Taxpayers Paid Nearly $175M for Penis Pumps Between 2006 and 2011

Taxpayers paid nearly $175 million for vacuum erection systems (VES), commonly known as “penis pumps,” from 2006 to 2011, according to an inspector general report released on Monday.

The federal government paid more than double the retail price for VES, the Department of Health and Human Services IG found. Medicare prices for the systems, the report said, “remain grossly excessive compared with the amounts that non-Medicare payers pay.”

Medicare paid 473,620 VES claims during calendar years 2006 through 2011, according to the IG report.
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See How Car Thieves Are Getting In

Stunning Photos of Niagara Falls Freeze

It may be hard to believe, but the gushing waters that make up Niagara Falls froze last week. At least partially. It’s actually not that uncommon: The falls freeze every winter, and last week the arctic blast helped them along. (It hit a low of negative 5 degrees there on Tuesday.)

Even the bitter cold didn’t stop tourists from viewing the falls, however. The temperatures makes Niagara beautiful in an entirely different way, with the waters frozen in time and the notorious mist from the falls blanketing the surrounding area in a thick, white frost.
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Obama Says Damn Your Religious Conviction. No Christian Should Support Obama

OBAMA GOAL? 'DISARMING OF ALL AMERICANS'

A lawyer pursuing a lawsuit on behalf of U.S. military veterans deprived of their Second Amendment rights without due process charges the Obama administration is using mental health to accomplish a goal of disarming all Americans.

Michael Connelly of the United States Justice Foundation has filed suit on behalf of military veterans who were told they were incompetent and stripped of their right to bear arms.

The federal government already had cast aspersions on military vets in 2009 when it warned that “returning veterans possess combat skills and experience that are attractive to rightwing extremists.”
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Blue Cross Blue Shield: If Republicans Kill A Bailout For Insurers Under ObamaCare, It’ll Lead To Single-Payer

They’re nervous.

“We are becoming increasingly concerned about momentum that is quickly building among some leading conservatives for elimination of the risk corridor and reinsurance programs,” [Blue Cross Blue Shield Association CEO Scott] Serota wrote…

“Their efforts, along with growing support for repealing the risk corridor and reinsurance programs, could combine to create a perfect storm to, at a minimum, dissuade the Administration from modifying risk corridor program rules to provide increased funding in light of the recent ‘transitional policy’ allowing insurers to offer consumers the option to renew their 2013 health plans for 2014,” Serota wrote.

In attached talking points, seemingly directed at Republican lawmakers opposed to risk corridors and reinsurance, BCBSA is asking members to argue that eliminating the risk corridors will lead to the eventual downfall of Obamacare and lead to a single-payer system: “It jeopardizes the entire private health insurance market and will ultimately lead to a single-payer system. Furthermore, it will close the door to pro-competitive health care reform alternatives.”

One bolded talking point, “use with appropriate audiences only,” charges that “eliminating these programs will result in massive premium increases and could cause private insurers to become insolvent.” In Serota’s email, however, this point is intended for Democrats only.

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This Bill Is Likely A Reaction To The Controversy Over, “Stand Your Ground” Laws.

2014 MD HB 67 proposes to change defense of, “self defense”

HB 67, sponsored by Delegate Conaway, proposes to change the circumstances under which, "self defense" may be claimed in a court proceeding. The bill adds the following language to Maryland code: 1–402. A PERSON CHARGED WITH A CRIME UNDER THIS ARTICLE MAY ASSERT THE DEFENSE OF SELF–DEFENSE ONLY IF THE PERSON, WHEN ATTACKED: (1) DID […]

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Gender-Neutral Dating

The progressive taste for managing the sex lives of others is of a piece with its war on private life.

Wish Room is a manufacturer of familiar lingerie products: frilly pink brassieres and panties, diaphanous silk nighties, and the like. But the cuts are a little odd — because they are designed for men. The Japanese fashion house sells its products not at sex-fetish shops of the sort that might cater to a Doctor Frank-N-Furter but at traditional shopping malls, and executive director Akiko Okunomiya tells the Daily Mail: “I think more and more men are becoming interested in bras. Since we launched the men’s bra, we’ve been getting feedback from customers saying, ‘Wow, we’d been waiting for this for such a long time.’” I myself approach the subject of other people’s underwear on a strictly need-to-know basis, but I could not help here wondering about the same thing that crossed my mind when I encountered a very rock-’n’-roll red-paisley deconstructed Comme des Garçons dinner jacket: What, exactly, is the appropriate occasion?

I believe I have found the answer.

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So Liberals, What Say You Now?

Elegy For The Incandescent Bulb

Farewell, old friend. I am going to miss you.

I speak of the incandescent bulb – the light of my life for all of my years. As of Jan. 1, you have been shut off. That was the mission of a 2007 law that raised energy-efficiency and wattage standards far beyond what you are capable of reaching.

You had a fine run, my friend. Perfected by Thomas Edison some 135 years ago, you stand as one of the greatest inventions of all time.

Your brilliance was in your simplicity. By sending an electrical current through a thin filament, which is sealed in a gas inside a bulb, you produce light.

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Rodman The Perfect Representative For Obama Diplomacy

As Michelle Obama treated herself to an additional week in paradise as a 50th birthday present at taxpayer expense, her husband returned from their multi-million dollar, 17-day vacation in Hawaii to badger Republicans in Congress over whether to continue to pay people not to work.

Then his former defense secretary, Robert Gates, announced the publication of a new book that reportedly vilifies the prez and his veep, blundering Joe Biden, whom Gates says (quite accurately) has been wrong on every major national security issue in the last forty years.

But the issue that has the national media dancing for joy is the ongoing “bridgegate” scandal, starring New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, wherein a good portion of the heavily-travelled George Washington Bridge, linking New Jersey and New York, was closed last fall for political reasons. Allegedly, the purpose was to punish the Democrat mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey, who had failed to support Christie’s re-election campaign. In a two-hour press conference, Christie apologized and announced that he has fired the alleged perpetrator of the scandal, his deputy chief of staff.

Like John McCain in years past, Christie was a media darling – and seemingly their favorite Republican – until the sycophantic lefties of the fourth estate began to perceive that his presidential ambitions threatened those of their real favorite, in this case Hillary Clinton. As Sarah Palin likes to say, “They’ve gotten all wee-weed up about it.”

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Delaware State Police Commemorate National AMBER Alert Awareness Day

Date: Monday, January 13, 2014

Resume:
Dover-Delaware is joining together with other states from across the country in recognition of National AMBER Alert Awareness Day, January 13, 2014. The occasion is a time to acknowledge the collaborative efforts and successes of the AMBER Alert program in assisting in the recovery of abducted children.

The AMBER (America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) Plan was originally started in Texas in 1996 after the abduction and murder of nine-year-old, Amber Hagerman. Responding to this tragedy, the Dallas/Fort Worth law enforcement community and the Association of Radio Managers pioneered the AMBER Plan.

The AMBER Plan is an early warning system available for use by law enforcement to alert the public, through the Emergency Alert System, when a child has been abducted and the police believe that the child is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death. Under the Plan, radio and television stations immediately broadcast information about the child abduction so that the general public may assist in the child’s recovery. The Delaware AMBER Alert Program is also supplemented by the utilization of the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system to send Amber Alert notifications to WEA compliant cell phones Statewide.

“Time is critical when it comes to finding abducted children,” said Sergeant Paul G. Shavack, AMBER Alert Coordinator for Delaware. “When a child’s life is in danger, spreading the word quickly can often mean the difference between life and death. The public’s awareness and input acts as a powerful force multiplier for law enforcement and helps tremendously in contributing to the successful recovery of missing and abducted children.”

To date, 679 children have been successfully recovered in the United States as a direct result of the AMBER Alert plan. In Delaware, only ten (10) AMBER Alert activations have been issued since the Delaware Program became operational in January of 2003. While other states may vary in the number of AMBER Alert plans, Delaware has only one statewide plan and it is administrated by Delaware State Police with the cooperation of its media partners. The Delaware AMBER Alert Plan criteria adheres to the recommendations by the Department of Justice.

Confused Kid Meets Father's Twin

Florida Movie Theater Shooting Leaves One Dead, One Wounded

A man is dead and a woman wounded following a shooting Monday afternoon at the Grove 16 movie theater in Wesley Chapel, Fla.

A male suspect opened fire at about 1:30 p.m. during a showing of “Lone Survivor” at 6333 Wesley Grove Boulevard, ABC Action News in Tampa reported.

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BREAKING NEWS: A-Rod Sues MLB In Bid To Overturn Suspension

New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez sues Major League Baseball and its players' union in an effort to overturn a season-long suspension imposed by an arbiter Saturday.

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If You Knew Who Was Behind “Close-Gitmo” Push, You'd Be Shocked

On Saturday, January 11, a coalition of "Close-Gitmo" forces is expected to march on Washington to commemorate the 12th anniversary of detention and interrogation operations.

Though the march from the White House to the National Museum of American History is purportedly about advancing "human rights" and "stopping torture," a closer look at the key participants reveals a more troubling, some might say hidden, agenda.

If more Americans knew who is behind this campaign, there would be nationwide outrage.

While everyone is for “human rights” and “stopping torture,” Americans should not be fooled by these false flags meant to damage U.S. power and prestige.

Just dig a little deeper into who has been driving the anti-Gitmo disinformation campaign these past 12 years, and we discover an international, fervently anti-American, far-left coalition attacking the nation through a savvy propaganda effort.

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The Pillage People

WARNING: Must watch your back and your wallet when 

any of the are around!

If You Ever Had Any Doubt The Media Is Biased On Climate, This Should End Your Doubt

The indefatigable David Rose of Britain's Daily Mail, working with British climate blogger Tony Newberry, has today exposed bias in news reporting of climate change of a scale heretofore unknown, even for that never-accurately-covered subject.

He reveals that, in a move orchestrated by the BBC itself and a left-wing lobby group, the British government under the Labor Party paid for BBC personnel to be taught the left-wing, pro-alarmist spin on climate issues for the specific purpose of using the "news" as propaganda.

The seminar project was run by a BBC "journalist." A single seminar, paid for by British taxpayers, cost 67,000 pounds (about $110,00).

What's more, after blogger Newberry noticed, in Rose's words, "a passing reference" to the project "in an official report," the BBC spent at least 20,000 pounds (about $33,000) to keep the public from finding out.

This was done even as internal BBC documents bragged about the massive influence the program had on the BBC's coverage of climate issues.

Go here to read David Rose's story, which includes generous quotations of BBC personnel bragging about how influential its corruption is.

Go here to read Tony Newberry's Harmless Sky blog, where he has links to PDFs of damning primary documents proving the case against the BBC and the British government.

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Update On Berlin Power Restoration Efforts

The Dispatch
Update On Berlin Power Restoration Efforts
This just in from Delmarva Power ... "Delmarva Power plans this evening to finish repairs to a 69,000 volt transmission line that was damaged by a severe thunder and lightning storm that struck an area near Berlin, Md., over the past weekend. The work will necessitate de-energizing electric service to Berlin for about 10 minutes to one hour, beginning around midnight tonight.
The fast-moving weather front sheared off five poles, locked out four substations and caused a power outage for about 20,000 customers in Worcester County late Saturday afternoon. Most customers had electric service restored around 6:45 p.m. Atlantic General Hospital and Berlin Nursing Home had to utilize their respective backup generating units until Delmarva Power could restore normal service to those facilities around 10 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 12.
If Berlin residents experience an outage longer than one hour tonight, they should report the service interruption to the Town of Berlin by calling 410-641-1333."
 
Photo: Town of Berlin crews are pictured on Franklin Avenue yesterday.
Photo by Steve Green

 

How Convenient Is That?

As Crazy As It Gets: Local Press Blames Victim In Knockout Game

Of all the crazy stories of black mob violence and denial I have seen, this is among the top: The couple that was attacked and viciously beaten by three black people in Charlottesville recently somehow did something to provoke it.

Somehow.

And because of that somehow, everything everyone knows about black mob violence, black on white crime, and the Knockout Game is wrong, wrong and wrong.

No Knock Out: police charge two in Mall beating, details emerge | THE DTM

This is as crazy as it gets, folks.

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SECRET SQUIRREL!!!

Post by 95.7 KJR.

A Comment Worthy Of A Post 1-13-14

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Maryland Ranked #3 In Housing Foreclosures":

The county provides a thing called "constant yield" which tells towns what their rate has to be in order to keep the same revenue. Fruitland and Salisbury accepted the constant yield and their rates went up. Mayor Anderton and Delmar rejected the rate increase and their rate stayed the same which lowered taxes for anyone who had a lower assessment.

Just another reason to vote for Anderton. Norm raises taxes during a recession, causing more financial stress on our area, Anderton understands that people are struggling and lowers taxes during a recession.

National Groups Eye SC Income Tax Cut Plan

S.C. Senator Katrina Shealy’s proposal to eliminate South Carolina’s income tax over the next five years is receiving attention at the national level, sources tell FITS.

Multiple national groups have contacted Shealy (R-Lexington) and expressed interest in learning more about her plan, activists familiar with the conversations tell FITS.

Last month Shealy proposed the complete elimination of all brackets of the state’s individual income tax – a.k.a. the levy paid by all taxpayers and the vast majority of South Carolina businesses. Best of all, her plan would not offset this “lost revenue” with tax increases elsewhere in the state budget.

It’s a pure tax cut, in other words …

“This bill could allow small business owners in South Carolina to keep more of their hard-earned income and, in turn, give them a greater opportunity to reinvest in their businesses and hire more employees,” Shealy said.

Shealy’s plan has been endorsed by S.C. Sen. Tom Davis (R-Beaufort), the leading pro-free market, pro-liberty lawmaker in the S.C. General Assembly.

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Supreme Court Won't Hear Arizona's Abortion-Law

The Supreme Court will not hear an appeal and will let stand a federal judge's ruling striking down an Arizona law that restricts abortions after 20 weeks.

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Colorado Bill Attempts To Prevent Food Stamp Money From Being Used To Buy Pot

The bigger the loser, the more likely it is that they’re taking food stamps and using pot. So now that Colorado has legalized pot, it’s only a matter of time until there are degenerates using their food stamp money to buy pot. Some Republicans are trying to stop that inevitable problem before it starts.

A bill proposed this week by several Republicans would add marijuana dispensaries to liquor stores, gun shops and casinos as places where recipients of public assistance payments and food stamps can’t use their electronic benefits cards to access cash.

There haven’t been any reports of public EBT cards being used at marijuana dispensaries. But lawmakers say pot shops should be added to the law to make clear it’s not legal.

“We need this bill, if for nothing else, as a statement,” said Rep. Jared Wright, R-Grand Junction.

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"X" Marks The Spot Of The Generational Divide

Let's see if you people actually get it.

Texas Gun Show Shuts Down Rather Than Comply With Democrat Demands For Extra-Legal Background Checks

Liberals say whatever they think their audience wants to hear about gun control, but their goal is to get as many guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens as they can by any means necessary. They don’t care about the Constitution, they don’t care about the law and they don’t care if you get raped or die after they disarm you while leaving illegal guns in the hands of criminals. That’s what liberals are like and it’s what the liberals in Travis County Texas are like as well.

A regular gun show that has been a staple of Austin, Texas, since 2010 will end this month because its organizer refuses to obey local Democrats’ demands for background checks that go beyond state and federal laws.

“It is not really my job to infringe on anyone’s rights,” said Todd Beiter, the owner of Saxet Gun Shows, which has hosted gun shows at the Travis County Exposition Center for four years, according to the Austin American-Satesman.

The gun show set for Jan. 25-26 will go on because it has a lease on the site. The show won’t be held next year, though, because the contract will not be renewed.

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Police: Fatal Road-Rage Chase Began In Md.

WASHINGTON - A road-rage chase that began in Maryland ended with the death of a driver in Pennsylvania who had called 911 in two states while he was being chased for miles.

According to CNN, the Pennsylvania State Police say Timothy Davison, 28, of Maine, was driving home in the early hours of Jan. 4 when he encountered another driver in a dark-colored Ford pickup on Interstate 70 in Maryland.

The driver of the pickup chased Davison between 13 and 15 miles into Pennsylvania before forcing him off the road on Route 81 near Dillsburg and shooting him multiple times, the police said on Friday.
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Maryland’s Costly Health-Care Blunder

THERE’S NOW a preliminary price tag on Maryland’s failure to roll out a functional health-insurance Web site: $5 million to $10 million. That’s an estimate of how much it will cost the state to offer emergency health coverage to people who couldn’t sign up on Maryland’s online Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace before Jan. 1. Extending last-minute coverage to these people is the right thing to do. But it’s not a substitute for a working Web site, nor for holding the state’s leaders to account.

For months, Marylanders have encountered error after error when trying to use theMaryland Health Connection, which was supposed to serve as their primary interface with the ACA. One bug gave definition to the word infuriating, freezing the site just as users were about to click the “enroll” button. The number of people who managed to sign up for private insurance through the marketplace has just surpassed 20,000, and that relatively low figure came only after recent site improvements resulted in a late increase in enrollments. It is also very far from the state’s goal of 150,000 sign-ups by the end of March.

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The War On Poverty’s Biggest Casualties

Fifty years after liberals launched their sacrosanct “War on Poverty,” Americans, and black Americans in particular, aren’t better off.

But neo-Marxist ideologue that he is, President Obama is determined to double-down on leftist failure, widening the so-called war by calling for the biggest welfare spending increases in American history— amounting to more than $10 trillion over a decade, according to the Heritage Foundation’s Robert Rector.

This War on Poverty that Obama wants to escalate came on the heels of the death of President John F. Kennedy.

As the country was reeling in shock just seven weeks after Kennedy was assassinated, his successor, President Lyndon B. Johnson, urged Congress to embark on a new metaphorical war effort against poverty. In that State of the Union address on Jan. 8, 1964, Johnson said, “Let this session of Congress be known … as the session which declared all-out war on human poverty and unemployment in these United States.”

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Maryland Officials Were Warned For A Year Of Problems With Online Health-Insurance Site

More than a year before Maryland launched its health insurance exchange, senior state officials failed to heed warnings that no one was ultimately accountable for the $170 million project and that the state lacked a plausible plan for how it would be ready by Oct. 1.

Over the following months, as political leaders continued to proclaim that the state’s exchange would be a national model, the system went through three different project managers, the feuding between contractors hired to build the online exchange devolved into lawsuits, and key people quit, including a top information technology official because, as he would later say, the project “was a disaster waiting to happen.”

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Daily Pot Tied To Age Of First Psychotic Episode

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In a study of adults who experienced psychosis for the first time, having smoked marijuana daily was linked to an earlier age of onset of the disorder, according to UK researchers.

"This is not a study about the association between cannabis and psychosis, but about the association between specific patterns of cannabis use . . . and an earlier onset of psychotic disorders," Dr. Marta Di Forti, who led the research at the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College, said in an email.

Among more than 400 people in South London admitted to hospitals with a diagnosed psychotic episode, the study team found the heaviest smokers of high-potency cannabis averaged about six years younger than patients who had not been smoking pot.

Psychosis is a general term for a loss of reality, and is associated with several psychiatric diseases, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

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The Media Would Never Report This Amazing Exchange Between Wounded Vet And Iraqi Cab Driver

It’s hard to believe some think U.N. resolutions and the Peace Corps. actually bring peace to anyone. Wiser students of history know that the U.S. military has done more for peace than nearly anyone else.

It’s not as politically advantageous for the left to admit this, so you won’t see stories of gratitude like the one told by Iraq War vet and amputee J.R. Salzmann about a chance encounter with a cab driver in Texas.

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Marijuana Advocates Not Giving Up On Bill

Even though Governor Martin O'Malley says that he is "not much in favor" of legislation to legalize recreational marijuana, supporters of the measure in the House and Senate plan to pursue their bills.

Baltimore City Delegate Curt Anderson, who chairs the city's House Delegation, told WBAL News that the governor has not promised to veto the legislation if it passes.

"It does not change my plans at all," Anderson told WBAL News.

"I understand that the governor is going in a particular direction with his career, and I'm going in a particular direction with the lives of people in Baltimore City, especially, young African American males, who are getting arrested an inordinately amount of times that, this problem should not exist."
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Who Caused A Buzz With Her Killer ’5 Inch Patriotic Stripper Heels’ ?

If your guess is Sarah Palin, you are correct.

Palin, who was promoting her new show “Amazing America” for the Sportsman Channel chose these attention getting beauties to step out in at the Television Critics Association press tour Friday, according to Twitchy.

Interestingly enough, the stylish red, white and blue shoes caused a liberal feminist site to almost say something nice about her.

Almost.

So, it’s not breaking news but personally I love the shoes and wanted to give her a nod for her fashion savvy.

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Delaware Health Centers Receive Grants To Help State Residents Find Affordable Insurance

U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, Sen. Chris Coons and Rep. John Carney (all D-Del.) have announced grant awards from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to Delaware’s federally qualified health centers to help enroll Delawareans in health insurance coverage.

La Red Health Center, Henrietta Johnson Medical Center and Westside Family Healthcare received $177,872 to help with their enrollment efforts in the communities they serve in Delaware’s three counties. With these awards, health centers will be able to meet immediate needs, including expanding the hours of existing outreach and enrollment assistance workers, and hiring new or temporary outreach and enrollment assistance workers.

“This funding will help our health centers continue to do the good work they are already doing in the community by getting our uninsured Delawareans affordable, quality health insurance,” said Carper. “I am proud of the work they are doing on the front lines to inform, care for and offer preventive medicine to Delawareans.”
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The Foreign Press Picks Up On Rumors That The Obamas May Be About To Divorce

At one point, people might have laughed off an Enquirer story saying that the Obama’s were on the verge of divorce. However, after they scooped the mainstream media on the John Edwards affair story, you have to pay attention — and people all over the world are doing just that, including The Australian.

Michelle Obama’s extended absence from Washington and a flurry of renewed speculation about the state of the first couple’s marriage are threatening to overshadow her 50th birthday party at the White House on Saturday.

Not for the first time in their 22-year marriage the Obamas are approaching what should be a happy family milestone under a cloud of rampant tabloid innuendo, summed up by a National Enquirer headline: “World exclusive: Obama marriage explodes!”.

The Enquirer has earned a measure of respectability in Washington with its reporting of political scandals – most notably its exposure of the double life of John Edwards, a former senator and once a Democratic presidential contender.

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Beware Of The 5 lb. Bag Of Sugarless Gummy Bears On Amazon.com – The Reviews Are Priceless!

Oh, gummy bears! They’re so tasty and delicious you can never eat just one. In fact most of us eat them by the handful.   And with diet season in full swing, some of us may be looking at the sugar-free alternative to help ease the gummy bear cravings.

But before you hop on Amazon to make a bulk purchase of the sugar-free variety, you just might want to read the safety warnings.  Or better yet, take a look at the user submitted reviews. We’ve compiled the best of the best for you here at Slightly Viral…

Sugarless gummy bears may taste like the original but these come with a safety warning…

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HORRIFIC: Girls Beat Their 16-Year-Old Friend Before Holding Her Down To Be Raped

Were these kids raised wrong? Were they high? Were they just sociopaths trying to impress a guy? What is the explanation for this sort of EVIL behavior?

A 16-year-old girl was allegedly beaten by other girls before being held down to be raped in a horrifying attack that was filmed on a cellphone, it was revealed today.

Patricia Montes, 15, and 16-year-old Erica Avery are accused of punching, kicking and pepper-spraying the girl before holding her down to be raped by Jayvon Woolfork, 19, police said.

The barbaric attack was filmed on a cell phone by Lanel Singleton, 18, and shows the girl writhing half naked and weeping in the yard of a home in Hollywood, Florida while her attackers leer over her.

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Obamacare Treats Hispanics Like Second-Class Citizens

Hispanic-Americans will be hard pressed to keep any resolutions they may have made this year to save money — and many have Obamacare, also known as Affordable Care Act, to thank for that.

Many Hispanics will bear the brunt of Obamacare’s financial reliance on the young and healthy to finance the law. Why? Because the median age for Hispanics is only 27, a full 10 years younger than the national average. And 28 percent of Hispanics are classified as Millennials, making them the youngest and fastest-growing demographic in the United States.

In Florida, we comprise about 23.2 percent of the population. But Obamacare is saddling my generation with an average 169 percent increase in our health insurance premiums.

As more Hispanics continue on to obtain higher education — 69 percent of Hispanics graduating in 2012 went on to college — Obamacare is making an impact at campuses all over the country.

It’s driving up the cost of premiums and causing colleges to cancel the affordable policies they traditionally made available to their students. At Bowie State University in Maryland, for example, Obamacare increased insurance premiums by 1,500 percent. Students who originally paid $54 would have ended up paying $900 per semester.

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The Past Can Come Back And Haunt You

Here are some articles about Waste Water Treatment Plant and the Salisbury Zoo from Sept. 2006. Yes, there are more but this should be a good start to show you how Salisbury News got started. 

http://sbynews.blogspot.com/2006/07/wwtp-update.html

http://sbynews.blogspot.com/2006/08/well-see-your-violation-and-up-yours.html

http://sbynews.blogspot.com/2006/08/are-640000-readers-being-mislead_31.html

http://sbynews.blogspot.com/2006/08/so-when-is-mayor-mayor.html

http://sbynews.blogspot.com/2006/08/zoo-security.html

http://sbynews.blogspot.com/2006/08/were-there-two-major-leaks.html

http://sbynews.blogspot.com/2006/08/43000-gallons-of-sewage-leaks-into.html

http://sbynews.blogspot.com/2006/09/rand-mcnally-road-atlas-dumps.html

http://sbynews.blogspot.com/2006/09/county-council-exposes-another-major.html

http://sbynews.blogspot.com/2006/09/saliabury-zoo-jim-rapp-continue-to-be.html

http://sbynews.blogspot.com/2006/09/will-salisbury-zoo-flood-out-this.html

Robert Gates’ Duty: Too Little, Too Late, And Way Too Long

Robert Gates served as Secretary of Defense after the resignation of the total failure, Donald Rumsfeld. Bush kept Rumsfeld on until 2006. Bush got Robert Gates to sign on.

That was Gates' mistake. He signed on for the two-war death watch.

Today, Al Qaeda occupies Fallujah. Yet one-third of America's 4,500 troops who died in Iraq, died to capture Fallujah. But there is this difference: Al Qaeda had no presence in Iraq when Bush sent troops to invade in 2003. Saddam Hussein had the handful of Al Qaeda members under control.

That is the Rumsfeld-Gates legacy.

Now Gates has written a 600-page book, Duty. It is a self-serving attack on his former bosses. It is self-justifying in this sense: Gates presided over a two-war disaster, but he never quit in order to speak out in protest immediately after he quit.

They never do. Well, not quite never. William Jennings Bryan quit as Secretary of State in 1915, because he saw that Wilson, in the name of neutrality, was pushing the United States into the war in Europe. He refused to become responsible for pursuing such a policy, as his letter of resignation said.

Gates never spoke out when he was in power, either behind closed doors or publicly. He never said what he thought. So, he kept his job.

He recounts his thoughts during a tense 2011 meeting with Obama and Gen. David H. Petraeus, then in charge of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, in the White House Situation Room: "As I sat there I thought: The president doesn't trust his commander, can't stand Karzai, doesn't believe in his own strategy and doesn't consider the war to be his. For him, it's all about getting out."

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IV Cellular Presents "Freedom Isn't Free"

Maryland Officials Were Warned For A Year Of Problems With Online Health-Insurance Site

More than a year before Maryland launched its health insurance exchange, senior state officials failed to heed warnings that no one was ultimately accountable for the $170 million project and that the state lacked a plausible plan for how it would be ready by Oct. 1.

Over the following months, as political leaders continued to proclaim that the state’s exchange would be a national model, the system went through three different project managers, the feuding between contractors hired to build the online exchange devolved into lawsuits, and key people quit, including a top information technology official because, as he would later say, the project “was a disaster waiting to happen.”

The repeated warnings culminated days before the launch, with one from contractors testing the Web site that said it was “extremely unstable” and another from an outside consultant that urged state officials not to let residents enroll in health plans because there was “no clear picture” of what would happen when the exchange would turn on. 
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Wisdom

County Orders Chicken On The Roof Grill To Remove Chicken

Chicken on the Roof Grill in Joppa has been around for a few years, but it was not until recently that Harford County started squawking about its signature feature—the plastic chicken perched on the roof overlooking Magnolia Road."Someone filed an anonymous complaint with the county," said Patty Janowiak, who owns the business with her husband.

Harford County's Department of Planning and Zoning confirmed that it cited the business for not having a permit for its chicken and temporary signs.

"We take it down, and we have no business," Janowiak said.

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HILLARY CLINTON ADVISER STARTED AN ELECTION-DAY TRAFFIC JAM IN 2000

Michael Whouley, founding partner of the strategy group tied to Hillary Clinton’s budding 2016 presidential effort, orchestrated a traffic jam to help his client Al Gore win the 2000 New Hampshire primary against Bill Bradley.

Gore campaign manager Bob Shrum wrote in his memoirs about Whouley’s last-minute gambit to use the Gore motorcade to suppress the vote on primary day, as Slate’s David Weigel noted on Wednesday.

“Michael Whouley came up with a last-ditch scheme: Send Gore into areas of southern New Hampshire where there was a lot of Bradley support among upscale voters and commuters who worked across the border in Massachusetts. Many of them cast their ballots late in the day after driving home. Gore’s motorcade — candidate, press, Secret Service, and police — could snarl traffic and keep some of the commuters from ever getting to their polling places or even trying to,” Shrum wrote.

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New Debate Rises Over Maryland Gun Law

More than 200 guns were sold to people legally barred from owning them as a surge in firearms sales last year overwhelmed Maryland's background check system, according to state police.

One gun was sold to a man later accused of using it in a carjacking in Prince George's County, police acknowledged in response to queries from The Baltimore Sun.

The sales occurred last year as part of a flurry before Maryland's tough new gun law — enacted following the school massacre in Newtown, Conn. — took effect. With Maryland State Police unable to keep up with the flood of background checks, some dealers distributed firearms to customers after waiting seven days, as they were allowed to do under state law. With the backlog mounting, dealers released more than 50,000 guns before checks were completed, state police said.
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5 Things To Watch As The Week Gets Under Way In Annapolis

With many of the early session pleasantries behind them, Maryland lawmakers are girding for a busy second week in Annapolis on both the policy and political fronts.

The General Assembly has scheduled hearings this week on a bill related to the state’s troubled online health insurance exchange, and Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) is set to roll out a budget proposal that will be scrutinized for the remainder of the 90-day session.

Also certain to get plenty of attention this week: Campaign finance reports are due to the State Board of Elections from Maryland’s gubernatorial candidates, other statewide hopefuls and candidates for the General Assembly. 
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SFD Calls For Service 1-12-14

• Sunday January, 12 2014 @ 23:34:25Nature: Abdominal PainCity: Salisbury
• Sunday January, 12 2014 @ 23:10:12Nature: Sick SubjectCity: Salisbury
• Sunday January, 12 2014 @ 22:58:41Nature: OverdoseCity: Salisbury
• Sunday January, 12 2014 @ 22:19:08Nature: Chest PainCity: Salisbury
• Sunday January, 12 2014 @ 22:09:44Nature: OverdoseCity: Salisbury
• Sunday January, 12 2014 @ 21:59:04Nature: Psychiatric EmergencyCity: Salisbury
• Sunday January, 12 2014 @ 21:29:51Nature: Difficulty BreathingCity: Salisbury
• Sunday January, 12 2014 @ 20:43:06Nature: Assault EmsCity: Salisbury
• Sunday January, 12 2014 @ 17:42:32Nature: Unconscious SubjectCity: Salisbury
• Sunday January, 12 2014 @ 17:32:38Nature: LacerationCity: Salisbury
• Sunday January, 12 2014 @ 14:09:47Nature: ElectricalAddress: 633 Decatur Ave Salisbury, MD 21801
• Sunday January, 12 2014 @ 12:58:23Nature: Abdominal PainCity: Salisbury
• Sunday January, 12 2014 @ 07:15:59Nature: Medical AssistAddress: 906 Montrose Dr Salisbury, MD 21801
• Sunday January, 12 2014 @ 07:15:46Nature: Subject FallenCity: Salisbury
• Sunday January, 12 2014 @ 06:23:32Nature: Sick SubjectCity: Salisbury
• Sunday January, 12 2014 @ 03:24:48Nature: SeizureCity: Salisbury
• Sunday January, 12 2014 @ 02:43:37Nature: Alcohol PoisoningCity: Salisbury
• Sunday January, 12 2014 @ 00:58:45Nature: Pro Qa EmsCity: Salisbury

MARYLAND PLANS TO REFORM HEALTH CARE SPENDING IN HOSPITALS

BALTIMORE – State and federal officials announced Friday the approval of a Medicare waiver in Maryland that could put the state at the forefront of progressive health care.

The plan marks the first step in the state’s plan to move away from fee-for-service financing in hospitals in an attempt to establish a system of preventative, better quality care.

“The new waiver will allow us to improve the wellbeing of whole populations that are served by hospitals, while at the same time giving our hospitals the [financial] predictions they need over time to be able to be sustainable – to keep their doors open,” Gov. Martin O’Malley said at a press conference at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore
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Delaware State Police Issue Gold Alert 1-13-14 UPDATE

Cassidy Blevins has been located in good condition. The Gold Alert is cancelled.Gold Alert Subject:
Cassidy Blevins, 17, of Georgetown, DE
5'4" tall, 130 lbs., red hair, hazel eyes
Last seen wearing blue jeans, a gray long-sleeve shirt, and a blue North Face jacket
May be operating a maroon 1996 Pontiac Sunfire bearing Delaware registration 255686

Location Last Seen:
Aberdeen, NC

Date Last Seen:
Sunday, January 12, 2014, at 8:50 p.m.

Resume:
Georgetown- The Delaware State Police have issued a Gold Alert for a missing female from Georgetown.

Troopers are searching for Cassidy Blevins, 17, who was last seen yesterday evening in Aberdeen, NC. She was wearing blue jeans, a gray long-sleeve shirt, and a blue North Face jacket. Blevins may be operating a maroon 1996 Pontiac Sunfire bearing Delaware registration 255686, and may be driving from North Carolina to Delaware.

Blevins's condition is such that there is a genuine concern for her safety.

Troopers are asking anyone who may have any information as to the whereabouts of Blevins to contact Troop 4 at 302-856-5850 or by utilizing the Delaware State Police Mobile Crime Tip Application available to download at: http://www.delaware.gov/apps/. Information may also be provided by calling Delaware Crime Stoppers at 1-800-TIP-3333, via the internet atwww.tipsubmit.com, or by sending an anonymous tip by text to 274637 (CRIMES) using the keyword "DSP."