Salisbury News: 04/01/12

Sunday, April 01, 2012

Media Silent as Left Attacks Kids of WI Lt. Gov.

This is what we see time and again at the hands of the same Left that manufactured a month's long non-troversy over a word Rush Limbaugh spoke. While, on one hand, the left and their media allies feign outrage over Limbaugh, on the other hand, they either willfully ignore or launch vile, sexist attacks against conservative women that go well beyond anything that can in any way be called satire or humor.

Wisconsin Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch is a wife, mother, and a cancer survivor. She's currently being targeted for recall and by some of the ugliest personal attacks you'll hear -- at least until the left launches the next one.

Listen here to John "Sly" Sylvester, a left-wing radio host who operates out of Madison, WI, at radio station WTDY. Sylvester accuses Kleefisch of performing sexual acts on numerous men, mocks her cancer, and attacks her children.

Dispute Among Senate Dems Threatens Postal Reform Before May 15 Deadline

A disagreement over tactics in the Senate may derail efforts to avert the closure of hundreds of mail-processing centers and rural post offices around the country.

Congress will have only a month after the two-week April recess to pass legislation before a moratorium on post office closures expires on May 15.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had planned to bring legislation to the floor this past week to overhaul the U.S. Postal Service to minimize the impact on mail delivery but he cannot round up enough votes in his caucus.

Having already been critical of the Sanford City police department, hatemonger Al Sharpton continues to try to add fuel to the fire swirling around a tragedy that left 17-year-old Trayvon Martin dead and George Zimmerman in hiding. The target of a New Black Panther bounty and multiple death threats, Zimmerman's location remains unknown. Barack Obama has remained silent since claiming Trayvon Martin would look just like his son if he had one.

If George Zimmerman is not arrested in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin soon, the Rev. Al Sharpton will call for an escalation in peaceful civil disobedience and economic sanctions.

Meanwhile, Seminole County chapter president of the NAACP Turner Clayton spoke out to put distance between his organization and Sharpton's inflammatory rhetoric.

Ireland Faces Popular Revolt Over New Property Tax

DUBLIN (AP) - Debt-mired Ireland is facing a revolt over its new property tax.

The government said less than half of the country's 1.6 million households paid the charge by Saturday's deadline to avoid penalties. And about 5,000 marched in protest against the annual conference of Prime Minister Enda Kenny's Fine Gael party.

Emotions ran raw as police backed by officers on horseback stopped demonstrators from entering the Dublin Convention Centre. Many protesters booed and heckled passers-by who were wearing Fine Gael conference passes, some screaming vulgar insults in their faces.

Has Every Major Credit Card Provider Been Hacked?

NEW YORK (The Blaze/AP) — MasterCard and Visa said Friday that they had notified issuers of its credit cards of a potential breach of the security of customer accounts. The companies did not say how many customers were affected.

Global Payments Inc., which processes credit card transactions for stores, said it had detected a breach of card data in early March. Breaches of card data can lead to identity theft and unauthorized charges.

Global Payments said it had alerted federal law enforcement and was investigating. Spokeswoman Amy Corn would not say whether cards besides Visa and MasterCard were affected.

I have been asked to remind every one about some of the basic rules we have with comments.

Some of you seem to get very angry when we reject comments that have links on them. Considering there are some nay sayers out there who would do just about anything to drive people away from Salisbury News, these people attempt to purposely put up links that have viruses on them.

That being said, we have, (for at least 5 years now) refused to put up any comments that have links in them. This is for your own security. For those of you who still want to complain, my e-mail address is at the top of the page and you know very well if you have something to say and it has any meaning to it you can always send me your information to my e-mail address. Because they refuse to do so clearly shows their intent is no good.

We are also seeing a LOT of curse words in comments lately. We continue to warn you, if you have a curse word in your comment we will reject it. It's a shame because many of those comments are great comments but they always slip in a curse word or two and we must reject them.

Please respect these rules.

Delegate Michael A. McDermott Field Notes 4/1/12

Field Notes

Observations and Reflections on Legislative Activities

By Delegate Michael A. McDermott

Week 12 March 26-30 , 2012
Monday Afternoon Regular Session:
Third Reader Bills
These bills had some opposition:
HB-443 creates the Health Care Exchange in support of Obamacare. It seems the democrats missed the news on the Supreme Court hearing this case and are happy to rush forward with legislation so we can be “first”. A real waste of effort and tax dollars. HB-1006 gives collective bargaining to all Baltimore City school employees. This was pretty much a party line vote.
Hunting License Increase-Shot Down on the Floor: HB-1419 was a rare victory snatched from the floor. The bill would have doubled Hunting License fees. Strategic questioning of the Floor Leader on the bill led to the opening of many eyes in the House on the democratic side. Following a hearty debate, the bill was defeated on a 62-69 vote. This will keep the cost of a license at $24.50. I must say, it felt pretty good to lead the charge and defeat a bad bill…as rare as it may be.
Monday Evening Regular Session:
Third Reader Bills
Tuesday Morning Regular Session:
First Reader Senate Bills, Messages from the Senate
Cross Filed Senate Bills Heard on Tuesday:
The following bills were heard (listed with their previously heard cross filed House Bill):
SB-41 (HB-212), SB-59 (HB-117), SB-131 (HB-115), SB-374 (HB-251), SB-421 (HB-875), SB-439 (HB-379), SB-535 (HB-1029), SB-588 (HB-739).
SB-70 has no cross file in the House. This bill seeks to codify the hearing process pertaining to guardianships and would require a hearing with the child who is the subject of the guardianship. SB-141 would repeal certain provisions concerning the reporting of information to the criminal justice system.
Wednesday Morning Regular Session:
First Reader Senate Bills, Messages from the Senate
Cross Filed Senate Bills Heard on Wednesday:
The following bills were heard)listed with their previously heard cross filed House Bill):
SB-18 (HB-252), SB-170 (HB-524), SB-198 (HB-161), SB-514 (HB-396), SB-521 (HB-604), SB-640 (HB-715), SB-650 (HB-631), SB-673 (HB-926), SB-691 (HB-670)
SB-245 would allow for the transference of a juvenile in custody to another treatment facility based upon a decision by the Dept. of Juvenile Justice. It provides, by amendment, the opportunity for judicial review and assignment. SB-247 addresses juvenile records and would seek to allow for additional sharing of criminal-detention information with other states which enter into a Memorandum of Understanding. Maryland currently only has this agreement with Virginia and the District of Columbia. SB-16 is a similar to HB-353 concerning Jury Service and time off allocated by an employer. This is not a business friendly bill.
Thursday Morning Regular Session:
Second Reader, Third Reader
On Second Reader was HB-411 which is the O’Malley-Brown Off-Shore Wind Bill. The bill has been amended several times and the dollar demands on consumers have been lowered (but will rise with inflation). In fact, the industry folks say that it is financially improbable that a company would be willing to enter into an agreement with Maryland under these terms. The fact is, without significant government and ratepayer subsidies, Off Shore Big Wind is too costly. If you consider wind produced kilowatts coming in at .24 cents and natural gas generation at .07 cents, this is not rocket science. On the floor, I argued that we should join with Virginia and their announced project to allow Dominion Energy to build one such tower three miles off the coast of Cape Charles and a monitoring station so they can determine if the technology will produce the results needed to make it a viable option. They put a three year moratorium on natural gas drilling that would net billions, yet they rush forward on an unproven technology that would bind our people to higher utility rates in the future. In a word, unbelievable! The Governor wants a “green” shingle to hang on his national resume, and, as ridiculous as it may be, the democrats in the General Assembly will deliver.
Cross Filed Senate Bills Heard on Thursday:
SB-175 (HB-8), SB-283 (HB-1022), SB-353 (HB-318), SB-396 (HB-822), SB-453 (HB-707), SB-496 (HB-480), SB-512 (HB-1310), SB-562 (HB-614), SB-565 (HB-942), SB-612 (HB-1074), SB-647 (HB-1146), SB-711 (HB-774),SB-797 (1042), SB-856 (HB-762)
We also had our initial review of HB-15, the Medical Marijuana Bill. This one was assigned to Health and Government Operations as the primary committee, but we are reviewing it as well. The bill seeks to allow folks who provide marijuana to a person who has a medicinal need for the drug to be classified as “Care Providers” and would give them certain protection from prosecution. I think this is a terrible idea and the bill has so many holes in it legally, I do not think it can be repaired. The big problem in the General Assembly is that we have some who want to legalize marijuana or, at least, decriminalize possession, yet they use medical marijuana for cover to try and relax laws. Well, if they want the debate on legalization, let’s have it…but let’s stop trying to come in the back door behind this ruse of medicinal marijuana. I do not want Maryland to look like California when it comes to marijuana. We already look like them when it comes to taxes and environmental laws. We did not vote on the bill, but I doubt it receives a favorable report from Judiciary next week.
Friday Morning Regular Session:
Second Reader, Third Reader House and Senate Bills
HB-441 is the Off-Shore Wind Bill. The bill is fraught with cost issues that could and would eventually be passed onto ratepayers and taxpayers. The bill makes provisions for union hiring and would eliminate non-union folks from being able to work on this project. In the end, it is government picking the winners and losers. On one hand, we fight against drilling for natural gas, and on the other we grant rate subsidies and make demands on utility companies to provide alternative energy that costs two to three times what is paid now. This is what happens when government gets involved in energy policies. The final vote was 88-47 in favor of the bill.

NBC Launches Internal Investigation over Altered Zimmerman Call

NBC News is said to have launched an internal investigation into why it posted an edited version of George Zimmerman's call to a 911 dispatcher made prior to a shooting incident resulting in the death of 17 year-old Trayvon Martin. The altered version made it appear as though Martin's race was an important factor that night for Zimmerman, when, in fact, he was only answering a question posed by a 911 dispatcher.

NBC told the Washington Post's Erik Wemple Saturday that it would investigate an incident in which the "Today" show used an abridged recording of George Zimmerman's 911 call before he killed Trayvon Martin. The version used by NBC emphasized race as a factor in the incident.

Big Journalism first reported on the online version of the MSNBC controversy 3 days ago and followed up with another report yesterday, March 30th on NBC's aired segment. As the Hollywood Reporter states, Fox News, led by host Sean Hannity, along with Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center, have also been challenging NBC on what appears to be an outrageous use of an editing technique to make the 911 call seem damning of Zimmerman, as well as divisive and inflammatory along racial lines.

Humor Can Help Candidates; But it Can Backfire

WASHINGTON (AP) - Mitt Romney hit an off note when he told a "humorous" story about his dad shutting down a factory.

Robert De Niro managed to get both Newt Gingrich and the Obama campaign riled up when he joked at an Obama fundraiser that America isn't ready for a white first lady.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, still nursing wounds from his failed presidential campaign, did himself a world of good with his self-deprecating jokes at a recent Washington dinner.

Done right, humor can be a huge asset for a politician. But it is fumbled easily in the overheated environment of a political campaign.

Palin to Couric: 'Game On'

When news broke that Katie Couric will be filling in for Robin Roberts next week on ABC's "Good Morning America," the country yawned. Or, at least we did, until we learned that NBC plans to pit "The Rogue Warrior" against "The Perky One": Sarah Palin will be guest-hosting "Today" this Tuesday.

NBC's decision to seat the former Alaska Governor-turned-multimedia star in their anchor chair will likely prove to be a fruitful one. Since coming onto the national scene in 2008, Palin has become one of the most charismatic figures in conservative America and will likely bring "Today" an entirely different demographic of viewers.

"I see this as a good opportunity to bring an independent, common-sense conservative perspective to NBC. We’re 'going rogue' and infiltrating some turf for a day,” Palin told Breitbart News.

Palin and Couric will be squaring off, in a sense, for the first time since their controversial interview on the 2008 campaign trail.

When Breitbart News asked for a comment about the fact that she will be competing with Couric, Gov. Palin responded simply: "Game on."

Indeed.

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