20080523 The Knauer is missing

Rumors are circulating in Westminster that Carrie Knauer has run off with Johnny Depp

Friday, May 23, 2008

Recently folks have noticed that Carroll County’s own Rachael Ray – Carroll County Times reporter Carrie Ann Knauer – the local journalist with the best shoes, as been missing. Well, at least she has not had many stories published in the newspaper recently.

This is cause for concern as many of us go into “Knauer Withdrawal Syndrome,” when we can’t get a regular dose of news from her.

As was reported here: “20080429 Carrie Knauer and Johnny Depp in Westminster,” on “Soundtrack,” she was noticed to be in the company of Johnny Depp recently. Perhaps there is always the possibility that she ran off with him.

Of course, the last time she was “missing,” she was actually in an undisclosed location with Vice President Dick Cheney as we revealed here: “20061115 Carrie Knauer and Mission to Baghdad,” exclusively on “Soundtrack.”

Well, after I developed a milk cartoon poster in preparation of launching a search effort – I spotted her. Or at least what I believe to have been her, at the Westminster Fire Hall attending the Westminster Volunteer Fire Department’s “Big Money Raffle.”

Of course, the person that appeared to be Ms. Knauer could have really could’ve been a replicant.

Let’s see if anyone else has a recent Knauer sighting…

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20080429 Carrie Knauer and Johnny Depp in Westminster

20061115 Carrie Knauer and Mission to Baghdad.

20060803 Best Shoes in Show as worn by a journalist.

20080516 Westminster Eagle: Target Reaching Out

Westminster Eagle: Target Reaching Out

05/16/08 Westminster Eagle

Target opens new wing for vocation training

The Westminster-based Target Community and Educational Services Inc. last month celebrated the opening of a new wing that houses its Vocational Education Center.

This facility houses a new Day Habilitation Program for individuals with developmental disabilities.

The center includes classrooms, a computer lab, a library, a large multi-purpose room and an oversized training kitchen.

Clients in this program gain experience through employment and volunteer opportunities in our community.

For more information on the new center or Target services, call 410-848-9090.

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Non-profits and charities

Non-profits and charities Target Community and Educational Services

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Cows, Lies and Videotape

Cows, Lies and Videotape

May 10th, 2008 by Westminster Eagle columnist Kevin Dayhoff (1,997 words)

Author’s note: A shorter version of the following was published on May 14, 2008 in the Westminster Eagle newspaper and The Tentacle – an online magazine.

On May 7, the Humane Society of the United States – HSUS - released videotape of an “undercover investigation” which claimed to show the “shocking abuse of ‘downer’ cows occurs not just at slaughter plants but … at livestock auctions and stockyards around the country.”

One of the stockyards “investigated” was the Westminster Livestock Auction (WLA.)

The event was to serve as a follow-up to the sensational video the Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS) released last January which “documented” an undercover investigation of conditions at the Westland/Hallmark Meat Packing Company of Chino, California.

The HSUS had hoped, in January, to stimulate some action on an initiative that began in earnest in 2002 which, according to a HSUS press release, resulted in Congress directing the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) “to investigate the question of downed animals at livestock auctions and markets.”

The investigation was to include “the scope of problems, the causes, and the resulting cruel treatment of animals,” and follow up with “regulations to provide for the humane treatment, handling, and disposition of nonambulatory livestock by stockyards, market agencies, and dealers.”

Last February, shortly after the HSUS released the video of its “undercover investigation” of the Chino meat packing facility the USDA ordered the recall of 143 million pounds of beef that came from that California processing plant. As a consequence of the recall, the facility closed and has yet to re-open.

The HSUS had hoped “the largest meat recall in U.S. history,” would get Congress moving. It did not.

If anything, the video released in January further called in question the tactics of the HSUS. The video in question “documented” an incident at the Chino plant that was alleged to have happened four months earlier in October 2007.

In spite of the suggestion by Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS, that the video depicted, “torture … right out of the waterboarding manual,” and that the video “must serve as a five-alarm call to action for Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture,” the HSUS – curiously - sat on the video for four months before releasing it.

After four months more product was introduced into our nation’s food supply, the HSUS exclaimed, “Our government simply must act quickly both to guarantee the most basic level of humane treatment for farm animals and to protect America's most vulnerable people, our children, needy families and the elderly from potentially dangerous food.”

The 143 million pounds of beef recalled amounted to the volume of product processed in the four months the HSUS failed to produce the video.

USDA Secretary Ed Schafer said the recall was the result of “one cow that we know of went down just before moving into the gate, and we were supposed to be notified and were not,” in spite of a 2004 government requirement, as a precaution to prevent bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) from entering the food chain. The 2004 rule requires that livestock be able to walk after USDA inspection.

Speaking at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association conference shortly after the January HSUS video surfaced, Secretary Schafer, according the news reports, “condemned the treatment of the dairy cattle shown on the undercover video taken at a Hallmark Meat Packing Co. plant in Chino, Calif.”

However, he added “that ‘The Humane Society, since late October, has been willing to let animals suffer out there,’ rather than notify USDA immediately of the abuses.”

Secretary Schafer “ordered a review of the plant's practices and an inspector general's investigation of the company. He said that investigation has already uncovered violations of federal regulations.”

In February, Secretary Schafer reiterated that, “for four months, theoretically, animals were not being properly treated, and the Humane Society stood by and allowed it to happen,” according to the New York Times.

Fast-forwarding to the recent HSUS investigation, which involved the WLA, The Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association put the matter in an additional context in a statement released on May 7:

“At noon today, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), a long-time critic of animal agriculture in this country, released a video and news release calling attention to the alleged mishandling of downer cattle at livestock auction markets in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Texas.”

Livestock Marketing Association President Jim Santomaso then pointed out, “America’s 1,200 livestock marketing businesses annually handle an astounding number of livestock. In 2006, according to government figures, 35.6 million head of cattle and calves moved through those markets. The overwhelming majority of those markets practice appropriate handling of all livestock moving through their businesses – because proper handling is both a humane and economic necessity.”

Undaunted, the HSUS’s next step was to prove that state regulations of the livestock industry are inadequate. On May 7, the HSUS asserted that the “video evidence produced by this (recent) investigation clearly demonstrates that dairy farmers and auction houses have not solved the problems on their own—far from it.”

Mr. Pacelle emphasized on May 7th: “These new video images show that the rot in the factory farming system of raising animals goes much deeper. The problems are systemic, the laws and regulations are inadequate, and the industry's resolve insufficient.”

A press release which accompanied the press conference, claimed that the released video of “undercover investigation,” which included the Westminster Livestock Auction (WLA,) showed the “shocking abuse of ‘downer’ cows occurs not just at slaughter plants but may be an everyday happening at livestock auctions and stockyards around the country… Animals are “left to suffer for hours and in one instance overnight.”

The media immediately pounced upon the story like so many aroused vultures. The headlines screamed: “Sick Cows Abandoned To Die At Auction Houses” – “WUSA News 9 Now”: and the “Maryland Daily Record” web site cried, “Video: Mistreated cows at Maryland auction house.”

In the carefully choreographed press conference on May 7, Humane Society President Wayne Pacelle played the “undercover” video shot at the WLA and exclaimed: “This is just pitiful… This poor creature, too weak to move, just left there to languish and to die…”

For the animal lovers among us, and those of us who actually know “where our food comes from”; we understand that the integrity of the food chain is only maintained in the real world by constant vigilance. In that capacity, the HSUS has historically played an important role. It is concurrently critical that the HSUS remain above reproach in their advocacy.

Having some background in livestock auctions and hauling livestock from when I was much younger, I was curious. And a review of the video indicated immediately that it just didn’t add up.

“Every place we looked, we found problems with downed animals,” said Pacelle.

Well, everyplace I looked, I found problems with the HSUS’s allegations – and what may be “pitiful” is the HSUS’s “undercover investigation,” of the WLA on April 22. The more the “incident,” was looked into, the more the mysteries multiplied.

In the first seconds of the HSUS video, a cow that is unable to walk is filmed in the unloading gate at WLA.

In a follow up interview, Jim Horak Sr., the owner of the WLA since 2004, said that a hired trucker unloaded the cow at a busy moment that evening, just as “the man who handles the gate was (away) moving other cattle that had just been unloaded.” Please understand that this is occurring at a busy time at the stockyard, which handles as many as 800 or more head of livestock the evening of a sale.

When the “gatekeeper” returned just as the cow was unloaded, he found the cow “down.” Upon being told that the WLA did not accept livestock that cannot walk, the driver refused to take the cow back and quickly left.

The cow was immediately, “carefully,” moved outside of the gate and offered alfalfa hay, according to Horak. Meanwhile the owner of the cow was notified that the WLA would not accept delivery of the cow and that the owner had to come back and pick up the animal. The owner refused.

“They were not here to buy or sell anything – the cow was placed here to cause trouble,” concluded Horak.

Horak states he has handled thousands of animals and no one – until the HSUS - has ever questioned him before about how the yard handles animals.

Indeed, one of the immediate mysteries about this incident is how is it an HSUS undercover investigator just happened to be there for the “minutes” this one particular cow, out of hundreds of animals, was still in the unloading chute?

The fact that the cow was humanely moved is obvious. One of the most important advocacies of the HSUS is that diseased and sick cows - which the HSUS implies may even have “mad-cow disease” - are being inhumanely “dragged and prodded with inhumane handling methods, and increasing the threat of carrying and passing disease.”

One can be sure that if the cow had been handled inhumanely it would have appeared on the HSUS “undercover” video.

Later, “Fox 5” TV reported that it discovered the HSUS knew the cow was not sick or diseased and in fact knew the cow had just had an operation for a twisted stomach – and was in a post-surgical weakened state. Not only was that information not revealed by HSUS at the press conference - but one has to wonder just how the HSUS knew that information in the first place?

Another TV station, “WUSA,” said HSUS accused that “auction workers were unwilling to waste a bullet to shoot her, so she sat there all night, and into the next day, until investigators finally called local officials, and they euthanized her.”

An allegation vehemently denied by Mr. Horak, who noted that many of his employees have been with the stockyard for decades and are dedicated to the history and traditions of the livestock auction and are keenly aware of the proper handling of the animals. Moreover, none of his employees could recall talking with a representative of the HSUS or making any such remark.

The employees did recall feeding and looking after the welfare of the cow.

On May 2, a week before the press conference in which the video was shown, “The HSUS brought preliminary evidence of the abuse to the attention of U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer … at a face-to-face meeting…”

In a letter handed to Secretary Schafer, HSUS claimed, “A downed cow left overnight at a Mid-Atlantic auction is shown. The day following the auction, she was filmed by HSUS investigators in an advanced state of physical distress. Her breathing was labored and she flailed helplessly on the ground. She had no protection from the elements and was without food or water for almost a day.”

However, Horak says that in spite of the fact that it could not stand (because of the surgery,) the cow not in distress. A fact of which is proven in the HSUS video, which one can be sure was edited to show the worse.

As far as the cow staying out overnight; that’s what cow’s do. They rarely if ever come into the farmhouse to watch TV at night. Furthermore, an employee checked on the cow at daybreak the next morning and gave it water and hay.

The cow died because hours later the HSUS called the local humane society which came out and shot the cow. The HSUS then put a picture of the dead cow on their press release.

If I ever have stomach surgery, please don’t take a video of me not being able to walk. Then claim “in distress,” and that I’ve been abused and have me shot by the local humane society so that a picture of my dead body can be put on a press release.

In a statement on May 7th, the Maryland Department of Agriculture said it is investigating. Perhaps what needs to be investigated is the HSUS’s “undercover investigations,” in its ongoing war on food.

Kevin Dayhoff is a retired nursery stock farmer and the former mayor of Westminster, whose family has farmed in Carroll and Fredrick County since the 1700s. He writes a regular column for the Westminster Eagle, the Sunday Carroll Eagle, and The Tentacle on current events, history, agriculture, and politics. He can be reached at: kevindayhoff AT gmail.com

*****

Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoffart.com/ Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://www.westgov.net/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/kevindayhoff Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1040426835 Kevin Dayhoff Banana Stems: http://kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/ Blip.fm: http://blip.fm/kevindayhoff_soundtrack

My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/

20080521 Westminster Eagle: Letters to the editor in response to my May 14th 2008 Westminster Eagle column – “Pictures are worth a thousand words, but

Westminster Eagle: Letters to the editor in response to my May 14^th 2008 Westminster Eagle column – “Pictures are worth a thousand words, but not the whole picture”

Find my May 14^th, 2008 Westminster Eagle column here: Pictures are worth a thousand words, but not the whole picture

Or here: 20080515 Westminster Eagle: Pictures are worth a thousand words but not the whole picture by Kevin Dayhoff

Westminster Eagle Letters 05/21/08

http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?show=localnews&pnpID=978&NewsID=903777&CategoryID=17346&on=1

Humane Society right to stand for cow that couldn't

I take offense at the tone of Kevin Dayhoff's column on the Westminster Livestock auction in the May 14 edition of The Eagle ("Pictures are worth a thousand words, but not the whole picture").

It was both snide and sarcastic as he described the reported inhumane treatment of a sick cow left outside the auction house overnight without food or water.

While I was not there -- nor was he -- I've been to enough livestock auctions in Maryland and Pennsylvania to know that poor or substandard treatment does indeed occur.

I'm glad the Humane Society takes an interest in monitoring these establishments, which, after all, are in the business of making money off these animals.

Mr. Dayhoff's column conveys the attitude that these "events" were misrepresented by the Humane Society and perhaps, were something of a witch hunt. I can't speak to that, but I feel these animals deserve humane, compassionate treatment while they are in our care -- even if they are eventually destined for our dinner table.

Michele Gramens

Westminster

Humane society found wrongdoing in Westminster

In response to The Humane Society of the United States' investigation into the treatment of dairy cows at livestock auctions in four states, including the Westminster Livestock Auction, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer stated:

"The dairy cattle shown in the video were non-ambulatory and were abandoned in parking lots of these auctions and yards. These animals were not in slaughter facilities. However, even though this is not a food safety issue, these actions of animal cruelty are not acceptable."

Secretary Schafer was spot on -- these animals, including the cow at Westminster, were abandoned in helpless and painful conditions by farmers, haulers and auction employees who should have known better.

Maryland law requires market operators to euthanize downed farm animals who are too sick or injured to stand or walk, or place them in the care of a licensed veterinarian at the close of a sale. Westminster appears to have failed to abide by the law, and left the cow to suffer through the night.

The HSUS contacted the Humane Society of Carroll County, whose officer found the cow in such dire straits that he euthanized her and issued a citation to the cow's owner. These are the sad facts of a case now being investigated by the Maryland Department of Agriculture.

It is time for auction owners to treat animals humanely, and to act accordingly, both in terms of ethics and the law.

Miyun Park, vice president Farm Animal Welfare

Humane Society of the United States

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20080521 Westminster Eagle: Letters to the editor in response to my May 14^th 2008 Westminster Eagle column – “Pictures are worth a thousand words, but not the whole picture”

20080520 Wall Street Journal: Hauser’s Law You can’t soak the rich by David Ranson

Wall Street Journal: Hauser’s Law You can’t soak the rich by David Ranson

Hat Tip: R2

You Can't Soak the Rich

By DAVID RANSON May 20, 2008; Page A23

Kurt Hauser is a San Francisco investment economist who, 15 years ago, published fresh and eye-opening data about the federal tax system. His findings imply that there are draconian constraints on the ability of tax-rate increases to generate fresh revenues. I think his discovery deserves to be called Hauser's Law, because it is as central to the economics of taxation as Boyle's Law is to the physics of gases. Yet economists and policy makers are barely aware of it.

Like science, economics advances as verifiable patterns are recognized and codified. But economics is in a far earlier stage of evolution than physics. Unfortunately, it is often poisoned by political wishful thinking, just as medieval science was poisoned by religious doctrine. Taxation is an important example.

The interactions among the myriad participants in a tax system are as impossible to unravel as are those of the molecules in a gas, and the effects of tax policies are speculative and highly contentious. Will increasing tax rates on the rich increase revenues, as Barack Obama hopes, or hold back the economy, as John McCain fears? Or both?

Mr. Hauser uncovered the means to answer these questions definitively. On this page in 1993, he stated that "No matter what the tax rates have been, in postwar America tax revenues have remained at about 19.5% of GDP." What a pity that his discovery has not been more widely disseminated.

The chart nearby, updating the evidence to 2007, confirms Hauser's Law. The federal tax "yield" (revenues divided by GDP) has remained close to 19.5%, even as the top tax bracket was brought down from 91% to the present 35%. This is what scientists call an "independence theorem," and it cuts the Gordian Knot of tax policy debate.

The data show that the tax yield has been independent of marginal tax rates over this period, but tax revenue is directly proportional to GDP. So if we want to increase tax revenue, we need to increase GDP.

What happens if we instead raise tax rates? Economists of all persuasions accept that a tax rate hike will reduce GDP, in which case Hauser's Law says it will also lower tax revenue. That's a highly inconvenient truth for redistributive tax policy, and it flies in the face of deeply felt beliefs about social justice. It would surely be unpopular today with those presidential candidates who plan to raise tax rates on the rich – if they knew about it.

Read the entire piece here: You Can't Soak the Rich

Mr. Ranson is head of research at H.C. Wainwright & Co. Economics Inc.

See all of today's editorials and op-eds, plus video commentary, on Opinion Journal¹.

And add your comments to the Opinion Journal forum².

URL for this article:
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Hyperlinks in this Article:
(1) http://online.wsj.com/opinion
(2) http://forums.wsj.com/viewtopic.php? t=2605

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20080514 Eye for Art: Young photographer has high hopes for artistic future by Lyndi McNulty

Eye for Art: Kasey Keefer - Young photographer has high hopes for artistic future by Lyndi McNulty in The Advocate

May 14, 2008

http://westminsteradvocate.com

14.MAY.08 Eye for Art: Young photographer has high hopes for artistic future

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Kasey Keefer has grown up on the outskirts of the City of Westminster. He is a creative 17 year old who will soon become an Eagle Scout on May 28. Keefer is also a talented photographer.

“My Dad, Andy, has always been the family photographer for all five children for school, sports, and scouts,” Keefer remembered. “He has been an amateur photographer as long as I can remember. Anytime there is a family event, he is there taking his ‘15’ shots so that he can get the right one. He believes that someone will blink,” Keefer laughed. “Dad puts up with all the derisive comments on the length of time all this takes because he knows that everyone will love the photographs when they are finished.”

“I picked up some of his skills by being around him. One Christmas, my parents bought me a digital camera to take on my scout trips since I go so many places. After using for a while, I realized that I enjoyed taking photographs and that is when I got serious about it,” he said.

“One of the times I really started to play around with the camera and explore with it was when I went to The Bahamas High Adventure Seabase with the Boy Scouts,” Keefer said. “We met with the captain of a tall sailing ship who taught us how to sail.”

“For 10 days the Captain and 10 Boy Scouts sailed the ship around the Abaco Islands doing everything from swabbing the deck to raising sails. Sunsets, water, and native plants made great subjects. One evening the boat was keeled a little bit, and the flag was illuminated by the sunset. I had fun playing with that as a photographer.”

“After that, I started to shoot and learn more and more. I would read photo magazines, study other photographers’ work, and examine my own to figure out what I did or didn’t like about it, and what would make it better.”

“Last summer I went to Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico with 12 Boy Scouts. I saved up and got a more capable camera for that trip. We backpacked through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains for ten days. It was just amazing. I was looking forward to that trip as a way to really take some good photos. The last day of the trip, we got up at 3:30 a.m. to climb to the top of Schaeffer’s Peak; we watched the sunrise as if it were a movie. Everyone was standing there, looking in the same direction, just waiting silently. I moved around and shot a series of photographs so I could stitch them into panoramas on the computer. That means I took the photographs, lined them up side by side on the computer screen, and made them into one long photo,” he said.

“Anything and everything is a possibility for a photo for me. Every time there is a sunset or an ice storm I would grab my camera and go outside and take photos. I would spend hours just shooting and learning. Now I take my camera everywhere with me. I do macro photography which means that you get really close to an object such as a flower or a leaf.”

“Currently, I want to keep shooting and learning about photography,” Keefer said. “I want to do a photo show and I have just started selling my work.”

You can contact Keefer at Klunkymunky@comcast.net.

— Lyndi McNulty is owner of Gizmos Art in Westminster.

20080521 Recent Westminster Eagle columns by Kevin Dayhoff

Recent Westminster Eagle columns by Kevin Dayhoff

May 21, 2008

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Pecoraro makes 'superdelegate' stand in advance of convention

Kevin E. Dayhoff Wednesday, May 21

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Political and presidential historians are often quick to point out that the Democratic Party is the oldest political party in the Unites States.

However, many folks may not be aware that much of the roots of the party are arguably in Maryland.

The U.S. Democratic Party, and specifically, the Maryland Democratic Party "is among the oldest, continuous existing political organizations in the world," according to a brief history of the Maryland Democratic Party written by Carroll County historian and former Maryland Secretary of State John T. Willis.

Mr. Willis is considered by many to be a nationally known authority on political history -- especially Democratic Party history.

In his historical account he notes that it was on this day in 1827, "that a meeting of Andrew Jackson supporters organized a political structure in the State designed to help one of the national founders of our Party win the PresidencyÉ"

Five years later, on May 21, 1832, the first national political convention of the Democrat Party was held in Baltimore.

According to Willis, it "was held at the Atheneum (and Warfield's Church) É located on the southwest corner of St. Paul and Lexington Streets. Twelve delegates from each county and six delegates from Baltimore City were invited to attend."

From 1832 to 1872, eight of the 12 Democrat party national conventions were held in Baltimore. Considering that two of the main routes to Baltimore, from all points west, travel through Carroll County, an historian's imagination can run wild as to what national political figures may have passed through Carroll in those days.

Fast-forwarding to the present, as the Democratic primaries draw to a close, presidential historians are looking forward to a very busy summer.

However, one portion of the drama of the longest presidential campaign in history may be coming to an anti-climatic finish, as presidential candidate and Illinois Senator Barack Obama seems to be close to a mathematical edge over his rival for the Oval Office, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.

In one important development that made national news, just last Friday, Westminster Common Councilmember and Democratic National Convention superdelegate Greg Pecoraro endorsed Senator Obama.

[Read full story]

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Pictures are worth a thousand words, but not the whole picture
Last Wednesday, the Humane Society of the United States released videotape of an "undercover investigation" which claimed to show the "shocking abuse of 'downer' cows occurs not just at slaughter plants but É at livestock auctions and stockyards around the country," according to the humane society p...
[Read full story]

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For this year's prom, 'Come as you are' ... and stay a while
May is prom season in Carroll County -- one of the most anticipated nights on a young adult's calendar.

It's also the time of the year when many young adults are looking forward to the end of the school year or graduation ceremonies and parties.

The celebrations bring another set of challenges ...
[Read full story]

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College may be expensive, but the experiences are priceless
Any family with a high school senior is well aware that April is crunch time for the college selection process.

In conversations with parents and students over the last several months, folks have told me that they are simply overwhelmed with myriad factors that must be considered in choosing a col...
[Read full story]

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Rhodes offers a helping hand to those in need
Recently I had an opportunity to catch-up with one of Carroll County's true whirlwinds, Laura Rhodes.

We first compared notes on the Rock Ball, this week's fund-raiser for Granite House, one of the largest nonprofit mental health care organizations in Carroll County.

Rhodes is currently program ...
[Read full story]

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More Headlines Dr. Herlocker set a pace in more ways than one
Days of bicycles, playgrounds, swamps and turkeys
Jeff Morse incident is a lost opportunity
Inns and hotels important in the early history of Carroll County
Hypocrisy and poor money management plague client No. 9
Beet juice, Romeo and Juliet and the 1856 Guano Islands Act
Trouble with trash is nothing new, but the technology may be
Don't let 'wrap rage' leave you in stitches
Looking at Bowling Brook one year later
'Tech Tax' will have crippling impact on Carroll
It's easy to demonstrate for peace; harder to work for it
How culture and song can save a nation
Dr. Martin Luther King's enduring words
Courthouse history seems to match theatrical flair of current case
Something we really must talk about

20080521 President and Mrs. Bush Saddened by Death of Hamilton Jordan

For Immediate Release

Office of the Press Secretary

May 21, 2008

President and Mrs. Bush Saddened by Death of Hamilton Jordan

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/05/20080521-1.html

Laura and I are saddened by the death of Hamilton Jordan. Hamilton Jordan was a man whose love for American politics and his country took him at a young age from the State Capitol in Georgia to the White House. As President Carter's close advisor, Hamilton played an important role in shaping our Nation's policies. We value his service to our country.

Hamilton Jordan was also a great community leader, using lessons learned during his personal struggle against cancer to encourage other cancer survivors to remain optimistic and embrace the blessings of each day. Through their work with Camp Sunshine, he and his wife Dorothy have helped thousands of children enjoy life as they cope with the challenges of cancer.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Jordan family.

# # #

20080515 Westminster Eagle: Pictures are worth a thousand words but not the whole picture by Kevin Dayhoff

Pictures are worth a thousand words, but not the whole picture

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05/15/08 By Kevin E. Dayhoff

Last Wednesday, the Humane Society of the United States released videotape of an "undercover investigation" which claimed to show the "shocking abuse of 'downer' cows occurs not just at slaughter plants but É at livestock auctions and stockyards around the country," according to the humane society press release.

One of the stockyards "investigated" was the Westminster Livestock Auction.

In a carefully choreographed press conference, Humane Society President Wayne Pacelle played the video shot at the WLA and said: "This is just pitiful. É This poor creature, too weak to move, just left there to languish and to die."

In the first seconds of the video, a cow that is unable to walk is shown in the unloading gate at the livestock auction.

In an interview last Thursday, Jim Horak Sr., owner of the livestock auction since 2004, said a hired trucker unloaded the cow at a busy moment that evening; just as "the man who handles the gate was (away) moving other cattle that had just been unloaded."

When the gatekeeper returned minutes later, just after the cow was unloaded; he found the cow down. Horak said that upon being told that the auction did not accept livestock that cannot walk, the driver refused to take the cow back and quickly left.

The cow was immediately, "carefully," moved outside of the gate and offered alfalfa hay, according to Horak. Meanwhile, the owner of the cow was called and told the WLA would not accept delivery of the cow and that the owner had to come back and pick up the animal. The owner refused, Horak said.

Horak said he has handled thousands of animals and no one -- until the Humane Society of the United States -- questioned him before about how the yard handles animals.

Indeed, one of the immediate mysteries about this incident is how a Humane Society undercover investigator happened to be there for the brief period when this particular cow, out of thousands of animals, was still in the unloading chute.

The fact that the cow was humanely moved is obvious. One critical advocacy of the humane society is that diseased and sick cows are being inhumanely "dragged and prodded with inhumane handling methods, and increasing the threat of carrying and passing disease."

I can imagine that if the cow had been handled inhumanely it would have appeared on the "undercover" video.

Later in the week, Fox 5 television reported that the Humane Society of the United States knew the cow was not sick or diseased and in fact knew the cow had just had an operation for a twisted stomach.

One has to wonder -- how the Humane Society knew that piece of information?

The day following the auction, the Humane Society said the cow "was filmed by ... investigators in an advanced state of physical distress. Her breathing was labored and she flailed helplessly on the ground. She had no protection from the elements and was without food or water for almost a day."

However, Horak said that in spite of the fact that it could not stand (because of the surgery), the cow was not in distress.

As far as the cow staying outside overnight; that's what cows do. They rarely, if ever, come into the farmhouse to watch TV at night.

Furthermore, Horak said an employee checked on the cow at daybreak the next morning and gave it water and hay.

The cow died. Hours after the video was shot, the Humane Society of the United States called the local humane society which came out and euthanized the cow. The national Humane Society branch then put a picture of the dead cow on its press release.

If I ever have stomach surgery, please don't take a video of me not being able to walk; then claim that I've been abused and have me euthanized by the Humane Society.

Also, just FYI, I'd prefer not to have a picture of my dead body on a press release.

In a statement last Wednesday, the Maryland Department of Agriculture said it is investigating. That's fine. Perhaps they'll include in their review the Humane Society of the United States' "undercover investigation."

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster. E-mail him at: kdayhoff at carr.org.

20080521 Media Matters: Michael Savage plays Dead Kennedys song "in some respect for" Sen. Kennedy

Media Matters: Michael Savage plays Dead Kennedys song "in some respect for" Sen. Kennedy

http://mediamatters.org/items/200805210001

Wed, May 21, 2008

Even those of us who have never fully appreciated Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy were left wondering that if this was “in some respect for” Sen. Kennedy, we sure are worried about Mr. Savage’s response if he didn’t like the second longest serving public servant in the Senate.

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Summary: On the day it was announced that Sen. Ted Kennedy had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, nationally syndicated radio host Michael Savage opened his show by interspersing audio of Kennedy singing "Ay Jalisco No Te Rajes" with clips of news reporters discussing Kennedy's diagnosis and audio from Kindergarten Cop in which Arnold Schwarzenegger's character says, "It's not a tumor." Later, Savage played the Dead Kennedys song "California Über Alles" after stating: "The poor guy's been suffering for years, you know? Unfairly he's been accused of alcoholism, but we see now that it was something much more deep-seated. And so, to cut this out in some respect for Ted Kennedy, here's a tune coming at you from the Dead Kennedys. Go ahead and play it, please."

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Following the announcement that Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, nationally syndicated radio host Michael Savage opened his May 20 show by interspersing audio of Kennedy singing "Ay Jalisco No Te Rajes" with clips of news reporters discussing Kennedy's diagnosis and audio from the 1990 film Kindergarten Cop in which Arnold Schwarzenegger's character says, "It's not a tumor." Later, Savage played the Dead Kennedys song "California Über Alles" after stating: "The poor guy's been suffering for years, you know? Unfairly he's been accused of alcoholism, but we see now that it was something much more deep-seated. And so, to cut this out in some respect for Ted Kennedy, here's a tune coming at you from the Dead Kennedys. Go ahead and play it, please."

After reading from the lyrics of "California Über Alles," Savage said, "No gloating today, no laughter, all serious. You don't joke about a man's cancer. I do it, but I won't do it today; it's something I will not do." At one point in the program, he told a caller, "You know I'm playing the Dead Kennedys not to mock Ted Kennedy. It's just appropriate, that's all."

Later in the program, Savage aired a clip of Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) offering a tribute to Kennedy on the Senate floor before describing Byrd as "a senile senator" and "a walking psycho." Savage went on to assert, "For years now, Byrd has been blubbering on the floor of the Senate. For years, I mean, to be honest, Kennedy didn't seem sane to me." He continued, "Forget about the drunk stories and all that -- anybody can drink. The guy sounded like he was off for years, I'm sorry."

Savage subsequently aired a clip of Kennedy singing "Ay Jalisco No Te Rajes" before he asserted, "This is running America. No wonder [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad's racing ahead with a nuclear weapon. He's afraid of these old men? He's afraid of these men who don't know what they're talking about? They don't know what they're talking about. No wonder Al Gore can receive a prize -- a Nobel Prize for something that doesn't exist. No wonder. Nobody knows what's going on." Savage added, "Either they're senile, or they're bought out, or they're corrupt, or they're crazy, or they're on medication. And we the people are sitting here saying, 'The king has no clothes,' and the king says, 'Off with your head.' Play 'California Über Alles' by the Dead Kennedys for me. I'm not going to get too worked up right now -- lunch is coming up for me anyway."

In February, discussing the death of Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA), the only member of Congress to have survived the Holocaust, Savage stated, "You're not supposed to talk badly about the dead. I generally wouldn't do it. But in the case of Tom Lantos, I'll make an exception. I think he was one of the most -- he was a scoundrel. And I'll tell you why I detested Tom Lantos. The man survived the Holocaust of World War II and used it as a weapon the rest of his life."

Talk Radio Network, which syndicates Savage's show, says that Savage is heard on more than 350 radio stations. The Savage Nation reaches more than 8.25 million listeners each week, according to Talkers Magazine, making it one of the most listened-to talk radio shows in the nation, behind only The Rush Limbaugh Show and The Sean Hannity Show.

From the May 20 edition of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation:

[begin audio clip]

[Ted Kennedy singing "Ay Jalisco No Te Rajes"]

VARIOUS REPORTERS: Our breaking news this afternoon: Ted Kennedy ... Tumor in the left lobe of his brain ... Malignant brain tumor ... This is a malignant brain tumor ... Let me, let me pick your brain -- on probably the area you know best ... He's showing great energy –

Read the entire post from Media Matters here: Media Matters: Michael Savage plays Dead Kennedys song "in some respect for" Sen. Kennedy

http://mediamatters.org/items/200805210001

Wed, May 21, 2008

*****

Take Action!

Contact information:

Michael Savage
michaelsavage@paulreveresociety.com

Talk Radio Network
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Phone: 541-664-8827
Fax: 541-664-6250

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When contacting the media, please be polite and professional. Express your specific concerns regarding that particular news report or commentary, and be sure to indicate exactly what you would like the media outlet to do differently in the future.

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20080519 Setting the Record Straight: President Bush's Interview With Richard Engel of NBC News

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 19, 2008

Setting the Record Straight: President Bush's Interview With Richard Engel of NBC News

Interview of the President by Richard Engel, NBC News

The following is a letter from Counselor to the President Ed Gillespie to NBC News President Steve Capus:

Steve Capus
President, NBC News
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, N.Y. 10112

Mr. Capus:

This e-mail is to formally request that NBC Nightly News and The Today Show air for their viewers President Bush's actual answer to correspondent Richard Engel's question about Iran policy and "appeasement," rather than the deceptively edited version of the President's answer that was aired last night on the Nightly News and this morning on The Today Show.

In the interview, Engel asked the President: "You said that negotiating with Iran is pointless, and then you went further. You said that it was appeasement. Were you referring to Senator Barack Obama?"

The President responded: "You know, my policies haven't changed, but evidently the political calendar has. People need to read the speech. You didn't get it exactly right, either. What I said was is that we need to take the words of people seriously. And when, you know, a leader of Iran says that they want to destroy Israel, you've got to take those words seriously. And if you don't take them seriously, then it harkens back to a day when we didn't take other words seriously. It was fitting that I talked about not taking the words of Adolf Hitler seriously on the floor of the Knesset. But I also talked about the need to defend Israel, the need to not negotiate with the likes of al Qaeda, Hezbollah and Hamas. And the need to make sure Iran doesn't get a nuclear weapon."

This answer makes clear: (1). The President's remarks before the Knesset were not different from past policy statements, but are now being looked at through a political prism, (2). Corrects the inaccurate premise of Engel's question by putting the "appeasement" line in the proper context of taking the words of leaders seriously, not "negotiating with Iran," (3). Restates the U.S.'s long-standing policy positions against negotiating with al Qaeda, Hezbollah and Hamas, and not allowing Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.

Engel's immediate follow-up question was, "Repeatedly you've talked about Iran and that you don't want to see Iran develop a nuclear weapon. How far away do you think Iran is from developing a nuclear capability?"

The President replied, "You know, Richard, I don't want to speculate – and there's a lot of speculation. But one thing is for certain – we need to prevent them from learning how to enrich uranium. And I have made it clear to the Iranians that there is a seat at the table for them if they would verifiably suspend their enrichment. And if not, we'll continue to rally the world to isolate them."

This response reiterates another long-standing policy, which is that if Iran verifiably suspends its uranium enrichment program the U.S. government would engage in talks with the Iranian government.

NBC's selective editing of the President's response is clearly intended to give viewers the impression that he agreed with Engel's characterization of his remarks when he explicitly challenged it. Furthermore, omitted the references to al Qaeda, Hezbollah and Hamas and ignored the clarifying point in the President's follow-up response that U.S. policy is to require Iran to suspend its nuclear enrichment program before coming to the table, not that "negotiating with Iran is pointless" and amounts to "appeasement."

This deceitful editing to further a media-manufactured storyline is utterly misleading and irresponsible and I hereby request in the interest of fairness and accuracy that the network air the President's responses to both initial questions in full on the two programs that used the excerpts.

As long as I am making this formal request, please allow me to take this opportunity to ask if your network has reconsidered its position that Iraq is in the midst of a civil war, especially in light of the fact that the unity government in Baghdad recently rooted out illegal, extremist groups in Basra and reclaimed the port there for the people of Iraq, among other significant signs of progress.

On November 27, 2006, NBC News made a decision to no longer just cover the news in Iraq, but to make an analytical and editorial judgment that Iraq was in a civil war. As you know, both the United States government and the Government of Iraq disputed your account at that time. As Matt Lauer said that morning on The Today Show: "We should mention, we didn't just wake up on a Monday morning and say, 'Let's call this a civil war.' This took careful deliberation.'"

I noticed that around September of 2007, your network quietly stopped referring to conditions in Iraq as a "civil war." Is it still NBC News's carefully deliberated opinion that Iraq is in the midst of a civil war? If not, will the network publicly declare that the civil war has ended, or that it was wrong to declare it in the first place?

Lastly, when the Commerce Department on April 30 released the GDP numbers for the first quarter of 2007, Brian Williams reported it this way: "If you go by the government number, the figure that came out today stops just short of the official declaration of a recession."

The GDP estimate was a positive 0.6% for the first quarter. Slow growth, but growth nonetheless. This followed a slow but growing fourth quarter in 2007. Consequently, even if the first quarter GDP estimate had been negative, it still would not have signaled a recession – neither by the unofficial rule-of-thumb of two consecutive quarters of negative growth, nor the more robust definition by the National Bureau of Economic Research (the group that officially marks the beginnings and ends of business cycles).

Furthermore, never in our nation's history have we characterized economic conditions as a "recession" with unemployment so low – in fact, when this rate of unemployment was eventually reached in the 1990s, it was hailed as the sign of a strong economy. This rate of unemployment is lower than the average of the past three decades.

Are there numbers besides the "government number" to go by? Is there reason to believe "the government number" is suspect? How does the release of positive economic growth for two consecutive quarters, albeit limited, stop "just short of the official declaration of a recession"?

Mr. Capus, I'm sure you don't want people to conclude that there is really no distinction between the "news" as reported on NBC and the "opinion" as reported on MSNBC, despite the increasing blurring of those lines. I welcome your response to this letter, and hope it is one that reassures your broadcast network's viewers that blatantly partisan talk show hosts like Christopher Matthews and Keith Olbermann at MSNBC don't hold editorial sway over the NBC network news division.

Sincerely,
Ed Gillespie
Counselor to the President

To View The Edited Version Of NBC News' Interview, Click Here

To View The Full Interview Of The President, Click Here