Wait, you mean he really did file?

It's true: John Leopold filed to run for County Executive today, turning back the course of twenty years of political history where Leopold avoided the tough fights.

What is odd about the timing is that just last week, Leopold told some party insiders that he was going to abandon the County Executive race in order to run for State Senate. Why Leopold was again wishy-washy on the issue, who actually knows. But Leopold has been one of many local politicians who have flip-flopped on their plans:

• Democrat Matt McBride first filed to run for the House of Delegates in District 31, then decided to try his hand in the Senate race after Senator Jimeno's retirement.
• Don Dwyer, of course, filed to run for Delegate, announced his run for Senate, changed his mind, went off to Europe, skipped the BGE vote, and then came back and announced his retreat.
• Today, Dwyer's brother-in-law and District 30 sidekick Les Belcher withdrew from the State Senate race today (avoiding a primary loss to Delegate Herb McMillan) in order to enter the District 30 House jumble. (Maybe withdrawals run in the family...)
• Environmentalist and contrarian Councilwoman Barbara Samorajczyk was going to run for County Executive, endorsed George Johnson instead, and today she too filed to run for Delegate in District 30.
• Dirk Haire made a big splash when he announced his candidacy for County Executive in 2004, promising to raise gobs and gobs of money. Haire quit the race in May 2005.
• Councilman Bill Burlison announced his run for Congress in District 3, started going door-to-door, and decided to withdraw after having his car stolen.

I think this year is more of an anomaly than anything else. Frankly, 2006 has been a wacky year for candidates running for offices, and for what offices they file. Often, candidates drop into the race and quietly drop out. Occasionally, an incumbent will run for another seat when an unexpected vacancy presents itself. They tend not to drop out of one race to enter another, nor do they usually enter a race full of bravado and bluster only to quietly fade away long before the race really gets started.

There is one more day, July 3rd, to file for office. I wonder who will be left standing at the end of the day. And who knows, there are still three more days for John Leopold to change his mind...

Better Them than Us

Watching the NBA Draft on Wednesday reminded me how lucky as a Ravens fan we have been with our NFL Drafts. To prove that point, YouTube has this video entitled "New York Jets Draft Blunders."

Odds and Ends

- Newt Gingrich challenged John Edwards to a debate about poverty.

"I'd be delighted to come back down and have a dialogue with Senator Edwards about how to truly help the poor," he said. "We might even have a charity night, and all the money we raise that night would go to the poor. So we would actually do something to help the poor as opposed to talking about helping the poor."

Edwards, of course, said no. I guess Edwards should be glad this guy didn't call him out.

- A generic ballot poll indicates Democrats has a 47-33% lead over Republicans in this year's Congressional elections. I am amazed the polling companies continue to do nationwide, generic ballot polling in a time where incumbents are re-elected 97% of the time. Generic polls are meaningless, except when a Congressional election takes on a national tone. We have not had one of those since 1994. Since Congressional Democrats seem to be unable to agree on much of anything these days, that is not going to happen this year.

- An initiative campaign in Arizona wants to give $1 million randomly to a voter who casts a vote in the General Election. What, are they taking ideas from Baltimore?

- Short of something substantive, I'm still not feeling sorry for you Rafael Palmeiro.

- Noah's Ark? In Iran?

The Capital and The Gazette Come Around

Four days after his announcement, and twenty-three days after you heard it here, the Capital finally reported that Don Dwyer will be turning tail from the Senate race in order to run for re-election.

"There's no doubt that with me leading the ticket in the House race, I believe completely we can sweep all three seats," Mr. Dwyer, R-Glen Burnie, said yesterday.

I never really thought that Dwyer and "leading" should be in the same sentence...

Back in the Saddle

Stop me if you've heard this before; Peter Franchot is having a $1,000 a plate fundraiser in Downtown Washington tonight.

Is this guy running to be Comptroller of Maryland or Mayor of Washington?

I Still Get Letters...

And this one speaks for itself:

Subject:	MARYLAND - US SENATE
From:	"Daniel R. Vovak" <danielvovak@hotmail.com>
Date:	Sun, Jun 25, 2006 7:23 pm
To:	<'brian@briangriffiths.com>

Why all the mean comments on your blog? Steele is now losing in the WSJ/Zogby polls to even Mfume by 9, Cardin by 11. Some polls have him losing by 14.
SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland_U.S._Senate_election%2C_2006

You can read from my bio that I have a strong GOP background: link


The post on your blog sounds so arrogant. Are you a definite winner in your contest? I am a Republican and am Steele's challenger on September 12, 2006. Many people are not happy with Steele and the man just plainly has bad judgment: link.


Daniel "The Wig Man" Vovak
Republican for U.S. Senator, Maryland 2006
http://AirFordOne.com
danielvovak@hotmail.com 202-367-4835

I guess he isn't too worried about his use of intellectual property. I don't get why he is running in Maryland after running in Illinois two years ago or ran for President two years ago. I don't get what the USA Parliament is, of which he is Secretary. I don't get the "strong GOP background" when his "Gang for Change" organization is endorsing mostly incumbent Democrats. I don't get why he hates our state flag (which is amazing, given how cool and unique our flag is). And I certainly don't get why he put a curse on the Lt. Governor (you just can't make this stuff up).

And honestly, I don't get why I spent more time on this. This guy seems more Ficker-esque than anything else...

More Fletcher

I'd say Ernie Fletcher can't catch a break, but he brings it on himself...

Under a blue Kentucky sky, birds sing from the boughs of the oaks and magnolias on the Capitol lawn. People walk their dogs. Joggers pass by.

Gov. Ernie Fletcher finishes a day at the office, but instead of walking through the idyllic scene across the street to the Governor's Mansion, he gets into a Lincoln Town Car to be chauffeured to his door.

In Kentucky, the lawns of the Capitol and the mansion are separated only by a narrow tree-shaded street, but Fletcher routinely rides to and from his office. In the meantime, his administration is encouraging Kentuckians to walk more as part of a statewide fitness initiative to combat obesity, diabetes and heart disease. The administration has begun running radio announcements calling on residents to walk or bike more.

Sounds like an O'Malley idea than one from a Republican, but given Fletcher's other problems and his indictment, what's new?.

Dwyer Quits

Just remember you heard it here first:

For weeks now, I have been eyeing the Senate seat in district 31. I believe that my announcement to run for the seat caused Delegate Cadden to rethink her belief that she should run for the seat representing the Democrat Party. There is no doubt that she had serious concern when it came to running against me in a heads up race. Fortunately, for the Republican Party, Cadden bowed out early. This leaves the Senate seat open for the Republicans to win.

While away in Greece and Italy with my sixteen-year-old daughter Jennifer, I contemplated what would be the wisest political move on my part to help build the Republican Party in Anne Arundel County. As result of much thought and prayer, I have come to realize that the wise thing for me to do is to remain in the House of Delegates with the hopes of sweeping district 31 with Republicans and obtaining a Republican majority in Anne Arundel County. Should we be successful in obtaining the majority control of the Anne Arundel County delegation, I sincerely hope to be elected chair of the 2007 Anne Arundel County delegation. I cannot think of a better way for me to serve the citizens of district 31.

I hope you will support my decision and work with all the republican candidates to ensure a Republican victory in Anne Arundel County.

There are some key points here that need to be addressed:

• Dwyer made this decision before he left for Europe; I'm not certain of what benefit it is for him to lie about this and say that he made the decision while on vacation (you know, when he skipped work)
  
• At least he admits his decision was made solely on politics; not what is right on wrong, but politics.
  
• The chances of Don Dwyer being elected delegation chair are as good as mine are, and since I'm not running you can figure out what I mean. The man is not well liked inside or outside of the party. It's why he managed to go four years passing no legislation.
  
• If Dwyer were sincere about building the Republican Party, why has he been demeaning our Governor on such a frequent basis the last few days? Or why did he campaign against President Bush in 2004.
  

Not Quite Where's Waldo

I've seen a couple of signs popping up in the District that read "Where is Rose Forrest?" I don't know where she is, but I can tell you that she is a Connecticut transplant running as a Democrat for the House of Delegates in District 31.

If I were her, I would be less concerned with people finding me than I would be about the three separate sign violations her campaign has going for it right now; signs in a state highway right-of-way, signs up more than 45 days prior to the election, and campaign materials without a proper authority line...

Round 2 for Dwyer

I guess yesterday wasn't enough for Don Dwyer, so once again Dwyer went after Governor Ehrlich in this morning's Sun.

"I am dismayed and in total disbelief that the governor would appoint a gay judge," said Del. Donald H. Dwyer Jr., an Anne Arundel County Republican who sought the impeachment of the Baltimore judge who ruled in the gay marriage case. "I certainly hope he knows what he's doing in light of the upcoming elections in November."

Dwyer has spent so much time attacking the Governor in recent weeks, it makes you wonder: Why is Don Dwyer a Republican?

Help From Above

There has been a lot of hand-wringing in the wake of the Kelo v. New London decision last year, and the President has done something about it. Today, President Bush issued an Executive Order ordering the Federal Government to ensure that property private rights are strengthened and protected.

Since nearly 6,000 properties have been claimed by Eminent Domain for private redevelopment in the wake of the Kelo decision, this is a step in the right direction.

No, No, and Hell No

Can somebody please talk some sense into the Orioles front office so the team does not sign free agent RHP Russ Ortiz? Ortiz was 0-5 this year for the Diamondbacks, with a 7.54 ERA and a .303 batting average against. Last year for the D-backs, he finished 5-11 with a 6.89 ERA and a .313 batting average against.

If we wanted a veteran pitcher who walked a lot of guys and gives up a lot of hits, we could have kept this guy.

The current rotation of Lopez, Benson, Bedard, Cabrera and Loewen has sufficed over the last few weeks. If anybody should be added to the rotation, it's Hayden Penn, not another team's retread.

Thanks for coming

Amazingly, Don Dwyer found time in his busy schedule to come to work today. Of course, that is no excuse for missing the vote the first time...

Dwyer Slams Governor Ehrlich

"Loyal" Republican Don Dwyer found it necessarily to publicly assail Governor Ehrlich in today's Washington Times over the issue of firing a Metro Board member:

Delegate Don Dwyer Jr., Anne Arundel County Republican, said Mr. Smith's firing was unjust and "intolerant of the moral values of many Marylanders."

"I think it's unfortunate that the governor has caved in to the homosexual lobby on this issue," said Mr. Dwyer, who led the unsuccessful effort to put the same-sex "marriage" ban on the ballot....

"The governor has compromised the principles of most Marylanders," he said. "If [Mr. Ehrlich] believes the homosexual lobby will get him re-elected in 2006, I think he is making a serious error in judgment."

I don't have an opinion of the firing one way or another, because Smith served at the pleasure of the Governor, and it was the Governor's decision to let him go. You can argue both sides.

Of course, none of this should be a surprise from Dwyer, given his stumping against President Bush and against Republicans in 2004. And I have heard from more than one person that privately, Dwyer doesn't think he needs the party.

I just find it funny that Dwyer made time to comment on this story when he couldn't bother to come to work last week...

Sympathy for the Devil?

I can't wait to hear the St. Petersburg Times' explanation for this. (And if the story is gone, see a snippet here).

EDIT: As of 11:14, the had removed the first link....

Roger Ebert: Political Hack

Roger Ebert must really be living in the ether these days. Now, I'm not saying that I expect movie reviews to be politically neutral (it would be nice, but really). But I do think that the start of Ebert's review of Al Gore's flick is out there (all emphasis is mine; I just bolded the funny parts):

I want to write this review so every reader will begin it and finish it. I am a liberal, but I do not intend this as a review reflecting any kind of politics. It reflects the truth as I understand it, and it represents, I believe, agreement among the world's experts.

Global warming is real.

It is caused by human activity.

Mankind and its governments must begin immediate action to halt and reverse it.

If we do nothing, in about 10 years the planet may reach a "tipping point" and begin a slide toward destruction of our civilization and most of the other species on this planet.

After that point is reached, it would be too late for any action.

These facts are stated by Al Gore in the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth." Forget he ever ran for office. Consider him a concerned man speaking out on the approaching crisis. "There is no controversy about these facts," he says in the film. "Out of 925 recent articles in peer-review scientific journals about global warming, there was no disagreement. Zero."

Well, I'm glad that there was a consensus on these known truths back in the 1970's when we all knew that the ice age was coming....

Then, we get to this little gem towards the end:

I believe that to be "impartial" and "balanced" on global warming means one must take a position like Gore's. There is no other view that can be defended.

Nothing like allowing for discourse and the open exchange of ideas, eh? Of course, the Journal's Robert Pollack takes such single-mindedness to task.

Ebert's missive/rant/declaration is humorous, but also sad. It is sad that the people of Hollywood are so narrow-minded that they take anything liberal politicians put in front of them at face value. It is sad that they are so committed to opposing the diversity of thought, both on film and in public discourse. It is why Hollywood is so disconnected with the rest of the country. Ebert just showed it in a rather bizarre way.

The Miami Pound Machine

Looks like the FBI is all over Miami arresting terror suspects and there are a boat load of links at Blogs of War detailing the entire operation...

Good Call

The Governor vetoed the BGE bill today. Despite what you hear otherwise, this is good policy and good politics. A better deal can still be worked out for the consumer, and the Public Service Commission does not have to be torn apart limb by limb. (You know, being fired by the Democratic General Assembly for political purposes; hey, I've heard somebody get accused of that once...).

Supposedly, the General Assembly may come back tomorrow to override the bill. If they do, legislative Democrats will get branded as passing a bill that is clearly anti-consumer. It will also be interesting to see what legislative Republicans do; will those that voted for the bill vote with the Governor to sustain the veto, or against the Governor to override it? Or in the case of some delegates, will they actually show up to work?

The political drama over electric rates seems as if it will never end...

This Changes Everything

Doug Duncan's withdrawal from the Governor's race today changes everything in an election year that has already seen turmoil.

The ultimate political question right now is whether or not Martin O'Malley is challenged in the Democratic primary. Regardless of the wagon circling done by some of the major politicians today, there are many Democrats right now who are not behind O'Malley, as evidenced by Duncan's rising and rising poll numbers. Had Duncan not had to withdraw, I still believe that he would have won the primary in September. Will Simms carry the torch? Will Franchot abandon the Comptroller race to take on his real nemesis? Or will O'Malley have a primary similar to the one Kathleen Kennedy Townsend four years ago, where a political nobody ran against her and secured twenty percent of the vote? Who knows where we go from here.

Now, O'Malley can go back to his Rose Garden strategy and wait to engage until later in the fall. Which is fantastic from a Republican perspective. That strategy does not work for Townsend, and while O'Malley is a more accomplished candidate, a lot of people see through his schtick and have noted O'Malley's litany of failures over the last six years. Combine that with O'Malley's temper, and if he waits until September to engage it is going to be good political theater to watch.

For our side, this news is good; the Governor will have an easier time defeating O'Malley than he would have in defeating Duncan. I just hope that Duncan can deal with this problem and that he feels a sense of peace now that he has exited from the stage.

A Campaign About Nothing

I'm reticent to even give Daniel Vovak the free press, but his campaign for U.S. Senate is too ridiculous to completely ignore.

While the Lt. Governor prepares for his General Election matchup against either Cardin or Mfume, "The Wig Man" is peppering his website with campaign commercials. And I presume that most of them will never see the light of day, since Vovak seems to have a Dwyer-esque talent for copyright infringement and the improper use of intellectual property. "Appropriated" intellectual property includes Kenny Rogers songs, The Godfather, and Staples' "Easy Button." I've watched them all, and they seem to be more Seinfeld-esque than anything else; commercials about nothing.

I can assure you that none of this will matter on September 13th...

Bad Form

Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher's administration has enough problems. Fletcher and members of his staff have been indicted for conspiracy and other charges. So it's not like Fletcher needed to do anything else that would further embarrass his administration or the Kentucky Republican Party.
So this happened:

Political bloggers have joined pornographers, casinos and hate groups on the Fletcher administration's list of Web sites that state employees are blocked from visiting....

...Political blogs were among the categories added to the list Wednesday.

One political blogger in Kentucky said the timing is suspicious and charged the Fletcher administration has targeted his site because he is critical of the governor. On Tuesday, he ran excerpts of a New York Times story Tuesday about the state hiring investigation, which included quotes from him criticizing Fletcher.

Now I understand the need to protect taxpayer dollars and ensure that government workers are doing the people's business. But it is just bad form to do things in this manner in this way, particulary with all of the other problems the Fletcher administration has.

The one way to make sure that your opponents have their voice heard, is to in any way try to silence that voice...

All Too Convenient

Given the attention that the Governor's hearings received in the last few days, this announcement seems all too convenient:

Opponents needed 17,062 signatures from registered votes to block the law and put it on the ballot for voters to approve or reject in November. State officials said an initial tally shows the petition drive fell 138 signatures short of that goal.

138 signatures are not that many. Hopefully, a recount and recheck of the sinisterly will indicate that the signatures were in fact accurate and that this bill can be petitioned to the ballot in November so that we can get back to having fairly-contested elections.

The games Democrats play on this issue never cease to amaze...

The "Independent" Left?

I am not paying too close attention to the brewing Kos/Payola imbroglio, nor am I paying that close attention to the situation regarding "Townhouse", the informal group of lefty bloggers that seems to set the message calendar for the left. Let's face it, more focus is more on local issues and local politics. But RedState is doing a pretty good job here and here if you want more info.

You really know how serious this is being taken when Hotline is involved, The New Republic is even reporting on it rather objectively (twice)...

Research through Apocrypha

While it is understandable that scientific and news organizations might want to do some scientific research into the environment and determine the extent and causes of global warning and related phenomenon, I don't necessarily think this is one of those times where reader/viewer submitted home videos and stories are going to be particularly useful....unless Bob Saget is doing the study.

Fit to be Tied

If you think that NFL playoff tiebreaker scenarios are hard to figure out, try to decipher this complicated jumble from Team USA's qualfiquation group at the World Cup.

The Journal Gets It

Brandon Miniter of the Wall Street Journal understands why Governor Ehrlich is popular with voters. The question (however rhetorical) remainis why the Sun can't get it?

Uptick and Notick

Pat Cleary provides some charts from John Stossel's new book that helps prove and argument that I have been making for years; that just because you spend more money on education doesn't mean education is improved:

Here's the chart on spending per pupil in the US. You'll see it has doubled in absolute terms since 1990 and has quadrupled in constant dollars over the last four decades. If you read the popular media, folks are always saying that we need to increase spending in order to improve education, so it would be logical to assume they are related, right?

Wrong.

Here are some scores. You'll see some that show a marginal improvement, but none show improvement commensurate with the increase in spending. Just click on each to follow the link:

4th Grade Reading
4th Grade Math
4th Grade Science

8th Grade Reading
8th Grade Math
8th Grade Science

12th Grade Science

When I stood as a candidate for the Board of Education in 2003, certain convention delegates (particularly active members of the teachers union) looked at me as if I were an alien when I noted that if the amount of money spent on schools correlated with educational success that students in the District of Columbia would have the highest test scores in the nation. I think that many leaders and parents these days get it; you can spend all of the money in the world on schools, but if the curriculum and the structure are not there, and if teachers and administrators are not being held accountable for their performance, you will not get the desired result.

On education, money does not buy happiness, or success. Just ask Bonnie Copeland.

Zoned In, Zoned Out

How good of a year was Cardinals 1B Albert Pujols having? Pujols has not played since getting injured on June 3rd, but as of today he still leads the majors in homers and RBI.

How bad has Daniel Cabrera's control been this year? He missed two or three starts and he still leads the American League in....walks.

Trouble in Paradise?

The Dwyer/Corcoran slate cancelled its Sock Hop fundraiser event that had long been scheduled for tonight at Earleigh Heights Fire Hall. Of course, the event (as of tonight) is still listed under the "events" section of their slate website (and has been since at least February 27), and as far as I am aware no message was sent indicating that the event was cancelled. The only reason I knew was that I drove past the fire hall and nobody was in the parking lot. I had to make a call just to confirm that it was not taking place.

So why was the event cancelled? There are pretty much only two possible conclusions:

• They could not sell enough tickets to justify holding the event; or,
  
  
• There might be trouble in the slate; word on the street has been that Dwyer tried to dump Corcoran from the slate in the aftermath of Senator Jimeno's retirement.
  

These last few weeks before the filing deadline just keep getting more and more interesting...

About the Bill

The bill passed by the General Assembly early yesterday morning does many things:

• Passed on the larger rate hike until next year, conveniently well after the election.
  
• It replaces the Governor's plan, which allowed for no interest charges, with a plan that will stretch out interest charges on electricity for ten years.
• It fires the Public Service Commission, and requires the new PSC be appointed by the Legislature.
• It prohibits the administration from spending state funds to challenge the bill in court
• Requires that any court action be heard in Baltimore City, regardless of where the plaintiffs would actually file the case.
• Extends rate caps, thereby further extending the period where Maryland residents will not have real electricity competition.

As Barry Rascovar notes:

That’s the Democratic legislature’s handiwork. Consumers get a bad deal but legislators will try to spin it the other way. In this case the devil, indeed, is buried in the details.

And how will all of this affect the thousands of Marylanders who work for BGE/Constellation Energy? With the rate caps going back on, will the Constellation/FPL merger go forward? How does this impact Constellation's Credit Rating.

The General Assembly hurt the state early Thursday morning by passing a bill that is a radical interpretation of state utility regulation, and Democratic leadership basically did it just so Governor Ehrlich could not take credit for negotiating a more equitable deal (as he did). This is just another example of the Anti-Business, Anti-Worker, Anti-Consumer General Assembly.

Buy, Buy, Buy

I'm not sure if the reporting would be improved, but I certainly hope that if the Tribune Company is forced to sell the Sun that the Abell Foundation and other Baltimore-area investors are in on the action.

Heck, if the reporting would improve, I'd even put in a couple of bucks to ensure local ownership of the paper.

Is the City of Angels football's City of Failure?

Why are NFL officials tripping over themselves to guarantee a team gets placed in Los Angeles?

The ESPN article says that Broncos owner Pat Bowlen "is convinced the NFL needs a team in the Los Angeles area." But why? The NFL has made more money, attracted more fans, and produced a better on-field product in the years since the Rams and Raiders left L.A. than before. That's not to say that there is a correlation, but it is not like NFL owners are being bled dry these days.

Owners and the league office wants to work on a deal that could include spending league money to cover a portion of stadium costs that could approach $1 billion. But who is going to play there? The league already has indicated that further expansion is not an option at this time. That leaves teams without new stadium deals in place (Vikings, Chargers) or teams with questionable attendance and corporate support (Jaguars and, yes, the Saints) possibly heading west.

Of course, maybe they won't head west. The NFL could always encourage these teams to extract new stadium deals or economic concessions from state and local governments, giving them all of the reason in the world to stay. The NFL stadium deal could be the impetus for local leaders to act, much like the Patriots new stadium got built due to pressure from a Hartford bid.

But when L.A. had two teams, it is not exactly like area residents were stuck in traffic on their way to games. The Raiders averaged somewhere around 60,000 spectators in the cavernous Coliseum. Rams attendance was adequate. Both teams wanted new stadiums, but local government and business leaders were not interested, so they left. Now the NFL knocks on the doors of L.A. (and Anaheim) leaders wanting help and, low and behold, they will probably get it (notwithstanding the other ways they could use the tax dollars to improve their cities). Much like Harris County, Texas built Reliant Stadium for the Texans after rebuffing overtures from the Oilers to get a new stadium before they bolted for Tennessee.

Either way, the NFL is a private entity and can do its own thing. But it seems like the league is preoccupied with this for no good reason.

Dwyer A.W.O.L.

Don Dwyer must not have gotten the memo about the "Legislator" portion of being a Citizen-Legislator (as he likes to call himself). To be a Legislator, he would actually have to show up.

Don Dwyer was not present during the General Assembly's special session. That's right; when 138 of the 141 members of the House of Delegates voted on rate relief for BGE customers and on a bill to deal with child sex offenders, Don Dwyer did not bother to show up.

I think that pretty much sums up how Don Dwyer feels about the people of District 31. Two major issues that will impact every one of his constituents, and he blows it off. As the Capital notes, Dwyer was on a "previously scheduled vacation." He'll try and use his European adventure as an excuse, but it isn't like they decided on Tuesday to go into session Wednesday.

Frankly, there is no excuse for Don Dwyer to choose being on vacation in Europe over being at work to deal with the issues the legislature was considering. Dwyer abdicated his responsibility and failed the people of our district. The stakes were too high for District 31 to not be fully represented.

Shocked, Shocked!

Shocked I say to find out that people scammed the government on hurricane assistance:

The government doled out as much as $1.4 billion in bogus assistance to victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, getting hoodwinked to pay for season football tickets, a tropical vacation and even a divorce lawyer, congressional investigators have found.

Prison inmates, a supposed victim who used a cemetery for a home address, and a person who spent 70 days at a Hawaiian hotel all were able to wrongly get taxpayer help, according to evidence. Agents from the Government Accountability Office even informed Congress that one man apparently used FEMA assistance money for a sex change operation.

This turned out to be a prodigious use of our tax dollars, indeed. One more reason to cut pork in government; not to cut out worthwhile relief projects, but because there is just not enough oversight to go around.

The Next "Big" Thing

This story on Townhall.com is a very serious story about lawsuit abuse in lawsuits being used for political purposes (particularly in California), but I can't help but laugh every time that I see the phrase Big Tofu.

Passing the Buck

If the Sun is accurate, then the plan that will be debated during this week's Special Session of the General Assembly is Speaker Busch's plan, and calls for a 15-percent rate hike for 11 months, at which point the Public Service Commission (albeit, a new PSC appointed by the legislature) will decide on the need for a permanent rate-hike.

Busch's plan is so transparently political that it should not warrant serious consideration. It also means that Democratic legislators, much like they did seven years ago, and much like this year in their feeble attempts to blame Governor Ehrlich for this situation, will once again pass the buck onto another year. What the Democratic legislature is doing cannot under any rational reasoning be defined as leadership; just business as usual in Annapolis.

Defeat From the Jaws of Victory

How come the Orioles recently have been finding new and creative ways to lose games? Sure, the two wins against Tampa Bay were important, however even Thursday's game was a gift. Tonight's loss to the Twins was basically giftwrapped after LaTroy Hawkins' rundown fiasco, and then of course it was Bruce Chen who gave up the gamewinning homer.

We all understand the Orioles are not supposed to be compete, but we still can't give these games away.

Misfire

Looks like the Dwyer/Corocoran team are the gang that can't shoot straight. Their slate had been planning an NRA-related shooting course as a fundraiser. The emphasis on had been planning, as the campaign received this e-mail from the folks at the NRA:

NRA hereby demands The Official Republican Slate Dist. 31 immediately cease and desist from using "NRA" or any other protected term or mark owned by The National Rifle Association of America in connection with any political activity. NRA further demands your organization immediately act to cancel and disavow the event noted below publicly and in particular to all original recipients of the communication below. Prompt documented verification these steps have been taken must be received before close of business Monday, June 5, 2006.

The item below was received by this office earlier today. NRA and National Rifle Association of America are protected marks of the NRA and cannot be used without our express premission. That permission was not and will not be given for the purposes advertised below. Your use of these marks violates the trademark, copyright and other intellectual property rights of the NRA. This event is not and will not be given license to use the NRA name in connection with it. Nothing short of a full retraction will suffice.

Dwyer and Corcoran can't even hold a fundraiser these days without angering the people on their own side. Of course, copyright and trademark infrignement aren't exactly ideal campaign issues to run on, either...

A Waste of Time

Congress really has better things to do than raise indecency fines on broadcast outlets. I understand the outrage and frustration with some of the things that go on television, but at the end of the day it is the parents responsibility to ensure that their children do not see and hear things that are objectionable. And with all of the other problems our nation faces right now, indecency fines should be at the very back of the line...

Grimsley Revelation May be Most Damning Of All

The Feds search of former Oriole and now former Diamondback reliever Jason Grimsley's home could be the most damning evidence yet of baseball's drug problem. And given what Grimsley has said, it's formally not just a steroid problem; now, human growth hormone (HGH) and amphetamines are in play:

According to court documents, Grimsley failed a league drug test in 2003. Authorities said when he was cooperating, he admitted to using human growth hormone, amphetamines and steroids.

He added that amphetamine use was prevalent in pro baseball, and that it was placed in coffee in clubhouses -- marked "leaded" or "unleaded" to indicate which pots contained the drugs -- Novitsky wrote.

The Republic reported that Latino players were cited by Grimsley in the court documents as a major source of amphetamines, as were major leaguers on California teams who could easily travel to Mexico to buy the drugs.

The newspaper reported that the affidavit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix, said that Grimsley took delivery of two kits containing human growth hormone at his home on April 19.

None of this is any good for Major League Baseball at this point, and it may be the most damning news of all. Given all of the recent attention to steroids, MLB has started to enact its steroid policy in order to allow for testing and suspensions. But who is looking into the use of HGH and amphetamines? What's worse, amphetamines have been a problem in baseball for years, even going back to the "greenies" of the 1970's. Why, after thirty years, are we still looking at this problem?

Major League Baseball needs to institute mandatory drug testing for amphetamines now. HGH is a little harder because there is no real test to do so. But baseball needs to clean up the game of all performance enhancing drugs, not just steroids. And given Congress' attitude on the subject of illegal drugs recently, baseball better do it before Congress does it for them.

The fact that Grimsley not only accepted contraband goods, but also apparently named names while he was cooperating with federal investigators is extremely bad news for baseball. Let's hope that this is not the beginning of the end for our national pastime.

Up in Smoke

Surprising absolutely no one, Doug Duncan proposed a $1-per-pack increase in cigarette taxes yesterday as an effort to fund health care efforts:

"What good is having the best health care in the world if people can't access it?" said Duncan, a Democrat, as he unveiled his campaign's health care proposal yesterday. "A healthy society benefits us all, so government has a role and a responsibility to do what it can to achieve that goal."

There are so many problems with Duncan's quote, not the least of which is the fact that it is the individual, not government, who has the ultimate responsibility for living a healthy lifestyle and living in a healthy society.

The bigger problem for Duncan's plan deals with access. How will people have better access to health care under his plan? Sure, it creates an anticipated $200 million in new revenue, all of which is immediately spent on his initiatives. But what happens when the money does not materialize? Common sense and past indicators show that when sin taxes like these are enacted they never produce as much revenue as anticipated. People will either have a new impetus to stop smoking, or they will go out of state to by their cigarettes.

Sure, this is in all political reality a temporary diversion from energy rates. But it just goes to show that the Democrats plan on raising taxes like they always do...

Rock On

John J. Miller of National Review has published his list of the 50 Greatest Conservative Rock Songs of all time., and also some additional comments references here. An interesting list, considering that a lot of the artists are themselves not conservative, but if you listen to the lyrics, what Miller finds is there. I just think that it's pretty cool that "Sympathy for the Devil" made it so high on the list.

Miller's additional comments actually makes a very good point; the songs he points out are less conservative than they are opposing big government. It is a very anti-establishment attitude, which we see a lot of in rock music and what makes the tunes so appealing (and it explains a lot about my CD collection....)

Dwyer to Quit Senate Race Soon

As I speculated Friday, the hot word on the street is that Don Dwyer will announce he is quitting his barely one-month old Senate campaign in order to run for re-election to the House of Delegates as soon as he returns from his two-week vacation in Europe.

Dwyer's decision is not all that surprising considering everything that has happened since his announcement. Speculation about other candidates jumping in the race. The fact that not one of the current candidates stepped aside to give Dwyer the free shot he probably thinks he deserves. All of it probably led to the decision that it was better for his political career to stay put than to run for the Senate. The decision that a cynic would say goes against the nature of his "citizen-politician" shtick.

Of course, you have to wonder how this makes Dwyer look? Dwyer must have realized that when the other four candidates did not part the seas for his anointing that he was not the slam dunk winner that he thought he was (and all four of them should be commended for not turning tail). In my eyes, this is just further proof that Don Dwyer is out for nobody but Don Dwyer. He had an opportunity to take a risk, and at the end of the day he did not have the heart to make the effort; he took the easy way out. Now, Dwyer looks weak and vulnerable not only in the General Election, but the primary as well in the face of several strong candidates.

I guess that with Dwyer quitting, the door remains open for John Leopold to abandon his current campaign in order to run for the State Senate.

What is the P-O-I-N-T?

Do Spelling Bees serve a purpose anymore? I mean this seriously, and not from the perspective of some wingnuts out there.

Spelling bees are nothing more than memory competitions. Students learn how to spell words that even the most educated students out there do not use in their everyday vernacular. And even then, they often do not even know what the words mean (how many times do you see competitors ask for the definition of the word?).

And on top of it, the Scripps National Spelling Bee seems to be getting more and more specialized, won by students whose aim is to win the spelling bee. Look at the final words through the history of the bee. Until the 1950's, the final words were words that students could be expected to use at some point in their lives; therapy, insouciant, initials, condominium. Now, take a look at the ones in this decade; succedaneum, prospicience, pococurante, autochthonous, appoggiatura, and now ursprache. Two of those words aren't even included in the spellchecker for Microsoft Word.

Just because you know how to spell antidisestablishmentarianism does not mean you know what antidisestablishmentarianism is.

Spelling bees are useful to the point of enhancing memory skills. But even the National Geography Bee (and yes, I was the 1993 Chesapeake Bay Middle School champion) gives students the opportunity to learn geographic concepts that they will be able to use for the rest of their lives.

I just hope that the usefulness of these bees is not being lost to the point that the students involved are missing out on learning key concepts and critical thinking skills useful in their life.

One Month Out

We are one month away from the filing deadline for candidates to run in this year's elections. And in the next 30 days, we are still a lot of questions that need to be answered in our District.

• Dwyer's Decision: Don Dwyer announced he was running for the State Senate in May. As of today, however, he is still a declared candidate for the House of Delegates. What gives? Is there some sort of deception going on here? His Senate website is still merely a placeholder. He did not show up to the Lake Shore parade on Sunday. And how will the rumors of a Nelson Sabatini candidacy impact what he finally does? Is Don Dwyer really going to run for the Senate, or was his announcement a bait and switch?
  
  
• A Slippery Slate: Speaking of Dwyer, he announced that he was creating a slate in March 2005 and announced that Pat Corcoran would join him as a Delegate candidate on that slate. Fifteen months later, the slate still consists of only Dwyer and Corcoran; no other delegate candidate agreed to sign on, before or after Dwyer's announcement. That's not to say that they haven't tried to add candidates; they have. Does anybody want to be associated with the Dwyer/Corcoran team?
  
  
• The Leopold Factor: Speaking of last minute decisions, John Leopold will have to file for some elected office, and will probably wait until July 3rd to do so. Will he actually finally run for County Executive after six false starts? Will he jump into the Senate race? How will his political connection to Dwyer (given the fact that Dwyer is on Leopold's steering committee despite their polar opposite stances on some issues) impact his decision to finally file?

Thirty days until the deadline, but still we have many more questions than we do answers in this chaotic election cycle.

The PSC Rides to O'Malley's Rescue

The Public Service Commission readopted Governor Ehrlich's rate plan today. Amazingly, this helps Martin O'Malley's political chances. As I noted on Tuesday, it was O'Malley who had the most to lose by the court order banning the rate plan, as it would be O'Malley's fault that rates increased 72% overnight. The PSC bailed O'Malley out of that mess today.

But who cares about the politics. The PSC adopted the Governor's rate plan. In the end, only Governor Ehrlich was the work horse, actually trying to get a deal done rather than posture for the cameras. O'Malley, Busch, and Miller were all show horses, merely spectators in this effort. The voters will remember that.

A Mighty Wurlitzer?

I have being accused of being a part of the Mighty Wurlitzer by the folks over at Free State Comment, a lefty blog in our fair state. Of course, even me being as blog-savvy as I am had no idea what this Wurlitzer business was, so I had to look it up:

the right has perfected what the CIA used to call a "mighty Wurlitzer" -- a propaganda machine that can hone a fact or a lie, broadcast it, and have it echoed and recycled in Fox News commentary, in Washington Times news stories, in Wall Street Journal editorials, by myriad right-wing pundits, by Heritage seminars and briefing papers, and in congressional hearings and speeches. Privatization of Social Security, vouchers for school, Vince Foster's supposed murder, Hillary's secret sex life, you name it -- the right's mighty Wurlitzer can ensure that a message is broadcast across the county, echoed in national and local news, and reverberated in the speeches of respectable academics as well as rabid politicians.

Given how often that I am not in lockstep with the Administration and the national party, I guess that the Kossack crowd will assign that moniker to anybody that does not share in their worldview (so much as it is a worldview, given that most of the left is stuck with "we hate the right", new ideas and policies be damned).

But hey, they have a place in our political dialogue as well. Unlike the left-wing of the blogosphere, the conservative/libertarian side tends to encourage discourse; we can do that, since we have ideas and can defend them in a rational manner.

Everybody Thinks Congress Has it Wrong

Democrat or Republican, everybody sides against Congress on the Jefferson searches:

In the rift between Congress and the Justice Department, Americans side overwhelmingly with law enforcement: Regardless of precedent and the separation of powers, 86 percent say the FBI should be allowed to search a Congress member's office if it has a warrant.

That view is broadly bipartisan, this ABC News poll finds, ranging from 78 percent among Democrats to 94 percent of Republicans.

That last number, the 94 percent of Republicans, really makes you wonder what Hastert, Sensenbrenner, et. al. are thinking.

The EU's Iron Hand

The Dutch have been reclaiming land from the sea for hundreds of years. It takes the iron rule of the EU to make them give it back:

In the name of European Union environmental directives, their farm is earmarked for flooding - the first time in Holland's centuries-long battle against water that a substantial piece of land is to be deliberately returned to the sea.

Some 230 years after its flat pastures were wrested from the waters, the de Feijters' farm - their home for 33 years - is to be re-flooded to reverse the disappearance of Zeeland's mudflats and salt marshes.

I would say that only the European Union would have the wherewithal to tell people to get off of their land by government diktat, and as the EU's Long Goodbye continues, they may even lose that ability. However, in this post Kelo v. New London environment, we know that's just not true anymore.