The Year That Was 2006

Yes, more awards for 2006. Last year's post is available here.

Best Move of 2006: Ravens trade for Steve McNair
2005 Winner: John Roberts Appointed as Chief Justice
You might expect me to put a political decision for something like this, but given the year that was 2006, nothing could possibly take away from the Raven's acquisition of McNair as the best move of the year. What made the move the best move is twofold; the way the Ravens made the acquisition (waiting until the Titans lost some of their leverage to make the deal) and the impact that McNair has had on the team. There is no way that this Ravens team is 12-3 without him, and you could make the argument that McNair on that basis alone is truly the NFL's Most Valuable Player in 2006 (notwithstanding the argument on whether or not the MVP goes to the player that is most valuable to his team).

Worst Move of 2006: Mel Martinez becomes General Chairman of the RNC
2005 "Winners": Harriet Miers appointed to Supreme Court, Rafael Palmeiro's testimony to Congress
At a time when the party needs to get back to its roots, the Administration selects a centrist Senator who happens to be Hispanic as the party chair. I'm not saying Sen. Martinez is a bad guy, just not the right guy to lead the Republican Party on a national level the next two years, particularly with a candidate experienced at fundraising and party building (Michael Steele) available to lead the way.

Strangest Move: Don Dwyer's May and June
2005 Winner: Martin O'Malley thanks MD4BUSH
In the span of a month, Don Dwyer declared himself a candidate for State Senate, privately withdrew, went on vacation during a Special Session, and dropped out of the Senate race to run for re-election. It doesn't get much stranger than that.

Guy I Feel Bad For: Rick Neuheisel, Ravens Quarterbacks Coach
2005 "Winner": Rick Neuheisel
Rick Neuheisel still can't catch a break. After being passed over last year for head coaching jobs at places like San Diego State and Temple, he winds up not becoming the Ravens Offensive Coordinator when Jim Fassel gets fired and Brian Billick begins calling the plays with tremendous success. For a guy who was a successful collegiate coach, will Neuheisel ever get a chance to be a head coach again in the foreseeable future?

Best Run Campaign(Local Division): Nic Kipke for Delegate(R-31)
2005 Winner: Jeff Holtzinger for Mayor(R-Frederick)
Maybe this is rank homerism since I volunteered for and donated extensively to Nic's campaign, but I couldn't be prouder of the campaign that Nic ran. A grassroots-based effort that required Nic to work incredibly hard both to both raise funds and reach out to voters over the past two years. The hard work paid off. Many campaigns in our area make great use of the resources they have, but none were able to do so as extensively and as successfully as his.

Best Run Campaign(Statewide Division): Michael Steele for U.S. Senate(R)
For a brief period in the closing weeks of the campaign, it really looked like the Lt. Governor was going to pull this off. A lot of people swore that the Lt. Governor had no chance in 2006, and predicted that he would register something closer to what E.J. Pipkin got against Mikulski in 2004 than the 44% he registered against Ben Cardin. We, as a party, need to improve upon that in the 2010 Senate election, but Michael Steele held his own and can remain an important statewide figure in the next four years.

Best Run Campaign(National Division): Barack Obama for President(D-IL)
2005 Winner: Paul Hackett for Congress(D-OH)
How can I give this award to somebody who was not running for office in 2006? Simple; who else has done more for their political career in the last 12 months than Barack Obama? Back in 2004, people said "Hey, this guy could be President some day." Now, a lot of Democrats say "Hey, this guy should run for President now." Add the personality, a voting record that is still relatively empty, a good personal story, and an adoring media and you get a political media sensation probably not seen since RFK. He may, ultimately, not run for President in 2008. But his campaign team has put him in such a good position that he actually has a legitimate shot to secure his party's nomination, and chances like that do not come around to freshman U.S. Senators that often (if at all).

Worst Run Campaign(Local Division): Don Dwyer re-election campaign(R)
2005 "Winner": George Kelley for Mayor(R-Annapolis)
What can be said that I have not already said? If Dwyer had put a little effort into his campaign, he would have saved taxpayers $10,000 for a recount. To be honest, I still don't know how he pulled out a victory. But he did, now leading us into a new realm of contradictions about whether or not he is going to be hell on wheels or "kinder and gentler."

Worst Run Campaign(Statewide Division): Steven Abrams for Comptroller(R)
It was not a good year to be Steve Abrams. First he files for Comptroller, basically admitting he was a placeholder on the off-chance (he insinuated) that William Donald Schaefer was knocked off in the Democratic primary. Then, Abrams proceeded to put in absolutely no effort and finished second to Anne McCarthy. To make matters worse for Abrams, he then managed to finagle his way onto the General Election Ballot as a Republican replacement nominee for an at-large seat on the Montgomery County Council. You can guess how that turned out. Then, he allegedly slugged somebody in relation to his duty as a Montgomery County Board of Education Member. Not a good year.

To be somewhat fair to Abrams, however, the entire Republican establishment basically abandoned the Comptroller's race, basically assuming that Schaefer was unbeatable and hoping for the best. That didn't turn out so well...

Worst Run Campaign(National Division): Sen. George Allen's re-election campaign(R-VA)
2005 "Winner": Jerry Kilgore for Governor(R-VA)
What can be said about Allen's campaign that has not already been said? A 20 months ago he was the insiders choice as the likely Republican nominee for President in 2008. He started the year as

Unfortunately, all of the worst run campaigns in 2006 (and 2005, for that matter) were for Republican candidates...

Best International Development: Saddam Hussein Convicted and Executed
2005 Winner: Free Elections in Iraq
A jury of Saddam Hussein's peers convicted him of war crimes, and provided an appropriate sentence. It will never undo all of the thousands of people that died at Hussein's hands. But he got exactly what was coming to him.

Worst International Development: Russian President Vladimir Putin begins murdering critics
2005 "Winner": Vladimir Putin's Reforms in Russia
The second straight year that I have noted Vladimir Putin. Why Putin instead of other problems? Because, for better or for worse, Russia remains a long-term player on the international scene merely because of their size, their resources, and their military. Putin seems hellbent on recreating certain aspects of the old Soviet Union, and 2006 saw another slide towards that eventuality.

Worst News of 2006: Democrats take Congress, Government House
It was, in general, not a good year to run as a Republican in 2006. We've talked here a lot about why. 2007 needs to be dedicated to getting back, as a party and as a nation, to where we need to be.

Thanks for reading this year, as stay with us as we enter our third year of blogging in 2007...

So Which Is It

Here is a quote from this wire story about the big bad ice island:

"This is a dramatic and disturbing event. It shows that we are losing remarkable features of the Canadian North that have been in place for many thousands of years," Vincent said. "We are crossing climate thresholds, and these may signal the onset of accelerated change ahead."

Three paragraphs later...

Some scientists say that the break-off of the ice shelf is the largest event of its kind in Canada in 30 years and that climate change was a major element.

So is it a drastic event, or the biggest of its kind in thirty years? Ice sheets calve apart due to natural climate change, kinda like how they use to farm Greenland in the medieval warm period.

Climate change happens. Not everything can be blamed on the big bad human race...

Surprise, Surprise

Who is surprised by this?:

For a quarter of a century, Carmen Scialabba labored for Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), helping parcel out the billions of dollars that came through the House Appropriations Committee, so when the disabled aide needed a favor, Murtha was there.

In 2001, Murtha announced the creation of Scialabba's nonprofit agency for the disabled in Johnstown, Pa. The next year, with Scialabba still on his staff, Murtha secured a half-million dollars for the group, the Pennsylvania Association for Individuals With Disabilities (PAID), and put another $150,000 in the pipeline for 2003, according to appropriations committee records and former committee aides. Since then, the group has helped hundreds of disabled people find work.

But the group serves another function as well. PAID has become a gathering point for defense contractors and lobbyists with business before Murtha's defense appropriations subcommittee, and for Pennsylvania businesses and universities that have thrived on federal money obtained by Murtha.

Lobbyists and corporate officials serve as directors on the nonprofit group's board, where they help raise money and find jobs for Johnstown's disabled workers. Some of those lobbyists have served as intermediaries between the defense contractors and businessmen on the board, and Murtha and his aides.

That arrangement over the years has yielded millions of dollars in federal support for the contractors, businesses and universities, and hundreds of thousands in consulting and lobbying fees to Murtha's favored lobbying shops, according to Federal Election Commission records and lobbying disclosure forms. In turn, many of PAID's directors have kept Murtha's campaigns flush with cash.

Cute acronym. None of this should be a surprise given Murtha's corrupt past (ABSCAM and what not) but isn't this just a little too blatant to be allowed to continue? Where are the charges of ethical misconduct from Congressional Democrats and the media? Especially when you consider this is some of the same stuff that Tom DeLay was accused of doing...

Life in the Fast Lane

The Sun decided today would be a good day to run a column in the Maryland section lamenting the lack of penalties for speeders on Maryland roads. Michael Dresser's biggest gripe seems to be that people who are speeding get only speeding tickets instead of jail time and loss of their license.

That's right; for these folks, Maryland is not enough of a nanny state. Quotes like this:

The problem with the charge of vehicular manslaughter is that it addresses the outcome - which is in part a matter of bad luck - rather than the behavior that caused it. How many drivers get caught tearing down the road at 85 mph and get nothing more than a fine? In fact, many drivers routinely go 85 mph and don't even consider it extreme.

Under this logic, people should be arrested for doing anything that is dangerous that may or may not proceed to a bad outcome. That means somebody who is putting up Christmas lights should be arrested while standing on a ladder because he might fall and injure somebody else. And in a lot of situations, it is unsafe not to speed; if you are not keeping up with the flow of traffic, it is dangerous to both yourself and the cars around you.

Some other things that these folks would like to do is to confiscate vehicles and permanently take your driver's license for committing egregious speeding offenses (egregious in their eyes, at least). Never mind the fact that nothing requires you to have a driver's license to physically operate a motor vehicle on the roads; the license merely allows you to do it legally.

Then there is this quote:

What Rice experienced was no less an assault than a gunshot aimed at her that missed. When a vehicle is being used as a weapon rather than as a means of transportation, why shouldn't the law treat it as a weapon?

That's just unenlightened. Who determines when a vehicle is being used as a weapon? Once again, it can only be done after the fact and upon assessing intent. There are already laws against using your vehicle as a weapon. There are already laws against reckless driving. I'm not sure exactly what these people want.

I understand that there are people who have lost their loved ones in a vehicular incident, and that is unfortunate. But a lot of the kvetching seems to be related to people who are driving the speed-limit and not keeping up with the flow of traffic, which is also against the law, though I doubt the folks complaining about the enforcement of speeding and reckless driving laws would support increased enforcement of that law.

My solutions do not include more enforcement (we already have enough police officers setting up speed traps in dangerous locations, which cause people to slam on the brakes and cause or nearly cause fender-benders; the most dangerous of these is the 100/10 crossover, where I was once ticketed because for speeding up to safely negotiate the crossover). The solutions are to raise the speed limit and to require the use of the right lane whenever possible.

Yes, raise the speed limit. Driver's are more attentive at higher speeds, and more attentive drivers lead to better drivers. And requiring the use of the right lane (when possible) means that the faster traffic will have more unfettered ability to driver more safely at a higher speed. It works for the Autobahn in Germany, which incidentally has a lower accident rate than American highways. And German authorities strictly enforce the two laws above to ensure that traffic has more unfettered access.

Dresser and his reader's complaint seems like it should be with the judicial system more than anything else. If cops are writing tickets, and judges are allowing other tickets to be thrown out, how are any new laws going to stop that, short of mandatory minimums on speeding violations, which seems to be what Dresser and company are looking for?

Once again, Sun columnists and readers unfortunately jump to the conclusion that safety can only be increased and the public can only be served through more laws and regulations. And once again, that's just not the case.

Merry Christmas!

...and go Ravens. Today's game against the Steelers is going to be incredibly tough given injury problems.

Here We Go Again

Don Rodricks has once again decided to trot out his involuntary servitude program that he wants to inflict upon 18-21 year olds, like he did in May. Here is a gem from his column today:

For a few years in their lives, young men and women serve a greater good and take a lesson from this experience into the rest of their lives.

Yeah, the lesson would be that big government thinks they owe something to big government, so wants to force them to serve big government in some capacity.

Of course, Rodricks' column still does not address the fact that Mandatory Volunteerism has not worked in Maryland over the last decade, that the Army still does not want draftees, and he of course still glosses over the 13th Amendment issue.

If Rodricks is so gung ho about national service, he can feel free to sign up at any time. Until then, maybe he should step back and stop promoting totalitarian ideas that he himself would ridicule if put forth by a Republican...

Try Doing Something Useful

While the United Nations kvetches about the U.S. and how evil we are all, can we all stop for a second an examine the fact that people in Zimbabwe have been reduced to eating rats?

I have been saying for years that the U.S. and other nations need to take action in Zimbabwe due to the actions of Dictator Robert Mugabe. Problems have existed for years, particularly getting desperate after Mugabe's "land reform" which stole private property from landowners and handed it over to the poor, driving the landowners out of the country. That didn't worked, so Mugabe redistributed the land to political favorites and has allowed his people to starve to death.

It hasn't helped that pressure groups have convinced Zimbabwean authorities to reject genetically modified grains, either.

If the UN really wants to do something useful, how about getting some humanitarian relief to these people and putting pressure on Zimbabwe to reform itself now? I understand that it means the UN would have to take time away from bashing the US, blaming Israel, and keeping questionable taxpayer funded perks, but this would actually save some lives and do some good.

Mixed Messages

Apparently, state Democrats are not on the same page as far as tax hikes go:

"We know what needs to be done. The question is whether there is the political will...We really haven't done anything since the 1960s when we put in a progressive income tax. If this governor has a vision, and I think he does, it's going to mean looking at the entire revenue structure."
- Mike Miller, Baltimore Sun, 12/19/2006

"No one wants to send the message back home that the new governor wants to raise taxes. No one wants to look at [raising taxes] first...We've got to figure out where we are going in the next three or four years."
- Ed Kasemayer, Washington Times, 12/19/2006

Maybe I'm crazy, but I always get nervous when legislative leadership talks about the need for "tax reform" , because in their mind reform only means higher and higher taxes. We know where this is going. The question is whether or not there are enough common-sense legislators on the Democratic side of the house to avoid this.

This is Cool

A Space Transporter for the Marines:

As any battlefield commander will tell you, getting troops to the fight can be as difficult as winning it. And for modern-day soldiers, the sites of conflict are so far-flung, and the political considerations of even flying over another country so complicated, that rapid entry has become nearly impossible. If a group of Marine Corps visionaries have their way, however, 30 years from now, Marines could touch down anywhere on the globe in less than two hours, without needing to negotiate passage through foreign airspace. The breathtaking efficiency of such a delivery system could change forever the way the U.S. does battle.

The proposal, part of the Corps's push toward greater speed and flexibility, is called Small Unit Space Transport and Insertion, or Sustain. Using a suborbital transport—that is, a vehicle that flies into space to achieve high travel speeds but doesn't actually enter orbit—the Corps will be able, in effect, to instantaneously deliver Marine squads anywhere on Earth. The effort is led by Roosevelt Lafontant, a former Marine lieutenant colonel now employed by the Schafer Corporation, a military-technology consulting firm working with the Marines. Insertion from space, Lafontant explains, makes it possible for the Marines—typically the first military branch called on for emergency missions—to avoid all the usual complications that can delay or end key missions. No waiting for permission from an allied nation, no dangerous rendezvous in the desert, no slow helicopter flights over mountainous terrain. Instead, Marines could someday have an unmatched element of surprise, allowing them to do everything from reinforce Special Forces to rescue hostages thousands of miles away.

I have a hunch that Congress will find a reason to make sure such a potentially useful tool never sees the light of day anytime soon...

So Much for That Promise

John Leopold has thrown his first major campaign promise out the window:

Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold, who has moved to cut spending in his first two weeks in office, plans to continue using a police security detail that costs at least $125,000 a year and that drew criticism during the fall campaign...

..."I have an obligation to the citizens of the county to follow the advice of the experts," Leopold said. "It's no longer about what John Leopold wants. It's what the police say County Executive Leopold should do."

I am having a hard time trying to figure out how we can we can be getting ready for a much needed 5-10% across the board budget cut while justifying this continued expense, especially considering how much more useful it would be to have these officers on the street. If it were I making the decision, I could not justify it, especially since $125,000 a year is enough money to fund about three new teachers. It just seems to me that Leopold decided to change his tune shortly after losing his House of Delegates plates. If he couldn't be identified as being different in his car, why should he bother to drive?

It reminds me of a story from the time I was working at Kurtz's Beach. It was the first time I ever met John Leopold. I was working during some sort of political function. Leopold rolls in driving his Pontiac with his House of Delegates plates and parks in a handicapped parking spot. I politely informed he that he could not park there. He said that he could, he had always parked there. I informed him that it was handicapped parking. He sternly informed me that he was Delegate John Leopold and yes, he could park there. I told him that I didn't really care if he was the Pope, he could not park in the handicapped parking. Ultimately, Leopold didn't really care and his car stayed.

I guess some people always think they are more special than other people.

Now, if Leopold or any other government official were the target of legitimate threats I would have absolutely no problem with providing them with an appropriate security detail. Given his history according to press reports, Don Dwyer has a more legitimate need for a security detail than Leopold. But to automatically provide the County Executive with a security detail when many higher profile public officials have no detail at all seems a bit ludicrous. If Leopold has been the subject of threats, and I hope that he has not been subjected to such a thing, he needs to say so. If he hasn't, then this is just the first Leopold campaign promise broken. He has survived for 25 years in public life without security; what changed?

I can't wait to see if Leopold has the audacity to sign wave alongside his police detail...

A Succinct Interpretation

Erick Erickson sums up the Anybody But McCain camp over at RedState:

Lots of my friends have jumped on the McCain bandwagon. These friends usually begin their conversations with "Yes [you're right on X], but . . .," which is inevitably followed by him being right on spending, North Korea, Iraq, abortion, or some other single issue of importance.

Notwithstanding all of that, John McCain is wrong on the fundamentals. However pretty the veneer is, a rotten foundation will cause his structure to crumble. And we have seen that happen repeatedly. All John McCain needs is a CNN camera crew and he stands ready to shove conservatives under the bus if he's guaranteed prime time and Anderson Cooper crying tears of joy while Chris Matthews stands by blowing kisses.

Read the whole thing. I think a lot of the Republican base are not going to give McCain the time of day when it comes to the 2008 primaries. I don't know who our nominee will be (I know who I would like it to be) but I highly doubt it will be John McCain.

Not Just Here

The U.S. does not have a monopoly on the misappropriation of funds:

WHEN people around the world sent millions of pounds to help the stricken Indonesian province of Aceh after the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004, few could have imagined that their money would end up subsidising the lashing of women in public.

But militant Islamists have since imposed sharia law in Aceh and have cornered Indonesian government funds to organise a moral vigilante force that harasses women and stages frequent displays of humiliation and state-sanctioned violence.

International aid workers and Indonesian women's organisations are now expressing dismay that the flow of foreign cash for reconstruction has allowed the government to spend scarce money on a new bureaucracy and religious police to enforce puritan laws, such as the compulsory wearing of headscarves.

Some say there are more "sharia police" than regular police on the local government payroll and that many of them are aggressive young men.

That's sad, because the people of these areas need food, clothing, and shelter much more than they do religious fanatacism.

A Kyle Boller Day

So far, Kyle Boller's day today looks a lot like the Kyle Boller we saw in 2005 than the Kyle Boller we saw earlier in the season when Steve McNair got hurt.

I'm not sure if there is a need for McNair to come back into the game given the way things are going, but I'm not certain if the growth it looked like we saw from Boller earlier this year is really there.

But the Headline Was Good....

Well, the editorial in today's Capital started well; Legislators should fix school board system. But the editorial managed to disappoint:

Mr. Leopold, like some other legislators, would have liked to see an elected school board. But, as a pragmatist, he eventually pushed for a compromise that would make the governor select from a list compiled by a 15-member panel appointed by the governor, the county executive, the County Council, the business community and the teachers' union.

The board members selected by the governor would have to stand for a yes-or-no vote in the next election. It's not the elected school board that many would prefer, but it would be an improvement on today's system - and it can happen quickly if delegation members get their act together.

Except, as we know, it is not an improvement considering the Governor will still ultimately make the appointment. And Leopold's bill still consolidates power in fewer people than even now have influence over the process, giving voters no real choice at the polls. Compromise is a good thing on a lot of issues, but there is no sense in passing a pointless reform to the selection process hat will have no impact upon the status quo.

Just Remember I Didn't Say It...

...Greg Kline did:

No doubt Don could always have been more subtle and picked his battles a little better but now, flush with victory, he is sounding more like a relieved incumbent wanting to never have another close race rather than the zealot who wanted to speak the truth regardless of the outcome. No good can come from this, can it?

On the campaign trail, Don would say "No one can do what I do and get reelected" Now that he has been proven wrong, he appears willing to give up what "he does".

Though it seems a little odd and probably a tad disingenuous to go from this to this in a period of 30 days.

Life Imitating Art

I have finally come up with the perfect analogy for the Republican Party's recent struggles at the polls. The Republican Party as the Goo Goo Dolls. Even the timeline works with this analogous comparison.

First came the origins phase. The Goo Goo Dolls were a punk band struggling to get noticed by the record executives, only to be picked up by Metal Blade Records, an independent recording company specializing in hard rock and metal bands like Slayer and GWAR. This version of the Goo Goo Dolls was the embodiment of their musical roots, culminating in their album Superstar Car Wash.

Then, in 1994 the band recorded A Boy Named Goo. The album was true to their metal sensibilities, but was put forth in a packaging that made it more appealing to the masses.

From there, things went in a different direction. The band lost more and more of its original sounds as it more and more moved towards something mainstream. Sure, the band was headlining large arenas and stadiums across the country. However, the more time progressed, the more and more the band lost the edge that had made them unique. They were turned into any other guitar driven band making commercial music to play on Mix stations, selling records more on their brand name than anything else. Their latest album, Let Love In, is almost unlistenable and sounds nothing like even A Boy Named Goo from 12 years ago.

Now, instead of selling out stadiums and arenas, the band recently struggled to sell out the Lyric Opera House.

Republicans prior to 1994 had a distinctive sound and message, appealing to the political sensibilities of its constituency. It had a little edge in it. In 1994, we had the Contract With America, which put forth a true Republican agenda packaged in a way that appealed to the sensibilities of an electorate that was looking for something different. And while Republicans went mainstream across the country on the backs of the Contract, along the way we kept losing more and more of our way. We kept compromising more and more on the principles that made Republicans Republican. We wound up with higher deficits, bigger government and a larger bureaucracy. We went from a Congress committed to eliminating the Department of Education to a Congress that passed No Child Left Behind. Sure, there was enough left that you could recognize that it was in fact a Republican Congress, through tax cuts and a commitment to national defense. But a lot of Republican principles were left behind in an effort to be more "mainstream."

Now, we find ourselves with Republicans in the minority in Congress, with fewer than half of the Governships, and staring the 2008 Presidential Cycle without a superstar who can guarantee victory.

I'm not really sure where the Goo Goo Dolls go from here. But I know it is time for Republicans to regain their edge, and return to the principles of limited government and fiscal responsibility. In 2006 Republican candidates at all levels, from Governor on down to Delegate, won elections by campaigning on their Republican principles. A Republican cannot win by being a Democrat. It's time for Republicans across the nation to get the message and starting appealing to the voters who share their beliefs. Only by being true to the first principles of conservatism can the party find electoral success.

More Taxing Matters

It's not just the cigarette tax prominent Democrats will push for in Annapolis this year, from the sounds of it:

Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett yesterday called for an increase in Maryland's gas tax to help fund road and mass transit projects he said would not be possible without a sustained way to pay for them.

The suggestion by the new leader of the state's largest jurisdiction to raise the 23.5-cent tax got a tepid response from Gov.-elect Martin O'Malley (D), who sized it up as an "interesting proposal," and state Senate President Thomas V. "Mike" Miller (D-Calvert), who said it could be a tough sell in the General Assembly.

I'm not exactly sure why O'Malley finds in "interesting." I find it pretty sad that the same politicians who blamed the Bush Administration for higher gas prices now want to raise gas prices once more through taxes; and another regressive tax to boot.

Is there anything in Maryland same from new potential taxes? Especially considering what we need to do is lower the gas tax to ensure to relieve the costs of higher gas prices

Here We Go Again

Despite no longer being a legislator, John Leopold is once again going to push for the school board bill that he introduced in 2006. Once again, it seems that Leopold's dream bill involves little to do with electing school board members, much as it did last year.

The double-edged sword at the moment is the fact that, as noted in the Capital article, the biggest opponents of change is no longer serving in the State Senate. However that's good and bad; it's good if we can get legitimate change and a truly elected school board. It's bad if we get Leopold's bill.

I don't understand why Leopold is so opposed to the nonpartisan direct election of school board members. If we are not eliminating the appointment process, why bother with change, especially considering the likelihood that voters will vote for a rubberstamp "yes" as they often do with judicial appointments.

My previous thoughts on the matter are here, here, here, here, here, and on previous school board bills here, here, here, here, here,

I wonder if I will see another letter to the editor like this again...

Just Saying

Why did the parties join together to help the "milk cartel ?"

Why did people in Louisiana re-elect Willie Jefferson?

Why can't Peter Angelos get along with anybody?

Why did Jason Marquis get $20 million over three years?

Is having a criminal as your most out-front peace activist really a swell idea?

It sounds like Dennis Kucinich is going to run for President Again....the world yawned. Of course, he's down with the criminals, I guess.

I have no sympathy for Eric Rudolph.

Not to Worry

There seems to be a great deal of consternation in some about the recent push to allow for the District of Columbia to have a voting representative in Congress in exchange for a fourth Congressional seat for Utah. I'm really not exactly sure why some people, particularly conservatives, have that big of a problem with this.

Ultimately, the following things are accomplished if such a deal goes through:

• The District will have voting representation, which means maybe the "Taxation Without Representation" business goes away from their license plates.
• More than likely, the new Democratic vote from D.C. will be offset with a new Republican vote from Utah (likely, but not a slam dunk).
• The Electoral College will increase by one vote, ensuring one more GOP vote for 2008.

Now the argument could be made that the permanent establishment of such a voting member would result in a net decrease for the GOP of one seat starting with the 2012 Reapportionment. However I don't understand why, once again in the interest of cooperation and offsetting, the Public Law 62-5 can't be amended to allow for 437 members of the House instead of 435.

The idea of allowing D.C. to have a vote while allowing a new member for Utah is the kind of common sense bipartisan solution we haven't seen much of recently. Besides, I'd much rather see this solution come to pass than retrocession, which would be bad news for Marylanders.

Where'd He Come From?

Apparently the Brownback for President campaign needed to canvass far and wide for members of its exploratory committee. According to The Hotline, Bowie Kuhn is a member of Brownback's committee. Yes, the same Bowie Kuhn that was Commissioner of Baseball from 1969-1984. That's not to disparage Kuhn, who was a good commissioner and took a hardline on the Pittsburgh fiasco. I just wouldn't have expected Brownback to dust him off to be part of his committee.

Increased Frustration

I'm not sure what's more frustrating; the fact that the Ravens lost the way they did on Thursday, or the fact that the Colts lost today, which would have given the Ravens a tie for the #1 seed. Instead, at the moment, we are looking at an opening weekend game against the J-E-T-S on the first weekend of the playoffs...