Locally Speaking

US Predicts 7 Major Atlantic Hurricanes

The Atlantic hurricane season could be the busiest since 2005, when Katrina and Rita caused massive destruction along the same part of the Gulf Coast now struggling with the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, government scientists said Thursday.

The 2010 season may spawn as many as 23 named tropical storms, including up to seven major hurricanes, a number not likely to be affected by the spill, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted.

Eight to 14 storms would strengthen into hurricanes, with top winds of 74 mph or higher, the agency said. Three to seven of those could become major storms that reach Category 3 or higher - meaning they bring sustained winds of at least 111 mph.

"This season could be one of the more active on record," NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco said in a news release. "The greater likelihood of storms brings an increased risk of a landfall. In short, we urge everyone to be prepared."

The 2010 government forecast is based on the weakening of El Nino. The Pacific Ocean phenomenon created strong wind shear that helped suppress storm development in the Atlantic last season. Record warm water temperatures also will feed storms crossing the Atlantic this year.

Three hurricanes developed out of nine tropical storms in 2009. None of the hurricanes came ashore in the United States. Hurricane Ida hit Nicaragua as a Category 1 storm in November.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist urged coastal residents to remember the destruction left in the wake of hurricanes in 2004 and 2005.

"Don't take anything for granted," Crist said at the annual Florida Governor's Hurricane Conference in Fort Lauderdale. "We don't need to suffer from hurricane amnesia."

National Hurricane Center Director Bill Read said Wednesday that his biggest concern for the season is a storm striking Haiti, where hundreds of thousands of people have been living in makeshift camps since the Jan. 12 earthquake. Heavy rains can trigger serious flooding and mudslides in the mountainous Caribbean country, but no evacuation plans exist for displaced communities.

Tropical storms are named when their sustained winds reach 39 mph. The first named storm of the 2010 season will be Alex.

In April, Colorado State University researchers predicted 15 named storms would form this season, with four developing into major hurricanes.

The Atlantic hurricane season begins Tuesday and runs through Nov. 30. –Sun News

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Atlantic Beach Ready For Bikefest

Those who attend this year's Atlantic Beach Bikefest can expect bike builders, stunt shows, food vendors, music, concerts and the unveiling of newly designed bikes in the town during the Memorial Day weekend event, according to town officials.

There is also a planned dedication to the Carolina Knight Riders - a motorcycle club instrumental in the birth of the motorcycle rally in Atlantic Beach.

This year's rally organizers - town staff, police and a few volunteers - are expecting crowd numbers to be similar to what the area has seen in the last few years.

"We're not expecting anything significant, or more or less than in the past," said Town Manager William Booker.

Initial counts showed that at least 175,000 people attended last year's Bikefest - which generated $40,000 for the town - where in past years the festival has brought up to 400,000 participants.

The sluggish economy and Myrtle Beach's new laws aimed at curbing the May motorcycle rallies - Bikefest and The Cruisin' the Coast spring rally - have been cited as reasons for the smaller crowds.

In Myrtle Beach during Memorial Day weekend, there will be a parade on Ocean Boulevard, concerts at the old Pavilion site and military appreciation days, city officials say.

"We're not expecting a bike rally in Myrtle Beach," said Myrtle Beach city spokesman Mark Kruea. "Visitors on motorcycles are perfectly welcome to come. We will be enforcing noise and helmet ordinances, but people should not expect a bike rally in Myrtle Beach."

North Myrtle Beach, however, which surrounds Atlantic Beach, is preparing for Bikefest.

Atlantic Beach has also enacted new laws this year related to the rallies.

Last month, the Atlantic Beach Town Council approved changes to the town's ordinance to address issues concerning vendors, alcoholic beverages, traffic plans and the use of golf carts during Bikefest.

Town officials said the ordinance needed to be revised because certain activities that take place during the annual motorcycle festival are in conflict with the town's current ordinance.

The new ordinance allows certain exceptions for Bikefest so it does not violate the town's ordinance, town officials have said.

Bikefest rolls into town [this] weekend. –Sun News

Ragbag Headliners

“Environmental Catastrophe”

-- BP's top official upgrades impact of Gulf oil spill from "very modest" to "environmental catastrophe." -CNN Reports

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Senate Panel, House Approve 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Compromise

The U.S. House and a Senate committee approved amendments to a military bill Thursday that would repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy barring openly gay and lesbian soldiers from military service, but only after some conditions are met.

The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 16-12 to approve compromise language on the repeal in an amendment to the military policy bill. The panel then voted 18-10 to send the bill to the full Senate.

In the House, the chamber voted 234-194 to add the amendment to its version of the defense policy bill. A final vote on the full bill was expected Friday.

President Obama praised the votes.

"I am pleased that both the House of Representatives and the Senate Armed Services Committee took important bipartisan steps toward repeal tonight," Obama said in a statement. "This legislation will help make our Armed Forces even stronger and more inclusive by allowing gay and lesbian soldiers to serve honestly and with integrity."

The Human Rights Campaign, which advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, called it the first time since the "don't ask, don't tell" policy came into effect during the Clinton administration that any congressional body voted to repeal it.

"This is the beginning of the end of a shameful ban on open service by lesbian and gay troops that has weakened our national security," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.

The Senate committee's vote on the amendment was mostly partisan, with 15 Democrats and one Republican -- Sen. Susan Collins of Maine -- supporting the compromise repeal language. The House vote also was along largely partisan lines, with 229 Democrats and five Republicans supporting the repeal amendment, while 168 Republicans and 26 Democrats opposed it.

Under the compromise, the repeal would occur after a military review of the matter and subsequent approval by Obama, the defense secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Opponents of the repeal language said the military should first carry out the review ordered by Defense Secretary Robert Gates that is scheduled to be completed in December. Only then would military leaders have the necessary information from force members to develop a plan for carrying out the repeal, according to the opponents.

"I see no reason to pre-empt the process that our senior Defense Department leaders put into motion, and I am concerned that many members of the military would view such a move as disrespectful to the importance of their roles in this process," said Sen. Jim Webb, D-Virginia, who voted against the amendment.

A recent CNN poll seemed to suggest that Americans were ready for the change. The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Tuesday indicated that 78 percent of the public supports allowing openly gay people to serve in the military, with one in five opposed.

The compromise worked gave time for the military to complete its review of the planned repeal, as sought by Gates and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the Joint Chiefs chairman, both said this week they could accept the compromise language.

Supporters of repealing the policy have been pressuring congressional Democrats to act now, fearing the party will lose its House or Senate majority in November's midterm election and be unable to pass the measure then.

The compromise emerged late Monday from a meeting at the White House involving administration officials, gay rights groups and Pentagon officials, sources said.

There were also talks on Capitol Hill involving White House lawyers, Pentagon officials and staff from the offices of influential House and Senate Democrats including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the sources added.

A senior U.S. military official with direct knowledge of the review process said it was well under way, with a survey going out shortly to about 70,000 troops and families to solicit their views.

In addition, the official said, town hall meetings already have been held around the country and more are expected, while a website provides a place for troops to write in their views.

The military needs until the end of 2010 to figure out how to implement the repeal in terms of housing, medical and marriage benefits, as well as issues involving the reinstatement of gay soldiers previously discharged under the policy, the official said.

A major problem might be determining how to reconcile the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" with federal law that defines marriage as between a man a woman, the official added. –CNN Politics

On This Memorial Day

We Remember
Our Men and Women
Who Have And Are Serving Our Country

Iraq and Afghanistan

A Voice From The Past

In light of today's world infested with lunatic leaders and terrorists, below is a quote from Cicero worth pondering . . .

"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not as a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation; he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city; he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear."

Cicero (42 B.C.)

U.S. Border Security Part 1 - Video - WSB Atlanta

With the highly debated Arizona immigration law, the attached video clip tells something which most of the news media have NOT mentioned.

Click on the link below and watch the eye-opening video clip from the Atlanta TV news station.

Click Here

Political Blogs May Be Regulated By FCC

It look[s] like American bloggers could face a new threat that may make people think twice before criticizing their political leaders online.

Apparently the US government thinks bloggers are becoming a public hazard, and like a few other industries (i.e. airplanes, banks and nuclear power plants) need to be regulated by the government (in this case the Federal Election Commission).

The Obama administration has announced plans to regulate the Internet through the Federal Communications Commission, extending its authority over broadband providers to police web traffic, enforcing “net neutrality.”

Last week, a congressional hearing exposed an effort to give another agency—the Federal Election Commission—unprecedented power to regulate political speech online. At a House Administration Committee hearing last Tuesday, Patton Boggs attorney William McGinley explained that the sloppy statutory language in the “DISCLOSE Act” would extend the FEC’s control over broadcast communications to all “covered communications,” including the blogosphere. (Reason.com)

This law would probably extend to Twitter as well, not to mention Facebook too (the latter who is embroiled in another censorship case via Pakistan).

Although this law (or measure) will probably be struck down by the US Supreme Court (who seems to love the first amendment aka “freedom of speech” for you non-yanks), the fact that the US government would even consider this is troublesome.

Unless the government is dealing with slander, a terrorist threat or a pay per post scandal they shouldn’t bother regulating the blogosphere as that could result in a political backlash (not to mention an provide an incentive to host ones content over seas).

Hopefully common sense prevails regarding this issue, as the last thing bloggers need is to worry about is regulation from “Uncle Sam.” -The Blog Herald

2010 Harley Bike Week
Pics From Sun News

No Apologies For This Post!

After hearing the proposal to have the U.S. national anthem translated to and sang in Spanish . . . enough is enough!

The national anthem written by Francis Scott Key should be sung word for word the way it was written in English. The news broadcast gave the Spanish translation, and it does not even come close to the meter of the national anthem --- the way it should be sung.

Why is it that only Spanish-speaking "immigrants" from Mexico and other Central & South American countries expect special favors and treatment? None of the Italian, Polish, Irish (Celtic), German or any other immigrant groups in the USA have!

English is the official language of the USA. Anyone who expects and insists upon English to be translated to his/her language should return to his/her country of origin . . . he/she does not deserve to live permanently in the USA!

Please pass this on. Anyone who refuses to forward this for fear of offending someone [thinking that it is not politically correct] is part of the problem along with those who originally proposed and who have supported the stupidity of "political correctness" and the insanity of requiring the "translation of English" to other languages for non-English speaking immigrants to the USA!

Author Unknwon

How Much Health Insurers Actually Spend On You

Consumers spend thousands of dollars a year on health insurance premiums, and the reform law aims to regulate just how much of that money insurers actually spend on medical costs.

Health care reform will require that commercial insurers spend at least 85 cents out of every premium dollar on medical claims for its large-group policyholders. For small-group and individual policies, the figure is 80 cents.

The remaining 15 -20 cents of each premium dollar can be used to pay expenses that do not directly benefit customers -- like payroll, advertising, overhead and profits.

To enforce this new health care spending requirement, which the industry refers to as the medical loss ratio, regulators are now trying to determine which costs should be classified as medical and which are administrative.

June 1 is the deadline for state insurance commissioners to submit their proposals to the Department of Health and Human Services outlining how various expenditures should be categorized.

The system that ultimately emerges could have a big impact on the medical care that many consumers receive. The new medical loss ratio requirements go into effect Jan. 1, 2011.

Which costs count?

"Loss ratios in the health field are especially complicated," said Kim Holland, secretary of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which will submit definition suggestions to HHS.

"Companies use so many tools to manage care, and classification is not easy," she added. NAIC can't comment on specific services it's considering.

Many states already have minimum medical loss ratios, Holland said, and most take a "fairly conservative view" on what counts as health care -- but the criteria can vary widely.

At issue are medical services such as nurse hotlines, said Dylan Roby, researcher at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

"[Currently] the hotlines are administrative, for people to ask symptom-related questions -- if they should go to the ER or not," Roby said. "If they started including nutrition help, or behavioral health specialists, maybe that becomes health care instead."

Such expansions and "re-definitions" will likely be common as a result of the law, Roby said.

Though there's nothing to stop insurers from jacking up prices in the short term in order to distort their medical loss ratios, Roby said, HHS will review rate hikes annually. He thinks this will give insurers incentive to keep premiums low.

"[Insurers] will really have to make a good case if they're reporting price increases," Roby said. "But HHS has to cull through all these reports and it comes down to the state to enforce the rules -- so if there's no publicity, maybe [enforcement] won't happen."

Bob Laszewski, president of consultancy firm Health Policy and Strategy Associates, fears the ratio setup is merely a "superficial" way to regulate care.

"The easiest way to have a high medical loss ratio is to let your medical costs soar," Laszewski said. "That's the simplest way for insurers to balance out high administrative costs. It's like chasing your tail -- completely counterproductive."

Another problem with regulating medical loss ratios, he added, is that insurers are discouraged from investing in administrative services -- like information technology and other medical management systems -- that could ultimately save consumers money.

"This will absolutely have unintended consequences," Laszewski said, "and the consumer will suffer."

Enforcing the definitions

If an insurer does not meet the minimum medical loss ratio, the company will be forced to refund the difference to policyholders.

For example, if an insurer collected $100 million in premiums for large-group coverage but spent only $75 million of these premiums on actual medical care, the insurer would have to rebate $10 million back to the policyholders.

Some companies have already run into trouble. Last month Anthem Blue Cross withdrew its request to increase premiums by as much as 39% for its California customers, because the hike would have meant that its medical loss ratio would be below the law's threshold.

For its part, WellPoint (WLP, Fortune 500) -- the largest health insurer by membership -- says it "wants to make this work for our [customers]," a spokesman said.

"We're preparing for a changing marketplace, but we think we'll develop a model that's successful," said WellPoint's Jon Mills. "It'll be a level playing field for all the companies involved."

Whether or not insurers have difficulty meeting the ratio depends on their ability to adapt to a changing industry, said the NAIC's Holland.

"In a market as dynamic as health care, innovation is imperative," she said. "Like any other product, some will win and some will lose. For consumers, that's not necessarily a bad thing." -CNN Money

This Picture Reflects Well
Of What's Going On In Our Country

This Weeks Sound Off

Motorcycle Rally Winds Down

The vroom-vroom of motorcycle engines across the Grand Strand will be winding down today during the last day of the Harley-Davidson Cruisin' the Coast spring bike rally as people start heading home.

Vendors and bike rally attendees agreed that the crowds were much thinner this year than in previous years, due in large part to the anti-bike rally ordinances passed by the city of Myrtle Beach two years ago.

But they were unsure of what the lower turnout would mean for the future of the Harley-Davidson spring bike rally. For longtime vendors, it is becoming more difficult to turn a profit in the face of rising vendor fees, fewer rally days and fewer shoppers. At the same time, both customers and vendors said they did not want to give in to the anti-rally sentiment of the nearby Myrtle Beach city council.

Two years ago, the Myrtle Beach passed laws to curb the rallies based on complaints of traffic congestion and noise. The city's ordinances included outlawing parking-lot gatherings, noise ordinances and riding without helmets. The county also limited the number of vendor permits available during the rally.

Other areas of the Grand Strand, like North Myrtle Beach and Murrells Inlet, still host vendors but issue fewer permits. –Sun News

No matter how you look at or feel about the rally issue, the bottom line, Myrtle Beach is hostilely INHOSPITABLE towards bikers … the cities leaders just don’t want them here. Instead, festivals … their future for Myrtle Beach, a destination for “families” only. Yup, Myrtle Beach’s future … a more stuffy Stafford wives atmosphere. Like that’s going to happen here on the “Redneck Riviera” … LOL O wait, we now have a new boardwalk … like that’s going to bring in business/money. Maybe in parking meter fees!

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SF Sheriff Seeks To Opt Out Of Immigration Program

San Francisco's sheriff is seeking to opt out of a federal program that uses the fingerprints of arrestees to check their immigration status.

Sheriff Michael Hennessey sent a letter Tuesday to the California attorney general asking that the state Department of Justice not share the city's fingerprint data with federal immigration authorities.

San Francisco is scheduled to begin participating in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's so-called Secure Communities program on June 1. Under the program, anyone arrested will have their fingerprints checked against a database used by ICE. –Sun News

Sheriff Hennessey, the law is the law and you have sworn to uphold the law … not only of your state, but that of the United States as well. Those who are in this country illegally are braking the law. Sheriff, rules are rules and the participation in the federal program to check fingerprints, thus verifying citizenship, is not unreasonable as long as it’s done correctly. Now, disagreeing with the program is your right, but the law is clear … if you are illegal you must either apply for citizenship or leave the country. I further add, since you are not a citizen, you are not protected under our bill of rights or constitution … these are American rights, not illegal rights. Therefore, Sheriff, either do your job or find another!

Locally Speaking

Bill Would Put SC In Line With AZ's Immigrant Law

South Carolina legislators are considering how to clamp down harder on illegal workers, just two years after passing one of the country's toughest anti-illegal immigration laws.

A Senate subcommittee discussed a measure today to make it a crime for an illegal immigrant to work or seek work in the state. Current law puts the onus on businesses to avoid hiring illegal workers.

The bill would also bring South Carolina more in line with a new law in Arizona. It would direct South Carolina law enforcement to try to check the legal status of anyone stopped or arrested for another reason if officers have reasonable suspicion.

The specifics are yet to be worked out. Legislators acknowledge the bill has no chance of approval this year. Lawmakers are to adjourn for the year in two weeks. –Sun News

Ragbag Headliners

Arab-American Crowned 2010 Miss USA

Lebanese immigrant Rima Fakih says it was a certain look from Donald Trump that tipped her off that she had won the 2010 Miss USA title.

The 24-year-old Miss Michigan beat out 50 other women to take the title Sunday night, despite nearly stumbling in her evening gown.

She told reporters later that she believed she had won after glancing at pageant owner Trump as she awaited the results with the first runner-up, Miss Oklahoma USA Morgan Elizabeth Woolard. –Sun News

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Interesting Election Wins!

-- Tea Party favorite Rand Paul, son of Rep. Ron Paul, will win a GOP Senate primary election in Kentucky. -CNN Projects.

-- Rep. Joe Sestak tops Sen. Arlen Specter, a former Republican, in Penn. Democratic Senate primary. –CNN Projects.

The Australian Prime Minister Did It Again!

Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia as the government targeted radicals in a bid to head off potential terror attacks.

Separately, Rudd angered some Australian Muslims by saying that he supported spy agencies monitoring the nation's mosques.

Quote:

'Immigrants, not Australians must adapt. Take it or leave it. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali, we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Australians.'

'This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom'

'We speak mainly English, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society, learn the language!'

'Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push, but a fact because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.'

'We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us.'

'This is our country, our land, and our lifestyle, and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all these. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about our flag, our pledge, our Christian beliefs, or our way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom, 'the right to leave'."

'If you aren't happy here then leave. We didn't force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country you chose, and who accepted you.'

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It is a breath of fresh air to see someone like him lead a nation. Leaders all over the world, especially in Britain, Canada, and the USA should emulate him.

Truer words have never been spoken. It took a lot of courage for this man to speak what he had to say for the world to hear. The retribution could be phenomenal, but at least he was willing to take a stand on his and Australia's beliefs. The whole world needs a leader like him!

Can-o-Whoopass

Healthy Sexual Fantasies

Recently I have been having crazy sexual fantasies while making love with my partner. I don’t know if I should feel guilty or excited because when I just let them go, I get way more aroused and I can tell my partner is feeling it too. I can’t get myself to tell my partner and I wonder if this is some form of cheating on him. I am not always thinking of someone else, just other crazy scenarios. Sometimes I am shocked by my own thoughts, like where did these come from? What is your take on fantasies? Do they hurt or help a relationship?

This is a great question that almost everyone thinks about at some point. In a recent research study on Sex in America, the majority of men and women have fantasies while having sex, some studies putting the number between 40 to 90 percent for both men and women. The Kinsey research concurred with this data and showed even higher percentages during masturbation.

In fact, using sexual fantasy as the fuel for early eroticism is for most of us our first sexual act. Boys start having sexual fantasies as early as 11-13, for girls, fantasy usually begins later in their teens and early 20’s. What’s more, there is mounting research which suggests that the ability and freedom to entertain fantasies actually enhances both sexual arousal and desire. Telling stories is integral to being human, and sexual fantasies can be both healthy and inspiring during sex.

Given that sexuality is one of the most mysterious ways that we relate to our partners, it isn’t all that surprising that our range of sexual fantasies is as rich and diverse as we are. Many people feel concern about whether their fantasy behavior is normal and worry about what it means.

Understanding the sexual arousal that may come from fantasies about being sexually overpowered or raped does not mean that you actually want to have the experience. Even the very common fantasy of having multiple sex partners doesn’t necessarily mean that you are interested in playing it out. It is not uncommon to struggle with the edge between enjoying their fantasies and feeling guilty or wrong about having them. The issue for many couples can be as straightforward as establishing boundaries that are respectful for both partners.

Like so much of sexuality, the idea and practice of fantasy has come out of the closet culturally. Internet fantasy chat rooms, elaborate sexual avatars, and free exchanges of pornography have all contributed to our awareness and capacity for fantasy. Some couples choose to take their fantasies to the next level and “act out” shared fantasy to enhance their pleasure.

There are plenty of accounts of people who allow their fantasy life to go too far. Whether this leads to obsessive thoughts about another or an inability to focus on your life or your partner, this is where fantasy crosses the line and can become a danger to your relationship. Learning to distinguish between fantasy and reality can be a challenging obstacle for some. In the same way that dreams are altered when we try to describe them upon waking, carrying our fantasies into our daily lives can be disruptive and destructive.

Whether it is just in sharing our own fantasies or in agreeing to act them out, it is important to be both conscious and communicative about your comfort level and your boundaries. Being able to speak openly about the role of fantasy in lovemaking and agree on what should and shouldn’t be shared provides a respectful space for fantasy to exist between you.

Conversely, fantasies can also heal long held sexual blocks. Some sex therapists have encouraged patients to use fantasy to help overcome sexual problems. Within a therapeutic context, people have been able to use fantasy to confront the fearful stages of intimacy and lovemaking and reduce or eliminate their fears. Sexual fantasies can provide an opportunity to deepen the intimacy with your partner, to learn more about yourself, or to be clued into underlying emotional issues. –Care2

The video is quite lengthy (54 min), but an eye-opener.

“Meltup”

NIA believes Meltup is the most important economic documentary ever produced in world history. The Second American Revolution has begun! Please share this documentary with all of your friends and family members!

MeltUp - Thoughts on a Coming Economic Tsunami

Robbing Peter To Pay Paul's Health Care

Obamacare is a socialist law designed to take money from some Americans and use it to benefit others. The health care bill signed into law by President Obama is full of hidden time bombs. One costly provision buried in the lengthy reconciliation bill at the last minute has taxpayers covering long-term at-home care for the elderly. Through the so-called Community Living Assistance Services and Support Act (CLASS Act), Americans will find between $150 and $250 taken out of their paychecks each month to cover this program nobody knew about.

Democrats claim this isn't a controversial program, but if they really believed that, they wouldn't have had to sneak the provision into the reconciliation bill. But it was snuck in the reconciliation bill only two days before the House vote.

Even some Democrats warned about the financial impact of the home-care program. Before the idea was dropped last year because of stiff opposition, Sen. Kent Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, called the program a Ponzi scheme that would produce massive deficits in the future. A letter released at that time by Mr. Conrad and Democratic Sens. Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana, Evan Bayh of Indiana, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Mark Warner of Virginia warned: "While the goals of the CLASS Act are laudable - finding a way to provide long-term care insurance to individuals - the effects of including this legislation in the merged Senate bill would not be fiscally responsible for several reasons."

The senators were particularly concerned that the Congressional Budget Office numbers missed the real costs of the program. The CBO is instructed only to consider the fiscal impact over the next 10 years, but the way the scheme is set up, people must pay the additional taxes for at least five years to become eligible. So for the first five years we only see revenue. After that, the taxpayers are eligible only gradually. They must then become old enough to require home health care, so expenditures will occur in the distant future. In other words, we see taxes with no expenditures upfront, but huge expenditures picking up after the CBO's 10-year evaluation window passes.

The budget concerns of a handful of Democratic senators kept the program out of the earlier version of the health care bill, which passed the Senate before Christmas. If the provision hadn't been removed, Democrats wouldn't have obtained the 60 votes needed to break the filibuster. Only by jamming it into the Senate reconciliation bill in March were they able to get it passed with the bare minimum 51 votes.

Ironically, the reconciliation procedure, requiring only a simple majority, was originally designed to help reduce the deficit. It certainly was not meant for circumventing normal procedures and throwing in last-minute budgetary land mines.

Democrats might not consider $109 billion in taxes over the program's first 10 years to be controversial. But taking $150 to $250 out of each monthly paycheck will cause problems for millions of Americans. This is yet another example of Mr. Obama breaking his promise not to raise taxes on those making less than $250,000 per year. It's not what we consider a very classy act. –The Washington Times

No Hospital Records of Obama's Birth

Harley Rider And A Lion

A Harley biker is riding by the zoo in Washington, DC when he sees a little girl leaning into the lion's cage.

Suddenly, the lion grabs her by the cuff of her jacket and tries to pull her
inside to slaughter her, under the eyes of her screaming parents.

The biker jumps off his Harley, runs to the cage and hits the lion square on the nose with a powerful punch.

Whimpering from the pain the lion jumps back letting go of the girl, and the biker brings her to her terrified parents, who thank him endlessly.

A reporter has watched the whole event. The reporter addressing the Harley rider says, 'Sir, this was the most gallant and brave thing I've seen a man do in my whole life.'

The Harley rider replies, 'Why, it was nothing, really, the lion was behind bars. I just saw this little kid in danger and acted as I felt right.'

The reporter says, 'Well, I'll make sure this won't go unnoticed. I'm a journalist, and tomorrow's paper will have this story on the front page…

So, what do you do for a living and what political affiliation do you have?'

The biker replies, 'I'm a U.S. Marine and a Republican.'

The journalist leaves.

The following morning the biker buys the paper to see news of his actions, and reads, on the front page:

“U.S. MARINE ASSAULTS AFRICAN IMMIGRANT AND STEALS HIS LUNCH “

That pretty much sums up the media's approach to the news these days.

Author Unknown

YEAH!

This Weeks Sound Off

2010 MB Bike Rally

Festival goers and motorcycle riders mostly kept to their own separate events Saturday as the Cruisin' the Coast spring bike rally kicked off.

Most motorcycle riders gathered beyond the city limits of Myrtle Beach, while some families took in the sun at the Cinco de Mayo festival downtown.

In 2008, the Myrtle Beach City Council voted in ordinances to curb the bike rallies and by last year many of the more than 300,000 bikers were avoiding the city.

Several bikers said that if Myrtle Beach isn't going to be biker friendly, they will not spend any money in the city.

Butch Thomas avoids even driving through the city and will drive around Myrtle Beach, taking S.C. 544 and S.C. 31, if he is going north of the city.

"They don't want my money; you can bet I'm not going up there," said Thomas, who has been attending the bike rallies for about 15 years.

Sherry Lesley said that the city's attempt to attract visitors with festivals and other events won't work and she has no intention of going to any of them. The reduced number of people at the rally means fewer vendors and fewer bikes to look at, she said.

"It's just not as welcoming as it used to be," Lesley said. "It used to be you could ride anywhere."

So far the crowd seems bigger than it was at this time last year, she said, and with a decision by the S.C. Supreme Court on the Myrtle Beach helmet law still pending, there is some hope.

Tim Teach, who retired to Myrtle Beach about three years ago after years of coming to the bike rallies, said he is sad to see the damage to city businesses as a result of the bike rally changes.

He has no plans to check out any of the festivals the city has planned this May in part to try to attract additional tourists lost when the rally rules went through. –Sun News

In an attempt to attract “families” to the downtown area of Myrtle Beach, the city has replaced the annual bike rallies with festivals. I suppose it’s a good thing, but the festivals really don’t do much for the entire city, let alone the entire PD area, including those who work here. The festivals will be held primarily in one area (downtown) and those business immediately around the festivals may profit from the attendees, thus the benefits will be more centralized rather than spread out. Whereas the bike rallies certainly benefited the entire PD area.

Oh yeah, when you look at the financial aspect of the rallies, replacing some 300,000 tourists will not be easy … that’s $300.000 dollars per day at $1 per person that business are loosing throughout the PD. Now that’s a chunk of change not being spent here and of course there’s no stimulus money coming from our idiot city leaders.

No matter which side of the rally issue you stand on, the loss to the city and the image it has created of itself will have a long-term affect on the area. The city chased away good hard working bikers who were willing to drop a lot of cash into our economy. As a result, those who work here, yeah those of us who pay taxes, were affected the hardest and are still paying for it to this day.

The city council really screwed up on this one … shame on you!

Locally Speaking

Shallotte Picks Up Biker Business

Ray Herro says Shallotte, N.C., could own a big piece of the Harley-Davidson Cruisin' the Coast spring motorcycle rally if it wanted to.

It has proved to be biker-friendly with the reception given vendors and bikers now in their second year at the Beach House Harley-Davidson just outside town, a venue that Herro set up. Bikers spend money, Herro said, and restaurants and other businesses in Shallotte would profit if the town accommodated them with more reasons to stop and shop.

The new location and new business would be welcome by bikers and the Brunswick County Chamber of Commerce. Bikers at Beach House Sunday unanimously said they would be happy to move north to visit vendors. They are angry with the city of Myrtle Beach and won't voluntarily ride in the city anymore.

But Shallotte Mayor Buddy Kelly said he's not sure the town would be interested in having vendors strung along Main Street.

In the first place, he said, the town bans street vending for all but nonprofit groups, and he's not sure if the Board of Aldermen would want to change that for one week in the spring. He thinks town residents would object to the crowds and worries that the increased traffic on vehicle-choked Main Street would be hazardous. -Sun News

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Foreclosure Filed On The Market Common

JPMorgan Chase Bank filed foreclosure against The Market Common Tuesday, but business will continue as usual.

LUK-MB1 LLC, the company that owns and developed The Market Common, owes its lenders more than $105 million.

Sue Bonin, the general manager of The Market Common said the court appointed a receiver to operate the property, and the current management team will remain in place.
Bonin said there will be no impact to businesses or residents who can continue to live and work at The Market Common.

"We feel badly for the original investors, like [developer Dan] McCaffrey, but as far as we and the merchants concerned, we don't really see anything changing," said Myrtle Beach city manager Tom Leath. "The receiver took over yesterday and rehired many of the people who worked for McCaffrey Interests, so we and the merchants will deal with a lot of the same people."

Myrtle Beach helped finance building The Market Common and has been focused for a while on enhancing the Grand Park area with sports fields, exercise facilities and other amenities.

Leath said the property taxes will be paid on The Market Common regardless of who owns the property, and that's what covers the city's bond debt for its investment.

"The general taxpayer is not on the hook for this debt at all," Leath said. –Sun News

Ragbag Headliners

The Spread Of U.S. Homegrown Terrorism

Nearly a decade ago, a group of Saudis and other men from the Middle East came to the United States to carry out the worst terrorist attack on the U.S.

Not a single one had American citizenship.

Almost nine years after the September 11 attacks, the threat of another major terror strike is still a concern, but where the threat is coming from has changed.

A growing number of American citizens and longtime residents of the United States are becoming radicalized enough by al Qaeda's extremist ideology to kill their fellow Americans, counterterrorism officials say.

A growing number are also learning the bomb-making skills necessary to become potentially dangerous terrorists, the officials say. They are training in the mountains of Waziristan in northwestern Pakistan, where al Qaeda still enjoys significant safety.

That's where, according to the U.S. government, alleged Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad was trained by the Pakistani Taliban, a group with close ties to al Qaeda.

Shahzad's case has strong similarities to that of another American who plotted with terrorist groups in Pakistan to attack the United States. His name is Bryant Neal Vinas, a Catholic convert to Islam from Long Island, New York, who became radicalized, traveled to Pakistan to join up with al Qaeda and helped Osama bin Laden's terrorist organization plot a bomb attack on New York City.

When news of Vinas' arrest broke last summer, family members, friends and terrorism experts where dumbfounded by how a studious, middle-class, baseball-loving, all-American kid and onetime U.S. Army recruit could end up plotting to kill in the name of al Qaeda.

CNN's investigation into Vinas has resulted in an intimate portrait of a homegrown terrorist, charting the disturbing story of a young American's obsessive quest to join al Qaeda.

Vinas' case sheds significant light on why Shahzad and an increasing number of other young Americans have become seduced by al Qaeda's ideology.

Both Vinas and Shahzad were well-integrated into American life before becoming radicalized. Both traveled to the heart of al Qaeda's operational command in Pakistan's tribal region along the border with Afghanistan.

And both allegedly met with the most senior leaders of the Pakistani Taliban in the weeks before allegedly plotting against the United States.

"Bryant Neal Vinas is almost a poster child for the process, the unremarkable nature of the people who might go through this process and, frankly, the potential to link up to al Qaeda and the danger that presents," according to Mitch Silber, the director of intelligence analysis for the New York City Police Department.

Several top U.S. counterterrorism officials had the same message: Americans radicalized at home and trained in Pakistan represent a new and disturbing threat to the American homeland.

The changing face of terrorism

"In the 9/11 world and in the immediate aftermath, the theory was and the reality was that a terrorist attack, if it were to occur again on U.S. soil, would be someone coming from abroad and coming in to the United States," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said. "That paradigm has changed, and there are now individuals in the United States, some who have grown up here and are American citizens. ... They haven't done anything to violate the law, but yet they have become radicalized to the point of violent extremism and to the point of ... considering coming back to the homeland and conducting an attack of some sort."

In the last year, there have been 16 cases of Americans or American residents implicated in Islamist terrorism, a surge in such cases. The Times Square plot is case No. 17.

These cases include the plot last September by Denver taxi driver Najibullah Zazi to conduct multiple suicide bombings on subway cars in New York City, an al Qaeda plot described by U.S. officials as the most serious on U.S. soil since 9/11. Like Vinas and alleged Times Square bomber Shahzad, Zazi and two associates allegedly received terrorist training in the tribal areas of Pakistan.
"Radicalization is definitely on the rise in the United States," said Silber of the NYPD, adding that there's "a new wrinkle" to that radicalization: "For years, many of these people almost exclusively sought to fight overseas, [but] now, we're seeing individuals looking to target the United States itself."

Counterterrorism officials believe that interactive online social media sites and a new generation of charismatic English-speaking preachers have helped al Qaeda and other terrorist groups spread their ideology into the United States like never before.

But not only radical online preaching has caused increasing concerns. CNN investigations have revealed that radical preachers are attempting to spread al Qaeda's message on the streets of American cities, including even on Times Square in New York.

Two New York City-based groups -- The Islamic Thinkers Society and Revolution Muslim -- have come under particular scrutiny because of their attempts to spread al Qaeda's ideology in the United States.

CNN investigations have revealed that Vinas hung out in Islamic Thinkers Society circles in New York before leaving to fight jihad in Afghanistan. U.S. counterterrorism officials tell CNN they believe he was radicalized by spending time with the group.

While the Islamic Thinkers Society and Revolution Muslim have few full-time members and their public rallies are sometimes sparsely attended, they have thousands of followers online, many of them American. And counterterrorism officials believe they often organize meetings in private.

"In a sense, they are almost bug lights for aspiring jihadists," Silber said. "They've got an anti-Western, anti-democratic, anti-U.S., pro-al Qaeda message."

One of the followers of Revolution Muslim's website was "Jihad Jane," the avatar of Colleen LaRose, a Pennsylvanian woman charged in March for allegedly plotting to murder a Swedish cartoonist.

The Islamic Thinkers Society, like Revolution Muslim, is still active. Last month, outside the Israeli Consulate in New York, it protested U.S. support for Israel.

After the rally, Islamic Thinkers Society spokesman Abu Mujaddid said the group planned to step up its activities in New York and was successfully recruiting new followers.

Mujaddid, who said he believed the United States was at war with Islam, refused to give his real name.

Breeding ground

While it is still unclear whether Shahzad had radical associates in the United States, U.S. counterterrorism officials are concerned that others like him may be being radicalized through personal contact with proselytizers.

Most serious plots directed at the West in the last six years saw plotters either trained or directed by established jihadist groups in Pakistan, according to a recent study conducted for the New American Foundation.

In recent months, videos have emerged purporting to show two Americans fighting with militants along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

One of the alleged Americans, going by the name Sayfullah Amriki, was featured with his face blurred in a video produced by the propaganda arm of the Islamic Jihad Union, an al Qaeda-affiliated Uzbek group.

In the video, Amriki said he was not the only American who had joined up with militants in the area. He also made a plea in English for new recruits to fight American forces in Afghanistan.

"We must rush to the lands to jihad. It is an obligation on us," he said. "How can we lose when we wish for death?"

But it's what happens when fighters like Amriki come home that most worries U.S. counterterrorism officials. –CNN Justice

25 Ways To Clean With Vinegar

The cleaning aisle at just about any grocery store is stocked with a dizzying array of options—and when it comes down to it, there are a lot of expensive, toxic, superfluous products crowding the market. Chances are, you already have one of the best, all-purpose cleaning agents in your pantry: white vinegar. As noted earlier, vinegar actually works as a great laundry booster, stripping away the chemical build-up that detergent leaves behind (and gets rid of clingy odors in the process). And beyond that, there are tons of other applications for the stuff around your home. Here, from vinegartips.com and frugalfun.com, 25 ideas for making the most of vinegar:

1. Deodorize the sink: Pour 1 cup baking soda, followed by 1 cup hot vinegar, down the drain. Let sit for at least 5 minutes, then rinse with hot water.

2. Deodorize the garbage disposal: Make ice cubes out of vinegar. Run the disposal with a few vinegar ice cubes and cold water.

3. Clean counter tops: Wipe down surfaces with a rag dipped in vinegar.

4. Clean the fridge: Use a mixture of half water, half vinegar to wipe down the interior shelves and walls.

5. Remove soap build-up and odors from the dishwasher: Once a month, pour 1 cup of vinegar into an empty dishwasher and run the machine through its entire cycle.

6. Bust oven grease: If you’ve got grease spots on the oven door, pour some vinegar directly on the stains, let it sit for 15 minutes, and wipe away with a sponge.

7. To make old glassware sparkle: To get rid of the cloudy effect, wrap a vinegar-soaked towel around the glass and let it sit. Remove and rinse with hot water.

8. Get rid of lime deposits on your tea kettle: Fill the kettle with vinegar and let it boil. Allow it to cool, and rinse with water.

9. Remove stains in coffee cups: Create a paste using of equal parts vinegar and salt (or in lieu of salt, baking soda) and scrub gently before rinsing.

10. Treat Tupperware stains (and stinkiness): Wipe the containers with a vinegar-saturated cloth.

11. Remove stains on aluminum pots: Boil 1 cup vinegar and 1 cup water.

12. Deter ant infestations: Spray outside doorways and windowsills, and anywhere you see a trail of critters.

13. Clean can openers: Scrub the wheel of your can opener with vinegar using an old toothbrush.

14. Remove stickers or labels: Cover the sticker with a vinegar-soaked cloth. Let it sit overnight—it should slide right off by morning.

15. Shine porcelain sinks: A bit of vinegar and a good scrub should leave them sparkling.

16. Clean grout: Pour on some vinegar, let it hang out for a few minutes, and buff with an old toothbrush.

17. Clean the shower door: Spray them down with vinegar pre-shower, or post (after you’ve squeegeed the glass) to remove hard water deposits.

18. Clean a grimy shower head: To get rid of scum, fill a Ziploc with ½ a cup of baking soda and 1 cup vinegar and tie it around the shower head. Let it sit for an hour, until the bubbling has stopped. Remove the bag and run the shower.

19. Make a toilet sparkle: Pour in a cup or two of vinegar and let it sit there overnight before scrubbing with a toilet brush.

20. Polish linoleum floors: Add 1 cup of vinegar for every gallon of water you use to wash the floor.

21. Clean paintbrushes: Soak paintbrushes for an hour before simmering them on the stove to remove hardened paint. Drain and rinse.

22. Clean grills: Spray vinegar on a ball of tin foil, then use it to give the grate a firm scrub.

23. Disinfect wood cutting boards: Wipe down wood boards with a wash of vinegar.

24. Clean the microwave: Fill a microwave-safe bowl with 2 cups water and ½ cup vinegar. Heat it on full power for 3-4 minutes until it comes to a boil. Keep the door closed for a few minutes longer to let the steam fill the microwave, loosening the grime. Remove the bowl (carefully!) and wipe down interior walls with a sponge.

25. Polish patent leather accessories: Give them a rub with a vinegar-soaked cloth. Buff with a dry cloth. –Yahoo

U.S. Soldiers in Afghanistan Cover
'Telephone' by Lady Gaga

Moving to Mexico

Dear President Obama:

I'm planning to move my family and extended family into Mexico for my health, and I would like to ask you to assist me.

We're planning to simply walk across the border from the U.S. Into Mexico, and we'll need your help to make a few arrangements.

We plan to skip all the legal stuff like visas, passports, immigration quotas and laws. I'm sure they handle those things the same way you do here. So, would you mind telling your buddy, President Calderon, that I'm on my way over?

Please let him know that I will be expecting the following:

1. Free medical care for my entire family.

2. English-speaking government bureaucrats for all services I might need, whether I use them or not.

3. Please print all Mexican government forms in English.

4. I want my grandkids to be taught Spanish by English-speaking (bi-lingual) teachers.

5. Tell their schools they need to include classes on American culture and history.

6. I want my grandkids to see the American flag on one of the flag poles at their school.

7. Please plan to feed my grandkids at school for both breakfast and lunch.

8. I will need a local Mexican driver's license so I can get easy access to government services.

9. I do plan to get a car and drive in Mexico, but, I don't plan to purchase car insurance, and I probably won't make any special effort to learn local traffic laws.

10. In case one of the Mexican police officers does not get the memo from their president to leave me alone, please be sure that every patrol car has at least one English-speaking officer.

11. I plan to fly the U.S. Flag from my house top, put U S. Flag decals on my car, and have a gigantic celebration on July 4th. I do not want any complaints or negative comments from the locals.

12. I would also like to have a nice job without paying any taxes, or have any labor or tax laws enforced on any business I may start.

13. Please have the president tell all the Mexican people to be extremely nice and never say critical things about me or my family, or about the strain we might place on their economy.

14. I want to receive free food stamps.

15. Naturally, I'll expect free rent subsidies.

16. I'll need Income tax credits so although I don't pay Mexican Taxes, I'll receive money from the government.

17. Please arrange it so that the Mexican Gov't pays $4,500 to help me buy a new car.

18. Oh yes, I almost forgot, please enroll me free into the Mexican Social Security program so that I'll get a monthly income in retirement.

I know this is an easy request, because you already do all these things for all his people who walk over to the U.S. from Mexico. I' m sure that President Calderon won't mind returning the favor if you ask him nicely.

Thank you so much for your kind help.

You're the man!!!

Author Unknown

Oil Spill In The Gulf of Mexico - A Dangerous Threat More Than The Press Presents

This is certainly is something to contemplate.

For the first time in my life I am truly scared for everyone in North America. I've been working 84 hours a week since returning from Florida and haven't kept up on the news coming out of the Gulf of Mexico concerning the BP oil rig that blew up. After having read some of the stories and talking to some of the oil company insiders I work with on a daily basis, I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that this catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico is a million times more serious then most can imagine. This catastrophe has the potential to finish off what's left of the economy in the US. To understand just how bad this is consider the following statement I read from an oil company engineer with 25 years of experience.

"Imagine a pipe 5 feet wide spewing crude oil like a fire hose from what could be the planets' largest, high-pressure oil and gas reserve. With the best technology available to man, the Deepwater Horizon rig popped a hole into that reserve and was overwhelmed. If this isn't contained, it could poison all the oceans of the world.

"Well, if you say the fire hose has a 70,000 psi pump on the other end yes! No comparison here. The volume out rises geometrically with pressure. Its a squares function. Two times the pressure is 4 times the push. The Alaska pipeline is 4 feet in diameter and pushes with a lot less pressure. This situation in the Gulf of Mexico is stunning dangerous." -- Paul Noel (May 2, 2010)

The original estimate was about 5,000 gallons of oil a day spilling into the ocean. Now they're saying 200,000 gallons a day. That's over a million gallons of crude oil a week!

First, the BP platform was drilling for what they call deep oil. They go out where the ocean is about 5,000 feet deep and drill another 30,000 feet into the crust of the earth. This it right on the edge of what human technology can do. Well, this time they hit a pocket of oil at such high pressure that it burst all of their safety valves all the way up to the drilling rig and then caused the rig to explode and sink. Take a moment to grasp the import of that. The pressure behind this oil is so high that it destroyed the maximum effort of human science to contain it. When the rig sank it flipped over and landed on top of the drill hole some 5,000 feet under the ocean.

Now they've got a hole in the ocean floor, 5,000 feet down with a wrecked oil drilling rig sitting on top of it spewing 200,000 barrels of oil a day into the ocean. Take a moment and consider that!

First, they have to get the oil rig off the hole to get at it in order to try to cap it. Do you know the level of effort it will take to move that wrecked oil rig, sitting under 5,000 feet of water? That operation alone would [probably] take years and hundreds of millions of dollars to accomplish. Then, how do you cap that hole in the muddy ocean floor?

The only piece of human technology that might address this is a nuclear bomb. I'm not kidding. If they put a nuke down there in the right spot it might seal up the hole. Nothing short of that will work. [See Paul Noel's ideas above.]

If we can't cap that hole, that oil is going to destroy the oceans of the world. It only takes one quart of motor oil to make 250,000 gallons of ocean water toxic to wildlife. Are you starting to get the magnitude of this? We're so used to our politicians creating false crises to forward their criminal agendas that we aren't recognizing that we're staring straight into possibly the greatest disaster mankind will ever see. Imagine what happens if that oil keeps flowing until it destroys all life in the oceans of this planet. Who knows how big of a reservoir of oil is down there? [This is] Not to mention that the oceans are critical to maintaining the proper oxygen level in the atmosphere for human life.

We're stumped. Unless God steps in and fixes this, no human can. You can be sure of that. I was present during the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. I worked for the main construction camp which houses and feeds any response crew in case anything like the Exxon Valdez happens again. I remember the damage that 11 million gallons caused and I understand who caused it and why it happened. I also can tell you that Exxon spent over a billion dollars on cleanup efforts that failed. All of the billion dollars of equipment purchased for cleanup efforts went straight to the Valdez landfill, never making it to the cleanup crew. I was 17 at the time and I watched the farce of the Exxon Valdez from the beginning and [have continued to follow it] to its current effects today. I think history will soon forget the Exxon Valdez because BP Gulf of Mexico has the potential to destroy what is left of the US economy and send gas prices to over $10.00 a gallon. Think I'm kidding? Magrath, Alaska just had a price increase last week of over $3.00 a gallon. They are now once again paying over $9.00 per gallon. We are seeing a major historical and economic event taking place that could change the world as we have known it. Everyone needs to pray that what is occurring in the Gulf of Mexico can be contained. And pray for the families that lost their loved ones on that oil rig explosion.

by Lonnie Melashenko

(Lonnie Melanshanko was the Director of Voice of Prophecy based in Simi Valley, California, which has radio & television programs aired in several national and international stations and channels.)

Bet You Never Heard

In Knoxville, Tennessee, four African-American men: Lemarcus Davidson, age 25; Letalvis Cobbins, 24; George Thomas, 24; and Eric Boyd, 24; and one African-American woman, Vanessa Coleman, age 18, had been recently charged with the murder of Christopher Newsom and his girlfriend, Channon Christian, a young white couple, after carjacking Newsom's car, kidnapping the couple, and then murdering them. However, even more significantly, before killing the couple, the assailants forced Channon Christian to watch while they cut off his boyfriend's penis, set him on fire, and fatally shot him several times. And then, she herself met an even more cruel and painful end. She was beaten, gang-raped and sexually violated multiple times and urinated upon by all five assailants, after which both of her breasts were cut off, her mouth was stuffed with chemicals, and she was also eventually shot to death multiple times.

What is quite remarkable was, had the victims been black and the perpetrators were white, considering terrible inhumanity of the criminal acts inflicted upon the victims, there would have definitely been national outrage and extensive news media coverage like the "Duke University rape" --- the Reverend(s) Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson would have probably immediately flown to Tennessee to help console the victims' relatives, publicly condemned and loudly decried the heinous crimes, and demanded a full FBI investigation---and they would have definitely been joined by the NAACP, the ACLU, the New York Times and other members of the news media, various social activists, etc. But since the victims were white, Sharpton and Jackson, the NAACP, the ACLU, the feds and "human rights" people could have cared less, and there was no widespread coverage by the news media --- in fact, the incident barely got a blip in the news. That's why hardly anyone has heard about it.

The Assailants

Source Unknown

History Lesson

Most people don't know that back in 1912, Hellmann's mayonnaise was manufactured in England. In fact, the Titanic was carrying 12,000 jars of the condiment scheduled for delivery in Vera Cruz, Mexico, which was to be the next port of call for the great ship after its stop in New York.

This would have been the largest single shipment of mayonnaise ever delivered to Mexico. But as we know, the great ship did not make it to New York . The ship hit an iceberg and sank, and the cargo was forever lost.

The people of Mexico, who were crazy about mayonnaise, and were eagerly awaiting its delivery, were disconsolate at the loss. Their anguish was so great, that they declared a National Day of Mourning, which they still observe to this day. The National Day of Mourning occurs each year on May 5th and is known, of course, as - Sinko De Mayo.

WHAT? You expected something educational?

You need a shot of Tequila after that don't you?

Author Unknown

Arizona Profiling

American Capitalism Gone With A Whimper

"It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breathtaking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people. True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was.

But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists. "Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters. First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then (sic) the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their 'right' to choke down a McDonalds (sic) burger or a BurgerKing (sic) burger than for their constitutional rights."

Nobody ever called 911 when they lost a constitutional right, but they call 911 when they didn't get their McNuggets. "Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our 'democracy'" in Russia. "Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different 'branches and denominations' were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the 'winning' side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the 'winning' side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power.

Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America," meaning Russian Orthodox churches. "The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. "His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic (sic) and at worst Zimbabwe.

"These past two weeks have been the most breathtaking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?"

English-language version of Pravda, the state-run media in the old Soviet Union — and the key words here, in the lede: "the American decent into Marxism." Pravda, calling Marxism something you fall into. –Snoops

Origins: The item referenced above is a portion of the text of a 1 April 2009 blog post (entitled "American Capitalism Gone with a Whimper") by Stanislav Mishin which was reprinted by the Russian Pravda news site on 27 April 2009.

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Discriminating readers should make special note, however, that the on line version of Pravda in which this editorial appeared is not the same as the newspaper which once served as the official voice of Soviet Communism. The latter was shut down in 1991, while the former is a Russian tabloid-style news outlet established in January 1999. While the name is the same, the two papers are different, and the one doesn't have the pedigree or the history of the other.

Locally Speaking

Motorcycle Rally Uncertain

Motorcycle riders waiting to book rooms for the Spring Harley-Davidson Cruisin' the Coast motorcycle rally remain in limbo as they wait to hear the South Carolina Supreme Court's decision on Myrtle Beach's helmet law.

"I know a lot of people who are waiting to decide whether to come back this year based on what the court decides," said motorcyclist Scott Welborn of Greenville. He lived on the Grand Strand and worked for a Harley-Davidson shop for 12 years, and said he will come back for the May 7-16 rally because he's still got friends here he'd like to see.

But he said most of the people he has talked to say they don't want to be here if they can't ride through Myrtle Beach without helmets on.

The Supreme Court heard two lawsuits against Myrtle Beach at the beginning of February, both of them asking the court to force the city to rescind its local helmet law because, they say, it supersedes state law.

The court's pattern is to issue its rulings on Mondays, which means it still could drop an opinion this week that would be in time to allow people to book rooms before the rally starts.

The state law says only people younger than 21 must wear helmets, but as part of its 14 ordinances targeting the May motorcycle rallies, Myrtle Beach decided everyone riding within city limits must wear one. That decision more than any of the city's other ordinances angered many riders. Many boycotted the city last May, the first rally with the new helmet law, and said they would not return at other times of the year, either. –Sun News

Ragbag Headliners

Pakistani Group Claims NYC Car Bomb

Police combed through a charred SUV and a crude assortment of explosives Sunday for clues to a failed Times Square bombing as a monitoring group reported that the Pakistani Taliban had claimed responsibility for the terrorist threat.
Prozac

An intelligence monitoring group released a one-minute video allegedly from the Pakistani Taliban, in which it claimed responsibility for the failed bombing in a smoking SUV left parked in the city on Saturday night, clearing thousands of tourists and theatergoers from the city's busiest district.

The U.S.-based SITE intelligence group, which monitors militant websites, said the Pakistani Taliban claims the attack is revenge for the death of its leader Baitullah Mehsud and the recent killings of the top leaders of al-Qaida in Iraq. Images of the slain militants are shown as an unidentified voice recites the message. English subtitles are at the bottom of the screen.

New York authorities were examining the SUV at a forensic lab for fingerprints and DNA evidence and had isolated a 200-pound gun locker at a police firing rang in the Bronx. They were trying to determine whether the locker, recovered from the SUV, could contain more powerful explosives that could have detonated the main explosive device.

The bomb, which partly detonated but malfunctioned, could have sprayed shrapnel that killed pedestrians in the immediate vicinity, top NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said.

"We avoided what could have been a very deadly event," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "It certainly could have exploded and had a pretty big fire and a decent amount of explosive impact."

Bloomberg called the explosive device "amateurish" but potentially deadly, noting: "We are very lucky.” -Yahoo News

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'Landmark' Cancer Vaccine
A vaccine treatment for prostate cancer has become the first therapy of its kind to win approval for use in U.S. patients.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Provenge, a novel technique for fighting prostate cancer, on Thursday. The treatment involves taking a patient's own white blood cells and using a drug that trains them to more actively attack cancer cells.

"It's a landmark in the sense that it would be the first approved cell-based immune therapy," said Dr. Nina Bhardwaj, director of the tumor vaccine program at New York University Langone Medical Center, who is not involved with Provenge or its maker, Dendreon Corp.

The treatment is intended only for men with so-called "metastatic castration-resistant" prostate cancer, for whom hormone suppressant therapy has not worked. Studies have shown that Provenge prolongs survival by about four to 4.5 months.

But the real breakthrough is the approval of this new way of treating disease, which could be used for other cancers and conditions, such as HIV, Bhardwaj said. –CNN Health

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Democrats Call For Elimination Of Arizona's Immigration Law

Congressional Democrats made an impassioned plea on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday for Arizona's new immigration law to be overturned, citing constitutional concerns and other implications for the country.

"This law must be overturned -- either legally, politically or with the economic consequences that are beginning to happen to Arizona already because of the law," said Rep. Raul Grijalva, co-chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

The request comes amid a heated debate on Capitol Hill of a comprehensive immigration reform bill -- one of President Obama's top domestic priorities.

Grijalva, who represents Arizona in the House, said the law in his state may be particular to Arizona, but "the implications, the precedent and the Pandora's box that's being opened in Arizona applies to the rest of the nation. ... This is a harbinger of things to come."

He called on Obama and the Department of Justice to join in the fight and pursue legal options, adding that this is an issue that needs to be dealt with federally and not by individual states.

Obama told reporters Wednesday that the nation needed a comprehensive plan to deal with immigration reform, rather than what he called "shortcuts" that can polarize the nation.

"What I think is a mistake is when we start having local law enforcement officials empowered to stop people on suspicion that they may be undocumented workers," Obama said.

"It's a matter of political will," the president said. "Now, look, we've gone through a very tough year, and I've been working Congress pretty hard. So I know there may not be an appetite immediately to dive into another controversial issue. There's still work that has to be done on energy. Midterms are coming up. So I don't want us to do something just for the sake of politics that doesn't solve the problem. I want us to get together, get the best ideas on both sides, work this through, and when it's ready to go, let's move. But I think we need to start a process at least to open up a smarter, better discussion than the one that is raging right now."

Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday that a federal court challenge to the law isn't out of the question.

Holder said the Justice Department was working with the Department of Homeland Security to "decide exactly how we are going to react to it."

Rep. Nydia Velazquez, chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said that the group of House Democrats -- including members of the Congressional Asian-American, Hispanic, Black and Progressive caucuses -- is united in opposition to the law.

"It is irresponsible for any city, state or elected official to legalize racial profiling and discrimination. That is exactly what the governor of Arizona and the Republican-controlled legislature had done," the New York Democrat said.

She added: "This shortsighted law is a step backward in our nation's ongoing struggle to provide civil rights for all. This bill will not make our borders more secure, but it will open the door to discrimination and racial profiling. [It] panders to the worst elements of our national dialogue."

Scheduled to go into effect 90 days after the close of Arizona's legislative session, the law would require immigrants to carry alien registration documents at all times and require police to question people if there's reason to suspect they're in the United States illegally. Before the law's enactment, officers could check someone's immigration status only if that person was suspected in another crime.

On Monday, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said an executive order accompanying the law will require additional training for officers on how to implement the law without engaging in racial profiling.

Rep. Joe Baca, a California Democrat, called for a boycott of all travel to Arizona. "I personally will not be traveling through Arizona until we repeal this legislation," he said.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Illinois, later blamed South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham for holding up progress on efforts to pass comprehensive immigration reform this year.

Graham was upset when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the Senate would take up immigration instead of climate change after completing action on financial reform.

In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Graham said pushing an immigration bill now is fruitless because it's "not going to pass."

"To bring it up now would do a lot of damage to the future of immigration reform, something I care about, and it makes energy and climate [legislation] impossible" he said.

Graham, the only leading Republican who has been working with the White House on the contentious climate change issue, walked out of those talks Saturday.

Reid reversed course Tuesday and said the climate change bill will be considered next, meaning immigration reform was pushed back to the next spot in line.

The last major effort to overhaul immigration in 2007 fell apart in the Senate, and there are many other bills passed by the House that await Senate action.

Gutierrez predicted that immigration rallies scheduled to take place in 70 cities this weekend would generate momentum across the country to move a bill this year.

Velazquez said in the coming days or weeks, she will meet with Democrats and Republicans to develop comprehensive immigration reform legislation.

"The CHC wants a bill that secures our borders, creates a reliable employer verification system, unites families, requires immigrants to learn English and mandates that immigrants pay their fair share. The time for action is now. We cannot wait any longer."

Earlier in the day, a largely Republican group of House lawmakers said it had sent a letter to Obama asking for the National Guard to be deployed along the border between the United States and Mexico.

"We want the National Guard on the border," said Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas. "This country protects the borders of other nations better than it protects our own border."

Poe and a handful of other lawmakers said the Mexican border has become a virtual war zone, plagued by violence from Mexican drug cartels expanding their reach into the United States. They also said border state governors have made similar requests for a National Guard deployment.

Local sheriffs and border agents are "outmanned, outgunned and outfinanced" by the cartels, Poe said.

"Right now, the cartels dominate [the border region] through violence and intimidation," said Rep. Dan Burton, R-Indiana. "It is long since time to protect our populations on the southern border."

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Arizona, said her constituents were "sick and tired" of the federal government failing to protect the border. The current situation is "completely unacceptable," she said.

Giffords defended the Arizona law. She acknowledged the concerns about the bill's constitutionality but said it is a "clear calling that the federal government needs to do a better job" securing the border.

Critics say the the new Arizona law might promote racial profiling and is in conflict with federal law.

"This is about the Constitution of the United States. And this is about making sure that people have equal protection under the law," said the Rev. Al Sharpton, a civil rights activist. "And if you are a Latino in Phoenix, you should not be subjected to having to ride around with citizenship papers any more than anyone else."

Supporters say the measure is needed because the federal government has failed to enforce its own immigration laws.

Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio said the new law is another tool that law enforcement has in cracking down on illegal immigration.

"And we have a big problem in this state and across our nation. Something has to be done," Arpaio told CNN's Larry King. "The federal government needs help. And we're here to help." -CNN