Post Discovers Welfare-Card Scams

Belly up to the ATM, boys — drinks are on the taxpayers.

And maybe lap dances, too.

As a Post investigation has uncovered, welfare recipients are spending their cash benefits at strip clubs and in liquor stores — all part of practices that involve outright fraud that’s enriching both welfare cheats and local bodegas.

Reporter Kate Briquelet reveals today that it all revolves around two kinds of Electronic Benefit Cards (EBTs) issued by the feds to provide food stamps and cash assistance.

They operate like debit cards — recipients swipe them at a participating ATM or grocery checkout and enter their PIN, and the amount is deducted from their balance.
One is a grocery card that provides up to $668 a month for food only; the other pays up to $433 in cash for things like housing, clothing and utilities.

But some of those participating ATMs are located in strip clubs and liquor stores — and though cash transactions can’t be traced, the notion that the dough is spent elsewhere is a bit of a stretch.

But grocery-card transactions canbe traced — and some turn out to be real eyepoppers.

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Alabama Lawmaker To Introduce Bill Arming Teachers, Despite Opposition From School Officials

An Alabama lawmaker plans to introduce a bill to arm teachers and principals next week, despite the opposition of school administrators. State Rep. Kerry Rich’s (R) proposal would “allow superintendents to recommend certain principals and teachers to have guns at school” but does not seem to provide for the training necessary to handle the firearms:

“I know that teachers, probably some of them, would feel comfortable with a weapon if we put them in a safe,” said Hugh Taylor, the new DeKalb County Schools superintendent. “But you’re talking about training, and I’m afraid if we put a gun in every teacher’s classroom, that we may run into some issues. 

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Md. Officials Launch Task Force To Examine Guns & The Mentally Ill

In light of the Sandy Hook massacre that killed 20 students and six adults, questions linger concerning guns and the mentally ill. Maryland officials launched a task force to look at the issue. Gigi Barnett reports concerns were raised before Newtown.

Months before the Newtown, Connecticut, shooting where a 20-year-old gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School with an arsenal of weapons and killed 20 children and six school workers.

Maryland mental health workers had already formed a task force on guns and the mentally ill and the group found that firearms should be immediately stripped from anyone making specific threats of serious violence.
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President Obama Could Get 3 Terms If H.J.Res 15 Abolishes Term Limits

Americans around the nation were shocked Friday as they heard about H.J.Res. 15. H.J.Res 15 proposes an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the Twenty-second Amendment. This would remove the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President.Rep. José Serrano (D- NY15) introduced the controversial joint resolution on Friday, the second day of the 2013 legislative session.

The last President to serve more than two terms was Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt served three full terms as President and was elected to a fourth term. Roosevelt died 83 days into his fourth term in office.

Congress passed the Twenty-second Amendment on March 21, 1947. The required number of states ratified it in 1951. There have been numerous attempts to repeal the Twenty-second Amendment, including a previous attempt by Rep. José Serrano. Rep. Serranoattempted to repeal the Twenty-second Amendment with H.J.Res. 5 in 2009.
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Mexico Considers Marijuana Legalization After Ballot Wins In U.S.

MEXICO CITY — Forgive the Mexicans for trying to get this straight: So now the United States, which has spent decades battling Mexican marijuana, is on a legalization bender?

The same United States that long viewed cannabis as a menace, funding crop-poisoning programs, tearing up auto bodies at the border, and deploying sniffer dogs, fiber-optic scopes and backscatter X-ray machines to detect the lowly weed? 

The success of legalization initiatives in Colorado and Washington in November has sparked a new conversation in a nation that is one of the world's top marijuana growers: Should Mexico, which has suffered mightily in its war against the deadly drug cartels, follow the Western states' lead?

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4 Year Anniversary

4 years ago today Brooke was diagnosed with stage IV high risk Neuroblastoma and here we are now 1 month to the day from her relapse...Brooke is nearing the end of the first 21 day cycle of the clinical trial she is on and has been tolerating it pretty well. The first week was the roughest because not only was she was getting the IV chemo at CHOP but also had to do 5 days of oral chemo at home as well. She has been a trooper as always through it all and still has all the spunk she has always had (I can't even keep up with her on chemo)! She has been able to continue with school, soccer and dance although was mostly over Christmas break. 

We have had a packed couple of weeks with a trip to Williamsburg, VA for 3 days before Christmas (Thank you Noonan's , Wallace's and Jean for such a great time, the Walker's for taking care of our Bailey Boo and it was so great getting to see the Darcy clan while we were down there-Brooke loves being an honorary Tidewater Shark)!

The Thursday after Christmas we headed to NYC for a dream vacation! Our friends Isabella and Amy Pankratz, surprised Brooke and flew to NYC from South Dakota to spend a long weekend with us! Amy, in about a weeks time called in every favor she could get from every contact she had in the city and and was able to get us tickets to the Lion King (thanks so much Susan and Ian) and Mary Poppins, a candy spree at Dylan's Candy Bar, a private tour at FAO Schwartz from Toy Soldier Rich who was fabulous and a VIP belated birthday celebration and lunch for Isabella and Brooke at the American Girl Store! It was all incredible! Thank you to all the wonderful people that made all of that possible and to Amy for all her hard work to plan such a great trip. Also, would like to thank Linda Colella for bringing Elizabeth and Tim Ulfig into our lives. Elizabeth is a former Rockette and was able to get us tickets to see Radio City Music Halls Christmas Show with the Rockettes and backstage passes (the girls went crazy over getting to meet a real live camel backstage that was part of the show)! Elizabeth and Tim also gave us our 3 night stay at the Marriott Renaissance Hotel 57! The staff at that hotel could not have possibly been more fabulous. They treated us all like royalty the entire stay and showered Brooke and Isabella with goodies non stop (thank you Yoke). They got us into Serendipity and Ellen's Stardust Diner with front of the line no wait which was incredible since both don't take reservations and each had lines down the block and over 2 hour waits! Lorena, one of the managers even took me and Brooke to Penn Station when we checked out, helped carry all our bags, and waited with us 45 min until the train got there and would not leave until we were in a seat on the train. Special thanks also to the wonderful women of IMR tennis (I love you guys) for our spending money while we were there and Kellie for the beautiful dresses she brought for Brooke to wear in the city! 

New Years Eve was spent in NJ with our now 2 year tradition of going bowling with friends followed by a party at the Aron's house (Thanks for everything Marcie - love you)! Brooke as usual had no trouble staying up beyond midnight and refuses to leave a party early! 

We are currently on our latest adventure and I will update you soon on this one but it is late and I need to try to get some sleep. Thanks to friends and family who have been coming to CHOP to hang with us during our all day long weekly appointments - it helps us both so much having you there and for the elves that have visited our house nightly the days leading up to Christmas and for everyone that has contributed to Brooke's Wish account, her Medical Gift Account and the new fundraiser page on facebook "Brooke Mulford Medical and Wish Fund" and everyone who has shaved their head for Brooke (Lose it for Brooke). We are so blessed by the love and support! I know I am forgetting to mention many but my mind is fried at this point! 

With love, hope and gratitude,
Amy

NAACP TO HOLD 16TH ANNUAL AFRICAN-AMERICAN HERITAGE CELEBRATION

Salisbury, MD… Wicomico County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) will host its 16th Annual African-American Celebration at 3:00 P.M., Saturday February 2th, at the Chipman Cultural Center, 325 Broad Street, Salisbury, MD. The keynote speaker, Dr. Joanne M. Martin, will speak to the theme, “Our Past Gives Us Strength, the Future Gives Us Hope.” Dr. Martin is the co-founder and president of The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum, Inc., in Baltimore, Maryland. This is America’s first wax museum dedicated to the preservation of African American history. Dr. Martin and her husband, Dr. Elmer Martin, established the museum in 1983 to meet several objectives: stimulate an interest in African-American history; use great leaders as role models to motivate youth to achieve; dispel myths of racial inferiority; and work in conjunction with other nonprofit, charitable organizations seeking to improve the social and economic status of African- Americans. 
In addition, the Heritage Celebration will feature the artistry of youth groups performing African dance routines. A reception will follow the program. 
This event is open to the public with free admissions. For more information, contact Mary Ashanti at 410-543-4187. 
Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in public and private sectors.

JAY LENO TO JOY BEHAR: 'OSAMA BIN LADEN IS YOUR NEW BOSS'

Guns and Drugs / We Can Curb Gun Violence By Ending The War On Drugs.

When a hail of bullets extinguished dozens of lives at an elementary school last month, the ugly consequences of the nation’s gun culture shot into the media spotlight. The debate around gun control in the aftermath of Newtown has yielded confused policy proposals like further militarizing schools, or preemptively tracking mentally ill people. 

But a key aspect of the gun-control debate remains hiding in plain sight. There's a major driver of gun violence in the U.S. that is neither the bloodlust of the “criminally insane” nor the weakness of public security forces. Failed gun policy is a manifestation of another, arguably more expansive, irrational policy regime: the War on Drugs. While the most spectacular incidents of mass murder spark public panic, a more relevant, yet typically ignored, source of gun violence lies in the brutality born of the gun industry’s marriage to drug prohibition policies.

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OBAMA'S 'CASH FOR CLUNKERS' UNLEASHED 'ENVIRONMENTAL NIGHTMARE'

In a classic tale illustrating the “law of unintended consequences,” a new report concludes that President Barack Obama’s $3 billion “Cash for Clunkers” taxpayer-funded boondoggle artificially drove car prices up, not down, and unleashed an “environmental nightmare” through shredding, not recycling, many of the 690,000 cars people traded in for an up to $4,500 car credit.

In 2009, Mr. Obama proudly declared that his Cash for Clunkers program, officially known as the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS), was a stunning success. “There were skeptics who weren't sure that this ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program would work,” said Mr. Obama. “But I'm happy to report that it has succeeded well beyond our expectations and all expectations, and we're already seeing a dramatic increase in showroom traffic at local car dealers…So I'm very pleased with the progress that's been made in the House today on the "Cash for Clunkers" program.”

But as Yahoo News notes, the program’s decision to shred, not recycle, many of the trade-in vehicles unleashed an “environmental nightmare”:

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Dick Armey Sticks His FreedomWorks Payback To Glenn Beck

Former FreedomWorks chairman Dick Armey revealed that the Tea Party group paid Glenn Beck about $1 million to say "nice things" about the group on his radio show, and that it got a negative return on that investment, in an interview Friday — with the liberal group Media Matters, of all places. It's the latest strange revelation in the FreedomWorks civil war. Armey reportedly tried to stage an armed coup last fall, but his reign didn't last long, and donor Richard J. Stephenson agreed to pay Armey $400,000 a year for 20 years to go away. Apparently that didn't come with a non-disparagement clause. 

After the liberal magazine Mother Jones posted a copy of a FreedomWorks document about its fundraising, Armey reached out to Media Matters to explain how the group wastes money by trying toraise money through radio hosts Beck and Rush Limbaugh. Armey said FreedomWorks paid Beck $1 million to say nice things about the group to raise more cash, but Beck's appeals raised considerably less than that. "The arrangement was simply FreedomWorks paid Glenn Beck money and Glenn Beck said nice things about FreedomWorks on the air," Armey said, adding that, initially, Beck's kind words were only supposed to cost $250,000 a year. "Once that was approved by the trustees, it then took on a life of its own, it got bigger than we understood it to be. All of a sudden it was we are paying Limbaugh as well as Beck." The price of Beck's nice words then went up to $1 million a year, Army said. He explained how it was a bad investment:

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DEMS ON DEBT CEILING: NO CUTS, MORE TAXES

With the fiscal cliff deal signed into law, the nation’s attention now turns to the debt ceiling debate, scheduled to hit in the next two months. As America reaches the debt ceiling yet again – an unbelievable $16.4 trillion debt ceiling needs another increase in order to allow us to borrow more cash to pay our bills – Republicans insist that we finally begin dealing with our spending problem. That, of course, was the purpose of the fiscal cliff deal in the first place: to preserve as many of the Bush tax rates as possible, consider tax rates a finished issue, and move on to spending cuts. As Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said on ABC’s This Week, “The tax issue is finished, over, completed. That’s behind us. Now the question is: what are we going to do about the biggest problem confronting our country and our future? And that’s our spending addiction.”

Not so fast.

The bullies in the Democratic Party have no intention of cutting a single dollar. Instead, they want to tighten their stranglehold on the windpipes of job producers and entrepreneurs. This morning, virtually every Democrat on virtually every Sunday show said the same thing: no cuts, more taxes. So much for the Republican attempt to take the tax discussion off the table.
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Newark Resident Donates Hancock Letter To The Delaware Public Archives

A letter that John Hancock wrote to the Delaware General Assembly in 1776 has been donated to the Delaware Public Archives by Newark resident Robert Barnes who found it in one of the books he purchased at an auction.

Hancock, who was then the President of the Continental Congress, wrote to request that Delaware send more men and supplies before the Battle at Princeton.

Although the document was in pieces, Barnes spotted the familiar signature of John Hancock. As a frequent researcher at the Delaware Public Archives, Barnes contacted the Archives for advice once he realized he had an important part of Delaware history.

“We thank Mr. Barnes for having contacted us after he found the letter,” said Secretary of State Jeffrey Bullock. “We will now be able to share this newly-acquired piece of Delaware history with the public.”

The letter, dated December 30, 1776, was written by Hancock to the Delaware General Assembly during the critical days following Washington’s victory at Trenton. Hancock was requesting Delaware to send more men and supplies because of the “Strength and Progress of the Enemy.” On the reverse side of the letter, Hancock acknowledged the Trenton victory by noting: “I congratulate you on the success of General Washington in the Jerseys.”

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Cole Pushes For New Voter ID Laws In Va.

In Virginia, the documents that residents are allowed to use as forms of voter identification may change soon.

Delegate Mark Cole, who represents the 88th District in the Fredericksburg area, is introducing a new voter identification bill during this year's Virginia General Assembly session.

"It would simply remove bank statements, utility bills and paychecks from the list of what's acceptable voter ID," says Cole, who added that those items are not a valid source of identification in most other instances.
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Kansas Hits Up Sperm Donor For Child Support

If you're planning to donate sperm in Kansas, you may want to do it through a doctor. 

That's one message from the case of William Marotta of Topeka. In 2009, he noticed a Craig's List advertisement from a lesbian couple, also in Topeka, seeking donated sperm. 

"Intrigued" by the ad, he agreed to donate and says he delivered three cupfuls of his sperm -- gratis -- to the women, one of whom gave birth to a daughter. "I donated genetic material, and that was it for me," he told CNN affiliate WIBW.

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Steyn: Congress Spent “Two Months Negotiating 10 Hours of Savings”

Writing in the Orange County Register, conservative-leaning political commentator Mark Steyn explains -- and exposes -- the utter frivolity of the latest “fiscal cliff” compromise. Here’s the most galling excerpt:

Washington keeps proving the point. The political class has just spent two months on a down-to-the-wire nail-biting white-knuckle thrill-ride negotiation the result of which is more business as usual. At the end, as always, Dr. Obama and Dr. Boehner emerge in white coats, surgical masks around their necks, bloody scalpels in hand, and announce that it was touch-and-go for awhile but the operation was a complete success – and all they've done is applied another temporary Band-Aid that's peeling off even as they speak. They're already prepping the OR for the next life-or-death surgery on the debt ceiling, tentatively scheduled for next Tuesday or a week on Thursday or the third Sunday after Epiphany.

No epiphanies in Washington: The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the latest triumphant deal includes $2 billion of cuts for fiscal year 2013. Wow! That's what the Government of the United States borrows every 10 hours and 38 minutes. Spending two months negotiating 10 hours of savings is like driving to a supermarket three states away to save a nickel on your grocery bill.

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Many Patients Unaware Of Radiation Risks From CT Scans

Last time you had a CT scan did your doctor tell you that it would expose you to radiation? Probably not, according to a study out this week. And even if you were told, you might underestimate the radiation dose, too.

Researchers from the University of Washington School of Medicine's radiology department in Seattle surveyed 235 patients who had undergone non-urgent computed tomography (CT) or single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) cardiac scans from February through December 2011. About a third of the patients said they did not know that the scans exposed them to radiation. And of the 154 patients who did understood that, only 45 percent said that the health care provider who ordered the imaging test had informed them about the radiation exposure.

Almost 90 percent of the patients said they were not worried about scan radiation. But about the same percentage (85 percent) underestimated their exposure, and only 5 percent understood that scan radiation might increase their lifetime risk of cancer. The study was published this week in Archives of Internal Medicine.

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PELOSI, REID BACK OBAMA RAISING DEBT CEILING VIA EXECUTIVE ORDER

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has reportedly told President Barack Obama that he would back the president overriding congressional authority and unilaterally raising the debt ceiling.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was more forceful: “I’ve made my view very clear on that subject: I would do it in a second. But I’m not the president of the United States.”

Such a move would spark a constitutional crisis by running roughshod over the 14thAmendment, which states that “the validity of the public debt…shall not be questioned.” 
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Fiscal Deal Includes Tax Credits For Energy-Efficient Upgrades

In addition to holding down taxes for all but the wealthiest Americans, the fiscal package passed this week includes a number of incentives for homeowners to become more energy efficient. Buried in the 150-page document that is the American Taxpayer Relief Act are tax credit extensions for energy-efficient appliances, building materials, and more.

The rules are pretty complicated, as you might expect, but here's what you need to know: You can save up to $500 on taxes if you made energy-efficient upgrades to your home in 2012, or plan to do so in 2013. These might include swapping out your old furnace with a new high-efficiency model, laying insulation in the attic, or putting in new windows. To collect, you'll need to file IRS form 5695 with your 2012 or 2013 taxes. Be sure to keep a copy of the Manufacturer's Certification Statement and any receipts or itemized bills.

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WHAT COULD POSSIBLY EXPLAIN THIS WILD PICTURE? JUST WAIT

This is the image of an airplane passenger posted on Reddit by a fellow traveler. The man was allegedly so drunk on his flight from Reykjavik, Iceland, to John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, that he had to be bound and gagged with duct tape for the duration of the flight.

Here’s what was posted on the Reddit thread about the incident:

He drank an entire bottle of some duty free alcohol. Then he tried grabbing the women who were sitting next him screaming that we’re going to crash. Finally he started chocking a guy next to him and that’s when a huge crowd restrained him and tied him up. This was 2 hours into a 6 hour flight.

Edit: Did I mention that he was spitting on random people on the plane!

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