i95 fire pictures from Saturday Feb 19th 2001

This is just South of  Balimore MD and it was visable

BTW The smoke was viable before the Harbor Tunnel. 

We could see the i95 South traffic coming to a stop @ 130pm

This is 198 and it is blocked off

All pictures are granted a fair-use exemption for new, school or other community blogs. 

Maryland Congressional leaders are you with us or for them.

This Thursday, the House of Representatives is expected to hand phone companies a get-out-of-jail-free card for illegally turning over your private phone records to the government. I don’t have to tell you how wrong this is.

We have 48 hours to stop them. Tell Rep. Chris Van Hollen that you oppose any effort to cover-up illegal spying on Americans. We will deliver the letter before Thursday's vote.

Tell Rep. Chris Van Hollen: No Cover Up

This is vital to protecting your basic right to make a phone call, send an e-mail or search the Internet without the government monitoring your activity.

After intense lobbying by AT&T, Verizon and the Bush White House, the Senate has already signed off on immunity for these companies. If the House passes the FISA bill this week, more than 40 legitimate lawsuits currently pending against phone companies will disappear before they've begun.

Americans have had their rights violated, and now Congress may pass a bill that gives us no legal remedy. When you are accused of breaking the law, you should have your day in court. Neither the phone companies nor this White House is above the law

Remember how your representatives vote on this it is the difference between US and the large companies......

You can send a letter via FreePress campaign....


Technorati Tags: Van Hollen, FISA, Congress, Phone companies

Arresting a citizen while we keep criminals in office.

I have to ask what County Executive Ike Leggett is going to do about this knowing the man I cannot believe that he finds this acceptable to have Montgomery County resources wasted on arresting someone for free speech. Ike are you with the people on this if not you will not stay in office too long.

Technorati Tags: Kensington, Allen McConnell, Impeach Bush, Arrested for Selling buttons

Chesapeake and global warming who knew????

Warming Poses Threats To Chesapeake, Group Says - washingtonpost.com

Warming Poses Threats To Chesapeake, Group Says

By David A. Fahrenthold
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 20, 2007; Page B01

Climate change has already begun to alter the Chesapeake Bay, warming and raising its waters in a way that could unbalance delicate ecosystems and doom low-lying islands, according to a report released yesterday by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

The report, citing scientific research from around the bay, sketched a prognosis that was troubling even by the standards of the Chesapeake -- a beautiful but polluted estuary that environmentalists have spent decades trying to save.

Oh wait did not the last Governor of Maryland claim to have made progress on the Chesapeake under this Republican Administration. I guess we can discount that along with just about any thing the GOP claims.

Didn't Al Gore have something to say about this Inconvenient truth?

Technorati Tags: Chesapeake Bay, Climate Change, Al Gore

Forgot to include the Financial's in a HOA disclosures. OPPS

Bail-Out Deadlines by E-Mail - washingtonpost.com

Bail-Out Deadlines by E-Mail

By Elizabeth Razzi
Sunday, July 15, 2007; Page F05

Buying a condominium? A house in a neighborhood run by a homeowners association? You had better stay on top of your e-mail.

A very large and extremely important document could be coming your way. Its arrival starts the clock ticking on a short period during which you can cancel the deal, should you desire to back out of your purchase contract.
New laws that took effect in Virginia on July 1 change the process for distributing the extensive disclosure packages that must be given to anyone buying a home that is part of a condo or homeowners association. While the law directly affects Virginians, buyers in the District and Maryland, where the disclosure requirements are not as detailed as they are in the Old Dominion, may find the effects spilling over as management companies that do business in all three jurisdictions adopt new practices.

If your in the District of Columbia and you happen to live in a Townhouse or Singe Family Homeowner Association you can stop reading this article here.

Why?

Because the leaders of the District have failed for years now at mine and others prodding to establish an HOA Act which is what is the triggering mechanism in this need to disclose. As the District does not have such an Act there is no specific law as is the case in MD or VA to disclose anything about rules and regulations.

Whats more in Maryland the HOA Act does not require that financial information about the community be provided to the buyer. So the budget, pending litigations or special assessments are made available to the new homeowners after they move in. Seem pretty fair to me and you too I bet. Having heard one of the principle in this ruse brag about how they fought to keep this from becoming part of the law. I have to wonder of the community and homeowners share this excitement with them. What I was told is that it would be too hard to provide this information at closing time.

So is there any wonder in what area of the housing market the last foot will fall. If you have been reading this blog you know that I know that HOA and Condo fees are not being paid and thus these communities are running negative budgets. But since the District and Maryland don't disclose this information before settlement those perspective homeowners that are buying may not and have no idea what the status of the communities financial health is or will be in the future until rules, regulations and financial information are fully disclosed.



So I have an idea for Elizabeth why not do a story on why the District has failed to enact such a law or why Maryland does not require the Financial s to be included.

Technorati Tags: Homeowners Associations, Disclosure Laws, HOA Documnets, Rules & regulations

Maryland Democrats seem to know something the party elite don't.

Van Hollen's Rockville Office Puts Up Fight Against Nonstop Fox News - washingtonpost.com

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley's endorsement of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) for president apparently held little sway with fellow Democrats participating in an online poll sponsored by the Maryland Democratic Party.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was the top vote getter, capturing 25.7 percent of the 4,117 online ballots cast in the poll, which ended Tuesday. He was followed by former vice president Al Gore, who is not currently running, with 21.3 percent.

Clinton finished third, with 18.4 percent. She was followed by former North Carolina senator John Edwards, with 14.4 percent. Edwards has been called the most electable Democrat by state Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert).

No other Democratic hopeful received more than 10 percent of the vote.

-- John Wagner

Well for a non campaign I do not believe that Gore could run a better one............



Technorati Tags: Al Gore, Presidential 2008, Democratic, Obama, Clinton, Edwards,

Others may build bigger & better; yet DeMatha still wins........

Leveling the Private Playing Field - washingtonpost.com

Leveling the Private Playing Field
Sports Facility Construction Booming at Area High Schools

By Josh Barr
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 16, 2007; Page E01

Entrenched as the most prominent athletic powerhouse among Washington area high schools, DeMatha finally plans to catch up with some of its peers when it comes to sports facilities. The Hyattsville Catholic school hopes to break ground next year on a $9 million convocation center that includes a gymnasium and is in discussions to have artificial turf practice and game fields installed at off-campus sites.

The improvements merely will keep DeMatha in step with many of the region's private schools, which are in the midst of a spending spree to build top-flight athletic facilities that would be the envy of many colleges.

Let just note that this article leads off with the one school that does not even have a football practice field let alone a football stadium. When I went there way back in the days we wrestled in a classroom. Guess what year after year Dematha has been in the top ten if not number one positions in the Washington Post polls and the only school locally to consistently show up in the USA Today Top 25 teams.

I often use this example when I hear people talking about the need for more facilities when the most superior sports program -DeMatha's- has the sports facilities of my daughters public school in DC. A think I better get out the check book all the more since like so many DeMatha graduates I have pride in my school and what they have done with what they have.

To all those building the super facilities keep it up we like it when you have a nice place for DeMatha teams to come whip your butts......


NRJ Class of 1982


Technorati Tags: DeMatha, Sports,