Hampshire $700,000 to study methane gas emissions from dairy cows.
#10 According to USA Today, 13 different government agencies “fund 209 different science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education programs — and 173 of those programs overlap with at least one other program.”
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SU Celebrates Women's History Month Mar. 5-26
Salisbury University commemorates Women’s History Month 2012: Celebrating Diverse Women, the Jewels of the World with a series of presentations and films in March. Sponsored by the Women’s History Month Committee, offices of Cultural Affairs and Diversity, departments of Music and Communication Arts, the Center for Student Achievement and the Caribbean Student Association, admission to all events is free.
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Biased Media Belittled Obama Inquiry
As WND reported, an investigative “Cold Case Posse” launched six months ago by Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio concluded there is probable cause that the document released by the White House last year as Obama’s birth certificate and alleged proof of eligibility is a computer-generated forgery.
And even though the posse – which was comprised of former law-enforcement officers and lawyers with law-enforcement experience who interviewed dozens of witnesses and examined hundreds of documents – released its findings at a public news conference, Arpaio claims the press on hand were deaf to the evidence in a biased attempt to dismiss the posse’s conclusions.
In a column published in the Arizona Republic, Arpaio says of the reporters on hand, “Their pre-determined desire to discredit me and my office would not even allow them to consider listening to what was presented in an unbiased manner.”
“During our news conference, my investigators and I laid out a large array of technical information, demonstrations and evidence that no other law-enforcement agency in the country has even considered looking into,” Arpaio writes. “We have produced experts in the creation of electronic documents who will attest that the document in question is a forgery, evidence that the president’s Selective Service registration card is highly suspect and looked far different from any other card we examined from the same exact post office in the same exact month in which his was filed.
“And we uncovered information from the National Archives that is mysteriously missing one week of flight information into Hawaii out of a 10-year span requested by my investigators,” he continues. “It just so happened to be the week of the president’s birth.”
But even after laying out the facts the posse used to come to its conclusion, Arpaio writes, “Not one reporter ever asked about the evidence or the case itself.”
Still, Arpaio says, he hopes the investigation will resurrect earnest discussion over the need for more thoroughly vetting presidential candidates.
“Who in his right mind would disagree that would be a good thing?” he asks.
More here
And even though the posse – which was comprised of former law-enforcement officers and lawyers with law-enforcement experience who interviewed dozens of witnesses and examined hundreds of documents – released its findings at a public news conference, Arpaio claims the press on hand were deaf to the evidence in a biased attempt to dismiss the posse’s conclusions.
In a column published in the Arizona Republic, Arpaio says of the reporters on hand, “Their pre-determined desire to discredit me and my office would not even allow them to consider listening to what was presented in an unbiased manner.”
“During our news conference, my investigators and I laid out a large array of technical information, demonstrations and evidence that no other law-enforcement agency in the country has even considered looking into,” Arpaio writes. “We have produced experts in the creation of electronic documents who will attest that the document in question is a forgery, evidence that the president’s Selective Service registration card is highly suspect and looked far different from any other card we examined from the same exact post office in the same exact month in which his was filed.
“And we uncovered information from the National Archives that is mysteriously missing one week of flight information into Hawaii out of a 10-year span requested by my investigators,” he continues. “It just so happened to be the week of the president’s birth.”
But even after laying out the facts the posse used to come to its conclusion, Arpaio writes, “Not one reporter ever asked about the evidence or the case itself.”
Still, Arpaio says, he hopes the investigation will resurrect earnest discussion over the need for more thoroughly vetting presidential candidates.
“Who in his right mind would disagree that would be a good thing?” he asks.
More here
U.S. Detention Manual “Hospitality Guideline For Illegal Immigrants”
In a never-ending mission to accommodate illegal immigrants, the U.S. government has issued new federal detention standards offering arrestees a number of outrageous perks, including female hormone treatments for transgender men, abortions for women and “ethnically diverse” diet options.
It’s all part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to reform the immigration detention system so that its more humane, according to the Homeland Security agency—Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)—responsible for the revamping. The “revised standards” will also improve medical and mental health services, increase access to legal services and religious opportunities, improve the process for reporting and responding to complaints and offer detainees with limited English proficiency translators.
Illegal immigrants will also receive generous and ethnically diverse options for a “nutritionally balanced diet,” an increase in visitation and better recreation programs and facilities. For instance, undocumented aliens in U.S. custody will now have access to a variety of exercise equipment, mandatory outdoor time in natural light and recreational options such as soccer, volleyball and basketball. Board games and television will be available as “sedentary activities.”
Muslims My A$$
Barack Obama, during his June 4, 2009 Cairo speech, said: "I know, too, that Islam has always been a part of America 's story."
AN AMERICAN CITIZEN'S RESPONSE:
Dear Mr. Obama:
Were those Muslims that were in America when the Pilgrims first landed? Funny, I thought they were Native American Indians.
Were those Muslims that celebrated the first Thanksgiving day? Sorry again, those were Pilgrims and Native American Indians.
Can you show me one Muslim signature on the United States Constitution?
Declaration of Independence ?
Bill of Rights?
Didn't think so.
Did Muslims fight for this country's freedom from England ? No.
Did Muslims fight during the Civil War to free the slaves in America ? No, they did not. In fact, Muslims to this day are still the largest traffickers in human slavery.. Your own half brother, a devout Muslim, still advocates slavery himself, even though Muslims of Arabic descent refer to black Muslims as "pug nosed slaves." Says a lot of what the Muslim world really thinks of your family's "rich Islamic heritage," doesn't it Mr. Obama?
Where were Muslims during the Civil Rights era of this country? Not present.
There are no pictures or media accounts of Muslims walking side by side with Marti n Luther King, Jr. or helping to advance the cause of Civil Rights.
Where were Muslims during this country's Woman's Suffrage era? Again, not present. In fact, devout Muslims demand that women are subservient to men in the Islamic culture. So much so, that often they are beaten for not wearing the 'hajib' or for talking to a man who is not a direct family member or their husband. Yep, the Muslims are all for women's rights, aren't they?
Where were Muslims during World War II? They were aligned with Adolf Hitler. The Muslim grand mufti himself met with Adolf Hitler, reviewed the troops and accepted support from the Nazi's in killing Jews.
Finally, Mr. Obama, where were Muslims on Sept. 11th, 2001? If they weren't flying planes into the World Trade Center , the Pentagon or a field in Pennsylvania killing nearly 3,000 people on our own soil, they were rejoicing in the Middle East . No one can dispute the pictures shown from all parts of the Muslim world celebrating on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and other cable news networks that day. Strangely, the very "moderate" Muslims who's asses you bent over backwards to kiss in Cairo , Egypt on June 4th were stone cold silent post 9-11. To many Americans, their silence has meant approval for the acts of that day.
And THAT, Mr. Obama, is the "rich heritage" Muslims have here in America ..
Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to mention the Barbary Pirates. They were Muslim.
And now we can add November 5, 2009 - the slaughter of American soldiers at Fort Hood by a Muslim major who is a doctor and a psychiatrist who was supposed to be counseling soldiers returning from battle in Iraq and Afghanistan ..
That, Mr. Obama is the "Muslim heritage" in America .
EVERY AMERICAN MUST READ THIS !!
Sixth Advertiser Drops Limbaugh Despite "Apology"
Moments ago, Carbonite – a company providing backup software for computers – announced that it will no longer advertise on Rush Limbaugh’s show. CEO David Friend made clear in a Facebook statement that, despite Limbaugh’s “apology” issued tonight, the company was still pulling its ads because it wants to “contribute to a more civilized public discourse”:
No one with daughters the age of Sandra Fluke, and I have two, could possibly abide the insult and abuse heaped upon this courageous and well-intentioned young lady. Mr. Limbaugh, with his highly personal attacks on Miss Fluke, overstepped any reasonable bounds of decency. Even though Mr. Limbaugh has now issued an apology, we have nonetheless decided to withdraw our advertising from his show. We hope that our action, along with the other advertisers who have already withdrawn their ads, will ultimately contribute to a more civilized public discourse.
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No one with daughters the age of Sandra Fluke, and I have two, could possibly abide the insult and abuse heaped upon this courageous and well-intentioned young lady. Mr. Limbaugh, with his highly personal attacks on Miss Fluke, overstepped any reasonable bounds of decency. Even though Mr. Limbaugh has now issued an apology, we have nonetheless decided to withdraw our advertising from his show. We hope that our action, along with the other advertisers who have already withdrawn their ads, will ultimately contribute to a more civilized public discourse.
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What Others See Plainly, We Often Ignore
*Here's something to think about.*
I remember asking dad about Castro when I was about 9 years old. I asked, "Is Castro a good guy or bad?"
Dad said...he couldn't tell!! This was about 1955. We were living in Louisiana ... at the time. Dad was stationed in the Army there.
Cuba was fairly close and in the news a lot. The Cubans were asking the same question!
Ike was the President; I was in the 4th grade worrying only about our next "Spelling Bee."
Forward 57 years later: This past July, we had the pleasure of sharing a summer barbecue with a refugee from Cuba . Our dinner conversation was starkly different than most.
This refugee came to the United States as a young boy in the early 1960's. His family was more fortunate than most, as they were able to bring a suitcase...and $100 when they fled Castro's newly formed revolutionary paradise.
Our dinner consisted of all-American fare: hamburgers, potato salad, watermelon and fresh ears of sweet corn. This is a menu shared with family and friends nationwide...while celebrating the birth of our beloved America ...on the Fourth of July.
We began with a simple discussion about our country, and the direction it has taken since Barack Obama came to power. We shared the usual complaints about the sour economy and liberal social engineering emanating from the rulers in Washington .
But then he said it. The sentence came naturally. I assume it was unplanned. But it carried the weight of a freight train. "You know when Castro took power, none of us knew he was a Communist".
We sat stunned. He continued, "Yes, we all thought he was a patriot, a nationalist. Before the revolution he didn't sound like a radical."
The comparison at this point was easy, and I interjected, "You mean just like Barack Obama?"
He responded; "Yes, just like Barack Obama."
He continued, "We were all shocked as the government just continued to grab more power. First they said the revolution is over, so please turn in your guns. We all complied."
I remember my uncle saying after it started; “Castro will only nationalize some of the big industries. He will never come and take our family hardware store!!” But that is exactly what happened. Castro started with the sugar mills and the large industries, but they eventually came and knocked on the door of our family hardware store. My family had run this store for generations. They said we now own the hardware store, you work for us. And that nice, large four-bedroom home you own...it is now our property also, and...you can move yourself and five children into two rooms of the house, because others are moving in with you."
The lesson learned from this discussion, is a lesson most Americans refuse to hear. Political leaders can lie about their agenda and once in office...they can take totally unexpected turns.
If you had asked us three years ago if we thought General Motors would be nationalized, we would have never believed it.. We could never contemplate a country where the rule of law, the most fundamental building block of a justice society...would be evaporating, just like it did in Castro's Cuba in the early 1960's.
But the news of injustice keeps increasing. Black Panthers are not charged with wrong doing by the U.S. Department of Justice...because their crimes are against whites. The bondholders of GM are stripped of their assets...without due process by the government! Governmental leaders are bribed in full daylight...only to have all investigation of the crimes stifled...by the Attorney General.
The U.S. borders are over run with crime and illegal activity, and the leaders in D.C. act as if it is important to protect the lawbreakers....whilethe innocent are killed and over run. When local communities attempt to enforce the law, they are ridiculed...and threatened as racists and bigots. They are sued by the very Administration ... entrusted with enforcing the law.
Without the rule of law, the U.S. Constitution is a sham!! Without the rule of law, our beloved America is swiftly becoming a country where only the well connected and politically powerful will be safe. As Michelle Malkin has so eloquently explained in her recent book...a culture of corruption has replaced honest government.
The only way this problem will be fixed, is by massive citizen action. All honest citizens that want to be treated equally, must come together...and demand that the favoritism, the bribes, the uneven enforcement of law...end now!! And yes, it can happen here.
I remember asking dad about Castro when I was about 9 years old. I asked, "Is Castro a good guy or bad?"
Dad said...he couldn't tell!! This was about 1955. We were living in Louisiana ... at the time. Dad was stationed in the Army there.
Cuba was fairly close and in the news a lot. The Cubans were asking the same question!
Ike was the President; I was in the 4th grade worrying only about our next "Spelling Bee."
Forward 57 years later: This past July, we had the pleasure of sharing a summer barbecue with a refugee from Cuba . Our dinner conversation was starkly different than most.
This refugee came to the United States as a young boy in the early 1960's. His family was more fortunate than most, as they were able to bring a suitcase...and $100 when they fled Castro's newly formed revolutionary paradise.
Our dinner consisted of all-American fare: hamburgers, potato salad, watermelon and fresh ears of sweet corn. This is a menu shared with family and friends nationwide...while celebrating the birth of our beloved America ...on the Fourth of July.
We began with a simple discussion about our country, and the direction it has taken since Barack Obama came to power. We shared the usual complaints about the sour economy and liberal social engineering emanating from the rulers in Washington .
But then he said it. The sentence came naturally. I assume it was unplanned. But it carried the weight of a freight train. "You know when Castro took power, none of us knew he was a Communist".
We sat stunned. He continued, "Yes, we all thought he was a patriot, a nationalist. Before the revolution he didn't sound like a radical."
The comparison at this point was easy, and I interjected, "You mean just like Barack Obama?"
He responded; "Yes, just like Barack Obama."
He continued, "We were all shocked as the government just continued to grab more power. First they said the revolution is over, so please turn in your guns. We all complied."
I remember my uncle saying after it started; “Castro will only nationalize some of the big industries. He will never come and take our family hardware store!!” But that is exactly what happened. Castro started with the sugar mills and the large industries, but they eventually came and knocked on the door of our family hardware store. My family had run this store for generations. They said we now own the hardware store, you work for us. And that nice, large four-bedroom home you own...it is now our property also, and...you can move yourself and five children into two rooms of the house, because others are moving in with you."
The lesson learned from this discussion, is a lesson most Americans refuse to hear. Political leaders can lie about their agenda and once in office...they can take totally unexpected turns.
If you had asked us three years ago if we thought General Motors would be nationalized, we would have never believed it.. We could never contemplate a country where the rule of law, the most fundamental building block of a justice society...would be evaporating, just like it did in Castro's Cuba in the early 1960's.
But the news of injustice keeps increasing. Black Panthers are not charged with wrong doing by the U.S. Department of Justice...because their crimes are against whites. The bondholders of GM are stripped of their assets...without due process by the government! Governmental leaders are bribed in full daylight...only to have all investigation of the crimes stifled...by the Attorney General.
The U.S. borders are over run with crime and illegal activity, and the leaders in D.C. act as if it is important to protect the lawbreakers....whilethe innocent are killed and over run. When local communities attempt to enforce the law, they are ridiculed...and threatened as racists and bigots. They are sued by the very Administration ... entrusted with enforcing the law.
Without the rule of law, the U.S. Constitution is a sham!! Without the rule of law, our beloved America is swiftly becoming a country where only the well connected and politically powerful will be safe. As Michelle Malkin has so eloquently explained in her recent book...a culture of corruption has replaced honest government.
The only way this problem will be fixed, is by massive citizen action. All honest citizens that want to be treated equally, must come together...and demand that the favoritism, the bribes, the uneven enforcement of law...end now!! And yes, it can happen here.
Former Gitmo Prisoner: U.S. Soldiers Are ‘Mules’ — They Gave Us ‘Cornflakes and Yogurt When We Want Falafel and Broad Beans’
The U.S. soldier “has the body of a mule and dreams of a bird” and despite his “awesome body” he’s “no Rambo.“ He also ”gave us cornflakes and yogurt for breakfast when we wanted falafel and broad beans.”
Those are the words of enlightenment from former Guantanamo Bay detainee Adel al-Gazzar as he disparaged U.S. troops in an interview on Egypt’s Al-Rahma TV.
MEMRI is back again with yet another outrageous clip from the West’s sworn enemies. According to its report, al-Gazzar was resettled in Slovakia by the Obama administration yet voluntarily returned to his native Egypt in June 2011 where he was immediately arrested.
According to MEMRI:
In 2002, during his incarceration at Guantanamo, he had been convicted in absentia of plotting to overthrow the Egyptian government and sentenced to three years in prison, in what his advocates have called a sham trial. He had not been repatriated to Egypt by the U.S., although he was cleared for transfer by both the Bush administration and an inter-agency task force set up by the Obama administration, because U.S. officials and his lawyers feared he would be persecuted or tortured upon his return.
"Washington Post" Editorial HB 1412
By Editorial Board, Published: March 3
With little warning and no credible explanation, legislative leaders in Annapolis have declared war on local governments and their prerogative to set priorities.
In thrall to the power and money of state and local teachers unions, they have conjured legislation that would force jurisdictions such as Montgomery County to divert tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to one, and only one, area of local government: schools.
The legislation would empower the state to seize local tax revenue and redirect it exclusively to inflate school budgets — mainly meaning teacher salaries, pensions and benefits. It would do so even if it meant overriding voter-adopted property tax limits or raiding funds for police, fire departments, libraries, parks and transportation. Montgomery and some other counties, which already spend more than half their budgets on schools, would be largely stripped of their discretion to set spending priorities.
As an example of the legislation’s absurdity, consider: In Montgomery alone, it would shift an additional $18 million to $129 million in local tax dollars to schools next year. That’s more than the county schools superintendent has requested, or says he needs, in a proposed $2.1 billion budget for fiscal 2013. That budget already includes pay increases for teachers well beyond those being offered to police officers, firefighters or other county government employees.
The legislation, backed by House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert), is being promoted by teachers unions. They are angry that a handful of fiscally strapped localities, foremost among them Montgomery, have avoided state-mandated increases in school spending, based on enrollment growth, the past few years.
The issue has its roots in a law, enacted a decade ago, that pumped some $1.3 billion in new spending into public schools. To ensure that local governments would not slack off while the state stepped up, lawmakers required localities to maintain their own spending on schools — or increase it if enrollment rose.
In practice, many local governments funneled more to schools than the state required; in the past decade, Montgomery spent some $576 million over and above the state’s “maintenance of effort” formula. Some 90 percent of the county’s school spending went to personnel, mainly teacher salaries, pensions and benefits.
Then the recession hit. Localities in Maryland, as elsewhere, slashed spending — though less for schools than almost every other area. A handful of jurisdictions were subject to penalties for failing to meet “maintenance of effort” formulas, even if, like Montgomery, they had far exceeded those mandates in past years.
Now lawmakers are fashioning a fix that would make things profoundly worse. It takes no account of localities that have exceeded state mandates in the past and gives no credence to local discretion. It would arrogantly ignore tax caps that voters have adopted, all for the purpose of creating what the Maryland Association of Counties, which opposes the legislation, calls “an infinite loop of unsustainable spending.”
What a terrible idea. Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), a former mayor of Baltimore, should break his silence and speak out for a common-sense solution that would not break the backs of local governments.
Source
With little warning and no credible explanation, legislative leaders in Annapolis have declared war on local governments and their prerogative to set priorities.
In thrall to the power and money of state and local teachers unions, they have conjured legislation that would force jurisdictions such as Montgomery County to divert tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to one, and only one, area of local government: schools.
The legislation would empower the state to seize local tax revenue and redirect it exclusively to inflate school budgets — mainly meaning teacher salaries, pensions and benefits. It would do so even if it meant overriding voter-adopted property tax limits or raiding funds for police, fire departments, libraries, parks and transportation. Montgomery and some other counties, which already spend more than half their budgets on schools, would be largely stripped of their discretion to set spending priorities.
As an example of the legislation’s absurdity, consider: In Montgomery alone, it would shift an additional $18 million to $129 million in local tax dollars to schools next year. That’s more than the county schools superintendent has requested, or says he needs, in a proposed $2.1 billion budget for fiscal 2013. That budget already includes pay increases for teachers well beyond those being offered to police officers, firefighters or other county government employees.
The legislation, backed by House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert), is being promoted by teachers unions. They are angry that a handful of fiscally strapped localities, foremost among them Montgomery, have avoided state-mandated increases in school spending, based on enrollment growth, the past few years.
The issue has its roots in a law, enacted a decade ago, that pumped some $1.3 billion in new spending into public schools. To ensure that local governments would not slack off while the state stepped up, lawmakers required localities to maintain their own spending on schools — or increase it if enrollment rose.
In practice, many local governments funneled more to schools than the state required; in the past decade, Montgomery spent some $576 million over and above the state’s “maintenance of effort” formula. Some 90 percent of the county’s school spending went to personnel, mainly teacher salaries, pensions and benefits.
Then the recession hit. Localities in Maryland, as elsewhere, slashed spending — though less for schools than almost every other area. A handful of jurisdictions were subject to penalties for failing to meet “maintenance of effort” formulas, even if, like Montgomery, they had far exceeded those mandates in past years.
Now lawmakers are fashioning a fix that would make things profoundly worse. It takes no account of localities that have exceeded state mandates in the past and gives no credence to local discretion. It would arrogantly ignore tax caps that voters have adopted, all for the purpose of creating what the Maryland Association of Counties, which opposes the legislation, calls “an infinite loop of unsustainable spending.”
What a terrible idea. Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), a former mayor of Baltimore, should break his silence and speak out for a common-sense solution that would not break the backs of local governments.
Source
QUOTE OF THE DAY 3-5-12
“Illusions commend themselves to us because they save us pain and allow us to enjoy pleasure instead. We must therefore accept it without complaint when they sometimes collide with a bit of reality against which they are dashed to pieces.”– Sigmund Freud
‘The 1 Percent Criminals’: You’ll Never Guess Where Occupy Wall Street Supporters Held a Recent Conference
Those questioning the Occupy Wall Street protesters’ slogan that they represent the 99 percent may have just gotten more evidence to support their skepticism.
Turns out, three American Occupy Wall Street-supporting professors joined Iranian counterparts at Tehran University last month for an Occupy Wall Street conference. Quoting Iran’s Press TV – which refers those opposing the movement the “1 percent criminals” – the Middle East Media and Research Institute (MEMRI) this weekend released a report on the event (video below):
“…university professors and scholars from around the world discussed various aspects of [the] Occupy Wall Street Movement“ and ”talked about the nature of the people that take part in the Wall Street movement, what effects it has had up to now, and its future.”
The meeting also took up what some might consider a questionable issue for American citizens to raise overseas and at that exact venue considering their nation’s current relations with the Islamic Republic: How Occupy Wall Street could impact the U.S. elections.
According to MEMRI’s transcription of a Press TV report, Prof. Alex Vitae of Brooklyn College said:
“…we know it’s had some impact both locally and nationally, but the impact has still been limited. I think many people are waiting to see what effect it may have on this year’s national elections, and whether or not this will have momentum that could have more far-reaching implications.”
Polling Conservative Bloggers On The 2012 GOP Primaries
Right Wing News polled more than 250 right-of-center bloggers on which candidate they’d support if the 2012 Republican primaries were today.
Here’s how the results broke down:
1) If you had to pick the GOP’s 2012 presidential nominee today, which of the following candidates would you select?
4) Ron Paul: 4.4% (
3 votes)3) Rick Santorum: 20.6% (14 votes)
2) Newt Gingrich: 27.9% (19 votes)
1) Mitt Romney: 47.1% (32 votes)
2) Which of the following candidates would you prefer as the GOP’s nominee?
2) Newt Gingrich: 48.5% (33 votes)
1) Mitt Romney: 51.5% (35 votes)
3) Which of the following candidates would you prefer as the GOP’s nominee?
2) Ron Paul: 7.6% (5 votes)
1) Mitt Romney: 92.4% (61 votes)
4) Which of the following candidates would you prefer as the GOP’s nominee?
2) Rick Santorum: 37.3% (25 votes)
1) Mitt Romney: 62.7% (42 votes)
5) Which of the following candidates would you prefer as the GOP’s nominee?
2) Mitt Romney: 47.1% (32 votes)
1) An as of yet unknown candidate selected at a brokered convention: 52.9% (36 votes)
6) Which of the following candidates would you prefer as the GOP’s nominee?
2) Rick Santorum: 43.8% (28 votes)
1) Newt Gingrich: 56.3% (36 votes)
7) Who do you think is more likely to win in November?
2) Barack Obama: 41.8% (28 votes)
1) The GOP’s nominee: 58.2% (39 votes)
Source
Here’s how the results broke down:
1) If you had to pick the GOP’s 2012 presidential nominee today, which of the following candidates would you select?
4) Ron Paul: 4.4% (
3 votes)3) Rick Santorum: 20.6% (14 votes)
2) Newt Gingrich: 27.9% (19 votes)
1) Mitt Romney: 47.1% (32 votes)
2) Which of the following candidates would you prefer as the GOP’s nominee?
2) Newt Gingrich: 48.5% (33 votes)
1) Mitt Romney: 51.5% (35 votes)
3) Which of the following candidates would you prefer as the GOP’s nominee?
2) Ron Paul: 7.6% (5 votes)
1) Mitt Romney: 92.4% (61 votes)
4) Which of the following candidates would you prefer as the GOP’s nominee?
2) Rick Santorum: 37.3% (25 votes)
1) Mitt Romney: 62.7% (42 votes)
5) Which of the following candidates would you prefer as the GOP’s nominee?
2) Mitt Romney: 47.1% (32 votes)
1) An as of yet unknown candidate selected at a brokered convention: 52.9% (36 votes)
6) Which of the following candidates would you prefer as the GOP’s nominee?
2) Rick Santorum: 43.8% (28 votes)
1) Newt Gingrich: 56.3% (36 votes)
7) Who do you think is more likely to win in November?
2) Barack Obama: 41.8% (28 votes)
1) The GOP’s nominee: 58.2% (39 votes)
Source
Attorney Who Defended American Taliban Promoted to No. 3 Spot in DOJ
The lawyer who in 2002 represented John Walker Lindh, an American who pleaded guilty to working with the Taliban in Afghanistan, has been named new acting associate attorney general, the third highest ranking position in the Department of Justice. The Washington Post reports that Tony West, who has donated thousands to Democratic Party candidates and helped raise a record $65 million as California co-chairman for the 2008 Obama campaign, will take over the new role in two weeks where he will oversee a broad range of issues including civil rights, the environment and natural resources, tax and civil litigation.
Considering West’s previous clients, there has been understandable backlash to the hire. The Judicial Watch blog Corruption Chronicles wrote Thursday:
“In a statement announcing the promotion this week, Attorney General Eric Holder says West has served the department with ‘professionalism, integrity and dedication.’ Holder also mentions West’s work before coming to the DOJ a few years ago, including a stint as a Special Assistant Attorney General in California and a lengthier career at a large San Francisco law firm.
MoreTrout Fishing Begins At 2 Delaware Ponds
DOVER, Del. (AP) -- Trout fishing season has started at two ponds in Delaware.
Saturday is the start of fishing season at Tidbury Pond near Dover and Newton Pond near Greenwood. Both ponds have been stocked with rainbow trout, most of them averaging 11 inches long. The ponds will stocked with more fish in two weeks.
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Saturday is the start of fishing season at Tidbury Pond near Dover and Newton Pond near Greenwood. Both ponds have been stocked with rainbow trout, most of them averaging 11 inches long. The ponds will stocked with more fish in two weeks.
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Maryland Handgun Permit Law Found Unconstitutional
A federal judge has ruled that Maryland’s handgun permit law is unconstitutional.
In an opinion filed Monday, U.S. District Judge Benson Everett Legg says a requirement that residents show a “good and substantial reason” to carry a handgun infringes their Second Amendment right to bear arms. He says it isn’t sufficiently tailored to the state’s public safety interests.
Plaintiff Raymond Woollard was denied a renewal of his permit in 2009 because he could not show he had been subject to “threats occurring beyond his residence.” Woollard obtained the permit after fighting with an intruder in his Hampstead home in 2002.
The lawsuit, which names the state police superintendent and members of the Handgun Permit Review Board, was also filed on behalf of the Bellevue, Wash.-based Second Amendment Foundation.
In an opinion filed Monday, U.S. District Judge Benson Everett Legg says a requirement that residents show a “good and substantial reason” to carry a handgun infringes their Second Amendment right to bear arms. He says it isn’t sufficiently tailored to the state’s public safety interests.
Plaintiff Raymond Woollard was denied a renewal of his permit in 2009 because he could not show he had been subject to “threats occurring beyond his residence.” Woollard obtained the permit after fighting with an intruder in his Hampstead home in 2002.
The lawsuit, which names the state police superintendent and members of the Handgun Permit Review Board, was also filed on behalf of the Bellevue, Wash.-based Second Amendment Foundation.
New Posts to fall below.
Sandra Fluke: A Fake Victim of Georgetown’s Policy on Contraceptives?
Since her controversial testimony on February 23, Sandra Fluke has been called many things, from a heroine to a “slut,” but actually, she may just be a fake. Gateway Pundit and Hot Air suggest that may be the case, with citations to a post by Jammie Wearing Fools that introduces the following interesting information:
For me the interesting part of the story is the ever-evolving “coed”. I put that in quotes because in the beginning she was described as a Georgetown law student. It was then revealed that prior to attending Georgetown she was an active women’s right advocate. In one of her first interviews she is quoted as talking about how she reviewed Georgetown’s insurance policy prior to committing to attend, and seeing that it didn’t cover contraceptive services, she decided to attend with the express purpose of battling this policy. During this time, she was described as a 23-year-old coed. Magically, at the same time Congress is debating the forced coverage of contraception, she appears and is even brought to Capitol Hill to testify. This morning, in an interview with Matt Lauer on the Today show, it was revealed that she is 30 years old, NOT the 23 that had been reported all along.
Though there aren’t links in the original post to the content mentioned, a little digging shows that it’s all true. Fluke has described herself as a third year law student at Georgetown University, and indeed, that is what she is. However, contrary to the narrative of innocent victimhood that portrays Fluke as a wide-eyed 23-year-old girl caught without contraception on a college campus full of predatory men, Fluke herself is really a 30-year-old women‘s rights activist who not only didn’t get caught without contraception at Georgetown, but specifically knew the university didn’t cover it and chose to attend for precisely that reason.
FEMA Not Yet Involved In Tornado Request
FEMA says it hasn't yet received requests for federal aid following severe tornados. It credits state, local and tribal government response, along with voluntary agencies and private groups. FEMA has deployed teams to support damage assessments in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Tennessee and West Virginia. Those assessments help state officials decide if they need federal help.The agency has also deployed liaisons to the Indiana and Kentucky Emergency Operations Centers to assist in coordination efforts. FEMA sent an Incident Management Assistance Team to Indiana. And, it sent community relations teams to Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia following requests by governors.
Yes, Chicks Dig Jerks
And evolutionary science gives us a good idea why.
During a recent discussion of the Rihanna–Chris Brown case on NPR’s Tell Me More, Arsalan Iftikhar pronounced himself “bumfuzzled” that the singer would continue to associate with a man who, in his evocative description, “didn’t only hit Rihanna, he made her look like Buster Douglas.” I like Mr. Iftikhar, but his clutching at his pearls seemed to me insincere. It is possible that he was in this case unwilling to confront certain ugly truths about human realities, and also possible that he simply never has encountered this particular ugly truth, expressed eloquently by the late Bill Hicks: “Chicks Dig Jerks.”
Normally, the NPR demographic is receptive to the wit and wisdom of Bill Hicks (another ugly and seldom-spoken truth: Bill Hicks had neither wit nor wisdom). Not so much in this case. When I shared Hicks’s observation, the host, Michel Martin, said my remark found her “trying to contain violent impulses” of her own. When I attempted to explain to her that there is a significant body of scholarly work on the subject of the relative sexual success of men with certain personality characteristics — aggression, narcissism, manipulativeness: jerkiness, in a word — she dismissed the assertion as being “based on, I don’t know, some novels that you read.”
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During a recent discussion of the Rihanna–Chris Brown case on NPR’s Tell Me More, Arsalan Iftikhar pronounced himself “bumfuzzled” that the singer would continue to associate with a man who, in his evocative description, “didn’t only hit Rihanna, he made her look like Buster Douglas.” I like Mr. Iftikhar, but his clutching at his pearls seemed to me insincere. It is possible that he was in this case unwilling to confront certain ugly truths about human realities, and also possible that he simply never has encountered this particular ugly truth, expressed eloquently by the late Bill Hicks: “Chicks Dig Jerks.”
Normally, the NPR demographic is receptive to the wit and wisdom of Bill Hicks (another ugly and seldom-spoken truth: Bill Hicks had neither wit nor wisdom). Not so much in this case. When I shared Hicks’s observation, the host, Michel Martin, said my remark found her “trying to contain violent impulses” of her own. When I attempted to explain to her that there is a significant body of scholarly work on the subject of the relative sexual success of men with certain personality characteristics — aggression, narcissism, manipulativeness: jerkiness, in a word — she dismissed the assertion as being “based on, I don’t know, some novels that you read.”
More
Feds Raid D.C. Contractor's Home in Corruption Probe
WASHINGTON - Federal agents have raided the offices of the District's single-largest contractor as part of a widening corruption probe.
ABC7 reports federal agents went though the offices of political donor Jeffrey Thompson and public relations consultant Jeanne Harris this week.
Thompson has been involved in financing the campaigns of several D.C. politicians, including Mayor Vincent Gray, Council Chairman Kwame Brown, and former Mayor Adrian Fenty. He is the owner of Chartered Health Plan, which holds a contract for Medicaid managed care. The Washington Post reports the contract is worth as much as $322 million.
Ward 5 at-large councilman Vincent Orange has also accepted contributions from Thompson.
"Every contribution is legal according to the law," Orange says.
He also says he has not taken any campaign donations from Thompson, or his associates, in his re-election campaign for the April 3 election.
The Washington City Paper reports Thompson gave $43,000 to Orange for his election bid last April.
The Post says federal agents raided Thompson's home and offices on Friday evening. Thompson has not commented on the latest developments.
Earlier, the Post reported Thompson's firms, and others with ties to Thompson, contributed several large money orders to the Gray campaign.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in the District has said that no arrests were made in connection with the latest raids.
A federal corruption probe led to felony charges against Ward 5 D.C. Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr., who resigned and pleaded guilty in January in connection with the theft of more than $350,000 in taxpayer funds that was supposed to go toward activities for children.
Federal authorities are also looking into Mayor Gray's 2010 campaign fundraising.
GOP Tries To Block O’Malley Regulators
Sen. E.J. Pipkin made an unsuccessful plea on the Senate floor Friday to reject two Public Service Commission nominees who lobbied for Gov. Martin O’Malley’s offshore wind proposals last year.
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Attention Media: Walmart and Target Have Been Offering $9 Birth Control Since 2007
For over two months the Left and their media minions have been making a big stink about the need for mandatory health insurance coverage of contraceptives.
In all this fuss and distraction from the real problems this nation is facing, nobody noticed that since 2007 Walmart has been offering a month's worth of birth control pills for only $9 (emphasis added):
BENTONVILLE, Ark. – Sept. 27, 2007 – Walmart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) today announced phase two of its $4 prescription program with changes that will help even more Americans deal with the high-cost of healthcare. The program – which has already saved Americans more than $610 million in its first year – has been expanded in two key ways:
More medicines covering more categories – Important prescription medicines have been added to the $4 program covering glaucoma, attention deficit disorder/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADD/ADHD), fungal infections and acne. Fertility and prescription birth control 
will also be included at $9, compared to national average prices ranging from $24 to $30 per month and saving women an
Bill Seeks To Put Thousands Of Financial Disclosure Documents Online
Legislators and eventually 12,000 to 14,000 state employee would have their financial disclosure statements posted on the Internet beginning next year if Senate Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs committee approves a bill it heard testimony on Friday.
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Canoeist Linked To Residential Burglary
Date and Time: Friday, March 2, 2012 at 5:00 a.m.
Location: Residence in the 38000 block of Roosevelt Avenue, Selbyville, DE
Defendant, Charges, and Arraignment Information:
Matthew Bullen, 20, Fenwick Island, DE
Burglary Second Degree
Possession of Burglar Tools
Theft under $1,500 Where a Victim is 62 Years of Age or Older
Criminal Mischief Under $1,000
Theft Under $1,500
Arraigned at J.P. Court 2 and committed to Sussex Correctional Institution for lack of $4,170 secured bail.
Resume:
Selbyville, De – Delaware State Police detectives have arrested a Fenwick Island man for breaking into a home in Selbyville after falling out of a canoe on Friday.
Detectives have arrested Matthew Bullen, 20, after they learned that he illegally entered a home located in the 38000 block of Roosevelt Avenue in Selbyville after he had fallen from a canoe in the Assawoman Bay off of Fenwick Island, DE on Friday, March 2. Detectives learned that Bullen and Nicholas Townsend had fallen from the canoe at approximately 4:00 a.m. Bullen was able to reach the shore; however, Nicholas has not been located. Detectives learned that after reaching the shore Bullen responded to the home where he then used a brick to smash out a window. He then entered the home and changed into dry clothes before responding to his own residence where he reported the incident to his roommate. Detectives also learned that the canoe in which Bullen and Townsend had been riding in had been stolen from a residence located in the 38000 block of Monroe Avenue in Fenwick Island.
Matthew Bullen was charged with the above list of crimes. He was arraigned at JP Court 2 and committed to the Department of Corrections for lack of bail.
The investigation into this incident is continuing at this time. Detectives are asking anyone with any information to contact Troop 4 at 302-856-5850. 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.
It's Tax Time Again -- What's Different This Year?
WASHINGTON - By now you should have received your W2s, 1099s, and any other forms you'll need to fill out your 2011 federal income tax returns.
So have you gotten your refund yet?
Perhaps not. This year's Tax Day falls on April 17, because the usual filing deadline, April 15, is a Sunday, and the day after that is Emancipation Day, an official holiday in D.C. And since D.C. is the Federal City, it's a tax holiday for the rest of the country.
But keep in mind, chances are you're due for a refund from Uncle Sam, so why put it off?
"About three in four taxpayers get refunds every year," says Kimberly Palmer, author of the Alpha Consumer blog at U.S. News & World Report.
"On average it's about $3,000, so that should give some good motivation to file early, because the earlier you file, the quicker you get that refund," says Palmer.
MoreDelegates Debate Voter ID, Petition Drive Laws
In this video, Del. Jon Cardin, chairman of the election law subcommittee in the House, and Del. Kathy Afzali debate her bill on voter identification and his proposal on validating signatures in petition drives.
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A Comment Worthy Of A Post 3-5-12
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Maryland Handgun Permit Law Found Unconstitutional...":
Joe, please elaborate on this one, before you have half of Salisbury's gun owners lock up for carrying firearms. I personally have a carry permit in MD, but Maryland is a "may issue" State meaning that you have to apply with reasonable justification to obtain a carry permit.The federal court just declared the means and justifications to obtain a carry permit as unconstitutional, not the fact that a person must have a permit to carry a firearm. Under Maryland law, you must have a permit in order to carry a firearm. Folks can't just go out today packing heat because of this federal ruling. The federal courts are basically stating that Maryland can't deny citizens based on lack of a "good reason."
In addition, I am 100% "gun" ho (pun intended) for increased gun rights in Maryland; HOWEVER, I certainly do not mind going through the permitting process if it is reasonably executed and fair the LAW ABIDING citizens. If Maryland was an open carry State like say Virginia, then anybody could walk around with a firearm strapped to their hip. Sounds cool at the surface, but do you REALLY want some of this State's idiots (law abiding or not) to be packing heat just because they can? Think about the stupidest, most irresponsible yet law abiding person that you know... do you really want them to have a gun on them at any given time?? There has to be a process of permitting to know who is carrying and who is not carrying. Even if it is a short and easy permitting process, it will at least keep the firearms off the hips of those spontaneous "I want to carry a gun just because I can" people. Like I said, I can legally carry, but I don't 90% of the time.
‘You Get What You Deserve, White Boy’: 13-Year-Old Set on Fire in Horrific Racially Charged Attack
Police in Kansas City are investigating a possible hate crime after a 13-year-old boy was doused in gasoline and set on fire. According to Allen Goin’s mother, the attack occurred just as her son was getting home from school. She said, “They rushed him on the porch as he tried to get the door open…one of them poured gasoline, then flicked the Bic and said, ‘This is what you deserve. You get what you deserve white boy.’”
The police say the boy was engulfed in a “large fireball,” but was able to beat out the flames to call 911 and his father. In addition to suffering first degree burns, he has lost his eyebrows, eyelashes, and part of the skin on his face. There is also long-term concern about his eyes and lungs.
Obama Blasts Sheriff Investigating Eligibility
Barack Obama has unloaded a blast of criticism at a sheriff who authorized a team of volunteer officers to investigate whether the birth documentation released by the White House as proof of Obama’s eligibility to hold the office is valid or forged.
But the law enforcement officer, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, simply turned Obama’s words into a promotion for his own record of law enforcement for his campaign for the office of sheriff.
“I took an oath to defend the Constitution of both the United States and the state of Arizona,” says a new promotion for Arpaio’s campaign. “So, no ‘investigation,’ no president, no protesters, and no death threats will keep me from doing the job I was elected to do.”
The attack from Obama came during a round-table discussion where Latino beat reporters asked him a variety of questions.
Gabriel Lerner, of AOL Latino and HuffPost Latino Voice, reading a question from a listener, asked, “What happened to the investigation of the many violations and challenges to the federal government by Sheriff Joe Arpaio.”
RANDOM THOUGHTS
Obama's War On Coal : Two power companies announced Wednesday that they are shutting down nine coal-fired electricity plants. Both companies blamed EPA regulations for the closures. Consider this excerpt from the Washington Post:
"Edison Mission Group, issued a statement saying that in light of environmental rules being phased in over the next three years, 'unfortunately, conditions in the wholesale power market simply do not give us a path for continuing to invest in further retrofits at these two facilities.' …In its announcement, GenOn outlined a schedule for closing 3,140 megawatts of generation capacity in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey 'because forecasted returns on investments necessary to comply with environmental regulations are insufficient.'"
In other words, Obama's EPA is making it too expensive to operate these power plants. This should not surprise anyone. Obama made it clear in 2008 that he wanted to "bankrupt" coal plants and that his plans would cause electricity rates to "skyrocket."
Back in the Clinton eras, Republicans wanted to expand American oil drilling. The Democrats blocked it, claiming it would take 10 years to see any results. 10 years later,under Bush they tried again, and again Democrats blocked it because it would take 10 years to see the results. 10 years later we have record high gas prices and the current President makes fun of drilling. And today I heard Debbie Wasserman Schultz (the Mouth of the South) ridicule the Keystone Pipeline because it would take 45 years to get any benefit. So there is no point in ever starting exploration because it will take too long to reap the benefit!
So let's think about this for a moment. Obama doesn't want us driving our gas powered cars. He said no to the Keystone pipeline, and has severely limited drilling and exploration on public lands. His Energy Secretary wants the price of gas up to $8.00 a gallon or more. Obama wants to increase subsidies for the "Government Motors" Volt to $10,000. The Volt runs largely on electricity. Yet Obama admits his plans would cause electricity rates to skyrocket. America gets about half of its electricity from coal-fired plants, which Obama wants to bankrupt. Lo and behold, coal plants are shutting down now thanks to Obama's EPA. This is madness! From the gas you put in your car and the price to heat and cool your home to the costs borne by manufacturing businesses and every company that pays an electric bill, fewer issues are more important to working men and women than energy.CNBC's Rick Santelli blasted Obama's energy policy as "reprehensible." He added: "Our society, our culture -- the greatness of America -- goes hand-in-hand with energy, and our leaders need to wake up. We need energy, OK? …we need to be more honest -- do we want to be a superpower that uses energy and tries to do it wisely, or do we want to put our head in the sand… [Alternative energy sources] are not ready, and I think it's just a disservice to my kids that they're going to make energy usage such a penalty-type scenario, where we all know if you want to put GDP up, energy usage is going to go right along with it."Santelli is right. Obama has been celebrating the fact that we have consumed less oil in recent years. But that reduced consumption has gone hand-in-hand with high unemployment and a collapsing economy. "When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing; when you see that money is flowing to those who deal not in goods, but in favors; when you see that men get rich more easily by graft than by work, and your laws no longer protect you against them, but protect them against you… you may know that your society is doomed." … Ayn Rand. Are we there yet??
Every year the Heritage Foundation partnering with the Wall Street Journal publishes the Index of Economic Freedom. America which once led the world as the beacon of freedom has now dropped to 10th among the world's nations. We have dropped 5 places since 2008 and have fallen from the category of "free nations" and are now among the "mostly free". Americas is no longer "the land of the free".
The Obama administration is proposing $487 in defense budget cuts and calls for military retirees and families to pay sharply more for healthcare but leaves unionized civilian defense workers' benefits untouched. Do you think our military should not lose benefits they were promised? Campaign for Working Families points out "Barack Obama is trying to cut healthcare benefits for our soldiers while he is trying to force the Catholic Church and other religious institutions to provide free contraceptives to college students." I think we need to keep our promise to our veterans and let college students buy their own contraceptives. How about you!?
Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Give a man a welfare check, food stamps, Section 8 housing, and a free camera cell phone, and how do you think he votes for a lifetime? A Heritage Foundation report says that in 2010 the average individual who relies on Washington could receive benefits valued at $32,748, which ismore than the nation’s average disposable personal income ($32,446).
What next? Students in 9th through the 12th grade attending summer programs at Montgomery College will get a taste of the Occupy operation in a new course "Occupy MoCo. " The course description says "Young people hold the power to change their community, their schools, their future -- are you ready to join the movement for justice?" Is this an effort to teach young people how to attack our system at taxpayer expense.
The Club for Growth ranks Congressmen for 2011. Among Maryland Congressmen, Andy Harris scores the best with 95% and Dutch Ruppersberger the worst with 1%.
"I will march behind whoever our candidate is because if we don’t, we lose. There are two paths… one is America and the other one is Occupy… Anyone that’s willing to stand next to me to fight the progressive Left, I will be in that bunker. And if you’re not in that bunker because you’re not satisfied with this candidate, more than shame on you, you’re on the other side!"...Andrew Breitbart at CPAC. Let’s all pledge to honor his request!
Ellen Sauerbrey
Video Reveals ‘Occupy’ Strategy to ‘Abolish Capitalism’ (With SEIU Help!)
It’s been nearly a year since The Blaze broke the story of SEIU strategist Stephen Lerner’s campaign of economic terrorism. Lerner outlined, in audio captured by The Blaze, a secret plan to destroy a major bank with the intent of crashing the stock market.
Lerner’s plan clearly envisioned the activism that would come to be known as Occupy Wall Street.
Here’s how Business Insider described The Blaze revelation at the time:
Lerner said that unions and community organizations are, for all intents and purposes, dead. The only way to achieve their goals, therefore–the redistribution of wealth and the return of “$17 trillion” stolen from the middle class by Wall Street–is to “destabilize the country.”
Lerner’s plan is to organize a mass, coordinated “strike” on mortgage, student loan, and local government debt payments–thus bringing the banks to the edge of insolvency and forcing them to renegotiate the terms of the loans. This destabilization and turmoil, Lerner hopes, will also crash the stock market, isolating the banking class and allowing for a transfer of power.
Lerner’s plan starts by attacking JP Morgan Chase in early May, with demonstrations on Wall Street, protests at the annual shareholder meeting, and then calls for a coordinated mortgage strike.
Investigators Now In Hunt For Obama Forger
Members of the Cold Case Posse in Maricopa County, Ariz., whose report to Sheriff Joe Arpaio yesterday confirmed there is probable cause to believe Barack Obama’s much-ballyhooed birth certificate document is a forgery, have begun briefing members of the county law enforcement team who may be involved in hunting for those responsible.
At a news conference yesterday, Arpaio and the chief investigator for the specially appointed Cold Case Posse, Mike Zullo, confirmed that they had found evidence of forgery in the creation of the birth certificate image and fraud in the presentation of that piece of work as a real government document.
They also said they found Obama’s Selective Service registration likely forged, and they said it appeared as though officials in Hawaii were covering up information about Obama. They also said it was not outside the realm of possibility that Obama might have been born overseas.
All of this relates to the Constitution’s demand that a president be only a “natural born citizen,” which is not defined in the Constitution. But many analysts believe at the time the document was written that would have meant the offspring of two citizens of the country.
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At a news conference yesterday, Arpaio and the chief investigator for the specially appointed Cold Case Posse, Mike Zullo, confirmed that they had found evidence of forgery in the creation of the birth certificate image and fraud in the presentation of that piece of work as a real government document.
They also said they found Obama’s Selective Service registration likely forged, and they said it appeared as though officials in Hawaii were covering up information about Obama. They also said it was not outside the realm of possibility that Obama might have been born overseas.
All of this relates to the Constitution’s demand that a president be only a “natural born citizen,” which is not defined in the Constitution. But many analysts believe at the time the document was written that would have meant the offspring of two citizens of the country.
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2nd Pharmacy Robbery At Almost Exact Same Time In Delmar
A second robbery at yet another Pharmacy, Bi State Pharmacy went down at right around 11:00 AM today as well.
Delmar Police do have some suspects in custody but are waiting for witnesses to identify them at this time.
Delmar Police do have some suspects in custody but are waiting for witnesses to identify them at this time.
U.S. Troops in Afghanistan May Face 'Disciplinary Review' for Burning Qurans
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An investigation into the burning of Muslim holy books at a U.S. military base has found it was a mistake involving at least five Americans who may face a disciplinary review, a Western official said Saturday, but Afghan investigators claimed it was an intentional desecration.
The conflicting accounts highlight rising tensions between the two countries despite apologies by President Barack Obama and other U.S. officials following the Feb. 20 discovery of charred Qurans and other religious literature in a burn pit at Bagram air base, north of Kabul.
Anger over the burnings already has led the deaths of more than 30 Afghans during violent protests as well as six U.S. soldiers who were shot and killed by rogue Afghan security forces.
A Texas Roadhouse In Fruitland Review
This past Saturday we decided to head to Fruitland to the Texas Roadhouse Restaurant. Since we have regularly enjoyed meals there in the past we knew we could be confident their consistency would be the same.
However, in this case, it was even better!
Now there were two things I didn't like about this visit. The first was the one hour wait we had to endure before we could get a table. The second was where they placed us. Considering we had an 11 year old with us, I thought it was kind of stupid of them to seat us in the bar area.
Nevertheless, by the time we sat down we were starving and since we had plenty of time to review their menu during our wait we were able to give the Waitress our order immediately.
Our Waitress was an absolute gem. Our drinks never went empty and considering the restaurant was slammed I'd give this young lady a solid 10 on a scale from 1 to 10. I was dying for a juicy cheeseburger and our Grandson wanted a steak. For the heck of it we ordered one from the kids menu and let me assure you, this was one of the best steaks I have seen in quite some time. In fact I took a taste and it was to die for. My Wife had the Mushroom Chicken and it was fantastic. My burger, well, what can I say other than unbelievable, fantastic! The bun was very fresh. The meat was cooked to perfection and when you can walk out of a restaurant with three people eating and your bill is not even $30.00, we'll be back!
I have one suggestion for the Texas Roadhouse. When people are subjected to sit and wait for a table, perhaps you can consider having one of the many Hostesses at the front door taking drink orders from those people waiting. The peanuts are fantastic but salty. Even if you served water in plastic cups, that would be great.
All in all though, I have never waited an hour for a table anywhere but I have to say, it was well worth the wait. Great job!
George W. Bush Impersonator Steve Bridges Dies At 48
Steve Bridges, 48, a comic actor and impersonator who was best known for his mimicry of President George W. Bush and appeared alongside the chief executive at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Assn. dinner, was found dead Saturday at his home in Los Angeles.
Bridges had recently returned home from China, where he had been performing, said his brother Phillip. He appeared to have died of natural causes. An an autopsy is scheduled, but the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said foul play was not suspected.
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Breaking News: Robbery In Progress
Community Pharmacy at 725 S. Salisbury Blvd. Suspects fled in green astro van. Tag Number MARTYS.
UPDATE: Now a high speed chase Rt. 50 West right now at Royal Farms heading west.
UPDATE#2: They are now past Chicken Man. The vehicle is registered to a property in Dorchester County. Property is in Herlock. Black male. Getting ready to deploy stop sticks on the Bridge in Vienna.
UPDATE #3: Salisbury Police are starting to lose radio contact.
UPDATE #4: Suspect has been stopped and in custody just prior to the Vienna Bridge. Suspect stopped on his own and has been detained.
UPDATE #5: They are taking the suspect to PRMC as he allegedly swallowed 1/2 bottle of Oxy.
UPDATE#6: Suspect is a man named Jason Hall, 26 years of age and he is a white male. Salisbury News has learned this suspect could be charged with multiple robberies such as the Riverside Drive Pharmacy and others in the past.
Originally Posted at 11:31 AM.
FCC Wants To Know If It Sometimes Might Be Okay To Jam Cellphones In Interest Of Public Safety
Chief among the reasons given by the Federal Communications Commission for outlawing the practice of using signal-jamming devices for cellphones is public safety. With 70% of 911 calls now made on wireless devices, the FCC has argued that deliberately blocking cell signals could put people at risk. That being said, the agency is now willing to hear from people who think it might occasionally be in the public interest to jam wireless signals.
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Verizon Wireless Customer Service Is So Terrible, I Actually Miss AT&T
Peter thought he was doing something pretty sweet thing for Verizon Wireless. After fours years with AT&T, not only was he switching over, but he was bringing a total of four phones with her. So forgive him for assuming that maybe Verizon wouldn't make the entire experience a completely miserable one.
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What To Pay Our Judges
The General Assembly will soon have to decide whether to give Maryland judges $29,000 raises each.
For the past two years, the Judicial Compensation Commission (JCC) unsuccessfully tried to raise individual salaries by $39,858 while other state employees got pay cuts through furloughs. Now they are pushing a more moderate proposal that would still put Maryland among the top five states in judicial pay.
Maryland hasn't exactly cheated its judges, who now rank about 15th nationally in pay. So the JCC complains that they lag regionally, as if that somehow mattered. States don't compete with each other for judges.
I don't oppose all judicial raises. But I find the justifications amusing, misleading and wanting it both ways.
District Court Chief Judge Ben Clyburn says he might retire because his salary of $149,552 demoralizes him. But Court of Appeals Judge Clayton Greene claims he can't afford to retire on his salary of $162,353. Which is it: driven to retirement (with a $99,751 pension for Clyburn) or unable to retire (with a $108,289 pension for Greene)?
Clyburn believes that failing to raise salaries "chip[s] away at the independence of the third branch of government." But Judge Katie O'Malley can make a political speech about a gay marriage bill pushed by her Chief Executive husband and call legislators "cowards."
The judges say they need higher pay to attract more lawyers from private practice, those who have the "well-rounded, diverse experience needed to be a good judge" (as paraphrased by www.marylandreporter.com.) Clyburn had only public law experience before becoming a judge, all of it in the Attorney General's Office. And top judge Robert Bell had been a lawyer for only six years before his first judicial appointment. Were they--are they now--unqualified for their jobs?
The argument that we need to increase pay to attract lawyers in private practice is so tiresome. Plenty of very qualified lawyers are attracted to the judiciary for a number of reasons. It's the application and nominating process that's so obnoxious and political.
And what's usually left out of the "attractiveness" argument are the pensions and very generous benefits. Judges work fewer hours, with nearly 7 weeks off, and get 12 state holidays and unlimited sick leave. Private attorneys who are billing by the hour can't afford that.
More
For the past two years, the Judicial Compensation Commission (JCC) unsuccessfully tried to raise individual salaries by $39,858 while other state employees got pay cuts through furloughs. Now they are pushing a more moderate proposal that would still put Maryland among the top five states in judicial pay.
Maryland hasn't exactly cheated its judges, who now rank about 15th nationally in pay. So the JCC complains that they lag regionally, as if that somehow mattered. States don't compete with each other for judges.
I don't oppose all judicial raises. But I find the justifications amusing, misleading and wanting it both ways.
District Court Chief Judge Ben Clyburn says he might retire because his salary of $149,552 demoralizes him. But Court of Appeals Judge Clayton Greene claims he can't afford to retire on his salary of $162,353. Which is it: driven to retirement (with a $99,751 pension for Clyburn) or unable to retire (with a $108,289 pension for Greene)?
Clyburn believes that failing to raise salaries "chip[s] away at the independence of the third branch of government." But Judge Katie O'Malley can make a political speech about a gay marriage bill pushed by her Chief Executive husband and call legislators "cowards."
The judges say they need higher pay to attract more lawyers from private practice, those who have the "well-rounded, diverse experience needed to be a good judge" (as paraphrased by www.marylandreporter.com.) Clyburn had only public law experience before becoming a judge, all of it in the Attorney General's Office. And top judge Robert Bell had been a lawyer for only six years before his first judicial appointment. Were they--are they now--unqualified for their jobs?
The argument that we need to increase pay to attract lawyers in private practice is so tiresome. Plenty of very qualified lawyers are attracted to the judiciary for a number of reasons. It's the application and nominating process that's so obnoxious and political.
And what's usually left out of the "attractiveness" argument are the pensions and very generous benefits. Judges work fewer hours, with nearly 7 weeks off, and get 12 state holidays and unlimited sick leave. Private attorneys who are billing by the hour can't afford that.
More
Federal Appeals Court 'Ignores Rule of Law,' Defers to White House on Deportation Cases
Does the Obama administration intend to enforce the nation’s immigration laws or not? Two Republicans are asking that question, after a federal appeals court halted the deportation of five suspected illegal aliens on Monday, asking the Obama administration whether it plans to stop the deportations.
In a 2-1 ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals set a March 19 deadline for the Obama administration to explain whether it intends to use “prosecutorial discretion” to prevent the aliens’ removal. The five cases are on hold in the meantime.
On Thursday, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas,) chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Utah), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the Obama administration must make it clear to the court that the administration will enforce immigration laws, including the deportation of illegal and criminal immigrants who lose their cases in the federal court.
In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday, Smith and Grassley wrote: “In responding to the Ninth Circuit’s question, the administration will be required to reveal whether it intends to manipulate our legal system and waste taxpayer dollars, as part of its efforts to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants.
Bin Laden's Body Not Dumped At Sea
In May of last year, the US killing of Osama bin Laden was immediately followed by debate over the disposal of his corpse. The Obama Administration claimed bin Laden was put in a bag and hurled into the sea, which it insisted was “in keeping with Islamic practices,” whereas some were calling for his body to be kept around so it could be overtly desecrated.
WikiLeaks’s release of Stratfor emails, however, shows that the company’s Vice President Fred Burton did not believe that was the case, and told members of the company’s mailing list that bin Laden’s corpse was “Dover bound,” referring to the Dover Air Force Base which is also the site to which US soldiers slain overseas are brought.
Another email from Burton said bin Laden’s body was “bound for Dover, DE on CIA plane” and “onward to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Bethesda.” Technically this would have meant the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, since the AFIP operations were folded into Walter Reed as part of a consolidation plan.
If confirmed, this revelation would be significant for a number of reasons, including the Obama Administration’s repeated claims to the American public that the body was disposed of at sea. It would add yet more intrigue to Dover Air Force Base, already under enormous scrutiny for its mishandling of corpses and disposal of remains at a Virginia landfill.
Source
WikiLeaks’s release of Stratfor emails, however, shows that the company’s Vice President Fred Burton did not believe that was the case, and told members of the company’s mailing list that bin Laden’s corpse was “Dover bound,” referring to the Dover Air Force Base which is also the site to which US soldiers slain overseas are brought.
Another email from Burton said bin Laden’s body was “bound for Dover, DE on CIA plane” and “onward to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Bethesda.” Technically this would have meant the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, since the AFIP operations were folded into Walter Reed as part of a consolidation plan.
If confirmed, this revelation would be significant for a number of reasons, including the Obama Administration’s repeated claims to the American public that the body was disposed of at sea. It would add yet more intrigue to Dover Air Force Base, already under enormous scrutiny for its mishandling of corpses and disposal of remains at a Virginia landfill.
Source
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