The 10 Commandments Of Marriage

Commandment 1.
Marriages are made in heaven. But so again, are thunder and lightning.

Commandment 2.
If you want your spouse to listen and pay strict attention to every word you say, talk in your sleep.

Commandment 3.
Marriage is grand — and divorce is at least 100 grand!

Commandment 4.
Married life is very frustrating. In the first year of marriage, the man speaks and the woman listens. In the second year, the woman speaks and the man listens. In the third year, they both speak and the neighbours listen.

Commandment 5.
When a man opens the door of his car for his wife, you can be sure of one thing: Either the car is new or the wife is.

Commandment 6.
Marriage is when a man and woman become as one; the trouble starts when they try to decide which one.

Commandment 7.
Before marriage, a man will lie awake all night thinking about something you said. After marriage, he will fall asleep before you finish talking.

Commandment 8.
Every man wants a wife who is beautiful, understanding, economical, and a good cook. But the law allows only one wife.

Commandment 9.
Every woman wants a man who is handsome, understanding, economical and a considerate lover, but again, the law allows only one husband.

Commandment 10.
Man is incomplete until he marries. After that, he is finished.

Heart Disease On the Rise In Younger Women: What You Should Know

Research shows that the risk for heart-related death is on the rise for young adults ages 35-54, and the numbers are even more staggering for younger women.  It is the number-one cause of death for both men and women in the United States. But according to the American Heart Association more women than men have died from heart-related causes since 1984.


More

RSC Update: In 2012, Our Vision Must Be Crystal Clear

The November 2010 elections sent an influx of conservatives to Congress with a genuine desire to solve our country’s biggest challenges. But make no mistake, the troubles Americans have faced in recent years have not yet been conquered.

Millions remain unable to find a job. Washington continues to spend and borrow way too much.

ObamaCare puts unconstitutional demands on citizens even as health care costs keep going up.

The structural weaknesses that endanger Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security have not yet been fixed.

Conservatives spent the past year confronting these challenges head on. The Republican Study Committee proposed the Jobs Through Growth Act to grow our economy with less red tape, more energy production, and a simpler, flatter tax code. We voted to repeal ObamaCare and worked toward lowering costs through greater choice and competition.

Our Cut, Cap, and Balance plan would have finally forced Washington to live within its means. And our budget attempted to strengthen Medicare & Social Security while giving States the flexibility they need in Medicaid to prevent it from breaking the bank.

Through it all, we hoped the Democrats controlling the Senate and White House were willing to work with us in the interest of country. Unfortunately, the President spent the past year trying to boost his own chances for reelection by avoiding real cooperation. It is a cynical strategy, and Senate Democrats happily played along.

So far, all signs point to more of the same in 2012. So where does that leave us? I agree with Senator Ron Johnson. Our only choice is to continue providing Americans an unambiguous contrast between the liberal and conservative visions for our nation’s future.

It must be crystal clear who supports government growth vs. private sector growth.

It must be crystal clear who lives in a fairy tale world with no limits on spending and debt vs. the real world where families, businesses, and governments must seek to live within their means.
It must be crystal clear who puts their faith in government mandates and venture socialism vs. liberty and free enterprise.

The conservatives in the Republican Study Committee will not waver. We will continue to defend the cause of liberty and seek out real solutions to the challenges at hand. We will because we must.

God Bless,
Congressman Jim JordanChairman, Republican Study Committee
.AOLWebSuite .AOLPicturesFullSizeLink { height: 1px; width: 1px; overflow: hidden; } .AOLWebSuite a {color:blue; text-decoration: underline; cursor: pointer} .AOLWebSuite a.hsSig {cursor: default}

Local Business Growth

Hiring Expansions for the New Year

Salisbury, MD – January 17, 2012 – The new year has brought big growth to local Salisbury business Marshall Real Estate Auctions. Doug Marshall, President and Owner of Marshall Auctions recently announced expansion plans for the company. The additions include the creation of Marshall Home & Land Company, as well as the hiring of three new lead employees.

“I believe in the future of our local communities,” says Marshall. “For that reason, I am committed to investing our company into community growth.”

With the ever increasing number of calls for residential auctions, Marshall Auctions hired Joel Maher, as Residential Property Advisor to take on pre-auction property listings. Joel is a certified short sale specialist and is a multi-million dollar producing real estate agent and was named Coastal Association of Realtors Rookie of the Year in 2010.

Marketing and advertising for both companies will be directed by Victoria Kent, Vice President of Marketing. Victoria comes to the area from Montgomery County, Maryland with a strong background in marketing, advertising, and promotions.

“It has always been my dream to move to the Eastern Shore,” says Kent. “I am very excited to be working for such an exciting company.”

With the launch of Marshall Home & Land Company, AJ Tucker has been hired as Director of Construction. AJ comes to the company from a life-long background in the construction and home building industry. AJ has managed a wide variety of projects ranging from homes for first time home buyers, to full scale residential developments, as well as custom home design and construction.

“Our stream lined business model has allowed us to survive during the downturn and position ourselves to acquire projects that will put people to work on the Delmarva Peninsula,” says Marshall.

SUPPOSE YOU WERE AN IRANIAN

Try to imagine our next war. Pardon the fatalism inherent in this suggestion, but nearly all of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st were dominated by war, and one looks in vain for the slightest sign in our future of no war or even less war.

Since nearly all wars are connected to disputes over resources, a growing global population will stoke the need for more of everything and perpetual fighting over the world’s diminishing resources seems inevitable.

The United States has the same interest in these resources that everyone else has, which largely explains our military presence and influence around the world, especially in the resource-rich Middle East.

We have other motivations for being in Iraq and Afghanistan but it’s not overly cynical to suggest that all of them stem back to conflicts over resources, mostly hydrocarbons.

More

Fill In The Blank 01/18/12

_____ is my favorite time of day.

VIDEO: Fox News Caught Completely Excluding Ron Paul From Post Debate Coverage

After huge volume of complaints, Fox reporter was forced to do-over post debate breakdown revealing that Ron Paul blitzed the debate in every category

The dirty tricks campaign against GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul reached new heights during the South Carolina debate last night, with virtual exclusion from the first 40 minutes of the program, poisonous questions in the second half, and a cringe inducing situation during the post debate analysis where Fox pundits were forced to admit that Paul had completely wiped the floor with the other candidates.

During the post debate commentary, Fox reporter John Roberts blatantly excluded Paul from the charts and graphs he presented representing feedback from viewers.

More

BREAKING NEWS: State Department Expected to Reject Keystone Pipeline

Industry source tells Fox News that the State Department will reject the construction of an oil pipeline from Canada to Texas.


Source Fox News

Ron Paul Tied With Romney As Most Electable Republican

A new CNN poll once again debunks the myth that Ron Paul is not electable, showing the Congressman tied with Mitt Romney in a hypothetical head to head contest against Barack Obama.

“The poll also indicates Paul statistically tied with Obama, with the president at 48% and the longtime congressman at 46%,” reports CNN. “But according to the poll, the president is doing better against two other Republican presidential candidates. If Rick Santorum were the GOP nominee, Obama would hold a 51%-45% advantage over the former senator from Pennsylvania. And if Newt Gingrich faced off against the president, Obama would lead the former House speaker 52%-43%.”

Paul’s performance against Obama has improved compared to previous CNN polls taken over the course of the last year, illustrating his momentum.

More

Military Versus Defense: Ron Paul Smacks Down WSJ's Seib

"Congressman Paul, South Carolina has seven major military bases, but you want to make major cuts in defense spending, several hundred billion dollars in the coming years. What do you say to people in this state?" – Wall Street Journal's Gerald Seib. .... "I would say your question suggests you are very confused about my position. I want to cut money, overseas money. I don't want to cut defense spending. We would save a lot more money and have a stronger national defense. Watch out for the military-industrial complex!" – Ron Paul ... YouTube, South Carolina debate, January 16, 2012

Dominant Social Theme: The US can't cut military spending because it will leave the country vulnerable to its enemies.

Free-Market Analysis: A little later perhaps than Ron Paul supporters would have liked, the eminence of conservative libertarianism has in many ways hit his stride. This video clip (see below) shows how Ron Paul is now capable of cutting moderators, and generally debate opponents, to pieces when they make a verbal slip. We can surely recall other inspiring Ron Paul moments but this, in our humble opinion, is the best we've seen.

In this video Ron Paul makes a firm distinction between defense spending and military spending. It's overdue, in our view, because Ron Paul has been continually criticized by neocons on this issue. He's loony, they complain. He would leave America defenseless.

More

Today's Help Wanted 1-18-12

Businesses looking to fill positions can put their information in comments for FREE.

Edit Draft QUOTES OF THE DAY 1-18-12

You will find that the State is the kind of organization which, though it does big things badly, does small things badly, too. John Kenneth Galbraith

Potentially, a government is the most dangerous threat to man’s rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims. Ayn Rand

The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates. Tacitus

No state shall emit bills of credit, make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts, coin money .. The Constitution, Article I

… the task of the state consists solely and exclusively in guaranteeing the protection of life, health, liberty, and private property against violent
attacks. Ludwig von Mises

Mitt Romney Downplays $374,000 In Speaking Fees As 'Not Very Much'

WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney has a new definition of "not much": $374,327.

On Tuesday, the Republican presidential candidate finally admitted that the effective tax rate he has been paying for the last several years is likely below that of middle-class workers, which would also include military servicemembers.

More

Lawmakers Want Answers

Lawmakers are hauling the National Park Service to Capitol Hill. They want to know why protestors have occupied a federally owned plaza in Washington for three months, the Washington Post reports. The Park Service says protestors have a First Amendment right to be there. But that doesn't satisfy the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) says it looks like protesters are camping out, which is against the law. City officials have asked the Park Service to remove the campsite at McPherson Square, just blocks from the White House, because of rats and other public health concerns. The hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

Proposed Sales Tax Hike Caught Md. Lawmakers By Surprise

ANNAPOLIS State lawmakers from Maryland's Eastern Shore are concerned about Gov. Martin O'Malley's habit over the last two years of announcing new initiatives without any notice. The latest instance involves a proposed 1-cent increase to the sales tax.

According to Associated Press reports, O'Malley mentioned last Wednesday the idea of raising the sales tax from 6 cents to 7 cents during the opening of this year's 90-day General Assembly session. O'Malley had previously spoken about the possibility for various tax increases, including the gas tax and the flush tax.

More

IRS Passes Milestone

The Internal Revenue Service has passed a milestone. It's processed 1 billion electronic tax returns. The IRS opened the 2012 tax filing season with a reminder that e-filing brings the fastest refunds. Last year, 77 percent of individual returns came in electronically. This year, the IRS is requiring professional filers to go electronic if they handle 10 or more clients.

Advocate Says Sussex Seniors Are Afraid

GEORGETOWN — Ed Funk is concerned that Sussex County provides more money for dog catchers than senior citizens, and he let county council know about it during a recent meeting. He wants Sussex officials to do more to protect seniors.

“I don't care if you bring in the National Guard or a posse, but you need to help seniors,” he said.

Speaking before council during the public comment portion of the agenda, Funk said because of a rise in crime, many seniors are afraid to come out of their homes – even to go to the mailbox. “Nobody is doing anything for seniors. It's pathetic,” he said.

More

Big Fire In Mardela

There is a large building fire at Bridge St. and Main St in Mardela. Six Fire Stations have responded. Real time image.

Councilman Tim Spies Files Ethics Charges Against Councilwoman Shanie Shields

12 January 2012

414 Virginia Avenue
Salisbury, MD 21801

Mr. Norman Lyster, Chairman
Salisbury Ethics Commission
125 North Division Street
Salisbury, MD 21801

Dear Chairman Lyster,
With this letter I do hereby express my wish to file an Ethics Complaint against Councilwoman Eugenie P. (Shanie) Shields regarding the following items of interest:

1)  On 26 April 2011, Councilwoman Shields voted for a zoning text amendment that directly and financially benefited her landlord.  At this city council meeting, even after considerable discussion, Shields did not volunteer to disclose to Council that she had a financial relationship with a person, her landlord, who would directly and financially benefit by her affirmative vote.  The discussion continued and it was not until another council member pointedly asked her if she would want to recuse herself from both the discussion and vote based on that relationship that she seemingly reluctantly stated that she had a financial connection to the landlord in question.  At that time she emphatically stated that she would not recuse herself, regardless of that then-acknowledged connection, and soon after voted for the amendment that did directly and financially favor her landlord, this even after it had been widely publicly revealed and extensively discussed that her landlord had represented to the city's building department a proposal for the use of a home he had constructed as a single family residence in a similarly zoned neighborhood, when indeed his plan for it, as clearly brought forward before the council, was a densely-occupied home for veterans.  Shields voted in favor of allowing this zoning change, which fully accommodated her landlord's desires as presented before council.

In this, I believe that Shields may have violated the Salisbury Ethics Code's conflict of interest1 section by not immediately and fully voluntarily disclosing her personal financial relationship with a man heavily financially involved in this matter of legislation before the council, and that she most certainly violated the Code by not recusing herself once that relationship was revealed in the council session.  In light of this, I strongly feel that Shields should be impelled to disclose all of the financial particulars of her relationship with her landlord so that the Commission, the council and the public can be fully informed as to whether or not she is or was the recipient of any sort of financial (i.e., unusually low rent, rent discounts, rent forgiveness, failure to pass down expenses, etc.) or other special considerations which might indicate a quid pro quo for her vote or votes.  I ask that the Commission be particularly and exhaustively thorough in its investigation of all of these elements.

2)  On 10 January 2012, Councilwoman Shields filed an Ethics Complaint against me, Councilman Tim Spies, which vehemently and emotionally asserted that I should not have voted on the charter amendment that put the city attorney under the control of the city council, and, further, that I should not vote on any landlord/tenant issues put before the council.  I believe that both of these assertions are specious, even foolish.  But by her doing so, I believe that Shields is attempting to obstruct me in my official capacity from voting on landlord/tenant issues in an effort to benefit both her landlord and herself.  She has said on many, many occasions that increased fees and penalties are passed down from landlords to tenants, a statement which is virtually indisputable, given the for-profit nature of residential rentals.  Shields is a tenant. The obstructing of legitimate government-related costs from being levied on landlords does directly and personally financially benefit Shields as a tenant, as those costs, in their absence, could not be passed on to her.
To show if Shields was financially affected by the most recently enacted city rental fee, and to satisfy a full query by the Commission, Shields should have to disclose incontrovertible proof of the dollar amounts of her rent payments to her landlord for at least a period of months before and after the most recent fee legislation was enacted and the city in receipt of payment of the new rental fee(s) from the landlord related to her residence at 621 Germania Circle. If her rent was not raised within a reasonable time to accommodate the landlord's increased overhead in this instance, it would indicate that the landlord was extending special financial treatment to her, should those accommodations not have been extended to all tenants of the landlord in question.  If the fees were passed on to her, then she, as a tenant in a position of city legislative authority, stands to financially benefit from opposing fees with her council votes.  There appears to me to be no either-or.   To fully validate the reality of pass-down of rental fees to tenants, the Commission should be prepared to exhaustively examine all of the rental receipts for a similar, if not an identical period for all of this landlord's residential tenants, keeping in mind the effective dates of increased fees received by the city as dictated by city ordinance.

3)  I believe that Councilwoman Shields should not have voted on any landlord or tenant issue , and that she should not be allowed to vote on any landlord or tenant issue in the future because of her financial relationship with her landlord, a landlord whose business of renting to her and others is regulated by the city; and because I believe her landlord may be an active member of a commonly locally recognized landlord association that, by very widely varied means, unremittingly and very aggressively lobbies the city council and other interested entities, purportedly on the behalf of landlords city-wide on landlord/tenant issues.  He, Shields' own landlord, not long ago spoke on the record at a public input session in strong opposition to some of the very legislation that would directly financially affect his business, to which Shields directly pays her rent.  Shields is on public record as saying that she did not want to even consider the proposed legislation.  Further, Shields is noted, again on public record, on many occasions, as having said that landlords pass their fees on to tenants.  Has her landlord consistently done so with her?  This remains to be seen.

Based on the above information, which is true to the best of my knowledge and recollection, I ask that these issues be stringently addressed at a hearing of the Ethics Commission, at which I would like to provide additional supporting evidence, and at which I would like Shields to disclose her finances as they relate, as described above, to renting from her landlord so that the Commission, council and the public will know with certainty whether or not she, as a member of the Salisbury City Council, has voted in a manner that may have financially benefited her landlord and/or herself as a renter in the City of Salisbury.  

I would ask that the Commission, with respect paid to my rights as a complainant,  inform me of its intended meeting date not fewer than two weeks before that date, so that I might be afforded an appropriate amount of time to prepare my case regarding Ms. Shields,   including  the gathering of documentation and recordings germane to the complaint.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Most sincerely,

Timothy K. Spies, BSN, RN
HMCM (CMDMC), USN, Retired
Councilman, City of Salisbury

1 CHAPTER 2.04 - ETHICS
2.04.030 Conflicts of Interest.
            Except where such interest is disclosed and does not create a conflict of interest, officials and employees who are subject to this chapter shall not:

            A. Participate on behalf of the city in its decision-making process on any matter which would, to their knowledge, have a direct financial impact, as distinguished from an indirect financial impact, which would be experienced by members of the public generally, on them, their spouse or lineal descendant, parent, grandparent, siblings, or a business entity with which they are affiliated.

The Letter The Daily Times Refused To Provide

Dr. David Lever, Executive Director
Public School Construction Program
200 W. Baltimore Street
Baltimore, MD 21201

Dear Dr. Lever:

Please be advised that the Wicomico County Charter sets forth the timeline for
preparation, review and Council action on our Capital Budget. As the County has not yet taken final action on the entire Capital Improvements Budget and Five-Year Capital Improvements Program, the specific details and final action are not certain at this time.

We recognize and appreciate your office’s continued support for our Board of
Education’s capital projects, and in particular, the Bennett Middle School replacement project.

We regret that there has been a pause in our funding of this program that was necessitated by both economic and programmatic concerns. I intend to recommend funding for Bennett Middle School and such other lessor Wicomico County Board of Education capital requests as can be funded in this austere environment.

Sincerely,
Richard M.Pollitt,.
County Executive