Feb 23, 1945: U.S. Flag Raised On Iwo Jima

During the bloody Battle for Iwo Jima, U.S. Marines from the 3rd Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Regiment of the 5th Division take the crest of Mount Suribachi, the island's highest peak and most strategic position, and raise the U.S. flag. Marine photographer Louis Lowery was with them and recorded the event. American soldiers fighting for control of Suribachi's slopes cheered the raising of the flag, and several hours later more Marines headed up to the crest with a larger flag. Joe Rosenthal, a photographer with the Associated Press, met them along the way and recorded the raising of the second flag along with a Marine still photographer and a motion-picture cameraman.

Rosenthal took three photographs atop Suribachi. The first, which showed five Marines and one Navy corpsman struggling to hoist the heavy flag pole, became the most reproduced photograph in history and won him a Pulitzer Prize. The accompanying motion-picture footage attests to the fact that the picture was not posed. Of the other two photos, the second was similar to the first but less affecting, and the third was a group picture of 18 soldiers smiling and waving for the camera. Many of these men, including three of the six soldiers seen raising the flag in the famous Rosenthal photo, were killed before the conclusion of the Battle for Iwo Jima in late March.
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IRETON’S NEW $19 MILLION TAX – PART 2

Our post that exposed this has drawn both comments and questions, as well it should; voters want and are entitled to know. Here’s what has been revealed by Mr. Ireton in a manner designed to make it difficult to discover, and the Daily Times has failed to do so, to nobody’s great surprise. Exhibit A is the cover page of Ireton’s “Proposed Capital Improvement Plan – FY14-FY18” dated December 11, 2012 submitted by “John R. Pick.” As it is addressed to the City Council, this “CIP” surely is Ireton’s approved scheme, but it does not bear his name so it won’t appear to be his doing if it is reported by the mainstream media. 
Of the revenues required to pay the $218 Million (average of $43 Million per year) cost, the largest single share ($76.6 Million) is to come from a “Storm Water Utility” as stated at the end of the 3rd paragraph. There is no description of that source of funds, which could be regarded as money to be paid to the City by a utility firm similar to an electric utility. 
In fact, it is a new tax that would be imposed on property in the City, but neither the term “tax” nor anything similar (“fee,” “charge”) is used to describe it. 
Exhibit B – page S1 of the CIP – lists the tax revenue to be raised in the line item “Stormwater Management” and it is also listed in the discussion of Project #PW0051 at page G-SW-12 of the CIP. 
The new tax does not start until FY15, so that Ireton won’t have to tell voters that it would start next year if he is reelected (and Jacob Day is elected to the City Council). It would continue at the same annual sum ($18.9 Million) for the remainder of the CIP period (5 years). So, the taxes on property would be about twice as great as they are now, even if there is no increase in the general tax rate. And, by the way, it would not be necessary to amend the city’s charter to increase the property tax rate limit, because the new tax is to be part of an “enterprise fund” scheme! 
The CIP does not discuss or indicate whether the new tax would continue beyond FY18 – but when has a tax ever terminated? Nor does the Plan contain any specific detail about the use of the tax revenue, which is completely ambiguous – page G-SW-12 simply states that it “includes engineering, property acquisition, construction and maintenance costs to reduce the City’s nitrogen loading” and that those costs “were derived from a study” made by the State that does not address specific infrastructure. 
Thus, there would be no accountability, and the tax revenue could be spent for anything remotely connected with the presumed purpose of the tax or simply “deemed” to be. Imagine Ireton with another $19 Million each year to squander as desired.

As Ireton Reflects On Accomplishments - Meanwhile - Salisbury/Wicomico Experiences Massive Business Closures - 87 Documented Business Fatalities

1. Sealy Upholster Co. - Salisbury, MD - best estimate 150+ employees

2. Field Container Corp. -Salisbury,MD - best estimate 150+ employees.

3. Dresser Industries/Haliburton - 500, 600 employees.

4. Shawnee Homes - 150 employees.

5. Salisbury Engineering - unknown no. employees - moved to DE.

6. Heinemann Electric - unknown no. employees.

7. Moore Business Forms - Snow Hill - 148 employees

8. Campbell Soup - Salisbury, MD facility - 604 employees.

9. Campbell Soup - Pocomoke, MD - Swanson Division - 245 employees.

10. Campbell Soup - Crisfield, MD - Mrs. Paul's Kitchen - 200           employees.

11. Montgomery Ward - Salisbury, MD - 110 employees.

12. Gant Shirt Factory - Salisbury, MD - 250 employees.

13. Jodi Shirt Co. - Salisbury, MD - 100 employees.

14. Delmar Sportswear - Delmar, MD - 90 employees.

15. Ford Laboratory - Salisbury, MD - 70 employees.

16. Grumman Corp. - Salisbury, MD - 401 employees.

17. Peninsula Press - Salisbury, MD - 45 employees.

18. Preston Trucking - Preston, MD - unknown - bankruptcy.

19. Chesapeake Bay Plywood - Pocomoke, MD - 500 employees.

20. Ruddy Duck - Cambridge, MD - 100 employees.

21. Airpax Industries - Cambridge, MD - 500 employees, 1500 at peak.

22. Service Merchandise - Salisbury, MD - 25 employees.

23. Purity Bacon - Salisbury, MD - unknown no. employees.

24. ES Adkins Co. - Salisbury, MD - unknown no. employees.

25. Masten Home Center - Fruitland, MD - unknown no. employees.

26. Masten Home Center - Pocomoke, MD - unknown no. employees.

27. 84 Lumber Co., Fruitland, MD - unknown no. employees.

28. IMP-(MVP.com)- Salisbury, MD 40 employees.

29. Powellville Garment - Powellville, MD - 100 employees.

30. Food Depot - Salisbury, MD - unknown no. employees. Last of Old Mall

31. Ames - Salisbury, MD - unknown no. employees - closed 11-14-01

32. Ames - Fruitland, MD - unknown no. employees

33. Crown Cork Seal - Fruitland, MD - unknown employees - closed 01/02

34. Central Tractor - Fruitland, MD - unknown employees - closed 01/02

35. Nanticoke Homes - Greenwood, DE - unknown employees

36. Stoney Point Decoy Factory - Crisfield, MD - 40 employees

37. Tyson Foods - Berlin, MD - 600 employees - closed 04/03

38. Black & Decker - Easton, MD - 1400 employees- closed 04/03

39. Pine Country Corp. - Pocomoke, MD - 35 employees - closed 10/03

40. Chesapeake Hardwood Mill - Princess Anne, MD - 40 employees.

41. Salisbury Steel Products - Salisbury, MD - 35 employees - closed 8/03

42. True Value Hardware - Salisbury, MD- unknown no. of employees.

43. Office Max - Salisbury, MD - unknown no. of employees.

44. Helovet Pharma - Salisbury, MD - unknown no. of employees.

45. Giant Food North - Salisbury, MD - 75 employees - closed 03/05.

46. Super Deep Discount Drugs - Salisbury, MD - unknown employees.

47. JV Wells, Inc. - Sharptown, MD - 100+ employees - large MD Timb. Co.

48. Nanticoke Seafood - Naticoke, MD - unknown no. of employees.

49. Islandic Seafood - Cambridge, MD - 300 employees - closed 3/07

50. Brunwick/Bayliner/Maxum - 180 employees - moved to N. Carolina

51. Americhem Inc. - Salisbury, MD - 30 employees - closed 10/07

52. Powerwave Technology - Salisbury, MD - 100 employees - closed 8-08

53. Oddi Atlantic - Salisbury, MD - 70 layoffs - closed 9/08

54. Invista Plant(DuPont) - Seaford, DE - 400 employees

55. Circuit City - Salisbury, MD - 30 employees - closed 01/09

56. Bob Smith Auto - Easton, MD - unknown no. employees - closed 3/09

57. Schaefer & Strohminger - Camb.,MD - unknown employees - cl.4/09

58. Boater's World - Salisbury, MD - 15 employees - closed 4/09

59. Boaters World - Denton, MD - 75 employees - closed 04/09

60. Saturn of Salisbury - Salisbury,MD - 15 employees - closed 05/09

61. Waterman's Seafood - Salisbury, MD-unknown employees-closed 4/09

62. Second National - Salisbury, MD - 500 employees - receivership

63. Southern States - Salisbury, MD - unknown no. employees

64. Burke Equipment - Salisbury, MD - moved operation to Delmar, DE

65. Jack's Religious Gift Shop - Salisbury,MD - unknown no. employees

66. Allied Building Products - Salisbury, MD - unknown no. employees - closed 01/11

67. Superfresh - Salisbury, MD - unknown no. employees - closed 08/11

68. Atlantic Bookstore - Salisbury, MD - unknown no. employees - closed 03/11

69. Southern States - Pocomoke, MD - unknown no. employees - closed 08/10

70. The Gospel Shop - Salisbury,MD - unknown no. employees - closed 12/11

71. Shelia's Craft & Party World - Salisbury,MD - unknown no. employees - closed 12/11

72. Benedict the Florist - Salisbury, MD - unknown no. employees - closed 11/11

73. The Bike Shop - Salisbury,MD - unknown no. employees - closed 12/11

74. Sunroom Store - Salisbury, MD - unknown no. employees - moved to Berlin,MD

75. Tex Mex - Salisbury, MD - Centre of Salisbury - unknown no employees

76. Pani Pit Pizza - Salisbury, MD - unknown no. employees - closed 11/11.

77. Mombo Italiano - Salisbury, MD - unknown no. employees - closed 12/11

78.   Checkers - Salisbury, MD - unknown no. employees - closed 11/11

79.   Rugged Warehouse - Salisbury, MD - unknown no. employees - closed 10/11

80.   Acme - Twilley Center Salisbury, MD - unknown no. employees - closed FY08

81.   Barn None - Snow Hill Rd, Salisbury, MD - unknown no. employees

82.   Shoreland Freezers - Salisbury, MD near college - unknown no. employees

83.   Salisbury Office Supply - Salisbury, MD near college - unknown no. employees

84.   Cadmus - Easton, MD - 450 employees - closed 04/25/2009

85.   Navtrak - Northwood Ind. Park - 75 employees - closed 08/2012

86.   HBCS - Northwood Industrial Park, Salisbury - 250 employees

87.   American Paving Corp. - Eden, MD. - 65 employees

Biology, Right?

When you hear "biology class", you'd think kids would be learning about science, right? 

Well, not if they're in school in Oklahoma. A new, ALEC-sponsored "academic freedom" bill in that state would ban teachers from penalizing students who turn in papers that attempt to debunk evolution or climate change. And ALEC is behind similar legislation being considered in Colorado and Arizona as well. According to Mother Jones, Oklahoma's "HB 1674 is the latest in an ongoing series of "academic freedom" bills aimed at watering down the teaching of science on highly charged topics." Republican State Representative Gus Blackwell, who spent 20 years working for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, says he introduced the bill because, "there are teachers and students who may be afraid of going against what they see in their textbooks." The American Legislative Exchange Council bill proposes that students and teachers should be able to question the "scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses" of topics like evolution, global warming, and human cloning. It's no wonder that our nation is 17th in education among developed countries. Perhaps Mr. Blackwell should go back to working in religious organizations, and let teachers decide what constitutes actual education.

Meet Six Politicians Getting Rich From America's Endless Wars

War is a racket, and perpetual war is a money-printing machine. Though the defense industry as a whole contributes relatively little to members of Congress compared to, say, the pharmaceutical lobby, it remains an incredibly powerful and influential lobby. Below are the six members of the House whose primary industry donor in the 2012 election cycle was the defense sector. (Numbers are from the Center for Responsive Politics, unless otherwise noted.)

1. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-CA): $566,100 in 2012 cycle defense sector donations.

It's impossible to talk about defense industry beneficiaries without mentioning Buck McKeon. He became the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee in 2009, and then the chairperson after the GOP took the House in the 2010 election. Donations from the defense sector to his 2012 campaign dwarfed all other House campaigns, with McKeon bringing in a whopping $566,100.

That big pile of money certainly seems to have made McKeon a friend to the military. As part of the House, McKeon doesn't have the opportunity to vote on Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel, but he still publicly opposed the appointment, due to Hagel's presumed willingness to back defense spending cuts. A statement on McKeon's website reads in part, “[Hagel's] refusal to shut the door on further defense cuts put him at stark odds with the current Defense Secretary and military leaders.” McKeon is also, predictably, against a round of planned automatic cuts to domestic spending and the military budget, known as the sequester, which he has said could “start costing lives.”

Regarding the US' longest war, McKeon thinks it hasn't gone on long enough. He has called the planned troop drawdown next year, “needlessly fraught with risk,” and said that “our hard-fought gains are fragile and reversible.” If that language sounds familiar, it's because he said almost the same thing regarding troops leaving Iraq. "I remain concerned that this full withdrawal of US forces will make that road tougher than it needs to be,” he said in a statement posted on his website. “These shortcomings could reverse the decade of hard work and sacrifice both countries have endured to build a free Iraq.”

McKeon is predictably hawkish on Iran, consistently supports providing military aid to Israel, and is in favor of expanding military powers as contained in the 2012 NDAA act, which critics say allows for the indefinite detention of US citizens by the military.

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One Million Low-Income Floridians Will Have Health Insurance Soon

In a complete reversal of his opposition, Republican Governor Rick Scott announced yesterday that he'll accept Obamacare funding to expand Medicaid in his state. Previously, he tried to block Medicad expansion, citing figures that inflated the cost of the program by 2500%. While the expansion is great news for low-income residents in the state, it's also a huge give-away to the for-profit insurance companies. Gov. Scott only accepted the plan after securing a waiver to hand over control of the program to private insurers. Remember, this is the same Rick Scott who ran Columbia/HCA when that company was found guilty of the largest Medicare fraud scam in US history. And now we're letting him hand Medicaid over to his corporate buddies? Hopefully, the Department of Justice will be keeping a close eye on this program.

TEXAS MOVES TO BLOCK POLICE FROM ENFORCING NEW FEDERAL GUN LAWS

If passed, a bill introduced in the Texas State legislature would prevent state and local police officers from enforcing any new federal gun control laws.

The Firearm Protection Act, sponsored by Republican Representative Steve Toth (The Woodlands, Dist. 15), would stop Texas law enforcement officials from confiscating so-called assault weapons or large capacity ammunition magazines.

"There's a federal law, there's a 30-round magazine right in front of you - what do I do?," Toth said to reporters. His bill, he said, firmly answers that question.
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Get This!

A week before BP's civil trial for the 2010 Gulf oil disaster, a district judge in New Orleans just reduced the company's liability by $3.4 billion. That means BP won't be liable for the full $21 billion in fines for dumping millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf, and now the company faces a maximum liability of $17.6 billion. That's less than the oil giant made in 2012 alone – when they raked in profits of over $25 billion. According to District Judge Carl Barbier, the 800,000 barrels of oil captured at the site of the broken well "never came into contact with any ambient sea water, and was not released into the environment in any way." BP's also fighting the federal government's oil spill estimate, saying the number of barrels released is 20% too high. It's hard to understand how BP will dispute the government's estimate of oil released, given that toxic dispersants were used to dilute oil spewing from the undersea well. The fact is, the dollar amount of BP's fines is irrelevant. No amount of money can cover the monumental damage done to the Gulf. There's no dollar amount that brings back the 11 workers killed on the Deep Water Horizon. We should give BP the corporate death penalty and revoke their right to do business in our nation.

World's Worst Tattoo is Fixed

The man with the "world's worst portrait tattoo" finally got his happy ending on Thursday when he had the opportunity to fix the botched ink job of his late wife that had plagued him for so many years.

In 2007, on the one-year anniversary of his wife Mindy's death, Chad Stahl, 38, owner of Cutright Lawn and Landscaping, LLC, visited On the Edge Tattoo Studio in Bowling Green, Ohio to honor her with a portrait tattoo. The couple had been dating for 10 years, had 3 children, and were married for less than 3 months when Mindy died in a household fire.

Tattoo artist Dennis Foust inked the $450 portrait tattoo. "I had seen Faust's portrait work on his website and he even tattooed some of my in-laws with designs in honor of Mindy so I was confident going in," Stahl told Yahoo! Shine in his first media interview. "But when the swelling subsided, it didn't look like Mindy at all—her teeth looked evil." To add insult to injury, a friend had emailed him a link to a blog post titled "Worst Tattoo Ever" with a photo of Stahl's tattoo posted by a disgruntled On the Edge ex-employee. A few months later, Stahl returned to the studio and Faust tried to fix it, adding the words, "In loving memory of Mindy" but the damage was too great. "I was embarrassed to wear sleeveless shirts and didn't want anyone to see the tattoo but everyone in my town knew about it," says Stahl. 
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Food Stamp Trafficking

The Department of Agriculture has taken new steps to stop illegal trafficking in food stamps. A proposed rule would widen the definition of trafficking itself. It would ban food establishments from giving cash refunds for items purchased with food stamps. It's already illegal to trade food stamps directly for cash. USDA also wants the authority to immediately freeze payments to retailers it suspects of trafficking violations, instead of waiting for an investigation. Last year, USDA kicked 1,400 retailers out of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Act Of Sportsmanship Gives Texas High Schooler Shot At Glory

EL PASO, Texas -- Coach Peter Morales of the Coronado High School Thunderbirds in El Paso, Texas, makes no qualms about it: he has a favorite on this team.

Team manager Mitchell Marcus has a developmental disability, but he far surpasses everyone here when it comes to love of the game.

"He's just an amazing person that our basketball team loves being around," Morales says.
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Diamond Jubilee Of Queen Elizabeth II

RAND PAUL: CUT FOREIGN AID FROM COUNTRIES BURNING OUR FLAG

 "The Mubarak family in Egypt became very wealthy off of our foreign aid. In the end, when people were riding in the streets and protesting Mubarak's rule and protesting his martial law he sprayed them with tear gas that he bought with our foreign aid. So I don't think the foreign aid necessarily endeared us to the Egyptians that were riding against Mubarak. But what I would say is that I would start by cutting foreign aid from countries that are burning our flag and chanting 'death to America,' countries that don't really seem to be acting like our allies."

Oh, That’s Rich! Obama Says Republicans Are United By Their Love Of Money While Ignoring Dem Wealth

President Obama on Thursday seemed to suggest that the tie that binds in the Republican Party is love of money.

“My sense is that their basic view is that nothing is important enough to raise taxes on wealthy individuals or corporations, and they would rather see” billions of dollars in cuts to social programs to ward off the sequester, he said to MSNBC host Al Sharpton, according to a Breitbart report.

“That’s the thing that binds their party together at this point.”

As Fox News reports, however, Republicans are hardly the party of wealth.
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Tactical American Security Consulting, LLC.

As many of you know the increasing fear of gun related crimes and violent crimes in foremost on people’s minds. Many people are stocking up on firearms and ammunition in order to avoid an impending ban. Many stores, online distributors, and firing ranges are completely sold out of the majority of target and defensive ammunition. Gun sales are at an all time high. This means two things: People are afraid of losing their right to own a weapon and people are afraid of crime.

As active shooters, armed robbers, and home invaders become more prevalent in today’s society, Tactical American Security Consulting, LLC has developed several courses in order to address these concerns. Some of our more popular courses and services are home invasion prevention (4 days), armed robbery prevention (4 days), NRA Handgun, Tactical/Active shooter, and training for police and security persons. We also offer security surveys, consulting for VIP/Athlete protection, and large and small venue consulting.

Although an active and controversial topic, firearms responsibility, concealed carry, and safe gun ownership is always at the forefront of our training. Persons buying firearms for defense should undergo our course in order to familiarize themselves with their weapon, it’s safe handling, tactical shooting requirements (such as shooting from cover and concealment, moving while shooting, stress inoculation during an incident, line of fire, and background shooting issues).

TASC supports the 2nd Amendment and has expert instructors that are SWAT trained, with law enforcement and military backgrounds. We look forward to serving the public’s needs.

If you wish to contact us for an interview or to discuss crime and firearms topics, please contact me at 443-880-5294.

Respectfully Submitted, , CEO Tactical American Security Consulting, LLC.

O’Malley’s Voting Expansion Proposal Raises Concerns About Fraud, Security

Gov. Martin O’Malley’s bill to expand voting debuted in Annapolis Thursday, calling for more early voting days, same day voter registration and an opportunity for all Marylanders to obtain absentee ballots online.

But critics, including members of the governor’s own party, sounded off about the potential for voter fraud, some even suggesting that certain parts of the bill be delayed until security could be improved.

Security concerns raised

House Bill 224 – Improving Access to Voting – could make personal information input by the voter vulnerable to internet hacking without new security provisions in place, according to Rebecca Wilson of Save our Votes, a voter advocacy group.

And, the bill would also waive a requirement for a new voter — who registers and votes on the same day — to cast a provisional ballot, a measure which could give election officials time to authenticate the person’s eligibility.
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PUSHBACK

Something very good – though very dangerous to the congealing police state (but not to liberty-minded people) has occurred: Millions of Americans have decided they will not abide by any demand they register their firearms – much less surrender them. And are saying so – openly. More than a few local sheriffs have also publicly stated they will not enforce any such demands. For the first time in living memory, the debate is not fundamentally about which guns – or how many guns. It is about whether the government has any business even knowing whether you’ve got guns at all – much less dictating the type you’re allowed to have.
It’s a Rubicon moment – because this idea involves a great deal more than merely firearms. It is an assertion – though not fully conscious, yet – that trampling the rights of any individual because of the actions of another individual is an ethical outrage. Not just the right to keep a gun.

All rights.

The Beat-era author/philosopher William S. Burroughs once quipped: “After a shooting, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn’t do it.” He said that decades ago and at long last, people are coming to resent being vilified – and punished – not for anything they did. But because some other person did something.

Or even worse, because some other person might do something.

Group guilt isn’t selling as well as it once did. And the stock people take in individual responsibility seems to be increasing.

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Baby Laughing At Dog Eating Popcorn

Caption This Photo 2-23-13

Suggestions For Beating Those Winter Blues

BERLIN -- For those feeling the “Winter Blues” this season, riding out the gloom until spring isn’t the only option, according to Dr. Jennifer Leggour, Clinical Director at Worcester Youth and Family Counseling Services (WYFCS).

Unlike the prolonged, clinical Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), winter blues is an umbrella term used to describe feelings of sadness, lethargy and fatigue commonly experienced in the period after the clocks fall back but before they spring forward.

“It’s mostly just low levels of feeling sad or down or just blah,” explained Leggour. “It’s a lack of motivation, low energy, feeling fatigued, wanting to stay inside and not go out; wanting to hibernate a little bit more.” 
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HOLD ON TO YOUR HATS

THIS VIDEO IS UNBELIEVABLE.

This 3 minute 40 second video clip may be

the most important clip you have ever watched.

This is probably the most intelligent presentation

of the truth you have seen in a long time.

Please take the time to view this clip and then share it with others!

THEY HAVE TO BE STOPPED!!!

WATCH View Video Clip Here!!

IS THIS THE COOLEST, MOST INGENIOUS RÉSUMÉ YOU’VE EVER SEEN?

It’s a tough job market out there and unless you start thinking outside the box, it’s not going to get any easier.

That appears to be the thinking behind this ingenious candy bar-inspired résumé posted to Reddit on Thursday:

“This is my friend’s resume. He got the job,” the photo caption reads.

The enterprising job hunter, “Nick,” made 12 crunch bars in all, according to Reddit user elilanger.

But here’s the coolest part: Look at the UPC code. Notice anything?
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The Military Industrial Complex Is Too Strong Is Too Many States

“Preventing future acts of international terrorism” is the most critical foreign-policy goal for Americans, according to Gallup. Next priorities: proliferation of nuclear weapons, energy supply, favorable trade policies, etc.
Fighting off Soviet tanks rumbling towards Frankfurt didn’t make the list. Yet Congress, in its infinite wisdom, is still pushing weapon systems designed to do just that, whether the Pentagon wants them or not.

Based on this laudable principle, the US plowed $689 billion into defense in 2011, more than the next 16 biggest military spenders combined, and 40% of total worldwide military spending. Number two China spent $129 billion, number three Russia a measly $64 billion.

Defense industry lobbying in the US greased the wheels with $129 million last year—for what must be enormous returns on investment.

Hence the deafening squealing about the looming automatic spending cuts on the defense side. They would account for about half of the $1.2 trillion in cuts spread over a decade. The first $46 billion would get snipped this year. Brutal? The Congressional Budget Office estimated that defense spending would still grow by 2.4% annually over the decade. It would just grow less rapidly.

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Snow Hill Mayor Seeks County Funds, Suggests ‘Cupcake Chunkin’

The town of Snow Hill is coming back, Mayor John “Charlie” Dorman told Worcester County Commissioners on Tuesday as he asked for a larger financial contribution from the county to the town’s budget for next year.

“We have a vision for Snow Hill,” Dorman said after handing boxes of cupcakes to each commissioner.

Borrowing an idea from Sussex County’s Punkin’ Chunkin, Snow Hill plans to have a Cupcake Chunkin.

“Maybe it’ll make national news,” Dorman said.

The town also foresees a future catering to brides and grooms. Marriage licenses are obtained at the courthouse, the assistant town manager is an ordained minister, restaurants could provide space and food for receptions and some weddings could take place aboard the Bay Queen paddle boat, which used to be docked in Pocomoke, but is now docked in Snow Hill.
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WASHINGTON POST HITS OBAMA!

By Matt Patterson (columnist - Washington Post, New York Post, San Francisco Examiner)

Years from now, historians may regard the 2008 election of Barack Obama as an inscrutable and disturbing phenomenon, the result of a baffling breed of mass hysteria akin perhaps to the witch craze of the Middle Ages. How, they will wonder, did a man so devoid of professional accomplishment beguile so many into thinking he could manage the world's largest economy, direct the world's most powerful military, execute the world's most consequential job? Imagine a future historian examining Obama's pre-presidential life: ushered into and through the Ivy League despite unremarkable grades and test scores along the way; a cushy non-job as a "community organizer"; a brief career as a state legislator devoid of legislative achievement (and in fact nearly devoid of his attention, so often did he vote "present"); and finally an unaccomplished single term in the United States Senate, the entirety of which was devoted to his presidential ambitions.

He left no academic legacy in academia, authored no signature legislation as a legislator. And then there is the matter of his troubling associations: the white-hating, America-loathing preacher who for decades served as Obama's "spiritual mentor"; a real-life, actual terrorist who served as Obama's colleague and political sponsor. It is easy to imagine a future historian looking at it all and asking: how on Earth was such a man elected president?

Not content to wait for history, the incomparable Norman Podhoretz addressed the question recently in the Wall Street Journal: To be sure, no white candidate who had close associations with an outspoken hater of America like Jeremiah Wright and an unrepentant terrorist like Bill Ayers, would have lasted a single day. But because Mr. Obama was black, and therefore entitled in the eyes of liberal Dom to have hung out with protesters against various American injustices, even if they were a bit extreme, he was given a pass. Let that sink in: Obama was given a pass - held to a lower standard - because of the color of his skin.

Podhoretz continues: And in any case, what did such ancient history matter when he was also so articulate and elegant and (as he himself had said) "non-threatening," all of which gave him a fighting chance to become the first black president and thereby to lay the curse of racism to rest?

Podhoretz puts his finger, I think, on the animating pulse of the Obama phenomenon - affirmative action. Not in the legal sense, of course. But certainly in the motivating sentiment behind all affirmative action laws and regulations, which are designed primarily to make white people, and especially white liberals, feel good about themselves.

Unfortunately, minorities often suffer so that whites can pat themselves on the back. Liberals routinely admit minorities to schools for which they are not qualified, yet take no responsibility for the inevitable poor performance and high drop-out rates which follow. Liberals don't care if these minority students fail; liberals aren't around to witness the emotional devastation and deflated self-esteem resulting from the racist policy that is affirmative action. Yes, racist. Holding someone to a separate standard merely because of the color of his skin - that's affirmative action in a nutshell, and if that isn't racism, then nothing is.

And that is what America did to Obama. True, Obama himself was never troubled by his lack of achievements, but why would he be? As many have noted, Obama was told he was good enough for Columbia despite undistinguished grades at Occidental; he was told he was good enough for the US Senate despite a mediocre record in Illinois; he was told he was good enough to be president despite no record at all in the Senate. All his life, every step of the way, Obama was told he was good enough for the next step, in spite of ample evidence to the contrary.

What could this breed if not the sort of empty narcissism on display every time Obama speaks? In 2008, many who agreed that he lacked executive qualifications nonetheless raved about Obama's oratory skills, intellect, and cool character. Those people - conservatives included - ought now to be deeply embarrassed.

The man thinks and speaks in the hoariest of clichés, and that's when he has his Teleprompters in front of him; when the prompter is absent he can barely think or speak at all. Not one original idea has ever issued from his mouth - it's all warmed-over Marxism of the kind that has failed over and over again for 100 years.

And what about his character? Obama is constantly blaming anything and everything else for his troubles. Bush did it; it was bad luck; I inherited this mess. It is embarrassing to see a president so willing to advertise his own powerlessness, so comfortable with his own incompetence. But really, what were we to expect? The man has never been responsible for anything, so how do we expect him to act responsibly?

In short: our president is a small and small-minded man, with neither the temperament nor the intellect to handle his job. When you understand that, and only when you understand that, will the current erosion of liberty and prosperity make sense. It could not have gone otherwise with such a man in the Oval Office.

Habitat Rehabilitates Mobile Home For Local Family.

BERLIN -- Habitat for Humanity Worcester County, Inc. (HFHWC) announced this week the recent completion of a rehabilitation project for a local family in need.

In partnership with Habitat for Humanity International, HFHWC has embraced moving towards rehabilitation projects and neighborhood revitalization efforts in order to increase assistance to those in need in our local community.

“With this project, we were able to facilitate a family’s dire situation, because of a donation received,” said Andrea Bowland, executive director of HFHWC.
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America's TBTF Bank Subsidy From Taxpayers: $83 Billion Per Year

Day after day, whenever anyone challenges the TBTF banks' scale, they are slammed down with a mutually assured destruction message that limitations would impair profitability and weaken the country's position in global finance. So what if you were to discover, based on Bloomberg's calculations [14], that the largest banks aren't really profitable at all? What if the billions of dollars they allegedly earn for their shareholders were almost entirely a gift from U.S. taxpayers? The stunning truth is that the top-five banks account for $64 billion of an implicit subsidy based on the ludicrous (but entirely real) logic that: The banks that are potentially the most dangerous can borrow at lower rates, because creditors perceive them as too big to fail. Perhaps this realization will increase shareholder demands - or even political furore? The market discipline might not please executives, but it would certainly be an improvement over paying banks to put us in danger.

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Daily Times Uses Completely False Title To Sell Papers

Now I could see if they said, Salisbury could lose its airport TOWER, but instead they left out the word TOWER on purpose.

The truth of the matter is, the Tower has only been in place for the past 15 years. If the Feds don't get it together, Salisbury Airport will still remain open and operational, it will simply lose the staff in the Tower. The Airport will not shut down and flights will still continue to come and go.

So the next time your out and about thinking of buying a paper, buy the National Enquirer instead. You'll actually get more truth. 

School Board Proposes Pay Raises For All Employees

SNOW HILL -- The Worcester County Board of Education is proposing a FY2014 operating budget that would include salary increases for all employees, funding to replace grant money that supports After School Programs and additional funding for technology.

The proposed budget includes a step increase for all eligible employees as well as a 1-percent Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for all employees to “begin restoring stagnant wages,” according to a memo from Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jerry Wilson. Additionally, there would be an estimated 5-percent increase in health insurance rates.

“We have a strong desire to maintain and support our outstanding classroom teachers and staff who do a great job every day working with our students,” Wilson said.
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Somerset County Sheriff's Office Press Release 2-23-13

Treyvon Lanier Whittington, and a male juvenile arrested 2-16-13 for possession of suspected marijuana. Deputies investigated a parked vehicle in the Pine Knoll development, Princess Anne. After a conversation with the two occupants, deputies detected the odor of burnt marijuana. A search of the vehicle showed multiple single baggies of suspected marijuana. Whittington was charged with possession of suspected marijuana, and drug paraphernalia. The juvenile was charged with possession, and possession with the intent to deliver marijuana. Whittington was released on citation, and the juvenile was released to a family member pending juvenile court actions.

Monique Shauntel Williams of Mitchellville Maryland, arrested 2-17-13 for driving under the influence of alcohol, driving impaired by alcohol, violation of license restrictions, and failure to use headlights. The arrest was the result of a traffic stop conducted by deputies in the area of UMES Blvd, Princess Anne. Williams was later released on citations pending court actions.

Michael Lamar Handy of Princess Anne, arrested 2-19-13 on a warrant for violation of probation, 4th degree burglary, and trespassing on posted property. Handy was held on a $10,000 bond.

Howard Shockley of Princess Anne, criminal summons served 2-19-13 for false imprisonment. Shockley was released on signature pending court actions.

Tanisha Alimah Woods of Philadelphia Pennsylvania, arrested 2-19-13 on a warrant for failing to appear in court. Woods was released on personal recognizance.

Anthony Byron Williams of Pottstown Pennsylvania, arrested 2-20-13 on a warrant for failing to appear in court. Williams was released after posting bond.

Two female juveniles arrested 2-20-13 at Washington High School for fighting. Deputies responded to the school regarding students fighting. The investigation showed that the females had an ongoing dispute that turned physical. Both females were arrested and charged with disturbing school functions, and 2nd degree assault. The juveniles were later released to parents pending juvenile court actions.

Many Summer Employers Will Not Evade Health Care Mandate

Despite the federal government’s granting of a seasonal leniency for short-term employers, local agents say most of the resort area’s more sizeable businesses will still meet the dreaded “large employer” threshold under the national Affordable Care Act, which will put them into the “pay or play” system for health insurance provisions.

“We’re looking at their numbers, and they’re obviously over in June, July, and August, but they also have a lot of people on in May or September,” said local insurance agent Chris Keen. “A lot of places depend on the shoulder season and that’s what puts them over.”

Although the full effect of the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as “Obamacare,” won’t go into effect until January of 2014, the employment numbers used to determine what regulations apply to businesses will be drawn from 2013. 
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HISTORICAL COMMENTS By George Chevallier 2-23-13

NANTICOKE’S TUNA PLANT

(early 1950’s magazine article by William Stump)

TUNA – fat, meaty fish weighing as much as 70 pounds – are returning into Maryland waters by the thousands this winter.

They’re running up the Chesapeake and into the Nanticoke – aboard a sea-stained refrigerator ship called the Rumba that was built in Scotland, sails out of Callao, Peru ,flies the Costa Rican flag, is manned by Peruvians and is captained by a skipper named Antonio Roberto Janssen.

Four times a year at various Peruvian ports as many as 400 tons of silvery tuna, tuna caught by fishing vessels off Peru, are frozen solid and loaded into the Rumba’s deep sub-zero holds. Then the stubby motorship heads up the Pacific coast, through the Panama Canal and north to the village of Nanticoke – the location of a growing new Maryland industry.

That industry is the large-scale canning of imported tuna, and it is new to the East Coast as well as to this state. It was pioneered in Nanticoke, by a packing house now canning thousands of cases a year.

“You know, it still sort of surprises us that we were the first to think of canning South American tuna,” says H. B. Kennerly, Jr., manager of the firm he owned with his father.

“It surprises us because Maryland and the mid-Atlantic Coast are hundreds of miles closer than California to the South American fishing grounds – and 90 per cent of the California-packed tuna, and that’s most of the tuna Americans eat, comes from those grounds. Besides, we’re a lot closer to the markets.”

The Kennerlys’ tuna adventure began in 1946, when the war-nourished demand for their canned herring and whitefish fell off sharply. “One day Dad came back from New Jersey with a few albacore,” Mr. Kennerly recalls. “We didn’t know what this fish was. Then we discovered if was a species of tuna, and we began to pack it.”

But the Kennerlys found out that albacore and the other Atlantic species were not available if sufficient quantities. Hence, the coming of tuna “in the round” from Peru. And hence, the coming of the Rumba, now in its second year of delivering the fish.

The Rumba makes the 18-day, 2750 mile voyage to Nanticoke only in the cool months, so as to keep the tuna from spoiling during the unloading. She is 165 feet long and 500 tons in gross cargo weight. She anchors about two thirds of a mile offshore.

Upon her arrival, the junior Mr. Kennerly, a man whose eyes light up when he talks about fish, pays a visit to the vessel. He is greeted by Captain Janssen, who commands a crew of nineteen officers and men, including refrigeration experts who keep the holds at just-below-zero temperatures.

The captain, who wears an American baseball cap, is descended from a Norwegian grandfather who settled in Peru in the last century. Like his ancestor, he has followed the sea since boyhood, and has served on merchantmen all over the world. He looks forward, he says, to the Nanticoke voyage – one reason being that among the customs men posted aboard, he can usually find a chess player.

“On my ship, only the mate, Oscar Mujica, can play this game,” says Captain Janssen. “And ones tires of the same competition.”

When the formalities are completed in the Rumba’s tiny cabin, Spanish-speaking sailors open up the hatches, displaying ton upon ton of stiff-frozen tuna, glistening under a coating of ice crystals. Occasionally, big burlap-packed slabs of swordfish are in the cargo; these are immediately shipped north.

Soon a 50-ton lighter is tied up alongside and the Negro cannery workers jump aboard, greeting the sailors with Spanish words learned on previous trips. Then a donkey engine lowers a cargo net into the hold, and the workers fill it with the fish, shouting Arriba! the Spanish word for “up”, when the net is ready.

When the lighter is loaded, it is towed to Nanticoke. There, Edwin Schoenrick, a retired State Department official who served in South America and who volunteered his Spanish and his services to the Kennerlys when the Rumba first put in, supervises the shifting of the cargo to trucks, which take the fish to a huge freezer building near the cannery.

It sometimes takes a week to unload the Rumba, and the task requires most of the cannery personnel. So it is not until the vessel leaves – its crew members laden with American movie magazines – that the packing begins.

But the tuna will not be ready to eat for a week after packing, and it will be even better after a year, for, like whisky, it improves with age.

“We pack 75,000 cases a year, which comes out to 1,800,000 pounds,” Mr. Kennerly says.

“That’s a lot of fish, and it doesn’t all come in on the Rumba; we receive much of it by regular cargo ships that dock in New York and Baltimore.

“Of course, we’re nowhere near approaching the production of California, which puts up over 8,000,000 cases a year. But the industry is growing here in the East – there’s another plant in Maryland at Tilghman Island – and the Californians are worried. It’ll be a lot of fun to see what happens in the future.”

UPDATE (not part of the original magazine article) – The tuna plant was subsequently used by Coldwater Seafood until they moved to Cambridge when Wicomico County refused to make Nanticoke a deep draught harbor that would facilitate them receiving the large boats from Iceland with frozen fish. Then it was used as a chicken plant by Otis Esham. It lay idle for a couple of years and then was operated as another chicken plant by a co-operative known as Champion Chicken. When they went out of business in the late 1970’s, the whole 5 acres along with the building and equipment was sold at auction by the government for the paltry sum of $68,000. I know this because I was at the auction. The stainless steel processing equipment and a refrigeration unit on the roof was worth three times that. The freezer on the north end of the property was dismantled and reused in North Carolina. Showell Poultry bought it and it is now a vacant lot owned by Perdue by way of them purchasing Showell. Many people have eyed the property as prime real estate for condominiums overlooking a beautiful harbor but after many years of seafood and chicken plant operations the land will not perk for clean water. So – it sits.

County Nixes Seven Lots On Farms, But That Could Change

Worcester County farmers will not have the opportunity to carve out seven residential lots on their agricultural property, as opposed to the five lots they are currently allowed, but it turns out that most farmers apparently do not care.

Tuesday’s decision by the Worcester County Commissioners to reject a proposed increase in farm development rights was because so few farmers are even creating such lots.

The commissioners voted 5-2 to defeat a bill that would have increased the allowable number of lots in a minor subdivision, which had been a response to General Assembly’s passage last of Senate bill 236, known as the Septic Bill.
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To Government, Every Penny Is Sacred

In his State of the Union, he said, “The American people don’t expect government to solve every problem.” But then he went on to list how, under his guidance, government will solve a thousand problems, including some (like climate change and a loss of manufacturing jobs) that are probably not even problems.

The president bragged about creating “our first manufacturing innovation institute” in Ohio and says that he will create 15 more. Politicians claim actions like this are needed to solve the “decline of manufacturing” in America. John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Pat Buchanan also fret about this. But what they call “decline” is myth. There is no decline in manufacturing.

The Federal Reserve says that U.S. manufacturing output is up from 2000, and up almost 50 percent from 1990. Yes, manufacturing employment is down because automation and government’s labor rules led companies to automate and produce more with fewer employees, but that’s OK.

Manufacturing jobs are no better than other jobs. Few parents today prefer their children work in factories rather than offices.

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Missouri Dems: Let’s Just Force Gun Owners To Surrender, Destroy Their Weapons

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