It’s not the first time such a moving photo has been taken, but the imagery of a baby’s finger reaching up out of the womb is causing a stir in the pro-life community yet again.
The image snapped of the baby being delivered via a Cesarean section in Phoenix in October was released just before the new year and has gone viral. According to AZFamily.com, the photo of Nevaeh — heaven spelled backwards — reaching into the outside world she was about to join has been viewed more than 10,000 times and liked by more than 1,000 people on Facebook. More
In all the hullabaloo about the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, signed by Lincoln January 1, 1863, and the ensuing worship of St. Abe for freeing the slaves, it is a sure thing that the truth about the document will be lost.
To begin with, the Emancipation Proclamation did not free a single slave. It applied only to slaves in the states "in rebellion" – the Confederacy – where the Union had no power or authority, thus having about as much real effect as the famous (putative) papal bull against Halley’s comet. And it did not apply to the Border states where there still was slavery (Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri). In other words, as Secretary of State William Seward remarked ironically at the time, "We show our sympathy with slavery by emancipating slaves where we cannot reach them and holding them in bondage where we can set them free."
But then, it was not really intended to liberate anybody. It was, as Lincoln took care to spell out, a "military measure," issued under the President’s authority as commander-in-chief, and its real purpose was to undermine the Confederate Army. This would be accomplished, Lincoln hoped, first by encouraging slaves to take over the plantations so that they would no longer be supplying foodstuffs for the soldiers, and second by causing plantation owners serving in the army to desert and rush home to protect their wives and children from the presumably dangerous freedmen.
Now that there's been time to digest the "fiscal cliff" deal that passed Congress, it turns out that negotiators didn't just help out individuals, families, the unemployed, doctors and milk consumers. Tucked into the 150-plus page bill are several tax perks for businesses - businesses you probably didn't even know needed tax perks.
To be clear, these are renewals of existing tax breaks that were set to expire, so they weren't plucked out of thin air during negotiations over the weekend. However, the fact that they were included in a bill that was the result of such acrimonious debate got the attention of some House members who were against the deal.
As we do more and more of our shopping while sitting on our couches in our pajamas with an Ultrabook, we’re destroying a glorious American institution: the mall. Realspace retailers large and small alike have gone bankrupt and shut down or scaled back: a process that the recession only sped up. The best case scenario? Those former malls might become community colleges or gain some condos. What’s more likely? Rotting husks of shopping centers dotting our cityscapes, dragging down property values and making everyone sad.
The number of FBI background checks required for Americans buying guns set a record in December, as the Connecticut school massacre stirred interest in self-defense and prompted renewed talk of limits on firearms, according to FBI data.
The FBI said it recorded 2.8 million background checks during the month, surpassing the mark set in November of 2 million checks. The number was up 49 percent over December 2011, when the FBI performed a then-record 1.9 million checks.
Consumer demand for guns appears to have accounted for the uptick in activity. There were no changes in FBI background check procedures that would have affected the December numbers, FBI spokesman Stephen Fischer said. More
Civilian disarmament advocates insist that the Sandy Hook Elementary School Massacre illustrates the dangers of inadequately restrictive firearms laws. That assumption is impossible to reconcile with the fact that Connecticut’s state government regards individual firearms ownership not as a right but as a highly conditional privilege subject to revocation without notice, on the whim of an unaccountable bureaucrat.
In 1999, the Connecticut legislature enacted Sec. 29-38c, a measure allowing the police to confiscate firearms from anybody believed to pose "a risk of imminent personal injury to himself … or to other individuals." All that is required is a sworn complaint "by any state’s attorney or assistant state’s attorney or by any two police officers to any judge of the Superior Court." A warrant will then be issued allowing police to confiscate the firearms and hold them for up to a year.
The gun confiscation measure was enacted in October 1999, about a year and a half after the last pre-Sandy Hook mass shooting to occur in the Nutmeg State. The assailant, Matthew Beck, was an ex-employee of the Internal Revenue Service who at the time was employed as an accountant at the Connecticut Lottery Corporation.
A few months before the March, 1998 massacre, Beck had been granted a medical leave for stress-related symptoms. His application for a promotion had been denied. Several of his co-workers and relatives had become concerned about his emotional state. Some of his close friends believed that Beck suffered from suicidal depression. But nobody had expected that he would arrive at work one morning, take out a Glock, and start gunning down his supervisors.
As is always the case in episodes of this kind, the shooter ended the rampage on his own terms, killing himself before the police arrived. The on-scene security guard was similarly useless: The only aid he provided was to suggest to the victims that they take refuge in a wooded area nearby.
Just weeks after the shooting, State Representative Michael Lawlor introduced the gun confiscation measure.
State police Lieutenant Robert Kiehm explained to the Associated Press that the purpose of the measure is to give police officers the power "to take some proactive steps instead of waiting for something to happen."
The Chesapeake Bay’s health continues to suffer from pollution from sewage plants, septic systems, farm and urban runoff and air emissions, according to the latest “State of the Bay” report.
The nonprofit Chesapeake Bay Foundation again gave the bay a subpar grade - 32 or a D+ - in its report, which was issued on Wednesday.
“We can see a saved bay in our future, but a D+ is not a good enough grade,” said Will Baker, longtime president of the bay foundation.
The foundation’s report evaluates 13 areas for pollution, wildlife and habitats. More
Here’s the thing about the Internet: It can facilitate the spreading of ideas and information at an astounding rate, but this dissemination can come at the expense of that materials’ source. So at what point does a cool notion go from being the brainchild of an individual to becoming something owned by the faceless hive mind? Just think of all the photos you see posted to Facebook that are already three generations removed from a source that may or may not be the original. How many jokes get passed around with complete disregard to the author?
It’s exactly this sort of question being raised by blogger Jen Yates, most widely known as the mind behind CakeWrecks.com, who in April 2011 posted a clever instructional piece (on her other site Epbot.com) on how to turn a typical wire clothes hanger into a hanger specifically for flip-flops (and other lightweight shoes).
LOS ANGELES — Al-Jazeera, the Pan-Arab news channel that has struggled to win space on American cable television, has acquired Current TV, Al Gore confirmed Wednesday.
Gore and his partner Joel Hyatt announced the sale in a statement.
"Current Media was built based on a few key goals: To give voice to those who are not typically heard; to speak truth to power; to provide independent and diverse points of view; and to tell the stories that no one else is telling," Gore and Hyatt said. More
Can you ID this person. Wanted for theft of purse from a
90 yoa female while she was shopping at KMart. If you can ID this person
please call the Salisbury Police Department at (410) 548-3165
Created by “racist” college professors in the 1960′s, Kwanzaa is a holiday that “almost no black people today care about” and it only exists because it’s being kept alive by “hardcore left-wingers,” or so says Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-Wisc.), according to Patch.
“Why must we still hear about Kwanzaa?” the senator asked in a press release. “Why are hard-core left wingers still trying to talk about Kwanzaa — the supposed African-American holiday celebration between Christmas and New Year’s?”
Needless to say, Democrat party leaders were quick to condemn Sen. Grothman’s “absolutely jaw-dropping” comments. More
Hain’t we got all the fools in town on our side? and ain’t that a big enough majority in any town?
~ Mark Twain
My wife and I are very fortunate: we have two automobiles that have the kindest, and most congenial and responsible dispositions. In the years that we have owned them, they have neither gotten us drunk and crashed us into a busload of schoolchildren, nor have they driven us along a freeway at 120 mph, weaving in and out of traffic. I might add that none of our previous cars engaged in any such acts, leaving me thankful that they have chosen not to endanger our safety, or that of our children and grandchildren. Perhaps my wife and I know how to select "nice" vehicles; cars with a pleasant state of mind; unlike those that manage to extend their powers of causation to other drivers.
As I write this article, I am informed that a van carrying Chinese kindergarten children plunged into a pond, killing eleven youngsters. Are we to conclude that Chinese vehicles are more inclined to destroy human life than are those in the West? We do know that there are various substances – such as alcohol, drugs, and tobacco – whose use forces men and women into an irresistible submission to their powers. We are also being told – by those who most of us accept as being more knowledgeable than ourselves (e.g., politicians, academicians, people in the mainstream media) – thatguns also have this capacity to exercise their wills over us; to make us do their bidding.
Why are so many of us inclined to accept the proposition that inanimate things and forces in the universe have the capacity to act through intentionality; to substitute their will for ours, and to make us do things we might never choose to do on our own? The answer to this question can be traced back to the patterned conditioning to which we were subject in early childhood. Like our tribal ancestors, we modern humans embarked on institutionally-defined and centered social systems, and have been conditioned to think of ourselves as extensions of the organizations that have succeeded in setting their purposes above our own. In so doing, we have not only made ourselves subservient to institutions, but have become what David Riesman defined as "other-directed" persons. Truth, moral principles, useful standards of conduct, our sense of being and purpose in life, and all other considerations bearing upon human motivation and behavior, are qualities prescribed and enforced by authorities in the organizational hierarchy.
Texas can cut off funding to Planned Parenthood’s family planning programs for poor women, a state judge ruled Monday, requiring thousands to find new state-approved doctors for their annual exams, cancer screenings and birth control.
Judge Gary Harger said that Texas may exclude otherwise qualified doctors and clinics from receiving state funding if they advocate for abortion rights.
Texas has long banned the use of state funds for abortion, but had continued to reimburse Planned Parenthood clinics for providing basic health care to poor women through the state’s Women’s Health Program. The program provides preventive care to 110,000 poor women a year, and Planned Parenthood clinics were treating 48,000 of them. More
A Kansas man who answered an online ad to donate sperm to a lesbian couple is fighting the state's efforts to force him to pay child support for the girl subsequently conceived through artificial insemination.
Department of Children and Families spokeswoman Angela de Rocha said Wednesday that the agency would not be pursuing payment if the state hadn't provided more than $6,000 in benefits for the child after the Topeka couple split. She says the state tries to establish a child's paternity when benefits are involved.
Court records show that the sperm donor, 46-year-old William Marotta, signed an agreement in March 2009 giving up parental rights to the then-couple, Angela Bauer and Jennifer Schreiner. The agreement also absolves Marotta of financial responsibility. The state contends the agreement isn't valid. More
A new Foreign Military Intelligence (GRU) report circulating in the Kremlin today is saying that United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [photo 2nd right] was injured, and a topUS Navy Seal Commander killed when their C-12 Huronmilitary passenger and transport aircraft crash landed nearly 3 weeks ago in the Iranian city of Ahvaz near the Iraqi border.
Iranian intelligence agents quoted in this GRU report confirm that the C-12 Huron aircraft is still in their possession in Ahvaz, but will only admit that the plane was “forced to land because of technical problems”.
The US Navy Seal member reported killed in this bizarre incident, this report says, was indentified asCommander Job W. Price [photo 3rd right] who as a leader of this highly specialized American Special Forces unit protects high-ranking diplomats traveling in Middle Eastern and Asian combat zones. Curiously, US media reports on Commander Price’s death say it being investigated as a possible suicide as he died from what the American Defense Department describes as “a non-combat related injury”.
Equally as curious, US media reports state that Secretary Clinton will return to work next week after her having suffered what they describe as a “nasty bout with stomach flu” and a “concussion” which have kept her missing from public view the past three weeks.
This GRU report, however, states that US military flight logs recorded by Russian air and space forces confirm that Commander Price, and other members of US Navy SealTeam 4, left their base in Urozgan Province, Afghanistan on a flight to US Naval Support Activity Bahrain where they met up with Secretary Clinton and all of them transferred to the C-12 Huron that began a flight path to Baghdad, Iraq.
A yearslong, nationwide shortage of medications for a variety of ailments has had an impact at the local level.
Many of the shortages affecting pharmacies, physicians and patients across the country involve sterile injectables -- IV medications -- that include anesthesia, chemotherapy and critical care drugs, according to Joseph Morrissey, Frederick Memorial Hospital's director of pharmacy services.
In recent months, about 50 medicines FMH uses have been in short supply, roughly 20 of which are critical, Morrissey said. Generic medications tend to make up a majority of the drugs. More
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — Relatives of the majority of people killed in a Colorado movie theater rejected an invitation on Wednesday to attend its reopening later this month, calling it a "disgusting offer."
The parents, grandparents, cousins and widow of nine of the 12 people killed released a letter sent to the theater's owner, Cinemark, in which they criticized the Plano, Texas-based company for not reaching out to the families of victims to offer their condolences. They also said the company refused to meet with them one-on-one without lawyers present.
The families said they were asked to attend an "evening of remembrance" followed by a movie when the Aurora theater reopens on Jan. 17 in invitations sent two days after Christmas. More
“A credibility trap is a condition wherein the financial, political and informational functions of a society have been compromised by corruption and fraud, so that the leadership cannot effectively reform, or even honestly address, the problems ot that system without impairing and implicating, at least incidentally, a broad swath of the power structure, including themselves.
The status quo tolerates the corruption and the fraud because they have profited at least indirectly from it, and would like to continue to do so. Even the impulse to reform within the power structure is susceptible to various forms of soft blackmail and coercion by the system that maintains and rewards.
And so a failed policy and its support system become self-sustaining, long after it is seen by objective observers to have failed. In its failure it is counterproductive, and an impediment to recovery in the real economy. Admitting failure is not an option for the thought leaders who receive their power from that system.
The continuity of the structural hierarchy must therefore be maintained at all costs, even to the point of becoming a painfully obvious hypocrisy.
The Banks must be restrained, and the financial system reformed, with balance restored to the economy, before there can be any sustainable recovery.”
A handful of Westboro Baptist Church protesters picketing same-sex marriage in front of courthouses in Annapolis and TowsonWednesday were met with large groups of counter-protesters holding signs preaching tolerance.
In the state capital, more than 250 people gathered in the early morning hours, singing carols, to counter four members of the ultra-conservative Westboro Baptist Church, based in Kansas.
St. Anne's Episcopal Church, across the street from the Annapolis courthouse, organized the counter-protest that swamped the Westboro group. More
Executives with a Boise-based company are poised to begin marketing a new type of ammunition specifically for law enforcement teams and designed to avoid causing serious or fatal injuries to their targets and bystanders.
The technology was created at Integrity Ballistics LLC, a company that has spent more than 10 developing and testing a round that resembles a shotgun shell. The round fires a synthetic ball that flattens upon impact and is intended to stun or subdue the target and the plan is to make it available only to law enforcement.
The idea for the product emerged in the months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks when Integrity founder Joe Kolnik started brainstorming about ways to help federal air marshals assigned to protect planes. The goal was to develop a type of ammunition that would not cause fatal injuries to innocent bystanders or pierce the skin of a plane, yet be powerful enough to stop a potential hijacker. More
In the Western world truth no longer has any meaning. In its place stands agenda.
Agenda is all important, because it is the way Washington achieves hegemony over the world and the American people. 9/11 was the “new Pearl Harbor” that the neoconservatives declared to be necessary for their planned wars against Muslim countries. For the neoconservatives to go forward with their agenda, it was necessary for Americans to be connected to the agenda.
President George W. Bush’s first Treasury Secretary, Paul O’Neil, said that prior to 9/11 the first cabinet meeting was about the need to invade Iraq.
9/11 was initially blamed on Afghanistan, and the blame was later shifted to Iraq. Washington’s mobilization against Afghanistan was in place prior to 9/11. The George W. Bush regime’s invasion of Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom) occurred on October 7, 2001, less than a month after 9/11. Every military person knows that it is not possible to have mobilization for invading a country half way around the world ready in three weeks.
The Orwellian “PATRIOT Act” is another example of planning prior to the event. This vast police state measure could not possibly have been written in the short time between 9/11 and its introduction in Congress. The bill was already written, sitting on the shelf waiting its opportunity. Why? Who wrote it? Why has there been no media investigation of the advanced preparation of this police state legislation?
Former Maryland State Del. Tiffany Alston declared bankruptcy seven months before she tried to use her campaign funds to cover her wedding expenses, according to court records.
Alston’s $182,758 in debts included $26,000 she owed her former law partner, who alleged in a lawsuit that Alston had charged tens of thousands of dollars in personal expenses to the firm, the court records show.
Alston declined to comment on the bankruptcy filing, the existence of which has not been reported before. More
Location: South DuPont Boulevard (US113) southbound at Avenue of Honor, Millsboro, DE
Date of Occurrence: Tuesday January 1, 2013 at approximately 11:25 a.m.
Operator and Vehicle Information:
Operator #1: Eula M. B. Graves, 79, Georgetown, DE Vehicle #1: 2007 Chrysler 300
Operator #2: 16 year old female, Seaford, DE Vehicle #2: 2005 Dodge Magnum
Resume: Millsboro, DE- The Delaware State Police is investigating a two vehicle crash that occurred north of Millsboro yesterday morning.
The incident occurred around 11:25 a.m. as Eula M. B. Graves was operating a 2007 Chrysler 300 westbound on Avenue of Honor approaching the intersection with US113. Graves failed to stop at the stop sign controlling the intersection with US113 northbound and then proceeded through the stop sign controlling the intersection with US113 southbound where she struck the rear driver’s side of a 2005 Dodge Magnum being operated by a 16 year old female. The impact caused the Chrysler to rotate counter-clockwise and continue westbound before striking a utility pole causing it to break and bring the power lines down across the road. The Chrysler, which was carrying gas cans, then became engulfed in flames. The Dodge was pushed in a clockwise manner and came to a stop south of the impact in the center median.
Graves, who was properly restrained, was assisted out of her vehicle after the crash and transported by EMS to Beebe Medical Center where she was admitted for non-life-threatening injuries. She was cited for Failure to Stop at a Stop Sign, Failure to Yield the Right of Way, and No Proof of Insurance.
The 16 year old female, who was properly restrained, was removed from the scene by EMS and transported to Nanticoke Memorial Hospital where she was treated and released with non-life-threatening injuries. It was determined through the investigation that the 16 year old had taken the vehicle from a relative without permission and did not possess a valid license to drive. Troopers charged her with Theft of a Motor Vehicle and Driving Without a Valid License. She was arraigned at JP3 and released to the custody of a parent pending a hearing in Family Court.
US113 southbound was closed for approximately three hours as the crash was investigated, cleared, and utility crews worked to repair the damaged pole.
Chris is a recent recipient of a liver transplant and is currently unable to work. This benefit is being organized to help Chris and his family through this difficult time and to help alleviate some of their financial burden and medical expenses.
A BBQ & Brew Benefit Dance for Chris is being held Jan. 26th at the Delmar Fire Dept from 6pm to 11pm. Whiteys BBQ is catering the event and a cash bar will be available. There will be Silent and Chinese Auction items. Tickets are $15 per person. If you would like to purchase tickets to help support Chris in this courageous battle, or to make a donation, you can contact Stacey Adkins at 302-841-3883,adkinsc26@hotmail.com or Patience Wells at 443-235-3474.
To listen to all the moaning out of the House of Representatives yesterday, you could be forgiven for thinking that the Republicans are losing the fiscal battle in Washington.
Actually, they're winning.
To see this, you just need to step back and look at the tax deal and the country's fiscal trends from a broader perspective.
Yesterday, the American government voted to extend almost all of the Bush Tax Cuts permanently.
Ray Lewis spent 17 seasons deftly patrolling the middle of the football field and serving as an inspirational leader for the Baltimore Ravens.
Now he's poised and eager to become a full-time dad.
Lewis announced Wednesday that he will end his brilliant NFL career after the Ravens complete their 2013 playoff run.
Lewis has been sidelined since Oct. 14 with a torn right triceps. The 13-time Pro Bowl middle linebacker intends to return Sunday to face the Indianapolis Colts in what will almost certainly be his final home game. More
A federal judge has ruled a property management company owned by the founder of Domino’s Pizza doesn’t have to immediately implement mandatory contraception coverage in the health care law.
U.S. District Judge Lawrence Zatkoff ruled Sunday in favor of Tom Monaghan and his Domino’s Farms Corp., near Ann Arbor. Monaghan, a devout Roman Catholic, says contraception isn’t health care but a “gravely immoral” practice.
Zatkoff granted Monaghan’s emergency motion for a temporary restraining order until a final decision is made in the case. The mandate would have taken effect Tuesday. More
Today President Obama is expected to sign into law a bill that extends key tax credits for wind power and averts the “fiscal cliff.” The main federal incentives for wind power – the renewable energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) and the offshore wind Investment Tax Credit (ITC) – expired on December 31, 2012. But with today’s new law, these credits will now be available for wind power projects that start construction over the next year, allowing for continued growth of Maryland and American wind power.
Environment Maryland’s Director Tommy Landers released the following statement:
“President Obama and clean energy champions including Senator Cardin and Representatives John Sarbanes and Donna Edwards helped make this a happy holiday for our health and our environment by extending critical tax credits for wind energy.
“Wind powers nearly 13 million homes across the country already, and in Maryland avoids as much global warming pollution as taking 35,000 cars off the road each year. Our current national wind energy capacity also reduces air pollution by avoiding 137,000 pounds of smog-forming emissions and 91,000 pounds of soot-forming emissions every year.
“We applaud our leaders for recognizing these tremendous benefits to our health and environment, and for acting to ensure the continued development of pollution-free wind energy.”
Happy New Year! We just finished a big pre-holiday release cycle for smartphones, so we're in a bit of a lull until late winter or early spring.
But there are still a bunch of great phones available, and many have dropped in price now that the holidays are officially over.
Check out the gallery below for our rankings of the best smartphones you can buy right now.
Note: We update this list approximately once a month. Our rankings are based on a variety of factors including design, software and hardware features, content selection, and price. You can see last month's smartphone rankings here.
Thousands of people who worked on rescue and recovery following the 2001 9/11 terrorist attacks may be at increased risk of prostate cancer, thyroid cancer, and myeloma, a new study suggests.
Researchers have already found links between 9/11-disaster exposure and increased risks of asthma, stress-related mental health problems, and heart disease in previous studies. Now, officials from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene are analyzing data from the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Registry to determine possible effects, if any, of the Twin Towers’ collapse on cancer risk.
“Dust, debris, and fumes from the WTC contained known and suspected carcinogens, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, asbestos, benzene, and dioxins,” the researchers write in their article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The Gannett-owned newspaper that caused a stir by printing the personal information of registered gun owners in New York’s Westchester, Rockland, and Putnam counties has discovered that it’s no fun having your personal information exposed to the entire world.
Responding to a national backlash over their decision to publish an interactive map with the names and addresses of registered gun owners, the editorial staff at Gannett’s Journal News has hired armed guards to watch over their building.
“A Clarkstown police report issued on December 28, 2012, confirmed that The Journal News has hired armed security guards from New City-based RGA Investigations and that they are manning the newspaper’s Rockland County headquarters … through at least tomorrow, Wednesday, January 2, 2013,” the County Times reports. More
There is a thread that unites the story of our people, it is the thread of human dignity. Last year, we took important steps forward in the struggle to promote the dignity of all Marylanders.
We made the DREAM of college more affordable for more Maryland families. We recognized the Piscataway Indians for the first time in our state's long history. Together, we became the first state ever to defend marriage equality at the ballot box -- and we did so in a way that protects freedom of religion.
Two nights ago, Maryland's new marriage equality law took effect. To all the newlyweds in Maryland, Katie and I offer our sincere congratulations; we wish them the very best of luck in their lives together.
We made progress in 2012, but our work is not yet finished. In 2013, let's continue to work together to defend fairness and advance the cause of dignity for all Marylanders.
These days, there are few few things to admire about the socialist, bankrupt and culturally degenerating USA, but at least so far, one thing remains: the right to bare arms and use deadly force to defend one's self and possessions.
This will probably come as a total shock to most of my Western readers, but at one point, Russia was one of the most heavily armed societies on earth. This was, of course, when we were free under the Tsar. Weapons, from swords and spears to pistols, rifles and shotguns were everywhere, common items. People carried them concealed, they carried them holstered. Fighting knives were a prominent part of many traditional attires and those little tubes criss crossing on the costumes of Cossacks and various Caucasian peoples? Well those are bullet holders for rifles.
Various armies, such as the Poles, during the Смута (Times of Troubles), or Napoleon, or the Germans even as the Tsarist state collapsed under the weight of WW1 and Wall Street monies, found that holding Russian lands was much much harder than taking them and taking was no easy walk in the park but a blood bath all its own. In holding, one faced an extremely well armed and aggressive population Hell bent on exterminating or driving out the aggressor.
Louis Michael Seidman, a professor of constitutional law at Georgetown University, has a simple plan for getting the U.S. back on track: Let’s give up the Constitution.
No, really. That’s the title of his New York Times op-ed. His basic argument is that America is not in a perilous financial crisis because of simple, vapid, and dishonest little men. The U.S. is in trouble because of our unreasonable adherence to an outdated document.
“As the nation teeters at the edge of fiscal chaos, observers are reaching the conclusion that the American system of government is broken. But almost no one blames the culprit: our insistence on obedience to the Constitution, with all its archaic, idiosyncratic and downright evil provisions,” writes Seidman. More
“What I am about to tell you is something you’ve probably never heard or read in history books,” she likes to tell audiences.
“I am a witness to history.
“I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort history.
Adolph Hitler
“We voted him in.”
If you remember the plot of the Sound of Music, the Von Trapp family escaped over the Alps rather than submit to the Nazis. Kitty wasn’t so lucky. Her family chose to stay in her native Austria. She was 10 years old, but bright and aware. And she was watching.
“We elected him by a landslide – 98 percent of the vote,” she recalls.
She wasn’t old enough to vote in 1938 – approaching her 11th birthday. But she remembers.
“Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force.”
DOVER — Sen. Dave Lawson, R-Marydel, announced Dec. 21 he would introduce a resolution to research the feasibility of constructing panic doors in Delaware public school classrooms. The General Assembly is scheduled to convene Tuesday, Jan. 8.
Lawson announced the proposal one week after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., when a 20-year-old man shot and killed 20 children and six school employees before turning the gun on himself.
In a press release, Lawson said he aims to introduce a bill to fund construction of an escape door in each ground-floor, exterior classroom through which students and teachers could escape in the event of an emergency. “We have to know what the cost is, and that’s what the resolution is asking,” Lawson said.
The resolution would charge state agencies with investigating whether Lawson’s plan makes fiscal sense. Lawson said the departments of education, homeland security and the Office of Management and Budget could possibly spearhead the study. More
Presidents are often criticized for not being able to relate to regular people. They've been called everything from socialists to psychopaths. But just how psychopathic are America's leaders?
In his book The Wisdom of Psychopaths, researcher Kevin Dutton explored just how similar the country's presidents and psychopaths really are.
Dutton describes psychopaths as brilliant, calculating, often highly intelligent people, who feel no emotion and don't even understand what an emotion is or why non-psychopaths feel them.
Steven Rubenzer and Thomas Fashingbauer, a forensic psychologist and professor of psychology respectively, sent a personality survey used to determine psychopathy to the biographers of every U.S. president in history.
The biographers had to complete the survey based on how they thought their subject would respond.
While most Americans are breathing a sigh of relief today, one federal union leader is calling the fiscal cliff deal a "bad deal" for feds. William Dougan of the National Federation for Federal Employees called sequestration "the most important federal workforce issue of our generation" and criticized lawmakers for extending the deadline. He also said Congress had failed to address the country's borrowing limit, which leads to uncertainty in the federal workforce. He said federal workers had become a pawn in political games.
The House voted to freeze federal salaries for all of 2013. The Senate has yet to take up the matter. The freeze bill was introduced by Rep.Michael Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) The tax bill Congress approved over the weekend did not include a federal pay freeze, and the President promised to lift the freeze on March 27, halfway through the fiscal year. That's when the continuing budget resolution expires.
(DOVER, DE) – In 2011, Gilbert and Cheryl Kimble contacted the Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA) for help to keep up with their mortgage because Gilbert had been laid off and Cheryl’s company folded due to the economy. Like many Delaware families, the Kimbles were struggling in this tough economic climate. They reached out to the State and nonprofit agencies for assistance, and a counselor at Hockessin Community Center suggested they apply for the Delaware Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (DEMAP). DEMAP provides up to $30,000 to bring home mortgage, property taxes, and homeowner’s insurance current, and can help make mortgage payments for up to two years.
“Because of DSHA, we are thankful each month to be able to make our payment. They helped us in paying the mortgage until we could get back on our feet again. We are appreciative to have that to fall back on, and grateful for what DEMAP and the state has done to help us during our hardship,” said Cheryl. Her advice to families in a similar situation is not to be embarrassed to ask for help before it’s too late. “It’s a gift to be able to use it, we are truly blessed.”
The Intelligence Community will have deeply reduced budgets for 2013. But it won't have to cut staff. The House and Senate approved a $72 billion intelligence bill, down from $80 billion in 2012. The new bill is slightly more than the White House had requested. Lawmakers added in money for counterterrorism work against al-Qaida and for counterintelligence against foreign governments trying to spy on the United States. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the bill holds the line on personnel and even adds a few select positions. The final bill left out restrictions on who can brief reporters on intelligence operations.
By any political, cultural or economic measure the nations of the West are in total decline. The historic virtues of hard work, free-market thinking and a common cultural integrity as well as religious and historical principles are gone. They have been subverted and replaced by an emphasis on rampant materialism and a consumer driven society that exceeds 70 percent of GNP in addition to private and public debt. Furthermore, a kind of parasitism has laid claim to Western culture by which sports stars, politicians, media darlings and financial scam artists get recognition and exorbitant incomes while real workers find their incomes falling and promised benefits curtailed.
Western society has lost its way. The main reason is the former political leadership of individual European nations and America, as imperfect as they were, have been co-opted and taken over by a corrupt power elite that uses its control over mob rule democracy and massive financial contributions to buy controlling influence over the "representative" governments of most Western nations.
This control has meant the political leadership and central bankers do not represent the citizens or the best interests of the nation at large. Instead, politics works to advance the financial and global governance interests of a small, secretive power elite. This takeover has bankrupted most nation-states and now threatens all existing fiat paper currencies as well as public and private wealth and retirement savings.
House Republicans abruptly pulled the plug Tuesday night on their promise to take up this week an emergency supplemental disaster aid bill for Northeast states damaged by Hurricane Sandy.
The decision is a stunning reversal since just hours before New Jersey lawmakers were preparing for floor debate Wednesday as outlined under a strategy promoted by no less than Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.).
Indeed the Appropriations Committee had gone so far as to file a $27 billion bill Tuesday together with an amendment to be offered by Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) seeking an additional $33 billion to match the Senate passed package of last week. More
Salisbury, MD – Water levels in Leonards Mill and Coulbourne Mill Ponds will be lowered January 2nd, 2013 through February 15th, 2013. During this time, fishing will be prohibited in either pond.
The lowered elevation will provide homeowners along the pond the opportunity to do routine maintenance on their properties and docks. The time-frame was selected to avoid interference with fish spawning season. Leonards Mill Pond is located on Route 13 North in Salisbury, while Coulbourne Mill is in south Salisbury. For additional information on either pond, please visit www.WicomicoRecandParks.org.
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