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Saturday, February 09, 2013

PELOSI TO BRING NEWTOWN STUDENT TO STATE OF THE UNION

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced Friday that she will bring a fourth-grade girl from Newtown, CT to be her guest at the coming State of the Union Address.

The mother of the fourth-grader will also attend.

This particular child is not a student from Sandy Hook Elementary, but Pelosi chose her because of a letter she wrote asking government officials to "ban semi-automatic weapons."

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A Punishment For Being Here Illegally

….then it’s impossible to ever stop illegal immigration. It’s like having a “keep off the grass” sign win a heavily trafficked area without putting any penalties in place for walking on the grass. We’re doing the same thing with illegal immigration. Obviously, we’re not going to shoot anyone coming into the country illegally and if we’re allowing them to stay here, even if they’re caught, we’re putting a huge incentive in place that will ensure a perpetual flood of illegal immigrants into our country.

That’s why the McCain/Rubio amnesty plan is bad policy and will guarantee not just one amnesty, but many amnesties. Of course, they’re claiming that’s not going to happen as Mickey Kaus explains.

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Stella! Ornery Dog Leads To $1M Idaho Lottery Win

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A group of blue collar University of Utah workers will split $1 million in lottery winnings thanks to a set of keys left in a truck and an ornery little dog named "Stella."

Thirteen years after playing the same set of numbers every month in the Idaho lottery, the group of 33 workers who work on heating and cooling university buildings hit pay dirt when Steve Hughes left his truck running to keep his dog "Stella" warm while he went inside to a gas station near Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, on Jan. 6. Utah has no lottery.

When he returned to his truck, his miniature pinscher had locked him out by putting her paw on the manual lock. Hughes, 29, planned to buy the ticket elsewhere, but instead he had his girlfriend buy it there while he tried to open the door with a slim jim.

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The Republicans’ Primary Problem

Having just lost an election, many Republicans are anxious to remake our party in the image of Democrats. The theory seems to be that whatever we’re doing isn’t working, so we better change everything.

But in fact, whatever Republicans did in 2012 — other than an overly long primary fight — worked amazingly well, given the circumstances.
In a detailed analysis of the 2012 election, William A. Galston, a fellow with the liberal Brookings Institution, makes a number of fascinating observations that Republicans would do well to consider before embracing amnesty, abortion, gay marriage and Beyonce.

In my analysis of his analysis, the single most important factor in the election was simply that Obama was an incumbent. As Galston notes, beating an incumbent president is a feat that has happened only five times since the turn of the last century. Republicans have done it only once.

On closer examination, in all these cases the incumbent president faced a primary challenge. In three of the five, the incumbent also had a third-party challenger in the general election.

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McIntosh Files Bill For Bottle And Can Deposit

Maryland consumers would be charged a 5 cent refundable deposit on bottles and cans under a bill introduced in the House of Delegates.

House Bill 1085 would make Maryland the 10th state in the U.S. to charge a deposit.

Del. Maggie McIntosh, D-Baltimore, the bill’s primary sponsor, has lined up 16 co-sponsors for the bill. It is scheduled for a first reading Friday before the House Environmental Matters and Economic Matters committees.

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Here’s Why It Never Hurts To Give Your Soda Can A Rinse

If you’re the type to drink from a soda can straight out of a store cooler or right from a vending machine, you might want to consider giving it a rinse or a wipe down with a wet napkin first.
The folks at CBS 11 in Fort Worth decided to have a lab take swabs of the tops of cans purchased at various stores and machines in the area. And to anyone who has studied basic microbiology, it’s probably not a surprise that there was a bunch of unpleasant stuff hanging around.

Among several other fun things, the lab found stenotrophomonas maltophilia, pseudomonas luteola, enterobacter cloacae, yeast, and staphylococcus on the can tops.

Power Company Blames Faulty Relay For Outage

The failure of a device meant to protect the power supply to the Superdome caused the Super Bowl blackout, the stadium's power company said Friday as it took the blame for the outage that brought the game to a halt for more than a half-hour.

Officials of Entergy New Orleans, a subsidiary of New Orleans-based Entergy Corp., said the device, called a relay, had been installed to protect the Superdome from a cable failure between the company's incoming power line and lines that run into the stadium.

Company officials said the device performed without problem during January's Sugar Bowl and other earlier events.

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Is Virginia Really Trying To Mint Its Own Money?

Earlier this week, the Virginia legislature overwhelmingly passed a bill that would fund a study to investigate “whether the Commonwealth should adopt an alternate medium of commerce or currency to serve as an alternative” to the dollar “in the event of a major breakdown of the Federal Reserve System.”
The study, which would cost an estimated $17,440 to Virginia taxpayers, would create a 10-member commission to study “the need, means, and schedule for establishing a metallic-based monetary unit” in the event of “hyperinflation, depression, or other economic calamity related to the breakdown of the Federal Reserve System, for which the Commonwealth is not prepared.

Mastiff Found: UPDATE


Hi Joe. This morning this gorgeous Mastiff showed up at my house. He is very well mannered but he has no name or tag on his collar. Could you please post this on your blog so he can find his human. My number is 410-430-6943. Thank you

Tri-county Agencies Offer Assistance To Homeless

Financial assistance is available for eligible people to get birth certificates or state identification cards through the “Homeless ID Project.”

The Core Service Agencies of Worcester, Somerset and Wicomico counties provide assistance to people at risk of being homeless, and who have a mental illness or substance abuse disorder.

Another program, SSI/SSDI Outreach Access and Recovery speeds up disability social security claims. The program is designed to have a decision for disability claims within 90 days.

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Book Returned To New York Public Library Almost 55 Years Overdue

It may disappoint fans of the TV program “Seinfeld,” but the New York Public Library doesn’t really have its own detectives who track down biblio-scofflaws with severely overdue books. If it did, it would have long ago tracked down the patron who checked out a copy of Fire of Francis Xavier in 1958 and didn’t return it until this week.

Today, many libraries send substantial missing or overdue book accounts off to a collection agency, which people find a lot more menacing than a humble letter on library stationery.NYPL does this now, in fact, but didn’t go back retroactively and try to track down people who checked out books during the Eisenhower administration.

Two Dozen Delegates Seek Repeal Of Septic System Limits

Residents of the Eastern Shore and other parts of rural Maryland are up in arms to defend their land rights which they believe are under threat as a result of last year’s environmental legislation commonly referred to as the Septic Bill.

Dozens of farmers and Maryland-natives rallied behind Del. Michael McDermott, R-Worcester, at a hearing Wednesday in the House Environmental Matters Committee on McDermott’s proposal to repeal the controversial bill. The bill has 24 co-sponsors, all of them Republicans.

“It amounts to nothing more than a confiscation of our private property,” said Jerry Miller, a farmer who had come to the hearing with his son to support the repeal. “Our city cousins don’t seem to understand. Our land is as much a home as our house is.”

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Yard Sale Proves Fruitful For Man Who Found First Dated Baseball Card In Photo Album

Anyone who’s ever picked through a garage sale, yard sale or antique store can relate to the thrill of finding something unexpected and desirable amid the heaps of broken old toys and worthless junk. And sometimes, the best finds of all stay hidden even after the transaction has been made. That was the case for an antique picker in Maine who found what could be the first dated baseball card tucked away in a photo album.

That man is probably pretty pleased with himself for finding and purchasing the album, some old Coca-Cola bottles and a few oak chairs for less than $100 at a rural yard sale in Maine, reports the Associated Press.

The card is headed for auction but it’s so rare, experts can’t say how much it’ll fetch — anywhere between $50,000 and $500,000. The highest-selling baseball card of all time is a 1909 Honus Wagner card which fetched $2.8 million at auction in 2007.

A good investment at any of those prices, to be sure.

Anti-Drone Blimps To Fly Over APG

Not the Goodyear blimp. Not the Met-Life airship.

The Army is bringing two huge blimps of its own brand to Aberdeen Proving Ground.

Or far above the APG, more accurately.

The military calls them aerostats. Each one is about 80 yards long - nearly as big as a football field.

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USPS Update

Saturday stamped mail won't be the only thing disappearing from the Postal Service under its new cost-cutting plan. So will millions of man hours. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe says ending Saturday first class will reduce USPS' man-hour requirements by the equivalent of 22,500 people. But, Donahoe says, most of that will come by cutting overtime and part-time work. In all, the decision to end Saturday first class mail will save USPS $2 billion a year. But the Postal Service may have a fight on its hands. Two House members are already questioning USPS management's authority to make the change.

Drug Treatment Advocates Protest Funding Cuts To Md. Rehab Centers

Drug treatment advocates and addiction counselors testified at a budget hearing Wednesday to protest a proposed $4.5 million cut to the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Administration budget, which they said would have a devastating impact on Maryland’s cash-strapped drug treatment programs.

Leaders of these programs told the House Appropriations Health and Human Resources Subcommittee that they provided a vital service to the state’s most vulnerable citizens and that they would be unable to serve all the drug addicts that asked for help if their funding was cut in fiscal year 2014.

Current levels of funding are insufficient already, they said, explaining that many of their organizations were on the verge of bankruptcy.

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House Bill To Extend On Vets

A new House bill would extend a veterans education benefit for a year beyond its scheduled expiration date. It was introduced by Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.). The Veterans Retraining Assistance Program, or VRAP, currently gives middle-aged, unemployed vets money for career training. It expires March 31. Miller's bill would extend the benefits to June 2014. Miller says that would give vets enrolled in career education more time to finish. The bill would also require VA to report to Congress on how effective VRAP is at getting vets into jobs.

Three People Charged With Theft From Wal-Mart

BERLIN -- Three Salisbury residents were arrested on theft and theft scheme charges this week after local law enforcement officials were able to connect them to a series of thefts of flat-screen televisions, computers and other electronics from the Wal-Mart in Berlin totaling thousands of dollars.

On Jan. 26, the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office began an investigation into the theft of numerous laptop computers, desktop computers, televisions, home surveillance equipment and Blu-Ray DVDs from the Wal-Mart in Berlin. Surveillance camera evidence revealed three suspects entered the store and worked together to steal computers and televisions. The investigation revealed the three suspects returned later the same day and stole several more laptop computers.

On Monday, Feb. 4, the three suspects, identified as Jaquell Murray, Wanda Murray and Richard Kelly, all of Salisbury, returned to the Berlin Wal-Mart and stole two more flat-screen televisions, a desktop computer and two home surveillance kits. The net value of those stolen items came to $5,000.

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Governor O'Malley Posted This On His Facebook Page

Received this important message from 4-year-old Samuel in Cheverly.
 Governor O'Malley
Thanks you for pushing gun control to protect kids
Samuel 4yrs old Cheverly, MD
Facebook Page 

LONG-TIME EMPLOYEE PURCHASES JIFFY LUBE SERVICE CENTER IN SALISBURY

HOUSTON, TX – Jiffy Lube® International, the company that pioneered the fast oil change industry, announces that long-time Jiffy Lube employee, Chris Ryan, along with his wife, Laura, are shifting gears to own and operate the existing Jiffy Lube service center located at 900 S. Salisbury Blvd. The first-time franchisees plan to be hands-on, working closely with staff to ensure continued operational excellence and top quality service for their customers.
"My wife and I are grateful for this opportunity to continue serving Salisbury residents,” said Chris Ryan, Jiffy Lube franchisee. “As part of the Jiffy Lube family, we pride ourselves on providing quality automotive maintenance services to our customers and are grateful for the community’s incredible support over the years.”
Chris has been a part of the Jiffy Lube family for 13 years, serving as store manager of the Salisbury location for the past 12 years. Under his management, the Salisbury Jiffy Lube service center has consistently performed in the top 10 percent of customer satisfaction surveys. The store also earned top honors as the regional finalist in the 2012 J-Team All Stars, an internal competition that encourages teamwork, technical knowledge, operational execution and delivery of an outstanding customer experience on all levels. The Ryans have been active members in the community for the past 15 years, with Laura serving as a volunteer EMT for the local fire department.
With a network of more than 2,000 independently owned franchises in North America, Jiffy Lube has a long history within the automotive service industry with franchisees having an average of 13 years in the system.
“Chris’ significant experience as a Jiffy Lube manager will serve him well as a business owner," said Barry Wood, director of network development for Jiffy Lube International. "As manager of the Salisbury service center for the past 12 years, Chris has demonstrated his commitment to customer service and operational excellence, earning his center top honors and acknowledgements from the entire Jiffy Lube family."

Water Balloon Fight Costs Ohio High School Its Prom

HYDE PARK — Withrow High School has canceled its May 2 prom to punish students for a senior prank.

Sharon Johnson, principal of the Cincinnati public school in Hyde Park, said students used social media last month to plan a massive water balloon fight at lunch.

Staff found out about it and tried to stamp out the plan.

Johnson made two separate school-wide announcements on the day of the prank, and another in person at the start of the lunch period.

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Somerset County Sheriff's Office Press Release

Brandon Alexander waters of Fruitland, arrested 1-31-13 on a warrant for violation of probation. Waters was held on a $10,000 bond.

Ronald James Paulley Sr. of Crisfield, arrested 2-1-13 on a warrant for failing to appear in court. Paulley was held without bond.

Michael David Sterling of Princess Anne, criminal summons served for theft less than $1,000. Sterling was released on signature pending court actions.

David Ulysse, Wesley Leon Samuel, Kadijah Shanice Perkins, and a female juvenile arrested on 2-2-13 for possession of marijuana, and possession of alcohol. Deputies conducted a traffic stop in the area of Perry Rd, Westover for traffic violations. During a conversation with the occupants, deputies could smell the odor of burnt marijuana coming from the vehicle. A search of the vehicle was conducted and deputies later recovered a small amount of suspected marijuana. The driver, a juvenile female had a strong odor of alcohol coming from her breath and person. The juvenile was arrested for underage possession and consumption of alcohol, and possession of suspected marijuana. The three adults were charged with possession of suspected marijuana and later released on citations pending court actions.

Michael Douglas Ferguson of Sicklerville New Jersey, arrested 2-3-13 for driving under the influence of alcohol, driving while impaired, failure to display license on demand, failure to stop at a stop sign, and negligent driving. The arrest was the result of a traffic stop conducted by deputies in the area of UMES Blvd, Princess Anne. Ferguson was later released on signatures pending court actions.

Timothy Gustonus Moore of Pocomoke, arrested 2-4-13 for driving under the influence of alcohol, and driving while impaired,. The arrest was the result of a traffic stop conducted by deputies in the area of Ocean Highway, Pocomoke. Moore was later released on signature pending court actions.

Desmond Rashad Roberts of Salisbury, arrested 2-4-13 for driving under the influence of alcohol, driving while impaired, driving on a suspended drivers’ license, negligent driving, driving on learners permit without supervision, and speeding. The arrest was the result of a traffic stop conducted by deputies on Ocean Highway, Eden. Roberts was later released on signature pending court actions.

David Lee Anderson Jr. of Pocomoke, arrested 2-4-13 on a warrant for violation of probation. Anderson was held on a $ 35,000 bond.

Rodney William Burke of Crisfield, arrested 2-5-13 on a warrant for failing to appear in court. Burke was held on a $ 500.00 bond.

Quinton Jerome Bailey of Princess Anne, arrested 2-5-13 on a warrant for failing to appear in court. Bailey was held on a $ 500.00 bond.

Laurie Ann Adkins of Princess Anne, criminal summons served for two counts of theft less than $1,000,and two counts of theft less than $ 100.00. Adkins was released on signature pending court actions.

Gregory Anton Riddick of Westover, arrested 2-6-13 on a warrant for failing to appear in court. Riddick was held on a $ 500.00 bond.

Nichole Elizabeth Santos of Princess Anne, arrested 2-6-13 on a warrant for failing to appear in court. Santos was later released to the Fruitland police Department for disposition.

Teacher Arrested At JFK


Jon Stewart Shreds Obama On Hypocrisy Over Drones: You're Only 'Transparent About The Last Guy's Secrets'

Daily Show host Jon Stewart tore into President Barack Obama Wednesday night for what he perceived as hypocrisy on transparency over his administration's controversial policy on drone strikes.
Stewart found the recently leaked white paper outlining the government's case for using lethal force on American citizens abroad to be disconcerting overall. He had a particular issue with the condition that a strike can only be carried out if the person presents an "imminent threat," the definition of which was very loosely defined.

"So, imminent threat, in other words, is 'imminent or not imminent,'" Stewart quipped.

WWE Presents RAW Road To WrestleMania Sunday, March 24

Tickets On Sale Saturday, February 9

Salisbury, MD – WWE returns to the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center on Sunday, March 24 at 5:00pm, just two weeks before WrestleMania 29. See all your favorite WWE Superstars including John Cena, CM Punk, Chris Jericho, Sheamus, Ryback, Dolph Ziggler, The Miz, Kofi Kingston, The Shield, and many more!

Tickets start at $15 and go on sale Saturday, February 9 at 10:00am. Tickets will be available online at www.WicomicoCivicCenter.org, at the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center Box Office (500 Glen Avenue, Salisbury, MD) or charge by phone at 410-548-4911. (Additional fees may apply to all ticket prices.)

State Now Mulling New 113 Traffic Light

SNOW HILL -- Collective protests from the Snow Hill community and unique traffic conditions have the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) re-considering placing a stoplight at the intersection of Routes 12 and 113.

Though nothing has been guaranteed, MDOT’s admission that they might put a traffic light at the accident prone intersection is a major change in position from its most recent stance. County Commissioner Virgil Shockley, who has made Routes 12 and 113 a pet project for years, attributed MDOT and the State Highway Administration’s (SHA) change in attitude to a public session held in December when the overwhelming community call was for the installation of a light.

“The meeting that night definitely had the impact needed to get some movement … The people who were in the room that night deserve a lot of credit,” he said.

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All Is Well

I woke up this past Saturday morning and opened my local paper to find out that all was well. An Associated Press article declared a healthy jobs market, fantastic auto sales, a surging housing market, and a stock market rocketing to new all-time highs. What’s not to love? If the mainstream media says the economy is as good as new, it must be so. Why should we let facts get in the way of a good storyline? The stock market has surged to 2007 highs, so the country’s employment situation must be strong.

SPD Press Release 2-9-13


Report: Baltimore Forecasts Financial Ruin In 10 Years

Changes To Commercial Striped Bass Fishing May Benefit Lower Shore

Ostensibly, the title of Maryland’s State Fish was bestowed upon the striped bass due to its long-term popularity with Chesapeake Bay watermen. But its status may as well be because it has garnered more policy attention than any other scaly, ectothermic creature in the Old Line State.

One of the state’s biggest policy decisions this year will likely come not from the legislature, but from within the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, which is “right in the middle of making some drastic changes to this fishery,” according to Mike Luisi of the DNR’s fisheries service.

“We’ve been working with the industry for quite some time about the 2014 fishery,” Luisi said. “There are some tough decisions that will have to be made.”

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THE CIVIL WAR HAS BEGUN

When a person amasses too much power, they often believe they are indestructible.

What Karl Rove and company did last week in the New York Times, claiming that their new “Conservative Victory Project” would cure the ills of a disappointing campaign cycle, is laughable. The so-called “Conservative Victory Project” is nothing more than an attempt by establishment Republicans to cull the conservative movement. Why does Rove think he has a monopoly on wanting to win?

At least Karl Rove and company are finally out front with their disdain for the conservative movement, and I am thankful for it. The battle lines are finally drawn, and conservatives should look at the New York Times article as our Lexington and Concord. This battle will be a long, hard slog against the establishment. Just this week, a Rove henchman attacked conservative leader Brent Bozell. But we will prevail, because we actually believe in core principles and a cause greater than our egos and money.

Karl Rove and his cabal would sell out on any issue if it means more power in the short-term, for they don’t stand for anything. Let’s just look at Rove’s record of accomplishments for Big Government causes. Rove supported the fiscally crippling expansion of Medicare, the anti-free speech McCain-Feingold campaign finance act, and the plan to reward illegal behavior when it comes to immigration reform. Under Rove’s watch, federal spending was out of control. Rove is no conservative; his decisions are made free of principle, with the deciding factor always being how he and the failing establishment try to cling to power.

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Wicomico County Looks To Phase Out Inventory Tax

SALIBSURY – The Wicomico County Council is weighing whether to eliminate its inventory tax with a public hearing planned for next month on the effort.

On Tuesday, the Wicomico County Council voted unanimously to introduce a legislative bill that will amend a chapter within the County Code regarding taxation and the “percentage of assessed value changed” to reduce the percentage of the assessed value of commercial inventory subject to county property tax from 35 percent to zero phased over a five-year period.

According to the legislation, Wicomico County is the only county in the State of Maryland that taxes the value of business inventory.

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Caption This Photo Shopped Domino's Photo


WSCO Press Release 2-9-13



What The US Government Spent Its Money On Last Quarter

The most vocal justification provided for the disappointing Q4 GDP print by the mainstream was an increase in US government "austerity" resulting in a decline in the government contribution to the economic bottom line in the last quarter (or first fiscal quarter of 2013). Ironically, both total spending and total debt issuance in the past quarter increased, which means that far from being austere, the US actually spent more, not less, i.e., the opposite of austerity.

And while it is true that Defense spending declined by a tiny amount in the past quarter compared to the year ago, it was more than offset by a surge in Medicare and Medicaid, as well as Social Security, or, as they are better known,welfare. And, as the CBO yesterday showed, these two components of US spending, which together account for half of all US spending and which couldn't be funded by all US revenues even if the government spent $0.00 for all other programs, which will soar in the coming years as US society ages, as more workers retire, and as more are reliant on Uncle Sam for the payment of every bill. So the next time someone say that the US has a defense spending problem and nothing else, show them this chart.

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The Democratic Ideal

In this essay I wish to revisit democracy since all the power that our current administration is claiming for itself is supposedly justified by way of the democratic method. But, in fact, only a properly limited democracy is politically just and justified.

Democracy is a process by which some decisions are made and in the context of politics it means the kind of system that depends upon the participation of the citizenry for certain purposes. What grounds democracy as a just mode of political decision-making is that citizens have the ultimate authority concerning certain matters in thepolis. And the reason they do have this ultimate authority is that they are, as adults, equal in their status vis-à-vis the stake they have in their political institutions, their laws, public policies, foreign relations, etc. That they have this equal status hinges on certain extra or pre-political matters, to be discerned by way of reflection upon human nature and proper human relations.

For now, I'll simply note that as I understand political matters, they arise from the moral fact that each individual adult human being has as his or her task in life to live it rationally, to flourish as a rational animal. Since this task for adults can only be achieved if they are not unwillingly subject to the rule of others – in which case it is that other individual's rational choice that would be the ruling principle of one's life – in just communities human beings must be sovereign. From this it follows that they must have a say in their own political fate, ergo, democracy.

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