Walmart CEO Mike Duke: 'We Do Pay Competitive Wages'

Apparently, all those protests by Walmart workers over pay and benefits aren’t getting through to CEO Mike Duke.

At a recent event, Bloomberg LP President Dan Doctoroff pointed out to the Walmart chief executive that even though his company paints itself as "serving an emerging middle class," many of its employees aren’t paid enough to lead a normal life and some even resort to food stamps to make ends meet, as previously reported by The Huffington Post. This is what Duke had to say in response:
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Obamacare: Pennsylvania Governor Rejects Health Insurance Exchange

Pennsylvania will allow the federal government to implement a major part of President Barack Obama's health care reform law without state input, Gov. Tom Corbett (R) announced Wednesday.

Pennsylvania won't create a health insurance exchange under the law, making it the 22nd state to leave the authority to the federal government, Corbett said in a press release. These health insurance exchanges will be the online gateways where as many as 30 million people will be able to obtain health coverage and access financial assistance starting in 2014 under Obamacare.

Congress intended for the federal government and the states to share responsibility for the oversight and implementation of these new health insurance marketplaces, but nearly half of states, almost all of them run by Republican governors, have rebuffed the plan and ceded control to the federal government ahead of a Friday deadline for states to decide whether the health insurance exchanges will be state-run, federally run or jointly administered.
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STATE POLICE ARREST WICOMICO COUNTY MAN ON CHILD ABUSE CHARGES

(Salisbury, MD) - Maryland State Police arrested a Wicomico County man on child abuse charges. The accused is identified as Kendall Elmer West, 44, of the 6000 block of Oxbridge Drive in Salisbury, Maryland. West was charged with fourth degree sex offense and second degree assault, among other charges. On Monday, December 10, 2012, West was indicted by a Wicomico County Grand Jury. He is currently being held at the Wicomico County Detention Center on a $100,000 bond

The victim will remain anonymous. It is the policy of the Maryland State Police to withhold the identity of victims of sex crimes.

The investigation began last week after the Maryland State Police received a request from the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office to conduct the investigation. At the time of the alleged incident, West was employed as a Sheriff’s Deputy at the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators learned the juvenile victim had allegedly become acquainted with West about thirteen years ago. Further information revealed the relationship consisted of several sexually oriented incidents in various locations throughout Maryland. Police also learned the victim was a fifteen year old student attending a high school in Salisbury at the time of the incident.

Although there is no indication at this time of other victims, police urge anyone who may have information relevant to this case to please contact state police investigators at 443-783-0444. The investigation continues…

Egypt’s Top Judge Wants to Chop Off the Hands of Thieves

Quickly. Obama needs to ship more free F-16s to Egypt in case those thieves develop some really large hands.

Ahmad Al-Zind is the head of the Egyptian Judges Social Club, which isn’t really a social club but a complicated way for Egyptian judges to avoid government control. So he’s officially unofficial and he was originally linked to Mubarak. Oh and the Egyptian Judges Social Club will be overseeing the referendum on the Islamist Constitution.

And he’s cheerfully talking about an Islamic system that would lead to the hands of thieves being chopped off and raped women requiring four witnesses.
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FEMA Trailers Sitting Uninhabited In Cumberland, Md, Victims Want Answers

NEW YORK (WABC) -- There are mobile homes, already built, winterized and ready to go, up to a thousand, but no one is living inside of them.

Nobody in a position of power seems to want them, but some of those facing months of rebuilding, do.

The McGowan's are lucky. They received a privately donated trailer to live in while they rebuild their home in Gerritsen Beach.

Scott McGowan/Brooklyn: "It's an extension of our home, our own home," said Scott McGowan, Brooklyn resident.

The community made a plea for donated RV's when it was clear the FEMA trailers were not coming.
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'Football as you know it is over'

The recent murder-suicide of Kansas City Chiefs football player Jovan Belcher along with a study linking head trauma with long-term brain disease are prompting some of the biggest names in broadcasting to forecast an end to the sport.

“I’m telling you right now, football as you know it is over. It’s only a matter of time. It’s finished,” said Rush Limbaugh, the radio host who for a brief time was a football analyst for ESPN.

“You start listening to the people talk about the negatives of the game. It creates aberrant behavior. There’s too much drinking. People are shooting people because of the concussions, it’s altering minds. It’s just becoming too dangerous and we as a society are becoming too bloodthirsty in wanting it. And I’m just telling you, I’m giving you a forecast, not tomorrow, I don’t know when, but it’s over. That’s the direction that we are trending.”
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Lawmakers Question Whether Jobless Benefits Are New Welfare

While Congress struggles to avert the "fiscal cliff," a second battle is brewing on Capitol Hill over whether to extend federal unemployment benefits for more than 2 million Americans that are set to expire in less than three weeks.

Congress has extended the benefits six times since the recession hit in 2008, but each renewal brought increasing skepticism from Republicans who say providing benefits to people for as long as 99 weeks has encouraged some to quit looking for work. Unemployment insurance, which usually only last 26 weeks, has become a welfare program of sorts and shouldn't be extended, they said.

"I would be highly reluctant to do another extension," said Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, where the unemployment rate is nearly 7 percent.
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Poll: 21 Percent of Small Business Owners Will Decrease Workforce in 2013

A recent poll from the Wells Fargo/Gallup quarterly survey shows that U.S. small business owners are growing “increasingly pessimistic” as the new year approaches, finding that 21 percent of small business owners’ expect to decrease their workforces in the next 12 months to a level not seen since Aug. 2003.

Wells Fargo small business head Marc Bernstein attributed the potential decline in confidence in part to the possibility of going over the “fiscal cliff,” or the automatic tax hikes and defense cuts scheduled to occur if Congress and the White House do not reach a budget deal by the end of this month.

“Business owners who navigated through the Great Recession now face more uncharted territory created by ongoing uncertainty in Washington,” he said.
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526,421 Family Farms Threatened By New Death Tax

New legislation that jumps the death tax to 55 percent of estates exceeding $1 million threatens 526,421 family farms, of about 25 percent of all farms in America, according to a Senate analysis.

According to the analysis from the Senate Republican Policy Committee, chaired by Wyoming's John Barrasso:

If President Obama and Senate Democrats do not act, the federal government will begin taking more than half the value of family farm estates exceeding $1 million beginning next year. This summer, Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Democrats passed legislation (S.3412) on a party-line vote that allows Washington to take up to 55 percent, a huge increase over today's top rate of 35 percent, and drop the tax's exemption from $5.1 million to $1 million. The lower exemption -- combined with soaring farm real estate values -- could put more than 420,000 additional farm estates at risk from the death tax.
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Big Ten Might Keep Maryland Off TV Network

The fact that the University of Maryland and Rutgers are joining the Big Ten Conference doesn’t guarantee that their games will be on the Big Ten Network. In fact, several of their games may not be available locally at all — TV or broadband — when they kick off their Big Ten seasons in 2014.

Maryland and Rutgers face the possibility of having at least two football games and at least 15 basketball games go untelevised locally when they join the conference in a year and a half.

That’s because the Big Ten Conference is looking into a strategy that could keep allMaryland and Rutgers games — encompassing all sports — off of the Big Ten Network unless local distributors place the channel on an expanded basic tier. The Big Ten used that strategy successfully in Nebraska last year when the Cornhuskers joined the conference, and the conference is expected to use it again in 2014 when Maryland and Rutgers join.
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Casinos Ask For 24/7 Slots To Ring In New Year

It doesn't take all night to watch the ball drop and pop open the bubbly -- but don't tell that to Maryland's three casinos.

Maryland Live! in Anne Arundel County, the Casino at Ocean Downs near Ocean City and Hollywood Casino in Perryville all have requested that the state let them extend their hours around New Year's Eve with the option of switching over to complete 24/7 operation.

"They try to market themselves as party places," said Maryland gambling analyst James Karmel. "And what better time to party than New Year's Eve?"
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Two Men Arrested In Alleged Plot To Murder, Castrate Justin Bieber

Two men are accused of being hired to murder and castrate Canadian pop star Justin Bieber, according to a news report from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Investigators told Alburquerque’s KRQE that the men, described as alleged “would-be hit men,” had planned to abduct Bieber and three others.
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Report: Baltimore Sun Could Be Put Up For Sale

The Baltimore Sun could be put up for sale by owner Tribune Co., Bloomberg News reports.

Tribune, which filed for bankruptcy protection four years ago, is preparing to exit Chapter 11, and is interviewing bankers about selling some of its papers, Bloomberg reports, citing unnamed sources.

Tribune owns the Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and five other daily papers. It gained the Baltimore Sun when owner Times Mirror Co. merged with Tribune in 2000.
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One World Trade Center Spire Arrives in NYC

The crowning spire of the World Trade Center's tallest building arrived in New York on Tuesday - in giant steel pieces on a barge that floated in past the Statue of Liberty.

"It signifies that we're back, we're better than ever, and it shows the resilience of not just New York, but also people in general," said Steven Plate, the director of post 9/11 construction at the lower Manhattan trade center. "The spire is a candle on the cake."

He spoke aboard a boat that followed the barge tugged into New York Harbor from New Jersey's Port Newark.

For these nine parts of the spire too heavy to be driven in, Tuesday marked the end of a 1,500-nautical-mile journey that started in Canada on Nov. 16.
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Democrats Urge Delay For ‘Job-Killing’ Obamacare Tax

Sixteen Democratic senators who voted for the Affordable Care Act are asking that one of its fundraising mechanisms, a 2.3 percent tax on medical devices scheduled to take effect January 1, be delayed. Echoing arguments made by Republicans against Obamacare, the Democratic senators say the levy will cost jobs — in a statement Monday, Sen. Al Franken called it a “job-killing tax” — and also impair American competitiveness in the medical device field.

The senators, who made the request in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, are Franken, Richard Durbin, Charles Schumer, Patty Murray, John Kerry, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, Joseph Lieberman, Ben Nelson, Robert Casey, Debbie Stabenow, Barbara Mikulski, Kay Hagan, Herb Kohl, Jeanne Shaheen, and Richard Blumenthal. All voted for Obamacare.

Two other Democrats, senators-elect Joe Donnelly and Elizabeth Warren, also signed the letter. Donnelly voted for Obamacare as a member of the House. Warren was not in Congress at the time.
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Next 9/11: Iran's Death Squad Is Here

Iran has infiltrated a team of Quds Force terrorist leaders into the United States to attack from within in 2013, according to a source.

The source within the office of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Islamic regime, said the team is to create instability in America through terrorism should the U.S. fail to accept the regime’s illicit nuclear program, increase sanctions, confront Iran militarily or intervene in the Syrian civil war.

Members of the team, no more than 10 Quds Force officers, each lead cells totaling about 50 terrorists already in the U.S.

The source is risking his life not only to reveal the terror operation but to warn that Iran is pursuing its nuclear bomb program around the clock from several secret sites.
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THIS IS WHY YOU NEVER, EVER BREAK INTO A BOXER’S HOME

(KFOR)

A suspected burglar got more than he could handle when he attempted to break into an Oklahoma City home, which ended up being inhabited by a boxing and kickboxing trainer — and apparently a good one.

Jonathan Wise, 19, was arrested earlier this month with two black and bloodshot eyes and in need of stitches for other injuries. He reportedly tried to rob the home of Norm Houston, according to police.

“I heard a thumbing noise on my garage door,” Houston told KFOR. “I swung open my back door and somebody was standing there.”

Wise, the suspected burglar, probably could have escaped injury and fled but he instead took a swing at Houston. It turned out to be a big mistake as this mugshot shows:

(KFOR)

“You know I ain’t the toughest, but I can hold my own,” Houston said.

Houston reportedly held the robber on the ground until the police arrived. Wise was later charged with burglary and taken to jail — after he went to the hospital for treatment of course.

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Fiscal Cliff: Obama, Boehner Meet Tuesday

In a test of divided government, President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner sought an elusive compromise Tuesday to prevent economy-damaging tax increases on the middle class at year's end, conferring by phone after a secretive exchange of proposals.

Details were sparse and evidence of significant progress scarcer still, although officials said the president had offered to reduce his initial demand for $1.6 trillion in higher tax revenue over a decade to $1.4 trillion.

There was no indication he was relenting on his insistence - strongly opposed by most Republicans - that tax rates rise at upper incomes.
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Why The Republican Plan B is Obama’s Worst Nightmare

The White House wants a deal. Administration officials want one because they think passing more stimulus and reducing the deficit is important, and they want one because they think the scheduled austerity would be devastating to the economy. They want one because a budget deal is a necessary precursor to moving on to other priorities like immigration reform, and they want one because a big budget deal is seen as a key element of the president’s legacy.

The White House is firmer on its red lines in this deal than I can remember in any other negotiation. Administration officials don’t want a deal so badly that they’ll accept one that doesn’t raise tax rates, or that leaves another debt-ceiling crisis around the corner.

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GOP Senator Proposes Plan to Split Va.'s Electoral College Votes

A Republican state senator has introduced legislation in Virginia that would overhaul the state’s winner-take-all system in presidential elections and split up the state’s electoral votes by congressional districts.

Here’s how Sen. Charles W. Carrico Sr.’s legislation would work: Currently the candidate who wins the most votes in Virginia takes all of the state’s 13 electoral votes. This year, Obama won 51 percent of the votes in Virginia in 2012, giving him 13 electoral votes.

Under this proposed legislation, each candidate would get one electoral vote for each of the state’s 11 congressional districts he wins. The state’s two at-large votes would go to the candidate that wins the majority of the district. Had this legislation been in place on Nov. 6, Mitt Romney would have won nine electoral votes to President Obama’s four.
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Communities Defend Their Post Offices One by One

Four endangered Bay Area post offices will stay open after all, and the subcontracting of California postal trucker jobs is on hold. Those victories were the latest in a string of local wins for grassroots activists across the country.

The success followed a raucous public campaign to keep the facilities open. Hundreds marched into a threatened downtown San Francisco post office in June, carrying a sound system.

Postal workers, seniors, low-income activists, churchgoers, and Occupy folks crowded in to speak about how the closure would affect their communities. Homeless residents who count on post office boxes and the general delivery window would have been especially hard hit.

On many fronts at once, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe and congressional conservatives are waging the battle to downsize and privatize the post office (see next page).

“It’s a whack-a-mole thing. If we are able to beat back an attack in one area, they just attack in a different area,” said Chicago letter carrier Melissa Rakestraw.More

Quote on MLK Memorial to Be Removed

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar endorsed a plan Tuesday to remove a disputed inscription from the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, rather than cut into the granite to replace it with a fuller quotation.

Salazar said he had reached an agreement with King's family, the group that built the memorial and the National Park Service to remove a paraphrase from King's "Drum Major" speech by carving grooves over the lettering to match existing marks in the sculpture.

Memorial sculptor Lei Yixin recommended removing the inscription this way to avoid harming the monument's structural integrity.
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Marijuana Update

Now that marijuana is legal in Washington state – and soon to be legal in Colorado – the American people want the federal government to get out of the way.
According to a new Gallup poll, 64% of respondents said they want the feds to leave the states alone and not enforce federal law that still considers marijuana illegal. Only one-third of Americans wanted the federal government to intrude on this issue. President Obama can embrace progressive reform against the Nixon's failed drug war by doing just one thing over his next term – and that's to do absolutely nothing and let Washington state and Colorado do their thing.

Grab A Tissue You Might Need It.

Gay Marriage Ruling

The Supreme Court is set to take up the issue of marriage equality next year, but we already know which way one justice is expected to rule.
Antonin Scalia has previously compared federal laws banning gay marriage to federal laws banning murder and bestiality. He has argued that government can indeed ban behavior that it believes to be immoral. While speaking at Princeton University on Monday, Scalia was asked about his previous comments on gay marriage and responded by again comparing gays to murderers saying, "If we cannot have moral feelings against homosexuality, can we have it against murder?" Those comments aren't too surprising coming from the high court's resident dinosaur. But they do add to the long list of unethical behavior the Scalia has racked up while on the bench, with numerous cases of partiality, accepting gifts, and being paid to speak at politically charged events. The aging Scalia will have to retire soon, but Congress should do its job first and impeach this corrupt associate justice.

Google Tax Dodgers

Not only is Google one of the biggest internet search engines in the world – it's also one of the biggest corporate tax dodgers.
Bloomberg News reports that Google Inc. hid nearly $10 billion in a Bermuda shell company in 2011 to avoid paying $2 billion in corporate taxes. Shockingly, there's nothing illegal about what Google did hiding 80% of its pretax profits last year in Bermuda, but it does explain why our federal government is losing much needed revenue, as corporations no longer pay their fair share in taxes. According to the Tax Justice Network, all around the world – the global oligarchs are hiding as much as $21 trillion in tax havens, to avoid contributing to their respective governments. This is what happens when greed trumps patriotism.

Sculpture Stolen From SSU Campus

Salisbury University Police are looking for information in the recent theft of a bronze sculpture from campus. The sculpture which is a reproduction of Auguste Rodin's "The Thinker" was stolen from the Student Art Center located on College Avenue this past weekend.

If you have any information or have seen the sculpture please contact the Salisbury University police at 410-543-6222

The Other Crucial Civil Rights Case the Supreme Court Will Be Ruling On

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court said it would hear two cases challenging state and federal laws which prevent the legal union between same-sex couples.

But it's not the only significant civil rights case the Court has decided to take up this term.

Last month, the Supreme Court said it will consider the constitutionality of a key part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the hallmark legislation from the Civil Rights era that has come under increased challenge.

The cornerstone provision is known as Section 5, which holds some states accountable to get federal clearance before making any changes to their voting laws.

Many think the Court's decision to hear the case, announced just three days after the election, spells doom for the cornerstone provision. But whatever the justices' decision, the case may end up, as the influential SCOTUSBlog put it, "as one of the most significant rulings of the current Term."
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Maryland One Of 7 States Suing Over Drilling Methane

Seven Northeastern and mid-Atlantic states announced plans Tuesday to sue the Environmental Protection Agency, saying it is violating the Clean Air Act by failing to address methane emissions from oil and gas drilling, which has boomed in nearby states such as Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said in a news release Tuesday that the EPA is violating the Clean Air Act by failing to address the emissions. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, and the oil and gas industry is the largest source of emissions in this country. Other major sources come from landfills and livestock.

The EPA said in an email that it plans to review and respond to the notice from the states.
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I Did No More Than You Let Me Do

Fred Reed, an experienced soldier wounded as a young marine in combat in a fruitless and totally unnecessary war, is better qualified than most to speak to the historical role soldiers play in spreading debauchery,destruction and death at the behest of a few sociopathic politicians without hesitation or question of morality or purpose behind their or their leaders’ actions.

Today, are we as a society any less bloodthirsty or anymore civilized than when the Golden Horde swept across Eastern Europe in the 13th century?

Dulce et Decorum

by Fred Reed

Recently by Fred Reed: A’Croaking We Shall Go

I am a soldier. I am dirt. With Joshua I put the cities of Canaan to the sword while women screamed and tried to protect their babies. I spent long days in Nanjing butchering and butchering civilians because I enjoyed it. For I am a soldier. I am dirt. I firebombed Hamburg till the wind-fanned flames left nowhere to hide and the people burned screaming and their fat puddled in the streets. I am a soldier. I am dirt.

On the crumbling walls of Angkor Wat, the Cold Lairs, trees now crawling over the walls, you may see me carved, marching, marching to kill forgotten peoples, it matters not whom. In the sweltering heat of Chichen Itza and the terrible winter of Stalingrad and the flaming paper cities of Japan and on the Death March of Corregidor I killed and killed, for I am a soldier. I am dirt. I kill.

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Council Majority Stands Against Outdoor New Year’s Bar

A packed house of supporters last night at Town Hall wasn’t enough to swing a divided Berlin Council in favor of an application by The Globe to operate an outside bar during New Year’s Eve.

While Mayor Gee Williams chided opponents of the application on the council for allowing personal feelings to dictate policy, those same opponents reminded the room that the issue has come up twice in the last month and that it is time for the town to move on.

The Globe owner Jennifer Dawicki first approached the council last month with her request to have permission to run a street-side service counter that would include alcohol sales at the 2013 New Year’s Eve ball drop. A similar bar was operated by The Globe at last year’s event, as well as other special events in town throughout the year, with no problems or disturbances noted. But when Dawicki repeated the application this year she was turned down by a 3-2 vote.
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Police Arrest Man At JFK Airport Because Trying To Smuggle 26 Stun Guns Is Frowned Upon

It’s one thing if you somehow forget you’ve got a gun in your carry-on at the airport (although that still seems like a stretch) but moving multiple illegal weapons past security is an entirely different feat. And you probably won’t be successful, as the Transportation Security Administration is usually paying somewhat close attention. Cops say a man tried to scoot a 26 stun guns past security at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport recently.

Making the man’s attempt particularly sticky is the fact that stun guns are illegal to possess in New York, notes CBS New York.

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Doctor Who Helped Find bin Laden is Being Tortured in Pakistani Prison, U.S. Aid Continues to Flow

After the successful May 2011 raid that took down Osama bin Laden, President Obama said that “his [bin Laden’s] demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity.” Pakistan’s treatment of CIA informant Dr. Shakil Afridi tells a different story, however. The country’s spy agency (Inter-Services Intelligence) promptly arrested the doctor for helping Americans identify OBL’s compound. In addition to a fine and his entire bank account being looted, Afridi was sentenced to 33 years in prison for high treason and is now reportedly being tortured:

“I was told by a prison source that Shakeel and two guards were subjected to torture by jail administration sometime in November,” Jamil Afridi, the brother of the jailed doctor, told Fox News in a recent interview. Jamil Afridi said he had been told about the torture on Nov. 21, when he tried to visit his brother in jail but was turned away, and in a follow-up court hearing on Nov. 22.

“His privileges have been revoked and he’s been shifted to another cell,” Jamil said. “They are strict with him, and treating him inhumanely.”
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Will Federal Workers Get Off On Christmas Eve?

With all the uncertainty on Capitol Hill and in the White House, federal employees want to know just one thing: Will they get off on Christmas Eve? Nearly 16,000 people have signed an onlinepetition at WhiteHouse.gov. It asks President Obama to take pity. With the pay freeze and more attacks on pay and benefits, it says, giving federal employees an extra holiday would improve their morale, and it wouldn't be the first time. President Obama let federal workers go home early on Christmas Eve 2009.

USPS Early Retirement

Nearly one in eight postal workers eligible for an early retirement offer are taking it. The American Postal Workers Union told Federal Times more than 23,000 of its members are saying goodbye at the end of next month. They'll get $15,000 for calling it quits. The Postal Service's offer to APWU members was its largest of several early-out incentives this year. It is trying to cut more than 100,000 workers from its payroll. It's also reducing retail hours at hundreds of post offices.

Adopting Families For Christmas

Mr. Albero,

I am a Wicomico County Native that lives in NC due to Marine Corps. I periodlically follow your blog. Since you are a very resourceful person, I am hoping you can help me. My sister lives in Salisbury and has been unable to work due to repetitive shoulder surgeries. She has two small children, ages 6 and 3. From NC, I have contacted some organizations that assist with Christmas toys for needy children however many are no longer taking names or adopting families. If you know of any organizations that are still accepting any new names, please let me know.

Thank you for all you do in the community.

Caption This Photo 12-12-12

The Bare, Naked Truth About The Federal Reserve's Socialist Agenda

The top line story, according to the FDIC's latest Quarterly Banking Review, is that the majority of U.S. banks are in better shape today than they have been in years.

The untold story is that when the Federal Reserve is done transitioning the United States from capitalism to socialism, the few dozen banks that remain in America will all be profitable until they need bailing out again, but will never die and live on in infamy.

Is that just hyperbole or some wild conspiracy theory? It's neither. Unfortunately, it's the bare, naked truth about the Fed.

It doesn't matter that you didn't know the Federal Reserve System was the brainchild of a handful of the world's most powerful bankers.

Or that all of them took a secret train from New Jersey to Jekyll Island, Georgia (owned by J.P. Morgan) in 1910 aboard Rhode Island Senator Nelson Aldrich's private car to devise and orchestrate the creation of the Federal Reserve.

Or that Aldrich was an investment associate of J.P. Morgan, that his son-in-law was John D. Rockefeller, Jr., or that he was the political spokesman for big business and banking interests in Congress.

It doesn't matter if you don't know who the powerful bankers are today that run the Fed's twelve district banks. Or that the Fed's New York Bank conducts all its open market operations with a bunch of favored big banks it protects (Case in point, MF Global).
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12-12-12 12:12

Next Generation Drones To Be Equipped With Lasers

Today;s Advertiser Of The Day 12-12-12

Steven Crowder’s Firsthand Account of Being Punched By ‘Right-to-Work’ Protesters in Michigan

SBA To Host Dec. 13 Meeting Re Business And Homeowner Loans

http://www.crisfieldrecovery.org/project-updates/smallbusinessadministrationhostsdec13meetingonbusinessandhomeownerloans

On Thursday, December 13, 2012 at 11 a.m. at the Crisfield Fire Department, the Small Business Administration will host a meeting for all homeowners, nonprofits, and businesses interested in participating in their Disaster Assistance loan program. Loans are available in Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester Counties in Maryland and Accomack and Northampton Counties in Virginia. The Crisfield Fire Department is located at 600 West Main St., Crisfield, MD 21817.

“Loans up to $200,000 are available to homeowners to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate. Homeowners and renters are eligible for loans up to $40,000 to repair or replace damaged or destroyed personal property,” said Frank Skaggs, director of SBA’s Field Operations Center East in Atlanta.

Businesses and non-profit organizations of any size may borrow up to $2 million to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory, and other business assets,” said Jayne Armstrong, SBA’s Virginia district director.

Interest rates are as low as 1.688 percent for homeowners and renters, 3 percent for non-profit organizations and 4 percent for businesses with terms up to 30 years. Loan amounts and terms are set by the SBA and are based on each applicant’s financial condition.

If you are unable to make the meeting Thursday, you can apply online using the Electronic Loan Application (ELA) via SBA’s secure website at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela.

The SBA has opened a Disaster Outreach Center located at:

Accomack CountyEastern Shore Regional Fire Training Center
28598 Beacon Road
Melfa, Virginia 23410

Opening: Tuesday, Dec. 11 at 10 a.m.Hours: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday - Saturday
Closed: Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012
Closing: Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012 at close of business

Individuals and businesses unable to visit the Center may also obtain information and loan applications by calling the SBA’s Customer Service Center at 1-800-659-2955 (1-800-877-8339 for the deaf and hard-of-hearing), or by sending an email todisastercustomerservice@sba.gov. Loan applications can also be downloaded from the SBA’s website at www.sba.gov.Completed applications should be returned to the Center or mailed to: U.S. Small Business Administration, Processing and Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155.

The filing deadline to return applications for physical property damage is February 5, 2013. The deadline to return economic injury applications is September 9, 2013.

Elliott's Paul Singer Reveals The Thing That Scares Him Most

When it comes to market experts with decades of insight, we will pick soon to be Second Admiral of his own sovereign navy (comprising of privateered Argentinian schooners [17], Belize catamarans [18], and soon, Greek Made in Germanysubmarines), Elliott's Paul Singer, over those of any fly by night TV talking head, or "information arbitrageur" whose only 'alpha' in the past decade was courtesy of expert networks. The same Paul Singer whose outlook on what the next crisis may look like we posted yesterday [19]. It is the same Paul Singer, who three weeks ago was a headline speaker at the Archstone Partnerships annual meeting, in which speech he laid out not only the biggest threat facing America - namely the arrogance of the United States "by not realizing that in today's world... you have to be attractive as a country [because] capital will go where it's welcome", but more importantly, the thing that keeps him up at night: "The thing that scares me most is significant inflation, which could destroy our society."

In other words, one of the best and brightest investors in the world, is most terrified by the one thing that every central-planning dispensing economist says will never happen: hyperinflation. Our money is certainly not on the economist theoreticians who could never foresee the second great depression their lunatic policies drove the entire developed world into.

Extracting the key parts from Singer's speech. Highlights ours
Let me make a few comments and observations on the current investment scene. I said before that every once in a while things really are “different this time,” and I thought of a metaphor earlier that might be useful to illustrate an important point. Let’s do a thought experiment: Let’s make believe we are in 1960 and sitting in Germany, and we are a group of German investors and businesspeople, about the same ages as the people here today. The group would be people who had seen the most astonishing changes in the underlying conditions of investing and growing capital—a complete evaporation of savings from 1914 to 1923; complete destruction of society; and a complete change in governance from 1943 until after the War. Keep that image in your mind when you come back to 2012 in New York City today and realize the basic terms and conditions of everybody in this room have not really changed over your entire career. There have been booms and little crashes, you’ve made money and lost money, some people were wiped out and others became wealthy, but the elections come every four years, power is transferred peacefully, and taxes go up or go down.

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BREAKING NEWS: Swat Team At Gordy Tiger Mart In Delmar

Word just came in there's a SWAT Team at the Gordy Tiger Mart in Delmar.

Turns out something happened in the County portion near Pine Street and they ended up at the Tiger Mart.

Miller Wants Debate On Wind Bill

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said Tuesday he will consider changes to the Senate Finance Committee, if that is necessary to advance an offshore wind measure to the full Senate for debate in the upcoming legislative session.

“People have to understand that this is a shared burden for improving planet Earth, and moving our state where a number of other states and European countries are going for the benefit of not just our state but the entire planet,” Miller said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Miller, D-Calvert, said he would be reluctant to take the step of changing the committee’s membership, but he said he is willing to make the unusual move to have a debate on a measure that has failed to reach the Senate floor the last two years. The Senate president also noted he would not be as inclined to make changes to the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee to advance a repeal of capital punishment, which is locked up in a close vote in that committee.
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Santelli: "All They're After Is Your Bucks!"

It seems that there are more than just tin-foil-hat-wearing fringe blogs that have decided to take up the truthiness hunt as CNBC's Rick Santelli exposes the 'fibbing' in statistics that has become more than mainstream thinking. From the 35% 'untruth' of the Clinton-era tax cuts and wage rates (with no explcit wealth assessment and a total ignorance of inflation) to the 75% 'untruth' of the millionaires-and-billionaires tax when it's really on salaries opver $250k; Santelli's blood pressure reaches mercurial levels as he exclaims that Middle Class America should pay attention: How do we expect honesty in negotiation when they're fibbing about truths to such an extent, "all they're after isn't fixing the economy, it's your bucks!" A refreshing three-minute glimpse of reality on a quiet day...
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Today's Survey Question 12-12-12

Is the US tough enough on criminal sentencing?

700,000 AMERICANS SIGN PETITIONS TO SECEDE

What does this mean? The liberal MSM has ridiculed this movement with their usual misinformation and lies. This is just another sign of the Fourth Turning mood change. the mood grows darker by the day. The smell of conflict is in the air. The linear believing punditry actually think that some ridiculous fiscal cliff compromise is going to solve our problems. They proclaim that 2013 will be the year of economic recovery. Sorry linear thinking progressives. Things are going to get a lot worse before they get better. You can laugh off the talk of secession, but it is a reflection of the dire circumstances that confront this country today. This Fourth Turning gives all indications of heating up in the near future.

Source

GOP urges O'Malley to Repay Security Costs

Maryland House Republicans are urging Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley to reimburse the state for security detail costs for out-of-state for political events.

House Minority Leader Anthony O'Donnell and House Minority Whip Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio sent a letter on Tuesday to the governor's office. The say the Democratic Governors Association or the governor's campaign funds could pay the expense.
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The United States: 5% Of The World's Population, 25% Of Its Prisoners

Excessive incarceration is an American problem. The country has about 5% of the world’s population but almost 25% of its prisoners, with the world’s largest number of inmates and highest per capita rate of incarceration.California eagerly participated in this trend of locking up ever more people. During Mr Brown’s previous stint as governor in the 1970s the state switched to more inflexible sentencing. It then spent another two decades adding “tough-on-crime” laws that kept extending sentences even for minor crimes.

The resulting prison-building boom, and rapacious bargaining by the prison-guards union, meant that state penitentiaries became the fastest-growing major cost in the state budget. California’s 33 prisons and associated camps therefore bear no small responsibility for the state’s recurring budget crises, and the resultant crunch on school and university funding.
Is the solution worse than the problem?

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Accident On Rt. 13

Pretty serious accident on 13 south and corner of Camden Avenue extended across from the crown sports center. Right lane and exit are blocked off as you can see from the picture.

Charles “Jack” Hastings Retires After 23 Years with Town of Ocean City

Charles “Jack” Hastings has retired after over 23 years with the Town of Ocean City. Hastings, who joined the Town in May 1989, has spent his career with the Ocean City Fire Department’s Office of the Fire Marshal.

Hasting’s responsibilities included high rise inspections and quality assurance, where he was the coordinator for both programs. He was also a member of the Fire Investigators and Hazardous Materials Response Team. “It has been honor to serve the Town for the past 23 years,” said Hastings. “I was born and raised in Ocean City and have experienced the good and bad changes over the years. What I will miss most are the friendships I have developed within all of the departments.”

Hastings is a graduate of Stephen Decatur High School. He is also certified as a Fire Prevention Specialist, a Hazardous Materials Technician, a Fire Investigator and a Fire Inspector III. Upon retiring, Hastings plans to travel, bowl and work in his workshop.

IF YOU WANT IT, PAY FOR IT

Time to stop the debt charade
The crisis du jour in Washington now dominating the news, the so-called “fiscal cliff,” is but the latest in seemingly endless political crises that we shouldn’t be having.

We get two different kinds of problems in life: the real ones — the struggle to work and improve the quality of our lives — and the ones we bring on ourselves through poor behavior.

The more time we must deal with the latter type, the less time and energy we have to tackle life’s real problems and challenges.

The political crises that emanate from Washington are invariably problems of the type that result from poor behavior. And this latest, the fiscal cliff, is no exception.

Let’s recall that the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts scheduled to occur in January — the fiscal cliff — are the result of the failure of Republicans and President Barack Obama to agree on a budget deal as a condition for raising the debt ceiling last year.

Why do we have to keep raising the debt ceiling? Because politicians are afraid to be honest with the American people and immediately raise taxes to pay for all their new spending. So instead of raising taxes and paying for our new bills when we incur them, they just borrow the money.

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US False Flag Operations

The leaders of smaller and less industrialised nations are not madmen (whatever the media claims). They also are generally better informed than their citizens. In a war an attacker does not need equal forces compared to the enemy. The attacker needs a 5-fold local superiority, or better. No one begins wars without very definite objectives and a quick victory in sight. If a war with more even military balance erupts, someone has been mislead and walked into a trap (usually arranged by third party).

After the American war of Independence (1776-1779), and an English challenge to that independence (1812-1814) no single nation has planned an offensive war against the USA. It is probable that a strong coalition of Anglo-French-led European nations planned to split the USA into two states through diplomatic recognition of the Confederate states possibly followed up by naval blockade embargoing the Union. At that time the British Empire was the strongest naval power, and the French the second strongest. The events led, however, into the Civil War (1860-1865) and due to the Russian intervention 1863 (1863) on the Union’s side, those European plans were quietly abandoned.

Mexican wars 1819, 1846-48: Long series of operations, commencing with the annexion of Florida (1819) and followed by a declaration of independence of Texas from Mexico (1836). Provocative troop movements near the U.S. southern border caused an incident which led to war. (It is said the US built a fortification 150 km inside the Mexican border.) The annexation of Texas by the USA and the conquest of California, New Mexico, and nearby territories followed. Mexico had a weak government at that time, because after Napoleon conquered Spain (1809) their former colonies soon revolted. Mexico had been a colony of the Spanish kingdom but now they revolted and formed a republic. There were a series of revolts, not just one.

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FDR, Lincoln ... And A Disturbing Supposition Regarding Barack Obama

Here's a new dominant social theme: US presidents are good and they ought to be in movies.

Of course, it helps if you are a socialist leader and make maximum use of the awesome power of Leviathan. The two presidents currently being lionized – surprise, surprise – areFranklin Delano Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.

Roosevelt presided over the initial, massive expansion of the welfare state – the same one that has brought the US some US$200 trillion in payables and will eventually spell the end of the US as a going concern. Lincoln paved the way for the activist leader Roosevelt by insisting that the Union was indivisible and doing his part to murder or otherwise maim about a million people to prove it.

The movies that portray these leaders don't provide us with this stark – if historically realistic – point of view, of course. The bloody-minded decisions and subsequent ramifications are presented as historical necessity.

These are sympathetic portrayals and it is hard not to come to the conclusion that once again Hollywood is sending us a message about the Way the World Works, and US power politics especially. More on that in a moment.

Presumably, we are to walk away from these movies believing US presidents are bold visionaries who are willing to move their often warlike policies forward for the "greater good." And there is certainly an audience for this sort of perspective. Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" was just released and has already taken in more than US$13 million.

There is another movie out there on Lincoln that attracted a good deal of attention, as it featured Lincoln as a vampire killer. This isn't strictly speaking a biopic but it is surely a kind of hagiography.
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Franchot Makes Decision On 2014

After months of speculation that he would run for governor in Maryland, Comptroller Peter Franchot says that he will instead run to be re-elected for his current job.

Franchot made the announcement Tuesday morning that he is pursuing to be re-elected as Comptroller to his nearly 4,000 Twitter followers.

He tweeted, "After careful consideration I will seek re-election for Comptroller in '14. Serving taxpayers continues to be an honor."
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On The Fiscal Cliff And A Constitution In Crisis

The Political Foundation of the status quo in America is based on a Grand Bargain of Complicity between the top 25% who pay approximately 90% of the taxes, and the bottom 50% who draw on the benefits that come from government. James Madison in the "Federalist Papers" outlined this complicity in the "Tyranny of the Majority". What is becoming painfully evident is that the political elite in America have falsely over-promised on the entitlements that can be delivered, which is now surfacing in the political turmoil of the Fiscal Cliff negotiations and has the potential to quickly lead towards a constitutional crisis.

Meanwhile the very top 1% of Americans, that pay 25% of the taxes and control most of the productive wealth in the nation, are securing and exercising increasing powers within the government, through what is becoming increasingly identified as 'Crony Capitalism" and "Corporatocracy". Thomas Jefferson also warned us about this potential constitutionally destabilizing influence which could emerge within the structure of the 'separation of powers'.

Out of a population of 315 million, presently only 115 million Americans have full time, non-government funded jobs. This is the same as 12 years ago and before an additional 33 million students, immigrants, single parents of others attempted to enter the workforce. It is now fracturing the social compact and the revealing the delusion of the American dream being available to all who are willing to work for it. There is no work, and certainly insufficient work which pays a wage which will support what is expected as a middle class standard of living.

This Grand Bargain is now rapidly fraying as 75 million baby boomers begin retiring and find the promises made to everyone cannot possibly be met. As the Fiscal Cliff crisis is blatantly bringing to the public's attention, for those who can read between the carefully crafted lines, funding for Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, National Security and Interest on the debt is consuming more than can be realistically raised through taxation.

To collect enough tax revenue to avoid going deeper into debt would require over $8 trillion in tax collections annually. Expropriating the entire income of the top 25% of households that pay almost 90% of the tax and all corporate taxes would only bring in $6.7 trillion.
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DILORENZO ON LINCOLN

QUOTES OF THE DAY 12-12-12

“For at least two thirds of our miseries spring from human stupidity, human malice and those great motivators and justifiers of malice and stupidity, idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religious or political idols”
― Aldous Huxley, Complete Essays 1, 1920-25

“Universal education has created an immense class of what I may call the New Stupid, hungering for certainty yet unable to find it in the traditional myths and their rationalizations.”
― Aldous Huxley

“Give us this day our daily Faith, but deliver us, dear God, from Belief.
Faith is something very different from belief. Belief is the systematic taking of unanalyzed words much too seriously. Paul’s words, Mohammed’s words, Marx’s words, Hitler’s words—people take them too seriously, and what happens? What happens is the senseless ambivalence of history—sadism versus duty, or (incomparably worse) sadism as duty; devotion counterbalanced by organized paranoia; sisters of charity selflessly tending the victims of their own church’s inquisitors and crusaders. Faith, on the contrary, can never be taken too seriously. For Faith is the empirically justified confidence in our capacity to know who in fact we are, to forget the belief-intoxicated Manichee in Good Being.”
― Aldous Huxley, Island

“So long as men worship the Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and Napoleons will duly rise and make them miserable.”
― Aldous Huxley, Ends and Means: An Inquiry into the Nature of Ideals and into the Methods Employed for Their Realization

YOUNG PENN. MOTHER TELLS TEENS TO ‘GET A JOB’ WHEN THEY ASK FOR A CIGARETTE — AND THEY KILL HER

A young mother was senselessly murdered by three teens in western Pennsylvania after she told them to “get a job” and stop roaming the streets when they asked her fiancée for a cigarette, police say.

Beaver Falls police have charged 14-year-olds Todavia Cleckley and Marcus Velasquez and 13-year-old Kyle Goosby Jr. with criminal homicide and other charges in Saturday’s shooting of 22-year-old Kayla Peterson.

She was shot at about 3:30 p.m. that day and died in a Pittsburgh hospital two hours later.More 

Surgeon's Infected Hands Led To Staph Outbreak At Cedars

Five patients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center became infected after a heart surgeon operated with an inflammation on his hands.

Five heart patients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center contracted staph infections after a doctor operated on them with bacteria on his hands, the hospital said this week.

The doctor, whom the hospital declined to name, had an inflammation on his hand when he implanted replacement heart valves into five patients last June.

He wore gloves, but they developed microscopic tears, the hospital said, causing the infection to pass to patients.

All five became infected with the staphylococcus epidermidis bacteria, the hospital said.

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Ravens OC Beach Bash Dates Are Set

The Ravens are returning to Ocean City May 30 - June 1, 2012 this summer for the second annual Ravens Ocean City Beach Bash.

Fans can join Ravens players, cheerleaders, Playmakers, Poe, talent from 98 Rock and Miller Lite as they turn Ocean City into Ravenstown for the weekend.
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What Has America Become?

Click on image to enlarge.

WCSO Press Release 12-12-12

12/11/2012 Burglary Arrest - Rizer
12/11/2012 DUI Arrest and Driving Suspended - Saunders & Schaffer
12/11/2012 DUI & Assault Arrest - Gregory
12/11/2012 CDS Possession Arrest - Johnson
12/11/2012 1st Degree Assault Arrest - Juvenile
12/11/2012 CDS Possession Arrest - Terrell