tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9310169910431303162024-02-20T19:30:42.396-08:00West Virginia NewsWhere Facts And Controversy In The News Come Together In TruthWest Virginia Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07107023822342773179noreply@blogger.comBlogger180125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931016991043130316.post-15759434585836915682013-01-24T13:03:00.000-08:002013-01-25T08:05:10.839-08:00Demise Of The Coal Industry Is Just Natural Progression<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuQXsZrx4NAorphJECiig6tun9iMSOK_pQrnKHadgGnkNlVzS8pjaIY_WwX8EeTI18F6ONlkXK6vOKAJJgvqXHPmkXa_RBe0eGQ8eNq6zQA4YxbZRwOinVFCF7R54gWccTTOamsYUJ7f0/s1600/coal+miner.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuQXsZrx4NAorphJECiig6tun9iMSOK_pQrnKHadgGnkNlVzS8pjaIY_WwX8EeTI18F6ONlkXK6vOKAJJgvqXHPmkXa_RBe0eGQ8eNq6zQA4YxbZRwOinVFCF7R54gWccTTOamsYUJ7f0/s1600/coal+miner.jpeg" /></a><b>Natural Gas Will Soon Be The Number One Producer Of Electricity</b> <span style="font-size: x-small;">by Jack Swint</span><br />
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A longtime history and way of life in West Virginia is quickly beginning to fade away and there is nothing anyone can do about it. The cold-hearted fact is, coal mining in this state and the rest of the Appalachia region will come to an end within the next ten years. Don’t blame it on Obama, the EPA or any other entity, it’s just the natural progression of life after we welcomed natural gas as a source for electricity. Anyone who can honestly say they did not see this coming has been living under a rock.<br />
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This is the same scenario that allowed foreign countries and their industries to come to America and buy us out. We welcomed them with open arms because we were in need. When it was over, we blamed everyone but ourselves for letting it happen.<br />
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Natural Gas is the future and everyone from the gas companies to the lawmakers who paved the way through legislation right up to the landowner who leased out his mineral rights to drill natural gas is enjoying the windfall. And there is plenty of it to go around. I can also assure you our politicians are right behind it all hoping for it to succeed.<br />
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If there has been one key factor that has foretold the coal industries demise it was the recent media stories proclaiming how… 'For the first time in U.S. history, natural gas generated as much electricity as coal.' And within the next 7 to 10 year’s natural gas exploration and production will leave the coal industry in its own dust.<br />
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<b><i>You Do The Math</i></b><br />
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Up until recently, coal supplied 50% of the nations electricity. In 2012, reports show coal and natural gas are equal in their use to produce power. Experts predict that the need for coal will drop to 40% by the end of this year and 30% by the end of the decade. Coal generation decreased 29 billion-kilowatt hours from March 2011 to March 2012, while natural gas generation increased 27 billion-kilowatt hours during the same time period.<br />
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Natural gas prices were near 10-year lows this winter, causing some states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania to increase their dispatch of natural gas-fired plants. Newer vintage natural gas-fired units operate at higher efficiency than older, fossil-fired units, which increases the competitiveness of natural gas relative to coal. While natural gas production is on the increase and states are building more and more natural gas fired power plants, coal mines are laying off workers and shutting down coal mines as utilities increasingly switch from coal to natural gas.<br />
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According to statistics, gas exploration and production is cheaper, safer and less destructive to the land, (such as strip mining-mountain top removal) it is also more environmentally friendly. According to the Government Accountability Office, power plants that burn coal produce more than 90 times as much sulfur dioxide, five times as much nitrogen oxide and twice as much carbon dioxide as those that run on natural gas do. Sulfur dioxide causes acid rain; nitrogen oxides cause smog; and carbon dioxide is a so-called greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere.<br />
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<b><i>Massive Lay-Offs In The Coal Industry</i></b><br />
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Thousands of coal miners have been laid off just in the Appalachia region this year. Mines have shut down and thousands of more workers depending on the industry, have also lost their incomes. Just 2 months ago, one of the largest coal companies in the world (Arch Coal) laid off 750 workers in Kentucky and WV and closed 4 of its mines altogether. They announced cutbacks in production at 3 other mines.<br />
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According to Arch President and CEO John W. Eaves. "Current market pressures and a challenging regulatory environment have pushed coal consumption in the United States to a 20-year low." These job losses come as utilities increasingly switch from coal to natural gas, which has become cheaper as supplies grow.<br />
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<b><i>What We Do Know</i></b><br />
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The current ongoing push for natural gas production is in the Marcellus Shale areas in WV, PA, NY, OH and parts of VA. Production there is anticipated to soar over the next 3 to 5 years. In early 2008, Terry Englander, a geoscience professor at Pennsylvania State University, and Gary Lash, a geology professor at the State University of New York at Fredonia, surprised everyone with estimates that the Marcellus is estimated to contain more than 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.<br />
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How much natural gas is anticipated just from the Marcellus Shale basin? Approximately 10% of that gas (50 trillion cubic feet) is projected to be recoverable. That volume of natural gas alone would be enough to supply the entire United States for about two years and have a wellhead value of about one trillion dollars! Early production rates from some of the new wells has been over one million cubic feet of natural gas per day. The technology is so new that long term production data is not available.<br />
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The mere presence of an enormous volume of potentially recoverable gas in the eastern United States has a great economic significance. This will be some of the closest natural gas to the high population areas of New Jersey, New York and New England. This transportation advantage will give Marcellus gas a distinct advantage in the marketplace.<br />
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As with most gas wells, production rates will decline over time, however, a second hydraulic fracturing treatment could re-stimulate production. And, after that, there is another untapped resource right below Marcellus that has not received a lot of publicity to date. <br />
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<b><i>Whats Under The Marcellus Shale?</i></b><br />
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Although the Marcellus Shale is the current drilling target, there is yet another rock unit with enormous potential and it is only a few thousand feet below the Marcellus. The ‘Utica Shale’ is thicker than the Marcellus, more geographically extensive and has already shown that it can be of commercial value. When the yield of Marcellus Shale wells start to decline, new wells might be drilled down to the Utica to continue a stream of natural gas production.<br />
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Drilling for the Utica will be more expensive because of the greater depth, however, the infrastructure of drill pads, right-of-ways, pipelines, permit data and other investments will reduce development costs for Utica Shale wells.<br />
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<b><i>Other Gas Shales in the United States </i></b><br />
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Natural gas exploration is nothing new to the United States. Neither is the methods used to produce these trillions of feet of gas. Besides the Marcellus and Barnett Shale of Texas. There is the Fayetteville Shale of north central Arkansas, the Haynesville Shale of northwestern Louisiana. These are just a few of several unconventional gas plays now happening in the United States and Canada. Exploration in other states are ongoing.<br />
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Similar organic shale deposits in other parts of the world might also produce gas as use of the new technologies spread.<br />
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<b><i>Facing The Inevitable </i></b><br />
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There have been times before when coal's demise has been prematurely predicted, most notably in the 1980s. This time, people like renowned University of California’s fossil fuel expert, David Victor says it is different. “Coal is on the way out because of the EPA, new regulations and natural gas. We could see coal down at 15 or 20 percent of electric supply over the next decade, that would be a huge change in an industry that historically has relied on coal for 50 percent or more of the electric supply."<br />
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Remembering back to the warnings in the 1980’s, People were talking about the death of the coal industry, but coal was half of the electric power supply. "Now," according to Victor, "we're talking about terminal illness for coal in the advanced industrialized countries, and it is actually happening."<br />
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<b><i>There Really Is No One Person To Blame</i></b><br />
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Even with Obama, the EPA and other lawmakers openly targeting the coal industry, it all comes down to the fact that natural gas is becoming the new industry to produce our electricity. Yes, there will still be a need for coal, most likely in other countries, but that to will play out as those countries search out different and more efficient sources than coal.<br />
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Robert Ukeiley, an environmental lawyer in Berea, Ky., said it's ridiculous to blame environmental regulations for the coal industry's struggles. He said those rules are completely reasonable, have been decades in the making and are a moral no-brainer.<br />
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He said it is just a simple fact that "cheap coal in central Appalachia has been mined out. There is no politician who can change that or scapegoat anybody." Remaining coal supplies tend to be more expensive to extract and aren't as profitable, he said. "Central Appalachia would be experiencing almost as much decline in coal mining even if we had the most anti-environmental president of our history in place," Ukeiley said.<br />
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<b><i>In Closing….</i></b><br />
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As hard as it is to accept, coal mining as a leading industry in this region is coming to an end. We might as well face it now and work on a solution to possibly provide miners the opportunity to cross-train in the natural gas industry for the near future. This author has many relatives (past and present) that either work directly or indirectly in the coal industry.<br />
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I can’t honestly imagine what these men and women are enduring that depend on coal for their way of life. A way of life that has been handed down from generation to generation. West Virginia’s leading coal producing county (Boone County) has seen its unemployment rate go from 4% to 12% and that directly reflects the lay offs and closures in the coal industry. <br />
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Don’t think for a second that our top leaders in the statehouse and in Washington don’t know whats coming for the coal industry. They know it and are doing their best not to have to own up to that fact, at least not until after the upcoming November election.<br />
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End Of Story <br />
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Jack Swint-Publisher<br />
West Virginia News<br />
E-Mail: <a href="mailto:WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com"><b><i>WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com</i></b></a><br />
Website:<b><i> <a href="http://wvnewsonline.com/">http://WVNewsOnline.com</a></i></b><br />
Blog: <a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/"><b><i>http://WestVirginiaNews.blogspot.com</i></b></a><br />
Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/WVNewsOnline"><b><i>@WVNewsOnline</i></b></a><br />
LinkedIn: <b><i><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jack-swint/37/472/41b">Jack Swint</a></i></b><br />
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West Virginia Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07107023822342773179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931016991043130316.post-89757191935954037842013-01-21T10:19:00.000-08:002013-01-25T08:07:21.690-08:00We Need to Disrupt Education, Now<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Our Education System Has Not Changed In Two Hundred Years</b>... <span style="font-size: x-small;">By Dan Rosensweig</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">States are broke. Municipalities are broke. We're reducing the number of teachers and reducing the investment in education. Does anyone really think this is a recipe for success? If we want to be competitive in the global economy, we need to make some serious changes. Now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Our country has fallen behind in key areas of education. America needs to be the leader in education, in innovation, in manufacturing and in technology. There are over 7 billion people in the world and only 314 million Americans. To lead, we need everyone to be educated and equipped with the skills of the future.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Shockingly, our education system has not changed in two hundred years. We still require every student to learn the same way, at the same time, in the same classrooms, with the same lectures, using outdated and one-dimensional learning materials. We are more focused on historical subjects versus preparing our best and brightest for the skills they need to excel in a future of innovation and flux.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Everyone agrees it's broken, so why are we waiting? If we wait for government, entrenched institutions or the companies that have made a fortune protecting the past, we will lose another generation of students.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We can make education more accessible, more affordable and more relevant using technology. If we embrace what is and what needs to be done, rather than what was, we can move forward.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">There are approximately 3.6 million open jobs in America, but there's a skill gap forming between what's being taught and what employers require to fill a position. My company, Chegg, the student hub, studied 3 regions in April of this year and compared open jobs in the area this year with recent graduate majors. The results were revealing and troubling.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Fifty-four percent of jobs in San Jose, California fall within the area of IT, but only 2 percent of students in the area are graduating with IT degrees. Thirty-nine percent of the jobs in Columbus, Ohio also fall within the area of IT, but only 2 percent of students are graduating with IT degrees. And, in Miami, Florida, 36 percent of the open jobs are in the accounting/finance field and just 4 percent of students in the area are graduating with accounting/finance degrees.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In addition to graduating without the skills for the future, students and their families are accumulating a staggering amount of debt, which has grown to over one trillion dollars in the U.S. Today, students spend dozens of hours a week just on their academics. And many of those students have multiple jobs to offset rising costs. The concept of attending a class at a specific time or meeting with a professor at random and inconvenient office hours can no longer be the norm.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This generation is growing up with an entirely different view of how, who with, where and even, what time of day they should learn and interact. Students today have never known a day without technology, the Internet, mobile phones, Skype, Google or Facebook. As a result, they don't understand or value the historical bias that everyone needs to learn the same information, on the same day, the exact same way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We need to shift our focus to the students versus the administration and those who've sold billions of dollars worth of product to institutions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It's time to re-conceptualize education. We need to allow students to learn how they want, when they want and where they want -- whether it's in the classroom, via text, through video, in study groups with their class, in study groups at their school or even online with students around the world. Technology allows us to focus directly on the needs of today's students, eliminating the historical boundaries of time, location, tools, scale and even cost.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Many schools are working to embrace the change; testing emerging new tools to help students master challenging subject matter. Students are helping drive the change using new types of learning tools and materials from new sources -- some of which don't even come from their own institutions. Perhaps, for the first time in our history, students are more experienced and skilled at the most powerful learning tool of our lifetime (technology and the Internet) then those who are charged with teaching them. This is causing an uncomfortable situation between students and educators and should cause us to accelerate teacher training to help educators adapt, learn, and test new types of learning tools.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The ultimate goal is for the student to master subjects and expand their minds, but it is as just as critical that they can access and learn the job skills of the future. The time is now to fix our failing education system. This is not a Democrat or Republican issue, this is an American and economic issue.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">For those of you who have a genuine interest in fixing our education system, especially higher education, please share your ideas about innovative technologies, schools and strategies so -- together -- we can collaborate and help our students and our country succeed.</span></div>
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<b><i>Author: <a href="http://www.chegg.com/managementteam/"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dan </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rosensweig</span></a></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>End Of Story...</b></span></div>
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Jack Swint-Publisher</div>
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West Virginia News</div>
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E-Mail: <a href="mailto:WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com"><b><i>WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com</i></b></a></div>
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Website: <a href="http://wvnewsonline.com/"><b><i>http://WVNewsOnline.com</i></b></a></div>
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Blog: <a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/"><b><i>http://WestVirginiaNews.blogspot.com</i></b></a></div>
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LinkedIn: <b><i><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jack-swint/37/472/41b">Jack Swint</a></i></b></div>
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West Virginia Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07107023822342773179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931016991043130316.post-32287296427627277702012-11-06T15:22:00.000-08:002012-11-07T05:10:11.373-08:00Drug-Sniffing Dogs Take Center Stage At US Supreme Court<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>The Only Purpose Of The Dog Is To Detect Contraband</b>… <span style="font-size: x-small;">by Nina Totenberg NPR</span><br />
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The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments today in two cases testing what, if any, limits there are to the police using drug-sniffing dogs. By the close of two hours of argument, it looked very much as though the court would rule against the use of drug-sniffing dogs without a warrant in one case, but not the other.<br />
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The protagonists in this story are Franky and Aldo. Franky, a chocolate Labrador, had a near-spotless record as a drug-detection dog in Miami-Dade County. The question is whether his human police partners violated the Fourth Amendment's ban on unreasonable searches. After police got an anonymous tip, they took Franky up to the front porch of a private home, and when he alerted to drugs inside, the police used that as justification for getting a search warrant.<br />
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Aldo had a less august dog-detection pedigree, and the question was whether his qualifications as an expert were sufficient to justify the sniff of a truck.<br />
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Lawyer Gregory Garre represented Florida police, prosecutors and the dogs in both cases, starting with the one that involved a dog sniff at the front door of a private home. Garre's argument, in defense of Franky's sniff at the home, was that Franky was trained only to look for drugs. In three prior cases, Garre reminded the justices "the court has emphasized that a drug-detection dog reveals only the presence of contraband, and that nobody has a legitimate expectation of privacy in that."<br />
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But justices of every ideological stripe hammered Garre on that argument. Justice Anthony Kennedy said he could not accept as a reasonable argument the premise that if there's contraband, "all the rules go out the window."<br />
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Justice Sonia Sotomayor added that if you have no expectation of privacy for contraband, "why bother with a search warrant" at all. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg chimed in that if a dog sniff of one home is OK, the police could just go down the street with a dog, going door to door. Garre responded that the police could indeed do that, just as they can knock on every door. But limited resources, he maintained, would prevent such dragnet searches. For Justice Antonin Scalia, the place of the dog sniff mattered, because a home is private. "It isn't sniffing in the abstract," he said, "it's sniffing at the front door."<br />
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Garre emphasized that there exists an implied consent for police, Girl Scouts or trick-or-treaters to go up to the front door. But Ginsburg interjected, saying there is no implied consent for a policeman to come up with a dog when "the only purpose of the dog is to detect contraband."<br />
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Justice Stephen Breyer also took issue with Garre's argument, saying that people do have the expectation that someone can come to the door, but not with "a large animal" who spends five to 15 minutes going back and forth sniffing the premises. Finally, Justice Elena Kagan observed that the court has repeatedly protected the home from technological surveillance without a warrant. To that, Garre responded, "Franky's nose is not technology." Kagan pressed the question, wondering if a machine were invented to detect drug odors from outside a house, would that be permissible without a warrant, too.<br />
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No, replied Garre. Dogs sniffs are different than machines because they involve the dog's "God-given sense of smell."<br />
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Garre's adversary, public defender Howard Blumberg, representing the accused marijuana grower, also got quite a grilling from the court. Kennedy called Blumberg's argument that people have a right to keep secret anything they want within their home "equally unacceptable" to Garre's argument.<br />
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Blumberg was more successful with his second argument — that the dog sniff at the front door of a home is a trespass on private property. He cited cases as far back as the 1700s that stand for the proposition that a man's home is his castle.<br />
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The Supreme Court has never ruled on dog sniffs at a private home. It has said dog sniffs are permissible without a warrant in other spheres — cars stopped on the road for other reasons, for instance, or luggage at airports.<br />
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But, as Wednesday's second argument illustrated, even when a search could be legal, there is a question as to whether the dog has adequate credentials for police to rely on. In this case, Aldo, a German shepherd, sniffed and alerted for drugs in a truck stopped for an expired license plate. Police then searched the truck and found chemicals used to make methamphetamines. Two week later, however, when police again stopped the truck, the dog again alerted for drugs, but this time, no drugs were found.<br />
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Aldo had completed 120 hours of basic drug-detection training two years earlier, but the dog had not been recertified in 16 months — a defect that lawyer Garre acknowledged was "a lapse."<br />
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Public defender Glen Gifford told the justices that since there is no national or state certification standard for drug-detection dogs, judges should look, among other things, to field records of the dog's other searches to determine his reliability.<br />
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The justices, however, seemed to think that was a step too far.<br />
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<b><i>End Of Story....</i></b><br />
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Jack Swint-Publisher<br />
West Virginia News<br />
E-Mail: <a href="mailto:WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com"><b><i>WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com</i></b></a><br />
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West Virginia Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07107023822342773179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931016991043130316.post-26925945360321990582012-11-05T06:51:00.000-08:002012-11-05T07:30:04.646-08:00Parkersburg Newspaper Says No Negative Stories On Commissioner Blair Couch<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7rQG1dDJK2-R61Cd4srqB_kjlVCseicLgff-HF0KhiFxz5DsQgilvmW8pLca_IE9G8p5KL_ljx0pk2iXHutPAw-tz9V1hPFK0NUXXcURqVXtR86sgR9X3bJ1xCl-ehsrKv_kh6Ml_K4A/s1600/blair_couch.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7rQG1dDJK2-R61Cd4srqB_kjlVCseicLgff-HF0KhiFxz5DsQgilvmW8pLca_IE9G8p5KL_ljx0pk2iXHutPAw-tz9V1hPFK0NUXXcURqVXtR86sgR9X3bJ1xCl-ehsrKv_kh6Ml_K4A/s1600/blair_couch.gif" /></a><b>Source At The News & Sentinel Claims Wood County Commissioner Blair Couch Is Off Limits For Bad Press…<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></b><span style="font-size: x-small;">by Mark Robertson</span> <br />
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Two weeks ago, WV News sent information to the News & Sentinel Newspaper regarding evidence we obtained showing Wood County Commissioner Blair Couch had additional public records showing the state had filed another lien against him in reference to his failure to pay state property taxes. Also, court records showing the Department of Child Services instigated paternity and child support proceedings showing Blair D. Couch refused to pay child support until the Court ordered him to do so back in 1998. Which included back support in the amount of $27,841.31.<br />
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Couch, who is running for reelection as Wood County Commissioner has a long history of avoiding his debts and other obligations as detailed in prior stories linked below. A source at the News & Sentinel responded to our request asking that the paper look into Couch's neglect towards his personal financial responsibilities since part of his duties as President of the Commission is to oversee the Counties money and finances as well. If he won't manage his own financial responsibilities, how can he maintain those of the counties $20 million dollar annual budget? <br />
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According to the unnamed source at the Parkersburg newspaper, the editorial staff already possessed the information we sent, and other debts that Couch owes including back county taxes. The response to our providing them the documents was simply “the newsroom staff has this already but can't publish anything negative about Commissioner Couch.” The email came from a personal account, not the newspapers business e-mail system but we verified they are employed at the News & Sentinel. We found one story the paper had published regarding back taxes he owed on his former business, but it was written in a positive approach most favorable to Couch.<br />
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The two latest documents obtained show that on August 22, 2011 the state filed a notice of tax lien #1403458 against David B Couch (and wife) for failure to pay his 2009 state taxes in the amount of $324.00. Couch eventually paid a total of $473.99 and the lien was released. Other tax records with the county show personal taxes being paid late and a current outstanding bill over $17,000 that he still owes from his former business A.W. Couch Inc that he simply changed the name to DC Fleet Sales and kept operating at the same location.<br />
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The paternity-child support case was filed in the Wood County Circuit Court in 1997. Case #97-D-207 (PAT) and was brought on by the Department of Health and Human Resources, Bureau of Child Support Enforcement. The plaintiff, “KM” was to establish paternity and child support. He was ordered to pay $605.67 a month and also ordered to pay back support of $27,841.31 along with $3,086.00 for hospital bills and $171.00 for genetic testing. The case was heard on May 20th, 1998 and the final order was signed on October 15th, 1998.<br />
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According to one Wood County employee we spoke with about Couch's overall financial problems said, “Nobody should be surprised, because his whole history is denial and avoidance of responsibility. He refused to admit paternity or pay child support until the Department of Human Services sued him. He did not pay his state income taxes until the state put a lien on his home. And he has not paid a penny of the overdue $17,000+ in business taxes that he owes Wood County.”<br />
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Anyone wishing to obtain a PDF copy of Blair Couchs Tax Lien or Paternity Court Order e-mail your request to: <a href="mailto:WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com"><b><i>WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com</i></b></a><br />
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Mark Robertson<br />
West Virginia News<br />
E-Mail: <a href="mailto:WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com"><b><i>WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com</i></b></a><br />
Website: <a href="http://wvnewsonline.com/"><b><i>http://WVNewsOnline.com</i></b></a><br />
Blog: <a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/"><b><i>http://WestVirginiaNews.blogspot.com</i></b></a><br />
Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/WVNewsOnline"><b><i>@WVNewsOnline</i></b></a><br />
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<b>Related Stories</b></div>
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<a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/2012/05/wood-county-commission-president.html"><b>Wood County WV Commission President Allowed To Abuse State Tax Laws</b></a></div>
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<a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/2012/10/wv-commission-president-accepts.html"><b>WV Commission President Accepts Contributions But Won’t Pay Back Taxes</b></a></div>
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West Virginia Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07107023822342773179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931016991043130316.post-72674453189331154952012-10-22T08:33:00.000-07:002013-02-21T05:09:49.578-08:00Local Judicial Corruption In WV Social Security Office Could Topple National SSA Commissioner<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFzrmwkYctRWFv0dd-uevmXVh6Wp68DurIDyruAt7Gze_1jkfIO2Dqibk_stbx8nxyYAorRhEklkvgQPZoHRkfvy1cLKsppoBXenwMzfmhUvJ_9ex-2ADPpCsP68CrZPaKx6Lm3y_QzM0/s1600/SSA.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFzrmwkYctRWFv0dd-uevmXVh6Wp68DurIDyruAt7Gze_1jkfIO2Dqibk_stbx8nxyYAorRhEklkvgQPZoHRkfvy1cLKsppoBXenwMzfmhUvJ_9ex-2ADPpCsP68CrZPaKx6Lm3y_QzM0/s1600/SSA.jpeg" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Problems Within The Social Security Administration Are Mounting...</b> <span style="font-size: x-small;">by Jack Swint</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">What began back in late 2010 as a regional SSA scandal alleging fraud and 'case-fixing' of disability appeal claims with the Office of Disability Adjudication Review (ODAR) office in Huntington WV, now has federal authorities and US Senators focusing their attention on the national ODAR offices too. According to an inside confidential source involved with the Office of Inspector General's Office, (OIG) as the total magnitude of both the local WV scandal and overall problems within the entire ODAR completely unfolds, government officials will ultimately hold SSA Commissioner Michael J. Astrue accountable for what occurred. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">"It's my understanding that between this scandal and other problems within his office, Astrue will be replaced at the end of his term." President Bush appointed Astrue in 2007; his six-year term ends January 19, 2013. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Since assuming his role as Commissioner, Astrue has been plagued with problems that seem to be ever mounting. There is the unsolvable three-quarter of a million plus backlog of pending disability appeal claims that sit idle years before a final decision is rendered. A high number of SSA employees are leaving the agency, and the ongoing debate on how SSA officials will fund Social Security benefits for current recipients and future generations. Now, there is the recent US Senate Subcommittees report addressing problems of policy abuse and procedures by additional Administrative Law Judges in other ODAR offices across the country. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The subcommittee began their fact-finding inquiries after this website and national media exposed how former Huntington WV Judge David Daugherty had circumvented SSA disability procedures when he and lawyer Eric C Conn were allegedly mass approving SSA disability appeal cases with little to no court hearings, conflicting medical evidence or proper judicial consideration. Daugherty is also accused of re-directing other Eric Conn cases to himself that were already assigned to other judges. During the time period between 2005 to 2011, Daugherty's overall approval rate averaged 96 to 98% compared to national average of 40%. Daugherty was approving 100% of cases where Eric Conn represented the claimant. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Senate Subcommittee, headed up by US Senators Carl Levin and Tom Coburn, released their <b><i><a href="http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/subcommittees/investigations/hearings/social-security-administrations-disability-programs" rel="nofollow" target="" title="">findings</a></i></b> (PDF file titled "Minority Staff Report") on September 13, 2012. They made 8 specific recommendations for much needed needed changes in ODAR procedures. The recommendations are to:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">1) Require government representatives at all ALJ hearings to ensure key evidence and issues are properly presented. 2) Reduce instances in which SSA ALJ's overlook evidence. 3) A need to strengthen the quality review processes. 4) Close the evidentiary record. 5) Strengthen use of medical listings and expedite updated job list 6) focused training for ALJ's. 7) Strengthen consultative examinations. 8) Reform the medical-vocational guidelines.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Related news <a href="http://www.floydcountytimes.com/view/full_story/20265636/article-Judge-with-ties-to-local-cases-cited-in-Senate-report" rel="nofollow" target="" title=""><b><i>story</i></b></a>.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Background To The Huntington WV Scandal</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The primary focus of this federal investigation surrounds former ALJ David Daugherty and Eric Conn, who are being accused of operating an elaborate appeals claims scam that lined Conn's firm with millions of dollars in SSA awards and the former judge with approval ratings as high as 98%. Daugherty made media headlines that exposed his higher than normal approval ratings & connection to attorney Conn back in <a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/2010/11/has-social-security-appeals-process.html" rel="nofollow" target="" title=""><b><i>January 2011</i></b></a>. Then, in May of 2011 the <i>Wall Street Journal</i> published numerous <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704681904576319163605918524.html" rel="nofollow" target="" title=""><b><i>articles</i></b></a> about Daugherty and the reported connections with Eric C. Conn. The Office of Inspector General and US Attorney began investigating Daugherty and the Huntington ODAR office.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Soon after the accusations against Daugherty were in the media, he was placed on indefinite leave of absence while at the same time claiming he had done nothing wrong. By the summer of 2011, David Daugherty <b><i><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303795304576454490618129186.html?mod=WSJ_hps_sections_news" rel="nofollow" target="" title="">retired</a></i></b> as an Administrative Law Judge. Several months later, chief ALJ Charles Andrus stepped down as lead judge. Within 2 months of the OIG beginning their investigation, hearing Office Manager <a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/2011/08/hearings-office-director-resigns-amidst.html" rel="nofollow" target="" title=""><b><i>David Hall</i></b></a> abruptly resigned along with the termination of the Huntington offices IT tech employee.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Earlier this month, ALJ Charles Andrus told several office employees in Huntington that he would be resigning by the end of this year. He has been hinting about a retirement since August 2011. Andrus is accused of knowing about the connections between Daugherty and Conn but did nothing about it. He stepped down as the Chief ALJ back when the scandal first broke. Andrus has also been the focus of several <a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/2011/05/huntingtons-chief-alj-named-in-federal.html" rel="nofollow" target="" title=""><b><i>federal lawsuits</i></b></a> filed against him for alleged racial discrimination and retaliation against a whistle-blower by another former ALJ Al Tinsley who quit and went to work for Eric C. Conn's Law Firm. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfUTX3dl28U&feature=player_embedded" rel="nofollow" target="" title=""><b><i>Tinsley</i></b></a> has also claimed Andrus personally brokered the negotiations with Eric Conn to hire Tinsley so that he would retire and drop the lawsuits.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">How much money could Eric Conn be making during this time period if Daugherty was approving 100% of his cases? He has claimed in his TV commercials and billboard advertisements that his firm handles 65% of all SSA appeals in the Huntington region office. From January 2010, to September 2010, Judges awarded 3,696 appeal claims. If Eric Conn's office actually handles 65% of all cases, that would be 2,402 awarded clients. Just using the $3,500 average that lawyers make per case, equals out to $8,407,000.00. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Huntington OIG Investigation Broadens Its Scope</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">According to this same government source, OIG investigators have once again returned to Huntington WV's Social Security Appeals Office. This time, their interest is in 2 new allegations that are directly related to the ongoing federal probe of Daugherty and Conn. New evidence has reportedly surfaced that another Administrative Law Judge, William Gitlow, has been allowing attorney Conn and his staff to write their clients actual appeal decisions and forward them to Gitlow. A practice that is both unheard of and forbidden by the Office of Disability Adjudication and Reviews 169 offices across the US. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">E-mail evidence was reportedly discovered detailing correspondence that shows attorney Conn being permitted to write the lengthy decisions in order to both expedite the approval of his client's cases and to help boost Gitlow's percentages on disposition of pending appeals. Reportedly, this practice began after Eric C. Conn was already under OIG investigation beginning back in August of 2011 for his involvement in the case-fixing scandal with Daugherty.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">OIG field agents are also looking into possible witness intimidation and harassment that leads back to at least one current management staff at the Huntington Office. The allegations surround one cooperating SSA employee with the ongoing investigation who was being followed on numerous occasions after work hours in an attempt to obtain information to hopefully discredit their credibility. OIG agents are said to have identified a person of interest who was seen following the witness on several occasions and once seen taking pictures of them while at a social gathering. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As for the overall Huntington investigation, "The US Attorney's office has been presenting evidence and witnesses to a grand jury to determine if any criminal charges are warranted" claims this same source. And, there are reports that indictments may be forthcoming as the investigation wraps up. Several of the cooperating witnesses that appeared in front of the federal grand jury are reported to be former employees of the Eric C. Conn law firm. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Eric C. Conn No Stranger To Federal Investigations</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Eric C. Conn has faced other indiscretions dating back to 2002 when he elected to resign from practicing law in the US Court of Appeals for Veterans (USCAVC) after being <a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/2011/06/attorney-accused-in-wv-social-security.html" rel="nofollow" target="" title=""><b><i>investigated</i></b></a> by the feds for alleged professional misconduct in reference to his clients cases filed in that court. Conn elected to forgo his practicing in the USCAVC in order to halt that investigation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The court stipulated that, "the resignation of Eric C. Conn from the Bar of this Court, conditioned by his relinquishment of any right to apply for reinstatement or readmission, is accepted, and his name is hereby removed from the rolls of practitioners admitted to practice before this Court." September 30, 2002 PER CURIAM."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In this courts 2002 <a href="http://38uscode.com/Courts/VetCourt/2002/Conn_01-8001.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="" title=""><b><i>order</i></b></a>, they stated, "Although the Court is concerned by the alleged professional misconduct of the respondent, his agreement to cease all practice before this Court provides the Court and its appellants with protection from any repetition of such conduct by him. Moreover, no appellant has filed a complaint with the Court relating to professional services provided by the respondent. Therefore, the Court will accept the respondent's resignation."</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">In Closing,</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Some people say that the ongoing scandal in Huntington WV is just a single incident of corruption that does not reflect the overall ODAR system. Others believe that this situation occurred because of the intense pressure put on ALJ's and office management to drastically decrease their backlog of pending appeals. Which then caused corruption in at least one office and sloppiness throughout the ODAR offices. Some of this conjecture may be true.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Since at least 2005, the SSA's Office of Disability Adjudication and Review has come under fire for the huge backlog of disability cases that have sat for up to three years waiting for final determination if a claimant will receive benefits. Back in May 2007, SSA Commissioner Michael Astrue assured Congress that SSA would correct the problem of surging growth in the number of individuals awaiting a hearing for disability benefits.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">He described an ambitious plan the agency had recently launched "to eliminate the backlog of hearing requests by 2012" and also "to prevent its recurrence." At that time, appeals of 715,568 individuals were pending before what is arguably the largest court system in the world. Four years later, in March of 2011, the commissioner testified again, emphasizing his accomplishments since 2007 that included the appeals hearings backlog problem. He also testified that SSA significantly improved service and stewardship efforts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Not exactly true according to at least one respected watchdog group.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">But, information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, (TRAC) indicated that the overall number of individual claimants awaiting a hearing has not gone down but climbed to 746,712. That's 31,144 cases higher than it was when the SSA launched its expensive rehabilitation plan in 2007.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The same data shows that between February 2011 and June 2011 backlog totals showed the largest single increase from 728,013 to 746,712. (18,699)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Commissioner Astrue faces other SSA problems including the future of even being able to fund Social Security benefits. According to the 2011 Trustees' Report, without Congressional action, the Disability Insurance Trust Fund will be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2018, just a little over six years from now. "The path we are on is unsustainable, and we are putting individuals with disabilities at risk if we do not act soon."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">He sums up the total SSA picture, "There is no silver bullet, but we can't ignore fiscal reality and assume that we can go on doing business as usual. As Deputy Commissioner Colvin has said, we will do less with less. We continue to look for ways to streamline and simplify work and identify what work we can stop doing."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>End Of Story</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Jack Swint</span></div>
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West Virginia News</div>
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E-Mail: <a href="mailto:WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com"><b><i>WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com</i></b></a></div>
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Website: <a href="http://wvnewsonline.com/"><b><i>http://WVNewsOnline.com</i></b></a></div>
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Blog: <a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/"><b><i>http://WestVirginiaNews.blogspot.com</i></b></a></div>
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Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/WVNewsOnline"><b><i>@WVNewsOnline</i></b></a></div>
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LinkedIn: <b><i><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jack-swint/37/472/41b">Jack Swint</a></i></b></div>
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West Virginia Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07107023822342773179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931016991043130316.post-82509703356957385802012-10-17T07:58:00.000-07:002012-10-17T07:58:04.178-07:00Yes We Can…. Not Reelect Obama As President<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhODv3OOmz2CkcSZgWHVg-Qu0JoEjlWwCRP-EJLMqWfSg9P7FD2ENU9GHPP5iXjAzfBb1maKvTvO1CU1WjzYE0_dHzYm8PTY0Jh0NX5fbKLTdSUqu1fuqFXIHAyr9zYXKzW18wKsaWeUcg/s1600/yes+we+can.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhODv3OOmz2CkcSZgWHVg-Qu0JoEjlWwCRP-EJLMqWfSg9P7FD2ENU9GHPP5iXjAzfBb1maKvTvO1CU1WjzYE0_dHzYm8PTY0Jh0NX5fbKLTdSUqu1fuqFXIHAyr9zYXKzW18wKsaWeUcg/s1600/yes+we+can.jpeg" /></a><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">In Simple Terms - Let's Hold Obama Accountable</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">While appearing on the "Today Show" with host Matt Lauer in 2009, Obama stated that "I will be held accountable" for his term as president. Also during that same <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmRgaKfWMPA&feature=related" rel="nofollow" target="" title=""><b><i><span style="color: blue;">interview</span></i></b></a>, Obama claimed that within the first 3 years of his presidency, he would cut the deficit in half and rebound the economy. He was so trying to be confident in this interview that he goes on to tell Matt Lauer, "If I don't have this done in 3 years, then theres going to be a one term proposition." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">By his own admissions, Obama clearly understands that he should be held accountable, he clearly understood what he meant when he told Matt Lauer that if he (Obama) failed to cut the deficit in half and get the economy on the rebound, he would be a one-term president. The election is 20 days from now, lets hold Obama accountable and let's help him keep his word. </span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yes We Can - Not Do This Again</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As the election nears and the candidates enlighten us with speeches and debates, like last night's 2nd meeting between the candidates, keep one thing in mind. Barack Obama hasn't said anything new in 4 long years that he didnt promise already. His platform is the same scenario that he so eloquently portrayed on January 26th, 2008 while giving his<span style="color: blue;"> <a href="http://articles.cnn.com/2008-01-26/politics/obama.transcript_1_change-time-iowa?_s=PM:POLITICS" rel="nofollow" target="" title=""><b><i><span style="color: blue;">"Yes We Can"</span></i></b></a> </span>speech in South Carolina. You remember that speech, the one that filled Americans with hope, comradery and changes, which the majority never came.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Here are a just few excerpts from that speech. After you read them, tell me if Obama has fulfilled enough of his promises to give the American people a reason to believe again? Better yet, to believe in him again. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Obama:</b> We're up against the idea that it's acceptable to say anything and do anything to win an election. But we know that this is exactly what's wrong with our politics. This is why people don't believe what their leaders say anymore. This is why they tune out. And this election is our chance to give the American people a reason to believe again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Obama:</b> But as hard as it may seem, we cannot lose hope, because there are people all across this great nation who are counting on us, who can't afford another four years without health care, that can't afford another four years without good schools, that can't afford another four years without decent wages because our leaders couldn't come together and get it done.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Obama:</b> Theirs are the stories and voices we carry on from South Carolina. The mother who can't get Medicaid to cover all the needs of her sick child. She needs us to pass a health care plan that cuts costs and makes health care available and affordable for every single American. That's what she's looking for.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Obama</b>: The teacher who works another shift at Dunkin' Donuts after school just to make ends meet, she needs us to reform our education system so that she gets better pay and more support and her students get the resources that they need to achieve their dreams.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Obama:</b> The Maytag worker who's now competing with his own teenager for a $7 an hour job at the local Wal-Mart, because the factory he gave his life to shut its doors, he needs us to stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship our jobs overseas and start putting them in the pockets of working Americans who deserve it and put them in the pockets of struggling homeowners who are having a tough time and looking after seniors who should retire with dignity and respect.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">"Yes, we can. Yes, we can change. Yes, we can."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Obama:</b> Yes, we can heal this nation. Yes, we can seize our future. And as we leave this great state with a new wind at our backs and we take this journey across this great country, a country we love, with the message we carry from the plains of Iowa to the hills of New Hampshire, from the Nevada desert to the South Carolina coast, the same message we had when we were up and when we were down, that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we will hope.</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hope For What?</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">He is still giving us the same speech format that began in 2007 and continues now. Which is Obama's biggest problem, open-ended empty, hollow promises. Everybody knows his policies have failed to turn the economy around. His actions have raised, not decreased the national debt. It's now at over $16 trillion compared to $10.6 when he took office. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Washington Post found that since Obama's presidency began, spending has been going up approximately 5.2 percent a year while The Associated Press put the figure at 3 percent. Either way, it is neither the "lowest pace in nearly 60 years," as Obama claimed. Unemployment is worse than when he took office. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the country has 552,000 fewer jobs now than when the president was inaugurated.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Obama also claims that government jobs decreased. Not only during his administration, but also during a recession. That could be true if you count government jobs on state levels that Obama is not directly in control over. The overall state and federal government workforce decreased from 22,576,000 in January 2009 to 22,570,000 in June of 2012. But, if you only take the jobs that Obama is directly responsible for, the totals increased since he has been in office. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Statistics show that in 2009 when he entered office, federal government employment was at 2,061,700. In June 2012 it was at 2,204,100. An increase of 7%.</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Five Hundred And Eight Promises By Barack Obama</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">According to <i>PolitiFact.com</i>, Barack Obama made an extraordinary array of campaign promises. To be exact, 508 pledges on everything from taxing the rich to ending the Iraq war. (Which he has done) He also vowed to safeguard the environment by capping carbon emissions. He pledged to push for comprehensive immigration reform and help homeowners after the housing market crashed. Above all, he would change the tenor of the debate in Washington." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">What <i>PolitiFact </i>considered to stand out as not only his his biggest broken promise, but also as an explanation for why so many of his other pledges either fizzled out or failed, was Obama's own failure to bring people together for a bipartisan agenda. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">They have been tracking all 508 pledges and keeping a tally throughout his presidency. Take a few minutes and read through each category and stats and rate them as to their overall importance for the country and to you. PolitiFact claims Obama has kept 37% of those assurances. (<a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/rulings/promise-kept/" rel="nofollow" target="" title=""><b><i><span style="color: blue;">list here</span></i></b></a>) They report that 16% were flat out broken, (<a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/rulings/promise-broken/" rel="nofollow" target="" title=""><b><i><span style="color: blue;">list here</span></i></b></a>) Compromised 14%, (<a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/rulings/compromise/" rel="nofollow" target="" title=""><b><i><span style="color: blue;">list here</span></i></b></a>) Stalled 10%, (<a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/rulings/stalled/" rel="nofollow" target="" title=""><b><i><span style="color: blue;">list here</span></i></b></a>) and 22% are still in the works. (<a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/rulings/in-the-works/" rel="nofollow" target="" title=""><b><i><span style="color: blue;">list here</span></i></b></a>) </span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">In closing</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">First, no president will ever keep all of his or her promises made in order to get elected or while in office. Obama is no different, except he went on national TV and made assurances to Americans that he would cut the deficit in half, and rebound our economy. And he placed penalties for himself on those 2 top priorities for America's recovery. "If I don't have this done in 3 years, then theres going to be a one term proposition."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Obama did keep his promise of providing Americans with a national healthcare plan, which will possibly go down in history as his legacy. If it holds up. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Personally, I am forever grateful that Obama brought an end to the Iraq war and he is downsizing the number of US troops in Afghanistan. Hopefully that unbeatable conflict will end soon. But, that's not enough. In simple terms, he is the CEO of this corporation known as the United States of America. If any other CEO performed their job the same way, they would be replaced.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Should we believe Obama the second time around? In his own words, "We're up against the idea that it's acceptable to say anything and do anything to win an election. But we know that this is exactly what's wrong with our politics. This is why people don't believe what their leaders say anymore."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Isn't that exactly what he has done? Before and after his 2008 "Yes We Can" speech, Obama said anything he had to in order to get elected. Is he doing that again now?</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">End Of Story</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Jack Swint-Publisher</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">West Virginia News</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">E-Mail: <a href="mailto:WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com"><b><i>WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com</i></b></a></span></div>
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West Virginia Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07107023822342773179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931016991043130316.post-62261568488248845962012-10-11T17:16:00.000-07:002012-10-11T21:46:55.510-07:00Are You Aware Of What Actually Drives The Price Of Gasoline?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Economics - Commodities And Politics Also Play A Role In The Overall Cost</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As you're pulling up to the gas pumps next time, pause to think about what it is that determines the price you're paying for that gasoline. It may surprise you who is profiting the most from your fill up.</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Demand For Gasoline</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is an easy answer: The number of people who are using fuel for transportation primarily sets change in the demand for gasoline. As the number of people driving grows, so will the demand and a predictable impact on the gas prices.</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Demand For Crude Oil In The US And Abroad</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The raw material for gasoline is crude oil. It is traditionally measured in barrels, and 1 barrel equals 42 gallons. The United States has abundant supplies of oil, from the deep-water regions of the Gulf of Mexico to the tight oil resources throughout North Dakota and Montana. Combined with Canada's oil resources which is one of the largest in the world, North America has enormous potential to add new reliable supplies to the market. And, the U.S. has one of the largest and most advanced refinery systems in the world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If you've ever read anything about the Middle East, then you certainly know that it is the center of the world's oil supply. That region sits on top of what is known as liquid gold. Expert's estimate the region holds more than 700 billion barrels of oil in its various fields and reserves, or roughly 56% of all the world's resources.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Another large supplier of oil to the US is Venezuela. The Energy Information Administration's most recent <a href="http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/50176" rel="nofollow" target="" title=""><b><i>reports</i></b></a> in 2012, shows that the United States has been importing an average of 869 thousand barrels a day of oil from OPEC member Venezuela just during the first 6 months of this year. (Which has some critics claiming Obama policy is aiding Hugo Chavez's OPEC Regime) </span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cost For Crude Oil Production</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Global markets set the <b><i><a href="http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pri_spt_s1_d.htm" rel="nofollow" target="" title="">actual price</a> </i></b>of crude oil, where buyers and sellers constantly react to supply and demand factors. Crude oil is by far the largest factor in the price of a gallon of gasoline. It accounts for 64 percent of the <a href="http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/" rel="nofollow" target="" title=""><b><i>$3.85 </i></b></a>average current retail price per gallon of regular gasoline according the US Energy Information Industry. To put that in perspective, about $2.46 of the average gallon of gas is due before the refinery touches the crude oil.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Also, people have a misconception that companies can control the cost of gasoline by controlling the supply chain, and that is just not the case. According to reports, U.S. crude oil production in 2010 was 5.5 million barrels per day. But U.S. refineries processed 15.2 million barrels of oil per day, which is almost three times more oil than was produced in the U.S. That means our refineries have to purchase millions of barrels of crude oil at market prices from outside the US just to produce gasoline and other products for American consumers. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Example, in 2010, ExxonMobil alone spent $198 billion purchasing oil around the world for its refining operations.</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Refining And Cost To Produce Gasoline</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The viscosity of oil ranges from light to heavy grades and by the amount of impurities it contains. The price for oil that is widely quoted is for light/sweet crude. This type of oil is in high demand because it contains fewer impurities and takes less time for refineries to process into gasoline. As oil gets thicker, or "heavier," it contains more impurities and requires more processing to refine into gasoline. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">According to Ken Cohen, vice president of public and government affairs for ExxonMobil Corporation, refining oil works in an easy way. First, crude oil is put into a boiler and turned into a vapor, from there, the vapor moves into a distillation chamber where it is turned back into a liquid. Different types of oil are formed depending upon the temperature they were distilled at. Gasoline, for example, is distilled at cooler temperatures than residual oils that are used to make products, such as asphalt and tar.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Like any product, there are costs to manufacture it, so the manufacturer tries to recover those costs, plus make a profit when it goes to sell the finished product. The refining portion of a gallon of gasoline has, on average, accounted for about 11 percent of the price per gallon in 2011, according to EIA data. That means that a little less than 40 cents per gallon would be due to refiners' costs, wages, equipment, financing, plus their profits.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Now in August 2012, its up to 18 percent of the price per gallon or roughly $.69 cents a gallon owed to refiners. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Cohen states that during that same period in 2011, the U.S. market price for gasoline coming out of refineries was on average about 7 cents per gallon (-2 percent) below the refiners' cost of crude oil alone, and before accounting for their costs of upgrading the crude into gasoline. So, they were taking a loss before starting out and refineries faced a market where domestic gasoline prices were very weak relative to global crude prices. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">How does that happen? Refiners are "price takers" that operate on relatively low profit margins that are highly dependent on the market demand for petroleum products. That means at times, the value of a petroleum product coming out of the refinery isn't enough to cover the costs of obtaining and refining the crude oil.</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Distributing And Marketing Gasoline</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">After the crude oil is refined into gasoline, the distribution process begins. First, the gasoline leaves the refinery largely by way of pipelines to local terminals. Distributors then load their trucks and transport the gasoline to a service station outlet. Each step in the distribution chain includes its own labor, capital equipment and other expenses that must be recovered by operators. These operators must also compete to sustain their profitability while also paying taxes and overhead costs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The current average cost added to a gallon of gasoline in the US for distribution & marketing is $.38 cents.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Based on recovering these costs of getting gasoline to the service station and the costs of marketing it to consumers. Retailors generally set their pump prices within their competitors prices. And on top of all that, they have to collect mandatory state and federal gasoline taxes from the consumer. The majority of stations are now independents or are owned by either local business owners or network retailers. Only a very small percent are owned by their logo brand corporate office. </span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">State And Federal Taxes</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So how much does the government collect in <a href="http://www.exxonmobilperspectives.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/State-Gas-Taxes.png" rel="nofollow" target="" title=""><b><i>tax revenue</i></b></a> on a gallon of gas? You will be surprised; it is the second largest contributing cost to a gallon of gasoline. In January 2011, the American Petroleum Institute Tax Table combined state and federal taxes which shows a combined average of $.43 cents per gallon nationwide. California charges the most with $.66 cents per gallon, while Alaska is the least at $.26 cents. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Other notable states for high taxes are New York, ($.65) West Virginia, ($.50) Washington ($.55) and Indiana ($.61.) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Lower taxed states on gasoline include, Wyoming, ($.32) South Carolina, ($.35) Arizona & New Mexico, ($.37) and Oklahoma. ($.35) </span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Economics And Politics</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/10/markets-global-idUSL1E8LAJW320121010?type=marketsNews" rel="nofollow" target="" title=""><b><i>Global factors</i></b></a> affect the crude oil market. Adding more supplies of crude oil to the marketplace can help put downward pressure on the price of a barrel of oil. But first, the oil needs to get to market. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is where economics are trumped by politics even as the U.S. economy remains weak. The recent moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the decision to deny the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to U.S. refineries, are just two examples of U.S. political decisions that serve to keep supplies out of the market.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The "Big Oil" industry has also (unfortunately) made it into the current election arena by Obama himself, in the form of TV ad campaigns for reelection and as a topic in last week's presidential debate. While addressing the deficit on national TV, Obama claimed some oil companies are receiving "corporate welfare" because of tax breaks they are eligible for under section 199 of the tax code, which he feels some don't deserve. Obama also has at least one TV ad promising that he will "eliminate oil subsidies" if reelected. He has been criticizing the oil and gas industry for taking "billions a year in taxpayer subsidies." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">These legal tax breaks are one of the saving graces the US oil industry has to fall back on for their overall losses in costs for production, distribution and mere existence. It is safe to say, if Obama or any other president were to do away with these subsidies, the price we pay for gas would skyrocket even more. </span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Summary</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Oil is one of the world's most important <a href="http://www.oil-price.net/" rel="nofollow" target="" title=""><b><i>commodities</i></b></a>, and as a result, the nations that control the bulk of the world's supply have a great deal of power over its availability. The supply of oil in the world market has an impact on its price, and the fluctuations are passed on to consumers, especially in nations that use a lot of oil, such as the U.S. Oil prices are also determined by quality and ease of refining. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Investors have the option of investing in oil futures, which they have an influence on the price of oil that is reported in the media. All in all, the oil market is quite complex, and a better understanding of how the oil gets from the ground to you, in all its forms, will hopefully help you to understand and deal with fluctuating prices. It should also be noted that there is no solid market for companies to make money. A competitive market just provides the opportunity, not a guaranteed profit. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Bottom line, the economics behind a gallon of gas are pretty straightforward. It's the policies behind access to U.S. energy resources that are less certain, but critical to our energy future.</span></div>
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<b><i>End Of Story</i></b><br />
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Jack Swint-Publisher<br />
West Virginia News<br />
E-Mail: <a href="mailto:WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com"><b><i>WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com</i></b></a><br />
Website:<i> <a href="http://wvnewsonline.com/"><b>http://WVNewsOnline.com</b></a></i><br />
Blog: <a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/"><b><i>http://WestVirginiaNews.blogspot.com</i></b></a><br />
Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/WVNewsOnline"><b><i>@WVNewsOnline</i></b></a><br />
LinkedIn: <b><i><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jack-swint/37/472/41b">Jack Swint</a></i></b><br />
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West Virginia Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07107023822342773179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931016991043130316.post-67131279304340424442012-10-06T10:15:00.001-07:002012-10-06T10:15:32.340-07:00Whats Under Marcellus Shale? 38 Trillion More Cubic Feet Of Natural Gas<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>US Geological Survey Estimates Utica Shale Holds Enormous Reserves Of Natural Gas & Oil</b>... by Jack Swint</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Although the Marcellus Shale is the current drilling target for natural gas, and is considered to be one of the largest deposits in the world, there is yet another rock unit with enormous potential named the "Utica Shale," and it is only a few thousand feet below the Marcellus. It will be more expensive and difficult getting to those new deposits because of the thousands of additional feet it will take in drilling to reach Utica's natural gas. But, according to recent findings from the US Geological Service, (USGS) it will be well worth the effort. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">When the yield of Marcellus Shale wells start to decline, the USGS estimates there is approximately 38 Trillion Cubic Feet of natural gas waiting for drilling companies to extract an keep a continuing stream of NG for many years to come. Plus, there is an estimated 940 million barrels of oil and 9 million barrels of natural gas liquid by-products like propane and ethane. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The USGS released its report (linked below) this past Friday and it shows the Utica Shale covers from West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania Maryland and New York. Drillers are just beginning to tap into the deeper Utica. To date, Pennsylvania and Ohio have issued 452 Utica well permits and 178 wells have been drilled, according to the most recent state data. Information on permits for West Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland and Virginia were not readily available.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Steve Ford, VP of the Marcellus Shale Coalition Group stated, "As more (Utica) wells are drilled and more production data is assessed, reserve figures will likely increase," Forde hailed the Utica as "another game-changing opportunity."</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Coal Industry Doesn't Need Another Game Changing Opportunity</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As one old saying goes, "One mans death is another man's profit." This boom for the natural gas industry, may spell additional doom for the staggering coal industry that doesn't need another knockout punch to its already decline in production and lost jobs. All reportedly due to the natural gas industries growth in providing a cleaner, safer and cheaper method to produce electricity. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Compile the EPA's strict regulation and accusations that Obama has declared war against coal, this longstanding and historical industry may just be on its way into extinction.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">There have been times before when coal's demise has been prematurely predicted, most notably in the 1980s. This time though, people like renowned University of California's fossil fuel expert, David Victor says it is different. "Coal is on the way out because of the EPA, new regulations and natural gas. We could see coal down at 15 or 20 percent of electric supply over the next decade, that would be a huge change in an industry that historically has relied on coal for 50 percent or more of the electric supply."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">According to Arch Coal Company President and CEO John W. Eaves. "Current market pressures and a challenging regulatory environment have pushed coal consumption in the United States to a 20-year low." These job losses come as utilities increasingly switch from coal to natural gas, which has become cheaper as supplies grow.</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Natural Gas --VS- Coal</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Up until recently, coal supplied 50% of the nations electricity. In 2012, reports show coal and natural gas are equal in their use to produce power. Experts predict that the need for coal will drop to 40% by the end of this year and 30% by the end of the decade. Coal generation decreased 29 billion-kilowatt hours from March 2011 to March 2012, while natural gas generation increased 27 billion-kilowatt hours during the same time period.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Natural gas prices were near 10-year lows this winter, causing some states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania to increase their dispatch of natural gas-fired plants. Newer vintage natural gas-fired units operate at higher efficiency than older, fossil-fired units, which increases the competitiveness of natural gas relative to coal. While natural gas production is on the increase and states are building more and more natural gas fired power plants, coal mines are laying off workers and shutting down coal mines as utilities increasingly switch from coal to natural gas.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">According to statistics, gas exploration and production is cheaper, safer and less destructive to the land, (such as strip mining-mountain top removal) it is also more environmentally friendly. According to the Government Accountability Office, power plants that burn coal produce more than 90 times as much sulfur dioxide, five times as much nitrogen oxide and twice as much carbon dioxide as those that run on natural gas do. Sulfur dioxide causes acid rain; nitrogen oxides cause smog; and carbon dioxide is a so-called greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere.</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Utica's Net Worth</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">According to an article written by Russ Zimmer with the Coshocton Tribune in Ohio, "At Friday's prices for oil and gas, the USGS believes the Utica Shale contains would be worth about $214 billion. The natural liquids, depending on their exact makeup, could be worth several billion more. To extract these vast amounts, the USGS estimates it would take 110,000 wells in the gas window and another 17,500 wells in the oil window."</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">End of Story</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Jack Swint-Publisher</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">West Virginia News</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">E-Mail: <a href="mailto:WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com"><b><i>WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com</i></b></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Website: <a href="http://wvnewsonline.com/"><b><i>http://WVNewsOnline.com</i></b></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Blog: <a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/"><b><i>http://WestVirginiaNews.blogspot.com</i></b></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/WVNewsOnline"><b><i>@WVNewsOnline</i></b></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">LinkedIn: <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jack-swint/37/472/41b"><b><i>Jack Swint</i></b></a></span></div>
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<a href="http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2012/3116/FS12-3116.pdf"><b>USGS 2012 Report</b></a></div>
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West Virginia Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07107023822342773179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931016991043130316.post-43020304978184039342012-10-02T16:16:00.001-07:002012-10-04T07:42:05.596-07:00WV Commission President Accepts Contributions But Won’t Pay Back Taxes <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDcSjidypLd4E2Udi97I16ACq-pN5FQwdxnrhLYuGHixBEmjKyareTVd9uSeAvaptcnZitg1TiK-Yygb09Fte9PTVyv9R_LI4lOWFiOPBPwhXlpHIUP47K2jzrGQaCMtinzqhJRvfrV90/s1600/Couch.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDcSjidypLd4E2Udi97I16ACq-pN5FQwdxnrhLYuGHixBEmjKyareTVd9uSeAvaptcnZitg1TiK-Yygb09Fte9PTVyv9R_LI4lOWFiOPBPwhXlpHIUP47K2jzrGQaCMtinzqhJRvfrV90/s1600/Couch.jpeg" /></a><b>Blair Couch's Campaign Taking In Cash From Major Corporations Including The Bank He Defaulted Loans On...</b> <span style="font-size: x-small;">by Jack Swint</span><br />
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The Wood County WV DuPont Plant, and several of its executive employees, have donated a combined total of $4,000 towards Blair Couch’s reelection bid as county commissioner. E.I.Dupont is his largest company contributor on the list, with $1,000 from its "Good Government Fund." Plant manager Karl Boelter also donated $1,000. Other DuPont executive contributors include, $1,000 from Robert and Annette Fehrenbacher, $500 from Scott Dansey, Sabic plant manager, $250 each from Robin Ollis Stemple and William V. Summers, Jr. <br />
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Combine those donations with the recent DuPont fundraiser on August 22, 2012, the company and its executives have donated approximately $6,000 to Couch’s war chest. So, why is DuPont behind Couch’s reelection bid? What could they benefit in donating thousands in cash and becoming involved in county politics?<br />
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It could possibly have to do with Couch’s opponent in the election, Attorney Harry Deitzler. DuPont has a vested interest and probable fear of keeping Deitzler as far away from the Wood County Commission as possible. Why? So, Deitzler can’t sit in a position to oversee, regulate and enforce laws that would ultimately effect the current water pollution problems and clean up caused by DuPont's water contamination known as C-8 or Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA)<br />
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It was Harry Deitzler and his co-counsel who brought litigation in Wood County, WV, to force DuPont to clean up the water that the company intentionally contaminated without permission from, or knowledge of, the affected residents. Dupont’s cost for the necessary cleanup to get the Dangerous C-8 chemical out of the water, along with the related health studies to protect the residents, exceeded $100 million. Sadly for the residents, their disease and death risk related to the Dupont’s C-8 contamination of their air and water continues. <br />
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The impartial C-8 Science Panel found links between the residents’ C-8 exposure and thyroid disease, ulcerative colitis, kidney cancer, testicular cancer, and pregnancy induced hypertension and preeclampsia. The panel studied the medical records of nearly 70,000 affected residents and will return its final report as to all other C-8 linked diseases on October 29, 2012. Separate from the C-8 Science Panel, in June of 2005, a United States Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board announced a preliminary finding that C-8 is a likely carcinogen (cancer causing substance) in humans.<br />
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<b><i>Other Interesting Contributors</i></b><br />
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Parkersburg’s United Bank President Richard Adams also made a sizable contribution of $1,000 to Couch’s reelection bid. Adams is president of the Bank that lost thousands of dollars on defunct loans made to Blair Couch that he failed to ever pay off. Other United Bank officers that contributed were Joe Wilson $100 and Steve Wilson $100. Ironically, it was Steve Wilson who granted Couch at least one loan that the county commissioner defaulted on.<br />
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Also, United Bank is where the county commission keeps most of the counties bank accounts, with millions of dollars in them.<br />
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<b><i>Couch’s Still Delinquent County Taxes</i></b><br />
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According to county tax records, Blair Couch has not made any attempt to pay his $16,000 in back taxes. In fact, with interest, he now owes $17,308.16. Back in May of this year, we published a story about Couch’s tax problems and defunct bank loans that the Parkersburg Newspaper then wrote a story on. In the Parkersburg article, Blair Couch made excuses for not paying over $16,000 in past due personal property taxes that his Hertz rental business owes in Wood County.<br />
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Which is also the same county where he serves as commission president. <br />
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Couch asserts that, although he continues to run essentially the very same Hertz rental business, (same location, same sign and same vehicles), he thinks that since he changed the business name, he's technically operating a different business. Under that assumption, Couch feels he does not have to pay the overdue taxes for the time when he operated the Hertz rental business as A. W. Couch, Inc. According to records at the Secretary of States Office, the business is now called <a href="http://apps.sos.wv.gov/business/corporations/organization.aspx?org=114029"><b><i><span style="color: blue;">"DC Fleet Sales."</span></i></b></a><br />
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But, Couch did state that even though he feels he does not owe the money, he made assurances, in that news article, that he would pay the taxes because "it's the right thing to do." A recent check of County records shows that he has not paid anything on the overdue tax bill. In the past, the Wood County Commission has hired attorney Andrew Woofter to collect delinquent business taxes, but no action has been taken by Woofter or the tax department to collect the monies due from Couch.<br />
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When his first Hertz rental business defaulted, there was collateral attached to the loan(s) in the form of his home. But, United Bank never called in the collateral. According to one source, “It is is doubtful that the house could ever have been sold for even the amount still owed. The bank probably would have lost more money by taking it than it would have lost by allowing Couch to keep making payments on the house.”<br />
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A second deed of trust on Couch's house, September 30, 2005, is at Book 1315, page 586, shows that United Bank officers James Hayhurst and Steve Wilson granted Couch a credit line secured by the deed of trust on Couch's residence. “I suspect that this is the credit line to A.W. Couch, Inc, which Couch failed to repay to the bank,” says the source.<br />
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Subsequently, on February 10, 2006, Couch apparently borrowed more money from United Bank, secured by the two properties that he had purchased on 17th Street (one of which being the lot that he bought from Urban Renewal). The deed of trust from Couch to United Bank is at Book 1340, Page 78.<br />
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<b><i>In closing,</i></b><br />
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Wood County Commission President Blair Couch not only owes these back taxes, but he has been making personal assurances to pay them for several years now. He promised again as recently as May of 2012. He has yet to pay anything on that debt! If this had been you or me being so delinquent in our taxes over several years, the county would have done everything in its power and authority to have those monies paid long before now.<br />
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Including, having the Sheriff sell your property on the courthouse steps to settle that debt. Why can Couch be excluded from that law?<br />
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Another question that has gone unanswered is, why United has allowed Couch to use his totally mortgaged home at United, as collateral on additional lines of credit? No bank would ever let an ordinary citizen have a line of credit on those terms. If it was after he became a commissioner than he could be in trouble because elected officials are not allowed to use their position for personal gain. But then again, not collecting the taxes that he owes because of his position as a county commissioner already meets the threshold for the “Hobbs Act.”<br />
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Finally, ask yourself this, if Blair Couch can’t keep a promise, that he made in public, to satisfy his delinquent debts. What other promises is he making to the residents and businesses in Wood County that he also won’t keep?<br />
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<b><i>End Of Story….</i></b><br />
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Jack Swint-Publisher<br />
West Virginia News<br />
E-Mail: <a href="mailto:WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com"><b><i>WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com</i></b></a><br />
Website: <a href="http://wvnewsonline.com/"><b><i>http://WVNewsOnline.com</i></b></a><br />
Blog: <a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/"><b><i>http://WestVirginiaNews.blogspot.com</i></b></a><br />
Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/WVNewsOnline"><b><i>@WVNewsOnline</i></b></a><br />
LinkedIn: <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jack-swint/37/472/41b"><b><i>Jack Swint</i></b></a><br />
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<b>Links</b><br />
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<b><a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/2012/05/wood-county-commission-president.html">Original Story On Commissioner Blair Couch</a></b><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.newsandsentinel.com/page/content.detail/id/561375/Delinquent-taxes-still-owed-by-A-W--Couch-Inc-.html?nav=5061">Parkersburg Newspaper Article</a></b><br />
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<a href="http://apps.sos.wv.gov/business/corporations/organization.aspx?org=114029"><b>DC Fleet Sales</b></a> (Blair Couch)<br />
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West Virginia Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07107023822342773179noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931016991043130316.post-80013205610998943652012-09-17T05:22:00.002-07:002012-09-17T06:43:24.122-07:00CIA Stressed Imminent 9/11 Attack Beginning In May 2001<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7UAvtGeYr5nD7i_bJCZzJ1Pn1V2ewYbfBsx3yZhx8pmAkmfIOwWV2imaRPFDUxk3Mk7RcWXtP8pTLpWHc2rpiZ2zBqCTxP_KfE6JFsFWk4dsoD5elhoQheHnNchOGYPp0KodJWaVnznQ/s1600/whitehouse.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7UAvtGeYr5nD7i_bJCZzJ1Pn1V2ewYbfBsx3yZhx8pmAkmfIOwWV2imaRPFDUxk3Mk7RcWXtP8pTLpWHc2rpiZ2zBqCTxP_KfE6JFsFWk4dsoD5elhoQheHnNchOGYPp0KodJWaVnznQ/s1600/whitehouse.jpeg" /></a><b>Bush Administrations Reactions To Pre-Warnings Of 9/11 Attacks Are Significantly More Negligent Than Previously Thought </b><span style="font-size: x-small;">by Jack Swint</span><br />
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Contributing Vanity Fair editor and former New York Times Reporter <i>Kurt Eichenwald,</i> wrote a stinging OP-ED piece in the NY Times Monday, September 10, 2012 depicting how he was allowed to view excerpts from non-public documents and interview government officials that when all combined, led him to an inescapable conclusion: “The administration’s reaction to what Mr. Bush was told in the weeks before that infamous briefing reflected significantly more negligence than has been disclosed.”<br />
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How seriously did some Federal agencies fear an impending attack on US soil? Eichenwald writes that two members of a government Counterterriorism Group actually told him that during a July 9th, 2001 meeting, one official told them that they should “put in for a transfer so that somebody else would be responsible when the attack took place.” The suggestion was batted down because they said there would be “no time to train anyone else.”<br />
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<b><i>The Infamous Briefing And Not Connecting The Dots</i></b><br />
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On August 6th 2001, then President George Bush, was presented with a classified document that detailed threats posed by Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network, Al Qaeda. Since 9/11, that one report has been used as the key piece of evidence that American’s have had to accept as the only document that put the White House on notice of the impending terrorist attack on American soil. Who, bragged that it would be of catastrophic measure.<br />
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That morning’s “presidential daily brief,” on August 6th was prepared by America’s intelligence agency featuring the now-infamous heading: “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” Administration officials dismissed the document’s significance, saying that, despite the jaw-dropping headline, it was only an assessment of Al Qaeda’s history, not a warning of the impending attack. It’s also the report that the Bush Administration has used up until now to escape having any acceptance of responsibility for that attack.<br />
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Now, according to this recent OP-ED story by Kurt Eichenwald in the New York Times, it appears there is more information and “daily brief” documents that he examined along with interviews he conducted with officials that show the White House and other federal officials were, on numerous occasions, made aware of an impending attack as far back as May 1, 2001.<br />
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Yes, that August 6th 2001 document is important. But, in order to fully understand the significance of that one report, you have to go back to prior briefs. The ones the Bush Administration would not release. The ones that reporter Eichenwald claim he was allowed to view in part. The ones that he now reports show, “The direct warnings to Mr. Bush about the possibility of a Qaeda attack began in the spring of 2001. By May 1, 2001 the Central Intelligence Agency told the White House of a report that, ‘a group presently in the United States’ was planning a terrorist operation.”<br />
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Then on June 22, 2001 the daily brief reported that al Qaeda strikes could be “imminent,” although intelligence suggested the time frame was flexible. Eichenwald states how “An intelligence official and a member of the Bush administration both told me in interviews that the neoconservative leaders who had recently assumed power at the Pentagon, were warning the White House that the C.I.A. had been fooled. According to this theory, Bin Laden was merely pretending to be planning an attack to distract the administration from Saddam Hussein, whom the neoconservatives saw as a greater threat.”<br />
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His sources also told him how “Intelligence officials protested that the idea of Bin Laden, an Islamic fundamentalist, was conspiring with Mr. Hussein, an Iraqi secularist, was ridiculous, but the neoconservatives’ suspicions were nevertheless carrying the day.”<br />
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So the C.I.A. prepared an analysis that all but pleaded with the White House to accept that the danger from Bin Laden was real. That June 29th, 2001 daily brief included a statement by the CIA that “The U.S. is not the target of a disinformation campaign by Osama Bin Laden.” The reiterated much of the prior evidence and a new CIA interview with a “Middle Eastern journalist in which Bin Laden aides warned of a coming attack, as well as competitive pressures that the terrorist leader was feeling, given the number of Islamists being recruited for the separatist Russian region of Chechnya.”<br />
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Eichenwald reports that a CIA brief on July 1, 2001 reportedly shows they continued to stress their fears of an impending attack. That brief also stated that the operation had been delayed, but “will occur soon.” The briefs again reminded Mr. Bush that the attack timing was flexible, and that, despite any perceived delay, the planned assault was on track. <br />
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“That same day in Chechnya, according to intelligence I (Eichenwald) reviewed, Ibn Al-Khattab, an extremist who was known for his brutality and his links to Al Qaeda, told his followers that there would soon be very big news. Within 48 hours, an intelligence official told me, that information was conveyed to the White House, providing more data supporting the C.I.A.’s warnings. Still, the alarm bells didn’t sound.”<br />
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On July 24, 2001 Eichenwald claims that Mr. Bush was notified that the attack was still being readied, but that it had been postponed, perhaps by a few months. “But the president did not feel the briefings on potential attacks were sufficient, one intelligence official told me, and instead asked for a broader analysis on Al Qaeda, its aspirations and its history.”<br />
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In response, the CIA began preparing the Aug. 6, 2001 infamous brief that Bush claims he never acted on because officials never told of a time and place the attacks would happen.<br />
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Several weeks later, the attacks happened.<br />
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<b><i>Our Governments History With Denial & Hindsight</i></b><br />
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History shows that we have considered America as being impregnable and we believed that no one in his or her right mind would attack us on our own soil. Liken to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, allegations surfaced blaming then President Franklin D. Roosevelt of ignoring intelligence reports months before the Japanese attacked.<br />
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In fact, on December 4th 1941, Roosevelt received a confidential report warning that the enemy was eyeing up Hawaii with a view to “open conflict.” It described Japan's surveillance of Hawaii under a section headlined "Methods of Operation and Points of Attack." Describing it as being of a general nature but including records relating to the movement of US warships.<br />
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Three days after that warning was delivered to the White House, hundreds of Japanese aircraft operating from six aircraft carriers unleashed a surprise strike on the US Navy's base at Pearl Harbour, wiping out American battleships, destroyers and air installations. A total of 2,459 US personnel were killed and 1,282 injured.<br />
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Like the CIA warnings that were ignored by President Bush, who was in denial, historians also felt that Roosevelt and his administration were in denial as well. Author-Historian Craig Shirley examined the memo and wrote:<br />
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"This memo is further evidence that they believed the Japanese were contemplating a military action of some sort, but they were kind of in denial because they didn't think anybody would be as audacious enough to move an army thousands of miles across the Pacific, stop to refuel, then move on to Hawaii to make a strike like this."<br />
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I’m comparing 9/11 to Pearl Harbor insomuch as we now know, there were numerous documented pre-warnings before both attacks. All of the warnings were ignored, and both attacks occured on US soil by foreign enemy. God forbid there is ever another one. <br />
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<b><i>End Of Story…</i></b><br />
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Jack Swint<br />
West Virginia News<br />
E-Mail: <a href="mailto:WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com"><b><i>WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com</i></b></a><br />
Website: <a href="http://wvnewsonline.com/"><b><i>http://WVNewsOnline.com</i></b></a><br />
Blog: <a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/"><b><i>http://WestVirginiaNews.blogspot.com</i></b></a><br />
Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/WVNewsOnline"><b><i>@WVNewsOnline</i></b></a><br />
LinkedIn:<b><i> <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jack-swint/37/472/41b">Jack Swint</a></i></b><br />
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<b>Links</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/opinion/the-bush-white-house-was-deaf-to-9-11-warnings.html"><b><i>New York Times OP-ED</i></b></a><br />
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West Virginia Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07107023822342773179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931016991043130316.post-23398526160535156622012-09-15T09:15:00.000-07:002012-09-15T10:04:47.789-07:00Laptops For Soldiers Program Still In Need Of Computers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo_QTZRnix2jX-GrTfalYONh9LBz2oKNQuiQ2G0VmrHsDSJdl7qTDzCAhSgjrMFYs0GBogWETlEryXg9b46oMC6Ub4gw6x423KzrSvTQBV2OCUagmezfNWQTsE2bDgzmq-Pd42b-03oSg/s1600/laptop+ad.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo_QTZRnix2jX-GrTfalYONh9LBz2oKNQuiQ2G0VmrHsDSJdl7qTDzCAhSgjrMFYs0GBogWETlEryXg9b46oMC6Ub4gw6x423KzrSvTQBV2OCUagmezfNWQTsE2bDgzmq-Pd42b-03oSg/s1600/laptop+ad.jpeg" /></a><b>Donate A Laptop Computer To Help Troops Stay In Touch With Loved Ones From Overseas & Find A Job When They Return Home </b><span style="font-size: x-small;">by Jack Swint</span><br />
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According to one Michigan based non-profit organization operated by former military veteran SGT James Payne; if you have an old used laptop computer gathering dust somewhere, but don't know how or where to get rid of it? You can donate it to help overseas troops stay in touch with loved ones at home and or help them in finding a job once they return back to the US.<br />
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Since the program began back in 2003, <b><i>JDS Computer Donations</i></b> has refurbished and shipped over 800 computers overseas to our soldiers. They also donate them to schools and other non-profit organizations. Payne, now a retired dentist, and his volunteers have received many responses from grateful service members, some of which you can read on their website web site linked below. One from the Executive Officer of Company A, 50th Signal Battalion, is a good summary of the sentiment expressed by others.<br />
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"On behalf of the soldiers, NCOs, and officers of Alpha Company, 50th Signal Battalion, I want to express how grateful we are for the donation of laptops to our unit," said Army 1st Lt. Benjamin Quimby. "Especially with the price of telephone minutes being so high, being able to use computers to communicate to loved ones back in the States is a convenience that we do not take for granted. "Your effort in supporting our deployed soldiers is inspiring and represents the true heart of the American people," he concluded.<br />
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JDS Computer Donations is part of <i>Any Soldier Inc</i> support team. Both JDS Computer Donations and Any Soldier Inc are supporters of <i>America Supports You</i>, a Defense Department program connecting citizens and corporations with military personnel and their families serving at home and abroad.<br />
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AOL is currently teaming up with groups like JDS Computer Donations to provide laptops for veterans to help with their job search. <br />
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<b>Remember to Remove Personal Data</b><br />
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Just remember to protect your data and personal information so that it is not recoverable by the next person who uses the computer. There are two ways to do that: you can remove the hard drive and donate the computer without it, or you can use a utility program to wipe the hard drive and overwrite the data you placed on it. If you remove the hard drive, be sure to remove only the drive itself, and replace the rails and screws that hold it in place.<br />
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JDS reports it has had to discard computers that were donated with the rails removed. When this is done, there is nothing there to hold a new hard drive, and the machine is basically worthless.<br />
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<b>How To Donate Your Laptop Computer</b><br />
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Ship your tax deductible laptop computers to:<br />
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JDS Computers<br />
15441 Fitzgerald<br />
Livonia MI<br />
48154<br />
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Shipping is also tax deductible. If you have any further questions, you can e-mail Dr. Payne at: <b><i><a href="mailto:jimpayne35@hotmail.com">jimpayne35@hotmail.com</a></i></b> or <b><i><a href="mailto:JDSComputers@hotmail.com">JDSComputers@hotmail.com</a></i></b><br />
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<b><i>End Of Story…</i></b><br />
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Jack Swint-Publisher<br />
West Virginia News<br />
E-Mail: <a href="mailto:WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com"><b><i>WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com</i></b></a><br />
Website: <b><i><a href="http://wvnewsonline.com/">http://WVNewsOnline.com</a></i></b><br />
Blog: <a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/"><b><i>http://WestVirginiaNews.blogspot.com</i></b></a><br />
Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/WVNewsOnline"><b><i>@WVNewsOnline</i></b></a><br />
LinkedIn: <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jack-swint/37/472/41b"><b><i>Jack Swint</i></b></a><br />
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<b>Links</b><br />
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<a href="http://jdscomputers.netfirms.com/"><b><i>JDS Computer Donations</i></b></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.military-money-matters.com/donate-a-laptop.html#axzz26M6vpyYo"><b><i>Military Money-Matters</i></b></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.anysoldier.com/OtherEfforts.cfm"><b><i>Any Soldier</i></b></a><br />
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West Virginia Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07107023822342773179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931016991043130316.post-15198963425007012302012-09-12T07:09:00.001-07:002012-09-13T10:21:52.315-07:00Send WV Attorney General Darrell McGraw Back To Wyoming County<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ou5S9hFTYw3auI1I_VFXyX1eTb9Bj8hvsmM-9ow_gS7lrCKW5QE4U98Bs2w_hbqNmhU7cASsZ2E4kdxoZ4X04qU-khSrsUed6KLFYcvup3FD_V30cR_5GYWYUT_ekT0d1xcjOxG8Iok/s1600/mcgraw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ou5S9hFTYw3auI1I_VFXyX1eTb9Bj8hvsmM-9ow_gS7lrCKW5QE4U98Bs2w_hbqNmhU7cASsZ2E4kdxoZ4X04qU-khSrsUed6KLFYcvup3FD_V30cR_5GYWYUT_ekT0d1xcjOxG8Iok/s1600/mcgraw.jpg" /></a><b>Darrell McGraw’s Shameless Self Promotion Is Costing Tax Payers Money</b><br />
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The following editorial is from <b><i><a href="http://huntingtonnews.net/">HuntingtonNews.Net</a></i></b> (HNN) on September 12, 2012…<br />
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Darrell McGraw. The man’s name alone evokes deep passions, pro and con. To his followers in the Southern coalfields and elsewhere, McGraw is the last true Democrat running statewide: an unabashed labor liberal who has stood up to business interests for a generation, whether on the State Supreme Court or as Attorney General.<br />
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But his detractors are growing in number, as more people question the real motive for McGraw's political career. Take a look at the expense McGraw has amassed at taxpayer expense--in addition to tens of thousands of dollars in trinkets bearing his name.<br />
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For example, the elevated election-year spending from McGraw's office is appalling. On one radio station alone, McGraw's office spent $40k to advertise in 2010, $71k in 2011 and a whopping $183k in 2012. The self-promotion spending has skyrocketed in his office. More than any other state officer, McGraw takes advantage of the taxpayers' money to promote himself, just in time for his re-election campaign.<br />
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No wonder Patrick Morrisey, McGraw's Republican opponent, has sworn off any future trinket buying if he is elected. We doubt that he'd spend huge amounts of advertising to promote himself on radio stations, either. Morrisey has shown in his first run for statewide office more respect for the West Virginia voter and taxpayer than McGraw has shown in his entire career.<br />
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While all politicians are in the self-promotion business, McGraw belongs to a generation of West Virginia "leaders" who showed no conscience as they ravaged the public treasury here. McGraw is the last in a long line of pillagers that started with Governor Wally Barron, then moved on through A. James Manchin's negligence and Arch Moore's deep shame, each of them taking West Virginians for quite a ride.<br />
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Well, in case we have forgotten, this is the 21st Century. We're supposed to have put this kind of flagrant ripoff artists back in their crypts, where they can no longer harm the people. Darrell McGraw seems to think of his interaction with the voting public as less of a relationship and more of a game. It's sport for him to see how much he can get away with at our expense. He's been a clever juvenile delinquent over the years, pulling repeated fast ones on the substitute teacher.<br />
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But our state needs leadership more than ever before--not-shameless self-promotion, glorifying individual officeholders at our expense.<br />
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Perhaps the worst of McGraw's actions is his keeping tens of millions of settlement funds his office receives for lawsuits done in our name. By right, that money belongs to the taxpayers and should deposited in our state's general fund, for our elected legislators to decide best how to spend it--for roads, pension funds, or even a tax break for the weary citizens here.<br />
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Instead, McGraw--a kind of Big Government Robber Baron--keeps the money and distributes it as HE sees fit. It takes a certain kind of arrogance to take other people's money like that and spend it on one's favorite charities.<br />
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This November 6th is West Virginia's chance to finally send Darrell McGraw back to Wyoming County. We've already sent his brother, Warren, back there. Now it's Darrell's turn.<br />
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<b><u>Note:</u></b> The above <b><i>HuntingtonNews.Net</i></b> editorial does not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of <b><i><a href="http://www.westvirginianews.blogspot.com/">WVNews</a></i></b> as stated.<br />
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<b><i>End Of Story…</i></b><br />
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Jack Swint-Publisher<br />
West Virginia News<br />
E-Mail: <a href="mailto:WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com"><b><i>WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com</i></b></a><br />
Website: <a href="http://wvnewsonline.com/"><b><i>http://WVNewsOnline.com</i></b></a><br />
Blog: <a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/"><b><i>http://WestVirginiaNews.blogspot.com</i></b></a><br />
Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/WVNewsOnline"><b><i>@WVNewsOnline</i></b></a><br />
LinkedIn: <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jack-swint/37/472/41b"><b><i>Jack Swint</i></b></a><br />
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<b>Link</b><br />
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<b><i><a href="http://www.huntingtonnews.net/43378">HNN Editorial </a></i></b><br />
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West Virginia Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07107023822342773179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931016991043130316.post-91133678828042057302012-09-09T06:45:00.001-07:002012-09-11T16:46:06.507-07:00Is Mainstream Media Biting The Bullet For Homeland Security Officials?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn4fYj8mH0mHlLnHOqtvTM-_ATuw-tuly20p1NGyPMkov4Qh4j77zjz13QfFE39vHjhXMejiCqxiM7FS90z_9uiQFmxyqRQ6_zWOjlUa4apoLAB1eFMjFGJmzAWaRvosFI6bsvbL5abo0/s1600/coverup.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn4fYj8mH0mHlLnHOqtvTM-_ATuw-tuly20p1NGyPMkov4Qh4j77zjz13QfFE39vHjhXMejiCqxiM7FS90z_9uiQFmxyqRQ6_zWOjlUa4apoLAB1eFMjFGJmzAWaRvosFI6bsvbL5abo0/s1600/coverup.jpeg" /></a><b>According To Some Corporate Media...Recent Stories Exposing DHS Mass Purchase Of Bullets Is Nothing More Than Embellished & Salacious Conspiracy Theory </b><span style="font-size: x-small;">by Jack Swint</span><br />
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There is no dispute that our government has been buying up large amounts of ammunition. Purchase orders for domestic federal agencies from the Department of Homeland Security add up to at least 1.4 billion rounds of assorted bullets ranging from .357 Magnum to .223 and .40 Caliber rounds. Stories have appeared on the Internet in the last few weeks, provoking articles on a number of both progressive and right-wing websites.<br />
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The majority of the ammunition ordered consists of JHP, better known as “hollow point” rounds, which are designed solely for their massive power of destruction to the human body. In short, hollow points are designed to kill, not wound, nor stop, nor provide a deterrent, but to put a human being down for good and in a very ugly way.<br />
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Americans are rightfully asking questions. Why is this occurring? Do these purchases occur each year? What is the cost? Is the purchase amount consistent with other annual purchases since September 11, 2001? Are we, the people, the potential targets? Does the government want a shortage of bullets so Americans cannot get any? Why does DHS need all this destructive firepower when agencies like the Border Patrol are still patrolling with beanbag guns?<br />
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Another question being asked is…Where is mainstream media during all of this speculation into what our government is up to? Well, the answer is easy. They are taking a bullet for “Big Brother” by downplaying, ignoring and playing spin-doctor to America’s real fear and concerns on this important topic.<br />
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Several media moguls, including CNN and the Associated Press found it necessary to publish stories accusing some Americans with creating a conspiracy theory against the government’s gigantic purchase of ammunition's by the Department of Homeland Security. In fact, one writer surmised that this is nothing more than an episode that “illustrates what can happen when a seemingly salacious tidbit gets amplified and embellished on the Internet.” Ironically, if the feds had not posted the original requisition for the 1.4 billion bullets, they would not be feeling so much heat from the public and these fallacy articles by CNN and the Associated Press would not have been needed.<br />
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Both articles failed to factually address the overall 1.4 billion-ammunition order. Instead, they explain why the Social Security Administration needs 174,000 rounds of ammo for its 295 or so white collar Office of Inspector General (OIG) agents; who, by the way, have not fired a shot on duty in their entire existence. There is no fear factor here unless you are a lawyer over billing your SSA appeal cases or an Administrative Law Judge with an extremely high rate of approval for people seeking more favorable rulings on their SSI.<br />
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Corporate Media also felt it important to mention that these SSA agents need deadly hollow point bullets because they “are the normal police round used for duty ammunition due to their ability to stop when they hit an object as opposed to going through it and striking more objects.” Hit an object? That object is a human being. And, yes, hollow point bullets can both penetrate and exit a human “object” and the result is a ghastly sight.<br />
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Nor did their recent articles mention that since 1969, the Geneva Convention outlawed hollow point bullets from warfare. So, why are we using them against are own people? Also, firing range bullets are much less expensive and are not designed for the day to day use of the gun for killing an enemy. One uses the more expensive variety, such as hollow point bullets.<br />
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To further cast doubt and downplay the seriousness of DHS’s 1.4 billion rounds of ammo, mainstream media pointed out how this scandal all began. A few months ago, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ordered 46,000 rounds of hollow point bullets for their wildlife officers. A clerk mistakenly earmarked the ammo to go to the National Weather Service, which is under NOAA. The Internet became engulfed in stories questioning why the Weather Service needed all these bullets? That’s when the purchase orders by DHS were discovered outlining the 1.4 billion rounds. Last week a NOAA spokesperson downplayed and explained that it was a simple “type-o.”<br />
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So now, mainstream media is using that “type-o” to support their claim that this is all nothing more than salacious tidbit amplified and embellished on the Internet. Which is in support of the governments attempt to downplay the entire purchase.<br />
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<b><i>The Straw Man Approach</i></b><br />
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According to definition, a “Straw Man” is a type of argument based on misrepresentation of an opponent's true position. The usage of the term in rhetoric suggests a human figure made of straw, which is easily knocked down or destroyed. To "attack a straw man" is to create the illusion of having refuted a proposition by replacing it with a similar yet unequivalent proposition and refuting it, without ever having actually refuted the original position.<br />
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In this case, both CNN and the Associated Press suggest that they are providing facts, which refute the entire Homeland Security ammo purchase (1.4 Billion) as just Internet tidbits of incorrect or inconclusive information. They achieve this by creating an illusion that the real issue is not why the DHS wants 1.4 billion bullets, but why Social Security and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration need the ammo they ordered. <br />
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Then, they go on to create another illusion for us to believe that hollow point bullets are not deadly as the evidence clearly shows they are. Now, we are to believe that this outlawed ammo is actually great because when shooting someone, these bullets won’t exit the body and injure someone else. It just kills the person they shot instead of wounding them.<br />
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In a September 5th 2012 article by InfoWars, Alex Jones writes about corporate media’s job to create fallacious straw man arguments. “It is the job of the corporate media to create fallacious straw man arguments and distract attention from the obvious economic collapse right before our eyes. The real tip-off is that the establishment media is now engaging in a concerted effort to portray journalists asking questions about the unprecedented ammo purchases as conspiracy theorists and ‘rightwing extremists’ who should be dismissed sarcastically as lunatics.”<br />
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Another example of media and governments false illusions dates back to 2003 when mainstream news claimed there was solid evidence for a link between Iraq and al Qaeda. Most of us believed that investigators had all but confirmed the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. How did the true situation in Iraq become so grossly distorted in American minds? Falacy promoters like CNN.<br />
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<b><i>Average Cost Of 1.4 Billion Rounds</i></b><br />
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Another point that mainstream media is not addressing is the cost of these bullets, specifically hollow point rounds, which are more expensive than standard bullets. And, the feds have admitted that they are using the higher cost bullets even for training and qualifications. Research available for the cost per hollow point bullet averages out to be 0.24 cents. This is a .40 caliber round which is the bulk of the DHS order. (Some cost more – less) Standard rounds average out to be .19 cents per round.<br />
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If my math is correct, 1.4 billion standard bullets (not JHP) at .19 cents apiece is approximately $266 million. And 1.4 billion JHP rounds at .24 cents apiece is $336 million, which is almost half a billion dollars. The difference in estimation between standard issue and JHP is approximately $70 million. If true, this represents a gross misapplication of funds that should be investigated by a Congressional Hearing, especially if DHS is just stockpiling ammo.<br />
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<b><i>In Closing</i></b><br />
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Mainstream media has no problem writing about Social Security’s purchase of 174,000 rounds of hollow point bullets and a ‘type-o’ that caused 46,000 rounds to be sent to the wrong agency. But, they won't write about the BIG PICTURE of why DHS needs over 1 billion rounds of ammunition. Some corporate media want to play a “shell game” by diverting the American public from the real issue with a replacement topic of far less importance. They are intentionally taking aim at the least likely danger we face and discrediting the real possible threat by sweeping it under the rug.<br />
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On the surface, it appears the media is actually condoning the feds use of the deadly hollow point bullets. They actually try to explain away a bullet that has been outlawed by the Geneva Convention 42 years ago because it causes extreme damage to the human body. It takes some nerve to ask us to believe this ammunition is safer for the general public because it has the ability to stop when they hit an object as opposed to going through it and striking more objects.<br />
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Here is another thing mainstream is leaving out, according to retired Army General Jerry Curry; during the Iraq War, the Army ordered 70 million rounds of ammunition per year. That was during a war! Homeland Security ordered up 1.4 billion rounds of ammunition in 2012. What war are they planning?<br />
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Related Story: <a href="http://www.opednews.com/articles/Homeland-Security-s-Intent-by-Jack-Swint-120821-433.html"><b><i>Homeland Security Prepares for Civil War</i></b></a> <span style="font-size: x-small;">(by Jack Swint)</span><br />
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<b><i>End Of Story</i></b><br />
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Jack Swint-Publisher<br />
West Virginia News<br />
E-Mail: <a href="mailto:WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com"><b><i>WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com</i></b></a><br />
Website: <a href="http://wvnewsonline.com/"><b><i>http://WVNewsOnline.com</i></b></a><br />
Blog: <a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/"><b><i>http://WestVirginiaNews.blogspot.com</i></b></a><br />
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LinkedIn: <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jack-swint/37/472/41b"><b><i>Jack Swint</i></b></a><br />
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<b>Links</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/04/us/social-security-bullets/index.html"><b><i>CNN Article</i></b></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/social-security-buys-174000-hollow-point-bullets-internet-bursts-with-conspiracy-theories/2012/09/04/95b2a6dc-f65f-11e1-a93b-7185e3f88849_story.html"><b><i>Associated Press Article</i></b></a><br />
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West Virginia Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07107023822342773179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931016991043130316.post-2679616849532809762012-08-25T16:09:00.000-07:002012-08-25T16:10:57.226-07:00Laws Banning Cellphone Use For Texting And Calls Won’t Work<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoMeKLU9byFvXQkp2r6Y48n4CMiePF-QVptB-Z6cVFHaJJu-eDDz7HnHaVPE1UcnDZHX9slffp3vdQ2jFETHncmNaI_fH-7ajLVO6XQNqdZxDtfSD1RniozXapKzBi2VTyA6mk-otL7kM/s1600/cellphone.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoMeKLU9byFvXQkp2r6Y48n4CMiePF-QVptB-Z6cVFHaJJu-eDDz7HnHaVPE1UcnDZHX9slffp3vdQ2jFETHncmNaI_fH-7ajLVO6XQNqdZxDtfSD1RniozXapKzBi2VTyA6mk-otL7kM/s1600/cellphone.jpeg" /></a><b>New Study Says People Who Use Phones While Driving Are Already Unsafe Drivers </b><br />
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“You can take the driver away from the cell phone, but you can't take the risky behavior away from the driver.” That's the conclusion of a new study according to <i>Science Now</i> writer Carol Cruzan Morton's recent story.<br />
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Morton writes: The study finds that people who talk on their phones while driving may already be unsafe drivers who are nearly as prone to crash with or without the device. The findings may explain why laws banning cell phone use in motor vehicles have had little impact on accident rates. The study involved 108 people, equally divided into three age groups: 20s, 40s, and 60s. For each person, the researchers correlated answers on a questionnaire with data collected from on-board sensors during a 40-minute test drive up Interstate 93 north of Boston.<br />
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The drivers commanded a black Volvo SUV tricked out with an eye tracker, heart and skin monitors, video cameras facing out the front and back windows, on-board sensors, and other research gear. No cell phones were allowed during these trips. Instead, before they got behind the wheel, the study participants filled in answers about how often they used a cell phone while driving, how they felt about speeding and passing other cars, and how many times in the last year they had been warned or cited for speeding, running traffic lights and stop signs, and other infractions. The team grouped the participants into "frequent users" (those who talked on the phone while driving a few times a week or more) and "rare users" (those who talked while driving a few times a month or less).<br />
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Morton writes that, compared with people who rarely talked as they steered, frequent cell phone users drove faster, changed lanes more frequently, spent more time in the left lane, and engaged in more hard braking maneuvers and rapid accelerations, according to the SUV's onboard equipment. Frequent cell phone users, for example, zoomed along about 4.4 kilometers per hour faster on average and changed lanes twice as often, compared with rare users.<br />
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"These are not 'oh-my-god' differences," says study leader Bryan Reimer, a human factors engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge. "They are subtle clues indicative of more aggressive driving." What's more, he says, other studies have linked these behaviors to an increased rate of crashes. "It's clear [from the scientific literature] that cell phones in and of themselves impair the ability to manage the demands of driving," Reimer says. But "the fundamental problem may be the behavior of the individuals willing to pick up the technology."<br />
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The findings, reported online this month in Accident Analysis & Prevention, provide one plausible explanation for why injuries and fatalities from motor vehicle crashes have decreased to historic lows even as cellular technology use has increased dramatically. They may also explain another mystery. "Cell phone bans have reduced cell phone use by drivers, but the perplexing thing is that they haven't reduced crashes," says Russ Rader, a spokesperson for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in Arlington, Virginia, who was not involved in the new study. In two other studies, the institute has found no reduction in crashes due to hand-held cell phone or texting bans, based on insurance claim rates in states with and without the laws.<br />
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The findings may help explain why legislation banning mobile phone use has had little measurable impact on overall crash rates, speculate the study authors. "There is no question in anyone's mind that talking on a cell phone increases risk," Reimer says. "It's great we can take the phone out of their hands, but these may be the drivers who are getting in accidents anyway."<br />
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"We have seen the same correlations in our Traffic Safety Culture Index," says Peter Kissinger, president and CEO of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, an independently funded charitable research and education organization established by the American Automobile Association. The index surveys more than 3100 people each year. The foundation wants to change driver behavior, a challenge more complex than banning phones, he says.<br />
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Still, cell phone bans may save lives, says David Strayer, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. "The MIT data indicate that regulation [banning cell phone use] may be reasonable so long as it is followed up with good enforcement, and that together these would result in a decrease in unsafe driving behavior.”<br />
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<b><i>End Of Story….</i></b><br />
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Jack Swint-Publisher<br />
West Virginia News<br />
E-Mail: <a href="mailto:WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com"><b>WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com</b></a><br />
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Blog: <a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/"><b>http://WestVirginiaNews.blogspot.com</b></a><br />
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West Virginia Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07107023822342773179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931016991043130316.post-9308682279068370962012-08-22T12:45:00.000-07:002012-08-22T07:07:37.059-07:00CDC Warns…All Baby-Boomers Need To Have Hepatitis C Testing <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi84eTHEuFreljOsWbKwlseS3mtjrHOlnncnib_7px1RjWh5Fv5ST4nsWqJj-kt2_f_oRCkcjvoU_lBSTHWdiXM5OLn5nygApQKCfGCK0O9Pr2ZDcZuKQpbJT_GxMbN63IQVay0N8XJ218/s1600/img-cdcLogoHeader.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi84eTHEuFreljOsWbKwlseS3mtjrHOlnncnib_7px1RjWh5Fv5ST4nsWqJj-kt2_f_oRCkcjvoU_lBSTHWdiXM5OLn5nygApQKCfGCK0O9Pr2ZDcZuKQpbJT_GxMbN63IQVay0N8XJ218/s1600/img-cdcLogoHeader.png" /></a><b>Americans Born Between 1945 and 1965 Should Obtain HCV Test According To US Centers For Disease Control</b><span style="font-size: x-small;">...</span><b> </b><span style="font-size: x-small;">by</span><b> </b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Jon Cohen - Science Insider</span><br />
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Friday August 17, 2012: On top of rock 'n' roll, drugs, sexual liberation, and shaggy hair, the baby boomers can also lay claim to the hepatitis C virus (HCV) as a defining feature of their generation. A recent report issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that all Americans born between 1945 and 1965 receive an HCV test.<br />
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An estimated 2.7 million to 3.9 million people in the United States are infected with this liver-damaging and sometimes lethal virus. CDC calculates that roughly 75% of the infected population comes from the baby boomer generation: 3.25% of people born in that "birth cohort" test positive for HCV, which is five times higher than adults born before 1945 or after 1965. Males are twice as likely to be infected as females, and the prevalence in black males (8.12%) far exceeds that in white (4.05%) and Mexican-American males (3.41%).<br />
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"We don't think every baby boomer needs to run out and see their primary care provider and get tested immediately, but they shouldn't put this off for years either," says CDC's Bryce Smith, a social scientist who is the lead author of the recommendations published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. "The sooner it can happen, the more lives we’ll be able to save." There are many unknowns about HCV, from its routes of transmission to its epidemiology. HCV wasn't identified until 1988, and the surveillance system for the virus remains far less robust than the one that tracks HIV infection in the country.<br />
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Still, CDC estimates that during the 1980s, the virus infected an average of 230,000 Americans each year. It mainly spread through contaminated blood and blood products; injecting drug users, transplant recipients, and hemophiliacs were the hardest hit. The virus causes cirrhosis in about 20% of the people infected for longer than 20 years. Many need liver transplants to survive and it's the leading cause of liver cancer in this country. Toxic and expensive drug treatments have cured the infection in a small percentage of infected people, but new, powerful, and safer antivirals have recently come to market that promise to have a much broader impact. There is no HCV vaccine.<br />
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Several factors led to a steep drop in cases after 1992, the year an HCV blood test was introduced. The blood test virtually eliminated spread through transfusions and blood products. Injecting drug users also saw declining new infection rates because the virus had "saturated" that population, and because, in the wake of the booming HIV epidemic, many communities began needle and syringe exchange programs to make injection safer. In 2010, the estimated number of new infections in the United States was only 17,000.<br />
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As Smith and colleagues explain in the report, studies have shown that 45% to 85% of HCV-infected people in the United States do not know they carry the virus. An estimated 45% of people who learn they are infected report no known risk factor for acquiring HCV. "People just don’t know the various ways they might be able to acquire hepatitis C, and that's really the point of just testing everyone in that [baby boomer] birth cohort," Smith says. "It's worth acknowledging that all of these exposures happened in the '70s and '80s, and memories may not be that good."<br />
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HCV can live outside the body for a week, in contrast, dies within minutes which means that transmission can readily occur by sharing a toothbrush, razor blade, or a straw to snort drugs. "Hepatitis C is a very hardy virus," Smith notes. Transmission can also occur from infected mother to child and unsterile tattoo needles. Researchers still debate the importance of sexual transmission, although people who report having had more than 20 partners have a 4.5-fold increased risk. "We're not sure if it's due to the sexual behavior itself or if it's a proxy for other behaviors," Smith says.<br />
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CDC evaluated several birth cohorts over the past 4 years and determined that universal testing of baby boomers was the most cost-effective strategy for detecting undiagnosed HCV infections in the United States. Models predict that in the absence of improved testing and treatment, over the next 40 to 50 years, nearly 2 million Americans will develop cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma will afflict 400,000 others, and HCV-related complications will kill about 1 million people.<br />
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Until 2011, HCV treatment relied on alpha-interferon and ribavirin, drugs that have serious side effects and work by indirect and somewhat fuzzy mechanisms. That year, two protease inhibitors came to market that directly attack the virus, and cure rates have doubled in infected people who have used them. Ongoing clinical trials with 20 other so-called direct-acting antivirals have had even more impressive results against HCV, and researchers have high hopes that curing this devastating disease will become routine—but only if people know they are infected and seek treatment.<br />
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<b><i>End Of Story </i></b><br />
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Jack Swint-Publisher<br />
West Virginia News<br />
E-Mail: <a href="mailto:WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com"><b><i>WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com</i></b></a><br />
Website: <a href="http://wvnewsonline.com/"><b><i>http://WVNewsOnline.com</i></b></a><br />
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West Virginia Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07107023822342773179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931016991043130316.post-79068609528144423542012-08-21T06:22:00.000-07:002012-09-03T10:31:23.438-07:00Homeland Security’s Intent On Creating Civil War<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkxPDICNSAYgBMZPhRlPGIIsNjesCFNtaIB1uRzVvvY27pelzz1LebWhHj3tIiMZa9isRRuzGyR9b5VC7o_isD650LmZcmykClmKBSIFBJnxrn1oeJkAG2cR2YOL-IFpsLA6zvMCLIv8o/s1600/Homeland.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkxPDICNSAYgBMZPhRlPGIIsNjesCFNtaIB1uRzVvvY27pelzz1LebWhHj3tIiMZa9isRRuzGyR9b5VC7o_isD650LmZcmykClmKBSIFBJnxrn1oeJkAG2cR2YOL-IFpsLA6zvMCLIv8o/s1600/Homeland.jpeg" /></a><b>Its Clear Our Military Is No Longer The Nation's Only Standing Army When It Comes To Killing Power… </b><span style="font-size: x-small;">by Jack Swint </span><br />
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Over the past 2 weeks, everyone from the mainstream media to bloggers and conspiracy theorists have questioned the government's mass purchasing of ammunition for federal agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and even the Social Security Administration. Combined, both agencies ordered over 210,000 rounds. This ammunition is mostly made up of "hollow point" bullets, which are designed strictly for maximum damage to the human body and have been outlawed for use in warfare since 1969.<br />
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On the surface, these purchases alone are scary enough and raise questions as to why these unlikely agencies need any amounts of ammo, especially bullets that have been outlawed. NOAA claims they have 63 officers who "enforce the nation's ocean and fishing laws to ensure a level playing field for fishermen and to protect marine species like whales, dolphins and turtles." If you divide 46,000 rounds by the 63 agents they employ, that's 730 bullets per agent, or, in other words, 63 crack shots and a lot of dead fisherman. <br />
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The Social Security Administration (SSA) has given no specific response to questions regarding their purchase of 174,00 rounds. They said their "agents' need them. But, keep this in mind: the SSA only deals with US Citizens in America. The SSA has never been involved with anything outside of this country for any reason. And what do they need with armed agents? All SSA offices employ private contracted security for their offices.<br />
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<b><i>One Billion + Hollow Point Bullets</i></b><br />
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Digging deeper into the government's recent procurement's for ammo, you learn just how aggressively they are buying up ridiculous amounts of ammo and riot related equipment. The feds have actually ordered over 1 billion rounds of ammo in 2012 alone. They received 750,000,000 in March and are awaiting another 450,000,000. All in conjunction with large-scale orders for riot gear, bulletproof checkpoint outposts with red and green stoplights, human shaped paper practice targets, and other crowd control and containment equipment.<br />
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There is no conspiracy theory here. The federal government is expecting either a catastrophic financial collapse that could provoke nationwide food riots and all out civil unrest, another civil war, or even Armageddon. All in the very near future. Some theorize that the mass purchase of ammunition is an attempt to hoard as much as possible from the American public whom the feds believe may be in preparation for civil war right now.<br />
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<b><i>The Warnings Are There </i></b><br />
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Activist, radio talk show and journalist, Madison Ruppert, recently detailed on his "End The Lie Radio Show" how our Department of Homeland Security has an apparent obsession with buying up all the ammunition on earth. He noted that even if this ammo were purchased strictly for training purposes, as the Feds claim, we simply do not have the money in the federal budget to buy hundreds of millions of rounds of high dollar ammunition for domestic agents' target practice.<br />
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Another recent story by Ruppert entitled, "We Are Preparing For Massive Civil War...Says DHS Informant" outlines investigator Doug Haggman's interview with reportedly, high-level, reliable sources inside Homeland Security, who claim the agency is preparing for a massive civil war in America. The DHS source states that the federal government foresees and prepares for a massive civil revolt. "Every time you hear about troop movements, military equipment, the militarization of the police, and the buying of the ammunition in the US, all of this is orchestrated by the DHS who are reportedly preparing for a massive uprising."<br />
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Hagmann goes on to say that his sources tell him the concerns of the DHS stem from their belief in an impending collapse of the U.S. dollar as the the world's primary reserve currency, and their fear that a significant portion of the population is already armed and will rise up over the crash of our monetary system. Hagmann's sources confirmed the ongoing fear of a U.S. dollar collapse at the hands of the Chinese and possibly the Russians in retaliation for aggressive U.S. foreign policy initiatives against Chinese and Russian strategic allies like Iran and Syria.<br />
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"The one source that we have, I've known since 1979," says Hagmann. "He started out as a patrol officer and currently he is now working for a federal agency under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security. He's in a position to know what policies are being initiated and what policies are being planned at this point." And, "he's telling us right now that what you're seeing is just the tip of the iceberg."<br />
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"We are preparing, we, meaning the government, we are preparing for a massive civil war in this country."<br />
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Then there is Trends Research Institutes' Founder Gerald Celente's forecast of last year where he believes and expects a collapse of the U.S. dollar and riots in America some time this year. Since Celente's "Civil War' prediction of last year, President Obama signed executive orders known as the National Defense Resources Preparedness, which are politically damaging actions taken by a sitting president. <br />
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Of course, he also signed the National Defense Authorization Act, abolishing habeas corpus and the Bill or Rights, and permitting indefinite detention without charge or trial of American citizens at home and abroad. He further claims the power to murder American citizens without indictment, trial or conviction upon his finding that they support or substantially assist an enemy of the United States or one of its allies. Let the firing squads begin.<br />
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And most recently, additional requests made by the DHS for another procurement of 450 million rounds of hollow-point ammunition only fuels speculation of an upcoming tragic event expected on American soil. These major events, as shocking to the American people as they are, will be taking place during an election year.<br />
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<b><i>Governments Strategy To Crush Any Tea Party Insurgency</i></b> (Warfare)<br />
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How seriously does the government consider a Tea Party rebellion? Kevin Benson, a retired U.S. Army colonel, who now teaches modern warfare to soldiers at the University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, has co-written an article with Civil War expert, Jennifer Weber, detailing how to crush a Tea Party insurgency. That report, by itself, has ignited a firestorm among those increasingly concerned about what they feel is a distinct anti-civilian tone that has infected much of the military and Homeland Security personnel since 2009.<br />
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Benson and Weber co-wrote the article for Small Wars Journal on a 2010 Army report entitled, "U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, The Army Operating Concept 2016 - 2028."<br />
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The report describes the Army's response to threats "at home and abroad" in the coming two decades, and, in doing so, made clear that a monumental cultural shift recently occurred in the thinking of those at the top levels of military command. This shift has some governmental watchdogs worried, particularly given that Benson is using the platform provided at Fort Leavenworth to indoctrinate soldiers in his vision of the nature of modern warfare in America.<br />
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Benson and Webber actually created a fictitious training scenario, including a military response, as a teaching tool for the future insurrection of tea party activists. As the scenario goes, the tea party stages a takeover of the town of Darlington, S.C.. They profess that the Declaration of Independence has been re-imposed, and the local government declared null and void. According to the vision articulated by Benson, the enemy will be average citizens whose values resonate with those articulated by the tea party.<br />
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The scenario admits to the public that the government fears that the Tea Party can alter or abolish an existing government and replace it with another. In the words of Benson's report, a takeover by the Tea Party will have an effect on the general population insomuch as it "shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."<br />
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Also, there is a 2008 report produced by the U.S. Army War College's Strategic Institute that warns the United States might experience massive civil unrest in the wake of a series of crises, which it termed "strategic shock." It goes on to say, "widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reprioritize itself to defend basic domestic order and human security." The report, authored by Retired Lt. Col. Nathan Freir, adds that the military may be needed to squash "purposeful domestic resistance."<br />
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Even though Freir's warning does not directly cite the Tea Party as the cause of the mass civil unrest, the inference is there. With the publication of the reports by Frier, Benson and Weber, it is clear that DHS and the U.S. Army considers it a valid proposition to assume that a future civil war will be sparked not by extremist Islamists with dirty bombs or left wing insurrectionists, but by the tea party and the conservatives who participate in it.<br />
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Just three years ago the Department of Homeland Security generated the notorious Home Grown Terrorist Assessment Memorandum (linked below) detailing the the vision the DHS held of the primary threats to U.S. domestic security in the near future. The memo was distributed to local law enforcement across the nation with details about the Tea Party being the object of the government's fears. The fears included combat hardened returning veterans to a nation without jobs for them, weapons and ammunition shortages that could be blamed upon the federal government.<br />
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Citizens who believe there is an effort to build an international government, extremist internet chatters who perceive a loss of U.S. manufacturing and construction jobs to overseas markets and blame governmental policies for that exodus and resultant home foreclosures, libertarians, Ron Paul supporters, people who talk a lot about their constitutional rights, people with copies of the constitution or Bill or Rights, etc., are all suspected domestic terrorists according to the memo.<br />
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<b><i>Why Hollow Point Bullets?</i></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilYiY1saspGJOJ2Pm8tGv8qhucLP-AL1gVak42gpBAyYb5VUHIXL_Q-N1Nc7xtp696NI6zIuLNP3yJK7vEYqfEzhTyFdRuBxdh_4Y3jpOSC3mRnSaaYhR6TcnJtGumUS_hldilZzWCOHE/s1600/Hollow+Point+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilYiY1saspGJOJ2Pm8tGv8qhucLP-AL1gVak42gpBAyYb5VUHIXL_Q-N1Nc7xtp696NI6zIuLNP3yJK7vEYqfEzhTyFdRuBxdh_4Y3jpOSC3mRnSaaYhR6TcnJtGumUS_hldilZzWCOHE/s1600/Hollow+Point+2.jpg" /></a>After being bombarded with questions wanting to know why the feds are procuring stockpiles of ammo, their half-hearted excuses came down to needing this ammo for training and qualification purposes. That answer only raises more questions. Like, why does anyone need to practice or qualify with expensive "hollow point' rounds. Manufacturers make "practice' rounds that are considerably cheaper.<br />
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According to an article published by war decorated Army Major General Jerry Curry (Ret), the feds explanation about the bullets fails to pass the smell test. "Hollow point bullets are so lethal that the Geneva Convention does not allow their use on the battle field in time of war." Hollow point bullets don't just stop or hurt people, they penetrate the body, spread out, fragment and cause maximum damage to the body's organs. Death often follows. "Notice that all of these purchases are for the deadly hollow nose bullets. These bullets are not being purchased and stored for squirrel or coyote hunting.<br />
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"This is serious ammunition manufactured to be used for serious purposes."<br />
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He goes on to write that" "In the war in Iraq, our military forces expended approximately 70 million rounds per year. In March DHS ordered 750 million rounds of hollow point ammunition. It then turned around and ordered an additional 750 million rounds of miscellaneous bullets including some that are capable of penetrating walls."<br />
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His final claim is food for thought "This is enough ammunition to empty five rounds into the body of every living American citizen."<br />
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General Curry raises 3 additional good points.<br />
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1. We have enough military forces to maintain law and order in the U.S. even during times of civil unrest. We have local police, backed up by each state's National Guard, backed up by the Department of Defense.<br />
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2. In addition to all these forces, why does DHS need its own private army?<br />
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3. Why do the SSA, NOAA and other government agencies need to create their own civilian security forces armed with hollow nose bullets?<br />
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<b><i>In Closing</i></b><br />
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This is not a "conspiracy theory" or guessing that our government is actively stockpiling enormous amounts of lethal ammunition, riot equipment and other related control devices designed solely for civil unrest. This purchase is a fact, and there is plenty of documentation from the feds themselves on how they are procuring these items. It is readily available on the Internet. It is also evident that within the last few years, several military strategists have produced in depth reports outlining the probability for a massive Civil War in America in the near future.<br />
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The DHS and other federal agencies are aggressively acting on those reports and recommendations by launching their own preparedness plans in order to both conduct a pre-emptive strike first and or combat any uprising by civilians that may occur first.<br />
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These ammo purchases by the feds do not include any mention of "non-lethal" tactics such as rubber bullets, water hoses, bean bags (fired from a shotgun to knock a person down) or tear gas, etc., which are used instead of deadly force to control civil unrest. It appears on the surface that they are gearing up for all out warfare on the American public. It also appears that the entity behind this plan is the Department of Homeland Security, not the military or local city, county, state or federal law enforcement.<br />
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The below analogy will likely anger some of the people reading it. It is only being used to point out how agencies akin to Homeland Security can get out of hand and allow self-appointed power and authority to become grossly abused, thus losing sight of their intent and objective.<br />
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In our own fears from 911, our government created Homeland Security, an agency that has become so powerful and relentless in believing they are protecting America that they have evolved into nothing more than what the German Waffen -"SS' officers became over time. Out of control. The "SS' were first formed in 1934 only as a supplementary army alongside the main German army. But, in just a few years, they were able to appoint themselves into the core of Germany's terror apparatus and by about 1936 assumed control of the entire terror machine.<br />
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<b><i>End Of Story…</i></b><br />
<br />
Jack Swint-Publisher<br />
West Virginia News<br />
E-Mail <a href="mailto:WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com"><b><i>WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com</i></b></a><br />
Website: <a href="http://wvnewsonline.com/"><b><i>http://WVNewsOnline.com</i></b></a><br />
Blog: <a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/"><b><i>http://WestVirginiaNews.blogspot.com</i></b></a><br />
Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/WVNewsOnline"><b><i>@WVNewsOnline</i></b></a><br />
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<b>Links</b><br />
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<a href="http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/full-spectrum-operations-in-the-homeland-a-%E2%80%9Cvision%E2%80%9D-of-the-future"><b>Full Spectrum Operations In the Homeland: A ‘Vision” Of The Future’… by Kevin Benson and Jennifer Weber</b></a><br />
<b><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1646085452"><br /></a></b>
<a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/rightwing.pdf"><b>Home Grown Terrorist Assessment Memorandum </b></a><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><a href="http://www.infowars.com/we-are-preparing-for-massive-civil-war-says-dhs-informant/">Interview With DHS Source On Plans For Civil War</a></b><br />
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<a href="http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/people.cfm?authorID=552"><b>U.S. Army War College's Strategic Institute - Retired Lt. Col. Nathan Freir</b></a><br />
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<a href="http://freedomfighterradio.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/U.S.-Army-Training-and-Doctrine-Command-The-Army-Operating-Concept-2016-2028.pdf"><b>U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, The Army Operating Concept 2016 - 2028</b></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/army-strategic-shock-report-says-troops-may-be-needed-to-quell-us-civil-unrest.html"><b>Army Strategic Shock Report Says Troops May Be Needed To Quell U.S. Civil Unrest</b></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/dhs-to-purchase-another-750-million-rounds-of-ammo.html"><b>Article containing “The PDF File” that details one of the 750 million rounds of ammo order</b></a><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><a href="http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2012/03/13/ATK-producing-ammo-for-Homeland-Security/UPI-91311331656764/">450 Million Rounds Ammo</a> </b><br />
<br />
<b><a href="https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=6c39a2a9f00a10187a1432388a3301e5&tab=core&_cview=0&fb_source=message">Social Security Admin Orders</a></b><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB890.pdf">Strategic Study On Warfare Within US</a> </b>(see pages 31-32)<br />
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<a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/army-colonel-ignites-firestorm-with-article-on-crushing-a-tea-party-insurgency"><b>Army Colonel Ignites Firestorm With Article On Crushing A Tea Party Insurgency</b></a><br />
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West Virginia Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07107023822342773179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931016991043130316.post-24120640429010124842012-08-05T20:00:00.000-07:002012-08-10T18:59:03.013-07:00IRS Paying Out Billions In Fraud Tax Returns For 2011<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2L-f8a76VL_Mjj9CjfA8FhrMmvfrxnC7LwQ52l9p13E9yun9Wq1zsVVGDx2b0KvqXJbOyLE6gu6JaDSmhANBdYwKpqtMAe_kmhU-b7eFldJ8dVtHDbzf09g-3URgc7AxVlNhvuaRppcY/s1600/Tax+Scams.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2L-f8a76VL_Mjj9CjfA8FhrMmvfrxnC7LwQ52l9p13E9yun9Wq1zsVVGDx2b0KvqXJbOyLE6gu6JaDSmhANBdYwKpqtMAe_kmhU-b7eFldJ8dVtHDbzf09g-3URgc7AxVlNhvuaRppcY/s1600/Tax+Scams.jpeg" /></a><b>Internal Revenue Failing To Identify Tax Refund Thieves According To Audit... </b><span style="font-size: x-small;">AP Story</span><br />
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While honest Americans are struggling to even make ends meet in 2012, at least 1.5 million dishonest people are enjoying their share of $5 billion in refund checks that the IRS has paid to thieves who filed fraudulent tax returns for 2011. And, Treasury Department investigators said that they estimate another $21 billion could make its way to ID thieves' pockets over the next five years.<br />
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According to <i>Associated Press</i> writer <i>Josh Lederman </i>(August 3, 2012 story), the IRS is detecting far fewer fraudulent tax refund claims than actually occur. That's according to a government audit that warned the widespread problem could undermine public trust in the U.S. tax system. Although the Internal Revenue Service detected about 940,000 fraudulent returns for last year claiming $6.5 billion in refunds, there were potentially another 1.5 million undetected cases of thieves seeking refunds after assuming the identity of a dead person, child or someone else who normally wouldn't file a tax return.<br />
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Lederman says that the feds claim a lack of being able to gain access to verify third-party information is one of the main root causes. Another big dilemma is the fact Americans can begin filing for their refunds in mid-January, while employers and financial institutions don't have to submit withholding and income documents for taxpayers to the IRS until the end of March. In hindsight, the IRS often issues refunds long before it can confirm the veracity of what's listed on taxpayer returns.<br />
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Thieves are also exploiting vulnerabilities in the way the IRS delivers refunds. They often prefer direct deposit and or debit cards instead of a paper check, which require a physical address to receive the check and photo ID matching the taxpayer's name to cash it.<br />
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<b><i>Thieves Are Blatantly Ripping The The IRS Off </i></b><br />
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A single address in Lansing, Michigan was used to file 2,137 separate tax returns. The IRS actually issued more than $3.3 million in refunds to that address. Three addresses in Florida were identified where thieves filed more than 500 returns totaling more than $1 million in refunds for each address. Hundreds of refunds were deposited into the same bank account. In one instance, the IRS deposited 590 refunds totaling more than $900,000 into one account.<br />
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"We found multiple reasons for the IRS's inability to detect billions of dollars in fraud," J. Russell George, the Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration, in a statement. "At a time when every dollar counts, these results are extremely troubling." IRS officials said the growth of identity theft-related fraud is one of its biggest challenges. Already this year, the agency has stopped almost $12 billion in confirmed fraud, it says. And it says its criminal investigators are actively pursuing those who perpetrate fraud – including the previously undetected cases identified by the audit.<br />
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"If the IRS determines a refund has been issued improperly, we will attempt to recoup the funds," said IRS spokeswoman Michelle Eldridge. The IRS agreed with the inspector general that Congress should expand the agency's access to resources that could help it fight theft, including the National Directory of New Hires, a database created to help states enforce child support orders. The IRS specifically asked Congress for that authority in its 2013 budget request.<br />
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Investigators went back through a sample of the 1.5 billion undetected cases to see why the IRS never flagged them as fraudulent. In 49 of 60 returns, investigators said, the return didn't score high enough on the IRS's fraud filter to merit a closer review. In eight of the 11 cases where the IRS did perform an additional review, it never verified the income and withholding on the return.<br />
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<b><i>Steps Are Being Taken To Curb Identity Theft In The Tax System</i></b><br />
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Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, whose home state contains the top two cities where fraudulent tax returns originate: Tampa and Miami. Last week Nelson, a Democrat, joined with Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma to introduce legislation designed to curb identity theft in the tax system. "It's an ongoing problem," Nelson said in a statement. "We've got to find a fix."<br />
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Nelson's bill would improve protections for Social Security numbers that thieves need to file returns, and would expand an existing program that gives previous victims of ID theft a personal identification number to deter repeat offenses against the same taxpayer. Another bipartisan bill passed by the House on Wednesday would bolster prosecutions and strengthen criminal penalties on ID thieves.<br />
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The IRS said it is already putting a number of new measures in place, including new ID theft-screening filters that will hold on to refunds until the IRS can verify a taxpayer's identity. That filter had thwarted about $1.3 billion in potentially fraudulent refunds through April, the audit said. Another system flags returns filed with Social Security numbers of those who have died.<br />
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<b><i>In Closing…</i></b><br />
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Lederman states that for those who fall victim to identity thieves, the recovery process can be less than smooth. A separate report by the inspector general in May found that the IRS wasn't providing good customer service and proper assistance to victims of ID theft, increasing the burden for those whose identities are stolen. The Federal Trade Commission has listed identity theft as the No. 1 consumer complaint for the past 12 years.<br />
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<b><i>End Of Story…</i></b><br />
<br />
Jack Swint-Publisher<br />
West Virginia News<br />
E-Mail: <a href="mailto:WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com"><b><i>WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com</i></b></a><br />
Website: <a href="http://wvnewsonline.com/"><b><i>http://WVNewsOnline.com</i></b></a><br />
Blog: <a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/"><b><i>http://WestVirginiaNews.blogspot.com</i></b></a><br />
Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/WVNewsOnline"><b><i>@WVNewsOnline</i></b></a><br />
LinkedIn:<b><i> <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jack-swint/37/472/41b">Jack Swint</a></i></b><br />
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</div>West Virginia Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07107023822342773179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931016991043130316.post-29746647652485287722012-08-05T19:49:00.000-07:002012-08-05T17:27:55.555-07:00Retired Army Colonel’s Article On How To Crush A Tea Party Insurgency<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje2OsK6iGuLNor4UlDMa7NskWLOIK9cpQRpSrcbRUfthfQb3Xzd7wLYaI9dv0gFX1LlUy92p2b_b15DOc6_Ts-vOavDgDW0BCt8uz0qqUl2N3Jmq24z13J-q-dEPlZtnbOr_KUfWJiUc0/s1600/Col+Benson.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje2OsK6iGuLNor4UlDMa7NskWLOIK9cpQRpSrcbRUfthfQb3Xzd7wLYaI9dv0gFX1LlUy92p2b_b15DOc6_Ts-vOavDgDW0BCt8uz0qqUl2N3Jmq24z13J-q-dEPlZtnbOr_KUfWJiUc0/s1600/Col+Benson.jpeg" /></a><b>Article Claims Army Terminology For Describing Tea Party Includes: Right Wing – Extremists And Insurrectionists</b><br />
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An alarming August 5, 2012 story written by Anthony Martin with the Examiner.com reads as follows:<br />
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A retired U.S. Army colonel who now teaches modern warfare to soldiers at the University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas has co-written an article with a Civil War expert that has ignited a firestorm today among those increasingly concerned about what some say is a distinct anti-civilian tone that has infected much of the military and Homeland Security since 2009.<br />
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Retired Col. Kevin Benson (pictured above) and Jennifer Weber, Associate Professor of History at the University of Kansas, co-wrote an article for Small Wars Journal on a 2010 Army report titled, "U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, The Army Operating Concept 2016 - 2028."<br />
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The report describes how the Army will respond to threats "at home and abroad" in the coming two decades and in doing so has made clear that a monumental cultural shift has occurred in the thinking of those at the top levels of military command. This shift has some government watchdogs worried, particularly given that Benson is using the platform provided at Fort Leavenworth to indoctrinate soldiers in his vision of the nature of modern warfare in America. According to the vision articulated by Benson, future warfare will be conducted on our own soil. The military will use its full force against our own citizens. The enemy will be average citizens whose values resonate with those articulated by the tea party.<br />
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The fictitious scenario used in the Army report as a teaching tool is a future insurrection of "tea party activists" in South Carolina. As the scenario goes, the tea party group stages a takeover of the town of Darlington, S.C. The mayor is placed under house arrest and prevented from exercising his duties. The police chief, the county sheriff, and other law enforcement officials are removed from office and told not to interfere. The city council is dissolved. The governor of the state, who had previously expressed solidarity with tea party goals, does little to address the situation.<br />
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A news conference is called by the new town leaders, all tea party activists, who tell the media that due to the failure of central government to address the concerns of the citizens, the Declaration of Independence has been re-imposed and the local government has been declared null and void.<br />
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<b>From the report:</b><br />
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When the leaders of the group hold a press conference to announce their goals, they invoke the Declaration of Independence and argue that the current form of the federal government is not deriving its “just powers from the consent of the governed” but is actually “destructive to these ends.” Therefore, they say, the people can alter or abolish the existing government and replace it with another that, in the words of the Declaration, “shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.” While mainstream politicians and citizens react with alarm, the “tea party” insurrectionists in South Carolina enjoy a groundswell of support from other tea party groups, militias, racist organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan, anti-immigrant associations such as the Minutemen, and other right-wing groups…<br />
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Several items of interest are to be noted in the scenario the Army uses to describe the tea party activists -- "right wing," "extremists," "insurrectionists," all of whom are lumped together with militias and organizations that are considered "racist" and "anti-immigration." By contrast, those who oppose the tea party are referred to as "mainstream." The obvious question that arises is why would this sort of scenario, with its obviously biased and skewed portrayals, be presented as a teaching tool to young soldiers? Why would the U.S. military consider the tea party to be "extremist" or "insurrectionist?" And why would the tea party be classified together with groups that are "racist, "anti-immigration," and "extremist right wing?"<br />
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In the numerous tea party rallies that have occurred across the nation no racism was noted by any observer. Speakers included persons of all races and ethnic backgrounds. No sentiment was expressed against legal immigration but outrage was directed toward those break the law and enter the country by illegal means. And the charge that the tea party is extremist right wing is difficult to justify given that the main thrust of the movement is the protest against runaway government spending that has placed the nation on the brink of economic ruin due to its enormous and unsustainable debt.<br />
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Yet repeatedly since the election of Barack Obama in 2009, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has referred to the tea party as "potential homegrown terrorists." Why? Not a shred of evidence remotely suggests that the tea party has any connection whatsoever with terrorists. Yet some of President Obama's closet longtime friends have not only been associated with terrorism but actively participated in it, such as Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, who as members of the Weathermen from the 1960s and 70s bombed federal buildings that resulted in the deaths of police officers.<br />
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But if one listens to the rhetoric emanating from the White House, DHS, and now the U.S. military, one gets the impression that none of the president's friends ever posed a threat to the country but hundreds of thousands of tea party activists are ticking time bombs lying in wait to unleash a nuke on an American city at the drop of a hat. The brainwashing against conservatives by this administration has had a definite impact on the military. One analyst who works for retired U.S. Maj. Gen. Paul E. Vallely told this reporter that now over half of Pentagon personnel are solidly in Obama's corner and share his values and worldview.<br />
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And with the publication of the Benson and Weber article, it is now clear that the U.S. Army considers it a valid proposition to assume that a future civil war will be sparked not by extremist Islamists with dirty bombs or left wing insurrectionists inspired by Alinsky or Ayers but by the tea party and the conservatives who participate in it.<br />
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<b><i>End…</i></b><br />
<br />
Jack Swint-Publisher<br />
West Virginia News<br />
E-Mail: <a href="mailto:WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com"><b><i>WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com</i></b></a><br />
Website: <a href="http://wvnewsonline.com/"><b><i>http://WVNewsOnline.com</i></b></a><br />
Blog: <a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/"><b><i>http://WestVirginiaNews.blogspot.com</i></b></a><br />
Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/WVNewsOnline"><b><i>@WVNewsOnline</i></b></a><br />
LinkedIn: <b><i><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jack-swint/37/472/41b">Jack Swint</a></i></b><br />
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</div>West Virginia Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07107023822342773179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931016991043130316.post-92091218896145457432012-08-05T18:25:00.000-07:002012-08-05T14:45:04.319-07:00Extras At The Car Wash Only Jack Up The Price<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjSic_AXfExNqSqQEgdWes0mdsvgYQgW-J94SHmpHDlOKJFL2QPkdoH4P-mzahHDBPA-z9sFEreCmktclsn2T2eFAptbIgzRXgEysspV-1dMHxlOQMOaIg5_ziFMLHjKlCjmn-ALdxApY/s1600/carwash2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjSic_AXfExNqSqQEgdWes0mdsvgYQgW-J94SHmpHDlOKJFL2QPkdoH4P-mzahHDBPA-z9sFEreCmktclsn2T2eFAptbIgzRXgEysspV-1dMHxlOQMOaIg5_ziFMLHjKlCjmn-ALdxApY/s1600/carwash2.jpeg" /></a><b>Read This Before You Purchase Wheel Cleaning –Clear Coat And Rust Protection During Your Next Car Wash...</b> <span style="font-size: x-small;">by Jack Swint</span><br />
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A trip to the neighborhood car wash presents you with multiple choices. Do you want the basic wash, the better wash with a special paint sealer, the express wash with triple foam and finally the pristine treatment with rust inhibitor. You can even have your wheels cleaned. The list and costs go on and on. Which do you choose? Do these extra offerings have any validity? Lets look at it. Keep in mind that each car wash seems to have their own terminology for the extras they are offering to spray on your car.<br />
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<b><i>The Basic Wash</i></b><br />
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This basic treatment usually involves just what it says, a wash and rinse by high pressure washing the exterior of dirt, grime, mud, salt, etc. Then, when the vehicle goes into the spray and wash tunnel, a "pH neutral" washing solution is sprayed onto the vehicle exterior that promises not to etch into the clear coat finish of the vehicle. Next, the whole car is wiped down with either non-abrasive brushes or cloth strips. Sometimes a basic wash involves an undercarriage wash as well. This is a great idea because it will hopefully flush out the salt that has gotten into the undercarriage cracks and crevices over the long winter season. <br />
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Now, as far as most people are concerned, this is all you need at a car wash. When offered more than this, decline for reasons that follow.<br />
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<b><i>Wheel Cleaning</i></b><br />
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Usually, when one goes to the car wash, they offer a step up from the basic wash that includes wheel cleaning. Car wheels get dirty as a result of super-heated semi-metallic brake dust that comes off the brake pads as they squeeze the brake rotors. This metallic dust impregnates the wheels clear-coat finish permanently staining the wheel. No exterior car wash/water-solution will clean it. There is a product on the market called ‘Wheel Shield’ that repels 60% of all brake dust and offers protection from corrosive road clearing chemicals like liquid sodium, magnesium chloride and rock salt. <br />
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But, can you really keep your wheels clean after its been contaminated with this nasty stuff? Nope. The only way to actually restore the finish to original condition is to have the wheel sand blasted, painted and clear coated again. Then, you can apply Wheel Shield on a regular basis. This kind of trouble and expense is usually reserved for luxury cars, and not Ford Focuses and Toyota Corollas. The other option for some added protection and cosmetic good looks is "Armor All." But again, this has to be worked onto the tire by hand.<br />
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<b><i>Clear Coat Protector</i></b><br />
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In addition to wheel cleaning, consumers are also often offered "a clear coat protector." Clear coat protector products protect the clear & base color coat from the UV rays of the sun, moisture and oxidation, all elements that fade the paint. A sealer applied by rubbing it on the vehicles finish will always give you better protection than a product that’s sprayed on at a car wash.<br />
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Car wash waxes give a nice temporary shine, but don’t provide much ongoing protection. How could they given the price point? A typical professional paint sealant application costs anywhere from $100 - $200 because its labor intensive along with the cost of the actual product versus $2 or $3 at the car washes. If you want this treatment, either pay the right price at a detailing shop or buy the product and apply some elbow grease yourself on a clear, bright Saturday morning.<br />
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<b><i>Rust Protection</i></b><br />
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Rust protection is a touchy subject, because so many companies have fallen by the wayside from fraud over the years. Presently, There are only a few good companies that offer genuine rust protection, and they do not offer their services through the car wash network of the US. In order for rust protection to be effective, someone has to open up body panels, door panels, get under the hood and into trunk areas, and finally inside the boxed areas of the vehicle frame or uni-body construction. True rust protection costs on average $100 - $250 per vehicle depending on whether its a car, truck or SUV.<br />
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The extra few dollars the car wash wants is for spraying a solution on the vehicles exterior that washes off in short order after a rainstorm doesn’t accomplish anything. <br />
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<b><i>Car Wash Guarentee??</i></b><br />
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Finally, some car washes offer a 5-day guarantee! Guarantee of what? That you’ll need all these services again in five days? That’s usually what such a guarantee means. This alone is evidence that all you got was a $6 wash two times with a few extra chemicals thrown in to make you feel better.<br />
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<b><i>Bottom Line</i></b><br />
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By all means, get a weekly basic wash and help a local business. However, we don’t all have that kind of time, or interest. As for these extras offered by the neighborhood car wash? Skip them, and put the money in the piggy bank. Do, however, spend the appropriate amount of money to have a few of these things, like wheel cleaning and clear-coat protection, and rust-proofing (if you are inclined), done at a proper detailing or body shop using the proper products and application methods.<br />
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<b><i>End Of Story…</i></b><br />
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Jack Swint-Publisher<br />
West Virginia News<br />
E-Mail: <b><i> </i></b><i></i><a href="mailto:WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com"><b><i>WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com</i></b><i></i></a><br />
Website: <a href="http://wvnewsonline.com/"><b><i>http://WVNewsOnline.com</i></b><i></i></a><br />
Blog: <a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/"><b><i>http://WestVirginiaNews.blogspot.com</i></b><i></i></a><br />
Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/#/WVNewsOnline"><b>@WVNewsOnline</b></a><br />
LinkedIn:<b> </b><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jack-swint/37/472/41b"><b>Jack Swint</b></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlyNFAO6d6GmOwX1Mk6RdTov09yffGNi7ijHtpvGTIsm_D56Vv7vE5kFaustzJs8Ogp5d6iGX2h3po5aKybgrP1bdMWPGSGzHhFTP-usFYtUHjblY0V6l9oUHaOHF4KXqY0JbtYKzXvTM/s1600/DuPont+2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlyNFAO6d6GmOwX1Mk6RdTov09yffGNi7ijHtpvGTIsm_D56Vv7vE5kFaustzJs8Ogp5d6iGX2h3po5aKybgrP1bdMWPGSGzHhFTP-usFYtUHjblY0V6l9oUHaOHF4KXqY0JbtYKzXvTM/s1600/DuPont+2.jpeg" /></a><b>Independent Science Panel Links Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) Exposure to Thyroid Disease and Ulcerative Colitis</b><br />
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On Monday, July 30th 2012 a panel of three independent epidemiologists announced that the weight of available scientific evidence demonstrates that Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) found in the drinking water in several WV and Ohio communities is linked to both thyroid disease and ulcerative colitis. The DuPont plant is located in Wood County WV.<br />
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This announcement follows a class action lawsuit against DuPont in 2005 arising from their contamination of local drinking water supplies with PFOA (also known as C-8 or C8). Under that class action settlement, DuPont and the residents agreed to form the C8 Science Panel to answer questions about C-8 exposure and disease based upon reliable science. In April of this year, the panel linked C-8 exposure to kidney and testicular cancer in humans who were exposed to the toxic chemical. The panel had previously linked pregnancy-induced hypertension, including preeclampsia, to PFOA exposure.<br />
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In addition to linking thyroid disease and ulcerative colitis to C-8 exposure, the report eliminated several diseases from the rapidly growing list of C-8 linked diseases. The dismissed diseases include stroke, influenza, asthma, chronic obstructive airway disease, lupus, type1 diabetes, Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis and neurodevelopmental disorders in children (including attention deficit disorders and learning disabilities). The panel expects to submit its final report in October 2012.<br />
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The panel was charged with independently and comprehensively evaluating all of the available scientific data relating to PFOA to determine whether it is more likely than not that PFOA exposure is linked to serious human disease. To qualify for membership on the panel, the panelists had to be well qualified Epidemiologists who were independent of either side to the lawsuit. The eminently qualified panel continues to conduct the most comprehensive, detailed studies in the world regarding the man made chemical that is now found in the blood of virtually every human being on this planet.<br />
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The ongoing studies are reviewing all known human health effects that have been associated with exposure to ammonium perfluorooctanoate, also known as C-8, C8, or PFOA.<br />
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To begin the study, approximately 70,000 residents who had been exposed to PFOA in their drinking water voluntarily provided blood samples and other health information through a C8 Health Project implemented in the six affected water districts by Brookmar, Inc. Brookmar, Inc. is operated by prominent community medicine experts A. Paul Brooks, M.D. (former director of physician services for Camden Clark Hospital) and Arthur Maher (former CEO of St. Joseph's Hospital). Pursuant to court approval and the agreement of all parties, Brookmar gathered health and blood data from the exposed residents. The acquired data was simultaneously submitted to the C8 Science Panel.<br />
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The Brookmar C8 Health Project generated an unprecedented amount of community-level exposure and health data. The Brookmar database provided the C8 Science Panel with the unique ability to design and conduct approximately one dozen comprehensive studies of various health endpoints of interest. In addition to the Brookmar database of residents exposed to PFOA in their drinking water, the C8 Science Panel utilized historical worker and residential exposure levels, and also recruited Brookmar C8 Health Project participants from whom the panel acquired additional follow-up data.<br />
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In addition to data acquired from the exposed residents, the panel considered all previously existing and currently developing scientific literature to reach its conclusions.<br />
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The C8 Science Panel has been releasing its findings on PFOA health effects through a series of final Probable Link Reports attached below. In December 2011, the Panel released its first set of reports, focusing on reproductive outcomes only. At that time, the Panel found a Probable Link between PFOA exposure and pregnancy-induced hypertension, including preeclampsia. In April, the Panel released its second series of Probable Link Reports and found PFOA exposure to be linked with kidney and testicular cancer.<br />
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These latest findings by the Panel added links to thyroid disease and ulcerative colitis. The Panel plans to release its final Probable Link Reports in October on the other health endpoints still under investigation (including, but not limited to, lipids and heart disease). Based on the links to serious human disease, DuPont's class action agreement requires DuPont to pay up to an additional $235 million to fund a medical monitoring program for the exposed residents included in the settlement class previously approved by the court. The program will help detect the onset of PFOA-linked diseases among the approximately 70 to 80 thousand residents who are class members as defined in the settlement agreement.<br />
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A C8 Medical Panel will be charged with determining what type of medical monitoring program is appropriate for the class members based upon the C8 Science Panel's Probable Link findings on disease. After the initial probable link findings were confirmed by the C8 Science Panel, the parties jointly selected the C8 Medical Panel pursuant to their court endorsed settlement agreement. The members of the C8 Medical Panel are Dr. Dean Baker, Dr. Melissa McDiarmid, and Dr. Harold Sox. Beyond medical monitoring, class members who suffer from linked diseases are now permitted to move forward with personal injury (or related wrongful death) claims against DuPont arising from their discharging of the known carcinogen into their water and air.<br />
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DuPont's class action settlement agreement with the court-approved class counsel provides that DuPont will not dispute that PFOA can cause the specific diseases, which the C8 Science Panel has linked to PFOA exposure (now including thyroid disease, ulcerative colitis, kidney cancer, testicular cancer, and pregnancy induced hypertension, including preeclampsia).<br />
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The court-approved class attorneys are presently reviewing potential individual personal injury claims on behalf of affected residents who qualify as members of the class action litigation. At the conclusion of the final settlement hearing in 2005, the court approved appointment of Hill Peterson Carper Bee & Deitzler, PLLC (Charleston and Parkersburg), Taft Stettinius & Hollister, LLP (Cincinnati), and Winter & Johnson, PLLC (Charleston) as counsel for the class members.<br />
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In reaction to the C-8 Science Panel's findings today, one of the attorneys representing the residents, Robert Bilott with the law firm of Taft Stettinius & Hollister in Cincinnati, stated: "As attorneys for the affected residents, we commend the Science Panel for their continuing hard work to resolve these very important and difficult scientific questions for the community. We are confident that the Panel is working diligently to alert the community by the end of October regarding any additional serious health risks that they may face because of their exposure to PFOA-contaminated drinking water."<br />
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Based on the panel's undisputed scientific findings, DuPont will continue to fund the state-of-the-art water treatment systems that were installed under the settlement to reduce PFOA levels in the impacted public and private drinking water supplies.<br />
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<b>End Of Story</b><br />
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Jack Swint-Publisher<br />
West Virginia News<br />
E-Mail: <a href="mailto:WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com"><b>WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com</b></a><br />
Website: <a href="http://wvnewsonline.com/"><b>http://WVNewsOnline.com</b></a><br />
Blog: <a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/"><b>http://WestVirginiaNews.blogspot.com</b></a><br />
Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/WVNewsOnline"><b>@WVNewsOnline</b></a><br />
LinkedIn: <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jack-swint/37/472/41b"><b>Jack Swint</b></a><br />
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Link<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.hpcbd.com/c8probablelink.html">C8 Science Panel Probable Link Findings </a></b><br />
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<a href="http://www2.dupont.com/Washington_Works/en_US/about.html"><b>DuPont Wood County WV Plant</b></a><br />
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</div>West Virginia Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07107023822342773179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931016991043130316.post-49604915393362051782012-07-14T09:36:00.001-07:002012-07-14T09:39:29.399-07:00Shelley Moore Capito Votes For Minerals Protection Act While Nick Rahall Say’s No<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivYmsThm_70YfXclAw7rqBDxCTzGLvRSP1G05_tPYGKuRExQfzBZ4lZTWuo8662TCo_8q1iDCwMKYS3sPBFFJq1reZMa-i9S2h81-vhwPBLOlyik2e6CSxHMy-2-X5XvUMahsB26dVGjs/s1600/Mineral.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivYmsThm_70YfXclAw7rqBDxCTzGLvRSP1G05_tPYGKuRExQfzBZ4lZTWuo8662TCo_8q1iDCwMKYS3sPBFFJq1reZMa-i9S2h81-vhwPBLOlyik2e6CSxHMy-2-X5XvUMahsB26dVGjs/s1600/Mineral.jpeg" /></a></div>
<strong>National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act of 2012 Passes Vote </strong><br />
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This past Friday, the House passed H.R. 4402—the "National Strategic and Critical Mineral Production Act" (linked below) with a vote of 256-160. Alongside 223 Republicans, 22 Democrats voted in favor of the bill, despite recent words of opposition from the White House regarding the bill. <br />
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NOTE: In WV, Democrat Nick Rahall voted against the bill while Republicans Shelly Moore and David McKinley voted for it.<br />
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The legislation is critical to increasing domestic mineral development as it would require federal agencies to take no longer than 30 months to make decisions related to mining permits, as opposed to the current process which can take seven to10 years. A predictable and manageable permitting process will make mining in the United States more attractive, creating jobs and helping to ensure a stable supply of critical minerals. Supply chain concerns were made even more serious this week as China announced it would increase its hoarding of rare-earth minerals, which are crucial to many high-tech manufactured goods.<br />
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The bill is critical to helping the United States remain competitive in the global market by ensuring that the proper regulatory framework is in place to produce minerals key to manufacturing and national security. House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings, R-Wash., argued, "Burdensome red tape, duplicative reviews, frivolous lawsuits and onerous regulations can hold up new mining projects for more than a decade. These unnecessary delays cost American jobs, as we become more and more dependent on foreign countries for raw ingredients to fuel manufacturing and our economy. This is a jobs bill, and the positive economic impact of this bill’s intent will extend beyond the mining industry."<br />
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In his floor statement, bill sponsor Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., also stated that the bill still allows for plenty of time for federal agencies to make decisions against permitting decisions. "What's the problem with two and a half years to talk about the permit? What's the problem with providing some predictability to the timing of the permitting process? What's the problem with not stringing people out under NEPA for over a decade for mine decisions?"<br />
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The House’s approval of H.R. 4402 is an important step on the road to making the United States more competitive in a global marketplace, ensuring economic and national security. Now is the time for the Senate to act and pass this common-sense legislation as well. Good American jobs and our security await their action.<br />
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<strong>End Of Story…</strong><br />
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Jack Swint-Publisher<br />
West Virginia News<br />
E-Mail: <b><i> </i></b><i></i><a href="mailto:WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com"><b><i>WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com</i></b><i></i></a><br />
Website: <a href="http://wvnewsonline.com/"><b><i>http://WVNewsOnline.com</i></b><i></i></a><br />
Blog: <a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/"><b><i>http://WestVirginiaNews.blogspot.com</i></b><i></i></a><br />
Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/#/WVNewsOnline"><b>@WVNewsOnline</b></a><br />
LinkedIn:<b> </b><b><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jack-swint/37/472/41b">Jack Swint</a> </b><br />
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<strong style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr4402/text">National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act of 2012</a></strong><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqgMTlRhfQ2H6x5uSH1As_8COCtubJkDOz13109H-xc9Xt2G-OQwU40rOd6Lx85lD_s2XEhGj7piZ-6xQQO_qB18usouh5cDVjYRntW8CM63V-E-FaHCl5QrRyZYW3-lfl06zjILKE9Xs/s1600/Forensic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqgMTlRhfQ2H6x5uSH1As_8COCtubJkDOz13109H-xc9Xt2G-OQwU40rOd6Lx85lD_s2XEhGj7piZ-6xQQO_qB18usouh5cDVjYRntW8CM63V-E-FaHCl5QrRyZYW3-lfl06zjILKE9Xs/s1600/Forensic.jpg" /></a><strong>Forensic Science and Standards Act of 2012 Comes Amid Renewed Scrutiny of Past Criminal Cases</strong><br />
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In A July 12, 2012 Press Release issued from the Democratic Press Office…."Chairman John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV today introduced legislation to help prevent wrongful convictions by bringing reliable, science-based standards to forensic evidence." A PDF copy of the Senate Bill is attached below.<br />
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The legislation, the Forensic Science and Standards Act of 2012, comes amid growing concerns nationally that many criminal justice proceedings use evidence developed through flawed forensic work. Rockefeller’s bill would strengthen forensic science and standards, yielding evidence that judges, prosecutors, defendants, and juries can fully trust.<br />
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"This week’s announcement that thousands of criminal convictions may have been based on flawed hair and fiber evidence is deeply disturbing," said Rockefeller. "Even one innocent person wrongfully convicted is too many. My bill would help fix this problem, and strengthen our cherished values of truth and justice. It would bring twenty-first century advancements in technology and testing to forensic science. Collaboration between our scientists and our criminal justice system is the only way to put our evidence standards on a solid scientific footing, so that we can successfully convict criminals and protect the innocent."<br />
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The National Academy of Sciences, the Innocence Project, the Washington Post, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers have all called for strengthened forensic science and standards.<br />
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U.S. Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, today introduced companion legislation in the House. <br />
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<strong>The Forensic Science and Standards Act of 2012 would:</strong><br />
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<strong>Require standards development:</strong> The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) would be directed to develop forensic science standards, in consultation with the standards development organizations and other stakeholders. NIST could establish and solicit advice from discipline-specific expert working groups to identify standards development priorities and opportunities.<br />
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<strong>Implement uniform standards:</strong> A Forensic Science Advisory Committee, chaired by the Director of NIST and the Attorney General, would be established to implement new science-based standards. The Advisory Committee, comprised of research scientists, forensic science practitioners, and members of the legal and law enforcement communities, would make recommendations to the Attorney General on adoption of standards. The Attorney General would direct the standards’ implementation in Federal forensic science laboratories and would encourage adoption in non-Federal laboratories as a condition of Federal funding or for inclusion in national databases.<br />
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<strong>Promote research:</strong> The bill would establish a National Forensic Science Coordinating Office, housed at the National Science Foundation (NSF), to develop a research strategy and road map and to support the implementation of that road map across relevant Federal agencies. NSF would establish a forensic science grant program to award funding in areas specifically identified by the research strategy. NSF would be directed to award two grants to create forensic science research centers to conduct research, build relationships with forensic practitioners, and educate students. All agencies with equities in forensic science would be encouraged to stimulate innovative and creative solutions to satisfy the research needs and priorities identified in the research strategy.<br />
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<strong><em>End Of Story</em></strong><br />
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Jack Swint-Publisher<br />
West Virginia News<br />
E-Mail: <b><i> </i></b><i></i><a href="mailto:WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com"><b><i>WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com</i></b><i></i></a><br />
Website: <a href="http://wvnewsonline.com/"><b><i>http://WVNewsOnline.com</i></b><i></i></a><br />
Blog: <a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/"><b><i>http://WestVirginiaNews.blogspot.com</i></b><i></i></a><br />
Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/#/WVNewsOnline"><b>@WVNewsOnline</b></a><br />
LinkedIn:<b> </b><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jack-swint/37/472/41b"><b>Jack Swint</b></a><br />
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<strong><em>Links</em></strong><br />
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<a href="http://commerce.senate.gov/public/?a=Files.Serve&File_id=9dcbdac3-0813-45a5-b088-549ffd613ed1"><strong>S 3378 PDF</strong></a><br />
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<a href="http://commerce.senate.gov/public/?a=Files.Serve&File_id=7d23c9bb-e366-446c-8954-1a950e863839"><strong>One Page Summary</strong></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHcKrZG6auGPE3lfUuqIOvsHZcWZiy6Es2nJ-XJGhXCOnG9kBfz0tLpnJ31q5r9EDde9-bsstl3cLxvwC8-p5mx9QGpBkiDhOoyyqSQsUmbaxzRLmTz6FHVuIp9cL8D-yHUiAcweS34GU/s1600/social+life.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHcKrZG6auGPE3lfUuqIOvsHZcWZiy6Es2nJ-XJGhXCOnG9kBfz0tLpnJ31q5r9EDde9-bsstl3cLxvwC8-p5mx9QGpBkiDhOoyyqSQsUmbaxzRLmTz6FHVuIp9cL8D-yHUiAcweS34GU/s1600/social+life.jpeg" /></a><strong>February 2012 Story Published By Lawyers.Com Explains The Legal Aspect</strong> <br />
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In 2005, college student Loren Williams was killed in a motorcycle accident. His grieving mother, yearning to feel closer to her son, wanted to use his Facebook page. More than just seeing the site, she wanted to see his correspondence, to read his messages, in hopes of understanding her son better.<br />
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Facebook refused Williams’ mother, Karen, access to his account and even changed the password when Karen got it from a friend. They based their refusal citing the 25 year old, ‘1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act’ which is a federal law concerning digital media that prevents disclosing stored communications unless there’s a court order. <br />
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She eventually retained a lawyer and sued Facebook in 2007, finally getting the court to issue an order to allow her access.<br />
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<strong><em>License Expired</em></strong><br />
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When you sign up for a website, you are agreeing to terms of license, so any "assets" under that license fall under licensing rules, says Florida-based estate planning lawyer David Goldman.<br />
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If you have an iTunes account, and you purchase music through that account, when you die the license for that account expires. The same principle applies to Facebook or Twitter, so when you die the license to all the content generated on that account, technically, expires. So if people gain access to these accounts after the user has died, it could be a liability, Goldman says. Legally speaking, once someone passes, their licenses to all that media expires.<br />
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"If you have an iPhone, you’d have hundreds of dollars worth of apps or thousands of dollars worth of music. When you die those licenses expire," Goldman says.<br />
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It’s a little different with a financial instrument like PayPal, where the money wouldn’t disappear, but for survivors of the deceased to get access to digital accounts, they’d need to hire a lawyer.<br />
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"There is litigation against AOL and Google to access emails. The courts have, after a bunch of time and a bunch of money, appeared to grant access. So far as I know they haven’t really provided access, but compiled the content. You’re basically getting raw data but not getting access to the account itself," he says. Opening a probate case can costs thousands of dollars and take time. <br />
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Some attorneys suggest using a will or trust that gives access to a password through a separate writing memorandum – a document that can be attached to a will, so the will does not need to be re-written every time there’s an adjustment.<br />
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The best way to ensure a digital legacy is to create accounts in the name of a trust. If the account is in the name of a trust, the trustees and beneficiaries can retain access to the digital licenses.<br />
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<strong><em>Digital Death</em></strong><br />
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The issue of digital estate planning goes beyond whether fiduciaries should have access to social media issues. There’s online banking, documents, and the thousand other little things people do electronically.<br />
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According to Seattle Attorney Wendy S. Goffe, "If you run an Internet-based business, digital estate planning needs to be integral to your plans. You need to have detailed instructions." Goffe, an estate lawyer with Graham & Dunn, PC, goes on to say that, "If you’re a professional photographer and you’ve got all your photos online, or you’re an author and you self-publish online and you have all your work stored in Internet files, it’s critical. It is your legacy. You can have a Pulitzer-winning novel, it’ll be all gone."<br />
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There aren’t any concrete rules in place, either. Even estate-planning attorneys may be less than web-savvy Goffe admits, with a laugh, that her Seattle clientele are often more tech-smart than she. Consumers should make sure their attorneys are aware of their digital assets, and if needed, engage an adviser who knows his or her way around digital estate.<br />
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"I think we’re in a time of disruptive change where there isn’t a right answer, and there are a lot of approximate answers. The standards are changing really quickly, but one good option is to use a site that stores all this stuff and then tell someone you have it there," she says. Don’t just give your attorney your password information, though. "Another (option) is to put it all on a thumb drive and stick it in a safe deposit box," she adds.<br />
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A person’s will should specify what he or she wants done with all their digital property after they pass. Goffe says, "A person may have a self-published Pulitzer-winning novel on Amazon that would be deleted forever" if a fiduciary doesn’t know it exists. On the other hand, a parent might not want their children to read their journal, and that parent should make those wishes clear in a will.<br />
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If other states or the federal government adopt more progressive and up-to-date laws about digital estate and media, beneficiaries could gain access to log-in information; but until then, consumers have to obtain a court order to get access to their loved ones’ social media sites after they’ve passed.<br />
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<strong><em>End Of Story…</em></strong><br />
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Jack Swint-Publisher<br />
West Virginia News<br />
E-Mail: <b><i> </i></b><i></i><a href="mailto:WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com"><b><i>WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com</i></b><i></i></a><br />
Website: <a href="http://wvnewsonline.com/"><b><i>http://WVNewsOnline.com</i></b><i></i></a><br />
Blog: <a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/"><b><i>http://WestVirginiaNews.blogspot.com</i></b><i></i></a><br />
Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/#/WVNewsOnline"><b>@WVNewsOnline</b></a><br />
LinkedIn:<b> </b><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jack-swint/37/472/41b"><b>Jack Swint</b></a><br />
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<strong>Links</strong><br />
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<a href="http://blogs.lawyers.com/2012/02/what-happens-to-facebook-account-when-you-die/"><strong>Original Story Written By Ada Kulesza & Published By Lawyers.com</strong></a><br />
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<span style="color: white;">.</span></div>West Virginia Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07107023822342773179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931016991043130316.post-13943713991572277852012-07-09T18:25:00.000-07:002012-07-11T13:21:25.441-07:00$15,000 Reward For Baby Jacob’s Killer(s)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAKZZEhZRQjNFZ2GXD6nOY6gsoL2li7DBQPCdAh-4NaW8VFbKousZ3RcnX0ie2XToJrA2-fg0kbKIfMHJzaDcAlKuxP2YypklbG4Sx0yz23dPlV83MSygZV3kDSrOOMzqJQcXBtWjzHEM/s1600/jacob-mack1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAKZZEhZRQjNFZ2GXD6nOY6gsoL2li7DBQPCdAh-4NaW8VFbKousZ3RcnX0ie2XToJrA2-fg0kbKIfMHJzaDcAlKuxP2YypklbG4Sx0yz23dPlV83MSygZV3kDSrOOMzqJQcXBtWjzHEM/s1600/jacob-mack1.jpg" /></a><strong>Seventeen Month Old Infant Murdered & Molested While Father And Friend Babysitting</strong>…<span style="font-size: x-small;">by Jack Swint</span><br />
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Faye Martin came home from work in the early morning hours of March 8, 1997, to find Jacob, her seventeen-month-old son, "blue, cold and lifeless." She ran down to the IGA store near her West Liberty Street apartment in Wooster Ohio to call 911 at 3:08 a.m.The rescue squad called Wooster police as required for any at-home death while the hospital staff tried unsuccessfully to revive the baby. <br />
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Jacob Mack’s father, Jerry Mack, and his friend Clyde Griffith, were the only other people at home all evening with the infant. In fact, police had responded to calls of loud music twice earlier that night but never entered the apartment. Two weeks after the child’s death, the Summit County medical examiner confirmed what police had already suspected. Jacob Mack was murdered and the cause of death was "asphyxia due to compression and blunt injuries to the head, chest, trunk, extremities and anus."<br />
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Jacob’s life had begun two months early as a premature baby on September 16, 1995. Spending those first two months in the hospital due to seizures and other complications, baby Jacob had already suffered early in life. There are reports of domestic violence with the parents on several occasions. Wooster Police and Social Services had been called to the residence at least once during Jacob’s life and noted the baby appeared to be in good health before his murder. <br />
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Authorities felt all along the death was suspicious and were only waiting on the autopsy reports before openly conducting a murder investigation. Reports show that only the two men were in the residence before, during, and after the infant’s death until the baby’s mother arrived home at around 2:45 a.m. Detectives still believe one of the two men is the killer. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC7LFoQ32-aSkZ2HZCQrWtz-MPtjn5J3KMKhIdJSbT-ST9OVolyl0YXZk3ELopX76HsX8DPxJqHR7FcUR46YcY6bs-r4GhblIkYHUPrJkge65ah0c0OpESWJVqUJUhzt39IdSVu4cLPL4/s1600/Griffith.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC7LFoQ32-aSkZ2HZCQrWtz-MPtjn5J3KMKhIdJSbT-ST9OVolyl0YXZk3ELopX76HsX8DPxJqHR7FcUR46YcY6bs-r4GhblIkYHUPrJkge65ah0c0OpESWJVqUJUhzt39IdSVu4cLPL4/s1600/Griffith.jpg" /></a>A $15,000 reward is now being offered for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for baby Jacob’s death. Why the reward now? Because Clyde Griffith, (pictured to the left) one of the two prime suspects was recently released from Ohio state prison in May 2012 after serving a sentence handed down in June of 1997 for aggravated burglary and robbery of an adult female. Griffith was out on bond at the time of the murder. He served his time in Ohio’s Lake Erie Correctional Center. He was sentenced in Medina County Ohio.<br />
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According to Ohio Department of Corrections Records, Griffith was on active supervision and living in Wayne County Ohio. Now, he is listed as having absconded from supervision and is wanted by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction’s Adult Parole Authority for violating the conditions of his parole. He is listed as being considered armed and dangerous. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKkxOhL_Hc-iwQPyCxyFsQe_aRM0nPJXNZWPSQ8HAXU8V6iMWTpq0kWwtdHHMzvdPcQph9fsk61I8wyPQu6fe-6lkX6OWE2pfLzkhSjr4ZAsQ6YjHbPRe6VwNXlxKObKaCqkk1gQ21Xc0/s1600/Jerry+Mack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKkxOhL_Hc-iwQPyCxyFsQe_aRM0nPJXNZWPSQ8HAXU8V6iMWTpq0kWwtdHHMzvdPcQph9fsk61I8wyPQu6fe-6lkX6OWE2pfLzkhSjr4ZAsQ6YjHbPRe6VwNXlxKObKaCqkk1gQ21Xc0/s1600/Jerry+Mack.jpg" /></a>Jerry Mack (pictured to the left), Jacob’s father is living anywhere he can find a place, according to his brother. His record dates back years for misdemeanor offenses. Mack’s brother says that Jerry drifts from place to place and can’t quite get it together. When asked if he thinks Jerry’s inability to get his own life straight is related to the death of his son, the older sibling replied, "It’s possible."<br />
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At the time of the murder, Martin Frantz with the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office said that nothing made him want to prosecute this offense more than after attending Jacob Mack’s autopsy. But he has an obligation not to let his emotions pull him away from following the law. And it’s very discouraging when he is unable to bring charges against a suspect, even one whom he feels to be guilty without question.<br />
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Prosecutors and police feel the frustration in this case, but they have a duty to not only the victim but the accused as well. Sometimes they obtain reliable evidence but have no way of getting it to a jury when no witness will testify. Investigators are hoping even today that someone will come forward and allow Jacob’s family closure and justice to the person who committed this unthinkable murder and sexual assault of an infant child. <br />
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In 2002, Captain Don Edwards said, "I don’t think you ever lose the passion to solve a homicide like this one." Jacob’s mother has moved out of the area but remains somewhere in Ohio. Wooster City Police Chief Steve Thornton concurred with most people interviewed that the murder of an infant goes way over the line of decency even in the criminal world. The murder of anyone is unacceptable, but for someone to kill an infant child as brutally as this has to be caught and face justice.<br />
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Police are asking for the public's help, they have said not to discount the relevance of any information, it may have a significant impact on the investigation when viewed in the context of what they already know.<br />
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If anyone has any information, they are asked to call the Wooster Ohio Police Detective Bureau at: <strong>330-287-5730</strong><br />
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<strong>End Of Story</strong><br />
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Jack Swint-Publisher<br />
West Virginia News<br />
E-Mail:<b><i> </i></b><i></i><a href="mailto:WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com"><b><i>WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com</i></b><i></i></a><br />
Website: <a href="http://wvnewsonline.com/"><b><i>http://WVNewsOnline.com</i></b><i></i></a><br />
Blog: <a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/"><b><i>http://WestVirginiaNews.blogspot.com</i></b><i></i></a><br />
Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/#/WVNewsOnline"><b>@WVNewsOnline</b></a><br />
LinkedIn:<b> </b><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jack-swint/37/472/41b"><b>Jack Swint</b></a><br />
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<span style="color: white;">.</span></div>West Virginia Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07107023822342773179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-931016991043130316.post-67995292386340807502012-07-08T18:44:00.000-07:002012-07-09T12:22:03.577-07:00If You Are Homeless…You Are Not A Bum<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghGvvofZxP_qitoMrKRSeLoOCIse8fyZhCxMlZXz9lvp-GqVXtpHs9_jNeZQR1R5-qKLBgPhh6gqo-unCX_7jKVLbqsc2pSaXzPqhejW3gcZzWUldTGh0n3vP59aEtyV1tdq3KV1TR-dM/s1600/karp-brianna_for+story.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghGvvofZxP_qitoMrKRSeLoOCIse8fyZhCxMlZXz9lvp-GqVXtpHs9_jNeZQR1R5-qKLBgPhh6gqo-unCX_7jKVLbqsc2pSaXzPqhejW3gcZzWUldTGh0n3vP59aEtyV1tdq3KV1TR-dM/s1600/karp-brianna_for+story.jpg" /></a><strong>Brianna Karp Puts A New Face To An Old Problem Known As Being Homeless…</strong> <span style="font-size: x-small;">by Jack Swint</span><br />
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Brianna Karp, pictured to the left, is the new face of homelessness, or at least the face people will listen to. She's articulate, bright-eyed, pretty and for a year she lived alone with her pet Neapolitan Mastiff in an RV on a Walmart parking lot with no electric, water or sewer. She's the spoonful of sugar to make the plight of the homeless go down. Some say she really wasn’t ‘homeless’ per se because she did have the shelter of an RV that her father had left her.<br />
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But as she says, "being homeless doesn't mean that you don't have some form of shelter. Homeless does not equal rained on."<br />
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<strong><em>Being Homeless</em></strong><br />
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According to <i>The State Of Homelessness In America 2012 </i>report, (linked below) the nation’s homeless population decreased 1 percent from 643,067 in 2009 to 636,017 in 2011. The largest decrease was among homeless veterans, whose population declined 11 percent. The national rate of homelessness was 21 homeless people per 10,000 people in the general population. The number of homeless veterans went from 75,609 in 2009 to 67,495 in 2011. <br />
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Homelessness cuts across the socio-economic fabric of our world. They aren’t always the drunk, the drug abuser, the poor, or the one with constant bad luck and making bad decisions in life. We like to call the homeless bums, but should we be quick to call them bums when more and more are college-educated, smart, and are doing everything they can to land a job and earn income once again.<br />
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From the single person who tackles three part-time jobs and lives out of their car, to the person who searches and interview jobs after using a restroom in a Walmart, Perkins, or any other public places to wash up and brush their teeth, is the new sign of the changing times for the homeless trying to get back on track. <span style="background-color: white;">Just the shame of telling anyone that they are homeless is challenging in itself.</span><br />
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Bottom line, unfortunate things happen, by our decisions or by something we can’t control. It should be a temporary problem, but if there is no support, no direction, and no place to go, sadly it becomes permanent. Some choose to give up because they are hopeless. Other choose to keep finding a way, no matter how low life can be.<br />
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One of the fastest growing homeless subsets are known as the "mobile homeless" vehicle-dwellers. They're living conditions are not considered fixed, regular and adequate accommodations designed for permanent habitation. This is where Brianna’s story begins.<br />
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<strong><em>Brianna Karp</em></strong><br />
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According to her biography and several interviews we found, Brianna Karp was raised in Orange County, California, the daughter of an abusive, mentally ill mother and a father who left the family before she had any memories of him. She got her first job at age 10, a legal work permit at age 12, and supported her mother and younger sister by working multiple jobs from age 12 to 18, when she left home for good. She enrolled in community college and worked her way from entry-level, minimum wage jobs into administrative and legal-secretary positions upward to an executive-assistant position.<br />
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Although her young life was scarred by violence and abuse, Karp stayed focused on her dream of a steady job and a home of her own. By age twenty-two her dream became reality. Karp loved her job as an executive assistant making $50,000 a year. She signed a lease on a tiny cottage near the beach.<br />
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And then the Great Recession hit! Karp, like millions of others lost her job. In the six months between the day she was laid off and the day she was forced out onto the street, Karp scrambled for temp work and filed hundreds of job applications, only to find all doors closed. When she inherited a thirty-foot travel trailer after her father’s suicide, Karp parked it in a Walmart parking lot with no water, electric or sewer.<br />
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<strong><em>Living On The Walmart Parking Lot</em></strong> <br />
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Karp describes how by sheer coincidence, her biological father, who had sexually abused her as a child and abandoned the family when she was about two years old, committed suicide mere weeks before her becoming homeless. "As the next of kin, I inherited the few possessions he had left, among them were a truck and a camper. When I was thrown out of my mother’s house, I utilized the only resources that I had available to me." <br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Walmart's</span> policy of allowing campers and RV-ers to stay in their parking lot overnight turned into a one-year stay. <br />
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"I did my best to blend in with the other campers and vehicles there, some of which came and went, and some of which were more permanent residents. There were no utility hookups, no water or electricity. I boiled water on my car radiator to cook food. I bought a $10/month membership at a mom-n-pop gym 8 miles away and drove there to shower every other day. I realized the legality of my staying there long-term might be shaky, despite Walmart’s policy, and I lived in fear of the policy changing or an overzealous policeman having me towed." <br />
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She purchased a jumbo flashlight at Walmart and aimed it at the ceiling of the trailer at night so that it wasn’t pitch black inside, and she could read or build resumes. "I just sort of etched out a sustainable existence and devised a routine that I stuck to as closely as possible, but it was nothing that could ever be considered a permanent solution."<br />
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Brianna spent days in Starbucks job-hunting on her laptop, sometimes up to 10 hours at a time, and sent out several hundred resumes every month. "I did work several temp and freelance jobs on and off throughout my period of homelessness. Permanent work was near to impossible to find; the competition was enormous due to the recession, and as an additional blow against me, although I had years of experience due to entering the work force so young, I had no college degree, as Jehovah’s Witnesses vehemently discourage higher education."<br />
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Potential employers could choose between the "best of the best" because everybody was out of work, and nearly every job posting required a college degree. <br />
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"When I did find temporary jobs, they usually paid very little and I was living paycheck-to-paycheck. Scraping together enough money for first and last month’s rent plus deposit on housing was out of the question and would have taken years at the rate I was finding work. Additionally, without a permanent position, I had no reliable source of income. Even if I had somehow been able to land an apartment or a roommate, there was no way of knowing whether I would be able to continue paying rent or would find myself evicted."<br />
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<strong><em>A Neapolitan Mastiff Named Fezzik</em></strong><br />
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Many homeless have pets, and it is a controversial issue. "I knew from the beginning that if I reached a point where I wouldn’t be able to take care of Fezzik properly, I would have to find an adoptive home for him, despite how much it would crush me. He is a Neapolitan Mastiff, a huge lovable lunk, and he served not only as my companion during times of loneliness (and there were many), but as my protector." <br />
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She goes on to say that, "Despite his sweetness, he has a very deep, formidable bark, and people give me a wide berth when they see me walking down the street with him. It was a source of much reassurance, because being not only homeless, but a homeless woman, left me in a highly vulnerable position."<br />
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<strong><em>"ELLE Magazine" Steps In To Help</em></strong> <br />
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Brianna had been an avid reader of ELLE Magazine columnist Jean Carroll for 9 years. One day she wrote Carroll a letter explaining her situation and asking for advice. "Several months later, not only did she publish my letter and her response in Elle, but she offered me a telecommuting internship that would forever change my life, open a lot of doors for me, and also provide me with an expanded platform to talk about homelessness."<br />
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<strong><em>In Closing….</em></strong><br />
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In May of 2011 Brianna got a wonderful, permanent job that she adores. "With awesome and supportive co-workers, so that’s a huge bonus. I’ve been there about three months. And yes, I have a book coming out, which is exciting and which I’m hoping will reach a wider audience, alter perceptions and stereotypes about what it means to be homeless, and invite further discussion as to solutions."<br />
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As far as her living conditions in 2011… "the Federal government would still consider me homeless, though I consider myself in sort of a limbo state. Right now, I’m living in a converted shed on a lot in the middle of the Southern California desert. I commute 80 miles round-trip to work every day from there. The property owner rents the lot to homeless and down-on-their luck individuals on a month-to-month basis, so it’s become a sort of informal homeless commune in which we live out of campers, vehicles, or converted sheds and garages. <br />
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Similar makeshift residences and "tent cities" have sprung up in the news all over the nation since the recession, so I suppose we’re in good company. It is a step up from a camper in a Walmart parking lot, for which I’m super grateful. But it’s not a permanent home by any stretch of the imagination. I know that there are no "Cinderella" stories and that I’ll have to work extra hard to get myself out of this, and it’s what I do, day in and day out."<br />
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Brianna did write and published her biography detailing those life struggles and hopefully, a happy ending to it all. Her book, "The Girls Guide To Homelessness" is linked below. <br />
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<strong><em>End of Story…</em></strong><br />
<br />
Jack Swint-Publisher<br />
West Virginia News<br />
E-Mail:<b><i> </i></b><i></i><a href="mailto:WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com"><b><i>WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com</i></b><i></i></a><br />
Website: <a href="http://wvnewsonline.com/"><b><i>http://WVNewsOnline.com</i></b><i></i></a><br />
Blog: <a href="http://westvirginianews.blogspot.com/"><b><i>http://WestVirginiaNews.blogspot.com</i></b><i></i></a><br />
Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/#/WVNewsOnline"><b>@WVNewsOnline</b></a><br />
LinkedIn:<b> </b><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jack-swint/37/472/41b"><b>Jack Swint</b></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Links</strong><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Girls-Guide-Homelessness-Memoir/dp/0373892357"><strong>The Girls Guide To Homelessness…</strong></a> by Brianna Karp<br />
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<a href="http://www.endhomelessness.org/content/article/detail/4361/"><strong>The State Of Homelessness In America 2012</strong></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Girls-Guide-to-Homelessness-Brianna-Karp/129200487094477"><strong>Brianna Karp 'Facebook'</strong></a><br />
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<span style="color: white;">.</span></div>West Virginia Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07107023822342773179noreply@blogger.com0