Attention

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent our advertisers

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Biden’s Office Secures Conviction Of Healthcare Professional Charged With Patient Abuse

Georgetown – Attorney General Beau Biden announced today that his office has secured the conviction of a Sussex County woman who was charged with abusing an elderly patient at a Seaford nursing home.

“We have a special obligation to look out for the most vulnerable members of our community, including residents of nursing homes and patients in healthcare facilities who often can’t speak up and speak out,” Biden said. “That’s why we use our broad authority under state and federal law to hold individuals who mistreat them accountable for their crimes.”

In late February, the Seaford Police Department referred a report of patient abuse to the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, which opened an investigation. The investigation revealed that during a work shift at the Methodist Manor House on February 24, 2013, Anne Nunemann, a Certified Nursing Assistant at the facility, placed large trash bag over an 89 year-old resident’s head as she sat in her wheelchair in the facility. Fortunately, the victim, who suffered from severe dementia, did not sustain physical injury. The defendant was terminated from her position at the Seaford nursing home as a result of the incident.
More

St. Andrews Church--Spagetti Dinner Tues. 22nd TONIGHT

ST. ANDREWS METHODIST CHURCH , AT 400 E VINE ST IN
SALISBURY , WILL BE HOLDING THEIR MENS "HOME MADE" SPAGETTI DINNER

ON TUESDAY, OCT. 22ND FROM 4-7 PM. 

ADULTS---$7.00
CHILDREN UNDER 12 yrs---$3.00

CARRY OUTS ARE AVAILABLE!

Multi-Billion Dollar Criminal Probe Won't End Any Time Soon For JPMorgan

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co CEO Jamie Dimon has pleaded with and complained to the U.S. Justice Department but cannot convince the government to end its criminal probe of his bank because prosecutors are not yet certain of their findings, people familiar with the matter said.
Dimon has negotiated a tentative $13 billion deal to settle many of the U.S. investigations into mortgage bonds that JPMorgan - and the banks it bought during the financial crisis - sold to investors.

But the criminal investigation proved to be a sticking point during negotiations, the sources said, and Dimon's inability to win this point underscores the breadth of the problems his bank faces even after it resolves these mortgage suits.

The criminal probe relates to whether JPMorgan misrepresented the quality of the mortgages it was packaging into bonds and selling to investors.

More

Monday, October 21, 2013

HOLDER: DIAL 911, WAIT ON POLICE DURING MASS SHOOTINGS

In remarks for a law enforcement conference in Philadelphia, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder says unarmed citizens victimized in mass shootings should count on local police instead of specially trained units to arrive on scene.

According to the AP, "the attorney general says authorities don't always have the luxury of time to get their most highly trained officers on the scene." He said this also means local police should get special training and preparation for what they might face should a mass shooting take place in their area.

More

America Before And After The Government Shutdown


‘Duck Dynasty’ Star: ‘It Ain’t Gun Control We Need, It’s Sin Control’

One “Duck Dynasty” star made his stance on gun control known in an interview with Men’s Journal.

“It ain’t gun control we need, it’s sin control,” Si Robertson said.

In a wide-ranging interview with Men’s Journal, the man known as Uncle Si described how he used to be a “sinner” during his younger days when he was drafted into the Army and heading off to Vietnam.

“I kept a fifth of whiskey in my pocket everywhere I went,” he said. “I tried dope one time, okay, like marijuana, but why would you smoke something that makes you feel 100 years old? So, drugs wasn’t it for me. In my mind, it was alcohol and whoring around.”

More 

O'Malley Raised Unemployment Insurance Tax To Highest In The Nation

Last week Governor O'Malley boasted about the lower unemployment taxes Maryland businesses will see next year. He claimed the lower rates are a sign of the "progress" of Maryland's economic recovery under the O'Malley-Brown administration.

"What recovery is he talking about?" said business leader and Change Maryland Chairman Larry Hogan. "There are 6,500 fewer small businesses, unemployment has doubled, and 120,000 additional people are unemployed since O'Malley took office. This is just another chapter in Martin O'Malley's book of fairy tales," Hogan said.

Due to the recession, unemployment claims all but depleted Maryland's Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, going from a high of $680 million in 2009 to a low of $50 million in 2010. Governor O'Malley cajoled and bullied business groups, who initially opposed his plan to replenish the unemployment trust fund.

However, O'Malley's plan included taking $127 million in federal funds with all sorts of policy strings attached, which saddled Maryland businesses with even more tax and regulatory burdens

Under O'Malley's plan state businesses saw their unemployment insurance taxes triple to the highest in the nation.

The state also borrowed $250 million from the federal government to meet unemployment insurance benefit claims.

In the year after O'Malley's "fix," a legislative audit found that his Department of Labor Licensing and Regulation paid $150 million in unemployment insurance claims to people were working, dead, or in prison.

"Martin O'Malley will never tell you the whole story," Hogan said. "The fact is, that it was the O'Malley-Brown administration that foisted these high tax rates on Maryland businesses in the first place. Over-charging and gouging businesses for years during the recession caused us to now have a surplus, it had nothing to do with any imaginary recovery,” Hogan continued. “O'Malley cares more about the unemployment insurance fund than he did about addressing unemployment."

Change Maryland has documented the O'Malley-Brown administration's 40 tax and fee increases, which had removed $9.5 billion annually from Maryland's economy. They include raising the corporate income tax from 7 percent to 8.25 percent and multiple personal income tax rate hikes, which affects many of Maryland's small businesses.

According to the non-partisan Tax Foundation, Maryland pass through entities—businesses that pay the personal income tax rate—face the seventh highest marginal tax rates in the nation. The Tax Foundation cited Maryland's high unemployment tax rate as one reason they ranked the state 41st its Business Tax Climate Index.

Change Maryland is the state's largest and fastest growing grass roots movement and has swelled to over 60,000 members. Change Maryland is the leading voice of independent, non-partisan opposition to the O'Malley-Brown power structure, focusing on economic and fiscal reform.

In 2013, Change Maryland brought together federal, state, and local government officials, think tanks, economists and over 400 business leaders from across the state for a summit on improving Maryland's economic competitiveness, in order to identify comprehensive solutions to the state's serious economic problems. The group also produced numerous economic studies which have shown the impact of the 40 consecutive O'Malley-Brown tax increases on Maryland's economy: a mass exodus of businesses, jobs and taxpayers fleeing the state at an alarming rate and taking billions out of our economy.

Larry Hogan has been active in the Maryland business community for over 25 years. He is the founder and President of the Hogan Companies, leaders in economic development, who have brought hundreds of companies and thousands of jobs to Maryland. He took a hiatus from the private sector to serve as a Cabinet Secretary in the Ehrlich Administration. He has led citizen referendums to limit taxes and to reform government and spent decades working to change Maryland for the better.

NEWS GETS EVEN WORSE FOR SCOUT LEADER ACCUSED OF PUSHING OVER JURASSIC-ERA ROCK FORMATION

The situation seems to have gotten worse for the Boy Scout leader who pushed over a large, ancient rock formation in a state park, evidence of which was filmed in a now-viral video.

Amid speculation that those involved could face felony charges, the man who actually knocked over the “goblin,” or hoodoo rock formation, in Utah’s Goblin Valley State Park is now facing additional scrutiny because he was supposedly disabled in a car accident.

KTVX-TV reported that Glenn Taylor is currently suing Alan MacDonald for injuries suffered and medical expenses after a car accident four years ago. 

More 

WITCHES BALL @ Sobo's


THE PERSON WHO LEFT AN ANGRY NOTE ON A QUADRIPLEGIC’S BMW PARKED IN HANDICAPPED SPOT PROBABLY DIDN’T EXPECT THIS RESULT

The angry note left on Matt Milstead’s BMW, which was parked in a handicapped spot, two weeks ago got at least one thing right — but that’s it.

See, the anonymous note-leaver was right that Milstead is a professional. He was even close on Milstead’s age — he’s 36. But Milstead was parked in the handicapped spot at a Grand Rapids, Mich., YMCA on October 9 for a good reason: he was playing wheelchair rugby, according to WOOD-TV.
More

Caption This Photo 10-21-13


SPD Press Release 10-21-13


BREAKING NEWS: This Just In

Berlin fire EMS units on the scene serious mvc with multiple rollover. Male patient with serious injuries. Flown via Trooper 4 to PRMC. Patient  in early 20's ejected.

Deaf Advocates Suing University of Maryland Have Had Success with Other Institutions

A lawsuit filed in September by the National Association of the Deaf against the University of Maryland for its lack of amenities for deaf fans at sporting events is just one of many such efforts to ensure hearing-impaired sports enthusiasts can enjoy themselves at stadiums.

Association CEO Howard A. Rosenblum said his organization has successfully sued other athletic organizations over the same issue, including the Washington Redskins, Ohio State University and the University of Kentucky.

The association successfully sued the Washington Redskins in 2011. According to lawsuit documents, the Redskins were required to “provide deaf and hard of hearing fans equal access to the aural information broadcast over the stadium bowl public address system at FedEx Field.”

More 

Interesting Take!!!

I have worked in the government on and off for 38 years. During that time I became quite familiar with requisitions, bidding, awarding contracts etc. It is a time consuming process with bean-counters and pencil-necked bureaucrats every step of the way. The simplest request takes months not days or hours.

In less than 8 hours of the shutdown, "miraculously", professionally printed, 3X4 foot signs appeared all over the country in the tens of thousands saying- “this [park, facility, etc. with custom logos and current dates] closed due to government shutdown.
There has not been a government shutdown in 17 years. These signs were designed, specifications were determined, signs were then requisitioned, bids were posted and vetted, government contracts were awarded. The materials were then ordered and the signs manufactured then distributed through U.S. Mails or freight companies.

This shutdown was orchestrated, and planned well in advance, at least 6-8 month ago.

Millions of tax dollars were appropriated and spent in this process. There is a paper trail a mile long leading directly to the White House.

Existing Home Sales Plunge At Fastest Pace In 15 Month As Affordability Drops To 5 Year Low

Thanks to a considerable downward revision of the magical NAR numbers, the existing home sales MoM 'beat' expectations for September but the two-month average shows the largest drop in sales since June 2012. From the "cylical peak" in July, of course extrapolated by any and all apologists as confirming the voyage to the moon, it seems, just as we noted, that "affordability" - long shunned by the bulls (because, like you know, interest rates are still low compare to the 1970s...) - has collapsed to five-year lows; worse, in fact, than we expected [3]. With 33% of all transactions cash, it is little surprise that affordability has fallen to a five-year low as home price increases easily outpaced income growth.

More

Hot Wheels For Roberto's Hot Peanuts


I am trying to raise $30,000 to buy a used lift-van for a dear friend and neighbor who has ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. My name is Kate Manizade, and I live down the block, and have watched this disease attack our friend and neighbor.

His name is Robert Ortiz, he has a wife and three children, and needs this van to get to doctor's appointments and to get out and about using his power-chair. A used Toyota or Honda handicapped-compatible van starts around $30k. Robert didn't ask me to do this, but when I asked him to let me do it, he said "Ok".
More

O'Malley Raised Unemployment Insurance Tax to Highest in the Nation

Last week Governor O'Malley boasted about the lower unemployment taxes Maryland businesses will see next year. He claimed the lower rates are a sign of the "progress" of Maryland's economic recovery under the O'Malley-Brown administration.

"What recovery is he talking about?" said business leader and Change Maryland Chairman Larry Hogan. "There are 6,500 fewer small businesses, unemployment has doubled, and 120,000 additional people are unemployed since O'Malley took office. This is just another chapter in Martin O'Malley's book of fairy tales," Hogan said.

Due to the recession, unemployment claims all but depleted Maryland's Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, going from a high of $680 million in 2009 to a low of $50 million in 2010. Governor O'Malley cajoled and bullied business groups, who initially opposed his plan to replenish the unemployment trust fund.

More 

Snowden Journalist’s New Venture To Be Bankrolled By eBay Founder

For years, the tech billionaire Pierre M. Omidyar has been experimenting with ways to promote serious journalism, searching for the proper media platform to support with the fortune he earned as the founder of eBay. He has made grants to independent media outlets in Africa and government watchdog groups in the United States. In a more direct effort, he created a news Web site in Hawaii, his home state.

Then last summer, The Washington Post came calling in its pursuit of a buyer. The Graham family ended up selling The Post to a different tech billionaire, Jeffrey P. Bezos of Amazon. But the experience, Mr. Omidyar wrote on his blog on Wednesday, “got me thinking about what kind of social impact could be created if a similar investment was made in something entirely new, built from the ground up.”

Mr. Omidyar also confirmed that he would be personally financing just such a new “mass media” venture, where he will be joined by the journalist Glenn Greenwald of The Guardian, the British daily. Mr. Greenwald gained notoriety this summer when he reported on the revelations about National Security Agency surveillance contained in papers leaked by Edward J. Snowden.

More

Anthrax Plot Claims In Maryland Led To 1990s FBI Probe Of PETA

The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in the late 1990s after hearing claims that the group was planning an anthrax attack, FBI documents obtained by the group show.

According to the documents, FBI investigators were told that PETA planned to release anthrax at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Washington, D.C.

PETA obtained the documents earlier this year through a Freedom of Information Act request and provided them to The Virginian-Pilot after the newspaper requested them, the newspaper reported Sunday.

More