White House Petition Drive

President Obama is spending $4 million in taxpayer money on a family vacation. We have created a White House petition to ask him to cancel this vacation and send the money to Somerset County, Maryland, instead. http://wh.gov/NQuu

Night Of The Long Knives: 'Fake' Conservative John Boehner Purges The GOP

Is this really the reason why markets are rallying today? (or is it front-running the potential 'cone of silence' from a long-weekend in DC) We suspect neither, but Mike Krieger [5], having written extensively on the two-party political sham, notes the issue is that both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are at their core the same on the big issues most affect these United States at this time.  This past election should have been a wakeup call to the Republican establishment, but based on John Boehner’s recent actions, they have learned absolutely nothing.  The Republican Party is imploding from within since its leaders don’t actually stand for anything.  Here is how Mr. Boehner treats those within his party that do stand for something.

Via Mike Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg blog [5],

I have written about the two-party political sham for many years now.  At its root, the issue is that both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are at their core the same on the big issues most affect these United States at this time.  These issues are:

1. The Federal Reserve scam and Wall Street theft.
2. Civil liberties and the destruction of the Constitution.
3. Our aggressive foreign policy and imperial wars abroad that help only the oligarchs and impoverish the masses.

Then they divide and conquer the masses using relatively irrelevant social issues like gay marriage, which are highly charged emotionally but will not affect your ability to put food on the table.

This past election should have been a wakeup call to the Republican establishment, but based on John Boehner’s recent actions, they have learned absolutely nothing.  The Republican Party is imploding from within since its leaders don’t actually stand for anything.  Here is how Mr. Boehner treats those within his party that do stand for something.

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The True Disciple Of Saul Alinsky

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's opening bid to Speaker John Boehner, a demand for $1.6 trillion in new taxes, was not meant as a serious offer. It was an ultimatum couched in an insult. Translation:

"We won the election. We have the whip hand. Not only are you going to sign on to higher tax rates and higher tax revenues, we are going to rub your Tea Party noses in your coming capitulation."

That Boehner did not throw the offer back in Geithner's face and tell him, "Give me a call, Tim, when you're serious," suggests that the speaker feels he is holding a losing hand.

He wants a deal where the GOP agrees to higher revenues and the White House agrees to cuts in future entitlement outlays. But the Obamaites are looking to dictate terms. They want a triumph. If that means casting Boehner as the Neville Chamberlain of the GOP, so be it.

What explains their hubris?

Two years ago, Obama had to eat crow and extend the Bush tax cuts. Now it's payback time. And behind their arrogance lies a belief that the GOP cannot say no. For if the Bush tax cuts and the payroll tax cuts expire on Jan. 1, Americans will face the highest tax hike in history.

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Georgetown Man Dies From Injuries Sustained In December 1 Crash In Middletown

Location: Summit Bridge Road (U.S. 301), north of Marl Pit Road, Middletown, DE

Date and Time of Occurrence: Saturday, December 1, 2012, at 5:52 a.m.

Operators and Vehicles:
Operator 1: Howard S. Johnson, 65, of New Castle, DE (properly restrained, not injured)
Vehicle 1: 2011 Dodge Ram 1500

Pedestrian: Mark W. Crossan, 20, of Georgetown, DE (deceased)

Resume:
Middletown - The Delaware State Police Collision Reconstruction Unit is investigating a December 1 crash that claimed the life of a Georgetown man.

Mark W. Crossan, 20, of Georgetown, was walking on Summit Bridge Road (U.S. 301) north of Marl Pit Road at 5:52 a.m. when he was struck by a 2011 Dodge Ram 1500 operated by Howard S. Johnson, 65, of New Castle. After the impact the truck, which had been traveling south on Summit Bridge Road, left the west edge of the roadway and came to rest in a field.

Johnson was not injured. Crossan was transported to Christiana Hospital Trauma Center where he was admitted with serious injuries. He died on December 4.

No charges have been filed. The Collision Reconstruction Unit continues to investigate this incident.

'2016' Oscar Snub Has Filmmakers Claiming Political Bias

Gerald Molen, the Oscar-winning producer of Schindler’s List, is claiming political bias because a documentary movie he produced this year isn't up for an Oscar, even though that film, 2016: Obama’s America, made more money at the box office than the combined earning of the 15 films the Academy deemed eligible.

2016 is a negative take on President Barack Obama. It was co-written and directed by author Dinesh D’Souza, and earned $33.4 million at the domestic box office. But its omission on the list of the 15 documentaries the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Monday would advance in the voting process makes it ineligible for an Oscar.

"Dinesh warned me this might happen," Molen laughed on Tuesday. "The action confirms my opinion that the bias against anything from a conservative point of view is dead on arrival in Hollywood circles. The film’s outstanding success means that America went to see the documentary in spite of how Hollywood feels about it." 
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CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION VP BUSTED PARTICIPATING IN MIDWEST MARXISM CONFERENCE

While a guest on a local Chicago radio show, Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) VP Jesse Sharkey was questioned over his recent participation in the Midwest Marxism Conference and refused to answer why he was there and what relationship the Chicago Teachers Union has with the conference and sponsoring organization, the International Socialists Organization. Sharkey, who was documented by Breitbart News attending the Marxist conference at Northwestern University last month, appeared caught off-guard and struggled to respond to the question.

WLS radio’s Bruce Wolf and Dan Proft had Sharkey on their show to discuss the ongoing school closing battle between the CTU and the Chicago Public Schools. Sharkey had been discussing the Chicago Teachers Union’s network of coalitions that supported the recent teachers strike, when Proft asked him to address the union’s relationship with “revolutionary movements.”
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IRAN AIMS BIOLOGICAL WARHEADS AT ISRAEL

Iran has 170 ballistic missiles aimed at Tel Aviv, many with biological warheads, WND has learned.

According to a source who served in Iran’s Intelligence Ministry and who recently defected, the Islamic regime has 170 missiles targeted at Tel Aviv from underground silos, some of which are armed with biological warheads.

The Islamic regime ruling Iran has prepared for the total destruction of Israel as well as a capability to target European capitals, he said.

As reported in the Washington Times in August, a commentary in Mashregh, the media outlet of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, confirmed that the Islamic regime not only has weapons of mass destruction but has armed its terrorist proxies with them, including Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad. The commentary warned Israel that if the fighting in Syria does not stop, an all-out attack on the Jewish state will be launched and that at zero hour, Tel Aviv will be the first city to be destroyed.
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Waters secures top Democratic spot on House Financial Services Committee

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) has been officially named the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee.

The outspoken liberal vowed Tuesday to protect the Dodd-Frank financial reform law from GOP attempts to dismantle it, while pursuing reform of housing finance with the new chairman, Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas).

While Waters and Hensarling rarely see eye to eye on policy, she said in a statement she hoped to "reconcile our visions" at the top of the banking panel. But she gave little indication she was willing to consider changes to the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, which Hensarling has harshly critiqued.
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Cal Ripken Jr. Becomes Spokesman For Mortgage Lender

Cal Ripken Jr. has signed on to be the public face of a mortgage lending company for veterans.

Ripken will serve as a spokesman for NewDay USA LLC, a Fulton-based mortgage lender that specializes in veteran and government mortgage loans.

Ripken will help with the company’s charity efforts, training and community outreach.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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BREAKING NEWS: Assad Regime Prepping Chemical Weapons, Source Says

Syrian forces have mixed sarin gas to prepare the chemical weapon for potential use on President Assad's own people, senior US official confirms to Fox News.

BREAKING NEWS: Syria Loads Chemical Weapons Into Bombs; Military Awaits Assad's Order

The Syrian military is prepared to use chemical weapons against its own people and is awaiting final orders from President Bashar Assad, U.S. officials told NBC News on Wednesday.

The military has loaded the precursor chemicals for sarin, a deadly nerve gas, into aerial bombs that could be dropped onto the Syrian people from dozens of fighter-bombers, the officials said.

As recently as Tuesday, officials had said there was as yet no evidence that the process of mixing the "precursor" chemicals had begun. But Wednesday, they said their worst fears had been confirmed: The nerve agents were locked and loaded inside the bombs.
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Prescription Drugs A Gateway To Heroin

Prescription painkillers may seem a world away from heroin, but experts say that moving between the two is actually quite common.

Prescription drug abuse took off more than a decade ago, partly because the medication came in exact dosages and lacked the stigma of more illicit drugs, according to Theodore Cicero, a psychiatry professor at Washington University in St. Louis.

"These are safe, they're predictable," Cicero said. "It makes the use socially acceptable."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called prescription drug abuse the fastest-growing drug problem in the U.S.
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Gangnam style?..... More like redneck style!!

Language warning at the very end!

Maryland Banks Nearly Double Profit In 3Q

Maryland banks earned a combined profit of $132 million in the third quarter, a nearly 88 percent increase over the same period last year.

The bump reflects a trend among U.S. banks, which posted a profit of $37.6 billion in the quarter, up nearly 7 percent, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reported Tuesday.

In Maryland, the total value of loans and leases during the third quarter rose nearly 2 percent to $22.8 billion, up from $22.4 billion in the year-ago period.
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Obama's 2nd Inaugural Seems Almost An Afterthought

Four years ago, Barack Obama's swearing-in drew a record crowd to the National Mall. There were 1.8 million people eager to witness history: the country's first black president taking the oath of office.

Now, as Obama prepares for his second-term kickoff, the capital is pre-occupied with a looming economic crisis, exit from war and a reshuffling in Congress. Ticket demand is lower. Hotels are far from booked. And from Capitol Hill to the White House, the upcoming festivities seem to be barely on anyone's radar.

More muted inaugural celebrations are typical with every second presidential term. But it's almost as if Obama's swearing-in, on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, is a been-there-done-that afterthought around town. 
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5-Year-Old Girl's Toy Drive Helps Benefit Families Affected By Superstorm Sandy

For children made homeless by Superstorm Sandy, Christmas will be a bit merrier and brighter thanks to a five-year-old girl from Baltimore.

Sadira "Sadie" Mirjafary came up with an idea to collect toys for victims of the storm - and it's gone viral thanks to social media.

"When we first started this, I truly thought we'd get a trunk full and maybe a hundred bucks," says Sadie's mother, Nasrene Mirjafary.

Now, their basement is stacked floor to ceiling with new, unwrapped toys for children of all ages thanks to a Facebook event site and word of mouth.
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DHS Confirms: Deportation of Obama's Uncle on Hold as Immigration Board Re-Opens Case

The U.S Board of Immigration Appeals has agreed to reopen the immigration case of Onyango Obama, delaying the deportation of the 68-year old Kenyan who violated an order to leave the United States in 1992.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a division of the Department of Homeland Security, confirmed to CNSNews.com on Tuesday that Obama, who is the president’s uncle, was granted a rehearing last week and his case is being re-opened.

“The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) remanded the case back to Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) for reconsideration. It is inappropriate for ICE to offer any further comment on this case,” Brian P. Hale, ICE assistant director for public affairs, said in a statement to CNSNews.com.
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Va. GOP Revives Drug Testing For Welfare Recipients

Virginia Republicans are reviving plans to force welfare recipients to take drug tests before receiving benefits, saying they have found ways to reduce the price tag that doomed the proposal earlier.

"We got hung up last year on the cost, and it seems that we determined the costs aren't as great as we were told last year," said Del. Dickie Bell, R-Staunton, the bill's sponsor. "There are new methods of screening and testing used other places, and some are practical and could be applied here."

Bell hasn't introduced drug test legislation yet for the 2013 General Assembly session. The bill he introduced in the last session would have screened all state welfare recipients and then administered drug tests to those suspected of drug use.
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Tourist Guide Almost Ends Up As Croc Lunch

Unemployment High Among 16-24 Year-Olds In America

The future of our country is struggling.

Unemployment among people ages 16 to 24 is the highest it's been in since World War II. That's according to a new kids county policy report put out by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

In Maryland about 93,000 young adults are out of school or out of work. They are having a hard time finding jobs because of the recession.

Researchers say many entry level positions are going to older candidates instead of young adults.
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PROMISES

STATEMENT FROM SENATOR JIM MATHIAS ON PROPOSED FEMA RELIEF

Senator applauds the bipartisan effort of Maryland’s leadership and urges FEMA to act

Crisfield, MD – Senator Jim Mathias (District 38 – Somerset, Wicomico & Worcester Counties) released the following statement today regarding the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) denial of individual assistance to residents of Somerset County:

“I cannot remember a public policy decision that more deeply aggrieved me than that of the denial of individual assistance aid to Somerset County families, homes and businesses. While we have tremendous volunteer organizations, that have been working day and night to help our community, more assistance is needed. Since the day Sandy hit, I have been working with the Governor’s office, members of our Congressional Delegation from both sides of the aisle, our local elected officials; as well as personnel from FEMA and the Maryland Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) to provide help and relief to our residents in Crisfield, and across the Lower Eastern Shore.

I appreciate the efforts that our elected officials have made and join them in urging FEMA to grant the Individual Assistance Grants. As one of Maryland’s poorest counties, and the one that has been hardest hit, Somerset County needs the help that these funds will provide. We can protect the families, farming, commercial waterman and other small businesses in Somerset, and help others struggling in our communities, who preserve our traditional legacy, and I urge FEMA to act and grant this relief to our community.”

#        #        #

Senator Mathias represents District 38, which includes all of Somerset and Worcester Counties and part of Wicomico County on the Lower Eastern Shore. He is a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over healthcare, energy, and business legislation. Prior to his election to the Senate, he served the residents of the Lower Shore as a member of the House of Delegates and as Mayor of Ocean City.

University Of Maryland Medical Center Named Top Hospital

The University of Maryland Medical Center is one of the nation’s top hospitals, according to the annual Leapfrog Group survey. This is the seventh year UMMC has received this distinction.

The Leapfrog Group survey analyzes patient safety and quality performance measures from almost 1,200 hospitals. UMMC is one of only two hospitals in the US (and the only one on the East Coast) to make the list every year since it began in 2006.
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Banning Women From Combat Is Unconstitutional

When Major Mary Jennings Hegar was serving as a captain in Afghanistan her aircraft was shot down by enemy fire while she and her crew were evacuating injured soldiers. Though injured by a bullet that penetrated the helicopter, she completed the rescue mission while under fire on the ground — and received the Purple Heart and the Distinguished Flying Cross for “outstanding heroism and selfless devotion to duty.”

One thing Hegar, who has served three tours in Afghanistan, did not do: get credit for serving in combat. It is illegal for women to be in official combat positions — and to get the benefits that come with them. Hegar and three other service women filed a lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco last week in a long overdue challenge to the Pentagon’s nonsensical and unconstitutional ban.

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The Delaware Office of Highway Safety Announces Results of Phone in One Hand. Ticket in the Other. Distracted Driving Enforcement Campaign

Dover, DE – Delaware law enforcement recently concluded the first wave of their tough new high visibility distracted driving enforcement campaign, Phone in One Hand. Ticket in the Other., and the results are in.

The Office of Highway Safety announced today that between November 7th and 20th, 1,830 drivers were stopped and given distracted driving citations.

“The State issued a total of 1,830 citations during this distracted driving enforcement initiative. We are particularly proud of our law enforcement partners throughout the State who joined with us to send a strong message about the dangers of distracted driving and for the excellent job they did in protecting the citizens of this State. Some police agencies including Greenwood, Newport, Oceanview and Smyrna made an average of more than one arrest an hour,” said Lewis D. Schiliro, Secretary of Safety and Homeland Security.
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Caption This Photo 12-5-12

Whistleblowers Lead To $3.3 Billion In US Recovery

Whistleblower tips led to a record $3.3 billion recovered by the Justice Department this past year in cases involving frauds against the government, officials said Tuesday.

Such cases were brought under the False Claims Act, a law covering frauds against the government that includes a provision allowing private citizens to file lawsuits on the government's behalf. These citizens are then entitled to collect a portion of any fines or penalties collected in their cases.

Overall, the government recovered nearly $5 billion in False Claims Act cases for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, including $3 billion stemming from health care fraud and $911 million paid by mortgage servicers as part of the $26 billion foreclosure settlement, the Justice Department said.
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Redefining Crazy: Changes To The Bible Of Psychiatric Disorders

On Saturday, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) finalized a 13-year process of revising the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, commonly known as the DSM, the most important book in the field of mental illness. The DSM attempts to designate and code all the ways our minds can go awry. It defines depression, anxiety, schizophrenia — as well as more than 300 other problems from obsessive-compulsive disorder to stuttering to fetishism. Insurance companies require DSM codes for reimbursement, and the National Institutes of Health require them for research grants. It’s no exaggeration to say that the new DSM — the fifth full edition, one that more than 1,500 mental-health experts help write — will change the world of mental health.

Here are some of the biggest changes:

1. Autistic disorder will become autism-spectrum disorder. That spectrum will incorporate Asperger’s syndrome, which generally involves milder forms of autism’s social impairments and previously had its own code number (299.80). To guide clinicians, the DSM will include specific examples of patients meeting criteria for the different disorders making up the spectrum, from autistic disorder to Asperger’s, childhood-disintegrative disorder and pervasive developmental disorder (not otherwise specified). Combining autism and Asperger’s is especially controversial partly because autism can be so much more serious than Asperger’s. Although some autistic people function extremely well (the livestock expert Temple Grandin has helped change her field), others affected by the disorder need lifelong care for basic needs. The change will likely cause considerable debate, however, since the diagnosis is a requirement for access to some of the educational and social services that make up this care, and it’s not clear yet how the change in definition will affect such eligibility in the future.

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Fleetwood Mac Announces Tour: Best-Ever Band Reunion?

Fleetwood Mac have announced that they are getting back together and going on tour, and singer Stevie Nicks is insistent that this won’t be their last time. Speaking to Reuters, she said that there’s “never going to be a final tour until we drop dead," adding that “there's no reason for this to end as long as everyone is in good shape and takes care of themselves."

But the Mac are far from the only band to come back for a reunion tour (which includes 34 cities across Canada and the U.S.). Some other big names in ’70s rock music have come back and are still at it, such as the Eagles, who came back in 1994 with the “Hell Freezes Over” tour and have never looked back.
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Men Find Careers in Collecting Disability

Americans are very generous to people with disabilities. Since passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act in 1990, millions of public and private dollars have been spent on curb cuts, bus lifts and special elevators.

The idea has been to enable people with disabilities to live and work with the same ease as others, as they make their way forward in life. I feel sure the large majority of Americans are pleased that we are doing this.

But there is another federal program for people with disabilities that has had an unhappier effect. This is the disability insurance (DI) program, which is part of Social Security.

The idea is to provide income for those whose health makes them unable to work. For many years, it was a small and inexpensive program that few people or politicians paid much attention to.

In his recent book, “A Nation of Takers: America’s Entitlement Epidemic,” my American Enterprise Institute colleague Nicholas Eberstadt has shown how DI has grown in recent years.

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Drill Instructor Reportedly Ready For Daughter's Return In 'Indefensible' Adoption Horror Story

A Utah judge is reportedly “astonished and deeply troubled” that an adoption agency deliberately circumvented the rights of a married U.S. Army drill instructor whose daughter was adopted at birth without his knowledge.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Judge Darold McDade, in a 48-page ruling, has given the adoptive couple 60 days to give the 21-month-old child back and said the Adoption Center of Choice’s policy of refusing to disclose any information to Terry Achane, 31, once he learned what happened to the girl whom he named Teleah is “utterly indefensible.”

"This is a case of human trafficking," attorney Mark Wiser told the newspaper. "Children are being bought and sold. It is one thing what [adoption agencies] have been doing with unmarried biological fathers. It is in a new area when they are trying to take a child away from a married father who wants to have his child."
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Achmed's Daily Bombs - Dec 5, 2012

Sign In Cambridge , MD

Judge Asked To Order Md. Governor To Appoint Hall

An attorney urged a Prince George's County judge on Tuesday to order Gov. Martin O'Malley to appoint a businessman to a seat in the Maryland House of Delegates, but a lawyer representing the governor said it was up to O'Malley to make the final call on the appointment _ not the county's Democratic central committee.

Meanwhile, an attorney representing the committee said the panel should be able to withdraw Greg Hall's nomination, and the former delegate argued she should get her seat back, because her conviction for misconduct in office was modified to probation before judgment.
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Obamacare Causes Walmart To Roll Back Its Employee Health Insurance

I, along with many others, complained bitterly a bunch of years back about Walmart sticking taxpayers with their employees' health care costs -- and then they mended their ways. Well, their ways have been unmended, thanks to Obamacare.

From the HuffPo's Alice Hines (and the who couldn't have predicted that files), Walmart's new health care policy shifts the burden to Medicaid:

Labor and health care experts portrayed Walmart's decision to exclude workers from its medical plans as an attempt to limit costs while taking advantage of the national health care reform known as Obamacare. Among the key features of Obamacare is an expansion of Medicaid, the taxpayer-financed health insurance program for poor people. Many of the Walmart workers who might be dropped from the company's health care plans earn so little that they would qualify for the expanded Medicaid program, these experts said.

"Walmart is effectively shifting the costs of paying for its employees onto the federal government with this new plan, which is one of the problems with the way the law is structured," said Ken Jacobs, chairman of the Labor Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley.

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Belcher Told Cops He Was Waiting For 'Girlfriend'

Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher told officers who found him sleeping in his car outside an apartment complex hours before he committed a murder-suicide that he was there to visit a woman he described as his "girlfriend," but that she wasn't home.

The apartment complex is about 10 miles from the Kansas City home Belcher shared with 22-year-old Kasandra Perkins, the mother of their 3-month-old daughter Zoey. Belcher shot Perkins at their home Saturday morning before driving to Arrowhead Stadium, where he committed suicide in the practice facility's parking lot, police said.

Police responded to a report about 2:50 a.m. Saturday of a man sleeping in his car outside an apartment building, police spokesman Darin Snapp said Tuesday. When police approached the car, Belcher got out of the vehicle and was cooperative, Snapp said.
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Obamacare Is Not A Sure Thing

Those who thought ObamaCare was set in concrete by Chief Justice John Roberts' decision last June are in for a shock. December 14 is the new deadline (extended from November 16) for states to let the feds know, yea or nay, whether or not they will be setting up a health insurance exchange, which is the key to participating in the misnamed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Obama's belief that the public would warm up to his signature legislation once it became the law of the land has proven false. The current Kaiser Family Foundation poll reports that only 38 percent of the public approves of Obamacare.

Sixteen states, including Virginia, Wisconsin, Ohio and Missouri have told the feds that they are declining to play ball. They have given notice to the federal government that they are refusing to set up a health exchange, which means it falls to the federal government to set up exchanges for those states.

Only 17 states have committed to set up a health exchange as Obamacare expected, while the other states are still wrestling with their decision. Republicans and Tea Partiers are encouraging them not to set up an exchange.

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How Cellphone Companies Have Resisted Rules For Disasters

In a natural disaster or other emergency, one of the first things you're likely to reach for is your cellphone. Landlines are disappearing. More than 30 percent of American households now rely exclusively on cellphones.

Despite that, cell carriers have successfully pushed back against rules on what they have to do in a disaster. The carriers instead insist that emergency standards should be voluntary, an approach the Federal Communications Commission has gone along with.

After Hurricane Katrina, for instance, carriers successfully opposed a federal rule that would have required them to have 24-hours of backup power on cell towers. In another instance, an FCC program to track crucial information during an emergency — such as which areas are down and the status of efforts to bring the network back — remainsentirely voluntary. Nor is the information collected made public.

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Fast Food Workers Want To Unionize

Hundreds of fast-food workers walked off the job in New York City on Thursday to demand better wages and the right to unionize. 

It was the largest strike ever in the American fast food industry. Workers want $15 an hour, but are currently making around minimum wage between $7 and $8 dollars an hour. Meanwhile, their employers are raking in huge profits. As the National Employment Law Project found, the three biggest employers of low-wage workers – McDonalds, Yum! Brands, and Walmart – have all seen enormous profit growth, with Walmart seeing a 130% profit growth since the recession. From what happened in Wisconsin and Ohio last year to the Black Friday Strikes to yesterday's walk-outs in New York City, it's good to see the labor movement back in action all around the nation.

Today's Fill In The Blank 12-5-12

I feel best when I get ____ hours sleep.

Obama Breaks The Golden Rule On Drones

One day after his re-election President Obama ordered yet another drone strike in Yemen, killing an alleged al-Qaeda operative. In the process, our nation's moral standing in the world was further downgraded.

Family members of the man killed are outraged and bewildered, wondering why their loved one was sentenced to death from above, rather than arrested and put on trial. They say that while Adnan al-Qadhi may have held an extremist ideology and may have lent some low-level support to al-Qaeda, he was not actively engaged in any terrorist activities. Relatives say the drone strike was a complete shock and that al-Qadhi could have easily been arrested, and, had he known he was being targeted, then he would have cooperated with authorities.

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Washington's Serious People Are On The War Path Against Middle-Income And Poor People

Fans of arithmetic everywhere know that the large deficits of the last five years are the result of the economic downturn caused by the collapse of the housing bubble. But those taking part in deficit discussions in Washington won't allow such numbers into the discussion.

The Serious People in Washington, such as The Washington Post (both the opinion and news sections), the Wall Street Campaign to Fix the Debt, and the Republican Congressional leadership are in full budget-cutting frenzy. They demand cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and everything else that benefits middle income and poor people because, well, because the market demands it.

And we know the market demands these cuts because the Serious People told us the market demands these cuts. The fact that the cuts have the effect of redistributing income from the rest of us to the Serious People and their friends is just a coincidence.

Those of us who focus on numbers and data might see that we actually have near-record low interest rates on U.S. government debt, suggesting that the markets aren't at all concerned about budget deficits. We can also point out the obvious truth that budget deficits are supporting the economy, given the loss of more than $1 trillion in annual construction and consumption demand as a result of the collapse of the housing bubble.

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Organizing McDonalds And Walmart, And Why Austerity Economics Hurts Low-Wage Workers The Most

What does the drama in Washington over the “fiscal cliff” have to do with strikes and work stoppages among America’s lowest-paid workers at Walmart, McDonald’s, Burger King, and Domino’s Pizza?

Everything.

Jobs are slowly returning to America, but most of them pay lousy wages and low if non-existent benefits. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that seven out of 10 growth occupations over the next decade will be low-wage — like serving customers at big-box retailers and fast-food chains. That’s why the median wage keeps dropping, especially for the 80 percent of the workforce that’s paid by the hour.

It’s also part of the reason why the percent of Americans living below the poverty line has been increasing even as the economy has started to recover — from 12.3 percent in 2006 to 15 percent in 2011. More than 46 million Americans now live below the poverty line.

Many of them have jobs. The problem is these jobs just don’t pay enough to lift their families out of poverty.

So, encouraged by the economic recovery and perhaps also by the election returns, low-wage workers have started to organize. 

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Today's Advertiser Of The Day 12-5-12

THE PLAZA DELI 443-944-0801 

FREE DELIVERY

How Petraeus Quietly Stoked the Fires Of Sectarian War Without Getting Burned

Introduction

 The discovery of his affair with Paula Broadwell has ended David Petraeus' career, but the mythology of Petraeus as the greatest US military leader since Eisenhower for having engineered turnarounds in both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars lives on.

A closer examination of his role in those wars reveals a very different picture, however.

As this four-part series shows, Petraeus represents a new type of military commander, whose primary strength lay neither in strategy nor in command of combat, but in the strategic manipulation of information to maintain domestic political support for counterinsurgency wars of choice, while at the time enhancing his own reputation.

The series shows how Petraeus was engaged from the beginning of the Iraq war in creating a myth about himself as a commander with unique ability to defeat insurgents, that he had failed in his first two commands in Iraq and that he did not believe that war was winnable.

But the account also shows that Petraeus seems to have eventually begun to believe his own myth of himself as successful counterinsurgency strategist. The shift from deception of others to self-deception is the dominant theme of his command of the war in Afghanistan.

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Lawyer For George Zimmerman 'Frustrated' At Prosecutors' Withholding Of Graphic Photo

The attorney for George Zimmerman said he is "frustrated" that prosecutors withheld a color photo of the Florida gunman that could bolster his case that Zimmerman was being beaten when he shot Trayvon Martin.

The graphic photo of Zimmerman, taken the night of his fateful confrontation with Florida teen Trayvon Martin, shows the accused murderer with a bloody face. Zimmerman’s legal team released the photo, which was taken by police, after prosecutors substituted it in for a black and white photocopy that had been submitted earlier.

"I get frustrated when certain evidence gets out and other evidence is withheld," said Mark O'Mara, attorney for Zimmerman, 29, who faces murder charges in the Feb. 26 death of Martin, 17. "The photo is not a game-changer, but it is significant.

"If I had had that picture in my hand on April 11 ...," he said, referring to the date when Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder.

Florida rules governing discovery require that original photos be submitted, but O'Mara says that the discovery phase has been rife with issues.

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Petty Theft In Eireann Mohr Subdivision Salisbury

Joe:

 

Just an FYI, to those living in the Dykes Road area, someone broke into both of our cars last night (Tuesday, 12-4-12).  Both cars were in our driveway, under a streetlight - but UNLOCKED.  They took my center console which had a large amount of change and a women's business suit.   Hopefully folks  can learn from our mistake and lock their cars at all times - tiss the season......

 

A resident of Eireann Mohr subdivision

Thousands Apply To Be Casino Dealers

Maryland Live! at Arundel Mills has received thousands of applications from people interested in becoming casino dealers.

The state's newest facility started accepting applications after Marylanders back in November approved expanded gambling in the state which includes allowing table games.

Howard Weinstein, Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Maryland Live! tells WBAL Radio that they have received six-thousand applications over the last several weeks.

The casino is looking to hire about 800 dealers. He says they predicted they would receive about ten-thousand applications.
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Veteran Republican Senator Denounces Boehner's Tax Offer

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Republican senator underscored division within his party ranks on Tuesday by opposing a plan by the top Republican to increase tax revenues as part of a possible deal to avert the "fiscal cliff."

Senator Jim DeMint, a favorite of the anti-tax Tea Party movement, said the proposal by House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner for $800 billion in increased tax revenues would "destroy jobs and allow Washington politicians" to swell, not reduce, the deficit.

Boehner and fellow House Republican leaders on Monday made the offer, which would raise revenue by eliminating some tax breaks and without increasing any tax rates.

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Today's Survey Question 12-5-12

Do you think President Obama will do better in his second term?

This Target Cashier Missed The ‘No Homophobic Insults At Checkout’ Part Of Training

Seth’s cashier at Target was unprofessional and immature, but that’s not what bothered him about the encounter. The real problem was with his, as Seth puts it, “homophobic insult[s].” Describing a thing that you don’t like by saying “that’s so gay” might be acceptable among your friends, if your friends are teenage boys in 1997, but it’s not how you should talk at work. Especially when your job involves working with the general public, which consists of a fascinating variety of different kinds of people. Including gay people. Like Seth.

He initially didn’t do anything after finishing the transaction. Shock and dismay will do that, sometimes. Then realized he had to complain to Target. That’s where things went slightly wrong before he got the resolution he was looking for.

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Police: Woman Sexually Assaulted and Stabbed Able to Escape

Police said a woman who was both sexually assaulted and stabbed was able to escape and get help in Anne Arundel County Monday afternoon.

Investigators tell WBAL Radio the woman was attacked in an apartment in the 400-block of Secluded Post Circle, Glen Burnie shortly before noon Monday. Police said the victim and the attacker knew each other through her place of employment. They also said the attack was not random.

Police said Shane Lee Miller, 37, of the above address stabbed and sexually assaulted the woman and then drove her to a nearby Food Lion grocery store. Once arriving at the grocery store, the woman was able to get the attention of the store's staff who then called police.
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Three New Members Join Delmarva Education Foundation board

SALISBURY, MD – Katherine Harting, Gains Hawkins and Virgil Shockley have joined the board of directors for the Delmarva Education Foundation. The mission of the Delmarva Education Foundation is to promote college access and success for residents of the lower Delmarva Peninsula.

Harting, of Princess Anne, is the former executive director of the Delmarva Education Foundation, transitioning onto the board following her retirement after four years at the helm. Prior to joining DEF, she worked at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore as adjunct faculty in the Department of English and Modern languages for three years and as a media specialist in the Department of Agriculture for almost 20 years.

Hawkins, of Salisbury, recently retired from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore where he served as vice president for institutional advancement since 2003. At UMES he served on the President’s Cabinet, the President’s Executive Committee and the Gala Committee. Prior to that, he was the assistant vice president of University Advancement at Salisbury University for five years and served as director of public relations at SU for 13 years.

Shockley, of Snow Hill, was elected as a Worcester County Commissioner in 1998 and is currently serving his fourth term. He has been in the farming and poultry business for 40 years and for 26 years has served as a Worcester County school bus contractor. He previously taught industrial arts and drafting at Wicomico Junior High School and is a member of the Tri-County Council for the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland.

For more than a decade, DEF’s trained college access advisors have provided assistance to individuals, families and groups on a wide range of topics relating to post-secondary education, including finding money for college. Call DEF at 410-219-3336 or visit www.delmarvaed.org for more information.

Medical Center Considers Cancelling Surgeries Due To Drug Shortage

A top official of Anne Arundel Medical Center told state lawmakers in Annapolis that medical center considered cancelling all surgeries last weekend, because of a medication shortage.

Dr. Meisenberg, who chairs quality improvement for the medical center, talked about the decision during a state legislative hearing in Annapolis today.

He said the hospital had a shortage of drugs that are used to revive patients after surgery.

"Last week, I sat through a meeting, where we would discuss whether we would have enough reversal agent for anesthetics, to continue to do surgery over the weekend, in other words to keep our door open," Meisenberg told members of the Joint Committee on Health Care Delivery and Financing.
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Study: There Are Plenty Of People Who Would Take Out A Walmart Or PayPal Mortgage

What’s an average citizen to do when getting a mortgage from a big bank or other financial institution isn’t an option? Perhaps you might consider taking out mortgages from a retailer like Walmart, or even PayPal? A new financial services study says there are plenty of people out there who would be down with a situation like that.

The results found that one in three U.S. consumers would consider a mortgage from Walmart, while almost half would think about giving the thumbs up to PayPal for one, reports Reuters. That’s quite a message for banks, since neither of those companies is even in the mortgage business and yet consumers are willing to try something, anything other than banks.

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Invitation To Holiday Open House

Friend,

As we celebrate this joyous Holiday Season, Katie, Grace, Tara, William, Jack and I wanted to invite you to Government House this Saturday for our Annual Open House.

What: Holiday Open House
When: Saturday December 8, 2012; 1:00PM-4:00PM
Where: Government House: 110 State Circle Annapolis, MD 21401
How: Please bring a photo ID

Everyone is welcome and we hope you can make it!

Thank you,

Martin O'Malley

As Economy Recovers, Americans Are Drinking More Alcohol

It looks like Americans’ spirits are up — or at least the sales of spirits to Americans are up, as a new survey shows that people are buying more beer, wine and liquor when they go out to eat.

According to Technomic’s 2012 BarTAB study, sales of the adults-only drinks at restaurants were at $93.7 billion in 2011, a 4.9% increase over the previous year. And the researchers behind the numbers say booze-buying is trending upward for this year and next.

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Top Aide To Md. Governor Leaving For Lobbying Firm

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - A long-time aide to Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley is leaving to take a position with a Maryland lobbying firm.

The departure of Rick Abbruzzese (A'-Bru-Zee) is the second high-profile departure for O'Malley in a month. Chief lobbyist Joseph C. Bryce recently left to join an Annapolis lobbying firm.
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STEMtastic Weekend Dec. 8-9; Check Out How To Participate Now

A full weekend of free STEM activities is planned for the community, on Saturday, Dec. 8 at Salisbury Middle School and Sunday, Dec. 9 at Barnes & Noble.

 

Grab your LEGO blocks and head to Salisbury Middle School for the annual LEGO Building Contest on Saturday, Dec. 8. We Do Workshops on simple robotics will be conducted by the Wicomico County Library for children ages 5-11. There will be two sessions, one beginning at 9 a.m. and another at 10 a.m. Space is limited and advance registration is required. 

Students can compete by building their own LEGO creations from 11 am.-12:30 p.m. Students ages 4-6 will construct a home for their favorite cartoon character while those 7-10 years old will design a ship.  You must provide your own LEGO blocks and advance registration is required. Please contact Gretchen Boggs at gbggs@wcboe.org to register.

During the afternoon, teams from Maryland will compete in the FLL (FIRST LEGO League) Qualifier Tournament for the state. Teams from the region have been working since September in preparation for the competition which will send winning teams on to the State Tournament at UMBC in January. Teams will compete in four categories: Project, Technical, Core Values and a Robot challenge. The table challenge begins at 12:30 p.m. is open to the public. 

 

On Sunday, Dec. 9, the STEM Academy from Salisbury Middle will hold a Bookfair at Barnes & Noble from 12-4 p.m. This fundraising event will provide the program with proceeds from purchases when you reference STEM at checkout.  

 

As part of the Books and Bagels Fundraiser for STEM, Panera coupon strips will be on sale both Saturday and Sunday or can be purchased from STEM teachers at both the tournament and the bookfair. Strips are $10 each and provide either 6 coupons for 3 bagels each or a strip with a variety of Panera baked goods. 

 

Mark your calendar and don’t miss this STEMtastic weekend of events. 410-677-4504 or gboggs@wcboe.org.

Two conservative Republicans Booted From House Budget Panel

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two of the most conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives have been kicked off the House Budget Committee, a rare move that could make it easier for the panel to advance a deal with Democrats to cut fiscal deficits.

Representatives Tim Huelskamp of Kansas and Justin Amash of Michigan - both favorites of the anti-tax Tea Party movement - are among those Republicans voting most often against House Speaker John Boehner.

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Peak Phosphorus And Food Production

Investor Jeremy Grantham of GMO recently published a startlingly depressing outlook for the future of humanity.

Grantham thinks the number of people on Earth has finally and permanently outstripped the planet's ability to support us.

Grantham believes that the planet can only sustainably support about 1.5 billion humans, versus the 7 billion on Earth right now (heading to 10-12 billion).

Basically, Grantham thinks most of us are going to starve to death.

Why?

In part because we're churning through a finite supply of something that is critical to our ability to produce food: Phosphorus.

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Are Food Stamps A Perk For ‘Paid Government Volunteers’?

Two Senate Republicans identified a welfare loophole that allows ‘paid government volunteers’ in AmeriCorps to receive food stamps from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — for which they should not qualify, as a rule — in addition to a stipend from the government.

“The role of the SNAP program isn’t to provide additional money to paid government volunteers; it is to help feed hungry American families,” Sen. John Thune, R-N.D., said in a statement today. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., the ranking Republican on the Budget Committee added that “we’ve learned that a separate government agency—whose mission is to encourage volunteerism and community service—is using a loophole to further expand welfare enrollment without regard to need or qualification.”

The two lawmakers wrote a letter to Wendy Spencer, CEO of Corporation for National Service, to ask about officials encouraging volunteers to double-dip — to receive food stamps and the stipend. Under current law, a person can only receive both if he or she was already receiving food stamps before joining the volunteer program.
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