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Friday, August 03, 2012

Judge Throws THREE Peace Orders Out Of Court Today


Due to receiving 3 recent Peace Orders the other day I was instructed not to make any mention of them or I would be risking violating the Peace Orders.

Considering all three Peace Orders were thrown out, (as expected) I can now discuss what happened.

The honorable Judge told Mrs. Brewington, (while admitting) she hasn't seen or heard from Joe Albero in 2 years, the Judge ruled she clearly did not have sufficient evidence to qualify for a petition for a Peace Order, (3 of them) and dismissed the charges.

It should be noted that Peace Orders are very serious allegations for immediate action. If the abuse of the judicial process continues we may have no choice but to file suit.

Publishers Notes: Due to the immediate personal attacks against Mrs. Brewington in comments already I am choosing to remove comments on this Post. The decision by the honorable Judge speaks for itself.

In Defense of Gabby Douglas' Hair

Gabby Douglas is proudly representing her country in the Olympics. She's poised under pressure, performing gravity-defying athletic feats in front of an international audience. She's 16 and the second female African American U.S. gymnast to ever make the team. But instead of lauding her achievements, some people are slamming her for... not getting her hair done.

Seriously? Douglas is an incredible athlete. When you're doing something like this on a 3.9-inch wide wooden beam set four feet above the ground, the last thing you're worrying about is your hair.

Some critics insist that Douglas needs to properly represent the African American community, and how her hair looks is part of that. And yet, most of the negative comments about her hair are coming from other African Americans.

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Rare Baseball Cards Unearthed in Ohio Home Sell For More Than $500G at Auction

The discovery of century-old baseball cards in an Ohio attic isn't going to make anyone super-rich even though it's being called one of the most exciting finds in the history of sports card collecting. That's because the cards and the money are being evenly divided among 20 cousins.

A sampling of the treasure trove that had been untouched for 100 years was sold Thursday night during the National Sports Collectors Convention in Baltimore. The 37 baseball cards featuring the likes of Hall of Famers Ty Cobb, Cy Young and Honus Wagner fetched $566,132 in brisk online and live bidding. They were expected to bring about $500,000.

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Pro-Israel Ad Campaign Hits Back At Pro-Palestinian Group‘s ’Shocking Distortion of History’

Supporters of the Jewish state aren’t taking a so-called “anti-Israel” ad campaign lightly. In fact, StandWithUs, a non-profit that works to dispel anti-Semitism and to clarify what it believes to be the truth about Israel, has launched a counter campaign on New York City’s Metro North train system.

Last month, you may recall TheBlaze’s initial report about the controversial new, Pro-Palestinian images that were placed throughout train lines. The contentious ads depict the never-ending drama in the Middle East, as they show Palestinian land allegedly decreasing in size over the past 60+ years. And as the Palestinian landmass shrinks, the ad portrays Israel monumentally growing in size.

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CA Gov. Brown Allegedly Took $3 Million from 9/11 Fund

As California teeters near default in many areas, news is breaking that Gov. Jerry Brown may have taken up to $3 million from a fund created "in honor of the victims of the 2001 terror attacks" to make up for shortfalls.

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No Drought Aid For Farmers, Ranchers as Congress Breaks For Summer

Congress adjourned for the summer on Thursday without passing a relief package for farmers and ranchers suffering through the most widespread drought since the 1930s.

The only thing the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and the Democratic-controlled Senate have agreed on is that they'll take the issue up again after Labor Day.

"We need drought assistance, but instead we're just going to sit here in gridlock," said Jess Peterson, executive vice president of the U.S. Cattlemen's Association. "It's kind of disappointing."

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Mitt Romney To Harry Reid On Tax Dodge: 'Put Up Or Shut Up'

For the first time on Thursday, Mitt Romney addressed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's claim that Romney spent a decade not paying taxes, denying the charge and telling Fox News' Sean Hannity that it was time for the majority leader reveal the source of his information.

"Well, it's time for Harry to put up or shut up. Harry's going to have to describe who it is he spoke with because of course, that's totally and completely wrong," Romney told Hannity in a radio interview. "It's untrue, dishonest, and inaccurate. It's wrong. So I'm looking forward to have Harry reveal his sources and we'll probably find out it's the White House. Look, the Obama campaign is going to do everything in its power to try and talk about anything besides the president's record. Home prices, median American incomes, gasoline prices, 23 million underemployed or unemployed.

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ACLU, Others Sue To Stop Insider-Trading Law

McLEAN, Va. (AP) - The American Civil Liberties Union is filing a lawsuit on behalf of 28,000 federal employees to block a new law designed to stop insider trading by government officials.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday in federal court in Greenbelt, Md. It seeks to block implementation of the STOCK Act, which stands for Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge.

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D.C. Teachers Fired For Poor Performance

WASHINGTON (AP) - District of Columbia school officials say 98 teachers have been fired after receiving low scores on a key evaluation instrument.
The Washington Post reports the teachers were dismissed this week.

They account for less than 3 percent of the school system's 4,100 teachers.

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Police: Vermont Man Crushed Cop Cars With Tractor

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - Working in a stout former bank building with windows closed and air conditioners humming, Orleans County sheriff's deputies didn't know what was happening in their parking lot until a neighbor called 911.

A man on a big farm tractor, angry about his recent arrest for resisting arrest and marijuana possession, was rolling across their vehicles _ five marked cruisers, one unmarked car and a transport van.

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Congressman: Official English Would Save Millions

A special interest organization called The American Dream contends “the quickest way to divide people is to have them speak different languages.”

The group notes there are 325 different languages spoken at home in the United States today.

“In the past, it was always understood that if you wanted to thrive in the ‘land of opportunity’ that you had better learn English and learn it well. Unfortunately, times have changed,” the group says. “Today, many radical activist groups are actually referring to the English language as a ‘tool of oppression’ and are demanding that special accommodations be made for those that do not wish to learn the English language.

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Here Are 5 Christian Companies That Join Chick-fil-A in Publicly-Proclaiming Their Bible-Based Views

Chick-fil-A isn’t the only company willing to share its Christian faith with the world. While attaching a specific religious view to a product or service holds the potential to turn a portion of consumers off, some business leaders and companies stick to their values and intentionally include them in their packaging and messaging. Some of these brands include: Forever 21, Interstate Battery, Tyson Foods, In-N-Out Burger and Hobby Lobby.

Continue HERE

BEYOND LAUGHABLE

Ludicrous Times Op-Ed Forgets Entire Year of Wall Street History

It was riotous, side-splitting comedy last week when Sanford Weill, the onetime head of Citibank, went on CNBC to announce that he thought it was time to break up the big banks.

Why this was funny: Through his ambitious (and at the time not yet legal) decision to merge Citibank, Travelers, and Salomon Brothers into one giant wrecking ball of greed, self-dealing and global irresponsibility called Citigroup, Weill more or less single-handedly created the Too-Big-To-Fail problem. You know, the one currently casting that thick, black doomlike shadow over all humanity which, if you look out your window, you can see floating over all our heads this very minute.

Nonetheless, Weill came out last week against Too Big to Fail banks. “I’m suggesting,” he told astonished reporters on a live CNBC interview, “that they be broken up so that the taxpayer will never be at risk…. What we should probably do is go and split up investment banking from banking.”

The interview became an instant YouTube classic. The very funniest part, I thought, was the response of Squawk Box host Andrew Ross Sorkin, the single most credulously slobbering financial reporter on the planet this side of Maria Bartiromo. Even he was so shocked by Weill’s comments that he lost his voice – “I’m speechless,” he said.


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Obama Campaign Sues to Restrict Military Voting

President Barack Obama, along with many Democrats, likes to say that, while they may disagree with the GOP on many issues related to national security, they absolutely share their admiration and dedication to members of our armed forces. Obama, in particular, enjoys being seen visiting troops and having photos taken with members of our military. So, why is his campaign and the Democrat party suing to restrict their ability to vote in the upcoming election?

On July 17th, the Obama for America Campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and the Ohio Democratic Party filed suit in OH to strike down part of that state's law governing voting by members of the military. Their suit said that part of the law is "arbitrary" with "no discernible rational basis."

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Penn State Loses Top Scorer as Kicker Anthony Fera Leaves Team

Pennsylvania State University’s football team has lost its top two scorers from last season in the past two days, as starting kicker and punter Anthony Fera became the most recent player to leave the program.

Fera’s departure comes a day after running back Silas Redd transferred to the University of Southern California. Fera and Redd combined for 104 of the Nittany Lions’ 251 points last season, with Fera making 14 of 17 field-goal attempts while earning second-team All-Big Ten honors as a punter.

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Chihuahua Finds Two Lost Girls in Georgia Forest

A Chihuahua is being hailed as a hero after authorities say it sniffed out two girls who were lost in a Georgia forest.
The girls, ages 5 and 8, disappeared Monday for a couple of hours when they were walking on trails near their neighborhood about 30 miles southwest of Atlanta. As police and firefighters began to search for the girls, neighbor Carvin Young grabbed his 3-year-old Chihuahua and joined the search.
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WHY DO THE FEDS NEED THIS INFO?

My son broke his finger a few months ago. I had to take him to a follow-up with the hand specialist yesterday. The lady at the check-in counter apologized as she handed each patient a new form that was required by the Federal Government because of the Obamacare law. Remember this is a hand doctor. Here is what they wanted to know about my 15 year old son:

Race
Whether he was of hispanic origin ( I guess this is when you can become a white hispanic – aka George Zimmerman)
His smoking habits – in very detailed terms (never, sometimes, daily, etc.) – WTF does smoking have to do with hand injuries?
Allergies
Medications being taken

The lady clearly stated that this info was not being requested by them, but the Federal government. Is a database being created that will call out hand doctors who don’t serve enough black people?

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Union Rights Extend To More Maryland State Workers

While many states’ lawmakers enact policy unfriendly to unions, Maryland legislators expanded collective bargaining rights to more state employees for the third year in a row.

As of July 1, employees of the Office of the Comptroller, Maryland Transportation Authority, the State Retirement Agency and the Maryland State Department of Education can unionize.

The legislation could add 5,000 employees to the collective bargaining pool, said Lawrence Myers, spokesman for Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley’s finance office.

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Robert Shiller Explains The Financial Crisis In One Paragraph

The following comes from Shiller’s recent interview in Social Science Space. It’s one of the most concise explanations of what happened and why most economists missed it:

“Robert Shiller: That’s right; well conventional economics misrepresents what our best interests are. A great example is the financial crisis that began in 2007. The way it began is home prices started falling rapidly. Many people had committed themselves to mortgages and now the debt was worth more then the house was worth,they can’t come up with the money to payoff the mortgage and so it kind of lead to a world financial crisis. So why did that happen? Conventional economics theory can’t seem to get at the answer, which I would say is, we had a speculative bubble driven by excessive optimism, driven by public inattention to risks of such an eventuality. And errors in managing the mortgage contracts that were made. There are no errors in conventional economics: it’s all rational optimisation.”

The rest of the interview is actually better, but this part stood out due to its simplicity and directness….

Romney Adviser to Harry Reid: 'Have You No Sense Of Decency, Sir?'

Mitt Romney's senior campaign adviser channeled the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s on Thursday when he implicitly accused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, of engaging in McCarthyism by insinuating that Mr. Romney did not pay any taxes for 10 years.

"Harry Reid's charges are baseless, and they're untrue, and I would ask him one simple question: Have you no sense of decency, sir?" Eric Fehrnstrom said on Fox News. "Is there nothing you won't do to debase yourself and the office you hold in the name of dirty politics?"

The remark mirrors Army counsel Joseph Welch's famous line to Sen. Joe McCarthy during the 1950s investigations into Communist activities in the U.S.

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Bypass Closed

The east bound traffic on the Bypass is closed down.


Dump Truck went off roadway and landed on its side


down the hill and into the trees. Simpson Towing


has two trucks there now trying to pull it out.

Worst-Rated States For Retirement - Cost Of Living - Crime - Unemploym... - AARP

It's not uncommon to find a list of the best places to retire, either here or abroad. But a list of the worst places? That's what the folks at Money-Rates.com pulled together.

The finance website looked at such factors as crime rate, climate, longevity and economic conditions, including taxes, job opportunities and cost of living, to compile a ranking of the 10 worst states for retirement.

Some of the bottom dwellers might come as a surprise. Maine finished dead last in the rankings. The high cost of living and harsh climate dragged down the state's appeal to retirees. Joblessness and tax burdens weighed on runner-up Michigan. Massachusetts received a poor ranking because of cold weather and the cost of living.

Next: See the 10 worst-rated states for retirement. »

According to Money-Rates.com, the 10 worst states to retire in include Wisconsin, New York, Washington, Rhode Island, Maryland, Alaska, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan and...

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More Than Half of Maryland In Moderate Drought

BALTIMORE (AP) - More than half of Maryland is in a moderate drought and more than 28% is in a severe drought.

That's according to figures from the U.S. Drought Monitor. The figures show 51.45% of the state in moderate drought, down from 52.44% the week before. And 28.55% of the state is in severe drought, up sharply from 19.93% the week before.

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We Should All Love Fed Transparency

Ron Paul’s signature Audit the Fed legislation finally passed the House; on July 25, the House bill was passed 327 to 98. But the chances of a comprehensive audit of monetary policy — including the specifics of the 2008 bailouts — remain distant.

Why? Well, the Fed doesn’t seem to want the sunshine. Critics including the current Fed regime claim that monetary policy transparency would politicise the Fed and compromise its independence, and allow public sentiment to interfere with what they believe should be a process left to experts dispassionately interpreting the economic data. Although the St. Louis Fed makes economic data widely available [14], monetary policy is determined behind closed doors, and transactions are carried out in secret.

Bernanke [15]:

We fully accept the need for transparency and accountability, but it is a well-established fact that an independent central bank will provide better outcomes.

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Anaheim Political Representation Debated in California

Should Anaheim city government better reflect its community?
That’s what City Council members in the California town will discuss today, weeks after two fatal shooting by police officers touched off days of protests.
The meeting comes in response to a lawsuit by the ACLU, which claims that the electoral process shuts out Latinos. Currently council members are elected city-wide, and the ACLU and Latino activists are pushing for district voting
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President Obama Signs Maryland Disaster Declaration


President Barack Obama has signed a disaster declaration for Maryland to help recovery efforts following severe storms that hit the state in late June.

The president issued the disaster declaration on Thursday, ordering federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts. The declaration makes federal funding available for repairs in Calvert, Charles, Kent, Montgomery and St. Mary's Counties and the city of Baltimore.

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Probe Faults 'Pressure' To Promote Stimulus In $535M Solyndra Loan Approval

A congressional report concluded Friday that "political pressure" by a White House eager to tout stimulus spending was largely to blame for fast-tracking the ill-fated $535 million Solyndra loan guarantee -- findings compounded by the release of an email that showed the former CEO once referred to the aid as "The Bank of Washington."

The email and the report were released by Republicans, who continue to use the scandal to portray the Obama administration as careless with taxpayer money in pursuit of its alternative-energy agenda.

The email, posted online by the Republican National Committee, was a late 2009 message from ex-CEO Chris Gronet. "The Bank of Washington continues to help us!" he exclaimed, pointing to the recently approved loan guarantee and other tax incentives the company might use.

The report, meanwhile, was released by Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and caps a nearly yearlong investigation by the panel into why the government allegedly ignored red flags to approve the loan. Solyndra, a solar-panel firm, filed for bankruptcy last year.

"It is clear (the Department of Energy) should never have issued the loan guarantee to Solyndra," the report said, adding that a subsequent decision to restructure the terms "violated the plain language of the law."

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Man Arrested For Making Movie Theater Threats


A bail review has been postponed for a man facing disorderly conduct and other charges for acting like he had a gun in an Annapolis movie theater.

A spokeswoman for the Anne Arundel County state's attorney said Thursday the review has been postponed so Kyle Nolan Tanner can undergo an emergency psychological evaluation.

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No Thanks, We'll Do It Our Way

The Founding Fathers are usually credited with designing the nation as a republic when they drafted the Constitution. Some insist that the nation be described as a democratic republic.

But it might be even more accurate to say that they created a federal democratic republic. By creating a federal system, the founders also created a mechanism that has prevented a second American Revolution for nearly 240 years.

Each of the "several states" is independent; they can create their own laws, set their own taxes, and generally ignore the laws of the other 49 states, so long as those laws recognize the supremacy of the U.S. Constitution. There are exceptions to this, of course, where the states have cooperated in drafting uniform laws to facilitate interstate commerce, such as the Uniform Commercial Code. Generally however, each state goes its own way. While all states have laws against murder, for example, each state defines what behavior constitutes premeditated murder versus manslaughter, and those definitions may vary from state to state.

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Global Warming? Yeah, Right


Have a look at this chart. It tells you pretty much all you need to know about the much-anticipated scoop by Anthony Watts of Watts Up With That?

What it means, in a nutshell, is that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – the US government body in charge of America's temperature record, has systematically exaggerated the extent of late 20th century global warming. In fact, it has doubled it.

Is this a case of deliberate fraud by Warmist scientists hell bent on keeping their funding gravy train rolling? Well, after what we saw in Climategate anything is possible. (I mean it's not like NOAA is run by hard-left eco activists, is it?) But I think more likely it is a case of confirmation bias. The Warmists who comprise the climate scientist establishment spend so much time communicating with other warmists and so little time paying attention to the views of dissenting scientists such as Henrik Svensmark – or Fred Singer or Richard Lindzen or indeed Anthony Watts – that it simply hasn't occurred to them that their temperature records need adjusting downwards not upwards.

What Watts has conclusively demonstrated is that most of the weather stations in the US are so poorly sited that their temperature data is unreliable. Around 90 per cent have had their temperature readings skewed by the Urban Heat Island effect. While he has suspected this for some time what he has been unable to do until his latest, landmark paper (co-authored with Evan Jones of New York, Stephen McIntyre of Toronto, Canada, and Dr. John R. Christy from the Department of Atmospheric Science, University of Alabama, Huntsville) is to put precise figures on the degree of distortion involved.

For the full story go to Watts Up With That NOW!

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We've Been Aiming At The Wrong Adversary

We often think of Karl Marx or the progressive movement as the main source of our political troubles; but the more fundamental source of America's political conflicts goes back to a time before America's founding, finding its most powerful expression during the French Revolution, and seeing its most honest and enduring trademark in that revolution's Reign of Terror.

The source of the emotional power behind the left's influence in America is one sad, strange man from Geneva, whose inspiring emotional tone swept across France, and who, through expressing some compelling emotional sentiments mixed with bizarre anti-reason ideas, spread those ideas like a virus through the adolescent body of modern civilization.

Jean Jacques Rousseau had a romantic vision of his native early 18th century Geneva, with its relatively free peasants and its rural absence of snobby elite airs – even while he was one of only eight percent of the population who could call themselves legal citizens. He disliked the attitudes of the elite in Paris, even while he was sponging off and enjoying the intellectual company of those very people whom he so harshly would criticize. He lectured people on childrearing practices while he personally abandoned his five children to an orphanage.

So he was a hypocrite.

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Beyond The BLS BS: New Online Help Wanted Ads Plunge The Most Since January 2009

Just when you thought it was safe to hope that saved-or-created jobs were at least not plunging anymore, the truth is out with online job postings. As opposed to de minimus surveys, or BLShit small pool analysis, the 'fact-based' number of 'New Help Wanted' Online Ads plunged in July by its most since January 2009! The total number of Online Help Wanted Ads also fell by its most in a year and as Credit Suisse points out, in 7 of the last 8 times when we see an outlier of this magnitude it is followed by outright declines in non-farm payrolls and private payrolls.

New Online Help Wanted Ads fell by their most since January 2009!

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Cecil County Commissioners Take A Public Stance Against MDE’s Proposed BAT Septic Regulations

COMAR RevisionsThe Cecil County Commissioners have stepped forward and taken a public stance against the proposed BAT septic regulations which will significantly adversely affect local county government and rural property owners. If your elected officials have not stood up for your property rights and gotten involved in trying to stop this injustice then call them, write them and confront them in public hearings and ask them why not!


You elect your neighbors and friends to protect your rights and to protect you from the over reach of government. If those you elect are not doing their job, as the Cecil County Commissioners have done in this instance, then you need to replace them with citizens who will protect your constitutional rights.


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Vacant Detroit Becomes Dumping Ground For The Dead

DETROIT (AP) -- Abandoned and neglected parts of Detroit are quickly becoming dumping grounds for the bodies of murder victims. And authorities acknowledge there's little they can do.

At least a dozen bodies have turned up in 12 months, many of them purposely hidden or discarded in alleys, fields and vacant houses or garages. Seven of the dead are believed to have been slain outside Detroit and then dumped within the city.

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Paul Subcommittee To Examine Sound Money And Parallel Currencies

WASHINGTON, July 31 – Congressman Ron Paul, Chairman of the Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology Subcommittee, announced today that the subcommittee will hold a hearing to examine sound money and parallel currencies.

"The American people have suffered for decades from the declining purchasing power of the dollar. The Federal Reserve has abused its position as the monopolist issuer of currency to enrich Wall Street and impoverish Main Street," stated Chairman Paul. "The Fed can effectively create money out of thin air with impunity, while creators of gold and silver currencies face jail time. This is a travesty. The only way to stabilize the economy is to return to monetary freedom by legalizing Constitutional money. Until the American people are free to choose the money they want to use, and not what the government forces them to use, the economy never will be truly stable and any recovery will be illusory."

The hearing, entitled "Sound Money: Parallel Currencies and the Roadmap to Monetary Freedom," will be held on Thursday, August 2nd, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2128 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

Witnesses scheduled to testify:

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NPR TO LAUNCH INITIATIVE ON RACE, ETHNICITY AND CULTURE WITH $1.5 MILLION GRANT FROM CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING

SIX-PERSON NEWS TEAM FORMING THIS FALL; WILL DEVELOP DISTINCTIVE VOICE AND LEAD CONVERSATIONS ON-AIR, ONLINE

Las Vegas, N.V.
– Today at the UNITY 2012 Convention, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced it will award NPR a $1.5 million grant to launch a major journalism initiative to deepen coverage of race, ethnicity and culture, and to capture the issues that define an increasingly diverse America. With this expansive effort, NPR will produce compelling stories and present new voices and conversations online and on-air, staffed by a six-person team.

“This new team and defined area of coverage will empower NPR to cover news and issues across the U.S. more fully, delivering on our promise for NPR to look and sound like America,” said Gary E. Knell, President and CEO of NPR. “CPB’s forward-thinking commitment to diversity challenges public media to do more, and to do better, and we accept that challenge wholeheartedly.”

Once assembled, this team of six journalists will deliver a steady flow of distinctive coverage on every platform. Reporting will magnify the range of existing efforts across NPR and its Member Stations to cover and discuss race, ethnicity and culture. NPR will also create a new, branded space within NPR.org. The first platform is expected to launch this fall.

“We want to dive beneath the surface and capture real conversations that people are having about race and ethnicity,” said Margaret Low Smith, NPR’s Senior Vice President for News. “America is a fascinating and complex place – we want to shed light on that with original and nuanced coverage.”

With this work, NPR hopes to grow on-going efforts to expand its audience with coverage that is welcoming and relevant to more people – reaching those who are more racially, geographically and ideologically diverse. The team’s coverage will provide a portal for new listeners and readers, while enriching the content that NPR provides today to an audience of 26 million on radio and nearly 23 million online. The editorial team will also work across NPR to infuse more story ideas and diverse sources that reflect the world we live in – spanning beats and platforms to touch more of NPR. This initiative will serve as a model for future topic-focused channels.

CPB intends to provide initial support for the project with a two-year, $1.5 million grant, as part of its mission to strengthen and advance public media’s service, particularly to those who are un-served or underserved by commercial media. “We are pleased to support NPR’s efforts to strengthen public media’s capacity to better serve our diverse country on-air, online and in the community. Public media belongs to every citizen, and this free and commercial-free service is more important to Americans than ever,” said Patricia Harrison, President and CEO of CPB.

This initiative is part of a multi-year strategic imperative: to ensure that NPR “looks and sounds like America on air and online.” Over the past two years, NPR has improved its staff profile, which is one of the most diverse in American media, infused its journalism with more diverse sources, experts and story ideas, and stoked the conversation about these important issues with staff-run workshops.

“At NPR, we’re tackling diversity across a large swath of differences that include class, gender, ideology, sexual orientation, faith and, with this effort, race, ethnicity and culture,” said Keith Woods, NPR’s Vice President for Diversity. “With this team, we’ll report from the intersections where, as Americans, we meet and diverge. It’s a topic that touches all of our lives.”

NPR is an award-winning, multimedia news organization that reaches 26 million listeners each week, and nearly 23 million people monthly on digital platforms. In collaboration with more than 900 independent public radio stations nationwide, NPR strives to provide the public with a deeper understanding and appreciation of events, ideas and cultures. To find local stations and broadcast times, visit www.npr.org/stations

Weekly Jobless Claims Rise to 365,000

The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits rose last week, though the data was likely skewed higher by seasonal factors. 
Weekly applications increased by 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 365,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, fell for the sixth straight week to 365,500, the lowest since March 31. 
The decline in the four-week average suggests the job market could be improving a bit. But economists are viewing last month's figures with some caution because the government struggles every July to account for temporary summer shutdowns in the auto industry. This year was even more complicated because some automakers skipped shutdowns, resulting in fewer layoffs. 

Pentagon Workers Downloading Porn

We know Pentagon engineers are good at building missiles and bunker-busting bombs. But they're also pretty good at downloading porn. As Bloomberg News reports, employees at the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency were sent a memo by the Executive Director warning them to stop using agency computers to download porn. The agency is an $8 billion a year operation, that could be put in danger by malware and viruses that often accompany internet porn. As the memo read, "The seriousness of the potential breach to operations cannot be overstated." And we all thought the phallic shape of missiles was for aerodynamics.

John Boehner: Obama Has 'Never Had A Real Job'

House Speaker John Boehner had some especially strong criticism for President Barack Obama in an interview Thursday with Fox News Radio's Kilmeade & Friends, saying that Obama has "never had a real job."

Kilmeade asked Boehner about Obama's campaign speech on Wednesday, in which he appealed to the middle class by slamming Mitt Romney's tax plan, using an independent analysis from the Tax Policy Center.

Here's Boehner:

Listen, Brian. Sometimes I have to catch my breath and slow down because the rhetoric in this campaign is just so over the top. And that's because the President's policies have failed. Listen: 93 percent of Americans believe they're a part of the middle class. That's why you hear the President talk about the middle class every day, because he's talking to 93 percent of the American people. But the President has never created a job. He's never even had a real job, for God's sakes. And I can tell you from my dealings with him, he has no idea how the real world that we actually live in actually works.

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Today's Survey Question 8-3-12

Do you think Wendy's took advantage of Chick-Fil-A

or do you think they truly supported their position?

Tea Party Momentum Steams Ahead With Texas Senate Upset

The Tea Party has no leader, no hierarchy and no national fundraising network, yet the insurgent political movement born of frustration at government spending has bolstered its clout -- and its potential for aggravation -- in the Republican Party with the nomination of U.S. Senate candidate and political newcomer Ted Cruz in Texas.

Emboldened by Cruz’s July 31 victory over Texas Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst in a primary runoff to replace retiring U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Tea Party supporters say their voice is stronger and the movement is better prepared to influence party policy.

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USPS Defaults On $5.5 Billion

United States Postal Service defaulted on a 5.5 billion payment it owes to the Treasury thanks to a poison pill piece of legislation passed by Republicans in 2006. Despite the financial troubles of the Post Office being well-known in Congress – Republicans in Congress have refused to do a single thing to help the institution, which is older than the nation itself. Instead, over the last two years, House Republicans have introduced 60 bills to rename post offices around the country. Yet, not a single bill to save the Post Office has been considered in Congress. That's because Republicans really don't give a damn about the Post Office and its unionized workers.

Maryland's Economy On Wrong Track

Comptroller Peter Franchot argues the state needs to find a way to build businesses not casinos.

For anyone who remains unconvinced that the Maryland economy has lost momentum and is now moving in the wrong direction, the latest unemployment figures released by the U.S. Labor Department should remove all doubt.

The State of Maryland lost 11,000 jobs in June – the third highest total in the nation, trailing only Wisconsin and Tennessee. This was our fourth consecutive month of job losses, and it elevated our state’s unemployment rate to 6.9 percent.

Disappointing as those numbers are, they don’t tell the full story. Maryland also ranked 48th in Fiscal Year 2012 in both average private hourly and weekly earnings growth, and has actually experienced year-over-year declines in both categories. This means that far too many people are bringing home smaller paychecks at a time when the costs of daily living expenses are on the rise.

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Md. Couple Back Home After 14-Year Sailing Trip

Mike Welch now knows one universal truth.

"I have determined, to my own satisfaction, that the world is round," he said.

Mike, 72, and his wife Marguerite Welch, 71, who live in Epping Forest in Annapolis, returned home July 19 from a 14-and-a-half-year circumnavigation on their Shannon 38 sailboat Ithaca.

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People Better Get Used To Low-Wage Jobs

According to a new report by the Economic Policy Institute, the number of Americans in low-wage jobs, defined by wages at or below the poverty line, is expected to hold steady over the next decade. Currently, 28% of workers hold low-wage jobs in America – and by 2020 – that number will be the same. Curiously, the top industries that employ low-wage labor – are growing faster than the entire economy. What does that mean? It means that workers are no longer getting paid for their higher productivity. Instead, CEOs and executives are pocketing bigger and bigger paychecks – pushing wealth inequality to levels in America not seen since the Stock Market crash of 1929. As the Center for American Progress points out, the 50 companies that employ the most law-wage workers – CEOs raked in on average $9.4 million. The war on labor, the destruction of domestic industries through so-called free trade, and the enormous tax cuts for the rich are all contributing to this problem.

Thank God Its Friday 8-3-12

What will you be doing this weekend?

Where's The Beef? Top Wendy's Franchisee Backs Chick-fil-A -- Briefly

The suits at Wendy's International told a leading franchise owner to focus on burgers and fries, and leave politics to the competition.
Jim Furman, CEO of Tarheel Capital, which runs 74 Wendy's restaurants, had the message "WE STAND WITH CHICK-FIL-A" posted on the signs outside some of the company's restaurants in North Carolina and South Carolina, until he got a call from company headquarters in Dublin, Ohio, telling him the signs had to come down.
Furman told reporters the message was taken down because the company "felt it was time to go back to their marketing message," according to MyFoxAL.

Just One Day

In one day, Big Oil earns $342 million in profit, pays their CEOs $60,000 in salaries, spends more than $160,000 lobbying, and dumps a billion pounds of carbon pollution into our skies. That's all in a single day. And what do we get out of it? Rapid climate change that's threatening to destabilize the entire planet. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture – more than half of all the counties in the United States are now primary disaster areas – stricken by one of the worst droughts in our nation's history. To give relief, the USDA has opened up 3.8 million acres of conservation land for ranchers to use for grazing. It's the latest effort by the Department to prevent a rapid increase in food prices that could kill our fragile economic recovery, hurt working Americans, and push the developing world into starvation and chaos. Meanwhile – Big Oil and Big Coal – which have been dumping unimaginable amounts of carbon pollution into the atmosphere for centuries – continues to take in enormous profits without contributing one cent to fixing the destruction they're causing around the planet. This is predatory capitalism at its worst, and if left unchecked, our future is uncertain.

A 21-Year-Old In Arkansas Was Shot in The Head While Handcuffed In The Back Of A Police Car

A 21-year-old in Jonesboro, Arkansas is dead after he was mysteriously shot in the head while handcuffed in the back of a police car. Chavis Carter was arrested on Saturday for possession of marijuana. According to police, while they were searching Carter's car they heard a gunshot and found Carter dead in the squad car. The odd thing is police reports indicate that two searches of Carter never turned up the alleged handgun that police now claim he shot himself with...while he was handcuffed. Carter's mother is accusing police of killing her son saying, "I think they killed him, my son wasn't suicidial." The two officers involved in the incident have been put on leave and a formal investigation has been launched. This incident comes on the heels of police brutality in Anaheim where a week and a half ago – police shot an unarmed man who was fleeing in the back of the head killing him. That triggered days of demonstrations and unrest in the streets of Anaheim. The last thing police need right now is another incident that makes a local community lose faith in law enforcement.

Despite Supreme Court Ruling, Many Minors May Stay In Prison For Life

When Dennis Epps learned in June that the Supreme Court had struck down [2] mandatory life without parole sentences for kids convicted of murder, he was hopeful. His brother, David, was given such a sentence for home burglary-murder committed at 16 and has spent most of his 48 years behind bars.

"I was thinking he was going to get some kind of release, because he served 32 years on a life sentence," Epps told ProPublica.

But Epps's brother is unlikely going anywhere soon. A few weeks after the ruling, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad announced he would commute the life without parole sentences of 38 juvenile offenders [3], and make them eligible for parole after 60 years. David Epps would be in his mid-seventies when he could first be released.

Under the Supreme Court's ruling, minors can still get life without parole sentences — just not automatically after a conviction; instead a judge will need to decide, taking into account the minor's youth.

For the roughly 2,500 juvenile offenders [4] already sentenced to life in prison without parole, the upshot of the ruling — Miller v. Alabama [5] — seemed clear: "They will all get another bite at the sentencing apple," Dan Filler, a professor at Drexel University's Earle Mack School of Law, wrote shortly after the ruling.

That may not happen if Iowa's governor or many other states get their way.

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Berlin Peach Festival Today

BERLIN -- In order to take advantage of a more plentiful harvest time, the 4th Annual Berlin Peach Festival has been changed to Saturday, August 4, from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m., on the grounds of the Calvin B. Taylor House Museum. Admission is free. Rain date is Sunday, Aug. 5, from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m..

The festival will be opened officially by Mayor Gee Williams with help from Little Miss and Little Mister Berlin Peach 2011. All afternoon, attendees will be able to stroll among the displays, demonstrations and sales tables.

Naturally, there will be loads of delicious Delmarva peaches for sale by local growers, including Bennett Orchards of Frankford, Del. and T. S. Smith of Bridgeville, Del., Garden of Eden from Salisbury and Jason Cole from Berlin.

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IRS Missing Billions In ID Theft

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Internal Revenue Service may have delivered more than $5 billion in refund checks to identity thieves who filed fraudulent tax returns for 2011, Treasury Department investigators said Thursday. They estimate another $21 billion could make its way to ID thieves' pockets over the next five years.

The IRS is detecting far fewer fraudulent tax refund claims than actually occur, according to a government audit that warned the widespread problem could undermine public trust in the U.S. tax system. Although the IRS detected about 940,000 fraudulent returns for last year claiming $6.5 billion in refunds, there were potentially another 1.5 million undetected cases of thieves seeking refunds after assuming the identity of a dead person, child or someone else who normally wouldn't file a tax return.

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Does Cybercrime Really Cost $1 Trillion?

Gen. Keith Alexander is the director of the National Security Agency and oversees U.S. Cyber Command, which means he leads the government’s effort to protect America from cyberattacks. Due to the secretive nature of his job, he maintains a relatively low profile, so when he does speak, people listen closely. On July 9, Alexander addressed a crowded room at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., and though he started with a few jokes — his mother said he had a face for radio, behind every general is a stunned father-in-law — he soon got down to business.

Alexander warned that cyberattacks are causing "the greatest transfer of wealth in history," and he cited statistics from, among other sources, Symantec Corp. and McAfee Inc., which both sell software to protect computers from hackers. Crediting Symantec, he said the theft of intellectual property costs American companies $250 billion a year. He also mentioned a McAfee estimate that the global cost of cybercrime is $1 trillion. "That’s our future disappearing in front of us," he said, urging Congress to enact legislation to improve America’s cyberdefenses.

These estimates have been cited on many occasions by government officials, who portray them as evidence of the threat against America. They are hardly the only cyberstatistics used by officials, but they are recurring ones that get a lot of attention. In his first major cybersecurity speech [1] in 2009, President Obama prominently referred to McAfee’s $1 trillion estimate. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the main sponsors of the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 that is expected to be voted on this week, have also mentioned $1 trillion in cybercrime costs. Last week, arguing on the Senate floor in favor of putting their bill up for a vote, they both referenced the $250 billion estimate and repeated Alexander’s warning about the greatest transfer of wealth in history.

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SNOW HILL MAN CONVICTED FOR DOMESTIC ASSAULT BY WICOMICO COUNTY JURY

On July 31, 2012, a Wicomico County jury found Rondell James Copes, age 44, of Snow Hill, Maryland, guilty of Second Degree Assault. On December 21, 2011 in Fruitland, Maryland, Copes assaulted his ex-girlfriend by striking her head on a staircase railing. The victim was treated at P.R.M.C. on the night of the assault and was released. Copes was sentenced to five (5) years in the Division of Corrections (D.O.C) for this act of domestic violence.

The State’s Attorney’s Office would like to thank Ofc. Weldon, and the Fruitland Police Department for their role in the investigation and prosecution of this case. Mr. Maciarello also commended Mr. Ethan Freyman, who prosecuted this case.

WCSO Press Release 8-3-12

Incident: Possession of Marijuana / Driving Under the Influence
Date of Incident: 30 July 2012
Location: Tilghman Road, Salisbury, MD
Suspect: Derek Allen Largent, 30, Salisbury, MD

Narrative: On 30 July 2012 at 3:58 AM, a deputy from the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office observed an individual that appeared to be slumped over behind the wheel of his vehicle at a red light on Tilghman Road in Salisbury. The deputy watched as the light turned green without any response from the operator. The deputy approached the operator, Derek Largent, and woke him up while discovering that Largent had his vehicle in drive with his foot on the brake. During the initial contact with Largent, the deputy suspected that Largent was under the influence of something. Based on the lack of an odor of alcohol, coupled with the discovery of marijuana and prescription pills in the possession of Largent, the deputy suspected impairment by drugs.

Sobriety testing was administered which culminated in the arrest of Largent. An examination was completed by a Drug Recognition Expert that concluded that Largent was under the influence of a controlled dangerous substance. Largent refused to submit to a blood test when requested.

The deputy transported Largent to the Central Booking Unit where he was processed and taken in front of the District Court Commissioner. After an initial appearance, the Commissioner detained Largent in the Detention Center in lieu of $7,500.00 bond.

Charges: Possession of Marijuana
Driving Under the Influence of CDS

Government Motors: Feds Keep Expanding Fleet Of Cars

Budgets may be tight, but the federal government has increased its fleet of cars to 449,000 vehicles — or nearly one for every seven federal employees — according to the Government Accountability Office.

The Department of Veterans Affairs saw the biggest jump, adding 49 percent more vehicles between 2005 and 2011 — or even more than the Homeland Security Department, which was new in 2005 and has steadily grown since, including doubling the size of the U.S. Border Patrol.

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Slaying The Monstrous Tax Code Is No Easy Task

From President Obama to House Speaker John A. Boehner, there’s broad consensus that Congress needs to unclutter the federal tax code and remove the special breaks that litter its 70,000 pages — but Thursday’s dry run in a Senate committee showed just how tough it will be to slash.

The Finance Committee voted to renew 51 special tax breaks for another year and to raise the level of a tax designed to hit the wealthy, at a cost of more than $205 billion — all of it tacked onto the deficit.

Sen. Max Baucus, Montana Democrat and chairman of the committee, said that counted as progress — 21 other special tax breaks could have been included but weren’t.

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Yard Sales 8-3-12


Saturday, August 4th
7am til 11am
34685 Heartland Drive
Pittsville, MD

Including lots of kids and baby toys

I am having a massive gigantic yard/furniture/moving sale at my house at 500 Druid Hill Avenue off of college ave and Russell ave. There is going to be massive amounts of furniture and all sorts of other great items. I was hoping that you guys could post something about it because items are going to be extremely cheap but yet they are all very good quality. I will be serving hotdogs for free and there will be music playing. The event is on Sunday the 5th of August.

Media Launches Scathing Attacks, Threats Against Chick-fil-A

Gay rights activists and some members of the national media delivered scathing attacks on Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day, calling for homosexual activists to “infiltrate” and bully the family-owned company until they renounce their support of traditional marriage.
Hundreds of thousands of people waited in long lines at Chick-fil-A restaurants from Paramus, New Jersey to Roseville, Calif. to show their support for the Atlanta-based company – under intense criticism after the owner announced they supported traditional marriage.
There were some counter-protests at restaurants across the nation. Most were peaceful – with reports of Chick-fil-A employees offering free water and food to protesters. However, there were some incidents of criminal activity.
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Exec Bullies Chick-Fil-A Worker, Then Promptly Gets Fired For It


Adam Smith, former CFO and treasurer of medical supplies manufacturer Vante, caused quite a stir today when he put up a video of himself bullying a Chick-fil-A drive-thru employee in Tucson on YouTube.

Smith berates the worker about her company in the video, which was initially titled ”Reduce $’s to Chick-Fil-A’s Hate Groups.” It has since been taken down (though others have uploaded it too).

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