Luke_Wilbur

Twenty-one year old Howard University student Shayna Rudd ran away with the title of Miss District of Columbia last night at the 54th Annual Pageant, themed "Diva! Las Vegas. Fourteen young women competed for the honor of representing DC in the 2008 Miss America Pageant next spring. The contestants performed a lively opening number and were judged in five style categories- lifestyle and fitness, evening wear, interview, talent, and onstage questioning. As the overall winner, Ms. Rudd will receive a $4000 scholarship award. Her modern dance interpretation of her "testimony", a reference to her pageant platform, "Telling Each Story to Inspire More of Our Nation's Youth to Succeed", brought her the highest scores in the Talent competition and a $200 scholarship. She also earned an additional $450 for winning the Swimsuit category and received the highest score in the Evening Gown category as well. First Runner Up is Chelsey Rodgers, a student at Howard Law School. Ms. Rodgers wins a $1500 scholarship, and an additional $200 for winning the Interview competition. This is Ms. Rodgers' second year in a row to be honored as First Runner Up. Second Runner Up is Jennifer Corey, a student at American University. She wins a $1350 scholarship. Ms Corey also received the Miracle Maker Award for raising more funds for Children's Miracle Network than any other contestant. She is ranked the #6 fundraiser in the country this year. Other awards included Michelle Crosby- Miss Congeniality and a $100 award, and Carla Brown- Miss America Acadamic Award of $1000. The Miss America Organization is the world's largest provider of scholarships for young women.

You don’t want to miss one minute of Redskins Football in 2007! Your Washington Redskins will make their 2007 debut in a scrimmage against the Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on Saturday August 4th @ 12 noon. This is a general admission seating event. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for children (12 and under). Redskins season ticket holders and waitlist members will receive a $3 discount on admission tickets by purchasing on line and using the special password skinfan2007. Click Here! * Parking lots open at 8:00 am * Stadium gates open at 11:00 am * Players take the field at 12 noon * Parking is $10.00 For more information or to order by phone please contact the Ravens ticket office at (410) 261-7283 Your loyalty to the Redskins is one of the reasons why the Redskins will enjoy home field advantage this season. Be loud, be proud and show your support! Hail to the Redskins!

The surge -- again, it only came to full power, all 20 BCTs, the 15th of last month. The offensive which followed, therefore, that buildup in time and placement, has now only been going for slightly less than a calendar month. I see progress. I see progress in Diyala and Salahuddin, Nineveh. I see progress in Baghdad, out west and down south. Is there a ways to go? Yes. The surge has allowed General Petraeus, General Odierno, the Corps to go to places where they have not been before, and you've heard that from the ground commanders, and they speak far more eloquently than I can on what that means -- Randy Mixon, Joe Fil, Rick Lynch, Jonathan Shaw down south. It has made a significant difference to our ability to close with the enemy and then pursue him, to be able to in fact take the initiative, which as soldiers we understand is important in the pursuit of this campaign. I think it would be untimely to move what I see as a successful campaign on the security line of operation, north, west, south and in Baghdad itself, at the point we're making progress, that we're pursuing the enemy, forcing him onto his back foot and onto our front foot, to let up on that pressure, to allow him to recover, to readjust, to go to places which he knows well and we pushed him out of. And those places have been a sanctuary for him. You know, the young people, men and women that are out in the battlespace right now are the men and women in the arena... soldiers always fight for their comrades, for what they believe in in the near tear. They're interested in about a square meal, maybe if they could find some linen sheets, which would be novel; courage, doing the right thing, always being tested, never wanting to be the weak link. So I sense that their commitment and mood I find humbling. the Iraqis who are dying alongside them at three times our rate, who are committed to this fight, who believe that we will endure, we will endeavor and we will give this country, you know, a better peace. They see -- which is seldom reported -- you know, some of the money getting through, banks opening -- I saw today -- Hit, Ramadi, Rutbah, Fallujah. They see provincial councils -- I think one in Nineveh has just approved 447 projects at $226 million worth of Iraqi money. It will take a ways to get that done, but they see that. They see water going to people who didn't have it before. They see electricity coming on line. They see stability to the networks. They see all the stuff that no one really portrays. They also see the bombs. Occasionally they see the progress they're making. The mark of a really great nation, a really great army, a really great armed force is its ability to learn and quickly, and I sense that is what has happened. The vacuum that existed that was filled before is now being filled with two things. One is being filled by Iraqis, who are in and now owning the fight. You heard of the Al Anbar Awakening. I saw the awakening in Anbar; I was part of that in the early days. I expected it to take some time to come fruition, to establish itself -- typically cautious British approach. What was surprisingly was how quickly it emerged in a slightly different guise but with the same tenets of the local people, the tribes, the -- wishing to push back against al Qaeda out in Diyala, Salahuddin, Nineveh, down south, even in Baghdad itself. So you have, therefore, people being brought in to the government of Iraq security structures as PSUs trained in a shorter time scale, go through all the back tests and the like, and then brought into the fight local perspective; some of that assisted by people who were in the insurgency, who fought against us -- all of this done with an absolute transparency with the current government of Iraq. So on the one hand, you have therefore local security forces filling that vacuum, that space because we just don't have enough, you know, even the 160-plus thousand troops; I know Iraqi armed force and police it's 350,000-360,000. This is a big country. So you have security forces filling that space. The second thing I'm now seeing, I was in a meeting just recently with Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, whereby he chaired a meeting where you had Trade, you had minister of Finance, you had Transportation, you had deputies from -- (word inaudible) -- which were looking at in fact how to get services, food, medical supplies, immediate support in behind that. You have people like the Brinkley (sp) group who's out here and the like looking towards how you can start up and establish vo-tech programs, start to look at the opportunities of standing up what were all state-owned enterprises, some which are not hugely viable but they can sustain; but they do employ those others that are hugely attractive -- clothing factories, ceramics factories out in -- out west, and to fill that space therefore with employment and opportunity. That's the difference. And that is, therefore, a combination of both what the coalition is doing, what the Iraqi security forces are doing, what the Iraqi people on the ground are doing, and what the Iraqi government are doing. The sum of the parts is so much greater than where we were before, and the difference should not be underestimated.

Health officials in Perth, Australia, last week advised parents to seek medical care quickly for young children with respiratory symptoms, after three children under age 5 died of pneumonia as a complication of "mild" influenza A infections. Paul Van Buynder, director of communicable disease control for Western Australia's health department, said in a Jul 6 press release that officials were surprised by how quickly the illness developed in the children. "While we do not want to create unnecessary panic, it is important for parents to be aware that the disease can cause serious illness within 24 hours," he said. The children who died had a streptococcal pneumonia infection, but health officials have not announced what type, according to a recent report from Australian Broadcasting Corporation News. The cases started out as "mild influenza A infection," Van Buynder told the Australian Associated Press. He said the health department found no links between the children's cases. Australia is at the peak of its flu season, and the report said hospitals in the Perth area were inundated by anxious parents bringing children with flu symptoms. News of the Australian cases comes as infectious disease and public health experts are worrying about the threat of a flu pandemic associated with H5N1 avian flu. In past flu pandemics, bacterial coinfections have contributed substantially to deaths. The Australian report also is a reminder of recent worries US health officials have had about rising numbers of young flu patients who have suffered coinfections with the sometimes-fatal Staphylococcus aureus pneumonia, in some cases involving drug-resistant strains. S aureus can cause a severe, necrotizing pneumonia that has a relatively high case-fatality rate—33% during the 1968-69 flu pandemic, the CDC said in an Apr 13 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report article that detailed some of the recent fatal cases. Evidence points to a synergistic relationship between S aureus and influenza, according to an article in the June 2006 issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases. Flu viruses appear to increase S aureus adhesion in the respiratory tract, and S aureus-specific enzymes (proteases) appear to increase flu virus replication. Also, influenza A virus strains appear to decrease destruction of S aureus by immune cells called phagocytes, making patients more susceptible to bacterial coinfection. In May the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an alert after noticing an increase in the number of S aureus infections in children with flu. The CDC said that from October 2006 through early May, 55 influenza deaths in children had been reported. Twenty of the children (out of 51 for whom relevant data were available) had bacterial infections, and 16 of these were infected with S aureus. Though the number of pediatric flu deaths this past flu season was similar to the two previous years, the CDC said the 16 deaths from S aureus pneumonia or bacteremia recorded so far reflected a sharp increase over those years. Only one S aureus coinfection was identified during the 2004-05 season, followed by three in 2005-06. Further, of the 16 children who had S aureus infections, 11 had methicillin-resistant (MRSA) strains that are typically associated with MRSA skin infection outbreaks, the CDC advisory said. The CDC also noted that the children who had S aureus infections had been in good health before they got sick, but progressed rapidly to serious illness. Anthony Fiore, MD, a medical epidemiologist with the CDC, told CIDRAP News that because childhood flu deaths have been nationally notifiable only since 2004, it's difficult to make definitive statements about pneumonia death patterns. "It is concerning, and there is a surge in awareness, particularly with the antibiotic resistant strains of Staphylococcus," he said. The CDC has other ways to track pneumonia trends in children with influenza, he said. For example, the Emerging Infections Program and the New Vaccine Surveillance Network are two systems that can capture clusters of severe infections in children that lead to hospitalization. Edward Septimus, MD, an infectious disease expert who is medical director of clinical integration at Methodist Hospital in Houston, told CIDRAP News that the clinical picture of the Australian cases possibly suggests a Group A Streptococcus organism. "It's a severe clinical picture and it can act a lot like MRSA. The necrotizing effects are very similar," he said. Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets, died of a Group A streptococcal pneumonia, Septimus added. He said that without more information, it's difficult to predict whether the Australian cases point to any troubling trends. Sometimes, he commented, patients are simply unlucky: Their risk of developing a serious pneumonia rises if they are colonized with a bacterial organism such as MRSA or Streptococcus when influenza viruses are circulating. See also: Western Australia Department of Health news release http://www.health.wa.gov.au/press/view_press.cfm?id=711

This article by John Podesta, Lawrence J. Korb, and Brian Katulis was sent to me for posting.

Single-Parent Households Showed Little Variation Since 1994, Census Bureau Reports the percentage of households headed by single parents showed little variation from 1994 through 2006, at about 9 percent, up from 5 percent in 1970, according to the latest data on America’s families and households released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. According to Families and Living Arrangements: 2006, there were 12.9 million one-parent families in 2006 — 10.4 million single-mother families and 2.5 million single-father families. Just over two-thirds (67 percent) of the nation’s 73.7 million children younger than 18 lived with two married parents in 2006. Also in 2006, there were an estimated 5.8 million stay-at-home parents: 5.6 million mothers and 159,000 fathers. Other highlights: Average household size in 2006 was 2.57 people, down from 3.14 in 1970. Slightly more than one in four households (26 percent) consisted of a person living alone in 2006, up from 17 percent in 1970. About 5.7 million children, or 8 percent of the total, lived in a household that included a grandparent in 2006. The majority of these children (3.7 million) lived in the grandparent’s home, and of these, about 60 percent had a parent present. Among the 13 million children 15 to 17, about 2.3 million were working, and of these, 2.2 million worked part time. In 2006, 33 percent of males and 26 percent of females 15 and older had never married, up from 28 and 22 percent in 1970. The majority of men and women in 2006 had been married by the time they were 30 to 34 (71 percent), and among men and women 65 and older, 96 percent had been married. Data are from the 2006 Current Population Survey’s (CPS) Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC), conducted in February, March and April at about 100,000 addresses nationwide.

Drivers needed - All shifts preferred but will split the day and evening shift if we have to.You must be 21 and have a good driving record. Drivers you will pick up and drop off the cars from the same location every day and that is the hotel listed below . The schedule is below so please make sure you can work all of the hours. If you can work all of the hours you must fill out the Driver Disclosure form and fax it to 866-424-0345 before the end of day today. Hotel Info BALTIMORE-BWI AIRPORT WEST Holiday Inn Express 7481 RIDGE ROAD HANOVER, MD 21076 Tel: 1-410-6843388 Schedule Thursday July 19th- There are evening only hours will range from 6pm to 2am with shifts being 6 hours. Friday the 20th - There are two shifts a day shift from 10am to 4pm and then an evening shift where the hours will range from 6pm to 2am with shifts being 6 hours. Saturday the 21st -There are two shifts a day shift from 10am to 4pm and then an evening shift where the hours will range from 6pm to 2am with shifts being 6 hours. For the day shifts you will be driving around town in unison showing off the lo-goed vehicles... and you will have to pick up POS items from a warehouse once during that shift. For the night shifts you may or may not have talent riding with you to the event . If they do ride with you - they will meet you at the Hotel - you will not be picking people up... Once you are at the events you will either be sitting out front of the club or driving around the club showing off the lo-goed vehicles. please resond to lscott8080@comcast.net

The eight-story, 218-room hotel is scheduled to open in 2009. The Hotel will be located between the metro and the ATF building. The hotel is majority-owned by Robert Finvarb, of the Finvarb Group.

This is long overdue....

CIA informed the Justice Department that the damage was serious enough to warrant an investigation. Ms. Wilson's work was so sensitive that even now, she is still prohibited from discussing many details of her work in public because of the continuing risk to CIA officials and assets in the field and to the CIA's ongoing work. It is public record now that Plame’s counterproliferation unit had discredited Ahmed Chalabi and his imaginery friends as an intelligence asset. On the other hand, Cheney's office welcomed Chalabi’s predictions of Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction. Libby knew that he would blow the cover of CIA front company, Brewster-Jennings & Associates, which became public known because it appeared in Federal Election Commission records on a form filled out in 1999 by Valerie Plame. The damage is done. The company is shut down. Why, because the White House wanted to make their WMD story appear legitimate. Thus, the White House could mold the CIA toward their policy decision. Its that simple.

The traffic stats are way off. And the amount of links back to DCpages is wrong. They must be looking at web sites linked from the major networks. There are also listings of web sites that I no longer own. But, it is still interesting to look at. We have an internal stat program that measures where our traffic comes from.

Interesting that you have mentioned that. I was just was sent this post from a friend. I since have placed a police report with the Montgomery County Police Department. Police Report # B07037634 Mrs Hughes ID # 1650 I am also placing a fraud alert on my credit card with the credit reporting agencies. Equifax is 8005256285 Experian is 8883973742 Transunion is 8006807289

Here is the response I got from the Federal Trade Comission Luke A Wilbur 9813 Belhaven Rd. Bethesda, MD 20817 Re: FTC Ref. No. 109##### Dear Luke Wilbur: Thank you for contacting the Federal Trade Commission concerning identity theft. We have enclosed a brochure that addresses many of the concerns raised by identity theft and explains in more detail how to respond to specific types of identity theft. Additional information is also available at www.consumer.gov/idtheft, the federal government's central website on identity theft. If you haven't already done so, there are three immediate steps you should take: 1) Contact the fraud departments of each of the three major credit bureaus (telephone numbers are in the enclosed brochure) to place a fraud alert on your credit report. Fraud alerts can help prevent additional accounts from being opened by the identity thief. The credit bureaus will send you copies of your credit reports. You are entitled to receive the report free of charge if your report is inaccurate because of fraud. You should review the credit reports carefully to make sure no additional fraudulent accounts have been opened in your name or unauthorized changes made to your existing accounts. 2) Contact the fraud departments of the banks or companies for any accounts that have been fraudulently accessed or opened. Find out what forms or other documents you will need to send them to dispute the debts. Ask to use the ID Theft Affidavit (in the enclosed brochure) to save time. 3) File a report with your local police, and get a copy of the report in case the bank, credit card company, or others involved need proof of the crime. In addition, you have certain rights under federal credit laws that can help you undo some of the damage done by identity thieves. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act: You have the right to dispute errors in your credit report. Once you notify them, the credit bureau and the company that furnished the inaccurate information to the credit bureau must investigate the disputed information. The credit bureau is required to remove incorrect information from your report. You have the right to get a copy of the application or other business transaction records relating to your identity theft free of charge from the company. These records may help you prove that you are a victim. For example, you may be able to show that the signature on an application is not yours. You must make your request in writing. Companies must provide these records within 30 days of receipt of your request. You also may give permission to any law enforcement agency to get these records. Under the Truth-In-Lending Act and the Fair Credit Billing Act: If you report to the credit card issuer that your credit card is lost or stolen, you cannot be held responsible for more than $50 of unauthorized charges. You have the right to dispute errors on your credit card bill. If you send a written notice to the credit card issuer within 60 days, it must investigate and either correct the error or explain why the bill is believed to be correct within two billing cycles or 90 days, whichever is less. Under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act: You have the right to dispute errors on your electronic fund transfer account statements. If you send a written notice to the issuing financial institution within 60 days, it must investigate and either correct the error or explain why the account statement is believed to be correct within thirteen business days. In some cases, if the institution needs more time, it may take up to 45 days to complete the investigation. Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act: If a debt collector contacts you about a debt that you believe you do not owe, you have the right to file a dispute with the debt collector. If you do so in writing within thirty days of the collector's initial contact with you, the collector is required to stop all collection efforts until the debt is verified and the verification is sent to you. Finally, a number of states have passed identity theft laws. You may want to check with your state Attorney General's office to find out if you have any additional protections or remedies. The FTC has entered your identity theft complaint into our data clearinghouse. Although we have no criminal authority to investigate identity theft, we share data from this clearinghouse with law enforcement, regulatory agencies, and private entities to assist them in their investigation of identity theft. We also can use your information to investigate companies for violations of laws which we enforce. To learn more about the FTC's Privacy Policy, visit www.ftc.gov. If you don't have access to the Internet, you can call the FTC toll-free 1-877-IDTHEFT (438-4338); TDD: 202-326-2502; or write: Identity Theft Clearinghouse, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20580. Thank you for providing us with your identity theft complaint. Our identity theft tracking and case referral program wouldn't be successful without your information. Please call us toll-free at 1-877-IDTHEFT (438-4338) at any time to update your complaint with new information. Sincerely, Identity Theft Clearinghouse

I just spoke with one of the officers of the Vernon Police Department. He stated that 2001 S ALAMEDA ST is not in their jurisdiction. The cover everything over the 2500 block. The Lieutenant then gave me the number to Los Angeles Hollenbeck Division 323.266-5965. The Los Angeles Hollenbeck Division told me this jurisdiction was under the Los Angeles Newton Division 323.846-6547. I then spoke with Detective Garcia. He told me to call 213-485-4137 Commercial Crime Division. This number told me to contact www.ftc.gov or 877-ID-Theft

Is this really where the company is located?

Consumers beware of this company. Forever21.com sells ladies apparel online. The web site store states that is sells casual tops, dresses, outerwear, pants, skirts and more. On July 06, 2007 Forever21.com charged our company credit card for the amount of $412.52. Forever21.com goes under the name FASHION 21 INC. Their address is 2001 S ALAMEDA ST LOS ANGELES CA 90058-1015. Their telephone number is 213-741-5100 fax: 213-741-5151 I spoke with a representative by the name of Sandy. She told me that that an order was made and was scheduled for delivery today. I then told her that this was a fraudulent purchase and to cancel it immediately and call UPS to send the merchandise back. Sandy responded that she would not cancel the purchase or call UPS. I then asked her to tell me where the merchandise was being shipped to. She replied, "No I cannot, but it matches the billing address." I then asked her to tell me the billing address. She stated the same response. I then told her my billing address and she said she could not see it on the screen. I then asked for the tracking number. She stated, "I will not give you anything. Contact your bank!" I asked to speak to the owner, Don Chang. I was then forwarded to his administrative assistant, Amina. amina@forever21.com I have since contacted my credit card company and the Vernon Police Department. www.cityofvernon.org 4305 S Santa Fe Ave, Vernon (323) 587-5171 I have left a message with Detective Strata about this incident.

Two wrongs do not make it right. This article actually makes my point stronger. Any standing president should not be able to pardon individuals without the consent of Congress. I truly think it is an abuse of power.

If Libby told the truth about his conversations with the other government officials, Judith Miller, Tim Russert and the media relating to Valerie Wilson he would not have been indicted. I believe that he thought what he was doing was best for our country. Joseph Wilson was a threat to the administration's plan to build a substantial American force presence in the Gulf. Scooter Libby lied to the grand jury. His statements contradicted the established facts. The jury found him guilty. Now the President has set him free. Thus undermining the judicial values our country promotes to the rest of the world. It is also plausible that commutation is the best legal strategy for the White House. Scooter Libby retains his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination and can remain silent. Had Libby been pardoned and been completely cleared of any wrongdoing, he would have a more difficult time refusing to answer questions.

We are here not dealing with the Crown's prerogative of mercy continued through the pardoning power in this country as an exercise of grace. Currently, the prerogative of mercy reposed shown by President Bush cannot be fettered by any legislative restrictions. But, commutation does not wash out the moral stain and taxpayer dollars Libby has put this country through. The real issue is that if Libby is pardoned, then he will be able to still practice law. Every lawyer admitted to the bar is committed to uphold the honor and dignity of the profession. Scooter Libby's conviction warrents him unfit to represent the bar. Scooter Libby should not receive a full pardon for this reason alone. It must be tough, but I hope President Bush puts our country's justice system before his friend in his future decisions.

My question is why? A jury found him guilty. Is Scooter Libby above the law? Why should President's have this much power. It undermines the credibility of our justice system. What bothers me more is many President's (including Clinton) wait till their last days in office and then go on a pardoning spree.

I truly believe that in reality there is not that much difference between Republican and Democrat politicians. Once one side gets power it gets corrupt. Then the other side takes over for awhile and gets corrupt. I think this country really needs a three party system.

Joe, I think I will be able to make it to training camp. Happy Fourth of July.

It must be a little eerie in the Oval Office.

The President of the United States.

The White House Press Briefing by Tony Snow displayed insight on President Bush's commutation (reduction of a sentence) of Scooter Libby. The President accepted the jury's verdict, but considered conviction jail sentence to be excessive and inappropriate. A future pardon is also not out of the question.