Great, Another Guy with a Year-End Award Post

And yes, that guy is me. Some random thoughts on the good and the bad of 2005:

Best Move of 2005: John Roberts appointment as Chief Justice
With the passing of William Rehnquist, President Bush was provided with an opportunity to nominate somebody who would effectively administer the Court for a long time to come. Roberts was the perfect selection. He embodied the temperament needed to be Chief, and simultaneously was already well known by the time of his appointment. The President could not have made a better choice, and he was rewarded with a decisive confirmation process.

Worst Move of 2005(2 of 2): Harriet Miers nomination to the Supreme Court
Months later, I still cannot explain how the thought process behind this nomination. It was an embarrassment to the administration, and put the Republican base squarely at odds with the administration. It caused a lot self-inflicted problems for the President and his administration.

Worst Move of 2005(2 of 2): Rafael Palmeiro's testimony to Congress on March 17th.
No player had farther to fall than Palmeiro after his testimony. When Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa gave vague non-answers to the committee, Palmeiro steadfastly denied any involvement. And then in August, the walls came tumbling down. Now, he is just another 39-year old free-agent with a load of baggage.

Strangest Move: Martin O'Malley thanking MD4BUSH
While noting that the entire MD4BUSH is a bizarre saga in Maryland political history, I still cannot wrap my hands around the concept that Martin O'Malley thanked the individual who spread the long-standing rumors about his personal life. Why did O'Malley thank him? I think it has less to do with exposing the Ehrlich Administration, as O'Malley says, and more to do with the potential political benefit to his campaign. What is even more bizarre is that as the saga goes on, it looks more and more life a Democratic operative was behind MD4BUSH. Are they connected to the O'Malley camp? I can only imagine the ways this could backfire for the O'Malley camp.

Luckiest Retired Athlete: Jim Rice
Jim Rice had a very good career for the Red Sox. Just look at his numbers. Problem was those numbers for years had been overshadowed in the minds of Hall of Fame voters by the home-run era. With all steroids now fresh in the minds of voters, and a week class of first-year eligibles, Jim Rice may finally make the Hall of Fame.

Biggest Jumble: The 3rd Congressional District
The 3rd District gets the nod over the Democratic Senate primary because in that race there are two frontrunners, and several other candidates trying to establish themselves. Here, there are currently ten candidates running or seriously considering a run for Congress in this Democratic primary alone. Andy Barth may have the name recognition, and Sen. Paula Hollinger may have enough experience and the political connections to lap the field, no candidate has an overwhelming advantage over the others at this point. With so many candidates, there is a good chance a battered and bruised Democrat could emerge on shaky ground in November. Now if only we could field a candidate on our side...

Guy I Feel Bad For 2005: Rick Neuheisel, Ravens Quarterbacks Coach
Rick Neuheisel has had one of the more unfortunate falls from grace as a coach in recent times. Head Coach at Colorado. Head Coach at Washington. Then came the gambling scandal, making him a pariah at the college level. He tried to get back into coaching, before agree to take the job as the Ravens Quarterbacks coach. With Jim Fassel, he was going to finally get the most from Kyle Boller. Despite the last two games, the jury is still out on his performance in that role. Additionally, he has been passed over for two college head coaching jobs, one at San Diego State, and the other at lowly Temple. Sure, the problems he found at Washington were his own doing, and it looks like he will keep his job with the Ravens. But these days, Neuheisel can't seem to catch a break.

Best Run Campaign(Local Division): Frederick Mayor Elect Jeff Holtzinger (R)
A campaign that must have done something right, if it was only not to be incumbent Mayor Jennifer Daugherty or Democratic primary winner and former Mayor Ron Young. His campaign was so much of being the anti-politician against Young that even he was amazed he won. Sometimes, simplicity wins out.

Best Run Campaign(National Division): Paul Hackett for Congress (D-OH)
Hackett did not win, but boy did he make a lot of noise about being an Iraq war veteran running as a Democrat. Ironically, for all of the fuss the left made about his candidacy, his public message was more along the lines of a Moderate Republican. And while he may have lost the race, he has managed to parlay his fame and his success into his current standing as a frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.

Worst Run Campaign(Local Division): George Kelley for Mayor of Annapolis(R)
What can I say that I have not already said? It should really be a bad sign for your campaign, though, when your consultants are busy jockeying for press clippings instead of trying to improve your standing.

Worst Run Campaign(National Divsion): Jerry Kilgore for Governor(R-VA)
Kilgore's entire strategy seemed to be "You Liked Mark Warner, and Tim Kaine is not Mark Warner." Amazingly, that blasé message seemed to work until Kilgore went for the knockout with his death penalty ads and, failed as I predicted. In a state like Virginia, Kilgore should have won easily. Kaine's views do seem to be out of touch with a large percentage of Virginia. The Kilgore people also knew that they had an extremely popular sitting Governor (Warner) to combat. So when they went heavy-handed with their negative spot it was doomed to fail. Combine that with a reticence to bring in President Bush to help with a tightening campaign until it was too late, and you have a situation where the Kilgore camp literally clutched defeat from the jaws of victory.

Best International Development: Free Elections in Iraq
Agree with the war, or disagree with the war, but I do not think anybody can argue that a freely elected government in an Arab nation is anything but a sign of progress.

Worst International Development: Vladimir Putin's "Reforms" in Russia
Unfortunately, this story does not get a lot of attention here in the United States. But Vladimir Putin has been slowly and surely reconstituting a Soviet-style state in ostensibly free Russia. More and more controls on the press. The trial and conviction of Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Further controls on political parties. New control over international NGO's. The resignation of Economic Minister Andrei Illarionov. And that says nothing of Putin's involvement in the Ukrainian Presidential Election and disagreements with the Ukrainian Government over gas pipelines. Russia is the largest nation in the world, has a wealth of untapped natural resources that particularly interest China, and has one of the two largest nuclear arsenals in the world. With the war on terror, we do need a Russia rockced by political instability, nor do we need a Russia that is belligerent towards Western Democracies.

Scandal of 2005 That Will Explode in 2006: If you think that you have heard a lot about the Jack Abramoff scandal now, just wait until Abramoff takes his plea deal. The fur is going to fly, famous names will be named, and a lot of people are going to find themselves on the business end of a federal investigation. Many members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle (don't be fooled by the media into thinking that this is only a Republican scandal) are going to be brought done by Abramoff. Ron Gunzburger thinks that this is the biggest Congressional scandal since ABSCAM, and he is probably right.

To those of you who have read in 2005, thank you. Keep an eye here in 2006!

Self Interest Dooms Primary Change

It seems as if the Democrats desperate attempt to move the 2006 primary from September to June is DOA, thanks to their fellow Democrats.

But House Democrats say several factors are working against the plan - from the potential for bad publicity to self-interest about their own elections.

"Stick a fork in it," said House Majority Leader Kumar P. Barve, a Montgomery County Democrat, speaking of the date-change proposal.

Many Democrats are worried about contested primaries in high-profile races for governor and U.S. Senate that will likely sap cash and inflict wounds on the eventual winners. Meanwhile, well-financed Republican candidates will face little opposition before next year's November general election.

This is a rare case of the self-interest of our elected officials meshes well with the best interests of the voters. There is no way that Maryland voters would have been adequately prepared to make an educated decision regarding their choice in the primaries by June, if only because candidates and campaigns are not adequately geared up and ready to run by such a short time frame. And it does not help the voter that Democratic leadership was only interested in moving the primary for selfishly partisan reasons.

As I said in April, the legislature should discuss the real merits of the issue during the 2007 legislative session.

Just Trade Him Already

If Miguel Tejada is this upset with the Orioles, then it is time for the team to cut bait and just get rid of him. I know that there is just about no way that the Orioles can win in this situation. They have a player who they thought would be a team leader now whining at every opportunity that they cannot get quality players. Perhaps part of the reason now is the fact that at every opportunity he criticizes management? And to cite Toronto is a bad comparison. The Blue Jays are going for broke. The Orioles are in no position to make the changes the Blue Jays made, considering that Overbay and Glaus were acquired by trade. Since the Orioles do not have the kind of prospects to make such a trade right now, we cannot be in on this action.

If the rumors are true that a deal is on the table to send Tejada and Erik Bedard to the Cubs for Mark Prior and Felix Pie, then by all means do it. We do not need the Miguel Tejada circus sideshow in our locker room.

Score Another Win for Capitalism

Proving once again The Conservative Cat's musing that Capitalism is a Force of Nature:

Because chances are, Alex Tew, a 21-year-old student from a small town in England, is cleverer than you. And he is proving it by earning a cool million dollars in four months on the Internet....

He had the brainstorm for his million dollar home page, called, logically enough, http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/, while lying in bed thinking out how he would pay for university.

The idea: turn his home page into a billboard made up of a million dots, and sell them for a dollar a dot to anyone who wants to put up their logo. A 10 by 10 dot square, roughly the size of a letter of type, costs $100....

So far they have bought up 911,800 pixels. Tew's home page now looks like an online Times Square, festooned with a multi-colored confetti of ads.

"All the money's kind of sitting in a bank account," Tew told Reuters from his home in Wiltshire, southwest England. "I've treated myself to a car. I've only just passed my driving test so I've bought myself a little black mini."

I only wish I had thought of it!

Burnitz Deal is a Start

It looks like the Orioles have finalized their agreement, pending a physical, with OF Jeromy Burnitz tonight. Burnitz brings another veteran left-handed power-hitter to a lineup that was in need of left-handed pop. For the $5-6 million a year Burnitz is getting, let's hope his numbers reflect more his days in Milwaukee or his year in Colorado than his stints with the Mets and Dodgers.

And while it isn't Troy Glaus, it's a start. Let us also hope that finally the Orioles can add some pitching.

Better Now Than Later

Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti made a good call by telling Ravens players today that Brian Billick will return in 2006. From the perspective of a player, it is better to know going into the last week of the season that the head coach and a preponderance of the coaching staff will return for next year. It also makes the evaluation process easier, as there will be continuity from this year to next.

Is is the right move? We will have to wait and see. Are there any coaches available right now that are better than Billick? No. But this only remains a good move if the coaching staff retains the confidence and respect of the players, and that seemed lacking at times during the 2005 campaign. With Billick returning, and an offense the last two weeks that looks like an NFL offense, perhaps the Ravens are in better shape heading into this off-season than people realized just two short weeks ago.

Money In, Money Out

I find it somewhat intriguing that the first Peter Franchot fundraisier of 2006 for his candidacy for Comptroller is a $1,000 a plate dinner that takes money out of Maryland and to a Washington, DC hotel. The candidate who would be a steward of the money Maryland brings in will raise in own but taking his money outside of Maryland.

Not a massive faux pas, but not the way I would want to start my statewide run either.

Merry Christmas to All...

...and to all a good night!

Yankees Deals Good for Orioles

That may seem like a weird concept, but I am glad that the Yankees have made the moves they have this offseason for how they help the Orioles:

• Johnny Damon is not worth 4 years, $52 million. That is money that the Yankees will not spend on other players;
• The team has not yet addressed their starting pitching; thankfully, they have lost out on all of the starters they have pursued to date;
• While signing Kyle Farnsworth helps their setup situation some, signing Octavio Dotel is mind-boggling given his recent struggles as a closer;
• Signing Damon hurts the Red Sox; he was a team leader and a feared left-handed hitterat the top of their order, and they have nobody to repalce him; and,
  
• Damon will not be as good a hitter at Yankee Stadium as he was at Fenway Park given the lack of a Green Monster and the wide-open spaces of left and left-center field in New York.
  

All in all, better news for the Orioles; despite not making any major moves (signing Ramon Hernandez and Jeff Conine is important, but not earth shattering) , they are still in a better chance to content in 2006 today than they were yesterday. If management signs some pitching maybe we can make a run towards 85 wins in 2006.

While I Drive, I Feel for New Yorkers and the Transit Workers

I love Baltimore City, but I for one am glad to be a car-driving suburbanite since I will never have to deal with a transit strike like the 18 million residents of the New York Metro area are dealing with today. (Of course, that has a lot to do with other reasons we have covered here before). As I drive to work, I feel for the people who are feeling the brunt of this action.

I am a bit perplexed as to why transit workers (or a least their union management) believe they deserve the extraordinarily high raise that they believe they deserve. Your average transit worker's starting salary is higher than that of the starting salaries of NYPD officers and New York City teachers; two jobs I would reckon are a little harder and little more dangerous than working as a transit employee.

What is even more perplexing is why their union leadership would allow workers to walk off of the job in clear and open violation of New York's Taylor Law that prohibits public service employees from striking. Combine that with the negative publicity received by striking five days prior to Christmas (which really puts the pinch on downtown and local merchants) and the $1 million fine for every day the strike continues, and you have a union whose leadership is so far detached from reality that they can no longer see it.

The irony is that some people say that these transit workers are creating a "class confrontation" against the rich, when in reality they are only sticking it to the middle and lower class New Yorkers who depend on mass transportation to get to their jobs and to live their lives. The people who suffer, as usual when a major industry such as this goes on strike, are the counterparts of the people on strike who work in different fields. The rich do not feel the effects of this strike; it is the people who union leadership tell workers will be sympathetic to their causes.

And that is what frustrates me about this job action. It goes beyond the fact that the job action is against the law. It goes against common sense that these union workers would be used as pawns by union management in a game of brinkmanship to see if New York's MTA would blink and capitulate to their wills. In the end, it is union workers who are going to pay the heavy, heavy price for that decision. I feel for the suffering that they are going to face.

Good News on HS Schedules

It looks like the Board of Education is going to enact the four-period day setup where a student takes four classes in each semester, as opposed to the current A/B day format.

I was fortunate enough to be part of the pilot project at Chesapeake back in the 1993-1994 School Year. My graduating class, the class of 1997, was the first graduating class in the county to attend high school exclusively on the four period day. It was a fantastic educational experience. The classes were long enough to get involved (for the most part) in interesting activities. Having the classes on consecutive days instead of the A/B day format allowed for more intensive instruction and greater retention between class period. It also allowed us to take Advanced Placement classes for an entire year, which was a tremendous boon when it came time to take the AP tests.

The most important aspect of the four period day, however, was in its similarity to life in college. I was amazed how many of my fellow freshman complained that their Tuesday/Thursday classes were ninety minutes long; by that time, I had been taking ninety minute classes for four years.

I look forward to the implementation of the schedule countywide, and to the corresponding boost in test scores and academic achievement.

A New Definition of "At-Will?"

Today's Sun posting about the Kangaroo Court contained this rather bizarre sentence:

The committee, set up by the Democrat-controlled legislature, is trying to decide whether the state's "at-will" employees need new protections after complaints that Ehrlich oversaw a purge of workers after he took office. Republicans have said a governor should be allowed to put his own team in place and that the probe is a matter of Democratic sour grapes.

Is there a new definition of "at-will" that I am not aware of? If there are protections in place, enacted by the legislature, for "at-will" employees in the executive branch, does that not make them no longer "at-will" employees?

"At-will" employees serve at the pleasure of the Governor. As we have routinely established, there are thousands of them in the state of Maryland. Most of the "at-will" positions were put in place during the Glendening years.

I have a funny feeling that the Kangaroo Court will continue to drag its feet into the 2006 gubernatorial election cycle. The Democratic- controlled committee will then wait and see what happens in November. I have a sneaking suspicion that these Democrats are going to drop all the talk about legislative protections if the people of Maryland are unfortunate enough to be saddled with a new Democratic administration.

EDIT (9:57 PM): The Sun has removed the quote from the new copy of the story. Interesting...

Where Were These Guys in September?

I wish I knew where the guys playing in the Ravens uniforms were last night, because it sure was not the same team that started the season in September.

Did Kyle Boller turn the corner? Maybe not (we need to wait for him to do it against a team not crippled by injuries first, and Minnesota is coming to town) but last night he was a very un-Boller like 19-27 for 253 yards and three touchdowns. Jamal Lewis had over 100 yards. The defense was stifling, and could have been even more so had Ed Reed caught three other tipped passes for interceptions.

For the first time all season, the Ravens played on all cylinders. It only leaves one wonder what present the fans get from this team Christmas night against the Vikings.

Franchot's Dilemma

I have taken a look at the website of Delegate Peter Franchot, ultraliberal candidate for Comptroller in the Democratic Primary. And I have noticed a peculiar thing about the "Issues" Franchot lists on his site; few of them have anything to do with the office of the Comptroller.

The duties of the Comptroller are prescribed in Article VI, Section 2 of the State Constitution:

The Comptroller shall have the general superintendence of the fiscal affairs of the State; he shall digest and prepare plans for the improvement and management of the revenue, and for the support of the public credit; prepare and report estimates of the revenue and expenditures of the State; superintend and enforce the prompt collection of all taxes and revenues; adjust and settle, on terms prescribed by law, with delinquent collectors and receivers of taxes and State revenue; preserve all public accounts; and decide on the forms of keeping and stating accounts. He, or such of his deputies as may be authorized to do so by the Legislature, shall grant, under regulations prescribed by Law, all warrants for money to be paid out of the Treasury, in pursuance of appropriations by law, and countersign all checks drawn by the Treasurer upon any bank or banks in which the moneys of the State, may, from time to time, be deposited. He shall prescribe the formalities of the transfer of stock, or other evidence of the State debt, and countersign the same, without which such evidence shall not be valid; he shall make to the General Assembly full reports of all his proceedings, and of the state of the Treasury Department within ten days after the commencement of each session; and perform such other duties as shall be prescribed by law (amended by Chapter 133, Acts of 1929, ratified Nov. 4, 1930).

The long and the short of it is that the Comptroller is to be a responsible steward of the people's money. The Comptroller has a seat on the Board of Public Works, for the purpose of approving state works projects.

What does candidate Franchot say about the "Issues" in his race against incumbent Comptroller Schaefer? All of these are quotes from his website:

• As Comptroller, Peter Franchot will work to put Maryland at the head of the class.
• As Comptroller, Peter Franchot will fight to leave our children and grandchildren with a healthy and beautiful environment.
• As Comptroller, Peter Franchot will work to make health care more affordable and accessible to all Marylanders, and will reverse the trend of cuts to health care programs begun under the Ehrlich administration.
• As Comptroller, Peter Franchot will fight for balanced transportation solutions that benefit local communities and the state.
• [Franchot] has f ought for reasonable gun control, a woman's right to choose, equal rights for all Marylanders, protecting the environment, and strengthening our education system throughout his tenure in the General Assembly. When elected, Peter will bring those values back to the Comptroller's office.
• Peter Franchot will not acquiesce to the national gambling industry, their lobbyists, and their inevitable craving for full casinos and further expansion of gambling.

Most of the issues that Franchot discusses as his "issues" have little to do with the Comptroller's office and more to do with Democratic Party primary politics. On the issues of guns, health care spending, the budget, and equal rights, he will have less power to influence those as Comptroller than he does as a senior legislator.

What this tells me is that Delegate Franchot's main reason for running against Comptroller Schaefer has little do with Schaefer's performance as Comptroller, and more to do with Schaefer's more moderate politics. To be fair, Franchot has been very candid with that fact. But it seems to me that Peter Franchot is more concerned with being a Democrat than he does with being Comptroller. And given the list of issues that he has presented as being important to him in this election, I am not sure that Delegate Franchot understands the job that the Office of the Comptroller does.

Study Tells Us What We Knew to Be True

Color my less than surprised by this nugget:

While the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal is conservative, the newspaper's news pages are liberal, even more liberal than The New York Times. The Drudge Report may have a right-wing reputation, but it leans left. Coverage by public television and radio is conservative compared to the rest of the mainstream media. Meanwhile, almost all major media outlets tilt to the left.

These are just a few of the surprising findings from a UCLA-led study, which is believed to be the first successful attempt at objectively quantifying bias in a range of media outlets and ranking them accordingly.

"I suspected that many media outlets would tilt to the left because surveys have shown that reporters tend to vote more Democrat than Republican," said Tim Groseclose, a UCLA political scientist and the study's lead author. "But I was surprised at just how pronounced the distinctions are."

"Overall, the major media outlets are quite moderate compared to members of Congress, but even so, there is a quantifiable and significant bias in that nearly all of them lean to the left," said co‑author Jeffrey Milyo, University of Missouri economist and public policy scholar.

Groseclose has a full copy (62 pages) of the report available in PDF here on his website, and I look forward to having the opportunity to read the whole report.

Time's Choices Could Have Been More Inspired

I think that it's great that Bono and the Gates' donate millions of their dollars to those who are less fortunate. But it is hardly a reason for them to blessed as Time's "Persons of the Year." Just because somebody gives some money away does not make them more or less important than any other individual. Michelle Malkin makes an poignant observation:

Interesting, isn't it, that Bill Gates didn't deserve the honor when he was actually creating something, but only earns Time magazine's highest praise when he's giving his money away.

The People who mattered are not much better either. Why did Geena Davis matter in 2005?; she was on a poorly written, poorly acted, awful television show. I have never understood why Cindy Sheehan ever mattered? Time writes:

Who would have thought that this mother of a soldier killed in Iraq could spoil the President's vacation —and become spiritual leader of the antiwar camp? Keeping vigil outside Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch for nearly a month, Sheehan became a folksy celebrity: a hero to some and a villain to others.

Kanye West's major claim to fame was to accuse the President of the United States of racism. Nobody has asked this tragically untalented performer how much he helped the victims of New Orleans.

At least Ray Nagin mattered, if only because of the lives lost because of his mismanagement of New Orleans during the evacuation.

Unfortunately, Time's Person of the Year award, and the recognition of those who mattered, often times has little do with the people who truly made a difference during the preceding year. As Ed Morrissey writes:

The true newsmakers this year, as Michelle Malkin notes in photos, were the people who went into the streets and overthrew dictators and autocracies in order to gain freedom for their nations -- in most cases, through non-violence. Ukrainians had their Orange Revolution; the Lebanese forced the Syrians to beat a hasty retreat across the Bekaa Valley after 29 years of military occupation following the murder of a pro-freedom statesman; and Iraqis faces bombs and death threats three times to in voting for a democracy and a new constitution to replace a genocidal tyrant in the heart of the Middle East, the first time that has ever occurred in an Arab nation.

Pick any of those examples, or roll them up into one pro-democracy movement that has tyranny on its heels throughout Southwest Asia and North Africa. Those were the real newsmakers this year. Instead, Time decided to go as obscure as it possibly could and picked three fine people whose impact on 2005 will have us all wondering what the hell they did to deserve the cover of Time by 2007.

Thank Goodness for the Chargers

They beat the Colts today 26-17. It would have made me crazy to see that team in Indiana be the first team to finish the regular season 16-0.

John Spencer: 1946-2005

John Spencer of The West Wing passed away today from a heart attack, an actor passing away while still at the top of his game. Despite the show's annoying politics, The West Wing has always been a wonderfully produced, accurate depiction of life inside of the Beltway. And Spencer was a key cog in pulling the show together. No actor could have played Leo McGarry the way that Spencer did.

What happens to the show from here is up in the air. But it is certain that fans of the show will miss Spencer immensely.

Trading on a Discarded Past

Art Modell left the Browns name in Cleveland; the Colts instead work with the state to make license plates on the image of Johnny Unitas, Raymond Berry, etc.

The Indianapolis Colts have continued trading on the legacy of the Baltimore Colts since they got to the Hoosier State. The Colts seven retired numbers never played for Indianapolis. Johnny Unitas went so far once as to ask his number to be unretired so it was no longer associated with that franchise. So why oh why do the Colts find it necessary to trade on a legacy they so decisively abandoned 21 years ago?

Terps/Hoyas should be yearly meeting

It is not too often I get to agree with a national media writer, but SI's Seth Davis is absolutely right that Maryland and Georgetown should play each other once a year in basketball. Two strong programs from two of the strongest Division I conferences playing for bragging rights in each others backyard. It is a perfect fit.

Apparently, this rivalry went south after legendary coaches Lefty Driesell and John Thompson had a tiff back in the eightes. They have played twice since then, but those two games were important moments:

• 1993's game was a national ESPN game, a win for the Terps that brought the program national notice coming out of the probation years, and started the Terps on their return to the tournament.
• 2001's meeting in Boise in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament was part of the Terps march to their first ever Final Four appearance.

At this point, bygones need to be bygones. Maryland and Georgetown are top tier programs, and the Terps have no problems playing another top local program in George Washington. This game needs to happen.

Time to Repeal the AMT

Congress has failed to enact the yearly fix to enact the Alternative Minimum Tax, which points out the need to repeal the system permanently. The AMT was enacted original to ensure wealthier individuals pay a great share of income tax than they would have under the then existing system. Since the AMT has not been indexed for inflation, more and more middle-class taxpayers are feeling the pinch of this complicated, parallel tax system.

In 2006, Congress needs to stop altogether with the yearly AMT fixes and put this system to bed permanently. We are one nation; we should have one tax system.

Coining a Solution to a Meaningless Problem

Problem: People, in the eyes of the U.S. Mint, do not use the dollar coin enough.

Solution: Make new dollar coins:

New dollar coins featuring all 37 of the nation's dead presidents will begin rolling out of the U.S. Mint in 2007 under a bill Congress is sending to President Bush.

Lawmakers hope the coins - and an accompanying $10 gold piece for collectors featuring former first ladies - will be a big money raiser for the government like the 50-state quarter program. They also hope the dollar pieces will rev up interest in the Sacagawea dollars, which have been little-used.

Nobody is going to use the new dollar coins any more than the old dollar coins. The only solution to getting usage out of dollar coins would be to eliminate the dollar bill, as they eliminated the one-pound note in the UK and the one-Mark not in Germany (pre-Euro) . Until then, the American people will not use a coin that feels like a quarter and serves the same purpose as another bill. I just find it hard to swallow that the Mint will spend more money to get people to use...money.

Shocked, Shocked!

In an effort to prove how unnecessary it really is, the kangaroo court on the Governor's hiring pracitices today was stunned to learn that the administration removed at-will employees who were not on board with the Governor's program.

I have a feeling that a lot of rank-and-file Democrats understand how ridiculous legislative leaders look by continuing this farce.

A Tax Hike in Your Future

Mayor Martin O'Malley will lead us to a tax hike if today's story is any indication:

Mayor Martin O'Malley pledged today to spend at least $250 million a year on statewide school construction if he is elected governor and said he would issue additional bond debt if necessary to pay for it...

...O'Malley, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to oppose Ehrlich in 2006, said current budget surpluses would likely be sufficient to fund the proposal over the next few years but that he would be willing to take advantage of the low-interest rates afforded to Maryland because of its exemplary credit rating and borrow money if necessary to keep pace with construction needs.

"If we have a AAA bond rating and we have triple rows of trailers, what does that say about our willingness to invest in our future?" O'Malley said. "This has to be a state priority, and there have to be long-term state commitments."

It is true, we do have a AAA bond rating. But when you are spending money on capital projects, the money will come from one of three sources: a budget surplus, bonds, or tax hikes. The problem is that whenever those options are presented to Maryland Democratic leaders, they nearly always select the tax hike unless it is an election year, such as O'Malley using city surplus funds for city school construction priorities this year. School construction is important, and it is important to the current administration as well. Governor Ehrlich had to deal with the fiscal mess the Glendening administration left behind, and they dealt with it appropriately. I am glad that two of the major candidates are talking school construction. But it is highly disingenuous for Mayor O'Malley to talk about floating bonds for school construction when past experience tells us he and Democratic legislative leadership would call for tax hikes first; they always do.

Upscale Bowling?

There seems something so unusual about the phenomenon of upscale "boutique bowling." There is a certain way a bowling alley should be. I am not sure I am confortable with an alley that serves $10 cocktails; at that point, the focus is more on the "experience" and not the bowling. When I go bowling, I go to one of either two places; Riviera Bowl on Fort Smallwood Road for duckpins, and AMF Southdale on Jumpers Hole Road for tenpins. That is the kind of atmosphere you need to bowl.

Dems Also Irked by Sun's O'Malley Complex

It is not only Republicans who are concerned about the ever-lasting O'Malley cheerleading over on Calvert Street. I received an e-mail from Delegate Jill Carter(D-41) a legislative Democratic and city resident also concerned with the Sun's support of the Mayor. Delegate Carter writes:

...I do not always agree with or go along with Democratic leadership. I am not a supporter of O'Malley. I share your sentiments about The SUN serving as daily pr for O'Malley and I find it extremely frustrating. The Sun's bias is not only offensive republicans unfair to Ehrlich. I find it offensive as well. I am a Black, female, native Baltimorean. I have been constantly frustrated by an inability to get the Sun to print any story on any issue that could have negative repercussions for Martin O'Malley.

Currently there is a Petition to Stop Illegal Arrests, caused by O'Malley, on the site.... The illegal arrests are only the tip of the iceberg regarding unbelievably appalling police practices in Baltimore which will soon come to light as well as the fraudulent Comsat reports that indicate crime is down.

If city Democrats, including elected legislators from Charm City, are as frustrated with the Sun's kid gloves treatment of Mayor O'Malley as the rest of us, we could be in for a long, intriguing year of politics leading up to the Democratic primary, not just the General Election.

Congrats Terps

At least somebody one of the Maryland teams won a title in 2005; congrats to the Terps men's soccer team on their national title.

It's the Mistakes

It is not that the 2005 Ravens are that bad of a football team; talentwise, even the reserves are incredibly talented es evidenced by how close the score of today's 12-10 loss to the Brocnos was.. But it was the mistakes that doomed the Ravens in this game:

• Kyle Boller's inexplicable throw to the endzone on 3rd and 4 that cost the team a shot at a field goal, and the playcalling that led to the pass play.
  
• Kyle Boller's pass to Todd Heap that was short and intercepted.
• On 4th and Goal, the Coaching staff calling an off-tackle running play from the 2, just one play after throwing on 3rd and Goal.
  
• Kyle Boller's fumble in the 4th Quarter on the first play following Terrell Suggs' fumble recovery, particularly since Ovie Mughelli was open right in front of him to at least pick up a yard or two.
• Ed Reed's missed tackle of Andre Lelie on the end around that wrapped the game up for Denver.

This team is better than 4-9. Even with Ray Lewis, Jamal Lewis, Will Demps all out, this team is better than 4-9. Mental mistakes seem to be the problem.

Overriding Politics

The Sun today laid out the Democratic strategy to override Governor Ehrlich's vetoes today, I could not think of a potentially worse strategy for Legislative Democrats.

In an election year, do Democrats really want to be on the record once again as:

• Supporting a bill to increase election fraud by allowing early voting?
• Supportng a minimum wage increase that will result in fewer jobs available for those the increase would theoretically help?
• Support the already controversial Wal-Mart bill that will likely hurt consumers and employment in our state?
• Support the bill to move primary elections to June in an blatantly partisan effort to allow Democrats to regroup prior to the General Election?

Proving that these decision are all about election year politics, the Sun reports that Democratic leadership has not determined yet if they will attempt to override the veto on the bill allowign same-sex couples to make medical decisions for their partners.

The four bills listed above are some of the most partisan, the most controversial bills being considered for overrides. I just hope that Democratic legislators are watching and paying attentiont to what is going on in their districts. If these bills do get overriden those Democrats who vote for the overrides, particularly here in Anne Arundel County, are going to have some expalining to do and will answer for their mistakes at the ballot box.

Carrying O'Malley's Water

I love seeing what new and creative things the Sun will do to trying to prop up Mayor O'Malley's gubernatorial campaign.

On the front page of the Maryland section today was a story about Governor Ehrlich's campaign hiring Bo Harmon as their new Political Director. Harmon is a controversial choice thanks to his involvement in Sen. Saxby Chambliss' defeat of then Sen. Max Cleland in 2002, and the Sun reporter Andrew Green chose to point that out again and again and again. Combine that with repeated quotes from Democratic officials, and of course the obligatory John McCain reference, and you have a story designed to hit the Governor hard. They even let Maryland Democratic Party spokesman Derek Walker work in a Joe Steffen reference and unveil the new line about the "Tom DeLay-trained Bob Ehrlich." (Which contradicts their earlier Gingrich references).

While that was going on, the Sun also decided to bury this story about Doug Duncan winning the Firefighters endorsement on the back of the Maryland section.

The Sun should probably just be forthcoming with the people and go ahead and place the O'Malley campaign logo on the masthead so all readers understand their bias.

Tejada Wants Out

Now, Miguel Tejada wants to be traded:

Baltimore Orioles shortstop Miguel Tejada said Thursday he's unhappy with the team's direction and wants to be traded.

"I've been with the Orioles for two years and things haven't gone in the direction that we were expecting, so I think the best thing will be a change of scenery," Tejada told The Associated Press during a telephone interview in his native Dominican Republic....

..."I've done many things with this team and I haven't seen results, and the other teams are getting stronger while the Orioles have not made any signings to strengthen the club," said Tejada, the 2002 AL MVP while with Oakland.

For all of the Orioles faults, I see myself standing up for management here. Sure, nothing was done to address the pitching situation last offseason (nor this offseason for that matter) but Sosa and Palmeiro were supposed to be offensive upgrades and they were (for a while). Let us not forget that this team was in first place around Memorial Day, so it was not a completely lost situation.

Tejada had to know what he was getting into when he signed the six-year contract. I am not sure what exactly is the genesis of his discontent, especially with the weird timing coinciding with the Ramon Hernandez contract.

What's in it for Brown?

With the unofficial announcement that Delegate Anthony Brown will be Mayor O'Malley's running mate next year sure is puzzling. The question that keeps coming to the front of my mind is "What's in it for Delegate Brown?"

From a certain perspective, this move makes no sense. Brown parlayed his service in Iraq to being a minor star in the Maryland Democratic Party. It looked as if he were ready to make a serious run for Attorney General. Since Curran has decided to run for a sixth term, Brown was stuck with no place to go other than to serve as second-fiddle to Curran's son-in-law.

Brown had pretty good potential as a statewide candidate. It is puzzling to explain how he would throw it all away to go down with the O'Malley ship next November.

From a political perspective, this is a good move for O'Malley. It keeps his selection from dragging on throughout the year, and he gets to strike the iron first. More importantly for his campaign it also serves as a distraction, however temporary, from O'Malley's failures as a mayor.

O'Malley-Brown; an interesting, yet politically doomed ticket.

"Blockbuster"

When it was announced the Orioles made a trade at the Winter Meetings, I was hoping that it was a little more substantial than Steve Kline for LaTroy Hawkins. But I guess I cannot complain too much. The trade filled two needs for the Orioles. The first need was to get a veteran reliever to go out in the bullpen. Secondly, it sent Kline out of town. Kline wore out his welcome extremely fast in Baltimore, pining for St. Louis less than a week into the season. He is gone now, and everybody is probably better for that. It creates a left-handed void in the 'pen (Tim Bydrak and John Parrish are the two men filling that role at the moment) but that can be fixed one way or another.

At least they are not spending like the Blue Jays, who are breaking the bank with their A.J. Burnett signing. It is the first time since Chan Ho Park a starting pitcher got a five year contract, and we know how well that worked.

A New Toy

For all of their faults, The Washington Post at least understands the need to offer new things online. This is particularly interesting due to their status as a member of the legacy media. With blogs and online features, they are ahead of the game.

And the Post has introduced a new toy: The Congressional Vote Database to keep tabs on the votes our members of Congress are undertaking.

Happy hunting.

Nothing to Celebrate

Wesley Baker was excecuted by the State of Maryland tonight.

I am a supporter of the death penalty. I believe in the ultimate punishment for the ultimate crimes. Wesley Baker was justly punish for what he has done. Now, he must face his Creator and answer in the afterlife for what he has done on Earth.

In the end, however, what is there to celebrate. It is a good thing for the system that the justice system has been upheld, thirteen long years after the sentence was handed down.

In the end, the family of Ann Tyson, while now having closure on the man who so brutally and viciously took her life, will never see their wife, their mother, their grandmother in this life.

In the end, the Juvenile Justice system that took him in during the 1980's failed to reform him, and others.

In the end, the Correctional System that housed him, as the Sun says, for so many years, could not keep Baker from committing greater crimes, from creating more havoc, for taking a life.

In the end, justice has been served. In these kind of situations, unfortunately, that is all that we can ask for.

An Artificial Feeling

Broadneck High School is making the switch to an artificial surface at its football stadium this winter. The Bruins will be playing on FieldTurf, the same surface that the Ravens play on, starting in the Spring.

I am conflicted by the installation of the surface. I am glad to see that Boosters and parents are making the move in order to protect the student-athletes and to create a safer playing envrionment. At the same time, I can only imagine that the money ($685,000 to be specific) could be better spent on more educational endeavors.

In the end, this is an effort put forth by private citizens and not spending taxpayer dollars (for the most part). Even the $125,000 spent by the Department of Parks and Recreation is not too much to ask considering that the Department will be able to provide more of its services at Broadneck's facilities.

The Board of Ed was right to give the go-ahead to this Broadneck project. But in the future, the Board should allow projects at other school athletic facilities to proceed only if they too can come up with private funds to cover the costs of these projects.

The Non-Event

Nothing gets people going like the chance of a snowstorm, particularly in the Baltimore area. There are, of course only two kinds of storms in our area; the kind where there is much more snow than predicted, and the kind where there is much less than predicted. Today's snow storm falls into the second category. No matter how many times it happens too us, no matter how often the television tells us to panic, we always get left with the storm that we did not expect to have.

And don't look now; another "Winter Weather Event" is due in on Friday.

The BCS Works(at least this year)

The BCS served its purpose for the 2005 season; the two top teams are playing for the national title, and the rest of the games will be interesting to watch.

Virtually all of the teams playing in the four BCS games are deserving of their appearance. One could argue that Florida State has no business playing against Penn State in the Orange Bowl, but they won the right to get there fair and square.

The other bowl games wound up with intriguing matchups too: Oregon/Oklahoma in the Holiday Bowl, Louisville/Virginia Tech in the Gator, and Alabama/Texas Tech in the Cotton and Auburn/Wisconsin in the CapitalOne are all outstanding games.

Would it be as intriguing as a college football playoff? I am not so sure. The one thing proponents of a playoff fail to consider is that to be fair, they have to include the conference champions from all of Division I-A Conferences; that means 11 automatic bids, and more than likely only five at-large bids. Using the BCS as a seeding template, what would the first round of the 2005 tournament look like? Something like this:

# 1 USC(Pac-10 Champ) vs # 16 Arkansas State(Sun Belt Champ)
# 8 Miami-FL(at-large) vs # 9 Auburn(at-large)
# 4 Ohio State(at-large) vs # 13 Boise State(WAC Champ)
# 5 Oregon(at-large) vs # 12 Florida State (ACC Champ)
# 2 Texas(Big 12 Champ) vs # 15 Akron(MAC Champ)
# 7 Georgia(SEC Champ) vs # 10 West Virginia(Big East Champ)
# 3 Penn State(Big 10 Champ) vs # 14 Central Florida(C-USA Champ)
# 6 Notre Dame(at-large) vs # 11 TCU(MWC Champ)

The Second-round matchups look a lot more intriguing than the first.

Needless to say, with so much money in bowls, polls, and television contracts, the playoff system is a long, long way in the future of College Football, if it ever happens ever. At least this year, there will be no controversy as to who the national champion truly is.

Doing the People's Business

The same legislative body that gave us the steroids hearings and a member threatening to call hearings on Terrell Owens is now threatening to bring us the BCS show trial:

Calling the Bowl Championship Series "deeply flawed," the chairman of a congressional committee has called a hearing on the controversial system used to determine college football's national champion.

A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, charged with regulating America's sports industry, announced Friday it will conduct a hearing on the BCS next week, after this season's bowl matchups are determined.

"College football is not just an exhilarating sport, but a billion-dollar business that Congress cannot ignore," said committee Chairman Joe Barton, a Texas Republican. Barton's panel is separate from the House Government Reform panel that tackled steroids in baseball.

The committee announcement called the hearing, scheduled for next Wednesday, a "comprehensive review" of the BCS and postseason college football.

"Too often college football ends in sniping and controversy, rather than winners and losers," Barton said. "The current system of determining who's No. 1 appears deeply flawed."

Barton said he does not have legislation in mind to force a change, but said he hopes congressional hearings will spur discussion and improvements. It won't be the first time Congress has looked at the BCS. In 2003, the Senate probed whether the system was unfairly tilted against smaller schools.

Look, some people like the BCS, some people do not. But I am pretty sure that Congress has much more pressing business than the BCS to deal with right now.

Maybe it is just members of Congress looking for a reason to press the flesh with athletes and sports figures that is the reason behind all of this. But Congress needs to get back to doing what is really important and leave this kind of thing to pundits and sports journalists.

No, No, No

Just because Paul Konerko turned down more money from the Orioles to stay with the White Sox does not make it a good idea to ship Jorge Julio to the Mets for their enigma, Kris Benson.

Julio had a down year as a setup man in 2005. But with B.J. Ryan in Canada, the current members of the Orioles bullpen are: Julio, Chris Ray, Steve Kline, and four "help wanted" signs. Trading Julio for a starting pitchers who Baseball Reference indicates is statistically comparable to legends Art Mahaffey, Mike Krukow, Cal Eldred, and Kip Wells is a bad idea any way you slice it.

Trading Julio I am not opposed to. Trading Julio for a pitcher with a 57-61 career record making roughly $6-million a year I am opposed to.

Lined with Silver

Watching the Maryland/Minnesota game on Wednesday, I could not help but note that these things should be burned and never spoken of again.

On the Road Again

Going on the road always creates headaches, particularly the Sunday after thanksgiving and on your way to such warm, winter climes as Tacoma and Boise (the City of Trees). Both are nice , though rather unexciting places. My hotel in Tacoma was right across the street from the Tacoma Mall, site of the shooting at the Sam Goody a week prior. My hotel in Boise gave me the capability of watching the Boise "Holiday Tree" (grrr) lighting last night as I watched the Maryland game. And it snowed just about everywhere, including O'Hare on my connector bake the BWI. The highlight of the trip, as usual, is my ability to find a Sonic and get a Banana Cream Pie Shake.

But it is always good to be home, and back in the loop.