Four trillion dollars. It’s a lot of money no matter how you look at it. Only a rich nation can break mankind’s spending records every year for years and years. In that $4 trillion the President is requesting from Congress for 2017, I’d like to ask: What should federal employees be paid?
If you ask them, a lot more than they’re getting now.
In that respect, they’re just like the rest of us; only the scale changes. The Alphabet board just handed Google’s CEO $199 million in stock. By one reckoning, the CEO of McDonald’s makes the equivalent of $9,247 per hour. The CEO of Starbucks — the McDonald’s of coffee — collects more than $20 million in salary and stock in a good year. Trust me, those guys aren’t ashamed of asking for more and more from their boards. They probably have $500 per hour compensation specialists work it out for them.
Federal employees on Jan. 1 received a 1 percent raise, putting the average SES increase at a whopping, what, $1,700? $1,600? After taxes that’s enough to buy a curved TV set.
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DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
Monday, February 15, 2016
Cameras show newly nesting National Arboretum bald eagles
The American Eagle Foundation says the eagles, nicknamed “Mr. President” and “The First Lady,” have been nesting at the National Arboretum since October 2014. Last summer, the pair successfully raised one healthy eaglet.
Viewers from around the world have been watching their pair via two live-streaming high-definition video cameras. The eagles’ nest is atop a Tulip Poplar tree, surrounded by the Arboretum’s azalea collection.
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Cancer patients snagged in health law’s tangled paperwork
His financial assistance under President Barack Obama’s health care law got slashed. That meant his premium quadrupled and his deductible went from $900 to $4,600.
Hundreds of thousands of people lose subsidies under the health law, or even their policies, when they get tangled in a web of paperwork problems involving income, citizenship and taxes. Some are dealing with serious illnesses like cancer. Advocates fear the problems, if left unresolved, could undermine the nation’s historic gains in health insurance.
Ana Granado was scheduled for reconstruction after breast cancer surgery when she was notified that her coverage would be canceled because of questions about her immigration status. Legal aid attorneys got that cleared up quickly, but Granado’s financial assistance for her premiums was suspended.
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Worcester County Tea Party Speaker Series
Speaker: Worcester County Board of Elections
Topic: Learning All About the New Maryland Voting System!
Date: Thursday February 18, 12016
Time: Meeting begins at 7PM, doors open at 6:30PM
Location: Worcester County Library - Ocean Pines Branch, 11107 Cathell Rd., Ocean Pines, MD 21811
Admission: Free and Open to the Public.
For more information email WCTPPatriots@gmail.com, go to the web sitewww.worcestercountyteaparty.com, https://www.facebook.com/WorcesterCountyTeaParty or call 443-614-7214
Philanthropist gives $18M to refurbish Lincoln Memorial
Philanthropist David Rubenstein, who has already donated tens of millions of dollars to refurbish the Washington Monument and other icons, is giving $18 million to fix up the Lincoln Memorial.
The National Park Service announced the gift Monday. The money will be used to fix the memorial’s roof, clean the marble and improve accessibility by adding a second elevator. The park service also plans to create 15,000 square feet of visitor space tucked beneath the memorial for exhibits.
Rubenstein said his admiration for Lincoln drew him to this project.
“Lincoln deserves to have his memorial in tip-top shape,” he said in a phone interview.
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The National Park Service announced the gift Monday. The money will be used to fix the memorial’s roof, clean the marble and improve accessibility by adding a second elevator. The park service also plans to create 15,000 square feet of visitor space tucked beneath the memorial for exhibits.
Rubenstein said his admiration for Lincoln drew him to this project.
“Lincoln deserves to have his memorial in tip-top shape,” he said in a phone interview.
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NAPO letter to Goodell
Mr. Roger Goodell
Commissioner, National Football League
280 Park Avenue, 15th Floor
New York, New York 10017
Re: NFL’s support of cop-killing “entertainment”
Dear Commissioner Goodell,
On behalf of the more than 240,000 law enforcement officers represented by our Association, including officers in a sizable majority of the cities represented by the League’s teams, I write to you to condemn in the strongest possible terms your support of cop-killer “entertainment”. Last night’s half-time performance by Beyoncé Knowles-Carter hit an all-time low, even for a League that already turned a blind eye to its players perpetuating the “hands up, don’t shoot” blood libel on American police.
Last night, your League made the jump from slandering police as killers, to celebrating cop-killers themselves. Your Black Panther themed half-time show was an obnoxious spectacle of ignorance and malice. You’ve done your part to make trendy and acceptable the symbols of kidnapping and murder of American police officers. The black berets and high-fisted salutes were a deliberate tribute to the likes of cop-killers H. Rap Brown, Joanne Chesimard and Wesley Cook.
Ms. Knowles-Carter, whose resume includes such all-American items as private performance for the late Libyan dictator Muammar el-Qaddafi’s family, can’t pretend that her act wasn’t deliberately designed to glamorize attacks on police. But what about the NFL? On the same night that hundreds of officers gave up their evenings with their own families to protect you and your players and fans, you honor them by promoting song and dance celebrating cop-killers. Any player who displayed such lunacy and lack of touch with reality would be prohibited from returning to the field under your League’s own brain injury policy. You should do the same and either publicly apologize to America’s men and women in law enforcement, or step aside in favor of someone who can recognize just how much your League and teams owe to the rule of law in this country.
Sincerely,
Michael McHale
President
WHAT I LEARNED FROM WATCHING THE DEMOCRAT’S DEBATE
* Black Lives Matter, All Lives Don't Matter.
* College should be free and all student loans cancelled.
* All medical treatment should be free.
* To become an American citizen you just need to show up here.
* The economy sucks and after 7 years in office, it's not Obama's fault.
* The Middle Class is shrinking rapidly and after 7 years in office, it's not Obama's fault.
* Average family income is continuing to drop and after 7 years in office, it's not Obama's fault.
* Black youths have over a 50% unemployment rate and after 7 years in office it's not Obama's fault.
* Hispanic youth unemployment is over 35% and after 7 years in office, it's not Obama's fault.
* 50% of the population is paying 100% of all the taxes and they are still not paying their “fair share.” The other 50% are not receiving nearly enough free stuff and deserve more.
* Everyone who votes Democrat will work less, make more money, get more time off, spend more time with family, pay less taxes, and get more government subsidies.
* Government wants even more money to squander on old promises already broken.
* Being a "Progressive" is less cringe-worthy than saying you're a Liberal.
* When America grows up, we want to be Norway, Sweden or the Netherlands .
* There's a quagmire in Iraq and Obama's complete retreat from there has nothing to do with the situation.
* Republicans want dirty air, oil spills, trash in the streets, polluted oceans, no medical treatment, young people without any education being paid the lowest possible wages, starving children, were responsible for Jim Crow Laws and don't believe in equal rights.
* Snowden and General Petraeus broke laws for releasing and not securing secret documents but Hillary Clinton shares no responsibility for doing WORSE.
* If Hilary is elected, everything will be rainbows and Unicorns - just like with Obama.
* Hillary Clinton does walk on water.
* Cheaters do prosper.
* People often cheer stupidity.
* There is only one candidate given a voice in the Democrat Race.
* Hillary and Bill Clinton were born poor Black Children.
* All the qualifications needed to be President is to be a woman.
* Evil looks like anything white, rich, successful and productive.
* You will receive a participation trophy in life.
* Agreements of any kind should be signed and committed to, even if the other agreeing party doesn't live up to its obligations.
* Everyone else does it, so should we, regardless of any results in those other countries.
* Everything is still Bush's fault.
* Everything is still Bush's fault.
How To Explain The Small Business Failure Rate
4 Things Entrepreneurs May Be Doing Wrong
Within the timeframe of a year and a half, about 80 percent of new businesses fail, according to Bloomberg Business research.
And, throughout the past 30-plus years, the amount of new businesses has drastically declined, according to Gallup. During the economic meltdown of 2008, it was the first time in several decades in which more businesses failed than new ones were started. About 70,000 more businesses fail than are launched.
“We see it all the time in our communities – signs on doors that read, ‘Due to circumstances beyond our control we have to close our business…’ What business owners today don’t seem to understand is that what’s required, not only to survive but to thrive, is absolutely within their control,” says Pamela Herrmann, author of the bestseller “The Customer Manifesto, How Business Has Failed Customers And What It Takes To Earn Lasting Loyalty,” ranked No. 3 on the list of customer service books every business owner should read by Business.com.
“The truth is, what is required is way outside their skill sets. The typical business owner has no idea how to create leverage, how to utilize new technologies, how to strategize on any level that makes them competitive or how to stop the hemorrhaging of cash in the form of failed online marketing investments.
Herrmann is co-founder, along with Patty Dominguez, of CREATE Buzz (www.CreateBuzzNow.com), a Fortune 50 branding expert which is changing the way small businesses connect with their customers – both online and offline. Dominguez and Herrmann review four mistakes – and ways to correct them – to keep businesses thriving:
• They miss their biggest revenue opportunity. “When we look at traditional marketing, so many solutions providers are focused on customer acquisition and how to get prospects into their marketing funnel – which is totally necessary and valid,” Dominguez says. “However, the biggest revenue opportunity is in knowing how to keep these customers, because that’s where the higher profits are in the lifecycle of a customer.”
“We teach our small business clients not only how to get new customers but more importantly, how to keep their existing customers,” Herrmann says. “Most small businesses don’t have the foundational strategy for how to build their business for growth. Once you have that in place, marketing tactics such as word of mouth online can be fully leveraged, and that is the key to organic growth.”
• Entrepreneurs not only track the wrong metrics, they don’t even know what they are. In the absence of a strategy, business owners make marketing decisions based on short-term data, like how much money is in the bank or how many sales they made last month. This is reactive — not proactive.
“In life and in business, it’s often not the ability to answer a question, but rather whether or not you’re asking the right questions,” Dominguez says.
So, what are some of those questions? – The duo have come up with the following:
How many new leads did you get this month?
Within the timeframe of a year and a half, about 80 percent of new businesses fail, according to Bloomberg Business research.
And, throughout the past 30-plus years, the amount of new businesses has drastically declined, according to Gallup. During the economic meltdown of 2008, it was the first time in several decades in which more businesses failed than new ones were started. About 70,000 more businesses fail than are launched.
“We see it all the time in our communities – signs on doors that read, ‘Due to circumstances beyond our control we have to close our business…’ What business owners today don’t seem to understand is that what’s required, not only to survive but to thrive, is absolutely within their control,” says Pamela Herrmann, author of the bestseller “The Customer Manifesto, How Business Has Failed Customers And What It Takes To Earn Lasting Loyalty,” ranked No. 3 on the list of customer service books every business owner should read by Business.com.
“The truth is, what is required is way outside their skill sets. The typical business owner has no idea how to create leverage, how to utilize new technologies, how to strategize on any level that makes them competitive or how to stop the hemorrhaging of cash in the form of failed online marketing investments.
Herrmann is co-founder, along with Patty Dominguez, of CREATE Buzz (www.CreateBuzzNow.com), a Fortune 50 branding expert which is changing the way small businesses connect with their customers – both online and offline. Dominguez and Herrmann review four mistakes – and ways to correct them – to keep businesses thriving:
• They miss their biggest revenue opportunity. “When we look at traditional marketing, so many solutions providers are focused on customer acquisition and how to get prospects into their marketing funnel – which is totally necessary and valid,” Dominguez says. “However, the biggest revenue opportunity is in knowing how to keep these customers, because that’s where the higher profits are in the lifecycle of a customer.”
“We teach our small business clients not only how to get new customers but more importantly, how to keep their existing customers,” Herrmann says. “Most small businesses don’t have the foundational strategy for how to build their business for growth. Once you have that in place, marketing tactics such as word of mouth online can be fully leveraged, and that is the key to organic growth.”
• Entrepreneurs not only track the wrong metrics, they don’t even know what they are. In the absence of a strategy, business owners make marketing decisions based on short-term data, like how much money is in the bank or how many sales they made last month. This is reactive — not proactive.
“In life and in business, it’s often not the ability to answer a question, but rather whether or not you’re asking the right questions,” Dominguez says.
So, what are some of those questions? – The duo have come up with the following:
How many new leads did you get this month?
WBOC Just Can't Say They Are Sorry
Perhaps after they read this they'll come clean and apologize and simply own up to their failure.
I know people who chose not to go to work today because the road conditions were so bad and when they watched the early news there was nothing mentioned about how bad the roads were.
WBOC failed us again.
Snow Emergency Plan Lifted In Wicomico County
This press release is to inform residents of Wicomico County that as of 1600 hrs on Monday February 15, 2016 the Snow Emergency Plan in effect for Wicomico County is being lifted. Motorists are reminded to use due care when traveling on the roadways and leave plenty of time for travel. As always, motorists are reminded that if they need assistance to dial 911 or #77.
How I Quit My Smartphone Addiction and Really Started Living
I physically take the handset receiver away from my ear and hang it on the weight-triggered click switch that cuts off my landline’s dial tone.
I take my laptop, Google the address, add better directions to my notes and head outside to my 1989 pick-up truck (whose most recent technological feature is a cassette player) and drive over. If I get lost on the way, I’ll need to ask someone for directions. If she changes her plans, she won’t be able to tell me or cancel at a moment’s notice. If I crash on the way, I won’t be calling 911.
I’m fine with all of this. As you guessed by now, I haven’t had a cellphone for more than 18 months.
I didn’t just cancel cellular service and keep the smartphone for Wi-Fi fun, nor did I downgrade to a flip phone to “simplify”; I opted out entirely. There is no mobile phone in my life, in any form, at all.
Arguably, there should be. I’m a freelance writer and graphic designer with many reasons to have a little computer in my holster, but I don’t miss it. There are a dozen ways to contact me between email and social media. When I check in, it’s on my terms. No one can interrupt my bad singing of Hooked on a Feeling with a text message. It’s as freeing as the first night of a vacation.
“My phone” has become “the phone”. It’s no longer my personal assistant; it has reverted back to being a piece of furniture – like “the fridge” or “the couch”, two other items you also wouldn’t carry around on your butt.
I didn’t get rid of it for some hipster-inspired luddite ideal or because I couldn’t afford it. I cut myself off because my life is better without a cellphone. I’m less distracted and less accessible, two things I didn’t realize were far more important than instantly knowing how many movies Kevin Kline’s been in since 2010 at a moment’s notice.
I can’t be bothered unless I choose to be. It makes a woman feel rich.
Keep reading..
Comcast outage affecting customers nationwide
Comcast official outage map on their website shows affected customers in the Bay Area, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, Seattle, Atlanta, Baltimore, Jacksonville, Boston, Washington, DC, and Fort Lauderdale.
Comcast released the following statement, "we’re continuing to investigate what appears to be a temporary network interruption that impacted some of our services (Monday) morning. Our engineers have been working on this and services are starting to be restored. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused our customers."
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Pastor Offers Free Prayers At Coffee Houses
Nevertheless, every Thursday morning Pastor Thomas indulges himself in a steaming cup of java at local coffee houses.
“I’m a tea drinker all the other days of the week,” said Thomas, the associate pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. “I’m a weirdly patterned person.”
It does seem a bit unusual – akin to a vegetarian ordering tofu at a barbecue joint. But it turns the pastor’s weekly coffee klatch is all about prayer. Yes, prayer.
Every Thursday morning, Pastor Thomas puts on a clergy collar and sets up shop in a local coffee house. He sets out a little sign that reads, “Free Prayer,” and then waits to see who God sends his way.
“I’m humbled all the time by the way that the Spirit works,” the pastor told me. “God is working to give people the courage to say, ‘All right – I’m going to take this pastor up on this offer.’”
And they have – by the hundreds.
The “Free Prayer” program started quietly last summer – inspired by a word of advice Pastor Thomas had received from another member of the clergy..
Read more here
Flags for Heroes Memorial Day 2016
Flags for Heroes
Memorial Day 2016
Remembering those who served.
Honoring those who serve.
All gave some. Some gave all.
Remembering those who served.
Honoring those who serve.
All gave some. Some gave all.
500 flags will be displayed at the Hobbs Road & Rt 50 intersection in Salisbury, MD, located directly next to Arthur W. Perdue Stadium. The flags will be displayed the week before and the week after Memorial Day 2016 with a small ceremony to honor heroes (date TBD).
Honor your personal hero by sponsoring a flag with a tax deductible $50 donation. Heroes include, but are not limited to: military, first-responder, or other hero (past or present).
Heroes and sponsors will be recognized in a local newspaper insert. Sponsors will also receive a certificate of appreciation.
Proceeds support local veteran causes and Rotary’s community projects
If you have a printed form/brochure and you would like to mail in a check... make your $50 check payable to: Salisbury Sunrise Rotary Foundation (makes your contribution tax-deductible). Please write Flags for Heroes on the memo line. Give to a Rotarian or mail to: Rotary Club of Salisbury-Sunrise, PO Box 4473, Salisbury, MD, 21803-44. One check may be written for multiple flag sponsorship forms at $50 each.
Questions? Contact us via email at salisburysunrise@gmail.com.
SNOW EMERGENCY LIFTED IN WORCESTER COUNTY
SNOW EMERGENCY LIFTED
Effective 2-15-2016 at 1400 hours, The Maryland State Police Berlin Barrack in conjunction with local agencies and the State Highway Administration have LIFTED the Snow Emergency Plan for Worcester County.
SNOW EMERGENCY LIFTED
Effective 2-15-2016 at 1400 hours, The Maryland State Police Berlin Barrack in conjunction with local agencies and the State Highway Administration have LIFTED the Snow Emergency Plan for Worcester County.
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