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Posts Tagged ‘Politics’

How many times have you had to apply for the Homestead Tax Credit? How many times have you forgotten to send the form back in a tax year? How much have you over paid in state property tax to the benefit of our spendthrift legislature?

I am furious that I have to keep filing this status while I am STILL in the home and paying property taxes for it. We almost missed our application deadline. It was in one of those envelopes that got over looked during the time of my serious illness last year. It occurred to me that the spendthrifts are HOPING that many homeowners FORGET to apply for this credit and thus LOSE the exemption. You think?

Incredulity is the word for finding that the online application did not work for me at the state website. A match between my property tax account number and access number does not work as of February 11th. The letter says I have sixty days.

Warning to all Maryland property tax payers. SEND IN YOUR HOMESTEAD TAX CREDIT APPLICATION. The state is banking on you that you don’t. Pun intended.

Please note that a family member also living in Maryland sent an ONLINE and a MAILED application and NO HOMESTEAD CREDIT was applied! My relative paid the state an extra $1000 in state property taxes. We applied last year and the year before that. Both times online. As taxpayers we should NOT tolerate this kind of incompetence. My relative FINALLY made a personal visit to a state tax office and offered a prayer to the Almighty.

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Welcome to the original DougWeb! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Be sure to comment on articles you enjoyed reading. This is a community and your opinion is important. Thanks for visiting!

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Thank you Tammy Bruce for alerting the Twitterverse to this great video.

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Sarah Palin’s maligner-in-chief, the trash mouth of CBS, has a dark closet of his own. Really!> Late Night Bombshell? You bet. No applause or support here.

News clips on Fox show Letterman defining his deviancy down. Just like the Democrats he has always supported.

Read the rest at Micelle Malkin’s blog.

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Politicians will not read it so maybe YOU SHOULD. Read the bill. All 1017 pages of it. Whether you support it or don’t support it, your Congressman is not going to read it so you should and then call your representative. When you ask them if they have read it they will call you an idiot, a zealot, or a disruptive influence but if you know more than they do all criticisms bounce off.

I don’t support the bill and:

• I am not a racist.
• An ideolog.
• A socialist.

I am:

• A Constitutionalist.
• A Conservative.
• A concerned American.

We will get nowhere copying the failed health care systems in the UK, Canada, and elsewhere.

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EyeOnAnnapolis.net 071609: “Comptroller Peter Franchot released Maryland’s June revenue figures in an open letter to Governor Martin O’Malley, Speaker Michael Busch and Senate President Mike Miller.”

The Democrats in Annapolis are just now getting it. Click the link above to read the entire story at EyeOnAnnapolis.net. This isn’t about slots, this is about financial malfeasance and incompetence in Annapolis by our elected law makers there.  They had several opportunities to stop this madness they now tout as a crisis. Where are you Democrat property owners and business people? We have to move the statists and progressives out of Annapolis in 2010. We just have to if we are to survive as a state.

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The Orlando Sentinel whined that the Kindle DX did not do enough for the newspapers.  The headline was, “Amazon’s Kindle DX: Not the answer.” There were several clues in the article that the paper clearly understood the nature of the Kindle and why, but was ignoring some current truths about newspaper success in general and their own role in utilizing new technology.

First newspapers were on the decline before the recession hit because of their progressive liberal editorial views and what I call “anger news.” Like the failure of liberal talk radio, the American market has spoken. No one really wants to listen to or read propaganda. There was also the rising cost of energy to run the presses and newsprint was more expensive. The Internet played a roll as people began to get their news from on-line sources. It isn’t the Kindle spoiling the newspaper’s success. No I think the Kindle is another potentially positive tool for the paper that decides to use the Kindle to its fullest advantage.

The medium in the Kindle’s case may not be the message.  the newspaper still has that roll but through a new and very speed-and-size-conscious digital delivery format. The media (newspapers) may have to adapt to the Kindle – you think?  Are we at the start of a paradigm change like we were in the 70’s with the invention of the digital watch? Watchmakers sloughed those off remember. I understand the concerns in the Sentinel article about graphics, pictures, and charts, and the positioning of headline text. The presentation is new. Be creative with headlines to attract attention.  Make the Kindle work for the paper now and support it as it begins to succeed as a delivery system.

A third party news distributor now sells a book reader/newspaper reading device that is subscription free to the customer. The customer decides which digital books they buy and which newspapers to subscribe to using the Kindle as a delivery device. The business model appears to be that Amazon pays its Whispernet charges out of book sales and newspaper subscriptions. Amazon also needs to make a profit to stay in this business.  In the article I believe the Sentinel acknowledges the model.

The paper wants to use the Kindle as a means to instantly deliver news.  It seems reasonable to me that unless the newspaper actually develops a subscription base on the Kindle to support additional payments to Amazon to develop such a mode, that Amazon’s one download a day is enough. In the Sentinel article the paper’s progressive entitlement mentality is showing through. Perhaps some focus on the part of newspapers to create thoughtful Kindle editions of their papers that take advantage of the available technology without trying to mimic paper media is in order. This has been a problem for newspapers since the creation of the world-wide web.  The Kindle offers newspapers another way to help the newspaper succeed in the digital age. Newspapers can either adapt or sit back with their arms tightly folded across their chests, chins up, teeth clenched and watch others succeed. Their choice.

I’m not so sure that, at least ion my case, that newspapers or even instant news is actually an attractive option for the Kindle. I get this elsewhere and the size of the DX and the way in which I use it doesn’t make it an attractive option. Except for the Wall Street Journal, most newspapers are suffering from a lack of journalist excellence which cause me to take no interest in their content. That and I purchased the Kindle to read books and PDF files and not newspapers. Newspapers and blogs were not even on my list of desired content for the Kindle. Living in the country as we do we have our own newspapers, some of which have minor on-line editions that I can read on a larger computer screen. My Twitter feed from Fox News and Drudge serve me well and a visit to the local grocery puts a newspaper in my hands. Old fashioned but adequate.

The concerns some folks have about being able to save newspapers in quantity on the Kindle or moving them across Kindle devices and saving back issues at Amazon.com also concerns me. There doesn’t appear to be a solution for that so if I eve need to read or search a paper I will visit its website.

It is hard to tell where the Kindle will actually be in one year or two or even five. Grumbling by newspapers early in the game doesn’t help much. I suggest they get some Internet savvy people on board, retire the marketing people that don’t get it and move forward with some alacrity lest they be left gasping for breath in the dust of newspapers passing them by.

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Millions of Americans enjoying their small windfall from President Barack Obama’s “Making Work Pay” tax credit are in for an unpleasant surprise next spring.

The government is going to want some of that money back. Click read more for the details. Don’t forget to DIG the article.

[Ed Note: All of us making much less than 250K per year have higher taxes coming. No you Democrats say? Read about the new tax tables slipped in by the new administration.  This is just one of the stick-it-to-ya's predicted at all of the Tea Party's. Or is it an Obama-to-ya or perhaps a Demo-to-ya? Whatever it is, it appears to be a tax increase.]
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(Reflections Blog) In 2010 many folks, including me, hope to see Ron Miller replace Mike Miller in the Maryland State Senate. Ron is an exceptional human being, husband, father, veteran, and member of the Southern Maryland community. Ron shares my concern that government works hard to play down our Judeo-Christian history, values, and faith. In his latest blog article, Ron shares his view on Maryland’s  War Against Prayer:

“An engineer friend of mine had a saying that “one point in time does not a trend make.” When it comes to one issue in the state of Maryland, however, I believe we have enough events, all within the span of a few weeks, to declare a trend; the act of prayer is officially under siege in Maryland.”

Read the Reflections Blog and meet the Right Miller!

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ANNAPOLIS – Our most treasured asset, the Chesapeake Bay is in trouble. Millions of dollars are spent each year on finding solutions to pollution in the Chesapeake Bay, while each year the reports are the same….the Bay is unhealthy and more must be done.

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In pouring rain/wind all ages/races/creeds/political persuasions came to Annapolis, MD harbor to voice & wave signs of opinion about the Obama/Pelosi/Reid administration in an urgent, focused protest where all literally bonded in the elements; make no mistake – this is the beginning – the Declaration of Independence was no mistake; we honored it.

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(FoxNews via Drudge) For thousands of Americans, Tax Day was a moment to protest what they see as bloated budgets and a pile of debt being passed on to their children. For CNN, MSNBC and other media outlets, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to use the word “teaxxxxing” in a sentence.

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(Twitterverse – CNSCampusNotes) I was alerted to this story on Twitter by the Cardinal Newman Society and by Drudge. CNSNews.com has this headline:

Georgetown Says It Covered Over Name of Jesus to Comply With White House Request
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
By Edwin Mora

(CNSNews.com) - Georgetown University says it covered over the monogram “IHS”–symbolizing the name of Jesus Christ—because it was inscribed on a pediment on the stage where President Obama spoke at the university on Tuesday and the White House had asked Georgetown to cover up all signs and symbols there.

Read the entire story at this link.

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Maryland State Senate candidate Ron Miller spoke at yesterday’s Annapolis Tea Party. Ron fills us in on his impressions of the people and the event on his blog. The grass roots events thought enough of Ron to ask him to speak. I think that was a compliment since at many tea parties across the nations the people’s frustration with politicians kept politicians off the stage. Politicians were not asked to speak at many events.

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Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said she was briefed before the release of a controversial intelligence assessment and that she stands by the report sent to law enforcement that lists veterans as a terrorist risk to the U.S. and defines “rightwing extremism” as including groups opposed to abortion and immigration.


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State senators used the Senate vote on Maryland’s $13.8 billion operating budget to complain that the Democrats were raiding the $5.2 million public financing fund for other election expenses in a partisan attempt to protect Gov. Martin O’Malley’s re-election bid.

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Ron Miller, candidate for Maryland State Senate opposing Mike Miller (D) for District 27 in Calvert and Prince Georges County understands clearly that Annapolis law makers are unrestrained:

“Then we hear this week that despite the severe budget shortfalls at the state level which were only partially ameliorated by federal “stimulus” funds, O’Malley STILL KEEPS SPENDING to the tune of $1.5 billion in proposed increases to the 2010 budget.

Is it possible for an entire government to have a spending addiction? If addiction is characterized by loss of control, preoccupation, compulsivity, narrowing of interests, dishonesty, guilt and chronic relapse, then Annapolis (and Washington, for that matter) needs to go on the couch.”

This new post at Ron’s blog Reflections really gets one thinking about our current governor and about those that claim to represent us.

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Better click through to read the Maryland Senate Republican website. You need to see how Governor O’Malley and the Democrat crew are spending, and spending, and spending your tax dollars. The Preakness, the budget and more.

Read this please!

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I found the lyrics here:

http://ewot.typepad.com/the_economic_way_of_think/2008/12/some-tarp-lyrics.html

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(Reflections)  – Ron Miller of Huntingtown, MD makes his formal announcement to run Against incumbent Mike Miller for Maryland State Senate, District 27 in 2010.

Click through to Ron’s Reflections blog and meet Ron. 

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(FoxNews – April 8, 2009) – The American Life League is calling for the University of Notre Dame to be removed from the official list of Catholic institutions after the university invited President Obama, an abortion-rights supporter, to give the commencement address.

The group, a Catholic pro-life organization, said in a statement Wednesday that removing the school from the Official Catholic Directory would cut Notre Dame off from a lot of Catholic foundation funding.

Read the rest of the story at FoxNews.com

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Washington, D.C., Apr 7 -

Congressman J. Randy Forbes (VA-04) released the following statement after Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced significant cuts to the defense budget:

“Our national security needs should be determined by strategic planning not budgetary pressure. Today’s announcement of defense cuts is a reaction to the fiscal strain caused by trillions in bailout and stimulus spending, rather than a result of regular strategic review and overall threat analysis. In fact, the Department of Defense will not complete its own strategic review process until next year. Even this year, the Administration’s censoring of senior defense officials and classification of routine reports make it impossible to know what risk our nation is assuming as a result of these cuts.

“This announcement is especially concerning in that it comes at a time of both unmet needs as well as increased threats. Our Navy currently has $4.6 billion in unmet requirements and operates at a record-low level of ships since WWII. Yet, the Department of Defense announced today that they will shrink our naval fleet to ten carriers. North Korea made it clear this weekend that they will continue to develop long-range missiles, yet our missile defense program faces significant budget reductions.

“It goes without saying that we should achieve efficiency in our nation’s defense budget by eliminating wasteful programs, however it should be done with respect to strategic need rather than budget numbers.”

Congressman Forbes is Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee.

# # #

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James Pelura, DVM, MS
Chairman

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Justin Ready
April 7, 2009 410-263-2125

From MDGOP: Restore Driver’s License Security Provision to Maryland Budget

Maryland Republican Party Chairman Jim Pelura today released the following statement on the removal budget language during the General Assembly Budget conference committee that prohibited the MVA from providing drivers licenses to those who cannot prove they are legally present in the country:

“The language put into the budget by Senator David Brinkley to prohibit the MVA from giving drivers licenses to illegal immigrants was important not only for the safety of Marylanders but to ensure that we are in full compliance with federal law, “Pelura said. “Its removal by the Democrats on the budget conference committee shows Marylanders once again that Governor O’Malley and Annapolis Democrats don’t care about the public’s concerns. O’Malley and his General Assembly allies are more interested in funneling taxpayer resources towards those here illegally rather than protecting Maryland citizens and legal immigrants.”

“I call on the budget conference committee to reinstate the Brinkley language and for Governor O’Malley to show some actual leadership by protecting Maryland’s citizens and driver’s license security.”

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MarylandIndependentParty.org – On APril 8, 2009 the “We’re Fed Up and We’re Not Going to Take it Anymore” protest rally takes place at the Prince Georges County Administration Building (Main ST entrance), 14741 Governor Bowie Drive, Upper Marlboro, MD 20772.

Sponsored by People for Change, Prince George’s Business and Community Coalition, Help Save Maryland, SCLC, and People for Police Accountability.

The theme as taken from their announcement, “The citizens of Prince George’s County demand respect and accountability from our elected officials: new leadership, accountability, respect, transparency, integrity, better communication, better customer service, competent budget management, no increase in our taxes, real economic development, better jobs, illegal immigration addressed, first class school system, improved criminal justice system, reduced crime, and better social services.”

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MyFOXBoston video o0f Harvard student taking on Barney Frank asking him whether or not he had any culpability for the financial melt down. Frank thinks the kid is part of a systematic right-wing attack. Why didn’t he ask if Frank was in bed with Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac?

A must see video.

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