States To Feds: Take This Law And Shove It

“We don’t need permission from the feds to exercise our rights!”

That’s the message the Tenth Amendment Center and The Foundation for a Free Society will be bringing to the year’s biggest event for conservatives with the premiere of the explosive documentary film, “Nullification: The Rightful Remedy.”

The documentary explores the history of state nullification, the constitutional legitimacy of the idea and how the concept can be used today to fight encroachment of federal power.

Nullification is a states’-rights doctrine written by Thomas Jefferson in 1798 in The Kentucky Resolutions, which were written to protest the Federalist Congress’ passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts. Under the nullification concept, states can refuse to recognize a federal law passed by Congress if the federal government overstepped its constitutional authority in passing the legislation.“

‘Nullification: The Rightful Remedy’ promises to be the most comprehensive documentary on the subject of the Tenth Amendment and nullification, the long-forgotten tool that Jefferson considered our best defense against the federal government’s unconstitutional usurpation of power,” said Jason Rink, executive director of the Foundation for a Free Society and producer and director of the film.

In 1798, Jefferson explained that the states shaped the federal government and ratified the Constitution, so they have the power to determine whether the federal government is abiding by the Constitution. He warned the states to be alert against violation of the Constitution and not to hesitate to strike down unconstitutional legislation by Congress or the president.

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Should More Schools Have Plan B Contraceptive Available From Vending Machines?

University is making headlines across the country today after newspapers and TV stations picked up an AP story about the school offering Plan B emergency contraceptive (you can also call it levonorgestrel if you're not into brand names) via a vending machine in the school's health center.

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Why Did It Take Them So Long?

This afternoon, Governor O’Malley will give a lecture on same-sex marriage to Attorney General Joe Curran’s class at the University of Baltimore School of Law. He’ll be giving out this handout and we wanted to share. As the Governor said in his State of the State address, “I’m sure there are many who in hindsight of history will say, “why did it take them so long?……” I’m sure people back in Attorney General Curran’s day asked the same thing…

Governor O'Malley

Here's Government's Latest Plan To Gain Control Of The Internet

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, following a recent anti-piracy legislative debacle with SOPA and PIPA, will lead his second effort of 2012 to push Internet-regulating legislation, this time in the form of a new cybersecurity bill. The expected bill is the latest attempt by the Democrats to broadly expand the authority of executive branch agencies over the Internet.

Details about the bill remain shrouded in secrecy. Clues available to the public suggest that the bill might be stronger than President Barack Obama’s cybersecurity proposal, which was released in May 2011. Reid said that he would bring the bill — expected to come out of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, chaired by Connecticut independent Sen. Joe Lieberman — to the floor during the first Senate work period of 2012.

A classified meeting behind closed doors in October 2011 between key Senate committee leaders with jurisdiction over cybersecurity and White House officials, took place at the request of the Obama administration. Lieberman, in an interview with The Hill in October, said that past Senate cybersecurity bills were considerably stronger than the White House proposal.

The White House proposal recommended that the Department of Homeland Security be given broad regulatory authority for cybersecurity matters over civilian networks. The White House proposal also recommends that the DHS program be “developed in consultation with privacy and civil liberties experts and with the approval of the Attorney General.”

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A Budget Of Choices

As the jobs recovery continues, there has been some chatter about the choices being made here in Maryland to help speed our recovery along compared to our neighbors across the Potomac.

Budgets are about choices, and those choices have real consequences. For example, Governor O’Malley has chosen to protect record investments in public education, affordable college and Maryland’s innovation economy even in the toughest of times.

Last year, Maryland created 30,300 new jobs, most of them in the private sector, and at nearly two and half times the rate of neighboring Virginia. Our public universities and colleges have become more affordable, not less. And we saw healthcare coverage expanded to more than 400,000 people who were previously uninsured – about half of them children.

While our neighbors in Virginia begin considering a new two-year budget, they too will have to take a hard look at the consequences of Governor McDonnell’s choices for children and families throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.

For example, even as Governor McDonnell’s proposed budget spends about $7 billion dollars more than his Democratic predecessor, his budget cuts $450,000 in healthcare for Virginia’s children, and $520 million less for hospitals that could have been used to provide life-saving care to citizens.

To be certain, Governor McDonnell made a choice last year to write a $620 million IOU to Virginia’s public pension system, compounding the problems to be addressed in this new proposal. Even as he’s now pledging to “fix” Virginia’s pensions system that he helped break, Virginia’s public schools will now have to do more with less as he begins to gradually shift revenue away from schools, public safety, and health programs to roads, rails, and bridges.

The Washington Post notes that Virginia faces a transportation funding shortfall of $1 billion annually. The roads, bridges, mass transportation, schools, water treatment facilities and more that our parents and grandparents built simply aren’t going to hold up forever.

But there are no easy choices that can fix these problems. And there are certainly no easy choices that would satisfy the tea party elements of his Republican Party to help him win the #2 spot on Mitt Romney’s 2012 ticket.

So Governor McDonnell made a different choice, one that diverts funding intended for schools, children and healthcare but fails to make even the slightest dent in a transportation funding problem that he himself has called “a crisis.” The Washington Post has correctly labeled his choice as politically expedient, a major failure of leadership, and one that is likely to haunt Virginia for years.

But maybe if things don’t work out in November, he can convince Mitt Romney to at least buy the naming rights to the Virginia side of the new ‘Mitt Romney Woodrow Wilson Bridge.’

Military Families Paying Too Much For Child Care

Many military families are paying a lot more than they need to for child care. That's according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office. GAO found a high rate of military deployments is one factor that's led child care facilities on military bases to fill up. To compensate, the Defense Department offers subsidies so families can use off-base child care. But GAO found many military familes are never told about those subsidies. DoD says it's in the middle of new construction projects that'll provide 21-thousand new child care spaces on military bases. And later this year, they plan to pilot a new central website that will let servicemembers request child care services either on-or-off of military bases.

Sheriff Joe Sets D-Day On Obama's Eligibility

Following a Georgia judge’s ruling that Barack Obama is eligible to be on the state’s 2012 Democratic Party presidential ballot, the front lines in the continuing eligibility battle are being fought in Arizona.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio told WND his office has scheduled a news conference in Phoenix for March 1 to release findings of the Cold Case Posse that has been investigating Barack Obama’s birth certificate and eligibility to be president.

Arpaio declined to release to WND any of the posse’s conclusions in advance of the press conference, although he is on record saying the findings may be “shocking” to many.

Arpaio’s decision to investigate Obama follows a meeting held in his office Aug. 17 with tea party representatives from Surprise, Ariz., who presented a petition signed by more than 250 Maricopa County residents. The petitioners expressed concern that their voting rights could be irreparably compromised if Obama uses a forged birth certificate to be placed on the 2012 presidential ballot in Arizona or otherwise is found to be ineligible.

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Thomas Sowell: A Defining Moment

Governor Mitt Romney's statement about not worrying about the poor has been treated as a gaffe in much of the media, and those in the Republican establishment who have been rushing toward endorsing his coronation as the GOP's nominee for president -- with 90 percent of the delegates still not yet chosen -- have been trying to sweep his statement under the rug.

But Romney's statement about not worrying about the poor -- because they "have a very ample safety net" -- was followed by a statement that was not just a slip of the tongue, and should be a defining moment in telling us about this man's qualifications as a conservative and, more important, as a potential President of the United States.

Mitt Romney has come out in support of indexing the minimum wage law, to have it rise automatically to keep pace with inflation. To many people, that would seem like a small thing that can be left for economists or statisticians to deal with.

But to people who call themselves conservatives, and aspire to public office, there is no excuse for not being aware of what a major social disaster the minimum wage law has been for the young, the poor and especially for young and poor blacks.

It is not written in the stars that young black males must have astronomical rates of unemployment. It is written implicitly in the minimum wage laws.

We have gotten so used to seeing unemployment rates of 30 or 40 percent for black teenage males that it might come as a shock to many people to learn that the unemployment rate for sixteen- and seventeen-year-old black males was just under 10 percent back in 1948. Moreover, it was slightly lower than the unemployment rate for white males of the same age.

How could this be?

(Keep reading..)

Teachers Union Staffers Set Sail On 7-Day Caribbean Cruise

Imagine your organization is facing attacks from all sides. Imagine it’s losing members and revenue. Imagine governors and mayors – of both political parties – publicly denouncing your industry as “broken” and move swiftly to stifle your power and influence, while you flail away helplessly.

What to do? What else to do but go down drinking?

That’s what members of the National Education Association’s National Staff Organization have apparently decided. The NSO is an association of sorts for teachers’ union staff – political and communications types.

Following an “Advocacy Retreat” with the theme “Building Our Unionism,” members set sail on a 7-day cruise from Miami on February 5th “with stops at Cozumel, Grand Cayman Island and Isla Roatan.” Sounds fun! [In case the Facebook link disappears, never fear: here’s a PDF of the NSO newsletter.]

Guess what union staff? There are going to be cameras all over the ship documenting your every move – from every Fuzzy Navel to every game of shuffle board. Just think how your rank-and-file members might appreciate seeing all the “fun in the sun” you’re having, courtesy of their dues dollars.

Dues payers – especially those in states with compulsory unionism – can think fondly this week about their “employees” cavorting in the Caribbean as they’re looking at layoffs, decreased pay and increased insurance co-pays.

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Senate Passes Bill Allowing Airports To Evict TSA Screeners

The Senate has passed legislation that includes a provision allowing airports to replace TSA screeners with private security, opening the door for the widely loathed federal agency to be marginalized from aviation security altogether.

The bill was primarily concerned with how the Federal Aviation Authority would be funded for the next four years, but also included measures that would force the TSA to reconsider applications from airports to replace TSA workers with their own privately hired screeners.

“Security companies would have an easier time winning contracts to operate airport checkpoints,” reports Businessweek.

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Cracking The Whip On SNAP

The Agriculture Department cracks the whip on SNAP. USDA has intensified efforts to root out fraud under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. In the last quarter of 2011, it fined or suspended 225 stores from the food stamp program. Investigators disqualified 350 stores for trafficking in SNAP benefits. Nearly a quarter million stores participate in SNAP. USDA officials say they are stepping up inspections of stores operating at former locations of disqualified stores.

Tri Senators Wants Monthly Update On Federal Retirement Claims

A trio of Senators are demanding action over a growing backlog of federal retirement claims. Senator Mark Warner or Virginia, and Senators Ben Cardin and Barbara Mikulski of Maryland have written a letter to the Office of Personnel Management. They want OPM to submit monthly updates to Congress -- and work with OMB to develop a more efficient, tech savey retirement processing system by 2014. They also want OPM to report on all federal agencies that file inaccurate or incomplete information about retirees. The senators together represent a quarter-million Federal Employees. They say they've received many complaints about the more than 50-thousand backlogged retirement applications. OPM Director John Berry says tackling the backlog is his top priority for 2012.

5 Year FAA Stalemate Ends

Congress has sent President Obama a bill permanently authorizing the Federal Aviation Administration. That follows five years of legislative stalemate. FAA has operated under a series of 23 continuing resolutions. Lawmakers authorized $11 billion over the next four years for modernizing the air traffic control system. FAA is in the midst of converting from ground radar to satellite positioning for guiding aircraft. The bill also directs FAA to authorize drone flights within four years.

Increased Transportation Revenues May Not Be Enough To Fund Projects, Analysts Say

Legislative analysts said Friday that $870 million more in revenues for transportation – the amount recommended by the Blue Ribbon Commission on Maryland Transportation Funding – is not enough for the state to meet all of its needs.

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Meet The Obscure Federal Regulator Who's Not Helping Homeowners

Our reading guide on the head of the regulatory agency that oversees Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae -- who's putting profits (and paying back taxpayers) ahead of homeowners.

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Truth, Lies And Afghanistan

I spent last year in Afghanistan, visiting and talking with U.S. troops and their Afghan partners. My duties with the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force took me into every significant area where our soldiers engage the enemy. Over the course of 12 months, I covered more than 9,000 miles and talked, traveled and patrolled with troops in Kandahar, Kunar, Ghazni, Khost, Paktika, Kunduz, Balkh, Nangarhar and other provinces.

What I saw bore no resemblance to rosy official statements by U.S. military leaders about conditions on the ground.

Entering this deployment, I was sincerely hoping to learn that the claims were true: that conditions in Afghanistan were improving, that the local government and military were progressing toward self-sufficiency. I did not need to witness dramatic improvements to be reassured, but merely hoped to see evidence of positive trends, to see companies or battalions produce even minimal but sustainable progress.

Instead, I witnessed the absence of success on virtually every level.

My arrival in country in late 2010 marked the start of my fourth combat deployment, and my second in Afghanistan. A Regular Army officer in the Armor Branch, I served in Operation Desert Storm, in Afghanistan in 2005-06 and in Iraq in 2008-09. In the middle of my career, I spent eight years in the U.S. Army Reserve and held a number of civilian jobs — among them, legislative correspondent for defense and foreign affairs for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.

As a representative for the Rapid Equipping Force, I set out to talk to our troops about their needs and their circumstances. Along the way, I conducted mounted and dismounted combat patrols, spending time with conventional and Special Forces troops. I interviewed or had conversations with more than 250 soldiers in the field, from the lowest-ranking 19-year-old private to division commanders and staff members at every echelon. I spoke at length with Afghan security officials, Afghan civilians and a few village elders.

I saw the incredible difficulties any military force would have to pacify even a single area of any of those provinces; I heard many stories of how insurgents controlled virtually every piece of land beyond eyeshot of a U.S. or International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) base.

I saw little to no evidence the local governments were able to provide for the basic needs of the people. Some of the Afghan civilians I talked with said the people didn’t want to be connected to a predatory or incapable local government.

From time to time, I observed Afghan Security forces collude with the insurgency.

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Debt, Toll Roads And Patents

It's budget time, again. This means that the deficit hawks will be out in force warning us about the devastating debt burden that we are passing on to our children. So that this Halloween fright gang doesn't needlessly cause any kids to lose sleep, here's what parents can tell their children.

First, it is important to tell your kids that the national debt is not in any way a measure of intergenerational transfers from the young to the old. Debt is also an asset to the people who own the bonds. At some point, everyone who is alive today will be dead, which means that the bonds they own will be passed on to their or someone else's children and grandchildren.

Our children and grandchildren might owe the debt, but they will also be receiving the interest paid on the debt. There can be an issue of distribution within future generations (e.g. Bill Gates' descendants own all the debt), but that is a question of inequality within generations, not between generations. So, when you hear the deficit hawks ranting about the $15 trillion debt that we are passing on to our kids, you can tell your children that we are passing on $15 trillion in government bonds to our children.

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Does The Racial Profiling Continue At The Wicomico County Sheriff's Office?

It's no secret that while Sheriff Mike Lewis was running for Office, Lewis was publicly targeted for racial profiling.

In the Alex Guerrero arrest was it really a "drug investigation" or simply a DWB, (Driving While Black).

There was a ton of discussion in the New York Times challenging MSP Officer Mike Lewis for racial profiling. Will history continue to haunt the Sheriff's Department? ''They're going to let the N.A.A.C.P. tell us how to do traffic stops,'' he says. ''That's what's happening. There may be a few troopers who make stops solely based on race, but thisa they're going to let these people tell us how to run our department. I say, to hell with it all. I don't care if the drugs go through. I don't.'' said Lewis. www.nytimes.com/1999/06/20/magazine/the-color-of-suspicion.html

While a person may not resist a lawful arrest, they have every right to resist an unlawful arrest. No drugs were found, therefore, was the arrest of Alex Guerrero lawful or unlawful? While it's true we weren't there, we can only go by what we are told and or read off of press releases. Mind you, any one taking the time to read the WCSO Press Release can clearly see the multitude of questionable information provided. The Sheriff cannot be very proud of what has been published in that release.

But it's whatever.

Bailed-Out Banks Won't Create Jobs: What Next?

After more than four years since the start of the recession in December 2007 and three years after President Obama assumed office, the jobs crisis continues to be the US economy's number-one problem.

Based on the US Department of Labor's more accurate latest "U-6" unemployment rate, at the official end of the recession in June 2009, there were 25.4 million jobless; today, more than 30 months later, there are still 23.4 million people without work. That means only approximately 67,200 jobs were created each month over two and a half years - a monthly number barely half of what is needed merely to absorb new entrants into the labor force.

Most of the 2 million jobs created in the private sector since Obama assumed office three years ago have been lower-paid service jobs, part-time jobs and temporary forms of employment - all of which have lower wages and few benefits. Higher-paying jobs and jobs with benefits in manufacturing and construction have, in contrast, continued to decline since the June 2009 recession low point. Today, there are still 79,000 fewer jobs in manufacturing and 680,000 fewer jobs in construction than at the June 2009 recession low point. There were 21.1 million manufacturing and construction jobs when the recession began in 2008. There are only 17.3 million manufacturing and construction jobs today.

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Coming Soon: James M. Bennett High School's Rock & Roll Revival

Feb. 9-12 and Feb. 16-19JMB’s 14th annual Rock & Roll RevivalJames M. Bennett Auditorium, SalisburyTickets are on sale now for James M. Bennett High School's annual showcase of Clipper talent, the Rock & Roll Revival. Students sing, dance, play instruments, and work in many areas behind the scenes to put on this highly successful show, which this year returns to the stage of the James M. Bennett Auditorium in Salisbury. Show directors are Christie and Larry Wersen, and net proceeds benefit the JMB PTSA. Shows will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9, Friday, Feb. 10 and Saturday, Feb. 11, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 12, and then 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16, Friday, Feb. 17 and Saturday, Feb. 18, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 19. Tickets are $15 for the two Thursday night shows and $18 for the weekend shows. Tickets are available now at the Bank of Delmarva branch on Eastern Shore Drive. For ticket information, e-mail jmbrockandrollrevival@gmail.com or call Chris Wilde at 410-430-8634. Check out the show news on Facebook at RockRoll Revival.