35 lb. Pit Bull Terrier. Black and white. named Poppy. Blue Eyes. Lost around Candytuft lane in Ocean Pines today 12/31 around 8:30 am She may still have a long retractable black leash on her. She was last seen in Salt Grass Cove running south into the woods. Also seen at the Pointe and Sherwood forest section of Ocean Pines High Sheriff. Please help us find her! She is precious to us. We are not local-- so please share by social media ASAP if at all possible. Call or text immediately if found-- Dawn 443-799-6426
DATE & TIME: 12/31/2013 @ 1956 hrs. CC# CARD NUMBER: 13-54-006165 LOCATION: Westbound Rt. 50 @ Woodyard Rd, Wicomico County
BRIEF RESUME: On 12/31/2013 at approximately 1956 hrs., Troopers responded to westbound Rt. 50 at Woodyard Rd., Wicomico County, in reference to a serious injury motor vehicle collision. Preliminary investigation revealed that Vehicle #1, a Buick passenger vehicle, failed to yield right of way and crossed westbound Rt. 50 into the path of Vehicle #2, a Ford E-350, which was traveling westbound on Rt. 50.
As a result of the collision, both the driver and passenger of Vehicle #1 are deceased. Their names are not being released pending notification of next of kin. Drugs or alcohol are NOT a factor in the collision and at this time no charges are pending against the driver of vehicle #2 (a 40 YOA white male from Salisbury). Maryland State Police Collision Reconstructionists responded to the scene and assumed the investigation.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”—George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Vol. 1
In Harold Ramis’ classic 1993 comedy Groundhog Day, TV weatherman Phil Connors (played by Bill Murray) is forced to live the same day over and over again until he not only gains some insight into his life but changes his priorities. Similarly, as I illustrate in my book A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, we in the emerging American police state find ourselves reliving the same set of circumstances over and over again—egregious surveillance, strip searches, police shootings of unarmed citizens, government spying, the criminalization of lawful activities, warmongering, etc.—although with far fewer moments of comic hilarity.
What remains to be seen is whether 2014 will bring more of the same or whether “we the people” will wake up from our somnambulant states. Indeed, when it comes to civil liberties and freedom, 2013 was far from a banner year. The following is just a sampling of what we can look forward to repeating if we don’t find some way to push back against the menace of an overreaching, aggressive, invasive, militarized government and restore our freedoms.
Government spying. It’s hard to understand how anyone could be surprised by the news that the National Security Agency has been systematically collecting information on all telephone calls placed in the United States, and yet the news media have treated it as a complete revelation. Nevertheless, such outlandish government spying been going on domestically since the 1970s, when Senator Frank Church (D-Ida.), who served as the chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence that investigated the NSA’s breaches, warned the public against allowing the government to overstep its authority in the name of national security. Church recognized that such surveillance powers “at any time could be turned around on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left, such is the capability to monitor everything: telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn’t matter. There would be no place to hide.” Recent reports indicate that the NSA, in conjunction with the CIA and FBI, has actually gone so far as to intercept laptop computers ordered online in order to install spyware on them.
It’s that time of year again when many of us regret past diet decisions as we realize our jeans are too tight. Look your best, and get ready to slip into your skinny jeans with these tips to help you shape up quickly:
Eat protein at every meal.
Eating enough protein will help you stay satisfied and resist the temptation to snack excessively between meals. If you want to lose weight, aim to eat approximately 0.7 grams of protein for each pound of your body weight. Just multiply your body weight, in pounds, by 0.7 to determine the number of protein grams to eat each day. Protein also helps boost your metabolism, since it takes more calories to metabolize compared to fat and carbohydrates. Some high-quality protein sources include: lean beef, chicken breast, fish, lentils, beans and Greek yogurt.
Editor’s note: This story contains strong content that may not be appropriate for all readers. – An Indiana mother was arrested after she reportedly cut a man’s penis with a box cutter because she believes he molested her 2-year-old son. The mother, identified as Bonita Lynn Vela, said she wanted to “scar him so that he would have to look at it every time that he had sex in the future,”WXIN-TV reports.
Vela and two others are accused of holding the 18-year-old man captive for more than three hours. When police arrived, the man had blood stains and a cut on his penis. Vela is reportedly the man’s girlfriend’s mother. More
No state has a worse public pension crisis than Illinois and for years lawmakers have found it impossible to agree upon what to do about it all. This legislative session some agreements were finally hammered out to address the crisis. But now the state's retired teachers are going to court, suing to stop even those tepid reforms.
Despite that for more than a decade Illinois Democrats have had a lock on control of both the legislature and the governor's mansion, lawmakers have had much trouble trying to solve the mounting $100 billion deficit. And even with these new agreements, one hurdle stands in lawmakers' way; the state constitution.
Years ago Democrats and unions were able to add an amendment to the state constitution that would forbid any changes to pension promises. It is this clause that the teachers are citing as a reason that the new reforms must be halted.
The windows of restaurants and businesses are often crowded with signs and stickers denoting store hours and accepted credit cards, but a Leesburg restaurateur is looking to add one more decal in the name of constitutional rights.
Bryan Crosswhite has created 2amendment.org, an online database where gun-rights businesses can register their names and addresses and get stickers for their windows that signal they are friendly to legal gun owners who exercise their right to bear arms.
“We want to make it something for business owners who are pro-Second Amendment,” said Mr. Crosswhite, owner of The Cajun Experience. “A sticker on the door, just like Zagat [Survey], and that way people who want to do business with pro-Second Amendment companies will automatically connect with those Second Amendment companies.” More
The U.S. economy is gaining strength, but the Obamacare train wreck, festering problems in far away China and uncertain leadership at the Federal Reserve could derail the recovery.
No small courage will be required for good sense to finally restore American prosperity.
Here are three things that could derails a full economic recovery.
Obamacare
President Barack Obama is imposing the Affordable Care Act on a justifiably unwilling citizenry. The botched rollout is laying bare the absolute incompetence of the Washington bureaucracy, but that is not the worst of it.
A global retirement crisis is bearing down on workers of all ages.
Spawned years before the Great Recession and the financial meltdown in 2008, the crisis was significantly worsened by those twin traumas. It will play out for decades, and its consequences will be far-reaching.
Many people will be forced to work well past the traditional retirement age of 65 -- to 70 or even longer. Living standards will fall, and poverty rates will rise for the elderly in wealthy countries that built safety nets for seniors after World War II. In developing countries, people's rising expectations will be frustrated if governments can't afford retirement systems to replace the tradition of children caring for aging parents. More
Fewer than 20 percent of Americans support the war in Afghanistan, making the longest conflict in the nation's history the least supported war as well, a new CNN poll released Monday reveals.
According to the CNN/ORC survey of 1,035 adults nationwide, 82 percent said they oppose the conflict in Afghanistan, up from 46 percent five years ago. Only 17 percent of respondents in the survey taken Dec. 16-19 said they still support the war effort in Afghanistan.
Two storms will merge quickly enough to produce a major snowstorm from the upper part of the mid-Atlantic to southern New England Thursday into Friday.
The storm will affect more than 70 million people in the Midwest and the Northeast combined and could have a major negative impact on travel for people returning from holiday destinations, heading back to school or resuming business activities.
It will be far from the worst storm to ever hit the area, but people should be prepared for flight delays and cancellations because of direct and indirect impacts from the far-reaching storm.
Shortly after 1 a.m. on Dec. 30, Montgomery County Police Officer Ben Crumlin was approached by a vehicle flashing its lights, honking its horn and traveling at a high rate of speed on Randolph Road, near Hammonton Place in Rockville, Md.
But the vehicle's occupants were not fleeing from a violation of the law, nor were they trying to start trouble. They were in need of the officer's help.
According to Montgomery County Police, the vehicle's occupants were en route to the hospital because their infant was having trouble breathing. Officer Crumlin, a six-year-veteran of the Montgomery County Police Department, checked the infant and discovered the baby boy was not breathing at all, the Montgomery County Police Department reports. More
Found on Whaley road near whitsville road. He has a gray coller, older dog. Very friendly. 443-366-4886. I can't keep him but I couldn't leave him to get hit. Thanks
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) erroneously paid $274 million in benefits to deceased federal retirees over the past three years, including $84.7 million in 2013 alone, according to the agency’s annual financial report.
OPM’s FY 2013 financial report released in mid-December revealed that improper “overpayments” to deceased federal annuitants under its retirement program reached $102.9 million in FY 2011, $86.1 million in FY 2012, and $84.7 million in FY 2013 for a total of nearly $274 million during that three year span.
According to the OPM report, improper payments made by the agency include “underpayments (monies that OPM owes to the annuitant) and overpayments (monies that OPM has paid out to the annuitant erroneously or in excess of entitlement).”
Starting tomorrow, January 1st, it will be illegal for insurance companies to discriminate against the up to 129 million Americans living with pre-existing conditions.
That became a reality because people like you kept going and refused to listen to the cynics and pundits who said we couldn't do it. You kept going -- you didn't stop.
Today, I'm asking you to do what you've done so many times before, and press on. Chip in $3 or more to support Democrats before the fundraising deadline at midnight.
A lot of work remains undone, but at the end of the day -- and at the end of this year especially -- I remember that this country has always found a way. That's because people like you don't stop.
That's what the Democratic Party is all about -- working to move our country forward. That's what you and I are fighting to do every day.
Chip in $3 or more before midnight tonight, and let's keep going:
Snow Hill, Md. – With the arrival of the new year, it is a great time to make healthy lifestyle behavior changes. January is a good time for those who are still struggling with a smoking habit to treat themselves and their loved ones to a healthier future.
Worcester County Health Department is committed to helping smokers establish new behavior patterns that lead to a tobacco-free lifestyle. Smoking cessation aids (CHANTIX, gum, patch, lozenges) are available through a voucher program.
Join one of the FREE smoking cessation group classes that are available throughout Worcester County starting in January. Classes will be held at the following locations:
· Berlin Health Center, 9730 Healthway Drive, Tuesdays from 5-6 pm beginning on January 7.
· Snow Hill Health Center, 6040 Public Landing Road, Wednesdays from 5-6 pm beginning on January 8.
A “Motivation to Quit” class will be held on January 7th from 5-6 pm at the Berlin Health Center and on January 8th from 5-6 pm at the Snow Hill Health Center. Interested parties can register at these sessions, or by calling the Worcester County Health Department at 410-632-0056.
Professionally trained instructors help participants create a supportive environment to break the smoking addiction. Each individual will learn how to develop a customized plan for quitting. The smoking cessation course consists of 7 sessions covering topics such as stress management, weight control, assertive communication, how to develop a quit plan, relapse prevention, and physical activity.
Instructors will teach a step-by-step method for changing behavior and quitting smoking. A registered dietitian will teach participants how to reduce weight gain when quitting smoking. The group approach uses positive thinking, alternative behaviors, and group support to help participants stop smoking.
As part of the course, the participants will learn how to identify triggers for relapse and how to develop a plan to prevent it. The course will teach you how to quit smoking and how to stay quit. You can become a non-smoker!
Exclusive: Joseph Farah calls on Congress to abolish 'wasteful and rogue agency'
The lies and deception started more than 10 years ago.
A climate-change “expert” for the Environmental Protection Agency, one of the highest-paid employees in the federal government, began falsifying calendar entries that were meant to document his work.
When John C. Beale was questioned about what he was doing, he began telling fellow workers and supervisors that he was actually working for the CIA.
He eventually stole more than $800,000 from taxpayers.
Beale was sentenced recently to two-and-a-half years in prison for the monumental scam he perpetrated for so long.
But that’s not justice.
Justice would be if the EPA management that allowed this theft to go on lost their jobs and their far more wasteful and rogue agency were abolished.
In sentencing Beale, federal district Judge Ellen S. Huvelle called him a stain on the federal workforce. That may be true. But he is hardly alone. An agency that could allow such behavior within its ranks for so long is a far bigger stain on government.
My wife was very busy yesterday so I asked her if there was anything I could do to help. She said, “Yes, thank you. Please take this bag of potatoes, peel half of them, and put them in the big pot to cook.” Then she went in the other room to finish what she was working on. When she came back into the kitchen, she started yelling at me and calling me stupid, idiot, moron and a few other not-so-nice names. It must be that "Mars vs Venus" thing......
A statement from the Australasian Antarctic Expedition:
We’re stuck in our own experiment. We came to Antarctica to study how one of the biggest icebergs in the world has altered the system by trapping ice. We followed Sir Douglas Mawson’s footsteps into Commonwealth Bay, and are now ourselves trapped by ice surrounding our ship.
Sea ice is disappearing due to climate change, but here ice is building up. We have found this has changed the system on many levels. The increase in sea ice has freshened the seawater below, so much so that you can almost drink it. This change will have impacts on the deep ocean circulation.
Suit “Seeks an injunction and damages for conspiracy to violate the Constitution…”
Following reports that police in Reading, Pennsylvania, participated in a national survey, in which random citizens were pulled over and asked for “voluntary” cheek swabs, a courageous resident filed a lawsuit against the city, its mayor and several others claiming his Fourth Amendment rights were violated.
“Nothing about this incident was ‘voluntary’ in my case,” Reading resident Ricardo Nieves stated at a City Council meeting two weeks ago, prior to pursuing the federal suit. “I feel this incident is a gross abuse of power on so many levels. I’m not a legal expert, but being forced off the road and unlawfully holding me against my will for any period of time, I would consider my liberty to be compromised and falsely imprisoned.”
Nieves was irked when on Friday, December 13, he drove up to a street where police lights were flashing and orange security cones lined the lane.
They went in search evidence of the world’s melting ice caps, but instead a team of climate scientists have been forced to abandon their mission … because the Antarctic ice is thicker than usual at this time of year.
The scientists have been stuck aboard the stricken MV Akademik Schokalskiy since Christmas Day, with repeated sea rescue attempts being abandoned as icebreaking ships failed to reach them.
Now that effort has been ditched, with experts admitting the ice is just too thick. Instead the crew have built an icy helipad, with plans afoot to rescue the 74-strong team by helicopter.
Killing bald eagles is a crime -- the birds are federally protected. But whoever shot bald eagles in Maryland last week may not know that.
Two birds were shot dead within days of each other in Montgomery County, and police want to find whoever was responsible.
Maryland Department of Natural Resources police say the first bird was killed on Christmas Day. The bird was feeding on the carcass of a deer in a field off of Georgia Avenue in Brookeville, Md. A photographer stopped to take pictures, when the bird was shot and killed.
Days later, a second bird was found wounded in Darnestown, Md., near Deakins Lane. Department of Natural Resources Police Corporal Daniel Yankie says that bird later died. More
Civil libertarians are criticizing Ohio police for arresting a driver because his car contained a compartment that could theoretically store illegal drugs, though no drugs were found at that time.
The driver, 30-year-old Norman Gurley of Michigan, was pulled over for speeding. A highway patrolman noticed wires running to a secret compartment in the car and arrested Gurley, even though there were no drugs in the compartment. The officer also claimed he smelled marijuana in the compartment — giving him probable cause to search it — though none was ultimately discovered.
It makes no difference whether police find drugs or not, according to a new Ohio law that prohibits secret compartments.
2014 is upon us. For a person who graduated from Georgia Tech in 1961, a year in which the class ring showed the same date right side up or upside down, the 21st century was a science fiction concept associated with Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film, “2001: A Space Odyssey.” To us George Orwell’s 1984 seemed so far in the future we would never get there. Now it is 30 years in the past.
Did we get there in Orwell’s sense? In terms of surveillance technology, we are far beyond Orwell’s imagination. In terms of the unaccountability of government, we exceptional and indispensable people now live a 1984 existence. In his alternative to the Queen’s Christmas speech, Edward Snowden made the point that a person born in the 21st century will never experience privacy. For new generations the word privacy will refer to something mythical, like a unicorn.
Many Americans might never notice or care. I remember when telephone calls were considered to be private. In the 1940s and 1950s the telephone company could not always provide private lines. There were “party lines” in which two or more customers shared the same telephone line. It was considered extremely rude and inappropriate to listen in on someone’s calls and to monopolize the line with long duration conversations.
GLEN BURNIE, Md. - An 89-year-old World War II veteran was beaten and robbed early Monday morning in Glen Burnie.
Anne Arundel County police said the man was walking home from McDonald’s a little past 6 a.m. when three men, believed to be teenagers, attacked him and knocked him to the ground in the area of Cloverleaf and Four Leaf Clover Drive.
"My heart as racing. All I could think was, 'Oh my God, oh my God,'" said Janice Copes, the victim's daughter.
University System of Maryland to collaborate with MAAP on UAS research, testing and development
ANNAPOLIS, MD – The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced it has selected the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership (MAAP) as one of six unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) test sites to support integration of UAS into the national airspace system. The University System of Maryland, through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with Virginia Tech and Rutgers University in September, will collaborate and partner on the FAA UAS test site, providing coordinated research and testing. The MOU highlighted the cooperative UAS research conducted by the three institutions, the research and testing proficiencies, and the potential for an efficient integration effort.
“Maryland is home to the world’s leading center of UAS activity – the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) at Naval Air Station Patuxent River – and an array of other assets. At both the university level and among federal facilities, Maryland has been performing testing and development of UAS for more than two decades,” said Governor Martin O’Malley. “The selection of MAAP as one of the UAS test sites leverages the unparalleled capabilities of three world-class educational institutions to create jobs and generate a significant economic boon to the state, the region and the nation.”
Designation as an FAA test site under the 2012 federal law requiring integration of UAS by September 2015 carries with it requirements to support research and testing efforts that lead to future regulations governing the use of UAS, especially in the commercial arena, as well as features protecting privacy under such operations.
“The combined resources of the Mid-Atlantic states represent a majority share of the UAS research and testing assets in the United States,” said Patrick O’Shea, vice president for research at the University of Maryland College Park, the state’s flagship campus. “As a collaborative unit, our significant resources offer tremendous opportunity to satisfy the efforts envisioned by the FAA and the larger UAS community related to this important project.”
“From research activities to innovation and economic development, we look forward to significant advances in unmanned vehicle technology in Maryland,” said Darryll Pines, University of Maryland Clark School of Engineering Dean and Farvardin Professor.
Maryland’s prowess in UAS research, testing and development is reflected in the University System of Maryland and other renowned educational institutions, federal facilities such as the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division at Naval Air Station Patuxent River and NASA Goddard Flight Center, local airports, and numerous industry partners to support research and testing efforts. The full support of the delegation representing Maryland was mobilized as well to reinforce the critical capabilities that are being brought to bear.
Sens. Mikulski and Cardin along with Congressman Hoyer of the Maryland delegation added in a joint statement, “With a number of premier federal assets, outstanding higher education institutions, and strong industry partners, our region leads in the area of autonomous systems. We appreciate all the resources that came together to partner on this effort, which will increase the safety, efficiency, and reliability of our nation’s airspace and will support job creation in the region. We will maintain our nation’s preeminence in these highly technical areas only by this kind of collaborative approach and look forward to partnering with all stakeholders as this effort moves forward."
In collaboration with MAAP, the University of Maryland team will work closely with the FAA to define research outcomes and processes that will lead to the safe, efficient and robust integration of unmanned systems. That integration will be in stages over several years, with the FAA’s rulemaking process guiding the way.
“We have the safest airspace in the world thanks to the FAA and its supporting structures,” said Matt Scassero, Director of the UMD UAS Test Site. “This will be an evolutionary process, implementing new technologies with time-tested methodologies to evaluate them, and a proven regulatory environment to enact the rules that will necessarily govern this new industry. We look forward to being a part of this exciting endeavor.”
New York City’s Department of Investigation (DOI) has just shown how easy it is to commit voter fraud that is almost undetectable. Its undercover agents were able to obtain ballots for city elections a total of 61 times — 39 times using the names of dead people, 14 times using the names of incarcerated felons, and eight times using the names of non-residents. On only two occasions, or about 3 percent of the time, were the agents stopped by polling-place officials. In one of the two cases, an investigator was stopped only because the felon he was trying to vote in the name of was the son of the election official he was dealing with.
Ballot security in checking birth dates or signatures was so sloppy that young undercover agents were able to vote using the name of someone three times their age who had died. As the New York Post reports: “A 24-year female was able to access the ballot at a Manhattan poll site in November under the name of a deceased female who was born in 1923 and died in April 25, 2012 — and would have been 89 on Election Day.” All of the agents who got ballots wrote in the names of fictitious candidates so as not to actually influence election outcomes.
A) A South Carolina woman was so mad after her husband came home without a case of beer that she stabbed him with a ceramic squirrel. Police say a man came home beer-less because it was Christmas Eve and liquor stores were closed. The wife was charged with domestic violence.
B) A Norfolk, Virginia man REALLY wanted to work at McDonalds but when the store manager explained he could only apply for a position ONLINE, the man flashed his gun. The manager gave him an old paper application and called police. When they arrived, the applicant was still filling out paperwork. He was arrested.
C) A Florida man attempted to barter for beer with a four-foot alligator that he trapped in a local park. He was cited for illegally capturing the gator. When media showed up at the man's home for an interview, he demanded money and broke a photographers camera. More
“The NSA’s ANT division develops implants for mobile phones and SIM cards. One of these is a spyware implant called “DROPOUTJEEP” — designed for the first generation of iPhones — which was still in development in 2008, shortly after the iPhone’s launch. This spyware was to make it possible to remotely download or upload files to a mobile phone. It would also, according to the catalog, allow the NSA to divert text messages, browse the user’s address book, intercept voicemails, activate the phone’s microphone and camera at will, determine the current cell site and the user’s current location, “etc.” ANT’s technicians also develop modified mobile phones, for use in special cases that look like normal, standard devices, but transmit various pieces of information to the NSA — that can be swapped undetected with a target’s own mobile phone or passed to informants and agents. In 2008, ANT had models from Eastcom and Samsung on offer, and it has likely developed additional models since.”
WASHINGTON — The personal e-mail account of a State Department whistleblower was hacked, and four years worth of messages — some detailing alleged wrongdoing at the agency — were deleted, The Post has learned.
The computer attack targeted the Gmail account of Diplomatic Security Service criminal investigator Richard Higbie, his lawyer, Cary Schulman, confirmed.
“They took all of his e-mails and then they deleted them all,” said Schulman. He said that he could not prove who was responsible for the hack job, but said the attack was “sophisticated” and called the targeting of Higbie “alarming.”
In 2007, George W. Bush signed into law the "Energy Independence Security Act of 2007," and now, six years later, American manufacturers and retailers are prohibited from, or forced by law to, comply with ridiculous and contradictory standards.
The purpose of the law was, "To move the United States toward greater energy independence and security, to increase the production of clean renewable fuels, to protect consumers, to increase the efficiency of products, building, and vehicles, to promote research on and deploy greenhouse gas capture and storage options, and to improve the energy performance of the Federal Government, and for other purposes."
Part of the Federal Government's "move toward greater energy independence" was to phase out the manufacture and sale of the most popular light bulb used by every household in the nation, the 40W and 60W incandescent bulb. In its place, alternative, costly and mercury-filled CFLs are manufactured in China, and incandescent factories in the US have been shuttered.
I suppose that, when the Federal Government says that it is acting with your security in mind, it didn't really mean your financial security or your security to avoid being in close contact with dangerous toxins. I can't see a reason to put the word "security" in the title of the act, but then, "affordable" isn't the best way to describe a costly healthcare law either.
The production of fuels has increased - but, this is due to the extraction of oil and natural gas, which do not meet the Federal Government's standards of "renewable energy."
ANNAPOLIS – The company hired to clean up the O'Malley-Brown Administration's health insurance exchange website debacle is also a subsidiary of one of the largest contributors to the Democratic Governors Association during Governor O'Malley's tenure as its Chairman, Change Maryland has uncovered.
"Yesterday, the Baltimore Sun sounded the alarm on a potential conflict of interest between the subsidiary and its parent company with regard to the healthcare exchange," commented Larry Hogan, founder and Chairman of the nonpartisan Change Maryland. "Now, we found this same group of companies donated $650,000 to a political organization led by O'Malley."
The company brought in to fix the exchange, Optum/QSSI, is a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, which owns one of the insurers selling policies through the state exchange, according to a weekend article in the Sun. UnitedHealth Group is also the parent company of United Healthcare Services, a group that Change Maryland found donated $650,000 to the DGA throughout O'Malley's tenure as chair. UHS lists the same Minneapolis address on the DGA disclosure reports as the UnitedHealth Group website.
"The O'Malley-Brown Administration handed over an emergency contract to a company that gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the governor's organization, and that has already received over $2 billion dollars in state contracts," Hogan continued. "The governor needs to immediately address these conflicts of interest, and explain how this no-bid contract was awarded."
Change Maryland is completing an ongoing investigation into the relationship between state contractors and their donations to the DGA. The group found dozens of instances similar to this one, where contractors donated large sums of money and were subsequently rewarded with significant benefits from the state in the forms of contracts, extensions, and advantageous legislation.
"This additional data further suggests a disturbing pattern of behavior that, at the very least, is unethical and inappropriate," said Hogan. "I think the public has a right to know the truth about these practices. Did the governor and/or others in his administration solicit large contributions from contractors, then reciprocate by rewarding those donors with huge state contracts, extensions, or other favors or decisions in return?" he added.
Obviously this has serious implications and gives the appearance of the potential for decisions being influenced by millions of dollars in "donations." Recognizing the inappropriate and unethical nature of these relationships, state law currently prohibits state contractors from making contributions to an elected official's campaign account. This evidence indicates the possibility of a deliberate, coordinated effort by this administration to circumvent the intent of the law by soliciting huge, unlimited contributions to a federal, rather than state, account.
We are looking forward to an incredible New Year's Day at the Princess Royale at 91st Street in Ocean City! In honor of our 20th Annual Swim, Frankie, the miniature trick pony, will be entertaining the masses, and ice sculptor Erik Cantine will create a throne of ice for photo ops. Sherman the Shorebird will also be flying around.
In response to popular demand, the team category has been divided; prizes will be awarded for first, second and third place for businesses’ teams as well as the top teams for community groups and organizations. Individual penguins who raise the most money will also be recognized, as well as the oldest and youngest penguins. Don't forget to come dressed in costume to be eligible for some great prizes!
OUT OF TOWN FOR THE HOLIDAYS? Participate in the Virtual Swim! Register and fundraise as an individual penguin or as part of a team. Then jump into the water where you are, take a photo and share it with the Penguin Swim’s online community on Facebook and Twitter using #OCPenguinSwim. Read More
"I never truly understood how much healthcare in the US costs until I got appendicitis in October," wrote Reddit user zcypher, identifying himself as "a 20 year old guy."
Job security in America’s civil service is so remarkably strong that employees in more than a dozen federal agencies are statistically more likely to die in the course of their work than to lose their jobs for poor performance or misconduct.
These days, even advocating genocide doesn’t immediately qualify you for a pink slip. This might seem like a free-speech issue, but in 1942 the Supreme Court carved our four categorical exemptions to the constitutional protection of speech: “the lewd and obscene, the profane, the libelous and the insulting or ‘fighting’ words — those by which their very utterances inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace.” Call me old-fashioned, but urging the mass murder of all non-blacks should qualify.
TEL AVIV – An extensive New York Times investigation into the Sept. 11, 2012, Benghazi attack is filled with misleading information, including details contradicted by the U.S. government, Benghazi victims and numerous other previous news reports.
The report, entitled, “A Deadly Mix in Benghazi,” was authored from Benghazi by Times writer David D. Kirkpatrick.
Bringing back the Muhammad film
One of the main contentions of the Times piece is that “contrary to claims by some members of Congress,” the Benghazi attack “was fueled in large part by anger at an American-made video denigrating Islam.”
“There is no doubt that anger over the video motivated many attackers,” continued the Times.
The New York Times article seeks to link the Benghazi attack to protests planned outside the U.S. embassy in Cairo.
Salisbury, MD… The Wicomico County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) will host its 17th Annual African-American Celebration at 3:00 p.m., Saturday, February 1st at the Chipman Cultural Center, 325 Broad Street, Salisbury, MD.
Kathryn Barrett-Gaines, Ph.D., is the keynote speaker, addressing the theme: “Standing and Staying Strong Despite the Challenge.” Dr. Barrett-Gaines is Director of African American Studies at University of Maryland Eastern Shore where she is a tenured professor of African and African American History. She teaches courses in African American History, African History, Swahili, Philosophy, and Slavery.
In addition, the Heritage Celebration will feature music by Elder Michael Williams and the artistry of “Expressive Dancers” performing African dance routines. Both Elder Williams and the Expressive Dancers are members of Rehoboth Temple of Praise, Laurel, DE. Light refreshments will be served following the program.
This event is open to the public with free admission. For more information, contact Mary Ashanti at 410-543-4187.
Those in poverty are hardest hit by Governor’s O’Malley’s green agenda.
Maryland would have felt lucky to get a lump of coal in its stocking this week.
Governor Martin O’Malley’s aggressive green agenda has favored expensive renewable-energy sources, driving up the cost of electricity. The 784,000 Marylanders who are living in poverty, and many more on the brink of it, have been particularly hard hit, even though sometimes the cost is offset by subsidies.
Since O’Malley assumed office in January 2007, residents’ electricity rates have increased by 43 percent, according to estimates from Change Maryland, a group chaired by Larry Hogan, a Republican who intends to run for governor. In comparison, electricity costs have risen 24 percent nationwide. Likewise, the Maryland Department of Legislative Services noted that while other states in the region saw average residential electrical rates grow by 34 to 41 percent between 1999 and 2013, in Maryland they increased by 49 percent. The average Marylander pays more than $125 a month for electricity.
U.S. Representative Dr. Andy Harris (R-Maryland) thinks that things will get worse, not better, as Obamacare goes into full effect on New Year's Day.
Dr. Harris joined WGMD's "Bill Reddish Show" by phone on Saturday to talk about the rollout of Obamacare, as well as the bipartisan deal to create a federal budget through a conference committee. Rep. Harris says the Affordable Care Act wasn't very well thought out, and will create a lot of problems for doctors in hospitals in the first three months of next year, as well as result in millions more people losing their employer-sponsored health insurance over the course of the year. He felt that it was "hypocritical" for the Department of Health and Human Services on December 20 (the Friday before Christmas) to declare in a bulletin that people who had their health insurance policies canceled because they didn't meet the requirments of the healthcare law could sign up for a hardship exemption to apply for catastrophic coverage. Harris says that catastrophic coverage policies in Maryland have deductibles of up to $6,350. He added that it was President Obama who essentially declared those policies that are being canceled "junk policies." More
The Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) warned the citizens of Iowa who have applied for Obamacare using the federal health care portal to try, try again, using the websites or call center. Nearly 16,000 Iowans whose applications are currently in limbo are going to receive emails and letters from DHS.
Federal officials told the Iowans that more time would be necessary to process the Iowa citizens’ applications from HealthCare.gov.
Indiscriminate charges of racism do more harm than good, as Martin Luther King well knew.
Would America be better off if the Outrage Industry went on a diet for New Year’s?
We just spent much of December quacking and arguing way too much about the views of Phil Robertson, one of the stars of the Duck Dynastyreality-TV series. Most of the attention focused on Robertson’s harsh, mean-spirited comments about gays and on the subsequent, short-lived decision of the cable network A&E to suspend him. But people saved plenty of ire for his comments, offered in an interview with GQ magazine, that when he grew up in Louisiana in the 1950s he never saw “the mistreatment of any black person” and that African Americans in that era didn’t have complaints about white people.
That’s an invitation to call Phil naïve, blind, or a liar. But such descriptions weren’t enough for Jesse Jackson, who said: “These statements uttered by Robertson are more offensive than the bus driver in Montgomery, Alabama, more than 59 years ago. At least the bus driver, who ordered Rosa Parks to surrender her seat to a white person, was following state law. Robertson’s statements were uttered freely and openly without cover of the law, within a context of what he seemed to believe was ‘white privilege.’” He wasn’t the only prominent liberal to go way over the top. MSNBC’s Michael Eric Dyson said Robertson and Duck Dynasty were “part of a majority-white supremacist culture.”
Coal-mining states like West Virginia and Kentucky are facing huge job losses and many Americans will see a rise in electricity costs due to Environmental Protection Agency regulations that critics call President Obama's "war on coal."
Specifics on the stringent new regulations on coal are expected to be finalized sometime next year, and existing coal-fired power plants will likely be shuttered around the country in an effort to appease environmental concerns.
Economist Nicolas Loris, who studies energy, environmental and regulatory policy at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, said the regulations will deliver a blow to the economy and raise costs for consumers, while doing little to improve the environment or reduce carbon emissions.
