Lesson on Your Social Security Card

 Just in case some of you young whippersnappers (& some older ones) didn't know this. It's easy to check out, if you don't believe it. Be sure and show it to your family and friends. They need a little history lesson on what's what and it doesn't matter whether you are Democrat or Republican. Facts are Facts.

Social Security Cards up until the 1980s expressly stated the number and
card were not to be used for identification purposes. Since nearly everyone in the United States now has a number, it became convenient to use it anyway and the message, NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION, was removed.

An old Social Security card with the "NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION" message.

Our Social Security
Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, introduced the Social
Security (FICA) Program. He promised:

1.) That participation in the Program would be
Completely voluntary,

No longer Voluntary


2.) That the participants would only have to pay
1% of the first $1,400 of their annual
Incomes into the Program,

Now 7.65%
on the first $90,000


3.) That the money the participants elected to put into the Program would be deductible from their income for tax purposes each year,

No longer tax deductible


4.) That the money the participants put into the independent 'Trust Fund' rather than into the general operating fund, and therefore, would only be used to fund the Social Security Retirement Program, and no other Government program, and,

Under Johnson the money was moved to The General Fund and Spent


5.) That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed
as income.

Under Clinton & Gore
Up to 85% of your Social Security can be Taxed

Since many of us have paid into FICA for years and are now receiving a Social Security check every month -- and then finding that we are getting taxed on 85% of the money we paid to the Federal government to 'put away'
-- you may be interested in the following:

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ----

Q: Which Political Party took Social Security from the independent 'Trust Fund' and put it into the general fund so that Congress could spend it?

A: It was Lyndon Johnson and the democratically controlled House and Senate.

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --

Q: Which Political Party eliminated the income tax deduction for Social Security (FICA) withholding?

A: The Democratic Party.

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -----

Q: Which Political Party started taxing Social
Security annuities?

A: The Democratic Party, with Al Gore casting the 'tie-breaking' deciding vote as President of the Senate, while he was Vice President of the US

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -

Q: Which Political Party decided to start giving annuity payments to immigrants?

A: Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Party. Immigrants moved into this country, and at age 65, began to receive Social Security payments! The Democratic Party gave these payments to them, even though they never paid a dime into it!

------------ -- ------------ --------- ----- ------------ --------- ---------

Then, after violating the original contract (FICA), the Democrats turn around and tell you that the Republicans want to take your Social Security away!

And the worst part about it is uninformed citizens believe it! If enough people receive this, maybe a seed of awareness will be planted and maybe changes will evolve.

Truancy And Crime Link In Chicago

Of 182 boys and young men recently locked up in Illinois' three medium-security youth prisons, at least 135 used to miss so much school that they were labeled chronic truants.
Nearly 60 percent couldn't even read at the third-grade level when they were booked in.

At the largest of the three facilities, the Illinois Youth Center St. Charles, all but nine of the 72 youths had dropped out of school entirely by the time they were incarcerated.

These figures, calculated by the Tribune from newly obtained state prison data, serve as a grim reminder that absence from school in the early grades is often the first warning of criminal misconduct that can destroy young lives as well as burden society with the costs of street violence, welfare and prison.

The records underscore the stark consequences of a crisis in K-8 grade truancy and absenteeism in Chicago that officials long ignored but have promised to address in the wake of a Tribune investigation that found tens of thousands of city elementary students miss a month or more of school in a year.

The prison data consist of raw numbers, but behind them is a ragged parade of youths whose cases fill the docket in Cook County Juvenile Court.

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For Second Time, DMV Denies ICUHAJI License Plate

CHESAPEAKE

An Iraq war veteran's quest to recover personalized license plates that some Arab Americans found offensive is not over.

After a judge ruled in November that the Department of Motor Vehicles couldn't deny a tag on the grounds that it denigrated individuals of a particular nationality, the state has come up with a new reason to revoke Sean Bujno's ICUHAJI plate.

In a letter from the DMV to Bujno, the agency said the tag - it can be read, "I see you, haji" - condones or encourages violence and is obscene or otherwise vulgar in nature.
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The Final Countdown

Governments have refused to accept the necessity of a period of economic re-adjustment following the credit-bubble. The bubble burst about five years ago and economic progress has been effectively suspended ever since. The consequences of this refusal to accept reality are at a minimum to make this adjustment unnecessarily drawn out and needlessly painful, without offering a better eventual outcome.

Reduced to its bare bones, the choice has been either to accept that unviable businesses and over-extended banks must go bust, or to ignore the problem and hope it goes away. We are familiar with this dilemma as investors: a business that refuses to adapt to new realities will eventually fail. Before it does, its investors have the chance either to sell their shares and perhaps reinvest their money more profitably, or to refuse to accept an early loss on their investment. Most of us, being human, take the latter course and usually regret it.

The lesson, if we care to learn it, is that the product of time and money is more valuable than the desire to avoid a book loss. In economic terms, it is better for resources to be deployed efficiently than to tie them up in inefficient or unwanted activity. This is a decision for markets, not governments, which brings us back to the necessity for economic re-adjustment. Governments have simply not faced up to the reality that we are in a post-credit-bubble mess: they still hope the problem will be resolved by time.

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COLUMBINE SURVIVOR PENS BOLD OPEN LETTER TO OBAMA REJECTING GUN CONTROL: ‘WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?’

Columbine survivor Evan Todd released an open letter to President Barack Obama on Wednesday in which he offers a point-by-point analysis of proposed firearms control initiatives, dismissing them as ineffective and dangerous to Americans’ rights.

He recently outlined why he fervently disagrees with the gun control policies that have been proposed in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. TheBlaze interviewed Todd earlier this week and subsequently detailed how his experience being shot back in 1999 has shaped his views on the issue.

The letter, which speaks directly to the president, covers a number of key facets in the gun control debate. On universal background checks, Todd expresses his fears that “universal registration can easily be used for universal confiscation.” Additionally, he says his belief that assault weapons bans are ineffective and argues that the first law did little to stop violence when it was in effect from 1994 until 2004; he cites Columbine as a prime example.
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QUOTES OF THE DAY

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night

“Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand.”
― Kurt Vonnegut

“And on the subject of burning books: I want to congratulate librarians, not famous for their physical strength or their powerful political connections or their great wealth, who, all over this country, have staunchly resisted anti-democratic bullies who have tried to remove certain books from their shelves, and have refused to reveal to thought police the names of persons who have checked out those titles.So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House or the Supreme Court or the Senate or the House of Representatives or the media. The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country

“And so it goes…”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

“The last thing I ever wanted was to be alive when the three most powerful people on the whole planet would be named Bush, Dick and Colon.”
― Kurt Vonnegut

“Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you’ve got a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies-”God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.”
― Kurt Vonnegut

“Dear future generations: Please accept our apologies. We were rolling drunk on petroleum.”
― Kurt Vonnegut

WHY IS MEXICO ASKING THE U.S. SENATE FOR A REGISTRY OF U.S. GUN OWNERS?

Mexican lawmakers will ask the U.S. Senate to create a registry of all commercialized firearms in border states, which includes California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Mexico says it will make it easier to trace guns used in violent attacks.

The measure was reportedly approved on January 9 by Mexico’s Permanent Commission, a government entity that meets when Mexico’s Senate and the Chamber of Deputies is in recess. Gun owners in Arizona are calling the proposal “foolish” and an “invasion of privacy.”
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WHAT IS 7.6 BILLION HOURS WORTH?

Abolish The Income Tax: You Won’t Believe Who Is Getting Away With Paying Zero Taxes While The Middle Class Gets Hammered
By Michael, on February 18th, 2013

The federal income tax is a bad joke and it needs to be abolished. All over the nation, hard working American families are being absolutely crushed by oppressive levels of taxation, and our politicians are constantly coming up with new ways to extract money from all of us every single year. Meanwhile, many ultra-wealthy Americans and many of the most profitable corporations in the country pay little to nothing in taxes.

In fact, as you will see below, there are dozens of very prominent corporations that make billions of dollars in profits and yet don’t pay a dime in taxes. Tax avoidance has become a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States. Those that have the resources to “play the game” use shell companies, offshore tax havens and the thousands of loopholes in our tax code to minimize their tax burdens as much as possible. Meanwhile, the rest of us get absolutely hammered. This is fundamentally unfair.

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Russia Wants Adopted Child Back After Brother Dies in U.S.

Russia is seeking to repatriate the brother of a three-year-old boy who died in Texas after being adopted by a U.S. family, less than two months after Moscow banned all adoptions by Americans.

“We have every reason to demand the return of the boy to his homeland,” Pavel Astakhov, Russia’s ombudsman for children’s rights, told reporters in Moscow today. “If adoptive parents have committed a crime, we are entitled to demand the child come home.”

The toddler died on Jan. 21 after an alleged fatal beating by his adoptive American mother. He and his two-year-old brother were adopted at the end of last year from an orphanage in the Pskov region in the country’s northwest. Astakhov said he had been asked by the boys’ biological mother to help get the child back to Russia. The woman says she has found a job and stopped her “antisocial lifestyle,” according to Astakhov.
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A Comment Worthy Of A Post 2-20-13

Anne Taylor has left a new comment on your post "Tonight On WMDT":

My business Parker Place survived downtown for almost 15 years, with NO HELP from the city. Our city isn't business friendly, PERIOD! The Mayor and the City Council need to be more aggressive trying to bring new businesses downtown, and they need to work with people. A great example would be Berlin and what Michael Day has done. I voted for Ireton 4 years ago,(AGAINST THE ADVISE OF MANY) because he used the magic word "CHANGE".....I am still waiting.

Dishonoring The Corps

Dishonored and disarmed: Bolts are clearly missing from these Marine rifles during President Obama’s inauguration parade. This is an unmistakable insult to the honor of the Marine Corps.
David Codrea has revealed that President Obama has so little regard for the United States Marines risking their lives under his command life that they were forced to dismantle their already empty parade rifles for his second inauguration parade. This is nothing less than a slap in the face of the Corps:
“Didn’t know the Marines had to take the bolts out of their rifles for the Inaugural,” an email forwarded to Gun Rights Examiner from a United States Marine Corps source observed. “Wonder if someone can explain why [they] would be marching in the inaugural parade with no bolts in their rifles!”
The email linked to a YouTube video of the 57th Presidential Inaugural Parade, embedded in this column, featuring Bravo Company Marines from the Marine Barracks Washington. Sure enough, the observation in the email is confirmed by watching the video, with screen shots provided in the photo and slide show accompanying this article.
This prompted an internet search to see if others had also noticed, and the Blur-Brain blog had.
“The bolts have been removed from the rifles rendering them unable to fire a round,” the post stated. “Apparently Obama’s Secret Service doesn’t trust the USMC. Simply searching each guy to make sure he didn’t have a live round hidden on him wasn’t enough, they had to make sure the guns were inoperable.
Obama doesn’t trust the very men who put their lives on the line to serve their country. I guess it shouldn’t be that much of a shock. Untrustworthy people find it very difficult to believe that other men have honor.

Jake Day Receives "Ultimate" Endorsement

Salisbury city council candidate Jake Day kicked off his campaign by tying himself to mayor Jim Ireton:

One of the problems is the council majority, which includes Campbell, and its lack of vision for the city, Day said.  “I think we have a great example with the mayor, but he doesn’t have a partner on the City Council,” he said.

As Day concludes the first phase of his quest for public office, Day has received the endorsement of another Salisbury icon - Barrie Parsons Tilghman.

Salisbury taxpayers should be reminded that Tilghman plunged the city into deep debt.  The city is in the process of paying for Tilghman's waste water treatment plant TWICE.  Why?  Tilghman's "Dream Team" council simply RUBBER STAMPED her every whim.  Day is on record as wanting to join councilwomen Laura Mitchell and Shanie Shields in being Ireton's rubber stamp.

Let's review a few accomplishments of Day's latest champion:

• A DOUBLE DIGIT tax hike.

• A highly questionable city land purchase which yielded "unknown" owners a nearly HALF MILLION dollar profit in four months for the Salisbury fire house property.

• Millions of dollars in developer reimbursements.

• A questionable annexation for the "Sassafras Meadows" parcel, formerly (?) owned by rubbber stamp councilman Mike Dunn and family.

• The piece de resistance - the FAILED Waste Water Treatment Plant.  The grandchildren of city ratepayers will be ponying up for this one.

Salisbury taxpayers KNOW they can't afford another Barrie Tilghman.  Are their pockets deep enough to afford Jake Day?

USDA WHISTLEBLOWER SPEAKS OUT ABOUT CONTROVERSIAL ‘CULTURAL SENSITIVITY TRAINING’ SEMINAR

A whistleblower from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) joined Glenn Beck on TheBlaze TV Tuesday to discuss a disturbing “Cultural Sensitivity Training” program that encouraged federal workers in attendance to chant racially-charged and controversial phrases. The training was reportedly part of “a broader effort towards cultural transformation at USDA.”

As TheBlaze previously reported, video of the sensitivity training session, conducted by the USDA, was published last week by Judicial Watch after the group was tipped by a whistleblower. Critics have accused the USDA of allowing their workers to be indoctrinated.

Beck began Tuesday’s show by recapping some of the most outrageous statements made by the seminar’s diversity awareness trainer Dr. Samuel Betances. Here’s your refresher course:

“I want you to say, America was founded by outsiders. Say that. Who are today’s insiders, who get very nervous about today’s outsiders. I want you to say, the pilgrims were illegal aliens. Say the pilgrims never gave their passports to the Indians.”

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Minimum Wage: Who Decided Workers Should Fall Behind?

It was encouraging to see President Obama propose an increase in the minimum wage in his State of the Union Address, even if the $9.00 target did not seem especially ambitious. If the $9.00 minimum wage were in effect this year, the inflation-adjusted value of the minimum wage would still be more than 2.0 percent lower than it had been in the late 1960s. And this proposed target would not even be reached until 2015, when inflation is predicted to lower the value by another 6 percent.

While giving a raise worth more than $3,000 a year to the country’s lowest paid workers is definitely a good thing, it is hard to get too excited about a situation in which these workers will still be earning less than their counterparts did almost 50 years ago. By targeting wage levels that roughly move in step with inflation we have implemented a policy that workers at the bottom will receive none of the benefits of economic growth through time. In other words, if we hold the purchasing power of the minimum wage fixed through time, as the country as a whole gets richer, minimum wage workers will fall ever further behind.

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House Of Delegates Takes Important Step Towards Offshore Wind Power

Today, the Maryland House of Delegates made progress towards passage of the offshore wind bill put forward by Gov. Martin O’Malley (HB 226), the Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act of 2013. The House voted to move the bill to the final stage of voting, called “3rd Reader.” In response, Tommy Landers, the director of Environment Maryland issues this brief statement:

“Gov. O’Malley and the Maryland House of Delegates are doing the right thing for our kids, our air, our climate, and our economy. The offshore wind industry is coming to our region, and this bill will put Maryland on the cutting edge of states ready to embrace and reap all of its benefits. Our climate is changing, extreme weather is becoming more damaging, and dirty air is still endangering our children. For Maryland, offshore wind is a critical part of the solution to the many challenges created by our ongoing addiction to fossil fuels. Congratulations and many thanks to Speaker Busch, Chairmen Davis, and their colleagues in the House of Delegates for moving this vital policy forward.”

Heterosexuals Need Not Apply: DOD Extends Benefits Only to Gay Unmarried ‘Partners’

Outgoing Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has unilaterally issued a directive stating that the U.S. military will now extend certain benefits to unmarried domestic partners that were formerly reserved for married couples—but will only do so if the domestic partners certify in writing to the Department of Defense that they are of the same sex.

Heterosexual unmarried partners do not qualify for the benefits—and thus are treated unequally by Panetta’s directive on the basis of their sexual orientation.

Panetta issued his directive in a Feb. 11 memorandum to the secretaries of the military departments and the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. The subject line on the memo said: “Extending benefits to same-sex domestic partners of military members.”
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North Dakota Senate Passes “Personhood” Bill Granting Legal Rights to Fertilized Eggs

What is going on in North Dakota?

The state successfully passed yet another restrictive, Supreme Court-baiting antiabortionmeasure, this time voting to define a “person” as “an individual member of the species homo sapiens at every stage of development” — including human embryos.

In short: They have endowed fertilized eggs with the same rights as a living, breathing person. A move that would restrict all abortions except in narrowly defined cases where a woman’s life is at risk.

According to the abortion rights group Parents Against Personhood, the bill:


Contains an exception for “medical treatment of life-threatening conditions of pregnancy”, for “contraception administered before clinically diagnosable pregnancy,” and for “screening, collecting, preparing, transferring, or cryopreserving of a human being created through in vitro fertilization for the purpose of being transferred to a human uterus.

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Legislators Introduce Hands-Only CPR School Requirement

ANNAPOLIS, Md. —State legislators in have introduced a law that will make learning hands-only CPR training a high school graduation requirement.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is life-saving emergency procedure.

"Only 11 percent of people who have sudden cardiac arrest out of the hospital survive and survival is dependent upon somebody in the area who sees that person's arrest, who knows CPR and immediately initiates CPR until the paramedics come," said Michaeline Fedder with the American Heart Association.
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Maryland Among Most Vulnerable To Fed Budget Cuts

Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., are among the most vulnerable to looming federal budget cuts in defense as well as nondefense spending, according to a report released Monday in Annapolis by Wells Fargo Securities.

The report examines parts of the country that would feel the most pain from $85 billion in cuts set to automatically start taking effect March 1 without a bipartisan deal on sequestration.


Actual cuts may be around 13 percent for defense and 9 percent for other programs because lawmakers delayed their impact, requiring savings over a shorter period of time.

Defense spending has been estimated to account for 9.8 percent of the combined District, Virginia and Maryland economies in 2010, the report noted.

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Gas Prices Climb For 33rd Straight Day

Gas prices continued to climb for a 33rd straight day Tuesday, the longest streak of price increases since February and March 2012, according to AAA.

Some local businesses are feeling the pressure.

Walkersville florist Lori Himes had to slowly raise her delivery charge from $4.95 to $7.95 over the past several years because of the cost of gasoline, and is concerned that she may have to raise prices again.

She said that if gas prices top $4 per gallon, she will probably have to raise her delivery charge by 50 cents.
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With Age Comes Happiness

Wisdom may come with age, but does happiness follow suit?

Some studies show that the elderly may be more prone to depression and loneliness, which can lead to higher rates of unhappiness, not a surprise given the health and emotional challenges that tend to accompany aging. But increasing, more and more studies suggest that happiness may actually rise after middle age — at least when scientists take into account some of the non-biological factors that can influence reports of contentment.

In a new study, which was published in Psychological Science, researchers led by Angelina Sutin of Florida State University College of Medicine examined data from two large samples of people; one included nearly 2,300 primarily white and highly educated people with an average age of 69 living in a Baltimore community between 1979 and 2010. The second group included reports of well-being collected in the 1970s from a representative sample of some 3,000 adults from the U.S. population who were in their late 40s and 50s at the time of the study.

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Parents' Fury As TSA 'Detains' Their Wheelchair

'I don't want to go to Disney World anymore': Parents' fury as TSA agents detain their crying wheelchair-bound daughter, THREE, and confiscate her stuffed animal
Forck family was flying from Missouri to Orlando, Florida for vacation

Three-year-old daughter, Lucy, was detained for further testing ahead of family's February 8 flight
Stuffed animal 'Lamby' was confiscated

Lucy suffers from spinal bifida and is in a wheelchair
The parents of a toddler with spinal bifida are outraged after TSA officials forced their daughter to undergo a series of additional security measures ahead of their flight to Disney World.

Nathan and Annie Forck were flying out of their home state of Missouri on a February 8 flight bound for Orlando, Florida with their wheelchair-bound daughter Lucy and their two other children.

Mrs Forck took a six-minute video detailing their toddler’s cries as she said through tears that she didn’t want to go to Disney World anymore, and is claiming the TSA discriminates against people who use mobility devices.
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Maryland Workers' Comp Bills Called 'Anti-Business'

A Maryland legislative panel on Tuesday examined measures to prevent employers from striking back at employees who file workers' compensation claims and to give the Workers' Compensation Commission control over how much employers can pay for experts in compensation cases -- measures opponents decried as anti-business.

The first measure would prevent employers from retaliating against workers who are injured and file claims -- something that's already illegal but employment lawyers say is unenforcable.

Current law prevents employers from firing employees who file workers' compensation claims, but those workers have to prove their claim was the only reason they were terminated.
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Southern Poverty Pimps

Contemporary American politics cannot be understood apart from the North-South divide in the U.S., as I and others have argued. Neither can contemporary American economic debates. The real choice facing America in the 21st century is the same one that faced it in the 19th and 20th centuries — Northernomics or Southernomics?

Northernomics is the high-road strategy of building a flourishing national economy by means of government-business cooperation and government investment in R&D, infrastructure and education. Although this program of Hamiltonianism (named after Washington’s first Treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton) has been championed by maverick Southerners as prominent as George Washington, Henry Clay and Abraham Lincoln (born in Kentucky to a Southern family), the building of a modern, high-tech, high-wage economy has been supported chiefly by political parties based in New England and the Midwest, from the Federalists and the Whigs through the Lincoln Republicans and today’s Northern Democrats.

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Frequent License Renewals Proposed For Older Drivers

While a December Motor Vehicle Administration report found older drivers have fewer crashes, a group of experts and witnesses told a House committee Tuesday that older drivers should be required to renew their licenses on a more frequent basis and in-person.

“Last year Maryland changed the [license] renewal period to eight years, and they did it just for financial reasons,” said Cohen, now the founder of Americans for Older Driver Safety. “And you only have to renew in person every other time, so 16 years can go by without someone having to go into the MVA. That may be fine for somebody who’s 35, but if you’re 70…”

Two years ago, Cohen’s 20-year-old son, Johns Hopkins student Nathan Krasnopoler, was killed in Baltimore by an 83-year-old driver, not seeing him on his bike. The driver ran Krasnopoler over, parked the car on his body, then sat down, failing to call for help.
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O’s ‘Fright’ Fight: Uses Scare Tactics For More Tax Hikes

WASHINGTON — With just nine days until dreaded across-the-board federal spending cuts hit, President Obama yesterday resorted to scare tactics to sell his plan that would instead raise taxes on the rich again.

Obama warned that the looming cuts would increase unemployment and jeopardize military readiness and public safety — and even set criminals free.

“FBI agents will be furloughed. Federal prosecutors will have to close cases and let criminals go,” proclaimed Obama, who was flanked by police, firefighters and other first responders at a White House event.


He said the $85 billion in cuts for the current year and $1.2 trillion over a decade, known as the sequester, would strike like a “meat cleaver.”

Half of the cuts would hit the Pentagon.

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Remember When President Obama Supported The Sequester Cuts?

Kansas Bill Would Require Teachers To Misinform Students About Climate Change

Last week, the Kansas House Education Committee introduced a bill that mandatesteachers question the scientific basis of global warming, becoming the latest state to take up one of American Legislative Exchange Council’s “model bills” aiming to misrepresent climate change in schools.
Kansas would join Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee and Oklahoma as the fifth state to cast climate change as a “controversial” topic. But climate change is only controversial in political and polluter circles, not the scientific community. 97 percent of climate scientists actively publishing in the field agree climate change is human-caused.

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Groups Needed To Participate In Tales & Trails Event

The Delmarva Education Foundation is partnering with two other local non-profit organization’s with the shared goal of helping children succeed in school and life are working together to hold the first Tales & Trails literary fair at the Hazel Outdoor Discovery Center in Eden. The event, which is being organized by DEF, Horizons at the Salisbury School and Kids of Honor, will be held on Saturday, May 11 from 12 to 4 p.m.

This one-of-a-kind event will bring to life literary scenes and characters on two half-mile trails, similar to a haunted hayride. At each stop along the trail, a school or community group will perform a short skit pulled from a well-known tale. This year’s theme is “Fairy” Tales & Trails, so all skits must come from fairytales or similar stories, such as Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Peter Pan, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, etc.

Any school, community group or organization is welcome to prepare and perform a skit. Groups are also welcome to set up an informational table or offer other activities with a fairytale theme (such as Robin Hood’s archery or sewing crafts with Sleeping Beauty) on the main activity area. There will be food, a bonfire for toasting marshmallows, and lots of other fun activities.

There is no charge for schools, groups or organizations to participate in this event. To get your group involved in “Fairy Tales & Trails, call the Delmarva Education Foundation at 410-219-3336.

3 Sheriff's Deputies On Leave After Man with Down Syndrome Died In Custody

Three Frederick County Sheriff's Deputies are on administrative leave after a 26-year-old man with Down syndrome died while in their custody. The man was being escorted from a movie theater the three off-duty deputies who were working as security guards.


A lawyer for the family says the grieving family is looking for answers after the death was ruled a homicide.

Robert Ethan Saylor died January 12 after guards tried to remove him from a Maryland movie theater where he had finished watching a movie and was refusing to leave, according to the family's lawyer. The Sheriff's Office previously said Saylor cursed and resisted arrest and was handcuffed as he was led out. Before leaving the theater Saylor began having what the Sheriff's Office said was a medical emergency. Authorities say the handcuffs were taken off and Saylor was taken to a hospital, where he died.
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Change Maryland Pushes For Coherent Transportation Policy

Annapolis - Change Maryland Chairman Larry Hogan backed transportation reform which has emerged as a key issue this legislative session after several years of being relegated to the back burner. Specifically, key members of the Maryland House of Delegates are advocating guiding principles to ensure much-needed investments are made in infrastructure and fundamental reforms made to transportation policy. 

"Previous attempts to improve our transportation network in Maryland have been an abject failure. Our top elected officials are saying roads and bridges are crumbling, but what they won't tell you is they are the ones who caused the problem in the first place," said Hogan. "Another myth that is being foisted upon us is that there is an urgent need to raise the gasoline tax, and that is simply not true."

Hogan joins Del. Susan Krebs and other House members in instilling common-sense policy solutions to making transportation policy. These include protecting the transportation trust fund with a constitutional amendment, realigning infrastructure investments to reflect how Marylanders actually travel and restoring funds for transportation.

"If we had followed these principles, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in now," said Hogan. "Now is the time to take deliberate steps to demonstrate to the public that state government can address transportation challenges."

Change Maryland has previously called attention to haphazard policy making on transportation. And most recently, the non-partisan, grassroots organization called attention to the fact that the Maryland Department of Transportation has been without a permanent secretary for seven months.

The 17 Cities With The Highest Foreclosure Rates In America

National foreclosures fell 7 percent month-over-month in January and were down 28 percent on the year, according to RealtyTrac's latest foreclosure report.
This was in large part due to a California legislation called the California Homeowner Bill of Rights that came into effect on January 1.

But large parts of the country continue to see a rise in foreclosure rate. We drew on RealtyTrac's latest foreclosure report to highlight the 17 metros with the highest foreclosure rate.

Note: The metros are ranked by foreclosure rate i.e. 1in every X homes received a foreclosure filing. We picked the 17 metros with the highest foreclosure rate from all the metros measured by RealtyTrac.

Click here to see the cities >

WCSO Press Release 2-20-13

• 2/19/2013 Assault Arrest - Dennis
• 2/19/2013 Burglary Arrest - Corbin
• 2/19/2013 Assault Arrest - Roppelt
• 2/19/2013 CDS Arrest - Gaughran
• 2/19/2013 DUI Arrest - Slama

Delmar Police Department Press Release 2-20-13

On 2/12/13 at approximately 8:30 p.m., an officer from the Delmar Police Department conducted a traffic stop on a black Hyunai Sonata for exceeding the posted speed limit on Rt. 13 in Delmar, Delaware. The officer observed the driver, Eric Kuntz, to be extremely nervous and moving about in the vehicle frantically. The officer utilized his k-9 Aron to conduct a scan of the vehicle which resulted in a positive alert for the odor or narcotics. A search of the vehicle was conducted which resulted in the recovery of an envelope containing suspected methamphetamine, a glass vial containing suspected heroin, and a hypodermic syringe. Field tests were conducted on both substances which yielded positive results for the presence of the aforementioned drugs.

Kuntz was charged with:

• possession of narcotics, schedule II

• Possession od CDS Paraphernalia

And transported to Sussex Correctional Institute
On 2/19/13 at approximately 8:13 p.m., Officers from the Delmar Police Department were investigating a single vehicle accident involving a tractor trailer that occurred in the northbound lanes of RL 13. north of Winter Blvd., Delmar Maryland. While investigating this accident a silver Honda Accord, which was traveling north on Rt. 13, collided with a tow truck which was in the process of removing the tractor trailer from the scene. The Honda Accord was occupied by a driver and two passengers, all of whom received injuries ranging from mild to life threatening requiring one occupant to be flown to shock trauma.

Alcohol is suspected to be a contributing factor and charges are pending in this case.

NOBEL COMMITTEE ASKS FOR PEACE PRIZE BACK

Thorbjorn Jagland, chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, said today that President Obama “really ought to consider” returning his Nobel Peace Prize Medal immediately, including the “really nice” case it came in.
Jagland, flanked by the other four members of the Committee, said they’d never before asked for the return of a Peace Prize, “even from a damnable war-criminal like Kissinger,” but that the 10% drawdown in US troops in Afghanistan the President announced last week capped a period of “non-Peace-Prize-winner-type behavior” in 2011. “Guantanamo’s still open. There’s bombing Libya. There’s blowing bin Laden away rather than putting him on trial. Now a few US troops go home, but the US will be occupying Afghanistan until 2014 and beyond. Don’t even get me started on Yemen!”

The Committee awarded Obama the coveted prize in 2009 after he made a series of speeches in the first months of his presidency, which convinced the Peace Prize Committee that he was: “creating a new climate of…multilateral diplomacy…an emphasis on the role of the United Nations…of dialogue and negotiations as instruments for resolving international conflicts…and a vision of world free of nuclear arms.”

“Boy oh boy!” added Jagland. “Did we regret that press release!”

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Local Girl Scout Cookie Scam

A local business with several employees had a customer and her daughter come in and asked if they'd be interested in buying cookies. They had all the proper information and forms but what the office staff learned after they had ordered their cookies, they weren't $5.00 a box! 

As many of you have received your cookies weeks ago, this office is still waiting for their cookies. The staff contacted the mother and asked why she had charged $5.00 a box when it is actually $4.00 a box, the woman replied, I thought that was your DONATION.

The office still to this day has not received their cookies and will be filing charges against the Mother if they don't arrive by the end of the week. 

Stow It Don't Show It Campaign

Consequences Of Sequestration

President Barack Obama warned of dire consequences should sequestration take place a week from Friday. Unless Congress acts otherwise, civilian and Defense agencies would have to cut $85 billion from 2013 spending. Obama said the sequester would cause the furloughs of essential public employees and job losses in the private sector. He blamed Republicans for opposing another round of tax hikes in any deal to avoid sequestration. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) says they already agreed to a tax hike this year.

10 Everyday Things You're Probably Doing The Hard Way

You may see some people knocking along a wall, listening for the tone to change when they reach a stud, but there is a more exact technology we can put to work for us. There are two ways to figure out where the studs in your walls are: Buy the latest and greatest stud finder at your local hardware store, or grab a magnet off your refrigerator (or two, depending on how powerful those magnets are).

Cutting-edge electronic sensor-style stud finders are tempting. They work by finding the edges of wood studs -- the latest technology in stud finders uses electromagnetic pulses to detect stud locations. But you don't need to use a special tool for this job. All you really need is a magnet to find a stud. Magnets can be used to find the metal drywall fasteners in wood studs (these are the screws or nails from when the drywall panels were installed) -- and they'll also find the locations of metal studs (usually found in commercial buildings rather in our homes).

While you can buy magnet-style stud finders, you can easily make one; just tie a short piece of string to a kitchen magnet and dangle it against the wall. When the magnet swings toward the wall, you've struck a stud. And once you've found the first stud, finding others based on its location is fairly easy: Studs are normally 16 inches (40.6 centimeters) on center, which means from the center of one stud to the center of an adjacent stud (but since this varies look up your local code to be sure).

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Wicomico Recreation & Parks Offers Boat Slip Rentals At Cedar Hill Marina & Nanticoke Harbor

Wicomico Recreation & Parks offers boat slip rentals at Cedar Hill Marina in Bivalve, MD and Nanticoke Harbor in Nanticoke, MD. Annual and transient rates are available for both locations.

Cedar Hill Marina is located in the town of Bivalve along the Nanticoke River, about 15 miles from Salisbury via Nanticoke Road. The marina boasts 140 boat slips, transient slips, a dual concrete boat ramp for easy launching and a pump-out station. Cedar Hill Marina offers annual boat slip rentals (listed below) and a transient rate of $20 per night. For more information on Cedar Hill Marina, visit www.cedarhillmarina.com.
10' - $689
10' - $832 (includes water and electric)
12' - $763
12' - $943 (includes water and electric)
13' - $1039 (includes water and electric)
14' - $1076 (includes water and electric)
15' - $1134 (includes water and electric)

Nanticoke Harbor is located about 20 miles from Salisbury via Nanticoke Road. Home to both commercial and recreational boaters, Nanticoke Harbor provides two boat ramps, a loading ramp and 68 boat slips along the scenic Nanticoke River. Nanticoke Harbor offers annual boat slip rentals (listed below) and a transient rate of $20 per night.
10' - $569
11' - $615
12' - $656
13' - $723
15' - $753
20' - $937

House GOP Attacks Transportation Revenue Hikes; Miller Responds

Maryland House Republicans say the state needs better management of transportation revenue, not more taxes.

But Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller responded Tuesday by calling them "Neanderthals in terms of their thinking."

The House GOP criticized several proposals made by the Senate president, including a 3 percent sales tax on a gallon of gas.

Delegate Herb McMillan, R-Anne Arundel, says the state has been spending too much on mass transit and not enough on the roads used by most residents.
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Caption This Photo 2-20-13

Get $5 Off At UNO's Coupon

SPD Press Release 2-20-13

Sustaining Rural Communities Through Sustainable Agriculture

The roots of most American rural communities are in agriculture.   When the Europeans first arrived in North America, they found a land of great natural wealth.  Some of that wealth was in minerals and timber, but most of it lay in vast plains and winding valleys of fertile farmland.  However, it took people to transform this potential wealth into economic wellbeing.  People had to clear the land and till the soil to bring forth the bounty of food and fiber from the fertile fields.  It took people to care for the cattle and sheep that grazed the vast plains.   And as these people – these farmers and ranchers – achieved surpluses beyond their own needs, they began to need other people in towns and rural communities with whom they could trade their surpluses for the things they couldn’t produce.  They needed blacksmiths, dry goods stores, livery stables, banks, and salons.  But they also needed schools, churches, and medical care if they were to move beyond economic survival to achieve a desirable quality of life.

Rural communities – Places without a purpose

Some of the early American communities were built around timber and mining towns, but most were farming and ranching towns.  And in places where more farmers or ranchers were needed to care for the land, more people were needed in town to support those farms and ranches.  It’s probably true that distances between many towns were determined by a day’s round trip by horse and wagon.  But, the number of people in those towns was determined in large part by the nature of agriculture in the surrounding area.  For example, lands well suited for vegetables and row crops could be farmed more intensively – supporting more families per acre or section.  Lands suited only for small grains or pasture were farmed less intensively – supporting fewer families per section or township.   Of course, town folks also had mouths to feed with locally grown foods – greens, milk, eggs, and bacon.  But, the density of population in most rural places reflected the nature of their agriculture.

At the turn of the 20^th century, America still was an agrarian country – about 40 percent of its people were farmers and well over half lived in very rural areas.  But, then came the second phase of the industrial revolution and the need to collect large numbers of people into cities to “man” the large factories and offices of a growing manufacturing economy.   The simultaneous industrialization of agriculture – mechanization, specialization, routinization, standardization – made it possible for fewer farmers to feed more people better --  “freeing” farmers and other rural people to work in the new factories springing up in the cities.

The same technologies that “pulled” rural people toward the cities “pushed” them off the farms and out of rural communities. These technologies increased production per person by substituting capital and generic technology for labor and individual management skills.   As successful new farming technologies were developed, they invariably reduced production costs – per bushel or per pound of production -- but only if each farmer produced more.   Thus, the incentive to realize greater profits by reducing costs was inherently an incentive to buy bigger equipment and more commercial inputs in order to farm more land and produce more output.  As farmers individually responded to these incentives, production in total invariably expanded, market prices fell, and the promise of continuing profits vanished.  The new technologies now were necessary – no longer for profits but now for survival.  Those who adopted and expanded too little too late were unable to compete.  They were “freed” from their farms to find a job in the city.

Farms were forced to get larger and larger just to survive.  In fact, with a limited population to feed and a limited amount of land to farm, some farmers had to fail so others could survive.  In addition, large specialized farms often had to bypass the local community in purchasing inputs and marketing their products in order to remain competitive with other large farms.  Their competitors were not down the road or across the country, but might be half way around the world.

Fewer farmers buying less locally meant less need for farm related businesses in small towns.  Fewer farmers also meant fewer farm families to buy groceries, clothes, and haircuts in small towns.  Fewer families also meant fewer people to fill the desks in rural schools, pews in rural churches, and the waiting rooms of rural doctors.  Fewer people with a purpose for being in rural areas meant that many rural communities too were losing their purpose for being.  As farms have grown larger and fewer, many rural communities have been left in decline and decay.

Today, America is no longer an agrarian nation.  Less that 2 percent of Americans call themselves farmers and even those earn about 90 percent of their household incomes off the farm.  Somewhere around 25 percent of the people live in non-metropolitan areas – but many, if not most, commute to a city to work.   There are few people left in farming communities to move to town and no longer any social benefit in moving them.  The old industries are “downsizing” and “outsourcing”  -- laying off workers by the thousands.  As consumers we spend on the average a little over a dime out of each dollar for food and the farmer only gets a penny of that dime.  The rest goes to pay for commercial inputs and marketing services – packaging, advertising, transportation, etc.  Society no longer has anything to gain from further industrialization of agriculture, but yet it continues.  And rural communities in farming areas continue to wither and die.  They have become places without a purpose.

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Three New Bar/Restaurants Coming Downtown Soon

I love it when a plan comes together! Some times all it takes is some discussion. Some times it takes a new candidate who shows new VISION and LEADERSHIP. One thing is for sure, THREE new businesses will be swinging their doors on the Downtown Plaza, some as early as March 1st. 

It's good to see these investors recognize that the Downtown area will be vibrant once again in the very near future. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times. Get in NOW Ladies & Gentlemen. The time is NOW to buy or rent one of these properties because when I get done with the Downtown I can assure you rent and or property values will skyrocket.

I'd like to add, the top photo is the old Aqua that will reopen as Roadie Joe's. It will employ 30 people. They will be open for lunch and dinner and will be more of a Sports Bar with pool tables, a fooseball  table and TV's just about everywhere. They will provide live music on weekends and a DJ during the week. 

UPDATE: There's a 4th restaurant opening up in the old Flannery's on Main Street and Rt. 13. It will be a New York Fried Chicken business.

QUOTES OF THE DAY 2-19-13

“Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a state religion. Then the socialists say that we want no religion at all. We object to a state-enforced equality. Then they say that we are against equality. And so on, and so on. It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain.” ― Frédéric Bastiat, The Law

“The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else.” ― Frédéric Bastiat

“Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place.” ― Frédéric Bastiat, The Law

“Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don’t you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough.” ― Frédéric Bastiat

“If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good? Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race? Or do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind?” ― Frédéric Bastiat, The Law

“But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.” ― Frédéric Bastiat, The Law

“You say: “There are persons who lack education” and you turn to the law. But the law is not, in itself, a torch of learning which shines its light abroad. The law extends over a society where some persons have knowledge and others do not; where some citizens need to learn, and others can teach. In this matter of education, the law has only two alternatives: It can permit this transaction of teaching-and-learning to operate freely and without the use of force, or it can force human wills in this matter by taking from some of them enough to pay the teachers who are appointed by government to instruct others, without charge. But in the second case, the law commits legal plunder by violating liberty and property.” ― Frédéric Bastiat, The Law

“Now, legal plunder can be committed in an infinite number of ways. Thus we have an infinite number of plans for organizing it: tariffs, protection, benefits, subsidies, encouragements, progressive taxation, public schools, guaranteed jobs, guaranteed profits, minimum wages, a right to relief, a right to the tools of labor, free credit, and so on, and so on.” ― Frédéric Bastiat, The Law